Weekly Spark Of Peculiar #34
Shipwrecks, Wild Facts, World Records, Mummification & More!
Good morning, afternoon or evening everyone, wherever you may be! I hope you are doing well and have smashed the week!
01. The Dormont Bomb
So I’ve been reading into the much-feared Arctic “methane bomb” and it may not detonate after all. As the frozen ground of the far north thaws, scientists once warned of a massive release of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Has been threatening to accelerate global warming in a runaway loop. A new study, however, paints a different picture: beneath the thawing ice lie microbial soldiers that eat methane, not create it. Researchers examined samples from across the Arctic, from Canada to Siberia and found that the bacteria that consume methane (methanotrophs) may outcompete those that produce it (methanogens) in drier soil conditions.
In short, if the land warms but dries instead of turning into soggy swamp, it could act as a methane sink rather than a fossil-fuel-style blast. That said, the scientists caution this isn’t a guarantee. The outcome hinges on how the soil behaves as climate change continues. The freeze-thaw may still release carbon, and we simply don’t yet know how fast or in what form. So the picture shifts: the Arctic isn’t just ticking time-bomb territory; it might become an unexpected buffer in the climate story.
02. The Mother Wreck
An 18th-century Spanish galleon, the San José, long dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks”, has finally begun giving up its treasures. Sunk in 1708 near Cartagena, Colombia after its powder magazines exploded, the ship carried an estimated cache of some 11 million gold and silver coins. Worth perhaps US $20 billion. A recent recovery mission, approved by Bogotá, has now brought up the first artifacts: a cannon, three coins (macuquinas), and fragments of fine porcelain.
The wreck lies some 600 metres deep under the Caribbean Sea, in a location kept as a state secret by Colombia. Now, Ownership of the treasure, however, remains fiercely contested. An American group says they discovered the ship in the 1980s and claim large financial rights; Colombia insists the operation is for research and preservation, not private profit, but really? Im not buying that.
This discovery matters not just for its glittering value, but because it opens an archaeological time-capsule, even the coins and porcelain will undergo lab analysis to reveal manufacturing origins, trade networks, production technologies and perhaps something of the lives of those aboard, and the empire behind them.
Absolute crazy find!
03. 28 Hours of Keepie-Uppies
In a feat that redefines stamina and sheer ball control, Swedish football enthusiast Daniel Yaakob has just claimed the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon controlling a football. Over at the Rydshallen sports complex in Linköping, he kept a football in the air, juggling it with knees, chest, feet, and head, for an astonishing 28 hours, 21 minutes, and 2 seconds.
That’s more than a full day of continuous balancing, flicking, and “keepie-uppies,” with only brief permitted breaks every few hours. Yaakob’s performance didn’t just topple the previous record; it turned a simple street-skill staple into a marathon-length endurance spectacle.
Super Facts
1. A cloud weighs around a million tonnes.
2. Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people.
3. Earlobes have no biological purpose.
4. Your brain is constantly eating itself. This process is called phagocytosis
04. Mummi Cheetahs
Hidden deep in a cave in northern Saudi Arabia, scientists have discovered something almost impossible: naturally mummified cheetahs. Preserved by dry, stable cave conditions, their bodies remain eerily intact, a rare fate for large predators.
Dating shows some are up to 1,800 years old, while surrounding remains stretch back nearly 4,000 years, revealing that cheetahs once used these caves for generations. Genetic clues link them to both Asiatic and African populations, exposing a richer, forgotten ecosystem across Arabia.
The cheetahs vanished from the region long ago but in the dark, the past waited. Preserved. Silent. Watching.
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