Science news this week: Goblin shark filmed for first time, California close to a major quake, physicists split photon, and inside China’s plans to ‘tame nature’
Goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni) are mysterious, deepwater creatures that have not changed much since they first appeared on Earth 125 million years ago — making them “living fossils.” But capturing a recording of the sharks in their deep habitats is exceptionally difficult, and they have previously been seen alive only after being hooked to the surface on fishing lines. Scientists recently filmed not one, but two goblin sharks: The first near Jarvis Island in the South Central Pacific, and the second 6,550 feet (1,997 meters) deep in the Tonga Trench.
If you like your elusive animals on the wilier (and certainly much cuter) side, we also reported on the first ever photographs of the dwarf fox, a species that was believed to be extinct but has been found near a highway in Cozumel, Mexico.
The next major Californian earthquake could be closer than we thought, according to an alarming new study.
The research, based on historical modeling of earthquake activity, found that Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are at their highest levels of tectonic stress in more than 1,000 years; while also being connected by a “gate” system that could make them rupture together.
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The exact odds of each event happening and the timing of a possible future rupture are unknown. But the scientists stress that understanding how much strain is building up inside the system could help to prepare for whatever comes next.
Life’s Little Mysteries
Why does it always take up to an hour for our eyes to adjust to our surroundings if we’re out in nature on a dark night?
(Image credit: Jackal Pan via Getty Images)
Our eyes are remarkably adaptable, switching from navigating under bright lights to the near pitch-black of a moonless night. But anyone who’s stubbed a toe during this acclimation window — and that definitely includes me — may have once or twice asked themselves why it takes our eyes so long to adjust to the dark. Live Science shed a bit of light on the question.
Physicists are studying what would happen if a single particle of light was sliced apart — unleashing a swarm of unpredictable outcomes.
(Image credit: tiero via Getty Images)
What do you get if you split a photon? Anywhere from zero to an infinite number of more photons, physicists say.
That’s the finding made by a new experiment that simulated a photon being sliced by a shutter under various circumstances, revealing the result was anywhere from zero to one to upwards of an infinite swarm of the tiny light particles. The probability of each of these states corresponded to how quickly the shutter cut the photon.
And the unexpected behavior has some truly profound implications for how we view fundamental particles.
A cloud-seeding rocket is launched into the sky in Hebei Province in an attempt to generate precipitation.
(Image credit: VCG via Getty Images)
China‘s response to the climate crisis continues to astonish. Over the past two decades, the world’s industrial powerhouse has presided over the largest and fastest clean energy buildout in modern history, while also working to bring its carbon emissions to a peak before 2030.
If you’re looking for things to keep you busy over the weekend, here are some of the best news analyses, crosswords, interviews, opinion pieces and quizzes published this week.
European bison (Bison bonasus) are typically considered to be a non-prey species — only being hunted by humans.
But rare and unexpected camera trap footage from Poland’s Bialowieza Primeval Forest (the oldest and best-preserved temperate lowland forest in Europe) has called that into question.
In the video, a herd of bison is recorded rallying around a newborn calf to fend off an attack from five wolves (Canis lupus), successfully driving the predators away. It’s a nerve wracking watch, and one that could become more common as wolf packs grow in size thanks to a late 1980s hunting ban across the region.
