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The <keyword id="6432840" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Oregon-State-University" source="Orion">Oregon State University</keyword> will lead a National Science Foundation-funded effort to discover <keyword id="12064362" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Antarcticas-oldest-ice" source="Orion">Antarctica's oldest ice</keyword> and learn more about how the earth's climate has changed over the past several million years.<br /><br />The <keyword id="12064363" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Center-for-Oldest-Ice-Exploration" source="Orion">Center for Oldest Ice Exploration</keyword>, or <keyword id="2248105" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COLDEX" source="Orion">COLDEX</keyword>, will be created under a five-year, $25 million Science and Technology Center award announced on Thursday.<br /><br />The center will bring together experts from across the US to generate knowledge about earth's climate system and share this knowledge to advance efforts to address climate change and its impacts.<br /><br />"This is fundamental exploration science," said Ed Brook, a paleoclimatologist in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the principal investigator for COLDEX. <br /><br />"What we're after is to see how the earth behaves when it is warmer than it has been in the last one million years. In order to do that, we have to find and collect ice cores that go back that far."<br /><br />The oldest continuous record of Antarctic ice, collected by drilling miles down from the continent's surface, currently goes back about 800,000 years. The researchers hope to find a continuous record that goes back 1.5 million years, Brook said.<br /><br />"The characteristics of the climate system were really different in the period between 800,000 years ago and 1.5 million years ago," he said.<br /><br />Brook and COLDEX collaborators also hope to locate much older ice, perhaps up to three million years old and even older. Ice that old is not likely to be found in a continuous record, but initial research shows that patches of older ice are trapped in the mountains around <keyword id="6354781" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Antarctica" source="Orion">Antarctica</keyword>.<br /><br />"This ice and the ancient air trapped in it will offer an unprecedented record of how greenhouse gases and climate are linked in warmer climates and will help to advance our understanding of what controls the long-term rhythms of earth's climate system," Brook said.<br /><br />COLDEX is one of six new science and technology centers announced by the <keyword id="133800" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="national-science-foundation" source="Orion">National Science Foundation</keyword>, which currently supports 12 centers, with the last group funded in 2016.<br /><br />The objective of the program, established in 1987, is to support transformative, complex research programs in fundamental areas of science that require large-scale, long-term funding.<br /><br />Oregon state is well qualified to lead COLDEX because the university has a growing polar science program, Brook said. <br /><br />The university also is home to the Marine and Geology Repository, one of the nation's largest repositories for oceanic sediment cores that also houses Antarctic ice core samples stored in a freezer kept at 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.<br /><br />But the quest to find Antarctica's oldest ice is a collaborative affair. <br /><br />University partners on the project include Amherst College; Brown University; Dartmouth College; Princeton University; University of California, Berkeley; UC Irvine; UC San Diego; the University of Kansas; University of Maine; University of Minnesota, Duluth; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; University of Texas; and the University of Washington.<br /><br />"Drilling ice cores is super hard, very expensive and can take years of planning," Brook said. <br /><br />"We'll be doing a lot of modeling and also developing new tools to help us pinpoint the best locations to search."<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/jiophone-next-smartphone-launch-delayed-until-diwali-due-to-chip-shortage/articleshow/86087153.cms">JioPhone Next launch delayed until Diwali due to chip shortage</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/income-tax/news/income-tax-returns-filing-deadline-extended-again/articleshow/86070034.cms"><strong>Income tax filing deadline for FY21 extended to December 31</strong></a><br />

This American university wants to discover Antarctica's oldest ice to find out what happens when Earth gets warmer

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have discovered that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">melting in Greenland</a> and Antarctica is occurring much faster than they previously thought. This year, the extent of Arctic sea ice was the second-lowest ever recorded.</li><li>Polar ice melt contributes to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">sea-level rise</a> and also leads the planet to heat up faster, since ice reflects sunlight back into space.</li><li>An organization called Ice911 has proposed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">scattering tiny, glass spheres</a> across parts of the Arctic to reflect more sunlight back into space and slow the thaw.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The Arctic is melting at unprecedented rates: Greenland's ice is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-level-rise-3-feet-in-80-years-un-report-2019-9">disappearing six times faster</a>&#xa0;than it was four decades ago. In August, the ice sheet lost 60 billion tons <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02653-x">in just 5 days</a> of summer thaw.</p><p>Over the last four decades, we've lost <a href="https://www.essoar.org/doi/10.1002/essoar.10500214.1">75% of the volume of Arctic ice</a>. The current extent of the sea ice is the second-lowest it's been since scientists started keeping track in 1979.</p><p>In addition to raising sea levels, this melting significantly contributes to climate change because Arctic ice reflects sunlight into space (in part because sea ice is bright and white). So less ice means less heat leaving the planet, which in turn leads more ice to melt. It's a vicious cycle.</p><p>A nonprofit called Ice911 offers a potential solution to this ominous feedback loop: The group has proposed blanketing key parts of the Arctic in millions of hollow, glass microspheres to form a protective layer that reflects sunlight and insulates melting ice.</p><p>"We're an awfully creative species, and we need to slow the climate-change clock," Leslie Field, the founder of Ice911, told Business Insider. "Technology like this gives us time to act."</p><h2>Tiny silica beads at work</h2><p>The tiny spheres Ice911 has developed look more like grains of sand than beads. They're manufactured from silica, a compound made of silicon and oxygen, because the material is abundant in the natural world and harmless to humans and animals.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>Field described the microspheres as "small, fine, white beach sand" that floats. In a sense, the material is a lot like snow.&#xa0; &#xa0;</p><p>The reflective beads stick to ice and water on contact, and their chemical composition ensures they don't attract oil-based pollutants. Simulations done by Ice911 suggest that using the technology to restore ice reflectivity could help lower temperatures by 1.5 degrees Celsius over a large part of the northern Arctic.</p><p>But so far, the technology is still in the field-test phase. Field said Ice911 started with "a very small experiment in buckets" on the deck of her own home, then conducted small tests at a lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains and a pond in Minnesota.&#xa0;</p><p>In the last two years, Field and her colleagues have brought the microspheres to the Arctic, where they spread the material over a frozen lake near Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska. The results, some of which were reported <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018EF000820">in a May 2018 study</a>, suggest the silica beads did indeed increase ice reflectivity and thickness.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>Field doesn't want to blanket all 1.6 million square miles of Arctic sea ice with the beads, though. Instead, her team is using climate models to pinpoint strategic parts of the Arctic where the microspheres could have maximum impact.</p><p>One of these areas, she said, is the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard - a hotspot of melting. That region is warming <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/07/oceans-demise-the-end-of-the-arctic-as-we-know-it">nearly four times faster</a> than the global average.</p><p>"This is where ice floes come to die, and the cemetery is filling faster each year," climate physicist Till Wagner <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/07/oceans-demise-the-end-of-the-arctic-as-we-know-it">told The Guardian earlier this year</a>.</p><p>Field thinks that in three years, Ice911's technology could be deployed to curb this floe demise. But she estimates it would cost about $5 billion to scatter the microspheres on a meaningful scale.&#xa0;</p><p>"When you look at that cost, it's big," she said. "But the cost of doing nothing is far greater."</p><p>For now, she said, Ice911 still needs to conduct more tests and get proper permissions from governments and environmental groups before considering any large-scale deployment.</p><h2>Shrinking Arctic sea ice</h2><p>Every September, Arctic sea ice hits its minimum extent. Since the 1980s, that minimum has decreased by about 13% per decade, and the decline is accelerating, as the NASA animation below shows.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>In 1979, Arctic sea ice spanned about 2.7 million square miles (7 million square kilometers). By last month, the extent had dropped to 1.7 million square miles (4.3 million square kilometers). According to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKYdSqf2ss">NASA data</a>, this year has tied 2007 for the second-lowest sea ice extent on record. The worst year was 2012, when the ice shrank to under 1 million square miles (2.6 million square kilometers).</p><p><a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/09/18/window-save-arctic-sea-ice-rapidly-closing/">Researchers at the European Space Agency</a> have warned that the current rate of carbon emissions means we could see an ice-free Arctic in just decades.</p><p>Field describes polar ice as Earth's "heat shield." The Arctic's oldest, thickest sea ice lifts the heaviest load in terms of reflecting sunlight, but that's what's thawing fastest. About 95% of this bright, multi-year-old sea ice <a href="https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card">disappeared in 2018</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>That's the ice that Ice911 wants to save.&#xa0;</p><h2>Field says her invention is a climate solution, not geoengineering</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>Field, who has 55 patents, said she first pinpointed ice reflectivity as the climate "lever" she wanted to pull in 2006, after watching Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." The film explains that the loss of reflectivity in the Arctic had contributed to one-fifth of global temperature rise.</p><p>Since that documentary came out, researchers' warnings about the consequences of climate change have gotten much more dire. That has led some scientists and politicians, like Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, to consider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">geoengineering</a> technologies that could essentially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-atmosphere-clouds-harvard-2018-4">hack our climate</a>.</p><p>Geoengineering strategies range from developing facilities that suck carbon dioxide out of the air on the safer end of the spectrum, to deliberately injecting reflective chemicals into the atmosphere to send more sunlight back into space on the more extreme side.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/geoengineering-how-to-reverse-climate-change-2019-4">We're altering the climate so severely that we'll soon face apocalyptic consequences. Here are 11 last-ditch ways we could hack the planet to reverse that trend.</a></em></p><p>Field and her team referred to Ice911's technology as "localized, reversible geoengineering" in their 2018 paper, but she emphasized that the beads are "different than what has come to be known as geoengineering primarily."</p><p>Instead, she said, Ice911's microspheres are "working to rebuild something that was, until recently, already there, not taking the climate on a new path."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>Plus, given that the beads are made of material that's "darn close to ubiquitous in the environment," Field added, she sees "a defensible distinction" between her organization's approach and efforts to, say, inject chemicals into the atmosphere.&#xa0;</p><p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03036-4#ref-CR2">A 2018 article</a> in Nature noted that geoengineering Arctic and Antarctic glaciers could buy us crucial time to address climate change. But Field was quick to note that Ice911's work should not be seen as a sufficient solution on its own.</p><p>"I don't want this to be an excuse for coal mines, I don't want people to say, 'We don't have to change a thing because the engineers will fix it,'" she said.</p><p>But given that polar melting is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sea-level-rise-3-feet-in-80-years-un-report-2019-9">on track to raise seas 3 feet by 2100</a> and threatens to displace hundreds of millions of people, Field added, the need for Ice911's technology is now "urgent and demonstrable."</p><div></div>

An engineer has devised a way to stop Arctic ice from melting by scattering millions of tiny glass beads to reflect sunlight away

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP/Natacha Pisarenko</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>In a plot that sounds like something out of a low-budget horror film, scientists have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-giant-viruses-waking-up-ice-2017-5">recently uncovered ancient, enormous viruses in ice</a> that some say could wake up as the Earth's climate warms.</p><p>Before they begin to threaten our health, however, some of these newly-unearthed viruses may offer important clues into some of the most enduring biological mysteries - including where such viruses came from in the first place.</p><p>This week scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia found a microorganism in the lakes off the coast of Antarctica that could offer clues as to how the first viruses - which include HIV and even the virus that causes the common cold - came to be. They believe they may have broken out of some of the oldest cells on Earth. The findings are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-017-0009-2">detailed in a paper in the journal Nature Microbiology</a>.</p><p>Deep in the lakes of a group of rocky, coastal islands near the south pole, the researchers uncovered an organism that resembles a bacterium, but is not. In reality, the lifeform belongs to a separate class of life known as <em>Archaea,</em> a type of single-celled organism that typically thrives in harsh environments. The most intriguing finding, however, came from even further inside the organism's cells - where a scientists uncovered a tiny piece of self-replicating DNA.</p><p>Fragments like these are known as plasmids. Typically, they carry bits of genetic material that could be of use to the cells they live inside. This plasmid, however, was a strange specimen. Instead of remaining trapped inside its host cell like most plasmids, the plasmid (which they named pR1SE) was able to break free. By encasing itself in a protective bubble made of fat, pR1SE could hop out of its host cell - maybe even looking for other cells to occupy.</p><p>It's a behavior that is eerily similar to that of viruses.</p><p>"pR1SE looks and acts a lot like a virus. But it carries genes that are found only on plasmids, and lacks any telltale virus genes. It is a plasmid with the attributes of a virus," wrote Michael Marshall <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2144518-antarctic-mystery-microbe-could-tell-us-where-viruses-came-from/?mc_cid=66d28f244c&amp;mc_eid=9d72ade319">in a recent article for New Scientist</a>.</p><p>In other words, pR1SE could be the missing link between tiny bits of DNA and viruses, potentially solving one of the greatest scientific mysteries of the past century.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-avoid-shark-attack-shark-expert-2017-8">A shark expert explains how to avoid a shark attack</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Ancient viruses are being unearthed in ice - and they could help solve a big mystery about what makes us sick

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Thomas Legner, 61, is the general manager of The World, the largest private residential yacht.</li><li>The ship has 165 apartments that residents own as it continuously sails around the world.</li></ul><p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Thomas Legner, the 61-year-old general manager of The World. It has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p><p>The World is the largest private residential yacht on earth. It's nothing like a cruise ship; it's more like a country club on the water.</p><p>There are 165 apartments on the ship, and we have an average of 200 residents on board. Our youngest resident is five years old, and our oldest resident is 80.</p><p>I joined the ship as the general manager in January 2014. I was previously the general manager for the Intercontinental in Vienna, and before that, I worked for the Four Seasons.</p><p>I wanted to join The World because no other ship is like it. Residents vote on where we sail to each year. We've traveled as far as Antarctica and Papua New Guinea.</p><h2 id="a6458283-fe21-47d6-afb6-ae9342faaca7"><strong>It's not a cruise. It's an exclusive home at sea.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="The World superyacht in Madagascar" height="914" width="1652" msid="112167494" hostid="261" sizebytes="121328"></div><p>As it's not a cruise ship, we don't have a captain's table or welcome drinks.</p><p>The World is someone's home. Most people live on the ship for five to seven years, but some residents have been with us since The World launched 22 years ago.</p><p>Our residents can live on the ship all year round if they wish, but as they often have other homes, they will split their time between residences.</p><p>There are four ways to come on board the ship: buy an apartment, be invited as a guest, be a potential buyer and enjoy a trial stay, or join the members-only club Exclusive Resorts. The club owns four properties on The World as part of its offering, but there is a waitlist to come on board.</p><p>There are always rumors about who owns a home in The World. We have had politicians and TV stars on board in the past, but we don't divulge any of the ship's residents.</p><p>I'd just say everyone is a leader in their field. At the moment, only a small number of apartments are available to buy.</p><h2 id="90e38f3e-5742-46d1-924c-71726c9febc9"><strong>Staff member's presence should be felt, not seen</strong></h2><p>We have six restaurants on board, an art gallery, a swimming pool, a fitness center, a golf simulator, and a spa. We also have a boutique and grocery store.</p><p>The staff understand they are working in someone's home. We are respectful and polite.</p><p>None of the crew members except the captain would ever address a resident or guest by their first name. We treat them the same way luxury hotel staff would treat their guests.</p><div type="image" title="The pool area in The World" height="5375" width="8059" msid="112167490" hostid="261" sizebytes="3488900"></div><p>I'm a great believer that service should be felt but not seen. We have a profile on each resident that lists all their preferences, from allergies to whether they like large or small ice cubes in their drink.</p><p>The residents may buy ingredients in the ship's grocery store and cook in their apartment, but if they go to a restaurant, they should only have to tell us once what they like or dislike.</p><p>The whole ship focuses on residents' preferences. That can be the type of linen they want in their apartment to what port activities they like.</p><p>We plan sailing itineraries two years out. We will create a schedule once the residents have voted on destinations. We are now working on the schedule for 2027.</p><h2 id="0de5ffe1-ec98-4967-9b79-16178e808eaf"><strong>Crew and residents have one-in-a-lifetime experiences</strong></h2><p>We are always looking to create special moments for the residents.</p><p>On one occasion, when it was a perfect day at sea, we stopped the ship on the equator. We placed one Zodiac, an inflatable boat, north of the equator and another south of the equator. Guests could swim across the equator in the middle of the Atlantic.</p><p>The crew also enjoys special moments. When the residents go on excursions, the crew may ride dune buggies through the Namibian desert or dine under the stars in Wadi Rum in Jordan.</p><div type="image" title="The deck of a private residence on The World" height="2400" width="3600" msid="112167492" hostid="261" sizebytes="591782"></div><p>It's our job to field the residents' requests. They could want a table at a Michelin-star restaurant with a waiting list, which we've managed, or they might need a private jet at the last minute.</p><p>I might have broken out into a cold sweat in a previous life, but now we just make it happen. The key to dealing with last-minute requests is being flexible and having alternatives if the initial request isn't possible.</p><h2 id="35d4b290-113a-4786-a26e-6e33c826a850"><strong>We have issues that other ships don't have</strong></h2><div type="image" title="A residence on The World" height="4305" width="7163" msid="112167491" hostid="261" sizebytes="2159842"></div><p>As a residential ship, we have issues that other ships might not face. One of our biggest is storage.</p><p>We probably have 80 golf bags in storage. Residents will also bring their furniture and artwork but don't want to display everything. They might want to switch the Picasso for the Rembrandt.</p><p>We will never disclose where the ship is at any given time. The crew is also briefed to never advertise on social media that they're on The World and the ship's location for security reasons.</p><h2 id="2a1b7661-326f-47ab-b483-20ef6c74f1cc"><strong>The pandemic presented the biggest challenge for me as a general manager</strong></h2><p>The most challenging day for me as GM was in March 2020 at the pandemic's start. We had just arrived in Fremantle, Australia when the airports and ports started closing. The guests and half of the crew flew home.</p><p>The rest of the crew stayed on board to maintain the ship.</p><p>I remember standing on the bridge with the captain. He said it was the first time he hadn't known whether to turn left or right, as we didn't have a destination. The uncertainty was difficult. </p><p>The best day on the ship was welcoming everyone back in July 2021. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. We hadn't seen some people for over a year, and everybody was in tears.</p><p>My favorite part of the job is interacting with the crew and the residents and creating amazing experiences.</p><p>A couple of weeks ago, somebody told me that The World is like Four Seasons on steroids. Our crew members make something so memorable that people don't want to leave.</p>

I work on the world's largest residential yacht that's like the Four Seasons on steroids. Some guests have lived on it for over 20 years.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Zealandia broke apart from the supercontinent Gondwana millions of years ago then sank.</li><li>It's hard to study an underwater landmass, but researchers say they've created a complete map.</li></ul><p>After decades of work, a team of scientists has finally completed a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maps-reveal-eighth-continent-zealandia-underwater-2020-6">map of Zealandia</a>. It's helping them unlock the secrets of this lost continent's mysterious past.</p><p>Zealandia is sometimes called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hidden-continent-zealandia-under-new-zealand-age-map-2021-7">Earth's eighth continent</a>. It stretches over 1.9 million square miles — about half the size of Australia. </p><p>But it was hidden, lost for millennia, because 95% of it is underwater. That makes it extremely difficult to map since most of its volcanoes, valleys, rifts, and mountains lie at the bottom of the ocean near New Zealand.</p><p>But that didn't deter scientist Nick Mortimer, who led the team that's been studying Zealandia for over 20 years. </p><p>In a new study, the team finished mapping the final piece of the continent, the northeast corner. </p><p>Combined with their data from years of research, they've mapped the continent's surface features like plateaus and ridges. As well as the boundary where the continent and ocean usually meet — a feature that's largely unknown for other continents, because it's not typically studied, Mortimer said.</p><p>As a result, the scientists believe they've mapped Zealandia more thoroughly than any other continent on Earth. </p><p>"As far as we're aware, this is a world first," Mortimer, a geologist with <a href="https://data.gns.cri.nz/tez" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GNS Science</a> who led the study, told Insider.</p><h2>Decades of work establish Zealandia as a continent   </h2><p>Some have argued Zealandia isn't a continent because so much of it lies below the water. Others <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/zealandia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consider it</a> a continental fragment or microcontinent. </p><p>For geologists, like Mortimer, the definition of a continent doesn't necessarily have to do with sea level. </p><p>In addition to a continent's large size and defined boundaries between land and sea, another important factor is the continental crust. </p><p>A continent typically has a thicker crust and is geologically much more varied — with granites, schists, limestones, and quartzites — compared to the sea floor.</p><div type="image" title="A colorful map of Zealandia in different shades of yellow, orange, and dark red" height="2718" width="3624" msid="104068286" hostid="261" sizebytes="649304"></div><p>It took a large international collaboration and a combination of satellite, radar, and rock data to understand Zealandia's geology. </p><p>By 2019, the team had mapped the boundaries of South Zealandia. Based on years of research and accumulating evidence, the team felt they could finally "pronounce Zealandia as a continent, albeit one that is a lot more hidden than other ones" Mortimer said. </p><p>But the researchers also wanted to know how Zealandia looks, from its volcanoes and ridges to its basement geology — the oldest crust that serves as its foundation. </p><h2>Geologically mapping Zealandia </h2><p>Their latest paper,<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023TC007961" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> published</a> in the peer-reviewed journal "Tectonics" on September 12, fills in the maps' geological gaps in the northeast section, the last piece of the puzzle. </p><p>The researchers gathered and dated basalt and sandstone rocks from the seabed of the Fairway Ridge area of Zealandia, located in the Coral Sea to the northwest of New Caledonia. They ranged between about 36 and 128 million years old.</p><p>By gathering rock samples then plotting where they lay on Zealandia, the team could get a sense of what geological forces, like volcano formation and sinking crusts, were happening and when. </p><div type="image" title="Several gray granite rocks lined up on a white background with a sample number and 5 centimeter scale" height="1685" width="2250" msid="104068287" hostid="261" sizebytes="161692"></div><p>From left to right, the paper's bathymetric map shows Zealandia's basement geology getting progressively younger, from the Paleozoic to the Permian-Mesozoic eras. </p><p>The data helps geologists understand what happened when Zealandia broke off from a bigger landmass. </p><h2>Zealandia is likely Antarctica's cousin </h2><p>Mortimer calls Zealandia an extra piece of the supercontinent Gondwana puzzle. </p><p>For a long time, geologists have known Gondwana was a landmass containing what's now Antarctica, Australia, South America, Africa, and India. It began to break up during the Late Jurassic period, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921818114001507" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about 160 million</a> years ago. </p><p>Zealandia's basement geology gave clues about where it fit into the supercontinent alongside Australia and Antarctica. </p><p>That included finding where granite once met granite and records of reversals in the Earth's magnetic field. "We can get some very satisfying geological matches across these continents before the supercontinent broke up," said Mortimer. </p><p>Under its ice, much of West Antarctica is submerged underwater, Mortimer said. Around 100 million years ago, the two nested together in Gondwana. "Both of those parts were stretched, a lot like pizza dough, pulled out and stretched," Mortimer said. "They got wider, but they got thinner."</p><p>As the crust cooled and thinned, Zealandia started to subside below the water and continued sinking until about 25 million years ago. Meanwhile, crustal uplift created mountains and islands, though New Zealand <a href="https://www.gns.cri.nz/news/the-geological-evolution-of-our-continent-over-100-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may never</a> have been fully submerged. </p><div type="image" title="A drawing of several e atatu penguins on rocks and in water with green hills in the background" height="797" width="1063" msid="104068289" hostid="261" sizebytes="113594"></div><p>"Adding Zealandia into the data mix is bound to give us some insights into why supercontinents break up," Mortimer said. It also provides biologists with important information about the plants and animals — like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/extinct-penguin-species-suggests-origin-on-lost-zealandia-continent-2020-9">ancient penguins</a> — that lived on Zealandia. </p><p>The answers to that question and many others remain unsolved, Mortimer said. But now that geologists have a basic idea of the outline of Zealandia and its geology, they can shape their research projects and questions in a much more informed way to answer the whens, the hows, and the whys.</p>

Scientists finally finished mapping Earth's 8th continent Zealandia, helping them solve the lost continent's mysterious history

<ul><li>New fossils show that penguins swam tropical waters before the solar ice cap even existed.<br /></li><li>The discovery published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.26879/1009">Palaeontologica Electronica</a> points to penguins evolving rapidly after the <keyword id="8433372" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="dinosaurs-went-extinct">dinosaurs went extinct</keyword> 66 million years ago.<br /></li><li>It’s possible that they had the ability to fly before the extinction event.<br /></li></ul>Today, Penguins reside on the chilly banks of Antarctica and twaddle between land and the sea — but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/penguins-as-big-as-humans-survived-whatever-killed-the-dinosaurs-as-per-fossils-in-new-zealand/articleshow/70731237.cms">that might not have always been the case</a>.<br /><br />Before the solar ice cap was the formed, the oceans were tropical, and penguins were rushing along the evolutionary chain. Not unlike the penguins in the animated movie, <em>Madagascar.</em><br /><br />They might even have been able to fly, according to a new study published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.26879/1009">Palaeontologica Electronica</a>.<br /><br />"It's not impossible that penguins lost the ability to fly and gained the ability to swim after the extinction event of 66 million years ago, implying the birds underwent huge changes in a very short time. If we ever find a penguin fossil from the Cretaceous period, we'll know for sure," said <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/fu-wpr120519.php">Paul Scofield</a>, co-author of the study.<br /><br />These new fossils appear to be from 62.5 million to 60 million years ago — making them the oldest penguin skeletons with proportions similar to the penguins we know today. And, it’s the first species to be discovered that has a similar limb development and foot shape.<br /><br /><strong>When dinosaurs went extinct<br /></strong><br />Five new partial penguins skeletons found on the Chatham Island in New Zealand indicate that penguins evolved rather quickly after the dinosaurs went extinct.<br /><br />"We think it's likely that the ancestors of penguins diverged from the lineage leading to their closest living relatives — such as albatross and petrels — during the Late Cretaceous period, and then many different species sprang up after the dinosaurs were wiped out," explained Scofield. <br /><br />Late Cretaceous is the time period before an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-happens-when-an-asteroid-actually-hits-earth/articleshow/70732006.cms">asteroid wiped the dinosaurs out</a> — 110.5 to 66 million years go.<br /><br /><strong>Not so different after all<br /></strong><br />The species dubbed <em>Kopoupou Stilwelli </em>after the palaeontologist who made the discovery — Jeffrey Stilwell — were similar in size to a species we know today, King Penguins. Only, the new species had shorter legs. <br /><br />So, when on land, the penguins ‘waddle’ was a little more pronounced.<br /><br />Like King Penguins, they also performed best underwater. <br /><br />"This penguin is the first that has modern proportions both in terms of its size and in its hind limb and foot bones (the tarsometatarsus) or foot shape."<br /><br />Fossils found earlier this year suggested that another species of penguins, during the same time period, may even have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/penguins-as-big-as-humans-survived-whatever-killed-the-dinosaurs-as-per-fossils-in-new-zealand/articleshow/70731237.cms">human-sized</a>. It’s possible that both swam alongside each other.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/penguins-as-big-as-humans-survived-whatever-killed-the-dinosaurs-as-per-fossils-in-new-zealand/articleshow/70731237.cms">Penguins as big as humans survived whatever killed the dinosaurs — as per fossils in New Zealand</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/How-The-60-Foot-Long-Ancient-Shark-Megalodon-Ripped-Apart-Giant-Whales/articleshow/25699687.cms">How The 60-Foot-Long Ancient Shark, Megalodon, Ripped Apart Giant Whales</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/scientists-found-the-worlds-oldest-lizard-fossil-and-it-suggests-lizards-lived-among-the-earliest-dinosaurs/articleshow/64466772.cms">Scientists found the world's oldest lizard fossil - and it suggests lizards lived among the earliest dinosaurs</a><br /><br /><br />

Flying penguins chilling on tropical islands may have existed before the dinosaurs went extinct

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"> Christian Lambert Photography via Compfight cc</p></div></div></div>There's never been a better time to take to the seas. </p>
<p><strong>Because the new ships are seriously cool. </strong>Launching in November, Royal Caribbean International's 4,180-passenger Quantum of the Seas is so high-tech that industry insiders are calling it truly revolutionary. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On board? A glass viewing capsule that rises 300 feet above the sea on a mechanical arm. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You will find a laser-shooting range on the new Regal Princess and on the Norwegian Getaway, a "plank" for guests to walk that juts over the water. (Don't worry, you'll be harnessed in.) </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">River ships are breaking new ground (er, waters</span><em style="line-height: 1.5em;">)</em><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, too: with Scenic Cruises, your cabin's balcony becomes a sun room on cool days; Tauck River Cruising's new ships have 22 suites with some 300 square feet of space, larger than any other staterooms on European rivers. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Starting this spring, Emerald Waterways will offer European itineraries on two ships equipped with heated pools and movie theaters. Scenic Cruises, A-ROSA Cruises, Tauck River Cruising, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and Viking Cruises are among the other lines with new vessels this year. Amenities include butler service, free Wi-Fi, and floor-to-ceiling views.</span></p>
<p><strong>Because the food rivals what you'll find on land. </strong>Immersive culinary experiences are now so much a part of cruising that you can try some of the top city restaurants at sea. Geoffrey Zakarian, chef at Manhattan hot spot the Lambs Club, has restaurants on the Norwegian Breakaway and the Norwegian Getaway<em>.</em> </p>
<p>You'll find outposts from Michael Schwartz of Miami's Michael's Genuine Food &amp; Drink on Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas<em> </em>and<em> </em>Allure of the Seas.<em> </em>Don't miss the molecular and ice bars on Celebrity and Carnival; they're as chic as any urban boîte.</p>
<p><strong>Because going digital has never been easier at sea. </strong>Most mega-ships now have digital directional signs, language apps and culture guides with GPS mapping. Crystal Cruises provides live streaming of TV news and movies in all cabins. Regent Seven Seas Cruises is making the Wi-Fi experience so much better: double the satellite bandwidth, greater speed, and even free service for guests in concierge-level and higher suites.</p>
<p>Robots are on board, too: a remote camera on Lindblad Expeditions' new National Geographic Orion<em> </em>lets you see down under, while Quark Expeditions' Antarctic ships have drones with GoPro cameras that give you a view from above. On Quantum<em>,</em> interior staterooms offer real-time ocean views on their virtual balconies.<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Because you'll have exclusive, insider-only experiences. </strong>In Europe and the Americas, cruisers will mix visits to much-loved cities and heritage sites with VIP adventures, behind-the-scenes access, and events including the World Cup, the British Open, and the Grand Prix of Monaco (all of which tend to make booking hotel stays on land a challenge).</p>
<p>Guests of Celebrity can spend a day driving a Ferrari through villages around Nice, France, while with Seabourn, you can walk through penguin colonies on the Antarctic ice before slipping into the spa back on board for a Thai herbal-poultice massage.</p>
<p><strong>Because you may just learn something. </strong>Among the guest lecturers on board ships this year?</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Retired archbishop Desmond Tutu (on the March 28 Holland America sailing along the coast of South Africa)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Former CIA operative Tony Mendez, whose Iran hostage rescue inspired the movie Argo, on Seabourn Sojourn's 116-day world cruise, departing Los Angeles January 4</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On select Quark Expeditions polar itineraries, Jonathan Shackleton, co-author of "Shackleton: An Irishman in Antarctica." He's also a cousin of Ernest Shackleton.</span></li>
</ul>
<div><strong><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">Check out the latest up-and-coming cruise ports and the best new ships:</span></strong><span style="line-height: 22.5px; font-size: 1.5em;"></span></div>
<h2>Russia's Historic Hotspot</h2>
<h2> </h2>
<p><strong>Port:</strong> Sochi, Russia</p>
<p><strong>Excursion:</strong> Long before this city was chosen to host the <keyword id="45145" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="2014">2014</keyword> Winter Olympics, the region was a favorite retreat of Joseph Stalin. Tour the dictator's austere 1937 dacha, still filled with his personal possessions. The day ends in the 30-acre subtropical Dendrary Botanical Garden (mind the roaming ostriches!).</p>
<p><strong>Voyage:</strong> <a href="http://www.celebritycruises.com/home.do">Celebrity Constellation</a>, to and from Istanbul. October 14; 11 nights from $2,499.</p>
<h2>Temples of Burma</h2>
<p><strong>Port:</strong> Rangoon, Burma</p>
<p><strong>Excursion:</strong> This two-day jaunt is worth the quick flight to Pagan: you'll see a few of the 2,000 pagodas and temples from a traditional horse cart, with stops at a lacquerware workshop. Includes an overnight stay in a local hotel.</p>
<p><strong>Voyage:</strong> <a href="http://www.seabourn.com/main/Main.action">Seabourn Odyssey</a>, to and from Singapore. November 9; 14 nights from $6,999.</p>
<h2>California Wine Country</h2>
<p><strong>Port:</strong> San Francisco</p>
<p><strong>Excursion:</strong> Take a three-hour ride through Napa Valley on a restored 1915 train-passing wineries such as Far Niente (established in 1885), Robert Mondavi, and Opus One. Bonus: thanks to a conductor turned designated driver, feel free to enjoy the tasting bar, replete with some 50 local bottles at any given time.</p>
<p><strong>Voyage:</strong> <a href="http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/">Azamara Quest</a>, from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. February 10; eight nights from $1,499.</p>
<h2>Colonial Colombia </h2>
<p><strong>Port:</strong> Santa Marta, Colombia</p>
<p><strong>Excursion:</strong> In Colombia's oldest city, you'll see artifacts of the Kogi and Arhuaco peoples in the Gold Museum-and tour the final home of 19th-century liberator Simón Bolívar.</p>
<p><strong>Voyage:</strong> <a href="http://www.oceaniacruises.com/">Oceania's Regatta</a>, from Miami to Los Angeles. December 5; 15 nights from $3,499.</p>
<h2>Indonesia's Art Island</h2>
<p><strong>Port:</strong> Lombok, Indonesia</p>
<p><strong>Excursion:</strong> Visit nearby villages to see locals dye fabrics using ikat techniques and mold decorative pots, then stop at the Sayang Sayang art market to shop for intricate rattan baskets and wooden boxes inlaid with pearl and filigree panels.</p>
<p><strong>Voyage:</strong> <a href="http://www.crystalcruises.com/">Crystal Symphony</a>, from Sydney to Bali.February 16; 12 nights from $4,055.</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/tls-guide-to-cruising-2014/7">Keep reading at Travel + Leisure &gt;</a></h2>
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<li><strong><a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-places-to-travel-in-2014">Best Places to Travel in 2014</a><a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-places-to-travel-in-2014"></a></strong></li>
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<li><strong><a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/air-travel-tips">Air Travel Tips</a></strong></li>
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