Clyde & Co is pleased to have advised Urban&Civic, the UK’s leading Master Developers of large-scale strategic sites, on its acquisition of Todds Nursery, a specialist family run supplier of mature trees, shrubs and hedging plants.
The deal secures a vital supply chain asset for Urban&Civic, supporting its landscape-led development model and environmental goals. With over 22,000 trees across 72 hectares, Todds Nursery will provide Urban&Civic long-term access to high-quality stock, which will deliver cost savings and improve control over procurement timelines while continuing to serve the wider industry.
Clyde & Co advised on all corporate aspects of the transaction, drawing on its sector knowledge and experience in corporate acquisitions. The deal reflects the firm’s ongoing commitment to supporting clients with practical, commercial focused advice – particularly in transactions involving long-term operational and sustainability benefits
“This was a great opportunity to support a valued client on a strategically aligned acquisition. The deal had important operational and environmental dimensions, and we’re proud to have delivered it smoothly and efficiently.” – Simon Gamblin
The Clyde & Co team was led by Corporate Partner, Simon Gamblin with the assistance of Associates, Nii-Lante Bannerman and Daniel Li.
The ITA reports that a sample collected from Tsogbadrakh Tseveensuren, a wrestler from Mongolia, during an in-competition testing mission at the Senior Asian Championships on 29 March 2025 has returned an AAF¹ for exogenous testosterone.
Exogenous testosterone is prohibited under the WADA Prohibited List as S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids. Exogenous testosterone is prohibited at all times (in- and out-of-competition) and is a non-specified substance. Testosterone is the principal androgenic steroid and is associated with the promotion of muscle growth and increased strength, power and speed.
The athlete has been informed of the case and has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample.
If the B-sample analysis is requested and confirms the result of the A-sample, the case will be considered as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. If the B-sample analysis is not requested, the case will also go ahead as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. The athlete will have the opportunity to present his explanations for the result.
Further, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code and article 7.4.1 of the UWW anti-doping rules, a mandatory provisional suspension has been imposed on the athlete. The athlete has the right to challenge the provisional suspension and ask for its lifting.
Pursuant to the UWW’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the prosecution of the case is being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments made.
WP and the Bulls claimed wins on Friday to finish the U18 Girls Week unbeaten, while Eastern Province, the Limpopo Blue Bulls, South Western Districts, the Pumas, Border and KwaZulu-Natal secured third-round victories to end their campaigns on a high.
WP got off to a slow start in the final match against the Lions, but cracked into gear after half-time. The girls from the Cape scored five unanswered tries and 31 points in the second stanza, with flyhalf Nuha Levy contributing a try as well as three conversions.
Earlier in the day, No 8 Amanda Seokotsa scored a hat-trick in the Limpopo Blue Bulls’ 31-15 win over the Griffons, while loosehead prop Jessica Ejeleonu touched down three times for the Valke in the East Rand outfit’s 27-25 loss to the Pumas.
In the final round of the U16 Girls Week, the Lions beat WP 17-7 to finish their campaign with three consecutive wins.
Border Country Districts drew 12-12 with the Bulls in the last game of the tournament, with the Eastern Cape side ending their campaign unbeaten.
The girls from Border CD led 7-0 at the break, before the Bulls hit back with two tries after half-time. Just as the game was slipping away, loosehead prop Endinako Fetumane crossed the line for Border, ensuring that her side came away with a draw.
FNB U18 Girls Week day three results (Friday, 4 July 2025): EP 12 (5) Zimbabwe 0 (0) Griffons 15 (0) Limpopo Blue Bulls 31 (12) Leopards 12 (12) SWD 22 (0) Valke 25 (15) Pumas 27 (0) Griquas 0 (0) Border 41 (12) Blue Bulls 19 (12) Boland 12 (0) Free State 0 (0) KwaZulu-Natal 38 (17) WP 31 (0) Golden Lions 5 (5)
FNB U16 Girls Week day three results (Friday, 4 July 2025): Free State 0 (0) Zimbabwe 5 (0) Griquas 0 (0) Griffons 17 (5) Border 17 (12) Pumas 7 (0) SWD 20 (10) Limpopo Blue Bulls 27 (0) Valke 0 (0) Golden Lions Invitational XV 20 (10) Leopards 0 (0) KwaZulu-Natal 38 (24) Golden Lions 17 (12) WP 7 (0) Boland 7 (0) EP 13 (13) Border Country Districts 12 (7) Blue Bulls 12 (0)
Meet AUTOSEL, a Linux maintainer that helps keep the kernel stable.
AUTOSEL is a script, one that uses a Large Language Model (LLM) to complete its task.
It does a thankless job, one loathed by all kernel maintainers, that of backporting patches.
Backporting patches is a “very tedious and frustrating process” that “doesn’t scale,” said NVIDIA Distinguished Software Engineer Sasha Levin, in a talk at the Open Source Summit. The presentation focused on how AI is starting to be used in the Linux kernel community to help keep up with the Herculean tasks of maintaining the Linux kernel.
It may not be writing exciting new features for the open source operating system kernel yet, but AI has excelled in tasks that are mind-numbingly repetitive yet still necessary. In other words, AI is already making the lives of Linux kernel developers easier, said Levin, who helps maintain the Linux Kernel Stable and LTS trees.
Patch Inspection
As the world’s single largest open source project, the Linux kernel gets updated and upgraded … a lot.
The pace has remained constant: As many as 10,000 new patches have landed in the mainline kernel over a 10-week period.
Stable and Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel maintainers usually review around 100 patches per day, every day, including weekends and holidays.
Only a few, about 5-10, turn out to be suitable for backporting.
Levin’s AUTOSEL, written in Rust, takes a first pass at incoming commits, looking for similarities across submitted commits and past backporting decisions, and suggesting only those to human committers to seem to be worthy of closer review.
AUTOSEL is built from multiple LLMs, with each LLM used for a particular strength, as well as for cross-validation to reduce errors and hallucinations.
For each commit, the tool creates mathematical representations (or “embeddings”) of the text that preserve semantic meaning for every commit in the kernel’s history, making them easily comparable.
For human maintainers, the tools cuts down the number of commits that humans have to review. It even explains its reasoning in an email.
Know Your Tools
Like any other tool, the value of an LLM corresponds to how well it is understood by it user.
You can think of Large Language Models as the next generation of compilers, providing developers with a jump in productivity, Levin said. They act like “massive state machines,” though what is unusual about them is that they perform state transitions in a probabilistic, rather than deterministic, manner.
They are good at matching patterns given a huge number of parameters and an input provided by a user. A “temperature” parameter controls how probabilistic the LLM is, or how liberally it interprets its material.
Other Uses
And like any other technology, LLMs are first being tested in minor tasks.
LLMs excel at “small, well-defined tasks.” Levin said.
One such use is code generation and refactoring. Tightly-defined bug fixes, or converting code to other forms, such as standard APIs, are good tasks.
For the 6.15 kernel release, Levin had an LLM write a patch to convert the open-coded hash table implementation to a standard API.
Linux kernel 6.16 included git-resolve. This tool resolves incomplete or incorrect commit IDs, a nagging issue for core developers, though not one that occurs often enough to spend a lot of time manually writing a tool to figure out which commit an incomplete SHA-1 is actually connected to.
It took Levin all of 20 minutes to work with the LLM to create the tool.
It would take an engineer about half a day to create such a tool, making it not worth the effort given the relative rarity of the issue it addressed. Plus the LLM did a lot of extra credit: It created a set of self-tests and even documentation, which a human engineer would have done begrudgingly if at all.
There’s no end of clean-up tasks that could be done with the kernel, Levin said. An LLM could help non-native English speakers write descriptive commit messages.
CVE Classification
Another tedious chore is classifying security vulnerabilities (CVEs), a task that the Linux kernel community took on in 2024.
The work involves inspecting commits to see if they address security issues.
Originally, a set of “hacky Bash scripts” was written to help.
LLMs were used to replace the scripts with a set of far more refined tools written in Rust, which included a full set of testing tools and documentation.
Using AUTOSEL as a launching point, a CVE classifier uses LLMs to identify commits that address security issues, and then goes on to check the vulnerability hasn’t already addressed in a previous patch. This is an overwhelming task for humans, given the 40 million lines of code that make up the Linux kernel.
LLMs can understand the semantic meaning of the commits, which provides for a far more comprehensive matching capability. A Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) cycle pulls in the kernel’s development history and documentation (e.g., Git repositories) to minimize hallucinations.
The LLMs effectively act as AI agents, Levin noted. They can run git commands, such as git blame, directly against the code repository to learn from the history of the kernel development itself.
In summary, AI has thus far helped Linux scale its maintenance efforts, while enhancing consistency and reducing manual labor for tedious tasks.
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Joab Jackson is a senior editor for The New Stack, covering cloud native computing and system operations. He has reported on IT infrastructure and development for over 25 years, including stints at IDG and Government Computer News. Before that, he…
Plugin developer 3d-io has released Packer-IO 1.3, the latest version of the free standalone UV packing application for games, motion graphics, VFX and visualization artists.
New features include support for real-world scene scale units, and for texel density, making it possible for games artists to maintain consistent texture resolution across models.
3dio has also released a separate free Blender integration plugin, UnwrellaConnect, which makes it possible to use Packer-IO directly inside the open-source 3D software.
An efficient standalone UV packing tool for organic and hard surface models First released last year, Packer-IO is a free standalone UV packing tool.
It automatically arranges the UV islands of an imported 3D model to minimise wasted UV space, reducing the total file sizes of its texture maps.
The software can be used on both hard surface and organic models, and supports tiled UV layouts, used in applications like ZBrush.
It works with assets with “thousands of charts and millions of polygons”, and is resolution-independent, so packing times remain constant, regardless of the resolution of the textures.
However, it is currently purely a UV packing tool: it doesn’t unwrap the UVs of a model first. You can find more details in our original story on Packer-IO 1.0.
Now supports scale units and texel density 3d-io has now released its first feature updates to the software, in the shape of Packer-IO 1.2, which came out last month, and Packer-IO 1.3, which came out earlier this week.
New features in version 1.2 include scale-aware packing, with users now able to specify real-world scene scale units, including both metric and imperial measurements.
Games artists get support for texel density: it is now possible to specify a target resolution in pixels per centimeter, so that packed textures look visually consistent with those of other assets.
Version 1.3 provides “vastly improved” hole filling, with Packer-IO packing smaller UV islands into the space left between larger islands more intelligently.
New UnwrellaConnect plugin makes it possible to pack UVs directly inside Blender 3d-io has also released a free connector plugin for Blender, UnwrellaConnect, which integrates Packer-IO with Blender’s UI, making it possible to pack UVs of models directly inside Blender.
It supersedes UV-Packer for Blender, 3d-io’s old Blender plugin, which was based on the same core technology.
The Blender download link on the UV-Packer website has now been redirected, although the other editions, UV-Packer for 3ds Max and UV-Packer for Unreal Engine, are still available.
So how do Packer-IO and UnwrellaConnect differ from UVPacker for Blender? If you already have UV-Packer for Blender, one reason to update to Packer-IO and UnwrellaConnect would be better integration with the other tools in your production pipeline.
Packer-IO itself supports 3D models imported from any DCC app, while UnwrellaConnect – as the name suggests – also works with Unwrella-IO, 3d-io’s commercial UV unwrapping tool.
Packer-IO also features a more streamlined UI and workflow than previous UV packing tools.
Licensing and system requirements Packer-IO 1.3 is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 10.15+. The software is free, and is licensed for use in commercial projects.
UnwrellaConnect is compatible with Blender 4.2+. Source code is available under a MIT license.
Download free Blender integration plugin UnwrellaConnect from the plugin’s GitHub repository
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.
A microbe ‘challenging’ the distinction between cellular life and viruses has accidentally been discovered, and it could apparently ‘reshape our understanding of cellular evolution’.
Scientific understanding of viruses emerged in the 1890s, while researchers have been learning about cells in general since the 17th century.
However, despite so much time passing, experts are still discovering head-scratching entities that are stretching and changing everything we know about science today.
Recently, researchers from Dalhousie University accidentally uncovered the provisionally named microbe Sukunaarchaeum mirabile within the marine plankton Citharistes regius.
It’s understood that the discovery was made when the Canadian and Japanese teams found a loop of DNA in the specific plankton that didn’t match any species they knew about.
Eventually, it was determined that this loop belonged to the domain Archaea – microorganisms that ‘define the limits of life on earth’.
Much like bacteria, archaea are single-celled organisms lacking a membrane-bound nucleus that have been found in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, the Microbiology Society states.
The new discovery could reshape our understanding of cellular evolution (Getty Stock Image)
After researching the tiny cell further, scientists have discovered Sukunaarchaeum – named after a Japanese deity of small stature – has a minuscule genome consisting of 238,000 base pairs.
This extreme genome reduction is actually half the size of the smallest previously known archaeal genome, which was 490 kbp.
According to research published in the general-purpose open repository Zenodo and the bioRxiv server, this new discovery’s genome is “profoundly stripped‑down, lacking virtually all recognizable metabolic pathways, and primarily encoding the machinery for its replicative core: DNA replication, transcription, and translation.
Researchers from Canada and Japan made the discovery (Getty Stock Image)
“This suggests an unprecedented level of metabolic dependence on a host, a condition that challenges the functional distinctions between minimal cellular life and viruses.”
This little cellular oddity carries traits of both a virus and a living cell but relies heavily on its host for life.
And, unlike a virus, it has required genes capable of building its own ribosomes and messenger RNA, wrote Men’s Journal.
These are the ‘basic building blocks enabling organisms to translate genetic code into protein’, which the publication states viruses cannot do on their own.
However, like a virus, it does offload some biological functions onto its host, relies on the host to carry out tasks, and is dedicated to replicating itself, Metro reported.
Sukunaarchaeum’s discovery apparently ‘pushes the conventional boundaries of cellular life and highlights the vast unexplored biological novelty within microbial interactions,’ according to the team, led by molecular biologist Ryo Harada.
They plan to further explore symbiotic systems to see whether more ‘extraordinary life forms may appear’, which could reshape our understanding of cellular evolution.
Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) is a congenital cyanotic heart defect, first described in detail by Étienne-Louis Fallot in 1888. It is characterized by a combination of four distinct anatomical abnormalities: right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy, a ventricular septal defect (VSD), obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), and an overriding aorta. These structural anomalies result in altered hemodynamics, reducing pulmonary blood flow and systemic cyanosis.1 Early primary repair of Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) has been advocated since the 1970s and is now routinely performed with excellent outcomes.2 This approach has become the standard of care, as it promptly addresses the anatomical abnormalities and associated hemodynamic consequences, reducing long-term morbidity and mortality. However, despite the widespread adoption of early surgical intervention, occasional cases of patients who have not undergone repair survive into adulthood.3,4 However, delaying the diagnosis and late intervention are highly associated with poor outcomes.5 According to large observational series, 24% of individuals with an uncorrected TOF die before the age of 10, and only 4% survive beyond their thirties.6,7. We present a unique case of an individual with uncorrected Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) who has survived into adulthood with a relatively preserved quality of life despite the absence of surgical intervention. The lack of corrective surgery was primarily due to financial constraints and limited access to specialized cardiovascular care. The patient resides in Somalia, a low-income country where healthcare infrastructure remains underdeveloped, and access to advanced medical and surgical interventions is severely restricted. This case underscores the significant challenges faced by individuals with congenital heart disease (CHD) in resource-limited settings. It highlights the urgent need for improved access to pediatric and adult congenital cardiac care in such environments.
Case Presentation
A 43-year-old male presented with a history of recurrent syncope, reporting three episodes over the past six months. The most recent episode occurred at approximately 3:00 AM, during which the patient was found lying unresponsive on his bed by his family and was subsequently rushed to the hospital. The patient has a longstanding history of exertional dyspnea dating back to childhood, which was particularly pronounced during activities such as climbing hills. Due to his family’s nomadic lifestyle, he was often transported on camels during travels to accommodate his physical limitations. Additionally, the patient reported episodes of epistaxis and hemoptysis, further complicating his clinical picture.
The patient’s past medical history includes a diagnosis of congenital heart disease of unknown type in 1997. Despite being referred to a cardiac center in Djibouti, a neighboring country, for further management, financial constraints prevented him from accessing specialized care. Over the years, the patient has experienced progressive exertional dyspnea, which has significantly impacted his quality of life and occupational capacity. Initially, he worked in charcoal production and later as a painter, but he was forced to retire due to worsening symptoms. He is the father of six children and has been the primary provider for his family.
Physical Examination
General Appearance
The patient appeared to be in no acute distress and exhibited a normal overall appearance without signs of cachexia.
Vital Signs Were
Blood pressure 110/60 mmHg, heart rate 80 beats/minute, respiratory rate 18 breaths/minute, temperature 35.8 °C, and oxygen saturation 85% on room air.
General Examination
Clubbing: Grade 3 clubbing was observed see Figure 5.
Cyanosis: No cyanosis was noted.
Edema: No peripheral edema was present.
Cardiovascular System (CVS)
S1 and s2 are audible with a pansystolic murmur, graded 3/6 in intensity, was auscultated. The murmur was most prominent in the tricuspid and mitral areas but was not associated with a palpable thrill.
Abdomen
The abdomen was soft and non-tender on palpation.
No abdominal swelling or organomegaly was detected.
Peripheral Examination
No ankle edema or other signs of peripheral vascular compromise were observed.
Nervous Examination
A brief neurological assessment showed the patient to be alert and fully oriented to person, place, and time. There were no obvious motor or sensory impairments. Examination of cranial nerves II through XII revealed no gross abnormalities. Additionally, there were no clinical signs suggestive of meningeal irritation.
Investigations
Complete Blood Count (CBC)
Polycythemia: Hemoglobin (Hb) level was elevated at 21 mg/dL, indicative of secondary polycythemia, likely due to chronic hypoxemia associated with congenital heart disease.
Thrombocytopenia: A Low platelet count was noted, possibly related to chronic disease or other underlying factors.
Echocardiographic evaluation of the patient revealed a large malalignment subaortic ventricular septal defect (VSD)with an overriding aorta of less than 50%, indicative of abnormal conal septal development. Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) was observed, consistent with chronic pressure overload. Infundibular pulmonary stenosis was noted, contributing to right ventricular outflow obstruction. Additionally, an interatrial septal (IAS) aneurysm was identified, suggesting a structural abnormality that may have clinical significance (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1 Is a long-axis view demonstrating the VSD with color Doppler imaging, showing flow across the defect penetrating the interventricular septum.
Figure 2 Is an apical four-chamber view providing additional visualization of the VSD.
Assessment
Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF): Known congenital heart defect with concerns for arrhythmias due to recent syncope.
Possible Old Inferior Myocardial Infarction (MI): ECG shows pathological Q waves in inferior leads, possibly due to chronic hypoxemia or coronary artery disease.
Secondary Polycythemia: Elevated hemoglobin (21 mg/dL) as a compensatory response to chronic hypoxemia, increasing thromboembolic risk.
Thrombocytopenia: Low platelet count, possibly secondary to chronic disease or polycythemia.
Plan
Medical Management:
Aspirin (81 mg daily): To reduce thromboembolic risk from severe polycythemia and possible atherosclerosis indicated by ECG.
Atorvastatin (20 mg daily): Secondary prevention for suspected old inferior MI despite unknown lipid levels.
Hydroxyurea (500 mg daily): To control symptomatic secondary polycythemia by lowering erythropoiesis and blood viscosity.
Home Oxygen Therapy (as needed): To relieve chronic hypoxemia symptoms, especially exertional dyspnea.
Phlebotomy: Weekly 250 mL blood transfusion to manage polycythemia, with caution due to thrombocytopenia.
Further Investigation: Holter monitoring for arrhythmias.
Referral for Cardiac Surgery: Consideration for pulmonary valve replacement or complete repair.
Lifestyle & Follow-up: Avoid strenuous activity, and regularly monitor hemoglobin, platelets, and cardiac function.
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
Rate: 75 beats per minute.
Rhythm: Sinus rhythm.
Axis: Extreme right axis deviation.
P Wave: P-pulmonale (tall, peaked P waves in leads II, III, and aVF) suggests right atrial enlargement.
Q Wave: Pathological Q waves were observed in the inferior leads (II, III, and aVF), suggesting a possible old inferior wall myocardial infarction.
R Wave:
Prominent R wave in V1 and aVR.
Deep S wave in V5 and V6.
Poor R-wave progression across the precordial leads (Figure 3).
Figure 3 ECG showing right ventricular hypertrophy, right atrial enlargement (P-pulmonale), and pathological Q waves in inferior leads suggest an old inferior wall myocardial infarction.
Findings:
Right Ventricular Hypertrophy (RVH): Suggested by the prominent R wave in V1 and deep S wave in V5/V6.
P-pulmonale: Indicative of right atrial enlargement, likely secondary to pulmonary hypertension or chronic right heart strain.
Old Infarction: Pathological Q waves in the inferior leads raise the possibility of a prior inferior wall myocardial infarction.
Chest X-Ray
The chest X-ray reveals characteristics of Tetralogy of Fallot, notably a boot-shaped heart caused by enlargement of the right ventricle (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Chest X-ray showing features of tetralogy of Fallot, including a boot-shaped heart due to right ventricular hypertrophy.
Physical Appearance
Hand of the patient showing evidence of digital clubbing (Figure 5).
Figure 5 Hand of the patient showing evidence of digital clubbing.
Discussion
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a congenital cardiac anomaly characterized by a ventricular septal defect, right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, overriding of the aortic root, and right ventricular hypertrophy. It occurs in approximately 3 per 10000 live births, accounting for 7–10% of all congenital heart defects. Clinical presentation typically occurs in the neonatal period, with cyanosis varying in severity based on the degree of right ventricular outflow obstruction. The etiology is multifactorial, with genetic and environmental factors playing a role. Maternal conditions such as diabetes and phenylketonuria, as well as chromosomal anomalies like trisomies 21, 18, and 13, have been associated with TOF, though recent evidence suggests a stronger link with 22q11.2 microdeletion. The recurrence risk in affected families is approximately 3%.8
In diagnosing congenital heart diseases like Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF), readily available tools such as electrocardiography (ECG) and echocardiography are indispensable, offering a non-invasive approach. An ECG can reveal right axis deviation and right ventricular hypertrophy, indicative of the strain on the heart caused by ToF. Furthermore, echocardiography (2D ECHO) is crucial for confirming the diagnosis of ToF, as it can visualize the key anatomical defects, including ventricular septal defect (VSD), overriding aorta, and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) obstruction.9
While ECG and standard echocardiography are essential for the initial diagnosis and monitoring of Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF), particularly in resource-limited settings due to their accessibility, advanced imaging modalities are often required for comprehensive anatomical and hemodynamic evaluation. Cardiac MRI (cMRI) is central in assessing ventricular function, pulmonary valve pathology, and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) morphology. Emerging techniques such as 4D-flow MRI enhance diagnostic precision by enabling dynamic flow analysis, offering insights into adverse hemodynamic patterns, and assisting with risk stratification and intervention planning.10 While cardiac catheterization remains the gold standard for direct hemodynamic measurements and detailed visualization of pulmonary arteries or complex vascular anomalies like Major Aortopulmonary Collateral Arteries (MAPCAs), its use is often limited in low-resource environments. Therefore, ECG and echocardiography remain indispensable tools for initial evaluation and follow-up in such settings.9 In our patient, ECG and echocardiography were indispensable for diagnosing Tof.
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a cyanotic congenital heart disease associated with high mortality rates among unrepaired patients. Survival beyond 20 years is limited to approximately 10%, with only 3% reaching 40. In contrast, over 90% of patients undergoing surgical repair survive into adulthood. In developed countries, most individuals with TOF receive timely surgical intervention, which alleviates right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) obstruction and significantly reduces mortality. However, in low-resource settings, access to surgical repair remains limited, particularly among patients from low socioeconomic backgrounds. This disparity contributes to poorer long-term outcomes and increased mortality in these populations.11
In some cases, patients may not receive an accurate diagnosis during childhood, as was observed in our case. The first clinical suspicion of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) only arose when the patient reached adulthood. Confirming the diagnosis required advanced imaging studies, which were often financially inaccessible and frequently unavailable in his setting, both during initial assessment and routine follow-up. The lack of continuous monitoring and access to diagnostic tools contributed significantly to the delayed diagnosis and management of his condition. This case highlights the critical importance of making bedside echocardiography available, even in resource-limited environments. Point-of-care ultrasound can enable earlier detection and timely intervention in congenital heart diseases, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
In the electrocardiogram (ECG) of our patient, the presence of QS waves in the inferior leads raised suspicion of an inferior myocardial infarction (MI). The relationship between myocardial infarction and Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is reported in the literature. A case from Turkey described a patient with TOF who experienced an MI, providing valuable insights into this uncommon association. In that case, the absence of resting cyanosis suggested a minor right-to-left shunt, potentially explaining the patient’s prolonged survival. However, following the myocardial infarction, both ventricles rapidly deteriorated, leading to severe heart failure and early mortality.12.
The patient, a 43-year-old man, was admitted with chest pain, dyspnea, and diaphoresis. His medical history revealed dyspnea, exertional cyanosis, and palpitations since childhood. He had been diagnosed with TOF 13 years earlier, at which time cardiac catheterization was performed. However, he declined TOF corrective surgery, which may have contributed to his later cardiovascular complications.12 This case underscores the complex interplay between congenital heart defects and ischemic heart disease, highlighting the need for careful cardiovascular risk assessment in patients with uncorrected TOF. In the literature, several cases also describe similar situations, where the coexistence of TOF and MI significantly worsens the prognosis.13
In our patient, syncope raised suspicion of an underlying arrhythmia. Syncope is a concerning symptom in individuals with repaired Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). It is often associated with arrhythmias and conduction abnormalities, common long-term sequelae of surgical repair. While advancements in surgical techniques have significantly improved survival rates, residual cardiac abnormalities, scarring from patch material, atriotomy, and ventriculotomy contribute to the development of rhythm disturbances.14 However, cases of arrhythmias have also been reported in patients with unrepaired TOF.15 Similar pathophysiological mechanisms could potentially account for the syncopal episode observed in our patient.
Ideally, ambulatory ECG monitoring—such as a Holter monitor—would have been indicated to assess for transient arrhythmias that might not be captured on routine ECG. Contemporary diagnostic strategies often rely on a spectrum of prolonged monitoring modalities, including traditional 24–48-hour Holter monitors, external loop recorders (ELRs), wearable patch devices, and implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs) for prolonged surveillance in select patients. These tools are critical for establishing symptom–rhythm correlation, especially when symptoms are infrequent or unpredictable.16 As Carrington et al (2022) emphasize, the choice of monitoring modality is primarily dictated by the frequency and nature of symptoms, with longer-duration or patient-activated monitors being particularly advantageous for episodic events. Unfortunately, such diagnostic tools were unavailable due to limitations inherent in our resource-constrained setting. Consequently, only a standard one-minute 12-lead ECG was performed, which showed no evidence of acute ischemia or arrhythmic disturbances at the recording time.
Conclusion
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a congenital heart defect with significant long-term risks, particularly in uncorrected cases. Our patient’s ECG suggested an inferior myocardial infarction, while syncope raised suspicion of arrhythmias, though Holter monitoring was unavailable. This case underscores the critical need for early diagnosis, timely surgical intervention, and continuous cardiac surveillance. In resource-limited settings, improving access to echocardiography and ambulatory ECG monitoring is essential for mitigating complications and improving outcomes in patients with uncorrected TOF.
Authors’ Information
• Dr Abdirahman A Warfaa: Cardiology Specialist at Darussalam Health Care and Cigaal Interventional Cardiology Center; also teaches at Amoud University.• Dr. Abdirahman Ibrahim Said: Internal Medicine Specialist at Borama Regional Hospital and Alaaleh Hospital; Clinical Coordinator for undergraduate programs at Amoud University College of Health Sciences.• Dr. Mohamoud Abdulahi: Orthopedics Specialist at Al-Hayat Hospital, Dar es Salaam Polyclinic, and Alaaleh Hospital; Dean of the School of Medicine, Amoud University.• Mohamed Said Hassan: Public Health Researcher; Head of the Medical School Research Committee.
Manuscript Submission
We confirm that this manuscript is original and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.
Ethical Approval
The Ethical Committee of Amoud University granted ethical approval for this study, including permission for publication (Reference: 0100-AU-REC-2025).
Consent for Publication
The patient provided written informed consent after receiving a detailed explanation of the study’s purpose, procedures, and potential for publication. This consent included permission to publish all clinical details and associated images in this report. Patient anonymity has been preserved.
Acknowledgments
We extend our gratitude to the healthcare team at Darussalam Health Care for the care provided to the patient and the follow-up they gave.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed significantly to developing this case report, including the conception and interpretation of clinical findings. They participated in drafting, revising, or critically reviewing the manuscript; approved the final version to be published; agreed on the journal to which the case report was submitted; and took full responsibility for all aspects of the work.
Funding
This research received no financial support from external sources.
Disclosure
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the content or publication of this manuscript.
References
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Physicists are fond of Gedankenexperimente—thought experiments that are difficult or impossible to perform in the real world. Schrödinger’s cat is a well-known example of a thought experiment, used to illustrate the complexities of quantum mechanics. This puzzle occupied some of the best and brightest physicists of the early 20th century.
We tried the same thing recently, only with climate change. Given today’s network of satellites and temperature sensors, when could scientists have first known, beyond a reasonable doubt, that increases in atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning and land use change were altering our global climate? The results might surprise you, and they help to illustrate why it’s critically important to continue long-term monitoring of Earth’s climate.
Our thought experiment used simulations of historical climate change from nine different state-of-the-art computer models. We made three key assumptions. The first was that back in 1860, scientists in our “Gedanken world” had the technology to monitor global temperature changes in both the troposphere (the atmospheric layer extending from the surface up to about 15 kilometers) and the stratosphere (ranging from roughly 15 km to 50 km). Historically, global monitoring didn’t happen until the 1940s using early weather balloon networks. More recently, since the late 1970s, we’ve monitored global atmospheric temperature changes with satellites.
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Second, we assumed that over the period 1860 to 2024, the model simulations used reliable estimates of human-caused changes in greenhouse gases, particulate pollution and land use, as well as accurate estimates of natural changes in external factors like volcanic activity and the sun’s energy output. All of these inputs to the model simulations are primarily derived from observational data.
Third, we assumed the model-simulated responses to human and natural factors were realistic, and that the size of modeled “climate noise” associated with natural phenomena like El Niño and La Niña was in reasonable agreement with observations. We tested the third assumption by comparing modeled and observed climate change and variability and found no evidence of model errors that would negate our bottom-line findings.
The work of Syukuro (“Suki”) Manabe helped inspire this investigation. Back in 1967, Manabe—who would later go on to receive the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics—published one of the most famous papers in climate science. Together with his colleague Richard Wetherald at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, N.J., Manabe used a simple climate model to show that increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 would lead to more efficient trapping of heat in the troposphere. The consequence? Warming of the troposphere and cooling of the stratosphere. The former has captivated most of the world’s attention for good reason—it is where we humans live—but the latter turns out to be particularly useful in our thought experiment.
The 1967 Manabe and Wetherald paper made a testable prediction: if humans continue to burn fossil fuels and ramp up levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, the vertical structure of atmospheric temperature will change not only in the troposphere but also in the stratosphere. But back in 1967, scientists lacked the long-term records necessary to test this prediction, particularly for the mid- to upper stratosphere, between approximately 25 and 50 km above Earth’s surface.
Decades after 1967, weather balloon and satellite temperature records revealed that Manabe and Wetherald were right. Their predicted pattern of change in the thermal structure of the atmosphere was observable. Importantly, this pattern of human influence—showing long-term, global-scale warming of the troposphere and cooling of the stratosphere—couldn’t be confused with natural patterns of temperature change. The human “fingerprint” on atmospheric temperature was distinctly different from the natural temperature fingerprints caused by the sun, volcanoes and internal climate noise. When climate scientists say we know people cause climate change, this fingerprint is one defining reason why.
Which brings us back to our “When could we have known?” thought experiment.
Although the question is simple, the answer isn’t obvious. The first 40 years of the thought experiment (from 1860 until 1899) were a time when large-scale fossil fuel burning and deforestation were just beginning to ratchet up during the industrial revolution. The resulting increase in atmospheric CO2 over this time, which we can estimate from Antarctic ice cores, was only 10 parts per million. This is small relative to the recent CO2 increase of roughly 54 parts per million over the 25 years from 2000 to 2024. Nevertheless, this modest 10 parts per million early CO2 increase is still large enough to lead to significant cooling of the stratosphere over 1860 to 1899. The size and pattern of this stratospheric cooling is very different than what we would expect from natural forces affecting temperature: the solar variability at the time, the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, and internal climate noise.
Because of these differences between signal and noise, our thought experiment shows that even the relatively small human-caused signal of stratospheric cooling could have been identified in 1885. Put differently, given today’s measurement capabilities, humans could have known that our actions were significantly changing global climate even before Carl Benz patented the first gasoline-powered car. The human-caused signal of tropospheric warming emerges later, in the second half of the 20th century, partly because human and natural patterns of climate change are more similar in the troposphere than in the stratosphere.
Would this advance knowledge have made a difference? Would humanity have followed a different energy use pathway given the understanding that fossil fuel burning eventually leads to large, global-scale changes in climate? That’s outside of our sandbox as climate scientists—it’s a question for philosophers, social scientists, and historians of science. But in our opinion, based on the history of other global environmental problems, it’s certainly conceivable that early knowledge of the reality and seriousness of climate change could have spurred earlier global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s worth noting that our identification of the atmospheric “fingerprints” predicted by Manabe and Wetherald was enabled by NOAA and NASA satellite remote sensing. The work of these agencies is an essential part of our research, and of the national and international climate science enterprise.
But in the United States in 2025, federally funded climate science, including observation and modeling work, is being systematically dismantled. This is not a thought experiment. It is all too real. We are now observing what happens when decades of work to understand the nature and causes of climate changes are rejected, and are replaced by ideology, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Stopping climate work will lead to a data vacuum that could last years or even decades. This experiment in willful ignorance can only end poorly.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are solely their own and not those of any organization they are affiliated with or necessarily those of Scientific American.
Squid Game season 3 brings Netflix’s worldwide hit to an epic, yet heartbreaking finale.
Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun return to lead the all-star cast.
All six episodes dropped on Friday, June 27.
Squid Game is back for one last ride. With much higher stakes, deadlier games, and players more desperate than ever to survive, season 3 brings the Netflix phenomenon to an emotionally devastating close.
Set right after the fallout of Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) failed rebellion, the six-episode season picks up with Squid Game‘s extensive cast of players, guards, enemies, and allies.
“Gi-hun persists with his goal to put an end to the game, while the Front Man continues onto his next move, and the surviving players’ choices will lead to graver consequences with each round,” reads the official synopsis.
Many familiar faces join Lee in returning for the final chapter. Read on to learn more about the Squid Game season 3 cast and where you’ve seen them before.
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
After winning an Emmy and SAG Award for his powerful performance on Squid Game, Lee Jung-jae became a global star. Since then, he’s made his directorial debut with the spy thriller Hunt (2022) and joined the Star Wars universe as Jedi Master Sol on The Acolyte (2024).
Lee returns as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456), the winner of the original game. By season 3, he’s emotionally worn down but more determined than ever to dismantle the deadly competition once and for all.
He previously spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the show’s massive success, saying he was shocked but “grateful” for its international impact.
Reflecting on Gi-hun’s growth, he told The Korea Herald that while season 1 centered on a man torn by shifting emotions, later seasons reveal a more focused, driven Gi-hun. “The desire to stop the games becomes much stronger,” he said. “In a way, compared to season 1, instead of showing various sides of him, he’s portrayed in a more determined, fixed way, which made me reflect a lot.”
Lee Byung-hun as The Front Man
Lee Byung-hun as Front Man in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
A K-drama staple and Hollywood star, Lee Byung-hun has done it all — from G.I. Joe (2009–2013)to Terminator Genisys (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), and Netflix’s animated hit KPop Demon Hunters (2025). He also made history as the first Korean actor to present at the Oscars.
In Squid Game, Lee plays the evil Front Man, a former winner who now pulls the strings behind the titular game.
Regarding his character’s arc in season 3, the actor told Tudum that although the Front Man may “come off more ruthless and merciless,” there’s still a “last remaining piece of humanity” buried deep beneath the surface.
Wi Ha-joon as Hwang Jun-ho
Wi Ha-joon as Hwang Jun-ho in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
SAG Award nominee Wi Ha-joon broke out as fan-favorite detective Hwang Jun-ho on Squid Game, but he’s no stranger to Korean thrillers and dramas. His resume includes the cult horror hit Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) with his Squid Game costar Park Sung-hoon, as well as Romance Is a Bonus Book (2019), Midnight (2021), and Little Women (2022).
In the Netflix series, Wi plays Jun-ho, a tenacious detective determined to shut Squid Game down for good.
Jeon Seok-ho as Woo-seok
Jeon Seok-ho as Woo-seok in season 2 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Jeon Seok-ho has shown off his range in everything from the horror drama Kingdom (2019–2020) to Hyena (2020) and Love Next Door (2024). He also teamed up with Ha-joon before in Miss and Mrs. Cops (2019).
In Squid Game, Jeon plays Choi Woo-seok, Jun-ho’s ally in the fight to rescue Gi-hun and bring the twisted game to an end.
Park Gyu-young as No-eul
Park Gyu-young as No-eul in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
With nearly a decade of acting under her belt, Park Gyu-young has become a familiar face in Korean dramas, starring in hits like It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020) and Sweet Home (2020–2023).
Park portrays No-eul, a former North Korean soldier who is hired to serve as one of the Pink Guards.
Speaking to The Times, the actress shared, “I don’t think my character is on the bad side or the good side. I know I eliminate people using guns, but I think No-eul is a person who has a strong limit in herself about the moral values that human beings should have.”
She continued, “That’s why she has conflicts with the other Pink Guards who want to sell the organs of the eliminated people. I didn’t think there was a big difference between those bunnies and those Pink Guards’ masks — No-eul didn’t want to reveal herself totally because she has a deep, deep pain in her heart. There are similarities as well as differences between those two [versions of her].”
Roh Jae-won as Nam-gyu (Player 124)
Roh Jae-won as Nam-gyu (Player 124) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Since making his acting debut in 2022, Roh Jae-won has come to prominence thanks to Squid Game, the Netflix series Daily Dose of Sunshine (2023), and the Disney+ mystery crime thriller show Nine Puzzles (2025).
Roh joined Squid Game in season 2 as Nam-gyu (Player 124), a former club promoter who’s not afraid to play dirty. He uses cruelty as his weapon, intimidating weaker players to keep the real threats in check.
Chae Kuk-hee as Seon-nyeo (Player 044)
Chae Kuk-hee as Seon-nyeo (Player 044) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Chae Kuk-hee made waves in the 2020 drama series The World of the Married, but her first major role came on Squid Game as Seon-nyeo (Player 044). Her larger-than-life ego and past as a shaman make Player 044 come off as arrogant and selfish, getting under just about everyone’s skin.
Park Sung-hoon as Hyun-ju (Player 120)
Park Sung-hoon as Hyun-ju (Player 120) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Park Sung-hoon has played a range of characters over the years. He’s best known for his villainous turns on The Glory (2022–2023) and Queen of Tears (2024), the latter of which he filmed simultaneously with the final two seasons of Squid Game.
In Squid Game, Park takes on the role of Hyun-ju (Player 120), a transgender woman who joins the deadly game to win money for her transition. The actor told Variety he had “concerns” about playing the character, but nevertheless, he was “quite amazed at the opportunity.”
“I really wanted to approach it as cautiously and thoughtfully as possible,” he said.
Park helped shape the character as well. “I was the one that came up with her having short bangs,” he said. “And in the scene where she explains to the others how to use the MP5 submachine gun, I suggested the idea of adding the last ‘Understood’ line, because I felt like when she asks that, it really makes her strong and fierce. It shows you that she’s an ex-Special Forces soldier.”
Kang Ha-neul as Dae-ho (Player 388)
Kang Ha-neul as Dae-ho (Player 388) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
South Korean star Kang Ha-neul got his first taste of fame with the dramas Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014) and Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016). Since receiving praise for When the Camellia Blooms (2019), Kang has been on a roll, winning fans worldwide with The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure (2022) and, of course, Squid Game.
He portrays Dae-ho (Player 388), whose cowardly move during the season 2 rebellion shakes things up in the final season.
Yang Dong-geun as Yong-sik (Player 007)
Yang Dong-geun as Yong-sik (Player 007) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Yang Dong-geun, a.k.a. YDG, is a triple threat (actor, rapper, and breakdancer) who’s been in the spotlight since childhood. He made a name for himself as a hip-hop star in the early 2000s and hasn’t slowed down since, shining on screen and on stage.
YDG plays Yong-sik (Player 007), an obsessive gambler desperate to win money and pay off his debts. His mother is also with him in the competition, and according to YDG, she’s the real game-changer.
“I think my character, Yong-sik, would win the games if his mom was not there,” he told ScreenRant. “His mom is the reason why he can’t keep voting to continue the games… I think his game and his character would be completely different had his mom not been there.”
Kang Ae-sim as Geum-ja (Player 149)
Kang Ae-sim as Geum-ja (Player 149) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
A favorite of Korean TV for years, Kang Ae-sim has starred in hits like When the Camellia Blooms (with Squid Game costar Kang Ha-neul), Bad and Crazy (2021–2022), and the Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022). But like many Squid Game cast members, she’s best known worldwide for her role in the Netflix sensation.
Kang portrays Geum-ja (Player 149), who’s in the deadly game for just one powerful reason: to save her son, Yong-sik (Player 007).
The actress spoke about her character with ScreenRant, explaining, “She’s lived a long time and has also gone through a lot. I think her approach to the games is that she’s really just razor-focused on keeping her son safe, and of course, she cares about others as well, but she is focused on the survival of her son and making sure that they get out safely.”
Jo Yu-ri as Jun-hee (Player 222)
Jo Yu-ri as Jun-hee (Player 222) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Jo Yu-ri rose to fame in the music industry as part of the girl group Iz*One, which formed in 2018. After the group disbanded in 2021, she launched a successful solo career.
She plays Kim Jun-hee (Player 222), who, like many fellow players, enters the game after a bad investment. To up the stakes, she’s pregnant and fighting to make it out alive with the father of her child.
Yim Si-wan as Myung-gi (Player 333)
Yim Si-wan as Myung-gi (Player 333) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Yim Si-wan kicked off his career as a K-pop star with boy band ZE:A and its sub-group ZE:A Five before transitioning to acting. He gained serious buzz for The Attorney (2013) and Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014) before achieving international stardom with Squid Game.
Yim plays Myung-gi (Player 333), a former cryptocurrency influencer who lost big bucks. Now a fugitive on the run, he’s thrown into the deadly game alongside his ex and the mother of his child, Jun-hee (Player 222).
Lee Jin-uk as Gyeong-seok (Player 246)
Lee Jin-uk as Gyeong-seok (Player 246) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Lee Jin-wook has been a well-known figure in Korean film and TV for years, with standout roles in Glass Castle (2008–2009), Nine (2013), Miss Granny (2014), and Sweet Home (2020–2024), the latter of which saw him star alongside Squid Game star Park Gyu-young.
In Squid Game, Lee portrays Gyeong-seok (Player 246), a devoted father who joins the brutal competition to protect his family at all costs.
Lee David as Min-su (Player 125)
Lee David as Min-su (Player 125) in season 3 of ‘Squid Game’.
No Ju-han/Netflix
Lee David is no stranger to his Squid Game cohorts, having worked with creator Hwang Dong-hyuk and Byung-hun in The Fortress (2017) and shared the screen with Jung-jae in Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019). Most recently, he starred in the 2025 action-horror flick Holy Night: Demon Hunters.
In Squid Game, Lee plays Min-su (Player 125), a quiet and timid contestant who gets pulled into the chaos after falling for a housing scam.
Where can I watch Squid Game?
All three seasons of Squid Game are now available to stream on Netflix.
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The thick, mineral-rich layers of clay found on Mars suggest that the Red Planet harbored potentially life-hosting environments for long stretches in the ancient past, a new study suggests.
Clays need liquid water to form. These layers are hundreds of feet thick and are thought to have formed roughly 3.7 billion years ago, under warmer and wetter conditions than currently prevail on Mars.
“These areas have a lot of water but not a lot of topographic uplift, so they’re very stable,” study co-author Rhianna Moore, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas’ Jackson School of Geosciences, said in a statement.
“If you have stable terrain, you’re not messing up your potentially habitable environments,” Moore added. “Favorable conditions might be able to be sustained for longer periods of time.”
On our home planet, such deposits form under specific landscape and climatic conditions.
“On Earth, the places where we tend to see the thickest clay mineral sequences are in humid environments, and those with minimal physical erosion that can strip away newly created weathering products,” said co-author Tim Goudge, an assistant professor at the Jackson School’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Clays can be seen in the Hellas basin of Mars. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona)
However, it remains unclear how Mars’ local and global topography, along with its past climate activity, influenced surface weathering and the formation of clay layers.
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Using data and images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — the second-longest-operating spacecraft around Mars, after the agency’s 2001 Mars Odyssey — Moore, Goudge, and their colleagues studied 150 clay deposits, looking at their shapes and locations, and how close they are to other features like ancient lakes or rivers.
They found that the clays are mostly located in low areas near ancient lakes, but not close to valleys where water once flowed strongly. This mix of gentle chemical changes and less intense physical erosion helped the clays stay preserved over time.
“[Clay mineral-bearing stratigraphies] tend to occur in areas where chemical weathering was favoured over physical erosion, farther from valley network activity and nearer standing bodies of water,” the team wrote in the new study, which was published in the journal Nature Astronomy on June 16.
The findings suggest that intense chemical weathering on Mars may have disrupted the usual balance between weathering and climate.
On Earth, where tectonic activity constantly exposes fresh rock to the atmosphere, carbonate minerals like limestone form when rock reacts with water and carbon dioxide (CO2). This process helps remove CO2 from the air, storing it in solid form and helping regulate the climate over long periods.
On Mars, tectonic activity is non-existent, leading to a lack of carbonate minerals and minimal removal of CO2 from the planet’s thin atmosphere. As a result, CO2 released by Martian volcanoes long ago likely stayed in the atmosphere longer, making the planet warmer and wetter in the past — conditions the team believes may have encouraged the clay’s formation.
The researchers also speculate that the clay could have absorbed water and trapped chemical byproducts like cations, preventing them from spreading and reacting with the surrounding rock to form carbonates that remain trapped and unable to leech into the surrounding environment.
“[The clay is] probably one of many factors that’s contributing to this weird lack of predicted carbonates on Mars,” said Moore.
