Tag Archives: sea

Could it be a severed leg? No, it’s actually a sea slug

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I lost my leg on the beach

Extreme cases can confuse even trained professionals: Joanna Glengarry and Melanie Archer of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Science in Australia warn that forensic pathologists and anthropologists “need to be prepared to face a wide range of remains and objects presented to them.”

Glengarry and Archer shared their first-hand experience, in their words, of “discovering what appeared to be a severed leg on a beach and, upon examination, determining it to be a marine animal called a sea squirt.”

Write a diary Forensic Medicine, Medicine, Pathologythey give step by step details of the adventure. What is the title of the report?Marine mimicry in progress.

Holy Ghostwriter

Certainly, some are dismayed that senior department members are automatically credited as co-authors on research done by lower-ranking people (Feedback, May 11), but perhaps senior department members should be given more credit.

Reader Bob Masta writes about two doctoral students who sought his advice after he developed a procedure that greatly improved the success rate of an incredibly difficult experiment: recording signals from auditory hair cells in the inner ears of guinea pigs. [B]However, the lab's principal investigator and department head insisted on participating as authors, even though they knew nothing about the study beforehand.

“I was appalled,” Masta wrote, “but eventually came to realize that this was wise: students who were unknown in the field might have had a harder time getting published. [Their] Having a respected name on a paper gives you a lot of credibility in the field, and everyone in research expects the first author on a paper to do the actual research, with subsequent senior authors providing facilities and consultation.”

And, Masta explains, “Laboratories need grant funding to conduct research and train students, so publications that elevate the status of senior authors, who have to get grant funding, help everyone.”

The feedback we've received is that some feel that credit-grabbing corrupts the system from below. But if we're going to do it, why not do it all the way? Give credit to everyone and everyone who stands to benefit from it. Give co-author credit to all senior officials at the institutions who employ the actual researchers (deans, department chairs, vice-presidents, presidents, provosts, corporate executives, emperors, etc.).

The feedback is that these high-powered people, non-authors, should be informally known as “holy ghostwriters.”

Totally ghostwritten

Reader Max Perkins suggests another way to deal with the issue of who gets listed as an author. He writes: [a person from a] I work in a faculty position at a university in New South Wales, Australia, and I wanted to provide feedback on a case in which two graduate students from my alma mater had written their names, simply “et al,” on their office door.

“I think this speaks strongly about professors' citation metrics and perhaps also a comment on the use of citation metrics as a measure of a university's value.”

Infection failure

“Everyone is trying hard to avoid catching coronavirus, but in this study, all 35 volunteers who tried their best to get infected (with a lot of help from scientists) failed miserably,” reader Chittaranjan Andrade wrote. Lancet Microorganism.

The team that produced the report – Susan Jackson of the University of Oxford and a number of collaborators – aimed to test the efficacy of new vaccines to help people who become infected with new variants of the coronavirus long after they had been vaccinated with an earlier version of the vaccine.

The researchers struggled to complete the first major step of the project: infecting volunteers. In their paper, they wrote:Maximize the inoculum size… We were unable to induce persistent infection in seropositive individuals.”

COVID-19 has been disrupting the world for years, but now it is causing problems when it shouldn't.

Worm on turn

Not all flatworms have a tasty taste.

Lee Windsor is investigating the invasive New Guinea flatworm (Manokwari) “Has a very unpleasant astringent taste… as has been noted in other species.”

Windsor, a researcher at Australia's James Cook University, called the news “Ongoing collaboration In collaboration with Professor JL Justin of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, and Professor Roman Gastynow of the University of Szczecin in Poland, we studied invasive terrestrial planarians in France and French territories.

The bad taste lasts a long time. Windsor Manokwari He tasted it (or, as he calls it, “personal observation”) in 1994.

Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible.

Do you have a story for feedback?

You can submit articles for Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedback can be found on our website.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Sea buckthorn berries discovered to be packed with natural antioxidants in recent study.

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berry Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) The Canadian-grown fruit shows promising health benefits driven by its rich and diverse polyphenol profile and should be considered for further commercial expansion as a bioactive-loaded superfruit.

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). Image credit: Svdmolen / CC BY-SA 3.0 Certificate.

Sea buckthorn is a deciduous, spiny plant that grows along the coasts of northwestern Europe and in temperate regions of central Asia.

Its fruits and leaves are widely used Sea buckthorn oil has nutritional, medicinal, and functional properties and is rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, vitamins E, B, A, and polyphenols.

The plant was introduced in Canada in the early 2000s following research into the crop's commercial potential by government agencies.

“Sea buckthorn is a unique crop with great potential for use,” said Dr. Renan Danielski. student at the University of Newfoundland.

“Popular in Asia and northwestern Europe, there is an opportunity to replicate this success in North America by leveraging the unique qualities of locally grown varieties.”

Danielski and Professor Fereydoun Shahidi of Memorial University of Newfoundland were motivated by the experimental status and limited commercialization of sea buckthorn in North America to date, and research on the antioxidant properties of Canadian cultivars. We set out to characterize the unique composition of polyphenols, a type of chemical compound.

“Understanding how our varieties compare globally will help us communicate our benefits to consumers and establish our presence in the market,” Professor Shahidi said.

The findings highlight the presence of key polyphenolic compounds in sea buckthorn pomace and seeds, each boasting potential health benefits ranging from cardiovascular protection to anti-inflammatory properties. .

Importantly, geographic factors influence the polyphenol profile of sea buckthorn berries, and researchers found that several different compounds with enhanced bioactivity are present only in sea buckthorn varieties grown in Newfoundland. is that we have identified.

Additionally, sea buckthorn extract has demonstrated promise in vitro It has anti-diabetic and anti-obesity potential, paving the way for further research into its mechanisms and potential therapeutic applications.

“This is a first step toward understanding how sea buckthorn polyphenols can modulate our physiology in beneficial ways,” Danielski said.

“Future research should focus on understanding the mechanisms behind those effects and further experiments using animal models and humans.”

“If these effects are confirmed, in vivoWe can imagine using sea buckthorn polyphenols for therapeutic and pharmacological purposes to help prevent and treat diabetes, obesity, and many other conditions. ”

of result Published in Journal of Food and Agriculture Science.

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Renan Danielski & Fereydoun Shahidi. Phenolic composition and biological activity of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) Fruits and Seeds: Non-Conventional Sources of Natural Antioxidants in North America. Food and Agriculture Science Journal, published online on February 15, 2024. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.13386

Source: www.sci.news

PlayStation Users, Rare’s Sea of Thieves Pirate Adventure Sets Sail for a New Platform

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○One evening many months ago, Mike Chapman, the creative director of the cooperative pirate adventure game Sea of ​​Thieves, sat down to play the game with producer Joe Neato. This wasn’t just a standard playtest. The players participating online were players who had never played together before. It was a team from Sony Interactive Entertainment. Plans to make Xbox exclusive to the PS5 had just been launched. Now it was time to dive into the details. “We educated them about the game and had thorough discussions about what made the game special,” Neet says. “It was a surreal experience,” Chapman says of the encounter. “Trying to find treasure on the island with another group of platform holders…”

The PS5 launch is set for April 30th, and pre-orders are now open, but this is just the latest step in the evolution of this captivating game. Launched on March 20, 2018, it was the most ambitious project in the long history of the veteran British studio Rare. Marketed as a cooperative pirate adventure, Sea of ​​Thieves provides players with access to a vast multiplayer world of ocean exploration, buried treasure, ship-to-ship battles, and more. The game’s design philosophy was simple but risky: it was a tool, not a rule. Players are equipped with everything they need to embark on their own pirate adventures, including musical instruments and virtual grog, but there is no elaborate story, skill tree, or complex character growth system. The story comes from the players themselves as they form a crew and compete with other pirates for fame and fortune.


“We’ve done our best to stay true to it”…Sea of ​​Thieves. Photo: Microsoft

After a shaky start plagued by technical issues, Sea of ​​Thieves found its audience and grew. Since that day in 2018, there have been approximately 100 updates and expansions, including adventures based on Pirates of the Caribbean and Monkey Island. New mechanics like commodities and captaincy add depth to the experience, but Chapman believes the key to the game’s longevity lies in ensuring player agency and supporting roleplay. “We provide players with simple tools and allow them to unleash their creativity,” he says. “We’ve done our best to stay true to that.”

Supporting diverse communities is also crucial. “I think it’s part of the hidden work of creating a shared world,” he says. “When adding a mechanic to a game, the mechanic itself may be simple, but you have to consider how it fits into the shared world, what motivates players, and how players with different styles (PvP or PvE) will use it. Whenever we design a mechanic, we think about how it integrates into the world and how it can potentially create a new meta that will thrive for months and years. Our design team is increasingly focused on this.”

So what was it like facing the prospect of publishing a game to a whole new community? “At a leadership level, when I first heard this as a possibility, I was initially excited. Then I thought, ‘Okay. How do we do this?'” says NEET. “The fact that we had already migrated to another platform, Steam, helped us tackle the technical challenges and engage with different communities in different locations.”


“We’ve really expanded the boundaries of the Sea of ​​Thieves experience”…Sea of ​​Thieves. Photo: Microsoft

“This is the first time in Rare’s 40-year history that we’ve developed on a Sony platform, which is incredible. It was very surreal for us to be presented with a series of slides. But honestly, for our technical team, it was like, ‘Let’s deploy the kit and start experimenting and figuring it out.’ That kind of feeling. I kept it in a secret spot in my studio with a fogged-up window so no one could see. It was more about excitement.”

Nate said Rare was collaborating with co-developers with PlayStation experience, and Sony itself was very supportive, holding regular catch-up calls even when the project was still top secret. The company was ready to dispatch its technical staff whenever needed. “If we had to visit their studio, you guessed it, we had to wear their Sea of ​​Thieves T-shirt,” Neet says.

One of the great benefits of preparing to welcome a new community is that it gives your team a chance to rethink the structure of your game. Season 11 of the game, launched in January, was developed with the knowledge that PS5 players would soon join, so the onboarding system was revamped. Content is now unlocked at a more manageable pace, and a quest board that shows where to find new items that were previously hidden in artifacts and maps offers a more engaging pirate journey. Additionally, Rare is planning to introduce an offline solo mode in its March update. “You don’t need Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus,” says Neate. “If you just want to play solo, you can experience all the content and company advancements in Tall Tales. It’s another way to get hooked on the game before you decide to start.”

However, Rare indicates that while recent efforts have been focused on creating a more user-friendly experience with an eye on the upcoming PS5 community, there are more ambitious plans in the works. “We’ve been expanding the boundaries of the Sea of ​​Thieves experience throughout the last year,” Chapman says. “You can have your own ship. You can join the Pirate Guild. There’s a quest table. A revised tutorial allows you to play Safer Seas and explore all the story content. We’re expanding the game’s boundaries and building on this new foundation. We’ve gained a lot of experience, and it’s crucial to capitalize on it. Enhance your captaincy, strengthen your guild. The upcoming year is all about the sandbox for us.”

Since its launch six years ago, it’s been a long journey, but Chapman and Neet, who have been there from the start, seem as dedicated as ever. “Working on this on a new platform is incredibly exciting,” Chapman affirms. “I believe we’ve positioned ourselves for many more years of game evolution.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Clownfish produce a sugary mucus to protect themselves from the stings of sea anemones they live in.

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Clownfish and sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship

Wildlife/Getty Images

The secret is in the runny nose. Chemical changes in the mucus that coats the clownfish’s body can blunt the sting of its symbiotic sea anemone.

Researchers have long suspected that something special in the mucus of the clownfish, also known as the clownfish, protects it from the microscopic stingers of the sea anemone’s tentacles. But the exact mechanism remained a mystery, he said. karen burke da silva At Flinders University, Australia.

To investigate, she and her colleagues bred orange clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and bubble tip sea anemone (Entacmaea four colors) at the Institute. Some fish and sea anemones live in pairs, while others live separately. The researchers collected mucus samples from the fish at various times before and after they had adapted to the anemone, and then placed the mucus on a microscope slide and pressed it against the anemone’s tentacles.

Sea anemones sting by firing small coiled venomous harpoons explosively from their stinging cells called stinging cells. The researchers used a microscope to count and compare the number of stinging cells that fired during the mucus treatment. They found that mucus from a clownfish’s partner, but not mucus from an unknown fish, reduced the firing of stinging cells.

To find out why, the researchers analyzed how the glycans (chains of sugar attached to proteins) and fats in the clownfish’s mucus change as they adapt to their hosts. Three weeks after the symbiotic partnership began, the chemical profile of the mucus changed significantly. In particular, the concentrations of seven types of glycans were changed. Removing glycans or otherwise tweaking them could be one way he suppresses line cell firing, Burke da Silva says.

Alonso Delgado At Ohio State University, the sea anemone shrimp (Ansiromenes Magnificus), using similar glycan methods or evolving different strategies to thwart sting.

Additional strategies may also be at work for clownfish. Glycan changes are slow, and after a partner splits, he grows back within a day. Instead, fish may use an unknown chemical strategy at the very beginning to gain initial access to sea anemones.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Coastal Cities in the US Facing Increased Flooding Risk Due to Rising Sea Levels by 2050

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New Orleans is at risk of more flooding than expected due to land subsidence

William A. Morgan/Shutterstock

Sea levels are rising faster than expected in U.S. coastal cities, primarily due to land subsidence from groundwater and fossil fuel extraction. This means up to 518,000 additional people living in these areas could be at risk of major flooding by 2050 if adequate protection is not in place.

Coastal cities often experience subsidence, where the land gradually sinks over time. One of the biggest factors causing this is the compaction of the earth by extracting resources such as water and fossil fuels from the ground.

To investigate how land subsidence and sea level rise will impact coastal communities. leonard owenhen The Virginia Tech researchers created a model based on land elevation changes in 32 major coastal cities, including Boston and San Francisco, and sea level rise projections through 2050.

Researchers found that cities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, such as New Orleans, have lower elevations and are sinking faster. It is sinking at least two millimeters more per year than other cities in the region, increasing the risk of future flooding. . Urban areas along the Pacific coast are better protected from rising sea levels because of their higher elevations.

“We were surprised to see that Biloxi, Mississippi, experienced the most rapid subsidence,” Owenhen says.

They also found that existing flood risk assessments in the United States do not take into account the combined effects of land subsidence, underestimating its threat. Researchers have found that nearly 1,400 square kilometers more land will be at risk of flooding by 2050 than current estimates. That means, in total, 1 in 50 people and 1 in 35 homes in 32 cities are at risk. .

This would put an additional 518,000 people and more than 288,000 homes at risk of flooding.

The study looked at flood risk for dozens of coastal U.S. cities by 2050.

Image courtesy of Leonard Owenhen

These findings highlight the urgent need to strengthen U.S. flood protection now, team members say Manuchel Shirzai, also at Virginia Tech. “Individual cities will need to adapt differently. New Orleans will need to strengthen city-wide flood protection, while San Francisco will probably only need to protect its critical infrastructure.”

Other things could be done to reduce the threat. “If land subsidence is being caused by groundwater extraction, oil and gas development, or other human-induced stresses, we need to do everything we can to reverse these trends before it’s too late.” he says. Simon Anisfeld At Yale University.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Study Finds Surprising Similarities in Brain Development Between Sea Lampreys and Humans

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The lamprey and human hindbrains are built using very similar molecular and genetic toolkits, according to a new study led by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

These images show an adult lamprey (top and left) and a developing lamprey embryo. Image credit: Stowers Medical Research Institute.

“Our research on the hindbrain (the part of the brain that controls important functions such as blood pressure and heart rate) is essentially a window into the distant past and can serve as a model for understanding the evolution of complexity. “, said Dr. Hugo Parker. Researcher at Stowers Medical Research Institute.

Like other vertebrates, sea lampreys have a backbone and skeleton, but they noticeably lack a jaw, a characteristic feature of the head.

Most vertebrates, including humans, have jaws, so this striking difference in sea lampreys makes it a valuable model for understanding the evolution of vertebrate traits.

“About 500 million years ago, at the origin of vertebrates, there was a split between jawless and jawed animals,” said Dr. Alice Bedois, also of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

“We wanted to know how vertebrate brains evolved and whether there is something unique to jawed vertebrates that jawless vertebrates don't.”

Previous research had identified genes that structure and subdivide the sea lamprey's hindbrain as identical to genes in jawed vertebrates, including humans.

However, these genes are part of an interconnected network or circuit that needs to be initiated and directed to properly build the hindbrain.

In a new study, the authors identify common molecular cues known to direct head-to-tail patterning in a variety of animals as part of a genetic circuit that guides hindbrain patterning in the lamprey. .

“We found that the same genes, as well as the same cues, are involved in hindbrain development in sea lampreys. This suggests that this process is ancestral to all vertebrates. ,” Dr. Bedwa said.

“This signal is called retinoic acid, commonly known as vitamin A.”

Researchers have known that retinoic acid signals the genetic circuits that build the hindbrains of complex species, but they believe it is involved in more primitive animals like sea lampreys. was not considered.

Surprisingly, they discovered that the lamprey's core hindbrain circuit is also initiated by retinoic acid, providing evidence that these sea monsters and humans are much more closely related than expected.

“People thought that because lampreys don't have jaws, their hindbrains don't form like other vertebrates,” says Dr. Rob Krumlauf, a researcher at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

“We showed that this fundamental part of the brain is built exactly the same way as in mice, and even in humans.”

Signaling molecules that signal cell fate during development are well known.

Now, researchers have discovered that retinoic acid plays another key role in signaling important steps in development, such as the formation of the brainstem.

Furthermore, if hindbrain formation is a conserved feature in all vertebrates, other mechanisms must be involved to explain its incredible diversity.

“We all come from a common ancestor,” Dr. Bedwa said.

“The lamprey provided further clues.”

“We now need to go further back in evolutionary time to discover when the genetic circuits controlling hindbrain formation first evolved.”

of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.

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AMH Bedwa other. 2024. Lamprey reveals the origins of retinoic acid signaling and its coupling to vertebrate hindbrain segments. Nat Commune 15, 1538. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45911-x

Source: www.sci.news

Enormous Stone Age hunting structure uncovered in the Baltic Sea

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A team of German archaeologists has discovered a gigantic Stone Age structure submerged at a depth of 21 meters in the Western Baltic Sea. This structure was probably built by hunter-gatherers over 10,000 years ago and was eventually sunk about 8,500 years ago. Since then, it has remained hidden under the sea, leading to pristine preservation that has inspired research into lifestyles and territorial development in the wider region.

An artist's reconstruction of the Brinker Wall in Mecklenburg Bay, Germany. Image credit: Michał Grabowski.

The massive Stone Age structure was discovered in Mecklenburg Bay, about 10 kilometers northwest of the German coast of Relic.

The stone wall is made up of 1,673 individual stones, typically less than 1 meter in height, arranged side by side over a distance of 971 meters in a way that refutes their natural origin through glacial movement or ice-intrusion ridges.

This wall, known as the Brinker Wall, was built by hunter-gatherers who roamed the area after humans left. viserian ice sheet.

Running adjacent to the sunken shoreline of a paleo-lake (or swamp), whose youngest stage dates to 9,143 years ago, the structure was probably used for hunting. Eurasian reindeer (Langifer Tarandus).

“At that time, the population of all of Scandinavia was probably less than 5,000,” said Dr. Marcel Bradmeler, a researcher at the University of Rostock.

“One of their main food sources was herds of reindeer, which moved seasonally across sparsely vegetated post-glacial landscapes.”

“This wall was probably used to guide reindeer into the bottleneck between the adjacent shore and the wall, or into the lake, allowing Stone Age hunters to kill reindeer more easily with their weapons. Ta.”

Form of a southwest to northeast oriented ridge with a blinker wall and adjacent mounds.Image credit: Geersen et al. everyone, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

The Brinker Wall is one of the oldest recorded man-made hunting structures on Earth and one of the largest known Stone Age structures in Europe.

Dr Jacob Geersen, also from the University of Rostock, said: “Our research shows that the natural origin of the submarine stone walls or modern constructions associated with, for example, the laying of submarine cables or stone extraction is unlikely. ” he said. .

“The orderly arrangement of many small stones connecting large, immovable rocks opposes this.”

The researchers used modern geophysical methods to create detailed 3D models of the Brinker Wall and reconstruct the ancient landscape.

A team of scientific divers from the University of Rostock and the West Pomeranian Mecklenburg State Department of Culture and Monuments also visited the site once and inspected it.

The main purpose of the dive was to assess the nature of the stone wall and investigate possible archaeological remains on the surrounding seabed.

They concentrated in two places: the western edge of the structure and the large stone in the center where the blinker wall turns.

No artifacts or dateable organic material were found in the immediate vicinity of the two dive sites, but a small wood sample was recovered from Holocene deposits approximately 10 m south of the structure.

3D model of the section of blinker wall adjacent to the large boulder at the west end of the wall. The photo was taken by Philip Huy of the University of Rostock. The scale bar at the top right corner of the image is 50 cm. Image credit: Geersen other., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121.

“A number of well-preserved Stone Age sites are known along the coast of Wismar Bay and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, but these are located at much shallower depths, and most of them are Mesolithic and Neolithic. It dates from the Stone Age (7,000-2,500 BC),” said Dr. Jens Auer, a researcher at the Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian Department for the Preservation of Cultural Monuments.

“There is evidence that similar stone walls exist in other parts of Mecklenburg Bay. These will also be investigated systematically,” added Dr. Jens Schneider von Daimling, a researcher at the University of Kiel.

“Overall, this research could make a significant contribution to understanding the lives, organization, and hunting methods of early Stone Age hunter-gatherers.”

team's paper Published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Jacob Giesen other. 2024. Submerged Stone Age hunting architecture in the Western Baltic Sea. PNAS 121 (8): e2312008121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312008121

Source: www.sci.news

Robot explores deep sea to discover new species with dodecahedral design

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Robot dodecahedron mounted on a submersible (circled area)

brennan phillips

The robotic dodecahedron can capture fragile deep-sea animals, collect tissue samples, and build three-dimensional scans of the creatures, potentially speeding up the cataloging of deep-sea life. Up to 66% of marine species are still unknown to science.

brennan phillips RAD2 Sampler and colleagues at the University of Rhode Island have developed the RAD2 Sampler, which is designed to be mounted on any submersible to collect fresh tissue samples in situ from living animals. They hope this will reveal more about the creature than existing techniques, which are typically exposed to stress when pulled up from the depths.

RAD2 is a dodecahedron with an internal volume large enough to hold a basketball. It can be folded and unfolded on command to temporarily capture organisms for detailed examination and take small tissue samples that are stored directly on board the submarine for later genetic analysis. It is designed to.

The ultimate goal is to take a small biopsy and release the animal relatively unscathed, but RAD2's current technique (called tissue cutting) is “a little more crude,” Phillips said.

RAD2 has already been tested on two expeditions, collecting up to 14 tissue samples a day at a depth of around 1200 meters. “We could get small pieces of tissue, and sometimes we could get whole animals,” he says. “It depended on how big it was. So I can't say we've been able to release the animal unharmed after that, but we're moving towards that.”

The robot sampler is also equipped with a 4K resolution video camera to capture high-quality footage of the animal in motion, and a virtual model of the animal is constructed by various 3D scanning devices. In the future, Phillips said, he might be able to put sensors on each of his 12 sides of the dodecahedron and take different measurements of living things at once.

Phillips called other sampling methods “outdated” and said they essentially require people to manually put things into jars for later analysis, or use submersibles to do the same thing. Masu.

Preservation at the point of collection using RAD2 improves the quality of tissue samples and also allows researchers to detect which genes are expressed, further informing animal behavior and physiology. Phillips said it could shed some light. “This is a luxury item,” he says. “This is the best you can get with this animal, better than anyone we’ve ever had.”

eva stewart Researchers at the University of Southampton in the UK say that while digital data on deep-sea life can be a useful tool for research, there is no substitute for capturing and preserving entire samples.

“There are thousands of type specimens here. [at the university]” says Stewart.Some of them were collected by Swedish scientists carl linnaeusShe died in 1778 and says: Once you have the specimen, you are done. Even as our science changes, we can keep coming back to it. ”

But Stewart said underwater scans are useful for gelatinous and other delicate animals that are difficult to collect intact, and for how the creatures behave in their natural environment, rather than after being hoisted onto the deck of a boat. I agree that it may be helpful to understand.

“We've been conducting research to examine gene expression in sea cucumbers because we want to understand how sea cucumbers behave when they're stressed or affected by things like climate change,” says Stewart. he says. “But when you collect them and bring them to the surface, it's stressful. So being able to harvest tissue from them in a more natural way means you know what their natural baseline is, so they can It means we may be able to see more clearly what happens when placed in different environments.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Discovery: Giant Pliosaur Skull Illuminates Ancient Sea Reptiles

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A giant Jurassic pliosaur skull pulled from a cliff in Dorset, England, is providing scientists with a wealth of new information about these sea reptiles. “This is very likely a new species,” says Judith Sassoon from the University of Bristol, UK.

This fossil is the subject of a new documentary, attenborough and the giant sea monster, which will premiere on BBC One on January 1st and air on PBS in the US in February. The skull is extremely well preserved, and CT scans show that the sensory holes in the nose (pictured above) were connected to blood vessels and nerves, allowing Pliosaurus to sense changes in pressure and move through murky water. It is revealed that it can hunt prey (photo below, CGI image from the documentary).

There is hope that the remaining fossils are still intact on the cliff. “There may be evidence in that skeleton of how it died,” said Steve Etches, who led the team that extracted and prepared the skull. Below, a still from the documentary shows Mr Etches having a nose exam with David Attenborough (left).

Sir David Attenborough and Steve Etches investigate Pliosaurus' fossilized nose

bbc studio

Surface scans of the specimen helped scientists estimate the strength of its bite. Emily Rayfield, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, suggests that its bite would have been twice as powerful as that of a saltwater crocodile, one of the most powerful bites known. Evidence of trihedral teeth with two sharp cutting edges and striped grooves is shown below.

These grooves are thought to have stopped the vacuum that formed when the teeth plunged into prey, allowing Pliosaurus to bite repeatedly and quickly, further cementing its status as one of the most feared predators of its time. Masu. The skull is on display at the Etches Collection in Dorset, England.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers map the genetic code of sea cucumbers residing in hydrothermal vents

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Chinese researchers have mapped the entire genome. chiridotaheheva a type of sea cucumber collected at a depth of 2,428 m during a submarine trip to a hydrothermal vent.

Chirodotaheheba In the Gulf of Mexico. Image credit: Aquapix and Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007.

The sea cucumber is echinoderm and as such are related to sea urchins and starfish, a group of animals with a very unusual body design.

They are found on the ocean floor around the world, where they devour detritus and use their tentacles to explore sediments.

Although other high-quality sea cucumber genomes are available, this study provides the first genome of a sea cucumber specimen. chiridotaheheva — collected at a hydrothermal vent.

beginning explained In 2004, chiridotaheheva It is known from the deep waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean, but has an international distribution.

It is one of the few echinoderms. occupy All three types of chemosynthetic ecosystems are included: hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and organic fallouts. This suggests that this species is well adapted to the reducing environment of the deep sea.

Unlike most species that live in cold or hydrothermal vents; chiridotaheheva It does not host chemosynthetic bacteria.

It obtains nutrients from a variety of sources and extracts organic components from sediment debris, suspended solids, and wood debris when available.

“The organisms found in hydrothermal vents are among the most unique life forms on Earth, having evolved special adaptations to survive and reproduce in these harsh conditions,” said the lead author. Dr. Eugene Pu by Sanya Institute of Deep Sea Science and Technology and colleagues.

“For example, many microorganisms employ special metabolic functions to cope with the abundance of sulfur and iron and to withstand the enormous heat near the vent.”

“In addition to microorganisms, there are also multicellular and higher-order organisms that have adapted to the conditions of hydrothermal vents, such as various types of nematodes, snails, crabs, and shrimp.”

In the study, the authors sequenced the genome of an individual. chiridotaheheva collected from the ocean floor of the Indian Ocean Kairei Bent Field (2,428 meters deep).

“The water around the Kailey vent is particularly rich in dissolved iron, compounded by the harsh conditions of high hydrostatic pressure, darkness, and temperature fluctuations,” the researchers said.

“Initial comparative genomic analyzes showed that several gene families are expanded in this sea cucumber, meaning that this species has a higher repertoire of certain gene sets than closely related species. To do.”

“These expanded and unique genes are involved in DNA repair and iron metabolism, among other processes. It shows for the first time that it is reflected.”

“The genomic data will provide a valuable resource for further research on both sea cucumbers and unique spout animals.”

of result appear in the diary Giga Science.

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Y Pooh other. 2023. High-quality chromosome genome assembly of sea cucumber chiridotaheheva and its hydrothermal adaptation. Giga Science, in press. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giad107

Source: www.sci.news

Giant sea scorpions, the largest insects, were all predators.

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All pterosaur eurypterids (sea scorpions), giant aquatic arthropods with large claws, were considered apex predators, but some scientists believe that certain species are not predatory because their claws are weak. suggested. New research reveals that their claws were stronger and were only used to capture prey. Other appendages chewed it up. Fossils found in the pterosaur eurypterids show that some species specialized in lightly armored crustaceans and fishes, but most species specialized in heavily armored fishes.

Size of sea scorpions (Euripterids) over time.pterosaur eurypterid Jachelopterus (Background), the largest arthropod of all time, and a eurypterid of the Hibertopteridae family. Siltoctenus (Foreground) The size of a human (an average British male) compared to the silhouette of its eurypterid relatives. Image credit: Simon Powell.

Sea scorpions (family Eurypteridae) are ancient aquatic creepy crawlers (arthropods) that lived long before the dinosaurs, from 467 million to 253 million years ago.

These include the “pterygoids” (428 to 391 million years ago), which had large, fearsome claws. Grows up to 2.5 meters longthe biggest bug that ever existed.

An extinct millipede called Arthropleura was It is claimed that it is even largerHowever, if the length of 12 to 14 preserved body segments is 76 cm, the body length of an animal with 32 segments is (76/12 x 32), which is just over 2 m (excluding the head).

All pterosaurs, eurypterids, were thought to have been ferocious apex predators. tyrannosaurus About their time.

Later, some scientists believed that pterygoid claws acutiramus It could only catch and slice weak, soft-bodied prey, and its eyesight wasn't sharp enough Becoming a predator.It has been demoted from the top echelon of predators and even a label is attached “Pussycat”.

According to new research, nails acutiramus It was much more robust. Suggestions that they would snap were based on incorrect assumptions.

The apparent lack of an “elbow joint” doesn't hurt either. This was at the base of the nail. Also, the claws were used only for catching prey. If it had more powerful mouthparts in the groin, it would kill or chew it up.

It doesn't matter that their eyesight is poor either. Their prey is large, and some non-predatory insects (such as bees and butterflies) have eye indicators similar to arthropods that were considered predators.

Computer modeling and experiments with robotic swimming eurypterids also show that pterosaurs were slower swimmers than expected. They were so large that relatively small swim paddles could not provide sufficient propulsion, so a flat tail (telson) served both as a rudder and as propulsion.

Analysis of the types of fossils found with pterygomorphs also suggests that: acutiramus It specializes in lightly armored crustaceans (called foliaceans) and pterophytes. Eretopterus Therodont fish and pterigotus and Jachelopterus About the more heavily armored placoderm fish.

Evidence of predation (claw marks) and fossilized feces (coprolites) confirm that some eurypterids ate armored fish, trilobites, and even other eurypterids.

Previous studies have generally dismissed suggestions that Eurypteridae influenced the evolution of early vertebrates (fish) in a predator-prey arms race, but this new study This suggests that pterosaurs and other eurypterids probably had some influence on the evolution of early vertebrates.

The evolutionary relationships of pterygoids have also changed. Their shape, vision, fossil associations, ecology, and stratigraphic record all indicate that: acutiramus It was more basic Jachelopterus and pterigotus.

This is the largest arthropod in history (Jachelopterus lenaniae) It is now estimated to be about 2.6 meters long, 10 centimeters longer than previous estimates. The biggest bug is now a little bigger.

this paper will appear in Earth Science Bulletin.

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S. J. Brady. 2023. Paleoecology of the pterygoid eurypterids: Pladicnia and paleontological assemblages. Earth Science Bulletin 98(4); doi: 10.3140/bull.geosci.1891

Source: www.sci.news

Tracing the Sea Ice Highway: The Arrival of North America’s First Immigrants

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New findings suggest that early humans arrived in North America earlier than 13,000 years ago, likely taking advantage of the “sea ice highway” along the Pacific coast. This theory is supported by paleoclimate data, challenges traditional migration theories, and emphasizes the adaptability of early humans. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

A new study suggests that some early Americans may have traveled down the coast from Beringia 24,000 years ago on winter sea ice.

One of the hottest debates in archeology is when and how humans first arrived in North America. Archaeologists have traditionally argued that people walked through temporary ice-free passages between ice sheets an estimated 13,000 years ago.

New evidence casts doubt on traditional theory

But a growing number of archaeological and genetic discoveries, such as human footprints in New Mexico dating back some 23,000 years, suggest that humans were on the continent much earlier. These early Americans likely migrated from Beringia along the Pacific coastline. Beringia is a land bridge between Asia and North America that appeared during the last ice age maximum when ice sheets trapped large amounts of water and caused sea levels to drop.

Now, in a study presented at the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (AGU23) in San Francisco on Friday, December 15th, paleoclimate reconstructions of the Pacific Northwest show that sea ice has grown even further south than humans. This suggests that it may have been a means of transportation.

Coastal migration theory

The idea that early Americans may have traveled along the Pacific coast is not new. People may have been south of the giant ice sheet that once covered much of the continent by at least 16,000 years ago. Given that ice-free corridors would not open for thousands of years before these early arrivals, scientists proposed that people instead migrated along a “kelp highway.” Along this path, early Americans slowly made their way down to North America by ship. Abundant supplies found in coastal waters.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of coastal settlements in western Canada dating back 14,000 years. But in 2020, researchers noted that freshwater from melting glaciers at the time may have created strong currents, making it difficult for people to travel along the coast.

Sea ice in Nunavut, Canada. Credit: Grid-Arendel CC-BY-NC-SA

An icy highway crossing a dangerous sea

To get a more complete picture of ocean conditions during key periods of human migration, Summer Pretorius and colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey examined climate proxies in marine sediments along the coast. Most of the data came from small fossilized plankton. Its abundance and chemistry help scientists reconstruct ocean temperatures, salinity, and sea ice cover.

Praetorius’ presentation is part of a session at AGU23 on the climate history and geology of Beringia and the North Pacific during the Pleistocene. This year, his week-long conference brought together 24,000 of his experts from all areas of earth and space sciences in San Francisco and 3,000 online participants.

Using climate models, Praetorius’ team found that at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20,000 years ago, ocean currents were more than twice as strong as they are today due to glacial winds and falling sea levels. Pretorius said it would have been very difficult to travel by boat in these conditions, although it was not impossible to row.

However, records show that much of the region had winter sea ice until about 15,000 years ago. As a cold-adapted people, “they may have been using the sea ice as a foothold instead of having to row against this terrible glacial current,” Pretorius said.

Sea ice as a migration path

People in the Arctic now travel along the sea ice on dog sleds and snowmobiles. Pretorius said early Americans may also have used the “sea ice highway” to travel and hunt marine mammals, slowly making their way into North America in the process. Climate data suggest that conditions along the coastal route may have been favorable for migration between 24,500 and 22,000 years ago and between 16,400 and 14,800 years ago, possibly due to the presence of winter sea ice.

Integration of old and new theories

It’s difficult to prove that people used sea ice for travel, given that most ruins are underwater, but the idea is that without land bridges or easy ocean travel, humans It provides a new framework for understanding how it arrived in North America.

And the Sea Ice Highway is not mutually exclusive with other human movements beyond it, Pretorius said. The researchers’ model shows that by 14,000 years ago, the Alaska Current had calmed down, making it easier for people to travel by boat along the coast.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” she said. “We are always amazed by the ingenuity of ancient humans.”

Source: scitechdaily.com

Climate Change’s Impact on Deep Sea Ecosystems

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New research reveals that fire ice, or frozen methane, trapped as a solid under the oceans is at risk of melting due to climate change, potentially releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. I did. Using advanced seismic imaging, the research team found that dissociated methane can travel significant distances, overturning previous assumptions about its stability.

Research shows that ocean fire ice, or frozen methane, is more likely to melt due to climate change and poses a significant threat to methane emissions into the atmosphere.

An international research team led by the University of Newcastle has discovered that when frozen methane and ice melt, the powerful greenhouse gas methane is released and travels from the deepest parts of continental slopes to the edges of underwater shelves. They also found a pocket that had traveled 25 miles (40 kilometers).

Publication in magazine natural earth scienceresearchers say this means more methane could potentially become vulnerable and released into the atmosphere as a result of climate warming.

Methane hydrate: the hidden climate change threat

Methane hydrate, also known as fire ice, is an ice-like structure containing methane buried under the ocean. Huge amounts of methane are stored in the ocean as marine methane. As the ocean warms, it melts, releasing methane, known as dissociated methane, into the ocean and atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

The researchers used advanced three-dimensional seismic imaging techniques to examine sections of hydrate that have dissociated during climate warming off the coast of Mauritania in northwest Africa. They identified specific cases where dissociated methane traveled more than 40 kilometers and was released through underwater depressions known as pockmarks during warm periods in the past.

Researchers at Newcastle University have found that frozen methane trapped on the ocean floor is more likely to melt due to climate change and could be released into the ocean.Credit: Newcastle University

Discovery and its impact

Professor Richard Davies, lead author and Vice-Chancellor for Global and Sustainability at Newcastle University, said: . Our study shows that they formed as methane released from hydrates from the deepest parts of the continental slope spewed into the ocean. Scientists previously thought these hydrates would be less susceptible to climate warming, but it turns out some are more susceptible. ”

Researchers have previously studied how changes in seafloor temperatures near continental margins affect methane release from hydrates. However, these studies mainly focused on regions where only a small fraction of the earth’s methane hydrate exists. This is one of the few studies to investigate methane emissions from the bottom of hydrate stability zones deep underwater. The results show that the methane released from the hydrate stability zone migrated a significant distance towards land.

Broader research perspective and future plans

Professor Christian Berndt, Head of the Ocean Geodynamics Research Unit at GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany, added:

“This is an important finding. Previous research efforts have focused on the shallowest part of the hydrate stability zone, because we thought this was the only part that would be susceptible to climate change.

“New data clearly shows that far greater amounts of methane can be released from ocean hydrates, and a thorough understanding of this fact is needed to better understand the role of hydrates in the climate system. need to be clarified.”

Methane is the second most common anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane accounts for about 16% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency figures.

The findings could play an important role in predicting and addressing methane’s impact on a changing climate.

The researchers plan to continue looking for evidence of methane vents along the margin and predict where large methane seeps may occur as the planet warms. Researchers are now planning a scientific expedition to examine the pockmarks more closely and see if they can be more closely linked to past climate warming events.

Reference: “Long-distance transport and emissions of methane from the base of the hydrate stability zone” Richard J. Davies, Jinxiu Yang, Mark T. Ireland, Christian Berndt, Miguel Ángel Morales Maqueda, Mads Huuse, December 6, 2023 , natural earth science.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-023-01333-w

Source: scitechdaily.com