Scientists find '2.6 million golden eggs' near an underwater volcano
"The whole thing is wild," lead researcher Cherisse Du Preez of Fisheries and Oceans Canada told USA TODAY in a May 20 email. "It challenges what we consider possible for life on this planet."
The discovery dates back to 2023, but has received rounds of media attention since then. More detailed research findings are due to be published in a Canadian government science report soon, Du Preez said.
The eggs, which come from the Pacific white skate, were found in waters once thought too cold to support life. The Pacific white skate is a "bone-white, bug-eyed relative of sharks that can live almost two miles underwater," according to National Geographic.
"Ours were the first dives on the volcano. No one knew the ancient underwater volcano was active, let alone emitting heat," said Du Preez. "And this geothermally heated hotspot was covered in giant eggs. We think the main nursery is home to 2.6 million golden eggs that take up to 10 years to incubate."
She said the skates choose to lay their eggs on the vents to help with incubation: "The deep sea is cold, and heat helps! To grow big, strong animals, some warmth helps."
The hot, mineral-rich fluid keeps the surrounding waters toasty, providing ideal conditions for some marine creatures to survive in the deep sea, Live Science said.
"As a first, we filmed the female laying eggs. It's out of this world, but at the same time >90% of the livable space on our planet is the deep sea," Du Preez concluded.
Du Preez posted video of the discovery, including a robotic arm lifting one of the eggs, which appeared a vibrant gold color.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: '2.6 million golden eggs' found near an underwater volcano
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
2 hours ago
- CNET
This Nature App Uses AI to Turn Anyone Into a Wildlife Expert. Here's How to Get Started
When I recently moved, one of the building's standout features was the plethora of different plant species in front of its windows. But not like standard landscaping -- more like drier plants, seemingly native to the area. Curious and fairly incompetent in plant sciences, I looked for help in being able to categorize and understand more about it. That's how I found Seek by iNaturalist, a free app where you take photos of plants, animals and fungi. Artificial intelligence suggests its type -- with human confirmation -- while your input and contributions elevate scientific research. What is Seek and how does it use AI? Founded in 2008 as a master's project from UC Berkeley students, iNaturalist later became a joint initiative between the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. It strives to connect people to nature and conservation through crowdsourced data. Today, it contains more than 250 million observations of more than a half-million species. (And I just added seven more in roughly 5 minutes.) Seek by iNaturalist is 100% free thanks to donors who contributed to the platform. It operates as a nonprofit organization that makes all collected data -- with the option to turn it off -- openly accessible to scientists and conservationists worldwide. iNaturalist uses computer vision AI to analyze uploaded photos against a model trained on millions of previous observations. AI is also used on the back end -- it optimizes species recognition accuracy, to display the most relevant photos alongside suggestions and pattern recognition improvements. This helps you distinguish between similar-looking species at home or across your local ecosystems. According to the iNaturalist team, "When you use the AI camera feature on any wild living thing, iNaturalist suggests an identification for what you might be seeing -- whether plant, insect, fungus or other organism." They shared that from there, that photo becomes a useful piece of data for science and conservation. But ultimately, a community of naturalists confirm or correct those AI suggestions. Together, AI and human intelligence help newcomers contribute to biodiversity documentation from their first upload. How to use iNaturalist to spot and categorize nature 1. First search for Seek in your app store of choice and create an account by signing up with email or a social media authenticator. You'll also need to allow camera and location permissions to be able to use the AI's computer vision and accurately detect species. 2. It's best to play around a bit before starting scans. Open the app and tap the camera button -- it's designed to recognize any plant, animal and fungi. I focused solely on plants, as that's what I had readily available. Snap a couple photos or hold the camera button down to snap continuously. Using iNaturalist's AI camera to identify a plant species. Screenshot by CNET As you're testing the camera out, note background images, angles and even lighting, which all play a part in the AI tool's ability to accurately recognize what you've captured. (I had to redo a couple because an attempt to take a birds-eye shot ended up with pictures of my feet.) 3. Next, the AI computer vision will analyze your photo and suggest possible species. This takes no longer than 30 seconds. Here you can also record GPS coordinates and you have the option to add details about behavior, size and other aspects of whatever it is you observed and captured. Beyond this, you can also toggle between privacy options, and select whether it is captive, like a plant, or wild, like natural growth. 4. AI also has suggestions for your species identification, which show up as percentages for accuracy. You can also post your observation -- if geoprivacy is open -- to the community for review by users and experts, like scientists. Once the community confirms your species, your observation becomes scientific data. The point here is that you are part of the collection process for scientists to learn more about species in the world. With your input and the community's approval, you're directly involved in this process. Think of yourself as a bridge between reality and what scientists are constantly trying to understand and improve. The iNaturalist team provided tips for getting the best results, alongside checking out their company guides, or downloading the Seek user guide: treat AI suggestions as a starting point, and engage with other humans; explore information on iNaturalist's database; and be aware that there are more advanced camera suggestions in the iPhone app over the Android app. Should you use iNaturalist? The app is designed like Instagram for nature lovers, with a volunteer process that positions itself as additional help for scientists' discoveries. In my opinion, technology that helps connect people to nature and advances scientific understanding is inherently valuable for our planet and future generations. Some of the privacy options available on the iNaturalist Seek app when you upload your observations. iNaturalist / Screenshot by CNET But even though Seek operates globally, with 3.7 million users, the identification accuracy depends heavily on having active expert communities in your region. This means rural or less-populated areas might get slower species confirmations. Additionally, the topic of AI ethics comes to mind. I asked the iNaturalist team about this. They responded that the location is important for information when correctly identifying species, especially wild ones. Yet they also noted that anyone using iNaturalist can "choose to obscure the precise locations of observations to protect their privacy" and that you can use the AI identification feature without creating an account or posting publicly. The iNaturalist team also regularly updates the Privacy Policy in support of the well-being of the community. The main goal is to create an open biodiversity dataset that can be used to protect nature around the world. Overall, Seek by iNaturalist is a great way to educate yourself and contribute to multiple versions of ecosystems in the process while learning and sharing your findings along the way -- or, as the iNaturalist team shared, a "virtuous cycle of collective effort and improvement, built on community trust and benefit in service of helping people connect with nature and biodiversity worldwide."
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
‘Eclipse of the century' is coming: Here's where you can see all 6 minutes and 23 seconds of totality
In two years from tonight, all eyes will be on the sky. The 'eclipse of the century' is set to take place on Aug. 2, 2027, according to NASA, with the moon moving between the sun and the Earth for up to 6 minutes and 23 seconds. It will be the longest eclipse totality until the year 2114, USA Today reports. The August 2027 eclipse will be the longest since July 11, 1991, where totality lasted up to 6 minutes and 53 seconds in some locations. SobinSergey – Americans hoping to witness the spectacle will need to make travel plans, as only a partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Maine between 5:14 and 5:19 a.m. on that day. For a better look at what is being dubbed 'the natural event of the century,' sky-watchers will have to head overseas. The track of the eclipse is 9,462 miles long and will cross areas including southern Spain, northern Morocco, and northern Algeria. However, the best view will be just outside Luxor, Egypt, which will experience a staggering 6 minutes 23 seconds of totality. That will make the eclipse the longest since July 11, 1991, when totality lasted up to 6 minutes and 53 seconds in some locations. The best view will be just outside Luxor, Egypt, which will experience a staggering 6 minutes 23 seconds of totality. Adil – Those who can't wait two more years for the phenomenon will be pleased to know a shorter solar eclipse will occur next August. That eclipse will occur on Aug. 12, 2026 and will be visible in parts of Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and Portugal, per NASA.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
How DNA And Data Are Solving America's Coldest Cases
Across the United States, more than 50,000 people have died without a name. These are individuals who were never identified, never claimed and often never mourned. But thanks to forensic technology and the growing use of genetic genealogy, that's beginning to change. Naming the Dead, a six-part docuseries from National Geographic, brings this invisible crisis to light. The series follows the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit using cutting-edge DNA analysis and open-source genealogy tools to solve some of the country's most confounding cold cases. It's a quiet revolution in forensics, powered by algorithms, datasets and persistence. From Data to Identity The process of forensic genetic genealogy begins by extracting DNA from unidentified remains. That data is then uploaded to public databases in search of distant relatives. It might sound simple, but it rarely is. Samples are often degraded, especially if they've been buried or exposed to the elements for years. Sequencing has to be precise. And even when a viable DNA profile is produced, the real challenge starts: building family trees from matches that might be third or fourth cousins, or even more distant. I recently spoke with Jennifer Randolph, director of the DNA Doe Project, about the objective of her and her team, and about this Nat Geo series. She described the work as 'a really large logic puzzle.' She added, 'Our genetic genealogy volunteers really like that kind of a challenge... you get pretty excited because it's that feeling of, you know, you're on the cusp of resolving this puzzle.' That excitement is balanced by the gravity of the work. 'It becomes very bittersweet,' she said. 'We know that some family is going to get a knock on the door and they're going to get not the news they hoped for.' It's resolution, not closure—but it's more than many of these families have had in decades. My Experience with Genetic Discovery A few years ago, I submitted a DNA test through It was mostly out of curiosity, but also with the hope of finding a missing uncle—my mother's brother—who was separated from the family while they were in foster care. We only have one photo of him as a toddler, and for most of my life, I've wondered where he ended up. I didn't find him. But I did find someone else. The results revealed that I had a half-brother I never knew existed. We've since connected. We've met. We've had the conversations you never expect to have in your 40s or 50s. The circumstances are complex, but that's the nature of family sometimes. What's important is that the technology gave us a way to discover one another. That experience helped me understand just how powerful this work can be—especially for families of the unidentified dead. It's not just about science. It's about being seen. It's about making the anonymous known. The Tech Making It Possible The show emphasizes how far the technology has come. Advances in next-generation sequencing have made it possible to work with even the most degraded samples—sometimes from cases that are 30 or 40 years old. That data is then uploaded to public databases like GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNA Justice. While private services like AncestryDNA and 23andMe hold the largest databases, they don't allow uploads of profiles from unidentified remains. That limitation means the work of the DNA Doe Project depends on much smaller pools of data—typically between 1.5 and 2 million profiles. That makes each match even more critical. Randolph noted the impact of visibility and public education, saying, 'We've had more than one instance where someone learned about [this technique], had a missing person in their family and decided to upload to GEDmatch. And then—out of the blue—a high match, like a niece, appears. And once you have that, you know you're there.' In other words, awareness is its own kind of technology multiplier. Infrastructure for Justice Behind the breakthroughs is a growing ecosystem of cloud-based collaboration. Investigators, coroners, volunteers and data analysts work across states and time zones using shared digital tools. Case notes, DNA files and potential family trees are securely stored and accessed in real time. What used to be the work of entire agencies can now be supported by distributed teams using pro bono platforms. The DNA Doe Project itself operates as a nonprofit, often covering both the cost of lab work and the countless hours of volunteer research it takes to identify a single person. That's one of the reasons this show matters. Visibility attracts donations, but it also sparks interest from law enforcement. As Randolph explained, 'We want every Jane and John Doe to have the opportunity to be identified, no matter who they are or how tough the case might be. So we do try to get the word out at conferences... and then they learn about us through word of mouth.' Beyond the Lab Naming the Dead doesn't glamorize the work. There are dead ends. Cases stall. Some episodes end with possibilities, not certainty. But the emotional core is steady—this is about restoring dignity, not just solving puzzles. And the tech, as powerful as it is, still relies on human effort and intention. None of this happens without people willing to volunteer time, apply pressure and keep showing up for the forgotten. It's worth remembering that some families have waited 20 or 30 years for answers. That kind of silence can be corrosive. When resolution comes—whether through a second cousin match or a last-minute database upload—it opens the door to grief, remembrance and sometimes, healing. Naming the Dead premieres August 2 on National Geographic and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. New episodes run through September 6.
