Kandice Tirado

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.

India Made History, With Its Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft, As The First Country To Successfully Land On The Moon‘s Unexplored South Pole. This Achievement, Under Modest Budgets, Also Marks The 4th Lunar Landing After Russia, The U.S., And China. The South Pole’s Significance Lies In Recent Water Ice Discoveries, Potentially Fueling Future Space Exploration.

Researchers Have Discovered, In Peru’s Ica Valley, Fossils Of Perucetus Colossus, A Prehistoric Whale Said To Be The Heaviest Animal To Have Ever Lived On Earth—Possibly Weighing 2-3x The Blue Whale. The Colossal Nature Of The Creature, Which Swam The Seas About 39 Mya, Suggests That It Navigated Shallow Waters Using An Undulating Swimming Technique.

Singapore Executed Its First Woman In 18 Years For Drug Trafficking, Since Yen May Woen In 2004. Saridewi Binte Djamani, 45, Was Hanged For Possessing 30.72 Grams Of Heroin. But Anti-Death Penalty Advocates Argue That Such Law/Punishment Is Inhumane And Doesn’t Deter Drug Use Or Availability, As A Study In The Philippines Has Found.

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Earth’s Oceans Are Becoming Greener, Especially Near The Equator, Likely Due To Human-Induced Climate Change. Scientists Studied 20+ Yrs Of Nasa Data, Revealing Changes In Plankton Popu. These Shifts Signal Broader Ecosystem Changes. The Jan 2024 Satellite Mission, Pace, Will Further Investigate Ocean Colors & Ecological Implications.

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A Record-Breaking 111 Python Eggs, From A Burmese Python Nest, Was Removed In The Florida Everglades. The Previous Record Was 96 Eggs Found In 2022 In Big Cypress. The Large Reproductive Capacity Of The Species–Can Lay 50 To 100 Eggs At A Time, Has Contributed To Their Success As Invasive Creatures, With Over 16,000 Being Removed From Florida Since 2000.

US FDA Has Approved The First OTC Birth Control Pill, Opill, From Perrigo; With The Aim To Increase Access To Contraception & Reduce Unintended Pregnancies, Which Accounts For 50% Of All US Pregnancies. The Pill, Available In Early 2024, Needs Consistent, Same Time, Daily Use. Side Effects Include Irregular Bleeding, Headaches & Nausea.

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Scientists Found 50 Tiny Microscopic Sphere Fragments Of A Mysterious Meteor, From Outside Our Solar System, Which Crashed Into The Pacific Ocean, Near Papua New Guinea, In 2014. Further Testing Is Required To Determine If These Spheres, Made Of A Unique Metallic Substance, Are Natural Or Of Technological Origin, Which Could Signify Alien Life.

The 4th Of July, 2023, Was Earth’s Hottest Day In Up To 125,000 Years. The Global Avg Temp Reached 17.18 Oc, Surpassing The Record Set The Previous Day. This Extreme Temp Is Attributed To El Niño, Exacerbating The Effects Of Global Warming. The Trend Of Broken Temp Records Is Likely To Continue Due To El Niño’s Quickening Of Global Warming.

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A Recent Study Suggests That Excessive Groundwater (GW) Extraction Is Causing The Earth’s Rotational Axis To Drift East, At A Rate Of ~14.3 cm/ Yr, Contributing To Sea Level Rise. Computer Models And Data Indicate GW As The 2nd Most Notable Driver In Long-Term Axis Variations, After Mantle Flow. GW Is Crucial For, E.G., Drinking & Farming.

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The World’s Largest Cruise Ship (WLCS), Royal Caribbean’s (RC) “Icon Of The Seas,” Has Conducted Its First Sea Trials. It Spans 365 M And Weighs ~250,800 Tones; Can Hold 5,610 Passengers And 2,350 Crews. The Ship, Which Boasts The World’s Largest Waterpark At Sea, Will Begin Its Caribbean Sail In Jan. 2024. The Previous WLCS Is RC’s “Wonder Of The Seas.”

Regulators, For The First Time, Approved The Sale Of Lab-Grown Meat (LGM) In The US, With Upside Foods And Good Meat Authorized To Sell Chicken Made From Animal Cells. LGM Will Be Served In Some Restaurants Initially. Supermarket Availability May Take Time. LGM Aims To Reduce Harm To Animals And The Envir. But Public LGM Skepticism Remains

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Researchers Have Discovered That Chitin, From Crustacean Shells, Can Power Batteries When Combined With Zinc. The Shellfish Batteries Can Decompose In Soil After 5 Months, Leaving Recyclable Zinc. They’re 99.7% Efficient After 400 Hrs Of Usage And Can Be Produced Cheaply, Offering A Clean Sustainable Alternative To Lithium-Ion Batteries.

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The Recently Discovered World’s Oldest-Known Burial Site, Within The Cradle Of Humankind, Dating Back To At Least 200,000 BC, Contains The Remains Of Homo Naledi, A Small-Brained Human Relative. The Findings, Yet To Be Peer-Reviewed, Challenge The Belief That Complex Behaviors Like Burial Were Exclusive To Species With Larger Brains.

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Scientists Made A Breakthrough In Their 60-Year Quest To Explore Earth’s Depths. They Recovered Pieces Of Rocky Mantle From Atlantis Massif In The North Atlantic. Although They Didn’t Reach The Mantle, They Obtained The Deepest Mantle Rock Ever Collected, Providing Valuable Data For, E.g., Understanding Earth’s Composition, & Life’s Origin

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Astronomers Discovered Asteroid 2023 FW13, A 50-Ft-Wide Quasi-Moon That Orbits The Sun With Earth, Coming Within 9 Mil Miles Of Our Planet. It Is The Longest-Known Fake Moon Dating Back To ~ 100 B.C. And Will Continue Circling Earth For 1,500 Yrs. It Poses No Collision Threat. A Prior Quasi-Moon, Kamo’oalewa, Found In 2016, May Be A Piece Of Earth’s Moon.

China Launched The Shenzhou-16 Mission On 5/30/23, Carrying Its First Civilian Astronaut, Dr. Gui Haichao, To The Tiangong Space Station. The Crew Will Replace Shenzhou-15 For The Next 5 Months. Dr. Haichao Drew Attention For Wearing Eyeglasses. China Seeks To Make Tiangong A Significant Research Station And Aims For A Manned Lunar Landing By 2030.

The World’s Oldest Surviving City Is A Debated Topic, But Contenders Include Jericho, Middle East, With Continuous Settlement Evidence From Around 9,000 BCE. Damascus; Aleppo, Syria; And Faiyum, Egypt Are Also Ancient Cities With Long Human Habitation Histories, Dating Back To ~ 3,000 BCE, Possibly 6, 000 BCE, And ~ 5,500 BCE, Respectively.

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Biden’s Govt Has Completed The First-Ever National Inventory Of Old-Growth Forests In The US, Using Data Analysis And Public Input. These Ancient Forests Hold Mysteries & Play A Crucial Role In, E.G., Carbon Storage But Face Threats From, E.G., Logging, And Climate Change. Collab. Btw US Forest Service & Nasa Will Help Protect The Forests.

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The World’s 2nd Deepest Blue Hole, Taam Ja’, Was Discovered Off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula In 2021. It Measures ~900 Ft Deep And Spans 147,000 Square Ft. Taam Ja’ Lacks Oxygen And Sunlight But Supports Diverse Life Adapted To Low-Oxygen Conditions. It’s The 2nd, After The ~980 Ft China’s Dragon Hole. Blue Holes Are Underwater CaCO3 Cave Fm.

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