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I.R.A. Rebates for Appliance Swaps Could Be Phased Out

New guidance from the Energy Department would prevent people from receiving rebates after making such swaps.

© Bing Guan for The New York Times

The new guidance would also end rebates for the replacement of gas-powered dryers, heat pumps and water heaters.
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Oil Prices Jump as Middle East Tensions Build

Some analysts said the main international oil price, which was up 6 percent on Monday, could climb much higher in the coming weeks if the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t reopen.

© Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

An oil refinery in Carson, Calif. The possibility of continued fighting has raised concerns about how long the world’s stockpiles of oil and fuels will last if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen.
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Fungi Bloomed Twice around End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was marked by both the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the ongoing eruptions of the Deccan Traps volcanoes.

By studying fungal microfossils in 66-million-year-old rock samples from the Denver Basin in Colorado, Johns Hopkins University microbiologists have confirmed that the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact triggered a worldwide fungal takeover, and uncovered a second, previously unknown ecological crisis just before it.

The post Fungi Bloomed Twice around End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Toothless, Bipedal Crocodile Relative Lived in New Mexico 212 Million Years Ago

Labrujasuchus expectatus navigated the world on two legs with tiny arms and a toothless mouth tipped in a beak. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez / NHMLAC Dinosaur Institute.

Paleontologists have described a new species of bipedal shuvosaurid archosaur from New Mexico, shedding light on a group of creatures that roamed North America during the Triassic period, more than 200 million years ago.

The post Toothless, Bipedal Crocodile Relative Lived in New Mexico 212 Million Years Ago appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

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Teachers Union Urges Schools to Curb A.I. Chatbots and Screen Time

The American Federation of Teachers recommended “no screens” at all for those in second grade or younger, and no A.I. chatbots for students in elementary school.
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U.S. Aims to Give Cold War Plutonium to Start-Ups for Nuclear Fuel

Companies say it’s a better way to dispose of the Cold War-era material — and fix a shortage of nuclear fuel. But the plan has also faced criticism from nonproliferation experts.

© Science Source

Work with radioactive materials at a plutonium facility at the at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1978.
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The New ‘Gold Rush’ of Geothermal Energy

A new wave of start-ups are trying to harvest emissions-free energy from inside the Earth, but the industry still faces significant challenges.

© Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Executives of Fervo and others celebrated the geothermal company’s I.P.O. on the Nasdaq on May 13.
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