Loons are on the mend in Maine, filling more of the state's lakes and ponds with their haunting calls, although conservationists say the birds aren't out of the woods yet. Maine is home to a few thousand of the distinctive black-and-white waterbirds — the East Coast’s largest loon population — and conservationists said efforts to protect them from threats helped grow the population. An annual count of common loons found more adults and chicks this year than last, Maine Audubon said this week.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned that ships passing through the narrow Strait will be targeted, after the US and Israel launched strikes on the country on February 28. The Iran war has threatened Gulf ports and disrupted global trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.

Melanin Bee curves her spine like a stretching cat as she lets out a maniacal, forced laugh. The quick-fire pattern of manufactured giggles —“oh, hoo hoo hoo, eeh, ha ha ha”— soon ripples into genuine laughter, and she giddily kicks her feet. The laughter clubs were based on the common-sense notion that laughter relieves stress.