Homeowner perplexed after discovering ‘alien species’ growing on their home: ‘You need Men in Black’

Jeremiah Budin
Fri, September 29, 2023 

Owning a home can involve all kinds of unexpected and weird tasks and problems. In some cases, apparently, that means discovering an entirely new species growing on the outside of your house.

One such homeowner recently posted some images to the r/whatsthisplant subreddit of their unnerving discovery in hopes of figuring out what they were dealing with.


Photo Credit: u/familiarshapes / Reddit

“North Eastern United States. This looks like some alien species I’ve never seen before. There are a couple I noticed growing near my window sill. Thank you for the help,” they wrote.

The alien species in question nearly defies description. It is red, it is oozing some sort of liquid, and it is pretty upsetting to look at.

Luckily, several plant-loving Redditors were quick to jump in with knowledge about what category this life-form belongs in.

“Slime mold species,” wrote one. “Slime molds are strange and diverse. Not a fungus, plant, animal, or bacteria.. they are in the Kingdom Protista.”

“You know, I’m a horticulturalist. And I love mycology and entomology too; I’m not easily creeped out. But slime molds? HATE. I HATE them with a deep, mammalian paranoia. I want to like them, but I can’t. My lower-brain forbids it,” another commenter wrote.

The specific type of slime mold, according to a few other commenters, is Stemonitis, which the Encyclopedia Britannica somewhat controversially describes as having “some of the most beautiful fruiting bodies among the myxomycetes.”

The good news for this homeowner is that despite how scary it looks, slime molds are not harmful. “Despite their threatening appearance, slime molds are not infectious and will not result in anything more than temporary cosmetic damage. Slime molds will not harm humans, pets, or livestock,” one Purdue University professor of plant pathology wrote.

Meanwhile, the Redditors of the r/whatsthisplant subreddit had some helpful advice for this Stemonitis-owning homeowner.

“You need Men in Black,” wrote one.

“Get a jar and some wood and you can have it as a pet,” wrote another.

‘Dwarf’-like forest creature found inside hotel in Burundi turns out to be new species

Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Inside an urban hotel in Burundi, a “dwarf”-like forest creature went about its day. The scaly animal had a yellow underside and a patterned throat. It caught the attention of passing scientists — and turned out to be a new species.

After capturing the hotel’s reptilian intruder, researchers ventured into the central African country’s nearby mountain forests, according to a study published Sept. 23 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Once again, researchers found several small lizards with patterned throats, the study said. They captured 12 of these lizards between 2008 and 2011. Taking a closer look, researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Lygodactylus kibera, or the forest dwarf gecko.

The forest dwarf gecko is considered “large,” reaching about 3.1 inches in size, the study said. Its body is “slender” and “relatively robust.” On the underside of its throat, the gecko has “three black ∩-shaped chevrons,” researchers said.

Photos show the forest dwarf gecko. Its body is tannish with a smattering of dark brown, light brown and cream spots. Below its patterned throat, the gecko’s belly and groin area are yellow, a photo shows.


Researchers said they named the new species “kibera” after the Kinubi word for “forest,” the gecko’s “main habitat.” Kinubi is a “Sudanese Arabic-based creole language spoken in some regions of Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda,” the study said.

Forest dwarf geckos are considered tree-dwellers and are most active during the day, researchers said. The geckos were found in mountain forests but also human-occupied areas such as banana fields and a hotel.


The new species has been found in three spots in Burundi’s Albertine Rift and one spot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the study said. The neighboring locations are within about 110 miles from each other.

Burundi borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Rwanda to the north and Tanzania to the east and south.

The “cryptic” new species was mainly identified by its throat pattern, size and other “subtle” physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had between about 6% and about 15% genetic divergence from other dwarf geckos.

The research team included Javier Lobón-Rovira, Aaron Bauer, Pedro Vaz Pinto, Jean-Francois Trape, Werner Conradie, Chifundera Kusamba, Timóteo Júlio, Garin Cael, Edward Stanley, Daniel Hughes, Mathias Behangana, Franck Masudi, Olivier Pauwels and Eli Greenbaum.

Researchers also discovered four more new species of dwarf geckos: a gecko with a “leopard-like” pattern, a “cryptic” woodland gecko, a gecko from a “unique” habitat and a “large” forest-dwelling gecko.

Newly discovered pangolin species could aid in fight against extinction

Jenna Schnuer, CNN
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Pangolins are among the world’s most heavily poached animals. The elusive creatures are under threat, but the discovery of a mysterious species that’s new to science could help conservationists fight against their extinction, researchers say.

There are eight previously known species of pangolin — four found in Asia and four in Africa. Resembling anteaters, the solitary mammals are illegally hunted and trafficked for their meat and distinctive armorlike scales, which some people believe have medicinal value.

Scientists studying contraband scales — confiscated in Hong Kong and China’s Yunnan province between 2012 and 2019 — identified genetic markers not seen in any known pangolins. The genomic analysis revealed an unexpected ninth species, which the team has named Manis mysteria.

The researchers described their findings in a study published Monday in the journal PNAS.

“We were quite surprised because we did not expect a new species could be discovered from seized scales,” said study coauthor Jing-Yan Hu, a research assistant at the State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource at Yunnan University, in an email.

The study team did a structural analysis of 33 scale samples from several different confiscations. Five scales were attached to skin and three to claws. The remaining samples were from individual scales found to be from pangolin tails, backs, bellies or heads.
Genomics can help protect threatened species

The scales’ form initially suggested they belonged to one of four species of pangolin found in Asia. But DNA analysis showed that their “genomic data provide robust and compelling evidence that it is a new pangolin species distinct from those previously recognized,” Hu said.

Finding a new “large-bodied mammal” is not an everyday occurrence, said Dr. Aryn Wilder, a researcher specializing in conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Wilder was not involved in the new research.

An analysis of contraband pangolin scales revealed genetic markers not seen in known species, researchers said. The newly discovered pangolin was named Manis mysteria. - Feng Yang

One of the most recent of such finds made through genomics was the 2017 identification of an unknown species of orangutan. “Although not unheard of, discoveries like these are pretty unusual,” Wilder said, adding that the pangolin study’s results were convincing.

“I thought the methods were solid and their findings were pretty conclusive,” she said.
Expanded understanding of ‘pangolin diversity and evolution’

Little is known of Manis mysteria, but now that its existence has been established, conservationists can work to protect it.

Uncovering a ninth species is significant, Hu said. The revelation “greatly expands current knowledge of pangolin diversity and evolution,” Hu said. “The discovery also urges more conservation concerns and joint efforts to help tackle the supply and demand of pangolin trade.”

The finding is very important, Wilder said in an email. “The identification of this new species will allow conservationists to focus management efforts to prevent its extinction.”

Extinction is defined on a species level. “Once a species is extinct, its unique biodiversity is lost,” Wilder said. “With the discovery of a new pangolin species, one that is likely endangered, and with more research to learn about its range, ecology, life-history and conservation status, conservation strategies can be tailored specifically to ensure that this species survives.”

Because Manis mysteria has just a slight genetic variation from other pangolins, the species is currently described as “cryptic.”

Cryptic species aren’t easy to tell apart from others by appearance alone, so the newfound ability to identify pangolin species by testing scales is a boon for conservation scientists. “Often a rare species will be mistaken for a more common one,” Wilder said. “With advancing DNA technologies, we are getting better at identifying cryptic species.”

That means the recent revelation could just be the start. “We also expect to find other pangolin species,” Hu said.

UK wildlife ‘continues to decline and degrade’ with one in six species at risk of extinction

Stuti Mishra
Thu, September 28, 2023 



The UK’s wildlife “continues to decline and degrade” as one in six species are at risk of extinction, according to the latest State Of Nature report.

Nearly half of its bird species are threatened while almost a third of amphibians, reptiles, fungi, lichen and a quarter of land-living mammals are at risk of vanishing, said the 203-page report released on Wednesday.

It found that 16 per cent of species, or one in six, were at risk of extinction. This includes the UK’s iconic wildlife species such as the turtle dove and hazel dormouse.

More than 10,000 species and the state of the habitats vital for their survival were assessed in the report led by the RSPB and backed by over 60 research and conservation organisations.

More than half of the flowering plant species no longer grow where they used to, with the climate crisis and intensive farming being the biggest reasons why the UK has seen an average decline of all living species of 19 per cent since monitoring began in 1970.

The UK’s wildlife has been depleted by centuries of habitat destruction, unsustainable farming practices and persecution.

This means more than half of the UK’s plant, fungal and animal life has been killed off.

The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts

The report also found only one in seven (14 per cent) habitats considered important for wildlife, were in a good ecological condition – including just 7 per cent of woodlands. Due to habitat damage from fishing gear, none of the areas of seafloor around the UK were found to be in a good condition.

“The latest State of Nature Report marks a decade of missed opportunities to halt the spiralling decline of UK wildlife,” said professor Rick Stafford, chair of the British Ecological Society’s Policy Committee.

“While we are perhaps becoming inured to these declines, the statistic that none of the seabed around our island nations is in good condition still has the power to shock.”

“Continuous trawling of a seabed has parallels to the effect of an earthquake on a city – habitats are destroyed and species are displaced.”

“The good news is that, unlike terrestrial habitats, it is easy to fix; just leave it alone and it will recover. The bad news is that, on paper, the UK is already hitting its 30x30 targets for marine protection. Clearly this is not working.”

Only 25 per cent of peatland, also an important natural carbon sink, and 50 per cent of salt marshes, remain in good condition.

Prof Mathews said small mammals such as harvest mice and field voles are “disappearing before our eyes” because the habitat on which their survival depends is being destroyed, with knock-on effects for owls and other predators.

Lichens – which are a mix of fungi and algae and thrive in clean, wet, undisturbed forests – are growing in a psychedelic mix of patterns and colours on tree branches, but have recovered somewhat since the 1970s thanks to reductions in sulphur dioxide emitted by industry.

Nearly half of lichen species are, however, still declining because of ammonia, which mostly comes from muck-spreading, slurry and fertilisers used on farms.

Insects that pollinate and those that prey on pests such as ladybirds, ground beetles and wasps are also disappearing in certain areas – falling by 18 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.

“The sobering message is that the state of UK nature and the wider environment, based upon the indices that we’ve got, continues to decline and degrade,” said professor Richard Gregory, the RSPB’s head of monitoring conservation science.

“At the same time, we’ve never actually had such a good understanding of the state of nature in the United Kingdom and we’ve never had such a good understanding of how we might fix it.”

We know that creating bigger, better, more joined-up spaces for wildlife can bring practical results, including more ponds, wetlands and shrubby wild habitats

Tony Juniper, Natural England chairperson

Dr Francesca Mancini, of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, warned that these losses could damage farmers financially.

“We can think that further losses in pest control species for example could lead to economic losses for farmers and also a greater reliance on chemical pesticides, which then in turn is going to have more consequences for biodiversity,” she said.

Some species, such as dragonflies, have improved thanks to rivers being cleaner than they were in the 1970s, while conservation projects from the Cairngorms to Cambridgeshire and Lyme Bay, showed restoration can and does help plants and animals to return.

“We know that creating bigger, better, more joined-up spaces for wildlife can bring practical results, including more ponds, wetlands and shrubby wild habitats,” Natural England chairperson Tony Juniper said.

“The truth is though that on its own this will not be enough, with every sector of society needing to play a role if we are to recover species abundance and reduce the risk of extinction, as the Government has legally committed to doing,” he said.

The authors of the report called on the UK government to deliver on its promise to protect at least 30 per cent of land and sea for nature, according to a landmark treaty signed last year.

“The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts.

“This next parliament will be the most important in my lifetime for nature and climate action. The clock is ticking towards the 2030 deadline by which point the UK Government has committed to protect at least 30 per cent of land and sea for nature and to halve the risks posed by pesticides.”

Additional reporting by PA

Nature crisis: One in six species at risk of extinction in Great Britain

Victoria Gill and Kate Stephens - Science team, BBC News
Thu, September 28, 2023 at 1:23 AM MDT·5 min read

Numbers of the UK's most precious animals and plants are still falling, as a countrywide nature-loss crisis continues.

Loss of nature is outpacing investment and effort to tackle it, conservation organisations say.

Their State of the Nature report found 16% of 10,000 mammals, plants, insects, birds and amphibians assessed were threatened.

They include UK wildlife icons such as the turtle dove and hazel dormouse.

The government has said it is committed to "increasing the amount of habitat for nature to thrive".

But conservation organisations say more investment and a shift to much more wildlife-friendly farming and fishing are urgently needed.

The 203-page document was produced by more than 60 organisations, including wildlife conservation groups, government agencies and academics.

Its analysis of decades of research paints a grim picture - natural spaces and the wildlife that depends on them are in decline.

What is biodiversity and how can we protect it?

Nida al-Fulaij, from the People's Trust for Endangered Species, told BBC News: "The main takeaways from this report are alarming."

And she explained how thousands of studies used in the report examined the abundance or distribution of UK wildlife.
'Bleak outlook'

"Where we can, we count species year after year," Ms Fulaij said.

"Another way to measure how a plant or animal is faring is to repeatedly examine a site and ask, 'Is the species here or not?'"

Plants and animals monitored since the 1970s have declined in abundance by an average 19%.

And this trend suggests a bleak outlook for much of the country's native wildlife, conservation scientists say.

This should make everyone "sit up and listen", Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) chief executive Beccy Speight said.

Restoring nature would also help to tackle the climate crisis.

"We need to move far faster as a society towards nature-friendly land and sea use," Ms Speight said.

"Otherwise, the UK's nature and wider environment will continue to decline and degrade, with huge implications for our own way of life."

Responding to these calls for action, the government said it was investing in its "30-by-30" pledge, to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030.

"At the start of this year, I published our comprehensive Environmental Improvement Plan," Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said, "setting out how we will create and restore at least 500,000 hectares [2,000 sq miles] of new wildlife habitats."

The government also highlighted investments including:

a £40m Species Survival Fund


£750m for woodland and peatland restoration

But RSPB conservation-science head Prof Richard Gregory told BBC News: "We'd need more to achieve the goal of 30 by 30.

"The task ahead of us to recover nature in the UK is large and complex - we are really talking of billions of pounds and not millions to change systems and tackle the drives of decline.

"That investment would return a huge amount for society in time and save huge future costs if we allow the environment to continue to decline and degrade."

Since 1970, the report says, of the 2,890 species in Britain's "priority group":

58% fell in number


19% increased

Also:

Almost 1,500 UK native species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction


Most of the important habitats for UK nature - including woodland, wetlands and wildflower meadows - are in poor condition


Only about 11% of UK land is within protected areas - and not all are well managed for nature and wildlife


None of the seafloor around the UK is in "good condition", because of damage from fishing gear

In the North Pennines, Nic and Paul Renison have transformed the way they farm, to create more space for nature, dividing their 400 acres (160 hectares) into small pastures and moving their cows into a new field each day.

"The idea is that it's like the buffalo on the plains - they move every day, then the pasture gets 60 days to recover," Nic said.

With the help of the Woodland Trust, they have also planted wildlife-friendly hedgerows to create wildlife "corridors" throughout their farm.

"The more you do, the more nature you attract - it gets addictive," Paul said.

All five of the UK's resident owl species can now be found on the Renisons' farm and 50 different bird species are breeding there, a recent survey revealed.

Nic and Paul Renison on their farm, in the North Pennines

In England, an estimated 70% of land is farmed.

And studies suggest nature-friendly farming can boost production.

In one large-scale study in central England, turning over land from crops to wildlife habitat increased yields, probably by boosting the abundance of insects that pollinate those crops.

But the Nature Friendly Farming Network said more investment would be needed "to support all farmers in restoring nature and acting on climate change".

But the report also found "targeted conservation", concerted efforts to restore habitats and protect species, had worked well:

The number of species in a marine protected area (MPA) in Lyme Bay, Devon, had significantly increased since trawling was banned, in 2008


600 sq km (150,000 acres) of the Cairngorms, in the Highlands, had been restored for woodland-dependent wildlife


The RSPB's Hope Farm, in Cambridgeshire, had provided a research and demonstration site, showing how crop yields could been increased along with bird numbers

Report author and University of Sussex environmental-biology professor Fiona Matthews said: "We need a lot more investment [in nature].

"There is a belief in government that things can just magically happen for free."

But while she acknowledged the great work from thousands of volunteers, funded work was needed too.

"I often see a press release for £1m for this or that - but it is a drop in the ocean for what is actually required to tackle this issue," Prof Matthews said.

Small mammals ‘disappearing before our eyes’, warns report

Emma Gatten
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Field voles are in danger of extinction in UK - David Tipling/Getty

Harvest mice and field voles are “disappearing before our eyes”, warn the authors of a new report that finds one in six UK species are at risk of extinction.

Among those at greatest risk are harvest mice and field voles, which are particularly threatened by intensive agriculture, said authors of the latest State of Nature report.

Overall, all species have declined by 19 per cent since monitoring began in 1970, according to the latest State of Nature report.

Birds are at greatest risk, with more than 40 per cent threatened with extinction, as well as around a third of amphibians and reptiles, and more than a quarter of fungi, lichen and terrestrial mammals.

The report, led by the RSPB and backed by over 60 research and conservation organisations, is an update to a 2019 study and examined more than 10,000 species and their habitats, relying on volunteer sightings.

“Small mammals that are just disappearing in front of our eyes, because at very large scales, we’ve been losing the habitats that they depend on. They’re really the cogs of the ecosystems,” said Fiona Mathews, professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex. “Things like harvest mouse, or field voles, lots of the small furry things that nobody ever notices, but they are ecosystem engineers.”

She said the figures raised doubts over whether the Government’s legal target to halt species decline by 2030 would be met.

“It’s all very good to set targets,” she said “The challenge is to make sure that it’s not just a number picked out of the air, but it’s actually followed up with action.”

Harvest mice are 'disappearing before our eyes' - Roger Coan/South West News Service

The report came as the Government confirmed a delay to a scheme for housebuilders to offset their impact on nature that was due to start in November.

The biodiversity net gain scheme will be delayed until January, after housebuilders complained they had not been given enough clarity on how the scheme would operate.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: “The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake.

“We desperately need better policies that properly fund nature-friendly farming, end the poisoning of lakes and rivers, and create larger wild and more natural areas – including in towns and cities.”

The report’s authors said human activity was to blame for depleting more than half of the UK’s biodiversity, and found that only one in seven wildlife habitats were in a good condition.

They called for more nature friendly farming, including a reduction in pesticide use, the reintroduction of beavers and the restoration of habitats such as peatlands.

Richard Gregory from the RSPB said reducing meat and dairy consumption would help boost biodiversity.

“Independent evidence talks about the need to reduce meat consumption and dairy consumption, because there’s strong independent evidence to show that these two things are having quite a negative impact on biodiversity locally and globally,” he said.
National parks

A new poll has found that more than 70 per cent of British people think the country’s national parks should be used to provide habitats for wildlife, rather than prioritising food production.

A majority of the public, 53 per cent, also support a reduction in grazing on national park land where it is causing a reduction in local wildlife, according to YouGov polling for Green Alliance, an environment think tank.

The Government is currently considering changes to the management of Dartmoor, which could set a precedent for the reduction in the numbers of livestock on other national parks.

Responding to the report, Thérèse Coffey, the Environment Secretary, said the Government was “committed to increasing the amount of habitat for nature to thrive”.

Giant sea lizards: fossils in Morocco reveal the astounding diversity of marine life 66 million years ago, just before the asteroid hit

Nicholas R. Longrich, Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of BathSee less
Wed, September 27, 2023 at 10:31 AM MDT·5 min read

Sixty-six million years ago, the Cretaceous period ended. Dinosaurs disappeared, along with around 90% of all species on Earth. The patterns and causes of this extinction have been debated since palaeontology began. Was it a slow, inevitable decline, or did the end come quickly, driven by a sudden, unpredictable disaster?

Georges Cuvier, working in the early 19th century, was one of the first palaeontologists. He believed that geological catastrophes, or “revolutions”, drove waves of sudden extinction. In part, his ideas were formed by study of a giant sea lizard, Mosasaurus, that lived and went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous

.

Skull of the marine lizard Mosasaurus studied by Cuvier. Nick Longrich.

Charles Darwin saw the end of the Cretaceous rather differently. He thought extinctions happened gradually, driven by everyday processes working over many millions of years, just as sedimentation and erosion slowly reshaped the land.

The debate continued for over a century, but the idea of catastrophic extinction gained ground as palaeontologists collected more fossil species, timing species’ appearances and disappearances. Massive numbers of species disappeared near the end of the Cretaceous, rapidly, around the world, both on land and in the sea. These severe, rapid, worldwide extinctions implied a severe, worldwide, rapid cause – a catastrophe.

Finally, in 1980 physicist Luis Alvarez identified a possible driver of the extinctions – a giant asteroid impact, later traced back to an enormous crater beneath the town of Chicxulub, in Mexico. Debris shot into the upper atmosphere by the impact blocked out the sun, causing photosynthesis to stop, and temperatures to plunge.

This didn’t end the debate, however. Some have argued that other events, like volcanic eruption, contributed, or even that the dinosaurs were already on their way out. In these scenarios, the asteroid impact was one of many factors driving the extinctions, or perhaps the final blow to groups in decline.

Recently I’ve been working as part of a team of palaeontologists studying new marine reptiles from the latest Cretaceous of north Africa. We’ve found a huge number of mosasaur species, close relatives of the Mosasaurus that Cuvier studied. Our research suggests that mosasaurs remained diverse until the very end. As they were the dominant predators of the day, their evolution tells us about the evolution of the marine ecosystem as a whole, and suggests marine ecosystems remained diverse until a sudden, catastrophic collapse caused by the asteroid impact.

Cretaceous marine reptiles

Near the end of the Cretaceous, sea levels were high, submerging much of Africa underwater. The Tethys Sea, which would eventually become the Mediterranean Sea, flooded the Sahara; the Atlantic extended east across north Africa as far as Morocco’s Atlas Mountains.

Meanwhile, the trade winds drove to the east, as they do now. Wind pushed surface waters offshore, causing upwelling of nutrient-rich waters from the ocean floor along the eastern Atlantic, fertilising the seas, and driving vast plankton blooms. Phytoplankton fed zooplankton, feeding small fish and ammonites, feeding larger animals, and so on up the food chain.

And an extraordinary diversity of marine reptiles sat atop the food chain: giant sea turtles, long-necked plesiosaurs – and the mosasaurs.

When these animals died, their skeletons, along with fish bones and shark teeth, formed vast bonebeds. These beds, in what’s now Morocco, are today mined for fertiliser, in the process revealing an extraordinary marine ecosystem from the last days of the Cretaceous.

Far from declining at the end of the Cretaceous, marine reptiles – especially mosasaurs – evolved to become increasingly diverse. Mosasaurs show a range of body sizes, from a few metres long to giants over 10 metres long. They also evolved an astonishing variety of tooth shapes: hooks, spikes, cones, blades, crushing molars.

Recent years have seen a remarkable number of new species emerge, including many strange, specialised forms. Pluridens serpentis had a mouth full of small, hooked, snakelike teeth. It probably ate small, soft prey, like fish and squid.

The bizarre little Xenodens had bladelike teeth, packed edge-to-edge to create a sawlike cutting blade. This arrangement is unique among lizards, or even reptiles. It likely used its teeth to saw apart larger prey or scavenge from carcasses.

The 10-metre long Thalassotitan had massive, conical teeth like a killer whale’s. It was an apex predator, eating plesiosaurs, sea turtles – and other mosasaurs.

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Read more: 'Sea monsters' were real millions of years ago. New fossils tell about their rise and fall

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The most recently recently discovered species we named Stelladens, or “star tooth”. Most mosasaurs had a bladelike cutting edge on the front and back of each tooth. In Stelladens, a series of two to four extra ridges run down the tooth, giving the teeth a shape like a Phillips-head screw driver or a hex wrench. Nothing quite like it has been seen in a mosasaur before, or anything else. What did it eat with its odd teeth? We don’t know.

Resilience and adaptability

Mosasaurs were just one of many kinds of animals inhabiting the seas, but as predators they tell us a lot. The reason so many mosasaur species could coexist was that they specialised, targeting different prey with different hunting strategies, avoiding competition.

For the marine reptiles at the top of the food chain to be so diverse, there had to be diverse prey species on lower levels of the food chain. The diversity of mosasaurs suggests the marine ecosystem was healthy and stable in the last million years before the Cretaceous period ended. This supports the theory that the end-Cretaceous extinction was driven by a sudden catastrophic event – the asteroid – rather than resulting from a slow, gradual decline.

Seen on longer timescales, over millions of years, life shows remarkable resilience and adaptability, and a certain orderliness. Species evolve, diversify, and become better adapted. But even the most successful, well-adapted species is only one catastrophe away from extinction— one asteroid, one volcano, one ice age. That raises the unsettling possibility that our own species’ continued existence isn’t certain, either. The next catastrophe could be the one that ends our species.

And yet at the same time, the asteroid impact that wiped out marine reptiles and the dinosaurs made the world around us possible. The extinction of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs allowed the evolution of dolphins, whales and seals. The dinosaurs’ extinction drove the evolution of horses, lions, elephants, humans. One world was wiped away by catastrophe, but out of that disaster, something new, remarkable, and surprising – our world, and the species we share it with – was born.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Nicholas R. Longrich, University of Bath.

Read more:

• Fossil teeth reveal new facts about a mass extinction 260 million years ago

• Phosphorites: mineral-rich rocks offer insight into ancient Namibian ecosystems

• New analysis sheds important light on an ancient mass extinction event

Japanese scientists move closer to making lab-created human sperm, eggs a reality

Michelle De Pacina
Thu, September 28, 2023 



[Source]

Researchers in Japan are progressing in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), a field of biomedical research aimed at creating unlimited supplies of “artificial” eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body.

About the technique: IVG involves reprogramming cells from a person’s blood or skin into induced pluripotent stem cells, which can theoretically become any cell in the body, including egg and sperm cells. These cells could be used to enable anyone, including those who are older, infertile, single, gay or transgender, to have genetically related children.

Technical challenges: Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at Osaka University in Japan, is a pioneer in the field of IVG. According to NPR, Hayashi has made significant progress in the field, particularly in mice, and believes that the technology could be applied to humans in the near future. However, there are still technical and ethical challenges to overcome.

While basic human eggs and sperm have been produced using this method, creating embryos is still a challenge. Researchers estimate that it may take another five to 10 years for a reliable proof of concept and another 10 to 20 years of testing for safety before IVG can be used in clinics.

Ethical and safety concerns: While Japan is considering allowing scientists to create IVG embryos for research, these developments raise complex ethical and societal questions that require thoughtful consideration. The ethical concerns surrounding IVG are profound, including questions about age limits for IVG baby-making, the potential for creating designer babies and issues related to the exploitation and commercialization of reproduction.

The technology could also potentially be misused to create babies without the genetic contributors’ consent, and it may challenge existing legal frameworks. Further research is still needed to navigate these complex issues.

Richard Branson Flew to Space When He Turned 70. He Wants to Do It Again (and Again)

Sissi Cao
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Sir Richard Branson attends “Branson” New York Premiere at HBO Screening Room on November 29, 2022 in New York City. John Lamparski/Getty Images

On July 11, 2021, a week before his 71st birthday, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson flew to suborbital space along with five of his employees in a Virgin Galactic (SPCE) spaceplane. The British billionaire said it was the best day of his life and he fully intends to do it again.

“I booked it for my 80th, 90th and 100th birthday, and I’m an optimist, so my 110th as well,” Branson, 73, said in an interview with NBC last week while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Virgin Galactic, the space tourism arm of Virgin Group, sells 90-minute round trips to and from the edge of Earth’s atmosphere (about 50 miles above sea level) in a spaceplane for $450,000 per person. The mission that brought Branson to space was the first full-crew test flight of Virgin Galactic. And after years of delay, the company finally began flying paying customers in June.

Read Also: Virgin Galactic Is Partnering with a Luxury Travel Agent to Take Space Tourism Mainstream

Virgin Galactic initially priced its tickets at $250,000 a pop but increased it to $450,000 shortly after Branson’s spaceflight in 2021. Branson, whose business conglomerate operates airlines and cruise lines, said Virgin Galactic has a low carbon footprint.

“We’ve managed to get the price of going into space, from a carbon point of view right down to a minimum,” Branson told NBC. “You know, if you’ve run an airline, you’ve got to try to get the youngest, most fuel-efficient planes. If you’re running a space line, you’ve got to reduce the cost of taking people into space dramatically from a carbon point of view.”

The burgeoning space tourism industry has drawn criticism over the high carbon emissions of rockets and spaceplanes. A 90-minute Virgin Galactic flight generates emissions equivalent to a ten-hour trans-Atlantic commercial air flight, according to a 2021 report by NSR, a firm providing research on satellite and space markets. Because Virgin Galactic can only carry up to six passengers on each flight, that averages to 4.5 tons of carbon emission per person, twice the Paris Agreement’s recommended annual individual carbon budget, per NSR’s calculation.

Virgin Galactic hasn’t responded to an inquiry to comment on these numbers by press time.

While in New York last week, which coincided with Climate Week NYC, Branson announced his latest climate initiative, Planetary Guardians. It’s a coalition of 14 world leaders, climate activists, business moguls and celebrities who will take what they call a “whole planet” approach to “safeguard Earth.” In addition to Branson, the group includes actor Robert Redford, activist Jane Goodall and Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of Colombia.

Here are every crewed mission and launched by Virgin Galactic to date and the passengers on board:

July 11, 2021 “Unity 22”

• Passengers/Virgin Galactic staff: Richard Branson, Beth Moses (Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor), Colin Bennett (lead operations engineer), Sirisha Bandla (head of government affairs and research operations)

• Pilots: Dave Mackay, Michael Masucci

June 29, 2023 “Galactic 01” 

• Passengers: Walter Villadei, Angelo Landolfi, Pantaleone Carlucci

• Staff: Colin Bennett

• Pilots: Mike Masucci, Nicola Pecile

August 10, 2023 “Galactic 02”

• Passengers: Jon, Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers

• Staff: Beth Moses

• Pilots: C.J. Sturckow, Kelly Latimer

September 8, 2023 “Galactic 03”

• Passengers: Ken Baxter, Adrian Reynard, Timothy Nash

• Staff: Beth Moses

• Pilots: Nicola Pecile, Michael Masucci

India space chief unfazed by Moon mission's apparent end

AFP
Fri, September 29, 2023 

The rover was powered down before the start of the two-week lunar night but efforts to wake it have so far been unsuccessful (-)

As hopes dim of further contact with India's Moon rover, the country's space chief has said he was satisfied with the prospect of calling its successful lunar mission to an end.

India began exploring the Moon's surface in August after becoming just the fourth nation to land a craft on the celestial body, sparking celebrations in a country rapidly closing in on milestones set by global space powers.

Rover Pragyan -- "Wisdom" in Sanskrit -- surveyed the vicinity of the Moon's south pole but was powered down before the start of lunar night, which lasts roughly two weeks on Earth.

The Indian Space Research Agency had hoped to prolong the mission by reactivating the solar-powered vehicle once daylight returned to the lunar surface, but so far has been greeted by radio silence.


"It is OK if it does not wake up because the rover has done what it was expected to do," ISRO chief S. Somanath told reporters late Wednesday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

ISRO said last week it had hoped to reestablish contact with the rover and the lander that safely delivered it.

"As of now, no signals have been received from them," it added.

The world's most populous nation has been steadily matching the achievements of established spacefaring powers at a fraction of their cost.

It has a comparatively low-budget space programme, but one that has grown considerably in size and momentum since first sending a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts' wages.

India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars in 2014 and is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into the Earth's orbit by next year.

Earlier this month it launched a four-month mission towards the centre of the solar system to study phenomena on the surface of the Sun.

August's successful lunar mission came four years after its predecessor crashed on final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for its space programme.

Japan and India plan 2025 moon mission to hunt for water near the lunar south pole

Andrew Jones
Thu, September 28, 2023 


Japan and India plan 2025 moon mission to hunt for water near the lunar south pole


The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Is making progress on its rover for a joint mission with India to the south pole of the moon.

JAXA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) agreed to the cooperative project back in 2019. ISRO, which recently made India the fourth country to soft-land on the moon, will build the mission's lander, while JAXA will be responsible for the launch and a lunar rover.

The mission is slated to launch no earlier than 2025 on Japan's new H3 rocket, according to JAXA. The agency is meanwhile in the basic design phase of the rover with teams running tests in sand designed to simulate lunar regolith, the fine dust that covers the moon's surface. The tests will verify that the vehicle can perform its key science objectives on the moon.

Related: India tries waking up Chandrayaan-3 moon lander, without success (so far)

"The LUPEX project will investigate the quantity and quality of water on the moon. We hope to use this data as a basis for considering sustainable human activities on the moon in the future," Natsu Fujioka, who is part of the team developing the rover, said in a JAXA statement.

The rover will be autonomous and will drive to seek out water with its science payloads. It will also be able to drill into the lunar surface to collect samples which will then be analyzed by the rover's instruments. Each of these capabilities is a feat in itself, but combining these and within weight constraints, presents a serious task.

"It is a challenging project to transport a rover weighing several hundred kilograms loaded with these instruments to the moon, move it around, and measure the collected samples in situ," Fujioka said.

Other agencies will also be sending science payloads on the mission. NASA's Neutron Spectrometer will seek out hydrogen up to 3.3 feet (1 meter) below the surface at the south pole, while the European Space Agency's (ESA) Exospheric Mass Spectrometer will assess gas pressure and chemical signatures at the surface.

Related Stories:

— Private Japanese moon lander crashed after being confused by a crater

— India's Chandrayaan-3 takes the moon's temperature near lunar south pole for 1st time

— India tries waking up Chandrayaan-3 moon lander, without success (so far)

"Analyses of various observational data over recent years suggest that water may be present in the lunar polar regions, the lunar polar regions being those areas around the moon's north and south poles," said Hiroka Inoue, who is involved in international cooperation and the selection of candidate landing site for LUPEX.

"If water can be found in these regions, it could be used as an energy source for future human activities on the moon. For this reason, countries are aggressively pursuing lunar exploration."

India launched the successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing mission this year, while Russia failed with its Luna-25 landing mission. Next year, NASA is tentatively scheduled to launch Artemis 2 in November 2024 to send astronauts around the moon. China meanwhile seeks to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon and bring them to Earth in 2024.

Other missions under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and a Japanese commercial lander are also planned to shoot for the moon next year.

Japan's 'moon sniper' probe snaps photo of Earth from orbit

Andrew Jones
Wed, September 27, 2023 


Japan's 'moon sniper' probe snaps photo of Earth from orbit


Japan's SLIM lunar lander has sent back an eerie image of Earth as a test of the camera it will use to help it land accurately on the moon.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) launched on an H-2A rocket on Sept. 6. It has already passed its first critical phase in Earth orbit by completing a series of systems tests, according to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Now, SLIM has imaged Earth, showing our planet half-shrouded in shadow in the vast expanse of space. The photo was a test of the camera system that will help SLIM determine its position during its descent onto the moon.

Related: Japan's SLIM moon lander completes 1st critical phase in Earth orbit

The image, which JAXA posted Sept. 21 via its SLIM account on X (formerly known as Twitter), was taken around 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth. The image is monochromatic, as the dual-camera, vision-based navigation system is designed to identify crater positions from data stored aboard the spacecraft.

JAXA's SLIM account also posted an image showing Japan — central on the sphere, just outside the shadow of night — and the location of the distant, barely visible moon, its ultimate target.

And, to that end, SLIM is now taking its next steps on its long, looping voyage to the moon. SLIM, also known as "moon sniper," performed a second adjustment maneuver at 0100 GMT (10:00 a.m. Japan Standard Time) on Sept. 26.

RELATED STORIES:

— Japan launches SLIM moon lander, XRISM X-ray telescope on space doubleheader (video)

— The moon: Everything you need to know about Earth's companion

— Missions to the moon: Past, present and future

The spacecraft fired its main engine and attitude control thrusters for 70 seconds while near its orbit's perigee, or closest approach to Earth. This boost moved SLIM into its new, planned orbit with a higher apogee, or farthest point from Earth.

JAXA has not yet released a scheduled lunar landing date, though it has stated the spacecraft will take three to four months from launch to reach the moon. This longer route saves the lightweight spacecraft propellant and mass.

When it gets there, the spacecraft will prepare to demonstrate the capability to touch down within 328 feet (100 meters) of its target point. This aims to verify landing techniques that will help make more challenging landing areas for planetary exploration more accessible.

Photos show the 3.86 billion-mile journey of NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission from start to finish

Jenny McGrath
Updated Thu, September 28, 2023


Artist's illustration of NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe sampling an asteroid.Lockheed Martin

NASA's OSIRIS-REx has been traveling for seven years to get an asteroid sample to Earth.


It landed on the Bennu asteroid in 2020 and collected the sample but still had a long way home.


Check out its 3.86 billion-mile journey from launch to asteroid sample landing in the photos below.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx delivered an asteroid sample — the largest ever — to Earth on Sunday.

The spacecraft had traveled 3.86 billion miles in space to complete its main objective.

Here's the harrowing story of this historic spacecraft and what's next for it.
OSIRIS-REx launches
NASA first launched OSIRIS-REx seven years ago.United Launch Alliance via NASA

The spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 on the Atlas V 411 rocket out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The gravity assist

The first image NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took after completing its Earth Gravity assist maneuver.NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

One of its first major maneuvers was to whip around Earth in what's called a gravity assist. Earth's gravity acts like a slingshot, propelling the spacecraft forward toward its distant target, the asteroid Bennu.
Orbiting Bennu

This image was captured by OSIRIS-REx's MapCam imager as the spacecraft flew under Bennu's south pole during the mission's Preliminary Survey of the asteroid.NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

In 2018, OSIRIS reached Bennu and began orbiting it.
Collecting the sample

NASA's OSIRIS-REx collects a sample from the rocky surface of the asteroid BennuNASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

In 2020, the spacecraft closed in on its target and scooped up a huge amount of regolith, the dust and dirt from Bennu's rocky surface.
A boulder-filled surface

This artist's concept shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft contacting the asteroid Bennu with the Touch-And-Go Sample Arm Mechanism or TAGSAM.NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This was one of the most critical and dangerous moments for OSIRIS because the asteroid's terrain was rockier than researchers expected, and the boulders could have meant a rough landing.

OSIRIS-REx makes contact

Dante Lauretta, the mission's principal investigator, called the moment OSIRIS landed "transcendental." In the end, the spacecraft safely escaped Bennu's surface with its prize.

A nerve-wracking leak

Three images show some particles escaping NASA's OSIRIS-REx sampler head.NASA

Things nearly went awry when the container didn't close properly and dust started leaking out. Luckily, the spaceship's controllers acted quickly to safely seal the sample in a capsule. Ultimately, NASA estimates OSIRIS returned with about 8.8 ounces, or about half a pound, of dirt.

A fly-by delivery

As part of a training mission, NASA used a model of the OSIRIS-REx sample to prepare for its retrieval.NASA/Keegan Barber

After collecting the largest asteroid sample ever brought to Earth, OSIRIS began its long journey home.

On September 24, 2023, it flew by Earth and delivered the asteroid sample to the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.

Sample retrieval

Recovery team members gather around a capsule containing Bennu asteroid samples as part of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission.AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, Pool

Recovery teams collected the sample from the desert. Some of the sample will be spliced and diced immediately, but some of it will be preserved for future generations of scientists to analyze for centuries to come.

Headed to Houston

A shipping container with the capsule of asteroid Bennu's sample traveled onboard a US Air Force C-17 aircraft to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/ Molly Wasser

The sample is now at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"The asteroid sample poses no risk to Earth," according to NASA. "Bennu is an irradiated rock, and there is no chance that the sample could contain living organisms."
Analyzing the sample

Lockheed Martin recovery specialists Levi Hanish and Michael Kaye take the lid off NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample.NASA/Robert Markowiz

It will spend several weeks in a clean room before the regolith is sent to scientists all over the world.

"Those samples will be analyzed in the weeks, months, years, decades, really centuries to come," Noah Petro, a research space scientist with NASA, told Insider.

Why Bennu?

This image shows a view across asteroid Bennu's southern hemisphere, demonstrating the number and distribution of boulders across the surface.NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Because Bennu is so old, scientists are hoping studying its dust will give us clues about how our solar system formed and help determine if asteroids carry the key chemicals that ultimately helped lead to the rise of life on Earth.

What's next for OSIRIS?

OSIRIS-REx has only just begun to explore our solar neighborhood.NASA/JPL-Caltech

OSIRIS's mission isn't over. It's headed to orbit another asteroid, Apophis, which it will reach in 2029.

Business Insider

Nasa's mission to 'metal asteroid' could reveal what's inside Earth

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Updated Thu, September 28, 2023 

Nasa crews work on the Psyche spacecraft that will study a metal rich asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter. (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Nasa will soon launch a mission to a unique metal-rich asteroid that could hold the secrets of what is inside our own planet and how Earth formed.

The earliest possible launch date for the Psyche mission is 5 October, but it could launch at any time during October, targeting a very unique 170 mile (274 km)-wide space rock.

Psyche is a metal-rich asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Scientists believe the rock could be the exposed core of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block.

What do scientists hope to find?

Psyche could offer a unique insight into the interior of terrestrial planets like Earth (something that we currently can’t drill down to find out) and could offer insights into the distant past of our own Earth.

The spacecraft's thrusters passed final tests earlier this summer, and the science instruments – a multispectral imager, magnetometer, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer – that will investigate the asteroid Psyche are poised for action.

Read more:
Psyche asteroid that could make everyone a billionaire (The Independent)

Astronomers find closest black hole to Earth (AP)

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator for Psyche at Arizona State University, said: "These missions take so many people and so much meticulous, rigorous, personally driven work.

"I am ready to be ecstatic. We all are, but we are not ecstatic yet. Let’s launch and establish communications – then we can scream, jump, and hug each other."

A clean room engineer prepares the Psyche mission spacecraft inside a Spacecraft Assembly Facility clean room at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

 (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

When will we hear answers?

Nasa's Psyche spacecraft will take a spiral path to the asteroid Psyche, using solar electric propulsion to accomplish its six-year journey to the asteroid.

"It's getting increasingly real," said Henry Stone, Psyche's project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. "The team is more than ready to send this spacecraft off on its journey, and it’s very exciting."

Measuring roughly 173 miles at its widest point, the asteroid Psyche presents a unique opportunity to explore a metal-rich body that may be part of a core of a planetesimal, the building block of an early planet.

Once the spacecraft reaches Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it will spend about 26 months orbiting the asteroid, gathering images and other data that will tell scientists more about its history and what it is made of.
Will everyone become a billionaire?

Psyche might contain minerals worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion, researchers said this year – and could mark the dawn of a new industry: asteroid mining.

Other researchers are less sure, suggesting the asteroid might consist mostly of iron, possibly in a texture something like steel wool.

But many asteroids are thought to contain vast sources of precious metals. Indeed, Goldman Sachs has predicted that the world’s first trillionaires could be created by a new asteroid 'gold rush'.

The website Asterank measures the potential value of more than 6,000 asteroids tracked by Nasa – and suggests that mining just 10 asteroids chosen for their proximity to Earth could net $1.5trn.