China has been secretly fueling a renewable energy boom in Latin America—just look at Chile

BYZDENKA MYSLIKOVA

THE CONVERSATION
July 8, 2023

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, attend the welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, China on April 24, 2019.
KENZABURO FUKUHARA/KYODO NEWS - POOL/GETTY IMAGES

The story of renewable energy’s rapid rise in Latin America often focuses on Chinese influence, and for good reason. China’s government, banks and companies have propelled the continent’s energy transition, with about 90% of all wind and solar technologies installed there produced by Chinese companies. China’s State Grid now controls over half of Chile’s regulated energy distribution, enough to raise concerns in the Chilean government.

China has also become a major investor in Latin America’s critical minerals sector, a treasure trove of lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements that are crucial for developing electric vehicles, wind turbines and defense technologies.

In 2018, the Chinese company Tianqi Lithium purchased a 23% share in one of Chile’s largest lithium producers, Sociedad Química y Minera. More recently, in 2022, Ganfeng Lithium bought a major evaporative lithium project in Argentina for US$962 million. In April 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed around 20 agreements to strengthen their countries’ already close relationship, including in the areas of trade, climate change and the energy transition.

China’s growing influence over global clean energy supply chains and its leverage over countries’ energy systems have raised international concerns. But the relationship between China and Latin America is also increasingly complicated as Latin American countries try to secure their resources and their own clean energy futures.

Alongside international investments, Latin American countries are fostering energy innovation cultures that are homegrown, dynamic, creative, often grassroots and frequently overlooked. These range from sophisticated innovations with high-tech materials to a phenomenon known as “frugal innovation.”
Chile looks to the future

Chile is an example of how Latin America is embracing renewable energy while trying to plan a more self-reliant future.

New geothermal, solar and wind power projects – some built with Chinese backing, but not all – have pushed Chile far past its 2025 renewable energy goal. About one-third of the country is now powered by clean energy.

But the big prize, and a large part of China’s interest, lies buried in Chile’s Atacama Desert, home to the world’s largest lithium reserves. Lithium, a silvery-white metal, is essential for producing lithium ion batteries that power most electric vehicles and utility-scale energy storage. Countries around the world have been scrambling to secure lithium sources, and the Chilean government is determined to keep control over its reserves, currently about one-half of the planet’s known supply .

In April 2023, Chile’s president announced a national lithium strategy to ensure that the state holds partial ownership of some future lithium developments. The move, which has yet to be approved, has drawn complaints that it could slow production.

However, the government aims to increase profits from lithium production while strengthening environmental safeguards and sharing more wealth with the country’s citizens, including local communities impacted by lithium projects. Latin America has seen its resources sold out from under it before, and Chile doesn’t intend to lose out on its natural value this time.
Learning from foreign investors

Developing its own renewable energy industry has been a priority in Chile for well over a decade, but it’s been a rough road at times.

In 2009, the government began establishing national and international centers of excellence – Centros de Excelencia Internacional – for research in strategic fields such as solar energy, geothermal energy and climate resilience. It invited and co-financed foreign research institutes, such as Europe’s influential Fraunhofer institute and France’s ENGIELab, to establish branches in Chile and conduct applied research. The latest is a center for the production of lithium using solar energy.

The government expected that the centers would work with local businesses and research centers, transferring knowledge to feed a local innovation ecosystem. However, reality hasn’t yet matched the expectations. The foreign institutions brought their own trained personnel. And except for the recently established institute for lithium, officials tell us that low financing has been a major problem.
Chile’s startup incubator and frugal innovation

While big projects get the headlines, more is going on under the radar.

Chile is home to one of the largest public incubators and seed accelerators in Latin America, StartUp Chile. It has helped several local startups that offer important innovations in food, energy, social media, biotech and other sectors.

Often in South America, this kind of innovation is born and developed in a resource-scarce context and under technological, financial and material constraints. This “frugal innovation” emphasizes sustainability with substantially lower costs.

For example, the independent Chilean startup Reborn Electric Motors has developed a business converting old diesel bus fleets into fully electric buses. Reborn was founded in 2016 when the national electromobility market in Chile was in its early stages, before China’s BYD ramped up electric bus use in local cities.

Reborn’s retrofitted buses are both technologically advanced and significantly cheaper than their Chinese counterparts. While BYD’s new electric bus costs roughly US$320,000, a retrofitted equivalent from Reborn costs roughly half, around $170,000. The company has also secured funding to develop a prototype for running mining vehicles on green hydrogen.

Bolivia’s “tiny supercheap EV” developed by homegrown startup Industrias Quantum Motors is another example of frugal innovation in the electric vehicles space. The startup aspires to bring electric mobility widely to the Latin American population. It offers the tiniest EV car possible, one that can be plugged into a standard wall socket. The car costs around $6,000 and has a range of approximately 34 miles (55 kilometers) per charge.

Phineal is another promising Chilean company that offers clean energy solutions, focusing on solar energy projects. Its projects include solar systems installation, electromobility technology and technology using blockchain to improve renewable energy management in Latin America. Many of these are highly sophisticated and technologically advanced projects that have found markets overseas, including in Germany.

Looking ahead to green hydrogen

Chile is also diving into another cutting-edge area of clean energy. Using its abundant solar and wind power to produce green hydrogen for export as a fossil fuel replacement has become a government priority.

The government is developing a public-private partnership of an unprecedented scale in Chile for hydrogen production and has committed to cover 30% of an expected $193 million public and private investment, funded in part by its lithium and copper production. Some questions surround the partnership, including Chile’s lack of experience administering such a large project and concerns about the environmental impact. The government claims Chile’s green energy production could eventually rival its mining industry.

Related Video

With plentiful hydropower and sunshine, Latin America already meets a quarter of its energy demand with renewables – nearly twice the global average. Chile and its neighbors envision those numbers only rising.

Zdenka Myslikova is Postdoctoral Scholar in Clean Energy Innovation, Tufts University and Nathaniel Dolton-Thornton is Assistant Researcher in Climate Policy, Tufts University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Northern premiers endorse much of Senate’s Arctic security report

Caitrin Pilkington·

July 8, 2023

CABIN RADIO

Norad aircraft on patrol over the Beaufort Sea in 2021. Photo: Norad
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Canada’s northern premiers have issued a statement broadly welcoming the findings of a Senate report on Arctic security.

After a year of research and hearings with experts, the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence released its findings on June 28.

“Canada’s Arctic is in crisis,” stated a press release announcing the report. “The urgency results from decades of neglect and disregard, climate change and lack of infrastructure.”

After a week of meetings at a western premiers’ conference, NWT Premier Caroline Cochrane said she, Nunavut’s PJ Akeeagok and Yukon’s Ranj Pillai “welcome the recommendations around multi-purpose infrastructure that meet local and territorial needs, improve broadband internet connectivity, and provide social and economic benefits for Arctic communities.”

Cochrane has been vocal this week about the need to improve northern infrastructure in order to secure the region. In an interview with the Canadian Press, she said establishing an effective military presence would be difficult without reliable telecommunications and all-season roads.

In the report, the Senate committee’s priorities appear to alternate between climate change and securing domestic assets.

Sections of the report advocate for rapid expansion of extractive industries in the North, especially around rare-earth minerals, to ensure they don’t end up in the hands of China or Russia.

“The Canadian Arctic has vast untapped economic potential but, without the infrastructure to access and transport its resources, we are leaving enormous wealth in the ground,” said Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais, deputy chair of the committee.

“If we do not start to make use of resources that the world needs, it will not be long before other countries seek to exploit them.”

The report identifies climate change as a “major concern,” with the potential to seriously impact northerners, but subsequent paragraphs also characterize rapidly melting Arctic sea ice as an opportunity with economic benefits like the opening of international shipping routes, room for more cruise ships, and improved access to natural resources.

The committee asks that policymakers explore expanding the definition of “Arctic security” beyond a strictly military interpretation, to incorporate environmental, social and cultural health.

Its report includes a quote from Lassi Heininen, a professor of Arctic Politics at Finland’s University of Lapland, who observed that “military security is a very narrow definition of security,” and that a paradigm shift is needed “to secure the everyday life of Arctic inhabitants because of climate change.”

But while the report places climate change at the root of many serious infrastructure issues – threatening housing, roads and runways – none of the committee’s recommendations include action to combat or address climate change.

The report also calls for increased military capability in the North, though it acknowledges a larger military presence would likely have a negative environmental impact.
Joint decision-making

“The Arctic is my home,” said Senator Dawn Anderson, who is from the NWT, in a press release.

“When the committee travelled to Tuktoyaktuk, I showed them where houses once stood that had to be moved because our Arctic coastline is eroding.

“The situation is beyond urgent — it is desperate. Canada has taken so much from us in the name of Arctic sovereignty.”

The committee recommends that the federal government include Indigenous peoples in a roundtable on Arctic search and rescue, and that Ottawa ensures its standards for the cruise sector “complement management plans developed by Indigenous governments and organizations.”

On the subject of Indigenous involvement in defence, the committee says the federal government should “obtain their views about security and defence in the region.”

The report also recommends that provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments be briefed annually on national plans for Arctic-related security and defence.

In the statement released by the three territories, premiers expressed approval.

“We are pleased to see the recommendations reflect the importance of having Indigenous governments and treaty rights-holders at the table,” stated Cochrane.

“It is of the utmost importance that the Government of Canada not only actively listen to and involve local, territorial and Indigenous leadership from our three territories when developing defence policies around Arctic security, but it is critical that Canada takes action and invests in the Arctic.”

Opinion: How Joe Rogan's vaccine-debate pitch undermines real science

Raywat Deonandan
Calgary Herald
Published Jul 07, 2023

An upcoming debate on the Joe Rogan podcast about the value of vaccines will do nothing to further science. 

Ten years ago, while still a relatively fresh academic, I was invited onto the Joe Rogan podcast to debate Peter Duesberg, a biologist who was infamously claiming that the HIV virus is not the cause of AIDS. I declined the invitation for several reasons, not least of which was that I was not comfortable granting credibility to a fringe and dangerous theory.

I have second-guessed that decision every day, as the podcast has grown to service an audience bigger than that of CNN. That memory was brought back recently, as once more Rogan has invited a scientist — pediatrician and vaccine inventor Peter Hotez — to debate presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the latter’s many anti-vaccination claims.

Rogan’s challenge set Twitter ablaze, with many berating Hotez to accept the invitation, while others decried the very invitation itself. The episode demands that we interrogate the question of what value such debate brings to the enterprise of science.

Debating socially relevant issues has a long history, going back to the storied intellectual traditions of ancient Greece, India and other cradles of civilization. According to the American Debate League, the aim of debate is “to convince the opposition that you are right.” But according to Aristotle, debate has four purposes: to see both sides of an argument; to instruct the public; to prevent injustice; and to defend oneself.

Viewed through this seductive lens, it’s understandable how one could feel that any topic would be rendered clearer through the filter of debate. In today’s polarized society, though, the desire for debate is not so much to render a final truth as it is to see one’s own side represented. It is often entertainment via conflict, with little regard for any truths that might be squeezed out in the process. We can therefore add a fifth purpose to Aristotle’s list: to present one’s agenda to a bigger audience. Thus, “winning” is often not the goal of many debaters. Simply being present is victory enough.

What is the metric for debate success, anyway? Toronto’s Munk Debates decide a winner based on the number of audience members whose minds were changed. But people can be won over by many things, not just by the evidence laid before them. In other words, a debate might be won by the power of oratory and the charm of the speaker, not just by the quality of the argument.

In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates concludes that rhetoric is no more than flattery, wherein a speaker wins over an audience by causing them to identify with that speaker, and not necessarily by presenting a superior argument. And indeed this appears to be the tack taken by modern political debaters for whom facts are fluidly convenient, necessitating a retreat to practised charm.

Within the domain of professional science, though, the crucible of truth is not on the debate stage but in the pages of peer review, where criticism is naked and brazen. Facts must be proven, claims backed by citation and conclusions must flow rationally from the evidence brought forth. In medical science specifically, fallacies and biases are interrogated through statistics and the hierarchy of preferred study designs, which in turn are reviewed by experts in statistics and research methods.

While surely flawed, peer review imperfections are flattened out by the scientific requirement of reproducibility. A new truth is not accepted until the observation is repeated multiple times in multiple environments by different investigators. And even then, the caveat is that all of this is true only until further notice when new data offer the opportunity to unseat the dominant paradigm

To paraphrase a Twitter friend, debate is a skill like woodworking or cooking.

What constitutes scientific truth should not depend on a speaker’s ability to deftly rebuff an unproven statement or an outright lie, nor indeed on his charm or agreeableness. Majority vote does not determine scientific truth. Sober expert consensus in the form of peer review is the best we have for that now.

I feel confident that I made the right decision 10 years ago. Neither I nor Duesberg would have changed each other’s minds. I bristle at the possibility that the audience’s acceptance of my scientific argument would be dependent upon my own questionable charisma. All that I would have accomplished would have been lending my limited credibility to harmful AIDS denialism.

We mustn’t construe any “debate” between Hotez and RFK Jr. as any kind of test of scientific validity. Gorgias acceded to Socrates that the art of rhetoric is more effective before a lay audience than before experts, because to the inexpert, persuasion, charm and oratory count more than mere facts.

None of this is science.

Raywat Deonandan is an epidemiologist and associate professor with the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa.

SCI-FI-TEK

Capture6 Secures Over $8M Grant for Innovative Carbon Capture Technology



In a significant boost to the carbon capture industry, Capture6, a California-based startup, has secured a grant exceeding $8 million from the California Energy Commission.

This funding, the largest in the current round of the Commercialization Industrial Decarbonization (CID) Program, will propel the company’s groundbreaking Project Monarch at the Pure Water Antelope Valley (PWAV) Demonstration Facility.

Capture6 is a direct air capture (DAC) start-up specializing in climate resilience and industrial decarbonization. The company develops and commercializes highly scalable approaches to removing carbon dioxide.

Capture6’s Project Monarch will demonstrate the use of saltwater separation technology to remove CO2.
Producing Freshwater By Removing Carbon

Capture6 is revolutionizing the carbon capture sector with its unique, scalable technology. The startup’s approach integrates DAC with water treatment technologies and thus, creating a circular economy solution.

This innovative process uses brine, a byproduct of water treatment facilities, to produce a solvent that captures atmospheric carbon dioxide. The result? A dual benefit of additional freshwater and reduced CO2 emissions, is a win-win for communities and the environment.

Water security is a global concern, with demand projected to surge by 55% by 2050.

Traditional water sources, often high in salt and minerals, require significant treatment before use. The startup’s technology offers a solution to this escalating environmental crisis.

By using salt water to create its carbon removal solvent, Capture6 can recover over 50% of freshwater from desalination waste brine. This process not only provides drinking and industrial water but also captures CO₂ and eliminates waste brine.

Capture6 Approach to Carbon Capture



The grant application was a collaborative effort, led by Capture6, with PSE Healthy Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and Stantec.

The Palmdale Water District (PWD) will partner with Capture6 to develop the PWAV Demonstration Facility. This facility will showcase Capture6’s cutting-edge technology and PWD’s advanced water purification through a visitor learning center and guided tours.

Berkeley Lab will play a crucial role in the project, developing a comprehensive monitoring, reporting, and verification protocol. They will also execute a life cycle analysis for the project, while PSE Healthy Energy will lead air pollutant assessments.

Dr. Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO and co-founder of Capture6, expressed his gratitude for the grant, stating,

“It represents one of the largest state-funded DAC investments to date. It confirms our process is viable in decarbonizing industries while at the same time reducing emissions and increasing freshwater supplies.”
Capture6’s Unique CO2 Removal Facility

The facility, named Pure Water Antelope Valley Demonstration Facility, which includes Capture6’s Project Monarch, will be the first fully integrated water management and CO₂ removal facility of its kind.

Project Monarch is a two-phase initiative with the ultimate goal of developing a large-scale commercial facility. The success of this project hinges on community support as well as positive outcomes from the demonstration facility.

Capture6’s carbon capture process has the potential for global replication. The company is actively pursuing opportunities, particularly in New Zealand, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, and across the US. The goal is to deliver high-value environmental and financial outcomes, including pure water, affordable carbon removal, and emissions reductions.

The CID Program is a key part of the California Energy Commission’s broader efforts to create a clean, modern, and thriving California. As the state’s primary energy policy and planning agency, the Commission plays a pivotal role in supporting the transition to a clean energy economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In conclusion, Capture6’s innovative technology and the recent grant from the California Energy Commission mark a significant stride in the fight against climate change. The company’s unique approach to carbon capture and water treatment could be a game-changer in the global effort to reduce CO2 emissions and secure water supplies. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting development.

Here’s how the startup’s DAC process works, explained in the video below.

Nuclear option to the fore as Tories prepare to unveil roadmap to net zero

Energy security secretary Grant Shapps will this week outline plans for Britain’s atomic power’s renaissance and 2050 emissions commitment

Jillian Ambrose
Sun 9 Jul 2023

Observer business agenda
Nuclear power
Analysis

The construction of the traditional sized Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset has suffered delays and is overbudget. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

In London’s Science Museum sit full-size turbine engines that tell the story of 300 years of steam power. This week, the museum will play host to the government’s dreams for a new industrial renaissance – this time for nuclear energy.

The secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Grant Shapps, has chosen the venue to set out his ambitions for the UK’s nuclear programme. He is expected to illuminate the path towards the government’s existing commitment to build 24 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity – the equivalent of a quarter of Britain’s total generating capacity – by 2050.

The event, scheduled for Thursday, will also be the official launch of the arm’s-length government body that has the task of driving the delivery of new nuclear energy projects.

The first priority of Great British Nuclear (GBN) will be in streamlining the government’s ambition for small modular nuclear reactors.

These mini-reactors offer rare bright points of optimism in the government’s nuclear plans. The attempts to bring forward investment in traditionally sized reactors have yielded only the much-delayed and overbudget Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset so far.

But mini-reactors present an opportunity to harness the benefits of modular manufacturing techniques to cut the costs of full-scale construction and speed up building times. The government considers nuclear power a crucial part of its ambition to reach its 2050 net zero emissions target and its highly ambitious 2035 target to cut carbon emissions from the electricity system. A new nuclear dawn should also create highly skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs.
Each new government has given rise to new rows over the cost of supporting small modular reactors

The hope is that GBN will be able to accelerate the rollout of the mini-reactors by operating one step removed from the political wrangling of Whitehall and Westminster. In turn, mini-reactors are expected to offer a cheaper alternative to traditional nuclear power plants and be quicker to build.

It is paradoxical, then, that both plans have been heavily delayed by political upheaval in recent years. Under Boris Johnson, the government put nuclear power at the centre of its energy strategy, announced in April 2022, in response to climate concerns and a desire to ditch Russian gas.

Each new government has given rise to new rows over the cost of supporting small modular reactors. The current government hopes to announce the first competition winners in the autumn. Industry sources are hopeful that Shapps may use his forthcoming speech to clarify how the competition will progress.

Any clarification will be gladly received by executives at the jet-engines-to-nuclear-reactors company Rolls-Royce, which says that its small modular reactors could begin providing “stable, secure supplies of low-cost power” by the early 2030s.

But Rolls-Royce is not alone. In the time that it has taken for the government to launch its competition, the marketplace for small modular reactors has become a little crowded.

Hitachi has submitted a design for regulatory approval, while infrastructure group Balfour Beatty and Holtec, which manufactures components for power plants, have agreed to propose a Holtec design, with the support of Hyundai.

Rolls-Royce is understood to be sanguine about the rising competition, and comfortable in the belief that it can offer a compelling and competitive nuclear option. Still, it cannot have escaped its notice that if there had been fewer delays in the first place, it might have enjoyed more of a head start.

WORKERS CAPITAL

UK’s Hunt to detail plans to steer pensions into growth investment

PUBLISHED SUN, JUL 9 2023

The U.K. Treasury building.
Matthew Lloyd | Bloomberg | Getty Images

British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will spell out on Monday long-awaited plans to encourage pension funds and other asset managers to invest in high-growth sectors, the Treasury said on Sunday.

In Monday’s speech at the City of London’s Mansion House, Hunt will explain how the reforms could increase returns for pensioners and unlock capital for businesses, the Treasury said.

The government - seeking to boost Britain’s slow economic growth without further increasing its hefty public debt - wants to persuade pension schemes to invest some of their funds in infrastructure as well as startups and green technology.

But the pensions industry has said it opposes mandatory investment quotas.

“Everything we do we will seek to secure the best possible outcomes for pension savers, with any changes to investment structures putting their needs first and foremost,” Hunt was set to tell finance executives, according to the Treasury.

He was expected to announce a list of insurers and asset managers who have signed up in principle to invest more in alternative assets, a senior industry source told Reuters.

Hunt will also seek to assuage concerns that the push to secure funding from long-term investors such as pension funds could hurt the government bond market, saying in his speech that he would prioritise a “strong and diversified gilt market”.

Any changes to the pensions industry would be “evolutionary not revolutionary”, Hunt planned to say, vowing that the reforms would never compromise Britain’s competitive position as a leading financial center.

Financial services lobby group TheCityUK said government policy should aim for pension funds to invest in growth and in turn deliver higher returns.

“On average, Australian and Canadian pension funds currently provide better performance. We need to follow their example, encourage consolidation of schemes and deliver better retirements, which will also support growth,” it said in a statement.

Hunt was also expected to reiterate that bringing down high inflation remained his priority, saying there could be “no sustainable growth without first eliminating the inflation that deters investment and erodes consumer confidence.”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Hunt said he would not agree to big tax cuts later this year - ahead of an expected national election in 2024 - if they made inflation worse, and he also ruled out “inflationary” public sector pay awards.

Climate scientist Maisa Rojas: ‘I have a mandate to be part of Chile’s first ecological, feminist government’

Chile’s new environment minister on reconciling green goals and the realities of government, and why she wants her developing country to be a global climate pioneer


Jonathan Watts
@jonathanwatts
Sat 8 Jul 2023 

The Observer
Climate crisis

Interview

Last year, the renowned climate scientist Maisa Rojas, 50, left her academic comfort zone and took the post of Chilean environment minister in the progressive leftwing government of Gabriel Boric. The physics associate professor with an Oxford doctorate was one of many bold appointments in a cabinet that promised to promote ecological and feminist values, social justice and devolution. With Chile suffering prolonged fires, droughts and heatwaves, she has helped the country pass a climate law and a nature law to protect biodiversity.

You are one of the leading scientists in Chile. Why did you enter politics? Is it true that you got involved after the first round of the presidential election, when it seemed that a conservative climate denier, José Antonio Kast, might take power?

Yes, that definitely was a big part of it. I really, really felt that in this critical decade, when climate actions need to be an urgent priority, we could not afford to have a climate denier as president of our country.

From your experience of the past year, do you think it would be a good idea to have more highly qualified scientists in government positions?
I asked the same question when I was appointed. Of course I hope to make a difference, but there is no guarantee because you have to understand that in politics, you don’t only take decisions based on evidence and science. You need a lot of other abilities, not just understanding the main subjects. You have to figure out a much more complex ecosystem. I am still figuring it out.

If we did not have so many social inequalities, we would not have the same level of environmental degradation

After a year’s experience on the inside, do you feel government institutions – most of which were established in the very different climate of the 19th and 20th centuries – are equipped to deal with the scale of the emergency we face?

They are not. That is one of the big challenges. I have had to make that very clear. In the case of Chile, we have had, since last year, a climate change law. It is a framework law that has two objectives: carbon neutrality at the latest by 2050 and building resilience against the worst effects of climate change. This involved 17 of our 24 ministries, so I can tell you it will be quite a challenge to implement this because it requires coordination and tranversation of this subject across the whole of government.

This morning, I was at a meeting between the ministry of energy and the ministry of transport, where they were telling the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] how the law was being implemented. What they have realised is that they must put a climate change lens on everything they do. That requires new laws because the old ones have contradictions. It is fascinating to see how this is going, and quite exciting.

Your appointment as minister appears to be tied up with a generational and gender change that is happening in Chile and many other countries. How is that linked to the rise in environmental consciousness?

I am not so young any more, but about the gender part, I think they are quite interrelated because in my view the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity crisis and the pollution crisis are ultimately a relationship crisis. It is the result of a bad relationship with nature, but also among ourselves, that has been propelled by social inequalities. If our world did not have these social inequalities, I am sure we would not have the same level of environmental degradation because no one who has access to education, to money, to power would accept to live in an area that was so degraded.

That is true in the world as a whole, between the global north and the global south. And it is true inside society. Gender inequality is one of the most obvious inequalities we have. In western societies, caring is done by women at home who look after children, the elderly, etc. What we need is a society that takes more care. What is the easiest way to do that? Bring women into public life.

Inside the government, how powerful is the environment ministry? In many countries, the environment minister is little more than a decoration used to greenwash the administration. Do you have the power you need to make the changes that are required?
I have a mandate to be part of the first ecological, feminist government of Chile, and to pursue a just transition and decentralisation. Those were our four campaign promises. We must put content in how to materialise an ecological government, how to change the model of development from something that is destructive and based on raw materials. I think I play an important role in that. I sit at the table for national strategy. I have the climate change law, which aims for net zero by 2050.

Maisa Rojas speaking at the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 2022. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

This ministry plays an important role in making sure the energy transition occurs. I also take care of biodiversity and have to ensure that our climate solutions do not deepen the biodiversity crisis. This ministry started in 2010 so it is relatively new. I want to leave this ministry stronger and pave the road for these transitions with a strong basis so they cannot be overthrown by whoever follows us in government. I have the backing of the president for that.

Chile’s economy has long depended on mining. How do you change that extractive mindset and balance it with the needs of biodiversity? I guess there must be times when the president says to you: “Go easy on that, we need the money”?

Yes, that is the most complicated part. That is where things become muddy. These are really the tough questions. To demonstrate that we can do both – develop the economy while taking care of our environment – at the necessary velocity. That is really the challenge.

In the case of mining, we need a common understanding of what needs to be done. We have had conversations about sustainable mining and green mining. And I have said I prefer not to talk in those terms, which sound like greenwashing because mining is never sustainable. We need to talk about responsible mining. We know mining has important, irreversible impacts on nature. We need a broad agreement about what impacts we are willing to take – and to be responsible about that.

You have said Chile can be a climate leader. How? Many countries have made net zero targets. What can you do in concrete terms that sets an example for others and puts us on the path for a better world?

There are a lot of pledges to be net zero by 2050, but not many countries are actually doing that. Before I leave I’d like to see the transition in what is left of this decade. That is when the challenges are. It is my firm conviction that if Chile really wants to be a developed country and to improve the wellbeing of our people then we must be the first to do the green transition and not the last.

Many developing countries say they need more time, that they don’t have the capacity, that they want to develop first. I think that is wrong. We improve the lives of our citizens if we are first. Otherwise, we will just have tons of stranded assets that will hold back development for a long time. A just transition will have many benefits – cleaner cities, longer life expectancy, better air, better soil, decontaminated rivers and more beauty. That is why we must do this as quick as we can. We still need help. But if a small developing country like Chile can do this, it will be an important example to many other countries.

Scientists say poisonous pea could be made vital climate crisis crop

Gene editing or selective breeding hold promise of a non-toxic variety of the protein-rich and drought-resistant plant

The poisonous grass pea could be altered to help avoid famine caused by global heating Photograph: Jovan Vidakovic/Shutterstock

The ObserverScience
Robin McKie

Sat 8 Jul 2023 

It is grown in some of the world’s most inhospitable, arid regions and is noted for being rich in protein. But the grass pea – although hardy and nutritious – comes with a catch. It contains a poison that can occasionally trigger irreversible paralysis, particularly among individuals who are already undernourished.

As a result, it is often grown only as an insurance crop, to provide short-term food supply when harvests of other crops have failed. Nevertheless, poisoning from Lathyrus sativus still occurs in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Ethiopia and Algeria.

But now a group of UK scientists studying the grass pea have revealed the secrets of its poison production. In the near future they expect to create versions that are free of its toxic side-effects.

“Very soon, we will be able to make safe versions of the grass pea and provide our undernourished, overheated planet with a very valuable crop,” said project scientist Dr Anne Edwards, of the John Innes Centre in Norfolk.

The key biochemical steps by which the grass pea’s poison is made were revealed when scientists decoded the highly complex genome of Lathyrus sativus. They discovered details of the pathways that lead to the pea poison’s manufacture, leaving them poised to use gene-editing or standard breeding techniques to create versions that are poison-free or extremely low in toxins.

“Obviously you don’t want to create a version of the grass pea that does not make toxins and then find out that it is also no longer drought-resistant,” said Edwards. “However … it seems there is no penalty from removing the toxin or having very, very low levels of it.”

When eaten as part of a balanced diet, the grass pea is safe. But when other crops have failed and only the hardy grass pea survives, its consumption can have grim effects in the form of the neurotoxic disease of lathyrism.

The earliest description of the illness was made by the Greek physician Hippocrates, while the Spanish artist Goya’s aquatint print, Thanks to the Grass Pea, depicts the consequences of Napoleon’s siege of Madrid. It shows a woman who can no longer walk due to the effects of lathyrism, surrounded by a small group of starving citizens waiting for bowls of food containing the poison pea.

However, once stripped of its toxic effects, the grass pea could have a crucial role to play in a world that has been afflicted by the consequences of the climate emergency. “We should not underestimate the potential of grass pea across the world,” said Edwards. “It’s a legume, and bacteria in its roots make fertiliser by converting nitrogen in the air into ammonium compounds, which it releases into the soil and improves it.

“It also has an enormous root system that goes deep into the ground. So growing the grass pea could play a major role in improving soil fertility across the planet – in the west as well as in arid countries in the Middle East and Africa.”

Dr Peter Emmrich from the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, who is one of the scientists working to develop safe varieties of the grass pea, said: “As we prepare for increased climate change, we are going to need crops that can cope with drought or flooding or inundations of salt water. Grass pea can survive such conditions.”

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER MYSTERIOUS RADIOACTIVE ROCK ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON

IT'S OVER 30 MILES IN DIAMETER.

NASA / FUTURISM


Radioactive Moon Rock

Scientists have discovered a large, radioactive granite formation underneath the surface of the far side of the Moon — and according to a new paper, this unexpected rock formation might offer researchers some clues about our Moon's long history.

In the paper, which was published this week in the journal Nature, the researchers posit that the existence of the subsurface granite suggests that the less-studied far side of the Moon, which always faces away from the Earth, once housed one or several volcanoes, which erupted around 3.5 billion years ago early in the Moon's history.

"Any big body of granite that we find on Earth used to feed a big bunch of volcanoes," said study co-author Matthew Siegler, a Southern Methodist University professor and Planetary Science Institute researcher, in a statement.

Taken for Granite

Subsurface igneous rock deposits left behind by cooling volcanoes called batholiths "are much bigger than the volcanoes they feed on the surface," added Siegler. "For example, the Sierra Nevada mountains are a batholith, left from a volcanic chain in the western United States that existed long ago."

To determine the chemical makeup of the radioactive lunar deposit, the researchers used microwave frequencies to measure the compound's geothermal activity. They were able to deduce from the data that the deposit contained certain radioactive elements that could only be attributed to granite.

Still, the results were a bit of a surprise. Though the region of the Moon where the mystery rock was discovered — often referred to as the Compton-Belkovich "anomaly" — contains a known volcanic complex, granite has rarely been found on the Moon.

The newly-discovered hunk of granite, however, is pretty huge and measures over 30 miles in diameter.

"The surprising magnitude and geographic extent of this feature imply an Earth-like, evolved granitic system larger than believed possible on the Moon," the researchers wrote in the paper.


Despite the fascinating new findings, scientists may be left with more questions than answers.

"If you don't have water it takes extreme situations to make granite," Siegler said. "So, here's this system with no water, and no plate tectonics — but you have granite. Was there water on the moon — at least in this one spot? Or was it just especially hot?"

Scientists Find Mysterious Radioactive Rock On The Dark Side Of The Moon

By TeeJay Small | 

The Moon

According to a write-up in The Source, NASA scientists have uncovered a massive radioactive moon rock on the dark side of the moon, which could help unlock ancient secrets about the satellites’ history and formation. The rock is made out of granite, which, when found on the surface of the Earth, generally indicates a volcano’s presence or former presence.

Scientists may have found the remnants of a volcano on the dark side of the Moon.

While scientists have not officially concluded that there are ancient remnants of a volcano on the moon’s dark side, it sure would make for an incredible secret lair for the next James Bond villain.

The existence of granite within the moon’s subsurface certainly seems to suggest that the far side of the moon, which always faces away from the Earth, once contained volcanoes, which could have erupted to form the moon rock over 3.5 billion years ago. This places the eruption fairly early in the history of the moon’s existence, as the leading scientific theory suggests that the moon was originally formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago.

The Moon


The hypothesis, often referred to as the Theia Impact or simply the Big Splash, suggests that the moon was once a part of the Earth’s surface before splitting into the atmosphere. This split was caused, as the Big Splash asserts, by a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planet sometime between 20 million to 100 million years after the Solar System first formed. This means that, like all of the moon, the volcanoes that formed the moon’s rock were once found on our planet’s surface.

One theory that would explain volcanos under the lunar surface is that the Moon splintered off of Earth close to the birth of the solar system.

While human beings have done several cursory explorations of the Moon’s surface since the first steps onto the lunar orbiter in 1969, no human has ever stepped on the dark side. This is due to both the complete absence of light and the increased difficulty for sending and receiving communications.

Humans have seen the dark side in person while orbiting the moon, and the various NASA probes have provided us with a great deal of information about the dark side’s surface, such as the subterranean moon rock.

Radioactive Rocks On The Moon Leave Scientists With More Questions

NASA scientists were able to determine the chemical composition of the radioactive moon rock by measuring microwave frequencies and testing for the existence of geothermal activity. From these tests, scientists could extrapolate certain radioactive signatures only present in granite structures, such as those left on Earth by massive volcano ranges. The hunk of granite apparently ranges 30 miles in diameter, with no telling just how much more of the material is buried deep within the moon’s core.

Like all great scientific discoveries, this moon rock may actually leave scientists with more questions than answers. Granite is extremely difficult to form without water, leaving some scientists to wonder if water could be trapped beneath the moon’s surface, which has been a long-held theory in the scientific community. There are also no tectonic plates present within the moon, and the reduced gravity would render the existence of flowing lava difficult to comprehend.

There's granite on the moon. No one knows how it got there.

The rock is thought to be virtually nonexistent outside of Earth.

By Elisha Sauers on July 8, 2023

In 2026, NASA plans to explore a region where granite was detected on the moon with a rover. 

Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University

Geologists have found a large cache of granite in an unlikely place — the far side of the moon.

With so many kitchens boasting long polished slabs on their countertops, we likely take for granted our granite. But the rock is virtually nonexistent elsewhere in the solar system, or so scientists have thought.

Before this discovery, only small grains have turned up in the more than 800 pounds of lunar samples hauled back from space by the NASA Apollo missions.

"Typically, granites require either plate tectonics or water-bearing magmas to form," said Timothy Glotch, a geologist at Stony Brook University(opens in a new tab), in a statement. "While the lunar interior contains small amounts of water, the Moon has never undergone plate tectonics."

The discovery, published in the science journal Nature, presents quite a mystery(opens in a new tab), suggesting that the 30-mile-wide granite trove on the moon formed through a geological process not yet understood. NASA plans to explore the region, the Compton-Belkovich volcanic complex and Gruithuisen Domes(opens in a new tab), with a rover in 2026.

On Earth, granite rocks are part of the plumbing found beneath extinct volcanoes. They form when underground molten lava rises to the planet's crust but doesn't erupt and then cools.

Any large deposit of granite found on Earth once fed a cluster of volcanoes, such as the Cascade volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, said Matthew Siegler, a planetary scientist at Southern Methodist University(opens in a new tab), who led the research.

The group of scientists think the lunar granite had to have been there for some 3.5 billion years, when the moon had active volcanoes. The large shadowy-looking spots on the moon — the ones that look kind of like a face, for example — are the maria(opens in a new tab), areas of ancient lava flows. They're thought to have formed early in the moon's history.

NASA's Galileo spacecraft captures the darkened maria on the moon, areas of ancient lava flows, in 1992. 

Credit: NASA / JPL / USGS

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How a NASA moon mission survived a death spiral in space

The research team used data from the Chinese Chang'E lunar orbiters to find extra heat below the surface of a region thought to once host an ancient volcano. The source may have been granite's high levels of radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium, according to the new paper.

"The only solution that we can think of which produces that much heat is a large body of granite," Siegler said.

Scientists think domes formed on the moon with magma rich in silica, similar to granite. Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University

NASA plans to investigate(opens in a new tab) the summit of one of the moon's Gruithuisen Domes, under the Commercial Payload Services Program, which was established in 2018 to recruit the private sector(opens in a new tab) to help deliver cargo and instruments to the moon. The upcoming missions will support NASA's lunar ambitions, while also attempting to kickstart a future cislunar economy, based on business ventures on and around the moon.

Scientists think the lunar domes formed with magma, rich in silica, similar to granite. On Earth, though, these features need oceans and plate tectonics to form. The space agency hopes moondust samples taken from the top will offer new clues.

Elisha Sauers

Elisha Sauers is the space and future tech reporter for Mashable, interested in asteroids, astronauts, and astro nuts. In over 15 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for FOIA and other public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, now known as The Capital-Gazette. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show(opens in a new tab), and national recognition(opens in a new tab) for narrative storytelling. In her first year covering space for Mashable, Sauers grabbed a National Headliner Award(opens in a new tab) for beat reporting. Send space tips and story ideas to elisha.sauers@ziffmedia.com(opens in a new tab) or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on Twitter at @elishasauers(opens in a new tab).

  

BURIED ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON, THE DETECTION OF A MYSTERIOUS HEAT-EMITTING OBJECT LEADS TO AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY

(NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)


MICAH HANKS·JULY 7, 2023

It sounds like the plot of a science fiction film: scientists detect odd emissions coming from the far side of the Moon, leading to the discovery of something buried under the lunar surface that fundamentally reshapes how we see Earth’s natural satellite and its history.

However, the recent detection of a large, heat-emitting mass buried beneath the far side of the Moon is no scene from science fiction in this case. It is among a series of observations made by satellites in lunar orbit that suggest that Earth’s Moon may have a history much more like our planet than scientists once realized.

“We have discovered extra heat coming out of the ground at a location on the Moon believed to be a long dead volcano which last erupted over 3.5 billion years ago,” reports Matt Siegler, Ph.D., of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

Siegler, the lead researcher on a new study conducted by an international team that examined data collected from China’s Chang’E 1 and 2 lunar orbiters, along with supplemental data obtained by NASA’s Lunar Prospector and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiters, says the discovery of the unusual object beneath the Moon’s far side initially baffled the research team.


“To tell the truth we were a bit puzzled when we found it,” Siegler said in a statement. Fortunately, his wife Rita Economos, Ph.D., a geochemist and one of the researchers involved in the study, was able to help provide context that allowed the team “to piece together the probable geologic cause of the heat anomaly.”

Based on the data, Sigler says the mysterious object is likely an ancient granite formation.

“It’s around 50km across, and the only solution that we can think of which produces that much heat is a large body of granite,” Siegler said.

Region on the far side of the moon (indicated in red) where anomalous heat emissions were detected (Credit: Siegler at al, Nature July 2023).

Granite is formed when magma contained within a volcano that hasn’t yet erupted cools and solidifies. As a result of its formation, granite possesses significant concentrations of uranium, thorium, and other radioactive elements, which makes it very distinct from other stony materials found on the Moon.

Siegler says this makes it likely that a massive, below-ground granite formation is behind the anomalous heat emissions on the lunar surface that satellites have detected.

The granite mass was detected using a newly devised method of remote sensing that enabled the satellites in orbit around the Moon to measure geothermal heat emanating from its surface.

“This data showed a high geothermal gradient exactly coincident with a large 20 km wide silicon-rich surface feature believed to be an extinct volcanic caldera,” Siegler said in a statement. The formation is located between the Compton and Belkovich craters, and the area where the granite mass is believed to be located was revealed to be close to 10 C warmer than its surrounding terrain.


Siegler and the team believe the heat emission arises from the radiogenic materials that are present within granitic formations. Although they have narrowed down the likely composition of the mysterious lunar formation, the discovery came as a surprise since granites are not a common feature in our Solar System beyond our planet.

However, past missions to the Moon dating back to the Apollo era did previously reveal samples of granitic material recovered from the lunar surface.

Economos said that the mass is believed to be the remnants of unerupted magma contained within an ancient volcano, otherwise known as a batholith.

“El Capitan and Half Dome, in Yosemite in California are examples of similar granite rocks which have risen to the surface,” Economos said in a statement.

The team says this unexpected discovery on the far side of the Moon now suggests that similar discoveries could be made elsewhere on the Moon or even in other regions of the Solar System. However, according to Siegler, the fundamental takeaway from the discovery is that the Moon and its history are probably more like Earth than scientists previously realized.

Siegler called the granite mass “more Earth-like than we had imagined can be produced on the Moon, which lacks the water and plate tectonics that help granites form on Earth.”

In addition to shedding light on the Moon’s more Earth-like qualities, Siegler and the team say that the discovery also showcases the capabilities of remote sensing, which he says “will be useful in the exploration of other planetary bodies in the Solar System.”

Siegler and his team’s paper, “Remote detection of a lunar granitic batholith at Compton–Belkovich,” was recently published in the journal Nature, and their work will be presented on July 12th at the forthcoming Goldschmidt Conference in Lyon, France.


Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on Twitter: @MicahHanks.

99-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber Preserves Feathers of Immature Enantiornithine Bird

Jul 7, 2023 by News Staff

 

The specimen provides the first unequivocal evidence of immature feathers in the Mesozoic fossil record.

A small piece of Burmese amber preserving feathers interpreted as belonging to a juvenile enantiornithine bird: (A) amber with the dorsal surface of the feather cluster exposed; (B) ventral surface exposed; (C) close up of the ventral surface (region marked in B); (D) close up of the ventral surface region marked in (C); (E) close up of the ventral surface region marked in (D); (F) close up of the dorsal surface marked in (A, larger rectangle); (G) close up of the dorsal surface marked in (A, smaller rectangle). Dotted lines indicate desiccation surfaces. Scale bars – 0.5 mm in (A, B, D and F), 0.1 mm in (C); 0.3 mm in (E); and 0.2 mm in (G). Anatomical abbreviations: ipl – immature plumaceous feather; ipn – immature pennaceous feather; ks – keratinous sheath; pf – probable filamentous ‘protofeathers.’ Image credit: O’Connor et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105572.

Today, baby birds are on a spectrum in terms of how developed they are when they’re born and how much help they need from their parents.

Altricial birds hatch naked and helpless; their lack of feathers means that their parents can more efficiently transmit body heat directly to the babies’ skin.

Precocial species, on the other hand, are born with feathers and are fairly self-sufficient.

All baby birds go through successive molts — periods when they lose the feathers they have and grow in a new set of feathers, before eventually reaching their adult plumage.

Molting takes a lot of energy, and losing a lot of feathers at once can make it hard for a bird to keep itself warm.

As a result, precocial chicks tend to molt slowly, so that they keep a steady supply of feathers, while altricial chicks that can rely on their parents for food and warmth undergo a simultaneous molt, losing all their feathers at roughly the same time.

Hypothetical molt cycle in juvenile enantiornithine birds: (A) hatchling bird with sparse natal body plumage; (B) rapid molt; (C) juvenile with juvenal plumage including fully developed rachis dominated feathers. Image credit: O’Connor et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105572.

The cluster of immature feathers preserved a piece of amber from the Hukawng Valley in Kachin Province in northeastern Myanmar is the first definitive fossil evidence of juvenile molting.

The 99-million-year-old specimen reveals a baby bird whose life history doesn’t match any birds alive today.

“This specimen shows a totally bizarre combination of precocial and altricial characteristics,” said Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, a researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History.

“All the body feathers are basically at the exact same stage in development, so this means that all the feathers started growing simultaneously, or near simultaneously.”

However, this bird was almost certainly part of a now-extinct group called Enantiornithes, which were highly precocial.

The authors hypothesize that the pressures of being a precocial baby bird that had to keep itself warm, while undergoing a rapid molt, might have been a factor in the ultimate doom of Enantiornithes.

“Enantiornithines were the most diverse group of birds in the Cretaceous, but they went extinct along with all the other non-avian dinosaurs,” Dr. O’Connor said.

“When the asteroid hit, global temperatures would have plummeted and resources would have become scarce, so not only would these birds have even higher energy demands to stay warm, but they didn’t have the resources to meet them.”

A paper on the findings was published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

_____

Jingmai O’Connor et al. 2023. Immature feathers preserved in Burmite provide evidence of rapid molting in enantiornithines. Cretaceous Research 149: 105572; doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105572

While an asteroid impact 66 million years ago wiped off all species of dinosaurs, many bird species survived the mass extinction event. In two new studies, researchers suggest that the process of molting -- shedding and regrowing feathers -- hold the key to understanding why some species were able to escape oblivion. Watch this episode of #PureScience with @MohanaBasu to learn more.

Ancient amber reveals how some birds survived asteroid-induced mass extinction

This amber has been described as the "first definitive fossil evidence of juvenile molting."

Mrigakshi Dixit
Created: Jul 07, 2023 

Feathers from a baby bird that lived 99 million years ago, preserved in amber.

Birds were the only dinosaur group to survive the horrific asteroid strike that caused a mass extinction about 66 million years ago.

However, not all of the birds living at the time survived. That has created the baffling enigma that paleontologists have been attempting to unravel for decades – how did some avian ancestors survive while others perished?

Now, two new studies have zeroed in on one possible trait – molting.
Molting in modern birds

Molting is a process in which birds shed and re-grow their feathers. Feathers are formed of keratin, the same protein that produces human hair and fingernails.

Birds rely on feathers to execute a range of functions, including flying, swimming, camouflage, attracting mates, staying warm, and shielding their skin against the sun's rays.

Feathers, on the other hand, are complicated structures that cannot be repaired, which is why they molt.

“Molt is something that I don't think a lot of people think about, but it is fundamentally such an important process to birds because feathers are involved in so many different functions,” said Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum, in an official release.

Modern birds generally molt once a year in a “sequential” pattern. This means they only replace a few feathers at a time over a period of a few weeks. This permits them to fly even when they are molting.

While other bird species lose all of their feathers at once and regenerate within a few weeks, the authors emphasize that this is unusual and is normally found in non-avian aquatic birds such as ducks.
Ancient amber hold the secret

The researchers examined the molting process in archaic birds in two recent studies.

The researchers could look back into prehistoric times, thanks to the 99 million years old fossils. What they discovered were baby bird feathers preserved in amber.

This amber has been described as the "first definitive fossil evidence of juvenile molting."

Interestingly, the specimen exhibited a rare mix of characteristics not found in any other living baby bird species.

This was determined based on their capacity to make feathers as well as their dependency on their parents. Some newborn birds, known as Altricial birds, hatch naked and require extensive parental care before they can be left alone. Precocial species, on the other hand, are born with feathers and grow up on their own. Despite this, all newborn birds go through molts, which take a lot of energy.

Illustration of what a newly hatched Enantiornithine bird may have looked like.

“This specimen shows a totally bizarre combination of precocial and altricial characteristics. All the body feathers are basically at the exact same stage in development, so this means that all the feathers started growing simultaneously, or near simultaneously,” explained O’Connor.

The team believes this specimen belonged to the Enantiornithines, a now-extinct precocial group of birds.

Enantiornithines were doomed because the infant bird needed to stay warm while simultaneously going through a rapid molting phase – with no support at hand.

“When the asteroid hit, global temperatures would have plummeted and resources would have become scarce, so not only would these birds have even higher energy demands to stay warm, but they didn’t have the resources to meet them,” noted O’Connor.

Enantiornithines are thought to be one of the most diversified families of birds to live during the Cretaceous period. These birds, just like the mighty dinosaurs, were unable to withstand the conditions of the asteroid's impact and eventually went extinct. However, some ancestors of modern birds that molted once a year could have survived this massive asteroid impact. And this paved the way for the evolution of birds that we see today, like robins, pigeons, and many others.

The findings have been published in the journals Cretaceous Research and Communications Biology.