Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid impact near the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico ended the era of non-avian dinosaurs. But amid the global upheaval, certain birds - and the group that gave rise to today’s ducks and geese - found sanctuary in the temperate habitats of Antarctica.&nbsp;



Now, an article published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08390-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a> describes a nearly complete, 69-million-year-old fossil skull of Vegavis iaai, an early relative of modern waterfowl.



Study lead author Christopher Torres spent three years at <a href="https://www.ohio.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ohio University</a> as an NSF postdoctoral fellow. He investigated how various factors - ranging from ecological roles to brain anatomy - played into bird diversification and resilience to extinction. 



“Few birds are as likely to start as many arguments among paleontologists as Vegavis,” said Torres. “This new fossil is going to help resolve a lot of those arguments. Chief among them: where is Vegavis perched in the bird tree of life?”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-controversy-surrounding-the-bird-fossil-nbsp">Controversy surrounding the bird fossil&nbsp;</h2>



Originally identified two decades ago by study co-author Julia Clarke of <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The University of Texas at Austin</a> and colleagues, Vegavis was suggested to be a primitive modern (crown) bird related to waterfowl. 



Yet, given the scarcity of modern-type birds before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, some researchers questioned Vegavis’s classification.&nbsp;



The newly studied fossil addresses these doubts because it incorporates anatomical regions absent from earlier fossils - particularly a nearly intact skull.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-notable-features-of-the-bird-skull">Notable features of the bird skull</h2>



Skepticism surrounding the bird’s identity has largely been dispelled by notable skull features, including the structure of the beak and brain region, which align with traits found in present-day waterfowl.&nbsp;



The specimen further preserves strong jaw muscles, likely advantageous for diving and seizing fish - a departure from the feeding habits of most modern waterfowl but more reminiscent of species like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-loon-habitats-dramatically-altered-climate-change-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">loons</a> and grebes.



These skull features, combined with other evidence in the skeleton, support the idea that Vegavis propelled itself through water with its feet in pursuit of aquatic prey - an approach that diverges from what is typical of modern ducks and geese.



“This fossil underscores that Antarctica has much to tell us about the earliest stages of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/modern-bird-feathers-contain-traces-of-dinosaur-feathers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modern bird</a> evolution,” said co-author Patrick O’Connor, a paleontologist at Ohio University, and director of Earth and Space Sciences at <a href="https://www.dmns.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-late-cretaceous-bird-fossils">Late Cretaceous bird fossils</h2>



Bird fossils from this Late Cretaceous interval in other regions of the world tend to look distinctly un-modern. Moreover, localities that preserve delicate avian remains are quite rare, often providing fragments insufficient for determining much about the species’ evolutionary connections - mirroring the situation with Vegavis until now.



“And those few places with any substantial fossil record of Late <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extraordinary-dinosaur-fossils-discovered-from-the-end-of-cretaceous-era/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cretaceous</a> birds, like Madagascar and Argentina, reveal an aviary of bizarre, now-extinct species with teeth and long bony tails, only distantly related to modern birds,” said O’Connor.



“Something very different seems to have been happening in the far reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, specifically in Antarctica.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antarctica-and-early-bird-evolution-nbsp">Antarctica and early bird evolution&nbsp;</h2>



Exactly how the Antarctic continent shaped the development of current ecosystems across deep time remains a focus of worldwide scientific inquiry.&nbsp;



According to study co-author Matthew Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Antarctica is in many ways the final frontier for humanity’s understanding of life during the Age of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/where-did-dinosaurs-come-from-missing-fossils-hold-the-secret/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dinosaurs</a>.



“This discovery exemplifies the power of scientific research and the crucial role our institution plays in advancing knowledge about Earth's deep history,” said Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez.&nbsp;



“This research not only enhances our understanding of early bird evolution but also highlights the invaluable contributions of Ohio graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are at the forefront of these expeditions. It is through these global, expeditionary efforts - whether in the field or in the lab - that we can truly grasp the dynamic changes our planet has undergone over millions of years.”&nbsp;



 Gonzalez noted that the study is a prime example of real-world experiential learning that connects STEM education with hands-on, transformative research, preparing the next generation of scientists to tackle the challenges of the future.



“Large-scale projects like this one, involving students and postdoctoral researchers, prepare the scientists of tomorrow to collaborate, advance science, and tackle the biggest questions facing our planet,” O’Connor concluded.



Image Credit: Mark Witton, 2025.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-ralls/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eric Ralls</a> and Earth.com.



-----

Earliest modern bird lived in Antarctica 69 million years ago

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid impact near the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico ended the era of non-avian dinosaurs. But amid the global upheaval, certain birds - and the group that gave rise to today’s ducks and geese - found sanctuary in the temperate habitats of Antarctica.&nbsp; Now, an article published in the journal Nature describes a nearly complete, 69-million-year-old fossil skull of Vegavis iaai, an early relative of modern waterfowl. Study lead author Christopher Torres spent three years at Ohio University as an NSF postdoctoral fellow....

A new study led by scientists at the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found that beluga whales and narwhals experience menopause. This brings the number of species that are known to go through <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-menopause-vegetable-protein/">menopause</a> to a total of five.

Besides humans, all of the other animals that experience menopause are toothed whales. This life transition was previously identified in killer whales and short-finned pilot whales.


Nearly all animals reproduce late in life, and scientists have been speculating about why some species have evolved to stop reproducing at some point. The results of the current study suggest that menopause evolved independently in three of the whale species.


“For menopause to make sense in evolutionary terms, a species needs both a reason to stop reproducing and a reason to live on afterwards,” said study first author Dr. Sam Ellis. “In killer whales, the reason to stop comes because both male and female offspring stay with their mothers for life - so as a female ages, her group contains more and more of her children and grandchildren.”

“This increasing relatedness means that, if she keeps having young, they compete with her own direct descendants for resources such as food. The reason to continue living is that older females are of great benefit to their offspring and grand-offspring. For example, their knowledge of where to find food helps groups survive.”


The menopause life stage of killer whales has been documented in great detail because it has been analyzed now for over four decades. 

In the current investigation, the researchers found dormant ovaries in older beluga and narwhal females. The researchers predict that these species have social structures similar to killer whales, in which the females live among more and more close relatives as they age. 

This was found to be the case in early humans as well, which indicates that menopause may have evolved so that older females can benefit the social group by helping others in late life instead of continuing to reproduce.


“It's hard to study human behavior in the modern world because it's so far removed from the conditions our ancestors lived in,” said senior author Professor Darren Croft. “Looking at other species like these toothed whales can help us establish how this unusual reproductive strategy has evolved.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Whales reveal why females of certain species go through menopause

A new study led by scientists at the University of...

Since they escaped captivity in Devon, a group of eager beavers have “transformed” a valley  with a network of sturdy dams.

The beavers are thought to have been released, either by accident or in an unlicensed release, in 2005 near Percy’s Country Hotel in Devon. The <a href="https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/">Devon Wildlife Trust</a> applied to turn the accidental escape into a licensed trial reintroduction.

It’s been a reintroduced-to-the-wild success, and researchers are learning valuable lessons about water management from the network of the 100-foot dams the population of beavers have built in the years since.

“Beaver engineering at Combeshead, particularly the building of dams has transformed the environment, increasing water storage and creating diverse wetlands,” Dr. Alan Puttock of the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> told the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/">Daily Mail</a>. “Our research has shown that beaver activity can slow the flow of water following rain storms potentially providing a valuable component to future flood and land management strategies.”

The study found that the beaver dams prevent nutrients and soil from being carried downstream during by trapping sediment, benefiting soils both upstream and downstream.

A study released in May found that 70 percent of the sediment trapped by the dams had eroded from grassland fields farther upstream. 

“We are heartened to discover that beaver dams can go a long way to mitigate this soil loss and also trap pollutants which lead to the degradation of our water bodies,” Dr. Richard Brazier, who led the study, said in a press release. 

The Eurasian beaver was native to the British Isles, but was hunted to extinction there – and in many areas of Europe – when beaver fur became a hot commodity. The last recorded beaver seen in the UK was shot in Scotland in 1526. 

The Devon study shows that reintroducing eager beavers and their engineering to other parts of the UK could help the islands’ ecology.

“Were beaver dams to be commonplace in the landscape we would no doubt see these effects delivering multiple benefits across whole ecosystems, as they do elsewhere around the world,” Brazier said.

Research funding came from <a href="http://www.westlandcs.co.uk/">Westland Countryside Stewards</a> and the <a href="https://nerc.ukri.org/">Natural Environment Research Council</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Eager beavers could benefit British agriculture

Since they escaped captivity in Devon, a group of eager...

People often  blush when they're embarrassed, nervous, and sometimes it's even a sign of attraction. For some, turning a deep shade of red or pink is even more embarrassing than whatever triggered the nervous system to cause a flushed face in the first place.

Whatever causes us to blush, it’s just one of the many reflexive non-verbal cues that we as humans have even if we can’t control when it happens. 

It turns out that humans are not the only species to blush as a way to signal internal feelings, as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parrots-colorful-feathers/">parrots</a> may also blush and ruffle their feathers to communicate non-verbally with their caretakers and other birds.

Researchers from the French public institute <a href="http://www.val-de-loire.inra.fr/">INRA Centre Val de Loire</a> conducted a study examining captive blue-and-yellow macaws that had been hand reared.

“Blushing may not be a characteristic unique to humans: the featherless cheek of the blue-and-yellow macaw parrot reveals rapid skin color changes in situations associated with emotion,” said Aline Bertin, the lead author of the study. “The macaw's particularly complex face may enable communication of emotion via color and feather displays.”

The study was published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201762">PLOS ONE. </a>

Five macaws were observed and monitored while interacting both with each other and with their human caretakers.

The researchers focused on the birds’ feathers, when they were ruffled, and blushing of the bare skin of the birds’ cheeks. 

Feather ruffling and blushing increased when their owner was talking to them, maintaining eye contact, and interacting with the bird. The researchers also found that feather rustling was more common when the parrot wasn’t moving around. 

The researchers theorize that rustling feathers and blushing is a kind of nonverbal communication that indicates how the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parrots-colorful-feathers/">bird</a> is feeling. 

“How birds use facial displays and whether they communicate their inner subjective feelings is a question that is crucial to deepening our understanding of bird sentience,” the researchers said in their study. “Although caution must be exercised when interpreting these data due to the small sample size, we argue that crown ruffling and skin color variation may provide facial indicators of birds' inner subjective feelings.”

The study provides some potential insight into the communication cues of parrots and other birds which is important given how popular parrots are as pets. 

If we have a better understanding of what a parrot is trying to say, owners will be better equipped for caring properly for their bird. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Parrots blush as a way to communicate with their owner

People often  blush when they're embarrassed, nervous, and sometimes it's...

Although not yet listed as endangered, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giraffe-dies-after-it-falls-trying-to-get-food-from-zoo-visitor/">giraffe</a> populations have been declining at alarming rates, mostly due to habitat loss and poaching threats. 

Now, a new report conducted by the <a href="http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/giraffe-report-HSI-HSUS-082318.pdf">Humane Society of the United States</a> shows that even though giraffe populations are in trouble, giraffe parts are being imported into the United States and used to make everything from book covers to knife handles. 

According to the report, between 2006 and 2015 more than 40,000 giraffe parts were imported to the US. 

What is perhaps even more startling is that it’s all perfectly legal. 

According to the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/science/giraffe-sales-humane-society.html"> New York Times</a>, the Humane Society along with other animal advocacy groups want the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">United States Fish and Wildlife Service</a> to list giraffes as engendered so that there are more restrictions for importing giraffe parts. 

Two years ago it was <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giraffes-declining-predators/">reported that giraffes had declined 40 percent</a> since the 1980s, and populations dropped from around 150,000 to under 100,000, according to the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation on Nature</a> (IUCN).

The drop in giraffe numbers has gone relatively under the radar leading experts to call it the “silent extinction.” 

“Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media, and in zoos, people – including conservationists – are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction,” Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe specialist, said in a statement.

The trade of any giraffe parts means fewer giraffes in the wild, and while trophy hunting and poaching aren’t driving giraffes to immediate extinction, the Humane Society report says that it still puts pressure on the species.  

“These are products that most people wouldn’t be interested in, but I think it’s important to raise awareness among the public to the fact that these things are sold across the country,” Adam Peyman, manager of wildlife programs and operations for the Humane Society International told the New York Times.

Some of the products Peyman is referring to include bible covers, boots, and even the taxidermied body a young giraffe. 

Poaching and big game hunting present some of the biggest threats to the world’s most critically threatened and endangered species, and with the legal sale of products made from animal parts in the US it only increases the odds of a species’ extinction or endangerment. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giraffe parts sold legally in the US despite declining numbers

Although not yet listed as endangered, giraffe populations have been...

When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-comfort-owners-upset/">dogs</a> are in shelters, they are typically assigned breed labels based on their appearance. These labels can greatly influence how long it takes for shelter dogs to be adopted, primarily because of the various behaviors that are associated with different breeds.


Using genetic testing, a team at <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> (ASU) set out to investigate the accuracy of breed labels and how they may affect shelter dogs. The researchers obtained DNA from more than 900 dogs located in two shelters in California and Arizona.

The experts used commercially available canine DNA tests from the <a href="https://www.wisdompanel.com/">Wisdom Panel</a> for genetic testing. These kits include a small brush for collecting cells from the dog's cheeks and gums, which are sent to a lab to be processed.

The DNA tests revealed that the three most common breeds in both shelters were the same, including the American Staffordshire Terrier, Chihuahua, and Poodle.

“The level of genetic diversity in the shelter dogs exceeded our expectations: we found 125 distinct breeds,” said study co-author Lisa Gunter. “We also found that just 5% of the shelter dogs were purebred, even though it is commonly assumed that up to a quarter of dogs in shelters are purebred.”

The DNA tests provided information about three generations of ancestors for each dog. Most of the dogs had signatures of three different breeds, while some dogs had genetic characteristics of up to five breeds.

“Breed identification has quite an outsize role in people's perceptions of dogs,” said study co-author Clive Wynne. “'What breed is he?' is often the first question people ask about a dog, but the answer is often terribly inaccurate.”

With such a high level of genetic diversity among shelter dogs, it can be difficult for shelter staff to assess their breeds. Staff at the San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) used the physical appearance of dogs, as well as descriptions from American Kennel Club breed identification guides, to assign dogs a primary and a secondary breed.

By comparing the genetic information that they obtained from the dogs, the researchers found that the SDHS staff identified either the primary or the secondary breeds with 67-percent accuracy. However, when both breeds were taken into consideration, the staff’s level of accuracy fell to just 10 percent.

Breed labels can have negative consequences for shelter dogs. For example, a study published previously in PLOS ONE found that dogs who were labeled as pit bulls stayed in shelters over three times as long waiting to be adopted. The current study found that this was also the case at the SDHS, where dogs labeled as pit bulls remained for an average of three times longer compared to other breeds.


“The genetics of behavior is so complex that a dog who is a cross of two breeds might not behave much like the typical members of either of its parents' families,” said Wynne. “Then you have a situation where breed-typing is worse than stereotyping members of our own species. Breed labels would be better dropped altogether.”

“Shelter dogs are interesting and complex genetically,” added Gunter. “They really are individuals, and labeling them with a single breed can minimize their uniqueness.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Inaccurate identification of shelter dogs hurts adoption changes

When dogs are in shelters, they are typically assigned breed...

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I, a character proposes a unique torment for his enemy: he will train a starling to repeat his name and “gift” it to him as a means of inflaming his anger.

Starlings, like their close relatives the mynas, are indeed skillful mimics. But their aptitude for torment lies more in their adaptable nature and ferocious reproductive capabilities than in their parrot-like tendencies. Native to Eurasia and northern Africa, they are now nearly global in distribution. And outside their native range, they have proven to be nothing short of a plague.

Like many invasive species, common starlings (Sturnis vulgaris) were ushered into their non-native range intentionally—with generally beneficent motives. 

In Australia, where they were introduced in 1857, and New Zealand, where they were introduced in 1862, they were intended to control agricultural insect pests. Starlings are indeed voracious insect predators. They possess a uniquely strong jaw that allows them to penetrate the ground while foraging and open their beak, pushing aside the soil and allowing easier access to subterranean creatures. 

This digging functionality is a formidable adaptation in a predator of terrestrial invertebrates. They will eat anything from caterpillars to beetle larvae to millipedes, in addition to vegetable matter. While their presence may have had some small effect on the insect pests of Australia and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/winter-rain-southwest-new-zealand/">New Zealand</a>, it was outweighed by their competitive advantage over native species, which they continue to threaten and displace to this day. 

In North America, the motivations were, let’s face it, dumber. Or at least less pragmatic. People thought that starlings were pretty They reminded them of their European homeland. Entire societies dedicated to the notion of introducing common European and foreign species sprung up in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

These so-called “acclimatization societies” released numerous species of animal into North America simply because of their perceived aesthetic value. This trend in some cases resulted in the decimation of entire ecosystems, as in the case of Hawaii, where native birdlife was outcompeted and likely diseased by an enormous suite of introduced birds from around the world. The results of these misguided exercises are still visible today to visitors of the Hawaiian islands, where one can see Brazilian cardinals and Asian zebra doves in the span of a minute. 

The starling introductions, though, created a disaster on a much larger scale. First introduced in Cincinnati in 1872, and later in New York City in 1877, and in Portland in 1889, the species did not really take off until the 1890 introduction in New York City. Eugene Schieffelin, the founder of the American Acclimatization Society (1871), had shipped to the city from England 60 starlings. Heedless of the bitter March weather, he loosed the birds in Manhattan. The next year, he released another 40. 

Unlike previous efforts, this one stuck, perhaps due to New York’s unique brand of hospitality: easy shelter in the eaves of buildings, relatively abundant green space, and plenty of trash, which starlings are not hesitant to eat. Though legend has it that Schieffelin was motivated by a love of Shakespeare, and intended to introduce all bird species mentioned in his plays to the Americas, <a href="https://timeline.com/sparrows-invasive-species-america-9546e6a9e57e">as writer Matt Reimann points out</a>, there is no explicit mention of this agenda in the recorded literature. 

Schieffelin was a Shakespeare aficionado, and he loved birds, but there is no evidence that the two were connected. He did, notably, play a part in the introduction another of the worst avian pests in the Americas: the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), which was supposed to control the linden moth and ultimately took over the continent. So did starlings. They had spread to the Mississippi River by 1928 and by 1942 had reached California. (There is some uncertainty as to whether the population that was released in Portland in 1889 migrated down the west coast or the eastern population migrated west.) 

Their depredations are multitude. Starlings are known to disrupt the breeding habits of other birds that nest in cavities. While <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02262.x">a 2003 study</a> showed that only sapsuckers, a type of woodpecker, were noticeably influenced by the presence of starlings, anecdotal evidence has indicated that they disrupt nesting in birds ranging from wood ducks to bluebirds. 

They have also been implicated in the spread of disease, both to native birds and to livestock and humans. They are known to be carriers of West Nile virus, which wreaked havoc on native bird populations, and have also been implicated in the transmission of Histoplasmosis to immunocompromised humans, and in the infection of pigs with gastroenteritis virus, which in one case was thought to have wiped out 10,000 pigs in a month (1978–79). 

The birds are thought to be the second most populous species in North America, just behind red-winged blackbirds, with which they sometimes flock. Estimates of their population on this continent alone exceed 200 million. And despite the idea that they are useful controllers of agricultural pests, they are more than willing to avail themselves of the fruits of agriculture themselves. One study suggested that they are responsible for <a href="http://www.rexano.org/Federal_Canada/PimentelEtal00CostExotics.pdf">over $800 million in crop damage</a> each year in the United States. 

Even in light of their rapacity, one has to admire these birds. In breeding plumage, the males are subtly lovely, boasting a mane of shimmering, oil-slick feathers that iridesce in shades of green and purple. The white tips on their feathers developed in the summer slowly wear away and leave them mostly black by winter. 

These feathers are perhaps even more beautiful to the birds themselves; <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/94/16/8618.full.pdf">a 1998 study</a> demonstrated that the feathers appear different in the presence of ultraviolet light, suggesting that the birds may be able to see patterns that we cannot. And their murmurations, coordinated flocking efforts executed largely in winter, when they aggregate in enormous numbers, are among the most mesmerizing of natural spectacles. Their ability to move in rolling waves, seemingly effortlessly coordinated, is a testament to the wonders of social evolution. 

In the face of their Hitchcockian ubiquity, eradication efforts have proven largely fruitless. So perhaps we ought to learn to enjoy them.

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Starlings, darling: The making of an American pest

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I, a character proposes a...

Researchers in Florida observed something never-before-witnessed between wasps and an orange plant called a love vine. 

There are some species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parasitic-wasp-alien/">parasitic wasp</a> known as gall-forming wasps because they lay their eggs in newly formed oak trees. 

A brown sphere called a gall develops around the egg and becomes part of the tree, attacking the host even though its components are similar to the oak tree. 

Eventually, the larva will emerge from the gall and host tree. But Scott Egan, an evolutionary biologist from <a href="https://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a> discovered something strange while examining galls. 

“Galls are like tumors in many ways,” said Egan. “The wasps induce them to grow at the site where they lay their eggs, but the galls are part of the tree. The cells there have the same DNA as any other cell in the tree. They’ve just been reprogrammed to grow and behave in a way that is ultimately harmful to the tree.”

Egan and his team gathered gall and oak tree samples in South Florida’s oak scrub habitat and examined them in a lab setting. The research team noticed that there were unusual formations of love vines growing between the gall samples that had been collected. 

After cutting the love vines in half, the researchers found fully mummified wasp remains leading to the realization that the love vine is able to feed off the gall, much the way the wasp larva does the tree, mummifying the wasp as it matures inside the gall. 

“Basically, you have a parasitic plant attacking a parasitic insect inside of another host, a host they share.” Egan said. 

The researchers found 23 galls with mummified wasps and 51 galls that had been attacked by love vines. 

Egan and his team are the first people to record this parasitic battle between wasps and love vines, and the research could help with pest control studies and even cancer treatments. 

 “If we can find out how the vines identify the galls,” said Egan. “How they zero in on them, it could potentially provide new clues for targeting and fighting cancer.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Mattheau Comerford/Rice University

Love vines outsmart wasps and turn them into mummies

Researchers in Florida observed something never-before-witnessed between wasps and an...

The discovery of a new sea creature in southeastern Japan is probably a lot cuter than its name would lead you to believe. The newly discovered “Japan pig” is a pygmy seahorse that measures just about 15 millimeters in length, and lives inside soft coral, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seaweed-new-sustainable-superconductor/">seaweed</a>, and algae reefs. It’s aptly described by researchers as a normal seahorse dressed up in paisley.

This new species (Hippocampus japapigue) is one of only seven known species of pygmy seahorse – the first of which was discovered in 1970. The Japan pig was discovered almost 180 miles south of Tokyo around the Hachijo-jima Island by researchers at the <a href="https://www.calacademy.org/">California Academy of Sciences</a>. 

Although the species is not especially rare, it can be very hard to spot due to its size. In fact, it wasn’t until scientists began studying the Japan pig that they realized it had never been described before. 

Most pygmy seahorse species have two wing-like structure on their back, but the Japan pig has only one. They live off a diet of plankton, and are described by researchers to be active and playful.

Pygmy seahorses are still largely unstudied as a whole. Most species have very few specimens available, and only three species have been analyzed genetically. But luckily for pygmy seahorses, their lives in obscurity also mean that they have not been a victim of trade in traditional Chinese medicine or aquariums like larger seahorse species. Despite their cute and colorful appearance, let’s hope it stays that way.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Hiroyuki Motomura/ZooKeys

New “paisley” pygmy seahorse discovered in Japan

The discovery of a new sea creature in southeastern Japan...

“In the land of the pale blue snow

Where it’s ninety-nine below,

And the polar bears are dancing on the plain,

In the shadow of the pole

Oh, my Heart, my Life, my Soul,

I will meet thee when the ice-worms nest again.”

-Robert Service, 1910

Glaciers initially seem barren of any sort of life.  I remember taking a bush plane off the glacial fields of Mount Denali, and the first small patches of green forest attack the senses with elation after weeks of icy monotones.  White, grey, blue and hues of the same are the dominant colors on glaciers. There is beauty in glacial scenery, no question about it, but it is a stark beauty stripped down to a limited pallet.  

Looking closer at ice though, changes perspective.  As hard as it is to believe, some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pine-island-glacier-shrink/">glaciers</a> actually contain worms living inside chunks of ice, relatives of the more common earthworm.  When exposed to any sort of heat, the glacial ice worms (Mesenchytraeus solifugus) will die and melt around 40° F.  The worms are tiny, only about ¼ of an inch in length but common on glaciers of the North Cascade range of Washington.  The <a href="https://glaciers.nichols.edu/iceworm/">North Cascade Glacier Climate Project</a> estimated as many as 7 billion ice worms on one glacier on Glacier Peak in Washington.  The ice worms are in the same family as earthworms but obviously have some extremely unique adaptations.  

Ice worms were first discovered in Alaska, where <a href="http://www.robertwservice.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=306">Robert Service</a> enlarged their legend with exaggerations in his poetry.  So far ice worms have been found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and parts of Canada but nowhere else in the world.  It’s easy to understand that an animal which melts at 40°F would have a hard time crawling down from the mountains and spreading across the planet, even if there are glaciers elsewhere. 

Ice worms hide in glaciers during the heat of the day, coming to the surface of ice and snow during mornings and evenings.  Scientists aren’t sure whether the ice worms release a chemical antifreeze to create tunnels in ice or if they simply use cracks already there.  Interestingly the chemistry of ice worm proteins is different allowing (even obligating) them to live in cold environments. 

The diet of ice worms changes the common view of snow as pure and free from blemish.  Snowflakes are often formed when ice crystals bind to bacteria or other microbes living or dead.  <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-microbes-make-snow/">Scientific American</a> reports that microbiologist have found microbes at the center of snowflakes from places as far ranging as Canada, Montana, France and Antarctica.  Purified water without microbes has a harder time forming snowflakes. 

There’s also a lot more algae in snow than the casual observer is likely to guess.  Far from being pure or lifeless glacial ice and snow is full of microscopic or macroscopic but tiny life.  Some snow known as ‘watermelon snow’ can have a large density of a cold loving alga (Chlamydomonas nivalis) which colors it pink or reddish.  Even normal looking snow under closer examination reveals a thriving if simplified ecosystem which is sufficient to supply food for ice worms.  Ice worms have been observed with their tail end anchored in ice while their front (mouth) end moves through glacial melt-water, apparently searching for food.  Dissections of the worms have also revealed that their digestive content consists of single celled organisms, mainly algae but also bacteria and other microscopic creatures.

Given the number of ice worms found in some glaciers, their impact on local environments may be underestimated so far.  <a href="https://glaciers.nichols.edu/iceworm/">North Cascades Glacier Climate Project</a> estimated that with ice worms and other organisms living in glaciers, meltwater from glaciers could contribute over 500 million organisms to streams.

Sadly, the melting of glaciers may cause the end for the ice worm or at least some populations.  It’s impossible for ice worms to move from a melting glacier to a more stable one and although there are billions of the worms, they’re limited to a small part of the Earth.  

It isn’t just odd tiny worms making their lives out on the ice.  When I went to climb Mt. Denali I was a little bit surprised to learn that there were ravens willing to dig through feet of snow for buried food caches.  I was only a little surprised though; I’ve also seen corvids on Mt. Rainier’s glaciated slopes and in Rocky Mountain National Park in the winter. A few types of birds actually use glaciers as places to find food.  Smaller birds often eat worms and other invertebrates, while larger raptors sometimes eat other birds and small mammals on glaciers. 

Of course many penguins nest on ice sheets.  However, there is a less famous bird that nests on glaciers. The white-winged diuca-finch (Diuca speculifera) nests on glaciers through the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, northern Argentina and Chile.  A quick Google search yields images of typical round twig and grass type nests settled into the ghastly blue beauty of crevasses.  According to Wikipedia, the ‘glacier bird’ as the finch is sometimes called, lays two eggs in April or May, the young fledgling their nests in June or July.

According to <a href="https://www.audubon.org/">Audubon.org</a>, the white-winged diuca-finch is part of the Emberizidae family.  Distant relatives of the diuca-finch include Lapland longspur, American tree sparrow, and snow bunting.  All of these relatives breed in the Arctic but none of them actually nest on glaciers. Despite the dangers of nesting in a place as forbidding as an icy glacier, it certainly reduces the number of predators the white-winged diuca-finch must face.  At the moment, little is known about the glacier bird’s population but given its broad range, the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22723169/0">IUCN</a> considers it a species of least concern in terms of conservation.  

<a href="http://earthsky.org/earth/how-many-different-animals-live-on-glaciers">Earthsky.org</a> reported on the many mammals visit glaciers.  It’s possible that large mammals with a good deal of fur visit glaciers simply to cool off, like a large shaggy dog I once saw rolling in alpine snow on a Colorado summer day.  Caribou, musk ox, bison, elk, pica, big horn sheep and other herbivores have all been found on glaciers. 

Wolverines have been observed catching prey in glaciers.  Undoubtedly, meat left in the virtual icebox of a glacier would last longer and smell less, thus attracting fewer other animals to steal the kill.  

Glaciers are difficult places to do research and organisms like ice worms are hard to study.  There is still a lack of data and observations on glaciers, even as they continue to melt. 

Other organisms like the overly fluffy Woolly Bear Caterpillar live in the remote Arctic but not on glaciers and have incredible adaptations to the harsh cold.  A handful of animals like musk ox, penguins and polar bears are commonly known from the coldest parts of our planet but many more like ice worms are largely ignored by the public.  Most people don’t know about the <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Amphibians/Wood-Frog">Wood Frog</a> (Lithobates sylvaticus), a species that freezes in the northern winter, it’s heart ceasing to beat, seemingly dead until being thawed and revived in warmer weather.  Few people would suspect that jellyfish live in boreal waters or that strange fish live below ice shelves in Antarctica. 

The greatest tragedy of loss would be not fully understanding the depth of it.  As glaciers melt and the planet warms, what strange creatures do we stand to lose?             

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

What exactly is living in those icy cold glaciers?

“In the land of the pale blue snow Where it’s...

Bird populations in the Mojave Desert region of California and Nevada have been declining and climate change is most likely the culprit. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a> surveyed 61 locations in the Mojave Desert region on both sides of the Nevada border as well sites in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park.

The team examined the areas for three years and the results of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers monitored areas that had been surveyed in the early 1900s through 1947 by Berkeley biologists and this helped show the major changes in bird species biodiversity in the area. 

Over the past century, the researchers discovered stark reductions in bird species diversity, as the number of species dropped by 43 percent. 

Recent research has shown that in some ecosystems, species decline can lead to<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/california-drought-winners-losers/"> a pattern of winners and losers</a>, where some species’ numbers drop but that leads to other species thriving. 

This was evidenced in the global hotspot of the Carrizo Plain National Monument in California, but in Mojave Desert, the Berkeley researchers have found very little evidence of any winners. 

“The Mojave Desert is now nearly half empty of birds,' said Steven Beissinger, an author of the study.

What’s driving these declines in populations and biodiversity? The researchers say that decreases in precipitation and increases in aridity and temperature are the main drivers of species decline in the Mojave Desert. 

The region is becoming less and less suitable for many species of birds as a result of climate change, which is why bird populations are collapsing. 

“California deserts have already experienced quite a bit of drying and warming because of climate change, and this might be enough to push birds over the edge,” said Kelly Iknayan, a fellow author of the study. “It seems like we are losing part of the desert ecosystem.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.tom">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Image Credit: Chelsea Hofmeier photos

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Mojave bird populations see big declines due to climate change

Bird populations in the Mojave Desert region of California and...

Why are ants, bees, and other insects that depend on a well-defined hierarchical society so good at working together? 

Previous research has shown that even when given the option to act in a way that would better serve the needs of an individual, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/queen-bee-dies-successor/">bees always put the colony first.</a>

Now a new study conducted by researchers from<a href="https://www.rockefeller.edu/"> Rockefeller University</a> shows that even when resources are scarce, ants prefer to work together rather than compete for food or status. 

“You would think, if you pair similar individuals from a single species, their function would be redundant, If anything, there should be competition between individuals,” said Daniel Kronauer, the leader of the research. 

But the researchers found that even genetically identical individuals are better working together. 

The results were published in the journal Nature and help shed insight on the development of civil societies. 

For the study, the researchers observed groups of clonal raider ants. Some of the groups were made up of as many as 16 ants whereas a few groups only had one ant. 

The researchers discovered that the larger groups were better at splitting up tasks despite genetic similarity among the group. 

The larger groups also had more ants performing specialized tasks which led to a more stable society. 

Although the larger groups did seem to fare better, the overall results show that more ants are better than one regardless of how many individuals there are in a single group. 

"It's easy to see how individuals work together in more complex societies, such as those with queens and workers, because they have distinct roles,” said Kronauer. “But that's not how insect societies started out. This research shows that very simple societies can have an evolutionary advantage over individuals living by themselves--which provides a stepping stone to understanding how complex societies evolved from solitary animals.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ants and bees prove how putting the community first pays off

Why are ants, bees, and other insects that depend on...

These images were acquired using the Scannx, Inc. Book ScanCenter.

Turtles are rather unique creatures, with their reptilian characteristics and their protective shell. Yet another distinguishing feature of the turtle is its toothless beak – and a newly-discovered fossil from 228 million years ago shines light on how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-tide-kills-sea-life/">turtles</a> developed their signature traits. 

The results were included in a report published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

“This creature was over six feet long, it had a strange disc-like body and a long tail, and the anterior part of its jaws developed into this strange beak,” says Olivier Rieppel, a paleontologist at Chicago's <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a> and one of the report’s authors. “It probably lived in shallow water and dug in the mud for food.”

The paleontologists who discovered the fossil have named the new species Eorhynchochelys sinensis, which means “dawn beak turtle” – referring to it being the oldest turtle fossil to be found with a beak. Sinensis means “from China,” and is in reference to the place where the fossil was found by Li Chun, the lead author of the study and a researcher at China’s <a href="http://english.ivpp.cas.cn/">Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology</a>.

One of the more interesting aspects of this new species is that – while it’s body was wide and rib cage expansive – the species did not yet have a shell like the turtles we see today. But its discovery fits nicely into a missing piece in turtle lineage, as another early turtle species was discovered previously that had a partial shell, but no beak. “The origin of turtles has been an unsolved problem in paleontology for many decades,” says Rieppel. “Now with Eorhynchochelys, how turtles evolved has become a lot clearer.”

Mosaic evolution refers to the fact that traits can evolve independently of each other and at a different rate, and that not all ancestral species had the same combination of these traits. Eorhynchochelys developing a beak before other early turtles – while not having a shell – is evidence of mosaic evolution in this lineage. Some turtle relatives got partial shells, while others developed beaks, and over a long period of time, the genetic mutations that resulted in these traits occurred in the same animal.

Eorhynchochelys has even more to offer in the clarification of turtle ancestry. The skull of Eorhynchochelys helped solve the decades old debate as to whether turtle ancestors were part of the same reptile group as modern lizards and snakes – diapsids, which are known to have had two holes on the sides of their skulls early in their evolution – or if they were anapsids, which did not have these holes. The skull of the fossil Eorhynchochelys showed signs that it was a diapsid. “With Eorhynchochelys’s diapsid skull, we know that turtles are not related to the early anapsid reptiles, but are instead related to evolutionarily more advanced diapsid reptiles. This is cemented, the debate is over,” says Rieppel.

With all these observations, it’s clear that Eorhynchochelys was an important missing piece in the turtle family tree, and this discovery has changed the way that we think about the origin of the turtles we have today.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Adrienne Stroup, Field Museum

Fossil reveals how turtles developed a shell and toothless beak

Turtles are rather unique creatures, with their reptilian characteristics and...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...