2019-03-01
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It’s Not Just Methane: If Arctic Permafrost Melts it Releases the World’s Largest Reserve of Mercury
February 13, 2018A recent survey of Arctic permafrost has revealed that the northern tundra holds the world's largest reserve of mercury, with its size estimated to be in the tens of millions of gallons. Ordinarily, the presence of the toxic metal wouldn't... continued
Long-Lost NASA Satellite Wakes Up from its 12-Year Slumber
February 10, 2018Launched in 2000, NASA's IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) satellite was tasked with studying how Earth's magnetosphere was affected by the solar wind, imaging plasma streams in the planet's atmosphere from an orbit that took it 28,000 miles (45,000... continued
Mayan Civilization was Far More Vast and Complex than Previously Thought
February 8, 2018A recent aerial survey of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala has uncovered a vast interconnected network of ancient cities, hidden for centuries beneath the jungle canopy that reclaimed this "megalopolis" after it was abandoned long ago. These new findings... continued
New Study Supports a Major Cometary Impact at the End of the Last Ice Age
February 6, 2018The evidence pointing toward a major cometary impact that heralded the closure of the last ice age 13,000 years ago is steadily growing, with a new study from the University of Kansas offering more data that supports what is known... continued
Two New Archaeological Finds Point to an Earlier Migration out of Africa
February 3, 2018Archaeological sites in India and Israel have yielded new finds that once again illustrate the probability that some groups of people left Africa much earlier than previously assumed. Although a number of these migrations have been found to have occurred... continued
Researchers use AI to Decipher the Enigmatic Voynich Manuscript
February 1, 2018Computer scientists at Canada's University of Alberta have used artificial intelligence to decipher the mysterious Voynich Manuscript. Although computer-based cryptoanalysis has been used since World War II to crack innumerable codes, in recent years computers have been pitted against a... continued
Strong Winter Storms can move 600-ton Boulders Around: What Could a Superstorm Do?
January 30, 2018A new study has confirmed that waves generated by powerful storms can move massive seaside boulders that weigh hundreds of tons, and as global warming spurs stronger and more powerful storms, this finding illustrates the sheer force that our planet's... continued
Climate Watch Update
January 27, 2018Unknowncountry's Climate Watch section has been updated for winter 2017/2018. It discusses the extreme heat in the Southern Hemisphere and the extreme cold in the Northern Hemisphere, and explains why this is happening. It points out that Winter Storm Dylan that struck... continued
Marine Biologist Films Humpback Whale Protecting Her from a 15-Foot Tiger Shark
January 26, 2018A recent encounter between a human diver and a humpback whale has illustrated how concern for the safety of others can reach across species. Marine biologist Nan Hauser was on an expedition to the South Pacific's Cook Islands to study... continued
New Research Shows that Geoengineering Efforts Would Have to be Done Right… Or Not At All
January 25, 2018As Earth's climate continues to warm, some scientists are looking at doing more than simply reducing humanity's outpouring of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by devising ways to actively cool the planet back to temperatures that our civilization is comfortable... continued