Scientists Create Stunning, Car-Quality Paint Without Using a Single Pigment

By Kobe U. Oct. 30, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-create-stunning-car-quality-paint-without-using-a-single-pigment/

Kobe University material engineer Hiroshi Sugimoto developed a structural color coating that is gloss and can be applied to large, 3D surfaces. In addition, his team showed that adding a protective coating did not significantly change the hue, making the technology useful for real-world applications. 

Credit: Kobe University

A new silicon-based coating could dramatically reduce the weight and environmental impact of conventional paints.

A glossy, car-quality finish no longer has to depend on pigments. Researchers at Kobe University have developed a coating made from silicon nanoparticles that produces vivid, lasting color without the fading or angle-dependent shifts associated with many conventional coloring technologies.

Reported in the journal Small Structures, the advance combines several properties that have been difficult to achieve together: adjustable gloss, consistent color across viewing angles, compatibility with protective coatings, and application to large, three-dimensional surfaces. The technology could also dramatically reduce the weight of painted objects, including aircraft.

How Color Can Exist Without Pigments

Traditional paints rely on pigments to absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. These coatings often require relatively thick layers that add weight, while some pigments gradually degrade with exposure to sunlight. Structural color works differently. It arises from interactions between light and microscopic structures, as seen in the brilliant feathers of peacocks. However, reproducing these effects in manufactured coatings has generally required precisely arranged structures that can change appearance with viewing angle.

“Color coatings are expected to provide vivid color, brightness, gloss, and long-term durability, yet no existing technology satisfies all of these requirements simultaneously,” says Kobe University materials engineer Hiroshi Sugimoto. His earlier research established that silicon nanospheres could produce structural colors without unwanted viewing-angle shifts. His team subsequently developed an inkjet printing method for the material, but the resulting surfaces scattered light too diffusely to achieve a polished, glossy appearance.

The coating technology developed by Sugimoto achieves high opacity and brightness with only a single layer of silicon nano spheres. The spheres have a diameter of around a quarter of a micrometer, that is, about a hundredth of a thin human hair. Credit: J. Song et al., Small Structures 2026

 (DOI: 10.1002/sstr.70600)

The Nanoparticle Design Behind the Gloss

The researchers addressed this limitation by surrounding silicon nanospheres with thin silica shells. These shells protect the particles and control the distance between them, encouraging more orderly arrangements that reduce diffuse light scattering. The improved organization makes it possible to produce a glossy finish while controlling its intensity.

“Packing the nano spheres in silica shells not only protects the particles but also controls their spacing and should improve self-assembly into neat arrays,” Sugimoto explains.

The team demonstrated the coating on large, complex three-dimensional surfaces and showed that an additional protective layer did not significantly alter the resulting color. This overcomes a major limitation of previous structural color systems, whose optical properties can be disrupted by protective coatings.

“The most exciting aspect of this work is that it demonstrates glossy, non-iridescent and protection-coated structural color coatings for 3D objects in a single platform, making the technology useful for real-world applications,” Sugimoto says.

A Paint Layer That Could Weigh Just Ounces

The coating achieves high opacity and brightness using only a single layer of silicon nanospheres. This extremely thin structure offers a potentially enormous weight advantage over conventional paints. Coatings on wide-body passenger aircraft can add several hundred kilograms (about 660 pounds for 300 kilograms), whereas the researchers estimate that an equivalent structural color layer could theoretically weigh just several hundred grams (about 11 ounces for 300 grams). That comparison remains hypothetical rather than a demonstrated aircraft application.

The materials also offer potential environmental advantages. Silicon can be sourced from the semiconductor industry, while silica is among the most abundant materials in Earth’s crust. Because structural color does not depend on organic pigments that can break down under light exposure, the coatings could reduce fading and the need for replacement. Their actual environmental benefits at industrial scale have yet to be established.

From Industrial Coatings to New Optical Technologies

Sugimoto is helping establish a company to bring the technology toward industrial production. The fabrication process can accommodate several established manufacturing techniques, potentially allowing the coatings to be applied over much larger areas.

“The process is compatible with scalable coating methods such as spray coating, slot-die coating, and roll-to-roll processing,” Sugimoto explains.

The research group’s longer-term ambitions extend beyond decorative and protective finishes. By engineering the optical behavior of silicon nanoparticles, the scientists hope to create coatings that perform additional functions, including detecting environmental changes, driving light-activated chemical reactions, and managing energy.

“We want to expand the possibility of applications for the science behind our technology beyond coloration. Looking ahead, we aim to develop multifunctional silicon nanoparticle coatings that combine structural coloration with additional optical functions such as sensing, photocatalysis, and energy management.”

The birth of modern Man

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Something Strange Is Happening to Barn Owls: They’re Changing Color

By U. of Lausanne, Oct. 28, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/something-strange-is-happening-to-barn-owls-theyre-changing-color/

Barn owls are nocturnal birds of prey known for their distinctive heart-shaped faces, pale feathers, and nearly silent flight.

 Credit: Shutterstock

DNA from more than 3,000 barn owls reveals natural selection at work, but the advantage behind their changing feathers may involve coping with stress rather than color itself.

Swiss barn owls have become more reddish-brown and more heavily spotted over the past 30 years. By tracking the DNA variants linked to their plumage, researchers have found evidence of natural selection acting over about ten generations, offering a detailed view of evolution unfolding in the wild.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by Dr. Tristan Cumer, a research fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Lausanne (Unil)’s Faculty of Biology and Medicine. Working in Professor Jérôme Goudet’s team, Cumer and his colleagues examined how genetic variants associated with color and spotting became more or less common over time. The challenge was to distinguish changes that could occur randomly from those shaped by natural selection.

“We compared the changes observed in the population with simulations in which evolution was entirely random. A genetic variant associated with reddish-brown plumage became far more common than chance alone could explain. Only simulations that included natural selection reproduced the changes we observed,” explains Cumer, the paper’s first author.

Redder feathers may be a byproduct

The analysis depended on both extensive genetic sequencing and records collected through decades of fieldwork.

“Drawing on the exceptional volume of data collected by Alexandre Roulin and his group, who have monitored these birds of prey in the field for decades, we were able to sequence the complete genomes of more than 3,000 owls and identify the DNA variants associated with color and spotting. This is one of the most in-depth genetic analyses ever conducted on a wild population,” says Goudet, the study’s last author, who is also affiliated with the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.

Barn owls.

 Credit: Quentin Fort



The researchers identified genetic regions that play a major role in the birds’ appearance. These include MC1R, a gene already known to affect pigmentation, and a region on a sex chromosome whose contribution to both color and spotting they clarified. Identifying these links, however, does not establish which trait natural selection is favoring.

“We also do not know whether plumage color is itself the trait directly favored by natural selection,” says Goudet. “MC1R plays a role in pigmentation, but it is part of the melanocortin system, which has also been linked to other traits, including stress responses and aggression. Selection may therefore be acting on one of these traits, with the change in the owls’ appearance simply arising as a consequence.”

Food and stress could shape plumage

Barn owl plumage ranges from pure white to deep reddish-brown, with shades of golden brown in between. Some birds have only a few faint dark spots on their chests, while others carry many more prominent markings. Research at Unil has linked this variation to aspects of the birds’ lives beyond their appearance.

Plumage color is associated with fertility, hunting strategies, and diet. White barn owls, for example, use moonlight to their advantage when attacking prey, as described in an earlier Unil report in French. Spotting is associated with immunity and the ability to cope with stress. Birds with large black spots appear better able to withstand certain stressful conditions, including food shortages and parasites.

These connections offer possible explanations for the recent changes, although the ecological factors driving them remain unidentified. Roulin, a professor in Unil’s Department of Ecology and Evolution and a co-author of the study, suggests that shifts in food supplies or environmental stress could be involved.

“A change in prey availability may have favored reddish-brown barn owls, which eat more voles, whereas white owls tend to feed more on wood mice. The increase in spotting could be linked to greater environmental stress. Despite the striking differences in color between individuals, it remains extremely difficult to determine which ecological factors explain these variations.”

Evolution tracked across ten owl generations

The study’s evidence for natural selection is clearer than the explanation for what is driving it.

“Conducted in collaboration with the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach, this study is one of the rare cases in which the genetic basis of recent evolution has been traced with such precision in the wild. This kind of demonstration is much harder in animals living in their natural environment than in a laboratory,” adds Goudet.

For almost a decade, Goudet and his team have been working to decode the barn owl genome and establish the species as a model for studying evolution in the wild. Their work includes sequencing and assembling its reference genome, a DNA sequence that serves as a guide for genetic research, and reconstructing its evolutionary history across Europe and the Mediterranean. They have also investigated genetic recombination, which reshuffles DNA from one generation to the next, and studied how mutations arise and are passed on within populations.

“Research on this scale is possible because field teams, genomics specialists, and members of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine’s core facilities work together,” says Professor Goudet.

The changes documented in the owls show that detectable genetic evolution need not take millions of years. Cumer sees potential implications for how wild species respond to changing conditions, while the pressures acting on these owls remain unresolved.

“The study carries an encouraging message: it shows that species living in the wild can evolve over a short period. This capacity for rapid adaptation could help them cope with environmental change, including climate change,” says Cumer.

The team now plans to use computer analysis of photographs to measure color and spotting more precisely. Researchers also intend to reconstruct the plumage color of birds that died very young using their genetic data, allowing them to investigate whether particular plumage features are associated with better chances of survival.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Earth's Supposedly Impenetrable Radiation Barrier Has Been Breached

31 Oct. 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/earths-supposedly-impenetrable-radiation-barrier-has-been-breached

A NASA cutaway visualization of the Van Allen radiation belts. 

(NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory)

Looking at photographs of Earth suspended against the darkness of space, you'd be forgiven for thinking our planet is isolated and alone.

But there's more to near-Earth space than meets the eye. Our world is cozily snuggled in the Van Allen belts – two donut-shaped regions of space filled with energetic protons and electrons, confined by the planetary magnetic field.

The outer belt is populated largely by electrons energized by processes driven by the Sun, while many of the inner belt's protons originate from particles produced when cosmic rays strike Earth's atmosphere.

For more than a decade, it has been thought that this inner belt forms an impenetrable barrier to ultra-relativistic 'killer' electrons, preventing them from venturing too close to Earth.

But new evidence has emerged that, under the right set of circumstances, this region is not as secure as we thought.

During an insanely powerful solar storm that buffeted Earth in May 2024, a Japanese satellite recorded electrons in this region being accelerated to megaelectronvolt energies – in a place where scientists thought it wasn't supposed to happen.

"Here we show that this barrier can be breached under extreme space weather conditions," writes a team led by space physicist Yoshizumi Miyoshi of Nagoya University in a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters.

So-called 'killer' electrons, known for decades, are a big problem in low-Earth space. These particles can be accelerated to almost the speed of light by interactions with electromagnetic waves in Earth's magnetic environment, particularly during geomagnetic storms.

They carry so much energy that they can penetrate satellite shielding, potentially damaging sensitive electronics and shortening the lifespans of spacecraft. They're not good for humans, either, posing an elevated radiation hazard to astronauts.

But in 2014, researchers discovered something peculiar. Observations from NASA's Van Allen Probes revealed a weirdly sharp boundary, about three Earth radii from the planet's center, beyond which the most energetic electrons rarely ventured.

Scientists described this as an "impenetrable barrier," proposing that electromagnetic waves within a region of cold plasma surrounding Earth help scatter the electrons out of their trapped orbits, sending them plunging into the atmosphere. Combined with the electrons' slow inward migration, this seemed to create a natural barrier that kept them at bay.

Even as early as 2018, however, cracks began to appear in the so-called 'impenetrable' barrier.

Researchers proposed that the barrier wasn't a barrier at all, but an illusion created by the limited duration of geomagnetic storms.

Energetic electrons could be pushed inward by fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field, but the storms driving that movement typically petered out before the electrons could venture much farther.

Then, in 2024, researchers analyzing observations captured between 1996 and 2006 discovered that lightning-generated electromagnetic waves could send killer electrons already trapped in the inner radiation belt tumbling toward Earth's atmosphere.

These observations provided further evidence that megaelectronvolt electrons were already present well inside the supposedly impenetrable boundary.

But next, in May 2024, came the solar superstorm.

The Sun exploded in a series of flares and coronal mass ejections that blasted billions of tons of magnetized plasma screaming across the Solar System.

Here on Earth, the result was a level G5 geomagnetic storm – the most powerful category on the geomagnetic storm scale, so intense its effects were recorded even at the bottom of the ocean.

The storm dramatically depleted the cold plasma in Earth's plasmasphere, creating an unusually sparse environment in which a different kind of electromagnetic wave, called chorus, could thrive.

"When converted into audio, it sounds like a bird song," Miyoshi says.

And, instead of scattering the electrons away, as other waves normally do, these waves appear to have accelerated them to ludicrous energies, right inside the 'impenetrable' barrier.

The evidence came from Japan's Arase satellite, which had been monitoring the radiation belts since 2017.

During the storm's recovery phase, Arase detected a dramatic increase in ultra-relativistic electrons inside the barrier. At energies around 3 megaelectronvolts, the electron flux ballooned by more than 5,000 times compared to pre-storm levels.

The timing and evolution of that increase were particularly revealing.

Lower-energy electrons emerged in number first. Around half a day later, electrons with higher energies followed. And roughly a day after the initial increase, electrons carrying more than 3 megaelectronvolts of energy had surged in number, too.

This staggered progression suggested that the electrons weren't simply being swept inward from elsewhere. They were gaining energy right there, inside the supposedly protected region.

Miyoshi and his colleagues found further clues in the distribution of the electrons, which formed a distinct peak near the barrier's boundary.

That pattern is difficult to explain through inward transport alone, but is consistent with electrons being accelerated locally before spreading farther inward and outward.

Put together, the evidence suggests that the depletion of the cold plasma created the perfect conditions for electrons to behave in a way that is normally only seen farther from Earth.

How the May 2024 solar superstorm disrupted Earth's radiation belts, allowing electrons to accelerate inside the barrier.

(Miyoshi et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2026)

And it took months to recover. Arase continued to observe declining levels of ultra-relativistic electrons until October 2024, when another solar storm buffeted near-Earth space.

It's a finding that hints the dynamics of the space around Earth are far more complex than its apparent serenity suggests.

"This discovery highlights the need to understand and predict how energetic electrons behave under extreme space weather conditions," Miyoshi says.

"Such knowledge is important for assessing radiation risks to spacecraft and improving future space weather predictions."

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Two Crows Took a Classic Psychology Test. Their Decision-Making Skills Left Ours in The Dust.

30 Oct. 2026, By J. Cockerill

https://www.sciencealert.com/two-crows-took-a-classic-psychology-test-their-decision-making-skills-left-ours-in-the-dust

Crows have cognitive abilities that sometimes rival our own. 

(sandra standbridge/Moment RF/Getty Images)

Two male crows have performed better than humans and monkeys in a classic psychology task designed to test how the brain makes decisions based on what it sees.

In prior experiments, corvids (a family of birds that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, and jays) have shown a range of remarkable mental abilities once thought unique to primates.

New Caledonian crows build compound tools and plan three steps ahead; western scrub jays have episodic-like memories; ravens are "smart enough to be paranoid".

Now, two neurobiologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany have tested the decision-making prowess of carrion crows (Corvus corone), and the results kind of leave our primate brains in the dust.

The research is published in Science.

The researchers Philipp Schmidbauer and Andreas Nieder are not only interested in demonstrating crows' intelligence. They want to understand how the birds manage such intellectual feats with such fundamentally different brains from ours.

"Such behavioral flexibility might seem unexpected because a layered cerebral cortex, the highest integration center in the mammalian brain, is not existant in birds," Nieder wrote in a paper almost a decade ago.

Instead of layers, he explained, bird brains rely on circuits that originate from a different part of the pallium. Their brains are smaller than ours, but so are their neurons, which means less distance for information to travel, and more processing power per square inch.

"With this independently evolved endbrain design, the corvid brain affords twice as many neurons as a primate brain of equal mass, adding up to enormous processing powers in a small and densely packed 'birdbrain'," he added.

The new experiments demonstrate just how powerful those 'birdbrains' can be.

Two male adult crows were put to the test. That's a very small sample size, which makes it impossible to know if the results can tell us much about crows in general. But it's a start.

Each crow was placed in front of a touch-sensitive screen. In each session, the screen displays lots of dots, and then some of those dots move in one direction, left or right. The crow indicates which direction the dots are moving by pecking at a target on the corresponding side of the touch screen.

A correct response is rewarded with a tasty mealworm.

The task is self-paced: the crows were given a wide window of time to choose their response, because the idea is that the animals express their decision once they are confident in their choice, not just for the sake of speed.

Both crows were trained in this test across more than 100 sessions each before the real data were collected, to make sure they had it down.

Humans and monkeys have previously demonstrated their perceptual decision-making via this random-dot motion discrimination task, but this is the first time crows have been tested.

The birds made deliberate decisions "with unprecedented speed, reporting choices in approximately 235 milliseconds on average, which is roughly twice as fast as has been observed in monkeys or humans," Schmidbauer and Nieder report.

And that speed came at no cost to accuracy.

Next, the researchers implanted electrodes into the crows' brains. They were specifically placed to monitor the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), which contains neurons involved in perceiving motion direction (like the dots on the screen).

On waking from surgery, the crows once again performed the random-dot task, this time with the activity of 248 individual neurons on record.

These neurons fired signals related to the crow's imminent decision just 70 milliseconds after the dots started moving, and about 170 milliseconds before making the decisive peck.

These results suggest the crow brain has "primate-like computational dynamics within a distinct neural architecture, with markedly higher temporal efficiency," Schmidbauer and Nieder write, adding that crows' decision-making speed may be the result of specific pressures birds have faced in evolution.

"Birds rely on their vision to carry out precise, rapid maneuvers during flight and to guide their beaks toward objects when foraging," Nieder says.

'Birdbrains' is starting to sound more like a compliment after all.

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There's a Curious Link Between Your Childhood Imaginary Friend And an Uncanny Feeling Later in Life

30 Oct. 2026, By E. Öz

https://www.sciencealert.com/theres-a-curious-link-between-your-childhood-imaginary-friend-and-an-uncanny-feeling-later-in-life

(Anchiy/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

If you had an imaginary friend who walked beside you and joined your childhood games, you may have left them behind as you grew up.

Scientists have now found a connection between that childhood experience and the feeling some adults have that someone is nearby, even when they are alone.

The question reaches beyond how we dream up a companion: How do we come to feel that they are sharing our space?

To investigate, researchers turned to adults' childhood memories. They asked people who recalled imaginary friends about their experiences together, including where those companions seemed to stand.

That detail could help explain how an imagined character acquires a felt location beside us, and whether our awareness of our own bodies plays a part.

The team analyzed responses from 185 adults recruited through İzmir University of Economics in Türkiye who reported no psychiatric or neurological diagnoses. Of these, 45 remembered having an imaginary companion.

Everyone completed a questionnaire assessing how often they felt another presence without clear sensory evidence over the previous month. Those who recalled imaginary friends averaged 25.51 points, compared with 20.07 in the other group, on a scale ranging from 15 to 75.

Higher scores meant more frequent reports of these experiences. The difference suggests that adults who remembered imaginary companions were more prone to sensing a presence during that period.

The childhood memories also revealed a spatial pattern. Companions were most often recalled in front of or beside the body. Of 114 distance estimates for directions in which companions had appeared, 76 placed them within 70 centimeters (about 28 inches).

That puts about two-thirds of those estimates inside the study's chosen boundary for the space immediately surrounding the body. Researchers call this peripersonal space: the nearby area we use when reaching, moving and interacting with others.

The researchers propose that imaginary companions may be linked to the way the brain represents the body and its surroundings, giving an imagined social partner a place within that space.

Earlier robot experiments covered by ScienceAlert offer a clue to how bodily signals can contribute to sensing someone nearby.

In those experiments, participants moved their hands while a robot touched their backs. When researchers introduced a brief delay between the movement and the touch, some participants felt another person behind them.

The proposed explanation was that conflicting signals led the brain to attribute sensations arising from the participant's own actions to someone else.

The new study suggests that childhood imaginary companions and adult felt presence may both relate to how we experience our bodies and surrounding space. There is, however, an intriguing difference in where those experiences seem to unfold.

While the imaginary companions were usually recalled in front of or beside the body, earlier research commonly places adult felt presence behind or beside it.

One possibility the researchers raise is that imaginary friends occupy the space suited to face-to-face conversation and play. A presence behind us could involve ambiguous bodily sensations whose source we cannot immediately check by sight. These explanations are hypotheses; the survey didn't directly test them.

The findings also depend on adults' memories. Because the researchers didn't follow children as they grew up, they cannot establish that imaginary companions cause later presence experiences. Most participants were women, everyone was recruited through one university, and the spatial result depended on analytical choices.

Participants knew the study concerned imaginary companions, which may have inflated the association. The authors caution that the effect could be weaker if the study is repeated without revealing its topic during recruitment.

The results don't provide evidence for ghosts. But they do offer a way to investigate how the brain makes us feel like we're sharing a space with someone.

Following children over time could reveal whether a tendency underlying imaginary companionship continues into adulthood, and how that feeling changes as we grow.

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Cold Triggers a Hidden Molecular Pathway That Extends Lifespan, Study Finds

30 October 2026, By P. Dockrill

https://www.sciencealert.com/cold-triggers-a-hidden-molecular-pathway-that-extends-lifespan-study-finds

(Nick_Thompson/iStockphoto/Getty Images)

When it comes to health, not all temperatures are equal.

Evidence suggests that cold temperatures are mysteriously beneficial for longevity, helping to boost metabolism and delivering positive effects at the cellular level.

On the flip side, excessive heat doesn't seem to do great things for the human body.

But what is it about coldness that's so beneficial in comparison?

In a new study in Nature, researchers identified a mechanism that contributes to the effect, driven by a metabolic substance called dihydrobiopterin (BH2).

"We are excited to show that mildly cold temperatures trigger significant production of a specific metabolite, BH2, which is synthesized, stored, and subsequently released by muscle tissue," says molecular biologist David Vilchez from the University of Cologne in Germany.

"BH2 then goes to other parts of the body, where it helps to maintain protein homeostasis and contributes to tissue health during aging."

Increased production of the enzyme CAT-4 (green) in worms exposed to colder temperatures.

 (David Vilchez/University of Cologne/CECAD)

While scientists have known for more than a century that cold temperatures boost longevity in animals, including worms, flies, fish, and rodents, researchers weren't fully sure how coldness achieved this.

Originally, scientists hypothesized it could be a result of passive thermodynamic effects, but in more recent times, research suggests that cold-induced longevity is an actively regulated process inside the body, triggering specific biological pathways that help organisms survive.

A few years ago, Vilchez and fellow researchers discovered that cold temperatures led to the removal of harmful protein clumps in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, activating cellular structures called proteasomes that break down protein waste.

In the new work, the researchers investigated the systemic signals behind such responses, hypothesizing that metabolites – small molecules produced by metabolic processes – could be involved.

In experiments with C. elegans, the researchers found that exposure to moderately cold temperatures (15 °C, or 59 °F, which extends lifespan in worms) increases the production of an enzyme called CAT–4, largely in the worms' muscles, which in turn stimulates production of the metabolite BH2.

Once produced, BH2 is then transported to other tissues, where it is converted into a bioactive molecule called tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), which enables an enzyme called PAH–1 to produce the amino acid, tyrosine.

The team found that disrupting this pathway reduced the lifespan benefits seen in worms exposed to the cold, suggesting that the longevity effects of lower temperatures aren't simply a passive consequence of slower metabolism, but are driven in part by an actively regulated biological process that starts with muscle cells.

In separate experiments, the researchers found that the pathway they'd identified also boosted healthy protein homeostasis (aka proteostasis), suppressing the aggregation of harmful proteins in a worm model of Huntington's disease.

"These findings suggest that specifically targeting a single tissue, such as muscle, could provide organism-wide protection," Vilchez says.

"This opens up new avenues for therapeutic approaches."

Perhaps most excitingly of all, the researchers found evidence suggesting that cold temperatures aren't necessary for the pathway to operate.

By genetically boosting CAT–4 levels in the worms' muscles, the team was able to extend their lifespan even at normal or warmer temperatures, suggesting it's possible to reproduce some benefits of the cold without lowering body temperature.

"We were genuinely surprised to find the supplementation significantly extended lifespan, even at standard and warmer temperatures," Vilchez says.

"Further experiments on human cells encourage us to look for treatments that mimic the beneficial effects of cold without requiring changes in body temperature."

In separate experiments involving human cells engineered to develop proteins associated with Huntington's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the researchers found that supplementing the cells with BH2 reduced the accumulation of the abnormal proteins.

In addition, another experiment showed BH2 and tyrosine supplementation reduced signs of programmed cell death in human motor neurons carrying an ALS-associated mutation, suggesting the pathway could also help protect against neurodegeneration.

It's worth emphasizing that so far these results have only been shown in experiments involving nematodes and human cells, and we'll need a lot more research before we can think about how these effects could safely be transferred to living human patients.

But the findings show we're getting closer to understanding how cold delivers its longevity effects, and one day we might be able to do just that.

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Neurogenesis: The Comprehensive Guide to Neuroscience-Based Self-Improvement

Dr. Sydney Ceruto, PhD, Neuroscientist & Author, October 18, 2026

https://mindlabneuroscience.com/how-neurogenesis-works/

This is a selection of comments from this web page.

Key Takeaways (Index of post on website)

The Neurogenesis Process:   How Your Brain Builds New Neurons

Exercise:   The Most Potent Neurogenesis Catalyst

Stress:   The Neurogenesis Suppressor

The Hippocampus:   Neurogenesis Command Center

Dietary Factors:   Feeding Neurogenesis

Sleep:   The Neurogenesis Recovery Window

Environmental Enrichment:   Creating Neurogenic Environments

Age and Neurogenesis:   Debunking the Decline Myth

Neurogenesis and Mental Health:   Rewriting Emotional Circuitry

Clinical Applications:   Neurogenesis in Practice

Future Directions:   The Neurogenesis Frontier

If Your Brain’s Renewal System Needs Intervention How long does it take for new neurons to become 

functional?

Can you increase neurogenesis through lifestyle changes?

Does neurogenesis decline with age and can it be restored?

Can adults really grow new brain cells?

What type of exercise best promotes neurogenesis?

How does chronic stress damage the brain’s ability to produce new neurons?

Which foods support new brain cell growth?

Does neurogenesis slow down as you age?

From Reading to Rewiring

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Adult neurogenesis produces roughly 700 new hippocampal neurons daily, many integrating into existing circuits

Physical exercise increases neurogenesis through BDNF elevation and enhanced vascular supply

Chronic stress reduces new neuron production via cortisol-mediated suppression of neural stem cells

The dentate gyrus is the brain’s primary neurogenic niche, supporting pattern separation and memory formation

Environmental enrichment can restore neurogenesis rates even after prolonged stress or aging-related decline

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Flavonoids (polyphenolic compounds found in blueberries, dark chocolate, and green tea) exert potent neurogenic effects through multiple pathways. These compounds cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in neurogenic regions, where they enhance neural stem cell proliferation and support new neuron integration. Blueberry consumption specifically increases hippocampal BDNF levels and promotes the survival of newly generated neurons.

Neurogenesis-Supporting Nutrients:

Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA/EPA): 1-2g daily, enhances BDNF signaling
Flavonoids: 500-1000mg daily, reduces inflammation and supports stem cell activity
Curcumin: 500-1500mg daily, modulates inflammatory pathways
Magnesium: 400-600mg daily, supports NMDA receptor function and neuroplasticity
Vitamin D: 2000-4000 IU daily, regulates neural stem cell differentiation

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Social interaction represents another critical neurogenic factor. Isolation reduces neurogenesis, while rich social environments enhance stem cell activity through multiple pathways. Social engagement activates oxytocin signaling, which promotes BDNF production and supports new neuron survival. It also provides cognitive challenges that stimulate hippocampal circuits, creating demand for enhanced processing capacity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Older adults who maintain physically active lifestyles show neurogenesis rates comparable to sedentary individuals 20-30 years younger

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No Batteries, No Plugs: Scientists Create a Tiny Sensor That Powers Itself

By U. of Arkansas, Oct. 28, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/no-batteries-no-plugs-scientists-create-a-tiny-sensor-that-powers-itself/

Soldering a graphene-based sensor. 

Credit: Russell Cothren

Scientists have developed a tiny temperature sensor that harvests energy from magnetic fields near electrical wiring.

Electrical wiring produces weak electromagnetic fields that typically go unnoticed, but researchers have found a way to turn some of that energy into a power source for tiny electronic devices. Scientists at the University of Arkansas (U of A) and the University of Michigan have developed a graphene-based energy harvester capable of powering an ultra-low-power temperature sensor without a conventional battery.

The prototype operates using energy collected from its immediate surroundings, consuming power measured in nanowatts, or billionths of a watt. It represents another advance toward the team’s goal of developing autonomous sensors that could function unattended for decades.

Turning Electrical Wiring Into a Power Source

The technology captures energy from magnetic fields generated by electrical wiring carrying alternating current. In the United States, electricity typically operates at 60 hertz, meaning the current changes direction 60 times each second. The researchers designed their sensor to harvest energy from these low-frequency fields.

A graphene inductor collects the energy and sends an alternating electrical signal to a custom circuit, which converts it into direct current. That electricity charges capacitors that store energy for the sensor to use. Unlike a battery, a capacitor stores energy in an electric field rather than through chemical reactions.

“The inductor adds charge to these capacitors at a slow rate,” explained University of Arkansas physics professor Paul Thibado, “but it’s faster than the rate the sensor uses up the charges from the capacitors.”

Because the sensor consumes energy more slowly than the system replenishes it, the capacitors can maintain an electrical reserve. Thibado estimates that this stored energy could keep the device operating for at least 24 hours during a power outage, potentially extending to a week.

Building Sensors That Can Power Themselves

The new device is the second graphene-powered temperature sensor developed by the research team. Their earlier work demonstrated that graphene-based solar cells could supply enough electricity to operate temperature sensors, establishing another possible source of energy for autonomous electronics.

Graphene, a material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms, has electrical properties that make it useful in energy-harvesting technologies. Thibado has investigated these properties for more than a decade and invented the graphene energy harvesters used in the team’s research.

The researchers ultimately want to combine several methods of collecting environmental energy, including sunlight, heat, sound, motion, and ambient electromagnetic fields. A sensor equipped with multiple harvesting systems could continue operating when one energy source becomes unavailable, reducing its dependence on any single power supply.

Applications Beyond Temperature Monitoring

Although temperature measurement provides a practical demonstration, the technology could eventually support sensors used in agriculture, environmental monitoring, medical tracking, wearable electronics, and supply chain management. These applications often require devices to operate in locations where replacing batteries is expensive, inconvenient, or impractical.

Thibado describes the long-term vision as “set it and forget it,” with sensors designed to operate for extended periods without routine battery replacement. Eliminating disposable batteries could also reduce maintenance demands and electronic waste, although decades of reliable operation have not yet been demonstrated.

The research was published in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, with MD Rezaul Kabir, a doctoral candidate in materials science and engineering at the University of Arkansas, serving as first author. The project also involves researchers at the University of Michigan, including electrical engineering and computer science professor David Blaauw, whose work focuses on low-power wireless sensors and embedded systems.

Commercial Development and Future Possibilities

NTS Innovations, a nanotechnology company, holds the exclusive license to commercialize the graphene energy-harvesting technology. The company has supported patent development, business planning, and efforts to identify potential customers and commercial partners.

More than 60 parties have expressed interest in testing the technology and exploring ways to integrate it into products. Ongoing discussions are helping establish practical requirements, including the minimum electrical power needed for different applications.

The researchers envision networks of self-powered sensors that can collect information for years with little human intervention. Combining graphene-based energy harvesting with electronics that consume extremely small amounts of electricity could help make that goal achievable, particularly as connected devices become more common in homes, industries, and environmental monitoring systems.

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Experts Spent Decades Searching for the Secret to Happiness. Here’s What They Found

By Simon Fraser U., Oct. 28, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/experts-spent-decades-searching-for-the-secret-to-happiness-heres-what-they-found/

Scientists suggest that happiness is neither constant nor entirely determined by circumstances. Their findings reveal how everyday choices may shape long-term well-being.

 Credit: Shutterstock

After decades of studying happiness, some of the world’s leading researchers have changed how they live.

Some of the world’s leading happiness researchers have changed how they live because of what they have discovered. After decades of studying well-being, several have made a conscious effort to spend more time with family and friends, reflecting one of the strongest findings in happiness science.

Their insights come from a discussion involving 13 international experts with a combined 600 years of research experience. The conversation, which explored both scientific evidence and personal experience, led to a new paper published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

Five Key Lessons From Happiness Research

The key takeaways:

Strong relationships are central to happiness. Social connections consistently emerge as powerful predictors of well-being. Several researchers have applied this finding by deliberately making more time for the people closest to them.

More money does not guarantee greater happiness. Financial security helps support a good life, but additional income generally has a smaller effect on happiness once essential needs are met.

Meaningful activities support well-being. Work and other pursuits can contribute to happiness when they provide purpose and reflect a person’s values.

Daily habits can help cultivate happiness. Researchers described using strategies supported by scientific evidence, including practicing gratitude, savoring positive experiences, volunteering, strengthening relationships, and becoming more socially involved.

Being happy does not mean always feeling good. Lasting well-being involves living according to personal values, building supportive connections, and adapting to difficulties rather than avoiding negative emotions altogether.

Why Relationships Matter So Much

“Happiness emerges from a symphony of factors, but if I had to pinpoint one secret to happiness, relationships with other people might be it,” says Lara Aknin, a professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University.

Aknin coauthored the paper with Harvard University’s Säde Stenlund and Kelsey O’Connor, a senior researcher at Luxembourg’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. She emphasizes that social connections are among the most consistently supported findings in happiness research.

“Having relationships is one of the most reliable predictors of happiness that has emerged from a robust body of evidence spanning the social sciences,” says Aknin.

“We know that having just one person you can count on is extremely consequential. Having more relationships and more communities that you feel a part of compounds that sense of well-being.”

How Much Control Do We Have Over Happiness?

Although genetics and life circumstances influence happiness, researchers emphasize that well-being is not necessarily fixed. People who generally consider themselves happy still experience setbacks, stress, and negative emotions. Their overall well-being can depend partly on how they respond to challenges and the activities they choose to pursue.

Some influential models of happiness have estimated that life circumstances, including where someone lives, employment, age, and relationship status, account for roughly 10% of happiness, while voluntary activities may contribute as much as 40%. These figures are model-based estimates rather than fixed proportions that apply to everyone, but they highlight the potential role of personal behavior.

“That leaves a lot of opportunity for people who may be more innately pessimistic to start practising research-backed strategies like meditation or gratitude that might help them see the world in a more positive way,” she says.

Happiness Research Is Still Evolving

The scientific study of well-being has expanded considerably since the 1970s, when the modern field began taking shape. What was once a relatively small area of research now encompasses numerous approaches to understanding happiness, life satisfaction, social relationships, and psychological health.

Aknin, who also coedits the annual World Happiness Report, says this expansion has brought challenges. As researchers pursue increasingly specialized questions, some early leaders worry that the field has become fragmented. Despite these differences, the scientists who participated in the discussion shared a commitment to rigorous research that can be translated into practical ways to improve people’s lives.

Why Happiness May Benefit More Than Just the Individual

The researchers also considered how personal well-being affects people’s willingness and ability to support others. Studies have linked happiness with positive outcomes beyond individual life satisfaction, including greater motivation to help other people.

“With many large and threatening realities taking place in the world right now, I sometimes worry that the pursuit of happiness can seem trite. But one reason I remain committed to the scientific study of happiness is that happiness in and of itself predicts a number of valuable outcomes, including the motivation to help other people,” she explains.

“When people feel they are doing well, they have the ability, the capability, and the motivation to engage in world affairs—to take care of the people they love and take care of their communities.”

Aknin describes generosity as a process that can benefit both those who give and those who receive. Supporting others can strengthen relationships and communities, creating opportunities for care and connection to spread.

“Generosity is not zero-sum.”

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The Ocean’s Mysterious “Snow” Could Be Hiding a Powerful Climate Secret

BY U. OF CAL. - SAN DIEGO, OCT. 27, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/the-oceans-mysterious-snow-could-be-hiding-a-powerful-climate-secret/

Viscous marine snow particles (white) colonized by bacteria (orange) transport carbon to the deep ocean. 

Credit: Must credit Bryce Inman



A new imaging technique reveals how bacteria interact with the microscopic structure of marine snow.

A surprising property of the tiny particles sinking through the ocean could help determine how much carbon is stored in the deep sea. Scientists have discovered that the stickiness of marine snow affects how easily bacteria can break it down, potentially changing how much carbon reaches the ocean depths.

Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Lincoln found that particularly gooey marine snow resists bacterial degradation. Their findings, published October 8 in Science, suggest that highly viscous particles can transport more than six times as much carbon to the deep ocean as less viscous particles.
The Ocean’s Never-Ending Snowfall

Marine snow consists of tiny clumps of dead plankton, waste, mucus, minerals, and other debris that continuously descend through the water column. As these particles sink, they carry carbon from the sunlit surface ocean toward deeper waters, where some of it can remain stored for hundreds or thousands of years.

Scientists estimate that marine snow transports more than 10 gigatons (11 billion U.S. tons) of carbon away from the surface each year. However, only about 2 gigatons (2.2 billion U.S. tons) reach depths where the carbon can remain stored for extended periods. Much of the sinking material is broken down or recycled before reaching those depths.

The new research identifies particle viscosity, a measure of resistance to flow, as an important factor in this process. Marine snow particles vary in composition and consistency, and those differences influence how bacteria colonize and consume them.
Scientists Find a Way to See Inside Marine Snow

Understanding these interactions required a technique that had previously been unavailable: directly observing individual living bacteria as they navigate the microscopic structure of mucus.

“Observing individual bacteria interacting with the physical structure of mucus had never been possible,” said Bryce Inman, who began investigating the problem in 2021 while working as a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Oceanography.

After four years of unsuccessful attempts, Inman and his colleagues, including Scripps microbiologist and professor emeritus Farooq Azam, developed a working approach in 2025. By combining 3D confocal microscopy with specialized fluorescent molecules, they could map the intricate physical structure of marine snow and track how bacteria interacted with it. The imaging technique is described in a companion study published in Nature Communications.

Why Stickier Marine Snow Carries More Carbon

The images showed that bacteria colonize less viscous regions near the surface of marine snow particles more easily than the thicker, more resistant material inside. These internal regions present a physical barrier that bacteria must gradually break down before penetrating farther into the particle.

“Bacteria can latch on to less viscous portions of each particle, but cannot reach more viscous regions until they break it down,” Inman explained. “Think of it like a worm in an apple: the flesh is easy to penetrate, but the core is tough to chew through”

Laboratory experiments confirmed that more viscous marine snow takes longer for bacteria to degrade and fragment. Computer simulations further suggested that these resistant particles can sink to greater depths before breaking apart. Together, the findings indicate that viscosity can substantially influence how much carbon escapes recycling in shallower waters and reaches the deep ocean.

What Ocean Slime Could Reveal About Other Ecosystems

The newly developed imaging method could also help researchers investigate interactions between bacteria and mucus in other environments. Similar relationships occur in coral reefs, kelp forests, plant root systems, and the digestive tracts of humans and other animals.

“Mucus, slime, whatever you want to call it, has a surprising amount of structure,” Inman said. “There are bulges, crevasses, all this sort of structure to it that we really had no idea about at a scale smaller than bacteria. This is the first time we’re really examining this physical habitat.”

By making these microscopic environments visible, the technique could support research into how bacteria colonize mucus, interact with its physical structure, and influence processes ranging from ocean carbon storage to coral reef recovery and human health.

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Astronomers Discover a Giant New Dwarf Planet Candidate Hiding Beyond Pluto

28 Oct. 2026, By M. STARR

https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-discover-giant-new-dwarf-planet-candidate-hiding-beyond-pluto

An artist's impression of an icy world surrounded by debris in the outer Solar System. 

(Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

The far reaches of the Solar System are largely a mystery to humanity.

This region represents a sort of liminal interstice – an anti-Goldilocks zone too cold and too dark for both our close-range Solar System observatories and the powerful space telescopes with long-range vision that extends billions of light-years into space.

For many years, scientists have reconstructed the space beyond Pluto from breadcrumbs – scattered discoveries and indirect clues gleaned from the motion of those objects we have actually detected.

Now, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is poised to blow it all wide open.

Researchers have just announced a spectacular new discovery – the telescope's first candidate dwarf planet, a large object in the Kuiper Belt some 600 to 1,500 kilometers (373 to 932 miles) across.

Here's the really amazing part. The object, named 2026 ED138, may have been right under our noses all along. Its entire orbit lies within Pluto's range of distances from the Sun – yet we've only just discovered it.

And it may be one of the largest objects discovered yet in trans-Neptunian space, potentially reaching a size comparable to Makemake and Haumea.

"My first reaction was one of excited disbelief," says astrophysicist Matthew Holman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who made the discovery.

"Objects like this are very rare, so I immediately started checking whether I or the code had done something wrong."

A mosaic of Rubin's ED138 discovery images.

 (NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA; 

Image Processing: M. Jurić/UW, D. de Martin & M. Zamani/NSF NOIRLab)

Everything we have managed to learn so far about the Solar System beyond Neptune (about 30 astronomical units from the Sun) indicates that there's a lot more out there than meets the eye.

In trans-Neptunian space lies the Kuiper Belt – a vast field of icy objects that extends out to about 55 astronomical units; and much farther beyond that, the hypothetical Oort Cloud, which may extend tens of thousands of astronomical units into space.

We've detected thousands of trans-Neptunian objects, from dwarf planets to small, icy bodies, while comets plunging toward the inner Solar System offer glimpses of material from even more distant regions.

However, directly observing the objects out there is extraordinarily difficult.

At such enormous distances from the Sun, they receive very little sunlight to reflect, making them extremely faint at optical wavelengths. They're also bitterly cold, emitting only a feeble thermal glow in the far infrared.

And they're not stationary. As they travel around the Sun, their positions against the background stars gradually change. Unless a telescope is looking in the right place at the right time, an object can easily escape detection.

The final nail in the coffin is orbital misbehavior. The larger objects closer to the Sun orbit more or less in a flat plane – but beyond Neptune, things can get more chaotic. Many trans-Neptunian objects orbit the Sun at weird angles, dramatically expanding the area of sky astronomers need to search.

This is where the Vera C. Rubin Observatory comes in.

Equipped with the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy, Rubin is designed to repeatedly survey enormous swathes of the southern sky, capturing objects too faint for many previous surveys to detect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-itfmt0IRQ

Rubin's 3.2-gigapixel camera can image an area of sky equivalent to around 40 full moons in a single exposure.

By returning to the same regions again and again, astronomers can identify faint points of light that change position against the background stars, revealing objects moving through the Solar System.

It saw first light in June 2025 – and by March 2026, ED138 had wandered into its field of view.

On 13 October 2026, Holman was analyzing Rubin observations using software developed with colleague Kevin Napier when something unusual caught his attention.

The telescope had recorded a large, previously unknown object moving through the Kuiper Belt.

The team traced it through 30 detections across 20 nights of Rubin observations, dating from 4 March to 11 July 2026.

Then, they looked further back – and found the object hiding in archival observations from the Dark Energy Camera, dating all the way back to February 2016.

For a decade, evidence of this distant world had been sitting in astronomical images, just waiting for someone to come along and find it.

And it wasn't limited to just one observation. The Dark Energy Camera had also snapped the object in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023.

Those archival observations were a gift – extending the observational record back years and allowing the researchers to characterize ED138's orbit.

According to the Minor Planet Center, ED138 takes around 281 years to complete one orbit of the Sun, coming to a distance of 36.86 astronomical units from the Sun at perihelion and 49.04 astronomical units at aphelion.

Pluto, for context, orbits between 29.6 and 49.08 astronomical units from the Sun. ED138's average orbital distance is around 42.95 astronomical units, slightly farther out than Pluto's, due to its more distant perihelion.

Since ED138 hangs out in Pluto's range, you might be wondering how it has evaded astronomers.

Well, its orbit is also tilted by around 24.5 degrees relative to the plane of the Solar System – a striking example of the orbital shenanigans that can make trans-Neptunian objects so difficult to find.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GScw6xLHPp4

To make matters worse, ED138 was hiding against the densely populated backdrop of the Milky Way, where myriad stars made it even harder to pick out.

The object's exact size, however, remains a mystery.

Astronomers can estimate its diameter from its brightness and distance, but there's a catch. A smaller object with a highly reflective, icy surface can appear just as bright as a much larger object with a darker surface.

Without knowing how reflective ED138 is, researchers can only estimate that it measures somewhere between 600 and 1,500 kilometers across.

At those dimensions, however, it's likely to be massive enough for its own gravity to pull it into a roughly spherical shape – one of the defining characteristics of a dwarf planet.

Further observations, particularly at infrared wavelengths, will help astronomers pin down its size and assess whether it meets the criteria for dwarf planet status – whereupon, no doubt, it will be given a catchier name than ED138.

And ED138 is likely just the beginning.

Over the decade-long survey it commenced in June 2026, Rubin is expected to discover thousands of previously unknown objects in the outer Solar System, helping astronomers piece together its history and evolution – and perhaps even revealing worlds larger and stranger than anything we've found so far.

Among the tantalizing possibilities is the hypothetical Planet Nine, a massive but undiscovered world whose gravitational influence has been proposed to explain the unusual orbits of some distant trans-Neptunian objects.

Rubin could be the thing that lifts the curtain on the Planet Nine mystery – revealing whether those strange orbits are indeed caused by a prodigal planet or a swarm of rocks in a planet-shaped trenchcoat.

Either way, we're poised for a bold new era of Solar System discovery.

"Rubin will image the whole southern sky again and again for ten years," Holman says, "so any others hiding in the places earlier surveys skipped are now within reach."

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2.8 Million Eels Have Gathered Around a Single Deep-Sea Mountain Off The Coast of Australia

28 Oct. 2026, By M. STARR

https://www.sciencealert.com/millions-of-mysterious-deep-sea-eels-caught-gathering-off-the-coast-of-tasmania

Basketwork eels gathering in extraordinary numbers around Patience Seamount, south of Tasmania, in footage captured in 2007.

 (CSIRO)

Every year, hundreds of meters below the waves in the cold, dark waters off southeast Australia, a wondrous gathering takes place.

Around a lonely mountain south of Tasmania called Patience Seamount, millions of eels converge, transforming a normally quiet patch of the deep sea into a seething morass of writhing, sinuous bodies.

These deep-sea creatures are basketwork eels (Diastobranchus capensis), and scientists believe they're gathering for one of the most important events of their lives – reproduction.

Now, a study led by marine scientist Ben Scoulding of Australia's CSIRO has quantified the astonishing scale of this mysterious congregation for the first time.

At its peak, Scoulding and his colleagues have determined, the gathering could contain as many as 2.8 million eels, collectively weighing more than 3,500 metric tons (3,860 US tons).

Yet one enormous question lingers: Why, of all the relatively similar nearby mountains under the ocean, do the eels choose this one?

"That's one of the biggest unanswered questions," Scoulding told ScienceAlert.

"Patience is one of around 120 seamounts in the Huon and Tasman Fracture marine parks south of Tasmania, and although nearby seamounts have similar depths and broad environmental characteristics, they don't support the same aggregation of eels.

"At this stage, we have some good hypotheses, but we don't yet have a definitive answer."

Basketwork eels swimming above the seabed at Patience Seamount during a 2025 survey. 

(CSIRO)



Teasing apart the true scale of the annual basketwork eel aggregation at Patience Seamount is the work of decades.

Unusual numbers of the eels in the area had been reported by commercial fisheries since at least the 1980s and 1990s, but it wasn't until 2007 that a deep-sea camera survey finally captured the extraordinary gathering on film.

The seamount lies within the Huon Marine Park, established in 2007 as an expansion of an earlier marine reserve created in 1999 to protect the region's fragile deep-sea ecosystems.

As part of a 2007 expedition to survey the seabed and marine life in and around the marine park, CSIRO scientists towed a camera behind a research vessel – like the bear going over the mountain – to see what they could see.

In contrast to the bear, however, they saw much more than the other side of the mountain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FVpEeGuZbw

In the permanent darkness deep beneath the waves, the water column roiled with eels.

Subsequent surveys shed further light. The eels inhabit the seamount year-round, but their numbers peak in the southern autumn months, from March to May. Eels caught during this peak have been found in advanced spawning condition – both male and female – strongly indicating a reproductive reason for the eel jamboree.

It is, by all accounts, spectacular.

"Although seamounts are well known as hotspots where fish can aggregate, it's unusual to find millions of fish concentrated around a single feature. Patience Seamount itself is relatively small, covering only about 2 square kilometers [0.8 square miles], yet it consistently supports an enormous seasonal aggregation over many months," Scoulding said.

"Seeing so much biomass concentrated on such a small deep-sea feature is rare, and the scale, persistence, and likely reproductive nature of the aggregation make it one of the most remarkable fish aggregations documented in the deep ocean."

But observing an extraordinary eel swarm is one thing. Working out just how many are there is not as simple.

A 2021 paper on the aggregation used hydroacoustic measurements and on-camera eel counts to estimate that tens of thousands of eels may have been present during an April 2015 aggregation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EKK-u6XvuU

Scoulding and his colleagues wanted to address the question with intent and precision.

"What nobody knew was how large the aggregation was, how long it persisted, or how many eels were actually involved," he said. "One of the main aims of our study was to answer those questions."

Between 2023 and 2025, the researchers conducted a series of surveys around Patience Seamount, using sonar to map the enormous concentrations of fish in the water.

But there was a complication. Basketwork eels aren't the only fish that gather around Patience Seamount. Orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) also congregate there, and sonar alone can't distinguish between the two.

So the team combined their acoustic measurements with underwater camera footage, which allowed them to work out how much each species was contributing to the sonar signal.

Their findings revealed an aggregation of jaw-dropping proportions. At its largest, the swarm extended roughly 3 kilometers long, 2 kilometers wide, and 150 meters above the seafloor (1.9 miles long by 1.2 miles wide, and 492 feet high).

A sonar cross-section of Patience Seamount showing a dense aggregation of fish extending above the seabed. The colors indicate the strength of the acoustic reflections, not individual species. 

(CSIRO)



The researchers estimated that the biomass of basketwork eels increased from around 750 metric tons in March to more than 3,500 metric tons in May.

"The sheer size of it was remarkable. Estimating that there could be up to 2.8 million eels and more than 3,500 tons of biomass concentrated around a single seamount really highlights just how extraordinary Patience Seamount is," Scoulding said.

And, he noted, by combining their new data with previous surveys, the researchers were able to document the aggregation's presence from December to August.

"The thing that surprised me most was the persistence of the aggregation. We knew it existed, but we didn't expect it to be present for so much of the year."

The composition of the gathering also changes throughout the year. At some times, orange roughy make up a substantial proportion of the fish; at others, basketwork eels overwhelmingly dominate.

The two species even seem to prefer different parts of the mountain. Orange roughy tend to gather around the steeper upper slopes, while basketwork eels prefer the deeper, flatter terrain around its base.

What makes Patience Seamount so attractive to the eels, however, remains unclear. One possibility, the researchers noted, is its proximity to the continental shelf, which may influence fish movement or the currents flowing around the mountain.

Whatever the reason, the gathering underscores the importance of protecting these remote deep-sea habitats.

Basketwork eels scattered across the seabed at Patience Seamount, photographed by a deep-towed camera in April 2025.

 (Scoulding et al., R. Soc. Open Sci., 2026)



Patience Seamount was once subjected to bottom trawling, but scientists are now seeing encouraging signs of recovery, including rebuilding orange roughy populations and the return of living corals to previously trawled areas.

And there is still much to learn about the eels themselves. Scoulding and his team found further evidence that they're gathering to reproduce, including females carrying advanced eggs and sporting empty bellies.

This introduced an unexpected wrinkle to the research. The eels may stop feeding as they prepare to spawn – and an eel that isn't hungry is unlikely to take the bait. From among the writhing mass of eels deep below their boat, the researchers only managed to catch seven.

And they have yet to establish exactly when and where spawning takes place.

Understanding that process – and how the aggregation changes from year to year – could help scientists determine what these fascinating animals need to thrive.

"Because the aggregation occurs within a protected marine park, it provides a rare opportunity to revisit the site every few years and see how the population changes through time," Scoulding said.

"If the ecosystem continues to recover from historical fishing impacts, we may see further increases in the size of the aggregation."

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