This recent discovery might change our long-held belief that life on Earth began with photosynthetic organisms
A Polymetallic nodule that can provide vital oxygen to deep-sea ecosystems. PIC/NYPOST
We all know how plants generate oxygen from light, water, and CO2 but scientists have now found that metal nodules on the ocean floor are producing oxygen in pitch-black darkness, with zero help from living organisms. This mind-blowing discovery, published in Nature Geoscience, could potentially flip our understanding of life’s origins.
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“Where could aerobic (life that requires oxygen) have begun?” wonders Andrew Sweetman, the study’s lead author and a professor of Seafloor Ecology at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, UK. The marine scientists stumbled upon this ‘dark oxygen’ phenomenon by sheer accident while exploring the seabed over 13,000 feet down between Mexico and Hawaii. They were there to study the effects of mining metal nuggets such as cobalt, nickel, and rare earth metals essential for electronic gadgets.
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Their sensors picked up unexpected oxygen emissions from the deep sea, which seemed impossible due to the obvious lack of elements required to produce the gas. Thinking their gear had gone haywire, Sweetman sent the sensors back to the manufacturer, who confirmed they were indeed working perfectly. After further experiments, he concluded that these metal nodules are splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen via electric charge.
Sweetman further points out, “For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there has to be oxygen, and our understanding has been that Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms. But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light.”
Parking spot jackpot
A 3,000-year-old Biblical trench found under parking lot in Israel
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Move over parking spaces—there’s a 3,500-square-foot ancient trench stealing the spotlight! Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a Biblical site beneath a parking lot in Jerusalem’s City of David that might be over 3,000 years old. For 150 years, historians were puzzled by this wide trench, initially mistaken for a natural depression back in the 1960s.
Now, it turns out to be a monumental structure that once protected the kings of Jerusalem. Amusingly, this moat a deep, wide ditch designed to surround and defend ancient castles, was discovered on a site that, until about 15 years ago, served as a parking area for visitors to the Western or Wailing Wall of Jerusalem.
Deadly yet delicious
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Koi Pla, a traditional dish of Thailand and Laos, consists of raw fish, herbs, lemon juice, and the ability to kill 20,000 locals yearly. The problematic ingredient is the raw fish which can become worm-infested leading to Cholangiocarcinoma, a type of bile duct cancer in humans.
A ‘clear’ debacle
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After suffering from severe pain and discomfort on the right side of his body for nine years, a 53-year-old finally decided to seek medical help. In the CT scan, surgeons were showed a 9cm glass shard in a capsule of his connective tissue. It was the size of two credit cards!
Conversational chimps
New study discovered chimpanzees use rapid fire gestures in the same manner that humans do. After analysing 8,500 gestures in five different areas of East Africa, researchers found 14 percent of chimp communication involved gesturing between two individuals. Perhaps one day we’d be able to talk with our chimp friends too!
A killer prom entrance
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A UK teen made a dramatic entrance at his high school prom by arriving in a body bag, ensuring his grand entrance was anything but ordinary. The 11th grader, and his friends staged a stunt with three body bags and all black-clad men to carry them out. Safe to say the boys turned heads as they were unloaded from a van outside the venue.
Miss Kitty not a cat
Fans around the globe are stunned to learn that their beloved character, Hello Kitty, is not a cat after all. “Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Koch, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management at Sanrio, the company that created the character revealed. Instead, she’s a little girl, about three apples tall, who even has her own pet cat named Charmmy Kitty. Anthropologist and author Christine R. Yano added, “She’s never shown on all fours; she walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She is a friend, but she is not a cat.” So, remember, no matter who appearances can be deceiving!
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