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Giant sinkhole with a forest inside found in China

Species unknown to science could be hiding in this gaping hole.

A team of Chinese scientists has discovered a giant new sinkhole with a forest at its bottom. 

The new discovery took place in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, near Ping'e village in the county of Leye, according to Xinhua. Guangxi is known for its fabulous karst formations, which range from sinkholes to rock pillars to natural bridges and have earned the region UNESCO world heritage site designation.

"This is cool news," said George Veni, the executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) in the U.S., and an international expert on caves. Veni was not involved in the exploration of the cave, but the organization that was, the Institute of Karst Geology of the China Geological Survey, is NCKRI's sister institute. 

In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, war should not be blind: Will Cain 

Today, when it comes to Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I can see that we're headed down a similar path. Here's what I mean: This time we're not driven by fear; we're driven more by empathy. We see horrible images go across our social media feed or on our television screen. We see civilian lives, loss of life. We see absolute travesties that warrant, at some point, a discussion of war crimes. And we're driven by empathy to do something. You can't let this continue. We have to do something. And by the way, the emotion of fear is playing a role as well because we sit here and not irrationally fear what Vladimir Putin's next move may be. 

I want to be clear about something: I'm not telling you that I believe emotion has no role in life. In fact, as I've gotten older, I've actually started to appreciate more the role of emotion. There was probably a time when I thought rationality and logic and turning ourselves into essentially automated robots was the best way to achieve a just society. I was wrong. Logic is cold. It has its role, and you can tell anyone who listens to this knows I lean heavily on logic.

 

Tokyo Olympics 2021: No fans allowed for delayed 2020 Games as Japan declares state of emergency

 

Tokyo — Spectators will be banned from Olympic venues in Tokyo because of a new state of emergency imposed due to the spread of the coronavirus, Japan's Olympic minister said Thursday, meaning the Games will happen mostly behind closed doors.

"We reached an agreement on no spectators at venues in Tokyo," Tamayo Marukawa said after talks involving local and national government officials, organizers, and Olympic and Paralympic chiefs.

Most Olympic competitions will happen in Tokyo, but a few events will be held outside the Japanese capital.

Taken from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tokyo-olympics-2021-state-of-emergency-no-fans-in-capital-venues/