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Scientists Obtain Rare Images of Indonesian Coelacanth

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First identified in 1997 and officially classified as a distinct species in 1999, the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) is one of only two extant species of coelacanths. This deep-sea fish closely resembles its ancient Cretaceous ancestors.

A deep diver approximately 1 meter behind the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) was found at a depth of 144 m in Northern Mark, Indonesia. Image credit: Alexis Chappuis.

Coelacanths belong to the group of fish known as Sarcopterygians and are characterized by their distinctive coastal dwelling.

Long believed extinct for 65 million years, coelacanths were serendipitously rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa by museum curators and local fishermen.

These fascinating fish possess unique features, including paired fins and lobed fins that resemble highly modified swim bladders.

Together with lungfish, they are among the closest living relatives to tetrapods, exhibiting several morphological traits not present in more distantly related vertebrates, like ray-finned fish.

The coelacanth first appeared in the early Devonian period, gradually diversifying during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, with peak diversity observed in the early Triassic.

During the Cretaceous, they were classified into two families: the Latimeridae, which has survived as two species in the genus Latimeria, and the now-extinct Mawsoniidae.

Upon the discovery of the first living specimen, its resemblance to many fossilized forms from the Cretaceous period led to it being labeled a “living fossil,” indicating minimal evolutionary change over millions of years.

The two extant species are the coelacanth of the West Indian Ocean (Latimeria chalumnae) found near the Comoros Islands, and the coelacanth in the waters around Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The latter species is far better documented than its African counterpart, making its deep-reef habitat challenging to access for scientific observation, which has primarily relied on submersibles or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Left profile of the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis), showcasing a unique pattern of white dots. Image credit: Alexis Chappuis.

The Indonesian coelacanth is a rarely documented medium-deep sea fish (non-tetrapod sarcopterygian), originally endemic to the Sulawesi region, primarily identified through bycatch in eastern Indonesia.

“Very few observations of this species have been made in situ, primarily using submersibles and ROVs.”

“The first direct in situ observations were reported following recent reconnaissance dives that explored the suspected habitat of the Indonesian coelacanth at depths exceeding 150 meters.”

Researchers encountered the Indonesian coelacanth in October 2024 during a deep dive in the Marc Archipelago, situated between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea.

“It is premature to assess the population of this newly identified Malukan coelacanth,” they stated.

“Since the Marc Archipelago connects Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, it suggests that the species is not confined to a single location.”

“Our recent findings, along with studies conducted in the mesophotic coral ecosystems of the Marc Archipelago since 2022, not only confirm the existence of Latimeria but also indicate a broader, more suitable habitat for coelacanths.”

“We hope this discovery will motivate local and national authorities to enhance conservation efforts in this biodiversity-rich region.

The research team’s paper was published online on April 23, 2025, in the journal Scientific Reports.

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A. Chapuis et al. 2025. The first record of a living coelacanth from Northern Mark, Indonesia. Sci Rep 15, 14074; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-90287-7

Source: www.sci.news

How Did You Obtain My Number? Exploring the Underworld of Data Brokers | Privacy Issues

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Priya Dev suspects she knows why political spam inundated her inbox during the 2025 federal election campaign.

Like many Australians, the developer endured an avalanche of unwanted patriotic text messages—Clive Palmer himself admitted to sending 17 million of them. However, it was the email spam from one of the major political parties that caught her attention.

Political parties are exempt from privacy laws, meaning they aren’t required to inform individuals about how to access their data, nor is there an option to opt out.

Nonetheless, clues surfaced for the Australian National University Data Science Academic. The email was sent to a pseudonym she used for an online purchase years ago—also employed in 2020 when she received spam from a minor political party.

“It appears to originate from a transaction,” she stated. “It could likely be from some online e-commerce deal, or energy trading, etc.”

Tracing how organizations access personal contact details is “extremely challenging for political parties because they often ignore inquiries,” Dev notes. “If we could uncover how this data was sourced, it would be groundbreaking.”


This marks the second time Dev has tried to trace how her data was accessed. Data brokers frequently buy and sell information to advertisers and other entities seeking insights into people without their consent.

After receiving numerous unwarranted calls last year, the developer tracked down who had her phone number. She returned to the real estate giant CoreLogic Australia, which informed her in 2023 that her data had been legally obtained from another data broker.

The company explained that it retrieved her data through a marketing campaign from 2014 and shared her information with at least 50 other companies.

Dev’s situation isn’t unique. Reports indicate that a child’s email, registered in a charity fundraiser over a decade ago, also received political spam from the Liberal Party during the recent election.

How did you get my number?

Understanding how marketers and others acquire your contact details and personal information is complex.

Katherine Kemp, an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales leading the Public Interest Law and Technology Initiative, explains that this often occurs through data matching services that merge personal information from various service providers, subsequently sold via data brokers.

Kemp mentions she has encountered mortgage brokers in the mortgage industry.

Yet, discovering how they obtained that information can be quite elusive, Kemp adds.

When she inquires where people got her details, she often hears, “They either evade the question or abruptly hang up… providing vague answers, and if pressed, they quickly end the call.”

Federal Privacy Commissioner Carly Kins described the data-broking sector as “extremely opaque” and possessing “a convoluted value chain of personal information.”

“Thus, people are left in the dark, lacking authority to voice their concerns,” she states.

“Many find it unsettling. I believe it’s concerning how personal information is relayed through data brokers, landing in unexpected places.”

Who are the data brokers and what do they collect?

A global data broker organization claims it will “facilitate the exchange of information for consumer benefit and support to Australian businesses and small enterprises,” as stated in a 2023 submission to the Australian Consumer Watchdog’s data brokerage survey.

Information collected can include name, address, age, viewing habits, purchasing patterns, financial status, employment background, qualifications, tenant history, and other socio-economic and demographic details.




Dev notes discussions about expanding privacy responsibilities for political parties may lead to mandated transparency in how they obtain personal data. Photo: Hilary Warduff/Guardian

According to Reset.Tech Australia, last year’s report highlighted the types of data purchased and sold by brokers, including location tracking over time, financial details, tendencies related to gambling and drinking, and recent online purchases.

Data broker companies include credit reporting agencies, identity verification firms, news organizations, real estate companies, tenancy data firms, marketers, loyalty programs, and social media platforms.

“Unpleasant” Australians whose personal information is sold

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission uncovered in last year’s data broker report that privacy policies often use “ambiguous language,” complicating consumers’ ability to identify data sharing practices. This makes it tougher to ascertain who has their data and opt out of such collections.

The average privacy policy contains 6,876 words, and it reportedly takes 29 minutes to read.

A survey featured in the report indicated that 74% of Australians are uncomfortable with the idea of their personal information being shared or sold.

Some companies attempt to downplay privacy concerns by outlining data collection to consumers and offering access to information held upon request. A consumer group found last year that a data broker claimed it didn’t retain data from loyalty program members.


Privacy Commissioner Kins noted that claims from data-collecting companies suggesting that personal information falls under the Privacy Act could be a “creative interpretation” of the law.

According to the ACCC, identified data, when aggregated with data points from other sources, still poses a risk of consumer identification.

Overall, without naming specific companies, many Australians expressed that some practices within the data brokering industry feel “very uncomfortable at best, often indicating serious breaches of trust.”

“Data transfer often occurs multiple times, creating a complicated environment. While much of this is legal, [privacy] practices remain vague and often reside in a gray area with minimal legitimate actions.”

Regulators can flex their muscles

Although the ACCC report didn’t issue any recommendations, it endorsed the strengthening of privacy laws in Australia.

Commissioner Kins indicated that the ACCC’s work could pave the way for her office to investigate practices in the sector, stressing that current privacy laws contain “various elements that could restrict practices applicable to data brokers.”

“I want to prioritize this issue, and my regulatory team is currently contemplating how to utilize our authority in this realm,” Kins remarked.

Dev emphasizes the need to discuss expanding privacy responsibilities for political parties to ensure they transparently disclose how they acquire personal data.

The current exemption allows political parties to bypass her inquiries concerning what data they hold, according to Dev.

Kemp believes there’s potential for stricter laws concerning data brokering, but expresses little desire to alter the legal obligations of political parties.

“However, I don’t believe we should abandon discussions on reform in this area.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Solar Astronomers Obtain Unprecedented Details in Images and Videos of the Sun’s Corona

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A new “coronal adaptive optics” system has been developed by astronomers at the NSF’s National Solar Observatory and New Jersey Institute of Technology to generate high-resolution images and films by eliminating atmospheric blurring.

This image captures a 16-minute time-lapse film that illustrates the formation and collapse of a complex plasma stream measuring approximately 100 km per 100 km in front of a coronal loop system. This marks the first observation of such flows, referred to as plasmoids, raising questions about the dynamics involved. The image, taken by a Good Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory with the new coronal adaptive optics system CONA, showcases hydrogen α light emitted by the solar plasma. While the image is artificially colored, it reflects the real color of hydrogen alpha light, with darker colors indicating bright light. Image credit: Schmidt et al. /njit /nso /aura /nsf.

The solar corona represents the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, visible only during a total solar eclipse.

Astronomers have long been fascinated by its extreme temperatures, violent eruptions, and notable prominence.

However, Earth’s atmospheric turbulence has historically caused blurred images, obstructing the observation of the corona.

“Atmospheric turbulence, similar to the sun’s own dynamics, significantly degrades the clarity of celestial observations through telescopes. Fortunately, we have solutions,” stated Dr. Dark Schmidt, an adaptive optics scientist at the National Solar Observatory.

CONA, the adaptive optics system responsible for these advancements, corrects the atmospheric blurring affecting image quality.

This cutting-edge technology was funded by the NSF and implemented at the 1.6-meter Good Solar Telescope (GST) located at Big Bear Solar Observatory in California.

“Adaptive optics function similarly to autofocus and optical image stabilization technologies found in smartphone cameras, fixing atmospheric distortions rather than issues related to user instability,” explained Dr. Nicholas Golsix, optical engineer and lead observer at Big Bear Solar Observatory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzsn39nigg0

Among the team’s remarkable discoveries are films showcasing a significant reconstruction of the sun, revealing subtle turbulent internal flows.

The Sun’s structure presents as a prominent bright feature, often illustrated by arches and loops that extend from its surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ10DLB2pp94

The second film depicts the rapid creation and collapse of a finely detailed plasma stream.

“These observations are the most detailed of their kind, highlighting features that were previously unobserved, and their nature remains unclear,” remarked Vasyl Yurchyshyn, a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

“Creating an instrument that allows us to view the sun like never before is incredibly exciting,” Dr. Schmidt commented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1wrkychpru

The third film illustrates the delicate chains of coronal rain, a phenomenon wherein cooled plasma condenses and falls back towards the sun’s surface.

“Coronal rain droplets can measure less than 20 km in width,” noted Dr. Thomas Shadd, an astronomer at the National Solar Observatory.

“These discoveries provide vital observational insights that are crucial for validating computer models of coronal phenomena.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydst2wvx3de

Another film captures the dynamic movements across the solar surface, influenced by solar magnetism.

“The new Collar Adaptive Optical System closes the gap from decades past, delivering images of coronal features with resolution down to 63 km. This is the theoretical limit achievable with the 1.6 m Good Solar Telescope,” Dr. Schmidt stated.

“This technological leap is transformative. Discoveries await as we improve resolution tenfold,” he emphasized.

The team’s findings are detailed in a published paper in today’s issue of Nature Astronomy.

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D. Schmidt et al. Observation of fine coronal structures with higher order solar adaptive optics. Nature Astronomy Published online on May 27, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02564-0

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists obtain sharper images of fault lines posing a threat to the Pacific Northwest

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A silent colossus lurks off the Pacific coast, threatening hundreds of miles of coastline with tsunamis and devastating earthquakes.

For decades, scientists have been warning about the possibility of a major fault line breaking off from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a megathrust fault that runs offshore along the coast from northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in California. The next time this fault, or parts of it, breaks, it could upend life in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.

Of particular concern are signs of great earthquakes in the region’s geological history. Many researchers have been pursuing clues about the last “big quake,” a magnitude 8.7 earthquake that occurred in 1700. They have pieced together this history using centuries-old tsunami records, Native American oral histories, physical evidence of saltwater-flooded ghost forests, and limited maps of faults.

But no one had ever comprehensively mapped the fault structure until now. The study published Friday A paper published in the journal Science Advances describes the data collected during a 41-day research voyage, in which the ship dragged a mile-long cable along the fault, listening to the ocean floor and piecing together images.

The team completed a detailed map of the subduction zone, stretching more than 550 miles to the Oregon-California border.

Their work will give modelers a clearer picture of the impact of a megaquake in the region — a megaquake that occurs in a subduction zone, where one plate pushes under another — and give planners a more detailed, localized view of the risks to Pacific Northwest communities, which could help redefine earthquake-resistant building codes.

“It’s like wearing Coke-bottle glasses, and when you take them off, they give you the correct prescription,” said lead author Suzanne Calbott, a marine geophysicist and research professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Before, we only got very blurry, low-resolution images.”

Scientists have discovered that subduction zones are much more complex than previously thought. They are divided into four segments, and researchers believe each segment could rupture independently or simultaneously. Each segment has different rock types and different seismic properties, which means some segments may be more hazardous than others.

Earthquake and tsunami modelers are beginning to assess how the new data might affect earthquake scenarios in the Pacific Northwest.

Kelin Wang, a research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada who was not involved in the study, said her team, which focuses on earthquake hazards and tsunami risk, is already using the data to make predictions.

“The accuracy and resolution is truly unprecedented, and this is an incredible dataset,” said Wang, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. “This will allow us to better assess risk and inform building codes and zoning.”

Harold Tobin, co-author of the paper and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said the data will help fine-tune predictions, but it won’t change the untenable reality of life in the Pacific Northwest.

“It could potentially produce earthquakes and tsunamis that are comparable in magnitude to the largest earthquakes and tsunamis the Earth has ever seen,” said Tobin, who is also a professor at the University of Washington. “It looks like Cascadia could produce an earthquake of magnitude 9 or a little less or a little more.”

A quake of that magnitude could cause shaking for about five minutes and generate a tsunami up to 80 feet high, damaging more than 500,000 buildings. According to emergency planning documents:.

Neither Oregon nor Washington are adequately prepared.

To map the subduction zone, researchers at sea used active seismic imaging, a technique that sends sound waves into the ocean floor and processes the returning echoes, a method often used in oil and gas exploration.

They towed more than nine miles of cables called streamers behind the ship and used 1,200 hydrophones to capture the returning sounds.

“This will give us an idea of ​​what the conditions are like underground,” Calbot said.

The research vessel Marcus Langes docked in Seattle after a 41-day survey along the Pacific coast that allowed researchers to map the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Courtesy of Harold Tobin

Trained marine mammal spotters would alert the crew to any signs of whales or other animals. Sounds produced by this type of technology could be disruptive and potentially harmful to marine life.

Calbot said the new research makes it even clearer that the entire Cascadia Fault won’t rupture all at once.

“The next earthquake in Cascadia could rupture just one of these segments, or it could rupture the entire boundary,” Calbot said, adding that some individual segments are thought to have the potential to produce a quake of at least magnitude 8.

Over the past century, scientists have observed only five earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or higher, all of which were the kind of giant quakes predicted in the Cascadia subduction zone.

Scientists have compiled the latest insights into the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, based on records of an unusual orphan tsunami that was not preceded by any shaking in Japan.

“It would take a magnitude 8.7 earthquake to send a tsunami all the way to Japan,” Tobin said.

Those in Japan who recorded the event had no idea that the earthquake occurred across the ocean in what is now the United States.

Right now, the Cascadia subduction zone is eerily quiet. At other subduction zones, Calbot says, scientists often observe small, frequent earthquakes that make it easier to map the region. But that’s not the case here.

Scientists have a few hypotheses as to why. Wang said the region could be getting quieter as stress builds on the fault, and that time may be approaching.

“The interval between big earthquakes in this subduction zone is about 500 years,” Wang said. “It’s hard to know exactly when it will happen, but it’s certainly quite late compared to other subduction zones.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com