Allen Jones and NPC Land Steward Sara Schlesinger at the Stillwater conservation easement, marking a shared commitment to conservation. Image Credit: Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC)

The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy has helped place 230 acres of forest, ponds and wetlands along the Snyder-Mifflin county line under permanent conservation protection. The land, known as Stillwater, belongs to Allen Jones, who first bought the property as his homestead in 1988. Over the decades, his connection with the area grew as he acquired surrounding acreage and worked to restore its woodland and wildlife habitat. In January 2026, Jones donated a conservation easement to the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy, ensuring that the land he spent years caring for will remain protected for the future.

The 230-acre forest became a long-term project for Pennsylvania’s landowner

Jones’s relationship with the land began well before he became its owner. According to the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy, he grew up in Snyder County and spent much of his childhood exploring the woods, observing wildlife and becoming familiar with the natural rhythms of the area. While other students concentrated on farming during their high school agricultural classes, Jones focused on wildlife habitat.He bought the land for his homestead in 1988. In later years, he was able to acquire additional surrounding acreage, including the forest where he had harvested(hunted) his first deer when he was 12 years old.As the property grew, so did his plans for it. The landowner wanted the area to provide a place where people could hike and hunt, children could explore nature, birds could stop during migration and wildlife could move through a healthy forest. The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy says this wider vision eventually shaped the way Jones managed the property.

Years of careful work changed the condition of the woodland

The restoration of Stillwater was not a short-term effort. Jones worked with a forester to create a Forest Management Plan and spent more than a decade addressing the effects of heavy logging that had taken place on the property.One part of that work involved controlling invasive plants, including stilt grass, which can interfere with the growth of native vegetation. Jones also created areas where new trees could develop and planted native species such as oak and maple.The forest was managed with wildlife in mind as well. Fallen logs and brush were deliberately left on the ground to provide cover for animals and help protect young seedlings. Deer numbers were monitored to make sure the woodland could regenerate.Jones also established a nut orchard containing almond, American chestnut, hazelnut and pawpaw trees. These trees added another source of food and habitat to the property. According to NPC, maintaining the land required patience and persistence, but the work helped create a more resilient forest.

Stillwater has ponds and wetlands that is the home of wood frogs and other amphibians. Springs flow from the nearby Bald Eagle State Forest through the property leading to Jack’s Creek, a state-designated Cold Water Fishery, that connects to the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers. Image Credit: Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC)

What makes Stillwater more than just a forest

Water is another defining feature of the property. NPC named the land Stillwater because of its many ponds and wetlands, which form an important part of the landscape.Springs flow from neighbouring Bald Eagle State Forest through Stillwater before reaching Jack’s Creek. NPC notes that the creek is a state-designated Cold Water Fishery and eventually connects with the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers.The ponds and wetlands also support wildlife. Wood frogs and other amphibians use these wet areas, while 40 bluebird houses and several wood duck nesting boxes provide places for birds to nest. The property has also become a place where local youth groups can explore vernal pools during spring, giving younger people an opportunity to experience the natural environment directly.

The conservation easement carries the work into the future

After years of managing and restoring Stillwater, Jones decided that protecting the property permanently was the next step. The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy reports that he eventually contacted NPC Land Steward Sara Schlesinger after researching conservation options.Their shared interest in hunting and the outdoors helped turn the initial discussion into a partnership. In January 2026, NPC announced that it had accepted the donation of a 230-acre conservation easement covering land in Snyder and Mifflin Counties.A conservation easement allows land to remain privately owned while placing lasting protections on its natural features. In this case, the agreement reflects Jones’s intention to preserve the results of decades of work instead of simply leaving the property’s future to chance.NPC is a regional land trust working across 12 counties to conserve and enhance land and water. The organisation said its members and donors make it possible to work with landowners on projects such as Stillwater. NPC also reports that it has now helped conserve more than 12,000 acres across its 12-county service area. Stillwater adds another 230 acres to that wider effort.

John Young and the preserved corned-beef sandwich displayed at the Grissom Memorial Museum in Indiana.

NASA astronaut John W. Young secretly carried a freshly made corned-beef sandwich on rye into space during the Gemini III mission on March 23, 1965, hiding it in a pocket of his spacesuit. Nearly two hours into the flight, Young pulled it out and offered some to commander Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom. The rye bread quickly crumbled, sending pieces floating inside the cabin and raising concerns about debris getting into equipment or an astronaut’s eyes. What began as a practical joke soon became a serious issue back on Earth. The episode reached a US House appropriations hearing, where the sandwich was mocked in the press as the ‘$30 million sandwich’, a reference to the estimated $30 million cost of the Gemini III mission. NASA subsequently tightened rules on what astronauts could take aboard spacecraft.

Why NASA astronaut John Young brought a sandwich into space

Gemini III was the first crewed mission of NASA’s Gemini programme and the first US spaceflight to carry two astronauts. Young served as pilot, while Grissom was the command pilot. The mission launched on March 23, 1965, and lasted about 4 hours and 52 minutes, completing three orbits of Earth. One of the mission’s secondary objectives was to evaluate NASA’s newly developed space-food system. The astronauts had practised eating specially prepared meals that were freeze-dried or otherwise packaged so they could be rehydrated and consumed in microgravity. The food was functional, but it was not particularly popular with the astronauts. Young later explained that Grissom had become bored with the food they had been eating during training. The idea of bringing a conventional sandwich into space therefore seemed amusing. Fellow astronaut Walter ‘Wally’ Schirra, who was the backup command pilot for Gemini III, bought a corned-beef sandwich from a restaurant in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Young then slipped it into a pocket of his pressure suit before launch.

The sandwich appeared nearly two hours into the flight

The sandwich remained hidden until Young began the mission’s food and waste evaluation roughly two hours after launch. He pulled it from his spacesuit and offered it to Grissom. According to NASA’s account of the flight, Grissom asked Young what it was and where it came from. Young acknowledged that he had brought it with him and suggested that they see how it tasted. Grissom took a bite, but the sandwich immediately demonstrated why conventional bread was unsuitable for a spacecraft. The rye bread began breaking apart, with crumbs floating around the cabin. Grissom put the unfinished sandwich into his own spacesuit pocket in an attempt to keep the crumbs contained. NASA says the exchange lasted less than a minute. There was also the smell. Contemporary accounts describe the strong aroma of corned beef filling the small spacecraft. NASA’s historical record notes that Grissom was surprised by the sandwich and its pungent smell.

John Young and Gus Grissom before the Gemini III flight.

Why a few crumbs became a serious problem

The incident may sound trivial today, but loose food particles could create genuine problems inside a spacecraft. The Gemini cabin contained instruments, switches and other equipment that had to function reliably. Floating crumbs could potentially become lodged behind instrument panels or interfere with equipment. They could also get into an astronaut’s eyes. NASA’s historical account specifically notes these concerns. The approved Gemini food system had been designed partly to avoid this problem. Food was packaged in ways that reduced loose particles, while some items were coated or compressed to make them easier to handle in microgravity. The sandwich therefore provided an accidental demonstration of why NASA had been so careful about space-food design. Importantly, NASA says the sandwich did not damage the spacecraft or disrupt the mission’s experiments. The agency’s later historical account states that there was no detriment to the experimental programme or the actual conduct of Gemini III because of the sandwich.

The ‘$30 million sandwich’ reached Congress

The story became much bigger after Gemini III returned to Earth. At a post-flight press conference in Cocoa Beach, reporters asked Young about the sandwich, and the incident soon attracted the attention of lawmakers during hearings on NASA’s 1966 budget. Representative George E. Shipley of Illinois criticised the decision to bring an unauthorised sandwich aboard the spacecraft, comparing the tightly controlled cabin to a surgeon’s operating room. NASA Associate Administrator George Mueller told the House Committee on Appropriations that the agency had taken steps to prevent another corned-beef sandwich from being carried on a future mission.The famous ‘$30 million sandwich’ nickname came from the estimated cost of the Gemini III mission, not from the value of the food. Young later recalled that some members of Congress believed the astronauts had brought the sandwich into a mission that was specifically supposed to evaluate approved space food, raising concerns that the stunt could undermine an extremely expensive government-funded programme. One committee member therefore used the ‘$30 million’ figure to highlight the disproportion between the cheap sandwich and the enormous cost of the mission. NASA’s official history cites the Evening Star headline “$30 Million Sandwich”: House Doesn’t Relish Astronauts’ Snack, published on April 15, 1965.NASA subsequently tightened its rules. Beginning with Gemini IV, astronauts were required to provide lists of items they intended to take aboard, and sandwiches were specifically prohibited.

NASA banned sandwiches, but Young’s career continued

The sandwich episode had a practical consequence. Beginning with Gemini IV, NASA required crews to provide a list of items they intended to take aboard their spacecraft. Sandwiches were specifically prohibited, along with certain bulky, heavy or metallic objects that could interfere with spacecraft equipment. Astronauts could still carry approved personal items in their personal preference kits.Young did not receive a formal reprimand, although NASA made clear that officials and lawmakers were unhappy with the stunt. Other astronauts were advised not to repeat similar pranks. The incident ultimately became a tiny footnote in Young’s extraordinary career. He went on to fly six space missions, including two Gemini flights, two Apollo missions and two Space Shuttle missions. He commanded STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission, and served as chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office for 13 years.The irony continued decades later. NASA eventually became more accommodating of sandwiches and bread-based foods in space. During Apollo 13, astronauts had bread and sandwich fillings available, although NASA had developed much better food systems by then.The Gemini III sandwich itself became part of spaceflight folklore. A replica preserved in resin has been displayed at the Grissom Memorial Museum in Mitchell, Indiana, commemorating the snack that briefly became one of NASA’s strangest controversies.

The collection also includes 14 mosaics taken from a Roman villa in Syria. Among the other notable pieces is a third-century BCE mosaic section portraying the mythological wedding of Telete and Eros, created from hundreds of tiny pieces of colored stone known as tesserae.

Ancient pieces of Syrian history that had traveled far from their original landscapes are now making the journey back home. US authorities have returned 36 antiquities to Syria, a collection worth more than $5 million that includes a monumental relief from Palmyra, Roman-era mosaics and objects recovered from major private and institutional collections, states a report by Arab News. The repatriation, announced September 23, marks another major effort to trace and recover cultural objects that entered the international art market through illicit trafficking.

A collection spanning centuries

According to Arab News, among the returned objects is a massive limestone relief from ancient Palmyra. The funerary sculpture dates to the late second century CE and depicts a reclining man surrounded by a woman and three children. Weighing more than 1,000 pounds, the relief originally formed part of a Palmyrene tomb. Investigators determined that it had been carefully removed from a burial chamber before being smuggled through Dubai.Its history is particularly significant because the relief left Palmyra before the ancient city suffered extensive destruction at the hands of ISIS between 2015 and 2017. The archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was heavily damaged during the conflict, making the recovery of objects removed from the city especially important.The collection also includes 14 mosaics taken from a Roman villa in Syria. Among the other notable pieces is a third-century BCE mosaic section portraying the mythological wedding of Telete and Eros, created from hundreds of tiny pieces of colored stone known as tesserae.

13 pieces came from the Met

The report adds that thirteen of the 36 antiquities were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of investigations into the provenance of ancient objects held by the institution.The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said its Antiquities Trafficking Unit has seized 402 antiquities from the Met since 2017, with a combined value of $98.7 million. The Syrian return therefore forms part of a much broader examination of objects that passed through museums, galleries and private collections.Four other objects in the latest repatriation came from the collection of American collector Michael Steinhardt. Those pieces were among approximately 180 antiquities valued at $70 million that authorities recovered from his collection in a 2021 agreement. That agreement also resulted in a lifetime prohibition on his acquiring additional antiquities.

Tracing a global antiquities trade

Investigators linked 31 of the returned Middle Eastern and North African antiquities to objects allegedly trafficked into New York by Georges Lotfi, a Lebanese antiquities dealer who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued in 2022 and an Interpol Red Notice from 2023. The allegations against him remain subject to the legal process.The latest return adds Syria to a growing list of countries receiving cultural artifacts recovered through investigations in New York. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit says it has recovered more than 6,400 cultural treasures valued at about $495 million and returned more than 6,200 of them to 40 countries.For Syria, the return represents the recovery of objects connected to civilizations that flourished thousands of years ago, and, in the case of the Palmyra relief, a tangible piece of a site whose surviving heritage has faced extraordinary losses in recent history, concludes the report.

Male African Bush Elephant. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Tanzania has officially protected a narrow wildlife corridor linking Nyerere National Park’s savanna woodlands with the rainforests of the Udzungwa Mountains. The Nyerere-Udzungwa Wildlife Corridor crosses the Kilombero Valley, where farm fields had divided the elephants’ old natural path, making it harder for them to move between the savanna and rainforest. Around 1,000 elephants use this landscape, moving between lowland and mountain habitats. Since restoration began, local communities and conservation groups have planted 100,000 native trees and introduced measures to guide elephants away from farms. The corridor was formally recognised by Tanzania in April 2025, giving legal protection to the route.

How 100,000 native trees helped restore the landscape for the elephants

Restoring vegetation became an important part of making the corridor useful to wildlife. Southern Tanzania Elephant Program(STEP) reports that its partner Reforest Africa has planted 100,000 tree seedlings using indigenous species, alongside assisted natural regeneration.The World Land Trust says its 2025 Plant a Tree project is supporting restoration in the Greater Udzungwa-Kilombero landscape. The programme provided funding for 100,000 native trees to restore 100 hectares of degraded land in the Magombera Nature Forest Reserve. It also supports a nursery and training hub intended to help plant another 50,000 native trees across a further 50 hectares.Mongabay reported that the first 100,000 trees planted inside the corridor represent about 30 species. Some areas are being planted densely to recreate forest, while other sections are being kept more open to provide woodland habitat. Species have also been selected for the food they provide to different animals. Fruits from sycamore figs and wild mangoes, for example, are eaten by Sykes’ monkeys and trumpeter hornbills.The trees are already changing the appearance of parts of the valley. According to Mongabay, trees planted in late 2023 had grown above head height, with their expanding green cover visible in satellite images.

STEP reports that its partner Reforest Africa has planted 100,000 tree seedlings using indigenous species, alongside assisted natural regeneration. Image Credit: Southern Tanzania Elephant Program(STEP)

The elephant corridor connects savanna to rainforest

The corridor stretches for about 14 kilometres across the Kilombero Valley, linking Nyerere National Park and the Magombera Nature Forest Reserve in the east with Udzungwa Mountains National Park in the west. Mongabay reported that the route is only about 200 metres wide in places, making the protected strip a narrow passage through a heavily used agricultural landscape.STEP reports that the corridor reconnects habitats that had been separated after forests were cleared and land was converted to farms. The organisation began working with villages and the Tanzanian government in 2018 to restore the route. On 4 April 2025, the government officially designated it as Tanzania’s first wildlife corridor with this legal status.The route matters because elephants do not remain in one type of habitat throughout the year. Mongabay reported that elephants in this region move between mountain and lowland forests, miombo woodland and open bush. During dry periods, the mountains can provide food and water when lower areas become less suitable.

Why was the route needed after forests disappeared

The landscape was not always divided in the way it is today. According to Mongabay, about 50 years ago the valley was connected by lowland rainforest. Much of that forest was later cleared as agriculture expanded, leaving elephants to cross farmland along routes they had used for generations.That movement created problems for both wildlife and farmers. STEP reports that 3 villages involved in the corridor agreed to set aside about 7% of their village land. A total of 368 landowners were compensated for their farm plots, with roughly 2.2 billion Tanzanian shillings raised for direct compensation to households.

Measures to keep elephants away from farms

Trees alone cannot make the route safe. The project has also used fencing to guide elephants towards the corridor and reduce encounters with people. Fondazione Capellino reports the initiative as a 13-kilometre ecological corridor and says Tanzania’s first large-scale electric fencing system is being used to reduce human-elephant conflict.The foundation reports that elephants have increasingly remained within the corridor during daylight, gathering in shaded areas and near streams. It also says that residents in Upogoroni sub-village, who previously had to leave their fields in the afternoon because of elephant movements, can now work in their fields during the day.The fencing system is still being improved. Fondazione Capellino says severe flooding in early 2026 led to another technical planning phase, while a redesigned system is intended to cope better with seasonal floods. By early 2026, fencing had reached about 12.6 kilometres, with further work planned.

What has the corridor revealed about wildlife use

Monitoring has shown that the route is already being used by a range of animals. STEP says biodiversity monitoring recorded 26 species of large and medium-sized mammals in the corridor and detected increased elephant use.Mongabay reported that 59 camera traps installed across the corridor recorded at least 1,440 mammals during a 15-month period, including 529 elephants. The cameras also recorded species such as buffalo, bushbuck, serval, honey badgers, Sykes’ monkeys and Cape clawless otters. The corridor is serving a wider purpose than simply moving elephants between two protected areas.

Challenges for the restored corridor

The official designation has strengthened protection, but the project still faces practical challenges. Mongabay reported that elephants have not yet consistently used an underpass beneath a busy road near the Udzungwa Mountains. Crowds gathering to watch the animals can cause them to turn back, while planned development close to the corridor could create additional pressure.Fondazione Capellino reports that fencing, monitoring, patrols and community involvement remain ongoing rather than completed tasks.

The seeds that NASA sent to space in 1984, returned to Earth six years later in 1990 and had to be distributed among students as plant kits. What lies behind this statement is a tale of space motion that many remain unaware of. The mission was to determine whether exposure to the space environment would affect the germination and plant growth of the seeds, but the agency was never able to observe the same.

A hopeful experiment

The project was called SEEDS, which stands for Space Exposed Experiment Developed for Students. It involved NASA headquarters, the Langley Research Centre and the company George W. Park Seed, a traditional seed supplier in US. The idea was to send a group of seeds into space and keep a group on Earth. Then, both sets of identical seeds would be distributed to the schools so that students could plant them side by side and compare the results.All 12.5 million seeds belonged to the variety Rutgers California Supreme, a common tomato in American cultivation. This was chosen because using a single variety prevents genetic differences from skewing the results. The equipment that carried the seeds into space was the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), a twelve-sided cylindrical structure, weighing about 9.7 tons, designed to remain stationary in space while experiments attached to its surface were exposed to vacuum, radiation and micrometeorites. The LDEF had no propulsion or power generation of its own. It was built to be released by one space shuttle and collected by another, and it carried dozens of experiments from various countries, not just the seed experiments.The Space Shuttle Challenger released the LDEF into orbit on April 7, 1984, during the STC-41 C mission. The plan was to retrieve it within a year during a subsequent, pre-scheduled mission. Two years later, the same shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members. The entire fleet was grounded, and planned missions were reorganised.Without an engine to correct its trajectory, the LDEF gradually lost altitude, slowed by the residual atmosphere that exists even hundreds of kilometres up. Over the years, its orbit dropped to about 280 kilometres. When the rescue finally arrived, the platform was mere weeks away from re-entering the atmosphere and disintegrating. In this case, the 12.5 million seeds would have burned up as well.The Space Shuttle Columbia captured the platform on January 12, 1990, during the STS-32 mission, bringing it back with the seeds intact. Combined, this amounted to 69 months in orbit, nearly six years and over 32,000 orbits around Earth. The seeds remained sealed in containers inside the platform, with no cultivation in orbit. Nothing germinated in space; the exposure was only to the environment. During this time, they were exposed to solar radiation, cosmic rays and microgravity.

Planting kits for students

Each kit contained both group of seeds, the ones that had spent nearly six years in space and the ones that had been stored in a controlled environment for the same duration. Image credit: NASA

After the return, as planned, the educational phase of the project began. According to a NASA educational report, approximately 132,000 planting kits were distributed to teachers at about 40,000 schools, reaching about 3.3 million students. The outreach covered all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and another 30 countries across the world. It included classes from preschool to universities.Each kit contained both group of seeds, the ones that had spent nearly six years in space and the ones that had been stored in a controlled environment for the same duration. This second group is what science refers to as the control: it serves as a benchmark to determine whether any observed differences were actually due to the journey, rather than the variety or planting method. The kits included forms to record any observations made.Students recorded how many seeds germinated, how long it took for the first sprout to appear and how the plants developed over the weeks. They also noted the appearance of the flowers, formation of the fruit and the condition of leaves and stems. The recorded data was sent back to NASA which compiled the information for analysis. The agency received nearly 8,000 reports submitted by entire classes.Preliminary data showed a germination rate of 73.8% for the space seeds, compared to 70.3% for the Earth seeds. In tests conducted in the first six months after retrieval, the space seeds averaged germination in 8 days, while the Earth seeds took 8.3 days. There was also a tendency for initial growth to be faster in the first three to four weeks. After this period, the terrestrial plants caught up to the others.The project’s summary did not identify any overall differences between the two groups of plants or their fruits. The small initial advantages did not persist through the end of the cycle.SEEDS (Space Exposed Experiment Developed for Students) has become one of the largest science projects ever conducted in classrooms with material that has been exposed to space, both in terms of participant numbers and geographical reach.

California crews uncover possible 45-million-year-old ‘thunder beast’ fossils in Oceanside (Image Credit: City of Oceanside)

A routine infrastructure project in Oceanside, California, has led to an unexpected discovery from deep beneath the ground: fossilised bones that may have belonged to a huge hoofed mammal that lived as long as 45 million years ago. According to the City of Oceanside, which announced the discovery, crews uncovered several limb bones, ribs and other fragments about 12 feet below the surface. Paleontologists believe the remains could belong to a prehistoric animal known as a “thunder beast”; another possibility is a creature known as a “swamp rhino”. Researchers are now studying the fossils to determine the animal’s exact identity.

Fossils emerge during routine construction

The discovery was made recently while crews were carrying out excavation for a city infrastructure project in Oceanside, about 40 miles north of San Diego. Workers digging roughly 12 feet below the surface came across several fossilised bones embedded in hardened sedimentary rock. The remains included multiple limb bones, ribs and numerous other bones and fragments. Their size and shape suggested to paleontologists that they belonged to a large hoofed mammal that lived in the region during the Eocene Epoch.The fossils were found in what the City of Oceanside describes as “Member C of the Santiago Formation,” a thick sequence of sedimentary rock in northwestern San Diego County. The formation dates to a period when the landscape of present-day Southern California was very different from what it is today. Rather than stopping construction entirely, the discovery prompted paleontologists to secure the area and carefully excavate the remains.

Seven days of careful excavation

Joseph El Adli, a paleontologist who was monitoring the construction site, recognised the importance of the discovery and led additional excavation work. According to the City of Oceanside, El Adli’s team spent seven days exposing the fossils from beneath several tons of hardened mudstone and sandstone. The bones were then placed inside a protective plaster field jacket so they could be transported safely to an off-site laboratory for further preparation.The fossils are still encased in rock, meaning researchers have not yet been able to examine every part of the specimens. That is also why the precise identity of the animal remains uncertain. The exact location of the discovery is not disclosed yet, citing public safety concerns and the need to protect the site.

Was it a ‘thunder beast’ or a swamp rhino?

Based on the size and shape of the recovered bones, El Adli believes the animal could belong to one of two groups of extinct mammals. One possibility is a Titanothere, commonly referred to as a “thunder beast”. These were large, hoofed mammals that lived in North America during the Eocene. They were members of the extinct brontothere group and could reach considerable sizes.The second possibility is an Amynodon, sometimes described as a “swamp rhino”. Despite the name, these animals were not modern rhinoceroses. They belonged to an extinct group of large-bodied mammals and are thought to have had adaptations associated with life around wetlands. At this stage, paleontologists have not confirmed which of the two animals the Oceanside fossils represent. Further preparation and examination of the bones should help narrow down their identity.

A glimpse into ancient Oceanside

The fossils provide a window into a period when the landscape around present-day Oceanside was home to very different animals and environments. Officials said the mammal lived on ancient floodplains roughly 40 million to 45 million years ago. The rocks surrounding the remains belong to the Eocene-aged Santiago Formation and fall within the Uintan North American Land Mammal Age. The find also adds to evidence that the region contains significant fossil deposits. According to the Los Angeles Times, other fossils have previously been recovered from the Santiago Formation, including remains of early saber-toothed carnivores and primates.Modern construction has also uncovered fossils elsewhere in Southern California, demonstrating how buried geological deposits can sometimes remain hidden until excavation reaches them.

What happens to the fossils next?

The recovered specimens are expected to undergo further preparation and scientific examination once researchers remove more of the surrounding rock. The additional work could reveal features that distinguish a thunder beast from a swamp rhino and provide more information about the animal’s size and biology. The researchers will also be able to determine whether the fragments belong to a single individual. The City of Oceanside said the specimens are ultimately expected to become part of a museum collection, where they can be preserved and made available to scientists and the public for further study.For now, the discovery remains a scientific mystery. What began as a routine excavation 12 feet beneath an Oceanside construction project has instead uncovered bones from an animal that may have walked across Southern California’s ancient floodplains tens of millions of years ago. Further examination of the fossils will determine whether the long-buried remains belonged to a “thunder beast”, a swamp rhino or another prehistoric mammal.

Donut was taken to the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Center for emergency veterinary treatment. She is still in critical condition and the priority now is to treat her serious wound and stabilize her health.

A young gray seal caught in a snare of discarded fishing gear that had tightened around her neck has a long road to recovery. By the time rescuers reached her, the debris had cut through her and left her nearly unable to move through the water, states an online report by Broadland Radio. Her caregivers named the seal Donut and she was found at Horsey on September 20 in a condition that left little room for delay. She is now being cared for by specialists at the RSPCA’s East Winch Wildlife Center and her survival remains uncertain, adds the online report.

Four kilos of wreckage

Donut, about a year old, had become ensnared in a tangle of netting, twine, fishing hooks and metal. The material was tight against her neck now, a heavy collar that still hurt when she moved. When rescuers finally freed her the tangled mess weighed around four kilos. The debris had cut deep into the seal’s neck, causing a wound some three inches deep. The injury was painful, and it also threatened her ability to swim and hunt, skills that a young seal needs to survive in the wild. With help from members of the public, volunteers from Friends of Horsey Seals managed to get Donut onto a stretcher and safely remove her from the beach.

The road ahead is hard

Donut was taken to the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Center for emergency veterinary treatment. She is still in critical condition and the priority now is to treat her serious wound and stabilize her health. She is expected to pull through the initial ordeal but her recovery will be a long one. It will be several months before she is strong enough to go back to sea, and that will be with treatment and rehab, states the online report. For a young seal already weakened by injury the process will involve rebuilding her strength and ensuring she can once again swim, feed and fend for herself in the wild.

The shore line is a red flag

Doughnut’s plight reflects a continuing danger to marine wildlife around the British coast. Fishing line, netting, hooks, ropes and other discarded materials can persist in the marine environment long after they have fulfilled their original function. Animals can become entangled while swimming, feeding or resting, and injuries can be exacerbated as the material constricts around their bodies. Doughnut’s case was a few kilograms of debris that became a potentially deadly trap.Her rescue also emphasizes the necessity of promptly reporting animals in distress and involving trained wildlife rescuers. The next few months will tell if Donut can recover from her injuries and make it back to the Norfolk coast. The young seal is currently in specialist care, and her survival depends on treatment, rehabilitation and time, concludes the report.Image Courtesy: istock

Women have been kept in the dark about more than just their abilities and history, they still don’t know one of the most important things about themselves: their body. For more than a hundred years, an organ in the female reproductive system was written off as useless. However, a recent study has revealed that what researchers called a “mysterious orphan structure”, may play an essential role in fertility and keeping the ovaries healthy.

A rediscovered organ

First discovered in 1870, the rete ovarii is a small structure on the ovary that has historically received little to no attention. While early editions of ‘Gray’s Anatomy’, the classic human anatomy reference book first published in London in 1858, did include drawings of the appendage, eventually, it completely disappeared completely from medical textbooks and came to be regarded as a functionless part of the adult ovary.That assumption is particularly shocking because the RO is found across a wide range of mammals, including guinea pigs, cows, cats, sheep, pigs, dogs, monkeys, camels, and humans. Previous studies had hinted that it could produce and release substances, but this possibility was never experimentally confirmed. Without a clear function, the RO remained something of an anatomical mystery.But in 2024, a research team from Duke University published “Rediscovering the rete ovarii, a secreting auxiliary structure to the ovary,” a scientific paper describing their examination of the development and function of the rete ovarii in mice.The rete ovarii is an extended horseshoe-shaped “network of tubules and cords” at the bottom of the ovary. It consists of three distinct regions that persist from birth through adulthood: the intraovarian rete (IOR), the extraovarian rete (EOR) and the connecting rete (CR).Researchers injected fluid into the EOR and found that it flowed toward the ovary, suggesting that the structure may play a role in ovarian function. They also found evidence that the EOR may communicate with the nervous and circulatory systems: Its cells are closely associated with blood vessels that supply the ovaries and receive direct connections from nerves. The cells are also found near macrophages, which are immune cells that help protect the body.The researchers also found receptors for hormones including estrogen and progesterone, which play important roles in reproduction and other aspects of women’s health.Some of the proteins released by the rete ovarii are involved in egg maturation and maintaining ovarian follicles. Their activity increased as estrogen levels rose, suggesting the structure may respond to hormonal changes during the reproductive cycle.According to co-author Dilara Anbarci, a developmental biologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbour, the findings could offer clues about how the structure contributes to fertility and ovarian health. “There’s still so much we can’t even begin to comprehend about female anatomy,” said Anbarci to ScienceNews. “I hope this encourages more investigation in reevaluating what we don’t already know about the ovary.”

Social media backlash

Researchers have studied the rete ovarii since it was first described more than 100 years ago, but they never agreed about its function, according to the authors. The rediscovery of the organ is also making waves on social media, where women are criticising the medical research establishment, historically male-dominated in both its workforce and leadership, for rejecting and “erasing” a structure in the female body.Comedian Michelle Wolf called the news “infuriating” in a TikTok that has garnered more than 130,000 likes. “The fun thing is that obviously our bodies didn’t erase it because if our bodies just erase things men wanted them to, we wouldn’t have brains,” she said.Wolf also pointed out that the rete testis, considered the male equivalent of rete ovarii — though the 2024 study’s authors deemed the rete ovarii “more complex” — has remained in anatomy textbooks. “We research women’s health just about as thoroughly as a man looks for ketchup in the fridge,” she quipped.“Being overlooked by a man because they didn’t think you were important, rete ovarii, we’ve all been there. Welcome back, baby.”

There are no limits to what a well-planned project cannot achieve and researchers in Colorado have proven it right. They have managed to make a rooftop with solar panels produce electricity while also growing the world’s most expensive spice and generating extra income.Colorado State University researchers report that saffron, grown beneath solar panels rated at 40% transparency, produced twice as many flowers and twice the dried spice yield as compared to unshaded rooftop plots. The conditions on a green roof – well-drained, nutrient-poor substrates and extreme microclimates – are surprisingly ideal for saffron production. The finding points to a promising use of agrovoltaics, which pairs agriculture with solar electricity generation.

A sunlit experiment

The research was conducted at the CSU Spur campus in Denver, where Jennifer Bousselot’s team studies planted roofs with and without solar installations. These spaces let researchers investigate how urban rooftops could produce food where farmland remains scarce. It was in 2007 that Bousselot began studying the relationship between green roofs and solar panels.In their March 2026 research summary, Reece Bailey and Bousselot warn that “too much shade can be detrimental to saffron yield.” They propose panels that transmit 30% to 40% of the light, mounted 6 to 8 feet above the growing surface.A separate 2022 experiment in eastern Morocco compared full sun with three shade levels over 24 months and found the highest saffron yield with 30% shade. That is roughly 70% of sunlight remaining, not 30% transmission. The percentages describe different things, so the studies do not establish one universal lighting recipe for every climate and panel layout.

A $60,000 figure

The Colorado team modelled five years on an existing 46-kilowatt rooftop array with 4,356 square feet of growing space. Its budget projects about $61,000 in net revenue, including electricity, dried saffron, and sales of corms (the underground structures used to grow new plants).The assumptions include $35 per gram of saffron and corms at 25 cents each. Electricity can contribute $13,470 over the five years. However, first-year costs exceed revenue and the budget does not cover building a new rooftop installation.Saffron consists of the dried red stigmas of Crocus sativus, a fall-blooming crocus harvested and processed by hand. That careful work helps explain why a tiny jar in the kitchen can carry such a large price tag.University of Vermont researchers measured just how much work sits behind the harvest. In their solar-field experiment, producing a single gram of dried saffron required 159 to 179 flowers. A larger flower count is encouraging, but it also means more flowers to pick and process before that spice reaches a customer. The timing can be useful for small farms, too. Vermont’s saffron researchers describe an October or November harvest, after much of the main growing-season rush has passed. The crop could provide additional seasonal income, although someone still has to pick the flowers and separate the delicate threads.For cities, the appeal of the project is exciting. Rooftop farming and solar generation can share the space and panel shade can reduce crop heat stress and irrigation needs under suitable conditions. CSU Extension notes that rooftop systems present installation and maintenance challenges, with planting and harvesting done by hand. In practical terms, a productive roof needs more than plants and panels. It needs a workable plan for growing, harvesting, and maintaining both systems.

A decade of forest regeneration in Indonesia’s Harapan Rainforest was linked to rising bird abundance, with 43.8% of bird species showing significant increases, according to a study published in Biological Conservation. Researchers surveyed birds between 2009–2011 and again in 2018, recording 187 species across the two periods. However, the study found evidence that trapping pressure increasingly affected bird populations as the forest became more accessible. According to the study published in ScienceDirect, titled ‘Avifauna recovers faster in areas less accessible to trapping in regenerating tropical forests’, the proportion of species with significantly higher abundance in less accessible areas rose from 5.4% to 16.2%. Researchers also found that 14% of species did not recover as quickly as predicted from forest regeneration alone, highlighting the impact associated with wildlife trapping.

How did 43.8% of bird species respond to rainforest recovery

The researchers recorded 187 bird species across the two survey periods. Of these, 122 species were recorded during both periods and were included in the abundance modelling. Among those 122 species, 45.1% showed significantly greater mean abundance in the current period than in the early period, while no species showed a statistically significant decline in mean abundance over time. The researchers reported an average community-level increase in abundance, although the estimated interval meant that this overall change was not statistically significant.The study’s headline figure of 43.8% refers to the broader result reported in the abstract: forest regeneration was associated with significant abundance increases for 43.8% of bird species over the decade. The researchers nevertheless found that forest recovery did not occur in isolation from other pressures. Their results showed that forests had also become more accessible to people during the study period, with mean access difficulty falling from 1.32 kilometres during the early period to 0.72 kilometres in 2018. The researchers used accessibility as a proxy for trapping pressure because direct measurement of trapping activity across the landscape was difficult.

How did trapping pressure affect bird abundance

The proportion of species whose abundance significantly increased as access difficulty increased rose from 5.4% in the early period to 16.2% in the current period. The researchers interpreted higher abundance in less accessible areas as being likely linked to the negative effects of trapping, because more remote locations were harder for people to reach. They also found that 48.4% of species increased in the degree to which their abundance was associated with increasing access difficulty.The study also found evidence of a recovery deficit associated with intensified trapping. Fifteen per cent of the species analysed exhibited a significant recovery deficit, meaning their observed abundance was lower than the researchers’ counterfactual estimate under a scenario in which trapping pressure had not intensified. The deficit was concentrated in areas with greater human accessibility, with the researchers identifying a zone of reduced recovery around easier-access locations. In the abstract, the authors similarly reported that 14% of species did not recover as fast as predicted based on observed forest regeneration over the study period.

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Bird trapping differs between targeted and opportunistic species

Targeted species included birds prized for singing abilities, ornamental attractiveness or body parts, while opportunistically trapped species were those not specifically targeted but still captured and sold when possible. A higher proportion of targeted species showed a significant positive relationship between abundance and access difficulty in 2018, while targeted species also had a higher proportion showing a significant recovery deficit.The researchers also found that forest-dependent species were more strongly associated with less accessible areas than generalist species in the current period and had greater recovery deficits. Their conclusion states that “species prized in the pet trade and those dependent on late-successional forest habitat were particularly concentrated in remote, inaccessible areas”. The study therefore describes two simultaneous patterns at Harapan: bird abundance increased during forest regeneration, while trapping pressure was associated with slower recovery for some species and greater abundance in areas farther from human access.

More than 1,500 people helped researchers count seals and sea lions on California’s Año Nuevo Island by studying thousands of drone photographs. The citizen science project ran for 212 days, with volunteers counting about 94,000 image tiles. Researchers then compared the volunteer counts with counts made by experts. According to the study published in Plos One, titled ‘Accuracy and precision of citizen scientist animal counts from drone imagery’, for seals, there was a 5% proportional error during the breeding seasons, while the figure for sea lions was 9%. The researchers also found that repeated counts improved accuracy, with around 11 citizen scientists per image helping to reduce errors. However, processing the photographs still took weeks.

How did researchers use drones to count seals and sea lions

The research team conducted drone flights over Año Nuevo Island roughly every two weeks between July 2017 and July 2019. They completed 60 flights, although some flights were affected by rain, wind and swell conditions. Two consumer-level drones, the Phantom 3 Advanced and Mavic 2 Zoom, were used, with flights carried out from the mainland across the less-than-one-kilometre channel to the island.The researchers typically flew early in the morning, when cooler conditions meant more animals were present on the beaches. Photographs were taken approximately every two seconds along a standardised flight path. The team then processed the images into mosaics and divided them into smaller 700-by-700-pixel photographs for the citizen science project. Each flight produced roughly 700 to 1,000 image tiles after processing.

More than 1,500 volunteers count seals and sea lions on Zooniverse

The researchers created a custom project on Zooniverse and provided volunteers with tutorials and a field guide. Participants were asked to identify animals as either seals or sea lions and click once on each visible animal’s head. The instructions were also designed to prevent the same animal from being counted twice in adjacent photographs by requiring its head to be visible.For the full validation study, the researchers uploaded 4,074 photograph tiles from five drone flights covering winter and summer conditions. Volunteers counted the images in random order, while the researchers later compared their results with expert counts. The study notes that the project received substantial public participation, with more than 1,500 volunteers counting about 94,000 tiles between August 7, 2019 and March 7, 2020.

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How accurate were citizen scientist counts of seals and sea lions

The researchers found that citizen scientist counts could be relatively close to expert counts under some conditions. In the study’s abstract, they reported that proportional error was 5% for seals during the breeding seasons and 9% for sea lions. The researchers also stated that the error improved with repeated sampling.The detailed results showed that accuracy varied according to season and species. When the counts from all dates were combined, the reported error was 9% for sea lions and 46% for seals. For seals, the researchers recorded 6% error during both winter flights, compared with higher error during the summer flights, which they associated with sea lions being present and sometimes being misidentified as seals.

11 volunteer counts per image improved accuracy

The study found that repeated volunteer counts reduced error. The researchers reported that accuracy improved with increasing numbers of counters, with the relationship reaching an asymptote at around 11 citizen scientists. In their discussion, they stated that repeat counts involving 11 or more counters per image were necessary to improve accuracy.However, the researchers also found that repeated counting made the citizen science approach slow. Their abstract states that more than 12 volunteers were required to reduce error sufficiently, while estimating animals from a single drone flight covering 25 acres took an average of six weeks. The researchers therefore described the repeated-count requirement as prohibitively slow for the project.The researchers concluded that citizen science could be combined with drone imagery when projects were carefully designed and validated. They wrote that “drones could substantially reduce the time and labor required for population surveys” when citizen scientists can accurately complete the counting task. The study also emphasised the importance of validating citizen science results against expert counts before using the approach for wildlife surveys.