Curio Cabinet

It might not have killed the dinosaurs, but it killed just about everything else. The Permian extinction was the greatest mass extinction event in Earth’s history, yet the cause of it wasn’t fully understood until now. Also called the Permian-Triassic extinction event or simply “the Great Dying,” it occurred at the end of the Permian period over 250 million years ago. Scientists have known for a while that a series of massive volcanic eruptions spewed greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere at the time, causing the climate to change rapidly. They also knew that this caused the oceans to heat up, killing off most of the late Permian period’s marine life. Around 90 percent of marine life and 75 percent of life on land disappeared, paving the way for an explosion of new species in the Triassic period. Now, researchers from China, the U.K., Germany, and Austria have published a paper placing the blame on a series of “mega El Niños” caused by climate change. Typically, even when global temperatures get warmer, many lifeforms can survive by migrating or retreating to cooler areas. However, when the researchers used a paleoclimate modeling to recreate what the weather would have been like during the Great Dying, they found that there were El Niños constantly disrupting weather patterns, causing cool areas to become warm and warm areas to cool down. As the periods of intense heat and reduced sunlight from volcanic ash in the atmosphere killed off carbon-capturing vegetation, the cycle increased in intensity. Eventually, it got hot everywhere and there was simply nowhere to go to stay cool. Just thinking about that kind of heat sends chills down our spines.

[Image description: A 1984 photo of erupting volcanic vents spewing red lava into the air.] Credit & copyright: NPGallery, Wikimedia Commons. NPS photo, accession number: ba440a24-2eec-4d85-ae08-f38115246835. This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. NP Gallery lists as copyright free.
 

Next on the auction block: endangered trees. In an effort to safeguard the future of the endangered Wollemi pine, the Botanic Gardens of Sydney in Australia auctioned off saplings to the public. It’s an unusual conservation strategy, but when it comes to the Wollemi pine, “unusual” is the name of the game. These trees first appeared in the fossil record around 90 million years ago, and they were thought to have gone extinct just over two million years ago. But in 1994, a small grove of the rare trees was discovered in the rain forests of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The exact location has been kept a secret to protect the trees from human contact, which can introduce fungi and other diseases. Even if anyone were to discover the location of the grove, those caught in the protected area can face up to two years in prison and a fine of over $222,000 USD.
 
Since their rediscovery, efforts have been made to conserve the few remaining living specimens in the wild, and as of today, there are only 46 adults and 43 juveniles. For the auction, six Wollemi pine saplings propagated from specimens in the wild were put up for sale. Each of the saplings were chosen to be as genetically distinct from each other as possible in the hopes of cultivating a healthy diversity of specimens. Once planted in their new homes, conservationists hope that the saplings can eventually grow to serve as seed banks in case something happens to the wild population. But the trees can’t be planted just anywhere. While they look similar to their more common, cold-climate cousins, the Wollemi pines require warmer temperatures. Ideally, they’ll thrive in temperatures ranging from 41 to 113 degree Fahrenheit. Since they’re rainforest plants, they require frequent watering. Luckily, conservationists aren’t leaving the future of these living fossils entirely in the hands of home gardeners. In addition to the auction, 40 saplings have also been planted in their native habitat in the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens at Mount Tomah. No matter where they are though, these trees won’t ever go out of style—they’re evergreen.

 
[Image description: A close-up photo of two branches from a type of pine tree related to Wollemi pines.] Credit & copyright: Adrian198cm, Wikimedia Commons

They may not be the best-looking creatures, but it’s no skin off their hairless backs. Naked mole rats aren’t just strange looking, they also live, breed, and age differently than almost every other mammal on Earth.
 
Naked mole rats are neither moles nor rats, though they are rodents. They only grow to be around three inches long, yet they’re more closely related to large rodents like porcupines than they are to rats. Around 31 million years ago, they diverged from other mole rats found in Africa, and evolved into their current, hairless form. Today, they’re the only hairless mole rats in the world. Like other mole rats, naked mole rats are mostly blind and live underground, in colonies of up to 80 individuals. Their social structure is more similar to that of insects like bees and ants than it is to most other mammals. Naked mole rats have just one breeding pair per colony, and workers help take care of the young, just like in an ant colony or beehive.
 
The strangeness doesn’t end there. For reasons still not fully understood, naked mole rats seem to defy the aging process in several odd ways. First, most female mammals begin life with a certain number of eggs that eventually run out, leaving them infertile. But naked mole rats never run out of egg cells, meaning that they can give birth until they die. Speaking of death, naked mole rats have managed to dodge one of the most common causes of death in other mammalian species: cancer. While the mechanism behind their resilience is still being studied, it may have to do with cellular senescence, a phenomenon in which damaged cells stop dividing—thus stopping them from growing into tumors. This cellular resiliency may also be why naked mole rats never show many signs of aging—they don’t develop arthritis, lose energy, or become confused as they grow older. In fact, naked mole rats’ main cause of death in the wild is predation. No wonder they’re the world’s longest-lived rodents, able to reach 30 years of age. Clearly, beauty isn’t everything!

 
[Image description: A naked mole rat eating a seed held in its front paws.] Credit & copyright: Trisha M Shears (Ltshears), Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work has released it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

A train that doesn’t pollute? That’s the holy grail of the rail! A new kind of train is debuting in Los Angeles County, California—one that runs on hydrogen and emits nothing more than water vapor. Designed by Stadler, a Switzerland-based company, the train is a zero-emissions multiple unit, or ZEMU. The first of its kind in the U.S., ZEMUs will begin carrying passengers commuting from San Bernandino and Redlands on Metrolink, the region’s rail-based transit system, starting in 2025. As part of Metrolink, commuters will be able to transfer to any of the other trains in the system. What sets ZEMU apart is that it uses a hybrid hydrogen-battery system. Instead of burning hydrogen gas, fuel cells split apart the hydrogen molecules and use the energy generated to charge the train’s batteries. In addition, the train is equipped with a regenerative braking system that charges the batteries. Currently, the trains have three passenger cars and need to refuel just once a day, but there’s a catch. Although the technology to produce “green” hydrogen (hydrogen produced with renewable energy) exists, California doesn’t have the means to manufacture enough of it for the trains. That means that ZEMUs will be relying on hydrogen produced from fossil fuels and will therefore contribute to carbon emissions somewhere along the line. However, the trains can start running on green hydrogen anytime that it becomes available, and there will be no emissions along its route, aside from water vapor. Another advantage of ZEMUs over electric trains is that they don't require any track modifications to carry electricity, meaning that only the trains themselves need to be replaced over time. And while trains that run on overhead lines can run all day without refueling, such systems prevent freight trains from sharing the tracks, which isn’t a problem with ZEMUs. It seems these new trains show rail promise.

 
[Image description: Train tracks surrounded by trees at sunset. There are power line poles in the distance.] Credit & copyright: Krivec Ales, Pexels