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...

Many models of climate change predict that hurricanes will increase in frequency and intensity in future, bringing devastating consequences for both human life and property. In this connection, the effects of both sea level rise and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-exposes-coastal-cities-to-more-deadly-storms/" data-type="news" data-id="1900470">storm</a> intensification have been well documented over the past decade, but always separately from one another. A new study from Princeton University now shows that the two sources of water, when acting jointly, can produce flooding events that will have far worse impacts than those from storm surge or rainfall alone.&nbsp;



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01272-7">study</a>, published today in the journal&nbsp;Nature Climate Change, is among the first to assess how climate change could impact the frequency of extreme rainfall-surge events.&nbsp;



“Most studies have looked at the hazards of rainfall and storm surge separately, but in this study, we looked at the joint hazards from the Gulf Coast up through New England,” said study senior author Professor &nbsp;<a href="https://engineering.princeton.edu/faculty/ning-lin">Ning Lin</a>.



In order to assess the effects of joint extreme events, the research team used eight different global climate models that simulate the way in which the world's climate is being altered due to increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.&nbsp;



Since each model weighs climate variables in different ways, the scientists calculated a reliable average. They did this by comparing each model’s predictions of past hurricane development and strength to historical simulations. The researchers then downscaled these models to generate tens of thousands of synthetic storms for the region of interest along the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.&nbsp;



“This way, by comparing the models’ predictions of the past, we know we have a reasonable basis for the models’ predictions of the future,” said Professor Lin.



The researchers next modeled the powerful winds produced by the hurricanes and the distances that the winds extend outward from the storm. It is these powerful winds that drive storm surges by pushing great volumes of water toward land. The storm winds also affect the amount of rainfall associated with a hurricane. If a storm has a slower translation speed (the speed with which it moves over land and water), then there will be more time for rain to fall in any particular area.&nbsp;



In these ways, the two hazards of storm surge and rainfall are intertwined and can add to the catastrophic effects. For example, increased rainfall can add to the local storm surge flooding, while slower storms may give gale-force winds more time to pile up higher, more damaging surges.



Using these climate models, along with physics-based hurricane hazard models and statistical analyses, the researchers predicted a dramatic rise in how often joint 100-year events – that usually only have a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year – will occur by the year 2100.



For example, along the Gulf of Mexico, extreme rainfall-surge events have historically occurred on average every 200–500 years. But by the end of the 21st century, the study predicts, these extreme events may occur on average every 10–30 years. And in New England, where extreme joint events historically occurred less than once in a thousand years on average, they are predicted to occur approximately every five years.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The analysis also enabled the researchers to gauge the relative contributions of sea level rise and storm changes to the joint rainfall-surge hazards. Sea level has risen dramatically in the past 30 years (by around 0.13 inches per year), and this has been considered a primary cause of more frequent floods. For the eastern seaboard of the US, though, the new study implicates increasing storm intensity and slowing translation speeds as the main reasons why joint extreme rainfall-surge events look set to spike.



“It's a surprising finding that says we should not neglect changes in storm climatology, with enhanced rainfall projected to play a bigger and bigger role in driving compound flooding," said Lin. She and her colleagues hope these findings will help better inform policymakers as well as bolster overall preparedness for the severe storms to come.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Thomas Wahl, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida who was not involved in the study, offered comments on its significance. “Based on the results presented in this study and others, it is paramount for decision-makers to properly account for compound flooding events in their coastal management and adaptation plans."



Wahl noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), two agencies deeply involved in flood mitigation and disaster response, have both recently created task forces to better understand the impacts of compound flooding.



This growing awareness of the threat of compound flooding dovetails with Lin's own work on hurricane risk analysis, where the hazards of storm surge and rainfall are no longer being treated as separate phenomena.&nbsp;



“We've been learning that as joint hazards, surge and rainfall really should be studied together, and right now that's where my work is going,” said Professor Lin. “The current and future joint hazard posed by hurricanes has not been well-quantified, but with this study, we're now getting a clearer, and unfortunately sobering picture.”



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

Rainfall-surge events are a growing threat on the East Coast

Many models of climate change predict that hurricanes will increase...

The gut microbiome is defined as the collection of microbes that inhabit our digestive tract. These intestinal communities play a significant role in human health and disease, and are involved in processes such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/age-related-changes-in-metabolism-dont-match-our-expectations/">metabolism</a>, immunity, growth and the digestion of certain carbohydrates. In particular, an imbalance (dysbiosis) in the numbers or variety of microbial species in the gut is believed to be important in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), immune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.&nbsp;



And now, a recent study led by Dr.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/researchers/r/seth-rakoff-nahoum">Seth Rakoff-Nahoum</a> from the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Gastroenterology at <a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/">Boston Children’s Hospital</a>, has found that the nature of the sugars in our diet also affects the balance between gut microbe species. Some species thrive in the presence of a certain dietary sugar, while others die off. The research focuses on the response to different sugars by Bacteriodes, the predominant Gram-negative bacteria in the human intestine.



“We need to learn how each species and strain of the gut microbiome, in particular&nbsp;Bacteroides&nbsp;species, survive in our guts if we want to enhance them or diminish them,” said Dr. <a href="https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/researchers/r/seth-rakoff-nahoum">Rakoff-Nahoum</a>. “Gut bacteria compete to use the undigested sugars in our diets as their energy source. Some have half their genome dedicated to better using these sugars.”



The bacteria in the gut also produce thousands of different chemical metabolites as a result of their own activities, and these influence the survival of competing microbes. 



For example, butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid, produced in the gut as a result of carbohydrate digestion by bacteria. Although this substance plays a critical role in the development of the immune system in humans, the microbes are ambivalent about it – some thrive in the presence of butyrate while others die.&nbsp;



When the researchers grew&nbsp;Bacteroides&nbsp;in different sugars from the human diet, they found that butyrate’s antimicrobial effect depended on what sugar each strain was using.



“If you take any two strains and grow each in Sugar X, in the presence of butyrate, Strain A will be killed dead in its tracks while Strain B grows as if butyrate was not even there,” explained Dr. Rakoff-Nahoum. “With Sugar Y, we see the opposite: Strain B is now killed by butyrate, while Strain A is unaffected.”



When trying to understand why the presence of butyrate kills some Bacteroides&nbsp;but not others, the researchers identified a third factor – genetics. Slight variations in genes affecting Coenzyme A metabolism resulted in differing sensitivity to butyrate among&nbsp;Bacteroides&nbsp;strains.



“We initially thought these genes would be very similar among all bacteria, as they perform basic cellular functions,” said Dr. Rakoff-Nahoum. “But the&nbsp;Bacteroides&nbsp; change them, likely to help them deal with the special environment in our gut.”



The findings, published online today in the journal Cell, indicate that the gut microbiome, when exposed to a different type of sugar in the diet, may initially suffer losses in terms of microbe diversity and number. However, over time the microbial communities become adapted to the presence of the sugar. In this way our gut microbiome is shaped by what we eat, on an ongoing basis.&nbsp;



This is particularly relevant in light of the fact that sugar is added to many foods in the Western diet, in order to make them appealing. In addition, since people are more aware of the importance of controlling calorie intake, cane sugar (sucrose) is often replaced by alternatives such as corn syrup and low-calorie sugars. The study’s results suggest that our gut microbes will be affected by the presence of these different sugars.



According to the study authors, this work is just the beginning. “We want to explore how combinations of metabolites and specific glycans in the diet can help us shape the microbiome for conditions in which we think the microbiome is important, such as IBD, allergy, and cancer,” said Dr. Rakoff-Nahoum.



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

Our gut microbiome is shaped by what we eat

The gut microbiome is defined as the collection of microbes...

Approximately 51 trillion <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/understanding-the-effects-of-microplastics-on-our-environment/">microplastics</a> -&nbsp; tiny fragments measuring less than five millimeters in length and originating from various types of plastics - are floating in the surface waters of seas and oceans all over the globe, negatively impacting a large variety of ecosystems. While hundreds of scientific studies have surveyed the plastic debris on the surface or near the surface of oceans, they are still far from providing a full picture of marine microplastic pollution.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.fau.edu/">Florida Atlantic University</a> (FAU) has found that microplastics are in fact present in the entire water column within the Southern Atlantic Ocean, suggesting that ocean interiors are just as polluted as their surfaces. According to the researchers, the study indicates that the ocean interior is a crucial pool of "missing" plastics.



Moreover, weak ocean current systems are shown to contribute to the formation of microplastic hotspots in the depths of the ocean, where they can significantly affect zooplankton populations.



“Our study highlights the urgency for more quantification of the deep-ocean microplastics, especially the smaller size fraction, to better understand ecosystem exposure and to predict the fate and impacts of these microplastics,” said&nbsp;study senior author Tracy Mincer, an assistant professor of Biology at FAU.&nbsp;



By sampling plastic particles in the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, Professor Mincer and her colleagues found that abundances and distribution patterns of small and large microplastics varied geographically and vertically due to complex and diverse redistribution processes.&nbsp;



“Small microplastics are different from large microplastics with respect to their high abundance, chemical nature, transport behavior, weathering stages, interactions with ambient environments, bioavailability, and the release efficiency of plastic additives,” explained study first author Shiye Zhao, a postdoctoral fellow at FAU. “These distinct characteristics impact their environmental fate and potential impacts on marine ecosystems.”&nbsp;



Compared to larger microplastics, the smaller ones are more highly oxidized and seem to have a longer lifetime in the water column, suggesting increased risks for ocean ecosystems. 



“As plastic particles disintegrate into smaller size fractions, they can become harmful in different and unpredictable ways that are only now beginning to be understood,” said Professor Mincer. 



“These micron-size microplastics can move across the gut epithelium, become trapped in biomass, and have the potential to transfer through marine food webs, posing an unknown ecological risk and biogeochemical impacts.” 



Further research focusing on smaller microplastics <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-discovered-in-the-blood-of-livestock/">ingestion</a> by various animals are urgently needed in order to assess the extent of plastic contamination in biomass.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.16089">Global Change Biology</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

Ocean interior has accumulated "missing" plastics

Approximately 51 trillion microplastics -&nbsp; tiny fragments measuring less than...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a> has found that, at night, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hummingbirds-can-smell-dangerous-insects/">hummingbirds</a> drastically lower their body temperature and metabolism, entering into an energy-saving state of inactivity called torpor. According to the researchers, hummingbirds can switch between different levels of torpor - shallow, deep, plus several transitional stages as well as normal sleep.



By using infra-red thermal imaging to track the body temperature of three hummingbird species from Arizona (the Blue-throated Mountain-gem, the Black-chinned Hummingbird, and Rivoli’s Hummingbird), the scientists discovered that the differences in heat generation at various stages of torpor were substantial.



While the normal daytime body temperature of hummingbirds is, even in cold weather, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, during shallow torpor this temperature drops by 20 degrees, and during deep torpor by a staggering 50 degrees. If human body temperature were to drop by only three degrees from its average of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, we would enter hypothermia and need outside help to warm up again.



“There have been a few hints that this ability to fine-tune thermoregulation was possible,” said study lead author Anusha Shankar, Postdoctoral Fellow at the <a href="https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/">Cornell Lab of Ornithology</a>. “But the studies were done under laboratory conditions, not the conditions a bird would encounter in the wild. It was really exciting to see that hummingbird torpor could be variable and flexible.”



Dr. Shankar and her colleagues also found that, while the smallest hummingbirds entered deep torpor each night, larger ones did this more rarely, and relied mostly on shallow torpor. According to the researchers, shallow torpor may have evolved to balance energy-saving with the steep costs of deep torpor – including immune suppression, and thus increased vulnerability to disease, as well as risk of predation or sleep deprivation.



Further research is needed to clarify what is taking place in the birds’ brains during torpor, how levels of body fat can trigger torpor, and how the birds can generate the heat to warm up again.



“At least 42 bird species use torpor. But only hummingbirds, nightjars, and one species of mousebird go into deep torpor. Studying the range of torpor could help us understand the evolution of thermoregulation in birds,” concluded Dr. Shankar.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243208">Journal of Experimental Biology</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

Hummingbirds are experts at regulating body temperature

A new study led by Cornell University has found that,...

The changing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-dog-color-patterns-existed-long-before-dogs-themselves/">patterns</a> of differently colored scales on a lizard’s skin can be modeled mathematically. A multidisciplinary research team did just that in an attempt to better understand the evolution of skin patterns. 



The researchers looked at the changing green and black patterns of the ocellated lizard. The experts found that the patterns may change but they always facilitate the lizard’s survival.&nbsp;



"The ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus) exhibits an intricate skin color pattern made of monochromatic black and green skin scales, whose dynamics of color flipping are known to be well modeled by a stochastic cellular automaton," wrote the study authors.



The scientists discovered that scales change depending on the color of nearby scales based on a mathematical rule. The ocellated lizard scales can be explained by the Lenz-Ising model, an important model in modern condensed matter physics.



This model was initially used to elucidate the behavior of magnetic particles, which could be in one of two states and interact only with their immediate neighbor.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



"The elegance of the Lenz-Ising model is that it describes these dynamics using a single equation with only two parameters: the energy of the aligned or misaligned neighbors, and the energy of an external magnetic field that tends to push all particles toward the +1 or -1 state," explained Szabolcs Zakany, an expert in the Department of Genetics and Evolution at the <a href="https://www.unige.ch/en/">University of Geneva</a>.



The scientists adapted the Lenz-Ising model to the ocellated lizard. While it originally used a square lattice, this was modified to a rectangular lattice for lizards. The experts found that the favored pattern with ocellated lizards was a labyrinthine one rather than one of lines, spots, etc.&nbsp;



"These labyrinthine patterns, which provides ocellated lizards with an optimal camouflage, have been selected in the course of evolution," explained Michel Milinkovitch.



"These patterns are generated by a complex system, that yet can be simplified as a single equation, where what matters is not the precise location of the green and black scales, but the general appearance of the final patterns."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://prl.aps.org/">Physical Review Letters</a>.&nbsp;



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

Ocellated lizard camouflage explained by a simple equation

The changing patterns of differently colored scales on a lizard’s...

Pensive,African,American,Businessman,Pondering,Business,Strategy,,Serious,Employee,Thinking

Our brains are constantly bombarded with incoming visual stimuli relating to the world around us. Just like our social media feeds, this stream of new and rich information needs to be kept in check so that we have a sense of continuity in our visual environment. The brain thus acts to "smooth out" small changes in what we perceive so that we get a sense of continuity. And it does this by focusing on what we saw 15 seconds ago.



Researchers at <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a> have discovered that our brains do not update our visual surroundings in real time but rather present us with an image representing an average of what we saw in the past 15 seconds. This has the effect of downplaying the constant changes in light, movement and action that would otherwise add up to a confusing and chaotic visual input.&nbsp;



“If our brains were always updating in real time, the world would be a jittery place with constant fluctuations in shadow, light and movement, and we’d feel like we were hallucinating all the time,” explained study senior author Professor David Whitney.



“Our brain is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.studyfinds.org/time-travel-mathematical-model/">like a time machine</a>. It keeps sending us back in time. It’s like we have an app that consolidates our visual input every 15 seconds into one impression so we can handle everyday life,” added study lead author Professor Mauro Manassi.



By merging together recent images and smoothing over subtle changes, our brain tricks us into perceiving a stable environment that is more manageable to process. However, living “in the past” also means that we will not always notice changes in what we see over time. The researchers refer to this phenomenon as “change blindness."



In their study, published recently in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>, the researchers recruited nearly 100 people to view close-up images of faces which morphed subtly from young to older, or from male to female. The time-lapse videos lasted for just 30 seconds and only included a person’s eyes, brows, nose, mouth, chin, and cheeks – not their head or facial hair – meaning that few clues were given about the age or gender of the person in the image.



After watching the video, participants were asked to assess the age or gender of the image they had seen. The participants consistently picked an image they had viewed halfway through the video instead of the final one, which would have represented the most recent and accurate image.



“One could say our brain is procrastinating,” said Professor Whitney. “It’s too much work to constantly update images, so it sticks to the past because the past is a good predictor of the present. We recycle information from the past because it’s faster, more efficient and less work.”



Indeed, the results suggest the brain operates with a slight lag when processing visual stimuli, and this means that it sacrifices accuracy for a stable picture. This can have both positive and negative implications.



“The delay is great for preventing us from feeling bombarded by visual input in everyday life, but it can also result in life-or-death consequences when surgical precision is needed,” said Professor Manassi. “For example, radiologists screen for tumors and surgeons need to be able to see what is in front of them in real time; if their brains are biased to what they saw less than a minute ago, they might miss something.”



Furthermore, it is important that we understand our perceptions may actually not be an accurate representation of the physical world. Scientists rely on perception for their accuracy when collecting empirical data – the findings of this study indicate that we all have a perceptual bias that may affect our ability to perceive the physical world accurately.



The study provides new insights into what scientists call the mind’s “continuity field,” a function of human perception that involves mechanisms within the brain that continuously bias our visual perception towards our past visual experience. This explains why, for example, we don’t notice when an actor is replaced by a stunt double during the course of a movie.&nbsp;



Such change blindness reveals how the continuity field is a purposeful function of consciousness and how it helps stabilize the chaotic visual world we live in.&nbsp;



“We’re not literally blind,” said Professor Whitney. “It’s just that our visual system’s sluggishness to update can make us blind to immediate changes because it grabs on to our first impression and pulls us toward the past. Ultimately, though, the continuity field supports our experience of a stable world.”



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

Our brain delays visual inputs by 15 seconds to keep us stable

Our brains are constantly bombarded with incoming visual stimuli relating...

New research shows that microplastics can be found in human placentas and in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sugars-in-breast-milk-help-prevent-infections-in-newborns/">newborns</a>. This is especially important as plastics may have serious health consequences for people at any age.&nbsp;



“It’s quite possible that children are more exposed to microplastics than adults, similar to children’s greater exposure to many other environmental toxic chemicals,” explained Kam Sripada, a neuroscientist from the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU).



Rather than degrading and decomposing, plastics just break down into smaller and smaller microplastics, which break down into even tinier nanoplastics. Plastic is ubiquitous in our world, from things we use daily to things quickly dominating our landfills, clogging our rivers and creating islands in our oceans.&nbsp;



Sripada is first author on a review paper in <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/">Environmental Health and Perspectives</a> that summarizes what is known about micro and nano plastics and their connection to pregnancy and child health.&nbsp;



“No one knows exactly how much microplastic a child ingests. But several studies now suggest that today's children absorb microplastics in their bodies as early as at foetal age. This is concerning,” said Sripada.



Research is especially lacking on children’s exposure and health problems caused by micro- and nanoplastics.&nbsp;



“Although a lot of research is being done on microplastics, studies on the health effects of these plastic particles are limited. This applies especially to the effects on children,” said Martin Wagner, an associate professor of biology at NTNU.



What is now understood is that, even before birth, children are exposed to these plastics throughout childhood and into adulthood. This is also true of toxic chemicals.



“Children do not have a fully developed immune system and are in a very important phase of their brain development. This makes them particularly vulnerable,” said Sripada.&nbsp;



While the researchers noted that it is almost impossible to prevent children from ingesting plastic, there are ways that parents can reduce the amount of plastic that their children are exposed to.&nbsp;



For example, parents should make sure that their child's food comes into as little contact with plastic as possible. The experts also advise to clean the house properly and regularly with soap and water because dust may contain microplastics.



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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

Babies are exposed to microplastics before they're even born

New research shows that microplastics can be found in human...

The extraordinary <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/background-gardens-increase-regional-bird-diversity/">diversity</a> of flowers has always been a mystery to scientists. A research team led by the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts Amherst</a> has recently had a breakthrough while investigating the genetic linkages governing the formation of flowers. 



According to the researchers, a process called “programmed cell death” – a genetic mechanism eliminating some cells on purpose that is at work in the carpels of flowers, or the seed-bearing structures located at the heart of flowers – is partly responsible for flowers’ morphological diversity.



“Flowers are amazing. They’re all built of the same component parts, and yet we have such incredible diversity, from corn tassels to orchids. We want to know how the same few parts wind up creating such wildly different forms,” said study senior author Madelaine Bartlett, a professor of Biology at UMass Amherst.



Professor Bartlett and her team focused on maize flowers and used a technique known as “forward genetics” to identify which genes are responsible for suppressing carpel growth in maize. While scientists have already known that the gene GRASSY TILLERS1&nbsp;(GT1) plays a fundamental role in suppressing carpel growth in this plant, they have not be able to identify other genes working in tandem with GT1 to facilitate this process.&nbsp;



By using “forward genetics” – a way of looking backwards from a known flower formation, or phenotype (in this case, a mutated maize flower caused by a genetic alteration in the cell death process) to the specific mutation causing such formation – the researchers discovered that another gene, RAMOSA3&nbsp;(RA3), also plays a fundamental role in maize carpel programmed cell death.&nbsp;This gene was previously thought to structure only the way that plants branch, but it appears to be pleiotropic, meaning that it can influence several different traits.



“Our results highlight the power of forward genetics to reveal unpredictable genetic interactions and hidden pleiotropy of developmental genes. More broadly, our findings illustrate how ancient gene functions are recruited to new developmental contexts in the evolution of plant form,” explained the study authors.



Clarifying the role that genetics play in structuring the wild diversity of plants is another step forward in better understanding the evolution of life on Earth. Moreover, it could also have fundamental implications for the applied science of plant breeding.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/119/2/e2115871119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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

New secrets of flower diversity revealed

The extraordinary diversity of flowers has always been a mystery...

Climate change is progressing rapidly, leaving traces all over the planet. The impact of global warming is particularly dramatic in the Arctic: during the past decades, the sea-ice has declined massively in the face of rising temperatures. According to the latest simulations, by 2050 the Arctic could be consistently ice-free during summers.



Surprisingly though, on the other side of the planet, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-antarctic-sea-ice-has-fluctuated-over-the-past-century/">Antarctic sea-ice</a> seems to have evaded the global warming trend, and has remained largely unchanged since 1979. However, contrary to actual observations, existing climate model-based simulations indicate significant sea-ice loss in the Antarctic too. 



According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/">Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research</a> (AWI), this Antarctic “sea-ice paradox” could be explained by the fact that current simulations fail to take into account the role of ocean eddies in delaying Antarctic sea-ice decline.



“This so-called Antarctic sea-ice paradox has preoccupied the scientific community for some time now,” said study first author Thomas Rackow, a senior scientist at AWI. “The current models cannot yet correctly describe the behavior of the Antarctic sea-ice; some key element seems to be missing.”&nbsp;



By employing the <a href="https://fesom.de/models/awi-cm/">AWI Climate Model</a> (AWI-CM), a high-resolution computer simulation used to model changes in climate, Dr. Rackow and his colleagues managed to map processes from the Southern Ocean in much more detail than previous researchers.



“We used a broad range of configurations for our simulations. In the process, it became clear that only those simulations with a high-resolution description of the Southern Ocean encircling the Antarctic produced delayed sea-ice loss similar to what we are seeing in reality,” explained Dr. Rackow. “When we then extended the model into the future, even under a highly unfavorable greenhouse-gas scenario the Antarctic sea-ice cover remains largely stable until mid-century. After that point the sea-ice retreats rather rapidly, just as the Arctic sea-ice has been doing for decades.”



According to the scientists, the delay in Antarctic sea-ice decline could be explained by the activity of ocean eddies – currents with diameters of 10 to 20 km - which allow the ocean to transport additional heat taken up from the atmosphere north, towards the Equator. This northward heat transport is closely linked to the underlying overturning circulation in the upper kilometer of the ocean, which in the Southern Ocean is influenced both by wind and these eddies. As a result, the ocean surrounding the Antarctic warms slower, and the sea ice remains stable for longer.



“Our study supports the hypothesis that climate models and projections of the Antarctic sea-ice will be far more reliable as soon as they are capable of realistically simulating a high-resolution ocean, complete with eddies. Thanks to the ever-increasing performance of parallel supercomputers and new, more efficient models, next-generation climate models should make this a routine task,” concluded Dr. Rackow.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28259-y">Nature Communications</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

Antarctic sea-ice decline is delayed by ocean eddies

Climate change is progressing rapidly, leaving traces all over the...

The fight-or-flight response is evolution’s way of preparing organisms to defend themselves or flee in front of threats from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predators-help-prevent-biodiversity-loss/">predators</a>, and is structured by basic emotions such as rage or fear. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/">California Institute of Technology</a> (Caltech), fear is a highly contagious emotion, being strongly influenced by the social contexts in which it emerges.



The scientists used a haunted-house experience to assess 156 participants’ physiological and subjective experiences and responses to perceived threats in a safe but immersive environment. During the 30-minute visit, participants had to wear physiological-monitoring waistbands while encountering various situations mimicking threats of suffocation, oncoming speeding cars, or exposure to shots from firing squads either alone, or together with other participants.



The researchers found that participants were more scared and had heightened physical responses when the group they belonged to while visiting the haunted house was larger. On average, the more friends the participants had with them while facing the haunted house’s threats, the higher their physical responses.



“There are a lot of factors that influence how human bodies respond to threat,” said study lead author Dr. Sarah Tashjian, a postdoctoral fellow in Affective Neuroscience at Caltech. “We found that friend-related&nbsp;emotional contagion, threat predictability, and subjective&nbsp;feelings of fear&nbsp;were all relevant for the body mounting a response.”&nbsp;



“We interpreted this to reflect fear contagion - if your friends are around, your body picks up on their signals and has a higher level of arousal even in the absence of specific scares or startles. In the lab, it is difficult to study the effects of groups on physiology.”



Dr. Tashjian and her colleagues have also discovered that participants with an initially strong response to the first room of the haunted house that they visited showed heightened responses when visiting the next rooms too. Moreover, the unpredictability of exposure to perceived threats seemed to be a major factor in increasing fear levels.



“We show that&nbsp;friends increase overall arousal, that unexpected scares produce more responses and higher levels of responses in the body than predictable scares, and that more frequent responses from the body manifest as feeling more afraid. And we show all of this using an intensive, immersive, live-action threat environment,” Dr. Tashjian concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09567976211032231">Psychological Science</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

Fear is a contagious emotion that is amplified in a group

The fight-or-flight response is evolution’s way of preparing organisms to...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/">University of Vienna</a> has found that, as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/revolutionary-treatment-approved-for-cat-arthritis/">cats</a> became domesticated over the past 10,000 years, their brains have shrunk significantly in size. According to the scientists, the discovery adds further evidence to what is known as “the domestication syndrome” hypothesis. 



This theory argues that natural selection for tameness in domestication leads to the production of fewer neural crest cells in the animals’ brains. Neural crest cells are linked to fear and excitability and their reduction likely contributes to changes in brain size, stress responses, and overall body morphology.



The scientists compared the cranium sizes of domestic cats (Felis catus) and several species of wild cats from Africa and Europe that are genetically related to the ancestral species that domestic cats have been evolving from over the past millennia. They found that domestic cats, as well as hybrids of wild and domestic cats, have smaller craniums (and thus brains) than their wild counterparts.



"Our data indicates that domestic cats indeed, have smaller cranial volumes (implying smaller brains) relative to both European wildcats (Felis silvestris) and the wild ancestors of domestic cats, the African wildcats (Felis lybica), verifying older results. We further found that hybrids of domestic cats and European wildcats have cranial volumes that cluster between those of the two parent species,” reported the study authors.



According to the researchers, the main reason behind the reduction in brain size is the fact that domestic cats lead an easier life, in more comfortable surroundings, while facing significantly less threats and risks from predators.



Earlier studies have also shown similar reduction in brain size in other domesticated mammals, such as dogs or rabbits, compared to their wild ancestors.&nbsp;



Even human brains appear to have shrunk over the past 28,000 years, being currently five percent smaller than those of Neanderthals. Experts suggest that the gradual change from hunter gatherers, who needed to face a wide range of threats during their peregrinations, to sedentary farmers leading more peaceful lives may have contributed to this reduction in brain size.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210477#d1e1620">Royal Society Open Science</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

Cat brains shrank in size as a result of domestication

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

All of Earth’s wetlands, including lakes rivers, swamps, marshes, estuaries, deltas, mangroves and other coastal areas, are critically important biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks. Furthermore, wetlands provide a buffer against the impacts of floods, droughts, and hurricanes, and support the livelihoods of millions of people. 



Despite this, wetlands are the most threatened ecosystems in the world.&nbsp;They are disappearing at an alarming rate - three times faster than forests - as a direct result of human activities and climate change.



Last year, the UN General Assembly proclaimed today (February 2nd) as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/">World Wetlands Day</a> to call attention to the desperate need for wetland conservation and restoration.&nbsp;



On this day in 1971, the "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance" was held in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the Caspian Sea. The convention, which was adopted by 172 countries, empowers nations to take measures to protect their wetlands and out them to good use.



Coastal wetlands absorb and store carbon up to 55 times faster than tropical rainforests. Even though they cover only a small portion (6 percent) of Earth’s land surface, these marine and freshwater habitats support 40 percent of all plant and animal species.&nbsp;



According to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/">United Nations</a>, more than a billion people across the world depend on wetlands for their livelihoods, which is about one in eight people on Earth. Over the last 50 years, 35 percent of the world’s wetlands have been lost. Human activities that are driving these losses include farming and agriculture; construction; pollution; overfishing and overexploitation of resources; invasive species; and climate change.



Ironically, wetlands offer a natural solution to the global threat of climate change. The UN notes that peatlands alone store twice as much carbon as all the world's forests combined. When these ecosystems are destroyed, however, they emit vast amounts of carbon.&nbsp;



There is an urgent need to raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss, says the UN, and today is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems.



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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

World Wetlands Day: an urgent call for awareness

All of Earth’s wetlands, including lakes rivers, swamps, marshes, estuaries,...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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