* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, August 2, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Changing Collective Bargaining in the Entertainment Industry – Jackson Lewis

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Transforming Collective Bargaining in Entertainment

    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn, Warnock introduce CREATE Act to provide tax relief to music creators – Yahoo Home

    Sens. Blackburn and Warnock Launch CREATE Act to Deliver Tax Relief for Music Creators

    That’s (Political) Entertainment: When Theatre Meets Politics

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Changing Collective Bargaining in the Entertainment Industry – Jackson Lewis

    Future Script: How Generative AI Is Transforming Collective Bargaining in Entertainment

    The SBA’s live-entertainment bailout was supposed to end two years ago. We still don’t know how $1.5 billion was spent. – Yahoo Home

    $1.5 Billion Live-Entertainment Bailout: Two Years Later, Where Did the Money Go?

    Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, Boyd – CDC Gaming

    Top Wall Street Bets: Caesars, Golden Entertainment, Churchill Downs, GLPI, and Boyd Take Center Stage

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

    Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

    Emory orthopaedic surgeons use robotic technology to transform knee replacement surgery – Emory News Center

    How Robotic Technology is Revolutionizing Knee Replacement Surgery

    Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue … – Yahoo.co

    Cognizant Q2 2025 Earnings: Impressive Revenue Growth and Key Takeaways

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    Revving Up The U.S. Technology Engine – Forbes

    More than just a hockey player – Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics

    Beyond the Ice: The Inspiring Journey of a Remarkable Athlete from Rochester Institute of Technology

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Smart Logistics in Warehousing – From Legacy Protocols to Green IoT – How Technology Is Reshaping the Sustainable Supply Chain – Logistics Viewpoints –

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

What octopus DNA tells us about Antarctic ice sheet collapse

December 24, 2023
in Science
What octopus DNA tells us about Antarctic ice sheet collapse
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

What octopus DNA tells us about Antarctic ice sheet collapse

Turquet’s octopus (Pareledone turqueti) lives on the seafloor around Antarctica. Credit: Dave Barnes/British Antarctic Survey

If we want to understand the future, it’s often useful to look at the past. And even more useful if you use octopus DNA to peer into worlds long gone.

About 125,000 years ago, the Earth was in its last warm period between ice ages. Global average temperatures during this interglacial period were about 0.5–1.5° C warmer than pre-industrial levels.

This has strong parallels with our time. For a third of 2023, the Earth’s temperature has been 1.5° C warmer than the pre-industrial era, driven by climate change.

For almost 50 years physical scientists have sought the answer to whether or not the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed the last time global temperatures were this high. Rather than relying only on geological sampling, we turned to the DNA of a small Antarctic octopus for clues to the deep past.

The DNA had an answer. Our new research shows yes, it most likely collapsed.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is very susceptible to warming. If it melts, it has enough water to raise global sea levels by 3.3 to 5 meters.

Of octopuses and giant ice sheets

Sediment records and other ice cores show us that the ice sheet retreated at some point during the last ~1 million years in the late Pleistocene, but the exact timing and extent of any collapse remain ambiguous.

To get a more precise answer, we looked to cephalopod genetics.

Every organism’s DNA is a history book, and we now have the technology to read it. We can use DNA to look back in time and pinpoint when different populations of animals were interbreeding.

Turquet’s octopus (Pareledone turqueti) is fairly small, weighing up to 600 grams. They live on the sea floor all around Antarctica, but individuals don’t move far from home. Antarctica is so vast that populations in different regions cannot usually interbreed.

Deep under West Antarctica lies gaps in the rocks. At present, these are filled by the ice sheet, making the Weddell, Amundsen and Ross seas separate from each other.

If the ice melted, seaways would open up and connect these isolated basins. Octopuses could directly migrate into these regions and the evidence of their breeding would be laid down in DNA.

But if the ice sheet didn’t melt, we would only see evidence of breeding between octopus populations along the circumference of the continent.

We compared DNA patterns in Turquet octopus genomes all around Antarctica to see if there were direct and unique connections between octopus populations in the Weddell, Amundsen and Ross seas. We used statistical models to figure out whether these connections could be explained by their present day connections around the Antarctic coastline.

The story was clear in the DNA: yes, there had been direct connections between these three octopus populations. Their connections could not be statistically explained by interbreeding around the present day Antarctic coastline. These populations could only come into contact through seaways now blocked by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Even more interesting, we first found direct connections between the three populations during the mid-Pliocene, 3 million to 3.6 million years ago when temperatures were 2–3° C hotter and sea levels 25m higher than today. This supports existing geological evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during that era.

The most recent DNA signatures of direct connections between the octopuses of these three seas was during the last interglacial period around 125,000 years ago. That suggests the ice sheet collapsed when the global average temperature was around 1.5° C hotter than pre-industrial levels.

Our work provides the first empirical evidence the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could begin to collapse if we exceed the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5° C or even 2° C.

This discovery took effort across disciplines and countries

To use animal DNA as a proxy for changes in the ice sheet, we had to work across disciplines and countries. Bringing together physical scientists and biologists gave rise to new ways to answer long standing questions of vital importance to all of us.

We also turned to museum collections for samples. Some dated back three decades—well before the genetic sequencing and analytical techniques we used were available. This demonstrates the vital importance of careful sample preservation, linked with metadata, with specimens protected for future access.

Interdisciplinary science is hard. It requires time, effort, and an open mind to appreciate new terminologies, scales and approaches. Journal editors and scientists can be reluctant to review such papers, as some aspects of the research will necessarily be outside the area of their expertise. But we hope our results show the value of this approach.

What’s next?

We hope to continue using DNA as a proxy to explore other parts of Antarctica with poorly understood climate histories.

There is a wealth of information on Antarctica’s recent and distant past also hidden in other types of biological data in moss beds and peat profiles, vertebrate animal colonies and living terrestrial and marine invertebrates. To date, very few of these biological archives have been brought into our understanding of Antarctica’s past climates.

As the world heats up at an unprecedented rate, we need to use these types of approaches to understand what else is likely to happen down on the ice.

More information:
Sally C. Y. Lau et al, Genomic evidence for West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade0664

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
What octopus DNA tells us about Antarctic ice sheet collapse (2023, December 24)
retrieved 24 December 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2023-12-octopus-dna-antarctic-ice-sheet.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2023-12-octopus-dna-antarctic-ice-sheet.html

Tags: octopussciencetells
Previous Post

3D preservation of trilobite soft tissues sheds light on convergent evolution of defensive enrollment

Next Post

Why the universe might be a hologram

Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

August 2, 2025
New NIL guidance from College Sports Commission softens stance on collective payments to athletes – CBS Sports

New NIL guidance from College Sports Commission softens stance on collective payments to athletes – CBS Sports

August 2, 2025
Foraging strategy and tree structure as drivers of arboreality and suspensory behaviour in savannah-dwelling chimpanzees – Frontiers

Foraging strategy and tree structure as drivers of arboreality and suspensory behaviour in savannah-dwelling chimpanzees – Frontiers

August 2, 2025
EPA attacks climate science. Here are the facts. – E&E News by POLITICO

EPA Questions Climate Science: Key Insights You Shouldn’t Miss

August 2, 2025
6 science-backed strategies to improve your memory – National Geographic

6 Proven Science-Backed Strategies to Boost Your Memory

August 2, 2025
Trying to keep your brain young? A big new study finds these lifestyle changes help – NPR

Trying to keep your brain young? A big new study finds these lifestyle changes help – NPR

August 2, 2025
2025 World Junior Summer Showcase: 3 things learned on Day 5 – NHL.com

3 Must-Know Highlights from Day 5 of the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase

August 2, 2025
Economic Reality Bites Trump and His Protectionist Trade Policies – The New Yorker

How Trump’s Protectionist Trade Policies Ended Up Hurting the Global Economy

August 2, 2025
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra takes the Lollapalooza stage – Yahoo Home

August 2, 2025
President Trump Delivers Remarks on Making Health Technology Great Again – The White House (.gov)

President Trump Delivers Remarks on Making Health Technology Great Again – The White House (.gov)

August 2, 2025

Categories

Archives

August 2025
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (750)
  • Economy (775)
  • Entertainment (21,653)
  • General (16,243)
  • Health (9,812)
  • Lifestyle (783)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (776)
  • Politics (784)
  • Science (15,988)
  • Sports (21,271)
  • Technology (15,753)
  • World (758)

Recent News

Livonia police use grappler technology to stop drunk driver – ClickOnDetroit | WDIV Local 4

Livonia Police Deploy Grappler Technology to Safely Stop Drunk Driver

August 2, 2025
New NIL guidance from College Sports Commission softens stance on collective payments to athletes – CBS Sports

New NIL guidance from College Sports Commission softens stance on collective payments to athletes – CBS Sports

August 2, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version