List of All Articles with Tag 'and'

Emergency services are at the scene of the incident near Ballysadare in County Sligo.

When Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, propaganda described him as "audacious" - they were not wrong.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday one of his senior commanders was alive and well, dismissing reports

Malaysia has said it will ask Interpol to help locate Jocelyn Chia, accusing her of offensive content.

Many of us look to the stars for answers to life’s most complex questions. But actually, some of the greatest mysteries lie beneath our very feet. One might think we’d know the Earth pretty well by now but, in fact, our planet’s core remains shrouded in enigma. Indeed, there are two gigantic blobs located beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean that occupy around six per cent of the world’s entire volume. And yet, we’re still not entirely sure what they’re made of or where they came from. There are a number of hypotheses, including that they are piles of oceanic crust that have accumulated over billions of years. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter But a more interesting theory is that they are huge chunks of an ancient planet that hit the Earth around 4.5 billion years ago. To give an indication of just how massive these things are, the structure under Africa – an area known as Tuzo – is thought to be around 800km (497 miles) tall – the equivalent of some 90 Mount Everests stacked on top of one another, as IFLScience notes. The problem with determining the origin of these monster formations is that there are no direct ways of observing the Earth’s core. The deepest hole humans have ever dug – branded the "entrance to hell" – reached a pretty staggering 12,263m (40,230ft), but that doesn’t even come close to breaking through the crust to the layers beneath. Our most effective tool for analysing what lies beneath the ground is a technique called seismic tomography, which looks at how waves of energy travel when earthquakes occur. Since rocks and liquids have different densities, the waves move through them at different speeds. By measuring the tremors from different points on the surface, geologists can determine what kind of material the waves are travelling through and, in so doing, map out the Earth’s interior. It was by using this technique that the two unusual structures – known as large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs) – were found. Waves travel more slowly in these areas – fondly known as “blobs” – than through the surrounding lower mantle, indicating that they’re made of something different. We can’t tell what this material is based on seismic tomography data alone, but some scientists like to believe that they are the remnants of an ancient planet called Theia – an idea known as the “giant impact hypothesis”. According to this hypothesis, around 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-sized object collided with the Earth. This impact not only created the planet we call home today, but also threw off enough rock to form the moon that lights up our night skies. Some scientists suggest that some of Theia’s leftovers also sunk to the bottom of the planet, probably settling somewhere above the core – thereby forming at least one of the two LLSVPs. More Updates About Strange Blob Structures Inside Planet Earth youtu.be Experts have been investigating the area for decades but there’s still no way of knowing for sure just what these two giant blobs are. Still, studies into Theia have offered important insights into how the possible collision might have kickstarted key plate tectonic and mantle motion inside our planet – crucial processes for establishing the world on which we live. It’s also a useful reminder that we still have so much to learn about our planet and where we came from. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A young woman walking along a road in Upstate New York was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver -- a coworker whom she had been drinking with earlier in the night and refused to ride with, authorities say.

The RNLI has outlined the extent of its involvement in small boat crossings for the first time.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old recruit who opened fire at his colleagues during a drill.

By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON New Zealand's national radio broadcaster said it has set up an independent review of

As if 2023 wasn’t hard enough, Americans are now drinking as much alcohol as they did during the Civil War days. A new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has found that the average American drinks about the same amount of alcohol as people did in 1860. In 2021, Americans consumed 2.51 gallons of ethanol – the alcohol found in wine, beer, and spirits – compared to 2.53 gallons at the brink of the Civil War. That amount, which doesn’t include water or other ingredients found in alcoholic beverages, marks a 60 per cent increase in liquor consumption compared to the mid-1990s. Americans have also changed their taste for alcohol. The amount of beer consumed has dropped nearly 20 per cent since 1995, while wine has steadily become America’s drink of choice. Now, 50 per cent more Americans are drinking wine than they did in the mid-1990s. This isn’t the only time the United States has seen staggering levels of alcohol consumption. In 1934, following the repeal of the Prohibition Act, Americans were drinking one gallon of ethanol per person. At the end of World War II in 1945, Americans reached 2.3 gallons. This, compared to 2.8 gallons in 1980, when alcohol consumption was at its highest. The rise in alcohol consumption may also have to do with a key demographic: women. In March, it was revealed that women in the US are out-drinking men for the first time in history. Dr George Koob, director of the NIAAA, recently told the Washington Examiner that binge drinking among college students are to blame. “In 2021, there has been an uptick, particularly among women. Now it turns out on college campuses women are actually binge drinking more than men, for the first time in history,” he told the conservative media outlet. The Covid-19 pandemic also saw a dramatic shift in alcohol consumption, as most states declared liquor stores were considered “essential businesses”. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, sales of alcohol increased by 2.9 per cent, the biggest annual increase in more than 50 years, according to the NIAAA. Now, with college campuses back in session and local bars open again, Koob attributed the rising trend of women binge drinking to the “alcohol deprivation effect” – in which people “rebound in drinking” after a period of abstaining from alcohol. “A standard drink is 1.5 ounces of vodka, 12 ounces of beer, or five ounces of wine,” he said. “When you go past a standard drink, you really are getting to the point where alcohol ultimately becomes a toxin. You can easily overdose.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that it’s safe for women to drink no more than one standard alcoholic beverage a day, and no more than two for men. However, binge drinking usually corresponds to five or more drinks on a single occasion for men, while four or more drinks on a single occasion for women. Read More Moderate alcohol consumption may lower stress, reduce heart disease risk, study finds Man dies after eating raw oysters from Missouri seafood stand Hip surgery policies based on weight ‘worsen health inequality’, study warns TikToker cooks rack of ribs in hotel bathroom using only items from his room BBQ salad recipes without a soggy lettuce leaf in sight How to shop for and cook Japanese food at home like a pro

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road has died aged 89, his publisher says.

Hoda Kotb has opened up about her fears of ageing and missing out on parenting milestones as she raises her two daughters: Haley Joy, six, and Hope Catherine, four. The 58-year-old NBC anchor discussed her anxieties about getting older during a recent episode of Bethenny Frankel’s Just B podcast. While speaking to the entrepreneur and former Real Housewives of New York City star, Kotb detailed her approach to parenting as an older mother to young girls. “I do have it sometimes,” Kotb said, when asked by Frankel if she has “anxiety” about ageing. “My dad died when he was 54, 55. I always think that the foundation he laid down was good for me. It helped me in my life.” Kotb was a junior in college at Virginia Tech when her late father, Abdel Kotb, died of a heart attack in 1986 at age 51. The Emmy-winning journalist became a first-time mother in 2017 when she adopted her eldest daughter Haley with ex Joel Schiffman. However, Kotb admitted that she “sometimes does the math” when thinking about being present for her daughters getting married or having children of their own. “I look at my mom, who’s 86, and I think to myself, ‘OK, what’s the difference here between me and her? 30 years. OK, that’s kind of good,’” Kotb said. “So I add 30 to Haley and I add 30 to Hope. And I think to myself, won’t that be spectacular? I can do that.” The Today host added, “Wouldn’t that be amazing? Do I get to see them get married? Maybe. That would be really good. Or do I get to see them have a child? Maybe. That would be really good.” While Hoda Kotb admitted that she sometimes has anxiety about watching her daughters grow up, she ultimately decided to not look at the future in a negative way. Rather, she explained how she chooses to focus on how “special” it would be to witness her daughters’ milestones. “I think about it, but I don’t think about it on the end of, ‘Oh, no, I won’t be able to…’ I would be delighted if all those things were possible, and I think that would be special,” she said. Kotb then recalled writing her mother’s age minus her age on the glass in the shower one day. “And I looked at the number and I was like,” she shared, clapping her hands. “What if you get that many years? That’s more than I got with my dad.” Meanwhile, Frankel, 52, opened up about her anxieties of getting older and missing out on moments with her 13-year-old daughter, Bryn. The Skinny Girl founder shared that it’s her daughter who tends to “do the math” on their age gap. “I watch her make the connection and then I watch her get distracted because it’s anxiety for her,” Frankel told Kotb. “We’re very close. It just keeps getting better, it’s so beautiful.” Elsewhere during the podcast, Hoda Kotb detailed the moment she learned she was going to become a mother for the first time. In the episode, the Today star shared the text she received from someone named Ashley at the adoption agency after her daughter Haley was born. The mother of two said that, after she saw the adoption agent’s number displayed on her phone, she took out a yellow pad of paper and wrote the time, 11:55. “This is the moment everything changes,” Kotb recalled thinking. “I knew it.” “And I took a deep breath and dialed the number, and I said, ‘Ashley?’ and she said two words to me. She said, She’s here.’” “I don’t know what birth feels like, and I bet it was amazing, but this was really close,” she added. Hoda Kotb adopted her second child, Hope Catherine, in April 2019. Earlier this year, Hope experienced health complications that caused her to spend time at the hospital. Upon returning to the Today show after a two-week absence, Kotb revealed that her then-three-year-old had been in the hospital’s intensive care unit. “My youngest, Hope, was in the ICU for a few days and in the hospital for a little more than a week,” Kotb told Today co-host Savannah Guthrie. “I’m so grateful she’s home. She is back home. I was waiting for that day to come. And we are watching her closely. I’m just so happy.” The journalist then expressed her gratitude for all those who helped her daughter and provided support for her family during the scary experience. “You know what I realised too, Savannah? It’s like, when your child is ill, the amount of gratitude you can have for people who helped you out,” she said. “So I’m grateful for the doctors at Weill Cornell, who were amazing and the nurses. And I’m grateful for my family and I’m grateful to friends like you who were there every single day. So I want to say thank you for that. I love you.” Read More Hoda Kotb reveals ‘terrible’ letter criticising her for being an older mother Hoda Kotb returns to Today show after three-year-old daughter Hope is discharged from hospital ICU Jenna Bush Hager discusses body image after revealing her grandmother once called her ‘chubby’ Keke Palmer says she faced ‘breast milk discrimination’ at airport Colin McFarlane diagnosed with prostate cancer 7 tips and tricks for hay fever relief