Glp-1,Receptor,,Inactivated,And,Surrounded,By,An,Agonist,(semaglutide,,Red)

Sugar holds a strong place in many people’s diets, especially when stress runs high or snacks are within easy reach. While sugar’s appeal may feel irresistible, excessive consumption can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. 



Scientists may have discovered a natural way to regulate blood sugar and curb cravings, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weight-loss-drugs-could-save-an-enormous-number-of-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">akin to drugs like Ozempic</a>. They've been investigating the relationship between sugar intake, gut signals, and hormones that help control appetite.



Reducing sugar intake can be challenging, but experts emphasize that managing blood sugar lowers the risk of diabetes complications. 



Health guidelines suggest limiting added sugars to 9 teaspoons per day for men and 6 teaspoons per day for women. 



Though this might seem difficult, research points to gut microbes as a potential secret weapon against persistent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/americas-tide-of-obesity-is-rising-with-75-already-impacted/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cravings and obesity</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-glp-1-the-basics">Understanding GLP-1 - the basics</h2>



GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, is a hormone your body naturally produces in the gut. It plays a big role in managing blood sugar and appetite. 



After you eat, your intestines release GLP-1, which signals your pancreas to pump out insulin. At the same time, it tells your liver to slow down glucose production, keeping blood sugar levels steady. 



But GLP-1 doesn’t stop there - it also slows digestion and sends signals to your brain that make you feel full, which helps prevent overeating.



Drugs like <a href="https://www.ozempic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ozempic</a>, <a href="https://www.wegovy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wegovy</a>, and <a href="https://www.victoza.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Victoza</a> mimic GLP-1’s natural actions, helping control blood sugar and curb cravings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gut-signals-and-sugary-foods">Gut signals and sugary foods</h2>



Dr. Li from <a href="https://english.jiangnan.edu.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jiangnan University</a> in China has been examining how gut signals might shape a person’s preference for sugary foods. 



In a recent publication, the authors state, “A growing body of research has revealed that our cravings for dietary components originate from signals sent from the gut, a key organ in transmitting dietary preferences.” 



This highlights the dynamic interaction between diet and gut microbes.



They also note, “However, which genes, gut flora, and metabolites in the gut microenvironment are involved in the regulation of sugar preference is currently unclear.” 



To understand this better, some studies have explored the role of hormones in sugar cravings, especially in individuals with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/type-2-diabetes-heightens-alzheimers-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">type 2 diabetes</a>. 



There is also evidence suggesting that those with certain genetic variations tied to FGF21 are about 20% more likely to consume high amounts of sweet foods.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glp-1-and-gut-microbiota">GLP-1 and gut microbiota</h2>



One surprising discovery involves Ffar4, a receptor that influences gut microbiota composition. When Ffar4 levels decrease, the abundance of a gut microbe, Bacteroides vulgatus, may shift. 



Researchers at Jiangnan University have found that increasing this microbe in diabetic mice can “orchestrate the secretion of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weight-loss-drugs-could-save-an-enormous-number-of-lives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glucagon-like peptide-1</a> (GLP-1).” 



This microbe produces metabolic compounds that send signals linked to sugar cravings and energy balance.



Bacteroides vulgatus is known to produce pantothenate, a form of vitamin B5. Scientists report that pantothenate helps release GLP-1, a hormone tied to satiety and blood sugar regulation. 



GLP-1, in turn, triggers the release of another hormone, FGF21. When these signals function properly, the body manages sugar more effectively, ultimately reducing the urge for sweet foods.



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



People with type 2 diabetes often have impaired GLP-1 function, prompting researchers to explore ways to improve or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/olives-may-be-a-powerful-weapon-in-the-fight-against-obesity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mimic its activity</a>. 



GLP-1 agonist drugs, such as semaglutide, have proven effective in lowering blood sugar and controlling appetite. 



While these medications work, some scientists are investigating whether natural methods can stimulate the same hormonal pathways. The authors suggest their study “provides a strategy for diabetes prevention.”



This approach brings the gut microbiome into focus, as small changes in microbial makeup might have broader implications. 



If further research confirms similar outcomes in humans, it could influence how doctors approach <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neurons-discovered-that-tell-us-when-to-stop-eating/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sugar cravings</a> and early diabetes management. 



Emerging studies indicate potential benefits in boosting beneficial gut microbes, but it remains unclear how soon this concept will translate into practical medical solutions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-glp-1-microbiomes-and-the-future">GLP-1, microbiomes, and the future</h2>



Many questions remain about how gut microbes shape individual dietary choices. Researchers continue exploring whether manipulating these microbes could regulate sugar intake without drastic measures. 



Adjustments in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/your-microbiome-trillions-of-bacteria-unique-like-your-fingerprint/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gut microbe populations</a> might not only help balance blood sugar but also support overall health.



Evidence linking intestinal bacteria to hunger-regulating hormones is growing, raising hopes that these discoveries may curb sugar cravings before diabetes develops. 



Some might compare this to a helpful chain reaction: the gut microbe produces specific compounds, those compounds activate the body’s natural signals, and the result is steadier blood sugar control. 



While the future direction of this research is uncertain, ongoing discoveries about microbes and hormones provide valuable insights into maintaining health - and possibly preserving a sweet tooth in moderation.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-024-01902-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Microbiology</a>.



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Natural Ozempic alternative may soon be available for humans

Sugar holds a strong place in many people’s diets, especially when stress runs high or snacks are within easy reach. While sugar’s appeal may feel irresistible, excessive consumption can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. Scientists may have discovered a natural way to regulate blood sugar and curb cravings, akin to drugs like Ozempic. They've been investigating the relationship between sugar intake, gut signals, and hormones that help control appetite. Reducing sugar intake can be challenging, but experts emphasize that managing blood sugar lowers the risk...

Archaeologists are often interested in the extent to which human populations are impacted by environmental perturbations, such as floods, famines, heat waves and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/avocados-substantially-reduce-the-risk-of-heart-disease/">disease</a>. They propose that events such as the Plague of 1347-1351, the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia, and the climatic downturns of the Little Ice Age affected human populations through changes in food availability, agriculture and population migrations. 



However, evaluating the long-term impacts of environmental change on past societies is often not possible through examination of the archaeological record because this usually lacks the temporal and spatial resolution to link such changes to exact historical events. We like the idea that climate change leads to social and cultural transformations, but there has not been a lot of evidence to support this.



Now, in a new study published today in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLoS ONE</a>, Gill Plunkett and Graeme Swindles of Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, challenge the perception that human societies have been vulnerable to past environmental change. The researchers investigated an upland site on the Antrim Plateau in the north of Ireland that was inhabited for over 1,000 years and, by reconstructing the paleoenvironmental and land use history of the site, show that human populations can be resilient in the face of environmental changes.



The researchers analyzed the uppermost horizons of a peat core, collected from a marginal site at the Slieveanorra bog in 2003. The core was 5mm in diameter and the section analysed spanned the past millennium in terms of time. They were able to infer past environmental and human occupation changes from the evidence of microbes and the pollen of natural plants and crop plants present in the peat. The experts were also able to use historically-dated volcanic ash markers and historical accounts to identify precisely the timing of past calamities such as the Black Death and the Great Potato Famine.&nbsp;



The last millennium was a difficult time for Irish people in this location. They experienced many climate swings, along with epidemics, famines, skirmishes and invasions. And yet the researchers’ record from the upland site reveals no evidence of long-term disruption to human occupation related to environmental changes.



Instead, the Slieveanorra pollen record shows a long tradition of land use in the Antrim uplands that extends as far back as the 12th century. According to the study authors, the occupation of the area continues through several major climate fluctuations, including the severest centuries of the Little Ice Age. This reveals that “the community occupying this seemingly remote and marginal environment in northeast Ireland was resilient to a range of climatic, environmental and social challenges during the last millennium,” they explained.



The results reflect a community that was able to either escape the effects of environmental change, or to rebound quickly. This surprising resilience from a relatively remote location was likely the result of social factors – such as agricultural and trade practices – which made the community flexible and adaptable.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that, in the face of environmental change, not all human communities respond the same way, and this variation is likely to be linked to social conditions prevalent for each respective population. Understanding this complexity is key to understanding what conditions make communities vulnerable to cultural collapse in the face of environmental change.



“Ireland’s uplands today seem barren, but they were occupied and farmed for centuries, despite climate change, famines and plague," said the study authors.&nbsp;



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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

Irish community survived a thousand years of environmental change

Archaeologists are often interested in the extent to which human...

According to new research led by the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>, anthropogenic climate change will make strong <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-reveal-the-hidden-death-burden-of-tropical-cyclones/">tropical cyclones</a> twice as frequent by 2050, putting many parts of the world at risk. Experts argue that maximum wind speeds associated with these cyclones could increase by about 20 percent.



Although they are among the world’s most destructive extreme weather events, tropical cyclones are relatively rare, with only about 80 to 100 forming annual around the globe. By combining historical data with global climate models, the scientists generated hundreds of thousands of “synthetic tropical cyclones” in order to predict the frequency with which such events may occur around the world over the next decades, while climate change intensifies.



The results suggest that the frequency of the most intense tropical cyclones (from Category 3 or higher) will double globally, while weaker tropical cyclones and storms will become less common in many areas of the world. An important exception may be the Bay of Bengal, where the scientists project a decrease in the frequency of intense cyclones.



Many of the areas highly at risk for such extreme events will be lower-income countries, such as Cambodia, Mozambique, Laos, and many Pacific Island Nations, including Tonga and the Solomon Islands. Asia will most probably see the largest increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, with millions of people facing severe risks in China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.



“Of particular concern is that the results of our study highlight that some regions that don’t currently experience tropical cyclones are likely to in the near future with climate change,” said study co-author Ivan Haigh, an associated professor of Coastal Oceanography at the University of Southampton. “The new tropical cyclone dataset we have produced will greatly aid the mapping of changing flood risk in tropical cyclone regions.”



“Our results can help identify the locations prone to the largest increase in tropical cyclone risk,” added study lead author Nadia Bloemendaal, a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="https://vu.nl/en">Free University of Amsterdam</a>. Local governments can then take measures to reduce risk in their region, so that damage and fatalities can be reduced. With our publicly available data, we can now analyse tropical cyclone risk more accurately for every individual coastal city or region,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm8438">Science Advances</a>.&nbsp;



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

Intense tropical cyclones are set to double by 2050

According to new research led by the University of Southampton,...

A new study published in the journal <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl7161?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D49172270223902357213481499257602856343%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1651047378&amp;_ga=2.150076022.1995947671.1650977792-2046344334.1629960599">Science Advances</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-are-the-carbon-costs-of-wildfires/">wildfires</a> occurring in the United States and Canada boreal forests between now and 2050 could increase by as much as 169 and 150 percent, respectively. This would release nearly 12 gigatons of net carbon emissions (the equivalent of the annual emissions of 2.6 billion cars) - which represents about three percent of the remaining global carbon budget.



“Wildfires in boreal forests can be especially harmful in terms of the amount of emissions they release into the atmosphere since they store about two-thirds of the world’s forest carbon, most of which is contained in the soil and has accumulated over hundreds or even thousands of years,” said study lead author Dr. Caryl Phillips, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/programs/climate-energy">Climate &amp; Energy Program</a>. 



“If not properly contained, heat-trapping emissions from wildfires in boreal forests could dramatically increase, jeopardizing nations’ ability to limit warming in line with the Paris Agreement.”



According to study co-author Dr. Peter Frumhoff, a global change ecologist at <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>, while governments prioritize rapid suppression of wildfires that occur near heavily populated areas and crucial infrastructure, they often allow other regions that hold large amounts of carbon to burn unabated. This is a highly hazardous practice to the health and safety of Alaskan and Canadian communities. 



“Expanding fire management to keep wildfires near historical levels across boreal North America would provide multiple benefits and leave us far better positioned to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Dr. Frumhoff.



Although wildfires in the U.S. and Canadian boreal forests release a massive amount of carbon emissions, fire suppression efforts in these areas are given a disproportionate amount of funding. For instance, while Alaska accounts for roughly 20 percent of burned land area and half of U.S. fire emissions annually, it only receives four percent of federal fire management funding.



“Reducing boreal forest fires to near-historical levels and keeping carbon in the ground will require additional investments,” said&nbsp;study co-author Dr. Brendan Rogers, an associate scientist at the <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/">Woodwell Climate Research Center</a>. 



“These funds are comparatively low and pale in comparison to the costs countries will face to cope with the growing health consequences exacerbated by worsening air quality and the more frequent and intense climate impacts that are expected if emissions continue to rise unabated. They can also ensure wildlife, tourism, jobs, and many other facets of our society can persevere in a warming world,” he 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

Wildfires will release massive amounts of carbon by mid-century

A new study published in the journal Science Advances has...

Together, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-use-edna-to-measure-reef-fish-diversity/">DNA</a> and RNA have five informational units that spell out the language of life, or at least life on Earth. Previously, three of these five have been found in meteorites. Researchers have now discovered the last two remaining informational units. This means that the chemicals that make up life on Earth could have possibly come from off the planet.   



The informational units, technically called nucleobases, are all part of two types of organic compounds - pyrimidines or purines. Professor Yasuhiro Oba of Hokkaido University led the team that finally discovered the last two nucleobases. He questioned why it took so long to find them in the first place.



“I wonder why purines and pyrimidines are exceptional in that they do not show structural diversity in carbonaceous meteorites unlike other classes of organic compounds such as amino acids and hydrocarbons,” said Oba. “Since purines and pyrimidines can be synthesized in extraterrestrial environments, as has been demonstrated by our own study, one would expect to find a wide diversity of these organic molecules in meteorites.”



“We now have evidence that the complete set of nucleobases used in life today could have been available on Earth when life emerged,” said study co-author Danny Glavin of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a>.



The newly found nucleobases thymine and cytosine have probably been missed so far because they’re quite fragile. In other studies, meteorite pieces have been put into hot water to extract the chemicals to then analyze them.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We study these water extracts since they contain the good stuff, ancient organic molecules that could have been key building blocks for the origin of life on Earth,” said Glavin.



“This group has managed a technique that is more like cold brew than hot tea and is able to pull out more delicate compounds,” said study co-author Jason Dworkin. “I was amazed that they had seen cytosine, which is very fragile.”&nbsp;



This new study shows that life could be widespread across the universe and that the building blocks of this life could be introduced from space.&nbsp;



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

The building blocks of life may come from asteroids

Together, DNA and RNA have five informational units that spell...

A new study has found evidence of zoonotic spread between hospital patients and Danish pigs. The researchers analyzed samples of the superbug Clostridioides difficile across 14 pig farms in Denmark and confirmed the circulation of multiple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-can-jump-between-healthy-pets-and-owners/">antibiotic-resistance</a> genes between pigs and humans. The findings provide the latest evidence that animal to human (zoonotic) transmission is possible.



“Our finding of multiple and shared resistance genes indicate that C. difficile is a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes that can be exchanged between animals and humans," said Dr. Semeh Bejaoui from the University of Copenhagen.&nbsp;



“This alarming discovery suggests that resistance to antibiotics can spread more widely than previously thought, and confirms links in the resistance chain leading from farm animals to humans.”



C. difficile infects the human gut and is resistant to all but three antibiotics. Some strains contain genes that produce toxins that cause damaging inflammation, leading to life-threatening diarrhea.&nbsp;



This bacteria strain is one of the biggest antibiotic resistance threats in the USA. In 2017, C.difficile caused an estimated 223,900 infections and 12,800 deaths at a healthcare cost of more than $1 billion.



A strain of C. difficile that can cause more serious disease is associated with a rising number of infections in young and healthy individuals. Farm animals have recently been identified as carriers of this strain.&nbsp;



In this study, Danish scientists investigated the prevalence of C. difficile strains in pigs. They also looked at the potential for zoonotic spread of antimicrobial resistance genes by comparing the pig samples to Danish hospital patients.



Stool samples were collected from 514 pigs in two batches. Batch A included 330 samples from sows, piglets and slaughter pigs from fourteen farms in 2020. The 184 samples in batch B were collected during slaughtering in 2021.



The results showed that C. difficile was detected in 54 of the pigs sampled. Further analyses of 40 samples revealed that C. difficile was more common in piglets and sows than slaughter pigs. This could be because of the difference in age between piglets and adult pigs, as younger pigs are more susceptible to infection.



In total, thirteen sequence types found in animals matched those found in the human stool samples. All of the animal samples were positive for the toxin genes, and ten had an even greater capacity to cause disease.



Overall, 38 isolates from the animals contained at least one resistance gene. Resistance was predicted for seven classes of antibiotics that treat severe bacterial infections.



The findings demonstrate how overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and farms are now impacting the ability to cure bacterial infections



“This study provides more evidence on the evolutionary pressure connected with the use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry, which selects for dangerously resistant human pathogens," said Dr. Bejaoui. "This highlights the importance of adopting a more comprehensive approach, for the management of C. difficile infection, in order to consider all possible routes of dissemination."



The researchers were unable to determine the cause or direction of transmission. This is because the strains found in human and animal samples were identical, suggesting that they could be shared between groups.&nbsp;



The experts empathize the importance of deeper analysis to better understand how the bacteria is continuously exchanged between the human population and farm animals.&nbsp;



The research was presented at this year’s <a href="https://www.eccmid.org/">European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases</a> (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal.



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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

Pigs and humans are sharing antibiotic-resistance genes

A new study has found evidence of zoonotic spread between...

Experts at <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">UT Austin</a> have created an enzyme variant that has the potential to eliminate billions of tons of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-in-landfills-produce-valuable-methane/">landfill</a> waste. In just 24 hours, the enzyme can break down plastics that typically take centuries to degrade.



According to the researchers, the enzyme could supercharge recycling on a large scale that would allow major industries to reduce their environmental impact by reusing plastics at the molecular level.



“The possibilities are endless across industries to leverage this leading-edge recycling process,” said Professor Hal Alper. “Beyond the obvious waste management industry, this also provides corporations from every sector the opportunity to take a lead in recycling their products. Through these more sustainable enzyme approaches, we can begin to envision a true circular plastics economy.”



Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a polymer found in most consumer packaging, such as soda bottles, that makes up 12 percent of all global waste.



A team of experts in the Cockrell School of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences used machine learning to develop a new variant of the natural enzyme PETase. The enzyme variant, called FAST-PETase, allows bacteria to degrade PET plastics.&nbsp;



The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of FAST-PETase to help break down dozens of post-consumer plastic containers, five different polyester fibers and fabrics, and water bottles that were all made from PET.



“This work really demonstrates the power of bringing together different disciplines, from synthetic biology to chemical engineering to artificial intelligence,” said Professor Andrew Ellington.



Going forward, the team plans to scale up enzyme production to prepare for industrial and environmental application, such as cleaning up landfills and polluted sites.&nbsp;



“When considering environmental cleanup applications, you need an enzyme that can work in the environment at ambient temperature," said Alper. "This requirement is where our tech has a huge advantage in the future."



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

New enzyme has potential to supercharge plastic recycling

Experts at UT Austin have created an enzyme variant that...

A new study funded by <a href="https://fapesp.br/en">FAPESP</a> has concluded that the very species integral to seed dispersal and tree reproduction are among the first to disappear as a result of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-hits-a-new-record/">deforestation</a>.



For example, guapeva-vermelha, a tree endemic to Brazil and listed as "vulnerable" under the IUCN, depends on animals such as the brown howlers, southern muriqui monkeys, and the South American tapir to disperse their seeds. Unfortunately, as these animals were killed or chased out of their habitat, the P. bullata vanished as well.&nbsp;



"Seed dispersal is a complex process involving many types of vertebrates at the same time. Deforestation leads to the extinction of animals, which lose food, and plants, which can no longer disperse their seeds," explained study first author Lisieux Fuzessy.



When the researchers began to explore seed dispersal in the Atlantic Rainforest, they didn't realize they would be digging so deep into vertebrate seed dispersal.



"We set out initially to investigate the role of primates in seed dispersal, but it soon became evident that we needed to analyze the roles played by all vertebrates," said Fuzessy.



The team decided to complete a wide-ranging analysis of seed dispersal. They examined the role of primates, birds, bats, carnivores, marsupials, rodents, and ungulates in this critical process.



The researchers focused on two forests. One was Serra de Paranapiacaba, which includes 120,000 hectares of highly preserved forests. The area contains elusive jaguars, bush dogs, the white-lipped peccary, and a large frugivorous bird known as the black-fronted piping guan. The researchers documented 1,588 interactions between 133 animals and 315 plants in Serra de Paranapiacaba.



The second study area was Reserva de Santa Genebra. This forest is only 250 hectares, fragmented, and surrounded by human disturbance. The area was also heavily deforested before it gained protected status in 1984. Most of the animals in Reserva de Santa Genebra are notably smaller. The animals found here include the spotted paca, American opossum, and the Brazilian squirrel. Here,&nbsp; researchers recorded 21 interactions between 54 animals and 58 plants.



"The difference was highly significant. Key species such as muriquis and tapirs eat a far greater diversity of fruit than birds, for example," said Fuzessy. "In addition to their strong demand for calories, they have a wide gape or gullet, which enables them to swallow large fruit and disperse plants that without them simply disappear in a cascade effect."



The results of the study further illustrate that species conservation is not enough. When considering reforestation projects, conservationists need to analyze the ecology of an area and aim to conserve functional diversity.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.13065">Biotropica</a>.&nbsp;



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

Animals needed for seed dispersal are the first victims of deforestation

A new study funded by FAPESP has concluded that the...

Many animal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildlife-conservation-can-help-stabilize-the-climate/">species</a> around the world are currently leaving areas that are becoming too warm, and move into areas that were previously too cold. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>, wildlife watchers generally welcome species that have arrived in the United Kingdom due to climate change.



The scientists asked volunteers who contribute to wildlife recording schemes about their attitudes toward a variety of insect and bird species that have recently arrived in the UK. Participants in the survey were given examples of such species, including insects such as the mottled shieldbug or the red-eyed damselfly, and birds like the Eurasian spoonbill or the little bittern.&nbsp;



While volunteers mostly welcomed new arrivals, they were less happy with species they were not familiar with, or with those that were found to harm native wildlife. Moreover, they expressed negative attitudes toward invasive species that were introduced in the UK by humans.



“We found that wildlife recorders viewed range-shifters more as vulnerable ‘ecological refugees’ than as threatening ‘climate opportunists,’” said study senior author Regan Early, a senior lecturer in Conservation Biology at the University of Exeter. “Respondents were strongly opposed to eradicating or controlling new range-shifters, but they also did not want to see conservationists trying to boost their numbers.”



“The complex questions of how and when to manage these arrivals are becoming increasingly urgent as more establish,” added study lead author James Cranston, a doctoral student in Environmental Studies at the same university. “Scientific evidence was a key factor in respondents’ decision-making on management, but many also spoke of the ‘wow’ factor that some of these species had for them.”&nbsp;



The scientists hope that this study could be an opportunity to make more people aware of, and involved in, wildlife conservation. 



“Public opinion – especially among volunteers engaged in conservation – will play an important role in how we treat species arriving in the UK,” concluded Dr. Early.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10325">People and Nature</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

“Ecological refugees” are welcomed by wildlife watchers

Many animal species around the world are currently leaving areas...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.nmbu.no/en">Norwegian University of Life Sciences</a> (NMBU) has found that domestic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-to-tell-whether-you-cat-is-a-psychopath/">cats</a> that are occasionally left by their owners to wander outdoors rarely stray far away from home. In fact, most felines spent an average of 79 percent of their time outdoors within 50 meters of the owners’ homes, with only a few of them wandering farther.



The scientists GPS-marked almost 100 pets in a small town in Eastern Norway in order to track them while they were outside. “The goal was to map the movements of an entire population of pet cats within the same area,” said study lead author Richard Bischof, a wildlife ecologist at NMBU. Since the cat owners all lived within an area of about one square kilometer, the researchers managed to collect detailed data on many cats’ activities within a limited area.



The results confirmed those of previous studies in other European countries: when they go outside, most cats are literally just around the corner, at an average of 50 meters distance from their homes. The average maximum distance for all cats was found to be 352 meters. “Some individuals traveled relatively far, sometimes several kilometers, but those were the exceptions,” said Professor Bischof.



However, the findings suggest that there was a great variation between the individual cats in how they used the landscape. “This is quite typical,” said Bjarne O. Braastad, a professor emeritus of ethology at NMBU. “Cats have different personalities, and research results reflect this: there is often great variation. It is also worth noting that almost all the cats were neutered,” he added. “It will of course play an important role. Neutered cats are less likely to roam.”



Mapping the “catscape” of a specific area made it possible to show what a domestic cat population looked like in time and space. How the cats use the landscape also dictates how they interact with their environment and what effects they have on their natural surroundings.&nbsp;



“An interesting topic for further studies is of course the effects on local wildlife,” said study senior author Torbjørn Haugaasen, an expert in animal movements at NMBU. “We did not have the opportunity to include it in this project period, but in the future, we would like to take a closer look at that as well.”



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09694-9">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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

Domestic cats do not usually roam too far from home

A new study led by the Norwegian University of Life...

Experts have discovered six new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-new-mammal-species-may-be-hidden-in-plain-sight/">species</a> of tiny frogs in Mexico, including one that is now officially the country's smallest frog. The frogs are only about the size of a thumbnail when they are fully grown.&nbsp;



Among the tiniest of the species - a frog named Craugastor candelariensis - the adult males grow to only 13 millimeters in length.



The new species are "direct-developing" frogs, which means that rather than hatching from eggs into tadpoles, they emerge from the eggs as perfect miniature frogs. The experts explained that their tiny size puts the frogs at the very bottom of the forest food chain.&nbsp;



The study was led by Tom Jameson, a researcher in the Department of Zoology at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>.



“With millions of these frogs living in the leaf litter, we think they’re likely to play a hugely important role in the ecosystem as a source of food for everything else, from lizards to predatory birds,” said Jameson.



“Until now these new species have gone unnoticed because they’re small and brown and look really similar to other frogs."



“Their lifestyle is utterly fascinating. These frogs live in the dark, humid leaf litter of the forests, which is like a secret world - we don’t really know anything about what goes on there. We don’t understand their behaviour, how they socialise, or how they breed.”



The researchers collected almost 500 Mexican frog specimens from museums around the world. They used DNA sequencing to confirm the six distinctive species.&nbsp;



“Frogs in the group known as Craugastor are very difficult to tell apart, so scientists have long suspected that more species may exist. We’re really excited to have discovered six new Craugastor species that are completely new to science,” said Jameson.



The new species have been named Craugastor bitonium, Craugastor candelariensis, Craugastor cueyatl, Craugastor polaclavus, Craugastor portilloensis, and Craugastor rubinus. In particular, the name "cueyatl" means "frog" in the indigenous language Nahuatl, which is spoken in the Valley of Mexico where the species was found.



“We chose the name cueyatl to honor the rich human history of the Valley of Mexico, and the local people who have probably known these frogs far longer than we have,” said Jameson.



The frogs are possibly what is known as "micro-endemics" because they may occur only in one small area.



“We named Craugastor rubinus after the garnet mines in the hillside where they’re found,” said Jameson. “Sadly, it will only take the expansion of one mine and these frogs could be gone.”



“These frogs potentially play a really important role in the forest ecosystem. We need to make sure that they don’t just get wiped off the map because no-one even knows they’re there.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/herpetological-monographs">Herpetological Monographs</a>.



Image Credit: Jeffrey W Streicher, The Natural History Museum, London



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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

Fascinating frogs found in Mexico are the size of a thumbnail

Experts have discovered six new species of tiny frogs in...

The oceans are complex systems, with mechanisms that can absorb, circulate, sequester, and release carbon dioxide. Understanding how these tightly interlinked processes are functioning can give scientists a better idea of what to expect as the climate changes. Since the oceans are the Earth’s largest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-sinks-are-a-powerful-weapon-against-climate-change/">carbon sink</a> - sequestering roughly 10 petagrams per year - clarifying the mechanisms of ocean carbon sequestration is an important step forward in tackling the pressing issue of global warming.



Recently, geochemist and geobiologist Morgan Raven, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara has received a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143817&amp;HistoricalAwards=false">Faculty Early CAREER award</a>&nbsp;from the National Science Foundation (<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp">NSF</a>) in order to explore a cryptic, lesser-known mechanism of ocean carbon sequestration, which could become more conspicuous as the oceans warm: particle-hosted sulfurization and its impact on sedimentary carbon burial.&nbsp;



Most of carbon sequestration occurs as a result of the oceans’ “biological pumps.” Tiny phytoplankton at the surface of the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the air and dissolved carbon from the water during the process of photosynthesis. Afterwards, they get eaten by zooplankton which conduct a massive migration to the oceans’ depths where they deposit organic carbon and respire carbon dioxide before returning to the surface the following night to repeat the process.&nbsp;



However, these mechanisms cannot explain the abundance of carbon in the sediments at the bottom of ocean anoxic zones, where there is not enough oxygen to support zooplankton or other animals. Recently, Professor Raven and her colleagues have discovered another mechanism playing a fundamental role in carbon sequestration. Large particles – sticky blobs of organic matter consisting of dead phytoplankton, fecal matter, and various small organisms – host microenvironments which are crucial for microbial sulfur cycling, a process that impacts deeply the carbon cycle.



“I’m particularly interested in how sulfides can effectively pickle organic matter,” explained Molly Crotteau, one of Professor Raven’s doctoral students, who will also be involved in the project. “So if you get a little bit of sulfide in the middle of these particles, you can change the carbon in those particles to a form that’s more likely to survive on these geologic time scales, more likely to make it all the way to the mud in the first place.”



According to the scientists, this mechanism is an ancient one, being much more widespread during the Cretaceous Period, when oceans were warmer and contained less oxygen (145.5 to 65.5 million year ago). Such low-oxygen conditions led to the buildup of organic matter on the anoxic sea floor, in deposits of black shale. Nowadays, as the oceans warm again, they will once more hold lesser amounts of oxygen, which could make particle-hosting sulfurization more prevalent. In this new project, Professor Raven and her team aim to investigate in greater detail this fascinating process.&nbsp;



“We want to know in finer detail how much carbon gets preserved on the seafloor, and how significant it is. And how other factors will come into play, such as ocean temperatures, circulation and storms,” concluded Professor Raven.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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

Study reveals a new ocean carbon sequestration process

The oceans are complex systems, with mechanisms that can absorb,...

Open water swimming is far from easy, particularly when air and water <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/changes-in-vegetation-are-a-key-driver-of-global-temperatures/">temperatures</a> are extremely cold. A research team led by the <a href="https://www.calpoly.edu/">California Polytechnic State University</a> has recently investigated how furry Weddell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-seals-will-struggle-more-than-others-to-survive-climate-change/">seal</a> pups born on the Antarctic sea-ice can start swimming almost from birth in these extreme conditions, and continue to do so even while shedding and replacing their fur (a process called molting).



Although their blanket of fluffy insulation is very good for protecting them from cold temperatures when dry, as soon as they plunge into freezing waters, all these benefits are lost. The fact that the young seal pups enter the water and learn to swim and dive as early as two days old made scientists wonder how do they cope when they shed their fur, relying instead on their developing blubber stores - the thick layer of fat they have directly under their skins - for isolation.&nbsp;



The research team traveled south to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica - close to a colony of Weddell seals – to monitor newborn pups through their first weeks of life, in order to understand how these fascinating animals manage to stay warm on ice and in water, and whether older pups with more developed blubber stores use less energy to stay warm. The scientists weighted and measured the pups, while noting the condition of their fur as they molted over a seven-week period. Moreover, by tagging their hind flippers, they also tracked how often and for how long each pup went for a dip.



The researchers discovered that, as the pups grew, their metabolic rates increased. Surprisingly though, when immersed in the water, the three- and seven-week-old pups had similar metabolic rates. By comparing how much time the youngsters spent in the water before, during, and after molting, the scientists were amazed to find that the molting pups spent three times more effort swimming before than after the molt, even if they expended more energy to remain warm in the water.



“These results support the idea of an energetic trade-off during early development; pups expend more energy for thermoregulation in water, yet gain experience needed for independence,” the study authors explained.



“Weddell seals are the southernmost breeding population of mammals in the world,” said Karla Heidelberg, a program director in National Science Foundation’s <a href="https://beta.nsf.gov/geo/opp">Office of Polar Programs</a>. “These researchers are providing new information that’s changing how we view the life histories and physiological differences among these seals and other seal populations that live farther north in warmer regions of Antarctica.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-abstract/225/6/jeb242773/274807/Metabolic-cost-of-thermoregulation-decreases-after?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Journal of Experimental 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

Weddell seal pups keep swimming while changing their fur

Open water swimming is far from easy, particularly when air...

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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?

[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

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

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...