Lack of Zinc Killed Them
Week of June 23
In 1845, Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and 134 crew members vanished while searching for the Northwest Passage to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Today climate change has opened this once impossible route, but the mystery of the seamen’s deaths continued to elude us.
We know a note found on King William Island reported the two ships were trapped in ice for about a year and a half. Over a century later, in 2014 and 2016, archeologists found the sunken remains of the two ships. They found objects carefully stowed away which conflicted with the theory that lead poisoning killed them... More »
Up in space, astronauts get an eyeful of spectacular views, but their time there can blur their vision. NASA is looking into whether prolonged stays in space is giving astronauts bad eyesight. They believe pressure buildup in the cranium can cause VIIP or visual impairment intracranial pressure. About half of long duration mission astronauts such as those who work on the International Space Station have reported changes in their vision, usually involving farsightedness. 
