Nuclear bombs helped to first establish the true age of the whale sharks

News Project Concord
by

It is well known that the age of trees can be determined by annual rings. The animal world is different, so scientists have to resort to different methods of age estimation.

So, in a recent study the largest fish in the world – the whale shark scientists from the Australian Institute of marine Sciences under the direction of Mark Mick in determining the age resorted to the measurement of the isotope carbon-14 in the bone of her vertebrae.

Carbon-14 is a radioactive element naturally present in the Earth’s atmosphere, it is absorbed by all living beings. However, its level has doubled after numerous nuclear tests carried out by the nuclear powers during the Cold war in the last century. This automatically increased the concentration of carbon-14 in the organisms of living beings.

The object of the study the researchers began with the vertebrae of the whale sharks where there are visible bands (similar to annual rings in trees), the number of which increases with aging fish. According to some scholars, each new strip is formed in the course of the year, whereas others insist on a semi-annual cycle.

Everything fell into place after it was measured the level of carbon-14 in the annual bands of two dead whale sharks. It clearly showed – the next band is formed annually. The obtained results helped to establish the life expectancy of the whale sharks. It turned out that they live to 50 and not 100 years as previously thought.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Releated

Physicists have learned to turn plastic bottles in supercapacitors

Scientists from the University of California, riverside have developed a technology to produce components for supercapacitors from regular waste. We are talking about polyethylene terephthalate or PET, which is made most of plastic bottles. This material is from an economic point of view is significantly superior to high-tech raw materials, like graphene or carbon nanotubes. […]

by

Looks like a screwdriver of the XXI century

Recently Techcult wrote about the drill of the XXI century with a touchscreen and lasers. But the screwdriver is traditionally considered to be more simple, reliable and very straightforward tool. What similar high-tech screwdriver advanced Italian production? And it is similar to the Kinetic device Driver. Kinetic Driver designed by the Italian designer Giacomo Di […]

by

Our Solar system is most similar to space croissant

The sun emits powerful electromagnetic winds that envelop the planet in our solar system like a giant bubble. This magnetic bubble is called the heliosphere and protects the planet from dangerous space radiation. Scientists have long believed that the heliosphere is in the form of a comet – with a distinct nose and long flowing […]

by

Some homemade masks turned out to be more dangerous than no

Despite the fact that the industry has recovered from the shock of the first days of the pandemic COVID-19 and now produces enough facial masks of different types, most people in the world due to various reasons use homemade versions. Everyone understands that they are less effective than professional medical model, but the question is: […]

by