Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

More than 4,000 snake species live today, all descended from heavily modified lizard ancestors. Yet scientists still do not fully understand how snakes developed their long, limbless bodies. Because early snake fossils are rare, researchers have struggled to determine which environments and behaviors shaped their evolution. For many years, the debate centered on two main possibilities. Some scientists proposed that snakes first became elongated and limbless while adapting to underground life, while others argued that the body plan emerged in aquatic environments. New research published in Nature suggests the answer was more complicated. Instead of following a single ecological route,…

For weeks now, anglophone cinephiles have been focusing their attention on the virtues and vices of Christopher Nolan’s $250m adaptation of The Odyssey. Across the Channel, however, Homer’s epic tale of a flawed Greek hero has been facing stiff domestic competition. A two-part biopic of General Charles de Gaulle, concentrating on his struggles to liberate France during the second world war, has been the word-of-mouth box office hit of the French summer.It may be that five hours’ worth of De Gaulle attracted some punters seeking air-conditioned sanctuary from the heatwaves. But there have been rave reviews both from critics and…

Claim: A screenshot authentically showed a Truth Social post on U.S. President Donald Trump’s account featuring an image depicting him with World War II Generals George Patton and Douglas MacArthur. Rating: Context Trump posted the AI-generated image of him standing between the two generals on Aug. 4, 2026. His intended message was unclear. In August 2026, a screenshot (archived) circulated online that purportedly showed a Truth Social post on U.S. President Donald Trump’s account featuring an image depicting him with World War II Generals George Patton and Douglas MacArthur.   For example, the activist and TikTok news influencer Aaron Parnas…

Race favourite Demi Vollering won a three-way sprint for stage five on the Tour de France Femmes on Wednesday as Marlen Reusser held a slender 12-second overall lead on the day’s winner. Former champion Kasia Niewiadoma sprinted first as Reusser refused to attack, but a determined Vollering overtook the fading Pole at the line, Niewiadoma however is now third at 1min 17sec despite missing out on a first stage win. Read moreWiebes wins Tour de France Femmes opener to win first yellow jersey “I somehow made it. I think it was a relief after the finish line,” Vollering said of…

Yet without them, Ukraine’s skies are wide open.”Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Last week, following another deadly attack in which only one out of 27 missiles was shot down, he warned that a shortage of interceptors “encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives”.On Wednesday again Zelensky made a direct link between the delays in supply and the “horrific casualties and destruction” witnessed regularly across Ukraine. “Quite literally every single day, the lives of people here in Ukraine depend on the decisiveness of our partners in Europe…

Laura Trott, shadow education secretary for the Conservatives, and Munira Wilson, education spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, are among MPs who have signed the letter.Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, also signed the letter and told the BBC he could not “see an end in sight” to his own Plan 2 student loan repayments. Instead, he said he expected his debt to be written off after 30 years in line with the repayment terms.”If someone earning an MP’s salary still isn’t likely to repay their student loan in full, what chance does someone on a much lower…

“Nobody can deny that the UK is getting warmer and high temperatures are becoming a clear threat to homes, nature and food security,” read the lengthy news report, which explored the devastating effect of British wildfires on families in recent years.The article’s conclusions, written after the wildfires in Suffolk last week, were no surprise given the UK’s changing climate. However, the fact that the piece appeared in the Telegraph, the rightwing title that has been a leading critic of green policies, did raise eyebrows among some readers.Praising the analysis, the independent MP Rosie Duffield noted it was from an outlet…

Reddit on Wednesday announced a series of changes to its infrastructure and tools, designed to make it easier for people to participate on its site, protect against scraping and spam, and aid in the moderation of its online communities. In addition to providing a new suite of moderation tools, the company said it’s working on more advanced abuse prevention systems that could eventually help communities move away from using things like account age and “karma” to determine who’s allowed to post. Karma, Reddit’s digital reputation system, allows users to raise their score by posting and commenting helpful, friendly, or funny…

A phishing campaign is exploiting fears surrounding the recently disclosed COLDCARD wallet vulnerability and suspected $88.6 million Bitcoin theft to trick users into installing ScreenConnect remote access software. Proofpoint, which discovered the campaign, says it uses emails impersonating COLDCARD that claim a security audit is underway across its hardware cold storage wallet devices. The phishing campaign comes after attackers recently stole approximately 1,367 Bitcoin, worth an estimated $88.6 million, from 4,585 addresses using what is believed to be a random number generation flaw affecting multiple COLDCARD models and firmware versions. The emails are sent from compliance@coldcardteamnews.com with the subject “Hardware audit…