Drone Catches Spectacular Ray Shoal

Daily Upsider on January 24, 2024

Emerging drone enthusiast Daniel Lukic captured a spectacular migration of cownose rays near Forster Beach in Australia. Being in the right place at the right time, Lukic recorded an impressive aerial video showcasing hundreds of rays, resembling a vibrant display of scattered confetti on the water.

Lukic, describing the scene, estimated the ray count to be approximately 400 or 500, resulting in a visually captivating spectacle. Expressing his enthusiasm, he remarked, “I get pretty excited when I see this sort of stuff because it’s a single moment in time where you just had to be there.”

Marine biologists interviewed by ABC News AU speculated that the substantial gathering of rays, referred to as a ‘fever,’ might function as a protective measure. Despite this, the conservation status of cownose rays remains uncertain, marked as “data deficient” by the IUCN.

Normally observed in fevers of around 100 individuals, Lukic’s recording of such a sizable group prompts questions about the event’s rarity or the limited scientific knowledge about their habits. Biologists recognized that Lukic’s footage has the potential to significantly contribute to advancing the understanding of these marine creatures.

Beyond the ray migration, Lukic has also documented other intriguing marine scenes, including dolphin pods swimming alongside sharks, featured on his channel.

Check out this footage he got! It is enchanting.

The Truth About Fossil Fuels

Daily Upsider on January 22, 2024

Were you taught in school that fossil fuels come from dinosaurs bones? Or maybe you just have that impression from the very name “fossil fuels”.

The origin of the word actually does not refer to what we generally think of as fossils. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word “fossil” means, “[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth” and the use in the word “fossil fuels” predates our more common usage in reference to fossilized bones.

Fossil fuels are actually from things like algae, bacteria, and phytoplankton, not from dinosaur bones.

I remember watching a neat video on the subject early last year and seeing an interesting comment saying that because of how they say it in his native language, he had never even considered that some people would draw a connection to dinosaur fossils. He was from somewhere in Europe if I remember correctly.

There is also an internet factoid (definition 1) floating around that claims John D. Rockefeller came up with the term “fossil fuel” to trick people into thinking it was a scarce resource to drive up the price. From what I could find, this seems to be entirely made up.

A Sharp Drop in Amazon’s Deforestation

Daily Upsider on January 18, 2024

Amazon’s deforestation has dropped by 55% since last year, reaching its lowest levels since 2019. This decline is considered a significant achievement, particularly for the newly-elected officials in Brazil and Colombia.

The information comes from the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project, utilizing the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite to track forest cover and loss across all Amazon nations, as reported to Reuters. Brazil, with a 59% reduction in primary forest loss.

The Amazon Rainforest’s role as a crucial carbon dioxide absorber is highlighted by some scientists as Earth’s primary tool against climate change. The Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project anticipates that the deforestation data will enhance the negotiating position of Amazonian countries for international conservation funding at the Paris Agreement summit, COP28.

— On a related note, we just ran an article about an amazing discovery in the Amazon that proved a very popular theory wrong. You can read it here.

Also, if you would like to know the truth, here is what the Amazon actually does in the environment and why things are better than most people realize.

Weed Killer Robots

Daily Upsider on January 17, 2024

Verdant Robotics, a leading ag-tech company, has developed cutting-edge artificially-intelligent weed killer robots that are transforming crop management.

Verdant Robotics has created a multi-action, autonomous platform that is the only ag-robot in the U.S. market capable of simultaneously weeding, fertilizing, and treating plants for pests and diseases. Passing over a field the robots can specifically target individual weeds and crops at a rate of 20 per second, before blasting them with either de-weeder or fertilizer within a millimeter of accuracy.

The robots use sub-millimeter precision to identify and target individual plants, allowing for the use of 95% less chemicals than traditional spraying methods. This level of accuracy is made possible by a combination of advanced robotics, machine vision, and deep learning algorithms.

“Increasingly folks are turning towards things like cover-cropping again, and inter-cropping and other regenerative agriculture techniques that allow us to keep the soil healthy,” said Gabe Siblev, Founder and CEO of Verdant Robotics, in a mini-doc about their technology. “The challenges there have been that it’s difficult to do this at the same sort of scale that we can do monocropping, which is how we feed the world.”

Related Story: Carbon Robotics’ Autonomous Weeder does one thing even better.

The robots can treat an impressive 500,000 plants per hour, significantly increasing the speed and efficiency of farm operations. Furthermore, these advanced robots, such as the SprayBox, don’t just treat a plant and move on. Instead, they meticulously construct a centimeter-by-centimeter map of the entire field, including the geolocation and identification of each plant. This extensive data collection is vital in implementing regenerative agriculture on a large scale, which would otherwise require a substantial workforce.

Because of the mapping and precise targeting, this could potentially enable the large scale growing multiple crops on the same field. Doing this at a monocropping scale would be huge for utilizing regenerative farming techniques. “Ironically, it’s kind of returning to how we farmed you know, 100 years ago. Unlocking knowledge that a lot of older growers have, and bringing it back through technology,” said Siblev.

As the demand for food increases and the need for sustainable farming practices becomes more pressing, the adoption of these advanced technologies will be essential in meeting the challenges of the future.

It is well worth watching the thing in action, it almost looks like a video game.

Ancient City Found in the Amazon

Daily Upsider on January 15, 2024

An ancient city, hidden for thousands of years by dense vegetation in the Amazon, has been uncovered through LiDAR Technology. The Upano area in eastern Ecuador reveals a complex urban society with houses, plazas, and an impressive network of roads and canals connecting them. This discovery challenges the main stream belief that Amazonian people lived nomadically or in small settlements.

Built around 2,500 years ago, the city thrived for up to 1,000 years, hosting a population estimated in the tens of thousands or more. It is the oldest site known in the Amazon, and the size could indicate that the ancient civilization could rival or have even been larger than the Mayan civilizations in Mexico and Central America.

The archaeological findings, aided by LiDAR technology flown on a plane, exposed 6,000 rectangular platforms arranged in groups around plazas. These platforms, believed to be homes and ceremonial spaces, showcased sophisticated urban planning.

A striking feature was the extensive road network, covering a vast distance that have long straight sections, and sometimes turn using right angles. It is much more common to see roads that follow the lay of the land as it is easier to make. The researchers believe this might suggest a ceremonial or symbolic significance to some of these roads. Causeways with ditches, likely canals managing water resources, were also identified. Signs of threats to the city, such as blocked entrances and ditches, hinted at potential conflicts with neighboring groups.

The first evidence of their being an ancient city was found in the 1970’s, but this is the first time the site has been thoroughly surveyed since then.

Prof Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, was the man who lead the survey. He said he was warned away from the research by other scientist who claimed there were no ancient civilizations in the Amazon. The professor was not deterred, and is quite happy about it, saying “But I’m very stubborn, so I did it anyway. Now I must admit I am quite happy to have made such a big discovery,”.

The researchers plan to explore an adjoining 300 sq km area to see what more they can discover.

This reminds me of the writings of early Spanish explorers, who claimed there were large cities and civilizations in the Amazon. These cities were not found later, and lot’s of scientists and historians chalked it up to fabrications. This is a good reminder that sometimes scientist get a little over confident with with what they “know”.

Hopefully, we continue to learn more about these lost cities and people.