This new image is High resolution stereo camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft Calaris ChaosIt is the collapsed and dried-up remains of a vast ancient Martian lake called Lake Eridania.
This image taken by ESA's Mars Express shows Karalis Chaos, a region on Mars that is thought to have once held abundant water in the form of an ancient lake known as Lake Eridania. Image credit: ESA / DLR / Free University Berlin.
Lake Eridania once held more water than all other lakes on Mars combined, covering an area of over 1 million km.2.
The lake was larger than any known lake on Earth, containing nearly three times the volume of water as the Caspian Sea.
It probably first existed as one large body of water about 3.7 billion years ago, and then as it began to dry out, it emerged as a series of smaller, isolated lakes.
Eventually Lake Eridania disappeared entirely, along with the rest of the Red Planet's water.
“The bottom left portion of the frame reveals remnants of an ancient lake bed,” Mars Express researchers said.
“The boundary of this layer can be seen curving upward from the center of the frame, surrounding a large central crater.”
“The old lake bed is now filled with many raised banks, which are thought to have formed when ancient Martian winds blew dust across Mars.”
“This dust was then covered with water, transformed, and dried up again and broke apart.”
In addition to water, there are clear signs of volcanic activity in and around this area, known as Karalis Chaos.
“The image shows two long cracks running horizontally, crossing both the lake bed and the smoother ground above,” the scientists said.
“These are known as the Sirenum-Fossae faults, and they formed when the Tharsis region of Mars, home to the solar system's largest volcanoes, rose up, putting enormous pressure on the Martian crust.”
“A lot of the wrinkled ridges you see here are also the result of volcanic pressure.”
“These appear as wavy lines running vertically across the frame.”
“Wrinkle ridges are common in volcanic plains and form when new lava layers compress, buckle and deform while still soft and elastic.”
“Also interesting is this impact crater, created by a space rock colliding with Mars.”
Gut microbiota of racehorses may affect health and performance
Brian Lawless/PA/Alamy Stock Photo
Racehorses who have a more diverse gut microbiome as foals appear to perform better and have a lower risk of health complications.
The findings suggest that, as suspected in humans, there are critical periods in the horse’s gut microbiome for establishing a bacterial composition that may contribute to an individual’s long-term health and fitness.
Christopher Proudman Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK analysed DNA sequences from fecal samples from 52 thoroughbred foals born at five stud farms in 2018.
The researchers took samples nine times over the first year of life: at 2, 8, 14 and 28 days of age, and at 2, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Once the animals were a year old, they were transferred to 29 racing training centres across the UK.
The researchers then measured the athletic performance of the two- and three-year-old horses during the races, and collected data on rankings and total prize money, as well as recording the horses’ respiratory systems, orthopedic health, and soft tissue health.
The team found that greater bacterial diversity at 28 days of age was associated with better performance in the race. The researchers also detected two bacterial families: Anaeroplasmataceae and Bacillaceae was associated with having a competitive advantage.
In contrast, low bacterial diversity at 1, 2 and 9 months of age was found to be associated with an increased risk of orthopedic and other problems, such as muscle strains and “hairline” fractures. The team also found that certain bacterial families, when abundant around the first week or two of life, were associated with an increased risk of respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases later in life.
Foals treated with antibiotics (which can affect gut microbiomes) during the first few weeks of life had significantly lower bacterial diversity than untreated foals at day 28, Proudman said. These animals subsequently produced fewer winnings and developed respiratory disease at 10 times the rate of untreated foals from age 6 months onwards.
The early health problems that prompted antibiotic treatment may have actually affected later performance and health. Simon Daniels Researchers from the Royal Agricultural University in Gloucestershire, UK, say it’s realistic to think that antibiotics themselves reduce bacterial diversity, leading to poorer health and performance.
“Although more evidence is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn, it appears that how young horses are managed is particularly important for their later athletic performance,” Daniels says.
Contrails are clouds formed when water vapor condenses on the soot emitted by jet engines.
Markus Meinka/Alamy stock photo
Planes flying at higher altitudes create longer-lasting vapor trails that could cause more global warming. Because private jets and modern fuel-efficient jetliners fly at higher altitudes than other commercial airliners, these aircraft may be causing even more warming than previously thought.
The findings could help airlines decide which routes to fly to minimise contrails, he said. Edward Gryspeerdt “If we could predict the areas in the atmosphere where contrails will form accurately enough, we could fly planes around them to reduce this effect,” say researchers from Imperial College London.
In some conditions, soot particles emitted by jet engines can spew ice particles in the aircraft's wake, forming clouds called contrails, which contribute to the overall warming effect. It is estimated that half of the warming effect from aviation is due to contrails, rather than carbon dioxide emissions.
How long a contrail lasts determines how much warming it causes, but persistence is difficult to study. Gryspeerdt and his team combined flight data and satellite observations to match contrails to specific aircraft and examine how the type of aircraft is related to persistence.
Previously, studies had been done manually and only on a small scale. But using artificial intelligence, the team was able to analyze 64,000 flights. They found that private jets and other fuel-efficient jetliners, which typically cruise at altitudes of about 12 kilometers (38,000 feet), one kilometer higher than other planes, are more likely to produce longer-lasting contrails. “That was unexpected,” Grys-Pierto says.
Not all soot particles emitted by aircraft turn into ice particles, he said: The team thinks that as planes fly higher, a higher proportion of soot particles become ice seeds, but the overall size of the ice particles gets smaller.
Because the tiny ice particles fall slower, they fall into areas where the air is warmer, where it takes longer for the ice particles to sublimate back into water vapor, meaning the contrails linger longer and cause even more warming.
But the team can't say exactly how much warming contrails cause because the characteristics of high-altitude contrails are slightly different, so it's unclear whether the additional warming caused by contrails lasting longer exceeds the warming avoided by modern planes' lower fuel burn.
What's clear is that the impact of private jets has been underestimated: “The climate impact per passenger is much larger than we thought,” Griespeerdt says.
Because contrails are more visible over oceans and the researchers only had data from a single geostationary satellite, they only looked at flights over the western Atlantic around Bermuda.
Gryspeerdt said the findings may not apply to flights further north, such as over Greenland or Iceland, because the air at high altitudes is drier and contrails are less likely to form.
“This study highlights that high-altitude aircraft have a significant climate impact beyond carbon dioxide, mainly due to the persistent contrails they create,” said Christina Hentz of the European environmental group Transport and Environment.
High altitudes are primarily used for long-distance flights, which are excluded from European Union plans to reduce non-carbon-dioxide warming, and this shows the importance of switching to fuels that produce fewer soot particles, Hentz said.
Doctors are calling for a ban on artificial stone, a popular material used for kitchen worktops, following the confirmation of eight cases of artificial stone silicosis in the UK for the first time.
Also known as engineered or reconstituted stone, artificial stone has gained popularity for its aesthetics and durability over the last two decades. However, a new report published in the British Journal of Construction highlights the serious health risks posed by its high silica content, which exceeds 90% compared to 3% in marble and 30% in granite.
“Silicosis is a progressive lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust,” said Dr. Patrick Howlett, a spokesperson for BBC Science Focus. “The risk of developing silicosis is significantly higher for workers in the artificial stone industry compared to those with chronic respiratory conditions.”
“Various industries expose individuals to silicosis, including mining, pottery, cement work, and now artificial stone fabrication. Prolonged exposure to low levels of silica dust can lead to the development of silicosis over time,” added Dr. Howlett.
All eight affected individuals were male, with an average age of 34, and most worked for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Poor safety practices, such as inadequate respiratory protection and ventilation systems, were reported by workers during cutting and grinding operations.
The report’s authors emphasized the need for national guidelines and better enforcement to protect workers from artificial stone silicosis. They highlighted the urgent need for early detection of cases and preventative measures to avoid a potential epidemic.
Since 2010, cases of artificial stone silicosis have been reported worldwide, but the UK confirmed its first cases in mid-2023. California has identified nearly 100 cases of silicosis among countertop workers, prompting the adoption of new regulations to safeguard workers.
Australia has already banned the use of artificial stone as of July 2024, aiming to eliminate the health risks associated with its production and installation.
In related editorials, Dr. Christopher Barber and researchers from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust drew parallels between artificial stone silicosis and historical occupational health crises, urging stricter regulations and enforcement to protect workers.
Experts are currently reviewing exposure limits for crystalline silica dust in the UK, with a focus on mitigating the risks associated with artificial stone worktops. Silicosis remains a significant concern for clinicians and researchers in the occupational health field.
About our experts
Patrick Howlett: An MRC Clinical Research Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, focusing on silicosis and tuberculosis among small-scale miners in Tanzania.
Christopher Barber: A leading expert in occupational and environmental lung disease, serving as a medical advisor to the UK Health and Safety Executive and conducting extensive research in the field.
The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed to be the oldest of the seven great pyramids, built around 4,500 years ago.
Map of the Saqqara Plateau showing the waterway from the Gisr el-Mudir Dam (left) to the water treatment plant near the Pyramid of Djoser. The water is then routed to the pyramid's network of pipes to power the hydraulic elevators. Image courtesy of Landreau. others., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.
The Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2680 BC at Saqqara in Egypt, is considered a major milestone in monumental architecture.
This revealed for the first time two important innovations: the pyramidal shape of the pharaoh's tomb and the use of only perfectly finished stones in the masonry.
In fact, the ability to extract, lift and precisely stack millions of stones is also revolutionary.
Such were the complex and visible achievements of King Djoser that his architect, vizier and great priest of Ra, Imhotep, was deified during the New Kingdom.
In a new interdisciplinary analysis, Dr. Xavier Landreau of the CEA Palaeotechnical Institute and his colleagues have found that hydraulic lifts may have been used in the construction of the pyramid.
Based on their mapping of nearby watersheds, the authors found that one of Saqqara's large unexplained structures, the Gisr el-Mudir Enclosure, has the characteristics of a check dam intended to capture sediment and water.
Additionally, a series of compartments dug into the ground outside the pyramid may have acted as water treatment plants, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each compartment.
This would have allowed the water to flow into the pyramid's columns themselves, and its upward force could have carried the building stones along.
More research is needed to understand how water flowed through the tunnels and how much water was present on the land at that point in Earth's history.
However, archaeologists suggest that while other building methods such as ramps may have been used to construct the pyramids, if there was enough water a hydraulic lift system may have been used to support the building process.
“The internal structure of the step pyramid is found to be consistent with a previously unreported mechanism for hydraulic build-up,” the researchers said.
“The ancient builders may have used sediment-free water from the south side of the dry moat to raise the stones from the center of the pyramid in a volcanic fashion.”
“The ancient Egyptians are famous for being pioneers and masters of hydraulics, including irrigation canals and barges for transporting megaliths.”
“This research opens up a new field of research into the use of water power to build the massive structures erected by the Pharaohs.”
of study Published online in the journal PLoS One.
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X. Landreau others2024. On the possibility of using hydropower to aid in the construction of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. PLoS One 19 (8): e0306690; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690
Two recently discovered small hominin species, Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensisraises the question of why such extreme body size reduction occurred in extinct human species in island environments. Previous research at Mata Menge on the Indonesian island of Flores has shown that early Middle Pleistocene human ancestors Homo floresiensis The jaws and teeth were even smaller. Now, paleoanthropologists have discovered additional hominid fossils in the same deposits at Mata Menge. The adult humerus (the lower half of the upper arm bone) is estimated to be 9 to 16 percent shorter and thinner than the type specimen. Homo floresiensis It is estimated to be about 60,000 years old and is smaller than the humerus of an adult human from the Plio-Pleistocene epoch. Homo floresiensis The lineage probably evolved from early Asia. Homo erectus This was a lineage that had existed for a long time on Flores Island, with a remarkably small body size, for at least 700,000 years.
Reconstruction Homo floresiensisImage courtesy of Elisabeth Daynes.
Homo floresiensis This is a small hominin species from the Late Pleistocene discovered in a limestone cave in Liang Bua, western Flores.
Archaeological evidence suggests that this species lived in Liang Bua as recently as 50,000 years ago, around the time that our species first appeared. Homo sapienshas been established in southern Australia for a long time.
The origins of the mysterious humans from Flores have been much debated.
The first hypothesis was Homo floresiensis They were dwarf descendants of early Asians Homo erectus.
Another theory is that “Hobbits” are remnants of an earlier human race that originated in Africa around 1000 BC. Homo erectus If you are naturally short, some good candidates are: Homo habilis or Australopithecus afarensisThis species includes the famous “Lucy”.
Besides Liang Bua, hominin fossils have only been found at one other site on Flores, at the open-air site of Mata Menge, 75 km east of the cave.
Located in the sparsely populated tropical grasslands of the Soa Basin, the site has previously contained several other hominin fossils, including a jaw fragment and six teeth, unearthed in sandstone deposits near a stream some 700,000 years ago.
The Mata Menge fossils are 650,000 years older than the Liang Bua man and have been found to belong to at least three individuals, with jaws and teeth slightly smaller than those of the Liang Bua man. Homo floresiensisThis suggests that small body sizes evolved early in human history on Flores.
However, because no bones below the skull have been found in the fossil record from this site, it is not possible to confirm whether these Soar Basin hominins were at least as large, or even slightly smaller. Homo floresiensis.
Furthermore, due to a lack of diagnostic specimens, it was unclear to which species the Mata Menge fossils belonged.
However, some of the teeth are thought to be intermediate in morphology to earlier Asian teeth. Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis.
This is an artist's reproduction Homo erectusImage courtesy of Yale University.
in New paper Published in the journal Nature CommunicationsProfessor Yosuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues report the discovery of three additional hominin fossils at the 700,000-year-old Mata Menge site after several on-site excavations at the site.
Most importantly, this new assemblage contains the first postcranial element, the distal shaft of the adult humerus.
The fossil limb bones discovered at the Mata Menge excavation site have been long awaited as they provide a wealth of evidence regarding the origins of our human ancestors. Homo floresiensis.
Digital microscopic examination of the microstructure revealed that the small humerus belonged to an adult individual.
Based on the estimated length of the bones, the team was able to calculate that the hominin was about 100 centimetres tall.
This is about 6cm shorter than the estimated height 60,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis Liang Bua skeleton (approximately 106cm based on femur length).
“This 700,000-year-old adult humerus is Homo floresiensis“This is the smallest humerus bone in the human fossil record anywhere in the world,” Professor Adam Blum, from Griffith University, said.
“This extremely rare specimen Homo floresiensis The body size was very small.”
“But the small size of these limb bones reveals that the hobbit's early ancestors were even smaller than we previously thought.”
Two additional hominid teeth from Mata Menge are also smaller in size, one of which is an early Homo erectus Java.
This similarity is Homo floresiensis It evolved from an older, more primitive type of hominin and has never been found anywhere else, not even in Indonesia, or anywhere else in Africa.
The Mata Menge skeleton now contains a total of 10 fossil specimens, representing at least four individuals, including two children.
They are all anatomically very similar to the Liang Bu. Homo floresiensis They are now considered to be an ancient variant of this human species.
However, this early form, although directly ancestral to the “hobbits”, had a less specialized dentition (more primitive teeth) than the descendants of Liang Bua.
Furthermore, the small arm bones indicate that extreme body size reduction occurred early in the history of Flores's population.
“The evolutionary history of humans on Flores is still largely unknown,” Professor Blum said.
“But the new fossils suggest that the story of The Hobbit Homo erectus “Maybe a million years ago, it somehow became isolated on this remote Indonesian island, and over time its body size dramatically decreased.”
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Hiroyuki Kaifu others2024. Early evolution of small body size Homo floresiensis. Nat Community 15, 6381; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50649-7
Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in southern Turkey, features several Neolithic temple-like enclosures decorated with many intricately carved symbols.
Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for “Pot-bellied Hill”) is one of the oldest known examples of an artificial megalithic structure constructed by prehistoric builders specifically for ritual purposes.
Its impressive monumental architecture was built by a group of hunter-gatherers during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period between 9600 and 8200 BC.
Göbekli Tepe was discovered towards the end of the last century in a hillside overlooking the Harran Plain.
It lies between the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, about 12 km northeast of the modern city of Şanlıurfa, known as Ancient Urfa and said to be the birthplace of the biblical Abraham.
Excavations at Göbekli Tepe, which began in 1994, have uncovered four large, nearly circular enclosures and a number of smaller, generally rectangular, buildings.
Each circular enclosure consists of rough stone walls with T-shaped megalithic pillars inset around two centrally located tall T-shaped pillars, which are usually fixed within stone sockets.
Archaeologists initially thought that Göbekli Tepe was merely a religious center, but recent excavations have revealed that it also contained a settlement of rectangular buildings, now thought to be homes.
The large enclosures are still considered “special” buildings, although there is debate as to whether they had a specific religious purpose or were large homes for powerful families.
In the context of this debate, it is debated whether the largest pillars represent gods or even worshipped ancestors.
In any case, it is generally believed that these large enclosures were roofed, but hard evidence is elusive.
A round-elliptical monumental structure with a distinctive T-shaped monolithic pillar at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Image credit: Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute.
“The largest complete enclosure discovered so far, Enclosure D (30 metres, 98 feet wide), has the oldest radiocarbon date yet obtained from the site, dating to 9530 BC,” said archaeologist David Schneider of the University of Edinburgh. paper Published in the journal Time and Heart.
“This date corresponds roughly to the end of the Younger Dryas period, at the boundary between the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, when the Northern Hemisphere climate suddenly warmed after a near-glacial Younger Dryas climate that lasted for more than 1,200 years.”
“However, the date of the earliest occupation of Göbekli Tepe is unknown,” he added.
“Ground penetrating radar scans indicate that there appear to be several other large structures near the center of the main trail, waiting to be discovered.”
“Since only a small portion of the site's surface has been excavated, and even less has been excavated down to bedrock, the origins of Göbekli Tepe may ultimately be dated back to a time closer to the beginning of the Younger Dryas period, around 10,800 BC.”
“In fact, scientists have suggested it may have originated in the Paleolithic period.”
In a new analysis of the V-shaped symbols carved into the pillars at Göbekli Tepe, Dr Sweatman found that each V likely represents a day.
This interpretation allowed researchers to count a 365-day solar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months and 11 extra days on one of the pillars.
The summer solstice was considered a special day, and a V was drawn around the neck of a bird-like beast, which was thought to represent the summer solstice constellation at the time.
Other statues believed to represent gods were found nearby, all with similar V-shaped markings around their necks.
As both lunar and solar cycles are depicted, the carving may represent the world's oldest known lunisolar calendar, based on the phases of the moon and the position of the sun, predating any other known calendar of this type by thousands of years.
Detail of the center section of Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe. Image courtesy of Martin B. Sweatman, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876.
“Ancient people may have created these carvings at Göbekli Tepe to record the date when a swarm of cometary fragments hit Earth about 13,000 years ago, i.e. in 10,850 BC,” the scientists said.
“The cometary impact is thought to have caused a mini-glacial period lasting more than 1,200 years and led to the extinction of many large animal species.”
“It may also have triggered changes in lifestyle and agriculture that are associated with the emergence of civilisations in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia shortly thereafter.”
Another pillar at the site appears to depict the Taurid meteor shower, which emanated over a 27-day period from the direction of Aquarius and Pisces, and is thought to be the source of cometary debris.
The discovery also appears to confirm that ancient peoples were able to use precession — the wobble of the Earth's axis that affects the movement of the constellations in the sky — to record dates at least 10,000 years before it was recorded by the ancient Greek Hipparchus in 150 BC.
The carvings appear to have been important to the people of Göbekli Tepe for thousands of years, suggesting that the impact event may have sparked new cults and religions that influenced the development of the civilization.
The discovery also supports the theory that Earth's orbit crosses the path of orbiting cometary debris that we normally experience as meteor showers, increasing the chances that Earth will face cometary impacts.
“The inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe are likely to have been avid skywatchers, which is not surprising given that their world was devastated by a cometary impact,” Dr Sweatman said.
“This event may have marked the beginning of a new religion and may have sparked civilization by encouraging the development of agriculture to cope with the cold climate.”
“Perhaps their attempt to record what they saw was the first step towards the development of writing thousands of years later.”
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Martin B. Sweatman. The representations of calendar and time at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe support an astronomical interpretation of their symbols. Time and HeartPublished online July 24, 2024, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876
AI chatbots are being rapidly adopted for a wide range of functions
Andriy Onufrienko/Getty Images
Can we get artificial intelligence to tell the truth? Probably not, but developers of large language model (LLM) chatbots should be legally required to reduce the risk of error, say a team of ethicists.
“What we’re trying to do is create an incentive structure that makes companies place a higher premium on truth and accuracy when building their systems,” he said. Brent Mittelstadt At Oxford University.
LLM chatbots such as ChatGPT generate human-like responses to user questions based on statistical analysis of vast amounts of text. But while the answers usually seem convincing, they are prone to errors, a flaw known as “hallucinations.”
“We have really amazing generative AI systems, but they make mistakes very frequently, and there’s no fundamental way to fix them based on our understanding of how the systems fundamentally work,” Mittelstadt says.
This is a “huge problem” for the LLM system, he says, because it is deployed for use in a variety of situations, such as government decisions, where it is important to give factually correct, truthful answers and be honest about the limitations of your knowledge.
To address this issue, he and his colleagues have proposed a range of countermeasures: They say that large-scale language models should respond in a way that is similar to how humans do when asked factual questions.
That means being honest about what you know and what you don’t know. “It’s about taking the steps necessary to actually pay attention to what you’re claiming,” Mittelstadt says. “If I’m not sure about something, I’m not going to make something up to sound convincing. Rather, I’d say, ‘Hey, you know? I don’t know. Let me look into it. I’ll get back to you later.'”
While this seems like a laudable goal, Ehlke Boiten A professor at Britain’s De Montfort University questions whether the ethicists’ demands are technologically feasible. Companies have tried to get law students to tell the truth, but so far that has proven too labor-intensive and impractical. “I don’t understand why you would try to mandate by legal requirement something that you think is fundamentally technologically impossible,” he says.
Mittelstadt and his colleagues suggest a more direct way to make LLMs closer to the truth: He says models should link to sources of information, as many currently do to back up their claims, and that making extensive use of a technique called search expansion generation to derive answers might help limit the chance of hallucinations.
He also argues that LLMs deployed in high-risk areas, such as government decision-making, should be scaled back or limited in the sources they can use: “If you had a language model that you wanted to use only in medicine, you might limit it to searching only academic articles published in high-quality medical journals,” he says.
Changing perceptions is also important, Mittelstadt said. [LLMs] “Rather than expecting them to be good at answering factual questions, or at least to give you reliable answers to factual questions, it’s better to see them as people who can help you with the facts you present to them,” he says.
Catalina Goanta A researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands says researchers are too focused on technology and not enough on the longer-term problem of falsehoods in public discourse. “Vilifying only law graduates in this context gives the impression that humans are perfectly hardworking and would never make such mistakes,” she says. “Meet any judge in any jurisdiction and you’ll hear horror stories about lawyer negligence and vice versa. This is not a machine problem.”
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that an emergency order has been issued. This action is the first of its kind in almost four decades and aims to halt the use of pesticides that may harm unborn babies.
The herbicide in question, dimethyltetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal), is commonly used to control weeds in various crops like broccoli, onions, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and strawberries.
Exposure to this chemical during pregnancy can lead to changes in thyroid hormone levels in the fetus, which could result in long-term negative impacts such as low birth weight, impaired brain development, lower IQ, and diminished motor skills later in life, according to the EPA.
This risk prompted the EPA to take decisive action and suspend the use of the pesticide. Michal Friedhoff, deputy director of the Office for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, stated, “DCPA is extremely dangerous and needs to be removed from the market immediately.” The agency emphasized this in a statement.
The emergency order is now in effect.
Friedhoff further emphasized the EPA’s role in safeguarding the public from hazardous chemicals, saying, “In this case, a pregnant woman who unknowingly encounters DCPA could give birth to a child with irreversible health issues.”
The DCPA has been banned in the European Union since 2009.
Miri Treviño Sauceda, executive director of the National Farmers Union, praised the EPA’s decision as “historic.”
The suspension follows years of dialogue between the EPA and AMVAC Chemical Corporation, the sole manufacturer of DCPA.
The company has not responded to requests for comment.
In 2013, the EPA requested data from AMVAC on the herbicide’s health effects, specifically requesting comprehensive studies on DCPA’s impact on thyroid development. Despite receiving multiple studies from AMVAC between 2013 and 2021, the EPA found the data inadequate and did not accept certain requests, including the thyroid study, until it was finally submitted in August 2022.
The EPA’s recent assessment of DCPA was part of a routine process to reassess registered pesticides. Inspections occur every 15 years to ensure there are no adverse health effects or environmental hazards.
The American Red Cross is currently dealing with a critical shortage of blood as the nation’s blood supply has decreased by more than 25% since July 1.
Extreme heat and temperatures adversely affected almost 100 blood drives last month in almost every state where the Red Cross collects blood. This weather either decreased attendance at events or led to cancellations.
Blood donations usually decrease during the summer due to travel and seasonal activities, but the Red Cross stated that the extreme heat worsened the situation, resulting in a shortfall of over 19,000 donations in July.
As a consequence, blood is being sent to hospitals faster than donations can be collected.
Donated blood is crucial for various life-saving medical procedures such as surgery, childbirth, and treatment for patients with pregnancy complications, trauma, cancer, and blood disorders, according to the Red Cross.
Nurse Melissa Destros, who works at a Detroit hospital, emphasized the importance of blood for patients in need, particularly new moms and babies. The Red Cross said in a statement that she has witnessed moms requiring massive blood transfusions after childbirth.
The Red Cross urgently requires donors of all blood types, especially type O blood, as it is always in short supply. O-positive is the most common blood type, and O-negative is crucial for emergency transfusions.
Dr. Barry Siegfried, the medical director for the Michigan Red Cross, highlighted the importance of type O blood for emergency care. He stated that donors of all blood types are essential to ensure hospitals have sufficient blood for patient care.
Similarly, Connecticut declared a statewide blood emergency last week due to supplies dropping to less than half of what is typically needed for hospital demand. The Connecticut Blood Center specifically needs emergency donations of type O negative and type O positive blood. NBC Connecticut reported.
Both the Red Cross and the Connecticut Blood Center can help individuals locate local blood drives and donation centers. Red Cross Blood Or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.
If you donate by Aug. 31, the Red Cross will give you a $20 Amazon gift card.
Dead Planets Society is a podcast that explores wild ideas for manipulating the universe and tests their impact on the laws of physics, from splitting the moon to triggering doomsday events with gravitational waves. apple, Spotify Or visit our podcast page.
The thrilling adventure begins: In the season finale of Dead Planets Society, hosts Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane propel Earth on a cosmic journey through our solar system.
Of course, sending Earth into space without its home planet would result in a dark, frigid voyage that would extinguish all life on Earth. And without anyone to witness the wonders of the universe, the journey would be meaningless. That’s why we need to bring the Sun along. The other planets are just a bonus.
Naturally, relocating the Sun is a monumental task, especially in terms of maintaining the orbits of the planets around it. This is where astrophysicists Jay Farihi and researchers from University College London come to the rescue in the episode.
One proposed solution is to construct a colossal warp drive, a self-contained space-time bubble that moves by distorting the space ahead of it. However, these theoretical devices are known for potentially enabling faster-than-light travel, and the key to keeping all planets tethered to the Sun is moving at a slow pace. Unfortunately, we have yet to figure out how to build such a device.
Another idea involves placing a black hole just ahead of the Sun to give it a slight boost – the black hole would then need to move along with the Sun, or alternatively, a series of black holes could traverse the Solar System in a cosmic relay race.
While these notions may seem far-fetched, there are more plausible concepts – though still improbable – such as deploying giant solar sails or inserting an unbreakable tube into the Sun to release high-pressure plasma jets.
The universe offers countless destinations that our hosts would love to explore with our now navigable solar system, ranging from star clusters to nebulae to supermassive black holes – all it requires is a few technological breakthroughs to make it a reality.
Fragment of a humerus excavated at Mata Menge on the island of Flores, Indonesia
Yosuke Kaifu
700,000 years ago, humans lived on an island in Indonesia. Homo floresiensisThe so-called Hobbits lived on the same islands until much more recently, and while newly analyzed fossils may show their ancestors, the evolutionary story of these small-bodied hominins remains shrouded in mystery.
Fossil H. floresiensis Hobbit bones were first discovered in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores in 2003. The hobbit bones date back to between 90,000 and 50,000 years ago.
In 2016, Yosuke Kaifu Researchers from the University of Tokyo discovered hominin fossils at Mata Menge, an open-air archaeological site that was once a riverbed on the east side of Flores island. Approximately 700,000 years ago It includes part of a skull, part of a jawbone and six teeth, all of which are unusually small for a hominoid.
That the Mata Menge humans were the ancestors of hobbits was an obvious interpretation, but the fragmentary nature of the remains meant that no certainty was possible.
Kaifu and his colleagues described three new fossils from Mata Menge: two teeth and part of an important upper arm bone. This limb bone “finally allowed us to determine the body size,” Kaifu says.
Unfortunately, the humerus was not complete; it was broken along its shaft. To determine exactly where the bone broke, the team looked for key landmarks, such as grooves that support nerves and muscle attachment points. From these clues, the team determined that the bone broke about halfway through, and estimated its total length to be between 20.6 and 22.6 centimetres.
The bone microstructure shows characteristics that indicate it was from an adult. Using the humerus as a whole-body estimate, the team estimates that the Mata Menge hominin was between 93 and 121 cm tall, with the highest estimate being 100 cm. H. floresiensis The Liang Bua specimen is at least six centimetres tall, Kaifu said, making it the smallest adult hominin ever found.
This discovery H. floresiensis Kaifu says the species has long been suspected to be a descendant of a large species called a hominin. Homo erectus The Mata Menge teeth and the hominoids from the Mata Menge fossils are the first hominid species known to have lived outside of Africa, including on the Indonesian island of Java, about 1 million years ago. “I'm pretty sure they descended from those groups,” Kaifu says. This is based on the Mata Menge teeth and the hominoids from the Mata Menge fossils. Homo erectus From Java and because of the closeness of the date and location.
It has been suggested that a small number of Homo erectus They probably arrived on Flores by chance, where they lived in isolation, and then must have become smaller over the next 300,000 years, Kaifu says. “They were small early on, and they stayed small for a long time after that,” he says.
It's common for island animals to become smaller over the course of evolution because limited food resources and a lack of large predators mean there's no advantage to being large. Along these lines, Flores has been home to generations of dwarf elephants and other species.
Argus said Mata Menge's teeth were: H. floresiensis Liang Bua's molar. For example, Mata Menge's molar has five sharp “cusps” H. floresiensis They have four molars. “There's no clear indication that anyone evolved into anyone else,” she says, and it's not clear why the latter evolved. H. floresiensis It would have evolved a slightly larger body than its ancestors. Homo erectus From the island.”
For these reasons, Argue says we shouldn't assume that the Mata Menge hominins were the ancestors of hobbits: “I would consider an alternative hypothesis, that they are a new, previously unknown species.” If island life could have caused one group of humans to evolve smaller in size, she suggests, it could have happened twice.
In 2017, Argue and his colleagues H. floresiensis Compared to other hominins, the closest known relatives are Homo erectus instead It is called the old species Homo habilisThis is known only from Africa. Based on this, they proposed the following: H. floresiensis It actually evolved in Africa, HabilisSome of them then migrated east, ending up on the island of Flores. Argue says more fossils are probably needed to settle the question of the hobbit's origins.
Beyond eating floating food and introducing curious Earthlings to vacuum toilets, the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) have some serious work to do as their time on the ISS nears its end.
Since the space station opened, astronauts have conducted more than 3,000 experiments in the microgravity and high radiation of low Earth orbit. Experiments range from making sure fertility levels remain unchanged (in mice, not in the crew) to testing the feasibility of using lunar soil to make concrete that will help build a future lunar base. Here are four of the most impressive aspects of ISS research.
Artificial retina
Millions of people suffer from a degenerative disease that affects the retina (the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye), and there is no cure, only treatments that slow its progression. But implants that mimic the function of the retina could be a solution, and US-based company Lambda Vision has successfully produced them by depositing layer after layer of a light-activated protein called bacteriorhodopsin. On Earth, solutions of bacteriorhodopsin tended to clot and deposit poorly, but much better results were achieved earlier this decade. In microgravity on the International Space Station Lambda Vision is currently seeking to scale up manufacturing of its artificial retinas in space, claiming that these are among the first technologies with potential clinical use to be evaluated on the ISS.
Invisible Flame
When you light a match, the wood burns and reacts with oxygen to produce heat, light, and other substances such as carbon…
Excavation work began on a avocado orchard in Michoacan, Mexico as seen in drone footage captured by Reuters, revealing two bulldozers clearing the ground to build a reservoir without proper permits.
The increasing demand for avocados in the United States has put pressure on Mexican growers, leading to illegal activities and environmental damage. Illegal deforestation and water resource exploitation have become common practices in the region as the avocado industry expands.
To address these issues, a lawsuit has been filed against avocado importers in the U.S., accusing them of labeling Mexican avocados as “sustainable” or “responsibly sourced” when in fact they are contributing to environmental degradation and water scarcity.
While the avocado trade brings economic growth to the region, it has also attracted criminal gangs who engage in extortion and violence. The avocado industry, known as “green gold,” is causing social and environmental crises in Mexico.
Local communities are fighting back against illegal deforestation by destroying water pumps and orchards, while activists and organizations are working to hold importers and retailers accountable for their sourcing practices.
The lawsuit seeks to ensure that avocados in the U.S. market are not produced in illegally deforested areas and are sourced responsibly. It also calls attention to the impact of the avocado industry on water scarcity and biodiversity in the region.
Efforts are being made by Michoacan state authorities to curb illegal logging and ensure transparency in the avocado supply chain. A new online platform is being developed to certify avocados from orchards that are not involved in illegal deforestation.
Despite these efforts, the actual number of illegal orchards in Michoacan is believed to be much higher than reported, highlighting the challenges in controlling the environmental and social impacts of the booming avocado industry.
Social events encompass a range of activities. Whether you are moving on the dance floor or sitting at a formal dinner table, you are likely to experience various sensory inputs. Your mind might be filled with thoughts about the event, your worries, or your intentions for the interaction.
While these activities can be physically and mentally draining, extroverts are believed to gain their energy from socializing, while introverts recharge when alone. However, everyone falls on a spectrum between introversion and extroversion.
There is a genetic aspect to extraversion and introversion, but how these traits influence our behavior in different situations can vary. At times, you may be outgoing and talkative, while at other times, you may prefer solitude.
Research suggests that introversion is linked to fatigue, but it does not mean that extroverts never tire of social interactions. Everyone has their limit when it comes to socializing.
Factors that contribute to social fatigue include the duration, intensity, and difficulty of conversations, as well as the effort put into making a good impression and meeting new people. Taking breaks, engaging in relaxed encounters, and expressing feelings can help reduce the exhaustion from social interactions.
It is important to acknowledge and express your emotions, as suppressing them can lead to emotional fatigue. Socializing can be exhausting for various reasons, but finding a balance and recognizing your limits can help manage social fatigue.
This article addresses the question, “Why is socializing so exhausting?” posed by Faye Chase via email.
If you have any inquiries, feel free to reach out to the email provided below. For more information, visit:Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (remember to include your name and location).
Ultimate Fun FactsFor more amazing science, check out this page.
Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of troodontid theropod dinosaur based on fossils discovered in Japan.
Reconstructing your life Hypnovenator Pinus variegatusImage provided by: Masato Hattori.
Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus They roamed the Earth during the Early Cretaceous Period, between 112 million and 106 million years ago.
The new dinosaur TroodontidaeA group of bird-like theropods including species ranging in size from kiwi to rhea.
“The Troodontidae are a family of small, slender theropod dinosaurs,” Dr. Katsuhiro KubotaPaleontologists and colleagues from the University of Hyogo, the Museum of Nature and Human Sciences, and the Hokkaido University Museum.
“The phylogenetic position of Troodontidae has traditionally been considered to be a clade together with Dromaeosauridae that forms the Deinonychosauridae, but Troodontidae has also been considered as a sister clade to Avialidae.”
“Anchiornis from the Late Jurassic of China has questionable phylogeny and is classified as either a troodontid or aves.”
“These lively discussions will greatly improve our understanding of the phylogeny and osteology of non-avian theropods, with major implications for our understanding of early bird evolution.”
“Since the discovery of the first troodontids Troodon Troodontid fossils have been found in the Late Cretaceous of Canada, and in the Middle Jurassic and Late Cretaceous of Asia, Europe, and North America.
“However, articulated troodontid specimens are extremely rare.”
Articulated skull Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus It was discovered in deposits in the lower Mt. Oyama layer in Tanba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture.
“In September 2010, during construction work on a park in Nishikosa, Tanba Sasayama City, rocks in the Lower Oyama Formation were crushed and a partial theropod skeleton, including forelimbs and knees, was discovered,” the paleontologists explained.
“The discovery was made by Kaoru Matsubara and Ryuji Oe of the amateur group 'Sasayama Group Research Association.'”
“In July 2011, an articulated theropod heel was discovered at the same site during an excavation carried out by the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Nature and Human Sciences.”
These specimens are the only troodontid dinosaurs identified in Japan.
“Our position on phylogenetic analysis is Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus It is one of the oldest and most basal troodontids. Gobivenator mongoliensis” the researchers said.
“This discovery suggests that small maniraptorid dinosaurs in sleeping positions were common in fluvial systems as well as volcanic, aeolian and alluvial environments.”
“The geometric morphometric analysis of the claw phalanges shows that claw phalanges I and III are Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus They show considerable morphological variation but are functionally similar, reflecting a shift in manual action within troodontids that differs from that seen in non-troodontid troodontids.”
“Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus “The foot also displays a mosaic of running-related features,” the researchers added.
“This study reveals that asymmetric arc metatarsals appeared by the Albian, and morphological changes such as a shorter digit IV than digit III, a non-clawed phalange of digit III with a roller joint, and a weak gingival joint of digit IV occurred in the Early Late Cretaceous.”
This discovery paper In the journal Scientific Reports.
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Kenichi Kubota others2024. An Early Cretaceous troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Oyamashita Formation in Japan sheds light on the early evolution of Troodontidae. Scientific Reports 14, 16392; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-66815-2
Foraging bees carry pollen from surrounding plants back to the hive
Eric Tourneret
If you’re lucky enough to find one, dip your fingers into a jar of honey from Pitcairn Island, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. Honey is the island’s main export and highly prized among foodies. Pure and free of pesticides and pollutants, the honey infuses the delicious subtropical scents of Pitcairn Island plants, including passionflower, mango, guava and rose apple.
Honey contains much more information, if only we knew how to look for it. Breaking a container of honey opens a gateway to an entire ecosystem. Honey contains a detailed record of everything the bee encountered while foraging – not just the flowers that provided it with nectar and pollen, but also other plants, insects, fungi, viruses and larger animals in the environment.
He explains that honeybees are “passive bioaccumulators.” Parwinder Kaur As the bees go about their day, their fluffy bodies unwittingly collect samples of whatever they come into contact with, which then mix into the honey the bees produce, says researcher David Schneider of the University of Western Australia in Perth. “It’s got everything in it,” he says. Luca Fontanesi at the University of Bologna in Italy. “Well, almost everything.”
Scientists are now realizing that they have the potential to reach into that honey pot and garner sweet morsels of information that are currently hard to come by. Using advanced DNA tools, researchers are using honey to gather data on bee health, the general state of biodiversity in the bees’ foraging areas, and disease in the broader environment. They could identify possible culprits behind the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out beehives, and…
On the keto diet, most of your calories come from fat.
Shutterstock/George Dolgic
The keto diet, which gets most of its calories from fat and few from carbohydrates, can certainly lead to fat loss, but it can also clog arteries and harm your gut flora.
Also known as the ketogenic diet, this diet forces your body to use a different type of fuel. Instead of relying on glucose from carbohydrates, you rely on ketones, a type of fuel your liver produces from your fat stores, which can lead to weight loss.
In previous studies, Comparing people who follow a ketogenic diet to those who don't suggests there are both advantages and disadvantages.
now, Javier Gonzalez Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK conducted the largest randomized controlled trial in medical evidence. They recruited 53 non-obese people with an average age of 34. They randomly assigned about one-third of them to a ketogenic diet, in which less than 8% of energy came from total carbohydrates and more than 70% came from fat.
The remaining third of participants were instructed to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, with 5 percent of their energy intake coming from 'free' sugars – a type of carbohydrate found in foods such as syrup, cakes and biscuits – and 45 percent and 35 percent from other carbohydrates and fat respectively.
The remaining third consumed diets with moderate amounts of free sugars, accounting for just under 20% of their energy intake, while carbohydrate and fat intakes without free sugars were around 30% and 35%, respectively. These participants acted as the control group. Protein intake was between 15-18% across all diets.
After one month, x-rays showed that participants on the ketogenic diet had lost an average of 1.6 kg of fat. The researchers verified that participants were following the diet by measuring ketone levels in their blood, urine, and breath. Food diaries also assessed adherence to the diet.
Meanwhile, those on low-carb diets lost an average of one kilogram of fat, while those on moderate diets lost nothing. By having participants intermittently wear activity monitors to estimate their energy intake, the team found that the fat loss was due to reduced calorie intake, not increased activity, something that hadn't been known before, Gonzalez says.
But despite greater fat loss, the ketogenic diet group had 16 percent higher levels of “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than the control group, and 26 percent higher levels of apolipoprotein B, a protein that clogs arteries and increases the risk of heart-related events. In contrast, people on the low-carb diet had 10 percent lower LDL cholesterol levels than the control group, and no change in apolipoprotein B levels.
The researchers also found that people on a ketogenic diet had lower levels of a type of gut bacteria than those on a moderately low-carb diet. Bifidobacteriawhich Helps produce vitamin B and It has been shown to strengthen the immune systemThe same wasn't true for those on a low-carb diet, likely because those on the ketogenic diet consumed less fiber. Bifidobacteria Level, Gonzalez says.
However, it is unclear whether the ketogenic diet truly has a negative effect on the gut microbiome, because we do not fully know what the optimal diet is or what the full effects of the ketogenic diet are. Bifidobacteria says Natasha Scholer At Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Additionally, while elevated apolipoprotein B levels are a concern, the elevated cholesterol levels seen in the study aren't necessarily harmful unless they reach a dangerous threshold, Scholer said.
Longer-term studies are also needed to determine whether the weight-loss benefits of ketogenic diets outweigh potential concerns about cholesterol and gut health in obese people, Scholer said.
Ultimately, the main challenge for obese or overweight people to lose weight is following a diet, says Scholer: “Whether it's a normal carbohydrate diet, a low-calorie diet, or a calorie-for-calorie reduced-carb diet, if you stick to it, you will generally lose weight.”
Astronomers have discovered 10 new millisecond-plus stars in the globular cluster Terzan 5 using data from the MeerKAT radio telescope and NSF's Green Bank Telescope.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the star cluster Terzan 5. Image credit: F. Ferraro / NASA / ESA / ESO.
Star Cluster Terzan 5 It is a dense home to hundreds of thousands of different kinds of stars.
Also known as ESO 520-27 and 2MASX J17480455-2446441, it is located about 19,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
“Terzan 5 is one of the most extensively studied globular clusters in history, and has produced remarkable results across multiple wavelengths,” said Scott Ransom, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and his colleagues.
“It is located in the inner bulge of the Milky Way and is thought to be the remnant of a primitive structure essential for the formation of galaxies.”
“Terzan 5 is massive (1.09 million times the mass of the Sun) and has one of the highest stellar encounter rates in globular clusters.”
“This coincides with Terzan 5 holding the record for the largest number of ms-plus stars identified in a globular cluster (39 prior to this study), with over 50% of those in binary systems (20 prior to this study).”
The ten new pulsars were discovered as part of the MeerKAT (TRAPUM) Large-Scale Survey of Transients and Pulsars project.
“It's very unusual to find a new exotic pulsar,” Dr Ransom said.
“But what's really interesting is that these strange people exist in such a diverse range of forms within one group.”
Using data from the MeerKAT telescope, the authors were able to determine the approximate location of each pulsar by tracking and measuring its rotation rate.
Archived data from the Green Bank Telescope has revealed strange and unusual details about these stars.
“Without the Green Bank Telescope archives, we would never have been able to characterize these pulsars and understand their astrophysics,” Dr Ransom said.
“This data allowed us to pinpoint the pulsar's location in the sky, measure its specific motion, and see how its orbit has changed over time.”
Among their discoveries, astronomers found two binary star systems, likely neutron stars, pulled into each other's orbit.
Of the 3,600 known pulsars in the Milky Way Galaxy, only 20 have been confirmed as double neutron star binaries.
When pulsars pair up in a binary system, the gravitational attraction of one to the other can strip matter and energy away, causing one to spin even faster and become a millisecond pulsar.
The pair is a new candidate for the fastest spinning pulsar in a double neutron star system, and has the longest orbit of its kind, potentially breaking the record.
Currently, the record holder for the fastest spinning pulsar is already held by Terzan 5.
In addition to the five binary systems already known in the cluster, the researchers also observed three unusual new pulsar “spider” binary systems.
“The discovery of these strange pulsars provides a better understanding of globular clusters and neutron stars, further tests Einstein's theory of general relativity, and expands our knowledge of the pulsar category,” the researchers said.
Their work Published in a journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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PV Padmanab others2024. Discovery and Timing of Ten New Millisecond Pulsars in the Globular Cluster Terzan 5. A&A 686, A166; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202449303
In the new study, Dr David Hernández Uribe from the University of Illinois at Chicago used computer models to study the formation of magma, which is thought to hold clues to the origin of Earth's continents.
Hadean Earth. Image by Alec Brenner.
Magma is molten material that forms rocks and minerals as it cools.
Dr Hernández Uribe searched for magma that matched the compositional characteristics of rare mineral deposits called zircons, which date back to the Archean Era (2.5 to 4 billion years ago), when scientists believe the continents first formed.
In a recent study, researchers argued that Archean zircons could only have been formed by subduction, i.e. two crustal plates colliding under the ocean and pushing land up onto the surface.
This process still occurs today, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and reshaping the coastlines of continents.
However, Dr. Hernández Uribe found that subduction was not necessary for the formation of Archean zircons.
Rather, he found that the minerals may have formed due to the high pressures and temperatures associated with the melting of Earth's thick primordial crust.
“Using my calculations and models, we can get the same characteristics in zircons and even a better match through partial melting at the base of the crust,” Dr Hernández Uribe said.
“So based on these results, we don't yet have enough evidence to say by what process the continents formed.”
The findings also create uncertainty about when plate tectonics began on Earth.
If Earth's first continents formed by subduction, then the continents would have started moving between 3.6 and 4 billion years ago, or just 500 million years after Earth existed.
But an alternative theory, that the first continents formed from melting crust, means that subduction and tectonic shifts may have started much later.
“As far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the solar system where plate tectonics is actively occurring,” Dr Hernández Uribe said.
“And this has implications for the origin of life, because how the first continents moved controlled the weather, controlled the chemistry of the oceans, and controlled everything related to life.”
of study Published in the journal on July 11, 2024 Nature Chemistry.
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Hernández-Uribe, D. Generation of Archean oxidized and wet magmas by mafic crustal overthickening. National GeographyPublished online July 11, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01489-z
This article is a version of a press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Astronomers used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to capture this image of the barred spiral galaxy LEDA 857074.
This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy LEDA 857074. The color image was created from observations in the near-infrared part of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is produced by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / Hubble / RJ Foley.
LEDA857074 It is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Eridanus.
“Hubble has observed a wide range of celestial objects, from galaxies, nebulae and star clusters to planets in our solar system and beyond,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Observing programs typically aim to collect data that will enable astronomers to answer specific questions.”
“Naturally, this means that most of the planned observations will be directed at objects that astronomers have already studied.”
“Some are well-known, such as the Crab Nebula and the globular cluster Omega Centauri, while others, such as the Spider Galaxy and NGC 4753, are less well known to the public but have been featured in hundreds of scientific papers.”
“This galaxy is not like that: LEDA 857074 has been named in fewer than five papers, one of which is the Lyon-Meudon extragalactic database itself.”
“Apart from its location, virtually no data has been recorded about this object. It has never been studied since it was discovered. So why did it attract the attention of the legendary Hubble telescope?”
In 2022, an automated survey observed a supernova event in LEDA 857074 called SN 2022ADQZ.
“Although astronomers have catalogued millions of galaxies and tens of thousands of supernovae are detected annually today, the probability of discovery in any particular galaxy is low,” the researchers said.
“We don’t know how actively LEDA 857074 is forming stars, and therefore how frequently it will undergo supernova explosions.”
“The spotlight from this supernova made this galaxy an unexpected and lucky target for Hubble!”
“This object joins the ranks of many other well-known celestial objects thanks to its unique imaging by the Hubble Space Telescope.”
Named Yuti YuanxiThe newly identified euarthropod species fills an important gap in our understanding of how the arthropod body type emerged and was successful in its time. Cambrian Explosion.
Anatomical Overview Yuti YuanxiImage courtesy of Smith others., doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07756-8.
Yuti Yuanxi They lived during the Cambrian period, more than 520 million years ago, when most of the major animal groups known today first evolved.
This species is ArthropodsThis includes modern insects, spiders, and crabs.
It is about the size of a poppy seed, Yuti Yuanxi The organs are well preserved and of excellent quality.
Durham University paleontologist Martin Smith and his colleagues used the advanced scanning technique of synchrotron X-ray tomography to find the Yuti YuanxiThey have found a tiny brain region, digestive glands, a primitive circulatory system, and even traces of the nerves that control the larva's simple legs and eyes.
“When I was daydreaming about the fossils I would most like to find, I always thought about arthropod larvae, because developmental data are so important to understanding their evolution,” Dr. Smith said.
“But because the larvae are so tiny and fragile, I thought the chances of finding a fossilized version were virtually zero.”
“I already knew this simple, worm-like fossil was something special, but when I saw the incredible structures preserved under the skin, my jaw just dropped. How could these complex features have survived decay and still be here after 500 million years?”
“It's always fascinating to see the inside of a sample using 3D imaging, but this incredibly tiny larva has achieved near-perfect preservation through natural fossilisation,” said Dr Katherine Dobson, a palaeontologist at the University of Strathclyde.
“Studying this ancient larva provides important clues about the evolutionary steps required to transform a simple worm-like organism into a sophisticated arthropod body form with specialized limbs, eyes and a brain.”
“For example, the fossil reveals an ancestral 'protocerebral' brain region that would later form the segmented and specialized arthropod head nucleus with its various appendages, including antennae, mouthparts and eyes.”
“This complex head enabled arthropods to adopt a wide range of lifestyles and become the dominant organisms in the Cambrian oceans.”
“These details also help us trace how modern arthropods acquired their incredible anatomical complexity and diversity, making them the most abundant animal group today.”
Tardigrades These eight-legged marvels of survival are tiny aquatic invertebrates, also known as tardigrades.UV rays,The vacuum of space,and,Shot by a gunThe scientists1400 species of tardigrades The creatures, which are collected from freshwater and marine habitats around the world, are seemingly indestructible and “The toughest animals on earth“But are they strong enough to survive on Mars?
Space agencies around the world are currently Sending humans to MarsBut life on Mars comes with its own environmental challenges: Researchers have shown that tardigrades can survive the radiation, extreme temperatures, dehydration and lack of oxygen that characterize the Red Planet.Studying Martian soil I realized it contained toxic salts. PerchloratePerchlorates dissolve rapidly in solution to form salt solutions or brineIt inhibits the cells' ability to retain moisture and produces reactive chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide, which can damage cells. Oxidative stressScientists have found perchlorate concentrations in Martian soil as high as 0.6 percent, roughly 1,000 times higher than the highest concentrations found in Earth's desert soils.
Scientists have previously found that some soil bacteria can survive perchlorate using special enzymes that fight it and protect cells from oxidative stress. Unfortunately, animals lack these enzymes. Other researchers have found that tardigrades Paramacrobiotus experimentalis Can survive Short-term exposure Animals living on the Martian surface would be exposed to perchlorates for up to 24 hours, but animals living on the Martian surface would have to contend with these toxins indefinitely.
A team of Polish researchers recently tested whether tardigrades could perform this task. They Pam.Experimental The tardigrades were exposed to high concentrations of perchlorate, similar to those found in Martian soil, for eight weeks to see how long they would survive. The researchers reasoned that because this species of tardigrade can tolerate short-term exposure to perchlorate, it may be able to survive for longer periods of time.
The researchers: Pam.Experimental Tardigrades were collected from moss in Madagascar and fed a diet of earthworms and plankton. For each experiment, 24 newly hatched tardigrades were transferred to solutions containing 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%, or 0.25% magnesium perchlorate. As a control, another 24 were transferred to a solution without perchlorate. The tardigrades were kept in these solutions for 56 days in the dark, at 18 °C (approximately 64 °F) and 40% relative humidity. The solutions were changed every 7 days, and dead tardigrades were removed.
At the end of the experiment, the researchers Phase contrast microscopeThis type of microscope makes use of the fact that light waves change height and direction when they interact with an object. amplitudeand location, or stepThe human eye can see amplitude changes in brightness and color intensity, but not phase changes. Phase contrast microscopes convert invisible phase changes into visible brightness changes, allowing scientists to see fine details in transparent specimens like tardigrades.
The team counted live and dead tardigrades under a phase-contrast microscope and found that 83% survived on 0.10% magnesium perchlorate, compared with 87% in the control group. They also found that about 58% of the tardigrades survived on 0.15% perchlorate, 29% on 0.20% perchlorate, and 20% on 0.25% perchlorate. The team interpreted this trend as meaning that although more than 0.10% perchlorate is toxic to most tardigrades, some individuals can survive at about half the perchlorate concentration found on Mars.
The researchers also measured the body length of the surviving tardigrades, which were about two-thirds as long as those raised without perchlorate. The researchers suggested that tardigrades grow slower in the presence of perchlorate because the salt directly inhibits the tardigrades' growth or stops them from feeding.
These scientists demonstrated that tardigrades can survive Mars-like perchlorate levels for eight weeks, but did not reveal how they did this. They suggested that tardigrades must use a special technique to withstand the toxic perchlorate.Dry hibernation For example, when faced with high salinity or other extreme conditions. Damage suppressor proteins It protects them from radiation and helps them survive.
The team recommended that future researchers investigate whether tardigrades can survive and thrive when simultaneously exposed to perchlorate and other harsh conditions present on Mars. They also suggested that scientists study the biochemical pathways involved in tardigrades' perchlorate resistance to see if these pathways can be genetically engineered to confer perchlorate resistance to other animals that colonize Mars. One day, future humans may stroll under the Martian sky wearing tardigrade-reinforced skin.
Artificial lighting at night can affect tree leaves
Shutterstock/Patrick Kosmider
Urban trees lit by streetlights tend to have tougher leaves and be less eaten by insects than those that spend the dark nights, a pattern the researchers say could disrupt the flow of energy up the food chain and have negative effects on urban biodiversity.
Zhang Shuang Zhang and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the Japanese five-story pagoda (Styphnolobium japonicum) and Green Ash (AshBeijing’s street trees appear to be relatively free of insect damage compared to other trees in the city.
The researchers collected around 5,500 leaves from 180 trees at 30 locations in Beijing, including near the distinctive orange glow of sodium streetlights and in dark areas at night, and measured the leaves’ size, firmness, moisture content, and nutrient levels. They also recorded any evidence of insect damage.
Leaves taken from under streetlights were stronger and less affected by insects: for Chinese sophora trees, 2.1% of leaves were damaged in the lit areas and 5.3% in the dark, while for ash trees, 2% of leaves were damaged near streetlights and 4.1% in the dark.
The researchers couldn’t answer that question, but they did say in their paper that with fewer leaves for insects to eat, less energy flows up the food chain to insects and birds, which could have a knock-on effect of further reducing biodiversity.
The researchers acknowledge that the mechanisms by which leaf damage is reduced are still unclear and require further investigation — for example, increased light could make insects more visible to predators, reducing their numbers and their impact on trees.
Owen Lewis The Oxford University researcher says the study is intriguing but doesn’t prove causation, and he suggests future studies should take plants from areas with and without street lighting, place them in a controlled environment, and observe the insects’ behavior to see whether they prefer trees that grow in dark conditions.
Lewis also notes that measuring herbivores is complicated. Heavy damage can mean leaves are less nutritious, forcing insects to eat more of them. Holes caused by insect damage can also get bigger as leaves get bigger, he says.
“My intuition is that this may be a fairly subtle effect,” he says. “In central Beijing, the impact of light pollution on insect feeding will be more pronounced as urbanization progresses.” [the area is]”It’s probably trivial how much pollution there is, how much semi-natural habitat there is, etc. It’s important, but it’s probably not the main threat to insect diversity and ecosystem function.”
When you search the hashtag “mental health” on TikTok, you’ll come across a plethora of videos discussing “shadow work.” These videos have collectively amassed over a billion views and contributed to the success of The Shadow Work Journal, written by former TikTok employee Kayla Shaheen.
Despite its peculiar nature, the shadow work trend is actually a modern interpretation of a concept introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung in the mid-20th century.
Jung, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, shared Freud’s belief in the significance of the unconscious mind in human psychology. One of Jung’s theories about the unconscious posits that everyone has a “shadow” self – a part of us comprised of characteristics we fear or dislike. He referred to it as the “shadow” to signify its dark and undesirable nature that we can’t escape.
Jung suggested that our shadow self is revealed when we speak or act thoughtlessly, and it can also manifest in our dreams.
The purpose of shadow work is to delve deeper into understanding your shadow self, learn from it, and integrate it into your being. By doing so, you can feel more authentic and whole as your shadow is a genuine part of who you are. Jung argued that the shadow possesses valuable attributes like raw power and insight, which can enhance creativity, personal understanding, and resilience when expressed.
Shadow work involves introspective exercises to connect with your shadow. For instance, Shaheen recommends spending time in a quiet, dimly lit space, listening to your inner voice, and reflecting on the words that come to mind.
Visualization exercises are also common in shadow work, such as imagining two doors leading to your ideal self and your shadow self, and envisioning the experience of walking through each door.
While some therapists appreciate the increased interest in self-reflection, others are concerned that the portrayal of shadow work on social media lacks depth and may not fully capture Jungian psychology. Additionally, for individuals with traumatic backgrounds, reflective practices may trigger distressing emotions best addressed in a therapeutic setting.
For skeptics, Jung’s theory, like Freud’s, lacks empirical evidence and may potentially harm individuals by attributing distressing thoughts to a supposed part of themselves.
This article explores the question “What is shadow work, and can embracing your shadow self enhance mental health?” posed by Lina McBride from Norwich.
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Experts often suggest that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to excel in any field. However, not everyone possesses the talent required to become an Olympian or Paralympian. While practice can enhance performance, genetic factors impacting both physical strength and mental aptitude likely make the distinction between “good” and “great” athletes.
Athletic success is also influenced by external factors beyond an individual’s control, such as their birthdate. For instance, in the 2010-11 UEFA Youth Football Tournament, 43% of players were born between January and March (early in the selection cycle). Only 9% of players were born between October and December.
According to many sports psychologists, older children starting school may have an advantage in sports due to factors like size, strength, and confidence. However, the birth month advantage may also be influenced by social factors such as teachers’ perceptions of a child’s abilities.
Therefore, the ideal approach to becoming an Olympian may involve exploring various interests as a child and then focusing on activities where natural talent and, most importantly, enjoyment are found.
Cognitive decline is characterized by a decrease in memory, concentration, and thinking abilities. It is common for individuals to experience increased forgetfulness as they age, such as forgetting names or items they intended to purchase.
However, a more frequent occurrence of these symptoms could indicate cognitive impairment, where cognitive function declines faster than expected due to aging. This can be concerning for both the individual experiencing the symptoms and their loved ones.
Common signs of cognitive impairment include:
Forgetting important dates and events
Losing track of thoughts
Feeling overwhelmed by decision-making and planning
Difficulty navigating familiar places
Becoming impulsive
While cognitive abilities naturally decline with age, the extent and speed of decline vary among individuals and are influenced by genetics and family history. Therefore, two people with similar age-related brain changes may perform differently on cognitive tasks, and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease may exhibit similar cognitive abilities but different brain changes.
What can you do now to prevent cognitive decline?
Building cognitive reserve through experiences like education, occupation, and stimulating activities can help individuals cope with age-related changes. Lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and social interactions also play a role in cognitive health.
Health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and vascular disease can worsen cognitive decline, but lifestyle changes can help manage or prevent these conditions.
Eat a balanced diet with plenty of leafy greens
Stay active
Limit alcohol consumption
Avoid tobacco products
Eating a nutritious, balanced diet, with plenty of leafy and dark green vegetables, can help keep you healthy both physically and mentally. – Image credit: Getty
Making positive changes in one area of your life can have ripple effects on other aspects of health. Unhealthy habits can create a chain reaction of negative health outcomes, while healthy choices can improve overall well-being.
Habits to avoid
A high-fat diet can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cognitive impairment, while smoking can impact lung capacity and cognitive function. By adopting a low-fat diet and avoiding tobacco products, individuals can reduce their risk of cognitive decline.
While we may not be able to prevent cognitive decline entirely, adopting a healthy lifestyle can help build cognitive reserve and potentially slow the decline. Research is ongoing to uncover more about the factors influencing cognitive health.
Aim for an overall healthier lifestyle
In addition to diet and exercise, engaging in social and sexual activities can benefit cognitive health. Social interactions can stimulate the brain and slow cognitive decline, while maintaining romantic and intimate relationships may improve cognitive function.
Stimulating activities like reading, playing games, or learning new skills can also help prevent cognitive decline. Gender differences in cognitive lifestyle choices may influence cognitive outcomes, highlighting the importance of varied activities for cognitive health.
Get a good night’s sleep
Sleep plays a crucial role in cognitive function, with adequate rest linked to better cognitive outcomes. Napping and getting around eight hours of sleep nightly can help reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Quality sleep is essential for focus, creativity, and decision-making, while sleep deprivation can negatively impact physical and cognitive health. Establishing good sleep habits is key to maintaining cognitive function as we age.
Regular dental checkups can help prevent cognitive decline
Research suggests that gum disease bacteria may be linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia development, emphasizing the importance of oral health for cognitive well-being. By practicing good oral hygiene and seeking regular dental care, individuals can potentially reduce their risk of cognitive decline.
While there is no miracle cure for cognitive decline, taking proactive steps to improve overall health can slow the rate of decline associated with aging. It’s crucial to address any concerns about cognitive function with a healthcare provider to explore potential treatment options.
It’s a common belief that it requires 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill, but studies suggest that not everyone possesses the innate talent required to become an Olympian or Paralympian. While practice can enhance performance, genetic factors impacting both physical strength and cognitive abilities likely distinguish between “good” and “great” athletes.
The success in sports is also influenced by factors beyond one’s control, such as birth timing. For instance, in the 2010-11 UEFA Youth Football Tournament, 43% of players were born between January and March (earlier in the selection period). Only 9% of players were born between October and December.
Older children who start school may have a physical advantage over their younger peers in terms of size, strength, and confidence. However, many sports psychologists argue that any birth month advantage is also influenced by social factors, such as how teachers perceive a child’s abilities.
Therefore, the most effective approach to becoming an Olympian may involve exploring a range of interests as a child and then focusing on activities where natural talent and enjoyment are evident.
In 1999, the sports world experienced a significant change. On November 10, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was founded with the goal of “protecting athletes, promoting clean sport values, and upholding the spirit of sports globally.”
WADA was established in response to various high-profile drug-related incidents, such as Ben Johnson’s steroid scandal in the 1988 Olympics and the 1998 “Festina Scandal” involving drugs found in a team car at the Tour de France. It was created out of concern for athlete safety and the potential backlash from audiences towards professional sports.
The WADA Code includes an annual publication of a Prohibited List, which outlines banned substances and methods for both in-competition and out-of-competition use. A substance or method is considered prohibited if it meets two out of three criteria – it may enhance performance, poses health risks to athletes, or goes against the spirit of sport.
This framework aims to create a safer environment for athletes but also presents a grey area where certain substances or methods could be legal but potentially illegal in the future.
As a result, there is ongoing investigation into legal methods and substances commonly used by professional athletes that may face bans in the future.
1. Carbon monoxide rebreathing
With more than 100 deaths annually in the UK due to carbon monoxide poisoning, the use of carbon monoxide rebreathing in sports science may raise eyebrows. However, this method is commonly used to measure hemoglobin levels in athletes.
Through carbon monoxide rebreathing, athletes inhale the gas to measure various blood parameters, particularly hemoglobin content, which impacts oxygen delivery to muscles. This process simulates the effects of training at high altitudes, where athletes produce more red blood cells to enhance performance.
Inhaling carbon monoxide can raise the carbon monoxide level in your blood to about 5 percent. – Photo credit: Getty Images
While this method has its benefits, prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide can have adverse effects on an athlete’s oxygen-carrying capacity, leading to concerns about its use.
2. Oxygen Tent
Similar to carbon monoxide rebreathing, oxygen tents are popular among athletes to simulate high-altitude environments and enhance red blood cell counts. These tents have been used by various sports teams and athletes to improve performance through altitude training.
Former footballer Graham Cooper trains wearing a training mask connected to an altitude generator for low-oxygen training. – Photo credit: Getty
Despite its benefits, the use of oxygen tents has stirred controversy in the past due to concerns about artificially elevated blood parameters and its impact on the spirit of sports. Regulations and bans have been enforced in some regions to address these issues.
3. High-tech trisuit
Alex Yee overtakes New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde in a dramatic finale of the Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon – Photo Credit: Getty
Modern trisuits, like the one worn by British triathlete Alex Yee at the Paris Olympics, incorporate cutting-edge technology to enhance performance. These suits are designed to optimize aerodynamics, improve speed, and potentially provide advantages in water sports.
With innovations in fabric technology and fit, these trisuits are custom-made to maximize performance while complying with sports regulations. The use of advanced materials and design elements can influence race outcomes significantly.
4. Ketone Drinks
Ketone drinks have gained popularity among athletes for their potential to boost energy levels without the need for starvation. These drinks can help conserve glycogen reserves during intense exercise, improve endurance, and enhance recovery between workouts.
Despite their benefits, the use of ketone drinks raises concerns about their long-term effects on health and athletic performance. Organizations like the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) advocate against the use of ketones due to insufficient research and potential risks associated with their consumption.
5. Caffeine
Caffeine remains a popular dietary supplement among athletes due to its proven performance-enhancing effects. Studies have shown that caffeine can improve fat burning, speed, and endurance by stimulating neuronal activity in the brain and triggering the release of adrenaline.
While caffeine is legal and widely used, there are concerns about its safety when consumed in excessive amounts. Regulations on caffeine use have evolved over time, with bans being implemented and lifted based on scientific evidence and health considerations.
in New paper Published in Astrophysical JournalDr. Ravi Kopparapu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues assessed the detectability of silicon solar panels on Earth-like exoplanets as potential technological signatures.
Conceptual illustration of an exoplanet with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. The structure on the right is an orbiting solar panel array that collects light from the parent star, converts it into electricity and transmits it via microwaves to the surface. The exoplanet on the left shows other potential technological features: on the night side there are city lights (the glowing circular structures), and on the day side there are multi-colored clouds representing various forms of pollution, such as nitrogen dioxide gas from the burning of fossil fuels and chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration. Image credit: NASA/Jay Freidlander.
“The search for extraterrestrial life has primarily focused on detecting biosignatures – remote observations of atmospheric or ground-based spectral properties that indicate signs of life on exoplanets,” said Dr Kopparapu and his co-authors.
“Recently, there has been a rise in interest in technosignatures, which refer to observational signs of extraterrestrial technology that can be detected or inferred through astronomical surveys.”
“While the search for extraterrestrial intelligence through radio observations has been popular for decades, recent studies have proposed an alternative: searching for technological signatures in the ultraviolet to mid-infrared spectral range.”
Astronomers speculate that extraterrestrials might build solar panels out of silicon because it is relatively abundant compared to other elements used in solar power generation, such as germanium, gallium, and arsenic.
Silicon is also excellent at converting light emitted by stars like the Sun into electricity, and it is cost-effective to mine and manufacture into solar cells.
The researchers also assume that a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization would rely solely on solar energy.
However, if other energy sources, such as nuclear fusion, were used, the technological signature of silicon would be diminished, making the civilization even more difficult to detect.
Furthermore, they assume that the population of the civilization will stabilize at some point, and if for some reason this does not happen, they may end up expanding the Eternal Father into deep space.
For the study, scientists used computer models and NASA satellite data to simulate Earth-like planets with different degrees of silicon solar panel coverage.
They then modeled an advanced telescope, like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, to see if it could detect the solar panels of a planet about 30 light-years away, a relatively close galaxy that is more than 100,000 light-years across.
The researchers found that hundreds of hours of observation time would be required with this type of telescope to detect signals from solar panels covering about 23% of the land area of an Earth-like exoplanet.
However, the solar panel coverage needed to support 30 billion people with a high standard of living was only around 8.9%.
“We find that even if the current population of around 8 billion were to stabilise to a high standard of living of 30 billion and run solely on solar energy for power, it would still use far less energy than the total amount of sunlight illuminating the Earth,” Dr Kopparap said.
The research has implications on the Fermi Paradox, proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi, which asks why extraterrestrial civilizations have not spread across the galaxy by now, given that our own Milky Way galaxy is ancient and vast, making interstellar travel difficult but possible.
“This suggests that if a civilisation chooses a very high standard of living, it may not feel the need to expand across the galaxy because it can achieve sustainable population and energy use levels,” Dr Kopparap said.
“They may expand within their own star system, or neighboring star systems, but there may not be a galaxy-wide civilization.”
“Furthermore, our own technological expertise may not yet be able to predict what more advanced civilizations will be able to achieve.”
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Ravi Kopparap others2024. Detectability of Solar Panels as a Technology Signature. ApJ 967, 119; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad43d7
This article is based on a press release provided by NASA.
Sergio Pitamitz/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Uplifting the land beneath the Antarctic ice sheet could help slow ice loss and limit sea level rise over the coming centuries, but if emissions continue to rise, it could cause more sea levels to rise than the ice melt alone.
The findings come from models that simulate Earth’s mantle, the layer beneath the crust, in greater detail than ever before. When Antarctica loses its weight as ice melts, the elastic mantle beneath it bounces back, causing the land above it to rise. When ice melts and the continents lose their weight, Earth’s elastic mantle bounces back, causing the land above it to rise. The bounced back land can slow the flow of ice sheets where they meet the ocean. This “sea-level feedback” occurs primarily because the uplifted land changes the shape of the ocean floor, limiting the thickness of the ice sheet’s edges. Thinner ice there reduces the overall inflow of ice into the ocean.
Researchers have long suspected that this effect plays a role in slowing ice loss, but it was unclear when this effect begins or how it varies in different parts of the ice sheet.
Natalia Gomez Gomes and his colleagues at McGill University in Canada modeled the relationship between the melting ice and the rebounding land, and also simulated the mantle, capturing the different viscosities beneath the continents: East Antarctica sits on a more viscous mantle and thicker crust, while West Antarctica’s rapidly melting glaciers sit on a less viscous mantle and thinner crust. This more detailed picture of Earth’s interior is based on precise measurements of ice sheet elevation changes over decades, as well as data about the mantle beneath Antarctica from seismic waves generated by earthquakes. “This is hard-earned,” Gomes says.
The researchers found that under a very low emissions scenario, compared to a model that considered the ground beneath the ice solid, land uplift would reduce Antarctica’s contribution to global mean sea level rise by more than 50 centimeters by 2500. This effect was less pronounced under a moderate emissions scenario, but still led to a large reduction in sea level rise, with effects starting to be felt as early as 2100.
But in a very high emissions scenario, the team found that land uplift in Antarctica would raise sea levels by an additional 0.8 meters by 2500. This happened because the ice sheet retreated faster than land uplift, and the rising sea floor pushed more water into the rest of the ocean.
“From a modeling perspective, this is a huge step forward.” Alexander Bradley The British Antarctic Survey’s Bradley says it’s always been thought that land uplift would limit sea-level rise, but this high-resolution modeling shows that the effect depends on emissions. “The changes that occur in the 21st and 22nd centuries will depend very much on what we do now,” he says.
Alexander Lovell Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta call it a “very good simulation,” but the scenario in which land uplift drives sea level rise is based on worst-case assumptions about emissions and the rate at which ice sheets are retreating.
In regions of the rural West, high-stress wildfire events are leading to common sentiments among residents. These events are becoming more frequent, with large fires and evacuations leaving people tired of their lives being uprooted. Many have become accustomed to the risk and are more confident in their ability to handle the situation on their own.
As a result, some individuals are choosing to stay in their homes despite evacuation orders from authorities, especially in areas where there is a lack of trust between local residents and those managing emergency responses. Amanda Stasiewicz, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon, noted that this sense of mistrust is contributing to more rural communities deciding to stay and defend themselves during wildfires.
The increasing intensity of fires due to climate change is leading fire managers to take a more conservative approach, which is further straining relations in rural communities. With fires becoming more aggressive, creating their own weather patterns and becoming less predictable, residents are feeling the need to take matters into their own hands.
Similar movements are happening in other rural areas, such as Northern California where residents facing the Park Fire have chosen not to evacuate. In total, there are 94 major fires being battled by over 29,000 firefighters across the West.
The current fire season in the Pacific Northwest has been particularly severe, with 51 large fires burning in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The Pioneer Fire in Stehekin has grown to over 33,700 acres, with only 12% containment.
Residents of Stehekin, a remote community of approximately 85 people, are facing the challenge of the Pioneer Fire. Surrounded by mountains and Lake Chelan, the community is known for its resistance to modern conveniences and its self-sufficiency.
As the fire season progresses, sentiments like those seen in Stehekin are becoming more common in rural communities. With evacuation presenting financial burdens and concerns about asset protection, rural residents are feeling the need to fend for themselves during these natural disasters.
About 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a 10 km-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now the town of Chicxulub in Mexico. The impact wiped out about 75% of Earth's animal and plant species, including groups such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. A new study identifies key changes in bird genomes caused by the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that ultimately contributed to the remarkable diversity of modern birds.
This painting depicts an asteroid impact in the shallow tropical ocean of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is now southeastern Mexico. The impact of this massive asteroid, which occurred about 65 million years ago, is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The painting shows a Pterodactylus, a flying reptile with a wingspan of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image by Donald E. Davis/NASA.
“By studying the DNA of modern birds, we can detect patterns in gene sequences that changed shortly after one of the most significant events in Earth's history,” said Dr Jake Barb, from the University of Michigan.
“The signatures of these events appear to be imprinted in the genomes of survivors in ways that are detectable tens of millions of years later.”
An organism's genome is made up of four nucleotide molecules designated by the letters A, T, G, and C. The order of these nucleotides in the genome defines the blueprint of life.
The DNA code can evolve in ways that change the overall composition of DNA nucleotides across the genome.
These changes in composition are important in determining what genetic variations are possible and contribute to an organism's evolutionary potential, or ability to evolve.
Dr. Belf and his colleagues found that the mass extinction caused a change in nucleotide composition.
The researchers also found that these changes appear to be related to the birds' development as young birds, their adult size, and their metabolism.
For example, in the approximately 3 to 5 million years following the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, surviving bird lineages tended to decrease in body size.
The development of hatchlings has also changed, with more species becoming 'altricial'.
“This means that when they hatch they are still in a fetal state and need to be fed by their parents, and it may take several weeks for them to fledge,” Dr Barb said.
“Birds that are ready to fend for themselves immediately after hatching, like chickens and turkeys, are called 'precocious.'”
“We found that adult body size and pre-hatching developmental patterns are two important traits of bird biology that we can link to the genetic changes we are detecting.”
“One of the most important challenges in evolutionary biology and ornithology is unraveling the relationships between the major bird groups. The structure of the extant bird phylogenetic tree is difficult to determine.”
Over the past 15 years, researchers have been trying to solve this problem by applying increasingly large genomic datasets.
So far, they have used genomic data to study the evolution of bird genomes using statistical models based on strong assumptions.
These traditional models allow researchers to reconstruct the history of genetic change, but they typically assume that the makeup of DNA, i.e. the proportions of A, T, G and C nucleotides, remains constant throughout evolutionary history.
The study authors developed software tools to more closely track DNA composition over time and across different branches of the tree of life.
This tool allowed us to relax the assumption that DNA's composition is constant.
“This allows us to vary our models of DNA evolution across the evolutionary tree and identify places where there may have been changes in DNA makeup,” said Professor Steven Smith, from the University of Michigan.
“In this new study, these changes were clustered within about five million years of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction,” Dr Belff added.
This approach also allowed the team to estimate which bird traits are most closely associated with changes in DNA composition.
“This is an important type of genetic change that we think is associated with mass extinctions,” Dr Barb said.
“To our knowledge, changes in DNA composition have never before been so clearly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.”
“We know that mass extinctions can have dramatic effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and the forms of life,” said Professor Daniel Field, from the University of Cambridge.
“Our study highlights that these extinction events can have even larger effects on organismal biology by altering key aspects of genome evolution.”
“This study improves our understanding of the dramatic biological impact of mass extinction events and highlights that the mass extinction that wiped out the giant dinosaurs was one of the most biologically consequential events in the entire history of the Earth.”
By relaxing typical assumptions used in evolutionary biology, the researchers are developing more nuanced insights into the sequence of events in birds' early history.
“We haven't typically thought of changes in DNA configurations and models across the tree of life as changes that indicate something interesting happened at a particular time and place,” Prof Smith said.
“This study shows that we've probably missed something.”
of study Published in the journal Scientific advances.
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Jacob S. Belf others2024. Genomic and life-history evolution link bird diversification and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Scientific advances 10(31); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp0114
This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Michigan.
This week, NASA leaders are engaged in deep discussions regarding the return of the agency’s astronauts to their spacecraft. Boeing They are considering either salvaging the unexploded Starliner spacecraft or using a SpaceX spacecraft for the crew’s rescue.
Concerns about Starliner have arisen due to NASA’s inability to determine the root cause of the spacecraft’s failure, which led to thruster failure during docking, according to a source familiar with the matter as told to CNBC.
NASA is contemplating the possibility of returning Starliner empty and utilizing SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to bring back the astronauts. The decision-makers are currently divided, and the outcome of NASA’s ongoing discussions remains uncertain, given the complexities involved.
Starliner’s Calypso capsule has been in space for over 59 days and counting, with the mission aimed at proving Boeing’s spacecraft safe for long-duration crewed missions to and from the ISS.
Originally scheduled for at least nine days, Boeing’s crewed flight has been extended multiple times for tests to resolve thruster issues, raising concerns about the spacecraft’s safety for astronaut return.
While Boeing expresses confidence in Starliner’s ability to safely return with astronauts, NASA and Boeing executives have differing perspectives on the matter, with NASA considering alternate options like using SpaceX as a backup.
Ars Technical reported mixed reactions from NASA regarding the Starliner situation, with ongoing discussions on whether to rely on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon instead.
Should Starliner return empty, the likely alternative would involve removing astronauts from an upcoming Crew 9 mission to make way for the return of Wilmore and Williams.
Despite ongoing discussions, NASA has yet to make a decision on Starliner’s return, maintaining a focus on exploring all available options.
Trust the thrust
Following a recent test, NASA noted the good condition of Starliner’s thrusters, despite concerns about the root cause of past failures and the potential for additional issues during the return flight.
Boeing continues to investigate the thruster issues and plans to conclusively identify the root cause before proceeding with the return of the spacecraft.
NASA must weigh the risks associated with Starliner’s thruster problems before making a decision on the spacecraft’s return.
Unpredictable results
The lack of consensus within NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Management Board underscores the uncertainty surrounding Starliner’s return, with discussions ongoing to assess the risks involved.
Any disagreements within the board will be escalated until a resolution is reached, indicating the complexity of the decision-making process.
Make a Choice
NASA faces a critical decision regarding the safe return of astronauts aboard Starliner, with implications for Boeing’s participation in the Commercial Crew program.
The choice between backing Boeing or opting for SpaceX’s alternative could have significant consequences for the future of the program and the companies involved.
Ultimately, NASA must carefully consider the risks and implications of their decision to ensure the safety of the astronauts and the success of future missions.
Jutting out into the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand is the curved, crescent-shaped volcanic remnant of Lord Howe Island. Measuring 10 kilometres in length and 2 kilometres at its widest point, the rocky island is covered in lush, unspoiled forest and boasts a sandy, coral-rich lagoon.
“This is paradise.” Neil HadawayA photographer who went there to document the activities of the marine research group. drifting“There are birdsongs all around, beautiful coral reefs and golden sand beaches.” Among the bird calls is the shearwater (Aldena CarneipesOf the total, approximately 22,000 breed on the island.
Petrel chick (Ardenna carneipes)
Neil Hadaway
But life there is not ideal, and newly hatched petrel chicks, like the one pictured above, are under threat from increasing marine plastic pollution. Adult petrels mistake plastic debris in the sea for food and end up feeding it to their young. In fact, Adrift researchers have found that the amount of plastic ingested by chicks is increasing every year. One of the team, pictured below, sifts through chunks of plastic in the stomach of just one bird.
As a result, these chicks become increasingly underdeveloped, with dozens dying each year from starvation and plastic-related diseases.
“This island may be magical,” Hadaway said, “but it's also full of frustration and sadness.”
He says stricter laws against plastic pollution are needed to protect populations of petrels, which locals affectionately call “muttonbirds” (see above) after their taste.
Many young climate advocates believe Kamala Harris is stronger on environmental issues than Joe Biden.
The Biden administration’s Inflation Control Act was the largest climate change investment in U.S. history, but young environmentalists want even more.
They cited Harris’ record of prosecuting oil companies and her co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal as reasons to support her.
President Joe Biden may have passed the most significant climate change bill in U.S. history, but many young environmental activists say they believe Kamala Harris has a stronger case on the issue.
The heads of 11 groups dedicated to raising young voters’ concern about climate change said Harris’ track record going after big oil companies as a prosecutor and her co-sponsoring of the Green New Deal as a senator made her a more appealing candidate than Biden, despite her victories on environmental issues.
“She has a track record of holding big oil accountable in a way that we haven’t been able to do for the last four years,” said Al-Shainee Ajay, 26, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, which advocates for government intervention to combat climate change.
The Green New Deal Network is a coalition of 19 progressive environmental and social justice organizations, including the Sunrise Movement. I endorsed Harris this week. However, he has never previously voiced his support for Biden.
The Biden administration’s record on climate is relatively good. The biggest investment in climate change For the first time in U.S. history, we have allocated nearly $370 billion to environmental protection efforts; and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act These include investments in clean energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, public transport and strengthening climate resilience.
But several young environmental activists, ages 16 to 29, said those successes have been clouded by the expansion of the fossil fuel industry during Biden’s term.
“Frankly, I’m frustrated that this administration claims to be showing leadership on climate change yet approves so many fossil fuel projects,” said Keanu Arpels Josiah, 19, an organizer with Fridays for Future, an international youth-led climate change group started by Greta Thunberg.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Vice President Harris visited Lake Mead in 2021 and delivered a speech there. Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
Dana Fisher, director of the Center for Environment, Community and Equity at American University, said it’s not that young voters are ignoring Biden’s climate change efforts, they just want to see more of them.
“Young people are aware of how serious the climate crisis is, and they know that this is not enough,” Fisher said.
She also said several young environmental activists told her in the spring that they were encouraging their members to refrain from voting in the presidential election altogether.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Don’t you remember what happened in 2000?'” Fischer said, referring to the slim margin that decided that year’s presidential election. “Of course they didn’t know, because if they were alive, they were in diapers. It’s very hard to take the long view when you’re young.”
Fischer said the young environmental activists she has spoken to seem more likely to vote since Biden dropped out of the race.
Harris’ younger supporters highlight the settlements she won as California’s attorney general. Chevron, BP and ConocoPhillips Regarding handling of hazardous materials.
“Biden is much more moderate in terms of his policy approach, but Kamala is not afraid to really get to the bottom of environmental and climate policy, especially against polluters,” said Iris Zhang, 20, a youth advisory board member at the Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab, which engages young leaders in climate and environmental justice research.
Harris referenced that early work at several points during her campaign’s early days.
“As District Attorney, I created one of the first Environmental Justice Units in the nation to go after polluters,” she says. July 22 in WilmingtonThe Delaware native spoke about her time as district attorney in San Francisco, when “Donald Trump stood at Mar-a-Lago and told lobbyists for Big Oil that he would do what they said for $1 billion in campaign contributions.”
On September 15, 2020, then-Senator Kamala Harris met with Governor Gavin Newsom and Cal Fire officials to assess the damage caused by the Pine Ridge Creek Fire in California. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images file
Harris’s California background also appears to be resonating with young environmentalists.
Zanagie Artis, 24, co-founder of the climate justice group Zero Hour, said that because California regularly experiences the effects of the climate crisis, including droughts, heat waves and wildfires, “there is a lot of value in empathizing with young people who are fighting so hard for climate justice.”
Young activists pointed to Harris’ climate change policies. 2020 Presidential ElectionAt the time, she pledged to invest $10 trillion over 10 years in climate change efforts, and set a goal of transitioning to a 100% clean energy economy by 2045.
“We want her to be able to set the standard and not just follow the Biden administration’s lead,” said Natalie Bookout, who turned 18 in October and leads the Sunrise Movement chapter in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sunrise Movement protesters gathered near VP Harris’ Brentwood home on April 14, demanding that she urge President Biden to declare a climate emergency. Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
Heather Hargreaves, executive director of campaigns at Climate Power, a communications organization focused on electing climate change leaders, said that among young people, “there may just be a knowledge gap about what President Biden has done over the last three years.”
A Harris campaign spokesman said she plans to strengthen climate change efforts in the Inflation Control Act, but declined to answer a question about whether she has more support than Biden among younger environmentalists.
The spokesperson also said Harris Said in 2019 If elected president, she would ban fracking.I no longer support such bans.
“She doesn’t want to alienate people from fossil fuel states,” Fischer said. “She’s not going to be as progressive as she was in California. But will she be more progressive than Biden? I expect she will.”
Vice President Kamala Harris looks out at the Hyperwall during a discussion on climate change at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on November 5, 2021. Olivier D’Uglier/AFP via Getty Images file
Harris represents dozens of environmental groups and more than 350 www.nbcnews.com
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in the hair loss industry by finding that a naturally occurring sugar in the human body, 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR), could be the key to combating male pattern baldness.
The study, published in the journal The forefront of pharmacology, revealed that this natural sugar treatment is as effective as current FDA-approved treatments with fewer side effects.
Research co-author, Professor Sheila McNeill, highlighted the potential of 2dDR in increasing blood supply to hair follicles and promoting hair growth. The study was initially focused on wound healing, where accelerated hair growth was observed around sites treated with 2dDR.
Testing in mice showed that 2dDR Gel was 80-90% as effective as minoxidil, a common FDA-approved hair loss treatment found in products like Rogaine and Celoxidil. The discovery offers a promising, safer alternative with fewer side effects, as 2dDR is naturally occurring in the body.
Experts, such as Professor Muhammad Yar, stressed the potential benefits of 2dDR in stimulating blood vessel growth, crucial for healthy hair follicles, and promoting hair growth.
While the research is still in early stages, it could provide hope for those suffering from hair loss conditions like chemotherapy-induced alopecia. More studies are needed before 2dDR-based treatments become available, but the results so far are promising.
For men dealing with hair loss, this discovery offers a ray of hope for an effective, natural, and non-invasive treatment option. Further research is warranted to explore its effects on human hair growth and follicle health.
Learn more from our experts:
Sheila McNeill: Professor Emeritus of Tissue Engineering with a focus on translating research into clinical practice.
Muhammad Yar: Associate Professor with expertise in tissue engineered skin and targeted drug delivery.
Claire Higgins: Lecturer specializing in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, focusing on skin and hair follicles.
Concerned that you may be dealing with ADHD? Have you ever caught yourself trailing off in the middle of a conversation, getting lost in your own thoughts? It is normal to lose focus, but if you constantly find yourself daydreaming and struggling to concentrate, you may be experiencing a lesser-known attention disorder known as Cognitive Withdrawal Syndrome (CDS).
While often mistaken for laziness, lack of motivation, or ADHD, CDS is actually a legitimate neurological disorder that is gaining more attention from scientists and researchers.
What exactly is cognitive withdrawal syndrome?
CDS was first described in the 1960s as “cognitive tempo slowing” and was rebranded in 2022 to better reflect its core feature: cognitive detachment.
“CDS is characterized by symptoms such as confusion, daydreaming, absent-mindedness, and drowsiness,” according to Dr. Sophia Boukas, an Academic in Psychology and Education at Brunel University, London, in BBC Science Focus. People with CDS often take longer to complete tasks, but this does not affect the quality of their work, they simply require more time.
Although CDS is gaining recognition, it has not yet been officially classified as a disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is used by medical professionals to diagnose mental disorders.
Research suggests that CDS may impact 5-7% of children, comparable to ADHD, indicating that a significant number of people may be experiencing CDS symptoms without realizing it.
Is CDS a form of ADHD?
CDS and ADHD are distinct conditions, but they share similarities and overlaps that can cause confusion. While ADHD can manifest in three ways, primarily inattention, hyperactivity, or a combination of both, CDS is more closely associated with predominantly inattentive ADHD, rather than hyperactivity disorder.
Research shows that between 25 and 40 percent of youth with ADHD exhibit symptoms of CDS. Importantly, CDS can also occur in individuals without ADHD.
What treatments are available?
As CDS is not yet officially recognized as a disorder, seeking treatment can be challenging. However, some psychologists are using questionnaires and behavioral observations to help diagnose the condition, which may eventually lead to formal diagnostic criteria.
Organizations like Cincinnati Children’s Hospital are pioneering CDS assessment and treatment, offering resources such as psychoeducation, parent training, cognitive behavioral therapy, and more.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, sleep hygiene, and mindfulness practices are emphasized for managing CDS. Treatment options are still evolving, with non-stimulant medications showing promise for CDS, while stimulants commonly used for ADHD may not be as effective.
If you suspect you or your child may have CDS, it’s important to consult a medical professional for guidance on treatment options.
About our experts
Sofia Barbosa-Boucas is a Lecturer in Psychology (Education) at Brunel University, London, known for significant contributions to psychology and education.
Use of Data ESA's Gaia mission Astronomers have discovered a number of metal-poor stars that are more than 13 billion years old and in orbits similar to our sun.
Rotational motion of a young (blue) and an older (red) star similar to the Sun (orange). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt / SSC / Caltech.
“The Milky Way has a large halo, a central bulge and bar, and thick and thin disks,” said Dr Samir Nepal of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam and his colleagues.
“Most of the stars are found in a thin disk of the so-called Milky Way galaxy, which revolves regularly around the galactic center.”
“Middle-aged stars like our Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old, belong to a thin disk that is generally thought to have begun to form between 8 and 10 billion years ago.”
Astronomers used the new Gaia data set to study stars within about 3,200 light-years of the Sun.
They found a surprisingly large number of very old stars in the thin disk orbit, most of which are over 10 billion years old, with some being over 13 billion years old.
These ancient stars show a wide range of metal compositions: some are very metal-poor (as expected), while others have twice the metal content of the much younger Sun, indicating that rapid metal enrichment occurred early in the evolution of the Milky Way.
“These ancient stars in the disk suggest that the formation of the Milky Way's thin disk began much earlier than previously thought, around 4 to 5 billion years ago,” Dr Nepal said.
“This study also reveals that the Galaxy underwent intense star formation early on, leading to rapid metal enrichment in its inner regions and the formation of a disk.”
“This discovery brings the Milky Way's disk formation timeline into line with that of high-redshift galaxies observed with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).”
“This shows that cold disks can form and stabilize very early in the history of the universe, providing new insights into the evolution of galaxies.”
“Our study suggests that the Milky Way's thin disk may have formed much earlier than previously thought and that its formation is closely linked to an early chemical enrichment in the innermost regions of the galaxy,” said Dr Cristina Chiappini, astronomer at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam.
“The combination of data from different sources and the application of advanced machine learning techniques has allowed us to increase the number of stars with high-quality stellar parameters, which is an important step leading our team to these new insights.”
Samir Nepal others2024. Discovery of local counterparts of disk galaxies at z > 4: The oldest thin disk in the Milky Way using Gaia-RVS. A&Ain press; arXiv: 2402.00561
Pakdipthes hakataramea Body size would have been similar to that of modern humans Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor)It is approximately 40-45 cm (15.7-17.7 in) in length.
Artist image Pakdipthes hakatarameaPhoto courtesy of Tatsuya Niimura / Ashoro Museum of Paleontology
Pakdipthes hakataramea It lived in New Zealand about 24 million years ago (Late Oligocene Epoch).
This new species was very small, about the size of a little blue penguin. World's smallest — They have anatomical adaptations that allow them to dive.
“Pakdipthes hakataramea “This fossil fills the morphological gap between modern and fossil penguins,” said Dr. Tatsuro Ando, a paleontologist at the Ashoro Museum in Ashoro Town.
“In particular, the shape of the wing bones is very different, and it was unclear how penguins' wings acquired their current shape and function.”
“The humerus and ulna show how penguins' wings evolved.”
“To my surprise, Pakdipthes hakataramea It was very close to the condition of modern penguins, but the elbow joint was very similar to that of older types of fossil penguins.
“Pakdipthes hakataramea This is the first penguin fossil to be found in this combination and is a key fossil that will shed light on the evolution of penguins' wings.”
Fossilized remains Pakdipthes hakataramea The fossils were discovered by palaeontologists Craig Jones and Professor Euan Fordyce during a series of field expeditions in the Hakataramea Gorge in South Canterbury in 1987.
“Analysis of internal bone structure compared with data from modern penguins shows that these penguins had microanatomical features indicative of diving behaviour,” said Dr Carolina Lock, a palaeontologist at the University of Otago.
Modern penguins have excellent swimming abilities, thanks mainly to their dense, thick bones that provide them with buoyancy when diving.
in Pakdipthes hakatarameaAlthough the medullary cavity containing the bone marrow was open, the cortical bone was quite thick, similar to that seen in modern little blue penguins, which tend to swim in shallow waters.
ability Pakdipthes hakataramea Their ability to dive and swim depends on a unique combination of bones.
“Penguins evolved rapidly from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene. Pakdipthes hakataramea “This is a significant fossil from this period,” Dr Locke said.
“Their small body size and unique bone combination may have contributed to the ecological diversity of modern penguins.”
Discovery Pakdiptes hakataramea teeth, paper In Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
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Tatsuro Ando othersA new small penguin fossil discovered from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand and morphofunctional changes in penguin wings. Journal of the Royal Society of New ZealandPublished online July 31, 2024, doi: 10.1080/03036758.2024.2362283
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