National Geographic | National Geographic

National Geographic

MYSTERY SURROUNDS NEWFOUND STAR

Thursday, March 31, 2022

In this newsletter, we cover the dolphin that talks to porpoises, the bad side of earthworms, the flight attendants who struck against groping and pinching … and this week’s Nat Geo News Quiz.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA

It’s 50 times more massive than the sun. And it’s from a relatively young galaxy, as galaxies go. But plenty about the just-discovered primordial star Earendel is as fuzzy as the images of it captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, which is pictured above.

First off, is it one star or two? The light from the farthest observed celestial object may be from a pair of binary stars, Nadia Drake reports. Follow-up observations from the recently deployed James Webb Space Telescope could confirm the find—or reveal it to be something else entirely.

If it is a lone star, the hope is that Earendel could offer clues to the makeup of the cosmos not long after the big bang. “This will be our best chance,” NASA’s Jane Rigby says, “to study what an individual, massive star was like in the early universe.”

See Earendel and read the full story here.

And please consider supporting our reporting by subscribing here. Thanks!

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

Masha the bear’s escape from Ukraine

Supreme Court to consider pork producer challenge to California law protecting pigs

Tired of being groped and pinched, these flight attendants walked off the job

Mysterious wave of ‘COVID toes’ has scientists stumped

What can we learn from Istanbul’s 3,000 mosques?

Animals are losing their camouflage under modern streetlights

NAT GEO NEWS QUIZ
Guess this city from the air, and answer other topical questions

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY KARINE AIGNER, @KAIGNER

Left for later: Rattlesnakes often strike their prey, then go about their business while the venom does its work. Karine Aigner spotted this western diamondback resting under a tire before slithering from bush to bush finding—and eating—a lifeless Mexican ground squirrel (pictured above). “The snake knew exactly what it was looking for,” Aigner wrote on our Instagram page. “This species never fails to amaze me.” We recently wrote about another rattler superpower here.

A DEFENSIVE RATTLE

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY SCOTLAND: THE BIG PICTURE, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY

Interspecies communication: Kylie the wild dolphin, living off Scotland’s west coast, hasn’t been spotted with another dolphin for 14 years. But he has reduced his normal patter of whistles, clicks, and pulsing sounds to simple clicks when he “talks” to harbor porpoises (pictured above), who speak only with clicks. “Clearly, species in the wild interact much more than we thought,” dolphin behavior expert Denise Herzing tells Nat Geo.

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

Working in the Arctic, it’s really hard not to run into climate change. Everything around you is affected: Seasons are changing, ice cellars caving in, people breaking through the ice on their snow machines.

Kiliii Yüyan

Photographer, Nat Geo Explorer

From: Meet 10 creatives shaping a new climate narrative

THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN DALTON, MINDEN PICTURES

No angel: The earthworm has long been hailed as a gardener’s best friend and a slimy angel of the underworld. But a new study challenges its good reputation, at least in U.S. and Canadian forests. Earthworms in North America (pictured above), with origins in Europe, have surprising negative effects on native animals, such as ground nesting birds or salamanders, Nat Geo reports.

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Do you have an idea or feedback for us? Let us know. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY

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.

© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.