Mary Joe

Scientists In South Africa Have Discovered The World’s Oldest Active Termite Mounds, Over 34 Kyrs Old, Along The Buffels River In Namaqualand. These Mounds, Called “Heuweltjies,” House Southern Harvester Termites (Microhodotermes Viator). Their Foraging Promotes Carbon Sequestration By Forming Calcium Carbonate, Locking Carbon Deep In The Soil.

Astronomers Discovered WASP-193b, An Exoplanet 50% Larger Than Jupiter But Only 14% Of Its Mass, Making It The 2nd Lightest Known Planet After Kepler 51d. Located 1,200 LY Away, The “Puffy Jupiter” Is Likely Comprised Mainly Hydrogen & Helium, And Its Extended Atmosphere Is Ideal For Studying Its Planetary Formation With Tools Like JWST.

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The Closest Transiting, Temperate, And Potentially Habitable Earth-Size Exoplanet, Gliese 12b, Has Been Discovered. It’s 40 LY Away In Pisces, Orbits A Red Dwarf In 12.8 Days, And Has A Surface Temperature Of 107°f. Found By NASA’s TESS, Its Atmosphere Will Be Analyzed By The James Webb Telescope, But Human Visitation Is Impractical.

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Scientists In China, For The First Time In The World, Cured A 59-Year-Old Man’s Type 2 Diabetes Using His Stem Cells, Making Him Insulin-Independent. This Is The First Successful Stem Cell-Derived Islet Transplantation. The Patient, Diabetic For 25 Years And Insulin-Dependent After A 2017 Kidney Transplant, Received The Treatment In 2021.

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Fossilized Bones Found In Somerset, England, In 2020, Identified As Part Of A Giant Ichthyosaur From 202 Myrs Ago, And Linked To An 8-Year Prior Find Of A 3 Ft Long Bone, Led To The Identification Of A New Species Of Ichthyosaur, Ichthyotitan Severnensis, Said To Be The Largest Marine Reptile Ever Found. The New Species Was ~82 Ft Long.

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Astronomers Observed, For The First Time, The ‘Glory Effect’ (GE) On An Exoplanet, WASP-76b, Similar To Earth’s & Venus‘s. It Features Concentric, Colorful Rings Of Light Caused By Light Reflecting Off Clouds Made Of A Uniform Substance. Extreme Conditions—Scorching Dayside, Nightside Iron Rain—Permit GE, Offering Insights Into Alien Atm.

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A Wild Animal, An Orangutan In Indonesia, Was Observed For The First Time Applying A Potent Medicinal Plant Directly To A Wound And Then Covering It With The Chewed Plant, Like A Bandage In A Likely Form Of Self-Medication. Other Primates Have Also Been Known To Use Plants For Healing, Which Raises Questions About The Evolution Of Medicine.

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Scientists Discovered A Huge Water Reservoir, 3x Earth’s Oceans, 700 Km Deep Within The Mantle In The Rock Ringwoodite. This Find Challenges Theories On Earth’s Water Origin, Suggesting Possibly Internal Rather Than From Comets. Seismic Data Reveals This Underground Ocean, Potentially Reshaping Our Understanding Of The Planet’s Water Cycle.

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In 2024, Brood XIX (13-Year–Largest Periodical Cicada Brood) And Brood XIII (17-Year) Cicadas Will Co-Emerge Across 17 US States, In A Rare Event Seen Every 221 Years. The Adult Cicada Will Mate, Lay Eggs, Then Die, While The Nymphs Will Burrow Into The Ground For The Next Cycle. There Are 3,000 To 5,000 Species Of Cicadas Around The World.

A Researcher, In Queensland, Australia, Has Discovered A Potentially World’s Hairiest Beetle, Excastra Albopilosa, In Dec., 2021. With Long Fluffy White Hairs, It’s Believed To Mimic Fungus-Infected Insects, A Possible Deterrent To Predators. This cm-Long Longhorn Beetle Is Said To Be Of A New Genus, And Only One Specimen Has Been Found.

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