‘Cryosphere meltdown’ will impact Arctic marine carbon cycles and ecosystems, new study warns

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

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Global warming may weaken Arctic fjords' ability to store carbon. This is Kings Bay in Svalbard.

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Credit: Till Bruckner / UiT

A new study led by Jochen Knies from the iC3 Polar Research Hub has found worrying signs that climate change may be undermining the capacity of Arctic fjords to serve as effective carbon sinks. The findings suggest that the capacity of polar oceans to remove carbon from the atmosphere may be reduced as the world continues to heat up.

Jochen and his collaborators discovered that rapid changes in the Arctic are transforming vibrant fjord ecosystems like Kongsfjorden in Svalbard. Their findings document not only a shift in phytoplankton communities due to melting ice but also a worrying decline in the capacity of these fjords to sequester carbon.

The Hidden World of Phytoplankton

At the foundation of Arctic food webs lies phytoplankton—tiny, microscopic heroes of our oceans. These organisms are not just food for fish. They play a pivotal role in carbon cycling and climate regulation. As the ice retreats, sunlight reaches more of the ocean surface, encouraging phytoplankton to thrive. Imagine a feast of life emerging from the depths, with fish and marine animals gathering around this newfound abundance.

Jochen Knies, lead author of the study, highlights this dynamic: “The changes we observe suggest that the future of these fjord ecosystems will depend heavily on how well they adapt to a warmer climate.”

Balancing Growth and Sustainability in a Warming Climate

Warmer waters can enhance phytoplankton growth during sunlit summers, presenting an initial opportunity for increased productivity. However, as the waters become stratified, essential nutrients become harder to access, leading to a double-edged sword: while we may see a rise in phytoplankton biomass, the efficiency of carbon capture could decline.

Jochen emphasizes this critical point: “While we anticipate greater primary production, the reality is that warmer, stratified waters could hinder the fjords' ability to serve as effective carbon sinks.”

Furthermore, the influx of glacial meltwater, like a lifeline for marine life, plays a vital role in reshaping the nutrient landscape of these fjords. As glaciers disappear, this nutrient supply becomes unpredictable, raising concerns about the long-term health of these ecosystems. Without a steady flow of nutrients, the ecological balance may be disrupted, potentially impacting the food web and overall productivity of the fjords.

Looking Ahead: The Arctic as a Climate Barometer

The Arctic acts as a vital indicator of global climate change. The world’s focus is drawn to these melting ice caps not just for their beauty, but because they hold significant lessons about our shared future. “The future of Arctic fjords reflects the broader climate challenges we face globally,” Jochen warns.

Global warming may weaken Arctic fjords' ability to store carbon. This is Kings Bay in Svalbard.

Credit

Till Bruckner / UiT

Dr Jochen Knies, Researcher and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Geosciences at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Credit

Clea Fabian / NGU

Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

Article Title

Arctic fjord ecosystem adaptation to cryosphere meltdown over the past 14,000 years

Article Publication Date

25-Apr-2025

The World’s Oldest Known Ant Is A 113-Million-Year-Old Hell Ant with Scythe Jaws

A remarkable find for ant history was made, not in the field but in a drawer.

byTibi Puiu
April 24, 2025
Edited and reviewed by Zoe Gordon

ZME Science 

A paleoartistic reconstruction of the new species, based on the fossil and on a close relative species found in amber from Myanmar. Credit: Diego M. Matielo

One of the most intriguing discoveries in entomology was just made — not in the field, but in a drawer.

Anderson Lepeco, an entomologist at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, had been combing through slabs of ancient rock in a collection from a little-known fossil site in northeastern Brazil when he saw something strange: a faint outline that reminded him of something. It wasn’t a cockroach or a cricket, the usual fare in this collection. It was something else. “When I started to look at it and compared to the fossils in Myanmar, I was just shocked,” he said. “I was very, very excited, I was jumping through the lab.”

What he found was not just any insect. It was the oldest ant ever discovered — preserved for 113 million years in limestone. And not just any ant, either. It was a hell ant.

A Predator From the Cretaceous

Haidomyrmecinae fossil. Credit: Anderson Lepeco

Hell ants, known to scientists as members of the now-extinct subfamily Haidomyrmecinae, are unlike anything alive today. Their jaws didn’t swing sideways like modern ants. Instead, they arched upward like scythes, snapping shut in a vertical motion to pin or impale prey. Such an evolutionary strategy hasn’t been seen in any other insect before or since.

The fossil, now named Vulcanidris cratensis, is a female and was likely a queen. Its name honors the Vulcano family, who donated the rock deposits from the Crato Formation to the museum. The suffix “-idris” is often used in ant taxonomy and means “the provident one.”

Using micro-computed tomography (a kind of 3D X-ray scan), Lepeco’s team peered into the stone without having to pry anything open. What they found astonished them: mouthparts so intricately specialized they rival those of any modern predator. “While we expected to find hell ant features, we were shocked by the characteristics of its feeding apparatus,” said Lepeco.CT-Scan reconstruction of the hell ant fossil. Credit: Odair M. Meira

“Finding such an anatomically specialized ant from 113 million years ago challenges our assumptions about how quickly these insects developed complex adaptations. The intricate morphology suggests that even these earliest ants had already evolved sophisticated predatory strategies significantly different from their modern counterparts,” the researchers noted.

A New Timeline of Ant Evolution

Previously, the oldest known ants came from amber in France and Myanmar, dating back about 100 million years. This new specimen pushes that date back by 13 million years. More importantly, it’s the first time a hell ant has been found preserved in rock, rather than amber.

That matters. Amber tends to preserve animals that lived in or near forests, where tree resin could entrap them. Rock fossils, by contrast, can preserve species from a wider range of environments. The Crato Formation, where Vulcanidris was found, is a renowned fossil bed that once sat in the heart of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.

“Vulcanidris offers the first undisputed evidence of ants in South America during the Cretaceous,” Corentin Jouault, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford not involved in the research, told the Washington Post. “This is a watershed moment in paleomyrmecology, reviving confidence in the potential of Cretaceous Gondwanan fossil sites to inform early ant history.”

In evolutionary terms, this suggests that ants had already spread widely across the planet by the mid-Cretaceous, well before flowering plants became dominant and before dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex even existed.

But the fossil does more than shift the timeline. It suggests ants evolved complex biological machinery earlier than we thought. Hell ants might have been among the first ants to diverge from their common ancestor. The first ants are thought to have appeared sometime between the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods.

“Finding such an anatomically specialized ant from 113 million years ago challenges our assumptions about how quickly these insects developed complex adaptations,” Lepeco explained. “The intricate morphology suggests that even these earliest ants had already evolved sophisticated predatory strategies significantly different from their modern counterparts.”

What We Still Don’t Know

The fossil is a queen, which hints at some kind of social structure, but it’s unclear if Vulcanidris lived in colonies like modern ants. “Here in this very early ant, only a queen-like specimen was found,” said Adria LeBoeuf, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge. “Will we eventually find workers? Maybe yes, but perhaps this species was not yet eusocial.”

And then there’s the question of extinction. Hell ants thrived for tens of millions of years before disappearing. What killed them off? Was it competition with other ant lineages? Shifts in climate? Or were their scythe-like jaws simply not cut out for the job long term?

Nevertheless, the story of Vulcanidris is not just about ancient insects and early ants. It’s about the value of forgotten collections. Remember, this fossil didn’t come from a shiny new expedition. It came from a dusty slab in a cabinet.

“This finding highlights the importance of thorough examination of existing collections — private or in museums,” said Lepeco. “And it brings a spotlight to Brazilian paleontology and the underexplored fossil insect fauna of the country.”

Ants are now one of Earth’s dominant life forms — 20 quadrillion strong, shaping ecosystems on every continent except Antarctica. Yet their beginning, it seems, was stranger, older, and more wondrous than we imagined.

The findings appeared in the journal Current Biology.



Tibi Puiu
Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines. He has a B.Sc in mechanical engineering and an M.Sc in renewable energy systems.

The oldest ant ever discovered found fossilized in Brazil

Cell Press

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Photograph of Haidomyrmecinae fossil.

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Credit: Anderson Lepeco

A 113-million-year-old hell ant that once lived in northeastern Brazil is now the oldest ant specimen known to science, finds a report publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 24. The hell ant, which was preserved in limestone, is a member of Haidomyrmecinae—an extinct subfamily that only lived during the Cretaceous period. These ants had highly specialized, scythe-like jaws that they likely used to pin or impale prey. 

“Our team has discovered a new fossil ant species representing the earliest undisputable geological record of ants,” said author Anderson Lepeco of Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil. “What makes this discovery particularly interesting is that it belongs to the extinct ‘hell ant,’ known for their bizarre predatory adaptations. Despite being part of an ancient lineage, this species already displayed highly specialized anatomical features, suggesting unique hunting behaviors.” 

The ant fossil’s discovery challenges our understanding of ant evolution and biogeography through time, according to the researchers. The previous oldest ants were found in France and Burma and were preserved in amber instead of limestone. The existence of a hell ant in Brazil shows that ants were already widely distributed and diversified early in their evolution, says the team. 

“Even though there have been hell ants described from amber, this was the first time we could visualize this in a rock fossil,” said Lepeco. 

Lepeco and his team discovered the “remarkably well-preserved" ant specimen while systematically examining one of the world’s largest collections of fossil insects from the Crato Formation, a deposit renowned for its exceptional fossil preservation. The collection is housed at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo.  

“When I encountered this extraordinary specimen, we immediately recognized its significance, not only as a new species but as potentially the definitive evidence of ants in the Crato Formation,” said Lepeco. “This finding highlights the importance of thorough examination of existing collections—private or in museums—and brings a spotlight to Brazilian paleontology and the underexplored fossil insect fauna of the country.” 

Micro-computed tomography imaging—a 3D imaging technique that uses X-rays to view the inside of an object, or ant in this case—showed that the newly discovered ant was closely related to hell ants previously known only from specimens preserved in Burmese amber—a type of amber found in Myanmar. The finding shows that the ants were widely distributed across the globe and must have crossed Cretaceous landmasses repeatedly, say the authors. But what astonished them most was the hell ant’s specialized features. 

“While we expected to find hell ant features, we were shocked by the characteristics of its feeding apparatus,” said Lepeco. Unlike modern ants with laterally moving mandibles, this species possessed mandibles that ran forward parallel to the head and facial projection anterior to the eyes, the researchers noted.  

“Finding such an anatomically specialized ant from 113 million years ago challenges our assumptions about how quickly these insects developed complex adaptations. The intricate morphology suggests that even these earliest ants had already evolved sophisticated predatory strategies significantly different from their modern counterparts.” 

The discovery of this new ant specimen raises broader questions about the evolutionary pressures that led to the hell ant’s unique adaptations, say the researchers. With advanced imaging tools, it’s now possible to examine such fossil specimens in much greater detail than ever before. 

### 

This research was supported by funding from FAPESP. 

Current Biology, Lepeco et al., “A hell ant from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil.” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00308-2

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit: http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. 

CT-Scan reconstruction of the hell ant fossil.

Credit

Odair M. Meira

---

Journal

Current Biology

DOI

10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.023 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A hell ant from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil

Article Publication Date

24-Apr-2025

These 400,000-Year-Old Mammoth Tusks Carved by Early Humans May Be the Oldest Evidence of Prehistoric Intelligence

Ancient tusk fragments hint at early social learning 400,000 years ago

byTudor Tarita
April 24, 2025

 ZME Science 

The ivory fragments show signs of manipulation by early humans. Credit: Vadim N. Stepanchuk

In the plains of western Ukraine, researchers digging through ancient soil found a handful of small, broken pieces of ivory that might change how we think about early humans.

The fragments—24 in total—came from the tusks of a long-extinct mammoth species. Most were unremarkable at first glance. But as scientists studied them more closely, they noticed patterns and shapes that didn’t seem like they had been accidentally broken.

Some pieces had been chipped in a way that looked deliberate, shaped with a level of care usually seen in stone toolmaking. And that’s what caught their attention.

“We had never seen or heard of ivory artifacts from the Lower Palaeolithic,” Dr. Vadim Stepanchuk, a Ukrainian archaeologist leading the study told the Smithsonian Magazine.

What followed was a long investigation that’s now raising big questions about what early hominins were capable of—long before modern humans appeared.
Ivory, Not Stone

The site, known as Medzhibozh A and located in the Southern Bug Valley about 300 kilometers South of Kyiv, has yielded flint, quartz tools, and the bones of long-extinct creatures: horses, woolly rhinos, large wild cats. But it was the ivory that caught researchers off guard.

“The discovery was indeed unexpected,” Stepanchuk told IFLScience. “We had never seen or heard of ivory artifacts from the Lower Palaeolithic.”

Ivory is softer than stone. It chips, it wears down, and it doesn’t hold a cutting edge. Yet at Medzhibozh A, at least 14 ivory fragments bear the unmistakable signs of human—or rather, pre-human—modification. Researchers identified flake scars, pointed shapes, even a core, all shaped with techniques typically used in stone knapping. One method, known as “bipolar-on-anvil,” involves placing the material on a rock and striking it with another to remove flakes.

This kind of shaping is deliberate. Skilled. Purposeful. And it predates the previous oldest ivory objects by nearly 300,000 years.

Not Quite Tools

Despite the craftsmanship, the pieces don’t appear to have been functional tools.

“We hesitate to call them ‘tools’ in the functional sense,” Stepanchuk told New Scientist. “The lack of any clear practical or technological function suggests these objects may reflect a different kind of activity.”

So what were they?

The scientists propose several possibilities. Perhaps these fragments were used as training tools, made by elders to teach children how to knap. Their shapes mimic real tools, but their fragility makes them useless for real work.

Alternatively, they could have served as early prototypes—an experiment in using a novel material, possibly because good stone was hard to come by. Or maybe, like a child’s crayon drawing pinned to a fridge, they were created not for utility, but out of a desire for expression or imitation.

Gary Haynes, a retired anthropologist at the University of Nevada, who was not involved in the study, said: “If the interpretations are correct, they add to an apparently increasing appreciation of the intelligence of pre-modern humans.”
A Different Kind of Intelligence

If these artifacts were made intentionally, they point to the overlooked intelligence of early hominins—likely Homo heidelbergensis, although no human fossils have yet been found at the site.

“The study of the ivory began without a specific hypothesis,” said Stepanchuk. “But their unusual characteristics, indicative of intentional modification, prompted closer examination.”

To test the theory further, researchers may turn to modern elephants. By analyzing how tusks break during natural behavior, like fights, they can compare those patterns with the ivory from Ukraine. If the differences are stark, it will strengthen the case for human craftsmanship.

Pieces on the left, dated to around 400,000 years old, look similar to pieces on the right, around 120,000 years old. The pieces are all small, as compared to a Canadian dollar. Credit: Vadim N. Stepanchuk

Until now, the earliest known ivory artifacts came from the Upper Paleolithic, between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. A few objects shaped by Neanderthals date to around 120,000 years ago. If confirmed as deliberate, the Medzhibozh ivory fragments push that date back to 400,000 years—deep into the Lower Paleolithic.

It means that even then, some communities experimented, adapted, and taught.

“Even at this early stage, hominins may have engaged in what might be described as imitative or socially motivated activities,” Stepanchuk said.

Perhaps, around a prehistoric campfire, someone picked up a broken tusk and showed a child how to shape it, prehistoric school.

And if so, it may be evidence of one of the earliest lessons ever taught.

The findings were reported in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

16,000-Year-Old Dog-Like Skeleton Found in France Raises Haunting Questions

Cared for like a companion, or killed like prey?

\byTudor Tarita
April 24, 2025
ZME Science 
Edited and reviewed by Mihai Andrei

At some point in the late Ice Age, in the depths of a cave in southern France, a dog-like creature met a violent end. Its skeleton, astonishingly well-preserved, would lie undisturbed for millennia—until a team of spelunkers stumbled upon it in 2021. Now, the bones from Baume Traucade are raising provocative questions about how far back the human-canine bond truly stretches—and what it originally looked like.

The animal in question was a female canid, roughly 26 kilograms in weight and about 62 centimeters tall at the shoulder. The skeleton was well preserved, allowing Mietje Germonpré, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, to compare it with those of fossil and modern wolves and dogs.

Those comparisons, laid out in a paper published in Quaternary Science Reviews, point to a surprising conclusion: the Baume Traucade canid shows strong morphological resemblance to a group known as Palaeolithic dogs—early domesticated or semi-domesticated animals that coexisted with Ice Age humans. Yet the story doesn’t end there.

Artists’ rendering of Palaeolithic dogs in human settlements. Credit: John James Audubon & John Bachman

An Uneasy Alliance

Unlike most prehistoric canid finds—which typically consist of a jawbone here, a partial skull there—the Baume Traucade skeleton is almost entirely intact. That rarity gave researchers a unique chance to study the individual as a whole. Analyses of its cranial and limb measurements strongly confirm that the animal belonged within the Paleolithic dog group, with a confidence level topping 96%.

Researchers believe these dogs, which spread from Belgium to Russia, are part of an early and still poorly understood stage of domestication. They are not necessarily the ancestors of modern dogs, but they do bear telltale signs of human influence. These include smaller body size and shorter, broader snouts—traits associated with selective pressures found in human settlements.

“Palaeolithic humans began to collect wolf pups from dens and raise them at home as ‘pets’ in a tamed state,” Loukas Koungoulos, an archaeozoologist at the University of Western Australia, who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist. He suggests that this may have started during the Last Glacial Maximum, when humans and wolves increasingly shared the same ecological spaces.

Indeed, the Baume Traucade canid seems to have lived a life closely entangled with people. Several of its vertebrae had been broken but later healed—evidence, researchers believe, that it received care after being injured.
A Violent End

But care, it seems, did not guarantee protection. The skeleton also revealed two circular puncture wounds on one of its shoulder blades—unhealed at the time of death. According to Koungoulos, “Punctures to the scapula have been observed in hoofed animals hunted during the Mesolithic to early historic times, suggesting that people aimed their projectiles—spears and arrows—at this part of the body.”

The implication is chilling. Humans struck down this animal.

“It is feasible that the individual obtained [its] injuries from being beaten or struck by people,” Koungoulos adds.

The wounds tell a conflicted story. On one hand, there’s the possibility of companionship—an animal cared for through sickness or injury. On the other, the unmistakable signs of lethal violence.

Why was the animal killed? Was it an act of ritual, necessity, or cruelty? These are questions Germonpré and her team hope to explore in future work, including genomic analyses that may reveal whether this Palaeolithic dog was closely related to modern breeds or belonged to an extinct lineage.

The skull of the newly discovered Palaeolithic dog. 

Credit: Jean-Baptiste Fourvrel.

Rewriting the Origins of Domestication

This skeleton joins a sparse but growing list of similar finds across Europe. The Baume Traucade canid dates to just after the Last Glacial Maximum, placing it among the earliest post-Ice Age animals associated with humans. Paleontologists have unearthed comparable remains at sites in France, Germany, and Spain, but few are as complete.

Until now, much of what scientists knew about early dog domestication came from fragmented remains and speculative reconstructions. This discovery offers something different: a full-body portrait of prehistoric man’s best friend.

While still unclear whether these ancient dogs were truly domesticated in the modern sense, they were certainly not entirely wild. They stood at a threshold—no longer wolves, not yet Labradors. The tragic story of this dog offers an important piece of the puzzle.

Cats Came Bearing Gods: Religion and Trade Shaped the Rise of the Domestic Cat in Europe

Two groundbreaking studies challenge the old narrative that cats followed early farmers into Europe.

byMihai Andrei
April 24, 2025
ZME Science

Image credits: Chris Barbalis.

For decades, scientists believed the domestic cat first wandered into European life alongside the continent’s early farmers. But two sweeping genetic studies now suggest something more complex — and more fascinating. Our adorable fluffy companions may be the result not of pragmatic pest control but of religious reverence and Mediterranean trade.

A pair of new investigations, one led by Sean Doherty and colleagues from the University of Exeter and another by Claudio Ottoni’s team at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, have redrawn the ancient map of feline history. Together, they overturn long-held assumptions about how and when cats entered Europe.

Surprisingly Recent Events

For years, the tale of how cats became our purring companions went something like this: thousands of years ago, wildcats slinked into early farming villages in the Middle East, drawn by mice feasting on stored grain. Humans, in turn, tolerated the cats’ company—and even tossed them the occasional scrap. It was a classic case of mutual convenience, the thinking went. Cats handled the vermin, humans provided shelter, and before long, the felines had earned a spot by the fire. It was a tidy, practical story.

But it’s probably wrong.

For years, archaeologists pointed to a 9,500-year-old grave in Cyprus, where a cat was buried near a human, as the beginning of a beautiful friendship. It fit neatly with the idea that cats were attracted to Neolithic settlements for their rodent-rich grain stores, gradually taming themselves in the process.

But “our results do not support a Neolithic origin for domestic cats,” Doherty’s team writes. Their work shows that the animal in Cyprus may have been a European wildcat brought over from Anatolia — not a tamed African wildcat as long assumed. “Instead, our results suggest that the closening of human-cat relationships occurred more recently, in the first-millennium BCE. This timeframe suggests that Egypt was the locus of domestication, especially in light of the cultural evidence.”

Ottoni’s group reached the same conclusion. Their genome-wide analysis of cat remains from 225 archaeological sites found no trace of true domestic cats in Neolithic Europe. Cats with the “domestic” mitochondrial signature IV-A, they report, were in fact European wildcats that had interbred with African wildcats in the distant past.

In other words, cats didn’t sneak into Europe as freeloaders in Neolithic barns. They marched in with empires — and with gods.

“I see no god here but myself” — this cat, probably. Image via Unsplash.

Bastet’s Children

The turning point in the cat’s story appears to come in the first millennium BCE. That’s when depictions of the Egyptian goddess Bastet began to shift. Once shown with a lion’s head, Bastet evolved into a goddess with the face of an African wildcat. Around the same time, temples began mummifying millions of cats as religious offerings.

“This would have provided the context for the tighter relationship between people and cats that led to the wildcat’s domestication, motivated by their newly acquired divine status,” writes Doherty’s team.

Religion has often propelled animal dispersal. The cults of Artemis and Diana helped spread fallow deer. Chickens were tied to Roman and Persian gods. So it’s plausible that sacred cats traveled with the cult of Bastet, hitching rides with Phoenician traders, Egyptian pilgrims, and later, Roman conquerors.

Ottoni’s analysis bolsters this view. They found that the first wave of domestic cats entered Europe not with early farmers but with Roman legions and merchants. The oldest fully domestic European cat in their study dates to just before the Common Era, from Mautern, Austria — an imperial frontier town.

Once inside Europe, cats spread fast. Doherty’s data trace successive waves of feline migration — first from Egypt, later from Romanized North Africa, and finally with Viking traders from Scandinavia. Each wave carried distinct mitochondrial DNA signatures, allowing researchers to track the flow of genes and geography alike.

By the 4th century BCE, domestic cats had reached Britain. At Gussage All Saints, archaeologists uncovered five kitten skeletons buried together, likely a deliberate human act. “The genetic result appears to confirm their original identification as domestic cats,” the authors note. One even left its paw print in a clay pot — perhaps a mischievous gesture that’s become an ancient artifact.

By the Viking Age, cats with a new genetic haplogroup, IV-D, show up in York, Orkney, and even Galway, Ireland. The Norse carried cats on their ships to control rats, but they also revered them as companions of the goddess Freyja. White cat fur, a symbol of her blessing, was prized enough to encourage selective breeding.
Affecting Wildcats

The rise of the domestic cat may have come at a cost to Europe’s native wildcats.

Ottoni and Doherty both document a sharp decline in European wildcats starting in the Roman period — centuries before habitat loss or hunting peaked. Competition, disease, and hybridization with domestic cats all likely played a role.

“Archaeological evidence suggests that the decline in wildcat abundance began earlier than previously believed,” Doherty’s team writes. And that shift was likely accelerated by the domestic cat’s arrival.

Today, wildcats face extinction across much of Europe, their genetic legacy muddled by interbreeding. These studies provide a crucial baseline for conservation, showing how hybridization began thousands of years ago — and how complex the human-animal bond truly is.

They also remind us that domestication isn’t always about utility. Sometimes, animals become sacred. Sometimes, they spread not because they help us farm, but because they help us pray.

So, the next time your cat knocks a cup off the table, consider this: it’s not just a house pet. It’s the descendant of an ancient god.

Journal References:

The dispersal of domestic cats from Northern Africa and their introduction to Europe over the last two millennia

Redefining the timing and circumstances of cat domestication, their dispersal trajectories, and the extirpation of European wildcats
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Mihai Andrei
Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Around one-quarter of those who meditate experience unpleasant symptoms — we don’t know why

The subconscious is long and full of terrors.

byAlexandru Micu
ZME Science 





About a quarter of those trying meditation report having at least one ‘particularly unpleasant’ psychological experience regarding this practice.

Image credits Sasin Tipchai.


Meditation gets a lot of attention these days, and there is some data to support their beneficial effect. But it’s not all mantras and roses, a new study found — a sizeable chunk of those who try their hand at the practice reported experiencing unpleasant effects.

The deep within


“These findings point to the importance of widening the public and scientific understanding of meditation beyond that of a health-promoting technique,” says first author Marco Schlosser, a researcher at the University College London (UCL) Division of Psychiatry.

“Very little is known about why, when, and how such meditation-related difficulties can occur: more research is now needed to understand the nature of these experiences. When are unpleasant experiences important elements of meditative development, and when are they merely negative effects to be avoided?”


These ‘particularly unpleasant’ experiences include feelings of fear and distorted emotions, the team reports. People who only practice deconstructive types of meditation — for example Vipassana (insight) and Koan practice (used in Zen Buddhism) — were more likely to experience such effects, as were those with higher levels of repetitive negative thinking, the team reports. However, female participants and those with religious beliefs were less likely to go through an unpleasant meditation-related experience.

The team used an online survey through which they questioned 1,232 people across the world who had at least two months’ meditation experience. Researchers at Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, also participated in the study. They wanted to understand why some people experience unpleasant psychological effects during meditative practice — a trend illustrated by a growing number of research reports and case studies, they add. A collection of traditional Buddhist texts also tell of similar experiences in practitioners of yore, which further piqued the team’s interest.

Participants were asked whether they have “ever had any particularly unpleasant experiences (e.g. anxiety, fear, distorted emotions or thoughts, altered sense of self or the world), which you think may have been caused by your meditation practice?” They were also asked about how long they’ve been practicing meditation, the frequency with which they practice, whether or not they had attended a meditation retreat at any point in their life, and what form of meditation they practiced (attentional, constructive, or deconstructive). They also completed measures of repetitive negative thinking and self-compassion.

The results

Of the 1,232 participants:25.6% said that they had previously encountered particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences.
More male participants experienced a particularly unpleasant experience than female participants (28.5% vs 23% ).
More of those who did not have a religious belief had a particularly unpleasant experience, compared to those who had a religious belief (30.6% vs 22%).
29.2% of the participants who practiced only deconstructive types of meditation reported a particularly unpleasant experience, compared to 20.3% who only engaged in other meditation types.
29% of those who had been on a meditation retreat (at any point in life) had a particularly unpleasant experience, compared to 19.6%, who had never been on a retreat.


“Most research on meditation has focused on its benefits, however, the range of meditative experiences studied by scientists needs to be expanded,” Schlosser adds.

“It is important at this point not to draw premature conclusions about the potential negative effects of meditation. Longitudinal studies will help to learn when, for whom, and under what circumstances these unpleasant experiences arise, and whether they can have long-term effects. This future research could inform clinical guidelines, mindfulness manuals, and meditation teacher training.”


It’s important to note that the present study doesn’t provide any indication of what these ‘unpleasant experiences’ were. In other words, it doesn’t have any way to quantify their severity and impact — which is a common limitation of self-reported data. Furthermore, the team writes that their inclusion of a list of specific examples (i.e., anxiety, fear, distorted emotions or thoughts, altered sense of self or the world) in the questionnaire may have biased participants’ responses towards recalling these particular experiences over others. The study also didn’t assess possible pre-existing mental health problems, which could have confounded the prevalence estimate of particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences.

In less-fancy, less-science speak, this study cannot and should not be used as an indication that meditation caused these unpleasant experiences. However, it does show that the two can go hand-in-hand, and do so for a meaningful number of participants. Exactly why, how, and what that means, however, is something we still have to work to understand.

The paper “Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations” has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Bridging Science and Humanity: Yuri Milner’s Eureka Manifesto as a Blueprint for Our Cosmic Future

byAlexandra Gerea
 April 24, 2025
in Book Reviews
ZME Science 

Credit: Yuri Milner.

Global divisions and existential challenges threaten humanity’s progress at precisely the moment when unified purpose is most needed. Against this backdrop, Yuri Milner’s Eureka Manifesto presents a transformative vision—positioning scientific advancement as the universal language that can unite our fractured world.

Through this profound work, Yuri Milner, the tech investor turned science philanthropist, articulates how our shared cosmic curiosity can transcend artificial boundaries of nationality, culture, and ideology. His blueprint offers pathways not just for technological advancement but for extending our species’ existence far beyond its expected lifespan.

This vision isn’t merely theoretical—as founder of the Breakthrough Prize, the Breakthrough Initiatives, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, and Tech For Refugees, Milner has translated philosophical aspiration into concrete programs with global impact.

Yuri Milner’s Cosmic Awakening

The manifesto presents a striking vision: humanity might represent just a fragment of the cosmos, but we are an extraordinary one. As far as we currently know, we are either the only—or one of very few—civilizations capable of investigating and comprehending the universe. Through our intelligence and curiosity, we have the power to awaken the cosmos from its long sleep, to document its past, and to help shape its future.

This perspective transforms our role from passive inhabitants of a small planet to active participants in the universe’s story. Whether we were “chosen” for this role doesn’t matter—we find ourselves here, now, with the unique ability to peer across space and time, to understand what we see, and to pass this knowledge on to future generations.

Yuri Milner demonstrates his commitment to this responsibility through concrete actions. The Breakthrough Initiatives represent humanity’s most ambitious attempt to search for other conscious beings in the cosmos, scanning millions of stars and hundreds of galaxies for signs that we might not be alone in our cosmic awakening. These initiatives exemplify how Milner has translated the philosophical vision of his Eureka Manifesto into practical scientific programs with global impact.

The Three Fundamental Themes

Eureka Manifesto centers on three fundamental themes that shape humanity’s path forward: exploration beyond Earth, unity in science, and a shared vision for the future. Each component builds upon our unique position as possibly the only beings capable of investigating and understanding the universe.

Exploration Beyond Earth

The manifesto frames space exploration not just as an adventure but as humanity’s destiny. Yuri Milner articulates a compelling vision where our species’ natural curiosity and drive to explore find their ultimate expression in the cosmic frontier. This vision recognizes that just as our ancestors ventured across oceans and continents, our generation must now chart a course across the stars.

Through initiatives like the Breakthrough Initiatives, Yuri Milner has already begun translating this vision into action. This ambitious program encompasses multiple projects aimed at pushing the boundaries of space exploration, from searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence to developing new technologies for interstellar travel. Programs like Breakthrough Listen, which conducts the world’s largest search for extraterrestrial intelligence, demonstrate how Milner’s philosophical framework in the Eureka Manifesto translates into practical scientific endeavors.
Unity in Science

The Universe faces consistent threats, some natural and some self-generated. From asteroid collisions to global war, bioterrorism, and climate change, these threats pose risks to our entire species. If humanity comes together to share in a mission prioritizing our Universe, our self-generated threats can fall away.


The manifesto suggests that our role as cosmic investigators requires us to move beyond short-term thinking and petty conflicts. When we truly grasp our position as the universe’s conscious observers, our earthly divisions begin to seem increasingly arbitrary. This realization could help us address the existential threats we face, from asteroid impacts to climate change, bioterrorism, and global warfare.
A Shared Vision for the Future

Exploring beyond our planet may feel like an overwhelming task. Where should we begin? Milner has mapped out a five-part plan of action to get humanity on its way, thriving and evolving in harmony with the Universe.
The Five-Part Action Plan

At the heart of Eureka Manifesto lies a practical five-step plan for advancing humanity’s cosmic mission:Invest resources into fundamental science and space exploration: Fundamental research is most fertile for discoveries and technologies. Because of this, Milner suggests we start investing our resources here.
Make use of AI to accelerate scientific progress: As AI improves, this could shave years off research processes, unveiling the Universe’s secrets much quicker.
Treat scientists as heroes, making sure they have a public presence: Since Stephen Hawking passed away, it’s difficult for many of us to even name the world’s current biggest scientists. If we celebrate the people who are changing the world, we’ll encourage the next generation to follow in their footsteps.
Provide education on the Universal Story: We currently teach fragmented elements of the Universe. If we teach the full Universal Story — the history of Earth and humanity at the intersection of science and technology — we will give children the bigger picture. Using art to teach would be especially helpful here. When science isn’t always accessible, art can express concepts of the Universal Story in ways that inspire and resonate.
Encourage everyone to contribute to a shared knowledge pool: Only a few individuals will make pioneering discoveries that change our understanding of the Universe forever. However, we need everyone to contribute for these discoveries to be made. When we cultivate a society where everyone values critical thinking, rational argument, and knowledge, we can create a new Enlightenment.

Real-World Implementation of Yuri Milner’s Vision

The blueprint’s practical application is already visible through several major initiatives founded by Yuri Milner and supported through his Giving Pledge commitment. The Breakthrough Prize, often called the “Oscars of Science,” celebrates scientific achievement through televised award ceremonies featuring A-list celebrities. The 2024 laureates received recognition for advancing treatments for cancer, cystic fibrosis, and Parkinson’s disease, while others expanded human knowledge in quantum field theories and differential geometry.


The Breakthrough Junior Challenge exemplifies the manifesto’s educational vision, encouraging teenagers worldwide to create engaging videos explaining complex scientific concepts. Winners receive life-changing prizes, including college scholarships, school science labs, and substantial rewards for inspiring teachers. In 2024 alone, over 2,300 teenagers from more than 200 countries submitted nearly 30,000 videos, demonstrating the global reach of Milner’s educational initiative.

These scientific programs align with broader humanitarian goals, as demonstrated by Tech For Refugees, which applies technological innovation to address global challenges. Founded by Yuri Milner and other tech leaders, this initiative funds leading technology organizations to advance refugee relief efforts through education, information access, logistics, and direct support services.
Technology as a Bridge

The manifesto recognizes that technology serves as our bridge to cosmic understanding. From the telescopes of the Breakthrough Initiatives to the humanitarian innovations of Tech for Refugees, technological advancement enables us to both explore the cosmos and address immediate human needs. This dual purpose reflects the manifesto’s vision of harmonizing our cosmic mission with our earthly responsibilities.


While acknowledging technology’s potential pitfalls, the Eureka Manifesto presents an optimistic view of how technological advancement can bring people together. This vision is exemplified by initiatives like Tech for Refugees, which harnesses innovation to address humanitarian challenges and demonstrate how technology can be deployed for the greater good.

Milner’s manifesto emphasizes that technological progress should serve human connection rather than replace it. By focusing on how scientific advancement can address shared human challenges, the manifesto presents a framework for using technology to strengthen the bonds between people and communities.
Looking to the Stars, Grounded in Humanity

Perhaps most powerfully, the Eureka Manifesto connects humanity’s quest to understand the cosmos with our need to better understand ourselves. Yuri Milner argues that when we look to the stars, we gain perspective on our shared identity as inhabitants of Earth. This cosmic viewpoint naturally encourages us to think beyond our immediate differences and consider our common destiny as a species.

The manifesto suggests that our ability to investigate the universe might be the key to extending humanity’s existence far beyond its expected lifespan. By embracing our role as cosmic investigators, we might secure not just our survival but our flourishing as a species among the stars.


This vision of humanity’s future carries profound philosophical implications. We are not merely inhabitants of Earth but potential guardians of cosmic consciousness. Our investigations could represent the universe’s first attempts to understand itself, to document its own history, and to consciously influence its future development.
A Call to Action

The Eureka Manifesto’s message is ultimately one of hope and possibility. Yuri Milner presents a future where scientific advancement serves as the foundation for human unity—where our shared curiosity about the universe brings us together in ways that transcend traditional divisions.

As we face an uncertain future, the manifesto’s call for scientific collaboration and shared purpose becomes increasingly relevant. It reminds us that our greatest achievements come not from competition but from cooperation, not from division but from unity, and not from fear but from curiosity about the unknown.

Through this visionary work, Yuri Milner invites us all to participate in humanity’s greatest adventure: the quest to understand our universe and our place within it. In doing so, he presents a compelling case for how science can serve not just as a tool for technological progress, but as a beacon of hope for human unity and collective advancement.


The path forward requires us to think both globally and cosmically, using our understanding of the universe to inform our approach to Earth’s problems while using our earthly challenges to drive innovation for space exploration. In this way, we can turn our greatest challenges into opportunities for advancement, unity, and discovery.

As Yuri Milner continues to implement his vision through the Breakthrough Prize, Breakthrough Initiatives, Breakthrough Junior Challenge, and Tech For Refugees, we see the Eureka Manifesto’s philosophy transforming from abstract ideals into concrete actions that advance human knowledge, inspire future generations, and address pressing global challenges. This comprehensive approach to philanthropy, grounded in Milner’s Giving Pledge commitment, demonstrates how one visionary’s blueprint can catalyze transformative change across multiple dimensions of human endeavor.