April 22nd, 2021, 6:00AM / BY Abigail Eisenstadt
Many organisms like coral and even people create their own minerals to perform basic life functions. Geologists can study these biominerals to learn more about Earth. (Donald E. Hurlbert, Smithsonian)
Evolving Climate: The Smithsonian is so much more than its world-renowned exhibits and artifacts. It is an organization dedicated to understanding how the past informs the present and future. Once a week, we will show you how the National Museum of Natural History’s seven scientific research departments take lessons from past climate change and apply them to the 21st century and beyond.
Minerals are known for their geologic origins, but they aren’t exclusively made by Earth. For over 3.5 billion years, living organisms have also been creating their own hard parts: biominerals.
February 1st, 2021, 3:00PM / BY Abigail Eisenstadt
This is a giant spindle magnetofossil, created by a mysterious creature over 50 million years ago. So far, the iron fossils have only been found during two periods of intense global warming. (Kenneth Livi, Courtney Wagner, and Ioan Lascu)
Deep underneath the ocean’s murky floor, there are iron bullets, needles, and spearheads. But they weren t left there by people. Instead, they are the fossilized remains of unknown organisms who lived millions of years ago through at least two extreme global warming events.
These so-called “giant” magnetofossils are impossible to see with the naked eye. Because of their size, geologists and paleobiologists used to have to study them using a labor intensive and destructive process.
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IMAGE: Electron microscope images of giant needles. Needles have a cylindrical shape and some taper toward one end of the crystal. view more
Credit: Courtney Wagner, Ioan Lascu and Kenneth Livi.
There are fossils, found in ancient marine sediments and made up of no more than a few magnetic nanoparticles, that can tell us a whole lot about the climate of the past, especially episodes of abrupt global warming. Now, researchers including doctoral student Courtney Wagner and associate professor Peter Lippert from the University of Utah, have found a way to glean the valuable information in those fossils without having to crush the scarce samples into a fine powder. Their results are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.