Some of the most dramatic climate events in history are the Snowball Earth episodes, which occurred hundreds of millions of years ago. Nearly the entire planet was covered in ice up to a kilometer (0.6 miles) thick during these periods.&nbsp;



The rare Snowball Earth events did not follow regular cycles but lasted for millions to tens of millions of years before being followed by intense <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-global-warming-event-sheds-light-on-earths-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warming</a>. Despite their significance, the details surrounding how these frozen periods ended are still not fully understood.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Washington</a> (UW) offers a more complete picture of how the last Snowball Earth episode ended and sheds light on why it was followed by a major expansion of life, including the emergence of Earth's first animals.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changes-in-key-earth-properties">Changes in key Earth properties</h2>



The research, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51412-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>, focuses on ancient rocks known as “cap carbonates,” which are believed to have formed as the planet’s ice sheets thawed.&nbsp;



These rocks provide clues about the state of Earth's atmosphere and oceans roughly 640 million years ago - long before ice cores or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-largest-ever-solar-storm-discovered-through-tree-rings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tree rings</a> could record such history.



Study lead author Trent Thomas is a doctoral student in earth and space sciences at UW.



“Cap carbonates contain information about key properties of Earth's atmosphere and ocean, such as changing levels of carbon dioxide in the air or the acidity of the ocean,” said Thomas. "Our theory now shows how these properties changed during and after Snowball Earth.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-formation-of-cap-carbonates-nbsp">Formation of cap carbonates&nbsp;</h2>



Cap carbonates are layered limestone or dolomite rocks with distinct chemical properties. Today, they can be found in more than 50 locations worldwide, including places like Death Valley, Namibia, Siberia, Ireland, and Australia.&nbsp;



These formations are believed to have resulted from the melting of the ice sheets that once covered Earth, triggering significant shifts in atmospheric and oceanic chemistry. The unique sediments were then deposited on the ocean floor.



The rocks are called “caps” because they lie atop the glacial deposits left behind after the Snowball Earth <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-complete-record-of-snowball-earth-found-in-rock-formation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">events</a>, and they’re classified as “carbonates” because they consist of carbon-containing limestone or dolomite.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animals-appeared-after-the-last-snowball-earth-nbsp">Animals appeared after the last Snowball Earth&nbsp;</h2>



Understanding how these rocks formed helps clarify the carbon cycle during periods of dramatic climate shifts. 



This latest study, which models these environmental changes, also provides clues about the evolution of life on Earth and explains why more complex life-forms emerged following the last Snowball Earth.



“Life on Earth was simple - in the form of microbes, algae, or other tiny aquatic organisms - for over two billion years leading up to Snowball Earth,” said senior author David Catling, a professor of earth and space sciences at UW.&nbsp;



“In fact, the billion years leading up to Snowball Earth are called the ‘boring billion’ because so little happened. Then two Snowball Earth events occurred, and soon after, animals appear in the fossil record.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chemistry-of-a-snow-covered-earth-nbsp">Chemistry of a snow-covered Earth&nbsp;</h2>



The new research offers a framework to explain how these two events may be connected. The study models the chemistry and geology during three distinct phases of Snowball Earth.&nbsp;



During the peak of the icy period, the thick ice sheets covering the planet reflected sunlight, though some open water allowed limited exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. Meanwhile, the cold seawater continued reacting with the ocean floor.



Over time, carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere until it trapped enough heat to warm the planet and melt the ice.&nbsp;



Once this occurred, rainfall began again, and freshwater from glacial melt poured into the oceans, creating a layer of meltwater that floated on top of the denser, salty ocean water.&nbsp;



This layering slowed down ocean circulation. Eventually, ocean mixing resumed, allowing the upper ocean, deep ocean, and atmosphere to interact again.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-recovery-from-the-snowball-period-nbsp">Earth's recovery from the Snowball period&nbsp;</h2>



“We predict important changes in the environment as Earth recovered from the Snowball period, some of which affected the temperature, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/preparing-for-ocean-acidification-a-silent-killer-of-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acidity</a>, and circulation of the ocean. Now that we know these changes, we can more confidently figure out how they affected Earth’s life,” noted Thomas.



The research team plans to continue exploring how pockets of life that may have survived during Snowball Earth’s tumultuous aftermath could have evolved into the more complex <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-life-and-environment-co-evolved-over-500-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a> forms that appeared shortly after.



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‘Snowball Earth’ event set the stage for complex life

Some of the most dramatic climate events in history are the Snowball Earth episodes, which occurred hundreds of millions of years ago. Nearly the entire planet was covered in ice up to a kilometer (0.6 miles) thick during these periods.&nbsp; The rare Snowball Earth events did not follow regular cycles but lasted for millions to tens of millions of years before being followed by intense warming. Despite their significance, the details surrounding how these frozen periods ended are still not fully understood. A new study led by...

Arabian,Oryx

The Arabian oryx is an iconic antelope species native to desert and steppe areas of the&nbsp;Arabian Peninsula. It is the&nbsp;national animal&nbsp;of Jordan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and&nbsp;Qatar. Despite being a revered and admired species and a cultural symbol in the Gulf region, it became extinct in the wild in 1972 as a result of hunting and poaching.&nbsp;Luckily, there were many individuals held in captivity in zoos and private collections, and the success of captive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-are-one-step-closer-to-creating-artificial-rhino-eggs/">breeding</a> programs meant that small herds could be reintroduced into the wild.&nbsp;



In early 1982, the first herd was “rewilded” to a desert area in central Oman and, today, wild populations totaling 1,200 animals exist in several locations, mainly on the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian oryx is the first animal species to be reclassified by the IUCN as “vulnerable" after being declared extinct in the wild. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the species continues to face a high risk of extinction in the wild. Despite this, there are no formal breeding strategies in place to ensure the genetic diversity of the herds that remain.&nbsp;



To address this important issue, Professor Jaime Gongora of Sydney University, and his former PhD student Qais Al Rawahi and colleagues, conducted the first genomic analysis of Arabian oryxes in order to assess their genetic diversity and propose breeding strategies based on the results.&nbsp;



“There is more to the preservation of the Arabian oryx than conservation,” said Professor Gongora. “Historically and now, it has strong cultural significance in the Arabian Peninsula due to its unique physical features and strength, enabling it to live in harsh desert environments. It has even become a national icon in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. That’s why we are working so hard to ensure it survives – for the oryx itself and to keep this cultural connection alive.”



Arabian oryxes are remarkable animals because of their ability to survive in the hot, dry desert environments where they occur. They can reduce their water loss through urine, feces and metabolic processes by up to 50 percent in dry conditions and have special anatomical features to keep the brain cool, even though the body temperature may rise above normal.



These antelopes can travel 75km a day, searching for food, and are known for their "sixth sense": they can sense the location of incoming rain and move towards it to drink, as well as consume plants that thrive in moister conditions, like acacias. With a lifespan of between 15 and 20 years, they are a key food source for other species on the Arabian Peninsula including striped hyenas, Arabian wolves, and lynxes.



The researchers tested the DNA from 138 Arabian oryxes at the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve in Oman, where a herd of around 600 individuals is kept. They compared the results to 36 historical DNA samples from the Phoenix Zoo, from offspring of a herd established there in the 1970s. The experts studied the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA and biparentally inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms – genetic variations used to identify species.



The results showed that the current gene pool of the Arabian oryx is reasonably diverse, despite the fact that there have been no coordinated breeding schemes to encourage genetic diversity. In fact, at 58 percent of the total diversity, the current-day sample was more genetically diverse than the historical ones. This is hardly surprising since the Phoenix Zoo’s original herd consisted of only nine individuals.



“This means that conservation strategies based on random mating could be reasonably successful,” said study lead author Professor Gongora. “This work in such an iconic species could serve as a benchmark for the long-term sustainability of other conservation programs. This includes those taking place at the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve involving the Sand Gazelle, the Mountain Gazelle and the Nubian Ibex."



The research did identify the DNA of three ancestral groups among the sampled oryxes, but their genes were not evenly distributed across the current-day herds in the wildlife reserve. Based on this, the authors suggest a targeted breeding strategy whereby females should breed with males from the other genetic lineages. “To ensure the survival of the species, it’s not just about population size – it’s about genetic diversity,” emphasized Gongora.



Together with his colleagues, Professor Gongora is working with the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve to implement this strategy. The researchers also recommend that Arabian oryx genetic samples be stored in a biobank for future genetic analyses. In addition, biobanking of eggs and sperm samples could also be considered as a long-term insurance policy against the extinction of this species.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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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

Scientists are fighting to save the iconic Arabian oryx

The Arabian oryx is an iconic antelope species native to...

A new study from the University of Verona in Italy has found evidence of a correlation between long-term exposure to air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/salt-pollution-threatens-freshwater-ecosystems/">pollution</a> and a heightened risk of autoimmune disease.&nbsp;



Examples of autoimmune disease identified in the study include rheumatoid arthritis; multiple sclerosis; systemic lupus erythematosus; inflammatory bowel diseases; and connective tissue diseases such as osteoarthritis.



Environmental air pollution comes from sources such as vehicle exhaust and industrial output. Normally, these types of pollutants trigger the body to react to a specific disease, causing entity through adaptive immunity. However, in some cases, adaptive immunity can misfire, leading to inflammation in the body as well as tissue damage and in the long term, autoimmune disease.&nbsp;



Over the last ten years, the prevalence of autoimmune disease has steadily increased, and the cause has remained a mystery. To investigate, the researchers gathered medical information on 81,363 men and women submitted from the national Italian fracture risk database (DeFRA) between 2016 and 2020.



Most of the participants were women (92 percent) with an average age of 65. Overall, 22 percent of the volunteers had at least one co-existing health condition. To understand how air pollution impacted their health, each participant was linked to a nearby air quality monitoring station.



The study evaluated the potential impacts of particulate matter, focussing on particulate matter levels of PM10 and PM2.5, the thresholds considered harmful to human health. Information on air quality was obtained from 617 monitoring stations in 110 Italian provinces. The results showed that 12 percent of participants had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease between 2016 and 2020.&nbsp;



The study also identified how the disease risk varies depending on exposure to particulate matter and changes over time. For example, exposure to PM2.5 was not associated with an increased risk of autoimmune disease. At the same time, PM10 was associated with a seven percent heightened risk for every 10µg/m3 (10 micrograms / cubic meter) increase in levels.



The study showed an increased risk of autoimmune disease under long term exposure. Specifically, long term exposure to PM10 above 30 µg/m3 and to PM2.5 above 20 µg/m3 were associated with up to 13% higher risk of autoimmune disease.&nbsp;



The levels of particulate matter each participant was exposed to under a long term scenario resulted in specific diagnosis. For example, long term exposure to PM10 had a specific link to heightened risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Long term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with a heightened risk of rheumatoid arthritis, connective tissue diseases, and inflammatory bowel diseases.



Overall, prolonged exposure to traffic and industrial air pollutants resulted in a 40 percent higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, a 20 percent higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease, and a 15 percent higher risk of connective tissue diseases.



While this study shed some light on the connections between long term air pollution and the risk of autoimmune disease, it cannot establish the root cause. As an observational study, the researchers noted some limitations that could have affected their findings.&nbsp;



For example, the data they relied on did not include dates of each participant's diagnosis, or when autoimmune symptoms first appeared. It was also noted that air quality monitoring may not reflect personal exposure to pollutants.&nbsp;



Despite these limitations, the researchers pointed to existing studies that have already linked air pollution to immune system abnormalities. Previous studies have linked smoking and toxins in fossil fuel emissions to rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://rmdopen.bmj.com/">RMD Open</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Air pollution linked to a greater risk of autoimmune disease

A new study from the University of Verona in Italy...

Although a future increase in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-cattle-industry-could-lose-billions-due-to-heat-stress/">heat</a> and drought is inevitable across some regions, the specifics are a little harder to nail down, especially in how the two phenomena will interact with each other. New research has investigated the circumstances under which droughts and heat waves will occur simultaneously. These double whammy weather extremes are known as&nbsp; “compound hot-dry events."



Scientists from the <a href="https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=33573">Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ</a> defined droughts as periods which were drier than 90 percent of the year, and heat events as periods which were hotter than 90 percent of the summer season.&nbsp;



“In the past, periods of drought and heat waves were often considered separately; there is, however, a strong correlation between the two events, which can be seen in the extremes experienced in 2003 and 2018 in Europe. The negative consequences of these compound extremes are often greater than with one single extreme,” said UFZ climate researcher Dr. Jakob Zscheischler.



The experts used a new modeling technique that produced more precise and telling conclusions than previous studies. The researchers used seven climate models and ran each model 100 times for different scenarios that represented natural variation.&nbsp;



The scientists then looked closely at the historical record for 1950 to 1980, and compared this climate to a future one with a two-degree increase from pre-industrial temperatures.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The advantage of these multiple simulations is that we have a much larger volume of data than with conventional model ensembles, enabling us to better estimate compound extremes,” explained study first author Dr. Emanuele Bevacqua.



The scientists found that compared to the time frame from 1950 to 1980, the frequency of hot-dry events will increase by four fold in a future with a two-degree temperature increase. The researchers also discovered that the deciding factor for hot-dry events is precipitation. This is because, as temperatures rise, every drought will be accompanied by extreme heat.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This demonstrates that local precipitation trends determine whether periods of drought and heat waves will occur simultaneously,” explained study co-author Emanuele Bevacqua.&nbsp;



The research is a step towards understanding the complexity of climate change and hopefully will help improve strategies for preparation and adaptation.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Heat and drought extremes are now occurring simultaneously

Although a future increase in heat and drought is inevitable...

For years, we have been told that walking 10,000 daily steps is necessary for optimal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exposure-to-light-during-sleep-can-damage-your-health/">health</a> outcomes. However, that number is not based on science; it's based on an old marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer.&nbsp;



Amanda Paluch is a physical activity epidemiologist at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts</a>, who set out to create evidence-based recommendations for daily steps. In collaboration with an international team of scientists, Paluch has formed the Steps for Health Collaborative.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed 15 studies to help determine how many steps a person should take to increase their chances of living a long, healthy life. Ultimately, the experts reviewed studies on 50,000 people across four continents.&nbsp;



The team divided the participants into four groups to complete a meta-analysis based on their average daily steps. The lowest step group averaged 3,500 steps per day; the second averaged 5,800; the third averaged 7,800, and the fourth averaged 10,900 steps.



The experts found that the group with the three highest average step groups had a 40 to 53 percent lower risk of death than the group with the lowest average steps.



Overall, the analysis showed that taking more steps helped lower one's risk of dying prematurely. However, one does not necessarily have to walk 10,000 steps to live longer.&nbsp;



For adults 60 years and older, 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day were sufficient. After that, the benefits of walking leveled off, which means that more steps did not provide additional health benefits in terms of mortality. Adults under 60 saw stabilization at about 8,000 to 10,000 daily steps.&nbsp;



"So, what we saw was this incremental reduction in risk as steps increase, until it levels off," said Paluch. "And the leveling occurred at different step values for older versus younger adults."



The researchers also discovered that walking speed was not a determining factor in longevity. As long as a person walked a certain amount of steps, they were less likely to suffer premature death. This discovery is good news for public health advocates because it allows them to send a clear message, making recommendations easier for the public to implement.&nbsp;



"Steps are very simple to track, and there is a rapid growth of fitness tracking devices," said Paluch. "It's such a clear communication tool for public health messaging."



According to the researchers, the path to a healthier lifestyle is more accessible than we may think. Even if it's not fast or excessive, moving is beneficial, especially for those who already do very little.&nbsp;



This study was published in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/home">The Lancet Public Health</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Optimal number of daily steps is not necessarily 10,000

For years, we have been told that walking 10,000 daily...

Although many scientists claim that people need at least eight hours of rest to support a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-immune-system-supports-healthy-bodies-too/">healthy</a> life, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California, San Francisco</a> (UCSF) has found that sleep quality appears to be more important than quantity.



According to the scientists, some “elite sleepers” are gifted with genes that allow them to get sufficient rest with only four or six hours of sleep per night. Moreover, these people often show psychological resilience and resistance to various neurodegenerative conditions.



“There’s a dogma in the field that everyone needs eight hours of sleep, but our work to date confirms that the amount of sleep people need differs based on genetics,” said study senior author Louis Ptacek, a neurologist at UCSF. “Think of it as analogous to height; there’s no perfect amount of height, each person is different. We’ve shown that the case is similar for sleep.”



For more than a decade, Dr. Ptacek and his colleagues have studied people with “Familial Natural Short Sleep” (FNSS) - the ability to function fully on only four to six hours of sleep a night. They discovered that this capacity usually runs in families and, until now, they have identified five genes that play a fundamental role in enabling this highly efficient form of sleep.



In order to assess the potential resilience of people with FNSS against neurodegenerative disease, the researchers bred mice that had both the short-sleep genes and genes that predisposed them to Alzheimer’s disease, and found that their brains developed much less of the hallmark aggregates typically associated with dementia. The scientists believe that these efficient-sleep genes may also offer protection against other neurodegenerative conditions.



A better understanding of the biological underpinnings of sleep regulation could help scientists identify drugs that could help ward off sleeping disorders, and thus improve health and well-being.



“Every mutation we find is another piece,” said Dr. Ptacek. “Right now we’re working on the edges and the corners, to get to that place where it’s easier to put the pieces together and where the picture really starts to emerge.”



“This work opens the door to a new understanding of how to delay and possibly prevent a lot of diseases,” added study co-senior author Ying-Hui Fu, a neuroscientist at UCSF. “Our goal really is to help everyone live healthier and longer through getting optimum sleep.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/home">iScience</a>.&nbsp;



---



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

When it comes to sleep, it's quality over quantity that counts

Although many scientists claim that people need at least eight...

<a href="https://aetherdiamonds.com/">Aether</a>, a luxury <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-worlds-oldest-jewelry-discovered-in-morocco/">jewelry</a> company, has recently created diamonds that are literally made out of thin air. By pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, Aether has managed to create lab-grown diamonds (LGD) that are physically and chemically identical with those that are mined. 



Since they extract 20 tons of carbon dioxide from the air for every one carat diamond sold, they manage to significantly contribute to climate change mitigation, by cancelling out more than the average American’s carbon footprint annually.



“I became instantly fascinated when I heard about this new direct-capture technology developed by a company in Switzerland that strips harmful CO2&nbsp;out of the atmosphere,” said Aether CEO Ryan Shearman. “I wondered if we could take all this abundant, harmful carbon that is warming the planet and turn it into a beautiful form of carbon that warms the heart - diamonds.”



The company uses a reactor to extract carbon dioxide from the air, which is then synthesized into the hydrocarbon feedstock required for growing diamonds in a chemical vapor deposition reactor powered by clean, sustainable energy. Once the diamond crystals are fully developed, experts cut and polish the gems.&nbsp;



Although the company has not revealed any cost details of their revolutionary diamond-making process, they claim that the production of their gems requires only half of the energy consumption needed in the case of mined diamonds. Moreover, the 127 gallons of water that are typically used for each mined carat are unnecessary when employing Aether’s groundbreaking methods.&nbsp;



“We're committed to the unprecedented modern alchemy of turning air pollution into precious stones, and committed to serving as a beacon for integrity and transparency in the diamond industry, where so many others have fallen short on that promise to consumers,” said Shearman.



According to Shearman, the goal over the next five years is to increase the production footprint to such a degree that they will remove enough carbon dioxide from the air to make the entire global diamond trade carbon neutral.



“We want to help the entire diamond industry transition to an ethical solution,” said Henry Elkus, the CEO of <a href="https://helena.org/">Helena</a>, a company that aims to find solutions to critical societal problems and has collaborated with Aether in the production of these diamonds. “And when it comes to buying a lab-grown diamond, many customers are drawn to them for ethical reasons. But Aether is more than just ethical. It really makes the world a better place. That’s the coolest story in town.”&nbsp;&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

Revolutionary process turns carbon emissions into diamonds

Aether, a luxury jewelry company, has recently created diamonds that...

A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/13032">PeerJ</a> has described the fossils of a sabre-toothed mammal (Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae) that lived during the early Eocene, approximately 40 million years ago. The specimen included a lower jaw and well-preserved teeth, thus offering crucial information about the evolution of the first hypercarnivores, or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vacation-photos-can-help-save-endangered-animals/">animals</a> that have a predominantly meat-based diet.



“Today the ability to eat an all-meat diet, also called hypercarnivory, isn’t uncommon. Tigers do it, polar bears can do it. If you have a house cat, you may even have a hypercarnivore at home. But 42 million years ago, mammals were only just figuring out how to survive on meat alone,” said study lead author Dr. Ashley Poust, a postdoctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.sdnhm.org/">San Diego Natural History Museum</a> (The Nat). “One big advance was to evolve specialized teeth for slicing flesh - which is something we see in this newly described specimen.”



The specimen was discovered in the Santiago Formation, a region in the San Diego County in Southern California containing 42-million-old rocks with a large number of fossils including early tapirs, strange sheep-like, herbivorous oreodonts, and tiny rhinos.



D. vanvalkenburghae is part of a mysterious group of animals called Machaeroidines that are now completely extinct and are not closely related to today’s living predators.&nbsp;



“We know so little about Machaeroidines, so every new discovery greatly expands our picture of them,” said study co-author Dr. Shawn Zack, a postdoctoral fellow in Anatomy at the <a href="https://phoenixmed.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona College of Medicine</a>. “This relatively complete, well-preserved&nbsp;Diegoaelurus&nbsp;fossil is especially useful because the teeth let us infer the diet and start to understand how Machaeroidines are related to each other.”



This ancient hypercarnivore was about the size of a bobcat, but had a downturned bony chin protecting its sabre teeth.&nbsp;



“Nothing like this had existed in mammals before. A few mammal ancestors had long fangs, but&nbsp;Diegoaelurus&nbsp;and its few relatives represent the first cat-like approach to an all-meat diet, with sabre-teeth in front and slicing scissor teeth called carnassials in the back. It’s a potent combination that several animal groups have independently evolved in the millions of years since,” explained Dr. Poust.



According to the scientists, this mammal and its relatives were an evolutionary experiment, a first stab at a hypercarnivorous lifestyle. It is one of the most recent machaeroidine predators and precedes other cat-like animals such as the nimravids or sabre-tooth false-cats. The richness of prey species co-existing with it in the San Diego County 40 million years ago most probably allowed it to live the life of a specialized hunter before most other mammals.&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

Ancient sabre-tooth sheds light on the evolution of hypercarnivores

A recent study published in the journal PeerJ has described...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en.html">University of Auckland</a> is providing the first physiological evidence of how and why sharks <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exposure-to-light-during-sleep-can-damage-your-health/">sleep</a>. The experts confirmed that sharks sleep with a flat and rigid body posture - and often do so with their eyes wide open.



For the investigation, researchers from New Zealand and Australia observed draughtsboard sharks in the Hauraki Gulf off the coast of Auckland. Draughtsboard sharks, also known as the carpet sharks, are known to frequently lie stationary on the seafloor.



Beyond observing the sharks, the team measured their metabolic rate to analyze how much energy they are burning in a restful state.&nbsp;



"Sleep is a ubiquitous behavior found across the animal kingdom, which is typically characterized by sustained immobility and reduced responsiveness. Despite the vulnerability inherent with sleeping, its persistence across evolutionary time suggests it serves one or more core functions," wrote the study authors.



"One hypothesis for such a core function is that sleep serves to conserve energy through enforcing restfulness and lowering metabolic rate relative to wakefulness. Energy savings during sleep have been reported in diverse animals, including humans, cats, rats, birds and fruit flies. It is unknown, however, whether reduced energy expenditure also occurs in sleeping fishes."



The researchers explained that sharks represent the earliest group of jawed vertebrates, so they could potentially provide insight into the evolution of sleep among vertebrates.



"This rationale is particularly salient following the recent discovery of two sleep states in teleosts and in at least two species of lizard that in some respects resemble mammalian and avian non-rapid eye movement and REM sleep," noted the study authors.&nbsp;



"The existence of two sleep states in birds and mammals suggests that each state performs a different, but perhaps complementary, function. Any homology between the multiple sleep states observed in ectothermic vertebrates to that of endothermic vertebrates is unclear."



According to the researchers, their results show that - like with many vertebrates - sleep in sharks is associated with reduced metabolic rate.&nbsp;



"Thus, the hypothesis that sleep is important for energy conservation is supported by this study in a primitive vertebrate," wrote the researchers.



"Sleep is largely unstudied in this diverse group of cartilaginous fishes and future research should focus on other physiological indicators of sleep, such as changes in brain activity, for a more complete portrait of sleep in these vertebrates."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl">Biology Letters</a>.



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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

Sharks can literally sleep with their eyes open

A new study from the University of Auckland is providing...

I have long covered the often <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/americas-wild-horse-removals-are-counterproductive/">controversial management</a> of wild horses in the United States, where the animals are specifically protected by congressional mandate yet rounded up, often to make more room for cattle grazing. Traditional managing methods involve rounding up wild horses and relocating them to facilities where they wait for adoption indefinitely.&nbsp;



An omnibus spending bill that was recently released by Congress would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to spend $11 million on immunocontraceptive fertility control that advocates argue is more humane. This follows a campaign by the <a href="https://americanwildhorsecampaign.org/">American Wild Horse Campaign</a> (AWHC) and other animal organizations to implement better, more humane horse and burro control methods.



“We thank Congress for taking this critical first step toward humane management of our nation’s federally-protected wild horse herds, which is the best strategy to ultimately move away from unsustainable helicopter roundups,” said Holly Gann Bice, director of government relations of AWHC.&nbsp;



“While we remain concerned about the overall support for the current unscientific and costly mass removal plan, Congress is finally requiring movement toward much-needed reform by mandating the use of humane fertility control vaccines.”



The final bill includes other directives for wild horse and burro management, including options for relocating animals to different management areas rather than removing them. A review of the BLM’s adoption incentives program, which is often criticized for placing animals in sometimes inappropriate homes that turn a profit, is also included. The bill calls for the creation of public-private partnerships and the creation of an interagency task force as well.



Wild horse advocates didn’t get everything they wanted in this new bill, however. The budget for roundup and removal of horses and burros was increased by $21 million, although this is less than the $35 million that the administration requested.&nbsp;



The AWHC also called for the administration to consider a broader examination not just of wild horses but environmental degradation in a broader context. The AWHC claims that horses and burros are disproportionately blamed for these problems when cattle, raised on public land for a profit, cause more environmental harm.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Overall, horse and burro protection enjoys strong bipartisan support in the United States, with 88 percent of Americans saying they want the animals protected.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Congress takes a step toward humane management of wild horses

I have long covered the often controversial management of wild...

It is far healthier to sleep in a darkened room, finds a new study by scientists at <a href="https://www.nm.org/">Northwestern Medicine</a>. Close the blinds, draw the curtains and turn off all the lights before bed, they recommend.&nbsp;Exposure to even moderate ambient lighting during nighttime sleep, can increase your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/retinal-scans-can-reveal-early-signs-of-heart-disease/">heart</a> rate, as well as your insulin resistance the following morning.



It is well known that light stimulates our sympathetic nervous system to become active in the morning when we wake, and this increases heart rate and the speed of metabolic processes. It is now thought that light has a similar effect on us if we are exposed during our sleeping time. And an unbelievable 40 percent of us sleep with some form of light-emitting device in our bedrooms at night – a bedside lamp, the television, or even the main bedroom light. That’s not to mention how many of us have incident light in our bedrooms at night from external sources such as street lights.&nbsp;



“The results from this study demonstrate that just a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” said senior study author Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “It’s important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep.”



The autonomic nervous system has two branches that act with opposite effects. The sympathetic branch is activated during the day and readies us for the tasks and challenges we will face. The parasympathetic branch takes over during sleep and it slows us down in order for the body to repair and restore itself.&nbsp;



“We showed your heart rate increases when you sleep in a moderately lit room,” said Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, a co-first author and research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern. “Even though you are asleep, your autonomic nervous system is activated. That’s bad. Usually, your heart rate together with other cardiovascular parameters are lower at night and higher during the day.”&nbsp;



The researchers tested the effect on participants’ heart rate of sleeping with 100 lux (moderate) compared to 3 lux (dim) of light over a single night. They found that moderate light exposure caused the body to remain in a more alert state. In this state, the heart rate increases as well as the force with which the heart contracts, and the speed of blood flow through the blood vessels.



“These findings are important particularly for those living in modern societies where exposure to indoor and outdoor nighttime light is increasingly widespread,” noted Dr. Zee.&nbsp;



In addition, the researchers measured insulin resistance in participants after they spent a night sleeping in a lit room. The participants showed insulin resistance the following morning. Insulin is the hormone that helps keep blood sugar at acceptable levels and insulin resistance refers to the condition where cells in the muscles and liver don’t respond to the presence of insulin. This means that glucose from the blood cannot be stored and the levels of sugar cannot be regulated between meals. In response, even though the pancreas secretes more and more insulin, the blood glucose increases to dangerous levels over time.&nbsp;



In a previous study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers investigated a large population of healthy people who were exposed to light during their sleep time. The study found that these people were more likely to be overweight or obese, explained Dr. Zee. “Now we are showing a mechanism that might be fundamental to explain why this happens. We show it’s affecting your ability to regulate glucose.”&nbsp;



The participants in the current study weren’t aware of the biological changes in their bodies at night.&nbsp;"But the brain senses it,” said Dr. Grimaldi. “It acts like the brain of somebody whose sleep is light and fragmented. The sleep physiology is not resting the way it’s supposed to.”



Exposure to light during the daytime has important health benefits, not least of them being the production of vitamin D in the body. However, it seems that exposure to light during the dark hours carries potential negative consequences for health.&nbsp;



“In addition to sleep, nutrition and exercise, light exposure during the daytime is an important factor for health, but during the night we show that even modest intensity of light can impair measures of heart and endocrine health,” said Dr. Zee.



According to Dr. Zee, the following tips will help reduce the effects of light while we sleep:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Don’t turn lights on. If you need to have a light on (which older adults may want for safety), make it a dim light that is close to the floor.</li></ul>



<ul><li>If you are able to see things really well in your room at night, you probably have too much light for your own good health.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Color is important. Amber, red or orange light is less stimulating for the brain. Don’t use white or blue light and keep it far away from the sleeping person.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Blackout shades or eye masks are good if you can’t control the outdoor light. Move your bed so the outdoor light isn’t shining on your face.</li></ul>



The results of this study are published today in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Exposure to light during sleep can damage your health

It is far healthier to sleep in a darkened room,...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL097448">Geophysical Research Letters</a> has found that over the past two decades, the Arctic has lost approximately one third of its winter <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-ice-levels-complicate-predictions-of-future-climate-change/">sea ice</a> volume. The phenomenon is largely due to a decline in the ice that persists over several years, called “multiyear ice.” This thick, long-lasting ice is increasingly replaced by seasonal sea ice, which melts completely each summer rather than accumulating over the years.&nbsp;&nbsp;



By using an innovative combination of lidar (<a href="https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/">ICESat-2</a>) and radar (<a href="https://earth.esa.int/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/c-missions/cryosat-2">CryoSat-2</a>) data and comparing them to previous ice thickness and snow depth estimates from climate records, the scientists found that multiyear sea ice has lost 16 percent of its winter volume, or about half a meter of thickness, over the past three years, and one-third of its volume during the past 18 years (approximately 6,000 cubic kilometers).



“We weren’t really expecting to see this decline, for the ice to be this much thinner in just three short years,” said lead study author Sahra Kacimi, a polar scientist at the California Institute of Technology’s <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/research/jpl">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>.



“Arctic snow depth, sea ice thickness, and volume are three very challenging measurements to obtain,” added study co-author Ron Kwok, another polar scientist at the University of Washington’s <a href="https://www.apl.washington.edu/">Applied Physics Laboratory</a>.&nbsp;



“The key takeaway for me is the remarkable loss of Arctic winter sea ice volume - one-third of the winter ice volume lost over just 18 years - that accompanied a widely reported loss of old, thick Arctic sea ice and decline in end-of-summer ice extent.”



Older, multiyear ice is thicker and thus more resistant to melting. As this reservoir of old Arctic sea ice is depleted and seasonal sea ice becomes the norm, the overall volume and thickness of Arctic sea ice is expected to decline.&nbsp;



“Current models predict that by the mid-century we can expect ice-free summers in the Arctic, when the older ice, thick enough to survive the melt season is gone,” Dr. Kacimi concluded.



Image Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen



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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

Summers in the Arctic could be ice-free by mid-century

A new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-could-release-much-more-carbon-than-expected/">Permafrost</a> peatlands in Europe and Western Siberia are much closer to a climatic tipping point than previously thought, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a>. Scientists estimate that, even with the strongest efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and therefore limit climate change, by 2040 the climates of Northern Europe will no longer be cold and dry enough to sustain peat permafrost.



“Peatland permafrost responds differently to changing climates than mineral-soil permafrost due to the insulating properties of organic soils, but peatlands remain poorly represented in Earth system models,” said study co-author Dr. Ruza Ivanovic, an associate professor of Climatology at Leeds. “It is vitally important these ecosystems are understood and accounted for when considering the impact of climate change on the planet.”



By using the latest generation of climate models to examine possible future climates of these regions, the scientists found that global warming will most likely cause massive permafrost melting, and subsequent release of the huge quantities of carbon dioxide that are stored in these frozen peatlands (about 39 billion tons of carbon – the equivalent to twice that stored in all the European forests).



“We examined a range of future emission trajectories. This included strong climate-change mitigation scenario, which would see large-scale efforts to curb emissions across sectors, to no-mitigations scenarios and worse-case scenarios,” said study lead author Richard Fewster, a PhD student in Geography at Leeds.



“Our modelling shows that these fragile ecosystems are on a precipice and even moderate mitigation leads to the widespread loss of suitable climates for peat permafrost by the end of the century.”



“But that doesn’t mean we should throw in the towel,” he stressed. “The rate and extent to which suitable climate are lost could be limited, and even partially reversed, by strong climate-change mitigation policies.”



Such strong action to reduce greenhouse emissions could help preserve suitable climates for permafrost peatlands at least in the northern parts of Western Siberia, a region where 13.9 billion tons of carbon are stored.&nbsp;



These projections emphasize the importance of socio-economic policies aimed at reducing emissions and mitigating climate change. Further research is needed to improve maps of modern peat permafrost distribution in areas where observation data is lacking and thus to enable future modelling studies able to make hemispheric-scale projections.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01296-7">Nature Climate Change</a>.&nbsp;&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

Permafrost peatlands approach a climate tipping point

Permafrost peatlands in Europe and Western Siberia are much closer...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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