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Super Natural by Alex Riley review – the creatures that can survive anywhere

Super Natural by Alex Riley review – the creatures that can survive anywhere

Yahoo5 days ago

Atop the gloop that swirls on subterranean pools in Romania's Movile cave, a host of mostly translucent, unseeing creatures scrabbles around. These singular beasties – centipedes, spiders, scorpions, leeches, snails and woodlice – derive their daily nutrients from slimy mats of sulphur-loving bacteria that thrive in the oxygen-poor atmosphere.
This unique ecosystem was isolated for more than 5m years until 1986, when drilling for a potential power plant pierced the cave's walls. As the science writer Alex Riley reports in Super Natural, 37 out of the 52 invertebrate species living in the 240-metre-long space – which sits 21 metres below the surface near the Black Sea coast – exist nowhere else on Earth.
While our ancestors were evolving in the intervening aeons – learning how to use fire, circling the globe, discovering petroleum and then polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases – 'the animals in Movile cave slurped up their microbial crop' oblivious to the world outside.
They represent just a few of the exotic species that populate Riley's fascinating portrait of how life survives despite radiation, desiccation, the heat of the Sahara, freezing polar temperatures, total darkness, extended famine, lack of oxygen and the oceans' abyssal depths.
Among them are the hardy tardigrades, cute little invertebrate 'moss piglets' half a millimetre long that can withstand 'unimaginable extremes', including 'freezing to near absolute zero, boiling heat, pulverising radiation, the vacuum of space' (they've been taken into orbit several times). But there are also more familiar creatures, including mammals and birds. Within the Chornobyl exclusion zone, wild Przewalski's horses – a once near-extinct species – thrive and reproduce despite the lingering radiation. In North America, the common poorwill (or hölchoko, 'the sleeping one' in Hopi) is the only bird known to hibernate, lowering its body temperature to 5C (41F) and remaining in this torpid state for weeks.
The deep ocean was once regarded as hostile to any form of life, with 19th-century biologists such as Louis Agassiz deeming it 'quite impassable for marine animals'. There was no sustenance for them , he wrote, 'and it is doubtful if animals could sustain the pressure of so great a column of water'. That turned out to be wrong, and in 2022 scientists were able to film the Pseudoliparis snailfish at 8,336 metres below sea level off the coast of Japan – a depth roughly equivalent to the height of Everest.
It doesn't stop there. 'Sea stars, isopods, sea cucumbers, glass sponges: all have representatives that filter water or sediment to feed in waters over 10 kilometers down.' The most common are scavenging crustaceans that feed on the dead organisms falling from above – one of which, the supergiant amphipod Alicella gigantea, looks like a flea and can grow to the size of a rat.
Sadly, their diet has begun to change. Dissecting an amphipod collected in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, ecologist Johanna Weston 'found a blue microscopic fibre inside its stomach. Just over half a millimetre long and shaped like an archer's bow, it was a sliver of polyethylene terephthalate.' That's the plastic used in water bottles, and Weston named the species Eurythenes plasticus.
Related: More than 5,000 new species discovered in Pacific deep-sea mining hotspot
This all sounds depressing, but the book isn't, and Riley writes with levity and self-deprecating humour. 'Observing an animal so indifferent to my existence was comforting,' he writes as he focuses his microscope on a tardigrade he has extracted from a clump of moss. The minutes he spends observing this tiny animal with its 'eight chubby legs' open 'a tiny portal into a world beyond humanity'.
It's also oddly comforting to realise that nature is highly resilient, enduring five mass extinctions before the current, sixth one. The Permian extinction, caused by volcanic activity 252m years ago, killed 96% of all life in the oceans. And yet, by clearing the seabed of rugose corals and trilobites, 'a new world of predatory cephalopods, crabs, snails, sharks, bony fish and marine reptiles could emerge', writes Riley. And, whatever happens, you can bet that near-indestructible tardigrades will continue plodding along. 'Life, once it has emerged on a planet, is very hard to destroy.'
• Super Natural: How Life Thrives in Impossible Places by Alex Riley is published by Atlantic (£22). To support the Guardian order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Super Natural by Alex Riley review – the creatures that can survive anywhere
Super Natural by Alex Riley review – the creatures that can survive anywhere

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Yahoo

Super Natural by Alex Riley review – the creatures that can survive anywhere

Atop the gloop that swirls on subterranean pools in Romania's Movile cave, a host of mostly translucent, unseeing creatures scrabbles around. These singular beasties – centipedes, spiders, scorpions, leeches, snails and woodlice – derive their daily nutrients from slimy mats of sulphur-loving bacteria that thrive in the oxygen-poor atmosphere. This unique ecosystem was isolated for more than 5m years until 1986, when drilling for a potential power plant pierced the cave's walls. As the science writer Alex Riley reports in Super Natural, 37 out of the 52 invertebrate species living in the 240-metre-long space – which sits 21 metres below the surface near the Black Sea coast – exist nowhere else on Earth. While our ancestors were evolving in the intervening aeons – learning how to use fire, circling the globe, discovering petroleum and then polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases – 'the animals in Movile cave slurped up their microbial crop' oblivious to the world outside. They represent just a few of the exotic species that populate Riley's fascinating portrait of how life survives despite radiation, desiccation, the heat of the Sahara, freezing polar temperatures, total darkness, extended famine, lack of oxygen and the oceans' abyssal depths. Among them are the hardy tardigrades, cute little invertebrate 'moss piglets' half a millimetre long that can withstand 'unimaginable extremes', including 'freezing to near absolute zero, boiling heat, pulverising radiation, the vacuum of space' (they've been taken into orbit several times). But there are also more familiar creatures, including mammals and birds. Within the Chornobyl exclusion zone, wild Przewalski's horses – a once near-extinct species – thrive and reproduce despite the lingering radiation. In North America, the common poorwill (or hölchoko, 'the sleeping one' in Hopi) is the only bird known to hibernate, lowering its body temperature to 5C (41F) and remaining in this torpid state for weeks. The deep ocean was once regarded as hostile to any form of life, with 19th-century biologists such as Louis Agassiz deeming it 'quite impassable for marine animals'. There was no sustenance for them , he wrote, 'and it is doubtful if animals could sustain the pressure of so great a column of water'. That turned out to be wrong, and in 2022 scientists were able to film the Pseudoliparis snailfish at 8,336 metres below sea level off the coast of Japan – a depth roughly equivalent to the height of Everest. It doesn't stop there. 'Sea stars, isopods, sea cucumbers, glass sponges: all have representatives that filter water or sediment to feed in waters over 10 kilometers down.' The most common are scavenging crustaceans that feed on the dead organisms falling from above – one of which, the supergiant amphipod Alicella gigantea, looks like a flea and can grow to the size of a rat. Sadly, their diet has begun to change. Dissecting an amphipod collected in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, ecologist Johanna Weston 'found a blue microscopic fibre inside its stomach. Just over half a millimetre long and shaped like an archer's bow, it was a sliver of polyethylene terephthalate.' That's the plastic used in water bottles, and Weston named the species Eurythenes plasticus. Related: More than 5,000 new species discovered in Pacific deep-sea mining hotspot This all sounds depressing, but the book isn't, and Riley writes with levity and self-deprecating humour. 'Observing an animal so indifferent to my existence was comforting,' he writes as he focuses his microscope on a tardigrade he has extracted from a clump of moss. The minutes he spends observing this tiny animal with its 'eight chubby legs' open 'a tiny portal into a world beyond humanity'. It's also oddly comforting to realise that nature is highly resilient, enduring five mass extinctions before the current, sixth one. The Permian extinction, caused by volcanic activity 252m years ago, killed 96% of all life in the oceans. And yet, by clearing the seabed of rugose corals and trilobites, 'a new world of predatory cephalopods, crabs, snails, sharks, bony fish and marine reptiles could emerge', writes Riley. And, whatever happens, you can bet that near-indestructible tardigrades will continue plodding along. 'Life, once it has emerged on a planet, is very hard to destroy.' • Super Natural: How Life Thrives in Impossible Places by Alex Riley is published by Atlantic (£22). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.

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Rayanne dos Santos vs. Alice Ardelean prediction, odds, pick for UFC Vegas 107
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Rayanne dos Santos vs. Alice Ardelean prediction, odds, pick for UFC Vegas 107

The post Rayanne dos Santos vs. Alice Ardelean prediction, odds, pick for UFC Vegas 107 appeared first on ClutchPoints. The UFC returns to The Apex in Las Vegas as we're set to kick off another Fight Night card, beginning in the Women's Strawweight (115) Division. Fresh prospects will meet as Brazil's Rayanne dos Santos will take on Alice Ardelean of Romania. Check the UFC odds series for our dos Santos-Ardelean prediction and pick. Advertisement Rayanne dos Santos (14-8) is still searching for her first win on the UFC stage with an 0-2 record. Both losses came by split decision against Talita Alencar and Puja Tomar, so she's hoping for a much more definitive result as the moderate betting favorite in this one. Dos Santos stands 5-foot-2 with a 62-inch reach. Alice Ardelean (9-7) will also search for her first UFC win with an 0-2 record throughout 2024. She lost a razor-thin split decision to Shauna Bannon during her debut and lost a following unanimous decision against Melissa Martinez. She'll look to surprise as the underdog here. Ardelean stands 5-foot-3 with a 62-inch reach. Here are the UFC Vegas 107 Odds, courtesy of DraftKings. UFC Vegas 107 Odds: Rayanne dos Santos-Alice Ardelean Odds Rayanne dos Santos: -265 Advertisement Alice Ardelean: +215 Over 2.5 rounds: -475 Under 2.5 rounds: +325 *Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)* Why Rayanne dos Santos Will Win Last Fight: (L) Puja Tomar – S DEC Last 5: 3-2 Finishes: 2 KO/TKO, 8 SUB Rayanne dos Santos came extremely close in both of her losses in the UFC and could easily be fighting with an opposite 2-0 record had she done just a few things differently. She's very skilled on the ground and is constantly improving her skills by entering in grappling competitions. With eight wins by submission, seven of them have come by way of armbar as she'll be a major threat to finish this fight from her back. Rayanne dos Santos will be looking for more striking output during this fight as she fell behind on the numbers in her previous two bouts. She's landing 4.36 significant strikes per minute but absorbing 5.2, so she'll need to be a bit more defensive and pick her shots carefully. Advertisement Finally, dos Santos will have to greatly improve her takedowns if she wants to have success on the ground. She's logging just 12% accuracy on her takedown attempts through her first two fights, so she'll need to work on wrestling transitions in order to get the fight where it needs to be. Still, look for an improved version with a greater sense of urgency during this fight. Why Alice Ardelean Will Win Last Fight: (L) Melissa Martinez – U DEC Last 5: 3-2 Finishes: 4 KO/TKO, 4 SUB Alice Ardelean has had a similar journey through her first two UFC appearances, coming up just short in the striking numbers and failing to create significant moments during the bouts. She rode a seven-fight winning streak prior to entering the UFC, so she's certainly confident in her skills against a wide array of competition. Getting over the UFC hump will be her biggest focus as no fight will be an easy one from here on out. Alice Ardelean is much more accurate and active with her striking than dos Santos, able to find her rhythm quickly and settle into a groove. Once she finds the range, she stays consistent with her lead jab, and with a 100% takedown defense thus far, she won't be at too much risk of getting taken down during this fight. Two of her pro losses have come by submission, however, and she'll have to be much more diligent in protecting herself there throughout this one. Advertisement While Alice Ardelean is listed as the betting underdog, this fight is certainly up for grabs if she's able to get out ahead in the striking numbers. From there, she should be able to control the pace of this fight and log damage slowly but surely. Final Rayanne dos Santos-Alice Ardelean Prediction & Pick Both women are searching for their first UFC win and have a ton of potential if they're able to bring their skills together in a seamless manner. Rayanne dos Santos is much more dangerous on the ground, but is still struggling to get opponents down with her wrestling. Alice Ardelean has shown flashes of a solid base, but she'll need to do a better job of asserting herself as the aggressor during this one. Ultimately, the betting odds should be much closer as both fighters have left a lot to be desired from their previous performances. Still, I expect dos Santos to make the greater improvements and have more ways to win this fight, but it's just a matter of her finding success within her offense. Advertisement For our final betting prediction, we'll roll with the favorite in Rayanne dos Santos to win this fight by decision. She's been the more consistent prospect through her initial action, and we'll take a chance on her despite the juiced betting odds. Final Rayanne dos Santos-Alice Ardelean Prediction & Pick: Rayanne dos Santos (-265)

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