In 1970, an Underwater Camera Searched for the Loch Ness Monster. It Just Surfaced—With Haunting Photos.
A camera trap deployed by a Loch Ness researcher in 1970 was recently recovered by an autonomous robot.
Not only was it still intact—it still had film that could be developed, and the photos show a glimpse of the murky depths of the loch.
Robots like the one that found the camera are often tested in Loch Ness before going out into the open ocean.
The Loch Ness Monster is right up there with Bigfoot and Mothman when it comes to famous cryptids. While there has never been any proof that Nessie exists, something dredged up from the depths of the lake may tell us more about what goes on in the dark waters she is imagined to inhabit.
Hardcore Nessie enthusiasts are always watching for a sign that the existence of their beloved lake monster isn't a hoax. In 1970, University of Chicago biologist Roy Mackal of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau deployed six cameras meant to catch any footage of Nessie in action. More than half a century later, an Autosub robot (otherwise known as Boaty McBoatface) from the UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC) took a deep dive and got something stuck in its propeller—part of the equipment anchoring one of Mackal's cameras at a depth of 180 meters (almost 600 feet).
The camera was identified by Loch Ness researcher Adrian Shine, founder of the Loch Ness Project. His organization has been tirelessly searching for signs of a monster (or some sort of less mythical beast) since the mid-1970s. The Instamatic camera was actually part of a trap, and its built-in flash cube allowed it to take four photos when activated by a bait line. Shine was impressed by how—despite being submerged for 55 years—the camera had stayed remarkably dry in its casing, even revealing viable film when opened. While they didn't capture Nessie, the photos that surfaced after the film was developed give those of us on land a glimpse of the murky depths of Loch Ness.
The camera—which (along with the photos it took) is now on display in the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit, home to the Loch Ness Project—was not found in the deepest part of the lake. At a maximum depth of 230 meters (755 feet), the water could still potentially be hiding things. Many investigations have tried to find out what, if anything, might have fueled rumors that led to the notorious photo of the 'monster' and other attempts to prove Nessie's existence. A 2019 attempt at extracting the DNA of all living species in those waters, for instance, found no evidence of a prehistoric, plesiosaur-esque marine reptile. No evidence of a Greenland shark (a species that can live up to 500 years) showed up either. The suspicion that Nessie could have actually been an overgrown catfish or sturgeon was also ruled out.
What a research team from New Zealand did find was DNA from European eels. While these creatures are nowhere near the enormity of the fabled Nessie, there was no way of knowing the size of those in Loch Ness. It is possible that some of them could have grown to be behemoths in the absence of much competition for food. If Nessie really is an outsized eel, that could explain the long neck—though a previous study did assert that the popular theory wasn't the answer.
But the potential for monsters isn't the only reason to keep exploring. The NOC, which has been making advances in developing autonomous vehicles for 30 years, keeps testing the craft in Loch Ness regardless of whether or not something that could pass for Nessie shows up. The latest Autosubs, which had a trial run, are used for long-distance autonomous operations and mapping the ocean floor—so far, only 26% of the ocean floor has been mapped. The deepest regions of our oceans (and other large bodies of water) are alien places where unknown creatures might just be waiting to be discovered.
So long as the legend of Nessie lives on, even if there is no cryptid, investigators will keep sending robots underwater to see what—if anything—might be lurking in the loch.
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
A 19-Year-Old Chemist Turned a Perfume Ingredient Into a Lifesaving Drug
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: 19-year-old Adam Kovalčík has created a stronger—and much cheaper—version of a powerful emerging medication known as galidesivir. Instead of starting out with the sugar, which is normally used in the production of this drug, he rebuilt the formula with a base molecule of corn alcohol. This change increases efficiency and cuts costs by reducing production steps and using inexpensive materials. We live in the aftermath of a global pandemic. Leftover COVID-19 trauma and world news updates reporting outbreaks of Zika or Ebola have made us apprehensive about viruses, and most of us have been vigilant about being vaccinated and re-vaccinated. But what about when preventative measures aren't enough? What happens if a virus invades us before we can get to a vaccine? Adam Kovalčík is only 19, but the high school senior at Gymnázium Nové Zámky in Slovakia he has created something beyond what anyone would expect of someone his age. He has managed to turn an alcohol derived from corncobs and husks into galidesivir, an antiviral drug that targets RNA viruses like Zika and Ebola. Generating the drug this way, in his words, 'could potentially save tens of thousands of lives.' Kovalčík recently won the $100,000 Genrge D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award at the 2025 Regeneration International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Galidesivir is the human-synthesized version of adenosine, which itself is a nucleoside—the components of nuclei acids. Among other biochemical functions, they are involved in storing and transferring genetic information. Adenosine is also an inhibitor of the enzyme RNA polymerase, which interferes with the function of certain enzymes in RNA viruses. The adenosine produced by our our bodies can inhibit RNA viruses (which clone their genomes in order to keep producing infinite copies of themselves), but it usually needs a boost when faced with potentially fatal pathogens like Ebola and Zika. This is where galidesivir comes in. Though not yet approved by the FDA, in vitro and animal tests have shown that galidesivir increases survival rates and has few side effects, which is why it is also being considered for treating COVID-19. It binds to the molecules that viruses use to clone themselves, making that function no longer accessible to the virus. The problem with galidesivir is that it costs $75 per gram (0.035 ounce) to produce, making the cost of a future prescription almost unfathomable, especially considering the state of healthcare. Kovalčík's process could bring that cost down to $12.50 per gram. Why is galidesivir so expensive? There is an extra step in the production of the most powerful form of this drug that ultimately affects the cost. When drugs are being developed, unwanted materials—such as variants of that drug—often end up in the first batch. These variants, or stereoisomers, have the same molecular formula as the finished drug, but their atoms form molecules in different arrangements. Kovalčík wanted to synthesize cis-OH galidesivir because it is 20 times stronger than its stereoisomer trans-OH galidesivir, so the trans version needs to be separated out to isolate the cis version. Separation involves extras steps that take extra time and cost more. Kovalčík used his experience working on perfumes in a chemistry lab to figure out how to synthesize galidesivir in a different way. He needed a starter molecule—typically, sugar is used for galidesivir, but sugar would just repeat the existing process, which was not efficient enough. Perfume taught Kovalčík that some scent compounds used furfural alcohol (corn alcohol) as a starter molecule, so he rebuilt the drug using it as the replacement starter molecule and was able to reduce the production steps from 15 to 10. Using corn alcohol also lowered the cost. This production method is not restricted to galidevisir—it could create other antivirals. Kovalčík used computer models to design new molecules that were supposed to operate in the same way as galidesivir, and one molecule he came up with (ADK-98) had the potential to be even more effective. The furfural alcohol distilled from corn would be the base for these future drugs. Kovalčík plans to continue refining his research and development process for this and other potential antivirals in collaboration with the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. And to think, this all started with a realization that came from molecules in perfume. Think about that with your next spritz of Dior Homme or Chanel No. 5. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Are Building a Nuclear Device That Could Unveil an Invisible Universe
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Scientists are close to creating a nuclear clock—an ultra-accurate clock that uses a low-energy transition in the nucleus of a thorium-229 atom to keep time. Electrical interference makes atomic clocks unsuited for dark matter detection, but nuclear clocks don't have that problem, and could provide a resolution some 100,000 times better than what we currently have. There's no guarantee that using a nuclear clock will finally find the theoretical perturbations caused by dark matter, but it will help scientists explore a new atomic realm as a part of that never-ending search. Once considered an unusable byproduct of the U.S. nuclear program, thorium-229—an isotope of the silvery-white metal, thorium—could become central to humanity's search for dark matter. Up to this point, scientists have devised massive detectors, surveyed gravitational effects, and studied cosmic radiation in the hopes that it might point to evidence of this elusive substance. Now, researchers are considering whether a nuclear clock powered by the low-energy transitions of a thorium-229 nucleus may work as a new method in the particle hunt. In a new study published in the journal Physical Review X, scientists from Germany, Israel, and Spain explored ways that the unique properties of a nuclear clock could detect the influence of dark matter. Today's most accurate clocks (atomic clocks) rely on the oscillations of electrons between two quantum states to keep time. While highly precise, these clocks are susceptible to electrical interference. Proposed nuclear clocks, which use the nuclei of an atom, are far less impacted by these disturbances. The resonance frequency—the steady swing of nuclei between 'ground' and 'high-energy' states—is typically pretty high, requiring strong radiation to excite the nucleus and produce the 'tick-tock' of a nuclear clock. Thorium-229, however, is special because its resonance frequency is low enough to be excited by modern laser technology, theoretically making a nuclear clock possible. 'When it comes to dark matter a thorium-229-based nuclear clock would be the ultimate detector,' Gilad Perez, a co-author of the study from the Weizmann Institute of Science, said in a press statement. 'Right now, electrical interference limits our ability to use atomic clocks in the search […]. We estimate [nuclear clocks] will enable us to detect forces 10 trillion times weaker than gravity, providing a resolution 100,000 times better than what we currently have in our search for dark matter.' In the past year, labs around the world have made major breakthroughs in developing a thorium-229 nuclear clock, which culminated in a paper published in September of 2024 in the journal Nature. That paper reported an observation of a thorium-229 transition that was millions of times more accurate than previous attempts. 'In a universe made up only of visible matter, the physical conditions and the absorption spectrum of any material would remain constant,' Perez said in a press statement. 'But because dark matter surrounds us, its wave-like nature can subtly change the mass of atomic nuclei and cause temporary shifts in their absorption spectrum […]. We still need even greater precision to develop a nuclear clock, but we've already identified an opportunity to study dark matter.' There's no guarantee that nuclear clocks will end our hunt for dark matter, but they do represent a new atomic frontier that has yet to be explored as part of that endless search. Not so bad for an isotope once considered a mere 'byproduct.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Find Common Kitchen Appliance May Increase Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." A new study explores the connection between exposure to 'forever chemicals' and type 2 diabetes. The man-made chemicals are already scientifically tied to cancer, thyroid disease, brain cell death, and more. Experts explain the findings and how to limit your exposure. Forever chemicals—also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs, that don't break down, but linger in the environment and our bodies—have been linked to brain cell death, cancer, obesity, infertility, thyroid disease, and more. A new study adds type 2 diabetes to that condition list. Meet the Experts: Don Thushara Galbadage, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of public health at Texas Christian University; and Grant Fowler, M.D., chair of family medicine at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. Researchers (some of whom were compensated by pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilli and Novo Nordisk), collected health data from a small, ethnically diverse population of patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. In participants' data, researchers identified PFAS exposure, metabolic disruption, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Below, experts explain what the findings could illuminate on a large scale. What did the study find? Put simply, the study found that people with higher levels of PFAS in their blood, which are man-made chemicals typically found in water, food packaging, and household products, showed as high as a 31% increased chance of developing type 2 diabetes, likely due to disruptions in metabolism and amino acid pathways, which are the pathways cells use to produce amino acids, 'the building blocks of proteins and regulators in metabolism,' explains Don Thushara Galbadage, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of public health at Texas Christian University. 'When PFAS disrupt these pathways, the body's ability to manage blood sugar, inflammation, and energy balance may not work properly,' he adds. 'For example, alterations in glutamate metabolism have been linked to obesity and insulin resistance, two precursors to diabetes.' How 'forever chemicals' could raise type 2 diabetes risk 'PFAS could interfere with the body's metabolism by disrupting pathways that control insulin sensitivity, amino acid balance, and fat storage,' explains Galbadage. 'Over time, these subtle shifts can increase the risk of insulin resistance, setting the stage for type 2 diabetes, even in people without traditional risk factors for diabetes.' He adds: 'Type 2 diabetes is not solely an inherited disease, but one driven by lifestyle and external factors, including environmental exposures, as this study showed. This also means that if we are able to identify these external factors and address them, it could lead to a reduced incidence of disease.' How to lower exposure to 'forever chemicals' 'By and large, we have lowered our levels of these chemicals in our blood nationally for the last few decades,' says Grant Fowler, M.D., chair of family medicine at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, 'through government regulation resulting in decreased use of these chemicals.' To lower ongoing exposure, Galbadage recommends the following habits: Use PFAS-removing water filters Replace non-stick cookware with cast iron or stainless steel Choose PFAS-free cosmetics, clothing, and cleaning products Reduce takeout food in grease-resistant packaging 'Think of it like minimizing secondhand smoke exposure. Limiting PFAS in your environment lowers your long-term risk,' he concludes. Other ways to lower type 2 diabetes risk There are studies showing that maintenance of body weight and exercising regularly, 150 minutes per week, can be effective for preventing certain types of diabetes, says Dr. Fowler. 'Any exercise is helpful,' he adds. 'It immediately lowers insulin resistance in your muscles, which helps you use less insulin and preserves your ability to produce insulin. If you are prediabetic, which can be determined by seeing your primary care provider and certain blood tests, medications can be added to your regimen of exercise and diet.' Galbadage concurs with those recommendations, and adds one: Eat a fiber-rich diet, as emerging research suggests that gel-forming fibers like oat β-glucan may help reduce blood levels of certain PFAS. Ultimately, this research 'emphasizes that diabetes prevention is not just personal—it needs to involve both health policy and environmental action,' concludes Galbadage. 'Communities with high PFAS exposure, often low-income or socioeconomically marginalized, face an unfair health burden,' he says. 'We need stronger regulations, corporate accountability, and environmental cleanup efforts. Individuals can take steps, but system-level change is essential to protect future generations.' Dr. Fowler adds that the limited size of this study warrants the need for larger studies to corroborate the findings. You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50 Solve the daily Crossword
