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Explanation: Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin Martian atmosphere. This fresh layer is deposited on a water-ice layer that exists year round. Strong winds blow down from above the cap's center and swirl due to the spin of the red planet -- contributing to Planum Boreum's spiral structure. The featured image is a perspective mosaic generated in 2017 from numerous images taken by ESA's Mars Express and elevations extracted from the laser altimeter...

The Times of Central Asia reports that archaeologists from the National Museum of Tajikistan made a number of significant discoveries at the site of Khalkajar near the village of Sarband. Among them was a unique two-handled ceramic jug dating from the time of the Kushan Empire, which was one of the most influential and powerful states of ancient Central Asia that encompassed parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Dating to between the first and third century a.d, the vessel contains a faint painted inscription written in the Bactrian language. Linguistic experts determined that it reads, "This water...

Scattered across Central Asia are the ruins of what was once known as The Thousand Cities of Greek Bactria. This video explores those lost cities and their fate. The Lost Thousand Cities of Greek Bactria | 18:05 The Historian's Craft | 117K subscribers | 18,782 views | July 3, 2025

Explanation: Difficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple...

A man was killed in Los Angeles after commercial-grade fireworks caused a massive fire at his home, investigators said. Officials also said a woman, believed to be the man's wife, is hospitalized and fighting for her life after the incident on Thursday night in the Pacoima neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, FOX 11 LA reported. Crews discovered the man and woman trapped in a home as they were evacuating people in the area. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was transported to a hospital in critical condition. The fire was reported on Thursday at...

A space capsule carrying the ashes of more than 160 people — and a stash of cannabis seeds — was lost when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean after two orbits around the Earth. The Exploration Company (TEC), a German start-up, launched the Nyx capsule’s “Mission Possible” on June 23. Its precious cargo included the remains of 166 people, whose ashes were sent into orbit through Celestis, a Texas-based space burial company. While the departed souls had smooth sailing for two successful orbits around Earth, “an anomaly occurred, and the vehicle was lost shortly after re-entry,” Celestis co-founder and CEO...

Although ancient Rome had nothing like a modern middle class, a small but prominent part of the population was poised between affluence and poverty. Was there a Middle Class in Ancient Rome? | 10:49 toldinstone | 586K subscribers | 42,862 views | July 1, 2025 Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:33 The Roman elite 1:17 A middle class 1:41 Upper vs. middle 2:19 Respectable professions 3:03 Prosperous craftsmen 3:34 The material record 4:42 Romanis Magicae 5:27 Case study I: freedmen 7:20 Case study II: veterans 9:12 Being middle class

Explanation: Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar dust clouds near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the stars of open cluster NGC 6939 are 5,600 light-years in the distance, near bottom right in the frame. Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is at top left, but lies some 22 million...

Underwater archaeologists located the remains of a Roman-era breakwater at the site of the ancient harbor of Misenum on the Bay of Naples, according to the Greek Reporter. The team from the Underwater Archaeology Office of the Archaeological Superintendency for the Metropolitan Area of ​​Naples was at first puzzled by the a six-foot-high collection of carved blocks, sculptural fragments, columns, and architectural elements that they found lying on the seafloor. They soon realized, though, that these were not part of a building collapse. Rather, the materials had been recycled and intentionally stacked to form a structure measuring 295 feet long...

Built in the third century b.c., the Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Reaching a height of 330 feet, it was one of the world's tallest man-made structures for centuries until it was toppled by earthquakes around the fourteenth century. Its ruins were rediscovered by underwater archaeologists beneath Alexandria harbor in 1994. Now, according to a statement released by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, a team from the French National Center for Scientific Research has lifted 22 of the monument's massive submerged blocks from the seafloor. These include monumental door lintels and jambs that...

Global Times reports that archaeologists investigating the tomb of Liu Hemarquis, the Marquis of Haihun, in east China's Jiangxi Province discovered the world's oldest steel acupuncture needles. Dating to the time of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 9), the 2,000-year-old needles were found within a jade tube, which itself was placed inside a gilded lacquer box. A wooden label lying nearby inscribed with the words "Nine Needles Complete" confirms their identification, as ancient Chinese medical texts recommend the use of nine different needles during acupuncture. Analysis indicated that they were made from steel created through an advanced technique known...

Wild orcas, also known as Killer whales, have been spotted offering food to humans in unusual interactions recorded over the past 20 years, according to a new study that has scientists searching for answers. The findings, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, describe 34 confirmed cases where orcas voluntarily approached humans and dropped sea creatures near them. These offerings included fish, seabirds, stingrays, whale parts, seaweed, and even a turtle. Most interactions were observed off the coasts of California, Norway, and New Zealand. The orcas often paused after delivering the prey, as if watching to see how people would...

Schrödinger’s cat is a reasonably simple explanation of an extremely technical and unexpected scientific concept. But when Schrödinger first introduced it, he was making an entirely different point. Schrödinger's Cat: A History of Quantum Physics | 13:52 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.56M subscribers | 36,579 views | June 20, 2025 | ✪ Members first on June 19, 2025

Astronomers have spotted a new comet, moving on a trajectory that indicates that it whizzed into our solar system from interstellar space and is just passing through. It's only the third time scientists have discovered this kind of visitor from outside our solar system. The first two, 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov, intrigued astronomers because of the chance to observe pieces from another star system beyond our own. "This is like our chance to randomly sample what's going on in the rest of the galaxy," University of Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott recently told NPR, saying he and most other researchers really...

For only the 3rd time in history, astronomers have found an interstellar object hurtling through our solar system...The Minor Planet Center (MPC) confirmed its new designation on July 2, 2025, as 3I/ATLAS, or C/2025 N1. The MPC also said:There are tentative reports of cometary activity … with a marginal coma and a short 3-arcsecond tail....We are currently being visited by what appears to be a comet from another solar system...We only know of two other interstellar objects that have entered into our solar system before, 'Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. The nature of 'Oumuamua is still a matter of debate, and...

The ancient city of Arles, once a major commercial hub in the Roman Empire, still holds many secrets. Some of them are buried in the bed of the Rhône. Little by little, working in complete darkness, archaeologists and scuba divers are braving its treacherous currents to uncover the remains of a mysterious Roman shipwreck and its cargo. For fear of looters, they work in total secrecy. Their investigations lead us to the 4th century AD – the golden age of the city of Arles and a time of great upheaval in the Roman Empire. During this period, the Empire switched...

Explanation: If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are known as novas and the detonations are currently faintly visible with the unaided eye in Earth's southern hemisphere -- but are more easily seen with binoculars. Pictured, Nova Lupi 2025 (V462 Lupi) was captured toward the southern constellation of the Wolf (Lupus) last week near the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Nova Lupi 2025 was originally discovered on June 12 and peaked in brightness about a week later. Similarly, Nova Velorum 2025, toward the southern...

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope recently detected a planet that could possibly sustain life based on temperature readings, which has a mass approximately 100 times the size of Earth. The planet, which astronomers believe is orbiting a young red dwarf star approximately 34 light years away, has been dubbed TWA 7b and is roughly the size of Saturn. An initial analysis suggests the planet has a temperature of near 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which is warm enough to support life. Scientists believe life can grow and reproduce starting at about 5 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 251 degrees Fahrenheit, per...

The city of Amarna was built by the pharaoh Akhenaten in 1370 b.c. to be the new capital of Egypt. His decision to move the royal court from Thebes and impose worship of a single deity, the sun god Aten, is one of the most controversial episodes in Egyptian history. When Akhenaten's son Tutankhamun reversed his father's polices, it was thought that the site of Amarna was abandoned forever. According to a La Brújula Verde report, however, new evidence suggests that parts of the site were reinhabited by Christian populations in the fifth and sixth century a.d. Rather than reoccupy...

A colossal marble head was uncovered beneath Rome's Via Alessandrina, according to a report by the Greek Reporter. The discovery was made during archaeological work near the heart of the ancient city that is aimed at removing a modern section of road separating the forums of Augustus, Trajan, and Nerva. The statue head was embedded in a layer of medieval brick and mortar, which suggests that it had been reused as building material centuries after the fall of Rome. Archaeologists believe that the sculpture dates to the reign of Trajan (a.d. 98–117) and may have once stood in his forum...