Deep-sea footage reveals ‘mysterious' untouched world off New Zealand. See it
Diving over half a mile down, the ROV recorded an 'incredible variety of life,' specifically coral communities, along the ocean floor, according to a May 27 news release from New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
The footage, which officials called a 'rare glimpse into a mysterious and rarely explored world,' showed coral species previously not known to exist the region and several possible new species.
The footage was captured during a joint German-New Zealand expedition aboard the RV Sonne, a German research vessel, according to the release.
'This was an amazing opportunity to use cutting-edge technology to observe areas of the seafloor that are rarely accessible, including seamounts, the depths of Fiordland, offshore areas of Rakiura and the Chatham Rise,' said Lyndsey Holland, a senior science advisor with New Zealand's Department of Conservation who was part of the expedition.
'We still don't fully understand what's down there,' Holland said.
Officials said these fragile coral formations 'have remained untouched for hundreds of years.' Corals are legally protected in New Zealand, according to the release.
Experts will continue to analyze the footage and data collected during the expedition, officials said.
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Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
Street Lamps Aren't The Main Source Of Light Pollution In Cities
Light pollution is a growing issue for our cities, and Hong Kong is no exception (photo taken on ... More Friday, July 4, 2025) How dark is the night sky where you live? If you're in an urban area, the answer will likely be 'not dark at all'. The pervasiveness of artificial light – be it in the form of streetlamps, billboards, screens or floodlights – keeps our cities bright long after most people have gone to bed. And it's on the rise. In 2016, a group of researchers found that 83% of the world's population and more than 99% of people in the U.S. and Europe live under light-polluted skies. In 2023, some of the same authors showed that the average night sky is getting brighter by 9.6% per year, due to artificial light in our surroundings spilling into the atmosphere. This is equivalent to a quadrupling of sky brightness over the duration of a human childhood (18 years). And while it's true that almost all light pollution is generated in urban areas, its effects extend beyond the streetscape. The 'light domes' of Las Vegas and Los Angeles can be seen from Death Valley National Park, despite it being 150km and 250km away, respectively. For many city-dwellers, true outdoor darkness is not something they experience regularly. In discussions around light pollution, the switch to LED (light-emitting diodes) streetlamps is often mentioned as a contributing factor. The high efficiency and low cost of LEDs makes them increasingly common on our urban roads. But if its pollution we're interested in, then it's not the streetlamps we should be talking about. The Nachtlichter ('night lights' in German) campaign involved hundreds of citizen scientists ... More counting and classifying many thousands of light sources in urban areas. They found that streetlamps make up a relatively small fraction of the total Bright lights, big city In Germany in 2021, a group of 257 citizen scientists, led by Dr Christopher Kyba (Ruhr University Bochum), carried out a novel study on artificial light at night (ALAN). Using a dedicated app called Nachtlichter ('night lights' in German), they counted and classified 234,044 illuminated light sources across a 22-km2 area that included city centers, residential neighborhoods, commercial and industrial areas. No areas with skyscrapers were included in the survey. Their findings, published last week in the journal Nature Cities, showed that public streetlamps make up a relatively small percentage (10-13%) of all contaminating light sources counted. In dense areas, streetlamps were outnumbered by other light sources by a factor of up to 7. Instead, they found that private windows were by far the most frequently observed light source, representing more than 48% of the total. 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(Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images) Going Dark Another urban sky brightening study published this month focused on Hong Kong; one of the most densely populated regions in the world. There, a group of scientists took advantage of an annual event called Earth Hour to study light pollution. Organized by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to raise environmental awareness, Earth Hour involves the voluntary switching off of lights for one hour (20:30-21:30 local time) on a specified day. The campaign is widely supported in Hong Kong, with more than 4,000 organizations and buildings opting in to the 'lights-out' event each year. This provided the team of researchers, led by Dr Chu-Wing So, with an opportunity to directly quantify the impact that bright lights have on the night sky. They examined footage from an all-sky camera installed on the roof of the Hong Kong Space Museum in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, and collected data from a night sky brightness meter co-located with the camera. This allowed them to compare images of the sky before, during, and after the lights-out hour every year from 2015 to 2024. To look at the influence of street-level billboards on storefronts and illuminated signs closer to the ground, they also carried out wide-field photography and a street-level survey. Taken together, this data showed a night sky that was more than 50% darker on average during the lights-out period. They showed that the presence of clouds also amplified the brightening effect of light pollution – as cloud coverage increased from 40% to 85%, urban night sky brightness increased sixfold. To identify the types of lighting that dominate light pollution in this district of Hong Kong, the team set up a portable spectrometer alongside the all-sky camera and brightness meter. This allowed them to identify the specific wavelengths of light that were decreased or absent during the lights-out period. They found that emission reductions mostly occurred in three wavelength bands: 445–500nm, 500-540 nm, and 615–650 nm, which corresponds to blue, green and red emissions from LED billboard screens. They also measured reductions in the 585–595 nm range, which is associated with metal halide floodlights used for facades and billboards. The sodium streetlamps had a negligible impact on sky brightening. They conclude 'the substantial darkening observed in Hong Kong [during Earth Hour] can be largely attributed to the simple act of turning off approximately 120 decorative or advertising lights on commercial buildings and shopping malls. Although they represent only a small fraction of the total external lighting in the city…. they are in fact the main contributors to light pollution in Hong Kong.' The 'light dome' of Los Angeles and other major cities can be visible from great distances. So what? It's becoming increasingly clear that excessive or inappropriate use of artificial lighting at night (ALAN) has widespread implications for ecological health. It can confuse and endanger nocturnal species who are active at night. Migratory birds and bats are diverted and disoriented by the presence of artificial lighting on their routes, with many killed as a result of colliding with brightly-lit structures. Other bird species and frogs change their breeding behaviors. A study published last month looked at 7 years of VIIRS data from 428 cities in Northern Hemisphere concluded that artificial light may be lengthening the growing season in urban environments by as much as 3 weeks compared to rural areas. 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As a start: Avoid lighting up places that don't actually need to be lit. Where light is needed, be more intentional about what type, how much, and its location. Use timers or motion sensors to enable lights-out periods. Light pollution is serious. Cities need to start treating it as such.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Newsweek
Man Gets Doorbell Notification, 'Couldn't Believe' What He Saw Dog Doing
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A pet owner "couldn't believe" what he caught his dog doing on the doorbell cam outside his home in Oklahoma. In a video shared with Newsweek by Ring, a German shepherd-boxer mix by the name of Hazel can be seen defying her canine status to do something a little more humanlike. When Hazel's owner Patrick got a notification on his phone informing him motion had been detected on the porch outside his home in Lawton, he wasn't entirely surprised. However, when the owner opened the Ring app, he was surprised to see Hazel letting herself back into their home. That was the moment he discovered his dog had worked out how to open and close doors. "I got a Ring notification and watched the video back," Patrick told Ring. "We couldn't believe it—our dog Hazel, a German shepherd-boxer mix under 1 year old, let herself out through the screen door!" Psychologist and canine researcher Stanley Coren said that dogs boast mental capabilities on a par with a 2-year-old child. However, each dog's intelligence differs, depending on breed. Coren told the American Psychological Association: "There are three types of dog intelligence: instinctive (what the dog is bred to do), adaptive (how well the dog learns from its environment to solve problems) and working and obedience (the equivalent of 'school learning')." Coren added that dogs are capable of learning where valued items such as treats are stored, the fastest way to get to a desired location, and even how to operate certain mechanisms like doors and latches. Hazel appears to have picked up these skills in next to no time. Now, going in and out of the house of her own accord has become second nature to her. "She's been opening doors on her own for about three weeks now, and we didn't teach her a thing," Patrick said. Even so, while he is very impressed at what she has picked up, Hazel's new set of skills have left Patrick feeling a little uneasy about leaving her unattended. "Turns out, I've got a very clever pup and now need to start locking the doors," Patrick said. That hasn't stopped the owner from sharing the clip far and wide. "We shared the clip because it gave us (and our friends) a good laugh," Patrick said. Hazel isn't the first dog to pick up this particular set of skills, of course. In November 2024, a woman learned the hard way that her dog had figured out how to open the front door. Then there is the adorable pup who has helpfully learned to open the door for her owner while she brings firewood in. Then there was the family dog who ended up getting "busted" putting his new skill set to good use. The message to dog owners is clear: lock your doors.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Clean bill of health for giant bird skeleton
The giant skeletal remains of a rare bird stored at Leeds Museum have been given a clean bill of health by curators. The skeleton of the heavy-footed moa, an enormous flightless bird which once roamed parts of New Zealand 570 years ago, were first brought to the city in 1868. At the time the skeleton was the only example of the species in the country outside the British Museum in London. The remains have now been carefully cleaned by experts and checked over for signs of deterioration to ensure the bird can continue to be seen by future generations. According to Leeds Museum, the bird was brought to West Yorkshire after it was acquired by Henry Denny, the then curator of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Like many objects in the Leeds collection, it was damaged in 1941 after Philosophical Hall - then the city's museum - was bombed during World War II. In 2011 curators rediscovered the bird's bones and, after a full restoration, they were put on display in the Leeds City Museum's collectors cabinet. Driven to extinction by hunting and deforestation around 570 years ago, the species was one of the largest birds which ever existed, standing almost 6ft (1.8m) tall and weighing more than 300 lbs (136kg). Clare Brown, Leeds Museums and Galleries' curator of natural sciences, said: "The moa is a truly historic specimen which really captures the imagination and brings a completely different world inhabited by extinct and bizarre giants to life. "Having animals like this on display is not only a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era, it's a thought-provoking reminder of our responsibility to do what we can to protect the natural world both now and in the future." The moa is one of a number of extinct species on display at the museum including a dodo and giant Irish elk. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. More stories like this Rare butterfly collection goes on display Museum launches 'choose your own price' admission Stuffed hippo helps reveal science of whiskers
