House Speaker Mike Johnson faces tough days ahead trying to pass a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown
Groundhog Day puts Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast about winter’s length in the spotlight
Punxsutawney Phil's handlers will be announcing if the weather-predicting groundhog sees his shadow
Catch a falling star: cosmic dust may reveal how life began, and a Sydney lab is making it from scratch
Recreating cosmic dust may help answer questions about how meteorites hitting Earth came to contain organic matter Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast How does one acquire star dust? One option, as the Perry Como song suggests, is to catch a falling star and put...
Do you like cat photos? Are you constantly distracted? You’re probably actually quite good at focussing: 10 myths about attention
Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains, which then efficiently prioritise them. We need to learn to work with the process, rather than against it It’s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal – “Did I leave the oven on?”. And those...
‘Adjustments must be made’: how to live well after mid-life
We are living longer and longer, but many of us are unprepared for the challenges age brings, says the novelist and psychotherapist Frank Tallis We have never lived so long, so well, nor had more available advice on how to do so: don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t eat ultraprocessed foods;...
Starwatch: Orion the hunter dominates the February night sky
Straddling the celestial equator, the constellation is visible in both hemispheres Orion, the hunter, one of the most recognisable constellations in the night sky, is well placed for observation from the northern hemisphere during February. Straddling the celestial equator – the projection of Earth’s equator on to the night sky...
Utah governor signs bill adding justices to state Supreme Court as redistricting appeal looms
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signed a bill expanding the state Supreme Court’s five-judge panel to seven
New US charge d’affaires arrives in Venezuela to reopen diplomatic mission after 7 years
U.S. charge d’affaires Laura Dogu has arrived in Caracas to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties
Trump says US is ‘starting to talk to Cuba’ as he moves to cut its oil supplies
President Donald Trump said the U.S. was beginning to talk with Cuban leaders as his administration is putting greater pressure on the communist-run island and cutting off key oil supplies
Shooting at Louisiana parade leaves 5 wounded, including 6-year-old, sheriff says
A Louisiana sheriff says five people including a 6-year-old were wounded when gunfire erupted during a small-town parade Saturday