BAHAMAS

Biologists attached tiny cameras to tiger sharks to study seagrasses in the Caribbean. The recordings helped expand estimates of the global seagrass coverage area by 41 percent – ​​a good sign for the climate because seagrass stores carbon.

CHINA

Scientists have been scrambling to identify the creatures that left behind the world’s oldest skeletal remains – 500-million-year-old tube-like structures. Now, a new analysis of specimens from Yunnan (including a rare look at their fossilized soft tissue) suggests the animals were relatives of jellyfish that resembled sea anemones.

MALAYSIA

Scientists have produced stem cells using skin from Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino, Kertam, who died in 2019. Converting these cells into viable sperm could help save the critically endangered animal from extinction.

MEXICO

Archaeologists uncovering an administrative complex in the ancient city of Teotihuacán found the approximately 1,700-year-old skeleton of a spider monkey that was not native to the region. Experts suspect it was a gift from neighboring Maya, pointing to previously unknown animal-based diplomacy.

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

A new study suggests that the peatlands of the Congo have alternated – every few thousand years – between releasing carbon dioxide (when dry) and storing it (when wet). This could mean that the peatlands are a ‘time bomb’ set to release stored carbon as they dry.

Great Britain

A meteorite that landed in an English driveway has been found to contain water with a ratio of hydrogen isotopes similar to that of Earth. This supports the idea that the young Earth’s water could have been brought by asteroids.