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☆ Did dinosaur blood run hot or cold? Both, according to a new study
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Were dinosaurs warm-blooded like birds and mammals or cold-blooded like reptiles? Clues from dinosaur eggshells and bones have suggested that some dinosaurs were warm-blooded and others were not. These dinosaurs may have evolved endothermy, or the ability to internally generate body heat, according to the study. “Warm-blooded animals are generally more active, for example, cold-blooded animals usually don’t build nests,” said lead study author Dr. Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Royal Society Newton International Fellow at University College London’s department of Earth sciences. Her 2022 study suggested that ornithischians were more likely cold-blooded and sauropods were warm-blooded.

Persons: Big John, Sarah Meyssonnier, ornithischians, ”, Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Brontosaurus, ” Chiarenza, “, Jasmina, ” Wiemann, Chiarenza, Anthony Fiorillo, ” Fiorillo, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, Royal Society Newton International, University College London’s, Field, UCL, Universidade de, New, New Mexico Museum, Southern Methodist University Locations: Paris, Chicago, Spain, New Mexico, Dallas

☆ Fact Check-Sahara dust magnetism is not evidence of chemtrails
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The social media post for the clip, as well as another video posted to Twitter here, also claims that the dust’s magnetism is evidence of “chemtrails". However, experts say magnetism is typical of Saharan dust. Saharan dust’s characteristic red colour reflects the presence of small amounts of haematite, a weakly-magnetic mineral, she said. However, air pollution-derived metals are usually present in much lower quantities than the naturally-sourced metal-bearing dust particles, she said. Saharan dust contains naturally magnetic particles, including haematite, which gives the dust its characteristic red colour.

Persons: ”, Barbara Maher, Richard Harrison, Maher Organizations: Facebook, Twitter, Centre, Environmental Magnetism, Lancaster University, University of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, Aeolian Research Locations: United Kingdom, Europe

☆ Whale fossil may be the heaviest animal ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A colossal ancient whale discovered in Peru might be the heaviest animal on record, according to a new study. What’s more, Perucetus likely weighed two to three times more than the blue whale, which today weighs a maximum of 149.6 metric tons (330,000 pounds). Giovanni Bianucci“Discoveries of such extreme body forms are an opportunity to re-evaluate our understanding of animal evolution,” wrote J.G.M. “It seems that we are only dimly aware of how astonishing whale form and function can be,” they added. The lifestyle of a colossal whaleThe findings suggest that gigantism or peak body mass among cetaceans had been reached around 30 million years earlier than previously thought, according to the study.

Persons: Giovanni Bianucci, “, ” Bianucci, Perucetus, ”, ’, Bianucci, pacificus, Mystacodon selenesis, Mario Urbina Schmitt, Schmitt, Thewissen, David A, Waugh, weren’t, Ingalls, Brown, ” Thewissen Organizations: CNN, University of Pisa’s, sirenians, Peru “, National University of San, Ohio Medical University Locations: Peru, Italy, Ica, Peruvian, National University of San Marcos, Lima

☆ Humans have pumped so much groundwater from the Earth that it's actually caused the planet's axis to shift, a new study found
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Carla Delgado | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The reason is that we're moving all that water mass from under the continents to the oceans. How groundwater depletion affects Earth's rotational poleThe Earth's rotational pole normally changes and wanders by about several meters each year. To put it simply, groundwater depletion contributes to sea level rise because water is being transferred from the continents to the oceans. The recent study found that groundwater depletion caused a 6.24-millimeter rise in global sea level from 1993 to 2010. This is significant because each millimeter rise in sea level is said to make the shoreline retreat an average of 1.5 meters.

Persons: Weon Seo Organizations: Service, Northern, Research, Department of Earth Science, Seoul National University Locations: Northern Hemisphere

☆ Humans pump so much groundwater that Earth’s axis has shifted, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Humans’ unquenchable thirst for groundwater has sucked so much liquid from subsurface reserves that it’s affecting Earth’s tilt, according to a new study. That shift is even observable on Earth’s surface, as it contributes to global sea level rise, researchers reported in the study published June 15 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Seo and his colleagues had questions about long-term changes to the axis — specifically, how groundwater contributed to that phenomenon. Revealing groundwater extraction’s impactShifts in Earth’s axis are measured indirectly through radio telescope observations of immobile objects in space — quasars — using them as fixed points of reference. The redistribution of groundwater tilted Earth’s rotational axis east by more than 31 inches (78.7 centimeters) in just under two decades, according to the models.

Persons: ”, Ki, Weon Seo, Surendra Adhikari, Adhikari, Seo, ” Adhikari, “, ” Seo Organizations: CNN, Research, Seoul National University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Locations: South Korea, North America, India

☆ Billion-year-old rocks reveal traces of ancient life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

V. Diekamp/MARUM/University of BremenThe evidence of these ancient eukaryotes took the form of biological molecules that they produced. Advances in biochemical analyses have allowed scientists to identify ancient molecules preserved in the fossil record, particularly in old rocks that have been relatively undisturbed by geological processes. In the new Nature study, Nettersheim and his colleagues, including Brocks, a professor of geobiology at the Australian National University, examined rocks from Australia’s Barney Creek Formation. Previous studies established that the Barney Creek rocks, which are more than 1 billion years old, contain traces of ancient biomolecules. But “people never looked, really, for these primordial types of steroids in those kinds of rocks,” Nettersheim said.

Persons: Benjamin Nettersheim, ”, Nettersheim, “, Dr, ” Nettersheim, Jochen Brocks, Konrad Bloch, Bloch, Barney, Susannah Porter, Porter, Roger, ” “ Konrad Bloch, Brocks Organizations: CNN, MARUM Center, Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Australian National University, University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: Australia, Nature, geobiology, Germany, MARUM, Santa Barbara

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