18/07/2025

LYFE FRIDAY | JULY 18, 2025

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Lingering jaws o Bull sharks staying longer in Sydney waters B ULL sharks are lingering off Sydney’s beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers recently said, predicting they may one day stay all year. The predators are average 0.67°C between 1982 and 2024, they said. “If this trend persists, which it likely will, it just means that these animals are going to spend more and more time towards their seasonal distributional limit, which currently is southern and central New South Wales,” Lubitz said.

These predators are migratory.

migratory, swimming north in winter when Sydney’s long-term ocean temperatures dip below 19°C to bask in the balmier waters off Queensland. A team of scientists looked at 15 years of acoustic tracking of 92 tagged migratory sharks in an area including Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbour. Records show the sharks now spend an average of 15 days longer off Sydney’s coast in summer than they did in 2009, said James Cook University researcher Nicolas Lubitz. “If they are staying longer, it means that people and prey animals have a longer window of overlap with them.” Shark attacks are rare in ocean-loving Australia, and most serious bites are from three species: bull sharks, great whites and tiger sharks, according to a national database. There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which over 250 resulted in death. Researchers found an average warming of 0.57°C in Bondi for the October–May period between 2006 and 2024, said the study published in the peer–reviewed journal Science of the Total Environment . Over a longer period, remotely sensed summer sea-surface temperatures in the area rose an

“So it could be that a few decades from now, maybe bull sharks are present year-round in waters off Sydney,” he added. “While the chances of a shark bite and shark bites in Australia in general remain low, it just means that people have to be more aware of an increased window of bull shark presence in coastal waters off Sydney.” Climate change could also change breeding patterns, Lubitz said, with early evidence indicating juvenile sharks were appearing in rivers further south. There was some evidence as well that summer habitats for great whites, which prefer colder waters, were decreasing in northern New South Wales and Queensland, he said. Tagged s h a r k s trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network

of receivers dotted around parts of the Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings on a mobile app of their presence at key locations. – AFP

Great white sharks prefer colder waters. – PICS FROM AFP

Egyptian conservators give King Tut’s treasures new glow

Touching history Before restoration, the Tutankhamun collection was retrieved from several museums and storage sites, including the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Luxor Museum and the tomb itself. Some items were given light restoration before their relocation to ensure they could be safely moved. Teams first conducted photographic documentation, X-ray analysis and material testing to understand each item’s condition before touching it. “We had to understand the condition of each piece – the gold layers, the adhesives, wood structure – everything,” said Mertah, who worked on King Tut’s ceremonial shrines at the Egyptian Museum. Fragile pieces were stabilised with Japanese tissue paper – thin but strong – and adhesives such as Paraloid B-72 and Klucel G, both reversible and minimally invasive. The team’s guiding philosophy throughout has been one of restraint. “The goal is always to do the least amount necessary – and to respect the object’s history,” said Mohamed Moustafa, 36, another senior restorer. Beyond the restoration work, the process has been an emotional journey for many of those involved. “I think we are more excited to see the museum than tourists are,” Moustafa said. “When visitors walk through the museum, they will see the beauty of these artefacts. But for us, every piece is a reminder of the endless working hours, the debates, the training. Every piece tells a story,” he added. – AFP

AS a teenager, Eid Mertah would pore over books about King Tutankhamun, tracing hieroglyphs and dreaming of holding the boy pharaoh’s golden mask in his hands. Years later, the Egyptian conservator found himself gently brushing centuries-old dust off one of Tut’s gilded ceremonial shrines – a piece he had only seen in textbooks. “I studied archaeology because of Tut. It was my dream to work on his treasures – and that dream came true,” said Mertah, 36. Mertah is one of more than 150 conservators and 100 archaeologists who have laboured quietly for over a decade to restore thousands of artefacts ahead of the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) – a US$1 billion (RM4.2 billion) project on the edge of the Giza Plateau. Originally slated for July 3, the launch has once again been postponed – now expected in the final months of the year – due to regional security concerns. The museum’s opening has faced delays over the years for various reasons, ranging from political upheaval to the Covid-19 pandemic. But when it finally opens, the GEM will be the world’s largest archaeological museum devoted to a single civilisation. It will house more than 100,000 artefacts, with over half on public display, and will include a unique feature – a live conservation lab. From behind glass walls, visitors will be able to watch in real time as experts work over the next three years to restore a 4,500-year-old boat buried near the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu and intended to ferry his soul across the sky with the

Among them are his golden funeral mask, gilded coffins, golden amulets, beaded collars, ceremonial chariots and two mummified foetuses believed to be his stillborn daughters. Overdue restoration Many of these treasures have not undergone restoration since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered them in 1922. The conservation methods used by Carter’s team were intended to protect the objects, but over a century later, they have posed challenges for their modern-day successors. Coating gold surfaces in wax, for instance, “preserved the objects at the time, but it then hid the very details we want the world to see,” said conservator Hind Bayoumi. For months, Bayoumi, 39, and her colleagues painstakingly removed the wax applied by British chemist Alfred Lucas, which had over decades trapped dirt and dulled the shine of the gold. Restoration has been a joint effort between Egypt and Japan, which contributed US$800 million in loans and provided technical support. Egyptian conservators – many trained by Japanese experts – have led cutting-edge work across 19 laboratories covering wood, metal, papyrus, textiles and more. Tut’s gilded coffin – brought from his tomb in Luxor – proved one of the most intricate jobs. At the GEM’s wood lab, conservator Fatma Magdy, 34, used magnifying lenses and archival photos to reassemble its delicate gold sheets. “It was like solving a giant puzzle. The shape of the break, the flow of the hieroglyphs – every detail mattered,” she said.

sun god Ra. But the star of the museum remains King Tut’s collection of more than 5,000 objects – many to be displayed together for the first time. King Tutankhamun, one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs. – PEXELSPIC