Nature News: Rare giant phantom jellyfish found near Argentina during early February mission

 

Rare giant phantom jellyfish found near Argentina during early February mission

The jellyfish has a bell size of up to one meter in diameter, and its four arms can reach lengths of up to about ten meters.

By Esther Davis, Jerusalem Post, February 15, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/environment-and-climate-change/article-886469

The giant phantom jelly is rare. ( Schmidt Ocean Institute via Storyful / FOX Weather)

A rare giant phantom jellyfish was spotted off the coast of Argentina during a mission led by Argentine researchers in early February.

The researchers were aboard the Schmidt Institute of Oceanography’s FALKOR research vessel, which spent several weeks exploring deep-sea ecosystems along the country’s coastline.

The footage was taken by a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) at a depth of approximately 250 meters below the sea’s surface.

The jellyfish has a bell size of up to one meter in diameter, and its four arms can reach lengths of up to about ten meters.

The team documented a large coral reef along the country’s coastline and several other reef complexes, as well as 28 species that researchers believe may be new to science, including worms, corals, sea snails, and other species yet to be identified.

Team's goal was to find cold vents

The team’s main goal was to find cold vents - areas where gases and chemicals are released from the seafloor, feeding the area’s biodiversity. They found the cold vents in an area of more than one square kilometer, more than twice the size of the huge coral reef 

"We did not expect to see such a level of biodiversity in the Argentine deep sea, and we are so excited to see it teeming with life," the expedition's lead scientist, Dr. Maria Emilia Bravo of the University of Buenos Aires and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, said in a statement.

"Seeing the biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and connectivity between them unfold together was amazing. We opened a window into the biodiversity of our country only to find that there are so many more windows left to open," she added.

"We have collected an unprecedented number of chemical, physical, and biological samples that will be used to understand relationships in the water in the coming years," said Dr. Melissa Fernandez Sabriny of the Argentine Institute of Oceanography and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research.

"These samples represent a unique opportunity to understand not only how extraordinary these extreme ecosystems are, but also how vulnerable they are." 

The team didn’t just find biodiversity but also litter, including fishing nets and other bits of plastic waste that had been carelessly left to float out to sea, polluting natural habitats. They even found a piece of tape with a Korean sticker, raising questions about how it ended up in Argentine waters.

Rare Giant Phantom Jellyfish Discovered In Expedition Off Argentina Coast

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Archaeology News: Archaeologists discover Anglo-Saxon child buried with shield, spear in medieval cemetery in Kent

 Archaeologists discover Anglo-Saxon child buried with shield, spear in medieval cemetery in Kent

Four medieval swords were also discovered during excavation.

By Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post, February 10, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-886186

Target practice for jousting: consisting of a cross-bar turning upon a pivot with a broad part to strike against. 

Illustration after a manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. An engraving from The Sports and Pastimes of the people 

of England, by Joseph Strutt, (London, 1833). (photo credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

A child buried with a shield and spear was discovered during excavations of a medieval cemetery in Kent, southeast England, by Prof. Duncan Sayer and archaeologist Andrew Richardson. 

The child, believed to have been somewhere between 10-12 years-old, most likely did not use either of the weapons “comfortably” due to his curved spine, Sayer explained in a January 30 article to The Conversation. 

Sayer added that the grave of a second child was also discovered during the excavations, this one believed to have been a “boy who was just two to three years old” buried with a large silver belt buckle.

“Graves with objects like these usually belong to adult men, large buckles were a symbol of office in later Roman and early Medieval contexts, for example the spectacular gold examples from Sutton Hoo,” Sayer noted in the article. 

“The weapons in our graves were as much as an expression of loss and grief, as they were a physical statement about strength or masculinity and the male family,” Sayer wrote. “Even battle hardened and ancient warriors cried, and they buried their dead with weapons like swords that told stories."

“The spear, shield and buckles found in little graves spoke of the men these children might have become.”

Two medieval swords also discovered 

Sayer and Richardson also discovered four medieval swords buried in the graves. 

One of the blades, a “high status 6th century object,” bears a “decorated silver pommel and ring which is fixed to the handle” and was sheathed in a beaver fur-lined scabbard, while a second bears a smaller silver hilt and a “wide, ribbed, gilt scabbard mouth.” 

“Two elements with different artistic styles, from different dates, brought together on one weapon,” Sayer wrote.

“This mixture was also seen in the Staffordshire Hoard (discovered in 2009) which featured 78 pommels and 100 hilt collars with a range of dates from the 5th to the 7th centuries AD.” 

Several weapon burials were revealed during the excavation, all set around an older, deeper grave surrounded by a ring ditch.

This grave was marked with a mound of earth, Sayer noted, and held a man who was not buried with weapons or metal artifacts.

Sayer and Richardson were joined by a team from the University of Lancashire and Isle Heritage. Fourty graves were excavated in total, and the discovery can be watched on BBC2’s Digging for Britain.

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Archaeology News: Elephant bone found at Spanish archaeological site may have marched on Rome with Hannibal - study

 Elephant bone found at Spanish archaeological site may have marched on Rome with Hannibal - study

The finding represents the first elephant skeletal remains found to possibly confirm Hannibal’s historical march from Carthage to Italy during the Second Punic War.

By Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post, February 7, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-885833

A member of staff of the Natural History Museum in Berne, Switzerland, checks the skeleton of an elephant on show at the museum's Skeleton Hall, September 16, 2005. (photo credit: REUTERS/RUBEN SPRICH)

A “baseball-sized” bone discovered in Spain may have belonged to one of famed Carthaginian general Hannibal’s war elephants, according to a new study published in the February edition of Journal of Archaeological Science.

The finding represents the first elephant skeletal remains found to possibly confirm Hannibal’s historical march from Carthage to Italy during the Second Punic War.

The bone, identified as a wrist bone from an elephant's right forefoot, was originally found during archaeological digs at the site of a fortified Iberian village in Córdoba, Spain, in 2020.

In the same layer of earth, archaeologists also discovered artillery ammunition, a heavy bolt from a siege weapon, and a Carthaginian coin minted between 237-206 BCE.

According to the study, similar findings have been uncovered at other Spanish sites linked to the Second Punic War.

A general view of the ancient ruins of the Greek and Roman city of Cyrene where the recent Storm Daniel has hit Libyan town of Shahhat, Libya, September 29, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/ESAM OMRAN AL-FETORI)

Exact species of elephant is unclear

According to researchers, the exact species of elephant cannot be determined. 

The study noted that the debate lies between the possibility of an Asian elephant, the same species used by the Greek king Pyrrhus against the Romans during the First Punic War, or a now-extinct species of African elephant, which the Carthaginians preferred to use during battle.

Even so, the discovery “may constitute one of the scarce instances of direct evidence on the use of these animals during Classical Antiquity, not only in the Iberian Peninsula but also in Western Europe,” archaeologist and first author of the study, Rafael Martínez Sánchez, wrote. 

“While it would not represent one of the mythical specimens Hannibal took across the Alps, it could potentially embody the first known relic − so sought after by European scholars of the Modern Age − of the animals used in the Punic-Roman wars for the control of the Mediterranean.”

Hannibal's Elephants vs Roman Genius

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Space News: Weizmann Institue, NASA discover Jupiter is smaller and flatter than previously believed

 Weizmann Institue, NASA discover Jupiter is smaller and flatter than previously believed

“This research helps us understand how planets form and evolve… by studying what’s happening inside Jupiter, we get closer to understanding how planets like ours came to be.”

By Esther Davis, Jerusalem Post, February 5, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/science/space/article-885393

A VIEW of Jupiter's moon Europa created from images taken by NASA's Galileo 

spacecraft in the late 1990's, according to NASA, obtained by Reuters May 14, 2018.

(photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute/ Handout via REUTERS )

The planet Jupiter is smaller and flatter than astrophysicists have believed for 

over 50 years, the Weizmann Institute of Science and NASA discovered.  

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on February 2, 2026, found that Jupiter is about 8km less wide at the equator, and 24km flatter at the poles.

It doesn’t sound like much difference for a planet that is approximately 143,000km wide and 134,000km pole-to-pole, but “these few kilometers matter,” explained Dr. Eli Galanti, a senior staff scientist on the research team.

“Shifting the radius by just a little lets our models of Jupiter’s interior fit both the gravity data and atmospheric measurements much better.”

Why are these measurements different from previous ones?

Lead researcher Prof. Yohai Kaspi explained that earlier measurements didn’t account for Jupiter’s powerful winds. As previous calculations included the extreme winds in their measurements of Jupiter, there were long-standing discrepancies in the measurements.

Elbit Systems' JUPITER space camera launches aboard the NAOS Satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (credit: ELBIT SYSTEMS)

The new research carried out by the Weizmann team utilized radio signals to map Jupiter’s atmosphere. As the radio waves pass through its atmosphere, they bend, allowing the team to create detailed maps of Jupiter’s temperature and density.

The team used Juno, a NASA spacecraft that was launched in 2011 and has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016. In 2021, NASA extended Juno’s mission, expanding its path and allowing it to pass along the far side of Jupiter from Earth.

This creates new opportunities to measure Jupiter as radio signals from Juno now have to pass directly through Jupiter to reach Earth.

Juno’s Principal Investigator Dr Scott Bolton, explained that “when the spacecraft passes behind the planet, its radio communication signal is blocked and bent by Jupiter’s atmosphere. This enables an accurate measurement of Jupiter’s size.”

The Juno team at the Weizmann seized the opportunity to create the clearest picture yet of the giant gas planet’s size and shape.

This research is an exciting scientific collaboration between the US and Israel to advance our understanding of our solar system.

What’s the significance of this discovery?

Jupiter stands as the largest planet in the solar system, with a surface gravity of approximately 25m/s². Its gravitational pull helps protect Earth from comets and asteroids that could otherwise collide with our planet.

Its gravitational field is also considered to have halted the inward migration of other planetary bodies, allowing Earth to form at its current location.

Prof. Kaspi said, “This research helps us understand how planets form and evolve - Jupiter was likely the first planet to form in the solar system, and by studying what’s happening inside it, we get closer to understanding how the solar system, and planets like ours, came to be.”

The techniques developed in these studies will serve the team in future analyses. The European Space Agency launched Juice, an unmanned mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moons, in 2023, and the techniques developed for this research will be used in combination with the Israeli technology onboard Juice to gain a deeper view into the planet’s atmosphere.

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Archaeology News: Archaeologists discover 5,000-year-old evidence of ancient Egyptian conquest in Sinai desert

 Archaeologists discover 5,000-year-old evidence of ancient Egyptian conquest in Sinai desert

The carving of a boat, erased name of a Pharoah, and two depictions of the Egyptian deity Min were also found nearby.

By Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2026

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-885294

With redrawing for visibility: Rock carvings discovered in Wadi Khamila, Sinai Desert, believed to depict ancient Egypt’s conquest of the region, January 31, 2026. (photo credit: Photo: M. Nour El-Din/redrawing: E. Kiesel)

Archaeologists have discovered 5,000-year-old rock carvings in Wadi Khamila, a dry valley in the southwestern Sinai, depicting ancient Egypt’s conquest of the region, the University of Bronn shared in a Tuesday statement. 

The carvings, which show a large man with his arms raised and another figure kneeling with an arrow piercing their chest before him, was first found by Egyptian archeologist Mustafa Nour El-Din during an “exploratory trip” to the area.

The carvings were later interpreted by Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz.

According to Morenz, the “fear-inducing Egyptian standing in a victor’s pose in front of a kneeling, injured Sinaite” depicts the ancient Egyptian’s conquest and subjugation of the locals.

While several ancient Egyptian rock carvings have been discovered in other dry valleys in the Sinai, finding 5,000-year-old evidence of an ancient Egyptian presence in the Wadi Khamila area “suggests that the Egyptians had a kind of colonial network,” according Morenz.

Rock carvings discovered in Wadi Khamila, Sinai Desert, believed to depict ancient Egypt’s conquest of the region, January 31, 2026. (credit: M. Nour El-Din)

“The southwest of the Sinai is the region in which we can find economically motivated colonization using images and inscriptions, some of which are over 5,000 years old,” Morenz explained, noting that this Wadi Khamila carving is “one of the oldest known scenes of killing with an accompanying inscription.”

More carvings to be found in the area

A carving of a boat was also found alongside the killing scene.

According to a study on the carving published by El-Din and Morenz in the 2025 edition of the journal Blätter Abraham, there used to be the carving of a name near the carving of the boat, possibly of the pharaoh, which was deliberately erased. 

Though who removed the name, when it was removed, and why, remains unclear.  An inscription referring to the Egyptian deity Min as the “divine protector of the Egyptians in areas beyond the Nile Valley,” was also found nearby, the study claimed.

El-Din later discovered a second depiction of the deity Min in Wadi Khamila.

Both El-Din and Morenz believe that “even more rock drawings” could be found in the area, noting that “research has just begun, and we are planning for a first bigger campaign.”

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Defense News: ParaZero Secures Two New DefendAir Counter-Drone Deals in NATO and Global Defense Markets

 

ParaZero Secures Two New DefendAir Counter-Drone Deals in NATO and Global Defense Markets

Israeli aerospace firm expands Western European footprint and receives follow-on order from major defense contractor

By Eyal Bouguslavsky, israeldefense.co.il, 01/02/2026

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/index.php/en/node/67673

ParaZero screenshot - official YouTube video

Israeli ParaZero Technologies, an aerospace defense company pioneering smart, autonomous solutions for the global manned and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) market, has reported two additional deals for the supply of its DefendAir Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS).

The first deal was signed with a customer from a NATO country in Western Europe and includes an initial purchase order for DefendAir training kits. The order follows a strategic distribution agreement with a leading Western European distributor, as well as live demonstrations of the DefendAir platform conducted for senior officers from multiple NATO countries.

ParaZero screenshot - official YouTube video

The second deal is a follow-on order from a major global defense corporation for operational net-pods designed to counter a wide range of aerial drone threats. The system provides reliable kinetic interception capabilities while minimizing collateral damage in complex operational environments.

ParaZero CEO Ariel Alon described the Western European deal as a reflection of growing demand for reliable, mission-proven counter-drone technologies amid evolving security challenges. “The company continues to expand its presence in NATO markets, delivering innovative solutions that support operational readiness and national defense priorities,” Alon said.

According to ParaZero, DefendAir is a multi-layered C-UAS solution featuring patented net-launching technology that enables safe interception of hostile drones with minimal collateral damage. The system has demonstrated a 100% interception success rate in multiple field trials and is designed to protect troops, critical infrastructure, and urban environments from evolving unmanned aerial threats.

DefendAir vs Fast Incoming FPV Attack Drone | Operational C-UAS Interception of High-Speed Threats

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