Researchers have uncovered a surprising behavior in boron-doped <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diamonds-can-be-grown-in-a-lab-in-less-than-3-hours/">diamonds</a>, where electrons line up in collective waves that interact with light and electricity in ways that scientists did not think possible.



The discovery involves a special process in which boron atoms are introduced into the diamond structure, thus transforming an otherwise insulating crystal into a conductor while keeping much of its clarity intact.



This milestone could open fresh possibilities in the fields of quantum computing and advanced sensors. 



The research was coordinated by <a href="https://physics.case.edu/faculty/giuseppe-strangi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Giuseppe Strangi </a>from Case Western Reserve University, who oversaw the experiments that brought these unusual electronic waves into the spotlight.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-peeking-into-electronic-waves">Peeking into electronic waves</h2>



Scientists explain that doping <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pink-diamonds-were-formed-when-supercontinent-nuna-broke-up/">diamond with boron</a> creates “electronic holes” where an electron is missing. This vacancy can freely move through the crystal and carry current, which is why boron-doped diamond can conduct electricity while still maintaining its transparent appearance.



“These holes can also respond collectively to incoming light. This discovery changes our approach to manipulating light and electricity in materials, bringing us closer to the full potential of quantum technologies,” explained Strangi.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interval-plasmons-and-their-allure">Interval plasmons and their allure</h2>



Researchers refer to these special electron waves as interval <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/plasmon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plasmons</a>. Conventional metals exhibit similar phenomena, but metals are not transparent and tend to reflect light.



Diamond stands apart because it remains optically clear, allowing these waves to form without blocking light. 



This aspect could be used in next-generation quantum devices that rely on manipulating and detecting faint signals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quantum-computing-inspiration">Quantum computing inspiration</h2>



Diamond has long been used in cutting-edge applications, especially for quantum technologies. Boron doping adds an extra layer of interest, with these newly observed interval plasmons potentially suggesting new ways to control and transfer quantum information.



<a href="https://www.si.edu/spotlight/hope-diamond/history" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Hope Diamond</a> is famous for its blue color, which arises partly from traces of boron. That same impurity can now be harnessed for more advanced tasks, possibly including future developments in quantum chips and secure communication networks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-medical-and-sensing-benefits">Medical and sensing benefits</h2>



A boron-doped diamond can tolerate harsh environments because it is chemically inert. This stability means it can endure strong acids or high temperatures, making it suitable for medical imaging devices and sensitive detection tools.



“Understanding how doping alters the properties of semiconductors like diamond revolutionizes the way we design materials for advanced applications,” pointed out <a href="https://npre.illinois.edu/people/profile/rmohan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mohan Sankaran</a>, a nuclear and plasma engineering expert at the University of Illinois.



Researchers worked with sophisticated spectroscopy tools, which helped them identify the exact conditions that give rise to these plasmons. The interplay between electrical conductivity and optical clarity made the effort worthwhile.



These findings might influence other high-performance devices. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/floating-solar-panels-could-power-entire-countries/">Solar cell technology </a>could benefit from the unique combination of transparency and electrical conduction, potentially improving the collection of light and its conversion into electricity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-difficulties-in-measuring">Difficulties in measuring</h2>



Precise control of boron concentration remains a hurdle. Achieving the perfect ratio without reducing transparency or damaging the crystal structure of the diamond requires careful tuning on the microscopic level.



Measuring interval plasmons also demands specialized equipment, and the complexity adds another layer to the engineering challenge. Scientists believe these obstacles can be overcome with improvements in synthesis methods.



Boron-doped diamond research has strong links to miniaturized electronics, where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/impossible-quantum-effects-observed-atoms-positioned-closely-together/">quantum effects</a> become more relevant as devices shrink. 



Traditional materials often lose their appeal when size moves toward the nanoscale, but diamond may hold on to its advantages.



The conduction behavior, combined with optical clarity, is inspiring new designs in quantum circuits. These circuits are designed to run faster and more securely, ultimately helping data processing push beyond conventional limitations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-legacy-of-diamond-synthesis">Legacy of diamond synthesis</h2>



In the 1960s, researchers at Case Western Reserve laid important groundwork by synthesizing diamond under low pressure. 



Such developments set the stage for the present doping breakthroughs, which bridge old theories with modern practical applications.



This latest advance shows how small tweaks in the diamond lattice can yield big dividends. The interplay between electrons and light, that once was hidden, is finally in plain view.



Scientists view the new findings as an encouraging path for other, wide-bandgap semiconductors. If boron can <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-diamond-dust-reverse-global-warming-and-cool-the-planet/">enhance diamond</a> in this way, related techniques may boost materials like silicon carbide or gallium nitride in similar fashion.



Though commercial-scale applications may still be some distance down the road, researchers are optimistic.



They see new opportunities for biochips, imaging devices, and quantum technologies that rely on materials with long-term stability and precise control.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55353-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



-----



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'Doped' diamonds discovery may reshape quantum computing

Researchers have uncovered a surprising behavior in boron-doped diamonds, where electrons line up in collective waves that interact with light and electricity in ways that scientists did not think possible. The discovery involves a special process in which boron atoms are introduced into the diamond structure, thus transforming an otherwise insulating crystal into a conductor while keeping much of its clarity intact. This milestone could open fresh possibilities in the fields of quantum computing and advanced sensors. The research was coordinated by Dr. Giuseppe Strangi from Case...

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates. Some frog species have found ways to overcome the obstacle of loud rushing water that can drown out their mating calls. Frogs that live near roaring waterfalls and streams attempt to attract mates by waving a foot, flapping a hand, or bobbing their head. 

Frogs who use visual signals have been documented near rushing streams in the rainforests of India, Borneo, and Brazil. In an exciting new study from UC Berkeley, PhD candidate Rebecca Brunner has discovered the same "dancing" behavior among glass frogs in Ecuador. 

The study marks the first time that a glass frog has been known to use visual cues for communication in response to the acoustic environment.

"A handful of other frog species around the world use visual signaling, in addition to high-pitched calls, to communicate in really loud environments," said Brunner. "What's interesting is that these species are not closely related to each other, which means that these behaviors likely evolved independently, but in response to similar environments - a concept called convergent evolution."

Sachatamia orejuela glass frogs are native to the rainforests of Ecuador and Colombia. These frogs are almost exclusively found on rocks within the spray zones of waterfalls, where they become nearly invisible to predators.

Brunner was conducting fieldwork in an Ecuadorean rainforest stream recording the call of a Sachatamia orejuela glass frog when she first observed the visual cues. She noticed the frog was repeatedly raising its front and back legs.

"I was already over the moon because I had finally found a calling male after months of searching. Before our publication, there was no official record of this species' call, and basic information like that is really important for conservation," said Brunner. "But then I saw it start doing these little waves, and I knew that I was observing something even more special."

Balancing herself on a slippery rock, Brunner caught the phenomenon on film. As she recorded, the frog continued to wave its hands and feet and bob its head. A few meters away, Brunner discovered another male Sachatamia orejuela using the same cues.

"This is a really exhilarating discovery because it's a perfect example of how an environment's soundscape can influence the species that live there," said Brunner.

"We've found that Sachatamia orejuela has an extremely high-pitched call, which helps it communicate above the lower-pitched white noise of waterfalls. And then to discover that it also waves its hands and feet to increase its chances of being noticed - that's a behavior I've always loved reading about in textbooks, so it is beyond thrilling to be able to share another amazing example with the world."

Brunner hopes to return to Ecuador soon to continue her research, which is focused on the bioacoustics of various ecosystems and conservation.

"One of the best things about fieldwork is that nature is always full of surprises - you never know what discoveries you may happen upon. I hope our findings can serve as a reminder that we share this planet with incredible biodiversity. Conserving ecosystems that support species like Sachatamia orejuela is important not only for our well-being, but also for our sense of wonder."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/beh-overview.xml">Behaviour</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates....

A new study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</a> has revealed that seagrass meadows help to remove marine plastic <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-contributed-to-1-67-million-deaths-in-india-last-year/">pollution</a>. The researchers estimate that Mediterranean seagrass meadows trap up to 867 million plastic items each year, most of which are carried onshore.

"Seagrass meadows are widespread in shallow coastal waters and provide important ecosystem services and benefits, such as water quality improvement, CO2 absorption, climate change mitigation, sediment production for seafloor and beach stabilization, coastal protection, nursery and refuge areas for many species, and support in fisheries production," explained the researchers.

The new investigation suggests that another benefit of underwater seagrass meadows is that they trap plastic waste and carry it to shore. 

Previous studies have found that most plastics end up in the seafloor and that some are washed back to shore. Exactly how this occurs, however, has remained unclear. 

"There is strong evidence that the seafloor constitutes a final sink for plastics from land sources," wrote the study authors. "There is also evidence that part of the plastics lying on the shallow seafloor are washed up back to the shoreline. However, little is known on the natural trapping processes leading to such landwards return."

A team led by Anna Sanchez-Vidal of the University of Barcelona set out to investigate the role that seagrass may have in trapping and removing marine plastic. The experts measured the amount of plastic debris present in seagrass litter from four beaches in Mallorca, Spain, between 2018 and 2019. Mallorca has extensive seagrass meadows, as well as high levels of plastic near the shore. 

Plastic debris was found among 50 percent of the loose seagrass leaf samples. Plastic items were also found intertwined in a substantial number of bundles of seagrass fibers known as “Neptune balls."

Up to 613 plastic items were found per kilogram of loose seagrass leaves and up to 1,470 plastic pieces were found per kilogram of Neptune balls. 

Based on this data, combined with estimates of seagrass fiber production in the Mediterranean, the experts determined that Neptune balls potentially trap 867 million pieces of plastic debris each year. 

The number of Neptune balls carried to shore, as well as the fate of the plastic after it has washed ashore, is unknown.

"There appears to be a considerable proportion of all plastic dumped into the ocean that is missing as it has not been found in surveys tracking floating plastic debris," wrote the researchers.

"Here we show that plastic debris in the shallow seafloor could be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching."

According to the study authors, the trapping services of seagrass may be particularly important in the Mediterranean Sea, where high microplastics loadings have been found at surface waters and on the seafloor. 

The researchers noted that seagrass conservation should remain a priority, as previous research found that seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean Sea have decreased by up to 50 percent since 1960.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Seagrass meadows remove plastic debris from the ocean

A new study published in Scientific Reports has revealed that...

Stretching is more effective than walking for lowering blood pressure, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.usask.ca/">University of Saskatchewan</a>. The research suggests that stretching should be part of a treatment plan for high blood pressure, the biggest risk factor for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/the-cardiovascular-benefits-of-exercise-are-unlimited/">cardiovascular</a> disease. 

"Everyone thinks that stretching is just about stretching your muscles," said study co-author Dr. Phil Chilibeck. "But when you stretch your muscles, you're also stretching all the blood vessels that feed into the muscle, including all the arteries. If you reduce the stiffness in your arteries, there's less resistance to blood flow." 

Dr. Chilibeck noted that resistance to blood flow is the cause of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. The investigation is the first of its kind to directly compare walking and stretching for reducing hypertension. 

The researchers randomly assigned 40 older adults with stage 1 hypertension to two groups for an eight-week study period. One group engaged in a full-body stretching routine for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, while the other group engaged in brisk walking for the same amount of time. 

Before and after the study period, the experts measured participants' blood pressure while they were sitting, lying down, and over 24 hours using a portable monitor. Across all three measures, stretching lowered blood pressure more than walking. 

On the other hand, participants in the walking group lost more body fat in their waist over the course of the eight weeks. According to Dr. Chilibeck, people who are walking to reduce their high blood pressure should continue to do so, but also add in some stretching sessions.

"I don't want people to come away from our research thinking they shouldn't be doing some form of aerobic activity. Things like walking, biking, or cross- country skiing all have a positive effect on body fat, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar."

Dr. Chilibeck believes the same benefits can be achieved through even shorter stretching routines that focus on the larger muscle groups in the legs, particularly the quadriceps and hamstrings. He pointed out that yoga produces similar reductions in blood pressure.

The beauty of stretching, said Dr. Chilibeck, is that it is so easy to incorporate into a daily routine. Stretching is not limited by inclement weather, is easy on the joints, and does not require a big time commitment. 

"When you're relaxing in the evening, instead of just sitting on the couch, you can get down on the floor and stretch while you're watching TV."

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/jpah-overview.xml">Journal of Physical Activity and Health</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Stretching reduces high blood pressure more than walking

Stretching is more effective than walking for lowering blood pressure,...

A shocking number of lakes in the Northern Hemisphere may soon lose their ice cover for good, according to a study from <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/">York University</a>. The experts report that at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, about 5,700 lakes could permanently lose their ice by the end of this century, and 179 of them will become ice-free within the next decade.

The affected areas include large bays in some of the deepest of the Great Lakes, such as Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. These regions could lose their ice by 2055, unless urgent action is taken to slow global warming.

Many of the lakes that are predicted to stop freezing serve as important sources of drinking water for nearby communities. Losing ice will impact the quantity and quality of the water.

"We need ice on lakes to curtail and minimize evaporation rates in the winter," said study lead author Professor Sapna Sharma. "Without ice cover, evaporation rates would increase, and water levels could decline. We would lose freshwater, which we need for drinking and everyday activities. Ice cover is extremely important both ecologically and socio-economically."

The analysis was focused on 51,000 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere.  The researchers combined annual winter temperature projections from 2020 to 2098 with 12 climate change scenarios to determine which lakes will become ice-free.

"With increased greenhouse gas emissions, we expect greater increases in winter air temperatures, which are expected to increase much more than summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere," said study co-author Alessandro Filazzola. "It's this warming of a couple of degrees, as result of carbon emissions, that will cause the loss of lake ice into the future."

The lakes that have the greatest risk of losing ice cover are those in southern and coastal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and some of them rank among the largest lakes in the world.

"It is quite dramatic for some of these lakes, that froze often, but within a few decades they stop freezing indefinitely," says Filazzola. "It's pretty shocking to imagine a lake that would normally freeze no longer doing so."

The study showed that when the air temperature was above -0.9 C, most lakes no longer froze. 

"Ice cover is also important for maintaining the quality of our freshwater," said Professor Sharma. "In years where there isn't ice cover or when the ice melts earlier, there have been observations that water temperatures are warmer in the summer, there are increased rates of primary production, plant growth, as well as an increased presence of algal blooms, some of which may be toxic."

According to Professor Sharma, more aggressive measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed to preserve lake ice cover. "I was surprised at how quickly we may see this transition to permanent loss of ice cover in lakes that had previously frozen near consistently for centuries."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hundreds of northern lakes will permanently lose their ice cover

A shocking number of lakes in the Northern Hemisphere may...

Arguments demand a lot more <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/animals-needed-sleep-before-they-even-had-brains/">brain</a> power than agreements, according to a study from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a>. While imaging neural activity, the researchers discovered that disagreements demand a lot more space in the brain. 

"Our entire brain is a social processing network," said study senior author Professor Joy Hirsch. "However, it just takes a lot more brain real estate to disagree than to agree."

The experts report that when two people agree, their brains are engaged in calm, synchronized activity that is concentrated in sensory areas of the brain. However, disagreements involve many other cognitive areas that are in charge of executive neural functions. These brain regions become mobilized as the individuals engage in a heated exchange. 

"There is a synchronicity between the brains when we agree," explained Professor Hirsch. "But when we disagree, the neural coupling disconnects."

In collaboration with experts at University College London, the researchers recruited 38 adults who were asked to either agree or disagree with a series of statements such as "Same-sex marriage is a civil right" or "Marijuana should be legalized." 

The individuals were paired together for face-to-face discussions based on their responses. Meanwhile, the researchers used an imaging technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy to record their brain activity.

As people agreed on various topics, harmonious brain activity was observed in sensory areas of the brain such as the visual system. On the other hand, these areas of the brain were less active during disagreements. 

Heated debates were associated with increased activity in the brain's frontal lobes - the control center for higher executive functions.

According to Professor Hirsch, understanding how our brains function while disagreeing or agreeing is particularly important in a polarized political environment.

In discord, two brains engage many emotional and cognitive resources like a symphony orchestra playing different music, explained Professor Hirsch. In agreement, she said, there is less cognitive engagement and more social interaction between the brains, similar to a musical duet.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience">Frontiers in Human Neuroscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Disagreements demand more space in the brain

Arguments demand a lot more brain power than agreements, according...

Oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2020. Ocean temperatures reached a record high in 2020, according to an international team of scientists from 13 institutes around the world. The experts report that ocean temperatures from the surface <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/groundwater-has-a-larger-impact-on-ocean-chemistry-than-expected/">water</a> all the way down to a depth of 2,000 meters reached their hottest levels since 1955.

Study lead author Lijing Cheng is a professor in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>. 

"Over 90% of the excess heat due to global warming is absorbed by the oceans, so ocean warming is a direct indicator of global warming - the warming we have measured paints a picture of long-term global warming," said Professor Cheng.

"However, due to the ocean's delayed response to global warming, the trends of ocean change will persist at least for several decades, so societies need to adapt to the now unavoidable consequences of our unabated warming. But there is still time to take action and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases."

The investigation into ocean temperatures and salinity was focused on data from the World Ocean Database, which is overseen by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. 

The analysis revealed that in 2020, the upper 2,000 meters of the world's oceans absorbed 20 more Zettajoules compared to 2019. This amount of heat is enough to boil 1.3 billion kettles.

"Why is the ocean not boiling? Because the ocean is vast. We can imagine how much energy the ocean can absorb and contain, and, when it's released slowly, how big the impact is," explained Professor Cheng.

The researchers found that other effects, including ocean salinity, were amplified in the hotter upper layer of the ocean. Marine life is threatened by both the heat and the increased salinity. 

"The fresh gets fresher; the salty gets saltier," said Professor Cheng. "The ocean takes a large amount of global warming heat, buffering global warming. However, the associated ocean changes also pose a severe risk to human and natural systems."

"Warmer oceans and a warmer atmosphere and also promote more intense rainfalls in all storms, and especially hurricanes, increasing the risk of flooding. Extreme fires like those witnessed in 2020 will become even more common in the future. Warmer oceans also make storms more powerful, particularly typhoons and hurricanes."

The researchers will continue to monitor rising ocean temperatures and the subsequent effects on salinity and stratification.

"As more countries pledge to achieve 'carbon neutrality' or 'zero carbon' in the coming decades, special attention should be paid to the ocean," said Professor Cheng. 

"Any activities or agreements to address global warming must be coupled with the understanding that the ocean has already absorbed an immense amount of heat and will continue to absorb excess energy in the Earth's system until atmospheric carbon levels are significantly lowered."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/376">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2020

Oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2020. Ocean...

There is no limit to the cardiovascular benefits of <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/high-intensity-exercise-can-help-you-live-longer/">exercise</a>, according to a new study published by <a href="https://plos.org/">PLOS</a>. The researchers found that people who are the most active have the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease.

While the link between exercise and reduced cardiovascular risk was previously established, the extent of these benefits remained unclear. 

A team led by Terence Dwyer of University of Oxford set out to investigate by analyzing data from 90,211 UK Biobank participants who did not have cardiovascular disease. The individuals had worn activity trackers over a 7-day period from 2013 through 2015.

During five years of follow-up, 3,617 of the participants were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. The more physically active the individuals were, the less likely they were to develop cardiovascular issues. For example, those who exercised the least were about 54 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease compared to the most active people. 

Participants in the lowest category of physical activity, who also smoked more and had higher body mass index, were most often diagnosed with hypertension. 

"This is the largest ever study of exquisite device-measured physical activity and cardiovascular disease. It shows that physical activity is probably even more important for the prevention of cardiovascular disease than we previously thought," said Professor Aiden Doherty. 

"Our findings lend further weight to the new WHO guidelines on physical activity which recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week for all adults."

According to Professor Dwyer, the results of the study reaffirms that physical activity is an important way of preventing cardiovascular disease. 

"The potential risk reduction estimated in those engaging in relatively high levels of activity is substantial and justifies a greater emphasis on measures to increase levels of physical activity in the community."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/">PLOS Medicine</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The cardiovascular benefits of exercise are unlimited

There is no limit to the cardiovascular benefits of exercise,...

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/groundwater-has-a-larger-impact-on-ocean-chemistry-than-expected/">Ocean</a> temperatures are becoming increasingly unsuitable for baby sharks, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.coralcoe.org.au/">ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies</a>. The researchers found that as a result of global warming, baby sharks are born smaller, exhausted, and undernourished. The animals are also being birthed into environments that are already difficult for them to survive in.

The study was focused on epaulette sharks, an egg-laying species found only on the Great Barrier Reef. The team examined the impacts of warmer temperatures on the growth, development, and physiological performance of the sharks as embryos and as hatchlings.

"We tested shark embryos in waters up to 31°C," said study lead author Carolyn Wheeler. "The hotter the conditions, the faster everything happened, which could be a problem for the sharks." 

"The embryos grew faster and used their yolk sac quicker, which is their only source of food as they develop in the egg case. This led to them hatching earlier than usual." 

The hatchlings were not only smaller, but were undernourished, lacked energy, and needed to feed almost right away.

Study co-author Dr. Jodie Rummer noted that the waters of the Great Barrier Reef will likely experience summer averages close to or even in excess of 31°C by the end of the century.

Dr. Rummer warned that rising ocean temperatures are a major concern for the future of all sharks, whether they lay eggs or give birth.

"The epaulette shark is known for its resilience to change, even to ocean acidification. So, if this species can't cope with warming waters then how will other, less tolerant species fare?" 

"Our future ecosystems depend us taking urgent action to limit climate change."

Sharks belong to a group of animals that develop and grow slowly, like rays and skates, and they do not reproduce as often as other fish.

The findings suggest that the sharks of the future will be born at a major disadvantage healthwise. To make matters worse, their environments will already be the warmest temperatures that the sharks can tolerate.

"The study presents a worrying future given that sharks are already threatened," said Wheeler. "Sharks are important predators that keep ocean ecosystems healthy. Without predators, whole ecosystems can collapse, which is why we need to keep studying and protecting these creatures."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/?gclid=Cj0KCQiArvX_BRCyARIsAKsnTxM7BZ8nYNx5N0Pi-LOdKZiJCT5EHNkwJZzUmIRfI5MxnPaCv7UY3sgaArNsEALw_wcB">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Oceans are already too warm for baby sharks

Ocean temperatures are becoming increasingly unsuitable for baby sharks, according...

In a new study published by the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/higher-coffee-intake-may-be-linked-to-lower-prostate-cancer-risk/">BMJ</a>, experts have confirmed that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coffee-before-breakfast-has-a-negative-impact-on-metabolism/">coffee</a> has a protective effect against certain types of cancer. In particular, the researchers found that people who drink several cups of coffee per day are less likely to develop prostate cancer.

The study suggests that a higher intake of coffee is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer, with every additional cup reducing the risk by one percent.

Previous studies have linked coffee consumption to a lower risk of developing liver, bowel, and breast cancers. Prior to the current investigation, however, there was no conclusive evidence that coffee protects against prostate cancer, which is the second most common cancer. 

The researchers analyzed the results of relevant cohort studies involving more than one million men that were conducted in North America, Europe, and Japan. Overall,  57,732 of these men developed prostate cancer.

The highest level of coffee consumption ranged from 2 to 9 or more cups a day, while the lowest ranged from none to fewer than 2 cups a day. Individuals who consumed the most coffee were found to lower their likelihood of prostate cancer by nine percent.

Furthermore, the analysis showed that the highest intake was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of the cancer becoming advanced, as well as a 16 percent lower risk of the cancer becoming fatal.

According to the study authors, coffee improves glucose metabolism, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, and affects sex hormone levels, all of which may influence the initiation, development and progression of prostate cancer.

"This study suggests that increased coffee consumption may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Further research is still warranted to explore the underlying mechanisms and active compounds in coffee," explained the researchers.

"If the association is further proved to be a causal effect, men might be encouraged to increase their coffee consumption to potentially decrease the risk of prostate cancer."

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://bmj.com">BMJ Open</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Coffee consumption lowers the risk of prostate cancer

In a new study published by the BMJ, experts have...

Poor gut health may increase the severity of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-immunity-may-persist-for-eight-months-or-more/">COVID-19</a>, which is often accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea. According to the <a href="https://asm.org/">American Society for Microbiology</a>, a growing collection of evidence shows that having an altered gut microbiome allows the virus to gain entry into the GI tract.

Dr. Heenam Stanley Kim, an expert at the Korea University Laboratory for Human-Microbial Interactions, reports that gut dysfunction may exacerbate the severity of infection by enabling the virus to access the surface of the digestive tract and internal organs.

COVID-19 patients experience a wide range of symptoms, the most common of which are high fevers and respiratory problems. Autopsies have confirmed that COVID-19 infection can also affect the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, and the gastrointestinal tract. These organs are vulnerable to infection because they have a number of ACE2 receptors that are targeted by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

A substantial amount of hospitalized patients with breathing problems also have diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. This indicates that when the virus breaches the GI tract, it worsens the severity of the disease. "There seems to be a clear connection between the altered gut microbiome and severe COVID-19," explained Dr. Kim.

Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity are known to face a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Both of these factors - age and chronic conditions - are also associated with an altered gut microbiome. 

Dr. Kim noted that this imbalance can affect gut barrier integrity, which can give pathogens easier access to cells in the intestinal lining. He is not the only expert who has promised the idea that unhealthy gut microbiomes may be an underlying reason for why some people have such severe infections.

In Singapore, a study on symptomatic COVID-19 patients found that about half had a detectable level of the coronavirus in fecal tests, but only about half of those experienced GI symptoms. Dr. Kim pointed out that a person's gut health at the time of infection may be critical for symptom development.

The disease has been linked to a decrease in beneficial gut bacterial species, as well as an increase in pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, many recent studies have found reduced bacterial diversity in gut samples collected from COVID-19 patients compared to samples from healthy people. 

The researchers have identified bacterial species which may provide resistance to COVID-19 infection, including some families that are responsible for producing butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid. This bacteria plays a critical role in gut health by reinforcing gut-barrier function.

Dr. Kim said he started analyzing studies on the link between COVID-19 severity and gut health after realizing that wealthy countries with a good medical infrastructure, including the United States and nations in Western Europe, were among the hardest hit by the virus. The most common diets in these countries are low in fiber. 

"A fiber-deficient diet is one of the main causes of altered gut microbiomes, and such gut microbiome dysbiosis leads to chronic diseases," explained Dr. Kim.

Eating more fiber, he said, may lower a person's risk of serious disease. And fecal microbiota transplantation might be a treatment worth considering for patients with the worst cases of COVID-19.

According to Dr. Kim, the problem with poor gut health goes beyond COVID-19. "The whole world is suffering from this COVID-19 pandemic, but what people do not realize is that the pandemic of damaged gut microbiomes is far more serious now."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://mbio.asm.org/">mBio</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

Gut health may protect you from severe COVID-19

Poor gut health may increase the severity of COVID-19, which...

The ancient <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earths-forests-are-threatened-by-drought-and-human-development/">human</a> culture of the Middle Stone Age persisted 20,000 years longer than previously thought, according to a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a>. The study reveals that tool-making traditions of the Middle Stone Age, which were believed to have vanished from the African record 30,000 years ago, were still used in parts of West Africa up until just 11,000 years ago. 

Tools known as "scrapers" and "points" were assumed to have been completely replaced by a miniaturized toolkit that was better suited for mobile groups of hunter-gatherers. However, evidence of Middle Stone tools found at sites throughout modern-day Senegal show they were being used 20,000 years later than what was expected.

"West Africa is a real frontier for human evolutionary studies - we know almost nothing about what happened here in deep prehistory. Almost everything we know about human origins is extrapolated from discoveries in small parts of eastern and southern Africa," said study lead author Dr. Eleanor Scerri.

To investigate, Dr. Scerri collaborated with Dr. Khady Niang of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop to organize a research expedition to different regions of Senegal. Across stretches of two major river systems, the Senegal and the Gambia, the team found multiple Middle Stone Age sites that all had surprisingly young dates.

"These discoveries demonstrate the importance of investigating the whole of the African continent, if we are to really get a handle on the deep human past." said Dr. Niang. "Prior to our work, the story from the rest of Africa suggested that well before 11 thousand years ago, the last traces of the Middle Stone Age - and the lifeways it reflects - were long gone."

It is not yet clear why this region of West Africa was home to such a late persistence of Middle Stone Age culture.

"To the north, the region meets the Sahara Desert," explained study co-author Dr. Jimbob Blinkhorn. "To the east, there are the Central African rainforests, which were often cut off from the West African rainforests during periods of drought and fragmentation. Even the river systems in West Africa form a self-contained and isolated group."

"It is also possible that this region of Africa was less affected by the extremes of repeated cycles of climate change," added Dr. Scerri. "If this was the case, the relative isolation and habitat stability may simply have resulted in little need for radical changes in subsistence, as reflected in the successful use of these traditional toolkits."

"All we can be sure about is that this persistence is not simply about a lack of capacity to invest in the development of new technologies. These people were intelligent, they knew how to select good stone for their tool making and exploit the landscape they lived in," said Dr. Niang.

The research supports the idea that for most of humanity's deep prehistory, populations were relatively isolated from each other and lived in subdivided groups in different regions.

For a short time, Middle Stone Age populations lived alongside other groups that were already using the more recently developed miniaturized toolkits in a culture that is referred to as the "Later Stone Age."

"This matches genetic studies suggesting that African people living in the last ten thousand years lived in very subdivided populations," said Dr. Niang. "We aren't sure why, but apart from physical distance, it may be the case that some cultural boundaries also existed. Perhaps the populations using these different material cultures also lived in slightly different ecological niches."

About 15,000 years ago, there was a major increase in humidity and forest growth in western Africa that could have linked different areas and provided new passageways for genetic and cultural mixing. According to the researchers, this was likely the beginning of the end of humanity's first and earliest culture.

"These findings do not fit a simple unilinear model of cultural change towards 'modernity'," explained Dr. Scerri. "Groups of hunter-gatherers embedded in radically different technological traditions occupied neighbouring regions of Africa for thousands of years, and sometimes shared the same regions. Long isolated regions, on the other hand, may have been important reservoirs of cultural and genetic diversity. This may have been a defining factor in the success of our species."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</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

Middle Stone Age culture lasted 20,000 years longer than expected

The ancient human culture of the Middle Stone Age persisted...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.lji.org/">La Jolla Institute for Immunology</a>, researchers have determined that COVID-19 immunity could last for eight months, or possibly even years. The experts report that nearly all <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plant-compounds-in-muscadine-grapes-block-coronavirus-replication/">coronavirus</a> survivors have the immune cells necessary to fight reinfection.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 188 COVID-19 patients. Their results indicate that the body's adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 provide the body with the ability to fight off this pathogen for at least eight months after the onset of symptoms from the initial infection.

"Our data suggest that the immune response is there - and it stays," said Dr. Alessandro Sette.

"We measured antibodies, memory B cells, helper T cells and killer T cells all at the same time," explained Professor Shane Crotty. "As far as we know, this is the largest study ever, for any acute infection, that has measured all four of those components of immune memory."

Previous studies documented a dramatic decline in COVID-fighting antibodies in the months following infection, which has caused concern about the body's ability to defend itself. The new research helps to clarify this data. 

"Of course, the immune response decreases over time to a certain extent, but that's normal. That's what immune responses do. They have a first phase of ramping up, and after that fantastic expansion, eventually the immune response contracts somewhat and gets to a steady state," said Dr. Sette.

The researchers found that COVID-19 antibodies persist in the bloodstream months after infection. Furthermore, after coronavirus infection, the body is equipped with immune cells called memory B cells that can reactivate and produce the antibodies needed to fight reinfection.

The experts looked for memory B cells that specifically recognize the spike protein which is used by SARS-CoV-2 to gain entry into human cells. They discovered that spike-specific memory B cells actually increased in the blood six months after infection. 

In addition, COVID-19 survivors had an army of T cells that were prepared to destroy infected cells more than eight months after the initial infection. 

"This implies that there's a good chance people would have protective immunity, at least against serious disease, for that period of time, and probably well beyond that," said Professor Crotty.

The researchers caution that protective immunity varies dramatically from person to person. People with a weak immune memory may be more vulnerable reinfection, and also more likely to infect others.

"There are some people that are way down at the bottom of how much immune memory they have, and maybe those people are a lot more susceptible to reinfection," said Professor Crotty.

According to Dr. Daniela Weiskopf, it is possible that immune memory will be similarly long lasting similar following vaccination, but further research is needed when the data becomes available.

"Several months ago, our studies showed that natural infection induced a strong response, and this study now shows that the responses lasts," said Dr. Weiskopf. "The vaccine studies are at the initial stages, and so far have been associated with strong protection. We are hopeful that a similar pattern of responses lasting over time will also emerge for the vaccine-induced responses."

The researchers will continue to analyze samples from COVID-19 patients and hope to track their responses 12 to 18 months after the onset of symptoms.

"We are also doing very detailed analyses at a much, much higher granularity on what pieces of the virus are recognized," said Dr. Sette. "And we plan to evaluate the immune response not only following natural infection but following vaccination."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</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

COVID-19 immunity persists for eight months or more

In a new study from the La Jolla Institute for...

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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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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

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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...