Environment
June 3, 2024

Alaska’s Rivers Are Turning Orange and Can Be Seen From Space

Alaska is famous for its extensive, beautiful, and foreboding wilderness. Mountains, dense forests, and many miles of roaring rivers cover the state. Many areas are accessible only by helicopter or bush plane, particularly the more remote Arctic regions. While visiting one of the state's many remote rivers in 2018, scientist Jon O’Donnell was surprised to see the waters turned a murky, rusty orange.

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Animals
June 3, 2024

World’s Largest Wildlife Crossing Allows Animals to Safely Pass over Highway in California

Los Angeles is famous for its broad, congested highways full of cars inching bumper to bumper through traffic. These legendary many-lane highways teeming with vehicles are annoying to commuters, but they're deadly to local wildlife who can end up as roadkill. Highway 101 runs through Los Angeles County, dividing the habitats of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills in the Santa Susana range.

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Endangered Animals
June 2, 2024

Sperm Whales Vocalize a Phoenetic Alphabet Hauntingly Like Humans

Sperm whales are fascinating creatures. Endangered and still recovering from being hunted by whalers in the 19th century, sperm whales were long targets for their spermaceti, which, according to NOAA, is “an oil sac that helps the whales focus sound.” While this oil was a commercial product to humans, to the whales, it assists communication among pods of whales that live in different regions.

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Archeology
June 1, 2024

Archeologists Unearth a Rare Purple Pigment That Is More Valuable Than Gold

Purple today is the color associated with resplendent royalty. This association has a long history. 2,000 years ago, Roman emperors donned the color to reflect their power and wealth, as purple was one of the rarest, most work-intensive dyes. Made from snails, a dye called Tyrian Purple was one of the most coveted substances in the Ancient Roman world.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.