ANCIENT REPTILE
There's new information about the world's oldest flying reptile, which was discovered in Australia. The giant creature is known as a pterosaur and lived about 107 million years ago. According to a study published today in the journal History Biology, the animal had a wingspan that was 6.5 feet long and was the first vertebrate able to fly. It lived alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, which began 252 million years ago.
SHARK SPOTTING
Meanwhile, this shark was recently spotted circling around a man and his son who were taking a dip at Orange Beach, Alabama. The footage was captured on a drone by a 15-year-old who was monitoring sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf is home to 50 species of sharks, only about half of which are known to have encounters with people.
BEE SWARM
Finally, a huge swarm of bees was filmed over a crowd of spectators at the Indianapolis 500 Race over the weekend. The video shows the bees hovering above spectators. The man who shot the video says the crowd was unfazed by the bees and was mostly focused on the race. There was even a beekeeper sitting a few rows away from the swarm who helped remove the bees after the race. He said there were an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 bees in the stands.
Early-stage testing showed the first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems the way scientists had hoped.
In partnership with MIT, 3M is in the early stages of developing a rapid COVID-19 test. Dr. John Banovetz, chief technology officer at 3M, said the est would yield results in 15 minutes.
Millions of people thrive in the American West’s deserts today, but not every is thriving. You’ve probably heard of droughts and wildfires in California, of groundwater drying up in Arizona, and of entire communities, like those on the Navajo Nation, that have been left without running water. The region is finally coming to terms with decades of infrastructure projects, coupled with using more water than nature can provide, as the threat of climate change moves in. Cheddar explains why the American West is running out of water.
Joe Biden released a plan Tuesday aimed at combating climate change and spurring economic growth in part by overhauling America’s energy industry.
Burger King has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change.
Hope is set to reach Mars in February 2021, the year the UAE celebrates 50 years since its formation. Two other Mars missions are planned in coming days by the U.S. and China.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has extended the closure of bars and indoor dining statewide and has ordered gyms, churches and hair salons closed in most places as coronavirus cases keep rising.
The United States is grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, as Florida shattered the national record for a state’s largest single-day increase in new confirmed cases with a reported 15,299.
As the NBA gears up to resume gameplay in Orlando, Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, consultant of infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic, said the league could be a model for other sports and businesses to return to operations as we fight against coronavirus.
Four months, three million confirmed infections and over 130,000 deaths into the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, Americans are facing long lines at testing sites and going a week or more without receiving a diagnosis.
