Scientists think they have discovered a previously unknown hidden structure inside the Earth’s core that could change our understanding of our planet. In school, most of us were taught there are four main layers to the Earth’s structure: the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. What we know about the Earth’s insides has mostly derived from geologists’ knowledge and observations of volcanoes and seismic waves. But now, scientists believe that there may also be a whole extra layer hidden inside the inner core that no one knew about. Earth’s molten inner core is predicted to be around 5,000 degrees Celsius in temperature and scientists have calculated that it takes up around just 1 per cent of the planet’s total volume. The discovery of a potential fifth layer to the planet’s core came a few years ago when scientists used an algorithm to model thousands of scenarios of the inner core to observe the length of time it takes seismic waves to travel through Earth based on data by the International Seismological Centre. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Scientists were able to analyse how different material properties within the inner core would affect seismic waves differently and found that some scenarios were certainly more likely than others. The algorithm showed how different materials altered the angle of seismic waves, leading them to hypothesise that there was a change of material somewhere in the inner core. Joanne Stephenson, an Australian National University geophysicist, explained: “We found evidence that may indicate a change in the structure of iron, which suggests perhaps two separate cooling events in Earth's history.” She continued: “The details of this big event are still a bit of a mystery, but we've added another piece of the puzzle when it comes to our knowledge of the Earth's inner core.” While their data isn’t conclusive, it does correlate with other similar studies that have looked into the anisotropy of the Earth’s inner core. Stephenson said: “It's very exciting - and might mean we have to re-write the textbooks!” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

One person has died and four are still missing off the coast of Germany after a British cargo ship collided with another boat in the North Sea. The ships, Polesie and Verity, collided in the early morning about 14 miles south-west of the island of Helgoland, Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said. German authorities say four people remain missing and two have been rescued. Verity was headed from Bremen, Germany, to the English port of Immingham. The other ship, the Bahamas-flagged Polesie, remained afloat with 22 people on board. A P&O crusie called the Iona which was travelling from Hamburg is helping with the urgent rescue mission as German officials confirmed te According to reports, people on board were panicked when there was an announcement at 6am this morning alerting customers to the incident. A spokesperson for P&O Cruises said: “P&O Cruises Iona is currently involved in a search and rescue operation off the coast of Germany. “The incident is ongoing and Iona’s cooperation complies with international maritime law as well as being consistent with the company’s moral and legal obligations.” The emergency command said one person was rescued from the water and was being given medical treatment.

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A British hiker has been missing in the Swiss Alps for more than a month, as his family continue the search to find him. Aidan Roche, 29, travelled to Switzerland for a two-week solo holiday in June, where he planned to track a mountain trail in the Grindelwald area. He was last heard from on 22 June, twelve days into his two-week trip and there has been no trace of him since. His brother Connor said of the experienced hiker: “It’s not something he wouldn’t have been able to manage. But sometimes you know, all it takes is a freak occurrence for something to go wrong.” His family and friends have set up GoFundMe page to help support further search efforts, as they say the Swiss police and mountain rescue service have ceased their efforts having “exhausted every option”. The campaign has now exceeded its £30,000 goal, with funds going towards generating new leads by raising awareness in the area, as well as the use of a search helicopter. Below we look at everything we know about search so far. Who is Aidan Roche? Aidan Roche is an experienced hiker from Middlesbrough. The 6ft 2in tall 29 year-old works as an offshore chemical engineer. He grew up in Longlands, a central Middlesbrough neighbourhood, and was living in Leeds at the time he went missing. He had planned to move back to Middlesbrough after his trip. “He’s a character and this solo travel thing is exactly the type of thing he loves,” his brother Connor has said. “He can talk to absolutely everyone and he can just make friends with anyone.” Aidan’s friend Beth Taylor says he had a distinctive tattoo on his arm reading “MAYASWELLMAYSENYA” and loved to play “blaring” music from a speaker as he walked. Where was he last seen? A video taken at 11:36am BST places Roche a short distance away from the village of Grindelwald, which sits at the foot of the Eiger mountain. Friends say this is the last footage he sent to them. In this video, and two others sent on the same day, other hikers can be seen in the background.Ms Taylor posted an appeal on TikTok, asking anyone with information about these people to come forward – it has been viewed 26,000 times. She says his family are looking for a woman seen sitting on a rock in a video filmed at 11:05 BST and five people near a waterfall filmed in the final video. “I know he would have spoken to the girl sitting near him in the video, and the people walking towards him. We’re just hoping that someone can identify them and give us a new lead.” The family have also released Aidan’s last text messages before he went missing, sent to an unnamed friend, where the 29-year-old wrote: “Hello, hello. I should be in Grindelwald in about two hours,” followed by a picture of the view from the trail, and his final message: “I’m still pretty high. I’ll see you back at camp.” What is the latest on the search? Mr Roche’s family went to Switzerland on 21 July to try and find him themselves. They have been forced to continue the search alone after the Swiss police and mountain rescue teams ended their efforts after ‘exhausting every option. This is proving costly, so the family and friends have launched a GoFundMe appeal so they can keep going. His brother Connor Roche provided an update on 30 July: “We just need some more information. We’ve had nothing coming in from any of the missing posters. “We’ve also now been given the bill for the search helicopter, which came to £7k.” His other brother Niall explained how the search effort went: There’s none of his bag or anything that he had with him. It doesn’t make sense how we haven’t found anything. From the timestamp of the picture he sent, it’s about 90 minutes of hiking and it’s not particularly difficult.” What have his friends and family said? In her TikTok video, Mr Taylor said Mr Roche had “biggest heart” and would “do anything for anyone”. Speaking to the Guardian, Connor Roche said: “I try and keep up hope that maybe he’s decided to wander off, or he’s hit his head and forgotten who he is, but I have to drag myself back to what we actually know and the evidence suggests that he’s still on the mountain and we haven’t found him yet. There’s the outside chance that he has some crazy survival story.” “You can’t help but imagine the worst of things sometimes – especially with it being this long since he went missing. “But then you feel guilty for imagining those things. Right now we just need more information – anything that can help us find him and bring him home.” Read More Brother’s desperate plea to find British hiker, 29, who vanished in Swiss Alps British Scouts attending South Korea jamboree moved to hotels after illness outbreak ‘Love, obsession, extortion and murder’: The dramatic downfall of TikTok influencer who became a killer Chef Tafari Campbell’s death ‘not suspicious’ as Obama daughters leave island Boris Johnson vows to protect newts threatening plans for pool at his country manor British Scouts pulled from South Korea jamboree as hundreds struck down by heatwave

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