Science wrap: Nearly 500 whales die in New Zealand, a black hole vomits, and Amazon deforestation at an all-time high

The biggest highlight in this week’s science news was the unexpected stranding of whales on New Zealand’s beaches leading to over 477 deaths. On the opposite end of the globe in Brazil, a concerning share of rainforests are dying at the cost of commercial deforestation. Higher up in the cosmos, China has sent its first solar telescope and scientists have discovered an uncanny phenomenon pertaining to black holes. 

1- Over 500 whales found dead in New Zealand 

Just two weeks after nearly 200 whales were found dead on the beaches of Australia, 477 pilot whales have passed away on two remote beaches in New Zealand’s Chatham Islands. The cause of death in both cases is surprisingly natural as the whales stranded themselves on the shore with the waters being increasingly shark-infested. 

Most of the stranded whales died naturlly or were euthanised as they couldn’t be refloated (for both the shark threats and the logistical reasons). However, the sharks cannot be the sole cause according to scientists who still don’t have a clear answer on why exactly do whales strand themselves. A probable claim which is still being researched is that gently sloping sand beaches can confuse the natural location systems of whales. 

2- Can a black hole ‘vomit’? Scientists says yes. 

Understanding black holes can be quite a complicated affair for the ones unacquainted with astrophysics. However, the simple understanding is that black holes can swallow anything that comes in their gravitational pull, their appetite including planets, stars, moons, dust, gas and so on. The general notion among scientists is that black holes are messy eaters that instantly ‘burp’ out the eaten star. 

So, when the black hole AT2018hyz (located 665 million light years away from Earth) vomited out a star that it had consumed nearly two years back, scientists did get baffled. This discovery comes by an American team led by astrophysicist Yvette Cendes who first observed the star getting eaten back in October, 2018. Despite the next two years being spent in radio silence, June 2021 was marked by a luminous occurrence despite the black hole having not eaten anything recently. 

The conclusion of the team this month is now that the black hole has been “throwing up” debris at half of the speed of light, remnants of the star from 2018. However, the causes of this delay in “outflow” is still being looked into and the next step for the team is to find out if such occurrences are common among black holes. 

3- China launches its first solar telescope Kuafu-1

China is amping up its position as a space power with the latest development being the launch of Kuafu-1, the country’s first space-based solar telescope. Officially titled as the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), the satellite was launched aboard a carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The nickname Kuafu comes from a mythological giant that attempted to capture the sun. 

The solar mission has a projected expectancy of 4 years and aims to capture images of the Sun during its “solar maximum”, a phase when it has the highest number of sun spots and is expected to take place around 2025. Solar flares and the Sun’s vector magnetic field would also be studied by this satellite. 

As for China’s neighbour India, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  is also planning to send its own solar mission christened Aditya-L1 sometime around next year. 

4- Deforestation hits 15-year high in Brazil’s Amazon 

Recent satellite data procured by Brazil’s space agency INPE shows that over 1,455 square kilometers have been  cleared in the Amazon rainforests in the last month alone. This number is 48% more from last September’s loss of forest cover. The data exercise has been ongoing since 2015 and the annual results are getting bleaker with every passing year. 

The records also suggest that deforestation has increased to a 15-year high with critics mostly pointing fingers at Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro. The controversial far-right leader has previously been criticised for his policies that roll back environmental safeguards. This has allowed loggers to clear more and more rainforests (through both legal and illegal means). 

Every August and September, wildfires are also quite common in the Amazon, a natural phenomenon that has increased with more human activities. Even the fire alerts from last month have been the highest since September 2010.