Earthworms can breed in Martian soil

Worms are important for future indoor gardens on Mars.

Researchers in the Netherlands have found that earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant obtained from NASA. The result could be important as scientists aim to determine whether people can keep themselves alive on the Red Planet by growing their own crops on Mars soil.

The results of a recent experiment suggest that the soil on Mars is likely to be suitable for agriculture.

Scientists in the Netherlands using a Mars soil simulant obtained from NASA have discovered that earthworms are not only able to live in it, but can even reproduce.

The findings indicate that future settlers on Mars should be able to grow their own crops.

"The best surprise came at the end of the experiment when we found two young worms in the Mars soil simulant," said Wieger Wamelink of Wageningen University and Research.

"The positive effect of adding manure was not unexpected, but we were surprised that it makes Mars soil simulant outperform Earth silver sand." Wamelink said in a statement released by the university.

Worms are very important for a healthy soil, not only on Earth but also in future indoor gardens on Mars or the Moon. They thrive on dead organic matter such as old plant remains, which they eat, chew and mix with soil before they excrete it.

The researchers have also succeeded in growing edible crops in the makeshift Mars soil as well.

"The only species that has resisted our efforts so far is spinach," the team wrote.

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Big earthquakes to occur more often in 2018

We could be in for a hard time.

A periodic slowing of the rotation of the Earth is likely to result in an upsurge in earthquakes next year.

In a paper presented last month at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana in Missoula highlighted the link between seismic activity and the rotational speed of the planet.

"The correlation between Earth's rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year," said Bilham. "Major earthquakes have been well recorded for more than a century and that gives us a good record to study."

The researchers looked back at five separate periods in Earth's history during which there had been an abnormally large number of earthquakes and found that these all coincided with a temporary reduction in the Earth's rotational speed.

"In these periods, there were between 25 to 30 intense earthquakes a year," said Bilham. "The rest of the time the average figure was around 15 major earthquakes a year."

As it happens, we have been experiencing one of these periodic slowdowns now for four years.

"The Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes," said Bilham.

"Next year we should see a significant increase in numbers of severe earthquakes. We have had it easy this year. So far we have only had about six severe earthquakes."

"We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018."

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Entire family of mammoths goes on sale

Mammoths roamed earth around 10,000 years ago.

The skeletons, which include a one-year-old baby, were discovered by builders in Siberia 15 years ago.

For the first time ever, museums are being offered the opportunity to exhibit an entire family of woolly mammoth skeletons thanks to an auction taking place in West Sussex, England today.

The prehistoric family consists of an adult male and female, an infant aged 8 or 9 and a young baby.

The baby mammoth skeleton is particularly prized, with only one other known almost complete infant mammoth skeleton in the world.

The family of four mammoths on sale in Sussex

According to Summers Place natural history specialist Rupert van der Werff, the mammoths arrived at the auction house in 16 crates and had to be assembled 'like a difficult 3D puzzle'.

Most mammoths died out around 10,000 years ago, with a tiny population enduring on isolated Wrangel Island - off the northern coast of eastern Siberia - until 1650 BC.

The sale had been expected to fetch somewhere in the region of $500,000, however despite significant interest from museums the exhibit has yet to find a buyer.

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Mystery surrounds poisoned trees in Norfolk

The trees are protected due to their age and historical significance. 

Authorities have been investigating a recent 'attack' on a number of protected 200-year-old trees.

The incident, which occurred at Koolunga House in Gorleston, England, saw unknown individual drill holes in the trunks of eight protected trees before pouring a poisonous substance inside.

"It's a real mystery as to why anyone would want to do it," said council leader Graham Plant. "I don't know what their motive is, but they are doing it and it's got to stop."

Residents of the property have offered a monetary reward for information leading to the culprit's arrest.

The trees, which have been damaged but may not have to be felled, include a horse chestnut tree and beech trees.

"This is part of Gorleston's history, and it isn't just in Koolunga, there's been a 200-year-old beech tree that's been attacked at a neighbouring garden," said Plant.

"It's somebody who has got a motive and their reason for doing things, I don't care what they are, we will do what we can to protect those trees."

Source: BBC News

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Prehistoric shark found off coast of Portugal

This ancient species was around during the time of the dinosaurs.

Considered to be a 'living fossil', the frilled shark has remained unchanged for over 80 million years.

The extremely rare shark, which would have swam the prehistoric seas at the same time Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops roamed the land, is only seldom observed by scientists.

Usually found up to 4,200ft beneath the surface, the frilled shark can grow up to 6ft and possesses a unique set of gills that, unlike those of other fish, stretch all the way across its throat.

It also has a particularly unusual set of teeth designed to help it latch on to its prey.

This latest specimen, which was caught off the Algarve coast, was discovered by European Union researchers who were working on a project to 'minimize unwanted catches in commercial fishing'.

In total, only a very small number of frilled sharks have ever been observed alive.

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Barbary Lion

The Barbary lion was considered one of the biggest lion subspecies. They had dark, long-haired manes that extended over the shoulder and downwards to the belly. It is said that they developed the colors and size of their manes due to ambient temperatures, their nutrition, and their level of testosterone. It is also possible that they developed such long manes due to the temperature in the Atlas Mountains, which is much lower than other regions in Africa.

Habitat:

The Barbary lion once roamed the deserts of Morocco, Algeria,Maghreb and other regions around Atlas Mountains.The Atlas Mountains had cold temperatures when compared to other parts of the African region, especially in the winter. The Barbary lions lived in prides, even when there were not many of them left, especially in the eastern Maghreb.

Extinction:

The Romans greatly admired Barbary lions and used them in the Colosseum to battle with gladiators.The Romans killed thousands of lions in their games, the Arab empire that followed squeezed the remaining animals into smaller territories.

In Algeria, they lived in the forest-clad hills and mountains between Ouarsenis in the west, the Pic de Taza in the east, and the plains of the Chelif River in the north. There were also many lions among the forests and wooded hills of the Constantine Province eastwards into Tunisia and south into the Aurès Mountains. By the middle of the 19th century, their numbers had been greatly diminished. The cedar forests of Chelia and neighbouring mountains harboured lions until about 1884.The last survivors in Tunisia were extirpated by 1890.

The last known wild Barbary lion was shot in the Moroccan part of the Atlas Mountains in 1942. However, several people reported sightings of the Barbary lions in the 1950's in Morocco and Algeria although it was never proven. Some people say that small populations may have even survived until the early 1960's, but it is not known for sure. These lions used to be offered to royal families of Morocco and Ethiopia and were known as the "royal" lions. It is said that some of these "royal" lions survived until the late 1960's, until a respiratory disease just about wiped them all out.

There have been numerous sighting over the past three decades, but none of them have been genetically proven. Several zoos around the world claim to have Barbary lions in their collections. In all likelihood most if not all of these big cats are not real Barbary lions but rather hybrids with lions from sub-Saharan Africa.

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Mysterious void found inside Great Pyramid

Khufu's pyramid was built by Pharoah Khufu during 4th dynasty.

Physicists have used the by-products of cosmic rays to reveal a large, previously unidentified chamber inside the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. The find is the first discovery since the nineteenth century of a major new space inside the pyramid.

Egyptologists have been quick to dismiss any idea of finding lost treasure in the 30-metre-long void. “There’s zero chance of hidden burial chambers,” says Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist at the University of Bristol, UK, who studies ancient Egyptian tombs. But experts hope that the finding will lead to significant insights into how this spectacular pyramid was built.

Khufu's Pyramid was built during the fourth dynasty under Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned from 2509 to 2483 BC. Despite being one of the oldest and largest monuments in the world, there is no consensus about how it was constructed.It famously contains three large interior chambers and a series of passageways, the most striking of which is the 47m-long, 8m-high Grand Gallery.

"We don't know whether this big void is horizontal or inclined; we don't know if this void is made by one structure or several successive structures," explained Mehdi Tayoubi from the HIP Institute, Paris.

"What we are sure about is that this big void is there; that it is impressive; and that it was not expected as far as I know by any sort of theory."

"To better understand its internal structure, we imaged the pyramid using muons, which are by-products of cosmic rays that are only partially absorbed by stone," the scientists reported in Nature.

"The resulting cosmic-ray muon radiography allows us to visualise the known and potentially unknown voids in the pyramid in a non-invasive way."

This study reported the discovery of the chamber of at least 30m in length, situated above the Grand Gallery of the pyramid.

"While there is currently no information about the role of this void, these findings show how modern particle physics can shed new light on the world's archaeological heritage," the scientists said.

Ultimately the plan is to try drilling a tiny hole in the adjoining wall so that a small robot can be sent through in to the hidden area to find out what might lie inside.

Permission from the Egyptian authorities will need to be given however before this can go ahead. 

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Mystery ancient stone structures found in Saudi desert

Several of the mysterious 'gates' can be seen in this image.

Over 400 unexplained structures have been discovered in the Saudi Arabian desert using Google Earth.

Found by Australian researcher David Kennedy whose team has already identified thousands of archaeological sites in the Middle-East, these peculiar man-made edifices seem to defy explanation.

Thought to have been constructed between 2,000 and 9,000 years ago by the ancestors of the modern-day Bedouin people, the structures are only visible when viewed from high above.

"You can't see them in any intelligible way at the ground level but once you get up a few hundred feet, or with a satellite even higher, they stand out beautifully," said Kennedy.

"I refer to them as Gates because when you view them from above they look like a simple field gate lying flat, two upright posts on the sides, connected by one or more long bar."

"They don't look like structures where people would have lived nor do they look like animal traps or for disposing of dead bodies. It's a mystery as to what their purpose would have been."

He said not much was known about the people who built them, but they were believed to be ancestors of the modern-day Bedouin.


Their discovery came about by chance after a Saudi doctor who was interested in the area's history contacted him, having heard about his work in Jordan.

"He said 'I'm interested in the heritage of my country, I've spotted on Google Earth that there are some rather strange structures in the lava fields'," Kennedy told broadcaster ABC.

"He sent the coordinates of them to me and I had a look and I was bowled over by them."

Kennedy, a founding director of the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project, specializes in aerial archeology.

Since 1997, he and his team have photographed tens of thousands of stone-built structures, mostly in Jordan, ranging from giant circles to animal traps and funerary monuments.

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