At least a 100 people in Iceland attend Okjökull glacier’s ‘funeral’
The tiny island nation of Iceland held a funeral last week after its first glacier was lost to climate change. The Okjökull glacier’s funeral saw at least 100 people walking up the mountain for the ceremony, including Iceland’s prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and a former UN human rights commissioner. More on The Guardian.
Loss of another fifth of the rainforest could trigger collapse of ecosystems
The fires in Amazon rainforest still continue to rage. A loss of another fifth of the rainforest could trigger a feedback loop, in which the forest begins to dry and burn, causing the collapse of several ecosystems. At this point, the rainforest is out of reach for any human intervention. Several world leaders have taken note and expressed concern over the loss of such humongous forest cover. Read more on AlJazeera.
Roopkund ‘skeleton’ lake — a mystery
Roopkund, the high altitude lake in Uttarakhand, is well known for pilgrimage. But it also harbours a big mystery — how did 800 human skeletons come to be there? DNA analysis shows that the custom of pilgrimage there began as far back as the 7th century. More bones were found belonging to visitors of Mediterranean origin such as Greece and Crete, dating back to 17th century. Locals says pilgrims died when stones fell from the sky, indicating what we think are hailstones. More on National Geographic.
Polish village has had no baby boys in a decade
A tiny Polish village hasn’t seen the birth of any baby boy in nearly a decade. The scientific community, especially geneticists, is now taking an interest in the village to unravel the mystery behind it. They are trying to understand what led to this strange peculiarity. Read more on The Conversation.
David Koch, billionaire climate change denier, dead
David Koch, one of the two infamous billionaire Koch brothers, has died. David and his brother Charles have worked relentlessly to increase tax cuts for the wealthy and fund fossil fuel industries. They invested heavily in promoting climate change skepticism. Their conglomerate, Koch industries, owns companies that manufacture everything from glass to paper to automotive to carpets and more. They were responsible for blocking regulations on emissions in the 1990s. More on Gizmodo.