BREAKING Ontario's 'crypto king' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
Australian scientists have discovered what they say is the largest living plant on Earth: ancient seagrass dating back thousands of years off the country's west coast.
Found in the ocean in Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located approximately 800 kilometres north of the city Perth in Western Australia, the massive seagrass is at least 4,500 years old, scientists say, and is 200 square kilometres in size.
The findings are included in a study, developed by researchers at the University of Western Australia and Flinders University in South Australia, published recently in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"It's a largely pristine environment and it's largely remained undisturbed at all from major human development," Elizabeth Sinclair, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Western Australia and the study's senior author, told CTV National News.
Adding to the intrigue is the discovery that the plant, whose species name is Posidonia australis, came from one seed that has cloned itself for thousands of years.
Using 18,000 genetic markers, the researchers sampled seagrass shoots from across Shark Bay in an effort to understand how genetically diverse the plants were.
"The answer blew us away — there was just one,” Jane Edgeloe, a University of Western Australia student researcher and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
"That's it, just one plant has expanded over 180 kilometres in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth."
The plant has also proven resilient to wide temperature fluctuations, as well as high salinity and light conditions, the researchers say.
They say they are now creating experiments to understand how the plant survives under these different conditions.
This resiliency is also giving scientists hope in the fight against climate change.
"So they are powerhouses for sort of cleaning and filtering the water ... and so it's extremely hopeful to think that life, in this case it's seagrass, has found a way to persist," Mary O'Connor, a zoology professor at the University of British Columbia, said.
Although Australia is now laying claim to the new record, others are as well.
"We don't know what’s going on down under but up at our elevation we know Colorado's gorgeous Aspen groves (and Utah's as well) is a sight to behold and are the world's largest plant," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said on Twitter.
And who knows. Canada, which has the longest coastline in the world, could be in the running.
"Yeah, I would throw Canada's ticket in the ring for sure for this competition," O'Connor said.
"Challenge accepted. We'll find out."
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.
A barge hit a bridge in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a small island, officials said.
Halifax Regional Police believe a non-resident could be responsible for the infamous drugging of numerous crew members of the 'Titanic' movie with a hallucinogenic in 1996.
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology -- a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.
The first time Marcelle Hutchins sat down to meditate, she put on a guided session, relaxed her shoulders and tried to close her eyes. She lasted two minutes.
A Quebec judge has rejected McGill University's request for an injunction to remove the pro-Palestinian encampment on the university's campus in downtown Montreal.
The federal government says it has reached a deal with Canadian National Railway Company to acquire the historic Quebec Bridge.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.