Creepy Crawlies & Flying Wonders: Incredible Cave Creatures

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  507 words  |  Patria Henriques

Cave Temple Myanmar The entrance to Saddan Cave, a temple cave in Myanmar. The caves of Southeast Asia are among the largest and most spectacular in the world. From Laos to Myanmar to Vietnam, the caves entice explorers with their promise of adventure — and plenty of surprises in the darkness. Liz Price, an adventurer, researcher and writer based in Southeast Asia has made caving her life's work, and has spent countless hours exploring every last corner of the region's subterranean labyrinths. [Read More]

How to see the last supermoon of 2020

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  545 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Even if you're stuck indoors during the pandemic, you can still catch May's full moon, the last supermoon of 2020, which will appear full from Tuesday evening through Friday morning (May 5-8).  Technically, the full moon, which will be in the constellation Libra, will last only a moment. That will happen at 6:45 a.m. EDT (1145 GMT) on Thursday, May 7, when the side of the moon that faces Earth is fully illuminated by the sun, according to NASA. [Read More]

John Dillinger's Corpse to Be Dug Up and DNA-Tested to Settle Conspiracy Theory

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  629 words  |  Trudie Dory

The body of infamous Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger — or, at least, the body of whoever is buried in Dillinger's Indianapolis cemetery plot — is going to be exhumed, DNA-tested and reinterred on Sept. 16, cbsnews.com reported. This grim reaping could finally smother the flames of a conspiracy theory that's been smoldering since the gangster was reportedly shot and killed by FBI agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago 85 years ago: Is Dillinger really buried in that grave, or did the feds kill an innocent man? [Read More]

Killer Whales Learn How to Speak Dolphin

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  725 words  |  Patria Henriques

Killer whales are known for their haunting songs consisting of complex whistles and clicks, but they can also learn "dolphin speak," a new study finds. Most animals communicate with innate sounds, such as the barking of dogs and the gobbling of turkeys. But some species, humans, for example, can imitate new sounds and learn how to use them correctly in social situations. This ability, called vocal learning, is one of the foundations of language. [Read More]

Mega Tsunami with 500-Foot Waves Swallowed Ancient Island

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1104 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A mega tsunami taller than a 50-story skyscraper once engulfed an island off the west coast of Africa, researchers say. This finding suggests the giant landslides and killer waves that such tsunamis can trigger might pose a major hazard to people living on islands and coasts, scientists added. Tsunamis are monster waves that are often caused by earthquakes. The 2004 Banda Aceh earthquake and tsunami killed about 250,000 people, while the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck offshore of Japan killed about 20,000 people and triggered a nuclear catastrophe. [Read More]

Nerve damage in cornea could be sign of 'long COVID,' study hints

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1272 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

(opens in new tab)Nerve damage and a buildup of immune cells in the cornea may be a sign of "long COVID," a long-term syndrome that emerges in some people after COVID-19 infection, a new study suggests. These preliminary results will need to be verified in a larger group of people with long COVID, or COVID-19 long-haulers, as they're known, an expert told Live Science. But the findings do hint at something scientists already suspected: Some symptoms of long COVID emerge due to peripheral nerve damage, she said. [Read More]

School-Bus-Size Giant Squid May Be Lurking Deep in the Sea

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  669 words  |  Patria Henriques

Steeped in mystery, the elusive, deep-sea-dwelling giant squid, with eyes the size of basketballs, may be larger than it has gotten credit for. In fact, the monster cephalopod may grow to be longer than a school bus, researchers say. Specimens recognizable as giant squid (Architeuthis dux) have been found washed up onshore since at least 1639. However, these sea monsters — which some people say inspired the legend of the giant kraken, though not all scientists agree — are so elusive that they were largely thought to be mythical until they were first photographed alive in their natural environment in 2004. [Read More]

SpaceX launches Starlink satellites on 'American broomstick' and lands rocket at sea

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  614 words  |  Fernande Dalal

SpaceX successfully launched a new batch of Starlink internet satellites on Wednesday (March 9), marking the company's 10th launch in as many weeks.  A two-stage Falcon 9(opens in new tab) rocket launched 48 Starlink(opens in new tab) satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:45 a.m. EST (1545 GMT). The rocket's first stage then returned to Earth for a smooth touchdown at sea on the SpaceX(opens in new tab) droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. [Read More]

Stunning aurora glow above Iceland after 'dead' sunspot erupts

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  530 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A sunspot that "awoke from the dead" last week and erupted with a medium-size solar flare, along with a mass ejection of plasma, also lit up the northern skies in glowing lights. One stunning image of the effect showed the aurora seeming to rain through the clouds above Iceland. Rays from this aurora shone near Goðafoss Waterfall, which is about about 45 minutes from Akureyri, the second-largest city in Iceland.  [Read More]

Weird! Tiny Frog Uses Its Mouth to Hear

 Posted on November 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  510 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A small frog native to the Republic of Seychelles lacks a conventional middle ear and eardrum to hear sounds made by other frogs, but new research suggests these peculiar croakers are not deaf, and can instead use their mouth cavities to pick up on noise. Gardiner's frogs from the Seychelles islands are one of the smallest known types of frogs in the world. These amphibians are seemingly deaf — having no middle ear or eardrum to help process sound waves — but can mysteriously still make their own croaking sounds, and hear the calls of other frogs. [Read More]