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Beneath more than 22,000 feet of frigid, pitch-black water in the southeastern Indian Ocean, researchers have made a landmark deep-sea discovery: the largest, deepest, and oldest whale necropolis ever documented, where diverse marine communities have thrived for millions of years feeding on the sunken remains of massive cetaceans.

Whale falls, as these sites are informally called, form naturally when the bodies of dead whales sink to the abyssal sea floor. What would be a grim end for the massive mammals becomes a life-sustaining oasis for deep-sea organisms, which rely on the concentrated energy and unique chemical composition of whale bones to survive in an environment where food is extremely scarce.

Lead researcher Xikun Song, a deep-sea biologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, explained that the size of whale carcasses and the unique chemical makeup of their bones are what allow these complex underwater ecosystems to develop. Song, who participated in the expedition that uncovered the site, also noted that the extreme inaccessibility of the deep ocean makes locating these rare graveyards an extraordinary challenge for marine scientists.

Over the course of multiple research dives conducted by deep-sea submersibles in 2023, the international research team mapped the full extent of the site, collected biological and fossil samples, and documented the scope of the discovery. The team identified five distinct whale carcass sites and fossils, including well-preserved whale skulls from beaked whales and baleen whales. Radiocarbon and geological dating confirmed the oldest of these remains date back more than 5.3 million years, making this the oldest confirmed whale graveyard ever found.

When the team examined the remains, they found a thriving, diverse community of marine organisms calling the whale bones home. Countless species, from brittle stars and jellyfish to tubeworms, sea cucumbers, squat lobsters, and saltwater clams, have made these sunken carcasses their feeding and breeding grounds. According to the team’s findings, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal *Nature*, many of these organisms may represent entirely new species that have never been formally documented by science.

Outside experts not involved in the research say the find reshapes what we know about deep-sea ecosystem development. Stephen Godfrey, a paleontologist at the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland, called the volume of specimens uncovered at the site “astounding.”

Study authors have outlined multiple factors that allowed the whale bones to remain preserved for millions of years in the deep ocean. The dense structure of large whale bones allows them to withstand degradation from bone-eating worms, while the site’s deep location protects remains from being completely buried by sediment and loose particulate matter. A thin, naturally occurring mineral coating from surrounding seawater also sealed the bones, slowing decomposition significantly over millennia.

The team has also put forward multiple hypotheses to explain why so many whale remains accumulated in this specific location. It is possible the whales were native to the region and died of natural causes, while some may have succumbed to exhaustion or illness related to deep diving. The site’s natural V-shaped geography may also have acted as a natural funnel, guiding sunken whale carcasses to this concentrated resting area over millions of years.

Researchers emphasize that discoveries like this are critical to expanding our understanding of life in Earth’s most extreme environments. Study co-author Giovanni Bianucci, a paleontologist at the University of Pisa in Italy, explained that studying these deep-sea whale graveyards helps scientists unpack how life adapts to extreme conditions: perpetual darkness, extremely low oxygen levels, and crushing water pressure thousands of times greater than what is experienced at the ocean surface.

The Associated Press’ Health and Science Department receives funding support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP retains sole editorial responsibility for all content.

NEW YORK — One of the most ambitious particle physics experiments of the decade has delivered its first groundbreaking data, bringing scientists closer to unraveling one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of the universe: the nature of neutrinos, the nearly massless ‘ghost particles’ that permeate every corner of space. On Wednesday, the international collaboration behind China’s Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) published its first major findings in the journal *Nature*, marking a major milestone in global particle physics research.

Located 700 meters (2,297 feet) underground to block out interfering cosmic radiation, the massive spherical JUNO detector began its official data collection phase in August this year. The observatory was built to study neutrinos — ultra-tiny subatomic particles that originated in the Big Bang, travel close to the speed of light, and pass trillions strong through the human body every second without any measurable harm. For decades, neutrinos have baffled researchers: their near-zero mass makes them extremely difficult to detect, despite their ubiquity in the universe.

Instead of directly observing ancient cosmic neutrinos, JUNO focuses on studying antineutrinos — the antimatter counterparts of neutrinos — produced by fission reactions in two nearby operating nuclear power plants. When antineutrinos collide with particles inside the detector, the interaction generates a faint flash of light that researchers can capture and analyze to map the particles’ properties.

From just two months of initial data collection, the JUNO team has already produced some of the most precise measurements ever recorded of a key neutrino behavior: the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation, in which the particles shift between three distinct ‘flavors’ — electron, muon, and tau — as they travel through space. These early measurements confirm that the observatory is functioning at the sensitivity its designers projected, even earlier than many project members expected.

While the initial results have not yet settled the central question that drove the construction of JUNO — determining the exact mass ordering of the three neutrino flavors — researchers say the data proves the detector can deliver on its core promise. Physicists currently know that two of the three flavors have similar masses, while the third differs significantly, but they have not confirmed whether the outlier is lighter or heavier than the other two. Resolving this mass ordering question will reshape fundamental understandings of cosmology and the formation of the early universe.

“The initial results already demonstrate that JUNO will be able to probe the subtle differences that separate the neutrino flavors and their mass hierarchies,” explained Liangjian Wen, study co-author and member of the JUNO international collaboration. Outside physicists not involved in the research also expressed enthusiasm about the milestone. Kate Scholberg, a particle physicist at Duke University, noted that the first data release builds major excitement for future discoveries from the observatory.

JUNO’s findings will eventually be cross-checked by two other cutting-edge neutrino experiments currently under development: Japan’s Hyper-Kamiokande and the United States’ Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Both facilities are scheduled to begin data collection within the next 10 years, using different experimental approaches to verify JUNO’s conclusions and advance global research into neutrino properties.

This reporting, produced by the Associated Press Health and Science Department, receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.