Meet “Bumpy,” the Pink Deep-Sea Snailfish Sometimes the ocean delivers creatures that look like they were designed to star in your worst nightmare. And sometimes rarely it hands us something so oddly adorable that the internet immediately agrees: protect this little guy at all costs. Say hello to “Bumpy”, a pink, knobbly deep-sea snailfish with big eyes, a soft “smile,” and the kind of face that feels like it belongs in the next Animal Crossing game. But behind the meme-worthy charm is a serious scientific story: Bumpy is one of three newly described snailfish species discovered at crushing depths off the coast of California a reminder that the deep ocean is still largely unknown, even as industries are increasingly interested in exploiting it. Three new snailfish species found where sunlight never reaches Researchers working with MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and collaborators described three new-to-science abyssal snailfishes found in the eastern Pacific, a...
The city where “death is not allowed” If you’ve ever read that there’s a town in Norway where “death is illegal,” you’ve probably landed on Longyearbyen the main settlement of Svalbard, sitting at 78° North, closer to the North Pole than most people ever get in their lifetime. But here’s the twist: it’s not illegal to die. What’s effectively “not allowed” is something more specific and somehow more chilling: You can’t be buried there (in the usual way). That single detail is what turned a practical Arctic rule into one of the internet’s favorite myths. So… what’s actually banned? Longyearbyen has a cemetery, and it’s real. The problem is the ground: permafrost soil that stays frozen year-round. In places like Svalbard, permafrost can prevent bodies from decomposing normally. That’s not just a creepy fact for a thriller plot; it creates real public-health and environmental concerns. According to widely cited local accounts, new burials largely stopped around the 1950s, after...