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Irish Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin school finds relic of saint hidden in altar
A Dublin school says it's living a real-life Indiana Jones movie after the relic of a saint dating back to the third century was found in an altar. Staff and students at St Vincent's Secondary School in Glasnevin were ecstatic to discover an ancient piece of history had been hiding right before them. A relic of Saint Hilarii - a vial of blood - was found in an altar that was brought to the school over 30 years ago. Last week, five fifth-year students were moving the school's altar to prepare for a graduation mass when they made the amazing discovery. The school's principal Máire Quinn told the Irish Mirror that one of the students noticed a piece of wood falling out of the altar and it had a false bottom, which was moving. She explained: "What was inside is what looked like a parcel, slightly bigger than a shoebox and when he looked closely there was Latin written on the top. So straight away, there was great excitement so we did a Google translate and it said it was a relic of St Hillary from the third century. "We were like 'Is this for real?' We thought, 'is this a sixth year prank?' It's a bit elaborate and someone else said maybe it was a prank from the sixth year from 60 years ago!" But, it turned out to be real. The large parcel wrapped in paper had a handwritten label in Latin on the top, with the date 1787 written on it. Ms Quinn then contacted the National History Museum, Glasnevin Cemetery and the Edmund Rice Trust - which the school is part of - looking for advice. She was put in touch with the Catholic Church's expert in this area Fr William Purcell, who owns more than 2,000 relics. Fr Purcell went to the school earlier this week and investigated the relic alongside Ms Quinn and the five students who discovered the artefact - Colin Sheridan, Conor Brogan Carr, Munasar Omar, Jonathan Taite and Ethan Byrne. The school's principal continued: "It was in a wooden box, it looked like something you would put expensive wine in. "So he opened it up and straight away we could see that there were seals that had been untampered with and the certificate on the top so we didn't need to go into the actual relic so it still remains intact. We opened the envelope and there is a certificate inside saying who the saint is, so that's all we needed to do. "There is a vial of blood inside and you can kind of see a little bit of it. It still remains an untouched relic, that was important, the only reason you would open it is for confirmation purposes but we already had it confirmed." On a printed certificate with an embossed stamp read the words: "Reverend John Augustine Grace, authentication of the body of St Hilary martyr, 1878 from Rome". While all altars are said to contain a relic, many don't have documentary evidence, so the students, staff and Fr Purcell were over the moon. Ms Quinn said: "Since this has happened it feels like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. When we found it we weren't sure what it was or if it was authentic so getting the opportunity to have it opened in front of us as opposed to it being taken off to a museum has brought an extra element to it. "It's brilliant for the kids for this to be part of their ethos as we are a Catholic school and their sense of history displayed and it has absolutely brought history to life." The students will now be embarking on a project to find out more about the ancient artefact, and have started an online fundraiser to raise money to display it correctly in the school. The principal said: "We are getting in touch with Rome to have it registered that we have the relic because there is a process there. If anyone has information on this particular saint I would love it if they shared that with us, and if people want to help and support the display and keep it safe there is a cost involved in that, to make sure it stays here in the school and that it's visible for people to see it. "It will probably cost about €6,000 to properly encase it and display it so we have set up a GoFundMe." Those who would like to contact the school with information can email relic@
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Zombie spider' fungi among Kew archive specimens
"Zombie spiders" and Darwin's HMS Beagle collection are among the fungi being digitally archived by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew's Fungarium, an archive beneath the west London garden, is one of the world's biggest and most important collections of fungal diversity. It contains more than a million specimens collected over the past 175 years. Teams have been creating high resolution images, transcribing the data and uploading it onto Kew's portal, which grants researchers worldwide remote access to the collection. Operations manager of the Fungarium digitisation, Shaheenara Chowdhury, said fungi "have been overlooked by the scientific community for so long, and yet they are amongst the most wonderful and mysterious organisms on the planet". The specimens are georeferenced and span decades, meaning experts can observe how a species' range has changed over time, helping to inform conservation plans. Kew scientists have also been tapping into the genetic information stored in the Fungarium's 50,000 type specimens. The project, which is a partnership with the National History Museum and is backed by government funding, aims to sequence about 7,000 of these fungi, making the data publicly available online in the coming years. The hope is that this will accelerate the discovery of new chemicals and medicines. Scientists estimate there are 2.5 million fungal species in the world but only 166,000 have been described. Among the species digitised by the Kew team is Gibellula attenboroughii - or David Attenborough's "zombie fungus" - named after first being spotted on an episode of BBC's Winterwatch in 2021, having infected an orb-weaving cave spider. The parasitic fungus species belongs to a group that infects their invertebrate hosts and takes control before killing them as part of their spore-spreading mechanisms. Another was Cyttaria dawinii, a small globular parasitic fungus collected by Charles Darwin in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in South America during the HMS Beagle voyage between 1831 and 1836. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Mysterious plants and fungi named new to science
BBC News
18-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
'Zombie spider' fungi among Kew archive specimens
"Zombie spiders" and Darwin's HMS Beagle collection are among the fungi being digitally archived by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Fungarium, an archive beneath the west London garden, is one of the world's biggest and most important collections of fungal contains more than a million specimens collected over the past 175 have been creating high resolution images, transcribing the data and uploading it onto Kew's portal, which grants researchers worldwide remote access to the collection. Operations manager of the Fungarium digitisation, Shaheenara Chowdhury, said fungi "have been overlooked by the scientific community for so long, and yet they are amongst the most wonderful and mysterious organisms on the planet".The specimens are georeferenced and span decades, meaning experts can observe how a species' range has changed over time, helping to inform conservation scientists have also been tapping into the genetic information stored in the Fungarium's 50,000 type project, which is a partnership with the National History Museum and is backed by government funding, aims to sequence about 7,000 of these fungi, making the data publicly available online in the coming hope is that this will accelerate the discovery of new chemicals and estimate there are 2.5 million fungal species in the world but only 166,000 have been described. Among the species digitised by the Kew team is Gibellula attenboroughii - or David Attenborough's "zombie fungus" - named after first being spotted on an episode of BBC's Winterwatch in 2021, having infected an orb-weaving cave parasitic fungus species belongs to a group that infects their invertebrate hosts and takes control before killing them as part of their spore-spreading was Cyttaria dawinii, a small globular parasitic fungus collected by Charles Darwin in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in South America during the HMS Beagle voyage between 1831 and 1836.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
‘Zombie spiders' and Darwin collection among fungi archived in Kew digitisation
' Zombie spiders' and Darwin's HMS Beagle collection are among the fungi being digitally archived by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Kew's Fungarium, an archive beneath the west London garden, is one of the world's biggest and most important collections of fungal diversity, containing more than 1.1 million specimens collected over the past 175 years. Teams have been creating high resolution images, transcribing the data and uploading it onto Kew's data portal, which grants researchers worldwide remote access to the collection. The specimens are georeferenced and span decades, meaning experts can observe how a species' range has changed over time, helping to inform conservation plans. Kew scientists have also been tapping into the genetic information stored in the Fungarium's 50,000 type specimens. The project, which is a partnership with the National History Museum and is backed by Government funding, aims to sequence about 7,000 of these fungi, making the data publicly available online in the coming years. This means anyone will be able to see the genetic code of a species, which could help to unlock new compounds and genetic sequences, accelerate the discovery of new chemicals and medicines, and tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Dr Ester Gaya, senior research leader in comparative fungal biology, said: 'It is incredibly exciting to imagine what diversity of compounds is hidden away in these collections. 'By sequencing these specimens, we hope to tap into these potential benefits, while providing new tools to accelerate species identification and insights into how fungi relate to one another through time.' Scientists estimate there are 2.5 million fungal species in the world but only 166,000 have been described. Shaheenara Chowdhury, operations manager of the Fungarium digitisation, said: 'Fungi have been overlooked by the scientific community for so long, and yet they are amongst the most wonderful and mysterious organisms on the planet. 'It's incredibly exciting to imagine what new discoveries are going to be made with the aid of this new, powerful resource.' Among the species digitised by the Kew team is Gibellula attenboroughii – or David Attenborough's 'zombie fungus' – named after first being spotted on an episode of BBC's Winterwatch in 2021, having infected an orb-weaving cave spider. The parasitic fungus species belongs to a group that infects their invertebrate hosts and takes control before killing them as part of their spore-spreading mechanisms. Other species include Stereum hirsutum, a fungus collected at around 15,000ft during an Everest expedition in 1953, possibly during the climb of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Another was Cyttaria dawinii, a small globular parasitic fungus collected by Charles Darwin in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in South America during the HMS Beagle voyage between 1831 and 1836. Kew scientists also highlighted Hemileia vastatrix, which causes a fungal disease known as coffee rust which is devastating to the coffee genus Coffea and is threatening farms around the world already under pressure from climate change. The mouldy fungi Penicillium rubens, which Scottish physician Alexander Fleming discovered produced the groundbreaking antibiotic compound in the 1920s, is also included in the digitised archive.
North Wales Chronicle
15-05-2025
- Science
- North Wales Chronicle
‘Zombie spiders' and Darwin collection among fungi archived in Kew digitisation
Kew's Fungarium, an archive beneath the west London garden, is one of the world's biggest and most important collections of fungal diversity, containing more than 1.1 million specimens collected over the past 175 years. Teams have been creating high resolution images, transcribing the data and uploading it onto Kew's data portal, which grants researchers worldwide remote access to the collection. The specimens are georeferenced and span decades, meaning experts can observe how a species' range has changed over time, helping to inform conservation plans. Kew scientists have also been tapping into the genetic information stored in the Fungarium's 50,000 type specimens. The project, which is a partnership with the National History Museum and is backed by Government funding, aims to sequence about 7,000 of these fungi, making the data publicly available online in the coming years. This means anyone will be able to see the genetic code of a species, which could help to unlock new compounds and genetic sequences, accelerate the discovery of new chemicals and medicines, and tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Dr Ester Gaya, senior research leader in comparative fungal biology, said: 'It is incredibly exciting to imagine what diversity of compounds is hidden away in these collections. 'By sequencing these specimens, we hope to tap into these potential benefits, while providing new tools to accelerate species identification and insights into how fungi relate to one another through time.' Scientists estimate there are 2.5 million fungal species in the world but only 166,000 have been described. Shaheenara Chowdhury, operations manager of the Fungarium digitisation, said: 'Fungi have been overlooked by the scientific community for so long, and yet they are amongst the most wonderful and mysterious organisms on the planet. 'It's incredibly exciting to imagine what new discoveries are going to be made with the aid of this new, powerful resource.' Among the species digitised by the Kew team is Gibellula attenboroughii – or David Attenborough's 'zombie fungus' – named after first being spotted on an episode of BBC's Winterwatch in 2021, having infected an orb-weaving cave spider. The parasitic fungus species belongs to a group that infects their invertebrate hosts and takes control before killing them as part of their spore-spreading mechanisms. Other species include Stereum hirsutum, a fungus collected at around 15,000ft during an Everest expedition in 1953, possibly during the climb of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Another was Cyttaria dawinii, a small globular parasitic fungus collected by Charles Darwin in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in South America during the HMS Beagle voyage between 1831 and 1836. Kew scientists also highlighted Hemileia vastatrix, which causes a fungal disease known as coffee rust which is devastating to the coffee genus Coffea and is threatening farms around the world already under pressure from climate change. The mouldy fungi Penicillium rubens, which Scottish physician Alexander Fleming discovered produced the groundbreaking antibiotic compound in the 1920s, is also included in the digitised archive.
