Chocolate is a comfort food for many people and a symbol of happiness in countless cultures. For years, farmers and scientists have collaborated to refine this treasured <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sustainable-farming-could-save-the-future-of-chocolate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant</a>, but new evidence shows there is more to its story than meets the eye.



Experts have been analyzing genetic details that trace the cacao tree’s past to a surprising point in time. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Tineo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daniel Tineo</a>, from the National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, led a study that used chloroplast genome data to examine when and how Theobroma cacao diversified.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chocolate-s-place-in-nature">Chocolate’s place in nature</h2>



Cacao belongs to the Malvaceae family, which also includes hibiscus and cotton. This group of plants has a history going back millions of years, and reflecting a long process of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chocolate-and-cocoa-prices-have-doubled-in-the-past-year-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adaptation</a> and survival.



“It can be inferred that T. cacao diverged at approximately 7.55 Ma, and it is highly likely that T. cacao populations diversified during the Pliocene or Miocene,” explained Tineo. 



Two main factors appear to have played a role in shaping the trees we see today. First, their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/chloroplast-genome" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chloroplast genomes</a> carry signs of gradual change, which is common in species that extend across tropical regions. Second, environmental pressures likely promoted different genetic traits in various localities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-insights-to-save-chocolate">Genetic insights to save chocolate </h2>



The chloroplast genome, often called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/chloroplast-dna" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cpDNA</a>, is inherited in a predictable way in most plants. This trait gives scientists a clear view of family relationships, even within the same species.



One gene, named <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep08348" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ycf1</a>, turned out to be important because it showed more differences among cacao plants than other commonly studied genetic regions. By examining these differences, researchers hope to spot unique traits that may improve the flavor, resilience, or productivity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cocoa-production-in-africa-is-under-extreme-climate-pressure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cacao varieties</a>.



This approach might help breeders develop trees that survive better in changing climates. It may also allow them to detect disease-resistant lines, thus cutting down on the need for chemical treatments and on farm losses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-past-matters">Why the past matters </h2>



Farmers today face pests, diseases, and market uncertainty. Learning about cacao’s ancient lineage is not just for academic interest; it can also guide solutions that reduce farming risks.



The deeper a plant’s genetic roots, the more variation it hides in its DNA. This variation supplies fresh building blocks for traits like drought tolerance, flavor, and disease resistance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-practical-benefits-for-farmers">Practical benefits for farmers</h2>



Thousands of smallholders grow cacao as a main or side income. When farmers tap into genetically diverse planting materials, their crops can adapt more effectively to different environments.



A broader gene pool also lowers the chance that a single disease outbreak will devastate cacao plants in an entire region. Strengthening genetic tools for farmers promotes stable harvests and consistently better beans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-breeding-methods">Modern breeding methods</h2>



Classic breeding methods rely on observing which trees yield the best crops. Now, molecular tools add a scientific boost by marking the genes that truly matter.



When breeders target specific genes - like ycf1 - they can make more precise matches between strong, disease-tolerant varieties and those with desired flavors. This level of detail speeds up the long process of developing improved trees.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-tradition-with-discovery">Balancing tradition with discovery</h2>



Farmers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia have nurtured cacao for generations. Their local expertise is valuable when it comes to spotting subtle differences among trees.



Collaboration between traditional growers and research institutions bridges technology and cultural wisdom. This approach promotes new partnerships that benefit everyone, from growers to chocolate enthusiasts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-the-future-of-chocolate">Protecting the future of chocolate </h2>



Scientists still do not fully understand how <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05288-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nuclear or mitochondrial data</a> compare with chloroplast results. More work is needed to fill the gaps left by incomplete samples from various parts of the tropics.



Some lines may carry rare genetic elements waiting to be explored. Locating these hidden genes could reveal new ways to manage diseases and keep farms flourishing.



Cacao stands at a crossroads of heritage, commerce, and science. Studies suggest that this plant’s DNA is more varied and ancient than was once believed, hinting that there may be more secrets in its cells.



Ongoing research may answer questions about how different cacao types emerged and how they can be preserved. The bigger picture promises a future where growers and chocolate lovers share the rewards of knowledge-driven innovation.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0316148" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS One</a>.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;



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



-----

Can chocolate survive? DNA research may help save cacao trees

Chocolate is a comfort food for many people and a symbol of happiness in countless cultures. For years, farmers and scientists have collaborated to refine this treasured plant, but new evidence shows there is more to its story than meets the eye. Experts have been analyzing genetic details that trace the cacao tree’s past to a surprising point in time. Daniel Tineo, from the National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, led a study that used chloroplast genome data to examine when and how Theobroma cacao diversified. Chocolate’s...

As children, many of us would stare in amazement at glow sticks, wondering how this phenomenon was even possible. Certain scientists have been doing the same thing for years, except they’ve been staring at bioluminescent mushrooms.

Recently, researcher Zinaida Kaskova and her team uncovered the molecular components involved in these glow-in-the-dark mushrooms, paving the way for future progress in using fungal bioluminescence for analytical and imaging technologies.

Bioluminescence doesn’t just exist in mushrooms; it’s spread across a wide variety of organisms. Scientists have found about 80 separate species of bioluminescent fungi alone.

This incredible light emission from these organisms is possible because of a molecule called luciferin and the enzyme luciferase. They both combine with energy and atmospheric oxygen, which causes a chemical reaction that produces an excited state oxyluciferin. This molecule releases light energy in order to get back to its ground state – triggering the bioluminescence observable in these fungi.

This luciferin-luciferase pathway has been extensively studied in bioluminescent insects, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-fungi-fragrant-language/">bacteria</a>, and some marine animals – but never in fungi. Kaskova and her team discovered the molecular components involved in the fungal luciferin-luciferase pathway, leading to them also finding the fungal equivalent of oxyluciferin.

The researchers believe that this fungal luciferase could be “promiscuous,” meaning it is able to interact with multiple versions of fungal luciferin, which allows for changes in intensity and the color of bioluminescent emission.

Although revealing, these findings don’t mean all the mystery is gone from the study of bioluminescent organisms. Further research could uncover more about the molecular processes and their evolution within specific organisms, as well as lead to advances in bioluminescent technologies.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.aaas.org/">American Association for the Advancement of Science</a>

Image Credit: Cassius V. Stevani/IQ-USP, Brazil

The secrets of bioluminescent, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms

As children, many of us would stare in amazement at...

Aflatoxins are cancer-causing chemicals that are commonly found in peanuts, corn, and tree nuts. These poisonous substances are produced by mold. The potent carcinogenic effects of aflatoxin are capable of causing fatal liver diseases in humans and animals. Researchers at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> have discovered a high risk of aflatoxin in sunflower seeds and their products. 

The team of researchers conducted one of the first experiments that links aflatoxin to sunflower seeds. The study,  published in PLoS ONE, found an alarming prevalence of aflatoxin contamination in sunflower seed products.  

Gale Strasburg is a professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a>. Strasburg expressed an urgent need to continue this research. 

“Since it is one of the most potent liver carcinogens known, the research to detect and limit its presence in sunflower seeds and their products could help save lives and reduce liver disease in areas where sunflowers and their byproducts are consumed,” said Strasburg.

The team based their study in Tanzania, where many farmers grow sunflowers for the seeds. Local millers then press the seeds for cooking oil, and the remaining oil cakes are used for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-one-side-brain/">animal</a> feed. 

Juma Mmongoyo is a former Michigan State University Food Science doctoral student and lead author on the study. Mmongoyo tested samples from seven regions of Tanzania. He found nearly 60 percent of seed samples and 80 percent of cake samples contained aflatoxin. 14 percent of the contaminated seeds and 17 percent of the afflicted cakes had levels of the toxin that were considered unsafe according to the standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"These high aflatoxin levels, in a commodity frequently consumed by the Tanzanian population, indicate that local authorities must implement interventions to prevent and control aflatoxin contamination along the sunflower commodity value chain, to enhance food and feed safety in Tanzania," Strasburg said.

Aspergillus flavus, the mold that produces aflatoxin, requires certain conditions such as heat and humidity to form. Therefore, its presence varies greatly by region.

Felicia Wu is a professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> and co-authored the study. 

Wu said, "Billions of people worldwide are exposed to aflatoxin in their diets, particularly in places where food is not monitored regularly for contaminants. Our previous work with the World Health Organization on the global burden of foodborne disease showed that aflatoxin is one of the chemical contaminants that causes the greatest disease burden worldwide."

--

By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/ ">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source:<a href="https://msu.edu/"> Michigan State University</a>

Could your sunflower seeds contain a toxic carcinogen?

Aflatoxins are cancer-causing chemicals that are commonly found in peanuts,...

An international team of scientists has unravelled the mysteries of how the Venus flytrap, a carnivorous plant, digests its <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-hear-preys-heartbeat-important/">prey</a>.

Researchers have postulated on the process since Charles Darwin’s pioneering studies but this is the first time it has been measured and analyzed, according to <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/">Julius-Maximilians-Universität</a> in Bavaria, Germany.

An international team of researchers headed by Rainer Hedrich, a biophysicist from Julius-Maximilians-Universität present the results in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">PNAS</a>.

The Venus flytrap has a trapping structure formed by its leaves. After a prey, most often an inset, lands inside, the trap closes. As the insect  tries to escape, it touches sensory hairs inside that trigger an electrical signal that spreads across the trap in waves, the researchers found.

From the third signal, the plant produces the hormone jasmonate. After the fifth signal, the digestive glands that line the inside of the traps like turf are activated, the study said.

The gland cells produce bubbles filled with liquid (secretory vesicles) and give off their content. The process depends on calcium and is controlled by a number of specific proteins.

Genes are activated in the glands, the researchers found.

"We assume that they provide for the vesicles being loaded with protons and chloride, that is hydrochloric acid," Hedrich said. "We used ion-sensitive electrodes to measure that repeated touching of the sensory hairs triggers the influx of calcium ions into the gland.”

Molecular biologist Ines Fuchs discovered that the plant only starts to produce the enzymes that decompose the prey after several hours and the process is not in full swing until 24 hours later when the trap is is completely acidic and rich in digestive enzymes, the study said.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/">Julius-Maximilians-Universität </a>

Secrets of the infamous Venus flytrap revealed

An international team of scientists has unravelled the mysteries of...

Without oxygen, humans and all other mammals wind up dead within minutes – all other mammals… except for naked mole-rats.

This strange, cold-blooded mammal lives decades longer than any other rodent, rarely gets cancer, and is impervious to many forms of pain. It’s like the James Bond of hairless, buck-toothed mammals.

To add to their unique anatomy and physiology, a new study has found that when deprived of oxygen, naked mole-rats can survive for hours by metabolizing fructose – just like a plant.

When humans become oxygen starved, our brain cells run out of energy and begin to die. But the cells in the brain of a naked mole-rat begin to burn fructose. Burning fructose produces energy anaerobically (without oxygen) through a metabolic pathway what was previously thought to be used exclusively by plants.

Thomas Park, a professor of biological sciences at the <a href="http://www.uic.edu/">University of Illinois at Chicago</a>, led an international team of researchers in a new study of these fantastic little beasts. 

The researchers exposed naked mole-rats to low oxygen conditions and discovered that they release large amounts of fructose into their bloodstream. Fructose was found to be transported into brain cells by molecular fructose pumps found only in the intestinal cells in other <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/chewing-early-mammals-survive/">mammals</a>. 

“The naked mole-rat has simply rearranged some basic building-blocks of metabolism to make it super-tolerant to low oxygen conditions,” says Park, who has studied these creatures for the last 18 years.

The study found that naked mole-rats can survive for up to five hours at oxygen levels low enough to kill a human within minutes. They do this by going into a state of suspended animation, dramatically slowing their heartbeat and breathing rate to conserve energy. This discovery makes the naked mole-rate the only known mammal to use suspended animation in order to survive oxygen deprivation.

Further research also found that this species is able to avoid another deadly factor in low oxygen environments: the pulmonary edema – a buildup of fluid in the lungs that is a common cause of death in high altitude mountain climbers. 

Looking back on these findings, the researchers believe that the naked mole-rat’s unique metabolism may be an adaptation for living in their low-oxygen burrows. These little creatures live underground in crowded conditions along with hundreds of members of their colony. Not surprisingly, this leads to a rather quick depletion in oxygen – making the naked mole-rat’s bizarre adaptions understandable yet fascinating. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.uic.edu/">University of Illinois at Chicago</a>

How naked mole-rats can turn into plants when low on food

Without oxygen, humans and all other mammals wind up dead...

War! What is it good for? Nothing.

That’s what the song says, and it’s right. But trenches dug at the Austrian-Italian border during World War I have at revealed the existence of a rare 425-million-year-old fossil.

Fossils of juvenile crinoids, an ancient ancestor of modern-day sea lilies, were found in the Cardiola Formation by a research team that involved scientists from <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>, two universities in Italy and the <a href="http://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/austrian-academy-of-sciences/">Austrian Academy of Sciences</a>.

What makes the discovery so unusual is that the crinoids were found unattached to rock fossils. This is behavior that’s different than sea lilies, which attach to rocks with “holdfast” grips at the larval stage and rarely move. This ancient ancestor, however, apparently settled on objects that moved them far from their ocean homes and weren’t fossilized along with the crinoids. This mode of transportation might have been free-floating algae beds or swimming cephalopods, neither of which would have been immortalized in fossilization.

“The fossils indicate that they were either attached to objects floating in the water at the time, or attached to another bottom dweller that lacked preservable hard parts,” said William Ausich, a professor of earth sciences at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State</a>.

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-extraterrestrial-life/">fossils</a> found by the international team were in rocks already discovered in the Cardiola Formation, but the <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State</a> team discovered the juvenile crinoids after dissolving the limestone from iron oxide samples. What they found was only the holdfasts, since that’s all that remained. In order to be fossilized at all, the organisms had to have been buried alive and crushed into fossilization. The soft connective tissue of the crinoids couldn’t be fossilized because they decompose soon after death. This means that bits and pieces of the calcite plates are all that researchers can hope to find.

“We now have important information about the behavior of these ancient organisms, and a clue as to why they had such a wide geographic distribution,” Ausich said.

The team’s findings were published in the journal <a href="http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/GEOACTA/">Geologica Acta</a>.

[caption id="attachment_202161" align="aligncenter" width="620"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/170403123309_1_900x600.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-202161" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/170403123309_1_900x600.jpg" alt="" width="620" height="400" /></a> Credit: Photo courtesy of Annalisa Ferretti, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_202162" align="aligncenter" width="547"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-04-at-11.15.12-AM.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-202162" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-04-at-11.15.12-AM.png" alt="" width="547" height="442" /></a> Credit: Ohio State University[/caption]

-- 

Written by <a href="mailto:dsearls@earth.com">David Searls</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source:<a href="https://news.osu.edu/news/2017/04/03/babycrinoid/"> The Ohio State University</a>

Scientists find fascinating fossils in World War I trenches

War! What is it good for? Nothing. That’s what the...

One longstanding theory involving biodiversity related to mountain formation is that the new terrains serve as biological hotspots, boosting species diversification. The idea, which is known as the uplift-driven diversification hypothesis, suggests that the new ecosystem triggers the need for species to diversify to meet changing conditions.

Now, study coauthors Rick Ree, the associate curator of botany at <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum in Chicago</a> and Yaowu Xing, a Chinese paleoclimactic patterns scientist associated with the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> have found evidence that supports that hypothesis. South Korea’s <a href="http://www.nie.re.kr/contents/siteMain.do?mu_lang=ENG">National Institute of Ecology</a> was also involved.

The researchers studied and compared species biodiversity in two nearby mountain ranges in China, the Hengduan Mountain and the Himalayas. The reason they selected the two regions is because the Hengduan, at eight million years of age, is much newer than the other range, making a striking contrast between ecosystems.

They conducted DNA sequencing of thousands of plants in both regions to show family relationships between the different species. They also examined <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossilized-damselflies-mating-rituals/">fossil</a> plants to determine the timeline in which different botanical species appeared and branched into new species.

The conclusion they reached is that new species were formed at a faster rate in the younger mountain range than in the older micro-habitat within the Himalayas and Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

 As Ree explained it, “As mountains form, you get different elevations, different substrates exposed, different soil chemistries, different climates. They create lots of little micro-habitats along which species can adapt to local conditions. These changes mean more opportunities for species to diversify and fill new niches.”

The research team’s paper, which was published today in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences</a>, will give added credence to the uplift-driven diversification hypothesis and provide a mechanism for researchers to study other biodiversity hotspots, and animals as well as plant life.

-- 

Written by David Searls, Earth.com staff writer

Source:<a href="http://www.pnas.org/"> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>

Study shows mountain formation spurs biodiversity

One longstanding theory involving biodiversity related to mountain formation is...

IMG_0811.JPG

Weedy rice – once-domestic rice that has stretched roots toward its wild ancestry – infiltrates fields and poses a problem for rice farmers.

In some areas of the world, the unpalatable rice varieties can ruin a crop. Weedy rice varieties can take over as much as 90 percent of a field, said Dr. Kenneth Olsen of <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University in St. Louis</a>. Olsen is the lead author of a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3825">new study</a> measuring the impact that the grain gone wild has on global rice production.

In the U.S., strawhull and blackhull awned rice is estimated to grow in a third of the nation’s rice paddies. The two rogue rices are estimated to cost farmers about $50 million per year.

Weedy rice can be a real challenge for rice farmers because it’s not technically wild. Instead, it’s descended from domestic rice, and it grows in farmer’s fields rather than on undeveloped land. Unlike domestic rice, though, weedy rice is not easy to harvest, and the grains it produces are not likely to win any flavor awards.

The team led by Olsen, and made up of scientists from the U.S. and China, sequenced the genomes of the two U.S. weedy rice varieties, which evolved independently from one another. They compared 18 strawhull and 20 blackhull awned samples to 145 previously published rice genomes for both domestic and wild varieties.

What they found was that the two strains evolved at different stages in the evolution of domestic rice, but that neither needed many changes to go from crop to weed. 

“It’s easy to evolve weediness, and it has happened repeatedly,” Olsen said in a press release about the study. “The evolution of weedy crop relatives is an under-recognized part of the domestication process. Until recently, few of those studying domestication had given much thought to these weedy doppelgangers that were just kind of persisting on the margins of fields.”

Part of the problem has been the mechanization of agriculture itself. Rice was once hand-planted, and farmers could remove weedy varieties from their paddies, Olsen said.

But without that hand tending of the rice crop as it grows, weedy varieties can infiltrate a field. They look similar enough to their domestic cousins that farmers who don’t regularly inspect their plants up close can miss them until they’ve infested an entire crop.

Another problem is that weedy rice tends to revert back to seed shattering, a trait domestic rice once had in the wild. As it was domesticated, humans selected against seed shattering, which makes rice more difficult to harvest. A return to that trait means weedy rice can quickly sow its seeds throughout a field. 

Weedy rice can also remain dormant for longer, meaning seeds continue to crop up even after a farmer weeds her fields.

By studying the genomes and which “human-friendly” traits the two U.S. weed varieties shared, scientists were able to determine that the blackhull awned variety became a weed after rice went through the initial stage of domestication, when humans made the crop more farmable. Strawhull branched off after farmers began selecting for traits like better flavor and other improvements, the second phase of domestication.

While both weeds have gone wild, they crop up in domestic fields because they’re better suited to that environment than truly wild locales.

“What I find fascinating about these weeds is the way they’ve co-opted the agricultural system,” Olsen said. “They take advantage of this wonderful environment we're creating by tilling and providing nutrients, and way outcompete the plants that have desirable traits.”

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/ng/">Nature Genetics</a>. 

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Dr. Kenneth Olsen, Washington University

'Feral' weedy rice hides in agricultural fields

Weedy rice – once-domestic rice that has stretched roots toward...

The agricultural revolutions of the past – such as mechanized farming and fertilizer – have allowed the human population to grow exponentially. But we’re currently reaching a point where we may not have enough land and resources to feed our growing population, which could increase by 2 billion people by 2050, according to the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.html">U.N</a>. This is where the bionic leaf comes in. 

To help initiate the next agricultural revolution, researchers have invented a bionic leaf that uses bacteria, sunlight, water, and air to make fertilizer in the exact same soil where crops are being grown. This device could potentially serve to increase crop yields, requiring less land to be used for farming.

In wealthier countries with developed infrastructure, making and delivering fertilizer isn’t much of a problem. But Daniel Nocera, a professor of energy at <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>, explains, “Poorer countries in the emerging world don't always have the resources to do this. We should be thinking of a distributed system because that's where it's really needed.”

Nocera first tackled this issue by designing the “artificial leaf,” a device that mimics a natural leaf by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using energy from <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/solar-smart-windows-sunlight/">sunlight</a>. He further developed the technology into the “bionic leaf,” which pairs this water-splitting mechanism with bacteria that consume hydrogen and uses carbon dioxide from the air to make liquid fuel.

Although nature’s photosynthesis is the gold standard of what Nocera is trying to replicate, this bionic leaf system actually produces biomass and liquid fuel yields that exceed that of natural photosynthesis. 

In an even more complicated process, the bionic leaf can also pull nitrogen from the air and use its stored hydrogen to create ammonia for fertilizing crops. 

Nocera’s lab has already used this process to grow five crop cycles of radishes. In a convincing display of efficiency, the radishes receiving the bionic-leaf-derived fertilizer weighed 150 percent more than the control crops. The researchers believe that the next step is to increase the scale of this project.

If the bionic leaf is able to be as efficient and effective as these early studies suggest, someday soon it might be in the hands of farmers in underdeveloped countries, allowing them to grow more food and better nourish their communities.

--

By Connor Ertz, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html">American Chemical Society</a>, Nocera Lab at <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>

The bionic leaf could be the next agricultural revolution

The agricultural revolutions of the past – such as mechanized...

In order to get to the Red Planet with everyone aboard safe and healthy, astronauts on the first manned mission to Mars will need to be space farmers, too.

Both government-funded space agencies like <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> and their private colleagues such as <a href="http://www.spacex.com/">SpaceX</a> are planning a return to the Moon. The last time humans went to the Moon – or, in fact, beyond low-Earth orbit – was 1972.

NASA is also working toward an eventual manned mission to our planetary neighbor, Mars. A new bill passed last month authorizes $19.5 billion in U.S. space exploration in 2017.

Some of that exploration and research will focus on growing crops in space – a necessity for the months-long voyage to Mars. 

Agriculture in space isn’t a new idea. A staple of science fiction stories, it’s also been a focus of research since the 1950s and 1960s. It’s also yielded plenty of new techniques and technology for Earth-based agriculture.

“As a result of these studies for space agriculture, novel technologies and findings have been produced; this includes the first use of light emitting diodes for growing crops, one of the first demonstrations of vertical agriculture, use of hydroponic approaches for subterranean crops like potato and sweetpotato, crop yields that surpassed reported record field yields, the ability to quantify volatile organic compound production (e.g., ethylene) from whole crop stands, innovative approaches for controlling water delivery, approaches for processing and recycling wastes back to crop production systems, and more,” Dr. Raymond M. Wheeler, a plant physiologist for NASA, wrote in a new article reviewing past studies into growing plants in space.

Wheeler’s thorough history covers many of the techniques that astronauts cum space farmers will likely need to survive and thrive on the months-long journey to the Red Planet, or even to colonize the Moon.

For example, a 1980s NASA experiment grew wheat, soybeans, potatoes, sweet potatoes and lettuce in a controlled environment similar to a space station. Those first tests led to a second round where researchers grew plants in a closed atmosphere – with no outside oxygen allowed in – similar to those astronauts live in when on the space station or in the space shuttle.

Scientists in Japan and China have taken the research even further, creating closed environments where plants can support two to three humans (or two humans and two goats).

The experiments could make a journey to Mars much more feasible. Although the International Space Station uses a solar-powered process called electrolysis to convert carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen, a thriving plant community on the trip to Mars can produce the same results, providing a second source of air supply for the astronauts.

The plants can also provide much-needed nutrients and supplement their diets. 

And, as Wheeler’s article shows, the new discoveries and innovations made while conducting Mars research with plants can boost Earth-based agricultural production.

“Dr. Ray Wheeler has written a compelling and complete history of the people that have committed their careers to enabling the colonization of space,” Dr. Gary W. Stutte, a fellow NASA researcher, said in a press release. “Drawing upon his deep understanding of the programs developed, people involved, and progress achieved to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of scientist and engineers around the world to bring the vision of space exploration to fruition, he details the problems, challenges, results and contributions from the programs, and reveals how they benefited Earth, as well as space.”

Wheeler’s article has been published in the journal <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opag.2017.2.issue-1/opag-2017-0002/opag-2017-0002.xml">Open Agriculture</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

First astronauts to Mars could moonlight as space farmers

In order to get to the Red Planet with everyone...

As the legalization of recreational marijuana use continues to expand across the U.S. state by state, cannabis enthusiasts have a new reason to celebrate. A team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> (UBC) have identified 30 genes that give each cannabis strain its specific flavor. 

The research was led by UBC professor Dr. Jörg Bohlmann, adjunct professor Dr. Jonathan Page, and graduate student Judith Booth, and published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173911">Plos One</a>.

“The goal is to develop well-defined and highly-reproducible cannabis varieties,” said Dr Bohlmann. “This is similar to the wine industry, which depends on defined varieties such as chardonnay or merlot for high value products. Our genomics work can inform breeders of commercial varieties which genes to pay attention to for specific flavor qualities.”

The team observed terpene genes, which are responsible for the different scents and flavors of the cannabis plant. A similar type of gene is in charge of the type of grapevine <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/sriracha-sauce-taste/">flavor</a> in wine. In cannabis plants, terpene genes produce natural terpenes such as myrcene, limonene, and pinene.

“The limonene compound produces a lemon-like flavor and myrcene produces the dank, earthy flavor characteristic of purple kush,” said Booth.

The research adds a great deal of potential economic value to a regulated cannabis industry. The ability to curate and control the production of different cannabis strains would make them available to the public on a much broader level.

'There is a need for high-quality and consistent products made from well defined varieties,” said Dr. Bohlmann.

--

By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a>

Scientists identify genes that determine cannabis strain flavors

As the legalization of recreational marijuana use continues to expand...

Need more proof spinach is good for your heart? Scientists may have figured out a way to “hack” one of the toughest issues in repairing damaged organs. Researchers have used spinach leaves to provide a framework to grow new heart tissue.

“Despite significant advances in the fabrication of bioengineered scaffolds for tissue engineering, delivery of nutrients in complex engineered human tissues remains a challenge,” the research team wrote in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28222326">new study</a>. “By taking advantage of the similarities in the vascular structure of plant and animal tissues, we developed decellularized plant tissue as a prevascularized scaffold for tissue engineering applications.”

In layman’s terms, the veins in a spinach leaf has provided a sort of template for human heart tissue.

While scientists were able to create human tissue with 3-D printing and other technologies already, organ tissue has presented a larger challenge. Namely, scientists’ are unable to create the delicate vascular network needed to support it, said graduate student Joshua Gershlak, lead author of the paper. 

“Techniques can’t fabricate microvasculature the way that the body needs it,” Gershlak said in a <a href="https://youtu.be/6iUrxGo9gZs">video</a> that the <a href="https://www.wpi.edu/">Worcester Polytechnic Institute</a> research team released to share their work. “Without that microvasculature, you lose that oxygen transport. So as you build a bigger and bigger graft, say for like a heart attack on a human, you’re going to need something fairly large. So without that vascular network, you get a lot of tissue death.”

That’s where the spinach leaves come in.

According to Dr. Glenn Gaudette, who also worked on the research project, the scientists take the spinach leaves and use a detergent to remove all of the plant material while leaving the vascular structure intact.

Then, they seed the structure with human cells, he said. As the human cells grow into cardiac muscle, they can be stacked, and the veins can, in theory, be attached to existing veins in the heart, Gaudette said. 

The heart tissue they’ve created on spinach leaves looks and acts like normal cardiac cells, Gershlak said.

“These data demonstrate the potential of decellularized plants as scaffolds for tissue engineering, which could ultimately provide a cost-efficient, ‘green’ technology for regenerating large volume vascularized tissue mass,” the researchers wrote.

The full study will be published in the May issue of the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biomaterials">Biomaterials</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists build working heart tissue using spinach leaves

Need more proof spinach is good for your heart? Scientists...

Did relatively complex life on Earth begin hundreds of million years earlier than we thought? That’s what’s suggested by the discovery of a red algae-like plant fossil that, at 1.6 billion years old, is evidence of the earliest plant known.

The first single-cell organism is known to be a couple billion year older than this discovery, but the red algae plant fossil is evidence of a more complex form of life, known as eukaryotes. This form, which includes humans and other animals, plants and even fungi, are indicated by the presence of a cell with a nucleus and other structures in a membrane.

Before this finding, the earliest evidence of red algae was some 400 million years more recent.

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.nrm.se/en/16.html">Swedish Museum of Natural History</a> made their find in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-crisis-india/">India</a>, in what would have been shallow water when the plant lived, and published their findings in PLOS Biology. They stressed that their identification of the fossil as red algae could not be conclusive.

“You cannot be 100 percent sure about material this ancient, as there is no DNA remaining, but the characters agree quite well with the morphology and structure of red algae,” the museum’s Professor Stefan Bengtsontold explained to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39267153">BBC News</a>.

In addition to the unanswered questions due to the lack of DNA, some scientist question whether red algae should even be called plant life or if it would more accurately fall into a class of its own.

[caption id="attachment_131547" align="aligncenter" width="996"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA5MC8zMjgvb3JpZ2luYWwvb2xkZXN0LXBsYW50LWxpa2UtZm9zc2lsLmpwZw.jpg"><img class="wp-image-131547 size-large" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA5MC8zMjgvb3JpZ2luYWwvb2xkZXN0LXBsYW50LWxpa2UtZm9zc2lsLmpwZw-1024x369.jpg" width="996" height="359" /></a> Image Credit: Stefan Bengtson[/caption]

--

By <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer David Searls

Source:<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/"> PLOS Biology</a>

Plant fossil dates complex life back another 400 million years

Did relatively complex life on Earth begin hundreds of million...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

News coming your way