Elon Musk’s Quixotic Quest to Turn X Into an ‘Everything App
LOS ANGELES — Four years ago, a billionaire tech executive leading one of the world’s preeminent social platforms laid out a vision to transform it into an app that could do it all. In an online...
Europe’s cities rely on age-old ways to stay cool
There is no single architectural technique that can solve the problem of sweltering heat, which has gripped large parts of Europe this summer. But on a continent where air conditioning is relatively...
TikTok Introduces Text-Only Posts
TikTok users can now post text-only content, a departure from the social media app known for its short videos. The new format has been the latest change to the social media landscape after...
Monsoon’s fury sours romance of wet season travel in India
The honeymoon, at first, was magical. Akash and Parvani Kapadi drove up pine-covered forests to a hill town in northern India with a view of the snow-capped Himalayas. In their hotel room, the gentle...
What it’s like to be a female tour guide in Saudi Arabia
Fatimah Al Zimam likes to walk around in black leggings and casual tops, and she wears her curly hair loose and uncovered. She owns a silver GMC pickup truck, which she loves to take on solo drives...
From Twitter to X: Musk erases an iconic internet brand
For more than 10 years, Twitter has been recognizable for its blue and white bird logo, which became a symbol of the social network’s unique culture and lexicon. To “tweet” became a verb. A...
Scientists have found a hot spot on the moon’s far side
The rocks beneath an ancient volcano on the moon’s far side remain surprisingly warm, scientists have revealed using data from orbiting Chinese spacecraft. They point to a large slab of granite...
It’s scorching in Iran, and there’s less water to help
For a month and 10 days of unrelenting summer heat, Sepideh, a physician in southern Iran, and her dentist husband have left the house only for work (and only in the mornings) and for groceries (and...
How a vast demographic shift will reshape the world
For decades, the world’s dominant powers have benefited from large working-age populations that help drive economic growth. Meanwhile, particularly young populations in much of the developing...
Heat waves grip 3 Continents
Punishing heat waves gripped three continents Tuesday, breaking records in cities around the Northern Hemisphere less than two weeks after the Earth recorded what scientists said were likely its...
Mandela goes from hero to scapegoat
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela is everywhere. The country’s currency bears his smiling face, at least 32 streets are named for him and nearly two dozen statues in his image watch over a country in...
More than 50 whales die in Scotland
More than 50 pilot whales died Sunday after they were stranded along a beach on the Isle of Lewis, in northwest Scotland. It was the largest mass-stranding event in Britain since 2011, marine rescuers...
Does sugar actually feed cancer?
During the eight years Stacy Shawhan has worked as an oncology dietitian, she has heard many questions from her cancer patients about how their diets influence their prognosis. But one question has...
Is it bad to wash your hair every day?
Q: I’ve heard that washing your hair every day can strip it of its natural oils, making it dry and brittle and causing scalp irritation. Is that true? And what if I exercise regularly? A: Whether...
Put a bird on It? Ancient Egypt way ahead of us
A century ago, archaeologists excavated a 3,300-year-old Egyptian palace in Amarna, which was fleetingly the capital of Egypt during the reign of the pharaoh Akhenaten. Situated far from the crowded...
How could AI destroy humanity?
SAN FRANCISCO — Last month, hundreds of well-known people in the world of artificial intelligence signed an open letter warning that AI could one day destroy humanity. “Mitigating the risk of...
Dam’s destruction reshapes Ukraine
BERYSLAV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian soldiers sped along a dirt road, their pickup truck bouncing over ruts, lest they become an easy target for Russian tanks across the Dnieper River. Nearby,...
Air slowly clears in the Eastern US
MONTREAL — Canada on Friday was once again threatened by hundreds of wildfires that for weeks have displaced tens of thousands of people, consumed millions of acres and stoked alarm over the perils...
Hiking has all the benefits of walking and more
Hiking is hot right now. From 2018 to 2021, the number of Americans hitting the trails ballooned to 59 million from around 48 million, according to the nonprofit Outdoor Foundation. For Alyson...
A plan to avert a vast Oil spill off Yemen moves ahead
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A United Nations operation to avert a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea by salvaging a decaying supertanker off the coast of Yemen is moving forward this week after...