ScientiFix, our weekly feature, will offer you a summary of the top global science stories of the week, with links to the best sources to read them. It’s your fix to stay on top of the latest in science.
Researchers trace oldest well-preserved shipwreck
Twenty-four hundred years ago, a Greek trading ship sank off the coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea, down to a depth of over 2 km. Down this deep, oxygen is scarce and marine life few and far between. Here, researchers have used robots and sonar to now discover that this trade ship has been perfectly preserved in one piece all these years. It wasn’t just one ship. These researchers who had been looking for ruins of ancient settlements to study climate change came upon over 60 vessels all neatly intact and deep underwater. These ships range in age from 2,400 years to just 400 years before us. This oldest ship could provide vital anthropological clues into our trade, culture, and ship building from its time. Chicago Tribune has the story.
Major oil spill threatens Pakistani shores
A big oil spill along the coast of Karachi had been brushed away as just another regular spill due to passing ships over the past few days. However, its full severity has just come to light. It has rapidly spread across the coast, connecting all the beaches through over 40 villages, leaving a black slick on all of them. It has managed to cover the full 1.5 km of Mubarak village beach and is spreading towards Manora. The cause for the spill is not yet determined and locals are already reporting deaths of the native fauna. More on The Express Tribune.
Weird ice cloud is forming on Mars
A long stream of a cloud, which looks like Mars is leaking gas as it rotates, has been forming on the planet’s surface. It is nearly 1,500-km long, and started over an inactive volcano that is 20-km high. Turns out, this cloud is made up of water ice, and its location is not a coincidence. It is formed that way precisely because of how winds roll over and howl around the volcano. Scientists call this kind of cloud a lee cloud, and it can be visible for days together. This isn’t its first appearance either. Such clouds have been regularly photographed on Mars. European Space Agency (ESA) has an explainer.
New missing link between birds and dinosaurs discovered
Today’s birds are descendants from dinosaurs, just as today’s crocodiles are. The “bridge” between birds and dinosaurs, the animal that was more bird than dinosaur, has been accepted as the archaeopteryx, the flying dinosaur. Today, there exists only two known species of archaeopteryx, and only about 10 fossils. If proven correct, a new fossil found in Germany could probably be the third known species of the mega dino-bird that birthed all birds we know today. More on Gizmodo.