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One of the most enduring mysteries is the fate of beloved pilot Amelia Earhart.
Almost 87 years after the famous aviator and his navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean trying to fly around the world, underwater archaeologists and other marine experts are still trying to unravel what happened.
The US government says the aviation pioneer and Noonan crashed into the ocean after running out of fuel, but some believe the two became rivals on an island or that Earhart was a spy captured by the Japanese.
Earhart, the greatest of all time, passed away at the top of her game, an iconic figure for women pilots.
And a recent discovery may add a new chapter to Earhart’s unfinished story.
Secrets of the sea
A research team believes that Earhart’s twin-engine plane is deep beneath the waves.
The ocean exploration company Deep Sea Vision launched a trip to the Pacific between September and December. Using sonar imaging to map the sea floor with sound waves, a small anomaly in the shape of an aircraft was visible more than 16,000 feet (4,877 meters) down.
The researchers made the discovery about 100 miles (161 kilometers) away from Howland Island, the next planned stop on Earhart and Noonan’s itinerary after leaving Papua New Guinea.
Deep Sea Vision must return to the site to confirm if the find is an airplane. If so, the aircraft is likely to be well preserved due to the cold depths of the sea.
Lunar update
The moon is shrinking, and hourly “moonquakes” and landslides could make the south pole of the moon a dangerous place for astronauts to touch down in the future.
Multiple missions are targeting the region with the aim of utilizing its ice deposits for a sustained human presence on the moon. But as the moon’s core cools and contracts, the south pole is one area where moonquakes tend to rumble, according to a new study.
A seismometer installed by the Apollo astronauts decades ago a moonquake was recorded that reached the equivalent of a magnitude 5 earthquake on Earth.
Because of the moon’s low gravity, such a tremor “could knock you off your feet,” said Thomas R. Watters, senior scientist emeritus at the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. .
Meanwhile, Japan’s “Moon Sniper” lander received enough solar power to wake up and take new images of the moon’s surface.
Amazing creatures
New drone footage appears to show the first sighting of a newborn great white shark in the wild.
While shooting video and aerial images off the coast of Southern California, wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and University of California, Riverside doctoral student Phillip Sternes spotted a great white shark that was about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.
A closer look revealed a thin white film being shed from its body as the shark swam. Sternes said he believes the shark was consuming a layer of nutrient fluid that it suffered while in the uterus.
Scientists have searched for a long time but have not found them where great white sharks give birth – an unprecedented event. Some experts believe the footage could help find a shark nursery.
Dig this
About 350 million years ago, trees were buried alive by a landslide caused by an earthquake in what is now Canada.
When researchers found the first fossils in a quarry in 2017, they made the rare discovery of a tree with the crown branches and leaves still attached to the trunk, according to a new report describing the species.
Complete tree fossils are harder to find than dinosaur skeletons, but they are crucial to understanding ancient landscapes and ecosystems, the researchers said. The trees, called Sanfordiacaulis, were reminiscent of palms.
“Dr. is a very sought-after tree. It’s Seuss. It’s a strange and wonderful idea what this thing would have looked like,” said Olivia King, a research associate at the New Brunswick Museum who discovered the fossils.
Around the globe
Millions of stars dance along the spiral arms of 19 galaxies in new images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Webb’s mid-infrared and near-infrared cameras observed sparkling blue stars and bright red and orange gas that reveal the galaxy’s iconic spiral structure.
Details in the exciting images provide new pieces of the puzzle that could help astronomers answer important questions about star formation and Galactic evolution.
Discoveries
Grab a cup of coffee and settle in with these exciting new reads:
— Ancient DNA from bones found in a cave in Germany has shown that humans likely created distinctive leaf-shaped tools and lived with Neanderthals 45,000 years ago in an unlikely location.
— Astronomers peering into the heart of the Milky Way have discovered a new type of aging star called an “old smoker,” which can be invisible for years before releasing huge puffs of smoke and dust.
— Do you want to know the life cycle of your dog? Their body size, sex and even the length of their nose can determine how long your friend will be shy around you, according to new research.
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