Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman killed in Gaza strikes– www.yahoo.com Source Link Excerpt:
The spokesman for the militant organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) was killed in a massive Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the group said.
Naji Abu Saif, also known as Abu Hamsa, was killed during an “attack on his family and his brother’s family,” PIJ said.
The group is allied with Hamas, another Palestinian extremist group. Both organizations were involved in the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel that triggered the latest Gaza war.
Both are said to be backed by Iran.
Palestinians search for their belongings among the rubble of their destroyed homes, following the Israeli airstrikes on Khan Yunis. Israel launched a series of airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after efforts to extend the ceasefire failed. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Dinosaur Armor and Weaponry Was Even More Impressive Than Researchers Thought– www.scientificamerican.com Source Link Excerpt:
In the pantheon of dinosaur royalty, sauropods may have been the biggest and tyrannosaursthe deadliest. But the ceratopsians, ankylosaurs and stegosaurs were the most metal dinosaurs of all. With their horns and spikes, body plates and tail clubs, these horned and armored dinosaurs have long captured popular imagination. In the early 1900s American paleoartist Charles R. Knight depicted one of these weapon wielders, the plant-eating Triceratops, as a worthy adversary of carnivorous Tyrannosaurus rex; Stegosaurus makes regular (and formidable) appearances in the Jurassic Park movie franchise that began in 1993. Yet despite our enduring fascination with these “living tanks,” as armor-bearing dinosaurs have been described, many details of their anatomy—including the composition and even the functions of their impressive accoutrements—have remained unknown.
The problem stemmed from the scarcity of fossils of these animals that, even when found, often consisted of mere scraps. These recovered specimens also preserved only the hard bony parts, not any of the associated soft tissue. In their efforts to reconstruct armored dinosaurs as they were in life based on this meager evidence, paleontologists took what they thought was a conservative approach and assumed that the bony remnants of the armor of these long-dead dinosaurs constituted the bulk of the armor in life. Those reconstructions revealed some magnificent creatures—ceratopsians equipped with three-foot-wide frills, stegosaurs brandishing 30-inch-long tail spikes, nodosaurs bristling with shoulder spikes nearly a foot and a half in length.
Researchers advance substrate engineering pathways to improve power electronics– phys.org Source Link Excerpt:
As the growth in global electricity need and supply continues to accelerate, efficient power electronics will be key to improving grid efficiency, stability, integration, and resilience for all energy sources.
Advances in wide-bandgap materials for semiconductors offer the potential to enable greater power handling in power electronics while reducing electrical and thermal losses. Wide-bandgap materials also allow for smaller, faster, more reliable, and more energy-efficient power electronic components than current commercial silicon-based power electronic components.
Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado School of Mines, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory examined a potential route to achieve peak performance of aluminum gallium nitride, AlxGa1-xN, a key material for increasing power electronics’ energy efficiency and performance, through growth on optimized substrate materials.
The United States Cannot Afford Disarray as China Strengthens Its Biopharmaceutical Industry – Center for Strategic & International Studies Source Link
Scared Antarctic researchers plead for help after ‘assault,’ ‘death threats’ – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
Scientists at a remote research base in Antarctica have pleaded for their rescue, alleging assault, sexual harassment and death threats from a team member they say is mentally unstable.
“His behavior has escalated to a point that is deeply disturbing,” the email said, according to the Sunday Times. “I remain deeply concerned about my own safety, constantly wondering if I might become the next victim.”
The report alleged the man made a death threat and accused the team member of sexually assaulting another.
Trump and Putin discuss Ukraine war, White House says the talks are going well– www.channelnewsasia.com Source Link Excerpt:
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed moves to end the Ukraine war on Tuesday (Mar 18) and the White House said their phone call was going well.
‘It’s still moving’: Police investigate teen who buried baby in backyard after taking abortion pill– www.lifesitenews.com Source Link Excerpt:
(Live Action) — Authorities are investigating an at-home abortion that led to the potentially-illegal burial of the preborn baby afterwards – potentially, infanticide.
Lancaster Online reported that an East Donegal Township teenager in Pennsylvania ordered abortion pills online, with the help of her mother, after being turned away from a local abortion facility; she then gave birth to the baby, and weeks later, buried the body in her backyard.
The initial abortion was committed last year, but police are investigating now; what tipped them off to the incident is not known, but a search warrant was filed on March 6, and the baby’s body was found by Susquehanna Regional Police two days later.
A witness communicated with police about the abortion, saying they were there when the teenaged girl took an initial pregnancy test. Later, after obtaining abortion pills, the witness began receiving text messages about the abortion.
Court records said the teenager sent texts to the witness like, “It just now came out,” and “it’s like a full baby,” and “it’s still moving.” Pictures of the baby’s genitals sent to the witness revealed she had given birth to a girl; in those messages, the teenager wrote, “excuse my blood everywhere.”
French police clash with migrants after executing eviction order on Parisian theater squatters– rmx.news Source Link Excerpt:
French riot police forcibly evacuated the Gaîté Lyrique cultural venue on Tuesday morning, which had been illegally occupied by hundreds of migrant squatters for over three months with the backing of far-left local lawmakers.
The operation, carried out amidst protests and clashes with demonstrators, resulted in the arrest of 46 individuals, mostly migrants, and several minor injuries.
The eviction process began at approximately 6 a.m., as demonstrators — who heeded the call by the far-left La France Insoumise to protest at the venue — attempted to block police entry. Riot police had to deploy tear gas to clear the area.
According to reports, many migrants had already left during the night, fearing forced removal and detention without a viable housing alternative.