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From the tiniest fluctuations after the Big Bang, gravity has orchestrated the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets, creating the vast cosmic web we see today.



Gravity isn't just what keeps us grounded -- it's been shaping the universe since its earliest days. Recent studies have provided the most precise tests of gravity on the grandest scales imaginable. 



By examining how cosmic structures have grown over the past 11 billion years, scientists have confirmed that gravity behaves just as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cosmic-glitch-in-gravity-expands-the-theory-of-general-relativity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Einstein's theory</a> of general relativity predicts, even across billions of light-years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-desi-tracks-gravity-over-11-billion-years">DESI tracks gravity over 11 billion years</h2>



Pauline Zarrouk, a cosmologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (<a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNRS</a>) working at the Laboratory of Nuclear and High-Energy Physics (LPNHE), has been exploring this cosmic evolution.



In collaboration with the international team behind the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (<a href="https://www.desi.lbl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DESI</a>), Zarrouk and her colleagues have traced how cosmic structures grew over the past 11 billion years.



Using data from DESI, the researchers provided the most precise test to date of gravity on the largest scales. 



"General relativity has been very well tested at the scale of solar systems, but we also needed to test that our assumption works at much larger scales," Zarrouk explained. 



"Studying the rate at which galaxies formed lets us directly test our theories and, so far, we're lining up with what <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radical-new-theory-finally-unites-gravity-spacetime-and-the-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">general relativity</a> predicts at cosmological scales."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-einstein-is-smiling-from-the-grave">Einstein is smiling from the grave</h2>



Their findings confirm that gravity behaves as Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts, even across the immense distances of the universe. 



This validation supports our leading model of the cosmos and narrows down alternative theories of gravity that have been proposed to explain puzzling observations, like the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/universe-expansion-rate-dark-energy-measured-11-billion-years-ago/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accelerating expansion</a> of the universe often attributed to dark energy.



The study also sheds light on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-gravity-search-south-pole-neutrinos-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neutrinos</a> -- the elusive particles that zip through space almost undetected. 



Previous experiments determined that the combined mass of the three types of neutrinos should be at least 0.059 electron volts (eV/c²). For perspective, an electron has a mass of about 511,000 eV/c². 



DESI's results suggest that the total mass of neutrinos should be less than 0.071 eV/c², tightening the constraints on these mysterious particles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-desi-gravity-and-cosmic-structure">DESI, gravity, and cosmic structure</h2>



"Both our BAO results and the full-shape analysis are spectacular," said Dragan Huterer, a professor at the <a href="https://umich.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Michigan</a> and co-lead of DESI's group interpreting the cosmological data. 



"This is the first time that DESI has looked at the growth of cosmic structure. We're showing a tremendous new ability to probe modified gravity and improve constraints on models of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-energy-is-ripping-the-universe-apart-but-we-arent-sure-how/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark energy</a>. And it's only the tip of the iceberg."



DESI is no ordinary telescope. Mounted on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at <a href="https://kpno.noirlab.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kitt Peak National Observatory</a>, it's capable of capturing light from 5,000 galaxies at once. 



Funded by the DOE Office of Science, the project is now in its fourth year of surveying the sky and aims to collect data from roughly 40 million galaxies and quasars by the time it's done.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/theory-gravity-exists-without-mass-so-dark-matter-does-not-exist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testing gravity</a> at cosmic scales is crucial. While Einstein's theory has passed every test within our solar system, there's always the possibility that it might behave differently across the vastness of space. 



By confirming that gravity acts as expected over billions of light-years, scientists can be more confident in their models of how the universe has evolved. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interpreting-the-desi-data">Interpreting the DESI data</h2>



<a href="https://profiles.utdallas.edu/mishak">Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki</a>, a professor of physics in the <a href="https://nsm.utdallas.edu/">School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics</a> at UT Dallas, co-led the DESI working group that interpreted the cosmological data.



“For this round of DESI results, I focused my efforts at UT Dallas on conducting a large part of the analysis on gravity, which puts constraints on how matter in the universe moves and how large-scale structures, such as clusters of galaxies, evolve,” explained Ishak-Boushaki. 



“The results from DESI, combined with datasets from other experiments, are consistent with general relativity theory operating at cosmic scales, although they do not completely exclude other theories of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/central-theory-of-quantum-gravity-is-modeled-in-the-laboratory/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modified gravity</a>.”



The new results provide an extended analysis of <a href="https://news.utdallas.edu/science-technology/desi-findings-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DESI’s first year of data</a>, which in April contributed to the largest 3D map of the universe to date and revealed hints that <a href="https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/04/desi-first-results-make-most-precise-measurement-of-expanding-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark energy might be evolving</a> over time.



“The latest analysis is also consistent with our previous findings that give preference to the theory that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-energy-could-explain-the-rapid-expansion-of-the-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark energy</a> is not constant, but dynamic, which is a very important result for cosmic acceleration,” Ishak-Boushaki said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-this-happen">How did this happen?</h2>



The collaboration is currently analyzing data from the first three years and expects to present updated measurements of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-evidence-suggests-that-dark-energy-comes-from-black-holes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark energy</a> and the universe's expansion history by spring 2025. 



The recent results align with earlier hints that dark energy might be evolving over time, adding to the excitement for what's to come.



"Dark matter makes up about a quarter of the universe, and dark energy makes up another 70 percent, and we don't really know what either one is," said Mark Maus, a PhD student at <a href="https://www.lbl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Berkeley Lab</a> and UC Berkeley who worked on theory and validation modeling pipelines for the new analysis. 



"The idea that we can take pictures of the universe and tackle these big, fundamental questions is mind-blowing."



The study utilized nearly 6 million <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lonely-quasars-in-the-early-universe-cannot-be-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxies and quasars</a>, allowing researchers to peer up to 11 billion years into the past. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next-for-desi-and-gravity">What's next for DESI and gravity?</h2>



To sum it all up, with just one year of data, DESI has made the most precise overall measurement of the growth of cosmic structures, surpassing previous efforts that took decades.



The DESI project is remarkable not just for its technological capabilities but also for its collaborative spirit. 



With over 900 researchers from more than 70 institutions worldwide, it's a testament to what can be achieved when the global scientific community comes together.



As we await the next round of results, one can't help but wonder: What other secrets of the universe are waiting to be uncovered? 



The quest to understand gravity, dark matter, and dark energy continues, and each new discovery brings us a little closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos.



The full study was published in <a href="https://data.desi.lbl.gov/doc/papers/">several scientific journals</a>.



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New 'mind-blowing' gravity discovery proves Einstein right again

From the tiniest fluctuations after the Big Bang, gravity has orchestrated the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets, creating the vast cosmic web we see today. Gravity isn't just what keeps us grounded -- it's been shaping the universe since its earliest days. Recent studies have provided the most precise tests of gravity on the grandest scales imaginable. By examining how cosmic structures have grown over the past 11 billion years, scientists have confirmed that gravity behaves just as Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts, even across...

According to a new study from the <a href="https://www.sfn.org/">Society for Neuroscience</a>, published December 24th in <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">JNeurosci</a>, the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and brain anatomy remain stable from <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/childhood-trauma-psychotic-experiences/">childhood</a> through early adulthood. 

This conclusion is based on a longitudinal neuroimaging study of more than 600 participants which spanned over two decades.

Cassidy McDermott and Armin Raznahan, from the <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml">National Institute of Mental Health</a> in Bethesda, Maryland, and their colleagues studied several brain scans from the same 600 individuals taken periodically between the ages of five and 25. 

They compared the brain scan data to parental education and occupation as well as each participants’ intelligence quotient (IQ) and found a connection between SES and brain size and surface area.

More specifically, there is a positive correlation between SES and the surface area of brain regions that control cognitive functions like learning, language, and emotions.

The study, which is the first to connect childhood SES with greater volumes of the two subcortical regions the thalamus and striatum, shines light on the importance of the preschool period, during which brains may begin to develop uniquely based on SES.

The researchers hope to further explore brain regions associated with the relationship between SES and a person’s IQ, which could reveal how SES is a factor in a person’s range of life outcomes.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Socioeconomic status plays a role in brain development

According to a new study from the Society for Neuroscience,...

Researchers have collected traces of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/age-related-differences-dna-bloodstream/">DNA</a> from birch bark pitch that was chewed by a woman over 6,000 years ago. The genetic evidence enabled them to learn a lot about her diet, heritage, and even about her appearance. 

According to the researchers, the woman had eaten duck, eel, and hazelnuts before setting out to make stone tools. The experts believe that she put the birch bark pitch in her mouth to make it more pliable and then spat it out without ever using it.

The scientists have named the woman Lola after the island of Lolland in modern-day Denmark where the pitch was recovered. The analysis of the pitch also revealed that Lola had dark skin and dark hair. 

Søren Sørensen at the Lolland-Falster Museum told <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>, “It’s amazing - I know what she’s been eating, what color her eyes were, what color her hair was. It’s like standing face to face with a stone age person.”


This is one of the first studies to analyse prehistoric birch bark, which was essentially black tar from tree bark that was used as a glue for tool-making. While chewing the tar would have made it more pliable, the researchers speculate that it could have been used to treat mouth wounds due to its antiseptic properties.

Samples of pitch that have been recovered from several dig sites across Europe often contain clear teeth marks, some of which were made by children. 

“Once you see kids’ teeth imprints you think it’s no different to today when kids go around spitting out chewing gum,’ Natalia Kashuba of the University of Oslo told New Scientist. “I want to believe that it’s also recreational, but there’s no way to know.”

A preprint of the study is available at <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/13/493882">BioRxiv</a>.
--
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

6,000 year old chewing gum contains DNA clues from an ancient woman

Researchers have collected traces of DNA from birch bark pitch...

Confidence and memory play key roles in interpreting emotions – and may skew our judgement, a new study from the <a href="https://www.unige.ch/en/university/">University of Geneva</a> has found.

The researchers worked with the <a href="https://www.hug-ge.ch/en/">University Hospitals of Geneva</a> to test how confident study participants felt while judging the emotions of others, along with which areas of the brain they used in the process.

The results indicate that confidence plays a role, and that interpreting emotions also relies on our own memory and past experiences. 

“Humans have evolved sophisticated mechanisms for quick and efficient recognition of emotion expression from faces,” the researchers wrote in their paper, published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan/advance-article/doi/10.1093/scan/nsy102/5209946">Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience</a>. “However, even though it is vital to swiftly recognize facial expressions, beliefs about how we trust what the face is conveying (‘I am sure he is angry at me’) are also important to adjust behavior, contributing to either provoke or avoid fatal misunderstandings.”

As an example, co-author Dr. Indrit Bègue points to the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, pointing out that it was George Zimmerman’s initial belief that the the teen was a threat – when Martin was simply walking back to his father’s house after a trip to the store – that led to the confrontation that cost the teen his life. The researchers wanted to find out how incorrectly interpreting emotions drove that and similar incidents.

The scientists asked 34 study participants – 15 of them women – to complete one of two tasks: judge the emotion on a series of photos of 128 faces displaying a range of emotions, or report on the thicker of two lines on the top or bottom of those faces. Participants were asked to judge their confidence on each interpretation. 

"The bars were used to evaluate their confidence in visual perception, which has already been studied in depth. Here it served as a control mechanism," co-author Dr. Patrik Vuilleumier said.

The results were surprising. Study participants on average were more confident when interpreting emotions than they were in their visual perception – but made more mistakes in judging emotions than the thickness of the two lines.

An MRI looked at which areas of their brains were active during each interpretation.

"When the participants judged the lines, the perception (visual areas) and attention (frontal areas) zones were activated. But when assessing confidence in recognizing emotions, areas linked to autobiographical and contextual memory lit up," Vuilleumier said.

That may explain why people feel more confident when interpreting emotions – and why they can be wrong.

"The fact that past experiences are so fundamental to govern our confidence may cause problems in our day-to-day life, because they can skew our judgment, as happened in the Trayvon Martin case, when Zimmerman didn't see just an impatient young man waiting outside his home, but an angry black man lurking in front of a house," Bègue said. "That's why it's crucial to give feedback about our emotions early on, so we can teach children to interpret them correctly."

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Memory, confidence make interpreting emotions tricky

Confidence and memory play key roles in interpreting emotions –...

Are greeting cards to celebrate birthdays and holidays unwittingly promoting unsafe drinking? That’s the question British public health officers are asking.

Dr. Virginia Pearson, chief officer for <a href="https://new.devon.gov.uk/leadership-group/chief-officer-communities-public-health-environment-prosperity/">Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity at Devon County Council</a>, and her assistant director, nurse Tracey Polak, worry that depictions of drinking on greeting cards may "reflect and reinforce a social attitude that excess alcohol consumption is acceptable and associated with celebration.”

In an article they penned for the journal <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">BMJ</a>, the pair suggest that depictions of drinking on greeting cards could reinforce drinking as a social norm.

The warning comes at the same time new studies have linked unsafe drinking to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/binge-drinking-social-media-addiction/">social media addiction</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/binge-drinking-alcohol-sleep/">sleep disruption</a>, along with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-years-life/">health issues</a>.

Pearson and Polak cite a 1980 analysis of greeting cards. Back then, cards portrayed drinking as natural, and being drunk as harmless fun. 

Things haven’t changed much, the pair said.

They found that illustrations on cards continue to portray drinking as fun. Accompanying text includes phrases from “Cheers!” to “Let’s Get Wrecked!” Some greeting cards even portrayed people as “clearly drunk” and surrounded by empty bottles, the pair said.

This message is at odds with one that public health organizations have been working to spread for years: drink in moderation, if at all, because alcohol has consequences.

"As cards with alcohol themes become more prevalent then a cultural norm develops where drinking in association with celebration becomes the expected,” they wrote.

Pearson and Polak outlined a few of the issues. For one, more than 10 million people in the United Kingdom alone regularly drink at unsafe levels that put their health at risk. Additionally, alcohol is a leading cause of death and disability among people aged 15 to 49, they said.

Greeting cards aren’t likely to change because of their article, Pearson and Polak acknowledged. As long as people buy cards that depict unsafe drinking, companies will continue to make them. But if the demand goes down, companies are likely to turn to other designs.

"... perhaps it is worth reflecting the next time that you choose one whether the message is one that you condone and wish to pass on," they wrote.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Do greeting cards promote unsafe drinking?

Are greeting cards to celebrate birthdays and holidays unwittingly promoting...

If you’re looking for the “Greatest Snow on Earth,” Utah’s Wasatch Mountains have laid claim to that title. 

For now.

Dust deposits could soon threaten the famed destination of skiers and snowboarders, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a>. The problem is one of snowmelt. 

Rising dust levels have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dust-exposure-human-health/">caused issues throughout the U.S.</a> In Utah, as dark dust gathers on the surface of the snow on the Wasatch Mountains, it absorbs more heat from the sun, causing the snow to melt more quickly. 

 Researchers at a site in the Wasatch Mountains measured dust in the air and on the snow, using the data create a simulation to find where it was coming from. That computer model was able to pinpoint several “hot spots” in the Great Salt Lakes. 

"What's important about the Great Salt Lake is that there are no water rights, no policy to maintain lake levels. As the lake declines, dust events are projected to become more frequent," said Dr. McKenzie Skiles, the study’s lead author. "Anything that impacts snowmelt could have economic and hydrologic consequences. And now one of the dust source regions is right next door.”

Continued human activity that lowers the water levels in the Great Salt Lake are likely to contribute to the problem.

And that could hamstring the Wasatch Mountains’ claim to fame. A single dust storm on April 13, 2017 – measured and analyzed by the researchers – deposited half of the season’s dust in one go at the research site. The snow there melted a week earlier than normal.

Skiles and her team calculated how both snow coated with dust and clean snow absorbed energy. The found that dusty snow melted 25 percent faster than clean snow. 

If people don’t begin making an effort to curb their water use – and the resulting dust creation – then the Wasatch Mountains may see their title as the “Greatest Snow on Earth” melt away.

"In most people's minds, dust is a natural aerosol. But the magnitude and frequency of airborne dust is impacted by human activity, altering landscapes makes dust more likely to get picked up by wind," Skiles said. "We know that since settlement of the West, the amount of dust in the air has increased. And at the same time, due to upstream water withdrawals, lake levels are also declining, exposing even more dust."

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/erl">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Dust from Great Salt Lake threatens Wasatch Mountains

If you’re looking for the “Greatest Snow on Earth,” Utah’s...

Researchers have discovered that there are age and health-related differences in fragments of DNA located in the bloodstream, called cell-free DNA (cfDNA). These differences could ultimately be used to measure an individual's biological age, which reveals whether a person's body functions as older or younger than their chronological age.

The investigation was focused on cfDNA collected from blood samples of people in their 20s, 70s, and from healthy and unhealthy individuals that were over 100 years old. Across these four groups, the team detected differences in how the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/modern-humans-neanderthal-dna/">DNA</a> was packaged.


A nucleosome is the basic unit of DNA packaging in which a segment of DNA is wrapped around a protein core. Nucleosome packing is one component of the epigenome, or chemical compounds that can change gene expression without affecting the DNA sequence.

The study revealed that nucleosomes were well-spaced in the DNA of 20-somethings, but had less structure in the older groups, especially among the unhealthy centenarians. In addition, the signal from nucleosome spacing for the healthy centenarians was more similar to the signal from the people in their 20s than people in their 70s.


Study lead author Nicola Neretti is an assistant professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a>.

“Among other traits, healthy centenarians preserve the epigenomic profile of younger individuals,” said Professor Neretti. “As with anything in aging, many things work together, and it is not clear what the cause or the effect is. With our cfDNA test, we hope to gain understanding of these epigenetic changes and what they mean.”

Previous studies have established that cfDNA is produced by dying cells. As the cells die, the DNA is cut in between nucleosomes, explained Professor Neretti. Scientists first discovered cfDNA in the blood of cancer patients, and the fragments can be used to diagnose cancer.

“cfDNA is somewhat like a message in a bottle that captures what the cell looked like, epigenetically speaking, before it died,” said Professor Neretti. “A lot of cellular machinery is involved in maintaining nucleosome spacing, and these components can go downhill as you age. The nucleosomes don't move apart or become more dense themselves. The nucleosome spacing is just the read-out of the changes of that machinery.”


Professor Neretti explained that a better understanding of the epigenetic changes involved in the aging process could lead to the development of treatments for age-related disorders, or may someday be used to determine whether a person's body is aging well biologically.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14749726">Aging Cell</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Age-related differences found in DNA are located in the bloodstream

Researchers have discovered that there are age and health-related differences...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has found the first direct evidence of how ancient insects hatched. The researchers observed structures used for egg hatching that can be traced back tens of millions of years to a newly described species called Tragichrysa ovoruptora, which means “egg breaking” and “tragic green lacewing.”

The experts found several green lacewing newborn larvae preserved inside of a piece of 130 million-year-old Lebanese <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossil-discovery-baleen-whales/">amber</a>. The team found the split egg shells from where they hatched, and also identified minute structures known as egg bursters that were used by the hatchlings to crack the eggs.

This is the first time that these specialized structures have ever been definitively documented in the fossil record of egg-laying animals.

Study lead author Dr. Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente is a researcher at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.


“Egg-laying animals such as many arthropods and vertebrates use egg bursters to break the egg surface during hatching; a famous example is the ‘egg tooth’ on the beak of newborn chicks,” explained Dr. Pérez-de la Fuente. “Egg bursters are diverse in shape and location. Modern green lacewing hatchlings split the egg with a 'mask' bearing a jagged blade. Once used, this 'mask' is shed and left attached to the empty egg shell, which is exactly what we found in the amber together with the newborns.”

[caption id="attachment_1864181" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eggs.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1864181" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eggs-1024x655.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="448" /></a> Image Credit: Modified from the open access article published in Palaeontology: 'The hatching mechanism of 130-million-year-old insects: an association of neonates, egg shells, and egg bursters in Lebanese amber'[/caption]

Green lacewing larvae are small predators that use sickle-shaped jaws to pierce and suck the fluids of their prey. While the larvae trapped in the ancient amber are significantly different from their modern-day relatives, the egg shells and egg bursters examined in the study are remarkably similar to those of today's green lacewings. The T. ovoruptora larvae appear to have been trapped by resin while clutching the eggs from which they had just hatched.

Study co-author Dr. Michael S. Engel from the University of Kansas said, “The process of hatching is ephemeral and the structures that make it possible tend to disappear quickly once egg-laying animals hatch, so obtaining fossil evidence of them is truly exceptional.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14754983">Palaeontology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Insects trapped in ancient amber reveal how eggs hatch

A new study from the University of Oxford has found...

Run your tongue over the inside of your upper and lower lips. If you were one of the first vertebrates, which emerged some 500 million years ago during the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cambrian-explosion-fossil-sponges/">Cambrian Period</a>, this would have been the extent of your mouth: a muscular hole in your face, used to inhale water and sediment, from which you would obtain oxygen and food. You wouldn’t have had jaws and certainly not teeth, at least as we imagine them today. 

<a href="https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-pdf/.../j.1096-3642.1996.tb01658.x.pdf">This is known as the “first mouth,”</a> followed much later by the evolution of the “second mouth”, supported by bony structures. The second mouth, which moved in behind the first mouth, constitutes what is now considered the buccal cavity, containing your teeth and tongue. These early vertebrates, which possessed a rudimentary spinal cord known as a notochord, inhabited the oceans and were likely slow-moving filter feeders. Known as the Agnatha, or “no jaws,” they are the creatures from which all living vertebrates descend, including our own species. How, then, did these jawless, worm-like creatures evolve the mechanisms that allow their latter-day descendants to bite and tear?

Though a stunning array of fossils, along with modern genetic studies, have elucidated how this might have occurred, there are numerous holes that have been filled with an array of tempting but often speculative theories. The most convincing, and widely accepted of them are included here. 

Among the more pressing problems is the fact that early vertebrates, due to their soft bodies and cartilaginous skeletons, are not well preserved in the fossil record. The conodonts, thought to be the among first vertebrates, were at first known only from their tiny, tooth-like feeding apparatus. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1502-3931.1983.tb01993.x">A fossil discovered in 1983</a> determined that the conodonts were in fact eel-shaped creatures that possessed a notochord. Their jagged “teeth,” which are useful index fossils, are thought to have been used in filtering microorganisms from the sediment or grasping other, smaller creatures. Their cartilaginous skeletons are usually poorly preserved, though it is certain that they did not possess jaws in the way we now conceive of them. Rather, the tooth-like protrusions adorned a sphincter-like mouth hole.

By some 470 million years ago, during the Ordovician, a better-preserved group of vertebrate animals, the ostracoderms, emerged. Heavily armored, they looked like vertebrate versions of trilobites or contemporary crustaceans such as Triops. At this point, we begin seeing some of the features more typical of jawed vertebrates, though ostracoderms did not actually possess jaws themselves. Notably, they are believed to have used their gills entirely for respiratory purposes, rather than as a combined breathing and feeding apparatus like more primitive animals. They have been linked to the only living jawless vertebrates, the hagfish and the lampreys (both in the superclass Cyclostomata).

[caption id="attachment_1864163" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/33974253702_5258b771b3_o.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1864163" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/33974253702_5258b771b3_o-1024x850.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="581" /></a> Image Credit: James St. John/Flickr[/caption]

Intriguingly, a set of genes that codes for the formation of the oral structure <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/40/17262">differs only in the expression of three genes</a> between lampreys and jawed fish. And early in the embryonic development of hagfish and lampreys, some of the same cell types that later differentiate into jaws in more advanced jawed fish are still discernible. All of this strongly supports an evolutionary continuum from jawless to jawed. 

Until recently, there was no actual fossil evidence of a transition from these primitive, jawless vertebrates to the jawed forms that radiated and constitute most of the Chordata today. However, in 2014, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13414">scientists published a paper</a> analyzing the fossilized remains of a creature known as Metaspriggina, discovered in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia. 

Dated to perhaps 505 million years ago, Metaspriggina possesses characteristics of both the Agnatha and their jawed ancestors, the Gnathostomata. Most significantly, it had seven pairs of gill arches, cartilaginous structures that supported the fleshy gills and allowed the animal to take in more water and thus more oxygen. Gill arches are still seen in modern fish; if you have ever held a large fish by its gill plate after catching it, you will be familiar with the bony rings beneath. These structures kept the gills from collapsing in on themselves during inspiration and expiration. This likely enabled it to move more quickly and aggressively than its sluggish predecessors. Intriguingly, in Metaspriggina, the anterior set of arches was not attached to any actual gills and was thicker than the other arches. 

This structure may have, in later organisms, been modified into the apparatus now known as the jaws. Moving forward in the head, the top arch became the upper jaw, fused to the skull, and the bottom arch became the lower jaw. A second arch, the hyoid, also moved forward and allowed the mandible to be suspended from the skull, forming the jointed structure that allows the jaws to open and close as a unit. This adaptation facilitated the predatory lifestyle of many fish and may have even led, indirectly, to the development of the immune system, which was required to process a less-predictable diet that exposed them to an array of pathogens, and to the development of larger brains, necessary to stalk prey.

[caption id="attachment_1864162" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8741970596_26076f93c8_o.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1864162" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8741970596_26076f93c8_o-1024x593.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="405" /></a> Sea lamprey Credit: T. Lawrence, Great Lakes Fishery Commission/ NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory[/caption]

The first actual jawed fishes from the fossil record are the acanthodians, which appeared in the Silurian Period, some 440 million years ago. These small fish were agile and streamlined, bolstering the notion that the novel adaptation of jaws coincided with significant lifestyle changes in the previously slow-moving vertebrates. Roughly 20 million years later, another three groups of jawed fish emerged. 

The placoderms, now extinct, were followed in relatively short order by the chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and chimeras), and the osteichthyans (bony fish, from which tetrapods, including us, evolved), both of which persist today. The placoderms, particularly, give us some insight into how primitive jaws developed into the contemporary structures with which we are familiar. These fish, the largest of which were some 30 feet long, possessed giant, armored heads and sharp, bony jaws. <a href="https://theconversation.com/extraordinary-missing-link-fossil-fish-found-in-china-18461">A 2013 discovery</a> in China found a fossil clearly indicating the transition between placoderms and osteichthyans. The bizarre, even nightmarish, visage of the placoderm did indeed evolve to become the slightly less nightmarish face of a prehistoric osteichthyan, our ancestor. Analogous bone structures in the jaw cinched the connection.

So it is that we progressed over the millennia from bottom feeding, worm-like creatures. As you stroke your chin and ponder this profundity, consider the fact that you are, in fact, running your fingers over a modified gill. 

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Main Image Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/merryjack/">Merryjack</a>/Flickr

All the better to eat you with, my dear: The evolution of jaws

Run your tongue over the inside of your upper and...

According to a new report put forth by the <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">American Association for the Advancement of Science</a>, archaeologists have discovered plant fossils in present-day Jordan in the Middle East that date back to before the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/permian-mass-extinction/">Permian Extinction</a> — about 250 million years ago. 

The new fossils push back the age of previously discovered and studied seed lineages and suggest that these lineages actually survived the mass extinction. 

Furthermore, researchers are now calling this Permian-age tropical habitat a “hidden cradle” of plant evolution — a cradle that housed ancestors of many of our modern plants, such as Podocarpaceae, the second-largest family of modern conifers.

Patrick Blomenkemper, from the <a href="https://www.uni-muenster.de/en/">University of Münster</a>, and his colleagues state in their report that the plant fossils found within this hidden cradle are all early ancestors of seed lineages that would become the dominant plant species in the Mesozoic period. 

Their findings prove that ancient equatorial ecosystems were, in fact, “evolutionary cradles” with lush biodiversity, thus leading to the evolution of modern biodiverse tropical regions. The existence of evolutionary cradles was simply a hypothesis, but now with the presence of these new Permian-era fossils, experts can now confirm that drought-prone tropical habitats were evolutionary cradles for plant life.

And, armed with the knowledge that these seed lineages survived the Permian Extinction, researchers believe that these species are much more resilient than previously thought.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

“Hidden cradle” of early plant evolution found in present-day Jordan

According to a new report put forth by the American...

Around one million years ago, during the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drop-co2-levels-ancient/">Mid-Pleistocene Transition</a> (MPT), the planet underwent a major climate shift, and temperatures dropped. Cycles of extreme cold were the norm during the MPT, but researchers have long looked for answers as to what caused the global cooling. 

Over the past 600,000 years, the Earth has been teetering between warm and cool periods. Often these periods are due to the Earth’s orbital position in relation to the Sun and the tilt of the Earth’s axis, but during the MPT there were no known changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun which just further adds to the mystery behind the cause.

Now, researchers from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> have uncovered a key piece of the MPT puzzle in a new study. 

The results of the study, published in the journal Nature Communication, show that the freezing over of the Bering Strait during the MPT and the stratification of the North Pacific likely drove down temperatures.

“The subarctic North Pacific is composed of some of the oldest water on Earth, which has been separated from the atmosphere for such a long time that a high concentration of dissolved CO2 has built up at depth,” said Sev Kender, a co-author of the study. “When this water upwells to the surface, some of the CO2 is released. This is thought to be an important process in geological time, causing some of the global warming that followed past glaciations.” 

When the Bering Strait closed due to glaciation, it disrupted this natural upwelling of CO2, and instead, the oceans absorbed more CO2 from the atmosphere which perpetuated global cooling. 

“We discovered that the Bering Sea region became more stratified during the MPT with an expanded intermediate-depth watermass, such that one of the important contributors to global warming - the upwelling of the subarctic North Pacific - was effectively curtailed,” said Kender. 

The researchers collected sediment cores from deep below the Bering Sea and analyzed the chemical composition of the sediments and fossils within the samples. 

The researchers were then able to reconstruct water masses and plankton productivity during the MPT period of glaciation and found that many the changes in global climate happening at that time were related to changes happening in the Bering Strait, including the stratification of the Subarctic North Pacific. 

“As glaciers grew and sea levels fell around 1 million years ago, the Bering Strait would have closed, retaining colder water within the Bering Sea,” said Kender. “This expanded watermass appears to have stifled the upwelling of deep CO2-rich water and allowed the ocean to sequester more CO2 out of the atmosphere.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Bering Sea sediments hold clues to what caused past climate shift

Around one million years ago, during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT),...

Scientists at <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> have trained a machine learning program, called DeepSolar, to identify almost every single solar panel within the United States. After analyzing over a billion images via the machine, the team found about 1.47 million <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/solar-energy-valuable-land/">solar panel</a> installations, which is a higher count than previously estimated.

The benefit of knowing how many Americans are currently using solar panels and why is pertinent information necessary for managing the changing U.S. electricity system and understanding pushback against renewable resources.

“We can use recent advances in machine learning to know where all these assets are, which has been a huge question, and generate insights about where the grid is going and how we can help get it to a more beneficial place," said study co-supervisor and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Ram Rajagopal.

DeepSolar was fed about 370,000 satellite images that covered about 100 ft. by 100 ft. patches of land, each labelled as having a solar panel present or not. From these images, DeepSolar learned how to recognize solar panels by color, texture, and size, and could correctly identify images as having solar panels 93% of the time. The machine was able to filter through the billion satellite images available in about a month.

From their findings, published December 19th in <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/joule">Joule,</a> the team gathered that household income plays a huge role in the decision to go solar. Low- and medium-income households do not usually opt for solar, which is most likely due to the upfront cost of making the switch.

“We found some insights, but it's just the tip of the iceberg of what we think other researchers, utilities, solar developers and policymakers can further uncover," said Arun Majumdar, professor of mechanical engineering and the study’s second supervisor. "We are making this public so that others find solar deployment patterns, and build economic and behavioral models."

The hope is that DeepSolar’s imaging can help optimize regional U.S. electricity systems and help local governments and solar panel marketers target certain areas to bolster the use of renewable resources.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Machine learning algorithm can locate every solar panel in the US

Scientists at Stanford University have trained a machine learning program,...

The <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)</a> has announced plans to launch another <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-return-humans-to-the-moon">human-crewed lunar mission</a> as well as several other ambitious deep space explorations sometime in the future. 

While the hazards of space travel and the risks of space itself have been the subject of much research, less focus has been paid to the dangers of interplanetary exploration. 

A new study has found that dust on the surface of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/frozen-water-discovered-moon/">moon</a> is so toxic it can damage cells and is extremely hazardous when inhaled. 

The Apollo Astronauts encountered “lunar dust” and found that the electrostatically charged soil particles that are bombarded daily by solar radiation clung to space suits and, if inhaled, caused eye, nose, and throat irritation. 

But now, researchers from <a href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/">Stony Brook University</a> have discovered that compounds in lunar soil react with human cells and can generate extremely toxic hydroxyl radicals which are known to increase the risk of lung cancer, according to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2188164-breathing-in-moon-dust-could-release-toxins-in-astronauts-lungs/">New Scientist</a> which reported on the study. 

The researchers presented their findings at the <a href="https://sites.agu.org/">American Geophysical Union</a> meeting in Washington D.C.

“Lunar dust represents one of the many hazards that humans will have to contend with when conducting missions on its surface,” the researchers wrote.

The team set out to determine how many hydroxyl radicals were produced in someone inhaled lunar dust. 

For the study, the researchers analyzed lunar dust samples and submerged two-iron based compounds, olivine and augite (both found in the moon in abundance), in a liquid meant to simulate the fluid found in human lungs. 

After just 15 minutes, the olivine and augite generated nine times more hydroxyl radicals per liter of the simulated lung fluid than quartz, which is also a highly toxic compound. 

“The fine metallic iron is extremely hazardous to human health,” Donald Hendrix, a member of the research team, told New Scientist.   

The results of the research indicate that there could be long-term health implications for 
astronauts exposed to lunar dust because inhaled particles can stay in the lungs for a long time.

If a human-crewed lunar mission is to become a reality, studies like this will be crucial for understanding how long-term exploration and exposure to harsh conditions on the surface of the moon will impact astronauts.  

“It is important to understand what effects lunar dust may have on astronauts if dust mitigation methods prove to be inadequate on future missions,” the researchers concluded. “Our work furthers understanding of the chemical properties of lunar dust reactivity, which could lead to medical advancements in treating those exposed to lunar dust.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Moon dust is extremely toxic and poses health hazards for astronauts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced plans...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.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



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

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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

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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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" 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.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

[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...