Nature often surprises us with its ingenious adaptations, and the cricket frog is no exception. Native to Virginia and North Carolina, these tiny frogs display an ability that seems almost magical: moving across water as if it were solid ground. 



Known as “skittering,” this behavior has intrigued scientists and inspired visions of futuristic technologies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-capabilities-of-cricket-frogs">Capabilities of cricket frogs</h2>



Jake Socha, a professor of mechanical engineering, and his research team at <a href="https://www.vt.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Virginia Tech</a> have examined this phenomenon.



“The humble cricket <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-frog-day-addressing-environmental-threats-to-frogs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">frog</a> lives nearby, and yet it still surprised us with its capabilities, further motivating our curiosity to understand the living world,” said Professor Socha.



The research, published in the&nbsp;Journal of Experimental Biology, challenges popular notions about how frogs traverse water.



“Skittering is not actually a well-defined word for this behavior. Part of this research is not only studying this behavior in cricket frogs but to try and give ‘skittering’ a more precise, scientific definition,” explained study lead author and graduate researcher Talia Weiss.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cricket-frogs-don-t-walk-on-water">Cricket frogs don’t walk on water</h2>



Using high-speed cameras shooting at 500 frames per second, the team captured the frogs’ motions in astonishing detail. 



Contrary to the idea that these frogs glide effortlessly across water, the footage revealed something unexpected: the frogs sink between each leap.



“It’s fascinating how easily we can be fooled by fast animal movements,” said Professor Socha. “Here, we’re fooled by a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frog-saunas-hot-solution-to-fighting-global-amphibian-extinction-apocalypse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">frog</a> that appears like a skipping stone, but is actually jumping and dunking multiple times in a row.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-leaping-frogs-resemble-dolphins-jumping">Leaping frogs resemble dolphins jumping</h2>



The movement of cricket frogs, often mistaken for walking on water, is better described as "porpoising," a motion similar to the way dolphins leap in and out of the water. 



Unlike true walking, this behavior involves distinct stages within each jump cycle, which researchers broke down into four key phases:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Takeoff: The frog begins completely submerged in water. Using its powerful hind legs, it pushes off against the water, propelling its body upward and into the air. This explosive motion provides the energy needed for the leap.</li>



<li>Aerial: While in mid-air, the frog's legs remain extended, providing balance and stability during its short flight. This phase gives the impression that the frog is gracefully skipping across the water.</li>



<li>Re-entry: The frog's front legs are the first to contact the water as it descends. The rest of the body follows, creating a splash and breaking the water's surface as it sinks back under.</li>



<li>Recovery: Once submerged, the frog rapidly retracts its legs to prepare for the next jump. This resetting phase ensures the frog is ready to push off again almost immediately.</li>
</ol>



Each of these phases occurs in less than a second, allowing the frog to perform up to eight consecutive jumps in quick succession. This rapid, repetitive motion creates the illusion that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-economic-strategy-could-save-endangered-frogs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">frog</a> is walking or skipping on water, though it is actually sinking and leaping continuously. 



The efficiency and speed of these movements highlight the cricket frog’s unique adaptations for this behavior.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frog-movement-inspires-robots">Frog movement inspires robots</h2>



Understanding the mechanics of skittering has implications far beyond biology. This unique locomotion could inspire innovations in robotics and engineering. For instance, amphibious drones designed for water testing or rescue missions might mimic the cricket frog’s efficient movements.



“Frogs are great jumpers, but most of them don’t exhibit this porpoising behavior, and we still don’t know why,” noted Professor Socha. “Is there something special about the frog’s leap, or is it simply a matter of small body size?”



This research highlights how studying even the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/puddle-frogs-have-a-secret-weapon-against-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">smallest creatures</a> can lead to big discoveries. The cricket frog’s seemingly simple movement holds secrets that may shape the future of technology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cricket-frogs-built-for-skittering-on-water">Cricket frogs: Built for skittering on water</h2>



Cricket frogs may be small, but their anatomy is a masterpiece of adaptation. Their ability to skitter across water is no accident; it’s the result of finely tuned physical traits that allow them to excel at leaping, sinking, and jumping again.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-powerful-hind-legs">Powerful hind legs</h3>



The cricket frog’s hind legs are disproportionately long and muscular for its tiny body. These legs provide the explosive force needed to propel the frog both on land and through water. 



Their large, well-developed muscles allow for rapid extension and retraction, making it possible to perform consecutive jumps in quick succession.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lightweight-body">Lightweight body</h3>



Weighing less than many other frogs, cricket frogs benefit from a lightweight frame. This reduces resistance when they re-enter the water after a jump, helping them maintain momentum. Their small size also means they create minimal drag during movement.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flexible-joints">Flexible joints</h3>



Their joints, particularly in the hind legs, are highly flexible. This flexibility enables the frogs to fully extend their legs during the takeoff phase and then rapidly retract them underwater to reset for the next leap.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-streamlined-body-shape">Streamlined body shape</h3>



The cricket frog’s body is slightly flattened, which may help reduce resistance during re-entry into the water. This streamlined shape allows for smoother transitions between aerial and submerged phases of their movement.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-skin-adaptations">Skin adaptations</h3>



The frog’s skin plays a subtle but critical role. Smooth and water-resistant, it minimizes friction as the frog moves in and out of the water. This feature also helps maintain buoyancy and allows for quicker movement beneath the surface.



Ultimately, the cricket frog’s body is a perfect example of how evolution tailors physical traits to meet specific survival needs. Each aspect of the frogs' anatomy, from powerful legs to streamlined bodies, contributes to their ability to skitter on water.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-abstract/227/22/jeb249403/363001/Skittering-locomotion-in-cricket-frogs-a-form-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



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Cricket frogs can literally walk on water as if it were dry land

Nature often surprises us with its ingenious adaptations, and the cricket frog is no exception. Native to Virginia and North Carolina, these tiny frogs display an ability that seems almost magical: moving across water as if it were solid ground. Known as “skittering,” this behavior has intrigued scientists and inspired visions of futuristic technologies. Capabilities of cricket frogs Jake Socha, a professor of mechanical engineering, and his research team at Virginia Tech have examined this phenomenon. “The humble cricket frog lives nearby, and yet it still surprised...

A research team led by the <a href="https://www.zsl.org/">Zoological Society of London (ZSL)</a>, the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/">American Museum of Natural History</a>, and the <a href="http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/">New Mexico Museum of Natural History</a>, have discovered three new species and subspecies in fossilized <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/crocodiles-hide-caves/">crocodile</a> digestive remains. The fossilized bones, originally found between 1930 and 1990 and predicted to belong to a species that existed about 300 years ago, were discovered in caves, peat deposits, and sinkholes in the Cayman Islands.

The team found two new large rodents — Capromys pilorides lewisi and Geocapromys caymanensis — and a small shrew-like animal, dubbed Nesophontes hemicingulus. These three animals only existed in the Cayman Islands and likely went extinct in the 1700s after European settlers brought cat, dogs, and rat species to the Islands. 

This new discovery was published March 4th in the <a href="http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7">Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History</a>.

[caption id="attachment_1869143" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/new-mammal-species.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1869143" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/new-mammal-species.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="797" /></a> Cuban hutia Capromys pilorides, the closest living relative to the newly described mammals, Image Credit: Nancy Albury[/caption]

"Humans are almost certainly to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals, and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean,” said co-author Professor Samuel Turvey, Senior Research Fellow at the <a href="https://www.zsl.org/science">ZSL Institute of Zoology</a>. “Nearly all the mammal species that used to live on these tropical islands, including all of the native Caribbean sloths and monkeys, have recently disappeared.”

"It's vitally important to understand the factors responsible for past extinctions of island species, as many threatened species today are found on islands,” he continued. “The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique vanished world and represent some of the world's top conservation priorities."

When Sir Francis Drake visited the Islands in 1586 and recorded seeing “little beasts like cats,” which he also called “coneys,” he was most likely describing the Capromys and the Geocapromys, the researchers believe. Similar species to those of the Capromys and the Geocapromys have survived to modern day on Cuba. It is thought that the Cayman Islands became populated with mammals by way of said mammals being transported via floating vegetation from Cuba.

"Although one would think that the greatest days of biological field discoveries are long over, that's very far from the case,” added co-author Professor Ross MacPhee, of the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/our-research/vertebrate-zoology/mammalogy">American Museum of Natural History Mammalogy Department</a>. “With only one possible sighting early in the course of European expansion into the New World, these small mammals from the Cayman Islands were complete unknowns until their fossils were discovered.”

With their closest relatives residing on Cuba, MacPhee ponders the question, “how and when did they manage a 250-km journey over open water?"

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New mammal species found in an ancient crocodile’s digestive system

A research team led by the Zoological Society of London...

The recovery of eastern Australian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/protecting-their-habitats-is-key-to-the-recovery-of-humpback-whales/">humpback whales</a> should be a conservation success story after the whales in that area were hunted to near extinction by the 1960s due to commercial whaling. 

But now, a new study has found that although the population of humpbacks in the Australian Southern Ocean has almost completely recovered, their numbers are increasing at such a rapid rate that soon there won’t be enough food to sustain the whales. 

Competition for food and mates could cause a disastrous plummet in numbers, according to researchers from the <a href="https://gatton.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland Gatton</a> who conducted the study which was published in the journal Population Ecology.

The researchers reviewed structured surveys of the humpback whales that were first conducted in the 1980s. 

The surveys are helpful in that they show a complete picture of population recovery through the years. By 2015, the humpback whales recovered and there were a little over 24,500 whales in total.

This recovery in numbers was due to an increase in conservation efforts and the Endangered Species Act. 

With the population continuing to grow at such a rapid rate, the researchers say that overpopulation will lead to competition for resources and population declines between 2021 and 2026. 

“Whale numbers are still steaming ahead at a tremendous rate — the population is virtually doubling every seven years,” said Michael Noad, the leader of the study. “They're either going to go up to a fairly high number and level off, about 40,000 or 50,000, or they could peak and then crash.”

If overpopulation were to occur, the researchers say that Australia would see more whale beachings and more whale carcasses at sea.

Whale declines would also be bad for tourism in the area which depends heavily on whale watching. 

The researchers say that continued monitoring is essential, as well as careful consideration for the health and wellbeing of the humpbacks if the population does start to decline. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Overpopulation of humpback whales could lead to disastrous decline

The recovery of eastern Australian humpback whales should be a...

The oldest horse fossils we can find are from North America.  When Europeans arrived in the Americas, horses had already moved across the Bering land bridge and made a home in Europe and Asia. Europeans of course brought their horses with them.

Camels appear to have first evolved in North America as well.  The lineage of camels split, with some migrating south, through Central America and into the Andes where they evolved into llamas.  Other camels crossed the land bridge and ended up as two species that can still be found in Africa and Asia. These stories of movement and evolution are common.  

Many animals and plants have deep evolutionary roots far from where they are found today.  Some biological lineages, such as birds, have simply spread across the world, evolving different forms and strategies to accommodate different environments.  Given enough time, the movement of organisms is one across the entire planet that shifts with the slow movement of continents themselves. 

You can see related and similar plants and animals mirroring each other in Africa and South America.  There’s a reason that hornbills and toucans look similar even though they live so far apart today. Movements from one place to another continue today just at a pace that’s hard to appreciate from the point of view of a short human life span.  Obviously, even our own species has moved across the globe, colonizing almost every livable spit of land. It’s only relatively recently with strict political borders that migrations human and otherwise have been put under so much pressure to halt.  

I previously <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/us-mexico-border-wildlife/">reported</a> on the fluidity of movement across the US-Mexico border by animals and parks that align with each other on both the Mexico and the US side of the border.  <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> has reported many times on the consequences that Trump’s proposed border wall would have on wildlife.  In August 2017, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/us-mexico-border-wall-threaten-100-endangered-species/">we reported</a> that 100 endangered species would be threatened by the building of a border wall between the US and Mexico.  The problem goes even deeper than that, though. Barriers can shape evolution. Rivers, mountains, canyons, even deserts all act as natural barriers and have created the formation of different species.  To survive and thrive, lineages of organisms must travel and spread their genes across broad areas.

<a href="https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/magazine/focal-point/00000163-0889-d820-a1e3-7aedafd20000?source=relatedvideo">National Geographic</a> reports that birds have 247 families and 10,731 species, the largest diversity in vertebrates besides fish, of which there are more than 33,000 species of fish globally, according to <a href="https://www.fishbase.de/home.htm">Fishbase</a>.  Why birds and fish are so diverse and found globally isn’t completely understood.  It does seem like diversity and widespread distribution go hand in hand to a certain degree.  Fish and birds have one thing in common besides a backbone – the ability to move long distances, through the oceans and skies respectively.  It seems likely that the ability of these animals to transport themselves long distances is related in some ways to their diversity. 

Bats, like birds, can disperse over long distances and are the second most species rich mammal order.  Whales are also part of one of the six most species rich orders within mammalia. Of course, the picture is a bit complicated.  Rodents don’t seem to have any special ability to spread across the world and there are more species of rodents than bats. Other groups of mammals are so diverse because they’re isolated.  Tenrecs in Madagascar are diverse because they arrived on an island with few species and were able to adapt to many wide open niches until there were 29 species of tenrec, most of them on Madagascar.  Over the long term, barriers like mountains, canyons, or walls affect diversity, evolution and ecology.  The ability to move often constitutes survival.

When habitat conditions such as prey availability or climate are changed, many animals have no other choice but to move to habitat with better conditions.  Jaguars have slowly been seen moving north into the United States. It’s unclear why exactly, but it could be that conditions are slowly becoming less favorable to the big cats south of the border and moving north is a means of survival.   

To pretend like a barrier, especially one that cuts off most of North America from Central America, won’t affect the entirety of the mainland Americas is simply incorrect.  On the other side of the issue, it’s unlikely the border wall will last more than a metaphorical blink of an eye in geologic time, and it seems unlikely it will really have any lasting effect on evolution.  It isn’t impossible though. 

A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12634804">study</a> from 2003 suggests that the Great Wall of China actually had an effect on evolution.  The study looked at gene flow between five plant species that live on each side of the wall.  The researchers found that there was a greater difference in diversity between populations divided by the wall than control populations divided by a simple mountain path.  Essentially, the wall is a barrier to gene flow. Gene flow is important to evolution. A small population without new genes can wither and die from inbreeding. Two large populations with slightly different genetic makeup can evolve into separate species if isolated from one another long enough.  Both of these outcomes are possible from the wall Trump is now trying to build under an emergency declaration.

Even if the wall is built but only lasts for a short time, it may have long lasting effects.  The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27129727">BBC</a> reported in 2014, 25 years after the iron curtain fell, the deer still avoid the border of Germany and the Czech Republic.  Most deer stick to their side of the border, despite the once electrified barrier fence being removed. Researchers tracked 300 deer with radio collars to conclude that mainly, the deer don’t cross the border.  Even an imaginary barrier such as this one could shape the evolution of an organism. If the deer don’t commingle, they might as well be separated by a wall or fence.

The truth is – we don’t fully understand the full consequences of a border wall between the US and Mexico – which should be enough to make us take a step back and think long and hard.               

--

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>

Human-made borders can have lasting effects on the natural world

The oldest horse fossils we can find are from North...

A new study has revealed that many dog food products made with raw meat contain high levels of bacteria that threaten the health of both animals and people. According to the researchers, the products are particularly dangerous for infants, elderly adults, and individuals with weak immune systems. 


Raw meat products are often considered to be a healthier, more natural alternative to commercial <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dog-food-meat-pet/">dog food</a> products. Unlike commercial foods, however, raw meat products are not pasteurized to ensure the safety of their contents. 

The researchers tested samples of 60 packs of raw meat products, which were produced by 10 different manufacturers in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, and England. The dog food products all contained at least one of the following: uncooked meat or edible bones/organs from cattle, chicken, lamb, turkeys, pigs, ducks, reindeer, or salmon. Some of the products also contained vegetables and minerals.


The samples were analyzed for bacteria that could potentially pose a health risk to animals and people. The testing revealed that all 60 samples contained a family of disease-causing bacteria known as Enterobacteriaceae, which is indicative of fecal contamination. 

The levels of Enterobacteriaceae varied widely among the different manufacturers, but over half of the samples contained levels that exceeded the limit set by the European Union (EU). C perfringens, another marker of fecal contamination and hygiene standards, was found in 18 samples.

E coli was found in about one-third of the samples, and Salmonella species were found in four out of 60 samples. While this does not sound like a lot, EU regulations do not permit Salmonella in any animal feed.

The research highlights the importance of careful storage, handling, and feeding of raw meat dog food products. The experts recommend that raw meat dog food should be kept frozen until use, thawed at 10 degrees Celsius, stored away from other food, and handled with separate kitchen equipment.

“Dogs in families with infants, elderly people or immunocompromised individuals should also not be fed (raw meat products), as these groups are more susceptible to infections,” wrote the study authors. 

British Veterinary Association (BVA) Junior Vice President Daniella Dos Santos said that the research offers “further compelling evidence” to support concerns about the health risks associated with a raw meat-based diet.

“Bacteria such as E coli and Salmonella can cause significant gastrointestinal disease in animals. Pets can also shed potentially harmful pathogens present in raw food into their environment, so there is a risk to owners both in handling the food and coming into contact with the animal. Pet owners who choose to feed a raw food diet should be aware of the potential health risks and take full precautions while storing and handling the food,” said Dos Santos. 

“BVA would also not recommend making a raw food diet at home without veterinary guidance due to the potential for nutritional deficiencies in homemade diets. We would advise any owner wanting to try a raw meat-based diet for their pet to first consult a veterinary surgeon.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/">Vet Record</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Harmful bacteria found in dog food containing raw meat

A new study has revealed that many dog food products...

A team of biologists set out to investigate how <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/blue-whales-memories-feeding-sites/">blue whales</a> respond when they are exposed to sonar. The researchers, led by Brandon Southall from the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">UC Santa Cruz</a>, discovered that some blue whales stop feeding on deep patches of krill when they encounter sonar.

“The ocean is a big place and it can be easy to miss and lose even the biggest animals ever on the planet, but, because they are so large and have very tall blows, they are actually among the easiest marine mammals to track,” said Southall. 

He described how the scientists managed to tag the massive animals in a six meter inflatable boat. 

“The driver of the small boat is totally critical, we had one of the most experienced people in the world doing this: John Calambokidis from the Cascadia Research Collective.”

The suction tags recorded the whale’s depth, movement, and sounds in the water. The team generated sonar signals from a boat located about a kilometer away for 30 minutes or an hour. Meanwhile, six trained experts observed the reactions of the whales as the sonar grew louder and then after the noise ceased.

Over the course of five years, the researchers recorded the responses of whales to 42 sonar tests. The information logged by the tags was analyzed and then combined with observations at the surface, to look for patterns and changes in behavior. 

While the majority of the deep-diving whales stopped feeding when the sonar signals started, the whales near the surface did not respond even when the sonar was loud and nearby. In addition, some whales stopped feeding and headed away from the sonar emissions. Most of the whales resumed their activities soon after the sonar stopped. 

Southall was surprised by how different the whales' reactions were. 

“Some whales responded when the sound was barely audible, while others seemingly ignored it and kept feeding at quite loud levels,” said Southall, which he referred to as a “really big deal.” 

“The current management approaches rely very heavily on the amplitude level (volume) to predict response.” 

However, the activity that the whale is engaged in seems to have a bigger influence on how much the sonar disrupts its behavior.

Southall concluded, “Impacts could be minimized by reducing sonar disturbance during periods of blue whale foraging on deep patches of krill in the military's main training areas.”

The study is published in the <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/">Journal of Experimental 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: NOAA

Sonar signals disrupt feeding time for blue whales

A team of biologists set out to investigate how blue...

A team of ecologists at <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> investigated how potential changes in land cover may impact the geographic distributions of about 19,400 species worldwide. They found that by 2070, an increase in land use for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/freshwater-bodies-increasingly-polluted/">human activities</a> will shrink the natural habitats of 1,700 species, putting them at a greater risk of extinction. 

The changes in land cover projected in the research were based on four different trajectories that scientists have established as being likely. The scenarios represent reasonable expectations about upcoming developments in society, demographics, and economics on a global scale.

Study co-author Walter Jetz is a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale.

“Our findings link these plausible futures with their implications for biodiversity,” said Professor Jetz. “Our analyses allow us to track how political and economic decisions - through their associated changes to the global land cover - are expected to cause habitat range declines in species worldwide.”

With just moderate changes in human land-use, the experts determined that about 1,700 species will likely lose between 30 and 50 percent of their current habitat ranges by 2070. The species, which will become much more vulnerable to extinction, include 886 species of amphibians, 436 types of birds, and 376 species of mammals.

“The integration of our analyses with the Map of Life can support anyone keen to assess how species may suffer under specific future land-use scenarios and help prevent or mitigate these effects,” said study co-author Ryan P. Powers.

The greatest habitat loss and extinction risk will be suffered by species in Central and East Africa, Mesoamerica, South America, and Southeast Asia.

“Losses in species populations can irreversibly hamper the functioning of ecosystems and human quality of life,” said Professor Jetz. “While biodiversity erosion in far-away parts of the planet may not seem to affect us directly, its consequences for human livelihood can reverberate globally. It is also often the far-away demand that drives these losses - think tropical hardwoods, palm oil, or soybeans - thus making us all co-responsible.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/natureclimatechange">Nature Climate Change</a>.

--

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>

Human activity will shrink natural habitats of 1,700 species by 2070

A team of ecologists at Yale University investigated how potential...

Shortfin mako sharks can zip through the water at estimated speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour, which is why they have been referred to as the “cheetahs of the ocean.” A research team led by aeronautical engineer Amy Lang of the <a href="https://www.ua.edu/">University of Alabama</a> set out to investigate how mako sharks achieve such speeds by testing skin samples.

The experts were particularly interested in the effect of microscopic scales found in specific locations on the shark's body, such as on the flank and the fins. The scales can flex at angles in excess of 40 degrees from the body in the opposite direction of the flow of water, which causes resistance. 

“It impedes the flow from reversing near the skin, which would otherwise lead to what we call flow separation,” said Lang. “This is the drag you experience if you stick your hand out your car window vertical to the airflow.”

There is high pressure pushing back on the front of your hand, while low pressure is pushing forward on the back of your hand. Together, these pressure forces produce a net force of drag. Lang explained that the same is true any time a flow separates, even on a smooth body like a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/risk-shark-attacks-remains-low/">shark</a> - or a golf ball.

“The dimples on a golf ball are an example of separation control that reduces pressure drag by maintaining attached flow around the ball and reducing the size of the wake. You can hit a golf ball with dimples 30 percent farther than if the same ball were smooth,” said Lang.

“We set up an experiment in the tunnel with a measured amount of flow separation induced on a smooth surface. Then we replaced the smooth surface with shark skin and re-quantified the flow separation. In all cases with the flank skin, we saw the size of the separated flow region reduced significantly by the presence of the skin.”

[caption id="attachment_1869002" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/scales.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1869002" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/scales.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></a> Shortfin mako shark scales, Image Credit: Phil Motta at the University of South Florida[/caption]

The research team discovered that flow separation was being controlled by a “passive bristling” capability that is made possible by the surface geometry on the shark's scales.

Lang added, “The potential for a man-made surface to utilize this entirely passive mechanism even in air is very exciting.”

The research will be presented this week at the 2019 <a href="https://www.aps.org/">American Physical Society</a> March Meeting in Boston.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How mako sharks can swim as fast as 80 miles per hour

Shortfin mako sharks can zip through the water at estimated...

With global extinctions on the rise, a new study has shed light on a major cause: non-native species moving into an area and taking over the resources native dwellers depend upon.

The research team from <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> found that since the year 1500 C.E., a full 126 extinctions can be credited entirely to non-native species crowding out their native counterparts. 

Also known as alien species, they can be linked at least in part to at least 300 of the past 953 global extinctions. Of those 300 plant and animal extinctions, more than 40 percent listed non-native species alone as the cause.

"Some people have suggested that aliens are no more likely than native species to cause species to disappear in the current global extinction crisis, but our analysis shows that aliens are much more of a problem in this regard," lead researcher Dr. Tim Blackburn said in a press release.

Blackburn and his colleagues analyzed data from the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">2017 International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List</a> on species considered to have gone extinct since 1500. 

The IUCN Red List monitors species around the world, assessing whether they are threatened, endangered or extinct and the causes. Last month, the organization announced that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/600-species-threat-extinction/">another 600 species are at risk of extinction</a> due to habitat degradation, human development or agricultural practices, invasions of their habitats by non-native species and other causes.

The biggest offenders are various species of rat, feral house cats and foxes, especially on island species. These non-native species arrive on shipping vessels or are occasionally deliberately imported by humans. Plants were also often deliberately introduced, but quickly outgrew gardens or farming operations.

"Our study provides a new line of evidence showing that the biogeographical origin of a species matters for its impacts,” Blackburn said. “The invasion of an alien species is often enough to cause native species to go extinct, whereas we found no evidence for native species being the sole driver of extinction of other natives in any case."

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/fee.2020">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Non-native species to blame for many modern extinctions

With global extinctions on the rise, a new study has...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/">University of Tasmania</a> has revealed that balloons pose the biggest threat to seabirds of any type of plastic debris. Although hard <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/microplastic-contamination-groundwater-sources/">plastics</a> are more commonly ingested by marine animals, the researchers found that soft plastics are much more lethal. 


The study, which was led by PhD student Lauren Roman, revealed that once a seabird had ingested a single piece of plastic, it had a 20 percent chance of death. The risk of mortality rose to 50 percent for nine pieces of plastic and to 100 percent for 93 items.

“Marine debris ingestion is now a globally recognized threat,” said Roman. “However, the relationship between the amount or type of debris that a seabird ingests and mortality remains poorly understood.”

“Among the birds we studied the leading cause of death was blockage of the gastrointestinal tract, followed by infections or other complications caused by gastrointestinal obstructions.”

Roman explained that while soft plastics accounted for just five percent of the plastic pieces ingested, they were responsible for more than 40 percent of the fatalities.

“Balloons or balloon fragments were the marine debris most likely to cause mortality, and they killed almost one in five of the seabirds that ingested them,” said Roman. “As similar research into plastic ingestion by sea turtles has found, it appears that while hard plastic fragments may pass quickly through the gut, soft plastics are more likely to become compacted and cause fatal obstructions.”

Study co-author Dr. Chris Wilcox said the approach taken in the study was originally developed for turtles before it was applied to seabirds.

“These two applications are the first time there has been a robust estimate of the impact of plastic ingestion on free living marine species,” said Dr. Wilcox. “This is a critical step in triggering action to address plastic pollution.”

Roman pointed out that even though soft items like balloons are more deadly, all plastics are serious threats to seabirds.

“If seabirds eat plastic their risk of mortality increases, and even a single piece can be fatal,” said Roman. “While hard plastics are less likely to kill than soft plastics they were still responsible for more than half of the seabird deaths identified in our study.”

“The evidence is clear that if we want to stop seabirds from dying from plastic ingestion we need to reduce or remove marine debris from their environment, particularly balloons.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</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: Lauren Roman

Balloons pose the biggest threat to seabirds of any marine debris

A new study from the University of Tasmania has revealed...

Scientists have discovered that Britain's killer whales may be headed for extinction after chemical pollutants have caused the females to become sterile. The last remaining resident orca population in the UK, located off the west coast of Scotland, has not produced a calf in 25 years. 

The experts believe that infertility among the small <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/humpback-whales-sing/">whale</a> population has been caused by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, chemicals which cause hormone disruptions that can be passed along to offspring.

“The pod are now believed to be doomed to extinction because these chemicals have destroyed their ability to reproduce,” said Dr. Paul Jepson of the Zoological Society of London. “There's no way that this population can recover.”

Many medications contain compounds known as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), and the full scope of their impact on the environment is not yet known. Some EDCs called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are known to cause immune, neurological, and hormonal problems in fish.  


Although PCBs have been mostly banned, they persist in the environment for a long time. Killer whales are particularly susceptible to PCBs because they are at the top of the marine food web.

In 2016, a female killer whale that washed up on the Isle of Tiree in Scotland was poisoned with some the highest levels of PCBs ever found in a marine mammal.

According to Professor John Sumpter of Brunel University, 2,000 new chemicals are being released every year. 

“For a very large proportion of all the chemicals in everyday use, we know nothing about their toxicity or very little,” Professor Sumpter told <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/">The Times</a>. “There are huge gaps and it's very difficult to know how to fill them. It will take decades. Many people think that the gaps are getting wider.”
--
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

UK killer whales may go extinct after pollutants left them infertile

Scientists have discovered that Britain's killer whales may be headed...

A team of researchers from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> are studying the ultra-sensitive skin found on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-model-extinct-ducks-fly/">duck</a> and waterfowl bills in an effort to better understand how human touch works. They’ll present their findings early this month at the <a href="https://www.biophysics.org/">63rd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting</a>.

“We know a lot about how we see, taste, and smell," Yale’s Slav Bagriantsev said, "but we actually don't know much about how touch works at the molecular level."

As of right now, the scientists have only discovered one molecule, called Piezo2, that plays a significant role in vertebrate touch. Piezo2 has been previously studied in mice, however, because mice are covered in fur, the effects of Piezo2 in glabrous skin, like palms, lips, or duck bills has not yet been studied.

So, Bagriantsev and his Yale colleagues, Eve Schneider and Evan Anderson, investigated the glabrous skin of waterfowl bills to see how it relates to human touch. They found that humans and ducks share a similar density of neurons in their glabrous skin responsible for sensing touch.

When ducks use their bills to sense movement in water and mud, a small force from a tadpole or other food source stretches the neurons in a duck’s bill. Then, Piezo2 opens and allows ions into the neuron, which then fires, thus sending a signal to the brain that movement was sensed. Duck Piezo2, as the researchers found out, stays open longer than in mouse Piezo2, which most likely makes duck bills more sensitive than mouse paws.

"It seems that ducks capitalized on what most vertebrates normally have," Bagriantsev said.

The team realizes that Piezo2 is probably just one of several molecules involved in touch sensitivity. Therefore, they hope to continue their research on duck bills to discover more information about how touch sensitivity in glabrous skin operates.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Duck bills help reveal how our sense of touch operates

A team of researchers from Yale University are studying the...

cf. Pamphobeteus sp. (young individual) and Chiasmocleis royi

Imagine carefully walking through the Amazon Rainforest at night and seeing a dinner plate-sized <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/horned-tarantula/">tarantula</a> dragging a small opossum across the forest floor? 

Biologists from the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> were lucky enough to capture this remarkable example of Amazon rainforest predator-prey interactions and recently published a study documenting other similar examples of massive arthropods feasting on small vertebrates. 

Not for the faint of heart, the study includes 15 documented instances of large arthropods, mostly spiders, preying on frogs, lizards, and even snakes in the Amazon. 

Some of the highlights include a large scolopendrid centipede eating a live Catesby's snail-eater snake and another centipede munching on a decapitated coral snake.

The tarantula/opossum observation is perhaps the most surprising and terrifying as it’s the first documented evidence of a mygalomorph spider preying on an opossum, which was confirmed by the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/">American Museum of Natural History</a>. 

“We looked over, and we saw a large tarantula on top of an opossum,” said Michael Grundler, a co-author of the study. “The opossum had already been grasped by the tarantula and was still struggling weakly at that point, but after about 30 seconds it stopped kicking. We knew we were witnessing something pretty special, but we weren't aware that it was the first observation until after the fact.”

The research, published online in the journal Amphibian &amp; Reptile Conservation, examines a little documented source of mortality for Amazon vertebrates as they are preyed upon by spiders, centipedes, and even large water bugs. 

Once or twice a year, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and international collaborators survey the Los Amigos Biological Station in the remote Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru to study the ecology of reptiles and amphibians. 

The Amazon rainforest near the Andes Foothills is home an incredibly biodiverse ecosystem and spiders make up one of the most diverse groups of arthropod predators in the tropics.

The study details predator-prey observations from 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2017, and highlights not only the diversity of the ecosystem but also the remarkable variety of prey that arthropods hunt. 

These types of arthropod predator-prey relations are not common outside of the Amazon. 

“Where we do this research there are about 85 species of amphibians--mostly frogs and toads--and about 90 species of reptiles,” said Rudolf von May, the study’s first author. “And considering that there are hundreds of invertebrates that potentially prey upon vertebrates, the number of possible interactions between species is huge, and we are highlighting that fact in this paper.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Emanuele Biggi, in Amphibian &amp; Reptile Conservation

Amazon spiders captured eating frogs, lizards, and even opossums

Imagine carefully walking through the Amazon Rainforest at night and...

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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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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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

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