OVER THE DECADES, the Panama Canal — finished in 1914 — has gotten increasingly busy. In 1916, only 807 transits occurred. In the last several years the number of transits has been in the 13,000 range.

A few weeks from now, a very expensive — $10 billion — piece of cargo will make the 51-mile journey through the canal, from its departure point in Long Beach, California, toward its destination of French Guiana on the northeastern coast of South America.

What is it? Keep reading for more on that story and others in this edition of Inverse Daily. Thanks for reading. I’m Inverse editor Nick Lucchesi.

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WHAT NASA IS SHIPPING DOWN THE PANAMA CANAL — Jon Kelvey writes that in a few weeks, NASA will be shipping the James Webb Space Telescope to its launch site in French Guiana.

Once it’s safely deployed at its operational orbit on the far side of the Sun from the Earth, the James Webb Telescope will allow astronomers to peer further into the distant past of the universe than anyone has before.

But before the Webb telescope can take its place in the firmament and the future, it must face hazards more familiar to the 19th century than the present, namely a lengthy sea voyage from Long Beach, California to its launch site at Kourou in French Guiana — with the risk of piracy thrown in for good measure.

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