Antarctic sea ice hits 'record-smashing' low this year, satellite data shows

Stefanie Waldek
Tue, September 26, 2023 

It's not a great year for polar sea ice. Both the Arctic and Antarctic have seen record lows in sea ice extent, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which use satellite data to track sea ice across both polar regions.

Arctic sea ice likely reached its annual minimum extent this year on Sept. 19 at 1.63 million square miles (4.23 million square kilometers) — the sixth-lowest minimum in the satellite record. And in Antarctica, sea ice likely reached its maximum extent on Sept. 10 at 6.5 million square miles (16.96 million square kilometers) — the lowest maximum ever in the satellite record.

"It’s a record-smashing sea ice low in the Antarctic. Sea ice growth appears low around nearly the whole continent as opposed to any one region," Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NSIDC, said in a statement. And in the Arctic, he points out, the Northwest Passage has more open seas than usual.

"There also seems to be a lot more loose, lower concentration ice — even toward the North Pole — and areas that used to be pretty compact, solid sheets of ice through the summer," he said. "That’s been happening more frequently in recent years."

Related: Greenland ice sheets are weaker to climate change than we thought

Each year, sea ice grows and melts with the seasons, and its extent in both directions can be impacted by factors like wind patterns, ocean temperatures — directly correlated with human-induced global warming — and climate patterns like El Niño, which is occurring now.

One of the issues with low sea ice coverage is that it reinforces ocean warming due to the ice-albedo feedback cycle. Sea ice, being white, reflects the sun's energy back out into space, but dark open ocean absorbs it — as such, the waters may remain warmer, inhibiting sea ice growth further.

Related Stories:

— Antarctic currents supplying 40% of world's deep ocean with nutrients and oxygen slowing dramatically

— Satellites reveal catastrophic year for emperor penguins amid climate crisis in Antarctica (photos)

— Ocean current system could shut down as early as 2025, leading to climate disaster

And while sea ice minimum and maximum extents are key measurements in the polar environment, the thickness of that sea ice is another major concern.

"Thickness at the end of the growth season largely determines the survivability of sea ice. New research is using satellites like NASA’s ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2) to monitor how thick the ice is year-round," said Nathan Kurtz, lab chief of NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

"At NASA we’re interested in taking cutting-edge measurements, but we’re also trying to connect them to the historical record to better understand what’s driving some of these changes that we’re seeing," said Kurtz.

Are Antarctic cruises in jeopardy?

Sara Macefield

THE TELEGRAPH
Sat, September 30, 2023 

An increased number of procedures to protect against bird flu have been put in place by expedition cruise companies - Getty


Expedition cruise lines that sail in Antarctica are enforcing stricter precautions against the growing threat of avian flu this winter amid concerns that passengers could be stopped from going ashore to prevent cross-contamination.

Scientists warn that the H5N1 virus will wreak a deadly toll across the continent’s vast penguin colonies if it gains a foothold, and they fear migrating birds from South America – which has already been badly hit by bird flu – will spread the disease as the austral summer approaches.

This also coincides with the main Southern Hemisphere cruise season, which runs from November to March, when more than 60 ships are expected to cross the Drake Passage to visit the Antarctic Peninsula.

There are concerns that cruise passengers could be stopped from going ashore to prevent cross-contamination - Getty

Sailings to the region have boomed in recent years, fuelled by a new generation of modern expedition ships built to withstand extreme conditions, and rising demand from travellers eager to explore this pristine but inhospitable wilderness.

However, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s head of polar regions, Dr Jane Rumble, warned in an exclusive interview with the Telegraph that if the worst-case scenario arose, cruise passengers may not be allowed to land.

“They will keep everybody on-board or just do Zodiac cruising,” she said. “Tourists might not necessarily have the holiday they expected.”

Cruise lines and organisations would not be drawn on the implications of this, though the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), which most expedition cruise companies belong to, tightened up its biosecurity protocols governing members last winter.

Procedures have included assessing landing sites for signs of bird flu, not going ashore if they are present, and leaving if any behavioural signs become apparent. Cruise passengers are told not to sit, kneel or lie down on the ground, or leave any equipment, close to animal activity.

Tourists on Cuverville Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region - Getty

Visitors are also instructed to maintain a minimum distance of five metres between themselves and wildlife wherever possible.

Martin Johnson, chairman and co-founder of UK-based Expedition Cruise Network, which represents many of the leading adventure lines, travelled to Antarctica with member line Ponant last winter and stressed how seriously it was taking biosecurity measures.

“These ranged from thorough cleaning and disinfecting of boots and trouser legs every time we disembarked and embarked the ship to strict adherence of not putting anything on the ground during landings,” he explained.

IAATO confirmed that the additional robust procedures it introduced last season had since evolved and were mandatory for all IAATO companies and their staff operating in Antarctica.

The association’s operations and government affairs director and deputy executive director, Lisa Kelley, said: “IAATO’s protocols will evolve as more information becomes available or if HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) presents.

Tourists exploring Hope Bay in the Antarctic Peninsula region - Getty

“Scientists have shared that HPAI will arrive in Antarctica this year and, in line with our protocols, IAATO operators are prepared to cancel or leave landings where signs of HPAI are identified or suspected.

“Avian influenza is a great concern to the polar community,” she added. “Our members are united in their commitment to operate in the region safely and with environmental responsibility at the heart of all expeditions.”

This winter, IAATO estimates that more than 117,000 people will visit Antarctica on its member lines. Of that total, nearly 40,000 will be on cruise-only expeditions that will not stop in the region.

Under strict rules governing cruise operations in Antarctica, ships carrying more than 500 passengers are not permitted to make landings, so guests can admire the scenery and the experience, but do not leave their ship during sailings.

Smaller vessels carrying 500 passengers or less are allowed to land passengers, but have to abide by strict rules that only permit 100 guests to go ashore at any one time.

Earthquakes hit Italy super volcano, raising spectre of evacuations

Updated Wed, September 27, 2023 

By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) -A leading volcanologist has warned that mass evacuations might be needed in a town close to Naples, which sits on a so-called Super Volcano that has been hit by hundreds of small earthquakes in recent weeks.

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck the area early on Wednesday, the strongest jolt in 40 years to rattle the volcanic field, known as the Campi Flegrei or Phlegraean Fields from the Greek word for burning.

CampiFlegrei sits across the bay of Naples from Pompeii, where thousands were incinerated by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, it is a much bigger volcano than Vesuvius and if it ever exploded at full force could kill millions.

Experts say there is no imminent threat of an eruption, but Giuseppe De Natale, the former head of the Vesuvius observatory at the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), called for urgent checks on buildings after repeated seismic activity that is pushing up the ground by 1.5 cm (0.59 inches) a month.

Speaking in a personal capacity, De Natale said the last time Campi Flegrei suffered a similar burst of earthquakes in the 1980s, some 40,000 people were temporarily evacuated from nearby Pozzuoli. The town now has a population of more than 80,000.

"Currently, I believe the more immediate risk is seismic. But it is clear that one must also consider the possibility of an eruption," he told Reuters.

He said if there was an eruption, it would be a phreatic, or steam-blast eruption -- which are generally relatively weak and devoid of new magma -- at least initially.

There was no sign of structural damage in the area after Wednesday's tremor.

De Natale confirmed a report in Corriere Della Sera newspaper that he had written to the government last week suggesting possible evacuations. A local official said his recommendation was being reviewed.

The Campi Flegrei are similar to the Yellowstone caldera in the U.S. state of Wyoming but of more concern because they are in an area populated by around 3 million people in the Naples hinterland.

The Campi Flegrei caldera has a diameter of about 12-15 km (7.5-9.3 miles) and last erupted in 1538. One of its biggest eruptions took place some 39,000 years ago and might have led to the extinction of Neanderthal man, researchers say. Magma from that blast has been found in Greenland, some 4,500 km away.

Volcanologists say thousands of small tremors in the area since 2019, which have grown in intensity this year, might be being triggered by tongues of magma pushing up into the subsurface of the volcano at a depth of about 5-6 km.

The INGV says that on average more than 3,000 tons of CO2 are being released each day from the volcanic field. A typical U.S. passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of CO2 a year.

(Additional reporting by Alvise Armellini, Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum, William Maclean)

Inspired by llamas, the desert and Mother Earth, these craftswomen weave sacred textiles

MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ
Thu, September 28, 2023 









Chile Aymara Sacred Textiles

Teófila Challapa weaves on her loom at home in Cariquima, Chile, Monday, July 31, 2023. Challapa, 59, prays before beginning her work: “Mother Earth, give me strength, because you're the one who will produce, not me."                

 (AP Photo/Ignacio Munoz)

COLCHANE, Chile (AP) — In northern Chile, Teófila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert.

“Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago.

Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe. While herding llamas and alpacas through scarce grasslands 11,500 feet above sea level, they create their first textiles.

“We had no clothes or money, so we needed to learn how to dress with our own hands,” said Challapa, sitting next to fluffy alpacas outside her humble home in Cariquima, a town with fewer than 500 inhabitants near the Chile-Bolivia border.

The knowledge of her craft passes on from one generation to another, securing Aymara families' bond with their land.

Challapa prays before beginning her work: “Mother Earth, give me strength, because you're the one who will produce, not me."

Among the 3 million Aymaras who live along the borders of Chile, Perú and Bolivia, the Earth is known as “Pachamama.” Homages and rituals requesting her blessings are intertwined in everyday life.

“I believe in God, but the Earth provides us with everything,” Challapa said.

Pachamama offers Challapa inspiration for her textiles, connections to ancestors and her cultural identity. It provides means for survival, too.

“My animals are my mother,” Challapa said.

Her alpacas and llamas were a source of meat, wool and company during the tough years she spent raising her children as a single mother.

In the neighboring town of Colchane, Efraín Amaru and María Choque share their one-floor house with “Pepe,” an elegant white llama that flirts with visitors.

“To be an artisan, one must have the raw materials,” said Amaru, a 60-year-old descendant of Aymara craftsmen. His parents taught him how to raise camelids that produce the finest wool. “You have to communicate with your animals because they are part of you.”

Ahead of Pachamama Day, on August 1, the couple prepared a ritual honoring Mother Earth. Over a mantle they weaved for the occasion, they placed grains from their crops and pieces of wool — among other objects they are grateful for — and asked for prosperity.

“We make offerings hoping for good seeds and crops, welfare for our animals and rain,” Choque said. “Then we turn to the moon and the stars. Our grandparents told us that those are the souls of our ancestors, who look at us from above.”

Choque learned how to turn wool into thread when she was six. Without toys to play with, Choque said she and her peers spent their days watching their elders weave — a demonstration of the craft and how to live fulfilling lives.

Her grandmother was her first teacher. After giving her a sewing needle, she taught Choque how to produce socks and hats. Vests and ponchos came after that.

Once a young disciple masters sewing needles, she moves on to weaving on looms. A few years later, she’ll face her utmost challenge: weaving her own “aksu,” the Aymara’s most precious and traditional garment.

“My aksu is not a suit,” Choque said. “It’s a part of me. When I was little, I wore mine daily, until I had to wear a uniform for school.”

From wool production to fabric making, the entire textile-making process can take up to two years.

Aymara craftswomen shear their animals in October, when the weather is milder. Their llamas keep a few inches of wool to keep them warm and ready for the “floreo.” During this ancient ritual celebrated in February, Aymaras tie wool flowers and pompoms to their camelids identifying them as their property and thanking Pachamama for abundance.

Once the wool is collected and clean, craftswomen manipulate it with the tip of their fingers and pull threads out of it, creating skeins that are mounted on their looms for weaving.

Through the income they made from the sale of their textiles, Aymara women like Challapa and Choque could afford to send their children off to school.

“I thank God because I always told myself: I don’t want them to be like me,” said Marcelina Choque (no relation to Maria), another craftswoman who lives in the town of Pozo Almonte. “This is my only profession. If I don’t sell, I have nothing.”

Progress, though, is bittersweet. “I taught my daughters how to weave just like me, but now that they have other jobs, they don’t weave anymore,” Marcelina Choque said.

By moving away from their hometowns for study and work, several craftswomen agree their legacy might be in danger. Although they passed on their knowledge to their descendants, there are currently only a handful of young Aymara women who know how to use a loom.

“In rural areas, there is a significant migration of young people, and the population is aging,” said Luis Pizarro, who works at the Agricultural Development Institute of Chile. “Their grandparents are the ones who remain in the territories, so their cultural roots are severed.”

The institute supports rural development for Chilean communities linked to the Aymara culture, according to Pizarro. The goal is to boost camelid farming and craft sales through fairs, an online presence and special events.

On a recent weekend, the institute held a fashion show inside a city shopping center in Iquique, where Teófila Challapa, María Choque and other women sold textiles and their daughters modeled their work.

“We try to get daughters and granddaughters of artisans involved in their cultural inheritance,” Pizarro said.

Nayareth Challapa (no relation to Teófila) speaks proudly about her mother, María Aranibar, who taught her how to pick the perfect weeds to dye wool.

“The colors of our textiles are related to nature: the earth, the sky, the hills. The land is sacred for us,” the 25-year old said. The work reflects craftswomen's moods and "the rheas, llamas, flowers and mountains she wants to keep present.”

She, too, moved to a city to attend university, but home is never far from her heart.

“When migrating, many forget their ethnicity and leave their roots behind,” Challapa said. “But my family tries to avoid that. We herd the llamas and raise crops to preserve what my grandfather taught us. If we were to lose that, we would lose him as well.”

Teófila Challapa, weaves on her loom at home in Cariquima, Chile, Monday, July 31, 2023

Aymara Indigenous women graze their llamas in Colchane, Chile, Monday, July 31, 2023. 

Llamas that belong to Teófila Challapa stand behind her home in Cariquima, Chile, Monday, July 31, 2023. 

Marcelina Choque weaves on her loom at home in Pozo Almonte, Chile, Sunday, July 30, 

An Aymara Indigenous woman shows handwoven woolen crafts made on the sidelines of a fashion show showcasing Indigenous creations at Zofri Mall in Iquique, Chile, Saturday, July 29, 2023. 

Homes stand in Pozo Almonte, Chile, Sunday, July 30, 2023. 

A young Aymara Indigenous woman wears a wool creation weaved by an elder women from her community, during a fashion show showcasing Indigenous creations at Zofri Mall in Iquique, Chile, Saturday, July 29, 2023. 

Aymara Indigenous women take pictures of a fashion show showcasing their community’s creations at Zofri Mall in Iquique, Chile, Saturday, July 29, 2023.

(AP Photo/Ignacio Munoz)

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Spanish-language misinformation about renewable energy spreads online, report finds

Updated Thu, September 28, 2023 

Valerie Gache

Spanish-language disinformation and misinformation about climate change have risen hand in hand with the spread of false narratives online undermining renewable energy initiatives as extreme weather events have become more severe and recurrent this summer.

The most common narratives include false allegations that wildfires are intentionally created to clear land for renewable energy projects, such as windmills or solar farms. Others spread disinformation about renewable energy projects’ harming animals or polluting the environment, according to a new study released Thursday that was commissioned by the environmental organizations GreenLatinos and Friends of the Earth.

Study co-authors Cristina López G. and Santiago Lakatos identified such narratives after having examined nearly 15,000 accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that were responsible for creating the top 20,000 most engaging Spanish-language posts that included anti-renewable energy content during the first six months of the year.

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López G. and Lakatos are analysts at the social media analytics firm Graphika.

The findings come a week after Climate Action Against Disinformation, a coalition of more than 50 environmental groups, ranked X last in its approach to climate change misinformation.

X did not respond to requests for comment.

As in the spread of previous Spanish-language climate change disinformation online, social media accounts disseminating false information about renewable energy become more active during extreme weather events, López G. told NBC News.

“With increased content moderation that we saw coming from major platforms during the Covid pandemic, we also saw that a lot of these conspiratorial communities started moving towards those platforms where there are less restrictions, where there is more relaxed content moderation,” López G. said.

"In understanding this correlation, there's also an opportunity for us to anticipate when these sort of spikes in disinformation and misinformation might come and how to best educate audiences," she said.

False narratives about renewable energy, the researchers said, are "malleable" because they are created and spread across multiple languages.

"Depending on where the extreme weather event is taking place, that will borrow narratives from whatever language they're available to fit this particular local context," López G. said.

The study found that conspiracy theories in Greek alleging that wildfires were being set to clear land for renewable energy projects were spread online in 2018 right after wildfires killed dozens of people near Athens. Similar theories in Spanish resurfaced last year when Spain suffered big losses from wildfires amid record hot temperatures, but the falsehoods were adjusted to fit in the context of a change in the law allowing the redevelopment of recently burned areas.

The narrative reappeared with much higher engagement this year when wildfires burned the northern Spanish region of Asturias, according to the study.

At least two left-leaning public officials in Asturias at the time, as well as social media posts from right-leaning accounts in Spain, claimed the fires were intentionally provoked, but police said no arsonists were identified after multiple investigations.

Social media accounts affiliated with the Spanish far-right party Vox picked up such narratives weeks later and amplified them online, even falsely claiming that the Maui wildfires in Hawaii were also intentional, according to the study.

Lakatos said such conspiracy theories ultimately try to falsely argue that "wildfires aren't exacerbated by climate change." Human-caused climate change has already contributed to the planet’s warming about 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, according to a March report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

According to the study released Thursday, more than a third (34%) of the X-based Spanish-language accounts found to be promoting misleading and false information about renewable energy display explicit signifiers of right-wing ideology, conservatism and support for Vox in Spain.

Representatives for Vox did not respond to a request for comment.

Other Spanish-language accounts on X expressing similar narratives about renewable energy and climate issues were based in Latin American countries like Mexico and Argentina.

Despite being from different countries, the accounts in the network are connected by shared ideology and language, López G. said.

Broader conspiracy theories in Spanish

Over the past year, Spanish-language social media users across those networks in Spain and Latin America have shared and translated clips and conspiracy theories from a documentary-like video claiming that noise from offshore wind farms killed over 60 whales, the study found.

The U.S Energy Department has said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lead federal agency for marine mammal science and management, have found no evidence to support that.

Conspiracy theories spread by such accounts also “pushed exaggerated and decontextualized narratives” about solar farms’ polluting groundwater supplies, according to the study. Others described renewable energy technologies as being unreliable compared to fossil fuels and as a fabrication by wealthy elites to profit off renewable energy projects, according to the study.

Latinos are also more likely to rely on social media to stay informed than other groups. Messages produced in Spain and Latin America reach the feeds of Latinos in the U.S. through shared content and popular encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, among other platforms.

The researchers also found that Facebook groups created to organize specific communities opposing local renewable energy projects evolved into hubs for falsehoods and general anti-renewables discourse.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

López G. and Lakatos also found that a significant number of the accounts posting false claims about climate change and renewable energy also spread misinformation about Covid-19, vaccines and the “great reset” — a conspiracy theory about turning the world into a single economic-political bloc to the detriment of national identities.

“The actors that are most interested in preserving the status quo have a vested interest in sowing doubt, in at least generating enough skepticism to make the development of these technologies more challenging,” López G. said.

Thousands of climate scientists contributing to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said the countries must shift to renewable energy and stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure to curb the effects of climate change and global warming.

“A small, radical minority is spreading lies in vulnerable communities, capitalizing on extreme weather events to sow doubt in renewable energy, a critical energy source that can save us from future climate disasters,” Edder-Diaz Martinez, a communications manager at GreenLatinos, said in a statement.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Bolivia faces water shortage as winter heat wave drives drought

Reuters
Thu, September 28, 2023 

 Lake Titicaca water level drops due to lack of rain in the entire altiplano, in Huarina

LA PAZ (Reuters) - A prolonged drought in Bolivia and one of the hottest winters on record is threatening to leave parts of the South American country short of water, including in the high-altitude city of El Alto, some 4,000 meters above sea level.

Climate change is affecting glaciers in the Bolivian Andes that provide fresh water to the surrounding wetlands, springs and dams, with residents of El Alto, perched above La Paz, now only able to access water at certain times of the day.

Bertha Apaza, a local resident, said the extreme heat was a clear sign of shifting climates that had now forced the city to ration water use.

"We have schedules to receive water, we don't have enough to cook or wash clothes, much less take a shower," she said.

Bolivia has experienced some of the most extreme temperatures in August and September, which are usually temperate months.

Neighboring Brazil, Paraguay and Peru have also experienced unusual late winter and early spring heat waves, with temperatures at all-time records in the Southern Hemisphere, including large parts of southeastern Australia.

Some once fertile areas across the western region of Bolivia have been reduced to dust. Many of those living in El Alto, a city of around one million people, come from farming communities raising livestock and planting vegetables to survive.

The dry spell has taken a heavy toll on Catalina Mancilla, who recently saw some of her farm animals die of thirst, before the local government set up a community water tank.

"We can now drink water and my animals will also drink enough water," she said.

Authorities remain confident that water reserves will last until December when the rainy season usually arrives, though hundreds of thousands of families and vast swathes of crop and cattle farmland has already been impacted.

Members of the scientific community warn the situation could become critical with the El Nino weather pattern set to arrive in December, potentially altering the forecast and turning up the temperature.

"We are facing a very, I don't want to use the word dangerous, but worrying situation," said Oscar Paz, an expert in climate change and professor at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, adding the El Nino could last for two years.

El Nino can prompt extreme weather events from wildfires to cyclones and droughts in some areas and more rainfall in others.

(Reporting by Monica Machicao, Santiago Limachi, Sergio Limachi, Daniel Ramos; Writing by Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Josie Kao)

How methane studies on Earth could inform the search for alien life in our solar system

Sharmila Kuthunur
Fri, September 29, 2023 


On Earth, massive amounts of methane are trapped within white, cage-like chemical structures. These deposits are primarily found in permanently frozen polar regions as well as on the seafloor, but the key here is that they're not specific to our planet. Similar reservoirs are known to exist on bodies across the solar system — from planets and their moons to comets zipping by. And even though scientists think such deposits ultimately influence the composition of these worlds' ocean waters and atmospheres it remains an open question whether they arise from biological processes. Many experts have long wondered how those methane cages remain stable under high-pressure ocean water conditions.

Now, a team of researchers studying one of these methane deposits — plucked from the seafloor off the coast of Oregon — have discovered a previously unknown class of proteins that seems to play an important role in stabilizing the structure of the deposits.

"We wanted to understand how these formations were staying stable under the seafloor, and precisely what mechanisms were contributing to their stability," Jennifer Glass, who is a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology and a co-author of the new study, said in a statement. "This is something no one has done before."

On Earth, solid ice-like deposits known as methane clathrates form when microorganisms in ocean waters convert organic materials, like remnants of plankton, into methane, which then gets trapped in cages. These deposits transform into gas over time and rise upward. During this process, a variety of organisms start feasting on the methane. Eventually, the chemical is released into the atmosphere. But in regions like the Arctic, where water is warming faster than the rest of the planet, large amounts of methane escape ocean waters before those biological communities can consume them.

"These deep microbes encode genes that are different from any found on the Earth's surface," Glass had previously said when the research had begun with support from the NASA Exobiology Program. "This project gives us the opportunity to unravel microbial survival strategies at extreme conditions, understand the roles of microbes in the fate [of] methane in hydrate reservoirs, and expands our research capability."

To better understand methane clathrates, researchers behind the new study identified the genes of the proteins present in the sediment. Then, the proteins were recreated in the lab for further analysis. To test those proteins, the team also produced methane clathrates in the lab by recreating the high pressures and low temperatures found on the seafloor. A unique pressure chamber mimicking seafloor conditions was built from scratch and used to measure how much gas the clathrate consumed in a certain time, which shed insight on how quickly it formed, according to the new study.

Results showed a class of proteins called the bacterial clathrate-binding proteins (CbpAs) influenced the growth of clathrate by interacting directly with its structure. Proteins with antifreeze characteristics like those that help fish survive in colder temperatures stabilized the clathrate structure, scientists say.

"We were so lucky that this actually worked, because even though we chose these proteins based on their similarity to antifreeze proteins, they are completely different," Abigail Johnson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Georgia who had formed methane clathrates in the lab for the new study, said in a recent statement. "They have a similar function in nature, but do so through a completely different biological system, and I think that really excites people."

Elsewhere in the solar system, previous research has suggested methane on Mars originates from hydrothermal reactions.

On Titan, which is Saturn's largest moon, scientists think the gas originated from its building blocks since the early solar system. Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's Europa, arguably the current best places to search for life, are thought to host methane clathrates as well.

Findings from the new study suggest that if microbes exist on other worlds, they might create similar molecules to create and stabilize methane clathrates, which in turn affects the composition of ocean waters and the atmospheres of those worlds.

Thus, to find alien life, maybe we need to follow the methane clathrate trail.

The research is described in a paper published last month in the journal PNAS Nexus.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Japanese Scientists Find Microplastics in the Clouds Above Mount Fuji

Yale Environment 360
Fri, September 29, 2023 


After sampling the skies over two Japanese mountains, scientists have found microplastics in the clouds.

The finding underscores the extent to which the small particles have invaded nearly every part of the Earth, where they can harm living creatures and even potentially influence the climate, the researchers from several Japanese universities wrote in a paper in Environmental Chemistry Letters.

The researchers collected samples of cloud water above Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, and Mount Oyama over several months. Using advanced imaging techniques, they identified nine different plastic polymers, along with some rubber.

Their presence in clouds is especially concerning, the researchers wrote, because some of the microplastics they found had molecular structures that could help to seed clouds, spurring them to produce ice or water. The particles could also contribute to cloud formation, which would affect their cooling impact on the Earth.

Microplastics have previously been found in oceans, rivers, and even in the lungs of wild birds. They take centuries to decompose, which makes them a growing threat to most ecosystems as humans continue to use and discard plastic. Discovering microplastics in the lowest layer of the atmosphere — where clouds form — is further evidence of the ubiquitousness of microplastics.

According to a statement about the study from Waseda University, these microplastics could also fall to the ground and infiltrate even more areas of the globe.

“Microplastics may have become an essential component of clouds, contaminating nearly everything we eat and drink via ‘plastic rainfall,’” the statement reads.

ALSO ON YALE E360
Microplastics Are Filling the Skies. Will They Affect the Climate?


Japanese study detects microplastics in clouds, potentially altering the climate

Matthew Rozsa

SALON
Thu, September 28, 2023

Storm Cloud Over A Farm Getty Images/sakchai vongsasiripat

No one wants to imagine giant cloud filled with plastic raining crud water all over them. Unfortunately, that is increasingly becoming reality, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters. A team of Japanese scientists analyzed cloud water sampled at Mount Fuij and other Japanese mountains summits from 1300 to 3776 meters in altitude to search for microplastics. A microplastic is defined as a plastic particle that is five millimeters or less across or in length. Plastic pollution has been linked to cancer, infertility, immune diseases and inflammatory bowel disease. Microplastics are so pervasive that they appear in the fish and other foods we eat, the water we drink, in countless common household products and even in our blood.

Apparently microplastics are also, quite literally, in the clouds, yet another reminder that human influence on our planet extends to the trenches of the oceans and far out into orbit around Earth.

"Our finding suggest that high-altitude microplastics cloud influence cloud formation and, in turn, might modify the climate," the authors write. Considering that more than 10 million tons of plastic will be dumped into the ocean from land every year, it is perhaps unsurprising that the scientists found most of the airborne microplastics originated from the ocean, based on their backward trajectory analysis. They noted that their study was the first to officially discover airborne microplastics in cloud water both in the atmospheric boundary layer and in the free troposphere.

Scientists make disturbing discovery while researching river plastic: ‘The broader implications are still an open question’

Sara Klimek
Sat, September 30, 2923



The human health risks from microplastics have long been documented in scientific literature and include disruption to numerous bodily systems, including the endocrine (hormones), immune, and reproductive systems. Recent research has revealed how pervasive microplastics can be in the environment and the new potential risks to rivers and aquatic ecosystems.

What’s happening?

Research published in Communications Earth & Environment reveals that microplastics in the environment may increase sediment erosion in waterways. Since microplastics are less dense than sediment, like silt and sand, they can bombard the bottoms and sides of the river and cause more sediment to move downstream.

“The study shows that plastic is not a passively transported component of river systems,” said project team member Roberto Fernández. “It interacts with the sediment and plays an active role in riverbed transport processes and erosion.”

When the sediment moves downriver, it can change buildup and make the water more shallow. This, in turn, increases the water’s temperature, which affects the rates at which certain species of fish and aquatic animals can spawn.

Outside of the erosion, microplastics also impact the environment by carrying toxic compounds, like bisphenol A (BPA), that are leached from the plastic as it breaks down. These chemicals become embedded in the soil, in the tap water that we drink, and in the fish that circulate and feed in affected waters.

Why is it important?

Researchers are especially concerned with the interaction between microplastics and riparian ecosystems because of how microplastics are added to the environment. Scientists estimate that there are 10 times more microplastics in the ocean now than in 2005 — and it’s only expected to worsen as consumerism increases.

Fernández noted that the nature of this relationship isn’t just exclusive to rivers. It may also become more pervasive in estuaries (salt and fresh water) and smaller waterways, too. “The broader implications are still an open question, but the local effects are likely to be the same,” he said.

What’s being done about it?

The next step of the research will analyze and model the extent to which microplastics impact sediment pollution in waterways. The goals of the following research phase include determining how much plastic is needed to cause a significant impact and assessing other processes that may be worsened.

These 6,000-year-old sandals found in a Spanish cave are Europe’s oldest shoes

Issy Ronald, CNN
Fri, September 29, 2023

New analysis has identified the oldest shoes ever discovered in Europe, according to a study published this week in the journal Science Advances.

The 22 woven sandals date from 6,000 years ago, radiocarbon analysis found in the study led by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Alcalá University in Spain.

The ancient footwear, along with Mesolithic baskets and other tools, was first discovered back in 1857, when a cave in southern Spain was looted by miners. However, when the artifacts were first dated, in the 1970s, they were identified as being about 1,000 years more recent than this latest analysis found.

The very dry conditions within the cave were ideal for preserving perishable materials, the researchers said, and allowed the preservation of a prehistoric burial site complete with partially mummified corpses, accompanied by baskets, wooden tools, sandals and other goods.

Baskets were also found in the cave. - Martínez-Sevillaet al.,Sci. Adv

The objects are “the oldest and best-preserved set of plant fiber materials in southern Europe so far known,” María Herrero Otal, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement, adding that they demonstrate “the ability of prehistoric communities to master this type of craftsmanship.”

When Spanish archaeologist Manuel de Góngora y Martínez visited the cave in 1867, 10 years after the looting, he gathered the remaining artifacts, including the sandals, and gave them to museums in Madrid and Granada, where they have been studied by researchers, the study added.

The sandals were made of grasses as well as other materials, including leather, lime and ramie bast, a type of natural fiber.

Using the descriptions provided by Góngora, the study hypothesizes that the bodies were buried wearing the sandals.

Some sandals had clear signs of wear, while others appeared never to have been worn, suggesting that some people had clothing made especially for their burial.

The researchers also studied several baskets and other wooden artifacts in the collection. These objects “open up groundbreaking perspectives on the complexity of Early-Middle Holocene populations in Europe,” they said, adding that most knowledge of past societies is drawn from durable artifacts rather than perishable ones such as baskets. The Holocene is the current geological epoch, which began 11,700 years ago.

Both the baskets and sandals suggest that the makers had an extended knowledge of the plant resources in the local environment as well as a high level of expertise, the researchers noted.

“The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe,” Francisco Martínez Sevilla, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement.

The study also found that the objects were deposited at the site at two very different times during the Early and Middle Holocene eras. The first phase was related to the Early Holocene hunter-gatherer populations, and the second phase to Middle Holocene farmers, researchers said.

Oldest-known shoes in European history found in Spanish bat cave

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News
Fri, September 29, 2023 


New York Daily News/TNS


A pair of sandals woven from grass around 6,000 years ago and found in a Spanish cave are being hailed as the oldest-known footwear in Europe.

A fresh analysis of the ancient kicks discovered by 19th-century miners determined they were crafted during the Neolithic era, according to the journal Science Advances.

The shoes were woven during a period of time in which the human population grew globally and began making a significant impact on the planet, the journal Nature explained in a 2015 publication.

The footwear was found intact, thanks to the cool conditions in which they were stored in The Cueva de los Murciélagos — “The Cave of the Bats.”

Researcher María Herrero Otal says the find constitutes southern Europe’s “oldest and best preserved set of plant fibre materials” to date.

The sandals are estimated to be 500 years older than a leather shoe unearthed in an Armenian cave and tested in 2010, according to the BBC.

Dozens of other items including baskets and tools were also discovered where the grassy shoes were found in southern Spain’s Andalusia region. Testing on some of those findings concluded they were more than 9,000 years old.

The world's oldest shoes? Sandals found in bat cave are thousands of years old, study finds

Patrick Smith
Fri, September 29, 2023

Sandals buried in a bat cave in southern Spain may be the oldest footwear ever discovered in Europe, scientists said this week, estimating that they could be up to 6,200 years old.

Baskets, tools and the sandals found in the 19th century at a hunter-gatherer burial site in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, or “cave of the bats,” near the southern city of Granada, are much older than previously thought, a team examining the items said in an article in Science Advances journal on Wednesday.

The study used radiocarbon dating to date 76 items, including baskets and 22 sandals made from esparto, a kind of grass used in crafts across the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa for thousands of years.

The ancient humans crushed the grass to make twine to braid baskets, bags and sandals. The grass had to be dried for 20 to 30 days before it was rehydrated for 24 hours to make it pliable — a complex and skilled process.

Similar sandals found in Armenia are estimated to be 5,500 years old, while the shoes worn by “Ötzi the Iceman” — a prehistoric man found in Italy in 1991 — are dated to 5,300 years ago.

“The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe,” the study's leader, Francisco Martínez Sevilla, said in a news release.

Martínez Sevilla, of Spain’s University of Alcalá, added that the Cueva de los Murciélagos was a “unique site in Europe to study the organic materials of prehistoric populations.”



The sandals have no laces, but some had a single braid fixed to the middle which could be tied around the wearer’s ankle. Similar sandals from later periods found across Europe were made with other materials, not just grass.

“This sandal set therefore represents the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes,” the study said.

While some of the sandals showed marks from being worn, others were unused and could have been made for the dead, the study said.

The cave once housed burial goods from a huge swath of early human history, some possibly 9,500 years old.

A team of 20 experts from different disciplines, including geologists and historians, worked on the ongoing project.

The cave’s lack of humidity and its constant cooling wind made the items here the best preserved plant-based tools found in southern Europe. The same conditions have led to a huge number of important archaeological finds in the Middle East, particularly in caves around the Dead Sea.

The bat cave’s treasures were discovered in the 19th century but the new study is the first to fully shed light on their age and importance.

Ceramic fragments, flakes of flint and quartz, a polished ax head, as well as ornamental boar’s teeth and stone bracelets, were found at the site, most of which are now displayed in museums in Madrid and Granada. Questions persisted over the dating of the items until the first radiocarbon dating tests in the 1970s.

But scientists are more excited about the perishable, plant-based items, such as the sandals and baskets, which are rarely found in any condition.

“Plant material culture offers unique insights into the life of prehistoric societies. Lack of preservation has meant that perishable materials have not previously been extensively considered during archaeological research,” the research team said in the article.

The hugely important finds almost didn’t survive to be studied at all.

Miners entered the Cueva de los Murciélagos in 1857, before stumbling upon several partially mummified corpses. Much of the plant-based tools and baskets alongside them were burned and scattered around the site as a result of the mining, while the rest were given to people in the nearby village of Albuñol.

Ten years later, the archaeologist Manuel de Góngora y Martínez visited the cave and interviewed miners and villagers, preserving many items for future generations. The original location of the tools is forever lost, however, robbing archaeologists of crucial context. The human remains were not recovered.

“Despite the mining activity, this assemblage represents one of the oldest and best-preserved collections of hunter-gatherer basketry in southern Europe,” the research team said in the article.

Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves

Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
Fri, September 29, 2023 

Entrance to a cave.

Experts have found what they believe are the oldest shoes ever found in Europe, The Telegraph reported. The pair of "intricately-woven sandals made of grass", that date back more than 6,000 years, are among dozens of items that were discovered in a cave system in southern Spain, as scientists hunted for bat droppings. The shoes were preserved by the "very low humidity levels inside the cave", the paper added.
Demon 'attacked Osbourne'

Sharon Osbourne was rushed into hospital after she was attacked by a "demon", the Daily Star reported. Jack Osbourne claimed that what happened to his showbiz mum while they were filming a paranormal TV show "defied medical science" and he believes she may have been attacked by an "evil entity from Hell". He said: "I believe it was some kind of spiritual attack. I was really scared, like, 'Really? My mum's about to f*****g die while we're doing a ghost hunt?'"
Watts's books auctioned


Original copies of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and Agatha Christie's "The Thirteen Problems", which once belonged to Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, have set two world auction records. The late rock legend's extensive collection of first edition books went under the hammer at Christie’s as part of a specialised sale. During his career Watts "curated a superb collection of works", said The Independent, inspired by "his passion for jazz and literature".

A pair of sandals from the Stone Age reveals that ancient people were not immune to unfortunate fashion choices

Lloyd Lee
Fri, September 29, 2023 


Scientists have confirmed that sets of sandals found in a bat cave in southern Spain could be up to 6,200 years old. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In the 19th century, miners found a hunter-gatherer burial site in a bat cave near Granada, Spain.


The items included baskets, a mallet, and sets of sandals.


Researchers now confirm that the items could be 9,500 to 6,200 years old.

It appears dads could have been making fashion faux pas even since the Stone Age.

Researchers recently confirmed a set of sandals that were discovered in a bat cave near Granada, Spain, in the 19th century could be up to 6,200 years old, according to a study published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

And they may be some of the earliest iterations of the shoes utilitarian and barbecuing dads and fashionistas have come to love.

The dating reveals evidence of basketry — the ancient craft of basket making — in hunter-gatherer communities in southern Europe during the Mesolithic period and the early Neolithic period when societies began to transition to agricultural ways of life.

A team of researchers from the University of Alcalá and the Autonomous University of Barcelona analyzed 76 objects, including baskets, mallets, and sandals, that were discovered by miners two centuries ago while in the bat cave, Cueva de los Murcielagos, a press release from the Barcelona school stated.

Scientists previously found that bones discovered in the same cave may have been modified to be used as tools and drinking cups.

Using carbon-14 dating, which allows scientists to determine the age of an organic material, the Alcalá and Barcelona researchers determined that the 76 objects were between 6,200 and 9,500 years old.

Although there has been evidence of basketry dating back tens of thousands of years, basket weaving is often not tied with the hunter-gatherer societies of the Mesolithic era and is more associated with a sedentary lifestyle offered through an agrarian culture that dominated the Neolithic period.

"The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe," Francisco Martínez Sevilla, a researcher from the University of Alcalá said in the press release.
Not exactly Nike Air

The sandals, a pair of which had been on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, were made from crushed esparto grass which could have allowed the footwear to be flexible, according to the study.

One set of sandals is believed to have "a small group of fibers" that may have been meant to go between the first and second toes, the study said — much like the strap found on flip-flops.

Researchers also identified a "braid fixed to the middle of the sandal" that could have gone around the ankle.

"This sandal set therefore represents the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes," the study said.

Some of the sandals showed signs of being worn, while others appeared unused, suggesting that some individuals had clothes prepared for them when they were buried, according to the study.

"The esparto grass objects from Cueva de los Murciélagos are the oldest and best-preserved set of plant fiber materials in southern Europe so far known," María Herrero Otal, a researcher and co-author of the study said in the press release. "The technological diversity and the treatment of the raw material documented demonstrates the ability of prehistoric communities to master this type of craftsmanship, at least since 9,500 years ago, in the Mesolithic period."

As to whether the sandals were rocked with socks — that fashion offense wouldn't appear until several millennia later.

Europe's oldest shoe found in Spanish bat cave

Mattea Bubalo - BBC News
Fri, September 29, 2023 

A mallet (L) and the remains of sandals were among the ancient artefacts discovered in the bat cave


Scientists say they have identified Europe's oldest shoes, sandals woven from grass thought to be around 6,000 years old.

They were among a haul of ancient objects discovered in a bat cave in Spain plundered by miners in the 19th Century, but were analysed in a new study.

Low humidity and cool winds in the cave kept them unusually well-preserved.

Researchers also analysed baskets and a set of tools.

The objects "are the oldest and best preserved set of plant fibre materials in southern Europe so far known." the study's co-author María Herrero Otal said.

"The technological diversity and the treatment of raw materials documented highlights the skill of prehistoric communities," she added.

New dating techniques used showed that the collection of 76 objects found in the cave was about 2,000 years older than was previously thought.

Some objects in the set date back 9,000 years.

The sandals that were analysed used different types of grass in their structure, researchers said, but also included other materials such as leather and lime.

They date to the Neolithic period, making them older than the 5,500-year-old leather shoes discovered in a cave in Armenia back in 2008.

The cave the 6,000-year-old sandals were found in was the Cueva de los Murciélagos, or the Cave of the Bats, in Andalusia, south-west Spain.

According to the researchers of this study, the cave was first accessed in 1831 by a landowner who collected bat guano, or droppings, used to make fertilizer.

Less than two decades later, it was used by miners who, while mining the cave, discovered a gallery that held partially mummified corpses, baskets, wooden tools, and among others - wild boar teeth and a unique gold diadem.

Europe’s oldest pair of shoes found in Spanish bat cave

Barney Davis
Fri, September 29, 2023 


Scientists have found what they believe are Europe’s oldest pair of shoes in a Spanish cave network populated by bats.

The discovery of the grass-woven sandals in Cueva de los Murciélagos, or the Cave of the Bats, in Andalusia shocked researchers, who believe they could be around 6,000 years old.

When miners started excavating the cave in the 19th century, they discovered a gallery that held partially mummified corpses, wild boar teeth and a unique gold crown. Some 76 of the surviving artefacts have now been analysed by scientists in Spain.

The objects “are the oldest and best-preserved set of plant fibre materials in southern Europe so far known.” the study’s co-author María Herrero Otal said.

“The technological diversity and the treatment of raw materials documented highlights the skill of prehistoric communities.”

According to the report, the Neolithic sandal set represents the “earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe”.

Scientists say they were well preserved thanks to the low humidity levels in the caves.

The cave was first accessed in 1831 by the owner of the surrounding lands who collected the abundant bat guano in the main chamber for fertilizer.

The shelter was also used to keep goats until the identification of a vein of galena led to its exploitation by a mining company in 1857.

Ten years after the discovery and subsequent looting, the cave was visited by the archaeologist Manuel de Góngora y Martínez who collected the testimonies of the miners regarding the artefacts, gathered the archaeological remains, and published accounts of them.

A rapid advance in dating techniques put the items more than 2,000 years older than previously thought.


Scientists say they've found Europe's oldest "prehistoric footwear"

Duarte Dias
Updated Fri, September 29, 2023

Scientists say grass sandals discovered in a cave in Spain are 6,200 years old, making them the oldest woven grass footwear ever discovered in Europe and forcing them to rethink "simplistic assumptions" about our human ancestors in the region.

The announcement came from a team that has been studying 76 objects found many years ago in a cave in southern Spain. Researchers from the Universidad de Alcalá and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona said the objects were the first direct evidence of basketry among hunter-gatherer societies and early agrarian communities in southern Europe.

Among the discoveries were baskets, sandals and organic tools made of reed and esparto grass. By studying the raw materials the objects were made of, the researchers were able to date them to the early and middle Holocene period, between 9,500 and 6,200 years ago.


"The quality and technological complexity of the basketry makes us question the simplistic assumptions we have about human communities prior to the arrival of agriculture in southern Europe," said Francisco Martínez Sevilla, a researcher in the Prehistory Department of the University of Alcalá.

María Herrero Otal, who co-authored the study, told CBS News the research offered "a unique opportunity to study social aspects of early human groups," because the type of fiber-based materials discovered are not typically recovered from archeological sites.

"It means that the use of esparto grass has started al least 9,500 years ago, and it is a tradition which is still live in Iberia [Spain and Portugal]," Otal told CBS. "It is spectacular how the techniques, the raw material and its preparation has been used for thousands of years and there are still people working in the same way."

The sandals discovered in the cave represent "the earliest and widest-ranging assemblage of prehistoric footwear, both in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe, unparalleled at other latitudes," according to the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances.

The items were first discovered during mining activities in the Cueva de los Murciélagos, which translates literally as "cave of the bats," of Albuñol in Granada, Spain, during the 19th century. But the authors of this study concluded that the materials discovered were about 2,000 years older than previously thought.

According to researchers, the low level of humidity combined with the cool, dry winds inside the cave helped prevent bacteria from developing, which allowed the fiber-based objects to survive through the millennia.

The researchers said two types of footwear were discovered at the site, one with a consistent woven sole, and another with a harder "central core." While no laces were found with the first type, "for the central core type, a small group of fibers emanating from the base of the sole may have been placed between the first and second toes. These fibers are also connected to a braid fixed to the middle of the sandal, which could be tied around the ankle."