
HOPS-315: Scientists spot birth of a new solar system for first time
What have scientists discovered?
HOPS-315 is a baby star, which looks like our own Sun in its youth, and is located 1,300 light years from Earth in the Orion Nebula.A team of international researchers used the ALMA telescope in the Chilean desert along with the James Webb Space Telescope in order to witness the moment when planets began to form around HOPS-315. Experts say that they saw the creation of the first specks of planet-forming material around HOPS-315 - hot minerals which are just beginning to harden.The minerals were first spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope.The team then used the European Southern Observatory's ALMA telescope to find out exactly where the chemical signals were coming from.They discovered that these minerals were found in a small portion of the disc which is similar to the asteroid belt that surrounds our Sun.Scientists say that this discovery could allow them to see what the formation of our own Solar System may have been like billions of years ago."We're seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form," study co-author Merel van 't Hoff from Purdue University in America explained.Lead author, Melissa McClure of Leiden University in the Netherlands, added: "For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun."

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The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Earth's underground networks of fungi need urgent protection, say researchers
The underground networks of fungi that underpin the planet's ecosystems needs urgent conservation action by politicians, a research organisation has said. Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (Spun) have created the first high-resolution biodiversity maps of Earth's underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems. The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that 90% of the biodiverse hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi were in unprotected ecosystems. Loss of the ecosystems could lead to reductions in carbon drawdown, crop productivity and ecosystem resilience to climate extremes. Mycorrhizal fungi have 'remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land', said Dr Toby Kiers, the executive director of Spun. 'They cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil. When we disrupt these critical ecosystem engineers, forest regeneration slows, crops fail and biodiversity above ground begins to unravel … 450m years ago, there were no plants on Earth and it was because of these mycorrhizal fungal networks that plants colonised the planet and began supporting human life. 'If we have healthy fungal networks, then we will have greater agricultural productivity, bigger and beautiful flowers, and can protect plants against pathogens.' Mycorrhizal fungi are found on the roots of plants and help regulate Earth's climate and ecosystems. Its underground networks provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing more than 13bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into soils – equivalent to roughly one-third of global emissions from fossil fuels. Spun launched the initiative in 2021 alongside organisations including GlobalFungi, Fungi Foundation, the Global Soil Mycobiome consortium and researchers from around the world to map out the under-researched networks of mycorrhizal fungal. Using machine-learning techniques on a dataset containing more than 2.8bn fungal samples from 130 countries, scientists were able to predict mycorrhizal diversity at a 1km2 scale across the planet. They discovered that only 9.5% of these fungal biodiversity hotspots fell within existing protected areas, revealing huge conservation gaps. The coast of Ghana was found to be a global hotspot for fungi, but with the country's coastline eroding at a rate of 2 metres a year, scientists fear this crucial biodiversity will be washed into the sea. This research marks the first large-scale scientific application of the global mapping initiative, which 'are more than scientific tools – they can help guide the future of conservation', said the study's lead author, Dr Michael Van Nuland. 'Given the impact of these fungal symbioses on the health and functioning of Earth's ecosystems, continuing to ignore them could be a hugely missed opportunity.' Nuland said the fungi respond negatively to human stressors, and without addressing the possible loss of these vital fungus, we could lose our ability to develop novel natural climate solutions. Land use is a significant cause of mycorrhizal fungal degradation, and it is 'frustrating that no action has been taken to prioritise conservation of it', said Kiers. 'The fungi are needed for agricultural productivity and human health.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion These fungal ecosystems were largely invisible in law and policy, said César Rodríguez-Garavito, a professor of law and the faculty director of the More-Than-Human Life (Moth) programme at NYU's School of Law. '[The data is] incredibly important in strengthening law and policy on climate change and biodiversity loss across all of Earth's underground ecosystems.' The findings are accessible through Spun's underground atlas interactive tool for conservation groups, researchers and policymakers to identify hotspots that require intervention. With more than 400 scientists and 96 underground explorers from 79 countries, Spun's international team is sampling the Earth's most hard-to-access, remote underground ecosystems including in Mongolia, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Ukraine. Spun is seeking new collaborators and funding to scale its mycorrhizal fungal maps, which cover only 0.001% of the Earth's surface. The expansion of its fungal maps would guide decision-makers to start leveraging mycorrhizal systems. The preservation and protection of mycorrhizal fungi could help to solve some of the world's greatest challenges – biodiversity decline, climate change, and declining food productivity, said Dr Rebecca Shaw, the chief scientist at the World Wide Fund for Nature, who added that it had a direct benefit to people.


The Independent
12 hours ago
- The Independent
Why are we about to have one of the shortest days ever?
The Earth is currently spinning at its fastest rate since records began, with 5 August predicted to be one of the shortest days ever measured. The shortest day on record occurred on 5 July 2024, measuring 1.66 milliseconds shorter than the average 24-hour rotation. While the Moon's gravity typically slows Earth's rotation, there is no conclusive reason for the current acceleration, though melting polar ice caps are a suggested factor. Scientists have proposed introducing a 'negative leap second' to compensate for the lost time, which would require adjusting all global clocks. This would be the first time a second has been subtracted, raising concerns among experts about potential unprecedented problems for current computing infrastructure.


The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
Earth is spinning faster and is about to see one of its shortest days ever
The Earth is spinning at its fastest rate since records began, and astronomers predict that 5 August will be one of the shortest days ever measured. New estimates released this month suggest that the first Tuesday of August will be around 1.25 milliseconds shorter than it should be. The average rotation of our planet is 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, however there are several variables that cause Earth to spin faster or slower. The Moon's gravitational influence on Earth typically causes it to slow time over time and for days to lengthen. There is no conclusive reason for why Earth's rotation is accelerating, though a 2024 study suggested that melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels could be influencing it. The shortest day ever recorded was on 5 July, 2024, measuring 1.66 milliseconds shorter, with recent years seeing the rotation speeding up. Scientists have proposed a negative leap second to compensate for the lost time, meaning all of the world's clocks will need to be adjusted. 'This is an unprecedented situation and a big deal,' said geophysicist Duncan Agnew from the University of California, who wrote about the issue in a paper published in the journal Nature last year. 'It's not a huge change in the Earth's rotation that's going to lead to some catastrophe or anything, but it is something notable. It's yet another indication that we're in a very unusual time.' There have been 27 leap seconds added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) since 1972, when the present form of the time standard was adopted, in order to match atomic time to astronomical time. This would be the first time that a second has been subtracted, and it is not clear how current computing infrastructure would cope with the shift. Patrizia Tavella from the Time Department at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, wrote in an accompanying article to the Nature paper that any potential risks should be assessed before a negative leap second is applied. 'A negative leap second has never been added or tested,' she said, 'so the problems it could create are without precedent.'