Astronomers Find Strongest Evidence Yet for Magnetic Fields on Alien Worlds

By ESO, June 12, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-find-strongest-evidence-yet-for-magnetic-fields-on-alien-worlds/

This illustration shows magnetic activity in an exoplanet. The planet is a gas giant like Jupiter, but it’s very close to its host star and tidally locked: one side always faces the star and is scorching hot, whereas the other side is extremely cold. This steep temperature difference creates fast winds that blow from the day side to the night side. The planet’s magnetic field, shown here with blue lines, can slow these winds down.

 Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada

Astronomers studying the atmospheres of several intensely heated exoplanets uncovered an unexpected pattern that may reveal a hidden property of these distant worlds.

Astronomers have uncovered the clearest evidence so far that some planets beyond our Solar System possess magnetic fields. By measuring atmospheric winds on seven extremely hot gas giants, researchers found signs that magnetism is shaping conditions on these distant worlds.

The study used observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and the Gemini North telescope. The results suggest that magnetic fields are controlling the planets’ powerful winds, providing the first reliable measurements of magnetic field strength on exoplanets.

“This breakthrough opens a completely new window on exoplanet research. It’s the first time we can compare the magnetic environments of other worlds — a key step toward ultimately understanding which planets can stay alive, keep their water, and perhaps even, one day, host life as we know it,” says Julia Seidel, an astronomer at the Laboratoire Lagrange, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, France and lead author of the study published today in Nature Astronomy.

A Long-Sought Exoplanet Measurement

Magnetic fields play an important role in shaping planetary environments. On Earth, the magnetic field interacts with the atmosphere and helps protect the planet from harmful charged particles. Other planets in our Solar System, including Jupiter and Saturn, also have magnetic fields.

Despite years of research, scientists had not been able to directly determine the strength of magnetic fields on exoplanets. That challenge has remained unsolved for about 15 years.

Interestingly, the researchers were not originally searching for magnetic fields. Their goal was to study winds in the atmospheres of seven giant planets orbiting different stars. These worlds resemble Jupiter but orbit much closer to their stars and are tidally locked, meaning one side constantly faces the star.

Like the Moon always showing the same face to Earth, these planets have permanent day and night sides. One hemisphere is intensely heated while the other remains much colder. The extreme temperature contrast creates unusual weather patterns and exceptionally powerful winds.

Extreme Winds Reveal an Unexpected Pattern

The team measured winds ranging from about 7,200 km/h (4,475 mph) to more than 25,000 km/h (15,535 mph). By comparison, Jupiter’s fastest known winds reach roughly 1,500 km/h (930 mph).

“In the beginning we set out to check if the atmospheric winds behaved the same way for all hot planets,” explains Seidel, who was previously an astronomer at ESO in Chile.

The researchers analyzed data from the ESPRESSO instrument on ESO’s VLT in Chile’s Atacama Desert and a similar instrument on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaiʻi, USA. (The VLT is an ESO telescope while Gemini North is one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab.)

As they compared wind speeds with planetary temperatures, an unexpected trend appeared. Instead of moving faster, winds slowed down as temperatures increased.

“This is totally counterintuitive because, all things being equal, hot planets have more energy to accelerate the winds! Something must happen that slows down the wind speeds for hotter objects,” says study co-author Vivien Parmentier, a professor at the Laboratoire Lagrange.

Magnetic Fields as a Planetary Brake

The researchers concluded that the most likely explanation is the presence of global magnetic fields. These fields can interact with charged particles in a planet’s atmosphere, reducing their motion and effectively slowing atmospheric circulation.

Using this effect, the team estimated the magnetic field strength of each planet. The results indicate magnetic fields comparable to those found on giant planets in our own Solar System, with strengths roughly four times greater than Saturn’s or about half that of Jupiter’s.

The findings also suggest that magnetic fields could influence much more than atmospheric winds.

“Here on Earth, we know the beauty of the northern and southern lights, where particles from the Sun hit our magnetic field and are guided toward the poles, colliding with gases in the atmosphere to produce colorful displays of green, pink, and purple,” explains study co-author Bibiana Prinoth, a former PhD student at Lund University, Sweden, now an astronomer at ESO in Garching, Germany.

On these exoplanets, auroras powered by magnetic activity could be even more spectacular.

Looking ahead, scientists are eager to use ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope to study both giant and Earth-sized exoplanets in greater detail. The observatory may even be able to identify atmospheric gases linked to auroral activity on distant worlds.

Prinoth says: “I like to imagine that some of these worlds have a sky filled not only with stars, but with vast curtains of colorful light dancing across a planet that’s half in perpetual day and half in endless night.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Why Evolution Stalled for Millions of Years Before Suddenly Exploding

By U. of Cambridge, June 13, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/why-evolution-stalled-for-millions-of-years-before-suddenly-exploding/

Artist’s impression of an Ediacaran animal community. 

Credit: Hugo Salais

A new study suggests evolution stayed stuck for millions of years until sexual reproduction helped unleash a burst of biodiversity.

New research suggests that the earliest animals on Earth may have unintentionally slowed the pace of evolution for millions of years. Scientists have found that their reliance on asexual reproduction limited competition and reduced the pressure to adapt, keeping biodiversity low until sexual reproduction emerged and helped drive a surge in evolutionary change.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed fossils from some of the oldest known animals, dating back roughly 574 million years. Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, offer a possible explanation for a long-standing mystery: why animal life first appeared on Earth but then remained relatively unchanged for millions of years before experiencing a dramatic increase in diversity.

Fossils of Fractofusus, an animal from the Ediacaran period. 

Credit: Emily Mitchell



The Strange World of Earth’s First Animals

The Ediacaran period, which lasted from about 635 million to 539 million years ago, marked a major turning point in the history of life. After billions of years dominated by microscopic organisms, larger and more complex forms of life began to appear.

Among these early creatures was Fractofusus, an organism that could reach up to 2 meters in height, although many Ediacaran animals were much smaller. Despite being considered animals, they looked more like plants or ferns than anything living today. Scientists have found no evidence that they possessed mouths, internal organs, or the ability to move. Instead, researchers believe they absorbed nutrients directly from the surrounding seawater.

These unusual organisms vanished from the fossil record at the start of the Cambrian period around 540 million years ago, making it difficult for scientists to connect them to any modern group of animals.

Dr. Emily Mitchell at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Canada.

 Credit: Emily Mitchell



How Cloning Limited Biodiversity

Previous studies showed that many Ediacaran animals reproduced asexually. Rather than producing offspring through sex, they spread by sending out stolons, or runners, much like modern strawberry plants. In the nutrient-rich oceans of the time, this strategy worked remarkably well.

“Life was pretty nice during the Ediacaran, so the need for sex was rather limited,” said lead author Dr. Emily Mitchell from Cambridge’s Department of Zoology. “There was relatively little competition, so there was no real pressure to change anything.”

To investigate why evolution appeared to slow during this period, Mitchell and co-author Professor Andrea Manica examined fossil communities from Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, one of the world’s most important Ediacaran fossil sites.

The team combined laser scanning, spatial analysis, and artificial intelligence to study how these ancient communities were organized. They first demonstrated that stolon-based reproduction reduced competition among neighboring organisms. The researchers then created computer simulations to explore how early animal ecosystems might have developed under different reproductive strategies.

Thousands of simulations were run, while a simple neural network identified which scenarios most closely matched patterns found in the fossil record. Using a method called Approximate Bayesian Computation, the researchers worked backward from real fossil data to estimate how far organisms spread and how intensely they competed for resources.

Their results showed that limited dispersal caused by asexual reproduction could explain both the low number of species present in early animal communities and the long period of evolutionary stagnation.

Stress and Competition Changed the Course of Evolution

Competition and environmental pressures have long been powerful forces shaping evolution. However, the runner-based reproduction used by many Ediacaran animals reduced the need for direct competition.

“If you’re connected to your neighbor by these runners, then you’re sharing nutrients, and you don’t need to compete with them,” said Manica.

Over time, conditions began to change. As life expanded from deeper waters into shallower marine environments, organisms encountered new challenges. Tides, storms, temperature fluctuations, and changing nutrient levels created a much less stable world.

These harsher conditions increased competition and placed greater stress on early animals.

“If you’re suddenly in an environment where you’re essentially getting killed a couple of times per year, then that changes everything,” said Mitchell. “Stress essentially leads to sexual reproduction, and when that happens, we can see a massive increase in dispersal distances as animals attempt to colonize new areas due to an increase in competition.”

According to the researchers, this shift toward sexual reproduction allowed animals to spread farther, occupy new habitats, and compete more effectively. Those changes were accompanied by a sharp increase in biodiversity, creating what scientists describe as a second wave of Ediacaran evolution.

The Road to the Cambrian Explosion

As early animals adapted to new environments and adopted new reproductive strategies, diversification accelerated. This evolutionary momentum continued into the Cambrian period, when the emergence of mobile animals drove even more rapid change.

The study suggests that sexual reproduction may have been one of the key innovations that helped transform life on Earth from relatively simple communities into the diverse animal ecosystems that followed.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Men Can Lose Their Y Chromosome With Age, And We Finally Know The Cost

13 June 2026, By C. Cassella

https://www.sciencealert.com/men-can-lose-their-y-chromosome-with-age-and-we-finally-know-the-cost

(Cavan Images/Getty Images)

The human Y chromosome is shrinking.

In the next 5 million years or so, some geneticists think the sex-determining chromosome will vanish completely from our species.

In the meantime, we have a bigger concern at hand.

As some men age, they are losing the Y chromosome in their blood, brain, or immune cells, and that could have serious health effects.

A loss of the Y chromosome has surprising connections to cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, and Alzheimer's.

For decades, researchers have noticed that as some men grow older, certain cells in their bodies begin to lose their Y chromosome.

Among 70-year-old men, roughly 40 percent show loss of Y in their blood cells, and among 93-year-olds, that number rises to 57 percent.

Once, this loss of Y was considered a 'benign' marker of aging.

But recently, emerging genetic evidence suggests that a lack of the Y chromosome in some cells may be actively contributing to death and disease.

The Y chromosome is known to be crucial for sex determination and sperm function, but historically, it wasn't thought to do much else.

Although it exists in most cells of the body, the odd little chromosome seems to just sit there, twiddling its thumbs. It is a fragile, finicky unit that often leads to mutations during replication.

Of all 46 chromosomes contained in most human cells, the Y chromosome is the only one that can be lost without the cell dying.

But that doesn't mean it can disappear without issue.

Is the Y chromosome vanishing in men? Read our story on the scientific debate. 

(Dmitry Bayer/Getty Images)



In 2022, a study found that when specialized immune cells in the hearts of mice lacked Y chromosomes, it led to cardiovascular dysfunction and death.

Further clinical studies suggest that among elderly men, those who show Y chromosome losses are more likely to die early or develop cancer. While these losses are rare in younger individuals, they can also be associated with infertility and developmental defects.

In 2023, researchers found that up to 40 percent of older men with bladder cancer lack the Y chromosome in their tumors.

Because men are up to five times more likely to develop bladder cancer than women, this led some scientists to suspect that the Y chromosome was playing a role in the disease.

Preliminary evidence supports that idea. In 2025, a study found that immune cells lacking the Y chromosome are less effective at attacking cancerous cells.

That same year, a review concluded that the loss of the Y chromosome is likely to be important in shaping the activity of the male immune system.

Even though the Y chromosome contains roughly 0.9 percent of the total DNA in a male cell, it was only fully sequenced a few years ago.

Since then, advances in genomic sequencing have ushered in a new era for Y chromosome research.

Studies are just beginning, but these initial findings suggest that the Y chromosome may be involved in more cellular functions than scientists previously assumed.

In some ways, that is why evolutionary biologist Jennifer Hughes thinks the Y chromosome is not doomed to vanish from our species.

"The genes that are retained on the Y serve crucial functions across the whole body, so the selective pressure to maintain those genes is too great for them to be lost," Hughes explained to ScienceAlert in 2025.

But not everyone is convinced by that logic.

Evolutionary biologist Jenny Graves agrees with Hughes that the genes on Y are important and may be linked to health and disease; however, she argues that important genes like these can always be 'picked up' by other chromosomes.

"Yes, there are deeply conserved core genes," she told ScienceAlert in 2025.

"But the spiny rat and mole vole had no trouble relocating or replacing them."

These mammals no longer have a Y chromosome; another chromosome has taken over the role of sex determination instead.

It's a good reminder that genes have no problem 'jumping ship'. The Y chromosome may be sinking, whether we like it or not.

Today, the human Y retains only 3 percent of its ancestral genes.

What remains may hold clues not only to the health of the male sex today but also to our species evolutionary history and our future.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Discover a Strange Global Pattern in The Way Humans Walk

12 June 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-a-strange-global-pattern-in-the-way-humans-walk

A still image from one of the experiments, showing position of people (red dots) and recent movement (the orange lines).

 (Echeverría-Huarte et al. CC-BY-ND)

Suppose you're wandering around a space without any particular destination in mind – exploring a park maybe, or ambling across a music festival site.

Would you take left turns more often, or right turns?

That was the question an international team of researchers set out to answer, after a previous study on social distancing during the COVID pandemic surprisingly indicated that we may not be moving as randomly as we think.

This time, the researchers looked specifically at the turns we take, across a variety of age groups, cultural settings, and spaces.

They discovered a clear bias that matched their earlier unexpected results: a significant preference for turning counterclockwise (left).

With that established, another question was raised – why is this preference there?

Experiments were carried out in different countries, with different people, in different settings – and the counterclockwise bias (the dots above the zero line) was consistently present. 

(Echeverría-Huarte et al., Nat. Comm., 2026)

"This was completely unexpected as, at least instinctively, when people walk around randomly, you imagine people turn as their needs suit them with little sign of an overall preference," says engineer Claudio Feliciani, who was based at the University of Tokyo during the study.

"But there was a definite, measurable tendency for people to turn counterclockwise over clockwise, all things being equal."

This counterclockwise bias has been observed before – in circle pits at heavy metal concerts, for example.

So, for this study, the researchers wanted to rule out potential influences on behavior, such as the actions of other people or the way a group was enclosed.

Experiments were run across Spain and Japan (different social and cultural norms), in open and closed spaces, and across a variety of (young) ages.

The researchers also tested individual movement.


In one experiment, 209 people were asked to walk alone and freely inside a hexagonal enclosure made with chairs and tables, removing any chance of their being influenced by a crowd.

Individual tests again showed a counterclockwise bias 

(the graphs bunching to the right of the neutral zero). 

(Echeverría-Huarte et al., Nat. Comm., 2026)

Across all these tests, a modest but statistically significant counterclockwise bias remained.

The bias wasn't affected by people's dominant hand or foot, or by their sex.

The only factor that did cause a slight variation in the bias was age. Younger people showed a stronger bias towards counterclockwise movement, though the study didn't include anyone older than their mid-30s.

As for what's driving this, we're not yet sure – but the study does rule out several possibilities. Whatever's going on appears to be biological, and future studies will be able to analyze this further.

"It likely does not come from the eyes, because we tried to patch people's left or the right eyes and the bias was still there," says Feliciani.

"And some people asked us if it might be large-scale phenomena like the Coriolis force or Earth's magnetic field, but this seems unlikely given what we have managed to point to so far."

A tendency for us to go left rather than right might not seem the most dramatic of scientific breakthroughs, but there are implications here across a whole host of different fields – from building design to emergency planning.

That's because places such as airports, museums, train stations, shopping centers, and stadium forecourts may all be affected by subtle movement preferences, especially when large crowds form.

Evacuation routes could be designed more effectively with these findings.

"There are some interesting parallels to certain sports," Feliciani adds.

"Some running and driving competitions are always, but inexplicably, taken on courses that run counterclockwise. But that's an investigation for another time."

Next steps could involve examining whether this tendency holds in later life, or among people with mobility differences. The researchers also suggest virtual reality experiments could help test it, by allowing more precise control over sensory inputs.

The team is also keen to see whether there's a clockwise or counterclockwise bias in other animals, though only a few studies have found this so far – such as research on ants exploring unknown nests.

"Our results may appear as a minor insignificant discovery, but in nature, most phenomena related to locomotion show that animals mostly walk without directional preference," says Feliciani.

"The strong bias found in people hints to some asymmetry at the biomechanical level."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

A Hidden Gut Signal May Be Driving Sleep Apnea’s Deadly Heart Risks

By American Society for Microbiology, June 11, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/a-hidden-gut-signal-may-be-driving-sleep-apneas-deadly-heart-risks/

Scientists have uncovered an unexpected link between sleep apnea, gut microbes, and heart disease that could lead to entirely new treatments.

 Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists discovered a surprising gut-heart connection that may help prevent sleep apnea from causing serious cardiovascular damage.

Sleep apnea affects millions of people worldwide and is known to raise the risk of serious cardiovascular problems. Now, researchers have identified a potential new treatment target that could help reduce some of the condition’s harmful effects. Findings presented at ASM Microbe 2026 suggest that gut microbes and the way they alter bile acids may play an important role in protecting against sleep apnea-related heart and metabolic damage.

How Sleep Apnea Affects the Body

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. These interruptions reduce oxygen levels while allowing carbon dioxide to build up, triggering a range of biological changes throughout the body.

Previous studies have shown that low oxygen levels can alter bile acids, compounds produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and released into the intestines to help digest fats. Beyond their digestive role, bile acids also act as signaling molecules that interact with receptors throughout the body.

Researchers had previously demonstrated that gut microbes can modify bile acids, influencing the development of atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty plaques inside arteries. Because bile acids enter the bloodstream, they can affect tissues and organs far beyond the digestive system.

“We were pretty sure from our previous studies that bile acids, especially microbially modified ones, were a key to regulating the disease so we wanted to know what happens when one of the key receptors for them are missing — does the disease go away?” said study first author Celeste Allaband, DVM, Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Investigating a Key Bile Acid Receptor

To explore that question, the team studied two groups of mice. One group consisted of mice genetically prone to heart disease, known as ApoE knock-outs. The second group included mice that were also prone to heart disease but lacked a bile acid receptor called the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). These animals are known as ApoE/FXR knock-outs.

Both groups were exposed either to normal sleeping conditions with room air or to conditions designed to mimic sleep apnea. Throughout the study, researchers analyzed gut microbes and metabolites using fecal samples. At the end of the experiment, they measured the amount of fatty plaque that had accumulated in the animals’ arteries.
Fewer Artery Plaques and Less Gut Disruption

“Our study shows that the FXR host receptor, which can be activated or deactivated by bile acids, plays a central role in driving the buildup of fatty plaques in the arteries during sleep apnea-like conditions,” Allaband said. “Strikingly, when this receptor was removed from the mice, the development of arterial plaques dropped significantly in some areas and disruptions to the gut microbiome were minimized.”

The results revealed that mice lacking the FXR receptor developed significantly less plaque in both the aorta and the aortic arch. Some plaque formation still occurred in the pulmonary artery, but the overall burden was reduced. The researchers also observed that sleep apnea-like conditions had a smaller impact on the gut microbiome and the collection of metabolic compounds produced within the body.

“These results tell us that microbially modified bile acids and how they signal through the receptor we knocked out (FXR) seem to be key to the impact of sleep apnea-like conditions in our mouse model. We also identified specific bile acids of interest to explore further,” Allaband said.

Potential Future Treatments

The research team is now pursuing several follow-up studies. One goal is to examine human datasets to determine whether the same biological patterns seen in mice are present in people with sleep apnea.

“We also plan to take some of our key bile acids of interest and see if supplementation of these compounds alone can help prevent or reduce disease,” Allaband said. “We may also take some key microbes of interest and see if they can be given preventively as a probiotic. There is lots of exciting future work to come.”

If similar effects are confirmed in humans, future therapies could potentially target bile acids, the FXR receptor, or beneficial gut microbes to help prevent or reduce the cardiovascular complications associated with sleep apnea.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Hidden Web of Fungus Inside Earth Could Reach The Sun a Billion Times

12 June 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-web-of-fungus-inside-earth-could-reach-the-sun-a-billion-times

Fluorescent-tagged carbon moving through filaments of mycorrhizal fungus.

 (Rachael Cargill, Loreto Oyarte Gálvez (VU Amsterdam, AMOLF) & Justin Magness )

The ground beneath your feet is not quiescent.

It zings and pulses with frenzied activity, much of it driven by a partnership between plants and fungi that dates back at least 450 million years.

This is the mycorrhizal network – a vast system of fungal filaments locked in a mutual exchange with the plant life that carpets our planet, transporting nutrients from the soil and receiving in return the carbon produced by plant photosynthesis.

It's large, and it's vital. Around 70 percent of all plant species rely on mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Now, for the first time, scientists have compiled a global map of this hidden infrastructure, revealing an underground network of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) threads that stretches an estimated 110 quadrillion kilometers through Earth's soils.

That's long enough to travel the 150 million-kilometer (93 million-mile) distance from Earth to the Sun nearly a billion times.

A still of the map showing AM network density.

 (SPUN)

"It is hard to overstate the importance and enormity of these fungi," says evolutionary ecologist Justin Stewart of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

"There could be up to 10 meters (32 feet) of mycorrhizal network in just a teaspoon of soil."

Fungal networks consist of underground threads called hyphae that run below the surface of the ground in forests and other plant communities, and they are often critical for helping these communities thrive.

They transport nutrients such as phosphorus as well as water that is usually beyond the reach of plant roots, in exchange for carbon from the plants.

This makes the 'wood wide web' an integral part of our planet's carbon cycle, but it's difficult to quantify the scope of the role it plays if we don't know how big the network is.

Mycorrhizal fungi under a microscope. The circular structures are spores. 

(Tomás Munita)



The work of Stewart and his colleagues was an ambitious effort to find out.

They assembled data from 322 studies representing more than 16,000 soil cores across nine different global biomes. These studies contained more than 4,000 measurements of AM hyphal densities that allowed the researchers to identify patterns in the conditions under which these networks are more likely to be found.

Then, they used machine learning to predict the density of unseen AM networks across the world, and robotic imaging to measure the thickness of more than 300,000 living fungal threads, allowing them to convert network length into biomass.

The results were huge.

"We have provided the first, to our knowledge, global estimate of AM hyphal densities, predicting 110 quadrillion kilometers of AM hyphae in the top 15 centimeters of Earth's soils," the researchers write in their paper.

The spore of a mycorrhizal fungus. 

(Vasilis Kokkoris - VU Amsterdam, AMOLF)



That network would weigh an estimated 300 million tons – that's four to six times the total living human biomass – and serve as a pathway for roughly 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent moving from plants into underground ecosystems each year.

But it was where these networks were strongest that presented the biggest surprise.

Rather than clustering most strongly in tropical rainforests, the highest densities were found in places like grasslands, prairies, steppes, and wetlands. An estimated 40 percent of the world's total AM fungal biomass is concentrated in these locations.

The researchers believe this is because herbaceous plants, such as grass, channel more carbon to mycorrhizal fungi than woody plants do.

Soil samples used to determine mycorrhizal density.

 (Tomás Munita/SPUN)



A more worrying finding is that fungal network density was, on average, 47 percent lower in cultivated croplands.

This is likely related to the use of fertilizers such as phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as fungicides and farming practices that limit fungal presence – but the long-term consequences could be a reduced soil capacity for carbon storage and nutrient transport.

However, there's a lot we still don't know.

Large parts of the world remain poorly sampled, including deserts, tropical forests, and tundra. In addition, most measurements come from the uppermost soil, which means there are deeper layers that we understand little about.

All this makes it difficult to know exactly how much of the underground network has yet to be accounted for, and it's worth noting there is much we don't yet understand about the 'wood wide web'.

Still, this effort represents the most complete map to date – shining a light on the hidden activity in the darkness beneath our feet, and showing us how much more we have to learn.

"Mycorrhizal fungi have shaped life on earth for hundreds of millions of years, but we still understand too little about how the infrastructure of these living transport systems is distributed across the planet," says mycologist Merlin Sheldrake of SPUN and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

"This study is an exciting step towards understanding how this planetary circulatory system operates and suggests ways that we can better work with fungi to help address many of the unfolding challenges of our times, from food security to climate change."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Giant Whale Graveyard Found in The Ocean Is Like a Drowned City of The Dead

11 June 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-whale-graveyard-found-in-the-ocean-is-like-a-drowned-city-of-the-dead

(Gerard Soury/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

In an abyssal chasm yawning deep beneath the Indian Ocean, a vast 'city of the dead' has slowly been growing in the frigid darkness.

Along some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of the Diamantina Fracture Zone, which splits the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, and reaches depths of 7,002 meters, scientists have found an unprecedented necropolis containing the remains of nearly 500 whales.

Some of those bones have been dated to 5.3 million years ago – long before the emergence of humans.

It is the biggest, deepest, and oldest whale graveyard ever found, and it may have been accumulating continuously for millions of years.

Brittle stars and scale worms on a fallen whale skull.

 (Peng et al., Nature, 2026)



"These findings," writes a team led by deep-sea scientist Xiaotong Peng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, "reshape the understanding of the limits and biogeography of whale-fall ecosystems and establish some deep-sea floors as a fossil archive for tracing cetacean evolution over geological time."

There's not much that lasts at the bottom of the deepest depths of the sea.

Below 1,000 meters (3,280), no sunlight reaches; it's reflected and refracted higher up in the water column and never penetrates further.

The weight of all the water above creates crushing pressures, and temperatures are just above freezing – the only warmth can be found clustered around volcanic fissures in the seafloor.

It's a harsh and unforgiving place, where food is relatively scarce; very little goes to waste.

Fallen whale carcasses – known as whale falls – represent an absolute feast for seafloor life, turning a barren sandscape into a thriving, albeit temporary, ecosystem. Even the bones of whales are food for Osedax worms, which usually consume them until there is nothing left.

Organisms such as stalked sea anemones, sponges, and sea stars colonizing a fallen whale carcass in the Diamantina Fracture Zone. 

(Global TREnD, IDSSE)



The researchers were exploring the Diamantina Fracture Zone as part of the Global Trench Exploration and Dive Programme (Global TREnD), now known as the Global Hadal Exploration Programme (GHEP) – a research project focused on understanding our planet's final true frontier – the deepest parts of the ocean.

In February 2023, during a dive in a crewed submersible called Fendouzhe, researchers spotted their first whale fall.

In the ensuing weeks, they dove 32 more times in the submersible, and what they found was nothing short of astonishing.

Across a 1,200-kilometer stretch of the chasm, the researchers recorded and sampled 485 whale-fall sites. Their finds included the fossilized remains of 476 whales and five currently active whale-fall ecosystems.

They also collected many samples from the seafloor; the oldest skull obtained dated back to 5.26 million years ago.

A map of the whale fall distribution observed along the Diamantina Fracture Zone.

 (Peng et al., Nature, 2026)



Therein lurked a clue about how this region was able to retain such a remarkable record of whale fossils.

Most of the remains were the skulls of modern and extinct beaked whales, a family of elusive deep-sea whales named for their dolphin-like snouts (dolphins are not beaked whales).

The bones of these snouts are extremely dense, which means they could survive long enough for ferromanganese oxides to accumulate therein, halting further degradation.

So why beaked whales, and why this part of the ocean? Well, on these points, the researchers could only guess.

It's possible that the Diamantina Fracture Zone is a natural accumulation point for many different species of whales, but others decompose too readily to be preserved.

It's also possible that the beaked whale lifestyle – specializing in predation of deep-sea squid and fish – contributes to their accumulation in the fracture zone.

Fossil skulls of three beaked whales recovered from depths between 6,584 and 6,878 meters.

 (Global TREnD, IDSSE)



"The maximum dive depth for beaked whales is estimated to be more than 3,000 meters on the basis of lung collapse and oxygen storage. Thus, foraging at depths exceeding 3,000 meters would be too physiologically taxing for beaked whales and may heighten the risk of fatal exhaustion or decompression sickness," the researchers write in their paper.


"Ultimately, the V-shaped topography of the Diamantina Zone may further contribute to this accumulation by funneling and concentrating onto the sea floor the sinking carcasses caused by natural and accidental mortality."

However it came about, the site is truly extraordinary.

The researchers documented a rich biota flourishing at the five active whale falls, including microbial mats, Osedax worms, brittle stars, and bivalve mollusks that have a symbiotic relationship with chemical-eating microbes similar to those found around hydrothermal vents, where life is powered not by sunlight, but by chemistry.

This shows that whale-fall ecosystems can thrive much deeper than we knew, perhaps offering oases for organisms that usually live in far harsher environments.

In addition, it represents an evolutionary archive, preserving millions of years of beaked whale evolutionary history in one place. The researchers documented at least one previously unknown extinct species, and suspect more are just waiting to be found.

Paleontologist Stephen J. Godfrey of the Calvert Marine Museum in the US says in an accompanying editorial that the site represents a rare Wachsend-Lagerstätte – an exceptional fossil bed that is still growing – and likened its importance to the discovery of the living coelacanth and hydrothermal vents.

A whale fall in the Diamantina Fracture Zone colonized by organisms such as stalked sea anemones, sponges, and sea stars.

  (Peng et al., Nature, 2026)

"Just as the surprising discoveries of the coelacanth and first hydrothermal vents reshaped our view of life in the deep ocean, Peng and colleagues' encounter with a vast fossil graveyard is a truly unique discovery," he writes.

"Peng and colleagues' paper reminded me of a trailer for the first in a series of epic movies. I hope that there will be many more of these blockbusters to come."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Dug Through Ancient Squirrel Poop And Found a Huge Surprise

11 June 2026, By D. Lawler, AFP

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-dug-through-ancient-squirrel-poop-and-found-a-huge-surprise

Frozen squirrel feces preserved ancient DNA for up to 700,000 years. 

(Scott Crocker/Hakai Institute/YouTube)



A huge treasure trove of ancient DNA from animals including extinct woolly mammoths has been discovered in frozen squirrel feces in Canada's remote Yukon territory, scientists said Tuesday.

The DNA found deep inside sealed-off burrows is between 3,000 and 700,000 years old, offering a rare window into how life has changed over the millennia.

As well as DNA from woolly mammoths – which the US company Colossal claims it is trying to "de-extinct" – genetic material was also found from wolves, bison, horses, a cheetah and hundreds of plants.

Tyler Murchie, a paleogenomics researcher at Canada's McMaster University and lead author of a new study, admitted that digging through squirrel poop might sound "less appealing" than discovering, say, a mammoth tusk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etIm1AXRPWc

However, the "spectacular" amount of information they uncovered suggests that feces is an overlooked way to see into our planet's distant past, he added.

The scientists had just been expecting to study the squirrel's microbiome before coming across the "really surprising biodiversity of organisms", Murchie said.

It turned out that arctic ground squirrels were ideal subjects for this research because of their "natural archivist behavior", he explained.

The squirrels are only conscious for around four months a year, spending the rest of their life in hibernation.

Researchers analyzed permafrost samples collected from ground squirrel burrows that span several glacial periods and can remain frozen and sealed for thousands of years. 

(Government of Yukon)



So when they are awake, "they've got to get out there and eat as much as they can of everything," Murchie said.

The squirrels pack their burrows with nuts, seeds, leaves, bones, fur and anything else they can find.

But over time, rising permafrost permanently sealed off some of the burrows in the Yukon, creating a perfectly preserved time capsule.

Murchie said they even found a "super cute little guy" frozen in time.

"He just went to sleep one season, then he never woke up… it wasn't until some paleontologist came by investigating that they found him in there."

Photo taken during field recovery from the Gold Run site in Canada's remote Yukon territory. Insets show a nest latrine and samples. 

(Murchie et al., Nat. Commun., 2026)

Back from the dead?

The scientists used the DNA to reconstruct 18 mitochondrial genomes, including for six woolly mammoths that lived in different eras.

This involves using computers to stitch together DNA fragments, like puzzle pieces, Murchie explained.

Colossal has declared its intention to resurrect the woolly mammoth, which went extinct around 4,000 years ago.

However, experts have expressed skepticism about the claim, saying the resulting animal would be more like an Asian elephant with some genetic tweaks to make it resemble a mammoth.

Murchie, who does not work for Colossal, said the genetic data they found would be made publicly available, so the company could use it.

"But they already have so much DNA to go off of – whole genomes from different organisms – so I'm sure ours is a drop in the bucket," he added.

The team behind the latest research, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, is working on another study describing what the DNA reveals about the woolly mammoth's evolution.

Murchie could not speak about that future research, other than to say it was "super cool".

"I can't believe that we were able to get these insights from squirrel feces," he added.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

A Strange 'Cold Blob' in The Atlantic Signals We're Almost at a Tipping Point

11 June 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-strange-cold-blob-in-the-atlantic-signals-were-almost-at-a-tipping-point

(Carlo Alberto Conti/Moment/Getty Images)

There's a strange anomaly in the North Atlantic, just south of Greenland: A 'cold blob' of ocean and air that's cooling down while the rest of the world warms up.

Now a new analysis of this cold blob points to a serious and imminent climate problem.

An international team of researchers used satellite data, reanalysis records, and ocean heat content data, including records extending back to 1955, to try to figure out the driving forces behind the blob.

Up to this point, there have been two schools of thought: either ocean currents are bringing less heat into the region, or the ocean in that area is losing more heat through the surface.

Their results support the first explanation, and they conclude that we're now very close to a dangerous tipping point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4pWafuvdrY

The Atlantic's cold blob is a sign of weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the researchers conclude.

This is showing signs of shutting down entirely – an event predicted to have consequences for the planet far more severe than a cold patch in the ocean.

"Given the well-established existence of a tipping point of the AMOC, as well as recent studies finding a range of different 'early warning signals' of the ocean circulation approaching such a tipping point, the strong evidence for a weakening AMOC is a serious concern for society and policy," write the researchers in their published paper.

The researchers determined that the cooling was a deep, underwater current issue. Surface heat loss in the area has actually decreased, the study shows, so it's not that more heat is escaping – it's that less heat is coming in.

Considering that the cold patch of ocean sits right at the top of the swirling 'conveyor belt' of water that is the AMOC, it makes sense that temperatures here would drop as the AMOC weakens, and pushes less warm water from the tropics and equator farther north.

The 'cold blob' in the Atlantic Ocean hasn't followed the warming trend of the rest of the oceans. This map shows patterns of ocean warming and cooling in the full-depth water column for 1955–2024.

 (Rahmstorf et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 2026)



That the AMOC is slowing and weakening has been established by previous studies. This new research gives us some of the best evidence yet that the cold blob and this vast ocean current are directly related.

This conclusion aligns with a 2025 study that used climate models rather than historical, real-world data to link the AMOC to the region of cooler water, also known as the North Atlantic warming hole.

"The observed cooling trend cannot be explained by surface heat flux changes," write the authors of this new study.

"Multidecadal heat content variations are generally larger and more tightly correlated with ocean heat transport than with surface heat flux variability."

With this underlying reason for the Atlantic's cold blob now settled, what comes next? Unfortunately, based on the best models we have, it's not looking good: Scientists broadly concur that the AMOC is inching closer to a tipping point in its weakening influence, and will eventually disappear.

A combination of warming ocean waters and melting glaciers (which release freshwater into the oceans) is changing the balance that keeps the AMOC running.

If it were to shut down entirely, Europe would be expected to experience much colder, harsher winters, with significant changes in global weather patterns, ecosystems, and food security.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zauJQzti7FQ

"While large uncertainty remains over how close the Earth is to this tipping point, standard CMIP6 simulations of future global warming scenarios suggest it is crossed in a substantial subset of these model simulations around the middle of this century," write the researchers.

The AMOC has only been directly monitored since 2004, leaving scientists with too short a record to clearly determine the long-term trajectory of its recent weakening.

Using climate models like those in CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6), we can at least prepare for and predict what might happen if the AMOC stalls – as multiple studies are now suggesting.

"This risk requires urgent attention by policymakers," conclude the study authors.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Hidden Solar Storms May Be Lighting Japan’s Skies With Massive Red Auroras

By Hokkaido U., June 9, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/hidden-solar-storms-may-be-lighting-japans-skies-with-massive-red-auroras/

Low-latitude aurora observed on June 28, 2024, in Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan. 

Credit: Tomohiro M. Nakayama

Unusually tall red auroras over Japan may be revealing that some solar storms are stronger than scientists realize.

A study published in the Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate reports that red auroras observed over Japan extended to altitudes of roughly 500-800 kilometers above Earth.

The discovery was made by researchers from Hokkaido University and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, who examined several auroral events that occurred between June 2024 and March 2025.

Auroras are typically associated with geomagnetic storms, which occur when streams of charged particles from the Sun disturb Earth’s magnetic field. Bright auroras are most commonly seen near the polar regions, but they can occasionally appear farther south, including over Japan, during especially strong storms.

When red auroras occur at these lower latitudes, they are generally found at altitudes of around 200 to 400 kilometers. The newly observed events, however, reached much higher into space than expected.

“We found that red auroras can extend to extremely high altitudes even during those storms that are measured as moderately intense. I was really surprised because I didn’t expect such tall auroras to appear even during moderately intense storms,” says Tomohiro M. Nakayama, lead author of the study. “This suggests that these storms may actually be stronger than conventional indices indicate.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EEL1IsM0g0

Video of a low-latitude aurora observed on November 9, 2024, in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan. 

Credit: Tomohiro M. Nakayama

Solar Wind May Be Hiding Stronger Storms

To better understand what was happening, the researchers analyzed five auroral events recorded from Hokkaido. During each event, incoming bursts of charged solar particles compressed Earth’s magnetosphere, the protective magnetic region surrounding the planet.

Although standard measurements classified the storms as only moderate in strength, the compression of the magnetosphere was unusually intense.

The research team believes dense streams of solar wind may have dramatically squeezed Earth’s magnetic shield, heating the upper atmosphere and pushing the region where red auroras form to much higher altitudes. At the same time, the movement of charged particles away from the region may have made the storms appear weaker than they truly were, masking their actual intensity.

If correct, the findings suggest that some geomagnetic storms could be more powerful than current space weather indices indicate.

Citizen Scientists Helped Solve the Mystery

The researchers combined satellite observations with photographs taken by citizen scientists across Japan. Using the images, they measured the apparent elevation of the auroras and traced their positions along Earth’s magnetic field lines to estimate how high the glowing structures extended.

Contributions from observers throughout the country proved especially valuable. Because the auroras were photographed from multiple locations, the team was able to reconstruct rare events in greater detail than would have been possible using traditional observation networks alone.

Why the Discovery Matters

The findings are important for more than understanding beautiful displays in the night sky.

When the upper atmosphere becomes heated, it expands. This increases atmospheric drag on satellites orbiting Earth, which can alter their trajectories and cause some spacecraft to lose altitude faster than expected.

“As the number of satellites in low Earth orbit continues to grow, understanding these effects is increasingly important,” says Nakayama. “Our results could help improve space weather forecasting and support safer satellite operations.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Haunting Sounds of The World's Largest Living Thing Recorded

10 June 2026, ByT. Koumoundouros

https://www.sciencealert.com/haunting-sounds-of-the-worlds-largest-living-thing-recorded

Aerial outline of Pando. 

(Lance Oditt/Friends of Pando)

We can now hear one of the largest and most ancient living organisms on Earth whisper with the tremble of a million leaves echoing through its roots.

The forest, made up of a single tree known as Pando ("I spread" in Latin), has 47,000 stems (all with the same DNA) sprouting from a shared root system across 100 acres (40 hectares) in Utah.

Here, this lone male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) gradually grew into a massive 6,000 metric tons of life, making it the largest living organism in the world in terms of mass.

After possibly 12,000 years of life on Earth, this massive plant, whose tree-like stems tower up to 24 meters (80 feet), surely has plenty to say.

And recent recordings let us 'hear' it like never before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfZUetIiGF0

"The findings are tantalizing," Lance Oditt, founder of Friends of Pando, said when the project was unveiled in 2023.

"While it started as art, we see enormous potential for use in science. Wind, converted to vibration (sound) and traveling the root system, could also reveal the inner workings of Pando's vast hidden hydraulic system in a non-destructive manner."

Sound artist Jeff Rice experimentally placed a hydrophone inside a hollow at the base of a branch and threaded it down to the tree's roots, not expecting to hear much.

You can listen to the recording at this website. (Ecosystem Sound)

"Hydrophones don't just need water to work," Rice said.

"They can pick up vibrations from surfaces like roots as well, and when I put on my headphones, I was instantly surprised. Something was happening. There was a faint sound."

Amid a thunderstorm, that sound increased – the device captured an eerie low rumbling.

"What you're hearing, I think, is the sound of millions of leaves in the forest, vibrating the tree and passing down through the branches, down into the earth," Rice explained when he presented his recordings to the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDGMD_y22-4&t=6s

The hydrophone also captured the thumps from tapping on a branch 90 feet away, even though that sound was not audible through the air at that distance.

This supports the theory that Pando's root system is interconnected, but a proper experimental setup would be required to confirm the sound wasn't traveling through the soil.

Such shared root systems are common in colonial quaking aspens, but the size and age of Pando make it unique.

While quaking aspens can reproduce through seeds, they seldom grow from them, as pollination is rare since large aspen stands are usually only one sex, being clones of the same individual.

Friends of Pando invited Rice as an artist in residence to try and better understand this strange, enormous entity.

Oditt hopes to use sound to map Pando's tangle of roots.

"The sounds are beautiful and interesting, but from a practical standpoint, natural sounds can be used to document the health of an environment," said Rice.

"They are a record of the local biodiversity, and they provide a baseline that can be measured against environmental change."

Aerial view of Pando's home. 

(Paul Rogers & Daren McAvoy/Friends of Pando)



Rice also recorded Pando's leaves, bark, and the surrounding ecosystem.

"Friends of Pando plans to use the data gathered as the basis for additional studies on water movement, how branch arrays are related to one another, insect colonies, and root depth, all of which we know little about today," said Oditt.

Sadly, this magnificent tree is deteriorating, leaving researchers concerned that Pando's days and all the forest life it supports are numbered.

Human activities, including clearing and slaughtering predators that keep down herbivore numbers, eat away at this ancient being.

All the more reason to listen to 'The Trembling Giant' while it can still share its secrets.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/