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In the early 1900s, Antarctica became a focus for explorers who embarked on daring but dangerous expeditions.
Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 set out on HMS Endurance in 1914. However, the Endurance became trapped in the ice and was documented in dramatic images by the crew’s official photographer.
The crew set up a “land station” and watched as the ice slowly broke and sank the boat. The men swam across an ice floe and used lifeboats to reach the deserted Elephant Island.
Shackleton and several crew members then embarked on a risky journey across hundreds of miles of raging sea to the island of South Georgia in search of rescuers. After receiving help from a whaling station, Shackleton returned to retrieve his men. He refused to give up.
Despite the dangerous adventure, which ended in 1916, the entire crew survived. Although the expedition was not a success, the crew’s safe return became a larger story.
A search party in 2022 found the wreck of HMS Endurance and now another part of Shackleton’s legacy has been recovered.
ocean secrets
An international team of experts using sonar located the expedition ship Quest, once captained by Shackleton, off the coast of Canada.
The explorer was on board for his fourth expedition to Antarctica when he died of a heart attack in January 1922, aged 47.
After his death, the ship went on more adventures before sinking in 1962, and researchers think there may have been artifacts on board that contained a story to tell about the ship’s voyages.
An expedition later this year will deploy a remote-controlled vehicle to explore the Quest’s interior.
curious things
The late physicist Freeman Dyson theorized in 1960 that if advanced civilizations containing alien life existed, they might find a way to harness the power of stars as an energy solution.
This science fiction-inspired idea of massive stellar structures resulted in a concept called Dyson spheres that could be detected in infrared light.
Although identifying sources of infrared radiation is not direct evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, the famous scientist also said that he hopes the research will lead to the discovery of new types of celestial objects.
New research has located seven possible stars in the Milky Way that could host Dyson spheres, and the finding is shaking up the astronomy community in more ways than one.
wild kingdom
Similar to humans, wild African elephants may use personal name-like calls to address and identify each other, according to a new study.
Scientists analyzed recordings of different types of hums, or sounds, used by female elephants and their cubs. After listening to the playback, the elephants responded most strongly to the calls initially directed at them.
“This implies some capacity for abstract thought; they need to be able to learn that arbitrary sound, associate it with other individuals, and essentially call each other by name,” said animal behavior expert Mickey Pardo, a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University.
Long time ago
It’s been a myth for years that this is overwhelmingly true. Ritual sacrifice of young girls persists in the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá; but new evidence suggests that another part of the population was involved in the deadly rituals.
Analysis of dozens of skeletons deposited in a sacred pit on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula showed that the victims were young boys between the ages of 3 and 6. Many of them, including twins, were relatives.
The reason for their sacrifice is unknown, but the discovery adds another layer of complexity to the ancient Mayan ritual calendar, the researchers said.
other worlds
An orbiter orbiting Mars has observed frost forming on the tops of volcanoes on the red planet for the first time.
Mars’ equatorial region is home to some of the tallest volcanoes in the solar system, with several of its peaks rising well above Mount Everest.
“This is important because it shows us that not only is Mars a dynamic planet, but water can be found almost anywhere on the Martian surface,” said Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.
Additionally, a massive solar storm slammed into Mars in May, and NASA missions captured stunning auroras engulfing the planet and other astounding images from the event.
discoveries
Take a deep dive into these new finds:
— A vegetarian piranha relative with human-like teeth seems unlikely, but it’s a newly discovered Amazonian species that researchers have named after a villain in the “Lord of the Rings” series.
— Recent excavations have uncovered artifacts such as pottery and coins that show how Romans integrated with local communities in southern England thousands of years ago.
— A farmer and amateur paleontologist has uncovered the fossil of a previously unknown pterosaur species that glided over the sea that covered part of Australia 100 million years ago.
— A botanist noticed that a small plant species new to science was growing in an unexpected place on the slopes of the Andes Mountains.
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