Continent

You may have heard the joke by now: "How do you organize a solar eclipse party? You planet."But you could also let someone plan it for you.And throughout the Hamilton-Niagara region — home to some of the best areas in Canada to see the total solar eclipse on April 8 — there are plenty of options.That day, people across the continent will see the moon pass between the sun and the Earth. In some places, it will partially block out the sun. But in others — including Hamilton, Burlington, Ont., Six Nations, Ont., and the…

Credit: Google Maps Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, North and South America, Europe—and the Maritime Continent. Never heard of the last one? That's because it's not a continent made of land. In fact, it's the largest warm tropical sea in the world, lapping against the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and smaller…

During lower sea levels a vast archipelago formed on the Australian northwest continental shelf (top). A modern-day example of an archipelago on a submerged continental shelf is the Åland Islands near Finland (bottom). Credit: US Geological Survey, Geoscience AustraliaA team of archaeologists and earth scientists have recently unveiled insights into the ancient terrains of Sahul, the landmass that during the Ice Age included Australia and New Guinea. Their research, which was published in Quaternary Science Reviews,…

A cache of scientific equipment that could fit in the back of an SUV has been lowered into the sea north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and is already streaming open-source data for anyone wanting to monitor the Southern Ocean's health.Scientists say the underwater observatory collects measurements, including temperature, oxygen concentration and chlorophyll levels, and will fill a gap in data to help understand the impact of climate change in the waters around Antarctica.The project is being jointly run by Ocean Networks…

2023 was a busy year in science. Here are 10 stories worth revisiting as we wind up the year.1. Canadian Jeremy Hansen chosen to fly to the moonA Canadian astronaut was selected as part of the crew for NASA's Artemis II mission to the moon.Jeremy Hansen and three crew mates will fly in an Orion capsule that will orbit the moon and fly farther into deep space than any humans have gone before.Hansen will not land on the moon, but the planned 10-day mission will be the first of a series of missions expected to culminate with…

The Current11:34A hand-drawn map with no people, but 1,642 free-roaming animalsRead Transcribed AudioArtist Anton Thomas wanted to draw a "world map of nature" that would showcase the many different species across the globe — but at one point he was a little worried he'd run out of animals."I thought before drawing, 'Oh, surely I would run out of species across the Southern Ocean or the vast South Pacific,'" said Thomas, a New Zealand man now living in Melbourne."But no, there was just always more to choose from," he…

If 2022 was the year mpox infections exploded globally, 2023 was the year much of the world stopped paying attention.Yet Canadian researchers, in collaboration with scientists working on the ground in hot spots such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), are still shining a spotlight on the virus that sparked last year's unprecedented global outbreak — and one that still seems capable of new surprises. One joint Canadian-DRC research team, co-led by Jason Kindrachuk from the University of Manitoba, has…

An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate "super pigs" in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat.Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada's leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine, "the most invasive animal on the planet" and "an ecological train wreck." They are often…

A recent study revealed that the…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain An El Niño event has arrived, according to the World Meteorological Organization, raising fears of record high global temperatures, extreme weather and, in Australia, a severe fire season. The El Niño is a reminder that bushfires are part of Australian life—especially as human-caused global warming…