Science news this week: Goblin shark filmed for first time, California close to a major quake, physicists split photon, and inside China’s plans to ‘tame nature’
This week’s science news was filled with things missing and found, with the revelation of the first-ever deep-sea footage of the elusive goblin shark making waves in the press.
Goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni) are mysterious, deepwater creatures that have not changed much since they first appeared on Earth 125 million years ago — making them “living fossils.” But capturing a recording of the sharks in their deep habitats is exceptionally difficult, and they have previously been seen alive only after being hooked to the surface on fishing lines. Scientists recently filmed not one, but two goblin sharks: The first near Jarvis Island in the South Central Pacific, and the second 6,550 feet (1,997 meters) deep in the Tonga Trench.
Elsewhere, archaeologists found a second cannonball from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, meaning they now have one from each side of the conflict. And separate teams of archaeologists discovered the remains of a prehistoric man in Germany who may have been a human sacrifice and signs of a “prototype” Stonehenge close near the famous Stone Age monument.
If you got this far wondering if the “missing” news items were, well, missing, we also covered how a “cold blob” of absent heat in the Atlantic Ocean is shifting Indian summer monsoons, threatening over one billion people; the Texas-size chunk of ice missing from Antarctica; how an ancient chunk of the moon found in Africa hints at a calamitous lunar collision; and a bizarre viral infection that left a woman unable to recognize her own father.
The next major Californian earthquake could be closer than we thought, according to an alarming new study.
The research, based on historical modeling of earthquake activity, found that Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are at their highest levels of tectonic stress in more than 1,000 years; while also being connected by a “gate” system that could make them rupture together.
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The exact odds of each event happening and the timing of a possible future rupture are unknown. But the scientists stress that understanding how much strain is building up inside the system could help to prepare for whatever comes next.
Life’s Little Mysteries
Why does it always take up to an hour for our eyes to adjust to our surroundings if we’re out in nature on a dark night?
(Image credit: Jackal Pan via Getty Images)
Our eyes are remarkably adaptable, switching from navigating under bright lights to the near pitch-black of a moonless night. But anyone who’s stubbed a toe during this acclimation window — and that definitely includes me — may have once or twice asked themselves why it takes our eyes so long to adjust to the dark. Live Science shed a bit of light on the question.
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Physicists split a photon
Physicists are studying what would happen if a single particle of light was sliced apart — unleashing a swarm of unpredictable outcomes.
(Image credit: tiero via Getty Images)
What do you get if you split a photon? Anywhere from zero to an infinite number of more photons, physicists say.
That’s the finding made by a new experiment that simulated a photon being sliced by a shutter under various circumstances, revealing the result was anywhere from zero to one to upwards of an infinite swarm of the tiny light particles. The probability of each of these states corresponded to how quickly the shutter cut the photon.
And the unexpected behavior has some truly profound implications for how we view fundamental particles.
Discover more physics news
—The world’s first nuclear clock just ticked on — and it could help detect a fifth fundamental force of physics
—Oldest known plague victims found in a 5,500-year-old burial ground in Siberia — and many of them were children
—Indonesia’s near-identical, ‘Twin Peaks’ volcanoes form striking mirror image — Earth from space
—Lavish Roman villa discovered outside Rome’s walls may have been frequented by Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius
—Neuroscientists are searching for the ‘cellular substrate of loneliness’
Science Spotlight
A cloud-seeding rocket is launched into the sky in Hebei Province in an attempt to generate precipitation.
(Image credit: VCG via Getty Images)
China’s response to the climate crisis continues to astonish. Over the past two decades, the world’s industrial powerhouse has presided over the largest and fastest clean energy buildout in modern history, while also working to bring its carbon emissions to a peak before 2030.
But an underdiscussed aspect of China’s climate plans are its bold attempts to geoengineer the environment to be more resilient and better suit human needs. That’s why, in his three-part “Taming Nature” series, Live Science’s production editor James Price investigated the country’s efforts to create a permanent atmospheric river and build the world’s biggest dam in earthquake-prone Tibet.
Something for the weekend
If you’re looking for things to keep you busy over the weekend, here are some of the best news analyses, crosswords, interviews, opinion pieces and quizzes published this week.
—Dangerously hot and humid: Rising temperatures in the US make outdoor exercise hazardous [News analysis]
—‘Is having two legs useful’ in space?: Astronaut John McFall explains what life in orbit might be like for the first physically disabled person in space [Interview]
—‘They reliably chose the statistically more favorable option’: A crow researcher explains how these winged geniuses process numbers, and what it could reveal about human math smarts [Interview]
—Bow-Wow, Ding-Dong, Pooh-Pooh: Expert explains early theories of how human language evolved — and their silly names [Opinion]
—Rainforest quiz: Can you sort Earth’s largest rainforests from biggest to smallest? [Quiz]
—Live Science crossword puzzle #48: Largest fish on Earth — 6 across[Crossword]
European bison (Bison bonasus) are typically considered to be a non-prey species — only being hunted by humans.
But rare and unexpected camera trap footage from Poland’s Bialowieza Primeval Forest (the oldest and best-preserved temperate lowland forest in Europe) has called that into question.
In the video, a herd of bison is recorded rallying around a newborn calf to fend off an attack from five wolves (Canis lupus), successfully driving the predators away. It’s a nerve wracking watch, and one that could become more common as wolf packs grow in size thanks to a late 1980s hunting ban across the region.
