When RM Sotheby's was commissioned to sell a Ferrari 330 P2 Junior, they expected it to fetch between $6,000 and $12,000 (5,000 to 10,000 euros). As it turned out, the experts had significantly underestimated the vehicle's value. On February 13, 2021, an enthusiastic bidder paid a record $145,445 (120,000 euros) including the auctioneer's 20 percent commission for the pristinely-preserved replica of one of Ferrari's finest 1960s sports-racing cars.
The NASA Perseverance rover's 293 million mile (472 million km) journey to Mars ended successfully on February 18, 2021, with a picture-perfect landing inside the Jezero Crater. The car-sized, six-wheeled rover, nicknamed Percy, is the US space agency's biggest and most advanced explorer to date. Its primary mission is to search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars.
Brookesia nana just became the world s smallest-known reptile (Credit: Frank Glaw (SNSB / ZSM)
Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, is home to some of the world s most exciting and unique animal species about 75 percent of which cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. These include the long-necked giraffe weevil, the colorful, cat-sized panther chameleon, and the bright orange-red tomato frog! The latest to join this impressive list of exotic creatures is a new reptile species small enough to perch on the tip of a finger!
The two adult specimens a male and a female of the
Brookesia nana, or nano-chameleon, were discovered in Northern Madagascar s rainforests by an expedition team led by Dr. Frank Glaw, a herpetologist at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, Germany. The male nano-chameleon, which measured 13.5 mm (0.5 inches) from snout to vent with a total length of 22 mm (0.87 inches) is the smallest among all the world s 11,500 known
Horsetail Fall transforming into a Firefall in Yosemite National Park (Credit: Scfry/Public domain/ Wikimedia Commons)
Located in California s Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite National Park is famous for its giant, ancient sequoia trees and impressive rock formations, like El Capitan and Half Dome. However, from mid-to-late February each year, the pristine preserve s main attraction is Horsetail Fall a temporary waterfall that flows over the eastern edge of El Capitan every winter. During the brief two-week-period, the 1,500-foot-tall waterfall frequently transforms into a spectacular natural Firefall.
For the natural phenomenon to occur, many conditions have to be perfectly aligned. For starters, there must be adequate snow, and the temperatures have to be warm enough for it to melt and form the temporary waterfall. During dry, or exceptionally cold, years, Horsetail Fall is reduced to a trickle, or fails to form altogether. The skies also have to be completely clear and cloud
Go FlyEase is Nike s first hands-free sneaker (Credit: Nike.com)
Matthew Walzer, who was born with cerebral palsy, had overcome most of the mobility and motor skills challenges associated with the congenital disorder by the time he turned 16 in 2012. However, with limited dexterity in his right hand, one essential task remained elusive tying his shoelaces. Realizing there were probably millions of others facing a similar challenge, he reached out to his favorite shoe company, Nike, for help. Little did the teenager know that his heartfelt request would lead to the creation of Go FlyEase the world s first fully hands-free sneaker.