This fungus breaks down polypropylene plastic. (Photo: Amira Farzana Samat/University of Sydney)

Our planet has a plastic problem. Accumulated waste and constant production have resulted in mounds of trash around the globe and bobbing in our oceans. Recycling is a good step, but it is limited by the technology's availability and the condition of the plastic in question. With 175 million tonnes (192.9 million tons) of plastic ending up in landfills or as litter per year of the 400 million tonnes (440 million tons) produced around the globe, it is a massive problem that has stumped society for a long time. As scientists endeavor to generate solutions to break down this non-biodegradable trash, a group of researchers at the University of Sydney discovered two common forms of backyard fungi can breakdown polypropylene completely in 140 days.

In a study published in NPJ Materials Degradation, the researchers detailed the results of using Aspergillus terreus and Engyodontium album on polypropylene plastic. The two species of fungi are common forms of mold. The team selected samples of polypropylene, a plastic that makes up to-go containers, plastic film, and other soft plastics. It is rarely recycled and, like other plastics, takes decades to degrade. The plastics were heated and treated with both UV radiation and Fenton's chemical (a reagent).

Next, the plastics were “fed” to the fungi and allowed to incubate for 90 days. After 90 days, the plastic was 27% degraded. After 140 days, it was completely degraded. Professor Ali Abbas, a paper author, noted to ABC Net Australia, “It's the highest degradation rate reported in the literature that we know in the world.” Within five years, the team hopes the fungi can be breaking down landfills around the country. “It is scaling up which is very much similar to any kind of fermentation process,” Abbas said. “That technology already exists for those processes and we're able to now borrow that learning from chemical process engineering and bring it into this particular process here.”

Commercial applications could be even faster with funding and political will. The mold solution could be pivotal for isolated areas which produce waste but lack infrastructure or space to house the waste. This potential solution adds to others such as plastic-eating worms to attack our waste. However, the world also needs to reduce its plastic use, even if full degradation becomes widespread. Plastic production, as well as recycling, produce carbon in large amounts. Degrading through mold will also release carbon. While such solutions are particularly valuable for existing waste, the first R in “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is still the most valuable.

Researchers have used common backyard fungi to destroy some of the toughest plastics.

The fungi sets to work. (Photo: University of Sydney)

The molds can destroy polypropylene when activated by heat.

University of Sydney scientists Ali Abbas (left) and Amira Farzana Samat (right). (Photo: University of Sydney)

As accumulating plastics are a key environmental problem, the search for solutions is critical.

Photo: KANVAG/Depositphotos

h/t: [ABC.Net.Au]

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READ: Scientists Discover Fungi That Can Eat Plastic in Just 140 Days

Strewn field estimate calculated from radar signatures by NASA. The green line is the fall path. (Photo: NASA)

Meteorites are fascinating. These space rocks plummet through our atmosphere, burning away, and often shatter on impact. The remaining rock can hold materials not found on Earth and even early evidence of the beginnings of life in the universe. For all they can teach us, finding and properly collecting meteorites is critical to astronomy and other scientific fields. The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum is doing its part to advance our knowledge of space by offering a hefty reward for a meteorite piece recovered from a remote portion of Maine on April 8, 2023.

On April 8, at 11:57 a.m. EDT, some observers in Maine caught a glimpse of a bright fireball above them. The meteorite was detected by NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Lab. American Meteor Society eyewitnesses also note the event, the 2,002nd of 2023. Despite the frequency of meteorites being sited, very few (around 10) are recovered each year. NASA calculated the strewn field where particles are likely to be found along the Canadian border near Calais, Maine. The area is heavily wooded, and the fragments are likely to be dark and charred. None have been recovered so far, but the museum would like to change that.

Darryl Pitt, head of the meteorite department, is interested in studying the pieces. “Finding meteorites in woods of Maine. It’s not the simplest of the environments,” Pitt told CNN. “It’s a sparsely populated area but not as sparsely populated as where most meteorites fall—the ocean.” To incentivize this tricky search, the museum is offering a reward of $25,000 for the first meteorite piece weighing 2.2 pounds or more. They may be willing to pay for smaller fractions, too. Pitt noted he was “guardedly optimistic” that intrepid amateurs would find remnants.

For those interested in trying their hand at meteorite hunting, it's important to follow all wilderness safety protocols. Be sure to check out guides from NASA on finding and handling meteorites properly.

The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum is doing their part to advance our knowledge of space by offering a $25,000 reward for the first piece weighing 2.2 pounds (or more) from a meteorite that landed in a remote portion of Maine on April 8, 2023.

A meteorite from a strewn field in Algeria. (Photo: thor H. Raab via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

h/t: [CNN, Design Taxi]

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READ: Maine Mineral Museum Is Offering a $25K Reward for a Lost Meteorite

Photo: SHAIITH79/Depositphotos
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Bees are critical to American agriculture. They pollinate over $15 billion worth of crops across our country each year. But lately, habitat destruction and colony collapse disorder have wreaked havoc on these incredible creatures. As useful as they are to humans, bees do not receive the same care and concern over their emotional wellbeing as other agricultural animals. The tiny critters have brains the size of poppy seeds, yet recent research by ecologists such as Stephen Buchmann suggest they can learn, think, and even likely feel, much like mammals.

Buchmann's recent book, What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories and Personalities of Bees, collects the work of bee scholars as they work to unpack what goes on in their minuscule brains. What has until recently been a “fringe” scientific field, the insect minds of bees hold a critical place in the American economy. Buchmann's work also suggests they should hold a special place in our ethical scheme. For Buchmann and some other scientists, what they have learned about bees changes their research strategies to be more ethical, on par with the standards set for vertebrate mammals such as mice and monkeys.

Experiments, the outcomes of which are addressed in the book, illuminate the sentient secret life of bees. Lars Chittka, a University College of London professor in sensory and behavioral ecology, did an experiment 16 years ago where he hid a robotic predatory spider in flowers. The spider would grab an unwary bee that came too close and then release it after giving it a good scare. Chittka observed how the released bees learned to look for the spider and to avoid it. He also observed an almost PTSD-like symptom among the previously captured creatures. Some would be too scared to approach even unoccupied flowers.

Other studies demonstrated that bee brains saw rushes in dopamine and serotonin when they were presented with sucrose (sugar). These happy bees then foraged more than their unrewarded peers. By contrast, stress from poor handling lowered the levels of these happy hormones. Bees must also keep good memories, so that they can return to the best flower patches. “This is not a trivial challenge,” says Chittka. “Different flowers are blooming from one week to the next. And a flower patch you discovered in the morning that was rewarding might be depleted by competitors half an hour later so you have to readjust.”

“Many of my colleagues do invasive neuroscience experiments where bees have electrodes implanted into various body parts without any form of anesthesia,” Chittka says. “The current carefree situation that [invertebrate] researchers live in with no legal framework needs to be re-evaluated.” There are few regulations regarding bee welfare. Vegan favorites such as almond-milk can actually be brutal on bee populations, which are imported en masse to California to pollinate almond groves. Hives have lost increasing numbers of bees in recent years, causing much to be worried about. Buchmann and others have an inkling the “unhappiness” of bees might be a contributing factor to the troubles the species faces.

Bees are critical to feeding the world and to plant survival. But the bees need care too. “The ground used to be buzzing with bees,” Buchmann said of past almond groves. “But no more. Now the almonds fall on bare ground or plastic sheeting and are vacuumed up by big harvesting units.” Reforestation and wild flowers can only do so much. The first step in safeguarding the precious bees is learning more about them and their lives. “These unique minds, regardless of how much they may differ from our own, have as much justification to exist as we do,” says Chittka. “It is a wholly new aspect of how weird and wonderful the world is around us.”

Although a bee has a brain the size of a poppy seed, recent studies have shown that the tiny creatures can learn, think, and perhaps even feel emotion.

Photo: IGORVETUSHKO/Depositphotos

h/t: [The Guardian]

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Photo: EAD72/Depositphotos

What's the value of seaweed? A new study published in Nature Communications suggest the value of the sea plant goes far beyond sushi. Researchers valued kelp forests, forests of large brown algae, at about $465 billion and $562 billion per year worldwide due to their positive impact on commercial fisheries and the environment. This flora also absorbs 4.5 million tonnes (4.96 tons) of carbon dioxide annually, rather like forests on land.

Aaron Eger at the University of New South Wales in Australia set out with his fellow researchers to quantify the benefits of seaweed. The team focused on six kinds of kelp which grow in dense thickets known as forests. About 1,500 species of fish and marine life live in these forests. This sea life supports commercial fisheries and food supplies. They added this “value” to the other benefits of kelp. Kelp absorbs carbon dioxide (largely responsible for our warming planet) as well as nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural run off. This helps preserve the quality of our waters.

Testing seaweed gave researchers insight into how much the plants absorb. “Much like a plant on land, [kelp forests] are taking up nutrients, they’re taking up carbon dioxide, and using light to fuel their growth,” Eger said. In total, these kelp forests provide two main benefits. They support $465 to $562 billion per year of the global economy. They also sink almost five million tons of carbon dioxide. Although the current paper does not focus on it, seaweed is also a promising climate-resistant food source with the power to uplift female cultivators. This wonder plant is part of a climate-friendly future in multiple ways.

Kelp forests around the world have proved to be tremendous carbon sinks, as well as a lucrative support for fishing expansion and food supplies.

A giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forest in Southern California. (Photo: TIMBALCOMB/Depositphotos)

h/t: [New Scientist]

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READ: Kelp Forests Absorb 5 Million Tons of Carbon Dioxide Every Year

 

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Earning a PhD is an impressive feat. Students study and research for years before defending their dissertation in front of a committee of scholars. If successful, they are recognized with this highest degree, connoting mastery of their field of study. Doctoral degrees can be earned in countless subjects at countless schools, but one very unique program is breaking new academic ground. Navajo Technical University has become the first tribal university in the United States to offer a PhD program. The program is a Doctor of Philosophy in Diné Culture and Language Sustainability—and the school hopes future degree-holders will put the skills learned in the program to use for the Navajo community.

The Navajo Nation is a sovereign nation which stretches over 27,000 square miles in the American southwest. It is also known as Diné Bikéyah or Navajoland. The vast reservation covers part of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Navajo people have a rich history, from migrations to the Southwest almost a thousand years ago to the code talkers of World War II. Diné (meaning “the people”) is how the Navajo refer to themselves, their language, and their culture. This Indigenous language is still widely spoken within the Navajo community, but it is considered at risk.

Navajo Technical University—an accredited university with multiple campuses and over 30 degree programs—began in the 1960s as a community education initiative. It has since continued expanding and teaching according to both Western pedagogy and Diné tradition. It previously offered bachelor’s, associate’s, and master’s degrees, in addition to certificate programs. Those programs are now joined by the first PhD program at a tribal college within the United States. Over 20 hopefuls have already applied for five spots in the fall.

To apply, a student must have both a bachelor's and a master's degree already. They must have a certain level of proficiency in Diné culture and language, the study of which they will continue in the program. Once in the program, students will study in courses such as “Language Endangerment and Language Revitalization,” “Syntax and Morphology,” and “Qualitative Research Methods in Diné Culture.” In the program’s final two years (of four in total), students will delve into research and prepare their dissertation. The program will be supervised by Dr. Siri Tuttle and Dr. Franklin Sage (Diné). According to the program webpage, “Dr. Tuttle is a renowned linguist and expert in Athabaskan linguistics and community-based research, while Dr. Sage is a leading scholar in the field of Education and foundation of research, Diné research in culture and history.”

Like many graduates who receive their PhDs, the future scholars may go on to teach after they graduate. As the new degree was created through community collaboration, and incorporates much community scholarship, Navajo Tech President Elmer Guy hopes that graduates will go on to give back to the Navajo community and both enrich and preserve its cultural heritage. “I thought it would be important to make that connection,” Guy said. “Individuals will get a degree and they’ll be professionals. You have to make it applicable. By making it more meaningful, people will have an interest in it.” He also noted, “They will be part of solving problems…These students have energy and creativity, and our job is to give them the tools.”

To learn more about the new program, check out Navajo Tech's website.

Navajo Technical University has become the first tribal university to offer a PhD program. The program is a Doctor of Philosophy in Diné Culture and Language Sustainability.

 

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Navajo Technical University: Website | Instagram
h/t: [NBC News]

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READ: Navajo Technical University Becomes First Tribal University With a PhD Program

The bow preserved by cold waters at the bottom of Lake Huron. (Photo: NOAA/ Undersea Vehicles Program UNCW)

Early in the morning on September 26, 1894, the crew of the 191-foot Ironton—a schooner barge—was in a panic. Cut loose from the steamer that had been hauling the boat and its crew through the frigid waters of Lake Huron, the Ironton was out of control. Buoyed by the wind as the crew failed to set the sails properly in the gale, the ship swung off course and collided with another steamer named Ohio. Both ships went down in the resulting collision, adding more vessels to the perilous region known as “Shipwreck Alley.” There the wreck lay in wait until the news of its recent discovery, in shockingly good condition, was announced.

The Great Lakes are a sight to behold, often surprising for most people who are not familiar with their large waves and vast open waters. The lakes were critical to shipping goods domestically and internationally in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the sheer number of ships traversing certain routes meant a ship out of control could careen into others as the Ironton did. The impact with Ohio punctured the Ironton‘s bow. It began to take on water like the Titanic. Unfortunately, the crew was not able to detach the lifeboat. While two members were able to cling to floating debris once in the water, the captain and four other crew perished. All of Ohio‘s seamen made it safely back to land.

After the sinking, the exact location of the wreck was lost to time. In 2017, research teams encountered Ohio, suggesting its doomed fellow may be nearby. In 2019, efforts of the Ocean Exploration Trust (which found Titanic) and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary turned up the Ironton at last. The team has since released images of the wreck—whose location has been secret for the last few years—almost perfectly preserved by the very cold waters of the deep lake. Investigating through sonar and remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the team discovered its three masts still standing upright with rigging attached to the spars. Even the lifeboat is still connected, hanging by a sad stretch of rope to the ship itself.

In the future, the location of the wreck will be marked by a buoy so that divers can safely visit the wreck, along with the many others in the region. Researchers hope to learn more about the Great Lakes themselves and the role they played in historical commerce.

The Ironton is a special find for historians. “It is hard to call it a shipwreck,” Jeff Gray, superintendent of the marine sanctuary, told The New York Times. “It’s a ship, sitting on the bottom, fully intact, and the lifeboat there, literally, is a moment frozen in time.”

Discovered recently within NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron, the ghostly wreck of the nineteenth-century ship Ironton is shockingly well-preserved.

Radar image of the schooner-barge Ironton. (Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust/NOAA)

The schooner sank in September 1894 after colliding with a steamer. Five of the Ironton crew died in the tragedy.

The lifeboat, still attached to the ill-fated vessel. (Photo: NOAA/Undersea Vehicles Program UNCW)

h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]

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Photo: ILEANA_BT/Depositphotos

Peanut allergies are at the very least inconvenient and at the worst deadly. Over 4.6 million adults in the U.S. are allergic to the legumes. For young children, discovering one's allergy can be a dangerous time. A new study published in ACS Nano might offer a potential cure for peanut allergies by using mRNA lipid nanoparticles to “train” the body out of an allergy.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were inspired by the use of mRNA in the creation of the COVID vaccine. “As far as we can find, mRNA has never been used for an allergic disease,” paper co-author Dr. André Nel said to New Atlas. “We’ve shown that our platform can work to calm peanut allergies, and we believe it may be able to do the same for other allergens, in food and drugs, as well as autoimmune conditions.” Trials have already shown the procedure to reduce allergic reactions to peanuts in mice.

What is the mechanism behind this exciting advance? According to MD/PhD scholar Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, “Food allergy is defined as an immune system-mediated adverse reaction to food proteins.” In the case of peanut allergies, a protein in the peanuts causes a person's body to react with an immune response to this foreign substance which it identifies as harmful. To prevent this, the team codes the mRNA with an epitope, which the dictionary defines as “the part of an antigen molecule to which an antibody attaches itself.” This can be made peanut specific but in future could be tailored to a different allergy. This mRNA is placed in a lipid nanoparticle, which is sent to the liver. There it influences antigen-presenting cells to tolerate the peanut proteins.

“If you’re lucky enough to choose the correct epitope, there’s an immune mechanism that puts a damper on reactions to all of the other fragments,” says Nel. “That way, you could take care of a whole ensemble of epitopes that play a role in disease.” While you cannot yet cure your peanut allergy, some relief may emerge in the next few years. After the success of the mice trials, the researchers hope their procedure will be tested in human clinical trials within three years. The technique may also in future be used to alleviate other allergies, or even Type 1 diabetes.

An mRNA nanoparticle treatment might offer a new technique for mitigating harmful peanut allergies and their reactions.

Photo: VOLUROL/Depositphotos

h/t: [New Atlas]

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Eli and his dad, Glenn Morris, discovered this 200-million-year-old ammonite fossil high up in a beachside cliff. (Photo: Glenn Morris)

Imagine strolling down a beautiful beach, enjoying the crisp sea breeze, when all of a sudden you look up and see something strange embedded in a towering rock cliff lining the shore. On closer inspection, it's a large spiral, a shell. In fact, it's the fossil of a 200-year-old ammonite, a mollusk from the Jurassic period. This is exactly how a day at Llantwit Major beach turned into an extraordinary discovery for 9-year-old Eli and his dad Glenn Morris. The Welsh boy's find is rare in that area and exciting for researchers.

Eli lives with his family in Birchgrove, Swansea, in Wales. He is not new to fossil hunting, even at such a young age. He usually goes fossil hunting with his dad. “We're always on the coast somewhere, usually down Gower way, but this was our first time here, so it was beginner's luck really,” Morris told the BBC. “I was a bit of a nerd growing up and liked dinosaurs and rocks and the same things he's into to be honest and I think I've passed it onto him.” Eli has gathered some fossil samples for his own collection through these expeditions. He told the BBC, “They're just interesting and I like their shape and the texture. It's just cool.”

This day, the family had traveled slightly further afield to the charming rocky, cliffside beach. Eli said, “I was just sitting here and looked up and thought ‘Oh my God, that's big!'” He had spotted a spiral-shaped shell peaking from the cliff, a blue lias formation. Dr. Nick Felstead of Swansea University commented on the fossil: “The fossil Eli found is an ammonite, which was a type of mollusk closely related to octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, which is a rare find at Llantwit Major. We can see that the inner chambers that would have been used for buoyancy of the ammonite have been infilled with quartz during fossilization, which is even rarer, and makes this one especially pretty.” The fossil is an impressive 200 million years old, and is contemporaneous with the dinosaurs.

Young Eli was clearly excited by the find, but the glories of being a paleontologist pale in front of his true life goal—being a footballer (soccer player). If he keeps searching the beaches, however, he may find even more fossils. Average folks in the UK have been known to stumble across important fossils on beaches and dairy farms. Americans can find them too, with enough luck. No one is too young, as shown by Eli, as well as  another 9-year-old in Maryland who discovered a megaladon tooth. These young scientists continue to discover pieces of Earth's history.

9-year-old Eli was walking along a Welsh beach with his dad when he spotted a 200-million-year-old ammonite fossil peaking out from a cliff.

Eli proudly showing a fossil in his collection. (Photo: Glenn Morris)

The ammonite fossil, a large specimen. (Photo: Glenn Morris)

The ancient mollusk is showing from an eroded section of rock on Llantwit Major's beach.

A closer view of the ancient ammonite. (Photo: Glenn Morris)

The young fossil hunter has his own collection of cool fossils, but he wants to be a footballer.

Llantwit Major beach where the pair found the fossil. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Watch Eli recount his discovery to BBC:

h/t: [BBC]

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READ: 9-Year-Old Discovers 200-Million-Year-Old Ammonite Fossil in Beach Cliff

Agate crystals apparently grew inside a titanosaur egg. (Photo: Natural History Museum)

A beautiful pink and white agate crystal has sat in the archives of London's Natural History Museum since 1883. In 2018, a minerals curator named Robin Hansen selected the pretty stone to display at the institution. Several months later, Hansen encountered a similar agate, which a dealer informed him was in fact an agatized dinosaur egg. Realizing what he might have discovered, Hansen and museum staff have since confirmed the rock is in fact a dinosaur egg which has filled with agate crystal over the course of millions of years.

“While I was looking around the show, a dealer showed me an agatized dinosaur egg, which was spherical, had a thin rind, and dark agate in the middle,” Hansen said in a statement. “That was the lightbulb moment when I thought: ‘Hang on a minute, that looks a lot like the one we've just put on display in the Museum!'” Museum paleontologists Professor Paul Barrett and Dr. Susannah Maidment took a look. They noted that the “rock” had an external texture that resembled that of a dinosaur egg. It was also the size (15 cm / 5.9 inches across) and spherical shape of a titanosaur egg. Titanosaurs were a group of four-legged, long-necked dinosaurs who roamed across the world in the Cretaceous period.

Further tests with CT scans were unhelpful due to the dense rock material. However, pressed into the surface are marks indicating the object lay next to others of similar size and shape. These factors all hint at the surprising truth. Additionally, the object is thought to be about 67 million years old. It was discovered in India by Charles Fraser between 1817 and 1843. India is rich in titanosaur fossils, although other species of dinosaurs were unrepresented on the ancient, then-island landmass. Researchers are convinced by the resemblance of the “agate” to a titanosaur egg, even though its 19th-century discoverers would not yet have recognized it as such.

So how did a fossilized dinosaur egg become filled with agate crystals? Scientists suspect the titanosaur mother may have laid her clutch of eggs on top of warm volcanic soil for incubation, but a volcano may have blanketed the eggs before they could hatch. Basalt rock would have formed around the egg shells, the material inside eventually rotting away. According to the museum, from this accident of fate, “silica-rich water must have repeatedly percolated through the rock and the shell of the egg. This filled the void, creating the banded agate specimen that was eventually dug up tens of millions of years later.” The end result is a surprising, beautiful artifact that unites both mineralogy and paleontology.

The Natural History Museum has possessed a beautiful spherical agate for over a hundred years, only to recently discover it is in fact a fossilized titanosaur egg filled with crystals.

The surface retains the dinosaur egg's texture. (Photo: Natural History Museum)

The egg was likely fossilized by lava and filled slowly with crystals over millions of years.

An example of a titanosaur, in this case a Ampelosaurus atacis. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

h/t: [IFL Science]

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READ: What Researchers Long Thought Was Just an Agate Crystal Is Actually a Dinosaur Egg Fossil

Spanish athlete Beatriz Flamini's solo challenge was studied by scientists.

Her 500 days in an underground cave meant she had no idea what was happening in the world. https://t.co/HaqFCMo5V2

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 15, 2023

Most people who emerge from caves these days are either enthusiastic spelunkers or people in need of rescue. However, one Spanish extreme athlete purposely chose to descend below the earth and remain in a cave all alone, cut off from the world, in the name of scientific research. After 500 days underground, 50-year-old Beatriz Flamini emerged on Friday, April 14, 2023, back into the light. Her long stay in the cave was a remarkable feat and has generated interesting data and opportunities for research on what such extended isolation can do to the human body and mind.

When Flamini chose to go into the cave on Saturday, November 20, 2021, she was well prepared with a support team in place. At the time of her descent into the 230-foot-deep cave near Granada, the world was a very different place. Her native Spain still had a mask mandate due to COVID-19. Queen Elizabeth II still sat on the throne of England. Roe v. Wade was still law of the land in the United States. Russia had not yet re-escalated the war in the Ukraine. Former President Trump had not yet been indicted. However, as all these things happened, Flamini learned nothing of it. She had given strict instructions to her team to not communicate, even in the case of a family death. “If it’s no communication it’s no communication regardless of the circumstances. The people who know me knew and respected that,” she told NBC.

She took two GoPro cameras down into the cave to record herself. Psychologists, researchers, cave specialists, and physical trainers examined how isolation and spatial disorientation affected her notions of time, her brain patterns, and her sleep. Supplies were lowered down, waste removed in reverse. Flamini reports going through 60 books and 220 gallons of water during that time. “On day 65, I stopped counting and lost perception of time,” she noted. There were emotional times, but she remained focused on “coherence” and the treats of avocados and fresh eggs lowered down. Surprisingly, she reports she did not talk to herself out loud, but rather in her head. “You have to remain conscious of your feelings. If you’re afraid, that’s something natural but never let panic in or you get paralyzed.”

When asking if she wanted to cut and run on her dramatic plan, Flmaini said, “Never. In fact I didn’t want to come out.” When she hit day 500 she was summoned to emerge. Flamini wore dark sunglasses to protect her eyes from the light they had not seen in so long. After a shower and catching up with friends (and two year's worth of world events), she will be examined by doctors for research purposes. Living underground can have impacts on vitamin levels, eye health, and many other functions. The Guinness Book of Records lists the “longest time survived trapped underground” to the 33 Chilean and Bolivian miners trapped for 69 days in 2010. If the organization wishes to have a record for a voluntary stay in a cave, Flamini certainly seems the perfect candidate.

Beatriz Flamini, a Spanish extreme athlete, lived alone in a cave for 500 days, reading books and documenting her time for scientific study.

 

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h/t: [NBC News]

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READ: Spanish Athlete Emerges From Cave After 500 Days of Living Underground