The Week UK - 28.03.2020

NEWS 23

FindingNemo,theanimatedfilmfrom

Pixar studios, is the bestselling DVD title of

all time. Butifthe adventuresofapaternal

clownfish and his son havewarmedthe

heartsof millions, they’ve beenacurse for

thefishthemselves,says theDailyMail. The

film causedahuge spike in demand for this

beautiful fish from homeaquariumowners;

and it’s been met by pilfering vast numbers

from theocean .About90% of the million

or so clownfish sold eachyearaspets are

probably takenfrom ocean reefs. And that

does greatdamagetothe coral, asthe fish

haveaclose symbioticrelationship with the

anemone that grow onreefs: immuneto the

toxic chemicals the anemone secrete, the fish hide in their tentacles to escape predators,

andinreturn keep theanemone healthyby feeding on thealgae that settle on them.

But relief may be at hand. In Queensland, Australia,agroup called theBoyne Island

Environmental Centreis working onaway to breed clownfish incaptivity so as to

providean alternative sourceofsupplyforpet shops.Ift hey succeed, the huge

clownfish populationdecline on theGreat BarrierReef couldbereversed.

Health &Science

28 March 2020 THE WEEK

Thelargestcatever...
It’swellknownthat12,0 00 yearsago
humanbeingshadtosharetheplanetwith
ferociousgiantcats.Butthediscoveryofa
sabre-toothtigerskullinUruguaysuggests
thatthelargestsub-species,Smilodon
populator,wasfarbiggerthananyone
imagined.Thesizeoftheskullsuggests
theanimalweighedbetween4 07 kgand
436kg:previousestimateshadputit
atsomewherebetween220kgand360kg.
Thisinturn,accordingtoanarticleinthe
journalAlcheringa,suggestsitsvastjaws
couldhandlepreyweighinguptothree
tonnes,notjustonetonne,aspreviously
thought.Onemillionto 1 0,000years
ago,sabre-toothtigershuntedgiantsloth
acrossthecontinentsofNorthandSouth
America,theonlylargeranimalatthat
timewouldhavebeentheenormous
Short-Facedbear,whichisthoughtto
haveweighed1,000kgonaverage.

...andthetiniestdinosaur
Palaeontologistsexaminingfossilstaken
fromamber depositsin HukawngValley
inMyanmarhavejustopenedaunique
windowintotheworldofdinosaurs,says
theDailyMail.Theyhavefound,frozenin
amber,oneof the tiniestdinosaursofthem
all:abird-likecreature lessthan2inlong.
Ithad clearlymetitsdeathwhenablobof
treeresin fell onitshead,butas aresultits
skull –smallerthanablueberry–has been
perfectlypreserved,revealinginexquisite
detail its bulgingeyesand 100razor-sharp
teeth. “Iwascompletelyblown away,”
saidProf Jingmai O’Connor,leaderof the
team ofpalaeontologistsfromtheChinese
AcademyofSciences. “It’sincredibleto
uncoverthisnew ecologicalnichewenever
knewexisted.” Despiteits minute size–
smallerthanCuba’sbeehummingbird,
theworld’ssmallestbird–Oculudentavis

khaungraae(“eyetoothbird”),whichlived

some99 million yearsago,wasapredator

which almost certainlyfedonbugs.

An ancientclam tells the time

Thosewhofeel therejustaren’tenough

hoursinthedaytoget thingsdoneshould

be gratefultheydidn’tlive70million years

ago,says TheTimes. Researchers atVrije

University in Brussels have worked out that

back in the last days of the dinosaurs,aday

lasted just 23and ahalfhours.Theydid

thisbyanalysingthe shell ofafossilised

clam.Every day ofitslifeduringthelate

Cretaceousperiod,the fast-growing

mollusc wouldlaydownagrowthring.

Andby usinglasers tocountthe rings,

thescientistswere able tocalculatewith

remarkable accuracy thatatthattimethe

world rotated 372 timesayear,compared

to just 365 timestoday.Thelength ofthe

yearhasremainedthe samehowever, as

Earth’s orbit around the Sun doesn’tvary.

Theworld’s oldest building?

Archaeologistsworking attheKostenki

11 siteon theRussiansteppes,300miles

southofMoscow,haveuncovered one of

the oldestandlargeststructures oftheIce

Age–a40-foot-wide circlemadefromthe

skulls,skeletonsandtusks ofmore than

60 woollymammoths.“Thesheernumber

ofbonesour Palaeolithicancestors

broughtto thislocation25,00 0 yearsago

isquitestaggering,”saysDrAlexander

Pryor, anarchaeologist attheUniversityof

Exeter.“It boggles mymind.” About70 of

thesemammoth-bone structures have been

found across EasternEurope,butthesheer

sizeof thisonesuggeststheywerenot,as

previously thought,usedtoshelterpeople

inharshwinters.Inanarticlepublished

inthejournalAntiquity,the researchers

speculatethey weremore likelytohave

beenplacesinwhichtostorefood orhold

ritualceremonies.

Bricks forfuture archaeologists

Onastor myday inFebruary 1997 ,the

containership TokioExpresswashit by

ahugewave 20milesoffLand’sEnd,and

62 containers –one containing4.8million

piecesofLego–fellintothesea. Eversince,

Legobrickshav ebeenwashi ngup onthe

Cornwallcoast. Nowateamofresearchers

led byDrAndrewTurner ofPlymouth

University,haveminutelycomparedthose

storm-tossed pieceswithunusedpieces

fromthe 1980sto findouthow durable

Legopiecesare.Theresultsare startling,

saidTheIndependent.Danishcarpenter

Ole KirkChristiansen,Lego’sinventor,

hadwanted the pieces tobe toughenough

to withstandtempertantrums.But the

researchers found thatonce abandonedto

theocean,theyweretough enoughto last

amillennium:theywouldtakeanything

from100 to1,300 yearstobreakdown.

Thesabre-tooth tiger: larger than we thought

The weather may be cloudy, says

The Times, but astrophysicists at the

University of Hertfordshire have cut

through the gloom. They’ve found a

way of getting satellites to map what’s

going on in the land beneath thick cloud

cover as if it wereaclear bl ue sky–a

boon to farmers, who need to study

their crops overacontinuous period,

and to those monitoring coastal erosion

and flooding.The scientists have done it

by adapting the way theylook at distant

galaxies–via reflected light rays.

Infrared and visible light waves from

satellites cannot penetrate cloud cover:

but radio wavescan. And when these

bounce off the Earth’ssurface, their

reflectiveness givesaradar image of the

land. Using AI andasupercomputer, the

scientists have devisedan algorithm that

turns those radar images into visible

bands of light, so creating pictures of the

land as it would be onacloudless day.

Apenetratingvision

Shelteringin an anemone’s toxic tentacles

What the scientists are saying... about prehistory

The film thatkilled afish