More or Less: Behind the Stats How weird was the Med Sea heatwave?
A social media post at the time claimed that some of these sea temperatures were so different to the normal sea temperature at this time of year, that the sea was experiencing a '1-in-216,000,000,000-year sea temperature anomaly'.
This would suggest that the likelihood of the event was on a timescale far longer than the amount of time the entire universe has existed.
Is the claim true? Dr Jules Kajtar, a physical oceanographer from the National Oceanography Centre, takes a look at the statistics.
We heard about this story because a listener spotted it and emailed the team. Get in touch if you've seen a number you think we should look at. moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Lizzy McNeill
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Met Police urged to drop facial scanning at Notting Hill Carnival
Civil liberty and anti-racism groups have called on the Metropolitan Police to drop plans to use live facial recognition (LFR) technology at this year's Notting Hill a letter to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, 11 organisations described LFR as "a mass surveillance tool that treats all Carnival-goers as potential suspects and has no place at one of London's biggest cultural celebrations".They said the decision to reintroduce the technology at Carnival was "deeply disappointing" and argued it could be "less accurate for women and people of colour".The Met Police says LFR is accurate and balanced across ethnicity and gender, and insists it will help keep people safe. The groups - which include Liberty, Big Brother Watch and the Runnymede Trust - highlighted an ongoing judicial review brought by Shaun Thompson, a black Londoner who says he was wrongly identified by the system and letter states: "There is no clear legal basis for your force's use of LFR. No law mentions facial recognition technology and Parliament has never considered or scrutinised its use."Notting Hill Carnival is an event that specifically celebrates the British African Caribbean community, yet the [Metropolitan Police] is choosing to use a technology with a well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias." The letter also raised concerns over a 2023 National Physical Laboratory study, which found the NeoFace system used by the Met was less accurate for women and people of colour depending on the algorithm that has been study's authors found the system could show bias at lower thresholds, though at the higher settings the Met says it uses, performance was found to be equitable across ethnicity and thresholds are confidence levels the system uses to decide a match - lower ones flag more people but risk more mistakes and bias, while higher ones are stricter and more said there was no legal obligation for the force to avoid the lower thresholds, and argued policing resources would be better spent on safety measures at the Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward, who is leading this year's policing operation at the carnival, said LFR had led to more than 1,000 arrests since the start of 2024 and that independent testing showed the system was "accurate and balanced with regard to ethnicity and gender" at the thresholds used by the Met. Notting Hill Carnival takes place next weekend and has previously attracted up to two million people. It has come under increased scrutiny after two people were murdered at last year's event. Mr Ward said the force had received the letter and would respond in due course."Carnival's growing popularity and size creates unique challenges. Around 7,000 officers and staff will be deployed each day," he said."Their priority is to keep people safe, including preventing serious violence, such as knife crime and violence against women and girls."It is right that we make the best use of available technology to support officers to do their job more effectively."Mr Ward said the LFR cameras will be used on the approach to and from Carnival and not within the event boundaries. He said they will "help officers identify and intercept those who pose a public safety risk before they get to the crowded streets".BBC News has contacted the carnival's organisers for comment.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mystery of ancient DNA marker rewrites story of how humans first reached the Americas
One of the world's greatest genetic mysteries is how a DNA marker present in Europe reached North America, leaving no clear trail through Siberia or Alaska. Scientists have been baffled by how Haplogroup X arrived more than 12,000 years ago, raising new questions about how the Americas were first populated. Haplogroup X is a rare maternal DNA lineage, passed down from mother to child, found in both Europe and North America. Its unusual presence suggests that early Americans may have arrived in multiple waves, challenging the traditional view that all Native American maternal lineages came solely from Siberia via the Bering Land Bridge. Today, the X2a branch of Haplogroup X is found in several Indigenous groups across North America, including the Ojibwe, Sioux, Nuu-chah-nulth, Navajo, and Yakama. It is also found in Europe and Western Asia, hinting at a far more complex migration history than previously thought. Dr Krista Kostroman, a genetic medicine specialist and Chief Science Officer at The DNA Company, told the Daily Mail: 'Haplogroups are like family seals. 'They are distinctive genetic marks passed down over thousands of years, connecting us to ancestors who lived in entirely different landscapes, climates, and cultures. Because they rarely change, they serve as identifiers for tracing ancient migrations.' Haplogroups A, B, C, and D are the most common maternal lineages among Native American populations. They each have distinct genetic signatures that trace back to different regions of East Asia and reflect separate waves of migration into the Americas during the late Ice Age. For example, haplogroup A is widespread among populations in North, Central, and South America, while B is more frequent in the Pacific Northwest and parts of Central and South America. Haplogroup C is concentrated in northern and western Indigenous groups, and D is found across North and South America but is particularly common in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Together, these haplogroups provide a clear picture of the Asian origins of most Native American maternal lineages, which makes Haplogroup X's unusual distribution all the more striking. X2a appears among Indigenous groups in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, while X1 is found primarily in North Africa, the Near East, and parts of the Mediterranean, though it remains rare even there. 'That rarity makes it a powerful clue for tracing human history,' Kostroman said. 'When an uncommon marker appears in distant, disconnected regions, it signals a shared connection in the deep past.' Despite speculation, Haplogroup X does not prove Native American ancestry nor a direct European migration. Haplogroup X is rare in Siberia and Alaska, with some researchers suggesting that it represents an earlier migration, possibly via a coastal route. The most widely accepted theory is that X2a arrived in North America during the late Ice Age as part of migrations across the Bering Land Bridge from Northeast Asia, arriving alongside other maternal lineages. 'Other possibilities are more speculative,' Kostroman noted. 'Small groups carrying Haplogroup X may have arrived earlier, or it may have entered the Americas in multiple waves alongside other lineages.' When Haplogroup X was first identified in the 1990s, its presence in Europe and among some Indigenous North Americans sparked controversy. Some researchers proposed a direct Atlantic crossing, known as the Solutrean hypothesis, though this has largely been dismissed. The X2a lineage differs from European and Near Eastern branches, reflecting a more complex migration history. Parallels with other rare haplogroups further illustrate the complexity of human migration. Haplogroup C1b, found in North and South America but rare in Asia, provides clues about secondary migration waves. Haplogroup B2a, present in some Amazonian populations, shows deep diversification within the Americas. And Haplogroup U5, a rare European maternal lineage dating to the Ice Age, demonstrates how rare lineages can survive in isolated populations, much like X2a did in North America. Some groups have speculated that Haplogroup X supports religious or pseudoscientific claims, including theories linking Native Americans to Hebrew ancestry or the Book of Mormon. Others suggest Europeans may have crossed the Atlantic during the last Ice Age. Kostroman cautions against overinterpretation: 'Over the past two decades, Haplogroup X has shifted from being the centerpiece of bold trans-Atlantic theories to a subtle but powerful clue in understanding human prehistory. 'It tells us that human migration was complex, involving multiple waves, exploratory groups, and connections across Eurasia long before people reached the New World.'
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
The power of pulses: 15 easy, delicious ways to eat more life-changing legumes
Worried about rising food prices, your diet's carbon footprint or whether you're eating healthily enough? Believe it or not, there could be a magic bullet: pulses. According to a study by the University of Reading, published in the European Journal of Nutrition in March, adults who eat more pulses – dried beans, peas and lentils – have a higher intake of nutrients including fibre, folate and vitamins C and E; minerals such as iron, zinc and magnesium; and a lower intake of saturated fat and sugar. Similar results have been found in American, Australian and Canadian research. The UK study also found that eating pulses was associated with a more sustainable diet. In her book, Pulse: Modern Recipes with Beans, Peas & Lentils, Eleanor Maidment explains that growing pulses has a positive effect on the environment. 'Many are 'nitrogen fixers', meaning they have the ability to convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be used in the soil, making it more fertile for other crops,' she writes. Justine Butler, the head of research at Viva!, says: 'The lowest-impact beef still creates six times the greenhouse gases and uses 36 times more land per gram of protein than peas.' Pulses are filling and good value but, say the Reading researchers, the typical British adult eats only about 15g a day, with the average household spending just £1.68 on pulses a week. UK guidelines state that 80g of pulses (about a third of a tin) counts as one of your five a day. The University of Reading study is part of the Raising the Pulse project, which aims to increase pulse consumption to improve public and planetary health. One of its strategies is adding fava bean (dried broad bean) flour to white bread – similar to a successful programme in Denmark using rye flour to increase wholegrain consumption. Prof Julie Lovegrove, the director of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition at the University of Reading, says: 'These foods are not only nutritious but also incredibly versatile, affordable and sustainable.' If you want to start eating more pulses, here are 15 things you need to know. You don't have to cook pulses for hours. 'Don't be put off by the idea that you have to soak dried pulses in advance,' says Maidment. 'I am rarely organised enough to do so, but thankfully there's a huge range of jarred and canned varieties that require no prep and are hugely convenient. If you can afford to spend a bit more, then jarred varieties have the edge over canned in terms of flavour and texture. Brands such as Bold Bean Co, Brindisa or Belazu are consistently excellent.' But batch-cooking dried pulses is the best value. Jenny Chandler, the author of Super Pulses and Pulse, soaks and cooks a big pot of pulses once a week. 'You will finish up with well over double their volume – it's a really economical way to have a ready supply. They will keep in their cooking water for five days in the fridge and you can freeze any leftovers. Use them in salads, soups, purees, curries, stews and even puddings – they will become the bedrock of your cooking.' Pulses are for everyone. 'You do not have to be vegetarian or vegan to enjoy pulses – far from it,' says Maidment. 'We should all be eating more pulses. For instance, in a traybake, I'll use one chicken thigh per person instead of two, and add a can of chickpeas or butter beans. I often add a can of lentils to bolognese. You're still getting filling protein, but with the added benefits of gut-friendly fibre and numerous other minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.' They make meals go much further. 'Most pulses are relatively cheap and quite mild in taste, making them ideal for bulking out soups, stews and curries without affecting the original flavour,' says Maidment. 'You can often use different varieties interchangeably, depending on what you have to hand.' Chandler adds a handful of cooked pulses to all sorts of dishes. 'Throwing a few chickpeas or cannellini beans into a simple tomato sauce with pasta not only ups the nutritional profile, but also keeps you feeling full for much longer,' she says. Baked beans are just the beginning. 'By far the most eaten pulse in the UK is the haricot bean due to its starring role in tinned baked beans,' says Maidment. 'Butter beans, cannellini beans, black beans and kidney beans are also popular, but there is a huge variety of beans to try. For instance, flageolet beans are delicate, pale-green beans popular in French cooking – try them in a slow-braised lamb stew with garlic, thyme and white wine.' Chandler loves yin yang beans, AKA calypso or orca beans. 'These black and white beans are utterly beautiful and taste wonderful in chilli,' she says. But beans on toast still rules. 'My favourite pulse-based dish is garlicky beans and bitter greens on toast, topped with chilli oil,' says Joe Yonan, the author of Cool Beans. You can make (almost) anything with chickpeas. 'The chickpea is my favourite pulse, for its versatility,' says Yonan. 'It is the basis of hummus, the best dip on the planet. It's great in a coronation chickpea sandwich, and it holds its shape in salads and stews.' For a snack, Yonan mixes cooked chickpeas with olive oil and spices (such as za'atar, Chinese five spice, chaat masala or smoked paprika) and roasts them in the oven for an hour at 150C/300F. 'I then turn off the oven but leave them in there to completely cool – it dries them out and makes them really satisfyingly crunchy.' He also uses chickpea (AKA gram) flour to make farinata or socca, a savoury pancake; panisse (chickpea fries); and bhajis and pakoras. 'Sometimes I use it as a base for a sort of non-traditional, don't-tell-the-Italians pizza.' Lentils cook more quickly than most pulses. Red split lentils are especially quick, cooking in about 15 minutes. Lentils don't need soaking, but it does reduce the cooking time. Maidment likes to experiment with different dals. 'Regional Indian dals can be made with a range of lentils – yellow moong, black urad, chana dal – each bringing a slightly different flavour and texture,' says Maidment. But she also has a soft spot for tinned lentils. 'I often roast drained, tinned lentils with olive oil and crushed garlic to boost their flavour and add crispness before throwing them into a salad – perhaps ricotta and prosciutto, or chopped fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.' Pulses make delicious dips. 'Hummus is the classic, but you can blend most pulses into dips,' says Maidment. 'Fava, a fabulous Greek split yellow pea dip, is absolutely worth making.' Blend cooked split yellow peas with caramelised onions and garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and a little of the beans' cooking liquor or water to make. Pulse liquid has many uses. 'Jarred and canned pulses are usually stored in a liquid known as aquafaba,' says Maidment. 'It can be great for adding creaminess to savoury dishes or used as an egg alternative in baking.' She advises checking the salt levels and ingredients list before using – some pulses have added preserving and firming agents. Black beans make the best veggie burgers, says Yonan. The Guardian's Meera Sodha agrees. She mashes a drained tin of black beans with breadcrumbs, garlic and onion powders, chipotle paste, dijon mustard, tomato ketchup and a splash of aquafaba, shapes them into patties, then fries them in olive oil until crispy. British pulses are having a revival. Maidment and Chandler both recommend carlin peas, pleasingly also known as black badgers, which are a heritage British pulse. They are available dried and cooked from companies such as Hodmedod's. 'They're small, nutty brown peas, and make a great alternative to chickpeas, with a similarly impressive nutrient profile,' says Maidment. She roasts cooked carlin peas until crispy, then adds them to salads such as quinoa, broccoli and halloumi. Chandler uses them in dips and curries, and to make a version of refried beans. 'They're much more versatile than yellow or green dried peas as they don't have such a pronounced 'pea' flavour,' she says. In the US, Yonan suggests the lady pea, a spherical white bean that is popular in southern cuisine. Pulses make great protein shakes. 'A handful of cooked pulses added into a smoothie will give it a great creamy texture and make it more nourishing,' says Chandler. She adds black beans or borlotti beans to dark berry smoothies, and chickpeas, cannellini beans or butter beans to green smoothies. Pulse-based pasta is worth a try. There is an increasing range of high-fibre pasta made from pulse flour: peas, lentils, chickpeas, black beans, mung beans … Chandler enjoys this alternative pasta, but says she doesn't use it in classical Italian dishes: 'I may use it in a pasta salad, say, or team it with a blue cheese and walnut sauce.' Yonan agrees that pulse pasta is best paired with 'pungent flavours – super-garlicky or spicy'. Pulses aren't just for savoury dishes. Yonan makes a chocolate and chickpea tart, and adds adzuki beans to brownies. 'Adzuki beans are used in a lot of Asian desserts, such as mochi and ice-cream,' he says. Maidment prefers to use kidney beans in her brownies, while Chandler has a recipe for a simple chocolate and cannellini bean mousse. Drain and retain the liquid from a tin of cannellini beans. Blitz the beans with 150g of melted dark chocolate and an optional tablespoon of cocoa powder. Whisk the liquid for five to 10 minutes, until frothy. Fold into the melted chocolate and bean mix, and sweeten with a couple of tablespoons of maple or date syrup. Chill the mix before eating, perhaps topped with some chopped stem ginger in syrup, or served with fresh raspberries. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
