livescience--2020-12-29--10 strange animals that washed ashore in 2020

The ocean is filled with creatures that might look strange to human eyes .
But every once in a while , these weirdos from the deep make an appearance on dry ground .
Here are 10 instances when these ocean animals came ( or were spied from ) ashore in 2020 .
It 's rare to see a giant squid ( Architeuthis dux ) , so people took notice when one washed ashore in Cape Town , South Africa on June 7 .
These squid are very eccentric-looking — their eight arms and two tentacles are covered with serrated suckers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ largest eyes in the animal kingdom ( measuring 1 foot , or 30 centimeters , in diameter ) ; and they can reach lengths up to 60 feet ( 18 meters ) .
This particular giant squid is now in the collections of the Iziko Museums of South Africa , and its may help researchers determine if there is just one or many species of giant squid living deep beneath the waves .
When a man spotted a `` red glob '' on the rocky beach of an island near Seattle , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friendly debate about the creature 's identity .
The blob was clearly a cephalopod ( a group that includes squid , octopus , cuttlefish and nautilus ) , but what species was it ?
The scientific consensus arrived at the seven-armed octopus ( Haliphron atlanticus ) , a deepwater creature that usually does n't swim in Washington 's cold coastal waters .
Despite its curious name , the octopus has more than seven arms .
In males , the eighth arm is used during mating , and the rest of the time it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near its right eye .
Read more : Bright 'red glob ' washes ashore in Washington .
It may be a 7-armed octopus .
After a seaweed farmer caught some octopuses in a trap off Japan , he took them home for his mother to cook .
But just after she dropped one in a boiling pot , she realized that it had nine arms , so she fished it out .
How did this octopus get nine arms ?
Just like lizards can regrow tails , octopuses can regrow arms .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the regrown arm gets an offshoot , or ninth arm .
Sometimes these flubs can happen over and over again — one octopus reportedly ended up with 90 arms , according to a .
The family donated the nine-armed octopus 's body to a local museum so the public can see this unusual curiosity .
Thousands of dead sea creatures , including octopuses , fish and starfish , washed ashore on the remote Russian peninsula of Kamchatka .
The culprit ?
A mass poisoning event .
Even surfers were bothered by it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their eyes after going into the bay .
The die-off may have wiped out as many as 95 % of the animals in Kamchatka 's Avacha Bay , a catastrophic event that will likely disrupt the food chain in that area for the remaining animals , local researchers said .
Local and international scientists initially thought that human-made pollution caused the die-off when it started in early October .
However , since then it 's come to light that toxic algae could have been the cause of this ecological disaster , the .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ashore on a remote Russian peninsula .
What 's going on ?
A man was dismayed to discover that his pet goldfish , Cleo , had met her end from an unexpected eight-legged predator : a spider .
Cleo lived in a pond by the man 's house .
Apparently , so did her assassin — a nursery web spider , or a semiaquatic arachnid that can walk on still water , dive under the surface to escape predators and even `` fish '' for prey many times its size .
This nursery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a fishy feast .
( We 're sorry , Cleo ! )
Read more : A man caught a spider eating his pet goldfish and , well , it 's terrifying A caught in a net off the coast of Argentina had a very upset tummy .
How do we know ?
It pooped out loads of human trash , including pieces of nylon bags and hard plastics .
It 's likely the turtle mistook this trash for its regular prey , such as jellyfish , seagrasses and worms .
The trash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its belly , which probably made it hard for the turtle to eat real food and get the nutrients it needed to survive .
Veterinarians gave the turtle a medication that helped it poop , and the turtle recovered , according to the Mundo Marino Foundation in Argentina .
Read more : Green turtle rescued from fishing net poops out all kinds of human trash Scientists were thrown for a loop when a dead thresher shark washed ashore on the coast of Libya with a swordfish 's `` sword '' embedded in its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressive toward animals they perceive as threats ( including some whales , sea turtles and humans ) , but they 've never been documented attacking thresher sharks before .
Thresher sharks eat small fish and would n't be a threat to swordfish , the researchers said .
Perhaps , the two were fighting over prey , the scientists said , although it 's also possible the stabbing was an accident .
Read more : Whodunit solved when 'sword ' is found embedded in thresher shark What do you get when you unintentionally cross @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unusual love hybrid — everybody , say `` hello '' to the sturddlefish .
There are about 100 of this odd hybrid in captivity now , researchers announced in the journal .
Scientists have no plans to make more .
The sturddlefish came into being when the team attempted to help the critically endangered Russian sturgeon ( Acipenser gueldenstaedtii ) , a popular caviar supplier , reproduce .
The researchers thought that American paddlefish sperm would trigger asexual egg development in the sturgeon , but ( as you probably guessed ) , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's eggs fused with the paddlefish sperm , and hybrids were born .
Remember looking for pill bugs ( or potato bugs or roly polies ) when you were a kid ?
Can you imagine a big one , about the size of a puppy , lurking deep in the sea ?
Like a pill bug , this freaky-looking beast is an isopod , and it 's the largest one on record .
Found in Indonesia and dubbed Bathynomus raksasa ( `` rakasa '' translates to `` giant '' in Indonesian ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 33 cm ) long and is the first new giant isopod to be found in more than a decade .
What looks like a party balloon but lives deep underwater ?
A new species of ctenophore called Duobrachium sparksae that 's related to comb jellies .
Researchers first spied these weird , golf tee-size beings in an underwater canyon off the coast of Puerto Rico in 2015 , but they did n't publish the results until this year .
Every time D. sparksae ( can we just call it `` sparky '' ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ hair-like cilia refract light into a prism of shining colors , Live Science reported .
We hope Sparky has a great New Year , and that you do too !
Read more : Newfound marine blob looks like 'party balloon ' with two strings , scientists say

The ocean is filled with creatures that might look strange to human eyes. But every once in a while, these weirdos from the deep make an appearance on dry ground. Here are 10 instances when these ocean animals came (or were spied from) ashore in 2020.
The dead giant squid (Architeuthis dux) found on Golden Mile Beach in Britannia Bay, South Africa. (Image credit: Adéle Grosse)
It's rare to see a giant squid (Architeuthis dux), so people took notice when one washed ashore in Cape Town, South Africa on June 7. These squid are very eccentric-looking — their eight arms and two tentacles are covered with serrated suckers with powerful suction; they have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom (measuring 1 foot, or 30 centimeters, in diameter); and they can reach lengths up to 60 feet (18 meters).
This particular giant squid is now in the collections of the Iziko Museums of South Africa, and its DNA may help researchers determine if there is just one or many species of giant squid living deep beneath the waves.
Read more: Stunningly intact giant squid washes ashore in South Africa
7-armed octopus (where's the 8th arm?)
The mysterious octopus was already dead when an man found it at Ebey’s Landing on Whidbey Island, Washington. (Image credit: Ron Newberry/Whidbey Camano Land Trust)
When a man spotted a "red glob" on the rocky beach of an island near Seattle, he snapped some photos that set off a friendly debate about the creature's identity. The blob was clearly a cephalopod (a group that includes squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus), but what species was it?
The scientific consensus arrived at the seven-armed octopus (Haliphron atlanticus), a deepwater creature that usually doesn't swim in Washington's cold coastal waters.
Despite its curious name, the octopus has more than seven arms. In males, the eighth arm is used during mating, and the rest of the time it stays modestly tucked away in a sac near its right eye.
Read more: Bright 'red glob' washes ashore in Washington. It may be a 7-armed octopus.
9-armed octopus almost becomes dinner
The octopus's ninth arm is an offshoot on its left third arm. (Image credit: Kyodo News via Getty Images)
After a seaweed farmer caught some octopuses in a trap off Japan, he took them home for his mother to cook. But just after she dropped one in a boiling pot, she realized that it had nine arms, so she fished it out.
How did this octopus get nine arms? Just like lizards can regrow tails, octopuses can regrow arms. However, sometimes the regeneration process flubs and the regrown arm gets an offshoot, or ninth arm. Sometimes these flubs can happen over and over again — one octopus reportedly ended up with 90 arms, according to a 1965 study .
The family donated the nine-armed octopus's body to a local museum so the public can see this unusual curiosity.
Read more: Rare 9-armed octopus found off Japan coast
Mass die-off
(Image credit: Yelena Vereshchaka\TASS via Getty Images)
Thousands of dead sea creatures, including octopuses, fish and starfish, washed ashore on the remote Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. The culprit? A mass poisoning event. Even surfers were bothered by it, saying they felt a mild burning in their eyes after going into the bay.
The die-off may have wiped out as many as 95% of the animals in Kamchatka's Avacha Bay, a catastrophic event that will likely disrupt the food chain in that area for the remaining animals, local researchers said.
Local and international scientists initially thought that human-made pollution caused the die-off when it started in early October. However, since then it's come to light that toxic algae could have been the cause of this ecological disaster, the BBC reported .
Read more: Dead animals are washing ashore on a remote Russian peninsula. What's going on?
Gone fishing
Man finds giant spider dragging his pet goldfish out of pond https://t.co/DB5vQZckUc pic.twitter.com/XzIDZWovVkJanuary 2, 2020 See more
A man was dismayed to discover that his pet goldfish, Cleo, had met her end from an unexpected eight-legged predator: a spider.
Cleo lived in a pond by the man's house. Apparently, so did her assassin — a nursery web spider, or a semiaquatic arachnid that can walk on still water, dive under the surface to escape predators and even "fish" for prey many times its size.
This nursery web spider dragged Cleo ashore, apparently for a fishy feast. (We're sorry, Cleo!)
Read more: A man caught a spider eating his pet goldfish and, well, it's terrifying
Trashy poop
(Image credit: Fundación Mundo Marino)
A green turtle caught in a net off the coast of Argentina had a very upset tummy. How do we know? It pooped out loads of human trash, including pieces of nylon bags and hard plastics.
It's likely the turtle mistook this trash for its regular prey, such as jellyfish, seagrasses and worms. The trash it ate instead took up room in its belly, which probably made it hard for the turtle to eat real food and get the nutrients it needed to survive.
Veterinarians gave the turtle a medication that helped it poop, and the turtle recovered, according to the Mundo Marino Foundation in Argentina.
Read more: Green turtle rescued from fishing net poops out all kinds of human trash
Shark versus swordfish
An illustration showing how the "sword" may have pieced the shark. However, no necropsy (an animal autopsy) was done, so it's unknown exactly what organs it sliced. (Image credit: The Ichthyological Society of Japan 2020)
Scientists were thrown for a loop when a dead thresher shark washed ashore on the coast of Libya with a swordfish's "sword" embedded in its body. Swordfish are known to be aggressive toward animals they perceive as threats (including some whales, sea turtles and humans), but they've never been documented attacking thresher sharks before.
Thresher sharks eat small fish and wouldn't be a threat to swordfish, the researchers said.
Perhaps, the two were fighting over prey, the scientists said, although it's also possible the stabbing was an accident.
Read more: Whodunit solved when 'sword' is found embedded in thresher shark
Fishy love
The sturddlefish has a mix of genes from the Russian sturgeon and the American paddlefish. (Image credit: Genes 2020, 11(7), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11070753, CC BY 4.0
What do you get when you unintentionally cross Russian sturgeon with American paddlefish?
An unusual love hybrid — everybody, say "hello" to the sturddlefish.
There are about 100 of this odd hybrid in captivity now, researchers announced in the journal Genes . Scientists have no plans to make more. The sturddlefish came into being when the team attempted to help the critically endangered Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), a popular caviar supplier, reproduce. The researchers thought that American paddlefish sperm would trigger asexual egg development in the sturgeon, but (as you probably guessed), that's not what happened. The sturgeon's eggs fused with the paddlefish sperm, and hybrids were born.
Mazel tov!
Read more: Scientists accidentally create 'impossible' hybrid fish
Puppy-size sea "pill bugs"
(Image credit: South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition 2018)
Remember looking for pill bugs (or potato bugs or roly polies) when you were a kid? Can you imagine a big one, about the size of a puppy, lurking deep in the sea?
Like a pill bug, this freaky-looking beast is an isopod, and it's the largest one on record. Found in Indonesia and dubbed Bathynomus raksasa ("rakasa" translates to "giant" in Indonesian), this isopod measures about 13 inches (33 cm) long and is the first new giant isopod to be found in more than a decade.
Read more: Massive 'Darth Vader' sea bug pulled from waters near Indonesia
Marine blob
(Image credit: NOAA)
What looks like a party balloon but lives deep underwater? A new species of ctenophore called Duobrachium sparksae that's related to comb jellies.
Researchers first spied these weird, golf tee-size beings in an underwater canyon off the coast of Puerto Rico in 2015, but they didn't publish the results until this year. Every time D. sparksae (can we just call it "sparky"?) moves, rows of its tiny hair-like cilia refract light into a prism of shining colors, Live Science reported.
We hope Sparky has a great New Year, and that you do too!
Read more: Newfound marine blob looks like 'party balloon' with two strings, scientists say
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-29--8 times nature was totally metal in 2020

This year , a lively debate raged in the scientific community : Just how metal ( see : epic , awesome , brutal ) was nature in 2020 ?
Following yet another year of record wildfires , hurricanes and high temperatures , climate scientists determined that 2020 was in fact the most metal year on record since record-keeping began .
But paleontologists countered , saying that nature was actually way more metal 200 million years ago , while astronomers argued that the most metal stuff in the universe happened billions of years ago , and we 're only now just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You be the judge .
Here are eight of the most metal things nature threw at us in 2020 .
( For the record , nature was also totally metal in 2018 and 2019 . )
Some volcanoes are so metal that an eruption of lethal ash and lava is n't enough for them : Like Zeus himself , they insist on throwing in some thunderbolts , too .
Volcano lightning is n't particularly rare , but in January 2020 we saw a dazzling example of the phenomenon when the Taal volcano , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) south of the Philippines capital , Manila , began blasting ash and smoke 9 miles ( 14 km ) into the air .
Inside the monolithic ash column , particles collided and produced enough static electricity to send lightning bolts scattering across the sky .
Whether or not such a column could power an electric guitar is a question unanswered by science .
An American eel was not prepared to greet the reaper when a hungry heron swooped down and attempted to gobble him up .
Photographers caught the eel bursting out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dangling down like a big green necktie .
Gross ?
Absolutely .
Unusual ?
Again , the answer is yes .
While certain species of eels are known to burrow out of a fish 's stomach after being swallowed , this is the first recorded incident of a live eel chewing through a bird 's belly .
Remarkably , it 's possible that both creatures survived the encounter , researchers told Live Science .
One of the most epic things ever to happen to the Milky Way went down more than 10 billion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named the Kraken crashed head-on into ours .
The Milky Way was young at the time and about four times less massive than it is today , scientists found in an October 2020 study , which means that merger likely reshaped our galaxy more than any other galactic collision in history , the team wrote .
Scientists learned of the ancient collision for the first time this year while using artificial intelligence ( AI ) to study tight-knit groups of stars called globular clusters .
Clusters that share the same properties ( such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their stars ) likely entered our galaxy during the same ancient mergers .
The team found evidence of five large-scale mergers — four of which we already knew about , and the fifth being the Kraken .
Snakes are sentient tubes of venom that can slither out of the water , the trees or the very depths of hell to ambush anything that rubs them the wrong way .
( They also have orgies so rollicking that parks are forced to close ) .
So , what 's more metal than a snake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Two-headed snakes are rare , but a Florida house cat had the dubious luck of finding one in its front yard this October .
The young racer snake had two heads , two brains and two sets of fangs attached to a single body , and seemed to be holding up alright , despite some problems deciding which head got to eat first .
This condition , called bicephaly , is an uncommon abnormality that occurs during embryonic development , when identical twins fail to fully separate .
It occurs in all sorts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Meanwhile , paleontologists reminded us that nature ( and marine life in particular ) was extremely metal 200 million years ago , too .
In May , researchers described a fossil showing what they believe is the world 's oldest known squid attack .
The Jurassic period fossil shows a herring-like fish with its head bitten through , its bones crushed , and its body constricted by the tentacles of a 10-armed squid ancestor known as a belemnoid .
Sadly for the squid , disaster struck at suppertime ; whatever it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instantly , immortalizing their final struggle in stone .
( Metal ) .
About 50 million years later , more Jurassic creatures were up to some brutal deeds when a group of predatory Allosaurus dinosaurs started chowing down on each other 's corpses .
Researchers reached this conclusion while studying Allosaurus bones in Utah 's Mygatt-Moore Quarry , paying close attention to any bite marks that were present .
Many bones bore the bites of theropod dinosaurs ( a large group of bipedal carnivores to which Allosaurus belongs ) and , in some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bitee were of the same genus .
The brutal bones provide some `` extremely rare '' fossil evidence of dinosaur-on-dinosaur cannibalism , the researchers said – and , more importantly , were a great excuse for paleo artist Brian Engh to draw some savage dinos ripping each other 's bodies to bits .
Climate change is so brutal it 's making the glaciers bleed .
Well , sort of .
That 's not real blood in the photo above , but it is a phenomenon called `` blood snow , '' which afflicts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ snow gives way to red-pigmented algae .
Those also , called Chlamydomonas nivalis , thrive in freezing water and spend winters lying dormant in snow and ice ; when summer comes and the snow melts , the algae bloom , spreading red , flower-like spores .
Ukrainian researchers at Antarctica 's Vernadsky Research Base saw bucketloads of the stuff this February , around the time of the southern continent 's single hottest day on record .
In July , an Italian glacier also saw huge splatters of blood snow , threatening the glacier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ melt .
Finally , in October , astronomers detected a planet that refuses to play by the rules : a rogue , Earth-sized planet careening through the cosmos , untethered to any solar system .
This is the first time a `` rogue Earth '' has ever been spotted in space , but it almost certainly wo n't be the last .
According to the researchers , small rogue planets may number in the billions in the Milky Way alone , and probably outnumber the stars themselves .
Imagine : entire galaxies of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the universe like wrecking balls traveling at thousands of miles an hour .
Space .
Is .
METAL .

This year, a lively debate raged in the scientific community: Just how metal (see: epic, awesome, brutal) was nature in 2020?
Following yet another year of record wildfires, hurricanes and high temperatures, climate scientists determined that 2020 was in fact the most metal year on record since record-keeping began. But paleontologists countered, saying that nature was actually way more metal 200 million years ago, while astronomers argued that the most metal stuff in the universe happened billions of years ago, and we're only now just seeing it.
Who is right? You be the judge. Here are eight of the most metal things nature threw at us in 2020. (For the record, nature was also totally metal in 2018 and 2019.)
Volcano lightning
(Image credit: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Some volcanoes are so metal that an eruption of lethal ash and lava isn't enough for them: Like Zeus himself, they insist on throwing in some thunderbolts, too.
Volcano lightning isn't particularly rare, but in January 2020 we saw a dazzling example of the phenomenon when the Taal volcano, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of the Philippines capital, Manila, began blasting ash and smoke 9 miles (14 km) into the air. Inside the monolithic ash column, particles collided and produced enough static electricity to send lightning bolts scattering across the sky. Whether or not such a column could power an electric guitar is a question unanswered by science.
An eel goes 'Alien'
(Image credit: Sam Davis)
An American eel was not prepared to greet the reaper when a hungry heron swooped down and attempted to gobble him up. Photographers caught the eel bursting out of the heron's stomach mid-flight, dangling down like a big green necktie.
Gross? Absolutely. Unusual? Again, the answer is yes. While certain species of eels are known to burrow out of a fish's stomach after being swallowed, this is the first recorded incident of a live eel chewing through a bird's belly. Remarkably, it's possible that both creatures survived the encounter, researchers told Live Science.
Other herons reviewing this photo commented: “Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope…”
Attack of the Kraken
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, and Martino Romaniello European Southern Observatory, Germany)
One of the most epic things ever to happen to the Milky Way went down more than 10 billion years ago, when a monster galaxy named the Kraken crashed head-on into ours. The Milky Way was young at the time and about four times less massive than it is today, scientists found in an October 2020 study, which means that merger likely reshaped our galaxy more than any other galactic collision in history, the team wrote.
Scientists learned of the ancient collision for the first time this year while using artificial intelligence (AI) to study tight-knit groups of stars called globular clusters. Clusters that share the same properties (such as the ages and chemical compositions of their stars) likely entered our galaxy during the same ancient mergers. The team found evidence of five large-scale mergers — four of which we already knew about, and the fifth being the Kraken.
Two-headed snake
(Image credit: Jonathan Mays/FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)
Snakes are sentient tubes of venom that can slither out of the water, the trees or the very depths of hell to ambush anything that rubs them the wrong way. (They also have orgies so rollicking that parks are forced to close). So, what's more metal than a snake? How about a DOUBLE snake?
Two-headed snakes are rare, but a Florida house cat had the dubious luck of finding one in its front yard this October. The young racer snake had two heads, two brains and two sets of fangs attached to a single body, and seemed to be holding up alright, despite some problems deciding which head got to eat first. This condition, called bicephaly, is an uncommon abnormality that occurs during embryonic development, when identical twins fail to fully separate. It occurs in all sorts of animals, including deer and porpoises.
The world's oldest squid attack
(Image credit: Malcolm Hart/Proceedings of the Geologists' Association)
Meanwhile, paleontologists reminded us that nature (and marine life in particular) was extremely metal 200 million years ago, too. In May, researchers described a fossil showing what they believe is the world's oldest known squid attack.
The Jurassic period fossil shows a herring-like fish with its head bitten through, its bones crushed, and its body constricted by the tentacles of a 10-armed squid ancestor known as a belemnoid. Sadly for the squid, disaster struck at suppertime; whatever it was, it killed both predator and prey instantly, immortalizing their final struggle in stone. (Metal).
Dino cannibals
(Image credit: Brian Engh)
About 50 million years later, more Jurassic creatures were up to some brutal deeds when a group of predatory Allosaurus dinosaurs started chowing down on each other's corpses. Researchers reached this conclusion while studying Allosaurus bones in Utah's Mygatt-Moore Quarry, paying close attention to any bite marks that were present.
Many bones bore the bites of theropod dinosaurs (a large group of bipedal carnivores to which Allosaurus belongs) and, in some cases, both the biter and the bitee were of the same genus. The brutal bones provide some "extremely rare" fossil evidence of dinosaur-on-dinosaur cannibalism, the researchers said – and, more importantly, were a great excuse for paleo artist Brian Engh to draw some savage dinos ripping each other's bodies to bits.
Blood snow
(Image credit: Andriy Zotov)
Climate change is so brutal it's making the glaciers bleed.
Well, sort of. That's not real blood in the photo above, but it is a phenomenon called "blood snow," which afflicts the world's frosty places when melting snow gives way to red-pigmented algae. Those also, called Chlamydomonas nivalis, thrive in freezing water and spend winters lying dormant in snow and ice; when summer comes and the snow melts, the algae bloom, spreading red, flower-like spores.
Ukrainian researchers at Antarctica's Vernadsky Research Base saw bucketloads of the stuff this February, around the time of the southern continent's single hottest day on record. In July, an Italian glacier also saw huge splatters of blood snow, threatening the glacier's ability to reflect sunlight and prevent melt.
The rogue Earth
(Image credit: Jan Skowron / Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw)
Finally, in October, astronomers detected a planet that refuses to play by the rules: a rogue, Earth-sized planet careening through the cosmos, untethered to any solar system. This is the first time a "rogue Earth" has ever been spotted in space, but it almost certainly won't be the last. According to the researchers, small rogue planets may number in the billions in the Milky Way alone, and probably outnumber the stars themselves.
Imagine: entire galaxies of unhinged rocks, flying through the darkness of the universe like wrecking balls traveling at thousands of miles an hour. Space. Is. METAL.
Originally published on Live Science


livescience--2020-12-29--Fast-spreading UK coronavirus variant: All your questions answered

Editor 's Note : This story was updated at 5:00 p.m. E.T .
on Tuesday , Dec. 29 to include new information about the variant 's presence in the United States .
A scary new strain of coronavirus , innocuously named B.1.1.7 , has recently exploded across southeast England , prompting the government to tighten lockdowns on the region .
Though we do n't know all the details , experts are increasingly confident it is more easily transmitted than other strains .
Here 's everything we know so far about this novel strain .
What is it ?
The B.1.1.7 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus with 23 mutations , eight of which are in the spike protein the virus uses to bind to and enter human cells , .
Where did it come from ?
It was first detected Sept. 21 in Kent County in England , then took off and spread in November , according to the World Health Organization .
Since then , it has become the most common variant in England , representing more than 50 % of new cases diagnosed between October and Dec. 13 in the U.K. , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believe that the virus may have mutated in a person who was immunocompromised , .
That 's because , unlike the flu , the novel coronavirus can correct mistakes when it replicates , and so tends to have a fairly stable genome , Live Science previously reported .
However , studies have shown that people who have weakened immune systems — because they are taking immunosuppressant drugs or are being treated with chemotherapy , for instance — may harbor infectious virus for months .
That , in turn , would give the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it replicate or evade the .
What do these mutations do ?
We do n't know for sure .
Viruses mutate all the time , and most of these changes do n't affect how deadly or infectious the virus is .
In this case , some of these mutations may have arisen purely by chance and may not affect the function of the virus .
But three mutations in particular have worried experts .
One , a two amino-acid deletion known as 69-70Del , was first detected separately in a patient being treated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patient received remdesevir , convalescent plasma and neutralizing antibodies , but died months later .
Though the virus did not initially have this deletion , it acquired it over months , researchers reported in a preprint article published Dec. 19 to the .
( It has not been peer-reviewed . )
The authors suspect it evolved to evade the immune system .
Another wrinkle associated with this deletion is that it can make one of the targets of SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests — known as the S gene — falsely test negative .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ S gene and would therefore miss the new variant .
Most PCR assays , however , look for three separate regions of the spike protein , so those assays wo n't be affected , the WHO said .
Another mutation , known as N501Y , alters the key amino acids that make up the so-called receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 , where amino acid asparagine ( N ) has been replaced with tyrosine ( Y ) in the part of the virus that latches onto the ACE2 receptor on human cells , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A September study in the journal found this variant binds more tightly to the ACE2 receptor than other versions of the coronavirus — at least in a lab dish .
Dozens of samples of SARS-CoV-2 from South Africa and Australia have tested positive for this mutation , but lab tests suggest the South African and U.K. variants separately evolved the same mutation .
That suggests it may provide an evolutionary advantage to the virus .
The third suspicious mutation is P681H , which is also in the receptor-binding domain of the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the , this mutation sits next to the `` furin cleavage site , '' which is where the spike protein must be cleaved in order for the virus to enter cells , .
Does it spread more easily ?
Yes .
Experts now think the new variant is between 50 % and 74 % more transmissible than other dominant strains , according to a study by the ( CMMID ) that has not yet been peer-reviewed .
The WHO estimates this would tack on 0.4 to the basic reproductive number R , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would spread the virus to .
Based on models of that growth , the new variant could be responsible for 90 % of all new COVID-19 cases in London and East and South England by mid-January , that study found .
Is it more deadly ?
We do n't know , but experts suspect it is not .
However , if it spreads much more easily , that means more people will be hospitalized .
Once hospitals become overwhelmed , the quality of care of the sickest patients drops , which can lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be expected .
The CMMID study found that the new variant could explain an uptick in hospitalizations in southeast England , largely due to increased spread , not necessarily because the virus is more dangerous .
Another study , also not peer-reviewed , by CMMID , used a mathematical model to see whether the virus ' rapid growth in London was due to increased infectiousness , or due to it being more severe .
The latter did n't fit the data well , whereas the former fit nicely .
Has the variant spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dec. 29 , Colorado Gov .
Jared Polis announced that the variant had been detected in a man in his 20s in the state .
Whether the virus has spread further is still unknown , but seems increasingly likely .
That 's because America has not done nearly as much genetic sequencing on viral samples as the U.K. has .
For instance , as of December , the U.S. had sequenced 51,000 viral samples out of 17 million identified cases of SARS-CoV-2 , according to the CDC .
The U.K. has sequenced more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. , despite having slightly more than a tenth of the diagnosed cases .
Dr. Stanley Perlman , an immunologist and pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the University of Iowa , previously told the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy ( CIDRAP ) that he suspected the variant is already in the U.S. `` I 'd be surprised if it were n't , '' he said .
One indication that the variant is spreading could be an increasing number of positive PCR tests that test negative for the S gene .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a company that has administered at least 2 million COVID-19 PCR tests , wrote in a blog post that the incidence of such S-gene dropouts in their samples started increasing in October .
As of mid-December , about 0.5 % of the company 's positive tests are so-called S-gene dropouts , coming from at least 14 states , including California , Florida , New York and Texas .
( Colorado was not one of those states . )
However , this does n't necessarily mean B.1.1.7 is spreading in multiple U.S. states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indicate that the virus being sampled likely has the 69-70Del mutation ; it does n't reveal whether the sample also contains the other two significant mutations associated with B.1.1.7 .
And on the flip side , because Helix only administers some of the country 's PCR tests , they may be missing some states where S-gene dropouts are on the rise .
Can kids catch it more easily ?
Several lines of evidence in the past have suggested kids might be less susceptible to the novel coronavirus .
If this new variant sticks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chance it could spread more readily amongst children than it did before .
However , further studies will be needed to see whether that 's the case .
There has been an uptick in cases in children in England at the same time that this virus has increased its prevalence .
That uptick was not seen when kids first returned to schools in early fall .
But schools were open while many other things were closed at this time , so it 's possible schools represented one of relatively few chances the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ n't yet say that kids will catch and spread this variant more readily .
Will vaccines work against the new virus ?
Most experts think the newly developed vaccines will still work against the novel U.K. variant .
When vaccines stimulate the immune system , the body builds an arsenal of cells to bind to many different parts of the virus .
Mutations in a handful of spots will likely not be enough to make the vaccine less effective , according to the CDC .
Given that 99 % of the proteins on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strain the Pfizer-BioNtech mRNA vaccine targets ( the Moderna vaccine is very similar ) , it is highly likely that the vaccine will work , BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said at a news briefing .
It 's possible that over time a variant could emerge that will evade some of our vaccines , similar to how the flu vaccine needs to be updated every year .
However , the new mRNA vaccines could be updated to reflect new mutations in about six weeks , .
What can we do to stop this ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ way as the ordinary form of the coronavirus .
That means the same things everyone has been doing to prevent the spread of the virus since March will also work for the new U.K. variant : washing hands , physical distancing , masks and good ventilation .
Adhering strictly to those rules and avoiding unnecessary outings will help prevent its spread .

Editor's Note: This story was last updated on Feb. 1, 2021.
A scary new strain of coronavirus, innocuously named B.1.1.7, has recently exploded across southeast England, prompting the government to tighten lockdowns on the region. Though we don't know all the details, experts are increasingly confident it is more easily transmitted than other strains. Here's everything we know so far about this novel strain.
What is it?
The B.1.1.7 strain of SARS-CoV-2 is a version of the virus with 23 mutations, eight of which are in the spike protein the virus uses to bind to and enter human cells, Science Magazine reported .
Where did it come from?
It was first detected Sept. 21 in Kent County in England, then took off and spread in November, according to the World Health Organization .
Since then, it has become the most common variant in England, representing more than 50% of new cases diagnosed between October and Dec. 13 in the U.K., according to the WHO.
However, some scientists now believe that the virus may have mutated in a person who was immunocompromised, according to Science Magazine . That's because, unlike the flu, the novel coronavirus can correct mistakes when it replicates, and so tends to have a fairly stable genome, Live Science previously reported. However, studies have shown that people who have weakened immune systems — because they are taking immunosuppressant drugs or are being treated with chemotherapy, for instance — may harbor infectious virus for months. That, in turn, would give the virus many chances to acquire mutations that help it replicate or evade the immune system .
What do these mutations do?
We don't know for sure. Viruses mutate all the time, and most of these changes don't affect how deadly or infectious the virus is. In this case, some of these mutations may have arisen purely by chance and may not affect the function of the virus.
But three mutations in particular have worried experts.
One, a two amino-acid deletion known as 69-70Del, was first detected separately in a patient being treated with immunosuppressants who developed COVID-19. The patient received remdesevir, convalescent plasma and neutralizing antibodies, but died months later. Though the virus did not initially have this deletion, it acquired it over months, researchers reported in a preprint article published Dec. 19 to the medRiv database . (It has not been peer-reviewed.) The authors suspect it evolved to evade the immune system. Another wrinkle associated with this deletion is that it can make one of the targets of SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests — known as the S gene — falsely test negative. Some tests only look for positives in this S gene and would therefore miss the new variant. Most PCR assays, however, look for three separate regions of the spike protein, so those assays won't be affected, the WHO said.
Another mutation, known as N501Y, alters the key amino acids that make up the so-called receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2, where amino acid asparagine (N) has been replaced with tyrosine (Y) in the part of the virus that latches onto the ACE2 receptor on human cells, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . A September study in the journal Cell found this variant binds more tightly to the ACE2 receptor than other versions of the coronavirus — at least in a lab dish.
Dozens of samples of SARS-CoV-2 from South Africa and Australia have tested positive for this mutation, but lab tests suggest the South African and U.K. variants separately evolved the same mutation. That suggests it may provide an evolutionary advantage to the virus.
The third suspicious mutation is P681H, which is also in the receptor-binding domain of the virus. According to preliminary information posted by the COVID-19 Genomics Consortium UK , this mutation sits next to the "furin cleavage site," which is where the spike protein must be cleaved in order for the virus to enter cells, according to Science Magazine .
Does it spread more easily?
Yes. Experts now think the new variant is between 50% and 74% more transmissible than other dominant strains, according to a study by the Center for Mathematical Modeling and Infectious Diseases (CMMID) that has not yet been peer-reviewed. The WHO estimates this would tack on 0.4 to the basic reproductive number R, which dictates how many people each infected person would spread the virus to.
Based on models of that growth, the new variant could be responsible for 90% of all new COVID-19 cases in London and East and South England by mid-January, that study found.
Another study from the U.K., published Dec. 27 to medrXiv and also not peer reviewed, found higher viral loads in PCR tests that are negative for the S gene. Testing negative for the S gene means the virus has the 69-70Del mutation and so such S-gene dropouts are thus a proxy for, but not a certain indication of, the samples coming from the B.1.1.7 variant. And a higher viral load makes it easier for the virus to spread.
Is it more deadly?
Maybe. Early evidence from the U.K. hints that the variant may be 30% more deadly, officials said at a news briefing on Jan. 22. However, officials stressed that the evidence for this was still very uncertain, Live Science previously reported .
Has the variant spread to the U.S.?
Yes. On Dec. 29, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that the variant had been detected in a man in his 20s in the state. Whether the virus has spread further is still unknown, but seems increasingly likely.
That's because America has not done nearly as much genetic sequencing on viral samples as the U.K. has. For instance, as of December, the U.S. had sequenced 51,000 viral samples out of 17 million identified cases of SARS-CoV-2, according to the CDC . The U.K. has sequenced more than twice as many viral samples as the U.S., despite having slightly more than a tenth of the diagnosed cases.
Dr. Stanley Perlman, an immunologist and pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the University of Iowa, previously told the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) that he suspected the variant is already in the U.S. "I'd be surprised if it weren't," he said.
One indication that the variant is spreading could be an increasing number of positive PCR tests that test negative for the S gene. On Dec. 23, scientists with Helix, a company that has administered at least 2 million COVID-19 PCR tests, wrote in a blog post that the incidence of such S-gene dropouts in their samples started increasing in October. As of mid-December, about 0.5% of the company's positive tests are so-called S-gene dropouts, coming from at least 14 states, including California, Florida, New York and Texas. (Colorado was not one of those states.) However, this doesn't necessarily mean B.1.1.7 is spreading in multiple U.S. states. That's because S-gene dropouts only indicate that the virus being sampled likely has the 69-70Del mutation; it doesn't reveal whether the sample also contains the other two significant mutations associated with B.1.1.7.
And on the flip side, because Helix only administers some of the country's PCR tests, they may be missing some states where S-gene dropouts are on the rise.
Can kids catch it more easily?
Several lines of evidence in the past have suggested kids might be less susceptible to the novel coronavirus. If this new variant sticks more easily to cells, there's the chance it could spread more readily amongst children than it did before. However, further studies will be needed to see whether that's the case.
There has been an uptick in cases in children in England at the same time that this virus has increased its prevalence. That uptick was not seen when kids first returned to schools in early fall. But schools were open while many other things were closed at this time, so it's possible schools represented one of relatively few chances the virus had to spread. We can't yet say that kids will catch and spread this variant more readily.
Will vaccines work against the new virus?
Most experts think the newly developed vaccines will still work against the novel U.K. variant. When vaccines stimulate the immune system, the body builds an arsenal of cells to bind to many different parts of the virus. Mutations in a handful of spots will likely not be enough to make the vaccine less effective, according to the CDC.
Given that 99% of the proteins on the new variant are identical to the strain the Pfizer-BioNtech mRNA vaccine targets (the Moderna vaccine is very similar), it is highly likely that the vaccine will work, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin said at a news briefing.
It's possible that over time a variant could emerge that will evade some of our vaccines, similar to how the flu vaccine needs to be updated every year. However, the new mRNA vaccines could be updated to reflect new mutations in about six weeks, Şahin told the Financial Times .
What can we do to stop this?
The new variant still spreads the same way as the ordinary form of the coronavirus. That means the same things everyone has been doing to prevent the spread of the virus since March will also work for the new U.K. variant: washing hands, physical distancing, masks and good ventilation. Adhering strictly to those rules and avoiding unnecessary outings will help prevent its spread.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-30--US rivers are changing from blue to yellow and green, satellite images show

A third of U.S. rivers have significantly changed color over the last 36 years , turning from blue to yellow and green , striking new images reveal .
Researchers analyzed 235,000 satellite images — taken over a 34-year period between 1984 and 2018 — from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS ) Landsat program .
The changing hues can be viewed in an .
More than half of those satellite images showed rivers with a dominant hue of yellow , while more than a third of images were mostly green .
Just 8 % of river pics were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rivers are changing gradually and not noticeable to the human eye , '' lead author John Gardner , a postdoctoral researcher in the global hydrology lab at University of North Carolina , told Live Science .
`` But areas that are the fastest changing are more likely to be man-made . ''
Related : Rainbow rivers : See gorgeous maps of the world 's waterways Rivers can appear to be shades of blue , green , yellow or other colors depending on the amount of suspended sediment , algae , pollution or dissolved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a general rule , river water turns green as more algae blooms , or when the water carries less sediments .
Rivers tend to turn yellow when they carry more sediment .
`` Sediment and algae are both important , but too much or too little of either can be disruptive , '' Gardner said .
In total , the researchers collected 16 million measurements over the 34-year period on the 67,000 miles ( 108,000 kilometers ) of rivers in the U.S. that are more than 197 feet ( 60 meters ) wide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trends in color change over time .
More than half of the rivers , or 55 % , varied in color over time , but with no clear trend over time .
A third changed color in that time period , and only 12 % had a constant color .
In the North and West , rivers tended to become greener , whereas the eastern regions of the U.S.had a trend toward yellow rivers .
Larger waterways , such as the Ohio basin and Upper Mississippi basin , also moved to blue-green .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be worrying , '' Gardner said , but added that `` it depends on the individual river . ''
Just as leaves turn red and gold in fall , rivers can also change color with the seasons , thanks to changes in rainfall , snowmelt and other factors that change a river 's flow .
The satellite images did reveal hotspots where human influences , such as dams , reservoirs , agriculture and urban development , may be changing the color of some rivers .
But these changes are n't necessarily permanent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trends going back in the other direction , '' Gardner said , `` especially if the change is occurring due to local mismanagement that is easily fixed . ''
Although river color ca n't give precise numbers for water quality or ecosystem health , it is a good proxy for both of these things .
Thanks to satellite imaging it is also much easier for scientists to measure color than water quality .
`` It is a very simple metric , which is integrating so many things , '' Gardner said .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas that are changing really fast . ''
From there , scientists could figure out what 's causing the change , he said .
More research is now needed to determine just how accurate river color is at determining ecosystem health and which changes are important to monitor .
The researchers ' findings were published Dec. 6 in the journal .

Parts of the Mississippi River have turned more blue-green over time, researchers have found.
A third of U.S. rivers have significantly changed color over the last 36 years, turning from blue to yellow and green, striking new images reveal.
Researchers analyzed 235,000 satellite images — taken over a 34-year period between 1984 and 2018 — from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat program. The changing hues can be viewed in an interactive map .
More than half of those satellite images showed rivers with a dominant hue of yellow, while more than a third of images were mostly green. Just 8% of river pics were mostly blue.
"Most of the rivers are changing gradually and not noticeable to the human eye," lead author John Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher in the global hydrology lab at University of North Carolina, told Live Science. "But areas that are the fastest changing are more likely to be man-made."
Related: Rainbow rivers: See gorgeous maps of the world's waterways
Rivers can appear to be shades of blue, green, yellow or other colors depending on the amount of suspended sediment, algae, pollution or dissolved organic matter in the water. As a general rule, river water turns green as more algae blooms, or when the water carries less sediments. Rivers tend to turn yellow when they carry more sediment.
"Sediment and algae are both important, but too much or too little of either can be disruptive," Gardner said.
Assessing trends
In total, the researchers collected 16 million measurements over the 34-year period on the 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometers) of rivers in the U.S. that are more than 197 feet (60 meters) wide. This allowed them to track significant trends in color change over time.
More than half of the rivers, or 55%, varied in color over time, but with no clear trend over time. A third changed color in that time period, and only 12% had a constant color.
In the North and West, rivers tended to become greener, whereas the eastern regions of the U.S.had a trend toward yellow rivers. Larger waterways, such as the Ohio basin and Upper Mississippi basin, also moved to blue-green.
"Big trends to yellow or green can be worrying," Gardner said, but added that "it depends on the individual river."
Just as leaves turn red and gold in fall, rivers can also change color with the seasons, thanks to changes in rainfall, snowmelt and other factors that change a river's flow.
The satellite images did reveal hotspots where human influences, such as dams, reservoirs, agriculture and urban development, may be changing the color of some rivers.
But these changes aren't necessarily permanent.
"You could totally see these trends going back in the other direction," Gardner said, "especially if the change is occurring due to local mismanagement that is easily fixed."
Monitoring river health
Although river color can't give precise numbers for water quality or ecosystem health, it is a good proxy for both of these things. Thanks to satellite imaging it is also much easier for scientists to measure color than water quality.
"It is a very simple metric, which is integrating so many things," Gardner said. "But it can be used to identify areas that are changing really fast."
From there, scientists could figure out what's causing the change, he said.
More research is now needed to determine just how accurate river color is at determining ecosystem health and which changes are important to monitor.
The researchers' findings were published Dec. 6 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters .
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-30--10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020

Early humans left behind clues — footprints , chiseled rocks , genetic material and more — that can reveal our species survived and spread across Earth .
These ancient people were n't so different from us ; they traveled far and wide , hooked up with one another and even mined for natural resources ( in this case , the reddish mineral ochre ) .
Here are 10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020 .
Early humans ( Homo sapiens ) did n't sleep with just one other .
About 1 million years ago , H. sapiens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and our species still carries some of these genes today , a study in the journal found .
It 's possible this mystery species was , but we may never know for sure because H. erectus went extinct about 110,000 years ago , and scientists do n't have any of this species ' DNA .
Read more : Mystery ancestor mated with ancient humans .
And its 'nested ' DNA was just found .
The oldest known human DNA belongs to Homo antecessor , a species that may have practiced cannibalism .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's a record breaker .
Scientists found the remains of six H. antecessor individuals in Spain in 1994 , but it was n't until this year that a team of researchers extracted DNA from one of these individual 's teeth , using the proteins found in the enamel to determine the segment of that coded them .
The team then compared this DNA sequence with recent human tooth samples , and determined that H. antecessor is not a close relation .
Rather , it was likely a sister species of an ancestor that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humans ( Homo sapiens ) left the Horn of Africa about 130,000 years ago , they trekked along the Arabian Peninsula .
But which path did they take ?
Now , scientists have an idea , after finding sharp , human-crafted flint points in Israel 's Negev Desert that are just like `` breadcrumbs '' marking an ancient route , according to ongoing research at the Israel Antiquities Authority .
So , where exactly did humans walk on the Arabian Peninsula ?
Scientists know at least a few exact locations .
Researchers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other ancient animals preserved in an ancient lakebed in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia .
These footprints are the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens on the Arabian Peninsula , the researchers said .
During that time , the Arabian Peninsula was green and dotted with lakes , a hospitable place for migrating humans .
Read more : Prehistoric desert footprints are earliest evidence for humans on Arabian Peninsula The first people to set foot in the Americas may have arrived 30,000 years ago , two new studies found .
That 's much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some scientists historically saying that the first Americans showed up as late as 13,000 years ago .
In one study , published in the journal , the excavation of a remote cave in northwestern Mexico revealed human-made stone tools dating to 31,500 years ago .
In the other study , also published in , scientists took already-published data on early human activity in Beringia ( the area connecting Russia to America during the last ice age ) , and entered them into an equation that modeled human dispersal .
The model showed that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 26,000 years ago .
However , the Americas were sparsely populated that long ago .
There was n't a population boom until 14,700 years ago , as the last ice age was beginning to end , the latter study found .
Read more : First Americans may have arrived to the continent 30,000 years ago Just like today , thousands of years ago the Americas were a diverse place .
An analysis of four ancient skulls found in underwater caves in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo shows that these individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like people from the Arctic , another has European features , a third looks like early South American people and the last does n't look like any one population .
The skulls date to between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago , just as the last ice age was ending , according to the study , published in the journal .
Those same Mexican caves , which are now underwater , hid another secret , scientists learned in 2020 .
For years , divers have found the skeletons of ancient people , including the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question : What were ancient people doing there in the first place ?
Now , new evidence suggests some of these ancient people were miners .
About 12,000 to 10,000 years ago , ancient people mined the caves for the red mineral ochre and left signs of their work , including the charred remains of fires , stone tools and stone markers so they would n't get lost in the pitch black maze .
Ochre was used for rituals and everyday activities , including possibly as insect repellent or sunscreen .
8 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10,000 years ago , a woman carrying a toddler on her hip set down the child , readjusted , and picked up the child again as she continued her journey across the playa of what is now New Mexico .
Researchers found this woman 's footprints , and those of the squirmy toddler , in White Sands National Park .
At 0.9 miles ( 1.5 kilometers ) long , this trackway is the longest late epoch double human trackway on record .
Four children who died young between 8,000 and 3,000 years ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their DNA .
After analyzing the DNA from these ancient children 's remains , scientists were surprised to discover a previously unknown `` ghost '' population of humans had contributed to these children 's genomes .
About one-third of the children 's DNA originated from ancestors that were closely related to known hunter-gatherers in western Central Africa , the researchers found .
But the other two-thirds hailed from an ancient source in West Africa , including a `` long lost ghost population of modern humans '' that were n't known about until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study , published in the journal .
Nowadays , dating apps can help people find partners .
But 800 years ago , the Polynesians and Indigenous people of Colombia did n't have apps — they had boats , and apparently one of these groups boated to the other and hooked up .
When researchers looked at Polynesian , they realized some carried a genetic signature similar to Indigenous Colombians .
But it 's unclear whether the Polynesians traveled to Colombia and then returned to Polynesia ( with their Colombian-Polynesian children ) , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ researchers said .
`` We ca n't say definitely who made contact with whom , '' study lead researcher Alexander Ioannidis , a postdoctoral research fellow of biomedical data sciences at Stanford University , told Live Science .

Early humans left behind clues — footprints, chiseled rocks, genetic material and more — that can reveal our species survived and spread across Earth. These ancient people weren't so different from us; they traveled far and wide, hooked up with one another and even mined for natural resources (in this case, the reddish mineral ochre). Here are 10 things we learned about our human ancestors in 2020.
1. Mystery lover
An unidentified ancestor that interbred with humans may have been Homo erectus (skull shown here). (Image credit: Shutterstock)
Early humans (Homo sapiens) didn't sleep with just one other. About 1 million years ago, H. sapiens had several rendezvous with another mystery species, and our species still carries some of these genes today, a study in the journal PLOS Genetics found.
It's possible this mystery species was Homo erectus , but we may never know for sure because H. erectus went extinct about 110,000 years ago, and scientists don't have any of this species' DNA.
Read more: Mystery ancestor mated with ancient humans. And its 'nested' DNA was just found.
2. Oldest known human DNA belongs to cannibal
Skeletal remains of Homo antecessor — an archaic relative of modern humans — found in Spain. (Image credit: Prof. José María Bermúdez de Castro)
The oldest known human DNA belongs to Homo antecessor, a species that may have practiced cannibalism. And at 800,000 years old, it's a record breaker.
Scientists found the remains of six H. antecessor individuals in Spain in 1994, but it wasn't until this year that a team of researchers extracted DNA from one of these individual's teeth, using the proteins found in the enamel to determine the segment of DNA that coded them. The team then compared this DNA sequence with recent human tooth samples, and determined that H. antecessor is not a close relation. Rather, it was likely a sister species of an ancestor that led to modern humans.
Read more: World's oldest human DNA found in 800,000-year-old tooth of a cannibal
One of the distinctive stone tools, made with an ancient flint-knapping technology known as Nubian Levallois, found at the archaeological site in the Negev Desert. (Image credit: Emil Eladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
When modern humans (Homo sapiens) left the Horn of Africa about 130,000 years ago, they trekked along the Arabian Peninsula. But which path did they take? Now, scientists have an idea, after finding sharp, human-crafted flint points in Israel's Negev Desert that are just like "breadcrumbs" marking an ancient route, according to ongoing research at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Read more: Ancient stone 'breadcrumbs' reveal early human migration out of Africa
This is the first human footprint discovered at Alathar, and its corresponding digital elevation model. (Image credit: Stewart et al., 2020)
So, where exactly did humans walk on the Arabian Peninsula? Scientists know at least a few exact locations. Researchers have found 120,000-year-old human footprints among those of other ancient animals preserved in an ancient lakebed in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia. These footprints are the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens on the Arabian Peninsula, the researchers said. During that time, the Arabian Peninsula was green and dotted with lakes, a hospitable place for migrating humans.
Read more: Prehistoric desert footprints are earliest evidence for humans on Arabian Peninsula
5. First Americans arrived 30,000 years ago
Archaeologists explore the vast Chiquihuite cave in the Chiapas Highlands of northwest Mexico. (Image credit: Devlin A. Gandy)
The first people to set foot in the Americas may have arrived 30,000 years ago, two new studies found. That's much earlier than researchers previously thought, with some scientists historically saying that the first Americans showed up as late as 13,000 years ago.
In one study, published in the journal Nature , the excavation of a remote cave in northwestern Mexico revealed human-made stone tools dating to 31,500 years ago. In the other study, also published in Nature , scientists took already-published data on early human activity in Beringia (the area connecting Russia to America during the last ice age), and entered them into an equation that modeled human dispersal. The model showed that early humans likely arrived in North America at least 26,000 years ago.
However, the Americas were sparsely populated that long ago. There wasn't a population boom until 14,700 years ago, as the last ice age was beginning to end, the latter study found.
Read more: First Americans may have arrived to the continent 30,000 years ago
6. Ancient diversity
The original position of the skeletal remains inside the submerged cave of Muknal. These remains date back to about 10,000 years ago and belonged to an adult male. (Image credit: Jerónimo Avilés)
Just like today, thousands of years ago the Americas were a diverse place. An analysis of four ancient skulls found in underwater caves in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo shows that these individuals looked nothing alike: one skull looked like people from the Arctic, another has European features, a third looks like early South American people and the last doesn't look like any one population.
The skulls date to between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago, just as the last ice age was ending, according to the study, published in the journal PLOS One .
Read more: Skulls from ancient North Americans hint at multiple migration waves
7. Sophisticated miners
With only a flashlight to light the way, a diver explores the ancient ochre mine. At the end of the last ice age, these caves were dry, but would have been devoid of any natural light. (Image credit: © CINDAQ.ORG)
Those same Mexican caves, which are now underwater, hid another secret, scientists learned in 2020. For years, divers have found the skeletons of ancient people, including the skulls mentioned above. This begged the question: What were ancient people doing there in the first place?
Now, new evidence suggests some of these ancient people were miners. About 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, ancient people mined the caves for the red mineral ochre and left signs of their work, including the charred remains of fires, stone tools and stone markers so they wouldn't get lost in the pitch black maze. Ochre was used for rituals and everyday activities, including possibly as insect repellent or sunscreen.
Read more: Ice age mining camp found 'frozen in time' in underwater Mexican cave
8. Toddlers have always been squirmy
The excavation of a 0.9-mile (1.5 kilometers) trackway showing an out-and-back journey by a Paleolithic caregiver and child more than 10,000 years ago. At the time, the playa abutted a now-dry lake and would have been muddy and pocked with puddles. (Image credit: David Bustos)
More than 10,000 years ago, a woman carrying a toddler on her hip set down the child, readjusted, and picked up the child again as she continued her journey across the playa of what is now New Mexico.
Researchers found this woman's footprints, and those of the squirmy toddler, in White Sands National Park. At 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometers) long, this trackway is the longest late Pleistocene epoch double human trackway on record.
Read more: 10,000-year-old footprints show journey of squirmy toddler and caregiver
9. 'Ghost' population found in Stone Age children's genes
The rock shelter at Shum Laka in Cameroon, where the burials were found. (Image credit: Photo by Pierre de Maret, January 1994)
Four children who died young between 8,000 and 3,000 years ago in what is now Cameroon had secrets in their DNA. After analyzing the DNA from these ancient children's remains, scientists were surprised to discover a previously unknown "ghost" population of humans had contributed to these children's genomes.
About one-third of the children's DNA originated from ancestors that were closely related to known hunter-gatherers in western Central Africa, the researchers found. But the other two-thirds hailed from an ancient source in West Africa, including a "long lost ghost population of modern humans" that weren't known about until now, the scientists reported in the study, published in the journal Nature .
10. Polynesians and Indigenous Americans hooked up
While it's still unclear whether Polynesians visited South America or South Americans visited Polynesia, one thing is certain; Some Polynesians have a genetic signature indicating that their ancestors coupled with Indigenous people from Colombia hundreds of years ago. (Image credit: Ruben Ramos-Mendoza)
Nowadays, dating apps can help people find partners. But 800 years ago, the Polynesians and Indigenous people of Colombia didn't have apps — they had boats, and apparently one of these groups boated to the other and hooked up.
When researchers looked at Polynesian DNA , they realized some carried a genetic signature similar to Indigenous Colombians. But it's unclear whether the Polynesians traveled to Colombia and then returned to Polynesia (with their Colombian-Polynesian children), or whether Colombians traveled to Polynesia, the researchers said.
"We can't say definitely who made contact with whom," study lead researcher Alexander Ioannidis, a postdoctoral research fellow of biomedical data sciences at Stanford University, told Live Science.
Read more: Polynesians and Native Americans paired up 800 years ago, DNA reveals
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-12-30--Murder hornets and monkey cannibals: 10 times nature freaked us out in 2020

Stomach-bursting eels !
Tongue-devouring sea lice !
Nature can be the best at being the absolute worst , and 2020 gifted us with a petrifying parade of shudder-inducing science .
From baby-eating cannibal monkeys to vampire parasites , here are 10 times this year when nature proved that it was positively horrific .
You 're welcome .
Scavengers in the deep ocean eagerly devour alligator corpses — some pick the bones clean , while others munch on the bones , scientists recently discovered .
Researchers sent three dead freshwater gators to the sea bottom in the Gulf of Mexico , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet ( 2 kilometers ) to see how marine creatures might respond to a type of food that they would n't usually find on the sea floor .
Turns out those deep sea critters are n't picky .
Footage captured by a camera on a diving robot showed that enormous pink isopods ( crustaceans that resemble terrestrial woodlice or pill bugs , at a much larger scale ) swarmed over the alligators , stripping flesh from the skeletons .
After all the meat was gone , the bones were covered in a brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this coating was a previously unknown species of bone-eating worm .
Read more : New bone-eating life form discovered in bizarre alligator-corpse study What looks like a walking wig , except with `` hairs '' that are really venom-spurting spines ?
It 's the caterpillar of the southern flannel moth ( Megalopyge opercularis ) , and these toxic `` toupeés '' appeared in Virginia in record numbers this year .
As climate change warms the planet , animals shift their ranges in response , and global warming could explain why the caterpillars were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they usually are .
Read more : Weird venomous caterpillars that look like walking toupées are invading Virginia Asian giant hornets ( Vespa mandarinia ) , the biggest hornets in the world , are gaining a foothold in the United States for the first time ; the size of their stingers and the potency of their venom makes the insects uniquely dangerous to people , but the hornets pose a much greater threat to North American honeybees .
Researchers in Washington first found individual hornets — also known as murder hornets — in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was found and destroyed in October , and that nest may have held as many as 200 new queens .
Hornet queens can grow to be 2 inches ( 5 centimeters ) in length , and female workers and males measure about 1 to 1.5 inches ( 3.5 to 3.9 cm ) , and they are known for mobbing honey bees ' hives , killing or driving off all the bees , and then moving in and taking over the abandoned nurseries , feeding the bee larvae to their hornet babies .
Read @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reached the US It was just another Monday for biologist Kory Evans , an assistant professor in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University in Houston , Texas , when he X-rayed a fish 's head in 3D and discovered that its tongue had been replaced by a parasite .
Actually , his Mondays `` are n't usually this eventful , '' Evans wrote on Twitter .
Instead of a normal tongue , the fish had a tongue-eating isopod squatting inside its mouth .
These so-called vampire crustaceans enter a fish 's mouth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by tightly gripping it with their legs , and feed on blood that they siphon from the organ .
Eventually , the tongue withers and falls off , and the now-fully-grown isopod serves as a functional tongue for the fish .
Read more : Meet the 'vampire ' parasite that masquerades as a living tongue A sizable semi-aquatic spider went fishing and snagged a man 's pet goldfish , named Cleo , out of a backyard pond in Barberton , South Africa .
The man arrived home just in time to capture photos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arachnid — a nursery web spider , also known as a fishing spider — dragged poor Cleo from the water .
Cleo was likely already dead at this point , killed by a venomous bite .
And though she was about twice the size of her attacker , these spiders can easily subdue prey up to five times their size , scientists reported in 2014 .
Read more : A man caught a spider eating his pet goldfish and , well , it 's terrifying In case you 're wondering what it might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Sweden were dissecting developing lizard embryos , when they were extremely surprised to see `` something moving '' in the brains of the embryonic lizards .
The scientists found that nematodes , a type of parasitic worm , had infested the ovaries in the embryos ' mothers .
From there , the parasites were able to pass into the embryos ' brains before the hard shell of an egg could form around them , so the baby lizards were already parasitized when they hatched .
Read more : 'Shocked ' scientists find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shells When a dead eagle was found with a puncture in its chest , experts determined that the murder weapon was likely the `` dagger-like bill '' of a loon .
A game warden in Maine found the eagle 's body near a lake and brought it to a nearby veterinarian , thinking that the bird had been shot .
A radiograph showed that there was no bullet in the body , but there was a deep wound that was similar in size to a loon 's beak .
The eagle was found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and scientists suspect that a loon parent tried to defend its baby from the attacking eagle , landing a lethal jab that pierced the predator 's heart .
When fish gulp down sinuous snake eels , the eels can stage a desperate escape by using a hardened , bony tail tip to punch a hole in the predator 's gut .
But that strategy might leave a swallowed eel in an even worse predicament : once it slips out of the stomach , it 's still trapped inside the bigger fish 's gut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of such failed escapes , finding mummified snake eels inside the bodies of more than a dozen predatory Protonibea diacanthus fish in waters around coastal Australia .
Read more : Snake eels stage stomach-bursting escape after being eaten ( and then things get really nasty ) As if one gruesome stomach-burster story was n't enough , 2020 decided that we needed another .
In this case , the predator was a heron in Delaware that swallowed an American eel ( Anguilla rostrata ) .
But the eel had other plans , and photographer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sight of the heron in flight , with the eel emerging headfirst from the bird 's stomach , bursting all the way out of the bird 's body to dangle in midair under the heron 's outstretched neck .
`` I could see the eel , you could see its eyes , '' Davis told Live Science .
Read more : Alien-like photo shows eel dangling out of heron 's stomach in midair Scientists reported the first known case of infant cannibalism practiced by white-faced capuchin monkeys ( Cebus imitator ) , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly four decades in Costa Rica 's Santa Rosa National Park .
After a 10-day-old baby monkey fell from a tree , possibly killed by an older male , two monkeys from the troop partly consumed the dead infant while its mother watched nearby .
Cannibalism in monkeys from Central and South America is exceptionally rare , and typically happens when infants are killed by unrelated monkeys , with the baby 's relatives eating the remains .

Stomach-bursting eels! Tongue-devouring sea lice! Nature can be the best at being the absolute worst, and 2020 gifted us with a petrifying parade of shudder-inducing science. From baby-eating cannibal monkeys to vampire parasites, here are 10 times this year when nature proved that it was positively horrific. You're welcome.
Bone-eaters
Giant isopods feed on an alligator carcass at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. (Image credit: LUMCON)
Scavengers in the deep ocean eagerly devour alligator corpses — some pick the bones clean, while others munch on the bones, scientists recently discovered. Researchers sent three dead freshwater gators to the sea bottom in the Gulf of Mexico, depositing them at a depth of 6,600 feet (2 kilometers) to see how marine creatures might respond to a type of food that they wouldn't usually find on the sea floor. Turns out those deep sea critters aren't picky.
Footage captured by a camera on a diving robot showed that enormous pink isopods (crustaceans that resemble terrestrial woodlice or pill bugs, at a much larger scale) swarmed over the alligators, stripping flesh from the skeletons. After all the meat was gone, the bones were covered in a brown fuzz, and DNA analysis revealed that this coating was a previously unknown species of bone-eating worm.
Read more: New bone-eating life form discovered in bizarre alligator-corpse study
Toxic toupeé
This pus caterpillar looks like a harmless little toupee but it's way more dangerous than that. (Image credit: Virginia Department of Forestry)
What looks like a walking wig, except with "hairs" that are really venom-spurting spines? It's the caterpillar of the southern flannel moth (Megalopyge opercularis), and these toxic "toupeés" appeared in Virginia in record numbers this year. As climate change warms the planet, animals shift their ranges in response, and global warming could explain why the caterpillars were more numerous in Virginia in 2020 than they usually are.
Read more: Weird venomous caterpillars that look like walking toupées are invading Virginia
Hornets from hell
Head of an Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) (Image credit: Shutterstock)
Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia), the biggest hornets in the world, are gaining a foothold in the United States for the first time; the size of their stingers and the potency of their venom makes the insects uniquely dangerous to people, but the hornets pose a much greater threat to North American honeybees.
Researchers in Washington first found individual hornets — also known as murder hornets — in April. The first murder hornet nest was found and destroyed in October, and that nest may have held as many as 200 new queens. Hornet queens can grow to be 2 inches (5 centimeters) in length, and female workers and males measure about 1 to 1.5 inches (3.5 to 3.9 cm), and they are known for mobbing honey bees' hives, killing or driving off all the bees, and then moving in and taking over the abandoned nurseries, feeding the bee larvae to their hornet babies.
Read more: Monstrous 'murder hornets' have reached the US
'Vampire' parasite
A tongue-eating louse, or isopod (purple) became this fish's living tongue. (Image credit: Courtesy of Kory Evans, Rice University)
It was just another Monday for biologist Kory Evans, an assistant professor in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas, when he X-rayed a fish's head in 3D and discovered that its tongue had been replaced by a parasite.
Actually, his Mondays "aren't usually this eventful," Evans wrote on Twitter.
Instead of a normal tongue, the fish had a tongue-eating isopod squatting inside its mouth. These so-called vampire crustaceans enter a fish's mouth as larvae, attach to the tongue by tightly gripping it with their legs, and feed on blood that they siphon from the organ. Eventually, the tongue withers and falls off, and the now-fully-grown isopod serves as a functional tongue for the fish.
Read more: Meet the 'vampire' parasite that masquerades as a living tongue
Gone fishing
A pet goldfish met her doom in the grasp of a fishing spider. (Image credit: Shutterstock)
A sizable semi-aquatic spider went fishing and snagged a man's pet goldfish, named Cleo, out of a backyard pond in Barberton, South Africa. The man arrived home just in time to capture photos of the heinous act, as the arachnid — a nursery web spider, also known as a fishing spider — dragged poor Cleo from the water. Cleo was likely already dead at this point, killed by a venomous bite. And though she was about twice the size of her attacker, these spiders can easily subdue prey up to five times their size, scientists reported in 2014.
Read more: A man caught a spider eating his pet goldfish and, well, it's terrifying
Embryo infection
Common wall lizard embryo (Image credit: Nathalie Feiner)
In case you're wondering what it might take to shock a scientist; researchers in Sweden were dissecting developing lizard embryos, when they were extremely surprised to see "something moving" in the brains of the embryonic lizards. The scientists found that nematodes, a type of parasitic worm, had infested the ovaries in the embryos' mothers. From there, the parasites were able to pass into the embryos' brains before the hard shell of an egg could form around them, so the baby lizards were already parasitized when they hatched.
Read more: 'Shocked' scientists find brain parasites in baby lizards still in shells
Loon vs. eagle
In a separate incident from the one described here, a loon launches out of the water to scare off a bald eagle on Bow Lake in Northwood, New Hampshire. (Image credit: Jon Winslow)
When a dead eagle was found with a puncture in its chest, experts determined that the murder weapon was likely the "dagger-like bill" of a loon. A game warden in Maine found the eagle's body near a lake and brought it to a nearby veterinarian, thinking that the bird had been shot. A radiograph showed that there was no bullet in the body, but there was a deep wound that was similar in size to a loon's beak. The eagle was found with a dead loon chick nearby, and scientists suspect that a loon parent tried to defend its baby from the attacking eagle, landing a lethal jab that pierced the predator's heart.
Read more: Loon stabs bald eagle to death
Stomach-burster: fish edition
Ophichthidae is a family of sinuous fishes that are also known as snake eels. The species pictured here, Aprognathodon platyventris, is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. (Image credit: Photo: Williams, J. T.; Carpenter, K. E.; Van Tassell, J. L.; Hoetjes, P.; Toller, W.; Etnoyer, P.; Smith, M. (2010). "Biodiversity Assessment of the Fishes of Saba Bank Atoll, Netherlands Antilles". PLoS ONE 5 (5): e10676. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0010676. PMID 20505760. PMC: 2873961., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27506026)
When fish gulp down sinuous snake eels, the eels can stage a desperate escape by using a hardened, bony tail tip to punch a hole in the predator's gut. But that strategy might leave a swallowed eel in an even worse predicament: once it slips out of the stomach, it's still trapped inside the bigger fish's gut cavity. Scientists recently documented grisly evidence of such failed escapes, finding mummified snake eels inside the bodies of more than a dozen predatory Protonibea diacanthus fish in waters around coastal Australia.
Read more: Snake eels stage stomach-bursting escape after being eaten (and then things get really nasty)
Stomach-burster: bird edition
A heron likely regretted eating an eel after the eel burst out of it in midair. (Image credit: Sam Davis)
As if one gruesome stomach-burster story wasn't enough, 2020 decided that we needed another. In this case, the predator was a heron in Delaware that swallowed an American eel (Anguilla rostrata). But the eel had other plans, and photographer Sam Davis of Maryland captured the incredible sight of the heron in flight, with the eel emerging headfirst from the bird's stomach, bursting all the way out of the bird's body to dangle in midair under the heron's outstretched neck.
"I could see the eel, you could see its eyes," Davis told Live Science.
Read more: Alien-like photo shows eel dangling out of heron's stomach in midair
Capuchin cannibals
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Scientists reported the first known case of infant cannibalism practiced by white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator), in a population that researchers have observed for nearly four decades in Costa Rica's Santa Rosa National Park. After a 10-day-old baby monkey fell from a tree, possibly killed by an older male, two monkeys from the troop partly consumed the dead infant while its mother watched nearby. Cannibalism in monkeys from Central and South America is exceptionally rare, and typically happens when infants are killed by unrelated monkeys, with the baby's relatives eating the remains.
Read more: Adorable monkeys caught committing grisly act of cannibalism
Originally published on Live Science.