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HomeScientiFixDust found on asteroid Ryugu older than our solar system: Study

Dust found on asteroid Ryugu older than our solar system: Study

ScientiFix, our weekly feature, offers you a summary of the top global science stories of the week, with links to their sources.

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New Delhi: Scientists have now confirmed the presence of dust grains in Asteroid Ryugu that are older than our own solar system. 

The priceless samples of dust were retrieved by the Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft which orbited the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu for two years, the study said, adding that the space probe had begun its mission in 2014.

Located 300 million kilometers from Earth, Ryugu is likely made from the debris of several other asteroids.

Since the sample of dust collected by the probe returned to Earth, researchers from across the world have been testing it in different ways. 

While studying one of the samples, an international team of researchers compared them to grains found in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that have been found on Earth. They noted that just 5 per cent of such meteorites were found to contain grains that predate the creation of the solar system some of which have been dated to 7 billion years ago. 

The researchers found that the dust sample held grains identical to all of the others that have been seen in meteorites, showing that it too predates the solar system. They note that one in particular, a silicate that is known to be very easily destroyed, must have been protected somehow from damage by the sun. Read More

Fossil of giant marine reptile discovered in Morocco

Researchers have discovered a huge new mosasaur a marine reptile from Morocco, named Thalassotitan atrox that grew up to 9 metres in length. 

Thalassotitan hunted other marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, sea turtles, and other mosasaurs. Mosasaurs were distant relatives of modern iguanas and monitor lizards.

Mosasaurs looked like a Komodo dragon with flippers instead of legs, and a shark-like tail fin. They became larger and more specialised in the last 25 million years of the Cretaceous period.

Some evolved to eat small prey like fish and squid. Others crushed ammonites and clams. The new mosasaur, Thalassotitan atrox, evolved to prey on all the other marine reptiles.

Thalassotitan had an enormous skull measuring 1.4 metres, and grew to nearly 9 metres long, the size of a killer whale. While most mosasaurs had long jaws and slender teeth for catching fish, Thalassotitan had a short, wide muzzle and massive, conical teeth like those of an orca. These let it seize and rip apart huge prey. These adaptations suggest Thalassotitan was an apex predator, sitting at the top of the marine food chain. Also Read


Also Read: Ancient rocks reveal how Earth’s magnetic field bounced back to save life on the planet


Australian bushfires affected the ozone layer in 2020

Unprecedented smoke released by Australia’s catastrophic bushfires significantly affected the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer, a study has found. 

According to the study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the fires which burned through 5.8 million hectares of Australia’s east in late 2019 and early 2020 triggered the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. 

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds can cause fire tornadoes and lightning storms. These clouds shot more smoke high into the atmosphere than the previous record, set by the 2017 North American wildfires.

According to researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Manchester, this led to smoke and associated gases being injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

The fires also prolonged the Antarctic ozone hole, which appears above Antarctica each spring and reached record levels in observations in 2020.

However, the researchers warn that because climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of bushfires, similar events in which pyrocumulonimbus clouds shoot smoke high into the stratosphere will become more likely. Read More

Oldest evidence of human ancestors walking on two feet found

Fossils from the oldest human species indicate that our ancestors began walking on two feet much earlier than thought, according to a new study. 

Bipedalism is considered to be a decisive step in human evolution. However, there is no consensus when it first evolved, due to the lack of fossil remains. 

A research team, involving researchers from the CNRS and the University of Poitiers, looked at three limb bones from the oldest human representative currently identified, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. 

At 7 million years old, Sahelanthropus tchadensis is considered the oldest representative species of humanity. 

The structure of a femur bone analysed by the team indicates that Sahelanthropus was usually bipedal on the ground, but probably also in trees. Read More

Dugongs functionally extinct in China 

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have declared that one of the ocean’s most gentle giants, the dugong, as functionally extinct in China.

A “functionally extinct” organism is one that may have a few individuals still living but there population will never recover. 

Records of dugongs in Chinese waters have decreased rapidly from the 1970s onwards due to human activities including fishing, ship strikes and human-caused habitat loss.

With no records or evidence of their presence at all in China since 2008, the study shows strong indications that this is the first functional extinction of a large mammal in China’s coastal waters.

The dugong is the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal. It has been classified as a Grade 1 National Key Protected Animal since 1988 by the Chinese State Council, placing them under the highest protection afforded in the country. 

Dugongs can be found in coastal waters off tropical and sub-tropical countries from East Africa to Vanuatu, and as far north as the southwestern islands of Japan, but they are globally threatened and listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Read More  

(Edited by Tony Rai)


Also Read: Diversity among reptiles a result of global warming 250 years ago, finds study


 

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