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Scientists declared a lake the defining site of the Anthropocene.
A lake in Canada beat out Australian coral reefs, a Polish peat bog, and the Antarctic ice sheet as the defining site of the Anthropocene, according to scientists tasked with pinpointing its start. Crawford Lake near Toronto is small but deep, and the sediment that collects at its bottom stays put. Those layers of mud reveal evidence of the dawn of a new geologic era characterized by human impact—specifically, the sediments trapped fallout from nuclear tests in the 1950s, which the researchers say is the dividing line between the earlier Holocene and the proposed epoch. The lake also shows carbon particles from fossil fuel use and nitrates from agricultural runoff. If Crawford Lake’s nomination is approved by a higher-up group of geologists, it will receive a marker identifying it as ground zero for our brave new world.
A 2022 volcanic eruption was found to have produced the most intense lightning ever observed ...
In June 2023, we learned that the 2022 volcanic eruption in Tonga was not only one of the strongest on record, but also produced the most intense lightning ever observed. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption set off a “supercharged” thunderstorm that sparked almost 200,000 lightning flashes within its plume of smoke and ash. At the peak of the storm, there were more than 2600 bolts per minute, and some reached as high as 19 miles into Earth’s atmosphere.
… and that the eruption affected the ozone layer.
If that wasn’t incredible enough, scientists have also suggested that it affected the ozone layer. According to New Scientist, Australian researchers determined that the hole in the ozone layer was bigger in August than it should have been, which they blamed on large amounts of water vapor turning into clouds and providing a surface on which chlorofluorocarbons reacted with ozone. We’re sure to learn even more about this spectacular eruption as researchers continue to analyze data.
A new extinct species of penguin was discovered.
Known as “Wilson’s little penguin,” Eudyptula wilsonae was described in a paper published in June. The animal’s modern-day relatives, little penguins/kororā, is an adorable species that lives in New Zealand and other countries. According to Bob Yirka of Phys.org, the newly discovered species is the “oldest-known extinct little penguin.”
Hank the Tank was caught.
Since February 2022, Lake Tahoe, California, has been terrorized by what authorities said was a male black bear responsible for 28 break-ins. They named the bear Hank the Tank. In 2023, though, they discovered that the break-ins had actually been perpetrated by three black bears, with the largest number—21—being attributed to a female officially known as 64F. “Hank,” who pulled off her capers with cubs in tow, was linked to her crimes via DNA. There are plans to relocate her to a sanctuary in Colorado.
The first-ever crocodile virgin birth was recorded in 2023.
Parthenogenesis is the ability to reproduce in the absence of sperm. It’s been observed in a handful of species, including some birds and reptiles. But in 2023, the first-ever crocodile virgin birth was recorded. It actually happened back in 2018, when a croc in a Costa Rican zoo delivered 14 eggs despite having not been around other crocs for 16 years. They took seven promising eggs and artificially incubated them, and while none of them hatched, one egg did contain a non-viable fetus, making this the first observable proof the species is capable of an extraordinary evolutionary ability.
WELCOME TO PAGE 341 - 2023 1STs IN REVIEW !!
A 2023 study found that crocs are attracted to babies’ cries.
Speaking of crocs, if your infant falls into a crocodile-occupied river, you better hope they don’t cry. An August 2023 study found that crocodiles are attracted to the cries of human, bonobo, and chimpanzee babies. It’s thought the vocalizations of a helpless infant in distress probably sound like an easy meal. One crocodile did attempt to protect the source of the cries—which, in the study, was a speaker and not an actual helpless child—from other curious crocs.
We discovered that humans and horses have a long history.
According to one March 2023 study, people may have been riding horses 5000 years ago. Horse-drawn chariots, meanwhile, didn’t enter the archaeological record until about 1000 years later. Researchers analyzed human skeletal remains from various sites around southeastern Europe for telltale signs in the legs, pelvis, and backbones—all areas known to show the physical toll of horseback riding.
Some of the biggest aquatic attack stories in 2023 involved not sharks, but orcas.
In 2023 we learned that pods of the black-and-white dolphins got too close for comfort with several boats off the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and France. They mainly swam around the vessels and booped the rudders. But according to records covering the past few years, there have been 250 cases of orcas causing damage to a boat, 60 cases of serious damage, and four sinkings. For now, only the orcas living around the Iberian peninsula have demonstrated this behavior, but scientists still aren’t sure why the animals are so keen on messing up people’s booze cruises.
Who is the lucky one?
Sea lions got aggressive in 2023.
It’s not just orcas that got combative in 2023: Sea lions in California have also been acting out—but in this case, scientists think they know the reason. In 2023, a harmful algae bloom produced a ton of the potent neurotoxin domoic acid in the waters. Fish ate smaller creatures that consumed the algae, then the sea lions ate the fish. Domoic acid poisoning can make a lot of animals behave unpredictably: A similar algae bloom off California in 1961 is thought to have caused flocks of seabirds to act erratically, which is rumored to have influenced Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds.
Your body replaces all its particles every seven years.
You are not the same person that you were 7 years ago.
The world's longest musical piece lasts 639 years.
Organ²/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) is a musical piece by John Cage that has been playing since 2001 at the St. Burchardi church in Germany. As Slow As Possible is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, set to end in 2640.
OH, IT'S PAGE 341
so true
A good cause.
You're more likely to become President than you are to win the lottery.
The odds of a person becoming the President of the United State are 10 million to 1. However, the odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot are 292,201,338 to 1.
HYPE HYPE HYPE!!!
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Kleenex tissues were supposed to be for gas masks.
During a cotton shortage in World War I, Kimberly-Clark devised a thin, flat cotton substitute to use as a filter for army gas masks. However, the war ended before scientists could perfect the material. In turn, the company constructed a thinner and softer material that eventually became Kleenex tissues.
HYPE IT UP!!!
We learned about a really big fan of the movie Titanic in 2023.
A Florida-based editor named JD has set a goal of collecting 1 million copies of Titanic on VHS, which consisted of two tapes because the movie clocks in at three hours and 15 minutes. JD—who apparently started collecting around a decade ago—has more than 2581 copies as of late 2023.
A funeral home started selling Barbie-themed coffins.
The Alpha and Omega Funeral Home in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, started selling pink Barbie-themed coffins to capitalize on the Barbie craze—and as of early August 2023, 10 people had purchased them to be their future final resting places.
Swifties in Seattle caused seismic activity.
How many Swifties does it take to generate the same seismic activity as a 2.3-magnitude earthquake? About 70,000, give or take. That’s what happened at Taylor Swift’s two back-to-back concerts in Seattle over the summer. It wasn’t just the fans’ dancing that caused the ground shakes—the booming sound system itself played a role, too. But still: It’s probably best not to ever underestimate the power of Swifties.
A library book was returned 119 years after it was due.
In order for libraries to work, borrowers need to respect the window of time they have to read and return a book. And most do. But every now and again, a title will disappear for 119 years. In 1904, someone checked out An Elementary Treatise on Electricity by James Clerk Maxwell from the New Bedford Free Public Library near Boston. It wasn’t returned until 2023, when it surfaced as part of a donation pile at West Virginia University Libraries. No one knows where the book went in the interim, but it’s now back where it belongs.
Only ¼ of the Sahara Desert is sandy.
When you think Sahara, you’d probably think of something out of The Lion King or National Geographic: stretches of dry, barren sands. However, this is actually not the case. One of the fun facts about the Sahara desert is that it’s hardly made up of sand! Most of it is covered in gravel with mountains and oases.
Tons of new words got added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Oxford English Dictionary added hundreds of new entries in 2023. Here are a few of our favorites: Groomzilla is the male counterpart to bridezilla, which made it into the OED back in 2009. And while the meaning of the term comfort-wear is pretty obvious, the OED traces it back to at least 1903 to describe a woman in slippers and a housecoat. The phrases spider sense and spidey sense also made the dictionary. Spidey sense is obviously Spider-Man-related, but spider sense predates our favorite webslinger by nearly 50 years and originally meant “the ability of certain people to sense nearby spiders.”#