In the News: Melting Mummies and Sinking Cities

Fig.1. Washington, D.C. is slowly sinking due to a geological process that started around 20,000 years ago (Credit: Architect of the Capitol)

Between fungi that accompanies natural disasters and the melting field of glacial archaeology, this week featured new weird and wonderful research. Read to learn more about old ingredients for new beer, unconsidered repercussions of climate change, a slowly sinking city, and more:

• The tornado that struck Joplin Missouri, on May 22, 2011 carried a deadly fungus that seems to show up in disaster and war zones around the world: “Soil-Dwelling Fungus Rode Joplin Tornado To Unexpected Human Home,” Scientific American (28 July 2015)

• Sediment cores from deep beneath the Chesapeake’s eastern shore show how Washington, D.C. might be sinking: “Washington, D.C., Sinking Fast, Adding To Threat Of Sea-Level Rise,” University of Vermont Communications (28 July 2015)

• Researchers at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History unearthed four high-ranking leaders from the early and tenuous years of Jamestown: “Unearthing Jamestown’s Leaders, And A Mystery,” New York Times (28 July 2015)

• Beer lovers can rejoice as a recently studied lager yeast could provide a variety of new flavorful beers based on 15-century science: “Scientists Make The First New Lager Yeasts In Centuries,” Scientific American (14 July 2015)

• Glacial archaeology is both benefiting and suffering from climate change, which has helped to create a fantastic record of new artifacts from melting ice. Unfortunately, the field of glacial archaeology may soon be a thing of the past: “Melting Mummies Are On Thin Ice, Thanks To Climate Change,” Scientific American (28 July 2015)