Round discs of barren dirt known as “fairy circles” look like rows of polka dots that can spread for miles over the ground. The phenomenon’s mysterious origins have intrigued scientists for decades — and they may be far more widespread than once thought.

Fairy circles were previously spotted only in the arid lands of Southern Africa’s Namib Desert and the outback of Western Australia. But a new study has used artificial intelligence to identify vegetation patterns resembling fairy circles in hundreds of new locations across 15 countries on three continents. This could help scientists understand fairy circles and their formation on a global scale.

For the new survey, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers analyzed datasets containing high-resolution satellite images of drylands, or arid ecosystems with scant rainfall, from around the world. The search for patterns resembling fairy circles used a neural network — a type of AI that processes information in a manner similar to that of a brain.

“The use of artificial intelligence based models on satellite imagery is the first time it has been done on a large scale to detect fairy-circle like patterns,” said lead study author Dr. Emilio Guirado, a data scientist with the Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Alicante in Spain, in an email.

Hundreds of potential fairy circle sites

First, the study authors trained the neural network to recognize fairy circles by inputting more than 15,000 satellite images taken over Namibia and Australia. Half of the images showed fairy circles, and half did not. The scientists then fed their AI a dataset with satellite views of nearly 575,000 plots of land around the world, each measuring about 2.5 acres (1 hectare). The neural network scanned vegetation in those images and identified repeating circular patterns that resembled patterns of known fairy circles, evaluating the circles’ sizes and shapes as well as their locations, pattern densities and distribution.

Output of this analysis then required a human review, Guirado said. “We had to manually discard some artificial and natural structures that were not fairy circles based on photo-interpretation and the context of the area,” he explained.

The results showed 263 dryland locations where there were circular patterns similar to fairy circles in Namibia and Australia. These arid spots were distributed across Africa (the Sahel, Western Sahara and the Horn of Africa) and were also clustered in Madagascar and Midwestern Asia, as well as central and Southwest Australia.

Circle pattern recognition

Fairy circles aren’t the only natural phenomenon that can produce round, repeated bare spots in a landscape. One factor that sets fairy circles apart from other types of vegetation gaps is a strongly ordered pattern between the circles, said Dr. Stephan Getzin, a researcher in the department of ecosystem modeling at the University of Göttingen in Germany.

“Fairy circles are defined by the fact that they have, in principle, the ability to form a ‘spatially periodic’ pattern,” which is “significantly more ordered” than other patterns — and none of the patterns in the survey clear that high bar, Getzin said.

But in fact, there is no universally accepted definition of fairy circles, Guirado said. He and his coauthors identified potential fairy circles — gauging the size and shape of individual circles, as well as the patterns they formed collectively — by referencing guidelines established across multiple published studies. The metrics of those spatial patterns, in fairy circles old and new, “are virtually the same,” he said.

Of the new locations that were identified, some passed muster with Dr. Fiona Walsh, who as part of an international team has investigated fairy circles in the Australian outback. “Pattern distribution in Australia appears to be congruent with some of what we previously reported,” said Walsh, an ethnoecologist at the University of Western Australia. Walsh was not involved in the new survey.

Fairy circles’ mysterious origins

The study authors also compiled environmental data where circles were spotted, collecting evidence that might hint at what causes them to form. The researchers determined that fairy circle-like patterns were most likely to occur in very dry, sandy soils that were high-alkaline and low in nitrogen. The scientists also found the fairy circle-like patterns helped stabilize ecosystems, increasing an area’s resistance to disturbances such as floods or extreme drought.

But the question “What shapes fairy circles?” is complex, and factors that create fairy circles may differ from site to site, the study authors reported. Getzin previously wrote that certain climate conditions, along with self-organization in plants, generated fairy circles in Namibia, and while insects such as termites take advantage of the dry patches, their activities don’t directly produce the patterns, he said in the email.

“Aboriginal people illustrated these patterns at least since the 1980s and said they knew of them for generations, probably millennia earlier,” Walsh said.

“In Australia, termites do not simply ‘play a role’,” she added. “They are the primary mechanism and interpretations need to be centred on termite-grass-soil-water dynamics.”

Many questions about fairy circles have yet to be answered, and the authors of the new study are optimistic that their global atlas will open a new chapter in the study of these peculiar barren spots.

“We hope that the information we publish in the paper can provide scientists around the world with new areas of study that will solve new puzzles in the formation of fairy-circle patterns,” Guirado said.

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.

Taiwan unveiled its first-ever domestically built submarine on Thursday, an accomplishment the island democracy’s leader hailed as a significant milestone as Taipei works to boost its military deterrence in the face of a growing threat from Beijing.

President Tsai Ing-wen presided over a ceremony at the submarine’s shipyard in southern Kaohsiung city where the diesel-electric vessel was officially named “Narwhal” in English and “Hai Kun” in Mandarin – which can be loosely translated as “sea monster”.

“The submarine is an important realization of our concrete commitment in defending our country,” Tsai said. “It is also important equipment for our naval forces in developing asymmetric warfare strategies.”

“In the past, many people thought building an indigenous submarine would be an impossible task. But we have made it,” she added.

The ceremony was a significant personal moment for Tsai, who launched a flagship defense policy to build the first domestic submarine shortly after taking office in 2016.

Taiwanese defense chiefs hope the submarines would help to make it far harder for a potential invasion by China, which claims the island as its territory and has ramped up its saber-rattling in recent years.

Journalists were given a tour inside the submarine’s shipyard but were not allowed to take close-up photos for security reasons.

Details about the ship’s size or capability were also not disclosed during the ceremony, which was also attended by Sandra Oudkirk, Washington’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan, as well as the representatives from the Japanese and South Korean missions in Taipei.

Tsai said the indigenous submarine project was “a top priority” of her administration.

With the addition of “Narwhal”, Taiwan will have a total of three submarines by 2025 – it already has two Dutch-made submarines that were first commissioned in the 1980s.

Taiwan previously has said it plans to build a total of eight indigenous submarines.

Asked about the new submarine at a monthly press briefing on Thursday, China’s Defense Ministry likened the vessel to “a mantis trying to stop a chariot”, invoking a common Chinese idiom.

Defending the first island chain

While the Taiwan Strait might be too shallow for submarines to operate in, the vessels could be most useful when deployed to target Chinese warships in the Bashi channel – which separates Taiwan from the Philippines – and the waters between Taiwan and Japan’s westernmost islands, he said.

Because China’s access to the Pacific Ocean is limited by the first island chain – which includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines – its naval forces would need to pass through these two strategic points to gain access to the wider ocean.

Therefore, Huang said, Taiwan can help limit China’s projection of military power by deploying its submarines there.

In the event of a military conflict, the Chinese navy “will definitely want to enter the area to the east of Taiwan so as to surround us and limit the US’ ability to intervene,” Huang told the briefing.

“Because submarines can operate deep under water and are hard to detect, they have a better chance of getting close to (Chinese) aircraft carriers” and launching attacks.

That assessment was shared by Collin Koh, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, who said the new submarine fleet would help Taiwan build a “more credible second-strike capability.”

“China has a lot of focus on countering what they see as potential US military intervention, and it has planned for a major naval engagement with the US outside the first island chain, around the Philippine Sea,” he said.

“If the Taiwanese want to contribute to that, then one way to do that is to bottle up the PLA Navy within the first island chain, don’t allow it come out and help the US military intervention become successful,” he added.

Admiral Huang also said the submarines are designed with the capability of carrying US-made MK-48 torpedoes, which can be used to target surface ships.

A challenging journey

Taiwan has increasingly emphasized a policy of defense self-sufficiency, which has seen the island ramp up its domestic weapons development to modernize its armed forces and be less reliant on overseas procurement.

Tsai took office at a time when Taiwan had been struggling to persuade the United States and European nations to sell the island big ticket military hardware items.

That has become less of an issue in recent years as Beijing ramps up diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taipei and the United States in particular has signed off on a slew of large military sales under President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.

But Taiwan’s indigenous military procurement program remains a lynchpin of its defense strategy, particularly when it comes to systems like anti-ship missiles that could defend against a potential invasion.

Taiwan’s success in building its first submarine could help alleviate some concerns over its military preparedness as Beijing increasingly asserts its territorial claims over the island democracy of 23.5 million.

China’s ruling Communist Party views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it. Beijing has long vowed that the island must be “unified” with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary, while the Taiwanese authorities strongly reject China’s territorial claims over it.

Beijing has ramped pressure on Taiwan under Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in a generation.

In recent years Chinese fighter jets, bombers and surveillance aircraft have conducted an ever growing number of sorties around the island, while Chinese warships have crossed the unofficial Median Line that runs down the Taiwan Strait with growing frequency.

Last summer China’s military launched massive drills to protest a visit to Taiwan by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

At the internal briefing, Admiral Huang said Taiwan first attempted to build a new submarine fleet when former president Lee Teng-hui founded a task force in 1995, but faced difficulties as the US was reluctant to sell its submarines to the island.

The project formally began in 2016, after Tsai took office.

He said the process of building Taiwan’s first submarine had been very challenging due to budget limitations, delays resulting from a global chip shortage, and concerns over possible Chinese espionage.

The project involved a total of 1,003 Taiwanese personnel, most of which were involved in designing the submarine’s blueprint, Huang said. The personnel were all subject to monitoring by a military security division to ensure no secrets were leaked.

Huang said he was given a budget of $1.54 billion (NT$49.36 billion) to build the first ship. About 60% of the budget was spent on acquiring overseas materials and military equipment, but he believed that percentage would decrease in the future as Taiwan’s domestic submarine shipbuilding industry becomes more mature.

He declined to disclose which countries approved export permits for Taiwan but said he had reached out to senior military leaders in the US Pacific Fleet, Japan, South Korea and India.

After the submarine was unveiled, it will enter sea trials next month before entering service next year.

The self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist from next year after its president signed a decree dissolving state institutions following its defeat by Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani victory last week triggered a a huge exodus of ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh and marked the end of decades of conflict.

President Samvel Shahramanyan’s decree called for all institutions and organizations of the Republic of Artsakh – which is not recognized internationally – to dissolve by the start of next year.

“The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) ceases its existence,” read the decree, which was shared on Facebook by the Artsakh government.

Shahramanyan said the decision had been made “due to the current difficult military-political situation.”

Azerbaijan’s campaign lasted 24 hours, before both sides agreed to a Russia-brokered ceasefire which saw Karabakh’s armed forces disband. But the Azerbaijani presidency insisted that the Artsakh government also dissolve itself, warning that, if they did not do so, the offensive would continue “until the end.”

The decree called on Azerbaijan to observe the “free, unconstrained, and unhindered passing of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the militants who laid down their weapons, with their property and transportation means through Lachin corridor.”

A sudden end

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan’s borders but has for decades operated autonomously with a de facto government of its own. After Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive – which killed at least 200 people and injured many hundreds more – Baku said it had taken back control of the region, seemingly bringing to an end a conflict that has lasted more than a century.

Azerbaijan has long been clear about the choice the local Armenian population had to make: Stay and accept Azerbaijani citizenship, or leave. The majority of the population have voted with their feet, choosing to flee their ancestral home rather than submit to rule by Baku.

More than half of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has fled for Armenia over the past week, after Azerbaijan lifted the blockade of the Lachin corridor – the only road connecting the enclave to Armenia – to allow people to leave.

Some 60,000 people had crossed the border into Armenia by Thursday morning, with many arriving in a “dire” condition, according to Samantha Power, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in a visit to the border town of Kornidzor Tuesday.

“The military attacks of last week have made a dire situation even worse,” Power said Tuesday, adding that many of those who had arrived were suffering from “severe malnutrition,” according to doctors at the scene.

At least one person was killed and 162 people were injured in a massive warehouse explosion in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent early on Thursday morning, health officials said.

The situation at the scene of the warehouse explosion in Tashkent, Uzbekistan is “under control” as emergency workers continue efforts to fully extinguish a fire caused by the explosion, the Uzbek Ministry of Emergencies said in an update.

A teenager, aged 16 or 17, died at the scene, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry also said 24 of the people injured were admitted to hospitals.

“From the first minutes, the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations has been working at the scene of the incident, and the forces and resources of specialized organizations have been involved,” a Ministry of Emergencies statement read, adding that the fire was contained at 5:02 a.m. local time on Thursday (8:00 p.m. ET).

Several videos circulating on social media earlier on Thursday showed a huge column of fire and smoke billowing into the night sky.

The blast happened at a warehouse close to Tashkent’s airport, according to Reuters, citing local news site Daryo.

Russian state news agency Tass citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan said that a fire broke out in one of the warehouses in city’s Sergeli district after the facility was struck by lightning.

The warehouse was owned by Inter Logistics LLC, the ministry said, according to Tass.

Flights appeared to continue to depart and arrive from Tashkent’s international airport overnight and into Thursday morning local time, according to data from Flightradar24.

With nearly 3 million residents, Tashkent is the largest city in the Central Asian, former Soviet state.

China has declined to comment on its defense minister’s whereabouts as questions swirl over his status a month after he was last seen in public.

Gen. Li Shangfu’s absence since late August has fueled rumors about his fate, but during a regular press briefing Thursday, Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said he was “not aware of the situation” when asked whether the minister was under investigation.

Li’s disappearance follows a series of unexplained personnel shakeups that have roiled the upper ranks of China’s ruling Communist Party this summer, including the ousting in July of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

Days later, Beijing announced the replacement of two generals leading the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, the military branch overseeing the nation’s arsenal of nuclear and ballistic missiles.

The disappearance of two high-profile ministers in quick succession has raised questions about the governance of leader Xi Jinping, who has made China’s political system even more opaque as he concentrates power and enforces strict party discipline.

Senior Chinese officials have vanished from public view in the past, only to be revealed months later by the Communist Party’s disciplinary watchdog that they’ve been detained for investigations. Such sudden disappearances have become a common feature in Xi’s anti-corruption campaign and gaps in information are not uncommon within the Chinese political system.

Where is Li Shangfu?

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Li was taken away in September by authorities for questioning, citing a person close to decision making in Beijing.

The Financial Times reported that the US government believes the defense minister has been placed under investigation, citing American officials. Neither of the reports cited a reason for the investigation.

When asked earlier this month by reporters, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he didn’t have “anything to offer” on the matter, which he added was an issue for the Chinese government to decide.

Li, who was sanctioned by the US in 2018 over China’s purchase of Russian weapons, is still listed as China’s defense minister, one of its five state councilors, and a member of the party’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).

In late July, the CMC’s Equipment Development Department issued a notice calling for public tip-offs on corrupt procurement practices dating back to 2017, which coincides with a time period that Li was in charge of procurement in the department.

It’s not clear if any disciplinary actions have been or will be taken against Li.

Former foreign minister Qin, who vanished from public view for a month before being removed from his ministerial post, has also retained the position of state councilor, a senior role in China’s cabinet, according to the State Council’s website.

Neither Li nor Qin were pictured in footage of a Communist Party study session attended by senior party officials and aired by state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday. All three other state councilors were visible.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Qin was found by a Communist Party investigation to have been engaged in an extramarital affair while serving as China’s envoy to Washington, citing people familiar with the matter.

Qin had an extramarital affair with a high-profile Chinese television presenter who had a child through surrogacy in the United States, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

Israel’s Supreme Court has started hearing petitions against a new law making it harder to declare a prime minister unfit for office.

Eleven of the 15 Supreme Court judges were hearing Thursday’s arguments. Within two months, the court would have heard arguments on three cases that challenge laws passed by the Benjamin Netanyahu government this year.

Thursday’s petition, however, affects Netanyahu most personally.

The law states that only the prime minister himself or the cabinet, with a two-thirds majority, can declare the leader unfit, and only “due to physical or mental incapacity.” The cabinet vote would then need to be ratified by a two-thirds majority in the parliament, known as the Knesset. The amendment is a change to one of Israel’s Basic Laws, the closest thing the country has to a constitution.

The amendment was passed before legislation started on a judicial overhaul package, pushed by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, that has split the country and led to months of protests by those who argue that it chips away at Israel’s democracy and weakens its judiciary.

The petitioners in Thursday’s hearing argue the amendment was passed solely for Netanyahu’s benefit – he faces an ongoing corruption trial – making it a “misuse of constituent authority.” That’s one of the bases on which the Supreme Court can, in theory, strike down amendments to a Basic Law. However, the court has never struck down a Basic Law or an amendment to one.

Yiktzhak Burt, a lawyer arguing on behalf of the Knesset, conceded to the Supreme Court Thursday that the law in question did benefit the prime minister personally, but insisted that the legislature had the power to pass it because it has a democratic mandate and that the court should not strike it down. He acknowledged that the law had flaws, but that they did not rise to such a level that it should be struck down.

Supreme Court President Esther Hayut said on Thursday that the court was not discussing nullifying the law but postponing its application.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments about another law, passed in July, that took away its ability to stop government actions justices rule to be “unreasonable.” It was also an amendment to a Basic Law. (The third petition is against Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has refused to convene the committee that chooses judges, amid a dispute over its composition.)

“(We’ve) never had so many hearings in the court so close together. This is a unique and unprecedented constitutional crisis,” Fuchs said.

What law was changed?

Until this law was changed, there was no written legislation that dictated how a prime minister could be removed from office for being “unfit” to serve, although Fuchs said there was some precedent with case law that indicated the attorney general could make that ruling.

“I do believe we did have a flawed arrangement before. It was too vague. It demanded an amendment,” Fuchs said. “But it’s very clear that the motive for this law was totally personal.”

That’s because there were petitions to declare Netanyahu unfit to serve because of his ongoing corruption trial. He is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to appear in court as a defendant, on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He denies any wrongdoing.

As part of a deal with the court to continue serving as prime minister despite his ongoing trial, Netanyahu in 2020 agreed to a conflict-of-interest declaration.

The attorney general determined at the time that the declaration meant Netanyahu could not be involved in policy making that affects the judicial system – like the judicial overhaul. Certain aspects of the overhaul, Netanyahu’s opponents have argued, could make it much easier for him to get out of the corruption trial.

Earlier this year, when Justice Minister Levin announced the government’s plans for a judicial overhaul, Netanyahu said his hands were tied and he couldn’t get involved because of the conflict-of-interest declaration.

But in March, hours after the amendment making it more difficult to declare a prime minister unfit for office was passed, Netanyahu announced he was getting involved.

“Until today, my hands have been tied,” the prime minister said at the time. “We have reached an absurd situation in which if I’d intervened (in the judicial overhaul legislation) as my job required, I would have been declared unfit to serve … Tonight I inform you: Enough is enough. I will be involved.”

What happens in the hearing?

A preliminary hearing with three judges has already been held on this case. On Thursday, arguments were heard again, this time in front of 11 of the 15 Supreme Court justices.

Normally the attorney general would put forward the government’s case in a Supreme Court hearing, but AG Gali Bahrav-Miara did not. She agrees with petitioners that the amendment should not stand, as she did earlier this month during the hearing on the “reasonableness” law.

The justices could strike down the amendment, declaring that the parliament carried out a “misuse of constituent power,” Fuchs said. That would be for passing legislation not for general purposes but for political purposes, to benefit a specific individual: Netanyahu.

Fuchs noted that the timing of the bill – raised and passed within just a few weeks – and on the record comments made during the discussions of the bill in parliament made it clear the purpose of the law was to protect Netanyahu.

The Supreme Court could also declare that the law “is not active right now,” and would only be active once the next parliament takes over. That could be a way out of a thorny constitutional situation.

“It takes away most of the problem because once you decide it’s only active next Knesset, it means it won’t solve any personal problem for Netanyahu and it gives time for the Knesset to re-think the arrangement,” Fuchs said.

The court decision must be made no later than January 12, 2024, due to the retirements of judges hearing the case.

What other challenges to the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul is the Supreme Court hearing?

The court must also decide by then on the petition against the law that struck down the court’s ability to declare government actions “unreasonable.” That is considered a much bigger challenge, and one where, for the first time, all 15 of the current Supreme Court justices took the case. The ruling on that petition is expected to take longer than the one being heard on Thursday.

Additionally, the Supreme Court is due to hear a challenge to the justice minister delaying convening the committee to select new Supreme Court justices. Netanyahu’s government wishes to re-formulate how justices are selected in Israel to give politicians more sway.

The committee was supposed to meet last week, but Levin postponed the meeting.

“It’s very important even though it is [an] administrative issue, not a petition against a basic law,” Fuchs said of the challenge, since Levin could be ordered to follow a court ruling on an essential element of the judicial overhaul.

“This is in the hands of the government because they can accept the decision. Even though (Netanyahu is) avoiding the question on whether he will abide by the decision, doesn’t mean he won’t,” Fuchs said.

Glaciers in Switzerland are shrinking at a “mind-blowing” rate. A total of 10% of their ice volume has disappeared over a period of just two years as a combination of low snowfall and soaring temperatures cause unprecedented melting, according to figures released Thursday.

In 2023, the country’s glaciers lost 4% of their total volume, according to data from the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. This level melting is second only to the record set in 2022, when 6% of glaciers were destroyed.

To put this into perspective, Swiss glaciers have lost as much ice over this two–year period as was lost over the three decades between 1960 and 1990.

“The losses we’ve seen in 2022 and 2023 are simply mind-blowing and beyond everything we have experienced so far,” said Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS), an organization that collects and evaluates glacier data and works with the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

The two extreme years have led to glacier tongues collapsing and many small glaciers in the country disappearing altogether. The St. Annafirn glacier, for example, in the Uri canton in central Switzerland, has shrunk so much that GLAMOS has stopped monitoring it.

Ice loss was even recorded at high altitudes, which usually don’t see such declines. Several meters of ice disappeared in southern Valais and the Engadin valley at altitudes of more than 3,200 meters (10,500 feet), according to GLAMOS.

The losses, which affect glaciers across the country, have come after a winter with very low snow. Snow levels in the second half of February reached a record low, at around 30% of the long-term average.

This was followed by a summer of high temperatures. A very hot and dry June meant snow melted two to four weeks earlier than usual, according to GLAMOS.

In August, a weather balloon launched by the national meteorological service, MétéoSuisse, had to climb 5,298 meters (17,382 feet) before the temperature fell to 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) – marking the highest “zero degree” line since records began.

High temperatures, which continued into September, meant that summer snowfalls melted quickly.

The huge glacier melt of the last two years has stark implications. It “means a significant re-shaping of the high-alpine landscape,” Huss said.

It is creating dangerous conditions with unstable rock threatening dangerous rockslides.

Receding glaciers are also leading to grim discoveries. In July, the remains of a German mountain climber who went missing 37 years ago while hiking along a glacier near Switzerland’s famous Matterhorn were recovered.

There are temporary advantages as the water runoff from the glaciers has helped relieve the severity of the drought the country has experienced and fill hydropower reservoirs, said Huss.

“However, this benefit is transient and short-lived,” he added. As they shrink, glaciers are rapidly losing their important role to contribute water when people need it. “This will aggravate water scarcity during heat waves in the near future,” Huss said.

The long-term picture for Switzerland’s glaciers is alarming. “Glaciers in the Alps will continue to massively shrink and retreat to the highest mountain peaks,” said Huss.

In June, Swiss voters agreed a new law to significantly reduce levels of planet-heating pollution, the impetus for which came from climate groups demanding an end to fossil fuels in order to save the glaciers.

But time is running out as climate change accelerates. Recent research found that even if ambitious climate targets are met, up to half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by the end of the century.

Pangolins are among the world’s most heavily poached animals. The elusive creatures are under threat, but the discovery of a mysterious species that’s new to science could help conservationists fight against their extinction, researchers say.

There are eight previously known species of pangolin — four found in Asia and four in Africa. Resembling anteaters, the solitary mammals are illegally hunted and trafficked for their meat and distinctive armorlike scales, which some people believe have medicinal value. 

Scientists studying contraband scales — confiscated in Hong Kong and China’s Yunnan province between 2012 and 2019 — identified genetic markers not seen in any known pangolins. The genomic analysis revealed an unexpected ninth species, which the team has named Manis mysteria.

The researchers described their findings in a study published Monday in the journal PNAS.

“We were quite surprised because we did not expect a new species could be discovered from seized scales,” said study coauthor Jing-Yan Hu, a research assistant at the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource at Yunnan University, in an email.

The study team did a structural analysis of 33 scale samples from several different confiscations. Five scales were attached to skin and three to claws. The remaining samples were from individual scales found to be from pangolin tails, backs, bellies or heads.

Genomics can help protect threatened species

The scales’ form initially suggested they belonged to one of four species of pangolin found in Asia. But DNA analysis showed that their “genomic data provide robust and compelling evidence that it is a new pangolin species distinct from those previously recognized,” Hu said.

Finding a new “large-bodied mammal” is not an everyday occurrence, said Dr. Aryn Wilder, a researcher specializing in conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Wilder was not involved in the new research.

One of the most recent of such finds made through genomics was the 2017 identification of an unknown species of orangutan. “Although not unheard of, discoveries like these are pretty unusual,” Wilder said, adding that the pangolin study’s results were convincing.

“I thought the methods were solid and their findings were pretty conclusive,” she said.

Expanded understanding of ‘pangolin diversity and evolution’

Little is known of Manis mysteria, but now that its existence has been established, conservationists can work to protect it.

Uncovering a ninth species is significant, Hu said. The revelation “greatly expands current knowledge of pangolin diversity and evolution,” Hu said. “The discovery also urges more conservation concerns and joint efforts to help tackle the supply and demand of pangolin trade.”

The finding is very important, Wilder said in an email. “The identification of this new species will allow conservationists to focus management efforts to prevent its extinction.”

Extinction is defined on a species level. “Once a species is extinct, its unique biodiversity is lost,” Wilder said. “With the discovery of a new pangolin species, one that is likely endangered, and with more research to learn about its range, ecology, life-history and conservation status, conservation strategies can be tailored specifically to ensure that this species survives.”

Because Manis mysteria has just a slight genetic variation from other pangolins, the species is currently described as “cryptic.”

Cryptic species aren’t easy to tell apart from others by appearance alone, so the newfound ability to identify pangolin species by testing scales is a boon for conservation scientists. “Often a rare species will be mistaken for a more common one,” Wilder said. “With advancing DNA technologies, we are getting better at identifying cryptic species.”

That means the recent revelation could just be the start. “We also expect to find other pangolin species,” Hu said.

Known on social media as “Noor BM,” 23-year-old Noor Alsaffar had over 370,000 followers collectively on Instagram and TikTok. Alsaffar mostly posted short videos showing dresses, hair and makeup styles, often dancing to music. Following news of the shooting, many posted comments lamenting Alsaffar’s death. Some others cheered it, celebrating the man who fired the shot.

Khaled Almehna, spokesperson for the Iraqi police, described the attack as a “criminal incident” on Tuesday, adding that he will provide “important updates” at a later time.

The killing comes as Iraq cracks down on LGBTQ expression and moves to criminalize it in law. While being queer is not explicitly banned under current Iraqi legislation, LGBTQ people are often targeted under vague morality clauses in its penal code.

Before the shooting, Alsaffar faced online abuse, as well as questions about sexuality and gender. In a 2020 interview on Iraq’s Al Walaa channel, Alsaffar said: “I’m not transgender and I’m not gay. I don’t have other tendencies, I’m only a cross-dresser and a model.” Alsaffar identified as a male who worked as a model and makeup artist.

Alsaffar spoke in videos about facing threats on social media over choices of dressing.

In a 2021 YouTube interview with Iraqi blogger Samir Jermani, Alsaffar said: “I’m cautious but not afraid” in response to a question about the TikToker’s appearance.

The Iraqi LGBTQ rights group, IraQueer, posted about Alsaffar’s death, adding the hashtags #Transphobia and #MuderOfTransPeople on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A new law has been proposed in the Iraqi parliament that explicitly criminalizes gay sex, transgender expression and other forms of LGBTQ conduct. If adopted, it would punish same-sex relations with the death penalty or life in prison, punish “promoting homosexuality” with a minimum sentence of seven years, and criminalize “imitating women” with up to a three-year sentence.

Violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people in the country has increased noticeably in recent months, rights groups say. The country has seen protests, mostly by supporters of Shiite Muslim factions, burning the rainbow flag in response to recent Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. HRW says violence against LGBTQ people in Iraq “has routinely been met with impunity.”

Iraq’s media regulator in August banned the term “homosexuality” across all traditional and social media platforms, demanding that the term “sexual deviance” be used instead.

Rights groups have decried growing crackdowns on LGBTQ communities in the Middle East, including what Human Rights Watch found to be digital targeting based on online activity.

Online targeting is often followed by extreme punitive measures, including arbitrary detention and torture, the rights watchdog said in February after examining LGBTQ rights violations in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.

Costa Rica’s president has ordered a state of emergency, citing a surge of migrants crossing through the country toward the United States.

“The people that arrive are passing across Costa Rica trying to get to the United States, basically,” President Rodrigo Chaves told a press conference Tuesday.

According to Chavez, the people crossing through his country are from around the world, including Venezuela, Ecuador, China, Colombia, Haiti, Yemen, and Bangladesh.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 84,490 people entered Costa Rica through its southern border in the month of August – an increase of 55% compared to the previous month.

Regionally, the number of migrants crossing the treacherous Darien Gap – which connects Panama and Colombia and has recently served as a barometer for movement – broke a new record this year.

According to authorities, 248,901 people have crossed the jungle so far in 2023, and of those, approximately 20% are children and adolescents.

In a statement on Wednesday, IOM called for governments in Central America and Mexico to work together to address “the immediate humanitarian needs” of the travelers and longer term solutions, warning that existing aid resources were “stretched thin.”

“People transiting Central America and Mexico face numerous challenges. The trek through the Darien jungle leaves many injured, sometimes abandoned on muddy slopes, swept away by sudden river floodings, and vulnerable to robbery, violence and sexual abuse,” the statement read.

“In countries along the route, financially depleted families find themselves hungry, sleeping in the streets and forced to beg. Many experience health issues like diarrhea and dehydration,” it said.

In August, Chavez visited US President Joe Biden to discuss migration and other issues.

Costa Rica is among a host of countries set to open so-called safe mobility offices, a new initiative by the Biden administration to partner with international organizations to establish brick-and-mortar processing centers for migrants to apply to migrate legally to the US, among other countries, instead of continuing their journey to the border.

As of August 28, more than 38,000 individuals have registered in Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala for the Safe Mobility initiative, according to a White House official.