A type of wood commonly used to make Samurai sword sheaths may be the future of space exploration.

The latest Des Moines Register poll showing skyrocketing enthusiasm for Vice President Harris among Iowa’s independent women set off alarm bells for former President Trump and his allies, as both parties seek to rally their bases and drive turnout. The poll, which was conducted by J. Ann Selzer, showed Harris with a narrow lead in the red-leaning state, largely driven by female voters. Harris leads Trump in Iowa by 28 points among independent women and...

Striking workers at embattled plane maker Boeing voted Monday to accept the company’s most recent offer, ending the costliest strike in the United States in more than 25 years. The International Association of Machinists (IAM) said rank-and-file members voted by 59% to approve the deal. IAM members had voted almost unanimously against Boeing’s first offer on the eve of the start of the strike, and then 64% voted against the second offer less than two weeks ago, extending the strike. The 33,000...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli leader announced Tuesday. Netanyahu cited significant differences between their views on how to proceed in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as a lack of trust between the pair. Netanyahu's office shared a letter, written in Hebrew, that was delivered to Gallant on Tuesday notifying him of his removal.  

The Regime has spent years trying to destroy Donald Trump; expect it to get far worse should he win the election. Key takeaways The effort to stop Trump has involved a coordinated campaign by federal bureaucracies, legacy media, and aligned institutions (collectively "the Regime") that began with promoting him as an unelectable candidate in 2016 and evolved into increasingly desperate attempts to prevent his return to power. The Regime's tactics evolved from traditional opposition (...

A post shared on Facebook claims that the state of Michigan has 500,000 more registered voters than citizens eligible to vote.  Verdict: False The claim does not take into account Michigan’s number of inactive vs. active registered voters.

Quick Take A video showing a Laurel County, Kentucky, voter having difficulty marking a ballot for former President Donald Trump was investigated and found to be an “isolated incident” of “voter error,” a spokesperson for the secretary of state said. Social media posts baselessly claimed it was an example of “election interference.”

The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.It wasn't terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it's true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we've gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That's why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible. The twins, Bernardo and Arthur Lima, are almost 4 years old and have never seen one another's face. They've spent their lives conjoined at the top of their heads, facing opposite directions. Born as craniopagus twins (joined at the cranium), their brains were also fused together, making their separation extremely complex. According to the BBC, they've been cared for at the Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer (Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute) in Rio de Janeiro for the past two and a half years.Surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani is the founder of medical charity Gemini Untwined, which funded the surgery. He helped lead the team of nearly 100 medical workers who worked for months to prepare for the boys' separation, which was one of the most complicated of its kind. Jeelani told the BBC that it was the first time surgeons in separate countries practiced by operating in the same "virtual reality room" together, wearing VR headsets."It's just wonderful," he said. "It's really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk. You can’t imagine how reassuring this is for the surgeons. To do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff."Watch Jeelani explain how they prepared for the procedure:Prior attempts to separate the twins had been unsuccessful, making the surgery even more challenging due to scar tissue. However, after multiple surgeries that took more than 33 hours collectively, the boys were successfully separated in June.“It was without a doubt the most complex surgery of my career,” said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej of the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute, according to EuroNews. “At the beginning, nobody thought they would survive. It is already historic that both of them could be saved." Jeelani told the BBC that the boys' heart rates and blood pressure were "through the roof" for four days after the surgery—until they were reunited and touched hands. According to Reuters, Bernardo and Arthur are the oldest twins with fused brains to be successfully separated. They will spend the next six months in rehabilitation.Congratulations to the Lima family and to the global team that combined dedication, perseverance and the miracle of modern technology to create a brighter future for these young boys. This article originally appeared on 08.04.22

I've written tons of things about minimum wage, backed up by fact-checkers and economists and scholarly studies. All of them point to raising the minimum wage as a solution to lifting people out of poverty and getting folks off of public assistance. It's slowly happening, and there's much more to be done.But when it comes right down to it, where the rubber meets the road is what it means for everyday workers who have to live with those wages. I honestly don't know how they do it.Ask yourself: Could I live on this small of a full-time paycheck? I know what my answer is.(And note that the minimum wage in many parts of the county is STILL $7.25, so it would be even less than this).The YouTube channel Just Frugal Me discussed the viral paycheck and noted there's absolutely nothing wrong with working at McDonald's. More than 2 million people in the U.S. alone work for the fast food giant. The worker's paycheck shows they put in 72 hours over the pay period making $8.75 per hour. Before taxes, that's $631 for the week. Just Frugal Me's breakdown is even more eye opening, breaking down this person's pay after taxes and weighed across average rent and utility costs. Spoiler Alert: the total costs for basic necessities far outweighs what this person is making even while working 12 hours per day. But they do make too much to qualify for Medicaid, meaning they will have to go out and buy their own health insurance. Even in states like California, where the state's $20 minimum wage ensures that people earn nearly three times as much as the federal minimum wage, which remains as low as when this paycheck first made the rounds nearly 10 years ago. Still, even for a worker that maxed out at 40 hours per week and took zero vacation or sick time, that's only a little over $41,000 per year. That's barely half the median wage in the state of $78,000 and far below a sustainable living wage in cities like Los Angeles. This story originally appeared on 02.26.15. It has been updated to reflect new information.