The deep Earth discovery that could put a new ocean where a continent is
Scientists have detected rhythmic surges of molten mantle rock, described as similar to a heartbeat, deep beneath the African continent.
These upward-surging pulses of hot mantle could eventually lead to the continent tearing apart and the formation of a new ocean over millions of years.
Evidence for this phenomenon was found in the Afar region of Ethiopia, a triple junction where three tectonic rifts converge.
Emma Watson, lead scientist of the study published in journal Nature Geoscience, explained that the mantle beneath Afar is not static but pulses, with these ascending molten channels being guided by the overriding rifting plates.
The research highlights how deep mantle upwellings are linked to plate motion, influencing surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup.
Something is 'pulsing' beneath the Earth, scientists say – and could tear a continent apart
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
4 hours ago
- Times
Trump issues ‘stop notices' to defund UK university research projects
More than 20 research projects at leading UK universities have been cancelled or suspended because of sweeping funding cuts imposed by President Trump. Days after taking office on January 20, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders that froze or cancelled billions of dollars in US research grants. Since then he has proposed slashing the annual $47 billion budget of the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest funder of biomedical research, by 40 per cent. Nature, a leading journal, has accused his administration of an ideologically driven 'assault on science' marked by 'Orwellian restrictions' on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, and the US National Academies has warned that the nation's scientific enterprise is being 'decimated'. • We are Harvard researchers. Trump's cuts are endangering lives At least nine UK-based teams have been issued stop notices — formal notifications that work should cease because funding is being halted — by US federal agencies as a result of the policy shifts. A further 14 have lost funding that had been flowing through American collaborators, according to freedom of information responses from the 24 Russell Group universities, obtained by Research Professional News. Five universities — Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Southampton — confirmed that projects had been directly affected. One cancelled initiative at the University of Liverpool focused on helping smallholders in Ethiopia raise chickens to improve child nutrition. The project had completed a successful pilot, but when USAid, the US government's overseas aid agency, was dismantled by the Trump administration in the spring, funding was cut. At the University of Nottingham, a project tied to the US Institute of Peace was stopped after Trump ordered the institute's closure in February, which is now being challenged in the US courts. A separate Nottingham study on forced child begging in Niger was halted earlier in the year, though it has since resumed. • Trump brain drain starts global tug-of-war for the best science minds The University of Southampton confirmed the suspension of a project under its WorldPop programme, which produces global population datasets used in health and development planning. The University of Leeds acknowledged receiving a stop notice but did not provide further details. Durham University reported four grants being suspended or cancelled, including one tied to the British Association for American Studies (BAAS). That grant, which came through the US embassy, was withdrawn after the BAAS refused to strip DEI considerations from its funding decisions. The money would, in part, have helped introduce Durham schoolchildren to the history of the global black diaspora via talks, films and artworks. Michael Collins, chair of the BAAS and a reader in American studies at King's College London, described the US embassy's demand for it to drop DEI criteria as an effort 'to bully and silence' academics whose views on history and politics differed from those of the president. The restrictions were part of a strategy to 'provide a lever to allow the removal of funding and the frightening of people who are in certain kinds of positions doing certain kinds of work', Collins said. Several institutions reported indirect terminations of research, where US-based collaborators informed their UK partners that joint projects were being defunded. Cambridge University said that ten of its projects had been affected and Queen Mary University of London identified four cancelled collaborations in health and medicine. Although 13 of the 24 Russell Group universities said they had not received formal stop notices, others, including Oxford, UCL, and King's College London, did not respond to the freedom of information requests.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
The online ‘manosphere' poses a real threat to society
The harms associated with the 'manosphere' have been addressed in lots of academic work, including our own, and it is encouraging to see Ofcom – tasked with making online platforms comply with the law on online safety – take an interest. However, having read Ofcom's research and the Guardian's article on it (Society may have overestimated risk of the 'manosphere', UK researchers say, 13 June), we wish to stress that the manosphere poses a very real risk to society and that underestimating the problem will only contribute to it. The research consisted of 39 interviews with people who have seen and/or created manosphere content. While there is value in such a study, both Ofcom and the Guardian acknowledge that those with more extreme views may refuse to participate. Interviewees may also aim to present themselves, and their community, in a more positive light, downplaying misogynistic views. Interviewees' claims – such as finding 'entertainment' in the videos of Andrew Tate – were not questioned by the Ofcom study. Promoting traditional gender roles and discussing perceived immutable differences between men and women was also seen as merely 'ambiguous[ly]' misogynistic. But misogyny is more than explicitly declaring to hate women. The article's headline uses the results of a small-scale study to draw conclusions about 'society' as a whole. This is untenable; indeed, the original report states that findings 'point to a range of risk factors that may increase the likelihood of harm'. That the harm has been overestimated appears to be the interpretation of the managing director of the research agency, who spoke separately to the Guardian. Online misogyny and its mainstreaming is a pervasive issue that is difficult to identify and monitor, and requires a whole-society solution. Ofcom should work with academics and safeguarding professionals: together, we have a chance to address the risks posed by the manosphere – but only if they are taken seriously. Prof Veronika Koller Lancaster University, Dr Jessica Aiston Queen Mary University London, Dr Alexandra Krendel University of Southampton, Dr Mark McGlashan University of Liverpool
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Scientists warn of surprising amount of microplastics found in glass and plastic bottles
Drinks sold in glass bottles, like soda, wine, or beer, may contain more microplastic particles than those in plastic ones, a surprising new study published by France's food safety agency suggests. Microplastics, several times smaller than the width of a single human hair strand, form as plastic waste breaks down into smaller pieces over time, finding their way into the environment and into the bodies of humans and other species. They have been detected almost everywhere, polluting the clouds, the deepest parts of the ocean and on the sides of the world's tallest mountains. A growing body of studies warns that exposure to these particles via the air we breathe and the food we eat could be linked to serious health conditions like strokes, hormone disruptions and several kinds of cancer. Scientists hope to better understand the prevalence of these potentially toxic particles and the ways in which humans get exposed to them. Previous research has found direct evidence linking a key ingredient of plastic bottles to an increased risk of diabetes. Now, a new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis has found that microplastics are prevalent even in beverages sold in glass bottles. Researchers, including those from the French food safety agency ANSES, found an average of around 100 microplastic particles per litre in glass bottles of soft drinks, lemonade, tea, and beer. This could be five to 50 times greater than the rate found in plastic bottles or metal cans, scientists say. 'Counterintuitively, drinks sold in glass bottles were more contaminated by microplastics,' they wrote in the study. "We expected the opposite result," Iseline Chaib, one of the authors of the new study, told AFP. The study could not directly establish whether there was any health risk from the consumption of such beverages sold in glass bottles or not, due to the lack of toxicological data. Scientists found that the microplastic particles in the glass bottles corresponded to the colour and polymer composition of the paint on their caps, indicating that this was likely the main source of contamination. They recommend that glass bottle manufacturers clean new capsules before capping the bottles to reduce microplastic contamination. 'Pre-cleaning of new capsules, by blowing them out and rinsing them with water/ethanol/water, has significantly reduced the number of MPs (microplastics) per encapsulated bottle, lowering it by approximately three, compared to untreated capsules,' scientists said. Researchers suspect the capsules used for capping glass bottles likely undergo abrasion and surface friction as they collide during storage and transport, causing their particles to flake into bottles. 'Cleaning seems to be essential and could significantly minimise contamination of the liquid in the bottle by paint particles present in the capsule,' they added.
