This,Man-made,Vehicle,Reached,A,Record,Speed,Of,635,Thousand

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set to achieve its most dangerous feat yet tomorrow, December 24, 2024. After a six-year journey of spiraling closer to the star at the heart of our solar system, the spacecraft is expected to come within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface. 



This tiny distance in cosmic terms lets scientists capture a new type of information, revealing secrets about solar winds, extreme heat, and magnetic fields.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solar-probe-on-the-sun-s-doorstep">Solar probe on the Sun's doorstep</h2>



Engineers have spent years carefully adjusting <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Parker’s flight path</a> using multiple Venus gravity assists. These flybys reshape the spacecraft’s orbit and tighten its looping path around the Sun. “This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe,” explained <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/people/dr-arik-posner/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arik Posner</a>, Parker Solar Probe program scientist at NASA Headquarters, describing this mission’s significance.



Ever since the launch in 2018, Parker’s main goal has been to study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Tomorrow’s approach, often called <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/perihelion.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">perihelion</a>, marks a new milestone in that quest. The probe moves at speeds around 430,000 miles per hour, faster than any other spacecraft. At such high velocity, it can swing around our star without getting swallowed. Even so, mission managers won’t receive immediate updates once Parker hits its closest point because signals cannot travel through the intense solar environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extreme-heat-and-lasting-protection">Extreme heat and lasting protection</h2>



What sets Parker apart is its resilient heat shield. This 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite barrier enables the spacecraft’s instruments to continue functioning in an environment where temperatures can reach roughly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the harsh surroundings, the precious science instruments remain near room temperature, thanks to expert engineering by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (<a href="https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">APL</a>).



During every close approach, Parker is pelted by gusts of solar wind and bathed in radiation. Still, it keeps sending back readings about magnetic fields, <a href="https://www.plasmacoalition.org/plasma_writeups/solar_plasmas.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plasma</a> behavior, and energetic <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-radiation-storm#:~:text=Solar%20radiation%20storms%20occur%20when,of%20the%20speed%20of%20light." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particles</a>. The probe’s data illuminates reasons behind the corona’s blazing heat, which can climb into the millions of degrees, significantly hotter than the visible surface of the Sun. Such puzzling behavior has fascinated scientists for decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chasing-the-solar-wind-s-origins">Chasing the solar wind’s origins</h2>



Solar wind, a stream of charged particles flowing away from the Sun at speeds topping one million miles per hour, plays a major role in <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/sun/what-is-the-solar-wind/">space weather</a>. 



By skimming through the corona, Parker records fresh evidence of how these particles speed up and scatter across the solar system. The answers may help experts forecast disturbances that affect satellites and astronaut safety. Surges of these charged particles can disable communication systems or even disrupt power grids on Earth.



For researchers, big questions remain. How does the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/sun/what-is-the-solar-wind/">solar wind</a> pick up its pace so dramatically? Is there a specific region in the corona that triggers bursts of fast-moving particles? 



Parker’s measurements bring us closer to unraveling these mysteries. Officials at NASA say that by tomorrow’s approach, new layers of data will help them see patterns not possible to detect from a greater distance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solar-probe-and-the-sun-s-active-cycle">Solar probe and the Sun's active cycle</h2>



The Sun moves through an 11-year activity cycle. Right now, it is in an active phase, meaning increased sunspots, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secondary-peak-extreme-geomagnetic-solar-storm-expected-today/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">solar flares</a>, and <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coronal mass ejections</a>. 



Researchers are tracking not only Parker’s journey but also the Sun’s changing patterns. Sometimes these outbursts interact with Earth’s magnetosphere and spark colorful auroras, even in places unused to such displays. And although most solar weather events are harmless for life on Earth, severe storms can interfere with GPS systems or satellites.



This is why Parker’s findings are so relevant. Gaining a better understanding of how energetic solar events begin could lead to timelier warnings, giving operators on Earth a heads-up to power down sensitive instruments or adjust satellite orbits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-paying-tribute-to-eugene-parker">Paying tribute to Eugene Parker</h2>



In 2017, NASA renamed the probe after <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/story/eugene-parker-legendary-figure-solar-science-and-namesake-parker-solar-probe-1927-2022">Dr. Eugene N. Parker</a>, the first person to predict the solar wind in the 1950s. He introduced key ideas about how stars interact with their surroundings. The mission’s name honors his influential work. Dr. Parker passed away in 2022, but his legacy continues. 



The data this spacecraft is sending back not only expands knowledge of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tracing-solar-wind-directly-to-its-source-for-the-first-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">solar physics</a> but also shows how correct Dr. Parker’s early theories were.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-record-setting-solar-probe-flyby">Record-setting Solar Probe flyby</h2>



Mission operations expect Parker to reach perihelion at 6:53 a.m. EST on December 24. 



At that time, the spacecraft will run autonomously, and engineers at APL will wait until December 27 for a beacon tone confirming a safe passage around the Sun. “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory. We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun,” explained <a href="https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=205" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nick Pinkine</a>, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager. 



When that update arrives, scientists will study Parker’s recent measurements to identify potential clues about solar wind origins and coronal heating. Each orbit is another chance to witness the scorching conditions near our star. At the same time, the probe helps refine predictions about solar eruptions that might drive future storms toward Earth.



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



Beyond the scientific breakthroughs, Parker’s success can have practical benefits for technology we rely on every day. Our society depends on GPS signals and stable power systems, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/team-creates-video-showing-the-sun-in-gamma-rays-over-a-14-year-period/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">major solar events</a> can disrupt both. By learning how to anticipate strong solar winds or flares, experts might one day keep satellites out of harm’s way or shield power grids from unexpected surges.



Tomorrow’s close approach continues a streak of remarkable achievements for NASA. As Parker zips through the corona, it gathers observations that no other mission could obtain. The craft appears ready for another sizzling pass, thanks to the robust thermal design and careful planning. 



Whether it’s helping forecast solar tempers or refining our knowledge of basic astrophysical processes, Parker remains on track to change the way we see the Sun.



Learn more about <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/parker-solar-probe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA's Parker Solar Probe here...</a>



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Spacecraft flew through the Sun's atmosphere today for the first time ever

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set to achieve its most dangerous feat yet tomorrow, December 24, 2024. After a six-year journey of spiraling closer to the star at the heart of our solar system, the spacecraft is expected to come within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface. This tiny distance in cosmic terms lets scientists capture a new type of information, revealing secrets about solar winds, extreme heat, and magnetic fields. Solar probe on the Sun's doorstep Engineers have spent years carefully adjusting Parker’s flight path...

A new study published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X22000212">Marine Pollution Bulletin</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-rally-against-the-worlds-first-octopus-farm/">octopuses</a> have been increasingly forced to shelter among discarded garbage - including bottles, beer cans, batteries, or rusted metal pipes - as trash replaces seashells on the ocean floors.&nbsp;



The researchers, led by the <a href="https://www.furg.br/en/">Federal University of Rio Grande</a> in Brazil, have analyzed hundreds of underwater photos posted on social media platforms and image databases or collected by marine biologists and underwater divers. They found 24 species of octopus sheltering inside glass bottles, cans, or batteries, or even carrying plastic items while “stilt-walking” on two tentacles in order to conceal themselves from predators. Moreover, they also used such discarded trash as sanctuaries for their eggs.



“The deep-sea records were extremely interesting, because even at great depths these animals are interacting with the litter,” said study senior author Maira Proietti, a professor of Marine Biology and Oceanography at the Federal University of Rio Grande. “They clearly see that there’s a lot of litter around, and it can therefore act as a kind of artificial camouflage. It shows their extreme ability to adapt. They are very intelligent animals, and they will use what they have at their disposal to continue sheltering or walking around with protection.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The animals appeared to show a preference for unbroken items and darker or opaque containers that could shelter them from the myriad predators continuously endangering their lives. Professor Proietti warns that, while these interactions may seem positive for the animals since they are lacking natural shelters such as seashells (which have largely been removed by humans for ornamental purposes, driven by tourism), “it is not a good thing to think that the animals may be using litter as shelter because the seashells are gone.”



Moreover, sheltering or laying eggs inside discarded tyres, batteries, or various plastic objects could easily expose the animals to a large variety of harmful compounds, such as heavy metals or the toxic additives usually added to plastic. 



“It is possible that the negative impacts of litter on octopuses is underestimated due to the lack of available data, and we therefore emphasize that the problem must be more thoroughly assessed,” the study authors concluded.



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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

Octopuses are sheltering in discarded human trash

A new study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin has...

When we perceive images in real life, our brains take in the visual information in a way that can be detected by a technique called electrocorticography, which records patterns of electrical activity in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-evidence-shows-exercise-can-actually-change-the-brain/">brain</a>. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.osaka-u.ac.jp/en">Osaka University</a>, these patterns are not set in stone, but can be changed by what we are paying attention to or imagining at the time.



“Attention is known to modulate neural representations of perceived images,” said study lead author Ryohei Fukuma, an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the Osaka University. “However, we didn’t know whether imagining a different image could also change these representations.”



In order to test this, Professor Fukuma and his colleagues worked with 17 patients with epilepsy who already had electrodes implanted in their brains to record and display electrocorticogram readouts of what they were imagining. The patients were shown an image of the real-time readout and asked to imagine a different thing, such as a landscape, a word, and a human face.



“The results clarified the relationship between brain activities when people look at images versus when they imagine them,” explained study senior author Takufumi Yanagisawa, an expert in brain-machine interface at Osaka. “The electrocorticogram readouts of the imagined images were distinct from those provoked by the actual images viewed by the patients. They could also be modified to be even more distinct when the patients received real-time feedback.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The time needed to generate clear distinctions between viewed and imagined images was different for imagining a word and a landscape, suggesting that different parts of the brain are responsible for imagining these two concepts.



Considering the accuracy with which this new technology can display images that exist within a subject’s mind, a similar approach could be used to develop communication tools for paralyzed people, such as those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. While similar devises that rely on motor control already exist for patients with such conditions, they degenerate faster than visual cortical activity, so an imagery-based device could be much more useful and reliable.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03137-x">Communications Biology</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;

New technology can visually depict what we are imagining

When we perceive images in real life, our brains take...

Massive,California,Wilde,Fire,Forcing,Thousands,Of,People,To,Evacuate

In a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.oneearth.org/">One Earth</a>, experts have identified a positive feedback loop in the northern hemisphere in which brown carbon released by burning biomass is accelerating warming in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/summers-in-the-arctic-could-be-ice-free-by-mid-century/">Arctic</a>. The researchers warn that this could lead to even more wildfires in the future.&nbsp;



The year of 2021 saw land across the world destroyed from a record breaking wildfire season. Last month, a UN report warned that wildfires are on track to increase by 50 percent over the next couple of decades. Wildfires can be devastating, destroying homes, displacing families, and killing plant and animal life



During wildfires, vast plumes of smoke containing brown carbon particles are suspended in the air. Beyond the human health impacts of brown smoke, experts have long suspected that it contributes to global warming.&nbsp;



In 2017, scientists boarded a Chinese icebreaker vessel Xue Long in the Arctic Ocean to examine the aerosols that could be polluting the pristine Arctic air. The researchers considered how brown carbon released by wildfires affects the climate. This was compared to denser black carbon from fossil fuels, the second most powerful warming agent after carbon dioxide. The study revealed that brown carbon contributes more to global warming than previously estimated.&nbsp;



“To our surprise, observational analyses and numerical simulations show that the warming effect of brown carbon aerosols over the Arctic is up to about 30 percent of that of black carbon,” said study senior author Pingqing Fu, an atmospheric chemist at Tianjin University.



Over the last 50 years, the Arctic has been warming three times faster than the rest of the planet. The study found that brown carbon from burning biomass was responsible for twice as much warming as carbon from fossil fuels, identifying that wildfires are driving this discrepancy.&nbsp;



Brown carbon warms the planet by absorbing solar radiation and warming temperatures result in a rise of wildfires. This leads to a positive feedback loop.&nbsp;



“The increase in brown carbon aerosols will lead to global or regional warming, which increases the probability and frequency of wildfires,” said Fu. “Increased wildfire events will emit more brown carbon aerosols, further heating the earth, thus making wildfires more frequent.”



In the future, the researchers plan to dive deeper and investigate the effects of other sources of carbon released by wildfires. Specifically, the research team plans to analyze bioaerosols, which originate from plants and animals and can contain living organisms, including pathogens.&nbsp;



The researchers are hopeful that decision makers remain focused on mitigating wildfires. “Our findings highlight just how important it is to control wildfires,” said Fu. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.



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

Brown carbon released from wildfires is warming the Arctic

In a new study published in the journal One Earth,...

One of the biggest questions in Biology has always dealt with the possible origins of life. For several decades, one hypothesis has been that RNA molecules – which are vital for cell functions – existed on ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supermountains-were-essential-for-the-evolution-of-life-on-earth/">Earth</a>, possibly together with proteins and other organic molecules, and that around four billion years ago, they started to self-replicate and develop from a simple single molecule into a diversity of complex molecules. This step-by-step change eventually led to the emergence of life as we know it, consisting of a wondrous array of plants, animals, and everything in-between.



While there has been much theoretical discussion about this subject, until recently scientists have not been able to physically create such RNA replication systems. However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/">University of Tokyo</a> has now managed to build an RNA molecule that replicates, diversifies, and develops in complexity, following Darwinian evolution, which is characterized by a self-perpetuating process of incessant change based on mutations and natural selection, enabling different characteristics to emerge, and the ones that were adapted to the environment to survive.



“We found that the single RNA species evolved into a complex replication system: a replicator network comprising five types of RNAs with diverse interactions, supporting the plausibility of a long-envisioned evolutionary transition scenario,” said study lead author Ryo Mizuuchi, an assistant professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tokyo.



“Honestly, we initially doubted that such diverse RNAs could evolve and coexist,” he added. “In Evolutionary Biology, the ‘competitive exclusion principle’ states that more than one species cannot coexist if they are competing for the same resources. This means that the molecules must establish a way to use different resources one after another for sustained diversification. They are just molecules, so we wondered if it were possible for nonliving chemical species to spontaneously develop such innovation.”



The simplicity of Mizuuchi’s molecular replication system, compared to biological organisms, will allow scientists to examine evolutionary phenomena with unprecedented resolution. While there are still many questions left to answer about the origins of life, this study has provided empirically-based insights into a possible evolutionary route that a primitive RNA molecule may have taken on ancient Earth.



“The results could be a clue to solving the ultimate question that human beings have been asking for thousands of years - what are the origins of life?” Professor Mizuuchi concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29113-x">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

Scientists find new clues about the origins of life

One of the biggest questions in Biology has always dealt...

Social bonds are good for people, and many studies have shown that our relationships with friends and family help us live healthier and longer. However, our knowledge of how social bonds affect stress in non-<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baboons-sacrifice-sleep-to-meet-lifes-daily-demands/">primate</a> species is lacking, especially considering the complex social lives of many animals.&nbsp;&nbsp;



An international team of scientists has attempted to glimpse into the social lives of an incredibly social animal to examine how their relationships, or lack thereof, affect their stress levels.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The researchers studied 95 Asian timber elephants (Elephas maximus) living in Myanmar. Since they are timber elephants, they work with people to move logs out of the forest. However, they spend a lot of time on their own in the forest. Studying elephants with this lifestyle gave the researchers a remarkable opportunity.&nbsp;



Study lead author Dr. Martin Seltmann is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at the <a href="https://www.utu.fi/en">University of Turku</a>.



"This is a unique research environment and population that allows us to study many elephants living in their natural environment, but at the same time have detailed information about their social lives," said Dr. Seltmann.



The handlers have an intimate understanding of the.elephants' social lives and behavior. They provided insight on whether the elephants preferred to be sociable or to be alone.&nbsp;



The researchers also evaluated the sizes and demographics of the work groups. To measure stress levels, they collected fecal samples and measured glucocorticoid hormones, also known as stress hormones.



"We found, that male elephants show higher levels of stress when they have no friends and when they are in social groups with more males than females," said study co-authors Martin Seltmann and Professor Virpi Lummaa.



"Female elephants show lower levels of stress when babies are present in the social group. The size of the social group is not related to levels of stress hormones in males nor females."&nbsp;



Interestingly, the researchers found that solitary females were not as stressed as predicted. This may be because- although they don't have strong social bonds with other elephants - the females can interact with individuals on a superficial level, which is enough to ease their stress.



Moreover, the results suggest that social bonds are more important for semi-captive male elephants than would be the case in a wild population, where males are typically solitary.&nbsp;



The study helps us understand the social lives of these brilliant animals. The authors hope that this information will be used to create more enriching environments for elephants and other captive animals.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/general-and-comparative-endocrinology">General and Comparative Endocrinology</a>.



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

Social bonds can ease stress among elephants

Social bonds are good for people, and many studies have...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/video/coastal-wetlands-are-threatened-by-salt-water-intrusion/">Wetlands</a> can be hard places to make a living, and life in fragmented forest amidst wetlands may be even harder. Despite the difficulty, the rare Olalla’s titi monkey (Plecturocebus olallae) has found a way to live in the Llanos de Moxos, the largest wetland in the Amazon Basin.&nbsp;



New research from the <a href="https://www.wcs.org/">Wildlife Conservation Society</a> (WCS) may explain how the monkeys can survive in the fragmented and damaged forest of the Llanos de Moxos. The scientists observed two groups of Olalla’s titi monkeys for a year. It seems that the key to their survival might be in their ecological flexibility.&nbsp;



During times of abundance, the monkeys were observed eating fruits and moving around a lot. During the leaner dry season, the monkeys ate less fruit and more leaves, and did not move around as much. They also expanded their diet to include more lichens, seeds and fungi.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Interestingly, the study shows that monkeys with their ecological flexibility have some ability to tolerate changes in their habitat, such as fragmentation caused by deforestation.&nbsp;



"The study illustrates the relevance of understanding primate ecological flexibility in response to food reductions to the development of conservation actions, especially in the light of increasing forest degradation and loss in the study region," said study co-author Rob Wallace, director of WCS's Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape Program.



The scientists believe that these monkeys are still threatened by habitat loss and range limitations. It seems that eventually, even flexible monkeys have a breaking point. The monkeys are already critically endangered and endemic to a small area.&nbsp;



"The observed shift in diet toward consuming alternative foods during the fruit lean period and reducing movement instead of expanding ranging behavior to look for higher quality foods suggests that P. olallae follows an energy-area minimizing strategy that may enable these primates to inhabit fragmented forests," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Nevertheless, deforestation and further fragmentation in the range of these endemic and critically endangered primates must be addressed, as they represent significant threats to the severely range-restricted P. olallae populations."



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10764">International Journal of Primatology</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

Monkeys can adapt by changing their diet

Wetlands can be hard places to make a living, and...

The entire genome of a dodo – a three-feet tall flightless <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lead-poisoning-from-hunting-is-killing-europes-most-charismatic-birds/">bird</a> that became extinct in the 17th century – has been sequenced for the first time by a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a>. This accomplishment raises hopes that the bird could be soon brought back to life through genetical engineering.



The dodo was discovered in the 16th century on the island of Mauritius. It weighed about 50 pounds (23 kilograms), had a blue-gray plumage, a huge head, stout yellow legs, and small useless wings.



Since it lived in isolation on Mauritius for hundreds of years, the dodo bird seemed to be fearless. Its audacity though, combined with an inability to fly, made it easy prey not only for humans, but also for the cats, dogs, and pigs that they brought with them while exploring the Indian Ocean. Thus, only 64 years after Dutch sailors had first spotted it, the dodo unfortunately became extinct.



Scientists from UC Santa Cruz used DNA from a dodo specimen kept in the <a href="https://snm.ku.dk/english/">Natural History Museum of Denmark</a> and managed to sequence this bird’s entire genome for the first time (the sequencing has not been published yet). However, according to study leader Beth Shapiro, an evolutionary molecular biologist at UC Santa Cruz, it will most likely be very difficult to bring the dodo back to life.



“Mammals are simpler,” Professor Shapiro said. “If I have a cell and it's living in a dish in the lab and I edit it so that it has a bit of dodo DNA, how do I then transform that cell into a whole living, breathing, actual animal? The way we can do this is to clone it, the same approach that was used to create Dolly the Sheep, but we don't know how to do that with birds because of the intricacies of their reproductive pathways.”



“So there needs to be another approach for birds and this is one really fundamental technological hurdle in de-extinction.&nbsp;There are groups working on different approaches for doing that and I have little doubt that we are going to get there but it is an additional hurdle for birds that we don't have for mammals.”



According to&nbsp;Mike Benton, a professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>, in order to bring this bird back from extinction, scientists will most likely edit Nicobar pigeon DNA to include dodo DNA, since the two species are very closely related genetically. However, the result may not completely resemble what the flightless bird originally looked like, warned Professor Benton.



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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

Can the dodo bird be brought back from extinction?

The entire genome of a dodo – a three-feet tall...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.emory.edu/home/index.html">Emory University</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-predators-have-outsmarted-monarch-butterflies/">monarch butterflies</a> are increasingly plagued by a debilitating parasite - the protozoan&nbsp;Ophryocystis elektrosirrha (O.E.) – which invades the guts of monarch caterpillars. If the adult butterfly leaves the pupal stage with a severe O.E. infection, it begins oozing fluid from its body and eventually dies. Even the rare butterflies that survive cannot fly well and live shorter than uninfected ones.



The scientists found that the O.E. infection rate has increased from less than one percent of the eastern monarch population in 1968 to as much as ten percent today.&nbsp;



“We’re seeing a significant change in a wildlife population with a parasitism rate steadily rising from almost non-existent to as high as ten percent,” said study first author Ania Majewska, a postdoctoral fellow in Biology at Emory. “It’s a signal that something is not right in the environment and that we need to pay attention.”



According to Dr. Majewska and her colleagues, this rise in infection rates is caused by increased density of monarchs in places where they lay their eggs. The increased density is due to several factors including the loss of wildlife habitat, the widespread planting of exotic, non-native species of milkweed that butterflies gather in massive numbers to feed upon, and people’s raising large monarch colonies in confined spaces.&nbsp;



This rise in parasitism may significantly endanger the mass migration of the monarchs – one of the most spectacular displays in the animal kingdom, involving hundreds of millions of western butterflies traveling hundreds of miles down the Pacific Coast to spend the winter in California, and similar numbers of eastern butterflies flying over 3,000 miles from the U.S.- Canadian border to overwinter in Central Mexico. Moreover, their crucial ecological roles as pollinators or essential food for wasps, ants, and other invertebrate predators are also endangered by this worrisome increase in parasitic infection.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our findings suggest that tens of millions of eastern monarch butterflies are getting sick and dying each year from these parasites,” said study senior author Jaap de Roode, a professor of Biology at Emory. “If the infection rates keep going up, fewer and fewer monarchs will be able to survive to migrate to their overwintering sites.”



“Ultimately, a continuing rise in the monarch’s parasitic infection rate could cause the species to suffer significantly,” added Dr. Majewska. “If tens of millions of them are dying annually from parasitic infections, then an extreme weather event during the winter in Mexico might reduce the population to a level that could be dangerous for their genetic diversity.”



“Parasitism is often overlooked in conservation efforts, but our findings show how parasites can have a massive impact on wildlife,” concluded Professor de Roode.



The study is published in the <a href="https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Monarch_infection_data/17929721/1">Journal of Animal Ecology</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

Millions of monarch butterflies are killed by parasites yearly

A new study led by Emory University has found that...

Pollen is a well-known airborne allergen that can cause allergic reactions varying from mild itchiness and sneezing right up to serious problems with breathing and anaphylaxis. It is estimated that as many as 60 million people in the USA suffer from seasonal allergies each year. And now, a study from scientists at the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> has suggested that the length and intensity of allergy season will increase dramatically as Earth’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/volcanic-eruptions-of-the-past-provide-new-clues-about-climate-change/">climate</a> warms.



“Pollen-induced respiratory allergies are getting worse with climate change,” said study first author Yingxiao Zhang. “Our findings can be a starting point for further investigations into the consequence of climate change on pollen and corresponding health effects.”



The scientists considered pollen from 15 different plant species that occur throughout the U.S. and modeled the potential responses of these plants to various climate change scenarios. They investigated the potential impact of increases in temperature and changes in precipitation on the different grasses, weeds and trees.&nbsp;



The production of pollen by many plant species will be affected by a warming climate, which will enable them to start producing pollen earlier than normal and continue for longer. Hotter temperatures can also increase the amount of pollen produced, and even its allergenicity (capacity to cause an allergic reaction).



Initially, the researchers tested their predictive model using historical climate data and known pollen levels for the period 1995 through 2014. They then used their model to predict pollen emissions for the last two decades of the 21st century, under different potential warming conditions.



Their results predict that, by the end of this century, pollen emissions could begin 40 days earlier in the spring than was the case between 1995 and 2014. In addition, misery for allergy sufferers could last longer – an additional 19 days – before high pollen counts subside. This would be the case under the most extreme climate change scenario, but even under the best-case scenario, where global average temperatures rise by only 2.7oF (1.5oC), pollen season will still start 20 days earlier.



In addition, thanks to rising temperatures the emission of pollen could increase by 40 percent. If the model considers the effects of increasing CO2 levels as well, the annual amount of pollen emitted each year could increase by as much as 200 percent.



The experts from Michigan University say that pollen season in the U.S. has already moved earlier in the year over the past three decades.&nbsp;They found that between 1990 and 2018, the start of the pollen season shifted from around Valentine's Day (14 February), to St Patrick's Day (17 March) each year.



Pollen-induced respiratory allergy affects up to 30 percent of the world population, particularly children, and causes large economic losses in terms of medical expenses, missed work and school days, and early deaths.. In the U.S., pollen allergy is particularly difficult for the 25 million Americans with asthma, as it makes symptoms worse.



<a href="https://steiner.engin.umich.edu/research-group/">Allison Steiner</a>, UM professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, said that while allergy suffering will increase across the U.S., the Southeast will get hit hardest. She said the pollen emissions modeling developed by her team could eventually allow for allergy season predictions targeted to different geographical regions.&nbsp;



“We're hoping to include our pollen emissions model within a national air quality forecasting system to provide improved and climate-sensitive forecasts to the public,” said Professor Steiner..



According to the researchers, this study provides an important predictive tool to start investigating the consequences of climate change on future plant communities and their corresponding health effects.



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</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

Allergy season will become increasingly  brutal as climate warms

Pollen is a well-known airborne allergen that can cause allergic...

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> recently looked at volcanic eruptions on Earth for the last 60,000 years. To estimate the number and intensity of these eruptions, the scientists looked at ice cores drilled in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-are-arriving-with-ships-in-antarctica/">Antarctica</a> and Greenland. Gases trapped in the ice cores revealed the surprising history of volcanoes.&nbsp;



"We haven't experienced any of history's largest volcanic eruptions. We can see that now. Eyjafjellajökull, which paralyzed European air traffic in 2010, pales in comparison to the eruptions we identified further back in time. Many of these were larger than any eruption over the last 2,500 years," said Anders Svensson of Niels Bohr Institute.



In the span of time examined, the scientists found 85 large global eruptions, 69 of which were more explosive than the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history - Mt. Tambora in Indonesia in 1815. Mt. Tambora caused significant cooling in its wake, along with famine, drought, tsunamis, and the deaths of 80,000 people.&nbsp;



"The new 60,000-year timeline of volcanic eruptions supplies us with better statistics than ever before," said Svensson.



"Now we can see that many more of these great eruptions occurred during the prehistoric Ice Age than in modern times. Because large eruptions are relatively rare, a long timeline is needed to know when they occur. That is what we now have."



Although the history of volcanic eruptions gives us valuable information, the data needed to predict the next major volcanic eruption isn’t forthcoming.&nbsp;



"Three eruptions of the largest known category occurred during the entire period we studied, so-called VEI-8 eruptions (see fact box). So, we can expect more at some point, but we just don't know if that will be in a hundred or a few thousand years. Tambora sized eruptions appears to erupt once or twice every thousand years, so the wait for that may be shorter."



The data does provide some insight into how the climate changed after each eruption, such as how much material in the atmosphere drove what amount of cooling.&nbsp;



"Ice cores contain information about temperatures before and after the eruptions, which allows us to calculate the effect on climate. As large eruptions tell us a lot about how sensitive our planet is to changes in the climate system, they can be useful for climate predictions," explained Svensson.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.climate-of-the-past.net/">Climate of the Past</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

Volcanic eruptions of the past provide new clues about climate change

A team of researchers led by the University of Copenhagen...

The increased use of air conditioning technologies is both a cause and an effect of climate change. Greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-co2-emissions-reached-unprecedented-highs-in-2021/">emissions</a> from air conditioners are expected to rise as economic growth drives efforts to control both temperature and humidity. While the energy used to power air conditioners has been extensively studied already, the impact from removing air moisture has not yet received proper scientific attention. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/">National Renewable Energy Laboratory</a> (NREL) and <a href="https://www.parc.com/">Xerox PARC</a>, controlling humidity is in fact responsible for roughly half of the energy-related emissions.



“It’s a challenging problem that people haven’t solved since air conditioners became commonplace more than a half-century ago,” said study co-author Jason Woods, a senior research engineer at NREL. “It's a good and a bad thing. It's good that more people can benefit from improved comfort, but it also means a lot more energy is used, and carbon emissions are increased.”



According to Woods and his colleagues, air conditioning is responsible for the equivalent of 1,950 million tons of carbon dioxide released annually, or 3.94 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Of this figure, 531 million tons arise from energy expended to control the temperature, 599 million tons from removing humidity, and the rest from the leakage of global-warming-causing refrigerants and emissions during the manufacturing and transport of the air conditioning equipment.



The researchers argue that the development of new technologies is necessary in order to limit these emissions. “We’ve already made the existing, century-old technology nearly as efficient as possible,” Woods said. “To get a transformational change in efficiency, we need to look at different approaches without the limitations of the existing one.”



Existing vapor compression technology uses harmful refrigerants to cool the air down long enough to take out its moisture, often over-cooling the air and wasting energy. Improving this technology seems to have reached its theoretical and practical limits, showing the need to develop radically new ways to cool and dehumidify buildings.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, new technology that split the cooling and humidity control problem into two processes may have the potential to improve efficiency by 40 percent or more. Using liquid desiccant-based cooling cycles such as the many liquid desiccant air conditioning technologies that NREL is currently developing could fundamentally change the way humidity is controlled and could reduce cooling-energy emissions by 42 percent in 2050 – the equivalent of avoiding the emissions of 2,460 tons of carbon dioxide annually.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(22)00094-0">Joule</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

Air conditioning is both a cause and effect of climate change

The increased use of air conditioning technologies is both a...

A new study led by the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/">University of Waterloo</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-smoke-is-taking-a-toll-on-the-wine-industry/">wildfire</a> smoke can damage the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/this-years-ozone-hole-is-larger-than-antarctica/">ozone</a> shield – a part of the stratosphere that has a crucial role in absorbing ultraviolet rays from the sun. These results suggest that if major fires become more frequent with a changing climate, more damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun will reach the ground, endangering numerous ecosystems.



The researchers used data from the Canadian Space Agency’s <a href="http://www.ace.uwaterloo.ca/">Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment</a> (ACE) satellite&nbsp;to measure the effects of smoke from the Australian wildfires of 2019 and 2020.&nbsp;



“The ACE satellite is a unique mission with over 18 continuous years of data on atmospheric composition. ACE measures a large collection of molecules to give a better, more complete picture of what is happening in our atmosphere,” said study lead author Peter Bernath, a professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Waterloo.&nbsp;



“Models can’t reproduce atmospheric smoke chemistry yet, so our measurements provide a unique look at chemistry not seen before.”



Professor Bernath and his colleagues found that the smoke resulting from Australia’s wildfires destroyed atmospheric ozone in the Southern Hemisphere for months. Similar to the holes in the ozone layer over the polar regions, this damage was fortunately temporary, and the ozone levels returned to pre-wildfire levels after the smoke disappeared from the stratosphere. However, an increase in the frequency of wildfires would mean that such events will occur more often.



“The Australian fires injected acidic smoke particles into the stratosphere, disrupting the chlorine, hydrogen, and nitrogen chemistry that regulate ozone,” said Professor Bernath. “This is the first large measurement of the smoke, which shows it converting these ozone-regulating compounds into more reactive compounds that destroy ozone.”&nbsp;



Urgent climate mitigation actions are needed to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires, and thus to protect our planet and its various ecosystems.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm5611">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

Wildfire smoke damages the ozone layer

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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