Narwhal news! 🚨
From Good News Network:
The narwhal's tusk was so extraordinary that medieval merchants sold it as a unicorn horn. It can grow more than six feet long, spiraling in a way that has puzzled scientists for centuries. It is, technically, a tooth — the left canine — and it has no enamel.
Researchers at Aarhus University used three of the world's most powerful synchrotrons, across Sweden, Switzerland, and France, to map the tusk's interior in three dimensions. What they found is that the outer layer spirals left and the inner layer spirals right, creating a "biological counterbalance" where the two structures meet. This double-spiral architecture allows the tusk to withstand enormous mechanical force without breaking.
The growth pattern is genetically programmed and stays constant across the narwhal's entire 80-year lifespan, preserved layer by layer like tree rings. The team is now investigating whether those rings can be used to read North Atlantic climate history. "The discovery not only solves a centuries-old natural science mystery," said lead author Dr. Adrian Rodriguez-Palomo, "it also provides new insight into how nature constructs advanced materials."
As for what the narwhal actually uses the tusk for, that part remains a mystery.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/double-spiral-secret-of-narwhals-twisted-tusk-revealed-by-xray-tech/
