Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Major hormonal changes during pregnancy and the first menstrual period, known as menarche, are reflected in the brain. But during menopause, brain changes seem to take a break. In a study of more than 1,000 female brains, brain gray matter volume decreased at menarche and again during pregnancy, changes that are permanent and distinct from age-related decline. There was no change during menopause, scientists report September 8 in Nature Communications. The results are surprising, but hint at how hormone ebbs and flows over the lifetime are reflected in brain structure. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week’s scientific…

America’s integrated gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Caturus, controlled by the energy-focused alternative investment manager Kimmeridge and supported by investments from Mubadala Energy and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), has taken steps to nearly double the planned capacity of its LNG export facility in Cameron Parish through the addition of a 7.75 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) expansion project in Louisiana, United States (U.S.). Commonwealth LNG; Source: Technip Energies Caturus has disclosed a five-train, 7.75 mtpa expansion project for its Commonwealth LNG export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, which would increase the site’s planned capacity to approximately 17.25 mtpa. This expansion is targeted…

Reading Time: 3 minutes For Wisconsin parents, the most disturbing aspects of their teen’s phone probably have little to do with screen time. Bigger questions surround what happens inside the apps: notifications, endless feeds, the urge to keep checking and personalized recommendations. Families sense these problems even when scientists can’t prove causation or define a diagnosis. Wisconsin’s Assembly Bill 963 aimed to target some of those features. It would have required large platforms to estimate users’ ages, obtain parental consent for minors and add safeguards such as the highest-privacy settings, no targeted advertising and no infinite scrolling or profile-based feeds.…

Having read Zoe Williams’ article on student loans (Why has university become such a scam?, 14 September), I went and checked my student loan statement. What a depressing read that was. I went to university in 2012 as a slightly older student, at 22. I had been to drama school before that, but decided I wasn’t cut out for the harsh reality of show business and that a law career – a barrister perhaps – was more up my street. I wanted to keep the performance element.After one law degree totalling £56,000, a career development loan of £15,000 to cover the…

As the midterms approach, ads supporting Democrats and Republicans are making competing claims about how President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy law will impact rural healthcare.  Ads backing Republican candidates have highlighted their support for a $50 billion rural healthcare fund in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — while ignoring its much larger cuts to Medicaid, which are expected to reduce funding for rural healthcare overall. Other ads similarly leave out the Medicaid cuts in misleadingly claiming that Democrats voted against funding for rural hospitals. Democratic groups, meanwhile, have hammered Republicans over the possibility that those cuts could force…

In a statement on Thursday, South African police said the recent rise in serious and violent crimes against women remained a “matter of grave concern”, urging women in the country to remain vigilant about their personal safety.They advised women to avoid walking alone or using isolated routes, remain alert to strangers and suspicious vehicles, and share their location or travel plans with someone they trust. They also advised against walking with earphones or earbuds at high volume, warning this could reduce awareness of their surroundings.”Practising personal safety measures can save lives.”Authorities have offered a 400,000 rand ($24,000; £18,000) reward for…

Healy-Rae had his window rolled down and was talking on the phone to his son Jackie, a Kerry councilman, as a man walked into the road and started punching the politician in the face. While the attacker fled on foot, police helped Healy-Rae reach a nearby hospital to have his facial wounds stitched up. Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the attack on Healy-Rae — who had been a junior minister in his coalition government before his surprise resignation in April — could mark a watershed in how Irish politicians operate in public. “We’ve never had this before in our society,”…

The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate.Writing for the Guardian about new plans for a mass of community-led local green energy projects, the prime minister said the UK must “believe in itself”, and set out his determination to reach net zero targets, which have been rejected by the Conservatives and Reform UK.The tone marks a contrast to the summer, when Burnham faced criticism for a…

Jada Jones/ZDNET ZDNET’s key takeaways Bose announces two clip-on open earbuds. The Sport Open is ideal for exercise, while the Ultra Open (2nd Gen) provides a premium experience. Both will be available beginning Oct. 1. Following the release of the second-gen QuietComfort Headphones, Bose returns with two new open-ear options: the Sport Open Earbuds and the Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen).  Also: Sony vs. Bose isn’t a draw when it comes to open-style earbuds – here’s how they differ Bose’s open-ear clip-on earbuds are among our favorites, and the company is expanding its lineup to accommodate different types of open-ear…

Swati KhandelwalSep 17, 2026Vulnerability / DNS Security Every release of the Unbound DNS resolver before 1.26.1 has a critical heap overflow in its DNSSEC validator, maintainer NLnet Labs said in an advisory on Wednesday. An attacker who controls a malicious zone and queries a vulnerable resolver can trigger it, enabling remote code execution. Unbound 1.26.1, released the same day, fixes the bug, tracked as CVE-2026-81642, along with eight other flaws. One of the eight, CVE-2026-82717, is a heap corruption bug in CNAME synthesis reported by Ben Morris of Anthropic. It could also lead to remote code execution “under certain systems…