What’s a ‘Strombolian eruption’? A volcanologist explains what happened at Mount Etna

Thermal camera images show the eruption and flows of lava down the side of Mount Etna. National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, CC BY

Teresa Ubide, The University of Queensland

On Monday morning local time, a huge cloud of ash, hot gas and rock fragments began spewing from Italy’s Mount Etna.

An enormous plume was seen stretching several kilometres into the sky from the mountain on the island of Sicily, which is the largest active volcano in Europe.

While the blast created an impressive sight, the eruption resulted in no reported injuries or damage and barely even disrupted flights on or off the island. Mount Etna eruptions are commonly described as “Strombolian eruptions” – though as we will see, that may not apply to this event.

What happened at Etna?

The eruption began with an increase of pressure in the hot gases inside the volcano. This led to the partial collapse of part of one of the craters atop Etna.

The collapse allowed what is called a pyroclastic flow: a fast-moving cloud of ash, hot gas and fragments of rock bursting out from inside the volcano.

Thermal camera images show the eruption and flows of lava down the side of Mount Etna. National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, CC BY

Next, lava began to flow in three different directions down the mountainside. These flows are now cooling down. On Monday evening, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology announced the volcanic activity had ended.

Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, so this eruption is reasonably normal.

What is a Strombolian eruption?

Volcanologists classify eruptions by how explosive they are. More explosive eruptions tend to be more dangerous, because they move faster and cover a larger area.

At the mildest end are Hawaiian eruptions. You have probably seen pictures of these: lava flowing sedately down the slope of the volcano. The lava damages whatever it runs into, but it’s a relatively local effect.

As eruptions grow more explosive, they send ash and rock fragments flying further afield.

At the more explosive end of the scale are Plinian eruptions. These include the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, described by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger, which buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under metres of ash.

In a Plinian eruption, hot gas, ash, and rock can explode high enough to reach the stratosphere – and when the eruption column collapses, the debris falls to Earth and can wreak terrifying destruction over a huge area.

What about Strombolian eruptions? These relatively mild eruptions are named after Stromboli, another Italian volcano which belches out a minor eruption every 10 to 20 minutes.

In a Strombolian eruption, chunks of rock and cinders may travel tens or hundreds of metres through the air, but rarely further. The pyroclastic flow from yesterday’s eruption at Etna was rather more explosive than this – so it wasn’t strictly Strombolian.

Can we forecast volcano eruptions?

Volcanic eruptions are a bit like weather. They are very hard to predict in detail, but we are a lot better than we used to be at forecasting them.

To understand what a volcano will do in the future, we first need to know what is happening inside it right now. We can’t look inside directly, but we do have indirect measurements.

For example, before an eruption magma travels from deep inside the Earth up to the surface. On the way, it pushes rocks apart and can generate earthquakes. If we record the vibrations of these quakes, we can track the magma’s journey from the depths.

Rising magma can also make the ground near a volcano bulge upwards very slightly, by a few millimetres or centimetres. We can monitor this bulging, for example with satellites, to gather clues about an upcoming eruption.

Some volcanoes release gas even when they are not strictly erupting. We can measure the chemicals in this gas – and if they change, it can tell us that new magma is on its way to the surface.

When we have this information about what’s happening inside the volcano, we also need to understand its “personality” to know what the information means for future eruptions.

Are volcanic eruptions more common than in the past?

As a volcanologist, I often hear from people that it seems there are more volcanic eruptions now than in the past. This is not the case.

What is happening, I tell them, is that we have better monitoring systems now, and a very active global media system. So we know about more eruptions – and even see photos of them.

Monitoring is extremely important. We are fortunate that many volcanoes in places such as Italy, the United States, Indonesia and New Zealand have excellent monitoring in place.

This monitoring allows local authorities to issue warnings when an eruption is imminent. For a visitor or tourist out to see the spectacular natural wonder of a volcano, listening to these warnings is all-important.The Conversation

Teresa Ubide, ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in Igneous Petrology/Volcanology, The University of Queensland

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Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef faces alarming coral loss following 2024 bleaching


Sydney, (IANS) Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered one of the world's worst coral die-offs, with 92 per cent of surveyed corals lost after the 2024 bleaching event, new research has revealed.

Researchers used drone imagery to assess the Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event in 2024 at Lizard Island, where 96 per cent of corals were bleached and mortality averaged 92 per cent, with some sites losing over 99 per cent of corals, according to a statement released recently by Australia's Griffith University.

"This marks one of the highest coral mortality rates ever documented globally," said the study's lead researcher Vincent Raoult from Griffith University's School of Environment. Raoult described the mortality as "unprecedented," especially given that Lizard Island experienced less heat stress than other parts of the Great Barrier Reef.

Drone technology enabled precise mapping of the widespread bleaching, said Jane Williamson from the Macquarie University in Sydney, also the study's senior author, who stressed the urgent need for climate action, warning that repeated heatwaves could irreversibly damage coral reefs, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lizard Island's reefs remain fragile after years of repeated damage, such as bleaching, cyclones, and Crown-of-Thorns outbreaks, and scientists will monitor them through 2026 for signs of recovery, according to the study published in Coral Reefs, the journal of the International Coral Reef Society.

"Prolonged heat stress throughout the Far Northern and Northern regions of the reef caused widespread bleaching," said the reef snapshot published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, earlier in April.Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that occurs when coral experiencing heat stress expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue and turn completely white. Bleaching is not fatal in itself but bleached coral are more likely to starve and can take a decade or longer to recover. Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef faces alarming coral loss following 2024 bleaching | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
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In 2025, let’s make it game on – not game over – for our precious natural world

It’s just past midnight in the cool, ancient forests of Tasmania. We’ve spent a long day and night surveying endangered Tasmanian devils. All around, small animals scurry through bushes. A devil calls in the darkness. Microbats swoop and swirl as a spotted-tailed quoll slips through the shadows. Working here is spine-tingling and electric.

Weeks later, we’re in a moonlit forest in Victoria. It was logged a few years earlier and burnt by bushfire a few decades before that. The old trees are gone. So too are the quolls, bats and moths that once dwelled in their hollows. Invasive blackberry chokes what remains. The silence is deafening, and devastating.

In our work as field biologists, we often desperately wish we saw a place before it was cleared, logged, burnt or overtaken by invasive species. Other times, we hold back tears as we read about the latest environmental catastrophe, overwhelmed by anger and frustration. Perhaps you know this feeling of grief?

The new year is a chance to reflect on the past and consider future possibilities. Perhaps we’ll sign up to the gym, spend more time with family, or – perish the thought – finally get to the dentist.

But let us also set a New Year’s resolution for nature. Let’s make a personal pledge to care for beetles and butterflies, rainforests and reefs, for ourselves, and for future generations. Because now, more than ever — when the natural world seems to be on the precipice — it’s not too late to be a catalyst for positive change.

A trail of destruction

Our work brings us up close to the beauty of nature. We trek through deserts, stumble through forests and trudge over snowy mountains to study and conserve Australia’s unique wildlife.

But we must also confront devastating destruction. The underlying purpose of our work – trying to save species before it is too late – is almost always heartbreaking. It is a race we cannot always win.

Since Europeans arrived in Australia, much of the country has become severely degraded.

Around 40% of our forests and 99% of grasslands have been cut down and cleared, and much of what remains is under threat. Thousands of ecological communities, plants and animal species are threatened with extinction.

And it seems the news only gets worse. The global average temperature for the past decade is the warmest on record, about 1.2°C above the pre-industrial average. Severe bushfires are more and more likely. Yet Australia’s federal government recently approved four coalmine expansions.

Australia remains a global logging and deforestation hotspot. We have the world’s worst record for mammal extinctions and lead the world in arresting climate and environment protesters.

To top it off, a recent study estimated more than 9,000 native Australian animals, mostly invertebrates, have gone extinct since European arrival. That’s between one and three species every week.

Many will never be formally listed, named or known. Is this how the world ends – not with a bang, but with a silent invertebrate apocalypse?

This destruction provokes ecological grief

The degradation of our environment affects more than distant plants and animals. It resonates deeply with many humans, too.

Ecological grief is an emotional response to environmental degradation and climate change, damaging our mental health and wellbeing. It can manifest as sadness, anxiety, despair or helplessness. Or it might bring a profound sense of guilt that we all, directly or indirectly, contribute to the problems facing the natural world.

Academic research on ecological grief is growing rapidly, but the concept has been around for decades.

In 1949, American writer and philosopher Aldo Leopold – widely considered the father of wildlife ecology and modern conservation – eloquently wrote in his book A Sand County Almanac that:

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.

Ecological grief is certainly a heavy burden. But it can also be a catalyst for change.

Turning grief into action

So how do we unlock the transformative potential of ecological grief?

In our experience, it first helps to share our experience with colleagues, friends and family. It’s important to know others have similar feelings and that we are not alone.

Next, remember that it is not too late to act – passivity is the enemy of positive change. It’s vital to value and protect what remains, and restore what we can.

Taking action doesn’t just help nature, it’s also a powerful way to combat feelings of helplessness and grief. It might involve helping local wildlife, supporting environmental causes, reducing meat consumption, or – perhaps most importantly – lobbying political representatives to demand change.

Lastly, for environmental professionals such as us, celebrating wins – no matter how small – can help buoy us to fight another day.

We are encouraged by our proud memories of helping return the mainland eastern barred bandicoot to the wild. The species was declared extinct on mainland Australia in 2013. After more than three decades of conservation action, it was taken off the “extinct in the wild list” in 2021, a first for an Australian threatened species.

Our work to support mountain pygmy-possum populations after the Black Summer fires helped to ease our grief at the loss of so many forests, as did seeing the end of native forest logging in Victoria a year ago.

So, for our New Year’s resolution, let’s harness our ecological grief to bring about positive change. Let’s renew the fight to return those lost voices, and protect our remaining ancient ecosystems. We can, and must, do better – because so much depends on it.

And maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally get to the dentist.The Conversation

Darcy Watchorn, Threatened Species Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science Department, Zoos Victoria, and Visiting Scholar, School of Life & Environmental Science, Deakin University and Marissa Parrott, Senior Conservation Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, The University of Melbourne

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Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus


PARIS - Playing a monotonous sound stimulates the activity of a fungus that promotes plant growth, a study suggested on Wednesday, raising the potential that playing music could be good for crops and gardens.

Whether or not blasting Mozart could help plants grow has long been a matter of scientific debate. The US TV show "MythBusters" even tested it out, finding that plants exposed to death metal and classical music grew a little better than those left in silence, but deeming the results inconclusive.

However, with the plant world facing a raft of human-driven challenges -- including erosion, deforestation, pollution and a burgeoning extinction crisis -- the future of the world's biodiversity and crops are increasingly feared to be under threat.

According to the new study in the journal Biology Letters, "the role of acoustic stimulation in fostering ecosystem recovery and sustainable food systems remains under-explored".

Based on previous work that exposed E. coli bacteria to sound waves, the team of Australian researchers set out to assess the effect sound has on the growth rate and spore production of the fungus Trichoderma harzianum.

This fungus is often used in organic farming for its ability to protect plants from pathogens, improve nutrients in the soil and promote growth.

The researchers built little sound booths to house petri dishes full of fungi.

Instead of pop bangers, they were played "Tinnitus Flosser Masker at 8 kHz". This was the audio from one of many white noise videos on YouTube which are intended to relieve tinnitus or help babies fall asleep.

"Think of the sound of an old-school radio in between channels," lead study author Jake Robinson of Flinders University told AFP.


"We chose this monotone for controlled, experimental reasons, but it might be that a more diverse or natural soundscape is better," he said.

"This needs further research."

AFP/File | JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN

- Sound garden -

The petri dishes were played this sound at a level of 80 decibels for half an hour a day.

After five days, the growth and spore production were higher in the fungi that were played the sound, compared to those that sat in silence.

While far from definitive, the researchers suggested some potential reasons this could happen.

The acoustic wave could be converted into a fungi-stimulating electrical charge under what is known as the piezoelectric effect.

Another theory involves tiny receptors on the membranes of the fungi called mechanoreceptors.

These are comparable to the thousands of mechanoreceptors on human skin that play a role in our sense of touch -- which involves reacting to pressure or vibration.

"It might be that sound waves stimulate these mechanoreceptors in the fungi, which then trigger a cascade of biochemical events that lead to genes being switched on or off -- for instance, the kind of genes responsible for growth," Robinson said.

"Our preliminary research suggests the fungi respond to the sound, but we don't know yet if this benefits the plants. So, this is the next step," he added.

"Can we influence soil or plant microbial communities as a whole? Can we speed up the soil restoration process by stimulating the earth with natural soundscapes? What impact might this have on the soil fauna?" he asked.

"There are many important questions to keep us busy."by Bénédicte Rey Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus
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Allowing forests to regrow and regenerate is a great way to restore habitat

Queensland is widely known as the land clearing capital of Australia. But what’s not so well known is many of the cleared trees can grow back naturally.

The latest state government figures show regrowth across more than 7.6 million hectares in Queensland in 2020-21. These trees, though young, still provide valuable habitat for many threatened species – as long as they’re not bulldozed again.

Our new research explored the benefits of regrowth for 30 threatened animal species in Queensland. We found regrown forests and woodlands provided valuable habitat and food for species after an average of 15 years. Some species were likely to benefit from trees as young as three years.

This presents an opportunity for governments to support landowners and encourage them to retain more regrowing forest and woodland, especially where it can provide much-needed habitat for wildlife. But it’s a challenge because there is strong pressure to clear regrowth, largely to maintain pasture.

When do young forests and woodlands become valuable habitat?

We focused on threatened animal species that depend on forests and woodlands, and occur in regions with substantial regrowth.

We wanted to find out which species use regrowth, and how old the trees need to be. But there’s not much survey data available on threatened species living in naturally regenerated forest and woodlands.

To elicit this information we asked almost 50 experts to complete a detailed questionnaire and attend a workshop.

We found 15 years was the average minimum age at which regrowth became useful to threatened species. But the full range was 3-68 years, depending on factors such as what a species eats, how it moves through the landscape and whether it needs tree hollows for shelter or breeding.

For example, one threatened bird (the squatter pigeon) could use woodlands as young as three years old. Koalas benefited from regrowth as young as nine years old.

Some species, such as the greater glider, need much older forests. This is because they require large tree hollows to shelter in during the day, and large trees to feed on and move between at night.

So young forests shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to protecting old forests. We need both.

Understanding the extent of habitat loss

We also estimated the proportion of each species’ current habitat that comprises regrowth, using satellite data and publicly available data.

For some species, we found regrowth made up almost a third of their potential habitat in Queensland. On average, it was 18%.

However, nearly three-quarters of the habitat lost in Queensland since 2018 was regrowth forests and woodlands. So while the loss of older, “remnant” vegetation is more damaging per unit area, the regrowth habitat is being lost on a bigger scale.

Our research suggests retaining more regrowth could be an easy and cost-effective way to help save threatened species.

In contrast, tree planting is time-consuming and expensive. What’s more, only 10% of our native plants are readily available as seeds for sale. This, combined with more extreme weather such as prolonged droughts, often causes restoration projects to fail.

Encouraging landholders to retain regrowth

The fact that habitat can regrow naturally in parts of Queensland is a huge bonus. But farmers also need to maintain productivity, which can decrease if there’s too much regrowth.

So, how do we help these landowners retain more regrowth?

One way is to provide incentives. For example, government-funded biodiversity stewardship schemes provide payments to cover the costs of managing the vegetation – such as fencing off habitat and managing weeds – as well as compensation for loss of agricultural production. Targeting areas of regrowth with high habitat values could be a way for such schemes to benefit wildlife.

Alternatively, market-based schemes allow landowners to generate biodiversity or carbon “credits” by keeping more trees on their property. Then, businesses (or governments) buy these credits. For example, some big emitters in Australia have to purchase carbon credits to “offset” their own emissions.

However, Australia’s carbon market has been accused of issuing “low integrity” carbon credits. This means the carbon credits were paid for projects that may not have captured and stored the amount of carbon they were supposed to. To make sure these markets work, robust methods are needed – and until now, there hasn’t been one that worked to retain regrowth.

Trees are good for the land, air and sea

In February, the Queensland government released a method by which landholders could generate carbon credits by agreeing not to clear their regrowing woodlands and forests.

The new carbon method provides a promising opportunity to allow landowners to diversify their farm income.

In addition, tree cover brings direct, on-farm benefits such as more shade and shelter for livestock, natural pest control and better soil health.

At a landscape level, greater tree cover can improve local climate regulation, reduce sediment run-off to the Great Barrier Reef and reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.

Ideally, Australia’s carbon and biodiversity markets would work alongside sufficient government funding for nature recovery, which needs to increase to at least 1% (currently it’s around 0.1%).

Meanwhile, our research has shown embracing natural regeneration potential in Queensland will have benefits for a range of threatened species too.

We acknowledge our research coauthors, Jeremy Simmonds (2rog Consulting), Michelle Ward (Griffith University) and Teresa Eyre (Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation).The Conversation

Hannah Thomas, PhD candidate in Environmental Policy, The University of Queensland and Martine Maron, Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland

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Witness the Glory of the 2024 European Tree of the Year – Growing in Poland for 200 Years

credit – Marcin Kopij

In this year’s edition of the European Tree of the Year contest, the leafy crown was bestowed upon a common beech in the botanical gardens of the University of Wroclaw.

Thought to be 200 years old, The Heart of the Garden is the third Polish tree in a row to win, following up on the Oak Fabrykant with its outrageous 60-foot-long digit in 2023, and the 400-year-old Oak Dunin outside the Białowieża Primeval Forest, in 2022.

“Its majestic appearance impresses us with its unusually shaped and thick trunk, widely spread branches, and purple-colored leaves that shine beautifully in the sun,” the contest organizers wrote.

Known in the UK as a “copper beech” all beech trees seem to have the genetic potential to be purple, though exactly what causes it to happen is unknown. The naturally occurring mutation appears spontaneously, without human interference, and is most commonly seen in either saplings or old trees.

The Heart of the Garden is certainly old, and what a wonderful confluence of character that it should have been grown as the centerpiece in the arboretum, and be 200 years old, and have a copper beech mutation.

The Fagus genus took silver as well, with The Weeping Beech of Bayeux, in France. Popular for its immense weeping canopy and massive twisted branches probably related to whatever genetic mutation is responsible for Verzy’s faux trees, it’s a perfect romantic spot for celebrations and weddings.

Spreading over 120 feet, or 40 meters in width today, the city had to keep on perfecting an incredible supporting structure for the last 100 years.

Held every year, the European Tree of the Year contest is a delightful opportunity for tree photographers to showcase their skills, for nature lovers to connect with the continent’s wild heritage, and for residents to celebrate the old or interesting trees in their area.

Ongoing since 2011, it grew from a similar contest held in Czechia, and as a result, East-Central Europe boasts the largest number of finalists.(CORRECTION: An earlier version described the 200 year old tree as 2,000 years old.) Witness the Glory of the 2024 European Tree of the Year – Growing in Poland for 200 Years
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Earthquake footage shows Turkey’s buildings collapsing like pancakes. An expert explains why


A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced.

The first quake, near Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as the UK. The second occurred nine hours later, on what appears to be an intersecting fault, registering a magnitude of 7.5.

Adding to the devastation, some 3,450 buildings have collapsed, according to the Turkish government. Many of the modern buildings have failed in a “pancake mode” of structural collapse.

Why did this happen? Was it simply the enormous magnitude and violence of the quake, or is the problem with the buildings?

Thousands of years of earthquakes

Earthquakes are common in Turkey, which sits in a very seismically active region where three tectonic plates constantly grind against one another beneath Earth’s surface. Historical records of earthquakes in the region go back at least 2,000 years, to a quake in 17 CE that levelled a dozen towns.

The East Anatolian Fault zone that hosted these earthquakes is at the boundary between the Arabian and Anatolian tectonic plates, which move past each other at approximately 6 to 10 mm per year. The elastic strain that accumulates in this plate boundary zone is released by intermittent earthquakes, which have occurred for millions of years. The recent earthquakes are thus not a surprise.

Despite this well-known seismic hazard, the region contains a lot of vulnerable infrastructure.

Over the past 2,000 years we have learnt a lot about how to construct buildings that can withstand the shaking from even severe earthquakes. However, in reality, there are many factors that influence building construction practices in this region and others worldwide.

Poor construction is a known problem

Many of the collapsed buildings appear to have been built from concrete without adequate seismic reinforcement. Seismic building codes in this region suggest these buildings should be able to sustain strong earthquakes (where the ground accelerates by 30% to 40% of the normal gravity) without incurring this type of complete failure.

The 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes appear to have caused shaking in the range of 20 to 50% of gravity. A proportion of these buildings thus failed at shaking intensities lower than the “design code”.

There are well-known problems in Turkey and elsewhere with ensuring safe building construction and adherence to seismic building codes. Similar building collapses have been seen in past earthquakes in Turkey.  

In 1999, a huge quake near Izmit saw some 17,000 people dead and as many as 20,000 buildings collapse.

After a quake in 2011 in which hundreds of people died, Turkey’s then prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, blamed shoddy construction for the high death toll, saying: “Municipalities, constructors and supervisors should now see that their negligence amounts to murder.”
Reconstruction

Even though Turkish authorities know many buildings are unsafe in earthquakes, it is still a difficult problem to solve. Many of the buildings are already built, and seismic retrofitting may be expensive or not considered a priority compared to other socio-economic challenges.

However, reconstruction after the quake may present an opportunity to rebuild more safely. In 2019, Turkey adopted new regulations to ensure buildings are better equipped to handle shaking.

While the new rules are welcome, it remains to be seen whether they will lead to genuine improvements in building quality.

In addition to substantive loss of life and infrastructure damage, both earthquakes are likely to have caused a myriad of environmental effects, such as ruptured ground surfaces, liquified soil, and landslides. These effects may render many areas unsafe to rebuild on – so reconstruction efforts should also include planning decisions about what can be built where, to lower future risks.

For now, aftershocks continue to shake the region, and search and rescue efforts continue. Once the dust settles, reconstruction will begin – but will we see stronger buildings, able to withstand the next quake, or more of the same?

Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Earth had enough oxygen before animals appeared

Washington: It's a known fact that oxygen is crucial for the existence of animals on Earth, but did you know that an increase in oxygen level did not apparently lead to the evolution of the first animals. A new research conducted by the University of Southern Denmark showed that 1.4 billion years ago there was enough oxygen for animals and yet over 800 million years went by before the first animals appeared on Earth. Animals evolved by about 600 million years ago, which was late in Earth's history. The late evolution of animals and the fact that oxygen is central for animal respiration, has led to the widely promoted idea that animal evolution corresponded with a late a rise in atmospheric oxygen concentrations. Researchers Emma Hammarlund and Don Canfield said that their study indicates that sufficient oxygen in itself does not seem to be enough for animals to rise. Their analyses revealed that a deep ocean 1.4 billion years ago contained at least 4 per cent of modern oxygen concentrations. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. — ANI. Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
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Volcanoes sparked 'Jurassic ice age'

Washington DC
Around 170 million years ago, our world faced an ice-age and now, the scientists are trying to explore the causes behind it. The international team of experts, including researchers from the Camborne School of Mines, has found evidence of a large and abrupt cooling of the Earth's temperature during the Jurassic Period, which lasted millions of years. The scientists found that the cooling coincided with a large-scale volcanic event, called the North Sea Dome, which restricted the flow of ocean water and the associated heat that it carried from the equator towards the North Pole region. The team suggest that it is this volcanic event, preventing the ocean flow, rather than a change in CO2 in the atmosphere (which causes today's climate change), that led to an extended Ice age in a period more synonymous with very warm conditions. Geology expert Stephen Hesselbo said that they tend to think of the Jurassic as a warm 'greenhouse' world where high temperatures were governed by high atmospheric carbon dioxide contents, adding that this study suggests that re-organization of oceanic current patterns may also have triggered large scale climate changes. Hesselbo further noted that though the occurrence of cold periods during greenhouse times have been known for a while, their origins have remained mysterious. This work suggests a mechanism at play that may also have been important for driving other climate change events in the Jurassic and at other times in Earth history. The research appears in Nature Communications. —ANI. Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/
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New Understanding of How Shape and Form Develop In Nature

Morphogenesis: Credit: Stoyan Smoukov
Researchers have developed a new method for generating complex shapes, and have found that the development of form in nature can be driven by the physical properties of materials themselves, in contrast with earlier findings. The results, reported in the journal Nature, could enable the construction of complex structures from simple components, with potential applications in pharmaceuticals, paints, cosmetics and household products such as shampoo. Using a simple set-up -- essentially droplets of oil in a soapy water solution which were slowly frozen -- the researchers found that recently-discovered 'plastic crystal' phases formed on the inside surfaces of the droplets cause them to shape-shift into a wide variety of forms, from octahedrons and hexagons to triangles and fibres. Previous efforts to create such complex shapes and structures have used top-down processing methods, which allow a high degree of control, but are not efficient in terms of the amount of material used or the expensive equipment necessary to make the shapes. The new method, developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Sofia University in Bulgaria, uses a highly efficient, extremely simple bottom-up approach to create complex shapes. "There are many ways that non-biological things take shape," said Dr Stoyan Smoukov from Cambridge's Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, who led the research. "But the question is what drives the process and how to control it -- and what are the links between the process in the biological and the non-biological world?" Smoukov's research proposes a possible answer to the question of what drives this process, called morphogenesis. In animals, morphogenesis controls the distribution of cells during embryonic development, and can also be seen in mature animals, such as in a growing tumour. In the 1950s, the codebreaker and mathematician Alan Turing proposed that morphogenesis is driven by reaction-diffusion, in which local chemical reactions cause a substance to spread through a space. More recent research, from Smoukov's group and others, has proposed that it is physical properties of materials that control the process. This possibility had been anticipated by Turing, but it was impossible to determine using the computers of the time. What this most recent research has found is that by slowly freezing oil droplets in a soapy solution, the droplets will shape-shift through a variety of different forms, and can shift back to their original shape if the solution is re-warmed. Further observation found that this process is driven by the self-assembly of a plastic crystal phase which forms beneath the surface of the droplets. "Plastic crystals are a special state of matter that is like the alter ego of the liquid crystals used in many TV screens," said Smoukov. Both liquid crystals and plastic crystals can be thought of as transitional stages between liquid and solid. While liquid crystals point their molecules in defined directions like a crystal, they have no long-range order and flow like a liquid. Plastic crystals are wax-like with long-range order in their molecular arrangement, but disorder in the orientation of each molecule. The orientational disorder makes plastic crystals highly deformable, and as they change shape, the droplets change shape along with them. "This plastic crystal phase seems to be what's causing the droplets to change shape, or break their symmetry," said Smoukov. "And in order to understand morphogenesis, it's vital that we understand what causes symmetry breaking." The researchers found that by altering the size of the droplets they started with or the rate that the temperature of the soapy solution was lowered, they were able to control the sequence of the shapes the droplets ended up forming. This degree of control could be useful for multiple applications -- from pharmaceuticals to household goods -- that use small-droplet emulsions. "The plastic crystal phase has been of intense scientific interest recently, but no one so far has been able to harness it to exert forces or show this variety of shape-changes," said the paper's lead author Professor Nikolai Denkov of Sofia University, who first proposed the general explanation of the observed transformations. "The phenomenon is so rich in combining several active areas of research that this study may open up new avenues for research in soft matter and materials science," said co-author Professor Slavka Tcholakova, also of Sofia University. "If we're going to build artificial structures with the same sort of control and complexity as biological systems, we need to develop efficient bottom-up processes to create building blocks of various shapes, which can then be used to make more complicated structures," said Smoukov. "But it's curious to observe such life-like behaviour in a non-living thing - in many cases, artificial objects can look more 'alive' than living ones." Contacts and sources: Sarah Collins, University of Cambridge, Citation: Denkov, Nikolai et. al. 'Self-Shaping of Droplets via Formation of Intermediate Rotator Phases upon Cooling.' Nature (2015). DOI: 10.1038/nature16189. Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/
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Himalayas were born 47 mn years ago

Sydney/Washington: An international team of scientists has discovered the first oceanic microplate in the Indian Ocean— identifying when the initial collision between India and Eurasia occurred leading to the birth of the Himalayas. The team of Australian and US scientists believe the collision occurred 47 million years ago when India and Eurasia initially smashed into each other. Although there are at least seven microplates known in the Pacific Ocean, this is the first ancient Indian Ocean microplate to be discovered. "The age of the largest continental collision on Earth has long been controversial. Knowing this age is particularly important for understanding the link between the growth of mountain belts and major climate change," said lead author Dr Kara Matthews from University of Sydney's school of geosciences. Radar beam images from an orbiting satellite have helped put together pieces of this plate tectonic jigsaw and pinpointed the age for the collision, whose precise date has divided scientists for decades. The new research shows that 50 million years ago, India was travelling northwards at speeds of some 15 cm a year — close to the plate tectonic speed limit. Soon after, it slammed into Eurasia crustal stresses along the mid-ocean ridge between India and Antarctica intensified to breaking point. The crustal stresses caused by the initial collision cracked the Antarctic Plate far away from the collisional zone and broke off a fragment the size of Australia's Tasmania in a remote patch of the central Indian Ocean. "Dating this collision requires looking at a complex set of data but we have added a new observation which has not been previously used to unravel the birth of this collision," explained professor Dietmar Muller in a statement from University of Sydney. The authors, including professor David Sandwell from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US, have named the ancient Indian microplate as the Mammerickx Microplate — after Dr Jacqueline Mammerickx, a pioneer in seafloor mapping. The ongoing tectonic collision between the two continents produces geological stresses that build up along the Himalayas and leads to numerous earthquakes every year. According to professor Sandwell, humans had explored and mapped remote lands extensively but the same was not true for our ocean basins. "We have more detailed maps of Pluto than we do of most of our own planet because about 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water," Sandwell added. The advances in comparatively low-cost satellite technology are the key to charting the deep, relatively unknown abyssal plains, at the bottom of the ocean, he pointed out. The paper was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. — IANS. Source: Article
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Venus flytrap


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The Venus flytrap (also Venus's flytrap or Venus' flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids— with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value. Dionaea is a monotypic genus closely related to the waterwheel plant and sundews, all of which belong to the family Droseraceae. Description: The Venus flytrap is a small plant whose structure can be described as a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each stem reaches a maximum size of about
three to ten centimeters, depending on the time of year, longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than 7 leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground. Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine byWilliam Curtis (1746–1799) The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, heart-shaped photosynthesis-capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is the true leaf. The upper surface of these lobes contains red anthocyanin pigments and its edges secrete mucilage. The lobes exhibit rapid plant movements, snapping shut when stimulated by prey. The trapping mechanism is tripped when prey contacts one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found on the upper surface of each of the lobes. The trapping mechanism is so specialized that it can distinguish between living prey and non-prey stimuli such as falling raindrops; two trigger hairs must be touched in succession within 20 seconds of each other or one hair touched twice in rapid succession, whereupon the lobes of the trap will snap shut in about one-tenth of a second. The edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and prevent large prey from escaping. (These protrusions, and the trigger hairs, also known as sensitive hairs, are probablyhomologous with the tentacles found in this plant’s close relatives, the sundews.) Scientists have concluded that the Venus flytrap is closely related to Drosera (sundews), and that the snap trap evolved
from a fly-paper trap similar to that of Drosera. The holes in the meshwork allow small prey to escape, presumably because the benefit that would be obtained from them would be less than the cost of digesting them. If the prey is too small and escapes, the trap will reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap, it tightens and digestion begins more quickly. Speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and general growing conditions. The speed with which traps close can be used as an indicator of a plant's general health. Venus flytraps are not as humidity-dependent as are some other carnivorous plants, such as Nepenthes, Cephalotus, most Heliamphora, and some Drosera. The Venus flytrap exhibits variations in petiole shape and length and whether the leaf lies flat on the ground or extends up at an angle of about 40–60 degrees. The four major forms are: 'typica', the most common, with broad decumbent petioles; 'erecta', with leaves at a 45-degree angle; 'linearis', with narrow petioles and leaves at 45 degrees; and 'filiformis', with extremely narrow or linear petioles. Except for 'filiformis', all of these can be stages in leaf production of any plant depending on season (decumbent in summer versus short versus semi-erect in spring), length of photoperiod (long petioles in spring versus short in summer), and intensity of light (wide petioles in low light intensity versus narrow in brighter light). When grown from seed, plants take around four to five years to reach maturity and will live for 20 to 30 years if cultivated in the right conditions. Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_flytrap, Open images in browser to find its source of sharing.
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The Legend of Man eating tree of Madagaskar


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In 1881 a magazine called the South Australian Register ran a story by a traveler called Carle Liche. He tells us that while travelling through Madagascar, he was horrified to watch the native Mdoko tribe sacrifice a woman to a man-eating tree. He stated that the , a young girls is forced to drink the liquid from the tree. Then she is compelled to get up into the middle of the tree. The leaves raise slowly and completely hide the girl. The tree's tendrils took the woman by the neck and strangled her, before apparently engulfing the body. As her screams fade, the leaves rise until she is visible no more. Upon returning to the site ten days later, Liche finds nothing but a grinning skull within the plants’ now-lowered leaves. The story of the Man-Eating Tree of Madagascar is one of the great tall tales of the colonial era. It first appeared in the South Australian Registar, apparently having been written by Liche himself. It was repeated in several books thereafter. In central America, reports of a similar tree called the Ya-Te-Veo appeared around 1887.In his 1924 book "Madagascar, land of the man-eating tree" former Michigan Governor Chase Osborn recounted Liche's tale, and mentioned that missionaries and locals in Madagascar all knew of the deadly tree. The tree, is described as similar to a colossal pineapple. It is about eight feet tall and six feet around the base. It has long tendrils, which reach upward, each about as thick as the arm of a man. The leaves are large and concave, and are lined with "claws". From the tree comes an intoxicating liquid, which the natives drink.Tribes seem to worship it, giving it young girls as sacrifice. It is said to take the lives of young girls rather than men. When the sacrifice begins, a young girls is forced to drink the liquid from the tree. Then she is compelled to get up into the middle of the tree. The leaves raise slowly and completely hide the girl. The pressure of the tendrils and leaves is like a vise and it is said the body of the girl is crushed. Only the bones of the victim are found. Unfortunately, Liche's accounts may have been an exaggeration, as both the Mdoko tribe nor the man-eating tree have ever been found anywhere on the island of Madagascar. Researchers who investigated this case in the 20th century found no evidence to prove Liche’s story . They guessed that the idea of man-eating plants might have come from carnivorous plant or "meat-eating" trees that rather trap animals, mostly insects, and take the nutrients out of the unfortunate victim's body. As Madagascar is at this time a still heavily-forested country that remains alien to outsiders and most of its part is still kept under the wraps. So, we can hope in near future we will come to know about the reality behind this fact. Source: Article
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Top 9 Most Dangerous Birds

When you think about birds, you probably think of small, cute animals flying through the air, swooping down to reach their nest. Maybe you think of those “pretty” song birds in the morning. I, personally find them annoying. In any case, the image of a bird generally doesn’t produce anything terrifying. However, not all birds are cute, and not all of them are nice, so to speak. There are hundreds of birds that could attack a human, and do a lot of damage. Here is a list of nine most dangerous bird.

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1. Cassowaries Cassowaries, an endangered species, are large, flightless birds that live in the rainforests, woodlands and swamps of Australia. Cassowaries are unpredictable, aggressive and are known to kick up their large, clawed feet. Their kicks are capable of breaking bones, and their claws have been likened to daggers.

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2. Ostriches:  Ostriches are suspicious, skittish and can be dangerous. They're the largest living bird (they can reach over 9 feet tall and 350 pounds) and they can outrun you (a steady 30 miles an hour for 10 miles straight). Like the cassowary, they have strong legs (their kick can kill a hyena) and sharp claws.

3. Canada Geese: Canada geese are very aggressive and, particularly if you (purposely or inadvertently) come near their nests or young, they may chase you away and even bite you.

4. Seagulls: Seagulls are extremely aggressive and are known to attack and even peck at people's heads to protect their nests and young. In fact, in Britain people have been forced to carry umbrellas to avoid the attacks, at least one woman was taken to an emergency room with deep beak wounds to her head, and a pet dog was killed by the birds.

5. Owls: Owls are raptors, or birds of prey, and they use their talons and beaks to kill and eat their catch. In a closed space, or if the bird was scared or agitated, it could cause serious harm to you. 

Hawk And Falcon
6. Hawks and Falcons: Also birds of prey, the sharp talons and beaks that hawks and falcons use to hunt, along with their quick speed and agility, pose serious dangers to humans, even if the birds are just babies (falcons' beaks are also specially configured to cut through the spinal cords of their prey).

7. Eagles:  Eagles are strong (strong enough to carry away something that weighs four pounds), aggressive birds, and although they don't pose much of a danger to humans in the wild, in a closed space their beak and talons could easily harm a human. (FYI, they can eat about a pound of fish in just four minutes.)

8. Vultures:  If cornered, a vulture (many species of which are now endangered) may hiss or make a low grunting sound at you. They, of course, also have sharp, hooked beaks that can tear meat, along with excellent eyesight.

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9. Rheas: The rhea, native to South America, is a large, flightless bird that can grow to be 60-80 pounds. Though smaller than ostriches and not as aggressive as cassowaries, rheas have heavily muscled legs, hard spurs on their feet and their kicks can bring a force of 800 pounds per square inch. Source: Article
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Tendulkar bats for green energy

Gurgaon, July 26, (IANS) Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar Friday advised his fans not to waste natural resources and double up efforts to save the environment. Tendulkar was in the city to launch Toshiba's environment conservation initiative 'Bat for the Planet'. "We should save our natural resources by taking small steps on our behalf because the change cannot happen overnight. As we keep ourselves healthy, we should keep our earth healthy. In the dressing room after a good performance on the field, we are asked to double up the good performance likewise we should double up our efforts to save environment," Tendulkar said. The master blaster distributed prizes to the winners of a painting competition, which had a theme based on various environmental issues, for children from 40 different schools. "The kids are very creative and aware of the energy problem. We will raise money for under privileged children by auctioning the painting," Tendulkar said. Source: News Track India, Image: flickr.com
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Gold Grows In Trees In Australia, Leaves Rich In Little Gold Nuggest

Eucalyptus trees in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia are drawing up gold particles from the earth via their root system and depositing it their leaves and branches. Scientists from CSIRO made the discovery and have published their findings in the journal Nature Communications. "The eucalypt acts as a hydraulic pump – its roots extend tens of metres into the ground and draw up water containing the gold. As the gold is likely to be toxic to the plant, it’s moved to the leaves and branches where it can be released or shed to the ground," CSIRO geochemist Dr Mel Lintern said. The discovery is unlikely to start an old-time gold rush – the "nuggets" are about one-fifth the diameter of a human hair. However, it could provide a golden opportunity for mineral exploration, as the leaves or soil underneath the trees could indicate gold ore deposits buried up to tens of metres underground and under sediments that are up to 60 million years old. "The leaves could be used in combination with other tools as a more cost effective and environmentally friendly exploration technique," Dr Lintern said. "By sampling and analysing vegetation for traces of minerals, we may get an idea of what’s happening below the surface without the need to drill. It’s a more targeted way of searching for minerals that reduces costs and impact on the environment. Gum leaf samples showing traces of manganese. "Eucalyptus trees are so common that this technique could be widely applied across Australia. It could also be used to find other metals such as zinc and copper." Using CSIRO’s Maia detector for x-ray elemental imaging at the Australian Synchrotron, the research team was able to locate and see the gold in the leaves. The Synchrotron produced images depicting the gold, which would otherwise have been untraceable. "Our advanced x-ray imaging enabled the researchers to examine the leaves and produce clear images of the traces of gold and other metals, nestled within their structure," principal scientist at the Australian Synchrotron Dr David Paterson said. "Before enthusiasts rush to prospect this gold from the trees or even the leaf litter, you need to know that these are tiny nuggets, which are about one-fifth the diameter of a human hair and generally invisible by other techniques and equipment." CSIRO research using natural materials, such as calcrete and laterite in soils, for mineral exploration has led to many successful ore deposit discoveries in regional Australia. The outcomes of the research provide a direct boost to the national economy. Access the full paper at Nature Communications [external link], Contacts and sources: Emily Lehmann, CSIRO Australia, Source: Nano Patents And Innovations
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