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Iranian police say 139 foreigners arrested over unrest in Yazd province

Iranian police said 139 foreign nationals have so far been arrested in the central province of Yazd for their participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, without specifying their nationalities. Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population above 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January. The protests, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political, were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official death toll stands at 3,117, although rights groups say many more people have been killed. US-based rights group HRANA has said that nearly 50,000 people have so far been arrested. Authorities blame Israel and the United States for fomenting the violence. "These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with netwo...

New alien-looking deep-sea predator discovered, scientists name it 'Darkness'

Scientists Discover New Deep-Sea Predator, Name It 'Darkness'A team of scientists from the US and Chile has discovered a new species of predatory amphipod, Dulcibella camanchaca, in the Atacama Trench off the western coast of South America. The species was found at a depth of 7,902 meters, marking a significant discovery in deep-sea exploration. The creature's predatory behavior and its classification as a new genus make this find particularly noteworthy. D. camanchaca is the first known predatory amphipod to inhabit the hadal zone, a region of the ocean deeper than 6,000 meters. Unlike typical amphipods, which scavenge on organic matter, this species actively hunts smaller amphipods using specialized raptorial appendages called gnathopods. The species is also larger than similar deep-sea amphipods, measuring under 4 centimeters. The genus name, Dulcibella, is inspired by Dulcinea del Toboso from the novel Don Quixote, continuing a tradition of naming amphipods after literary figures. The species name, camanchaca, derives from local South American languages and means "darkness," reflecting the deep, dark environment it inhabits. The discovery was made during a 2023 expedition by Chile’s Integrated Deep-Ocean Observing System. The researchers used a lander vehicle equipped with baited traps to collect the specimens from the Atacama Trench, an area known for its extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. This discovery highlights the potential for future findings in the trench, which is considered an endemic hotspot with unique marine life. The findings underscore the importance of continued deep-ocean research, especially in areas like the Atacama Trench, which remains largely unexplored. The discovery of D. camanchaca and its new genus could provide insights into deep-sea ecosystems and the potential for similar life forms on other oceanic moons, such as Europa and Enceladus. The study, published in Systematics and Biodiversity, adds to the growing body of knowledge about life in Earth’s extreme ocean environments and the potential for undiscovered species in the depths of the world’s oceans.

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