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...

A new study led by the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> in Beijing has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-can-be-prompted-to-repeat-their-recent-actions/">dogs</a> tend to wag their tails to the right when they are in the proximity of people they are familiar with. According to the experts, this phenomenon is caused by the fact that the left side of the brain, which controls the right side of the body, is the place where positive emotions – such as those triggered by meeting a beloved person – are processed.



By using a 3D motion tracking system, the scientists studied how ten beagles wagged their tails when they were with humans for one five-minutes session per day over a period of three days. In total, the researchers analyzed more than 21,000 wagging bouts, including the distance and speed with which their tails moved. The results revealed that, as the dogs get to know a person, they start wagging their tails more frequently to the right and less frequently to the left.



“The switch to right-sided wagging suggests the dogs are perceiving the stranger in a more positive light given the passage of time,” said Deborah Wells, an expert in dog behavior at <a href="https://www.qub.ac.uk/">Queen’s University Belfast</a>, who was not involved in the study.



“Positive and negative emotional states have been associated with left- and right-sided activation of the prefrontal cortex in humans,” explained study senior author Yong Zhang, a professor of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese University of Sciences.&nbsp;



“We speculate that tail wagging toward the left might be accompanied by right brain activation, while tail wagging toward the right side may be accompanied by left brain activation in the prefrontal cortex.”



According to the study authors, these findings reveal the sophisticated features and organization of dogs’ tail-wagging behavior during interactions with humans, providing a useful paradigm for analyzing dogs’ social behaviors and their underlying neural mechanisms.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222010197">iScience</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;&nbsp;

Dogs wag their tails to the right for people they love

A new study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences...

When temperatures are rising, ant colonies need to make collective <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-pandas-face-shrinking-habitats-and-tough-decisions/">decisions</a>. While each ant feels the heat rising beneath its feet, they carry along as usual, until they suddenly reverse course, with the whole group evacuating their nest. A team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.rockefeller.edu/">Rockefeller University</a> has found that, in such situations, ants as a group behave similar to networks of neurons in the brain.&nbsp;



By developing a new experimental setup to rigorously analyze decision-making in ant colonies, the researchers discovered that when a colony evacuates its nest due to rising temperatures, its decision is a function of both the magnitude of the heat increase and the size of the colony. Thus, ants combine sensory information with the parameters of their group in order to arrive at a collective response – a process similar to how neural networks in the brain give rise to decisions.



“We pioneered an approach to understand the ant colony as a cognitive-like system that perceives inputs and then translates them into behavioral outputs,” said study senior author Daniel Kronauer, an expert in Social Evolution and Behavior at Rockefeller. “This is one of the first steps toward really understanding how insect societies engage in collective computation.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Decision-making consists of a series of computations meant to minimize costs and maximize benefits. For example, in a type of decision-making called sensory response thresholding, an animal has to detect sensory input such as heat exceeding a certain level to produce a costly behavior, like moving away.



The scientists exposed ant colonies of 36 workers and 18 larvae to rising temperatures, and found that, when the temperature exceeded 34 degrees Celsius, the ants evacuated their nest. Surprisingly though, if the size of the colony was larger - about 200 individuals – the ants only evacuated the nest when temperatures rose to 36. “It seems that the threshold isn’t fixed. Rather, it’s an emergent property that changes depending on the group size,” said Professor Kronauer.



According to the scientists, pheromones – the invisible chemical messengers that pass information among ants – play a crucial role in structuring this collective behavior. It is not yet clear though why larger colonies would require higher temperatures to pack up shop. A hypothesis is that the larger the colony size, the more onerous it is to relocate.



In future studies, the researchers aim to refine their theoretical model by interfering with more parameters - such as tempering the level of pheromones in the ants’ enclosures or creating genetically altered ants with different abilities to detect temperature changes - and observing how the insects respond.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What we’ve been able to do so far is to perturb the system and measure the output precisely. In the long term, the idea is to reverse engineer the system to deduce its inner workings in more and more detail,” Kronauer concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2123076119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;&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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ant colonies behave like neural networks when making decisions

When temperatures are rising, ant colonies need to make collective...

A new study led by the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/">University of Waterloo</a> in Canada has identified the ten financial actors with the most influence on the fossil fuel economy and outlined the major role they can potentially play in helping de-carbonize our planet’s future. The analysis revealed that these ten most influential actors – including investment advisors, governments, and sovereign wealth funds – own 49.5 percent of potential greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s largest energy companies.



“This shows us that both investors and governments can be at the forefront of change if citizens and clients urge them to de-carbonize,” said study lead author Truzaar Dordi, a doctoral candidate in Sustainability Management at the University of Waterloo. “A concentrated number of investors with the potential to influence the trajectory of the fossil fuel industry is either a problem, or an opportunity, depending on how you see things.”



“If they’re serious, capital markets can enable a low-carbon transition within the top coal, oil, and gas reserve owners in the world. Recent pledges to reduce carbon exposure in investment portfolios and engagement with the fossil fuel industry indicate we may already be moving in that direction,” he added.



In their article, Dordi and his colleagues have outlined specific ways in which these 10 financial actors could make changes that may help mitigate global warming, including public disclosures of a scheduled phase-out of fossil fuel financing, rigorous assessments of a portfolio’s exposure to climate risk in a 2°C warmer world, and alignments of investment portfolios with a 1.5°C scenario.



“Individually, reducing the demand for fossil fuels by driving and flying less and turning off the air-conditioner are great. We should keep doing that. But we also need to reduce our production of fossil fuels, which these 10 actors can lead. Without them, we simply won’t have what it takes to meet our emissions targets and avoid catastrophe,” Dordi concluded.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210422422000636?dgcid=author#!">Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions</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;&nbsp;

Ten financial actors could change the fate of Earth's climate

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

Since it is bigger, Jupiter should have larger, more spectacular rings than Saturn. For a long time, scientists have puzzled why this is not the case. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">University of California, Riverside</a> (UCR) has found that Jupiter’s massive moons have a crucial role in preventing the formation of rings around the planet.



“It’s long bothered me why Jupiter doesn’t have even more amazing rings that would put Saturn’s to shame,” said study lead author Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist at UCR. “If Jupiter did have them, they’d appear even brighter to us, because the planet is so much closer than Saturn.”&nbsp;Another thing that puzzled Kane was whether Jupiter once had such amazing rings and somehow lost them.



To clarify why Jupiter currently looks the way it does, Dr. Kane and his graduate student Zhexing Li ran a dynamic computer simulation that accounted for the orbits of Jupiter’s four moons, the orbit of the planet itself, while integrating information about the amount of time it takes for rings to form.



Saturn’s famous rings are largely made of ice, part of which may have come from comets. However, if a planet’s moons are large enough – as is Jupiter’s case – their gravity can toss the ice out of a planet’s orbit, or change the ice’s orbit so that it collides with the moons.



“We found that the Galilean moons of Jupiter, one of which is the largest moon in our solar system, would very quickly destroy any large rings that might form,” Dr. Kane explained. “Massive planets form massive moons, which prevents them from having substantial rings.” These findings suggest that it is unlikely that Jupiter had large rings in the past.



However, all four giant planets from our solar system – Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and even Jupiter – do in fact have rings. Nevertheless, Neptune and Jupiter’s rings are so flimsy that they were impossible to observe with traditional astronomical instruments. Recently though, images from the newly commissioned <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/launch-of-the-james-webb-space-telescope/">James Webb Space Telescope</a> included&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/07/14/webb-images-of-jupiter-and-more-now-available-in-commissioning-data/">pictures</a>&nbsp;of Jupiter, in which the faint rings are indeed visible. “We didn’t know these ephemeral rings existed until the Voyager spacecraft went past because we couldn’t see them,” Dr. Kane said.



Besides their breathtaking beauty, rings help scientists learn more about the history of a planet, since they offer evidence of collisions the planet had with other celestial bodies. The shape, size, and composition of the rings can offer valuable indications about the types of events that formed them.



“For us astronomers, they are the blood spatter on the walls of a crime scene. When we look at the rings of giant planets, it’s evidence something catastrophic happened to put that material there,” Dr. Kane concluded.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.06434">Planetary Science</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;&nbsp;

Why doesn’t Jupiter have rings?

Since it is bigger, Jupiter should have larger, more spectacular...

Several days of unusually hot <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-will-climate-change-affect-extreme-weather-events/">weather</a> in northern Greenland – with temperatures of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees higher than normal for this time of year) - have caused rapid ice melting, made clearly visible by the rivers of meltwater flowing into the ocean. The scientists estimate that, between July 15 and 17, six billion tons of water per day have melted in Greenland – enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, or to cover the entire state of West Virginia with a foot of water.&nbsp;



“The northern melt this past week is not normal, looking at 30 to 40 years of climate averages,” said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a>. “But melting has been on the increase, and this event was a spike in melt.”



Scientists worry that soon the record ice melting of 2019 – when 532 billion tons of ice flowed out into the sea, causing a permanent global sea level rise of 1.5 millimeters - will be surpassed and cause even more damage around the world. Researchers estimate that Greenland holds enough ice to lift sea level by 7.5 meters around the globe if melted completely.



Earlier this year, unprecedented rates of melting have been observed at the bottom of the Greenland ice sheet, caused by the enormous quantities of meltwater trickling down from the surface. This phenomenon is highly concerning since it can destabilize the surface ice sheet and lead to a massive, rapid loss of ice.



According to scientists from <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>, Greenland’s ice sheet has unfortunately melted beyond the point of no return and no efforts to stave off global warming could stop it from eventually disintegrating. The rate of melting that Greenland has witnessed in the past few years has exceeded anything it had experienced in the last 12,000 years, and has led to measurable changes in the gravitational field over the island.



However, even if Greenland’s ice will eventually vanish, how fast this happens and with what consequences remains in humanity’s hands. Measures to mitigate climate change are urgently needed to slow down sea ice melting and thus protect myriads of vulnerable ecosystems.&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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Greenland lost billions of tons of water last weekend

Several days of unusually hot weather in northern Greenland –...

A new study from <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a> reveals that exposure to the sun can increase appetite in males, but not in females. The research unravels the differences between males and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-wolf-spiders-perform-elaborate-dances-to-woo-females/">females</a> in the activation of the metabolic mechanism.&nbsp;



Sun exposure in males activates a protein called p53 to repair DNA damage in the skin caused by the sun. This signals the body to produce a hormone called ghrelin, which stimulates the appetite. In females, on the other hand, estrogen blocks the interaction between p53 and ghrelin and does not create the same urge to eat after sun exposure.&nbsp;



The study was led by Professor Carmit Levy and PhD student Shivang Parikh, in collaboration with many researchers in Israel and around the world.&nbsp;



The analysis was focused on epidemiological data collected in a year-long survey about the eating habits of 3,000 individuals of both sexes. This data combined with the results of a genetic study in a lab model.&nbsp;



The findings identify the skin as a primary regulator of energy and appetite (metabolism) in both lab models and humans.



"We examined the differences between men and women after sun exposure and found that men eat more than women because their appetite has increased. Our study was the first gender-dependent medical study ever conducted on UV exposure, and for the first time, the molecular connection between UV exposure and appetite was deciphered. Gender-dependent medical studies are particularly complex, since twice the number of participants are required in order to find statistically significant differences," explained Professor Levy.



There is a dramatic metabolic difference between males and females, impacting both their health and their behavior. It has not yet been established whether the two sexes respond differently to exposure to the sun's UV radiation.



"The protein p53, found in the skin, repairs damage to the DNA caused by sun exposure, but it does more than that. It signals to our bodies that winter is over, and we are out in the sun, possibly in preparation for the mating season," explained Professor Levy.



The results may ultimately inform future studies on both human metabolism and the potential for UV-based therapies for metabolic diseases and appetite disorders.



The study is published in the prestigious journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-022-00587-9">Nature Metabolism</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

Sun exposure increases appetite in men, but not women

A new study from Tel Aviv University reveals that exposure...

Despite full vaccination, high blood pressure can more than double the risk of hospitalization from the Omicron-variant of COVID-19 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-with-infections-are-less-able-to-adapt-and-survive/">infection</a>. This includes a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new report from the <a href="https://www.heart.org/">American Heart Association</a>.



The study was focused on adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles between December 2021 and April 2022. In cases of severe COVID-19 illness, the impact of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, remained even in the absence of other chronic diseases.&nbsp;



“These findings are important since about half of the adults in the U.S. have high blood pressure,” said study lead author Dr. Joseph E. Ebinger.



COVID-19 vaccines helped reduce death and some of the most severe side effects from the infection early in the pandemic. A COVID-19 vaccine booster can further reduce the risks of severe illness by up to 70 percent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Despite these benefits, a portion of fully vaccinated and boosted people still required hospitalization during an early surge of the Omicron variant.



According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant continues to dominante, with seven sub variants identified.&nbsp;



Ebinger and colleagues sought to understand the characteristics associated with the people who were hospitalized despite having the full COVID-19 vaccine series and a booster dose.



“Our data found that it is not just older adults with other underlying health conditions who are vulnerable,” Ebinger said.&nbsp;



“Breakthrough Omicron infection severe enough to cause hospitalization can happen to an adult of any age, especially if a person has high blood pressure, even if they have no other major chronic disease. The people who are most at risk are not necessarily who we think they are. They are not the sickest of the sick, and this was a surprising finding.”



The study included 912 adults with at least three doses of an mRNA vaccine (either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines) and were treated for infection during an Omicron surge.



Demographic information, including age, gender, race, ethnicity and health records were also examined. Variables such as chronic health conditions were considered, including diabetes, kidney disease, heart attack, heart failure and prior chronic pulmonary obstructive disease or asthma.



The analysis found:



<ul><li>Of the 912 adults who received three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, nearly 16 percent required hospitalization.</li><li>Older age, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack">heart attack</a>, heart failure and the time between the last vaccination and COVID-19 infection were all associated with greater risks of hospitalization.</li><li>Individuals with high blood pressure were 2.6 times more likely to require hospital care for severe COVID-19 illness</li><li>Of the 145 patients hospitalized, 125 of them (86.2 percent) had high blood pressure.&nbsp;</li></ul>



Receiving three doses of a vaccine may not prevent infection in everyone, especially those with high blood pressure. More research is needed to understand the link between high blood pressure and increased risk of COVID-19 illness,&nbsp;



While knowledge of COVID-19 has come a long way, more research is needed to reduce the risk of serious COVID infection. This could include more tailored vaccine regimens, new therapeutics or a combination approach.&nbsp;



The study was partially funded by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Erika J. Glazer Family Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/">Hypertension</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

High blood pressure doubles risk of severe COVID

Despite full vaccination, high blood pressure can more than double...

According to climate experts, the current heatwave in the UK is just a taste of things to come. They predict that 40-degree Celsius days will be the norm by 2050.&nbsp;



In a new study from the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>, experts report that human-caused emissions are at least partially to blame for last year's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-quality-can-help-crops-survive-rising-temperatures/">temperature</a> spike in the US and Canada that killed 1,500 people.&nbsp;



"An extraordinary and unprecedented heatwave swept western North America in late June of 2021, resulting in hundreds of deaths and a massive die-off of sea creatures off the coast as well as horrific wildfires," said study co-author Chunzai Wang.



Moreover, this link may explain the current heatwave in the UK. Greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric patterns seem to be the primary culprits.&nbsp;



"In this paper, we studied the physical processes of internal variability, such as atmospheric circulation patterns, and external forcing, such as anthropogenic greenhouse gases," said Wang.&nbsp;



Using computer models, the researchers found three circulation patterns that coincided during the 2021 heatwave: the North Pacific, the Arctic-Pacific Canada, and the North America pattern.



"The North Pacific pattern and the Arctic-Pacific Canada pattern co-occurred with the development and mature phases of the heatwave, whereas the North America pattern coincided with the decaying and eastward movements of the heatwave," Wang said. "This suggests the heatwave originated from the North Pacific and the Arctic, while the North America pattern ushered the heatwave out."



Although air patterns often co-occur without triggering intense heatwaves, the experts found human greenhouse emissions played a significant role in causing last year's heatwaves.



Based on model simulations, the researchers are confident that the number of severe heatwaves will increase by more than 30 percent, and greenhouse gases will cause nearly two-thirds of that increase.&nbsp;



"From the CMIP6 models, we found that it is likely that global warming associated with greenhouse gases influences these three atmospheric circulation pattern variabilities, which, in turn, led to a more extreme heatwave event," explained Wang.&nbsp;



"If appropriate measures are not taken, the occurrence probability of extreme heatwaves will increase and further impact the ecological balance, as well as sustainable social and economic development."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2078-2">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>,



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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

Human activities are fueling more extreme heatwaves

According to climate experts, the current heatwave in the UK...

The mid-latitude climates of Central Asia are turning into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-that-deserts-breathe/">desert</a> climates, according&nbsp; to research conducted by Qi “Steve” Hu and Zihang Han of the <a href="https://www.unl.edu/">University of Nebraska–Lincoln</a>. The researchers say the desert climate has expanded 60 miles northward since the 1980s.



Central Asia includes five former Soviet republics - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Sometimes it includes Afghanistan, western China, and parts of other neighboring nations.&nbsp;



Due to its semi-arid conditions and potential impacts, Hu and Han wanted to determine if the region had any climate shifts. They found that the average annual temperature in Central Asia has increased by roughly nine degrees Fahrenheit when comparing the decades from 1960-1980 to decades from 1990-2020.



“The region is dry, so small deviations from the average or anticipated amount of growing-season rainfall can be devastating to the agricultural production and social stability of the region,” said Professor Hu. "It’s a place very vulnerable to climate change.”



The team discovered that while the lower altitude regions were getting less precipitation, the higher altitudes were getting more precipitation. This increase, however, was in the form of rain - not snow. Rain is problematic when compared to meltwater because rain is less sustainable and increases the likelihood of flooding.&nbsp;



“That’s coming at the cost of your future water,” said Professor Hu. “If this continues, after maybe 20 or 30 more years, those glaciers and that snowpack could be gone."



"Then you have just the summer precipitation, which is not going to be enough to keep up the water level in your lakes and your soil to sustain agricultural production in the growing season. So you’re possibly going to be in a one-way drought that you don’t come back from.”



Although the conditions are not identical, these findings are also relevant to patterns emerging in portions of the United States.



"This has some potential implications for the situation we’re facing in the west-central United States, especially around the Rockies,” Hu said. “That could undermine the availability of water resources in the next 50 years.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL098895">Geophysical Research Letters</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

Desert climate is rapidly spreading across Central Asia

The mid-latitude climates of Central Asia are turning into desert...

Trap-jaw ants (Odontomachus brunneus) are predatory insects with exceptional jaws. They open their jaws by 180o and lock them there until they need to snap them shut. A snap, when it happens, takes mere microseconds and involves considerable force. In fact, this ant’s jaws are among the fastest moving appendages in the animal kingdom. 



The ants use these jaws to stun or kill <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rattlesnakes-diversify-their-venom-for-evolving-prey/">prey</a> mostly, but can also release the snap close to the ground surface. This action ends up propelling the ant into the air, either as a sort of “leap” to aid locomotion, or to get the ant out of a sticky situation.&nbsp;&nbsp;



When not used for killing prey or leaping to safety, the ant’s jaws can be used extremely delicately to greet other ants or to manipulate small pieces of food. Impressed by the way in which trap-jaw ants use their jaws for both delicate maneuvers and savage blows, a team led by Sheila Patek at Duke University set out to investigate just how these jaws work. The fascinating results of the study are published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



The species is native to the southern parts of the U.S., Central America and the West Indies. Patek and her colleagues collected specimens from a colony they found in the scrubland near Lake Placid, Florida. They dissected some of the ants and took detailed measurements and micro-CT scans of the heads and jaws. The experts used these measurements to model the ant’s movements and understand what enables them to release their jaws with such force and speed.



Study co-author Chi-Yun Kuo gently secured ants in front of a high-speed camera and filmed their jaw movements at 300,000 frames per second to capture the lightning-fast maneuver as the insects crashed their mandibles together.&nbsp;



After release, each mandible swung in a perfect arc through the first 65o before it decelerated and came to rest. “When we played back the videos in slow-motion, their strikes were spectacularly precise,” said Patek.&nbsp;



The researchers found that the ants used two separate spring mechanisms to accomplish their powerful jaw snaps. Firstly, muscles stretch the jaws apart so that there is a 180o angle between them. In doing this, they deform the sides of the ant’s head somewhat, making it slightly shorter (3.2 percent) and narrower (6 percent) in the middle. As the exoskeleton deforms inwards, it stores elastic potential energy that can be used when the jaws are released.&nbsp;



Secondly, enormous muscles attach to each jaw by means of springy elastic tendons. Thus torque is developed by having stored elastic energy in two different sites on each mandible. When the jaws are released, the head capsule pops back into normal shape and this pushes part of the mandible forwards, away from the body. At the same time, the elastic tendons pulls the internal edge of each jaw towards the body. This causes the jaws to swing out in a perfect arc, and to achieve a maximum speed of around 120 mph (195 km/h). The movement is equivalent to spinning at an eye-watering 470,000 rpm. The researchers term this system a “dual spring force couple,” because two springs deliver energy at two different locations at the same time, on each mandible.



Calculating the amount of energy released as the insects unleashed their smashing mandibles, the team discovered that the energy stored as the head exoskeleton deformed was sufficient to drive the mandibles through 33o of perfect rotation. The energy stored in the springy tendon attaching the mandible to the enormous adductor muscle inside the head (comprising 14 percent of the ant’s body mass) powered the remaining 32o of the arc.



The researchers puzzled over how this spring system could work without generating excessive friction, which would slow the jaw movements and result in wear-and-tear on the joints. Using dynamic modeling, they found that dual spring force couples reduce the need for joint constraints and that the ants had a far less rigid joint structure than they expected. This system reduces friction, which is essential if the ant is to snap its jaws shut repeatedly.&nbsp;



Trap-jaw ants thus make use of a mechanism that allows them to coordinate the opposing forces driving the perfect mandible rotation. Since no strain is placed on the fragile joint about which the mandible pivots, there is no damage to the ant itself, regardless of how often it snaps its jaws closed.&nbsp;



Patek suspects that other spring-loaded creatures also use the strategy, and she, Sarah Bergbreiter (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) and Suzanne Cox (Duke University) suggest that the revolutionary design could be embraced by engineers.&nbsp;



“The principles can be incorporated into microrobotics to improve multifunctionality, precision and longevity of ultrafast systems,” they say.&nbsp;



More details of the study can be found at: <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.244077">https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.244077</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

How do trap-jaw ants keep from blowing their heads off?

Trap-jaw ants (Odontomachus brunneus) are predatory insects with exceptional jaws....

The North American <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/monarch-butterflies-may-not-be-threatened-as-previously-thought/">monarch butterflies</a> (Danaus plexippus plexippus), a species famous for its multigenerational, cross-continental migration patterns, have recently been classified as endangered by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN), the world’s leading scientific authority on the status of species. This decision comes after decades of steady decline in monarch populations driven by losses of the plants they need as caterpillars, combined with the impact of climate change.



“It’s been so sad to watch their numbers decline so much, so anything that might help them makes me happy, and I think that this designation might help them,” said Karen Oberhauser, a conservation biologist at the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a> who contributed to the assessment. “Although it’s sad that they need that help, that they’ve reached the point where this designation is warranted.”



According to Dr. Oberhauser and her colleagues, the number of Western Monarchs, which live west of the Rocky Mountains, has plummeted by 99.9 percent between 1980 and 2021. Although they rebounded slightly in 2022, they still remain in great danger. Eastern monarchs – which make up most of the monarch butterfly population in North America – also dropped by an estimated 84 percent from 1996 to 2014.



Monarch butterflies depend on milkweed, the only plant that they can consume. After departing from their overwintering grounds in the forests of central Mexico, females deposit eggs on milkweed plants from Texas to Canada, during a multigenerational journey. While habitat destruction in the Mexican forests was an early threat to the butterflies, the fact that American farmers turned to crops genetically modified to withstand glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, created significant problems for the monarchs.&nbsp;



“Glyphosate was suddenly sprayed over vast acreage of farm in the Midwest,” said Anna Walker, an entomologist at the <a href="https://www.bioparksociety.org/main/">New Mexico BioPark Society</a> who led the assessment. “That took out a lot of the milkweed plants that the monarch caterpillars rely on.”



Besides these problems, climate change has also significantly contributed to the steep decline of monarch populations, by disrupting their ancient cycles through increases in storms, droughts, and other similar events, which can be catastrophic for already vulnerable populations. “We’re starting to see this kind of mismatch between when insects are ready to start the spring and when plants are ready,” Walker explained. “There are a ton of unknowns.”



According to the experts, a viable solution for saving monarchs from extinction is by planting milkweed native to each specific region in the U.S. and Canada. For instance, swamp milkweed is a good, easy-to-grow variety native to most of the western regions of the U.S., which could help migrating butterflies along their journey. Unless such measures are implemented rapidly, we are at risk of losing one of the most fascinating species of insects on our planet.&nbsp;



More details regarding this new assessment of the status of monarch butterflies can be found on IUCN’s <a href="https://www.iucn.org/press-release/202207/migratory-monarch-butterfly-now-endangered-iucn-red-list">website</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;&nbsp;

Monarch butterflies are officially listed as endangered

The North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus), a species...

Although massive heatwaves currently ravage the United States, Europe, and Africa, killing thousands of people, the worst is still to come. With many countries continuing to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and thus contributing to global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warming-threatens-the-oceans-most-diverse-regions/">warming</a>, this summer’s blistering temperatures may seem mild in a few decades.&nbsp;



During extreme heatwaves, access to air conditioning (AC) may be life-saving. However, only about eight percent of the 2.8 billion people living in the hottest (and often poorest) countries have air conditioning in their homes. By modeling the future demand for AC as periods of extreme heat increase in frequency and intensity, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> has found a massive gap between current AC capacity and what will be needed in 2050 to save lives.&nbsp;



According to the experts, if emission rates continue to climb, at least 70 percent of the population in several countries will need AC by 2050, with that percentage even higher in equatorial countries such as India or Indonesia. But even if the world meets the emission targets set out in the Paris Agreement – which is far from being on track to – an average of 40 to 50 percent of the population in the world’s hottest countries will still require air conditioning.



“Regardless of the emission trajectories, there needs to be a massive scale-up of air conditioning or other space cooling options for billions of people so that they’re not subject to these extreme temperatures throughout the rest of their lives,”&nbsp;said study lead author Peter Sherman, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard.



The scientists focused on days when the combination of heat and humidity could be extremely harmful even for young, healthy individuals, in two different future scenarios – one with a significant increase of emissions and one when emissions are scaled back but not eliminated completely. In the first scenario, they estimated that 99 percent of the population of countries such as India or Indonesia will require AC. Even in Germany, for instance – a country previously known for its temperate climate – as much as 92 percent of the population may require air conditioning for such extreme heat events. In the U.S., this percentage will climb to 96.



However, more AC needs more power, thus straining electrical grids across the world, and pushing energy systems to their breaking point. “If you increase AC demand, that has a major impact on the electricity grid as well,” said Dr. Sherman. “It puts strain on the grid because everyone is going to use AC at the same time, affecting the peak electricity demand.”



“When planning for future power systems, it’s clear that you can’t simply scale up of present-day demand, especially for countries such as India and Indonesia,” added study senior author Michael McElroy, a professor of Environmental Science at Harvard. “Technologies such as solar power could be particularly useful for handling these challenges, as the corresponding supply curve should correlate well with these summertime peak demand periods.” Other strategies to moderate electricity use may include dehumidifiers, which use considerably less energy than AC.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778822003693?via%3Dihub">Energy and Buildings</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Air conditioning could be life-saving in a hotter world

Although massive heatwaves currently ravage the United States, Europe, and...

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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

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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?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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