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MARS’ LATEST
TEMPTATION

Monday, December 5, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we discover a new possibility of Martian life, find 7 herbs that may help you beat a cold, learn how COVID ‘brain fog’ may happen, unravel the mystery of a Japanese WWII sub in Texas … and recall a little-known Nazi defeat—over Advent calendars. Plus, do you have a photo that could be one of our best of the year?

A colored, scanning electron micrograph of bacteria

DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The conventional wisdom is that Mars was once home to such a rich abundance of microbes that they robbed the thin atmosphere of hydrogen. That led to a deadly freeze, squeezing life into deeper, warmer crannies until it ended.

Or did these ancient single-celled organisms just go dormant—fall into a freeze-dried slumber that allowed them to sleep through hostility and perk up when more life-friendly conditions arose? (Pictured above, bacterium that is highly resistant to extreme environmental conditions.)

Will we soon discover, more than 30 feet beneath the Martian surface, a world of microbes on “pause”—clever alien organisms that are willing to wait thousands of years before revving their metabolic engines? Researchers already are a targeting a basin on the planet‘s southern hemisphere as a possibility.

Read the full story here.

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STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

A picture of a bowl full of berries

PHOTOGRAPH BY WESTEND 69/GETTY IMAGES

7 herbs that may help fight cold and flu (Pictured above, black elderberries make a syrup that is a common home remedy)

Brain fog? Here's how COVID clips the connections in your brain

See the 22 discoveries of the year

Who was key in spreading early Christianity? Hint: He used to hunt down Christians.

Oat? Rice? Almond? Which milk alternative is the most eco-friendly?

How the great smog of London opened the world up to air pollution

Is carbon dioxide a friend or foe?

How a Japanese WWII submarine ended up in Texas

Our best photos of the year. Related: Photo contest—Send us your favorite image of the year!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A gif of an owl turning towards the camera

VIDEO BY @JOELSARTORE, NAT GEO PHOTO ARK

You’ve got the look! Meet this head-turning red phase screech owl. It’s part of the eastern screech owl family, which has one of the most varied diets of all North American owls. These tiny raptors feed on crayfish, earthworms, songbirds, rodents, amphibians, and insects. Some of the catch is saved inside tree cavities for later. (Pictured above, Nat Geo Explorer Joel Sartore's video on our Instagram has over 450,000 views.)

Related: A new species of owl has been discovered

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Pictures of leaches both sucking blood and in jars

LEFT: PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE RUSSEL, TORONTO STAR/GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT: PHOTOGRAPH BY NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Leeches? Still? Yes, this medieval “treatment” is still used in modern medicine. Doctors have been turning to parasites to help transplant and plastic surgery patients, Nat Geo reports. (At left, Mediterranean medicinal leeches feed on a blood sausage; at right, leaches squirm inside glass jars.)

IS BLOOD LETTING NEXT?

LAST GLIMPSE

A black and white photo of kids holding a tri-fold card

PHOTOGRAPH VIA BETTMANN ARCHIVE/GETTY

Today I learned: The Nazis once tried to wipe out printed Advent calendars, the popular guides for children to mark off the days before Christmas. The Nazis didn’t succeed—and so a Yuletide tradition that began with German Lutherans was not only kept alive, but went worldwide. For Christians, the calendars’ day-by-day pleasures in the weeks before Christmas remain a way to ramp up delight during a dark, wintry month, writes Erin Blakemore. (Pictured above, the three grandchildren of then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower promoted 1953 Advent calendars to help people with epilepsy.)

Today's newsletter was curated and edited by Sydney Combs, Jen Tse, Mallory Benedict, and David Beard. Have an idea or link to a story you think is right down our alley? Let us know at [email protected]. Happy trails!

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