Day: February 9, 2014

Early steps…These fossilised human footprints, thought to be more than 800,000 years old, were discovered in silt on the beach at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast of England. Picture: AP/British Museum Source: AP

Researchers discovered the footprints, which were left by both adults and children, in ancient estuary mud at Happisburgh in Norfolk, eastern England.

The only older footprints found so far are at Laetoli in Tanzania, at about 3.5 million years old, and at Ileret and Koobi Fora in Kenya at about 1.5 million years, they added.

“This is an extraordinarily rare discovery,” said Nick Ashton of the British Museum, who led the research team, which also involved the National History Museum and Queen Mary University London.

The discovery came at an archaeological site that has yielded several previous discoveries of stone tools and fossil bones, including mammoth remains.

The researchers found the prints at low tide when waves washed away much of the beach sand to expose the silt below.

“At first we weren’t sure what we were seeing but as we removed any remaining beach sand and sponged off the seawater, it was clear that the hollows resembled prints, perhaps human footprints, and that we needed to record the surface as quickly as possible before the sea eroded it away,” Ashton said.

The group of early humans that left the footprints appeared to have consisted of at least one male and several smaller people believed to be females and youngsters, the researchers said.

“They are clearly a family group rather than a hunting party,” said Ashton.

The footprints were dated at 800,000 years old partly on the basis of the site’s geological position beneath glacial deposits, but also because the fossils there come from now-extinct types of mammoth and horse and early forms of vole that were alive at that time.

A team from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the University of London uncovered imprints from up to five individuals in ancient estuary mud at Happisburgh on the country’s east coast.

British Museum scientist Nick Ashton says the prints are “a tangible link to our earliest human relatives.”

The scientists say the humans who left the footprints may have been related to Homo antecessor, or “pioneer man,” whose fossilised remains have been found in Spain and who died out 800,000 years ago.

The find was announced Friday, and published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Oceanographic research right ahead! The SeaOrbiter is a multipurpose super vessel designed to search the world’s oceans for new life forms and lost civilisations. Source: SeaOrbiter Source: Supplied

It might look like something out of a James Cameron dream but this 190ft tall floating behemoth is taking to open water as the world’s first non-stop exploration vessel, complete with submarine drones, underwater living quarters and space training simulator.

Oceanographer Jacques Rougerie is the mastermind behind the SeaOrbiter – a creation he’s been designing for over a decade – and secured the final 30 per cent of the A$53 million build cost from crowdfunding site KissKissBankBank.

Constantly roaming the oceans and with over half of the 190ft ship under the water’s surface the SeaOrbiter offers an alternative exploration proposition to current research projects. Missions have been mapped out when it sets sail to get an in-depth look at seabeds, search for lost civilisations, find mythical deep sea creatures and find new life forms.

With 90 per cent of the world’s oceans still unexplored it’s estimated that there are millions more species not yet recorded or observed and Rougerie aims to scan the planet’s abysses to find them.

A plan of the SeaOrbiter. Sun lounge deck nowhere to be found. Source: SeaOrbiter Source: Supplied

So if you’re going to discover new forms of life, why not do it in style. This mega craft looks to blow all other research vessels out the water being decked out in some high-tech tech kit including being built from Sealium – a recyclable aluminium designed for marine environments – and powered through a ‘solar skin’ which will let it sail in silence.

On-board there’s a hive of high-tech devices from which large numbers of subsea exploration devices leave daily like sub-aquatic bees to gather data and return at the end of each trip.

With ten accommodation levels there is room for 22 permanent inhabitants, including four above the water for sea bird and surface observation and six decks below the water that will let residents continuously peek out into the big blue. Pressurised hyperbaric quarters are also found below, which are intended to save deep sea divers the bother of having to go through the decompression process.

Work will begin later this year and when fully operational it will spend its time scanning the Mediterranean. There are plans to eventually have a fleet of floating SeaOrbiters. Watch out Nessie!

Aquanauts and robotic submarines will be able to freely go to and from the vessel as part of uninterrupted research. Source: SeaOrbiter Source: Supplied

SeaOrbiter specs:

• Solar powered and can roam the seas in silence

• Wind turbine for extra power

• 190ft high (100ft below water)

• On-board laboratory

• Ten accommodation levels (four above, six below water level) for 22 permanent residents

• Hyperbaric laboratory to carry out unrestricted dives at depths of between 10m and 100m without the inconvenience of decompression stops. Aquanauts stay in a pressurised chamber which keeps them at the same pressure as the surrounding underwater environment. They can then stay on extended dives among the marine creatures, especially during the night, a critical period when unknown animals rise to the surface from the deep.

• Remote-operated underwater vehicle which can film and take samples up to 1000m

• Has an autonomous drone submarine that will plunge to 6000m

• Has an on-board space simulator thanks that mimics the conditions in space so astronauts can train for future expeditions including preparations for Mars