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...

Exxon Shareholders Consider Voting in Climate Change Expert. Shareholders are considering whether Exxon Mobil should put a climate-change expert on its board.
That is one of several environmental and company-governance resolutions on the agenda at the oil giant's annual meeting Wednesday in <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/the-city-of-houston-from-space/">Dallas</a>.


[caption id="attachment_2381921" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/exxon-CEO_AP.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2381921" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/exxon-CEO_AP-300x200.jpg" alt="FILE - In this March 27, 2015 file photo, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the National Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washington. The oil industry is ready to safely tap the oil and gas in the U.S. Arctic, despite the risks and the industrys history of mishaps, Tillerson said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)" width="300" height="200" /></a> FILE - In this March 27, 2015 file photo, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson delivers remarks on the release of a report by the National Petroleum Council on oil drilling in the Arctic, in Washington. The oil industry is ready to safely tap the oil and gas in the U.S. Arctic, despite the risks and the industrys history of mishaps, Tillerson said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)[/caption]
CEO Rex Tillerson gave a stay-the-course outlook for the company, which has seen profits decline recently with lower prices for crude oil.
Tillerson has said that oil prices will remain low over the next two years because of large<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=global&amp;cvid=1ba0687ba6cb462aabdf27870e010004&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> global</a> supplies and weak economic growth.
Exxon has completed more than a dozen major projects in the past three years and expects an equal number to begin production through 2017. The company is paring back on capital spending as those projects are completed - from $38.5 billion last year to $34 billion this year and less in 2016 and 2017.
Shareholders were scheduled to vote on several resolutions advanced by stock owners, including one to require a company report on hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the process of using chemicals and water under high pressure to break up underground rock formations. A similar proposal has been defeated previously.
An organization of Catholic priests in Milwaukee proposed to put a climate-change expert on the board, saying that would help the company address a poor environmental image. The Exxon board opposed the resolution, saying several board members have engineering and scientific backgrounds and can handle climate issues.
Michael Crosby, the resolution's sponsor, said that Exxon is fixated on oil and gas and isn't paying enough attention to renewable energy and climate change.
"This company has to be making plans for the future," he said. "Let's get an expert on the board to deal with a critical question."
Others proposed that Exxon Mobil set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its products, such as gasoline. Vermont state treasurer Beth Pearce said institutional investors are growing more concerned about the topic, and Exxon management's strategy for diversifying its production beyond oil and gas has been "wholly inadequate."
Tillerson responded that models predicting the effects of global warming aren't very good and that it would be very hard for the world to meet aggressive emission-reduction targets. He said technology can help deal with rising sea levels or changing weather patterns "that may or may not be induced by climate change."
"Mankind has this enormous capacity to deal with adversity," Tillerson said. "I know that is an unsatisfactory answer to a lot of people."
Tillerson repeated his long-held view that renewable energy is not economical yet, adding, "We choose not to lose money on purpose." Shareholders in the hall broke into applause.
Exxon earned $32.5 billion last year, down less than 1 percent from 2013. However, oil prices fell by about half in late 2014, and Exxon's profit in the first quarter of 2015 tumbled 46 percent compared with the same period in 2014, although it still earned $4.9 billion.
Exxon Mobil shares were down 25 cents to $85.10 in midday trading Wednesday. Its shares are down 16 percent over the past year.
---
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Exxon Shareholders Consider Voting in Climate Change Expert

Exxon Shareholders Consider Voting in Climate Change Expert. Shareholders are...

Farmers in Washington are Dumping Surplus of Apples. A record crop of apples, coupled with the West Coast port slowdown earlier this year, is taking a toll on Washington apple growers.
Nearly $100 million worth of apples that cannot be sold have been dumped into fields across central Washington, the nation's most productive apple region. The apples are being left to rot and compost in the hot sun, an unusual occurrence for an industry that has found ways to market ever-growing crops.
"If we wouldn't have had the port slowdown, we wouldn't have needed this," Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission in Wenatchee, said of the dumping.
He estimated that apple exporters lost at least three weeks of their season because of labor problems at West Coast ports. Along with a record supply of apples, that created surpluses that could not be shipped profitably to markets or processors, Fryhover said.
"It is unusual," Fryhover said.
The Washington State Tree Fruit Association estimated $95 million in lost sales because of apples that could not ship, a figure Fryhover considers low.
Washington is by far the nation's largest producer of apples, a crop worth about $2 billion a year to the state's farmers. The 2014 crop totaled a record 150 million boxes, which weigh about 40 pounds each. About a third of the apples each year are exported to more than 60 countries.


[caption id="attachment_2381971" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Seattle-Port_AP.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2381971" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2015/05/Seattle-Port_AP-300x179.jpg" alt="In this photo taken Feb. 6, 2015, container ships sit moored at a dock at the Port of Seattle during a slowdown in work there in a labor dispute, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)" width="300" height="179" /></a> In this photo taken Feb. 6, 2015, container ships sit moored at a dock at the Port of Seattle during a slowdown in work there in a labor dispute, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)[/caption]
The labor dispute that hobbled international trade through West Coast seaports earlier this year didn't officially end until last week, when the union representing dockworkers announced its members had ratified a five-year contract. Union leaders had reached a tentative deal in February with the companies that own massive oceangoing ships that bring cargo to and from ports and operate the terminals where that cargo is loaded and unloaded.
Ports from San Diego to Seattle were all but shut down several months ago as the two sides haggled. Companies that accused workers of coordinated slowdowns decided to cut their shifts, shuttering ports on nights and weekends.
The tit-for-tat led to long lines of ships queueing outside of harbors, waiting for space at the docks.
Meanwhile, U.S. exporters complained that their goods - including apples - were stuck on the docks as foreign competitors filled orders that should be theirs. Farmers in Washington are Dumping Surplus of Apples
The ports dispute created numerous problems for farmers. A big issue is that apples loaded into unrefrigerated containers sat on docks for weeks waiting to be loaded on a ship, Fryhover said.
"It is a perishable crop," he said.
The record crop also created a shortage of refrigerated storage space for the apples, which normally can be stored for months and sold year round.
The result is lots of apples became too ripe even to be diverted to juice and applesauce makers and other processors, Fryhover said. And prices for processor apples are so low - $10 to $30 a ton - that they do not cover shipping costs, he said.
The easiest way to get rid of culled apples is to dump them in fields, he said.
That hasn't happened often in the past, but it doesn't create any special problems for the industry, he said.
"These are apples," Fryhover said. "We're not throwing our TVs out. They don't harm the environment."
---
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Farmers in Washington are Dumping Surplus of Apples

Farmers in Washington are Dumping Surplus of Apples. A record...

Despite Control Efforts, Houston Flooding No Surprise. The flooding, property damage and loss of life as torrential rains this week hit the Houston area should be no surprise.
"It happens fairly frequently," said Sam Brody, director of Texas A&amp;M University's Center for Beaches and Shores. "Houston is the No. 1 city in America to be injured and die in a flood." Despite Control Efforts, Houston Flooding No Surprise
The Harris County Flood Control District, the agency working in recent years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on hundreds of millions of dollars in projects to ease the flooding impact, has been around since 1937, itself a product of catastrophic flooding two years earlier.
"Houston is so vulnerable," Brody, who's been studying the issue for 15 years, said Wednesday. "There's very little topography. They've added hundreds of miles of pavement and can't keep up with all the positive initiatives. ... So we get these floods."
Brody and two co-authors, in a 2011 book about flooding causes and consequences, used federal weather and health statistics to quantify fatalities in<a href="http://www.earth.com/video/earth-from-space-houston-texas/"> Texas</a> and Houston, where most deaths over the years have occurred when motorists become trapped in flooded underpasses, he said.
Flood control efforts on Buffalo Bayou alone, one of several that meander throughout the nation's fourth-largest city, have cost a half-billion dollars over the past decade. They've included bridge replacements, and the addition of detention ponds for rain runoff and green spaces that serve as parks in normal times.
Experts, however, say flood control has been offset by the population boom around Houston, one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, and a Texas tradition of strong personal property and land use rights that mean fewer regulations.
"Houston may be doing things to try to improve ... but there's a long history of pre-existing stuff that is still there," said Walter Peacock, an urban planning professor at Texas A&amp;M and director of the school's Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center.
"Think about every time you put in a road, a mall and you add concrete, you've lost the ability of rain to get into the soil and you've lost that permeability," Peacock said. "It's now impermeable. And therefore you get more runoff."
The region's serious flood history goes back nearly to Houston's founding in 1836. That's when two New York real estate brokers, brothers John and Augustus Allen, sold people on the idea of a establishing a town at the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous, or precisely where cars Tuesday were buried in water on an entrance to Interstate 45.
The Houston flood was recorded in 1843. The flood district's 20th-century timeline shows three dozen floods of note.
"Bottom line is, we live on the Texas Gulf Coast and we have a lot of low-lying area, and we have to deal with that," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's top administrator.
This week's flooding was labeled historic, but the devastation from Hurricane Ike in 2008, primarily a wind event, and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 was exponentially worse.
Allison is the storm of recent record in Houston; it left behind $5 billion in damages and flooded wide swaths of the city, including downtown and the famed Texas Medical Center.
FEMA reported Allison dumped 32 trillion gallons of water. Early estimates for this week's storm are about 162 billion gallons, with about 4,000 homes reporting damage. In Allison, 73,000 homes were damaged, plus 95,000 cars and trucks. Thirty people died in the Houston area, including 22 in Harris County. The death count Wednesday here was seven. About 2,500 cars were abandoned.
Even though Houston is 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, any flood control efforts are under the specter of possible rising sea levels that will bring "ongoing consequences" for rivers and canals, Peacock said.
New Orleans, no stranger to flooding, is seen as especially susceptible to rising sea levels. The Louisiana coast has been steadily eroding, losing 1,900 square miles since the 1930s, and making the area more vulnerable to storms such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2012, Louisiana officials announced an ambitious $50 billion, 50-year proposal to stop coastal land loss and build new levee systems to protect vulnerable cities.
Similarly, sea levels along hurricane-prone Florida's coastline are rising faster than previously measured, according to federal estimates, and are blamed for increasingly frequent nuisance flooding from Jacksonville to Key West. As a result, environmental conservation projects aren't keeping up with the accelerated pace of the sea level rise.
---
Associated Press reporters Rebecca Santana in New Orleans and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this story.
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Despite Control Efforts, Houston Flooding No Surprise

Despite Control Efforts, Houston Flooding No Surprise. The flooding, property...

Earthquake Alaska

Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Strikes Alaska. A strong earthquake struck in a remote region off the Alaska coast, but there was no threat of tsunami or immediate reports of damage, officials said.
The magnitude-6.7 quake struck at 11 p.m. Thursday and was centered in the ocean about 35 miles beneath the seabed and some 400 miles southwest of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=anchorage&amp;cvid=006d9bd1c1264156b79d4d8bfac7646f&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Anchorage</a>, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It hit a remote and lightly populated Aleutian Island region.
The temblor was felt on the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/dust-streams-over-the-gulf-of-alaska/">Alaska</a> Peninsula and Kodiak Island, more than 100 miles away.
The "earthquake lasted a minute - max," Kodiak resident Don Roberts told the Kodiak Daily Mirror (<a href="http://bit.ly/1eDdSvE" target="-blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bit.ly/1eDdSvE</a> ). "We're up for the next two hours talking about it." Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Strikes Alaska
The police dispatch office in Kodiak says the quake was felt at the station, but it received no reports of damage. Alaska is by far the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the next three largest states <a title="Texas" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas">Texas</a>, California, and Montana combined, and the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and the most sparsely populated state, but by far the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the <a title="60th parallel north" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_parallel_north">60th parallel</a>, with an estimated population of 738,432 as of 2015—more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and <a title="Greenland" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland">Greenland</a>. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. The state capital of <a title="Juneau, Alaska" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneau,_Alaska">Juneau</a> is the second-largest city in the United States by area, comprising more territory than the states of <a title="Rhode Island" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island">Rhode Island</a> and <a title="Delaware" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware">Delaware</a>.
Several aftershocks of magnitude-3.0 or greater followed the larger shaking, the Geological Survey said.
There is no tsunami danger, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.
---
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Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Strikes Alaska

Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Strikes Alaska. A strong earthquake struck in...

Post Oil Cleanup, SoCal Beaches Could Reopen For the Weekend. A 7-mile stretch of Southern California coastline that was closed to swimmers and surfers after globs of oily goo washed ashore could reopen Friday after a two-day cleanup effort.
Officials were assessing the popular beaches on Santa Monica Bay and would make a decision by midday, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Michael Anderson said.
Workers scooped up truckloads - about 30 cubic yards - of sandy tar balls and patties that began washing up Wednesday but had mostly dissipated by Thursday.
"We've made significant progress," Anderson said. "We estimate 90 percent of what we saw on the beach on Wednesday has been recovered." Post Oil Cleanup, SoCal Beaches Could Reopen For the Weekend
U.S. Coast Guard and state officials said samples of tar and water would be analyzed to identify where the material originated, but it could take days to get the results.
There is a refinery and offshore oil tanker terminal nearby but the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=coast+guard&amp;cvid=a533cbb80f4b412080887a020fc740ba&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Coast Guard</a> did not find a sheen from a possible spill after the tar started to accumulate. There is also a major shipping channel in the area.
Nothing has been ruled out, including last week's oil spill that dumped thousands of gallons of crude along the Santa Barbara County coast about 100 miles to the northwest. Two beaches there have been closed until at least June 4. Post Oil Cleanup, SoCal Beaches Could Reopen For the Weekend
The environmentalist group Heal The Bay worried that the shoreline from Manhattan Beach to Redondo Beach would reopen too soon.
"From a human health perspective, exposure through skin contact is a concern," the group said in a statement.
Someone dropped off an oil-covered loon at a wildlife center in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/iceberg-breaks-off-antarctica/">Manhattan Beach</a>, but it's not clear exactly where the bird or the oil came from, the Coast Guard said. No other wildlife issues have been reported. The loon is expected to recover and be released back into the wild.
Lifeguards chased a handful of surfers out of the water Thursday at Manhattan Beach, but beach life was otherwise normal for people exercising, playing volleyball, skating and riding bikes along the shore.
"I got a couple waves in and then they came by again and told me to get out," said Scott Berk, who regularly surfs waves in the area.
He said surfers are used to seeing bits of tar in the water and on the shore from natural seafloor seepage, but the amount that came in Wednesday was concerning.
"I hope they clean it up quickly," he said.
Public health officials told people to avoid contact with the water, wet sand or any material that washed up in the area.
---
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Post Oil Cleanup, SoCal Beaches Could Reopen For the Weekend

Post Oil Cleanup, SoCal Beaches Could Reopen For the Weekend....

Senegal Is Latest To Ban Thin Plastic Shopping Bags. At a market in Senegal's capital, the sandy paths are strewn with them. They blow around like feathers in Dakar's coastal breezes, piling up alongside buildings on city streets and clogging canals.
Thin plastic shopping bags, and pieces of them, litter this seaside capital and the nearby waters of the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=atlantic+ocean&amp;cvid=f338844e166a488090284ed9a31f2f73&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Atlantic Ocean</a>. The number of discarded bags is staggering - a total of 5 million in Senegal, according to Environment Minister Abdoulaye Balde.
Now, the government is set to impose a ban, joining a global shift against the bags.
Street vendors wonder how they will do business without them. Dauda Ndiaye sells hundreds of plastic bags a day to other vendors, who sell fish, meat and other goods in the Ouakam neighborhood. For 500 francs (about $1), a customer can buy a packet of 100.
Banning the bags will "be a huge problem because all the vendors here use plastic to sell nuts, glass, meat, fruit and vegetables," said Ndiaye, a 23-year-old father of three. "If they are going to ban plastic, I won't be able to feed my family."
Another merchant, Ami Ndiaye, says she must keep using plastic to protect the charcoal she sells wrapped in small paper rolls which are then neatly piled into plastic.
"The problem isn't the plastic, it's the people," she said. "People must put it in the garbage and not on the streets so animals don't eat it and it doesn't pile up."
But Pascaline Ouedraego fully supports the measures, saying she worries about chemicals from the sacks getting into the food she buys. She moved to Senegal four years ago from Burkina Faso, which adopted a ban.
"The problem is no one understands what else to use, so it's been difficult," she said of Burkina Faso. "Little by little people can learn" to use safer alternative products, like paper and reusable bags.
In April, Senegal's National Assembly unanimously prohibited the production, importation, possession and use of the black bags that are so thin they can barely hold several cans of soda without falling apart and are usually discarded after one use. Implementation was planned for six months later.
In 2013, Mauritania imposed a ban, saying an estimated 70 percent of cattle and sheep in the capital were dying from ingesting plastic bags, according to the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute. Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi are also among countries that have adopted or announced bans, according to the institute. Botswana and South Africa require a certain thickness of plastic bags, so they can be reused, and added levies saw a reduction in use, the institute added.
Rwanda banned the use of non-biodegradable plastic at a certain thickness in 2008 and carries out strict enforcement, including taking plastic off of luggage and seizing bags that don't meet specifications from visitors flying into the country.
In France this week, the National Assembly approved a bill that would ban plastic bags in all supermarkets and stores on January 1, 2016. And in April, The European Parliament approved rules to clamp down on the use of flimsy plastic bags, removing the last major hurdle to pass the legislation. It would require member states to reduce the use by some 80 percent by 2025.
The U.S. is seeing most bans imposed on local levels, by cities and counties.
Senegal's government hasn't announced details on how it will enact the bans, but said alternative solutions to the flimsy bags will have to be found. The discarded bags are an eyesore, shredded and hanging in trees and beautiful flowering branches. And they are a danger to fish, sheep and other animals that may ingest the bags and their toxins.
Modou Fall, who has dedicated himself to getting Senegalese to stop littering and quit using plastic bags, is optimistic about the ban, though he notes that garbage bins are needed around the city so people can properly dispose of trash.
Clad in more than 7,000 thin plastic sacks and a dome cap made from 100 plastic cups stapled together, the tall 42-year-old is a familiar, although bizarre, sight in Dakar. Wearing the plastic items that he gathered from the streets and cleaned, he looks like a creature that emerged from a swamp, the litter clinging to him. Senegal Is Latest To Ban Thin Plastic Shopping Bags
He walks 15 kilometers (9 miles) every day, urging people over a microphone and speaker to stop littering and to switch to paper bags that he sells. He pushes a cart with two Senegalese flags protruding from it and speakers playing military music.
Fall buys bulk paper sacks from a factory and sells about 1,000 per day, including to a pharmacy and other stores.
"Plastic sticks around for hundreds of years, beyond anyone's lifetime," he said. "We must think of future generations."
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Senegal Is Latest To Ban Thin Plastic Shopping Bags

Senegal Is Latest To Ban Thin Plastic Shopping Bags. At...

May 2015 Has Been A Month Of Global Extreme Weather. Even for a world getting used to extreme weather, May seems stuck on strange.
Torrential downpours in Texas that have whiplashed the region from drought to flooding. A heat wave that has killed more than 1,800 people in India. Record 91-degree readings in Alaska, of all places. A pair of top-of-the-scale typhoons in the Northwest <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/noumea-in-the-south-pacific-archipelago-of-new-caledonia/">Pacific.</a> And a drought taking hold in the East. May 2015 Has Been A Month Of Global Extreme Weather
"Mother Nature keeps throwing us crazy stuff," Rutgers University <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate+change&amp;cvid=dad26286b65146e9bba9e6f83923f50e&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">climate</a> scientist Jennifer Francis says. "It's just been one thing after another."
Jerry Meehl, an extreme-weather expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, points out that May is usually a pretty extreme month, with lots of tornadoes and downpours. Even so, he says, this has been "kind of unusually intense."
The word "stuck" provides one possible explanation.
Francis, Meehl and some other meteorologists say the jet stream is in a rut, not moving nasty weather along. The high-speed, constantly shifting river of air 30,000 feet above Earth normally guides storms around the globe, but sometimes splits and comes back together somewhere else.
A stuck jet stream, with a bit of a split, explains the extremes in Texas, India, Alaska and the U.S. East, but not the typhoons, Francis says.
Other possible factors contributing to May's wild weather: the periodic warming of the central Pacific known as El Nino, climate change and natural variability, scientists say.
Texas this month has received a record statewide average of 8 inches of rain and counting. Some parts of the Lone Star State and Oklahoma have gotten more than a foot and a half since May 1. The two states have gone from exceptional drought to flooding in just four weeks.
Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon attributes the heavy rainfall to an unusually southern fork in the jet stream, a stuck stationary front and El Nino, and says the downpours have probably been made slightly worse by <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=climate+change&amp;cvid=dad26286b65146e9bba9e6f83923f50e&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">climate change.</a>
For every degree Celsius the air is warmer, it can hold 7 percent more moisture. That, Nielsen-Gammon says, "is supplying more juice to the event."
While it is too early to connect one single event to man-made warming, scientific literature shows "that when it rains hard, it rains harder than it did 20 to 30 years ago," says University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.
As bad as the Texas flooding has been, the heat wave in India has been far worse - in fact, the world's fifth-deadliest since 1900, with reports of the 100-degree-plus heat even buckling roads. And it's a consequence of the stuck jet stream, according to Francis and Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters.
When climate scientists look at what caused extreme events - a complex and time-consuming process that hasn't been done yet - heat waves are the ones most definitely connected to global warming, Shepherd says.
The stuck jet stream has kept Alaska on bake, with the town of Eagle hitting 91, the earliest Alaska has had a temperature pushing past 90, Masters says.
And on the other end of the country, New York; Boston; Hartford, Connecticut; Albany, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; and Concord, New Hampshire, all have received less than an inch of rain this month and are flirting with setting monthly records for drought, he says.
El Nino is known to change the weather worldwide, often making things more extreme. This El Nino is itself weird. It was long predicted but came far later and weaker than expected. So experts dialed back their forecasts. Then El Nino got stronger quickly.
Some scientists have theorized that the jet stream has been changing in recent years because of shrinking Arctic sea ice, an idea that has not totally been accepted but is gaining ground, Shepherd says.
Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, likens what's happening to a stewpot: Natural climate fluctuations such as El Nino go into it. So do jet stream meanderings, random chance, May being a transition month, and local variability. Then throw in the direct and indirect effects of climate change.
"We know that the stew has an extra ingredient," Hayhoe says, referring to climate change. "That ingredient is very strong. Sometimes you add one teaspoon of the wrong ingredient and boy, it can take your head off."
---
Seth Borenstein can be followed at <a href="http://twitter.com/borenbears" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/borenbears</a>
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May 2015 Has Been A Month Of Global Extreme Weather

May 2015 Has Been A Month Of Global Extreme Weather....

Republicans Vow To Reverse Obama's Course On <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/breakthrough-may-greatly-improve-the-production-of-clean-water/">Clean Water</a> And Global Warming. The Obama administration says a new federal rule regulating small streams and wetlands will protect the drinking water of more than 117 million people in the country.
Not so, insist <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=Republicans&amp;cvid=242dd1c2a7cb4f37805555fd05539e13&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Republicans</a>. They say the rule is a massive government overreach that could even subject puddles and ditches to regulation. Republicans Vow To Reverse Obama's Course
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is promising to "rein in" the government through legislation or other means. Republicans Vow To Reverse Obama's Course On Clean Water
It's a threat with a familiar ring.
What else are Capito and other Republicans pledging to try to block?
- the administration's plan to curb carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.
- its proposal for stricter limits on smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness
- a separate rule setting the first national standards for waste generated from coal burned for electricity.
The rules are among a host of regulations that majority Republicans have targeted for repeal or delay as they confront President Barack Obama on a second-term priority: his environmental legacy, especially his efforts to reduce the pollution linked to global warming.
---
WHAT HAS OBAMA PROPOSED?
Last June, Obama rolled out a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, setting in motion one of the most significant U.S. actions ever to address global warming. Once completed this summer, the rule will set the first national limits on carbon dioxide from existing power plants, the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S.
The administration says the rule is expected to raise electricity prices by about 4.9 percent by 2020 and spur a wave of retirements of coal-fired power plants.
The administration also has moved forward on other rules, including the water plan announced last Wednesday. Officials say it will provide much-needed clarity for landowners about which small waterways and tributaries must be protected against pollution and development.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, said the rule only would affect waters with a "direct and significant" connection to larger bodies of water downstream that already are protected.
The administration has proposed stricter emissions limits on smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness. Rather than settling on a firm new ozone limit, the EPA is proposing a range of allowable ozone levels that cut the existing level but do not go as far as environmental and public health groups want. The rule is expected to be completed later this year.
In December, the administration set the first national standards for waste generated from coal burned for electricity, treating it more like household garbage than a hazardous material. Environmentalists had pushed for the hazardous classification, citing hundreds of cases nationwide in which coal ash waste has tainted waterways or underground aquifers, in many cases legally.
The coal industry wanted the less stringent classification, arguing that coal ash is not dangerous, and that a hazardous label would hinder recycling. About 40 percent of coal ash is reused.
---
WHAT DO REPUBLICANS SAY ABOUT THE RULES?
GOP lawmakers criticize the rules as anti-business job killers that go further than needed to protect the nation's air and water supplies and other natural resources.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the new water rule will send "landowners, small businesses, farmers and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell."
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Obama and the EPA are "aggressively pushing an extreme and costly regulatory agenda" that will harm the U.S. economy and everyday life of Americans. His committee "continues to pursue legislation to take aim at EPA's costly and harmful regulations," Inhofe said.
---
WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO CONGRESSIONAL OPPONENTS?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has led the charge against the power plant rule, which he says amounts to a declaration of war against his home state, a longtime leader in coal production.
McConnell wrote the 50 governors in March urging them not to comply with the rule, which requires implementation by the states. McConnell has encouraged legal challenges to the rule and recently announced a new wrinkle, telling the EPA's McCarthy that Congress could block the plan by using an obscure section of the Clean Air Act requiring congressional consent for agreements among states.
"The law reads: `No such agreement or compact shall be binding or obligatory upon any state ... unless and until it has been approved by Congress,'" McConnell told McCarthy at an April hearing. "Doesn't seem ambivalent to me. I can assure you that as long as I am majority leader of the Senate, this body will not sign off on any backdoor national energy tax."
---
WHAT'S NEXT?
<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coal-plants-closed-trump/">Obama</a>, McCarthy and officials are not backing down. At the April hearing, McCarthy told McConnell that the EPA guidelines are reasonable and give states "tremendous flexibility."
The EPA will produce a rule "that will withstand the test of time in the courts," McCarthy said.
"You're going to have to prove it in court," McConnell said.
"As we most often do," McCarthy replied.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate will continue to hold hearings on the administration's plans and push bills to block the rules or curb spending on them. The GOP-controlled House passed a bill blocking the EPA water rule on May 12 - two weeks before it was officially announced. Bills to block the power plant rule, ozone limits and coal ash regulation have been filed in both chambers.
"We are going to pursue all avenues," McConnell told The Associated Press. "The solution is not right here (in Congress), it's out there - either in the courts or the governors refusing to file plans."
This week, the EPA is expected to propose regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks, cutting millions of tons of carbon dioxide pollution while saving millions of barrels of oil.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said in all its actions, the agency is merely fulfilling its mission to protect the environment.
"Clean air and clean water should not be a political issue," she said. "All sides of the aisle want a clean and safe planet for their children and future generations. We are just doing our jobs - as Congress has directed us, and as courts have affirmed for us - to protect public health and the environment."
---
Follow Matthew Daly: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
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Republicans Vow To Reverse Obama's Course

Republicans Vow To Reverse Obama's Course On Clean Water And...

The Ebb And Flow Of Greenland's Glaciers. In northwestern Greenland, glaciers flow from the main ice sheet to the ocean in see-sawing seasonal patterns. The ice generally flows faster in the summer than in winter, and the ends of glaciers, jutting out into the ocean, also advance and retreat with the seasons.

Now, a new analysis shows some important connections between these seasonal patterns, sea ice cover and longer-term trends. Glaciologists hope the findings, accepted for publication in the June issue of the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface and available online now, will help them better anticipate how a warming Greenland will contribute to sea level rise.

"Rising sea level can be hard on coastal communities, with higher storm surges, greater flooding and saltwater encroachment on freshwater," said lead author Twila Moon, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). NSIDC is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"We know that sea level will go up in the future," Moon said. "The challenge is to understand how quickly it will rise, and one element of that is better understanding how Greenland glaciers behave."

Moon and colleagues from the University of Washington focused on 16 glaciers in northwest Greenland, collecting detailed information on glacier speed, terminus position (the "end" of the glacier in the ocean) and sea ice conditions, during the years 2009-2014.

Sea ice had an important influence on the glaciers: When the waters in front of the glacier were completely covered by sea ice, the ends of the glaciers often advanced out away from land; icebergs that might otherwise have broken off and floated away stayed attached. When sea ice broke up in the spring, the ends of the glaciers usually quickly <a href="http://www.agu.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">retreated</a> back toward land as icebergs broke away.

By contrast, seasonal swings in glacier speed had little to do with sea ice conditions or glacier terminus location. Rather, the speed (velocity) of ice flow is likely responding to changes in the surface melt on top of the ice sheet and the movement of meltwater through and under the ice sheet.

Over the longer-term, however, Moon and her colleagues found a tight relationship between the speed of glaciers and terminus location. When sea ice levels were especially low and glaciers' toes (termini) retreated more than normal and then didn't re-advance, the glaciers sped up, moving ice toward the sea more quickly. While low sea ice is likely not the full cause of the changes, it may be a visible indication of other processes, such as subsurface ice melt, that also affect terminus retreat, Moon said.

It's important to recognize that the mechanisms driving seasonal glacier changes--in northwestern Greenland and around the world--are not necessarily the same ones driving longer-term trends, Moon said. Knowing the differences may help researchers better anticipate the impact of anomalously low sea ice years, for example.

"We do know we're going to see sea ice reduction in this area, and it's possible we can begin to estimate how that may affect glacier velocities," Moon said. It's also possible, she said, that researchers and communities interested in long-term glacial changes--the kind that affect sea levels--may not need to focus as much on seasonal advance and retreat of the rivers of ice. The Ebb And Flow Of Greenland's Glaciers

"It may be that we need to instead pay more attention to these out-of-bounds events, these anomalous years of very low sea ice or very high melt that likely have the greatest influence on longer-term trends."

---

<a href="http://www.agu.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">American Geophysical Union</a>

The Ebb And Flow Of Greenland's Glaciers

The Ebb And Flow Of Greenland's Glaciers. In northwestern Greenland,...

ENV-SMOG

Major Oil Companies Call For Carbon Price To Curb Emissions. Six European oil and gas companies have called for a global price on carbon as a way to curb climate-warming emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
The appeal by the chief executives of Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Eni, Total, Statoil and the BG Group came as U.N. climate talks resumed Monday in Bonn. Major Oil Companies Call For Carbon Price To Curb Emissions
It shows the oil and gas industry, at least in Europe, wants to play a public role in the conversation on a new global climate deal that's expected to be adopted in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/inconsistent-paris-agreement-pledges/">Paris</a> in December.
"Our companies would like to open direct dialogue with the U.N. and willing governments," the companies said in the letter, which was addressed to U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The six corporations called for carbon markets to be introduced around the world and the creation of an international framework that would eventually link them all.
While that involves a cost for fossil-fuel companies, they said "carbon pricing policy frameworks" will help provide a roadmap for energy companies and investors.
Carbon markets set limits on the amount of pollution a company can release and allow them to trade emissions permits using the market to set the price.
What role <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=carbon&amp;cvid=9aa6eaecc2b44fe28648c9b1e8e95636&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">carbon</a> markets will play in the Paris agreement is still unclear. At the two-week session in Bonn, negotiators were hoping to streamline a sprawling negotiating text that contains various options and sub-options.
On his way to Bonn, Fabius told The Associated Press that governments have to make progress now because "I don't want to draw the text out of my pocket in Paris."
Some environmental groups that oppose carbon markets were suspicious of the letter from the chief executives, with Greenpeace calling it a "smoke screen."
"In the long term they have the wrong business model and that's something they have to acknowledge," said Martin Kaiser, a Greenpace climate policy expert.
Environmental groups are calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels and a shift to renewable energy sources like wind or solar power, which fossil fuel companies say is unrealistic, given the world's growing demand for energy.
----
Ritter reported from Stockholm.
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Major Oil Companies Call For Carbon Price To Curb Emissions

Major Oil Companies Call For Carbon Price To Curb Emissions....

Swimming Pool Industry Under Fire Due To California Drought. The drought gripping California has the swimming pool and spa industry on the offensive. Pool contractors worry about damage to their business as water districts consider bans on filling new pools and refilling existing ones.
Here is a look at the numbers being cited by three different parties who are concerned about the installation - or lack of installation - of new pools in California this summer: Swimming Pool Industry Under Fire Due To California Drought
-THE SWIMMING POOL AND SPA INDUSTRY
The California Pool and Spa Association estimates that, after an initial fill, a standard-sized backyard swimming pool plus deck results in one-third less water use than a similarly sized, irrigated lawn. The calculation is for a pool with no evaporation cover.
With a cover, the pool becomes as efficient as a backyard planted with drought-tolerant, California-native plant species, according to John Norwood, the association's president and chief lobbyist. Norwood's calculations assume the pool and deck together cover 1,200 square feet.
"You're talking 7 to 200 gallons a day from a leaking toilet and how many toilets are there in California? Do the math. It's crazy," Norwood said. "A symbolic gesture is not worth putting people out of business."
-THE WATER DISTRICT
Some water districts considered bans on filling and refilling pools, but rolled them back after hearing from the swimming pool industry. Even so, water districts' estimates of water use by a pool differ from the industry's.
The Santa Margarita Water District in <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=Orange+County&amp;cvid=7fcba6444876486d8fdc2e11a18436ca&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Orange County</a> last year abandoned plans for a ban on new swimming pools, but did its own calculations and now provides a widget on its home page that helps prospective pool permit applicants design an efficient pool.
The district estimates that a pool and deck covering 1,000 square feet uses about 3,000 gallons less than traditional lawn the first year but breaks even within three years. With a pool cover on 70 percent of the time, the district says, a pool will use more than five times less water than a traditional landscape and still less than a drought-tolerant landscape of native California plants.
"We're comfortable with three-year break-even point, but the message is that a pool can be more efficient than even California-friendly turf if it's covered," said Jonathan Volske, spokesman for the water district.
-THE CONSERVATIONIST
Californians have no business putting in new pools or refilling drained pools in a drought, according to Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit research institute in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/local-air-pollution-map-oakland/">Oakland</a> that focuses on the environment and sustainability issues.
Variables such as splash rate, whether a pool is covered and how the lawn was managed before it was ripped out make the pool-versus-lawn calculation almost meaningless - although they probably roughly use the same amount of water, he said.
But such calculations miss the point: Instead of installing a pool, homeowners should be letting their lawns die or replanting with drought-tolerant species to save water, he said.
"It's all about the choices you make," Gleick said. "We're in a drought and if you have a pool, I'm not saying remove it - but you sure better cover it."
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Swimming Pool Industry Under Fire Due To California Drought

Swimming Pool Industry Under Fire Due To California Drought. The...

California Oil Spill

Things To Know About The California Oil Spill. Cleanup crews continued to mop up oil-stained beaches along California's Central Coast two weeks after an onshore underground pipeline ruptured, leaking thousands of gallons of crude into the Pacific.
The May 19 spill occurred along the same stretch of Santa Barbara County coast as the devastating oil platform blowout in 1969 that galvanized the environmental movement.
While the impacts of the latest spill have been far less severe, the episode has angered conservationists and residents who lived through the earlier disaster.
Here are some things to know about the oil spill and the aftermath:
HOW DID THE SPILL HAPPEN?
A 24-inch pipeline that delivers crude oil from offshore drilling rigs to refineries inland ruptured and leaked for several hours before firefighters stopped the flow.
Up to 101,000 gallons of oil escaped including an estimated 21,000 gallons that washed into a storm drain and flowed out to sea. The spill quickly stretched 9 miles along the coast, forcing the closure of two state beaches and prompting a fishing ban.
Before the spill was discovered, an employee with Plains All American Pipeline noticed problems with the pipeline and remotely shut it down.
Last week, a section of the ruptured pipeline was excavated for testing to determine the cause of break - a process that could take months.
HOW IS THE CLEANUP GOING?
The task of cleaning up the mess has come under fire from environmentalists and lawmakers who questioned whether enough was done early on to contain the damage.
In a letter last week to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California labeled the response to the spill "insufficient." The senators questioned why it took Plains about 90 minutes after the spill to alert a clearinghouse that coordinates agencies in an emergency. They also questioned whether enough workers were mobilized to tackle the spill.
The Coast Guard defended the early response, saying it took some time to ramp up because crews had to parachute in from all over the state and country.
"We had people on the ground on day zero - people who were actually physically doing things to prevent the worsening of the spill," said Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams.
About 1,150 workers currently are involved in the cleanup that includes removing tar and oil from sand and rocks and collecting oil-covered seaweed and kelp on the beach. About a dozen ships deployed to skim oil from the ocean have recovered nearly 12,000 gallons of oily water mixture.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT TO WILDLIFE?
Wildlife officers have recovered 168 birds and marine mammals coated in oil since the spill. About half were found dead including brown pelicans, sea lions and dolphins.
The toll on wildlife is relatively small compared to the 1969 spill that spewed more than 3 million gallons of oil into the ocean, killing thousands of seabirds and other animals.
ARE THE TAR BALLS SIGHTINGS RELATED TO THE SPILL?
Several days after the spill, tar balls and blobs of oil washed up on beaches in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Beaches were temporarily closed as workers scooped up the oily goo.
Investigators are analyzing samples to determine if the oil is related to the Plains spill to the northwest or whether it's an excess of the natural seepage that can occur in the region.
WHO PAYS FOR THE CLEANUP?
The cost of the cleanup has not been released, but authorities have said the pipeline operator would foot the bill. The company also set up a claims process for people and businesses affected by the spill.
---
Contact the reporter at: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia</a>
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Things To Know About The California Oil Spill

Things To Know About The California Oil Spill. Cleanup crews...

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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



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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

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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

[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



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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

[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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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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



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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



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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...

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



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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



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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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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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