First-Ever Footage Of Sun’s South Pole, What's Up With The NB.1.8.1 COVID-19 Variant? And Much More This Week

This week, the first-ever sauropod stomach fossil shows they didn’t chew their food, a new study of 14,000-year-old Ice Age puppies preserved in permafrost reveals they’re actually wolves, and this new map of the universe is the deepest yet, reaching back 13.5 billion years into the past. Finally, will granting “Mother Nature” legal rights really help save the planet?

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Watch: First-Ever Footage Of Sun’s South Pole Gives Spellbinding New View Of Our Star

The Sun is the closest star to us and the most studied by humanity. There is a lot we still do not know about it. Among the unknowns, until today, were the Sun's polar regions. We simply had not seen them before. Now, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter has delivered our first-ever look at the Sun’s South Pole. Read the full story here

World-First Fossil Discovery Of Sauropod Stomach Contents Reveals They Didn't Chew Their Food

The first ever discovery of sauropod stomach contents has revealed new insights into the dietary habits of these enormous dinosaurs, including support for the long-held idea that they were herbivores. It also appears that they were walking around with “gastric furnaces” that could break down food thanks to fermentation and microbes in the gut – no chewing required. Read the full story here

Ice Age Puppies Preserved In Permafrost For 14,000 Years Turn Out To Be Wolves

When two "puppies" were recovered from the Siberian permafrost, perfectly preserved like prehistoric popsicles, they were initially believed to be early domesticated dogs. However, new research has revealed they were actually red-blooded wolves. Even more remarkably, scientists discovered that these Ice Age pups dined on woolly rhinoceroses, an unexpectedly formidable prey for a small canine. Read the full story here

“Razor Blade Throat” And A Traveling “Nimbus”: What's Up With The NB.1.8.1 COVID-19 Variant?

Thought we’d seen the last of it? Sorry to disappoint, but there’s a new COVID-19 variant gallivanting across the globe. Its official title is NB.1.8.1, but some have taken to calling it “Nimbus”. In the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is just starting to ramp up, medics are bracing for a new wave of cases, but that doesn’t mean that those in the north will get off scot-free. So, what kind of symptoms are people reporting? Read the full story here

New Deepest Map Of The Universe Reaches Back 13.5 Billion Years Into The Past

A multinational scientific collaboration, COSMOS, has released the data behind an incredible catalog of galaxies, spanning further into the past than ever before, with a size that makes the Hubble Ultra Deep Field look like a postage stamp. This is COSMOS-Web. Read the full story here

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Feature of the week:

"Mother Nature" Has Legal Rights In Ecuador, But Does It Help Save The Planet?

It’s not often that nature takes on the “bad guys” and wins, but in 2021, a rainforest went head-to-head with the gold miners tearing it apart and came away victorious. In a precedent-setting courtroom battle, Ecuador’s top court ruled in favor of the threatened Los Cedros cloud forest, stripping international mining companies of their permits and forcing them out. Read the full story here