Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
First-ever video footage of a rare deep-sea Black Devil fish in shallow waters near Tenerife.
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 7, 2025
[📹 Condrik_Tenerife]pic.twitter.com/Jf3wl8HdfX
(Credit - X/@Rainmaker1973)
In what may be the world's first-ever recorded sighting, a black seadevil anglerfish - known for living thousands of feet beneath the ocean's surface - was caught on camera swimming close to the ocean's surface. According to the New York Times, the deepsea fish, with its mouthful of sharp teeth, was spotted near the surface of the water near the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa earlier this month. The discovery was made by Spanish NGO Condrik Tenerife and marine life photographer David Jara Boguna while they were researching sharks. It is unclear why the black seadevil anglerfish was swimming in shallow waters, but the team that spotted the creature suspected it may have been ill or escaping a predator.
The Oort cloud — the mysterious shell of icy objects at the edge of the solar system — might sport a pair of spiral arms that make it resemble a miniature galaxy, according to a new research. The exact shape of the Oort cloud and how it is affected by forces beyond our solar system have, so far, remained mysterious. Now, researchers have developed a new model that suggests the inner structure of the Oort cloud may look like a spiral disk. The Oort cloud began as the unused remnants of the solar system's giant planets (Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus and Saturn) after their formation 4.6 billion years ago. Some of these remnants are so large, they could be considered dwarf planets.
Greenland's gigantic ice sheet is inching toward an irreversible tipping point, after which it will tumble into the ocean, a new study warns. Just 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) of further warming could be enough to trigger a collapse of the world's second-largest ice sheet, causing sea levels to rise by 23 feet (7 meters) and sowing havoc across global ecosystems. Scientists have long observed the accelerating decline of Greenland's ice cover — with the sheet losing an estimated 33 million tons (30 million metric tons) of ice every hour. Tye study revealed, if the worst warming estimates come true, this irreversible tipping point could come by the turn of the century.
(Credit - NASA)
The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known. The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies.
