The World’s Ugliest Dog contest returned to central California on Friday, drawing hundreds of people who wanted to meet some less than attractive canine companions. Held at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, the annual event highlights pet rescue shelters and promotes adopting dogs of all ages and appearances—even the oldest and most unconventional.
Google DeepMind is launching a new AI world model called Genie 3, which can generate interactive 3D environments in real time. This new version promises significant improvements, including longer play sessions and the ability to “remember” where objects are placed within a virtual space. Read: Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Review: Mid-range makes sense World…
For seven decades, poor countries wanting to get rich have turned again and again to dams. For the post-independence leaders of Egypt and Ghana in the 1950s, hydroelectricity and sovereignty were inextricably linked. Building vast irrigation and electricity projects across the Nile and the Volta was a prerequisite if they were to catch up with…
A new book called African Climate Futures explores how African science fiction is addressing climate change. International politics scholar Carl Death weighs up climate policies in African countries and discusses stories and films alongside them. His book imagines a future that may be grim, but is alive with potential solutions. From Ethiopia and The Gambia…
For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world’s smallest-known snake. Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath. This photo provided by Re:wild shows the Barbados threadsnake next…
Three African countries: Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa have earned spots among the world’s top-ranked countries in the 2024 Best Countries Rankings, published by U.S. News & World Report in collaboration with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and global marketing firm WPP. According to the report, Egypt leads the continent at 35th…
The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) operating as a single entity is a global research organization and has recently launched the second phase of the Regreening Africa Project. The project which aims to restore degraded lands through involving vulnerable communities in greening activities would be implemented in 7 African countries…
A global review of extreme heat has found that between May 2024 and May 2025, nearly half the world’s people (49% or 4 billion) suffered through an extra 30 days of temperatures that were hotter than those experienced 90% of the time between 1991 and 2020. Scientists from World Weather Attribution, the Red Cross Red…
Honor has officially launched the Magic V5, touting it as the world’s thinnest foldable phone. However, this claim comes with a few important asterisks: it only applies to the white version and requires you to overlook the pronounced camera module. The phone is available in China starting today, with an international release promised “soon.” Read:…
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – The sound of children at play echoes through the verdant lanes of one of the dozens of refugee camps on the outskirts of Cox’s Bazar, a densely populated coastal town in southeast Bangladesh. Just for a moment, the sounds manage to soften the harsh living conditions faced by the more than one…
