Our Planet & Space Travel
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Archaeologists first exposed the remains of the home (bottom right) - a so-called 'domus' that would have belonged to members of the upper class - in Rome back in 2014. Hidden for some two millennia, the now-subterranean villa contained black-and-white mosaics (left and top right) and various Roman artefacts - including oil-burning lamps, a key, a hammer, a water tap and a hairpin.
THE MYTH OF ROME'S FOUNDERS: ROMULUS AND REMUS
In Roman mythology, Romulus and his twin brother Remus were left in a basket on the River Tiber.
In legend, they were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of Numitor, the former king of Alba Longa.
Through this lineage, the twins were descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas and Latinus.
A she-wolf found the twins at the the base of a fig tree after their mother was forced to abandon them.
The wolf cared for the boys and raised them. letting them suckle on her.
They learned of their true ancestry as they grew up and overthrew Amulius, the man who forced them to be abandoned.
The two brothers set out to build their own city but cold not agree on where. An ensuing melee resulted in the death of his brother Remus.
If you enjoyed that Incognito, have a look at this!
It has always fascinated me, saw Pompeii a few times starting as a 13 year old with my parents.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/new-treasures-pompeii-180972829
Massimo Osanna, Pompeii’s general director and mastermind of the project, is convinced that the notation was idly doodled a week before the blast. “This spectacular find finally allows us to date, with confidence, the disaster,” he says. “It reinforces other clues pointing to an autumn eruption: unripe pomegranates, heavy clothing found on bodies, wood-burning braziers in homes, wine from the harvest in sealed jars. When you reconstruct the daily life of this vanished community, two months of difference are important. We now have the lost piece of a jigsaw puzzle.”
Massimo Osanna is restoring public faith in Pompeii after years of neglect; 3.5 million people visited in 2018, a million more in 2012. (Map by Guilbert Gates; Chiara Goia)
The robust campaign that Osanna has directed since 2014 marks a new era in old Pompeii, which earlier this decade suffered visibly from age, corruption, vandalism, climate change, mismanagement, underfunding, institutional neglect and collapses caused by downpours. The most infamous occurred in 2010 when the Schola Armaturarum, a stone building that featured resplendent frescoes of gladiators, keeled over. Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s president at the time, called the incident a “disgrace for Italy.” Six years ago, Unesco, the United Nations agency that seeks to preserve the world’s most significant cultural assets, threatened to place Pompeii on its list of World Heritage sites in peril unless Italian authorities gave higher priority to protecting it.
The project has led to the opening, or reopening, of dozens of passageways and 39 buildings, including the Schola Armaturarum. “The restoration of the Schola was a symbol of redemption for Pompeii,” says Osanna, who is also a professor of classical archaeology at the University of Naples. He has assembled a vast team of more than 200 experts to conduct what he terms “global archaeology,” including not only archaeologists but also archaeozoologists, anthropologists, art restorers, biologists, bricklayers, carpenters, computer scientists, demographers, dentists, electricians, geologists, geneticists, mapping technicians, medical engineers, painters, plumbers, paleobotanists, photographers and radiologists. They’re aided by enough modern analytical tools to fill an imperial bathhouse, from ground sensors and drone videography to CAT scans and virtual reality.
Nothing to Smile about here.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (left, during a visit to Auwal Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa) engaged considerably less with environmental charities and engagements between March 2019 and 2020 than the other Royals, while they also had the third-worst carbon footprint, producing an estimated three tonnes of CO2 each as a result of their trip around Africa (right, Meghan and baby Archie with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town). The average Briton emitted 8.34 tonnes of CO2 per person in 2017 - the last year when such data for the UK was available on Global Carbon Atlas. An energy comparison firm has also found that Prince Charles, who has a reputation for being environmentally conscious, has the worst travel footprint of the 10 Royals considered, producing an estimated nine tonnes of CO2 in the last year
The Duke of Cambridge, 38, has launched the most prestigious global environment prize in history, as the five challenges at the heart of The Earthshot Prize are unveiled.
The World Food Programme has been announced as the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize by judges in Norway, scooping a $1million cash award.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has added these species to its 'red category' of fishes to avoid buying and eating in its Good Fish Guide.
What a planet we have today!
Wildlife Services has come under fire after releasing it killed more than 1.2 million native US species in 2019 wildlife it killed in 2019. An environmentalist group is suing the program for slaughtering the animals.
More than 14,000 prairie dogs were terminated outright, but there is an unknown number of more than 35,000 
According to the Wildlife service's report, intentionally killed 301 gray wolves; 61,882 adult coyotes, plus an unknown number of coyote pups in 251 destroyed dens; 364,734 red-winged blackbirds (pictured) -
According to the Wildlife service's report, intentionally killed 301 gray wolves; 61,882 adult coyotes, plus an unknown number of coyote pups in 251 destroyed dens; 364,734 red-winged blackbirds; 393 black bears; 300 mountain lions; 777 bobcats; 124 river otters plus 489 killed 'unintentionally'; 2,447 foxes, plus an unknown number of red fox pups in 94 dens; and 24,543 beavers.
According to the Wildlife service's report, intentionally killed 301 gray wolves; 61,882 adult coyotes, plus an unknown number of coyote pups in 251 destroyed dens; 364,734 red-winged blackbirds; 393 black bears; 300 mountain lions; 777 bobcats; 124 river otters plus 489 killed 'unintentionally'; 2,447 foxes, plus an unknown number of red fox pups in 94 dens; and 24,543 beavers.
More than 14,000 prairie dogs were terminated outright, but there is an unknown number of more than 35,000.
The wildlife-killing program unintentionally killed more than 2,624 animals in 2019, including bears, bobcats, mountain lions, a wolf, foxes, muskrats, otters, porcupines, raccoons and turtles. Its killing of non-target birds included ducks, eagles, swallows, herons and turkeys.
Dozens of domestic animals, including pets and livestock, were also killed or caught. Such data reveals the indiscriminate nature of leghold traps, snares, poisons and other methods used by federal agents.
Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said: 'Year after year Wildlife Services continues to needlessly kill wildlife, even though effective tools exist to prevent most conflicts.'
'The scientific consensus is that killing carnivores like coyotes to benefit the livestock industry just leads to more conflicts and more killing. This taxpayer-funded slaughter needs to stop.'
The report was released Wednesday, October 7 and in just two days, WildEarth Guardians has severed USDA with a lawsuit.The report was released Wednesday, October 7 and in just two days, WildEarth Guardians has severed USDA with a lawsuit.
Massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes off coast of Alaska sparking tsunami warning
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck 55 miles off the coast of Sand Point, Alaska, triggering a tsunami warning that affects residents in South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula
The 250-year-old Cubbington Pear Tree in Warwickshire sits on the phase one line of the route just outside Leamington Spa.
Half the Earth's forests are now gone.
15 BILLION trees are chopped down every year -- 476 every single second. That's our rainforests, jungles, and woodlands being decimated to make space for ever more cattle, palm oil, and soybeans.
But today we have a unique opportunity to change it.
Right now the EU is considering a new law to ban any products linked to deforestation . If the law passes, the EU is such a massive market that it could force the world's biggest companies to change, transforming the global supply chain, and helping to save our woodlands, wetlands, and mangroves.
Earth needs this law -- so let's make sure it passes!
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/eu_stop_deforestation_loc_pa
The Washington State Department of Agriculture wiped out the nest Saturday to protect native honeybees, marking the first successful attempt to locate and remove a nest on US soil. The cavity of the tree was filled with foam and covered with plastic wrap to prevent the hornets from escaping. A tube was then inserted to vacuum up the hornets trapped inside and deposit them in a collection chamber. WSDA workers were seen in protective suits working under the cover of darkness early Saturday morning (left) to remove and destroy the nest. By mid-morning the WSDA announced the plan had been a success (right workers holding the hornets). Entomologists discovered the Asian giant hornet nest in Blaine, Washington state Thursday. The nest the size of a basketball was found inside the cavity of a tree on private property. Experts had attached tracking devices to some of the hornets which led them to the site where they saw dozens of hornets entering and exiting this week.
The dead hornets were placed on ice so they can be kept for research purposes, as experts remain baffled about how the bugs first entered the US.
WSDA entomologists first discovered the Asian giant hornet nest on private property in Blaine, Whatcom County, close to the US-Canada border Thursday.
The insects had set up camp inside the cavity of a tree on the land that had been cleared to build residential property on.
Its removal marks the first successful attempt to both locate and destroy a nest of the Asian giant hornets in America since the critters were first sighted in the country at the end of last year.
A worker from the Washington State Department of Agriculture displays a canister of Asian giant hornets vacuumed from a nest in a tree behind him
Murder hornets from the first nest in the US have been successfully sucked out of a tree cavity and placed on ice after experts discovered the nest in Washington state
Washington State Department of Agriculture workers, wearing protective suits and working in pre-dawn darkness illuminated with red lamps, vacuum up a nest of Asian giant hornets from a tree
A Washington State Department of Agriculture workers holds two of the dead Asian giant hornets vacuumed from the nest in the tree Saturday
The WSDA announced late Saturday morning that the removal of the Asian giant hornet nest had been a success
Earth-skimming meteoroid dipped 56 miles into the atmosphere over the Netherlands and Germany before returning to space
A meteoroid skimmed Earth's atmosphere for 19 seconds over the Netherlands and Germany. The object came in as low as 56 miles in altitude, covering a path of more than 466 miles before returning on its journey through space. Researchers from Western University traced it to a Jupiter-family orbit, but was unable to identify matches of potential parent bodies.