According to a recent study, several new species of sharks have been discovered in the waters off northern Australia and Indonesia.
The news species is found to have evolved to use their four side fins to propel themselves across the seafloor thus earning the name "walking sharks".
According to Dr. Christine Dudgeon of the University of Queensland, a 12-year study into these species of sharks was conducted jointly with the CSIRO, Florida Museum of Natural History, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.
Though this is not the first time the "walking sharks" have been found but the study helped in identifying four news species, doubling the number previously known.
Jan 24, 2020
Ancient Sweat Lodge Uncovered in Mexico City
An ancient Native American sauna, dating back to the 14th Century, has been uncovered by archaeologists in Mexico City.
Known as temazcals, these structures were built by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica, and used for medicinal purposes, spiritual rituals and for women to give birth.
The discovery in the historic La Merced neighbourhood helped experts to determine the exact location of Temazcaltitlán, one of the first areas of Tenochtitlán, the ancient metropolis that became modern-day Mexico City.
The excavations also uncovered the well-preserved remains of a house built after the Spanish conquest centuries later, its walls decorated with red motifs. It is thought to have been occupied by a noble indigenous family in the 16th Century.
Jan 22, 2020
Jharia India's Most Polluted City
According to Airpocalypse-IV, an annual report released by Greenpeace India, Jharia, known worldwide for its underground coal fires, continued to be the most polluted city in the country in 2018, while Delhi was the 10th most polluted city in 2018, an improvement of two ranks. The report is based on an analysis of particulate matter across 287 cities.
Lunglei in Mizoram was the least polluted city in India, followed by Meghalaya's Dowki, according to the report. Six of the top-10 polluted cities are in Uttar Pradesh: Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Moradabad and Firozabad.
Jan 19, 2020
Microsoft Makes Carbon Negative Pledge
Microsoft has pledged to remove all of the carbon from the environment that it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975.
Chief executive Satya Nadella said that he wanted to achieve the goal by 2050.
To do so, the company aims to become carbon negative by 2030, removing more carbon from the environment than it emits.
That goes beyond a pledge by its cloud-computing rival Amazon, which intends to go carbon neutral by 2040.
Jan 17, 2020
Oldest Solid Meteorite Material Found in Australia
A study proved that a meteorite that fell in Australia back in 1999 has the oldest solid meteorite material found on Earth till date.
The research indicates that stars are like phoenixes, after one dies, their dust and bits travel through space and eventually forms new stars, along with new planets, meteorites and satellites.
This study was contributed by researchers from the Field Museum, University of Chicago, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Washington University, Harvard Medical School, ETH Zurich, and the Australian National University.
The materials examined are called presolar grains-minerals formed before the Sun was born.