Nicole Karlis, Salon

The recent reversal of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, bringing to light a very dark American phenomenon: pregnancies in pre-teens as a result of rape.

This article first appeared in Salon.

Recently, news about 10-year-old rape victim surfaced in Ohio who became pregnant and was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of restrictions that prohibited her from getting one after six weeks. It is widely expected that more, similar stories will come to light as abortions bans take hold around the nation....

Five years ago, Jeannie Assimos adopted a mini pinscher from the Humane Society in Pasadena, California.

"He was super shy, not socialized — he had been abused, so, I kept going back and seeing him and he wasn't very friendly," Assimos explained. Still, she decided to take a chance on him. "I brought him home and he hid behind my couch, but I pulled him out and said, 'no, Buddy, we're going to be friends."

This article first appeared in Salon.
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While a warp drive almost certainly isn't a thing that will ever exist, there's no law of physics that says interstellar travel isn't possible. Perhaps that is one reason why the sci-fi idea isn't out of the realm of possibility, and why some scientists aren't afraid to seriously contemplate how such a thing might work.

This article first appeared in Salon.

Enter a new research article in the International Journal of Astrobiology, in which author Irina Romanovskaya, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Houston Community College, proposes extraterrestrial civilizations could already be doing this in a peculiar way. Indeed, Romanovskaya says that interstellar travel would likely create technosignatures — such as radio waves, industrial pollution, light pollution, or anything that would suggest advanced technology is being used — when aliens engage in such travel....

Since late last year, dog owners on TikTok have been participating in what might seem like an innocent, even cute TikTok trend that involves barking at your dog.

The hashtag #barkatyourdog has over 156 million views on TikTok, and its participants run the gamut in age and popularity (many TikTok stars have dabbled in it). The video trend involves getting close to your canine's face, barking loudly and recording the dog's reaction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most dogs look confused.

While it might seem like just another harmless social media challenge, canine behaviorists are warning against participating in it....

People travel to California for lots of reasons: to visit Hollywood and Fisherman's Wharf, to hike Yosemite and Muir Woods. In the event Roe v. Wade is overturned, it is likely to become a top destination for abortions, too.

This article first appeared in Salon.

Indeed, if Justice Samuel Alito's leaked majority opinion becomes the final say of the Court as expected, once-guaranteed abortion rights codified by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 will cease to exist. It will be up to each individual state to decide whether to ban or allow abortions, and experts forecast about half of U.S. states would implement bans. This means abortion clinics for an estimated 41 percent of women of reproductive age would close, forcing women who have the resources to travel elsewhere....