Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
2 of 20 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Science
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Researchers created what has been described as a kind of “dental time machine” using sophisticated radiocarbon dating techniques on samples of whale teeth to find out details about their lives.
asserted
what → create → lives
As with the rings of a tree, each layer of growth in a whale’s tooth is thought to form annually.
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layer → think → tooth
The harmless trace radiocarbon information in their teeth, together with stable isotopes, provided clues about what the whales ate, where and how long they lived.
asserted
they → provide → what
The team drew on the distinctive rise and decline in radiocarbon caused by nuclear weapons testing, which began in the mid 20th century before later ceasing, with the fallout entering ecosystems in the sea and on land.
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fallout → draw → land
Analysis of the radiocarbon preserved in the teeth allowed experts to determine whether layers formed before, during or after weapons testing, and estimate when different parts of the tooth were created.
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parts → preserve → tooth
Testing carried out by the team found that when he died, Moby was aged at least 43 as the innermost layers of his teeth were formed before fallout from nuclear weapons testing affected the marine environment.
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fallout → carry → environment
The findings are published in the journal Frontiers In Marine Science.
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findings → publish → Science
He said: “My parents took me to see Moby when he arrived in the Firth of Forth in 1997, when I was six years old.
asserted
I → say → 1997
“A few days later, we saw pictures of him dead on the shore, and I had so many questions: How could this huge, amazing animal die so suddenly?
uncertain
animal → see → questions
Where had he come from? What sort of life had he had?
asserted
he → come → life
Read More
“Those questions have always stayed with me, and they have been a fundamental part of what has driven my career at the overlap of marine science and isotope research.
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what → read → science
“To be able to hold one of Moby’s teeth 30 years later and do work which helps us understand a bit of the life he had is something I’m really proud of.”
asserted
I → hold → life
The research was led by scientists at SUERC: Centre for the Isotope Sciences in partnership with researchers from the universities of Glasgow, St Andrews, Edinburgh and National Museums Scotland.
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research → lead → Glasgow
The team used SUERC’s accelerator mass spectrometer to analyse the radiocarbon found in each layer of the teeth.
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team → use → teeth
The scientists found no clear sign of the nuclear-weapons testing signal but found a different radioactive fingerprint, the so-called “Sellafield signal” produced by radiocarbon discharges from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility into the Irish Sea and carried to the west of Scotland.
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scientists → find → Scotland
The team also examined stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the tooth samples.
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team → examine → samples
Their analysis of a tooth from a killer whale stranded on South Uist in 2015 suggested he was aged around 65 or perhaps even older, which researchers said would make him one of the oldest male killer whales on record.
uncertain
him → strand → record
Dr Tierney added: “By combining radiocarbon with stable isotope analysis, we can get a much richer picture of how these animals lived.
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animals → add → picture
“We hope that this study adds a useful piece to our ever-growing understanding of the life histories of these two whale species.”
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study → hope → species
The research was supported by funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation.
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research → support → Research
The Aporia
