Space dust may have brought elements essential for life to early Earth. Our planet is relatively poor in some of the elements necessary for the chemical reactions of life, but the dust that constantly drifts in from space contains many more, and when the Earth was young it was covered with glaciers. It is possible that they were gathered in
“It’s always been a shadow idea, but people were ignoring it for a number of reasons. The biggest one was that there weren’t enough ideas anywhere,” he said. say. craig walton at Cambridge University. Space dust tends to be rich in elements that are relatively difficult to obtain on Earth, such as phosphorus and sulfur, and it constantly falls in thin layers around the world.
Until now, researchers exploring the origins of such elements on Earth have focused primarily on larger objects that can deliver more elements at once, but such delivery mechanisms were They may have a hard time maintaining their pre-biological chemistry long enough to do so, Walton says. “Meteorites have long been thought to be a great source of these elements, but they release them randomly,” he says. “It’s like if I give you a big feast once, but you never eat again, you’re going to have a hard time living a happy life. You need a continuous source, and that’s what happens. It’s space dust.”
Up to 40,000 tons of space dust falls on Earth every year. Billions of years ago, that number may have been between 10 and 10,000 times higher, but that was still not enough to make individual locations particularly rich in elements important to life. Walton and his colleagues simulated how wind and water move dust and collect it in concentrations high enough to support life.
They found that glaciers are the most promising environment because they have the potential to trap large amounts of dust and are very less contaminated by dirt on land. When space dust falls on a glacier, it absorbs sunlight and heats up, melting and creating tiny holes in the ice. The hole then continues to trap more dust. Finally, the dust chamber flows into a pond at the edge of the glacier.
We can still see this process happening today, but if the Earth had been cold enough to have glaciers billions of years ago, the amount of dust would have increased and it would have been even more efficient. . “If you want to produce deposits that are really rich and have a lot of reactions that could lead to life, this is the best way to do it,” Walton says.
“We don’t know if glaciers were common on early Earth; we just don’t have good data for this period in general,” he says. ben pierce at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. “But I think it’s worth investigating, especially if it has the potential to provide a mechanism for creating a rich primordial soup.”
The lack of data about conditions on Earth during this time makes it difficult to estimate how important cosmic dust was to the origin of life. “We’ve always had a hard time understanding what the bulk chemistry of early Earth was like,” he says. Matthew Pasek at the University of South Florida. “However, this could be an important source of extremely valuable material.”
Today, not one, but five asteroids are hurtling past Earth, all at their closest approach.
The largest one was discovered just a few weeks ago. Potentially Dangerous 2024 BR4. Measuring between 140 and 300 meters in length, it is a sizable chunk of space rock. At its highest estimate, it would be about the size of an oil tanker, six Olympic-sized swimming pools, or as tall as New York City's Chrysler Building.
And just like the box of chocolates you might stuff your cheeks with, we have a few more surprises in store for you on the day. Dr. Darren Baskillan astronomer at the University of Sussex, said:
“On Wednesday, February 14, 2024, a total of five asteroids will pass Earth, all within 5 million kilometers.”
It may seem like a long way, but from an astronomical perspective, it's just a stone's throw away.
“The closest of these five is asteroid 2024 CU1, which is scheduled to pass about 52 percent further away than the Moon and is about 20 meters in diameter.”
In 2024, CU1 will be closest at 1:31 PM GMT (+/- 1 minute). However, it is only 20 meters in diameter, much smaller than the much talked about “city killer” called 2024 BR4.
How close will asteroid 2024 BR4 get?
Asteroid 2024 BR4, one of a group of asteroids that will fly past Earth today, will make its closest approach at a distance of 4.6 million km (2.86 million miles). In terms of AU, this is approximately 0.03 AU, well within the criteria for designation as a potentially hazardous object (see Meaning of a “Potentially Hazardous” Asteroid below).
(To convert kilometers per mile to AU, divide the distance in kilometers per mile by the distance in 1 AU of the same unit.)
Closest approach is expected to occur at 11:03 GMT today (±1 minute).
Will asteroid 2024 BR4 collide with Earth?
The Valentine's Day asteroid is hurtling through space at about 44,880 kilometers per hour (27,887 miles per hour), only slightly faster than the average speed recorded by Galileo during his six-year mission to Jupiter, but we… No need to worry. About influencing our heavenly oasis.
It passes us safely and poses no immediate threat to Earth.
“Asteroid 2024 BR4 will pass close to Earth 12 times further away than the Moon,” Baskill explains.
What do we know about Asteroid 2024 BR4?
Unfortunately, there are very few. In general, the larger the object, the brighter it is (the brighter the object, the lower the magnitude). NASA assigned asteroid 2024 BR4 a magnitude of 21.457.. It's not very bright.
However, we also need to know the object's albedo (surface reflectance), which is currently unknown. Current best estimates place the asteroid's size between 140 and 300 meters in diameter. But we know its trajectory with relative certainty. And today's visit will bring us the closest in 120 years to realizing BR4 in 2024.
of Sturtian “Snowball Earth” Ice Age (717 million to 661 million years ago) is considered the most extreme icehouse period in Earth’s history. In a new study, geologists from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide used plate tectonics modeling to identify the most likely cause of the Staats Ice Age.
Artist’s impression of “Snowball Earth”. Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Imagine if the Earth almost completely froze over, which is exactly what happened about 700 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Adriana Dutkiewicz, a researcher at the University of Sydney. .
“The Earth was covered in ice from the poles to the equator, and temperatures plummeted. But what caused this to happen is an open question.”
“We think we have now solved the mystery. Historically, volcanic carbon dioxide emissions have been low, driven by the weathering of large volcanic rock mountains in what is now Canada. It’s a process that absorbs carbon dioxide.”
Named after Charles Sturt, a 19th-century European colonial explorer of central Australia, the Sturtsian Ice Age spanned 717 million to 660 million years, long before dinosaurs and complex plants existed on land. It continued until ten thousand years ago.
“There are many possible causes for the trigger and end of this extreme ice age, but the most mysterious one is why it lasted 57 million years. It’s hard for humans to imagine,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.
Dr. Dutkiewicz and his colleagues used a plate tectonics model that simultaneously shows the evolution of continents and ocean basins after the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Rodina.
They connected it to a computer model that calculates the outgassing of carbon dioxide from submarine volcanoes along mid-ocean ridges, where plates diverge and new oceanic crust is born.
They soon realized that the beginning of the Starch Ice Age correlated precisely with the lowest ever levels of volcanic carbon dioxide emissions.
Additionally, carbon dioxide flux remained relatively low throughout the ice age.
“At that time, there were no multicellular animals or land plants on Earth,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.
“Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere were determined almost entirely by carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes and by the weathering processes of silicate rocks that consume carbon dioxide.”
“At that time, geology ruled the climate,” said co-author Professor Dietmar Müller, a researcher at the University of Sydney.
“We think the Staats Ice Age began with a double whammy: plate tectonics realigned to minimize volcanic degassing, while at the same time Canada’s continental volcanic belt began to erode, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Consumed.”
“As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide has fallen to levels that could begin an ice age. This is estimated to be less than 200 parts per million, less than half of today’s levels.”
The team’s current research raises interesting questions about the long-term future of the planet.
Recent theories suggest that over the next 250 million years, Earth will evolve toward Pangea Ultima, a supercontinent hot enough to wipe out mammals.
However, the Earth is currently on a trajectory where volcanic carbon dioxide emissions decrease as continental collisions increase and plate velocities decrease.
So perhaps Pangea Ultima will snowball again.
“Whatever the future holds, it is important to remember that geological climate changes of the type studied here occur very slowly,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.
“According to NASA, human-induced climate change is occurring 10 times faster than ever before.”
Adriana Dutkiewicz other. The period of the Sturtian “Snowball Earth” ice age is associated with unusually low gas emissions at mid-ocean ridges. geology, published online on February 7, 2024. doi: 10.1130/G51669.1
Volcanic lightning, which occurs within the clouds of volcanic ash released during some volcanic eruptions, may be a source of nitrogen.
Mike Rivers/Getty Images
Analysis of volcanic rocks revealed large amounts of nitrogen compounds, almost certainly formed by volcanic lightning. This process may have provided the nitrogen that the first life forms needed to evolve and thrive.
Nitrogen is a key component of the amino acids that are linked to make the proteins on which all life depends. Nitrogen gas is abundant, but plants cannot convert it into usable forms like carbon dioxide.
Instead, plants get most of their nitrogen from bacteria that can “fix” the gas by converting it into nitrogen compounds such as nitrate.But nitrogen-fixing bacteria didn't exist when life first evolved. Suliman Becchi There must have been non-biological sources early on, as it was at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
Lightning from thunderstorms is one possible cause. Currently, this produces relatively small amounts of nitrate, but it may have been important early in Earth's history. The famous Miller-Urey experiment of the 1950s demonstrated that nitrogen compounds containing amino acids could have been produced by lightning in Earth's early atmosphere.
Now Becchi and his colleagues show that another source may be lightning that occurs in ash clouds during volcanic eruptions.
When researchers collected volcanic deposits from Peru, Turkey, and Italy, they were initially surprised to find large amounts of nitrate in some layers. Isotopic analysis of these nitrates showed that they were originally present in the atmosphere and were not emitted by volcanoes. But Becchi says that amount is too much to be produced by lightning during thunderstorms. “It was an amazing amount of money,” he says. “It's really huge.” That means the nitrate was probably produced by volcanic lightning.
“When we looked at the various possibilities, volcanic lightning was the most likely,” Becchi said. “We know that when large-scale volcanic eruptions occur, a lot of lightning occurs.”
Tamsin Mather Researchers at the University of Oxford say their team's conclusions make sense. “Volcanic eruptions like the one studied in the paper would be expected to produce significant lightning, so it's quite possible that volcanic lightning generated this signal,” she says.
Life is thought to have first evolved around volcanoes, and the team's findings indicate that this environment may have been rich in nitrogen compounds, Becchi said.
The idea that volcanic lightning played an important role in the origin of life is not new. Jeffrey Bada Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California have previously shown that volcanic lightning passing through volcanic gases can produce molecules such as amino acids. “This paper just reinforces what I've published,” he says.
If you open your eyes anywhere on Earth, there is life, whether it’s pigeons in the park or invisible microbes covering every surface. However, when the Earth was born 4.5 billion years ago, it was barren. How did the first life originate?
Simply put, I don’t know. Then you’ll be able to reproduce it. Scientists can put the right chemicals into a sealed container under the right conditions, and when they open it, they will find a living organism. No one has ever done this before.
But while we don’t know exactly how life began, there are plenty of clues.
Let’s start with the simplest. What is life made of, and where do its components come from? Living organisms contain thousands of chemicals, including proteins and nucleic acids that carry genetic information. Although these chemicals are complex, we now know that their constituent parts are very easily formed.
The first evidence for this was published in 1953 by a young chemist named Stanley Miller. He filled a glass device with water and his three gases to imitate the oceans and air of the young Earth. Miller heated water and delivered an electric shock to the air to imitate lightning. Within a few days, the setup produced amino acids, which are fragments of proteins.
Since then, scientists have conducted many similar studies. In a study published in September 2020, researchers led by Sara Simcucci, now president of a startup company, Alchemy Co., Ltd.), compiled dozens of experiments. They created a “map” that shows how chemicals change into other substances. He started with just six chemicals used daily, such as water and methane. Creates the tens of thousands of substances found in living things.
The implication is that the young Earth was a biochemical factory. However, having a large amount of these chemicals does not necessarily mean that life will emerge. Just like a pile of bricks automatically becomes a house.
This is where things get tricky. Because we have to think about why something is alive. It boils down to three things. Firstly, the organism often has to maintain itself with an outer layer, and removing that outer layer immediately becomes a problem. Secondly, it must feed itself. This involves complex chemical reactions. And third, life must reproduce itself. In other words, life must have genes that can be inherited.
Research into the origins of life over the past 50 years has been dominated by attempts to create one of these systems on our own, for example by creating genetic molecules that reproduce by copying themselves. Other bits were supposed to come later.
Personally, I have doubts about this approach. None of the three systems live alone; they need each other. Moreover, if Earth were so good at making all the chemicals for life, all three systems could have formed in the same place at the same time. This may be more likely to occur in confined spaces such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents or terrestrial pools.
We still don’t know exactly how life originated, but what was once a complete mystery is now less inexplicable.
It may be hard to miss, but unimaginably strong bursts of cosmic radiation happen possibly a thousand times every day. They are bright enough to overwhelm our radio telescopes from billions of light-years away.
However, fast radio bursts (FRBs) were not detected until 2007. Despite over a decade of investigation, they remain one of the most intriguing mysteries in astrophysics. Recent research offers new and promising clues about their origins, while also revealing why these space phenomena are so perplexing in the first place.
When FRBs were first discussed in seminars, the big question wasn’t “What astrophysical cause is causing this?” Instead, it was, “Isn’t this just a mechanical failure?”
FRBs last about 1 millisecond and spread out in frequency in a manner very similar to a blip from a pulsar. But the problem is, they don’t come from any known pulsars, they don’t repeat like pulsars, and they’re clearly much more powerful than any pulsar pulses we’ve seen before.
To make matters worse, for many years the only telescope that observed FRBs was the Parkes Observatory in Australia. The debate became even more heated when it turned out that some of the FRB-like bursts observed by Parkes did not come from astronomical sources.
These bursts, called “peritons,” were always suspected to be of terrestrial origin. But clever detective work by astronomers solved the case. Dr. Emily Petrov and her colleagues showed that Periton had a strong correlation with local lunchtime. In reality, radiation leaked from the observatory’s microwave when the door opened too early.
It was eventually revealed that the FRBs were indeed from far away in space. More radio telescopes were configured to record very short bursts of radio waves, and detection rates began to skyrocket.
Those bursts came from all over the sky, suggesting they didn’t originate in our galaxy. In the first decade after the discovery, theorists produced a huge number of papers explaining the possible origins of the bursts.
In 2012, repeated FRBs were discovered, ruling out origins requiring complete destruction, such as supernovae. It was soon discovered that there were many more repeated bursts, mostly occurring at irregular intervals.
As more outbursts are discovered, there is growing evidence that FRBs may be associated with extraordinarily powerful magnetars: neutron stars that rotate in extremely strong magnetic fields.
Recent evidence suggests that at least some FRBs originate from nearby spiral galaxies rather than elliptical galaxies.
Astronomers will need to continue collecting clues, looking for suggestive patterns in the data, and eagerly awaiting observational upgrades that will allow them to pinpoint the FRBs’ local environment.
Whatever the outcome, the fast radio burst is a great example of the fact that in science, when we look at the universe in new and different ways, we almost always discover something surprising that no one had ever thought to look for.
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered an Earth-sized planet passing by the young Sun-like star HD 63433.
HD 63433d is located close to its parent star HD 63433, with two neighboring mini-Neptune-sized planets HD 63433b and HD 63433c orbiting further out. Image credit: Alyssa Jankowski.
HD 63433 is a G5V star located approximately 73 light years away in the constellation Gemini.
The star, also known as TOI-1726, is a member of the 414-million-year-old Moving Star Group in the Ursa Major constellation.
The newly discovered exoplanet HD 63433d is the third planet detected in this multi-planet system.
The discovery of two other planets — HD 63433b and HD 63433c (both mini-Neptunes) report By Astronomer in 2020.
The HD 63433d is tidally locked, meaning it has a day side that is always facing the stars and a side that is always in the dark.
The planet has an orbital period of 4.2 days and is very hot on its dayside (1,257 degrees Celsius, or 2,294 degrees Fahrenheit).
“These scorching temperatures are comparable to the lava world of: Corot-7b and Kepler-10bAnd we think the dayside of this planet may be a 'lava hemisphere,''' said the University of Florida astronomer. benjamin capistrant and his colleagues.
HD 63433d is the smallest known exoplanet less than 500 million years old.
The planet is also the closest Earth-sized exoplanet to be discovered at such a young age.
“HD 63433d is the closest planet to our solar system, orbiting a young star with a radius similar to Earth,” the astronomers said.
“This is therefore an attractive target for follow-up observations and provides an opportunity to uncover insights into the physics of atmospheric mass loss in exoplanets.”
“Between HD 63433d and the two larger planets known to date, the HD 63433 system is poised to play a key role in understanding the evolution of planetary systems during the first billion years after their formation. I am.”
The discovery of HD 63433d is paper inside astronomy magazine.
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Benjamin K. Capistrant other. 2024. TESS Search for Young and Mature Exoplanets (THYME). 11. An Earth-sized planet orbiting a nearby Sun-like host in the 400 million Ursa Majoris migration group. A.J. 167, 54; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad1039
Understanding time can be challenging, as Einstein demonstrated time’s relativity and how it can be experienced differently based on an object’s speed. But what about the animals’ experience of time? Many animals around the world have lived incredibly long lives, defying the odds. So, what is the world’s longest-living animal species?
Scientists have been studying the secrets of longevity, and the species on this list may offer hints about living longer and healthier lives in the future. Let’s take a look at some of the world’s longest-living creatures.
Humans are the longest-lived land mammals
A photo of Jeanne Calment in 1995 at the age of 120. Photo courtesy: Pascal Parrot/Sygma/Getty Images
A photo depicts Jeanne Calment, recognized as the world’s oldest person, who lived an astonishing life of 122 years and 164 days. Despite smoking after every meal, she attributed her long life to her lack of stress and her sense of humor. She passed away in 1997 at the age of 117, outliving her only daughter and grandson, who both died much younger.
The longest-lived aquatic creature – glass sponge
Stalked vitreous cavernoma (hexatinerid) of Borosoma photographed at Maruru Seamount.Photo credit: National Marine Sanctuary/Wikipedia
One of the longest-lived creatures on Earth is the vitreous cavernosa, estimated to live up to 15,000 years. Found in all oceans, its unique ability to generate electrical impulses throughout its body sets it apart from other species.
The longest-living bird – Parrot Cookie
Cookie the pink parrot, photographed at Brookfield Zoo, USA, in 2008. Photo: Nimesh Madhavan/Wikipedia
Cookie, a male pink parrot recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, lived to the age of 83. He outlived the next longest-living pink parrot by 52 years.
Longest living rodent – naked mole rat
Close-up of a naked mole rat (Heterocepalus glaber) in its underground burrow.Photo courtesy: Getty Images
Naked mole rats, known for surviving 18 minutes without oxygen and resistance to cancer, are burrowing rodents with long lifespans. One male was reported to have lived 37 years, making it the longest-living rodent on the planet.
The longest-lived invertebrate – ocean quahog
The oldest marine quahog is thought to be over 500 years old and is known as “Min”.Photo courtesy of Bangor University
The ocean quahog’s age is estimated by counting its shell stripes, with one specimen found to be 507 years old. It was named “Ming” after the Ming dynasty that ruled China when it was born.
The longest-lived turtle – Aldabra giant tortoise
Adwaita, a giant Aldabra tortoise, rests in a cage at Alipore Zoo in Kolkata, India, on April 25, 2005. Photo by Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
The Aldabra giant tortoise is the longest-living turtle, with the oldest individual reaching 255 years. It is a species native to the Seychelles’ Aldabra Atoll, known for its large population living in the world’s largest turtle habitat.
Longest living fish – Greenland shark
Greenland shark or Greenland sleeper shark (Somniosus microcepalus) swimming along the St. Lawrence River estuary in Canada.Photo credit: Alamy
The Greenland shark, estimated to live to between 252 and 512 years, is the longest-lived shark species due to its slow metabolism in cold oceans.
The longest-lived dog – Bobbi
A photo taken on February 12, 2023 shows Bobi, the world’s oldest dog according to Guinness World Records, at her home in the village of Conqueiros, near Leiria, Portugal.Photo by Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images
Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro de Alentejo, lived to the age of 31, surpassing previous records as the oldest dog in history. However, there are claims that this age may be incorrect.
Last year was the hottest on record on Earth, the European Union’s climate change agency announced Tuesday, confirming what scientists had predicted and feared.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency says global temperatures in 2023 will be higher than in any year dating back to at least 1850, reaching a level of “unprecedented highs” and averaging 1.48 degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit) higher than before the industrial revolution. 2.66 degrees) high.
This is a milestone that many climate scientists saw coming after a year filled with extreme weather. Since June, the Earth has been warmer than normal every month, with July and August 2023 becoming the two warmest months on record. According to Copernicus’ report.
This trajectory of global warming has been predicted by climate models, but last year’s developments remained exceptional.
A man cools off during a heatwave in Baghdad on July 6, 2023. Hadi Mizban / AP File
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said “2023 was an extraordinary year in which the climate record fell like dominoes,” adding that last year’s temperatures were “higher than any time in at least the past 100,000 years.” There is a high possibility that it will exceed that amount,” he added.
Last year, the effects of that warming were felt almost everywhere on Earth. A dangerous and intense heatwave has hit parts of North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The world’s oceans were also unusually warm, with months of extreme sea surface temperatures, intensified storms, and tropical cyclones. And the fires raged during Canada’s historic wildfire season, burning at least 45 million acres and plummeting air quality in cities south of the border.
“Thanks to the work of the Copernicus Program throughout 2023, we knew there would be no good news today. But the annual data presented here shows that the impacts of climate change are increasing.” We provide further evidence that
Last year’s warm conditions were driven by El Niño, a natural weather pattern characterized by warmer-than-normal waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño typically exacerbates the background warming caused by anthropogenic climate change, increasing the likelihood of extreme temperatures.
A man cools off during a heatwave in Phoenix on July 16, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty Images File
The Copernicus report highlights the challenges ahead in keeping global warming within limits set by the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. In the climate agreement, countries agreed to limit temperature increases to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the most devastating consequences of climate change.
According to the Copernicus report, almost half of the days in 2023 were warmer than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to Copernicus scientists, this criterion does not by itself mean that the goals of the climate agreement have failed, as it refers to a warming of more than 1.5 degrees over several decades, but it still “sets a disastrous precedent.” It is said that
The European report was one of the first to confirm this new record. Other organizations, including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are expected to release their own findings later this week.
Its mauve, suction cup-covered arms gently unfold to grab an egg shaped like an elongated ping-pong ball. A jet of water from a siphon next to the octopus's head ensures that the unhatched cubs get enough oxygen.
From a distance, she is surrounded by hundreds of females, living up to her nickname. The pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robotus) resembles a spherical gem that sits on the ocean floor. This is the largest known assemblage of eight-armed molluscs on Earth, numbering approximately 20,000 individuals, and has been witnessed by people all over the world in astonishingly high resolution. “Oceans” episode BBC series Planet Earth III.
This view would have been amazing enough even if it were from shallow water, including tropical coral reefs and kelp forests. But these octopus mothers tend to their eggs in freezing cold and darkness, about 2 miles below the surface. of the deep sea.
“The fact that there is life there is amazing in itself,” says the producer and director. Will Ridgeon They spent two years photographing the octopus, collaborating with scientists and technicians at California's Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
The aptly named pearl octopus rears its eggs in an octopus garden surrounded by flower-like anemones. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The octopus farm, as the site is now known, is located on a hill in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Monterey Bay, near a giant underwater mountain called Davidson Seamount. This place was discovered during his expedition in 2018. live streamed over the internet.
It was the first time I had ever seen so many creatures in one place, let alone in the deep sea. (Octopuses are notoriously solitary animals and tend to be cannibalistic when kept together in captivity.) ).
Ridgeon watched the livestream of the discovery and immediately knew it was a story to be filmed in a new BBC series.he teamed up with Dr. Jim Barrya senior scientist at MBARI, began regularly visiting octopus farms in 2019 to learn more about why so many octopuses congregate in certain areas.
“The question is, why is it there?” Barry says. Barry and his colleagues gathered specialized tools and began a series of detailed studies. They created a photomosaic of his 2.5-hectare (about 27,000 square feet2) portion of the property and stitched together high-resolution images that allowed them to count the octopus population.
They also installed time-lapse cameras on the ocean floor, taking close-up photos every 20 minutes at a time for months to show what the octopuses were doing, and Barry's team gradually expanded the octopus park's largest began to unravel some of the mysteries.
Octopus farm location. – Image credit: MBARI
work remotely
Ridgeon took part in an expedition to an octopus farm early on. Initially, filming took place during lockdown, so he participated via live video link from his bedroom in Bristol, England (with occasional interruptions from his five-year-old daughter).
Once COVID-19 restrictions allowed, Ridgeon joined Barry and his team aboard MBARI's vessel, the research vessel Western Flyer. However, no one visited the octopus farm directly. All surveys and filming were done using a car-sized remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with a camera and a robotic arm.
The dive began around 6 a.m., and the ROV was lowered into the ocean through a hole in the Western Flyer's hull called the moonpool. “It's very James Bond,” Ridgeon says. The descent to the octopus garden can take up to two hours, and the ROV will remain there all day.
The pilot controls the ROV via a cable connected to a control room on the ship on the ground, and everyone watches the video feed to see what's happening below.
Researchers survey the octopus farm from the Western Flyer's ROV control room. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
“You forget you're looking at a screen,” Ridgeon says. “You think you're there,” says the MBARI engineer. He worked with the BBC to find the ideal camera setup to photograph the octopus garden. It was not possible to use footage from a camera fixed to the ROV due to too much vibration.
“I think the BBC will do a little bit about that.” [shivering]“But not as much as we had,” Barry says. ROVs “shudder” not because of the cold temperatures of the deep ocean, but because the thrusters must be activated constantly to ensure they stay close to the ocean floor (ROVs are positively buoyant, so if they fail they will ). .
To get around this, Barry and Ridgeon used a separate 4K camera mounted on a specially designed stand that could be placed on the ocean floor.
“I think that's the secret behind the images,” Ridgeon says. Unlike the ROV cameras used by scientists, which can only reach within a few meters of objects on the ocean floor, the 4K camera's focal length of about 20 centimeters (7 to 8 inches) allows it to precisely navigate between octopuses. can be captured.
But it was difficult to use. It took up to 40 minutes to get into position, and the team had to hope it wouldn't fall over and the action would happen in front of it. Ridgeon operated the camera from the ship using his PlayStation controller, which MBARI engineers adapted for the job. “At first it's like trying to film him with his hands tied behind his back,” Ridgeon said.
Another challenge with deep-sea photography is light. “Put the light as far away from the camera as possible, ideally around the sides so it’s three-quarters backlit. [the scene]That way, there are no reflections from any debris in the water,” explains Ridgeon.
The octopus garden provides insight into the life and reproduction of molluscs. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Those “fragments” are marine snow. These are organic particles that constantly rain down from the shallow ocean above. Marine snow is made up of dead plankton and their feces stuck together by microbial glue, and is the main food source for deep-sea animals. However, it makes filming difficult as the movie can look like it was shot in a snowstorm.
To see through the snowstorm and achieve the desired three-quarters backlighting effect, the MBARI team built a lighting system that the ROV could hold on its side, away from the camera. “That's how we got some really great shots,” Barry says.
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Accelerate development
As Barry's investigation and BBC filming progressed, the team made some surprising discoveries. First, no medium-sized octopus ever visited this location, and there were no signs of it feeding. It was only a fully grown adult octopus.
They were here to breed and for no other purpose. It may be called an octopus farm, but this place is definitely an octopus farm. The researchers also collected evidence that incubating females use on-site hot springs to speed up the development of their offspring.
For octopuses, there is a strong relationship between temperature and hatching time. The colder it is, the longer it will take and the more dangerous it will be. This is because there are scavengers that prey on unborn, unprotected octopus eggs.
Temperature studies have shown that the seawater surrounding each octopus nest can reach 10°C (50°F), much warmer than the 1.6°C (34°F) seawater just a few meters away. It was shown. By observing specific octopuses (identifiable by scratch and scar patterns) in the field, Barry and his colleagues determined that their eggs take an average of 1.8 years to hatch.
During this time, the female does not move but is constantly fighting off predators and guarding her approximately 60 eggs. “Once you plant an egg on a rock, that's it. You can't leave that spot,” Barry says. At just under two years, it's not the longest parenting period for an octopus. This record is given to another species that other MBARI scientists discovered nearby, Graneledon boreopafica, clinging to the sides of Monterey She Canyon 1.4 km (just under a mile) deep. I did.
Researchers watched one female incubate her eggs for four and a half years, longer than any other recorded animal. However, she was growing her eggs in water that was much warmer than the octopus park's ambient temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius. Without the hot springs, the eggs in the octopus garden would take more than 10 years to hatch. When this site was discovered, biologists were surprised to find octopuses nesting there.
But geologists were fascinated by warm water seeping through the ocean floor, something they had never seen before. These springs are much cooler than the red-hot hydrothermal vents that form at the edges of tectonic plates where new molten ocean floors are created.
Although the enormous pressure will not cause the water to boil, the temperature around the vent can reach hundreds of degrees. These were first discovered in his 1970s, and plumes of hydrothermal water rise up to hundreds of meters in the water column, making them relatively easy to detect with temperature probes. In contrast, hot springs are more difficult to find because they form away from these tectonically active regions and have much cooler temperatures.
But geologists believe they could exist in the thousands and are highly stable, likely remaining in the same location for hundreds or even thousands of years. Therefore, biologists believe that more octopus farms may be established around these springs.
birth and death
In the final scene of the “Octopus Garden” episode Planet Earth III, a cluster of tiny sucker-like arms appears beneath the brooding female, then a wobbling young octopus swims away into the darkness like a mini-umbrella. More chicks follow and begin life at sea.
No one knows where they're going…yet. “That's what I want to understand next,” Barry says. The hatchlings are large for a newborn octopus, at about 6 cm (2 inches), so they have the best chance of survival. But as anyone who has seen the Octopus documentary knows, this comes at a heavy cost to mothers.
“These mothers are trying so hard to protect their bloodlines, and they're just dying out,” Barry says. Her father died a few years ago, shortly after mating. On the screen, we see the women's eyes cloudy and their bodies wrinkled. Ridgeon saw what happened next, but she decided it was not suitable for an evening television audience.
Dead octopuses are quickly attacked by scavengers such as fish, snails, sea anemones, and shrimp. For Barry, this is another important part of his discovery at the octopus farm. The nesting season is asynchronous, with octopuses hatching and mothers dying throughout the year. Approximately 9 each day. The female octopus' body nourishes the rest of the ecosystem and helps supplement the energy input from marine snow by 72 percent.
Graneledon boreopafica (a species of octopus that incubates eggs in cold water) has a 4.5 year rearing period, which holds the record for the longest rearing period of any animal. – Credit: Alamy
“This is clearly a huge food subsidy for the local ecosystem,” Barry says. “That wouldn't happen in shallow water,” he added. Because there is a lot of food around. But in the more barren depths, nothing goes to waste.
The BBC has finished filming at the octopus farm, but Barry's research continues. One of the things he wants to know is the age of the sea anemone. These are giant orange flower-like animals that make the octopus garden look like a real garden.
Barry studies sea anemones, which live for decades in shallow coastal waters, and finds that deep-sea species can survive for centuries, in contrast to octopuses, which are relatively short-lived. That's what I'm thinking.
“They're like sentinels that just sit there while the octopus cycles,” he says. There are many more questions Barry would like to answer. “Are octopuses confined to this breeding form in warm areas, or are they able to breed elsewhere with cooler ambient temperatures? Is there fidelity to specific nest sites? ?Will they return to their place of birth?'' he asks.
No one knows how far the octopuses travel before they reach the garden or how they found them, but Barry said he was surprised by the large number of dead and dying octopuses floating around. I suspect I smelled it. “We'll definitely be back,” he says.
Researchers have discovered that ancient stars can produce elements with atomic masses of more than 260, heavier than those found naturally on Earth. This discovery improves our understanding of element formation in stars, particularly through the rapid neutron capture processes (r-processes) that occur in neutron stars. . Credit: SciTechDaily.com
A new study reveals that ancient stars can produce elements heavier than Earth, with atomic masses of more than 260, advancing our understanding of cosmic element formation.
How much do elements weigh? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars had the ability to produce elements with an atomic mass of more than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table that occurs naturally on Earth. I discovered that. This discovery deepens our understanding of element formation in stars.
space element factory
We are literally made of star stuff. Stars are elemental factories, where elements are constantly merging or breaking down to create other lighter or heavier elements. When we refer to light or heavy elements, we are talking about their atomic mass. Roughly speaking, atomic mass is based on the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. atom of its elements.
The heaviest elements are only known to be produced in neutron stars by rapid neutron capture processes, or r processes. Imagine a single atomic nucleus floating in a soup of neutrons. Suddenly, a bunch of these neutrons attach themselves to the nucleus in a very short time (usually less than a second), causing a change from neutrons to protons inside, and voila! Heavy elements such as gold, platinum, and uranium are formed.
Instability of heavy elements
The heaviest elements are unstable or radioactive and decay over time. One way to do this is through a split called fission.
“If you want to make heavier elements, such as lead or bismuth, you need the R process,” says Ian Roederer, associate professor of physics. north carolina state university and lead author of the study. Mr. Roederer previously attended the University of Michigan.
“We need to add a lot of neutrons very quickly, and the problem is that we need a lot of energy and a lot of neutrons to do that,” Roederer says. “And the best place to find both is at the moment of a person’s birth or death. neutron staror when neutron stars collide and the raw materials for the process are produced.
“We have a general understanding of how the r process works, but the conditions of the process are very extreme,” Roederer says. “We don’t really know how many different sites in the universe generate r-processes, and we don’t know how r-processes end. We also don’t know how many neutrons there are Can you add more? Or how heavy can the elements be? So we looked at the elements produced by nuclear fission in well-studied old stars to find out how heavy these elements are. We decided to see if we could answer some of the questions.”
Identify previously unrecognized patterns
The research team newly investigated the abundance of heavy elements in 42 well-studied stars. milky way. These stars were known to contain heavy elements formed by the r process in earlier generations of stars. By looking more broadly at the amounts of each heavy element found in these stars, rather than individually, as is more common, they identified previously unrecognized patterns.
These patterns indicated that some elements listed near the middle of the periodic table, such as silver and rhodium, were likely remnants of nuclear fission of heavy elements. The research team was able to confirm that the r process can produce atoms with an atomic mass of at least 260 before fission.
“That 260 is interesting because, even in nuclear weapons tests, nothing that heavy has ever been detected in space or in nature on Earth,” Roederer said. “But observing them in space gives us guidance on how to think about models and fission. It also gives us insight into how the rich diversity of elements came about.” may be given.”
For more information on this research, see ‘Incredibly profound’ evidence for nuclear fission throughout the universe.’
Reference: “Elemental abundance patterns in stars show splitting of nuclei heavier than uranium” Ian U. Roederer, Nicole Vassh, Erika M. Holmbeck, Matthew R. Mumpower, Rebecca Surman, John J. Cowan, Timothy C. Beers, Rana Ezzeddine, Anna Froebel, Therese T. Hansen, Vinicius M. Placko, Charlie M. Sakari, December 7, 2023. science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adf1341
The research was published in the journal Science and was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
< p >The SpaceX Dragon supply ship (photographed from the window of the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship) carrying more than 5,800 pounds of new scientific experiments and crew supplies approaches the International Space Station in the South Atlantic Ocean in July 2022. Credit: NASA< /p >
< p >The crew of Expedition 70 finished packing the U.S. cargo ship before departure Wednesday. International space station. The seven orbiting residents also collaborated on various human studies to learn how to keep humans healthy in space.< /p >
< p >On Wednesday, the four astronauts worked together to coordinate the final cargo transport inside the spacecraft. Space X Dragon cargo spaceship. The Dragon had been berthed at the station since November 11 and was scheduled to unberth at 9:05 p.m. EST Wednesday from the forward port of the Harmony module’s orbital outpost. Due to weather conditions, we are scheduled to depart on Thursday, December 21st at 5:05pm ET.< /p >
< p >The agency will provide live coverage of Dragon’s undocking and departure starting at 8:45 p.m. NASA+via streaming services web or NASA app. The coverage will also be broadcast live on NASA Television. YouTubeand the agency’s Website.learn how Stream NASA TV Through various platforms including social media.< /p >
< p >SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship approached the International Space Station in April 2023 carrying more than 6,200 pounds of scientific experiments, crew supplies, and other cargo to replenish the crew for Expedition 68. At the time this photo was taken, both spacecraft were flying 429 miles above the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. Credit: NASA< /p >
< p >Astronauts Jasmine Mogberg and Andreas Mogensen began their science return mission in the morning, transferring frozen research samples from the station’s science freezer to an insulated Dragon science transport bag. Astronauts Loral O’Hara and Satoshi Furukawa continued handing over samples in the Destiny, Kibo, and Columbus experimental modules and packed them into Dragon. NASA aeronautical engineers O’Hara and Mogbeli concluded their study by storing fresh astronaut blood samples inside Dragon for recovery and analysis on Earth. Mogbeli will be the last crew member to leave the Dragon and close the hatch several hours before departure.< /p >
< p >Seven Expedition 70 crew members take portraits inside the Kibo laboratory module on the International Space Station. Front row (from left) are ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen, NASA flight engineers Jasmine Moghberg and Loral O’Hara. Behind him are Roscosmos aeronautical engineers Nikolai Chubut, Konstantin Borisov and Oleg Kononenko. Satoshi Furukawa, flight engineer at JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Credit: NASA< /p >
< p >All four crew members went to work and had blood and saliva samples taken. Cryptography A suite of 14 experiments examining how living in zero gravity affects the human body. O’Hara also took cognitive tests to understand how the brain works in space. Moghbeli downloaded the medical data stored on the health monitoring vest and headband. After all, Furukawa and Mogensen JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ESA (european space agency) Each used an ultrasound 2 machine to scan the veins in each other’s necks, shoulders, and legs.< /p >
< p >The three astronauts lived and worked on the station, but remained focused on their mission. Roscosmos-Based scientific experiments and laboratory maintenance. Aviation engineers Konstantin Borisov and Nikolai Chubut participated in two different fitness evaluations. Borisov started pedaling on an exercise cycle, while Chubb jogged on a treadmill with a sensor attached to measure aerobic activity. Aeronautical engineer Oleg Kononenko conducted another of his 3D printing sessions to demonstrate manufacturing tools and consumables in microgravity.< /p >
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These places are less popular as holiday hotspots, but are known for their extreme cold. If you’re planning a visit, bring a blanket and be prepared to curl up. A record remains for the lowest temperature ever recorded.
East Antarctic Plateau (-94°C) The East Antarctic Plateau claims the title of the coldest place on Earth. Satellite data collected between 2004 and 2016 across Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, an area roughly the size of Australia, suggests temperatures could be around -94C. If these telemetry measurements are correct, this would be the coldest temperature on Earth, the researchers believe. Surface temperature could drop to -98 degrees Celsius.
Vostok Station, Antarctica (-89.2°C) The Vostok Research Station is located in the Antarctic region, an area with the lowest surface temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere, and was established by the Soviet Union in 1957. Click here for thermometer The minimum temperature reached -89.2℃ July 1983 recorded the lowest temperature ever directly recorded. It is also one of the driest places on earth, with an annual rainfall of around 20 millimeters, all of which is snow.
Amundsen-Scott Station, Antarctica (-82.8°C) Amundsen-Scott Station, located in Antarctica, was built in 1956 and receives six months of sunlight in the summer and six months of complete darkness in the winter. The highest temperature ever recorded in this part of the East Antarctic Plateau was Christmas Day 2011, when the thermometer soared to a positive and mild -12.3°C. The coldest on record was June 1982 -82.8℃.
Denali, Alaska, USA (-73°C) Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, is North America’s highest mountain, rising more than 6,000 meters above sea level. The average temperature is around -10 degrees Celsius, and only half of those who attempt to climb this mountain actually reach the top. Between 1950 and 1969, temperatures at weather stations here reached around -73°C, but wind chills can reach -83.4°C.
Klink Station, Greenland (-69.6°C) The Klink weather station holds the record for the coldest place in the Arctic Circle. Located in central Greenland, it beat the record held by Oymyakon in December 1991 (see below) by about two degrees. Reach -69.6℃. Despite these low temperatures, much of Greenland’s ice is melting rapidly.
Oymyakon, Siberia, Russia (-67.7°C) Oymyakon is coldest permanent residence on earth And it is found in the cold Arctic. In 1933, the lowest temperature recorded was -67.7℃. If the population is less than 500, schools will only close if the average winter temperature falls below -55 degrees Celsius.
Northern Ice, Greenland (-66.1°C) The research station was established during the British expedition to North Greenland in the 1950s, which set record low temperatures in North America at the time. In 1954, the temperature dropped to -66.1℃.
Yakutsk, Siberia, Russia (-64.4°C) Yakutsk is one of the coldest cities on earth and is located on permafrost. The region has some short but warm summers, with temperatures reaching a maximum of 38.4°C in 2011, but also long and very cold winters. In 1891, the temperature dropped to -64.4°C. It is located on the Lena River, and during the winter it is often cold enough that the river freezes hard enough to be used as a road.
Snug, Yukon Territory, Canada (-62.8°C) In 1947, the small village of Snug in Canada’s northwestern Yukon Territory was home to about 10 First Nations people. The village was used as an emergency landing site during World War II and then as a weather observatory. The lowest temperature recorded was -62.8℃. researchers are urging the equipment to be retested to ensure it is working properly.
Prospect Creek, Alaska, USA (-62.1°C) Built in the late 1970s as a settlement for workers on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the village is now largely deserted. It was January 1971 and the weather was extremely cold. -62.1℃ was recorded And this settlement still claims some of the coldest winter temperatures in the United States.
Astronomers have detected a rare and extremely energetic particle falling to Earth.
Scientists say the ray, named after the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, is one of the most energetic cosmic rays ever detected.
The Amaterasu particle has an energy of more than 240 exaelectron volts (EeV), making it the second particle in recorded history, after another ultra-high-energy cosmic ray, the Oh My God particle (320 EeV), detected in 1991.
The origins of the particles are unknown, but experts believe that only the most powerful astronomical phenomena, larger than an exploding star, can produce them.
Toshihiro Fujii, associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, Japansaid that when he first discovered this particle, he thought, “There must have been a mistake.”
“We’ve seen energy levels unprecedented in the last 30 years,” he said.
read more: Images from the James Webb Telescope capture the center of the Milky Way NASA astronaut accidentally drops toolbox into space Telescope captures first full-color image of the universe
The particle seems to come out of nowhere, further deepening the mystery for scientists.
John Matthews, a research professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, explains that there was nothing in the area high-energy enough to cause this phenomenon.
It appeared to emerge from the Local Void, the empty space adjacent to the Milky Way.
“We should be able to point to where in the sky they came from,” Professor Matthews says.
“But in the case of the Oh My God particle and this new particle, even if we trace its trajectory back to its source, there is nothing high enough energy to produce it.
“That’s the mystery – what the hell is going on?”
Typically, when ultra-high-energy cosmic rays hit Earth’s atmosphere, they create a cascade of secondary particles and electromagnetic radiation known as a massive air shower.
Some charged particles in air showers travel faster than the speed of light and produce a type of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected with special equipment.
One of those instruments is the Telescope Array Observatory in Utah, which discovered the Amaterasu particle.
image: Telescope Array Surface Detector in Utah.Photo: Associated Press
It is now hoped that this particle will pave the way for further research that will help uncover ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and their origins.
Experts suggest this may indicate a much larger magnetic deflection than predicted, an unidentified source within the local void, or an incomplete understanding of high-energy particle physics.
Another Utah professor, John Beltz, said he was “throwing out crazy ideas” to try to explain the mystery.
“These events appear to be coming from completely different places in the sky. There is no one mysterious source,” he said. “It could be a flaw in the fabric of space-time, causing cosmic strings to collide.”
However, he added, “There is no conventional explanation.”
Equipped with a miniature camera, the TRISAT-R CubeSat captured unique images of the Earth from 6,000 km, contributing to ESA’s research on medium-Earth orbit and digital imaging effects.
Partially shadowed Earth in the distance as seen from orbit at an altitude of 6,000 km (3,700 miles). This unusual image was obtained using a very small camera. It measures just 2 mm (0.08 inches), about the size of the end of a 20 euro cent (or US nickel). This is part of a small-scale technology experiment carried out on his shoebox-sized TRISAT-R CubeSat at ESA.
Iztok Kramberger, TRISAT-R project manager at the University of Maribor, explains: “This tiny camera, less than 2 cubic millimeters in size, captured images of an object of about 1 trillion cubic kilometers – our beautiful Earth – from thousands of kilometers away.”
A CubeSat made from three standardized 10 cm (4 inch) boxes, Trisat R This is Slovenia’s second space mission, with Europe’s first Vega-C launch last year reaching the relatively harsh environment of medium-Earth orbit at an altitude of 6,000 km (3,700 miles). The mission’s orbit passes through the core of the ionosphere (the electrically active layer of Earth’s atmosphere) and the inner Van Allen radiation belt.
The side cover size of TRISAT-R CubeSat is 10×10 cm. In the center you can see the photodiode (the white part in the middle) and the camera (the small black dot next to the diode and directly above the image). In the center of the camera, you can see a 2 x 2 mm camera lens with a 120 degree field of view. The lens is made from clear, radiation-resistant borosilicate glass and is attached directly to the image sensor below, providing 320 x 320 pixels.Credit: University of Maribor
This will enable TRISAT-R to test a range of radiation detection payloads. In addition, the TRISAT-R team mounted his two miniature cameras with lenses made of clear borosilicate glass directly onto a 320×320 pixel image sensor to provide limited radiation resistance. Ta.
Dr. Cranberger added: “These highly miniaturized cameras are not intended to perform ground imagery, so the resulting images of the Earth are very low resolution. Also, the TRISAT-R satellite uses magnetorque for attitude control. accurate pointing is difficult to achieve.
“Our main interest was in capturing an example of the ‘black sun effect’, which is common in terrestrial digital image processing, where pixel oversaturation can cause very bright areas to appear dark. We were successful in these investigations and were fortunate to be able to obtain images like this one. ”
ESA supported the manufacturing, assembly and testing of TRISAT-R through the ‘Fly’ element of the Integrated Support Technology Program, opening up on-orbit demonstration opportunities for European companies.
Located in a unique and challenging orbit, TRISAT-R’s commissioning phase is scheduled to conclude later this month, including 16 months of successful on-orbit operations.
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