A jogger in Santa Cruz, California was in for a big surprise when she discovered a gigantic molar tooth belonging to an ancient mastodon that lived on earth during the Ice Age. The woman posted a photo of the one-foot fossil on her social media over the memorial day weekend, and an employee at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History later confirmed the tooth belonged to a Pacific mastodon. That's a giant elephant-like creature that went extinct 10,000 years ago. Remains of the mastodon have been found in Santa Cruz before.
NEW ASTEROID DISCOVERED
Scientists have discovered a new asteroid that's been tagging along with Earth for the past 2,000 years. The space rock is called a "quasi-moon," since it's only slightly influenced by the Earth's gravitational pull, but it still makes the journey around the sun much like the earth does. The asteroid is only about 50 feet in diameter and was first observed by the Pan-STARRS Observatory in Hawaii earlier this year. Quasi-moons tend to trail Earth for just a few decades but this one has been with the earth since about 100 BC.
Volunteers worked frantically on a second day Wednesday to save dozens of pilot whales that have stranded themselves on a beach in Western Australia, but more than 50 have already died.
The water temperature on the tip of Florida hit hot tub levels, exceeding 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) two days in a row. And meteorologists say that could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured, although there are some issues with the reading.
Plastic-Free July is being observed to highlight the use of plastic and its effects. Cheddar News' Michelle Castillo gave up using single-use plastic for the day and spoke with Kathyrn Kellogg, founder of Going Zero Waste, to get her take.
