Mudsnails are keepers of historical secrets

If a 50-year-old snail could talk, it would probably have plenty of tall tales to tell. Now, thanks to modern isotope testing technology, those snails can tell us stories without speaking.

Researchers at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia have found that oceanic mudsnails preserve information about nitrogen levels in the water where they are captured. Comparing isotope analysis of 2018 mudsnails to isotope analysis of dead snails captured more than a century ago lets scientists chart nitrogen levels down to a specific decade. It’s the snail version of counting rings on a newly felled giant redwood tree. Read more.