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It's easy to look around the West and see startling signs of the region's drought. Trickier, but perhaps just as startling, is to hear signs of that same drought.

Researcher Bernie Krause has made it possible thanks to decades of recordings at California's Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, reports Outside Online. He goes there every spring to the same spot with equipment he's used as a leader in the field of "soundscape ecology," or "ecoacoustics," which the Boston Globe describes as a blend of art and science.

Over the years, a creek that runs through the park has dried up, and the sounds of wildlife—or "biophony"—have dried up along with it. By Krause's measurements, the biophony is down fivefold since 2004.

He is now working with a researcher at the University of Urbino in Italy to translate his recordings into hard data for scientists. “It’s a true narrative, a story telling us that something is desperately wrong,” Krause tells Outside.

Krause himself says he didn't realize the extent of the decline until playing recordings from previous years side by side with more modern ones. At the San Francisco Chronicle, Mark Morford finds Krause's work "chilling," summing up thusly: "What once was a rich, varied symphony of sound has become a far more subdued chamber orchestra, with large spaces of eerie silence where there was once a vast natural racket, signifying everything." The 77-year-old Krause tells the Globe that he's not "terribly optimistic" about change, but “I am hopeful that we’ll begin to hear the message these critters are putting out in time to do something about saving them.” (Scientists now say California's snowpack is at a 500-year low.)

SEATTLE –  An archaeological survey to clear the way for construction near a mall has unearthed thousands of stone tools crafted at least 10,000 years ago.

"We were pretty amazed," archaeologist Robert Kopperl, who led the field investigation, told The Seattle Times. "This is the oldest archaeological site in the Puget Sound lowland with stone tools."

The rare find is shedding light on a time when prehistoric bison and mammoths still roamed what is now western Washington. Only a handful of archaeological sites dating back 10,000 years or more have been discovered in the region.

Chemical analysis of one of the tools revealed traces of the food they were eating, including bison, deer, bear, sheep and salmon. The dig also uncovered a fragment of salmon bone, evidence that the fish made its way up local streams for at least 10,000 years. It also revealed other unusual tools, including the bottoms of two spear points that have concave bases.

The site near Redmond Town Center mall in Redmond, Washington, was initially surveyed in 2009, as the city embarked on a project to restore salmon habitat in Bear Creek, a tributary of the Sammamish River. The creek had been confined to a rock-lined channel decades before.

The Washington State Department of Transportation largely paid for the salmon-restoration project as a way to mitigate some of the environmental impacts of building the new Highway 520 floating bridge over Lake Washington and widening the roadway.

The site appears to have been occupied by small groups of people who were making and repairing stone tools, said Kopperl, of SWCA Environmental Consultants. He and his colleagues published their initial analysis earlier this year in the journal PaleoAmerica.

"This was a very good place to have a camp," Kopperl said. "They could use it as a centralized location to go out and fish and hunt and gather and make stone tools."

Crews initially found unremarkable artifacts. But when they dug deeper, they found a foot-thick layer of peat — remains of a bog at least 10,000 years old. Below the peat, they later discovered a wealth of tools and fragments.

"We knew right away that it was a pretty significant find," Washington State Historic Preservation Officer Allyson Brooks told The Times.

Kopperl said that because of where the artifacts were located below the peat, which had not been disturbed, it's clear they predate the formation of the peat. Radiocarbon analysis conducted on charcoal fragments found with the tools confirmed the age.

"It's hard to find this kind of site west of the Cascades, because it's so heavily vegetated and the Puget Lobe of the big ice sheet really affected the landscape," Kopperl told the newspaper.

A handful of sites have been discovered east of the mountains with tools dating back between 12,000 and 14,000 years.

So it's clear that humans have lived in the area since soon after the glaciers retreated, but a lot of mystery still surrounds the region's earliest occupants and their origins, The Times reported. When Kopperl and his team are done analyzing the artifacts, they will hand them over to the Muckleshoot Tribe for curation. There are no immediate plans to display the artifacts publicly.

The 11th season of “The Bachelorette” ended Monday with Kaitlyn Bristowe picking Shawn Booth. The couple are engaged and are making plans for a life together. But describing Booth as the “winner” doesn’t quite seem right. Seth Meyers joked that it’s not the best way to tell the story of how you met your fiancée: “I won her on a game show.” And what about runner-up Nick Viall? It’s the second time he made it to the finale and was cut. Find out what the other comics thought about who really won in this webisode of Punchlines.

After checking out our favorite jokes about “The Bachelorette,” vote for yours in the quick poll to the right. Using your smartphone or tablet? Then go toopinion.usatoday.com to cast your ballot.

Our broken campaign finance system has many harmful effects on our democracy beyond elections themselves. Among the worst, it exacerbates our nation's enduring racial and economic disparities by permitting the most powerful to spend billions to elect their preferred candidates and dictate policy while sidelining those who can't afford jumbo contributions. And because wealthy special interests can hide behind "dark money" groups that don't disclose their donors, the public increasingly does not even know who they are.

Since the Supreme Court's misguided Citizens United decision in 2010, dark money groups who disclose none of their donors have spent well over $600 million (according to the Brennan Center for Justice) on federal elections and are poised to set new records in 2016. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a lot of this money comes from major firms seeking to curry favor with the government. Dark money is a perfect way for these interests to avoid the scrutiny of voters and their own shareholders.

Dark money also takes a particularly toxic toll on poor and minority communities. We know these communities do not sharethe policy priorities of the political donor class. On issue after issue — from the minimum wage, to paid sick leave, to the regulation of predatory lenders — it is the donor class whose views and priorities win out in the end.

President Obama has spoken eloquently against dark money. But with a hostile Congress, many assume words are all he can offer to stem the tide of secret election spending. They're not.

LOS ANGELES — Microsoft vows to have 1 billion folks using the new Windows 10 by 2018.

Is that a stretch?

Not really, says analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

The PC industry sells from 275 million to 300 million computers yearly with Windows pre-installed. Three years of sales plus upgrades, “and it’s easy to get to 1 billion,” he says.

Wednesday, the new Windows 10 is available as a download, initially aimed at enthusiasts who signed up to be early adopters.

Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group, says some 600 million to 650 million users of Windows 7 and Windows 8 qualify for the free upgrade, but most — about two-thirds — will wait a few months before giving it a try.

“It’s always the more technically inclined who start the upgrade process for first 6 to 9 months,” says Bajarin, “The general consumer will wait" because they’ll want to make sure issues with download speeds, lost connections and other kinks are worked out first.

Also, most of the Windows 10 sales will be to businesses, which traditionally stall the longest before upgrading, says Bajarin.

“We don’t expect serious upgrades until the second or third quarter of next year,” he adds.

While Apple computers have a huge presence on TV shows and college campuses and at tech start-ups, it’s good to remember that most consumers and businesses are overwhelmingly Windows based, notes Bajarin.

Apple sells around 16 million computers a year — a far cry from the nearly 300 million Windows PCs.

Hunting is one of America's favorite pastimes, offering camaraderie, a sense of self accomplishment and ultimately the purest meat source one can put on a family table. More important, hunters play a big role in preserving and protecting our world's great wildlife. That's why it is sad to see front pages taken over by the actions of an unscrupulous professional hunter and a dentist with a record of flouting the rules that ensure hunting and conservation go hand in hand.

In other words, there's a greater picture here than one law-breaking hunt. Through the sales of hunting licenses, equipment and tags, sportsmen in the U.S. contribute $2.9 billion every year for conservation. As a result, many of the most popular wildlife species in America have rebounded from near-extinction levels.

Hunters are happy to pay to improve habitat, protect our streams, rivers and lakes and ensure our wildlands remain healthy. We know that in order for future generations to enjoy our hunting heritage, we need to be responsible stewards of wildlife. Charged with the protection and management of wildlife, state fish and game agencies receive approximately 75% of funding from hunter/angler/shooter dollars paid in license, tag and permit fees, and through the federal aid in the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act.

Hunters generate millions of dollars and provide thousands of volunteer man hours to non-profits such as Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. More than 10 million acres of wetlands have been restored by Ducks Unlimited alone. And organizations like the Sportsmen's Alliance and the Safari Club International lobbying for the regulation of ethical hunting and the North American wildlife conservation modelaround the world.

Yelp, the crowed-sourced reviews site, has taken a big hit from shareholders after a review of its own.

Shares of the site toppled 28% Wednesday after it reported grim second-quarter earnings Tuesday and also announced that chairman Max Levchin is leaving.

Yelp reported a second-quarter loss of $1.3 million (two cents a share) compared to the $2.7 million (four cents a share) profit it registered for the same quarter a year ago, according to its earnings report released Tuesday.

Due to "lower sales headcount growth" and the elimination of its "brand-advertising product," or display advertising, the company said, it slashed revenue guidance from $544 million to $500 million for the year, which is down from prior guidance of $574 million to $579 million.

Meanwhile, the company announced that Levchin, co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Yelp, has resigned from his position as chairman of the board of directors to pursue other interests, effective immediately.

The company's board has yet to appoint a new chairman, but plans to consider the issue at its September meeting.

"I am extremely proud of what Yelp has accomplished over the last 11 years and believe I leave it well-positioned to take advantage of the large local advertising market," Levchin said in a statement Tuesday.

Yelp, the digital version of word-of-mouth recommendations, posts reviews of local businesses ranging from boutiques to hair salons to restaurants. The company was founded in 2004, and has taken hold in major metro areas across 31 countries.