PREHISTORIC WATER BABIES
Tiny rare fossil found in 16 million-year-old amber is 'once-in-a-generation' find
By Ashley Strickland, CNN 2 hrs ago
Microscopic tardigrades have thrived on Earth for more than 500 million years, and may well outlive humans, but the tiny creatures don't leave behind many fossils.
Tiny rare fossil found in 16 million-year-old amber is 'once-in-a-generation' find
By Ashley Strickland, CNN 2 hrs ago
Microscopic tardigrades have thrived on Earth for more than 500 million years, and may well outlive humans, but the tiny creatures don't leave behind many fossils.
© Holly Sullivan/Harvard/NJIT
This is an artistic reconstruction of microscopic tardigrades that are often found living in moss.
Hiding in plain sight, the third-ever tardigrade fossil on record has been found suspended within a piece of 16-million-year-old Dominican amber.
The find includes a newly named species, Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus, as a relative of the modern living family of tardigrades known as Isohypsibioidea. It's the first tardigrade fossil from the Cenozoic, our current geological era that began 66 million years ago.
The study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Beneath a microscope, tiny tardigrades look like water bears. Although they are commonly found in water -- and at times, serving as the nemesis in "Ant-Man and the Wasp" -- tardigrades are known for their ability to survive and even thrive in the most extreme environments.
These tiny, pudgy animals are no longer than one millimeter. They have eight legs with claws at the end, a brain and central nervous system, and something sucker-like called a pharynx behind their mouth that can pierce food. Tardigrades are the smallest-known animal with legs.
All of these details are incredibly well preserved in the new fossil specimen, down to its tiny claws.
"The discovery of a fossil tardigrade is truly a once-in-a-generation event," said Phil Barden, senior author of the study and assistant professor of biology at New Jersey Institute of Technology, in a statement.
"What is so remarkable is that tardigrades are a ubiquitous ancient lineage that has seen it all on Earth, from the fall of the dinosaurs to the rise of terrestrial colonization of plants," Barden said. "Yet, they are like a ghost lineage for paleontologists with almost no fossil record. Finding any tardigrade fossil remains is an exciting moment where we can empirically see their progression through Earth history."
The fossil allowed researchers to see evolutionary aspects that aren't present in modern tardigrades, which means they can understand how they've changed over millions of years.
At first, the researchers didn't even notice the tardigrade was trapped in the piece of amber.
"It's a faint speck in amber," said Barden. "In fact, Pdo. chronocaribbeus was originally an inclusion hidden in the corner of an amber piece with three different ant species that our lab had been studying, and it wasn't spotted for months."
Hiding in plain sight, the third-ever tardigrade fossil on record has been found suspended within a piece of 16-million-year-old Dominican amber.
The find includes a newly named species, Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus, as a relative of the modern living family of tardigrades known as Isohypsibioidea. It's the first tardigrade fossil from the Cenozoic, our current geological era that began 66 million years ago.
The study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Beneath a microscope, tiny tardigrades look like water bears. Although they are commonly found in water -- and at times, serving as the nemesis in "Ant-Man and the Wasp" -- tardigrades are known for their ability to survive and even thrive in the most extreme environments.
These tiny, pudgy animals are no longer than one millimeter. They have eight legs with claws at the end, a brain and central nervous system, and something sucker-like called a pharynx behind their mouth that can pierce food. Tardigrades are the smallest-known animal with legs.
All of these details are incredibly well preserved in the new fossil specimen, down to its tiny claws.
"The discovery of a fossil tardigrade is truly a once-in-a-generation event," said Phil Barden, senior author of the study and assistant professor of biology at New Jersey Institute of Technology, in a statement.
"What is so remarkable is that tardigrades are a ubiquitous ancient lineage that has seen it all on Earth, from the fall of the dinosaurs to the rise of terrestrial colonization of plants," Barden said. "Yet, they are like a ghost lineage for paleontologists with almost no fossil record. Finding any tardigrade fossil remains is an exciting moment where we can empirically see their progression through Earth history."
The fossil allowed researchers to see evolutionary aspects that aren't present in modern tardigrades, which means they can understand how they've changed over millions of years.
At first, the researchers didn't even notice the tardigrade was trapped in the piece of amber.
"It's a faint speck in amber," said Barden. "In fact, Pdo. chronocaribbeus was originally an inclusion hidden in the corner of an amber piece with three different ant species that our lab had been studying, and it wasn't spotted for months."
© Phillip Barden /Harvard/NJIT
This 16-million-year-old Dominican amber includes a tardigrade fossil as well as three ants, a beetle and a flower.
Close observational analysis helped the researchers determine where the new species belongs on the tardigrade family tree.
"The fact that we had to rely on imaging techniques usually reserved for cellular and molecular biology shows how challenging it is to study fossil tardigrades," said Javier Ortega-Hernández, study coauthor and assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, in a statement. "We hope that this work encourages colleagues to look more closely at their amber samples with similar techniques to better understand these cryptic organisms."
The new species is the first definitive fossil for the modern Isohypsibioidea family of tardigrades found across both marine and land environments today.
"We are just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding living tardigrade communities, especially in places like the Caribbean where they've not been surveyed," said Barden. "This study provides a reminder that, for as little as we may have in the way of tardigrade fossils, we also know very little about the living species on our planet today."
Tardigrades can tolerate extremes better than most forms of life -- like surviving five mass extinction events on Earth -- and some recently traveled to the International Space Station. It's not the first time tardigrades have gone to space -- and there may even be some of them on the moon after a mission carrying them crashed into its surface.
The tiny animals are related to arthropods and have a deep origin during the Cambrian Explosion, when multiple species of animals suddenly appear in Earth's fossil record, 541 million years ago. More tardigrade fossils could be hiding within other pieces of amber that have already been studied -- researchers just have to look close enough and have the expertise of what they're looking for when it comes to microscopic fossils.
And tardigrades could outlive humans. It's because they would be largely unaffected by things that could potentially spell doom for Earth and human life in the future, like asteroids, supernovae or gamma ray bursts. As long as the world's oceans don't boil away, tardigrades will live on.
Close observational analysis helped the researchers determine where the new species belongs on the tardigrade family tree.
"The fact that we had to rely on imaging techniques usually reserved for cellular and molecular biology shows how challenging it is to study fossil tardigrades," said Javier Ortega-Hernández, study coauthor and assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, in a statement. "We hope that this work encourages colleagues to look more closely at their amber samples with similar techniques to better understand these cryptic organisms."
The new species is the first definitive fossil for the modern Isohypsibioidea family of tardigrades found across both marine and land environments today.
"We are just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding living tardigrade communities, especially in places like the Caribbean where they've not been surveyed," said Barden. "This study provides a reminder that, for as little as we may have in the way of tardigrade fossils, we also know very little about the living species on our planet today."
Tardigrades can tolerate extremes better than most forms of life -- like surviving five mass extinction events on Earth -- and some recently traveled to the International Space Station. It's not the first time tardigrades have gone to space -- and there may even be some of them on the moon after a mission carrying them crashed into its surface.
The tiny animals are related to arthropods and have a deep origin during the Cambrian Explosion, when multiple species of animals suddenly appear in Earth's fossil record, 541 million years ago. More tardigrade fossils could be hiding within other pieces of amber that have already been studied -- researchers just have to look close enough and have the expertise of what they're looking for when it comes to microscopic fossils.
And tardigrades could outlive humans. It's because they would be largely unaffected by things that could potentially spell doom for Earth and human life in the future, like asteroids, supernovae or gamma ray bursts. As long as the world's oceans don't boil away, tardigrades will live on.
© Ninon Robin/Harvard/NJIT
This is a close-up view of the newly discovered taridgrade species trapped in amber.
By Rahman Muchtar and Heru Asprihanto
© Reuters/STRINGER
Archaelogists visit the Leang Panninge cave during a research for ancient stones in Maros regency
MAROS, Indonesia (Reuters) - Genetic traces in the body of a young woman who died 7,000 years ago furnish the first clue that mixing between early humans in Indonesia and those from faraway Siberia took place much earlier than previously thought.
MAROS, Indonesia (Reuters) - Genetic traces in the body of a young woman who died 7,000 years ago furnish the first clue that mixing between early humans in Indonesia and those from faraway Siberia took place much earlier than previously thought.
© Reuters/STRINGER Parts of Besse's ancient skeleton unearthed from Leang Paningge are pictured at archaeological laboratory of Hasanuddin University in Makassar
Theories about early human migration in Asia could be transformed by the research https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03823-6 published in the scientific journal Nature in August, after analysis of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or the genetic fingerprint, of the woman who was given a ritual burial in an Indonesian cave.
Theories about early human migration in Asia could be transformed by the research https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03823-6 published in the scientific journal Nature in August, after analysis of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or the genetic fingerprint, of the woman who was given a ritual burial in an Indonesian cave.
© Reuters/STRINGER
Iwan Sumantri describes part of Besse's ancient skeleton that was unearthed from Leang Paningge
"There is the possibility that the Wallacea region could have been a meeting point of two human species, between the Denisovans and early homo sapiens," said Basran Burhan, an archaeologist from Australia's Griffith University.
Burhan, one of the scientists who participated in the research, was referring to the region of Indonesia that includes South Sulawesi, where the body, buried with rocks in its hands and on the pelvis, was found in the Leang Pannige cave complexes.
The Denisovans were a group of ancient humans named after a cave in Siberia where their remains were first identified in 2010 and scientists understand little about them, even details of their appearance.
The DNA from Besse, as the researchers named the young woman in Indonesia, using the term for a new born baby girl in the regional Bugis language, is one of the few well-preserved specimens found in the tropics.
It showed she descended from the Austronesian people common to Southeast Asia and Oceania but with the inclusion of a small Denisovan portion, the scientists said.
"Genetic analyses show that this pre-Neolithic forager... represents a previously unknown divergent human lineage," they said in the paper.
Since scientists have until recently thought North Asian people such as the Denisovans only arrived in Southeast Asia about 3,500 years ago, Besse's DNA changes theories about patterns of early human migration.
The discovery may also offer insights into the origins of Papuans and Indigenous Australian people who share Denisovan DNA.
"Theories about migration will change, as theories about race will also change," said Iwan Sumantri, a lecturer at Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi, who is also involved in the project.
Besse's remains provide the first sign of Denisovans among Austronesians, who are Indonesia's oldest ethnic grouping, he added.
"Now try to imagine how they spread and distributed their genes for it to reach Indonesia," Sumantri said.
(Writing by Christian Schmollinger; Editing by Richard Pullin and Clarence Fernandez)
2,700-year-old toilet found in Jerusalem was a rare luxury
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists have found a rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city, authorities said Tuesday.
"There is the possibility that the Wallacea region could have been a meeting point of two human species, between the Denisovans and early homo sapiens," said Basran Burhan, an archaeologist from Australia's Griffith University.
Burhan, one of the scientists who participated in the research, was referring to the region of Indonesia that includes South Sulawesi, where the body, buried with rocks in its hands and on the pelvis, was found in the Leang Pannige cave complexes.
The Denisovans were a group of ancient humans named after a cave in Siberia where their remains were first identified in 2010 and scientists understand little about them, even details of their appearance.
The DNA from Besse, as the researchers named the young woman in Indonesia, using the term for a new born baby girl in the regional Bugis language, is one of the few well-preserved specimens found in the tropics.
It showed she descended from the Austronesian people common to Southeast Asia and Oceania but with the inclusion of a small Denisovan portion, the scientists said.
"Genetic analyses show that this pre-Neolithic forager... represents a previously unknown divergent human lineage," they said in the paper.
Since scientists have until recently thought North Asian people such as the Denisovans only arrived in Southeast Asia about 3,500 years ago, Besse's DNA changes theories about patterns of early human migration.
The discovery may also offer insights into the origins of Papuans and Indigenous Australian people who share Denisovan DNA.
"Theories about migration will change, as theories about race will also change," said Iwan Sumantri, a lecturer at Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi, who is also involved in the project.
Besse's remains provide the first sign of Denisovans among Austronesians, who are Indonesia's oldest ethnic grouping, he added.
"Now try to imagine how they spread and distributed their genes for it to reach Indonesia," Sumantri said.
(Writing by Christian Schmollinger; Editing by Richard Pullin and Clarence Fernandez)
2,700-year-old toilet found in Jerusalem was a rare luxury
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists have found a rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city, authorities said Tuesday.
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© Provided by The Canadian Press
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion overlooking what is now the Old City. It was designed for comfortable sitting, with a deep septic tank dug underneath.
“A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only a few were found to date," said Yaakov Billig, the director of the excavation.
“Only the rich could afford toilets," he said, adding that a famed rabbi once suggested that to be wealthy is “to have a toilet next to his table.”
Animal bones and pottery found in the septic tank could shed light on the lifestyle and diet of people living at that time, as well as ancient diseases, the antiquities authority said.
The archaeologists found stone capitals and columns from the era, and said there was evidence of a nearby garden with orchards and aquatic plants — more evidence that those living there were quite wealthy.
The Associated Press
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion overlooking what is now the Old City. It was designed for comfortable sitting, with a deep septic tank dug underneath.
“A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only a few were found to date," said Yaakov Billig, the director of the excavation.
“Only the rich could afford toilets," he said, adding that a famed rabbi once suggested that to be wealthy is “to have a toilet next to his table.”
Animal bones and pottery found in the septic tank could shed light on the lifestyle and diet of people living at that time, as well as ancient diseases, the antiquities authority said.
The archaeologists found stone capitals and columns from the era, and said there was evidence of a nearby garden with orchards and aquatic plants — more evidence that those living there were quite wealthy.
The Associated Press
