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NEW CLUES POINT TO PANDEMIC'S ORIGINS

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

In today’s meteor shower newsletter, two studies point toward a Chinese wet market as the source of COVID-19; researchers in Brazil find a fossil treasure trove; new secrets emerge from the world’s oldest cities … and thousands of beagles rescued from a breeding facility will be up for adoption. Plus, can a country stamp out fascism for good?

PHOTOGRAPH BY NOEL CELIS, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Two new studies point to a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, as the place where COVID-19 began, with progenitors of SARS-CoV-2 likely jumping from animals to human in two separate events. “It’s clear the viruses were circulating in the market and then exploded out of it,” epidemiologist Dominic Dwyer tells Nat Geo.

Case closed? Nope.

Was it an infected animal or an infected person that brought the virus to the market? And if an animal, which one? Scientists have yet to directly find an animal infected with the SARS-CoV-2 progenitor.

Jane Qiu goes to the gates of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market (pictured above) to explore the mystery. Here’s her full story.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTIAS KLUM, @MATTIASKLUMOFFICIAL

Everything all at once: Stars, satellites, and the aurora borealis congregate over Svalbard, Norway. Shooting stars, in fact, are not stars at all. They are meteors, pieces of interplanetary rock or debris that burn up in Earth's atmosphere and can be seen briefly in the night sky. “I'm not superstitious,” photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Mattias Klum tells us, “but still I make a wish every time I see a star fall.” More meteors—and wishes—further down in this newsletter.

WHEN A METEOR EXPLODED OVER ANTARCTICA

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

FERRAZ ET AL., 2021

Lost treasure trove of fossils (one pictured above) rediscovered after 70 years

New secrets revealed from history’s oldest cities

Can restored mangroves protect Miami from rising seas?

New proposal in Spain seeks to keep fascism away forever

The explorers were looking for oil. They found an ancient temple instead

The Islamic New Year—what you need to know

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA

How Canada expanded: It’s so small you can’t see it on Google Maps. But 50 years ago, the world’s first Earth-observing satellite detected an uninhabited island off the coast of Canada. The discovery expanded the country’s territory by 26.25 square miles, a modest change that represents a large accomplishment for the field of cartography. Landsat 1 (pictured above) launched in July 1972, the first satellite designed to study Earth from orbit. The spacecraft is seen above with its solar panels deployed at the former GE plant in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

THE NIGHT SKIES

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS

Make a wish! If you wish upon a shooting star, the Delta Aquarid meteor show will have you covered. The cosmic pre-game show to August’s iconic Perseids, the Aquarids will peak with about 15 to 20 shooting stars an hour over the next three nights. The meteors appear to radiate from their namesake constellation, Aquarius, in the southeast. No need for telescopes or binoculars—you can easily see the shooting stars above. Also, with the new moon on Thursday, we should have optimally dark skies to catch even the faintest meteors. Both Jupiter and Saturn are rising around midnight in the southeast, appearing on each side of Aquarius.— Andrew Fazekas

WHY STARS LED TO ‘DOG DAYS’ OF SUMMER

IN A FEW WORDS

Curiosity and risk-taking drive many of the best scientific breakthroughs. You may feel scared, be questioned, or get cold before you learn how to keep warm, but the more you push yourself, the more discoveries you will make throughout life.

Erin Pettit

Glaciologist, Nat Geo Explorer

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN WOLF, AP IMAGES FOR HSUS

Rescued: About 4,000 dogs are on their way to new homes. A group of beagles at an animal-breeding facility in central Virginia has been transferred to the Humane Society’s care and rehabilitation center in Maryland. The U.S. Department of Justice had asked the Humane Society to oversee placement for the beagles housed at Envigo, which bred animals to be sold to labs for toxicology research. As Rachel Fobar reported for Nat Geo in May, the USDA had documented more than 70 “chilling” welfare violations at Envigo, which is facing dozens of charges of neglect and abuse. Want to help or adopt a beagle? Learn more here.

BACKGROUND ON THE BEAGLES

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Heather Kim, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Miss yesterday’s newsletter? Find it here.

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