The influence of synthetic plastic on our planet is concerning, to say the least. It's everywhere - from the depths of our oceans to the food we eat, even finding its way into our bodies. But, Avinash Manjula-Basavanna, a seasoned research scientist at Northeastern University, sees "MECHS" as a solution. 



"The kind of impact that human-made materials are making on the living world is resulting in&nbsp;climate change, pollution and more," he says. 



"One of the ways that we are able to address this is to make materials sustainable and also make materials which are smart or intelligent."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birth-of-a-new-bioplastic">Birth of a new bioplastic</h2>



Joining forces with Neel S. Joshi, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern, Manjula-Basavanna gave birth to a new bioplastic named MECHS.



It stands for Mechanical Engineered Living Materials with Compostability, Healability, and Scalability.



The team recently showcased their discovery in the journal Nature Communications. Here, they articulated their unique work with engineered living materials, living cells that produce functional <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-is-changing-the-entire-earth-system/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">materials</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wonders-of-bioplastic">Wonders of bioplastic</h2>



What makes MECHS stand out? Manjula-Basavanna and Joshi gave us two major reasons.



Firstly, MECHS exhibits the beauty of nature-inspired solutions, with the ability to regenerate, regulate themselves, and respond to external stimuli such as light. 



The second reason is even more significant in today's context. Unlike the harmful plastics choking our planet and bodies, MECHS is biodegradable in water and even in a compost bin. 



"Right now we use a lot of conventional nonbiodegradable plastics for applications they don't need to be used in at all," Joshi says. "If we replace that with our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/major-plastic-pollution-lurks-beneath-the-surface-of-rivers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plastic</a>, you could just flush it down the toilet and it would biodegrade."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-engineered-living-materials">Engineered living materials</h2>



Until now, such engineered living materials haven't been scalable for broad production. Enter MECHS.



Essentially, it's comprised of engineered E. coli bacteria intertwined with a fiber matrix, crafted into a paper- or film-like material. 



The fibrous structure gives MECHS some desirable properties. For instance, the bioplastic can stretch like plastic wrap and be genetically engineered for variable stiffness. And, quite fascinatingly, it has self-healing capabilities.



But the real cherry on top? MECHS is fully dissolvable, be it in large amounts of water or a compost bin. It dissolves rapidly, much faster than other existing biodegradable plastics. Plus, it can be mass-produced similarly to paper.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potential-applications">Potential applications</h2>



The scientific marvels envision MECHS as the solution to "primary packaging." This includes the plastic cover protecting your new iPhone or the detergent pods for your appliances. Imagine MECHS wrapped around a pot plant, slowly breaking down and releasing proteins to fertilize the plant!



Addressing the global problem of plastic pollution, Manjula-Basavanna sees a strong potential for MECHS in plastic packaging, which covers almost one-third of the plastic market. 



He observes that such packaging’s lifespan could last a few days to two years, but the petrochemical plastics used can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.



"For such a short lifespan of packaging, the petrochemical plastics that can take hundreds of years to biodegrade are unnecessary in many cases and thus a sustainable alternative like MECHS due to its biodegradability, flushability, and mechanical tunability could be a game changer," says Manjula-Basavanna.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-in-adopting-mechs">Challenges in adopting MECHS</h2>



While MECHS presents a revolutionary solution to the global plastic crisis, adopting this technology on a large scale is not devoid of challenges. One primary concern lies in the genomic stability of the engineered E. coli bacteria used in MECHS. 



Scientists must ensure that the bacteria remain safe and stable under various environmental conditions to avoid unintended consequences. Additionally, transitioning industries reliant on traditional plastics to MECHS involves overcoming significant economic and logistical barriers. 



Production facilities worldwide may need to adopt new techniques and infrastructure to accommodate this novel material, potentially incurring considerable costs in the short term. 



Furthermore, public perception and regulatory hurdles need to be navigated to gain trust and approval for its widespread use.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-of-sustainable-materials">Future of sustainable materials</h2>



Looking to the future, the innovations around MECHS signal a burgeoning era of sustainable and adaptable materials capable of transforming industries. 



As research into living materials progresses, new possibilities emerge, such as enabling the development of dynamic, adaptable materials for technologies yet to be imagined. 



Building on their success with MECHS, Manjula-Basavanna and Joshi envision an expanding palette of biodegradable materials, each tailored for specific applications ranging from environmental conservation to health care. 



Their work emphasizes collaboration across disciplines - bridging biology, chemistry, and engineering - to advance sustainable solutions.



Ultimately, MECHS is a testament to how embracing nature-inspired innovation can lead to breakthroughs with the power to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-on-beaches-is-now-visible-from-space/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reshape our relationship with the materials</a> we use and the environment we inhabit.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53052-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



-----



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Nature-inspired solutions: New bioplastic dissolves rapidly in water

The influence of synthetic plastic on our planet is concerning, to say the least. It's everywhere - from the depths of our oceans to the food we eat, even finding its way into our bodies. But, Avinash Manjula-Basavanna, a seasoned research scientist at Northeastern University, sees "MECHS" as a solution. "The kind of impact that human-made materials are making on the living world is resulting in&nbsp;climate change, pollution and more," he says. "One of the ways that we are able to address this is to make materials...

Reunion Island in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/tropical-cyclones-indian-ocean/">Indian Ocean</a> formed from a volcanic hotspot that erupted and covered most of what is now India with basalt lava. 

The island is of particular interest to geologists because the rocky formation came from an ancient pocket of magma deep within the Earth’s mantle. 

Heat from the planet’s early years caused extreme melting which then separated the Earth into two layers, the core and the mantle. Later, the mantle would rise and sink and create the crust in the process. 

This continual process of melting, sinking, and rising along with the motion of the mantle mixed the different elements and materials together until everything is blended together deep within the Earth. 

However, older stubborn pockets remain, and from these researchers can garner a better timeline for some of the volcanic formations on Earth. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://carnegiescience.edu/">Carnegie Institution for Science</a> conducted a study using isotopic data to reveal the evolutionary timeline of the Reunion Islands. 

Isotopes go through a process of radioactive decay that transforms into new elements and researchers can date this decay to find out the age of the element in question. 

The Carnegie researchers used this process to date mantle pockets within the earth to find the age of the magma plumes that created the Reunion Island. 

The research team focused on samarium-146, which decays and forms neodymium-142. Samarium-146 was present when the Earth first formed, which means that examining neodymium-142 can provide information about the Earth’s geological history. 

The results, published in the journal Nature, show that even through billions of years of mixing within the mantle, the origin of the Reunion Island was a well preserved old pocket of dating back to the very beginnings of the Earth’s history. 

The findings could have on future studies delving into the Earth's evolutionary history. 

“The mantle differentiation event preserved in these hotspot plumes can both teach us about early Earth geochemical processes and explain the mysterious seismic signatures created by these dense deep-mantle zones,” said Bradley Peters, the study's lead author. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Courtesy of Bradley Peters

The formation of Earth still impacts modern volcanic activity

Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean formed from a volcanic...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moon-formed-earth-collided/">moon</a> formed from a disk-shaped clump of debris in the aftermath of a planet-sized collision with a very early Earth… at least that’s the commonly held theory. 

But now, a new study conducted by <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> researchers proposes a completely new scenario for how the moon first formed.

Simon Lock, a Harvard graduate student, developed a new theory that resolves many issues and mysteries that the previous theory could not answer, such as why the moon and Earth had such similar makeup if they were formed from two relatively different planetary bodies. 

“The commonly accepted theory as to how the Moon was formed is that a Mars sized body collided with the proto-Earth and spun material into orbit,” Lock said. “That mass settled into a disk and later accreted to form the moon. The body that was left after the impact was the Earth. This has been the canonical model for about 20 years.”

The problem, Lock says is that the “canonical model” or the previously accepted theory isn’t a practical scenario because the necessary elements needed to form the moon are extremely specific, and the moon could only have formed under a particular set of circumstances. 

“Getting enough mass into orbit in the canonical scenario is actually very difficult, and there's a very narrow range of collisions that might be able to do it,” he said. “There's only a couple of degree window of impact angles and a very narrow range of sizes...and even then some impacts still don't work.”

Lock’s theory could change the way we think about both the Earth and Moon, as the study found that it was much more likely that the moon and Earth formed from a cloud of vaporized rock known as a synestia.

"It's huge," Lock said of the donut-shaped synestia. "It can be ten times the size of the Earth, and because there's so much energy in the collision, maybe 10 percent of the rock of Earth is vaporized, and the rest is liquid...so the way you form the Moon out of a synestia is very different."

The researchers created a model that showed how the liquid rock left over in the synestia condensed together and started to decrease in size. 

“Over time, the whole structure shrinks, and the Moon emerges from the vapor,” said Lock. “Eventually, the whole synestia condenses and what's left is a ball of spinning liquid rock that eventually forms the Earth as we know it today.”

Lock and his colleagues will continue to fine-tune their model in order to fully test this new theory. Although Lock’s model answers many mysteries, the researchers note that further work is needed. 

The new study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Researchers propose a new theory on the formation of the moon

The moon formed from a disk-shaped clump of debris in...

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, corn has become a primary source in the creation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biofuel-compete-oil/">biofuels</a> to power cars and airplanes.

But the environmental impact and water supply needed to grow corn make it better suited to be used as a food than a biofuel resource.

But now, researchers from <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> have found that switchgrass may be an attractive new option for the creation of biofuel.

The study, led by John Field and published in the journal Nature Energy, showed that the carbon footprint of growing switchgrass was a fraction of the size of traditional fossil fuel sources. 

Field and his colleagues specialize in working with non-edible plants to create cellulosic biofuels. Switchgrass and other plants could serve as an excellent alternative to high impact crops like corn. 

“They don't require a lot of fertilizer or irrigation,” Field said. “Farmers don't have to plow up the field every year to plant new crops, and they're good for a decade or longer.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed an area in Kansas because the state has a cellulosic biofuel production plant. 

To examine the environmental impact and carbon footprint of switchgrass, the researchers used DayCent, a modeling system developed by Colorado State University in the 1990s. DayCent models plant growth and its response to weather and climate as well as its carbon cycle. 

Using DayCent, the research team was able to test whether switchgrass, grown for biofuel purposes, would be an effective alternative to traditional fossil fuels and have a reduced carbon footprint. 

The resulting carbon footprint of switchgrass was -11 to 10 grams of carbon dioxide per megajoule. Megajoules are commonly used to measure carbon emissions. 

To put that number in perspective, the carbon footprint of gasoline is 94 grams per megajoule. 

In addition to providing a smaller environmental impact, the researchers also found that switchgrass was effective for carbon storage. 

“What we saw with switchgrass is that you're actually storing carbon in the soil,” said John Field, the first author of the study. “You're building up organic matter and sequestering carbon.”

The results are promising, and the researchers are excited about the implications their work could have on future biofuel research. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Switchgrass may be better than corn as a biofuel source

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, corn has...

Researchers are reporting that there is a chemical in our bodies, which becomes increasingly present in our urine as we age, that could be easily used to measure how much our bodies have aged biologically - not just chronologically. Access to this information could help predict an individual's risk of developing age-related diseases, and could even predict a person's risk of death.

During the process of normal aging, our cells accumulate damage over time. The rate of this cellular damage varies among individuals and is often influenced by genetics. The new research indicates that cellular deterioration can provide accurate information about our biological age.

According to the free radical theory of aging, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-oxygen-levels-declining/">oxygen</a> is the primary mechanism that underlies biological aging.

“Oxygen by-products produced during normal metabolism can cause oxidative damage to biomolecules in cells, such as DNA and RNA,” said study co-author Jian-Ping Cai. “As we age, we suffer increasing oxidative damage, and so the levels of oxidative markers increase in our body.”

One such marker, named 8-oxo-Gsn for short,results from the oxidation of a critical molecule in our cells called RNA. In previous studies of animals, researchers found that 8-oxo-Gsn levels increase in urine with age.

For the current study, the team set out to determine if the same is true for humans.

The experts measured 8-oxo-Gsn in urine from 1,228 Chinese residents aged 2-90 years old. They analyzed the samples using a rapid analysis technique called ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography.

“We found an age-dependent increase in urinary 8-oxo-Gsn in participants 21 years old and older,” said Cai. “Therefore, urinary 8-oxo-Gsn is promising as a new marker of aging.”

Levels of 8-oxo-Gsn were essentially the same among men and women, except in post-menopausal women who showed higher levels

This is likely due to lowered levels of estrogen, a hormone which is known to have antioxidant effects.

The method of analysis used in this study could also be utilized in future large-scale aging studies, considering the rapid analysis technique can process urine samples from as many as 10 participants in one hour.

“Urinary 8-oxo-Gsn may reflect the real condition of our bodies better than our chronological age, and may help us to predict the risk of age-related diseases,” said Cai.

The study is published in the journal in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience">Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Urine test can measure how much your body has aged

Researchers are reporting that there is a chemical in our...

For the first time ever, researchers have witnessed life rebounding in the world's driest desert. If this desert soil provides a habitat suitable enough for organisms to survive in, the scientists believe there is a great potential for life on Mars.

An international team led by <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> planetary scientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch investigated the driest region of the Atacama Desert in South America, where it does not rain for decades at a time.

The hyper-arid environment of the Atacama Desert is the most similar place on Earth to the surface of Mars. Scientists have long speculated whether microbes found in the Atacama soil reside here permanently or if they are simply blown in by the weather.

When the team arrived at the desert in 2015, it actually rained. After this rare event, the researchers detected an explosion of biological activity in the desert soil.

The scientists analyzed soil samples and found several native species of microbial life. When the researchers returned over a year later, they discovered that these specialized bacteria have adapted to survive by going dormant for decades without water and then reactivating when it finally rains.


“In the past, researchers have found dying organisms near the surface and remnants of DNA but this is really the first time that anyone has been able to identify a persistent form of life living in the soil of the Atacama Desert,” said Schulze-Makuch. 

“We believe these microbial communities can lay dormant for hundreds or even thousands of years in conditions very similar to what you would find on a planet like Mars and then come back to life when it rains.”

Schulze-Makuch will return the Atacama Desert to investigate how the native microbial inhabitants have evolved. The team also hopes to look for life in the Don Juan Pond, a shallow in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-monster-discovered-antarctica/">Antarctica</a> that is so salty that it rarely ever freezes.

“There are only a few places left on Earth to go looking for new lifeforms that survive in the kind of environments you would find on Mars,” said Schulze-Makuch. “Our goal is to understand how they are able to do it so we will know what to look for on the Martian surface.”

The study 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

Image Credit: Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Life in Earth’s driest desert could mean life exists on Mars

For the first time ever, researchers have witnessed life rebounding...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/">University of York</a> have stumbled upon a new potential method of biofuel production while analyzing the digestive system of a primitive insect. The firebrat, which has been on Earth for hundreds of millions of years, has the ability to rapidly break cellulose down into glucose.

The experts believe that this unique ability could be a model for creating earth-friendly industrial practices, such as the production of sustainable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biofuel-compete-oil/">low carbon fuels</a>.

Firebrats were previously shown to thrive on crystalline cellulose, which is a natural fiber that is found abundantly in cardboard, paper, and straw.

“Firebrats belong to one of the most primitive groups of insects; they appeared on land during the Devonian Period, some 420 million years ago,” explained study co-author Simon McQueen Mason. 

“Cellulose forms the fibers that give the cell walls of plants their strength and has a high degree of structural order, making it solid and tough.”


Prior to this study, it was unknown how firebrats could digest cellulose so effectively. The team's analysis of their digestive system revealed something unexpected.

“Inside their gut the firebrats had a group of uncharacterized proteins that make up 20% of their carbohydrate digestive enzymes,” explained co-author Dr. Federico Sabbadin.

“On further inspection, these proteins proved to be a new class of enzyme, called lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), which attack crystalline polysaccharides. Our study revealed that these enzymes are used by firebrats to greatly increase the rate of cellulose digestion.”

LPMOs were thought to occur exclusively in fungi, bacteria, and viruses. The findings suggest that these enzymes could be adopted in industrial processes to break down cellulose into fermentable sugars for biofuel production.

“These digestive LPMOs appear to have evolved from enzymes that digest a substance called chitin, which protects the respiratory system of insects,” said Professor Mason.

“We found that these ancestral genes are essential for metamorphosis and that interfering with their function is lethal to insects. This could have important implications for the development of new methods to control disease-carrying mosquitoes and agricultural pests such as locusts.”

The study is published in <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: The University of York

Ancient insects provide hints on how to produce biofuel

Experts at the University of York have stumbled upon a...

Neuroscientists have identified a brain signal that corresponds with speech and understanding. When someone comprehends words that are being spoken, the signal is present. However, the signal is absent when the listener either did not understand what was being said or was not paying attention.

According to the study’s lead author Ed Lalor from <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/">Trinity College Dublin</a>, the discovery of this brain signal could be groundbreaking. 

“Potential applications include testing language development in infants, or determining the level of brain function in patients in a reduced state of consciousness,” said Professor Lalor. 

“The presence or absence of the signal may also confirm if a person in a job that demands precision and speedy reactions - such as an air traffic controller, or soldier - has understood the instructions they have received, and it may perhaps even be useful for testing for the onset of dementia in older people based on their ability to follow a conversation.”


Throughout the day, people routinely communicate around 120 to 200 words per minute. At this rate, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/right-ear-listening-ability/">listeners</a> must comprehend the meaning of each of these words very rapidly to stay on track with the conversation.

The ability of our brains to compute words so quickly, despite the fact that words can vary greatly depending on their context, has been a mystery to scientists. But now, researchers have demonstrated that our brains rapidly decipher the similarity in meaning that each word has to the words that came just before it.


For their investigation, the researchers analyzed how smartphones and modern computers can “understand" speech. The computers accomplish this level of comprehension by finding similarities between one word and another.

The researchers set out to determine if humans compute the similarity between words as well. They used a technique known as electroencephalography (EEG), which records electrical brainwave signals, as participants listened to a number of audiobooks.

When the experts examined the brain activity that had been captured, they identified a specific brain response that represented how similar or different a given word was from the words that preceded it.

The researchers discovered that the signal completely disappeared when the participants could not understand the speech or when they stopped paying attention. The team concluded that this signal provides a critically important and sensitive representation of whether individuals are truly comprehending the speech they are hearing.

“There is more work to be done before we fully understand the full range of computations that our brains perform when we understand speech,” said Professor Lalor.

“However, we have already begun searching for other ways that our brains might compute meaning, and how those computations differ from those performed by computers. We hope the new approach will make a real difference when applied in some of the ways we envision.”

The study is published in the journal <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

Brain signal indicates if someone is listening in conversation

Neuroscientists have identified a brain signal that corresponds with speech...

Even though humans and fruit flies have not shared common ancestry in about 800 million years, we still share similar <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-biological-clocks-grow/">circadian clock</a> neurons that control our body's daily rhythms. A recent analysis of fruit flies may help experts understand more about sleep timing in humans.

Researchers at the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> found that circadian clock neurons in fruit flies are constantly tracking the external temperature using thermoreceptors. The experts discovered that even small fluctuations in temperature have physiological effects on the neurons that regulate sleep timing.


“Decades of work from recent Nobel Prize winners and many other labs have have actually worked out the details of how light is able to adjust the clock, but the details of how temperature was able to adjust the circadian clock were not well understood,” said study first author Swathi Yadlapalli.

“Going forward, we can ask questions of how these two stimuli are processed and integrated into the clock system, and how this has effects on our sleep behavior and other physiological processes.”

The circadian rhythm is a cycle that controls many physiological processes, guiding sleep and waking over the course of a day. 


Study principal investigator Orie Shafer explained that circadian clocks in mammals control the internal body temperature to drive sleep patterns. He said that, although we think of the human body temperature as a steady 98.6 degrees, our body temperature actually fluctuates throughout the day.

“The circadian system produces a daily rhythm in temperature which is an important cue for when it's time to go to sleep,” said Shafer.

The researchers developed an optical imaging and temperature control system to examine how fruit fly neurons respond to external temperature. They captured snapshots of neural activity in the circadian clock neurons while the flies were exposed to a hot or cold stimulus.

“It looks like clock neurons are able to get the temperature information from external thermoreceptors, and that information is being used to time sleep in the fly in a way that's fundamentally the same as it is in humans,” said Shafer.

 “As temperature drops, these neurons that promote sleep become excited, and that really entrains the sleep activity cycle to external temperature cycles. It's precisely what happens to sleep in mammals when internal temperature drops.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Temperature impacts circadian clocks that guide sleep

Even though humans and fruit flies have not shared common...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-knowledge-evolution/">Evolution</a> is a constant, albeit slow process, and there is no finish line when it comes to how evolved a species can be. 

According to a new study, humans may now be evolving a gene that protects against alcoholism and malaria.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a> identified positive gene variants across populations to show how some regions are evolving certain traits. 

Their findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. 

The study focused on sweeping genetic events across different populations in order to find gene variants that overlapped. The variants were either a specific response to a region’s geographic location or shared evolutionary background. 

The researchers collected and analyzed data from 2,500 people from the 1,000 Genomes Project. The Genomes Project is the largest public catalog of human variation and ran from 2008 to 2015.

Emerging gene variants were examined in relation to their different populations, and there were five genomic hotspots that the researcher identified. 

One of the variants could potentially prevent alcoholism in the future, and this variant was seen in areas where alcoholism is particularly problematic. 

Benjamin Voight, a co-author of the study, told the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5412653/Humans-evolving-gene-stop-drinking-alcohol.html">Daily Mail</a> that these gene variants may occur in areas “where people who drank heavily would die, whereas those who didn't drink much alcohol survived and passed on their genes to their children.”

The researchers discovered variants of the ADH gene which helps break down alcohol in both Africa and Asia. This variant works by making alcohol intolerable thereby avoiding potential addiction. 

Other variants could aid in building resistance to malaria in Asia and Africa and help with heart health in Europe. 

The research is noteworthy because it identifies gene variants in different populations and shows how evolution has exceeded the bounds of common ancestry with gene variant events, overlapping in some areas and not others.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Could humans be evolving a gene to protect against alcoholism

Evolution is a constant, albeit slow process, and there is...

You may have heard the saying “normal is just a setting on a washing machine” as a justification for behavior that might be considered out of the ordinary or even weird. 

Now, new research shows that this adage might hold more merit as some variability in our brain’s thoughts and behaviors, even those that don’t line up with idealized notions of mental health, showcase our adaptability and could even be considered healthy. 

A study conducted by researchers from<a href="https://www.yale.edu/"> Yale University </a>reviewed widely challenged traditional psychological methods of categorizing and diagnosing disorders. 

Their findings, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, focus on a new “dimensional perspective” of mental health disorders that account for variability across a wide spectrum. 

“I would argue that there is no fixed normal,” said Avram Holmes, the senior author of the study. “There's a level of variability in every one of our behaviors. Any behavior is neither solely negative or solely positive. There are potential benefits for both, depending on the context you're placed in.”

Variability is a fundamental cornerstone of natural selection and evolution, and the researchers argue that this must be taken into consideration when working towards a diagnosis. 

Some behaviors that may be out of sync with what we might consider normal could be an adaptive measure. 

Holmes uses an example of impulsive, risk-taking behavior to show how any behavior may be beneficial depending on the environment. Thrill seekers and risk takers are usually associated with an increased likelihood of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/men-harder-quitting-drinking/">substance abuse</a> or physical injury. 

“But if you flip it on its head and look at potential positive outcomes, those same individuals may also thrive in complex and bustling environments where it's appropriate for them to take risks and seek thrills,” said Holmes. 

The problem is that if you factor in variability, it complicates methods for diagnosing mental disorders.

This is why more and more effort is being made to restructure the way health experts identify biomarkers for psychological illness. 

“What we want to try to do is build multivariate approaches that consider multiple domains of human behavior simultaneously, to see if we can boost our power in predicting eventual outcomes for folks,” said Holmes. 

Collaborations are already underway with different institutions in order to achieve this goal, and Holmes notes that accounting for some variability is important in many aspects of our lives, not just mental health. 

“This is a broader issue with our society, but we're all striving towards some artificial, archetypal ideal, whether it's physical appearance or youthfulness or intelligence or personality,” said Holmes. “But we need to recognize the importance of variability, both in ourselves and in the people around us. Because it does serve an adaptive purpose in our lives."

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Good news for weirdos: There is no normal brain

You may have heard the saying “normal is just a...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.sfn.org/">Society for Neuroscience</a> have investigated how the brain responds to injustice. The findings of the study suggest that the punishment of a criminal is more rewarding to the brain than supporting a victim.

The experts measured the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-new-information-brain/">brain</a> activity of young males while they participated in a “justice game.” Two players, which were referred to as a “taker" and a “partner,” were given 200 chips to start the game. The taker had an opportunity to steal up to 100 of the partner’s chips, and then the partner was given an opportunity to retaliate.

The study participants took part in the game as either a partner or an “observer.” The observer had to decide whether he wanted to punish the taker or support the partner by helping him increase his stash of chips.

The researchers found that participants were more likely to punish the taker when they had experienced the injustice directly as a partner. They were less willing to impose a punishment when they had experienced the injustice as an observer.


When the participants made the decision to punish a taker, neural activity took place in a brain region involved in reward processing known as the ventral striatum. The researchers found that the brain activity corresponded with the severity of the punishment.

Before starting the games, all of the participants had received nasal spray. Some of the individuals were randomly assigned receive the hormone oxytocin in the spray. Previous research has linked this hormone to the act of punishing. 

While the participants in the oxytocin group chose to give out punishments more frequently, the punishments were significantly less intense. This indicates that exposure to the hormone encouraged the participants to punish takers to simply maintain the fairness of the game.

The research is published in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">Journal of Neuroscience</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Punishing injustice and crime found to be rewarding to the brain

Researchers at the Society for Neuroscience have investigated how the...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> have developed the world's first human-sheep hybrids. The scientists hope that their technique may ultimately be used to provide humans with healthy organs. 

Human cells were previously grown inside of pig embryos and human-pig hybrids were created. In the current study, the team hopes to take this approach one step further and grow <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-reproductive-organs/">organs</a> that could be used for transplantation in humans.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, over 100,000 people are on the national transplant list and a new patient is added to the list every ten minutes.

The researchers are particularly focused on developing human pancreases in sheep to help cure type 1 diabetes, a condition in which pancreatic islet cells do not produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar.

While transplanting organs from animals directly to humans has not yet been successful, the scientists believe they may be able to apply a diabetic individual's own cells to the embryo to create a compatible organ.

Dr. Hiro Nakauchi is a genetics professor at Stanford and the study's lead author.

“We have already generated a mouse pancreas in rats and then transplanted those in to diabetic mouse and were able to show almost a complete cure without any immunosuppressants,” said Nakauchi. He explained that producing human-sheep hybrids is a more difficult process.

Currently, around one in every 10,000 cells in the modified sheep embryos are human. Study co-author Pablo Ross explained that one percent of the embryos must be comprised of human cells in order for the technique to be successful.

The scientists are only permitted to develop the embryos for up to 28 days, and they believe that with a longer time frame they will be able to produce more convincing results.

The research was presented at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Austin, Texas.

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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

Human-sheep hybrids could help develop organs for transplants

Researchers at Stanford University have developed the world's first human-sheep...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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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



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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



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[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...