Dec. 11, 2020 5:51 pm ET
The history seems barely credible. A Prussian aristocrat, born in 1769, works for five years as a mine inspector. After his motherâs death, he uses a good chunk of the family fortune on a five-year expedition through the primeval forests and uncharted waterways of South America and Mexico. On his way home, in 1804, he spends a scant six weeks in the United States. But by virtue of his American contacts, his German and French writing, his research and his generosity of spirit, Alexander von Humboldt inspires a century of American writers, artists, explorers and scientists, championing Americaâs exceptionalism while also assessing its flaws.
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Snake discovered in northern Vietnam new species, journal confirms
By Phan Anh  December 10, 2020 | 12:36 pm GMT+7
Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views of the head of the holotype of Achalinus zugorum. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/via Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
A snake with iridescent scales discovered in the northern Ha Giang Province last year is a new species, a scientific journal has reported.
The snake, named Zugs odd-scaled snake (Achalinus zugorum), was discovered by researchers from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the U.S. and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology during biodiversity surveys in Bac Me District, U.S. non-profit scientific research publisher BioOne said on Monday.