The Universe contains many types of massive formations that shape our understanding of how stars and galaxies group together. Astronomers have long studied these sprawling patterns, which give valuable clues about where matter gathers and where it remains thinly spread. 



These features define how cosmic evolution unfolds and guide current theories of how the universe expands.



Recently, a team of experts announced a giant find. This collection of galaxy clusters surpasses previous giants by orders of magnitude.



This study adds fresh insights by demonstrating that our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/interstellar-tunnel-found-that-connects-our-solar-system-to-other-stars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cosmic neighborhood</a> can still surprise us with unexpected details about how matter arranges itself across unimaginable distances.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-galaxy-clusters-distribution">Galaxy clusters distribution</h2>



Hans Böhringer from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (<a href="https://www.mpe.mpg.de/main" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MPE</a>) coordinated the effort in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Physics (<a href="https://www.mpp.mpg.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MPP</a>) and teams in Spain and South Africa. 



Their work relied on the ROSAT X-ray satellite’s survey, which singled out clusters of galaxies by detecting the energetic radiation these huge clusters emit. 



These data allowed the researchers to build a three-dimensional map of our cosmic vicinity.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/quipo_superstructure_3D-model_credit-MPE_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/quipo_superstructure_3D-model_credit-MPE_1s.webp" alt="Three-dimensional representation of the Quipu superstructure. Credit: MPE" class="wp-image-1960534"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Three-dimensional representation of the Quipu superstructure. Credit: MPE</figcaption></figure>



“If you look at the distribution of the galaxy clusters in the sky in a spherical shell with a distance of 416 to 826 million light-years, you immediately notice a huge structure that stretches from high northern latitudes to almost the southern end of the sky,” explains Böhringer.



By tracing each cluster’s position in space, his team pinpointed how matter spreads out in swirling patterns of galaxies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-quipu-superstructure">The Quipu superstructure</h2>



The researchers named this discovery “Quipu,” taking inspiration from the knotted string recording system once used by the Incas. 



Observed as a long strand with smaller threads branching off, the Quipu superstructure contains 68 galaxy clusters with a combined mass of about 2.4 × 10^17 solar masses. 



Its size of roughly 1.4 billion light-years makes Quipu the largest superstructure ever accurately measured, surpassing the Sloan Great Wall’s 1.1 billion light-years.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/quipo_superstructure_illustration_credit-MPE_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/quipo_superstructure_illustration_credit-MPE_1s.webp" alt="Distribution of galaxies (color coding) and galaxy clusters (black dots) in a spherical shell with a distance of 416 to 826 million light years surrounding us. The five superstructures are marked: 1 Quipu, 2 Shapley, 3 Serpens-Corona Borealis and Hercules (overlapping in the sky), 4 Sculptor-Pegasus. The area enclosed by white lines is shadowed by the disk of the Milky Way. Credit: MPE" class="wp-image-1960536"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Distribution of galaxies (color coding) and galaxy clusters (black dots) in a spherical shell with a distance of 416 to 826 million light years surrounding us. The five superstructures are marked: 1 Quipu, 2 Shapley, 3 Serpens-Corona Borealis and Hercules (overlapping in the sky), 4 Sculptor-Pegasus. The area enclosed by white lines is shadowed by the disk of the Milky Way. Credit: MPE</figcaption></figure>



“This breaks the size record of all reliably measured cosmic structures,” note the researchers who compared the finding with other known formations. 



“The Quipu superstructure, end to end, is slightly longer than the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/SDSS-3D-Universe-Map-Credit-Sloan-Digital-Sky-Survey-Team-NASA-NSF-DOE_fig2_357328983" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sloan Great Wall</a>,” says J. Richard Gott III at Princeton University, who helped discover the Sloan Great Wall. “Congratulations to them for finding it.” 



The name also reflects a connection to Chile, where many distance measurements took place, and where ancient quipus are showcased in Santiago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quipu-and-cosmological-principle">Quipu and cosmological principle</h2>



Across extremely large distances, matter is believed to spread out nearly evenly. At smaller scales of about a billion light-years, it collects in superclusters and leaves behind voids. 



This balance underpins the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cosmic-order-or-chaos-universe-expansion-may-follow-a-hidden-pattern/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cosmological principle</a>, which suggests that if we look far enough, the universe should appear uniform in every direction. 



Some experts argue these huge arrangements question that principle’s validity, with past findings triggering debates. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/great-sloan-wall_superstructure_SDSS_credit-MIT_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/great-sloan-wall_superstructure_SDSS_credit-MIT_1s.webp" alt="Sloan Great Wall of galaxies. SDSS 3D Universe Map Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey Team, NASA, NSF, DOE." class="wp-image-1960531"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sloan Great Wall of galaxies is 1.1 billion light years long. SDSS 3D Universe Map Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey Team, NASA, NSF, DOE.</figcaption></figure>



“Making observations in too small a part of the universe, which has been done earlier on, can be misleading,” says Böhringer. 



Another point comes from an ambiguous definition of the principle. “There is not yet one definition of the cosmological principle that every cosmologist agrees on,” says Alexia Lopez at the <a href="https://www.uclan.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Central Lancashire</a> in the UK. 



Meanwhile, Seshadri Nadathur at the <a href="https://www.port.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Portsmouth</a> notes that “some of those galaxies may drift apart from each other instead of collapsing in on themselves, in which case, according to some interpretations, it’s not really a bound structure.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cosmic-measurements-and-consequences">Cosmic measurements and consequences</h2>



Quipu’s existence highlights how vast formations can shape calculations of cosmic expansion rates and the properties of primordial radiation left over from the early universe. 



Astronomers pay close attention to features like superclusters because they alter light paths and influence how we determine important parameters such as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unknown-factors-are-accelerating-the-expansion-of-the-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hubble constant</a>. 



Small discrepancies can add up when researchers aim for precise numbers in modern cosmological studies.



“Even if these are only corrections of a few percent, they become increasingly important as the accuracy of cosmological observations increases,” emphasizes Gayoung Chon from the Max Planck Institute for Physics. 



This structure offers a reminder that the cosmos presents patterns on many scales. Those patterns appear to affect how we interpret data on the universe’s origin and shape the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-galactic-explosion-provides-clues-about-galaxy-evolution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evolution of galaxies</a> in our vicinity and beyond.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quipu-and-the-incas">Quipu and the Incas</h2>



The Incas once managed vast territories using quipus, a system of knotted strings that helped track resources and information. 



Each knot arrangement acted like a code, revealing essential data in a form that required no written script.



Quipu’s naming borrowed that image of intertwined threads. 



Researchers see it as a nod to humanity’s long history of gathering knowledge, whether through knotted strings or advanced telescopes that trace the distribution of galaxies across cosmic depths.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-next">What happens next?</h2>



The discovery underscores how ongoing surveys might uncover more structures. 



Scientists are keen to see if similar patterns exist in parts of the sky that remain less charted, which could either confirm current theories or reveal new gaps in our understanding.



Future maps will rely on technology to gather clearer data from remote regions. 



These efforts reflect a human wish to capture our place in the universe, searching for the patterns that connect everything from particles to vast congregations of galaxies.



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Featured image: The open cluster Westerlund 1 is located roughly 12,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Ara (the Altar) where it resides behind a huge interstellar cloud of gas and dust. Credit: <a href="https://www.esa.int" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a>



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.19236" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Astronomy and Astrophysics</a>.



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Largest structure ever found in the universe is 1.4 billion light years long

The Universe contains many types of massive formations that shape our understanding of how stars and galaxies group together. Astronomers have long studied these sprawling patterns, which give valuable clues about where matter gathers and where it remains thinly spread. These features define how cosmic evolution unfolds and guide current theories of how the universe expands. Recently, a team of experts announced a giant find. This collection of galaxy clusters surpasses previous giants by orders of magnitude. This study adds fresh insights by demonstrating that our cosmic...

A study led by <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a> is providing new details about how climate change is reducing oxygen availability in many lakes around the world. The researchers analyzed data on hundreds of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-will-earths-new-lakes-affect-the-carbon-budget/">lakes</a> to investigate how often the concentration of dissolved oxygen has been dropping below critical levels that are needed to support fish and other marine species.



“Lakes with dissolved oxygen losses strongly outnumber those with gains,” said study lead author Stephen Jane, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. “At large scales, aerobic organisms are losing available habitat as warming of lakes continues. This is particularly the case for organisms that rely on well-oxygenated cool waters deep in lakes to survive warm periods.”



The experts examined about 25 years of data for more than 400 lakes, most of which were temperate climate lakes located in the United States.&nbsp;



The study revealed that the amount of low oxygen water is increasing by 0.9 to 1.7 percent per decade. The researchers also found that the volume of lake water lacking oxygen has increased by more than 50 percent over the past three decades.



Rising temperatures are extending the number of summer weeks that lakes experience thermal stratification. This is when bodies of water divide into distinct layers due to different temperatures.&nbsp;



In July or August, it is typical for a lake surface to be about 70 degrees while the lake bottom is about 40 degrees. The result of stratification is that oxygen from the atmosphere is prevented from replenishing dissolved oxygen in deep waters, explained Jane. This can cause a state of oxygen deprivation called hypoxia, or even a complete lack of oxygen called anoxia.



“Water temperature and density are related,” said Jane. “So it becomes a situation where basically you have oil and vinegar, where strong water temperature differences between layers causes resistance to mixing – which is stratification.”



Stratification changes lead to more time for deoxygenation - the interruption of the natural oxygenation process - for deep-water habitats, said June.&nbsp;



“We show here that as warming is continuing, the amount of time that lakes exhibit stratification is increasing and this leads to increases in the amount of low-oxygen water in lakes,” explained study co-author Professor Kevin Rose of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “The bad news is that given projected warming rates, we’ll likely see even greater increases in the amount of oxygen-depleted water in lakes in the future.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16525">Global Change Biology</a>.



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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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Lakes are struggling to maintain oxygen as temperatures rise

A study led by Cornell University is providing new details...

Studying rare species can be a significant challenge for researchers, particularly when the subject is as elusive as the Antarctic blue <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whale-mothers-pay-a-high-price-for-raising-sons/">whale</a>. Researchers have strived for years to find humane ways to tackle this challenge. In 2013, Dr. Virginia Andrews-Gold and her team managed to successfully deploy satellite tags on two of the rarely-sighted creatures.



The ten-year-old data has now been released by Dr. Andrews-Goff and her colleagues at the Australian Antarctic Divison, publishing the satellite tracks in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e94228">Biodiversity Data Journal</a>. The data demonstrated to the United Nations International Court of Justice that the research can be conducted without killing whales. The research also sheds light on the logistical challenges of locating, tagging, and tracking the Antarctic blue whale.



“This is a unique data set that was incredibly challenging to get, and, unfortunately, for 10 years no-one has been able to generate more data,” said Dr. Andrews-Goff. "We know very little about the movement and distribution of Antarctic blue whales, where they migrate, where they forage and breed, and we don’t understand the threats they might face as they recover from whaling.”



Whilst tagging and tracking the creatures is certainly no easy task, the most significant challenge is finding them in the first place. An estimated 90 percent of the Antarctic blue whale population (approximately 290,000) was killed in commercial whaling throughout the 1960s and 1970s, leaving less than 2,280 individuals remaining by the late 1990s.&nbsp;



To tackle this challenge, cutting-edge acoustic tracking techniques were used to detect whale calls and estimate their location from up to 1,000 kilometers away. Once tagged, the recorded tracks revealed that the whales traveled 1,390 kilometers in just 14 days, and 5,550 kilometers across a 74-day period - moving at an average of 100 kilometers per day.&nbsp;



 “What became obvious is that these animals can travel really quickly,” commented Dr. Andrews-Goff. “If you consider how far and fast these animals moved, protecting the broader population against potential threats will be tricky because they could potentially circumnavigate Antarctica within a single feeding season.”



Thanks to new analytical method innovations in recent years, researchers have managed to gain some additional behavioral context from the data. Through these techniques, two separate movement rates were noted - a regular 4.2km/hr rate and a slower speed of 2.5km/hr, understood to correspond with searching and foraging behaviors.&nbsp;



“It looks like the whales might hang around in one area to feed and then move quickly to another area and hang around there for another feed,” explained Dr. Andrews-Goff.



She said that despite the small sample size, the satellite tracks will assist greatly in researchers’ understanding of the blue whale foraging ecology, movement rates, feeding habits, and habitat preferences. The findings will inform a further assessment of Antarctic blue whales, due to begin in 2024.



Image Credit: Australian Antarctic Division



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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New insights into the behavior of Antarctic blue whales

Studying rare species can be a significant challenge for researchers,...

As humanity emits increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, the Earth’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insect-swarms-charge-the-lower-atmosphere-with-static-electricity/">atmosphere</a> traps more and more of the sun’s energy, leading to a steady rise in our planet’s temperature. For decades, scientists have considered using screens or other objects to block enough of the sun’s radiation (about one to two percent) in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Now, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> and the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a> has explored another strategy – the potential of using moon dust to shield sunlight.



The researchers investigated different properties of dust particles, quantities of dust, and the orbits which would be best suited for shading the Earth. They discovered that launching dust from Earth to a way station located at the so-called “Lagrange point” - the closest point between Earth and the sun where the gravitational forces are balanced and where objects tend to stay along a path between the two celestial bodies - would be the most effective strategy. This approach, however, would require enormous costs and efforts. To overcome these problems, the experts have proposed using moon dust as an alternative.



“It is amazing to contemplate how moon dust - which took over four billion years to generate - might help slow the rise in the Earth’s temperature, a problem that took us less than 300 years to produce,” said study co-author Scott Kenyon.



According to the researchers, planet formation is a messy process, kicking up astronomical dust that forms rings around host stars. Such rings intercept light from the central star and re-radiate it in ways that can be easily detected. “That was the seed of the idea; if we took a small amount of material and put it on a special orbit between the Earth and the sun and broke it up, we could block out a lot of sunlight with a little amount of mass,” said study lead author Professor Ben Bromley.



The scientists found that a sunshield’s effectiveness would depend on its capacity to sustain an orbit that casts a shadow on the Earth. “Because we know the positions and masses of the major celestial bodies in our solar system, we can simply use the laws of gravity to track the position of a simulated sunshield over time for several different orbits,” said study co-author Sameer Khan.



Since the inherent properties of lunar dust are perfect to effectively work as a sunshield, the scientists proposed to shoot this dust from a platform on the surface of the moon towards the sun – a cost-effective strategy due to the fact that much less energy is needed to launch dust from the moon than from the Earth. “It is astounding that the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in just the right configuration to enable this kind of climate mitigation strategy,” Kenyon said.



However, the researchers emphasize that this study only explores the potential impact of such a method, rather than evaluating whether this strategy is logistically feasible.&nbsp;



“We aren’t experts in climate change, or the rocket science needed to move mass from one place to the other. We’re just exploring different kinds of dust on a variety of orbits to see how effective this approach might be. We do not want to miss a game changer for such a critical problem,”&nbsp;concluded Bromley.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/">PLOS Climate</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



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Could moon dust help slow global warming?

As humanity emits increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, the Earth’s...

Individuals who cut their social media use by 30 minutes a day, and use this time for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-physical-activity-protects-the-brain-from-aging/">physical activity</a>, can dramatically improve their mental health. This is the conclusion of a study led by Dr. Julia Brailovskaia of the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at <a href="http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/">Ruhr-Universität Bochum</a>.



Participants who replaced 30 minutes of social media with exercise every day for two weeks had powerful results. They reported feeling happier, more satisfied, less stressed, and less depressed. The positive effects persisted for at least six months after the study had ended.



“'Digitalization' is a main characteristic of the twenty-first century. It represents a transformation of society to an intensive use of digital technologies in various areas of life," wrote the study authors. "Daily use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp is a central aspect of this transformation."



"The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 resulted in significant changes in people’s daily routine. Lockdowns, curfews, and restrictions of offline social contacts (“social distancing”) sped up the digital transformation in various sectors. Social media use became one of the main options for social interaction and pastime."



The experts noted that excessive social media use is known to have a negative influence on mental health. "Intensive active exchange with other users can evoke the perception of social support, which fosters the development of an emotional bond to social media. This bond is closely linked to an obsessive need to stay permanently online, even if the use interferes with obligations and causes interpersonal conflicts," wrote the study authors.



The researchers set out to investigate how to improve mental health in this time of rapid digitalization. They wanted to explore cost- and time-efficient strategies that may help protect the public from the adverse effects of social media addiction.&nbsp;



“Given that we don’t know for certain how long the coronavirus crisis will last, we wanted to know how to protect people’s mental health with services that are as free and low-threshold as possible,” explained Dr. Brailovskaia.&nbsp;



For the investigation, the team recruited a total of 642 volunteers, who were randomly assigned to one of four groups. The first group reduced daily social media use by 30 minutes, the second group increased physical activity by 30 minutes per day, and the third group was instructed to do both - reduce social media use and increase physical activity for 30 minutes a day. Members of the fourth (control) group did not change their behavior during the two-week trial.



The participants completed online surveys before, during, and up to six months after the two-week intervention phase. The surveys documented the duration, intensity and emotional significance of their social media use; physical activity; overall life satisfaction; subjective feeling of happiness; depressive symptoms; the psychological burden of the Covid-19 pandemic; and cigarette consumption.



The results clearly showed that both reducing the amount of time spent on social media and increasing physical activity had a positive impact on well-being. The experts found that in all of the experiential groups, addictive social media use and depressive symptoms decreased, while physical activity, life satisfaction, and subjective happiness increased. "All effects were stronger and more stable in the combination group in the longer-term," wrote the researchers.



The team found that six months after the intervention, the combination group dedicated one hour and 39 minutes more to physical activity each week. The positive mental health effects continued throughout the entire follow-up period.



“This shows us how vital it is to reduce our availability online from time to time and to go back to our human roots,” said Dr. Brailovskaia. “These measures can be easily implemented into one’s everyday life and they’re completely free – and, at the same time, they help us to stay happy and healthy in the digital age.”



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10389-022-01751-x">Journal of Public Health</a>.



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

Exercise over social media: less stress, more life satisfaction

Individuals who cut their social media use by 30 minutes...

While it is not unusual for parents – and especially mothers – to sacrifice their own future success for the sake of their offspring, a new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.057">Current Biology</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-a-new-type-of-killer-whale/">killer whale</a> mothers take this to a surprising extreme. Killer whale moms sacrifice their own reproductive success in order to care for their sons, even after they are full-fledged adults.&nbsp;



“We’ve known for over a decade that adult male killer whales relied on their mothers to keep them alive, but it had never been clear whether mothers pay a cost to do so,” said study lead author Michael N. Weiss, an expert in Behavioral Ecology at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>.



The scientists studied a group of killer whales known as the “southern resident” population of the coastal waters of the Washington State and British Columbia to find out whether the care adult whales (particularly males) receive from their mothers comes at a significant cost.&nbsp;



“The southern resident killer whale community presents an incredible opportunity to investigate these kinds of questions. Along with their bizarre social system, where both males and females stay with their mom for life, they are also one of the best studied wild populations of mammal anywhere in the world,” Weiss explained.



The investigation revealed a marked negative correlation between females’ number of surviving weaned sons and their annual probability of producing another viable calf. Such costs did not appear to decline even as their sons grew older. These findings – which cannot be explained by lactation or group composition effects – provide the first clear evidence of lifetime maternal investment in any animal.



“The magnitude of the cost that females take on to care for their weaned sons was really surprising,” Weiss said. “While there’s some uncertainty, our best estimate is that each additional surviving son cuts a female’s chances of having a new calf in a given year by more than 50 percent. This is a huge cost to taking care of [adult] sons!”



According to the scientists, there seem to be major benefits to caring for adult sons, such as the latter’s reproductive success, which is enough to outweigh the large direct costs their mothers have to face.



“One big take-away is further evidence for how special (and maybe unique) the mother-son bond in killer whales is. Maybe more importantly, our study adds to the growing body of work showing the importance of animals’ social systems in determining demographic patterns. This is of central importance both for an understanding of our world, and to effectively conserve endangered species,” Weiss added.



Since the southern resident killer whales are critically endangered, these findings have important conservation implications, revealing a major and previously unknown factor in female’s reproductive success, which may help to inform future population viability analyses.



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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



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Killer whale mothers pay a high price for raising sons

While it is not unusual for parents – and especially...

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">University of California Riverside</a> have identified tiny organisms that thrive in burned soil after <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-trauma-chronically-affects-survivors-of-wildfires/">wildfires</a> and could help bring land back to life.&nbsp;



To understand how severe wildfires affect bacteria and fungi, mycologist Sydney Glassman led a team of researchers into the burn scar of the Holy Fire, which burned 23,000 acres in 2018.



“When we first came into fire territory, there was ash up to my shins. It was a very severe fire,” said Glassman.&nbsp;



The researchers compared the charred earth with samples from nearby, unburned soil. They found that the overall mass of microbes dropped between 50 and 80 percent after the fire and did not recover during that first year.



Some things, however, lived. “Certain species increased in abundance, and in fact there were really rapid changes in abundance over time in the burned soils,” Glassman said. “There were no changes at all in the unburned soils.”



The surviving bacteria were a parade of microbes that took turns dominating the burned soil. In the first year, distinct shifts in the microbes occurred where one species went down and another came up.



Microbes with high tolerance for fire and high heat were found in the early days of research. Later, fast-growing organisms with a lot of spores seemed to dominate. At the end of the year, organisms that consume charcoal and other post-fire debris dominated.



Study first author Fabiola Pulido-Chavez noticed that genes involved in methane metabolism doubled in post-fire microbes. “This exciting finding suggests post-fire microbes can 'eat' methane to gain carbon and energy, and can potentially help us reduce greenhouses gases,” said Pulido-Chavez.



The researchers continued to test whether fungi and bacteria could thrive at different points in time because of their unique and varied traits. What was found resembles the human body’s response to stress. People suffer an illness and take antibiotics which destroys bacteria and new organisms appear. Eventually, a person’s gut bacteria might return to its pre-infection state, but there is no guarantee.&nbsp;



“We are also trying to understand what gets the land back to where it was before the disturbance, which in this case was an enormous fire,” Glassman said. “A lot of what we’re studying could be transferable to a human microbiome setting.”



Scientists have long known that plants can adapt to wildfires and eventually re-colonize a burn scar, known as regeneration. This research shows fungi and bacteria may have developed similar coping strategies.&nbsp;



Further research is needed to understand whether plants and microbes could adapt again to megafires or recurrent fires. This is especially important as climate change has led to increased wildfire frequency, causing the same soil to burn again in fewer than 10 years.&nbsp;



“Things can recover, but it takes time, and whether or not the land recovers after super-frequent megafires is another story," said Glassman. "Can recovery time keep pace with megafires? We don’t know yet."



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.16835">Molecular Ecology</a>.



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



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Burned soil provides a feast for fungi and bacteria

Researchers from the University of California Riverside have identified tiny...

Partially,Submerged,Benches,On,A,Flooded,Riverbank,In,Windsor

As extreme <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-overreact-to-warmer-weather-and-stop-producing-fruit/">weather</a> events become more frequent and intense due to climate change, the number of people and places exposed to flooding is likely to increase. Until recently though, surprisingly little research has been conducted about how floodplain development patterns vary across communities. 



Now, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.unc.edu/">University of North Carolina</a> (UNC) has found that new housing construction in flood-prone areas has significantly contributed to increasing risk across North Carolina, regardless of community and government efforts to reduce flood damage. According to the experts, more than ten new residences have been built in this state’s 100-year floodplains for each residence removed through government buyouts (through which flood-prone properties are purchased and restored to open space).



“We’ve been putting more and more people in harm’s way, and we see that pattern across the state – in coastal and inland communities, in urban and rural areas,” said&nbsp;study lead author Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor of City and Regional Planning at UNC. “Communities across the state are working to reduce their flood risk through buyouts, elevating homes, and upgrading infrastructure, but it’s harder to see those benefits when we’re adding more houses and people to floodplains at the same time.”



The researchers investigated new construction across five million parcels in North Carolina in order to develop standardized measures of floodplain development and assess the relationship between flood risk management initiatives and development outcomes.



“We find that community effort towards flood risk management doesn’t always correspond to limiting floodplain development,” said study co-author Antonia Sebastian, an assistant professor of Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences at UNC. “Rather, communities rewarded by FEMA for high effort were continuing to allow more housing to be developed in the floodplain.”



Since local governments play a major role in flood risk management, knowing the areas where communities are building in floodplains, and clarifying what measures are needed to encourage development in safer areas, is crucial for reducing damages and risk.



“Strategic planning and zoning can encourage growth in safer areas and maximize open space in floodplains. As we see heavier downpours and wetter hurricanes, managing development is critical to reducing flood damages in the long term,” Hino explained.



“We have long assumed that communities across the state have continued building in floodplains, at least to some extent. But, the sheer scale of this construction is really surprising, especially in that it dwarfs the large-scale efforts to move homes out floodplains and out of harm’s way. The enormous public costs of buyouts are also shared by local governments – in many cases, the same local governments encouraging new building in floodplains. Today’s new floodplain construction may be tomorrow’s buyouts,” concluded co-author Todd BenDor, an expert in Sustainable Community Design at UNC.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.21418">Journal of the American Planning Association</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



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Extreme weather exposes more people and places to flooding

As extreme weather events become more frequent and intense due...

People who drink two or three cups of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-with-milk-has-powerful-anti-inflammatory-properties/">coffee</a> a day have lower blood pressure than those who drink just one cup or none at all, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.unibo.it/en">University of Bologna</a>. The researchers analyzed coffee consumption and peripheral and central blood pressure parameters in a sample of the Italian population.&nbsp;



Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in Italy and around the world. Almost 10 million tons of coffee was consumed globally in 2020 and 2021. 



While coffee may be considered unhealthy by some, recent studies have found various health benefits.&nbsp; Coffee can support a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain neurodegenerative and liver diseases. These benefits, however, do not appear to be directly related to the effects of caffeine.



"Caffeine is only one of the several coffee components and certainly not the only one with an active role. Positive effects on human health have indeed been recorded even among those who consume decaffeinated coffee," noted Professor Claudio Borghi, who led the study.&nbsp;



"We know that caffeine can increase blood pressure, but other bioactive components in coffee seem to counterbalance this effect with a positive end result on blood pressure levels."



The researchers used a sample of 720 men and 783 women to compare blood pressure levels and coffee consumption habits, among other clinical data.



"The results are very clear: peripheral blood pressure was significantly lower in individuals consuming one to three cups of coffee a day than in non-coffee drinkers," explained Professor Cicero. "And for the first time, we were also able to confirm these effects with regard to the central aortic pressure, the one close to the heart, where we observe an almost identical phenomenon with entirely similar values for habitual coffee drinkers compared to non-coffee drinkers."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15020312">Nutrients</a>.



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



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Dedicated coffee drinkers have lower blood pressure

People who drink two or three cups of coffee a...

Children can gain a stronger connection with the environment through story writing, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/">University of York</a>. The research was focused on the issue of plastic litter in Latin American countries along the Pacific Ocean.&nbsp;



The experts set out to explore how a story-writing activity may influence the perceptions of children about plastic litter, as well as how their behavior may be affected.&nbsp;



“A key element of our project was to examine the children’s responses to questionnaires they completed before and after writing these stories," said study co-author Dr. Kayleigh Wyles. "We found that their knowledge on the topic increased and they became more proactive, as they reported doing more pro-environmental acts afterwards.”



The children were asked to use their imaginations about litter items that are commonly found on the beach, such as straws and plastic bags. They were then instructed to imagine how these items ended up on the beach in the first place.&nbsp;



The writing project showed that children were more likely to think about ways of preventing litter from entering the environment, rather than just cleaning it up. According to the researchers, the most popular solutions proposed in the stories were recycling and adequate disposal of litter.&nbsp;



Overall, nearly 90 children between the ages of 10 and 18 participated in the study from countries along the Pacific coast, including Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru.



“Stories offer a new and different way to explore what people believe and how they perceive and make sense of their environment, including in this study, marine plastic litter," said study lead author Estelle Praet. "The results were truly inspiring and showed the children’s awareness of plastic's impact on marine life and the environment.”



In more than half of the stories, the children showed awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution in the marine environment, including the risk of animal entanglement. Many stories described consequences of animals ingesting plastic, such as injuries or death.&nbsp;



“In a previous activity, the schoolchildren had visited the beaches and made drawings of their beaches before and after the visit - many of these drawings also contained litter items, including some of them showed interactions between litter and marine life, underscoring that they notice the environmental problem caused by litter," said study co-author Diamela de Veer.



“By viewing these plastic items as artefacts, each with its own story, we can bring this back to the human behaviors that related to the objects' use and their disposal," said Professor John Schofield. "This project has helped show how we can get that message across to children and hopefully then make a difference.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/marine-pollution-bulletin">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a>.



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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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Children connect with the environment through story writing

Children can gain a stronger connection with the environment through...

Artificial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/does-the-human-brain-outperform-artificial-intelligence/">intelligence</a> (AI) is all around us, helping us live our daily lives. It involves numerous technologies and algorithms that are used to train systems to emulate human intelligence by perceiving, learning, reasoning, planning and solving problems. As the systems learn, they become more able to perform intellectual tasks by themselves, and appear to assume the human quality of intelligence.



For example, our choices of streaming music, films, and news are soon learned by the internet algorithms, which then suggestions what we might like to view or listen to next. Our social media streams are also filtered according to AI learning principles that have been used to get to know us better. Sound complicated? Well, researchers from the <a href="https://uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a> recently set out to demystify the way in which AI works, by testing how simple pigeons learn, and comparing this to the way in which AI learning takes place.&nbsp;



The researchers identified two types of learning: declarative and associative. Declarative learning is based on exercising reason according to a set of rules or strategies – a so-called higher order of learning that is typical in humans. In contrast, associative learning centers on recognizing and making connections between objects or patterns, such as in “sky-blue” and “water-wet.” It is considered a lower-order way of thinking. Numerous animal species use associative learning, but only a few – dolphins, chimpanzees and humans among them – are capable of declarative learning.



In order to tease out the way in which pigeons learn, the researchers set a “diabolically difficult” task for them. They gave the pigeons complex categorization tests that higher-level thinking, such as using logic or reasoning, would not aid in solving. Instead, the pigeons, had to use trial and error to memorize enough of the scenarios in the test in order to find the correct solution.&nbsp;



Each test pigeon was shown a stimulus and had to decide, by pecking a button on the right or on the left, to which category that stimulus belonged. They had to consider variables such as line width, line angle, concentric rings, and sectioned rings, in matching stimuli and solutions. A correct answer yielded a tasty pellet; an incorrect response yielded nothing. What made the test so demanding was its arbitrariness: no rules or logic would help the pigeons decipher the&nbsp;solutions.



“These stimuli are special. They don’t look like one another, and they’re never repeated,” says study co-author <a href="https://psychology.uiowa.edu/people/edward-wasserman">Ed Wasserman</a>. “You have to memorize the individual stimuli or regions from where the stimuli occur in order to do the&nbsp;task,” said Wasserman, who has&nbsp;<a href="https://comparative-cognition.lab.uiowa.edu/">studied pigeon intelligence for five decades</a>.



Each of the four test pigeons began by correctly answering about half the time. But over hundreds of tests, the birds eventually upped their score to an average of 68 percent&nbsp;correct. They had clearly learned how to respond to the tasks using an associative learning process.



The researchers equate the pigeons’ repetitive, trial-and-error approach to the learning that takes place by machines. Computers employ the same basic methodology, the researchers contend, and are “taught” how to identify the patterns and objects easily recognized by humans. Granted, computers, because of their enormous memory and storage power, far surpass anything the pigeon brain can&nbsp;conjure. However, the basic process of making associations is the same between the test-taking pigeons and the latest AI&nbsp;advances.



“You hear all the time about the wonders of AI, all the amazing things that it can do,” says&nbsp;Wasserman. “It can beat the pants off people playing chess, or at any video game, for that matter. It can beat us at all kinds of things. How does it do it? Is it smart? No, it’s using the same system or an equivalent system to what the pigeon is using&nbsp;here.”



“The pigeons are like AI masters,” Wasserman says. “They’re using a biological algorithm, the one that nature has given them, whereas the computer is using an artificial algorithm that humans gave&nbsp;them.”



The common denominator is that AI and pigeons both employ associative learning, and it is that base-level thinking that allowed the pigeons to ultimately score successfully. If people were to take the same test, Wasserman says, they’d score poorly and would probably give&nbsp;up because they are more used to using declarative learning in order to solve problems.



“The goal was to see to what extent a simple associative mechanism was capable of solving a task that would trouble us because people rely so heavily on rules or strategies,” Wasserman adds. “In this case, those rules would get in the way of learning. The pigeon never goes through that process. It doesn’t have that high-level thinking process. But it doesn’t get in the way of their learning. In fact, in some ways it facilitates&nbsp;it.”



Wasserman sees a paradox in how associative learning is&nbsp;viewed. “People are wowed by AI doing amazing things, using a learning algorithm much like the pigeon,” he says, “yet when people talk about associative learning in humans and animals, it is discounted as rigid and&nbsp;unsophisticated.”



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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



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Pigeons solve problems like intelligent machines

Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us, helping us live...

Sunflower heads consist of hundreds of tiny florets. Due to the way sunflowers grow, the youngest florets are in the center of the flower face and the most mature one at the edges, forming a spiral pattern from the center to the edge.&nbsp;



Now, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> has found that an internal circadian clock controls these distinctive concentric rings of flowering in sunflowers in order to maximize visits from pollinators.



An individual sunflower floret blooms over a couple of days. While on the first day it opens the male part of the flower that presents pollen, on the second day the female stigma unfolds to receive pollen. These florets coordinate to open in concentric rings starting from the edge and moving inwards on successive days, with a ring of female flowers always located outside the pollen-bearing male flowers.&nbsp;



Pollinators such as bees usually land on the ray petals around a sunflower head and walk toward the center, picking up pollen while walking over the female florets, then carrying it to a different flower head.



The internal circadian clock of plants or animals run on cycles of about 24 hours, allowing different genes to be activated at different times of the day. While natural day/night cycles keep this clock synchronized to actual day time, changes in the length of day light or darkness can reset the clock.



To understand the role internal circadian clock plays in turning the spiral pattern of florets into concentric rings of flowering, the scientists took time-lapse videos of sunflowers grown in different light/dark or temperature conditions.&nbsp;



The videos revealed that the plants’ circadian clocks control the opening of florets and that, when the clock was disrupted by exposing growing plants to continuous light, florets did not open in concentric rings, but only according to age, starting at the edge and moving toward the center in a continuous gradient. When plants that had matured with a disrupted clock were moved outside, they attracted significantly fewer pollinators than normal sunflowers.



“We think that being able to coordinate in this way makes them a better target for bees,” said study senior author Stacey Harmer, a professor of Plant Biology at UC Davis. “It’s a strategy to attract as many insects as possible.”



As the climate continues to change, it will become increasingly important to make pollination as efficient as possible in crops that require it. Better understanding how circadian clocks and environmental pressures affect flowering can help breeders develop cultivars that flower at the optimal times of day to attract more pollinators.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80984">eLife</a>.



—



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



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Sunflowers use an internal clock to bloom at optimal times

Sunflower heads consist of hundreds of tiny florets. Due to...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/model-predicts-the-fate-of-plastic-debris-in-the-ocean/">Plastic debris</a> pollution is a global problem that impacts even the uninhabited areas of the Arctic. However, while considerable amounts of plastic debris have been observed floating in the remote Arctic Ocean, it is still unclear where it all comes from.&nbsp;



In a project led by the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/">Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research</a> (AWI), citizen scientists went on sailing cruises to the Arctic to survey and collect plastic debris that had washed up on the shores of Svalbard. The team found that one third of the debris which still had labels or imprints allowing an analysis of their origin came from Europe, and particularly from Germany. These findings show that even prosperous industrialized countries such as Germany contribute substantially to the pollution of remote ecosystems.



“From previous studies and computer models, we know that plastic pollution comes from local and remote sources alike,” said study lead author Anna Natalie Meyer, a researcher at AWI. “Locally, plastic debris finds its way to the ocean from ships and from Arctic communities with poor waste management systems. As for remote sources, plastic debris and microplastic are transported to the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic, North Sea, and North Pacific by various rivers and ocean currents.”&nbsp;



For instance, the scientists found debris originating from countries as distant as Brazil, the U.S., and China, as well as from Europe. Among the European countries contributing the most to Arctic plastic pollution was Germany, with debris originating from there accounting for eight percent of the total amount.&nbsp;



“Considering that Germany is the ‘European champ’ in terms of both plastic production and debris exports, this comparatively high percentage isn’t so surprising,” said study co-author Melanie Bergmann, a marine ecologist at AWI.



“Our results highlight that even prosperous industrialized countries, which can afford better waste management, make significant contributions to the pollution of remote ecosystems like the Arctic. Accordingly, in order to tackle the problem effectively, not only does local waste management – especially on ships and in fisheries – need to be improved. It’s equally important that global plastic production be massively reduced, especially in the industrialized countries of Europe, North America, and Asia, since roughly 11 percent of the global plastic production finds its way into our water ways."



"This underscores once again the urgent need for an ambitious and legally binding UN Plastics Treaty, which is currently being negotiated and due to enter into force in 2024."



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1092939">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.&nbsp;



—-



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



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Where does plastic debris in the Arctic come from?

Plastic debris pollution is a global problem that impacts even...

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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



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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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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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



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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



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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 



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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



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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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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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



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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



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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



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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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