1. Very Round Ancient Turtle
A newfound giant turtle that lived 60 million years ago in what is now northwestern South America would have been more than a mouthful for a neighbouring predator, the world's largest snake Titanoboa.
The turtle's huge carapace, or shell, was nearly circular, like a tire, the researchers said.
2. Sun Turned NYC into 'Manhattanhenge'
New Yorkers will be treated to a splendid sight this evening (July 12): It's one of two days a year when the setting sun aligns perfectly with Manhattan's street grid. As the sun sets on the Big Apple, it will illuminate both the north and south sides of every cross street.
The event has been dubbed "Manhattanhenge" for the way it turns New York City into a Stonehenge-like sun dial.
3. The Strange Sounds of Auroras
The northern lights of Earth are more than just dazzling light shows - they also generate their own strange applause too, a new study reveals.
The same energetic particles that create the dancing, dazzling northern lights high up in Earth's atmosphere also produce strange "clapping" noises just 230 feet (70 meters) from the ground, researchers said.
4. Titan's Strange Vortex
A NASA spacecraft has spied a vortex swirling in the atmosphere high above the south pole of the Saturn moon Titan, hinting that winter may be coming to the huge body's southern reaches.
NASA's Cassini probe photographed the polar vortex - or mass of swirling gas - during a flyby of Titan on June 27. The vortex appears to complete one full rotation in nine hours, while it takes Titan about 16 days to spin once around its axis.
5. A King Penguin Bunch
Scientists studying king penguins on a sub-Antarctic island, along with tourists, may be stressing the waddling, flightless birds, new research suggests. However, it seems the penguins are getting used to their human visitors.
The new study reveals how more than 50 years of human presence, or the time since a permanent research station was set up, on Possession Island [Australia], has impacted a major colony of breeding king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), called the "Baie du Marin" colony. Research reported last year on these penguins found that flipper tagging was linked with fewer chicks and a lower survival rate for the birds compared with untagged king penguins.
6. More King Penguins
The Baie du Marin colony of breeding king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) has gotten used to humans, it seems, who have been present on Possession Island where the penguins reside since a permanent research station was set up there in 1961.
7. Clever Wolverine
Wolverines, bearlike members of the weasel family, seem to depend on spring snow cover, but it's not clear why.
Now, an international group of researchers has a new theory: Wolverines use snow like a refrigerator to preserve food during the lean, cold times after their young are born, they suggest.
8. Amazon Extinction Debt
When species lose their natural habitat to deforestation and other causes, they don't immediately disappear. Instead, they gradually die off over several generations, racking up an "extinction debt" that must eventually be paid in full. New research shows that the Brazilian Amazon has accrued a heavy vertebrate extinction debt, with more than 80 percent of extinctions expected from historical deforestation still impending.
We chose this image for the emotional illustration of what is currently happening in the Amazon.
9. Meteor Lights Up Beach Sky
A fleeting meteor streaks across the night sky over a New Jersey beach in serene view captured by a local photographer.
Night sky photographer Jack Fusco captured the meteor as it flared up over Cape May, New Jersey [USA], beach in the wee hours of June 28, just after the peak of the annual Bootid meteor shower.
Top image: Smoke being sucked into a thunderstorm. (Image from original article and was shown in previous post.)
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