Settler attacks escalate in West Bank village despite recognition of Palestine


Issued on: 22/09/2025 - 


In the occupied West Bank village of Al-Mughayyir, Palestinians face daily attacks from Israeli settlers and raids by the army. Residents report destroyed olive groves, stolen livestock, and restricted access to roads. Despite international recognition of Palestine by countries like France and the UK, villagers continue to live under threat, resisting displacement and hoping for concrete change rather than symbolic gestures. Here's an exclusive report from our journalists in the region.

Video by:Catherine NORRIS TRENT/Pauline GODART

FRANCE24

West Bank settlers defy Palestinian statehood hopes on the ground


From our special correspondent in Jerusalem – The Israeli government has in recent weeks announced the extension of settlements or the legalisation of Israeli outposts in the West Bank. Israel’s territorial expansion comes as France and other Western countries are set to recognise a Palestinian state.


Issued on: 22/09/2025 
FRANCE24
By: David GORMEZANO

The Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, located between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24



On September 3, Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich outlined his proposal to annex 82 percent of the occupied West Bank. During a press conference in Jerusalem, he presented a map that delineated the new borders of the state of Israel, leaving the Palestinian Authority with the management of just six large cities in the occupied West Bank.

Smoltrich’s project is part of the Israeli government’s effort to extend its sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and comes after several Western countries, including France, decided to recognise a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 11 visited Ma’ale Adumim, one of the largest settlements in the occupied West Bank to announce to the settlement’s 40,000 inhabitants that his government approved its expansion. “There will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” Netanyahu added.

Eight days later, the day before Sabbath and the Jewish new year, the residents of the settlement – which has grown into the size of a small city – flocked to the supermarket to prepare for family celebrations.

‘Everything must be done to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state’

Dany Hadar, carrying a shopping bag and wearing a kippah, approved of Netanyahu's decision. Hadar, now retired, has lived in Ma’ale Adumim for 40 years and said the expansion “should have been carried out at least ten years ago”.

Dany Hadar standing in front of a shopping centre in the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


Eda, a resident encountered near the small shopping centre, said the government’s decision was much anticipated by the residents, because “since October 7, 2023, we need to reinforce our security and connect to Jerusalem”.

Eda was fully aware that the project to expand her city, the third largest settlement in the West Bank, has been strongly criticised by the international community. Yet she insisted that “we must do everything we can to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, because they don’t want us, wherever we are. We know they don’t want peace. We already tried. Now we have to build and get on with our lives."

Hadar agreed, adding that there was no point in “looking back, no matter what other countries say about us”.

At the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, located in the West Bank. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


The Israeli government's green light to expand Ma’ale Adumim was a clear response to France and other Western countries' decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state.

In a show of their rejection of this announcement, Netanyahu and Smotrich – who is also in charge of civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank – chose to endorse an old project to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank known as E1. The acronym refers to the 12 square kilometres of land located between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem, “the first parcel of land east of Jerusalem” (East 1).

Blocked since the mid-2000s because of opposition from the US, the project aims to build 3,400 housing units and create a block of settlements that would extend towards the Jordan Valley. For the United Nations (UN), the E1 project “would divide the north and south of the occupied West Bank and have serious consequences for the territorial contiguity of the occupied Palestinian territory".

E1, the project to build more than 3,000 housing units to connect Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem. © Graphic studio, France Médias Monde


Guy Ifrah, Ma’ale Adumim's young mayor, hailed his government’s decision to move forward with the E1 project. “E1 is located within municipal boundaries. We aren’t taking land from anyone. It’s false to say the construction of E1 will break the territorial continuity between Palestinian cities. I don’t deny the fact that there is a Palestinian population that lives in Judea and Samaria [the biblical name often used in Israel to refer to the West Bank, editor’s note]. But there are two roads being constructed east of Ma’ale Adumim which will allow Palestinians to move around without checkpoints.” These roads will still force Palestinian neighbours to make a 15-kilometre detour to reach Jerusalem.

Guy Ifrah, mayor and native of Ma'ale Adumim. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


Born in Ma'ale Adumim 43 years ago, Ifrah does not wear a kippah and described himself as "a believer, but not religious". A member of the Likud party, the mayor said his priority was to “enable future generations to live in Ma'ale Adumim. The E1 project will allow 15,000 more people to join us. There will be subsidies for residents, as well as for reservists who sacrificed two years of their lives with the war in Gaza."
Deny the illegal nature of settlements

For Israeli lobbyists who aim to increase the presence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the approval of the E1 project is a major political victory.

Naomi Kahn, spokesperson for the pro-settlement movement Regavim, believes that "the E1 project was delayed for too long. There are no Arabs living on this land.’ This claim is disputed by the UN, which states that "the area in question is currently inhabited by approximately 5,000 Palestinians".

Kahn also argued that the “State of Israel should not be required to ask for permission from anyone to exploit the land resources at its disposal in Area C [of the West Bank]”. The area makes up around 60 percent of the occupied West Bank placed under Israeli transitional control under the Oslo Accords.

Naomi Kahn, director of the International Division of the pro-settlement movement Regavim. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


A proponent of a "Greater Israel" which extends "from the river to the sea", Kahn refuted accusations of colonisation, and presented her own particular interpretation of international law. "It is absurd to say that Israel has been illegally occupying the West Bank since 1967," she said. The West Bank has been a "disputed territory" since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, she added.

"Since 1922 the eastern border of Israel has been the Jordan River," the activist claimed. In 1948, Jordan invaded the occupied West Bank, an act that was condemned by all nations [except two], because Israeli sovereignty was recognised by everyone."

Read moreTimeline: The state of Palestine’s long road to recognition

Based on this interpretation of history, Kahn’s pro-settler movement denies any Palestinian claim to sovereignty in the West Bank. The movement has even created a map of "illegal Palestinian settlements in the West Bank", arguing that the E1 project aims to allow Israelis to move freely in the occupied territories.

“This road leads to Palestinian village. The entrance for Israeli citizens is dangerous,” reads a sign at the exit of Ma'ale Adumim. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24

‘Recognising a Palestinian state is a moral and political error’

When asked about France's recognition of Palestine, Kahn said that "recognising a Palestinian state is a moral and political mistake. It means supporting a terrorist entity that has vowed to destroy the Jewish people. It is shameful that Western democracies support the creation of a racist, misogynist, Islamist state that has no chance of success."

A few kilometres away, a small group of settlers that seized a hill in the West Bank between Bethlehem and Jerusalem six years ago, shared the spokeswoman’s convictions.

Lior Tal, the head of a settlement of 19 families, slammed France’s diplomatic gesture in much harsher terms. “If the Western countries want to recognise a Palestinian state, fine. But let them do it at home, in Europe,” he said. Israeli sovereignty is not up for debate, he added, and Palestinians should go and live, “in an Arab country; there are plenty of them”.

Tal has been known for his violent words and actions for many years. Yet the Israeli government on May 29 legalised 22 illegal settlements (often called “outposts”) including the one where he lived.

Tal now hopes the government's decision means that houses, roads, and other infrastructure will be built in the coming years. "I’m hoping 600 families will settle here," he said.

Lior Tal, the armed leader of an illegal settlement located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


Focused on tending to his sheep and studying the Torah, Tal has a radical and mystical view of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. He is not afraid of clashes with his Palestinian neighbours, asserting that “the land of Israel is the land of Jews. It’s our land. We were here during the time of the Second Temple [between 516 BC and 70 AD]. There is archaeological evidence to prove it. We also know that there were vineyards here at that time. Islam destroyed them and replaced them with olive trees. We replanted vineyards to mark our rebirth. I am here to cultivate the land of Israel and preserve it."

Lior Tal in front of his house which overlooks Palestinian villages in the West Bank. © David Gormezano, FRANCE 24


Since the October 7, 2023 attacks and the massacre committed by Hamas on Israeli territory, Netanyahu and Smotrich have been in a race against time to increase the number of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The number of illegal settlements is also skyrocketing: 32 were established in 2023, 61 in 2024, and 58 were built during the first six months of 2025 alone.

Expressing deep concern, the Israeli peace organisation Peace Now stated in a press release that, “by relentlessly pursuing this project, the Israeli government is undermining any possibility of a political solution and dragging Israelis and Palestinians into a cycle of endless conflict".

In favour of a two-state solution, the organisation estimates that 141 Israeli settlements were officially recognised by the government in the occupied West Bank at the end of 2024, and the approval of the E1 plan has buried "the hope of a peaceful future for both nations".

After nearly two years of war on multiple fronts in the Middle East, Netanyahu and the settler movement are reaffirming their refusal to recognise a Palestinian state, week after week and without any ambiguity. The government is simultaneously accelerating its colonisation of the occupied West Bank, leaving just a few scraps of territory for a moribund Palestinian Authority.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

 SPACE/COSMOS

Possible interstellar object spotted zooming through Solar System


By AFP
July 2, 2025


An image of the second interstellar object, 2I/Borisov, taken in 2019. Astronomers have now spotted a third - Copyright EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/AFP/File O. HAINAUT

Daniel Lawler

An object that appears to be from beyond our Solar System has been spotted hurtling towards the Sun, which if confirmed would be the third visitor from the stars ever detected, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.

The object, which is currently being referred to as A11pl3Z, poses no threat to Earth, the ESA’s planetary defence head Richard Moissl told AFP.

“It will fly deep through the Solar System, passing just inside the orbit of Mars,” but will not hit our neighbouring planet, he said.

Excited astronomers are still refining their calculations, but the object appears to be zooming more than 60 kilometres (37 miles) a second.

This would mean it is not bound by the Sun’s orbit, unlike comets and asteroids, which all originate from within the Solar System.

Its trajectory also “means it’s not orbiting our star, but coming from interstellar space and flying off to there again,” Moissl said.

“We are not 100 percent certain at the moment, but anything else would be a surprise,” he added.

Official confirmation is expected to come from the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which has recorded more than 100 observations of the object so far.

The NASA-funded ATLAS survey in Hawaii first discovered the object on Tuesday, US astronomer David Rankin wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

Professional and amateur astronomers across the world then searched through past telescope data, tracing its trajectory back to at least June 14.

The object is currently estimated to be roughly 10-20 kilometres wide, Moissl said. But the object could be smaller if it is made out of ice, which reflects more light.

“It will get brighter and closer to the Sun until late October and then still be observable (by telescope) until next year,” Moissl said.



– Our third visitor –



It would be the third time humanity has detected something coming from the stars.

The first, ‘Oumuamua, was discovered in 2017. It was so strange that at least one prominent scientist became convinced it was an alien vessel — though this has since been dismissed by further research.

Our second interstellar visitor, 2I/Borisov, was spotted in 2019.

Mark Norris, an astronomer at the UK’s University of Central Lancashire, told AFP that the new object appears to be “moving considerably faster than the other two extra-solar objects that we previously discovered.”

The object is currently roughly around the distance from Jupiter away from Earth, Norris said.

He lamented that he would not be able to observe the object on his telescope on Wednesday night, because it is currently only visible in the Southern Hemisphere.

Norris pointed to modelling estimating that there could be as many 10,000 interstellar objects drifting through the Solar System at any given time, though most would be smaller than the newly discovered object.

If true, this suggests that the newly online Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile could soon be finding these dim interstellar visitors every month, Norris said.

Moissl said it is not feasible to send a mission into space to intercept the new object.

Still, these visitors offer scientists a rare chance to study something outside of our Solar System.

For example, if we detected precursors of life such as amino acids on such an object, it would give us “a lot more confidence that the conditions for life exist in other star systems,” Norris said.

Double detonation: New image shows remains of star destroyed by pair of explosions

ESO

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This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5. These are the expanding remains of a star that exploded hundreds of years ago in a double-detonation – the first photographic evidence that stars can die with two blasts.

The data were captured with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at the VLT. MUSE allows astronomers to map the distribution of different chemical elements, displayed here in different colours. Calcium is shown in blue, and it is arranged in two concentric shells. These two layers indicate that the now-dead star exploded with a double-detonation.

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Credit: ESO/P. Das et al. Background stars (Hubble): K. Noll et al.

For the first time, astronomers have obtained visual evidence that a star met its end by detonating twice. By studying the centuries-old remains of supernova SNR 0509-67.5 with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), they have found patterns that confirm its star suffered a pair of explosive blasts. Published today, this discovery shows some of the most important explosions in the Universe in a new light.

Most supernovae are the explosive deaths of massive stars, but one important variety comes from an unassuming source. White dwarfs, the small, inactive cores left over after stars like our Sun burn out their nuclear fuel, can produce what astronomers call a Type Ia supernova.

"The explosions of white dwarfs play a crucial role in astronomy,” says Priyam Das, a PhD student at the University of New South Wales Canberra, Australia, who led the study on SNR 0509-67.5 published today in Nature Astronomy. Much of our knowledge of how the Universe expands rests on Type Ia supernovae, and they are also the primary source of iron on our planet, including the iron in our blood. “Yet, despite their importance, the long-standing puzzle of the exact mechanism triggering their explosion remains unsolved," he adds.

All models that explain Type Ia supernovae begin with a white dwarf in a pair of stars. If it orbits close enough to the other star in this pair, the dwarf can steal material from its partner. In the most established theory behind Type Ia supernovae, the white dwarf accumulates matter from its companion until it reaches a critical mass, at which point it undergoes a single explosion. However, recent studies have hinted that at least some Type Ia supernovae could be better explained by a double explosion triggered before the star reached this critical mass.

Now, astronomers have captured a new image that proves their hunch was right: at least some Type Ia supernovae explode through a ‘double-detonation’ mechanism instead. In this alternative model, the white dwarf forms a blanket of stolen helium around itself, which can become unstable and ignite. This first explosion generates a shockwave that travels around the white dwarf and inwards, triggering a second detonation in the core of the star — ultimately creating the supernova.

Until now, there had been no clear, visual evidence of a white dwarf undergoing a double detonation. Recently, astronomers have predicted that this process would create a distinctive pattern or fingerprint in the supernova’s still-glowing remains, visible long after the initial explosion. Research suggests that remnants of such a supernova would contain two separate shells of calcium.  

Astronomers have now found this fingerprint in a supernova’s remains. Ivo Seitenzahl, who led the observations and was at Germany’s Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies when the study was conducted, says these results show “a clear indication that white dwarfs can explode well before they reach the famous Chandrasekhar mass limit, and that the ‘double-detonation’ mechanism does indeed occur in nature.” The team were able to detect these calcium layers (in blue in the image) in the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5 by observing it with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s VLT. This provides strong evidence that a Type Ia supernova can occur before its parent white dwarf reaches a critical mass.

Type Ia supernovae are key to our understanding of the Universe. They behave in very consistent ways, and their predictable brightness — no matter how far away they are — helps astronomers to measure distances in space. Using them as a cosmic measuring tape, astronomers discovered the accelerating expansion of the Universe, a discovery that won the Physics Nobel Prize in 2011. Studying how they explode helps us to understand why they have such a predictable brightness.

Das also has another motivation to study these explosions. “This tangible evidence of a double-detonation not only contributes towards solving a long-standing mystery, but also offers a visual spectacle,” he says, describing the “beautifully layered structure” that a supernova creates. For him, “revealing the inner workings of such a spectacular cosmic explosion is incredibly rewarding.”

More information

This research was presented in a paper to appear in Nature Astronomy titled “Calcium in a supernova remnant shows the fingerprint of a sub-Chandrasekhar mass explosion”.

The team is composed of P. Das (University of New South Wales, Australia [UNSW] & Heidelberger Institut für Theoretische Studien, Heidelberg, Germany [HITS]), I. R. Seitenzahl (HITS), A. J. Ruiter (UNSW & HITS & OzGrav: The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Hawthorn, Australia & ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions), F. K. Röpke (HITS & Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Heidelberg, Germany & Astronomisches Recheninstitut, Heidelberg, Germany), R. Pakmor (Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Garching, Germany [MPA]), F. P. A. Vogt (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology – MeteoSwiss, Payerne, Switzerland), C. E. Collins (The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland & GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany), P. Ghavamian (Towson University, Towson, USA), S. A. Sim (Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK), B. J. Williams (X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, USA), S. Taubenberger (MPA & Technical University Munich, Garching, Germany), J. M. Laming (Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, USA), J. Suherli (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), R. Sutherland (Australian National University, Weston Creek, Australia), and N. Rodríguez-Segovia (UNSW).

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society. 

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Nature Astronomy

Public Take The Lead In Discovery Of New Exploding Star

Full GOTO-North node under the skies of La Palma CREDIT: K. Ulaczyk (2024)

 July 2, 2025 

By Eurasia Review

Previously described as playing astronomical ‘spot the difference,’ Kilonova Seekers asks the public to compare the latest images of a section of night sky to an image of the same section of space taken on previous nights. Their goal – to spot new stars or significant changes in light intensity that may indicate that something remarkable has happened in space.

Published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the project has announced its first published major discovery – a bright exploding star.

The object underwent an extreme brightening (increasing by 2500 times) that was not seen when compared to the image taken 2 days earlier. The quick response and diligent work of the public allowed the object to be studied and classified early in its evolution, identifying it as a cataclysmic variable star, and given the name GOTO0650.

Co-lead of Kilonova Seekers, Dr. Tom Killestein, Warwick Prize Fellow in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group, University of Warwick said: “Kilonova Seekers is a unique opportunity for members of the public to take part in true real-time astrophysics. Remarkably, public volunteers identified this star as an object of interest within 3 1/2 hours of the image being taken by the GOTO telescopes – this discovery could have been missed among many other objects without their efforts. 

“The involvement of the volunteers didn’t stop there, as there was a huge follow-up response from the public. It was flagged for further observations from the Swift and Einstein Probe space observatories, and GOTO0650 was bright enough for amateur astronomers to take impressively high-quality observations of with their own equipment, which formed a key part of the paper and really helping us understand the object.” 

Cataclysmic variable stars sporadically increase in brightness by large amounts before dropping back to normal levels. They are compact binary star systems, consisting of a white dwarf star stealing matter from its companion donor star. Periodically, material from the donor star hits a critical density and temperature within the disc of gas that surrounds the white dwarf, which causes an explosive outburst and bright flashes of light. 

The fast response of the public enabled the team to get an unusually highly complete dataset on the star, including spectroscopy, X-ray, and UV measurements, supplemented by the impressively high-quality observations of the amateur astronomers. These observations suggest it is a period bouncer, the final state of a cataclysmic variable star, and a rare object to find even in the age of widespread wide-field imaging surveys. 

Co-lead of Kilonova Seekers, Dr Lisa Kelsey, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Institute of Astronomy and Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge said: “Citizen science is a powerful way to make novel serendipitous discoveries in vast datasets that would normally need to be analysed in depth by scientists. 

“With over 2.8 million classifications so far, the discovery of GOTO0650 is really the pinnacle of 2 years of consistent hard work from our volunteers. Without the Kilonova Seekers volunteers flagging this object, rapid follow-up would not have been possible, and this object may have been missed entirely.” 

The Kilonova Seekers Project is approaching its two-year anniversary of inviting members of the public to analyse near real-time data collected from the Warwick-led Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project. This project takes all-sky survey images of space from two arrays of telescopes located on opposite sides of the planet – in Spain and Australia.  

The vast numbers of observations taken in these imaging surveys will soon be beyond the capacity of individual and small teams of scientists to label and validate. Citizen Science is a viable, mutually beneficial solution to avoid objects like GOTO0650 being missed.  

As a shining example of such efforts, Kilonova Seekers has provided over 3,500 members of the public with the opportunity to discover supernovae and variable stars using real data. With volunteers from around the world, there is almost always someone online looking at the data in real-time. 

Svetoslav Alexandrov, Kilonova Seekers Volunteer based in Bulgaria said: “Traffic in Sofia, Bulgaria, is always awful during the mornings so I have to pass time on the bus somehow, and contributing to citizen science is an excellent way to do that! Kilonova Seekers is on the top of my list, because it’s mobile-friendly and most importantly, it offers us fresh imagery almost every single day. 

“I literally screamed with joy when I saw that I was going to be a co-author of the research paper. I’m certain that people on the street raised their eyebrows when they saw me screaming and dancing, but I didn’t care. I knew I am a co-discoverer of something significant, and this was all that mattered” 

Toothache from eating something cold? Blame these ancient fish

New research on fossils shows that teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish.

University of Chicago

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CT scan of the tooth-like-odontode structure from Astrapsis, an ancient jawless vertebrate fish. The tubules (shown in green) are filled with dentine, the same material that makes up the sensitive inner layer of modern teeth. In red is the vascular system which would have housed the nerves in life allowing for sensation to be transmitted.

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Credit: Yara Haridy

Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew our food. However, the sensitive parts inside the hard enamel first evolved for something quite different.

New research from the University of Chicago shows that dentine, the inner layer of teeth that transmits sensory information to nerves inside the pulp, first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish.

Paleontologists have long believed that teeth evolved from the bumpy structures on this armor, but their purpose wasn’t clear. The new study, published this week in Nature, confirms that these structures in an early vertebrate fish from the Ordovician period about 465 million years ago contained dentine, and likely helped the creature sense conditions in the water around it.

The research also showed that structures considered to be teeth in fossils from the Cambrian period (485-540 million years ago) were similar to features in the armor of fossil invertebrates, as well as the sensory organs in the shells of modern arthropods like crabs and shrimp. These similarities imply that sensory organs in the armor of diverse animals evolved separately in both vertebrates and invertebrates to help them sense the larger world around them.

“When you think about an early animal like this, swimming around with armor on it, it needs to sense the world. This was a pretty intense predatory environment and being able to sense the properties of the water around them would have been very important,” said Neil Shubin, PhD, Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at UChicago and senior author of the new study.  “So, here we see that invertebrates with armor like horseshoe crabs need to sense the world too, and it just so happens they hit on the same solution.”

Night at the particle accelerator

Yara Haridy, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Shubin’s lab who led the study, wasn’t looking for the origins of teeth when she started the project. Instead, she was hoping to answer another longstanding paleontological question: What is the earliest vertebrate in the fossil record? Haridy asked museums around the country for fossil specimens from the Cambrian period (485-540 million years ago) so she could CT scan them, looking for telltale signs of vertebrate features.

One of those signs, at least in later fish, is the presence of dentine inside the bumps on external armor, called odontodes. Haridy collected hundreds of specimens, some just tiny fragments that could fit on the end of a toothpick. She then took them to Argonne National Laboratory for an all-night scanning session using the Advanced Photon Source, which captured extremely high-resolution CT images of the fossils. “It was a night at the particle accelerator; that was fun,” Haridy said.

As they started seeing the images from the scans, one of the samples from a Cambrian fossil called Anatolepis looked like it showed the hallmarks of a vertebrate fish. It had a series of tubules, or pores underneath the odontodes, filled with material that bore the chemical signatures of dentine. If it truly was a vertebrate, this specimen would have extended the fossil record back by tens of millions of years.

“We were high fiving each other, like ‘oh my god, we finally did it,’” Haridy said. “That would have been the very first tooth-like structure in vertebrate tissues from the Cambrian. So, we were pretty excited when we saw the telltale signs of what looked like dentine.”

They had to confirm this, of course, so they began analyzing images of the other specimens Haridy scanned. This library of shells and skeletons included everything from other ancient fossils to modern crabs, snails, beetles, barnacles, sharks, and skates, plus miniature suckermouth catfish that Haridy raised herself in an aquarium.

Once they compared the possible vertebrate Anatolepis to a known arthropod fossil from the Milwaukee Public Museum, they realized that what looked like dentine-lined tubules of a vertebrate were more like the sensory organs on the shells of crabs, called sensilla. This means that Anatolepis, which was claimed to be a vertebrate in the pages of Nature in 1996, is an ancient invertebrate arthropod instead. The large tubules in another Ordovician vertebrate called Eriptychius were similar in structure to these sensilla, but did contain dentine.

“This shows us that ‘teeth’ can also be sensory even when they're not in the mouth,” Haridy said. “So, there's sensitive armor in these fish. There's sensitive armor in these arthropods. This explains the confusion with these early Cambrian animals. People thought that this was the earliest vertebrate, but it actually was an arthropod.”

Tooth-like structures scattered across the fossil record

Sharks, skates, and catfish also have tooth-like structures called denticles that make their skin feel like sandpaper. When Haridy studied the tissues of her catfish, she saw that the denticles were connected to nerves, just like a tooth would be. She said the similarities to teeth, the ancient odontodes of armored fish, and the sensilla of arthropods was striking.

“We think that the earliest vertebrates, these big, armored fish, had very similar structures, at least morphologically. They look the same in ancient and modern arthropods, because they're all making this mineralized layer that caps their soft tissue and helps them sense the environment,” she said.

There are two schools of thought about how these structures eventually became teeth. One, the “inside-out” hypothesis, says that teeth arose first, and were later adapted for exoskeletons. This paper would support the second, “outside-in” hypothesis, that says sensitive structures developed first on exoskeletons, and at some point, animals utilized the same genetic toolkit to produce sensitive teeth as well.

While they didn’t pin down the earliest vertebrate fish, Shubin said this discovery was more than worth the effort.

“For some of these fossils that were putative early vertebrates, we showed that they’re not. But that was a bit of misdirection,” Shubin said. “We didn’t find the earliest one, but in some ways, we found something way cooler.”

The study, “The Origin of Vertebrate Teeth and Evolution of Sensory Exoskeletons,” was supported by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, and the Brinson Family Foundation. Additional authors include Sam C.P. Norris, Matteo Fabbri, Neelima Sharma, Mark Rivers, Patrick La Riviere, and Phillip Vargas from the University of Chicago; Karma Nanglu and Javier Ortega-Hernández from Harvard University; and James F Miller from Missouri State University.

The Origin of Vertebrate Teeth and Evolution of Sensory Exoskeletons [VIDEO] |

Yara Haridy and Neil Shubin discuss their new study in Nature on the origins of sensitive teeth in vertebrates.

CT scan image of tooth like dermal denticles on a catshark. These tooth-like structures are connected to the nervous system, suggesting they create sensation.

Segmented confocal scan of the tooth-like-odontode structure from suckermouth catfish fish, showing nerves (in green) that allow transmission of sensory information from the tooth like odontode to the nervous system.

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CT scan of the front of a skate, showing the hard, tooth-like denticles on its skin (shown in orange).

Credit

Yara Haridy

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-08944-w 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

Animal tissue samples

Article Title

The origin of vertebrate teeth and evolution of sensory exoskeletons

Article Publication Date

21-May-2025