Now, a new study from Simon Fraser University has given scientists the clearest picture yet when the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.

As part of SFU researcher Laura Termes’ PhD and published earlier this month in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, the study examined 32 suspected mammoth samples collected on Vancouver Island. Of those samples, just 16 were deemed suitable for radiocarbon dating.

The youngest sample was found to be around 23,000 years old and the oldest turned out to be beyond the range radiocarbon dating could measure, meaning it was older than 45,000 years.

Prior to the study, only two mammoth remains found on Vancouver Island had ever been dated before. Both lived around 21,000 years ago, so the Termes’ study provides a greater understanding of when the massive mammals lived in the area.

“This is really exciting because it shows that mammoths have lived on Vancouver Island for a long time,” says Termes, a PhD candidate in the Department of Archaeology. “We were expecting similar results [to the two samples previously dated] but what we found were mammoths that were much older. It is fantastic that they could be preserved for that long.”

Termes says having the curatorial support at the Royal BC Museum and the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre allowing access to their collections was invaluable to the study.

“This research highlights the important role of museum collections for understanding how life has evolved and changed in British Columbia’s deep history,” says Victoria Arbour, curator of palentology at the Royal BC Museum. “It’s great to see Woolly’s relatives in the Royal BC Museum’s collections in the spotlight through this research study.”

The UBC ADaPT Facility (which was instrumental in helping determine if samples were indeed mammoths and not whales or other animals) also played an important role in the research, Termes says.

And archaeologists need all the help they can get because while mammoths were enormous, finding intact samples in British Columbia is actually quite rare.

“When we imagine great big giant animals of the last ice age being found, we might have imagined fully articulated and complete skeletons being systematically excavated. But in southern B.C., that simply does not happen,” says Termes. “Instead, we may get an isolated molar that’s been tumbled around in the water for a long time, or maybe a piece of a tusk. And these are what everyday people are encountering.”

For example, one sample she examined was a piece of mammoth tooth found by a child in the gravel at a local playground.

“So maybe it’s a dog owner, taking their puppy for a walk on a rainy day, or a gravel pit operator at work,” says Termes, who grew up in Qualicum Beach. “I really like how these magnificent animals are finding their way into people’s lives in routine and everyday ways.”

Termes says the study is part of a larger look at megafauna in B.C. and she plans on radiocarbon dating mammoth samples from other parts of the province.

In a groundbreaking study published Aug. 7 in Science Advances, researchers from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Central Florida have proposed a revolutionary approach towards terraforming Mars. This new method, using engineered dust particles released to the atmosphere, could potentially warm the Red Planet by more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, to temperatures suitable for microbial life — a crucial first step towards making Mars habitable.

The proposed method is over 5,000 times more efficient than previous schemes to globally warm Mars, representing a significant leap forward in our ability to modify the Martian environment.

What sets this approach apart is its use of resources readily available on Mars, making it far more feasible than earlier proposals that relied on importing materials from Earth or mining rare Martian resources.

This strategy would take decades. But it appears logistically easier than other plans proposed so far.

“This suggests that the barrier to warming Mars to allow liquid water is not as high as previously thought,” said Edwin Kite, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and corresponding author on the study. The lead author was Samaneh Ansari, a graduate student in Prof. Hooman Mohseni’s group at Northwestern University.

Astronauts still won’t be able to breathe Mars’ thin air; making the planet suitable for humans to walk on the surface unaided requires much more work. But perhaps groundwork could be laid, by making the planet habitable for microbes and food crops that could gradually add oxygen to the atmosphere — much as they have done for Earth during its geologic history.

A new approach to an age-old dream

There is a rich history of proposals to make Mars habitable; Carl Sagan himself came up with one back in 1971. These have ranged from outright daydreams, such as science fiction writers depicting turning one of Mars’ moons into a sun, to more recent and scientifically plausible ideas, such as engineering transparent gel tiles to trap heat.

Any plan to make Mars habitable must address several hurdles, including deadly UV rays and salty soil. But the biggest is the planet’s temperature; the surface of Mars averages about -80 degrees Fahrenheit.

One strategy to warm the planet could be the same method that humans are unintentionally using here on Earth: releasing material into the atmosphere, which would enhance Mars’ natural greenhouse effect, trapping solar heat at the surface.

The trouble is that you would need tons of these materials — literally. Previous schemes depended on bringing gases from Earth to Mars, or attempting to mine Mars for a large mass of ingredients that aren’t very common there — both are costly and difficult propositions. But the team wondered whether it could be done by processing materials that already exist abundantly on Mars.

We know from rovers like Curiosity that dust on Mars is rich in iron and aluminum. By themselves, those dust particles aren’t suitable to warm the planet; their size and composition mean they tend to cool the surface slightly rather than warm it. But if we engineered dust particles that had different shapes or compositions, the researchers hypothesized, perhaps they could trap heat more efficiently.

The researchers designed particles shaped like short rods — similar in size to commercially available glitter. These particles are designed to trap escaping heat and scatter sunlight towards the surface, enhancing Mars’ natural greenhouse effect.

“How light interacts with sub-wavelength objects is fascinating. Importantly, engineering

nanoparticles can lead to optical effects that far exceed what is conventionally expected from

such small particles,” said Ansari. Mohseni, who is a co-author, believes that they have just scratched the surface: “We believe it is possible to design nanoparticles with higher efficiency, and even those that can dynamically change their optical properties.”

“You’d still need millions of tons to warm the planet, but that’s five thousand times less than you would need with previous proposals to globally warm Mars,” said Kite. “This significantly increases the feasibility of the project.”

Calculations indicate that if the particles were released into Mars’ atmosphere continuously at 30 liters per second, the planet would warm by more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit — and the effect could be noticeable within as soon as months. Similarly, the warming would be reversible, stopping within a few years if release was switched off.

Potential impact and future research

Much work remains to be done, the scientists said. We don’t know exactly how fast the engineered dust would cycle out of Mars’ atmosphere, for example. Mars does have water and clouds, and, as the planet warms, it’s possible that water would increasingly start to condense around the particles and fall back to the surface as rain.

“Climate feedbacks are really difficult to model accurately,” Kite cautioned. “To implement something like this, we would need more data from both Mars and Earth, and we’d need to proceed slowly and reversibly to ensure the effects work as intended.”

While this method represents a significant leap forward in terraforming research, the researchers emphasize that the study focuses on warming Mars to temperatures suitable for microbial life and possibly growing food crops — not on creating a breathable atmosphere for humans.

“This research opens new avenues for exploration and potentially brings us one step closer to the long-held dream of establishing a sustainable human presence on Mars,” said Kite.

Ansari is the lead author of the study. Other coauthors of the study were Ramses Ramirez of the University of Central Florida and Liam Steele, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at UChicago, now with the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

The authors used the Quest high-performance computing facility at Northwestern and the University of Chicago Research Computing Center.