Tag: discovery

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New hiding place for Nessie…

Photo of the Loch Ness MonsterLast week we introduced a report about the search for Bigfoot that resulted from four years of study. While it doesn’t have the indisputable evidence that we crave, it brought up a number of ideas about why we could look and look and look for something and still not be able to find it.

This week brings us another case where we thought we knew something and there’s more to find. People have been searching for Nessie (the mysterious Loch Ness creature) since 1933. Even though there have been numerous sightings, photos and even video to support the idea that something is in the Loch, no one has been able to locate the creature. How is that possible? Loch Ness only covers about 22 square miles. Yes, it’s a lot of space, but it’s all boxed in. With all of the sophisticated sonar equipment we have along with satellites and everything else that we use to explore we must be able to see everything in there, right?

You would think so, but even with all that a new discovery was made about Loch Ness, a discovery which could make all the difference. There are parts of the Loch that we haven’t yet seen! According to this article from the Daily Record, Keith Stewart, captain of a tourist sightseeing boat, did some new soundings and found an area that is 76 feet deeper than anything that has been measured before. This newly discovered trench could certainly be a hiding place for Nessie and other similar creatures. Here is video of Captain Stewart as they made their historic find.

https://youtu.be/BdkjiGpTVJw

This discovery calls much into question. Is this the only such trench in the Loch? Could there be other such hiding places? Does this give more credence to the idea some have had that there may be hidden channels between Loch Ness and other bodies of water, allowing creatures to move between others?

Also, it is reasonable that whatever this creature is that it could prefer living at depths. This National Geographic gallery shows a number of creatures that are rarely encountered because they stay deep beneath the surface. We just don’t know!

Perhaps this discovery will lead to a different picture of Loch Ness and different approaches to searching for Nessie.

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Could this fossilized flea unleash deadly plague?

Fea in amber

Fea in amber
This flea preserved about 20 million years ago in amber may carry evidence of an ancestral strain of the bubonic plague.
Photo by George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University [CC BY-SA 2.0]
The flea in this picture could contain the ancestor to one of the most horrifying diseases known to the human race, the Black Death. Also called the bubonic plague, this disease killed an estimated 50 million people in the 14th century, or 60 per cent of Europe’s entire population.

Examination of this flea found droplets of the deadly bacteria on its proboscis (sucking mouthpart) and in its backside. This thing’s got it bad!

George Poinar, Jr., an entomology researcher in the College of Science at Oregon State University, told Discover News reporters “Aside from physical characteristics of the fossil bacteria that are similar to plague bacteria, their location in the rectum of the flea is known to occur in modern plague bacteria, and in this fossil, the presence of similar bacteria in a dried droplet on the proboscis of the flea is consistent with the method of transmission of plague bacteria by modern fleas.”

In other words, it looks like we’ve got a winner!

Just as the mosquito that started all the trouble in Jurrasic Park, this chunk of amber was pulled from a mine in the Dominican Republic. Is it possible that this bacteria could somehow be revived? It’s not likely. Generally things that have been trapped in rock for 20 million years are going to be pretty dead. However, we have discovered bacteria that can survive in space, so what do we know?

Enlarged photo of flea with arrow pointing to traces of bacteria
The arrow points at bacteria on the proboscis of this flea preserved in amber, which researchers believe may be an ancestral strain of the bacteria that causes bubonic plague.
Photo by George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Another question is could an early form of this plague have been partially responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago? Research suggests that the big event was a large asteroid (and that more may be coming). But imagine the double-whammy of terrible disease and an astro-event!Poinar added “If this is an ancient strain of Yersinia, it would be extraordinary. It would show that plague is actually an ancient disease that no doubt was infecting and possibly causing some extinction of animals long before any humans existed. Plague may have played a larger role in the past than we imagined.”Hopefully all of this will remain scientific curiosity and we won’t have some strange event that brings on the zombie apocalypse. Though, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few cans of food and some extra water handy.

 

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Read the original Discovery News article.

 

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Amazing discovery inside “living fossil”

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65-million-year-old fossil of a Coelacanth
Photo by Haplochromis [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Researchers studying the Coelacanth, a mysterious living fossil, discover something amazing.

Thought extinct, the deep-ocean-dwelling creature was found alive and well when fishermen caught one in 1938. The bizarre fish has a number of unusual qualities. It has matching pairs of lobe fins that stick out like legs and even move like the legs of a four-legged animal. It has a hinged skull which can widen it’s mouth to eat larger prey. It has an electrosensory organ in it’s snout that may help it hunt.

Now we find that it once had lungs!

Photo of a diver swimming with a Coelacanth
Living fossil swims with a diver
Photo by Mordecai 1998 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
An article in Discover News tells how researchers exploring the body of a Coelacanth have found what appears to be an obsolete lung. Humans have an appendix, an organ that seems to serve no real purpose for us, but might have been important long ago. Similarly, it appears that this fish may have once used lungs to breath air and that the organ has faded back over time.

This suggests that the Coelacanth was once an air-breather that evolved to become a creature of the deep. This may be what saved this species while other creatures of the period were wiped out, possibly by a single event.

Earth’s history is a  strange array of creatures, and discoveries like this just fuel the imagination. Will we ever get a clear picture of it all without a time machine? Perhaps not. However, each clue shows us that it was all weirder than we thought. Weird is good!

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Nazi gold train discovered?

Today’s story combines two powerful ideas: Nazis and treasure.

Nazi villainy is legendary. They were a powerful, invasive force. They were responsible for unspeakable horrors that can never be forgotten. Their leaders were genuinely interested in tapping into supernatural forces to achieve victory.

Gold, jewels, the promise of treasure have excited countless generations. Some tales of treasure hunting are inspiring. Others are more horrific. People are capable of amazing things when they believe it will lead to riches.

So, here is the scene. There is a legend of a Nazi train filled with guns and gold that disappeared in Poland about 1945. If stories are to be believed this ghost train contains 30 tons of gold along with jewels and other valuables. Did such a train actually exist? Is it still findable?

See this video about a startling ground radar discovery:

https://youtu.be/nw99jY071EQ

If this is the real thing, Polish law entitles treasure hunters to receive 10% of anything found. I imagine a mere 3 tons of gold could make one pretty comfortable.

Of course, there is an ethical question. If these valuables were taken from Polish Jews by the Nazis, then is it right to take a “finder’s fee?” This question is at the heart of the controversey as people explore the best way to excavate the possible train. It’s currently buried in rock that will require careful blasting to reach.

If this is a Nazi train, even one carrying only military cargo, this is quite a find. The artifacts are likely well preserved and would be valuable in their own right.

If this ends up being a treasure train then it’s even more incredible. We will have to see how this all progresses. We’ll share more as news becomes available.

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Bat looks like something from a horror movie

drawing of a bat with long canine teeth
Artist rendering of the Hypsugo dolichodon

A newly discovered bat is the stuff of nightmares! This article by Mongabay introduces the Long -toothed Pipistrelle or Hypsugo dolichodon that was recently classified in Vietnam. Basically, that’s a mouthful describing a bat with a mouthful! It has enormous teeth, like something from a horror film!

The picture on the right shows an artist rendering of this amazing bat, but you can see the photos in the original article. Why such large teeth? Scientists speculate that these bats feed on beetles and other insects that are a little tougher to get into.

The new  classification is the result of 17 years of research. We can imagine that in that time there were plenty of people who told stories of monster-toothed bats who were just not believed. Let us know how this fellow turns out in your nightmares tonight.

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Strange new creatures

Photo by NBC News

In 1995, divers discovered bizarre configurations about 6 feet in diameter off the coast of Japan’s Amami-Oshima Island. They resembled crop circles. Were these underwater aliens?

The answer turned out to be a newly classified pufferfish, Torquigener albomaculosus. The “Crop Circle Fish” was among many species that received scientific names over the last year. The International Institute for Species Exploration has listed their their top 10 of nearly 18,000 newly named species.

These obscure creatures may be hidden away in environments that are not populated by people, such as the strange creatures we are discovering deep beneath the ocean. Others are known locally, but only recently noticed by the scientific community. Here are the other nine recognized on this “top 10” list:

  • Anzu wyliei, also known as “the Chicken From Hell,” is a 10-foot-tall birdlike dinosaur which lived around 66 million years ago in the Dakotas.
  • The Balanophora coralliformis is a parasitic plant found only on the southwestern slopes of Mount Mingan in the Philippines. It has a unique, coral-like appearance because of branches of above-ground tubers which have a coarse texture.
  • The bizarre Cebrennus rechenbergi, or cartwheeling spider, uses a strange flipping motion to propel itself over the sands of Morocco.
  • Dendrogramma enigmatica are multicellular animals resembling mushrooms. Not only a new species, they may represent an entirely new phylum!
  • The so-called Bone-house wasp, Deuteragenia ossarium, from southeast China, uses corpses of ants to ward off predators by stuffing them into crevices on the outside of the nest.
  • The Limnonectes larvaepartus is a fanged frog from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, that gives live birth to tadpoles that are deposited into pools of water. Other species hatch from eggs.
  • The Phryganistria tamdaoensis, discovered in Vietnam, is the world’s second longest insect.
  • A Sea Slug, Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum, is a particularly beautiful variety that might be a sort of “missing link” in the sea slug world.
  • A Mexican plant had been used for years in “nacimientos,” or altar scenes depicting the birth of Christ, by villagers in Sierra de Tepoztlán, Tlayacapan, San José de los Laureles, and Tepoztlán.  It turned out to be a species of Bromeliad previously unknown to science. It’s been dubbed Tillandsia religiosa.

These are only ten from thousands of newly classified species. As we continue to seek perhaps we’ll finally be giving scientific names to some of the legendary creatures such as Bigfoot that have eluded and fascinated seekers for centuries.

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WE’RE STILL HERE BUT, WHEN WILL THE EARTH REALLY END?

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So, as we all expected, everyone woke up from their slumber this morning. Some are safe and sound in warm beds and some are getting ready for another day at work. Both, are not worried about the world coming to it’s end… at least not yet.

So, when will the world really end. Like, reeaaallly end. Luckily for us lamen, there’s the fine folks of Discovery News to bring us the actual science behind answering these types of questions. Read on to see what they have to say and be comforted that, barring human error, the Mother Earth has many, many, maaany more years ahead of her, far beyond what we could ever hope to see.

Discovery News writes:

Content provided by Amanda Doyle, Astrobiology Magazine

Billions of years from now, life on Earth will be extinguished when the dying sun scorches the surface of our planet. New research has aimed to determine what the last life forms on Earth will be, and what kind of abodes they will cling to before the Earth becomes sterilized.

We are fortunate that our planet orbits a star that has a long main-sequence lifetime. However, the sun’s luminosity is gradually increasing, and in about one billion years the effects of this will start to be felt on Earth.

Surface temperatures will start to creep relentlessly upwards over the next few billion years, which will increase the amount of water vapor in the air. This will act to further increase temperatures and will thus signify the beginning of the end for life on Earth.

The rising temperatures will cause excessive amounts of rain and wind, and thus increase the weathering of silicate rocks, which will suck extra carbon from the atmosphere. (Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth)

Ordinarily, the carbon is replaced via plate tectonics in the carbon-silicate cycle as it is released in volcanic gases. However, the oceans will start to evaporate as the temperatures continue to rise, which will probably put a stop to plate tectonics as scientists believe that water is an essential lubricant for the motion of tectonic plates on Earth. This will deplete the number of active volcanoes, and the carbon will not be replenished in the atmosphere.

The lack of carbon dioxide will effectively choke plant life on Earth, since plants require atmospheric CO2 for their respiration. The death of oxygen-producing plants will in turn lead to less oxygen in the atmosphere over a few million years. This will spell disaster for the remaining animal life on Earth, with mammals and birds being the first to become extinct. Fish, amphibians and reptiles would survive a little longer, as they need less oxygen and have a greater tolerance to heat.

The last type of animal present on the far-future Earth would likely be invertebrates. Once the insects finally succumb to the increasing temperatures, the Earth will once again be solely populated by microbial life, just as it had been for the first few billion years of our planet’s history. The last lingering life will desperately seek out niches of the planet that are still habitable, but  even extremophile forms of life will find this to be a challenge.

Read more at news.discovery.com/earth