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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...

Want a healthy baby? Skip the caffeine. Drinking coffee when pregnant has been linked to smaller infant birth weight – and tea isn’t much better.

A new study found that even women who drink less than 200 milligrams of caffeine each day, as recommended by the <a href="https://m.acog.org/">American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a>, have a higher risk of premature birth and low birth weight than women who drink no caffeine at all.

“Based on the consistent associations we observed, and because many pregnancies are unplanned, we would recommend women who are pregnant or seeking to become pregnant to at least limit their intakes of caffeinated coffee and tea,” lead author Dr. Ling-Wei Chen of <a href="https://www.ucd.ie/">University College Dublin</a> told news agency <a href="https://www.reuters.com/">Reuters</a>.

The team of researchers worked with 941 mothers and children in Ireland. About 40 percent drank <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/chemistry-inside-cup-coffee/">coffee</a> while pregnant, and around half drank <a href="https://www.earth.com/plants/camellia-sinensis/">tea</a>.

They found that every 100mg of caffeine the women drank while pregnant was linked to a 2.5-ounce dip in birth weight on average. Caffeine intake was also linked to earlier births and shorter length in new infants.

On average, the infants of the women who drank the most caffeine were 6 ounces lighter at birth than the babies whose mothers abstained. It didn’t matter if the caffeine came from coffee or tea, the researchers found.

“High caffeine intake can result in restricted blood flow in the placenta which may subsequently affect fetal growth,” Chen told Reuters. “Caffeine can also cross the placenta readily, and because caffeine clearance slows as pregnancy progresses, caffeine accumulation may occur in fetal tissues.”

The new study adds to a growing body of literature that links caffeine intake to newborn health and birth weight. It also underlines that current recommendations that women drink less than 200mg of caffeine per day may be too high.

The study has been published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn">The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Coffee, tea linked to low birth weight in newborns

Want a healthy baby? Skip the caffeine. Drinking coffee when...

New Zealand’s North and South Islands have shifted closer together after the massive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/powerful-earthquake-rocks-new-zealand/">Kaikoura earthquake</a>, researchers have discovered. 

The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck New Zealand on November 13, 2016 was near the town of Waiau on the South Island, and land in that area has barely moved, the scientists said. But several other cities have shifted several inches, they said. The creep has not settled yet, either, they added.

The Kaikoura earthquake brought the city of Cape Campbell – at the northern edge of the South Island – and the country’s capital of Wellington on the North Island more than a foot closer together. 

Nelson, another city near the top of the South Island, sank nearly an inch. Other areas were raised by several feet, <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/new-zealand-earthquake-exposes-land-kaikoura/">exposing the ocean floor</a>.

The “creep” is the result of at least 25 different fault lines rupturing during the catastrophic Kaikoura earthquake.

“In reality we are having all this creeping going on and the question is, which [fault] is the dominant factor?” Dr. Sigrún Hreinsdóttir of <a href="https://www.gns.cri.nz/">GNS Science</a> told a New Zealand website, according to the news outlet <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us">The Guardian</a>.

Though the massive quake was two years ago, the two islands have continued to edge closer, researchers said. The Kaikoura earthquake also reawakened the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-zealand-fault-line/">Hikurangi subduction zone</a>, which could lead to more powerful quakes in the future.

New Zealand seismologists have called it one of the <a href="https://www.geonet.org.nz/news/2Wn37bnkNWWWssc2CoG4yQ">most “complex” quakes</a> on record.

“It’s fair to say that all earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and above are invariably very complex …” GNS scientist Dr. Kevin Berryman told The Guardian. “We have to be prepared to live with a level of risk, but we should be asking how much risk is acceptable.”

New Zealand sees thousands of earthquakes each year, though only a few hundred are strong enough to be felt and few are on the magnitude of the Kaikoura earthquake. 

On Saturday, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the island nation, striking about 160 miles southwest of Riverton on the South Island. It was followed several hours later by a 5.6-magnitude shaker 50 miles northwest of Raoul Island. Two moderate earthquakes were also felt near Tonga.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Kaikoura earthquake shifted New Zealand islands closer

New Zealand’s North and South Islands have shifted closer together...

A mother’s phone call seems to be have been the key to the discovery of a new dinosaur: Macrocollum itaquii.

The fossilized bones represent what may be the oldest known long-necked sauropodomorph ever discovered. And they were discovered after Estefânia Temp Müller gave her paleontologist son a call in 2012, to tell him his uncle had found some fossils on his property in southern Brazil.

His mother’s call led to the discovery of the new species, Dr. Rodrigo Temp Müller told the website <a href="https://www.livescience.com/">LiveScience</a>. He and his colleagues found the remains of three long-necked dinosaurs at the property in Agudo, with two skulls perfectly preserved. 

Macrocollum itaquii lived about 225 million years ago, during the Triassic. The dino was about 11 feet long and 5 feet tall, and weighed in at 220 pounds. Unlike its relative the brontosaurus, M. itaquii walked on two legs, not four.

Its long neck probably gave it an advantage when foraging for food and allowed it to reach vegetation high in trees – an important trait for the likely herbivorous species.

“There are three articulated skeletons in five tons of rock,” Müller, from the <a href="http://w3.ufsm.br/sai/index.php/2016-03-14-12-07-10/studying-at-ufsm">Federal University of Santa Maria</a> in Brazil, told <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/">The Independent</a>. “This is unique. It suggests these animals probably died together, as they share the same degree of disarticulation.”

If the dinosaurs truly did die together, it suggests they lived in groups rather than separately, he added.

"It had a small head and a long neck," Müller told LiveScience. "In its hand, there was a large and sharp claw on its 'thumb.'"

In addition to its distant connection to brontosaurus, Macrocollum itaquii appears to be related to several species discovered in India. Brazil and South Asia were both once part of a supercontinent known as Gondwana, before it broke up into South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Australia and Antarctica.

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/14/11/20180633">Biology Letters</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image credit: <a href="http://coral.ufsm.br/cappa/">CAPPA/UFSM</a>

Mother's phone call leads to dino Macrocollum itaquii

A mother’s phone call seems to be have been the...

A new species of Triassic mammal-like reptile was recently discovered in Poland, and the new fossils shed insight on the early ancestors of mammals, dinosaurs, and reptiles. 

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-triassic-period/">The Triassic period (252-201)</a> began with a mass extinction event that wiped out over 90 percent of life on Earth but as the world recovered an unprecedented diversification of species occurred. 

In the fossil record, the Triassic is where we see the first dinosaurs as well as ancestors of today’s reptiles and mammals. This was also a time when all the Earth’s landmasses came together to form the supercontinent Pangea. 

Researchers have been particularly interested in mammal-like reptiles from the Triassic called therapsids. 

A group of therapsids called dicynodonts were the dominant terrestrial herbivores in the Middle and Late Triassic, but they were thought to have gone extinct before dinosaurs became the most abundant four-footed terrestrial animal on Earth. 

However, researchers from <a href="https://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a> in Sweden have unearthed new fossil evidence that have called into question everything researchers previously knew about dicynodonts. 

While excavating near the Polish village of Lisowice, the researchers found fossils that belonged to a new species of dicynodont, which they called Lisowicia bojani.

[caption id="attachment_1862274" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ancient-mammal-like-reptile-was-the-size-of-an-elephant-.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1862274" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ancient-mammal-like-reptile-was-the-size-of-an-elephant--1024x645.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="441" /></a> Image Credit: Tomasz Sulej[/caption]

“The discovery of Lisowicia changes our ideas about the latest history of dicynodonts, mammal Triassic relatives,” said Tomasz Sulej, a member of the research team. “It also raises far more questions about what really make them and dinosaurs so large.” 

A study detailing the findings was published in the journal Science. 

After sorting through and analyzing thousands of bones and bone fragments from the area, the researchers pieced together Lisowicia bojani. 

The fossils showed that the animal was as big as an elephant and weighed around nine tons, the largest of any known dicynodont. 

Lisowicia bojani also lived much later, ten million years later, compared to other dicynodont species, and as such co-existed with the first sauropodomorph dinosaurs. 

“Dicynodonts were amazingly successful animals in the Middle and Late Triassic. Lisowicia is the youngest dicynodont and the largest non-dinosaurian terrestrial tetrapod from the Triassic,” said Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, a co-author of the study. “It's natural to want to know how dicynodonts became so large. Lisowicia is hugely exciting because it blows holes in many of our classic ideas of Triassic ‘mammal-like reptiles’.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki

Ancient mammal-like reptile was the size of an elephant

A new species of Triassic mammal-like reptile was recently discovered...

Access to the ESA’s climate analysis toolbox will be particularly useful for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-truffle-industry/">climate change</a> research studies among scientists and college students. The “toolbox,” which combines valuable information collected from satellite missions, has now become more widespread and available.

The toolbox was developed by the ESA’s <a href="http://cci.esa.int/">Climate Change Initiative</a> (CCI), and allows users to access, analyze, and visualise 122 terabytes of global satellite-derived climate observations covering the last 40 years, including interactions from Copernicus Sentinel missions.

The toolbox contains measurements of greenhouse-gas concentrations, sea-level fluctuations,  ocean temperature, cloud cover, as well as changes in sea ice.

These observations are used to develop the IPCC assessment reports, which are critical for studying how Earth’s climate has evolved and how it will change in the future.

Dr. Rainer Hollmann from the <a href="https://www.dwd.de/">Deutscher Wetterdienst DWD</a> explained that the toolbox is able to fully integrate with researchers’ existing coding libraries through the Python Application Programming Interface. 

“The toolbox also has a user-friendly interface giving students and non-programmers the power to interact with the data and learn how climate variables behave, change and interact,” said Dr. Hollmann.

According to the ESA, “To support the new release, a new training video is available and guides beginners in the fundamentals of ingesting and visualising climate data and how to perform operations to manipulate the data.”
--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: ESA

ESA’s new climate toolbox changes the game on climate intel

Access to the ESA’s climate analysis toolbox will be particularly...

Tis the season for baking, whether it’s pumpkin pie, cookies, or the wide array of sweet rolls, cakes, and breads that may grace your kitchen table or family get-togethers. Personally, I love baking, but my attempts more often than not turn into disastrous fails rather than sweet treats. 

It was after reading about a group of scientists that used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physics-perfect-pizza/">physics to tackle the perfect pizza crust </a>that I wondered if folding in a little science know-how could help improve my baking and provide a set of tools that I could use to fix mistakes and turn those fails into successes. 

I used to think that following a recipe to the letter would be enough, but after one too many flat, crumbly cookies, useless cake clumps that were about as far away from a cake pop as you could get, and cinnamon rolls where more roll ended up stuck to the pan than on the plate, I knew I was missing some key factors. 

If we take a look at one recipe, the tried and true, much beloved, chocolate chip cookie, can science help us make baking magic?

Specifically, let’s look at <a href="https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/ultimate-chocolate-chip-cookies/77c14e03-d8b0-4844-846d-f19304f61c57">Betty Crocker’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. </a>

The good news is that once you’re familiar with the basics, just like any good foundation, you can keep building and expanding on it. But you can’t write novels without learning the alphabet, you can’t study the cosmos without understanding the atom, and you can’t bake chocolate chip cookies without knowing what goes in them. 

The Ingredients 

Wet

1 cup butter or margarine, softened: The fat

3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar packed 
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg: Thickens, binds, and adds stability

Dry
2 1/4  all-purpose flour: The glue

1 teaspoon baking soda: The raising agent
1/2 teaspoon salt: Enhances the sweet flavors
1 package (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups)

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts optional

Essentially, baking boils down to flour, fat, and sugar mixed with a raising agent to help the dough rise and expand along with the all mighty egg which can help add <a href="https://www.thekitchn.com/baking-school-day-1-all-about-eggs-and-baking-222479">stability to the batter</a>, thicken, and bind ingredients together.

Flour is such a basic, versatile ingredient for baking, whether it’s hearty bread or a light, moist cake. Flour is made up of starch and coiled proteins, and when you get flour wet, the proteins <a href="http://www.berries.com/blog/science-of-baking">gliadin and glutenin uncoil and link together.</a> This forms the glue or gluten that provides the backbone to baking. 

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder are considered leavening or rising agents because the carbon dioxide produced by the powders is what helps the dough rise, and this chemical reaction is helped along when the dough is <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/baking-soda-and-baking-powder-difference-602090">exposed to hot temperatures</a>. 

The first step in many baking recipes is to separate the wet ingredients from the dry ingredients. You’ll find many recipes purposely list the ingredients the way that they do so that people won’t mix everything together right away. 

Mixing the ingredients separately, specifically the dry ingredients, ensures that everything is incorporated evenly. According to <a href="https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/mix-wet-dry-ingredients-separately/">Bigger Bolder Baking</a>, mixing the dry ingredients “disperses the raising agents,” which in this case is the baking soda. 

With the Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies, I know that I need to cream the sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg together. The dry ingredients can easily be mixed together in a separate bowl, but the wet ingredients require a little more finesse. 

Creaming the sugar, butter, and egg together doesn’t just help with mixing all the ingredients together, it’s a crucial step that can make or break your baking. With creaming, you’re working to create a light, fluffy whipped texture of butter, sugar, and egg that’s filled with air pockets. 

The sugar helps speed up this process because the sugar crystals cut through the fat. 

James Morton, in his book How Baking Works, writes this of creaming: 

“The sugar tears through the fat, trapping lots of tiny bubbles of air within fat droplets by simple mechanics. These expand when heated to make your bake rise.” 

<a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/cookie-science-creaming-butter-sugar.html">Stella Parks from Serious Eats</a> recommends creaming the butter and sugar together for five minutes before adding the other wet ingredients. Not only does this help create the ultimate light, fluffy texture but proper creaming also extends and enhances your dough. 

“Cream the butter and sugar properly, though, and the cookie dough will be loaded with micro-pockets of air,” writes Parks. “That air is a poor conductor of heat, which means that it helps insulate the dough from the hot baking sheet in the oven, slowing the rate at which the butter and sugar melt.” 

Once the wet ingredients have all been creamed together and the dry ingredients mixed in with the wet ingredients, the dough is ready for baking. 

The Betty Crocker recipe calls for an oven set at 375, and yes, there’s some science to the temperatures that recipes bake at as well. 

Many recipes call for a temperature of 350, and this has to do with something called the <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/04/what-is-maillard-reaction-cooking-science.html">Maillard reaction. </a>

To better understand the Maillard reaction just think about the beautiful golden brown color of many baked goods. The Maillard reaction describes the amazingly complex flavors and textures that are created when the sugars and proteins in food are heated up. 

“Without Maillard chemistry we would not have a dark bread crust or golden brown turkey,” the authors of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/whats-so-great-about-350-degrees/525885/">Royal Society of Chemistry book wrote</a>, “our cakes and pastries would be pale and anemic, and we would lose the distinctive color of French onion soup.” 

So we’ve covered ingredient basics, mixing musts, and even why certain things cook at specific temperatures. There are also a myriad of advanced tools and appliances you can use for baking and cooking, but if you’re just looking to take your novice baking up a notch, a little science know-how will go along way. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How to use science to master your holiday baking

Tis the season for baking, whether it’s pumpkin pie, cookies,...

One of the more outside-the-box solutions for combating climate change involves injecting aerosols like sulfates into the atmosphere to block the sun’s rays and cancel the warming effect of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. 

Researchers have been toying with stratospheric aerosol injections but geoengineering is not without its controversies, as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificially-cooling-planet-devastating/">there are a number of risks and unknowns involved</a>. 

For example, some people question if the potential costs of a global solar geoengineering project will outweigh the results.

There are also concerns that a privately funded secret operation could inject aerosols into the atmosphere without being detected. 

<a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> researchers have developed a step-by-step plan for launching a future stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) program. While it’s technically possible, the constraints of current technology would require building new planes to reach the altitudes necessary for SAI. 

The researchers also say in their new study that any high-altitude aircraft would be easily detected and an SAI operation would be impossible to keep secret. 

The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters where the researchers examined the potential costs and technology necessary for SAI. 

After analyzing different methods for SAI, the team created a hypothetical solar geoengineering SAI plan that could start as soon as 2033. 

“Solar geoengineering is often described as 'fast, cheap, and imperfect,” said Gernot Wagner, a co-author of the study. “While we don't make any judgement about the desirability of SAI, we do show that a hypothetical deployment program starting 15 years from now, while both highly uncertain and ambitious, would be technically possible strictly from an engineering perspective. It would also be remarkably inexpensive, at an average of around $2 to 2.5 billion per year over the first 15 years.”

The researchers used data from aerospace engineering companies to help calculate future costs of what they call SAI lofter (SAIL), and the results align with cost projections made in earlier studies. 

However, the team found that these studies claimed existing aircraft could be used for SAI which is not true. 

“I became intrigued by the engineering questions around SAI and the many studies that purport to show that modified existing planes could do the job,” said Wake Smith, a fellow co-author of the study. “Turns out that is not so. It would indeed take an entirely new plane design to do SAI under reasonable albeit entirely hypothetical parameters. No existing aircraft has the combination of altitude and payload capabilities required.”

For SAIl, the researchers say that it would require an entirely new kind of aircraft. 

“We developed the specifications for SAIL with direct input from several aerospace and engine companies,” said Smith. “It's equivalent in weight to a large narrow body passenger aircraft. But to sustain level flight at 20 kms, it needs roughly double the wing area of an equivalently sized airliner, and double the thrust, with four engines instead of two.”

The projected cost of building the new plane would be less two billion for the airframe and 350 million for the engines. 

According to the study, a fleet of eight SAIL planes could be built in the first year and complete 4,000 missions. Hypothetically, the number of planes could reach under 100 within 15 years of the program with a schedule of 60,000 missions per year. 

The researchers discovered that a future project like this would not only be possible but also somewhat affordable. 

“Given the potential benefits of halving average projected increases in radiative forcing from a particular date onward, these numbers invoke the ‘incredible economics’ of solar geoengineering,” said Wagner. “Dozens of countries could fund such a program, and the required technology is not particularly exotic.”

--

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>

Is a geoengineering program to battle global warming really possible?

One of the more outside-the-box solutions for combating climate change...

Strains of the bacterium Enterobacter have been identified on the International Space Station (ISS). While some strains of this <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/body-protects-bacteria-inhale/">bacteria</a> are pathogenic and can infect humans, the strains isolated from the ISS are not. However, experts are studying the Enterobacter strains to identify any potential health implications for future missions.


Researchers at the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> discovered five strains of Enterobacter as they were characterizing the bacterial communities that live on surfaces inside the space station. The samples containing the bacteria had been isolated from the space toilet and the exercise platform on the ISS in March of 2015. 

To identify the exact species of the Enterobacter, they were compared to all publicly available genomes of 1,291 Enterobacterstrains.

Study co-author Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran is a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group.

“To show which species of the bacteria were present on the ISS, we used various methods to characterize their genomes in detail,” explained Dr. Venkateswaran. “We revealed that genomes of the five ISS Enterobacter strains were genetically most similar to three strains newly found on Earth. These three strains belonged to one species of the bacteria, called Enterobacter bugandensis, which had been found to cause disease in neonates and a compromised patient, who were admitted to three different hospitals (in east Africa, Washington state and Colorado).”

By comparing the genomes of the five ISS strains to the three clinical strains, the experts could investigate whether the ISS strains showed characteristics of antimicrobial resistance or if they had gene profiles similar to those found in known multi-drug resistant bacteria. The scientists were also able to investigate the pathogenic potential of the ISS bacteria strains. 

“Given the multi-drug resistance results for these ISS E. bugandensis genomes and the increased chance of pathogenicity we have identified, these species potentially pose important health considerations for future missions,” said study first author Dr. Nitin Singh. “However, it is important to understand that the strains found on the ISS were not virulent, which means they are not an active threat to human health, but something to be monitored.”

The team found that the ISS strains had similar antimicrobial resistance patterns to the three clinical strains and that they contained 112 genes involved in virulence, disease, and defense. While the ISS E. bugandensis strains were not pathogenic to humans, computer analyses produced a 79-percent probability that they have the potential to cause disease. However, this would need to be confirmed by tests on living organisms.

“Whether or not an opportunistic pathogen like E. bugandensis causes disease and how much of a threat it is, depends on a variety of factors, including environmental ones,” said Dr. Venkateswaran. “Further in vivo studies are needed to discern the impact that conditions on the ISS, such as microgravity, other space, and spacecraft-related factors, may have on pathogenicity and virulence.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/">BMC Microbiology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Microbes on the ISS could be an active threat to astronaut health

Strains of the bacterium Enterobacter have been identified on the...

According to the <a href="https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures">Alzheimer’s Association</a>, Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, and around 5.5 million people over the age of 65 have the disease.

The number of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s is growing and although there is no cure, the ability to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dementia-risk-factors-early/">diagnose the disease and risk factors early on</a> could help people create a plan while their faculties are intact. 

Families now are often caught off guard with the costs of care and the burden of controlling finances, property, and making major health decisions for their loved ones. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://medicine.wustl.edu/">Washington University School of Medicine</a> in St. Louis and the <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California San Francisco</a> conducted a study examining the potential of MRI scans in predicting dementia risk. 

“Right now it's hard to say whether an older person with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment is likely to develop dementia,” said Cyrus A. Raji, the lead author of the study. “We showed that a single MRI scan can predict dementia on average 2.6 years before memory loss is clinically detectable, which could help doctors advise and care for their patients.”

There are methods doctors and neurologists can use to predict Alzheimer’s risk such as testing for a high-risk gene ApoE or a PET scan which looks for plaques in the brain. 

However, these methods can be costly and aren’t widely available in many hospitals. 

The researchers collected and reviewed data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. From a large data pool, the team selected ten people who experienced cognitive declines over a two year period and ten people with the same demographics who didn’t experience any declines. 

Next, the researchers analyzed MRI scans of the people selected using diffusion tensor imaging which allowed the researchers to focus on white matter in the brain. 

“Diffusion tensor imaging is a way of measuring the movement of water molecules along white matter tracts,” said Raji. “If water molecules are not moving normally it suggests underlying damage to white tracts that can underlie problems with cognition.

The scans of the people who experienced more cognitive declines had larger amounts of damaged white matter. 

The researchers tried this technique on a larger sample of 61 people and were able to predict cognitive decline with 89 percent accuracy when looking at the whole brain. 

“We could tell that the individuals who went on to develop dementia have these differences on diffusion MRI, compared with scans of cognitively normal people whose memory and thinking skills remained intact,” said Raji. “What we need now, before we can bring it into the clinic, is to get more control subjects and develop computerized tools that can more reliably compare individual patients' scans to a baseline normal standard. With that, doctors might soon be able to tell people whether they are likely to have Alzheimer's develop in the next few years.” 

The researchers presented their findings at the <a href="https://www.rsna.org/">Radiological Society of North America</a> meeting in Chicago this week.
--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

MRI scans could be used to predict dementia risk in patients

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading...

What do a giant Boeing 747, a helicopter, and a drone piloted from the ground all have in common? They all use some sort of system of moving parts to fly. 

Propellers, turbine blades, and fans powered by fossil fuel combustion or electricity are what helps an aircraft fly, but what if there was a way to create the thrust and lift needed for flight without moving parts or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-reaches-agreement-to-control-global-warming-emissions-from-airplanes/">fuel</a>? 

This was a question that stuck with <a href="http://www.mit.edu/">MIT</a> engineer Steven Barrett who, after being inspired by the flying shuttles in the TV show Star Trek, wanted to find a way to develop a propulsions system free of moving parts. 

Barret began working on this questions of propulsion nine years ago and decided to experiment with electroaerodynamic thrust or “ionic wind.” 

Ionic wind is produced when a current passes between a thin and thick electrode. With enough voltage, you can theoretically propel a small aircraft although it was long thought impossible to create enough charge to propel a larger aircraft for an extended period. 

“It was a sleepless night in a hotel when I was jet-lagged, and I was thinking about this and started searching for ways it could be done,” said Barret. “I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations and found that, yes, it might become a viable propulsion system. And it turned out it needed many years of work to get from that to a first test flight.”

Barret and colleagues used those calculations to build the world’s first ever plane without moving parts and recently successfully flew the aircraft. 

A study published in the journal Nature describes the aircraft and process involved. 

“This is the first-ever sustained flight of a plane with no moving parts in the propulsion system,” said Barrett. “This has potentially opened new and unexplored possibilities for aircraft which are quieter, mechanically simpler, and do not emit combustion emissions.”

The finished design resembles a large glider with a 16-foot wingspan. A string of thin wires lies underneath the front end of the wing, and thicker wires are located along the back end of the wing. 

In the fuselage of the plane sits a stack of lithium-polymer batteries which supply 40,000 volts of electricity to the positively charged wires at the front of the plane. 

As air passes between the positive and negative charged wires, ions are colliding with air molecules over and over which creates enough thrust to propel the plane. 

The engineering team was able to fly the plane indoors over a distance of almost 200 feet. 

“This was the simplest possible plane we could design that could prove the concept that an ion plane could fly,” said Barrett. “It's still some way away from an aircraft that could perform a useful mission. It needs to be more efficient, fly for longer, and fly outside.”

Barrett has high hopes for this ion wind propulsion system, and the researchers are working to perfect the propulsion system.

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

MIT engineers develop the first aircraft with no moving parts

What do a giant Boeing 747, a helicopter, and a...

A new report from the <a href="http://nuffieldbioethics.org/">Nuffield Council on Bioethics</a> is emphasizing the ethical issues that often arise when patients opt for experimental medical treatments. From <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/human-stem-cell-science/">stem cell therapies</a> to expensive fertility treatments, experimental procedures are controversial and risky. 

Recent headlines on the topic have exposed stem cell-engineered transplants that proved fatal, as well as stories about couples who felt ripped off after paying for expensive fertility treatment “add-ons.” 

Success stories have also emerged, however, including the miraculous recovery of a one-year-old girl who had leukemia. The baby was cured by the use of a new gene editing technique that modifies immune cells, and she remains cancer free.

Experts at the Nuffield Council on Bioethics have set out to inform the public of how experimental treatments are regulated, how they may be accessed, and some of the ethical issues that healthcare professionals and patients must recognize. The briefing is focused on gene and stem cell therapies, surgery, and fertility treatment.

According to the Council, there is often a lack of evidence or research to guarantee the safety of an experimental procedure. Challenges also arise regarding consent, particularly when a child is receiving the treatment. The report also points to the ethical issues of deceptive online marketing and the motivation of healthcare providers.

“Often, experimental medical treatments are considered as a last hope, when all other options have been exhausted,” explained Council Director Hugh Whittall. “It is completely understandable that people in this position might be willing to try anything and everything they can, despite uncertainties about the efficacy or safety of the treatment, and the likelihood of there being significant costs involved.” 

“A key challenge is balancing the interests of patients with ensuring they are protected from harm, particularly if treatments are offered outside of UK regulation. It is important that patients and their families have access to impartial and accurate information, and are made aware of uncertainties about possible outcomes when making a decision about trying an experimental treatment.”

“We will be raising these issues with Government and working with regulators, and we are following up this piece of work with a new project exploring how disagreements can develop about the care of critically ill children, and how those disagreements are being resolved.”


The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is an independent body that has been advising policy makers on ethical issues in bioscience and medicine for more than 25 years. The current report is the fourth in a new series of bioethics briefing notes published by the Council.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Experimental medical treatments raise a number of ethical issues

A new report from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is...

Research recently published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/home">Cell Reports</a> reveals that a certain mysterious gene may be responsible for heart regeneration. Scientists are currently studying the Mexican cavefish, a translucent, blind, guppy-sized species living within the cave systems in northern Mexico, to better understand why some fish and mammals can regenerate their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/weight-lifting-heart-health-benefits/">hearts</a> whereas others simply scar.

Co-senior author Mathilda Mommersteeg, developmental scientist at the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>, explained that these cavefish are descendents of river surface fish, who, millions of years ago, were trapped in the caves when the rivers flooded. Here, they lost their eyesight and pigment in order to adapt to life within the cave.

“We have discovered that, like zebrafish, the river surface fish regenerate their heart, while some cavefish cannot and form a permanent scar,” Mommersteeg continued. “We introduce the Mexican cavefish as a new model for heart regeneration research."

Mommersteeg and her team bred both surface and cavefish species in their lab and removed parts of each fish species’ hearts to document regeneration. They found that surface fish slowly regenerate heart tissue, however the cavefish just develop scarring. When crossbred, surface and cavefish hybrid species could regenerate, showing that the regeneration gene is heritable.

After testing Irrc10, a mysterious heart muscle-related gene found in fish, mice, and humans, the team believes it, along with three DNA segments, may be responsible for the surface fish’s ability to regenerate heart tissue.

“Quantitative trait locus analysis is a method that has allowed us to find out what part of all the surface fish DNA is most crucial for heart regeneration," co-senior author Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, developmental biologist at <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a>, said. "We have identified three regions in the DNA that contain genes that make the difference between regeneration or scarring after heart injury.”

The next discovery the team hopes to make is to understand why the cavefish did not inherit this regenerative ability during their adaptation.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Colin Beesley

Mexican cavefish offer clues of how to repair damaged hearts

Research recently published in the journal Cell Reports reveals that...

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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

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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



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...