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☆ Everest grew taller faster after Himalayan river ‘piracy,’ scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This process, known as river piracy, set in motion a chain of geological events that reshaped the landscape, scientists reported Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. While some instances of river capture and landscape remodeling began millions of years ago, others are happening today, she added. Evidence of one ancient example still exists around the edges of the Himalayas, where long-ago river capture eroded deep gorges. Han’s simulations suggested that river capture would have dramatically increased the flow of water in the Kosi’s lower segments. Compared with river piracy, erosion and uplift unspool over a much longer time span — and are still happening with Everest, Lhotse and Makalu.

Persons: Everest, ”, Jin, Dai, ” Dai, Devon A, Orme, ” Orme, Nanga Parbat, Xu Han, “ There’s, ” Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Nature, China University of Geosciences, Colorado, Montana State University, of Earth Sciences, Resources, Slims, Scientific Locations: Arun, Beijing, Antarctica, Himalayas, Tibet, Nepal, Orme, Everest, Canada’s Yukon

☆ Mega El Niño events may have caused planet’s greatest mass extinction
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The El Niño of 252 million years ago would have originated in the Panthalassic Ocean, a body of water much larger than today’s Pacific that could hold more heat, which in turn would have strengthened and sustained El Niño effects. The planet had experienced similar episodes earlier but they hadn’t triggered a mass extinction. A prolonged and intense El Niño also explained why extinctions had begun on land before they occurred in the ocean, the study said. This data showed how temperature rose at different latitudes as the mass extinction unfolded. El Niño events today are known to cause coral bleaching and mass mortality of fish, the study noted, but the ecological impact and future trajectory of El Niño events in a warming climate are unknown.

Persons: ”, Paul Wignall, David Bond, Paul Wignall El, Alex Farnsworth, El, ” Wignall, Niño, “, Yadong Sun, Niños, Wignall, Farnsworth, Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Chiarenza, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, University of Leeds, El, University of Hull, UK’s University of Bristol, China University of Geosciences, University of Bristol, Royal Society Newton International, University College London’s, supervolcanoes Locations: what’s, Russia, United Kingdom, Ellesmere, El, Pacific, Wuhan

☆ Mars gets hit by hundreds of basketball-size space rocks every year
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Hundreds of basketball-size space rocks slam into Mars each year, leaving behind impact craters and causing rumblings across the red planet, according to new research. During its time on Mars, InSight used its seismometer to detect more than 1,300 marsquakes, which take place when the Martian subsurface cracks due to pressure and heat. Meteoroids are space rocks that have broken away from larger rocky bodies and range in size from dust grains to small asteroids, according to NASA. “We’re interested in studying that on Mars because we can then compare and contrast what’s happening on Mars to what’s happening on the Earth. Between 280 and 360 meteoroids hit the red planet each year, and they form impact craters larger than 26 feet (8 meters) across, according to the study.

Persons: ”, Ingrid Daubar, ” Daubar, NASA’s, “ We’re, Géraldine Zenhäusern, ” Zenhäusern, Natalia Wojcicka Organizations: CNN, NASA, Reconnaissance, JPL, Caltech, University of Arizona, Brown University, NASA’s Mars, Nature Communications, Switzerland’s ETH Zürich, Imperial College London’s Locations: Mars, Switzerland’s

☆ Iceland’s volcanic activity may continue for decades, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —After 800 years of calm, volcanoes have awakened in the Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland — about 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of the nation’s capital, Reykjavik. While there is no risk of a global calamity happening, researchers are now warning that new scientific evidence suggests the eruptions originating from the Reykjanes Peninsula could continue for years or even decades. But people staying there, with the possibility of a very rapid onset of volcanic activity, I don’t think that’s recommended. “The Reykjanes peninsula is exactly on this plate boundary,” he added, “and it seems that we are now witnessing the earliest part of a major eruption episode. Icelandic geoscientists and international collaborators are tracking the frequency and intensity of seismic activity and ground deformation in real time.

Persons: that’s, ”, Valentin Troll, John Moore, Hugh Tuffen, “, Emin Yogurtcuoglu, volcanologist Einat Lev, Lamont, Lev, Jessica Johnson, ” Johnson, Tuffen Organizations: CNN, Iceland —, Uppsala University, Terra Nova, Lancaster University, Keflavík, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Columbia University, University of East Locations: Reykjanes, Iceland, Reykjavik, Grindavík, Sweden, volcanology, United Kingdom, Iceland Iceland, Kentucky, Fagradalsfjall, New York, University of East Anglia

☆ Flipping a famous fossil around reveals our earliest vertebrate ancestor, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Scientists recently identified the animal’s nerve cord by using a topsy-turvy twist. In 2012, after decades of studying Pikaia fossils, researchers described its fossilized internal structures in great detail. However, recent analysis of Pikaia fossils by another team of scientists, published June 11 in the journal Current Biology, has upended this view and all other earlier studies about Pikaia. The presumed blood vessel was a nerve cord, a feature associated with the animal group known as chordates, in the phylum Chordata. While there are no living analogues for Pikaia, the fossil arthropod data gave the scientists a more detailed frame of reference for Pikaia’s nerve cord.

Persons: Charles Doolittle Wolcott, Giovanni Mussini, Pikaia, ”, Jon Mallatt, Mallatt, “ Pikaia’s, Jakob Vinther, Mussini, ” Mussini, we’ve, ” Mallatt, ” Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Smithsonian National Museum of, Royal Ontario Museum, University of Idaho, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, Scientific Locations: Burgess, British Columbia, macroevolution, United Kingdom, mudskippers, chordates

☆ 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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