In an intriguing discovery, researchers have detected a mysterious column near an ancient hot ‘blob’ heading towards New York City.

Identified as the Northern Appalachian Anomaly (NAA), this vast underground formation stretches approximately 250 miles wide, consisting of abnormally hot rock beneath the New England region.

The NAA, as determined in a 2025 study, is on a slow journey southwest, moving at a rate of around 12 miles per million years. According to projections, it could potentially pass beneath New York City in 10 to 15 million years.

Employing seismic waves from remote earthquakes, scientists have crafted the most comprehensive three-dimensional images to date of this anomaly and its surrounding mantle.

Their detailed scans have unveiled that the blob stretches from about 37 to 124 miles below New England, residing entirely within the upper mantle.

But they also exposed a separate, narrow column beneath Connecticut that plunges hundreds of miles deeper.

Unlike the hot blob, which slows seismic waves, the column allows them to travel unusually quickly, suggesting it is made from colder, denser material.

Scientists believe it could be a fragment torn from the rocky underside of North America or the sinking side of a vast current circulating through the mantle.

The latest study was led by researchers from Yale University and the University of Minnesota and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

The team created the underground images using seismic tomography, which works in a similar way to a medical CT scan.

Instead of X-rays passing through a human body, the technique measures the time taken for seismic waves from distant earthquakes to travel through different parts of the planet.

Those waves slow down or accelerate depending on the temperature, density and composition of the rock they encounter.

The researchers combined readings from USArray, the Canadian National Seismograph Network and other permanent monitoring stations with data from three temporary networks deployed across New England.

The temporary stations were positioned approximately three to 16 miles apart, allowing the scientists to see smaller features that might have been blurred or missed by earlier surveys.

At its most extreme point, P-waves, the fastest seismic waves created by earthquakes, traveled approximately four percent slower through the NAA than expected.

The slower speeds support the conclusion that the blob is made from hotter or otherwise altered mantle material, although it is not a hollow chamber or a giant underground lake of liquid magma.

The scans also showed that the NAA appears to end within the upper mantle and is not physically connected to other slow-wave anomalies detected in the deeper mantle transition zone.

However, the mysterious Connecticut column is different.

Researchers described it as a small, nearly vertical structure positioned adjacent to the NAA, rather than enclosed inside the blob.

The column appears to extend through the upper mantle to the bottom of the mantle transition zone, potentially reaching approximately 410 miles below the surface.

It is also not a tunnel or opening inside the Earth, but a three-dimensional volume of rock identified because seismic waves travel through it faster than they do through the surrounding material.

The researchers’ leading theory is that the column represents a piece of continental lithosphere, the rigid layer formed by the crust and the uppermost mantle, that detached and began sinking under its own weight.

If that occurred, hotter and more buoyant material may have risen from below to replace the missing fragment, potentially creating or contributing to the neighboring hot blob.

Scientists refer to that process as lithospheric delamination, or lithospheric loss.

Another possibility is that the blob and the column are opposite sides of an edge-driven convection cell, a gigantic loop of slowly circulating mantle rock.

Under that scenario, hot material would rise beneath the blob while colder, denser rock descended through the column, much like a conveyor belt operating over millions of years.

However, the study does not prove that the structures are connected or that one created the other.

Researchers conducted tests intended to determine whether the column might be an artificial feature caused by gaps or limitations in the seismic data, but its precise composition and origin remain uncertain.

The NAA has puzzled geologists because regions of anomalously hot mantle are normally associated with volcanoes or active tectonic plate boundaries.

New England has neither and has remained far from an active plate boundary for approximately 180 million years.

‘This thermal upwelling has long been a puzzling feature of North American geology,’ Professor Tom Gernon, an Earth scientist at the University of Southampton, said following the 2025 study.

Gernon and researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Geosciences in Germany proposed that the anomaly is part of a slow-moving ‘mantle wave’ triggered by an ancient continental breakup.

Their computer simulations suggested that the process began approximately 80 million years ago as Canada and Greenland separated and the Labrador Sea opened between them.

The disturbance destabilized the rocky underside of the tectonic plate, causing dense material to form drips that sank into the deeper mantle.

As those drips descended, lighter and hotter rock moved upward to replace them, creating slow-wave anomalies similar to blobs rising and falling inside a lava lamp.

Scientists call this process a Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

The 2025 model suggested that the NAA formed approximately 1,100 miles from its current location before slowly migrating southwest beneath North America.

The instability may also explain why the Appalachian Mountains remain unusually elevated despite hundreds of millions of years of erosion.

Heat at the base of the continent can weaken and remove portions of its dense root, making the land above lighter and more buoyant.

That process could have lifted parts of the ancient mountain range during the past several million years, counteracting some of the effects of erosion.

Neither the blob nor the newly imaged column poses an immediate threat to Connecticut, New York or surrounding states.

Tragedy struck the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood during a training exercise on Wednesday, as two esteemed pilots lost their lives in an AH-64E Apache helicopter crash near Salado, Texas.

The honored soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead by officials at Fort Hood.

Expressing deep sorrow, Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, commanding general of the III Armored Corps and Fort Hood, shared, “Our hearts and deepest condolences are with the families of the Soldiers we lost Wednesday,” in a statement released by the Army on Friday.

Admiral further emphasized, “The Army is a family, and a tragedy like this resonates throughout our formations and touches our entire community.”

Huey entered the Army as a motor transport operator in 2014 and was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division in February 2022. The 34-year-old was from Killeen, Texas.

Olmstead entered the Army in January 2023 as a warrant officer candidate, and was assigned to the unit in October 2025. The 25-year-old was a native of Belton, Texas.

“In the difficult days ahead, our priority is to ensure these families and our Soldiers have the care and support they need,” Admiral said. “We are making all appropriate resources available to those affected by this loss.”

The soldiers died when their helicopter crashed into a field near Salado, roughly 30 minutes from Fort Hood. The crash sparked a wildfire in the area which necessitated a large emergency response.

The Army is investigating the crash.

“A safety investigation team from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, arrived Aug. 13 and will lead the safety investigation of the mishap,” Fort Hood added in the statement.

News Media contacted the U.S. Army for further comment.

While most baby products come with a detailed list of ingredients, diaper manufacturers enjoy a peculiar exemption from this requirement, leaving parents in the dark about what goes into making those essential items.

Taking a stand against this lack of transparency is a California lawmaker determined to shine a light on diaper contents and ensure companies are held responsible.

“Parents shouldn’t have to play detective when it comes to products that touch their babies’ skin every moment of their early lives,” asserted Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park).

Berman has introduced AB 1901, a bill designed to boost consumer safety and transparency by mandating that diaper companies reveal all intentionally added ingredients on packaging and online.

AB 1901, which reflects Berman’s commitment to informed parenting, passed overwhelmingly in the state Assembly with a 68-1 vote in May and is now under review in the state Senate.

The legislation grew out of Berman’s own experience. After the birth of his son, he began researching what baby products were and were not safe and was aghast to discover that diapers were not held to the same standard as other products.

“I went and looked at the box in our garage, and there wasn’t anything on there,” Berman said.

On Tuesday, A-list actor Hillary Swank joined Berman and other advocates in advance of a key Senate committee vote.

Swank, a mother of 3-year-old twins and chief innovation officer for HealthyBaby, a non-toxic diaper brand, echoed Berman’s experience.

“As diaper changing became one of the biggest parts of our daily lives, I started to wonder, what are these diapers actually made of?” she said.

Consumer Reports, which co-sponsored the latest legislation, said it recently analyzed the ingredient list for 31 brands of disposable diapers.

Of these, only two disclosed every or nearly every material, while seven additional manufacturers provided minimal information about product materials.

“Parents deserve to know which chemicals companies are putting in diapers, so they can make informed choices about what’s best for their baby. A baby’s skin is very delicate and absorbent, and diapers are in almost constant contact with their most sensitive areas, making ingredient transparency so important,” said Gabe Knight, Senior Safety Policy Analyst for Consumer Reports. 

CR notes that diaper companies employ umbrella terms like “fragrance” and “parfum” to mask formulations that contain hundreds of undisclosed ingredients. Likewise, the materials used in adhesives and wetness indicators are very rarely disclosed on packaging.

Supporters of the bill point to research linking suspected ingredients to serious health concerns.

Last year, a study published in Toxics found that babies who used diapers made with phthalates (synthetic chemicals used as plasticizers) actually had traces of them in their urine. The concerns down the line, researchers wrote, are that such chemicals could cause DNA damage that predisposes a baby to chronic diseases.

“Diapers can contain thousands — not just a few, but thousands — of different materials and chemicals, including those that can alter a baby’s hormones, harm their nervous system, or make them more susceptible to cancer, reproductive problems, asthma, or severe rashes,” said Swank.

While the legislation would not ban any particular ingredients or materials. it would require companies that manufacture and/or sell diapers in California to provide a list of intentionally added ingredients both online and eventually on the diaper’s outer packaging.

In response to mounting fears about chemical additives, many parents have opted for cloth diapers, with wool being the fabric of choice as of late.

A central reason so many parents have quietly opted for wool diapers is economic. Wool diapers by the piece aren’t cheap — a single diaper cover can cost $40 to $100 — but you don’t need many of them. 

For example, Lunapaca, which Bouwman calls the Holy Grail of the wool diapering vendors, sells a birth-to-potty training set of alpaca diapers for $750 all-in.

Some estimates find that parents spend about $900 per year on disposable diapers, and nearly half of American families can’t afford the expense.

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Donald Trump has sidestepped growing concerns about the dire circumstances onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, even as numerous reports emerge of sailors reaching their breaking points during a prolonged deployment tied to the Iran conflict.

Since departing San Diego last November, the USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by over 5,000 sailors and Marines, has been at sea for an unprecedented 250 days, redirected to bolster efforts in the Iran-related military operations.

Families of Navy personnel have voiced serious concerns over dwindling morale and rising instances of suicidal thoughts aboard the carrier. One particular account shared with Navy Times described a distressed sailor, exhausted to the brink, who attempted to leap overboard.

On August 3, a sailor attached to the carrier’s air wing entered turbulent waters wearing a life vest in an incident the Navy classified as a mental health crisis, as reported by CNN. Fortunately, a search and rescue helicopter managed to retrieve him from the ocean in under an hour.

Faced with the growing anxiety among military families regarding the situation on the carrier, the president dismissed these worries, stating unequivocally, ‘Well, no, that ship is moving. No, they’re not.’

‘That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,’ Trump added. The USS George Washington warship is now steaming toward the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln in a swap officials insist was already planned.

Asked whether the deployment had simply gone on too long, the president shot back: ‘No. Not nearly long enough.’

Since the start of Trump’s war, reports have surfaced of food shortages and rationing aboard the Lincoln, accompanied by grim images of sailors’ meals.

Anxious family members also vented their anger to Navy leaders in San Diego last Thursday, according to Stars and Stripes.

One spouse reportedly said conditions aboard were so bad that her husband texted her saying ‘he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.’

Another woman accused naval officials of breaking the ‘trust between us and the leadership’ by failing to be more transparent about their loved ones’ living conditions.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and other lawmakers are demanding answers from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. 

Lawmakers want a bipartisan congressional visit to the ship, while Hegseth has waved off the reporting as a complete mischaracterization.

‘Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,’ Hegseth told Newsmax on Thursday.

Eighteen US service members have died in Iranian strikes across the region since the war began in February, with hundreds more wounded.

US Central Command has pushed back hard, calling the reports of dire conditions aboard the carrier ‘false’ and insisting its crews ‘remain resilient and resolved.’

Retired Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, now a professor at Syracuse University, told Newsweek that extended Navy deployments can certainly lead to an increase in mental health challenges.

Most carrier deployments run about six months with port calls along the way to refuel and let crews rest on land. 

Amid these alleged conditions, the wife of the sailor who jumped off the aircraft carrier told MS Now she was kept in the dark about what happened.

She said her husband was in the water for an hour before he was rescued from what she described as a suicide attempt.

‘I think that it was handled very poorly because they didn’t inform me and they didn’t want me to know, and they’re just trying to cover this up,’ she said.

She shared her last text with her husband on July 21 in which he said life on the ship was getting to him.

‘I’m really trying to not feel negative or hopeless but between the wifi and not knowing when I will come home and not knowing what is happening back at home, it’s really getting me,’ he wrote in the message, noting that he had been due to leave on July 15 but the plan was canceled.

‘I don’t think I can do another deployment after this and i don’t even know if i can finish this deployment,’ the sailor added.