USF researchers begin first lifespan study on the effects of digital media use among young people

Research will span 25 years, but data collected every six months will provide ongoing insight

University of South Florida

 

image: 

University of South Florida researcher Justin Martin.

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Credit: USF

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• Past snapshot research has studied the effects of digital media on everything from political discourse to social development, but no long-term study has tracked digital media use and wellbeing from childhood into adulthood.
• The survey will cover topics such as social media use and addiction, cyberbullying, news consumption, streaming services, parental controls, media literacy, artificial intelligence and more.
• Many studies of media use among children focus on the 13-to-17-year-old age range. The USF researchers begin with early adolescents at age 11, when nearly half of children in the U.S. do not yet own a smartphone.

TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 14, 2024) – A groundbreaking new study conducted by the University of South Florida will track young people through 2050 to learn more about the long-term impacts of smartphones, social media and other digital media on individual wellbeing.

Though the long-term research will be conducted over the next 25 years, data collected every six months will give ongoing insight to parents, teachers, researchers, health providers and others on the impact of digital media use on children and as they age into adults.

“We have research from other fields that tracks people across decades, looking at cardiovascular health or work-life balance across the lifespan. We don’t have that yet for digital media use and wellness,” said Justin Martin, the Eleanor Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics & Press Policy at USF St. Petersburg and lead researcher of the study. “We know that digital media affect people, especially children, in meaningful and often adverse ways, so it’s important to study the same individuals across the lifespan.”

The Life in Media Survey will collect insights and experiences from thousands of 11 to 13-year-olds as they pertain to digital media use. Researchers will then track the same participants over decades, to determine how digital media impacts and changes attitudes, behaviors and health throughout their lives.

The survey will cover topics such as social media use and addiction, cyberbullying, news consumption, streaming services, parental controls, media literacy, artificial intelligence and more. Examining responses and patterns over time, researchers will discover possible connections between device ownership and time spent on social media with the prevalence of sleep deprivation, anxiety, depression and other critical wellness indicators.

"Experiences during childhood and adolescence can influence health outcomes later in life. This study will help us understand the impact of digital media use on sleep quality and mental health in adolescents, ultimately informing interventions to mitigate any harmful effects,” said Chighaf Bakour, a USF associate professor of epidemiology.

The USF study differs from previous research on children's media use and wellness.

Prior work has mostly focused on smartphone use, social media use and gaming. The USF study measures these things, but also assesses binge-watching, podcast listening, music streaming and other digital habits. A prior study on streaming that Martin coauthored found that binge-watching, an activity often done with others, was correlated with spending more time in-person with friends and family -- not with social isolation.

Also, many studies of media use among children focus on the 13-to-17-year-old age range. The USF researchers begin with early adolescents at age 11, when nearly half of children in the U.S. do not yet own a smartphone.

Some 1,500 Florida youth will take the survey in November to provide researchers with baseline data. The Harris Poll, a global market research firm that collaborated with the USF team in constructing the questionnaire, is collecting the data and will obtain parental permission before children complete the online survey. Findings and insights from this cohort will be published in a report in the spring of 2025.

Informed by the pilot survey, the research team will then start a nationwide, long-term survey for up to 9,000 children in early adolescence. Researchers will survey these children twice a year, once during the school year and again in the summer.

“The 11 to 13-year-old range is typically, for now, when children acquire their own personal smartphone but are still pretty new to the world of digital media,” said Stephen Song, USF assistant professor in the

Department of Journalism & Digital Communication. “This is a good age to begin to track behavior changes that occur over time.”

Past snapshot research has studied the effects of digital media on everything from political discourse to social development, but no long-term study has tracked digital media use and wellbeing from childhood into adulthood. There are a lot of data, but few conclusive findings, since media and devices can be used in so many different ways, said Wendy Rote, a USF psychology professor and expert on adolescent development.

“Let’s say kids who spend more time on social media and devices have higher rates of depression, which is what some of the data is telling us. Is it because of the device and media itself, or is it because time spent with digital media means kids have less time for sports, clubs and other socialization activities?” Rote asked. “What you can get from a long-term study is broad patterns and trends of media use by individuals and examine those at different times in their life to pick apart and answer such questions.”

The research team comprises experts across various disciplines, including journalism, psychology, public health, political science, sociology and communications.

USF is also collaborating with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and its MediaWise initiative, which empowers young people with media literacy skills, including digital and AI literacy. Sean Marcus, the interactive learning designer for MediaWise, worked with the team to ensure survey questions were relevant and understandable for the audience.

Since the Life in Media Survey will be conducted twice a year over decades, the scope of change that researchers measure could be vast.

“Media and media literacy move at lightning speed, and this study will allow us to move with it,” Marcus said. “We are in the midst of a major technological revolution with tools like AI. This research will provide us a frame of reference to understand how young people are living their lives with technology and how changes in technology are impacting them.”

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About the University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. Across campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and USF Health, USF serves approximately 50,000 students who represent nearly 150 different countries. U.S. News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation’s top 50 public universities for six consecutive years and, for the second straight year, as the best value university in Florida. In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities, a group of the leading 3% of universities in the United States and Canada. With an all-time high of $692 million in research funding in 2023 and a ranking as a top 15 public university for producing new U.S. patents, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at  www.usf.edu.

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Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Texting abbreviations makes senders seem insincere, study finds

FWIW, spell it out. K?

American Psychological Association

If you want to seem sincere and receive more responses to your texts, spell out words instead of abbreviating them, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. 

Researchers conducted eight experiments with a total of more than 5,300 participants using various methods. Across the experiments, individuals who used texting abbreviations were perceived as more insincere and were less likely to receive replies because they were seen as exerting less effort in text conversations. The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
 
“In daily interactions, we often encounter people who could be considered good texters or poor texters,” said lead researcher David Fang, BCom, a doctoral student in behavioral marketing at Stanford University. “We thought texters might like abbreviations because it would convey an informal sense of closeness, so we were surprised that abbreviations elicited negative perceptions about people who use them.” 

Texting has become a dominant form of digital communication, and most texters use some abbreviations, such as IDK for “I don’t know” or GOAT for “greatest of all time” But people might not realize that abbreviations come with costs. In a preliminary survey by the researchers, 99% of respondents reported they used texting abbreviations, and 84% of them didn’t believe that others wouldn’t like abbreviations. 

The experiments included an analysis of replies to Discord group chat users, dating scenarios, and Tinder dating app users’ conversation histories spanning 37 countries. Other experiments included participants who rated their texting conversations with people who either were or weren’t using abbreviations. 

In the experiments, texters who used abbreviations received shorter and fewer responses and were less likely to receive contact information from the other texter. While young people tend to use more texting abbreviations, they still weren’t fans of them, although the findings were inconsistent in some of the studies, Fang said. 

“While our overall results on age were mixed, it’s clear that younger people are not particularly fond of abbreviations, though the strength of this aversion may vary by age,” Fang said. 

Texting abbreviations could contribute to loneliness if people find that social bonds weaken over time because they receive less frequent or positive replies to their texts, Fang said. But he doesn’t believe people should stop using abbreviations altogether. 

“We often tailor the effort we put into conversations to match the significance of the relationship. In some cases, it makes sense to invest less effort and accept being perceived as less sincere, like quickly texting with a delivery driver,” Fang said. “However, our findings are especially relevant when we want to appear more sincere and strengthen social ties, such as at the beginning of a relationship or when we need to make a good impression.” 

Article: “Shortcuts to Insincerity: Texting Abbreviations Seem Insincere and Not Worth Answering,” David Fang, BCom, and Yiran (Eileen) Zhang, MS, Stanford University, and Sam J. Maglio, PhD, University of Toronto, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, published online Nov. 14, 2024.

Contact: David Fang, BCom, may be contacted at davfang@stanford.edu. 

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes over 157,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives.

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Journal

Journal of Experimental Psychology

DOI

10.1037/xge0001684 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Shortcuts to Insincerity: Texting Abbreviations Seem Insincere and Not Worth Answering

Article Publication Date

14-Nov-2024

 

LIST and UNHCR to launch early warning system for emergencies

The warning system would help humanitarian actors to better anticipate critical situations, deliver timely alerts and respond accordingly

Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology

 

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From left to right: Lucien Hoffmann (Science Director – LIST),  Georges Ternes (Director - Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs),  Dirk Fransaer (CEO – LIST), Kelly Clements (UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees), Xavier Bettel (Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade)

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Credit: Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in coordination with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), launched today an initiative to develop an advanced global early warning and response system to help humanitarian actors prepare and plan for emergencies.

"As the world faces an increasing number of complex humanitarian emergencies - driven by conflict, violence, natural hazards, climate change, and other forces - the need for robust early warning systems to prepare and plan for rapid, effective humanitarian responses has never been more critical," said Kelly T. Clements, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees.

The new system, which uses the latest AI technology combined with Earth observation data, will help humanitarian actors, local authorities, and local communities to reinforce their preparedness and response by detecting and evaluating risks of events that might trigger forced displacement, and delivering timely alerts ahead of an emergency.

“LIST is pleased to enter this strategic collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency to develop an early warning system for emergency management. Our expertise in natural disaster management and our research outputs estimating the impact of climatic variables on human mobility and infrastructures will help provide timely and actionable insights to better anticipate and respond to critical situations,” declared Lucien Hoffmann, Science Director at LIST.

The innovative project is funded with the generous support of Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. It will benefit displaced people directly by helping responders to anticipate humanitarian needs, optimize supply procurement and resource mobilization, minimize response times and avoid the duplication of humanitarian efforts.

The project launched today comprises an initial 15-month rollout of the system in select pilot countries, including early warning and displacement forecasting as well as emergency preparedness. The second phase will incorporate lessons learned during the rollout phase to build a global system.

The initiative is in line with the UN Secretary-General’s prevention agenda, as well as the Early Warnings for All initiative, which aims to ensure everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027.

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Marxists.org

www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1951/murder.htm

Murder of the Dead by Amadeo Bordiga 1951

The Italian bourgeoisie is still here, and enthusiastically invests its income in paying for wars and other disasters for which it is then repaid four fold.

 

Reintroduction of resistant frogs facilitates landscape-scale recovery in the presence of a lethal fungal disease

University of California - Santa Barbara

 

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As it’s done to amphibians worldwide, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has devastated native frog populations in Yosemite.

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Credit: UC Santa Barbara

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — A remote lakeshore deep inside Yosemite National Park teems with life: coyotes, snakes, birds, tadpoles, frogs. The frogs are at the heart of this scene, which a decade ago was much different. It was quiet — and not in a good way. The frogs that are so central to this ecosystem were absent, extirpated by a deadly fungal disease known as amphibian chytrid fungus.

Now, thanks to the consistent and focused efforts of researchers and conservationists to save, then reintroduce, mountain yellow-legged frogs to this and numerous other lakes in Yosemite, their populations are again thriving.

A new landscape-scale study led by UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) biologist Roland Knapp, with colleagues from UCSB, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Tennessee, and Yosemite National Park, details the long-term endeavor comprising 24 reintroductions across 12 different sites in Yosemite over 17 years. In that time, remarkably, the frogs have developed some resistance to the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), allowing them to persist in its presence. The paper is now published in the journal Nature Communications.

“Going back to some of these lakes where frogs are now recovering, and just sitting and watching, reminds you of what has been accomplished,” said Knapp, based at UCSB’s Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory. “You sit on the bank and you have tadpoles all around you in the water and adult frogs sitting next to you on the shore. You have birds flying in and feeding on them, and snakes that are feeding on them. You have a lake that’s alive again.”

As it’s done to amphibians worldwide, Bd has devastated native frog populations in Yosemite. Once the most common amphibian in the high elevation portion of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, during the past century the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) has disappeared from more than 90% of its historical range. It is currently listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. But in their long-term study, Knapp and co-researchers were able to successfully reestablish breeding populations by translocating Bd-resistant frogs to sites where the species had been wiped out. The success of their recovery efforts is a beacon of hope for amphibian conservation. 

“In our study, results from viability modeling suggest that many reintroduced populations have a high probability of persisting over 50 years,” Knapp said. “These results provide a rare example of how reintroduction of resistant individuals can allow the landscape-scale recovery of disease-impacted species, and have broad implications for amphibians and many other taxa that are threatened with extinction by novel pathogens.”

Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate class, with more than 40% of species threatened with extinction. In less than a generation, the human-driven emergence of the amphibian chytrid

fungus (Bd) has devastated global amphibian biodiversity, with thousands of populations in decline or extirpated, and dozens of species now extinct in the wild. Even amphibians in the most protected habitats have fallen victim to what Knapp calls an “invisible killer.”

All of which makes the success of this study even more “mind-blowing,” he said. “It’s mind-blowing considering where we were 10 or 15 years ago, when we weren’t sure if we were going to have this frog on the landscape anymore, to see how things are turning around. It’s incredible to see.”

It’s taken some seriously painstaking work to get here. 

The reintroductions require careful planning; when identifying the best locations for reintroduction, team members must factor site elevation, winter severity and predation risk. And monitoring the translocated frogs is an intensive, long-term effort, often requiring researchers to hike in and capture every frog at a site multiple times per year.

Monitoring those translocated populations over several years, the team observed the recruitment of new adult frogs, indicating successful recovery. Conducted within the protected confines of a national park, their efforts, Knapp noted, demonstrate the importance of maintaining and restoring natural processes in these ecosystems. 

What about the prospect of scaling up this approach across the entire Sierra Nevada range — even serving as a proof of concept, and potentially as a model, for similar conservation efforts elsewhere across the globe?

“It’s really important to have that broader perspective,” said Knapp. “We now have a proven strategy that is working in Sierra Nevada yellow legged frogs and is allowing us to recover the frog at a scale of Yosemite National Park. This frog that has been pushed to the verge of extinction by this pathogen is now becoming an example of how we might recover amphibians all around the world.” 

Knapp’s co-authors on the study are Mark Wilber at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture; Maxwell Joseph, of CU Boulder and Planet; Thomas Smith, also of UC Santa Barbara; and Robert Grasso at Yosemite. Funding for the project was provided by the Yosemite Conservancy, National Park Service and National Science Foundation.

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Journal

Nature

 As It Happens

Surprisingly snuggly pythons upend what scientists thought they knew about snakes

Ball pythons, long thought solitary, repeatedly chose to eschew individual shelters and coil up together

Sheena Goodyear · CBC Radio · Posted: Nov 14, 2024 

Ball pythons are non-venomous constrictors native to Africa, and popular all over the world as pets. (Kurit Afshen/Shutterstock)

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As It Happens6:43Surprisingly snuggly pythons upend what scientists thought they knew about snakes

There's no single agreed upon term for a group of snakes, but scientist Morgan Skinner has a suggestion.

"Cuddle of snakes," he told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "Maybe that should be the name."

Skinner, a quantitative ecologist, has co-authored a new study that found ball pythons — long believed to be solitary creatures, and often kept as solo pets — seem to enjoy each other's company. 

The findings, published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, add to a growing body of research into the surprisingly active social lives of snakes. 

It also comes on the tail of several other studies that suggest other seemingly solitary species, including sharks and octopuses, may be more community-oriented than scientists previously believed. 

Not so solitary after all 

Skinner, who works for an environmental consulting company in Calgary, studied the social dynamics of snakes as part of his doctoral research at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont.

In 2020, he and his colleagues published research showing that garter snakes, when given the choice, prefer to spend time together rather than alone, and even form something akin to friendships, showing preferences for certain individuals over others.

But garter snakes, Skinner says, were already known to hibernate and birth their young in groups. Ball pythons by contrast, lay eggs and do not hibernate. They're also a popular pet around the world, and are often kept in isolation.

"I wanted to see what a snake that was less social — in my thinking and in common perception — would do," he said. "You know, here's my social snakes and what they do. And how does this compare to a non-social snake?"

Ball pythons, pictured under a red light, are seen coiled together after scientists lifted up the shelter where they chose to congregate inside their enclosure at Wilfrid Laurier University. (Morgan Skinner and Noam Miller/Wilfrid Laurier University)

Skinner and his colleagues put six ball pythons in a large enclosure for 10 days with enough individual shelters for each snake. 

Twice a night the researchers cleaned the enclosure and shuffled the snakes into different shelters. That's what Skinner was doing when he first laid eyes upon a python "cuddle."

"To my surprise, when I started lifting up the shelters, the first one I lifted up, they were all there together in one big group," he said. 

He separated the snakes and left. When he came back later for the second shuffle, they were all back together again. 

In fact, footage shows the snakes slithering around and exploring their enclosure, but ultimately opting to spend the majority of their time together in one shelter. 

"This really challenged my idea of what sociability is in snakes," Skinner said. 

Despite having solo spaces available, researchers say the snakes repeatedly chose to congregate together. (Morgan Skinner and Noam Miller/Wilfrid Laurier University)

The team started to wonder if there was just something about that particular shelter they preferred. So they took it out.

The snakes, Skinner said, simply congregated in a different shelter.  

"We tested four more groups, a total of five, and they chose different home bases. So it wasn't something about that location or that shelter in particular," he said. 

Unlike the garters, the pythons didn't form cliques, instead preferring to stick all together. 

Vladimir Dinets, a specialist in reptile social behaviour at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not involved in the study, lauded its methodology. 

"I'm kind of impressed at how meticulously they worked out the whole thing and how well they showed this," Dinets told the New York Times. "I tend to look for flaws in things I read, and I couldn't find anything to pick on, here."

Do they also hang out in the wild?

Skinner says he can't be sure whether ball pythons congregate in the wild the same as they do in captivity, but he says he has seen at least one study of wild pythons that references finding them in burrows. 

"It's quite possible that what we're seeing is, to some extent, a natural behaviour," he said. "I think that this social behaviour in snakes inevitably has some benefit to them, whether it's protection from predators or it helps them, you know, maintain heat and moisture so that they can digest better.

Because one meal lasts them a long time, Skinner says they're rarely in competition for food, which could also explain the group dynamics. 

Snakes hunt alone, so when people encounter them above ground, they're usually on their own. That may have led to the misconception that they're anti-social creatures. 

"I think we're very visual, and when we think of social behaviour, we think of animals like flocks of birds," he said. "We don't believe it unless we see it."

• Rare fossil specimen offers evidence of social behaviour among ancient snakes

• Snakes have clitorises, and scientists finally found them

Recent research suggests ball pythons are not the only species that my have been too hastily classified as non-social. 

Shark scientists are currently observing two great whites that keep showing up in the same place, challenging the common belief that the apex predators are loners.

A study published this year showed that brown bears interact more frequently outside of mating season than suspected. 

New deepsea research over the last decade has revealed that octopuses, who spend most of their lives alone, breed in large groups called nurseries. And new footage of shallow reefs shows octopuses sometimes hunt in groups with fish. 

"Most animals need to be social in some way," Skinner said. 

Interview with Morgan Skinner produced by Nishat Chowdhury and Cassie Argao

New family of optimized magnetic fields could display enhanced fusion plasma confinement

NOVEMBER 15, 2024 FEATURE

Credit: Velasco et al. (PRL, 2024)

Physicists have been trying to design fusion reactors, technologies that can generate energy via nuclear fusion processes, for decades. The successful realization of fusion reactors relies on the ability to effectively confine charged particles with magnetic fields, as this in turn enables the control of high-energy plasma.

Researchers at Laboratorio Nacional de Fusión–CIEMAT in Madrid have introduced a new family of magnetic fields that could be better suited for confining particles in these devices without the need for complex equipment configurations. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, could be an important step toward the successful realization of fusion reactors.

"In the last years, there have been many initiatives proposing the design and construction of new experimental fusion devices and reactor prototypes," José Luis Velasco, first author of the paper, told Phys.org.

"When these projects design the magnetic field that will confine the fusion plasma, practically all of them try to make the field 'omnigenous.' The fact that inspired our research is that the fusion community actually knew that it is possible to have magnetic fields that are quite far from being omnigenous but still display good plasma confinement (e.g., the Large Helical Device, an experimental device operating in Japan, and some old and recent numerical experiments in U.S.)."

In recent years, many physicists conducting research on nuclear fusion have focused their attention on omnigenous magnetic fields, as the properties of these fields are well-documented. As part of their study, Velasco and his colleagues set about to investigate less understood magnetic fields that could inform the design of future stellarator reactors.

"Our intuition was that, in these outliers, there was something interesting and useful to be learned about stellarator reactor design," explained Velasco.

In a stellarator, the electric currents passing through the coils create a magnetic field organized into nested magnetic surfaces in the shape of a deformed doughnut. This magnetic field confines a plasma composed of deuterium and tritium, as well as the charged alpha particles resulting from fusion.

For fusion reactions to take place, allowing a reactor to generate electricity, the plasma inside stellarators needs to be hot enough. To heat up plasma to these high temperatures, physicists must carefully design the magnetic fields used to confine particles, a process known as "optimizing the stellarator."

"Optimizing the stellarator to make it omnigenous ensures that the particles that make up the plasma stay, along their trajectories, close to the same magnetic surface," said Velasco.

"Nevertheless, to achieve omnigenity, it is necessary to optimize the stellarator 'as a whole.' In our work we have found that similarly good confinement properties are obtained if one 'splits' each magnetic surface of the stellarator into several pieces and optimizes each of them separately. Hence the name 'piecewise omnigenous.'"

The approach for optimizing stellarators proposed by Velasco and his colleagues could help to create optimized magnetic fields for nuclear reactors more effectively. In contrast with previously proposed approaches, it also does not rely on complex plasma shapes and the use of sophisticated coils.

"Designing and building an omnigenous field is not easy," said Velasco. "In some cases, it may require complicated and expensive coils, which could endanger the whole project," said Velasco. "An unfortunately extreme example of this was the National Compact Stellarator Experiment. Because there exists a vast variety of piecewise omnigenous magnetic fields, we are hopeful that some of them will be easier and/or cheaper to build."

The recent work by this team of researchers could contribute to the future design of fusion reactors, by broadening the space of possible reactor configurations.

In their next studies, Velasco and his colleagues plan to systematically assess all the relevant physics properties of the piecewise omnigenous magnetic fields they uncovered, to determine whether they could compete with more conventional omnigenous magnetic fields.

"For instance, is the loss of energy due to turbulent processes too strong and how much simpler can we make the coils to comply with the technological requirements of a reactor?" added Velasco.

"Answering these questions will require a lot of work, drawing on the expertise (in several areas: theory, experiment, technology, engineering, etc.) of many colleagues of the National Fusion Laboratory at CIEMAT and of other collaborators abroad."

More information: J. L. Velasco et al, Piecewise Omnigenous Stellarators, Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.185101.

Journal information: Physical Review Letters 

© 2024 Science X Network

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OCEANOGRAPY

CRYPTOZOOLOGY
Theory emerges after fish from dark legend washes up on beach

SEA SERPENT CRYPTID

Scientists are analysing the body of a three-metre-long 'doomsday' fish which was discovered dead on a beach.

Michael Dahlstrom
·Environment Editor
Wed 13 November 2024 

A rare 'Doomsday fish' was found on Grandview Beach in Encinitas and was spotted by Scripps Oceanography PhD candidate Alison Laferriere. Source: Alison Laferriere/Scripps Institution of Oceanography


A giant oarfish has been photographed washed up on a rocky beach. It’s the second time the remains of this rarely encountered species have been documented off the southern Californian coast this year, and scientists are working on a theory as to why.

For centuries, dark legends have linked the species to natural disasters like earthquakes, leading to it being colloquially referred to as the “doomsday fish”. There has been speculation the deep sea species could be brought to the surface during underwater tremors, although this has not been scientifically proven.

After the first oarfish was discovered in August near San Diego, California, a 4.4-metre magnitude earthquake was detected in Los Angeles, prompting some locals to discuss the superstition.


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Legend links oarfish to earthquakes, although there is no scientific evidence linking them to the disasters. Source: Alison Laferriere/Scripps Institution of Oceanography
'Devil wind' theory linked to 'Doomsday' fish death

The latest discovery occurred last week at Grandview Beach in San Diego County. The three-metre-long fish was discovered by a student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the institute that analysed the last specimen.

The body was collected and hauled to a research facility, where samples were collected to try and understand more about the fish. While the cause of death is yet to be determined, the Institute has formed two possible theories.

Its marine vertebrate collection manager Ben Frable said, “it may have to do with changes in ocean conditions and increased numbers of oarfish off our coast. Many researchers have suggested this as to why deep-water fish strand on beaches.”

“Sometimes it may be linked to broader shifts such as the El Niño and La Niña cycle but this is not always the case. There was a weak El Niño earlier this year.”

Frable also noted the beaching coincided with the recent red tide, a type of algal bloom that produces toxins that can kill people, marine life and birds.

The coast was also struck by strong, extremely dry Santa Ana winds, also known as "Devil winds" which can cause cold water to rise from below the surface layer of the ocean, and trigger large waves. In popular culture they're rumoured to affect people's moods, and during the hotter months they're known to fuel out-of-control wildfires.

"Many variables could lead to these strandings,” Frable added.

In September, two Aussie fisherman caught an oarfish off the Top End. The long, slender fish is rarely seen in Australian waters


Newly discovered creature the 'size of two basketball courts' photographed underwater

The 'mega' coral is believed to be the world's largest – and could hold a special key for scientists.


Michael Dahlstrom
·Environment Editor
Updated Thu 14 November 2024


The "mega coral" was discovered off the Three Sisters island group in the Solomon Islands. Source: Steve Spence/National Geographic Pristine Seas


An ancient marine organism has been detected underwater by a research vessel north of Australia. At 34 metres wide, 32 metres long and 5.5 metres high, and with a circumference of 183 metres, the discovery team described it as being as big as two basketball courts or five tennis courts.

Described as a “mega coral” by the discovery team from National Geographic, what’s remarkable about the find is that it is one standalone network of identical polyps, rather than a reef. It’s believed to be the world's largest coral after growing uninterrupted for 300 and 500 years in waters surrounding the Solomon Islands.

There are no records of the giant organism on the island, which has been inhabited by humans since between 28,000 and 30,000 BCE.

From National Geographic’s vessel Pristine Seas, the coral was initially thought to be a shipwreck, and it was only after underwater cinematographer Manu San Félix dipped under the waves that he found it was a brown, red, yellow and blue Pavona clavus – a widespread but rare stony coral.

An aerial photograph shared by the ship's crew shows the ocean giant compared to their vessel. Others taken underwater show hundreds of fish swimming around it, highlighting its important role as a marine habitat.

Although it appears stationary, coral is an animal. Each polyp has a mouth that opens directly into a stomach, which is surrounded by a circle of tentacles that are used for defence and attacking prey.

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World's largest coral discovered off Solomon Islands


National Geographic divers measure the massive coral. Source: Manu San Félix, National Geographic Pristine Seas
How important is this mega coral discovery?

Pristine Seas founder Enric Sala said the find was significant and compared it to discovering the world’s tallest tree. “Just when we think there is nothing left to discover on planet Earth, we find a massive coral made of nearly one billion little polyps, pulsing with life and colour,” he said.

While the coral discovery has caused elation, the Pristine Seas crew are concerned about its future. Because of its size and position deep in the ocean the coral appears to be healthy, but other parts of the reef which were closer to the surface were heavily degraded.

This week the IUCN announced 44 per cent of warm-water reef-building corals had now been added to its Red List of species threatened with extinction. Climate change remains the greatest threat to the world’s tropical reefs, and they are projected to decline by 70 to 90 per cent at 1.5 degrees of warming above preindustrial average temperatures. At 2 degrees of warming, 99 per cent will likely be lost.
What are the other largest organisms in the world?

Measuring more than 180 square km, the Posidonia australis seagrass meadow in Shark Bay is the largest plant.


At 115.55 metres, the world's tallest tree is the Hyperion, a coastal redwood in California.


The world's largest ever animal is the blue whale, which can grow to 30 metres long and weigh more than 180,000kg.

The giant organism is made up of genetically identical polyps. Source: Manu San Félix, National Geographic Pristine Seas

Coral key to island nation's survival

Following National Geographic’s announcement, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele said reefs were important in providing livelihoods for the region. “Our survival depends on healthy coral reefs, so this exciting discovery underlines the importance of protecting and sustaining them for future generations,” he said.

The coral is the summation of millions of identical polyps. Because it has lived for generations, the researchers believe it could hold important genetic information that could be key to coral survival during periods of climate change.

“It is a natural monument that has seen the arrival of the first Europeans to these waters,” said San Félix, who was the first to spot the record-breaking mass. "Illustrious figures of humanity have coexisted with this colony: Newton, Darwin, Curie, Gandhi, Einstein... and it has survived them. It now stores information on how to survive throughout the centuries,” he said.