For polar adventurers, a moment to rejoice. Plus, why humans need hugs; the Mississippi’s hidden history; how a water lily is so buoyant; the mystery behind our biggest asteroid.
 | | THE FALKLANDS MARITIME HERITAGE TRUST, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | | For more than a century, the famed exploration vessel Endurance lay trapped in the Antarctic, entombed in the depths of one of world's most remote seas. For the first time, explorers have discovered Ernest Shackleton's sunken ship, less than five miles from its last reported location in 1915, they announced today.
When the world's first watery images of the ship (pictured above) emerged on Saturday, "it was like my whole life funneled down to an instant," says Mensun Bound, a leader of the expedition. A day later, a remote undersea camera showed the stern of the remarkably preserved British polar vessel, the brass letters of the word "Endurance" clearly visible. "I could feel the breath of Shackleton on my back," he tells Nat Geo.
Read our account and watch video of the discovery here, and see background on Shackleton's courageous efforts to bring his crew home safely. Shackleton won the National Geographic Society's highest award for his Antarctic work.
| | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ESTHER HORVATH | | Pictured above, the icebreaker Agulhas II pushed through huge slabs of ice to get to the site where the Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea. The discovery will be the subject of a documentary airing globally on National Geographic Channels and streaming on Disney+. Our TikTok video on the discovery has become a phenomenon, with more than 3.5 million views in its first few hours.
Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, sign up here or forward this to a friend. And please consider supporting our storytelling by subscribing here. Thanks!
| | | |
 | | LEFT: MAP BY HAROLD FISK; RIGHT: IMAGE BY DANIEL COE | | How the Mississippi flows: The 1944 map on the left comes from aerial photos and past estimates of the route of the North America’s biggest river. To the right, a map created using lidar shows the shifts of the windy river over the past 75 years. The new map, which marries laser pulses and precise surface imagery, shows the scope of manmade changes—and erosion, Nat Geo reports.
| | | |
 | | IMAGE BY ZEPHYR, SCIENCE SOURCE | | The end of inflammation? It’s been linked to cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, severe COVID-19, and even aging. That’s why a new approach to inflammation could treat dozens of diseases, Nat Geo reports. Doctors currently prescribe drugs like prednisone to lower inflammation, but they leave the body vulnerable to catching bugs and can have toxic side effects. New treatments that instead target the cellular aftermath of inflammation could greatly improve recovery. (Pictured above, a patient’s hand shows arthritis in the wrist joints, left, and one with bony growth in the joints causing inflammation, right.)
| | | |
 | | ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS | | Our biggest asteroid: In the solar system, that title goes to Ceres, which will be near the moon high in the western sky after dusk tonight (illustrated above). Ceres, known for mysterious bright spots on its surface, is more than 580 miles wide and is in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Decent views come with large binoculars and small telescopes. By tomorrow night, the moon will have glided between the horns of the constellation Taurus, the bull. And on Saturday night, the moon will pair with Castor and Pollux, Gemini’s twin brilliant stars. — Andrew Fazekas
| | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY RADEK PETRASEK, CTK/AP IMAGES | | Why so buoyant? They’re the largest and strongest floating plants, hefty enough to support a small child. But how? French and British researchers have jumped into the waters, to study the giant Amazonian water lily’s secret. “Oh my God, I've been looking for this opportunity to climb in a pond and poke a water lily,” researcher Finn Box tells us. Scientists are hoping the research results could inspire building design, Richard Sima writes. (Above, the smallest water lily in the world, Nymphaea thermarum, next to the largest, Victoria amazonica, the giant Amazonian water lily.)
| | | |
This newsletter has been curated and edited by Monica Williams, David Beard, and Jen Tse. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. | |
 | SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS | | We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.
| | | |
Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.
This email was sent to: mitch.dobbs.pics@blogger.com. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.
This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036
Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.
© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved. | | |
