National Geographic | National Geographic

Hi friend, thanks for being a subscriber! Please make sure you are signed in to unlock your full subscriber experience.

National Geographic

THE LAST MAJOR METEOR TO HIT EARTH

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we discover traces of the last major meteor, learn what you should eat when you’re sick ... and look back on London's deadly Great Smog of 1952. Plus, wild winter adventures.

This undated image made from a mosaic of photos taken by an autonomous underwater vehicle, released by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, shows the remains of the Spanish galleon San José in more than 2,000 feet of water.

ILLUSTRATION BY MARC WARD, STOCKTREK IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

Did human forbears see the streak from the last major meteor (above) to strike Earth? Did it vaporize everything in its path?

Did it bury the impact crater in lava, hiding it for hundreds of thousands of years? And what led to the crater’s recent discovery? Here’s the full story.

MYSTERY SOLVED?

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

Message in a bottle

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASPER DOEST

He spent 50 days on a deserted island. Then he found a message in a bottle (above).

Chicken soup? Why we don't want to eat when we're sick—and what you should eat

Why we’ll never find Noah’s Ark

Have curly hair? Those curls were an evolutionary advancement.

Vitamin C, retinol, biotin? Here’s what your skin actually needs

The Arctic explorer was aiming to become the first to the North Pole. He was murdered before he got there.

New treatments may finally promise a cure for frozen shoulder, a condition that mostly affects women

See our stunning Pictures of the Year

The Viking origins of your Bluetooth devices

9 wild stays for your next winter adventure

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

This is what C. albicans looks like on the cellular level. This image was made using a scanning electron microscope, which uses a beam of electrons instead of light to capture a scientific specimen. Realistic color can be added based on observations from an optical microscope.

COLORIZED SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE IMAGE BY MARTIN OEGGERLI

Watch out for this biome as well: It’s fungi. It's in your gut. It could determine whether you have conditions like irritible bowel system. Here’s what you need to know. (Above, C. albicans shown with a scanning electron microscope.)

IT’S IN YOUR BELLY

GOOD FOR YOU?

Oil from castor beans has been touted as a home-remedy cure-all for decades, but few of the purported benefits are backed by scientific evidence.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BDSPN, GETTY IMAGES

Oil from castor beans has been touted as a home-remedy cure-all for decades and social media spread many claims at a rapid-fire pace. But how should we really be using castor oil and what does it actually do for the body? Here is what experts say.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Outside the Bank of England, an officer keeps traffic moving through the Great Smog of London. The disaster highlighted the danger of Britain's reliance on burning coal as the city found itself strangled by a dense fog mixed with sulfuric acid.

PHOTOGRAPH BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, REDUX

Not Churchill’s finest hour: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was slow to stop the pumping of coal-fueled power plants in the face of the deadly Great Smog of 1952. Between December 5 and 9, 1952, the choking fog (above), mixed with sulfuric acid, strangled a chilly London. Thousands of people were killed—a disaster that shocked the world and prompted massive environmental reforms for decades to come, including the Clean Air Act.

Today’s soundtrack: If I Should Fall From Grace With God, The Pogues (R.I.P. Shane MacGowan)

Thanks for reading our newsletter! It was edited and curated by Jen Tse and David Beard. We'd love to hear from you: [email protected].

Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.

This email was sent to: [email protected]. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036

Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.

Manage all email preferences with the Walt Disney Family of Companies.

© 2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.