An asteroid impact on Mars 11 million years ago sent fragments of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these pieces eventually crashed into Earth, making its way to Purdue University and becoming known as the Lafayette Meteorite.&nbsp;



This rare find has been instrumental in unlocking secrets of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/manganese-discovery-ancient-mars-earth-like-water-lake-habitable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mars</a>’ watery past, with new research recently published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.2443" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geochemical Perspective Letters</a> that provides insight into the timing and nature of Mars’ ancient water activity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-mars-watery-past">Tracing Mars’ watery past</h2>



Scientists have long known that the Lafayette Meteorite interacted with liquid water on Mars, but the exact timing of this event was uncertain.&nbsp;



Dr. Marissa Tremblay, an assistant professor at Purdue University’s <a href="https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences</a> (EAPS), led an international research team to determine the age of the water-altered minerals in the meteorite, pinpointing it to 742 million years ago.



“Dating these minerals can therefore tell us when there was liquid water at or near the surface of Mars in the planet's geologic past,” Tremblay explained.&nbsp;



The findings suggest that while liquid water wasn’t abundant on the surface at this time, it likely came from melting subsurface ice, or permafrost, caused by intermittent volcanic activity - a phenomenon still observed on Mars today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-a-moment-in-mars-geological-timeline">Preserving a moment in Mars’ geological timeline</h2>



The study not only identified when water interacted with the meteorite but also established that the dating was unaffected by events after the meteorite left Mars.&nbsp;



“The age could have been affected by the impact that ejected the Lafayette Meteorite from Mars, the heating it experienced during the 11 million years it was floating in space, or the heating when it fell to Earth,” Tremblay said.&nbsp;



However, the team confirmed that none of these factors altered the age, validating the timeline of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mars-lost-most-of-its-water-but-where-did-it-go/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water</a> interaction.



Study co-author and Purdue EAPS researcher Ryan Ickert applied heavy isotope analysis to further verify that previous data on the meteorite’s water-rock interaction had likely been skewed by other geological processes.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This meteorite uniquely has evidence that it has reacted with water. The exact date of this was controversial, and our publication dates when water was present,” said Ickert.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mysterious-journey-of-the-meteorite">Mysterious journey of the meteorite </h2>



The Lafayette Meteorite’s journey to Purdue is something of a mystery. It was found in a university drawer in 1931, though how it got there remains unknown.&nbsp;



In previous research, Tremblay and her team used crop disease markers from organic contaminants found on the meteorite to narrow down when it might have fallen to Earth.



Once the meteorite was ejected from Mars, it endured constant cosmic ray bombardment in space, which produced certain isotopes, offering clues to its time of impact on Earth.&nbsp;



“Many meteoroids are produced by impacts on Mars and other planetary bodies, but only a handful will eventually fall to Earth,” Tremblay said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planetary-time-capsules">Planetary time capsules</h2>



Meteorites like Lafayette serve as planetary time capsules, offering invaluable data on the geological and environmental history of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-meteorites-can-be-traced-to-three-asteroid-families/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">home worlds</a>. With their dense structure, metallic content, and magnetic properties, meteorites are often distinguishable from Earth rocks.&nbsp;



“We can identify meteorites by studying what minerals are present in them, their mineral relationships, and by checking for a fusion crust formed during entry into Earth’s atmosphere,” Tremblay explained.&nbsp;



By analyzing these traits and their chemical signatures, scientists can often determine a meteorite’s planetary origin.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-history-of-meteorites">Complex history of meteorites</h2>



This research marks a significant milestone for the team, which included scientists from institutions across the globe, such as the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center (SUERC), the University of St. Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Bristol, and London’s <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural History Museum</a>.&nbsp;



“Before moving to Purdue, Ryan and I were both based at SUERC, where the argon-argon isotopic analyses of the alteration minerals in Lafayette took place,” Tremblay said.&nbsp;



Their partners at SUERC and the Natural History Museum have long contributed to studying Lafayette’s complex history.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dating-minerals-in-meteorites">Dating minerals in meteorites</h2>



Dating the water-altered minerals in Lafayette, and others in its class of Martian meteorites called nakhlites, has been a central focus in planetary science, as they uniquely capture moments when liquid water was present on Mars.&nbsp;



Due to complex alterations over time, previous attempts to date these minerals were plagued with uncertainties.&nbsp;



However, the team has now developed a robust dating method that could be applied to other meteorites, enhancing our understanding of when water might have been present on Mars and other planetary bodies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-planetary-science">The future of planetary science</h2>



Thanks to the Stahura Undergraduate Meteorite Fund, Tremblay and Ickert’s research on the Lafayette Meteorite will continue, with the involvement of undergraduate students in Purdue EAPS.&nbsp;



This opportunity allows students to engage in real-world planetary science, helping to reveal the intricate histories of meteoritic samples.



Tremblay and her team’s work on the Lafayette Meteorite highlights its scientific significance, revealing a complex history that ties it to Mars’ geological past.&nbsp;



Their findings not only deepen our understanding of Mars but also set a precedent for future studies that might unveil even more about the red planet’s climate history, water activity, and potential for supporting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-mars-rocks-contain-signs-of-life-scientists-call-to-bring-them-back-to-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a>.



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Meteorite that struck Mars reveals when the planet had liquid water

An asteroid impact on Mars 11 million years ago sent fragments of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these pieces eventually crashed into Earth, making its way to Purdue University and becoming known as the Lafayette Meteorite.&nbsp; This rare find has been instrumental in unlocking secrets of Mars’ watery past, with new research recently published in the journal Geochemical Perspective Letters that provides insight into the timing and nature of Mars’ ancient water activity. Tracing Mars’ watery past Scientists have long known that the Lafayette...

“Are you left or right-handed?” is a commonly asked question amongst humans, but research shows that certain animals also tend to favor one “hand” over the other. In fact, “handed-ness” or left-right asymmetry is relatively common throughout the animal kingdom. Now, in a review published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/home">Neuron</a>, researchers provide some insight into why people and animals many naturally favor one side of the brain over the other.

This left-right asymmetry is not limited to just our human brains, as several animal models have been found that can give us a look into the genetic and epigenetic backgrounds of the phenomenon of lateralization. “Studying asymmetry can provide the most basic blueprints for how the brain is organized,” says lead author Onur Güntürkün, a researcher at the <a href="http://www.rd.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/neuro/index.html.en">Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience</a> at <a href="http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/index_en.htm">Ruhr-University Bochum</a>, in Germany. “It gives us an unprecedented window into the wiring of the early, developing brain that ultimately determines the fate of the adult brain.”

Güntürkün believes that brain lateralization serves three purposes. One of those purposes is perceptual specialization, where certain areas of the brain are more specialized and focused on performing certain tasks. For example, in most people the right side of the brain focuses on recognizing faces, while the left side focuses on identifying letters and words.

Another purpose is motor specialization. The ability to use our hands competently is key to everyday life and survival, being specialized in that ability helps us move, eat, fight, and hunt. “What you do with your hands is a miracle of biological evolution,” says Güntürkün. “We are the master of our hands, and by funneling this training to one hemisphere of our brains, we can become more proficient at that kind of dexterity.”

Scientists think that natural selection led to some sort of advantage that resulted in about 10% of the population favoring the opposite hand. This connection is made through parallel processing, which allows use to do two different tasks using different parts of the brain concurrently.

Brain asymmetry is “…an invention of nature, which evolved because many animals have the same needs for specialization that we do,” explains Güntürkün. There have been studies that show how birds – such as chickens – use one eye to distinguish grain from pebbles on the ground while simultaneously using the other eye to keep watch for predators overhead.

Other research on pigeons has determined that this specialization can often be a result of environmental influences. It was found that when a pigeon chick is developing in the shell, its right eye turns toward the outside, while its left eye faces its body. When the right eye is exposed to light that comes through the shell, it triggers a series of neuronal changes that cause the two developing eyes to ultimately have different specializations.

On the other hand, the zebrafish model of lateralization has allowed researchers to uncover the genetic aspects of asymmetrical development – specifically the genetic makeup of the Nodal-signaling pathway.

Güntürkün believes that this research can lead to a better understanding of the effects of asymmetry on brain conditions in humans, saying that “there are almost no disorders of the human brain that are not linked to brain asymmetries.” Further research in this area can provide insight on how the developmental process leads to mistakes within the wiring of our brains.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a>

Why animals evolve to favor one side of their brain

“Are you left or right-handed?” is a commonly asked question...

A person's ability to perform complex mental tasks and make random choices starts heading downhill at the age of 25, a new study finds.

The study examined the effects of age on so-called Random Item Generation tasks which are used to assess cognitive abilities, including the ability to focus.

The study by <a href="https://algorithmicnature.org/ ">Algorithmic Nature Group, LABORES</a> assessed 3,400 people aged 4 to 91 on their ability to perform five tasks online including  listing the hypothetical results of a series of 12 coin flips so that they would “look random to somebody else,” guessing which card would appear when selected from a randomly shuffled deck, and listing the hypothetical results of 10 rolls of a dice.

"This ability peaked at age 25, on average, and declined from then on," according to the study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.plos.org/search?q=25">PLOS</a>.

However, the news is not all bad for older people.

A person's ability to perform RIG tasks increased in speed and accuracy up to the age of 25. While speed begins a slow decline at that age, accuracy " remained at a high level for a protracted period," the study said, pointing out that aging is a multi-dimensional process. 

"This suggests that aging cannot simply be considered a  “regression'," the study found.

Later in life, however, speed stabilizes while accuracy drops dramatically, the study found.

There is still much to be discovered about the ability to perform RIG, and its link to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/raven-bone-neanderthals-cognitive/">cognitive</a> decline, the study concluded.

"Future research should investigate the impact of other variables on RIG performance," it concluded 

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.plos.org/search?q=25">PLOS</a>

Ability to make random choices peaks at age 25, study finds

A person's ability to perform complex mental tasks and make...

The Gentoo Penguins are easily recognizable with their white eye patches and fiery red beaks. These penguins are particularly fascinating to scientists because they are persevering in a region where other penguins species are dwindling. An opportunity to study the Gentoo Penguins in their natural habitat usually means braving the frigid terrain of areas such as the Antarctic peninsula or the sub-Antarctic islands. A team of researchers created an easier way to get a glimpse of these birds by setting up time-lapse cameras.

Experts from the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> and The National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina set out to observe the Gentoo Penguins and their behavior during nonbreeding season. The cameras were placed at seven sites in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctica-sets-record-high/">Antarctica</a>, Argentina, and on several islands. The goal was to analyze the patterns and actions of the species across their range to determine when they occupy breeding sites. The study, published in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, shows that the Gentoo Penguins arrived at their breeding sites early in the nonbreeding season. They were present in greater numbers when there was open water and the coastline was not shut in by ice.

Caitlin Black is a researcher with the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>. She explains,"Working with cameras allows us to understand half of this species' life without having to spend the harsh winter in Antarctica. It has been exciting to discover more about why Gentoos are present year-round at breeding sites without having to handle a single bird. I believe the applications for this technology are far-reaching for colonial seabirds and mammals, and we are only just beginning to discover the uses of time-lapse cameras as deployed virtual ecologists in field studies." 

Each of the cameras captured between eight and fourteen images per day. Volunteers accessed the website penguinwatch.org and reported the number of penguins visible in each photo. Ultimately, the different observation sites fell into three groups that are distinguishable by breeding site attendance patterns and the number of penguins present.

Mark Hauber is the Editor-In-Chief of The Auk: Ornithological Advances and a professor of Animal Behavior at <a href="http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/">Hunter College</a> and the <a href="https://www.gc.cuny.edu/">Graduate Center of the City University of New York</a>. Hauber says, "What most seabirds do away from their nest is often anybody's guess. For Antarctic birds, this is compounded by the long periods of darkness that penguins and others must face in the winter.” 

Hauber adds, “This new research in The Auk: Ornithological Advances on Gentoo Penguins colonies reveals critical year-to-year differences in where the birds are when they are not nesting: In some years, only the most temperate sites are visited, and in other years both southerly and northerly locations are busy with penguins.”

Animals such as the Gentoo Penguins make modifications in their migration patterns to adjust to their changing habitats. Results of these types of studies can be used to analyze the impact that disturbances - such as the fishing industry and climate change - have on penguin populations.

--

By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href=" https://www.earth.com/staff/ ">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">The University of Oxford</a>

Image Credit: T. Hart

Footage reveals the new migration strategies of penguins

The Gentoo Penguins are easily recognizable with their white eye...

During the first two billion years that Earth existed, it was mainly covered by expansive seas that sloshed and churned under the lighting of a faint young sun. On this early planet, oxygen was scarce and the only life was that of tiny microbes. 

Since the sun was much dimmer than it is today, scientists have long debated what kept the Earth’s vast seas from freezing. One popular theory is that gases such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/methane-permafrost-exploding/">methane</a> – which has significantly greater warming power than carbon dioxide – created a thicker greenhouse atmosphere that trapped heat and kept water in a liquid state.

With very little oxygen in the atmosphere, iron built up in these ancient oceans. It would constantly cycle through a complex loop under the existing chemical and biological processes. This loop is conveniently known as the “ferrous wheel,” although it was probably a lot less entertaining than the carnival ride we know today.

Some microbes could actually “breathe” this rust, which they evolved to do in order to outcompete other microbes – like those that made methane. In fact, when rust was plentiful, a so-called “iron curtain” may have actually suppressed methane emissions. 

“The ancestors of modern methane-making and rust-breathing microbes may have long battled for dominance in habitats largely governed by iron chemistry,” explains Marcus Bray, a biology Ph.D. candidate at the <a href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Institute of Technology</a>. 

The researchers at <a href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Tech</a> used mud gathered from the bottom of Lake Matano in Indonesia – an iron-rich ecosystem that mimics early oceans – in order to study how ancient microbes were able to continue making methane despite this “iron curtain,” and therefore help keep the ocean in a liquid state.

By incubating the mud to simulate early Earth conditions, Bray was able to track microbial diversity and methane emissions over a period of 500 days. He found that when rust was added, very little methane was formed. However, without rust present, the microbes were able to make plenty of methane.

These findings led the research team to conclude that even though methane production was limited in the presence of rust, it still could have persisted in rust-free patches of the ancient seas. 

Although in today’s seas most natural gas produced on the seafloor is consumed before it reaches the surface, most of the ancient methane produced by these microbes would have escaped into the atmosphere where it would trap heat from the early sun. In turn, this would help to keep the early ocean unfrozen and the microbes living in it very much alive.

Studies such as this help give us a better idea of how the Earth’s environment persisted in the early stages of life on our planet. Although we’ve evolved to be the oxygen breathing, bipedal humans we are today, it’s still interesting to discover what life may have been like over two billion years ago.

More information on this study can be found in the journal <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1472-4669">Geobiology</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Institute of Technology</a>

Methane-making microbes kept early oceans from freezing over

During the first two billion years that Earth existed, it...

Cover crops are a staple of eco-friendly agriculture in many developed countries. They are mainly planted to reduce erosion and improve soil quality through their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen while reducing nitrogen leaching. However, according to new research from <a href="http://www.psu.edu/">Penn State</a>, cover crops may also play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture.

Jason Kaye, a professor of soil biogeochemistry in the <a href="http://agsci.psu.edu/">College of Agricultural Sciences</a> at Penn State, recently published research that says cover cropping can potentially mitigate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/decade-climate-change-goals/">climate change</a> compared to other agricultural practices, such as no-till. 

No-till farming is a method that gets rid of the practice of significantly disturbing and overturning the soil. Kaye explains, “Many people have been promoting no-till as a climate-mitigation tool, so finding that cover crops are comparable to no-till means there is another valuable tool in the toolbox for agricultural climate mitigation.”

Kaye reviewed cover-cropping initiatives in Pennsylvania and central Spain, collaborating with Miguel Quemada – a professor in the Department of Agriculture Production at the <a href="http://www.upm.es/internacional">Technical University of Madrid</a>. They surmised from this review that even in these contrasting regions, cover cropping is still a strategy that will be viable in a warming world.

Their study found that cover-crop effects on the emissions of greenhouse gases tended to mitigate warming by 100-150 grams of carbon per square meter per year. These findings are comparable to and perhaps better than similar mitigation from agricultural practices that transitioned to no-till.

How do cover crops mitigate climate change? Well, according to the researchers, cover cropping increases the amount of carbon stored within the soil while also reducing fertilizer use. But according to Kaye, the most significant finding may be “the proportion of energy from sunlight reflecting off of farm fields due to cover cropping.”

Rather than absorbing the large amounts of light and heat from the sun like the bare, dark soil does, cover crops tend to reflect it back, reducing warming. Kaye believes this “may mitigate 12 to 46 grams of carbon per square meter per year over a 100-year time horizon.”

The previously known benefits of cover cropping may also help agricultural lands adapt to climate change. Reduced vulnerability to erosion, retention of nitrogen, and increased soil-water management options can all benefit land used routinely for farming.

However, Kaye is not necessarily saying that cover crops should be planted for the sole purpose of climate change mitigation. Rather, he believes the most important conclusion is that there appear to be very few compromises between the previously known benefits of cover cropping and his newly discovered benefits for climate change.

Kaye says, “Overall, we found very few tradeoffs between cover cropping and climate change mitigation and adaptation, suggesting that ecosystem services that are traditionally expected from cover cropping can be promoted synergistically with services related to climate change.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.psu.edu/">Penn State</a>

Using cover crops may help reduce effects of climate change

Cover crops are a staple of eco-friendly agriculture in many...

We interpret a person's emotions by analyzing the expression in their eyes - a process that began as a universal reaction to environmental stimuli and evolved to communicate our deepest emotions, according to new research by <a href="http://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>'s College of Human Ecology.

People in the study consistently associated narrowed eyes - which enhance  visual discrimination by blocking light and sharpening focus - with emotions related to discrimination, such as disgust and suspicion, the study found. Participants linked open eyes - which expand field of vision - with emotions related to sensitivity, like fear and awe.

"When looking at the face, the eyes dominate emotional communication,"  said Adam Anderson, professor of human development at Cornell and co-author of the study  "The eyes are windows to the soul likely because they are first conduits for sight. Emotional expressive changes around the eye influence how we see, and in turn, this communicates to others how we think and feel."

According to the  study, published in <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/home/pss">Psychological Scienc</a>e, we interpret a person's emotions by analyzing the expression in their eyes - a process that began as a universal reaction to environmental stimuli and evolved to communicate our deepest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-mirror-owners-emotions/">emotions</a>.

Study participants  consistently associated narrowed eyes - which enhance our visual discrimination by blocking light and sharpening focus - with emotions related to discrimination, such as disgust and suspicion. In contrast, people linked open eyes - which expand our field of vision - with emotions related to sensitivity, like fear and awe.

"When looking at the face, the eyes dominate emotional communication," Anderson said. "The eyes are windows to the soul likely because they are first conduits for sight. Emotional expressive changes around the eye influence how we see, and in turn, this communicates to others how we think and feel."

This work builds on Anderson's 2013 research which demonstrated that human facial expressions, such as raising one's eyebrows, arose from universal, adaptive reactions to one's environment and did not originally signal social communication, Cornell said.

Both studies support Charles Darwin's 19th-century theories on the evolution of emotion, which hypothesized that our expressions originated for sensory function rather than social communication.

"What our work is beginning to unravel are the details of what Darwin theorized: why certain expressions look the way they do, how that helps the person perceive the world, and how others use those expressions to read our innermost emotions and intentions,” Anderson said.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>

New study shows why eyes really are the windows into the soul

We interpret a person's emotions by analyzing the expression in...

<a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> researchers have discovered new insights into the age-old "aha" moment, also called otherwise called epiphany learning.

They used eye-tracking and pupil dilation technology to determine what physically happens in a person when they figure out a difficult problem. Pupil dilation is one sign that an "aha moment," is about to arrive.

"We could predict they were about to have an epiphany before they even knew it was coming," said Ian Krajbich, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology and economics at Ohio State.

In the study, 59 students played a game on a computer against an unseen opponent. On the screen were 11 numbers (0 to 10) arranged in a circle. In order to win, students had to figure out that the best strategy was to always pick the lowest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-cape-cod-rising/">number</a>.

About 42 percent of players had an epiphany that always picking zero was the best choice. Another 37 percent committed to a number other than zero and the remaining 20 percent never committed to a number.

Pupil dilation illustrated that the epiphany learners were reacting differently than others.

"When your pupil dilates, we see that as evidence that you're paying close attention and learning," Krajbich said.

Eye-tracking also revealed that the epiphany learners looked at zero and other low numbers more often than others did in the trials just before their epiphanies.

 Epiphany learners spent less time looking at their opponents' number choices and more time considering the result of each trial - whether they won or lost

"One thing we can take away from this research is that it is better to think about a problem than to simply follow others," Krajbich said. "Those who paid more attention to their opponents tended to learn the wrong lesson."

The study breaks new ground in learning more about how we learn, Krajbich said.

"Our work is novel in that we're looking at this other kind of learning that really has been neglected in past research," he said.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>

New study reveals an epiphany about epiphanies

Ohio State University researchers have discovered new insights into the...

It's the look that any dog owner immediately recognizes when their pooch chews up a pair of tennis shoes or the couch cushions.

There's actually a name for it, Nathan H. Lents, is a professor of molecular biology at <a href="http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/">John Jay College</a>, of the City University of New York, writes in <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beastly-behavior/201704/the-guilty-dog-look-and-other-borrowed-signals">Psychology Today</a>.

The "apology bow" has been studied extensively in wolves, Lents writes. and it is more complex than previously believed. 

In wolves, it is first displayed when a pup bites too hard during rough and tumble wrestling play. 

"A dog that bites too hard is punished by temporary shunning," Lents wrote. "They are removed from the social unit and ignored for a time. In order to be reintroduced, the offending wolf must approach with an apology bow and be re-admitted into the group."

Domesticated <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/chocolate-bad-dogs/">dogs</a> inherited this type of behavior from their wolf ancestors and have expanded the apology bow to include other types of infractions. 

"They will use it after any kind of infraction that results in being punished," Lents writes. “As social animals, they crave harmonious integration in the group and neglect or isolation is painful for them."

Dogs, like humans and other animals, send signals with their body language, according to Lents.

An "apology bow" can signal remorse but also submission, he wrote.

In the same way, a human handshake which can be both a greeting and a signal to bury the hatchet after a fight.

"Facial expressions and body language are rich forms of communication among animals and a complex array of signals can be conveyed with just a few gestures," wrote Lents. "The key is context. Just like humans rarely misinterpret a smile from a snarl, animals surely understand the subtleties of their own body language.”

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beastly-behavior/201704/the-guilty-dog-look-and-other-borrowed-signals">Psychology Today</a>.

Why your dog looks so guilty: the science behind dog shaming

It's the look that any dog owner immediately recognizes when...

It’s a giant, black, mud-dwelling, shipworm and it doesn’t eat much.

That’s what an international team of researchers is now investigating following the discovery of the creature inside a shell in the Philippines, according to the<a href="https://healthcare.utah.edu/"> University of Utah</a>. 

The existence of the giant shipworm has been known for centuries because of the three-to-five foot shells it lives in and leaves behind, the University said. Finding a live specimen of the worm has been elusive.

"The shells are fairly common," said lead investigator<a href="http://www.northeastern.edu/cos/marinescience/daniel-l-distel/"> Daniel Distel, Ph.D.</a>, a research professor and director of the <a href="https://www.northeastern.edu/ogl/">Ocean Genome Legacy Center at Northeastern Universit</a>y, "But we have never had access to the animal living inside."

It was unclear exactly where the worm, Kuphus polythalamia, lived until <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/satellite-mount-pinatubo-philippines/">Philippines</a> television aired a documentary showing the creatures in a shallow lagoon and prompting a team of researchers to launch an expedition.

The international team led by scientists at the<a href="http://healthsciences.utah.edu"> University of Utah</a>, is the first to research the worm. The finding will be published online in the Apr. 17 issue of the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

The researchers huddled around Distel as he carefully washed the sticky mud caked to the outside of the giant shipworm shell and tapped off the outer cap, revealing the creature living inside.

"I was awestruck when I first saw the sheer immensity of this bizarre animal," says Marvin Altamia, researcher at the <a href="http://www.msi.upd.edu.ph/">Marine Sciences Institute, University of the Philippines.</a>

It’s not your average shipworm, which burrows deep into wood that has washed into the ocean and digests it with the help of bacteria. Kuphus lives in the mud, using bacteria that live in their gills to make food for them. The bacteria use hydrogen sulfide as energy to produce organic carbon that feeds the shipworm.

"We are also interested to see if similar transitions can be found for other animals that live in unique habitats around the world," said Distel.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://healthcare.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a>

Mysterious, giant, gooey shipworm mystery finally solved

It’s a giant, black, mud-dwelling, shipworm and it doesn’t eat...

Researchers from the Netherlands have found that micro-organisms like fungi and bacteria may use terpenes – chemical scents – like a rudimentary, fragrant language.

The team of microbial ecologists and other scientists, led by the <a href="https://nioo.knaw.nl/en">Netherlands Institute of Ecology</a>, believe this scent-based form of communication may be the most-used “language” in the world. 

Scientists previously suspected terpenes, also known as volatile organic compounds, were simply a waste product for micro-organisms. It turns out they may be a little more than that.

“Metabolomic analysis of the bacterium exposed to the fungal VOCs, gene cluster comparison, and heterologous co-expression of a terpene synthase and a methyltransferase revealed the production of the unusual terpene sodorifen in response to fungal VOCs,” the researchers wrote in their study. “These results strongly suggest that VOCs are not only a metabolic waste but important compounds in the long-distance communication between fungi and bacteria.”

The group also found that fungi and bacteria can communicate with each other using terpenes. For example, the soil bacterium Serratia and the plant fungus Fusarium can “read” each other’s terpenes. They react and interact with each other based on the fragrant language.

This isn’t the first study of scent-based, interspecies communication, but most other studies have focused on communication among plants, or between plants and insects.

“It is plausible that in soil, microorganisms sense changes in their environments via shifts in [terpene] blends and adapt their behavior accordingly,” the study said.

After sequencing the genome of the soil bacterium S. plymuthica, researchers studied how it interacted with the plant fungus F. culmorum. The genetic sequencing allowed better interpretation of the data gathered in the study.

Then, the scientists watched how interactions with F. culmorum affected the motility of S. plymuthica. 

The researchers found that the soil bacterium changed its activity in response to terpenes from the plant fungus. The terpenes also affected proteins in S. plymuthica, the scientists found.

Their study has been published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00893-3">Scientific Reports</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Do bacteria and fungi have a fragrant language all their own?

Researchers from the Netherlands have found that micro-organisms like fungi...

Solar radiation management projects, collectively known as solar geoengineering, are techniques for reducing global temperatures by reflecting the sun’s rays. Researchers from <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> are preparing to test the feasibility of solar geoengineering using aerosol sprays. The experiment, which is set to begin as early as next year, is the first of its kind to surge radiation-blocking materials into the atmosphere. Some scientists warn that this type of attempt to control <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/decade-climate-change-goals/">climate change</a> may have a devastating outcome.

The team from <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> will begin their experiment emitting only water vapor. Next, they will continue to test a variety of materials that may be used in large quantities in the future. For the project, the researchers will not release more than 2.2 lbs of any material. 

Frank Keutsch is one of the lead scientists for the study. “The idea that you can even think about adjusting the temperature of the planet is terrifying,” said Keutsch. “But the consequences of climate change are also quite terrifying.” 

This aerosol method has become a heavily-debated subject. Many scientists believe that any positive consequences of this type of chemical engineering would be outweighed by a catastrophic aftermath. For example, one concern is the possibility of the Earth being suddenly exposed to the sun’s rays after being blocked from solar radiation for decades.

The <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> researchers believe that calcium carbonate in the form of aerosol can be used to achieve cooler global temperatures without damaging the ozone layer. This is based on the fact that limestone, one of the most common types of rock found on Earth’s surface, is formed mostly of carbon carbonate. 

The limestone-forming mineral calcite is now being tested for the upcoming <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard</a> experiment. Calcite has acid-neutralizing properties that may counteract emission-based acids while reflecting sunlight.

“Essentially we ended up with an antacid for the stratosphere,” said Keutsch.

Despite the likelihood that calcite is capable of temporarily cooling the climate, researchers caution that this and other chemical engineering is not a permanent solution to climate change.

“Geoengineering is like taking painkillers,” said Keutsch. “When things are really bad, painkillers can help but they don't address the cause of a disease and they may cause more harm than good. We really don't know the effects of geoengineering but that is why we're doing this research.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>

Can “antacids” for the atmosphere help slow global warming?

Solar radiation management projects, collectively known as solar geoengineering, are...

What if I told you that in the future, we’ll be able to pull water from thin air using only the power of sunlight? That sounds super futuristic and exciting, right? Well, what if I told you that we don’t have to wait…

A team of scientists and engineers from <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a> and <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) have collaborated to build a water harvester that uses only ambient sunlight to pull water from the air. The machine can even produce liters of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/less-fresh-water/">water</a> per day in conditions as low as 20 percent humidity, which is a common humidity level in arid regions.

This solar-powered water harvester was constructed at <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">MIT</a> using a special material produced at <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/">Cal Berkeley</a>. The special material is a metal-organic framework known as MOF, which was invented by Omar Yaghi, the founding director of the <a href="http://globalscience.berkeley.edu/">Berkeley Global Science Institute</a> and one of the two senior authors on the paper.

Yaghi invented these metal-organic frameworks more than 20 years ago by combining metals like magnesium or aluminum with organic molecules to create rigid, porous structures ideal for storing gases and liquids. Since his original design, more than 20,000 different MOFs have been created by scientists all over the world.

In 2014, Yaghi and his team at <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley</a> designed a MOF that binds water vapor. Sensing its potential usefulness, he contacted Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">MIT</a>, and suggested they team up to turn the MOF into a water-collecting system.

“One vision for the future is to have water off-grid, where you have a device at home running on ambient solar for delivering water that satisfies the needs of a household,” says Yaghi. “To me, that will be made possible because of this experiment. I call it personalized water.”

Wang and her students designed a system that allowed ambient air to diffuse through the porous MOF, causing water molecules to attach to the interior surface. Sunlight entering through a window then heats up the MOF and moves the water toward the condenser, where the vapor condenses as liquid water and drops into a collector.

“This work offers a new way to harvest water from air that does not require high relative humidity conditions and is much more energy efficient than other existing technologies,” Wang explains.

The current MOF can only absorb 20 percent of its weight in water, but it’s possible other MOF materials could absorb 40 percent or more. Yaghi believes this material has plenty of room for improvement and could easily become more effective at higher or lower humidity levels.

“It’s not just that we made a passive device that sits there collecting water; we have now laid both the experimental and theoretical foundations so that we can screen other MOFs, thousands of which could be made, to find even better materials,” says Yaghi. “There is a lot of potential for scaling up the amount of water that is being harvested. It is just a matter of further engineering now.”

For the time being, Yaghi and his team are hard at work improving on their MOFs, while Wang and her team are improving the harvesting system. It seems at this point that the sky is the limit for this solar-powered water harvesting system.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California – Berkeley</a>

This new solar-powered device can pull water from dry air

What if I told you that in the future, we’ll...

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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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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