AUSTRALIA
Male quolls, endangered Australian marsupials, die after one mating season — and new research using radio trackers shows why. Scientists found the quolls sacrifice sleep and travel long distances to find a mate, likely making them weak and reckless. One walked 6.5 miles in one night – equivalent to 24 miles for a human being.
FRANCE
Cryptographers deciphered 57 hand-coded letters from Mary, Queen of Scots, who was arrested and later guillotined as a rival to Queen Elizabeth I. The 16th-century letters were mostly addressed to the French ambassador to England, proving Mary’s extensive political endeavours. were in prison.
INDIA
A cave wall discovery originally identified as a 550 million year old fossil Dickinsonia marine creature is actually residue from a current hive, researchers say. The finding revives debate over the geological history of nearby formations.
KENYA
A 2.9 million year old tool set used to butcher hippos the earliest example of simple, chipped stone objects from what is called the Oldowan toolbox. The artifacts may not be of human origin – they were unearthed next to teeth from an extinct hominin branch, Paranthropus.
RAPA NUI (Easter Island)
a previously unknown moaione of the famous images of volcanic rock, was discovered in a lake bed that is drying up due to climate change – and archaeologists say there may be more under the reeds.
UK
Ynys Enlli, a small island in Wales shielded from mainland light pollution by a mountain, has become Europe first certified “dark sky sanctuary.” It has year-round human residents and a breeding ground for nocturnal seabirds that need dark skies to fly home.
For more information, visit www.ScientificAmerican.com/may2023/advances