YOUR WEEKLY ESCAPE: The oldest sign of life on Earth

Plus: A mysterious signal in the Milky Way, how cats wandered into our lives, and a fossil sea monster  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌    ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  

 

THE MYSTERIOUS COLLAPSE OF THE MIGHTY MINOANS VIEW ONLINE

THE FALL OF THE MIGHTY MINOANS

Your Weekly Escape

Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places in a time of turmoil

PHOTOGRAPH BY BOJUN WANG, JINCHEN JIANG WITH POST PROCESSING BY QISHENG CUI Mysterious radio signal spotted in Milky Way for first time Three new studies trace the burst to a bizarre "magnetic star"—and help solve a major astronomical puzzle. THE SOURCE SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK Cats domesticated themselves, ancient DNA shows A comprehensive survey of cat genes suggests that even after felines wandered into our lives, they remained largely unchanged for thousands of years. OF COURSE SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY MATTHEW DODD This may be the oldest known sign of life on Earth Found embedded in crystal, the structures seem to be fossils formed around hydrothermal vents as much as 4.28 billion years ago. READ ON SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCA LOCATELLI The tiny country that feeds the world The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant by showing what the future of farming could look like. SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE SHARE

Floating on that swollen river, I could not help sensing the hands of many generations connected across time. In bringing us there, my father had helped us see that he was part of a story going back thousands of years—and so were we. Atul Gawande American physician and writer on spreading his father's ashes in the Ganges; from Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

SCALA, FLORENCE The rise and fall of the mighty Minoans Perhaps the inspiration for Atlantis, Minoan civilization born on the island of Crete spread throughout the Mediterranean before it mysteriously collapsed. SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT ORMEROD Inside the quirky world of competitive pigeon seduction The urban pastime of Scottish “doomen” is filled with avian attraction, obsession, and the thrill of the chase.   SEE THE PHOTOS SHARE

PHOTOGRAPH BY STOCKTREK IMAGES, INC. / ALAMY A fossil 'sea monster' found in Antarctica was the heaviest of its kind The 15-ton elasmosaur adds to evidence that a vibrant marine ecosystem existed just before the dinosaur mass extinction. READ ON SHARE

Need a distraction? Go ahead, binge old movies and jam out to '90s hits (New York Times)  ›› Inside Rome's secure vault for stolen art (Atlas Obscura)  ››

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