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TODAY’S BIG TOPIC:

THE BLAST AND BOOM IN TONGA

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we have the latest on the Pacific explosion, a fresh Martian mystery, alleged COVID-19 treatment experimentation with prisoners, the pandemic and Alzheimer’s … and the ignominious home of the newest discovered beetle.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAPAN METEOROLOGY AGENCY VIA AP

By Victoria Jaggard, SCIENCE Executive Editor

To paraphrase Tolstoy: All volcanoes are alike, but each volcano erupts in its own way. There are commonalities between the volcanoes in Iceland, La Palma, and the Kingdom of Tonga, with each one driven by the action of tectonic plates creating pockets of magma. Build up enough pressure, and the magma bursts forth, generating ashy plumes and lava flows. But differences in rock chemistry, elevation, and the underlying magma chambers mean that each one of these volcanoes erupts in a unique fashion.

And for people living near them, the style of eruption they’re likely to see can make an incredible difference.

On Saturday, people around the world saw the effects of an explosive eruption (pictured above) at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, a volcanic island that’s part of Tonga’s South Pacific archipelago. The mostly submerged peak had started erupting a few weeks ago, Robin George Andrews reports for us, and by mid-January its prolific plume was generating record amounts of lightning. Then came the violent outburst, which was so powerful it caused a sonic boom heard thousands of miles away. Tsunami waves quickly rushed ashore in the island kingdom, and surges were recorded as far away as California and parts of South America.

As Andrews notes, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is part of a volcanic system known for its violent eruptions. Here, one tectonic plate is diving beneath another, and water is getting added to the rocks in a way that makes the magma abundant, sticky, and gassy. So when it blows, it does so with alarming gusto.

Tragically, Saturday’s immense blast severed communications with Tonga when it caused an undersea cable to fail, and reports are only now trickling in about how the people fared.

According to a news release issued Tuesday by the Tongan government, there have been three recorded deaths in the wake of the eruption and tsunami, and houses have been destroyed on multiple islands.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NEW ZEALAND DEFENSE FORCE VIA GETTY IMAGES

But search and rescue efforts are hampered by the downed communication lines, as well as blankets of ash (seen in the aerial photograph above, from Monday) that have contaminated drinking water and covered airport runways. Then there are very real worries about international aid deliveries sparking a COVID-19 outbreak.

For Tonga, “this is a potentially devastating event, and it’s horrifying to watch,” Janine Krippner, a volcanologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, told Andrews. “I feel sick thinking about it.”

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN QVARNSTRÖM

Meet the beetles: Sometimes a glorious discovery is nestled inside an inglorious place. Within a nickel-size piece of 230-million-year-old fossilized feces, researchers found partial and whole specimens of the new Triamyxa coprolithica beetle (pictured above). 3D scans show some delicate legs and antennae intact, a study reports. “It’s like they’re becoming alive in front of you,” lead author Martin Qvarnström tells Nat Geo. This discovery and others are in our February issue, which subscribers can read now.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

TODAY IN A MINUTE

PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA, JPL-CALTECH

A new Martian mystery: Should Mars be the purple planet? NASA’s Perseverance rover has found a thin, smooth purple coating on some stones, and purple paint-like blobs on others (pictured above). Some of the rocks look like they’ve been partially frosted in magenta icing. What’s going on? Nat Geo’s Maya Wei-Haas reports on the mystery.

We asked, you answered: Did Omicron prompt many Americans to get vaccinated and boosted? A third of Americans surveyed indicate the Omicron variant was a reason, according to a poll we did with Morning Consult. Higher percentages of younger Americans, Latinos, and African Americans all reported getting vaccinated or boosted because of Omicron. More than 500 newsletter readers responded, too, the vast majority saying they were vaxxed and boosted before or because of Omicron, with several noting they were seeking to protect family members too young to get the vaccine.

Experimenting with prisoners: That’s what inmates at an Arkansas county detention center say happened, alleging they were given ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without their consent—and were told the pills were vitamins. U.S. public health officials have repeatedly warned against treating COVID-19 with ivermectin, which is approved only for use in humans for river blindness, head lice, rosacea, and an illness caused by roundworms. The ACLU is suing the jail and its doctor, CBS News reports.

R.I.P. Steve Jenkins: In 50 books, Jenkins showed children the answer to questions such as, Why do turtles clean hippopotamuses, and how? Or, What do baby animals do the day they’re born? “Children don’t need anyone to give them a sense of wonder; they already have that,” Jenkins once wrote. “But they do need a way to incorporate the various bits and pieces of knowledge they acquire into some logical picture of the world.” He died in Colorado of a splenic artery aneurysm, the New York Times reports. He was 69.

THE NIGHT SKIES

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW FAZEKAS

‘Regal’ pairings: Tonight, look for the nearly full moon paired with Regulus, the bright star 78 light-years away in the constellation Leo, the lion. The pairing will rise soon after sunset in the East. By late Sunday night the moon will be parked next to another blue stellar beacon in the constellation Virgo. That star, Rigel, sits so far away that its light takes two and a half centuries to reach our eyes. All this week, risers at dawn will see (pictured above) Venus, Mars, and Antares, the lead star in the constellation Scorpius. If Venus and Mars whet your planetary appetite, check out our look at new secrets of the solar system. — Andrew Fazekas

Related: The best places to see the northern lights

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @IANTEHPHOTOGRAPHY

Give me some space: Humans aren’t the only ones social distancing. Some trees may maintain distance, too, to avoid disease. These forest canopies maintain mysterious gaps, known as crown shyness, that could help trees share resources like light and stay healthy by preventing the spread of infection, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, Borneo camphor trees, known locally as Kapur trees, at the Forest Research Institute in Malaysia.)

ABOUT CROWN SHYNESS

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

We simply can't have a healthy planet or healthy people without a healthy ocean. We all are responsible.

Sandra M. Turner

Scientist; Nat Geo certified educator and Explorer

There are many ways to explore. Just ask these 10 trailblazing educators.

THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHERYLE ST. ONGE

COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s: Long COVID patients have many symptoms similar to those seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease: disorientation, personality changes, memory loss. It's why scientists think a look at patients’ brains could mean improved treatment for both diseases, Emma Yasinski reports. Alzheimer’s disease currently affects nearly six million Americans, a number expected to triple by 2060. (Pictured above, photographer Cheryle St. Onge’s image of her mom, who retained the muscle memory of blowing bubbles, but not the recollection of doing it before.)

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at [email protected].

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