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<br /> Putting aside earlier age estimates for both the <keyword id="6359982" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="earth">Earth</keyword> and the <keyword id="42440" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Moon">Moon</keyword>, <keyword id="2319979" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="geochemists">geochemists</keyword> from the <keyword id="2325205" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="University-of-Lorraine-in-Nancy">University of Lorraine in Nancy</keyword>, <keyword id="6354785" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="France">France</keyword>, have discovered that the final stage of the formation of the two is around 60 million years older than was previously thought.<br />
<br />
A new study has found that the timing of the giant impact between the Earth's ancestor and a planet-sized body occurred around 40 million years after the start of the solar system formation.<br />
<br />
Geochemists have discovered an isotopic signal which indicates that previous age estimates for both the Earth and the Moon are underestimated.<br /> One of the standard methods to estimate early Earth events is measuring the changes in the proportions of different gases (<keyword id="446266" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="isotopes">isotopes</keyword>) which survive from the early Earth.<br />
<br /> Researchers Guillaume Avice and Bernard Marty analysed <keyword id="1269758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Xenon">xenon</keyword> gas found in South African and Australian quartz, which had been dated to 3.4 and 2.7 billion years, respectively.<br />
<br /> The gas sealed in this quartz is preserved as in a ‘<keyword id="947844" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Time-capsule">time capsule</keyword>’. This allowed Avice and Marty to compare the current isotopic ratios of xenon, with those which existed billions of years ago.<br />
<br />
Recalibrating dating techniques using the ancient gas allowed them to refine the estimate of when the Earth began to form. This allowed them to calculate that the Moon-forming impact is around 60 million years older than had been thought.<br />
<br />
"The xenon gas signals allow us to calculate when the atmosphere was being formed, which was probably at the time the Earth collided with a planet-sized body, leading to the formation of the Moon. Our results mean that both the Earth and the Moon are older than we had thought," Avice added.<br />
<br /> The research was presented at the <keyword id="2325204" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Goldschmidt-Geochemistry-Conference">Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference</keyword> in Sacramento, California, this week.<br /> (Image: <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword>)

Earth And Moon 60 Million Years Older Than Previous Estimates: Researchers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tourists aboard a submersible saw the rare giant phantom jellyfish during a Viking cruise.</li><li>Viking Octantis is a luxury ship that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antarctica-i-do-not-regret-visiting-cruise-expensive-review-2023-12">travels to Antarctica</a> and often has researchers aboard.</li></ul><p>Not so long ago, giant phantom jellyfish were an extremely rare sight, with fewer than 130 known sightings. Then tourists aboard <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/submersible-superyacht-for-mega-wealth-underwater-luxury-migaloo-shark-rich-2024-5">personal submersibles</a> started spotting them near the Antarctic Peninsula.</p><p>The submersible rides were part of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vikings-around-the-world-cruise-180-days-for-80000-photos-2023-1">Viking Expedition</a> trip. Viking Octantis, a luxury cruise<strong> </strong>vessel, takes thousands of passengers each year through the icy waters of the Southern Ocean to glimpse penguins, seals, and other wildlife.</p><p>All the majestic scenery and cruise ship amenities come with a healthy dose of science and the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientist-antartica-develop-own-accent-after-six-months-of-isolation-2024-3">Antarctic research</a>. Trips start at $13,000 for a 13-day cruise.</p><h2 id="020b4c06-5641-439d-af40-ab04a62a6ebd">Searching the deep seas for phantom jellyfish</h2><div type="image" title="A beige giant phantom jellyfish in blue water" height="1200" width="1600" msid="111414978" hostid="261" sizebytes="22956"></div><p>While scientists started using personal submersibles with increasing frequency in the <a target="_blank" href="https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/8873/15289">1990s</a> and 2000s, Antarctic waters are generally still <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-scientists-tourists-colossal-squid-antarctica-2024-4">difficult and expensive</a> to get to. Hopping in one right from Viking's cruise ship makes things a little easier.</p><p>And it's novel enough that every trip might lead to something unexpected. "The exciting thing is we can go into the water and say there's a very real chance we might find something that is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-new-species-of-feather-stars-with-20-arms-2023-8">genuinely new</a>," Damon Stanwell-Smith, Viking's head of science and sustainability told Business Insider.</p><p>Viking's Octantis has two, six-passenger <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/submersible-missing-antarctica-doomsday-glacier-2024-2">submersibles</a>, which take guests down to depths of nearly 1,000 feet.</p><p>It was during three such trips in early 2022 that Viking tourists snapped pictures and took video of the giant phantom jellyfish. A year later, other guests had spotted a handful more, <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=7bc458c6266b912295fedc635c33b14db39ddb9efefc4bfd0b874d984ca8c18c&amp;postID=667f0e1985b49b35b285f54c&amp;postSlug=giant-phantom-jellyfish-rare-viking-cruise-submersible-2024-6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.com%2Fanimals%2Farticle%2Frare-giant-phantom-jellyfish-antarctica">National Geographic reported</a>.</p><p>First described in 1910, the jellyfish has an umbrella-like body with four ribbony arms, which help trap prey and can grow to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mbari.org/animal/giant-phantom-jelly/">over</a> 33 feet each.</p><div type="image" title="A yellow submersible near the sea floor" height="1500" width="2368" msid="111414973" hostid="261" sizebytes="70834"></div><p>Finding the jellyfish has proven difficult in the past, and many mysteries remain about its habits. While they're typically observed in <a target="_blank" href="https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/8873/15289">deep water</a>, all the Viking sightings were at less than 1,000 feet deep.</p><p>Based on the guests' jellyfish encounters, the ship's researchers published a scientific paper in 2023 in the peer-reviewed journal Polar Research discussing how submersibles can help lead to breakthroughs in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-underneath-antarctica-land-hills-valley-2023-10">Antarctica's under-studied waters</a>.</p><h2 id="e1fccdee-8307-4883-9109-a663303873a9">An expedition ship built for luxury and discovery</h2><div type="image" title="Two people in red jackets and hats sit in a zodiac boat looking at a cruise ship in Antarctica" height="1500" width="2438" msid="111414976" hostid="261" sizebytes="167186"></div><p>In addition to hangers built for subs, the Octantis and its sister ship, Polaris, were designed for many other types of science. There are 380-square-foot <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingcruises.com/press/press-releases/2023-02-15-viking-expedition-team-publishes-first-scientific-paper-from-inaugural-antarctic-season.html">laboratories</a> with equipment sophisticated enough for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/extinct-golden-mole-lost-species-animals-southafrica-edna-endangered-rediscovered-2024-1">environmental DNA</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingcruises.com/press/press-releases/2024-05-21-phytoplankton-genetically-sequecend-at-sea-for-the-first-time.html">testing</a>.</p><p>Stanwell-Smit said this capability is cutting-edge for any research vessel, not a cruise ship. "This is incredibly novel," he said. It lets researchers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-fully-sequenced-human-y-chromosome-first-time-2023-8">genetically sequence</a> biological samples right away instead of waiting months for another laboratory to do the work.</p><p>The cruise line's commitment to science attracts a certain kind of tourist, which Stanwell-Smith refers to as the "retired professor<strong> </strong>demographic."</p><p>The expedition ships cater to these educated, curious guests by letting them participate in research alongside the nine scientists on every voyage, whether <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-surprises-living-working-antarctica-worlds-most-remote-post-office-2023-5">to Antarctica</a> or through the US's Great Lakes.</p><p>Guests can listen to expert lectures from the ships' resident <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinstrap-penguins-antarctica-nap-guard-newborns-researchers-found-2023-12">wildlife naturalists</a> or provide citizen scientist data about the birds they spot. Or they can get involved in what Stanwell-Smith calls "real science" by assisting on-board geochemists or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientist-antartica-develop-own-accent-after-six-months-of-isolation-2024-3">oceanographers with research</a>.</p><p>They can take a sample of phytoplankton, watch a weather balloon launch, or prepare a "bait popsicle" to help with a species-monitoring project.</p><div type="image" title="A lab on a Viking cruise ship with several microscopes" height="1600" width="2000" msid="111414980" hostid="261" sizebytes="125818"></div><p>Prepping the smelly bait is one of the expedition ships' most popular activities, Stanwell-Smith said. "There's a subset of our guests who want to roll up their sleeves, put a lab coat on, and just get really messy," he said.</p><p>For those who weren't experts before, Stanwell-Smith thinks the cruise will help them embrace the idea of loving what you know and protecting what you love.</p><p>"There is something very visceral about feeling you know something better by having actively done it rather than just watch somebody else or seen it on the screen," he said.</p><p>Plus, they might witness something completely new that gets written up in a scientific journal.</p>

A luxury Viking cruise ship helped scientists encounter the rarely-seen giant phantom jellyfish 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hydrogen power is an exciting form of clean energy.</li><li>But hydrogen typically needed to be produced in a lab using energy-intensive methods.</li></ul><p>Two scientists in France have discovered what may be the largest known deposit of a clean energy resource that could be a saving grace in mitigating <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/climate-change">climate change</a>.</p><p>Jacques Pironon and Phillipe De Donato, directors of research at France's National Centre of Scientific Research, found a deposit between 6 million to 250 million metric tons of white hydrogen, or naturally occurring hydrogen gas, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/29/climate/white-hydrogen-fossil-fuels-climate/index.html">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>White hydrogen is relatively new to scientists. A study in 2018 that analyzed a well in Mali producing 98% hydrogen gas brought the resource to the attention of the scientific community, CNN reported.</p><p>Now, researchers across the globe are interested in white hydrogen — and it could help us "get to speed" on saving the world from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/climate-change">climate crisis</a>, geochemist Viacheslav Zgonnik told CNN.</p><h2>What is white hydrogen and why is it special?</h2><p>Hydrogen energy is not a new idea — it only produces water when burned, making it an environment-friendly energy source.</p><p>But until recently, scientists thought mass amounts could only be produced in a lab.</p><p>"If you had asked me four years ago what I thought about natural hydrogen, I would have told you, 'Oh, it doesn't exist,'" Geoffrey Ellis, a geochemist with the US Geological Survey, told CNN.</p><p>And turns out, Ellis would've been wrong.</p><p>White hydrogen refers to naturally occurring hydrogen. Its "color" indicates its origin: it is naturally produced in the Earth's crust.</p><p>Other "shades" of hydrogen are produced in a lab. They include <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hydrogen-energy-help-climate-crisis-but-still-hurdles-2023-10">green hydrogen</a> — which is made from electrolysis, the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen — and gray hydrogen, which is made from methane gas, Insider previously reported.</p><p>While hydrogen is the most abundant element, it is usually attached to other molecules — making the lab production process necessary. But separating hydrogen is energy-intensive and typically powered by fossil fuels, CNN reported.</p><p>Because it doesn't require any of these energy-intensive processes, climate experts say white hydrogen could be our saving grace, according to CNN. It's also cheaper: white hydrogen is estimated to cost about $1 per kilogram to produce, while green hydrogen costs about $6 per kilogram, per CNN.</p><p>Several start-ups are already exploring how to commercialize white hydrogen, CNN reported.</p><p>Ellis told CNN that speed is vital to ensure white hydrogen can help curb the climate crisis.</p><p>But Zgonnik told CNN he's hopeful about the turnaround time.</p><p>"We have all necessary technology we need,<strong> </strong>with some slight modifications," Zgonnik said.</p><p>The discovery of the largest-known white hydrogen deposit yet comes just months after the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-announces-summer-2023-hottest-on-record/">hottest summer on global record</a> came to an end — a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/summer-2023-heat-wave-tracker-temperature-records-2023-5">concerning milestone</a> for climate researchers and activists.</p>

What is white hydrogen? Scientists say the clean-energy gas could save the world.

For centuries, scientists have grappled with the enigma of the <keyword id="42440" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">Moon</keyword>'s birth. The widely accepted theory proposes that approximately 4.5 billion years ago, a colossal collision, termed the "giant impact," unfolded between the fledgling <keyword id="6359982" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="earth" source="Orion">Earth</keyword>, known as <keyword id="22883" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="gaia" source="Orion">Gaia</keyword>, and a proto-planet the size of <keyword id="47638" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword> named <keyword id="1165544" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="theia" source="Orion">Theia</keyword>. This catastrophic encounter between Gaia and Theia resulted in a substantial amount of planetary debris, which, in all likelihood, came together to give rise to our lunar companion.<br /><br />Yet, the quandary lies in the remarkable similarity in composition between Earth and the Moon, casting doubt on this conventional theory of lunar genesis. Some scientists have also pondered whether this cosmic clash may have thoroughly mixed Earth's materials in the distant past, but we've lacked definitive evidence to confirm this hypothesis. Fortunately, recent research has illuminated these perplexing theories.<br /><br />By employing an inventive computational fluid dynamics approach referred to as Meshless Finite Mass, researchers have successfully simulated how materials on and within the Earth may have intermingled and diffused post the colossal impact. Intriguingly, the team has ascertained that the upper <keyword id="1609094" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mantle" source="Orion">mantle</keyword> of the Earth underwent a transformation, forming a molten ocean containing materials from both Gaia and Theia, while the lower mantle has remained relatively untouched.<br /><br />This dichotomy within the mantle may still endure to this day. The lower mantle of the Earth could still be predominantly composed of Gaian materials from before the impact, characterised by a distinct elemental composition featuring higher silicon content, in contrast to the upper mantle.<br /><br />As a result, it is proposed that, contrary to the previous notion of Earth becoming more uniform after the Moon-forming collision, this momentous event may have initiated heterogeneity within the early mantle, thus establishing the groundwork for the Earth's geological evolution over the course of 4.5 billion years.<br /><br />Another puzzle within Earth's inner depths pertains to the origin of Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs), which are peculiar regions extending for thousands of kilometres at the base of the mantle. These regions significantly retard the speed of seismic waves passing through them, but their origins have remained shrouded in mystery.<br /><br />The researchers have put forward the notion that LLVPs may have evolved from Theian materials that infiltrated the lower mantle of Gaia. After scrutinising prior simulations of giant impacts and conducting fresh, high-precision simulations, the research team has uncovered that a substantial amount of Theian mantle material, approximately 2% of Earth's mass, found its way into Gaia's lower mantle. This dense, iron-rich Theian material descended to the lowermost reaches of the mantle, eventually crystallising into the stable LLVP regions over a staggering 4.5 billion years of geological transformations.<br /><br />All in all, the striking diversity in the Earth's interior beckons intriguing implications. This newfound understanding not only deepens our grasp of mantle evolution, the chronicles of supercontinents, and the intricacies of Earth's tectonic plates but also furnishes insights into the ancient Earth, Gaia, and Theia, thereby shedding light on the entire narrative of inner <keyword id="52393" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-system" source="Orion">solar system</keyword> formation.<br /><br />Moreover, this fresh comprehension of Earth's profound heterogeneity also provides additional clues concerning the formation of features like Hawaii and Iceland, which likely emerged from mantle plumes—elongated, upward-moving thermal currents driven by mantle convection. Geochemists have unearthed that these regions house components that deviate from the usual surface materials, thereby unveiling vestiges of heterogeneity in the deep mantle, traces of which date back more than 4.5 billion years.<br />

Is there really another planet hiding deep inside our Earth?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have spotted high levels of a specific type of helium called ³He/⁴He in Arctic lava. </li><li>This could suggest the Earth's core is "leaking" helium.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earths-mysterious-core-is-a-lot-weirder-than-you-think-2023-9">Earth's mysterious core</a> is, once again, baffling scientists with its strange behavior.</p><p>A study of 62-million-year-old lava flows on Baffin Island in the Arctic Archipelago has found unusually high levels of helium-3 (³He), a rare isotope that is associated with the insides of our planet.</p><p>The study suggests the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-core-encased-by-ancient-ocean-mountains-taller-everest-2023-9">Earth's core</a> may be leaking the rare helium, upheaving the belief that the giant <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-inner-core-ball-butter-gooier-than-hard-metal-study-2023-10">ball of molten iron</a> at the center of our planet is sealed away.</p><p>"I find this exciting because it suggests that the deep Earth is more dynamic than we realized," Forrest Horton, a geochemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and lead author on the study, told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/93kgwd/earths-core-appears-to-be-leaking-in-the-arctic-and-scientists-dont-know-why">Vice's Motherboard.</a></p><h2>A clue into the Earth's insides</h2><p>When ³He is found trapped in rock, scientists tend to think it comes from material that was bombarded by the sun at the very <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/magma-ocean-inside-earth-kickstarted-magnetic-field-first-2020-2">beginning of our planet's history.</a></p><p>That's because Earth itself doesn't produce much ³He, and any ³He that escapes from Earth floats straight into space. Additionally, ³He that comes from solar radiation today bounces back to space thanks to our planet's magnetic field.</p><p>It follows that high levels of ³He found in rock today would have come from the birth of our planet.</p><p>Seeing ³He in rocks is not that uncommon — its level is measured as a proportion of ³He compared to another helium isotope found in rock, ⁴He. Scientists have traced most of the ³He-rich rocks back to the Earth's mantle.</p><p>What puzzled scientists in this latest study is just how much ³He was in the Baffin Islands lava olivine rocks.</p><div type="image" title="Earth's core illustration" height="2680" width="4020" msid="104588164" hostid="261" sizebytes="474888"></div><h2>The ³He/⁴He ratio found in the Baffin Islands should not be possible</h2><p>The Earth's mantle isn't static. It's constantly spewing lava to the surface, and gobbling up pieces of the Earth's crust. With all that churning, some of the isotope originally preserved inside the planet has escaped over time.</p><p>However, scientists say there's a limit to how much ³He can be found in a rock that comes from the mantle. Anything above that limit likely means the helium originates from elsewhere.</p><p>"What was surprising was that we measured ³He/⁴He ratios that extend to much higher values than previously thought," Horton said.</p><p>The next logical assumption then, is an even more challenging one: the rock comes from deeper within — meaning the core. That, in itself, could rewrite what we know about our planet.</p><p>"Traditionally, the core and outer layers of our planet (mantle and crust) were presumed to be geochemically isolated (i.e., material does not transfer back and forth)," Horton told Vice in an email.</p><p>The finding, Horton told Vice, "lends credence to the idea that material, or at least helium, leaks out of the core."</p><p>"I find this exciting because it suggests that the deep Earth is more dynamic than we realized: elements move between the metallic and rocky parts of our planet," he said, per Vice.</p><p>"One important question is, assuming helium is leaking out of the core, whether any other elements also escape from the core? And when did these elements migrate into the rocky part of the planet?" he said.</p><p>The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=d56a245effaf86f022b0929c184dd56a7e51f64b1333bdb981790050e0748379&amp;postID=653255393f64add278f75b4f&amp;postSlug=rare-element-arctic-lava-suggest-earth-core-may-leaking-2023-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-023-06590-8.epdf%3Fsharing_token%3D6Rlg6hrGdhFv3FMWvjr5cdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PKmXMX8n7E_pqStH5omCW26qpSsyne8kcCIqZL3QnJhpZiYD7KGU2QzEL5murPLAqOoKxB7Fjcrw1ystvLzgxqEiRvJjFSDQY97Q3TazPjrDGZTKNRt_S-O76K_q0l9i2oiUKV4G7SfICEdtxI5BL3WYxUSHHq2hIhXrBd4A09GA%253D%253D%26tracking_referrer%3Dwww.vice.com">Nature on August 30.</a></p>

Earth's mysterious core appears to be leaking, leaving scientists baffled

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megalodon-sharks-bigger-than-thought-after-high-school-trip-2021-6">Megalodons</a> were the largest carnivorous <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sharks-mysterious-mass-extinction-study-2021-6">sharks</a> ever, four times the size of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-two-great-white-sharks-feast-humpback-whale-cape-cod-2021-8">great white shark</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-sharks-in-northeast-us-warming-water-seals-2020-8">Great whites</a> may have contributed to <keyword id="14080858" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="megalodon" source="Orion">megalodon</keyword>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-animals-added-to-extinction-list-birds-fish-mollusks-2021-10">extinction</a> by eating the same prey, a new study suggests.</li></ul><p>Megalodon <keyword id="11970102" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sharks" source="Orion">sharks</keyword> were the prehistoric <keyword id="12229472" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oceans" source="Orion">oceans</keyword>' largest predators, but that doesn't necessarily mean they were the best hunters.</p><p>They are the biggest carnivorous sharks to ever swim the seas. Megalodons grew to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megalodon-sharks-bigger-than-thought-after-high-school-trip-2021-6">roughly 65 feet long</a>, possibly by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megalodon-shark-babies-ate-each-other-in-womb-to-grow-2021-1">eating their siblings in the womb</a> — four times the size of a <keyword id="14080859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="great-white-shark" source="Orion">great white shark</keyword>. Nevertheless, great whites may have been formidable hunting competitors when they patrolled the oceans in the early Pliocene, some 5 million years ago.</p><p>Based on an analysis of tooth enamel from nearly two dozen shark species, some contemporary and some long extinct, researchers determined that megalodons and great whites were on the same level of the food chain. That means they likely hunted the same prey in the same oceans. If great white sharks made a big enough dent in the shared food supply, they could have contributed to the megalodon's eventual <keyword id="12228906" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="extinction" source="Orion">extinction</keyword>, about 3 million years ago.</p><p>"What organisms eat really dictates how they evolve, and whether they are, quote, unquote, 'winners or losers' in the game of life," Michael Griffiths, a geochemist at William Paterson University, who analyzed shark <keyword id="11967541" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="teeth" source="Orion">teeth</keyword> for the study, told Insider.</p><p>"The jury's still out as to what led to the extinction of megalodon. But I think this paves the way to future research in terms of really nailing down what led to their demise," he added.</p><p>The shark-tooth <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30528-9">study</a> was published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday.</p><h2>Tooth enamel contains hints of ancient creatures' diets</h2><div type="image" title="fossilized shark teeth on a white table with one large megalodon tooth in a person's hand" height="1825" width="2439" msid="91924105" hostid="261"></div><p>Teeth are some of the best-preserved remnants of ancient sharks, partially thanks to the fluoride in their enamel. That same enamel also preserves hints of the sharks' diets, in the form of certain isotopes of zinc.</p><p>Animals and fish tend to concentrate the heavier zinc isotopes in their bones. Because predators mostly eat muscle, not bone, their bodies have lower levels of heavy zinc isotopes, and higher levels of light zinc isotopes, than prey animals do. As you go up the food chain, each new level of predator has less and less of the heavy zinc isotopes.</p><p>To figure out how high each shark was on the food chain — or which "trophic level" it occupied — the researchers measured the ratio of heavy versus light zinc isotopes in the teeth. The technique has helped scientists piece together the diets of ancient land animals, but Griffiths said this is the first time it's been used on marine vertebrates.</p><p>The teeth of great white sharks and megalodon had similar isotope levels, indicating that they occupied the same spot in the food chain.</p><p>"I'll caution that we don't have a whole lot of data," Griffiths said.</p><p>However, he added, because sharks are opportunistic feeders — they'll eat whatever they can get — there's "no doubt" there would be some overlap in what great whites and megalodons ate.</p><p>"Being such a large animal, [megalodon] maybe only needed a little bit of competition to really have a big impact on its survival," he said.</p><p>The teeth revealed some other trends in shark diets, too.</p><p>"The general diet of practically every shark group with modern descendants has apparently not changed so much over the last 20 million years," Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiology professor at DePaul University, research associate at the Sternberg Museum in Kansas, and co-author of the new study, told Insider via email. For example, he said, "extinct tiger sharks were 'generalists' feeding on a wide range of food types, just like the modern tiger shark."</p><p>The megalodon's smaller ancestor, Otodus chubutensis, had a zinc isotope depletion that was "off the charts," indicating that its trophic level was "beyond anything in the modern ocean," Griffiths said. That could mean that it survived largely by eating other sharks.</p><p>"That suggests that there was a point in time where they truly did rule the ocean," he said.</p>

Shark tooth enamel suggests prehistoric great whites may have competed with giant megalodons for food

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-photographed-china-change-5-moon-lander-lunar-surface-2020-12">Chang'e-5</a> mission <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-change-5-spacecraft-landed-with-moon-rocks-2020-12">brought rocks from the moon to Earth</a> for the first time in 45 years.</li><li>The rock samples are the remnants of ancient lava flows and date back 2 billion years.</li></ul><p><keyword id="12223583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="volcanoes" source="Orion">Volcanoes</keyword> on the <keyword id="11900364" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">moon</keyword> were spewing lava much more recently than scientists thought. But precisely how that happened is a mystery.</p><p>That's what researchers concluded after analyzing rocks that China's <keyword id="12361452" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="change-5" source="Orion">Chang'e-5</keyword> spacecraft gathered from the moon in late 2020 and delivered back to Earth.</p><p>They're the first lunar samples brought back since the Apollo missions in 1976. But they undermine the findings from analyses of those earlier samples. The Apollo rocks, along with some samples from the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission, indicated that the moon cooled off and its volcanoes stopped erupting roughly 3 billion years ago. </p><p>"The general assumption was that the moon is such a small body compared to Earth and Mars, for example, so it cooled off more quickly and stopped producing volcanics," Bradley Jolliff, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis who helped conduct the research, told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/lunar-rocks-chinese-probe-offer-glimpse-moons-volcanic-history-rcna2707">NBC News</a>.</p><p>But the rocks that Chang'e-5 brought back are about 2 billion years old, and they're volcanic. That means lava flows must have paved over the region where the spacecraft landed, nearly 1 billion years later than scientists thought was possible.</p><div type="image" title="chang'e 5 pano" height="2146" width="4050" msid="87192917" hostid="261"></div><p>That surprising <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl7957">finding</a> was published earlier this month in the journal <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">Science</keyword>. Then on Tuesday, a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04100-2">new study</a> of the Chang'e-5 samples published in the journal Nature also determined those rock samples to be 2 billion years old.</p><p>What's more, two accompanying studies this week showed that the new moon samples are surprisingly low in water and radioactive elements - both of which make volcanic eruptions easier. Water lowers the melting point of rock, and radioactive potassium, uranium, and thorium provide heat to melt magma. Both were present in higher concentrations in the Apollo and Luna moon samples.</p><p>Altogether, the new papers pose "a real conundrum," according to Qing-Zhu Yin, a geochemist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the research. Yin told <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/china-s-moon-rocks-reveal-puzzlingly-persistent-volcanic-eruptions">Science</a> that these studies raise questions about how a body as small as the moon could "support volcanic eruptions in the late stage of life."</p><p>The reason the findings are baffling is that the moon has no atmosphere or magnetic field to retain the heat needed for volcanic activity. But a few ideas are circulating as to how heat stuck around so long. One is that the moon's soil might have been thick enough to hold onto heat for a billion years longer than scientists initially thought. Another is that the moon might have been heated by tidal forces from Earth, since the planet's gravity could have stretched and relaxed the moon's interior as it orbited. A third possible explanation is an impact from a large asteroid or comet, since in some cases that can cause a volcanic eruption.</p><h2>Moon samples are critical for decoding lunar history</h2><p>Chang'e-5 launched to the moon in November. It landed near an inactive volcano in a region called Oceanus Procellarum, which is paved in a type of black volcanic rock called basalt. The lander then gathered more than 4 pounds of lunar rock, taking some material from the surface and some from 6 feet deep into the lunar crust.</p><div type="image" title="crowd takes pictures of moon samples in glass case" height="1666" width="2223" msid="87192918" hostid="261"></div><p>Chang'e-5 then packaged the samples inside a capsule and launched it back to Earth. The capsule landed in Mongolia in December.</p><p>Since past missions harvested so little rock from the moon, scientists expect to learn much more from future samples like the Chang'e-5 rocks. China's next lunar mission, Chang'e-6, aims to launch to the far side of the moon in 2024 and return even more samples.</p><p>"If the moon was a continent-sized object, the Apollo and Luna samples would be like sampling only one state. Imagine if that's all we know about an entire continent," Jolliff said.</p>

China brought the first moon rocks back to Earth in 45 years. They hint at mysterious volcanic eruptions.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski </span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Charles Darwin once theorized that the origin of life - known as abiogenesis - could have happened as precursor compounds came together in "warm little ponds."</strong></li><li><strong>A new study provides evidence for that theory, modeling how meteorites may have delivered compounds that could have led to the formation of RNA (a cousin of DNA) in ponds all over the Earth.</strong></li><li><strong>Proponents of the other major life-origin story, the idea that life comes from hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean, are not convinced.</strong></li></ul><p>The biggest question about life is an obvious one, but the answer is hotly debated.</p><p>How did it all begin?</p><p>The most well-known of biologists, Charles Darwin, once <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtomics/did-life-evolve-in-a-warm-little-pond/">theorized in a private letter</a> to his friend Joseph Lee Hooker that life - the very first molecules of it - could have emerged from a "warm little pond" where some precursor components underwent a chemical reaction, creating compounds that would later develop into the forms of life as we know them today.</p><p>The other main theory is that life could have first emerged underwater at <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html">ultrahot hydrothermal vents</a>, where cold seawater is heated to searing temperatures by volcanic activity deep in the ocean, providing enough energy to transform chemicals and other particles.</p><p>This week, the warm little ponds theory got a boost.</p><p>In a study published Monday in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/26/1710339114">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, researchers wrote that they had mathematically modeled a way that meteorites, which smacked into early Earth far more regularly than they do now, could have delivered organic materials called nucleobases to warm little ponds all over the earth. These nucleobases <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26876/">would have served</a> as the building blocks for RNA (a cousin of DNA), which many scientists think was the first sort of "life" to emerge, since it can both store information and help catalyze chemical reactions that would lead to the formation of other organic compounds.</p><p>Scientists say that for life to exist, molecules have to be able to trigger reactions that lead to the creation of new molecules. RNA has properties that could allow it to do that without already having complex proteins, which DNA requires for the replication process - a key argument for why RNA would come first.</p><p>The authors say their simulation is the first to model this origin story in such a complete way, helping demonstrate that the warm little pond story might be the correct one.</p><p>"No one's actually run the calculation before. It's pretty exciting," Ben Pearce of McMaster University, lead author of the new study, <a href="http://www.mpia.de/news/science/2017-10-rna-ponds">said in a press release</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.mpia.de/news/science/2017-10-rna-ponds">B. K. D. Pearce</a></span></p><p class="caption">A warm little pond on present day Earth, on the Bumpass Hell trail in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California. The warm little ponds that are prime candidates for the birthplace of life on Earth probably looked somewhat similar.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>A model for life formation</h2><p>Pearce and co-authors created a model of what the Earth looked like as the planet changed geologically in its early stages. All over the world, meteorites that hit the planet somewhere between 4.5 and 3.7 billion years ago could have delivered nucleobases to those warm little ponds, thousands of which could have been found all over early continents still emerging from the ocean.</p><p>During dry seasons, these ponds would shrink, bringing chemicals together; they'd expand during wet seasons. Wet and dry cycles help explain polymerization, the process by which compounds develop into chains or three-dimension structures, the authors wrote. The shrunken pools during dry cycles would bring compounds close together, allowing them to bond, which is one of the reasons they think that chemicals coming together in more open water near hydrothermal vents is a less plausible explanation.</p><p>But because of rapidly changing environmental conditions during these cycles, the authors believe RNA must have formed within a few years of meteorite impact. Otherwise, UV from sunlight during dry periods could have destroyed the compounds.</p><p>The authors think this happened at least 4.17 billion years ago, <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2149168-life-may-have-begun-millions-of-years-earlier-than-we-thought/">millions of years before</a> we have clear evidence of life forming on the planet. That evidence dates to about 3.5 billion years ago - though <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature24019">another study this week</a> also made the claim that life existed at least 3.95 billion years before now.</p><p>There are several reasons the authors believe this model could help solve the question of the origin of life, known as "abiogenesis." Their model accounts for meteorites as the source material for the RNA precursors; it can help explain how some of the necessary reactions would have occurred; and they say their timeline fits with the early geologic conditions of the planet.</p><p>"Because there are so many inputs from so many different fields, it's kind of amazing that it all hangs together. Each step led very naturally to the next," said study co-author Ralph Pudritz in the release. "To have them all lead to a clear picture in the end is saying there's something right about this."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/nur04506.htm">OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A hydrothermal vent or "black smoker chimney."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Unanswered questions</h2><p>But the question is still far from solved.</p><p>"Yeah, that's a possibility, but it's certainly far, far, far from being the only possibility, and it's far, far, far from being true," <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1038260" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Jan Amend</a>, a geochemist at the University of Southern California who studies hydrothermal vents, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/how-did-life-start-meteorites-crashing-darwins-warm-little-ponds-was-possible-675655">told Newsweek</a>.</p><p>Amend disagreed with the necessity of the wet-dry cycle, pointed out the meteorite impacts could have destroyed the precursor compounds, and said that even meteorites probably couldn't have delivered the all the necessary materials.</p><p>Other scientists prefer the hydrothermal vent explanation because they believe it's the only way there could have been sufficient energy for the life-forming reactions to occur.</p><p>This new study at least advances the warm pond theory, even if the question remains far from solved.</p><p>"Based on what we know about planet formation and the chemistry of the solar system, we have proposed a consistent scenario for the emergence of life on Earth. We have provided plausible physical and chemical information about the conditions under which life could have originated," co-author Dmitry Semenov of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said in the news release. "Now it's the experimentalists turn to find out how life could indeed have emerged under these very specific early conditions."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/closest-saturn-images-from-nasas-cassini-spacecraft-2017-9">These breathtaking images of Saturn were taken by Cassini as it crashed into the planet</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

There's new evidence that life on Earth began with meteorites crashing into warm little ponds

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/">Courtesy James Powell</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>The next time someone tries to tell you that there's a legitimate scientific debate about man-made global warming, point them to this chart.</p>
<p>It was created by <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/" target="_blank">James Powell</a>, an MIT-trained geochemist, longtime Oberlin professor, and former member of the National <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Board (under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush). He searched for all studies published in 2013 that mentioned "global warming," "global climate change," or "climate change," and found 10,885.</p>
<p>Powell combed through the papers and found <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/Avakyan/Avakyan.html" target="_blank">only</a> <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/Hug/hug.html" target="_blank">two</a> that rejected the idea that humans are responsible for climate change. </p>
<p>"<strong>On the one side, we have a mountain of scientific evidence, on the other, ideology and arm-waving</strong>," Powell <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/" target="_blank">writes</a>.</p>
<p>His analyses of the research in <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/Original%20study/originaltsudy.html" target="_blank">earlier</a> <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/Second%20study/secondstudy.html" target="_blank">years</a> found similar results. (He <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/methodology/method.html" target="_blank">describes his methodology here</a> and even invites skeptics to <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/resources/Nov2012thruDec2013.xlsx" target="_blank">download the data for themselves</a>.)</p>
<p>Some climate change deniers refuse to be moved by the ever-growing "mountain of scientific evidence." But before having a knee-jerk reaction to Powell's findings, consider what they mean, <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/2014/01/10/about-that-consensus-on-global-warming-9136-agree-one-disagrees/" target="_blank">suggests Ashutosh Jogalekar at Scientific American</a>:</p>
<blockquote class="blockquote">
<p>I understand as well as anyone else that consensus does not imply truth but I find it odd how there aren't even a handful of scientists who deny global warming presumably because the global warming mafia threatens to throttle them if they do. It's not like we are seeing a 70-30% split, or even a 90-10% split. No, the split is more like 99.99-0.01%.</p>
<p>Isn't it remarkable that among the legions of scientists working around the world, many with tenured positions, secure reputations and largely nothing to lose, <strong>not even a hundred out of ten thousand come forward to deny the phenomenon in the scientific literature</strong>? Should it be that hard for them to publish papers if the evidence is really good enough? Even detractors of the peer review system would disagree that the system is that broken; after all, studies challenging consensus are quite common in other disciplines. So are contrarian climate scientists around the world so utterly terrified of their colleagues and world opinion that they would not dare to hazard a contrarian explanation at all, especially if it were based on sound science? The belief stretches your imagination to new lengths.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anyone who points to this cold, long winter as evidence that global warming is a myth may be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cold-weather-doesnt-discredit-global-warming-2014-1">confusing unpredictable short-term weather patterns with the long-term behavior of the atmosphere</a>. Where you live may have seen a lot of snow this year, but when scientists look at the whole planet, this past decade is still <a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100728_stateoftheclimate.html" target="_blank">the hottest on record</a>.</p>
<p>And that's exactly why Powell is sounding the alarm, urging people to stop pretending that there's confusion on this issue among serious climate scientists. As the chart above so clearly shows: There's not.</p>
<p>"Very few of the most vocal global warming deniers, those who write op-eds and blogs and testify to congressional committees, have ever written a peer-reviewed article in which they say explicitly that anthropogenic [man-made] global warming is false," Powell <a href="http://www.jamespowell.org/" target="_blank">writes</a>. "Why? Because then they would have to provide the evidence and, evidently, they don't have it."</p>

The Scientific Debate On Global Warming In One Chart

<p><span style="color: #000000;"></span></p><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-closes-in-on-enceladus-one-last-time/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of NASA's Cassini spacecraft flying through the water plumes of Enceladus, an icy moon that orbits Saturn.</p><ul><li><strong>Enceladus is a icy moon of Saturn that hides an ocean and sprays water into space.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected gases on Enceladus that some Earth-based bacteria feed on.</strong></li><li><strong>The gases likely come from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor.</strong></li><li><strong>The discovery raises the likelihood that we could find alien life.</strong></li></ul><p>If alien life exists, it will likely be found in a place with three main ingredients: water, warmth, and food.</p><p>Scientists have long thought such conditions may exist under the icy shell of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn that's about 272 miles (505 kilometers) wide. Those suspicions grew after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-grand-finale-reason-2017-4">NASA's Cassini spacecraft</a> found plumes of water shooting out fissures in the ice. The probe repeatedly flew through the plumes, leading to the discovery of the moon's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">global subsurface ocean</a>.</p><p>But Cassini also "sniffed" and "tasted" the water of Enceladus, and on April 13, scientists revealed they'd found traces of hydrogen and carbon dioxide - two gases that deep-sea microbes on Earth use to feed themselves. A <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aai8703">study about the discovery</a> was published in the journal Science, and the space agency shared details about it in a press briefing streamed live via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmHHpAsMVw" target="_blank">NASA TV</a>.</p><p><span>The hydrogen and carbon dioxide </span>gases likely bubble up from hydrothermal vents that litter the dark seafloor of Enceladus. Such vents exist on Earth's ocean bottom as well - they heat up seawater, react with hot rocks, and leach out food and warmth.</p><p>"This extensive reaction between the ocean fluid and core should also give rise to the production of hydrogen, which is considered to be one of the most powerful chemical energy sources that could support life activity," <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/lab/rockpoweredlife/alexis-templeton">Alexis S. Templeton</a>, a geologist and microbiologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told Business Insider in an email.</p><p><a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hand/">Kevin Hand</a>, a planetary scientist at NASA JPL who wasn't involved in the research, told Business Insider that if Enceladus does indeed harbor such microbes, they could form the base of a food chain within the moon that could be "somewhat similar to what we see at sites like the Lost City hydrothermal site on Earth."</p><p>NASA's new discovery is not by any means evidence of aliens, but the agency said in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-reveal-new-discoveries-in-news-conference-on-oceans-beyond-earth">a press release</a> that the new information "will help inform future ocean world exploration ... and the broader search for life beyond Earth."</p><h2>No 'smoking gun' for alien life</h2><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/nur04506.htm">OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A hydrothermal vent or "black smoker chimney."</p><p>The Earth's deep-sea hydrothermal vents, also called "smoker chimneys," are thought to have harbored some of the first lifeforms on the planet. In fact, recently discovered samples date back <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-fossils-life-hydrothermal-vents-2017-3">more than 3.7 billion years</a>.</p><p>But the discovery of molecular hydrogen, or H2, and carbon dioxide, or CO2, spewing out of Enceladus isn't smoking-gun evidence of alien life.</p><p>"They are not saying life must occur, but that there is evidence for conditions similar to hydrothermal regions on the Earth's ocean floor that host life," <a href="https://www.psi.edu/about/staffpage/sykes">Mark Sykes</a>, director of the Planetary Science Institute, told Business Insider in an email.</p><p>In fact, <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=82520&amp;tid=4462&amp;id=jseewald" target="_blank">Jeffrey S. Seewald,</a> a marine chemist and geochemist at Woods Hole Oceanagraphic Institution, thinks the amounts of the gases that Casini found could be bad news for alien hunters - at least when it comes to Enceladus. At hydrothermal vents on Earth, Seewald said, such hydrogen is rapidly gobbled up by microbes in seawater, making it difficult to detect.</p><p class="source"><span><a href="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA20013.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, which harbors a subsurface ocean and may have hydrothermal vents capable of supporting alien life.</p>"The accumulation of H2 in the Enceladus ocean is conspicuous," Seewald wrote in <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aan0444">a commentary piece</a> in Science that accompanied the study. "Is the presence of H2 in the Enceladus ocean an indicator for the absence of life, or is it a reflection of the very different geochemical environment and associated ecosystems on Enceladus? We still have a long way to go in our understanding."<p>Still, the result is electrifying to many scientists contacted by Business Insider.</p><p>"For decades we have been asking the question, 'Does water equal life'?" Sykes said. "From modeling we know there are past and possibly current subsurface oceans on icy planetary bodies and we see evidence for this on Europa [<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">at Jupiter</a>], Ceres [a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/number-dwarf-planets-solar-system-2017-3">dwarf planet</a> in the asteroid belt], <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-subsurface-ocean-2016-12/">Pluto</a> and possibly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-titan-could-host-alien-life-2016-7">Titan</a> [at Saturn]. Enceladus is making the contents of its subsurface ocean directly available to us so we can drill further into this question."</p><h2>An icy barrier to humanity's biggest questions</h2><p class="source"><span>NAS/JPL-Caltech</span></p><p class="caption">A photograph of Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, taken by NASA's Cassini probe.</p><p>One of the study's big unanswered questions, says <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/staff/profile/96">Philipp Heck</a>, a cosmochemist at the Field Museum, is whether Enceladus' water jets are actually a good representation of the makeup of its ocean.</p><p>"As that liquid escapes, some of it forms ice and stays behind, and some of it doesn't and continues into the vacuum of space," Heck, who wasn't part of the research team, told Business Insider. "So the composition Cassini sampled may be different than the original liquid."</p><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oursolarsystem/5199266243/">NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute</a></span></p><p class="caption">A false-color image showing water plumes erupting from Enceladus's surface.</p>This matters because it makes it much harder to know if the jets sampled by Cassini in December 2015 were representative of Enceladus' long history. If the mix of chemicals in the jets and the ocean are similar, it's likely that Enceladus has had an environment that could support life for millions of years.<p>That would also mean that water plumes discovered on other icy moons, like those of Europa at Jupiter, offer ways to probe other hidden oceans.</p><p>But to truly answer these and other pressing questions about Enceladus, researchers believe we'll have to launch a multi-billion-dollar mission to that moon, find a way through its icy crust, and get an actual taste of the ocean water there.</p><p>Some scientists even want to drop <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered robots</a> into the ocean to map its sea floor, but this could be difficult since the moon's icy crust is probably <a href="http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/06/21/saturn-moon-enceladus-ice-shell-thinner-expected/">2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 kilometers) thick</a>.</p><p>However, the cracks that spew out water from Enceladus may offer shortcuts.</p><p>"Wouldn't it be great to dive into those ice fractures with a robotic spacecraft and swim through that ocean?" Hand said.</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-outer-space-mission-saturn-moon-enceladus-science-2016-8">Scientists are gearing up for a space mission that could solve the biggest mystery about Saturn's water-rich moon</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

NASA has found evidence that an ice-covered moon of Saturn could sustain alien life

<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Les Stone" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52548079eab8eae5188b4577-960/rtr30dvk.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source">REUTERS/Les Stone</p></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Residents near the Marcellus Shale Gas Field have long been </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-epa-ramps-up-oversight-of-the-marcellus-shale-gas-field-amid-reports-of-water-contamination-2012-3">wondering whether their water is safe to drink</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p class="p1">A new study from Duke University is likely to further stoke fears.</p>
<p class="p1">Geochemists have <a href="http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/radioactive-shale-gas-contaminants-found-at-wastewater-discharge-site">found dangerous levels of radioactivity and salinity at a fracking disposal site near Blacklick Creek</a>, which feeds into water sources for Pittsburgh and other western Pennsylvania cities.</p>
<p class="p1">The Duke scientists spent two years, from 2010 to 2012, taking soil samples upstream and downstream from the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility in Indiana County, PA. What they found was striking.</p>
<p class="p1"><span>E</span><span>ven after waste water was treated at the plant to remove dangerous chemicals, radiation was detected far above regulated levels. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span></span>The treated water had Radium levels 200 times greater than control water from the area, said A<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">vner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University's Nicholas School of the <keyword id="6356826" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="environment">Environment</keyword> and one of the primary authors of the study. </span></p>
<p class="p1">In addition, the team found high levels of bromide in the water, a particularly alarming development. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Drinking water plants use chlorine and ozone to turn river water into drinking water. When those chemicals react with bromide, </span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/science/fracking-wastewater-contaminated-likely-radioactive-8C11323012">they produce highly toxic byproducts.</a></p>
<p class="p6">That has yet to happen, according to Vengosh, but it is a dangerous possibility.</p>
<p class="p4">The wastewater that the facility is treating is a byproduct of <keyword id="1386652" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Fracking">fracking</keyword>, the controversial method of injecting chemicals, sand and water into deep underground rock formations to release oil and natural gas.</p>
<p class="p4">Wastewater is a highly saline and radioactive fluid that returns to the surface during the fracking process. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p class="p7">"Each day, oil and gas producers generate 2 billion gallons of wastewater," Duke Professor Rob Jackson said.</p>
<p class="p7">"They produce more wastewater than hydrocarbons. That's the broader implication of this study. We have to do something with this wastewater."</p>
<p class="p8">Approximately 70% of the fracking industry's wastewater in Pennsylvania gets reused to do more fracking.</p>
<p class="p8">Between 8% and 20% of the wastewater is delivered to treatment plants such as Joseph Brine. The remainder is disposed of using other methods.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Avner Vengosh et all" title_caption="The map below shows the Marcellus Shale formation and the surrounding areas. Red squares indicate Oil and Gas Pollution Control Facilities. The black square is the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility:" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52547f466bb3f7666d8b456f-960/vengoshshale.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><a href="http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/radioactive-shale-gas-contaminants-found-at-wastewater-discharge-site">Avner Vengosh et all</a></p><p class="caption">The map below shows the Marcellus Shale formation and the surrounding areas. Red squares indicate Oil and Gas Pollution Control Facilities. The black square is the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility:</p></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">While the Duke University study only focuses on a single wastewater treatment plant, Vengosh believes that hundreds of disposal sites could be similarly affected. If the problem isn't fixed, the chemicals could end up in insects, small animals, fish, and drinking water. </span></p>
<p class="p8"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Ann Seamonds of Fluid Recovery Services, which operates the Joseph Brine Treatment Facility, </span><a href="http://energyindepth.org/marcellus/five-facts-about-dukes-latest-anti-shale-study/">sent a lengthy response to Energy In Depth</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. Her main contention is that Brine stopped processing wastewater from Marcellus Shale in May 2011 and thus the study is flawed. </span></p>
<p class="p8">But the Duke scientists remain positive the contaminants are the result of fracking, because the water contains the same chemical signature as rocks in the Marcellus Shale formation. </p>
<p class="p8">Some progress has been made on the issue.</p>
<p class="p8">In May, Fluid Recovery Services <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/10/03/high-levels-of-radiation-found-in-creek-near-drilling-wastewater-site-in-western-pa/">signed an agreement to not accept or discharge wastewater</a> from formations such as Marcellus Shale until it has installed technology to remove the radiation compounds, metals and salts. </p>

Duke Study: Fracking Is Leaving Radioactive Pollution In Pennsylvania Rivers

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/121949/curiosity-snaps-stunning-one-of-a-kind-belly-selfie-at-buckskin-mountain-base-drill-site/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS</a></span></p><p class="caption">This version of a self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a drilling site called "Buckskin" is presented as a stereographic projection, which shows the horizon as a circle. The MAHLI camera on Curiosity's robotic arm took dozens of component images for this selfie on Aug. 5, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div>If humankind successfully lands people on the surface of Mars, we could discover an important clue about the origins of life on Earth - one of the greatest scientific mysteries in human history. </p><p>A theory called panspermia, which dates back to the 5th century BC, posits that certain life forms can hop between planets, and even star systems, to fertilize them with life. </p><p>Following this theory, <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130905-mars-origin-of-life-earth-panspermia-astrobiology/">some scientists</a> suspect that the first life on Earth never formed on our planet at all, but instead, hitched a ride inside planetary fragments from Mars that were flung into space after a powerful impact and eventually fell to Earth.</p><p>While some write the theory off as outrageous, others think it could harbor some potential. If true, it could deeply impact how we identify ourselves as a species. </p><p>By studying the planet's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hirise-photos-of-mars-2015-3">geography</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-maven-announcement-about-mars-atmosphere-2015-11">atmosphere</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-the-water-on-mars-2015-10">soil composition</a>, planetary scientists know that billions of years ago, Mars was once a warm, wet world with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-big-announcement-about-mars-2015-9">conditions ideal for life</a>.</p><h2>Why a manned mission to Mars is necessary</h2><p>None of the landers or satellites we've sent to the Red Planet thus far have uncovered evidence of past or present life of any kind. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>20th Century Fox</span></p><p class="caption">Scene from the sci-fi film "The Martian."</p></div><p></p></div></div>It's possible that a robot simply cannot dig deep enough or collect enough of the right kind of sample. In the end, it might take a human to explore what robotic rovers cannot.</p><p>Plus, what it takes NASA's best Mars rovers a week to do, a well-equipped human could complete in 15 minutes, according to mechanical engineer and popular <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> communicator Bill Nye in his latest book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unstoppable-Harnessing-Science-Change-World-ebook/dp/B00XU114R4?tag=bisafetynet-20">Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World</a>."</p><p>"If we found microbes on Mars that are clearly related to those on Earth, such a discovery would change the course of human history ... everyone everywhere would soon come to feel differently about what it means to be a living thing in the cosmos," Nye writes. </p><h2>It won't be a surprise</h2><p>This kind of discovery, however, won't come suddenly, according to Linda Billings, the consultant to NASA's Astrobiology and Near Earth Object Programs. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of Heritage Auctions </span></p><p class="caption">This Mars meteorite, which weighs 0.75 pounds (327 grams), landed in July 2011 as part of a shower in the vicinity of Tissint, Morocco, the location that gives the meteorite its name.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"As is the case with most scientific discoveries, the discovery of extraterrestrial life will likely be a prolonged process," Billings told Business Insider. "Claims of evidence of extraterrestrial life will be subjected to peer review, and other scientists will continue to look for further evidence."</p><p>One example of this prolonged process took place in the mid-90's when a team of scientists announced that they found convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life inside of a Martian meteorite - a rock that formed on Mars, were ejected into space after a powerful impact by an asteroid or comet, and eventually landed on Earth. </p><p>To date, scientists have identified 132 Martian meteorites.</p><p>In 1996, the NASA-led team published a paper in the prestigious journal Science that they'd identified grooves and organic compounds in the "ALH8400" Martian meteorite, discovered in Antarctica, that could be fossilized evidence for extraterrestrial nanobacteria.</p><p>"The astrobiology community spent months into years investigating those claims," Billings said. "Eventually a consensus emerged in the science community that the original claim of fossil evidence of martian life did not stand up to scrutiny."</p><p>If astrobiologists do eventually discover that life came from Mars, NASA will be ready for what happens next. </p><h2>NASA explores the repercussions </h2><p>In 2011, NASA and the Library of Congress established the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/fellowships/NASA-astrobiology.html">Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Astrobiology Program,</a> which explores the philosophical, religious, ethical, legal, and cultural impact related to the possible discovery of extraterrestrial life.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Sucheta Das</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>The <a href="http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/fellowships/NASA-astrobiology.html">current chair of the program</a>, Nathani Comfort, who is also a scientific historian and professor at the Institute of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University, shared his thoughts with Business Insider about what the notion that we all have a little Martian in us might mean:</p><p>"It wouldn't alter the views of those who hold literal interpretations of Scripture. And the rest of evolution would follow as before," Comfort said. "The tabloids would have a field day of course. But once the headlines faded and the conferences ended, I think life would continue on much as before."</p><p>As for the people who dedicate their lives to the scientific process, Comfort said:</p><p>"Academics would debate questions of human identity afresh  ... in short, it might throw an existential monkey wrench into the works, but the principles of moral behavior would remain the same."</p><h2>The probability of panspermia </h2><p>The idea that life came from Mars is a highly-debated topic. Both Comfort and Billings agree that the possibility is unlikely. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Reef corals are seen in the Western Indo-Pacific Ocean in this undated handout picture</p></div><p></p></div></div>"It seems to me extremely unlikely that life on Earth came from Mars (or anywhere else)," Comfort said. "The logic and data I find most persuasive dismisses the idea of life coming from a 'seed' at all, whether terrestrial or not."</p><p>Yet, other scientists, like Steven Benner - who's a chemist and one of the world's leading experts on the origins of life - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/science/space/a-far-flung-possibility-for-the-origin-of-life.html?_r=0">argue otherwise</a>. </p><p>In 2013, Benner said during a talk at the Goldschmidt conference for geochemists that Mars might have been a better place for life to begin than Earth. </p><p>That's because ancient Martian meteorites contain more boron and molybdenum - important precursors to the formation of RNA - than early Earth. </p><p>Moreover, Christopher Adcock and Elizabeth Hausrath, both researchers at the University of Nevada in 2013, discovered that phosphates - another important chemical in the formation of RNA, DNA, and essential proteins - in Martian meteorites are more water-soluble than those on early Earth.</p><p>And since life is suspected to have begun in the presence of water, <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1923.epdf?referrer_access_token=97vMd1JId0G0zdxREm8ctdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M5lr5n55_fP-M03_cDrjVkjHhD8TATVf5jepxWUTzMyBf0Y665-sMTu8WF98wjuS13DMd1zDkMtQpUc7vHht1Ry0zcLgzDDXiipw6UCKurmMXSAbA8YOCJZlX-a2yCVq0PFfeTkoMZmPlQpAb4JXuqKe_g5ZQbLtXx7589CnsfWgpwN9TQyBWcNE5D3uDvd_yy_cQcvoyOCBFIky8OvRms&amp;tracking_referrer=news.nationalgeographic.com">their research</a> suggests that Mars could have formed life more readily than Earth.</p><p>However, studying Martian meteorites for signs of life has been ongoing for over two decades without success. Perhaps the only way to know for sure if we are the true aliens is to head to Mars ourselves and dig up the potential proof.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cern-large-hadron-collider-explained-physics-2015-10">How scientists uncovered a completely new world inside the tunnels of the most powerful physics machine on Earth</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="t3aW5rdTq-jFCHUh9x0g5L9BhJT24FCY" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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