Uncommon Knowledge
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California
Mountain lions terrorize California neighborhood, pet safety concerns rise
A community in Southern California is reporting an increase in mountain lion sightings, prompting rising concerns about household pets.
The latest sightings of baby cougars in Thousand Oaks come after a young man died following a mountain lion attack further north in El Dorado County back in March.
Speaking to local news outlet KTLA, residents said that the baby mountain lion was hungry and clearly searching for food as it prowled around their front yards, with footage captured on doorbell cameras showing a cat being chased.
“It wasn’t full size, so we had to re-look at it and zoom into it and stuff and then we realized, ‘Oh my God, it’s a baby mountain lion,’” Mark McGee told the outlet.
National Parks Service
Those in the neighborhood said they had some concerns about safety.
Further north a few weeks prior in March, a 21-year-old man died after being attacked in Georgetown, making it the first mountain lion fatality in California in 20 years.
His 18-year-old brother called emergency services when the attack began, with sheriff’s deputies scaring the animal away with a firearm. It was too late to save the man, however.
Following the incident, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that human encounters were uncommon, but can happen.
“First and foremost, our hearts go out to the families and loved ones affected by this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time,” CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham said at the time.
The last reported non-fatal attack in the Santa Monica Mountains was in August 2021, involving a 5-year-old boy.
Residents of Thousand Oaks explained that mountain lion sightings were unheard of until a few years ago.
“We’ve been here since 1987,” Esther O’Connor also told KTLA. “Basically, the only wildlife we’ve ever seen, up until I would say a couple of years ago, were birds and squirrels and racoons, but never a mountain lion.”
Newsweek reached out to the National Parks Service for further comment on the movements of the animals in and around the Santa Monica Mountains.
On its website, NPS says that the park is home to a “stable” population of mountain lions, with Los Angeles being one of only two megacities in the world – the other being Mumbai, India – to have a big cat population.
It’s estimated that at any one time, there are between 10 and 15 adults living in the park, with cub numbers unknown.
The City of Thousand Oaks advises locals to not approach a lion or run from one. Instead, they are urged to stand and face the animal and make eye contact if possible, while making themselves appear as large as possible while giving the lions space to escape or leave.
Newsweek reached out to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office for further comment.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
A California man was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts and exploiting minors through online platforms.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Edward “Eddie” Alessandro Zarate, 20, of Santa Maria.
On May 28, authorities began investigating Zarate over allegations that he was communicating with underage girls online and exchanging sexually explicit material with them.
Detectives later learned that Zarate allegedly communicated with minor victims through mobile phone apps such as Whipd, Purp, Wizz and Snapchat, along with exchanging text messages.
Zarate’s profiles appeared to portray him as a juvenile.
“Once he established communication with minors, he would often encourage them to move conversations off the platform and continue communicating via text message,” the sheriff’s department said. “During these conversations, Zarate would disclose his true age and identity.”
So far, authorities are aware of two female juveniles who have met with Zarate in person and reportedly engaged in lewd acts.
He is accused of communicating with minors in multiple states including California, Florida and Illinois. In California alone, detectives believe Zarate contacted minors from Los Angeles, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Paso Robles, Nipomo, Arroyo Grande and San Francisco.
“Based on the scope of the investigation, detectives believe there may be additional survivors who have not yet been identified,” authorities said.
On June 10, Zarate was arrested and booked on multiple felony charges including oral copulation with a person under 18 years of age, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, sending harmful matter to a minor, and two counts of possession of obscene material depicting a minor.
Anyone who may be a victim, has communicated with Zarate online or through text or has information on the case is asked to call Sheriff’s Detectives at 805-681-4150. Anonymous tips can be provided to the SBSD’s tipline at 805-681-4171 or online at SBSheriff.org.
Top universities reject Trump’s ‘compact’ over academic freedom
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Southern California rejected Trump’s “compact.”
To the surprise of perhaps no Californians, several California universities appeared in the top rankings of the world’s best universities in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings released on June 16.
Of the more than 2,250 worldwide research institutions that U.S. News & World Report evaluated for this list, six California universities ranked in the top 50 globally, with an even split among Northern and Southern California institutions.
The 2026 list includes universities from more than 100 countries, with the following countries receiving the most schools in the overall rankings:
- China: 409
- United States: 275
- India: 123
- United Kingdom: 93
- Japan: 86
Did your California alma mater appear among the top global universities?
U.S. News and World Report methodology
When determining a university’s placement on the list, U.S. News & World Report considered factors more relevant to research-oriented institutions than to undergraduate-focused metrics like bachelor’s degree graduation rates.
It focused on aspects like academic institutions’ research and reputation, number of publications, the quality of publications and citations. It considers other factors, including location, campus culture, the strength of particular programs, and cost, which are also very important.
“For students seeking universities with strong academic excellence and global recognition, the Best Global Universities rankings offer an essential comparative resource,” said LaMont Jones, Ed.D., managing editor for Education at U.S. News.
“Our methodology focuses on a school’s research mission and scholarly impact, helping students identify institutions that are truly at the forefront of global knowledge creation.”
Out of the top 10 global universities, two California institutions made the list:
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Stanford University
- University of Oxford
- University of Cambridge
- Tsinghua University
- University of California Berkeley
- Yale University
- University College London
- Columbia University
How did California colleges rank in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Global Universities 2026 list?
Outside of the top 10 universities, California saw a handful of other institutions rank highly on U.S. News & World Report list.
Notably, the University of California – Los Angeles just missed the top 10 list, ultimately ranking as the 11th-best global university and the second-best public institution on the list. It was beaten out as the best public institution by its academic counterpart, the University of California, Berkeley, which was ranked the 7th-best global university.
Additionally, a number of University of California schools made the top of the list, ultimately reaffirming the quality of the institutions’ public campuses across the state.
“Research from the University of California is vital to work that benefits all Americans, from breakthroughs in the treatment of Parkinson’s to the science behind previously unimagined successes in fighting cancer and the development of quantum computers that will enable the critical advances of the 21st century,” the University of California said in a press release about its rankings.
Here’s the list of California universities that made the top 100 list:
- 3. Stanford University
- 7. University of California Berkeley
- 11. University of California – Los Angeles
- 22. University of California – San Francisco
- 23. (Tied) California Institute of Technology
- 23. (Tied) University of California – San Diego
- 74. University of Southern California
- 95. University of California – Davis
- 99. University of California – Irvine
- 100. University of California – Santa Barbara
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.
The most significant seismic event in California’s history – an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude – occurred in 1857 and ruptured about 225 miles on the San Andreas Fault. That earthquake, dubbed the last “Big One,” killed two people and produced shaking that lasted between one and three minutes.
Since then, California has exploded in population and been has been rattled by many major earthquakes. But Californians have also grown familiar with the existential dread of another “Big One” looming.
Researchers have long warned there will be another massive earthquake in Southern California. They just don’t know when.
A recent study says warning signs continue to grow in 2026. The San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems have reached the highest stress levels seen in the past 1,000 years, according to a study conducted at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The San Andreas fault runs throughout the state, passing through San Francisco and San Bernardino, while the San Jacinto fault is in Southern California and runs through Riverside, San Diego and Imperial Counties.
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Why the San Andreas Fault is so risky
Faults rupture on the San Andreas Fault approximately every 150 years, according to UCLA professor Jonathan Stewart, who studies earthquake engineering.
But it’s been over 300 years since the last “large rupture” occurred south of the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake, Stewart said. “As far we know it didn’t produce a large rupture since around 1690. To the present that’s a lot more than 150 years, so there’s a lot of build-up. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen immediately, it just means there is more stress built-up.”
When the earthquake happens, it is likely to cause a lot of damage. One major concern is the state’s water systems.
“An earthquake like this would rupture most, if not all of the major aqueducts bringing water into Southern California,” Stewart said. “Most people will not be in a collapsed structure after this earthquake, but everybody’s going to be affected by water problems.”
Study highlights longstanding risk
To investigate the probability of an earthquake occurring, researchers built a physics-based simulation and fed it the earthquake history from the region. By doing so, they were able to estimate how much stress has built up along the southern San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems.
The results suggest that catastrophe may be near.
“Right now, with stress at historically high levels across the region and more than 160 years elapsed since the last major rupture, the system is in a critically loaded state,” lead author Liliane Burkhard said.
Most importantly, the Cajon Pass, at the junction of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, could facilitate a joint rupture of the two faults. This scenario, according to the study, would probably be “significantly more damaging” than a single-fault event.
How is earthquake safety considered?
Seismic hazard assessments are critical for the safety of the millions of residents in California’s densely-populated and earthquake-prone areas.
Seismic Hazard maps show the relative hazard associated with earthquakes using information on past faults, the behavior of seismic waves and the near-surface conditions of specific locations, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Larger values indicate a stronger level of earthquake shaking. A peak ground velocity of 269 cm/sec would correspond to extreme shaking and heavy damage. For reference, the largest ground velocity recorded in Taiwan’s 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake reached 318 cm/sec and had a magnitude of 6.7.
That earthquake killed more than 2,000 people and incurred approximately $14 billion in damage.
How do the fault lines rupture?
The San Andreas and San Jacinto faults are strike-slip faults, which typically cause horizontal displacement. Both faults comprise the geologic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
If a major earthquake occurs on the San Andreas fault, it is likely to produce surface rupture, which occurs when a fault breaks through to the surface. Most earthquakes, however, do not produce surface rupture, according to USGS.
In a major rupture, strong shaking could cause severe damage near the fault and in areas built on soft or water-saturated soils, which can amplify shaking. Rupture can directly offset roads, buildings, and other structures that span the fault trace.
Although the study helps explain the risk associated with the California fault lines, Burkhard emphasized that it shouldn’t serve as a forecast.
“This is not a prediction of when an earthquake will happen,” Burkhard said. “However, studies like this are important contributions to national and global earthquake hazard research in that we are using rigorous, quantitative science to better understand the risk facing millions of people.”
Contributing: Brandi D. Addison, USA TODAY NETWORK
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