There is a fruit called the 'squirting cucumber' that fires its seeds like mini ballistic missiles. But how does it do this? Researchers seem to have solved this mystery -- a question that has baffled scientists for hundreds of years.



The results of a recent study, based on a myriad of experiments, high-speed videography, image scrutiny, and advanced mathematical modeling, are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-the-squirting-cucumber">Understanding the squirting cucumber</h2>



The squirting cucumber, or Ecballium elaterium, derives its name from its unique method of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-seeds-go-dormant-to-avoid-harsh-conditions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seed</a> dispersal.



As the fruit ripens, it transitions into a seed-launching machine, that can shoot out seeds enveloped in a jet of mucus-like fluid.



In a minuscule span of just 30 milliseconds, the seeds are propelled at speeds of around 20 meters per second or 44 miles per hour, enabling them to land a considerable distance away (approximately 10 meters or 33 feet). 



This is equal to around 250 times the length of the fruit itself .



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decoding-seed-dispersal">Decoding seed dispersal</h2>



Despite the fruit's intriguing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-increase-forest-recovery-by-dispersing-seeds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seed dispersal</a> method, the mechanism behind it -- as well as its impact on the plant's reproduction -- remained elusive until recently.



Scientists from the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Oxford</a> and the <a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Manchester</a> ran a battery of tests on Ecballium specimens grown at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.



These experiments included capturing the seed dispersal in motion using a high-speed camera, conducting indentation tests, measuring the volume of the fruit and stem before and after dispersal, and observing the fruit's changes through time-lapse photography. 



Armed with this data, the team devised mathematical models to describe and understand the internal and external mechanics at play.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fluid-distribution-in-squirting-cucumber">Fluid distribution in squirting cucumber</h2>



The team's rigorous approach resulted in the identification of key features of the plant's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-play-a-much-bigger-role-in-seed-dispersal-than-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seed dispersal strategy</a>. 



These involve a highly pressurized system, fluid redistribution, rapid recoil, and variable launch - that together form a sophisticated launch system.



The fluid redistribution from the fruit back into the stem, a feature thought to be unique to the squirting cucumber, was among the most significant findings.



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="4NlCX5nNI6-4062310-12187" type="single"]</div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fine-tuning-for-successful-seed-dispersal">Fine-tuning for successful seed dispersal</h2>



The team's mathematical model helped them explore the effects of altering different parameters, and revealed that the squirting cucumber's seed projection method has been naturally fine-tuned for optimal dispersal and propagation.



For instance, making the stem thicker and stiffer led to a narrower <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/woodlice-prove-crucial-players-plant-seed-dispersal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dispersal area</a> and, therefore, a lower survival rate.



On the other hand, reducing the fluid transferred from the fruit to the stem caused the seeds to be ejected at accelerated speeds but with a nearly vertical launch angle, again resulting in reduced dispersal and survival rates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mechanisms-of-a-unique-plant">Mechanisms of a unique plant</h2>



"For centuries people have asked how and why this extraordinary plant sends its seeds into the world in such a violent way," said Dr. Chris Thorogood, Deputy Director and Head of Science at the <a href="https://obga.ox.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oxford Botanic Garden</a>.



"Now, as a team of biologists and mathematicians, we’ve finally begun to unravel this great botanical enigma." 



Dr. Derek Moulton, professor of Applied Mathematics at the Oxford <a href="https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mathematical Institute</a>, also participated in the research.



"The first time we inspected this plant in the Botanic Garden, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-third-of-europes-plants-at-risk-due-to-decline-in-seed-dispersers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seed</a> launch was so fast that we weren’t sure that it had actually happened. It was very exciting to dig in and uncover the mechanism of this unique plant," Dr. Moulton explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beyond-seed-dispersal">Beyond seed dispersal</h2>



According to Dr. Finn Box, a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, this study has implications beyond botany.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/squirting-cucumber_Ecballium-elaterium_squirting-seeds_UOxford_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/squirting-cucumber_Ecballium-elaterium_squirting-seeds_UOxford_1s.webp" alt="A still showing the jet ejected from a squirting cucumber, which carries its seeds distances of up to 10m away from the mother plant. Credit: Dominic Vella" class="wp-image-1951606"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A still showing the jet ejected from a squirting cucumber, which carries its seeds distances of up to 10m away from the mother plant. Credit: Dominic Vella</figcaption></figure>



"This research offers potential applications in bio-inspired engineering and material science, particularly on-demand drug delivery systems, for instance microcapsules that eject nanoparticles where precise control of rapid, directional release is crucial," said Dr. Box.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-squirting-cucumber-a-part-of-history">The squirting cucumber: A part of history</h2>



Ecballium elaterium, a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, which also includes melon, pumpkin, squash, and courgette, is native to the Mediterranean region where it is commonly regarded as a weed due to its effective seed-dispersal strategy.



This plant caught the attention of ancient Greeks and Romans alike, with naturalist Pliny the Elder describing its powerful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-reveals-how-plants-use-winged-seeds-to-expand-their-habitats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seed launch</a> centuries ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conservation-and-future-research">Conservation and future research</h2>



Given the squirting cucumber's extensive use as a model for understanding complex biological phenomena, conserving its natural habitats becomes imperative. This plant holds significant scientific and ecological value.



Future research could investigate the genetic underpinnings of its unique <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-play-a-much-bigger-role-in-seed-dispersal-than-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dispersal system</a>, linking it to other species within the Cucurbitaceae family to unravel shared evolutionary traits.



Additionally, exploring the potential for cross-disciplinary applications, from environmental management to biomimicry in engineering, could broaden our perspective on how such ecological marvels can benefit human society while preserving biodiversity.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2410420121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



Video Credit: Dominic Vella



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How the 'squirting cucumber' squirts and the trigger that makes it happen

There is a fruit called the 'squirting cucumber' that fires its seeds like mini ballistic missiles. But how does it do this? Researchers seem to have solved this mystery -- a question that has baffled scientists for hundreds of years. The results of a recent study, based on a myriad of experiments, high-speed videography, image scrutiny, and advanced mathematical modeling, are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Understanding the squirting cucumber The squirting cucumber, or Ecballium elaterium, derives its name from...

Tetra Pak is a Swiss company known for making things like the container you may have eaten yogurt from at breakfast or drank juice from. These cartons are seen by some as sustainable alternatives to plastic water bottles. Unfortunately, the reality doesn’t seem to stack up to this hope. <a href="https://drinkpathwater.com/blogs/news/10-sad-truths-about-cartons-like-tetra-pak%C2%AE-why-they-are-not-a-sustainable-solution-for-bottled-water">Only about 26%</a> of these paks end up being recycled worldwide, due to few facilities being able to accept them.&nbsp;



Despite their over inflated environmental claims, it does seem that Tetra Pak is now truly trying to do something good for the planet. The company is launching The Araucaria Conservation Programme, a restoration project in Brazil’s endangered Atlantic Forest. Partnering with Brazilian NGO Apremavi, the project plans to restore at least 7,000 hectares over a decade.&nbsp;



The project focuses on the Atlantic Forest, a habitat more threatened than the Amazon and one of the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Only 12% of the original forest remains and much of the wildlife has been reduced by hunting. The project aims specifically at the Araucaria Forest within the greater Atlantic Forest, where only 3% of its original land is preserved.&nbsp;



"This initiative is our response to the United Nations challenge to make this the decade of ecosystem restoration," said Julian Fox, Director Nature Programs of Tetra Pak.



"We are thrilled to be a lead partner of such a pioneering project, connecting a range of stakeholders and merging environmental restoration with carbon capture analysis to help mitigate climate change and recover biodiversity."



The first year of the project is focused on a pilot program of restoring 80 hectares as well as mapping additional areas to be restored in the future. Tetra Pak also plans to certify a larger area under carbon and biodiversity standards as part of its goal to become carbon neutral by 2030.&nbsp;



"Among the proposed methodologies are the planting of native seedlings, the ecological enrichment of secondary forests and natural regeneration. In the long run, the restored areas will be integrated into ecological corridors, contributing to reducing pressure on endangered animals such as the purple-breasted parrot and the pampas deer," said Miriam Prochnow, Counselor and Co-Founder of Apremavi.



"These actions are fundamental for the protection of biodiversity, the restoration of soil quality and the maintenance of water availability in the region."



---



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

Tetra Pak will help restore Brazil’s endangered Atlantic Forest

Tetra Pak is a Swiss company known for making things...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-did-the-dinosaur-extinction-influence-plant-evolution/">Plant</a> composition changes in many areas with climate shifts. Not all of the dynamic interplay between climate and plant growth or other environmental responses are fully understood. One of these responses seems to be an increase of peatland vegetation as the climate warms.&nbsp;



In 2018, scientists working on Norway’s Svalbard - one of the northernmost inhabited islands on the planet - bore into the Earth and removed soil samples. Led by Minna Väliranta from the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a>, the team found a thin layer of organic material covering mineral soils.&nbsp;



There was carbon being extracted from the atmosphere by photosynthesis at the top of the soil. The scientists gave this phenomenon of organic accumulation the name "proto peat," which is caused mainly by mosses. As climate conditions continue to warm, mosses are appearing this far north in the Arctic.



“It’s not yet peat in the actual sense of the word, but you could say it’s the starting point for the formation of peat,” said Väliranta, who is part of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences.



This is all part of a much larger body of work by Väliranta, who is investigating the phenomena of Arctic proto peat in other places. She is also studying the increase of plant life in the Arctic, including proto peat as well as shrubs and other plants. This phenomenon is known as "Arctic greening." The scientists think that Arctic greening in general, (and proto peat in particular), could create carbon sinks in the Arctic.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“If this process that generates proto-peat occurs extensively, an unexpected carbon reservoir, or a plant community that mitigates climate change, may be in the process of establishing itself in the north. This reservoir has not been included in the modelling of ecosystems and the atmosphere, as it has traditionally been thought that no new peatlands are formed,” said Väliranta.



If indeed these carbon sinks are forming, then it is important data that scientists should consider when creating predictive models of global climate.&nbsp;



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



---



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

New carbon sinks may be appearing in the Arctic

Plant composition changes in many areas with climate shifts. Not...

Healthy eating habits can lower the risk of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/obesity-is-the-epidemic-crisis-of-our-time/">obesity</a>, cardiovascular disease and cancer. But, as many parents know, getting children to eat their greens can be a challenge. New research has found that toddlers eat more vegetables if they are rewarded for trying them.



Britt van Belkom of the Institute for Food, Health &amp; Safety by Design at Maastricht University Campus Venlo said it is important to start eating vegetables from a young age. “We know from previous research that young children typically have to try a new vegetable eight to ten times before they like it."



“And so we looked at whether repeatedly asking children to try some vegetables would make them more willing to eat their greens.&nbsp; We were also interested in whether providing a fun reward would make a difference.”



To test this theory, 598 children between the ages of one and four took part in “The Vegetable Box” program in day care centers across the Netherlands. The children were randomly assigned to one of three groups: exposure/reward, exposure/no reward or control (no exposure/no reward).



Children in the first two groups were given the chance to try different vegetables daily, for three months. Children in the reward group received fun, non-food rewards, such as a sticker or toy crown, when they tried something new.



The knowledge of vegetables, and children's willingness to try them, was also measured. This was done by asking the kids to name the 14 different vegetables they were shown, including tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, onions, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, chicory, pumpkin, and asparagus.



Consumption was measured by giving them the chance to taste bite-size pieces of six vegetables (tomato, cucumber, carrot, bell pepper, radish and cauliflower) and counting how many they were willing to taste.



At the pre-test, children in the control group could identify around eight vegetables, and 10 vegetables in the post-test. All of the children in the two exposure groups could identify around nine vegetables pre-test, which increased to 11 post-test.



In both groups, children were willing to try around five to six vegetables on average, and this number increased to 7 in the reward group. The results show that regularly offering vegetables to toddlers can increase their ability to recognize them, while rewarding them increases their willingness to try them.&nbsp;



“The type of reward is, however, very important – it should be fun but not food," said van Belkom.



This research was presented at this year’s <a href="https://easo.org/congress/">European Congress on Obesity</a> (ECO) in Maastricht, the Netherlands.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Children are willing to try vegetables when they're rewarded

Healthy eating habits can lower the risk of obesity, cardiovascular...

Pollination by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-insects-will-kill-more-than-a-million-street-trees-by-2050/">insects</a> is required for 75 percent of our food crops and more than 80 percent of wild plants. The value of crop pollination is estimated at 577 billion US dollars per year worldwide. The best-known pollinators are bees, but many others - flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths - also play important roles.



In recent decades, several studies have identified a significant decline in insect populations due to the loss of habitats for insects. A major cause of habitat loss is the conversion of natural areas into agricultural or urban areas.&nbsp;



But what are the consequences of land use in combination with warmer climates for pollinating insects? And what could be done to mitigate possible negative consequences? This is the focus of a new study from <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/home/">Julius-Maximilians-University (JMU) Würzburg</a>.



For the first time, the JMU research team revealed how climate and land use shape the diversity of pollinating insects at local and landscape scales across Bavaria.&nbsp;



Based on more than 3,200 identified pollinator species from 179 locations, they find homogenization of pollinator communities in warmer climates. This suggests an overall loss of pollinator diversity under future conditions.



Individual taxa such as bees, flies, beetles, butterflies, and moths showed different responses to warmer and drier climates. The general pattern indicates that landscapes with higher proportions of forest maintain diverse pollinator communities.&nbsp;



"One key finding therefore is that forest in the landscape can cushion the effects of climate warming to a certain extent." explained study lead author Cristina Ganuza.



“The study underpins that in addition to the importance of floral resources and the negative effects of land use intensification, climatic conditions play an increasingly important role for the maintenance of pollinator diversity. For example, the combination of high temperatures and low precipitation negatively affected total pollinator diversity, while bee richness in urban areas was negatively affected by higher mean temperatures," said Professor Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter.



High pollinator diversity is needed for high pollinator performance. However, climate change, in addition to land use, will only allow select pollinator species to survive.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"We conclude that a large proportion of forested land in the landscape could serve as refuge for insects from climate warming," said Ganuza. "This is likely because forests and forest edges provide largely natural conditions which buffer extreme heat and drought compared to more human-influenced habitats."



The researchers also suggest that increased green spaces could help lower temperatures in cities, which would make urban areas more livable for pollinators like bees.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.&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

Forested areas may help protect pollinators in a warming climate

Pollination by insects is required for 75 percent of our...

The fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus produce a poisonous substance called aflatoxin, which can infect peanuts, tree nuts, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/increase-productivity-resilience-corn/">corn</a>. Besides degrading corn quality, this substance can also cause significant health problems for humans and animals, depending on the amount and length of time it is ingested.&nbsp;



While aflatoxin contamination occurs each year in the southern U.S. due to its hot and dry climate, it has rarely been a serious problem in the Corn Belt region - an area in the midwestern U.S. covering western Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, and eastern Nebraska.



However, a new study led by <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> (MSU) has found that, as climate change continues to alter weather patterns all over the world, including in the Midwest, aflatoxin will become a significant problem in this area too.&nbsp;



“When we ran our near-term climate model scenarios, we found that between 2031-2040, aflatoxin is going to become more of a problem in the U.S. Corn Belt in the Midwest,” said study senior author Felicia Wu, a professor of Food Safety, Toxicology, and Risk Assessment at MSU. “The last time there was a serious problem was in 2012 when we had an unusually hot and dry summer throughout the Midwest, particularly in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.”



The researchers noted that since hot and dry conditions encourage fungi spores to be airborne and increase their chances of contaminating crops, keeping crops irrigated and storing harvests in cool, dry conditions could reduce the risks of aflatoxin contamination.&nbsp;



In addition, the use of biotechnological and conventional breeding techniques to develop hybrid crops that could withstand droughts, fungal infections, and insect damage could be an essential tool in creating more resilient and healthy crops. Finally, shifting crop production further north or south where the climate is cooler or wetter can also reduce aflatoxin risk.



For consumers concerned about eating field corn that may be contaminated with aflatoxin, Professor Wu suggests several alternatives. “Green leafy vegetables are good for your overall health,” she said. “Chlorophyll has a sandwich molecular structure that traps aflatoxin molecules so that humans excrete them before the toxin can enter our bloodstream.” Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, or cauliflower, and allium vegetables like garlic, onions, or leeks could also help detoxifying our organism and guarding it against contaminants such as aflatoxin.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6435">Environmental Research Letters</a>.



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

Climate change increases the risk of aflatoxin contamination

The fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus produce a poisonous...

Jungle,In,Vietnam

Many of us have heard that more carbon in the air can be good for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-plants-thrive-under-environmental-stress/">plants</a>. Some scientists believe an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could cause tropical grasslands to grow more shrubs and trees, which would enable these areas to store an increasing amount of CO2.



However, an international team of climate scientists has discovered that an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has minimal effect on tropical forest-savanna transitions. In fact, fire activity and moisture availability were found to be the most important factors for an expanding forest.&nbsp;



"Simply put, we have shown that it does not matter how much CO2 is in the atmosphere if there is not enough water, or there are fires every year, or all the seedlings are eaten by animals," said study lead author William Gosling of the University of Amsterdam..



This means that simply replanting forests will not be enough to fight climate change because other factors created by climate change (drought and fire) will reduce the forest's ability to flourish.



"Our paper is a nail in the coffin of the CO2-is-dominant hypothesis and will hopefully lead to more realistic models," said study co-author Jonathan Overpeck of the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a>. "The idea that you can just plant trees to sequester carbon, and those trees will be safe from a hotter, drier climate thanks to elevated atmospheric CO2 levels - that isn't a safe bet."



The research team gathered past carbon dioxide levels from ice-core records. They used the GENIE-1 Earth system model to predict temperature and temperature variation to carry out the study.



"We combined evidence of past environmental change extracted from sediments recovered from Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana with simulated past climate conditions, and the record of global atmospheric CO2 change obtained from ice cores over the last 500,000 years," explained Gosling.



"What is new from our data is that when you scale up to the landscape scale, the resources available and processes occurring within that landscape are more important than the CO2 fertilization."



Although the researchers recognize the limitations to their study, they hope that future models looking at CO2 fertilization will improve by including inputs such as herbivory and fire activity.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg4618">Science</a>.



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

Carbon dioxide has a minimal impact on tropical vegetation

Many of us have heard that more carbon in the...

An international team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.ru.nl/english/">Radboud University</a> has demonstrated that plants in salt and freshwater wetlands capture and store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. This means that the restoration of wetlands, such as bogs, salt marshes, and mangrove forests, has very promising potential to help mitigate climate change and slow global warming.&nbsp;



While wetlands only cover about one percent of Earth's surface, they capture and store more than 20 percent of the CO2 that is absorbed by all of the ecosystems in the world. The plants contained in wetlands are able to capture huge amounts of CO2 and store them in the surrounding soil. This creates "carbon capture hotspots," as the researchers have now confirmed.



The experts found that oceans and forests hold the most CO2, followed by wetlands. "But when we look at the amount of CO2 stored per square meter, it turns out that wetlands store about five times more CO2 than forests and as much as 500 times more than oceans,” explained study first author Ralph Temmink. “Peat bogs, salt marshes, mangrove forests and seagrass beds are therefore global 'hotspots' of CO2 storage.”



The secret to these hotspots, the researchers discovered, is that wetlands are built by landscape-forming plants that help each other when they grow close together, and this process boosts their ability to capture CO2.&nbsp;



For example, in raised bogs, peat mosses behave like sponges and retain an enormous amount of rainwater. This makes the mosses grow faster, and they are able to stabilize dead plant material that is held beneath them under the water. Nutrients released from the dead material further stimulates the growth of the moss, which in turn thickens the soil layer that stores CO2.



“We support this study and are very happy with its findings," said Teo Wams. “It shows how important peatland and salt marshes are, and illustrates that we should take good care of these valuable ecosystems. Also, this knowledge helps us to improve management and restoration of unique landscapes."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.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

Wetlands are powerful weapons in the fight against global warming

An international team of researchers led by Radboud University has...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a> (PIK)&nbsp;has found that substituting 20 percent of meat from cattle with microbial protein (an alternative to meat produced in fermentation tanks) by 2050 could reduce <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coordinated-efforts-needed-to-slow-deforestation/">deforestation</a> and greenhouse gas emissions by half, thus providing significant help in mitigating climate change.&nbsp;



“The food system is at the root of a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, with ruminant meat production being the single largest source,” said study lead author Florian Humpenöder, a postdoctoral researcher at PIK.&nbsp;



An increasing number of forests that store a lot of carbon are currently cleared for cattle grazing, while animal agriculture is also contributing massively to greenhouse gas emissions. This means that the use of nutritious protein-rich biomass with meat-like texture produced from microbes such as fungi during fermentation could be an important step forward in saving forests and curbing global warming.



“The substitution of ruminant meat with microbial protein in the future could considerably reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of the food system,” said Dr. Humpenöder. “The good news is that people do not need to be afraid they can eat only greens in the future. They can continue eating burgers and the like, it’s just that those burger patties will be produced in a different way.”



Dr. Humpenöder and his colleagues included microbial protein in a computer simulation model built to assess the environmental effects of the whole food and agriculture system. By running various forward-scenarios until 2050 and accounting for future population growth, food demand, dietary patterns, and land-use dynamics, the experts found that, if we substituted 20 percent of ruminant meat per capita with microbial protein, annual deforestation and carbon emissions would be halved by mid-century.&nbsp;



“The reduced numbers of cattle do not only reduce the pressure on land but also reduce methane emissions from the rumen of cattle and nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizing feed or manure management,” said Dr. Humpenöder. “So replacing minced red meat with microbial protein would be a great start to reduce the detrimental impacts of present-day beef production.”



According to the scientists, since fermentation-derived microbial protein is made in specific cultures, like beer or bread, this process could be largely decoupled from agricultural production. However, a large-scale transformation towards biotech food would also require a large-scale decarbonization of electricity generation so that its climate protection potential can be fully developed. Further research is needed to find the most efficient methods of using sustainable energy to fuel such green biotechnology initiatives.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04629-w">Nature</a>.



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

Fungi-based meat alternatives could help save forests

A new study led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate...

Protecting native tree diversity through more efficient conservation and restoration efforts is crucial in Southeast Asia, where an increasing number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-tree-species-remain-undiscovered/">tree species</a> face threats from habitat loss, climate change, wildfires, and other human-caused factors. A new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109560">Biological Conservation</a> has used a spatially explicit framework to identify species-specific priority areas for conservation and restoration of endangered rosewood species in the Greater Mekong Subregion - an area including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.



The researchers focused on three highly valuable Asian Rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) species – Siamese rosewood, Burma blackwood, and Burmese rosewood – and found that all of these species faced significant risk to at least one of five threats across 75 percent of their native ranges: overexploitation, overgrazing, fires, habitat conversion, and climate change. The continuous decline in genetic diversity reduces these trees’ capacity to adapt and survive in a rapidly changing environment, narrowing the window of opportunity to restore productive populations that are highly fragmented due to human activity.



According to United Nations data, rosewoods are the most lucrative form of illegal flora trade, surpassing ivory in terms of trade value. The risks they face from illegal logging and deforestation for agricultural expansion are compounded by other anthropogenic threats, such as climate change and forest fires.&nbsp;



In order to provide an overview of the diversity of environments where these species grow and to assess current gaps for conservation measures, researchers made use of a spatial framework that could complement field studies. “Spatial approaches serve as a complementary method to field studies by helping narrow down target areas for follow-up surveys and benefitting tropical regions where there is high species diversity and where conservation resources are limited,” explained study co-author Riina Jalonena, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.bioversityinternational.org/alliance/">Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT</a>.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that all three species of rosewood were at risk across the Greater Mekong, particularly from overexploitation, habitat conversion, and fires. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the rosewood population is found in protected areas, while the rest of the population is dwindling is areas that are not regulated by governmental bodies. However, even the species from protected areas are not guaranteed survival due to limited access and rapid environmental changes.&nbsp;



Urgent conservation and restoration actions are needed to save these highly valuable and threatened tree species. The scientists hope that, through regional initiatives guided by the action maps they provided, it will be possible to mobilize cross-country collaborations to safeguard these important resources and the ecosystems they are a crucial part of. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;



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

Rosewood trees in Southeast Asia face the risk of extinction

Protecting native tree diversity through more efficient conservation and restoration...

A new study has revealed that children who eat vegetarian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-based-diets-reduce-the-risk-of-severe-covid-19/">diets</a> have similar measures of growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat. The study, led by researchers at <a href="https://unityhealth.to/locations/st-michaels-hospital/">St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health</a>, also found that children with a vegetarian diet were more likely to be underweight, emphasizing the need for careful planning of childhood nutrition.



The findings come as uptake of plant-based diets is on the rise in Canada. In 2019, updates to <a href="https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/guidelines/">Canada’s Food Guide</a> promoted plant-based proteins, such as beans and tofu, instead of meat.



“Over the last 20 years we have seen growing popularity of plant-based diets and a changing food environment with more access to plant-based alternatives, however we have not seen research into the nutritional outcomes of children following vegetarian diets in Canada,” said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, lead author of the study.



“This study demonstrates that Canadian children following vegetarian diets had similar growth and biochemical measures of nutrition compared to children consuming non-vegetarian diets. Vegetarian diet was associated with higher odds of underweight weight status, underscoring the need for careful dietary planning for children with underweight when considering vegetarian diets.”



The researchers evaluated roughly 9,000 children as young as six months old who participated in the <a href="https://www.targetkids.ca/">TARGet Kids!</a> cohort study. The quality of the vegetarian diet was not considered in the assessment.&nbsp;



The experts found that children who ate a vegetarian diet had similar mean body mass index (BMI), height, iron, vitamin D, and cholesterol levels compared to those who consumed meat. Among vegetarian participants, there were increased odds of being underweight, below the third percentile for BMI, and no association of obesity.&nbsp;



Underweight is an indicator of undernutrition, which can happen when the quality of a child’s diet is not meeting nutritional needs to support growth. For children who eat a vegetarian diet, access to healthcare providers is key to ensuring that growth is monitored and children receive education and guidance to support their growth and nutrition.



International guidelines have differing recommendations when it comes to childhood vegetarian diets. Past studies that have evaluated vegetarian diet, childhood growth and nutritional status have had conflicting findings.



“Plant-based dietary patterns are recognized as a healthy eating pattern due to increased intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, and reduced saturated fat; however, few studies have evaluated the impact of vegetarian diets on childhood growth and nutritional status. Vegetarian diets appear to be appropriate for most children,” said Dr. Maguire, who is also a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.



The researchers believe that further research is needed to understand the quality of vegetarian diets in childhood, and to understand how childhood growth and nutrition is further impacted by a vegan diet, which excludes meat and animal derived products such as dairy, egg, and honey.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics">Pediatrics</a> &nbsp;and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and SickKids Foundation.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Children with vegetarian diets maintain similar growth and nutrition

A new study has revealed that children who eat vegetarian...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-is-a-powerful-weapon-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/">Seagrasses</a> are some of the most efficient carbon sinks on Earth: one square kilometer can store nearly twice as much carbon as forests on land, and 35 times as fast. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.mpi-bremen.de/en/Home.html">Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology</a> in Germany has found that seagrasses also release massive amounts of sugars into their soils (the so-called “rhizosphere”), during the process of photosynthesis.&nbsp;



While under average light conditions, the plants use most of the sugars for their own metabolism and growth, under high light conditions, such as at midday or during the summer, they produce much more than they can use, releasing the surplus into their rhizosphere.&nbsp;



“To put this into perspective: We estimate that worldwide there are between 0.6 and 1.3 million tons of sugar, mainly in the form of sucrose, in the seagrass rhizosphere,” said study senior author Manuel Liebeke, the head of the Metabolic Interactions group at the Max Planck Institute. “That is roughly comparable to the amount of sugar in 32 billion cans of coke!”



Knowing that almost all microbes thrive on sugars, Dr. Liebeke and his colleagues have pondered why is the sucrose not consumed by the vast population of microorganisms from the seagrass rhizosphere.&nbsp;



“We spent a long time trying to figure this out,” said study first author Maggie Sogin, who conducted the study during a postdoctoral fellowship at Max Planck.



“What we realized is that seagrass, like many other plants, release phenolic compounds to their sediments. Red wine, coffee and fruits are full of phenolics, and many people take them as health supplements. What is less well known is that phenolics are antimicrobials and inhibit the metabolism of most microorganisms.”&nbsp;



However, a small set of microbes seem to be able to thrive on sucrose. According to Dr. Sogin, these creatures are not only able to digest sucrose and degrade phenolics, but might also produce essential nutrients, such as nitrogen, which help seagrass grow. “Such beneficial relationships between plants and rhizosphere microorganisms are well known in land plants, but we are only just beginning to understand the intimate and intricate interactions of seagrasses with microorganisms in the marine rhizosphere,” she said.



Since seagrass meadows are among the most threatened habitats on the planet and are rapidly declining in all oceans, scientists worldwide fear that their disappearance will release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, thus exacerbating global warming.&nbsp;



“Looking at how much blue carbon – that is carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems – is lost when seagrass communities are decimated, our research clearly shows: it is not only the seagrass itself, but also the large amounts of sucrose underneath live seagrasses that would result in a loss of stored carbon. Our calculations show that if the sucrose in the seagrass rhizosphere was degraded by microbes, at least 1,54 million tons of carbon dioxide would be released into the atmosphere worldwide,” concluded Professor Liebeke.&nbsp;



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

Massive amounts of sugar found under seagrass meadows

Seagrasses are some of the most efficient carbon sinks on...

After the cataclysmic extinction of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-dinosaurs-died-in-the-springtime/">dinosaurs</a> 66 million years ago, large herbivores were absent from Earth for over 25 million years. Since plants and herbivorous animals influence each other during evolutionary history, scientists have long pondered how the very long absence and later return of “megaherbivores” affected the evolution of the plant world. 



By performing a series of genetic analyses of fossilized palm species, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.idiv.de/en/index.html">German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research</a> (iDiv)&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.uni-leipzig.de/en">Leipzig University</a> has now traced the evolutionary developments of plants during and after the extinction of megaherbivores.



At the time of the dinosaurs, palm species bore large fruits and were covered with spines and thorns on their leaves and trunks. The fossil analyses revealed that, after the dinosaurs went extinct, “the evolutionary speed” with which new palm species with small fruits arose decreased, while that of those with large fruits remained almost constant. However, the size of the fruits themselves increased during the megaherbivore gap, suggesting that much smaller animals could also eat large fruits and disperse their seeds with their excretions.



“We were thus able to refute the previous scientific assumption that the presence of large palm fruits depended exclusively on megaherbivores,” said study first author Dr. Renske Onstein, a biologist at iDiv and Leipzig University. “We therefore assume that the lack of influence of large herbivores led to denser vegetations in which plants with larger seeds and fruits had an evolutionary advantage.”



However, Dr. Onstein and her colleagues discovered that the number of palm species with defense traits such as thorns and spines decreased after the extinction of the dinosaurs. “Defense traits without predators apparently no longer offered evolutionary advantages,” explained Dr. Onstein. “However, they returned in most palm species when new megaherbivores evolved, in contrast to the changes in fruits, which persisted.”



Better understanding how the extinction of megaherbivores affected plant evolution in the past could help predict future ecological developments. The study results suggest that the ongoing extinction of large herbivores due to human hunting and climate change could also have a significant impact on trait variation in plant populations today and in the foreseeable future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.2633">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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

How did the dinosaur extinction influence plant evolution?

After the cataclysmic extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago,...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...