Caribbean scientists document uncharted deep-sea waters in Trinidad and Tobago - news - Mongabay

Conglomerate, Massy Holdings Ltd has announced the sale of its Caterpillar (CAT) line of business in Trinidad and Tobago for US$16 million and expects to record a loss on the sale of US$9.8 million. In a notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the company said Massy Machinery Limited, through which the CAT business operates, entered into an asset purchase agreement on September 29, 2026, with Machinery Corporation Motors Limited (MACORP), a locally registered subsidiary of Machinery Corporation of America, Inc. The agreement covers the sale of certain assets and related business interests of the CAT line of business. Completion is subject to regulatory approvals. Massy said MACORP’s regional scale, established CAT operations, and specialist capabilities make it a stronger strategic fit for the Trinidad CAT business, placing it within a larger, dedicated regional CAT platform. The company added that the transaction would allow it to redeploy capital towards the group’s longer-term strategic priorities. According to the notice, a significant portion of the expected loss relates to employee severance. The notice was signed by corporate secretary Wendy Kerry on behalf of the board.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Isaiah Santistevan led the development of three-dimensional simulations exploring how a nuclear device could deflect or disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. Credit: Blaise Douros/LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth.

Milky Way’s first microblazar candidate sits 12,000 light-years away, offering a rare ground-level lab for studying relativistic jetsA black hole 12,000 light-years away is firing a jet of plasma almost directly toward Earth. At that distance, no known or expected danger to Earth has been identified by the researchers or the institutions involved. What astronomers have actually found is rarer and more interesting than a threat. Researchers have identified IRAS 18293-0941 as a compelling candidate for the Milky Way’s first microblazar, a class of object that gives astrophysicists a close-up laboratory for studying some of the most violent physics in the galaxy. What Astronomers FoundThe discovery centers on a binary system whose black hole expels plasma jets at close to three-quarters the speed of light, pointed almost directly toward Earth. The system pairs a hot, massive star with a black hole that completes a full orbit roughly every 11.38 days. Material drawn from the companion star feeds the black hole, and some of that matter gets expelled outward as opposing jets traveling at approximately three-quarters the speed of light. Terminology matters here.

Forests that stood on Mozambique's coast thousands of years ago now lie beneath shallow seas, and they have become fish-filled "peat reefs" with marine life comparable to coral reefs, researchers report in Scientific Reports. A team from the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS) Ocean Observatory, led by Mario Lebrato, documented the submerged peat in the Bazaruto Archipelago in the Western Indian Ocean. BCSS, founded in 2017, describes itself as Africa's first permanent ocean observatory. Working with universities and institutions in the U. K., U. S. and Canada, the team believes it has carried out the first ecological study of peat reefs anywhere in the tropics. Old forests, new seafloorRadiocarbon dating shows the peat formed between about 300 and 5,000 years ago, and chemical analysis indicates it came mostly from coastal land plants and trees. Some samples contain up to 40% organic carbon by dry weight. Lebrato said the coastline has very little natural hard seabed, mostly shifting sand. As rising seas expose the old peat layers, they create rare solid habitat where marine life can settle, hide and feed.