Fossilized vomit found in Denmark dates back 66 million years — prehistoric puke hailed as national treasure
Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark.
Or, rather, it did 66 million years ago, Danish scientists say, announcing the recent discovery of very old shark vomit on the country's Cliffs of Stevns — a coastal scenic spot one hour from Copenhagen.
The prehistoric patch of puke sat there long enough to turn into a fossil — languishing in obscurity until an amateur sleuth made the gross and engrossing discovery last November.
The strange story begins during the Cretaceous period, the New York Times reported, when a shark, or shark-like sea creature, apparently did not enjoy a meal of sea lilies.
Sea lilies 'aren't that great to eat, because they are almost only skeleton,' Dr. Jesper Milàn, curator of Denmark's Geomuseum Faxe, which will showcase the previously unknown upchuck, told the Gray Lady.
'So they took what they could and threw up the rest,' he said.
The putrid portal to the past was uncovered by local hunter Peter Bennicke, who had been prowling the white chalk cliffs, a UNESCO-listed geological site, for interesting finds.
Dr. Milàn speculated to the paper that the suddenly-scrutinized spew could have come from a bottom-dwelling shark.
John Jagt, a Dutch sea lily expert, in a written statement obtained by USA Today, concluded that the historic hurl was made up of 'two different species of sea lilies mixed into a clump.'
The retro ralphings were primarily composed of the 'indigestible skeletal parts of their bodies,' the outlet reported.
Experts say the funky find could shed new light on what life was like during the Cretaceous period.
At the latter end of that time period, Europe was said to be a series of islands, due to higher sea levels.
The scientific term for fossilized vomit is regurgitalite.
Surprisingly, the timeless throw up is far from the oldest out there — Dr. Milàn said that Germany, for example, has laid claim to an even more historic spot of spit up, dating back 150 million years.
The spew sample has already been classified by Denmark as an object of 'exceptional natural historical value.'
That means the vomit belongs to Denmark — and is not for sale.
'This is the most famous piece of puke in the world,' Dr. Milàn told The Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Statistically, that shouldn't have happened': Something very weird occurred in the ocean after the dinosaur-killing asteroid hit
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. About 66 million years ago — perhaps on a downright unlucky day in May — an asteroid smashed into our planet. The fallout was immediate and severe. Evidence shows that about 70% of species went extinct in a geological instant, and not just those famous dinosaurs that once stalked the land. Masters of the Mesozoic oceans were also wiped out, from mosasaurs — a group of aquatic reptiles topping the food chain — to exquisitely shelled squid relatives known as ammonites. Even groups that weathered the catastrophe, such as mammals, fishes and flowering plants, suffered severe population declines and species loss. Invertebrate life in the oceans didn't fare much better. But bubbling away on the seafloor was a stolid group of animals that has left a fantastic fossil record and continues to thrive today: bivalves — clams, cockles, mussels, oysters and more. What happened to these creatures during the extinction event and how they rebounded tells an important story, both about the past and the future of biodiversity. Marine bivalves lost around three-quarters of their species during this mass extinction, which marked the end of the Cretaceous Period. My colleagues and I — each of us paleobiologists studying biodiversity — expected that losing so many species would have severely cut down the variety of roles that bivalves play within their environments, what we call their "modes of life." But, as we explain in a study published in the journal Sciences Advances, that wasn't the case. In assessing the fossils of thousands of bivalve species, we found that at least one species from nearly all their modes of life, no matter how rare or specialized, squeaked through the extinction event. Statistically, that shouldn't have happened. Kill 70% of bivalve species, even at random, and some modes of life should disappear. Related: The 5 mass extinction events that shaped the history of Earth — and the 6th that's happening now Most bivalves happily burrow into the sand and mud, feeding on phytoplankton they strain from the water. But others have adopted chemosymbionts and photosymbionts — bacteria and algae that produce nutrients for the bivalves from chemicals or sunlight in exchange for housing. A few have even become carnivorous. Some groups, including the oysters, can lay down a tough cement that hardens underwater, and mussels hold onto rocks by spinning silken threads. We thought surely these more specialized modes of life would have been snuffed out by the effects of the asteroid's impact, including dust and debris likely blocking sunlight and disrupting a huge part of the bivalves' food chain: photosynthetic algae and bacteria. Instead, most persisted, although biodiversity was forever scrambled as a new ecological landscape emerged. Species that were once dominant struggled, while evolutionary newcomers rose in their place. The reasons some species survived and others didn't leave many questions to explore. Those that filtered phytoplankton from the water column suffered some of the highest species losses, but so did species that fed on organic scraps and didn't rely as much on the Sun's energy. Narrow geographic distributions and different metabolisms may have contributed to these extinction patterns. Life rebounded from each of the Big Five mass extinctions throughout Earth's history, eventually punching through past diversity highs. The rich fossil record and spectacular ecological diversity of bivalves gives us a terrific opportunity to study these rebounds to understand how ecosystems and global biodiversity rebuild in the wake of extinctions. The extinction caused by the asteroid strike knocked down some thriving modes of life and opened the door for others to dominate the new landscape. While many people lament the loss of the dinosaurs, we malacologists miss the rudists. These bizarrely shaped bivalves resembled giant ice cream cones, sometimes reaching more than 3 feet (1 meter) in size, and they dominated the shallow, tropical Mesozoic seas as massive aggregations of contorted individuals, similar to today's coral reefs. At least a few harbored photosymbiotic algae, which provided them with nutrients and spurred their growth, much like modern corals. Today, giant clams (Tridacna) and their relatives fill parts of these unique photosymbiotic lifestyles once occupied by the rudists, but they lack the rudists' astonishing species diversity. Mass extinctions clearly upend the status quo. Now, our ocean floors are dominated by clams burrowed into sand and mud, the quahogs, cockles and their relatives — a scene far different from that of the seafloor 66 million years ago. Ecological traits alone didn't fully predict extinction patterns, nor do they entirely explain the rebound. We also see that simply surviving a mass extinction didn't necessarily provide a leg up as species diversified within their old and sometimes new modes of life — and few of those new modes dominate the ecological landscape today. Like the rudists, trigoniid bivalves had lots of different species prior to the extinction event. These highly ornamented clams built parts of their shells with a super strong biomaterial called nacre — think iridescent pearls — and had fractally interlocking hinges holding their two valves together. But despite surviving the extinction, which should have placed them in a prime position to accumulate species again, their diversification sputtered. Other types of bivalves that made a living in the same way proliferated instead, relegating this once mighty and global group to a handful of species now found only off the coast of Australia. These unexpected patterns of extinction and survival may offer lessons for the future. The fossil record shows us that biodiversity has definite breaking points, usually during a perfect storm of climatic and environmental upheaval. It's not just that species are lost, but the ecological landscape is overturned. Many scientists believe the current biodiversity crisis may cascade into a sixth mass extinction, this one driven by human activities that are changing ecosystems and the global climate. Corals, whose reefs are home to nearly a quarter of known marine species, have faced mass bleaching events as warming ocean water puts their future at risk. Acidification as the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide can also weaken the shells of organisms crucial to the ocean food web. Findings like ours suggest that, in the future, the rebound from extinction events will likely result in very different mixes of species and their modes of life in the oceans. And the result may not align with human needs if species providing the bulk of ecosystem services are driven genetically or functionally extinct. RELATED STORIES —Are we in a 6th mass extinction? —After the 'Great Dying,' life on Earth took millions of years to recover. Now, scientists know why. —Refuge from the worst mass extinction in Earth's history discovered fossilized in China The global oceans and their inhabitants are complex, and, as our team's latest research shows, it is difficult to predict the trajectory of biodiversity as it rebounds — even when extinction pressures are reduced. Billions of people depend on the ocean for food. As the history recorded by the world's bivalves shows, the upending of the pecking order — the number of species in each mode of life — won't necessarily settle into an arrangement that can feed as many people the next time around. This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Manufacturer hit with lawsuit for allegedly lying about 'microwave safe' products: 'Duped consumers nationwide'
Two California women are suing Newell Brands, the maker of Rubbermaid, saying the company failed to disclose that its products may release microplastics into food. The class-action lawsuit alleges that the company has misrepresented some of its containers as "microwave safe," "microwave reheatable," and "freezer safe," even though they pose a danger of leaching microplastics into food when microwaved or frozen. "Defendant has duped consumers nationwide out of millions of dollars, placing their health and welfare in jeopardy," the complaint says, according to USA Today. "Sadly, this also includes millions of families specifically targeted for purportedly safe on-the-go school and work meals, and vulnerable children for whom ingesting microplastics is especially dangerous." Microplastics are small plastic particles that break off from larger plastics. They have become a growing concern for public health, as they have infiltrated our food, water, soil, and air. For instance, one study found microplastics in 90% of all protein sources tested, including chicken, tofu, and beef. As a result of our constant exposure to microplastics — whether through ingestion or breathing them in — they've been found all throughout the human body, including in our lungs, male testes, brains, and breast milk. We're not yet sure of all of the impacts of microplastic exposure, but they've been tied to a number of health issues, including cancer, dementia, and impaired blood flow in the brain. While it's difficult to remove microplastics from the environment, it's not impossible. For instance, one group of researchers has figured out a way to filter microplastics out of water using egg whites. You can help reduce your exposure and prevent new microplastics from entering the environment by reducing your plastic usage: try a reusable shopping bag, bring your own to-go containers to restaurants, or buy shampoo bars instead of bottled versions. Some companies are also taking steps to reduce their plastic use. For instance, McDonald's U.K. banned all plastic cutlery, and major beer brands like Coors Light are getting rid of plastic packaging rings. Do you worry about having toxic forever chemicals in your home? Majorly Sometimes Not really I don't know enough about them Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
ChatGPT Is Telling People With Psychiatric Problems to Go Off Their Meds
This week, my colleague Maggie Harrison Dupré published a blockbuster story about how people around the world have been watching in horror as their family and loved ones have become obsessed with ChatGPT and started suffering severe delusions. The entire piece is filled with disturbing examples of the OpenAI chatbot feeding into vulnerable folks' mental health crises, often by affirming and elaborating on delusional thoughts about paranoid conspiracies and nonsensical ideas about how the user has unlocked a powerful entity from the AI. One particularly alarming anecdote, due to its potential for harm in the real world: a woman who said her sister had managed her schizophrenia with medication for years — until she became hooked on ChatGPT, which told her the diagnosis was wrong, prompting her to stop the treatment that had been helping hold the condition at bay. "Recently she's been behaving strange, and now she's announced that ChatGPT is her 'best friend' and that it confirms with her that she doesn't have schizophrenia," the woman said of her sister. "She's stopped her meds and is sending 'therapy-speak' aggressive messages to my mother that have been clearly written with AI." "She also uses it to reaffirm all the harmful effects her meds create, even if they're side effects she wasn't experiencing," she added. "It's like an even darker version of when people go mad living on WebMD." That outcome, according to Columbia University psychiatrist and researcher Ragy Girgis, represents the "greatest danger" he can imagine the tech posing to someone who lives with mental illness. When we reached out to OpenAI, it provided a noncommittal statement. "ChatGPT is designed as a general-purpose tool to be factual, neutral, and safety-minded," it read. "We know people use ChatGPT in a wide range of contexts, including deeply personal moments, and we take that responsibility seriously. We've built in safeguards to reduce the chance it reinforces harmful ideas, and continue working to better recognize and respond to sensitive situations." Do you know of anyone who's been having mental health problems since talking to an AI chatbot? Send us a tip: tips@ -- we can keep you anonymous. We also heard other stories about people going off medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder because AI told them to, and the New York Times reported in a followup story that the bot had instructed a man to go off his anxiety and sleeping pills; it's likely that many more similarly tragic and dangerous stories are unfolding as we speak. Using chatbots as a therapist or confidante is increasingly commonplace, and it seems to be causing many users to spiral as they use the AI to validate unhealthy thought patterns, or come to attribute disordered beliefs to the tech itself. As the woman's sister pointed out, it's striking that people struggling with psychosis are embracing a technology like AI in the first place, since historically many delusions have centered on technology. "Traditionally, [schizophrenics] are especially afraid of and don't trust technology," she told Futurism. "Last time in psychosis, my sister threw her iPhone into the Puget Sound because she thought it was spying on her." Maggie Harrison Dupré contributed reporting. More on AI and mental health: Therapy Chatbot Tells Recovering Addict to Have a Little Meth as a Treat
