Science world

If the coral refuge of the Red Sea can survive local pollution, scientists think these reefs may be the last ones standing on a rapidly warming planet. But that's a giant 'if'. Right now, life during this region is moored to the fate of a 45-year-old tanker, gradually rusting away off the western coast of Yemen, with 1,000,000 barrels of oil in its hold. Neglected by its owners for over five years, this massive old ship – the FSO Safer – represents serious danger, ironically enough. Ever since war broke out on the mainland between Iran-allied Houthi rebels and Saudi-led forces, the state-owned Yemeni company has lost access to its ship, even for repairs, and rebel forces have to this point refused the international organisation an opportunity to intervene. Under the established order, environmental experts warn it's just a matter of your time before all 34 of the Safer's storage tanks sink into the ocean, causing an oil spill fourfold the scale of the Exxon Valdez d...

Thousands of individuals turned their heads to the sky to look at an eclipse that lasted around two minutes on Monday as southern Chile and Argentina were plunged into darkness. Heavy rain had threatened to stop star gazers in Chile from seeing the eclipse but at the last moment, the clouds parted merely enough for the phenomenon to be partially visible. "It was beautiful, unique. the reality is that no-one held much hope of seeing it because of the weather and clouds, but it had been unique because it cleared up just in time. it had been a miracle," an emotional Matias Tordecilla, 18, told AFP within the town of Pucon on the shores of Lake Villarrica. "It's something that you simply don't just see together {with your|along with your} eyes but also feel with your heart," added Tordecilla, who traveled 10 hours along with his family to work out the eclipse. The eclipse seen in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 14 Dec 2020. (Muhammed Emin Canik/Anadolu Agency via AFP...

Scientists may have discovered a large-toothed mammal off the western coast of Mexico that they say looks and sounds unlike anything else on Earth. Researchers collected environmental genetic samples of this strange creature that are still being analyzed, but the images and acoustic recordings have researchers "highly confident" it is a never-before-described species of toothed whale. "We saw something new. Something that was not expected in this area, something that doesn't match, either visually or acoustically, anything that is known to exist," announced Jay Barlow, a marine mammal researcher who worked with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization, during the expedition. "It just sends chills up and down my spine when I think that we might have accomplished what most people would say was truly impossible – finding a large mammal that exists on this earth that is totally unknown to science." A sn...

 Mexican archaeologists said Friday that they had found remains of 119 more people, including women and a number of other children, during a centuries-old Aztec "tower of skulls" within the heart of the capital. The new discovery was announced after an eastern section of the Huei Tzompantli was uncovered along with the outer facade, five years after the northeastern side was found. Archaeologists believe that a lot of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors which the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521. Some of the remains might be of individuals who were killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods, consistent with experts quoted during a statement released by the National Anthropology and History Institute. "Although we cannot determine how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives set aside for sacrificial ceremonies," archaeologist Barrera Rodrigu...

 Feasts are rare on the barren landscape of the ocean depths. So researchers couldn't believe their luck after they chanced on a feeding frenzy of deep-sea sharks chowing down on a fallen swordfish off the US coast in July 2019. But they never imagined they might also capture footage of 1 of these sharks becoming the prey for an additional deep-sea creature. With their rover hovering nearby, a late arrival took advantage of the submersible's shadow. Nobody might blame a wary fish for holding back while ravenous sharks feed, but this heavyweight had plans to show one amongst the diners into its dinner. A video posted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the aftermath of the ambush by a hungry wreckfish. you'll watch it for yourself within the clip below, with shark lunch being served at around 1:42. The action materialized at a depth of about 450 metres (roughly 1,480 ft) near an increase within the seafloor 130 kilometres (80 miles) off the...

 Three years ago, a team of archaeologists within u.  s. proposed a rare idea: the primary human settlers within the Americas received least 100,000 years previous we thought. The evidence came from a set of mastodon bones and ancient stones dating back to around 130,000 years ago, which perceived to are hammered and scraped by early humans.  The remains were found within the suburbs of the point of entry within the 1990s, and therefore the researchers think that the nearby stones may are used as hammers and anvils to figure on the bones. But outside of that, no other traces of human action were found. Today, the Cerutti Mastodon (CM) site remains one of the foremost controversial archaeological digs within the world. For years, scientists are going back and forth over the results and whether or not they indicate the presence of humans in North America 130,000 years ago, but the first authors aren't let go.  The team has now published a follow-up paper that claims to...

  For the primary time, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have formally identified a replacement species of undersea creature-based solely on high-definition video footage captured at the underside of the ocean. And what an undersea creature it's. Meet Duobrachium sparks are – a weird, gelatinous species of ctenophore, encountered by the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer during a dive off the coast of Puerto Rico. That encounter befell back in 2015, but when you're acquisition to discovering an entirely new species – based solely on video evidence, for that matter, with no physical specimens to assist make your case – it helps to try and do your due diligence. Luckily, Deep Discoverer's cameras – the footage of which you'll be able to see here – were up to the work, capable of reading subtle details on D. spark she's body but a millimetre long. Duobrachium sparksae . (NOAA) Subsequent analysis of the organism – ...