Chevron a lead investor in carbon storage efforts

Chevron supports modular CCS technology under development by Canada's Svante.

Chevron said it was a lead investor in efforts to support the technology necessary to pull carbon dioxide from industrial polluters and send it off for other users.

 File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The clean energy arm of U.S. energy major Chevron said it was a lead investor in a fundraising effort targeting carbon sequestration efforts from Canadian abatement company Svante.

Chevron New Energies said it was the lead investor in a Svante-sponsored fundraising round, which drew in a total of $318 million to support carbon sequestration technology.

"This funding will support Svante's commercial-scale filter manufacturing facility in Vancouver, which is anticipated to produce enough filter modules to capture millions of tons of carbon dioxide per year across hundreds of large-scale carbon capture and storage facilities," Chevron announced.

This is the second announcement of its kind from Chevron New Energies this week. The company on Wednesday said it identified a location in Nevada to explore further opportunities for geothermal energy at a site that's already proved to have some potential.

RELATEDNew federal building standards seek to cut energy use and emissions

Less than 2% of the world's total energy comes from geothermal resources, though scientists suspect it could be a near-inexhaustible source of energy.

Using specialized adsorption materials, meanwhile, Svante is developing modular technology for carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS) to capture CO2 from industrial flue gas and concentrate that CO2 for industrial end users, such as the beverage industry.

"We are advancing a full value chain carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business and believe Svante is poised to be a leader in enabling carbon capture solutions," said Chris Powers, a vice president of carbon programs at Chevron's clean energy arm. "Innovation is key to enabling these types of breakthrough technologies and lower carbon solutions, and we look forward to applying our experience and expertise to help drive this effort forward."

RELATED Enbridge, Oxy review CCS technology for U.S. Gulf Coast

Carbon capture technologies promise to scrub CO2 from the flumes and exhaust pipes of coal and gas plants. The captured carbon can be permanently buried underground or sold for other uses like making fertilizers or boosting oil extraction. High costs have prevented wide-scale adoption, however.

Korean firms team up to build autonomous outdoor robots

By Kim Yoon-kyoung & Kim Tae-gyu, UPI News Korea

KT AI robotics business division chief Lee Sang-ho (L) holds an agreement with Neubility CEO Lee Sang-min to cooperate in developing an outdoor autonomous robot in a signing ceremony held at a KT office in Seoul on Friday. Photo courtesy of KT

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- South Korea's telecom giant KT announced Friday it is partnering with a local robotics company, Neubility, to create autonomous mobile robots.

Under the agreement, KT will provide the know-how for the robotics platform and wireless network, while Neubility will contribute the software and hardware.

Founded in 2017, Neubility has succeeded in developing affordable robotics, such as the camera-based autonomous driving robots, the kind that can operate without expensive lidar sensors.

The Seoul-based startup has produced a self-driving delivery robot, named "Neubi," accumulating data and streamlining the autonomous navigation system along the way.

Autonomous mobile robots are expected to take over such tasks as last-mile delivery, urban cleaning services and even certain hospitality functions.

Delivery robots, in particular, are projected to be commercialized the fastest as demand increases for doorstep deliveries that do not require human drivers.

According to U.S. business tracker Allied Market Research, the global delivery robot market could grow from $3.53 billion in 2020 to $30.05 billion by 2030, registering an annual growth rate of 24.5%.

"It's a great opportunity for Neubility, the company with an advantage in autonomous driving technology and related data," KT's AI robotics business division head Lee Sang-ho said in a statement.

"The collaboration will allow us to create a new kind of robot that businesses need in daily outdoor settings," he said.

The share price of KT went down 0.95% Friday on the South Korean stock exchange. Neubility has yet to go public.

Space company Maxar plans to go private with $6.4 billion deal


Sirius XM's latest broadcasting satellite, SXM-7, is shown where it was built at Maxar Technologies' plant in Palo Alto, Calif. Maxar announced an agreement Friday to go private through a deal with Advent International.

 File Photo courtesy of Sirius XM/Maxar


Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Space company Maxar announced an agreement to go private on Friday in an acquisition led by private equity firm Advent International.

The deal gives Maxar a value of $6.4 billion. Advent will take a $3.1 billion stake in the space company, with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation making a $1 billion equity contribution.

"Today's announcement is an exceptional outcome for stockholders and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, the value Maxar has created and the reputation we have built in our industry," said Daniel Jablonsky, president and CEO of Maxar.

"Advent has a proven record of strengthening its portfolio companies and a desire to support Maxar in advancing our long-term strategic objectives. As a private company, we will have enhanced flexibility and additional resources to build on Maxar's strong foundation, further scale operations and capture the significant opportunities in a rapidly expanding market."

Maxar shares closed at $23.10 on Thursday. The agreement with Advent at $53 represents a nearly 130% increase.

"We have tremendous respect and admiration for Maxar, its industry-leading technology and the vital role it serves in supporting the national security of the United States and its allies around the world," said David Mussafer, chairman and managing partner of Advent

Maxar's agreement with Advent is a 60-day "go-shop period," which means the company has until Feb. 14 to consider other offers.

Researchers develop antimicrobial lipstick using cranberry extract


Researchers at Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent Martyr in Spain have experimented with cranberry extract as an antimicrobial additive to lipstick.

 File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Researchers in Spain have developed a novel way to create antimicrobial lipstick with cranberry extract.

Researchers Alberto Tuñón-Molina, Alba Cano-Vicent, and Ángel Serrano-Aroca reported in ASC Applied Materials & Interface that they were able to reduce microorganism colonies in samples that contained cranberry extract added to cream lipstick base. Their research was funded by Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent Martyr and the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has speeded up the race to find materials that could help limit or avoid the spread of SARS-CoV-2, while infections by multidrug-resistant bacteria and fungi are now becoming a serious threat," the authors wrote in the report. "In this study, we developed a novel bio-based lipstick containing cranberry extract, a substance able to inactivate a broad range of microorganisms."

The study showed that fungal and bacterial colony growth was greatly reduced in test samples that contained cranberry extract.

"The proposed antimicrobial lipstick offers a new form of protection against a broad range of microorganisms, including enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, bacteria, and fungi, in the current COVID-19 pandemic and microbial-resistant era," the report said.

The American Chemical Society, which published the study, was founded at New York University in 1876 and currently has over 151,000 members in 140 countries.

Retired football players more likely to report age-related diseases

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News



NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses, a recent study found. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Former elite football players may age faster than their more average peers, a new study suggests.

NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses. Two age-related diseases, arthritis and dementia, were also more commonly found in former football players than in other men of the same age.

This research was part of the ongoing Football Players Health Study at Harvard University.

"We wanted to know: Are professional football players being robbed of their middle age? Our findings suggest that football prematurely weathers them and puts them on an alternate aging trajectory, increasing the prevalence of a variety of diseases of old age," said senior investigator Rachel Grashow, director of epidemiological research initiatives for the Football Players Health Study.

"We need to look not just at the length of life but the quality of life," she said in a university news release. "Professional football players might live as long as men in the general population, but those years could be filled with disability and infirmity."

For this research, nearly 3,000 former NFL players completed a survey for investigators at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

"Our analysis raises important biological and physiological questions about underlying causes but, just as importantly, the results should serve as an alarm bell telling clinicians who care for these individuals to pay close attention even to their relatively younger former athlete patients," Grashow said. "Such heightened vigilance can lead to earlier diagnoses and timelier intervention to prevent or dramatically slow the pace of age-related illness."

Researchers were intrigued by conflicting reports in which athletes reported feeling older than their chronological age, while past research showed they lived as long as or longer than men in the general population. Sports medicine physicians who treat players had also reported that these athletes often experience an earlier onset of age-related chronic health conditions.

Participants in the study were 2,864 Black and White former pro football players, ages 25 to 59.

Researchers also used survey data to measure how long the athletes lived without developing four health conditions (dementia/Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, hypertension or diabetes), comparing the results to other non-NFL men ages 25 to 59 who had been part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health Interview Survey.

In each decade of life, the former athletes were more likely to report that they'd been diagnosed with dementia/Alzheimer's disease and arthritis, the study found.

Younger players, ages 25 to 29, were more likely than the average population to report high blood pressure and diabetes.

The effects persisted even after the researchers accounted for body mass index and race.

The research team also analyzed player health for different game-related aspects, such as what position the athletes played. They found that linemen, who are known to have more physical contact during games, had shorter health spans and developed age-related disease sooner than those who were not linemen.

Later diagnosis and treatment for metabolic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes could have long-term effects on heart health and cognition, study senior author Dr. Aaron Baggish said in the release. He is director of in-person assessment studies at the Football Players Health Study.

"The duration of one's life is very important, but so, too, is the quality of one's life," added Baggish, a professor of medicine at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. "This study was conducted to probe the latter and now provides an important perspective on how early-life participation in the great game of football may accelerate the onset of certain common forms of chronic disease."

Future studies will focus on the biological mechanisms that are causing this premature aging among football players and interventions to help them live healthier lives, Grashow said.

The findings were published Thursday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the health impacts of hypertension and diabetes.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

FDA approves diabetes pill for cats

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first pill to improve control of diabetes in some cats. 

File Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI | License Photo

Owners whose cats have diabetes now have a new option to care for the condition in their otherwise healthy pets.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first pill to improve control of diabetes in some cats.

The drug, called Bexacat (bexagliflozin tablets), is not insulin and is not meant for cats who have the type of diabetes that requires treatment with insulin. Rather, it is what is called a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor.

The active ingredient in this pill prevents the cat's kidneys from reabsorbing glucose into the blood. This excess glucose leaves the body through the urine, lowering blood sugar levels.

RELATEDHumans have been bonding with cats for thousands of years

As part of the approval, the FDA requires that Bexacat labels include a boxed warning about the importance of patient selection. Only certain cats should take the drug, determined through careful screening.

Potential patients must be screened for kidney, liver and pancreatic disease, as well as ketoacidosis, a high level of a type of acids known as ketones in the blood.

Bexacat also shouldn't be used in cats who are being treated with insulin or in those who have previously been treated with insulin.

The drug should not be started in cats who are not eating well or who are dehydrated or lethargic at diagnosis.

Cats taking this medication should be monitored regularly with exams and blood tests, as well as watched for lack of appetite, lethargy, dehydration and weight loss.

Cats who are treated with Bexacat may be at an increased risk of serious adverse reactions, including diabetic ketoacidosis, the FDA said. This can be fatal and should be treated as emergencies.

RELATEDHaving a dog in childhood may reduce risk for Crohn's disease

In a news release about the approval, the FDA explained that like in humans, the cells of a cat's body need sugar in the form of glucose for energy. Cats with diabetes can't properly produce or respond to the hormone insulin. Insulin helps cells use glucose for normal function.

Without any treatment, diabetic cats will have high levels of glucose in their blood and urine. They may experience symptoms such as increased thirst and urine, weight loss and increased appetite.

Typically cats with diabetes are treated with diet and insulin therapy, including twice-daily injections given 12 hours apart.

Bexacat is a once-daily flavored pill given with or without food to cats who weigh at least 6.6 pounds.

The FDA cited two field studies that were six months long and an extended field study in its approval. The studies found the medication was more than 80% effective in improving blood sugar control in cats with diabetes.

Veterinarians and clients should report any adverse events to the FDA.

More information

Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has more on diabetes in cats.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.



Read MorePets help owners stay active, manage stress

Death toll rises to 22 in Peru amid growing political protests


The death toll from ongoing political protests in Peru climbed to 22 on Friday while the country’s new caretaker president Dina Boluarte (R) refused calls to resign.

 Photo by Paolo Aguilar/EPA-EFE

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The death toll from ongoing political protests in Peru has climbed to 22, officials said, as the country's newly installed caretaker president, Dina Boluarte, refused calls to resign.

Two demonstrators died after clashing with police in central Peru on Friday, bringing the death toll to 22 amid widespread protests, authorities said.

Boluarte refused calls to resign, saying such a move will not stop the violence. The president said she would travel to protest-stricken areas and speak directly with demonstrators.

The violence led two of Boluarte's ministers to resign on Friday. Education minister Patricia Correa and culture minister Jair Perez announced their resignations on Twitter. Both cited the escalating death count as the reason why.

RELATED Seven dead as Peruvians protest ouster of former president Castillo

Protests began earlier this month after the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo.

Peru's  Supreme Court ordered Castillo to be held in pretrial detention for 18 months.

The 53-year-old former school teacher was impeached and arrested hours after he tried to dissolve Peru's congress, triggering deadly national protests. Dozens of people have been injured so far, in addition to the 22 fatalities.

RELATED

Peru airport closes as two killed during protests over presidential impeachment

An airport in southern Peru was closed after CORPAC, the country's aviation agency, said the airport has faced vandalism and fires since Saturday afternoon.

Castillo maintains he did not "commit the crime of conspiracy or rebellion." He originally took office in June 2021. Boluarte was sworn into office as a caretaker immediately after Castillo was impeached.

Protestors are demanding that Bolurarte's government close Congress and move up the next general election.

RELATED Former Peru President Pedro Castillo jailed for 18 months in pretrial detention

A Friday vote in Peru's legislature that would have moved the election up to 2023, however, fell short of the necessary two-thirds required to pass. The election is still slated to take place in 2026, when Castillo's five-year term ends.

Police along with the Peruvian armed forces issued a joint public statement Wednesday saying they would abide by the constitution, calling Castillo's effort to dissolve Congress an attempted coup.

Univ. of Calif., striking academic workers reach tentative agreement 

The University of California announced the tentative agreement with striking academic workers includes "multiyear pay increases." File Photo by Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The University of California says it has reached a tentative labor agreement with 48,000 student researchers and other workers, potentially ending the biggest academic strike in U.S. history.

The school announced Friday it has struck a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers to end the 32-day work stoppage. Under its terms, 17,000 UC graduate student researchers would get minimum salary scales for the first time.

The agreement also entitles the student workers multiyear pay increases, paid dependent access to UC health care and enhanced paid family leave, school officials said.

If approved, the contracts will be effective through May 31, 2025. Members will vote on ratifying the agreements next week.

The sides agreed to enter into private mediation last week conducted by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

University of California President Michael Drake thanked Steinberg and negotiators for both sides for "coming together in a spirit of compromise to reach this tentative agreement. This is a positive step forward for the University and for our students, and I am grateful for the progress we have made together."

"These tentative agreements include major pay increases and expanded benefits which will improve the quality of life for all members of the bargaining unit," UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement

"Our members stood up to show the university that academic workers are vital to UC's success. They deserve nothing less than a contract that reflects the important role they play and the reality of working in cities with extremely high costs of living."

The UAW said the UC graduate researchers' vote to unionize last year was "a huge boost for the growing academic worker movement, which has gained steam in recent years," joining similar recent moves by students at Harvard, Columbia and the University of Washington.

The UC workers have been on strike since Nov. 14, demanding higher pay, public transport passes, better child care benefits and increased annual raise

Union members have accused the university system of taking "a wide range of unlawful actions" since negotiations began early last year and authorized the strike in response to what they characterized as unfair labor practices in negotiations.

University officials said last month they have offered the UAW "generous proposals" that would raise salaries for all graduate student employees by 12.5% to 48.4% over three years, as well as "increased child care reimbursements, campus fee remissions and other benefits."

Caribbean divided as Netherlands mulls slavery apology






The National Monument Slavery Past by Erwin de Vries in Amsterdam, Netherlands is seen in this Dec. 10, 2020 file photo. The Netherlands is expected to issue a national apology for its brutal slavery past when Dutch officials visit their former Caribbean colonies in late Dec. 2022. 

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

GEROLD ROZENBLAD and DÁNICA COTO
Fri, December 16, 2022 

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Dutch colonizers kidnapped men, women and children and enslaved them on plantations growing sugar, coffee and other goods that built wealth at the price of misery.

On Monday, the Netherlands is expected to become one of the few nations to apologize for its role in slavery. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte plans to speak in the Netherlands as members of his Cabinet give speeches in seven former Caribbean colonies, including Suriname.

Symbolism around crimes against humanity is controversial everywhere, and debates over Monday's ceremonies are roiling Suriname and other Caribbean countries.

In Suriname, activists and officials say they have not been asked for input about the apology, and that's a reflection of a Dutch colonial attitude. What's really needed, they say, is compensation.

In 2013, the Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom made a list of requests including that European governments formally apologize and create a repatriation program for those who wish to return to their homeland, which has not happened.

“We are still feeling the effects of that period, so some financial support would be welcome,” said Orlando Daniel, a 46-year-old security guard and a descendant of slaves.

Suriname is an ethnically diverse country where roughly 60% of its 630,000 inhabitants live below the poverty line and 22% identify as Maroon — ancestors of slaves who escaped and established their own communities.

The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s but did not become a major trader until the mid-1600s, when they seized Portuguese fortresses along Africa’s west coast and plantations in northeastern Brazil. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, said Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Hundreds of thousands of people were branded and forced to work in plantations in Suriname and other colonies.

Portugal became the first European country to buy slaves in West Africa with help from the Catholic Church in the 1400s, followed by Spain. Some experts argue that large-scale sugar production in what is now Brazil then gave rise to the Atlantic slave trade that saw an estimated 12 million Africans transported to the Caribbean and the Americas over some 400 years, with at least 1 million dying en route.

Britain was among the first countries to ban the slave trade, in 1807. Dutch slavery continued until 1863.

If, as expected, the government issues a formal apology on Monday, it will put the Netherlands, which has a long history of progressive thinking and liberal laws, in the vanguard of nations and global institutions seeking to atone for their roles in historical horrors.

In 2018, Denmark apologized to Ghana, which it colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. In June, King Philippe of Belgium expressed “deepest regrets” for abuses in Congo. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church’s role in slavery. Americans have had emotionally charged fights over taking down statues of slaveholders in the South.

A Dutch government-appointed board issued a report last year saying that “today’s institutional racism cannot be seen separately from centuries of slavery and colonialism."

Politicians and civil-society organizations in Suriname say that July 1, 2023 would be a more appropriate date for the apology ceremony because it marks 160 years since the abolition of slavery in the country.

“Why the rush?” asked Barryl Biekman, chair of the Netherlands-based National Platform for Slavery Past.

Johan Roozer, chairman of Suriname’s National Slavery Past Committee, said that Legal Protections Minister Franc Weerwind, who has slave ancestors and is visiting Suriname Monday, should also be given reparations.

Romeo Bronne, a 58-year-old businessman in Suriname, said an apology is needed, but he wants to hear it from the king of the Netherlands or its prime minister.

“Slavery was a terrible period, and degrading acts were committed,” he said as he called for financial reparations to be spent on education, health and other public benefits. “We remained poor.”

Irma Hoever, a 73-year-old retired civil servant who lives in the capital, Paramaribo, said that the Dutch “do not understand what they have done to us.”

“They still enjoy what their ancestors did to this day. We still suffer. Reparations are needed,” she said.

Activists in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten have rejected the anticipated apology and demanded reparations, too.

“We’ve been waiting for a few hundred years for true reparatory justice. We believe that we can wait a little further,” Rhoda Arrindell, a former government minister and member of a local nonprofit, said at a recent government meeting.

Like many nations, the Netherlands has been grappling with its colonial past, with the history of Dutch slavery added for the first time to local school curriculums in 2006.

“There is a sector in society that really clings to colonial pride and finds it difficult to acknowledge that their beloved historical figures have played a part in this history,” Fatah-Black said, referring to seafarers and traders long revered as heroes of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, when the country was a major world power.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Historic ship resurfaces on Utah's shrinking Great Salt Lake

The W.E. Marsh No. 4 first set sail on the lake in 1902.

ByMeredith Deliso
December 16, 2022

Great Salt Lake dry-up causing dangerous climate ripple effect, ecologists say
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth reports on Utah’s Great Salt Lake drying up and slowly shrinking, causing concern for wildlife...

The shrinking of Utah's Great Salt Lake is revealing history that's been hidden below the surface for decades.

The wreckage of a ship that first set sail on the Great Salt Lake 120 years ago can now be observed as the water body, known to be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, reaches historic lows.

MORE: Great Salt Lake dry-up causing dangerous climate ripple effect, ecologists say

The Great Salt Lake is believed to have dozens of shipwrecks dating back at last 150 years, some of which have resurfaced after storms or during low water levels.

"There's a rich history out here," Great Salt Lake State Park Manager Dave Shearer told ABC Salt Lake City affiliate KTVX. "There's a lot of wrecks out here on the Great Salt Lake that have started to surface and it's really interesting to go out there and see them."

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

Wreckage believed to be of the W.E. Marsh No. 4 was discovered by happenstance near the lake's marina in 2014 using side-scan sonar, while a state park crew was searching for a keel that had fallen off a sailboat, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

In recent years, the shipwreck could be seen submerged on a sunny day with clear water.

Now, the remains of the 40-foot boat can be seen partially submerged in the lake.

"It's leaning over on its side and you're seeing the starboard side of the hull and you can see the whole hull," Shearer told KTVX.

Great Salt Lake Park Manager Dave Shearer.
KTVX

The W.E. Marsh No. 4 was part of the Southern Pacific Railroad fleet to help construct the Lucin Cutoff, a railroad line that once featured a 12-mile-long trestle bridge across the Great Salt Lake that was built in the early 20th century.

It was one of the first boats that came out on the lake in 1902 to build the trestle, according to Shearer, and was used to ferry people back and forth to the work site.


The boat also was used for dredging before eventually being donated to the Sea Scouts, according to Shearer.

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

The ship was last seen afloat in 1936, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

"It's very exciting to see a piece of history there that people can come out and see, but it's also sad that the lake is this low, that we've got trouble out here -- problems," Shearer told KTVX.

The Great Salt Lake has shrunk to record lows in recent years due to a megadrought and rising temperatures. By 2017, the lake had lost half of its water since the first settler arrived in 1847, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience. It is now one-third of its original capacity and has reached unsustainable levels, researchers told PBS in October.

As other bodies of water across North America have been drying up to due drought and a decrease in precipitation, they've also recently uncovered several surprises.

MORE: Bodies of water all over North America are drying up due to drought, climate change: Experts


Receding waters along the Mississippi River in October revealed a ferry that likely sunk in the late 1800s or early 1900s near Baton Rouge and Civil War relics near Memphis.

Among the more grim discoveries, human remains from five people were recovered on dried-up sections of Lake Mead amid a historic drought this year.

ABC News' Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.