This week, researchers reported finding nanoplastics in Antarctic soils for the first time, suggesting they were delivered via long-range atmospheric transport. A study associates the use of hormonal birth control with the risk of brain tumors. And researchers developed a new drug against metastatic prostate cancer using human proteins.
Plus: Researchers followed older Blue Zone residents to figure out what makes them so happy and healthy; biologists found a 450-million-year-old sample of preserved soft tissue from ancient sea life; and physicists may have found an easier method to predict the result of a black hole collision:
Zone salubrious
Although lifespans have increased globally since 2000, many people age notably better than others, living healthier and happier lives. In some regions, which researchers call Blue Zones, residents live longer, healthier lives with self-reported high quality of life. These regions include Sardinia, Okinawa, Ikaria and Nicoya. A new study considers personality traits along with lifestyle factors of Blue Zone residents to determine what sets them apart from residents of neighboring regions.
The researchers followed 125 Blue Zone residents ages 71–101 from the Sardinian Blue Zone and a nearby region outside the zone. They report that the Blue Zone residents scored significantly higher on a metric of openness to experience. These older people were reportedly more curious and emotionally competent, and had lower scores related to neuroticism, which was linked in the study to lower health-related quality of life.
Blue Zone residents handled daily problems with better coping strategies; this was also linked to a better sense of overall health. The study also demonstrated that people who were more conscientious, along with those who were more agreeable, reported feeling more satisfied with life.
Gunk old
In an impossibly rare discovery, researchers at the University of Oklahoma found 450-million-year-old soft tissue in a fossilized crinoid, ancient relatives of starfish and among the first to populate early coral reefs. To put this into perspective, although millions of crinoid fossils have been found, only two had preserved soft tissue. About 700 modern species of crinoid are known to science, but in the past, they were far more abundant and diverse.
Dr. Lena Cole, an OU paleontologist, says, "Most fossils are only made up of hard parts like bones, teeth or shells. Soft tissues are only preserved when the environment acts almost like a natural refrigerator or vacuum sealer—conditions that are incredibly rare." She points out that the soft tissues found in the fossil are about 200 million years older than the oldest dinosaur.
The preserved tissue derives from the crinoid's tube feet, which crinoids use to feed, interact with currents and occupy their ecological niches. Changes in the structure of tube feet can reveal how crinoids evolved and how their feeding strategies changed in response to a changing environment.
Physics easy
The collision of two black holes is so violent that it distorts the fabric of the universe around it, emitting powerful gravitational waves. Precision instruments like LIGO detect these waves, and researchers can derive information about the event and predict the size of the remnant—the resulting black hole formed by the merger. However, these predictions are based on highly complex relativistic equations developed by Albert Einstein.
A team of physicists now reports a simpler method, one that may imply a deeper principle governing black hole mergers. They developed what they call the "maximum entropy conjecture for black hole mergers," related to the interactions of hot gases.
Vaishak Prasad, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy and astrophysics, says, "A messy room has high entropy—there are countless ways things can be strewn about. A perfectly tidy room has low entropy—there are only a few arrangements that count as 'tidy.' Nature tends to drift toward high-entropy states simply because there are more of them. Our results suggest that black hole mergers do something similar."
The researchers suggest that the entropy of a black hole merger reaches a maximum at values very similar to the mass and angular momentum of the final remnant predicted by complicated numerical relativity simulations. The remnant seems to "forget" everything about the collision itself except for its mass and spin, which can be explained using well-known principles of thermodynamics, opening the possibility that entropy maximization may be a fundamental organizing principle governing black hole interactions.
Written for you by our author Chris Packham, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Andrew Zinin—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.
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Citation: Saturday Citations: Blue zone longevity; soft tissue find predates dinosaurs; black hole collisions simplified (2026, July 11) retrieved 11 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-saturday-citations-blue-zone-longevity.html
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