Good Morning! 🌞

We have a bunch of great highlights from team USA down below that are definitely worth checking out.

However, I did want to show some from other countries, so here is two-time Olympic gold medalist Daiki Hashimoto’s amazing floor routine for the men’s gymnastics event.

Innovation

“Dark Oxygen” from the Depths of the Ocean

In the dark depths of Earth's ocean floors, a spontaneous chemical reaction is quietly producing oxygen, without the need for life. This discovery challenges the long-standing belief that photosynthesizing organisms are necessary to create the oxygen we breathe.

Biogeochemist Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and his team stumbled upon this finding while measuring seafloor oxygen levels to assess the impact of deep-sea mining.

In the Pacific Ocean, black, rounded rocks are scattered across the seafloor at depths of over 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Surprisingly, the scientists observed increasing oxygen levels in these areas.

"When we first got this data, we thought the sensors were faulty, because every study ever done in the deep sea has only seen oxygen being consumed rather than produced. We would come home and recalibrate the sensors but over the course of 10 years, these strange oxygen readings kept showing up," explains Sweetman.

Sweetman and the team decided to test it using a different type of sensor and were amazed when it came back with the same results.

To explore the mystery, the researchers collected some of these nodule rocks in the lab to see if they were the source of this 'dark oxygen' production.

These nodules are natural deposits of rare-earth metals like cobalt, manganese, and nickel, mixed in a polymetallic blend. These exact metals are used in batteries, and it turns out the rocks may be acting similarly on the ocean floor.

The researchers found that single polymetallic nodules produced voltages of up to 0.95 V. When clustered together, they can easily reach the 1.5 V required to split oxygen from water in an electrolysis reaction.

"It appears that we discovered a natural 'geobattery,'" says Northwestern University chemist Franz Geiger. "These geobatteries are the basis for a possible explanation of the ocean's dark oxygen production."

While there is still much to investigate, such as the scale of oxygen production by these nodules, this discovery offers a potential explanation for the persistence of ocean 'dead zones' long after deep-sea mining has ceased.

In 2016 and 2017, marine biologists discovered that sites mined in the 1980s still lacked even bacteria, while unmined regions flourished. The persistence of these 'dead zones' remains unknown, but this new discovery could be the reason for the dead zones in what would otherwise be such high faunal diversity areas.

Additionally, the discovery of 'dark oxygen' production raises new questions about the origins of oxygen-breathing life on Earth, which had previously been attributed to ancient microbial cyanobacteria.

"We now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light," said Sweetman. "I think we, therefore, need to revisit questions like: Where could aerobic life have begun?"

This research was published in Nature Geoscience.

Olympics

First US Medal and More

Team USA has already brought in 20 medals, bringing it to first place in total metals so far. Only 3 of those medals are gold, which means we are lagging behind 4 countries that have gotten 5 gold and one, Japan, who has gotten 6 so far.

The current standing is USA in first, followed by France in second, and Japan in third.

Team USA’s first medal (silver) was won by a fantastic synchronized dive by the women’s team. The first gold was won by Team USA’s swim team during the 4x100m free relay.

Just yesterday, the USA men’s gymnastics got the bronze in the all-around team event. This is the first men’s gymnastic medal for the USA since 2008.

Here are some of the great performances by the men’s gymnastics team.

1. Brody Malone puts in STRONG effort on rings, high bar in men's final

2. Stephen Nedoroscik pushes U.S. to bronze with CLUTCH pommel horse routine

3. Frederick Richard TREMENDOUS in helping lead Team USA to Olympic bronze in Paris

4. Asher Hong springs a MASSIVE vault for USA in team all-around final

We cannot forget to mention this fantastic moment when Team USA STUNS and claims 4x100 Worlds Title.

Space

Caves on the Moon

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a sizable cave on the moon near where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago. They suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts.

An Italian-led team reported that evidence points to a large cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon, located at the Sea of Tranquility, just 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the Apollo 11 landing site. This pit, like over 200 others discovered, was formed by the collapse of a lava tube.

Researchers used radar measurements from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and compared them with Earth’s lava tubes. Their findings, published in Nature Astronomy, indicate that the cave is at least 130 feet (40 meters) wide and several tens of yards long, likely more.

Most of these pits are located in the moon’s ancient lava plains, though there could be some at the moon’s south pole, where NASA plans astronaut landings later this decade. Permanently shadowed craters at the south pole are believed to contain frozen water, which could be used for drinking and rocket fuel.

The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits and thousands of lava tubes on the moon. These structures could provide natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even considering the need to reinforce cave walls to prevent collapse.

Additionally, the unaltered rocks and materials inside these caves could help scientists better understand the moon's history, particularly its volcanic activity.

Mind Stretchers

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Where in England could be described as ‘After the meal, the plate is still full’?

Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

45 (2 + 4 = 6, 14 – 4 = 10, 18 + 4 = 22, 26 - 4 = 22, 41 + 4 =45)

Linda Runatz got the answer first!

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected]

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.