On September 29, 2024, something unusual happened in our cosmic neighborhood. Earth captured a tiny asteroid named 2024 PT5, turning it into a temporary mini-moon. 



That's right... as of today, November 2, 2024, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/its-official-earth-now-has-two-moons-captured-asteroid-2024-pt5/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth has two moons</a>.



Richard Binzel, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.mit.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MIT</a>), shed some light on these fleeting celestial companions.



"These happen more often than we think, but they're small and tough to spot," Binzel explained. "Only lately have our telescopes become powerful enough to catch them regularly."



Back in August, a team of astronomers from the <a href="https://www.ucm.es/english" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Complutense University</a> of Madrid detected the small space rock using a powerful telescope in Sutherland, South Africa.



They weren't the only ones keeping an eye on it. The asteroid was first noticed on August 7, 2024 by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (<a href="https://atlas.fallingstar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ATLAS</a>) at Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii.



This discovery sparked excitement among astronomers, offering a chance to learn more about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-test-simulation-shows-earth-not-prepared-prevent-large-asteroid-strike/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near-Earth objects</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-exactly-is-2024-pt5">What exactly is 2024 PT5?</h2>



Earth occasionally captures small asteroids like 2024 PT5, placing them into temporary orbits around our planet. 



While most asteroids circle the sun on their regular paths, some venture close enough for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-global-electric-field-discovered-equally-important-gravity-magnetic-fields/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth's gravity</a> to snatch them up for a brief visit.



These cosmic visitors only stay in Earth's orbit for a short time -- typically a few weeks or months -- before breaking free and resuming their solar journey.



Each mini-moon gives scientists a rare opportunity to examine <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/27500-hidden-near-earth-asteroids-discovered-using-google-cloud/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near-Earth asteroids</a> up close, revealing valuable insights about our solar system's mechanics.



So, what makes this asteroid special, aside from the fact that new technology and the internet made it famous? 



William Blackmore, Planetarium Director and Astronomy Instructor at <a href="https://www.mhcc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mt. Hood Community College</a>, offered his thoughts.



"All mini-moons are unique in their own way," Blackmore explained. "This one isn't different from others except that it's the most recent.”



2024 PT5 will be around for about two more weeks, probably until mid-November.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-comparing-2024-pt5-to-our-moon">Comparing 2024 PT5 to our moon</h2>



Let's compare our moon to this new mini-moon: 2024 PT5 is only about 37 feet across, while our familiar moon stretches a massive 2,159 miles in diameter. That makes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-did-earth-get-its-moon-a-new-theory-has-emerged/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">our moon</a> over 300,000 times wider than this tiny asteroid.



Knowing it’s up there is pretty exciting, even though we can't see it for ourselves without an invitation to a huge Earth telescope installation.



“These temporary captures are natural cosmic laboratories,” Binzel mentioned. “They help us understand the small bodies that come close to Earth and could be important for future space missions.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-asteroid-2024-pt5-became-famous">How Asteroid 2024 PT5 became famous</h2>



Understanding how 2024 PT5 became Earth's temporary moon involves a bit of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/finding-order-in-the-chaos-of-the-three-body-problem/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">orbital mechanics</a>. 



Blackmore explained, "It's moving along with us in our orbit around the sun. It's part of a group of asteroids called the Arjuna asteroids, which move at about the same pace as Earth."



He added an interesting analogy: "Imagine a skateboarder dropping into a skate park. They ride the curves, adding energy as they go. That's like the asteroid getting caught in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dart-mission-debris-will-create-a-human-made-meteor-shower/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth's gravitational field</a>, riding the curve before moving on."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-spotting-mini-moons">Significance of spotting mini-moons</h2>



Spotting mini-moons is tough because they're incredibly small and faint. These tiny asteroids are often just a few dozen feet across, which means they don't reflect much sunlight. That makes them nearly invisible against the dark backdrop of space.



Plus, they're zipping around at high speeds and don't hang around for long, so by the time we point our telescopes their way, they might already be gone. 



It's like trying to catch a glimpse of a firefly from miles away -- you need the right conditions and equipment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-high-tech-telescopes">Modern high-tech telescopes</h2>



Astronomers find them by using powerful telescopes equipped with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gaia-reveals-moons-around-hundreds-of-asteroids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sensitive detectors and smart software</a>.



Projects like the ATLAS system scan the skies every night, searching for any objects that weren't there before. 



When they spot something moving in a way that suggests it's close to Earth, they alert other astronomers to help confirm the find. 



It's a collaborative effort, combining technology and teamwork to spot these elusive cosmic visitors.



Knowing more about these temporary moons helps us prepare for any potential asteroid threats and opens up possibilities for mining resources from near-Earth objects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-in-observing-2024-pt5">Challenges in observing 2024 PT5</h2>



For those eager to see this mini-moon, both experts warned that it would be extremely difficult. "You'd need a telescope with a diameter of at least 30 inches," Blackmore mentioned. "That's beyond what most amateur astronomers have."



Todd agreed, adding, "It won't be visible to the naked eye. Being 33 feet wide and so far away, you'd need a very large telescope."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-does-any-of-this-matter">Why does any of this matter?</h2>



While 2024 PT5 doesn't pose any threat to Earth, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/is-there-a-fifth-force-of-nature-asteroids-provide-new-clues/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studying it is crucial</a>. 



"It's important to analyze how it moves and interacts with Earth's gravitational pull," Blackmore said. "This helps us refine our techniques for tracking objects that could cross our path again."



Todd highlighted the practical applications of this knowledge. 



"We need to understand how to intercept an asteroid at a distance and change its direction," he said. "This could be vital in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-dart-mission-proves-humanity-can-be-saved-from-asteroid-collision/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preventing potential impacts</a> in the future."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inspiration-for-future-space-missions">Inspiration for future space missions</h2>



Blackmore envisioned future missions that could take advantage of these temporary visitors. 



"It would be fascinating if we had missions ready to send small satellites or probes to these objects when they come close," he mused. "Imagine building a network of sensors or cameras traveling along with us, like space webcams."



Todd also saw <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-named-psyche-is-worth-10000-quadrillion-for-whoever-can-extract-minerals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potential in asteroid mining</a> and scientific discovery. 



"There might be materials on these asteroids that we can't find on Earth," he said. "They could solve problems in medicine or technology. But we need to weigh the benefits carefully."



To sum it all up, the brief visit of asteroid 2024 PT5 serves as a reminder of the dynamic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/building-blocks-of-life-found-in-asteroids-were-formed-in-cold-regions-of-space/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nature of our solar system</a>. 



While it won't be with us for long -- just a couple more weeks -- its presence offers valuable opportunities for learning and exploration.



As technology advances, we'll likely spot more of these mini-moons. Each one gives us a chance to understand our cosmic environment better and prepare for the future. 



So even though you'll never see it, you might want to spare a moment of your time and stop to appreciate 2024 PT5 while you still can.



The full study was published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad781f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">journal IOPscience</a>.



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Earth's second moon, a mini-moon, will drift away in a few days and never return

On September 29, 2024, something unusual happened in our cosmic neighborhood. Earth captured a tiny asteroid named 2024 PT5, turning it into a temporary mini-moon. That's right... as of today, November 2, 2024, Earth has two moons. Richard Binzel, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), shed some light on these fleeting celestial companions. "These happen more often than we think, but they're small and tough to spot," Binzel explained. "Only lately have our telescopes become powerful enough to catch them regularly." Back in August,...

The effect that heat extremities have on humans is well documented, with the vast majority of worldwide regions seeing an increase in the intensity of such weather extremes due to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-may-cause-birds-to-cancel-their-migrations/">global warming</a>. However, the frequency of such events is also increasing, resulting in what is known as compound heat extremes.



Compound heat is when heat extremes occur consecutively over day and night, as opposed to occasionally during day or night. Unfortunately, research in this area is currently lacking, and not much is known about how often this is happening and how it is affecting society. It is a particularly large problem in the eastern regions of China.



A new study from the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics</a> (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has investigated exactly this, revealing just how compound heat extremes affect human health. The researchers also investigated the drivers of compound heat extremes, as well as the future risk they impose on the cities of Eastern China.



The results suggest that compound heat extremes present significantly higher danger than solely day or night heat, particularly within the demographic of females and elderly residents.



Between 1961 and 2014, heat extremes in urban areas have increased in eastern China by 1.76 days per decade. The source of this could clearly be traced to the urbanization of the region in addition to anthropogenic emissions such as aerosols and greenhouse gases.



Urbanization was estimated to contribute to 0.51 days per decade, with greenhouse gases contributing 1.63 and other anthropogenic forcings by -0.54. However, without mitigation efforts toward future emissions and urbanization, these severe events could further increase in frequency by up to five times. This would ultimately lead to urban population exposure growth of between three and six times.



"Our study reveals that the public health risks from anthropogenic increases in compound hot extremes have been increasing and will continue to increase over cities in eastern China," explained study lead author Dr. Jun Wang.



The age-specific vulnerabilities that have been uncovered by the study present further implications of elevated health burdens. This is mainly due to the urban population of eastern Chinese regions increasing in age overall.



The study was supported jointly by the National Key Research and Development Programme of China and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.&nbsp;



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



---



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

Compound heat extremes are increasing in eastern China

The effect that heat extremities have on humans is well...

Lizard,Water,Dragon

New research from the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> looks closely at the dangers of rapid evolution. A team of researchers led by Dr. Jorge Hererra-Flores looked at lepidosauria, a group which includes lizards, snakes and their relatives. Modern lepidosaurs contain 10,000 extant species, and recent success among this group is due to quick evolutionary change. Historically though, lepidosaurs have been slow to change.&nbsp;



“Lepidosaurs originated 250 million years ago in the early Mesozoic Era, and they split into two major groups, the squamates on the one hand, leading to modern lizards and snakes, and the rhynchocephalians on the other, represented today by a single species, the tuatara of New Zealand. We expected to find slow evolution in rhynchocephalians, and fast evolution in squamates. But we found the opposite," said Dr. Herrera-Flores.



The research confirms ideas first put forward by paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson in his 1944 book Tempo and Mode in Evolution, where he suggested that fast evolving groups were generally unstable and prone to extinction from quickly changing conditions.&nbsp;



“We looked at the rate of change in body size among these early reptiles," said study co-author Dr. Tom Stubbs. "We found that some groups of squamates evolved fast in the Mesozoic, especially those with specialised lifestyles like the marine mosasaurs. But rhynchocephalians were much more consistently fast-evolving.”



“In fact, their average rates of evolution were significantly faster than those for squamates, about twice the background rate of evolution, and we really did not expect this," noted study co-author Dr. Armin Elsler.



"In the later part of the Mesozoic all the modern groups of lizards and snakes originated and began to diversify, living side-by-side with the dinosaurs, but probably not engaging with them ecologically. These early lizards were feeding on bugs, worms, and plants, but they were mainly quite small.”



Professor Mike Benton emphasized the downside to quick evolution. “In some cases, they can stabilize and survive well, but in many cases the species go extinct as fast as new ones emerge, and they can go extinct, just like the napping hare. On the other hand, Simpson predicted that slowly evolving species might also be slow to go extinct, and could in the end be successful in the longer term, just like the slow-moving but persistent tortoise in the fable.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14754983">Paleontology</a>.



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

Quickly evolving species face greater threat of extinction

New research from the University of Bristol looks closely at...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.dpz.eu/en/home.html">German Primate Center</a> (DPZ) has found that Guinea baboons (Papio papio) live in equalitarian groups, with both males and females occasionally acting as leaders and managing to successfully initiate collective actions, such as departures for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/foraging-habits-of-seabirds-altered-by-turbulent-tidal-flows/">foraging</a>.



Guinea baboons are one of the six species of baboons found in Africa. While the chacma, kinda, olive, and yellow baboons form uni-level societies, with groups consisting of several males, females, and youngsters, hamadrya and Guinea baboons form multi-level social organizations, with single males living with several females and their children in what researchers call “clans.”&nbsp;



In the case of hamadrya baboons, male-male and male-female relationships tend to be characterized by competition and subordination, with males always playing the role of group leaders. By contrast, Guinea baboons seemed to form more fluid and equalitarian social organizations.



"We wanted to find out which individuals in Guinea baboons influence collective decisions like group departures," said study co-author William O'Hearn, a doctoral student in Cognitive Ethology at DPZ. "We already know that in chacma, olive and yellow baboons, males and females lead the groups; in hamadryas baboons, it's exclusively males. So it was interesting to ask what the situation is in Guinea baboons."&nbsp;



By observing a group of 131 Guinea baboons in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal over a period of two years, the researchers found that both sexes successfully initiated group departures and acted as group leaders. Moreover, during group progressions, bachelor males were predominantly found in the front of the group, while reproductively active males and females were observed with similar frequency across the whole group.



“The results of the study show that although Guinea baboons live in a similar social system as hamadryas baboons, they have a different leadership structure," explained study co-author Julia Fischer, head of the Cognitive Ethology Laboratory at DPZ.&nbsp;



"Social organization alone does not determine who leads the group. More important are the inter-sexual relationships among the animals. In Guinea baboons, females have a high degree of social and physical freedom and are less subordinate to males than in hamadryas baboons. This is reflected in their behavior during collective movement decisions."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-01356-6">Nature Scientific Reports</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

Guinea baboons give females more freedom and authority

New research led by the German Primate Center (DPZ) has...

About a million years ago, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379106002332">Mid-Pleistocene Transition</a> (MPT) occurred – a major shift in the response of Earth’s climate system to variations in our planet’s orbit around the Sun. If before MPT, cycles between warmer (interglacial) and colder (glacial) periods had occurred rarely (approximately every 41,000 years), afterwards they became more frequent and intense, giving the Earth the regular ice-age cycles that have persisted since the origins of humanity.&nbsp;



Until recently, scientists believed that the main cause for this transition had been a change in the phenomena called&nbsp;<a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2948/milankovitch-orbital-cycles-and-their-role-in-earths-climate/">Milankovitch cycles</a> – cyclic changes in the Earth’s orbit and orientation towards the Sun which affect how much solar energy can the Earth absorb. However, new research has shown that these cycles did not undergo any significant change during the MPT.



By analyzing cores of deep-sea sediments from the South and North Atlantic, a research team led by <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> has found that about a million years ago, a large system of ocean currents that helps heat move around the globe, called the <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/oceans/amoc">Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation</a> (AMOC), experienced a severe weakening.&nbsp;



“What we found is the North Atlantic, right before this crash, was acting very differently than the rest of the basin,” said study lead author Maayan Yehudai, a doctoral student at Columbia University. Immediately before AMOC’s weakening, ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere had begun to stick more effectively to their bedrock, causing glaciers to grow thicker and thus leading to a global cooling that initiated the new climatic pattern characterized by stronger and more frequent ice ages.



“Our research addresses one of the biggest questions about the largest climate change we had since the onset of the ice ages,” explained Yehudai. “It was one of the most substantial climate transitions and we don’t fully understand it. Our discovery pins the origin of this change to the Northern Hemisphere and the ice sheets that evolved there as driving this shift towards the climate patterns we observe today.&nbsp;



“This is a very important step toward understanding what caused it and where it came from. It highlights the importance of the North Atlantic region and ocean circulation for present and future climate change,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/46/e2020260118">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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

Major climate shift a million years ago linked to ocean currents

About a million years ago, the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) occurred...

Crops that suffer drought conditions when in early development are better able to survive these same conditions later in life, according to a new study from the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a>. The researchers think that this “drought memory” could be used to prevent crop <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cleaner-air-improves-corn-and-soybean-yields/">yield</a> losses in the future.&nbsp;



“What we have seen is if the crop survives an early drought, because of that experience they perform better when a drought occurs very close to harvest," said Dr. Peng Fu. "We think the crop responds to the drought and adapts to it, so when it happens again the crops have already planned for the drought and the impact is lessened.”



The research was carried out, not in highly controlled laboratory conditions but on agricultural land on corn and soybeans in America’s bread basket of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The drought conditions observed are likely to increase into the future, so this research could be a window into the agriculture of tomorrow.&nbsp;



“Our motivation here is based on the climate change reports and projections we have seen from different agencies that say the Midwest is seeing record heat," explained Dr. Fu.



"Since it will continue to happen, we need to develop crop cultivars that can cope with these extreme climates to ensure food security in the U.S. Midwest. Understanding how much climate change could impact crop yield is very important.”



Dr. Carl Bernacchi is a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an associate professor in the department of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. He also leads the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project, which aims to genetically engineer plants that can photosynthesize more efficiently to increase crop yields.



“These results suggest that future climate trends toward wetter springs and drier summers could worsen crop production," said Dr. Bernacchi. "However, the evidence that crops can use an early drought to ‘prepare’ for a later drought suggests that opportunities might exist to achieve a similar outcome through breeding.”



The study authors emphasized that drought is and will continue to be a main factor contributing to yield loss. "It is imperative to adopt strategies to help crops develop enhanced resistance to drought to ensure global food security for an increasing population while conserving water resources."



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20483694">Food and Energy Security</a>.



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

Crops have a “drought memory” that prepares them for tough times

Crops that suffer drought conditions when in early development are...

Most people are aware that getting plenty of rest is essential to staying healthy, and experts recommend that adults get seven to nine hours of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lack-of-sleep-changes-how-you-walk/">sleep</a> every night. However, the importance of precise bedtimes remains relatively unexplored, and new research from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> is attempting to change this.



A study led by researcher Dr. David Plans has concluded that the risk of heart disease is greatly decreased by going to sleep between 10 and 11 pm. Dr. Plans noted that this bedtime range is very specific, with heart-related problems increasing for both later and earlier bedtimes.



“The body has a 24-hour internal clock, called circadian rhythm, that helps regulate physical and mental functioning,” explained Dr. Plans. “While we cannot conclude causation from our study, the results suggest that early or late bedtimes may be more likely to disrupt the body clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health.”



Based on data in the UK Biobank, the study objectively measured the bedtimes of over 88,000 adults with an average age of 61 years. The sleep onset data was collected through wrist-worn smart devices. Participants also completed questionnaires to provide information on their demographic, lifestyle, and physical condition.



The individuals were followed for an average of 5.7 years. During this time frame, 3,172 participants were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. The lowest risk was found among those who had bedtimes between 10 and 11 pm, while the highest risk was found among individuals who fell asleep at midnight or later.&nbsp;



“Our study indicates that the optimum time to go to sleep is at a specific point in the body’s 24-hour cycle and deviations may be detrimental to health” stated Dr. Plans. “The riskiest time was after midnight, potentially because it may reduce the likelihood of seeing morning light, which resets the body clock.”



Although late bedtimes were significant, the analysis revealed that there was a 24 percent increase in cardiovascular risk among those who typically fell asleep before 10 pm. The association was strongest among women, who appeared to be affected by both early and late sleep schedules, while heart-related issues in men were only linked with bedtimes before 10 pm.



It is currently unclear as to why there is a stronger association between cardiovascular disease and sleep onset in women. Plans hypothesized that “it may be that there is a sex difference in how the endocrine system responds to a disruption in circadian rhythm.”



He continued to suggest an alternative conclusion, that the older age of study participants could be a confounding factor since women’s cardiovascular risk increases post-menopause – meaning there may be no difference in the strength of the association between women and men.



The research is published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ehjdh">European Heart Journal – Digital Health</a>.



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

Study reveals a precise bedtime that reduces heart disease risk

Most people are aware that getting plenty of rest is...

All <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/over-half-of-the-worlds-vertebrates-reside-in-the-tropics/">vertebrates</a> have a similar body plan, including a head, spine, and four appendages. Although these appendages vary greatly in shape, size, and function (from fins and wings to arms or legs), a new genetic analysis led by the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a> and the <a href="http://www.cabd.es/en/">Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology</a> has found that the genes which control the development of different types of appendages share a deep evolutionary history.



By using a genetic editing tool called <a href="http://www.crisprtx.com/gene-editing/crispr-cas9">CRISPR</a>, the scientists proved that a gene which controls the growth of bones at the terminal end of fish fins (gli3) plays a similar role in the formation of fingers and toes in four-legged vertebrates. The gli3 gene controls this process in both paired fins (the progenitors to limbs), and the unpaired dorsal fin that is common to all fish species. The single dorsal fin evolved before the emergence of paired fins.&nbsp;



The findings suggest that the last common ancestor between ray- and lobe-finned fish, which lived approximately 500 million years ago, had the same appendage-shaping genetic toolkit that is possessed by all modern-day vertebrates.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“There's this deep homology or similarity between fins and limbs, something ancient in structures that really don't look alike,” said study co-author Neil Shubin, a professor of Anatomy at the University of Chicago.&nbsp;



“We're showing a deeply conserved, deeply ancient and preserved gene function that's been around for hundreds of millions of years in vastly different structures. So, the molecular toolkit is ancient, and it does the same thing in different kinds of animals.”



Scientists already knew that humans and mice who have a mutation in the gli3 gene often grow extra digits (polydactyly). Professor Shubin and his colleagues wanted to find out whether gli3 worked in a similar way among fish.&nbsp;



By using CRISPR gene-editing tools, the researchers knocked out the gli3 gene in the medaka, or the Japanese rice fish. They discovered that this fish also developed a version of polydactyly, with multiple radial bones at the base of the fin and more fin rays.



“The speculation is that you have a primitive function of&nbsp;gli3&nbsp;present in all vertebrate appendages ever since about 500 million years ago, and that was to promote proliferation, or the number of cells and hence the number of bones in the terminal end.”



“We all share a certain genetic toolkit, even though the anatomy may look very different in adult stages. We're finding these hidden, but very important, mechanistic similarities,” Shubin concluded.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/46/e2100575118">Proceedings of the National Academy of Science</a>.



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

Fins and limbs share a deep evolutionary history

All vertebrates have a similar body plan, including a head,...

Honey bees worldwide have been hit hard by a number of diseases. New research published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>, looks at how changing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-warming-linked-to-extreme-winter-weather-in-the-u-s/">weather</a> patterns in the UK may be impacting diseases in local honey bees. 



The research shows that one of the most devastating diseases, caused by Varroa sp. mites, increases in prevalence as temperatures rise. Interestingly, the prevalence of infectious mites was found to decrease as rain and wind increased.&nbsp;



Ben Rowland is a PhD student in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at <a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk/">Newcastle University</a> and the study’s lead researcher.



“Our analysis clearly shows that the risk of a colony contracting one of the diseases we examined is influenced by the weather conditions experienced by that colony," said Rowland.&nbsp;



"Our work highlights some interesting contrasts; for example, rainfall can drive one disease to become more common whilst another will become rarer.”



The scientists collected data from over 300,000 honey bee colonies, as well as data on temperature, wind and rainfall. The analysis revealed that different diseases responded and interacted in different ways to different climatic factors.&nbsp;



“We have long known that weather can influence the ability of honey bees to leave the hive and forage for food, but to better understand how our climate can influence honey bee disease is fascinating! This new knowledge will help us predict how honey bee disease might be influenced by future climate change," said study senor author Professor Giles Budge.



The research also looked specifically at the impact of weather on disease outbreaks or "hot spots." The southwest of England, for instance, is at greater risk of infection from Varroa sp. mites due to weather conditions.&nbsp;



An area including Powys, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire is also at risk of an outbreak of the damaging disease European foulbrood, the research shows. This type of prediction will likely become more important as climate change continues to become worse.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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

Deadly honey bee diseases are influenced by the weather

Honey bees worldwide have been hit hard by a number...

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated more than eight million tons of plastic waste since its start, most of it single-use plastic for personal protective purposes. This is according to a new model, developed by researchers at the <a href="https://www.nju.edu.cn/en/">Nanjing University</a> in China.&nbsp;



A portion of this plastic will end up entering the oceans of the world, and will either sink to the bottom or remain floating on top until it collects on beaches, in oceanic gyres or in the seas of the Arctic.&nbsp;



The Nanjing University MITgcm-plastic model (NJU-MP) that was developed and used in this study works like “a virtual reality,” according to Yanxu Zhang, professor at the School of Atmospheric Sciences at Nanjing University. He said that the model was built based on Newton’s laws of motion and the law of conservation of mass.&nbsp;



“The model simulates how the seawater moves, driven by wind, and how the plastics float on the surface ocean, degraded by sunlight, fouled by plankton, landed on beaches, and sank to the deep,” said Professor Zhang. “It can be used to answer ‘what if’ questions, for example, what will happen if we add a certain amount of plastics to the ocean?”



The researchers used data from the start of the pandemic in 2020 through August 2021, and found that most of the global pandemic plastic waste entering the ocean comes from rivers in Asia; they account for 73 percent of the total discharge of plastics.&nbsp;



The three biggest contributors to ocean plastic pollution are the Shatt al-Arab, Indus, and Yangtze Rivers, which discharge into the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and East China Sea respectively. European rivers account for 11 percent of the discharge, and other continents have only minor contributions to the problem.&nbsp;



The study, led by a team of researchers at Nanjing University’s School of Atmospheric Sciences and UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, found that the bulk of pandemic plastics discharged on land were derived from medical waste. This was particularly true in areas where waste management was already under pressure before the start of the pandemic.



“When we started doing the math, we were surprised to find that the amount of medical waste was substantially larger than the amount of waste from individuals, and a lot of it was coming from Asian countries, even though that's not where most of the COVID-19 cases were,” said study co-author Amina Schartup, an assistant professor at Scripps Oceanography.&nbsp;



“The biggest sources of excess waste were hospitals in areas already struggling with waste management before the pandemic; they just weren't set up to handle a situation where you have more waste.”



Out of the more than eight million tons of pandemic-associated plastic generated globally, more than 25,000 tons would enter the global ocean. The model predicted that, within three to four years, a significant portion of this ocean plastic debris would either be washed up on beaches or sink to the seabed.&nbsp;



However, a portion will likely go into the open ocean, eventually being trapped in the centers of ocean basins or subtropical gyres, or ending up in a circumpolar plastic accumulation zone in the Arctic Ocean.&nbsp;



While this Arctic accumulation zone does not yet exist, the model predicts that, due to ocean circulation patterns the Arctic Ocean appears to be a “dead-end” for plastic debris transported in the oceans of the world. The model shows that about 80 percent of the plastic debris that transits into the Arctic Ocean will sink quickly, but a circumpolar plastic accumulation zone is predicted to form by 2025.&nbsp;



“There is a pretty consistent circulation pattern in the ocean, and that's why we can build models that replicate how the ocean moves – it's just physical oceanography at this point,” said Schartup, whose research normally focuses on understanding mercury in the oceans.&nbsp;



“We know that if waste is released from Asian rivers into the North Pacific Ocean, some of that debris will likely end up in the Arctic Ocean – a kind of a circular ocean which can be a bit like an estuary, accumulating all kinds of things that get released from the continents.”



The Arctic ecosystem is already particularly vulnerable due to the harsh environmental conditions and sensitivity to global warming. The addition of plastic pollution to this already fragile system carries further threats to the organisms that live there and adds another layer of concern.



The authors stress the importance of better management of medical waste derived from treating COVID-19 patients, particularly in developing countries where management systems may already be insufficient. They also call for global public awareness of the environmental impact of personal protection equipment (PPE) and other plastic products, and the development of innovative technologies for better plastic waste collection, classification, treatment, and recycling, and development of more environmentally friendly materials.



“Indeed, the COVID-related plastic is only a portion of a bigger problem we face in the 21st century: plastic waste,” said Zhang. “To solve it requires a lot of technical innovation, transition of economy, and change of lifestyle.”



The study is published today in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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

Thousands of tons of COVID-related plastic could end up in the ocean

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated more than eight million tons...

Ahead of the United Nations climate change conference (COP26), more than 100 countries pledged to decrease greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/caterpillar-outbreaks-drive-co2-emissions/">emissions</a>. In a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>, experts analyzed these pledges - known as nationally determined commitments (NDCs) - and assessed how they would potentially affect Earth's climate.&nbsp;



According to the study authors, the current NDCs could pave the way for reducing global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) or less during this century.



Based on the pledges made at the 2015 Paris Agreement, the researchers determined that the possibility of limiting temperature rise to below 2 and 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 was 8 and 0 percent, respectively. Now, based on the new pledges, the study authors estimate that these possibilities have risen to 34 and 1.5 percent.&nbsp;



The experts emphasize that these percentages can be achieved only with supporting policies and measures of equal or greater ambition. Furthermore, they say these odds can increase to 60 and 11 percent, respectively, if countries pursue a more ambitious route after 2030.



Such a scenario could also eliminate the possibility of global temperature rise exceeding four degrees Celsius. The chance of such an increase was 10 percent higher under the 2015 commitments.&nbsp;



“We are so much closer to getting to the 2-degree goal than six years ago when the Paris Agreement was first signed. The wave of strengthened climate pledges and net-zero targets significantly increased our chance of staying under 2 degrees Celsius. And we practically ruled out the possibility of the worst climate outcomes of 4 degrees or higher," said study co-author Haewon McJeon, a research scientist at the Department of Energy’s <a href="http://www.pnnl.gov/">Pacific Northwest National Laboratory</a>.&nbsp;



Study lead author Yang Ou, a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, stated that there is a one in three chance to meet the 2 degrees Celsius limit, but making the 1.5 degree Celsius limit more plausible will need more ambition.



The study evaluated a range of emissions scenarios, using an open-source model called the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM). The scientists ran multiple scenarios, including a hypothetical future in which prevailing climate mitigation measures and policies remain mostly unchanged through 2100.



According to the study authors, various factors impacted near-term emissions trajectories and long-term climatic outcomes. One example is the worldwide shift away from coal in favor of technology advancements that reduced the cost of solar panels and electric automobiles. They claimed that these innovations had aided in bringing the Paris Agreement's goals closer to realisation.



"New commitments, technological advances, and the near- and long-term recovery from the pandemic have set us on a different course than what laid before us at the 2015 Paris Agreement. But if we adopt more ambitious goals that truly reflect the common but differentiated responsibilities across all parties, that gives us a better than even chance of staying under 2 degrees Celsius," said study co-lead author Gokul Iyer.



"And this highlights the importance of the Glasgow meeting. Without periodic and transparent updates, we won’t get the commitments strong enough to meet the temperature goal.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>.



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By <a href="http://mailto:ashikha92@gmail.com">Ashikha Raoof</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New pledges could eliminate the worst climate outcomes

Ahead of the United Nations climate change conference (COP26), more...

A recent study led by the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne</a> suggests that the pledges on curbing greenhouse gas emissions from the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26</a> climate change summit in Glasgow could help limit global temperature rises to below 1.9C. Plans by India (the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter) to reach net zero emissions by 2070 will likely make an important contribution to reaching climate targets.



According to Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, these new commitments from a large number of countries represent important progress, but are still insufficient to reach the goal set in 2015 by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to less than 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures.&nbsp;



Many scientists warn that if temperatures rise above the 1.5C target, some impacts of climate change are likely to become irreversible, including small islands being flooded and extreme weather events increasing in frequency.



In order to stay within the 1.5C threshold, global greenhouse emissions should decrease about 45 percent by 2030, which, as many important speakers at the Glasgow summit admitted, will likely not happen. However, if by 2050 major greenhouse emitters manage to meet the net zero target, there is a high change that global temperatures will not surpass the 2C limit.



“It’s still a huge if, because many of the net zero targets – including the net zero target from India – are conditional on international support,” said study lead author Malte Meinshausen, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne. “We need to see that happen.”



“Any progress is welcome but we need extreme caution about declaring success on the basis of vague and often vacuous net zero targets three or more decades hence,” added Edward Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the UK.&nbsp;



“For example, Australia has a 2050 net zero target but its 2030 plans are in line with 4 degrees of warming. There is a reason for the focus on halving emissions this decisive decade. It reflects the urgency, clarity and specificity we need to keep 1.5C alive. We cannot allow political leaders to shift the goalposts."



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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

Despite progress at COP26, climate target of 1.5C is out of reach

A recent study led by the University of Melbourne suggests...

With lockdowns being lifted in many parts of the world, a large number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-and-cats-test-positive-for-alpha-variant-of-sars-cov-2/">dogs</a> left home alone by their owners face psychological problems such as separation anxiety. 



While it may seem that dogs who are left home with other canine companions would feel less lonely and anxious, a new study led by the Academy for Animal Naturopathy in&nbsp;Dürnten, Switzerland has found that the opposite is usually true. Dogs appear to be even more anxious when left home with other dogs.



“Many dogs are left alone at home by their owners for several hours on a daily basis. This practice is known to be a possible source of complication in dog keeping. Behaviorists and veterinarians are frequently consulted due to excessive vocalizations, destructive behavior and house-soiling of dogs left alone by their owners,” explained the study authors.&nbsp;



“These observations are thought to be symptoms of a disorder which most authors refer to as separation anxiety or separation related behavior.”&nbsp;



Signs of separation anxiety in dogs include barking, howling, increased physical activity, digging, scratching, disruptive chewing, or excessive urination and defecation.



The scientists videotaped 32 dogs in single-dog households and 45 dogs in multi-dog households that were left alone as part of their usual routine. Surprisingly, intense physical activity was higher in multi-dog households, primarily in the first hours after separation.&nbsp;



“We observed more separation-related behavior in multi-dog households,” reported study lead author Gerrit Stephan, a researcher at the Academy for Animal Naturopathy.



“It's a common misconception – and often given as poor advice – that a dog with separation-related anxiety will fare better and show fewer stress responses if another dog is added to the household,” said Natalie Waran, a professor of Animal Welfare at the <a href="https://www.eit.ac.nz/">Eastern Institute of Technology</a> in New Zealand.&nbsp;



“This doesn't address the underlying problem for the dog with separation anxiety, and it often results in another dog showing anxious or excitable behavior. The key is to understand the causes of problem behavior to be able to manage or treat those effectively.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Further research is needed in order to better understand the reasons why separation anxiety appears to be stronger in multi-dog households and to open therapeutic pathways for pets struggling with emotional issues.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159121002501#!">Applied Animal Behavior Science</a>.



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

Dogs get more separation anxiety when left with another animal

With lockdowns being lifted in many parts of the world,...

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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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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