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An expedition has been launched that will spend the next two months studying the continent of Zealandia, a mostly-submerged land mass that was officially classified as a continent earlier this year. Stretching from the island of New Caledonia in the north to Campbell Island in the south, 95 percent of Zealandia lies under the ocean, with the island of New Zealand making up the largest portion of the continent’s dry land area.
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Researchers have recently performed the first genetic modification of a human embryo in the U.S., paving the way for the potential to alter humans using the CRISPR gene-editing technique. Previous genetic modification experiments were carried out by researchers in China, but this experiment, conducted at the Oregon Health and Science University, is suspected to be the first successful Stateside endeavor.
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At least five people have died so far due to an intense heat wave that is scorching southern Europe with temperatures as high as 110F. The heat wave is expected to intensify and expand northward over the next few days and is likely to cause more loss of life and more wildfires. Spain’s national weather service issued an emergency warning for 31 of the country’s 50 provinces and predicted that temperatures will rise to 111F. In the Alpine country of Slovenia, they experienced their first-ever "tropical night" at an altitude of 4,900 feet when temperatures reached 68F. Heavy traffic is being banned on the roads of Romania due to roadway melt and trains are being slowed to guard against buckling tracks.
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A new study has uncovered evidence for a previously-unknown species of archaic human that may have contributed to the genetic makeup of a group of people living in modern-day Sub-Saharan Africa. Aside from revealing that there may have been even more species of early hominim than those that we know of, this finding is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests that interbreeding between the various early species of humans, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, was not that uncommon.

"It seems that interbreeding between different early hominin species is not the exception — it’s the norm," explains assistant professor of biological sciences Omer Gokcumen, PhD, with the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences.
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