Abbie Caffyn

A New Tiny 38 cm Tall Species Of The World’s Smallest Deer, Pudella Carlae, Found In Peru‘s Central Andes, Marks The First Cervid Species Discovery In South America In 60+ Years. P. Carlae, A Jack Russell Terrier-Size Deer, Is A Separate Species From The Northern Pudu, & Inhabits Diverse Habitats: The Andean Grasslands To The Cloud Forest.

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In Peru‘s Amazon, A 16-Myr-Old Fossil Of Pebanista Yacuruna (PY), The Largest Freshwater Dolphin (FWD), Was Found. ~3.5m Long, It’s ~25% Larger Than Modern FWD. PY Is Said To Be Related To The Modern South Asia FWD. PY Extinction May Be Linked To Ancient Amazon Lake Drainage. This Find Highlights FWD Evolution And Ecosystem Vulnerability.

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A Farm In Australia Breaks World Record, Certified By Guinness World Records, For Growing The Largest Blueberry Which Is ~4cm-Wide And Weighs 20.4g. The Fruit Breed, An Eterna Breed, Developed By Costa Group, Yields Consistently Large Fruits That Maintain Flavor And Firmness. The Farmers May Preserve The Giant Berry Via A Resin Cast.

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France Made History As The First World Country To Guarantee Abortion Rights In Its Constitution. France Parliament’s Approval, Timed With International Women’s Day, Underscores Abortion As A Fundamental Freedom. Yet, President Macron‘s Bid For EU-Wide Consensus Faces Hurdles Due To Differing Abortion Laws Within Member States, E.G., In Poland And Malta.

Elizabeth Francis, Aged 114, Is America’s Oldest Resident And 5th Oldest Person On Earth. Francis, A Houstonian, Took The Title After 116-Year-Old Californian Edie Ceccarelli Passed Away. Francis Has 3 Grandchildren, 4 Great-Grandchildren, And 2 Great-Great-Grandchildren. She Lives With Her Daughter Dorothy Williams, 94, And Granddaughter.

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Researchers Found, In Ecuador‘s Rainforest, The World’s Largest Snake– A Green Anaconda Of Species Eunectes Akiyama, Which Split From Its Relatives, Eunectes Murinus, 10m Yrs Ago. Despite Identical Looks, Genetic Analysis Revealed A New Species. This Find Was Made During A Study Of Anacondas As A Key Indicator For Ecosystem Health Due To Oil Spillage.

A 14-Foot (4.3 Meters) Odysseus Lander, Built By Intuitive Machines And Sponsored By NASA For $118 Million, Successfully Touched Down Near The South Pole Of The Moon, Marking The First U.S. Landing In Over 50 Years Since NASA’s Famed Apollo Moonwalkers. This Achievement Also Made Intuitive Machines The First Private Company To Achieve A Lunar Landing.

Photographer Carlos Gauna May Have Filmed The First-Ever Footage Of A Newborn Great White Shark (GWS) Off Santa Barbara, Challenging Birthing Assumptions. Gauna’s Observations, Like Shedding Intrauterine Milk, The Shark’s Size (~5ft), And Shape Suggest It’s A Newborn, Providing Rare Insights. This Discovery Contributes To GWS Conservation.

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Turkey’s First Astronaut, Alper Gezeravci, Launched With A Swede And An Italian On A $55 Million Per Person Spacex Trip/Mission To The International Space Station. Organized By Axiom Space, Nasa, And Spacex, The Crew, Including A Retired Nasa Astronaut, Will Spend Two Weeks Conducting Experiments And Promoting Education Before Returning Home.

Germany Marks Its First Permanent Troop Deployment Since WWII After Germany And Lithuania Agreed On A Historic Deployment Of 4,800 German Troops To Lithuanian Cities Of Kaunas And Vilnius By 2027. The Plan, Motivated By Regional Security, Aims To Bolster NATO Defense, With Lithuania Committing Infrastructure And Funding.

The World’s Biggest Iceberg, A23a, Stuck For 37 Years In The Weddell Sea, Is Now Moving From Antarctica. A23a Is More Than Twice The Size Of Greater London, 400m Thick, And Set Adrift Due To Natural Conditions. Its Journey May Disrupt Animal Habitats In South Georgia But Contributes Nutrients Upon Melting, Which Is Vital For Ocean Life.

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Nepal Saw Its First Same-Sex Marriage Between Maya Gurung, 35, And Surendra Pandey, 27, In The Lumjung District On Nov. 29, 2023. Following Nepal’s Supreme Court Order Allowing The Registration Of Such Marriage 5 Months Prior, This Marks A Significant Stride, With Taiwan Being The Sole Other Asian Region To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage.

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Surgeons At NYU, In May 2023, Performed The World’s First Full Eye Transplant On Aaron James, 46, Post-Face Transplant Due To A High-Voltage Accident. Early Signs Show Success, But Vision’s Return Remains Unsure. The 21Hr Surgery, A Leap In Optic Nerve Healing, Offers Hope For Treating Blindness, Fueling Prospects For Breakthroughs.

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Researchers Have Produced The Largest Human Brain Cell Map, Encompassing Over 3,000 Cell Types, Through Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Of 3 Million Brain Cells. This Groundbreaking Map Reveals Regional Variations And Gene Regulation Mechanisms, Aiding The Study Of Brain Disorders And Genetics And Providing Deep Insights Into Brain Complexity.

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Harvard University Inaugurated Claudine Gay As Its First Black And Second Female President. Gay, The 30th President In Harvard’s History, Is A 1998 Distinguished Harvard Alum And Accomplished Political Scholar. Gay’s Tenure Follows Her Role As Dean Of The Faculty Of Arts And Sciences And Founding Chair Of The Inequality In America Initiative.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Released A Capsule 63,000 Miles From Earth. The Capsule, Containing The First Asteroid Sample Collected In Space By NASA, Landed In Utah, On 9/24/2023, After A 4-hr Journey. OSIRIS-REx Will Now Divert To The Asteroid Apophis, With The Same Mission To Better Understand Similar Asteroids From The Early Solar System.

Geneticists, For The First Time, Have Extracted RNA From An Extinct Animal—A 130-Yr-Old Tasmanian Tiger. This Achievement Offers Insights Into The Genetic Functioning Of Thylacine, Which Vanished 2k Years Ago, Except In Australia, Where It Went Extinct Primarily Due To Hunting. This Research Could Aid Thylacine De-Extinction Efforts.

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A 127 Myr-Old Fossil Of A Side-Necked Turtle (SNT), Said To Be UK’s First SNT, Was Discovered On The Isle Of Wight. SNT Is Known For Retracting Its Neck Sideways When Threatened. The Fossil, Dubbed ‘Burby,’ Missing Only The Skull, Was Radiometrically Dated & Analyzed Via Micro CT Scan. The Findings Were Donated To The Dinosaur Isle Museum.

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A Live Invasive Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH) Was Spotted For The First Time In The US, Near Savannah, GA. YLHs, Native To SE Asia & Cousin To Murder Hornet, Pose Major Threats To Honeybees & Agric, As They Are More Predatory Than Native Hornets, Jeopardizing Honey Prod. & Pollination, Valued At $15 B. Efforts Are Underway To Eradicate Them.

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A Spotless Female Reticulated Giraffe Was Born At Brights Zoo, Tennessee, On July 31, 2023—A Rarity Seen Only Once Before In A 1970s Japanese Birth. The Public Is Helping To Name The Calf From 4 Swahili Name Options. Reticulated Giraffes’ Population, In The Wild, Has Declined From 36,000 To 16,000 In 35 Years, Raising Conservation Concerns.