Whales continue to astonish us with the surprises they reveal, and the most recent discovery is nothing short of extraordinary.



A comprehensive new study reveals that right whales have been underestimated in terms of their longevity. This discovery not only overturns long-standing beliefs but also highlights the remarkable resilience and mysterious nature of these marine giants.



These magnificent creatures, once thought to live only 70 to 80 years, are now known to surpass 130 years, with some nearing the age 150 - far outliving humans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-right-whales-astonishing-lifespans">Right whales' astonishing lifespans</h2>



This incredible discovery surfaced in an in-depth study that painstakingly analyzed photos of individual whales spanning four decades. 



The researchers spotlighted two specific species - the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/southern-right-whales-have-shifted-their-foraging-grounds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Southern right whale</a>, found in the oceans below the equator, and the North Atlantic right whale, native to the Atlantic coast of North America.



The experts used the photographic data to build survivorship curves - a statistical tool similar to what is used by insurance companies - to calculate these remarkable lifespans.



The data revealed that Southern right whales can live for more than 130 years, with some speculated to reach the ripe old age of 150.



On the other hand, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-stop-the-extinction-of-north-atlantic-right-whales/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">North Atlantic right whales</a> were found to have an average lifespan of a mere 22 years, with very few surviving beyond 50 years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-impact-on-north-atlantic-whales">Human impact on North Atlantic whales</h2>



According to Greg Breed, the study's lead author at the <a href="https://www.uaf.edu/uaf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Alaska Fairbanks</a>, this longevity gap between two closely related species is primarily attributable to human interference.



"North Atlantic whales have unusually short lifespans compared to other whales, but this isn't because of intrinsic differences in biology, and they should live much longer," said Breed. 



"They're frequently tangled in fishing gear or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ships-are-disregarding-efforts-to-protect-north-atlantic-right-whales/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">struck by ships</a>, and they suffer from starvation, potentially linked to environmental changes we don’t fully understand.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-conservation-efforts">Implications for conservation efforts</h2>



These findings will not only rewrite biology textbooks but will also recalibrate the scales on which we measure conservation efforts for these creatures.



"To attain healthy populations that include old animals, recovery might take hundreds of years," noted Breed. "For animals that live to be 100 or 150 and only give birth to a surviving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-ever-footage-of-a-blue-whale-nursing-its-calf-captured/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">calf</a> every 10 years or so, slow recovery is to be expected.”



This slow recovery trajectory highlights the critical need for sustained conservation measures and global collaboration to protect these iconic marine mammals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-wisdom-of-the-whales">The wisdom of the whales</h2>



The research also emphasizes the significance of cultural knowledge among whale clusters. 



“There’s a growing recognition that recovery isn’t just about biomass or the number of individuals. It’s about the knowledge these animals pass along to the next generation," said Breed. 



The loss of older whales disrupts this critical transfer of knowledge and could potentially jeopardize the survival of younger individuals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-expanding-the-study-to-other-species">Expanding the study to other species</h2>



With this breakthrough discovery under their belts, the scientists plan to extend their research to other whales.



The objective is to determine if species currently believed to have an average lifespan of around 80 years might also be hiding centennial secrets. 



Furthermore, the team is eager to understand how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/echoes-of-the-past-whalings-long-term-impact-on-genetic-diversity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">whaling</a> has impacted the number of aged whales in today's populations and predict when their numbers might rebound to match their pre-whaling glory.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-role-of-whaling">The role of whaling </h2>



The dramatic difference in lifespans between Southern and North Atlantic right whales demonstrates the long-lasting consequences of historical and modern whaling practices.



Southern right whales, which faced significantly less hunting pressure in recent decades, are now showcasing their potential for remarkable longevity. 



In contrast, North Atlantic right whales bear the scars of centuries of exploitation, compounded by ongoing threats such as fishing gear entanglements and ship strikes.



Whaling not only reduced populations but also eliminated many of the oldest individuals, robbing populations of cultural knowledge that is vital for survival.



These findings emphasize the importance of creating safer ocean environments and reducing human interference to allow whales to reach their full lifespans.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq3086" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Right whales live nearly twice as long as we thought

Whales continue to astonish us with the surprises they reveal, and the most recent discovery is nothing short of extraordinary. A comprehensive new study reveals that right whales have been underestimated in terms of their longevity. This discovery not only overturns long-standing beliefs but also highlights the remarkable resilience and mysterious nature of these marine giants. These magnificent creatures, once thought to live only 70 to 80 years, are now known to surpass 130 years, with some nearing the age 150 - far outliving humans. Right whales'...

It’s well known to most that the iconic Amazon rainforest is dwindling; with trees under the saw and flame as you read this. Thousands of acres of forest are destroyed each year. We all know this story.&nbsp;



What is less common knowledge is the destruction of life in the Amazon River itself. Now a new study published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a> takes a hard look at fishing in the great river. This is the first, large-scale pan-Amazonian investigation of the river’s fisheries, and the findings aren’t good.



The research team looked at the places where fish catches are left to see what fish are present and which ones are becoming less common.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We are seeing a decline in large-bodied species,” said lead author Sebastian Heilpern, a Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow. “Large-body species are more vulnerable, as they are slower to develop. As they decline, we see they are also being replaced by smaller species. This pattern is consistent with overexploitation.”



The evidence is clear that fishes are being caught at rates which are unsustainable. There are simply not enough fish reproducing fast enough to replenish the numbers lost to hungry humans. Given that the Amazon is the most productive freshwater fishery in the world, it’s not surprising that the people living on its banks and the surrounding areas eat a lot of fish. In fact, at an average of 110 lbs of fish per year, per person, these are some of the highest fish consumption rates anywhere.&nbsp;



This problem is a long time coming. In 1990, the United Nations reported that 90 percent of the fish were still at sustainable levels. By 2017, this percentage had dropped to an estimated 65.8 percent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



There is still hope, however. The research suggests that greater enforcement of fishing regulations, improved monitoring and better laws could help the problem. “Additionally, expanding protected areas can maintain habitats that are critical for many fish species,” said Heilpern.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Overfishing is wiping out large-bodied fish in the Amazon

It’s well known to most that the iconic Amazon rainforest...

Ectothermic animals do not maintain a constant body temperature but, instead, have variable temperatures that largely reflect the ambient temperature of their surroundings. This often makes them dependent on environmental warmth for their metabolic functioning. In warmer conditions, their metabolic rates increase and they become more active and soon need to consume more food in order to support themselves.&nbsp;



Scientists from the <a href="https://www.si.edu/">Smithsonian Institute</a> and Temple University have now conducted a study to establish experimentally whether marine predatory fish are more active and voracious in the warmer oceans of the world, and what the possible consequences of this may be for marine food webs that have existed for millennia but that now face ocean warming.



“It’s taken thousands of years to get to this state, and then suddenly we’re ramping up the temperature at a much higher rate,” said Gail Ashton, lead author of the report and marine biologist with the&nbsp;<a href="https://serc.si.edu/">Smithsonian Environmental Research Center</a>&nbsp;(SERC). “And we don’t really know the implications of that temperature increase.”



Although it seems obvious that predators in tropical waters will be more active and have higher metabolic rates, past research on this topic has led to conflicting findings. And very few studies have tackled the question of how increased predator activity affects prey communities. These are very pertinent issues, given the gradual increases in ocean temperatures measured throughout the world.&nbsp;



“Warmer waters tend to favor animals high in the food chain, which become more active and need more food – and it’s their prey who pay for that increased activity,” said co-author Emmett Duffy, director of the Smithsonian’s&nbsp;<a href="https://marinegeo.si.edu/">Marine Global Earth Observatory</a>&nbsp;network (MarineGEO). “This suggests that warming seas could see big shifts in the life of sensitive seabed habitats.”



In order to investigate these issues, the researchers set up experimental sites, with international partners, at 36 locations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas. The sites spanned from Alaska in the north to Tierra de Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America. At each site, the researchers performed the same three experiments on predators and prey.



The first experiment involved attracting predatory fish to bait stations using “squid pops.” Designed by Duffy and the MarineGEO team, squid pops resembled cake pops at coffee shops. They consisted of pieces of dried squid that were attached to a stake and left under water for an hour, after which the researchers checked how many baits had been devoured. The results of this experiment confirmed that predation was more intense at warmer sites while it dropped to near zero where the water was cold (below 68oF or 20oC).



“This temperature threshold represents an ecological tipping point in these coastal marine ecosystems, above which predation intensity increases,” said Amy Freestone, co-author and associate professor of biology at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.temple.edu/">Temple University.</a>&nbsp;“With climate change, more coastal waters will exceed this tipping point, or warm even further, fundamentally changing how these ecosystems function.”&nbsp;



In the second experiment, the researchers tried to quantify the effects of hungrier predators on some of their prey species. They looked at the stationary underwater invertebrates that fish like to feast on, like tunicates and bryozoans, and measured their rates of colonization and growth on underwater plastic panels for three months. Some of the panels were covered by protective cages that allowed normal water circulation but kept the predators out, while other panels were left exposed.&nbsp;



In a final experimental procedure, an entire set of panels was protected from predators for 10 weeks, by means of cages. After this time, half of the panels were uncaged and the prey communities left exposed for the following two weeks, while the other half of the panels remained protected.



The results, published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>, showed that in warmer water, the more voracious appetites of predatory fish had significant impacts on the prey communities. Total prey biomass plunged in the tropics when prey were left unprotected. But in the coldest zones, protecting prey from predators made little difference, suggesting that predators did not have as much of an impact in these conditions.&nbsp;



“We knew from previous work in Panama that predation in the neotropics can be intense,” said Mark Torchin, co-author and marine ecologist with the&nbsp;<a href="https://stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a>&nbsp;in Panama. “However, working with our colleagues across the Americas allowed us to test the generality of this and to evaluate how the effects of predation change in colder environments.”



In addition, the researchers found that predation changed the structure of prey communities in their experiments. Predators liked eating solitary, bottle-shaped tunicates (“sea squirts”), so those prey suffered major losses in the tropics when left unprotected. Meanwhile, encrusting bryozoans (“moss animals”) flourished in the newly freed space as fish largely left them alone. Tunicates are prolific filterers of seawater and provide microhabitats for other organisms to become established. Bryozoans do not do this as effectively, meaning that such a change in community structure is likely to result in changes in biodiversity as well.



“As predation changes, some species will be winners and some will be losers,” said co-author Greg Ruiz, head of SERC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://serc.si.edu/labs/marine-invasions-research">Marine Invasions Research Lab</a>. “Some will be defended; others will be vulnerable. But we don’t know exactly how that will play out.”



The findings of the study indicate that, as ocean waters warm, changes in the activity of predators can be expected to bring about changes in the communities of prey species. However, the nature of the changes that may take place in equatorial waters, which are already the warmest in the world, can only be guessed at, as these locations experience temperatures that rise even higher than what we see today.&nbsp;



“We don’t really know what might happen in the tropics, because we don’t have data from those warmer temperatures,” Ashton said.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Predatory fish become more voracious as waters warm

Ectothermic animals do not maintain a constant body temperature but,...

Although scientists have long assumed that changes to different genes - such as those controlling hormones that influence social behavior - played a fundamental role in the domestication of dogs, they did not manage to identify the precise genetic mechanisms behind this process. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.azabu-u.ac.jp/english/">Azabu University</a> in Japan has found that two mutations in the melanocortin 2 receptor gene, which is involved in the production of the stress hormone cortisol, may have led to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/puppy-dog-eyes-emerged-during-domestication/">domestication</a> of dogs. These mutations allowed dogs to develop the necessary social cognitive skills to efficiently interact and communicate with humans.&nbsp;



The researchers used two tasks to examine the social cognitive interactions of 624 domestic dogs. In the first task, designed to test dogs’ understanding of human gestures and communication, the dogs had to decide which bowl had food hidden under it, by following a series of cues from the experimenters, including gazing, pointing, and tapping. In the second one, they were presented with a problem-solving test, which involved them attempting to open a container in order to reach food. During this task, the scientists measured the frequency and duration the dogs spent looking at the experimenters in order to assess their social attachment to humans.



The dogs were separated into two groups, depending on their breed: the Ancient group, consisting of breeds considered to be genetically closer to wolves, such as the Siberian Husky and Akita, and the General group, comprising all other breeds that are more genetically distant from wolves. The experiments revealed that dogs in the Ancient group spent less time looking at humans during the second task, suggesting that they well less attached to them. In the first task, no significant breed-related differences were found.&nbsp;



In a further step, the scientists looked for differences in genes associated with human-related social cognition, including genes for oxytocin (OT), oxytocin receptor (OTR), melancortin 2 receptor (MC2R), as well as a gene called WBSCR17, which plays a critical role in the William-Beuren Syndrome, characterized by hyper-social behavior in humans. 



The experts found that two changes to the MC2R gene were associated with both correctly interpreting gestures during the first task, and looking at the experimenters more often in the problem-solving task. These findings suggest that the MCR2 gene may have played an important role in the domestication of dogs, possibly by promoting lower levels of stress in the presence of humans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11130-x">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How did dogs become man's best friend?

Although scientists have long assumed that changes to different genes...

According to a research team led by <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> and <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a>, a giant tortoise species believed to be extinct since over a century ago is still living in the Galápagos Islands in the Ecuador. The Fernandina Island Galápagos giant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antibiotic-resistance-found-in-giant-tortoises-of-galapagos/">tortoise</a> (Chelonoidis phantasticus, or “fantastic giant tortoise”) was known only from a single specimen, discovered in 1906. However, in 2019, a new specimen – which the scientists call Fernanda - was found on the Fernandina Island. 



By sequencing the genome of both this tortoise and the museum specimen discovered over a century ago, and comparing them to the other 13 species of Galápagos giant tortoises, the experts have shown that the two known Fernandina tortoises are members of the same species, which is genetically distinct from all the others.



“For many years it was thought that the original specimen collected in 1906 had been transplanted to the island, as it was the only one of its kind,”&nbsp;said Peter Grant, an emeritus professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton. “It now seems to be one of a very few that were alive a century ago.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



When Fernanda was discovered, many scientists doubted that she was a phantasticus tortoise since she lacked the striking saddleback flaring of the male historical specimen. However, genetic analyses revealed that the tortoise belonged in fact to the same species. “We saw - honestly, to my surprise - that Fernanda was very similar to the one that they found on that island more than 100 years ago, and both of those were very different from all of the other islands’ tortoises,” said study lead author Stephen Gaughran, a postdoctoral fellow in Molecular Evolution at Princeton.



Dr. Gaughran and his colleagues estimate that Fernanda is well over 50 years old, but she is rather small, possibly due to the inadequate diet caused by limited vegetation on the Fernandina Island which may have stunted her growth. She is now kept at the Galápagos National Park Tortoise Center, a rescue and breeding facility, where scientists are exploring what they can do to keep the giant tortoise species alive.



“The finding of one alive specimen gives hope and also opens up new questions, as many mysteries still remain,” said study senior author Adalgisa Caccone, a senior research scientist in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale. “Are there more tortoises on Fernandina that can be brought back into captivity to start a breeding program? How did tortoises colonize Fernandina, and what is their evolutionary relationship to the other giant Galápagos tortoises? This also shows the importance of using museum collections to understand the past,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03483-w">Communications Biology</a>.



Image Credit: Courtesy of the Galápagos Conservancy



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giant tortoise believed extinct found in the Galápagos

According to a research team led by Princeton University and...

Millions of shipwrecks lie deep beneath the world’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-oceans-are-on-track-for-a-catastrophic-extinction-event/">oceans</a>. These provide new habitats for sea life, but also impact microbial communities. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that there are as many as three million shipwrecks around the world, most of which are made of wood.&nbsp;



A new study published by <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/">Frontiers</a> has found that wooden shipwrecks provide microbial habitats similar to naturally occurring geological seabed structures. This research is the first to show the impact of human activity on ocean microbial environments.&nbsp;



“Microbial communities are important to be aware of and understand because they provide early and clear evidence of how human activities change life in the ocean,” said corresponding author Dr. Leila Hamdan of the University of Southern Mississippi.



For the study, the research team chose two wooden sailing ships that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 19th century. The team collected samples by placing pieces of pine and oak between zero and 200 meters from the shipwreck. After four months, they measured all of the bacteria, archaea and fungi using gene sequencing.



The results showed that different types of wood had varying impacts on bacterial diversity (oak was more favorable than pine). Microbial diversity also varied depending on the proximity to the shipwreck site.



The researchers were surprised to find that samples taken closest to the shipwrecks did not show the most diversity, which instead peaked at about 125 meters from the wreck sites.



“Ocean scientists have known that natural hard habitats, some of which have been present for hundreds to thousands of years shape the biodiversity of life on the seafloor," said Dr. Hamdan. "This work is the first to show that built habitats (places or things made or modified by humans) impact the films of microbes (biofilms) coating these surfaces as well. These biofilms are ultimately what enable hard habitats to transform into islands of biodiversity.”



The presence of shipwrecks overall increased microbial richness in the surrounding area. The distribution of biofilms also depended on environmental factors such as the depth of the water and proximity to a nutrient source like the Mississippi River delta.



While this study is focused on wooden structures, there are thousands of oil platforms and pipelines in oceans around the world. The impact of these structures requires further research to better understand.&nbsp;



“While we are aware human impacts on the seabed are increasing through the multiple economic uses, scientific discovery is not keeping pace with how this shapes the biology and chemistry of natural under sea landscapes,” said Dr. Hamdan.&nbsp;



The researchers hope that their findings will encourage further research on how built habitats are changing the world’s oceans.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Wooden shipwrecks have become diverse microbial habitats

Millions of shipwrecks lie deep beneath the world’s oceans. These...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a> are providing new insight into one of the most studied organisms on the planet, Darwin's finches in the Galápagos Islands. Until now, the range of the finches had not been sufficiently studied due to the treacherous nature of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-pandas-face-shrinking-habitats-and-tough-decisions/">habitat</a>.&nbsp;



However, an international team of researchers was able to track the birds on the island of Santa Cruz by using small electric backpacks. They found that the finches cover a lot of ground within 24 hours.&nbsp;



Study lead author Marc-Olivier Beausoleil explained why this subject was necessary to examine. "Understanding the real space needs of these birds is crucial both to refine the interpretation of previous studies and to ensure the conservation of these birds in a landscape increasingly threatened by the expansion of urban areas."



The researchers observed behaviors that they had not anticipated. For example, they found that the finches commute the equivalent of 30 soccer fields in a single day. The experts wondered why the finches traveled so far since, during the day, they rarely went more than 100 meters from their nests.



Although most birds don't roost in groups during the breeding season, Darwin's finches are an exception, according to the study.&nbsp;



"Almost all the tagged finches left their breeding territories after sunset and moved four times the distance they normally cover in the daytime," said Beausoleil. "The mysterious destination: a lush grove of poison apple trees (Hippomane mancinella) located by the sea where nearly a thousand finches gather nightly to rest."



The question is, why would they do this? Carlos Camacho, a researcher at Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología and coordinator of the study explained that sleeping in the company of others helps the birds fight the cold and reduces the risk of predation.



"Although the advantages of this behavior are not as evident in a place where temperatures are mild and predators are scarce," said Camacho. "This leads us to think that this behavior may have been inherited from their continental ancestors."&nbsp;



Even 150 years after Darwin proposed his theory of natural selection, his finches still have something to teach us. The researchers believe that their findings will help inform diversity conservation.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20457758">Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Darwin's finches continue to surprise scientists

Researchers at McGill University are providing new insight into one...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> has found that a drastic change in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-communities-are-being-reshuffled-by-climate-change/">climate</a> conditions in the North Atlantic around 800 years ago led to a marked decline in Atlantic salmon populations returning to rivers. According to the experts, the transition from a warm to a cold climate initiating what is known as the Little Ice Age (1300-1850) caused large-scale changes in marine habitats corresponding with a decline in salmon in the River Spey in Scotland. Over the following centuries, increased human exploitation played a significant role in further diminishing these populations.



Atlantic salmon lay their eggs in the gravels of headwater streams, where their offspring live for about a year or two before migrating out to sea. After spending their adulthood in the ocean, they finally return to the rivers to spawn, and eventually die. Since their sperm, eggs, and carcasses are rich in marine nutrients which can be detected in sediment even centuries later, scientists can now map the historic population levels of salmon.&nbsp;



By collecting and measuring nutrients left by salmon in the River Spey, the researchers found that larger salmon populations in the past declined during a cooling climate – a period that coincided with an intensification in human exploitation. These findings also suggest that previous theories arguing that beavers have significantly impacted salmon populations are unfounded: larger salmon populations in the past occurred at a time when rivers were also inhabited by beavers, showing that the two animal species could peacefully coexist.&nbsp;



“These results can help us understand some of the controls on salmon populations prior to and during major human exploitation,” said study lead author David Sear, a professor of Geography and Environmental Science at Southampton.&nbsp;



“Our study shows that historically, beavers – common in Scotland hundreds of years ago – do not appear to have significantly impacted salmon numbers. This is very relevant today, as the animals are being reintroduced to UK rivers and a debate continues about their potential impact on migratory species like salmon.”&nbsp;



Since migratory fish, such as salmon, bring marine nutrients into nutrient poor upland rivers, population declines negatively affect river ecosystems today. Further research is needed to untangle the complex relationships between salmon and other aquatic animals in order to properly asses the larger impact that diminishing salmon populations have on a variety of ecosystems.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09596836221095983">The Holocene</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Decline in Atlantic salmon linked to humans and climate

A new study led by the University of Southampton has...

Paleontologists from the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> have discovered what seems to be the largest predatory dinosaur to ever walk <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/european-farmland-is-a-huge-reservoir-of-microplastics/">Europe</a>. The dinosaur probably measured over 10 meters in length and lived approximately 125 million years ago.&nbsp;



“This was a huge animal, exceeding 10 m in length and probably several tonnes in weight. Judging from some of the dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaur [sic] ever found in Europe – maybe even the biggest yet known," said PhD student Chris Barker, who led the study. “It’s a shame it’s only known from a small amount of material, but these are enough to show it was an immense creature.”



The dinosaur was excavated on the Isle of Wight. The animal was a “two-legged” theropod with a face resembling a crocodile. The remains are now housed at Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown. The creature has been named the “White Rock spinosaurid” after the white rock layer where it was discovered.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Unusually, this specimen eroded out of the Vectis Formation, which is notoriously poor in dinosaur fossils," said corresponding author Dr. Neil Gostling, who teaches Evolution and Palaeobiology at the University of Southampton. “It’s likely to be the youngest spinosaur material yet known from the UK.”



Only scattered remains of the dinosaur who once roamed the lagoon nearby are left to tell the story, including two enormous vertebrae from the pelvis and tail.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Most of these amazing fossils were found by Nick Chase, one of Britain’s most skilled dinosaur hunters, who sadly died just before the Covid epidemic," said co-author Jeremy Lockwood, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum. “I was searching for remains of this dinosaur with Nick and found a lump of pelvis with tunnels bored into it, each about the size of my index finger. We think they were caused by bone eating larvae of a type of scavenging beetle. It’s an interesting thought that this giant killer wound up becoming a meal for a host of insects.”



The scientists hope that further searching or erosion will reveal more remains of the White Rock spinosaurid to tell more of its story to the world.&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/">PeerJ</a>.



Image Credit: UoS/A Hutchings



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Study reveals Europe’s largest predatory dinosaur

Paleontologists from the University of Southampton have discovered what seems...

According to The Ocean Foundation, an estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen is deposited in oceans annually with the potential to harm marine life such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hawaiian-corals-are-surprisingly-resilient-to-ocean-warming/">corals</a>, algae, sea urchins, fish and mammals. It seems that fans of reef ecosystems may inadvertently be killing the very life forms that they love the most.&nbsp;



Sunscreens may contain many different chemical and physical components that protect skin from sunburn. They also contain preservatives such as fungicides and anti-bacterial agents that prolong shelf life. Unfortunately, many of these ingredients are known to be toxic to reef biota, a situation that has led some countries to ban the use of certain sunscreens in order to protect living reef organisms.&nbsp;



Scientists have known for some time that oxybenzone, an organic compound found in many sunscreens, is toxic to corals. However, the exact mechanism by which oxybenzone causes harm has not been understood, meaning that sunscreen manufacturers wishing to replace oxybenzone with alternatives may use substances that have exactly the same devastating impact on the corals. A study led by scientists from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> has now investigated this mechanism.&nbsp;



<a href="http://profiles.stanford.edu/william-mitch">William Mitch</a>, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, became interested in the issue several years ago when he heard about Hawaii’s then-pending ban on “reef-toxic” sunscreen. With funding from the&nbsp;<a href="http://woods.stanford.edu/">Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment</a>, he and&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/john-pringle">John Pringle</a>, a professor of genetics in the&nbsp;<a href="https://med.stanford.edu/">Stanford School of Medicine</a>, and colleagues, have worked to establish the chemical and biological mechanisms whereby oxybenzone damages corals. Their surprising findings are published today in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>.



“It would be a sad irony if ecotourism, aimed at protecting coral reefs, was actually exacerbating their decline,” said study lead author&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/djordje-vuckovic">Djordje Vuckovic</a>, a PhD student in civil and environmental engineering. “My hope is that our research will help lead the way to developing coral-safe sunscreens.”



In their study, Mitch, Pringle, Vuckovic, and other Stanford researchers used anemones as study animals, rather than corals, which are harder to experiment with. They found that anemones exposed to oxybenzone in artificial seawater all died within 17 days if they were exposed to sunlight. Anemones kept in similar conditions but without sunlight, remained alive.&nbsp;



“It was strange to see that oxybenzone made sunlight toxic for corals – the opposite of what it is supposed to do,” said Mitch. “The compound is good at absorbing light within the waveband we tested, which is why it’s so common in sunscreens.”



Oxybenzone absorbs sunlight in the ultraviolet range, and would normally release this light energy in the form of heat, thereby protecting skin from sunburn caused by ultraviolet rays. However, the researchers found that anemones and corals processed oxybenzone in such a way that the resulting metabolic products formed damaging free radicals when exposed to sunlight.



In an additional twist to the story, it seems that the symbiotic algae living inside the tissues of coral polyps protect their hosts by absorbing the toxins from oxybenzone metabolism into their own cells. But, as ocean waters warm, stressed corals expel their algal partners, which results in “bleaching.” These corals are then more vulnerable to the toxic effects of oxybenzone because the corals no longer have their algal residents to protect them.&nbsp;



Other research has shown that oxybenzone is not be the only sunscreen ingredient of concern. Many ingredients have similar chemical structures to oxybenzone and may well be metabolized in the same way, producing potent phototoxic metabolites. In addition, some sunscreens marketed as coral-safe contain minerals such as zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Although these sunscreens protect skin from sunburn in a different way, the mineral particles wash off into the water and, if they are very small, can be ingested by corals and other marine filter feeders, with as-yet unknown consequences.&nbsp;



The researchers hope that their findings will help guide the development and marketing of effective, coral-safe sunscreens so that ocean-loving tourists are not complicit in the demise of the fragile reef ecosystems by their attempts to avoid the effects of the sun’s radiation.&nbsp;



“In environmental science, as in medicine, a sound understanding of basic mechanisms should provide the best guidance for the development of practical solutions,” said Pringle. “Our study also illustrates the enormous power of collaborations between scientists with very different backgrounds and expertise,” said Mitch.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sunscreen ingredients make sunlight toxic for corals

According to The Ocean Foundation, an estimated 14,000 tons of...

A research team led by the <a href="https://muvp.business.site/">Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center</a> (MUVP) in Egypt has recently described a new, bizarre-looking species of meat-eating dinosaur, with a squashy face similar to a bulldog’s and tiny, stumpy arms. This species – which is yet to be named by the experts - belonged to the abelisauridae clade (a family of theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period), measured roughly six meters in length, and roamed the Sahara Desert around 98 million years ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In 2016, the scientists discovered a well-preserved vertebra from the base of this dinosaur’s neck during an expedition to the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt funded by the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/">National Geographic Society</a>. It is the oldest known fossil of abelisauridae from northeastern Africa, and offers new evidence that, during the mid-Cretaceous, these massive, carnivorous dinosaurs ranged across most of the northern part of the African continent.



The researchers could tell that the vertebra belonged to an abelisaurid dinosaur because it was highly similar to vertebras of other, previously discovered abelisaurids, such as those of carnotaurus and viavenator in Argentina, or majungasaurus in Madagascar. “I’ve examined abelisaurid skeletons from Patagonia to Madagascar,”&nbsp;said study co-author Patrick O’Connor, a paleontologist at <a href="https://www.ohio.edu/">Ohio University</a>. “My first glimpse of this specimen from field photos left no doubt about its identity. Abelisaurid neck bones are just so distinctive.”



These are not the first dinosaur fossils found in the Bahariya Oasis. In the early 20th century, scientists discovered a variety of dinosaur bones in this region, including some belonging to the colossal sail-backed fish-eating spinosaurus. Unfortunately, all the fossils collected at this location before World War II were destroyed during an Allied bombing of Munich in 1944.



“The Bahariya Oasis has taken on near-legendary status among paleontologists for having produced the first-known fossils of some of the world’s most amazing dinosaurs,” said study co-author Matthew Lamanna, a paleontologist at the <a href="https://carnegiemnh.org/">Carnegie Museum of Natural History</a>. “But for more than three quarters of a century, those fossils have existed only as pictures in old books.”



“During the mid-Cretaceous, the Bahariya Oasis would’ve been one of the most terrifying places on the planet,” said study lead author Belal Salem, a paleontologist at MUVP.&nbsp;“How all these huge predators managed to coexist remains a mystery, though it’s probably related to their having eaten different things, their having adapted to hunt different prey,” he concluded.



A detailed description of this specimen can be found in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220106">Royal Society Open Science</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Image Credit: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bizarre, bulldog-faced dinosaur discovered in Egypt

A research team led by the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology...

The importance of coral reefs in aquatic ecosystems cannot be underestimated. They are the engineers of the deep sea, creating habitat and helping to secure the survival of many species on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/how-the-ocean-and-climate-influence-each-other/">ocean</a> floor.&nbsp;



Yet, these heroes of the ocean are not invincible. Coral survival is impacted by changes in their environment, such as fluctuations in temperature, acidity, oxygen, and food availability. Any of these factors can affect the health of corals and the survival of the creatures who depend on them.&nbsp;



Researchers at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences of the University of Bremen (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/university-of-bremen-marum">MARUM</a>) wanted to know more about how corals are affected by environmental change. To investigate, they examined the cold-water coral species Lophelia pertusa.&nbsp;



“We looked back into the past to understand how Lophelia pertusa reacted to environmental changes," said study first author Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos.



The study considered the most crucial environmental parameters over the last 20,000 years. This time period represents the warming of the planet since the last glaciation.&nbsp;



The experts found that L. pertusa would disappear and then reappear from an area when the oxygen content or food supply changed. They also discovered that temperature and salinity did not seem to affect the ability of the coral to survive or reproduce.&nbsp;



“We therefore assume that food supply and availability of oxygen are the primary factors that determine the life or death of cold-water corals," said Portilho-Ramos.



The research team could not determine the effect of acidification over the long term because it was not possible to measure the history of acidification in the ocean.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Deep-sea corals affect many aspects of the marine ecosystem, from nutrient cycles to fish reproductive success. The team believes the information gathered in their study will help inform future marine conservation in an ever-changing climate.&nbsp;



"Here, we present the synthesis of 6 case studies from the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, revealing that food supply controlled by export production and turbulent hydrodynamics at the seabed exerted the strongest impact on coral vitality during the past 20,000 years, whereas locally low oxygen concentrations in the bottom water can act as an additional relevant stressor," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"The fate of cold-water corals in a changing ocean will largely depend on how these oceanographic processes will be modulated. Future ocean deoxygenation may be compensated regionally where the food delivery and food quality are optimal."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLoS Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Global warming and corals: How the past informs the present

The importance of coral reefs in aquatic ecosystems cannot be...

New research shows that the red panda, despite having fans everywhere, is being pushed closer to the precipice of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unchecked-emissions-may-lead-to-marine-mass-extinction/">extinction</a>. When PhD researcher Damber Bista of the University of Queensland tracked red pandas using GPS collars, he discovered that their habitat is being fragmented.



“Our research findings show that current patterns of habitat fragmentation and forest exploitation, from infrastructure projects such as new roads, are placing the red panda under increased threat,” said Bista.



“Because of this, red pandas are changing their activity to minimize their interactions with disturbances, such as humans, dogs, or livestock, and this is drastically interfering with natural interactions between the animals, resulting in population isolation.”



Bista traveled to Nepal to tag and collar pandas, which allowed him to track the animals remotely from Queensland on his computer. COVID restrictions made it impossible for him to return to Nepal, as was the original plan.&nbsp;



“The satellite tracking allowed me to monitor the red pandas remotely here in Brisbane, while I relied on my friends and colleagues in Nepal to install cameras and conduct the field surveys," said Bista. "It was a surreal experience, I would spend many hours a day during COVID lockdowns in my home, watching the movement of red pandas in Nepal on my computer.”



This study is only the fifth of its kind to be conducted on wild red pandas, and the second carried out in Nepal.&nbsp;



“It’s difficult to know how many red pandas are left in the world, but it is estimated that 10,000 are left in the wild, and between 500 to 1000 are in Nepal,” said Bista.“With the findings from this study showing fragmentation of their habitat, together with a previous study on the impacts of poaching, I am concerned about the future of this species."



“While red pandas can adapt to habitat impacts to some extent, they may be susceptible to local extinction under these conditions, placing the wider population of the species at risk.”



The shrinking forest habitat of the panda forces the animals to make hard decisions. For instance, they have to decide whether to live closer to predators or adapt to life near encroaching humans.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As you’d expect, it’s in an animal’s best interest to avoid its predators, but as we continue to build more roads and infrastructure, that drastically reduces the capacity for red pandas to do this,” Bista said, “As the availability of suitable forests shrink, it’s up to the red panda to weigh up its options on how to best survive.



Unfortunately, these types of compromises can lead towards a decline in red panda populations and possibly to eventual extinction.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10980">Landscape Ecology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Red pandas face shrinking habitats and tough decisions

New research shows that the red panda, despite having fans...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...