U.S.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission shut down a research reactor in Denver after inspectors found it to be in violation of staffing and training regulations. The commission recommended imposing a $7,250 fine on the U.S. Geological Survey, which operates the reactor.
TANZANIA
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A butterfly farming project in the country's East Usambara Mountains is providing an alternative to timber-harvesting jobs that threaten forest biodiversity. The project's 250 farmers—more than half of whom are women—raise caterpillars and sell pupae to zoos and butterfly parks in Europe and the U.S.
ANTARCTICA
A NASA-led study discovered a cavity two-thirds the size of Manhattan underneath one of Antarctica's largest and fastest-moving glaciers. The 1,000-foot-high, six-mile-long hole in the Thwaites Glacier used to contain some 14 billion tons of ice, most of which has melted away in the past three years.
SOUTH KOREA
Paleontologists found 110-million-year-old fossilized spiders in South Korea's Jinju Formation. The well-preserved arachnids had remnants of a reflective layer called a tapetum behind their retinas, which would have given their eyes an eerie, catlike glow.
INDONESIA
Hundreds of scientists protested plans by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences to relocate more than 1,400 administrative and support jobs from research centers around the country to central hubs or the institute's Jakarta headquarters. Senior researchers say they were not consulted about the decision.
AUSTRALIA
A court in the state of New South Wales rejected an application to build a coal mine because of its potential to exacerbate climate change. This is the first time Australia has blocked building a coal mine over global warming concerns.
