A rare 2,700-year-old luxury toilet found in Jerusalem

This trilobite was equipped with a 'hyper-eye' never seen before in the animal kingdom | Pfizer asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 vaccine for young kids | We might finally know what causes 'COVID toes' Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( October 8, 2021 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [This trilobite was equipped with a 'hyper-eye' never seen before in the animal kingdom]( [This trilobite was equipped with a 'hyper-eye' never seen before in the animal kingdom]( (Brigette Schoenemann) The humble trilobite, a helmet-headed creature that swam the seas hundreds of millions of years ago, was hiding an extraordinary secret — a "hyper-eye" never seen before in the animal kingdom. By poring over X-ray images, researchers found that certain species of trilobite — extinct arthropods distantly related to horseshoe crabs — had "hyper compound eyes," complete with hundreds of lenses, their own neural network to process and send signals and multiple optic nerves, according to new research published Sept. 30 in the journal Scientific Reports. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/8) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] COVID-19 [] [Pfizer asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 vaccine for young kids]( [Pfizer asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 vaccine for young kids]( (Shutterstock) Pfizer and BioNTech have officially submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize their COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. "With new cases in children in the U.S. continuing to be at a high level, this submission is an important step in our ongoing effort against #COVID19," Pfizer tweeted on Thursday (Oct. 7). "We're committed to working with the FDA with the ultimate goal of helping protect children against this serious public health threat." Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [We might finally know what causes 'COVID toes']( [We might finally know what causes 'COVID toes']( (Shutterstock) A mysterious condition known as "COVID toes" may finally have an explanation. It turns out that the frostbite-like rashes that appear on a person's toes after they catch COVID-19 may be a sign of a runaway immune response in which the body attacks its own tissues, a new study finds. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] History & Archaeology [] [A rare 2,700-year-old luxury toilet found in Jerusalem]( [A rare 2,700-year-old luxury toilet found in Jerusalem]( (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority) Archaeologists recently discovered a 2,700-year-old private toilet inside the remains of an ancient royal estate in Jerusalem. It is a rare find, as thousands of years ago pooping in toilets was a luxury only for the elite. Private bathrooms were previously "found in only a very few locations in Israel and Jerusalem," Yaakov Billig, an archaeologist and director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a YouTube video. "This is a very rare find because this is something that only the rich people had." Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Natural Disasters [] [Striking bull's-eye-shaped clouds form above erupting La Palma volcano]( [Striking bull's-eye-shaped clouds form above erupting La Palma volcano]( (NASA Earth Observatory/MODIS/Aqua satellite) New satellite images have revealed a stunning pattern of concentric cloud rings, resembling a bull's-eye, that was formed by the continued eruption of the volcano on La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands. The La Cumbre Vieja volcano, meaning "The Old Summit" in Spanish, has been erupting since Sept. 19 for the first time in more than 50 years, Live Science previously reported. The eruption has forced thousands of locals to evacuate as massive lava flows, which were visible from space, burned through farmland, roads and houses on the southwestern part of the island. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Amazing Earth [] [Mysterious Mexican mangrove forest is 'trapped in time' hundreds of miles from the coast]( [Mysterious Mexican mangrove forest is 'trapped in time' hundreds of miles from the coast]( (Shutterstock) Scientists have uncovered the origin of a mysterious landlocked mangrove forest in the heart of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Normally, trees of this species — known as red mangroves, or Rhizophora mangle — grow only in salt water, along tropical coastlines. But this forest is located near the San Pedro River in the state of Tabasco, more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the nearest ocean. Somehow, these mangroves have adapted to live exclusively in this freshwater environment in southeast Mexico. Exactly how this ecological enigma came about has baffled scientists. But now, an international, multidisciplinary team of researchers has revealed that this out-of-place ecosystem began growing around 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were much higher and the ocean covered most of the region. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Space Exploration [] [NASA spacecraft will crash into an asteroid at 15,000 mph. Will it make a dent?]( [NASA spacecraft will crash into an asteroid at 15,000 mph. Will it make a dent?]( (NASA) NASA has announced the launch date for an upcoming mission to punch an asteroid in the face with a high-speed spacecraft. The mission, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is scheduled to launch at 10:20 p.m. PST (7:20 p.m. EST) on Nov. 23, and it could help the world's space agencies figure out how to divert potentially lethal asteroids from impacting Earth, according to a NASA statement. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Climate Change [] [Michigan boy finds 'dragon's tooth' that belonged to a mastodon]( [Michigan boy finds 'dragon's tooth' that belonged to a mastodon]( (WDIV Local 4) A boy in Michigan was recently hiking with his family when he stepped into a creek and stumbled over something rocky that resembled a tooth. At first, he thought it belonged to a dinosaur, but paleontologists later found that the massive molar came from a mastodon. Julian Gagnon, age 6, discovered the tooth on Sept. 6 while on a walk at Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Detroit news outlet WDIV Local 4 reported Oct. 1. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/7) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Astronomy & Astrophysics [] [Energy burst from most distant known galaxy might have been a satellite orbiting Earth]( [Energy burst from most distant known galaxy might have been a satellite orbiting Earth]( (NASA, ESA and M. Kommesser) The cosmos is the stage for a variety of giant explosions. These include stellar flares, where stars suddenly release magnetic energy; and neutron star mergers, where two dense stars collide together. But one class of explosions outshines the rest: Gamma ray bursts are the most energetic explosions seen in the universe. Recently, astronomers thought they had seen evidence for one of these explosions from the most distant galaxy every seen. But a recently published paper casts doubt on these claims, suggesting it might have been caused by a more mundane source much closer to home. Full Story: [LiveScience]( (10/8) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Curious Creatures [] [Maryland woman catches rare tropical bacterial disease from her fish tank]( [Maryland woman catches rare tropical bacterial disease from her fish tank]( (Shutterstock) A woman in Maryland contracted a rare bacterial disease from her home aquarium, according to a new report. The disease, called melioidosis, is usually seen only in tropical areas outside of the U.S., and when cases do appear in the U.S., they almost always occur in people who have traveled to other countries. The Maryland case, which occurred in 2019 and is described in a report published Sept. 27 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, is unusual because the woman had never traveled outside the U.S. Her case is also the first in the world to be connected to a home aquarium, the authors said. 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