Researchers in Canada confirmed a rare and remarkable event on January 1, 2026. A wild female polar bear had adopted an unrelated cub. The five-year-old mother was identified as bear X33991. She belongs to the Western Hudson Bay polar bear subpopulation in northern Manitoba. The scientists say this is only the 13th known adoption since they began tracking the group 45 years ago.
Read news articleOn December 20, 2025, Michaela "Michi" Benthaus became the first person in a wheelchair to travel to space. The 33-year-old German aerospace engineer launched from West Texas aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-37 spacecraft. Her flight marked an important step toward making space travel more accessible to people with physical disabilities.
Read news articleThe BasÃlica de la Sagrada FamÃlia in Barcelona, Spain, reached a historic milestone on October 30, 2025. With the placement of the first part of a cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ, it became the world’s tallest church. Rising 534 feet (162.91 m), it now surpasses Germany’s Ulm Minster, which had held the record since 1890. Despite this achievement, the structure, under construction for over 140 years, is far from complete.
Read news articleIn 1916, two soldiers put handwritten notes into a glass bottle and threw it into the sea as they sailed from Adelaide, South Australia, to Europe to fight in World War I. More than a century later, the bottle has been found on a Western Australian shore, with its contents intact.
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