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,...

East Asia endured a coronavirus epidemic 20,000 years ago, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/">Queensland University of Technology</a>. The researchers have discovered traces of the outbreak in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dust-holds-genetic-material-from-the-coronavirus/">genetic</a> makeup of people from the region, which is now China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan.

"The modern human genome contains evolutionary information tracing back tens of thousands of years, like studying the rings of a tree gives us insight into the conditions it experienced as it grew," explained study co-author Professor Alexandrov.

There have been three severe outbreaks of coronaviruses in the last 20 years. By far the worst of these events is the ongoing outbreak SARS-CoV-2, which has claimed 3.8 million lives over the last 18 months. 

In 2002, SARS-CoV infections led to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed more than 800 people. More than 850 people were killed by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which was caused by the coronavirus MERS-CoV. 

Using genetic data from the 1000 Genomes Project, the QUT looked for changes in the genes coding for SARS-CoV-2 interacting proteins.

"Computational scientists on the team applied evolutionary analysis to the human genomic dataset to discover evidence that the ancestors of East Asian people experienced an epidemic of a coronavirus-induced disease similar to COVID-19," said Professor Alexandrov.

"In the course of the epidemic, selection favored variants of pathogenesis-related human genes with adaptive changes presumably leading to a less severe disease."

"By developing greater insights into the ancient viral foes, we gain understanding of how genomes of different human populations adapted to the viruses that have been recently recognised as a significant driver of human evolution."

"Another important offshoot of this research is the ability to identify viruses that have caused epidemic in the distant past and may do so in the future."

"This, in principle, enables us to compile a list of potentially dangerous viruses and then develop diagnostics, vaccines and drugs for the event of their return."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

East Asia endured a coronavirus outbreak 20,000 years ago

East Asia endured a coronavirus epidemic 20,000 years ago, according...

The largest human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-got-their-diverse-skulls-in-the-time-of-dinosaurs/">skull</a>, the so-called Harbin cranium, sits in collections at a museum in Hebei GEO University in China. Researchers now think that the skull could belong to our nearest relative, "Dragon Man," replacing Neanderthals in this important position. 

Three papers published by <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a> in the June 25th issue of the journal Innovation support this position. 

“The Harbin fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world," said study co-author Professor Qiang Ji. "This fossil preserved many morphological details that are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens."

The fossil is now described as a new species, Homo longi or Dragon Man. The skull was first discovered in the 1930s in China and holds a brain larger than the modern human brain, large squarish eye sockets and large brow ridges. The mouth is wide with large teeth. 

The skull is believed to have belonged to a 50-year-old male that lived in a forested floodplain as part of a small hunter-gatherer community. The individual was almost certainly quite large by modern human standards.  

Using chemical analysis, the researchers dated the skull to 146,000 years old, a time when many Homo sapiens populations were on the move and it’s possible that H. longi may have encountered H. sapiens in the area. It’s an open question whether like Neanderthals, if there may have been hybridization between the two species. 

The paleontologists created a new tree of life for humans, including Dragon Man as our sister group and Neanderthals as a more distant relative that diverged from our lineage further back in time. Only time will tell if further discoveries will complicate or validate this new view of human evolution.     

"It is widely believed that the Neanderthal belongs to an extinct lineage that is the closest relative of our own species. However, our discovery suggests that the new lineage we identified that includes Homo longi is the actual sister group of H. sapiens," explained study co-author Professor Xijun Ni. 

The new human tree of life also suggests that our common ancestor with Neanderthals existed even further back in time.

"The divergence time between H. sapiens and the Neanderthals may be even deeper in evolutionary history than generally believed, over one million years," said Professor Ni.

"Altogether, the Harbin cranium provides more evidence for us to understand Homo diversity and evolutionary relationships among these diverse Homo species and populations. We found our long-lost sister lineage."

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

"Dragon Man" may be our new closest relative

The largest human skull, the so-called Harbin cranium, sits in...

Some <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/neanderthals-may-have-communicated-like-modern-humans/">Neanderthals</a> may have actually originated in the Levant region of Western Asia and not in Europe, according to a new study from <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a>. The experts have discovered a previously unknown group of humans, with distinct features and characteristics, that resemble Pre-Neanderthal populations in Europe. 

The new finding suggests that two types of Homo groups lived side by side in the Levant region of Western Asia for more than 100,000 years, sharing knowledge and tool technologies. The research indicates that the Nesher Ramla people, who lived in the region from around 400,000 years ago, were joined by Homo sapiens about 200,000 years later.

According to the researchers, at least some of the later Homo fossils found previously in Israel do not belong to early Homo sapiens, but to groups of mixed Homo sapiens and Nesher Ramla lineage - the Nesher Ramla Homo type.

"The discovery of a new type of Homo is of great scientific importance. It enables us to make new sense of previously found human fossils, add another piece to the puzzle of human evolution, and understand the migrations of humans in the old world," said study co-author Professor Israel Hershkovitz.

"Even though they lived so long ago, in the late middle Pleistocene (474,000-130,000 years ago), the Nesher Ramla people can tell us a fascinating tale, revealing a great deal about their descendants' evolution and way of life."

The relevant human fossil was found by Dr. Yossi Zaidner from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during salvage excavations at the Nesher Ramla prehistoric site.

"This is an extraordinary discovery. We had never imagined that alongside Homo sapiens, archaic Homo roamed the area so late in human history. The archaeological finds associated with human fossils show that 'Nesher Ramla Homo' possessed advanced stone-tool production technologies and most likely interacted with the local Homo sapiens," explained Dr. Zaidner.

Professor Hershkovitz noted that the discovery of the Nesher Ramla Homo type challenges the prevailing hypothesis that the Neanderthals originated in Europe. 

"Before these new findings, most researchers believed the Neanderthals to be a 'European story', in which small groups of Neanderthals were forced to migrate southwards to escape the spreading glaciers, with some arriving in the Land of Israel about 70,000 years ago," said Professor Hershkovitz.

"The Nesher Ramla fossils make us question this theory, suggesting that the ancestors of European Neanderthals lived in the Levant as early as 400,000 years ago, repeatedly migrating westward to Europe and eastward to Asia. In fact, our findings imply that the famous Neanderthals of Western Europe are only the remnants of a much larger population that lived here in the Levant - and not the other way around."

According to Dr. Hila May of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the discovery may help to solve the mystery of how genes from Homo sapiens penetrated the Neanderthal population that had presumably lived in Europe long before the arrival of Homo sapiens.

"Europe was not the exclusive refugium of Neanderthals from where they occasionally diffused into West Asia," said Professor Gerhard Weber of Vienna University. "We think that there was much more lateral exchange in Eurasia, and that the Levant is geographically a crucial starting point, or at a least bridgehead, for this process."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New type of prehistoric human found in the Levant

Some Neanderthals may have actually originated in the Levant region...

There is a general rule for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-mammals-actually-benefit-from-human-disturbance/">mammal</a> vocalizations - the larger the animal’s vocal fold, the lower the vocalization’s fundamental frequency. Large vocal folds such as those found in Asian elephants set an upper limit to the fundamental frequency of sounds produced by them.

In keeping with this rule, many of the sounds Asian elephants produce are low frequency calls - trumpets and infrasonic rumbles below the threshold of human hearing. Researchers at the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/">University of Vienna</a> have been studying these vocalizations for decades.

Asian elephants - but not their African cousins - make a high pitched squeaking noise that cannot, if the rule holds, be produced by their large vocal folds. To investigate, the experts analyzed the squeak sounds in Asian elephants from Nepal. 

The research team used 48 microphones and a special camera that translates the location of sounds into colors, similar to a heat sensing camera. In this way, the precise location of each sound was visually mapped as it was created. 

The researchers discovered that the squeaking sound is created by the elephant’s mouth, not by the trunk as in trumpeting. 

"Our results strongly suggest that Asian elephants force air from the small oral cavity through the tensed lips, inducing self-sustained lip vibration. Besides human brass players, lip buzzing is not described elsewhere in the animal kingdom," wrote the study authors.

"Given the complexity of the proposed mechanism, the surprising absence of squeaking in most of the unrelated subjects and the indication for volitional control, we hypothesize that squeak production involves social learning."

The research supports other recent discoveries which show that elephants have the ability to learn and repeat novel sounds they hear. The study highlights the elephant’s vocal flexibility as well as their learning capacity. 

"Our study offers new insights into how vocal and cognitive flexibility enables mammals to overcome size-related limitations of laryngeal sound production," said the researchers.

"This flexibility enables Asian elephants to exploit a frequency range spanning seven octaves within their communicative system."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/">BMC Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Asian elephants vibrate their lips like human brass players

There is a general rule for mammal vocalizations - the...

Nearly 17 million Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections during the first wave of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/indoor-air-quality-standards-needed-to-prevent-pandemics/">pandemic</a>, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">AAAS</a>. The experts report that by July of 2020, there were about five undiagnosed COVID-19 infections for every single diagnosed case.

The study reveals that women, people under the age of 45, African Americans, and city dwellers had the highest rate of undiagnosed infections. 

"The majority of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop robust antibody responses against the viral spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, and the envelope protein that can be detected by serological testing," wrote the study authors.

"Antibodies against spike protein persist for months and can neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Frequently, these neutralizing antibodies bind to the receptor binding domain of the spike protein, but antibodies against the spike protein S2 domain have also been observed."

"To characterize the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States, we evaluated seropositivity in a national survey of participants who had not previously been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection."

A team of researchers led by Heather Kalish of the National Institutes of Health analyzed blood samples from 8,058 undiagnosed adults. The samples were mainly collected from early May to the end of July 2020. 

The experts found that 304 of the participants harbored antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its receptor binding domain. 

The results suggest that there was a much larger spread of COVID-19 than previously realized, which included undiagnosed infections in at least 4.6 percent of the U.S. population.

"This study demonstrates that spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the US during the first six months of the pandemic was more widespread than has been suggested by data reporting diagnostic test-confirmed cases," wrote the researchers.

"These results, including the subgroup analysis, give us a previously undescribed view into the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by more clearly identifying the large numbers of individuals with undiagnosed infections during the initial months of the pandemic. These data are of great importance as we consider the impact vaccination may have on the future course of the pandemic and plan for current and future available vaccines to be administered." 

"In addition, these data can also help us to better assess the public health measures taken during the pandemic and how to take the best approaches forward during any future public health emergencies."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://stm.sciencemag.org/">Science Translational Medicine</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Millions of Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections

Nearly 17 million Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections during the...

Most models for viral transmission focus on humans spreading viruses that infect other humans. However, other factors may also be at play when it comes to transmission of viruses like the one that causes COVID-19, including tree pollen.

Researchers noticed a correlation between the increase of pollen and an increase in COVID-19 infections. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.aip.org/">American Institute of Physics</a>, Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis set out to investigate how pollen distribution may assist in the spread of SARS-COV-2 and other viruses.

The experts used a computer model to show how pollen moves in a willow. The computer model recreated a realistic tree producing pollen amidst a gathering of roughly 100 people, some of which were infected by COVID-19. 

"This included thousands of tree leaves and pollen grain particles, hundreds of stems and a realistic gathering of a crowd of about 100 individuals at about 20 meters from the tree," explained Dbouk.

As the tree pollen was caught in the wind and spread through the crowd of people, some of the particles attached to COVID-19 particles, carrying them farther than they would have traveled alone. 

Every grain of pollen can carry hundreds of virus particles, and a tree can populate a cubic meter of air with 1,500 grains on some days. The research suggests that pollen could have a significant impact on virus transmission, changing normal human to human dynamics.     

"In the case of high pollen grains concentrations in the air or during pollination in the spring, the social distance of 2 meters does not hold as a health safety measure for an outdoor crowd," explained the study authors. "Thus, the public authorities should revise the social distancing guidelines."

Although this study focused mainly on COVID-19 transmissions, the researchers hope that the paper increases interest in fluid dynamics of trees. 

They plan on carrying out more research on how these dynamics affect human respiration under different atmospheric conditions next.    

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/journal/phf">Physics of Fluids</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Trees spread COVID-19 through pollen

Most models for viral transmission focus on humans spreading viruses...

In the mid-2030s, the frequency of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overtopping-threatens-the-future-of-coastal-habitats/">coastal</a> flooding will drastically increase across multiple regions in the United States, according to a new study from <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">UH Mānoa</a>. The projections show rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding (HTF) days, as well as extreme months.

Study lead author Phil Thompson is the director of the UH Sea Level Center and assistant professor of Oceanography in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).

"We expect the most rapid increases to be along U.S. Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, which includes Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. This is important, because this is the point at which high-tide flooding transitions from being primarily a local or regional issue and becomes a national issue affecting a majority of our nation's coastlines," said Professor Thompson. 

The researchers analyzed tide gauge data from 89 coastal locations around the United States, including 10 locations from Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. To project future occurrences of high-tide flooding, the team developed a new statistical technique that combines changes in tidal range with NOAA sea level rise scenarios for the 21st century.

The study shows that in the coming decades, sea-level rise will exacerbate the issue where it is already a recurring problem, while many more locations will begin to experience recurrent high-tide flooding.

The researchers found that annual cycles in tides can coincide with oceanographic anomalies to produce many high-tide flooding episodes over a short amount of time, leading to extreme months with clustered events.

"Scientists, engineers and decision-makers are accustomed to thinking about rare high-impact events, for example, a 100-year storm, but we demonstrate that it is important to plan for extreme months or seasons during which the number of flooding episodes, rather than the magnitude, is exceptional," said Professor Thompson.

The experts also determined that natural fluctuations in tidal range, which occur from one decade to the next, are responsible for alternately reducing and exacerbating the impacts of sea level rise.

"Understanding and communicating this phenomenon reduces the possibility of complacency and inaction during periods of reduced impacts and helps us be more prepared for periods when impacts will be heightened," said Professor Thompson. 

"As an island state with much of its infrastructure and economy vulnerable to sea level rise, these results are crucial to understanding how impacts from sea level rise will evolve in coming decades in Hawaii."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

High-tide flooding will rapidly increase along the U.S. coastline

In the mid-2030s, the frequency of coastal flooding will drastically...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.ird.fr/">IRD</a>, researchers have found that coastal overtopping and subsequent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coastal-development-is-worsening-nuisance-flooding/">flooding</a> will become much more frequent in the coming decades. 

Hurricane Katrina served as a vivid example of coastal overtopping, where waves breach a natural or human-made barrier, usually resulting in massive damage. 

More recently, Typhoon Haiyan in Asia was the largest typhoon ever recorded and a reminder that the threat from overtopping - and from storms in general - is likely to increase, especially in the tropics. 

Global warming is set to make these events more frequent and stronger over time. Flooding is likely to increase as well. Almost a full 10 percent of the world’s human population lives in low lying coastal regions, which are the highest risk areas for overtopping. 

Human development on the coastline not only causes further damage to natural environments that are already threatened, but also raises risks to people and infrastructure.

The IRD team investigated the impact of wave overtopping on future flooding. The experts combined a digital Earth model with estimates of sea level rises. 

The researchers looked at the recent extreme weather events as well as long term patterns of wind driven waves and other phenomena to look at potential problems in the future and identify high risk areas. 

Some of the places most at risk of coastal overtopping are the Gulf of Mexico, the southern Meditteranean, west Africa, Madagascar and the Baltic. 

The scientists concluded that overtopping may also increase faster than the predicted rise in sea levels and that this risk is set to accelerate rather than increase at a steady rate. 

“The frequency of overtopping is accelerating exponentially and will be clearly perceptible as early as 2050, regardless of the climate scenario," said study co-author Rafaël Almar.

"By the end of the century, the intensity of the acceleration will depend on the future trajectories of greenhouse gas emissions and therefore the rise in sea-level. In the case of a high emissions scenario, the number of overtopping hours globally could increase fifty-fold compared with current levels.”

This is bad news, especially for the poorer regions directly threatened, such as Madagascar, where neither people nor government are prepared for the dangers ahead.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

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By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

“Overtopping” threatens the future of coastal habitats

In a new study from IRD, researchers have found that...

Air pollution associated with burning fossil fuels was responsible for over one million premature deaths in 2017 alone, according to an international team of researchers led by <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University</a>. The experts found that more than half of those deaths were attributable to coal.

Fine particle pollution (PM2.5) has become a global health crisis. The researchers note that PM2.5 has not only climbed to dangerous levels in the atmosphere, but can also be a hazard indoors from simply cooking on a stove.

"PM2.5 is the world's leading environmental risk factor for mortality. Our key objective is to understand its sources," said Professor Randall Martin.

Working in Professor Martin's lab, research associate Erin McDuffie used various computational tools to analyze a wealth of relevant data. The study has produced the most comprehensive dataset of air pollution emissions of its kind. 

The team was able to distinguish between various sources of air pollution, ranging from dust storms to energy production.

Overall, more than 20 distinct pollution sources were linked to human health issues based on the analysis of exposure to PM2.5 levels and health outcomes from the Global Burden of Disease.

The study shows that severe pollution is tied to different sources depending on the region of the world. McDuffie explained that while cookstoves and home-heating are still responsible for the release of particulate matter in many regions throughout Asia, energy generation remains a large polluter on the global scale.

"Previous studies end up having to use different emissions data sets or models all together," said McDuffie. "We can more directly compare results between countries." 

"We can even look at pollution sources in places that have implemented some mitigation measures, versus others that haven't to get a more complete picture of what may or may not be working."

In West sub-Saharan Africa, windblown dust accounted for nearly three quarters of the particulate matter in the atmosphere in 2017 compared to a global rate of just 16 percent. 

"Ultimately, it will be important to consider sources at the subnational scale when developing mitigation strategies for reducing air pollution," said McDuffie.

Even though the study confirms that air pollution is killing people prematurely worldwide, Professor Martin and McDuffie said their findings also have positive results for pollution monitoring.

"The good news is that we may be providing some of the first information that these places have about their major sources of pollution," said McDuffie. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

One million premature deaths linked to air pollution in 2017

Air pollution associated with burning fossil fuels was responsible for...

More than half of the world's rivers run dry each year In a new study led by <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a>, researchers have determined that more than half of the world's rivers and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/californias-streamside-forests-are-threatened-by-water-management/">streams</a> stop flowing for at least one day per year. The experts found that between 51 and 60 percent of the 64 million kilometers of Earth's rushing waters run dry periodically.

The research highlights the need to change the general assumption that water flows in rivers and streams year-round. The study has also produced a map of non-perennial rivers that provides crucial baseline information for the assessment of future changes in river flow intermittence. North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be described as the northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 16.5% of the Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa,

"Non-perennial rivers and streams are very valuable ecosystems as they are home to many distinct species that are adapted to cycles of water presence and absence," said study first author Mathis Messager.

"These rivers can provide critical water and food sources for people and they play an important role in controlling water quality. But more often than not they are mismanaged or altogether excluded from management actions and conservation laws as they are simply overlooked."

Study co-senior author Professor Bernhard Lehner noted that given continued global climate and land use change, an increasingly large proportion of the global river network is expected to cease to flow seasonally over the coming decades.

"In fact, many formerly perennial rivers and streams, including sections of iconic rivers such as the Nile, the Indus and the Colorado River have become intermittent in the past 50 years due to climate change, land use transitions, or the temporary or permanent withdrawal of water for human use and agriculture."

The researchers analyzed long-term records of water flow in 5,615 locations around the world. The data included information on the hydrology, climate, and surrounding land cover at these locations. 

The experts determined that non-perennial rivers are most common in places where there is much more evaporation than rainfall. They also found that smaller streams have more variable flow, which makes them more likely to dry up periodically. 

Surprisingly, the study showed that non-perennial rivers occur in tropical climates - and even in the Arctic - where rivers freeze up for parts of the year.

The researchers estimate that more than half of the world's population lives in locations where the closest river or stream around them is non-perennial. 

"By mapping non-perennial rivers and streams, our study pushes for a recognition of their prevalence and ecological significance by the scientific community," said co-senior author Thibault Datry. 

"We hope that our study will trigger efforts to adequately manage these river ecosystems and halt attempts to exclude them from protective legislation."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

More than half of the world's rivers run dry each year

More than half of the world's rivers run dry each...

It may seem like science fiction but researchers at <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a> proved it’s possible. The new study has recreated a complex bird song complete with pitch, tone and volume from nothing more than the bird’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-insects-have-more-than-200000-brain-cells/">brain</a> activity.

The research was focused on zebra finches, which are small, beautifully colored birds that are native to Australia. The experts implanted silicone chips into the birds brains to record the brain activity controlling vocal muscles while they sang. 

The readings were then fed into a computer algorithm where computers recreated the bird songs. In research such as this, the test animals are typically euthanized when the study has concluded. 

The scientists hope to sacrifice a few birds for the good of disabled people by applying this research to humans eventually. The idea is to build a "vocal prosthetic" where someone can recreate their own verbal words simply by thinking them. 

“The current state of the art in communication prosthetics is implantable devices that allow you to generate textual output, writing up to 20 words per minute…Now imagine a vocal prosthesis that enables you to communicate naturally with speech, saying out loud what you're thinking nearly as you're thinking it. That is our ultimate goal, and it is the next frontier in functional recovery," explained study senior author Timothy Gentner.

While it may seem like a stretch to jump from bird song to human speech, anyone who has listened on a spring morning to the cacophony knows that bird’s songs can be quite complex. In fact, the researchers say that there are many similarities between the two. 

Previous research shows that if you delay the sound of a person’s voice, playing it back just a bit later, they will start to stutter. The same is true of birds when they sing.

Ultimately, the researchers hope that their prosthetic will be close in timing to actual speech. Something that can be reacted upon as we react naturally to hearing our own voice. 

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

---

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

Mind reading technology recreates bird song from brain waves

It may seem like science fiction but researchers at University...

Thale,Cress,(arabidopsis,Thaliana),Blossoms,And,Buds,Macro,Picture

The scientific exploration of the natural world is a conundrum. We’ve scaled the highest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flood-risk-could-triple-in-the-high-mountains-of-asia/">mountains</a> and discovered trash already waiting for us on the bottom of the ocean. Science has gathered so much information that sometimes, it seems there should be little left to learn. 

There are some aspects of the natural world especially familiar to science. Like the proverbial guinea pig, scientists come back to some organisms again and again to test ideas with potential broad applications. Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) is one of those organisms for botanists. 

Thale Cress is a pretty but nondescript little plant with spindly stalks bearing simple, white flowers. The plant is considered a weed, found in disturbed areas in its native home of Africa and Eurasia. First described by science in the 16th century, Thale Cress has become popular in genetic experiments since the 1940s. 

Rather than asking questions about the plant itself, most research has focused on using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism to ask more general questions about genetics, such as their impact on development and physiology. While it seemed that the research had surpassed understanding the modest thale cress, scientists recently discovered that we still have more to learn. 

Since 2008, Dr. Timothy Gookin, a postdoctoral researcher with Sarah Assmann’s lab at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a>, has been working with thale cress. Considering the amount of study already directed at the thale cress, what he discovered was surprising - a new piece of plant anatomy dubbed the "cantil." 

“It took over 12 years of experimentation to really get a grasp on what we were seeing and to understand how cantils were regulated," said Dr. Gookin. "This study required the growth of 3,782 plants to full maturity and the manual inspection of over 20,000 flower-bearing stalks in 34 unique plant lines”

The name cantil itself comes from the unique function of the structure. Under rare circumstances such as short day length, cantils develop, seemingly as a counter balance to hold up flowers. The unique feature connects to the flower’s stem and hangs like a cantilever.    

"One speculative interpretation is that the cantil represents a highly repressed ancestral linkage between different types of flowering plant architectures; the multiple layers of genetic and environmental factors that regulate cantil development are certainly quite striking," said Dr. Gookin.

The study is published in <a href="https://www.biologists.com/">The Company of Biologists</a> journal <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/dev">Development</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Experts discover a new body part in plants

The scientific exploration of the natural world is a conundrum....

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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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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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...