Science

Boston sinkhole mystery solved

Archaeologists in Boston have solved the mystery of a sinkhole that opened up in one of the city’s parks.

The sinkhole was discovered in Ronan Park in the Dorchester neighborhood earlier this month. The hole’s surface opening was 4 feet wide.

City of Boston archaeologist Joe Bagley completed a video inspection of the hole on Dec. 8 and concluded that it is a 19th-century well. “According to his preliminary findings the hole was originally a well associated with the house of Mary Pierce that would have been in use until the house received running water in the late 19th century,” explained the city of Boston, in a statement. “The house was demolished in 1912 to create the park, after the land was sold to the city.”

The hole was found to be 16.5 feet deep, which included 10 feet of “fill” from the 20th century. There were no remains of people or animals visible in the well, according to Bagley.

PURITANS’ ‘LUXURY ITEMS’ UNEARTHED IN BOSTON

“Boston is an old city, with many mysteries still hiding under its surface,” he said, in the statement. “It’s amazing to see this piece of an old Dorchester estate in a park. Open wells are, fortunately, very uncommon.”

The sinkhole was discovered in Ronan Park in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
(City of Boston)

The well is 2.5 feet wide and was once deeper, according to the research, with Bagley estimating that it was once double its current depth. Soils, however, have collapsed into the well over time.

The hole is the third of its type documented by Bagley since 2016. “The hole will be filled in and re-seeded by the end of December,” said the City of Boston, in its statement. “The site’s archaeological value has been captured in the notes, photos, and videos recorded by the City’s archaeological team, and will add to the existing body of knowledge about how wells were constructed and where they were sited.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Boston continues to reveal new aspects of its rich history. In 2017, archaeologists in Boston unearthed surprising luxury items from the 17th century, shedding new light on the lives of Puritans in the city.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Total solar eclipse cuts a path across South America

Skywatchers in parts of South America experienced a rare total solar eclipse on Monday.

The total solar eclipse, which lasted just over two minutes, was visible from the northern Patagonia region of Argentina and from Araucania in Chile. A partial solar eclipse was visible in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Many Twitter users were tweeting about the celestial event.

RARE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE DARKENS SUN OVER CHILE, ARGENTINA

A woman wears special glasses to watch a total solar eclipse in Piedra del Aguila, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.
(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The total eclipse is the only one in 2020. NOAA satellites tweeted stunning images captured by the GOES-East satellite that showed the moon’s shadow traveling across the Earth.

Last year, a stunning total solar eclipse also plunged a swath of South America into darkness.

Many Americans fondly remember the solar eclipse of 2017, which captivated millions of people across the country.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The moon covers the sun during a total solar eclipse in Piedra del Aguila, Argentina, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.
(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be in 2024 and the next coast-to-coast one won’t be until 2045.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and the Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

NASA has visualized what supernovae and colliding galaxies ‘sound’ like

If you’ve ever wondered what space sounds like, NASA has you covered.

The space agency has posted several videos of what two supernovae and a colliding cluster of galaxies “sound” like, thanks to its “data sonification” program.

The Bullet Cluster, a cluster of galaxies 3.7 billion light-years from Earth that provided the first evidence of dark matter, can be seen via gravitation lensing in this video.

NASA CONFIRMS MYSTERIOUS OBJECT ORBITING EARTH IS 1960S-ERA ROCKET BOOSTER

(Credit: NASA)

“In converting this into sound, the data pan left to right, and each layer of data was limited to a specific frequency range,” NASA wrote on its website. “Data showing dark matter are represented by the lowest frequencies, while X-rays are assigned to the highest frequencies. The galaxies in the image revealed by Hubble data, many of which are in the cluster, are in mid-range frequencies. Then, within each layer, the pitch is set to increase from the bottom of the image to the top so that objects towards the top produce higher tones.”

The Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been looking at far-off galaxies for nearly a generation, helped in the production of this video of the Crab Nebula, which was first discovered in 1054 A.D.

NASA added that the “enduring engine” of the nebula can be seen with modern telescopes. The rotation of the nebula and its strong magnetic field, which “generates jets of matter and anti-matter flowing away from its poles,” were translated into different wavelengths, each paired with a different family of instrument.

“X-rays from Chandra (blue and white) are brass, optical light data from Hubble (purple) are strings, and infrared data from Spitzer (pink) can be heard in the woodwinds,” NASA added. “In each case, light received towards the top of the image is played as higher pitched notes and brighter light is played louder.”

The third video shows the visualization of a supernova explosion known as Supernova 1987A, discovered in 1987.

Supernova 1987A, which is approximately 168,000 light-years from Earth, “was one of the brightest supernova explosions in centuries,” NASA explained on its website.

The time-lapse video shows observations taken between 1999 and 2013, with the Chandra X-ray Observatory indicated by the blue and the Hubble indicated in orange and red.

“This shows a dense ring of gas, which was ejected by the star before it went supernova, begins to glow brighter as the supernova shockwave passes through,” NASA continued. “As the focus sweeps around the image, the data are converted into the sound of a crystal singing bowl, with brighter light being heard as higher and louder notes. The optical data are converted to a higher range of notes than the X-ray data so both wavelengths of light can be heard simultaneously. An interactive version lets the user play this astronomical instrument for themselves.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

SpaceX launches SiriusXM satellite from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX has launched a SiriusXM satellite atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The SXM-7 mission launched from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 p.m. ET.

SPACEX LAUNCHES SPACE STATION SUPPLY MISSION

Shortly after launch the Falcon 9’s first stage booster rocket successfully landed on the company’s Just Read the Instructions droneship floating off the coast of Florida.

The launch had been pushed back from Friday to enable SpaceX to perform additional ground system checks. The SXM-7 mission was SpaceX’s 25th launch of the year, according to Fox 35.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Last week SpaceX launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a cargo-carrying mission to the International Space Station.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers.

Aztec ‘tower of skulls’ reveals more of its gruesome secrets

Aztec treasure discovered at Mexico City construction site

There wasn’t much known about a 4-pound gold bar discovered during construction work in Mexico City nearly 40 years ago, but now experts are calling the precious metal an Aztec relic. The gold bar has been identified as a long-lost Aztec treasure that was stolen by Spanish conquistadors nearly 500 years ago.

Archaeologists in Mexico have found 119 more human skulls in a grisly Aztec “tower of skulls.”

Some 484 skulls had previously been found at the tower, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

The discovery was made on the east side of the “Huei Tzompantli,” a grisly Aztec trophy rack, which is near the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. The Huei Tzompantli was the main trophy rack of sacrificed humans in the ancient city of Tenochtitlan.

Two towers of mortared skulls flanked the rack.

GRUESOME HUMAN SACRIFICE DISCOVERY: SKULLS REVEAL GRISLY SECRETS OF LOST AZTEC CITY

The skulls are believed to date to between 1486 and 1502.

Archaeologists have discovered 119 more human skulls in the Aztec ‘tower of skulls.’
(Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History [INAH]))

The sacrificed skulls, found about 3.5 yards below street level, included some from women and children and officials saw the huge pile of skulls as a sign of the power and prestige of the pre-Hispanic city.

Spanish conquistadors destroyed Tenochtitlan and paved over its ruins following their conquest of the city in 1519.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The excavation near the Templo Mayor has been revealing the grisly secrets of the lost Aztec city since the main trophy rack area was discovered in 2015.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Scientists worry 1,620-square-mile iceberg could devastate wildlife on South Georgia Island

The world’s largest iceberg is on a collision course with South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean, with the potential to cause significant damage, according to reports.

The British Forces South Atlantic Islands has tracked the 1,620-square-mile iceberg, named A68a, with an A400m transporter.

MAUI SURFER BITTEN BY SHARK DIES SHORTLY AFTER BEING LISTED IN STABLE CONDITION

The organization posted a video from the reconnaissance flight on its Facebook page, showing cracks and fissures across the ice, but the body is still a dangerous size.

The British-owned island is home to large populations of seals and penguins, and a collision would make it difficult for the wildlife to reach the sea for feeding, the BBC reported.

HUMPBACK WHALE SIGHTED IN HUDSON RIVER OFF MANHATTAN

A small chance exists for the iceberg to miss the island, but it is growing increasingly likely to occur, biological oceanographer Geraint Tarling told Reuters.

The currents “still have the power to take this iceberg in one direction or another away from South Georgia,” Tarling said in an interview on Wednesday.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“But it is really, really close, less than 50 kilometers away from the south shelf edge,” Tarling added. “That’s getting so close that it’s almost inevitable.”

China is serious competitor to US in space, says Pence

China, which recently landed a probe on the moon, is a serious competitor to the United States in space, according to Vice President Mike Pence.

Speaking during a meeting of the National Space Council at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, Pence highlighted China’s recent success in landing an uncrewed probe on the moon in a mission to retrieve lunar samples.

“China is emerging as a serious competitor in space,” he said.

The mission, he noted “raised the red flag of China” on the lunar surface.

Pence, who is chair of the National Space Council, said that similar to the space race that placed American astronauts on the moon, the U.S. continues to face “an era of competition.”

NASA ASTRONAUTS BECOME LATEST SPACE STATION RESIDENTS IN HISTORIC SPACEX CREW DRAGON MISSION

“It’s a competition that America is winning today and we’re going to keep on winning in space for generations to come,” he said.

A new national space policy that reaffirms America’s commitment to leadership in space was also launched Wednesday.

In this Nov. 17, 2020, photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket is moved at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China’s Hainan Province.
(Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)

After Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, only 10 more men, all Americans, have walked on the lunar surface. The last NASA astronaut to set foot on the moon was Apollo 17 Mission Commander Gene Cernan, on Dec. 14, 1972.

NASA’s Artemis program aims to land American astronauts on the moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence on Earth’s natural satellite. A key element of the Artemis program is landing the first woman on the moon.

“We’re going to honor Gene Cernan’s memory by putting the next man and the first woman on the moon in a few short years,” said Pence.

NASA TESTS BOOSTER ROCKET FOR FUTURE ARTEMIS MISSIONS TO THE MOON

However, some lawmakers have urged NASA to delay putting U.S. boots on the moon until 2028.

2020 has been a momentous year for NASA. Last month three NASA astronauts and their fellow crew member from the Japanese Space Agency boarded the International Space Station following a historic flight in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The first operational SpaceX Crew Dragon launch marked an important milestone for the space program. Crew-1 follows a successful Demo-2 mission earlier this year and is the first crew rotation flight on a U.S. commercial spacecraft.

Earlier this year the Demo-2 mission marked the first time that astronauts have launched from American soil since the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011.

Speaking on Wednesday, Pence lauded the “renewed American leadership in space” that laid the foundations for 2020’s historic crewed missions. “Those rockets were built by American private industry,” he added.

The newly-created Space Force also made its first launch earlier this year when it sent a military satellite into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

After the end of the Space Shuttle program, the U.S. relied on Russian Soyuz rockets launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to get astronauts into space. Russia charges the U.S. about $75 million to send an astronaut into space, and the Associated Press reports that the last Soyuz ticket cost America $90 million.

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Four lions test positive for coronavirus at Barcelona zoo

Four lions at a zoo in Barcelona have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, marking the world’s second known outbreak among large felines.

The three 16-year-old females, named Zala, Nima and Run Run, and the 4-year-old male, named Kiumbe, were tested last month after staff noticed they showed slight symptoms of the disease, the Barcelona Zoo said.

BRONX ZOO TIGER TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, OFFICIALS SAY

“The lions were given veterinary care for their mild clinical condition – similar to a very mild flu condition – through anti-inflammatory treatment and close monitoring, and the animals responded well,” the zoo said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

Two staff members also tested positive for the virus following the outbreak among the lions, the zoo said, but did not mention how they became infected.

Authorities are investigating how the lions became infected.

It was the second time the virus was reported in big cats. The first outbreak happened in April at the Bronx Zoo in New York, where four lions and three tigers tested positive. All those animals have since recovered.

The Barcelona Zoo’s veterinary service has contacted their colleagues in New York for advice on how to treat infected felines, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

While the zoo has remained open, officials ruled out that the lions could have passed the virus to visitors at the zoo because there is enough distance between the felines and onlookers, according to the paper.

New Jersey town rocked by mysterious booms

A small New Jersey town is being rocked by mysterious booms — prompting a slew of shaken residents to call 911 to report the unsettling sounds.

“It just sounds like a bomb dropped from a plane,’’ a caller in usually quiet Mullica Township told an emergency operator, according to a recording of the call obtained by NBC-TV affiliate WCAU.

Another person in the Atlantic County community reported, “There was just a tremendous explosion nearby.’’

A third caller added, “This has been happening once a week. I mean, it’s almost blowing our houses off their foundation.’’

FIGHTER JETS CAUSED SONIC BOOMS ALONG NEW JERSEY COAST, OFFICIALS SAY

The residents said the booms have been occurring off and on for weeks, and emergency calls have been coming into the township from about a 10-mile area.

Local cops say they have no idea where the sounds are coming from — but they are investigating.

“At this point, it is a mystery,” Mullica Township Police Chief Brian Zeck told the station.

“And we’re currently trying to triangulate the area of the sound.’’

Zeck told NJ.com that a loud noise reported Tuesday likely came from a detonation at a nearby National Guard site but that previous booms don’t appear to have originated there.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He added that while hunting season in the state began over the weekend — when an uptick in the booms was reported — the noises that residents are describing aren’t from firearms.

Amazon rock art discovery depicts prehistoric people and huge Ice Age beasts

Newly discovered rock art in the Colombian Amazon depicts the rainforest’s early inhabitants living with giant Ice Age creatures.

The drawings, which were made between 12,600 and 11,800 years ago, show human figures, hunting scenes, plants, trees, and animals. The discovery is featured in the series “Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of The Amazon,” which recently premiered on Channel 4 in the U.K.

“The thousands of pictures are among the oldest depictions of people interacting with the huge creatures, including mastodons,” said the U.K.’s University of Exeter, which participated in the research, on its website.

In addition to mastodons, other native animals are depicted such as camelids, three-toe ungulates with trunks, and what resembles a giant sloth.

“These native animals all became extinct, probably because of a combination of climate change, the loss of their habitat and hunting by humans,” said the University of Exeter.

MYSTERIOUS ROCK ART DISCOVERED IN MEGALITHIC TOMBS IN ISRAEL

The drawings also include deer, tapirs, alligators, bats, monkeys, turtles, serpents, and porcupines.

The rock art was discovered in the Colombian Amazon.
(Channel 4/Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon on Channel 4)

“These really are incredible images, produced by the earliest people to live in western Amazonia. They moved into the region at a time of extreme climate change, which was leading to changes in vegetation and the make-up of the forest,” said University of Exeter Archaeology Professor Mark Robinson. “The Amazon was still transforming into the tropical forest we recognize today.”

Researchers from the European Research Council-funded project LastJourney made the discovery and excavations were made in 2017 and 2018. The findings are also described in the journal Quaternary International.

Ella Al-Shamahi, who presents the Channel 4 series, described the challenges of filming in the remote Amazonian location.

The rock art depicts a host of creatures.
(“Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon” on Channel 4. )

MYSTERIOUS ROCK ART UNCOVERED IN CAVES ON UNINHABITED CARIBBEAN ISLAND

“This discovery is not a drill — it is big news and will take many decades to unpack, it was also a bloody nightmare politically, security and rainforest-wise to get to,” tweeted Al-Shamahi.

“This is such a significant discovery and seems to not have been known about by science or locals (often locals know),” Al-Shamahi said, in another tweet, noting that the rock is deep in rainforest controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

A 2016 peace treaty between FARC and the Colombian government meant that experts were able to visit the area where the rock art is located.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The drawings were made between 12,600 and 11,800 years ago
(“Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon” on Channel 4)

Earlier this year, in another project, archaeologists announced the discovery of mysterious rock art in megalithic tombs in Israel.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Science

Footer

Public File Info