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...

Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense around the world. Heatwaves, defined as prolonged periods of excessive heat, cause many devastating ecological, economic and human health impacts. The number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-heat-is-the-new-normal-for-the-ocean/">extreme heat </a>days has increased 60 percent over the past four decades globally. Extreme heat is one of the deadliest and costliest natural hazards, claiming more than 166,000 lives between 1998 and 2017 worldwide.&nbsp; To reduce the impacts of rising temperatures, adaptation measures such as infrastructure improvement, access to water, cooling systems, early warning systems, and increased awareness are relied upon. These mechanisms are costly to implement, and are more widely available in wealthier countries.



Lower income countries often lack access to adaptation measures, and are exposed to heat waves for longer periods of time. This inequality will only continue to rise as climate change persists, as demonstrated by new research.&nbsp;



The authors of the study, which is published by the American Geophysical Union, theorizes that “vulnerability to risk, and degrees of suffering, are determined by levels of economic development, rather than simple exposure to natural hazards."



The researchers analyzed historical income data, climate records and heat adaptations to quantify the level of heat wave exposure that people in different income levels face around the world. Observations were paired with climate models to predict how exposure will change over time.&nbsp;



The experts found that heatwaves have intensified more in low-income areas as opposed to high-income regions. When compared to people with higher incomes, lower income populations currently face a 40 percent higher exposure to heatwaves.



The study revealed that this disproportionate exposure to heatwaves will only increase in the world's lowest-income population by 2100, even if access to adaptation measures such as air conditioning, cool air shelters, and safety regulations are implemented. By the end of this century, people in the lowest-income population will face 23 more days of heat waves than those in the highest income quarters every year.&nbsp;



At the same time, the highest-income regions in the world with resources and capacity to adapt will experience little change. The richest two regions are expected to experience stable heatwave metrics by the end of the century. This is because high-income countries have greater capacity to adapt to climate change.&nbsp;



Many low-income regions are geographically located in already-warm tropics, and their populations are expected to grow, contributing to additional heat wave exposure. At the same time, higher-income countries have historically contributed to the majority of global greenhouse gasses.&nbsp;



The findings reinforce the fact that populations who have contributed the least to climate change often bear the brunt of climate change impacts, said lead study author Mojtaba Sadegh, a climatologist at Boise State University.&nbsp;



 The global inequalities of climate change can be addressed over time through innovative and affordable solutions, such as energy-efficient cooling solutions. “We need to raise awareness of dangers and heat safety, and to improve early warning systems - and access to those early warning systems,” said Sadegh.



The study is published in the AGU journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/23284277">Earth’s Future</a>.



---



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

Poorest people will face the greatest burden of heatwaves

Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense around the world....

The risks of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-can-we-save-the-regent-honeyeater-from-extinction/">extinction</a> for specific plants and animals are generally collated in regional, national, and global threat assessments, known as “Red Lists.” These lists help legislators and conservation organizations make decisions about which species need the most urgent protection in order to avoid losing them forever.&nbsp;



Although there are many national lists available, they are often not integrated into the global <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List of Threatened Species</a> compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), particularly when it comes to plants. According to current estimates, the global list lacks threat assessments for almost 90 percent of plant species.



An international team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.uni-halle.de/?lang=en">Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg</a> (MLU) in Germany has now managed to address this assessment gap in the case of European vascular plants – which comprise most species of plants, besides mosses, algae, and lichens.&nbsp;



By integrating data streams on the global geographic distribution of vascular plant species and national Red Lists from 37 European countries, spanning a period from 1999 to 2020, the researchers discovered that seven to nine percent of the European vascular plant flora is endangered.&nbsp;



In other words, about 1,800 out of the 20,000 to 25,000 known European vascular plant species are at risk. However, since the national lists generally include only half of all plants occurring in a specific country, these findings are very conservative estimates.



While the IUCN list for the major vertebrate groups was completed decades ago, this has unfortunately not been the case for plants.&nbsp;



“Such data gaps can be disastrous because they lead to uncertainties in priority setting in international conservation policy,” said study lead author Hanna Holz, a Biology MSc student at MLU. “Our findings help update and expand the most important instrument in international conservation policy.”



The <a href="https://www.cbd.int/">United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity</a> (CBD), a multilateral treaty that was signed in 1992, set itself the goal of compiling a full list of endangered plant species by 2020. Unfortunately, this goal is far from being achieved even in 2022.&nbsp;



“Through a comprehensive synthesis of existing national Red Lists with global distribution data, national efforts can be incorporated relatively easily into global risk assessments of plants and, hopefully, accelerate these efforts,” said study senior author Ingmar Staude, a senior scientist at <a href="https://www.uni-leipzig.de/en">Leipzig University</a>.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10251">Plants People Planet</a>.



---



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

Alarming number of European vascular plants are threatened

The risks of extinction for specific plants and animals are...

The highly contagious and immune-evasive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-specific-boosters-may-not-be-necessary/">Omicron</a> variant seems to be subsiding quickly in many countries. In the United States, case numbers have dropped by 66 percent in the past two weeks, and hospitalizations finally fell under 100,000. Moreover, it appears that <a href="https://daytonews.com/2022/01/30/omicrons-sister-has-arrived-and-covid-may-be-here-to-stay-earth-com/">Omicron’s sister</a>, BA.2, will not cause much more trouble than the original variant, although it is slightly more contagious.&nbsp;



These developments have led many American states to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/us-mask-mandates.html">drop mask mandates</a>. Several European countries, such as Denmark or Sweden, have lifted nearly<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/world/europe/sweden-announces-end-covid-restrictions.html"> all COVID-19 restrictions</a> in attempts to return to normal life - or rather to learn to “live with the virus,” as so many governments, politicians, and health officials have recently put it.



However, as Maria Van Kerkhove, the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a>’s COVID-19 technical lead argued during a coronavirus update in Geneva, the chances for Omicron to be the last variant of concern are slight.&nbsp;



“We’re hearing a lot of people suggest that Omicron is the last variant, that it’s over after this. And that is not the case because this virus is circulating at a very intense level around the world. This won’t be the last variant of concern,” said Van Kerkhove.



“This pandemic is nowhere near over and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge, which is why tracking and assessment remain critical,” confirmed WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus.



Besides the possibility that Omicron may mutate into a more pathogenic variant while infecting a human host, many scientists warn that it could also find animal reservoirs in which it might mutate into even more unpredictable forms and then <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/magazine/spillback-animal-disease.html">spill back</a> into humans.&nbsp;



In fact, a recent study published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1673852721003738">Journal of Genetics and Genomics</a> has argued that an ancestor of Omicron (closer to the Wuhan wild-type virus) may have jumped from humans to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/did-the-omicron-variant-jump-to-humans-from-mice/">mice</a> in 2020 in a process called “<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089055">reverse zoonosis</a>,” and then spilled back into humans in a heavily mutated form towards the end of last year, causing the current massive outbreaks.



Another <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.04.479189v1">study</a>, led by the <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a>, has recently found that white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Scientists have already reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/health/coronavirus-deer-animals.html?campaign_id=154&amp;emc=edit_cb_20220207&amp;instance_id=52430&amp;nl=coronavirus-briefing&amp;regi_id=126480136&amp;segment_id=81930&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=bd0b83647c92a32fc0e7bfc6ef606a6f">multiple spillover</a> of virus from humans to various animals, including free-living deer in several places in the United States. In New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, for instance, over 40 percent of the white-deer population have coronavirus antibodies, suggesting massive community transmission among these animals. Moreover, reports of infected deer are also beginning to emerge in Canada, from Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.



“The early detections in companion animals, in mink farms, in zoological collections - those were all different because those were confined populations,” said Dr. Andrew Bowman, a veterinary epidemiologist at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>. “We didn’t really have a natural setting where the virus could run free.”



Although coronavirus infections in these animals appear to be largely asymptomatic, if white-tailed deer become a reservoir for the virus, the pathogen could mutate and spread to other animals and perhaps even back to humans. “If deer were to become established as a North American wildlife reservoir, and we do think they’re at risk of that, there are real concerns for the health of other wildlife species, livestock, pets, and even people,” said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, the director of the Center for Disease Control’s <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/index.html">One Health Office</a>, which investigates the connections between human, animal, and environmental health.



According to Stefanie Seifert, an expert in zoonotic diseases at <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a>, white-tailed deer are currently a “black-box” for the virus. “We know that the virus has been introduced multiple times, we know that there’s onward transmission. But we don’t know how the virus is adapting or how it will continue to adapt.”



Further research is needed to clarify how the deer are catching the virus, how it mutates inside them, and whether it could be (or already has been) passed on to other susceptible animal species or back to humans. Until the circulation of the virus between various species is not kept under strict control (and there are few chances now that this is even possible), the pandemic is unlikely to be over.&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

Omicron is still circulating widely through animal populations

The highly contagious and immune-evasive Omicron variant seems to be...

Although sales of non-alcoholic beer have increased substantially in Europe in the past few years, there are still many people who refuse to drink such alternatives. One reason is that they find the taste of non-alcoholic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heavy-drinking-dietary-choices/">beers</a> not to be quite as good as that of regular ones. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> and the biotech company <a href="https://evodiabio.com/">Evodia Bio</a> has found a way to improve this taste, and thus make it more similar to that of alcoholic beer.



Beer drinkers often complain that non-alcoholic beers have a flat and watery taste. According to Sotirios Kampranis, a biochemical engineer at the University of Copenhagen and co-founder of Evodia Bio, this has a natural explanation.&nbsp;



“What non-alcoholic beer lacks is the aroma from hops. When you remove the alcohol from the beer, for example by heating it up, you also kill the aroma that comes from hops. Other methods for making alcohol-free beer by minimizing fermentation also lead to poor aroma because alcohol is needed for hops to pass their unique flavor to the beer,” he said.



Together with Evodia Bio’s co-founder&nbsp;Simon Dusséau, Dr. Kampranis has found a way to produce a group of small molecules called monoterpenoids which can give non-alcoholic beer back its “hoppy-flavor” when added at the end of the brewing process. Thus, instead of adding expensive aroma hops in the brewing tank, just to “throw away” their flavor at the end of the process, the scientists turned baker’s yeast cells into &nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013968117">micro-factories</a>&nbsp;which can be grown in fermenters and release the unique and tasty aroma of hops.



“When the hop aroma molecules are released from yeast, we collect them and put them into the beer, giving back the taste of regular beer that so many of us know and love. It actually makes the use of aroma hops in brewing redundant, because we only need the molecules passing on the scent and flavor and not the actual hops,”&nbsp;explained Dr. Kampranis.



This method is also much more sustainable than other techniques. Since aroma hops are mainly farmed on the western coast of the United States, there is need for extensive transportation and cooling down of crops in refrigerators. Moreover, hops demand a large amount of water (approximately 2.7 tons of water to grow one kilogram of hops), thus making them not very climate-friendly.



“With our method, we skip aroma hops altogether and thereby also the water and the transportation. This means that one kilogram of hops aroma can be produced with more than 10,000 times less water and more than 100 times less CO2,” said Dr. Kampranis.



Finally, the researchers hope to contribute to a healthier lifestyle by helping people cut down alcohol.&nbsp;



This innovative method, briefly described in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-01202-0">Nature</a>, is now tested in breweries in Denmark and is planned to be ready for the entire brewing industry by October 2022.



---



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

Brewing non-alcoholic beer that tastes just like regular beer

Although sales of non-alcoholic beer have increased substantially in Europe...

An international research team led by the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> has recently described a crocodile-like beast that lived about 240 million years ago on the territory of what is now Tanzania. The creature has been named Mambawakale ruhuhu, which means “ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crocodiles-have-not-changed-much-in-200-million-years/">crocodile</a> from the Ruhuhu Basin.”



Although the fossils of Mambawakale were discovered in 1963 in the Ruhuhu Basin in Tanzania (two years before Tanzania gained its independence from the British Empire), they were taken to the Natural History Museum in London, where they awaited analysis and a formal description for decades.



According to study lead author Richard Butler, a paleobiologist at the University of Birmingham, Mambawakale would have been a very large and terrifying predator. Measuring more than 16 feet (five meters) in length and sporting powerful jaws with knife-like teeth, this extraordinary creature is one of the largest predators known from the Middle Triassic period (247 to 237 million years ago).



Professor Butler and colleagues consider M. ruhuhu as one of the largest and most fierce early archosaurs, a group that emerged after the end-Permian extinction 252 million years ago, and which includes living birds and crocodilians, as well as extinct pterosaurs and non-avian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/enormous-titanosaur-discovered-in-the-pyrenees/">dinosaurs</a>.&nbsp;



During the Middle Triassic period, this group started to massively diversify for the first time. This is evident in the fact that M. ruhuhu is only one of nine other ancient archosaur species that were discovered at the Tanzanian excavation site. “Mambawakale&nbsp;adds to this picture of a rapid early diversification of archosaurs and moreover was the largest predator within its ecosystem,” Butler said.



Although it was initially informally named Pallisteria angustimentum by&nbsp;English palaeontologist Alan Charig after his friend, the geologist John Weaver Pallister, M. ruhuhu got its current name to honor “the substantial and previously unsung contributions of unnamed&nbsp;Tanzanians to the success of the 1963 expedition.”&nbsp;



A detailed description of Mambawakale ruhuhu can be found in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211622">Royal Society Open Science</a>



---



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

Ancient crocodile-like beast was a "terrifying predator"

An international research team led by the University of Birmingham...

Food,In,Laboratory,,Dna,Modify

Genetically modified (GM) crops are often considered contentious, especially in Europe where the topic is politicized. However, GM crops can be necessary to meet the increasing global demand for food production. Increasing food production is a concern for global climate change, as agriculture accounts for 25 percent of greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lower-emissions-needed-to-save-the-winter-season/">emissions</a> worldwide.&nbsp;



Existing scientific literature has shown that GM crops can lead to economic, environmental, and health benefits through higher crop yields, higher farm profits, and lower pesticide use. Genetically modified crops can also help reduce GHG emissions through carbon sequestration in soil.&nbsp;



A recent study has identified a new connection between GM crops and GHG emissions. As genetically modified crops can increase yields, researchers considered the possibility that increased crop yields could reduce land use changes to support food production.&nbsp;&nbsp;



To evaluate this hypothesis, the study considered the climate benefits that would occur through more widespread GM crop adoption in the European Union (EU). The EU was selected for this study as it has not yet widely adopted genetically modified crops, and is re-evaluating GM regulatory policy. This analysis gives a preview of the positive impacts of policy change.&nbsp;



Researchers evaluated the impact of the EU increasing GM crops such as maize and soybean, to the levels of the USA. The selected crops are widely grown in other parts of the world, but hardly in Europe.&nbsp;



“The main reasons are public acceptance issues and political hurdles,” said Dr. Matin Qaim, Director of the Center for Development Research at the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/">University of Bonn</a>.



The findings of the study are staggering, and suggest that increasing genetically modified crops in the EU could avoid 33 million tons of CO2 equivalents, roughly 7.5 percent of the EU’s annual agriculture GHG emissions.&nbsp;



The study authors argue that the associated climate benefits could be gained at a global scale. “The EU imports a lot of maize and soybean from Brazil, where the expansion of agricultural land contributes to tropical deforestation. Higher yields in the EU could reduce some of these imports and thus help preserve the Amazon rainforest.”



The researchers are also optimistic for the future, as their study was limited to already existing GM variations. “New genomic breeding technologies are currently being used to develop a wide range of new crop applications that could lead to additional climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits in the future," said Dr Qaim.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/home">Trends in Plant Science</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

Genetically modified crops could reduce climate impacts

Genetically modified (GM) crops are often considered contentious, especially in...

A new study has revealed that sea anemones use different <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/algae-blooms-can-release-neurotoxins-into-the-air/">toxins</a> for different purposes - defense, predation or digestion. Lauren Ashwood, a PhD researcher at the <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/">Queensland University of Technology</a>, has analyzed the toxins of the reef-based sea anemone Telmatactis stephensoni for their potential as drugs. 



"Unlike snakes which deliver their venom via fangs, T. stephensoni venom is a complex cocktail of toxins that is found in stinging cells throughout the sea anemone's structure," said Ashwood.



"Analysis of the sea anemone's three major functional regions: the tentacles, epidermis and gastrodermis -- found the locations of toxin production are consistent with their ecological role of catching prey, defence and digestion. This means when we study the toxins in the context of what they do, we have an idea of how they might be useful for therapeutics."



Toxins can be medicinal at different doses and things that in one context can kill you in a different one can cure you. In fact, toxins have been used as medicines at least as far back as the seventh century BC.&nbsp;



"Peptide toxins from venomous animals are being developed into therapeutics for conditions, including cardiovascular disorders, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, wound healing, HIV, cancer and chronic pain," explained Ashwood,&nbsp;



"In all we found 84 potential toxins in T. stephensoni including one that hadn't been seen before. A sample of this unknown toxin, named U-Tstx-1, has been sent to a specialised lab in Hungary for analysis.”



New analytical techniques have led to discoveries from cruder testing methods of using a toxin against a targeted problem to a toxin driven method.&nbsp;



"This new strategy allows for the discovery of peptides that might have remained undiscovered, for example, those which may not be highly abundant in the venom or which possess unanticipated mechanisms of action," said Professor Peter Prentis from the Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy and the School of Biology and Environmental Science.



"Toxin-driven discovery to find therapeutic candidates, however, can be like finding a needle in a haystack and not all peptide toxins are likely to have the same success as pharmaceuticals."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1365294x">Molecular Ecology</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

Venomous sea anemone may lead to important drugs

A new study has revealed that sea anemones use different...

Populations of large predators like lions are in decline in Africa, chiefly because of the loss of suitable habitats, declines in prey populations, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poaching-has-long-term-impacts-on-elephants/">poaching</a> and conflict with humans. Keeping track of the mortality rates of large predators is largely achieved by monitoring deaths through trophy hunting, but few assessments have been made of carnivore mortality or injury due to other anthropogenic causes.&nbsp;



In a new study, published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/conservation-science">Frontiers in Conservation Science</a>, biologists Paula White and Blaire Van Valkenburgh from UCLA assess the incidence of snaring and shotgun injuries on lion and leopard populations in two wildlife areas in Zambia. The experts made use of a low-cost forensic technique involving analysis of the skulls of carnivores killed by trophy hunters in the Luangwa Valley and the Greater Kafue Ecosystem.&nbsp;



While conducting research in Zambia, White noticed that some of the trophy skulls of lions had pronounced, horizontal notches on their teeth. These were not made through natural wear and tear, and White deduced they were the result of attempts by the lions to chew their way out of a snare.&nbsp;



Snares are wire nooses that are illegally set by poachers to trap wild animals for food, but they are indiscriminate and carnivores can also get entangled in them. Some skulls also had lead shot pellets embedded in the bone, evidence that the lions had been in conflict situations with humans who had used shotguns to control them.



“While investigating natural age-related tooth wear and damage and naturally-occurring skull injuries for another study, we detected abnormal tooth wear that was determined to be diagnostic of wire snare damage, and old shotgun pellets embedded in skulls,” explained White, director of the Zambia Lion Project and a senior research fellow with the Center for Tropical Research at UCLA’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.&nbsp;“We realized that an individual's history of past (non-lethal) injuries could be determined through simple forensic examination.”



“It was an odd mix of thrilling to figure out the cause of the notches and horrifying to realize that so many animals had been entangled in a share at some point in their lives,” she said.



The researchers used photographs of lion and leopard skulls to determine tooth damage from snaring and to locate embedded shotgun pellets. They looked at samples of 112 lions and 45 leopards from the two areas in Zambia.



Of these animals, 37 percent of the lions and 22 percent of the leopards had snare scars and tooth notches. This incidence was much higher than they had expected. 



Evidence of shotgun pellet injuries was only found among lions, with 27 percent of sampled individuals having shotgun pellets embedded in their skulls. Double injuries from both snare damage and shotgun pellets were found in 16 percent of lions from the Kafue area and 7 percent of lions from Luangwa.



The researchers had expected to see more injuries among carnivores from the Luangwa Valley, where the human population is larger and conflicts more likely. However, these anthropogenic injuries were more prevalent among lions and leopards in the Greater Kafue area.&nbsp;



“The Luangwa Valley and the Greater Kafue Ecosystem are two premier wildlife tourism areas in Zambia. Our findings indicate that even in these well-protected systems, poaching and human-wildlife conflict represent significant threats to large carnivores,” said White.



“Our procedure of forensic examination of carnivore skulls and teeth, some of which can be applied to live-captured animals, allows for improved detection of cryptic, non-lethal anthropogenic injuries," explained the study authors."&nbsp;



"Further, our methods represent a consistent and economical way to track changes in the frequency of such injuries over time and between regions, thereby providing a direct measure of the effectiveness of conservation programs that seek to reduce poaching and human-wildlife conflict.”



“Despite the alarmingly high frequency of non-lethal injuries that we detected, we know that our findings are an underestimate," said White. "Our methods may serve to improve future assessments of the total impacts that humans have on wildlife and provide a measure of the effectiveness of select conservation programs.”



---



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

Tooth damage in lions reveals human impact on wildlife

Populations of large predators like lions are in decline in...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> and the <a href="https://semmelweis.hu/english/">Semmelweis University</a> in Budapest has found that drinking up to three cups of <a href="http://archive">coffee</a> per day is highly beneficial for heart health. In addition, the results suggest that consuming moderate amounts of coffee reduces the overall mortality rate and the risk of strokes.



The scientists gathered data on coffee-drinking habits, lifestyle, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol levels from 468,629 UK <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">Biobank</a> participants who didn’t have any record of heart disease before the beginning of the study. They were divided into three groups – non-coffee drinkers, light-to-moderate coffee drinkers, and heavy coffee drinkers.



“The large sample size, linked health data, and detailed heart MRI scans available in the UK Biobank offered a strong base to address this research question,” said study co-author Professor Steffen Petersen, a professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary.&nbsp;



“According to the results, light-to-moderate coffee consumption is not damaging from a cardiovascular point of view, and it could be beneficial. As far as we know, this has been the largest study to date which focused on the effect of coffee on cardiovascular health.”



“Light-to-moderate coffee consumption was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of overall mortality, and with a 17 percent lower risk of death caused by cardiovascular diseases compared to non-coffee drinkers. In addition, from half to three cups of coffee was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of stroke,” reported study lead author Judit Simon, a PhD student at Semmelweis University.



Moreover, even for participants who were heavy coffee drinkers, the scientists did not find evidence of negative cardiovascular consequences. However, there were no positive heart benefits observed for this group, as was the case of light-to-moderate coffee drinkers.



The researchers also investigated the relationship between the type of coffee consumed (ground, instant, decaffeinated) and discovered that, while the consumption of ground coffee was associated with lower mortality risks, this benefit was not found in the case of instant coffee drinkers. This may be caused by the different production process of ground coffee, and the use of different types of additives during its manufacture.&nbsp;



The consumption of decaffeinated coffee was also associated with lower mortality risks, suggesting that it is not only the caffeine that plays a role in the positive effects of coffee. Further research is needed to understand which are the beneficial elements contained in coffee and how they function.



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurjpc/zwac008/6512055">European Journal of Preventive Cardiology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Coffee drinkers may actually live longer

A new study led by Queen Mary University of London...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungal-disease-is-decimating-amphibians-in-baja-california/">Amphibian</a> loss worldwide has been a cause for outcry by scientists. Now, researchers have a new reason to care about the extinction of frogs and salamanders: the loss of their poisons. A recent review by Rebecca Tarvin and Kannon Pearson reminds us how little we know about endangered harlequin toads and their poisons.



Of the 113 known species of harlequin toads of the genus Atelopus, most are in decline a fourth of them might already be extinct. Other animal toxins have proven useful for drugs, so if we lose the harlequin toad, we also lose potential pharmaceuticals useful to humans.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"In Central America, there's nine species of Atelopus, and seven of them have been assessed for toxin diversity and quantity," said Tarvin, <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a> assistant professor of Integrative Biology. "But the majority of the Atelopus species actually live in South America, where a minority of the studies have been done."



"There are entire countries, like Bolivia and Guyana, where not a single species has been assessed. We don't know of any reports of whether Indigenous people use them. We don't know if they're toxic or not. One of the takeaways from our paper is that by losing these animals, we're probably losing some chemical diversity, as well. They have some toxins that are found nowhere else in the world."



Tarvin mainly researches toxicity in animals from butterflies and shellfish to reptiles and amphibians. Many animals evolve to sequester toxins from plants or host toxic bacteria, all without suffering ill effects. Some harlequin toads have a novel origin of their toxicity - they host skin bacteria that produce toxins.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"One of the very first research projects I did was with Atelopustoads in Ecuador, and I just love them," said Tarvin, who also is assistant curator of herpetology at UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "But from a scientific perspective, there's a lot that's unknown, and they are a huge conservation concern. So, I feel like they're kind of a priority. Some of the species are doing fine, but they were really hit hard by chytrid (a fungal disease). A lot of species were completely wiped out."



Once these toads were commonplace but are increasingly rare, like so many other species and face the possibility of extinction. Ecuadorian graduate student, María José (Majo) Navarrete-Méndez who wasn’t involved in the current study has heard first hand accounts of the toad’s decline,&nbsp;



"My grandparents lived in the countryside -- they were campesinos -- and they remembered that (the toads) were extremely abundant," said Navarrete. "I started realizing that we are in a race against time, and if it is not me, and if it is not now -- we still have them available, and we have the technology and the resources to study them -- it might be too late later."



Like many groups of animals, we could lose harlequin toads before we understand them and their chemical defenses very well if nothing changes.&nbsp;



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

Losing the harlequin toad means losing potential medicines

Amphibian loss worldwide has been a cause for outcry by...

Sea-level rise is one of the most serious consequences of climate change. Since precise satellite measures emerged in the 1990s, the global average sea-level has risen by over three centimeters per decade. A new study led by the <a href="https://tu-dresden.de/?set_language=en">Dresden University of Technology</a> (TU Dresden) has recently provided one of the most comprehensive and coherent descriptions of this phenomenon, by analyzing how various factors, including thermal expansion, glacier melting, or changes in land water storage, contribute to sea-level rise.&nbsp;



“Assembling this coherent picture of sea-level and ocean-mass budgets not only required advanced datasets from satellite Earth observation and modelling. It also required the experts from various disciplines to arrive at a common framework,” said study lead author Martin Horwath, a professor of Physical Geodesy at TU Dresden.



“This is the fruit from the continuity in research and development on Earth observation data analysis enabled by the European Space Agency’s <a href="https://climate.esa.int/">Climate Change Initiative</a> [CCI]. The beauty of the results lies in the coherence of all the CCI Essential Climate Variables, which, when well-prepared and assembled, give a precise picture of our climate and its trend. The work doesn’t stop at this impressive milestone, there are still questions to be answered regarding the climate variability and its evolution,” explained Dr. Jérôme Benveniste, a researcher at the European Space Agency.



According to the scientists, about a third of the rise in sea level is caused by thermal expansion: as seawater warms due to climate change, it gradually expands. The other two thirds of the rise are caused by freshwater being added to the ocean, mainly from the melting of the Antarctic and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-has-lost-4700-gigatons-of-ice-since-2002/">Greenland Ice Sheets</a>, as well as of various <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-worlds-glaciers-contain-less-ice-than-previously-thought/">glaciers</a> all over the world, but also from water added to the oceans from the land as a result of groundwater storage depletion.



While these results are in line with previous estimations, they gain additional confidence through the extensive data that was gathered and analyzed. However, further improvements in understanding the satellite measurements and the physical processes investigated are necessary. For instance, slow deformations of the solid Earth beneath the ocean can affect satellite measurements. Such effects need to be separated from changes in the ocean itself.



“It is important to be transparent about how results depend on some choices of methodology. For example, our satellite-based numbers on ocean-mass change changed somewhat when we improved the way to account for mass displacements in the solid Earth. More research is needed for the distinction between different processes of mass transports in the Earth system,” concluded study co-author Benjamin Gutknecht from TU Dresden.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/14/411/2022/">Earth System Science Data</a>.



Image Credit: ESA



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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

New study pinpoints the causes of sea-level rise

Sea-level rise is one of the most serious consequences of...

A recent U.S. study indicates that one in 12 people experiences loneliness to the extent where it may cause serious <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-use-may-negatively-impact-brain-health/">health</a> problems. Still yet, the true extent of loneliness on a global scale remains unclear.



In an effort to help decision makers understand the severity of the loneliness epidemic, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/">University of Sydney</a> analyzed evidence from more than 100 countries and territories. The results have confirmed that the issue is widespread throughout many countries.



"Humans thrive on meaningful social connections. Feelings of loneliness set in when a discrepancy exists between one’s desired and one’s actual level of social relationships," wrote the study authors. "Loneliness is a negative, subjective experience closely linked to the quality of social connections.&nbsp;



"Loneliness is similar to, but distinct from, social isolation, which is defined as a lack of social contacts, and being alone, characterized as being physically removed from social connections. Transient loneliness is a common experience, but chronic or severe loneliness pose threats to health and well-being."



The experts noted that a growing collection of research has linked loneliness to various adverse health outcomes, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, coronary heart disease, sleep disturbance, and increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.



The researchers said that feeling lonely may also be detrimental to behavioral, mental, and social health throughout the lifespan, with potential outcomes like depression and substance abuse.&nbsp;



"According to a 2015 meta-analysis, people with chronic loneliness had a 26 percent increased risk of mortality," wrote the study authors. "This increased risk is comparable to established risk factors such as physical inactivity and grade 1 obesity."



Based on studies from 106 countries, the prevalence of lonely feelings among adolescents ranged from 9.2 percent in Southeast Asia to 14.4 percent in the Eastern Mediterranean region. 



"Based on our meta-analysis, the prevalence of loneliness is highly heterogenous across countries, even within the same region. While insufficient data prevented us from identifying geographical patterns of loneliness outside of Europe, within Europe the pattern is clear and consistent," said the researchers.



"Across different adult age groups, northern European countries consistently reported the lowest prevalence of loneliness, whereas eastern European countries reported the highest."&nbsp;



"One study attributed country level differences to demographic characteristics, health status, social participation, and social support. Others have cited welfare systems and social security schemes as contributing factors, as welfare generosity has been positively linked to social participation and inversely associated with social exclusion."



Most of the data examined for the study was from high income countries, particularly Europe. This makes the data insufficient to make conclusions about trends on a global scale.



Regardless, the researchers pointed out that even if the problem of loneliness had not worsened during their search period, from 2000 to 2019, the subsequent Covid-19 pandemic had a profound impact on loneliness. With this in mind, the experts said that their review provides an important pre-pandemic baseline for future surveillance.



The study authors also noted that while the data gaps in low and middle income countries raise an important issue of equity, the findings still reinforce the urgency of approaching loneliness as an important public health issue.



“Public health efforts to prevent and reduce loneliness require well coordinated ongoing surveillance across different life stages and broad geographical areas,” wrote the researchers.



“Sizeable differences in prevalence of loneliness across countries and regions call for in-depth investigation to unpack the drivers of loneliness at systemic levels and to develop interventions to deal with them."



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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

Loneliness is a global health issue that must be addressed

A recent U.S. study indicates that one in 12 people...

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[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...