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.



-----



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>.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.



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



-----

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 small, bipedal creature that lived in the Triassic, Scleromochlus taylori has often been the subject of a debate over its place in the tree of life. The first specimen was discovered over 100 years ago in northeastern Scotland.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



In a new study led by Dr. Davide Foffa of National Museums Scotland, along with scientists at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> and Virginia Tech, CT scans were used to reconstruct the skeleton of S. taylori. The virtual reconstruction revealed that the small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-climate-change-drove-the-rapid-evolution-of-reptiles/">reptile</a> is part of pterosauromorpha, meaning it’s a close relative to pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are the group containing the famed pterodactyl. More specifically, S. taylori seems to be related to the family lagerpetidae.



Lagerpetids were cat or dog-sized reptiles living 240 to 210 million years ago, but S. taylori was even smaller at just under 20 centimeters long. The CT scans support the idea that S. taylori bridges the gap between Lagerpetids and pterosaurs, being a step towards the flying reptiles.&nbsp;



“It’s exciting to be able to resolve a debate that’s been going on for over a century, but it is far more amazing to be able to see and understand an animal which lived 230 million years ago and its relationship with the first animals ever to have flown," said Dr. Foffa.



"This is another discovery which highlights Scotland’s important place in the global fossil record, and also the importance of museum collections that preserve such specimens, allowing us to use new techniques and technologies to continue to learn from them long after their discovery.”



"The Elgin reptiles aren't preserved as the pristine, complete skeletons that we often see in museum displays. They're mainly represented by natural moulds of their bone in sandstone and – until fairly recently – the only way to study them was to use wax or latex to fill these moulds and make casts of the bones that once occupied them," explained Professor Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum.



"However, the use of CT scanning has revolutionized the study of these difficult specimens and has enabled us to produce far more detailed, accurate and useful reconstructions of these animals from our deep past."



The research, which is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x">Nature</a>, highlights how modern techniques can breathe new life into the study of old fossils and improve our understanding of evolution.&nbsp;



Image Credit: Gabriel Ugeuetto



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.



---



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

Mystery fossil found to be an early relative of pterosaurs

A small, bipedal creature that lived in the Triassic, Scleromochlus...

While water availability is acknowledged as a significant and present problem that threatens the livelihoods and health of people in many regions, the same is not true for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/water-quality-threatened-by-nutrient-pollution-in-40-u-s-states/">water quality</a>. The World Bank has branded water pollution an “invisible crisis” and stressed that because water quality is often difficult to detect and imperceptible to the human eye, it is being under-monitored all over the world.&nbsp;



With increasing human population, economic and agricultural development and climate change, water quality is increasingly coming under pressure. Yet, clean water is vital for our societal needs – such as public health, energy generation and crop production – and for protecting ecosystem health. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 recognizes the role of inadequately managed wastewater in this crisis and requires countries to halve the amount of untreated wastewater being discharged into the environment by 2030.&nbsp;



The authors of a new study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00554-y">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>, have now developed a comprehensive new water quality model to map hotspots of water problems, as well as to help understand what the consequences of attaining SDG 6.3 would be in terms of water quality around the world. In this high-resolution model they consider current and future surface water quality in terms of its salinity, its levels of organic pollution and its pathogen load, as indicated by fecal coliform abundance.&nbsp;



“We hope our model will help to fill in the gaps in water quality knowledge, particularly in world regions where we lack observations,” said study lead author Edward Jones from the Department of Physical Geography, <a href="https://www.uu.nl/en">Utrecht University</a>, Netherlands.&nbsp;



In addition to identifying hotspots of water quality issues, the model can help with attributing the source of pollution to particular sectors. “For instance, large-scale irrigation systems for agriculture drive salinity issues in Northern India, while industrial processes are more responsible in eastern China. Conversely, the domestic and livestock sectors drive organic and pathogen pollution worldwide,” said Jones.



The model predicted that, while achieving SDG 6.3 would reduce water pollution to some extent, it would be insufficient to improve ambient water quality to below key concentration thresholds in several world regions. This would be particularly true in regions of the developing world where reductions in pollutant loadings are locally effective but transmission of pollution from upstream areas still leads to water quality issues downstream.&nbsp;



“Our simulations show that, for a large part of the year, water quality in several regions would still exceed critical thresholds for human uses and ecosystem health. This is especially the case for developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,” explained Jones. These findings highlight that, while the SDG target would lead to improved water quality, it will not necessarily be enough and will not achieve the overarching goal of clean water for all.



Poor quality water can affect humans in many different ways, state the authors. Organic and pathogen pollution causes risks to human health, increased salinity levels threaten agricultural productivity,&nbsp;and increased water temperatures can disrupt thermoelectric power plants that depend on surface water resources for cooling. In addition, all these pollutants can adversely affect the aquatic environment and threaten ecosystems.



“Even achieving the current SDG target will pose serious economic challenges, as expansion of wastewater treatment can be an expensive process,” warned Jones. “Yet the cost disadvantages of inadequate water quality for sectoral uses must also be considered. Ultimately, however, we also need to reduce our pollutant emissions and develop new approaches towards wastewater management.”&nbsp;



“As such, with this paper we hope to underline the water quality problems we’re facing and firmly place these issues back on the political agenda.”



Image Credit: Izzet Cakalli&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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.



---



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

Global water resources are becoming increasingly polluted

While water availability is acknowledged as a significant and present...

New research has identified a lack of appropriate control tools for many infectious diseases of animals that could impact the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The impacts of animal disease go beyond public health and can lead to socio-economic effects for those who rely on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scavengers-protect-livestock-from-infectious-disease/">livestock</a> for income.&nbsp;



In most cases, animal diseases are global problems and need a global approach to control them. For this study, an international team of animal health experts assessed the current state of available control tools for 53 major infectious diseases of animals.



The scientists used DISCONTOOLS – an open-access database for animal health research to assess the current state of appropriate control tools for 53 major infectious diseases of animals.



The DISCONTOOLS resource was then used to prioritize the list of infectious animal diseases where appropriate control tools are lacking and where addressing this need would help achieve the relevant SDGs.



The results show that there is an urgent need for the development of diagnostics that can differentiate infected animals from vaccinated animals and assess disease characteristics like transmissibility, impact on animal productivity and welfare.



Utilizing technological advances could also help make diagnostics widely available and affordable. The scientists call for further research to improve the convenience of use and duration of immunity, and to establish performant marker vaccines.



“Animal health is a prerequisite for global health, economic development, food security, food quality and poverty reduction while mitigating against climate change and biodiversity loss," said Dr. Johannes Charlier, project manager of DISCONTOOLS.



“If we are to achieve the SDGs, further research into appropriate control tools is needed to reduce the burden of animal diseases, including zoonoses, and to manage emerging diseases, pandemic threats and antimicrobial and antiparasitic resistance.”&nbsp;



The research team also noted that the largest gap in animal pharmaceuticals is the threat of pathogens developing resistance to available drugs, namely bacterial and parasitic pathogens.



Five research priorities for animal health that will help deliver a sustainable and healthy planet were identified by the research theme. These include vaccinology, antimicrobial resistance, climate mitigation and adaptation, digital health and epidemic preparedness.



“The potential for transfer of infectious diseases between animals and people is a One Health challenge recognised at the highest level, signalling that it is high-time for all of us to move from firefighting to fire prevention," said Roxane Feller, secretary general of <a href="https://animalhealtheurope.eu/">AnimalhealthEurope</a>.



“By public and private investments in innovative early research, the animal health industry as a whole can focus on unlocking the secrets needed to develop new generations of vaccines, diagnostics and other therapies to prevent animal disease and avoid the negative effects.”



International efforts should focus on developing control tools for a range of priority infectious diseases of animals, including African swine fever, foot and mouth disease, and bovine tuberculosis.&nbsp;



However, progress is needed across a wide range of zoonotic, endemic and epidemic diseases to secure a healthy planet for humans, animals and the environment.



The study is published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/PIIS2542-5196(22)00147-4">The Lancet Planetary Health</a>.



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.



---



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

Tools are needed to control infectious animal diseases

New research has identified a lack of appropriate control tools...

According to the <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/">World Weather Attribution</a> service, climate change made the record <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/europe-is-experiencing-its-worst-drought-in-500-years/">droughts</a> experienced by the Northern Hemisphere this summer at least 20 times more likely. Without anthropogenic global warming, such an event would have been expected to occur only once every four centuries.&nbsp;



The massive droughts that severely hit crop production and power supplies, exacerbating the food and energy crises already fueled by the war in Ukraine, resulted largely from the heatwaves that struck North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, causing over 24,000 heat-related fatalities in Europe alone. Without global warming, a summer as hot as that of 2022 would have been “virtually impossible,” the experts reported.



The dry conditions caused widespread water shortages and wildfires, with a record number of blazes in Europe, the first national drought alert in China, and over half of the United States declared under drought.&nbsp;



“The 2022 summer has shown how human-induced climate change is increasing the risks of droughts in densely populated and cultivated regions,” said Sonia Seneviratne, a climate scientist at <a href="https://ethz.ch/en.html">ETH Zurich</a>. “We need to phaseout the burning of fossil fuels if we want to prevent more frequent and more intense droughts.”



“In Europe, drought conditions led to reduced harvests” added Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/">Imperial College London</a>. “This was particularly worrying as it followed a climate change-fueled heatwave in India and Pakistan that also destroyed crops, and happened at a time when global food prices were already extremely high due to the war in Ukraine.”



According to the researchers, the record droughts in the Northern Hemisphere would be expected every 20 years in today’s climate, but only every 400 years without global warming. The drought in Western and Central Europe was made at least three to four times more likely by climate change. Moreover, these estimates are probably quite conservative, with the real influence of human activities likely even higher.



&nbsp;“Climate change is really hitting us hard, not just in poor countries like Pakistan, but also in some of the richest parts of the world, like west central Europe, that had been considered less vulnerable. It’s playing out in front of our eyes even faster than we might have expected,” said Maarten van Aalst, the director of the<a href="https://www.climatecentre.org/"> Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center</a>.



“This new study clearly points to the fingerprint of climate change and should be another wake-up call to reduce emissions, but also to invest more in resilience,” he concluded.&nbsp;



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.



---



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

Climate change has made droughts 20 times more likely

According to the World Weather Attribution service, climate change made...

For many centuries, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-environment-impacts-the-aroma-of-beer-and-hops/">beer</a> was brewed in open, horizontal vats. However, in the 1970s, the beer industry switched to using large, closed vessels, which are easier to fill, empty, and clean, enabling brewing of larger volumes of beer at reduced costs. Unfortunately, these modern methods produce inferior quality beer, due to insufficient flavor production.



Now, a team of researchers from <a href="https://www.kuleuven.be/english/kuleuven">KU Leuven</a> in Belgium (a country famous for its wide variety of beers) have managed to improve the flavor of contemporary beer by identifying and engineering a gene which is responsible for much of the flavor of beer and other alcoholic drinks.



During fermentation, yeast converts half of the sugar in the mash to ethanol, and the other half to carbon dioxide. The CO2 pressurizes the closed vessels, dampening beer flavor. To fix this problem, the scientists have developed a groundbreaking technology for identifying genes responsible for commercially important traits in yeast, and applied it to find the genes responsible for flavor in beer by screening a wide variety of yeast strains to evaluate which did the best job of preserving flavor under pressure. The analysis revealed a gene for a banana-like flavor – one of the most important flavors present in beer and other alcoholic drinks.



“To our surprise, we identified a single mutation in the MDS3 gene, which codes for a regulator apparently involved in production of isoamyl acetate, the source of the banana-like flavor that was responsible for most of the pressure tolerance in this specific yeast strain,” said study senior author Johan Thevelein, an emeritus professor of Molecular Cell Biology at KU Leuven.



By using a revolutionary gene editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9, the scientists managed to engineer this mutation in other brewing strains, which similarly improved their tolerance of carbon dioxide pressure, enabling full flavor. “That demonstrated the scientific relevance of our findings, and their commercial potential,” Professor Thevelein explained.



“The mutation is the first insight into understanding the mechanism by which high carbon dioxide pressure may compromise beer flavor production,” he added, stressing that the MDS3 protein is most likely a component of a crucial regulatory pathway that may play a role in carbon dioxide inhibition of banana flavor production.



This technology has also been highly successful in identifying genetic elements contributing to rose flavor production by yeast in alcoholic drinks, as well as other commercially important traits, such as glycerol production and thermotolerance.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.00814-22">Applied and Environmental Microbiology</a>.&nbsp;



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.



---



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

Belgian microbiologists improve the flavor of beer

For many centuries, beer was brewed in open, horizontal vats....

A recent study led by the <a href="https://www.mbari.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute</a> (MBARI) has shed new light on the movements of mysterious, endangered blue whales. The experts used a directional hydrophone – a specialized underwater microphone that records sounds and identifies the direction from which they originate – to listen for the booming vocalizations of blue whales. By using these sounds, they tracked the movements of blue whales and discovered how these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-is-making-the-ocean-more-acidic/">ocean</a> giants respond to changes in the wind.



Along California’s Central Coast, both spring and summer bring coastal upwelling. From March to July, seasonal winds push the upper layer of water out to sea, allowing the colder water below to rise to the surface. This nutrient-rich water fuels massive blooms of phytoplankton, jumpstarting the food web in the Monterey Bay, from tiny krill all the way to gigantic whales. The scientists discovered that, when the winds create such an upwelling event, blue whales seek out the plumes of cooler water, where krill are most abundant, while when the upwelling stops, these whales move offshore into habitats that are often transected by shipping lanes.



“This research and its underlying technologies are opening new windows into the complex and beautiful ecology of these endangered whales,” said study lead author John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at MBARI. “These findings demonstrate a new resource for managers seeking ways to better protect blue whales and other species.”



The study built upon previous research which revealed that swarms of forage species, such as anchovies and krill, responded to upwelling events. This time, the scientists combined satellite and mooring data of upwelling conditions and echosounder data on krill aggregations with the acoustic tracks of foraging blue whales logged by the directional hydrophone.



“Previous work by the MBARI team found that when coastal upwelling was strongest, anchovies and krill formed dense swarms within upwelling plumes. Now, we’ve learned that blue whales track these dynamic plumes, where abundant food resources are available,” Dr. Ryan explained.



According to the researchers, blue whales recognize when the wind is changing their environment and identify places where the wind aggregates krill, their main type of food. While scientists have long known that blue whales seasonally occupy Monterey Bay during the upwelling season, this new study has revealed that they are able to closely track the upwelling event on very fine spatial and temporal scales.



“Tracking many individual wild animals simultaneously is challenging in any ecosystem. This is especially difficult in the open ocean, which is often opaque to us as human observers,” said study co-author William Oestreich, a postdoctoral fellow at MBARI. “Integration of technologies to measure these whales’ sounds enabled this important discovery about how groups of predators find food in a dynamic ocean. We’re excited about the future discoveries we can make by eavesdropping on blue whales and other noisy ocean animals.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.14116">Ecology Letters</a>.



Image: Goldbogen Lab/Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab (NMFS Permit 16111)



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.



---



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

Blue whales use changes in the wind to locate food

A recent study led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research...

We usually think of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/safety-on-frozen-lakes-declining-due-to-climate-change/">climate change</a> in terms of summer heat waves, warming oceans and extreme weather events. But what is happening in winter, when the ground should be frozen or covered in snow? Statistics show that winter is actually the season that is warming fastest in the U.S., and this is having some serious and unforeseen consequences.&nbsp;



In a first-of-its-kind national study, scientists from the Universities of Vermont, Colorado, Kansas, and Michigan have identified a significant new threat to U.S. water quality that is directly related to the warming associated with climate change. In cold regions, accumulated nutrients from farming activities, such as phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers, manure, animal feeds and other sources, have historically remained frozen in snowpack throughout winter. When the spring thaw has arrived, the nutrients have been carried away into rivers and lakes where plants have been able to use these nutrients for their growth.



But with winters becoming warmer, cold snaps becoming shorter and the number of days with temperatures below 32°F decreasing each year, the seasonal snowpack in much of the U.S. has become less stable. Increased rain-on-snow, snowmelt, and rainfall events now carry the nutrients into streams and rivers during winter instead, when the vegetation is dormant and cannot absorb the excess. As a result, nutrient pollution from winter runoff has quickly progressed from rare or non-existent to far worse than at other times of the year



“We are clearly seeing much larger amounts of cloudy water and sediment traveling through U.S. watersheds in winter,” said Carol Adair, a researcher at UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment, the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, and Vermont EPSCoR. The idea of&nbsp;winter nutrient pollution is new, because it’s a relatively recent impact of climate change with the potential to&nbsp;cause significant problems for people and the environment – from algal blooms that make swimming dangerous to ‘dead zones’ that kill fish stocks.”



The researchers were particularly interested in the effects of so-called “rain-on-snow” events that occur when rain falls on existing snowpack, causing it to melt to some extent. They say that this can lead to large, economically and environmentally devastating floods, in addition to releasing frozen nutrients into the waterways. And as rainfall becomes more common than snowfall in some of these areas, the impacts of these events are likely to become more serious.&nbsp;



The scientists used geospatial datasets to explore the impacts of rain-on-snow events in U.S. regions with large pools of nitrogen and phosphorous.&nbsp;The findings, published this week in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8be5">Environmental Research Letters</a>, indicate that nutrient pollution, unlocked by rising winter temperatures and rainfall, is putting water quality at risk in 40 percent of the contiguous U.S., including over 40 states. They show that rain-on-snow affects 53 percent of the contiguous U.S. and places 50 percent of the U.S. nitrogen and phosphorus pools at risk of being exported into groundwater and surface water reservoirs.&nbsp;



Analyzing the Mississippi River floods of 2019, researchers found rain-on-snow events&nbsp;delivered a large pulse of nutrients and sediment into the river and Gulf of Mexico, at much greater levels than a similar&nbsp;growing season rainfall event would have done. This contributed to the Gulf of Mexico’s eighth largest dead zone on record. Dead zones occur when bacteria that thrive on excess nutrients remove too much oxygen from the water, causing massive die-offs of fish and other aquatic animals.



“We hope this study is a wake-up call for government agencies and researchers, because it reveals that&nbsp;40 percent of the U.S. is producing winter pollution - but no one is tracking exactly how much, where it’s going, or the impacts on water quality and ecosystems,"&nbsp;said Adair. “That’s a big problem that urgently needs addressing.”



The study’s findings are visualized in several maps showing projected winter nutrient pollution across over 40 U.S. states, including large swathes of the Northeast, the northern Midwest and central plains, the Pacific Northwest, and the Sierra and Rocky Mountain ranges. The authors say the research marks the first large-scale&nbsp;study&nbsp;of the impact of rain-on-snow on nutrient runoff and water quality. The findings are conservative and do not include the additional risks from snowmelt and winter rainfall events, nor the impact of winter runoff on downstream ecosystems and communities.



“Climate change impacts on winter are often overlooked,” said co-author Aimee Classen, a Gund Affiliate from the University of Michigan. “If we care about our water quality, we can no longer ignore how climate change impacts winter precipitation.”



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.



---



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

Water quality threatened by nutrient pollution in 40 U.S. states

We usually think of climate change in terms of summer...

Green,Seaweed

In a new study led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>, experts have used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seaweed-superfood-could-help-ease-global-food-crisis/">seaweed</a> nanomaterials to create a strong battery separator. The research represents a major step toward greener and more efficient energy storage.



Currently, sodium-metal batteries (SMBs) are the most promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. The biggest challenge that scientists have encountered while developing sodium-metal batteries is uncontrolled dendrite growth, which can penetrate the battery’s separator and cause short-circuiting.



In collaboration with Imperial College and University College London, the Bristol team has succeeded in making a strong separator from seaweed materials.



According to the researchers, the fibers containing these seaweed-derived nanomaterials not only stop crystals from the sodium electrodes penetrating the separator, but also improve the performance of the batteries.



Study first author Jing Wang is a PhD student in the Bristol Composites Institute (BCI). He worked with Dr Amaka Onyianta, who created the cellulose nanomaterials



“The aim of a separator is to separate the functioning parts of a battery (the plus and the minus ends) and allow free transport of the charge. We have shown that seaweed-based materials can make the separator very strong and prevent it being punctured by metal structures made from sodium. It also allows for greater storage capacity and efficiency, increasing the lifetime of the batteries - something which is key to powering devices such as mobile phones for much longer,” said Wang.&nbsp;



“I was delighted to see that these nanomaterials are able to strengthen the separator materials and enhance our capability to move towards sodium-based batteries. This means we wouldn’t have to rely on scarce materials such as lithium, which is often mined unethically and uses a great deal of natural resources, such as water, to extract it."



Professor Steve Eichhorn who led the research at BCI, said this work demonstrates that greener forms of energy storage are possible, without being destructive to the environment in their production.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15214095">Advanced Materials</a>.



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.



---



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

Seaweed-based battery may ultimately replace lithium

In a new study led by the University of Bristol,...

Deep valleys buried under the seafloor of the North Sea provide an invaluable record of how the ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-prevent-a-catastrophic-meltdown-of-the-worlds-largest-ice-sheet/">ice sheets</a> which used to cover Europe and the United Kingdom expelled water to stop themselves from collapsing. According to a new study published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bor.12594">Quaternary Science Reviews</a>, these valleys took just hundreds of years to form as they transported massive amounts of meltwater away from under the ice and out into the sea. These findings regarding when and how the vast ice sheets melted 20,000 years ago have important implications for how glaciers may respond to climate warming today.



Tunnel valleys are enormous channels – often up to 150 kilometers long, six kilometers wide, and 500 meters deep – which drain water from beneath melting ice sheets. There are thousands of such tunnels buried beneath the seafloor of the North Sea that record the melting of ice sheets which used to cover the UK and Western Europe over the past two million years.



“This is an exciting discovery,” said study lead author James Kirkham, a doctoral student in Polar Research at the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/">British Antarctic Survey</a> (BAS). “We know that these spectacular valleys are carved out during the death throes of ice sheets. By using a combination of state-of-the-art subsurface imaging techniques and a computer model, we have learnt that tunnel valleys can be eroded rapidly beneath ice sheets experiencing extreme warmth.”



By analyzing “jaw-droppingly detailed” seismic images providing a 3D scan of the Earth’s buried layers, and performing a series of computer modelling experiments to simulate valley development, the scientists tested how quickly the tunnels formed as the last ice sheet that covered the UK melted away at the end of the last ice age, approximately 20,000 years ago. The findings suggest that this process is rather quick by geological timescales, with the melting ice forming gigantic tunnel valleys within just a few hundreds of years, and expelling water which would otherwise accelerate ice loss rates.



According to the scientists, the surprisingly fast rate at which these tunnels form means that we should start considering their effects in models of how today’s ice sheets will evolve in the coming decades and centuries. While there are no modern analogues for this rapid process, these ancient valleys record a mechanism for how ice sheets respond to extreme warming which is missing from present-day ice sheet models.



“The pace at which these giant channels can form means that they are an important, yet currently ignored, mechanism that may potentially help to stabilize ice sheets in a warming world. As climate change continues to drive the retreat of the modern-day Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets at ever increasing rates, our results call for renewed investigation of how tunnel valleys may help to stabilize contemporary ice losses, and therefore sea level rise, if they switch on beneath the Earth’s ice sheets in the future,” Kirkham concluded.



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.



---



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

Valleys in the North Sea hold a record of melting ice sheets

Deep valleys buried under the seafloor of the North Sea...

Unrefined – or “crude” – oil has been spilled into the sea in massive amounts following ecological disasters such as the Exxon Valdez or the Sea Empress spills. Moreover, oil is also routinely released into the environment in moderate volumes due to extraction and transportation activities. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucc.ie/">University College Cork</a> (UCC) in Ireland, oil pollution poses a significant threat to many already endangered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seabirds-are-damaging-their-health-by-eating-plastic/">seabird</a> populations.



The experts found that even tiny amounts of crude oil on the water surface – less than one percent of the thickness of a hair – could severely damage seabird feathers. After collecting feathers from the Manx shearwaters – a species considered to be at-risk from oil pollution – the scientists examined them to asses how quickly water would pass through after exposure to increasing concentrations of oil. Moreover, they also studied the feathers under high-powered microscopes to examine structural changes occurring after contamination.



The analyses revealed that even very thin oil sheens, between 0.1 and three micrometers in thickness, were enough to have a significant effect on feather structure and impacted waterproofing. Thus, seabirds exposed to oil are more likely to become waterlogged, cold, and less buoyant, as several other studies have already shown.



“Chronic small-scale oil pollution is commonly overlooked in the marine environment, though it has been shown to have serious implications for the fitness and survival of seabirds,” said study lead author Emma Murphy, a graduate student in Environmental Science at UCC. “This study examined one species, but the results can be extended to other species that rely on waterproofing to stay healthy when at sea for long periods.”



Murphy and her colleagues concluded that even when oil is released in moderate amounts from extraction and transport infrastructure, it can spread quite quickly across the surface of the sea, causing large marine areas to be coated by oil in concentration that are harmful for seabirds.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220488">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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.



---



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

Even a tiny amount of oil can damage seabird feathers

Unrefined – or “crude” – oil has been spilled into...

Over 200 years ago, Ichthyosaurs were discovered by Mary Anning at Lyme Regis, England. Anning sold the first Ichthyosaur <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plesiosaur-fossils-found-in-a-100-million-year-old-river/">fossil</a> she found for enough money to support her family for six months and thus began her life as a celebrated commercial paleontologist.



Ichthyosaur means "fish lizard," reflecting the different features embodied by the animal, which seems to almost be a reptilian dolphin. Although all Ichthyosaurs share similar traits, there are differences as well. Some of Anning’s specimens have long, slender snouts, while others have short, stout ones.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



New research is shedding light on some of these old Ichthyosaur specimens. A study from the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> shows that Ichthyosaurs may have had different diets.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Functional studies need excellent three-dimensional specimens, and the Lower Jurassic ichthyosaur fossils from Strawberry Bank in Ilminster are just that. Mary Anning’s fossils are amazing, but they are mostly squashed flat," said Matt Williams of Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.



“Our idea was to CT scan the specimens,” said Dr. Ben Moon, of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences and a supervisor of the study. “The scans allow us to make a detailed, 3D model of the skull in the computer, and it can then be tested for the likely forces experienced during biting.”



“After we had the models, we could stress test them,” said supervisor Andre Rowe. “We tested and confirmed the hypothesis that the slender-snouted ichthyosaur had a quick but weak bite, and the broad-snouted ichthyosaur had a slow but powerful bite.”



“Confirming the supposition was important,” added Professor Michael Benton. “It’s important we apply rigorous scientific approaches such as these engineering analyses. The two species of ichthyosaur presumably chased fast-moving prey (the fast biter) and slower, tough-shelled prey (the slow, powerful biter).”



Professor Benton noted that modern marine predators comparable to Ichthyosaur (like orcas and sharks) eat whatever they can, so it’s interesting that these marine reptiles had specialized feeding habits. "The work can be extended to explore other marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and crocodiles, so we get a detailed picture of these amazing and alien worlds of the Jurassic oceans.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14697580">Journal of Anatomy</a>



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.



---



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

Ichthyosaurs had specialized diets to peacefully coexist

Over 200 years ago, Ichthyosaurs were discovered by Mary Anning...

It seems that the Langeberg Mountains of the Western Cape, South Africa, have been keeping a stunning secret for some time now. Brian du Preez, a botanist at the University of Cape Town (UCT), has uncovered that secret.



In collaboration with Professor Peter Goldblatt of the <a href="http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/">Missouri Botanical Garden</a>, Du Preez recently described a new species of iris named Cherry Satin flower (Geissorhiza seracina). The flower is named for its deep cherry-pink petals.&nbsp;



Du Preez was hiking with his mentor, Professor Peter Linder, in December of 2021 when he spotted a peculiar flower.



"I took photos, but did not collect a specimen. It was only when I got back home and sent the photos to Dr John Manning, an expert on the Iris family, that we realized it is likely a new species," said Du Preez. Dr. Manning works at the Compton Herbarium at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).



After consulting with Professor Goldblatt, the pair determined that the flower may be a new species. Du Preez hiked back up the mountain to collect a specimen as well as bulbs for ex situ conservation. He described the rarity of such a find, noting that a discovery like this hasn't been made in 10 years.&nbsp;



With the addition of Geissorhiza seracina, there are 106 South African species described within the genus, and 24 of these species have been described since 1985. Although the Geissorhiza genus is well known, new species are being discovered in the more remote regions of the Greater Cape Floristic Region.



"New Iridaceae species are rarely found, and I mostly find new legume species. It is not often that a new species turns out to be so beautiful," said Du Preez.



The Cherry Satin flower is described in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2022.09.014">South African Journal of Botany</a>.



Image Credit: Brian du Preez



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.



---



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

New iris species discovered in South Africa

It seems that the Langeberg Mountains of the Western Cape,...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

News coming your way