Plus reflections on the humble lunar rover, Mars helicopter updates, a 51,000-year-old deer bone, and more national parks.

#01 POLAR STAR

+ The Polar Star, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, is the only heavy ice breaker owned by the United States. The vessel normally runs resupply duty to the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica, but its services were not needed last winter due to the pandemic so the vessel was sent into the Arctic Sea instead. Although the Polar Star is not outfitted for scientific work, a good scientist knows to never waste an opportunity. “I’ve been studying winter water in the Arctic for the past 20 years, and here is this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually take shipboard measurements at a time of year when no one has them… We really accomplished something big and did something cool for our country.”

#02 LUNAR ROVING

+ “Its tires were made of wire mesh. Its seats looked like beach chairs. It's four electric motors together managed just one horsepower. Its floorboard was one-fiftieth of an inch thick, about the same as the slimmest wood veneers, and would snap under an astronaut’s weight on Earth. Yet the lunar rover … upended all expectations of what was possible in a brief visit to another world.”

#03 SOME INGENUITY

+ The Mars helicopter Ingenuity completed its longest and most ambitious flight yet. For Flight #9 the helicopter traversed 2,000 feet of rough terrain and broke records for duration, cruise speed, and distance between landing spots. That wasn’t even the most interesting part. The helicopter's flight path took it down into a crater, across some rough terrain in a depression, and back up the other side. The image-based navigational algorithm was never meant to handle such rough terrain, but the risk paid off. The flight was successful, Ingenuity collected imagery over a region that Perseverance is not capable of accessing, and the mission continues!

+ A reminder that you can see where the helicopter and rover have been using this tool. You’ll need to toggle “Helicopter Waypoints" and "Helicopter Flight Path" to "On" in the menu on the left.

#04 ANTHROPOLOGY

+ Researchers uncovered a 4,400-year-old staff shaped like a snake in Finland. The staff seems to match rock art from the region which depicts shaman-like figures carrying what looks like a snake in one hand.

+ A newly discovered 51,000 year-old carved dear bone is one of the world’s oldest pieces of art. The carved pattern was made by Neanderthals, providing further evidence that Neanderthals were capable of complex symbolic thought, a trait once thought unique to us homo sapiens. 

#05 PARKS AND REC

+ The entire landmass of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, an archipelago located near the southern tip of South America, has been designated a protected area. You may not have heard of those islands before but you've almost certainly seen them on a nature documentary.

+ North Macedonia is set to create one of the largest national parks in Europe on Shar Mountain, a breathtaking region of the Balkans long exploited by loggers and other interests.

+ It's worth noting that in the last decade, 8.1 million square miles of land and water across the globe have been added to protected areas. That is larger than the land area of Russia. More than 17% of the world’s landmass is now protected from development.

#06 A GOOD BOOK

+ If you're keen on finally planning that grand trip into our great outdoors, a good place to start is Steven Rinella's "The Meateater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival. Rinella is best known for his popular Netflix show about hunting (thus the Meateater moniker) and is a strong proponent of outdoor conservation and recreation. Although the book is billed as a survival guide, and there are indeed instructions on how to kill small game with your bare hands if you're into that sort of thing, it is also a guidebook for how to be prepared for, stay safe in, and enjoy your next backcountry trip. Rinella approaches topics like what to wear, how to eat, where you set up camp, and basic wilderness first aid in a casual manner without assuming any background knowledge. Yet as an experienced hiker and backpacker, I still found plenty of new information and gear recommendations to keep me flipping pages. Whether you're going out backpacking for the first time or packing for that monthlong hunting trip in Alaska the Meateater guide will have something for you.

"So dig in. Read, study, and memorize. Then head out to practice and make experiences for yourself. And remember, always, that the natural world is sacred and deserves our love and respect. To touch nature is to touch the hand of God. This book is not about running away from the wild. It's about running into her open arms, headlong and with an open heart."

That's all for this week! You can respond to this email to tell me about anything you liked or didn't like, tell me about a project you're working on, or suggest a story. You might also forward this email to a friend so they can subscribe too!

- Evan Hilgemann