• Google Alerts monitors the internet for new mentions of search terms you're trying to target.
• You can set up a Google Alert for any search term, and customize or delete it anytime.
• Google Alerts can be delivered to you immediately, or at specific times of the day or week.

When you want the latest updates on a trending news story, to know who won the game you couldn't missed live, or see what new shows are dropping onto Netflix this week, chances are that you turn to a Google search.

But what if you didn't even have to spend time searching because Google had already sent the exact information you wanted right to your inbox?

Google Alerts proactively searches the web for specific terms you've selected and delivers relevant content to you as often as you'd like, be it once a day, once a week, or just as soon as that search term pops up in a new article, blog post, or in the description of some new video content.

Google launched Google Alerts in 2003 after one of the company's first engineers, Naga Kataru, brought the idea directly to Google's founders. The very first keywords used to test the alerts were "Google" and "Larry Page."

Though Google Alerts is still around more than two decades later, the software has drawn criticism from users over time. Users have said the alerts are too limited, inaccurate, or irrelevant. Dozens of media monitoring companies, such as Awari, Meltwater, Talkwalker, Muck Rack, Cision, and Prowly, have cropped up in the last decade to offer alternatives to Google Alerts.

One advantage of Google Alerts, however, is that it's completely free to use. And while brands and high-profile figures may need a more sophisticated software to monitor their media mentions, Google Alerts can work just fine for the average everyday user.

Here's how to set up, customize, and delete a Google Alert.

How to set up Google Alerts

To set up a Google Alert, first make sure you are logged into your Google account, then navigate to the Google Alerts page, which is simply www.google.com/alerts.

1. Type the search term you want to follow into the bar reading "Create an alert about…" and search for it. For instance, if you're interested in news about job cuts in the tech industry, you might want to create an alert about "Google layoffs."

2. Click the blue box that reads "Create Alert."

That's it! You just created a Google alert. You can access and edit your alerts from the Google Alerts homepage or via the alerts Google sends to your email inbox.

Though Google Alerts doesn't have its own dedicated app, you can still set up alerts for yourself on your iPhone or other smartphone. Simply visit the Google Alerts page using your phone's browser and follow the above steps.

If you're expecting to pop up in the news anytime soon, you might want to consider setting up a Google Alert for your own name. And though there's no way to find out if anyone in particular is Googling you, you can always run a search for your name on Google Trends to see if there's any significant search interest.

But even when you've set up all your Google Alerts, your work isn't quite done. By default, Google will send you updates about your alert (or alerts) once every day. If you'd like your alerts to be sent more or less often, here's how you'll do it.

How to customize Google Alerts

Go to the Alerts page and find the Google Alert you want to customize.

1. Click on the pencil icon to the right of the alert to open its settings.

2. On the next page, you can set how often you get alerts, what language they need to be in, from what region they are sourced (you can geo-fence to a specific country or from "Any Region"), what sources you want your alerts to come from (news, blogs, and web, e.g.), and more.

3. Hit the blue "Update alert" box.

If you want all your alerts delivered at a specific time, hit the gear icon to the right of "My alerts" and choose a delivery time. You can limit your alert updates to once daily or even once weekly.

You can also ask that Google send all your alert updates in a single email rather than sending each one individually.

How to delete a Google Alert

Deleting a Google alert is even simpler than creating one.

1. Go to your Google Alerts page.

2. Locate the trash can icon to the right of the alert you want to delete and click it.

That's that — the alert is gone. A taskbar at the top of the page will pop up reading "Your alert on 'Google layoffs' has been deleted" and giving you the option to "Undo" that action or "Dismiss" the alert, which permanently deletes it, as does simply closing the Google Alerts page.

• A policy in South Dakota prevents some professors from listing certain details in email signatures.
• Public university faculty are prohibited from sharing gender pronouns or tribal affiliations. 
• Experts say it's part of a broader attempt to roll back rights for protected groups.

South Dakota has joined a group of right-leaning states trying to curtail expressions of personal identity in the US.

In December, the South Dakota Board of Regents issued a policy prohibiting professors at public universities in the state from including their designated gender pronouns or tribal affiliations in their email signatures, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

And it didn't take long for the board – which governs the state's six public universities — to take action.

Two University of South Dakota professors — Megan Red Shirt-Shaw and Red Shirt-Shaw's husband, John Little — recently told the AP they'd received written warnings to remove those details from their signatures.

On X, formerly Twitter, the two said they'd received their warnings in mid-March. The consequence, Little told the AP, could be as severe as losing their jobs.

"I was told that I had 5 days to remove my tribal affiliation and pronouns," Little wrote in an email to the AP. "I believe the exact wording was that I had '5 days to correct the behavior.'"

Little added that if the request wasn't met, administrators would evaluate whether or not to invoke suspension or even termination as punishment.

On X, Red Shirt-Shaw said she "made the difficult decision" to comply with the warnings, removing her tribal affiliation and gender pronouns from her email signature, "so I would not miss the remainder of the academic year."

That said, Red Shirt-Shaw found a workaround: She has continued to place those details "in the body of each email that I send," which she said on X "will not be challenged (for now)." Little has done the same.

For Red Shirt-Shaw, including those details is personal. As director of Native Student Services at the university, she wrote, "I feel I have an ethical responsibility to claim the tribal nations that make me who I am."

The American Civil Liberties Union's South Dakota chapter also weighed in on X. The group called the Board of Regents' policy an effort by the state's leadership "to shove queer identities out of public life."

Other experts agree that the South Dakota Board of Regents' guidelines are an escalation of a larger movement sweeping the US.

Larger efforts at play

South Dakota's flashpoint over email signatures comes as a national discourse rages about rights for LGBTQ+ Americans and members of diverse and protected groups.

"Quite frankly, this is the first time I've heard of a state university choosing to use branding standards to eliminate what obviously has become a practice of including pronouns and tribal affiliations to emails," Paulette Grandberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, told the AP.

"But I'm not surprised, given the current climate we're in," she added, calling the decision by the state's Board of Regents a "steady progression" in a broader push.

Grandberry Russell told the AP she thinks that such early-stage measures in conservative states could be used as a "testing ground" to determine if more severe laws could take hold.

Kelly Benjamin, a spokesperson for the American Association of University Professors, an advocacy group for academics in higher education, told the AP that it's the latest step in "a longer-term agenda" aimed at limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion measures to protect LGBTQ+ Americans.

Benjamin pointed to recent efforts in states like Florida and Arkansas. Florida lawmakers, for example, have passed bills that have limited or prevented access to services for transgender individuals, including gender-affirming care or even the ability to update their correct gender on their driver's license.

Though LGBTQ+ Americans benefited from legal strides in the 2010s like a landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the legality of gay marriage in 2015, more recent actions by some Republican state leaders have raised the specter of threats to similar protections. South Dakota's recent policy is just one example.

Meanwhile, violence against members of the LGBTQ+ communities has also increased as these debates have raged in the background. A 2022 Business Insider investigation found that homicides of transgender people, for instance, doubled between 2019 and 2021.

The University of South Dakota did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of normal working hours.

• The Montana US Senate race is set to be one of the most competitive races in the country.
• Now there's a new layer to the race: recent transplants who could sway the election.
• An influx of new residents has driven up home prices and shined a light on housing affordability.

Montana's US Senate race is shaping up to be one of the marquee races of 2024 as three-term Democrat Jon Tester hopes to fend off an aggressive challenge from his likely GOP opponent, Tim Sheehy.

The contest has huge national implications. A win for Tester in Montana would give Democrats a fighting chance to retain control of the Senate, while a GOP victory would be the culmination of a long road to regaining a critical seat in the conservative-leaning state.

With former President Donald Trump highly likely to win Montana in November, many Republicans believe he'll be able to aid down-ballot candidates like Sheehy.

But it's not that simple.

Tester, a moderate Democrat, has established a political brand that has defied the state's GOP orientation for nearly 20 years. And it's about to be tested even further due to the state's recent population surge, with transplants from Western states like California, Oregon, and Washington poised to be an electoral wild card in a contest that was already set to be competitive.

Montana has always drawn people who are attracted to the outdoors. During the coronavirus pandemic, many transplants found refuge in the state as they worked remotely. With many of these new residents possessing higher incomes — coupled with the demand for housing — home prices have gone through the roof in recent years.

The median home price in Montana hit $425,000 in late 2023, a 75% increase from 2018, The New York Times reported.

In Bozeman, which has become a hot spot for affluent transplants, the median home price has risen to an astonishing $770,000, according to the newspaper.

According to the US Census Bureau, Bozeman's population jumped from roughly 37,000 to more than 53,000 from 2010 to 2020. In 2022, the city's population grew even further to 56,000.

The rising prices have shined a brighter light on housing affordability, as many native Montanans have been priced out by ever-increasing rents. Outside of Bozeman, some longtime residents are now residing in RVs due to the heightened costs.

With strong support from GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte, the Montana legislature passed housing and land-use reform bills that overhauled the construction process — and now permit more housing density.

The issue is sure to be a major issue for Tester — as well as the eventual GOP Senate nominee — for a state in transition.

In 2018, Tester won reelection to a third term by roughly 18,000 votes out of nearly 505,000 ballots cast.

National Republicans see Montana as one of their best opportunities to win a "red" seat, especially as many transplants left Democratic-dominated coastal states for a more rustic environment.

But the Senate race is projected to be incredibly close. And for Democrats and Republicans, the newest Montanans will likely be an unpredictable voting bloc.

• Memorial Day weekend was marred by severe storms across the US.
• More than 20 people died, and tornado warnings are in effect for Maryland, Texas, and other states.
• Scientists blame the heat and say the severe weather will continue. 

Memorial weekend is the unofficial start of summer, and this year it was marred by a series of severe weather incidents that scientists say could continue as temperatures rise.

Severe weather, including thunderstorms and tornados, swept across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky over the holiday weekend, destroying buildings and killing over 20 people, according to the Associated Press.

Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, declared a state of emergency on Monday after five people died in the state from incidents associated with the severe weather.

The storms moved to the Northeast on Memorial Day, placing the Washington, DC, metropolitan area under a tornado watch on Monday evening. Parts of Texas, the Lower Great Lakes, and the Mid-Atlantic continue to be under a tornado watch for Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

The NWS warned of flash flooding in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region on Monday, and hail in the Southern Plains and Texas on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma told the AP that a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is behind the string of tornadoes over the past two months.

Sjoukje Philip, a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said that while attributing tornadoes to climate change is not straightforward, there is a link.

"With hotter sea surface temperatures, the air can hold more moisture. So I can also imagine that whenever there is precipitation, whether that's from a tornado or something else, there can be more rainfall, on shorter timescales. So that's a really clear relation," Philip told the AP.

The series of storms comes as temperatures climb in parts of the US, including Texas, where weather forecasters predicted temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend in some parts of the state. And just last week, in Mexico, temperatures got so hot that multiple monkeys suffered heat stroke and were dropping from trees like apples.

Philip noted that 2023 was the hottest year on record and that average temperatures are expected to continue to rise, which could trigger more severe weather.

• A new poll shows Trump's polling gains have been powered by voters who didn't cast a ballot in 2020.
• The Times says these voters could stay home or return to Biden. 
• Many of these voters actually lean Democratic, but they've drifted away from Biden over the economy.

President Joe Biden's reelection chances could rest on the support of irregular and disengaged voters — a segment of the population who sat out the hotly-contested 2020 presidential race.

But Biden would have to convince these voters that his vision for the economy would ultimately work for them, as their lagging support for his campaign has given former President Donald Trump a major opening ahead of November.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released last month shows Trump's polling gains have been powered by registered voters who didn't vote in 2020. Among these so-called irregular voters, Trump had a seven-point advantage over Biden (43% to 36%) for the 2024 contest in the latest poll. And Trump held an overall one-point lead (46% to 45%) among registered voters, while Biden had a one-point lead over Trump among voters aged 18 to 29.

However, there's no guarantee these voters will remain in Trump's corner in November, the Times wrote. With many irregular voters splitting their tickets — which is already being seen as Democratic Senate candidates in swing states including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are running ahead of Biden — Trump's support among these disengaged voters could falter as partisan leanings sharpen closer to the election. Many of these less engaged voters could eventually support Biden or stay at home, said the Times.

A big issue for irregular voters appears to be the economy, the poll showed. Democratic-leaning irregular voters said they view the economy as either "poor" or "fair," while Democratic voters who vote more regularly, described the economy as "good" or "excellent," the report said.

This presents a challenge for Biden as he aims to bolster his economic message — especially among young voters and minorities who would generally be inclined to back him based on prior voting trends. In the 2020 election, Biden dominated among young voters aged 18 to 29, winning this group by 24 points over Trump, according to Pew Research.

But as recent data has showed, the 2024 race will be fought on much different terrain than the 2020 contest.

• The German cockroach is one of the most common household pests worldwide.
• New research found that the species evolved to thrive in human dwellings about 2,100 years ago.
• "It's a creation of human-made environments," a researcher told the Washington Post.

If you ever saw a cockroach scuttling across your kitchen floor or a restaurant wall, chances are it was a German cockroach. The German roach is the most common of the 70 different cockroach species in the US.

For 250 years, scientists didn't know where it came from and how it managed to spread to every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Now that mystery has been solved, and the answer is that it's largely our fault.

The German cockroach is "a creation of human-made environments," Edward Vargo, an entomology professor at Texas A&M University and co-author of a new study identifying the roach's origins, told The Washington Post.

The German cockroach can't survive in "temperate winters outdoors" and all species of cockroaches "prefer warm, moist places where they can feed on human and pet foods, decaying and fermenting matter, and a variety of other items," according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

That's why it's pretty safe to say that if human-built establishments like houses, stores, restaurants, and other buildings didn't exist, neither would these pesky pests.

The researchers published their results last week in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Where did the German roach come from?

Scientists have long understood that the species thrive indoors, but their origins remained a mystery.

Through DNA analysis, Vargo and his colleagues found that the species' closest relative is the Asian cockroach.

The German roach evolved from its Asian cousin about 2,100 years ago to adapt to "human settlements in India or Myanmar," the researchers reported in their paper.

With advancements in transportation and "temperature-controlled housing," the German cockroach made its relatively recent global spread, the researchers said in their report.

How the German cockroach took over

The German cockroach's adaption to warm environments, ability to rapidly breed, and unique resistance to insecticides make them a frustratingly common presence in households.

For example, in a lifetime, one adult female German roach can produce four to eight egg capsules containing up to 48 eggs each, according to Penn State's Department of Entomology. Do the math and that's between 192 to 384 roaches, if every egg survives to adulthood.

But German roaches didn't migrate thousands of miles across oceans and continents on their tiny insect legs. Their global spread coincides with advancements in human travel and housing, according to the study.

In particular, the researchers determined that the German cockroach's spread began along two routes, west and east of its origin in India or Myanmar.

The roach's westward spread likely occurred during times of increasing "commercial and military activities of the Islamic Umayyad or Abbasid Caliphates" about 1,200 years ago, the researchers reported. Meanwhile, the pest's eastward spread about 390 years ago was likely caused by "European colonial commercial activities between South and Southeast Asia."

Understanding the German cockroaches' origins could help other scientists understand how the species evolved to become so resilient against common insecticides. One study found that they're resistant to five types of common household insecticides.

"If we can know the origin of the species, we can try to identify the mechanism of this rapid evolution of insecticide resistance," Qian Tang, a research associate at Rowland Institute at Harvard who led the new study told the Post.