New Study Locates Cleanest Air in the World

The coast of Antarctica. AFP file photo
The coast of Antarctica. AFP file photo
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New Study Locates Cleanest Air in the World

The coast of Antarctica. AFP file photo
The coast of Antarctica. AFP file photo

A new study conducted by the Colorado State University has defined the area that has the cleanest air in the world: the remote Southern Ocean that encircles Antarctica.

The swift climate change driven by human activities has left no area without pollution. But, Professor Sonia Kreidenweis and her team from the Department of Atmospheric Science suspected the air directly over the remote Southern Ocean won't be affected by pollution or contain aerosols produced by human activities or exported from remote lands.

During the study, the researchers examined the region by using the bacteria in the air over the Southern Ocean as a diagnostic tool.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The researchers also examined the composition of airborne microbes captured from the ship they were on, and found that Antarctica appears to be isolated from microorganisms linked to aerosols, which makes it one of very few places on Earth that has been minimally affected by anthropogenic activities.

Using DNA sequencing, source tracking and wind back trajectories, the team determined the microbes' origins were marine, sourced from the oceans, suggesting aerosols from distant land masses and human activities, such as pollution or soil emissions driven by land use change, were not traveling south into Antarctic air.

These results counter all other studies from oceans in the subtropics and northern hemisphere, which found that most microbes came from upwind continents. But the diagnostic tool used in the study was decisive in validating the hypothesis of Kreidenweis and her team.

In a report published on the Colorado State University's website, research Thomas Hill, coauthor on the study, said: "The air over the Southern Ocean was so clean that there was very little DNA to work with."

"We treated the samples as precious items, taking exceptional care and using the cleanest technique to prevent contamination from bacterial DNA in the lab and reagents, so we can reach more accurate results," Hill added.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.