Crayfish go by many names across the U. S. , and the labels say a lot about how humans interact with them. Scientists tend to use “crayfish” when studying these crustaceans. Fishermen switch to “crawdad” when using them as bait. But if they’re on a dinner plate, most people call them “crawfish, ” es
Every year in April, Americans spend over seven billion hours wrestling with tax paperwork and arguing about fairness. Most of those debates rely on five persistent myths. The first big one says rich people dodge their taxes. Actually, the top 1 percent of earners make about one-fifth of all income
A huge oil spill from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) has sparked two new class‑action lawsuits by local fishermen and a charter boat captain. The suits accuse LOOP of gross negligence, willful misconduct, and hiding the fact that the leak was not contained until five days after it started. T
The idea that a retired couple could receive $100, 000 from Social Security each year is shocking to many. Yet for a very small slice of Americans—about one in two thousand couples—this will become a reality soon. The plan to cap such high benefits has sparked debate about fairness and the future of
A senator who began her career in the state legislature two decades ago remembers how Alaska’s budget keeps swinging between deficits and surpluses. The state relies on big chunks of federal money or high oil prices to pay for schools, roads and other services. When those sources shrink, the budget
South Carolina’s Richland One school district just escaped a financial red flag that had been hanging over its operations for nearly two years. The state first raised concerns in August 2024, bumping the district from a basic watch list to a stricter caution label. Auditors flagged several weak spot
Three years after commercial salmon fishing vanished from California’s coast, the pause has finally lifted. Federal officials recently gave the green light for limited fishing to restart in 2024. The decision follows a boost in salmon numbers, thanks partly to wetter winters that ended a severe drou
Florida recently asked for a special permit to let more people fish for red snapper off its Atlantic coast this year. Instead of just two days like last time, anglers could fish for 39 days if the plan gets approved. The state says it can run this program well and that more days would help local fis
Deep in Antarctica’s icy waters, a quiet but fierce battle is playing out. The star of this show is krill, tiny shrimp-like animals that feed whales and store carbon—making them key players in ocean health. But they’re also big business. Factories turn krill into supplements, fish food, and other pr
A team of researchers from Japan and Germany discovered a way to make solar cells produce more useful energy than the light they absorb, reaching about 130 % efficiency. The trick involves a special molybdenum metal complex that can capture extra energy created by a process called singlet fission. I
