Trees are known for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus benefiting the climate. New research shows that they offer one more benefit. Microbes living in tree bark or in the wood itself remove atmospheric methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – on a scale equal to or above that of soil. This makes trees 10% more beneficial for climate overall than previously thought. The methane absorption was strongest in tropical forests, probably because microbes thrive in the warm, wet conditions found there.

Methane is responsible for around 30% of global warming, and emissions are currently rising fast, driven largely by human-related activities.

Until now, soil had been thought of as earth’s only terrestrial sink for methane, as soils are full of bacteria that absorb the gas and break it down for use as energy. But trees may be as important or more so. The study is the first to quantify the volume of atmospheric methane that, on a global scale, trees can remove – 24.6 to 49.9 million tonnes annually.

The post Tree bark plays a vital role in removing methane from the atmosphere appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Scientists have discovered the fossils of Haliskia peterseni, a formidable pterosaur (flying reptile), in the Australian state of Queensland.

Haliskia, meaning “sea phantom”, boasted a bony crest at the tip of its upper and lower jaws and a mouthful of spike-shaped teeth ideal for snaring fish and other marine prey, and soared above the now-vanished Eromanga Sea. It had a wingspan of 15 feet and lived about 100 million years ago.

22% of Haliskia’s skeleton was unearthed, with complete lower jaws, the tip of the upper jaw, throat bones, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from both wings and part of one leg.

Pterosaurs were the first of three vertebrate groups to achieve powered flight, appearing about 230 million years ago. They were wiped out in the same mass extinction event as the dinosaurs, 66 million years ago, following an asteroid strike.

The post Fossils of ‘sea phantom’ unearthed in Australia appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Venezuela is the first country in modern history to lose all its glaciers, with the vanishing of its Humboldt glacier. By 2011, five of Venezuela’s six glaciers, located in the Andes Mountains, vanished. Humboldt melted faster than expected, and has shrunk from 450 hectares to less than two hectares, leading to its downgrade from a glacier to an ice field. The Venezuelan government has put in a thermal blanket in an attempt to protect the glacier from further melting.

Glaciers are melting due to warmer temperatures caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs). The melting of the Humboldt glacier was accelerated by El Niño (an abnormal warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean leading to warmer temperatures). Other glaciers across the world are shrinking fast, with two-thirds predicted to vanish by 2100 at current climate change trends.

India’s glaciers, too, are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain ranges, and could lose up to 80% of their volume this century if GHG emissions are not drastically reduced.

Glaciers are a crucial source of freshwater for local communities, plants and animals. The cold water that runs off glaciers keeps downstream water temperatures cooler, which is crucial for many aquatic species to survive.

The post Venezuela’s last glacier collapses due to global warming appeared first on The Teenager Today.

A recent study suggests that the “light fingerprint” of life on other planets might be purple rather than green.

Some microbes on Earth are purple, but in our oxygen-rich environment, green life prevails in most ecosystems. Researchers from Cornell University say that life elsewhere may likely make energy with different types of light from the sun, and use compounds with purple pigments rather than green.

About 2.4 billion years ago, cyanobacteria, the first-known photosynthesizing species, began harnessing sunlight using chlorophyll. Before this, microorganisms relied on a purple-pigment molecule called retinal for energy production. This molecule, if present on other planets, could leave a unique signature detectable by advanced telescopes.

Scientists selected over 20 purple-coloured bacteria from different ecosystems, measuring their vibrant pigments and how they give off light. Then, they simulated the “light signatures” — the unique colour and chemical fingerprints that would be visible in an alien planet’s reflected light — and found these purple bacteria would generate vivid, identifiable signatures.

Space observatories could look for these signs of purple life when observing exoplanets — distant planets beyond the sun. Upcoming powerful telescopes, such as the Extremely Large Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will look into the atmospheres of such far-off worlds to determine their composition and habitability.

The post Alien planets may be home to purple life appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Five minutes of reading a day is as valuable to mental well-being as walking 10,000 steps and eating five portions of fruit and vegetables is to our physical health, according to research commissioned by the Queen’s Reading Room, a literary project led by the U.K.’s Queen Camilla, to promote the power and benefits of reading.

The study found that just five minutes of reading a work of fiction immediately reduced stress in participants by nearly 20%. “A short period of reading can actually help us better manage our stress, significantly increasing our concentration and improving our ability to focus on the next task. Those five minutes really can make the rest of our day better,” says Vicki Perrin, chief executive of the Queen’s Reading Room. “We found that high frequency readers are significantly less likely to experience feelings of loneliness — important not just for the health of society, but because leading research tells us that loneliness can increase the likelihood of different dementias.”

Queen Camilla, an avid reader, highlighted the research: “Just as we always suspected, books are good for us — and now science is proving us right!”

The post Five minutes of reading a day keeps the blues away appeared first on The Teenager Today.

In a bid to tackle river and ocean pollution in India, Hong Kong-based marine technology start-up, Clearbot, is launching a fleet of larger solar-powered autonomous boats.

Clearbot previously deployed 13 boats capable of collecting up to 250 kg of plastic waste daily for projects in Hong Kong and India. Each of their new self-driving electric boats collects approximately 500 kg of plastic waste and other debris from the river and ocean. The boats collect waste from the surface of the water and deposit it in designated areas for collection and recycling.

Founded by University of Hong Kong graduates in 2019, Clearbot harnesses solar power for its fleet, thus eliminating carbon emissions associated with conventional diesel-powered vessels that traditionally perform these tasks.

India contributes approximately 13 per cent of global ocean plastic. With at least 11 million tonnes of plastic entering oceans annually, initiatives like Clearbot’s represent vital steps toward alleviating environmental degradation.

The post New robot boats to tackle ocean pollution in India appeared first on The Teenager Today.

India is home to 718 snow leopards, accounting for roughly 10-15% of the big cat’s global population. Conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) Programme was carried out from 2019 to 2023 as part of the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), a global effort to determine the snow leopard’s numbers.

The survey covered approximately 120,000 sq kms of snow leopard habitat across the trans-Himalayan region. After camera traps identified 214 individual snow leopards, surveyors analysed leopard trails and other data to estimate the animal’s population at 718. Ladakh, with 477 individuals, is the leading snow leopard habitat in India, followed by Uttarakhand (124), Himachal Pradesh (51), Arunachal Pradesh (36), Sikkim (21), and Jammu and Kashmir (9).

The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In India, it is given the highest wildlife protection status. Its numbers in the wild face multiple threats, from habitat loss and poaching to infrastructure development.

Understanding the precise population of the snow leopard is important because of its role as the apex predator in the Himalayan ecosystem. Its population can indicate health of the ecosystem and help identify potential threats to its habitat, and shifts caused by climate change.

The post India’s elusive snow leopard population at 718, reveals survey appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is a group of radio telescopes operating out of South Africa and Australia, with its headquarters at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the U.K.

The SKA project will study the Milky Way in great detail. Since our home galaxy’s view is better from the Southern Hemisphere, the arrays are being constructed there. 

The telescopes will scan the skies faster than any of its kind, mapping out all visible galaxies up till the edge of the universe in more detail than ever before. Survey data from SKA will provide insights into the early days of evolution of our galaxy. The telescope, expected to begin operations by 2029, will also search for signs of life beyond Earth by looking for planets that orbit stars in habitable zones. 

In total, the SKA telescope arrays will comprise 197 large parabolic mid-frequency radio antennae in South Africa and 131,072 low-frequency antennae in Australia.
The SKA will be the most powerful telescope ever built, and one of the world’s largest collaborative research projects with 16 consortium members, thousands of researchers and the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The Indian Pathfinder research partner for the SKA project is Pune’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). The SKA India consortium consists of over 20 colleges and universities across India that will participate in the SKA project.

The post Square Kilometre Array — world’s largest radio telescope project appeared first on The Teenager Today.

White noise has long been favoured for its ability to drown out distractions and lull us into a peaceful sleep. However, there’s a new entrant in the world of sleep sounds — green noise — the soothing rustle of leaves, the gentle flow of a forest stream, or the harmonious chirping of birds. White noise can be a whirring fan, radio or television static, humming air conditioner, etc.

Green noise encompasses all audible frequencies like white noise. However, unlike white noise, green noise emphasises lower frequencies, creating a sound that is softer and more soothing than the harsher, static-like sound of white noise. It is non-intrusive and reminiscent of peaceful natural settings.

Green noise can be beneficial for sleep because of its calming properties and ability to mask background noises that might disturb sleep. It can also be used to enhance focus and concentration, especially in noisy environments. It also finds application in relaxation and stress reduction techniques, and in managing tinnitus, a condition characterised by ringing in the ears.

The post Green noise: the new secret of sound sleep appeared first on The Teenager Today.

A new study has estimated that the total global population of ants is a mind-blowing 20 quadrillion (20 followed by 15 zeroes) or approximately 2.5 million ants crawling around for every human.

The combined biomass of all ants on Earth amounts to 12 megatons of carbon. Biomass is the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area. This exceeds the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals (2 million tons) and equals 20% of human biomass.

There are more than 12,000 known species of ants, generally black, brown or red in colour. Ants are most abundant in tropical and subtropical regions; they can be found nearly everywhere, except Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and some island nations.

Ants serve as key ecological players for nutrient cycling, decomposition processes, plant seed dispersal and the agitation of soil. “Think about the amount of organic matter that 20 quadrillion ants transport, remove, recycle and eat. In fact, ants are so essential for the smooth working of biological processes that they can be seen as ecosystem engineers. The late ant scientist E.O. Wilson once called them ‘the little things that run the world’,” says entomologist Patrick Schultheiss, co-author of the study.

The post There are 2.5 million ants for every human on Earth appeared first on The Teenager Today.