Opinion: 75 Years On, Remember Hiroshima And Nagasaki. But Remember Toyama Too

"On Aug. 1, 1945, 12-year-old Hideko Sudo went to bed fully clothed and full of worry. For days, air raid alerts had left the coastal city of Toyama on edge, prompting her school's closure. More alarmingly, earlier that day, American planes had rained down leaflets warning of an imminent attack."

"Hideko's fears proved well-founded. Despite a sophisticated alert system and a decade of air defense drills, the arrival just after midnight of a wave of B-29 bombers plunged Toyama into chaos. Superfortresses — 173 of them — encountered only sparse antiaircraft fire as they released around 1,500 tons of incendiaries onto the city's center."

"In a few short hours, Toyama was enveloped by a "sea of fire," Hideko recalled in a written account. Over 95% of the city was incinerated, leaving around 2,600 people dead. While Hideko's family survived, they numbered among the 165,000 left homeless, virtually the entire population."

As Zoos Cautiously Reopen, Humans Are Excited, Big Cats Seem Ambivalent

"The pandas in D.C., the grizzlies in Oakland, the gorillas in the Bronx are all getting reacquainted with human visitors. As of a month and a half ago, the pandemic had forced 90% of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums' members to close. Today, the AZA reports, about 80% of them have reopened."

"The Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., opens its gates to the public for the first time in 19 weeks on Friday — and this week, I was one of the lucky few humans allowed in for a preview."

"It was barely 8 a.m., and the lemurs were very chatty. Luke the lion was chuffing and pacing at the edge of his moat, while Damai, a Sumatran tiger, bellowed."

"'That bellow we usually hear when the female tiger is cycling, when she's in estrus,' says Craig Saffoe, curator of the National Zoo's Great Cats exhibit and Kids' Farm. 'She's quite literally sending out a calling card to a male, letting him know where she is and that she's ready.'"

"Saffoe is both excited and anxious about reopening."

"'One of the things that I've missed most is interacting with people,' he says. 'A big part of our job is education and getting to chat to visitors and explain to them that this neat tiger that you just heard bellowing is critically endangered — and we're taking steps to try to help mitigate the potential for her extinction or her species' extinction.'"

"In July 2017, Damai gave birth to a cub."

China Launches Ambitious Mission To Mars

"A heavy-lift Long March-5 roared off a launch pad on Hainan Island on Thursday carrying China's hopes for its first successful Mars mission — an ambitious project to send an orbiter, lander and rover to the red planet in one shot."

"If everything goes according to plan, Tianwen-1 will be China's first successful mission to Mars, after a previous attempt failed in 2011 — gaining it membership in an elite club, including only the U.S. and Russia, of nations that have successfully landed on the planet. (Even so, the Soviet Union's Mars 3 lander, which touched down in 1971, transmitted for mere seconds before contact was lost.)"

"Thursday's launch of Tianwen-1 took place at about 12:40 p.m. local time (12:40 a.m. ET) from Wenchang Spaceport on Hainan in the South China Sea."

"Within 45 minutes, launch commander Zhang Xueyu announced to a cheering control room that the spacecraft had 'accurately entered the scheduled orbit.'"

"Earlier this month in Nature Astronomy, members of the mission team detailed their objectives for the spacecraft."

"'Tianwen-1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter. No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way,' they said."

"The goals of the mission are to map surface geology, examine soil characteristics and water distribution, measure the Martian ionosphere and climate and study the planet's magnetic and gravitational fields."

One-Third Of U.S. Museums May Not Survive The Year, Survey Finds

"Museums seem like immortal places, with their august countenances and treasured holdings. Even in our TikTok era of diminishing attention spans, they draw more than 850 million visitors a year in the U.S., according to the American Alliance of Museums."

"But the coronavirus was not impressed, and the effects of the pandemic-related shutdown on the country's museums have been dire, says AAM President and CEO Laura Lott. In a survey released Wednesday of 760 museum directors, 33% of them said there was either a "significant risk" of closing permanently by next fall or that they didn't know if their institutions would survive."

"'There's a large public perception that museums rely on government support, when the reality is they get only a quarter of their funding from the government,' Lott tells NPR."

"Ticket and gift shop sales, school trips and museum events are primary sources of funding, she says, 'most of which went to zero overnight when they were all shuttered.'"

"The institutions surveyed ranged from aquariums to botanical gardens to science centers. More than 40% of them were history museums, historic houses and historical societies, while art museums represented less than 25%.

Whales Get A Break As Pandemic Creates Quieter Oceans

"When humpback whales migrated to Glacier Bay in Alaska this year to spend the long summer days feeding, they arrived to something unusual: quieter waters."

"As the global pandemic slows international shipping and keeps cruise ships docked, scientists are finding measurably less noise in the ocean. That could provide momentary relief for whales and other marine mammals that are highly sensitive to noise."

"Through networks of underwater hydrophones, scientists are hoping to learn how the mammals' communication changes when the drone of ships is turned down, potentially informing new policies to protect them."

"''More needs to be done,' says Jason Gedamke, who manages the ocean acoustics program at NOAA Fisheries. 'When you have animals that for millions of years have been able to communicate over vast distances in the ocean, and then once we introduce noise and have increased sound levels and they can't communicate over those distances, clearly there's going to be some impact there.'"

Searching For The American Dream On Paradise Road

"The American dream takes on new meaning in photographer Eliot Dudik's series Paradise Road."

"Through the images, Dudik takes the viewer on a journey across the U.S., from empty grasslands to suburban lawns, from dirt byways to mountain valleys, all along different roads named Paradise Road. Each photograph unveils a different view of a potential paradise through expansive landscapes and stoic portraits of people he meets along the way."

"The ongoing project began in 2013, when Dudik set out with a question of what paradise and the American dream really look like, five years after millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and savings in the 2008 financial crisis."

"Dudik was in the process of leaving a job and had just ended a long-term relationship. Not sure of what was coming next, he felt overwhelmed by the unknown. "Typical life angst for a 30-year-old, I think," he says. He started thinking about the idea of the American dream: that anyone can achieve prosperity if they work hard enough."

"He wondered: Were others trying to achieve their own version of the American dream, as he was?"

It's A Good Time To Head To Mars

"If you're planning a trip to Mars, now is the time to go."

"For a month or so, Earth and Mars line up in a way that makes it possible to go from one to the other. Miss that window, and you have to wait two years for the next opportunity. The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all have missions scheduled for launch in July."

"NASA's entry is a six-wheeled rover called Perseverance. It's aiming for Jezero crater, a spot on Mars that scientists think was once a lake where microbes could have lived. Landing is set for Feb. 18, 2021."

"Kathryn Stack Morgan is the mission's deputy project scientist. Other rover missions have seen signals of carbon that could have been left behind by microbial life, but, she says, 'We haven't been able to necessarily link the presence of that carbon to a particular pattern of texture that we see in the rock that we think could have been left behind by life.'"

"Even if Perseverance detects carbon and sees a pattern in a rock that could have been left behind by life, the claim that there was once life on Mars would be extraordinary, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."

Good News: This Comet Won't Cause A Mass Extinction In 2020. Also, It's Really Pretty

"The first thing to know about a new comet that has appeared in the evening sky is that it's one big ice ball: about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) across."

"'Just to put it into context, about 65 million years ago there was an asteroid or a comet that was thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs,' says astronomer Amy Mainzer. 'That object is thought to have been about 5 to 10 kilometers across.'"

"Mainzer is principal investigator for a NASA mission known as NEOWISE that is seeking to spot comets and asteroids that could wipe out life as we know it on Earth."

"And NEOWISE did spot this comet in March."

"And 2020 has been a terrible year so far."

"But don't worry, she says: 'It's definitely not going to hit the Earth.'"

"Instead, the comet, known officially as C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) — or just comet Neowise for short — is providing an unexpected bright spot in the lives of quarantined astronomers. It came from a dark part of the solar system known as the Oort Cloud — an icy graveyard billions of miles out that is filled with ancient comets and asteroids. It shot into the inner solar system, and astronomers watched as it passed the sun at a distance closer than the planet Mercury."

Turkey Converts Istanbul's Iconic Hagia Sophia Back Into A Mosque

"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered the Hagia Sophia museum, one of Istanbul's most famous landmarks, to be converted into a mosque."

"He made the announcement on Friday, hours after a top court cleared the way for him to make the change."

"The Hagia Sophia, a major draw for tourists, has a long and complicated history. The architectural marvel was built as a church by the Byzantines in the 6th century and then converted to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453."

"In 1934, Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's Cabinet decreed that it be turned into a museum. It is widely regarded as a symbol of peaceful religious coexistence."

"Friday's court ruling invalidates the 1934 decree. It grants Turkey's president the authority to restore the museum to its status as a working mosque. The decision said the site is listed as a mosque in its title deed and that cannot be changed, Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported."

"Erdogan had previously signaled that he intended to make that change. In his decision Friday, he said the site would be transferred to the Directorate of Religious Affairs and will be open for worship."

How Snakes Fly (Hint: It's Not On A Plane)

"Flying snakes like Chrysopelea paradisi, the paradise tree snake, normally live in the trees of South and Southeast Asia. There, they cruise along tree branches and, sometimes, to get to the ground or another tree, they'll launch themselves into the air and glide down at an angle."

"They undulate their serpentine bodies as they glide through the air, and it turns out that these special movements are what let these limbless creatures make such remarkable flights."

"That's according to some new research in the journal Nature Physics that involved putting motion-capture tags on seven snakes and then filming them with high-speed cameras as the snakes flew across a giant four-story-high theater."

"How far they can go really depends on how high up they are when they jump, says Jake Socha at Virginia Tech, who has studied these snakes for almost a quarter-century. He recalls that one time he watched a snake start from about 30 feet up and then land nearly 70 feet away. "It was really a spectacular glide," recalls Socha."

Saharan Dust Cloud Arrives At The U.S. Gulf Coast, Bringing Haze

"A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert is arriving along the U.S. Gulf Coast this week after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. The phenomenon happens every year – but the 2020 version is especially large and imposing, experts said."

"The dust cloud is 'quite large' this year, said Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, in an interview on NPR's All Things Considered. 'I think that's why it's garnering so much attention.'"

"That attention has included some experts who are calling it the "Godzilla dust cloud" due to its unusual size."

"There are signs that the cloud is living up to the hype. Michael Lowry, an atmospheric scientist at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the cloud shattered the previous record for dust across the tropical Atlantic, as measured by the MODIS satellite."

Dolphins Learn Foraging Tricks From Each Other, Not Just From Mom

"Dolphins learn special foraging techniques from their mothers—and it's now clear that they can learn from their buddies as well. Take the clever trick that some dolphins use to catch fish by trapping them in seashells. It turns out that they learn this skill by watching their pals do the job."

"The discovery, reported in the journal Current Biology, helps reveal how groups of wild animals can transmit learned behaviors and develop their own distinct cultures."

"'Dolphins are indeed very clever animals. So it makes sense that they are able to learn from others,' says Sonja Wild, a researcher at the University of Konstanz in Germany. She says young dolphins spend years in close association with their mothers and naturally tend to adopt their mothers' ways, but this study shows that 'dolphins are not only capable, but also motivated to learn from their peers.'"

Immense Neolithic Ring Discovered Near Stonehenge

"The mystery near and around Stonehenge keeps growing."

"The latest revelation is the discovery of a ring of at least 20 prehistoric shafts about 2 miles from the famous Neolithic site of immense upright stones, according to an announcement from the University of Bradford."

"Archaeologists say the "astonishing" shafts in Durrington Walls date back to 2500 B.C. and form a circle more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in diameter. Each one measures up to 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and 5 meters (16 feet) deep."

"Researchers say there may have been more than 30 of the shafts at one time.

"The area around Stonehenge is among the most studied archaeological landscapes on Earth and it is remarkable that the application of new technology can still lead to the discovery of such a massive prehistoric structure which, currently, is significantly larger than any comparative prehistoric monument that we know of in Britain, at least," said Professor Vincent Gaffney of the University of Bradford."

'Like Poking a Beehive': The Worrisome Link Between Deforestation And Disease

"In 2013, an 18-month old boy got sick after playing near a hollow tree in his backyard, in a remote West African village. He developed a fever and started vomiting. His stool turned black. Two days later, he died."

"Two years and more than 11,000 deaths later, the World Health Organization put out a report saying the Ebola outbreak that likely emanated from that hollow tree may have been caused in part by deforestation, led by 'foreign mining and timber operations.'"

"The tree the boy played near was infested with fruit bats — bats that may have been pushed into the boy's village because upwards of 80 percent of their natural habitat had been destroyed."

"'When you disturb a forest, it actually upsets, if you want, the balance of nature, the balance between pathogens and people,' says John E. Fa, a professor of biodiversity and human development at Manchester Metropolitan University, who was part of a team of researchers that linked recent forest loss to 25 Ebola outbreaks that have occurred since 1976."

"A finding, he says, that showed a strong correlation between recent deforestation and disease outbreaks."

A Previously Unreleased Thelonious Monk Concert Is Coming Next Month

"The summer of 1968 looked like the summer of 2020. Americans were in the streets protesting racism, among other things. And a high school student in Palo Alto, Calif., got in on the action by enlisting the help of a jazz legend. Danny Scher came up with the idea to book Thelonious Monk to play his school's auditorium and now, a professional recording of this concert will be released publicly for the first time on July 31. The album is called Palo Alto."

"The fact that the concert was recorded at all is almost 'by happenstance,' says WBGO and Jazz Night in America's Nate Chinen. 'The day before the event, Danny was approached by a school janitor, who said: 'If you let me record the concert, I'll get the piano tuned.' So Danny (who, remember, is a teenager), was like: 'Uh, sure!' "

"The identity of the janitor remains unknown, but after the show, he handed the tape over to Scher, who has held onto it for over 50 years."

"NPR's Noel King talks to Nate Chinen about where Thelonious Monk was in his career at the time of the concert, how the community politics in Palo Alto in 1968 affected the show and how the album resonates in the present day. Listen to the interview, including unreleased music from Palo Alto, in the audio player above."

Scientists Find The Biggest Soft-Shelled Egg Ever, Nicknamed 'The Thing'

"In 2018, paleontologist Julia Clarke was visiting a colleague named David Rubilar-Rogers at Chile's National Museum of Natural History. He showed her a mysterious fossil that he'd collected years earlier in Antarctica. He and his coworkers called it 'The Thing.'"

"'It was weird enough that they decided to collect it, even though it wasn't clear what it was. It definitely wasn't bone, but it was strikingly unusual,' recalls Clarke, who works at the University of Texas at Austin."

"The object was more than 11 by 7 inches in size, and looked like a deflated football. Clarke immediately realized that "The Thing" was a giant egg--a soft-shelled egg. And it was from 66 million years ago, around the time when an asteroid hit Earth and led to dinosaur extinction."

"Many turtles, snakes, and lizards lay eggs with soft, flexible shells. 'The Thing' is the largest soft-shelled egg ever, by a long shot, says Clarke."

GLOBAL PHOTOS: How Lockdown Has Changed My Life

"How has the novel coronavirus changed your life? Show us in a picture."

"That is the assignment we gave to the more than 600 photographers who work with Everyday Projects — contributing to Instagram accounts from countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America, North America and Europe."

"Their mission is 'to challenge stereotypes that distort our understanding of the world.'"

"In this case, they found that parts of their lives had been altered dramatically. But they also found solace in showing how ordinary activities could still go on — and give a sense of comfort."

"The images they submitted to NPR are a visual testament to the unforeseeable changes that came in 2020 as this virus swept the globe, triggering a pandemic that has altered the way we all live."

"Here are images submitted to NPR for this project. They are pictures of uncertainty and of sorrow, but also of joy and hope, which have not been destroyed even in this most difficult of times."

Locusts Are A Plague Of Biblical Scope In 2020. Why? And ... What Are They Exactly?

"Titanic swarms of desert locusts resembling dark storm clouds are descending ravenously on the Horn of Africa. They're roving through croplands and flattening farms in a devastating salvo experts are calling an unprecedented threat to food security. On the ground, subsistence planters can do nothing but watch — staring up with horror and at their fields in dismay."

"Locusts have been around since at least the time of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, 32 B.C., despoiling some of the world's weakest regions, multiplying to billions and then vanishing, in irregular booms and busts."

"If the 2020 version of these marauders stay steady on their warpath, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization says desert locusts can pose a threat to the livelihoods of 10 percent of the world's population."

"The peril may already be underway: Early June projections by the FAO are forecasting a second generation of spring-bred locusts in Eastern Africa, giving rise to new, powerful swarms of locust babies capable of wreaking havoc until mid-July or beyond."

"Here are five things you need to know about locusts to understand the current crisis — and why the tiny invaders are such a big deal."

Hidden Treasure Chest Filled With Gold And Gems Is Found In Rocky Mountains

"After sitting undisturbed for more than 10 years, a treasure chest holding gold nuggets and precious gems has been found in the Rocky Mountains. The box was hidden by millionaire art dealer Forrest Fenn; his only clues included a map and a poem. But after countless quests, the search is over."

"'The treasure has been found,' Fenn wrote in a statement to a blog run by Dal Neitzel for discussions among Fenn treasure seekers."

"'It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,' Fenn said. 'I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.'"

"The successful seeker has not come forward."

"'The guy who found it does not want his name mentioned. He's from back East,' Fenn told The New Mexican in Santa Fe. The find was confirmed by a photograph, he added."

New Spaceship Prepares To Blast Off And Make History

"Amost 40 years have passed since the last time NASA astronauts blasted off into space on a brand new spaceship."

"Now, as NASA looks forward to Wednesday's planned test flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon with a pair of astronauts on board, some in the spaceflight community have a little bit of déjà vu."

"The first space shuttle, Columbia, flew on April 12, 1981. Crowds gathered in Florida to watch this strange new spacecraft. It looked more like an airplane than the familiar bell-shaped capsules of the Apollo moon missions."

"Wayne Hale's wife woke him up for the shuttle launch and he watched it on television in his bedroom, where he'd been trying to get a little sleep after working a prelaunch shift at Houston's Mission Control. He'd just come to NASA a few years before, and he says that a lot about that time was not so different from now."

"'The substantially similar thing is that we've been waiting too long without being able to send Americans into orbit from America,' says Hale, who went on to be a flight director for dozens of shuttle missions and head of the shuttle program."