Corals act more like us humans than one might think. These aquatic structures host an array of marine life while also depending on their microenvironment to survive and grow. Just like humans take multivitamins to stay healthy, corals rely on essential nutrients to thrive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-multivitamins-for-corals">Multivitamins for corals</h2>



Enter the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). They've been busy in the lab, testing an innovative concept: nutrient-infused tiles aimed at supercharging the immune system of corals. It's like a daily multivitamin, but for corals. 



The goal? They aim to prevent coral bleaching, and to help corals to weather the stress of shifting ocean temperatures and to bounce back from harsh climate events such as hurricanes.



"We are studying how corals react when grown on substrates that have been infused with essential metal micronutrients, like manganese, zinc, and iron," explained Colleen Hansel, a senior scientist and marine chemist at <a href="https://www.whoi.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WHOI</a>.



There's an urgency to this work, as rapidly warming waters and an active hurricane season make field trials difficult.



However, hope is not lost. Preliminary data harvested from a year’s worth of lab experiments suggests that corals which received a nutrient boost early on were more resilient and resistant to heat stress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-reef-brought-to-life">A reef brought to life</h2>



Armed with this data, the team's next plan is to take these nutrient-infused tiles and embed them in an artificial reef. 



Designed by experts at the University of the Virgin Islands (<a href="https://www.uvi.edu/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UVI</a>), this 20 sq. meter (216 sq. ft.) concrete setup will offer a safe home to juvenile corals that need multivitamins.



It also doubles as a settling spot for coral larvae, while the nutrient-rich tiles ensure vitamins are dispersed into the surrounding waters. This not only promotes coral growth, but also prepares them for environmental stressors.



"The artificial reef we're building is going in next to a natural reef that has been severely impacted by marine heat waves and extreme storm events," explained Marilyn Brandt, a coral disease ecologist at the UVI.



This man-made marvel won't just fend off storm surges and erosion, it will also create a habitat for corals struggling to adapt to climate change effects. The ultimate goal of the reef's establishment is to help restore the natural reefs in the area.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-monitoring-corals-and-multivitamin-tiles">Monitoring corals and multivitamin tiles</h2>



To ensure the ongoing success of this cutting-edge approach, continuous monitoring and adaptation are integral. Scientists plan to deploy advanced monitoring systems that will track <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-barrier-reef-is-on-the-brink-of-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coral health</a> metrics in real-time. 



This will include assessments of coral growth rates, color changes indicative of stress, and local water conditions. Such data will allow researchers to alter their strategies promptly, adjusting nutrient concentrations or tile placements as necessary to optimize coral resilience.



A dynamic interplay between technology and ecological understanding will ultimately support these living structures in adapting to ever-changing marine environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-engagement-and-education">Community engagement and education</h2>



Beyond laboratory experiments and scientific endeavors, community engagement plays a pivotal role in coral conservation. Educational initiatives aim to involve local communities and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/60-percent-global-coral-reefs-face-bleaching-rising-temperatures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raise awareness</a> about the importance of coral ecosystems. 



Workshops, seminars, and hands-on restoration activities promote a sense of stewardship among residents and visitors alike. By incorporating traditional knowledge and local insights, these programs ensure a holistic approach to coral reef preservation.



As communities learn and participate in restoration efforts, they contribute to a sustainable model that may serve as a blueprint for similar conservation projects globally.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-the-ecosystem">Balancing the ecosystem</h2>



Of course, in the grand scheme of the ocean world, balance is key. While the "multivitamin" tiles will help corals, researchers are cautious that they don't end up favoring a specific coral type or promote the intrusion of unwanted species.



As a result, Brandt, Hansel, and their colleagues are keen to examine this while generating a diverse environment beneficial to the reef ecosystem.



"We need to be sure an artificial reef looks and sounds as similar to a natural reef as possible," said Hansel. "That doesn't consist of just coral, but also sponges, anemones, and other biogeochemical components of the reef ecosystem."



Thus, it's evident that these nutrient-infused tiles, created with dedication and an innovative spirit, could provide a vital lifeline for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-illuminates-fish-interactions-in-coral-reefs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coral reefs</a> in these changing times.



Could this be the answer to coral resilience? As with much in science, time and rigorous testing will tell. For now, let's look forward to more revealing studies on this exciting development.



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'Multivitamins' could save coral reefs from climate destruction

Corals act more like us humans than one might think. These aquatic structures host an array of marine life while also depending on their microenvironment to survive and grow. Just like humans take multivitamins to stay healthy, corals rely on essential nutrients to thrive. Multivitamins for corals Enter the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). They've been busy in the lab, testing an innovative concept: nutrient-infused tiles aimed at supercharging the immune system of corals. It's like a daily multivitamin, but for corals. The goal?...

Around 75 percent of U.S. gold production as well as five percent of global gold production originated in the Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada. In these deposits, gold is hidden together with arsenic in pyrite, which is also known as “fool's gold.” 

A team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/home/">German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ</a> has now demonstrated, for the first time, that the concentration of gold directly depends on the content of arsenic in the pyrite.

The element gold occurs in the Earth's crust in concentrations of 2.5 parts per billion (ppb). The gold concentration must be thousands of times higher, and found in a focused area close to the surface, to be mined at a reasonable cost.

In the gold deposits of the Carlin-type, the gold is not even visible to humans. It occurs in tiny pyrite rims that grow on older “fool's gold” grains which originate from sedimentary rocks.


A team of researchers led by Christof Kusebauch showed in lab experiments that the element arsenic plays a crucial role in extracting gold from hot solutions passing through the rock. The higher the concentration of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arsenic-metals-fruit-juices/">arsenic</a>, the more frequently gold chemically binds with pyrite. 

The experts also found that the shape of the older pyrite is important. The study revealed that more gold can accumulate on a larger surface area of pyrite.

The team used iron-rich carbonates and sulfur-rich solutions to synthesize their fool's gold crystals. 

“Only then we were able to show that the partition coefficient which controls how much gold is incorporated into pyrite depends on the amount of arsenic,” said Kusebauch. “The major challenge was to experimentally grow gold and arsenic bearing pyrite crystals that were big enough to analyze.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: C. Kusebauch, GFZ

Fool’s gold? Scientists find a new way to predict gold concentrations

Around 75 percent of U.S. gold production as well as...

New research from <a href="https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/thu2018en/index.html">Tsinghua University, Beijing</a> provides evidence to show that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-nasal-passages-cool/">dinosaurs</a> may have used running to passively flap their wings before evolving to fly, thus providing new insight into the origins of avian flight. The findings are published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/">PLOS Computational Biology</a>.

After the discovery of Archaeopteryx in 1861, scientists believed a type of gliding flight developed early on, which later led to flapping flight. However, more and more evidence points to the fact that active flapping may have evolved separate from gliding altogether.

Researcher Jing-Shan Zhao and his colleagues from Tsinghua examined this theory further by studying Caudipteryx, catalogued as the most-primitive, non-flying dinosaur who had feathered “proto-wings.” It is believed that Caudipteryx weighed about 5 kilograms and was able to run up to 8 meters per second.

The team first analyzed the mechanical effects of running on different parts of Caudipteryx’s body using a mathematical method called modal effective mass theory. They found that if Caudipteryx ran between about 2.5 to 5.8 meters per second, enough forced vibrations would have caused its proto-wings to flap.

[caption id="attachment_1872115" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Caudipteryx-robot.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1872115" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Caudipteryx-robot.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="487" /></a> Caudipteryx robot for testing passive flapping flight, Image Credit: Talori et al.[/caption]

Zhao and his team then built a robot model of Caudipteryx to confirm that running at these speeds caused a passive flapping motion of the wings. Even testing their theory on a young ostrich, which they fitted with similar proto-wings as Caudipteryx, proved it true.

"Our work shows that the motion of flapping feathered wings was developed passively and naturally as the dinosaur ran on the ground," Zhao said. "Although this flapping motion could not lift the dinosaur into the air at that time, the motion of flapping wings may have developed earlier than gliding."

Zhou says that he and his colleagues will now study the lift and thrust of Caudipteryx’s wings mid-passive flapping.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Before their wings could fly, dinosaurs began flapping them while running

New research from Tsinghua University, Beijing provides evidence to show...

For many people, there is no beverage more satisfying than a powerfully hoppy IPA or a bold, dark roast <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/lactic-acid-perfect-coffee/">coffee</a>. If you ask them what they like about these drinks, you’ll likely get a long-winded answer about the flavor profile of the bean or the seven different kinds of hops used in the brew, but a new study from <a href="https://www.nm.org/">Northwestern Medicine</a> shows there may be more to it than that.

In this study, published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hmg">Human Molecular Genetics</a>, scientist Marilyn Cornelis searched for variations in our taste genes that may explain our beverage preferences. Through collecting 24-hour dietary recalls and questionnaires about how many different types of beverages were consumed by about 336,000 people in the UK Biobank, they could do a genome-wide association study of bitter and sweet beverage consumption. 

Surprisingly, the results showed that taste preferences for bitter or sweet beverages are not based on variations in taste genes, but rather the genes related to psychoactive properties in these drinks. 

“The genetics underlying our preferences are related to the psychoactive components of these drinks,” says Cornelis, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “People like the way coffee and alcohol make them feel. That’s why they drink it. It’s not the taste.”

Cornelis was able to find one variant in a gene known as FTO, which was linked to sugar-sweetened beverages. Individuals with a variant in this gene preferred sugar-sweetened drinks, which is somewhat counterintuitive due to the fact that the same variant was previously linked to a lower risk of obesity. 

“FTO has been something of a mystery gene, and we don’t know exactly how it’s linked to obesity,” explains Cornelis. “It likely plays a role in behavior, which would be linked to weight management.”

This study also highlighted integral behavior-reward components of beverage choice, and contributes to our understanding of the link between genetics and beverage consumption, as well as the potential problems that arise in people’s diets. Sugar-sweetened drinks are related to a plethora of disease and health conditions, while alcohol intake is linked to over 200 diseases and accounts for about 6 percent of deaths globally. 

Understanding how a person’s genetic make-up determines their preference for certain food and beverages may one day help us with better intervention in the diets of those who may be headed for health risks. 

“To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide association study of beverage consumption based on taste perspective,” says Victor Zhong, the study’s first author and postdoctoral fellow in preventive medicine at Northwestern. “It’s also the most comprehensive genome-wide association study of beverage consumption to date.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Coffee and beer may not just be an acquired taste, but a genetic one

For many people, there is no beverage more satisfying than...

Since their discovery in 2010, Denisovans have become a hominin of great interest to archeologists, especially because of what they might reveal about early human migrations and interbreeding. 

However, finding fossil evidence of our earliest human relatives outside of the Denisova Cave in Russia, where the first Denisovan fossils were found, has remained a challenge for researchers. 

Now, a key fossil confirms that Denisovans were among the first hominins that settled on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/denisovans-harsh-tibetan-plateau/">Tibetan Plateau</a>, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a>. 

“Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, suggesting that these ancient hominins may have once been widespread,” said Jean-Jacques Hublin, a co-author of the study. “Yet so far the only fossils representing this ancient hominin group were identified at Denisova Cave.”

The discovery was made possible due to a lower mandible fossil found in the Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China on the Tibetan Plateau. 

“The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau,” said Fahu Chen, the first author of the study. 

The mandible was first discovered in 1980, but recently both the fossil itself and the surrounding area has become part of a collaborative research project between researchers from the Max Planck Institute and <a href="https://en.lzu.edu.cn/">Lanzhou University</a>. 

No traces of DNA were found in the well-preserved fossil, but the researchers were able to extract and analyze proteins from one of the molars still attached to the mandible bone. 

“The ancient proteins in the mandible are highly degraded and clearly distinguishable from modern proteins that may contaminate a sample,” said Frido Welker, a lead author of the study. “Our protein analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave.”

The shape and size of the molars indicate that the bone belonged to a Middle Pleistocene hominin possessing traits similar to both Neanderthals and Denisovans. 

After dating the thick layer of carbonate crust that the mandible was embedded in, the researchers estimated that the fossil is 160,000 years old which is equal to the oldest fossils found in the Denisova Cave. 

“Archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene and successfully adapted to high-altitude low-oxygen environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens,” said Dongju Zhang, a co-author of the study. “Our analyses pave the way towards a better understanding of the evolutionary history of Middle Pleistocene hominins in East Asia.”

The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image © Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

Early Denisovans inhabited the Tibetan Plateau before Neanderthals

Since their discovery in 2010, Denisovans have become a hominin...

The first-ever measurements of water have been found on samples taken from the surface of asteroid Itokawa. A team led by Ziliang Jin, a postdoctoral scholar at <a href="https://sese.asu.edu/">Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration</a>, and Maitrayee Bose, an assistant professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration, made the discovery. They share their findings in the May 1st issue of <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

The presence of water on the asteroid surface suggests that similar asteroids could have delivered as much as half of Earth’s ocean water at the very beginning of our planet’s history.

"We found the samples we examined were enriched in water compared to the average for inner solar system objects," Jin said. The fragments of Itokawa were collected by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa, and before the team approached the Hayabusa project with their desire to investigate potential water on the asteroid, the theory was never considered.

"Until we proposed it, no one thought to look for water," Bose said. "I'm happy to report that our hunch paid off. It was a privilege that the Japanese space agency JAXA was willing to share five particles from Itokawa with a U.S. investigator. It also reflects well on our School."

Itokawa currently circles the Sun about every 18 months in an orbit that takes it close to Earth and then a bit beyond Mars. It’s about 1,800 feet long and 700-1,000 feet wide. It’s classified as a S-class <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/nasa-protect-earth-major-asteroid/">asteroid</a>.

[caption id="attachment_1872047" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/two-Itokawa-particles.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1872047" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/two-Itokawa-particles.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="347" /></a> The two Itokawa particles studied, Image Credit: Z. Jin and M. Bose/ASU/JAXA[/caption]

“S-type asteroids are one of the most common objects in the asteroid belt," Bose said. "They originally formed at a distance from the Sun of one-third to three times Earth's distance." 

"The particles we analyzed came from a part of Itokawa called the Muses Sea," she continued. "It's an area on the asteroid that's smooth and dust-covered."

"Although the samples were collected at the surface, we don't know where these grains were in the original parent body,” Jin added. “But our best guess is that they were buried more than 100 meters deep within it."

Jin, Bose, and their team were able to find pyroxene in two of the five Itokawa particles — a mineral that contains water in its crystal structure. Therefore, they had hope that Itokawa contained some bits of water. They used ASU's Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (NanoSIMS) to study the samples, each being thinner than a strand of human hair. The NanoSIMS found that both particles in question were rich with water.

"The Hayabusa mission to Itokawa has expanded our knowledge of the volatile contents of the bodies that helped form Earth,” Bose said. “It would not be surprising if a similar mechanism of water production is common for rocky exoplanets around other stars."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Main Image Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Researchers take first-ever measurements of water from asteroid

The first-ever measurements of water have been found on samples...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> have created a new method that could potentially store data for millions of years outside of the internet. Unlike cloud storage, which uses up a lot of energy, saving the data with the team’s molecular storage technique requires no additional energy once it is written. 

“Think storing the contents of the New York Public Library with a teaspoon of protein,” said study first author Brian Cafferty. “At least at this stage, we do not see this method competing with existing methods of data storage. We instead see it as complementary to those technologies and, as an initial objective, well suited for long-term archival data storage.”

Researchers can now manipulate <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dna-rna-earth/">DNA strands</a> to record and store information, but the new filing system offers an enticing alternative to this and other biological storage tools. 

“We set out to explore a strategy that does not borrow directly from biology,” said Cafferty. “We instead relied on techniques common in organic and analytical chemistry, and developed an approach that uses small, low molecular weight molecules to encode information.”


The team can produce enough small molecules to encode multiple videos at a time, making this method less labor intensive and cheaper than DNA storage. For their low-weight molecules, the experts selected oligopeptides, which are common, stable, and smaller than DNA, RNA, or proteins.

According to the researchers, a mixture of eight oligopeptides can store one byte of information, 32 can store four bytes, and so on. After writing and storing various information, the team found that the data can be retrieved with 99.9 percent accuracy. 

The resilient molecules can survive without light or oxygen and in high heat. “Oligopeptides have stabilities of hundreds or thousands of years under suitable conditions,” wrote the researchers. 

The scalable molecular library is a stable, zero-energy, and corruption-resistant option for future information storage.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/centralscience">ACS Central Science</a>.
--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New molecular technique can safely store data for millions of years

Researchers at Harvard University have created a new method that...

Skeletons excavated from Norton Priory in England contain a rare and unusually aggressive form of a bone disease similar to Paget’s disease, according to a new archeological study. 

Paget’s disease of bone is a chronic disorder where new bone tissue gradually replaces old bone tissue. However, the new replacement tissue is weak which makes some bones easily susceptible to fracturing, breaking, and damage. 

The earliest reports of Paget’s disease were found in ancient Roman remains, but little is known about the history, origin, and evolution of the disease. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a> and a team of collaborators analyzed excavated remains from the priory dating back to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/skeleton-reveals-hints-leprosy-spread-medieval-europe/">Medieval period</a>. Six out of the 130 skeletons excavated contained a strange form of Paget’s. 

As much as 75 percent of the skeletons of some individuals were affected by the disease. The researchers also calculated an age of death as low as 35 for some of the individuals directly due to the disease. 

“We identify an ancient and atypical form of Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) in a collection of medieval skeletons exhibiting unusually extensive pathological changes, high disease prevalence, and low age-at-death estimations,” the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/24/1820556116">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. 

The team sequenced DNA from the preserved remains and used RNA and protein analysis to identify an ancient protein similar to one called p62, which plays a fundamental role in Paget's disease today. 

“Detection of ancient p62 as one of the few noncollagenous proteins in skeletal samples (bones and teeth) based on a combination of peptide sequencing and Western blotting is strongly indicative of a diagnosis of PDB…,” the researchers wrote. 

Paget’s disease is believed to have originated in Western Europe and the UK. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Paul Quigley

Medieval skeletons reveal bone disease that killed people as young as 35

Skeletons excavated from Norton Priory in England contain a rare...

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine warned on Monday that collision with an asteroid large enough to destroy a U.S. state or a European country is a real possibility. At the Planetary Defense Conference in Washington, D.C., Bridenstine suggested that more action is needed to protect our planet from meteor crashes. 

“We have to make sure that people understand that this is not about Hollywood, it's not about movies,” said Bridenstine. “This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know right now to host life, and that is the planet Earth.”

“We know for a fact that the dinosaurs did not have a space program. But we do, and we need to use it,” he added.

A meteorite that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 injured more than 1,500 people and had 30 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. According to Bridenstine, a much larger object approached the Earth just 16 hours later that failed to make an impact. 

“I wish I could tell you that these events are exceptionally unique, but they are not,” said Bridenstine. “These events are not rare - they happen. It’s up to us to make sure that we are characterizing, detecting, tracking all of the near-Earth objects that could be a threat to the world.”

While scientific models predict that a meteor crash will only occur once every 60 years, Bridenstine pointed out that destructive meteorites have struck our planet three times in the last century.

In 2018, the White House released the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan, an 18-page document outlining the steps that NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take over the next decade to prevent dangerous <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-diversion-projectile-impacts/">asteroid</a> strikes.

The action plan requires NASA to detect, track, and characterize 90 percent of near-Earth objects measuring 460 feet in diameter, but the agency is still working to meet that goal.

“We’re only about a third of the way there,” said Bridenstine. “We want more international partners that can join us in this effort. We want more systems on the face of the Earth that can detect and track these objects, and we want to be able to feed all of that data into one single operating system so that ultimately, we have the best, most accurate data that we can possibly get.”

[caption id="attachment_1871991" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/esa.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1871991" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/esa.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="974" /></a> The flow of actions that would take place between global agencies and organizations, Image Credit: ESA[/caption]

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

NASA head warns more work is needed to protect Earth from a major asteroid

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine warned on Monday that collision with...

Last fall, Chinese biophysicist He Jianku shocked the world when he announced the successful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gene-edited-dna-twin-babies/">birth of twins with edited genomes</a>. What followed was a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/china-gene-edited-babies-illegal/">large scale condemnation of the project</a> from the scientific community regarding the lack of any scientific review and consideration for the ethical ramifications. 

The “CRISPR Baby Scientist” claimed to disable a specific gene using CRISPR technology to ensure that the twins would not become infected with HIV during their lives. 

There are concerns that in disabling the gene, He inadvertently opened the door for other mutations that could cause health problems. 

Although the end goal is seemingly admirable, the lack of safeguards and disregard safety procedures has caused an uproar. 

The question is now that Pandora’s box has been opened, how can the scientific community proceed with CRISPR research in a safe, ethical, and methodical way?

Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist from<a href="https://med.nyu.edu/education"> New York University’s School of Medicine,</a> addressed this matter of CRISPR ethics in a new paper published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000223">PLOS Biology</a>. 

Caplan argues that the latest controversy highlights the need for established and rigorous standards for such research dealing with genomes and germline gene therapy. 

“A deep understanding of the mechanisms and potential side-effects of embryo editing is an absolute pre-requisite to any further discussion of its implementation,” Caplan wrote. “At present, human embryonic editing, particularly in regard to how DNA is repaired, following an induced break, is poorly understood.”

It’s important to note moratoriums on embryo gene editing were in place before He conducted his experiment. 

Caplan recommends that an oversight organization including review boards and ethics committees be formed specifically to enforce and regulate future CRISPR research. 

This organization could ensure that no studies involving improperly and unethical practices are published, and that participants are properly informed before consenting to any experiments. 

“It is not sufficient to establish that germline research ought to be temporarily halted or cautiously proceed despite ethical lapses,” said Caplan.  “Regulation and penalties need sufficient bite to assure the public that renegade science has no future in designing our descendants.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rigorous standards needed in the wake of CRISPR baby crisis

Last fall, Chinese biophysicist He Jianku shocked the world when...

According to Professor Jose Maria Madiedo of the <a href="http://uhu.es/english/">University of Huelva</a>, and Dr. Jose L. Ortiz of the <a href="https://www.iaa.csic.es/en">Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia</a>, a space rock traveling at roughly 38,000 miles per hour collided with the Moon during the January total eclipse. They believe the collision resulted in a crater spanning 10 to 15 meters wide.

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/the-lunar-eclipse-over-lake-maggiore/">eclipse</a> took place on January 21st, 2019, and was visible from North and South America, and Western Europe. 

During the eclipse, the Moon took on a reddish hue as it moved into the shadow of the Earth. When the Moon entered into totality, meaning it was completely in shadow, observers saw a flash on the Moon’s surface. The flash was reportedly bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

[caption id="attachment_1871966" align="aligncenter" width="486"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/moon-impact.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1871966" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/moon-impact.jpg" alt="" width="486" height="493" /></a> The flash from the impact of the meteorite on the eclipsed Moon, Image Credit: J. M. Madiedo / MIDAS[/caption]

Madiedo and Ortiz, who published their research in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>, operate the <a href="https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/549247/643223/Madiedo_The_MIDAS_project.pdf">Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS)</a> program in southern Spain. They were able to record the 0.28 second-long impact via MIDAS, making this collision the first-ever space rock impact to be recorded during a lunar eclipse.

Because the Moon does not have a protective atmosphere like the Earth does, even the smallest of rocks can hit its surface. Most of these impacts happen so quickly that the rocks are vaporized almost immediately, thus producing a plume of debris that can be seen from Earth.

Thanks to the MIDAS recording, Madiedo and Ortiz can conclude that the rock that hit the Moon had a mass of about 45 kg, measured 30 to 60 centimeters across, and hit the Moon’s surface at 61,000 kilometers per hour. The impact was equal to about 1.5 tonnes of TNT, and the debris produced was likely about as hot as the Sun at 5400 degrees Celsius.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A space rock smashed into the Moon during the January eclipse

According to Professor Jose Maria Madiedo of the University of...

Engineers at the <a href="https://uci.edu/">University of California, Irvine</a> (UCI) have created a space blanket that mimics the adaptive skin of some sea creatures. Unlike similar materials already available on the market, the temperature of the new blanket can be adjusted. 

Study co-author Alon Gorodetsky is an associate professor of Chemical &amp; Biomolecular Engineering at UCI.

“Ultra-lightweight space blankets have been around for decades - you see marathon runners wrapping themselves in them to prevent the loss of body heat after a race - but the key drawback is that the material is static,” said Professor Gorodetsky. “We've made a version with changeable properties so you can regulate how much heat is trapped or released.”

The design was inspired by the dynamic skin of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/octopus-farming-overfishing/">cephalopods</a>, such as squids and octopuses. Species in this class have unique skin cells called chromatophores that can instantly switch from minute points to flattened disks, allowing the animals to rapidly change colors. 

“We use a similar concept in our work, where we have a layer of these tiny metal 'islands' that border each other,” explained study lead author and UCI graduate student Erica Leung. “In the relaxed state, the islands are bunched together and the material reflects and traps heat, like a traditional Mylar space blanket. When the material is stretched, the islands spread apart, allowing infrared radiation to go through and heat to escape.”

According to Leung, the new fabric is lightweight, easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and is durable enough to be stretched and returned to its original state thousands of times.

Professor Gorodetsky said that he has many applications in mind, including tents that would be exceptionally comfortable in outdoor environments and material that could protect valuable electronic components by effectively managing the temperature.

Clothing would be a particularly good application for the bio-inspired material, added Professor Gorodetsky, who collaborates on research projects with athletic apparel manufacturer Under Armour Inc.

“The temperature at which people are comfortable in an office is slightly different for everyone. Where one person might be fine at 70 degrees, the person at the next desk over might prefer 75 degrees. Our invention could lead to clothing that adjusts to suit the comfort of each person indoors. This could result in potential savings of 30 to 40 percent on heating and air conditioning energy use.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</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

Newly designed space blanket was inspired by the skin of squid

Engineers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have created...

Fifty million years ago, the Indian subcontinent changed history when it smashed into what is now Asia. The collision caused a ripple effect, changing geography, landscape and climate.

It also raised the levels of oxygen in the ocean, which changed the conditions for life on Earth.

"These results are different from anything people have previously seen," said lead author Emma Kast, a graduate student at <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>. "The magnitude of the reconstructed change took us by surprise."

Kast created a timeline measuring levels of nitrogen in the ocean from about 70 million years ago – shortly before most of the dinosaurs went extinct – to 30 million years ago. She used fossilized seashells to chart how the oceans changed over time in what her co-author, Dr. John Higgins, called a fundamental contribution to geoscience.

While conducting the research, Kast and her team looked at 15N and 14N, nitrogen’s two stable isotopes. They found that in the 10 million years after the extinction of most of the dinosaurs, the 15N-to-14N ratio was high, which is common in oxygen-poor waters. That changed suddenly about 55 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent shifted toward Asia. 

At first, the scientists expected a climate event to be the cause of the change in ocean oxygen, but that wasn’t the case.

"Contrary to our first expectations, global climate was not the primary cause of this change in ocean oxygen and nitrogen cycling," Kast said. 

Instead, plate tectonics and the shifting of the Indian subcontinent appeared to be the driving factor. The move closed off Tethys, an ancient sea, changing the ocean’s circulation.

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aau5784">Science</a>. Funding was provided by the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/">National Science Foundation</a>, the <a href="https://www.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Society</a>, the Tuttle Fund of the Princeton University Department of Geosciences and the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association</a>. 

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

When Indian subcontinent met Asia, the oceans were changed

Fifty million years ago, the Indian subcontinent changed history when...

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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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River.



In 1968, Kainji Lake was created by the construction of the Kainji Dam. The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, enters the lake in the north.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-in-the-american-west-are-a-lifesaving-resource-for-birds/">ESA</a>, the creation of the lake submerged Foge Island and the town of Bussa and permanently flooded other riverine settlements, leaving around 50,000 people displaced.&nbsp;



Large parts of Foge Island are temporarily exposed during low water tides, and the land is often used by migrating fishermen. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. 



Wild mammals occur at relatively low densities due to illegal hunting. Lake Kainji has suffered a dramatic decline as a fishery due to the high numbers of artisanal and subsistence fisherfolk using the lake. It has been suggested that a period of closure, together with controlled fishing rights may help improve fish stocks.



Kainji Lake National Park is the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. The park contains three distinct areas: a part of the Kainji Lake, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. The park is home to around 65 mammal species, 350 bird species, and 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. 



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&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



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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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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.

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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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?

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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



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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

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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



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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://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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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

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

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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

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



“Organ regeneration offers an exciting opportunity for studying the immune system and to inquire why some species can regenerate organs like the heart or missing limbs while others like humans cannot,” explained Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski.



Zebrafish sensory organ hair cells are an ideal system to investigate the pathways and cell types involved in regeneration since they are easily destroyed with antibiotics and begin regenerating within five hours. This enabled the researchers to identify the exact timing and genetic programs for each anti-inflammatory macrophage activation state.&nbsp;



“Our hypothesis is that human macrophages do not receive the proper chemical activation 'cocktail' to instruct pro-regenerative processes,” said Dr. Nicolas Denans. “Identifying the molecular recipe of macrophage activation in zebrafish may one day enable us to design regenerative immunotherapies in humans.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The new evidence is a valuable resource for comparative studies on the genetic programs involved in macrophage-mediated repair and regeneration. In other words, different types of injuries may induce different kinds of inflammatory responses. We want to decipher whether this 'language' is universal or if there are a variety of dialects."



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&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.

How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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.

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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