#science updates

The discovery of an ancient cephalopod fossil could be about to rewrite octopus history. 

Finding properly fossilised octopus fossils is difficult, due to the animal’s climate and soft, fleshy body. Enter Syllipsimopodi bideni, a ten armed, 330 million year old octopus fossil that was donated to the Ontario Museum in 1988. And with scientists recently taking a closer look, some have suggested that it is a vampyropod, a type of cephalopod, and one of the few of its kind, as they told Nature Communications on March 8. If these scientists are correct, that would make this vampyropod the oldest octopus ancestor by about 80 million years. “This is overturning about 100 years of science in cephalopod evolution,” says invertebrate palaeontologist Christopher Whalen, to Nature Communications. 

However, the true identity of the creature hinges on whether or not it has a gladius, named after the Roman Sword of the same name. The gladius is a hard internal body part identified by its slender growth lines along the fossil’s edge. But not every scientist believes there to be a gladius at all. 

“That’s not the gladius, I’m sorry,” says Christian Klug, a cephalopod palaeontologist at the University of Zurich, to Nature Communications. Some, like Mr Klug, are arguing that the ‘gladius’ is really just a series of chambers found in shells of earlier cephalopods. This sort of debate is apparently the norm in palaeontology circles. The specific identifications of body parts, organs and bones can alter drastically even depending from the angle you look at the specimen from. But that doesn’t mean that the identification process is all over the place. Palaeontologists need a firm grasp on subjects like zoology, botany, anatomy, and even geology to do what they do, as well a deep understanding of the fossilisation process. Yet even in perfectly preserved fossils and specimens, observed by top notch palaeontologists, there may be differences in how they are interpreted. Some scientists may choose more technical methods, some may choose to focus on more specific parts of the fossilised creature. The validity of the determination ultimately relies on how reasonable it is, given the science.

But in the case of S.bideni here, the discovery of more specimens, advanced technology, and more research being put into their findings and identification could lead to scientists getting the right answer. 

Source:

This week I was at the California Animal Nutrition Conference, which had a lot of interesting talks regarding sustainability but also overall animal feeding and how to work with producers and the industry to improve animal agriculture.

I was there to listen to the talks and also to compete in the graduate student poster competition - my poster evaluating a whole-cow model’s ability to predict methane emissions on a wide variety of diets won 3rd place! The scholarship contest winner, another UC Davis student, won for her research into mitochondrial enzyme levels and how they change as calves grow. 

Other neat topics discussed at the conference included

Livestock’s contribution to climate change: fact and fiction (Dr. Frank Mitloehner, UC Davis - Keynote Speaker)

How to use cow behavior to make their feeding experience less stressful and more comfortable (Dr. Rick Grant, William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute)

How to manage flies so that they don’t spread disease or bother livestock (Dr. Alec Gerry, UC Riverside)

The California ARPAS alfalfa hay measurement project and how hay characteristics vary across the state  (Dr. Carl Old)

Measuring and managing carbohydrates in dairy cow rations (Dr. Mary Beth Hall, US Dairy Forage Research Cehter (USDA))

Effects of stress and microbial toxins on gut health and function in pigs (Dr. Nicholas Gabler, Iowa State University)

If any of these topics interest you, check out the presenters and see what they’ve been up to!

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According to recent reports from state media, CAS Space, a prominent Chinese commercial space enterprise, disclosed plans for its "space tourism vehicle," slated to conduct its inaugural flight in 2027, with a journey to the edge of space scheduled for 2028.

Shortly after this announcement, Blue Origin, backed by Jeff Bezos, unveiled plans to recommence operations of its New Shepard Rocket, which serves both cargo and human flights to the edge of space. This development marks the conclusion of an almost two-year hiatus in crewed operations.

Tourist Cabin

CAS Space elaborated that their vehicle will boast a tourist cabin outfitted with four panoramic windows, designed to accommodate up to seven passengers per flight. The company envisions launching trips every 100 hours from a newly erected aerospace theme park, deploying ten vehicles to ferry tourists to the edge of space in a rotational manner.