Andes Mountains

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Ancient Morticians Boiled the Dead
 Ancient Morticians 
 Boiled the Dead 
study says

Ancient Morticians Boiled the Dead

Quicklime stripped away flesh so bones could be preserved

(Newser) - Those who lived in what is now Bolivia more than 1,000 years ago likely wound up at the end of their days in what USA Today calls an "ancient mortuary." There, the morticians of their day dissected the bodies and boiled the various parts in pots of...

Why the Amazon River Reversed Its Flow

It's linked to erosion and the Andes, researcher finds

(Newser) - The Amazon River flows eastward toward the Atlantic, but researchers know that wasn't always the case, notes the Latin Times . Long ago, the region's water moved in the opposite direction. Just what was it, though, that caused the reversal? Earlier findings linked the shift to the movement of...

It's a Blob. It's Green Sherbet. No...

The weird Llareta plant grows in Chile's Atacama Desert

(Newser) - Hikers in the Andes Mountains could mistake it for a green blob. Or melting lime sherbet. But what seems like a weird, lumpy thing is really Llareta, a plant of the Apiaceae family that's related to fennel, carrots, and parsley, NPR reports. Two neat factoids: It's actually firm,...

Man Lost in Andes Since May Lived on Rats, Raisins

Raul Gomez Cincunegui got lost in snowstorm 4 months ago

(Newser) - An impressive tale of survival out of Argentina, where a man who spent four months lost in the Andes—during the Southern Hemisphere's winter, no less—has been found, according to local media. Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui had crossed from his native Uruguay into Chile, but after his motorcycle...

Andean Ice That Solidified Over 1,600 Years Melted in 25

Quelccaya ice cap melt reviewed in new paper

(Newser) - The Quelccaya ice cap sits 18,000 feet above sea level, high in the Peruvian Andes, where it earns the title of world's largest tropical ice sheet. But its size is diminishing, and a team of glaciologists have come to a dramatic conclusion about the recent melting. In a...

Ash-Spewing Volcano Hits Argentina Tourism

Cordon Caulle has been going for six weeks now

(Newser) - The 100 million tons of ash and rock spewed by an Andean volcano has meant hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for communities accustomed to profiting from the dramatic mountain landscape. The Cordon Caulle volcano opened a new gash along a ridge just across the border and upwind from...

Melting Glaciers Reveal Remains, Wreckage in Andes

Around the world, warming climate causing glaciers to retreat

(Newser) - Melting glaciers all along the Andes are giving up their secrets, revealing plane crashes and climbing accidents in a boon to historians and explorers, reports the New York Times . Among the recent finds: a plane that crashed in 1990, a 1947 British plane crash, an Austrian climber, and three Inca...

No Survivors in Venezuela Crash
No Survivors in Venezuela Crash

No Survivors in Venezuela Crash

Wreckage of 46-passenger plane found

(Newser) - Search helicopters today found what was left of the Venezuelan passenger plane that crashed yesterday with 46 people aboard. No survivors were found in the wreckage, which was nestled among the Andes mountains at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the AP reports. The plane crashed into the mountain head-first,...

Gates Sees Stars, Donates $10M to 'Scope

Joins 2nd Microsoft mogul in backing plan to photograph heavens

(Newser) - Bill Gates and Bill Simonyi—space geeks and Microsoft billionaires both—are donating $30 million to the Chilean-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the Guardian reports. The $400 million endeavor, scheduled to be working in 2015, will snap pics of the sky with a 3,200 megapixel digital camera every 15...

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