'A completely new phenomenon': Astronomers spot a planet causing its star to constantly explode

By B. Turner published July 2, 2025

https://www.livescience.com/space/exoplanets/a-completely-new-phenomenon-astronomers-spot-a-planet-causing-its-star-to-constantly-explode

An artist's illustration of HIP 67522 b's star launching a burst of plasma at the planet. 

(Image credit: Danielle Futselaar)

Astronomers have spotted an alien planet orbiting so closely to its home star, the planet's magnetic field is triggering massive solar flares to erupt. This is the first time a planet has been seen influencing its host star.

Astronomers have captured the first evidence of a "planet with a death wish" — an alien world that's orbiting so close to its star and so fast that it's causing the star to cook it to death with stellar explosions.

The planet, called HIP 67522 b, is a wispy, Jupiter-size planet bound on a tight, seven-day orbit around its host star, HIP 67522.

But these orbits are disturbing the star's magnetic field, causing enormous stellar eruptions to blow back on the planet and make it shrink. This marks the first time a planet has been observed influencing its host star, the scientists reported in a study published July 2 in the journal Nature.

"The planet seems to be triggering particularly energetic flares," study first-author Ekaterina Ilin, an astrophysicist at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, said in a statement. "The waves it sends along the star's magnetic field lines kick off flares at specific moments. But the energy of the flares is much higher than the energy of the waves. We think that the waves are setting off explosions that are waiting to happen."

Stars are gigantic balls of burning plasma whose charged particles, or ions, swirl over their surfaces to create powerful magnetic fields. Because magnetic-field lines cannot cross each other, sometimes these fields knot before suddenly snapping to launch bursts of radiation called solar flares, which are sometimes accompanied by enormous belches of surface plasma known as coronal mass ejections.

Because many planets, including Earth, have magnetic fields, astronomers have long wondered whether planets with close orbits around their stars could disturb powerful stellar magnetic fields enough to trigger explosions.

To investigate this question, the astronomers conducted a broad sweep of stars using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which finds exoplanets by detecting the characteristic dimming of stars' light as planets pass in front of them. After flagging HIP 67522 as worthy of interest, the astronomers used the European Space Agency's (ESA) Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (Cheops) to investigate further.

"We quickly requested observing time with Cheops, which can target individual stars on demand, ultra precisely," Ilin said. "With Cheops we saw more flares, taking the total count to 15, almost all coming in our direction as the planet transited in front of the star as seen from Earth."

A vital piece of evidence was that these flares occurred when the planet passed in front of the star. This suggested that the planet is gathering energy as it orbits and is using it to "whip" the star's magnetic-field lines like a rope. When this shock wave passes down the field to the star's surface, a powerful flare erupts.

These flares are slowly stripping away the planet's diffuse atmosphere, layer by layer. The researchers project that, although HIP 67522 b is as big as Jupiter now, it could shrink to the size of Neptune in the next 100 million years.

To further investigate this first-of-its-kind phenomenon, the researchers plan to take more readings with TESS, Cheops, and other exoplanet telescopes, such as ESA's upcoming Plato space telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2026.

"I have a million questions because this is a completely new phenomenon, so the details are still not clear," Ilin said. "There are two things that I think are most important to do now. The first is to follow up in different wavelengths (Cheops covers visible to near-infrared wavelengths) to find out what kind of energy is being released in these flares — for example ultraviolet and X-rays are especially bad news for the exoplanet.

"The second is to find and study other similar star-planet systems; by moving from a single case to a group of 10-100 systems, theoretical astronomers will have something to work with," she added.

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Oldest wooden tools unearthed in East Asia show that ancient humans made planned trips to dig up edible plants

By Sascha Pare published July 4, 2025

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/oldest-wooden-tools-unearthed-in-east-asia-show-that-ancient-humans-made-planned-trips-to-dig-up-edible-plants

Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest wooden tools ever found in East Asia. (Image credit: Bo Li)

The 300,000 year-old tools show that hominins in East Asia made planned foraging trips to lakeshores and designed instruments for specific purposes.

Archaeologists have discovered 35 wooden tools from the Old Stone Age in China which they say show impressive craftsmanship, advanced cognitive skills and offer new insights into what ancient humans might have eaten.

The 300,000-year-old tools are the oldest wooden artifacts ever documented in East Asia, according to a study published Thursday (July 3) in the journal Science. They include digging sticks made of pine and hardwood, hooks for cutting roots and small, pointed implements for extracting edible plants from the ground.

"This discovery is exceptional because it preserves a moment in time when early humans were using sophisticated wooden tools to harvest underground food resources," study lead author Bo Li, a professor in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences at the University of Wollongong Australia, said in a statement.

The tools date to the early Paleolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age (3.3 million to 300,000 years ago). Wooden artifacts from this time are extremely rare due to organic decomposition, and only a handful of archaeological sites have yielded similar objects, according to the new study. But most of these objects, including spears from Schöningen in Germany, were designed for hunting — these newfound tools were made for digging.

Researchers found the tools buried in oxygen-poor clay sediments on the shores of an ancient lake in Gantangqing, an archaeological site in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. The sediments preserved deliberate polishing and scraping marks on the tools, as well as plant and soil remains on some of the edges that gave researchers clues about the tools' function.

"Our results suggest that hominins at Gantangqing made strategic utilization of lakeshore food resources," the researchers wrote in the study. "They made planned visits to the lakeshore and brought with them fabricated tools of selected wood for exploiting underground tubers, rhizomes, or corms."

Such planned visits show that 300,000 years ago, human ancestors in East Asia were crafting and using tools for specific purposes, demonstrating considerable foresight and intention, the researchers wrote. The artifacts also suggest that these early humans had a good understanding of which plants and parts of plants were edible, the researchers noted.

The tools were preserved thanks to oxygen-poor clay sediments. 

(Image credit: Bo Li)

"The tools show a level of planning and craftsmanship that challenges the notion that East Asian hominins were technologically conservative," Li said in the statement. This idea is rooted in previous discoveries in East Asia of stone tools that seemed "primitive" in comparison to tools found in western Eurasia and Africa, according to the study.

The researchers dated the tools using a technique developed by Li that uses infrared luminescence and another method called electron spin resonance, which measures a material’s age through the number of electrons trapped inside its crystal defects due to exposure to natural radiation. Both produced estimates indicating that the wooden tools were between 250,000 and 361,000 years old.

The plant remains on the tools have not been identified because their decomposition is too advanced, but other plant remains at Gantangqing indicate that early humans there ate berries, pine nuts, hazelnuts, kiwi fruit and aquatic tubers, according to the study.

"The discovery challenges previous assumptions about early human adaptation," Li said in the statement. "While contemporary European sites (like Schöningen in Germany) focused on hunting large mammals, Gantangqing reveals a unique plant-based survival strategy."

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Gut Bacteria Found to Soak Up Toxic Forever Chemicals

04 July 2025, By D. NIELD

https://www.sciencealert.com/gut-bacteria-found-to-soak-up-toxic-forever-chemicals

Illustration showing how bacteria can absorb PFAS.

 (Peter Northrop/MRC Toxicology Unit)

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have the nickname 'forever chemicals' thanks to their persistence in the environment. While a handful of bacteria are known to mop up these insidious compounds, it's unclear whether any of our own microflora hide such a talent.

A new study by an international team of researchers has shown how several species of human gut bacteria can absorb and store PFAS. Potentially, boosting these types of bacteria in our bodies could stop the chemicals from negatively impacting our health.

"We found that certain species of human gut bacteria have a remarkably high capacity to soak up PFAS from their environment at a range of concentrations, and store these in clumps inside their cells," says Kiran Patil, a molecular biologist from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

"Due to aggregation of PFAS in these clumps, the bacteria themselves seem protected from the toxic effects."

Through detailed lab tests, the researchers found a total of 38 different gut bacterial strains able to absorb forever chemicals at a variety of concentrations, with the fiber-degrading bacterium Bacteroides uniformis one of the best at the job.

The researchers analyzed how bacteria reacted to PFAS. (Lindell et al., Nature Microbiology, 2025)

In experiments with Escherichia coli, the team also discovered certain mechanisms that could make bacteria more or less effective at taking on board PFAS – something that will be useful if this absorption can be bioengineered in the future.

The researchers found that PFAS were effectively locked away in the bacteria that could handle the chemicals, the bacteria clustering together in a way that reduces their surface area and possibly protects the microorganisms from being harmed themselves.

Further tests on mice with nine of these bacteria species implanted in their guts showed that the microbes were able to quickly absorb PFAS, which was excreted from the mice through their feces. As levels of forever chemicals increased, the microbes worked harder at soaking them up.

"The reality is that PFAS are already in the environment and in our bodies, and we need to try and mitigate their impact on our health now," says molecular biologist Indra Roux from the University of Cambridge.

"We haven't found a way to destroy PFAS, but our findings open the possibility of developing ways to get them out of our bodies where they do the most harm."

PFAS are found in everything from cosmetics to drinking water to food packaging, and have become embedded in so many manufacturing processes that it would now be almost impossible to avoid them completely. What's less clear is the harm they might be doing to our bodies, though they've already been linked to a number of health issues – including kidney damage.

The bacteria's ability to remove PFAS from human bodies remains to be seen. It is possible, the researchers say, that probiotic dietary supplements may be developed to boost the right mix of gut microbes and help safely clear out PFAS from our systems.

"Given the scale of the problem of PFAS 'forever chemicals', particularly their effects on human health, it's concerning that so little is being done about removing these from our bodies," says Patil.

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Rainforest Deaths Are Surging and Scientists Just Found the Shocking Cause

BY CARY INST. OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES, JULY 1, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/rainforest-deaths-are-surging-and-scientists-just-found-the-shocking-cause/

Rapid-fire tropical thunderstorms, once overlooked, now appear responsible for roughly half of rainforest tree deaths, rivaling drought and heat as the chief threat to carbon-rich jungles. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Tropical trees are dying at accelerating rates, and a surprising new culprit is emerging: thunderstorms.

While drought and heat have long been blamed, scientists now believe fast, fierce convective storms—loaded with lightning and destructive winds—may be responsible for as much as 60% of tree deaths in some rainforests. These storms are becoming more frequent with climate change, and researchers say they could undermine forest stability and carbon storage more than previously thought.

Rising Tree Death in Tropical Forests

Tropical trees are dying faster than ever, and that could rattle the planet’s climate engine. Deforestation remains the chief culprit, yet even untouched rainforests are losing trees at an alarming pace. Scientists have long blamed drought, rising heat, and fires, but a new study led by forest ecologist Evan Gora of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies highlights another force: ordinary thunderstorms, now more frequent in a warming world.

These short-lived convective storms are nothing like sprawling hurricanes or cyclones. They flare up quickly, whip the canopy with fierce winds, and release bolts of lightning that can snap towering trunks in seconds. Writing in Ecology Letters, Gora and colleagues argue that such tempests may be a major driver of the rising tree-mortality trend, stripping forests of the carbon they store and reshaping biodiversity.

“Tropical forests have massive effects on global climate. They’re like the lungs of the Earth, and we’re seeing trees in them dying at higher rates than in the past, and the composition of forests is changing, too,” said Gora. “That could be really problematic for the future of not just tropical forests, but for the planet.”

Multiple trees damaged by lightning. 

Credit: Evan Gora/Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Thunderstorm Threat Revealed

Understanding what’s causing the trends in tree death is critical to guiding decisions about which tree species to plant or conserve in a forest, so that forest managers can ensure forests continue thriving and storing carbon long into the future.

“Being in the forest during a tropical storm is unforgettable,” said coauthor Vanessa Rubio, a forest ecologist in Gora’s lab at Cary Institute. “As the storm quickly builds, the sky darkens, humidity changes drastically, and strong winds shake the trees. Then, thunder and lightning come. Leaves and branches fall to the ground, rain pours down, and your instinct is to get back to the field station as quickly as possible.”

Despite their obvious danger to people, storms had been overlooked and understudied as a potential culprit in tree mortality trends. But when the team reanalyzed data from previous studies on tropical forest carbon stocks, they found that storms were at least as good as drought and temperature in explaining the patterns of tree mortality and forest carbon storage.

Cary Institute forest ecologist Evan Gora stands near the roots of a tree knocked over by winds from a thunderstorm. 

Credit: Steve Yanoviak/University of Louisville



Storms Eclipse Drought as Killer

“We were surprised to find that storms may be the largest single factor causing tree death in these forests, and they’re largely overlooked by research into carbon storage in the tropics,” said Gora. “Our estimates suggest that storms are responsible for 30 to 60% of tree mortality in the past, and that number must be increasing as storm activity increases by 5 to 25% each decade.”

The team also added storms to the largest plot-based study of forest biomass carbon dynamics to date. That study had previously concluded that when temperatures go above a certain threshold, tropical forests experience a fast decline in carbon stocks. “But when you add storms, that relationship goes away,” said Gora. “It basically shows that you have to include storms, or you might not get the answers right.”

Storms and droughts are not mutually exclusive, the scientists note — the same forests can experience both high storm activity and drought stress. They found high convective storm activity across the southern Amazon, where water stress is also high and patterns of change are among the most extreme.

Multiple trees damaged by lightning – tree top view. 

Credit: Evan Gora/Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies




Tracking Tiny Tempests with Tech

“During my studies on threats to tropical forests, my professors, our textbooks, and even overall climate policy never mentioned small, convective storms as a potential source of forest mortality,” said coauthor Ian McGregor, a Cary Institute forest ecologist in Gora’s lab. “I don’t remember seeing them in global climate models used to inform climate policy. Given our findings, however, it’s clear we need a more thorough understanding of these storms to have more accurate climate models, and thus more effective policy.”

There are good reasons why scientists have overlooked storms until now. Temperature and water stress can be monitored with meteorological stations and readily connected to long-term forest plot data. It is much harder to detect storms and track their highly localized damage. Mortality caused by thunderstorms is not easily detected via satellite, and it’s not practical for researchers on foot to survey large forested areas frequently enough to pinpoint the damage caused by a specific storm.

Gigante, a project led by Gora and co-author Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert from the University of Birmingham, offers one way to overcome these challenges. The project combines a lightning location system, drone scouts, and on-the-ground experts to sample large areas of tropical forest frequently. With these tools, they are starting to quantify when, where, and why tropical trees are dying, and which species are most affected.

Snapped tree, storm damage. 

Credit: Evan Gora/Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Guiding Reforestation for Resilience

Understanding current and future threats to tropical forests is crucial to informing long-term conservation and restoration efforts.

“If we make decisions about which species to plant or conserve based on an incorrect understanding of what’s actually killing these trees and which species are most vulnerable, those forests won’t reach their full potential,” said Gora. Storms are most deadly to mature trees, so the consequences of misguided reforestation efforts might not be known until decades after the trees are planted.

“However,” Gora continued, “if we can build a more holistic picture of what’s driving forest change, we can be a lot more confident in guiding forest management practices for long-term sustainability.”

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125,000-year-old 'fat factory' run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

By Perri Thaler published July 2, 2025

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/125-000-year-old-fat-factory-run-by-neanderthals-discovered-in-germany

Neanderthals, the closest extinct relative of modern humans, extracted grease and bone marrow from animal bones 125,000 years ago in what is now Germany. 

(Image credit: imageBROKER.com via Alamy)

An analysis of ancient animal bones found in Germany suggests that Neanderthals extracted grease from them to gobble up 125,000 years ago.

Neanderthals were running a potentially lifesaving "fat factory" around 125,000 years ago in what is now Germany, a new study finds.

The research, published Wednesday (July 2) in the journal Science, reveals that these archaic human relatives had a process for extracting grease from animal bones — and it may have saved them from a lethal condition.

The condition, known as protein poisoning or rabbit starvation, happens when humans eat too much protein and don't get enough fat or carbohydrates. Neanderthals would have likely been at high risk of protein poisoning, as they largely ate meat.

The "fat factory" discovery suggests that hominins, or humans and our close relatives, were practicing resource intensification — getting more utility out of the materials they had available — much earlier than previously thought. Before this analysis, the earliest evidence for resource intensification dated to 28,000 years ago, long after the Neanderthals' extinction, according to the study.

Scientists found the Paleolithic factory after uncovering the fragmented remains of 172 large animals, including horses, deer and cattle, as well as Neanderthal-made anvils and hammerstones. After analyzing the bones, the team found that Neanderthals had first smashed the bones to get to the marrow — a soft, edible tissue inside of some bones — before boiling them to extract the fat. It appears that Neanderthals ate both the marrow and the fat, which would have maximized the amount of food and nutrients they got from an animal carcass.

"It's surprisingly creative and innovative behavior from Neanderthals," Osbjorn Pearson, an archaeologist at The University of New Mexico who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.

Who were the Neanderthals?

Neanderthals, the closest extinct relative of modern humans, emerged around 400,000 years ago and went extinct around 34,000 years ago. Remains of the archaic humans were first discovered in the 19th century, and much of the archaeological evidence revealed since then suggests that Neanderthals were fairly sophisticated. They made tools, glue factories and possibly even art.

While it was known that Neanderthals largely ate meat, little was known about how Neanderthals prepared animal carcasses.

"We know a lot about Neanderthal hunting tactics, habits and consumption of meat and bone marrow … but to much lesser degree about all the processes after hunting and butchering," study first author Lutz Kindler, an archaeologist at the Monrepos Archaeological Research Center and Museum for Human Behavioral Evolution in Germany, told Live Science in an email.

"Labour-intensive and time-consuming"

Archaeologists found 2,000 bone fragments at Neumark-Nord, an archaeological site in central Germany, that had been crushed to facilitate the grease extraction.

"Fragmentation of the bones of large mammals into such a vast amount of small fragments is labour-intensive and time-consuming," so it's clear they served a purpose, study co-author Wil Roebroeks, a professor emeritus of paleolithic archaeology at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told Live Science in an email. In addition to bearing signs of being boiled, the bones are mostly broken near areas that contain the most fat, which supports the idea that the grease was rendered for consumption.

Neanderthals first crushed the bones to extract marrow and then chopped them into small pieces to facilitate rendering. 

(Image credit: Kindler, LEIZA-Monrepos)



Neanderthals might have eaten the fat out of necessity, Pearson said. They sometimes experienced periods of starvation and may have been desperate for sources of calories. "And it turns out that fat is just packed with calories," he said — fat supplies more than twice the calories per gram as carbohydrates and protein do.

The bones also suggest that these archaic humans may have used some form of food storage, Roebroeks said. Neanderthals may have been "more similar to historically documented foragers" than previous research had suggested, he added.

Kindler noted the overlaps between the revealed Neanderthal practice and modern human behavior. "The archaeological science of studying hominids is about finding the similarities between us today and them in the past," he said.

Understanding what Neanderthals ate and how they acquired it may improve our understanding of human adaptations, Roebroeks said. The extra calories provided by bone-derived grease has been vital to human evolution, as more robust diets can lengthen lifespan and lead to increased reproduction.

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This Gut-Boosting Drink Could Protect Your Brain From Dementia

BY D. SCHEIBER, U. OF SOUTH FLORIDA, JULY 3, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/this-gut-boosting-drink-could-protect-your-brain-from-dementia/

A team of scientists has developed a promising probiotic blend that may support brain health by targeting the gut microbiome. 

Credit: Stock

A multi-strain probiotic blend shows promise for protecting brain function by reducing gut-triggered inflammation linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Hariom Yadav, PhD, keeps thinking about a particular cocktail — one that could offer meaningful benefits for brain health, especially as the global population continues to age.

This cocktail is a carefully formulated mix of probiotics designed to support the microbiome, the vast and mostly invisible population of microorganisms that thrive in the human gut.

In individuals with balanced gut health, these microbes coexist in a stable ecosystem. However, the gut can also harbor harmful bacteria and viruses that disrupt this balance and trigger changes throughout the body, contributing over time to conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This is especially concerning as projections show the number of new dementia cases could reach nearly one million annually by 2060.

Dr. Yadav, who leads the USF Health Center for Microbiome Research and serves as an associate professor of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, is the senior author of two recently published studies conducted by USF Health research teams. His work investigates the connection between gut health and brain function, with a focus on cognitive decline.

A new approach: targeting the gut to help the brain

In findings published in Nature Scientific Reports in January, Dr. Yadav and his team reported that their specially formulated probiotic cocktail may offer a promising new strategy to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. Although further testing is needed to fully assess its effectiveness, the research highlights an alternative preventive pathway that focuses on gut health rather than the brain itself—a departure from current treatments, which primarily target neurological mechanisms.

Scientist Hariom Yadav, PhD, and his research team are working on a “cocktail” of probiotics — healthy bacteria — that they hope may help lower the risk of dementia. 

Credit: University of South Florida



The study details the development of a multi-strain probiotic blend composed of beneficial bacteria known to support healthy gut function. The cocktail was administered to mice through their drinking water over a 16-week period. To evaluate cognitive performance, the mice were tested in a “water maze” where they had to use visual cues to locate a submerged platform. Those that received the probiotic mixture consistently located the platform more quickly than the control group.

Testing the cocktail’s effects on the brain

Dr. Yadav’s team found that the cocktail reduced the levels of proteins that can cause the build-up of sticky plaques in the brain. It also appeared to lower levels of brain inflammation and preserve tight junctions in the blood-brain barrier — preventing leakage of harmful microorganisms into the brain. The results suggest that this probiotics mixture could decrease the progression of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

“We actually developed this cocktail a few years back,” Dr. Yadav said. “Normally, people look at some single-strand probiotics. But we discovered that when they are put together as a consortia, they actually have more power for manipulating microbiomes, switching them from the bad side to the good side.”

Dr. Yadav and his team stressed in their study that emerging evidence demonstrates early interventions in Alzheimer’s disease can delay or even prevent the progression of symptoms.

“Therefore,” they concluded, “there is a need to develop novel, disease-modifying treatments that can be implemented early in life, ensuring long-term safety.”

How gut inflammation leads to neurodegeneration

The team systematically explored what is happening both in the gut and the brain, establishing a link between the two in triggering cognitive problems. What they observed was that a condition called “leaky gut,” which allows harmful microorganisms escape from the intestines into the bloodstream, thus contributed systemic inflammation. From there, inflammation traveled to the brain, where they are supposed to be blocked by the blood-brain barrier, but in this case, they penetrate to brain and cause neuroinflammation and neuronal damage causing dementia.

“Think about this: not everything we eat enters our blood — only selected nutrients get absorbed in our gut and enter the blood circulation,” Dr. Yadav said. “But what happens with leaky gut is that many ingredients not supposed to enter our blood start going in, and our immune cells react to them. My analogy is an angry kid who runs off in a fit screaming this way and that way. These inflammatory immune cells are like that. They go everywhere and actually enter the brain, where they are not supposed to go.”

The brain, in turn, recognizes a foreign particle and its own immune system is activated. The result is neuroinflammation, which can increase the chance of dementia.

“Basically, whenever our body’s inflammation rises, the blood-brain barrier’s permeability rises as well,” Dr. Yadav said. “It becomes weaker and allows leakage from the gut in there.”

What comes next for the probiotic treatment

The probiotic cocktail serves to decrease inflammatory bacteria in the gut, effectively suppressing that population. Dr. Yadav and his team are currently working on commercializing the cocktail, in contact with various companies to potentially bring it to market.

“We’re still at the stage of whether we want to have our own start-up to license the technology, but first we need to have a clinical trial done,” he said. “We want to be sure of its clinical efficacy, but we are optimistic about that.”

Santosh K. Prajapati, PhD, first author of the cocktail study, hopes the probiotic mix will prove to have broad potential as an effective early treatment.

“Ultimately, our goal is to develop a safe, simple, effective, and adherent probiotics formulation that can be implemented in our daily dietary habits to slow and/or prevent neurodegenerative conditions,” Dr. Prajapati said.

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https://www.sciencealert.com/antarcticas-ocean-is-mysteriously-getting-saltier-spelling-end-to-sea-ice

02 July 2025, By A. Silvano, The Conversation
https://www.sciencealert.com/antarcticas-ocean-is-mysteriously-getting-saltier-spelling-end-to-sea-ice

Sea ice will have a harder time forming in saltier waters.

 (Ray Hems/Getty Images)

The ocean around Antarctica is rapidly getting saltier at the same time as sea ice is retreating at a record pace. Since 2015, the frozen continent has lost sea ice similar to the size of Greenland.

That ice hasn't returned, marking the largest global environmental change during the past decade.

This finding caught us off guard – melting ice typically makes the ocean fresher. But new satellite data shows the opposite is happening, and that's a big problem.

Saltier water at the ocean surface behaves differently than fresher seawater by drawing up heat from the deep ocean and making it harder for sea ice to regrow.

The loss of Antarctic sea ice has global consequences. Less sea ice means less habitat for penguins and other ice-dwelling species. More of the heat stored in the ocean is released into the atmosphere when ice melts, increasing the number and intensity of storms and accelerating global warming.

This brings heatwaves on land and melts even more of the Antarctic ice sheet, which raises sea levels globally.

Our new study has revealed that the Southern Ocean is changing, but in a different way to what we expected. We may have passed a tipping point and entered a new state defined by persistent sea ice decline, sustained by a newly discovered feedback loop.

The Southern Ocean surrounds Antarctica, which is fringed by sea ice. (NASA)

A surprising discovery

Monitoring the Southern Ocean is no small task. It's one of the most remote and stormy places on Earth, and is covered in darkness for several months a year.

Thanks to new European Space Agency satellites and underwater robots which stay below the ocean surface measuring temperature and salinity, we can now observe what is happening in real time.

Our team at the University of Southampton worked with colleagues at the Barcelona Expert Centre and the European Space Agency to develop new algorithms to track ocean surface conditions in polar regions from satellites. By combining satellite observations with data from underwater robots, we built a 15-year picture of changes in ocean salinity, temperature and sea ice.

What we found was astonishing. Around 2015, surface salinity in the Southern Ocean began rising sharply – just as sea ice extent started to crash.

This reversal was completely unexpected. For decades, the surface had been getting fresher and colder, helping sea ice expand.

The annual summer minimum extent of Antarctic sea ice dropped precipitously in 2015.

 (NOAA Climate.gov/National Snow and Ice Data Center)




To understand why this matters, it helps to think of the Southern Ocean as a series of layers.

Normally, the cold, fresh surface water sits on top of warmer, saltier water deep below. This layering (or stratification, as scientists call it) traps heat in the ocean depths, keeping surface waters cool and helping sea ice to form.

Saltier water is denser and therefore heavier. So, when surface waters become saltier, they sink more readily, stirring the ocean's layers and allowing heat from the deep to rise.

This upward heat flux can melt sea ice from below, even during winter, making it harder for ice to reform. This vertical circulation also draws up more salt from deeper layers, reinforcing the cycle.

A powerful feedback loop is created: more salinity brings more heat to the surface, which melts more ice, which then allows more heat to be absorbed from the Sun.

My colleagues and I saw these processes first hand in 2016-2017 with the return of the Maud Rise polynya, which is a gaping hole in the sea ice that is nearly four times the size of Wales and last appeared in the 1970s.

What happens in Antarctica doesn't stay there

Losing Antarctic sea ice is a planetary problem. Sea ice acts like a giant mirror reflecting sunlight back into space. Without it, more energy stays in the Earth system, speeding up global warming, intensifying storms and driving sea level rise in coastal cities worldwide.

Wildlife also suffers. Emperor penguins rely on sea ice to breed and raise their chicks. Tiny krill – shrimp-like crustaceans which form the foundation of the Antarctic food chain as food for whales and seals – feed on algae that grow beneath the ice. Without that ice, entire ecosystems start to unravel.

What's happening at the bottom of the world is rippling outward, reshaping weather systems, ocean currents and life on land and sea.

Feedback loops are accelerating the loss of Antarctic sea ice.

 (University of Southampton)




Antarctica is no longer the stable, frozen continent we once believed it to be. It is changing rapidly, and in ways that current climate models didn't foresee. Until recently, those models assumed a warming world would increase precipitation and ice-melting, freshening surface waters and helping keep Antarctic sea ice relatively stable. That assumption no longer holds.

Our findings show that the salinity of surface water is rising, the ocean's layered structure is breaking down and sea ice is declining faster than expected. If we don't update our scientific models, we risk being caught off guard by changes we could have prepared for.

Indeed, the ultimate driver of the 2015 salinity increase remains uncertain, underscoring the need for scientists to revise their perspective on the Antarctic system and highlighting the urgency of further research.

We need to keep watching, yet ongoing satellite and ocean monitoring is threatened by funding cuts. This research offers us an early warning signal, a planetary thermometer and a strategic tool for tracking a rapidly shifting climate. Without accurate, continuous data, it will be impossible to adapt to the changes in store.

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Late-Night Cheese May Fuel Nightmares – New Study Explains How

BY FRONTIERS, JULY 2, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/late-night-cheese-may-fuel-nightmares-new-study-explains-how/

Eating cheese before bed might do more than upset your stomach — it could be hijacking your dreams. Scientists found a strong connection between dairy, sleep quality, and nightmare frequency. 

Credit: SciTechDaily.com

New research reveals a surprisingly creepy link between nightmares and dairy, especially for those with lactose intolerance.

In a survey of over 1,000 students, scientists found that people who consumed dairy products like cheese before bed were more likely to experience unsettling dreams, possibly due to gut discomfort disrupting sleep. The findings suggest that what’s in your stomach might be influencing what happens in your dreams — and that late-night snacks could be fueling more than just cravings.

Dairy Intake and Disturbed Dreams

Eating too much dairy might be doing more than upsetting your stomach, it could be disturbing your sleep. In a new study, researchers found a strong connection between nightmares and lactose intolerance. The likely culprit? Gastrointestinal discomfort like gas or bloating may be sneaking into your dreams and disrupting restful sleep.

Dr. Tore Nielsen of Université de Montréal, lead author of the study published in Frontiers in Psychology, explained, “Nightmare severity is robustly associated with lactose intolerance and other food allergies. These new findings imply that changing eating habits for people with some food sensitivities could alleviate nightmares. They could also explain why people so often blame dairy for bad dreams!”

A Curious Link Between Food and Dreams

To explore the link between diet and sleep, researchers surveyed 1,082 students at MacEwan University. Participants answered questions about their sleep patterns, dream experiences, overall health, and eating habits.

Roughly a third of students reported frequent nightmares. Women were more likely to experience poor sleep, remember their dreams, and report food intolerances or allergies. Around 40 percent of participants believed certain foods or eating late affected their sleep, and 25 percent said specific foods seemed to make their sleep worse.

The results also showed that students who ate less healthy diets tended to have more unpleasant dreams and were less likely to remember them.

While it’s long been a popular belief that food can influence dreams, scientific evidence has been limited. This new study helps fill that gap. “We are routinely asked whether food affects dreaming — especially by journalists on food-centric holidays,” said Nielsen. “Now we have some answers.”

Dairy, Sweets, and Nightmare Triggers

Most participants who blamed their bad sleep on food thought sweets, spicy foods, or dairy were responsible. Only a comparatively small proportion — 5.5% of respondents — felt that what they ate affected the tone of their dreams, but many of these people said they thought sweets or dairy made their dreams more disturbing or bizarre.

When the authors compared reports of food intolerances to reports of bad dreams and poor sleep, they found that lactose intolerance was associated with gastrointestinal symptoms, nightmares, and low sleep quality. It’s possible that eating dairy activates gastrointestinal disturbance, and the resulting discomfort affects people’s dreams and the quality of their rest.

Gut Discomfort Hijacks REM

“Nightmares are worse for lactose-intolerant people who suffer severe gastrointestinal symptoms and whose sleep is disrupted,” said Nielsen. “This makes sense, because we know that other bodily sensations can affect dreaming. Nightmares can be very disruptive, especially if they occur often, because they tend to awaken people from sleep in a dysphoric state. They might also produce sleep avoidance behaviors. Both symptoms can rob you of restful sleep.”

This could also explain why fewer participants reported a link between their food and their dreams than in a previous study by Nielsen and his colleague, Dr. Russell Powell of MacEwan University, conducted eleven years earlier on a similar population. Improved awareness of food intolerances could mean that the students in the present study ate fewer foods likely to activate their intolerances and affect their sleep. If this is the case, then simple dietary interventions could potentially help people improve their sleep and overall health.

Unraveling Diet–Dream Mysteries

However, besides the robust link between lactose intolerance and nightmares, it’s not clear how the relationship between sleep and diet works. It’s possible that people sleep less well because they eat less well, but it’s also possible that people don’t eat well because they don’t sleep well, or that another factor influences both sleep and diet. Further research will be needed to confirm these links and identify the underlying mechanisms.

“We need to study more people of different ages, from different walks of life, and with different dietary habits to determine if our results are truly generalizable to the larger population,” said Nielsen. “Experimental studies are also needed to determine if people can truly detect the effects of specific foods on dreams. We would like to run a study in which we ask people to ingest cheese products versus some control food before sleep to see if this alters their sleep or dreams.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Oldest and most complete ancient Egyptian human genome ever sequenced reveals ties to Mesopotamia

By P. Thaler published July 2, 2025

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/oldest-and-most-complete-ancient-egyptian-human-genome-ever-sequenced-reveals-ties-to-mesopotamia

Rock-cut tombs housed the burial of an Egyptian man who lived during the Old Kingdom nearly 5,000 years ago.

 (Image credit: Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool)

Scientists have sequenced the oldest and most complete genome from ancient Egypt — and the DNA reveals that a man who lived 5,000 years ago had roots in both Mesopotamia and North Africa, a new study finds.

The man — who lived during the Old Kingdom in the third millennium B.C., just a few centuries after Upper and Lower Egypt unified into one empire — provides researchers with a rare glimpse into the genetic roots of ancient Egyptians.

The individual's body was first recovered from a tomb in Nuwayrat, in Upper Egypt, in 1902 and now reveals new information about the genetic makeup of early Egyptians. Prior to this analysis, only three ancient Egyptian genomes had been sequenced, and all were partial.

"I was very surprised" by the success of the sequencing, study co-author Pontus Skoglund, who studies ancient DNA at The Francis Crick Institute in the U.K., said at a news conference Tuesday (July 1), before the paper's publication. "It was a long shot that it would work, as it is with many of these individuals."

An old potter

Radiocarbon dating found that the man had lived around 2855 to 2570 B.C., during the Old Kingdom, a period known for its stability, innovation, and the construction of the step pyramid and the Great Pyramid of Giza, according to a statement.

He was buried in a ceramic pot within a rock-cut tomb and was preserved well enough that two DNA extracts from the roots of his teeth could be sequenced. Researchers compared his genome against a library of thousands of known DNA samples.

Eventually, they found that most of the man's genome could be traced to North African Neolithic ancestry, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Wednesday (July 2). About 20% of his DNA was linked to the eastern Fertile Crescent, including ancient Mesopotamia and its neighboring regions.

(Image credit: Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool)

The facial reconstruction of the Egyptian man whose genome can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia.

(Image credit: Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool)
Remains were buried in a pottery coffin in Nuwayrat, in Upper Egypt, in 1902.

(Image credit: Morez, A. (2025). Nature.)

Scientists analyzed the genome of an ancient individual found in Nuwayrat (red dot), about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south of Cairo. It's rare to find preserved human DNA from ancient Egypt, but another individual's DNA from Abusir el-Meleq (purple diamond) from the Third Intermediate Period (circa 1070 to 713 B.C.) was previously sequenced.

This body was uniquely well preserved compared with those of other ancient Egyptians, which often degrade due to the high temperatures of the region. "The pot burial, in combination with the rock-cut tomb into which the pot burial was placed, provided a stable environment" that likely helped preserve the DNA, study co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K., explained at the news conference.

The man's remains provide clues about his life in ancient Egypt nearly 5,000 years ago. He lived to between 44 and 64 years old, which would have been considered an advanced age for his time. The high degree of osteoporosis and arthritis suggests he was on the higher end of that age bracket, study co-author Joel Irish, a bioarchaeologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K., said at the conference.

The man's ceramic-pot burial and rock tomb point to an elevated social status, which contrasts with the many signs of hard physical labor on his remains. Irish found evidence that the man had held his hands out and sat for extended periods of time — a clue that he may have been a potter.

Ancient Egypt's genetic roots

Because most of the man's genetic ancestry is linked to North Africa, it's likely that "at least part of the Egyptian population mainly emerged from local population," study first author Adeline Morez Jacobs, a biological anthropologist at the University of Padua in Italy, said at the conference.

More notably, the link to Mesopotamia "was quite interesting because we actually know from archaeology that the Egyptian and the eastern Fertile Crescent cultures influenced each other for millennia," she said. It was already known that the groups shared goods, domesticated plants and animals, writing systems and farming practices, but this genome is evidence that the populations intermixed more deeply.

However, Morez Jacobs cautioned that this man's DNA may not represent the broader Egyptian population of his time. "We need to remember, this is a single individual," she said. "We didn't capture the full diversity of the population."

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

An Entire Civilization Might Be Buried Under the Sahara

Michael Button, July 1, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6jkBmRBR7U

For nearly 9,000 years, the Sahara had one of the most stable and hospitable climates on Earth. It may have been one of the best places to live on the entire planet. 

We think of the Sahara as a vast, lifeless desert — a sea of sand stretching from horizon to horizon. But not too long ago, it was the exact opposite. The Sahara was green. Lush. Alive. 

Despite its vast size, over 9 million square kilometers, only a tiny fraction of it has been archaeologically surveyed, let alone excavated. Some estimates suggest that less than 1% of the Sahara has been properly explored using modern archaeological methods. So isn’t it at least plausible that we’re missing something? That perhaps an entire civilisation — or even multiple civilisations — once thrived here, only to be erased by time and sand?

 If an advanced culture did once exist here, climate collapse could have buried its remains under dunes that stretch for hundreds of miles. Stone structures, cities, even inscriptions—preserved, but hidden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6jkBmRBR7U

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Microbe 'Flavors' Tell Octopuses Which Babies Deserve Their Care

02 July 2025, By J. COCKERILL

https://www.sciencealert.com/microbe-flavors-tell-octopuses-which-babies-deserve-their-care

A two-spot octopus broods its eggs off Anacapa Island in California.

 (Douglas Klug/Getty Images)

Octopuses can taste with their arms, and a new study reveals that specifically, they're tasting chemical cues from microbes that grow on the surface of objects like dead crabs and living octopus eggs. These 'flavors', it turns out, can signal which prey is worth pursuing, or which egg isn't going to make it.

Octopus arms bristle with neurons that inform these fascinating animals' behaviors, sometimes even independently of their brains. Sensory receptors in their arms enable them to 'taste by touch', which is essential to how they decide what to nurture, what to hunt, and what isn't worth their time.

That's important information for these opportunistic hunters, who forage mainly at night and in shadowy crevices.

"If a microbial strain could activate a receptor, then it could generate a neural signal that tells the octopus: This is something I care about," says Harvard University biochemist Rebecka Sepela, who led the research.

"The microbiome is acting almost like a chemical translator. It integrates environmental signals – like changes in temperature or nutrient levels – and outputs molecules that inform the octopus how to behave."

Proving this to be the case was an ambitious mission. The team isolated 295 different strains of bacteria from 'biologically meaningful' surfaces in the natural environments of wild-caught California two-spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides). Those meaningful surfaces included food and family: the shells of fiddler crabs (Leptuca pugilator), and egg casings of the octopus's own offspring.

A) A two-spot octopus alongside the two 'biologically meaningful' surfaces of its life: crab (food) and egg cases (offspring).

 B) Scanning electron microscope images of the bacteria on each surface. 

C) Bacterial composition of each surface, by phylum. 

(Sepela et al., Cell, 2025)

"Those microbes produce molecules that allow the octopus to tell the difference," Sepela says. "Microbes are chemical factories. They constantly take in environmental cues and produce molecules that reflect their surroundings."

The shells of living crabs, for instance, are surprisingly sterile, while those of decaying crabs are quickly colonized by a dense tapestry of bacteria.

Octopus egg casings tended to by a mother octopus have a curated balance of microbes, but when discarded, this is thrown off by an overgrowth of spiral-shaped bacteria.

The screening – in which Sepela's team painstakingly tested how octopus sensory receptors reacted to each of the nearly 300 strains – revealed that just a few of these microbes, found on decaying prey or unhealthy eggs, activated the octopuses' receptors.

Octopuses can 'taste' their environment through touch, enabling them to sense bacterial signals.

 (Sepela et al., Cell, 2025)

To test these signals in action, octopuses who were actively brooding a clutch of eggs were given a collection of egg mimics, some marred with the spiral bacteria. The octopuses tended to these false eggs for a while, except for those bacterially marked as 'bad eggs', which were quickly discarded.

The researchers were even able to identify which specific molecules the octopuses responded to. This chemical 'language' is enabled by molecules that, despite the submarine environment, are not readily washed away from the surface on which they are formed.

While the research focuses on octopuses, Sepela and her colleagues believe this sort of chemical signaling may apply to many other kinds of microbiomes; even our own.

"This might seem like a very specific case… but what we're seeing is actually a general rule about how organisms sense microbiomes," says Harvard cell physiologist Nicholas Bellono.

"Across life, evolution, and organ systems, microbes are essential – and this study shows another example of how deeply they influence physiology and behavior."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

They Just Discovered A New Type Of Orca… And It’s Unlike Anything Ever Seen

Incredible Stories, July 1, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp1InhD_JS8

We thought we knew orcas—majestic, intelligent, apex predators of the sea. But it turns out, we were only scratching the surface. 

Scientists have just discovered a new type of orca, and it’s unlike anything ever seen before. This isn’t just a behavioral quirk or a rare variation—it’s a discovery that could rewrite the species map entirely.

 What if the ocean’s most iconic predator has been hiding a secret evolution in plain sight? Let’s dive in, because the truth about these orcas is stranger—and more thrilling—than fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp1InhD_JS8

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Bold Plan to DNA Test All Babies in UK Poses Serious Risks, Experts Warn

01 July 2025, By L. STROPPA & E. WILSON, THE CONVERSATION

https://www.sciencealert.com/bold-plan-to-dna-test-all-babies-in-uk-poses-serious-risks-experts-warn

The current heel-prick test checks for nine rare genetic conditions. 

(Petri Oeschger/Getty Images)

By 2030, every baby born in the UK could have their entire genome sequenced under a new NHS initiative to "predict and prevent illness". This would dramatically expand the current heel-prick test, which checks for nine rare genetic conditions, into a far more extensive screen of hundreds of potential risks.

On the surface, the idea sounds like an obvious win for public health: spot problems early, intervene sooner and save lives. But genetic testing on this scale carries real risks, especially if the results are misunderstood or poorly communicated.

The new plan builds on a recent NHS pilot study that sequenced the genomes of 100,000 newborns in England to identify more than 200 genetic conditions. However, these tests don't provide clear cut answers. They don't offer a diagnosis or certainty, just an estimate of risk.

A genetic result might suggest a child has a higher (or lower) probability of developing a certain disease later in life. But risk is not prediction. If parents, or even clinicians, misinterpret that nuance, the consequences could be serious.

Some families may come to see a child flagged as "at risk" as a patient-in-waiting. In extreme cases, they may treat a probability as a certainty; assuming, for instance, that a child "has the gene" and will inevitably become ill. That assumption could reshape how children are raised, how they're treated and how they could see themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnqPJHOW3yI

Alarming language

This isn't speculation. Research shows that while some people understand risk scores accurately, many struggle with statistical information.

Words like "high risk" or "likely" are interpreted differently by different people and often more seriously than intended. Even trained doctors can overestimate what a positive test result means. When it comes to genomics, the line between "you might get sick" and "you will get sick" can blur quickly.

UK policymakers haven't helped this confusion. Government messaging refers to "diagnosis before symptoms even occur" and "leapfrogging disease." But this language overpromises what genomic data can do and downplays its uncertainty.

When testing is indiscriminate and communication unclear, the fallout can be wide ranging. Children identified as "high risk" may undergo years of monitoring, unnecessary medical appointments, or even treatment for diseases they never develop.

In some cases, this leads to physical harms, from unnecessary medications to procedures with side effects. In others, the damage is psychological: shaping a child's identity around an anticipated future of illness. These psychological effects can be lasting. Being told you're likely to develop a condition like dementia may influence how a person plans their life, even if that illness never materialises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7iMttNVQfQ&t=1s

False positives

There are also broader issues with applying this kind of screening to everyone. Risk based testing works best when it's targeted; for example, among those with symptoms or a strong family history.

But in the general population, where most people are healthy, false positives can far outnumber accurate results. Even well designed tests can produce misleading outcomes when applied at scale.

This is a well-known statistical effect, discussed during the COVID pandemic. In populations where a disease is rare, even highly accurate tests produce more false positives than true ones. If DNA screening is rolled out universally, many families will be told their child is at risk when they are not.

These false positives can lead to a cascade of further tests, stress and unnecessary clinical interventions; all of which consume time and resources and may cause real harm.

This issue already affects adult testing. For example, Alzheimer's tests that measure early changes in the brain work well in memory clinics, where patients already show symptoms. But when these same tests are used on the general population, where most people are healthy, they produce false positives in up to two-thirds of cases.

If genetic screening in newborns is rolled out in the same way, it could lead to similar problems: mislabelling healthy children as sick, and causing unnecessary worry and follow-up tests.

So what's the solution? It's not to abandon genetic testing altogether – far from it. When used carefully, genomic data can offer real benefits, particularly for patients with symptoms or in research settings. But if we're going to roll this out to every newborn, the surrounding infrastructure needs to be robust.

That includes:  Clear, consistent communication: Risk scores must be explained in ways that emphasise uncertainty, not oversold as definitive predictions.

Support for parents:   For consent to be truly informed, parents need help understanding that a genetic flag is not a diagnosis – and that many people with elevated risk never go on to develop the condition.

Training for clinicians:   Many doctors still lack the tools to interpret and explain genetic information accurately and responsibly.

A national network of genetic counsellors are essential for supporting families through testing and interpretation. But current numbers in the UK fall far short of what universal newborn screening would require.

Genomic data holds great promise. But using it as a blanket tool for all newborns demands caution, clarity, and investment in communication and care. Without these safeguards, we risk turning healthy babies into patients-in-waiting.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/