The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world’s rarest marine mammal, with fewer than 10 surviving in the wild. It faces grave challenges, from illegal fishing nets to black-market demand for totoaba swim bladders. 



Experts worry that this unique creature could disappear before most people even learn it exists.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vaquitas-a-species-in-peril">Vaquitas: A species in peril</h2>



<a href="https://seashepherd.org/2024/06/11/2024-vaquita-survey/#">Populations</a> of this small porpoise have plummeted at an astonishing rate since the late 1990s.



Vaquitas inhabit the northern Gulf of California, and are restricted to an area of roughly 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers). This small region, combined with the pressures of organized poaching activity, has given vaquitas little <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-lemurs-millions-of-years-of-diversity-at-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">room for recovery</a>. 



Jamie Knaub from Florida Atlantic University (<a href="https://www.fau.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FAU</a>) and her colleagues believe that drastic measures are necessary to preserve any record of these animals for generations to come.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rescuing-a-rare-vaquita-skeleton">Rescuing a rare vaquita skeleton</h2>



A complete <a href="https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/photos-san-diego-researchers-scan-rare-skeleton-of-worlds-smallest-endangered-porpoise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vaquita skeleton</a> in the United States is hard to find. Such a specimen recently appeared at SeaWorld San Diego, with ties to the San Diego Natural History Museum.&nbsp;



“We are delighted to collaborate with likeminded organizations to make our collections as useful and accessible as possible,” said Phil Unitt, curator of birds and mammals at the San Diego Natural History Museum.&nbsp;



“A complete skeleton of a vaquita is an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/public-concern-over-species-extinctions-fades-quickly/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extremely rare specimen</a>, so we’re thrilled to learn its replica will be available to the public.”



<a href="https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/fau-high-school-opens-one-of-a-kind-owls-imaging-lab.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FAU’s High School Owls Imaging Lab</a> carried out micro-CT scans on the skeleton. Knaub transported it back to Florida as precious carry-on luggage.&nbsp;



She spent 165 hours conducting high-resolution scans, gathering nearly three terabytes of data. When finished, Knaub carefully returned the vaquita remains to SeaWorld.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-high-hopes-for-the-tiniest-porpoise">High hopes for the tiniest porpoise</h2>



Researchers are eager to share 3D scans of this delicate skeleton on the <a href="https://www.morphosource.org/docs/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MorphoSource</a> online repository. The goal is to let educators and researchers worldwide access and learn from the files.&nbsp;



With vaquitas vanishing at a high rate, preserving their anatomy through digital replicas could be the only way to keep them on the radar.&nbsp;



“At the rate that vaquita’s are disappearing, it’s extremely important to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/are-we-failing-the-worlds-most-threatened-species/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preserve</a> as much about this species as we can. They are very elusive and not many physical specimens from this species exist,” said Knaub.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-education-and-replication-efforts">Education and replication efforts</h2>



The experts hope that these skeleton scans, once turned into models, can be placed in museums or classrooms. Brittany Aja Dolan from SeaWorld San Diego, who pushed this plan forward, wants everyone to see the small porpoise up close.&nbsp;



“We hope that by creating replicas, which will be available worldwide, and hopefully on display at SeaWorld San Diego in the near future, everyone will have the opportunity to learn about the world’s most endangered marine mammal and what we can all do to help,” explained Dolan.



Some genetic <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1742" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> suggests the surviving vaquitas retain enough diversity to bounce back if threats cease. However, rapid action is crucial.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-vaquita-data-for-future-research">Preserving vaquita data for future research</h2>



FAU’s advanced imaging technology captured the skeleton’s intricate details. 



The lab’s <a href="https://www.microphotonics.com/what-is-micro-ct-an-introduction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">micro-CT machine</a> is known for its ability to scan minute structures within skeletal fragments. Knaub, along with her mentors, previously used similar equipment to study thresher shark vertebrae, a study that is published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231473" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Royal Society Open Science</a>.&nbsp;



The same techniques have now preserved the precise shape of each vaquita bone, thus mapping out a piece of history that might soon be gone if illegal nets continue to harm the species.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-unique-laboratory-environment">A unique laboratory environment</h2>



FAU’s Owls Imaging Lab attracts student researchers from across various disciplines. This facility contains tools like scanning electron microscopes and microtomes, and offers early exposure to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-is-tracking-endangered-animal-habitats-from-space/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">high-level projects</a>.&nbsp;



“The primary aim of our open-access research hub is to create a dynamic environment that promotes meaningful collaborations between our students and university mentors," said Tricia Meredith, director of research for FAU’s on-site lab schools.



"By providing opportunities for hands-on teaching, innovative demonstrations, experimentation, and robust data collection, the hub seeks to enhance the educational experience and advance research excellence.” 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-the-brink">Looking beyond the brink</h2>



Those involved in the vaquita project see it as a chance to save the species in some form, even if the real animals fade away. There is also motivation to rescue any remaining individuals in the Gulf of California.&nbsp;



Organizations like FAU, SeaWorld San Diego, and the San Diego Natural History Museum keep shining a light on this small porpoise, stressing that the vaquita’s future rests on determined human intervention.&nbsp;



Until effective solutions disrupt the illegal fishing trade, digital scans and educational displays might be the closest many of us will ever come to encountering the vaquita in real life.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://phys.org/journals/royal-society-open-science/">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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Vaquitas may disappear before most people know they exist

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world’s rarest marine mammal, with fewer than 10 surviving in the wild. It faces grave challenges, from illegal fishing nets to black-market demand for totoaba swim bladders. Experts worry that this unique creature could disappear before most people even learn it exists. Vaquitas: A species in peril Populations of this small porpoise have plummeted at an astonishing rate since the late 1990s. Vaquitas inhabit the northern Gulf of California, and are restricted to an area of roughly 1,500 square miles (3,900...

According to music psychology expert Michael Bonshor of the University of Sheffield, to create a happy song, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-helps-dementia-patients-connect-with-caregivers/">music</a> artists should combine a major key, 7th chords, 137 BPM (beats per minute), strong beats, four beats in every bar, and a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. Moreover, happy songs should have a short intro, repeated riffs, bright tone, high volume, and a mix of predictability and surprise.



“Previous studies have found songs are perceived as happy if they are in a major key, with a sweet spot of approximately 137 beats per minute. We like ‘7th chords’ as they add interest; regular chords use three notes, whereas ‘7th chords’ add an extra note which provides a sense of musical ‘tension’ and ‘relief,’” Bonshor explained.



“Alongside this, cheery songs usually&nbsp;have a strong 1-2-1-2 beat to them, so that you can dance along – and a short introduction means the song kicks off with a bang straight away, and there’s not a long build up. We like high volume when it comes to how our happy songs are made, with notes played in a bright and bouncy way by instruments such as trumpets or electric guitars instead of mellower instruments. Finally, a repetitive rhythm or guitar riff that people can latch onto and becomes memorable is the cherry on the cake.”



According to Dr. Bonshor’s formula, the happiest song ever created and performed is “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys, followed by “I Got You” (I Feel Good) by James Brown, “House of Fun” by Madness, and “Get the Party Started” by P!nk. Moreover, this “happy formula” has now been turned by Jamie P and Oliver Price into a pitch-perfect track called “<a href="https://soundcloud.com/mullerlight/the-lighter-note?utm_source=clipboard&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=social_sharing">The Lighter Note</a>.”



Here are the top 10 happiest songs according to Dr. Bonshor’s formula:



<ol><li>“Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys</li><li>“I Got You” (I Feel Good) by James Brown</li><li>“House of Fun” by Madness</li><li>“Get the Party Started” by P!nk</li><li>“Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel</li><li>“Sun Is Shining” by Bob Marley</li><li>“I Get Around” by The Beach Boys</li><li>“YMCA” by Village People</li><li>“Waterloo” by ABBA</li><li>“September” by Earth, Wind &amp; Fire</li></ol>



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



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Which songs make people the happiest?

According to music psychology expert Michael Bonshor of the University...

Paleontology is usually associated with studying ancient bones, and most would imagine that brain study would be off the cards for creatures as ancient as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-dinosaurs-benefited-from-changes-in-global-climate/">dinosaurs</a>. However, recent collaborative studies between the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> and Ohio University concern exactly that - the reconstruction of the brains of two spinosaurs based on fossils found at the Isle of Wight.&nbsp;



 The team studied Baryonyx fossils from Surrey and Ceratosuchops from the Isle of Wight, both of which contained the oldest braincase material known. The fossils are anticipated to be around 125 million years old, yet both specimens have been well preserved, which helped to facilitate the reconstruction.&nbsp;



The researchers conducted the study to learn more about the spinosaur brain and how these animals interacted with their environment. They were unusual species that had crocodile-like jaws, conical teeth, and lived an aquatic lifestyle of stalking riverbanks - behaviors which were very different from other theropods such as the Allosaurus or the Tyrannosaurus.



 The researchers noted that the creature's sense of smell would not have been very good due to the undeveloped nature of its olfactory bulbs. Furthermore, it was concluded that these animals would mostly only hear low frequencies, and that parts of the brain involved in developing head stability and a prey gaze were likely to be less developed than in more specialized dinosaurs.&nbsp;



“Despite their unusual ecology, it seems the brains and senses of these early spinosaurs retained many aspects in common with other large-bodied theropods – there is no evidence that their semi-aquatic lifestyles are reflected in the way their brains are organized,” explained study lead author Chris Barker.



“It’s surprising to see such ‘non-specialized’ brains…but the results are still significant. It’s exciting to get so much information on sensory abilities from British dinosaurs. Using cutting-edge technology, we basically obtained all the brain-related information we possibly could from these fossils,” said Dr. Darren Naish.



The researchers are anticipating that this study is just the start of a new research boom in dinosaur cognition, with several spinosaur studies already taking place in Britain over the last few years.&nbsp;



“This new research is just the latest in what amounts to a revolution in paleontology due to advances in CT-based imaging of fossils,” said Professor Lawrence M. Witmer. 



“This new study highlights the significant role British fossils have in our constantly evolving, fast-moving understanding of dinosaurs, and shows how the UK - and the University of Southampton in particular - is at the forefront of spinosaur research,” said Dr. Neil Gostling.



 The research is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joa.13837">Journal of Anatomy</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Spinosaur brains reveal how they interacted with their environment

Paleontology is usually associated with studying ancient bones, and most...

We cannot know exactly how Earth’s climate was in the past, nor how it will be in the future. However, it is very important for scientists to try and predict what changes may take place so that policy- and decision-makers can develop ways to reduce and mitigate against the destructive effects of a warming planet.&nbsp;



Scientists make use of climate system models to get a better idea of how weather patterns and climatic factors may change in the future. These are computer simulations that use real data on factors that drive the climate today to predict how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-weather-is-becoming-more-difficult-to-predict/">weather</a> patterns may change under different conditions, such as increases in the levels of greenhouse gases.&nbsp;



Before using a climate model to predict what may happen in future, it is important that its accuracy in identifying past climatic conditions is assessed. This is done by comparing the model’s simulated conditions with climatic data derived from other sources, such as tree rings or pollen, or the stable isotope ratios in lake and ocean sediments or ice cores. These sources of data are known as proxies since they reflect past climatic conditions indirectly.&nbsp;



Interestingly, when climatic models are used to predict the Earth’s temperature during the Holocene Period (the past 12,000 years), the predictions disagree with the evidence obtained from proxy sources. The paleo-environmental proxy data, including evidence from ocean and lake sediments, indicate that temperature peaked at 6,500 years ago and then gradually cooled down until humans started burning fossil fuels around 200 years ago. In contrast, the climate models generally show global average temperatures increasing gradually throughout the Holocene Period.



The disagreement on climatic conditions during this time period is known as the Holocene temperature conundrum. A new review article, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05536-w">Nature</a>, has now addressed this conflict between the findings of climate models and proxy evidence by analyzing a large quantity of available data on global temperature from the past 12,000 years.&nbsp;



The researchers included lead author Darrell Kaufman, a Regents’ professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability at <a href="https://nau.edu/">Northern Arizona University</a>, and University of Arizona postdoctoral researcher Ellie Broadman, a co-author who worked on the study while earning her Ph.D. at NAU. The team aimed to identify whether the global average temperature 6,500 years ago was warmer, as indicated by proxy evidence, or colder, as simulated by models, than the temperature in the late 19th&nbsp;century, when the Industrial Revolution led to a significant increase in human-caused warming.



This comprehensive and systematic assessment concludes that the global average temperature 6,500 years ago was likely warmer and was followed by a multi-millennial cooling trend that ended in the 1800s. This finding supports the data derived from numerous proxy sources, rather than the conclusions derived from current climate models. However, the authors cautioned that uncertainty still exists, despite recent studies that have claimed to have resolved the conundrum.



“Quantifying the average temperature of the earth during the past, when some places were warming while others were cooling, is challenging, and more research is needed to firmly resolve the conundrum,” Kaufman said.&nbsp;



“But tracing changes in global average temperature is important because it’s the same metric used to gauge the march of human-caused warming and to identify internationally negotiated targets to limit it. In particular, our review revealed how surprisingly little we know about slow-moving climate variability, including forces now set into motion by humans, that will play out as sea level rises and permafrost thaws over coming millennia.”



We know more about the climate of the Holocene, which began after the last major ice age ended, 12,000 years ago, than any other multi-millennial period. There are published studies from a variety of natural archives that store information about historical changes that occurred in the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere and on land; studies that look at the forces that drove past climate changes, such as Earth’s orbit, solar irradiance, volcanic eruptions and greenhouse gases; and climate model simulations that translate those forces into changing global temperatures. All these types of studies were included in this review.



If the researchers are correct, and the proxy data gives a more accurate reflection of global temperature changes during this time, this implies deficiencies in the models and casts uncertainty on their use to forecast climatic conditions in the future. In particular, this would challenge climate scientists’ understanding of factors that naturally drive climate changes and feedbacks, and that are used in the development of climate models.&nbsp;



If the researchers are incorrect, then scientists need to improve their understanding of the way in which proxy records indicate past temperature information, and further develop analytical tools to capture these trends on a global scale.



What is a certainty, however, is that the change in global average temperature in the past 6,500 years, be it upwards or downwards, has been gradual and has been very small – less than 1oC (1.8oF). This is less than the warming already measured in the last 100 years alone, most of which is related to human activities.&nbsp;



Attempting to resolve the Holocene global temperature conundrum has been a priority for climate scientists in the last decade; Broadman remembers reading the initial paper on this topic when she started her Ph.D. in 2016. All the studies since then have added to the understanding of this issue. However, it is still not clear what factors might be driving a cooling climate in the past 6,500 years when levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases were slowly increasing and ice sheets were slowly retreating – both factors that would be expected to cause warming, not cooling.



The current review certainly highlights the fact that we don’t yet know the solution to this conundrum.



“One interesting takeaway is that our findings demonstrate the impact that regional&nbsp;changes can have on&nbsp;global&nbsp;average temperature. Environmental changes in some regions of the Earth, like declining Arctic sea ice or changing vegetation cover in what are now vast deserts, can cause feedbacks that influence the planet as a whole,” Broadman said.&nbsp;



“With current global warming, we already see some regions changing very quickly. Our work highlights that some of those regional changes and feedbacks are really important to understand and capture in climate models.”



Additionally, Kaufman said, accurately reconstructing the details of past temperature change offers insights into climate’s response to various causes of both natural and anthropogenic climate change. The responses serve as benchmarks to test how well climate models simulate the Earth’s climate system.



“Climate models are the only source of detailed quantitative climate predictions, so their fidelity is critical for planning the most effective strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” said Kaufman. “Our review suggests that climate models are underestimating important climate feedbacks that can amplify global warming.”



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



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Was Earth heating up or cooling down before global warming?

We cannot know exactly how Earth’s climate was in the...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> has found that there is a significant lack of awareness among both U.S. and UK populations regarding the possibility and effects of a “nuclear winter” – the potential for long-term environmental and public health consequences from any exchange of nuclear weapons.



According to the experts, detonations from nuclear exchanges would throw vast amounts of debris into the stratosphere, blocking out much of the sun for over a decade, and thus causing global drops in temperature, mass crop failure, and widespread famine. Combined with radiation fall-out, such consequences would lead to the death of millions of people in the wake of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/canada-wildfire-smoke-nuclear-war/">nuclear war</a>, including many far outside of any blast zone.



To assess their awareness of such a scenario, the researchers asked 3,000 participants in an online survey (half from the U.S. and half from the UK) to self-report on a sliding scale how much they felt they knew about a nuclear winter, and if they heard about such a possibility from contemporary media/culture, recent academic studies, or Cold War era beliefs and memories.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that only 3.2 and 7.5 percent of the participants (from UK and US, respectively) were familiar with such a phenomenon from media or culture, 1.6 percent (UK) and 5.2 percent (U.S.) from academic studies, and 5.4 percent (UK) and 9 percent (U.S.) from Cold War memories. In the event of a hypothetical Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine, fewer than one in five participants from both countries supported in-kind retaliation, with men more likely than women to back nuclear reprisal - 20.7 percent (U.S.) and 24.4 percent (UK) of men compared to 14.1 percent (US) and 16.1 percent (UK) of women.



“In 2023 we find ourselves facing a risk of nuclear conflict greater than we’ve seen since the early eighties. Yet there is little in the way of public knowledge or debate of the unimaginably dire long-term consequences of nuclear war for the planet and global populations,” said study lead author Paul Ingram, a senior research associate at University of Cambridge’s <a href="https://www.cser.ac.uk/">Center for the Study of Existential Risk</a> (CSER).



“Ideas of nuclear winter are predominantly a lingering cultural memory, as if it is the stuff of history, rather than a horribly contemporary risk. Of course, it is distressing to consider large-scale catastrophes, but decisions need to account for all potential consequences, to minimize the risk. Any stability within nuclear deterrence is undermined if it is based on decisions that are ignorant of the worst consequences of using nuclear weapons.”&nbsp;



“There is an urgent need for public education within all nuclear-armed states that is informed by the latest research. We need to collectively reduce the temptation that leaders of nuclear-armed states might have to threaten or even use such weapons in support of military operations,” he concluded.



The findings are published in a report on CSER’s <a href="https://www.cser.ac.uk/news/opinion-poll-survey-public-awareness-nuclear-winte/">website</a>.



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



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Risk of nuclear winter underestimated by most people

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

While coastal populations all over the world are already bracing for rising sea levels, planning for measures to mitigate flooding and other possible damages has been quite difficult. This is because the latest climate projections disagree on how rapidly the world’s largest ice sheets will respond to global warming.&nbsp;



Now, a study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36051-9">Nature Communications</a> argues that an irreversible loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, along with a rapid acceleration of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-level-rise-will-cause-widespread-impacts-sooner-than-expected/">sea level rise</a>, will be imminent if global temperatures rise more than 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels.



Although melting ice sheets are likely the largest contributor to sea level rise, their behavior has been hardest to predict since the physics governing their temperature-related changes is highly complex.&nbsp;



“Moreover, computer models that simulate the dynamics of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica often do not account for the fact that ice sheet melting will affect ocean processes, which, in turn, can feed back onto the ice sheet and the atmosphere,”&nbsp;said study lead author Jun Young Park, a doctoral student in Climate Sciences at the <a href="https://ibsclimate.org/">IBS Center for Climate Physics</a> and the <a href="https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do">Pusan National University</a> in South Korea.



By using a groundbreaking computer model that captures the complex relations among ice sheets, icebergs, ocean, and atmosphere, the scientists discovered that a rapid acceleration of ice sheet melting and sea level rise could only be prevented if the world reaches net zero emissions by 2060.



“If we miss this emission goal, the ice sheets will disintegrate and melt at an accelerated pace, according to our calculations. If we don’t take any action, retreating ice sheets would continue to increase sea level by at least 100 cm within the next 130 years. This would be on top of other contributions, such as the thermal expansion of ocean water,” explained study co-author Axel Timmermann, the director of the IBS Center.



While in previous studies scientists have mainly stressed the importance of subsurface ocean melting, sea ice and atmospheric circulation changes around Antarctica also play major roles in controlling the amount of ice sheet melting and subsequent sea level rise. Thus, more complex earth system models that can capture the interactions between different climate components are urgently needed, along with new observational programs.



“One of the key challenges in simulating ice sheets is that even small-scale processes can play a crucial role in the large-scale response of an ice sheet and for the corresponding sea-level projections. Not only do we have to include the coupling of all components, as we did in our current study, but we also need to simulate the dynamics at the highest possible spatial resolution using some of the fastest supercomputers,”&nbsp;Timmermann concluded.



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



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Rapid acceleration of sea level rise may be unavoidable

While coastal populations all over the world are already bracing...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a> has found that dogs and humans who have the strongest relationships have similar <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-select-their-dogs-according-to-their-own-personality/">personalities</a>, matching on features such as levels of warmth, enjoyment of spending time outdoors, and selflessness with their possessions. However, according to the experts, owners who are overly attached to their pups may give rise to dysfunctional human-animal relationships.



The scientists reviewed 29 published articles on dog-owner relationships to clarify what personality traits lead to positive interspecies connections.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that canine personality traits associated with functional and fulfilling dog-owner relationships included energy, affection, openness, intelligence, agreeableness, and responsiveness to training. By contrast, antisocial, territorial, and destructive dogs were linked to problematic relationships with their owners.



“Openness and agreeableness of the dog could represent traits which enable them to facilitate these social interactions especially well.&nbsp;Particularly in cases where the owners do not possess these traits, they might benefit greatly from their presence in their dogs,” the authors explained.



Moreover, the researchers discovered that functional dog-owner relationships tend to be “complementary” – with both humans and animals being similarly friendly, but opposite in dominance/submissiveness traits. However, the combination of a dominant dog and a submissive owner was found to be challenging in practical ownership.



Finally, the investigation provided evidence that highly attached owners characterized by a “humanistic orientation towards the dog” could often give rise to mental issues in their pet, such as increased separation anxiety.&nbsp;



“That highly attached owners often owned dogs with separation related problems might be because the owners themselves are very worried about the imminent spatial separation, which in turn creates a negative feeling in the dogs,” the authors wrote.



“While many studies have reported that cuteness and general appearance are among the most important purchase motives of owners, this review suggests that future owners should focus more on personality and attachment aspects in the acquisition process instead. Compatibility between owners and their dogs may help unfold advantages of dog ownership, and prevent canine behavioral problems and their adverse consequences,” they concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2023.105857">Applied Animal Behavior Science</a>.



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



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Dogs and their humans often share similar personalities

A new study led by the Max Planck Institute for...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/">University of California, Los Angeles</a> (UCLA) has found that global atmospheric <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dust-asteroid-ice-age/">dust</a> (microscopic airborne particles from desert dust storms) has a small, yet significant cooling effect on our planet, which has hidden the full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. According to the experts, the amount of desert dust has grown by 55 percent since the mid-19th century, thus increasing its cooling effect.



While some of the effects of atmospheric dust contribute to global warming, others counteract it - for instance, by scattering sunlight back into space and dissipating high clouds that warm the planet. Overall, the researchers estimate that dust has a cooling effect.



“We show desert dust has increased, and most likely slightly counteracted greenhouse warming, which is missing from current climate models,” said study lead author Jasper Kok, an atmospheric physicist at UCLA. “The increased dust hasn’t caused a whole lot of cooling - the climate models are still close - but our findings imply that greenhouses gases alone could cause even more climate warming than models currently predict.”



Besides its atmospheric interactions with sunlight and cloud cover, when dust falls back on the Earth’s surface, it can darken snow and ice, making them absorb more heat. In addition, dust also cools the planet by depositing nutrients such as phosphorous or iron into the oceans, which support the growth of phytoplankton that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, thereby causing a net cooling effect.



“We want climate projections to be as accurate as possible, and this dust increase could have masked up to eight percent of the greenhouse warming,” Kok explained. “By adding the increase in desert dust, which accounts for over half of the atmosphere’s mass of particulate matter, we can increase the accuracy of climate model predictions. This is of tremendous importance because better predictions can inform better decisions of how to mitigate or adapt to climate change.”



Although atmospheric desert dust levels have increased since the pre-industrial period, this trend has not been steady, and, since there are so many natural and human-caused variables which can cause dust levels to increase or decline, scientists cannot accurately project how the amount of dust will change during the following decades. Moreover, while the increase in atmospheric dust has somewhat masked the full potential of greenhouse gases to warm the climate, the findings do not show that existing climate models are wrong.



“The climate models are very useful in predicting future climate change, and this finding could further improve their usefulness,” Kok concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-022-00379-5">Nature Reviews Earth &amp; Environment</a>.



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



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Atmospheric dust has been masking greenhouse warming

A new study led by the University of California, Los...

Scientists have been naming newly discovered creatures after fantasy concepts for decades, including the dracula parrot, dementor wasp and the goblin shark. However, no fantasy author has enjoyed as much scientific success as J. R. R. Tolkien, with over 70 real-life species discoveries being named after the author's legendarium spanning books such as “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Now, another newly discovered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/u-s-biodiversity-crisis-more-than-a-third-of-species-are-threatened/">species</a> has been named after Tolkien’s work - the Hyloscirtus tolkieni.



Hyloscirtus tolkieni was discovered through a study on stream frogs that live in the Río Negro-Sopladora National Park in southeastern Ecuador. Stream frogs can be found in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. These habitats provide the creatures with the pure rivers, streams, riparian vegetation, and tadpole development spots in the rocky breaks of the Andes river flows needed for survival. The discovery of H. tolkieni was a product of expeditions in unstudied forest areas of Ecuador that have been running since 2020.&nbsp;



“For weeks, we explored different areas of the Río Negro-Sopladora National Park, walking from paramo grasslands at 3,100 meters elevation to forests at 1,000 meters," said study co-author Juan Carlos Sánchez Nivicela. “We found a single individual of this new species of frog, which we found impressive due to its coloration and large size."



This impressive coloration includes the frog’s grayish-green back, yellow spots, black specks, and pink and black iris. The frog has a black-spotted golden yellow pattern on its throat, flank and belly, as well as black bars, spots and stripes on its fingers and toes. Due to its majestic colors and fantasy-like surroundings, researchers named the frog Hyloscirtus Tolkieni after their favorite fantasy author, J. R. R. Tolkien. 



“The new species of frog has amazing colors, and it would seem that it lives in a universe of fantasies, like those created by Tolkien," explained study co-author Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia. “The truth is that the tropical Andes are magical ecosystems where some of the most wonderful species of flora, funga, and fauna in the world are present."



Despite the exciting new discovery, only one individual frog was identified from a single locality, so more information will be needed to assess extinction risks and conservation status. The authors agreed that further study and monitoring is urgent to learn more about the species’ ecology, population size and dynamics.&nbsp;



The researchers also noted that unexplored sites should be analyzed for additional populations, emphasizing the necessity to assess their long-term conservation status and whether it is being threatened by human actions.&nbsp;



“Unfortunately, few areas are well protected from the negative impacts caused by humans," said Cisneros-Heredia. "Deforestation, unsustainable agricultural expansion, mining, invasive species, and climate changes are seriously affecting Andean biodiversity."



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1141.90290">ZooKeys</a>.



Image Credit: Juan Carlos Sánchez-Nivicela / Archive Museo de Zoología, Universidad San Francisco de Quito



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Majestic frog named after fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien

Scientists have been naming newly discovered creatures after fantasy concepts...

One of the most perplexing aspects of the COVID-19 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nature-increased-well-being-during-the-pandemic/">pandemic</a> was why some people got really ill and ended up needing hospitalization while others only got a mild case of the sniffles. In fact, while more than 6.5 million people died of this disease, some people didn’t even get infected, despite being exposed to the virus on a daily basis.&nbsp;



A lot of research has been devoted to finding reasons for this apparent unpredictability in severity, and many factors have been considered, including age, diet, vitamin deficiency, co-morbidities, living conditions, previous exposure to respiratory viruses, and balance of macrophages in the immune system.



A fascinating new study has now investigated the levels of certain environmental pollutants in the blood of a population of 154 residents of the city of Barcelona. These blood samples were taken back in 2016 for purposes other than studying COVID-19 susceptibility, and were part of the Barcelona Health Survey. Other data were collected from each participant at the time, such as information on chronic disorders (e.g., chronic bronchitis, anemia), mental health, life styles, uses of health services and preventive practices.&nbsp;



The blood samples were analyzed for levels of various organic pollutants (including persistent organic pollutants – POPs) and inorganic minerals, and participants were invited back between late 2020 and mid-2021, to be interviewed again. The researchers were interested in identifying any links between the presence in the blood of 112 different compounds, including 20 rare earth elements, and the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity experienced by the participants.&nbsp;



The findings, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115419">Environmental Research</a>, reveal that people with higher blood levels of certain pollutants had a higher risk of becoming infected and of developing the disease. The risk of developing COVID-19 was associated with levels DDD and DDE (derivatives of the pesticide DDT), as well as lead, thallium, ruthenium, tantalum, benzofluoranthene and manganese. High levels of thallium, ruthenium, lead and gold, were associated with a higher risk of infection, while high levels of iron and selenium were protective.



“What our study shows is that individual levels of certain environmental pollutants increase the risk of infection and the risk of developing the disease,” explained Miquel Porta, a physician at IMIM-Hospital de Mar and one of the main authors of the study. Other factors that influence the risk of developing COVID-19 are co-morbidities (i.e., whether the person already suffers from other diseases), smoking, age, education level, density of people in the home, or exposure to the virus on public transport or at work.



Interestingly, of the 112 different chemical substances tested, an average of 32 was detected in each individual participant. Reassuringly, concentrations of several historically prevalent POPs, as well as the minerals arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and zinc, were not associated with COVID-19 symptom severity, nor with SARS-CoV-2 infection.&nbsp;The researchers decided to analyze the impact of the substances when combined in groups of five, since there is scientific evidence that mixtures of pollutants may be more toxic than the individual components on their own.



“An important finding of the study is that it identifies mixtures of up to five substances, from different chemical groups, each of which increases the risk of infection and disease,” said Gemma Moncunill, researcher at <a href="https://www.isglobal.org/en">ISGlobal</a> and last author of the article.



The authors consider these results to be of&nbsp;“considerable scientific and social relevance,” as they provide the first prospective and population-based evidence of a possible link between individual blood levels of certain pollutants and SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity.



The experts state that their results open numerous research avenues to study the pathways and mechanisms whereby these various substances act on the immune system. These pollutants enter our bodies through multiple routes, from exposure to electronic devices to the feed used in intensive animal farming. Therefore, say the authors, if the associations&nbsp;are confirmed to be causal, policies to control the risks are available.



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



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COVID risk linked to specific environmental pollutants

One of the most perplexing aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic...

Ghosting is the act of ending a relationship by cutting off all communication and simply “disappearing” without explanation. This behavior is associated particularly with the relationships we foster using social media, and can pertain to the end of a romantic relationship or to a friendship. Messages sent, or calls made, are simply not answered and this leaves the sender confused, insecure and hurt.&nbsp;



A new study by researchers from the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a>, Athens, and the University of Mississippi, has found that nearly two-thirds of participants interviewed have ghosted and been ghosted as part of a relationship breakup. The researchers were particularly interested in whether people with a stronger need for closure are more affected by being ghosted, and whether they are more or less likely to use ghosting as a means to get out of their own personal relationships.&nbsp;



“Ghosting is becoming a common strategy, and it creates an ambiguous situation where one party doesn’t really know what’s going on,” said Leckfor, a doctoral student in the UGA Department of Psychology. “We were interested in what individual differences or personal characteristics might influence a person’s intentions to use ghosting. We also wanted to know if people with a high need for closure were less likely to use ghosting, or if they would hurt more after being ghosted.”



Studies have shown that social rejection of any kind activates the same pain pathways in the brain as physical pain, meaning there’s a biological link between rejection and pain. This implies that rejection without an understanding of what went wrong, can leave people feeling very hurt and insecure about themselves and what actually happened. Humans have evolved to stay connected to others and this makes ghosting all the more cruel on the recipient.&nbsp;



In the current study, participants were asked to reflect on a past relationship, either a time they were ghosted or a time they were directly rejected. They then answered questions about their psychological needs satisfaction – feelings of belonging, self-esteem, control and meaningful existence – after their relationship ended. Ghosted participants had some of the lowest needs satisfaction, meaning they were hit hardest by the rejection, and those who wanted closure reported even lower needs satisfaction.



“For recipients, desire for closure has this magnifying effect. When someone with a high need for closure recalled a time where they were ghosted or directly rejected, it hurt more than if they had a low need for closure,” Leckfor said. “But they also felt more positive after recalling times when they were acknowledged by their partner.”



In contrast, when someone considered initiating a breakup, the connection between closure and ghosting was less clear-cut.



“We actually found that people who had a higher need for closure were slightly more likely to intend to use ghosting to end a relationship,” Leckfor said. “Even though things may be ambiguous on the recipient side, the person who is ghosting sees it as a distinct end to the relationship. Those results weren’t definitive in our study, but they pose an interesting avenue for future research.”



So why do people ghost others as a way of ending a relationship? Disappearing off the face of the social media world may well present a way to avoid awkward confrontations and taking responsibility for the hurt caused. It also spares the ghoster from the hard work of empathizing with the rejected individual and dealing with their own uncomfortable emotions. And, in our fast-paced and busy world, cutting off all contact is often simply more convenient.&nbsp;



Technology may also contribute to the tendency to ghost as the many dating apps give us the idea that there are lots more “fish in the sea” and each individual is disposable. Just keep scrolling through the photos. Furthermore, if people believe that there is one true love for them out there, a soulmate as such, then they will be more keen to move on from a relationship that is proving to be different from their expectations.&nbsp;



Despite these potential explanations for why ghosting appears to be gaining in popularity as a neat and no-hassle way of moving on to other options, it remains that leaving a relationship in this way causes a type of ostracism that threatens a person’s basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence and control.&nbsp;



The researchers report, in their publication in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/02654075221149955">Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</a>, that their results indicate participants with a higher need for closure are sometimes more likely to use ghosting to end their relationships because they feel this brings an abrupt end and a distinct close. However, these same participants reported lower needs satisfaction when ghosted by their partners than when directly rejected. The researchers report that “… the need for closure is less influential when deciding how to end a relationship, but it appears to play an important role in amplifying both positive and negative experiences within a relationship.”



“The individuals who were ghosted by a friend reported feeling just as bad about the relationship as those who wrote about a time when they were ghosted by a romantic partner,” Leckfor said. “In psychology in general, a lot of literature regarding adult relationships focuses on romantic relationships. This [research] shows that friendships are really important to study as well.”



It also relates back to the role of technology in our relationships. There have been several studies on how people initiate, maintain and end relationships without technology, but as more human connectivity moves to social media, dating apps, texting or Zoom, those relationships can change. And individual traits, such as a need for closure, will factor into how we use those technologies.



“Now, almost everybody uses these technologies to communicate and maintain these different types of relationships,” Leckfor said. “Knowing when these technologies can be helpful to build social connections or maintain your personal well-being, versus knowing when they might be harmful, is the end goal of what I hope my work in this area conveys to the public.”



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



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Ghosting is harder on people with a high need for closure

Ghosting is the act of ending a relationship by cutting...

An international team of researchers has recently unearthed fossil bones in New Zealand from two newly described <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/children-discover-a-new-species-of-giant-penguins/">penguin</a> species (Kumimanu fordycei and Petradyptes stonehousei). According to the experts, the former is the largest penguin that ever lived, weighing over 150 kilograms (more than three times the size of the largest living penguins).



The fossils were discovered between 2016 and 2017 in 57-million-year-old beach boulders in North Otago, on New Zealand’s South Island. Analyses revealed the fossils as being between 59.5 and 55.5 million years old, thus dating about five to ten million years after the mass extinction that wiped out all the non-avian dinosaurs.



By using lasers to create digital models of these penguins’ bones and comparing them to other fossil species, modern penguins, and birds such as auks, the researchers estimated that K. fordycei was most likely an enormous bird, weighing up to 154 kilograms (in comparison, emperor penguins – the largest living species of penguins – weigh between 22 and 45 kilograms). The other species discovered, named by the scientists Petradyptes stonehousei, weighted about 50 kilograms.



“Fossils provide us with evidence of the history of life, and sometimes that evidence is truly surprising,” said study co-author Daniel Field, an expert in Earth Sciences at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>. “Many early fossil penguins attained enormous sizes, easily dwarfing the largest penguins alive today. Our new species, Kumimanu fordycei, is the largest fossil penguin ever discovered - at approximately 350 pounds, it would have weighed more than [basketball player] Shaquille O’Neal at the peak of his dominance!”



According to the scientists, these penguins grew to such titanic proportions because it made them more efficient in the water. “Size conveys many advantages. A bigger penguin could capture larger prey, and more importantly it would have been better at conserving body temperature in cold waters. It is possible breaking the 100 lb size barrier allowed the earliest penguins to spread from New Zealand to other parts of the world,” explained study lead author Daniel Ksepka, an Ornithology curator at the <a href="https://brucemuseum.org/">Bruce Museum</a>.



“When we start thinking of these finds not as isolated bones but as parts of a whole living animal then a picture begins to form,” added co-author Daniel Thomas, a senior lecturer in Zoology and Ecology at <a href="https://www.massey.ac.nz/">Massey University of New Zealand</a>. “Large, warm-blooded marine animals living today can dive to great depths. This raises questions about whether Kumimanu fordycei had an ecology that penguins today don’t have, by being able to reach deeper waters and find food that isn’t accessible to living penguins.”



“Kumimanu fordycei would have been an utterly astonishing sight on the beaches of New Zealand 57 million years ago, and the combination of its sheer size and the incomplete nature of its fossil remains makes it one of the most intriguing fossil birds ever found. Hopefully future fossil discoveries will shed more light on the biology of this amazing early penguin,” Field concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2022.88">Journal of Paleontology</a>.&nbsp;



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



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Largest penguin that ever lived weighed 350 pounds

An international team of researchers has recently unearthed fossil bones...

Commercial-scale deep seabed mining in international waters is set to begin for the first time in June 2023. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> and the <a href="https://www.greenpeace.to/greenpeace/">Greenpeace Research Laboratories</a>, the potential impacts of deep-sea mining on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-like-societies-cetaceans/">cetaceans</a> (mammals such as whales, dolphins, or porpoises) is still unknown. The experts are calling for urgent research to assess the risks that such operations pose to ocean ecosystems.



“Like many animals, cetaceans are already facing multiple stressors including climate change,” said Kirsten Thompson, an expert in Ecology at Exeter. “Very little research has examined the impact that deep-sea minerals extraction would have on cetaceans. Cetaceans are highly sensitive to sound, so noise from mining is a particular concern.”



According to the scientists, the sounds expected to be produced by these large-scale mining operations – including those from remotely operated vehicles on the seafloor – are likely to overlap with the acoustic frequencies at which cetaceans communicate.&nbsp;



“We searched for data on how much noise such mining would cause, but no published assessment is available. We know noise pollution in the ocean is already a problem for cetaceans and introducing another industry that is expected to operate 24/7 would inevitably add to existing anthropogenic noise were deep seabed mining to go ahead,” Thompson explained. “Despite this lack of information, it appears industrial-scale mining could soon begin in one of the planet’s few remaining undisturbed environments.”



The region in which the mining operations (led by the island of Nauru in order to exploit polymetallic nodules) will begin later this year – the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean – is currently home to approximately 25 species of cetaceans, including dolphins and sperm whales.



&nbsp;“Seamounts are now known as important offshore habitats for some cetacean populations that forage or regroup around them but we still lack basic knowledge of these fragile ecosystems,” said Solène Derville, a marine scientist at the <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a>. “In this context, it is very hard to assess the magnitude of the impacts of seamount seabed mining on the animals that live and feed around these structures.”



Further research is needed to assess how these large-scale operations will impact the local cetacean populations, and devise methods of protecting them these already endangered species.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1095930">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



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



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Deep-sea mining poses unknown threats to whales

Commercial-scale deep seabed mining in international waters is set to...

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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



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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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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...

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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"

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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

[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



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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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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