Unsustainable use of resources is wrecking the planet but recycling is falling, report finds

The planet orbiting the star closest to the sun may have a neighbor. Proxima Centauri, a dim red star just 4.2 light-years away, is already known to host one potentially habitable planet, Proxima b, that’s a bit more massive than Earth (SN: 8/24/16). Now, astronomers see hints of a second planet, this one much larger and farther from the star.

The world's total debt surged by some $9 trillion in the first three quarters of 2019, according to data from the Institute of International Finance, bringing the world's total debt load to $253 trillion, or 322% of its GDP — a record high. Why it matters: In times of economic strength, economists exhort countries to pare back their debt burdens and pay it down to protect against future unrest and downturn.

For nearly 15 years, U.S. Navy veteran Kevin Rosenberg owed six figures in student loans. But on January 7, 2020, a New York judge ruled that the $221,385.49 in student loan debt owed by Rosenberg as of November 2019 was dischargeable under chapter 7 bankruptcy.

An analysis of language on an electronic cigarette users’ online discussion forum shows vapers reported adverse health effects online for at least seven years, long before vaping-associated pulmonary illness, or VAPI, was recognized by the medical community last summer, researchers reported January 3 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Cast your mind back a decade or so and consider how the future looked then. A public horizon of Obama-imbued “yes we can” and a high tide of hope and tolerance expressed in the London Olympics provides one narrative theme; underlying austerity-induced pressure another. Neither speaks directly to our current world of divisive partisan politics, toxic social media use, competing facts and readily believed fictions.

A womanizing tortoise whose rampant sex life may have single-handedly saved his entire species from extinction has retired from his playboy lifestyle, returning to the wild with his mission accomplished. Diego's unstoppable libido was credited as a major reason for the survival of his fellow giant tortoises on Espanola, part of the Galapagos Islands, after being shipped over from San Diego zoo as part of a breeding program.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google will soon have 20,000 workers in the city, many in a cluster of offices on the West Side.

When it was unveiled in 2012, people had great hopes that the gene editor CRISPR/Cas9 could treat or even cure hundreds to thousands of genetic diseases. This year, researchers in the United States began testing the gene editor in people, a crucial first step in determining whether the technology can fulfill its medical promise.

People across Asia are witnessing an annular solar eclipse, which is also known as a "ring of fire". Crowds have gathered to watch the natural phenomenon in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Saudi Arabia. In an annular eclipse, the moon covers the centre of the Sun, giving the appearance of a bright ring.

Capcom has announced that Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) has shipped 6.8 million units. This new figure, when combined with official in-game player stats, suggests that the game has achieved an impressive milestone of reaching more than 1 million PSVR players, making it perhaps the most successful VR title on any single platform.

There’s little scientific basis to emotion recognition technology, so it should be banned from use in decisions that affect people’s lives, says research institute AI Now in its annual report.

We live in unforgiving times. Public self-righteousness is on the rise and the taste for revenge has never been greater. It’s an appetite that is in our genes. The Romans called it Lex talionis, the bloodthirsty need for retribution, proportionate payback for perceived misdeeds. Revenge helped our species evolve by punishing cheaters, promoting fairness, and preventing the mob from taking justice into their own hands.

Could you meet the United States entirely from solar energy? Sure, claims tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO, whose company provides solar panel solutions like the Solar Roof, shared a video via Twitter on Saturday of the electricity-generating tiles taking a beating from a hammer. One fan responded to Musk’s video with a 2011 quote from Bill Gates, who described solar and similar technologies as “cute,” but that the answer is in nuclear power.

Last year we published a list of ten psychology findings that reveal the worst of human nature. Research has shown us to be dogmatic and over-confident, we wrote, with a tendency to look down on minorities and assume that the downtrodden deserve their fate. Even young children take pleasure in the suffering of others, we pointed out.

So the coast shapes the water, the water shapes the coasts. These are the equal yet opposite forces that combine to form the self. I believe we are, within approximate boundaries, birthed by nature and solidified by nurture, still amorphous and malleable — each wave imperceptibly alters us with each successive crash. Memories are sand washed out to sea. The maps we draw to chart our terrain, distorted by our own projection and myopia as all maps are, become the seafaring stories we tell oursel...

The prime minister wrote in a Spectator column in 2005 that he believed it was only 'natural' for the public to be scared of Islam.