Monkeys caught on camera ‘kidnapping' another species' babies
Experts recorded 11 separate incidents of the baby howlers being kidnapped between 2022 and 2023 on Jicarón, a small Panamanian island, leaving scientists perplexed.
'This was very much a shocking finding,' said Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioural ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, who studied the strange behaviour.
'We've not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom.'
The monkeys' motivations for the abduction are yet to be determined, though scientists suspect it is a 'cultural fad'.
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Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists amazed to discover an 'interstellar tunnel' that connects our solar system to other stars
Space might seem like an empty, featureless void, but new research has shown that this is far from true. Scientists have discovered an 'interstellar tunnel' that connects our solar system to distant stars. In a new study, scientists at the Max Planck Institute identified two hot tunnels, stretching across vast regions of space. The researchers gathered thousands of measurements of the sky using the eROSITA X-ray telescope, a satellite launched in 2019. This revealed that the sun is in the middle of a low-density bubble, around 300 light-years across, from which huge interstellar tunnels emerge. One channel stretches out towards the constellation Centaurus, punching through the surrounding cool regions of space. The other tunnel links our solar system with the constellation Canis Major. The researchers believe these two channels may be part of a larger branching system that runs between different star-forming regions. Scientists have known for a long time that our solar system is in a strange pocket of hot, less-dense space known as the 'Local Hot Bubble'. This region is believed to be a 'supernovae graveyard', carved out by the explosions of dying stars 1`0 to 20 million years ago. When extremely massive stars burn through all of their fuel, they collapse in on themselves and generate enough pressure to explode into supernovae. These blasts create a wave of hot plasma that pushes gas and dust along with it, leaving behind a hot, low-density cavity. The region was originally proposed to explain measurements of 'soft X-rays', photons carrying very small amounts of energy. Since these soft X-rays can't travel very far through space without being absorbed, the fact that we are able to detect them suggests that there could be an X-ray-emitting plasma that has pushed everything else out of the way. By taking measurements from eROSITA, 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometres) from Earth, scientists have been able to measure these very faint traces of radiation without the disturbances of Earth's atmosphere. These were combined with measurements from the German ROSAT X-ray telescope, which was launched in 1990, to make the cleanest X-ray map of the universe ever produced. However, these very sensitive measurements also revealed something strange. After dividing the Milky Way into 2,000 distinct regions, the researchers realised that the Galactic North was distinctly cooler than the Galactic South. This means that the Local Hot Bubble is stretching away from the Galactic Disc, travelling in the direction of least resistance. Co-author Dr Michael Freyberg, of the Max Planck Institute, says: 'This is not surprising, as was already found by the ROSAT survey. 'What we didn't know was the existence of an interstellar tunnel towards Centaurus, which carves a gap in the cooler interstellar medium.' This is in addition to a more precise measurement of the previously known interstellar tunnel leading towards Canis Major. This tunnel is thought to stretch between the local hot bubble and the Gum Nebula, 1,500 light-years from Earth. In their paper, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the researchers say this 'hints at the possibility of a widespread tunnel network connecting regions filled by the hot phase of the ISM [interstellar medium].' This interstellar network is maintained by the explosive births and deaths of stars, which create powerful solar winds. Previous research has shown that the supernova shockwave that created the Local Hot Bubble collected up gas and debris at its edge, creating the conditions for new stars to form. These new stars then produce jets of hot gases and radiation, which push out until they reach other star-forming bubbles. This process, known as 'stellar feedback', is believed to sweep across the Milky Way, shaping the structure of the galaxy as it goes. This study also gives a fascinating hint at the origins of our own solar system. The researchers say that our sun was not formed within the Local Hot Bubble, but only entered it by chance relatively recently. Co-author Dr Gabriele Ponti says: 'Another interesting fact is that the sun must have entered the LHB a few million years ago, a short time compared to the age of the sun [4.6 billion years]. 'It is purely coincidental that the sun seems to occupy a relatively central position in the LHB as we continuously move through the Milky Way.' SUPERNOVAE OCCUR WHEN A GIANT STAR EXPLODES A supernova occurs when a star explodes, shooting debris and particles into space. A supernova burns for only a short period of time, but it can tell scientists a lot about how the universe began. One kind of supernova has shown scientists that we live in an expanding universe, one that is growing at an ever increasing rate. Scientists have also determined that supernovas play a key role in distributing elements throughout the universe. There are two known types of supernova. The first type occurs in binary star systems when one of the two stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star. Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter, causing the star to explode, resulting in a supernova. The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star's lifetime. As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core. Eventually, the core is so heavy it can't stand its own gravitational force and the core collapses, resulting in another giant explosion. Many elements found on Earth are made in the core of stars and these elements travel on to form new stars, planets and everything else in the universe.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Rising sea levels could erase one of the planet's iconic heritage sites
A new study warns that rising sea levels could threaten Easter Island 's iconic moai statues and other cultural sites by the end of this century. The research, published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, specifically highlights that the 15 monumental figures at Ahu Tongariki could be inundated by powerful seasonal waves. Lead author Noah Paoa and his team used a high-resolution "digital twin" of the island's coastline to model future wave impacts, predicting waves could reach Ahu Tongariki as early as 2080. The site at Ahu Tongariki, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is vital for the island's tourism economy and cultural identity, attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually. The study urges proactive measures such as coastal armoring, breakwaters, or even relocating the monuments to prevent irreversible damage to these globally significant heritage sites.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Rising seas could put Easter Island's moai at risk by 2080, study warns
By the end of the century, rising sea levels could push powerful seasonal waves into Easter Island's 15 iconic moai statues, according to a new study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage. About 50 other cultural sites in the area are also at risk from flooding. 'Sea level rise is real,' said Noah Paoa, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. 'It's not a distant threat.' Paoa, who is from Easter Island — known to its Indigenous people as Rapa Nui — and his colleagues built a high-resolution 'digital twin' of the island's eastern coastline and ran computer models to simulate future wave impacts under various sea level rise scenarios. They then overlaid the results with maps of cultural sites to pinpoint which places could be inundated in the coming decades. The findings show waves could reach Ahu Tongariki, the largest ceremonial platform on the island, as early as 2080. The site, home to the 15 towering moai, draws tens of thousands of visitors each year and is a cornerstone of the island's tourism economy. Beyond its economic value, the ahu is deeply woven into Rapa Nui's cultural identity. It lies within Rapa Nui National Park, which encompasses much of the island and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The roughly 900 moai statues across the island were built by the Rapa Nui people between the 10th and 16th centuries to honor important ancestors and chiefs. The threat isn't unprecedented. In 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded — a magnitude 9.5 off the coast of Chile — sent a tsunami surging across the Pacific. It struck Rapa Nui and swept the already-toppled moai further inland, which damaged some of their features. The monument was restored in the 1990s. While the study focuses on Rapa Nui, its conclusions echo a wider reality: cultural heritage sites worldwide are increasingly endangered by rising seas. A UNESCO report published last month found that about 50 World Heritage sites are highly exposed to coastal flooding. A UNESCO spokesperson said that relevant experts weren't immediately available for comment. Possible defenses for Ahu Tongariki range from armoring the coastline and building breakwaters to relocating the monuments. Paoa hopes that the findings will bring these conversations about now, rather than after irreversible damage. 'It's best to look ahead and be proactive instead of reactive to the potential threats,' he said. ___ Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram: @ahammergram ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
