Category: 7. Science

Since 2015, Antarctica has lost sea ice equivalent in area to Greenland – and it has not returned, according to new satellite data. This event is now considered one of the most significant global environmental changes of the past decade.

Melting ice typically freshens seawater. But this time, the opposite is happening: The ocean surface is becoming saltier. This unexpected increase in salinity draws heat from deeper ocean layers up to the surface, making it harder for new ice to form. Scientists warn that this is creating a powerful feedback loop, further accelerating ice melt.

Researchers from the University of Southampton, the Barcelona Expert Center and the European Space Agency monitored temperature, salinity and sea ice changes in the Southern Ocean over a 15-year period. Using advanced satellite technology and autonomous underwater vehicles, they found that ocean surface salinity began rising sharply in 2015, coinciding with the period of accelerated sea ice loss.

Under normal conditions, cold, fresh water remains at the surface, insulating the warmer, saltier layers beneath. But as surface water becomes saltier, it grows denser and sinks, pulling heat up from the depths. This process melts sea ice from below and makes it difficult for ice to form, even during winter.

Sea ice is vital not only for local ecosystems but also for the global climate. It functions like a giant mirror, reflecting sunlight back into space. When sea ice disappears, the darker ocean surface absorbs more heat, speeding up global warming, intensifying storms and contributing to rising sea levels.

Threat to wildlife

The disappearance of sea ice also endangers species like emperor penguins, which breed on the ice, and krill, a key food source for whales, that depend on icy habitats to survive. These species now face a heightened risk of extinction.

Scientists emphasize that changes in Antarctica are unfolding more rapidly and differently than previously predicted. Climate models had assumed that melting ice would freshen surface waters, but the unexpected increase in salinity challenges that assumption.

As a result, researchers stress the urgent need to update climate models to reflect these new dynamics. They also warn that potential funding cuts to satellite and ocean monitoring systems could jeopardize the scientific community’s ability to track these critical changes. “If we don’t monitor these signals,” they caution, “we’ll be caught unprepared for the changes ahead.”

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Like all complex organisms, every human originates from a single cell that multiplies through countless cell divisions. Thousands of cells coordinate, move and exert mechanical forces on each other as an embryo takes shape. Researchers at the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN), the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, and the University of Marburg have now discovered a new way that embryonic cells coordinate their behavior. This involves molecular mechanisms previously known only from the process of hearing. The researchers attribute the fact that such different cells use the same proteins for two such different functions to their evolutionary origin. The results were published in Current Biology.

The interdisciplinary research team used an unusual combination of methods from developmental genetics, brain research, hearing research and theoretical physics to make a surprising discovery in cell communication: they found that in thin layers of skin, cells register the movements of their neighboring cells and synchronize their own tiny movements with those of the others. Groups of neighboring cells thus pull together with greater force. Thanks to their high sensitivity, the cells coordinate very quickly and flexibly as these subtle forces are the fastest signals traveling across embryonic tissue. When the cells were genetically deprived of their ability to “listen” to each other, the entire tissue changed and development was delayed or failed altogether.

The researchers integrated cellular coordination into computer models of the tissue . These models showed that the “whispering” among neighboring cells leads to an interwoven choreography of the entire tissue and protects it from external forces. Both effects were confirmed by video recordings of embryonic development and further experiments. “Using AI methods and computer-assisted analysis, we were able to examine about a hundred times more cell pairs than was previously possible in this field,” explains Dr Matthias Häring, group leader at the CIDBN and co-author of the study. “This big data approach gives our results the high level of accuracy needed to reliably get to the bottom of these delicate interactions between cells.”

The mechanisms revealed here in embryonic development were already known to play a role in the process of hearing. For instance, when very quiet sounds are heard, the hair cells in the ear, which convert sound waves into nerve signals, react to tiny mechanical movements. At the threshold of hearing, the cell protrusions bend over distances of only a few atomic diameters. The ear is so sensitive because of special proteins that convert mechanical forces into electrical currents. Until now, almost no one suspected that such sensors of force also play an important role in embryonic development. In principle, this is possible because every cell in the body carries the genetic blueprints for all proteins and may use them as needed.

The phenomenon could also provide insights into how the perception of force at a cellular level has evolved. “The evolutionary origin of these force-sensitive ion channel proteins probably lies in our single-celled ancestors, that we share with fungi and which emerged long before the origin of animal life,” explains Professor Fred Wolf, Director of the CIDBN and co-author of the study. “But it was only with the evolution of the first animals that the current diversity of this protein type emerged.” Future work should determine whether the original function of these cellular “nanomachines” was to perceive forces inside the body rather than, as in hearing, to perceive the outside world.

Entanglement is arguably the central feature of quantum mechanics. If two microscopic particles are said to be entangled, then if someone measures a quantum property of one of the particles and then repeats the measurement on its entangled partner, they will always find that the pair is correlated, even when the two particles are separated by vast distances. Therefore, knowing the state of one particle automatically provides information about the other. Entanglement was introduced about 90 years ago as proof of the absurdity of quantum theory if treated as a complete description of nature. Yet it is not regarded as absurd today. After exhaustive proofs of entanglement’s authenticity in the real world, it is now the key resource in quantum information theory, allowing quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography, and offering significant advantages in quantum computing, communication and precision measurements.

Though entanglement still appears counterintuitive to our lived experience of the world, researchers have discovered striking parallels with something much more familiar: thermodynamics. In fact, many similarities have emerged between the theories of quantum entanglement and thermodynamics. For example, ‘entanglement entropy’ is a characteristic of idealised, noiseless quantum systems that mimics the role of thermodynamical entropy.

However, an equivalent to the second law of thermodynamics – which dictates that processes tend towards increasing disorder (the aforementioned entropy) and that perfect reversibility is an attainable though rare and highly efficient ideal – has remained stubbornly out of reach. Here, reversibility does not refer to time symmetry but the ability of an external agent to manipulate the system into a different state and then manipulate it back to its initial state without any loss. “Finding a second law analogous to the second law of thermodynamics has been an open problem in quantum information science,” says study co-author Tulja Varun Kondra. “Solving this has been our primary motivation.”

Much work towards addressing this problem has focused on a scenario in which two distant parties (often called Alice and Bob) want to exchange quantum information, but are restricted to act locally on their quantum systems and communicate classically, by say phone or the internet. This limitation to local operations and classical communication (LOCC) simplifies the situation, meaning whatever Alice and Bob do, they cannot affect the intrinsically nonlocal properties of entanglement between their quantum systems.

“It is known that under LOCC operations in this scenario, entanglement is irreversible,” explains lead author of the study Alexander Streltsov. “So the question is, can we somehow go beyond LOCC in a meaningful way, and recover reversibility?” The team’s answer is ‘yes’, as long as Alice and Bob share an additional entangled system: an entanglement battery.

Just as an ordinary battery stores energy which can be used to inject or store work in the context of thermodynamics, an entanglement battery injects and stores entanglement. The battery can be used in the state transformation process and the state of the battery itself can be changed to perform operations. There is only one rule: whatever Alice and Bob do, they must not decrease the level of entanglement within the battery.

And just as a regular battery allows tasks to be performed that would be impossible without one, so too does an entanglement battery. By assisting standard LOCC operations with their hypothetical entanglement battery, the team demonstrated that any mixed-state entanglement transformation can be made perfectly reversible.

This achievement is a significant contribution to the debate around whether entanglement manipulation is generally reversible. But a more important outcome of this work is that the researchers have shown that the methods they have developed are applicable beyond mixed-state entanglement transformation, allowing them to leverage the entanglement battery to verify reversibility in various scenarios. Proving that entanglement manipulations across all quantum states are reversible is expected to lead to a family of second laws for entanglement manipulation.

The entanglement battery may even find uses outside entanglement theory. For example, the same principles apply to systems involving more than two entangled particles, paving the way for understanding and manipulating complex quantum networks and perhaps developing future, highly efficient quantum technologies.

In addition, generalising the concept of an entanglement battery to a resource battery – an additional quantum system that participates in the transformation process without reducing the resource in question – could allow the systematic demonstration of reversibility across quantum physics based on a minimal set of assumptions. “We can have a battery that is supposed to preserve coherence or free energy, and then we can formulate a reversible framework in this setting where, instead of entanglement, we reversibly manipulate that particular resource of our system,” says Streltsov. “Though many of these other principles of reversibility have already been confirmed via other approaches, our technique offers a unified proof framework based on well-established physical principles.”

Now imagine a drumhead that is ultra-thin, about 10 mm wide, and perforated with many triangular holes.

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with the University of Konstanz and ETH Zurich, have managed to get vibrations to travel around this membrane, almost without any loss. In fact, so little loss that it is far better than even electronic circuit signal handling. The result is now published in the journal Nature.

Phonons – Sound Signals or Vibrations That Spread Through a Solid Material

The signal consists of phonons – which can be translated to what one might call vibrations in a solid material. The atoms vibrate and push each other, so to speak, so a given signal can move through the material. It is not far-fetched to imagine encoding a signal, which is then sent through the material, and here signal loss comes into play.

If the signal loses strength or parts of the signal are lost in heat or incorrect vibrations, one ends up not being able to decode it correctly.

System Reliability is Crucial

The signals that researchers have succeeded in sending through the membrane are distinguished by being almost lossless. The membrane as a platform for sending information is incredibly reliable.

Loss is measured as a decrease in the amplitude of the sound wave as it moves around the membrane. When researchers direct the signal through the material and around the holes in the membrane – where the signal even changes direction – the loss is about one phonon out of a million.

The amplitude of current fluctuations in a similar electronic circuit decreases about a hundred thousand times faster.

Basic Research with Perspectives

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, Assistant Professor Xiang Xi and Professor Albert Schliesser, explain that the result should not be thought of in a specific, future application – but there are still rich possibilities. Currently, there is a global effort to build a quantum computer, which is dependent on super-precise transfer of signals between its different parts.

Another field within quantum research deals with sensors that, for example, can measure the smallest biological fluctuations in our own body – here too, signal transfer is crucial.

But Xiang Xi and Albert Schliesser are currently most interested in exploring the possibilities even further.

“Right now, we want to experiment with the method to see what we can do with it. For example, we want to build more complex structures and see how we can get phonons to move around them, or build structures where we get phonons to collide like cars at an intersection. This will give us a better understanding of what is ultimately possible and what new applications there are,” says Albert Schliesser. As they say: “Basic research is about producing new knowledge.”

The interdisciplinary research team used an unusual combination of methods from developmental genetics, brain research, hearing research and theoretical physics to make a surprising discovery in cell communication: they found that in thin layers of skin, cells register the movements of their neighboring cells and synchronize their own tiny movements with those of the others. Groups of neighboring cells thus pull together with greater force. Thanks to their high sensitivity, the cells coordinate very quickly and flexibly as these subtle forces are the fastest signals traveling across embryonic tissue. When the cells were genetically deprived of their ability to “listen” to each other, the entire tissue changed and development was delayed or failed altogether.

The researchers integrated cellular coordination into computer models of the tissue . These models showed that the “whispering” among neighboring cells leads to an interwoven choreography of the entire tissue and protects it from external forces. Both effects were confirmed by video recordings of embryonic development and further experiments. “Using AI methods and computer-assisted analysis, we were able to examine about a hundred times more cell pairs than was previously possible in this field,” explains Dr Matthias Häring, group leader at the CIDBN and co-author of the study. “This big data approach gives our results the high level of accuracy needed to reliably get to the bottom of these delicate interactions between cells.”

The mechanisms revealed here in embryonic development were already known to play a role in the process of hearing. For instance, when very quiet sounds are heard, the hair cells in the ear, which convert sound waves into nerve signals, react to tiny mechanical movements. At the threshold of hearing, the cell protrusions bend over distances of only a few atomic diameters. The ear is so sensitive because of special proteins that convert mechanical forces into electrical currents. Until now, almost no one suspected that such sensors of force also play an important role in embryonic development. In principle, this is possible because every cell in the body carries the genetic blueprints for all proteins and may use them as needed.

The phenomenon could also provide insights into how the perception of force at a cellular level has evolved. “The evolutionary origin of these force-sensitive ion channel proteins probably lies in our single-celled ancestors, that we share with fungi and which emerged long before the origin of animal life,” explains Professor Fred Wolf, Director of the CIDBN and co-author of the study. “But it was only with the evolution of the first animals that the current diversity of this protein type emerged.” Future work should determine whether the original function of these cellular “nanomachines” was to perceive forces inside the body rather than, as in hearing, to perceive the outside world.

The fascinating world of dinosaurs has always captured our imagination, painting vivid pictures of these magnificent creatures roaming the Earth. Recent research challenges some of our long-held beliefs about dinosaur speed. A study from Liverpool John Moores University provides new insights into how these ancient giants might have moved. By analyzing fossil trackways and comparing them with modern birds, scientists have unveiled surprising findings about dinosaur locomotion that could reshape our understanding of their behavior and lifestyle.

Fossil Trackways: A Window into Dinosaur Movement

Fossil trackways have long been a vital tool in understanding the behavior and locomotion of extinct animals. These preserved footprints offer a glimpse into how dinosaurs might have moved across varied landscapes. However, new research suggests that our previous interpretations of these trackways might have been flawed. Traditionally, calculations of dinosaur speeds were based on equations derived from mammalian data. This approach failed to account for the unique conditions under which these tracks were made.

The Liverpool research team focused on theropods, one of the three major dinosaur groups. They discovered that trackways made in soft, muddied surfaces could significantly distort recorded speeds. In fact, the original equation by R. McNeill Alexander, used for decades to estimate dinosaur speed, was based on data from living animals moving on hard surfaces. The study reveals that speeds calculated from trackways on softer substrates might be dramatically overestimated.

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Modern Birds Reveal the Secrets of Dinosaur Locomotion

To test their hypothesis, researchers turned to modern birds, specifically the helmeted guineafowl. This bird was chosen because of its similarities to non-avian theropods like Velociraptor. By observing the guineafowl moving across different types of mud, scientists gained valuable insights into how substrate consistency affects trackway formation and perceived speed.

High-speed video recordings of the guineafowl’s movements provided a wealth of data. The researchers found that the bird’s trackways, when analyzed using Alexander’s formula, significantly overstated their actual speed. This finding suggests that many dinosaur trackways might have been misinterpreted, leading to erroneous conclusions about their pace and behavior. The study emphasizes the need to consider the substrate’s role in trackway analysis, which could lead to more accurate reconstructions of dinosaur movement.

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Reconsidering Dinosaur Speeds and Behavior

The implications of this research are far-reaching. If dinosaur speeds have been overestimated, it could alter our understanding of their behavior, including predator-prey dynamics and migration patterns. For example, a theropod trackway previously thought to indicate running might actually represent a walking pace. Similarly, a large ornithopod moving leisurely could have been mistakenly classified as running.

This new perspective encourages scientists to reassess previous speed-based behavioral reconstructions. The research suggests that while some dinosaurs likely did run, the speeds at which they did so might have been much slower than previously believed. The team advocates for using trackway data to make broad comparisons of relative speeds rather than specific velocity estimates. This approach could lead to a more nuanced understanding of dinosaur ecology and their interactions with the environment.

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The Future of Dinosaur Locomotion Studies

While this study sheds new light on dinosaur locomotion, it also highlights the limitations of current research methods. The researchers acknowledge that their guineafowl model might not fully represent the dynamics of larger dinosaurs moving on different substrates. They call for further studies across a range of body sizes and sediment types to refine our understanding of dinosaur movement.

Without additional research on modern animals moving on compliant substrates, calculating precise speeds from fossil trackways remains challenging. The study concludes with a call for more comprehensive investigations, emphasizing the importance of integrating data from extant taxa to enhance our interpretations of extinct species. Such efforts could pave the way for more accurate reconstructions of dinosaur locomotion and contribute to our broader understanding of ancient ecosystems.

As we continue to unravel the mysteries of these ancient creatures, one thing remains certain: our quest to understand dinosaurs is far from over. This study is a reminder that science is ever-evolving, and each new discovery brings us closer to the truth. How will future research reshape our perception of these magnificent giants? What other surprises lie hidden in the fossil record, waiting to be uncovered?

Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article.

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Mars is commonly known as the Red Planet, but a recent satellite image from the European Space Agency (ESA) displays a vibrant blend of yellows, oranges, and browns. The striking view also highlights an impact crater and four dust devils moving across the terrain.

Taken by the high-resolution camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, the image features Arcadia Planitia — a key region for understanding Mars’ geological past and assessing its potential for future human habitation, reported Space.com.

Located northwest of the solar system’s tallest volcanoes, Arcadia Planitia is notable for its ancient solidified lava flows, estimated to be up to 3 billion years old. Scientists also believe the area contains water ice just beneath the surface, making it a key target for upcoming Mars missions, according to ESA.

The region frequently hosts “dust devils,” which are short-lived, whirlwind-like phenomena formed when warm surface air rises and lifts dust. In the image, four dust devils appear as faint white streaks, crossing from the darker to lighter regions of the plain.

In the lower right corner of the photo, a large impact crater measuring about 9 miles (15 kilometres) wide is visible. The layered patterns surrounding the crater suggest that the ground contained significant water ice at the time of impact. The crater’s relatively intact appearance also indicates it formed recently in geological terms.

Scientists have made an astonishing discovery after finding lobster-like creatures beneath the depths of the Antarctic ice.

It’s hard to comprehend how any living creature can survive freezing cold temperatures, but after drilling more than half a mile below the surface of an ice sheet, experts found an unexpected slow-moving river where animals are living.

The subglacial river has been hidden for millennia but was uncovered during a recent expedition. Researchers drilled over 1,600 feet into the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, where they found the river below the Ross Ice Shelf.

The river is about as deep as a 30-story building and is a blend of both fresh and seawater, and is slowly travelling towards the ocean.

Expedition leader Huw Horgan explained: “We struck water at the end of the borehole and with the help of our camera, we even discovered a school of lobster-like creatures — 400 kilometres from the open ocean.”

  Craig Stevens

Researchers believe that the river swells around once every decade – this occurs when nearby lakes drain into it. It’s thought the surges in the river could be causing an acceleration of ice melt as it carves out channels in the ice, moving around nutrients that help to sustain life.

The discovery is an important one in terms of our understanding of ice melt and sea level rise.

Experts fear that subglacial rivers such as this may be thinning glaciers from the bottom up, which may make it easier for land-based ice to get into the ocean and speed up sea-level rise, which may increase the risk of flooding in extreme weather and put pressure on food systems.

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A desert site in Egypt known as Whale Valley, or Wadi Al-Hitan, holds more than 400 fossilised whale skeletons that show the remarkable evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea, Live Science reported.

The site, located in the Egyptian Sahara, contains primitive whale remains dating back to the late Eocene epoch — between 55.8 million and 33.9 million years ago — when the area was submerged under the Tethys Ocean, according to UNESCO.

“These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal,” UNESCO’s website states.

The first major discovery at Whale Valley came in 1902, when paleontologists unearthed a previously unknown whale species, Basilosaurus isis (formerly Zeuglodon isis). This ancient whale grew up to 60 feet (18 metres) long and likely preyed on smaller whales, crushing their skulls before swallowing them whole, according to a 2019 study.

“B. isis had a long snout and was armed with pointed incisors and sharp cheek teeth,” Manja Voss, a marine mammal expert at the Berlin Museum of Natural History and lead author of the 2019 study.

In 1989, a team from the University of Michigan and the Egyptian Geological Museum discovered B. isis fossils with preserved hind limbs, feet and toes — a rare find that confirms whales once had legs, according to a 2023 review. Though modern whales lack hind limbs, they retain pelvic bones, indicating their terrestrial ancestry, University of Hawaii researchers noted.

In 2005, a near-complete B. isis skeleton led UNESCO to declare Whale Valley a World Heritage Site. Since then, more marine fossils have been found, including ancient turtles, sharks, rays, sea cows, and crocodiles, preserved thanks to the area’s arid climate since the Pliocene.

The site now functions as an open-air museum with ongoing research and strict protection.