In a twist that sounds like science fiction, researchers have modified mouse DNA to include traits that were once found in the extinct woolly mammoth. These <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genetic-Engineering" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genetic engineering</a> efforts highlight growing attempts to make de-extinction a reality for vanished <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-wildlife-day-2025-a-global-call-to-protect-nature/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">species</a>.



This project has yielded small mice bearing a fluffy, woolly coat that echoes features of the Ice Age giant. The lab results have stirred curiosity among scientists and the general public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-de-extinction-of-lost-species">De-extinction of lost species</h2>



“For us, it’s an incredibly big deal,” said Beth Shapiro, chief science officer at <a href="https://colossal.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Colossal Biosciences</a> in Dallas. Scientists behind this plan envision a future where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/half-of-the-worlds-heliconia-species-are-at-risk-of-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extinct creatures</a> might roam again.&nbsp;



The experts see these tiny rodents as proof that <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/CRISPR" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRISPR</a> can modify multiple genes to recreate lost traits. The technology harnesses molecular tools to snip and rearrange DNA inside living cells.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tweaking-the-genes">Tweaking the genes</h2>



To make the mice woolly, the researchers analyzed ancient mammoth genomes alongside elephant DNA. They disabled certain genes tied to hair texture, color, and heat regulation.



They also introduced a unique mutation found in woolly mammoths to see if it would produce thick fur. The resulting offspring exhibited curly coats that surprised many observers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-de-extinction-bring-species-back">Can de-extinction bring species back?</h2>



Vincent Lynch, a biology professor at the University at Buffalo, remains unconvinced about bringing back the vanished giants and recently voiced his skepticism. "Mammoths are extinct and cannot be ‘de-extincted’ or resurrected,” he stated.



Critics argue that the time and resources funneled into reviving extinct beasts might be better spent saving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-forests-rose-again-after-the-planets-most-extreme-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">creatures</a> that are currently teetering on the brink of extinction. They question whether any environment could truly accommodate the needs of species that disappeared thousands of years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-practical-stumbling-blocks">Practical stumbling blocks</h2>



Even if these genetic tweaks scale up, an elephant’s <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/african-elephant" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gestation</a> lasts nearly two years, which complicates experiments. The size of the mother and the specialized procedures that are required add another layer of difficulty.



Some scientists also worry about how herds of woolly-elephant hybrids might affect fragile ecosystems. These delicate networks of living organisms can be disrupted in ways that are hard to predict.



Others are worried about overshadowing urgent efforts to protect living species. They believe well-tested conservation approaches must not lose momentum.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-concerns-about-unpredictable-mutations">Concerns about unpredictable mutations </h2>



Recreating extinct species raises questions about ethics and responsibility. Some bioethicists warn that modifying living animals to resemble long-lost <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/public-concern-over-species-extinctions-fades-quickly/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">species</a> could create unintended suffering, especially if genetic changes cause health complications. 



Others argue that lab-engineered species might blur the lines between conservation and unnatural interference.



Scientists also face concerns about <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genetic-Drift" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genetic drift</a>, where unpredictable mutations arise over generations. If mammoth-like elephants are introduced into the wild, they may not behave like their Ice Age relatives.



Such changes might influence their ability to interact with the environment as their ancient counterparts did, affecting everything from diet and migration patterns to social structures and survival strategies.



This uncertainty fuels debate over whether reviving extinct species serves scientific curiosity more than real-world ecological benefits.



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



Colossal Biosciences aims to produce elephant embryos with mammoth-like traits within a few years. The ambitious timeline hinges on refining gene-editing steps and ensuring safe pregnancies.



In the meantime, these fuzzy rodents serve as a tiny window into how far science can push modifications. The experiment demonstrates a desire to study <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saving-earths-most-endangered-plants-from-extinction-proving-difficult-botanic-gardens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extinct</a> adaptations without waiting for a living mammoth to appear.



Many experts remain unconvinced that this venture will lead to practical conservation gains. Others see an inventive effort to better understand genetic traits that once shaped Ice Age creatures.



Supporters argue that advanced editing approaches might shield certain species from threats like habitat loss or disease, whereas critics counter that tinkering with extinct DNA could distract from proven strategies such as habitat restoration.



Debates aside, each step in this research reveals new layers of complexity in de-extinction. We now face the question of how far to push these technologies.



The controversies will likely intensify as the conversation shifts from lab-born mice to massive mammals.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.03.641227v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bioRxiv</a>.



Image Credit: Colossal Biosciences



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How creating 'woolly mice' in the lab will bring back the woolly mammoth

In a twist that sounds like science fiction, researchers have modified mouse DNA to include traits that were once found in the extinct woolly mammoth. These genetic engineering efforts highlight growing attempts to make de-extinction a reality for vanished species. This project has yielded small mice bearing a fluffy, woolly coat that echoes features of the Ice Age giant. The lab results have stirred curiosity among scientists and the general public. De-extinction of lost species “For us, it’s an incredibly big deal,” said Beth Shapiro, chief science...

A new study reveals that crown-of-thorns starfish can significantly enhance their growth by shifting their diets at a younger age.

Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) feed heavily on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sharks-have-vanished-from-20-percent-of-coral-reefs/">coral</a> polyps, and outbreaks can be extremely detrimental to coral reefs. 

When the juvenile COTS first settle into a reef, they feed on eating rock-hard coralline algae. Researchers have found that the sooner the young starfish get a taste for coral polyps, the larger and more destructive they ultimately become.

A team led by Jennifer Wilmes of the <a href="https://www.coralcoe.org.au/">ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies</a> compared the growth of juvenile COTS who switch their diets within six months of settlement and those that continue to feed on coralline algae for up to a year.

The researchers found that juveniles which shift to eating corals earlier grow much faster and larger. The bigger COTS have higher reproductive success and consume coral at higher rates. 

"Here we demonstrate, based on extensive field sampling of juvenile starfish, that marked variation in body size among juvenile starfish is linked to an ontogenetic diet shift from coralline algae to coral," wrote the study authors.

"This transition in diet leads to exponential growth in juveniles and is essential for individuals to reach maturity. Because smaller individuals experience higher mortality and growth is stunted on an algal diet, the ontogenetic shift to corallivory enhances individual fitness and replenishment success." 

"Our findings suggest that the availability of coral prey facilitates early ontogenetic diet shifts and may be fundamental in initiating population irruptions."

By preventing COTS outbreaks, experts can help to protect coral reefs from irreparable damage.

"Understanding the mechanisms that determine population replenishment is essential to develop effective early management intervention strategies," wrote the researchers. 

"Failing to develop well-informed decision tools risks to produce counterproductive management outcomes and could in the worst case contribute to the collapse of the system itself, with potentially devastating and irreversible impacts on reef ecosystems."

The study is published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Starfish that prey on corals early in life become more destructive

A new study reveals that crown-of-thorns starfish can significantly enhance...

Data from the last 500 years shows that river flooding has become more extreme and follows a completely different pattern in recent decades. 

The findings are the result of a major international study involving 34 research groups led by Austrian flood expert Professor Günter Blöschl from the <a href="https://www.tuwien.at/en/">Vienna University of Technology</a>.

The research provides clear evidence that river flooding in Europe over the last three decades has intensified, and global warming is to blame.

Compared to the past five centuries, floods are now larger in many places, the timing has shifted, and the relationship between flood occurrence and air temperatures has reversed. 

"From our previous research, we already knew how climate change has affected Europe's floods in the past 50 years," said study co-author Alberto Viglione. 

"For forecasts of the next decades, however, it is also important to understand whether this is a completely new situation or whether this is just a repetition of something that has already occurred." 

"So far, the available data had not been sufficient to ascertain whether this is the case or not. We have examined this question in great detail and can now say with confidence: Yes, flooding characteristics in recent decades are unlike those of the previous centuries."

For the current study, researchers and historians collaborated to analyze tens of thousands of documents containing river flood reports from 1500 to 2016.

"The particular challenge of this study consisted in making the very different texts of the different centuries and different cultural regions comparable," said study co-author Andrea Kiss.

"We managed to achieve this comparability by putting all the texts in their respective historical contexts with painstaking attention to detail."

The team pinpointed nine flood-rich periods and found that historically, these events were triggered by cooler weather.

"This finding seems to contradict the observation that, in some areas such as in the northwest of Europe, the recent warmer climate is aligned with larger floods," said Professor Blöschl. "Our study shows for the first time that the underlying mechanisms have changed: While, in the past, floods have occurred more frequently under colder conditions, the opposite is the case now. The hydrological conditions of the present are very different from those in the past."

The seasonal timing of the floods has also changed. Central European floods have become much more frequent in the summer due to shifts in precipitation, evaporation, and snowmelt. 

The study is the first of its kind to evaluate historical flood periods for an entire continent in such elaborate detail. The findings will help to distinguish the role of climate change from the contribution of other factors such as deforestation and river management.

Professor Blöschl recommends the use of flood-risk assessment tools that capture the physical processes involved, and management strategies that can incorporate the recent changes that were identified in the study. 

"Regardless of the necessary efforts of climate change mitigation, we will see the effects of these changes in the coming decades," said Professor Blöschl. "Flood management must adapt to these new realities."

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Global warming has transformed flooding patterns

Data from the last 500 years shows that river flooding...

An edible seaweed extract may be more effective in blocking <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coronavirus-detected-in-air-pollution-particles/">coronavirus</a> infection than remdesivir, a drug that received emergency use authorization by the FDA to treat severe cases of COVID-19. 

At the <a href="https://www.rpi.edu/">Rensselear Polytechnic Institute</a>, lab testing with mammalian cells showed that the antiviral activity of a fucoidan found in brown seaweed had a higher potency against SARS-CoV-2 than remdesivir.

In addition, the common blood thinner heparin - as well as a heparin variant stripped of its anticoagulant properties - were found to be almost as effective as remdesivir in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in mammalian cells.

The research is the latest example of a decoy strategy that the Rensselear team is developing against viruses like COVID-19.

The spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 latches onto a molecule on the surface of human cells called the ACE-2 receptor. Once it has attached itself securely, the virus inserts its own genetic material inside of the cell and initiates the replication process.

Experts recognize that the virus could easily be manipulated to latch onto a suitable decoy molecule, where it would be trapped and neutralized.

Previous studies have shown this decoy strategy works in trapping other viruses such as dengue, Zika, and influenza A. 

"We're learning how to block viral infection, and that is knowledge we are going to need if we want to rapidly confront pandemics," said lead researcher Professor Jonathan Dordick. "The reality is that we don't have great antivirals. To protect ourselves against future pandemics, we are going to need an arsenal of approaches that we can quickly adapt to emerging viruses."

In the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at at Rensselaer, the experts tested the antiviral activity in three variants of heparin and two fucoidans extracted from seaweed, RPI-27 and RPI-28. All five compounds are sulfated polysaccharides with structures that make them good candidates for use as a decoy.

The team performed a dose response study known as an EC50 with each of the five compounds to test their effectiveness on SARS-CoV-2 in mammalian cells. The results of an EC50 are expressed in a molar concentration, where a lower value represents a higher potency.

The seaweed extract RPI-27 yielded an EC50 value of approximately 83 nanomolar. When remdesivir was tested on the same mammalian cells in a previous study, it yielded an EC50 value of 770 nanomolar. 

Heparin was found to be about one-third as active as remdesivir, and a non-anticoagulant strain of heparin was one-fifth as active as remdesivir.

Even at the highest concentrations tested, there was no cellular toxicity in any of the compounds, according to the researchers.

"What interests us is a new way of getting at infection," said study co-author Professor Robert Linhardt. "The current thinking is that the COVID-19 infection starts in the nose, and either of these substances could be the basis for a nasal spray. If you could simply treat the infection early, or even treat before you have the infection, you would have a way of blocking it before it enters the body."

While studying SARS-CoV-2 sequencing data, the professors recognized several features on the structure of the spike protein that suggest it would be a compatible fit with heparin. A binding study produced more evidence of this compatibility.

"It's a very complicated mechanism that we quite frankly don't know all the details about, but we're getting more information," said Professor Dordick. 

"One thing that's become clear with this study is that the larger the molecule, the better the fit. The more successful compounds are the larger sulfated polysaccharides that offer a greater number of sites on the molecules to trap the virus."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/celldisc">Cell Discovery</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Is seaweed more potent against COVID-19 than remdesivir?

An edible seaweed extract may be more effective in blocking...

Eating chocolate more than once a week is associated with a lower risk of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/experts-find-a-gut-bacteria-that-reduces-the-risk-of-heart-disease/">heart</a> disease, according to new research published by the <a href="https://www.escardio.org/">European Society of Cardiology</a>.

Study lead author Dr. Chayakrit Krittanawong is a cardiologist at <a href="https://www.bcm.edu/">Baylor College of Medicine</a>.

"Our study suggests that chocolate helps keep the heart's blood vessels healthy," said Dr. Krittanawong. 

"In the past, clinical studies have shown that chocolate is beneficial for both blood pressure and the lining of blood vessels. I wanted to see if it affects the blood vessels supplying the heart (the coronary arteries) or not. And if it does, is it beneficial or harmful?"

The team analyzed research on the relationship between chocolate consumption and coronary artery blockage. The analysis was focused on six studies published over the last five decades, involving a total of 336,289 participants.

During a follow-up period of eight years, 14,043 participants developed coronary artery disease and 4,667 had a heart attack.

The researchers determined that, compared with individuals who ate chocolate less than once a week, those who consumed chocolate more than once a week had an eight-percent reduced risk of developing coronary artery disease.

"Chocolate contains heart healthy nutrients such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphenols and stearic acid which may reduce inflammation and increase good cholesterol," said Dr. Krittanawong.

He noted that the study did not examine whether any particular type of chocolate is more beneficial or if there is an ideal portion size. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms of chocolate's  cardioprotective effects.

"Chocolate appears promising for prevention of coronary artery disease, but more research is needed to pinpoint how much and what kind of chocolate could be recommended."

Despite the potential health benefits, Dr. Krittanawong warned against overeating.

"Moderate amounts of chocolate seem to protect the coronary arteries but it's likely that large quantities do not. The calories, sugar, milk, and fat in commercially available products need to be considered, particularly in diabetics and obese people."

Dr. Krittanawong recently led a separate study that revealed the heart health benefits of meditation. The researchers found that meditation lowered the risk of high cholesterol by 35 percent, diabetes by 30 percent, stroke by 24 percent, and lowered the risk of coronary artery disease by 49 percent.

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047487320936787">European Journal of Preventive Cardiology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Chocolate lowers the risk of coronary artery disease 

Eating chocolate more than once a week is associated with...

Young dolphins choose their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/flamingos-form-strong-bonds-and-lasting-friendships/">friends</a> wisely, and with the future in mind, according to a new study from <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. The researchers report that in childhood, wild bottlenose dolphins strategically build social networks that will benefit them in adulthood.

The study was focused on three decades of records for more than 1,700 wild bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Scientists have been observing dolphins and documenting their characteristics and behavior in this region since the 1980s.

For the current investigation, the team analyzed data involving young dolphins from weaning to age 10, examining what they did and who they spent time without adult supervision.

At age three to four, the youngsters leave their mothers and venture out on their own. The juveniles form dynamic groups that are constantly splitting up and meeting up again in different combinations.

According to the study, even though the young dolphins bounce from group to group as often as every ten minutes throughout the day, they spend more time with a few close friends.

The research suggests that the animals are not simply choosing their close friends out of convenience because they share common space or keep bumping into each other. Study first author Allison Galezo explained that the relationships "reflect true preferences."

Males preferred friendships with other males and females with other females, but the boys and girls were found to interact in different ways. For example, females socialized less often than males and spent twice as much time foraging for fish. Males were more likely to spend their time together resting or engaging in friendly physical contact by rubbing flippers, swimming close together, and mirroring each other's movements. 

These differences suggest that the social lives of young dolphins may be shaped by the upcoming demands of adulthood, said Galezo.

"The juvenile period can be an opportunity to develop social skills that will be important in adulthood, without the high-stakes risks that go with sexual maturity."

Among the males, having reliable friendships and strong alliances will be important for passing along their genes. In Shark Bay, groups of two to three male dolphins often join forces to get fertile females alone and coerce them to mate. 

Among the females, success in adulthood means caring for calves that are not weaned until they are at least three years old. Nursing moms need more calories, so young females spend more time foraging to practice skills they will need the most later in life.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco">Behavioral Ecology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Young dolphins choose their friends wisely 

Young dolphins choose their friends wisely, and with the future...

A positive mindset may be more important for staying <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/blood-iron-levels-may-be-key-to-a-long-healthy-life/">healthy</a> than previously realized. A new study confirms that psychological well-being can have a very real impact on physical health.

The research was focused on psychological interventions that were specifically designed to boost emotional well-being. The study revealed that both in-person and online interventions positively impacted the physical health of the participants.

Study co-author Kostadin Kushlev is a professor in the Department of Psychology at <a href="https://www.georgetown.edu/">Georgetown University</a>.

"Though prior studies have shown that happier people tend to have better cardiovascular health and immune-system responses than their less happy counterparts, our research is one of the first randomized controlled trials to suggest that increasing the psychological well-being even of generally healthy adults can have benefits to their physical health," said Professor Kushlev.

In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Virginia and the University of British Columbia, Professor Kushlev examined how a program called <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03257527">Enduring Happiness and Continued Self-Enhancement (ENHANCE)</a> may improve physical health among people who were not hospitalized or undergoing medical treatment. 

A total of 155 adults between the ages of 25 and 75 were randomly assigned either to a wait-list control condition or a 12-week positive psychological intervention that addressed three different sources of happiness. 

The first 3 weeks of the program focused on the "Core Self," helping individuals identify their personal values, strengths, and goals. The next 5 weeks focused on the "Experiential Self," which trained the participants in emotion regulation and mindfulness. The final 4 weeks of the program addressed the "Social Self," teaching techniques to cultivate gratitude, positive social interactions, and community engagement.

Upon completion of the program, the participants were given individual evaluations and recommendations for improving their happiness in the long term. Three months after the conclusion of the trial, the researchers followed up with the volunteers to evaluate their well-being and health.

The participants who received the intervention reported increasing levels of subjective well-being. They also reported fewer sick days throughout the program and during the months that followed.

"These results speak to the potential of such interventions to be scaled in ways that reach more people in environments such as college campuses to help increase happiness and promote better mental health among students," said Professor Kushlev.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/home/pss">Psychological Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Emotional well-being has a real impact on physical health

A positive mindset may be more important for staying healthy...

A new study has identified genes related to inflammation and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/doctors-are-stressed-at-work-and-at-home-during-pandemic/">stress</a> that could be targeted to treat depression in patients who are currently resistant to treatment.

Study lead author Dr. Annamaria Cattaneo is an expert in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology &amp; Neuroscience (IoPPN) at <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King's College London</a>. 

"While there is overwhelming evidence of increased inflammation in depression it is still unclear how exactly this occurs and what it looks like at the level of chemistry within the body," said Dr. Cattaneo.

"In this study we show for the first time that it is possible to distinguish patients with depression who do not respond to medication from those who are responding to the antidepressant medication, based on the levels of well-known measures of inflammation and the presence of molecular mechanisms that put this inflammation into action." 

"This could potentially provide a means to assess which treatment options may be more beneficial from the outset."

According to the World Health Organization, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression, which is a leading cause of disability worldwide. As many as one-third of patients do not respond to treatment.

The new study was focused on blood testing among 130 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 40 healthy controls. The researchers set out to investigate how gene expression, a process that initiates the production of new molecules, may be used to identify patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Compared to healthy controls and patients who were responding well to treatment, the researchers observed significantly stronger molecular signs of inflammation and stress in treatment-resistant patients and among depressed individuals who were not taking medication.

The findings support the growing evidence that patients that do not respond to antidepressants or have untreated depression have heightened inflammation.

Previous research has shown that high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood indicate some degree of inflammation in the body. In the present study, the team found higher levels of blood CRP in both patients that were resistant to treatment and medication-free patients.

The investigation showed that the expression of several inflammation-related genes - including IL-1-beta, TNF-alpha, and P2RX7 - was also increased in treatment-resistant and drug-free patients. Individuals in these two groups were also found to have reduced numbers of glucocorticoid receptors, which are involved in the body's stress response. A lower number of these receptors reduces the body's natural ability to buffer stress through hormones and increases the risk of more severe forms of depression.

"Our study has provided important insight into the mechanisms that can explain the link between inflammation and depression which will especially impact the future of personalised psychiatry," said study senior author Professor Carmine Pariante.

"While much of drug-based intervention currently relies on a 'trial and error' approach, studies such as this implore investigation into identifying sub-groups of patients with depression - such as treatment resistant patients with inflammation - so that patients may be guided directly to treatment strategies which work best for them.'

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2007/07/ed-column">Translational Psychology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Stress and inflammation linked to drug-resistant depression

A new study has identified genes related to inflammation and...

Flowers play a bigger role in spreading parasitic diseases to bees and other <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/farmers-can-help-save-bees-and-other-wild-pollinators/">pollinators</a> than what was previously realized, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>. The researchers discovered that one in 11 flowers contains parasites associated with bee declines.

Furthermore, one in eight bees examined for the study was found to have at least one parasite.

Study senior author Scott McArt is an assistant professor of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.

"We know very little about transmission of these diseases," said Professor McArt. "Our study shows that transmission can likely occur on a lot of different flowers, and the amount of disease in a community is shaped by both the floral community and the bee community."

The research was focused on 2,624 flowers from 89 species and 2,672 bees from 110 species through an entire growing season across field sites in upstate New York. Using molecular data for testing, the team identified five common parasites.

The study pinpointed three main factors that contribute to disease transmission: flower abundance, the numbers of social bees, and overall bee species diversity.

The number of total flowers increases as the season progresses, and the proportion of flowers with parasites decreases. This lowers the risk that a bee will encounter a flower that hosts a parasite.

"That has really important conservation implications, because if you want to limit disease spread, just plant a lot of flowers," said Professor McArt. "It's a win-win: If we plant flowers and create a lot of forage, we can also dilute disease."

The study showed that social bees, such as honeybees and bumblebees, were more likely to be infected with parasites than solitary bees. The researchers observed that later in the season, overall bee diversity drops but the number of social bees grows. Typically, higher species diversity slows the spread of disease.

"Both bee diversity and fewer of the social bees make it less likely for bees (overall) to be infected. That's another win for conservation: if we promote bee diversity, there will be less disease," explained Professor McArt. He noted that high numbers of infections in the social species may also spill over to infect other species.

Going forward, the team will investigate the potential for increased flower abundance to offset the negative effects of more social bees combined with less species diversity in late summer.

Further research may also explain why social bees are more susceptible to parasites.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Flowers spread parasitic bee diseases 

Flowers play a bigger role in spreading parasitic diseases to...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/">Pew Charitable Trusts</a>, experts have determined that the annual amount of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plastic-fibers-found-in-shrimp-are-not-harmful-to-human-health/">plastic</a> entering the ocean will triple over the next two decades unless immediate action is taken. On a positive note, the researchers also identified ways that this volume of plastic waste could be cut by more than 80 percent.

Pew collaborated with SYSTEMIQ and experts all over the world, using an advanced economic model to quantify the amount of plastic in the global system and compare the quantity of ocean plastic pollution between 2016 and 2040. The model simulations were run under six conditions, ranging from business as usual to a total overhaul of the world's plastics system.

The analysis revealed that if no action is taken to address the projected growth of plastic production, the amount of plastic entering the ocean each year will grow from 11 million metric tons to 29 million metric tons by 2040. This is the equivalent of nearly 110 pounds of plastic on each meter of coastline worldwide. 

In this scenario, the cumulative amount of plastic in the ocean could reach 600 million tons, with a weight of more than three million blue whales, in just 20 years. 

While some progress has been made, the experts determined that current commitments will only reduce the amount of plastic flowing into the ocean by seven percent. 

The researchers estimate that without major changes, about 4 billion people will be without organized waste collection services by 2040, which will substantially contribute to the projected amount of ocean plastic pollution.  

The report, "Breaking the Plastic Wave," has pinpointed a total of eight measures that could be combined to reduce the annual accumulation of by about 80 percent. These solutions include reducing growth in plastic production, substituting plastics with compostable alternatives, and increasing recycling.

Beyond improving the ocean, the recommended changes could generate savings of $70 billion for governments and create 700,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

"There's no single solution to ocean plastic pollution, but through rapid and concerted action we can break the plastic wave," said Tom Dillon, Pew's vice president for environment. "As this report shows, we can invest in a future of reduced waste, better health outcomes, greater job creation, and a cleaner and more resilient environment for both people and nature."

"Our results indicate that the plastic crisis is solvable. It took a generation to create this challenge; this report shows we can solve it in one generation," said Martin Stuchtey, SYSTEMIQ's founder and managing partner. "'Breaking the Plastic Wave' leaves no viable excuse on the table; we have today all the solutions required to stem plastic flows by more than 80 per cent. What we now need is the industry and government resolve to do so."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Plastic pollution in the ocean could triple by 2040

In a new study from Pew Charitable Trusts, experts have...

An international team of scientists has discovered for the first time that Vikings had smallpox 1,400 years ago. The experts have now genetically sequenced previously unknown strains of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/far-uvc-light-kills-99-9-percent-of-airborne-coronaviruses/">virus</a> that were found in the teeth of Viking skeletons from sites across northern Europe.

The findings suggest that Vikings helped to drive the worldwide spread of the virus, which was the deadliest in history. During the 20th century alone, an estimated 300 million people died of smallpox, before it became the only human infectious disease ever to be completely eradicated in 1980.

Study lead author Eske Willerslev is a professor in the Department of Zoology at <a href="https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/">St John's College, University of Cambridge</a>.

"We discovered new strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons and found their genetic structure is different to the modern smallpox virus eradicated in the 20th century," said Professor Willerslev.

"We already knew Vikings were moving around Europe and beyond, and we now know they had smallpox. People traveling around the world quickly spread Covid-19 and it is likely Vikings spread smallpox. Just back then, they traveled by ship rather than by plane."

"The 1,400-year-old genetic information extracted from these skeletons is hugely significant because it teaches us about the evolutionary history of the variola virus that caused smallpox."

Historical documents suggest that smallpox may date back to as far as 10,000 BC., but the current study has produced the first scientific proof that the virus was present before the 17th century. 

While it is not known how it first infected humans, the smallpox virus is believed to have originated in animals just like COVID-19. When a pathogen jumps from an animal to a human, the resulting disease is referred to as a zoonotic disease.

The deadly disease, which spread through airborne respiratory droplets, killed about one-third of those infected and left just as many permanently scarred or blind.

"The timeline of the emergence of smallpox has always been unclear but by sequencing the earliest-known strain of the killer virus, we have proved for the first time that smallpox existed during the Viking Age," said study senior author Professor Martin Sikora from the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen.

"While we don't know for sure if these strains of smallpox were fatal and caused the death of the Vikings we sampled, they certainly died with smallpox in their bloodstream for us to be able to detect it up to 1,400 years later. It is also highly probable there were epidemics earlier than our findings that scientists have yet to discover DNA evidence of."

The researchers found traces of smallpox across 11 Viking-era burial sites in Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the UK. They also discovered smallpox in multiple human remains from Öland, an island off the east coast of Sweden with a long history of trade.

Using four of the samples collected from these sites, the team reconstructed near-complete variola virus genomes.

Study first author Dr. Lasse Vinner is a virologist from The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre.

"Understanding the genetic structure of this virus will potentially help virologists understand the evolution of this and other viruses and add to the bank of knowledge that helps scientists fight emerging viral diseases,' said Dr. Conner.

"The early version of smallpox was genetically closer in the pox family tree to animal poxviruses such as camelpox and taterapox, from gerbils. It does not exactly resemble modern smallpox which show that virus evolved. We don't know how the disease manifested itself in the Viking Age - it may have been different from those of the virulent modern strain which killed and disfigured hundreds of millions."

Study senior author Dr. Terry Jones is a computational biologist at the Centre for Pathogen Evolution at the University of Cambridge.

"There are many mysteries around poxviruses. To find smallpox so genetically different in Vikings is truly remarkable. No one expected that these smallpox strains existed. It has long been believed that smallpox was in Western and Southern Europe regularly by 600 AD, around the beginning of our samples," said Dr. Jones.

"We have proven that smallpox was also widespread in Northern Europe. Returning crusaders or other later events have been thought to have first brought smallpox to Europe, but such theories cannot be correct. While written accounts of disease are often ambiguous, our findings push the date of the confirmed existence of smallpox back by a thousand years."

Dr Jones added that knowledge from the past can protect us in the present. "When an animal or plant goes extinct, it isn't coming back. But mutations can re-occur or revert and viruses can mutate or spill over from the animal reservoir so there will always be another zoonosis."

"Smallpox was eradicated but another strain could spill over from the animal reservoir tomorrow," said Professor Willerslev. "What we know in 2020 about viruses and pathogens that affect humans today, is just a small snapshot of what has plagued humans historically."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

The Vikings had the world's deadliest virus 1,400 years ago

An international team of scientists has discovered for the first...

Even though there are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes worldwide, there are only a few of these species that bite <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/beluga-whales-form-complex-social-networks-like-humans/">humans</a>. Researchers set out to determine why certain mosquitoes developed a taste for human blood. They linked the evolution of human biting to a combination of two factors: prolonged dry climate conditions and increased human population density.  

Based on the findings, which have been published by <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.092">Cell Press</a>, the experts predict that increased urbanization will lead to even more human-biting mosquitoes in the coming decades.

Study co-author Carolyn McBride is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>.

"Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are invasive across the global tropics, where a strong preference for human hosts and habitats makes them important disease vectors," said Professor McBride.

"We found that in their native range of sub-Saharan Africa, they show extremely variable attraction to human hosts, ranging from strong preference for humans to strong preference for non-human animals."

Study co-author Noah Rose said mosquitoes living near dense human populations in cities such as Kumasi, Ghana, or Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, showed increased willingness to bite human hosts.

"But they only evolve a strong preference for human hosts in places with intense dry seasons - in particular, in the Sahel region, where rainfall is concentrated in just a couple months out of the year," said Rose. "We think this is because mosquitoes in these climates are especially dependent on humans and human water storage for their life cycle."

The researchers noted that while people tend to think of all mosquitoes as major pests, they are actually quite diverse and many of them do not bite humans at all. For the investigation, the team focused on Aedes aegypti - the primary spreader of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and Chikungunya virus.

"Many people have speculated about why this species evolved to selectively bite humans, but our study is the first to address this question directly with systematic empirical data," said Professor McBride.

The researchers used special traps to capture Ae. aegypti eggs from multiple sites in 27 locations across sub-Saharan Africa. In the lab, they tested each mosquito population to examine whether the insects preferred the scent of people or other animals, including guinea pigs and quail.

The study revealed that mosquitoes living in dense urban cities were attracted to people more than those from rural areas. However, the researchers found that this only applied to modern cities, which means it was not the original driver of human biting among certain populations. This led to the discovery that mosquitoes living in places with longer and hotter dry seasons showed a stronger preference for a human scent.

"I was surprised that immediate habitat didn't have much of an effect - mosquitoes in forests and nearby towns had similar behavior," said Rose. "We thought that maybe moving into human landscapes would be a key driver of attraction to human hosts. But it seems like mosquitoes fly back and forth too readily between these habitats for their behavior to diverge in many cases."

"When we took a more regional view of things, we saw that regions with dense human populations had mosquitoes with a greater attraction to human hosts, but this wasn't dependent on the precise habitat we collected them from within each region."

"I was also surprised that climate was more important than urbanization in explaining present day behavioral variation. Many mosquitoes living in fairly dense cities don't particularly prefer to bite human hosts."

"I think it will be surprising to people that in many cities in Africa, this species actively discriminates against humans," said Professor McBride. "It is only when the cities become extremely dense or are located in places with more intense dry seasons that they become more interested in biting humans."

The researchers noted that climate change in the next few decades is not expected to drive major changes to the dry season dynamics that influence human biting in mosquitoes. But, they said, rapid urbanization could push more mosquitoes to bite humans in many cities across sub-Saharan Africa over the next 30 years.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</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

&nbsp;

Why do some mosquitoes have a taste for human blood?

Even though there are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes...

High protein <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fasting-diets-are-effective-for-weight-loss/">diets</a>, especially those containing plant protein, have been linked to a longer and healthier life. After reviewing 32 relevant studies, researchers determined that higher protein intake is associated with a lower risk of death from any cause.

According to the study authors, the findings support current dietary recommendations to increase consumption of plant proteins in the general population.

A team of researchers based in Iran and the United States set out to investigate the dose-dependent health effects of animal, plant, and total protein.

The analysis was focused on data from 32 published studies that reported risk estimates for death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer among adults over the age of 19.

The team used mathematical models to compare the effects of the highest versus lowest categories of protein intake, and evaluated the dose-response relations between protein intake and mortality.

During a follow-up period of up to 32 years, 16,429 participants died from cardiovascular disease and 22,303 died from cancer. The experts found that high intake of total protein was associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality.

Plant protein intake was linked with an 8 percent lower risk of all cause mortality and a 12 percent lower risk of fatal cardiovascular disease, while animal protein intake had no significant effect on its own.

Previous research has shown that 

plant proteins improve blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. This may explain the lower the risk of conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

The study authors acknowledge that the research has some limitations, such as differences in the way the studies assessed diet and the possibility that some effects may have been due to unmeasured factors. In addition, the majority of the participants were in Western nations.

However, strengths include the large number of participants and deaths, providing a detailed insight into the association between intake of dietary protein and risk of mortality based on the current evidence, noted the researchers.

"These findings have important public health implications as intake of plant protein can be increased relatively easily by replacing animal protein and could have a large effect on longevity."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">The BMJ</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Plant proteins linked to longer, healthier life

High protein diets, especially those containing plant protein, have been...

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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

[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.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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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.

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



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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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



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.

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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 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



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.

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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

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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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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