Latest news with #Kilb
The Guardian
27-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Drones, AI and one long fence: Kangaroo Island's war on a clawed predator that kills 1.5bn Australian animals a year
The cat-proof fence drops off a sheer cliff on one side of Kangaroo Island, and disappears into the ocean on the other. The top section is floppy and electrified – a rude shock for wily cats seeking to climb over – and the bottom is burrow-proof. Gaps left for humans and wildlife funnel any would-be trespassers through a minefield of traps, which are closely monitored. Kangaroo Island's 38,000ha Dudley Peninsula eradication program, run by the KI Landscape Board (Kilb), has decimated the island's feral cat population from a high of about 1,600 to approximately 150, although it's hard to pin down precise numbers. Cat-detecting dogs, drones, artificial intelligence, and thermal optics all play a role, as does the feline hotline, where residents can report a cat sighting. Nationally, feral cats kill more than 1.5bn native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs and 1.1bn invertebrates a year. They have contributed to the extinction of more than 20 Australian mammals and can spread diseases to native animals, livestock and humans. On Kangaroo Island, they menace threatened animals such as the Kangaroo Island dunnart and the southern brown bandicoot. The risk of catching a domestic cat by accident is low on Kangaroo Island, which has the strictest domestic cat laws in Australia. Cats, which are required to be kept inside or in a contained run, must also be registered, micro-chipped and desexed. All trapped feral cats are checked for a microchip too. Jack Gough, the Invasive Species Council's advocacy director and cat expert, says if the program is successful it would be the largest cat eradication on a populated island in the world. It would also be a proof-of-concept that could roll out more broadly. The 3km cat-proof fence separates the Dudley Peninsula from the rest of the island, where there are more people – and cats. Gough says they're at a 'critical juncture' in the program, and a winter blitz is necessary. 'When the numbers are high, getting rid of them is easier. As they get lower it becomes harder. This is where eradications tend to succeed or fail,' he says. 'Once-and-done is how you do it. Or they're breeding, and that risks the eradication.' Feral cats also pose a threat to sea lions and penguins, Gough warns. 'On KI, cats are a threat to sea lion baby survivability because of toxoplasmosis, and to penguins in terms of predating their nests,' he says. Both are susceptible to bird flu. Australia is preparing for the possibility of an H5N1 outbreak. It's not here yet, but overseas bird flu has already proven deadly to seals and to penguins. 'Building the resilience of these species, in the knowledge that bird flu could turn up, is a key element,' Gough says. '[Bird flu] could be an extinction level event [for sea lions and penguins].' He says the program needs an 'immediate injection' of $1.93m for that blitz. The council has written to the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, asking for a commitment of about $6.2m over three years, and that $1.93m now. A spokesperson for Plibersek said the government was 'keen to see feral cats eradicated on the island'. 'We'll keep working with the South Australian government and community to achieve that,' the spokesperson said. 'Feral cats are dangerous and ruthless predators, pushing our threatened native species like the greater bilby, numbat, and Gilbert's potoroo, to the brink of extinction.' The spokesperson said the government had invested more than $60m in 55 projects to control feral cats, including more than $3m for Kangaroo Island. More than 270 wildlife cameras capture images of the cats as they prowl the island each day. Tens of thousands of images are uploaded and processed by artificial intelligences, which distinguishes cats from kangaroos and other wildlife before a human takes over the categorising. Eventually, as it learns and the cat numbers dwindle, the AI will be able to detect individual cats. Hundreds of cages and leg-hold traps across the Dudley are fitted with sensors, letting people know when something's inside. Eradication officers say you can tell straightway that a cat in a trap is feral by its bared teeth and hissing. Marksman Brenton Florence has worked to eradicate feral goat, deer and pigs on the island. To tackle the cats, the feral animal control officer made a robot that his colleagues joke looks like the love child of Squeaky from Johnson and Friends and Dexter from Perfect Match. It uses thermal optics looking for heat signals and lasers to navigate. He named it 'hide-and-seek-no-more Mark II'. Florence is also getting a new drone that will find cats using thermal imaging. Then it will be able to manipulate them, herding them out of scrub using a built-in speaker, and lowering hooks to drop off food or a scent lure. Bluetick coonhounds Murra and Jager, bred to track animals and trained to catch cats, help in the hunt. The MP for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie, talks about the devastation of the 2019-20 black summer bushfires, when a third of the island burned. Nationally, a billion animals died,including on KI. 'We lose that same amount every year with feral cats and we shrug our shoulders as a nation,' she says. 'KI do great work. It's been a slow process to get right, but it's paying off now. 'We worry about species must all put our shoulders to the wheel and fund programs that work to eradicate feral cats – and, I would add, foxes.' The opposition's environment spokesperson, Jonno Duniam, said the Coalition established the national feral cat taskforce in 2015 when it was in government, and accused Labor of making a 'song and dance about a 'war on cats' without 'proper follow through'. Farmer Tom Willson says since the eradication started, his sheep have fewer parasites – cats pass on sarcocystis via their faeces. It doesn't affect their health but abattoirs won't accept sheep that are infected because of the time and cost to trim it out of meat. Once the cats are eradicated, the sheep won't catch sarcocystis any more, he says, adding that it's already been two years since he's seen a cat. Paul Jennings is the team leader on Kilb's feral cat eradication program. He says wildlife populations are beginning to flourish, seen through their cameras and heard via anecdotes. People who've spent their whole lives on the peninsula report seeing more ground-nesting birds like the bush-stone curlew, he says. 'A landholder last week said it was the first time he'd seen a pygmy possum in his entire life,' Jennings said. He says that they haven't yet seen a recovery in native bandicoot numbers yet, and cats can be the 'last straw' when animals have been affected by bushfires, habitat loss, and other threats. 'But nature is extremely resilient,' he says. 'Give it half a chance and it will come back.'
Mint
24-04-2025
- Science
- Mint
Earth is peeling; and, it may change how our planet looks: Scientists find strange developments in California
Scientists have found something strange under the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. And, it may change a lot about how the Earth looks in future. Earthquakes usually happen close to the surface, about 10 to 18 kilometres deep. But recently, researcher Deborah Kilb noticed quakes happening much deeper, around 20 to 40 kilometres underground. This is quite unusual because, at that depth, the Earth's crust is normally too hot. It is under too much pressure for quakes to happen. Kilb told another scientist, Vera Schulte-Pelkum, who was already studying odd rock patterns in that area, CNN reported. Together, they used a special method called receiver function analysis to look deep inside the Earth. What they found was surprising. The Earth's crust is peeling away in that region. This rare process is called lithospheric foundering. The 'peeling' process happening under the Sierra Nevada may be linked to how continents formed long ago. These findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, help scientists understand more about how mountains and the Earth's surface change over time. It's like a slow-motion reshaping of the land deep below our feet. If we imagine the Earth like a giant, layered onion, the outermost layer is the crust. It's the ground we walk on. Now, that outer layer has started to separate or slide over or under other parts. When the Earth's crust peels apart, it changes how the land looks. New mountains or islands can form. Sometimes, earthquakes or volcanoes happen too. When the Earth's crust moves, it can even make new land. Earthquakes happen when stuck pieces suddenly slip. Volcanoes form when hot melted rock escapes through cracks. Mountains like the Himalayas rise when crust pieces push together. Over many years, new land forms in oceans and some oceans become wider. It's nature shaping our planet. First Published: 24 Apr 2025, 01:27 PM IST
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chemical fingerprints could belong to a signature of life on distant planet
Editor's note: A version of this story appeared in CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. When astronomers search for evidence of life beyond Earth, what signs are they seeking? Would clues be traced to microfossils trapped within ancient Martian rocks, swim in waters of an ocean world, or lead to an Earth-like twin thought of as Planet B? Or perhaps a technosignature, a signal that could be created by intelligent life, might point scientists in the right direction. The scientific community has debated the question — as well as where the evidence of life may be found — for years. This week, researchers shared a finding from an intriguing exoplanet that might represent the next step toward discovering whether life is possible on another world. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found chemical fingerprints in the atmosphere of the distant planet K2-18b that could belong to molecules only created by life on Earth. The molecules, dimethyl sulfide and potentially dimethyl disulfide, are typically made by marine phytoplankton on Earth. Nikku Madhusudhan, professor of astrophysics and exoplanetary science at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, and his colleagues believe K2-18b, located 124 light-years from Earth, is a Hycean world, or a potentially habitable planet entirely covered in liquid water with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. 'Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have,' he said. However, the study authors have not declared a definitive discovery of life beyond our planet — and experts remain skeptical about the idea of the molecules representing signs of biological activity. An expedition seeking previously unknown marine life has revealed the first footage of a colossal squid, which resembles a 'glass sculpture,' in its native deep-sea environment. This week, six female passengers, including singer Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, went on a roughly 10-minute journey to space and back again aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard flight. But how exactly do experts define where Earth ends and space begins during such a brief jaunt? The capsule reached 346,802 feet (106 kilometers) above ground level and 350,449 feet above mean sea level (107 kilometers). New Shepard traveled well above the Kármán line, a point at 62 miles (100 kilometers) that's often used to define the altitude at which airspace ends and outer space begins. But throughout the history of its usage, the Kármán line has often been controversial. Seismologist Deborah Kilb was the first to notice unusual tremors beneath the Sierra Nevada. They were occurring at a depth where Earth's crust is typically too hot for quake activity, said Kilb of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Now, Kilb and other researchers studying deep rock deformations beneath the Sierra Nevada have used an imaging technique to map Earth's internal structure — and they detected the planet's crust peeling away. The phenomenon could shed light on how the continents formed and determine whether there are other parts of the planet where the crust is peeling. Separately, the contents of a 4.6 billion-year-old rare type of meteorite could change how scientists understand Earth's origin story and just how long water has been present on the planet. Amateur astronomers discovered a new comet, known as C/2025 F2 (SWAN), at the end of March, but in recent days, the celestial object's story has gained a new twist. The latest observations of the comet suggest the object, made of ancient rock, frozen gases and dust, has disintegrated on its way to a close approach of the sun, which was anticipated to occur on May 1. However, the comet's remnant is still visible and will be for a few weeks, according to experts. Here's everything you need to know about how and when to see it. NASA astronaut Don Pettit has ventured to space four times, and the veteran scientist is due to return to Earth on Saturday from his most recent stint aboard the International Space Station. In addition to inventing the Zero-G coffee cup that allows astronauts to enjoy a hot beverage as they would on Earth, Pettit is also known for his stunning photography of the cosmos. To celebrate his homecoming, here are some of Pettit's awe-inspiring images from his seven-month stay on the orbiting laboratory, including long-exposure views of the colors that dance above the Earth. These stories are worth a deep dive: — Using a speck of mouse tissue, scientists created the first precise, 3D map of a mammal's brain — and animations allow you to look right inside. — Pollution from antianxiety medication is changing the ancient migration patterns of salmon by accumulating in their brains, and it could alter their lives in unforeseen ways. — Venture into Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and watch how a wildlife veterinarian has dedicated her life's work to protecting one of our closest genetic cousins, the mountain gorilla. Like what you've read? Oh, but there's more. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt and Jackie Wattles. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.
CNN
19-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Chemical fingerprints could belong to a signature of life on distant planet
When astronomers search for evidence of life beyond Earth, what signs are they seeking? Would clues be traced to microfossils trapped within ancient Martian rocks, swim in waters of an ocean world, or lead to an Earth-like twin thought of as Planet B? Or perhaps a technosignature, a signal that could be created by intelligent life, might point scientists in the right direction. The scientific community has debated the question — as well as where the evidence of life may be found — for years. This week, researchers shared a finding from an intriguing exoplanet that might represent the next step toward discovering whether life is possible on another world. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found chemical fingerprints in the atmosphere of the distant planet K2-18b that could belong to molecules only created by life on Earth. The molecules, dimethyl sulfide and potentially dimethyl disulfide, are typically made by marine phytoplankton on Earth. Nikku Madhusudhan, professor of astrophysics and exoplanetary science at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, and his colleagues believe K2-18b, located 124 light-years from Earth, is a Hycean world, or a potentially habitable planet entirely covered in liquid water with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. 'Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have,' he said. However, the study authors have not declared a definitive discovery of life beyond our planet — and experts remain skeptical about the idea of the molecules representing signs of biological activity. An expedition seeking previously unknown marine life has revealed the first footage of a colossal squid, which resembles a 'glass sculpture,' in its native deep-sea environment. This week, six female passengers, including singer Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, went on a roughly 10-minute journey to space and back again aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard flight. But how exactly do experts define where Earth ends and space begins during such a brief jaunt? The capsule reached 346,802 feet (106 kilometers) above ground level and 350,449 feet above mean sea level (107 kilometers). New Shepard traveled well above the Kármán line, a point at 62 miles (100 kilometers) that's often used to define the altitude at which airspace ends and outer space begins. But throughout the history of its usage, the Kármán line has often been controversial. Seismologist Deborah Kilb was the first to notice unusual tremors beneath the Sierra Nevada. They were occurring at a depth where Earth's crust is typically too hot for quake activity, said Kilb of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Now, Kilb and other researchers studying deep rock deformations beneath the Sierra Nevada have used an imaging technique to map Earth's internal structure — and they detected the planet's crust peeling away. The phenomenon could shed light on how the continents formed and determine whether there are other parts of the planet where the crust is peeling. Separately, the contents of a 4.6 billion-year-old rare type of meteorite could change how scientists understand Earth's origin story and just how long water has been present on the planet. Amateur astronomers discovered a new comet, known as C/2025 F2 (SWAN), at the end of March, but in recent days, the celestial object's story has gained a new twist. The latest observations of the comet suggest the object, made of ancient rock, frozen gases and dust, has disintegrated on its way to a close approach of the sun, which was anticipated to occur on May 1. However, the comet's remnant is still visible and will be for a few weeks, according to experts. Here's everything you need to know about how and when to see it. NASA astronaut Don Pettit has ventured to space four times, and the veteran scientist is due to return to Earth on Saturday from his most recent stint aboard the International Space Station. In addition to inventing the Zero-G coffee cup that allows astronauts to enjoy a hot beverage as they would on Earth, Pettit is also known for his stunning photography of the cosmos. To celebrate his homecoming, here are some of Pettit's awe-inspiring images from his seven-month stay on the orbiting laboratory, including long-exposure views of the colors that dance above the Earth. These stories are worth a deep dive: — Using a speck of mouse tissue, scientists created the first precise, 3D map of a mammal's brain — and animations allow you to look right inside. — Pollution from antianxiety medication is changing the ancient migration patterns of salmon by accumulating in their brains, and it could alter their lives in unforeseen ways. — Venture into Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and watch how a wildlife veterinarian has dedicated her life's work to protecting one of our closest genetic cousins, the mountain gorilla.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists stumble across rare evidence that Earth is peeling underneath the Sierra Nevada
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Seismologist Deborah Kilb was wading through California earthquake records from the past four decades when she noticed something odd — a series of deep earthquakes that had occurred under the Sierra Nevada at a depth where Earth's crust would typically be too hot and high pressure for seismic activity. 'In Northern California usually the (earthquake) data goes down to about 10 kilometers (6 miles). In Southern California, they'll go down a little bit deeper into 18 kilometers (11 miles),' said Kilb, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, referring to the depths at which earthquakes usually occur in those regions. But the earthquakes she found taking place near the central region of the mountain range were up to twice as deep — and appear to be ongoing. 'The fact that we see some seismicity that's below 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) — like 20 kilometers to 40 kilometers (25 miles) — is very odd,' Kilb said. 'It's not something you would typically see in crustal earthquakes.' Kilb flagged the data to Vera Schulte-Pelkum, a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and an associate research professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Schulte-Pelkum was already studying the Sierra Nevada's peculiar rock footprint, which had shown deep rock deformations within the same area. Using the newfound data, the researchers imaged the Sierra Nevada through a technique known as receiver function analysis, which uses seismic waves to map Earth's internal structure. The scientists found that in the central region of the mountain range, Earth's crust is currently peeling away, a process scientifically known as lithospheric foundering. Kilb and Schulte-Pelkum reported the findings in December in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The hypothesis lined up with previous speculation that the area had undergone lithospheric foundering, which happens when Earth's outermost layer sinks into the lower layer of the mantle. Now, the study authors believe that the process is ongoing and is currently progressing to the north of the mountain range, according to the study. 'We compared notes and realized that my strange rock fabric (the arrangement of rocks) signals and her strange deep earthquakes were in the same area,' Schulte-Pelkum said. 'So then we decided to look at it more closely, and found this whole story.' What's happening under the Sierra Nevada could offer rare insight into how the continents formed, Schulte-Pelkum said. The finding could also help scientists identify more areas where this process is happening as well as provide a better understanding of earthquakes and how our planet operates, she added. Earth's uppermost layer, the lithosphere, is made up of the rigid crust and the top part of the mantle, which is in a denser, but more fluid state. This layer also contains Earth's oceanic crust — a thinner and denser layer below the oceans — and the continental crust that sits above this layer. But how these sublayers manage to exist in this ideal state, with the continents on top, is something of a mystery, Schulte-Pelkum said. 'The continents just happened to be sticking up above the current sea level, luckily for us, because … they're made of less dense minerals on average,' Schulte-Pelkum said. 'To make it sit higher (in the first place), you have to get rid of some of the dense stuff.' Lithospheric foundering is the process of the denser materials being pulled to the bottom, while the less dense material emerges at the top, resulting in land creation. 'It's dumping some of this denser stuff into this gooey, solid mantle layer underneath and sort of basically detaching it so it stops pulling on the less dense stuff above,' she explained. Within the imaging of Earth below the Sierra Nevada, the researchers found a distinct layer within the mantle about 40 to 70 kilometers (25 to 43 miles) deep. This layer had specific imprints that gradually changed due north, the data showed. If one were to have a block of clay that had spots of different colored clay throughout, and squeezed the clay between their hands, the spots would start to turn into stripes — this is similar to how the rock deformations appear, Schulte-Pelkum said. In the southern Sierra, the dense rocks had the strongest inherent stripes and were shown to have already sheared away from the crust, whereas in the central region this process appears to be ongoing. In the northern Sierra, there are currently no signs of deformation. This distinct layer within the mantle would also explain the deep earthquakes Kilb found, as the crust in the central region is unusually thick from being pulled down and is also colder than the hot mantle material typically found at those depths. 'Rock takes a really long time to warm up or cool down. So if you move some stuff, you know, by pulling it down or pushing it up, it takes a while for it to adjust its temperature,' Schulte-Pelkum said. Evidence for this process has been hard to come by. It is not visible from above ground, and it's an extremely slow process. Scientists theorize that the south Sierra finished the process of lithospheric foundering about 4 million to 3 million years ago, according to the study. It appears that these natural events happen occasionally around the world, Schulte-Pelkum said. 'Geologically speaking, this is a pretty quick process with long periods of stability in between. … This (lithosphere foundering) probably started happening a long time ago when we started building continents, and (the continents) have gotten bigger over time. So it's just sort of this punctuated, localized thing,' she added. The Sierra Nevada has been a topic of debate for decades in the geology community due to an anomaly found within the mantle located underneath the Great Valley. While some scientists believe lithospheric foundering caused this feature, other scientists think it may be caused by subduction, which is when an oceanic plate sinks beneath a less dense plate, such as continental crust, and changes the landscape, said Mitchell McMillan, a research geologist and postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech, who was not involved with the study. 'There are really two competing hypotheses to explain all these data, and you don't really get that very often in geology. … So this paper is going to add to that whole discussion in a really neat way,' he said. Further study within this area could also help scientists better understand how the Earth evolves on long timescales. If the lithospheric foundering continues underneath the mountain range, one can speculate that the land will continue to stretch vertically, changing the way the landscape looks now, McMillan said. But that could take anywhere from several hundred thousand to a few million years, he added. In general, large mountain belts, or anywhere there is a batholith, is where you expect to find these events, McMillan said. The Andes, a long mountain range in South America, is an example of another place where scientists speculate lithosphere foundering once occurred and could still be happening today, he added. 'I think this study in particular (highlights) the importance of tying together these different datasets,' McMillan said. By better understanding this process, scientists can learn more about the functions of the planet and what happens beneath its surface, including the occurrence of earthquakes that have been linked to this process, McMillan said. Separately, the planet Venus, which does not have plate tectonics like Earth, has evidence of these lithospheric foundering events, and by understanding the process on Earth, we can start to apply it to Venus, he said. 'It's really fascinating to think about how you could be … hiking in the Sierra or in the foothills, or even anywhere else on a continent. And, you know, there's stuff going on really deep underneath you that we're not aware of,' Schulte-Pelkum said. 'We sort of owe our existence on land to these processes happening. If the Earth hadn't made continents, then we'd be very different creatures. … We evolved because the planet evolved the way it did. So just sort of understanding the whole system that you're part of, I think, has value — beyond just less monetary damage and less human impact during, say, an earthquake,' she added.
