From just 10 stations and about 100 bikes downtown, one of the first municipal bike sharing programs in the country is ballooning by a factor of 10: 100 stations and about 1,100 bikes are to spread around Washington and across the river in Arlington, Va., by the end of October.
The system officially opens to the public on Monday with 400 bikes at 49 stations.
Membership is $75 a year. And for those keeping score, Washington is joining Denver and Minneapolis as U.S. cities will full-scale bike-sharing programs. New York and Miami have programs in the works.
When Jourdyn Koziak got a phone call saying her lost dog had been found, she thought it was a sick joke. After all, her pit bull, Forty-Cal, had gone missing 11 years earlier, back when she lived in Philadelphia. Since then, she had gotten married, had another child, and moved to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Yet when she took a chance and drove to the Philly shelter, there he was.
“I am overwhelmed. I am shocked. I am in disbelief,” Koziak told Fox 29 News. “I had tunnel vision of him walking down that hallway.”
How the lost pit bull was found
Back in 2015, Forty-Cal and another of Koziak’s dogs went missing from their backyard, presumably stolen. While the other dog was found, Forty-Cal never returned home. Despite this, Koziak never stopped putting up missing signs and kept Forty-Cal’s microchip information up to date.
“I never gave up hope because, obviously, I’m relentless,” Koziak told CBC Radio.
Apparently, Forty-Cal walked up to a little girl in Philadelphia and befriended her. The girl and her parents took him home, fed him hot dogs, and called Animal Control. The shelter then used the information from Forty-Cal’s microchip to contact Koziak and reunite them after more than a decade.
The shelter warned Koziak and her family that Forty-Cal might be overwhelmed and that it could take time for him to recognize them. However, it took only moments for Forty-Cal to realize he was back home.
“We put our hands out, he sniffed us, and then proceeded to pull us towards the door, like, ‘Let’s go,’” said Koziak.
While what happened to Forty-Cal over the past eleven years remains a mystery, Koziak is just grateful that he appears to have been cared for. When Forty-Cal was found, he was clean and well-fed. He was also friendly enough to approach the young girl who found him.
“He acts like he’s a puppy again,” she said. “He wants to go for a walk. He’s wagging his tail…I had other animals in the house, as well, that were family pets, but Forty was my dog. I paid for him with my own money at 16 years old.”
Now that he’s back home, both Forty-Cal and Koziak are making up for lost time.
“I’m over the moon,” she said. “It’s like Christmas morning every day.”
Tips to prevent lost dogs
This reunion wouldn’t have been possible if Koziak hadn’t had Forty-Cal microchipped and kept the information up to date. It’s important to have your dog microchipped and registered for this reason, among others.
There are other ways to help prevent a dog from becoming lost, as well as simple ways to find them should the worst happen. When outdoors, keep your dog leashed and within your line of sight at all times. Make sure your pup is also well trained and responsive to your commands.
Along with microchipping your dog and keeping their tags up to date, there are additional collar options to consider. A bright, vibrant collar can help your dog stand out in the dark and among trees and bushes. A Martingale collar is also recommended, as it stays secure on a dog’s neck without choking them. Lastly, there are collars with built-in GPS systems, as well as devices like the Apple AirTag, which you can attach to a collar to track and pinpoint your dog’s location.
This story is a reminder that sometimes a reunion between a lost pet and its owner takes determination, community, and patience.
For centuries, sailors have told wild tales of whales ramming ships. Reports of a sperm whale smashing and sinking the Essex in 1820 inspired Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. Scientists had never witnessed it themselves—until now.
Researchers have captured the first-ever drone footage of sperm whales headbutting each other. During fieldwork off the coast of the Balearic Islands, they recorded three separate incidents between 2020 and 2022.
Drone footage captures sperm whales headbutting
The new study was published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Using drones, researchers from the University of St Andrews, the University of the Azores, and Asociación Tursiops captured video evidence of sperm whales headbutting. They found that most of the whales were young, immature males. In one incident, a young male circling near a female suddenly charged and slammed into her, knocking her off course. After the impact, she broke away from the group and did not return.
The researchers estimated impact speeds ranging from 1.8 to 8 miles per hour, with collisions generating forces of up to 20 tons of pressure. The impacts captured on video were not necessarily considered aggressive. In fact, researchers believe the behavior reflects rough play or forms of mock combat. Similar behaviors can be seen in other mammals, like dolphins and lions.
Using their large heads, sperm whales have been reported by whalers to strike and move objects since the 19th century. “It was really exciting to observe this behaviour, which we knew had been hypothesised for such a long time, but not yet documented and described systematically,” said Dr. Alec Burslem, lead author of the study.
“It’s exciting to think about what as-yet unseen behaviours we may soon uncover, as well how more headbutting observations may help us to shed light on the functions the behaviour may serve,” Burslem added.
Documented, unprovoked attacks on humans by sperm whales are exceedingly rare, with most occurring during historical whaling incidents. Research indicates that sperm whales do not naturally exhibit aggression toward humans. While they can be curious, they often avoid vessels and observers. Historical accounts of whales ramming ships are likely defensive reactions rather than predatory attacks.
Whales use clicks like letters, combining them into sequences that function like words in a complex form of communication. A 2024 study found that sperm whales use a highly sophisticated communication system with structures resembling a phonetic alphabet. These audio cues are used for coordination, caregiving, and social interaction.
A 2022 study found that specific click patterns serve as symbolic markers that help establish cultural identities within sperm whale pods. Researchers identified seven distinct clans, each with its own unique dialect. This provided quantitative evidence of whale social structures known as identity codas.
Studying this new drone footage offers fresh insights into whale social groups and behavior. While the headbutting may look aggressive, researchers interpret it as rough play. With technologies like drones giving scientists unprecedented access to these interactions, it’s exciting to think of what discoveries are yet to be made.
A recent study conducted on adults in the UK found that people with higher cognitive ability scored lower on moral foundations. The study, published this summer in the journalIntelligence, sought to gage people’s response to the Moral Foundations Theory based on their overall intelligence. After two different studies, no difference was found between genders, but a person’s intelligence revealed a different story.
The research suggests that analytical thinkers tend to override their baseline moral intuitiveness. But what does that actually mean? First, cognitive ability refers to problem solving, abstract thinking, memory, logic, language comprehension, and basic critical thinking. This isn’t only IQ, but a person’s ability to process and apply their knowledge. Think of it as a living scholastic aptitude test (SAT.)
After testing to rate cognitive ability, subjects were then tested against The Moral Foundations Theory. The idea behind the theory is that, despite different cultures and populations, people tend to follow a similar set of themes and intuitive ethics. The theory follows six core ideas: care, equality, proportionality, loyalty, authority, and purity.
Surprisingly, the results of the tests found that people with higher intelligence found the moral foundations to be less important.
Care
Care has to do with the virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturing. This is the foundation of empathy. By feeling connected and emotionally attached to the community, people gain purpose and a strong feeling of belonging.
Always a hot topic on the political playing field, equality looks to create fair circumstances. The idea is all people have equal opportunity and treatment. Communities offering equality have reduced resentment and foster a cooperative environment where people feel respected and included.
Proportionality
This concept is based on fairness and merit. People should get what they deserve and be treated by what they do, not just who they are. What you put in, you get out. This is a driving principle underlying a core belief of this country: that anyone can achieve most anything if they are willing to put in the work. Many would argue for its merit while others would call it wishful thinking.
This is another popular topic of political leaders and followers. We are tribal by nature and greatly benefit from a feeling of belonging. Sacrificing the individual wants for the needs of the group, this is one of the foundational cornerstones of building communities.
Authority encompasses the concepts of hierarchy and respect for traditions. Research shows we are genetically programmed to seek a social hierarchy. As much as many fight to climb to the top, feeling a part of the system is often enough to supply someone with a great amount of emotional security.
Purity
Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Your body is a temple.” The ideal is expressed through self-discipline, self-improvement, and spirituality. Striving to be noble and less carnal, people try to be the best version of themselves. The moral advancement and the elevation of the social consciousness of the community is believed to have incredible value.
These core values are believed to be inherent in all people, but are they? At least according to this most recent study, the more intelligent you are, the less you might care about them. However, author and literary genius Leo Tolstoy once famously claimed that kindness is one sure sign of a highly intelligent person and other studies back up his views. Maybe when it comes down to it, it depends on the person.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
