Researchers have used cutting-edge satellite technology to find a large underground aquifer beneath Spain’s main agricultural area. This discovery arrives at a crucial time, as water scarcity and long droughts become more common in the Mediterranean region. Scientists employed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) along with gravity-mapping data, allowing them to see through the ground and…
During routine repairs in 1799, French soldiers near Rosetta discovered a granodiorite slab inscribed with three scripts. This artefact, the Rosetta Stone, proved to be the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Image credits: via Wikimedia Commons There is something rather sneaky about history. World-shattering revelations can happen when one doesn’t think they’re coming. Sometimes…
A prehistoric monument, Seahenge, was discovered at Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, dating back 4,000 years. Image Credits: via Wikimedia Commons At the dawn of Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, England, a strange phenomenon occurred during the sunrise. Someone walking on the beach noticed a strange figure making its way across the water, resembling an upside-down tree, its roots growing…
Footprints frozen in time: Human tracks preserved in ancient mud at White Sands National Park, New Mexic. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons There is a part of the desert in New Mexico that, at first glance, looks like nothing. White dunes, dry air, the kind of landscape that makes a man squint. Buried beneath the sands…
This armoured dinosaur sat undisturbed in an Alberta rock layer for 110 million years until a mine worker noticed something odd. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons In 2011, a heavy equipment operator at an oil sands mine in northern Alberta was having a pretty normal work day when he spotted something unusual in the rock. What…
A routine construction project in Snowmass Village, Colorado, uncovered a remarkable Ice Age fossil site. The discovery of a juvenile Columbian mammoth tusk marked the beginning of the Snowmastodon story. Image Credits: via Wikimedia Commons It began like any other day of moving earth around in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The weather was a typical October…
New research indicates early Australians were not just hunters but possibly the world’s first palaeontologists, collecting and valuing fossilized bones, transforming the cave from an ‘abattoir’ into a source of ancient narratives. Image Credits: Via Wikimedia Commons Buried within the limestone formations in the far south-western reaches of Western Australia is a place where one…
Art Fry built the foundation for Post-it notes from Spenser Silver’s glue. Image credit – Wikimedia When scientist Spencer Silver was working on making a strong adhesive in 1968, his creation turned out to be quite different. His glue adhered only weakly, meaning that it did not form a permanent connection. For any laboratory work,…
This discovery, spearheaded by George McJunkin, dramatically reshaped our understanding of the continent’s first inhabitants. Image Credits: Via Wikimedia Commons The past is not necessarily unearthed in dusty libraries by academics; sometimes, it comes to light through those who know how to interpret the landscape. On a sweltering August afternoon in 1908, a massive flash…
In 1909, Charles Doolittle Walcott (first from left) discovered the Burgess Shale formation in British Columbia, revealing exceptionally preserved soft-bodied ancient life. Image Credits: via Wikimedia Commons Imagine the last day of your mountain trip, the sun setting, the packs packed, your thoughts turning to your journey home. It was at such a time that…
