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...

Rare <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-collagen-discovery/">dinosaur</a> protein discovered. When dinosaur remains turn into fossils, all of the hard bits – the bones and teeth – slowly transform into a rocklike substance. Scientists rarely get to study the soft tissue, but rather the impressions left in the surrounding material. 

That’s why researchers are excited about the discovery of ancient dinosaur proteins that date back to 195 million years ago. The tissues were found inside a dinosaur bone and were discovered alongside small amounts of a mineral that likely came from the blood of Lufengosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur from the early Jurassic period. 

Scientists from the<a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca"> University of Toronto Mississauga</a> examined the fossils in Taiwan before publishing their findings in the journal<a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/"> Nature Communications</a>. They used infrared spectroscopy with a synchrotron to find bits of collagen and proteins within blood vessels inside the dinosaur’s rib bones. 

Because sorts of materials don’t typically survive the fossilization process, the discover sheds more light on how <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fossils-mean-life-evolved-earth/">fossils</a> form. It also paints a larger picture of the creatures themselves. 

"We hope to be able to learn more about the biology of these animals and the more we know about their soft tissues the more we will know about them overall,” said Robert Reisz, a paleontologist on the research team. “We are actually looking at the preservation of the original materials that were in the living organism rather than an impression of the soft tissues that were there."

There have been other cases in which researchers have reported finding proteins in dinosaurs dating back as far as 70 million years. Stephen Brusatte of the<a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk"> University of Edinburgh</a> was not involved in the research, but told BBC News this discovery “opens up entirely new avenues for studying dinosaurs.”

"This discovery tells us that yes, you really can probably preserve soft, microscopic proteins inside dinosaur bones for tens or hundreds of millions of years,” he said. This rare dinosaur protein has opened up a world of opportunities for paleontologists.

–

By Dawn Henderson,<a href="http://earth.com"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: Robert Reisz,<a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca"> University of Toronto Mississauga</a>

&nbsp;

Scientists startled over rare dinosaur protein discovery

Rare dinosaur protein discovered. When dinosaur remains turn into fossils,...

In some species, the males evolved beauty. Male peacocks have blue feathers and brightly colored, elaborate tails, while male quetzals are green and gold with red chests. Females of both species are drab. Many other bird species follow the same pattern. 

Outside of the bird world, male male lions have large, bushy manes, and males and females of some lizard species change to different colors when they reach maturity.

But in most species where males develop ornamentation, it serves no purpose other than to attract a mate – deer who do battle with their antlers being among the few exceptions.

When the females of a species where the ones who evolved beauty, on the other hand, attracting a mate is rarely the only reason. Sometimes it’s not the reason at all.

A new study has found that in many species, females may have evolved beauty as a means of self-defense. In other cases, a female’s ornamentation helps them to gain social status, and not just among males. 

“We develop a population genetic model to … demonstrate that, contrary to common inferences, male mate choice, variation in male quality (in the form of a direct fecundity benefit to females), and female ornamentation can coexist in a population without any sexual selection on female ornamentation taking place at all,” wrote the researchers from the <a href="http://www.unc.edu/">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a>. 

In other words, male ornamentation is often the result of social selection, while female ornamentation can evolve due to one or two out of any number of reasons. 

To test their theory, Dr. Courtney Fitzpatrick and Dr. Maria Servedio tracked how traits from “attractive” females were passed down among animal species. They noticed a few interesting trends:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">In species where males choose mates and females are mate-limited, “attractive” females tend to attract higher quality males. However, the rate at which “attractive” traits are passed on don’t seem to correlate with this sexual selection, Fitzpatrick and Servedio discovered.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">In species such as primates where receptive females can always find a mate, it’s been assumed that some traits such as swellings evolved to attract a mate. However, when females can find a quality mate regardless of these features, that explanation doesn’t fit, the researchers said.</li>
</ul>
The biologists’ research seems to show that in many cases, male animals’ preference for a female trait was not the reason that trait evolved. The attraction may even have come later, they said.

“[O]ur model is a formal reminder that to conflate male mate choice with sexual selection on females is to draw a false equivalency, particularly in species with traditional mating systems,” the researchers wrote.

Instead, some of the female traits may have evolved to help compete for resources such as food, or to raise the female’s social status, Fitzpatrick and Servedio said. Like species where females prefer larger or stronger males, these traits may have become “attractive” to males because they indicate a female is stronger, healthier, and a better provider or protector, they said. 

The study was published in the journal <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evo.13107/full">Evolution</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey / Earth.com staff writer

Females evolved beauty as tool for defense, status symbol

In some species, the males evolved beauty. Male peacocks have...

While “spherical tokamaks” may sound like tiny <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-sea-creatures-ocean-floor/">sea creatures</a> or microscopic structures inside the human eye, they’re actually machines – and ones that may pave the way for a fossil-fuel-free future. The machines will be part of a new fusion reactor being developed by Tokamak Energy. They hope that the prototype of this ground-breaking new nuclear reactor will be completed by 2025. 

The “spherical tokamaks,”  which <a href="http://www.tokamakenergy.co.uk">Tokamak Energy</a> say are the “fast route to fusion,” will set the new nuclear reactor apart from traditional ones that use “conventional tokamaks.” But what is a tokamak? The most developed magnetic confinement system, it’s at the heart of fusion reactor design.

Plasma contained inside a vacuum vessel within the tokamak is heated when a current shoots through it. Meanwhile, magnetic coils create horizontal and vertical fields that hold the plasma, as well as shape it. The heat from the plasma helps the fusion process occur, but additional heating is necessary to reach the scorching 100 million°C.

To get to that temperature, the plasma is further heated by injecting neutral hydrogen atoms. These are sent in at very high speeds before the magnetic field ionizes and traps them. External coils also create high-frequency currents in the plasma, with the frequencies being chosen to match regions of high energy-absorption.

For those who aren’t nuclear physicists, this means that tokamaks allow huge amounts of power to be transferred to plasma. The fusion reactor developed by Tokamak Energy is a fraction of the size of conventional nuclear reactors. This is because their technology uses high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that allow them to create high performance reactors that use less power and take up less space. 

Their next project is an ST40 reactor which will reportedly heat plasma to a mind-blowing 15 million°C.

--

By Dawn Henderson, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New nuclear reactor design to be completed by 2025

While “spherical tokamaks” may sound like tiny sea creatures or...

New animal testing method saves lab mouse lives. According to PETA, over 100 million mice are killed in laboratory experiments each year – and that’s in the U.S. alone. Japanese scientists are hoping to lessen <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/animal-cruelty-video-sparks-boycott/">animal suffering</a> and mortality by creating a new animal testing method for human drug trials.

Associate Professor Noriyuki Yanaka from<a href="https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en"> Hiroshima University</a> worked with a team to develop a non-invasive method of testing the anti-inflammatory properties of fortified health foods and medications on mice. Their hope is that this procedure will change the way scientists conduct animal testing.

The research, published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep38697">Nature</a>, involved looking at inflammation of fatty tissues inside the body. Metabolic disorders such as cancer, Type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular doses result in over-nutrition. The body fights this by releasing white blood cells. While this is meant to be a good thing, it can be problematic for obese fatty tissue, which becomes inflamed and damaged. 

In order to study these tissues, scientists had to euthanize a large number of mice as they progressed through their research. Yanaka and his team have discovered a gene called Serum Amyloid A3 (Saa3) that can be detected when fatty tissue is inflamed. 

They injected this gene into fertilized mouse eggs and created a batch of mice that could be examined in a non-invasive fashion to determine if their fatty tissue exhibited signs of inflammation. Scientists then divided the mice into two groups – feeding the first group a high-fat diet and the others a natural-wild diet. They were able to use bioluminescence to examine the fatty tissues of the mice, noting that the ones on the high-fat diet showed signs of inflammation, while the ones on the natural-wild diet did not. 

Yanka said that the new method does not completely eliminate the need to euthanize lab mice, but hopes that it will cut known on the number of deaths. "What we are proposing is a way to reduce not only the number of animals which are used in experiments, but also animal experiments themselves,” he said.

--

By Dawn Henderson, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 
Source: Noriyuki Yanaka, <a href="https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en">Hiroshima University</a>

New animal testing method saves lab mouse lives

New animal testing method saves lab mouse lives. According to...

In the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, he signed a number of executive actions having to do with issues that relate to nature and science. Among them are measures to speed up construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. His administration has also issued media blackouts on federal agencies such as the<a href="https://www.epa.gov"> EPA</a> and the <a href="https://www.doi.gov">Department of the Interior</a>. Despite taking these actions, Trump has yet to choose a science advisor. 

Trump currently has no nominees for the role, officially known as the Director of the <a href="https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/office-of-science-and-technology-policy">Office of Science and Technology Policy</a>. The person who fills the position will be charged with supplying the President with information necessary to develop educated policy decisions surrounding scientific issues.

In addition to the science advisor position remaining open with no nominees in sight, the Trump transition team has only met once with the OSTP office since the election. This overall lack of concern signals to those in the science field that such issues will not be at the forefront of the Trump agenda. 

This comes in sharp contrast to the previous administration. President Obama chose John Holdren, the current OSTP director, over a month before taking office. 

While the scientific community is concerned with the lack of attention that’s being given to filling the role, they’re also concerned with the names that are being floated as possible nominees. David Gerlenter, a computer scientist at Yale University and physicist William Happer of Princeton University are real possibilities. Both firmly deny that climate change has any basis in science – a concerning position for someone who advises the President on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/rogue-social-media-trump-resistance/">environmental policy</a> issues. 

Trump’s delay in filling the position is reminiscent of the actions taken (or lack thereof) by President George W. Bush, who didn’t select OSTP director until the June after he took office. The OSTP and issues on which it advises were similarly put on the back burner during the Bush administration. 

--
By Dawn Henderson, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nearly two weeks in and Trump still has no science advisor

In the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, he signed...

Oldest human ancestor revealed. When you look through <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/chimps-family-opposites-attract/">family</a> photos, it’s often easy to see where you got your blue eyes or turned-up nose. It may come as a surprise, then, that none of us resemble the creature that scientists are calling our oldest human ancestor.

Known as Saccorhytus, traces of the <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/french-bulldogs-craze/">animal</a> were found preserved as a 540-million-year-old fossil. Despite its age, scientists said the fossil was “exquisitely well-preserved.” The tiny being was only about a millimeter in size – so small that it lived between grains of sand at the bottom of the sea. 

<a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk">University of Cambridge</a> professor Conway Morris, who led the research team, spoke to<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news"> BBC News</a> about their discovery. “To the naked eye, the fossils we studied look like tiny black grains,” he said, “but under the microscope the level of detail was jaw-dropping.” Their findings were published in the journal<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature21072.html"> Nature</a>. 

While it may seem odd that our earliest <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/oldest-human-ancestor-found/">ancestor</a> is a minuscule sea creature, Saccorhytus was one of the steps in the evolutionary process that created fish, as well as humans. It belongs to a category of animals called “deuterostomes.”  This group includes animals such as sea cucumbers and urchins. Its name, which means “second mouth,” refers to a developmental process in which the anal opening develops before the mouth. (Too much information? Let’s move on.) In short, vertebrates are all deuterostomes. 

Despite its being a deuterostome ancestor, scientists can only find an oral opening on Saccorhytus. “Our material is generally crushed, and despite the superb preservation we might have overlooked the evidence,” Morris said to the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com"> New York Times</a>. 

If, in fact, there isn’t an additional opening, researchers believe that the creature ate and excreted waste through the one orifice. (Still too much info. Right.) 

Saccorhytus had a symmetrical body and seems to have moved by contracting its muscles and wriggling around. Scientists also note that it had tiny conical structures that were possibly an early form of gills.

Most noteworthy, though? Its large mouth, which it used to suck in food particles before digesting them and…  Well, you know.

–

By Dawn Henderson,<a href="http://earth.com"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: Conway Morris,<a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk"> University of Cambridge</a>

Big-mouthed, minuscule creature is oldest human ancestor

Oldest human ancestor revealed. When you look through family photos, it’s...

In the “X-Men” comics and movies, Wolverine has the unique ability to heal wounds within seconds. Sharks aren’t quite so fast, but their speedy healing abilities recently led scientists to study shark DNA in search of a cure for cancer. 

Scientists have known for a while that cancer rates are incredibly low among sharks. The ocean predators also heal quickly. An open wound can heal in a matter of hours on a healthy shark.

Researchers from <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>, <a href="http://www.clemson.edu/">Clemson University</a>, and <a href="http://www.nova.edu/">Nova Southeastern University</a> thought the two unique aspects of shark health might be related. They teamed up to study shark DNA and see what, if any, clues they could find.

“In addition to their ancient history and fundamental position in vertebrate systematics, chondrichthyans possess a wide variety of biological characteristics of note,” the researchers wrote in their study. 

Chondrichthyans include sharks, rays, skates, and related fish. 

Over hundreds of millions of years, the DNA of chondrichthyans has undergone unique changes that may grant them accelerated healing abilities, the researchers found. 

“Such traits include, but are not limited to, the presence of a primitive adaptive immune system, efficient wound healing, and the evolution of regional endothermy in several species,” the scientists wrote.

When a shark is injured, a layer of new cells rapidly grows to fill in the wound, much more quickly than in mammals. 

Two genes particularly stood out to the researchers. Both are linked to higher rates of cancer in humans. In sharks, however, they act to prevent cancer. 

“Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a process that eliminates dysfunctional cells and one of the hallmarks of cancer is the ability of malignant cells to evade apoptosis,” they wrote. 

In humans, the two genes seem to work together to shut off cell death in some cells, which encourages formation of cancerous tumors. In sharks, however, those genes seem to induce death in cancerous cells, the researchers said.

Now, the scientists are studying tissues from those species using genomics, which focuses on the structure, function, and mapping of genomes. Little genetic mapping of shark DNA has been completed.

They hope that they can pinpoint how sharks developed their healing superpowers, the scientists said. They also hope to find out if those abilities can be used to help humans who are ill or injured.

Maybe Wolverine’s nickname should have been “Shark Boy.”

The study was published in the journal <a href="https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-016-3411-x">BMC Genomics</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey / Earth.com staff writer

Scientists: shark DNA may hold the key to curing cancer

In the “X-Men” comics and movies, Wolverine has the unique...

When we think of <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/artificial-ice-storms-severe-weather/">weather reports</a>, we tend to visualize our friendly local meteorologist, gesturing and pointing to colorful weather maps displayed on our TV screens. “Thunderstorms tomorrow – don’t forget your umbrellas!” But the public now has access to a new frontier in weather science, however: that of space weather. 

What is space weather and why does it matter? We aren’t talking gentle rain showers and sunny days, here. Think of radiation put out by solar flares, high-speed solar winds, or explosions of plasma from the sun’s surface and you’ll get an idea of what space weather involves. 

The kind of events that happen way up in space can affect quite a bit down here on Earth, scientists say. From satellites and aircraft to our communication, navigation, and power systems, space weather can impact humans in a multitude of ways. For instance, radiation released from a solar flare could require that a flight following a polar route be diverted. Our electric power grid can be shut down by solar winds, as well as magnetic and plasma bursts from the sun. 

Space weather also causes a threat to satellites. Radioactive particles can damage individual satellites, causing a communication failure. The problem grows larger, however, if that satellite drifts into the path of others, damaging them and creating a system shutdown. 

More than 16 years’ worth of data on space weather will now be publicly available, enabling scientists to better predict when events will occur that may disrupt satellites, as well as earthbound equipment. The data has been collected by Los Alamos GPS sensors that “have been fielded on GPS satellites for decades,” says<a href="http://www.lanl.gov"> Los Alamos National Laboratory</a> program manager Mark Kippen.  The data is hosted by the<a href="http://www.noaa.gov/"> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA), and a feature article about the data release was published in the journal<a href="http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1542-7390/"> Space Weather</a>. 

--

By Dawn Henderson,<a href="http://earth.com"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: Mark Kippen, <a href="http://www.lanl.gov/">Los Alamos National Laboratory </a>

New data helps scientists better forecast space weather

When we think of weather reports, we tend to visualize...

If it’s not giant <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/failed-planets-scarred-earth/">asteroids</a> headed for the earth, it’s something else. In a bit of incredibly cheerful scientific news, scientists are studying a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/volcanic-eruption-fishing-industry/">volcanic eruption</a> that wiped out over half of the earth’s inhabitants because they’d like to be able to predict when we’ll see our next megaeruption. 

The supervolcano Toba erupted in Indonesia nearly 74,000 years ago, killing 60% of the Earth’s inhabitants and spewing volcanic ash into the air. Scientists think that the volcano ejected a huge amount of material – somewhere between 2,800 and 5,300 km cubed. This made life on earth quite unpleasant during a time when humans were starting to move out of Africa and spread to other parts of the world.

Scientists including David Budd from <a href="http://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a> are looking at geologic quartz rings to learn more about the Toba megaeruption. Their findings were published in the journal <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/04/22/science.aaa5648">ScienceMag</a>. 

‘When the conditions in the magma change, the crystals respond and produce distinct growth zones that record these changes. The problem is that each 'tree ring'-analogue is only a few micrometers across, which is why they are extremely challenging to analyse in detail,” the researchers said. They'd like to learn why supervolcanoes produce such a large volume of magma, as well as why they lay dormant for so long between eruptions.

Although supereruptions are super-rare, researchers insist that it’s only a matter of time before the next one, which they say could occur at Toba or at Yellowstone in the U.S. A supervolcano erupts when the magma reservoir inside reaches a critical level of pressure. 

Researchers have found this sort of reservoir underneath Yellowstone and have been monitoring its activity. According to their data, an eruption at Yellowstone would be a thousand times stronger than the catastrophic Mount St. Helens in 1980.

--

By Dawn Henderson, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: David Budd,<a href="http://www.uu.se/en"> Uppsala University</a>

Scientists predict next mighty volcanic megaeruption

If it’s not giant asteroids headed for the earth, it’s...

Let’s all celebrate with a round of butterbeers! Scientists who recently identified a new <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-acidification-threatening-crab-populations/">crab</a> species delighted Harry Potter fans worldwide when they named it after two of the wizarding world’s most beloved characters.

The crab, Harryplax severus, pays triple homage with its name. First, it honors the late researcher Harry Conley, who picked up the tiny crab along the coast of Guam 20 years ago. The name also alludes to the title character in J.K. Rowling’s series, as well as potions professor Severus Snape.

Conley donated his collections to Gustav Paulay, a curator at the <a href="https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a>. He turned them over to biologists Peter Ng and Jose Christopher E. Mendoza from the <a href="http://www.nus.edu.sg">National University of Singapore</a>. They found the crab, measuring just 0.3 by 0.2 inches, in the collection.

Mendoza, a self-proclaimed Potterhead, was excited to link the name of its founder with one of the most famous boy wizards of all time. He and Ng said that Conley had an almost magical talent at finding new and rare species. The minuscule crab lives deep in the ocean and has small eyes, long legs, and antennae that help it get around in the dark depths. 

The last part of the name – severus - also has a double meaning. In Latin, the word translates to “harsh” or “rigorous,” which the researchers say “alludes to the rigorous and laborious process by which this crab was collected.” 

Harry Potter aficionados will also appreciate the explanation offered by the researchers in their study, which was published in the journal <a href="http://zookeys.pensoft.net">ZooKeys</a>. They say the name is “an allusion to a notorious and misunderstood character in the Harry Potter novels, Professor Severus Snape, for his ability to keep one of the most important secrets in the story, just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected.”

--

By Dawn Henderson, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer
Source: Peter Ng and Jose Christopher E. Mendoza, <a href="http://www.nus.edu.sg">National University of Singapore</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience">Live Science</a>

New crab species named after Harry Potter favorite

Let’s all celebrate with a round of butterbeers! Scientists who...

Human-pig embryos could revolutionize our medical industry. For patients hoping for an <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-work-increase-genetic-diversity-yellowstone-bison/">organ transplant</a>, the wait to get a new heart, liver, or kidney can stretch out for years. To shorten these wait times, doctors are researching ways to grow human organs in a laboratory. Recently, they came one step closer to their goal by successfully growing human cell inside pig and cattle embryos. 

Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte and his colleagues at the<a href="http://www.salk.edu"> Salk Institute</a> in La Jolla, California published their work in the journal<a href="http://secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/action/getSharedSiteSession?rc=1&amp;redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cell.com%2Fcell%2Ffulltext%2FS0092-8674%2816%2931752-4&amp;code=cell-site"> Cell</a>. They made pig embryos in the lab and injected each one with human stem cells. The embryos were only allowed to grow for four weeks, after which they were destroyed. 

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/end-era-ringling-bros-circus-will-shut/">Animals</a> with cells from different species are called chimeras – named after a creature in Homer’s Iliad that was “<a href="http://www.earth.com/image/sea-lion-mugs-camera-rescue-fishing-gear/">lion</a>-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle.” Experiments involving chimeras – and particularly those using human cells – have sounded alarm bells amongst those concerned with the ethics of human-animal research. Ethicists wonder if the insertion of human cells into an animal begins to cross a line in which that animal should be given human rights. The U.S. government pulled taxpayer funding of chimera-based scientific experiments in 2015, and any new work must be privately funded.

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cat-litter-alzheimers-link/">Scientists</a> at Salk first discovered that they could grow cells from one species inside another when they attempted the procedure on rats and mice. First, they created a mouse embryo without a pancreas. Then, they successfully implanted and grew a rat pancreas inside the mouse embryo. They have also repeated the same experiment with rat hearts and eyes inside mouse embryos. 

When the team began researching human stem cells, they realized they needed a larger creature in which to grow them. Although Salk told<a href="http://www.usatoday.com"> USA Today</a> that the ability to grow human organs is “far away,” scientists hope to eventually be able to grow human pancreases, livers, and hearts.  

–

By Dawn Henderson,<a href="http://earth.com"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte,<a href="http://www.salk.edu"> Salk Institute</a>

&nbsp;

Human-pig embryos pave possible future for transplants

Human-pig embryos could revolutionize our medical industry. For patients hoping...

A massive fissure has formed in the Arizona desert – but not recently. Scientists think it may be several years old. Now, they're investigating it with drone technology.

The fissure, about two miles long and quite wide in some spots, formed sometime between March 2013 and December 2014, which is when it first appeared on Google Earth, the <a href="http://www.azgs.az.gov/">Arizona Geological Survey</a> said. It’s located in southern Pinal County.

The scientific organization used a drone to investigate the huge crack in the ground, which is too deep for people standing on the edge to see the bottom, scientists said.

The AZGS released video footage taken by the drone on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xdAnftBKvY">YouTube</a>. One video shows the crack in the Earth from above, while a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbd1sWPTxyk">second film</a> by the drone starts from inside the fissure and flies high into the air to show how deep and long it is.

Researchers standing at the edge of the massive fissure to operate the drone give some perspective on its size.

The footage is the first time the geologists have used a drone to investigate such a feature. AZGS is testing drone technology with plans to safely map fissures like this one, landslides, and other geological features in the future.

Heavy rains in 2014 probably caused this particular crack to grow and widen, geologists said. The southern end may have been an underground void until a monsoon in 2016 knocked the lid off, the researchers said.

The fissure in the Tator Hills area isn’t unique. Similar fissures have formed out in the Arizona desert before, probably due to shrinking groundwater, AZGS scientists said.

It’s not even the first in Pinal County. In August 2005, a massive fissure opened up in Queen Creek after a monsoon. Public worries over the Queen Creek fissure led to legislation tasking the AZGS with mapping cracks in the desert.

Earth fissures have been seen in Cochise, Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties. In addition to drones, the AZGS uses GPS receivers to measure new fissures.

—

By Kyla Cathey / Earth.com staff writer

Image credit: U.S. government

Drone investigates massive fissure in the Arizona desert

A massive fissure has formed in the Arizona desert –...

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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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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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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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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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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