A New "Salmon Cannon" Fires Up!

On this week’s news update:

Salmon Cannon

A salmon cannon fires up...

Ancient Cave Art

… ancient cave art is discovered…

A Taste for Insects

… and more people get a taste for insects!

First up:

Every year across North America, wild salmon swim up rivers to find a safe spot to reproduce.

Swimming against the current, salmon battle their way upstream until they find a shallow, gravelly river bed to lay their eggs.

But river-blocking obstacles, such as dams, can stop thousands of salmon from reaching their breeding grounds.

Now, a device has been designed to help the salmon bypass any obstacles—a salmon cannon!

The cannon uses low air pressure to gently push the salmon through a flexible tube, shooting the fish over any obstacles and landing them safely on the other side!

And the cannon also has an important new feature—a fish detection camera!

On detecting an unwanted fish, a small gate in the cannon opens up to divert the intruder back downstream, ensuring the breeding salmon are free from unwanted visitors!

Up next:

Sulawesi, Indonesia

The Indonesian Island of Sulawesi is home to sprawling cities and remote forests.

But a team of archaeologists on the island have been searching for something else—ancient cave art.

And they have recently discovered what could be the oldest painting in the world, a picture of a pig!

At first, the team thought the image might have been produced by early farmers about 4,000 years ago.

But when they investigated further, they realized it was even older!

cave popcorn

The archaeologists found what is called "cave popcorn" growing on top of the painting.

Cave popcorn is caused when minerals in the cave come into contact with water, expanding into small clusters that look a bit like frost, or popcorn.

The archaeologists were able to sample the clusters, and calculate they were over 45,000 years old, proving that the painting the cave popcorn grew on top of must be of a similar age!

The team are now hoping to find further ancient artworks in the area, paintings from our hunter gatherer ancestors that could be even older!

And finally:

Eating insects has long been common in many parts of the world.

Grasshoppers are a regular snack in Thailand, and in Ghana, termites are often fried up!

And now, people in Europe are tucking into tasty insects too, with mealworms set to go on sale in stores for the first time, ready to be used in smoothies, cookies, and burgers!

Packed full of protein, fats, and fiber, insects can make a healthy addition to any meal.

And unlike farm animals, they can be produced using very little land, making them a sustainable source of food we can all enjoy well into the future!

That’s all for this week, we’ll see you next time!