Planting, planting planting. It's been a good week for it, a little hard on the body. Temps have finally warmed to average for this time of year with a few days even above average. The color of the landscape and life in the air, just wow.
a young rabbit feed in this exact same clover patch as I post pics, lol
stepping out the kitchen door onto the porch
A few houses down the street.
Walking home from the garage, I took a rest stop by the legion.
This person has done a great job with different varieties of plant with the same colour
ants just love peony flowers before they open
sunflowers, shorter ones with lots of reds, soon ready to plant.
madam red wing blackbird squawking at me just off the porch
my old house from the street.
late spring and the days are long, 15.5 hrs from sunrise to sunset today
the male red wing blackbird giving me heck as I stand on the porch.
the n. american honeysuckle beginning to bloom, a fav. for pollinators.
a great street end of driveway shrub
It will be a few weeks before this bed turns daliah red, so far it has been tulip yellow and iris blue.
This new map, called SPICE-RACS represents the most detailed map of the Universe’s hidden magnetic fields.
(Thomson et al., Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust., 2026)
Magnetic fields are a fundamental part of the universe. They govern how small particles – the building blocks of planets, stars, and ultimately galaxies – move through space.
We still don't know how magnetic fields came to exist in the universe, but we do know they're everywhere. Earth itself has a magnetic field that compasses and migrating birds respond to.
With radio telescopes, astronomers can use the light from distant galaxies to illuminate these otherwise invisible areas in space.
In our study, published today in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, we've used Australia's most powerful radio telescope to create the largest and most detailed map of cosmic magnetic fields ever made.
The new map with some of the visible sky features labelled.
(Thomson et al., Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust., 2026)
Giant batteries that control galaxies
Magnetic fields greatly vary across the universe. Extremely dense objects, such as neutron stars and black holes, have magnetic fields thousands of billions times stronger than Earth's own.
In the space between stars we've also measured magnetic fields a million times weaker than Earth's. Despite their weakness, we know these fields are incredibly important for controlling how galaxies evolve. They act like giant batteries and store huge amounts of energy, slowing down or even preventing the formation of new stars.
But to us, magnetic fields are invisible. To find them in space, astronomers are limited to using light from distant stars and galaxies. That's because light is a wave of electric and magnetic fields (that's where the "electromagnetic spectrum" gets its name).
This new map works on the principle that light twists as it travels through magnetic fields. Here, the map is overlayed on an image of CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia.
(CSIRO/Alec Thomson et al./Alex Cherney/Sam Moorfield)
As light travels across the universe, it interacts with any magnetic fields it passes through. This will twist the direction the light is waving – we call this "polarisation". So, light waving up and down has a different polarisation to light waving side to side.
Astronomers can catch this polarisation, especially when looking at the sky in radio waves, which are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Seeing the invisible
Australian telescopes have been at the forefront of both radio astronomy and detecting magnetic fields since their first detection.
Murriyang, CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, was the first to detect the twisting polarisation of light from magnetic fields beyond Earth in 1962.
Ever since, astronomers have been pushing to find more and more sources that show us this twisting light. With enough measurements, we can create a map of magnetic fields in the universe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDmA4Kls0m8
Each point in the map is an object detected by our telescope, and the object's light has illuminated the magnetic fields between us and that distant source. The more sources we detect, the more detailed our map becomes.
The last large map of magnetic fields was made in 2009. It has not seen a true successor in the intervening 17 years, limiting the depth and scope of the inquiries astronomers have sought to answer.
Across different areas of the universe, including our own Milky Way galaxy, we're yet to understand the full strength and structure of cosmic magnetic fields.
Not only do we not know how they came to exist, we don't know how they've changed across time since the Big Bang.
To begin solving these problems, we need a new class of radio telescope.
A telescope built for speed
Radio astronomy is currently undergoing a revolution as the SKA Observatory is being built in South Africa and Australia.
In preparation, a generation of telescopes, known as SKA precursors and pathfinders, are already operating around the world.
The ASKAP radio telescope is one of these precursors. Located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia, it's made up of 36 12-metre dishes. These dishes can each see a huge section of the sky at once, giving astronomers an ultrawide view of the universe.
CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country.
(CSIRO)
The flagship project to make a map of the universe's magnetic fields is known as the Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM).
In preparation for it, the telescope's team produced the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Surveys (RACS). It's like making an atlas of the universe.
The most recent versions of these surveys have identified nearly 4 million distant galaxies, with about 2 million having never been seen before.
The magnetic sky
Our new map, called SPICE-RACS, has come from a collaboration between the two survey teams.
Our goal was to look towards every galaxy found by RACS, and observe the signs of changing polarisation caused by magnetic fields. Using the latest release of the survey, we found 350,000 galaxies of the original 4 million we could use for this.
Our collection of sources is nearly ten times larger than the previous largest, and five times larger than all observations ever combined together.
As a result, we've obtained the largest and most detailed map to date.
This new map, called SPICE-RACS, represents the most detailed map of the Universe's hidden magnetic fields. It's five times larger than all previous efforts combined.
(Alec Thomson et al.)
The map has red colours showing magnetic fields pointing towards us, and blue pointing away, like the North and South of a compass.
Most of the swirling and bubbly structure we can see is from our own Milky Way galaxy. In the fine details of the map are the signatures from even more distant parts of the universe.
The new map is already enabling new science around the world, and the data is publicly available to the research community online.
In the future, we plan to combine all versions of RACS to create an even larger and more detailed map.
Meanwhile, the POSSUM project is expected to finish observations by 2030. The sharper magnetic map from this survey will open up a new window on distant cosmic magnetic fields, allowing us to see further back into the history of the universe.
A legendary plant that played a major role in ancient medicine and daily life vanished centuries ago, leaving behind a scientific mystery. Its value was so great that Julius Caesar reportedly stored it in the Roman treasury, and Nero was said to possess the final known specimen.
Credit: Shutterstock
Silphium was an extinct Libyan plant renowned for contraception, medicine, and trade. Its disappearance remains a historical mystery, and scientists continue searching for surviving descendants.
Roman leader Julius Caesar is said to have kept a stock of it in the treasury. Ancient writer Pliny the Elder says Rome’s Emperor Nero owned the last stalk of it.
And some have suggested rampant extramarital sex in elite Roman circles led to demand outstripping supply, and it dying out altogether.
What is it?
Silphium: an extinct plant that once grew wild in modern-day Libya.
Used for contraception and abortion, medicine, food seasoning, perfume, and as a livestock improver, its special properties made this herb one of the most precious commodities in Graeco-Roman antiquity.
Then, one day, it went extinct.
What Did Silphium Really Look Like?
Silphium is often described these days as an aphrodisiac, despite no ancient source confirming this.
Some of the earliest depictions of silphium are of the plant’s heart-shaped seedpod, which may be the source of this association.
Depictions on coins and figurines have led modern botanists to wonder if silphium was related to modern wild giant fennels (from the genus Ferula). (It’s not related to plants of the genus Silphium, such as compass-plant and rosinweed, in North America).
Silphium is often depicted on ancient coins. ACANS inv. 01M189 (Marr-Proud gift).
Credit: Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies.
Depictions of silphium next to gazelles (another product of Libya) suggest typical ancient silphium stalks were around 30 cm in height.
Resin was extracted from the plant’s stems and roots and preserved in flour, which allowed it to make the journey from Libya to further shores. How Silphium Fueled Ancient Economies
The Romans called this resin “laser” or “laserpicium.” The best laserpicium was extracted from the root, but an inferior type could also come from the stem.
And before the Romans, the Greeks also used silphium; it was so central to some regional economies that it was a frequently depicted motif on coins.
The Greeks seemingly did not harvest silphium themselves; they were given it as tribute by Libyan tribes who lived with it and knew how to harvest and prepare it.
The Greeks of those regions capitalized on and exploited this indigenous knowledge, creating and fulfilling a market for this product. This pattern of extracting and profiting from the local knowledge of indigenous peoples is still a feature of the modern globalized economy.
Silphium in Ancient Medicine and Contraception
Silphium is frequently mentioned in ancient medical treatises and was often administered through food. The modern distinction between food and medicine was not as pronounced in antiquity as it is today; curatives were frequently added to simple dishes such as lentil porridge.
In Ancient Graeco-Roman medicine, silphium was considered a “windy” food that could clear the body of obstructions causing ill health. “Windy” foods were also thought to prevent conception and ensure miscarriage (depending on when they were administered).
Soranus of Ephesus’s four-volume text on gynecology, written around the 1st-2nd century CE, suggests various strong-tasting herbs and spices (including silphium) could be mixed with wine or simple foods for oral contraception. Soranus notes oral contraceptives frequently caused upset stomachs.
Preventive suppository suggestions by Soranus include smearing the cervix with substances such as old olive oil, honey, resin, balsam, white lead, myrtle oil, moistened alum, galbanum resin (a silphium relative used in perfume), and a lock of fine wool. These were not drugs but had properties that could lessen the chance of conception by being antibiotic or spermicidal or providing a physical barrier.
Women’s Knowledge and Uncertain Effectiveness
Looking to the male-authored literature for evidence of women’s medicine is, of course, flawed. It is highly likely knowledge on pregnancy, contraceptives, and abortifacients was transferred between women, much of which did not make it into surviving ancient medical texts.
We have no proof of the efficacy of silphium as a contraceptive or abortive agent, as we don’t have any to test.
Silphium resisted human cultivation, and as such, there was a finite supply. The financial value of silphium (and state control over it) seemed to be a bone of contention among local populations, and by the Roman period, there were reports of vandalism and local farmers bringing livestock to graze on it.
Climatic changes and the desertification of the north coast of Africa may have led to the plant’s extinction. While the Romans believed silphium was extinct in the 1st century CE, it may have continued in local use and consumption until the 5th century CE.
There have been multiple attempts to identify remnant pockets of silphium in the modern world, but scholars cannot agree on a single surviving plant. Silphium may have been a hybrid plant that reproduced asexually (making it hard to cultivate and vulnerable). The Search for Silphium’s Modern Descendants
In 2021, a new species of giant fennel (Ferula drudeana) was identified around former Greek settlements in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).
It looks much like the ancient depictions of silphium; it may be that seeds from Libya reached Turkey and survived to the present.
However, until we find evidence of the seeds of ancient silphium in securely dated archaeological deposits, we will not be able to test this hypothesis.
Many species of giant fennel occur across the Mediterranean and surrounding regions, but due to many outlets falsely reporting its aphrodisiac qualities (particularly for treating erectile dysfunction), there are growing conservation concerns about modern over-harvesting.
Atmospheric gravity waves generated by Super Typhoon Sinlaku are visible via mesospheric airglow in this nighttime image acquired with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite on April 12, 2026, Universal Time (April 13 local time).
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
A rapidly intensifying super typhoon sent giant atmospheric ripples skyward, revealing a hidden connection between extreme weather and near-space.
In April 2026, Super Typhoon Sinlaku swept across the North Pacific, bringing torrential rain and flooding to parts of the Mariana Islands. The storm intensified into a “violent typhoon,” the highest category used by the Japan Meteorological Agency and roughly equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
What made Sinlaku especially remarkable was its timing. Meteorologists noted that only a small number of storms in the region have reached such extreme strength so early in the year.
As Sinlaku rapidly strengthened over open water, its influence extended far beyond the ocean surface. Satellites detected signs that the storm was also affecting the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Satellites Capture Giant Atmospheric Ripples
A nighttime image collected by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument aboard the NOAA-20 satellite revealed atmospheric gravity waves spreading outward from the storm. The pattern resembled ripples expanding across a pond after a stone is dropped into the water.
These waves became visible through a phenomenon known as airglow in the mesosphere. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules that absorbed energy from sunlight during the day release that energy as faint light during the night.
Scientists have long known that tropical cyclones generate tremendous amounts of heat near their eyewalls. This heat fuels powerful thunderstorms and towering cumulonimbus clouds. Some of these towering storm clouds, often called “hot towers,” can rise beyond the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, and send waves upward into the stratosphere and mesosphere.
Previous studies have found that gravity waves frequently appear when tropical cyclones are intensifying. Sinlaku fit that pattern. During the 24 hours before the satellite image was captured, the storm strengthened dramatically from a Category 2 system to the equivalent of a Category 5 storm.
Thermal energy from gravity waves produced by Super Typhoon Sinlaku was detected in the stratosphere by the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 13, 2026.
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
Rare Rings Above the Storm
“We’re seeing waves propagating radially and upward, in a cone-like shape,” said Joan Alexander, senior research scientist at NorthWest Research Associates.
Alexander said she was surprised to observe nearly complete rings in the mesospheric airglow above the typhoon. Normally, winds in the upper atmosphere can weaken or disperse gravity waves before they reach such high altitudes. However, relatively weak stratospheric winds at the storm’s latitude during April 2026 may have allowed the waves to remain intact.
The viewing conditions also helped. The VIIRS day-night band can detect airglow, but it also records reflected moonlight. On April 12, the Moon was only about 25 percent illuminated. Some reflected light from clouds below was visible, but not enough to overwhelm the much fainter airglow signal.
Gravity Waves Tracked Through Multiple Layers of the Atmosphere
The effects of Sinlaku’s gravity waves were observed at lower altitudes as well. NASA’s Aqua satellite, using the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument, detected thermal emissions associated with gravity waves in the stratosphere on April 13.
Additional observations on April 14 showed the same rippling structures, indicating that the storm continued influencing the atmosphere even after the initial observations.
Why Gravity Waves Matter
Scientists say these observations are more than just visually striking.
According to Alexander, gravity waves could eventually help researchers better monitor storm intensification, especially over remote ocean regions where direct observations are limited.
“We’d like to use gravity waves to tell us if a storm is intensifying,” Alexander said, “which can be difficult to know, especially over the open ocean.”
She and her colleagues have suggested that future geostationary satellites equipped with suitable infrared instruments could continuously observe gravity waves and provide additional information about how tropical cyclones evolve.
From Weather Forecasts to Space Weather
The importance of gravity waves extends beyond hurricane monitoring. Laura Holt, also a senior research scientist at NorthWest Research Associates, said atmospheric processes in the stratosphere play an important role in weather prediction.
For example, wind patterns in the stratosphere can influence long-range forecasts for the Northern Hemisphere’s winter. Tropical cyclones can have an outsized impact because their intense and persistent convection generates gravity waves that continuously affect the stratosphere.
The influence of these waves can extend even farther, reaching the realm of space weather.
“For a while, people have seen signatures of hurricanes in ionospheric weather,” Holt said.
Gravity waves can trigger traveling ionospheric disturbances, which are large-scale fluctuations in plasma density. In some cases, they can also contribute to the formation of plasma bubbles. Both phenomena have the potential to interfere with satellite signals and radio communications.
“With space weather in particular,” Holt added, “a single event such as a tropical cyclone can be very important.”
One argument often used to quell concerns about the rising energy and resource demand of data centers is that artificial intelligence (AI) models will need less in the future as they improve and become more efficient.
But this seemingly logical thinking is a trap, according to a new United Nations report that quantifies the environmental costs of AI.
The report estimates that by 2030, AI's energy use could double to consume 3% of the world's electricity, produce emissions to equal the UK and deplete more water for cooling than the annual drinking water need of the global population.
It also anticipates the use of AI will follow an economic principle known as the "Jevons paradox", which predicts that when technological improvements increase the efficiency of a resource, it leads to a rise, rather than a fall, in the total consumption of that resource.
The paradox is named after economist William Stanley Jevons, who observed this effect with the use of coal in 19th-century England. Efficiency gains did not reduce overall consumption.
Instead, the lower costs resulted in expanded use and higher overall demand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0C56yqIkbk
As AI models become cheaper and more attractive, the report expects this to encourage new uses and higher volumes of use, eroding and possibly erasing any savings from efficiency advances.
To avoid falling into this trap, it lays out a roadmap for responsible AI use based on guiding principles of transparency, efficiency by design, equity and justice, lifecycle responsibility, global cooperation and sustainable use.
The scale of the problem
Last year, data centers already consumed as much electricity as Saudi Arabia, which ranks as the world's 11th largest electricity consumer.
If electricity use doubles as projected by 2030, the associated carbon footprint would require 6.7 billion trees grown over ten years to offset this demand.
Data centers would also require 9.3 trillion liters of water and land nearly ten times the size of Mexico City.
Data centers consume not only electricity, but water to cool them down.
(4X-image/Getty Images Signature/Canva)
Beyond resource use, the report also underscores the structural inequity at the heart of the AI boom, with only 32 nations hosting AI-specific cloud infrastructure and 90% of that capacity located in the US and China.
It warns of a widening digital divide between nations that build and control AI systems and those that consume them, with the latter often bearing a disproportionate environmental burden caused by mineral extraction and e-waste.
Responsible AI use
Two main forces shape AI's operational footprint: how much we use it and how we use it.
This involves all tasks AI models perform, from text and code generation to image and video. Each of these tasks requires different levels of computational effort.
The model choice also matters, as each AI system performs these tasks with distinct energy and environmental costs.
The report argues responsible AI requires full value-chain governance, from mineral sourcing to recycling and safe disposal.
It calls for a twinning of capability and environmental stewardship – thinking about both what AI can do for us and the protection of the natural environment.
This would mean making environmental disclosures a routine part of AI development, at both the model and task level, and incorporating projected AI demand in climate and energy planning.
Responsible AI is crucial as countries are promoting and adopting AI across government and the public sector.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the government has launched a national AI strategy and a public service AI framework.
While the framework was informed by the OECD's values-based AI principles, including inclusive and sustainable development, there is no requirement for environmental disclosures and no regulator compiling energy use or emissions.
Likewise in Australia, improving public services is part of the national AI plan. For example, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia has created Bowerbird, a machine learning-enabled mass audio and video transcription engine, to document material.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a proof-of-concept tool to see whether AI can help speed up the processing of claims.
Both countries take a deliberate "light touch" and principles-based regulatory approach to AI. But this approach risks overlooking the growing environmental cost of AI that can't be solved by improving it.
The natural environment is foundational to the economy, culture and wellbeing. It should be at the center of our thinking.
It's time to rethink the AI innovation playbook and shift focus toward a sustainable tech future.
Your gut may be far smarter than scientists realized. Researchers have discovered a hidden gut-brain communication system that can detect when the body is running low on protein and quickly change food cravings to help restore nutritional balance.
Credit: Shutterstock
Scientists discovered a hidden gut-brain network that can change cravings when the body needs more protein.
The body has a remarkable ability to recognize when it is missing important nutrients and adjust behavior accordingly. New research shows that the gut plays a much larger role in this process than previously understood, actively detecting protein shortages and communicating with the brain to influence food choices.
A team led by Director SUH Seong-Bae of the Center for Microbiome–Body–Brain Physiology at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), working with researchers from Seoul National University and Ewha Womans University, has identified a previously unknown gut-brain communication system that helps animals seek out essential nutrients when protein is scarce.
Their findings reveal that the gut does far more than digest food. It continuously monitors nutritional status and can rapidly alter feeding behavior through a combination of nerve signals and hormones.
How the Gut Detects Protein Deficiency
Protein is a vital nutrient because it contains essential amino acids, which animals cannot produce on their own and must obtain through food. Scientists have long known that animals tend to crave protein-rich foods when protein is lacking, but the biological mechanism behind this behavior has remained unclear.
The researchers discovered that the gut responds to protein deficiency using two interconnected signaling pathways. One is a fast neural pathway that quickly alerts the brain when essential amino acids are in short supply. The other is a slower hormonal pathway that helps maintain protein-seeking behavior over a longer period.
Protein deprivation triggers gut enterocytes to release the peptide CNMa, initiating gut–brain communication in Drosophila. This gut-brain signaling establishes a positive feedback loop that sustains neuronal activity and CNMa production. In addition, circulating CNMa modulates distinct brain neurons to promote essential amino acid intake while suppressing carbohydrate consumption.
Credit: Institute for Basic Science
To investigate how this system works, the team turned to fruit flies, which are widely used to study the neural circuits involved in feeding behavior. Combining neural imaging, behavioral testing, and genetic techniques, the researchers mapped the circuitry responsible for detecting and responding to protein shortages.
When flies were deprived of dietary protein, specialized cells in the intestine released a peptide hormone called CNMa. This molecule served two functions. First, it activated enteric neurons associated with the gut, rapidly transmitting information about amino acid deficiency directly to the brain through a gut-brain neural circuit. Second, CNMa entered the bloodstream and reached the brain more slowly, where it reinforced and prolonged the drive to seek essential amino acids.
“Our study shows that the gut is not simply a digestive organ, but an active sensory system that continuously monitors nutritional state and directly guides behavioral decisions,” said Director Seong-Bae Suh.
How Protein Shortages Change Food Preferences
The researchers found that the response was highly targeted rather than a simple increase in hunger.
Instead of causing animals to eat more of everything, the gut-brain system altered dietary priorities. Protein-related nutrients became more appealing, while interest in sugar declined.
Further investigation showed that CNMa signaling suppressed the activity of sugar-sensing brain cells known as DH44 neurons. By reducing responses to carbohydrates, the system effectively shifted feeding preferences toward foods that could provide the essential amino acids the body lacked.
Gut Bacteria Also Influence Cravings
The study also highlighted a role for the gut microbiome.
Fruit flies that lacked their normal gut bacteria displayed stronger activation of brain neurons involved in amino acid seeking. This finding suggests that gut microbes can influence feeding behavior by affecting nutrient availability and the signaling pathways that monitor nutritional status.
Evidence Found in Mammals
The researchers then examined whether similar mechanisms exist in mammals.
Experiments in mice showed that animals deprived of protein also developed a strong preference for essential amino acids, indicating that this nutrient-sensing system has been conserved through evolution.
One unexpected finding involved FGF21, a hormone widely believed to play a major role in regulating protein appetite. Even mice that lacked FGF21 continued to show the same protein-seeking behavior.
The result suggests that additional nutrient-sensing systems exist beyond those already known to science.
Implications for Obesity and Metabolic Health
The findings demonstrate that animals do not simply increase food intake when nutrients are missing. Instead, the brain can selectively adjust feeding priorities to target the specific nutrients that are lacking.
According to the researchers, understanding how the gut and brain work together to maintain nutritional balance could provide new insights into obesity, metabolic diseases, and eating disorders.
“Most current obesity and appetite-control drugs rely on gut hormone signaling, yet we still know relatively little about how naturally produced gut signals influence the brain and behavior,” said Director Seong-Bae Suh. “This study reveals fundamental principles of nutrient selection by the gut-brain axis and provides a foundation for future therapeutic strategies targeting metabolic and feeding disorders.”
The findings were published in the journal Science on May 21.
Credit: Diana Udel, University of Miami Rosenstiel School
Scientists have uncovered evidence that tiny microbes living inside fish may be helping shape the chemistry of the world’s oceans.
The new study, led by former graduate student Anthony Bonacolta at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, suggests that bacteria in fish intestines may work together with their hosts to produce a form of calcium carbonate. This mineral plays an important role in ocean chemistry and serves as a significant carbon sink. The findings challenge the long-held assumption that fish alone are responsible for this process.
Fish, Microbes, and Ocean Chemistry
Bony fish, known as teleosts, constantly drink seawater to maintain proper hydration. As part of this process, their intestines remove excess calcium and carbonate ions. These compounds are then expelled as solid calcium carbonate pellets called ichthyocarbonates.
Until now, scientists believed ichthyocarbonate production was driven entirely by fish physiology. The new research points to a possible microbial contribution.
“This work suggests that the gut microbiome may play a broader role in both fish biology and global marine nutrient cycles,” said one of the study’s senior authors, Martin Grosell, Maytag Professor of Ichthyology and chair of the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology. “What was previously thought to be a process driven solely by the fish may actually reflect a close symbiosis between the fish and its gut microbial community.”
Testing Fish in Different Salinity Conditions
To investigate the process, researchers studied Gulf toadfish under varying salinity conditions. The fish were exposed to brackish water (9 ppt), seawater (35 ppt), and hypersaline water (60 ppt). Previous research has shown that ichthyocarbonate production increases as fish adapt to saltier environments through normal osmoregulation.
The team observed that fish kept in low salinity conditions did not produce ichthyocarbonates. Production occurred in seawater and increased even further in hypersaline conditions.
Researchers collected samples from several locations, including different sections of the intestine, the ichthyocarbonates themselves, and the surrounding water. DNA and RNA were extracted to examine both microbial communities and patterns of gene activity in the fish and associated microbes. Genetic sequencing was used to identify the microbes present, while gene expression analyses helped reveal their potential functions.
Evidence of a Fish Microbe Partnership
The researchers found large numbers of vibrios, especially Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae, in both the fish intestines and the ichthyocarbonates. Genetic analyses indicated that these bacteria possess traits associated with processes involved in ichthyocarbonate formation.
The findings suggest the microbes may actively participate in mineral production alongside the fish rather than simply existing in the gut environment.
“Most life on Earth is microbial, driving nutrient cycles and ecosystem function while revealing new dimensions of biological diversity through symbiosis,” said Grosell. “The ocean is especially rich in these partnerships, and the toadfish–vibrio symbiosis potentially linked to calcium carbonate production is a striking new example.”
Implications for Ocean Health and Carbon Storage
The discovery provides a new perspective on how marine ecosystems influence ocean chemistry and the marine carbon cycle. If confirmed by future research, the results suggest that microscopic organisms living inside fish could contribute to processes that affect carbon storage and overall ocean health on a much larger scale than previously recognized.
A solar flare imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2024.
(NASA SDO)
Scientists have just realized that surface measurements of the Sun's radiant activity haven't captured its full story.
Probing deeper than before, astronomers have 'listened' to our closest star's internal rumblings and found sizeable shifts over the past 40 years.
They say their findings suggest the Sun may be entering a "different mode of behavior".
"We have uncovered evidence of systematic changes in the solar activity cycle," explains University of Birmingham astrophysicist Bill Chaplin, the new study's lead author.
"Crucially, magnetic activity is becoming more tightly confined near the surface with each cycle."
The Sun's activity increases and decreases throughout an 11-year solar cycle. During the solar minimum, our star is relatively quiescent and Earth-friendly.
But during the solar maximum, it's especially tempestuous, and liable to launch violently energetic flares and coronal mass ejections. These outbursts can disrupt satellites, GPS, communications, and power grids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0uIcLZ5rh8&t=1s
Like a basic bar magnet, the Sun has a magnetic field with two poles, generated by the constant churning of hot, electrically charged plasma that, well, makes up the Sun.
The turbulent stellar interior and the Sun's uneven rotation (it rotates faster at its equator) twist and drag this field in a messy magnetic dance.
Eventually, it causes the north and south magnetic poles to flip, which occurs approximately every 11 years, constituting one solar cycle.
The past few cycles have displayed significant changes in overall activity and the evolution of magnetic fields across the Sun.
The preceding Cycle 24, for example, was significantly weaker in solar activities, including sunspots and radiation emissions at various wavelengths.
The current Cycle 25 was expected to continue this overall trend, but it seems to exhibit some intriguing changes occurring below the solar surface.
To probe our star's interior activity, Chaplin and colleagues assessed nearly four decades' worth of Doppler velocity data from the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON). Going back to 1987, the data captured Cycles 22 through 25.
Oscillations caused by sound waves in the Sun's interior vary in frequency based on solar activity, across the 11-year solar cycle.
(W.J. Chaplin/CC BY 4.0)
The BiSON observatory is a network of six spectrometers located around the world to keep a constant watch on the Sun.
It has been operating since 1976, tracking solar activity through a technique called helioseismology, which detects the tiny changes in the Sun's light caused by vibrations within its interior.
The researchers analyzed such vibrations, called "p-mode oscillations," formed as sound waves ripple throughout the Sun, causing it to 'ring' like a massive thermonuclear bell.
To gauge activity at different depths through the Sun's interior, the team analyzed three oscillation frequency ranges: low, mid, and high.
They then compared these data with a couple of commonly used "global activity proxies", which measure activity across the Sun's surface.
These proxies include the number and size of sunspots as well as a measure of the Sun's radio emissions, to compare inner activities with what's happening in the outer atmosphere, including the oft-confusing corona.
A comparison of the Sun's activity during solar maximum (left, imaged in 2014) and its much tamer solar minimum (right, imaged in 2019).
(NASA/SDO/CC BY 4.0)
A remarkable pattern emerged: The Sun's outer activity appears weaker, as recently expected, but its inner high-frequency oscillations appear stronger, more in line with older Cycles.
As a result, the researchers say that solar-cycle-driven magnetic activity and structural changes in the Sun are becoming more confined to shallow regions, around 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) below the surface.
"This is the first such discovery and would have been impossible without the long BiSON observations," Chaplin adds.
Long-term tracking is essential for teasing out trends and changes in the Sun's activity.
Understanding how magnetic fields affect outbursts, and vice versa, will improve space weather forecasts, helping us better predict the onslaught of charged particles and geomagnetic storms that impact Earth's electrical infrastructure.
This research also draws out associations between the Sun's interior and exterior forces.
"We discovered that the relationship between internal solar oscillations and surface activity has evolved over the past few cycles," says astronomer Sarbani Basu of Yale University.
Many daily actions begin as deliberate choices but eventually feel automatic. New research suggests that this shift may happen far more abruptly than scientists once believed.
Credit: Shutterstock
A new study challenges the long-held idea that habits form only through slow, gradual repetition.
What if your habits don’t form through countless repetitions over months or years? What if the brain can decide, almost instantly, that a behavior is no longer worth thinking about?
That possibility is at the center of a new Johns Hopkins University study published in Nature Communications. The research challenges one of the most enduring ideas in psychology and neuroscience: that habits emerge through a slow, gradual process of reinforcement. Instead, the findings suggest that the brain may sometimes switch surprisingly quickly from deliberate decision-making to automatic behavior.
The discovery could help explain why some routines suddenly seem effortless after feeling intentional for so long. It may also offer new clues about how deeply ingrained behaviors, including unhealthy ones, might eventually be changed.
A Century of Assumptions About Habit Formation
Habits are essential to daily life. They allow the brain to automate routine actions, reducing the mental effort needed to navigate the world. From tying your shoes to driving a familiar route, habits free up cognitive resources for other tasks.
“For over 100 years, the theory of how habits form has been one of gradual strengthening and repetition: You do enough repetitions, and slowly over time the brain starts to realize, ‘I don’t need to be thinking about this anymore,’” said Kishore V. Kuchibhotla, senior author of the study and a neuroscientist who studies learning in humans and animals. “But the reason scientists tend to think of it as a gradual process is because of how we have studied it.”
Kuchibhotla and his colleagues suspected that the apparent gradual nature of habit formation might be influenced by the way researchers traditionally measure it.
A New Way to Study Habits
To investigate the process differently, Kuchibhotla and his colleagues developed an experiment designed to better reflect everyday decision making.
People do not choose drinks only because they are thirsty. They may select sparkling water or another favorite beverage simply because they enjoy it more than plain water.
“We essentially motivated them by something else – a taste preference,” Kuchibhotla said.
In the study, mice always had access to acidic water in their home cages, allowing them to stay hydrated even if they disliked the taste. When they responded to a specific sound, they received water they preferred.
Because the mice were not especially thirsty, they sometimes responded to the sound and sometimes ignored it. The researchers confirmed that this behavior was goal-directed because the animals only acted when they wanted the preferred water.
Then the behavior changed. At a specific point, the mice began responding to the sound every time, even when they no longer wanted the water. Rather than developing gradually, the shift appeared to happen suddenly, as if a switch had been turned on.
“What surprised us most is that nothing changed on our end. The animals simply switched strategies from one trial to the next. Capturing that kind of rapid behavioral reorganization is rare,” said lead author Sharlen Moore, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
Brain recordings collected during the experiments pointed to a possible source of that switch: a specific brain region that may help control the transition between goal-directed and habitual behavior.
“The fact that it is so sudden implies that something is controlling it,” Kuchibhotla said.
Implications for Breaking Bad Habits
The researchers also observed that some mice returned to goal-directed behavior after spending long periods acting out of habit.
“It really shows how much our methods shape what we see: when we stop over-motivating the animals, we start to uncover aspects of behavior that were basically hidden before,” Moore said.
The findings were significant enough that the National Institutes of Health awarded the team a new grant to further investigate the potential mechanism behind this behavioral switch.
“Many habits are helpful for freeing up your mind for other things. But that’s not always the case. The fact that there may be a controller means maybe we can reverse maladaptive habits back to goal-directed behavior,” Kuchibhotla said. “Rather than thinking of habits as always being there no matter what, it’s possible that bad habits need not be there forever.”
Ötzi the Iceman is one of the most studied individuals in the world.
(South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac Research/Marion Lafogler)
Ötzi the Iceman is about as deceased as an organism can be.
He died 5,300 years ago, his body exquisitely mummified in Italy's glacial Ötztal Alps – one of the oldest and best-preserved human mummies ever discovered.
In the extreme cold of the alpine environment in which he died, microbial activity was suppressed – and, since microbes are the main driver of decomposition, Ötzi did not succumb to its ravages.
But the Iceman's corpse may not have been completely devoid of life.
A new study of the microbes all over his body suggests that some potentially active species may be nearly as old as the mummy himself – while others may have adapted to the conditions of the cold storage where he lies today.
"A mummy's microbiome is unique because we are dealing with microbes that are over 5,000 years old and, at the same time, with modern microbes that have been introduced since the discovery," says first author Mohamed Sarhan, a microbiologist at Eurac Research in Italy.
How Ötzi was discovered, protruding from the ice.
(Helmut Simon/Wikimedia Commons)
Ötzi (pronounced like 'curtsy' without the 'c') was discovered in 1991, when two hikers spotted what they thought was a recently deceased mountaineer protruding from the melting ice of a glacier, at an elevation of 3,210 meters (10,530 feet).
It was only once his body had been transported to a laboratory that scientists understood the true significance of the find – a Copper Age hunter who had lived and died around 3300 BCE, mummified so exceptionally well that he appeared far more recent.
Since then, scientists have discovered much about Ötzi.
He was around 46 years old when he died, was adorned with at least 61 hand-poked tattoos on his dark skin, wore clothing stitched from the skins of multiple animals, and ate a last meal rich in ibex fat, wild meat, and cereals.
A reconstruction of how Ötzi may have looked in life, although recent genetic analysis suggests he may have had darker skin and male pattern baldness.
(South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Augustin Ochsenreiter/All rights reserved)
Previous studies even examined his gut microbiome, finding it more consistent with that of ancient, non-industrialized human populations than with that of modern Western populations.
Researchers also recovered an ancient strain of Helicobacter pylori, the stomach bacterium associated today with ulcers and gastric cancer.
However, all these studies had one thing in common: They mostly treated those microbes as biological remains, rather than investigating whether any might still be active today.
And no one had undertaken the painstaking work of extricating Ötzi's native microbiome from environmental contaminants that may have moved in after he died, both on the glacier and afterward, when he was moved to cold storage to prevent decomposition.
Sarhan and his colleagues took swab samples from all over Ötzi's body, as well as meltwater inside him. They also used data on intestinal and stomach tissue from previous studies, and tested a sample of the soil from where he was found, collected at the same time as the Iceman himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJg4w2sox0k
They ran these samples through DNA and RNA sequencing, looking for patterns in the types of microbes therein.
Broadly, the microbes fell into two main groups. The first were ancient microbes that were part of Ötzi's living microbiome.
The second were cold-loving yeasts found on Ötzi's skin and in meltwater collected from inside the mummy. These yeasts were highly specialized species adapted to cold environments, genetically related to microbes found in gelid regions such as Antarctica.
This suggests that these microbes likely originated in the glacier environment that preserved Ötzi's body.
Ötzi is kept at -6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) and regularly sprayed with water to keep him from drying out.
(South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac Research/Marion Lafogler)
But there was something else a bit strange. Some of the samples were heavily degraded, showing that the microbes were ancient – but others were relatively fresh, implying ongoing activity.
"We see continuity here," says microbiologist Frank Maixner, director of the Institute for Mummy Studies at Eurac Research.
"These yeasts have accompanied Ötzi on his long journey through the millennia."
There's another piece of the strange puzzle. Some of the microbes may have benefited from the conservation techniques used on the body.
After he was found, Ötzi's body was treated with phenol, a toxic compound that prevents fungal growth. Three of the four yeasts were species capable of metabolizing phenol.
It is, to be clear, impossible to tell whether these active microbes are the descendants of a long, unbroken line quietly making their home on Ötzi's body for millennia, even in the ice-cold, or whether they were dormant and revived after the mummy was thawed.
But the evidence strongly indicates that, in some fashion, the Iceman's body supported their survival.
Samples taken in 2010 and 2019 showed that one cold-loving species increased over the decade – suggesting that at least some of the microbes are surviving and even slowly reproducing in the subzero conditions of Ötzi's storage chamber.
"The Iceman mummy is not a static artifact but a dynamic ecosystem of living archive where ancient glacier-derived microbes and modern contaminants coexist under museum conditions," the researchers write.
