World’s Largest Cave Redraws Underground Geography
Hang Son Doong in central Vietnam is widely recognized as the largest cave in the world by volume. It was discovered by Ho Khanh in 1991 and later surveyed by the BRCA in 2009, which confirmed its scale and complexity. The cave features a sunlit chamber with a jungle-like ecosystem atop an underground river, offering scientists a rare natural laboratory for karst formation, hydrology and life.
Oldest Homo sapiens fossil found in Morocco
In 2017, researchers reassessed fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, and dated them to roughly 315,000 years old, pushing the emergence of Homo sapiens deeper into Africa and portraying it as a continental process rather than a single cradle. Through uranium-thorium dating of calcite and enamel ESR, the team found a blend of archaic and modern traits across multiple individuals, suggesting widespread African roots.
The Hidden Water of NEWater in Singapore
NEWater stands as Singapore's quiet fortress of resilience, now anchoring roughly 40 percent of the city-state's water demand and produced through a multi barrier sequence that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection. The water is then blended with desalinated or imported supply to ensure stable taste and supply, while safeguards--third-party audits, rigorous testing, and transparent reporting--keep safety margins consistent as capacity expands amid land and energy constraints.
