Hello and welcome to 7 Days of Shark Science. Coming up in the news this week,
I say 'olive oil' , Ben shows us all what he wore at graduation
, and I run at a man with glasses
[Title Sequence]
Little personal announcement at the end so do wait around for that if you’re interested!
Starting off this year’s 7 Days of Shark Science, a study published in the Journal of the American
Chemical Society has determined the chemical structure of Boron Monoxide, around 8 decades
since its discovery. Boron monoxide, as the name suggests, is a binary compound containing boron
and oxygen. First reported in existence in the 1940s, the technology of the time was unable to
find the specific structure of this material, but modern scientists working on trying to construct a
covalent organic framework without using carbon came across this old data and were able to use
modern equipment to unravel the old mystery. One of the previously proposed models actually
correlated very well to this research’s concluded structure. As the paper states,
there has recently been an increased interest in boron structures, and this paper will go far
into both stoking that interest, and helping us understand boron-based materials further.
In other news, a study presented at the NUTRITION 2023 meeting in the US
has suggested that a regular consumption of olive oil reduces the risk of fatal dementia.
The study used a data group of nearly a hundred thousand people, and their results showed a 28%
lower risk of dying of dementia to those who had had more than half a tablespoon of olive oil per
day over the period. One of the researchers said that this could be evidence for some antioxidant
compounds in olive oil crossing the blood-brain barrier and having an effect on the brain. It was
also suggested that the effect was more indirect, perhaps having a positive effect on the heart
which then affected the brain. Another interesting study on how much our diets can affect our health.
Also in the news: A group of Orcas off the coast of Iceland have been spotted swimming
with a white-beaked dolphin calf. This is not the first time that Orcas in this
area have been seen caring for an infant of a different species. A few weeks ago,
a group of Orcas were spotted with a Pilot whale calf. And that was not the first time,
the behaviour was first documented a couple of years ago. If you would like to know more about
this, One World has produced a video about it; a link to the video is in the sources list in the description .
And, of course, this is 7 Days of Shark Science, so here’s the shark news. A study published
this week has found that basking sharks - the giant filter feeders - are actually partially
warm-blooded. It had always been assumed that these sharks had been fully ectothermic,
or cold-blooded, having a body temperature not significantly raised above the environment’s
temperature. However, after performing dissections of a few basking sharks that had washed up on UK
and Irish beaches, scientists discovered some interesting adaptations for regional endothermy
- a condition in which certain parts of the body are maintained at a higher temperature than the
environment. These include red muscles centralised deep within the body and thick-walled, muscular
hearts - adaptations seen in fast-swimming, predatory fish species such as white sharks
and tuna, but not expected in a relatively slow-swimming filter feeder. The scientists
also logged live individuals and recorded their body temperatures, discovering that their white
muscle just below the skin was consistently at a raised temperature compared to the environment.
So, it turns out that Basking Sharks are probably regional endotherms,
a completely unexpected discovery that has surprised scientists and
shows how much we still have to learn about these incredible fish.
And now over to Ben, who is looking pretty
good after his attempts to turn into a shark earlier this week.
Thanks, Doug. Now before we get back into the fish news, I first have to just inform
you about a couple of new dinosaur species named this week - boring, I know. Firstly,
we have a new centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Montana. The
specimen this new species is based on, named as Furcatoceratops elucidans, is an almost complete
skeleton with most of the skull present. The brow horns of Furcatoceratops are quite interesting and
unique compared to other ceratopsian dinosaurs, being strongly deflected forwards and also curving
slightly inwards towards one another. It’s found to be a close relative of Nasutoceratops, and the
individual fossil itself is thought to represent a subadult, allowing the palaeontologists to learn
more about the life history of ceratopsian dinosaurs. The fact that the skull bones
of this specimen are well-preserved but also disarticulated is also actually very
useful for the study of ceratopsians, as the individual bones will be very useful
in future comparisons between species. So, a brilliant discovery of a unique new dinosaur.
Also in the dinosaur news is the naming and description of a new titanosaur,
from the Late Cretaceous of Egypt. Called Igai semkhu, it’s known from various limb bones and
5 vertebrae, and actually tells us a lot about the evolution of sauropods in Africa. It turns
out that Igai is quite closely related to other titanosaurs from northern Africa and Eurasia,
whereas it’s more distant to sauropods further south in Africa such as faunas recovered from
Tanzania. This seems to further support ideas that there was a north/south palaeobiogeographic divide
across Africa during the Late Cretaceous, with northern African sauropods being more similar
to Eurasian forms. It’s still an unresolved idea that needs further investigating, though,
but a very interesting one nevertheless, and the discovery of Igai adds a lot of new data.
[Interview]
A big thank you again to Sam for letting us interview him about this incredible fossil.
Sam has also had another fossil fish paper published very recently, too - this one
reporting on a gar from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco. It’s named as a new genus and species,
Grandemarinus gherisensis, and is important for being the first complete gar fossil reported
from a fully marine Cretaceous environment. Gars today are largely inhabitants of freshwater and
brackish environments, though a few do venture out into saltier waters, but they are known to have
descended from fully marine ancestors during the Mesozoic. After originating in the Late Jurassic,
these fully marine gars then seem to have invaded freshwater systems in the Early Cretaceous - so
the discovery of the Late Cretaceous, fully marine Grandemarinus seems to represent a late-surviving
example of this older, marine lineage. The paper discusses all of this and details the
anatomy of this incredibly complete specimen, as well as looking at how it was preserved. So,
some fantastic fish news this week, and I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about all
Thank you Ben. Just a quick announcement from me, I’m going up to the Edinburgh Fringe festival in
August with an incredibly talented team to put on Dennis Kelly’s DNA. Some of those involved in the
short film that Ben and I have been working on are working on different aspects of this show as well,
in the roles of directors, producers, and cast. It’s gonna be great, so if you’re coming to the
Fringe at that time, come and support us, I’ll put the link to the tickets and the trailer for the
performance in the description below. That’s it for this year’s 7 Days of Shark Science,
I do hope you enjoy and we’ll see you tomorrow for more Shark Week!