Amber, the fossilized "blood" of ancient coniferous trees, holds the key to an extraordinary chapter of Earth's history.



Imagine stepping into a time machine capable of transporting you back to the era of the dinosaurs. 



Suddenly, you're immersed in a dense, swampy forest, surrounded by buzzing insects, blooming flowers, ferns, and conifers. Strikingly, this lush habitat is where snowy West Antarctica currently stands.



Recently, scientists from top universities in Germany and the UK have unearthed amber in this desolate landscape for the first time. 



These discoveries reveal that between 83 and 92 million years ago, coniferous trees once thrived on what is now the planet's southernmost continent.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-amber-discovery-in-antarctica">Amber discovery in Antarctica </h2>



Coupled with the discovery of roots, pollen, and spore fossils, the unearthed amber supports the evidence indicating the existence of a swampy rainforest in the region of the South Pole during the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-discovery-reveals-ancient-alaska-warm-lush-landscape/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mid-Cretaceous</a> period.



This prehistoric environment was "dominated by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/conifer-communication-is-altered-by-air-pollution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">conifers</a>," not unlike the present-day forests in New Zealand and Patagonia.



This Antarctic amber discovery peels back the icy layer shrouding the continent's history, and reveals an ancient habitat that was warm and moist enough to host coniferous trees capable of producing resin.



During the mid-Cretaceous, these resilient trees were able to endure total darkness during the long winter months.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-resin-producing-trees-on-all-continents">Resin-producing trees on all continents</h2>



Previously, Cretaceous amber deposits had only been found as far south as Australia's Otway Basin and New Zealand's Tupuangi Formation. 



"It was very exciting to realize that, at some point in their history, all seven continents had climatic conditions allowing resin-producing trees to survive," said marine geologist Johann Klages from the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alfred Wegener Institute</a> in Germany.



The goal now is to explore deeper into the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-herbivore-extinctions-drastically-affect-forest-ecosystems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">forest's ecosystem</a> - to uncover whether the forest experienced extensive fires and if traces of life can be found encapsulated within the amber.



Renowned scientists have been unearthing fossilized wood and leaves in Antarctica since the early 19th century. However, most of these discoveries date back hundreds of millions of years. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evidence-of-antarctica-s-past">Evidence of Antarctica's past</h2>



The fate of Antarctica's lush forests, as the land mass separated from Australia and South America and spiraled towards the South Pole, is currently unknown. 



In 2017, researchers unearthed well-preserved evidence of these once-thriving habitats by drilling into the seafloor near West Antarctica. 



After years of analysis, Klages and his team of researchers published a 2020 research paper documenting a 3-meter-long network of fossilized roots that dates back to the mid-Cretaceous.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-amber-revelation-in-antarctica">The amber revelation in Antarctica </h2>



Drill expeditions have provided compelling evidence that ancient forests once thrived in Antarctica.



Present in the layer of mudstone where the fossilized roots were found were also tiny slices of translucent amber, each a different hue of yellow to orange.



This amber serves as evidence of resin flow, a natural process where sap leaks out of a tree to seal its bark against potential harm from fires or insect pests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-was-the-amber-preserved">How was the amber preserved?</h2>



The Cretaceous, one of the warmest periods in Earth's history, was prone to frequent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-were-common-in-ancient-antarctica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">forest fires</a>, evident from the volcanic deposits found on Antarctica and adjacent islands.



The preservation and fossilization of the amber can be attributed to high water levels promptly enveloping the tree resin. This quick coverage shielded the resin from harmful ultraviolet radiation and oxidation. 



Excitingly, it appears that the amber encompasses tiny bits of tree bark, though further analysis is required for confirmation.



Slowly but surely, researchers are piecing together details of what Antarctica's prehistoric forests once looked like and how they functioned 90 million years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-amber-in-paleoclimate-studies">Significance of amber in paleoclimate studies</h2>



Amber&nbsp;is&nbsp;much&nbsp;more&nbsp;than&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/team-finds-mangrove-forest-that-was-lost-for-22-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fossilized</a> remnant&nbsp;of ancient trees.&nbsp;It&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;kind of&nbsp;time capsule that&nbsp;informs&nbsp;us about&nbsp;conditions on the Earth&nbsp;millions of years ago&nbsp;and allows further insight into its climate.&nbsp;



This discovery of amber&nbsp;in&nbsp;Antarctica is&nbsp;very&nbsp;significant&nbsp;as&nbsp;it indicates that the region once&nbsp;must&nbsp;have had&nbsp;a warm and humid climate&nbsp;suitable&nbsp;for&nbsp;dense&nbsp;forests of trees that could produce&nbsp;resin.



This&nbsp;discovery&nbsp;has&nbsp;sparked a challenge to&nbsp;current perceptions of Antarctica's past and contributed&nbsp;to the growing body of evidence for a once green, thriving landscape on the continent. Information&nbsp;on&nbsp;the amber's chemical composition and inclusions will give scientists clues about what life&nbsp;must&nbsp;have been like in that&nbsp;ancient environment:&nbsp;its temperatures, humidity levels,&nbsp;diversity of flora and fauna,&nbsp;and&nbsp;indeed&nbsp;everything&nbsp;thriving&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;time.



Such analysis&nbsp;can&nbsp;be&nbsp;pieced together&nbsp;to&nbsp;form&nbsp;a more complete picture of global climate patterns during the mid-Cretaceous period - the warmest&nbsp;era&nbsp;in Earth's&nbsp;existence.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/first-discovery-of-antarctic-amber/700244C13B3972F0048EAC029E34263E" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Antarctic Research</a>.



Image Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / V. Schumacher



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90-million-year-old amber reveals Antarctica's secret past

Amber, the fossilized "blood" of ancient coniferous trees, holds the key to an extraordinary chapter of Earth's history. Imagine stepping into a time machine capable of transporting you back to the era of the dinosaurs. Suddenly, you're immersed in a dense, swampy forest, surrounded by buzzing insects, blooming flowers, ferns, and conifers. Strikingly, this lush habitat is where snowy West Antarctica currently stands. Recently, scientists from top universities in Germany and the UK have unearthed amber in this desolate landscape for the first time. These discoveries reveal...

An international team of researchers has discovered a major cave site along the East African coast. Panga ya Saidi represents the first substantial cave record from the Middle Stone Age to the Iron Age in this region.

Prior to this excavation, the majority of archaeological research has been conducted in the Rift Valley and in South Africa, and limited information has been available from the coast of East Africa.


The analysis of plant, animal, and shell remains suggests that forests and grasslands persevered in this region and the cave maintained a relatively stable environment for settlement, even when other areas of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-human-migration-widespread/">Africa</a> were unsuitable.


The ecological setting of the cave adds to a growing collection of evidence that Homo sapiens could adapt to different environments as they moved across Africa and Eurasia. These populations developed a range of survival strategies to live in the diverse conditions of tropical forests, arid zones, coastal regions, and cold habitats in higher latitudes.

Beginning around 67,000 years ago, the cave record of Panga ya Saidi revealed a shift to smaller stone tools. Otherwise, however, there was no radical change in behavior at any time found in the archaeological record. 

Furthermore, there was also not a notable break in human occupation during the Toba volcanic super-eruption 74,000 years ago, contradicting theories that the subsequent “volcanic winter” drove human populations to near-extinction. There was some evidence to suggest that populations were increasing 60,000 years ago.

The record also indicated that there was cultural complexity over a long period of time, but with no significant turning point. 

Dr. Nicole Boivin of the <a href="http://www.shh.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History</a> is the project’s principal investigator.

“The East African coastal hinterland and its forests and have been long considered to be marginal to human evolution so the discovery of Panga ya Saidi cave will certainly change archaeologists' views and perceptions,” said Dr. Boivin.

“The finds at Panga ya Saidi undermine hypotheses about the use of coasts as a kind of  'superhighway’ that channeled migrating humans out of Africa, and around the Indian Ocean rim,” said study co-author Professor Michael Petraglia.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Mohammad Shoaee

Ancient east African cave record reveals early innovations

An international team of researchers has discovered a major cave...

Millions of years ago, the Earth underwent a period of climate change that sent temperatures plummeting, prompting an era known as Snowball Earth. Now, a new study about this period calls into question our understanding of the Earth’s geological history and contradicts the well-established theory that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tectonic-plates-less-stable/">plate tectonics</a> started three billion years ago.

Instead, researchers from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas (UT) at Austin </a>and <a href="https://www.utdallas.edu/">UT Dallas</a> hypothesize that the start of plate tectonics created Snowball Earth, when the Earth was covered in snow and ice during the Neoproterozoic period 542 million to 1 billion years ago.

“People have been saying for a long time that we have always had plate tectonics...but I think this might be a failure of imagination,” said Robert Stern, a co-author of the study.

Stern worked with Nathaniel Miller and their findings were published in the in the journal Terra Nova.

The two researchers collected and analyzed published data on the geological activity during the Neoproterozoic era and realized there was a potential connection between the start of plate tectonic activity and snowball Earth.

“If you look at the preserved record, diagnostic evidence for modern plate tectonics involving deep subduction is mainly Neoproterozoic and younger,” said Miller. “But most people think we had this much earlier in Earth history.”

The Earth is the only planet that we know of to have plate tectonics. Our planet’s crust and upper mantle are made up of different pieces and when these sections move, they create enormous amounts of energy and friction creating volcanoes and earthquakes.

Plate tectonics shape our world and until now, it was believed that the Earth’s plates have been active for three billion of the planet’s 4.5 billion-year history.

Stern and Miller disagree with this theory, as their research shows a variety of evidence in the geological record that corroborates the hypothesis that tectonics only started their activity in the Neoproterozoic.

First, before the Neoproterozoic era, there was a lack of any geological activity, a period that researchers have nicknamed the “the boring billion.”

Stern and Miller think this indicates that before the Neoproterozoic, the Earth was covered by a single lithospheric lid and the transition to moving plates created the major changes in climate that brought about a cooling period.

“This climate crisis could have been caused by a number of proximal causes, but the overall great cause was this revolution in Earth's tectonic style,” said Stern.

The researchers also cite that many rock formations, gemstones and chemical signatures associated with plate tectonics only date as far back as the Neoproterozoic.

22 different methods for how plate tectonics could have caused snowball Earth were proposed in the paper.

For instance, volcanic activity could have released large amounts sulfur into the atmosphere thereby creating a cooling effect. Another possibility is that when the plates first started shifting, it changed the Earth’s rotational axis.

Stern and Miller’s hypothesis is controversial and the two authors say that more research is required to prove that tectonic activity started later in the Earth’s geological history than thought.

“Revolutions in our field don't happen often or very easily,” said Stern. “You plant ideas and then you go and look for more data that either supports them or refutes them.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a>/Space Science Institute

Snowball Earth may have been triggered by early tectonic activity

Millions of years ago, the Earth underwent a period of...

Migraines are more than just a bad headache, and symptoms can range from throbbing pain and nausea to sensitivity to light and sound.

Migraine sufferers know how debilitating they can be, and approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults in developed countries are affected by them. 

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-treats-migraines-better/">Migraines</a> often run the family, leading scientists to believe that the underlying factors that cause migraines are inherited. 

A new study examining how genetics influence migraine headaches has identified certain variants and genes that explain why some families are more prone to migraines than others. 

The study was conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.fimm.fi/">Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland</a> and published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30322-2">Neuron</a>. 

“For a long time, we have been wondering why common disease (like migraines) aggregates in families,” said Aarno Palotie, a co-author of the study. 

Previous research found that migraines could run in families either through a Mendelian inheritance model or polygenic inheritance. A Mendelian inheritance model means that two copies of a gene are passed down from the parents to child and these genes determine a trait or disease. 

Polygenic, on the other hand, means that a group of genes work together to influence a trait. On their own, each gene has little impact, but together the genes have a stronger influence. 

The researchers for this study wanted to see which had more of an impact on inherited migraines, Mendelian genes or the accumulation of polygenic variants. 

In order to measure migraine susceptibility in families, the researcher first created a polygenic risk score to estimate how much genetic burden variants had. 

The researchers then applied their risk score to a family study of migraine sufferers in Finland which involved 8,319 people. 

Polygenic common variants had a much stronger influence on migraine risk in people compared to the stronger Mendelian genes. 

In the family study, in 45 families who suffered from a severe kind of a migraine called a hemiplegic migraine only four families’ migraines were influenced by Mendelian genes. 

“The strength of the common variants in these families surprised us,” said Palotie. “Even if Mendelian variants don't drive the majority of migraine cases, scientists can research how these genes impact biological pathways responsible for migraine symptoms and potentially develop drugs to target those pathways.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Why some families are more prone to migraines than others

Migraines are more than just a bad headache, and symptoms...

Scientists have established that the gravitational pull of Jupiter and Venus slightly lengthens Earth's orbit on a regular schedule every 405,000 years. The remarkably consistent pattern, which has influenced <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-dioxide-record-broken/">Earth's</a> climate for at least 215 million years, will allow for a more accurate timeline of major geological events in history.

 Study lead author Dennis V. Kent is a Board of Governors professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at <a href="https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University-New Brunswick</a>.


“It's an astonishing result because this long cycle, which had been predicted from planetary motions through about 50 million years ago, has been confirmed through at least 215 million years ago,” explained Professor Kent.

“Scientists can now link changes in the climate, environment, dinosaurs, mammals and fossils around the world to this 405,000-year cycle in a very precise way.”


For the investigation, the scientists compared sediments, climate cycles, and reversals in the Earth's magnetic field.

“The climate cycles are directly related to how the Earth orbits the sun and slight variations in sunlight reaching Earth lead to climate and ecological changes,” said Professor Kent. “The Earth's orbit changes from close to perfectly circular to about 5 percent elongated especially every 405,000 years.”

Sediments in the Newark basin, a prehistoric lake that spanned most of New Jersey, and sediments in the Chinle Formation in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona were used to analyze millions of years of activity in Earth's magnetic field. The scientists also used the core of a 1,700-foot-long rock that dated back between 202 and 253 million years to the Triassic period

The study revealed that the the 405,000-year cycle is the most consistent astronomical pattern linked to Earth's orbit around the sun.

“Developing a very precise time-scale allows us to say something new about the fossils, including their differences and similarities in wide-ranging areas,” said Professor Kent.

The research is published in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth’s orbit has been lengthened by the force of other planets

Scientists have established that the gravitational pull of Jupiter and...

Our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/measures-suns-energy-earth/">sun</a> is very gradually dying and eventually will no longer be able to support any life on Earth. 

The good news is that the death and collapse of our sun is a long way off. Scientists predict that the sun will die in 10 billion years and now, a new study has discovered what will happen after this takes place. 

An international team of astronomers conducted the research and the results were published in the journal Nature Astronomy. 

When a star is in its last stages, it typically turns into a planetary nebula, which traces the star’s transition from a red giant to a white dwarf. This nebula is visible as a large ring of bright gas and dust where the star once was. 

This is true for a majority of all active stars, but researchers were unsure if the sun would follow the same process because of its low mass. 

For the new study, the researchers wanted to find a clear answer for whether or not the sun would have enough mass to create a visible ring or planetary nebula. 

The researchers created a new model to predict the life-cycle of stars. The model showed the research team the luminosity of the gas and dust that is ejected from stars of varying masses and ages when they die. 

“When a star dies it ejects a mass of gas and dust - known as its envelope - into space. The envelope can be as much as half the star's mass,” said Albert Zijlstra from the<a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/"> University of Manchester</a>, a member of the research team. “This reveals the star's core, which by this point in the star's life is running out of fuel, eventually turning off and before finally dying.”

Zijlstra also said that envelope can shine for 10,000 years and be seen from distances measuring tens of millions of years. 

Data from the model also sheds insight on a problem that had astronomers confused for years. 

It was discovered 25 years ago that you could measure the distance of a galaxy by that galaxy’s brightest nebulae. In any galaxy, the brightest nebulae always had the same measurable levels of brightness. 

The new model contradicted previous data that corroborated this theory. 

“The data said you could get bright planetary nebulae from low mass stars like the sun, the models said that was not possible, anything less than about twice the mass of the sun would give a planetary nebula too faint to see,” said Zijlstra

Even though the sun is low mass, the model still showed that it would produce a bright planetary nebula. After a star ejects its envelope, the researchers found that the star heats up three times faster than was previously calculated which makes it possible for the sun to produce a bright ring.

However, the researchers found that the sun was the lowest mass a star could be in order to produce visible planetary nebula. 

“We found that stars with mass less than 1.1 times the mass of the sun produce fainter nebula, and stars more massive than 3 solar masses brighter nebulae, but for the rest, the predicted brightness is very close to what had been observed. Problem solved, after 25 years!” said Zijlstra. 

The new study shows what will happen after the sun dies and adds to our understanding of the life-cycle of stars. 

“This is a nice result,” said Zijlstra. “Not only do we now have a way to measure the presence of stars of ages a few billion years in distant galaxies, which is a range that is remarkably difficult to measure, we even have found out what the sun will do when it dies!”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What happens when the sun dies?

Our sun is very gradually dying and eventually will no...

For the first time, experts are describing what takes place inside of our brains when we experience feelings of gratitude. The research could inspire future studies which explore how our everyday social interactions give rise to complex <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/horses-remember-human-expressions/">emotions</a>.

In 2015, a team from the <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/bci/">Brain and Creativity Institute at USC</a> demonstrated that gratitude emerges from the medial prefrontal cortex and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC). These areas are linked to feelings of reward, self-reference, moral cognition, fairness, and subjective value judgement.

Study participants were presented with true stories about life-saving gifts such as food and shelter that were received by survivors during the Holocaust. While the students placed themselves in these same situations and rated their feelings of gratefulness, the researchers used MRI scanners to monitor brain activity.

“There has not been much attention given to the emotion of gratitude, and yet it is extremely important in social behavior,” said senior author Antonio Damasio. “Gratitude rewards generosity and maintains the cycle of healthy social behavior.”

In the current study, co-author Dr. Xiaolin Zhou of <a href="http://english.pku.edu.cn/">Peking University</a> and his team set out to determine how the brain translates selfless acts into gratitude. The experts used a socially interactive game in which participants had the opportunity to pay money to prevent their partners from receiving a pain stimulation.

When individuals were monetarily supported and spared from pain, the cost to their partners was processed in regions of the brain associated with mentalizing. In addition, pain reduction activated areas of the brain that are linked to reward representation. These brain regions were found to have a direct line of communication with the pgACC.

The findings of the study suggest that the pgACC consults with other areas of the brain that are stimulated by altruistic behavior. Once the relevant social information is received by the pgACC, the emotions of gratitude and appreciation are processed.

The research is published in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">Journal of Neuroscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists explain how the brain causes us to feel gratitude

For the first time, experts are describing what takes place...

An new drug treatment for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stem-cell-injections-alcoholism/">alcoholism</a> and addiction may be well underway thanks to an innovative new study. 

More than 15 million Americans suffer from alcohol addiction, and alcohol misuse reportedly costs the U.S. $250 billion every year, according to a previous 2015 study. 

Although there are drugs on the market that target alcohol addiction, they come with negative side-effects and don’t work very well. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> developed a new drug JVW-1034 that works differently than other traditional addiction drugs and has been successful in tests with worms and rats. 

The study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, and although human trails with the drug are far off, the drug could potentially ease withdrawal symptoms and block cravings.

“There's clearly a huge need for something different and better,” said James Sahn, the co-first author of the study. “That's where our approach shines. It's modulating a pathway that doesn't seem to be associated with any of the other drugs that are available.”

JVW-1034 was developed by James Sahn and fellow chemist Stephen Martin. The drug was one of many compounds that could potentially interact with a cell-receptor previously proven to play a role in cocaine addiction. 

In order to see if the drug could work with alcohol cravings, the researchers first tested the drug on hungover worms. 

A tasty substance was placed on the opposite of a petri dish and the hungover worms slowly made their way to the treat, as opposed to control worms who quickly went to the substance. 

The researchers gave the hungover worms doses of the new drug and the worms quickly recovered. 

In another experiment, addicted rats who had free access to alcohol were given the drug. After administering the drug, the rats drank considerably less alcohol even though they had access to it. 

The researchers also confirmed that the drug targeted the sigma 2 receptor, and the study shows for the first time that sigma 2 is involved with alcoholism. 

Next, the researchers plan to optimize the drug so it has a better chance of combating addiction and withdrawal in humans. 

There are many underlying factors that contribute to alcoholism and so treating the disease can be difficult, but the drug would be a major step in the right direction and help toward recovery. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New drug could help treat alcoholism and withdrawal

An new drug treatment for alcoholism and addiction may be...

BethMortimer3

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has analyzed vibrations in the ground that are produced by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/elephants-unique-personalities/">elephants</a> as they move around and communicate. The experts were able to identify certain behaviors by listening to the sounds, which may lead to the development of seismic monitoring systems that can detect when elephants are in danger.

“We suggest that monitoring ground-based vibrations can be used in a practical context to not only detect elephants, but determine their behaviors,” explained study co-author Beth Mortimer. 

“Using multiple seismic recorders in remote locations, we suggest that detection, location, and classification algorithms can be generated that allow monitoring of elephants in real-time.”

Scientists have theorized that elephants communicate over long distances using ground vibrations. In the current study, the researchers set out to gain a better understanding of how these underground sounds travel and how various types of terrain and human-induced noise may influence them.


The team used seismic tools to record the vibrations from wild elephants in Kenya. Computer models enabled the researchers to categorize elephant behaviors, but human noise made this difficult - suggesting that human-generated sounds often interfere with elephant communication.

“We were surprised by the size of the forces acting on the ground that were generated by elephants when they vocalize,” said Mortimer.

“We found that the forces generated through elephant calls were comparable to the forces generated by a fast elephant walk. This means that elephant calls can travel significant distances through the ground and, in favorable conditions, further than the distance that calls travel through the air.”
The research may ultimately lead to ways that authorities could be alerted when elephants signal a threat, which has the potential to deter poachers. 

"We hope to build on these initial findings to develop a comprehensive approach for monitoring and understanding the behavior of large mammals in these pristine, changing, and fragile environments,” said co-author Nissen-Meyer.


Next, the team plans to set up a larger network of seismic sensors along with aerial, visual, and acoustic instruments to investigate the response of elephants when sounds are echoed back to them.

The study is published in the journal in <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer
Image Credit: Robbie Labanowski

Monitoring ground vibrations to help save elephants from poachers

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has analyzed vibrations in the...

A team at <a href="https://www.csail.mit.edu/">MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory</a> (CSAIL) is developing technology that will allow <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/self-driving-cars-parking/">self-driving cars</a> to navigate new roads without 3D maps. The framework, which is called MapLite, uses GPS data along with sensors that monitor road conditions.

After a woman was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber vehicle in March, it seems clear that autonomous cars are not yet safe enough for widespread adoption. In addition, there are still few places where these vehicles can even operate.

Self-driving cars are being tested in major cities where exhaustive research has been done to meticulously map the exact 3D positions of lanes, curbs, off-ramps, and stop signs.


On the other hand, roads that are unpaved or not very well-lit can be extremely difficult to map, so it could be a long time before 3D maps are designed for them. MapLite may be advanced enough to eliminate this problem.

“The reason this kind of  ‘map-less’ approach hasn't really been done before is because it is generally much harder to reach the same accuracy and reliability as with detailed maps," explained CSAIL graduate student Teddy Ort. 

“A system like this that can navigate just with on-board sensors shows the potential of self-driving cars being able to actually handle roads beyond the small number that tech companies have mapped.”

The MapLite team collaborated with the Toyota Research Institute and equipped a Prius with a range of LIDAR and IMU sensors. These sensors are used for all aspects of navigation - the GPS data is only used to obtain a rough estimate of the car's location. 

A path is generated by the car’s perception sensors to a preset “local navigation goal,” which must be in view of the vehicle, and a final destination. LIDAR is used to detect the road’s edges.

“Our minimalist approach to mapping enables autonomous driving on country roads using local appearance and semantic features such as the presence of a parking spot or a side road,” said study co-author Professor Daniela Rus.

Next, the researchers will expand upon the types of roads MapLite can navigate. For example, the technology is not yet optimized for mountain roads because it is not programmed to account for changes in elevation. 

“I imagine that the self-driving cars of the future will always make some use of 3D maps in urban areas,” said Ort. “But when called upon to take a trip off the beaten path, these vehicles will need to be as good as humans at driving on unfamiliar roads they have never seen before. We hope our work is a step in that direction.”

The research will be presented this month at the <a href="http://www.icra2017.org/">International Conference on Robotics and Automation</a> (ICRA) in Brisbane, Australia.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: MIT CSAIL

Self-driving cars can now navigate back roads without 3D maps

A team at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory...

Horse racing may be exciting to watch, but it turns out it might not be nearly as fun for its equine participants. A new study of more than 1,700 racehorse deaths found that some could be linked to the sport.

"The study reveals parallels between mortality and the intensity of the overall management of the horses, their lifestyle and the type of work they do," said Dr. Peter Physick-Sheard of the <a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/">University of Guelph</a>. "Training and racing at top speed within a short amount of time and space is a health risk for horses, as it would be for any other species, including humans."

Physick-Sheard and a team of researchers combed through casefiles for 1,713 racehorse deaths in Ontario, Canada between 2003 and 2015 to determine potential causes. All of the deaths came within 60 days of a race or trial run; the province’s <a href="https://www.agco.ca/">Alcohol and Gaming Commission</a> requires all such racehorse deaths be reported.

With the support of Ontario’s horse racing regulators, Physick-Sheard’s team sought to determine if any of the deaths could be linked to exercise-associated causes. Horse racing and training generally involves short-term, high-intensity exercise, he noted.

The researchers did find a link between some of the deaths and racing. For example, 1.67 quarter horse deaths per 1,000 races was exercise-induced. For thoroughbreds, the breed that runs in races like the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont Stakes, that rate jumps to 2.67, or about 1 percent. 

Regardless of the breeds, musculoskeletal injuries – things like broken legs or torn ligaments – were a major contributing cause, but sudden death occurred in some cases as well.

The study’s aim isn’t to bring an end to horse racing entirely, but to bring about changes to the sport and training practices that could make horses healthier.

"The industry has characteristics revealed by this data that point at mechanisms that could be used to significantly reduce mortality," Physick-Sheard said in a press release. "You can use carefully targeted strategies to reduce risk and increase the safety of the sport, something to which the Ontario and the global racing industries are devoting a lot of time and energy."

The new study will help the horse racing industry better monitor horse deaths. It can also help to guide new training regimens that may be safer for horses. 

However, the difference in death rates among breeds show that more research is needed in that area. Some of the traits that breeders aim for in their colts may actually be contributing to poorer health for racing horses, the team said.

"The industry is committed to using scientific research to mitigate health risks to animals, and this new research definitely holds insights that will help in that effort," Physick-Sheard said.

The study has been published in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/evj.12955">Equine Veterinary Journal</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey,<a href="http://www.earth.com"> Earth.com</a> staff writer

Unhealthy as a horse: study finds horse racing linked to death

Horse racing may be exciting to watch, but it turns...

Levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere hit their highest levels ever recorded last month. And that’s not all. According to scientists, levels are the highest they’ve been in 800,000 years.

The <a href="https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/mlo/">Mauna Loa Observatory</a> began recording average monthly parts per million of carbon dioxide in 1958. The data set, known as the Keeling Curve for its late founder Charles David Keeling, has seen carbon dioxide rise since its first measurement of 315 ppm. The “curve” portion of the name refers to how the numbers rise and fall seasonally, although the trend has been toward sharper rises and shorter falls for decades.

In 2013, CO2 levels passed 400 for the first time. In April, the monthly average was 410.31 ppm – the first time the observatory has recorded a monthly average over 410. 

“We keep burning fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide keeps building up in the air,” Ralph Keeling, the current Keeling Curve director, said in a <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/2018/05/02/carbon-dioxide-in-the-atmosphere-hits-record-high-monthly-average/">press release</a>. “It’s essentially as simple as that.”

The last time scientists believe the atmosphere had such high levels of carbon dioxide was 800,000 years ago, hundreds of thousands of years before anatomically modern humans walked the Earth. Homo erectus had not yet discovered how to control fire. 

Based on the information collected at Mauna Loa, the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has increased 30 percent in the 60 years since the first measurements were collected for the Keeling Curve data series.

Carbon dioxide is one of several “greenhouse gases.” They earned that nickname from scientists because these gases can trap solar radiation in the atmosphere. That can cause the Earth’s average global temperatures to rise, most climate scientists say.

Carbon dioxide occurs naturally, but it can also be created by human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. 

Follow the <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/">Scripps Institution of Oceanography</a>’s daily measurements on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/Keeling_curve">@Keeling_curve</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey,<a href="http://www.earth.com"> Earth.com</a> staff writer

Earth shatters an 800,000-year-old carbon dioxide record

Levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere hit their...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/">University of South Australia</a> have developed technology that can predict the personality traits of humans based on their eye movement. 

The study was focused on the Big Five <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/money-job-matches-personality/">personality</a> traits used in psychology, including agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

“Personality traits characterize an individual's patterns of behavior, thinking, and feeling,” wrote the study authors. “Studies reporting relationships between personality traits and eye movements suggest that people with similar traits tend to move their eyes in similar ways.”

“Besides allowing us to perceive our surroundings, eye movements are also a window into our mind and a rich source of information on who we are, how we feel, and what we do,” said the researchers.

The researchers investigated the relationship between personality and pupil motion. Students were surveyed about their personalities before wearing eye-tracking glasses on campus.

The resulting data was introduced to a computer using machine learning, which is a way of training a computer by exposing it to new information with no programming required.

The study revealed that blinking faster is linked to neuroticism, while greater fluctuations in pupil size are linked to high levels of conscientiousness. Frequently looking side-to-side is associated with openness to new experiences.

The experts also found that people who are curious look around more, and people who are optimistic will spend less time looking at negative images than people who are pessimistic.

“The proposed machine learning approach was particularly successful in predicting levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and perceptual curiosity.”

The system was able to predict these traits by up to 15 percent better than random chance. Openness, however, was not detected as accurately by the machine.

According to the experts, the technology could enable smartphones to predict the user's behavior and offer personalized support. The artificial intelligence could also be applied to robot companions for assisting older adults.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience">Frontiers in Human Neuroscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

AI technology can predict your personality from your eyes

Scientists at the University of South Australia have developed technology...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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...