Invasive species pose a significant challenge to ecosystems and agriculture, often spreading unnoticed until they have caused considerable damage. Conservationists and growers now have an unusual new ally in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly - trained dogs.



A recent study published in the journal Ecosphere highlights how these detection dogs outperform humans in identifying lanternfly egg masses in challenging environments, offering a novel strategy to curb the pest’s spread.



"Preventing the introduction of invasive species is championed as the most cost-effective and efficient strategy for avoiding negative impacts on systems," noted the researchers.



"However, once a species has been introduced, the next best option is to detect the population and eliminate it before it becomes established and spreads more widely across the landscape."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spotted-lanternfly-infestations">Spotted lanternfly infestations </h2>



First detected in Pennsylvania in 2014, the spotted lanternfly has now infested 19 states, including New York. This invasive insect feeds on woody plants like grapes, apples, hops, and various trees, causing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-threat-of-invasive-species-requires-immediate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">widespread destruction</a>.



“A spotted lanternfly infestation in a vineyard can cause 80% to 100% mortality of the vines in one growing season,” said study co-author Angela Fuller, a professor in Cornell’s Department of <a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/natural-resources-environment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural Resources and the Environment</a>.



Fuller also noted the financial burden of infestations. “Infestations also increase the amount of insecticide that growers need to use, which can increase costs by up to 170% in a growing season.” 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-training-dogs-for-invasive-species-detection">Training dogs for invasive species detection</h2>



In collaboration with the <a href="https://www.nynjtc.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York-New Jersey Trail Conference</a> and <a href="https://wd4c.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Working Dogs for Conservation</a>, researchers trained a Labrador retriever and a Belgian malinois to sniff out the lanternfly’s egg masses.



These organizations have previously trained dogs to detect invasive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cats-have-become-one-of-the-worlds-most-invasive-predators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">species</a> and pathogens, making them well-equipped for this task.



The study compared the efficiency of human and canine detection in 20 vineyards across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 



The researchers mapped transects in vineyard rows and adjacent forests, where egg masses are likely to overwinter. Humans and dogs surveyed the areas on separate days to prevent cross-contamination of scents.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dogs-outperform-humans-in-forests">Dogs outperform humans in forests</h2>



While humans excelled in detecting invasive egg masses in vineyards, dogs proved superior in forested areas. In vineyards, humans detected 1.8 times more egg masses than dogs, finding 31 egg masses per hour compared to the dogs’ 24. 



Fuller attributed this to humans’ ability to systematically search vines and poles, whereas dogs relied on scent and conducted more random searches. In forests, however, dogs excelled, finding 3.4 times more egg masses than humans. 



“The dogs find egg masses by smell,” Fuller explained. “In a very <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unseen-crisis-37000-alien-species-have-been-introduced-by-human-activities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complex environment</a>, it’s easier for a dog to smell something than it is for a human to see something that is small and cryptic.” 



Dogs located 7.6 egg masses per hour in forests compared to humans’ 6.7 per hour.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-importance-of-invasive-species-detection">Importance of invasive species detection</h2>



The study emphasizes the importance of early detection in managing the lanternfly’s spread. Dogs performed exceptionally well in areas with low egg mass densities, making them invaluable for rapid response efforts. 



Fuller noted that while dogs take more time to search than humans, the added time is worth it. 



“The extra time that dogs take to find them is not as important as it is to find them in the first place, because you need to detect the egg masses in order to eradicate them,” she said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insights-into-lanternfly-behavior">Insights into lanternfly behavior</h2>



Using computer modeling, the researchers identified patterns in lanternfly egg mass distribution. They found higher occupancy rates in vineyards than forests, particularly on metal poles. 



Vineyards near forests had higher lanternfly populations, likely because the insects don’t disperse far and often migrate from nearby trees.



“If you’re searching in a vineyard close to the forest, that’s more likely where they’re going to be,” Fuller said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-combating-invasive-species-with-dogs">Combating invasive species with dogs </h2>



This innovative approach offers hope for combating invasive species like the spotted lanternfly. 



By combining human surveys with trained detection dogs, growers and conservationists can strengthen their defense against this destructive pest.



The integration of canine detection into pest management strategies represents a significant step forward in protecting vital ecosystems and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/non-native-species-are-spreading-at-an-exponential-rate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">agricultural resources</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70113" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ecosphere</a>.



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Trained dogs can sniff out invasive pests in forests

Invasive species pose a significant challenge to ecosystems and agriculture, often spreading unnoticed until they have caused considerable damage. Conservationists and growers now have an unusual new ally in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly - trained dogs. A recent study published in the journal Ecosphere highlights how these detection dogs outperform humans in identifying lanternfly egg masses in challenging environments, offering a novel strategy to curb the pest’s spread. "Preventing the introduction of invasive species is championed as the most cost-effective and efficient strategy for avoiding...

Green,Leaf,Of,A,Soybean,Plant,Close-up,On,The,Background

While most viral infections negatively affect an organism’s health, one specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-plant-virus-could-help-cure-cancer/">plant virus</a> – the soybean vein necrosis orthotospovirus (SVNV) – may actually benefit a species of insects which commonly feeds on soybean plants and can transmit them the virus. According to a laboratory study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://agsci.psu.edu/">Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences</a>, when soybean thrips – small insects ranging from 0.03 to 0.20 inches in length – are infected with SVNV, they tend to survive longer and reproduce better than uninfected thrips.



Soybean vein necrosis orthotospovirus causes vein necrosis in soybean plants. Once the plant is infected, the pathogen first attacks the veins of the leaves, causing them to turn yellow, and later on spreads to other parts of the leaves, which eventually develop brown lesions. If the infection progresses, the leaves can turn necrotic and fall off. In addition, this virus can also reduce the amount of oil and proteins in the plants’ seeds and can lower seed germination rate and seed weight. The virus is usually spread by either infected seeds or infected soybean thrips.



“Since there are no cures for plants infected with viruses, control of the virus vectors [in this case, thrips] is one of the best options for virus disease management,” said study co-author Cristina Rosa, an associated professor of Plant Biology at Penn State. 



“Knowing the identity, biology, transmission propensity, and changes in behavior and physiology of the thrips that transmit soybean vein necrosis virus is fundamental to designing soybean vein disease prevention programs and to calculating the economic threshold of any intervention.”



The scientists collected soybean thrips and released them onto soybean plants in a laboratory setting. Both plants and thrips were monitored regularly for SVNV using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing, and the thrips’ lifespan, mortality, fertility, and reproduction were observed through two generations.



Surprisingly, the analyses revealed that infected thrips tended to survive longer. “We also found that infected thrips tended to produce more offspring,” said lead author Asifa Hameed, who conducted the study during her doctoral degree at Penn State. “On average, uninfected females produced 84 eggs on average while those infected with SVNV produced 89.”



“In addition to prolonging the life of the insects, SVNV infection also shortened the doubling time of soybean thrip populations [the amount of time it takes a population to double in size]. This means infected thrips populations grew much more quickly, which could enhance the spread of the virus to additional soybean plants.” While among uninfected thrips, the doubling time was around four days, in the SVNV-infected populations, it was just half a day.



Although more research is needed to clarify the interaction between soybean thrips and SVNV, a possible explanation for why infected thrips survive longer may be an increase in amino-acids in the virus-infected plants, which can benefit the insects.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13070632">Insects</a>.



---



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

Plant virus can benefit soybean-eating insects

While most viral infections negatively affect an organism’s health, one...

Insect,Fly,On,On,Green,Leaf.,Fly,House.

As increasingly frequent and more intense heat waves expose a wide range of animals to temperatures outside of their normal limits, an international team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> has investigated more than 100 species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-insects-are-more-sensitive-to-climate-change-than-expected/">insects</a> to clarify how these climatic changes will affect them. The analysis revealed that insects have weak ability to adjust their thermal capacities to withstand high temperatures, and are thus more susceptible to global warming than previously thought.



One way in which insects deal with extreme temperatures is through a process called acclimation, where previous thermal exposure extends their critical thermal limits. Acclimation usually triggers a series of physiological changes, such as the upregulation of heat shock proteins, and results in modifications of the phospholipid composition in their cell membranes.&nbsp;



However, the scientists found that most insects have significant problems to do this effectively: for each 1°C shift in exposure, their limits were adjusted by only 0.092°C and 0.147°C respectively (a 10 and 15 percent compensation). However, juvenile insects appeared to be better able to acclimate, suggesting that there can be critical periods in development when experiencing heat waves may improve later resilience.



“As temperature extremes become more intense and frequent in our warming world, many insects will have to rely on shifting to new ranges or changing their behavior to cope, rather than being able to physiologically tolerate wider temperatures,” said study lead author Hester Weaving, an expert in Biology at the University of Bristol.



“Our comparative study identified some major gaps in understanding insect responses to climate change and we urge for more studies on species in underrepresented groups and locations.”



The scientists are currently investigating how the reproduction of insects is affected by exposure to extreme temperatures. Clarifying this aspect could turn out to be more important in predicting future distributions than measures of performance or survival.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32953-2">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&nbsp;

Insects struggle to adjust to high temperatures

As increasingly frequent and more intense heat waves expose a...

Tuataras are strange reptiles found living only in New Zealand. A few key traits like teeth fused to jaws and an odd chewing motion point to their divergence from lizards some 230 million years ago. Instead of lizards, tuataras are rhynchocephalians. Now, scientists from the <a href="https://www.si.edu/">Smithsonian</a> have found the fossil remains of another member of rhynchocephalia.&nbsp;



The newly discovered animal was described in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2022.2093139">Journal of Systematic Palaeontology</a>. The reptile, named Opisthiamimus gregori, lived in Jurassic North America alongside such superstars as Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. The animal in question was much smaller, only about 6 inches long, but representative of a massive evolutionary epic.



“What’s important about the tuatara is that it represents this enormous evolutionary story that we are lucky enough to catch in what is likely its closing act,” said Matthew Carrano, the National Museum of Natural History curator of Dinosauria. “Even though it looks like a relatively simple lizard, it embodies an entire evolutionary epic going back more than 200 million years.”



The discovery comes from several specimens, including a complete one, discovered in a Morrison formation quarry in Wyoming focusing on an Allosaurus nest. During the late Jurassic, rhynocephalians were common.&nbsp;



At the peak of their existence, rhynocephalians were found all over the world and made a diverse group from herbivores to dedicated fishers. As lizards and snakes grew in diversity, for unclear reasons, rhynocephalians dwindled. Today, the tuatara is the only living representative.&nbsp;



“These animals may have disappeared partly because of competition from lizards but perhaps also due to global shifts in climate and changing habitats,” said Carrano. “It’s fascinating when you have the dominance of one group giving way to another group over evolutionary time, and we still need more evidence to explain exactly what happened, but fossils like this one are how we will put it together.”



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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

New Mesozoic reptile was an ancient relative of the tuatara

Tuataras are strange reptiles found living only in New Zealand....

The development and composition of the gut microbiome in humans are known to be important in shaping host physiology, immunity and long-term health outcomes. However, our understanding of this dynamic process in wild <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/small-mammals-of-the-anthropocene-are-deeply-altered/">mammals</a> is poor. Mothers are important initially, as bacteria are transmitted to the young offspring through milk and suckling, determining the composition of the bacterial populations colonizing the gut. But as the offspring transition to an adult diet, the gut bacteria gradually change in ways not yet understood.&nbsp;



A new study has investigated developmental changes in the gut microbiomes of wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada), Old World monkeys that live in the highlands of Ethiopia and consume a diet consisting almost entirely of grass. The study provides the first evidence of clear and significant maternal effects on the gut microbiome both before and after weaning in a wild mammal. The findings are published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.037">Current Biology</a>.



The research team, co-led by Stony Brook University anthropologist&nbsp;Dr. Amy Lu, and biologists&nbsp;Dr. Alice Baniel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dr. Noah Snyder-Mackler&nbsp;at <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a>, made use of one of the largest datasets on gut microbiome&nbsp;development in any wild mammal. The experts used high throughput DNA sequencing to identify and characterize the bacteria present in the guts of young geladas in their first three years of life, and assessed the role of maternal effects in shaping the young’s gut microbiome.



The analysis revealed a total of 3,784 different genetic strains of bacteria, belonging to 19 distinct phyla and 76 families, that resided in the gut microbiomes of the geladas. Overall, they found that&nbsp;postnatal microbial colonization in geladas was remarkably similar to that seen in humans, with microbial diversity increasing rapidly after birth and being followed by gradual changes in composition until the time of weaning.&nbsp;



Young infants that were still feeding predominantly off milk had microbiomes that reflected this diet – for instance, there were bacteria present that could digest milk glycans, molecules that cannot be broken down without the action of bacteria. In contrast, older geladas that included more plant matter in their diet had fewer milk-oriented gut microbes and more microbes necessary for the digestion of grass.



Although the main driver of gut microbe composition was the change in diet from milk dominated to grass dominated food, maternal input was also a key factor. The researchers found that the infants of experienced mothers (who had raised infants previously) showed faster maturation of the microbial biome in the gut. This reflected a faster developmental pace overall for infants born to these mothers.&nbsp;



“Infants of first-time moms showed slower development of their gut microbiota, meaning that their guts were specialized toward milk digestion for longer, compared to kids from other moms. This may put offspring of newer moms at a slight developmental disadvantage,” said Baniel. “In addition, even after infants were weaned, their microbiome community was more similar to mom’s than to other adult females in the population, suggesting that moms may be sharing microbes with their offspring.”



“Early life gut microbial development is known to have a large impact on later life health in humans and other model organisms," said Lu. "Now we have solid evidence that mothers can influence this process, both before and after weaning. Although we’re not 100 percent certain how mothers do this, one possible explanation is that they transfer specific bacteria to their offspring.”



According to Snyder-Mackler, these early life changes might have far-reaching consequences which impact the health and survival of these offspring once they become adults.



Future work from this research team is therefore going to examine how differences in the gut microbiome during infancy influence other aspects of development, such as growth, the maturation of the immune system, and the pace of reproductive maturation. Luckily, because they are continuing to study the same infants as they age, the researchers will eventually be able to link the infant gut microbiome and the early-life maternal effects to health, reproduction, and survival in adulthood.&nbsp;



---



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

Primate moms influence their child’s microbiome, even after weaning

The development and composition of the gut microbiome in humans...

A recent grant from the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/office-science">Department of Energy’s Office of Science</a> will fund a three-year project led by the <a href="https://www.uh.edu/">University of Houston</a> to investigate the impact of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-will-clouds-be-affected-by-climate-change/">clouds</a> on our planet’s climate. By studying the interaction between clouds and the tiny particles that comprise them -&nbsp; known as aerosols - the scientists will try to better understand how cloud formation and location in the atmosphere maintain the Earth’s temperature.



“Clouds cover about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface,” said project leader Professor Yunsoo Choi. “They are one of the most essential components of the global climate system because of their regulation of surface precipitation and the atmosphere’s radiation balance,” i.e. the difference between the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the Earth and the amount released back into space.



The scientists will focus on how aerosols form various types of clouds with different radiative impacts. Aerosols – which can be both inorganic, consisting of sulfates, nitrates, or ammonium, and organic, such as black carbon or soil particles – play a fundamental role in cloud formation. When water vapor condenses on their surface, it forms cloud condensing nuclei, which are essentially the “seeds” from which clouds grow.



“The formation of cloud droplets typically cannot occur without aerosols. Clouds strongly affect the Earth’s energy balance by trapping heat near the surface and reflecting solar radiation back to space,” explained study co-author Ali Mousavinezhad.



To better understand the role of aerosols in cloud formation and their impact on the Earth’s climate, the researchers will use data from the Department of Energy-funded Atmospheric Radiation Measurement’s&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.uh.edu/2021-tracer-campaign/index.html">TRacking Aerosol Convection Interaction ExpeRiment</a>, together with data from an aerosol-cloud interaction targeted modelling system.



“For me, the most interesting aspect of this project is the combination of a modeling system with the dataset from an ongoing campaign, happening right here in our backyard,” said study co-author Arman Pouyaei. “The idea is to use this dataset in a novel technical approach. We hope to learn important lessons about the capabilities of current modeling frameworks in representing the impacts of aerosols on cloud formation and climate change.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Climate change is primarily discussed in terms of greenhouse gases. By the end of this project, we&nbsp;will gain a deeper understanding of how aerosols as air pollutants influence cloud formation and our planet’s climate, which I am very excited about,” concluded Mousavinezhad.



---



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

How do clouds influence Earth’s climate?

A recent grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of...

Flying,Bat,Hunting,In,Forest.,The,Grey,Long-eared,Bat,(plecotus

A new study led by the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> and <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a> has investigated the diets of endangered Indiana bats and threatened northern long-eared bats, in order to identify ways to effectively manage both species and their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-pandas-face-shrinking-habitats-and-tough-decisions/">habitats</a>.



“This was an in-depth study of these two imperiled species in landscapes where they co-occur. Nobody’s done that before. This investigation gives us a much better sense of how bats not only coexist, but also how they benefit our forests and how we can thus manage the forest to provide bats with better habitat,” said study senior author Joy O’Keefe, a wildlife extension specialist at the University of Illinois.



“When you have two closely related species sharing the same habitat, that means they’re probably built similarly and need similar places to live and things to eat. This brings up a lot of questions about how they’re doing that. Are they competing? Or is there some system in place where they're able to divide resources? Our job was to figure that out,” added study lead author Timothy Divoll, a data scientist at Brown University who completed his doctoral studies under Professor O’Keefe’s supervision.



During four summers, the researchers captured bats of both species and collected fecal samples at two locations in Indiana – a large managed forest and a region with small forest patches close to a major airport – in order to identify insect prey from DNA found in bats’ feces.



The analysis revealed that the two bat species consumed many of the same insects – such as moths, beetles, mosquitoes, crickets, or wasps – as well as a number of agricultural and forest pest species, which proves their crucial role as providers of beneficial ecosystem services.&nbsp;



Surprisingly though, the northern long-eared bats (the smaller of the two species) usually pick up slightly larger prey items, most likely because they are gleaners – meaning they grab prey off surfaces – which would make it easier for them to locate larger insects on leaves or bark. By contrast, the Indiana bats are aerial hawkers, detecting and hunting prey that moves through the air, be it large or small. Although this difference in prey size preference and feeding style could explain how the two species avoid direct competition, the scientists are not yet sure whether this is the case.



“It’s difficult to say whether they’re in direct competition without measuring the availability of different insect types, and we didn’t measure that in our study. But our&nbsp;earlier research in the same forested site&nbsp;showed northern long-eared bats use much less space when foraging than Indiana bats. And they’re selecting habitat slightly differently. At the end of the night, they might end up eating all the same things, but they’re finding them differently,” Dr. Divoll explained.



Ultimately, the bats’ diets were so similar that there were greater differences between the sites investigated – large forest vs. small, near-airport forest patches – than between bat species. “This tells us that, at some level, they are generalizing on whatever is available at a given site. They might be flexible and specialize at certain times, but these two bats are going to go after whatever is predominantly there. They may use different hunting techniques and search different heights of the forest, but they both likely capture easy targets while searching for preferred prey,” Dr. Divoll concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.354">Environmental DNA</a>.



---



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

Bats’ diets offer clues on how to protect them

A new study led by the University of Illinois and...

Nest parasites, such as cuckoos, are notorious for being the ultimate free-loaders in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nurturing-benefits-of-nature-are-crucial-for-human-well-being/">nature</a>. Females lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and then leave the unsuspecting host parents to raise a chick that is not their own. Different species of cuckoos have chicks that behave differently once hatching has occurred. Some cuckoo chicks kick out the host nestlings and become the sole survivor in the nest. Others share the nest and food with the host nestlings, and yet others may actually enhance the survival of host chicks by exuding a bad smell that deters predators.&nbsp;



Brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are also obligate brood parasites but differ from cuckoos in that they are generalists, laying their eggs in the nests of any other bird they can find. In fact, observers have recorded brown-headed cowbird eggs being laid in the nests of more than 200 different species. Not all the chicks are able to survive – it seems that cowbirds sometimes pick hosts that feed their chicks a different diet (i.e. seeds) to what a growing cowbird needs (insects). Cuckoos tend to be specialists, laying their eggs in the nests of specific host species that will be equipped to raise the cuckoo chick.



In a recent study, experts investigated the behavior of cowbird chicks in the nests of prothonotary warblers (Protonotaria citreas). The researchers aimed to understand the strategies used by cowbird chicks to survive in prothonotary warbler nests when the total number of warbler chicks differs. Cowbird chicks may hatch in a nest with as many as six other nestlings, or sometimes as few as zero, and the researchers wondered how cowbird chick behavior would differ under these conditions.&nbsp;



“Brood parasites like brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of so many different species, we wanted to know about one really important aspect of how they make a go of it in a world that, when they hatch, could be any one of 200 different scenarios,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://nickantonson.weebly.com/">Nicholas Antonson</a>, a Ph.D. candidate at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a> who led the study with&nbsp;<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/profile/mhauber">Mark Hauber</a>, a U. of I. professor of&nbsp;<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/eeb/">evolution, ecology and behavior</a>. “We focused on what happens when a cowbird hatches into a nest with different numbers of host nestlings.”



To study cowbird chick success, the researchers deployed nest boxes that were attractive to warblers and cowbirds in a southern Illinois swamp forest. The boxes were designed to exclude ground predators like snakes and raccoons, and aerial predation by hawks and owls. By changing out the bedding in the boxes four days after the eggs hatched, the team also reduced the threat from invertebrate parasites like blowflies.



The team followed nests with and without cowbird parasites and manipulated the number of host chicks in the nests by moving warbler eggs or chicks between nests. All the nests parasitized by cowbirds had either zero, two or four warbler nest mates. Control nests containing only warbler chicks were matched for the total number of young.



The results of the study, published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>, showed that cowbird chicks survive best when they are in a nest with two other nestlings. Their survival is not as good when four host chicks are present, and is also reduced when no other nestlings are present. In general, cowbirds hatch earlier than their nest mates, they tend to be bigger and more aggressive than warbler chicks, and they extract more than their fair share of food from the host parents, Antonson said. Cowbirds need more food because they grow two-to-three times larger in the nest than the warbler chicks.



Interestingly, the researchers noted that when cowbird chicks hatched in nests with four warbler chicks present, the cowbirds seemed to cause the number of host chicks to decrease down to two. The cowbirds did not do this by ejecting or killing warbler chicks, however, as is commonly seen with cuckoos.



“Cowbirds have adapted to live with host nest mates,” Hauber said. “They outcompete them, they raise their heads higher, and they beg more loudly and for longer periods of time, but they do not actively displace the host nest mates.”



“One of the unique aspects of our study is that we also quantified how many cowbirds survived to fledging in each of these different scenarios,” Antonson said. “We found that cowbirds survive best in the nests where they hatch with two host nestlings. That’s better than when they hatch with four host nestlings or with zero host nestlings. Cowbirds raised with more than that optimal number of two host nestlings appear to reduce the host brood sizes down to two.”



This reduction in host nestling numbers when cowbirds are present didn’t occur in the control warbler nests that had no cowbirds, the researchers found.



“We think that the cowbirds are manipulating the host numbers to reduce them to the optimal so that they can grow best,” Hauber said. Stealing food meant for the other nestlings is the likely means by which they do that. Further studies will be needed to confirm that hypothesis.



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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

Cowbird chicks need nest mates, but two is better than four

Nest parasites, such as cuckoos, are notorious for being the...

Increasingly more scientists have recently argued that multiple, dangerous <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tipping-points-could-be-triggered-without-further-warming/">tipping points</a> are most likely approaching worldwide due to anthropogenic climate change. Now, a team of experts from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has used centuries-old clam shells to investigate how the North Atlantic climate system reached such a tipping point before the Little Ice Age - a period of regional cooling (most pronounced in the North Atlantic region) that occurred between the 14th and 19th centuries.



A long-standing scientific theory suggests that the initial cooling in this period was sustained by so-called “sea-ice to ocean feedbacks” – a phenomenon in which sea-ice expansion slowed ocean currents, which in turn significantly reduced the flow of warm water from the South.&nbsp;



By analyzing shells of quahog clams – which can live for several centuries – the researchers aimed to understand how the ocean has evolved and responded to external changes during the past centuries. The experts discovered that the North Atlantic climate system destabilized and lost resilience immediately before the Little Ice Age, possibly causing the Earth to tip into a new, colder state.



“One way to tell that a system is approaching a sudden transition is that it becomes slow to respond to perturbations (external changes),” said study lead author Beatriz Arellano-Nava, a doctoral student in Geography and Global Systems at the University of Exeter. “In other words, a system loses the ability to return to its average state, and can instead ‘tip’ into a new state.”



“In the case of the North Atlantic prior to the Little Ice Age, this loss of resilience made the system vulnerable to an abrupt switch, potentially heralding the transition to Little Ice Age conditions,” added study co-author Paul Halloran, an associate professor of Earth Sciences at the same university.



According to the scientists, the North Atlantic could be approaching once more a tipping point, with major consequences for the world’s climate.&nbsp;



“Our latest analysis suggests that the system of ocean currents in the northern North Atlantic could be at risk of a tipping point again now due to global warming, leading once again to abrupt climate change over Europe,” concluded study senior author Timothy Lenton, the director of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32653-x">Nature Communications</a>.



---



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

The North Atlantic may be approaching another tipping point

Increasingly more scientists have recently argued that multiple, dangerous tipping...

Portrait,Closeup,Of,A,Cute,Furry,Rock,Hyrax,(procavia,Capensis)

In a recent study published by the <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/">British Ecological Society</a>, researchers have found a strong correlation between the song rhythm of male rock hyraxes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reproductive-health-is-impacted-by-geographic-location/">reproductive</a> success. More specifically, females are looking for a hyrax with rhythm. Females may interpret male rhythmic serenades as a sign of good health.&nbsp;



"We have been studying hyraxes for the past 20 years and have previously found several patterns in their songs that are common features of human language and music," said Dr. Vlad Demartsev, who collected data for the study.



"Their songs have regional dialects so individuals living in proximity sing more similarly to each other. They tend to sing in crescendo (getting louder as the song progresses) and reach peak complexity towards the end of their songs, maybe to keep the audience engaged and listening to the signals."



Dr. Demartsev further explained the importance of rhythm: "One assumption is that rhythm has evolved so that animals that call in groups can better synchronize their songs - like musicians in a band or singers in a choir."



In this case, however, there is a catch; the hyraxes do not sing in a group, but call individually. Yet, those males with rhythm still display greater fitness.&nbsp;



"Male hyraxes that sing more frequently tend to have more surviving offspring," said study co-founder Dr. Lee Koren. "Song rhythms and stability are related to reproductive success and thus potentially hold information about individual quality."



The researchers believe that the ability to create specific, rhythmic songs may signal that the male is free from disease, which could mean an ideal mate and more successful fitness.



Dr. Demartsev would like to see further research conducted on this topic in the future. "It would be fascinating to compare animal species who sing individually and species that sing in groups."



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13801">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Rhythm linked to reproductive success in male rock hyraxes

In a recent study published by the British Ecological Society,...

The sound of a crying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mothers-can-use-singing-to-engage-with-infants/">infant</a> can be very distressing to parents. They seek to soothe the baby and may resort to numerous ploys in order to restore the baby to a state of peace. None of these methods has been scientifically proven, however, relying rather on trial and error or on the advice of experienced caregivers. In a new study by Japanese researchers, four different soothing methods were tested and the efficacy of each was assessed based on changes in the baby’s heart rate and whether the baby stopped crying.&nbsp;



“Many parents suffer from babies’ nighttime crying,” says corresponding author Kumi Kuroda of the <a href="https://www.riken.jp/en/research/labs/cbs/">RIKEN Center for Brain Science</a> in Japan. “That’s such a big issue, especially for inexperienced parents, that it can lead to parental stress and even to infant maltreatment in a small number of cases,” she says.



The study details how crying babies are physiologically affected by being held, carried, and laid down. The researchers made use of ECG data on heart rate, and hand-held video cameras, to track the physiological and behavioral state of the baby as it was soothed. Mothers were given four methods for calming the baby: hold the crying infant, hold and walk with the infant, place the infant in a cot or crib, and place the infant in a mobile crib or stroller that can be moved back and forth. At each heartbeat, behavior was assessed as asleep, alert, or crying, and scored accordingly. This way the researchers could track changes in both behavior and physiology with sub-second precision.



In previous research, Kuroda and her colleagues found that mother mice pick up their babies (pups) by mouth and carry them when they are distressed. The mouse pups show a specific response, termed the “Transport Response,” when picked up by their mothers. This involves a complex series of parallel biological processes that results in reduced crying and lower heart rates, which helps the parents to transport the infants. Kruoda and the team wondered whether human infants would show similar physiological responses to being carried around, and whether this would have a calming impact when the infant was distressed.



The Transport Response is found in many mammals that have altricial young (born underdeveloped and helpless) that are not able to walk around on their own. Such mammals include dogs, cats and monkeys. We are more familiar with this response when picking up young puppies or kittens by the scruff of the neck. They tend to hang motionless and become more docile, but their bodies do not go entirely limp; they maintain a certain compactness of posture, with legs pulled in slightly, perhaps making it easier for their parents to carry them to a new location.



The researchers compared the responses of 21 human infants to soothing using the four different methods. They found that when the mother walked while carrying the baby, the crying infants calmed down and their heart rates slowed within 30 seconds. In fact, when mothers walked in this way for a period of five minutes, the infants became so calm that around 50 percent of them fell asleep. A similar calming effect occurred when the infants were placed in a rocking cot, but not when the mother held the baby while sitting, or placed the baby in a motionless cot.



As Kuroda explains, “walking for five minutes promoted sleep, but only for crying infants. Surprisingly, this effect was absent when babies were already calm beforehand.” Among the babies studied, all had stopped crying by the end of the five-minute walk and had reduced heart rates. However, sitting and holding a crying baby was not calming; the heart rate tended to increase and crying persisted. Heart rates also increased when walking mothers turned, or when they stopped walking, showing that babies are very sensitive to their mother’s movements.



Unfortunately, the study found that when the mothers tried to put down their sleeping babies after calming them, more than one-third of the infants became alert again within 20 seconds. Analysis of the data showed that all the babies produced physiological responses, including changes in heart rate, the moment they became detached from the mother’s body. However, if the infants were asleep for a longer period before being laid down, they were less likely to awaken during the process, the team found.



“Even as a mother of four, I was very surprised to see the result. I thought whether a baby awoke during a laydown was related to how they’re put on the bed, such as their posture, or the gentleness of the movement,” Kuroda says.&nbsp; “But our experiment did not support these general assumptions. Although we did not predict it, the key parameter for successful laydown of sleeping infants was the latency from sleep onset.” Babies often woke up if they were put down before they got about 8 minutes of sleep.



Based on their findings, the researchers propose a method for soothing and promoting sleep in crying infants. They recommend that parents hold crying infants and walk with them for five minutes, followed by sitting and holding infants for another five to eight minutes before putting them to bed. The protocol, unlike other popular sleep training approaches such as letting infants cry until they fall asleep themselves, aims to provide an immediate solution for infant crying. Whether it can improve infant sleep in the long-term requires further research, Kuroda says.



Although the research involved only mothers and their infants, Kuroda expects the effects are likely to be similar for fathers and any other caregivers. She emphasizes that this study only included a small samples of infants and will need to be repeated with bigger sample sizes in order to verify the results. Additionally, this procedure does not address why some babies cry excessively and cannot sleep, but it does offer an immediate solution that can help parents of newborns.&nbsp;



The researchers recognize the usefulness of heartrate data in this approach to soothing a baby and hope to make it accessible to parents. “We are developing a ‘baby-tech’ wearable device with which parents can see the physiological states of their babies on their smartphones in real-time,” says Kuroda. “Like science-based fitness training, we can do science-based parenting with these advances, and hopefully help babies to sleep and reduce parental stress caused by excessive infant crying.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.041">Current Biology</a>.



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

Scientists find the best way to soothe a crying baby

The sound of a crying infant can be very distressing...

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles are a real danger, a threat to craft and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/special-lettuce-could-protect-astronauts-from-bone-loss/">astronauts</a>. Efforts to determine when and where flare-ups of high-energy particles happen have been fruitless, until now.&nbsp;



Scientists at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have used supercomputers to simulate when and how high-energy particles are created in environments such as the sun’s atmosphere.



“This exciting new research will allow us to better predict the origin of solar energetic particles and improve forecasting models of space weather events, a key goal of NASA and other space agencies and governments around the globe," said study co-author Luca Comisso of Columbia University’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Laboratory.



Using supercomputers, Comisso and study co-author Lorenzo Sironi were able to simulate the sun and the complex movements of electrons and ions in the sun’s plasma. The research predicts that the sun can accelerate ions and electrons to nearly the speed of light. The results could possibly be confirmed by direct observation with the help of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the closest spacecraft to the sun.&nbsp;



The researchers seek to answer questions long held about the origins and predictability of high-energy particles. The scientists are pleased with the results of their study but emphasize that there is much more we can learn by utilizing their techniques with supercomputers to address other questions. The information on high-energy particles also allows us to understand other astronomical phenomena far beyond our own sun.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our results center on the sun but can also be seen as a starting point to better understanding how high-energy particles are produced in more distant stars and around black holes,” said Comisso. “We’ve only scratched the surface of what supercomputer simulations can tell us about how these particles are born across the universe.”



The study is published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</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

Where do high-energy particles come from?

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles...

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment they transport and deposit. River sediment – consisting mostly of sand, clay, and silt – plays a major ecological role, providing habitat for a variety of organisms downstream and in estuaries. Moreover, sediment also affects human lives and activities, by resupplying nutrients to agricultural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drying-soils-pose-a-major-threat-to-public-health/">soils</a> in floodplains or buffering the rise in sea level caused by climate change by delivering sand to coastlines and deltas.&nbsp;



However, according to a new study led by <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a>, over the past four decades, humans have caused unprecedented changes to river sediment transport by building dams and modifying land-use.&nbsp;



By using satellite images and streamflow data, the scientists investigated changes in how much sediment was carried to the oceans by 414 of our planet’s largest rivers from 1984 to 2020. “Humans have been able to alter the world’s biggest rivers at rates that are unprecedented in the recent geologic record,” said study lead author Evan Dethier, an expert in Fluvial Geomorphology at Dartmouth.&nbsp;



“The amount of sediment rivers carry is generally dictated by natural processes in watersheds, like how much rain there is or whether there are landslides or vegetation. We found that human activities are overwhelming these natural processes and outweighing the effects of climate change.”



The analysis revealed that widespread dam building in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere (North America, Europe, and parts of Asia) have reduced the global delivery of water-borne sediment from rivers to the oceans by 49 percent. However, in the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Africa, and Oceania), sediment transport has increased in 36 percent of the rivers, mainly due to land-use changes, such as deforestation.



The results in the North are worrisome, and could predict future changes in the South. Since there are over 300 dams planned for South America’s and Oceania’s largest rivers – including the Amazon River, which carries more sediment than any other river in the world – the problems northern areas are currently facing could soon haunt the global South too.&nbsp;



“Rivers are pretty sensitive indicators of what we’re doing to the surface of the Earth — they are like a thermometer for land-use change,” explained study co-author&nbsp;Carl Renshaw, an earth scientist at Dartmouth. “It’s well-established that there’s a soil loss crisis in the U.S., but we just don’t see it in the sediment export record because it’s all getting stuck behind these dams, whereas we can see the signal for rivers in the global South.”



Better understanding how dams retain sediment and how land-use practices are increasing downstream erosion could help scientists and decision-makers develop more efficient environmental management policies in the future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7980">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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Humans have caused unprecedented changes to rivers

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment...

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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

[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

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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

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...