The ice shelf on Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier lost about one-fifth of its area from 2017 to 2020, mostly in three dramatic breaks. Pine Island Glacier, one of the fastest-shrinking glaciers in Antarctica, hastened its slide into the sea between 2017 and 2020, when one-fifth of its associated iceContinue Reading
The tiny object is made up of two different stamps. Archaeologists recently discovered Israel’s oldest known seal impression, a device that stamps a pattern onto soft material such as clay or wax in order to seal an object. The tiny clay impression dates back 7,000 years and was likely usedContinue Reading
There’s been so little flu transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic that some types of flu viruses may have disappeared. There’s been so little flu transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic that some types of flu viruses may have gone extinct, according to news reports. During the COVID-19 pandemic, flu cases droppedContinue Reading
A burning container ship dumped tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka’s beaches. A burning container ship dumped tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka’s beaches, prompting a widespread environmental disaster, according to recent news reports. The ship, the X-Press Pearl, had sailed to Sri Lanka from India and wasContinue Reading
Researchers may have identified a potential treatment for the rare condition. Six years ago, a teenager from Italy traveled to the U.S. in hopes of finding a diagnosis for her mysterious medical condition, which had caused her to lose the ability to walk and required her to have a breathingContinue Reading
Coronavirus variants of concern and variants of interest will now be named using a system similar to hurricane naming, wherein each variant gets assigned a letter of the Greek alphabet, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday (May 31). For example, the coronavirus variant first found in the U.K. willContinue Reading
Gold veins thicker than your arm finally get a geological explanation. Why did some gold prospectors strike it rich with a bonanza gold vein, while others came up empty-handed? The credit may go to nanoparticles. New research reveals that high-grade veins of gold contain clusters of gold nanoparticles, which isContinue Reading
Her nickname is “Fernanda.” A giant tortoise in the Galápagos Islands that was thought to have gone extinct over a century ago just came out of hiding. Researchers discovered the female tortoise on the Galápagos’ Fernandina Island during a joint expedition carried out by the Galápagos National Park Directorate andContinue Reading
A colony of wild African green monkeys living near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport finally gets an origin story. Much-beloved wild African monkeys that live near the Fort Lauderdale airport are the descendants of a bunch of zoo escapees from 1948. Local lore long held that the monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus)Continue Reading
The skeleton of a soldier found on a beach at Herculaneum, an ancient town that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, may be that of a rescue-party member sent by Roman naturalist and military officer Pliny the Elder to help evacuate people, a researcher has suggested basedContinue Reading