For the makers and artists of our time, the discovery of a vast underwater graveyard offers more than just a geological curiosity; it reveals a hidden engine of creativity in the deep ocean. In the Diamantina Zone of the Indian Ocean, researchers have uncovered a necropolis teeming with life, proving that even in the crushing darkness of the abyss, nature finds ways to generate new forms and sustain complex ecosystems. This finding expands the boundaries of what we know about deep-sea biology, suggesting that the ocean’s most remote corners are far more productive and diverse than previously imagined.
The deep-sea graveyard
Scientists have identified an unprecedented underwater necropolis containing the remains of hundreds of whales, scattered across a span of 745 miles. During dives in a deep-sea submersible, the team spotted whale bones submerged under more than four miles of water in the Diamantina Zone, establishing this site as the geographically largest, deepest, and oldest whale necropolis ever found.
Beyond the skeletal remains, the site is teeming with species that may be entirely new to science. These organisms subsist on these fortuitous “whale falls,” creating a biological bonanza at depths exceeding 6,700 meters. As co-led researcher Xiaotong Peng of China’s Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering noted, this discovery extends the known depth range of such habitats by more than 2,500 meters.
Peng and his colleagues first spotted the necropolis during dives in early 2023 using the Fendouzhe submersible, capable of reaching depths of nearly seven miles. The team realised they had tapped into a scientific motherlode, complete with an immense fossil archive of extinct animals—mostly deep-diving beaked whales—along with recent whale falls that still support thriving ecosystems of crustaceans, molluscs, worms, and microbes.
“Bone-eating worms, gastropods, vesicomyid bivalves and brittle stars dominate the megafauna (more than several centimetres in size), reaching local densities up to 2,840 individuals per square metre,” the team stated. “Most recovered taxa may be new to science.”
Why the whales died there
As for why this vast necropolis formed, beaked whales may be attracted to these deep waters due to the abundance of prey sources, such as squid and fish. Some might accidentally dive so deep that they experience decompression sickness or fatal exhaustion, becoming bonus bodies for seafloor ecosystems. The sinking carcasses are then funnelled into the Diamantina Zone because of its V-shaped topography, serving up a figurative feast for scientists (and a literal one for marine biota).
“As beaked whales are known primarily from rare strandings, their abundance, distribution and ecology remain poorly understood overall,” Peng and his colleagues concluded. “Our discovery of an accumulation of skeletal remains…provides an unparalleled source of information on these largely enigmatic cetaceans.”
Mariners have long dreaded ending up in Davy Jones’ locker, the proverbial resting ground of drowned sailors. It turns out that whales have a whole locker room down in the deep, where the bodies of countless leviathans blossom into fleeting hotspots of life.
Genetic gold from ancient droppings
While the ocean floor holds bones, the frozen ground of the Klondike region in Canada’s Yukon territory holds a different kind of archive. Scientists have found ancient squirrel poops made by rodent bums as early as 700,000 years ago, preserved in the permafrost.
Researchers sequenced ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA) from these coprolites, opening a poopy portal into the past. The fossilized feces contained genetic traces of mammoth, saber-tooth cat, horse, and bison, suggesting that these Ice Age rodents may have gnawed on the corpses of much larger megafauna. The coprolites also preserved DNA from hundreds of plant species, several insects, and a bevy of microbial and fungal strains.
“The diversity and abundance of aeDNA recovered from the permafrost preserved, ground squirrel coprolites presented here underscores the immense value of Arctic rodent middens as repositories of Quaternary ecosystems,” said researchers led by Tyler J. Murchie of the Hakai Institute and McMaster University. “The ecological and evolutionary power of coprolites would appear to exceed that of both bone and sediment.”
As a bonus, the team refers to the rodent behind each coprolite as the “defecator,” in case anyone is seeking inspiration for a disgusting superhero concept.
Galaxies that feed on themselves
While Earth’s gardeners tend to their pea patches, astronomers are examining the “pea patches” of outer space. A new study examines a sampling of so-called “Green Pea” and “Blueberry” galaxies, which are small and compact systems with extremely high star formation (“starburst”) rates.
Named for their green and blue hues, these starry objects are thought to be similar to the first galaxies that lit up the universe during the epoch of reionization more than 13 billion years ago, making them useful analogues of primordial galactic evolution.
“Within the diverse tapestry of galaxy populations, Green Pea and Blueberry galaxies represent particularly intriguing classes,” said researchers led by Maitrayee Gupta of the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The galaxies “present an opportunity to gain a unique perspective” on the processes “driving cosmic reionisation,” the team added.
To that end, Gupta and her colleagues observed a selection of these galaxies and found that they “predominantly reside in isolated, low-density environments.” This means that their intense starbursts are not driven by interactions with galactic neighbors, such as mergers. Instead, the team concluded that these recent starbursts are driven by internal processes, “reinforcing their role as nearby analogues of young, low-mass galaxies in the early Universe.”
If you’d like a more substantive galactic meal than peas and blueberries, you might consider the Fried Egg Galaxy or the Hamburger Galaxy. Cap it off with a Milky Way for dessert.
A spyglass powered by the sun
There is a sweet spot in the outer wilds of the solar system, about 650 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, where it is theoretically possible to peer across interstellar space and spot surface features of exoplanets—including continents, oceans, or perhaps signs of life.
This phenomenon, known as the solar gravitational lens, is caused by the Sun’s gravity warping light from distant sources, essentially making it a stellar magnifying glass. It could be an incredible observational tool, but schlepping all the way out into the solar sticks is a huge challenge that has inspired a host of futuristic spaceflight concepts.
Now, scientists have proposed sending an E-sail propelled spacecraft called the Curved Space Telescope (CST), powered by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun. The probe would cruise through the solar system by deploying metallic tethers that tap into the solar wind and generate thrust from repulsion effects with its particles.
“One of the most interesting scientific objectives for a mission like CST would be the search for proof of extraterrestrial life,” said researchers led by Mario F. Palos of the University of Tartu. The team added that risky maneuvers, like slingshotting close to the Sun, would not be necessary for this mission, unlike previous proposals along these lines.
E-sails have never been tested in space and it’s anyone’s guess whether we’ll ever be able to send a mission to this interesting frontier. Still, it’s amazing to think about capturing close-ups of aliens on faraway exoplanets through a starry lens.
Key takeaways
A vast whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone of the Indian Ocean contains fossils spanning five million years and hosts unique deep-sea ecosystems at depths over 6,700 meters, potentially including species new to science.
Preserved ground squirrel coprolites from the Yukon region have yielded ancient environmental DNA from megafauna like mammoths and saber-tooth cats, offering a richer record of past ecosystems than bone or sediment alone.
Green Pea and Blueberry galaxies are driven by internal processes rather than galactic collisions, serving as critical analogues for understanding the early universe.
A proposed Curved Space Telescope using solar wind propulsion aims to utilise the solar gravitational lens to capture detailed images of exoplanets without the need for risky solar slingshots.
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