Good News Notes: “A team of Chinese scientists has discovered a giant new sinkhole with a forest at its bottom. The sinkhole is 630 feet (192 meters) deep, according to the Xinhua news agency, deep enough to just swallow St. Louis’ Gateway Arch. A team of speleologists and spelunkers rappelled into the sinkhole on Friday (May…
Tag: discovery
New Species of Large-Sized Pterosaur Unearthed in Scotland
Good News Notes: “Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight and include the largest flying animals in Earth history. While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes — wingspans 1.6-1.8 m (5.2-5.9 feet) — from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic…
Nature: World’s rarest marsupial back from the brink of extinction – thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh
Good News Notes: “Thanks to an unwitting intervention by the Duke of Edinburgh 60 years ago, the world’s rarest marsupial has come back from the very brink of extinction. Gilbert’s potoroo — a nocturnal, fungi-loving rat–kangaroo — is named for English naturalist John Gilbert, who first documented them on a visit to Australia in 1838. By the 1870s,…
Rare Giant Owl Species Spotted and Photographed in the Wild for the First Time in 150 Years
Good News Notes: “A giant owl at risk of extinction was spotted in an African rainforest for the first time in more than 150 years. The rare Shelley’s eagle owl, observed by British researchers working in Ghana, hasn’t been seen in the wild since the 1870s, with the only other existing photograph a blurry image…
Magnificent Roman-era building unearthed under Israel’s Western Wall
Good News Notes: “Inside the tunnels beneath the Western Wall in Israel, archaeologists have uncovered the final parts of an elaborate building that may have been used as a reception area for members of Jerusalem’s local council and their guests on their journey to Temple Mount. The building consists of two hallways that were connected by…
A Never-Before-Seen Type of Signal Has Been Detected in The Human Brain
Good News Notes: “Scientists have discovered a unique form of cell messaging occurring in the human brain that’s not been seen before. Excitingly, the discovery hints that our brains might be even more powerful units of computation than we realized. Early last year, researchers from institutes in Germany and Greece reported a mechanism in the brain’s…
Nuclear bomb detectors uncover secret population of blue whales hiding in Indian Ocean
Good News Notes: “Scientists have discovered an entirely new population of pygmy blue whales in the Indian Ocean, which have managed to evade detection for decades despite their enormous size. Researchers uncovered the secretive cetaceans by analyzing acoustic data collected by an underwater nuclear bomb detection array, which revealed a unique song scientists had never heard before….
Egg of Extinct Dwarf Emu Discovered in Australian Sand Dune
Good News Notes: “A recently discovered extinct dwarf emu egg has offered the global scientific community valuable information into the deceased species. According to a report from Live Science, a researcher with the United Kingdom’s Natural History Museum and an Australian historian found the surprisingly large egg was on King Island, situated between Tasmania and Australia….
Archeologists discover 3000-year-old gold mask
Good News Notes: “One of archeologists’ most impressive findings so far is the remnants of a 3,000-year-old gold mask, with the outline of its ears and mouth intact. In the No. 8 pit, the largest of all the sacrificial areas, archeologists have unearthed more than 1,800 pieces of relic, including sacred trees, gold artifacts, and…
Scientists discover new species: “Chocolate frog”
Good News Notes: “Australian scientists discovered a new species of tree frog in a swampy rainforest in New Guinea. Details: Tree frogs are known for their green skin, but researchers encountered a species that had brown coloring, nicknaming it the “chocolate frog.” The team named the species “mira” — which translate to “surprised” in Latin — because they…