Like other sciences, archaeology is not an infallible discipline. It offers theories of bygone cultures and peoples. Each discovery brings to light new and exciting details that reveal more about ancient civilizations. The latest addition to the list of astounding discoveries is a 38,000-year-old scribble of a cow that was found in a French cave.

The Newest Archaeological Find in France

Archaeologists are excited to share the latest historical treasure that they came upon in French cave. The find, a slab of limestone, looks ordinary and rather unexciting at first glance. It is easy to understand how it could have been overlooked for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found that it actually contains artwork that tells more about how people lived over 30,000 years ago. The slab depicts important parts of ancient life like the cows that used to inhabit the area.

The drawing of the cow is surrounded by dots. Archaeologists do not know yet what significance the dots hold or if they are relevant at all. Still, the artwork itself confirms that people from northern Africa traveled to the central and western parts of Europe where they settled and established tribes or clans. The drawing of the cow could reveal that they herded or hunted this animal as a source of food.

This latest find joins others made recently in Central and Western Europe. Archaeologists have found cave drawings in both Germany and Spain. The sketches date back more than 40,000 years. While lay people may not be able to detect what stories are being told with the artwork, archaeologists know that it gives more details on how people back then determined social standing as well as regional, group, and individual identities.

The recently unearthed ancient artwork continues to be studied. It may be displayed to the public in the near future.

Recent North American Archaeological Finds

The important cradles of civilization are found in Europe and Africa, making these continents vital to the field of archaeology. North America also has its own bevy of archaeological finds that offer interesting and curious insights about how early people lived. Some of the most interesting discoveries were made as recently as 2015. While the finds do not date back to ancient times, they are still important to learning more about the continent’s more recent history.

Archaeologists were particularly excited to find the site of the deadliest Native American massacre. The Bear River Massacre took place in Southeastern Idaho in 1863 when the California Volunteers killed more than 250 Shoshone men, women, and children. The American government at the time was eager to cover up the tragedy and never revealed its exact location. Archaeologists believe they have discovered the site of the Shoshone camp and the location where the massacre took place.

Curiously, archaeologists in North America now consider pull beer tabs to be valid archaeological finds. While the tabs are not ancient artifacts, they are still important to keeping an accurate record of recent history. Beer cans today do not have pull tabs. The discarded tabs are routinely unearthed and given to archaeologists for study and archive purposes.

Drawing to an End

Ancient and not-so-ancient history lies hidden under the earth’s surface, in caves, and on riverbeds throughout the world. Some of the stories that should not be forgotten are once again coming to light thanks to the efforts of archaeologists. Other stories are finding new life as limestone artwork is studied and interpreted. the 38,000-year-old artwork that was discovered in France joins other recent finds like those made in Germany, Spain, and North America.

Image Source: Flickr

Stargazers in the U.K. are in for a celestial treat during the evening and night hours on Feb. 10 and 11. After the sun sets on the 10th of February, the heavens will put on a show that will feature three amazing phenomena. Getting a front row seat to the action won’t be difficult as long as the skies are clear and you are away from the glare of city lights. The moon will put on a show to remember, experts say.

Three Lunar Acts in One Evening

The penumbral lunar eclipse starts on the evening of Feb. 10. The eclipse begins around 10:43 that night in the U.K. The moon will not be totally eclipsed. It will pass through the Earth’s peripheral shadows, becoming darkened as it rises in the night sky. The eclipse will last four hours and 19 minutes. It should end around 2:53 in the morning of Feb. 11.

The second act of the evening begins as soon as the sun sets. The 45P/Honda-Mrkos Pajdusakova comet will jet across the night sky. This comet, which was discovered in 1948, will whiz past Earth at a 7.7-mile distance and be visible to the naked eye. The comet takes about 200 years to orbit the sun in its journey through the universe.

The final lunar act starts around 12:30 a.m on Feb. 11 as the moon exits its eclipse. After it leaves the Earth’s shadows, it will put on a brilliant white color. Its appearance during the event matches its name, which is the Snow Moon or the Hunger Moon. Folklore suggests that this lunar appearance indicates heavy snowfall is soon to follow. Native American tribes also call it the Bone Moon because it occurs during a time of the year when hunting is more difficult and game is less available to hunters. Seeing the moon and comet should be easy. Still, you may have to leave city limits to get a better view.

This Year’s Mid-August Total Solar Eclipse

These three lunar phenomena are not the only celestial acts to occur this year. In North America, the sun will be totally eclipsed, leading to an astronomical event that was last witnessed in the late 1970s. The total solar eclipse is scheduled to take place on August 21 this year. It will be visible in certain parts of the U.S. but out of sight for many states that are outside the eclipse’s path.

The eclipse should begin around 10:15 a.m. off the coast of Oregon. As it travels across the state, it will grow darker and quickly pass over the skies of Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Parts of extreme Northeast Kansas will be able to see the eclipse and most of the state of Missouri will witness the eclipsed sun pass over it. Extreme southwest Kentucky, central Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and North Carolina will also be in the path of the eclipse.

Stargazers must wear a pair of safety spectacles to view the sun during the eclipse. Watching the solar eclipse without proper protection could lead to severe optical damages and blindness.

The skies regularly put on a good show that some people are lucky to see firsthand. If you want to watching an eclipse, comets, and other celestial events you should know when to look toward the heavens. Feb. 10 and 11 will be prime dates in the U.K. to watch the moon change its appearance. The next major astronomical event will occur in North America in August when the sun will be totally eclipsed as it travels across the continent.
Image Source: Pexels

Social media has changed the way people interact with the world around them. Thanks to the rise of smartphones and tablets, people can snap images and share them with their peers in a matter of seconds. Instant sharing has created a competitiveness among social media users to take photos of the largest and most impressive scenes possible. The desire to be popular on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites, however, sometimes pushes people into destructive behavior.

The Animal Selfies Mania

Selfies are now one of the most popular photos shared online. People go out of their way to strike the perfect pose so that they look their best and attract throngs of followers. More and more social media users are doing more than capturing photos of themselves. It has now become trendy to take a selfie with interesting objects or animals and share the end product online.

While most people frequently take selfies with their cats, dogs, and other pets, some want to go beyond the expected and deliver a photo that will make their profiles stand out from the crowd. These people believe that posing with wildlife will make them look adventurous or more interesting. Online selfies of people posing with birds, turtles, and even baby dolphins have recently become commonplace.

This new trend had wildlife experts and conservationists worried especially in light of a recent baby dolphin death in Argentina. Late last month, a mob of beach goers took a baby dolphin from the shallows and passed it around for selfies. The young dolphin died from exposure and dehydration. Sadly, even after it died, people on the beach still took selfies with it.

The desire to get the perfect selfie compels some people to disregard common sense and conservation laws about staying away from wildlife. Law enforcement and conservationists worry that more animals will be at risk of harm or death as people hunt these creatures for selfie taking. Authorities warn these selfie-seekers to leave wildlife alone.

The Social Media-Risky Behavior Connection

People’s willingness to take stupid risks for the sake of social media fame goes beyond taking selfies with endangered animals. Studies have shown that people of all ages now purposely engage in risky sexual behavior because of their involvement in social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. One study, conducted by UCLA, surveyed over 200 adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 24. Of the 200 respondents, more than 79 percent admitted they used social media to take part in risky sexual behaviors which usually exposed them to HIV, AIDS, and other STDs.

Close to 20 percent said that they used social media to search for sexual partners while 10 percent reported having sex with people they found online for drugs, food, or money. The study seeks an answer to the question of whether these young individuals would have put themselves in harm’s way had they not had access to social media. Likewise, scientists wondered about the direct impact that social networking had on these young adults’ decision to engage in this kind of behavior. They wonder if social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter make it easier or more tempting for people today to take risks.

Social media has arguably transformed modern life for the better. At the same time, it has encouraged people to abandon common sense or ignore the law in the pursuit of Internet popularity. Animals like baby dolphins are sacrificed in the name of the perfect selfie. Likewise, young adults and adolescents are increasingly finding it acceptable to look for sexual partners on social networking platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
Image Source: Pixabay

One of the biggest issues faced in modern times is the growing food crisis. The world population continues to expand, but everyone is not getting equal access to food. Some scientists hope to change this by creating new methods that will make it easier to grow crops. A particularly promising innovation may be the BioClay developed by a team of Australian researchers. This discovery could potentially protect plants without damaging the ecosystem with pesticides.

BioClay May Provide Answer to Crop Protection Problem

A major issue with producing enough crops to feed everyone is that bugs and illnesses tend to decimate crops, and each year, the agricultural industry loses about $50 billion due to viruses. Currently, the most popular solution is just to douse plants in pesticides, but this can lead to chemical buildups in the soil that cause even more issues for farmers. Professor Neena Mitter and Professor Zhi Ping Xu from the University of Queensland may have found a more effective solution.

This is not a pesticide that works by killing pests or destroying plant viruses before they can spread. Instead, this useful substance works by making the actual plants stronger and more resistant. It functions similar to a vaccination in humans.

The BioClay looks just like a normal pile of dirt, but it contains special double stranded RNA particles. When sprayed onto a plant, this results in an RNA silencing effect that prevents the plant from using certain genes in its DNA. The BioClay does not actually harm or alter the plant’s genome, it just changes the way the plant reacts to its own genome.

Essentially, the BioClay makes the plant think that it has been exposed to a certain pest or plant disease. This triggers a protective response, and the plant starts producing certain natural substances to defend themselves against diseases and harmful organisms. It can be used just by spraying a dust of BioClay over the plant.

RNA silencing mechanisms have long been known to provide some protection for crops, but the main issue was that previous RNA pesticide technology only worked for about seven days. The BioClay solution developed by Mitter and Xu found a way to slowly release the double stranded RNA to plants over time. The time release mechanism can be adjusted to various plant growth cycles, so it ensures that plants get protection throughout their entire lifespan.

The BioClay substance is designed specifically for plants, so it does not affect humans and other animals like DDT and other pesticides. After being used, BioClay can degrade into the earth until it is no longer detectable. This ensures that the environment is not permanently changed or damaged due to the use of BioClay.

BioClay may be a viable method for both small and big farms to protect their crops without pesticide use. Mitter says,

The cleaner approach will value-add to the food and agri-business industry, contributing to global food security and to a cleaner, greener image of Queensland.

Professor Xu hopes that BioClay will eventually move beyond organic farms in Queensland, and he states, “the applications will expand into a much wider field of primary agricultural production.

The Future of BioClay

Though the researchers have shown that BioClay can be very effective, they are still working to refine their product. Once it is perfected, the next step will be convincing agricultural businesses to use BioClay. At first, it will most likely just be used by a few niche farms who want to avoid chemical pesticides. If the researchers can demonstrate that it is safe, effective, and cheaper than traditional methods, more farmers will be won over.

 

Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-plant-sprout-113335/

For a long time, doctors have noticed a correlation between heart attacks, strokes, and stress. Some theorized that stress might cause these issues by increasing blood pressure, but the precise mechanism was not understood. A lengthy study from Harvard Medical School has finally revealed the underlying reason that stress causes heart attacks and strokes. It turns out that the issue seems to be an excessive amount of white blood cells.

The Link Between Stress and Heart Attacks Is Finally Understood

Heart attacks and strokes are both very serious health conditions that happen when blood flow to the heart or the brain is halted. This can potentially be fatal if these important organs are deprived of oxygen-rich blood for too long. The most common cause for a heart attack or a stroke is some sort of blood flow blockage, but in some incidents, it is caused by a blood vessel breaking.

It has long been known that mental stress and anxiety increase a person’s risk for getting heart disease and strokes. Some studies have found that social stress can be just as dangerous for the heart as smoking or having high blood cholesterol. Stress may seem like a purely psychological issue, but it has a real effect on the body.

It turns out that stress can greatly increase both the chance of clots or a broken blood vessel. The brain responds to stress just like it would respond to a human being in danger, so the body starts increasing levels of cortisol and adrenaline which cause blood pressure to skyrocket. In a dangerous situation, that would help a human to fight or flee from danger, but chronically high blood pressure levels in normal life weaken blood vessels and increase the chance of a broken vessel.

The new Harvard study shows that stress does not just increase the risk of rare broken blood vessels. It can also increase the risk of blood clots that most commonly cause heart attacks or strokes. The researchers discovered this by tracking the brain activity, bone marrow activity, artery inflammation, and spleen activity of 293 patients for about four years. The data gathered was then carefully processed in order to rule out mere correlations and get to the actual causal links.

Researchers found that stress was handled by a part of the brain called the amygdala. When stress is encountered, the amygdala tells a person’s bone marrow to produce more white blood cells so that the body will be prepared to fight off infections or repair damage. Chronic stress may cause the body to overproduce white blood cells, and these extra cells can bind together into plaques and clots in the blood vessels.

The study was able to show this because 22 out of the 293 patients had cardiovascular events like heart attack, strokes, or heart failure. Those with higher amygdala activity had an increase in bone marrow activity that lead to an increase in blood vessel inflammation, and in many patients, this resulted in heart problems. Dr. Ilze Bot cautions,

these clinical data establish a connection between stress and cardiovascular disease, thus identifying chronic stress as a true risk factor for acute cardiovascular syndromes.

New Discovery Leads to Better Heart Attack Prevention

This data may help doctors to find ways to prevent heart attacks and strokes. It is sometimes impossible for people to avoid stress in the modern world, but they may be able to avoid the heightened immune response that can lead to heart attacks. Future medical developments could create medicines or stress relief therapies that lower amygdala responses to stress. Until then, it is wise to avoid stress whenever possible to protect your heart.

 

Image source: pexels.com/photo/man-in-white-shirt-using-macbook-pro-52608/

Every time the weather turns grey and chilly, people start complaining about achy backs, knees, and elbows. Some people even believe that their achy joints can be a prediction of weather for the next couple of days. A few Australian researchers decided to examine this phenomenon. They ended up concluding that bad weather did not cause back pain, but it did make people more likely to notice it.

Scientists Find No Association Between Bad Weather and Joint or Back Pain

A lot of scientific research relies on examining folklore about health issues to see if they are supported by scientific evidence. Two separate studies in Australia have focused on the common myth that cold weather or rain makes joint pain worse. People have believed this for years, and many suggest that the change in air pressure or humidity may cause inflammation to rise.

In one study, researchers at the George Institute compared the data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology with the data of 1,350 study patients who had back or knee pain. The researchers took note of the days when patients first felt pain, and then compared it to the weather data for the same time period. Even when weather for a month surrounding the pain onset was examined, the researchers could not find any correlation between cold weather or rain and pain.

The researchers were surprised at the amount of backlash their study received. They were overwhelmed with messages and calls from people who insisted that their joints hurt much worse when the weather was bad. Since there is always some room for error, the scientists decided to conduct the same study again with different data.

In the second study, researchers examined patients with osteoarthritis-related joint pain. Unlike pain caused by random injuries, osteoarthritis causes pain because the protective coating in joints is worn down. The results of this study were basically the same, and there seemed to be no connection between an increase in pain and weather.

The scientists ended up concluding that the link between joint pain and weather was more psychological than physical. As many previous studies have shown, bad weather tends to worsen people’s moods. When patients are in a bad mood, they may notice pain more and believe that it is caused by bad weather.

The authors believe that the association between joint pain and bad weather is also a result of a confirmation bias. People believe that bad weather causes pain, so they notice the pain more on bad weather days. On days with good weather, patients do not even think to associate their pain with weather.

Author of the second study, Professor Chris Maher, explains

The belief that pain and inclement weather are linked dates back to Roman times, but our research suggests this belief may be based on the fact that people recall events that confirm their pre-existing views. Human beings are very susceptible so it’s easy to see why we might only take note of pain on the days when it’s cold and rainy outside, but discount the days when they have symptoms but the weather is mild and sunny.

Having Pain Free Joints in all Types of Weather

The researchers found that patients tended to feel pain more intensely due to the decline in their moods, but there are ways to combat this issue. You can get an artificial sun lamp to get the mood boosting benefits of sunshine indoors. Staying at a healthy weight, maintaining good posture, and regularly exercising can also help to relieve mild joint pain, but those who tend to feel sharp pain will benefit from a visit to a doctor.

Photo by Lorenzo Benetton alias apolide, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Medical advancements have allowed many people to live much longer, but it is difficult to protect the brain in old age. Even if a senior is physically healthy, they may suffer from dementia that prevents them from thinking logically, remembering important events, or taking care of themselves. A lot of anti-aging research has focused on ways of preventing or treating forms of dementia. New research from Rutgers University provides hope for treating memory problems more successfully in the future, and improving the lives of those affected by dementia.

Scientists Discover Potential Method of Dementia Treatment

Dementia is a little understood disease that tends to happen with age. It can be a symptom of another issue like Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, but some seniors just develop dementia without any other related conditions. It happens any time the brain starts to undergo physical changes that result in a decline in mental abilities.

A team of researchers from the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University decided to conduct a study that attempted to find the reason behind this seemingly spontaneous mental and memory decline. They used mice as test subjects because mice have brains similar to humans and age quickly enough to simulate the effects of dementia.

The researchers ended up examining the function of the CRTC1 protein in the areas of the brain that control memory. CRTC1 protein is a type of protein that controls gene expression, so it is responsible for activating and deactivating the FGF1 gene used to repair damaged brain cells and grow new cells. The scientists discovered “the longer the CRTC1 stays in the mouse brain, the stronger the memory.”

They used both fear conditioning and object location learning to train the mice’s memory, and then the researchers looked at protein level in the subject’s brains. The mice who were trained for a longer period of time had more CRTC1 activity in their brains, and they also were better able to retain the memory.

This study’s findings are confirmed by other research which shows regularly training the brain with puzzles or other cognitive tasks helps to prevent memory loss with old age. More importantly, it looks at the underlying molecular mechanism that causes this effect to occur. The study will be particularly useful to those looking for dementia cures because it shows which genes and proteins specifically affect memory retention in old age.

Results from the study have mapped the precise steps that result in CRTC1 affecting memory. It goes from brain synapses to cellular nuclei after doing memory associated tasks, and it then regulates FGF1b transcription. Now that this mechanism is better understood on a molecular level, it may be easier to create medications that target the activation of genes and proteins to stimulate memory.

The next goal in dementia treatment will be to confirm that the study findings are replicated in human patients. After that, scientists can start making medications that better stimulate memory through the proteins and genes of the human brain. Gleb Shumyatsky co-author of the study, expresses hope that “This work may provide scientists with answers and therapeutic help in the future for those going through normal aging or suffering from dementia.”

Next Steps for Dementia Researchers

Now that researchers realize the mechanisms behind age related memory loss, they may be able to create drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Their next goals will be to find ways to promote CRTC1 protein production without causing other health issues. The scientists probably will not be able to create a dementia cure immediately, but their research may eventually lead to a successful treatment for this serious health issue.

 

Photo by kennysarmy, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Cancer continues to be one of the most concerning health issues because it is hard to treat and can be caused by many modern chemicals. The medical community puts a lot of money and time towards studying cancer. Researchers hope to increase our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cancer, so it will become easier to target the disease. One new study looks particularly promising for those who have head and neck cancers.

Head and Neck Cancers Linked to Certain Proteins

Head and neck cancers are particularly common because the sensitive tissues in the area are frequently exposed to damaging things like airborne pollutants or alcohol. Each time a cell is damaged, there is a small risk that it will turn into a cancerous cell, so head and neck cancers occur frequently. Each year, roughly 600,000 new cases of head and neck cancers are diagnosed.

Most research into the causes of cancer either focuses on environmental toxins or genetic mutations. A team of scientists from the McGill University Health Centre decided to take a new approach and instead look at spontaneous epigenetic mutations which occur when the proteins used to regulate genes stop working. This novel approach to cancer research lead to some fascinating finds that could potentially make it easier to treat cancer.

The researchers found that up to 15 percent of cases of head and neck cancer were caused by a mutation in a specific protein. It turns out that a mutated histone H3 protein can cause many people to develop cancer in the head or neck. When patients develop this type of cancer due to a protein mutation, it is much more resistant to common forms of treatment.

Histone H3 proteins are long chains of amino acids that can easily become malformed when they are damaged. Properly functioning histones help to wind DNA strands into tiny bundles, so they have a very important role in the human body. These proteins are supposed to regulate genes and encourage new cell growth, so when they mutate, they can cause cancer cells to grow out of control.

The scientists were able to find these results looking at data that had already been collected by the Cancer Genome Atlas Consortium. Instead of having to find their own test subjects, they were able to use this database in a unique way to find a correlation between histone H3 mutations and cancer. Study author Dr. Jacek Majewski said:

We made use of the same data but took a completely different approach. Instead of concentrating on genetic mutations, we looked at the effect of these mutations on histone H3 proteins.

This finding could potentially make it much easier to treat patients who have particularly resistant forms of cancer because they could be used to create medications that target abnormal cancer cells without killing healthy cells. There are also some drugs created for patients with melanoma and lung cancer that already work by targeting spontaneous epigenetic histone mutations. They could be used to target these abnormal proteins and slow down or halt the progression of the cancer.

The Next Goal for Cancer Researchers

This study has greatly increased what doctors know about head and neck cancers. Now that they know a certain mutated protein can cause cancer, they can focus on treatment options. Developing a way to block these protein mutations is now a priority for researchers who focus on head and neck cancer. Instead of spending years developing new drugs, the next studies may focus on finding ways to repurpose other drugs and provide quick treatment.

 

Photo by orinoco14, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Baboons and other monkeys are closely related to modern humans, so many zoologists study them to learn more about what early humanoids may have been like. Some new research provides fascinating insight into how human speech may have developed, looking into sounds produced by baboons.

It turns out that humans may have started speaking earlier than assumed. These findings not only show how humans may have learned to talk, but they also reveal that baboons may be developing their own language right now.

Researchers Find that Baboons Use Vowel Sounds to Communicate

Since both humans and baboons are part of the primate family, they share many characteristics. These intelligent animals have complicated social hierarchies, can distinguish between different written words, and are capable of using tools. Therefore, linguists and zoologists were curious about the baboon’s capability to create spoken language.

Researchers from multiple universities in France united to study a group of 15 male and female baboons. They recorded the noises that the baboons made while interacting with each other and collected 1,335 unique vocalizations. Two of the baboons in the group died of natural causes, so the researchers were able to dissect them and examine their vocal tract anatomy.

All of this research was then carefully analyzed to develop some scientific conclusions. The researchers found that five distinct vowel-like sounds kept showing up again and again in the middle of the grunts, calls, barks, and other noises made by the baboons. These five vowel noises share many similarities with the human vowels which are a, e, i, o, and u.

The study results were somewhat surprising because most linguists assumed that distinct vowels can only be created with a larynx that is located deep within the throat. Non-human primates tend to have a much higher larynx, but they can still make vowels because their tongues have the same exact muscles as humans do.

These findings are significant because baboons and humans are not technically part of the same family. Humans are part of the Hominini branch of primates while baboons are part of the Cercopithecinae branch of primates. This means that humans may have been capable of speaking long before their genetic precursors split away into a separate subfamily. Our human ancestors may have started creating speech as early as 25 million years ago instead of the 100,000 years ago that most scientists thought.

Study co author Dr. Joel Fagot explains, “Similarities between humans and baboons suggest that the vowels of human speech probably evolved from ancient articulatory precursors that were passed on and refined all along the hominid line.” Theoretically, all primates may be able to mimic human like speech someday.

Though the study found that baboons are capable of physically creating vowel sounds, it did not focus on their mental ability to develop cognitive language. It is already known that baboons do tend to use distinct noises to communicate with each other, but they have not developed a complete language with grammatical tenses and abstract discussions. Baboons may be intelligent when compared to other animals, but they do not have the cognitive level of humans.

Will Baboons Learn to Talk?

This research has some fascinating implications because it shows that humans might have started speaking to each other much earlier than previously thought. Over time, simple vowel noises evolved into the many different complex languages used by humanity. If baboon language development continues to mimic human language, the species may be able to communicate much more clearly in the next few millennia. One day, it may even be possible for humans to decipher baboon speech.

 

Photo by Bernard Spragg. NZ

When fossils of an extinct creature are discovered, one of the first steps to understanding them is finding the modern equivalent of the animal. Still, this can be quite difficult sometimes due to lack of information about the ancient animal. Scientists were particularly baffled by a strange cone shaped creature that was first found years ago After 175 years, hyoliths have finally found a proper placement within the animal kingdom.

Strangely Shaped Marine Animal Is Finally Classified in Evolutionary Tree

For over a century, scientists were confused by the discovery of fossils that were shaped like cones. The fossils were found all throughout geographic locations and time period, and they had apparently first evolved during the Cambrian explosion. They survived for almost 250 million years before going extinct.

These fossils were not even named until 1963 because it was hard for scientists to tell if they were a unique species. or not, let alone where would they fit in the evolutionary tree. Even after they were named, the hyolith fossils’ unique shape still continued to be a source of debate. Most specimens were broken or badly preserved, so it was difficult to determine if a fossil was a hyolith or just a similarly shaped animal.

A hyolith closely resembles an ice cream cone because one end is sharply pointed and the other is gently rounded. The cone shaped creatures tend to be just a few centimeters long. They had a tough outer shell that protected most of the interior, and it was topped with a smaller shell that acted like a type of cap across the opening.

Typical fossils of hyoliths just contained their shell, without any soft tissue, so it was hard for scientists to classify them. Some scientists thought that hyoliths were a sort of squid because their cone shape looked somewhat squid-like, and others argued that hyoliths were a type of snail. The only thing that scientists were certain about was when and where the hyoliths lived.

This lack of information changed in 2017 when researchers at the University of Toronto were able to examine over 1,500 well preserved hyolith specimens from the British Columbia fossil site at Burgess Shale. They found that the hyoliths had a ring of ciliated tentacles around their top opening and two long tapered structures that extended from either side of the small tentacle ring.

The recent discoveries provided enough insight to classify hyoliths as a part of the Lophophorata group. Lophophorates include both extinct species like hederelloids and living species like brachiopods. These animals tend to be small marine creatures with a tough shell that opens to show feeding tentacles that are called “lophophores.”

Scientists now theorize that hyoliths were able to live for so long in many different locations due to this clever feeding mechanism. They could use the pair of tapered structures, named “helens” to push their body out of the sand and detritus on the ocean floor. After pointing their openings into the ocean current, the hyoliths could then use their tentacles to filter tiny bits of organic material out of the water and push the food into their shell opening.

New Understandings Benefit Scientific Community

Any new information about hyoliths and its place in the evolutionary tree helps scientists to learn more about the history of the planet. The hyoliths are now part of the Lophophorata group that are aquatic animals with a ring of tentacles in the mouth. This new classification may help scientists to understand why hyoliths went extinct and prevent their modern relations from also going extinct later on. Lophophorata play an important role in the marine ecosystem, so their presence is extremely useful.

Photo by Pseudorhina @DeviantArt