By Ashley Strickland, CNN

(CNN) — Researchers across the globe put on their sleuthing hats this year to provide answers to questions that have lingered from decades to centuries. The thought-provoking findings offer new ways of understanding the past.

Archaeological exploration of historic sites yielded fresh insights. An analysis of a quarry containing unfinished statues showed how wayfaring Polynesians created the massive stone heads found across Rapa Nui, or Easter Island.

Meanwhile, a new project exploring Pompeii uncovered a stone staircase that could reconstruct what the ancient Roman city’s skyline once looked like before a volcanic eruption in AD 79 entombed it in a thick layer of ash.

A combination of microbotanical analysis and sweeping aerial drone footage has also enabled researchers to arrive at a new hypothesis about who created the mysterious “band of holes” formation, a series of about 5,200 holes dotting the Peruvian Andes.

Some research leads to more questions than answers, such as the inventive ways scholars have tried to determine how celebrated author Jane Austen died by analyzing her own words in the absence of medical documents.

Here are some of the most memorable findings in 2025 that provided answers to long-standing historical mysteries.

A mysterious mummy

A water leak in a crypt containing the “air-dried chaplain” helped reveal the identity of an unusually well-preserved body kept in a remote Austrian village church since the 1700s.

With intact skin and tissue, the mummified body, thought to be an 18th century clergyman, had drawn speculation of healing properties and even rumors of being poisoned.

Renovations to repair the water damage prompted the body’s removal, creating an opportunity to perform CT scans, analysis of bone and tissue samples, and radiocarbon dating. Researchers determined the remains belonged to Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, an aristocrat who was a monk before becoming the parish vicar at St. Thomas am Blasenstein.

The team not only found that a previously undocumented embalming method was responsible for the cleric’s air-dried state, but also proposed a new hypothesis for his death and solved the mystery of a glass object found inside his remains.

The boat from nowhere

The Hjortspring boat, on display at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, has long been a vessel of mysterious origin.

Archaeologists first excavated the wooden ship from a bog on the Danish island of Als in the 1920s, more than 2,000 years after it sank. The boat was laden with weapons, suggesting it carried warriors with intent to attack the island.

No clues as to where the boat originated or who it carried existed — until now.

A new analysis of the ship’s materials suggest it traveled much farther than previously thought, meaning the attack likely was premeditated. And a partial human fingerprint found in tar residue could provide a direct link to one of the ship’s crew.

“Fingerprints are very rare for this time period and area,” said lead study author Mikael Fauvelle, an associate professor and researcher in the department of archaeology and ancient history at Lund University in Sweden, adding that “to find one on

By Karla Walsh, CNN

(CNN) — Salt, fat, acid and heat are the essential elements of cooking to Samin Nosrat, who transformed them into her best-selling cookbook and popular Netflix series, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.”

For her latest book, she has added to that list.

Before she mentions even a single recipe in “Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share With People You Love — A Cookbook,” Nosrat shares a spread of her “unexpectedly essential” kitchen gear, which includes one piece she used to dread but now adores: the immersion blender.

Nosrat’s culinary career began at Chez Panisse, where she worked her way up from food runner to cook over two years. Nosrat was often on soup duty at Alice Waters’ acclaimed Berkeley, California, bistro, which was a trailblazer in the farm-to-table movement.

“We’d use the immersion blender as the first step, then we’d have you transfer it into a smaller, normal-sized Vitamix blender, batch by batch, to get the smoothest, satin-iest texture,” Nosrat told CNN. “I had a vendetta against the immersion blender, because if I’m going to have to transfer it into the Vitamix countertop blender to puree it anyway, why bother? It took forever and felt like this huge burden to do this for 10-to-15-gallon pots of soup.”

At home, you’re making much less soup, Nosrat conceded, but those messy, fussy memories were hard for her to erase. For years, every time she saw an immersion blender, she would have a visceral reaction. “I had this dread in my stomach,” she said. “The idea of blending a soup was restaurant-sized dread, even when it was applied to a home-sized meal.”

All of that changed when Nosrat realized she could skip a step. Frustrated after one too many countertop blender mishaps spilling on her clothes or spraying the contents onto the ceiling, Nosrat decided to stick with the stick blender while developing a recipe for butternut squash and green curry soup.

“I’m just at home and not trying to serve this to people in fine dining circumstances, so I figured it might be fine. It was, and that single recipe changed everything,” Nosrat said.

In fact, the immersion blender breakthrough was so impactful that Nosrat decided to pay tribute to that creation with the Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup that stars in her latest cookbook (recipe below).

“Once I realized that creamy soup does just fine with the immersion blender only, it felt like a liberation,” she added.

As soon as the handheld blender was back in her good graces, Nosrat discovered two more stellar uses: for whipping up quick mayos and salad dressings.

“I have grown to love using it for making a small amount of an emulsion,” she said, referring to the process of mixing two liquids that normally don’t like to combine.

Want to try it out? Round up a small mason jar, add an egg, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 cup of a neutral-flavored oil, and blitz. In less than a minute, you have mayonnaise.

“If I were doing it by hand, I’d have to invest a ton of time and energy to whisk it,” Nosrat said. “Using a narrow jar and the immersion blender, it comes together quickly and easily since the blade is small and the ingredients are much closer together and more compressed than they would be in a large bowl.”

The same secret comes in clutch for salad dressings such as a Caesar or the creamy oregano dress

Por Kara Fox, CNN

Los registros de vuelo muestran que Donald Trump “viajó en el jet privado de Epstein muchas más veces de lo que se había informado anteriormente (o de lo que sabíamos)”, escribió un fiscal federal adjunto del Distrito Sur de Nueva York en un correo electrónico fechado el 8 de enero de 2020.

El dato surge de los nuevos archivos publicados por el Departamento de Justicia durante la noche de este lunes.

Según el fiscal, Trump fue incluido como pasajero en “al menos ocho vuelos entre 1993 y 1996, incluidos al menos cuatro en los que (Ghislaine) Maxwell también estuvo presente”.

En un vuelo de 1993, Trump y Epstein “son los únicos dos pasajeros registrados. En otro, los únicos tres pasajeros son Epstein, Trump y una persona que tenía 20 años entonces”.

“En otros dos vuelos, dos de los pasajeros, respectivamente, eran mujeres que serían posibles testigos en un caso Maxwell”, manifestó el fiscal federal adjunto en el correo electrónico, que fue enviado durante el primer mandato de Trump.

El fiscal federal adjunto agregó: “Acabamos de terminar de revisar los registros completos (más de 100 páginas en letra muy pequeña) y no queríamos que nada de esto fuera una sorpresa en el futuro”.

Trump y Epstein tienen una larga historia juntos, pero las autoridades no han acusado a Trump de ningún delito relacionado con Epstein.

La vasta cantidad de documentos relacionados con Epstein cita a muchas personas, y su simple mención no demuestra en sí misma la existencia de un delito.

Trump ha intentado distanciarse de Epstein durante mucho tiempo. Lo ha llamado “pervertido”, ha insistido en que “no era su fan” y ha dicho que, antes de su muerte, no se habían hablado en años.

Sin embargo, una revisión exhaustiva de CNN de registros judiciales, fotografías, entrevistas y otros documentos públicos revela una relación duradera hasta mediados de la década de 2000, cuando Trump afirma haberla roto.

Ahora, Trump minimiza repetidamente su antigua amistad con Epstein, incluso mientras sigue saliendo a la luz nueva información.

La revelación de este lunes ocurre después de que el viernes fue publicado un lote parcial de archivos con gran cantidad de información censurada. Estos incluían fotografías inéditas del expresidente Bill Clinton con Epstein y una descripción de 1996 de una denuncia penal contra el difunto delincuente sexual convicto.

El Departamento de Justicia ha sido criticado por legisladores de ambos partidos que alegan que las liberaciones parciales no cumplen con la Ley de Transparencia de Archivos Epstein.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Los registros muestran que Trump viajó en “al menos ocho” vuelos de Epstein, según un fiscal federal de Nueva York appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN

(CNN) — As millions of Americans hit the road or take to the skies for the holidays, another seasonal traveler is picking up speed: influenza.

Flu activity is already rising across the country. In the week ending December 13, roughly 4% of visits to health care providers were for respiratory illnesses, and nearly 10,000 patients were hospitalized with influenza, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Friday. So far, three children already have died from flu-related causes this flu season.

Those numbers mean the virus may be closer to home than many families realize. Holiday gatherings could include someone just recovering from the flu, or someone beginning to feel sick. Should they still show up to open presents on Christmas morning? How long should a visit be postponed before heading to grandma’s to bake cookies?

As flu cases climb, here are the flu-related rules families should know this holiday season.

If I’m having symptoms, when should I take a flu test?

There are several over-the-counter flu tests available in the United States, and they can be taken at home as a nasal swab, similar to Covid-19 tests.

Many doctors recommend taking a test as soon as you experience symptoms.

“Particularly if you’re a person in a high-risk group,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“Those persons are people who are age 65 and older, anyone who has a chronic underlying medical condition, if you’re immune compromised, if you’re a pregnant person and very young children,” he said. “Those are all people who are in high-risk, and once they have symptoms, that’s the time to get tested, because we would have antivirals available to help keep you out of the hospital.”

Flu symptoms usually start suddenly with fever, chills, headache, body aches and fatigue, Dr. Pamela Lindor, a pediatrician at Bluebird Kids Health in Jacksonville, Florida, said in an email.

While you should quickly start treatment and avoid exposing others when you test positive for flu, “if the over the counter test is negative but your symptoms are severe, consider getting a more accurate test from your doctor or urgent care center,” she said.

Testing is key because once it is determined which respiratory illness you have, you can then receive appropriate treatment, Schaffner said.

“Flu is not the only illness we’re concerned about. Maybe you have Covid, and if you have Covid, we have another medication that could help keep you out of the hospital,” he said.

At what point should I take antiviral medications for flu?

Flu antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu or Xofluza, are prescription medications, and they work best when started early, ideally within two days after flu symptoms begin.

“For the flu, if you are ill, the sooner you begin the antiviral, the more effective it is,” Schaffner said. “There is the 48-hour rule. That is, for it to be maximally effective, you have to initiate treatment within the first 48 hours after you get symptoms. But even after 48 hours – and this is especially true for high-risk people – you can still have some modulating effect of the antivirals.”

If I test positive, for how long should I avoid contact with others?

As soon as someone starts to show symptoms, they should stay home and avoid contact with other people to not spread the virus.

“You’re capable of transmitting the influenza virus the day before you get symptoms,” Schaffner said. “But nonetheless, wear a mask and avoid other pe

By Tricia Escobedo, Andrew Torgan, CNN

A “60 Minutes” story that was shelved at the last minute, sparking accusations of political interference, has reached a worldwide audience — thanks to some eagle-eyed Canadian viewers with access to a streaming platform.

Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

1⃣ Epstein files

The Justice Department has released a new set of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. President Donald Trump’s name has appeared in the latest file drop – including in references to flight records related to Epstein’s private plane. Authorities have not accused Trump of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein. This follows the release of an initial batch of heavily redacted files on Friday that included never-before-released photos of former President Bill Clinton with the late convicted sex offender. The DOJ is facing criticism from survivors of Epstein’s sexual abuse and lawmakers on Capitol Hill over how it has released materials from its investigation. A law passed by Congress in November required the Justice Department to make all files related to Epstein publicly available within 30 days, in a searchable format, with content that could potentially identify victims redacted.

2⃣ Trump’s new battleships

President Trump unveiled a new “Trump class” of Navy battleships Monday, describing them as a superior war fighting vessel to replace an “old and tired and obsolete” US fleet. The new ships will form part of the new “Golden Fleet” intended to better counter China and other adversaries, and to more closely adhere to Trump’s aesthetic standards. The president said he would take an active role in the design of the new vessels. It’s possible that Trump’s name will be affixed to one of the ships, though such a move would likely be years away.

3⃣ Bondi Beach

As authorities investigate last week’s deadly Bondi Beach attack in Australia, criminologists have noted an unusual characteristic. Most mass shooters act alone, but this may have been “the first father-son combination of perpetrators ever” for such an attack, one mass shooting expert said. Police say Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram targeted a Jewish celebration, motivated by Islamic State ideology, killing 15 people. Documents show the suspects trained ahead of the attack, and threw improvised devices moments before they started shooting, though none of them detonated.

4⃣ Boat strikes

The US military conducted a strike against a “low-profile vessel” allegedly trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing one person, according to US Southern Command. At least 105 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats in the Pacific and off the coast of Venezuela as part of a campaign that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking. The US military most recently struck two alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Pacific last week, killing five people. The strikes are part of a pressure campaign against Venezuela, a nation that President Trump has accused of stealing US “oil, land and other assets.”

5⃣ California flooding

A new atmospheric river-fueled storm is tracking toward So