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...

Brandt’s voles are tiny rodents living in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grasslands-play-a-major-role-in-mitigating-climate-change/">grasslands</a> in Inner Mongolia, China, where they are usually hunted by birds called shrikes. A new study published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.074">Current Biology</a> has found that the voles often cut tall bunchgrass when shrikes are nearby so they can observe the approach of the predators and hide faster.&nbsp;



Since they never eat the grass or use it in any specific way, researchers argue that this behavior should be seen as an example of “ecosystem engineering” through which voles aim to keep themselves safe.



“When shrikes were present, the voles dramatically decreased the volume of bunchgrass,” said study co-author Dirk Sanders, a research fellow in Ecology at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. “This led to fewer visits from shrikes – which apparently recognize cut-grass areas as poor hunting grounds. An activity like this is costly for the voles in terms of energy, so there must be high ‘selection pressure’ to do it – cutting the grass must significantly improve their chances of survival.”



By putting up nets over certain areas, the scientists also tested what impact keeping the birds away has on voles’ behavior. They found that, with no shrikes overhead, the voles stopped cutting the bunchgrass.



“We sometimes underestimate the ability of wild animals to react to changes in their environment. In this case, the voles were able to change their behavior in response to the removal of predators,” explained Dr. Sanders. “Our findings are a reminder that species show remarkable adaptations. It also underlines that the loss of even a single species in a food web can result in unexpected changes to an entire habitat.”



These findings suggest that animals can actively modify their habitats to reduce predation risk through ecosystem engineering. Moreover, it could also have important implications for rodent management in pasture lands. In this particular case, keeping or even planting large bunchgrasses could help attracting avian predators such as shrikes and thus reduce the population density of voles.



---



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

Voles cut grass to reduce their predation risk

Brandt’s voles are tiny rodents living in grasslands in Inner...

Mint,Plant,Growing,At,Vegetable,Garden

Many species of animals, particularly those with known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predators-help-prevent-biodiversity-loss/">predators</a>, can signal each other of imminent dangers through a variety of techniques, ranging from scent to sound. A new study led by <a href="https://www.tus.ac.jp/en/">Tokyo University of Science</a> has recently argued that plants can “sound alarms” under threats of attack too, and revealed the epigenetic mechanisms of volatile-signal-induced activation of defense genes in specimens threatened by herbivorous predators.



Previous studies have shown that, when grown close to mint plants, soybean and field mustard plants often display a heightened response to herbivore pests by activating defense genes in their leaves as a result of “eavesdropping” on mint volatiles. When mint leaves get damaged by a predator, they emit chemical signals that soybean and field mustard detect, leading them to quickly activate their anti-herbivore defense systems. To clarify this mechanism, a team of researchers from various Japanese institutions examined these responses in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant used widely in biological studies.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Surrounding undamaged plants exposed to odors emitted from plants eaten by pests can develop resistance to the pests. Although the induction of the expression of defense genes in odor-responsive plants is key to this resistance, the precise molecular mechanisms for turning the induced state on or off have not been understood,” explained study co-author Gen-ichiro Arimura, an associate professor of Biology at Tokyo University of Science. “In this study, we hypothesized that histone acetylation, or the so-called epigenetic regulation, is involved in the phenomenon of resistance development.”&nbsp;



Professor Arimura and his colleagues exposed the plants to β-ocimene, a volatile organic compound that is often released by plants in response to predatory attacks, and discovered that defense traits were induced in Arabidopsis leaves through epigenetic mechanisms, or processes of gene regulation occurring due to external environmental influences.&nbsp;



More specifically, the volatile chemicals released by the damaged plants enhanced histone acetylation and the response of defense gene regulators, such as the ethylene response factor genes “ERF8” and “ERF104,” together with a specific set of histone acetyltransferase enzymes (HAC1, HAC5, and HAM1).



Clarifying the epigenetic mechanisms behind plant defense can have important applications in organic cultivation systems, by helping cultivators increase their crops’ pest resistance and effectively reduce the current massive dependence on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-have-become-increasingly-toxic-to-insects/">pesticides</a>.



“The effective use of plants’ natural survival strategies in production systems will bring us closer to the realization of a sustainable society that simultaneously solves environmental and food problems,” concluded Professor Arimura.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac077">Plant Physiology</a>.



---



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

Plants can warn each other of imminent dangers

Many species of animals, particularly those with known predators, can...

Scala,Dei,Turchi,Stair,Of,The,Turks,,Sicily,Italy,,Scala

A new study from the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a> reveals that Antarctic fish are no longer growing to their potential size. By adapting to the freezing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-are-transforming-arctic-coasts/" data-type="news" data-id="1900825">temperatures</a> of the Southern Ocean, the fish have lost their ability to reach the growth rates of their relatives - even when they are held at warmer water temperatures.



The study was focused on two species - the Antarctic spiny plunderfish and the shanny, also known as the common blenny. The results showed that the Antarctic fish consumed around 20 percent less food compared to fish from temperate waters. The cold water fish also grew at about half the rate. When the two species were held at the same water temperature, the outcome was the same.&nbsp;



The experts found that Antarctic fish have greatly increased the amount of cellular machinery they use to make proteins, yet they are still unable to produce these proteins as quickly as fish that live in warmer waters.&nbsp;



For the cold water fish, this means that the rate at which new proteins are translated into physical growth has been substantially reduced.



According to the researchers, it seems that an evolutionary trade-off for being able to survive at polar water temperatures has been a greatly reduced ability to grow as quickly or efficiently as warmer water fish.



“Antarctic fish are highly thermally constrained and cannot live long-term at temperatures much above those that they currently inhabit. In contrast, many temperate species are more tolerant of a wide range of temperatures as they often inhabit extensive latitudinal ranges," explained study lead author Dr. Keiron Fraser.



"Our data shows that the rates of growth and protein metabolism in an Antarctic species are significantly lower than in the temperate species, even when held at the same water temperature."



"As ocean temperatures increase with global warming, it is a timely reminder of the differences in species that have evolved to live at widely different temperatures. If Antarctic fish are increasingly exposed to higher temperatures, it will have implications for their survival, as well as effects on many critical physiological processes, including growth.”



Professor Lloyd Peck is the lead physiologist on animal adaptations in extreme environments from the British Antarctic Survey. He noted that there is unexpectedly high biodiversity on the seabed in Antarctica, with estimates of around 20,000 species living there.&nbsp;



"So far all of the species studied have great problems making proteins and it seems this is a ubiquitous constraint on life at low temperature. There are many other unique adaptations in Antarctic marine species, such as 16 species of fish that are the only animals with backbones that do not have red blood cells or haemoglobin to carry oxygen around their bodies, or giant sea spiders thousands of times heavier than the largest in temperate zones," said Professor Peck.&nbsp;



"As well as the issues with making proteins, many of these other adaptations might make life easier in an environment with constant low temperatures, but they also appear to reduce abilities to survive in changing environments, which makes the future prospects for many Antarctic marine species bleak.”



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



---



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

Antarctic fish have lost the ability to grow efficiently

A new study from the University of Plymouth reveals that...

Hair is important, and not just for humans, but for all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-mammals-play-a-role-in-combating-climate-change/">mammals</a>. Hair serves many functions. It keeps us warm, provides camouflage for both predator and prey, and many species even use hair for communication. Despite its significance, the evolution of wild primate hair is not very well understood.&nbsp;



In an effort to determine how climate, body size, and color vision may have influenced hair evolution, researchers with the <a href="https://cashp.columbian.gwu.edu/primate-genomics">Primate Genomics Lab at the George Washington University</a> looked at a wild population of Indriidae, a type of lemur endemic to Madagascar.&nbsp;



The experts found that Sifaka lemur hair is denser in arid, open habitats. They hypothesize that similar to its function in humans, this type of hair helps protect the lemur from the sun.&nbsp;



The researchers also discovered that lemurs that lived in cooler environments had darker hair. They believe that the animals adhere to Bogert’s Rule, which declares that animals who live in colder environments develop darker hair which helps them thermoregulate since darker hair absorbs more heat.



Interestingly, red hair in lemurs is more likely to be seen in populations that can perceive a more extensive range of colors. Nonetheless, several evolutionary pressures influence hair structure and color; this means that these effects will not be found in all lemur species.



Unfortunately, it is not easy to understand the evolution of human hair by looking directly at ancestral hair because it does not fossilize, which is why researchers turned to lemurs.&nbsp;



“The lemurs we studied exhibit an upright posture like humans and live in a variety of ecosystems like early humans, so our results provide a unique window into human hair evolution," said study lead author Elizabeth Tapanes,&nbsp; a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego.



The scientists hope that by studying non-human primates such as lemurs, we can gain a better understanding of our own evolutionary history.



“Most people are intrigued by the diversity of hair on their own bodies, and the variety of hair types among people around the world," said study co-author Professor Brenda Bradley.



“Understanding hair patterns in non-human primates, such as these lemurs, may provide a comparative context for understanding how variation arose in human hair.”



The study, “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.24508">Hair phenotype diversity across Indriidae lemurs</a>,” is published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.



---



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

Lemurs provide a window into the evolution of hair

Hair is important, and not just for humans, but for...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a> has looked at the role of large mammalian herbivores in combating climate change. This is an unusual approach, as large <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disposable-masks-are-increasingly-impacting-marine-animals/">animals</a> are generally not considered in ideas of climate change mitigation.&nbsp;



“Conservation efforts usually focus on either trees and carbon or the broad conservation appeal of large mammals," said Professor Yadvinder Malhi, an expert in the Environmental Change Institute at the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>. "This study looked at whether it was possible to align these agendas - under what context could protecting and restoring large animal wildlife help us tackle and adapt to climate change.”



The research examined several ways in which large mammals can impact carbon storage, fire prevention and the reflection potential of the Earth’s surface. They do so by spreading seeds, clearing vegetation and fertilizing soil. Such activities boost the biodiversity of an area, which in turn makes an environment more resilient to climate change. These actions also increase the carbon storage of an ecosystem.&nbsp;



Trampling and grazing on vegetation in colder areas also reveals bare earth or earth covered in snow. Revealing the snow layer also makes the surface more reflective, bouncing solar radiation away, thus keeping Earth cooler. This also allows more cold air near the surface of the planet, which maintains permafrost in its frozen state and keeps its carbon stores locked away.&nbsp;



Finally, the research shows that grazing by zebras, rhinoceros, elephants and other large herbivores can lessen the risk of fire. This happens because the animals trample or graze natural fire breaks, making it harder for fires to spread. Less fires of course mean less carbon in our atmosphere and less climate change.&nbsp;



“Animals can also help with localized adaptation to climate change in these environments by diversifying vegetation and increasing habitat heterogeneity," said Dr. Tonya Lander, an expert in the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford University. "Diversity of species and microhabitats can make the ecosystem as a whole more able to resist climate change, return to a stable state following a climate-related disturbance, or find a new stable state that functions within the changed and changing climate.”&nbsp;



While the study provides some insight into how animals can impact climate change, the scientists are calling for more research so we can more fully understand and mitigate the problem.&nbsp;



---



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

Large mammals play a role in combating climate change

A new study published in the journal Current Biology has...

Industrial,Coal,Power,Station,On,Sunset,,Germany

According to a new <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-co2-emissions-in-2021-2">report</a> by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-emissions-can-be-turned-into-clean-fuels/">carbon dioxide emissions</a> from energy combustion and industrial processes rose to an all-time record of 36 billion tons in 2021 (six percent higher than in 2020), as world economies started to recover from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-wreaks-havoc-among-immunologically-naive-populations/">Coronavirus pandemic</a>.



Coal emissions accounted for over 40 percent of the overall global increase, reaching an unprecedented high of 15.3 billion tons, followed by natural gas emissions, with 7.5 billion tons. China - the only major economy to experience growth during the entire pandemic – was the largest driver of the rise in emissions. “In 2021 alone, China’s CO2 emissions rose above 11.9 billion tons, accounting for 33 percent of the global total,” reported the IEA.



India’s coal use for electricity generation also reached an all-time record, increasing by 13 percent above its 2020 level, while a surge in gas prices in both the United States and Europe significantly contributed to the rise in global emissions too. This surge in prices made it more profitable for power generators to use coal, which emits double the amount of CO2 as gas-powered plants.



“Gas-to-coal switching pushed up global CO2 emissions from electricity generation by well over 100 million tons, notably in the United States and Europe where competition between gas and coal power plants is tightest,” explained the IEA.



While clean energy provisions of several major economies have already contributed to mitigating – at least to a certain degree - the near-term rebound in emissions, urgent actions from policy makers, industries, and federal agencies are needed to make sure that the increases we witnessed during 2021 will not exacerbate in the coming years.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The world must now ensure that the global rebound in emissions in 2021 was a one-off – and that sustainable investments combined with the accelerated deployment of clean energy technologies will reduce CO2&nbsp;emissions in 2022, keeping alive the possibility of reducing global CO2&nbsp;emissions to net zero by 2050,” the authors of the report 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

Global CO2 emissions reached unprecedented highs in 2021

According to a new report by the International Energy Agency...

The return of the swallows has been celebrated for thousands of years as a harbinger of <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/new-evidence-reveals-that-dinosaurs-died-in-the-spring/">spring</a> in the United Kingdom. However, it was not known until the 20th century where they went after they disappeared in the autumn. Many people - including notable scientists - believed that they hibernated on the bottom of ponds.&nbsp;



With the introduction of bird ringing at the beginning of the 20th century, their true destination was revealed. In December 1912, a swallow was caught on a farm in South Africa, bearing a ring that had been placed on its leg 18 months earlier in Staffordshire, UK. Because the European winters were too cold for the insects on which swallows fed, the birds headed south each winter, traveling incredible distances until the warm south of the African continent.&nbsp;



However, according to the <a href="https://www.bto.org/">British Trust for Ornithology</a> (BTO), swallows have recently started to spend winters in the United Kingdom instead of migrating over 6,000 miles to South Africa. This major change in behavior is one of the most remarkable signs that climate change is severely dismantling a large variety of ecosystems.



“It is indeed remarkable,” said BTO’s chief executive, Professor Juliet Vickery. “We haven’t got to go back too far to remember winters when it would have been impossible for swallows to survive the freezing temperatures, but as our winters get milder it is something we may see more and more.”&nbsp;



BTO’s <a href="https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/birdtrack">BirdTrack survey</a> of birdwatchers has received more than 100 reports of up to 12 individual swallows that were observed during January in the warmer south and south-west of Britain, as well as parts of Ireland. Thus, with an increase of mild winters in the past few years, it appears that a small number of swallows are able to spend the winter months in Britain, instead of migrating to the south.



“To suggest that our winters would be warm enough for swallows to survive would have been unthinkable a few decades ago,” said&nbsp;BTO’s Director of Science, Professor James Pearce-Higgins. “But the evidence that our climate is changing is building year by year.”



According to BTO, swallows are not the only birds affected by climate change. In fact, almost a quarter of British breeding species may be negatively affected by the steady rises in temperature witnessed in the past years. Scientists are yet to understand all the implications of these fundamental changes in bird behavior caused by global warming, and to find solutions to minimize their negative impact.



---



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

Swallows are no longer migrating south as winters become milder

The return of the swallows has been celebrated for thousands...

Cancer detection is a major public health challenge. The methods currently used to detect cancerous cells, such as MRIs and mammograms, are often invasive and expensive, which limits their long-term use.&nbsp;



In order to bypass such constraints, alternative methods like the use of animals’ sense of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sense-of-smell-has-diminished-in-humans-and-other-primates/">smell</a> are currently investigated. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/">National Center for Scientific Research</a> in France (CNRS) has found that ants can discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells, as well as between different types of cancers.



The researchers performed tests on 36 ants under a laboratory setting. They first exposed the ants to a sample of cancerous human cells, which they associated with a reward consisting of a sugary solution that the ants enjoy. After only a few minutes of training, the ants learned to reliably differentiate between cancerous and healthy human cells.



This is not the first time that scientists used animals’ olfactory sense to help detecting cancerous cells. Dogs, for example, have also been able to sniff them out. However, training them to do so required long periods of time, ranging from a few months to a year.



By contrast, according to the researchers, “insects can be easily reared in controlled conditions, they are inexpensive, they have a very well-developed olfactory system and hundreds of individuals can be conditioned with very few trials. Ants therefore represent a fast, efficient, inexpensive, and highly discriminant detection tool for detection of cancer cell volatiles.”&nbsp;



Although the efficacy of this method must now be tested in clinical trials on actual human beings, these first results suggest that ants may be some of the best animals to use in detecting cancers and more.



“Our approach could potentially be adapted to a range of other complex odor detection tasks including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases, including malaria, infections, and diabetes,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103959">iScience</a>.



---



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

Ants can detect cancer through smell

Cancer detection is a major public health challenge. The methods...

Lithium is a non-renewable resource in high demand to support the transition to a low carbon economy. It’s most commonly used to power the world’s electric vehicles, a promising technology to reduce global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lower-emissions-needed-to-save-the-winter-season/">emissions</a>.



Most of the world’s lithium is mined in Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, an area known as ‘The Lithium Triangle," which is coincidentally, home to three species of flamingos.&nbsp;



A new study has found that lithium mining and climate changes in the Andes Mountains could be negatively affecting the region’s flamingo population.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study, published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>, considered the effects that lithium mining and climate change are having on the lakes in the Chilean Andes where flamingos flock for feeding and breeding.&nbsp;



“Given how rapidly our demand for lithium is growing, there is a great need to understand what negative effects its production might be having on biodiversity and especially those species, like flamingos, that are important to local economies,” explained study co-author Dr. Nathan Senner, a population biologist at the <a href="https://sc.edu/">University of South Carolina</a>.



The "lithium triangle" is home to two species of flamingos who only breed in this region exclusively. Flamingos are also an important foundation of the region’s ecotourism industry.&nbsp;



The study looked at five lakes in the Chilean Andes, part of the Lithium Triangle, where Chile’s lithium mining is largely focused.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed 30 years of flamingo counts collected by citizen scientists and biologists from the Chilean government. Remote sensing data was also used to identify changes in water levels and food availability within each lake. This allowed the experts to evaluate the climatic factors influencing water and flamingo food availability, as well as how water and food influenced flamingo abundance.&nbsp;



The study revealed that lakes across the regions are starting to shrink, largely due to climate change. The impacts of a shrinking lake directly impact breeding flamingos. When a lake’s water levels are low, food levels decrease, leaving less opportunity for breeding flamingos.&nbsp;



The results show that in Salar de Atacama, a lake directly affected by mining, the two species of flamingos that breed only in these mountains have already lost 10 to 12 percent of their populations. Overall, however, the flamingo population has not yet declined.&nbsp;



The stability of the local flamingo population is likely due to the opportunity for the birds to migrate to different lakes with better conditions. The researchers are concerned that this may not last, as the demand for lithium mining is growing at an exponential rate.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In order to meet demand for electric vehicles, cell phones, and electronic storage devices, lithium mining in Chile is projected to triple by 2026 relative to 2018 levels.



“The problem is that, in the Salar de Atacama, in addition to the changes caused by climate change across the region, lithium mining is reducing water levels and increasing disturbances for flamingos,” explained Dr. Jorge Gutiérrez, an ecologist at the Universidad de Extremadura who led the study. “This means years with sufficient water for flamingos to breed occur less frequently and fewer flamingos are now present, Study co-author Dr. Cristina Dorador said that the flamingo declines in the Salar de Atacama may soon spread to the rest of the region.“Given that two of these flamingo species breed nowhere else in the world, this could lead to dramatic declines across their entire range and severely hurt the local ecotourism industry that relies on flamingos.”



---



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

Demand for lithium comes at a cost to flamingos

Lithium is a non-renewable resource in high demand to support...

Very,Beautiful,And,Panoramic,Landscape,Or,Seascape,With,Dramatic,Cumulus

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-drives-millions-of-children-into-hunger/">El Niño</a> – a climate pattern characterized by the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – is affecting the climate, ecosystems, and societies all over the world. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found that the global weather fluctuations caused by El Niño will become more frequent by 2040, regardless of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ipcc-report-window-to-secure-a-liveable-future-is-rapidly-closing/">climate change</a> mitigation effects that we might undertake in the near future.



By using state-of-the-art climate models, scientists examined the “time of emergence” of changes in the tropical Pacific related to El Niño – i.e., the moment when the signal of climate change emerges from the usual background noise of natural climate variability. They took into account four possible scenarios for future greenhouse gas emissions and found that, in all the four scenarios, the best estimate of the time of emergence of changes converged on 2040.



“We know from previous studies that, when measuring El Niño changes in terms of rainfall shifts in the eastern equatorial Pacific, models predict an increase in the frequency of events. This study shows that those changes could happen after the next two decades,” said study lead author Dr. Jun Ying, a visiting scholar at the University of Exeter.



“What surprised us is that changes emerge regardless of the scenario we look at,” added study co-author Matthew Collins, a professor of Climate Science at the University of Exeter.&nbsp;



“Because rainfall in the tropics is associated with the warmest sea surface temperatures (SSTs), it is the relative changes in SST that are more important than the absolute change. This leads us to the rather stark conclusion that these changes are essentially unavoidable.”



Although the study results suggest that El Niño events and associated climate extremes are more likely regardless of any significant mitigation actions to reduce emissions, this should not lead to complacency from policy makers and federal agencies. If no immediate actions are taken to curb global warming, the negative effects associated with increases in temperatures will most likely escalate to unprecedented levels, highly endangering life on our planet.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01301-z">Nature Climate Change</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

Increase in extreme El Niño events is unavoidable

El Niño – a climate pattern characterized by the unusual...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.unibe.ch/index_eng.html">University of Bern</a> in the Switzerland has compared the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-may-have-galloped-long-before-they-dragged-themselves-onto-land/">locomotion</a> behavior of free-ranging dairy cows grazing on traditional summer mountain farms with that of cattle grown in modern cubicle housing without access to pastures. According to the researchers, traditionally-raised cows were more active and spent over 12 hours per day standing and moving around – a much healthier lifestyle than that of their confined counterparts.



“Welfare of intensively farmed animals and whether the housing systems allow individuals to express natural behavior, are of public concern. Pasture based husbandry systems enable cattle to express their natural behavior such as grazing, freedom of movement, and social interaction and thus provide better welfare than confinement systems,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



“However, due to the increasing use of conventional indoor housing systems and automated milking systems combined with continuously increasing herd size, zero grazing systems are becoming more and more common in many countries of the European Union.”



While keeping dairy cows indoors allows for the control of climatic and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, bedding availability, adjusted feed supply, or regular health checks, scientists worry that such confinement could compromise the animals’ well-being by stopping them from expressing their normal behavior and thus making them prone to various physical and psychological distress.&nbsp;



To test this hypothesis, researchers measured locomotion activity of healthy dairy cows kept on mountain pastures and compared it with that of cows kept in cubicle housing systems. The cows were equipped with a 3D-accelerometer on one of their hind legs, and their locomotion behavior – in terms of walking time, lying time, walking bouts, standing bouts, or number of strides – was recorded for 48 hours.



The results shown that mountain pasture cows had higher locomotor activity levels, spending almost a double amount of time walking than their penned counterparts. “In summary, cows kept on mountain pasture were more active and spent longer than 12 hours/day standing. Lying markedly less than 12 hours per day seems to represent the normal behavior of pastured cows searching for fresh grass. This does not cause any obvious damage to the locomotor system as claws of cattle are well adapted to long periods of movement on mountain pastures,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264320">PLoS ONE</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

Free-ranging dairy cows have a much healthier lifestyle

A new study led by the University of Bern in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungal-disease-is-decimating-amphibians-in-baja-california/">Amphibians</a> are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much more so than mammals. Without any way to regulate their own body temperatures, frogs, salamanders and the like are at the whim of climatic changes. Scientists at the <a href="https://www.pitt.edu/">University of Pittsburgh</a> suspected that gut microbes, important in other aspects of health, might play a role in resilience to temperature in amphibians, and set out to test this idea.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As temperatures are warming, if animals are experiencing disruptions in their microbial communities - as we know can happen due to human-caused stress - then that could lead them to not survive as well,” said lead author Samantha Fontaine, a PhD student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.



Fontaine reared tadpoles in several different pools consisting of two categories: normal pond water full of microbes and sterilized water with very few microbes. The two water treatments each contained tadpoles raised at different temperatures ranging from 57 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Unsurprisingly, the tadpoles that lived in the sterilized water had less microbes in their guts. Strangely, these microbe-less tadpoles grew much larger than their counterparts raised in normal pond water.&nbsp;



Another interesting result of the research is that the tadpoles with microbes were better able to survive higher temperatures, even when the size difference was accounted for.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We definitely need more natural experiments to see how this would actually play out in the wild,” said Fontaine. “But this is the first study to show that there’s a connection between heat tolerance and the microbiome” in animals like amphibians.



The research has a practical conservation application, especially as Earth continues to warm and amphibians are increasingly threatened by many anthropogenic causes.&nbsp;



“The idea of probiotics is really big in the field: Are there microbes that are really important that we can supplement animals with?” said Fontaine. “If so, it’s possible that can help them withstand changes in temperatures more robustly.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</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

Gut microbes help tadpoles cope with climate change

Amphibians are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much...

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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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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