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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Quipu’s naming borrowed that image of intertwined threads. 



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



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



The discovery underscores how ongoing surveys might uncover more structures. 



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

Anyone who watches a dog in the park will notice that sometimes the pup will stick her nose in the air, and other times, she will excitedly sniff the ground. Until now, scientists have not been able to figure out why animals decide to sniff the air versus the ground. An international team of researchers is shedding some new light on the topic.



"We used what we know about how scent is carried by the wind and on the ground to understand better why animals engage in this behaviour," explained study co-lead author Nicola Rigolli. "We then used machine learning techniques to identify the optimal strategy for locating the source of a scent."&nbsp;



The researchers created computer simulations to determine how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spiders-can-track-the-scent-of-killer-ants-to-avoid-them/">scents</a> move under turbulent conditions. Then, they modeled the advantages and disadvantages of sniffing the air versus sniffing the ground.&nbsp;



The experts created a computer-simulated animal designed to minimize tracking time. They noticed that, like real animals, it would often go back and forth, sometimes sniffing the air, other times sniffing the ground.&nbsp;



The researchers found that when an animal is downwind from a scent source, they stick their noses up frequently to catch a whiff. As they get closer to the source, they will begin to sniff the air less and the ground more.&nbsp;



"Airborne scents are sparse and more difficult to track than scents along the ground, but they move faster and over longer distances. The benefits of sniffing near the ground or in the air therefore vary depending on the animal's distance from the scent's source," explained study co-lead author Gautam Reddy.&nbsp;



The researchers noted that the results might also be relevant to sea creatures, including crabs and mollusks. While the findings may not apply to real-world situations, the study authors expect that further research will yield more practical results.&nbsp;



"We hope our results inspire other scientists to conduct experiments with dogs, rodents and aquatic animals that can help us learn more about these behaviours in real-world settings," concluded study senior author Massimo Vergassola.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/76989">eLife</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

Animals sniff the air and ground to track the source of a scent

Anyone who watches a dog in the park will notice...

Soon after the U.S. Congress passed the country’s most substantial legislation aimed at mitigating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/groundbreaking-climate-action-underway-in-the-united-states/">climate</a> change, a new study led by <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> has found that the average American significantly underestimates how much their fellow citizens support climate policy. Although 66 to 88 percent of the Americans support climate action, the experts discovered that the average American believes that percentage to be only 37 to 43.



“It’s stunning how universal and shared that idea is, among every demographic,” said study lead author Gregg Sparkman,&nbsp;who conducted this research during a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychology at Princeton, and is now an assistant professor at <a href="https://www.bc.edu/">Boston College</a>.



The researchers found that, although conservatives underestimated national support for climate policies to the greatest degree, liberals also believed that significantly fewer Americans support climate action. This misperception occurred in every state, across climate policies, and among all demographics, including political affiliation, gender, race, media consumption habits, or rural vs. urban/suburban. However, factors such as consuming conservative media or living in a red state were linked to a greater discrepancy between estimates of popularity and actual popularity of climate policies.&nbsp;



While supporters of climate action outnumber opponents two to one, most Americans falsely believe that the opposite is the case. Since people tend to conform to what they think others believe, this underestimation is problematic and could actually weaken actual climate support and stifle constructive public discussions on the topic.&nbsp;



“They fall into a trap of: I support this but I think other people don’t, so in a democratic society, that means there’s nothing else to be done, beyond maybe convincing your peers,” Dr. Sparkman explained.



Some methods of fighting such misperceptions could include displaying signs in favor of climate action or talking about it with friends, family, and local community groups, as well as educating people about the already high levels of support for major climate policies. Media outlets could also help correcting these false beliefs by offering more coverage to public support for climate policies and not overrepresenting the opposition.&nbsp;



“It's important to remember that ‘being fair and balanced’ means accurately showing how popular something is, not pretending it’s fifty-fifty,” said Dr. Sparkman.



Future research is needed to clarify the sources of the misperception and to develop efficient interventions to help Americans understand the true popularity of climate policies.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32412-y">Nature Communications</a>.



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

The vast majority of Americans support climate action

Soon after the U.S. Congress passed the country’s most substantial...

By using an acoustic camera that visualizes sound pressure, a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/">University of Vienna</a> has investigated the calls of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asian-elephants-vibrate-their-lips-like-human-brass-players/">Asian elephants</a>. The analysis revealed that the animals emitted their low frequency “rumbles” mainly through their trunk, or through their trunk and mouth simultaneously, and only rarely through the mouth alone.&nbsp;



Since elephants have the longest nasal elongation in the world, it is not surprising that their low-frequency, partially infrasonic rumbles resonate deeper when emitted through their long trunks. According to the researchers, these vocal tract resonances – known as nasal pronunciations in human languages – play a crucial role in animal communication, by allowing them to encode more information and enhance the transmission of the calls over long distances.



Humans form vowels through their tongue positions, lips, and mouth. By opening the velum and letting air stream through the oral and nasal cavities simultaneously, humans “nasalize” the sound of vocals, a feature which in many languages (such as French or Hindi) can change the meanings of words, as in the case of beau [bo] meaning “beautiful” in French and the nasalized bon [bõ] meaning “good.”&nbsp;



Scientists have long thought that mammals have far less flexibility to modify their vocal tracts and thus the timbre of their calls. Although in animals calls often differ solely by being emitted through the mouth or nose, in the case of Asian elephants the situation appears to be more complex.



“To our surprise, the acoustic camera also clearly showed calls that were emitted through the mouth and nose simultaneously. The resonance spectra of these calls were very similar to the ones described in human nasal vowels,”&nbsp;said study lead author Veronika Beeck, a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna.



These findings suggest that mammal calls may be more flexible than previously though. While it is well known that acoustic communication plays a critical role in social systems, such as the complex matriarchy of elephants, further research is needed to clarify the exact function of the mixed mouth-and-trunk calls that Asian elephants emit.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/16/2119">Animals</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;

Asian elephant calls are more flexible than previously thought

By using an acoustic camera that visualizes sound pressure, a...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.usc.edu/">University of Southern California</a> (USC) and the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> has found that adults aged 60 or older who sit for long periods of time watching TV or engaging in other such passive, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sedentary-behavior-linked-to-higher-risk-of-cancer-mortality/">sedentary</a> behaviors are at increased risk of developing dementia. Surprisingly, the investigation revealed that other sedentary activities, such as using a computer or reading, were not associated with similar risks.



“It isn’t the time spent sitting, per se, but the type of sedentary activity performed during leisure time that impacts dementia risk,” said study lead author David Raichlen, a professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at USC.&nbsp;



“We know from past studies that watching TV involves low levels of muscle activity and energy use compared with using a computer or reading. And while research has shown that uninterrupted sitting for long periods is linked with reduced blood flow in the brain, the relatively greater intellectual stimulation that occurs during computer use may counteract the negative effects of sitting.”



To investigate potential correlations between sedentary leisure activities and dementia in older adults, the scientists used self-reported data from the <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">U.K. Biobank</a> involving over 145,000 participants aged 60 or older who were not diagnosed with dementia at the beginning of the study. After 12 years of follow-up, the researchers used hospital inpatient records to determine new dementia diagnoses, and found 3,507 cases from their cohort.



Surprisingly, even in individuals who were highly physically active, time spent watching TV was associated with increased risk of dementia, while leisure-time spent using a computer was linked to a reduced risk for dementia. “Although we know that physical activity is good for our brain health, many of us think that if we are just more physically active during the day, we can counter the negative effects of time spent sitting,” said study senior author Gene Alexander, a professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona.



“Our findings suggest that the brain impacts of sitting during our leisure activities are really separate from how physically active we are, and that being more mentally active, like when using computers, may be a key way to help counter the increased risk of dementia related to more passive sedentary behaviors, like watching TV.”



“What we do while we’re sitting matters. This knowledge is critical when it comes to designing targeted public health interventions aimed at reducing the risk of neurodegenerative disease from sedentary activities through positive behavior change,” Professor Raichlen concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206931119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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;

Watching TV increases risk of dementia in seniors

A new study led by the University of Southern California...

Humans help one another – this is one of the characteristics of human society and one of the traits that makes us human. Help may be in terms of financial donations, goods, assistance or kindness, but it is a widespread phenomenon globally, and is common across diverse societies. Indeed, more than 50 percent of people across the U.S., Europe and Asia have reported donating to charity or helping a stranger in the past month. But why do we do it?



There are many motivational factors that drive people to help others, including cultural norms, socioeconomic factors, genetics and personality type, but at the end of the day helping others is a conscious decision involving a set of brain regions known as the social cognition network. This network becomes active when we consider the needs, mental states and perspectives of others, and when we are go about making an active decision to help another. It is possible that impairment in the functioning of this network may affect a person’s willingness to help others.



A new study by scientists at <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a> suggests that lack of sleep may be another factor that determines how likely people are to help each other. Sleep deprivation not only disrupts the functioning of the social cognition network in the brain, but also impairs emotional processing – including the ability to recognize and express emotions. The researchers suggest, in their study published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLoS Biology</a>, that a lack of sleep impairs helping at a neural, individual, group and global societal level.



Lack of sleep is known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, hypertension and overall mortality. The new study proposes that inadequate sleep also compromises the bonds between individuals – and even the altruistic sentiment of an entire nation.



The researchers undertook three separate studied that assessed the impact of sleep loss on people’s willingness to help others. In the first study, the scientists placed 24 healthy volunteers in a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) to scan their brains after eight hours of sleep and after a night of no sleep. They found that areas of the brain that form the social cognition network were less active after a sleepless night. “When we think about other people, this network engages and allows us to comprehend what other person’s needs are: What are they thinking about? Are they in pain? Do they need help?” said study co-author research scientist Eti Ben Simon. “However, this network was markedly impaired when individuals were sleep deprived. It’s as though these parts of the brain fail to respond when we are trying to interact with other people after not getting enough sleep.” In the second study, they tracked more than 100 people online over three or four nights. During this time, the researchers measured the quality of their sleep – how long they slept, how many times they woke up – and then assessed their desire to help others, such as holding an elevator door open for someone else, volunteering or helping an injured stranger on the street. “Here, we found that a decrease in the quality of someone’s sleep from one night to the next predicted a significant decrease in the desire to help other people from one subsequent day to the next,” Ben Simon said. “Those with poor sleep the night prior were the ones that reported being less willing and keen to help others the following day.” The third part of the study involved analyzing over 3 million charitable donations made in the United States between 2001 and 2016. In particular, the researchers focused on donations made in the four weeks prior to, and the four weeks subsequent to the spring changeover to daylight saving time (DST). The researchers wondered whether the number of donations would change over this time in the states that transition to DST, when people experience the potential loss of one hour of sleep.&nbsp;



The results of the analysis showed a decrease of around 10 percent in the mean daily donation in the few days following the change to DST. This trend was not apparent in states that did not transition to daylight saving and so did not alter their clocks. This result demonstrates that a one-hour reduction in sleep opportunity is associated with a reduced desire to help others who are in need, and this occurs on a nation-wide scale.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Even a very modest ‘dose’ of sleep deprivation – here, just the loss of one single hour of sleep opportunity linked to daylight saving time – has a very measurable and very real impact on people’s generosity and, therefore, how we function as a connected society,” said study co-author Professor Matthew Walker. “When people lose one hour of sleep, there's a clear hit on our innate human kindness and our motivation to help other people in need.”



The authors state that sleep deprivation acts as a previously unrecognized factor influencing altruistic and helping behavior in humans. Considering that more than 50 percent of individuals across numerous first-world nations currently report not getting sufficient sleep during work days, this finding has potentially serious ramifications in terms of societal cohesion and caring.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Looking at the big picture, we're starting to see that a lack of sleep results in a quite asocial and, from a helping perspective, anti-social individual, which has manifold consequences to how we live together as a social species,” said Professor Walker. “A lack of sleep makes people less empathetic, less generous, more socially withdrawn, and it's infectious – there is contagion of loneliness.” “The realization that the quantity and quality of sleep affects an entire society, caused by an impairment in prosocial behavior, may provide insights into our societal state of affairs in the present day." This finding also offers a novel approach to improving these specific aspects of our society, since amount of sleep is a modifiable factor, unlike personality, genetics or cultural background, for example. ”Promoting sleep, rather than shaming people for sleeping enough, could very palpably help shape the social bonds we all experience every day,” Ben Simon said. “Sleep, it turns out, is an incredible lubricant to prosocial, connected, empathic, kind and generous human behavior. In these divisive times, if there was ever a need for a strong, prosocial lubricant to enable the very best version of ourselves within society, now seems to be it. Sleep may be a wonderful ingredient that enables the alacrity of helping between human beings," said Professor Walker, who is the author of the international bestseller, <a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2017/10/17/whywesleep/">Why We Sleep</a>. “Sleep is essential for all aspects of our physical, mental and emotional lives,” said Ben Simon. “When sleep is undervalued in society, not only do we get sleep-deprived doctors, nurses and students, but we also suffer from unkind and less empathic interactions on a daily basis.” “It is time, as a society, to abandon the idea that sleep is unnecessary or a waste and, without feeling embarrassed, start getting the sleep that we need,” she added. “It is the best form of kindness we can offer ourselves, as well as the people around us.”



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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

Lack of sleep makes people more selfish and less generous

Humans help one another – this is one of the...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has investigated how hunting hawks and other raptors solve the problem of intercepting a single bat within a dense swarm. The experts found that, instead of targeting individual bats, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/top-predators-trapped-by-trying-to-adapt-to-climate-change/">predators</a> would steer towards a fixed point within the swarm, a technique which increases their chances to capture the prey.



Scientists have long argued that being in a large group, such as a swarm of bats, a school of fish, or a flock of birds, offers significant protection from predators, since the presence of so many potential targets may confuse them, making it more difficult to focus on and capture a specific individual. However, empirical evidence for such a “confusion effect” has not been very strong.&nbsp;



To gain more insight into predators’ hunting strategies when facing large groups of prey, the researchers filmed Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni) and other raptors hunting a colony of approximately 700,000 to 900,000 Mexican Free-tailed Bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) as the bats emerged from a cave in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico at dusk. Then, they reconstructed the hawks’ flight paths using 3D modeling and compared the trajectories of the real birds with those modeled by the computer algorithm.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that, instead of continuously targeting an individual bat, the raptors would steer towards a fixed point within the swarm. Since any bat on a collision course with the hawk would appear stationary to the predator, the latter may use this to single out a target bat from the swarm. “From the viewpoint of a stationary observer – such as a person stood on the ground - all members of the swarm appear to move erratically. For a mobile observer – like the hunting hawks in flight - any bat that it is on a collision course with it will appear stationary against the background movement of the swarm,” explained study lead author Caroline Brighton, a postdoctoral researcher in Biology at Oxford.&nbsp;



“Our work shows how the appearance of a swarm depends on the predator’s own motion, so starling murmurations and many other group behaviors that look bewildering to our own eyes may not appear so confusing to a predator taking the plunge,” added study senior author Graham Taylor, a professor of Mathematical Biology at Oxford.



These findings suggest that such a strategy of targeting a fixed point in a group of prey could be a more general mechanism yet to be discovered in other predators. However, such a technique may only be effective when prey aggregations are sufficiently dense.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32354-5">Nature Communications</a>.



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

How do hawks target prey inside chaotic swarms?

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

According to a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.871238/full">Frontiers in Nutrition</a>, children and teenagers who eat a healthy breakfast at home have better psychosocial health. While previous research has provided evidence for the important role of a nutritious breakfast, this is the first study to investigate the reported effects of whether young people eat breakfast, as well as where and what they eat. These findings offer valuable insights and recommendations for both parents and their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-increases-risk-of-future-disease-in-children/">children</a>.



“Our results suggest that it is not only important to eat breakfast, but it’s also important where young people eat breakfast and what they eat,” said study first author José Francisco López-Gil, a postdoctoral fellow in Health and Social Research at the <a href="https://www.uclm.es/?sc_lang=en">University of Castilla-La Mancha</a> in Spain. “Skipping breakfast or eating breakfast away from home is associated with increased likelihood of psychosocial behavioral problems in children and adolescents. Similarly, consumption of certain foods/drinks are associated with higher (e.g., processed meat) or lower (e.g., dairies, cereals) odds of psychosocial behavioral problems.”



The scientists analyzed data from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ine.es/en/metodologia/t15/t153041917_en.pdf">2017 Spanish National Health Survey</a>, which included questionnaires about breakfast habits and psychosocial health that parents or guardians of 3,772 Spanish children aged four to 14 filled in. The results showed that, while coffee, tea, milk, chocolate, cocoa, bread, yoghurt, toast, cereals, and pastries were associated with lower chances of psychological and behavioral problems, eggs, ham, and cheese were linked to higher risks of such health issues. Surprisingly, the scientists found that eating breakfast away from home may be nearly as detrimental as skipping the meal completely – most likely because meals away from home are usually less nutritious.



“The fact that eating breakfast away from home is associated with greater psychosocial health problems is a novel aspect of our study,” said Dr. López-Gil. “Our findings reinforce the need to promote not only breakfast as part of a healthy lifestyle routine, but also that it should be eaten at home. Also, to prevent psychosocial health problems, a breakfast that includes dairy and/or cereals, and minimizes certain animal foods high in saturated fat/cholesterol, could help to decrease psychosocial health problems in young people.”



Further research is needed to understand the causal relationships between these observations and to devise dietary plans that maximize health and development.



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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;

Breakfast lowers the risk of behavioral problems in children

According to a new study published in the journal Frontiers...

Paris,,France,-,August,15,,2018,:,Gardener,Using,Roundup

In a recent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/whats_new_071922_1.html">report</a>, the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC) has provided evidence that over 80 percent of urine samples from children and adults in the United States contained the herbicide glyphosate, which is the main ingredient of Roundup®, the world’s most commonly used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weed-killer-declining-bee-populations/">weed killer</a>. Now, a team of researchers led by&nbsp;Florida Atlantic University&nbsp;(FAU) has found that the use of Roundup® can affect animals’ nervous system, leading to convulsions and other health hazards.



“It is concerning how little we understand the impact of glyphosate on the nervous system,” said study lead author Akshay S. Naraine, a doctoral student in Integrative Biology and Neuroscience at FAU. “More evidence is mounting for how prevalent exposure to glyphosate is, so this work hopefully pushes other researchers to expand on these findings and solidify where our concerns should be.”&nbsp;



The researchers used C. elegans, a soil-dwelling roundworm, to test both glyphosate alone and the U.S. and U.K. formulations of Roundup® from two different time periods - before and after the U.K.’s ban on polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEAs) from 2016. The investigation revealed that all of these substances increased seizure-like behavior in roundworms, providing significant evidence that glyphosate targets GABA-A receptors (which are fundamental for locomotion and sleep and mood regulation in humans). These effects were observed at significantly less levels of glyphosate than those deemed safe by the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">Environment Protection Agency</a> (EPA).



“The concentration listed for best results on the Roundup® Super Concentrate label is 0.98 percent glyphosate, which is about five tablespoons of Roundup® in one gallon of water. A significant finding from our study reveals that just 0.002 percent glyphosate, a difference of about 300 times less herbicide than the lowest concentration recommended for consumer use, had concerning effects on the nervous system,” Naraine reported.



“Given how widespread the use of these products is, we must learn as much as we can about the potential negative impacts that may exist,” added study senior author Ken Dawson-Scully, a neuroscientist at the Nova Southeastern University. “There have been studies done in the past that showed the potential dangers, and our study takes that one step further with some pretty dramatic results.”



Further research is needed to clarify how chronic exposure and accumulation of glyphosate may lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. 



“As of now, there is no information for how exposure to glyphosate and Roundup® may affect humans diagnosed with epilepsy or other seizure disorders. Our study indicates that there is significant disruption in locomotion and should prompt further vertebrate studies,” Professor Dawson-Scully concluded.



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17537-w">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



In response to this study, Bayer has released the following statement: "It is important to note that this research was conducted with worms. Research with worms does not meet the scientific standards necessary to predict effects on humans or other mammals for the purposes of a pesticide safety assessment." 



"Safety scientists at regulatory agencies around the world have reviewed glyphosate and the other ingredients in glyphosate-based herbicides and specifically considered whether they can harm the nervous system based on data from high dose studies in mammals, not worms."



"Scientists that have reviewed all of the available data have concluded that neither glyphosate nor the other ingredients in glyphosate-based herbicides will harm the nervous system at doses much greater than what any human would be exposed to."



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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;

Weed killer Roundup® may cause convulsions in animals

In a recent report, the Centers for Disease Control and...

Traces of Neanderthal DNA in modern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-prevent-a-catastrophic-meltdown-of-the-worlds-largest-ice-sheet/">humans</a> may be attributed to interbreeding that took place in the "Near East," which ranges from North Africa to Iraq. This is the conclusion of a new study that analyzed the facial features of prehistoric skulls.



Study co-author Steven Churchill is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. “Ancient DNA caused a revolution in how we think about human evolution,” said Professor Churchill.&nbsp;



“We often think of evolution as branches on a tree, and researchers have spent a lot of time trying to trace back the path that led to us, Homo sapiens. But we’re now beginning to understand that it isn’t a tree – it’s more like a series of streams that converge and diverge at multiple points.”



“Our work here gives us a deeper understanding of where those streams came together,” explained study co-author Professor Ann Ross of <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a>.



“The picture is really complicated,” said Professor Churchill. “We know there was interbreeding. Modern Asian populations seem to have more Neanderthal DNA than modern European populations, which is weird – because Neandertals lived in what is now Europe. That has suggested that Neandertals interbred with what are now modern humans as our prehistoric ancestors left Africa, but before spreading to Asia."&nbsp;



"Our goal with this study was to see what additional light we could shed on this by assessing the facial structure of prehistoric humans and Neandertals.”



According to Professor Ross, facial morphology allows us to trace the intentions and movements of human populations over time. “And the evidence shows us that the Near East was an important crossroads, both geographically and in the context of human evolution.”



For the investigation, the researchers analyzed data from published studies involving 13 Neandertals, 233 prehistoric Homo sapiens, and 83 modern humans.



After assessing the size and shape of key facial structures found in the skulls, the experts conducted an in-depth analysis to determine the likelihood that a given human population interbred with Neanderthal populations.



“Neanderthals had big faces,” said Professor Churchill. “But size alone doesn’t establish any genetic link between a human population and Neandertal populations. Our work here involved a more robust analysis of the facial structures.”



The experts accounted for environmental variables that may have altered facial characteristics in the skulls. 



“We found that the facial characteristics we focused on were not strongly influenced by climate, which made it easier to identify likely genetic influences,” said Professor Ross. “We also found that facial shape was a more useful variable for tracking the influence of Neandertal interbreeding in human populations over time. Neandertals were just bigger than humans. Over time, the size of human faces became smaller, generations after they had bred with Neandertals. But the actual shape of some facial features retained evidence of interbreeding with Neandertals.”



“This was an exploratory study,” said Professor Churchill. “And, honestly, I wasn’t sure this approach would actually work - we have a relatively small sample size, and we didn’t have as much data on facial structures as we would have liked. But, ultimately, the results we got are really compelling.



“To build on this, we’d like to incorporate measurements from more human populations, such as the Natufians, who lived more than 11,000 years ago on the Mediterranean in what is now Israel, Jordan and Syria.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/11/8/1163">Biology</a>.



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

Ancient skulls shed light on human interbreeding

Traces of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans may be attributed...

A compound used in electronics known as vanadium dioxide (VO2) has a memory like the human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-thermometer-explains-why-heat-makes-us-feel-sleepy/">brain</a>, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.epfl.ch/">Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne</a>. The experts discovered that VO2 is capable of “remembering” the entire history of previous external stimuli. This is the only material that is known to possess this property. 



Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo is a PhD student at EPFL’s Power and Wide-band-gap Electronics Research Laboratory (POWERlab). He stumbled upon the fascinating capability of VO2 while observing phase transitions of the inorganic compound.



When relaxed at room temperature, vanadium dioxide experiences an insulating phase. At 68 °C, the compound undergoes a complete structural change during an insulator-to-metal transition.&nbsp;



Furthermore, according to Nikoo, VO2 exhibits a volatile memory. "The material reverts back to the insulating state right after removing the excitation."



Nikoo set out to discover how long it takes for VO2 to transition from one state to another. After taking hundreds of measurements, he recognized a memory effect in the material’s structure. Nikoo then applied an electric current to a sample of VO2



“The current moved across the material, following a path until it exited on the other side." As the current heated up the material, it caused the VO2 to change state.&nbsp; Once the current had passed, the material returned to its initial state.&nbsp;



Next, when Nikoo applied a second current pulse to the material, he found that the time it took to transition was directly linked to the history of the material.&nbsp;



“The VO2 seemed to ‘remember’ the first phase transition and anticipate the next,” explained Professor Elison Matioli, who heads the POWERlab. “We didn’t expect to see this kind of memory effect, and it has nothing to do with electronic states but rather with the physical structure of the material. It’s a novel discovery: no other material behaves in this way.”



Ultimately, the experts determined that VO2 is capable of remembering its most recent external stimulus for up to three hours. “The memory effect could in fact persist for several days, but we don’t currently have the instruments needed to measure that,” said Professor Matioli.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natelectron/">Nature Electronics</a>.



Image Credit: POWERlab / 2022 EPFL



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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

Material identified that can learn like the human brain

A compound used in electronics known as vanadium dioxide (VO2)...

The meat of wild game <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-fog-affects-a-wide-range-of-animals/">animals</a> is commonly eaten in many households across the EU and UK. In these two regions alone, about five million people eat at least one meal of game meat per week. Figures from the UK show that people consume around 11,000 tons of meat derived from wild-shot game birds alone each year.&nbsp;



Most of these animals are shot using lead ammunition. It has always been assumed that the lead is easy to locate and remove from the muscle tissue before consumption. A new study by UK scientists has found that this is not the case - certainly not for wild-shot pheasants that are destined to be food for humans. Instead, their research reveals that pheasants killed with lead shot contain many tiny fragments of the metal that are embedded deep within the tissues and are unlikely to be detected by means of sight or touch. These shards of lead have been shown to come from the ammunition that fractures upon entering the target animal.



The researchers examined the carcasses of eight free-ranging common pheasants that were killed on farmlands using lead shotgun ammunition and were on sale in a UK butcher’s shop. They used a high-resolution computerized tomography (CT) X-ray scanner to obtain 3D images of the carcasses and found that, while only seven of them contained obvious shotgun pellets, all eight contained multiple tiny lead fragments in their flesh.&nbsp;



The mean number of shotgun pellets identified per pheasant carcass was 3.5 (n=7), while the mean number of smaller (&lt;2 mm diameter) metal fragments per carcass was 39.0 (n=8). Of the 340 embedded metal objects that were identified on the images, 92 percent had a diameter of less than 1mm. The researchers found up to 10mg of tiny lead shards per pheasant, all of which were much too small to be detected by eye or by touch.&nbsp;



Lead is toxic to humans when absorbed by the body and there is no known safe level of exposure. Lead accumulates in the body over time and can cause long-term harm, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease and kidney damage in adults. It is known to lower IQ in young children, and affect the neurological development of unborn babies. In previous studies using rats it has been found that absorption of lead into the blood stream is enhanced when the lead is in the form of very small particles.



The findings of this study, published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268089">PLoS ONE</a>, indicate that wild-shot pheasant meat is likely to have high levels of lead contamination, even if the obvious large pellets are removed during careful preparation or chewing.&nbsp;



“While lead gunshot continues to be used for hunting, people who eat pheasants and other similar gamebirds are very likely to be also consuming a lot of tiny lead fragments,” said study first author Rhys Green, a professor in the Department of Zoology at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>.



“It seems to have been widely assumed in the past that a lead shot embedded in a pheasant carcass remained intact, and could be removed cleanly before the pheasant was eaten – removing any health risk. Our study has shown the extent to which this is really not the case,” said Professor Green. “By eating pheasant, people are also unwittingly eating lead, which is toxic.”&nbsp;



“One pheasant is a reasonable meal for two or three people. Consuming this much lead occasionally wouldn’t be a great cause for concern – but we know that there are thousands of people in the UK who eat game meat, often pheasant, every week."



There are no UK or EU regulations about the maximum allowable levels of lead in human food from wild-shot game animals. This is in contrast with strict maximum levels for lead in many other foods including meat from cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, and shellfish harvested from the wild.



Observational studies of humans have found a positive correlation between the concentration of lead in blood plasma and the frequency of consumption of the meat of wild animals killed using lead ammunition. This suggests that some lead derived from ammunition is both ingested and absorbed by human consumers. Since it is impossible to locate and remove all the very tiny shards of lead embedded in the flesh of the animal, it is likely that dietary exposure to ammunition-derived lead and its absorption and significance for public health may be greater than was previously thought.&nbsp;



Steel shotgun pellets are a practical alternative to lead, and their use in place of lead for hunting is recommended by UK shooting organizations. But there is very little evidence of a voluntary switch away from lead being made by hunters. The UK Health &amp; Safety Executive is currently preparing a case for banning the use of lead ammunition for hunting in the UK, and the European Chemicals Agency is doing the same for Europe.



Other game, including partridge, grouse and rabbit, is also mainly shot using lead shotgun pellets, and wild deer are shot using lead bullets. Hunters often remove the guts of deer carcasses to make them lighter to carry, and the discarded guts – which often contain many bullet fragments – are eaten by wildlife, which then also suffer the harmful effects of lead toxicity.



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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

Toxic lead shards in wild pheasants pose a human health risk

The meat of wild game animals is commonly eaten in...

Neurobiologists at <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> may have just solved the mystery of why heat makes us sleepy. In a new study focused on fruit flies, the researchers identified a "brain thermometer" that promotes sleep during the hottest hours of the day.&nbsp;



"Small poikilotherms such as the fruit fly Drosophila depend on absolute temperature measurements to identify external conditions that are above (hot) or below (cold) their preferred range and to react accordingly. Hot and cold temperatures have a different impact on fly activity and sleep, but the circuits and mechanisms that adjust behavior to specific thermal conditions are not well understood," wrote the researchers.



In 2020, the Northwestern team identified a brain thermometer that is only active in cold weather. The new study describes a similar brain circuit that is activated by hot <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-immune-defenses-are-weakened-by-rising-temperatures/">temperatures</a>.



“Changes in temperature have a strong effect on behavior in both humans and animals, and offer animals a cue that is time to adapt to the changing seasons,” said Professor Marco Gallio, who led the study.



“The effect of temperature on sleep can be quite extreme, with some animals deciding to sleep off an entire season - think of a hibernating bear - but the specific brain circuits that mediate the interaction between temperature and sleep centers remain largely unmapped.”



Professor Gallio explained that fruit flies are a particularly good model to study big questions, such as why we need sleep, because they do not attempt to disrupt instinct in the same way humans do - like when we pull all-nighters.



The study is the first to identify “absolute heat” receptors in the fly head. According to the researchers, these heat receptors respond to temperatures above about 77 degrees Fahrenheit - the fly’s optimal temperature.&nbsp;



Professor Gallio said it makes sense that there are different brain circuits for hot and cold temperatures because they can have quite different effects on physiology and behavior. Next, the team hopes to identify the common targets of the cold and hot circuit in an effort to determine how each can influence sleep.



“We identified one neuron that could be a site of integration for the effects of hot and cold temperatures on sleep and activity in Drosophila,” said study first author Michael Alpert. “This would be the start of interesting follow-up studies.”



The team is interested in looking at the long-term effects of temperature on behavior and physiology to understand the impact of global warming, looking at how adaptable species are to change, noted Professor Gallio.



“People may choose to take an afternoon nap on a hot day, and in some parts of the world this is a cultural norm, but what do you choose and what is programmed into you? Of course, it’s not culture in flies, so there actually might be a very strong underlying biological mechanism that is overlooked in humans.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.



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

"Brain thermometer" explains why heat makes us feel sleepy

Neurobiologists at Northwestern University may have just solved the mystery...

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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

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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