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“This is a cultural treasure of immense importance,” Bruno Werz said when offering journalists a first glimpse of the precious find at the excavation site in Namibia’s diamond-rich ‘no-go zone’. Werz is leading a team of archeologists and geologists from Namibia, the United States, Portugal, South Africa and Zimbabwe in excavating the ship. The wreck has been described as the best-preserved example of early Portuguese ships found outside of Portugal. It’s good state of preservation being attributed its long burial in sand, which preserves wood.

The vessel's hull, constructed without iron nails, is 16 m (52 feet) long, 5 m (16 feet) wide and 4 m (13 feet) deep. There is a hole in the right side of the hull and divers believe the ship sank during a storm.

They also discovered suspected human remains.

The expedition to the depths of the world's deepest and oldest lake was organized to search for historic artefacts linked with the Krugobaikal Railway, which saw numerous train crashes in the 19th century.

If that age is accurate, the skeleton, Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, —along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula —would be the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas

The three other skeletons excavated in the caves have been given a date range of 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating. The finds could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.

The submarine was reported lost Aug. 16, 1942.  Underwater video footage captured by an expedition hired by sons of the commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, allowed the Navy to confirm the discovery.

Japanese anti-submarine attack data recorded no attack in the Aleutian area at the time of the Grunion's disappearance, so the submarine's fate remained an unsolved mystery for more than 60 years, the US Navy said.

The minute scales, which are just 200 micrometres long, are made from tough enamel, such as that found on teeth, giving the skin a rough texture like sandpaper. Lying flat, they had previously been found to reduce drag as the shark swims. Some reports had also suggested that sharks can bristle their scales, causing them to stand up on end.

Experiments have now revealed that tiny vortices or whirlpools formed within the cavities between the scales.

Don't compare them to the simple rubber suction cups on kids' toy dart guns; these have their own elaborate muscular regulatory mechanisms. This diagram illustrates the internal structure of a single octopus sucker.

There are two main regions, an infundibulum (IN) on the attachment face of the sucker, and a deeper chamber called the acetabulum (A) (if you don't recall any Latin, "infundibulum" just means "funnel", while "acetabulum" is "vinegar cup"â anatomy is littered with funnels and cup-shaped structures, so these are actually very generic names).

Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.

Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month's time.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.

It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.

 

The chemicals cling to fat and can cause reproductive and immunological problems. While the researchers noted a slight decline in the level of PCBs over time, the chemical lingers on 30 years after it was banned,

Another recent publication predicted that problems from PCB contamination would plague the local orcas for at least 60 more years.