Meditation has long been associated with relaxation and mental clarity. Many cultures have used it for centuries to promote emotional balance and spiritual growth. Modern science is now beginning to reveal the biological effects of meditation, particularly its benefits for the brain.



A recent study by researchers at the <a href="https://icahn.mssm.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Icahn School of Medicine</a> at Mount Sinai provides remarkable insights into how meditation affects brain activity.



By using advanced brain recording techniques, the study highlights how meditation influences key brain regions responsible for emotional regulation and memory. 



The findings offer a new understanding of how meditation might <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mindfulness-meditation-is-a-powerful-weapon-against-chronic-pain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">support mental well-being</a> and contribute to potential therapies for mood disorders.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-s-response-to-meditation">Brain’s response to meditation</h2>



For years, scientists have explored the connection between meditation and brain function. While previous research linked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-deep-meditation-experiences-feel-timeless-no-past-no-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meditation</a> to improved mental health, the exact neural mechanisms remained unclear. This study aimed to address that gap by focusing on deep brain activity during meditation.



The researchers used intracranial electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings to examine brain activity in the amygdala and hippocampus.



These two regions play a major role in processing emotions and forming memories. By analyzing brain waves, scientists could observe the immediate impact of meditation at a neural level.



The study was led by Christina Maher, a neuroscience PhD student at Mount Sinai. 



“Traditionally, it has been challenging to study these deep limbic brain regions in humans using standard methods like scalp EEG," noted Maher.



"Our team was able to overcome this challenge by leveraging data collected from a unique patient population: epilepsy patients with surgically implanted devices that allow for chronic EEG recording from electrodes implanted deep in the amygdala and hippocampus."



“It was quite amazing to uncover changes in brain wave activity in these key regions, even during first-time meditation.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-impact-of-meditation">Impact of meditation</h2>



To conduct this research, scientists worked with eight neurosurgical patients who suffered from drug-resistant epilepsy. These individuals had responsive neurostimulation devices implanted in their brains, allowing for continuous monitoring of deep brain activity. 



Unlike traditional scalp EEG, which only records surface-level activity, these implants provided a more precise and detailed view of brain function.



The participants had little prior experience with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/transcendental-meditation-using-the-power-of-the-mind-to-heal-trauma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meditation</a>. Before the experiment, they completed a five-minute audio-guided introduction. They then engaged in ten minutes of “loving kindness” meditation, a practice that involves focusing on thoughts of well-being for oneself and others. 



Afterward, the individuals rated their depth of meditation on a scale of 1 to 10. The average reported score was 7.43, indicating that even first-time meditators could engage meaningfully with the practice.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meditation-s-influence-on-brain-waves">Meditation’s influence on brain waves</h2>



One of the key discoveries of the study involved changes in specific brain waves. 



Scientists focused on beta and gamma waves, which are linked to attention, memory, and emotional processing. These waves play a crucial role in mental health and are often affected in conditions such as anxiety and depression.



Study senior author Dr. Ignacio Saez is an associate professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai.



“We found that loving kindness <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meditation-reveals-common-altered-states-of-consciousness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meditation</a> is associated with changes in the strength and duration of certain types of brain waves called beta and gamma waves,” said Dr. Saez.



“These kinds of brain waves are affected in mood disorders like depression and anxiety, so the possibility of being able to willfully control these through meditation is pretty amazing, and may help explain the positive impact that these practices have on individuals.”



This finding suggests that meditation might offer a natural way to regulate mood and improve mental health. By engaging in meditation, individuals could potentially strengthen their ability to control emotional responses, reducing stress and anxiety over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-creating-a-real-world-meditation-environment">Creating a real-world meditation environment</h2>



One of the study’s unique aspects was its setting. Instead of conducting the research in a traditional hospital or laboratory environment, scientists used the Quantitative Biometrics Laboratory at Mount Sinai West. 



This space was designed to create a calm and relaxing atmosphere, free from the distractions commonly found in medical facilities.



By allowing participants to meditate in a naturalistic setting, the researchers improved the study’s ecological validity. This means the results are more likely to reflect real-world experiences.



The ability to observe brain activity in such an environment strengthens the case for meditation as a practical tool for mental well-being.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



While the findings are promising, the study had certain limitations. The sample size was small, with only eight participants. The study also focused on a single meditation session rather than tracking the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mindfulness-training-improves-mental-resilience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">effects of long-term practice</a>. 



More research is needed to determine whether these changes in brain activity persist over time and how repeated meditation might strengthen these effects.



“This study provides a foundation for future research that could contribute to developing meditation-based interventions to help individuals modulate brain activity in areas involved in memory and emotional regulation,” said Dr. Saez. 



“Meditation is noninvasive, widely accessible, and doesn’t require specialized equipment or medical resources, making it an easy-to-use tool for improving mental well-being." 



"However, it is crucial to note that meditation is not a replacement for traditional therapies. Instead, it could serve as a complementary low-cost option for individuals experiencing challenges with memory or emotional regulation.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-in-meditation-and-brain-research">Next steps in meditation and brain research</h2>



The Mount Sinai research team plans to build on these findings by conducting follow-up studies. Future research will explore the connection between brain activity and mental health outcomes. 



Scientists aim to determine whether meditation can produce lasting changes in mood and emotional regulation.



A key focus will be understanding how ongoing meditation practice influences brain function over time. If researchers can establish a link between meditation and long-term mental well-being, this could open the door to new therapeutic applications. 



Meditation could become a widely recommended practice for individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, or cognitive difficulties.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-role-of-meditation-in-mental-health">Role of meditation in mental health</h2>



As scientific interest in meditation grows, more studies will likely explore its impact on the brain. The ability to measure brain activity in real time provides valuable insights into how meditation shapes neural processes. If future research confirms these effects, meditation could become a mainstream tool for improving mental health.



For now, this study serves as a compelling starting point. It demonstrates that even a brief meditation session can produce measurable changes in brain activity. 



As researchers continue to investigate meditation’s potential, individuals seeking mental clarity and emotional balance may find encouragement in these findings. 



Meditation, long regarded as a practice for personal well-being, may soon be recognized as a powerful tool for enhancing brain function and emotional resilience.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409423122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Meditation rewires the emotional centers of the brain

Meditation has long been associated with relaxation and mental clarity. Many cultures have used it for centuries to promote emotional balance and spiritual growth. Modern science is now beginning to reveal the biological effects of meditation, particularly its benefits for the brain. A recent study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai provides remarkable insights into how meditation affects brain activity. By using advanced brain recording techniques, the study highlights how meditation influences key brain regions responsible for emotional regulation and memory. The...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Can the dodo bird be brought back from extinction?

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Millions of monarch butterflies are killed by parasites yearly

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Allergy season will become increasingly  brutal as climate warms

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Volcanic eruptions of the past provide new clues about climate change

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Air conditioning is both a cause and effect of climate change

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Wildfire smoke damages the ozone layer

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

Urban areas are home to a large proportion of the world’s population and represent places where environments and ecosystems are altered to suit the needs of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-decide-which-plants-win-or-lose-and-most-are-losing/">humans</a>. Urban environmental change can influence evolutionary processes, such as the ways in which plants and animals adapt to local conditions and selection pressures. Most of the known examples of animal or plant adaptation to urban environments involve a single city, or a few cities in the same region, making it unclear whether species can adapt to urban habitats in similar ways across cities throughout the world.&nbsp;



This would be an example of parallel evolution, where populations evolve in similar ways in response to similar environmental selective pressures in cities all over the world. Urbanization can lead to similar environmental changes across cities, but whether this convergence causes parallel evolution has never been examined at a global scale.



In a study published today in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>, 287 scientists from around the world collaborated to test whether a common species of plant, the white clover (Trifolium repens), has undergone similar evolutionary changes in 160 different cities in 26 countries. The Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE) was led by evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, and their report gives the clearest evidence yet that humans can be a dominant force driving evolution.&nbsp;



White clover is a cosmopolitan species that is found in cities and in rural areas all over the world. In addition, it produces hydrogen cyanide (HCN) as a means to deter herbivores that feed on its leaves, and to cope better with water stress. The collaborating scientists tested the levels of HCN produced by white clover plants in cities and in the nearby rural areas, with the premise that herbivory would be less of a selection pressure in cities.&nbsp;



The research found that clover growing in cities was, in fact, less likely to produce HCN than clover growing in nearby rural fields. The probability that a plant produced HCN increased by 44 percent on average from the center of an urban area to the furthest rural population, indicating that there is less pressure from herbivory in cities and more in rural ecosystems.&nbsp;



The results also found that clover growing in a city was more similar to clover in other cities than it was to clover growing in nearby rural fields, despite the fact that genetic exchange between urban and rural populations took place freely. This result indicated repeated adaptation to conditions prevalent in urban environments. Humans change urban environments in many ways, but the reduction in herbivores appears typical of cities everywhere.



“We’ve long known that we’ve changed cities in pretty profound ways and we’ve dramatically altered the environment and ecosystems,” said study co-lead&nbsp;author James Santangelo. “But we just showed this happens, often in similar ways, on a global scale.”



In addition to observing global adaptation by clover plants to living in cities, the researchers also identified the genetic basis of this adaptation. From the more than 110,000 samples of clover collected by the collaborating scientists, 2,500 individual genomes were sequenced and used to assess genetic differentiation between city and rural populations. This has created a massive dataset that will be of use to scientists for years to come.



“This study is a model to understand how humans change the evolution of life around us. Cities are where people live, and this is the most compelling evidence we have that we are altering the evolution of life in them. Beyond ecologists and evolutionary biologists, this is going to be important for society,” said Professor Rob Ness, who co-led the project with Professor Marc Johnson and their PhD student Santangelo.



The study was made possible by the collaboration of several hundred scientists from around the world, something that Johnson refers to as a model for inclusive science. Men and women were equally represented on the team, and it included not just established researchers, but also students at all levels and from all inhabited continents across the world.



“Nearly everyone we asked to collaborate said yes – and that was kind of remarkable, because we were asking people to take on a lot of work,” said Johnson, who coordinated the more than 280 other researchers who participated in the study. “Our collaborators recognized the importance of this project. There has never been a field study of evolution of this scale, or a global study of how urbanization influences evolution. It would have been impossible to do this without our global set of collaborators.”



Now that the potential impact of humans as drivers of evolution in city ecosystems is understood, this can be used to develop strategies to conserve rare species and allow them to adapt to urban environments. It can also help us better understand how to prevent unwanted pests and diseases from adapting to human environments, says Johnson.&nbsp;



“Urbanization is increasingly transforming rural and natural environments into unique ecosystems that Earth’s biodiversity has never experienced, and these changes are altering the evolution of life," concluded the study authors. "If adaptation to urban environments is common, then this could have cascading effects on populations and ecosystems.”&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

Humans change the evolution of life around us

Urban areas are home to a large proportion of the...

According to a new study led by the <a href="https://uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a>, disease in the small airways of the lungs is a potential long-lasting effect of <a href="https://daytonews.com/2022/01/30/omicrons-sister-has-arrived-and-covid-may-be-here-to-stay-earth-com/">Covid-19</a>. This condition has often occurred independently of initial infection severity and its long-term consequences are still unknown.



Early reports indicate that over 50 percent of Covid-19 survivors experience post-acute sequelae commonly known as “long Covid.” Nearly 30 percent of patients who had long Covid – including those with initial mild infections – continue to have respiratory symptoms such as cough and dyspnea for a long time after the acute phase of the disease subsides.



A team of researchers and clinicians from the University of Iowa set out to study such long-term effects by enrolling a cohort of 100 adults with confirmed Covid-19 who had remained symptomatic for over 30 days, along with 106 healthy participants in a control group. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-and-the-flu-can-increase-severe-risks-including-death/">Covid </a>survivors, with a median age of 48, included 67 classified as ambulatory, or not requiring hospitalization, 17 who were hospitalized, and 16 who required intensive care during the acute phase of their infection. 



The scientists performed both inspiratory and expiratory CT in these patients. While inspiratory CT (performed after patients inhale) is the standard imaging technique for observing lung tissue, post-exhalation expiratory scans are sometimes needed in order to assess “air trapping,” a condition in which people are not able to empty their lungs completely when they breathe out. Air trapping is found in many obstructive airway diseases, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).



After performing these clinical exams, the researchers found that air trapping was highly prevalent among the long Covid group.&nbsp;



“For the first time, we’re describing small airways disease in this population of Covid-19 patients with persistent symptoms,” said study senior author Dr. Alejandro Comellas, a professor of Internal Medicine at Iowa. “Something is going on in the distal airways related to either inflammation or fibrosis that is giving us a signal of air trapping.”



Dr. Cornellas and his colleagues found that the mean percentage of total lung area affected by air trapping ranged from 25 percent in the ambulatory group to almost 35 percent in the hospitalized group, compared to only 7.2 percent in the control group. This condition persisted in eight of the nine participants who underwent CT scans over 200 days after their initial diagnosis.&nbsp;



The persistence of respiratory abnormalities raises concerns for permanent airway remodeling and fibrosis after SARS-CoV-2 infection and requires further research in order to understand its causes and devise proper treatments.



“If a portion of patients continues to have small airways disease, then we need to think about the mechanisms behind it,” said Dr. Cornellas. “It could be something related to inflammation that’s reversible, or it may be something related to a scar that is irreversible, and then we need to look at ways to prevent further progression of the disease.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/radiol.212170">Radiology</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

"Long Covid" linked to disease in the lung airways

According to a new study led by the University of...

Floating microplastics have been found to pervade the oceans of the world, including the Arctic Ocean, which is far from the sources of many of these plastic particles. The miniscule fibers and particles are carried by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-can-hitchhike-on-ocean-plastic/">ocean</a> currents and may drift for decades, eventually accumulating in marine areas and even becoming part of the animal species that live there.



Mats Huserbråten, a scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, teamed up with colleagues to determine whether it was possible that European rivers were one of the sources of microplastics that end up in the Arctic Ocean. 



The team developed a model that simulated the release of microplastics from 21 major rivers across northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a ten year period and modeled the movements of the floating plastics over decades. The experts then combined models of ocean currents between 2007 and 2017 with the simulations of floating microplastic movements.&nbsp;



In order to gauge whether their simulations tallied with reality, they compared the results of their model with the distribution of floating microplastics in 121 seawater samples that were collected from 17 sites off the west coast of Norway between May 2017 and August 2018.



The results of the research, published today in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>, predicted that, once released from the rivers, most simulated particles would drift along two main pathways. Approximately 65 percent of the particles drifted along the Norwegian coast towards the Laptev Sea (north of Russia) before being transported into the Arctic Ocean, by means of trans-polar drift pathways. A further 30 percent of the simulated particles would drift along the Norwegian coast before moving southwards via the Fram Strait and then along the east and south coasts of Greenland, before traveling further south along the northeast coast of Canada.



After the simulations had run 20 years of data, there were clear areas in the world’s oceans where floating microplastics had accumulated due to the movements of the oceans’ currents. These areas included the Nordic Seas, the Nansen Basin in the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea and Laptev Sea – located between the Arctic Ocean and north Russia – and Baffin Bay, which is located between Greenland and Canada.&nbsp;



Data from the analysis of seawater samples collected off the west coast of Norway showed a distribution of floating microplastics that was consistent with what the authors’ model predicted would be the situation after 10 years of microplastic release from the 21 major rivers. This indicates that floating microplastics may have been circulating throughout the Arctic for at least the past ten years.



The authors suggest that the circulation of floating microplastics could have serious consequences for the health of Arctic ecosystems. Their noted that their findings highlight the importance of better plastic waste management.



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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

Arctic Ocean microplastics originate in European rivers

Floating microplastics have been found to pervade the oceans of...

A new longitudinal study led by <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> has found that middle-aged obese people die on average up to five years earlier than people with normal weight. In addition, obese or overweight people usually have more comorbidities and spend more years in poor <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exposure-to-light-during-sleep-can-damage-your-health/">health</a> than thinner individuals, while having to deal with much higher health care costs across older adulthood.



In 2015, the researchers collected medical insurance data from 29,621 people over the age of 65. These individuals were recruited in the 1960s and 1970s for a long-term health study. By December 15 of 2015, approximately 13,000 of the participants had died.&nbsp;



In order to analyze death rates by weight status, participants were split into groups based on their body mass index (BMI), which is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The scientists found that the larger the BMI someone had, the shorter their life expectancy was. For instance, severely obese people – those with BMIs over 30 - lived on average to 77.7, while moderately obese ones lived to 80.8.&nbsp;



Although there was no significant difference in the mean age at death between individuals who were slightly overweight and those who had normal BMI (82.1 and 82.3 years), overweight people generally spent more of their adult years in poor health (7.22 years on average) compared to those with normal weight (6.10), and spent about $12,390 more money on health care than the thinner participants. Severely obese people were found to live more than a decade in ill health (10.2 years) and spend $23,396 in excess health care costs than persons with normal weight.



These findings provide evidence for the impact of obesity on the health and life of individuals, as well as on the cumulative costs to society of “the obesity epidemic.”&nbsp;



“Resources and strategies are urgently needed at the individual and population level to address the growing public health challenge of excess weight in the context of an aging population,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790100">JAMA Network Open</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

Excess weight in middle-age shortens life expectancy by years

A new longitudinal study led by Northwestern University has found...

A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/75248">eLife</a> has described a new armored <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/late-cretaceous-dinosaur-was-sluggish-and-nearly-deaf/">dinosaur</a> that lived during the Early Jurassic period on the territory of today’s China. Yuxisaurus kopchicki belongs to a group of dinosaurs called thyreophorans (“shield-bearers”), which include well-known creatures such as the Stegosaurus or the Ankylosaurus.&nbsp;



“My colleagues in China discovered this new armored dinosaur in Yunnan, southwest China, in rocks of Early Jurassic age dating to between 192-174 million years ago,” said study co-author Dr. Paul Barrett, a paleobiologist at the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">National History Museum</a> in London.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“When we put the animal into an evolutionary analysis, it came out close to the common ancestry of stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. This helps to confirm that early armored dinosaurs were living in this region at this time. We know very little about the early history of herbivorous dinosaurs in China, so regionally this is a really important discovery.”



In the past, the highly diverse thyreophoran dinosaurs have largely been associated with rocks dating from the Late Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods (163 to 66 million years ago). Their fossils were mainly found in North America and Europe, making scientists assume that they lived mostly in the northern hemisphere. However, new discoveries of fossils in Morocco, Venezuela, and South Africa have shown that the spatial distribution of this group was much wider than initially thought.



“There are early armored dinosaurs starting to turn up more in the south,” explained Dr. Barrett. “There are two animals from about 200 million years ago from Venezuela and South Africa, that don't have armor, but might be the earliest members of the group, showing what they looked like before they evolved armor.”



“If these animals were in the group, then it is likely the armored dinosaurs originated in the southern continents, but this idea is controversial. If they aren't included in the group, then the origins are anchored in the northern hemisphere. At the moment, we've no way to choose between these alternatives.”



Yuxisaurus kopchicki has a stockier build and a distinctive arrangement of the armored plates that covered its back compared to other known early armored dinosaurs. Although it was primarily adapted for walking on four legs, the analysis of the fossils indicated that it was also able to walk on two legs. Its discovery sheds more light on the morphological diversity of the early thyreophorans and confirms their wide geographical spread.



Image Credit: ©Yu Chen



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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

Dinosaur discovered in China had spiked armor

A recent study published in the journal eLife has described...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">CU Boulder</a>, researchers have compared the frequency and intensity of fires in the United States, including 28,000 fires from 1984 to 2018. The intensity of the fires was gauged by using a combination of satellite photos and federal fire records.&nbsp;



The experts found that there were more fires in the period from 2005 to 2018 than in the twenty years before. The study revealed that fire frequency had doubled in the western and eastern part of the US, and quadrupled in the Great Plains.&nbsp;



The results also showed that fires in the United States grew larger and ignited more frequently in the 2000s compared to previous years.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Due to climate change, fires are expected to increase and grow in intensity into the future. Their impacts are also likely to increase.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Projected changes in climate, fuel and ignitions suggest that we’ll see more and larger fires in the future. Our analyses show that those changes are already happening,” said study lead author Virginia Iglesias, a research scientist with CU Boulder’s <a href="https://earthlab.colorado.edu/">Earth Lab</a>.



"Anthropogenic effects are likely to have influenced fire patterns across the country not only indirectly through regional aridification, but also in a direct manner," wrote the study authors. "During the last 21 years, for example, human ignitions caused 84 percent of all fires in CONUS, representing approximately 40,000 fires per year."



"Concurrent ignition and dry fuels are prerequisites for burning. By introducing ignitions into dry landscapes, humans have tripled the length of the fire season and expanded the size of fire-prone areas. These ignitions are notoriously important in regions with sufficient dry fuel to support fires but where lightning concurrent with dry fuel is rare, such as large portions of the Great Plains and eastern United States."



The research also shows that the ecology of fire prone areas is already changing. Forests themselves are being altered by fires as well as by changes in precipitation.&nbsp;



“More and larger co-occurring fires are already altering vegetation composition and structure, snowpack, and water supply to our communities,” explained Iglesias. “This trend is challenging fire-suppression efforts and threatening the lives, health, and homes of millions of Americans.”



The researchers suggest that to properly control fires, their changing nature and the resources they impact must be taken into account.&nbsp;



“These convergent trends, more large fires plus intensifying development, mean that the worst fire disasters are still to come,” said study co-author William Travis.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</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 worst fire disasters are "still to come" in the United States

In a new study from CU Boulder, researchers have compared...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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...