Scientists have long pondered how evolution resulted in the development of both herbivores and carnivores. To understand this, it is important to clarify what type of food did extinct vertebrates eat. But how can we know what the diets of these creatures were?&nbsp;



While in living animals we can directly observe what they feed on, in the case of extinct species researchers must rely on morphological or chemical information supplied by fossils.&nbsp;



Now, a research team led by professor Thomas Tütken from <a href="https://www.uni-mainz.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz</a> (JGU) has compiled a reference framework of isotope compositions for modern reptiles. This dataset stands to improve our ability to identify the diets of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-secrets-of-the-evolution-of-prehistoric-reptiles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ancient reptiles</a>, including dinosaurs.



“This reptile reference framework is a convenient toolbox that will enable us to better reconstruct the diet of extinct animals, such as dinosaurs,” Tütken explained. “A set of comparable data of this kind has not previously been available.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diverse-diets-of-modern-reptiles">Diverse diets of modern reptiles </h2>



Today's reptiles showcase a remarkable range of diets, from strictly plant-based to exclusively carnivorous. Many also exhibit specialized feeding preferences, such as the marine iguana in the Galapagos, which eats only algae, or chameleons, which subsist solely on insects.&nbsp;



Gila monsters prefer eggs, while top predators like the saltwater crocodile and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/komodo-dragons-have-iron-tipped-teeth-to-rip-apart-flesh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Komodo dragon</a> feed entirely on meat. “This diversity makes it difficult to reconstruct the nutritional habits of extinct animals,” Tütken said.



The oldest known ancestors of modern reptiles lived more than 300 million years ago; for instance, the 315-million-year-old Hylonomus resembled a lizard. These early reptiles often bore skulls, jaws, and teeth indicative of insectivory.&nbsp;



The point in geological history when they transitioned from insect-eating to purely carnivorous or herbivorous diets remains unclear.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-a-geochemical-reference">Building a geochemical reference</h2>



In creating their new framework, Tütken’s team examined 28 modern reptile species by measuring calcium and strontium isotopes in their bones and teeth, which offer chemical clues about what these animals eat.&nbsp;



“To obtain a wide spectrum for comparison, we selected reptiles with pronounced herbivorous or carnivorous behavior, and we also included those with specialized dietary preferences,” Tütken noted. The list included alligators, monitor lizards, chameleons, and more.



Focusing on calcium isotopes, the researchers highlighted the ratio of calcium-44 to calcium-42. They observed a clear trend in which these isotope concentrations decreased at every step in the food chain.&nbsp;



“Overall, the values are highest in insectivorous reptiles, clearly differentiating these from animals with other feeding behaviors,” said lead author Michael Weber, a paleontologist at JGU.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-detecting-unique-feeding-patterns-nbsp">Detecting unique feeding patterns&nbsp;</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-biodiversity-benefits-from-large-herbivores-like-elephants-and-moose/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herbivores</a> showed lower isotope ratios, while carnivores presented the lowest levels. This approach even allowed them to detect unique feeding patterns, such as the algae diet of marine iguanas and the egg-based diet of other reptiles. The team also examined stable strontium-88 to strontium-86 ratios.&nbsp;



“We set up the first extensive reference system of stable strontium isotopes as a dietary proxy. The results for strontium are largely consistent with those for calcium isotopes in respect of the various nutritional forms,” explained study co-author and paleontologist Katrin Weber.&nbsp;



However, strontium is more vulnerable to alteration over time, making calcium isotopes the more reliable measure for extinct species.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-comparing-reptiles-to-mammals">Comparing reptiles to mammals</h2>



In analyzing these isotopes, the researchers discovered that reptiles show greater calcium isotope variability than <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-mammals-have-evolved-over-66-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mammals</a>, even under similar dietary regimes.&nbsp;



This phenomenon is believed to stem from physiological differences, and it illustrates why mammal-based data cannot directly determine the diets of prehistoric reptiles such as dinosaurs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-teeth-wear-patterns-and-animal-diets">Teeth wear patterns and animal diets</h2>



Beyond chemical traces, the scientists also investigated the mechanical wear patterns on modern reptile teeth, collecting data in collaboration with Dr. Daniela Winkler at <a href="https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kiel University</a>.&nbsp;



Scratches on tooth surfaces reveal whether an animal consumed tough materials such as shells or bones, or softer foods.&nbsp;



When combined with isotope data, these wear patterns can distinguish faunivores that ingested abrasive substances from those relying on soft food sources.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-discovering-the-diets-of-extinct-species">Discovering the diets of extinct species</h2>



“In order to understand and interpret the data for chemical and mechanical patterns of nutritional behavior from fossil finds, we first had to determine the corresponding information for related modern species with their known dietary preferences,” said Tütken.



“As a result, we now have a reference frame for comparison that enables the precise diet assessment and thus a more accurate reconstruction of the feeding habits of extinct species.”



The study forms part of a larger initiative led by Tütken, who in 2016 received an ERC Consolidator Grant to examine the feeding habits of early land vertebrates.&nbsp;



By combining geochemical and mechanical evidence, Tütken’s team has created an essential resource for scientists to unravel the mystery of what ancient reptiles - and possibly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-tracks-discovered-on-uks-dinosaur-highway/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dinosaurs</a> - might have eaten, guiding us toward a deeper understanding of evolutionary history.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2002" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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Reptiles provide new clues about the diets of extinct animals

Scientists have long pondered how evolution resulted in the development of both herbivores and carnivores. To understand this, it is important to clarify what type of food did extinct vertebrates eat. But how can we know what the diets of these creatures were?&nbsp; While in living animals we can directly observe what they feed on, in the case of extinct species researchers must rely on morphological or chemical information supplied by fossils.&nbsp; Now, a research team led by professor Thomas Tütken from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU)...

Beginning around 2006, readers of the science news sections of mainstream publications were deluged with stories about the decline of honey bees. Since then, the headlines have been a constant lament:

“The Bees Are Dying!” “What Is Killing the Bees?” “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20130819,00.html">A World Without Bees</a>.” 

It’s not that these apocalyptic headlines are inaccurate. Something is indeed killing domestic honey bees (Apis mellifera). Colony collapse disorder has created serious problems for apiarists and the farmers who rely on their services. In this phenomenon, entire colonies die out in short order. The causes are still unknown; theories have ranged from infestations of parasitic Varroa mites to cell phone waves to loss of genetic diversity. The increased use of neonicotinoid pesticides in agriculture is currently a leading contender in explaining the honey bee holocaust. In all likelihood, it is a combination of factors.

But, as scientists have been trying to emphasize for decades, to little success on a large scale, colony collapse disorder is more of a catastrophe for humans than it is for the natural world. You see, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/queen-bee-dies-successor/">bees</a> in question are domesticated. Humans have cultivated bees for honey and for their pollination services for some 9,000 years and have been raised in the United States since at least 1622. Native to Europe and Asia, they’ve also been introduced to South America and Australia as well. Their services as pollinators have been valued at up to $14 billion annually in the U.S. 

Hence, one assumes, the hysteria. 

Despite the alarming incidence of colony collapse, their population has raised by nearly 50% since World War II, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)00982-8">per a 2009 study by the Universidad Nacional del Comahue</a>. The inaccurate framing of the problem as a conservation issue has in fact overshadowed a far more concerning one: the fate of native bees. Aside from the well-known honey bee, there are some 20,000 known species of bee and perhaps another 20,000 yet to be discovered and catalogued. Approximately 4,337 species are native to the U.S. alone. Bees are thought to be the most important pollinators in the world, with 80-90% of plants requiring bee pollination in some ecosystems. And these native bees are under threat, too. 

Because these species are less recognizable, due to their often smaller size and smaller numbers, and because their benefits to humans aren’t as well known, the media coverage has been negligible. Even programs like the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Blog/PPAP_2016.pdf">2016 Pollinator Partnership Action Plan</a>, which focused on honeybees and monarch butterflies, failed to mention the plight of native bees. This needs to be remedied. Some 50% of native bees in the U.S. are in decline and 40% of pollinators, including bees, are threatened globally according to a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/Pollinators_in_Peril.pdf">2017 study by the Center for Biological Diversity</a>. 

As one would expect, the reasons for this are multitudinous. Interestingly, the introduction of non-native honeybees, as well as that of species like the large earth bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), which is used commercially in greenhouses to pollinate such crops as tomatoes, may actually have contributed to this decline. <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0189268">A 2017 survey of the literature by the University of Florida</a> found that 53% of studies on competition between honey bees and introduced bumblebees, and native bees, reported negative effects for the native bees and a further 19% found mixed positive and negative effects. Honey bees and non-native bumblebees are often more aggressive foragers than natives, forcing the natives to subsist on their leftovers, which is more time-consuming, or to fly further to find appropriate flowers. <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/ZO/ZO98016">A 1999 University of Tasmania study</a> found that two species of native bee avoided areas where introduced bumblebees were foraging.

Because introduced honey bees and bumblebees are social and live in sizeable colonies (up to 60,000 in honey bees), in contrast to many native bees, which are solitary or live in small colonies, they are breeding grounds for disease. And they have been demonstrated to be able to transmit those diseases to native bees, as in the case of the U.S. native rusty patched bumblebee, assigned to the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/44937399/0">endangered species list in 2017</a>. Its decline has been attributed to disease transmitted by domestic bees. Other studies, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715002463">such as one from the University of Sussex in 2015</a> and <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.12134">one from the University of Leeds in 2013</a>, share this concern.

Introduced bees are not the only threats to our native species. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14420">A 2015 study by Lund University </a>showed that fields of canola planted with seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides showed serious drop-offs in wild bee foraging and nesting. And that was just when the seeds were treated. Entire fields of live plants are sprayed with neonicotinoids. One can only imagine the devastation to insect life wreaked by that practice. 

<a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/158/htm#B82-diversity-06-00158">Habitat fragmentation</a> and the existence of <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/158/htm#B82-diversity-06-00158">wide swathes of homogenous crop fields</a> have also contributed to the decline of native bees. The loss of plant species diversity accompanying these phenomena has posed major challenges. Some native bees are specialists; they only pollinate one or two species of plant. In the absence of those species, they cannot subsist.

It’s worth noting, too, that native bees provide invaluable pollination services to agriculture themselves. While honeybees and introduced bumblebees certainly amp up production rates, natives are a major factor in crop success. In fact, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/99/26/16812">a 2001 study</a> showed that native bees could provide full pollination service to organic farms near large patches of wild land. No foreign intervention necessary. So, too, they are essential in maintaining native plant diversity. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanaka_Kenta2/publication/229416542_Commercialized_European_bumblebee_can_cause_pollination_disturbance_An_experiment_on_seven_native_plant_species_in_Japan/links/5a121eff0f7e9bd1b2c1009a/Commercialized-European-bumblebee-can-cause-pollination-disturbance-An-experiment-on-seven-native-plant-species-in-Japan.pdf">A 2006 study by Hokkaido University</a> found that native plants showed reduced fruiting capacity when only non-native pollinators were present. 

As if being ecological workhorses weren’t enough reason to love them, native bees are stunningly beautiful. This <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/page4">photostream from the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab</a> alone should elevate them from being the country cousins of butterflies and honey bees to charismatic microfauna status.

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/34274023055/in/photostream/">U.S. Geological Survey</a>

Save the native bees: Reframing the bee problem

Beginning around 2006, readers of the science news sections of...

A new proposal by the Trump administration aims to roll back some of the regulations enforced by the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-act-support/">Endangered Species Act</a>. Conservationists argue that the move will eliminate key services designed to protect animal and plant species that are threatened with extinction. 

Federal agencies collaborated in drafting the new rules, as President Trump continues to push for the streamlining of regulatory processes.


The <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a> (USFWS) and NOAA Fisheries announced the plans on Thursday, suggesting that the bill would help to better align the two agencies. 

USFWS Principal Deputy Director Greg Sheehan said in a statement: “ESA implementation was not consistent and oftentimes very confusing to navigate.”

“These rules will be very protective and enhance the conservation of the species,” said Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt. “At the same time we hope that they ameliorate some of the unnecessary burden, conflict and uncertainty that is within our current regulatory structure.”

If the bill is passed, threatened species will no longer receive the same protections as endangered species and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The administration also wants language removed from the ESA that suggests wildlife conservation is a priority over economic impacts.

As additional species are listed as threatened or endangered, industries such as drilling and mining suffer because development becomes restricted across new regions. Conservation groups believe that the proposal is in favor of large corporations.

The bill also aims to limit the evaluation of species’ habitats to those that are occupied. There are some situations, however, where unoccupied habitats are just as critical to the recovery of a threatened species.

Jake Li is the director for biodiversity at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center.

“Although some conservationists might characterize the entire rulemaking as simply another Trump administration effort to undercut conservation, we think that a closer look will reveal both advantages and concerns from a conservation perspective,” said Li.

Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, does not agree.

“These proposals would slam a wrecking ball into the most crucial protections for our most endangered wildlife,” said Hartl. “If these regulations had been in place in the 1970s, the bald eagle and the gray whale would be extinct today.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Trump administration takes aim at the endangered species act

A new proposal by the Trump administration aims to roll...

The remains of a baby snake found preserved in amber from Myanmar are estimated to be 99 million years old. The fossil, which is the first of its kind, is around two inches in length and has 97 vertebrae.

The experts also examined a second piece of amber containing what appears to be a fragment of skin from an adult <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/risk-death-snake-bites/">snake</a>. The specimens were obtained from an amber deposit in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, and date back to the early Late Cretaceous period.

Study co-author Dr. Lida Xing is a paleontologist from the <a href="http://en.cug.edu.cn/">China University of Geosciences</a> in Beijing. “The fossil is the first baby snake and the oldest baby snake to yet be found,” said Dr. Xing. 

Michael Caldwell is a snake paleontologist at the <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/">University of Alberta</a> who also co-authored the study. According to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a>, Dr. Caldwell said that, prior to this study, a fossilized baby snake has never been found - even in the rock fossil record.

Dr. Xing told the Times that hundreds of thousands of amber pieces had been retrieved from this region of Myanmar, but no snake was ever recovered.

When the specimen was first found, the creature inside was thought to be a centipede or a millipede because the head was missing. 

Micro-CT scans revealed that the fossil was that of a baby snake, and the paleontologists named the new species Xiaophis myanmarensis. It is unclear whether the snake was an embryo or a newborn, but tiny bones alongside a large spinal cord tube suggest that the baby was still developing.

“No one has ever seen a fossilized baby snake of any kind whatsoever. And having this one be nearly a hundred million old is really quite amazing,” Dr. Caldwell told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>.

“Whether or not these early snakes were giving live birth, which is common in modern snakes, or whether they were hatching from eggs, is unclear. But based on size and developmental stage, this thing was a newborn.”

The study authors explained that the new snake fossils represent “a greater ecological diversity and global distribution of Late Mesozoic snakes, and more specifically, Cretaceous snakes, than was previously understood.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</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: Ming Bai, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fossilized baby snake preserved in amber 100 million years later

The remains of a baby snake found preserved in amber...

Honey bees have developed an extremely effective defense mechanism to guard against lethal hornets that raid nests for larvae and food.

Worker honey bees swarm en masse by the hundreds to form a ball around the hornet. The vibration of the bees’ wings heats the ball to temperatures up to around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, which essentially cooks the hornet from the inside. 

It’s called the “hot defensive bee ball formation,” and now a new study has found that the defense strategy comes at a high price to the honeybees who make the formation. 

Entomologists from <a href="http://www.tamagawa.jp/en/">Tamagawa University</a> in Japan examined honey bees who formed the bee balls to see if there was any effect to the bee’s health or lifespan. 

Researchers have been aware of the bee ball defense since 1995 according to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2174097-honeybees-gang-up-to-roast-invading-hornets-alive-at-a-terrible-cost/">New Scientist </a>which reported in the study that was published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/honeybees-great-workers-even-ill/">Worker bees</a> have an average lifespan of several weeks and the researchers marked 350 Japanese honeybee workers between 15 and 20 days old with different colors to show their ages. 

The worker bees were then divided into two groups. The first group was the control group and they were kept in a hive free from attacks with a constant temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The second group had to protect against hornet attacks and formed the bee ball defense. Worker bees from the second group that were part of the ball died within ten days of the attack. Bees from the first group lived for 16 days. 

Even though the bee ball posed a significant risk to the bees’ lives, if a worker bee had been part of a previous bee ball it was more likely to join another attack in the future. 

“Our experiments revealed that bee ball participants died significantly earlier than nonparticipants of identical age,” the researchers said. “These findings strongly suggest that the high temperature created inside of the bee ball had a physiological effect on participating workers and resulted in reduced life expectancy.”

It is not clear why forming the bee ball has such an adverse effect on bee life spans, but one possibility is that the extreme heat damages the brain. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Effective honey bee defense strategy comes at a high cost

Honey bees have developed an extremely effective defense mechanism to...

Increased <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-arctic-temperatures-ecosystem/">temperatures in the Arctic</a> due to climate change are causing earlier and earlier springs and negatively affecting the migratory birds that go to the Arctic to breed. 

A new study found that even though migratory barnacle geese have tried to adapt to the earlier arctic springs by speeding up their 3,000-kilometer migration and taking fewer stops along the way, the birds are still laying their eggs too late. 

Because the geese are speeding up their travel time to get to the Arctic breeding grounds quicker, they need more time to rest and refuel before laying eggs. This has led to the reduced survival rate of goose chicks. 

The chicks are not able to forage properly or survive long to migrate on their own. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://nioo.knaw.nl/en">Netherlands Institute of Ecology</a> and the <a href="http://www.uva.nl/">University of Amsterdam </a>used a combination of tracking and observational methods to follow barnacle geese as they traveled to their Arctic breeding grounds in order to see how climate change was impacting breeding times and migration. 

Every spring, barnacle geese travel from temperate wintering grounds along the North Sea to breeding grounds in the Russian Arctic. 

The researchers observed that during early springs in the Arctic, the geese who had tired themselves during their migration didn’t lay their eggs until after the snow started melting. This created a disparity between hatching times and peak food availability. 

The results were published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30745-0">Current Biology</a> and show that unless migratory birds can learn to leave earlier as opposed to simply speeding up their travel time, geese populations could steadily decline. 

One problem is that the geese are sensitive to certain cues that signify it’s time to make their migratory trek such as a change in day length and vegetation greening, however these do not necessarily warn of warming temperatures in the Arctic. 

“The birds are leaping in the dark as they cannot predict, while being at the wintering grounds in temperate areas, whether it is going to be an early or late spring in the Arctic,” said Bart Nolet, a co-author of the study. 

“The weather systems in the temperate and Arctic regions are not linked, and on top of that, temperature rise is far stronger in the Arctic than in the temperate region. Only halfway through the migration, the geese are probably able to judge from environmental cues what spring will be like up in the Arctic, and they are apparently able to speed up if spring is early.”

The researchers say that the only hope for the birds lies in their ability to adapt to climate change and migrate earlier. 

There are instances of some barnacle geese making major adjustments to their migration patterns but it remains unknown whether or not if barnacle geese as a whole can change their migration cues. 

“Geese migrate in families, and young learn the route and timing from their parents,” said Nolet. “On the one hand, this leads to traditional patterns; on the other hand, it can lead to rapid adjustments when some birds experience that doing the migration differently--often induced by extreme weather events--pays off.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earlier Arctic springs are problematic for geese migrations

Increased temperatures in the Arctic due to climate change are...

A new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-asteroid-struck/">dinosaur</a> has been discovered – or, at least its fossils were discovered – in the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. These fossils represent a new genus and species of ankylosaurid dinosaur, and have revealed new details about the diversity and evolution of this group of dinosaurs.

The ankylosaurids were a group of four-legged herbivorous armored dinosaurs with tails that contained bony clubs. They are believed to have originated in Asia between 125-100 million years ago, but did not appear in the western North American fossil record until roughly 77 million years ago. This new species, discovered by researchers from the <a href="http://www.unews.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a>, lived 76 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. It has been named Akainacephalus johnsoni after Randy Johnson, a dedicated museum volunteer who helped prepare the specimen, and is of no relation to the Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson.

The fossil itself is the most complete skeleton of any ankylosaurid dinosaur found in the southwestern US, as it includes a complete skull, much of the vertebral column, a complete tail club, several fore and hind limb elements, and bony body armor that includes two neck rings and spiked armor plates. While the species was expected to look like other North American Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaurs, with smooth bony armor on the skull, the researchers’ findings indicate that this species’ defining features align more closely with Asian ankylosaurids – mainly due to it having more pronounced spikes on the skull. 

Jelle Wiersma, the lead author of the study, suggests that the geographic distribution of Late Cretaceous ankylosaurids throughout the Western Interior was due to several intervals of lowered sea level, which allowed Asian ankylosaurids to cross into North America, resulting in the presence of two separate groups of ankylosaurid dinosaurs. This is because the lowering of sea levels exposed the Beringian land bridge, which these dinosaurs must have crossed. The authors believe that Akainacephalus once roamed the southern part of Laramidia, a land mass on the western coast of a shallow sea that split the continent of North America in two.

“It is always exciting to name a new fossil taxon, but it is equally exciting if that taxon also provides additional insights into the bigger picture of its life, such as its diet or aspects of its behavior, and the environment it lived in,” says Wiersma. “Such is exactly the case with Akainacephalus johnsoni; not only is this the first described and named Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur from Utah, but this unique animal also strengthens the evidence that distinct northern and southern provincialism existed during the late Campanian stage in Laramidia, because to date, we don’t see this type of ankylosaurid dinosaurs in the fossil record of northern Laramidia.”

Ultimately, this discovery helps paint a clearer picture of the lives these dinosaurs led, and the evolutionary events that defined them. “It is extremely fascinating and important for the science of paleontology that we can read so much information from the fossil record, allowing us to better understand extinct organisms and the ecosystems they were a part of,” says Wiersma.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Andrey Atuchin and the Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science

New armored dinosaur discovered in Utah

A new dinosaur has been discovered – or, at least...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> have found that support for the Endangered Species Act has been stable for the last twenty years. Only about ten percent of Americans are opposed to the legislation, and four out of every five adults in the United States support it.


“Every time the ESA is in the news, you hear about how controversial it is,” said study lead author Professor Jeremy Bruskotter. “But the three most recent studies show that, on average, approximately 83 percent of the public supports it, and that's sort of the opposite of controversial.”

Support was found to be consistent throughout various regions of the country. Roughly 74 percent of conservatives, 77 percent of moderates, and 90 percent of liberals said they stood behind the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-act-endangered/">law</a>.


The most opposition to the act by any group was found among property rights advocates, with around 21 percent opposed.

Professor Bruskotter believes that the public's impression of the ESA may not line up with the perspective of individuals who seek to roll back the reach of the legislation due to business and political interests.

“Scholars, the media and others keep talking about how controversial the act is and we wanted to know whether that was really true in the population at large,” said Professor Bruskotter.


He said that the Endangered Species Act is undeniably under scrutiny in Washington D.C.

“In the 1990s and 2000s, a typical year saw roughly five attempts to amend the act or curtail its protections. But from 2011 to 2015, there were about 33 legislative attacks per year - and there have been almost 150 in the last two years alone,” said Professor Bruskotter.

“I don't think at any time, maybe since the act was passed, have there been this many members of Congress working in direct opposition to the act, but that doesn't mean that they're acting in the interests of the people they represent.”

For the investigation, the researchers analyzed census data and responses to a 2014 online survey. They compared the results with a separate poll and two studies conducted in the last two decades to see if there was evidence of shifting feelings about the ESA over time. 

Across these studies, support ranged from a low of 79 percent to a high of 90 percent, and opposition ranged from a low of seven percent to a high of 16 percent.

Professor Bruskotter said that he would like to see elected officials and other policymakers consider what the majority of Americans think about existing protections and not let vocal minorities drown out the will of the American people.

“Government should be responsive to its citizens, but our research suggests that is not how government is working, at least not when it comes to environmental policy,” he said.

Study co-author John Vucetich of <a href="https://www.mtu.edu/">Michigan Technological University</a> added: “The Endangered Species Act is a genuine point of American pride; it's considered one of the best laws in the world for conserving biodiversity. So why don't our representatives represent us?”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1755263x">Conservation Letters</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Most Americans support the Endangered Species Act, study finds

Researchers at Ohio State University have found that support for...

While bats may not be the most beloved animal on our planet, they undoubtedly play an important role in protecting our environment. Bats help control the number of pest species through predation, spread plant seeds, and help pollinate over 500 plant species. But this crucial animal has been facing a deadly battle against the fungus known as white-nose syndrome.

White-nose syndrome is a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The disease gets the name white-nose syndrome because affected bats often are affected with white fuzz on their face in addition to premature arousals, unusual behaviors, dehydration and loss of fat reserves. Bats with the disease can be repeatedly woken from their hibernation which leads to them burning off their winter fat reserves and starving to death before spring arrives. The disease grows in cool, dark spaces such as caves where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fuzzy-yellow-bats-kenya/">bats</a> often hibernate.

White-nose syndrome was first discovered in Albany, New York in 2007. After the initial discovery, a photograph was found depicting white-nose syndrome in the Albany area at Howes Cave in February 2006.

Since its discovery, white-nose syndrome has spread rapidly to more than half of the United States and seven provinces in Canada. In fact, a contaminated bat was found as far away as Washington State. Spores of the fungus can be spread by unknown hikers and cave explorers who come into contact with the disease.

The disease causes high death rates and has killed an estimated 5.7 million bats in North America since it was first discovered in 2007. According to <a href="http://www.batcon.org/">Bat Conservation International</a>, “The disease is causing massive population declines for multiple hibernating bat species – resulting in the most precipitous wildlife collapse of the past century. The disease has hit northern long-eared bats particularly hard – threatening this species with extinction.”

A study published in the journal <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/329/5992/679.full">Science</a> found that white-nose syndrome has caused regional population collapses. The researchers predicted the disease will lead to regional extinctions of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). Today, eleven North American species, including two endangered species and one threatened species, are affected with the disease.

Unfortunately, there is no known cure for white-nose syndrome which leaves conservationists largely defenseless as bat populations continue to be wiped out.

Efforts are underway to track and research white-nose syndrome. The <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a> has led interagency responses to the disease since 2008 and has dedicated more than $30 million in research and state grants. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/index.htm">National Park Service</a> has funded over 158 projects related to the disease in 78 parks. Non-profit groups such as<a href="https://www.nature.org/?intc=support.tnav.logo"> The Nature Conservancy</a> and Bat Conservation International have also conducted their own research to test potential methods for controlling the disease.

There is still hope that a cure can be found. In 2015, scientists were able to successfully treat bats for white-nose syndrome during field trials using a bacterium that has the ability to inhibit the growth of certain fungi. Additionally, in January 2018 a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02441-z">study</a> in Nature Communications found that UV-C light was able to kill over 99% of the fungus.

The study says, “The differential susceptibility of P. destructans to UV light in comparison to other hibernacula-inhabiting fungi represents a potential ‘Achilles’ heel’ of P. destructans that might be exploited for treatment of bats with WNS.”

While this may be the most promising chance for bats yet, the UV light studies will have to go from petri dishes to actual bats to test its ability to protect bats. Researchers will also have to figure out a way to use UV light in the field to treat infected bats. Flashing a UV light into a cave likely would not be enough because the disease can manifest in crevices such as the bats’ armpits that would not be exposed to the light.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

White-nose syndrome is quietly killing millions of bats

While bats may not be the most beloved animal on...

It’s a well-known fact that we currently know less about the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-storage-ocean-floor/">ocean floor</a> than we do about the surface of the moon. Our oceans are the largest and least explored environments on the planet, and scientists estimate they may contain up to a million species that are yet to be discovered. Still, deep-ocean dives in specially designed submersibles frequently turn up new species. Many of these organisms are soft-bodied – similar to jellyfish, squid, and octopuses – which makes them difficult to capture for study without harming them.

Luckily, a new device has just been developed by researchers at <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/">Harvard University’s Wyss Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/">John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> (SEAS), and <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/">Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study</a>. This device can capture soft-bodied species for study inside a folding polyhedral enclosure, before letting them go unharmed. The research is reported in <a href="http://robotics.sciencemag.org/">Science Robotics</a>.

The device was designed and built by Zhi Ern Teoh, Ph.D., and consists of five 3D-printed polymer “petals” attached to rotating joints that are linked together to create a scaffold. A motor applies torque to the point where the petals meet, resulting in the entire structure rotating about the joints and folding into a hollow dodecahedron – which is a twelve-sided 3D shape, almost like a rounded box. This device has been named the Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron (RAD). 

The RAD sampler was tested at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT, where it successfully collected and released moon jellyfish underwater. It was then modified to withstand open ocean conditions, and mounted on an underwater remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) provided by the <a href="https://www.mbari.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute</a> in Monterey, CA. The device was tested in the field at depths of 500-700 meters, using the ROV’s manipulator arm and a human-controlled joystick to operate the RAD. In the field, the team was able to capture soft organisms like squid and jellyfish in their natural habitats, and then release them unharmed. 

“The RAD sampler design is perfect for the difficult environment of the deep ocean because its controls are very simple, so there are fewer elements that can break. It’s also modular, so if something does break, we can simply replace that part and send the sampler back down into the water,” says Teoh. “This folding design is also well-suited to be used in space, which is similar to the deep ocean in that it’s a low-gravity, inhospitable environment that makes operating any device challenging.”

Teoh is currently working on a more rugged version of the RAD to be used in heavy-duty underwater tasks – such as marine geology. Robert Wood, Ph.D., a Founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute, explains how the benefits of this device go beyond its practical use: “Our group’s collaboration with the marine biology community has opened the door for the fields of soft robotics and origami-inspired engineering to apply those technologies to solve problems in an entirely different discipline, and we are excited to see the ways in which this synergy creates novel solutions.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A novel device for capturing delicate, undiscovered sea creatures

It’s a well-known fact that we currently know less about...

Large animals are known collectively as “megafauna” – such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ground-vibrations-elephants-poachers/">elephants</a>, giraffes, hippos and other enormous creatures. In many ecosystems, herbivorous megafauna are crucial for the dispersal of the seeds of many terrestrial plants, particularly those bearing large fruits (“megafaunal fruits”). In the forests of Thailand, sambar deer, bears, gibbons, and elephants play this critical role for the forest tree Platymitra macrocarpa, which bears 3-5” long fruits that these animals consume. 

A study published in the open-access journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a> assesses the relative contribution of each of these species to the seed dispersal of this tree. The authors of the study tracked fruit consumption, seed dispersal, and seed viability by observing trees during the fruiting period, sampling dung piles and other sites of deposited seeds, and measuring the rate of germination and growth of deposited seeds. Through this analysis, they were able to calculate the seed dispersal effectiveness for each megafauna species that uses these trees as an open buffet.

Their results showed that, while elephants consume a paltry 3 percent of the available fruit, they were responsible for a whopping 37 percent of the seeds that produced viable seedlings. On the other hand, sambar deer consumed 23 percent of fruit, but were only responsible for 17 percent of seedlings. This was determined to be a result of the much more significant beetle damage done to the seeds the deer excreted. 

Although smaller members of this ecosystem’s megafauna such as deer and bear play important roles in seed dispersal, their effectiveness is lower. Ultimately, they require more fruit to reach the same level of reproduction achieved by elephants with significantly less fruit consumed.

“If less vulnerable large herbivores such as deer are unable to replicate the seed dispersal role of threatened mega-herbivores such as elephants, megafaunal fruit could suffer range contractions, affecting forest community composition and potentially forest carbon stocks,” says Kim McConkey of the <a href="http://www.nias.res.in/">National Institute of Advanced Studies</a> in Bangalore, Thailand. 

Although it may seem that a study into the seed dispersal of a handful of species for one tree in one ecosystem has a small scope, this couldn’t be further from the truth. If this widely-dispersed tree species is unable to reproduce effectively, it could have major effects on numerous species within the ecosystem, not to mention the forest carbon stocks indicated by McConkey. In ecosystems such as this, small changes can have major consequences.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Kulpat Saralamba

Elephants are crucial to the survival of this tropical tree

Large animals are known collectively as “megafauna” – such as...

About a week ago, I was walking my dog through a neighborhood in western Colorado.  In the street I saw a juvenile male robin. The bird moved away from me and the dog, flapping rather ineffectually.  I watched the robin for a bit and tried to shoo the bird off the road so at least he wouldn’t be hit by a car. The bird’s condition was a familiar one to me.  As an intern for the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">United States Geological Survey</a> (USGS) working on seabird research in Alaska, I’ve seen plenty of young birds in an awkward stage of almost fledging.  I’ve also seen plenty of chicks die young. 

As I was watching the robin in the street, I noticed a few things.  First, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-birds-hatch-late/">bird</a> had plenty of adult feathers but wasn’t completely mature yet.  Second, the bird’s behavior seemed the normal behavior of a fledgling just started on learning to fly.  Lastly I saw that the robin had no signs of injury or sickness, just a frustration from trying to learn to fly.  I decided to leave the bird as he was and hope for the best; the robin was after all just going through the normal process of growing up.  As I determined to leave the bird alone, a woman from a nearby yard started talking to me. The woman said she’d just asked her brother in law to catch the bird for her, so she could help it.  The woman said she thought the bird had a broken wing. I corrected the impression of injury, telling her I’d worked with birds before and this one was just fledging. The woman was well intentioned but it was clear she was determined to intervene on behalf of the fledgling robin. 

I thought back to a couple of times when I had naively thought to help wildlife and how poorly it had gone.  When I was still quite young, 10 years old at most, I was playing outside in a tract of prairie near my home in Wyoming.  I often played in the bluffs of the area, catching toads, collecting bones and rocks. On the day in question I came upon a just born Pronghorn fawn.  The fawn looked helpless next to its amniotic sac. As an unwitting but concerned child, I picked up the infant Pronghorn and awkwardly carried her home to elicit my parents help.  

My parents are not wildlife veterinarians.  A call to the Department of Wildlife, Animal Control or some other government agency quickly confirmed my mistake.  It was probably that the pronghorn mother was nearby, watching the fawn, perhaps only scared away by my approach. I don’t remember all of the details of my encounter with the Pronghorn; I’m not sure what the fate of the baby was.  I did learn a valuable lesson though: not every intervention is good. Often nature is best left to its own devices. 

In 2016, <a href="https://yellowstoneinsider.com/2016/05/17/man-who-picked-up-bison-calf-in-yellowstone-identified/">Yellowstone Insider</a> and many others reported an instance of a man driving through Yellowstone National Park picked up an abandoned Bison calf.  It seems the calf was truly abandoned by its mother and was certain to die of starvation, predation or exposure. In the end the bison calf was brought to rangers for help but was euthanized when it was obvious the calf wouldn’t reintegrate into the herd.  Many were outraged at the naivety of the man who picked up a cold bison calf to help, blaming him for the calf’s eventual death. The sad truth of the matter is that there was nothing to be done to save the Bison calf in Yellowstone that wouldn’t have made the animal captive, an option the Park Service wouldn’t consider.  The Bison like my own Pronghorn illustrates a truth: no matter how well intentioned we can’t always save a life, especially the life of a wild animal. 

Keeping in mind the presence of real limitations, there are many cases of wildlife rescued from bad situations, including orphaned infants.  This year, <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/06/29/bear-cub-rescued-colorado-wildfire/">The Denver Post</a> reported that a bear cub was rescued from a wildfire in Colorado.  The cub’s paws were badly burned but the bear is expected to be released by winter.  Of course in the case of bear cubs, a professional is required to keep the cub safe as well as keep the bear from associating too closely with humans, endangering her life in the future. 

Struggling birds, like the one I found while walking my dog, are common.  According to <a href="https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/birds/baby-birds-out-of-the-nest">Massaudubon.org</a>, only 30% of young songbirds survive their first year of life.  The website goes on to say that most of the time, birds should be left alone pointing out it’s illegal to take care of native birds in your home.  

I’m reminded of another incident.  A non-native House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) near where I lived was injured by a cat.  My then-girlfriend Erin and I took the sparrow in while deciding what to do to help the little bird or if indeed there was anything to do at all.  Against Erin’s advice, I fed the small bird bits of cracker crumbs. A few hours later, the House Sparrow was dead. It turns out that the high salt content of processed foods is deadly to non-domesticated birds.  I learned that despite volunteering on bird research projects in three countries, despite an education in biology, I knew nothing about caring for a bird.  

A simple Google search reveals that there are many individuals and organizations that are more educated and experienced than I at caring for birds and other injured wild animals.  The <a href="http://www.avianhaven.org/">Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center</a> of New England is an example plucked straight from a search.  According to the center’s website, they have a caseload of about 2,000 birds annually.  The organization is the largest in the area but not the only, and there are many different wildlife rehab organizations in the US (and elsewhere), it just takes a bit of searching to find them.  You can also call your local animal control branch or division of wildlife can help. 

When I was living in South Dakota, I visited a raptor center that cared for raptors injured, often by human activity.  I was able to hold a small owl in my hand, the little bird peering at me with nocturnal eyes through the deepening evening.  The raptors were unable to return to the wild, too hurt, too accustomed to humans. In many areas, raptors (including owls) are taken care of and become part of wildlife education programs in an attempt to increase the public’s understanding of wildlife.  Years ago, in Tasmania, I saw such a program with a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) that had lost a wing when striking a powerline diving for prey.  It was there that I learned that the peregrine was indeed a wanderer of almost the whole earth.        

For young animals, especially birds, it’s best to keep in mind that appearances can be deceiving.  An article from <a href="https://www.peta.org/action/how-to-save-baby-birds/">PETA</a> says that most fledglings don’t need help.  This is somewhat contradictory with the idea of only 30% of songbirds surviving their first year but it’s more a matter of birds not needing help most people are capable of giving.  

The next piece of advice PETA gives, after assessing the good health of the bird in question, is to try and return the fledgling to the nest.  It’s important here to confront a common misconception. Most people have heard somewhere or other that birds will smell human touch on their young and abandon a fledgling touched by a person.  The fact is, most birds have a poor sense of smell and there’s no evidence that handling a bird will cause her parents to abandon her. I’ve handled many baby birds in Alaska and a few in the Bahamas as part of conservation research and none of them were rejected by their parents.  If you can get a fledgling back into the nest, it’s the best thing you can do. I helped several young Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) by putting them back in their nest once.  It’s important to remember though, the birds are leaving the nest because they’re almost ready to fly; they certainly will leave the nest again.  

The next best thing to returning a bird to a nest is to create a surrogate nest.  A well-padded and well drained container that can be put out of reach of cats and other predators is best.  A fledgling’s parents usually continue to feed their young as long as they’re close to the nest. 

If you find an injured animal or one that is truly abandoned, it’s best to contact a rehab facility or government authority such as animal control before you do anything else.  Most wildlife are managed under federal law and even an attempt to help them may be illegal. Besides the law, most of us don’t really understand how to care for our wild neighbors.  

In the end, what did I do with the robin I found in the street?  When confronted by a woman wanting to help, I quickly ascertained that there was little I could do to convey the situation to her and how little she could do to help.  I quietly caught the fledgling robin in my hand. I told the woman and her brother in law when he arrived on the scene that I’d take the bird. I told them that I had worked with birds before, perhaps slightly deceptively.  After I walked away, I returned to the area and released the robin to a small tree in a nearby empty piece of land. I hoped for the best for the robin. The stats were against the small fledgling but then again, robins are everywhere.  One thing I hoped I had achieved at least, by returning the robin, I hoped more than anything he wouldn’t die in a cage. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

How to take care of injured animals

About a week ago, I was walking my dog through...

Scientists have been investigating how different populations of the same species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-are-being-killed-for-use-as-bait-in-fisheries/">dolphin</a> have a wide range of diving abilities. The experts have developed a new theory that lung architecture and the management of blood flow play a major role in the hunting depths of dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphin populations are typically close to land in shallow coastal environments and dive of less than 10 meters for their prey. However, other groups such as the Bermudian population dive to depths of around 400 meters, and even 1000 meters on some occasions.

Dr. Andreas Fahlman of the <a href="https://www.oceanografic.org/fundacion/">Fundación Oceanográfic</a> in Spain led two separate studies to gain a better understanding of how dolphins of a single species could dive so differently.

“We wanted to measure what kind of differences are responsible for these huge variations,” said Dr. Fahlman. “This allows us to determine how far the physiology can change within a single species and understand the threat that stressors may have on these deep diving dolphins.”

In the first study, deep diving dolphins were found to have a greater oxygen storage capacity compared to bottlenose dolphins in Florida that dive in shallow water. While this capacity would enable them to dive for longer durations, there were no differences in the lung mechanics or metabolic rates between the two populations.

“This was unexpected, as past studies have suggested that compression of the lungs was the main adaptation to avoid taking up excessive nitrogen at depth and getting the bends,” said Dr. Fahlman. “The lack of differences in the lungs between the shallow and deep divers suggest that the dolphins may use other means to avoid diving related problems.”


In a second study, the team estimated how different populations may manage gas exchange according to their diving lifestyles. A model developed by the experts indicated that, when comparing known parameters of how much oxygen storage would be required, the deep diving dolphins would exceed their calculated dive limits.

“The results indicated that the deep diving population would need to keep an elevated heart rate, not only during surface intervals, but also during shallow dives in-between deep dives to allow sufficient restoration of oxygen stores,” said Dr.Fahlman. 

“Keeping the blood flow elevated between deep foraging dives helps reduce time spent at the surface and enhances recovery time. On the other hand, during deep dives, the dolphins would need to direct blood flow through collapsed regions of the lung, allowing some exchange of oxygen and carbon, while preventing the exchange of nitrogen. Thus, the dolphins may have a way to manage the level of nitrogen they absorb and thereby preventing the bends.”

“This hypothesis provides new and exciting research opportunities to understand how mammals can dive to extreme breaths on a lung full of air without any of the related problems that humans experience. However, our dataset is limited, and further studies should be done on other deep diving dolphin populations to determine if there are similar physiological requirements for deep diving.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology">Frontiers in Physiology</a>.

--

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

How do some dolphins dive deeper than others?

Scientists have been investigating how different populations of the same...

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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?

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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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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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

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