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National Geographic Headlines Week of March 17th - Astronomy, Archaeology and Animals
Rare Leatherback Turtles Gain Protection in Costa Rica - these turtles come out of the water to lay their eggs on beaches around the world. Scientists and volunteers now have governmental backing to protect these precious nests from poaching and beach development.
Word War II Ships Finally Found Off Australia - The H.M.A.S. Sydney sank on November 19, 1941, in a battle with a German vessel, the D.K.M. Kormoran. Rudd said he had instructed the Defense Department to contact relatives of the sailors who died aboard the Sydney about the find, and described the wreck as a tomb for Australian sailors that would be protected as a sacred site.
Stone Age Hand Axes Found at Bottom of North Sea An amateur archaeologist has found an unprecedented collection of Stone Age hand axes among material collected at the bottom of the North Sea. Jan Meulmeester of the Netherlands found 28 axes, possibly up to 100,000 years old, in marine sand and gravel scooped up by a British construction materials supplier. During ice-age periods of the Paleolithic era, which ended about 10,000 years ago, sea levels were lower and the North Sea was grassland hunting grounds.
New Bird Found in Indonesia - There's a reason why the Togian white-eye is so elusive—there just aren't many of the tiny yellow-green birds left. I love stories like this!
Workers Uncovering Mummified Dinosaur - Unlike almost every other dinosaur fossil ever found, the Edmontosaurus named Dakota—a duckbilled dinosaur found in southwestern North Dakota in 1999 and announced to the public last December (see story)—is covered by fossilized skin that is hard as iron. It's among just a few mummified dinosaurs in the world, say the researchers who are slowly freeing it from a 65-million-year-old rock tomb.
Volcanic Moon Creates Glowing Aurora Spots on Jupiter - Auroras were first spotted on Jupiter in 1979, and astronomers have known since the 1990s that the planet's polar light shows are hundreds of times more powerful than Earth's auroras—with bands and curtains that can get as big as Earth itself. Scientists think that Jupiter and its fiery moon Io are working in concert to cause these seemingly nonstop auroras.
Saturn Moon Titan May Have Underground Ocean - Saturn's moon Titan may have an underground ocean on which its crust slides like a giant, floating icecap, pushed and pulled by climate-driven winds.
Centuries-Old Supernova "Echoes" Detected - In two recent studies, astronomers concluded that the supernova was visible from Earth around the year 1600 and was unusually bright and energetic. What's puzzling scientists is why people apparently didn't see the original explosion 400 years ago.
Hundreds of Salt Deposits Spotted on Mars- Evidence of a dense brine that once oozed on Mars could bring new vigor to the search for salt-loving life-forms on the red planet. The find gives more credence to theories of a wet Martian past—and it confirms the presence of chloride minerals on Mars, which some researchers have suspected for years but only now have the tools to find.
