Creatures,Of,The,Cambrian,Period,,Underwater,Scene,With,Anomalocaris,,Opabinia,

A new investigation of tiny Cambrian shells has sparked excitement among experts who study how life changed when animals, both predators and prey, first expanded in number and variety. 



The research, published in&nbsp;Current Biology, focuses on shell fragments from a small animal related to brachiopods.



These ancient remnants come from the ocean covering what is now South Australia. The shells are dotted with tiny perforations that some unknown marine creature must have made about 517 million years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cambrian-waters-and-shells-of-prey">Cambrian waters and shells of prey</h2>



The <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/07/revisiting-the-cambrian-explosion-s-spark" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian Explosion</a> was a phase in Earth’s history when many animal groups appeared in the fossil record in a short span of time. 



It began roughly 541 million years ago, and it introduced an incredible diversity of organisms that possessed shells, spines, and other protective structures. Yet specialists have questioned how these defense features developed so quickly.&nbsp;



Did <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/largest-predator-prey-feast-ever-seen-in-the-ocean-enormous-quickly-altered-food-chain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predators force prey</a> to reinforce their shells and adapt? Or did environmental changes spark widespread new traits in ocean life? 



After puzzling over these questions for decades, experts are now pointing to new shell damage as possible proof of a rapid back-and-forth struggle between attackers and the creatures they targeted.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shell-holes-reveal-predator-prey-interactions">Shell holes reveal predator-prey interactions</h2>



This fresh look at the shells was spearheaded by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Russell-Bicknell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Russell Bicknell</a> of the American Museum of Natural History. 



Bicknell joined forces with colleagues from the <a href="https://www.une.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of New England</a> and <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Macquarie University</a> to study the tiny armor of a Cambrian species called <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288292290_New_data_on_the_sclerite_morphology_of_the_tommotiid_species_Lapworthella_fasciculata" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lapworthella fasciculata</a>.&nbsp;



The shell fragments ranged from a little larger than a grain of sand to something about the size of an apple seed. Researchers spotted more than 200 pieces with punctures that look as if a worm-like or snail-like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/danger-zones-climate-change-is-altering-predator-prey-dynamics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predator</a> produced them. 



Over time, the shells appear to have become thicker and stronger, which suggests a quick answer by L. fasciculata to defend itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evidence-reveals-attacks-on-shelled-prey">Evidence reveals attacks on shelled prey</h2>



The team examined the fossil remains across different points in <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/cambrian" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian</a> history. They found that holes in the shells gradually rose in frequency while the shell walls became tougher in a short window.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fossil-shells_Lapworthella-fasciculata_Cambrian_credit-Bicknell_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fossil-shells_Lapworthella-fasciculata_Cambrian_credit-Bicknell_1s.webp" alt="Examples of Lapworthella fasciculata shells (under scanning electron microscope) from the Mernmerna Formation, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, showing holes made by a perforating predator. Scale bars represent 200 micrometers. Credit: R. Bicknell, et al (2025) Current Biology" class="wp-image-1956329"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Examples of Lapworthella fasciculata shells (under scanning electron microscope) from the Mernmerna Formation, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, showing holes made by a perforating predator. Scale bars represent 200 micrometers. Credit: R. Bicknell, et al (2025) Current Biology</figcaption></figure>



“Predator-prey interactions are often touted as a major driver of the Cambrian explosion, especially with regard to the rapid increase in diversity and abundance of biomineralizing organisms at this time. Yet, there has been a paucity of empirical evidence showing that prey directly responded to predation, and vice versa,” said Bicknell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unexpected-speed-of-adaptation">Unexpected speed of adaptation</h2>



Scientists have long suspected that early animals developed new defenses to keep up with evolving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frogfish-lure-their-prey-with-a-built-in-fishing-rod-and-bait/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predators</a>. This shift is frequently described as an arms race because each improvement from one side pushes the other side to respond.&nbsp;



The remarkable part is how swiftly L. fasciculata managed to boost its shell thickness. In a few generations, the predator must have increased its ability to break through stronger shells.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Paleozoic-Era" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> from 1987, early <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Paleozoic-Era">Paleozoic</a> life underwent several bursts of diversification, partly driven by escalating attacks in marine environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tiny-shells-big-implications">Tiny shells, big implications</h2>



The tiny shells open a window into the daily struggles of creatures that once lived in shallow seas filled with new forms of life. 



These findings add weight to the idea that confrontation between small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-octopus-has-mastered-the-art-of-multispecies-hunting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predators</a> and their prey influenced the rapid spread of protective traits, such as tougher shells, in the early Cambrian.&nbsp;



A thickened shell could have meant the difference between living and becoming a snack. Some scientists propose that these predator-prey interactions may have shaped early marine communities more than previously assumed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-filling-gaps-in-the-fossil-record">Filling gaps in the fossil record</h2>



Fossils from the Cambrian are not always easy to interpret. 



Soft-bodied creatures rarely fossilize well, and skeletal fragments often appear in fragments scattered through sedimentary rock. Many experts have struggled to figure out exactly which predators might have roamed these waters.&nbsp;



The punctured shells from L. fasciculata provide valuable clues because they are preserved well enough to show unmistakable signs of drilling or piercing. 



These marks are a real boost to understanding how shells and predatory tools advanced in lockstep.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-it-matters-for-today-s-shelled-preys">Why it matters for today’s shelled preys</h2>



Shell protection still matters in modern oceans, from clams to snails. When researchers look at how Cambrian animals beefed up their shells, they see patterns that may match modern dynamics. 



Crabs, for instance, often feed on shelled prey, and those prey can shift their own growth strategies in response.&nbsp;



Looking at these ancient shells confirms that this tug-of-war between attacker and defender is nothing new. While more discoveries are needed, the takeaway is that even half a billion years ago, survival hinged on how well an organism handled the never-ending threat of becoming someone else’s lunch.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-connections-to-broader-evolutionary-questions">Connections to broader evolutionary questions</h2>



Fossil shells tell us that the Cambrian Explosion’s rapid spread of animal life involved a tense duel between those doing the hunting and those trying to avoid it. 



This new research highlights that predation is more than a violent encounter; it is a potent force pushing creatures to adapt in surprising ways.&nbsp;



Scientists will likely hunt for similar evidence in other early animal groups. Future work may close gaps in our knowledge of who attacked whom in those ancient seas and how quickly the defenders responded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982224016476" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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Shell fossils reveal ancient predator-prey battle 517 million years ago

A new investigation of tiny Cambrian shells has sparked excitement among experts who study how life changed when animals, both predators and prey, first expanded in number and variety. The research, published in&nbsp;Current Biology, focuses on shell fragments from a small animal related to brachiopods. These ancient remnants come from the ocean covering what is now South Australia. The shells are dotted with tiny perforations that some unknown marine creature must have made about 517 million years ago. Cambrian waters and shells of prey The Cambrian Explosion...

Visiting wildlife refuges with your dog is a good alternative to national parks. Anyone who has visited national parks with their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/puppy-dog-eyes-evolved-humans/">dog</a> knows that many areas are off limits to their four legged friend. Many national parks allow dogs only on roads and in campgrounds, with little or no access to trails at all. 

“Generally, leashed pets can go where cars can: on roads, in picnic areas and sometimes in campgrounds - but not on trails,” <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/">The Wilderness Society</a> reports. “There may be exceptions for short treks near Visitor Centers or campgrounds.”

There are a few parks that are more dog friendly than most. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/pets.htm">Acadia National Park</a> in Maine has 100 miles of trails open to leashed dogs and 45 miles of carriage roads. Acadia even has a ‘<a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/be-an-acadia-bark-ranger.htm">Bark Ranger</a>’ program for dogs. Only 10 of Virginia’s <a href="https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/pets.htm">Shenandoah National Park’s</a> 500 trails exclude dogs. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm">Great Sand Dunes National Park &amp; Preserve</a> of Colorado allows dogs to explore the massive splendor of the dunes, but they’re not welcome anywhere in the backcountry. 

National seashores like <a href="https://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm">Padre Island</a> in Texas are sometimes more <a href="https://www.nps.gov/pais/planyourvisit/pets.htm">dog friendly</a> than national parks, even though they’re both managed by the <a href="https://www.nps.gov">National Park Service</a>. Unfortunately for many who like hiking, camping and enjoying the outdoors with their dogs, these parks are the exception rather than the rule.       

This isn’t the final word for all federal land though. The <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/">US Forest Service</a> and <a href="https://www.blm.gov/">Bureau of Land Management</a> (BLM) land doesn’t offer all the amenities that national parks do, as camping is necessarily primitive in many places and visitor centers aren’t available to answer every question or help plan trips. However, with less amenities comes the added freedom of less regulations, including regulations on where your four legged friend may go. Most national forest and BLM land, including areas with popular trails, allow leashed dogs. 

For those who want the comfort of a visitor center and well maintained infrastructure, there’s another option for recreating out of doors that many may have never considered. National wildlife refuges much like national parks are part of the US federal government conservation infrastructure. The first national wildlife refuge was created by President Theodore Roosevelt over 100 years ago to protect birds. Today, the wildlife refuge system has grown enormously. There is a wildlife refuge in every state, and one is within an hour drive of every major US city. 

I am currently volunteering as a work camper at <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-wildlife-refuges-land/">Aransas National Wildlife Refuge</a> on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Aransas was originally founded as a refuge for waterfowl, with only a small portion regularly open to the public, the rest left as wildlife habitat. I was surprised to learn that dogs are allowed everywhere that people are allowed on the refuge. This makes sense because despite the name ‘refuge’, hunting is allowed for feral hogs and deer at Aransas. Many wildlife refuges allow hunting and what more traditional hunting companion is there than a dog? For this reason, some of the wildlife refuges allow dogs only during certain seasons. 

Some state refuges also only allow dogs explicitly for hunting (as in some of Colorado’s state refuges). <a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/rachel_carson/visit/rules_and_regulations.html">Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge</a> in Maine allows dogs only on the Rachel Carson Trail, however there are only three total trails within the refuge. In a mirror opposite of national parks, excluding dogs from national wildlife refuges seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Of course, each refuge is different and rules change over time. 

It is interesting though, since a justification for excluding dogs from national parks is often that they disturb wildlife. In John Steinbeck’s Classic – Travels With Charley: In Search of America, he tells of how a park ranger warns him about dogs reacting to bears upon entrance to Yellowstone National Park and his poodle, Charley’s fury over encountering a bear.

“Less than a mile from the entrance I saw a bear beside the road, and it ambled out as though to flag me down. Instantly a change came over Charley. He shrieked with rage. His lips flared, showing wicked teeth that have some trouble with a dog biscuit. He screeched insults at the bear, which hearing, the bear reared up and seemed to me to overtop Rocinante.”

Perhaps because of encounters like this, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/pets.htm">Yellowstone National Park</a> is very restrictive when it comes to dogs. Pets are not allowed on trails, boardwalks, in the backcountry or thermal pools. In fact, dogs are allowed no more than 100 feet from roads at all times, only in developed areas, making a trip to Yellowstone with a dog pointless for many. If bears are the concern though, regulations at Kodiak Wildlife Refuge turn the rules on their head. 

<a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/kodiak/">Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge</a> is home to the largest of the brown bears in the world. The area also hosts one of the largest bear population densities anywhere. The nearly 2 million acres of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge were set aside by Franklin Roosevelt specifically to protect the special bears in 1941. Like many places in Alaska, the wildlife refuge is remote – accessible only by float plane or boat. Despite the logistics involved in getting to Kodiak, <a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Kodiak/visit/visitor_activities/public_use_cabins.html">cabins</a> with heating stoves are available for $45 per night and dogs are allowed with no additional fees. In fact, there are virtually no restrictions where your dog can go on Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, barring physical restrictions. 

It seems wildlife refuges take a slightly different approach to interactions between wildlife and dogs. It’s often stated that dog restrictions protect the dogs as well as wildlife and this is certainly true. However, wildlife refuges like Kodiak with its large bears or Aransas with its alligators allow dogs and their owners a certain level of risk.

With more freedom and risk comes some level of implicit self responsibility as well. If dogs are to be allowed in areas where wild things also live, it’s important that dog owners respect those wild creatures. Without respect and foresight, people come into conflict with alligators or bears or other potentially threatening animals through their dogs. With responsibility though, enjoying wildlife refuges with a dog couldn’t be more natural.        

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Zivica Kerkez

Visiting wildlife refuges with your dog is a good alternative to national parks

Visiting wildlife refuges with your dog is a good alternative...

Noise from ships induces stress-related changes in mussels. A new study has found that mussels are impacted on a molecular level by the sounds of ship motors. Researchers discovered that fluctuating <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/traffic-noises-robins/">noise levels</a> in their environment cause mussels to experience stress, which was detected through changes in their DNA integrity.

A team of scientists from <a href="https://www.napier.ac.uk/">Edinburgh Napier University</a> collected mussels on the coast of Musselburgh to analyze how they respond to noise. Tests were conducted in a lab at the <a href="http://marinestation.co.uk/">St. Abbs Marine Station</a>, a nonprofit research center dedicated to protecting the marine environment.

Karen Diele is the co-director of research at the marine station. She explained that the blue mussel is extremely important in the UK. 

"It is commercially valuable and it plays an essential ecological role as a reef builder and a filter-feeder that keeps the water clean," said Diele. "Mussels don't have ears but they can detect changing sound levels in their environment."

"We recorded and played the sound of a ship's motor to a sample of blue mussels in a controlled setting, and measured biochemical and behavioral changes in the mussels."

"For the first time in a marine species, we detected noise-induced changes in DNA integrity, indicating an underlying source of stress."

According to study co-author Matt Wale, the mussels that were exposed to noise consumed 12 percent less oxygen. He explained that this could lead to a higher rate of energy use and a slower rate of growth.

"The filtration rate, or how much algae they consume, decreased by over 80% and there was a 60% increase in valve gape, which means the mussels are spending more time vulnerable to predators," said Wale.

Study co-author Mark Hartl is a professor in the Centre for Marine Biodiversity at <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/">Heriot-Watt University</a>. He said that the wide distribution of mussels in areas where they may be exposed to noise indicates that the effects are not fatal or immediately dangerous for mussels.

"However, this doesn't mean it isn't having a long-term effect on mussel populations in high noise areas, it could be affecting their growth, reproductivity and may help explain the decline of mussel banks in some areas of the UK.," said Professor Hartl.

'It's important that we understand how noise is stressing mussels in environmental risk assessments so that we can ensure environmental policy and regulation is effective."Noise from ships induces stress-related changes in mussels

The research was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Charlotte Bleijenberg

Noise from ships induces stress-related changes in mussels

Noise from ships induces stress-related changes in mussels. A new...

A growing collection of studies has revealed that pets and owners share many of the same personality traits. This phenomenon could be explained by the shared experiences between humans and their beloved <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/puppy-dog-eyes-evolved-humans/">animals</a>, or by the simple fact that people are drawn to pets that they feel resemble themselves.  

“Given the tight psychological connections between people and their pets, it’s likely that dogs and cats are suited to different human personalities,” said <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas</a> psychologist Sam Gosling.

In 2010, Gosling used an online survey to investigate the characteristics of people who identify as being either dog people or cat people. Based on the personality tests of 4,565 participants, Gosling concluded that "there is some truth to the widely held view that, in general, the personalities of dog people differ from those of cat people." 

Interestingly, the commonly perceived personality traits of pet owners were found to be pretty close to reality. For example, dog people were more extroverted, cooperative, empathetic, and thoughtful. Cat people were found to be more neurotic, took less interest in others, and were more manipulative. Some surprising results of the study, however, revealed that cat people were more adventurous and unconventional than dog people. 

Dr. Stanley Coren conducted his own research and reported the findings in <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us">Psychology Today</a>. While Gosling's work was focused on the Big Five personality traits, Dr. Coren used the Interpersonal Adjective Scale to examine the social tendencies of pet owners. He noted similarities in the findings of both studies. 

"The general pattern that comes out of both studies is that dog owners are more social, interactive, and accepting, and cat owners are more introverted, self-contained, and less sociable," wrote Dr. Coren.

Earlier this year, researchers at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> surveyed the owners of 1,600 dogs, including 50 different breeds. The pet owners described their own personalities as well as the personalities and behavioral histories of their dogs.

The researchers discovered that dog personalities change over time and are influenced by their lifestyles and experiences as they grow older.

"Just like humans, dogs vary in their personalities. And they can potentially change over time. The dog you take home from the shelter isn’t the same dog you’ll have 10 years from now,” said lead author William Chopik.

The study also revealed that dog and owner personalities often mirror each other. Dogs who were anxious or aggressive were found to typically have owners who possessed negative personality traits, while active and outgoing dogs had owners who behaved the same way. 

Chopik explained that people probably pick dogs that match their lifestyles, or that dog and human personalities merge over time as a result of shared lifestyles. 

Psychologist Richard Wiseman also looked into the character traits of pets and their owners. He noted distinctive differences among the pet owners."Fish owners were the happiest, dog owners the most fun to be with, cat owners the most dependable and emotionally sensitive, and reptile owners the most independent."

Wiseman reported that most people attributed their own personality traits to their animals as well. This means that pet owners, whether dog people or cat people, look at their pets as a reflection of themselves.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Jaromir Chalabala

The personalities of animal owners are reflected in their pets

A growing collection of studies has revealed that pets and...

<div id="titlewrap"></div>
Ancient megafauna helped drive plant dispersal prior to domestication. As humans shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to permanent settlements, plants and livestock were domesticated. This shift saw a rise in agriculture and innovation, but a new study has found that without the help of grazing animals, plant domestication may not have been possible. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute</a> and <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a> found that large grazing animals during the Pleistocene drove evolutionary changes in key grains like quinoa and buckwheat and these changes paved the way for domestication. 

The researchers focused on herds of ancient large herbivores to study how migrational patterns and habitats influenced the evolution of small-seeded grain crops. 

Herd animals feeding on plants and dispersing them near rivers would have created dense patches that early hunter-gatherers could have easily <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-start-baking-bread/">harvested</a>, later cultivating their own crops from the same plants. 

This could explain why certain plants were so popular. Because the plants were abundant due to animal dispersal, they were easy for humans to domesticate. 

7,000 to 5,000 years ago, our ancestors first started cultivating plants for seeds or grain and wheat and rice were among the earliest domesticated plants. 

While researchers have extensively studied the domestication of large-seeded cereals, less is known about the evolution and domestication of small-seeded grain crops like millets or buckwheat. 

The researchers developed a model to help explain the dispersal of small-seeded grains by humans showing that animal dispersal would have created abundant patches of the plants and as humans foraged through these areas, the plants evolved to better fit human dispersal and farming. 

Many researchers debate why early humans preferred small-seeded grains and domesticated these plants first, and this study, published in the journal Nature Plants, helps shed light on the mystery.

 “Currently, we’re studying the ecology of fields where modern herd animals graze as proxies to what the ecology would have looked like during the last Ice Age, when large herds of bison, mammoths, and wooly horses dictated what kinds of plants could grow across the American Midwest and Europe,” said Robert Spengler, the first author of the study. “We hope these observations will provide even greater insight into the process of domestication all over the world.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Robert Spengler

Ancient megafauna helped drive plant dispersal prior to domestication

Ancient megafauna helped drive plant dispersal prior to domestication. As...

The <a href="https://www.usda.gov/">US Department of Agriculture</a> (USDA) recently announced that it was temporarily suspending data collection for the annual Honey Bee Colonies report. 

The survey first started in 2015 as part of a government-wide initiative launched by President Barack Obama to better understand colony collapse disorder, record bee declines, and protect key pollinators. 

Researchers, farmers, and apiaries are losing a vital resource to help monitor bee declines, but the Honey Bee Colonies report is not the only USDA research program being cut, suspended, or downsized as the current Trump administration works to roll back environmental protections. 

The report is the third bee dataset to be suspended so far, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/politics/honeybees-study-usda-donald-trump-budget-cuts/index.html">CNN</a> reports. The USDA explained the decision citing budget cuts and costs. 

“The decision to suspend data collection was not made lightly, but was necessary given available fiscal and program resources,” said a <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/Notices/2019/07-01-2019.php">notice</a> from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Survey.

Since 2015, the survey collected bee data on a per state, per quarter basis, calculating the total number of honeybees in each state and how many colonies were impacted by colony collapse disorder. 

It’s one of two national surveys specifically designed to track bee declines. <a href="https://beeinformed.org/">Bee Informed Partnership</a> has been collecting similar data for longer but relies on grant funding. 

Because the Honey Bee Colonies report includes data on all registered beekeepers in the US, CNN reports that is thought to be more accurate than the Bee Informed Partnership survey. 

Honeybees play a major role in the world’s food supply by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/honeybees-agricultural-issue/">pollinating crops</a>. 

Both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/multiple-pesticides-linked-to-death-of-honey-bee-colonies/">pesticides</a> and climate change have been linked to bee declines, and without consistent and accurate datasets, it will be difficult for researchers to assess the state of honey bee populations in the US and worldwide. 

“We need some sort of thermometer to be able to determine, at a big scale, are we actually helping to turn around hive loses, to turn around pollinator declines,” Mace Vaughan, co-director of the <a href="https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/">Pollinator Conservation Program at Xerces Society</a>, told CNN. “Understanding what’s going on with honeybees is incredibly important to having a sense of what’s impacting pollinators in general.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Maciej Olszewski

USDA suspends national honey bee report amid Trump budget cuts

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced that it...

The moves of a dancing cockatoo are coordinated and not random. A new analysis of the dancing cockatoo named Snowball has revealed that the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scavenging-birds-rise-climate-change/">bird</a> responds to music with diverse and coordinated movements. The research suggests that this is not a random response to music, but one that emerges from certain cognitive and neural capacities in the animal brain.

Study senior author Aniruddh Patel is a psychologist at <a href="https://www.tufts.edu/">Tufts University</a> and <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>. "What's most interesting to us is the sheer diversity of his movements to music," said Patel, noting that Snowball developed the moves without any training.

A previous study by Patel confirmed that Snowball could move to the beat, an ability that comes naturally to humans but not to other primates. Irena Schulz, Snowball's owner and an author on the new paper, soon noticed that Snowball was making movements to music that had not been seen before.

This prompted researchers to explore a similarity between Snowball's dancing and human dancing found in the diversity of his movements and the body parts he uses in response to music. 

Patel's team filmed Snowball as he danced to two classic hits of the eighties: "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." The songs were each played for Snowball three times.

Study first author R. Joanne Jao Keehn used frame-by-frame analysis with the audio muted to focus on each dance movement or sequence of repeated movements. In the 23-minute video, Snowball completed a total of 14 dance movements and two composite movements, which included bobbing and swinging his head around in several different ways. These head motions were often coordinated with foot lifts or other moves.

Snowball tended to dance in segments of about three or four seconds, moving a little differently each time he heard a particular tune. According to the researchers, this is a sign of flexibility and perhaps even creativity.

The experts propose that the reason humans and parrots share a natural ability to dance may arise from the convergence of five traits: vocal learning, the capacity for nonverbal movement imitation, a tendency to form long-term social bonds, the ability to learn complex sequences of actions, and attentiveness to communicative movements.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The moves of a dancing cockatoo are coordinated and not random

The moves of a dancing cockatoo are coordinated and not...

Right whales have large, distinctive heads that can help identify them and also hold baleen to filter tiny food such as plankton from the ocean. They are impressive animals, weighing as much as 100 tons and living at least 70 year life spans. The only way these whales are obscured is by living in remote, wild and open parts of the ocean much more massive than even they are. Still, whales have played an important role in culture and unfortunately have tangled in human economics.  

The right whale in particular has a long relationship with humans, especially from being hunted. Indeed, even the name ‘right whale’ was given to the unfortunate mammal by whalers who dubbed it the ‘right whale’ to kill, according to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/right-whales/">National Geographic</a>. The whales were viable prey for whalers because they swim slowly and float after death. 

Despite international law, the USSR and Russia hunted North Pacific right whales from 1965 to 1999, a time when only 82 of the whale sightings were reported in the eastern portion of the North Pacific. Due largely to whaling, right whales have been on the Endangered Species List since 1970, according to <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-pacific-right-whale">NOAA</a>. Historically, the whales were found throughout oceans from temperate waters to the subpolar Bering Sea. Today, with a population much reduced, knowing the full extent of the North Pacific right whale’s range is complicated by the smaller chance of seeing the whale anywhere.      

Including the North Pacific right whale, there are three right whale species, left in minuscule numbers from the damage of whaling.

<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale">NOAA</a> estimates that there are approximately 400 <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/six-north-atlantic-right-whales-dead/">North Atlantic right whales</a> left in the world. The organization has no data on the Southern right whale found in foreign waters of the Southern Hemisphere but lists the whale as endangered. Probably the most endangered right whale, and one of the most endangered of all marine mammals, is the North Pacific right whale. The North Pacific right whale has approximately 40 individuals left, <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-pacific-right-whale">NOAA</a> estimated. 

The threat of whaling is over for right whales but humans are still the largest threat to them. Entanglement in fishing equipment, being struck by boats, and climate change seem to be the largest threats to North Pacific right whales. 

Populations of right whales grow slowly, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/right-whales/">National Geographic</a> reports, because the whales are sexually mature only after 10 years and females give birth to a single calf after a year of pregnancy. However, <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-pacific-right-whale">NOAA</a> notes that there are no accurate estimations of the population or population trends. It’s part of the complication of studying a whale that lives in remote, cold waters near Alaska, as it makes research challenging. Despite these challenges, the North Pacific right whale and NOAA researchers recently made big news. 

<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/first-recording-north-pacific-right-whale-song">NOAA</a> reported on June 19, 2019 that researchers for the first time recorded North Pacific right whales singing. The confirmation comes after it was suspected as far back as 2010, when researchers thought they might have heard right whales singing. But it was only this year that scientists were able to verify that the singing was coming from North Pacific right whales. 

Interestingly, all known singing whales are male. This points to possibilities but no one is exactly sure the purpose of singing in whales in general and especially not in the North Pacific right whales. There is no evidence that the other right whales sing, but this recent discovery makes it seem more likely. 

As for research on the North Pacific right whales and why they sing, that will be slow going. Most sightings of North Pacific right whales are of individual whales, making it very unlikely that singing will be observed in a lone whale. The population where singing was discovered was less than 30 individual right whales, the majority or perhaps all of the North Pacific right whales left in the world. With so few individuals, it’s hard to make general observations of singing among different animals in different circumstances. 

This is especially true for research carried out in the large, remote and challenging Bering Sea. For the North Pacific right whales in the singing population, there is about a 2 to 1 ratio of males to females. With such odds in such a small population, finding mates must be very challenging for the males. It seems likely that the singing has to do with an attempt to find mates in the vast, lonely ocean but it’s not entirely certain.

Whale songs in general have been reported since the beginning of whaling, so it’s surprising to discover a new species singing this recently. This new discovery of such a large animal, with such a long history of interactions with humans, highlights how large the world is and how small human knowledge of it is. This is true most in the oceans, the environment most foreign to us and most vast – an open place devoid of human habitation where we only visit in our boats. 

Without more time spent observing North Pacific right whales, the best that can be done is educated speculation based on what we know about other whale songs. As a rule, whale songs change over time throughout the singing season, according to a report in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(08)01541-8.pdf">Cell</a>. Different populations of whales have different songs, which also change year to year. Interestingly, a group of whales encountering another group will sometimes adopt the other groups song. 

It’s hard to say how much of these generalizations is true for right whales and we may never know. It’s comforting to learn that there are secret things animals have shared among themselves without the knowledge or interference of humans. It’s exciting to catch a new glimpse at the inner life of a different creature but it’s good to acknowledge the awe of mystery as well. Nowhere on Earth is as mysterious as our oceans.     

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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com </a>Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Brenda Rone, NOAA

Right whales have been recorded singing for the first time

Right whales have large, distinctive heads that can help identify...

A study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has revealed that chameleon prawns can change color to coincide with seasonal changes in the surrounding seaweed. This camouflaging strategy is much different from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/material-mimics-chameleons/">chameleons</a> or cuttlefish, which rapidly change their colors. Instead, chameleon prawns take weeks to alter their appearance. 

Commonly found in UK rock pools, chameleon prawns are very colorful, ranging from bright block colors to varying degrees of transparency.

The new research shows that the camouflaging abilities of chameleon prawns are suited for the longer seasonal changes taking place around them. As for the short-term background changes, the researchers found that the prawns compensate for their lack of color-changing speed with their behavior by seeking out the seaweed that best matches their coloration.

"Our study shows that these prawns exhibit impressive levels of camouflage on the seaweeds in which they live," said co-author Sam Green. "We measured the camouflage of prawns to the vision of their predators and recorded color change in the lab, and found the prawns can improve camouflage against their new backgrounds over a number of weeks."

"Seaweeds vary seasonally in UK rockpools and this ability probably enables prawns to maintain camouflage throughout the year. However, as the rock pool environment consists of a variety of different colored seaweed patches, our behavioral experiments show that the prawns also select backgrounds that match their existing appearance."

"This helps maintain camouflage in the short term, helping prawns to deal with the challenges of rock pool life. For example, a wave could dislodge a prawn from its chosen perch. This demonstrates how color change and behavior combine to facilitate camouflage in varying environments over different timescales."

Professor Martin Stevens noted that the rock pool environment is incredibly challenging because it is constantly changing every day and over the seasons. The combination of behavior and camouflaging ability helps the prawns survive in this dynamic habitat.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Martin Stevens

Chameleon prawns change colors based on the season

A study led by the University of Exeter has revealed...

Six endangered North Atlantic right whales found dead in the past month. Severely endangered North Atlantic right whales have been dealt another dangerous blow to their numbers as this past month, half a dozen right whale deaths have been reported in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Canada. 

Three of the deaths have been attributed to collisions with ships, and some of the whales have been identified as females, which is especially troubling given that only 100 reproductive females remain. 

There are about 400 remaining North Atlantic right whales left, and if these deaths foretell a trend, it could lead to disastrous population declines. 

Governmental officials and scientists, as well as conservationists, are on high-alert. 

2017 saw an unusually large number of dead stranded whales (17), and in recent years there have been few new calves. 

One reason that more whales are getting stranded and colliding with ships is that ocean warming and food availability are driving the whales to move to unprotected areas, according to researchers from the <a href="https://www.bigelow.org/">Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences</a> in Maine. 

“Animals like whales that have to figure out where their food is, they have to figure out a new environment as they go,” Nick Redor from the Bigelow Laboratory told the Associated Press. “You can almost think of the whales like climate migration.”

Right whales were hunted to near extinction and have been on a rocky road to recovery with numbers as low as 270 in 1990 and as high as 480 in 2010. 

The recent deaths are alarming for researchers who worry that the species may soon be on the brink of extinction again. 

To help protect the whales, a speed restriction is in place where the right whales have been hit, and the <a href="https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index-eng.htm">Fisheries and Oceans Canada</a> is monitoring the area and increasing surveillance. 

The <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries</a> division has called for a meeting with the Canadian Government to ensure that there are no more unnecessary whale deaths and protect the whales in vulnerable areas. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Steve Meese

Six endangered North Atlantic right whales found dead in the past month

Six endangered North Atlantic right whales found dead in the...

A new report from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post</a> describes how the harvesting of black soldier fly larvae has the potential to "revolutionize the way we feed the world." One acre of these larvae can produce more protein from organic waste than 3,000 acres of cattle. 

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/global-population-10-9-billion/">global population</a> is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by mid-century, which is an increase of three billion people from 2010. As we approach this population explosion, experts are looking for sustainable ways to feed the world. 

One of the biggest targets is a major shift away from animal proteins by finding meat substitutes. Insect protein is high-quality protein, and there are more than 1,700 types of insects that have been identified by scientists as being edible. 

Jeff Tomberlin, a professor of entomology at <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/">Texas A&amp;M University</a>, told the Washington Post that the black soldier fly larvae industry could “save lives, stabilize economies, create jobs, and protect the environment.”

A single soldier fly colony can transform a ton of waste, including food waste or manure, into 100 pounds of high-quality protein and 400 pounds of compost.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing this at some scale throughout the world,” said Tomberlin.

A company called Symton BSF harvests the larvae of black soldier flies and sells it as food for reptiles and exotic pets. The larvae are fed a proprietary grain blend that will provide the optimal nutrition for the animals that will feed on them. The soldier fly is also very high in calcium, containing 50 times more per gram than crickets or mealworms

Beyond their value as food, soldier flies are also great at eliminating food waste, consuming twice their weight in food in a single day. The maggots could be used to help eliminate a portion of the millions of tons of CO2 that is released from rotting food waste. 

“There’s been a lot of effort put into cricket flour or mealworms for protein ingredients for everything from pasta to cookies to chips,” Tomberlin told the Post, adding that soldier fly protein will likely follow. "When you walk in these facilities in the next 10 years, we’ll look back at this era and say we were just getting started."

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Namsom1988

Black soldier fly larvae could help feed a booming global population

A new report from the Washington Post describes how the...

Experts question the morality of creating human-monkey ‘chimeras’. Earlier this year, scientists at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> announced they had inserted a human gene into embryos that would become rhesus macaques, monkeys that share about 93 percent of their DNA with humans. The research, which was designed to give experts a better understanding of human brain development, has sparked controversy over whether this type of experimentation is ethical.

Some scientists believe that it is time to use human-monkey animals to pursue new insights into the progression of diseases such as <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-quality-alzheimers/">Alzheimer's</a>. These genetically modified monkeys are referred to as chimeras, which are named after a mythical animal that consists of parts taken from various animals.

A resource guide on the science and ethics of chimeras written by <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> researchers suggests that it is time to "cautiously" explore the creation of human-monkey chimeras.

“The search for a better animal model to stimulate human disease has been a ‘holy grail’ of biomedical research for decades,” the Yale team wrote in Chimera Research: Ethics and Protocols. "Realizing the promise of human-monkey chimera research in an ethically and scientifically appropriate manner will require a coordinated approach.”

A team of experts led by Dr. Douglas Munoz of <a href="https://www.queensu.ca/">Queen’s University</a> has been studying the onset of Alzheimer's disease in monkeys by using injections of beta-amyloid. The accumulation of this protein in the brain is believed to kill nerve cells and initiate the degenerative process.

Even though Dr. Munoz leads his own experiments with monkeys, the prospect of humanizing animal brains is disturbing to him. "To be honest, it just really ethically scares me,” Dr. Munoz told the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/">National Post</a>. "For us to start to manipulate life functions in this kind of way without fully knowing how to turn it off, or stop it if something goes awry really scares me.”

The Yale experts behind the new book, including visiting researcher Dr.Alejandro De Los Angeles, expressed their own concerns about the enhanced capacity for suffering among humanized monkeys. "Whether chimerism in portions of the monkey brain would affect cognition or emotion is unknown,” they wrote.

“The issue is complicated by the fact that no human-monkey chimera can have any chance at life at all, except as a research subject; it may be that, if the chimera has a life that is not too burdensome, there may be fewer objections to its having been created in a lab.”

According to the National Post, the book authors recommend a step-by-step approach to creating human-monkey ‘chimeras’. The creation of monkey-ape chimeras, for example, may provide scientists with an opportunity to ensure such experimentation complies with animal welfare standards. 

Bing Su of Kunming, who was involved in the research at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, told <a href="https://www.nbc.com/">NBC</a> in an email that the study was approved by the institute’s ethics board. "In theory and in reality, there is no ‘humanness’ observed in the MCPH1 transgenic monkeys, since only one gene was changed among tens of millions of genetic differences between humans and monkeys," he said.

However, there are others who argue that the research is not only unethical but is also unnecessary. 

"Alzheimer's disease is a human-specific condition, and genetic engineering and the creation of human-monkey 'chimeras' are unethical, curiosity-driven Frankenscience," Julia Baines of  PETA told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">MailOnline</a>. "Inserting human genes into the genome of sentient monkeys in a vain attempt to 'humanize' them will serve only to intensify animal suffering."

"To achieve the ultimate goal of curing Alzheimer's disease - and to alleviate the suffering of millions of patients around the globe - PETA is calling for further funding, development, and use of humane, human-relevant techniques. Such research methods offer real, tangible solutions, not ones based in fantasy."

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Zzvet

Experts question the morality of creating human-monkey ‘chimeras’

Experts question the morality of creating human-monkey ‘chimeras’. Earlier this...

Dairy cows contain the same group of microbes, and these microorganisms control methane emissions produced by digestion, new research shows. 

Understanding how cow microbiomes are linked could help researchers manipulate microbes and digestion in the rumen of the cow to help reduce emissions and pave the way for more sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture.

In humans, the importance of the gut microbiome cannot be understated. Our unique flora of microbes and bacteria aids in digestion and helps strengthen the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/link-gut-microbiome-fight-cancer/">immune response.</a> 

Some of our gut microbiome is inherited through genetics, and researchers have wondered about the links between the cow microbiome and genetics. 

Robert John Wallace, a professor at the <a href="https://www.abdn.ac.uk/">University of Aberdeen</a>, along with a team of colleagues, studied the genotypes of 1,000 Holstein and Nordic Red dairy cows from the UK, Italy, Sweden, and Finland looking for genetic variations. 

The researchers discovered that at least 50 percent of the cows studied contained the same core group of microbes. 

Next, the researchers used machine learning to try and predict milk output, metabolism, and methane emissions based on the microbes present in this core microbiome. 

The results, published in the journal Science Advances, showed that inherited genes produce microbes that control methane emissions.

If breeders can selectively breed cows to produce less methane, it could help lessen the burden of emissions produced by the meat and dairy industry. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/J R Patterson

Dairy cow microbiome could yield the key to eco-friendly agriculture

Dairy cows contain the same group of microbes, and these...

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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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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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 



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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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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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



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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



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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



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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



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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

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