Banksy Unveils New Rhino Art in London

A person takes a photo of a new artwork by the British artist Banksy in Charlton, London, Britain, August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
A person takes a photo of a new artwork by the British artist Banksy in Charlton, London, Britain, August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
TT

Banksy Unveils New Rhino Art in London

A person takes a photo of a new artwork by the British artist Banksy in Charlton, London, Britain, August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim
A person takes a photo of a new artwork by the British artist Banksy in Charlton, London, Britain, August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Mina Kim

Street artist Banksy on Monday unveiled a new mural of a rhinoceros that looks like it is climbing on top of a car in London — the eighth animal-themed artwork he has posted in the past week in a collection that includes elephants, a goat, a wolf, pelicans and more.

The elusive graffiti artist, who has never confirmed his full identity, has been posting the new work on his Instagram account every day since last Monday. The latest piece in Charlton, southeast London, features a rhino on a wall and gives the impression the animal is mounting a broken-down car parked in front of the building.

On Sunday, the artist claimed another artwork depicting piranhas which appeared on a police box near the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, in London, The Associated Press reported.

A small crowd of people flocked to the fish tank-themed artwork Monday, taking photos and selfies as workmen placed barriers around it. A spokesman for the City of London Corporation said it was looking at options to preserve it.
Other pieces unveiled last week included pelicans that appeared on the side of a fish shop in Walthamstow, east London, and a silhouette of a howling wolf that was painted on a satellite dish on a garage roof in south London.

People gather to look at an artwork by Britain-based street artist Banksy on an old police sentry box in the City of London in London, Britain, 11 August 2024. EPA/ANDY RAIN

The wolf design was seen taken down by men who carried it off on the same day it was revealed. It is not immediately clear who removed the satellite dish.
Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His work has sold for millions of dollars at auction, and past murals on outdoor sites have often been stolen or removed by building owners soon after going up.



Study: Mars Subsurface Harbors Oceans of Liquid Water

FILE PHOTO: The planet Mars is shown in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope view taken May 12, 2016. NASA/Handout via Reuters
FILE PHOTO: The planet Mars is shown in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope view taken May 12, 2016. NASA/Handout via Reuters
TT

Study: Mars Subsurface Harbors Oceans of Liquid Water

FILE PHOTO: The planet Mars is shown in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope view taken May 12, 2016. NASA/Handout via Reuters
FILE PHOTO: The planet Mars is shown in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope view taken May 12, 2016. NASA/Handout via Reuters

A study released Monday shows evidence of liquid water far below the surface of the fourth planet, advancing the search for life there and showing what might have happened to Mars' ancient oceans.

NASA's Mars InSight lander, which has been on the Red Planet since 2018, measured seismic data over four years, examining how quakes shook the ground and determining what materials or substances were beneath the surface.

Based on that data, the researchers found liquid water was most likely present deep beneath the lander. Water is considered essential for life, and geological studies show the planet's surface had lakes, rivers and oceans more than 3 billion years ago.

"On Earth what we know is where it is wet enough and there are enough sources of energy, there is microbial life very deep in Earth’s subsurface," said one of the authors, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface if these interpretations are correct."

The study found that large reservoirs of liquid water in fractures 11.5 kilometers (7.15 miles) to 20km beneath the surface best explained the InSight measurements.
It notes that the volume of liquid water predicted beneath the surface is "more than the water volumes proposed to have filled hypothesized ancient Martian oceans."

"On Earth, groundwater infiltrated from the surface" to deep underground, Wright said. "We expect this process to have occurred on Mars as well when the upper crust was warmer than it is today."

It would take drills and other equipment to confirm the presence of water and seek out any potential signs of microbial life.
Although the InSight lander is no longer working, scientists continue to analyze the data collected from 2018 through 2022, in search of more information about Mars’ interior.
Wet almost all over more than 3 billion years ago, Mars is thought to have lost its surface water as its atmosphere thinned, turning the planet into the dry, dusty world known today. Scientists theorize much of this ancient water escaped out into space or remained buried below.

The study, whose other authors are Matthias Morzfeld of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Michael Manga of the University of California Berkeley, was published the week of Aug. 12 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"I’m inspired and I hope the public is also inspired," Wright said. "Humans can work together to put instruments on a planet... and try to understand what’s going on there."