The development of a big brain in humans and its connection to social bonding has been a hot topic of debate, and secrets found in fossil teeth may hold the answers.



Researchers have been studying the fossilized teeth of an early Homo from Georgia, dating back approximately 1.77 million years. The research was made possible by the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France.



The findings suggest that despite having a small brain and reaching adulthood at a similar pace to great apes, these early humans had a prolonged childhood. 



This could mean that the large brain of modern humans resulted from an extended childhood along with cultural transmission across generations instead of vice versa.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-long-childhood-big-brains">Long childhood, big brains</h2>



A team of researchers - including specialists from Switzerland's <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Zurich</a>, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and Georgia's National Museum - have challenged the theory that modern humans' extended childhood is directly linked to their large brains.



The team analyzed dental development in an early Homo that was almost an adult. The results suggest that though these early humans reached adulthood at a similar age as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/buronius-manfredschmidi-tiny-great-ape-species-lived-11-million-years-ago/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">great apes</a>, their tooth development followed a longer timeline similar to modern humans.



This proposes the distinct possibility of a longer dependency on adults and an elongated childhood for these early humans.



Remarkably, the brain size of these early Homo specimens was only marginally larger than that of a chimpanzee. This made the researchers question the link between the prolonged development and cultural transmission across generations.



An extended childhood within a three-generation context might have allowed the immature members of the group to effectively assimilate growing amounts of knowledge. 



Eventually, this led to the development of larger brains and longer life spans, traits characteristic of modern humans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dental-development-in-early-homo">Dental development in early Homo</h2>



An enduring assumption has been that humans' extended growth period is a consequence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-brain-sizes-are-growing-possibly-lowering-dementia-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">increased brain volume</a> since a larger organ requires more energy resources to grow. But analysis of the fossil's dental growth has caused researchers to question this hypothesis.



The research team used synchrotron imaging to study the dental development of a near-adult fossil of early Homo from the Dmanisi site in Georgia, dated to around 1.77 million years ago. 



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="CWxiqQg039-4024544-12187" type="single"]</div>



“Childhood and cognition do not fossilize, so we have to rely on indirect information. Teeth are ideal because they fossilize well and produce daily rings, in the same way that trees produce annual rings, which record their development,” noted study first author Christoph Zollikofer from the University of Zurich.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unexpected-findings-and-a-new-perspective">Unexpected findings and a new perspective</h2>



“Dental development is strongly correlated with the development of the rest of the body, including brain development," explained study co-author Paul Tafforeau, scientist at the ESRF.



"Access to the details of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/search-results/?search=fossil%20hominid&amp;start=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fossil</a> hominid's dental growth therefore provides a great deal of information about its general growth."



After almost two decades of research beginning in 2005, the initial results startled researchers. 



“We expected to find either dental development typical of early hominids, close to that of the great apes, or dental development close to that of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neanderthal-genes-still-influence-modern-humans/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modern humans</a>," said Tafforeau.



"When we obtained the first results, we couldn’t believe what we saw, because it was something different that implied faster molar crown growth than in any other fossil hominin or living great ape."



In the following years, the team conducted five series of experiments and completed four full analyses, employing various methods as dental synchrotron imaging technology advanced.



As the consistent results suggested significant implications for the "big brain - long childhood" hypothesis, the scientists needed to think creatively to interpret this fossil's findings.



“It's been a slow maturation, both technically and intellectually, to finally arrive at the hypothesis we are publishing today,” said Tafforeau.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-longer-childhood-evolution-s-early-experiment">Longer childhood: Evolution's early experiment?</h2>



The dental development of the studied fossil suggested that milk teeth were used longer than in great apes, implying that early Homo children were dependent on adult care for a longer duration.



This could be the first experiment evolution took towards a prolonged childhood. Despite having brains only slightly larger than australopithecines or great apes, early Homo are believed to have lived longer.



The survival of a very old individual with no teeth for several years indicates that the group sufficiently cared for him. This alludes to a three-generation structure, a key aspect of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-started-cumulative-culture-around-600000-years-ago/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cultural transmission in humans</a>.



The new hypothesis begins with children's growth slowing down as cultural transmission increased. 



The accumulation of information from older to younger individuals had an advantageous effect on resource utilization and the development of complex behaviors, thus favoring a longer childhood. 



Once this mechanism was established, natural selection acted on cultural transmission, not just biological traits. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-brains-and-delayed-adulthood">Big brains and delayed adulthood</h2>



As the volume of transferrable information grew, evolution supported a larger brain and delayed adulthood, enabling a longer learning period in childhood and time to grow a bigger brain despite limited food resources.



The large brain of modern humans could be attributed to an extended childhood and a three-generation structure encouraging bio-cultural evolution. These mechanisms may have led to increased brain size, delayed adulthood, and longer lifespan. 



The study of this exceptional fossil could motivate researchers to rethink the evolutionary mechanisms that led to Homo sapiens.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08205-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



Image &amp; Video Credit: ESRF/Paul Tafforeau, Vincent Beyrand



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How did humans get big brains? Fossil teeth reveal new clues

The development of a big brain in humans and its connection to social bonding has been a hot topic of debate, and secrets found in fossil teeth may hold the answers. Researchers have been studying the fossilized teeth of an early Homo from Georgia, dating back approximately 1.77 million years. The research was made possible by the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France. The findings suggest that despite having a small brain and reaching adulthood at a similar pace to great apes, these early humans had a prolonged...

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf. A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and is likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it's fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it's bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone."

[caption id="attachment_2381676" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Larsen-B-Ice-Shelf_satellite_1big_nasa.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2381676" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Larsen-B-Ice-Shelf_satellite_1big_nasa-150x150.jpg" alt="Disintegration of the Larsen B ice shelf. Credit: NASA" width="150" height="150" /></a> Disintegration of the Larsen B ice shelf. Credit: NASA[/caption]

Ice shelves are the gatekeepers for glaciers flowing from Antarctica toward the ocean. Without them, glacial ice enters the ocean faster and accelerates the pace of global sea level rise. This study, the first to look comprehensively at the health of the Larsen B remnant and the glaciers that flow into it, has been published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Khazendar's team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, a multiyear airborne survey campaign that provides unprecedented documentation annually of Antarctica's glaciers, ice shelves and ice sheets. Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997.

Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant's remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge, widening rift that has formed near the ice shelf's grounding line will eventually crack all the way across. The free-floating remnant will shatter into hundreds of icebergs that will drift away, and the glaciers will rev up for their unhindered move to the sea.

Located on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B remnant is about 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers) in area and about 1,640 feet (500 meters) thick at its thickest point. Its three major tributary glaciers are fed by their own tributaries farther inland.

"What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place," Khazendar said. "Change has been relentless."

The remnant's main tributary glaciers are named Leppard, Flask and Starbuck -- the latter two after characters in the novel Moby Dick. The glaciers' thicknesses and flow speeds changed only slightly in the first couple of years following the 2002 collapse, leading researchers to assume they remained stable. The new study revealed, however, that Leppard and Flask glaciers have thinned by 65-72 feet (20-22 meters) and accelerated considerably in the intervening years. The fastest-moving part of Flask Glacier had accelerated 36 percent by 2012 to a flow speed of 2,300 feet (700 meters) a year -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.

Flask's acceleration, while the remnant has been weakening, may be just a preview of what will happen when the remnant breaks up completely. After the 2002 Larsen B collapse, the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold -- comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.

The third and smallest glacier, Starbuck, has changed little. Starbuck's channel is narrow compared with those of the other glaciers, and the small glacier is strongly anchored to the bedrock, which, according to authors of the study, explains its comparative stability.

"This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate," said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.

The research team included scientists from JPL; the University of California, Irvine; and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The paper is online at:

<a href="http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://go.nasa.gov/1bbpfsC</a>

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nasa.gov/earth</a>

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf

The Final Days Of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf. A...

Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio. A hazardous-waste incinerator in Ohio released dangerous toxins into the air over the past four years, exposing those nearby to chemicals that can cause cancer, miscarriages and early death, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The federal agency released a 20-page report and found that the Heritage Thermal Services Incinerator in East Liverpool in Columbiana County emitted gases that contained high levels of toxic chemicals 195 times from November 2010 to December 2014. The facility is on the Ohio River near the Pennsylvania and West Virginia borders.
The EPA said the toxins might have included dioxin, which can cause reproductive problems, skin disease and changes in hormone levels; cadmium, which can cause kidney disease and fetal malformations; chromium, which can cause cancer; and other toxic air pollutants that can cause neurological, respiratory and developmental problems.
The emissions occurred through both mechanical failures and operator errors, the report said.
"The question now, I think, that should be put to the agencies responsible for this facility is, `What are you going to do about it?' and `Why haven't you shut it down?'" said Alonzo Spencer, an East Liverpool resident and the president of Save Our County, an activist group that has lobbied to revoke the incinerator's operating permit.
"I think we deserve answers," he said.
Heritage could face fines or penalties for the violations. Company officials told The Columbus Dispatch they want to discuss the findings with the EPA but wouldn't say whether they agreed with the allegations.
Stewart Fletcher, Heritage vice president and general manager, said Thursday the incinerator continues to operate and the company has scheduled a June meeting with the EPA.
According to the company's website, Heritage can process up to 60,000 tons of hazardous waste each year and has about 180 employees. It drew international attention in the 1990s when residents and activists protested against its construction.
An EPA spokesman said the agency could not comment on a pending enforcement case.
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Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio

Hazardous-Waste Incinerator In Ohio. A hazardous-waste incinerator in Ohio released...

US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles. Beset by power plant closures, growing regulatory scrutiny and proposed changes in how they pay royalties, coal mines are facing a new obstacle - a review of how coal extracted and burned will impact the air and global warming.
Under a series of rulings by U.S. judges in Denver over the last year, federal agencies that approve mining projects have been told to take into account coal's indirect environmental impact along with traditional concerns about mine dust and equipment emissions.
The immediate effects of the rulings appear limited to a single mine in northwestern Colorado that could lose its permit if a new environmental review isn't completed within four months. But industry representatives fear the rulings, if allowed to stand, could set an example for other judges to follow and eventually threaten the mines that make up the backbone of an industry already facing uncertainty.
Two of the rulings involving Colorado mines, from U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, say greenhouse gas emissions need to be considered in environmental reviews. A similar case threatens to block production at another mine, in the coal-rich Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. Another federal judge also recently ruled that a mine on the Navajo Nation must consider the effects of burning coal before expanding.
The agency at issue in the two most recent cases, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, is part of the Interior Department and regulates the environmental effects of mining across the country. Office spokesman Chris Holmes said the agency is still reviewing the rulings and hasn't decided what do to next. But fighting them would put the Obama administration in an awkward position because of its efforts to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.
The cases focused on coal from federal leases, which account for about 40 percent of U.S. production, but could open the door to similar legal challenges across the industry.
In his most recent decision, issued May 8, Jackson said the surface mining office must redo an environmental review for a coal mining project that's been underway for nearly a decade in northwestern Colorado or he would yank the mine's permit. The Colowyo Mine says losing the permit would lead to job losses for some of its 220 miners.
Colowyo is one of two mines that provide most coal for Colorado's Craig Station power plant, which generates about 8 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to federal emissions data.
Jackson, an Obama appointee, said if the government "can predict how much coal will be produced, it can likewise attempt to predict the environmental effects of its combustion."
Coal industry representatives said mines already face delays in permitting and adding more review would make matters worse. Colorado Mining Association President Stuart Sanderson said calculating a mine's contribution to global warming is meaningless because it's dwarfed by unregulated emissions in the developing world.
"It's pushing the envelope of regulation that is not in the nation's interests," Sanderson said of the rulings.
But legal experts say the rulings reflect an emerging trend of linking fossil fuel extraction to climate change.
"The agencies could continue to act just as they have been, but the cost of what they're doing will be more public and clear," said Justin Pidot, an assistant professor at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law.
While he doesn't think the Colowyo mine will be forced to close, Mark Squillace, director of the University of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado&amp;cvid=b9d5958107674495959982113eb91af4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Colorado's</a> Natural Resources Law Center, said the more thorough reviews could lead the government to deny coal mining meant for export.US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles
"I think the government is going to have to give serious thought to whether they're going to allow that to go forward," he said.
Environmentalists say the rulings will help open up what they view as an industry-tilted process so the public can decide if burning coal is worth the cost.
"I think the more we learn and the more honest accounting we get from the federal government, the more we will decide we don't like it," said Jeremy Nichols of WildEarth Guardians, which sued to stop the mining in northwestern Colorado and also was part of lawsuits to block mine expansions in Somerset, Colorado, and Decker, <a href="http://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/montana-valley-and-foothill-grasslands/">Montana</a>. US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles
In the Somerset case, Jackson stopped the expansion of Arch Coal, Inc.'s West Elk mine last year partly because the Bureau of Land Management considered but rejected calculating the impact of future greenhouse emissions.
In April, another Denver federal judge, John Kane, ruled that the surface mining office must consider the effects of burning coal at a northwestern New Mexico power plant before allowing an expansion of the Navajo Nation's Navajo Mine. Environmentalists there were mostly concerned with mercury pollution impacting fish in the San Juan River.
The Navajo Nation company that owns the mine has appealed Kane's ruling. The government did not appeal the West Elk ruling.
In the Montana case, WildEarth Guardians and the Northern Plains Resource Council sued to block the mining of more than 117 million tons of coal, which would extend the life of Cloud Peak Energy's 280-worker Spring Creek mine by 13 years.
The environmental groups have asked U.S. District Judge Susan Watters to halt mining until its environmental impacts are more thoroughly vetted.
Cloud Peak and Montana Attorney General Tim Fox have entered the case on the side of the Interior Department, which wants it dismissed. In a notice to Watters' court filed Wednesday, attorneys for Wildearth Guardians were quick to point out their victory in Colorado in support of their arguments against Spring Creek.
----
Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.
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US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles

US Coal Industry Facing New Hurdles. Beset by power plant...

Arctic Drill Ships

Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle. Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle. Activists opposed to drilling for oil in the Arctic plan to launch a flotilla of kayaks and other boats on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-smoke-seattle-air-dangerous/">Seattle's</a> Elliott Bay on Saturday, two days after the arrival of a towering oil rig that is the centerpiece of Shell's Arctic drilling fleet.
The "Paddle in Seattle" - a daylong, family friendly festival in a West Seattle park and an on-the-water protest by "Shell No" kayaktivists - aims to continue the message sent as the Polar Pioneer drilling rig arrived: "Stand up for the climate and say no to Shell's drilling plans."
"This weekend is another opportunity for the people to demand that their voices be heard," Alli Harvey, Alaska representative for the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, said in a statement Friday. "Science is as clear as day when it comes to drilling in the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=arctic&amp;cvid=d1e3254b61324c84bc4ec61307943e4f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Arctic</a>: the only safe place for these dirty fuels is in the ground." Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle
The gathering, hosted by a coalition of groups, is expected to draw thousands both on land and in the water. At the center of the paddle protest will be the "People's Platform," a 4,000-square-foot barge powered by renewable energy, said Jonathon Berman with the Sierra Club.


[caption id="attachment_2381694" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/kayaktivists_3big_ap.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2381694" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/kayaktivists_3big_ap-150x150.jpg" alt="Credit: AP" width="150" height="150" /></a> Credit: AP[/caption]
Just a quarter-mile away from the Seacrest Marine Park sits the 400-foot long, 300-foot tall Polar Pioneer, the first of two oil drilling rigs that Royal Dutch Shell plans to use this summer as it explores for oil off Alaska's northern coast. The second rig, the Noble Discoverer, arrived at the Port of Everett last week and is slated join the Polar Pioneer at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 5 at a later date. Everett port spokeswoman Lisa Lefeber said on Friday that they expect the Noble Discoverer to be there for two to three weeks.
The Arctic holds about 30 percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its oil, according to Shell's website.
"This amounts to around 400 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 10 times the total oil and gas produced in the North Sea to date," Shell's site says. "Developing Arctic resources could be essential to securing energy supplies for the future, but it will mean balancing economic, environmental and social challenges."
The activists see it differently, however.
The protesters say it's critical that they take a stand "against dirty fossil fuel projects" and want to put themselves on the front lines in the battle for Arctic oil.
---
Follow Martha Bellisle at <a href="https://twitter.com/marthabellisle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/marthabellisle</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle

Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle. Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell...

Carbon Dioxide

Canada Plans To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 30 Percent. Canada announced Friday it plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 amid international efforts to create a new framework for addressing climate change.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government said it formally submitted its target to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of the major climate change conference in Paris in December.
The U.S. has committed to a 26 percent to 28 percent cut by 2025 from 2005 levels. The EU has a target of 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Japan is proposing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 26 percent by 2030. China, the world's largest emitter, has not officially filed its target yet, but China did set a target for the country's emissions to peak by 2030 in a joint climate announcement with the U.S. last November.
A new international framework replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is to be discussed at the Paris conference. The anti-global warming treaty has been largely ineffective because only rich countries were required to limit their emissions. Poorer countries have been reluctant to make commitments in a new framework.
Harper pulled Canada out of the Kyoto <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/kyoto-protocol-report-card-100-percent-compliance/">Protocol</a> in 2011, saying the accord would not help solve the climate crisis. That dealt a blow to the treaty, which had not been formally renounced by any other country. The U.S. never signed up.
Canadian Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the new target is fair and ambitious and reflects the country's economic circumstances. Aglukkaq said they would introduce new regulations on methane emissions produced by the oil and gas industry as well as for natural gas-fired power generation and for the chemical and nitrogen fertilizer industries. There was no mention of new regulations for Alberta's oil sands industry, Canada's fastest growing source of emissions.
Canada might also buy international credits to meet its targets. Canada could get deductions from its counted emissions by investing in environmentally friendly projects in other countries.
Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the U.S.-based Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, said when measured against current emissions, Canada's target is roughly comparable to the U.S. and the EU targets.
"Given that Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol and that it is not on track to meet its 2020 target, Canada will have to work very hard to persuade the international community that it can deliver on its 2030 target," Diriniger said. "It would require significant effort beyond business as usual to deliver that reduction."
Environmentalists have long criticized <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/the-fall-rhapsody-in-ottawa/">Canada</a> as being an outlier on efforts to curb climate change. Harper has called Canada an emerging energy superpower and has avoided doing anything to get in the way of that.
Canada has the world's third-largest oil reserves, with more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production is expected to more than double by 2025. Only Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have more reserves. But critics say the enormous amount of energy and water needed in the extraction process increases greenhouse gas emissions. Canada Plans To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 30 Percent
Under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, Canada vowed to cut emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, but Environment Canada reported last month that the country's greenhouse gas emissions rose between 2012 and 2013 to 726 megatons. It was the fourth consecutive annual increase.
"What hopefully Paris produces is institutionalized peer pressure to hold countries accountable for their promises," Diriniger said.
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Canada Plans To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 30 Percent

Canada Plans To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 30 Percent....

Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle. Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle. Activists opposed to drilling for oil in the Arctic plan to launch a flotilla of kayaks and other boats on Seattle's Elliott Bay on Saturday, two days after the arrival of a towering <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=oil&amp;cvid=9c5744b4cba241019858b74aee1d9bf4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">oil</a> rig that is the centerpiece of Shell's Arctic drilling fleet.
The "Paddle in Seattle" - a daylong, family friendly festival in a West <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-smoke-seattle-air-dangerous/">Seattle</a> park and an on-the-water protest by "Shell No" kayaktivists - aims to continue the message sent as the Polar Pioneer drilling rig arrived: "Stand up for the climate and say no to Shell's drilling plans." Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle
"This weekend is another opportunity for the people to demand that their voices be heard," Alli Harvey, Alaska representative for the Sierra Club's Our Wild <a href="http://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/perennial-vegetables-to-grow-in-north-america/">America</a> campaign, said in a statement Friday. "Science is as clear as day when it comes to drilling in the Arctic: the only safe place for these dirty fuels is in the ground."
The gathering, hosted by a coalition of groups, is expected to draw thousands both on land and in the water. At the center of the paddle protest will be the "People's Platform," a 4,000-square-foot barge powered by renewable energy, said Jonathon Berman with the Sierra Club.


[caption id="attachment_2381694" align="alignleft" width="150"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/kayaktivists_3big_ap.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2381694" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/kayaktivists_3big_ap-150x150.jpg" alt="Credit: AP" width="150" height="150" /></a> Credit: AP[/caption]
Just a quarter-mile away from the Seacrest Marine Park sits the 400-foot long, 300-foot tall Polar Pioneer, the first of two oil drilling rigs that Royal Dutch Shell plans to use this summer as it explores for oil off Alaska's northern coast. The second rig, the Noble Discoverer, arrived at the Port of Everett last week and is slated join the Polar Pioneer at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 5 at a later date. Everett port spokeswoman Lisa Lefeber said on Friday that they expect the Noble Discoverer to be there for two to three weeks.
The Arctic holds about 30 percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its oil, according to Shell's website.
"This amounts to around 400 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 10 times the total oil and gas produced in the North Sea to date," Shell's site says. "Developing Arctic resources could be essential to securing energy supplies for the future, but it will mean balancing economic, environmental and social challenges." Kayaktivists Hold 'Shell No' Protest In Seattle
The activists see it differently, however.
The protesters say it's critical that they take a stand "against dirty fossil fuel projects" and want to put themselves on the front lines in the battle for Arctic oil.
---
Follow Martha Bellisle at <a href="https://twitter.com/marthabellisle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/marthabellisle</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

What do you do when you have 30 million young salmon ready for their big journeys downstream, but drought and development have dried your riverbeds to sauna rocks? In California this year, you give the fish a ride.
State and federal wildlife agencies in California are deploying what they say is the biggest fish-lift in the state's history through this month, rolling out convoys of tanker trucks to transport a generation of hatchery salmon downstream to the San Francisco Bay. California is locked in its driest four-year stretch on record, making the river routes that the salmon normally take to the Pacific Ocean too warm and too shallow for them to survive.
"It's huge. This is a massive effort statewide on multiple systems," said Stafford Lehr, chief of fisheries for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which since February has been rolling out four to eight 35,000-gallon tanker trucks filled with baby salmon on their freeway-drive to freedom.
"We're going to unprecedented drought," Lehr said. "We're forced to extreme measures."
Drought and heavy use of water by farms and cities have devastated key native fish in California. Last year, for example, 95 percent of the state's winter-run of Chinook salmon died. The fish is vital for California's fishing industries and for the food chain of wildlife.
For the first time, all five big government hatcheries in California's Central Valley for fall-run Chinook California salmon - a species of concern under the federal Endangered Species Act - are going to truck their young, release-ready salmon down to the Bay, rather than release them into rivers to make the trip themselves.
And California's wild native fish should pack a sandwich and something to read; they'll be spending a lot of the summer on the road too.
"Bone dry. Bone dry," said fish biologist Don Portz of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, who is six years into an effort to restore the southernmost salmon stream in the U.S., the Central Valley's San Joaquin River.
Drought, a dam and heavy use of the river's water for irrigation have dried 60 miles of the San Joaquin. For the young salmon, whose life cycle for millions of years has involved travel from the river back and forth to the San Francisco Bay, that now means a 1 1/2-hour ride down California Highway 99 in a pickup-mounted fish tank.
"You give them that taxi ride down, they make it to the ocean, and come back" in a few years for trapping and a taxi ride back up to spawning grounds, Portz said.
The rolling fish rescues occurring up and down the West Coast haven't always gone smoothly. In January, Oregon authorities charged a trucker with drunken driving after he hit a pole and flipped 11,000 juvenile salmon out on the roadway, where they died.
For some of California's native fish, the rescue from drought often is by bucket, not truck.
Near the town of Lagunitas, in Northern California's Marin County, watershed biologist Preston Brown stood ankle-high in a coastal tributary, searching for endangered California coastal Coho salmon and other, native fish. Decades ago, so many coho salmon filled the water that the noise of their jumping kept people in nearby houses up at night. On this day, Brown and his team find none.
Starting in June, months earlier than usual because of the drought, Brown and others with local environment group Salmon Protection and Watershed Network, will search the waterway. In cooperation with wildlife agencies, they will try to rescue coho and other fish stuck in drying pools of water 4- or 5 inches deep.
Sometimes, Brown said, the bucket brigades get there too late for the stranded salmon. "If they survived the raccoons" and other predators, "they dried up and died," Brown said.
Lehr, the fisheries chief, expects some individual steelhead trout in Southern California will get truck rides two or three times this summer, as parts of rivers and creeks disappear.
As a last resort, when some rivers have no pools of water left to shelter fish, wildlife officials will remove survivors to a hatchery to wait out the drought. Two such isolated native species from dried-up waterways have been living in government hatcheries since last year, snacking on flies that rangers catch in bug-zappers for them, Lehr said, and waiting for wetter times.
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California Salmon Have To Hitch A Ride Thanks To Drought

What do you do when you have 30 million young...

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Al Gore Confident In Global Climate Pact Evironmentalist and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is optimistic that world leaders will reach a crucial deal this year on fighting climate change.
Gore met Monday with French President Francois Hollande, who will be hosting a major U.N. <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate&amp;cvid=e6d446f5affb44a7a4a73a407f79e12f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">climate</a> conference in Paris on Nov. 30-Dec. 11.
After the meeting, Gore said, "this conference is the one where the world will say yes to an agreement to reduce global warming and pollution." Al Gore Confident In Global Climate Pact
Gore negotiated for the U.S. at the 1997 conference that produced the Kyoto <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/kyoto-protocol-report-card-100-percent-compliance/">Protocol</a> to reduce global warming. That treaty has been largely ineffective because it only required rich countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The Paris conference is aiming at a new, larger framework, but many differences remain about which countries should do what.
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Al Gore Confident In Global Climate Pact

Al Gore Confident In Global Climate Pact Evironmentalist and former...

Study Examines Ecological Impact Of Sea-Ice Changes.The grounding of a giant iceberg in Antarctica has provided a unique real-life experiment that has revealed the vulnerability of marine ecosystems to sudden changes in sea-ice cover.

UNSW Australia scientists have found that within just three years of the iceberg becoming stuck in Commonwealth Bay - an event which dramatically increased sea-ice cover in the bay - almost all of the seaweed on the sea floor had decomposed, or become discoloured or bleached due to lack of light.

"Understanding the ecological effect of changes in sea-ice is vital for understanding the future impacts of climate change, but it is impossible to manipulate sea-ice at the scale we need to conduct experiments," says the study's lead author, UNSW's Dr Graeme Clark.

"Luckily, the grounding of an iceberg in Commonwealth Bay in 2010 provided us with a perfect natural experiment to carry out research on this important issue.

"Historically, the winds coming down from the Antarctic ice cap have kept the bay free of sea-ice for most of the year. But since the massive iceberg got stuck, the bay has been covered in sea-ice several metres thick, all year round," he says.

The study is published in the journal Polar Biology.

The scientists travelled to Commonwealth Bay in the east of the continent in December 2013, as part of the UNSW-led Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014, which retraced the route of Sir Douglas Mawson's scientific expedition a century before.

Dr Clark and team member, Dr Ezequiel Marzinelli, drilled through the sea ice in the bay and used underwater cameras to survey the seabed.

The UNSW team, led by Professor Emma Johnston, also examined the historical records made by Sir Douglas Mawson, who established his research station in Commonwealth Bay. Mawson's expedition used dredge hauls to survey the bay, which was then rarely covered in ice, in five locations during a two-year period from 1912 to 1913.

The UNSW researchers also compared their survey results with footage taken in the area in 2008 by underwater photographer Erwan Amice.

"After three years of sea-ice cover, the forests of healthy seaweeds that previously dominated the seabed were in a severe state of decline," says Professor Johnston, of the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Study Examines Ecological Impact Of Sea-Ice Changes

"About three quarters were decomposing, while the remainder were discoloured or bleached. However, darkness-adapted vertebrates such as brittle stars and fan worms were starting to colonise the bay."

Dr Marzinelli says: "This is the first time a shift from an algae-dominated ecosystem to an invertebrate-dominated one has been observed with a known start date. Continued sampling at the site would allow the rate at which this transition is occurring to be worked out."

Sea-ice not only affects how much light reaches the animals and plants living on the seabed, it regulates the amount of disturbance from drifting icebergs that scour the bottom, and determines the amount of detritus and vegetation that settles there.

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<a href="http://www.unsw.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of New South Wales</a>

Study Examines Ecological Impact Of Sea-Ice Changes

Study Examines Ecological Impact Of Sea-Ice Changes.The grounding of a...

Arctic OffShore Drilling

Arctic Drilling Protesters Block Oil Rig Entry Into Seattle Port. A few hundred critics of oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean blocked the entrances Monday to a seaport terminal in Seattle, where Royal Dutch Shell's massive floating oil rig will be loaded up before heading to the waters off Alaska this summer.
Protesters holding banners and flags marched across a bridge to Terminal 5, temporarily closing the road during Monday morning's commute. Once at the terminal, they spread out across the entrances.
Organizers say they plan to engage in civil disobedience to stop work on the drill rig, the latest protest of the 400-foot Polar Pioneer's arrival in Seattle. Protesters greeted the rig Thursday and then hundreds of activists in kayaks and other vessels turned out Saturday for a protest dubbed the "Paddle in Seattle."
Shell, which hopes to use the rig to explore for oil off Alaska's northwest coast, said it was planning to release a statement Monday.
Police say arrests are possible, but they expect the demonstration to be peaceful. A few dozen officers followed the march on foot and bicycle and kept watch at the terminal.
There were minimal operations at Terminal 5 "so there's not much to block," Port of Seattle spokesman Peter McGraw said. The operator of Terminal 18, a major hub of port activity where the march began, closed those gates in anticipation of the demonstration, he said.
Officials have been urging people to exercise their First Amendment rights safely, and "that's what we've been seeing so far," McGraw said.
The activists say they are concerned about the risk of an oil spill in the remote Arctic waters and the effects that tapping new frontiers of oil and gas reserves will have on global warming. Officials in Alaska have touted the economic benefits that drilling could bring there and to the Pacific Northwest.
On Monday, protesters of all ages sang, rapped and danced at the vehicle gate of Terminal 5. They chanted and held signs saying "Climate Justice For All" and "You Shell Not Pass."
Lisa Marcus, 58, a musician who participated in Saturday's protest, turned up with her "Love the planet" sign for another day of activism Monday.
"We've got to wake up" to the dangers of human-caused climate change, she said, ticking off a list of environmental problems that the world is facing. "Shell is trying to make it worse and that's not acceptable."
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Arctic Drilling Protesters Block Oil Rig Entry Into Seattle Port

Arctic Drilling Protesters Block Oil Rig Entry Into Seattle Port....

Global Warming And Population Shift Combining As The Perfect Heat Storm. The combination of global warming and shifting population means that by mid-century, there will be a huge increase in the number of Americans sweating through days that are extremely hot, a new study says.
People are migrating into areas - especially in the South - where the heat is likely to increase more, said the authors of a study published Monday by the journal Nature Climate Change. The study highlighted the Houston-Dallas-San Antonio and Atlanta-Charlotte-Raleigh corridors as the places where the double whammy looks to be the biggest. Global Warming And Population Shift Combining As The Perfect Heat Storm
"It's not just the climate that is changing in the future," said study co-author Linda Mearns, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. "It is many things: how many people and where people are that affects their exposure to climate changes."
In a unique study looking at the interplay of projected changes in climate and population, scientists tried to characterize the number of people who will feel temperatures of 95 degrees or higher and how often they will feel it. They used a figure called person days for the extreme heat to reflect both the length of time heat waves continued and how many people felt it by multiplying people affected by how many days they felt the heat.
Between 1970 and 2000, the U.S. averaged about 2.3 billion person days of extreme heat each year. But between 2040 and 2070 that number will be between 10 and 14 billion person days a year, according to the study.
The biggest projected increases in person days is the Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas census region where by mid-century heat exposure will increase by 2.7 billion person days. Right behind is south Atlantic region of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., where heat exposure is projected to increase by 2.2 billion person days. New England gets off the easiest with an increase of only 71 million person days.
The scientists used 11 different climate models based on current trends of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions and matched those with demographic trends. Both the increased heat and population shifts had about equal effects but together they made matters even worse, said lead author Bryan Jones, a population geographer at the City University of New York. Global Warming And Population Shift Combining As The Perfect Heat Storm
The question is, will be people adapt by changing their lifestyle, such as staying indoors and using more air conditioning, or will they move to cooler climates. Jones said it is unlikely that people will move to cooler areas to escape the heat, saying historically people tend to move away from colder areas and into warmer areas like Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.
The scientists chose a threshold of 95 degrees because "at 95 people really, really start feeling it," Mearns said. "Even in a dry climate and I'm sitting here in Boulder, Colorado."
Several outside scientists praised the study. University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said the problem is likely even worse when you take into consideration the fact that cities get hotter than rural areas.
--
Online:
Nature Climate Change: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nature.com/nclimate</a>
---
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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Global Warming And Population Shift Combining As The Perfect Heat Storm

Global Warming And Population Shift Combining As The Perfect Heat...

Pouring Water Into Glass On Blue Background

California Expands Efforts To Protect Drinking Water. California regulators on Monday expanded their list of thousands of state-permitted oil and gas wells where below-ground injections may be contaminating drinking-water reserves.
State water officials already have acknowledged that improperly permitted oilfield operations have contaminated underground aquifers that are federally protected because they hold current or potential sources of drinking water.
An ongoing state review ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yet to break that down into whether any Californian is drinking contaminated water as a result of the improperly authorized oilfield operations, a state water official said.
"We don't really know yet," and the answer "is not going to be tomorrow," John Borkovich, chief of the state water board's groundwater monitoring section, told reporters. "There's a lot of data to collect."
The review by state oil and gas regulators identified in 2014 more than 2,500 oilfield wells that were injecting brine and other production and waste fluids into the federally protected water aquifers. State regulators this year and last ordered oil companies to shut 23 central California oilfield injection wells - 22 in Kern County and one in Tulare County - that officials said posed the biggest potential threat to nearby public water wells.
On Monday, regulators released a state letter sent Friday to the U.S. EPA identifying an additional 30 oilfield injection sites as high-priority potential risks to nearby water wells. State officials told reporters they believed many or all of the threatened water wells were not currently being used for drinking water or irrigation, however.
Unlike in the previous 23 oilfield operations closed by emergency state orders, regulators will wait for the oil companies in charge of those 30 drilling sites to completely assess the threat to local water wells before officials decide whether to shut those immediately as well.
For the first time, state regulators also disclosed that regulators have allowed 3,604 oil-industry wells to carry out cyclic-steam injection - a production method that repeatedly injects steam underground at high pressure -outside the approved boundaries of oilfields.
Environmental groups and some state lawmakers contend those cyclic-steam injection wells are illegal. In an email, Steven Bohlen, state oil and gas supervisor, said it was doubtful those 3,604 wells would raise any additional concerns about groundwater because they were injecting into underground areas that already contained hydrocarbon.
Bohlen added that "a higher level of scrutiny on such wells may be called for in the future."
Federal officials have approved a state timeline that would stop all oilfield injection into federally protected water aquifers in <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/tule-fog-across-californias-central-valley/">California</a> by February 2017.
"We are making good progress in addressing concerns about water quality that we all share," said Bohlen. California Expands Efforts To Protect Drinking Water
Some environmental organizations want the state to stop all oilfield injection into federally protected water aquifers immediately.
"I think it's remarkable that the extent of this crisis just keeps growing and yet state officials are doing essentially nothing to address it," said Kassie Siegel, senior counsel at the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity. "The commonsense first step is to stop the ongoing damage."
California is the country's third-biggest petroleum-producing state. Injection wells are involved in up to 85 percent of the state's production, the oil industry says.
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California Expands Efforts To Protect Drinking Water

California Expands Efforts To Protect Drinking Water. California regulators on...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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



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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://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



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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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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