Corals act more like us humans than one might think. These aquatic structures host an array of marine life while also depending on their microenvironment to survive and grow. Just like humans take multivitamins to stay healthy, corals rely on essential nutrients to thrive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-multivitamins-for-corals">Multivitamins for corals</h2>



Enter the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). They've been busy in the lab, testing an innovative concept: nutrient-infused tiles aimed at supercharging the immune system of corals. It's like a daily multivitamin, but for corals. 



The goal? They aim to prevent coral bleaching, and to help corals to weather the stress of shifting ocean temperatures and to bounce back from harsh climate events such as hurricanes.



"We are studying how corals react when grown on substrates that have been infused with essential metal micronutrients, like manganese, zinc, and iron," explained Colleen Hansel, a senior scientist and marine chemist at <a href="https://www.whoi.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WHOI</a>.



There's an urgency to this work, as rapidly warming waters and an active hurricane season make field trials difficult.



However, hope is not lost. Preliminary data harvested from a year’s worth of lab experiments suggests that corals which received a nutrient boost early on were more resilient and resistant to heat stress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-reef-brought-to-life">A reef brought to life</h2>



Armed with this data, the team's next plan is to take these nutrient-infused tiles and embed them in an artificial reef. 



Designed by experts at the University of the Virgin Islands (<a href="https://www.uvi.edu/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UVI</a>), this 20 sq. meter (216 sq. ft.) concrete setup will offer a safe home to juvenile corals that need multivitamins.



It also doubles as a settling spot for coral larvae, while the nutrient-rich tiles ensure vitamins are dispersed into the surrounding waters. This not only promotes coral growth, but also prepares them for environmental stressors.



"The artificial reef we're building is going in next to a natural reef that has been severely impacted by marine heat waves and extreme storm events," explained Marilyn Brandt, a coral disease ecologist at the UVI.



This man-made marvel won't just fend off storm surges and erosion, it will also create a habitat for corals struggling to adapt to climate change effects. The ultimate goal of the reef's establishment is to help restore the natural reefs in the area.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-monitoring-corals-and-multivitamin-tiles">Monitoring corals and multivitamin tiles</h2>



To ensure the ongoing success of this cutting-edge approach, continuous monitoring and adaptation are integral. Scientists plan to deploy advanced monitoring systems that will track <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-barrier-reef-is-on-the-brink-of-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coral health</a> metrics in real-time. 



This will include assessments of coral growth rates, color changes indicative of stress, and local water conditions. Such data will allow researchers to alter their strategies promptly, adjusting nutrient concentrations or tile placements as necessary to optimize coral resilience.



A dynamic interplay between technology and ecological understanding will ultimately support these living structures in adapting to ever-changing marine environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-engagement-and-education">Community engagement and education</h2>



Beyond laboratory experiments and scientific endeavors, community engagement plays a pivotal role in coral conservation. Educational initiatives aim to involve local communities and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/60-percent-global-coral-reefs-face-bleaching-rising-temperatures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raise awareness</a> about the importance of coral ecosystems. 



Workshops, seminars, and hands-on restoration activities promote a sense of stewardship among residents and visitors alike. By incorporating traditional knowledge and local insights, these programs ensure a holistic approach to coral reef preservation.



As communities learn and participate in restoration efforts, they contribute to a sustainable model that may serve as a blueprint for similar conservation projects globally.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-the-ecosystem">Balancing the ecosystem</h2>



Of course, in the grand scheme of the ocean world, balance is key. While the "multivitamin" tiles will help corals, researchers are cautious that they don't end up favoring a specific coral type or promote the intrusion of unwanted species.



As a result, Brandt, Hansel, and their colleagues are keen to examine this while generating a diverse environment beneficial to the reef ecosystem.



"We need to be sure an artificial reef looks and sounds as similar to a natural reef as possible," said Hansel. "That doesn't consist of just coral, but also sponges, anemones, and other biogeochemical components of the reef ecosystem."



Thus, it's evident that these nutrient-infused tiles, created with dedication and an innovative spirit, could provide a vital lifeline for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-illuminates-fish-interactions-in-coral-reefs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coral reefs</a> in these changing times.



Could this be the answer to coral resilience? As with much in science, time and rigorous testing will tell. For now, let's look forward to more revealing studies on this exciting development.



-----



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'Multivitamins' could save coral reefs from climate destruction

Corals act more like us humans than one might think. These aquatic structures host an array of marine life while also depending on their microenvironment to survive and grow. Just like humans take multivitamins to stay healthy, corals rely on essential nutrients to thrive. Multivitamins for corals Enter the researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). They've been busy in the lab, testing an innovative concept: nutrient-infused tiles aimed at supercharging the immune system of corals. It's like a daily multivitamin, but for corals. The goal?...

Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Site

Debate Resumes Over Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump. The debate resumed Tuesday in Nevada about the possibility of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=radioactive&amp;cvid=54a1e625c46741eb827cd5c1457dd1c8&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">radioactive</a> contamination of the underground water supply from a proposed national nuclear waste repository in the desert near where nuclear weapons tests were conducted for decades.
Familiar faces and arguments in the decades-long long battle over the Yucca Mountain repository turned out for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sustainable-street-lights-las-vegas/">Las Vegas</a>, ahead of another NRC hearing scheduled Thursday in a farm community in the shadow of the site itself.
"The only question to be answered is, `Can waste emplaced in Yucca Mountain be isolated and not contaminate groundwater?'" said Judy Treichel, an opponent since the 1980s of project who heads an entity called the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force. "The answer is, `No.'" Debate Resumes Over Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump
Current Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman recalled her husband, former Mayor Oscar Goodman, threatening a decade ago to lie across a highway to stop trucks hauling radioactive waste through Sin City. She said she hoped not to have to make a similar pledge.
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, who was governor when Yucca Mountain site studies began in 1982 and now heads the state agency dedicated to stopping the project, spoke against it.
U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat who studied, wrote and taught about nuclear issues as a college professor before she was elected to public office, called the product of "bad politics, not good policy."
But the once-united public front against the repository has eroded in the years since work stopped after Barack Obama was elected president, Harry Reid of Nevada became U.S. Senate Democratic majority leader, and Congress shut off funding.
That led the NRC to halt licensing proceedings and the Energy Department to withdraw all but maintenance staff from the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Dan Schinhofen, an elected commissioner in Nye County, where the repository would be built, said it was time to consider economic benefits Nevada could reap in return for entombing more than 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel currently piling up at nuclear reactors around the country.
"It's a national security issue. It's in our county. There's support for it. We should talk about it," Schinhofen said.
Reid has called the Yucca Mountain project dead. But a federal appeals court ruled in 2013 that the NRC has to either approve or reject the Energy Department license application. Officials have said a full slate of licensing hearings could take at least three years.
The focus of meetings this week is on an environmental study about the likelihood of radioactivity leaking from the site into groundwater in an ancient aquifer that flows beneath Amargosa Valley farms toward Death Valley National Park.
A report released in August by the NRC acknowledged a small chance of contamination, but said someone drinking two liters of groundwater a day would still not accumulate as much radiation as they do from natural and background sources.
"They say they're just here to talk about groundwater," said Robert Halstead, the Nevada official heading state opposition to the project. "The larger issue is the scope of all of this."
As proposed, tens of thousands of truck and trainloads of waste would be shipped to Nevada to be entombed in casks in tunnels drilled beneath the ancient volcanic ridge.
Nevada state and federal officials have long opposed the nuclear repository, which was first proposed in 1982. The site was approved by Congress in 2002.
However, like Schinhofen, some more recently elected county, state and federal elected representatives, including congressmen Cresent Hardy and Mark Amodei, have indicated a willingness to negotiate for benefits in return for accepting the nation's most dangerous waste.
Opponents contend that technology for entombing nuclear waste is unproven, and the threat of poisoning air, water and soil is too great to allow the repository to be built.
State officials also argue that moving highly radioactive waste from more than 70 sites in 34 states poses a greater risk than leaving the material where it is.
The states of Washington and South Carolina, plus Aiken County, South Carolina, the Prairie Island Indian Community of Minnesota and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners won the restart of the discussion with their lawsuit saying the federal government was breaking its promise to take their spent nuclear fuel.
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Debate Resumes Over Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump

Debate Resumes Over Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump. The debate resumed...

Republicans Oppose New Offshore Drilling Safety Rules. Republican lawmakers on Tuesday criticized an Obama administration move to toughen standards for offshore drilling, saying the new rules would be costly for drillers and threaten to shut down oil and gas exploration off the nation's coasts.
The Interior Department is preparing to issue standards to close what it says are gaps in blowout preventer rules. A blowout preventer is a piece of equipment designed to shut an out-of-control well. Such a device failed catastrophically when a BP well blew out in 2010, causing a massive oil spill.
But the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/young-republicans-climate-change-2/">Republicans</a> blasted the new rules at a field hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in New Orleans. No Democratic members showed up. Republican lawmakers on Tuesday criticized an Obama administration move to toughen standards for offshore drilling
The Republicans complained the rules are too government-driven and costly to industry. The Republicans also questioned whether the new rules would make drilling safer. They also argued that drillers have proven they're safe under current regulations.
Besides aiming to strengthen blowout preventers, the rules require more record keeping by drillers, force companies to do real-time monitoring of drilling operations and take steps to dig safer wells. The rules are expected to be phased in over years. Republicans Oppose New Offshore Drilling Safety Rules
The new drilling rules - which critics say have been slow to be handed down - grew out of calls for increased safety in offshore drilling following the massive BP spill in 2010. The blowout destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killed 11 workers and sent millions of gallons of crude <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=oil&amp;cvid=de8cada1851640f184f7777fd4051706&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">oil</a> spilling into the Gulf.
The committee's chairman, U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said the proposed rules add "complexity without putting proven methods in place that reduce risk."
Unless the rules are changed to meet industry demands, he said they could effectively close down oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf.
Bishop cited an analysis commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, that found implementing the rules would cost the industry $32 billion over 10 years. By contrast, the Obama administration has calculated the rules will cost the industry about $1 billion to implement.
In a statement, Raul Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the hearing "part of a public relations campaign that isn't dealing with the substance of the issue."
"The Republicans seem to have forgotten about the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other oil spills we continue to see offshore," Grijalva of Arizona said. "The industry can't regulate itself any longer. That time is past."
Lars Herbst, regional director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, testified that the new rules are needed to prevent future spills. He pointed out an increasing number of incidents where operators have lost control of wells in the Gulf in the past two years, and said the rate of such incidents now is similar to what was seen before BP's catastrophic spill in 2010.
Herbst also cited a 2013 Gulf blowout in which a rig with 44 workers on it caught fire. The fire lasted for more than 72 hours. All the workers were evacuated.
"Blowouts like these can easily lead to much larger incidents," Herbst testified.
He said regulators were meeting this week with the industry to discuss the regulations in detail before they become final.
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Republicans Oppose New Offshore Drilling Safety Rules

Republicans Oppose New Offshore Drilling Safety Rules. Republican lawmakers on...

Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management lacks sufficient resources to inspect high-risk drilling on federal land as a drilling boom continues in Wyoming, Colorado and other states, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday.
The <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=obama&amp;cvid=79c86ca91c1c495891b2ee85f78ae86d&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Obama</a> administration has proposed a fee on oil and gas drillers that would allow the land management agency to hire more than 60 inspectors, but the proposal has not gained traction in Congress.
The land bureau faces a "major backlog of inspections" as it tries to keep pace with a drilling boom that has sharply increased U.S. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/life-in-deep-ocean-sediments-can-survive-boiling-hot-temperatures/">oil</a> and gas production in recent years, Jewell said.
"We do not have the resources necessary to do the job," Jewell said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. The inspectors are needed to protect the environment and prevent potential health hazards caused by leaking wells, she said. Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections
The Associated Press reported last year that 40 percent of new wells on federal and Indian land with a higher pollution risk were not inspected from 2009 to 2012.
Asked if the situation had improved since then, Jewell said no, adding: "We are under-resourced."
While the proposed fee has stalled in Congress, Jewell said it remains the agency's best option to whittle its inspections backlog.
"It makes no sense not to match supply and demand," she said, adding that if the drilling boom slows or fizzles, the need to charge a fee would go away.
Jewell also lamented a practice in which energy companies "flare" or burn off vast supplies of natural gas as they drill for oil. A report by the Government Accountability Office said 40 percent of the gas being burned or vented could be captured economically and sold.
The bureau has not completed new guidelines on flaring, but Jewell said a proposed rule could be released for public comment later this year. But even without new federal rules, Jewell urged energy companies to rethink their practice of flaring natural gas in the pursuit of higher-priced oil.
"It's crazy to vent natural gas into the atmosphere when natural gas is a fuel that can produce electricity at a much lower carbon footprint than other (energy) sources like coal," Jewell said.
On a related topic, Jewell said she is confident that new rules for oil and gas drilling on federal lands nationwide will be upheld, despite a court challenge by four states and two industry groups. The Bureau of Land Management has delayed implementing the rules until a federal judge in Wyoming decides on the case.
Jewell said the rules "are based on common sense and science," although she acknowledged some changes may be required.
The rules, announced in March, would require oil and gas developers to report the chemicals they pump underground during hydraulic fracturing. The drilling procedure, also known as fracking, involves pumping huge volumes of water mixed with fine sand and chemicals underground to crack open deposits and boost flows of oil and gas.
The federal rules also would require pressure testing of newly installed wells.
The petroleum industry argues the rules would be costly to oil and gas developers. Officials in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota claim the rules would damage their economies by causing energy companies to move off federal lands to regions where oil and gas reserves can be exploited from private land, where the federal government has less oversight. Two industry groups, the Western Energy Alliance and Independent Petroleum Association of America, joined the lawsuit.
Six environmental groups have sided with the Obama administration, saying the government needs strong rules for oil and gas drilling to protect water, wildlife and other resources on federal land.
Jewell also said she is optimistic the administration can avoid a proposal to list the greater sage grouse as endangered, even while working to protect the bird's habitat and stave off further declines in grouse populations.
Jewell said she has "stayed completely at arm's length" as the Fish and Wildlife Service decides what to do. The agency is part of the Interior Department.
The bird's fate has become a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election. Federal protections could prompt limits on energy drilling, grazing and other activities across the grouse's range in 11 Western states.
Republicans have seized on the issue as evidence of wildlife protection laws run amok and say it underscores an urgent need to scale back the federal Endangered Species Act.
But Jewell said the act is working as intended, citing efforts by a variety of Western states and interest groups to collaborate on measures to protect the sage grouse while allowing energy development and grazing.
---
Follow Matthew Daly: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
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Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections

Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections. The U.S. Bureau...

Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management lacks sufficient resources to inspect high-risk drilling on federal land as a drilling boom continues in Wyoming, Colorado and other states, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday.
The <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=obama&amp;cvid=85cfcae80c8b458a8bacefff2adba087&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Obama</a> administration has proposed a fee on oil and gas drillers that would allow the land management agency to hire more than 60 inspectors, but the proposal has not gained traction in Congress. Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections.
The land bureau faces a "major backlog of inspections" as it tries to keep pace with a drilling boom that has sharply increased U.S. oil and<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=gas&amp;cvid=c23e4745d2b54f179e4ad086fce224e6&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> gas</a> production in recent years, Jewell said.
"We do not have the resources necessary to do the job," Jewell said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. The inspectors are needed to protect the environment and prevent potential health hazards caused by leaking wells, she said.
The Associated Press reported last year that 40 percent of new wells on federal and Indian land with a higher pollution risk were not inspected from 2009 to 2012.
Asked if the situation had improved since then, Jewell said no, adding: "We are under-resourced."
While the proposed fee has stalled in Congress, Jewell said it remains the agency's best option to whittle its inspections backlog.
"It makes no sense not to match supply and demand," she said, adding that if the drilling boom slows or fizzles, the need to charge a fee would go away.
Jewell also lamented a practice in which energy companies "flare" or burn off vast supplies of natural gas as they drill for oil. A report by the Government Accountability Office said 40 percent of the gas being burned or vented could be captured economically and sold.
The bureau has not completed new guidelines on flaring, but Jewell said a proposed rule could be released for public comment later this year. But even without new federal rules, Jewell urged energy companies to rethink their practice of flaring natural gas in the pursuit of higher-priced oil.
"It's crazy to vent natural gas into the atmosphere when natural gas is a fuel that can produce electricity at a much lower carbon footprint than other (energy) sources like coal," Jewell said.
On a related topic, Jewell said she is confident that new rules for oil and gas drilling on federal lands nationwide will be upheld, despite a court challenge by four states and two industry groups. The Bureau of Land Management has delayed implementing the rules until a federal judge in Wyoming decides on the case.
Jewell said the rules "are based on common sense and science," although she acknowledged some changes may be required.
The rules, announced in March, would require oil and gas developers to report the chemicals they pump underground during hydraulic fracturing. The drilling procedure, also known as fracking, involves pumping huge volumes of water mixed with fine sand and chemicals underground to crack open deposits and boost flows of oil and gas.
The federal rules also would require pressure testing of newly installed wells.
The petroleum industry argues the rules would be costly to oil and gas developers. Officials in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota claim the rules would damage their economies by causing energy companies to move off federal lands to regions where oil and gas reserves can be exploited from private land, where the federal government has less oversight. Two industry groups, the Western Energy Alliance and Independent Petroleum Association of America, joined the lawsuit.
Six environmental groups have sided with the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coal-plants-closed-trump/">Obama</a> administration, saying the government needs strong rules for oil and gas drilling to protect water, wildlife and other resources on federal land.
Jewell also said she is optimistic the administration can avoid a proposal to list the greater sage grouse as endangered, even while working to protect the bird's habitat and stave off further declines in grouse populations.
Jewell said she has "stayed completely at arm's length" as the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=fish&amp;cvid=d29f88ee3bc14f31a46a2e7295277b2b&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Fish</a> and Wildlife Service decides what to do. The agency is part of the Interior Department. Feds: No Resources For High-Risk Drilling Inspections
The bird's fate has become a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election. Federal protections could prompt limits on energy drilling, grazing and other activities across the grouse's range in 11 Western states.
Republicans have seized on the issue as evidence of wildlife protection laws run amok and say it underscores an urgent need to scale back the federal Endangered Species Act.
But Jewell said the act is working as intended, citing efforts by a variety of Western states and interest groups to collaborate on measures to protect the sage grouse while allowing energy development and grazing.
---
Follow Matthew Daly: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
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Study: Air Pollution Kills Over Three Million Per Year.Air pollution is killing 3.3 million people a year worldwide, according to a new study that includes this surprise: Farming plays a large role in smog and soot deaths in industrial nations.
Scientists in Germany, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/5-years-mitigate-climate-change/">Harvard</a> University calculated the most detailed estimates yet of the toll of air pollution, looking at what caused it. The study also projects that if trends don't change, the yearly death total will double to about 6.6 billion a year by 2050. Study: <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=air+pollution&amp;cvid=888f6269490c4418ae49baa6fe50baba&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Air Pollution</a> Kills Over Three Million Per Year
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, used health statistics and computer models. About three quarters of the deaths are from strokes and heart attacks, said lead author Jos Lelieveld at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany.
The findings are similar to other less detailed pollution death estimates, outside experts said.
"About 6 percent of all global deaths each occur prematurely due to exposure to ambient air pollution. This number is higher than most experts would have expected, say, 10 years ago," said Jason West, a University of North Carolina environmental sciences professor who wasn't part of the study but praised it.
Air pollution kills more than HIV and malaria combined, Lelieveld said.
With nearly 1.4 million deaths a year, China has the most air pollution fatalities, followed by India with 645,000 and Pakistan with 110,000.
The United States, with 54,905 deaths in 2010 from soot and smog, ranks seventh highest for air pollution deaths. What's unusual is that the study says that agriculture caused 16,221 of those deaths, second only to 16,929 deaths blamed on power plants.
In the U.S. Northeast, all of Europe, Russia, Japan and South Korea, agriculture is the No. 1 cause of the soot and smog deaths, according to the study. Worldwide, agriculture is the No. 2 cause with 664,100 deaths, behind the more than 1 million deaths from in-home heating and cooking done with wood and other biofuels in developing world.
The problem with farms is ammonia from fertilizer and animal waste, Lelieveld said. That ammonia then combines with sulfates from coal-fired power plants and nitrates from car exhaust to form the soot particles that are the big air pollution killers, he said. In London, for example, the pollution from traffic takes time to be converted into soot, and then it is mixed with ammonia and transported downwind to the next city, he said.
"We were very surprised, but in the end it makes sense," Lelieveld said. He said the scientists had assumed that traffic and power plants would be the biggest cause of deadly soot and smog.
Agricultural emissions are becoming increasingly important but are not regulated, said Allen Robinson, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who wasn't part of the study but praised it.
Ammonia air pollution from farms can be reduced "at relatively low costs," Robinson said. "Maybe this will help bring more attention to the issue."
In the central United States, the main cause of soot and smog premature deaths is power plants; in much of the West, it's traffic emissions.
Jason West and other outside scientists did dispute the study's projections that deaths would double by 2050. That's based on no change in air pollution. West and others said it's likely that some places, such as China, will dramatically cut their air pollution by 2050.
And Lelieveld said that if the world reduces a different air pollutant - carbon dioxide, the main gas causing global warming - soot and smog levels will be reduced as well, in a "win-win situation in both directions."
---
Online:
Nature: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.nature.com/nature</a>
---
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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Study: Air Pollution Kills Over Three Million Per Year

Study: Air Pollution Kills Over Three Million Per Year.Air pollution...

Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones. Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones. Apple has given its latest iPhones an environmental upgrade to go along with a better camera and a few new features.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have reduced their carbon emissions by 14 to 16 percent from last year's models, according to Apple measurements that quantify how much pollution is caused during the production, distribution, consumer usage and recycling of the devices.
Most of the improvements reflected changes made in the purchasing and manufacturing of the aluminum used in the iPhone enclosures. Lisa Jackson, Apple's top environmental executive, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=carbon&amp;cvid=e7d2386906e640aa8c7c43737d25e9fe&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">carbon</a> emissions tied to the production of those iPhone enclosures have been cut in half from last year.
Although those gains won't be highlighted in any of Apple's ads leading up to the Sept. 25 release of the last iPhones, the company is hoping its faithful customers will appreciate the progress.
"We feel it's really important to tell folks what we did," Jackson said. "We shouldn't keep these kinds of ideas in a box because we believe other folks should be doing exactly the same thing."
Other major technology companies also have been trying to reduce the pollution caused by their digital services and products, usually by investing heavily in hydroelectricity and renewable energy such as solar and wind power, to run the millions of computers that store and process data for their users.
By some estimates, technology products and services account for as much of the world's carbon emissions as the airline industry. Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones
Besides Apple Inc., both Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have also been praised by environmental groups for reducing their reliance on power plants that burn coal and natural gas.
Apple boasts that all its data centers, offices and stores in the U.S. are now powered by renewable energy. On a worldwide basis, about 13 percent of Apple's operations still draw on power generated from fossil figures. The Cupertino, California, company has pledged to eliminate all fossil fuels from its energy mix.
Apple is also pressuring the hundreds of suppliers of that make and assemble parts for its gadgets to become more environmentally friendly. As part of that resolve, Apple put a higher priority on equipping its latest iPhones with aluminum produced with hydroelectric power.
"It's a first step, but it's the kind of work you have to do to turn the corner," Jackson said. "At the end of the day, if environment is one of our values, then also want it to show up in our products."
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Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones

Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones. Apple Touts Environmental...

Yellow mine waste water is seen at the entrance to the Gold King Mine in San Juan County, Colorado

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency dismissed complaints Wednesday by Republican lawmakers that her agency downplayed the seriousness of a toxic Colorado mine spill that fouled rivers in three Western states.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy called the spill caused by her agency "tragic and unfortunate" and said the EPA has taken responsibility to ensure that 3 million gallons of rust-colored sludge released into Colorado's Animas River is cleaned up. The Aug. 5 spill occurred during excavation work at an inactive gold mine near Silverton, Colorado.
Republican senators charged at a hearing Wednesday that EPA is treating itself more gingerly than if a private company were responsible for the spill, which sent lead, arsenic and other heavy metals rushing toward downstream communities. The spill contaminated rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, as well as in the Navajo Nation and Southern Ute Reservation.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said the EPA employed a "double standard" in responding to the Colorado spill. While the agency at times adopts an aggressive, even "heavy-handed" approach to regulating companies, Boozman told McCarthy, "your initial reaction (to the Colorado spill) was to downplay the severity of it."
The EPA initially said the accident spilled 1 million gallons before revising it to three times that amount. State and tribal officials also have complained that EPA was slow to notify them of the accident.
Boozman said he was appalled at McCarthy's comment, during an Aug. 13 visit to New Mexico, that the Animas River was "restoring itself."
"That was done very, very poorly," he told McCarthy at a hearing conducted by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"There's no way EPA should have downplayed this. I certainly did not," McCarthy replied.
Russell Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, said the spill has been devastating to the tribe. Testifying at a separate hearing Wednesday before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Begaye said three tribal members have committed suicide since the spill. The deaths were due at least in part to uncertainty and stress caused by the spill, he said.
"Our Navajo Nation has suffered greatly and we continue to suffer," Begaye said. He urged the EPA to resume offering fresh water to the Navajo for farming and personal use and to create an emergency fund to pay Navajo farmers.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it was "shameful" that six weeks after the spill, the Navajo "are still reeling from EPA's calamitous failure." McCain told McCarthy he was outraged that no one at EPA had been fired or disciplined as a result of the spill.
"You think no one did anything wrong. It was no one's fault," he told McCarthy.
"I'm not suggesting this wasn't a disaster. It clearly was," she said.
McCarthy disputed comments by Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and John Barrasso of Wyoming that a private company responsible for the spill would face stiff fines from the EPA.
"I think EPA ought to be held to an even higher standard" than a private company, Barrasso said.
McCarthy said a private company would likely not face fines for an accident that occurred during a cleanup similar to the one at the former Gold King Mine. The only exceptions would be if the company's actions went "against a settlement" or an administrative order by the EPA, she said.
The EPA's inspector general and the U.S. Interior Department are reviewing the incident, and EPA officials and contractors will be held accountable for any wrongdoing, McCarthy said.
McCarthy defended the independence of the Interior Department review, which comes at her request. While several GOP lawmakers asked for paperwork outlining the scope of the investigation, McCarthy said she did not have documentation, adding that it was up to Interior to decide what to look at and how the inquiry will unfold.
"We are hands-off on this issue," she said, adding that EPA is "going to live with whatever scope" Interior decides is appropriate.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have announced a variety of bills to respond to the spill, including a measure sponsored by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., to establish a Hardrock Reclamation Fund, funded by new royalties on minerals extracted from public lands, as well as so-called Good Samaritan authority to allow third parties to cleanup mine sites they had no role in creating.
The EPA has suspended cleanup work and site investigations at 10 polluted mining complexes in four states because of conditions similar to those that led to the Colorado spill. Four sites are in Colorado, three in California, two in Montana and one in Missouri.
---
Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

EPA Chief: Agency Did Nothing Wrong With Colorado Mine Spill

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency dismissed complaints Wednesday...

EPA Chief: Agency Did Nothing Wrong With Colorado Mine Spill. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency dismissed complaints Wednesday by Republican lawmakers that her agency downplayed the seriousness of a toxic Colorado mine spill that fouled rivers in three Western states.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy called the spill caused by her agency "tragic and unfortunate" and said the EPA has taken responsibility to ensure that 3 million gallons of rust-colored sludge released into <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=colorado&amp;cvid=27fa94ce0e0f4b949a289a23c654d0d0&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Colorado's</a> Animas River is cleaned up. The Aug. 5 spill occurred during excavation work at an inactive gold mine near Silverton, Colorado. EPA Chief: Agency Did Nothing Wrong With Colorado Mine Spill
Republican senators charged at a hearing Wednesday that <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/gentoo-penguins-are-not-one-species-but-four/">EPA</a> is treating itself more gingerly than if a private company were responsible for the spill, which sent lead, arsenic and other heavy metals rushing toward downstream communities. The spill contaminated rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, as well as in the Navajo Nation and Southern Ute Reservation.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said the EPA employed a "double standard" in responding to the Colorado spill. While the agency at times adopts an aggressive, even "heavy-handed" approach to regulating companies, Boozman told McCarthy, "your initial reaction (to the Colorado spill) was to downplay the severity of it."
The EPA initially said the accident spilled 1 million gallons before revising it to three times that amount. State and tribal officials also have complained that EPA was slow to notify them of the accident.
Boozman said he was appalled at McCarthy's comment, during an Aug. 13 visit to New Mexico, that the Animas River was "restoring itself."
"That was done very, very poorly," he told McCarthy at a hearing conducted by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"There's no way EPA should have downplayed this. I certainly did not," McCarthy replied.
Russell Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, said the spill has been devastating to the tribe. Testifying at a separate hearing Wednesday before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Begaye said three tribal members have committed suicide since the spill. The deaths were due at least in part to uncertainty and stress caused by the spill, he said.
"Our Navajo Nation has suffered greatly and we continue to suffer," Begaye said. He urged the EPA to resume offering fresh water to the Navajo for farming and personal use and to create an emergency fund to pay Navajo farmers.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it was "shameful" that six weeks after the spill, the Navajo "are still reeling from EPA's calamitous failure." McCain told McCarthy he was outraged that no one at EPA had been fired or disciplined as a result of the spill.
"You think no one did anything wrong. It was no one's fault," he told McCarthy.
"I'm not suggesting this wasn't a disaster. It clearly was," she said.
McCarthy disputed comments by Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and John Barrasso of Wyoming that a private company responsible for the spill would face stiff fines from the EPA.
"I think EPA ought to be held to an even higher standard" than a private company, Barrasso said.
McCarthy said a private company would likely not face fines for an accident that occurred during a cleanup similar to the one at the former Gold King Mine. The only exceptions would be if the company's actions went "against a settlement" or an administrative order by the EPA, she said.
The EPA's inspector general and the U.S. Interior Department are reviewing the incident, and EPA officials and contractors will be held accountable for any wrongdoing, McCarthy said.
McCarthy defended the independence of the Interior Department review, which comes at her request. While several GOP lawmakers asked for paperwork outlining the scope of the investigation, McCarthy said she did not have documentation, adding that it was up to Interior to decide what to look at and how the inquiry will unfold.
"We are hands-off on this issue," she said, adding that EPA is "going to live with whatever scope" Interior decides is appropriate.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have announced a variety of bills to respond to the spill, including a measure sponsored by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., to establish a Hardrock Reclamation Fund, funded by new royalties on minerals extracted from public lands, as well as so-called Good Samaritan authority to allow third parties to cleanup mine sites they had no role in creating.
The EPA has suspended cleanup work and site investigations at 10 polluted mining complexes in four states because of conditions similar to those that led to the Colorado spill. Four sites are in Colorado, three in California, two in Montana and one in Missouri.
---
Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC</a>
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EPA Chief: Agency Did Nothing Wrong With Colorado Mine Spill....

Scientists: Marine Animal Population Has Declined By Fifty Percent. Mangroves are disappearing at five times the rate of traditional forests. And coral reefs continue to shrink.

The World <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/some-cat-owners-care-about-their-pets-impact-on-wildlife-conservation/">Wildlife</a> Federation is once again sounding the alarm on the health of the world's oceans and marine animals. Scientists: Marine Animal Population Has Declined By Fifty Percent

According to the organization's latest Living Blue Planet Report, marine life has been halved since 1970.

The report tracks the health of 5,829 local and regional populations of marine animals, encompassing 1,234 species -- birds, fish, mammals and reptiles. All the numbers are compiled and reviewed by scientists at the Zoological Society of London.

The data suggests animals living in, on and around the ocean have seen their numbers decline by 49 percent between 1970 and 2012.

"That's the unraveling of the fabric of an ecosystem that sustains life on Earth,"scientists write in the report.

Researchers point to habitat loss, global warming, pollution and overfishing as the main culprits of biological losses. Commercial fishing stocks have been some the hardest hit of all species, with tuna, mackerel and bonito populations shrinking as much as 75 percent.

Mangroves are disappearing at five times the rate of traditional forests. And coral reefs continue to shrink.

"Our ocean -- that seemingly infinitely bountiful, ever awe-inspiring blue that defines our planet from space -- is in crisis," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, declares in the intro to the new report.

The latest estimates are in line with the projects from last year's report -- but "more sobering." They're also in line with declines on dry land. WWF's Living Planet Index has put the decline of the planet's overall animal population at 52 percent.

WWF says there is hope. But action must be immediate. Some of the solutions the organizations suggests: closing fishing grounds, curbing pollution, expanding marine habitat protections and securing an international solution to climate change.

---

Credit: UPI

Scientists: Marine Animal Population Has Declined By Fifty Percent

Scientists: Marine Animal Population Has Declined By Fifty Percent. Mangroves...

Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones. Apple has given its latest iPhones an environmental upgrade to go along with a better camera and a few new features.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have reduced their carbon emissions by 14 to 16 percent from last year's models, according to Apple measurements that quantify how much pollution is caused during the production, distribution, consumer usage and recycling of the devices.
Most of the improvements reflected changes made in the purchasing and manufacturing of the aluminum used in the iPhone enclosures. Lisa Jackson, Apple's top environmental executive, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/peatlands-could-release-more-than-100-billion-tons-of-carbon-this-century/">carbon</a> emissions tied to the production of those iPhone enclosures have been cut in half from last year.
Although those gains won't be highlighted in any of Apple's ads leading up to the Sept. 25 release of the last iPhones, the company is hoping its faithful customers will appreciate the progress. Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones
"We feel it's really important to tell folks what we did," Jackson said. "We shouldn't keep these kinds of ideas in a box because we believe other folks should be doing exactly the same thing."
Other major technology companies also have been trying to reduce the pollution caused by their digital services and products, usually by investing heavily in hydroelectricity and renewable energy such as solar and wind power, to run the millions of computers that store and process data for their users.
By some estimates,<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=technology&amp;cvid=8bb5071a9d5d41cbbfdbff9a688c5f3d&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS"> technology</a> products and services account for as much of the world's carbon emissions as the airline industry.
Besides Apple Inc., both Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have also been praised by environmental groups for reducing their reliance on power plants that burn coal and natural gas.
Apple boasts that all its data centers, offices and stores in the U.S. are now powered by renewable energy. On a worldwide basis, about 13 percent of Apple's operations still draw on power generated from fossil figures. The Cupertino, California, company has pledged to eliminate all fossil fuels from its energy mix.
Apple is also pressuring the hundreds of suppliers of that make and assemble parts for its gadgets to become more environmentally friendly. As part of that resolve, Apple put a higher priority on equipping its latest iPhones with aluminum produced with hydroelectric power.
"It's a first step, but it's the kind of work you have to do to turn the corner," Jackson said. "At the end of the day, if environment is one of our values, then also want it to show up in our products."
© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Apple Touts Environmental Upgrades In Latest iPhones. Apple has given...

528069.TIF

Melting Arctic Accelerates Methane Emissions. Methane emissions from Arctic tundra increase when sea ice melts, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden. This connection has been suspected before, but has lacked strong evidence until now.

"Changes in the Arctic Ocean can affect ecosystems located far away on land, " says Dr. Frans-Jan Parmentier, the study's lead author and researcher at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University.Melting Arctic Accelerates Methane Emissions

Bright sea ice reflects most sunlight, while open water absorbs most sunlight. Less sea ice, therefore, leads to more absorbed heat, and higher temperatures throughout the North Pole region. This stimulates the production of methane by microorganisms in permafrost soils, which also drives the change towards a warmer climate.

"While numerous studies have shown the effects of sea ice loss on the ocean, there are only a few that show how this oceanic change affects ecosystems on the surrounding land. Our research shows that to understand the impact of climate change on the Arctic, the ocean and land cannot be viewed separately", Frans-Jan Parmentier explains.

Dr. Parmentier, together with researchers from the United States and the Netherlands, explored the connection between methane emissions and loss of sea ice by using advanced computer models. Models can simulate how methane emissions respond to the effects of sea ice decline, such as higher temperatures and altered rainfall.

"Sea ice decline is one of the most visible consequences of climate change, and has a tremendous impact on the Arctic climate. Since the 1990's, the Arctic has been losing sea ice at a tremendous rate - about 14 percent per decade. The expectation is that with further sea ice decline, temperatures in the Arctic will continue to rise, and so will methane emissions from northern wetlands", says Frans-Jan Parmentier.

The next step is to assess the extent of sea ice's influence on methane emissions by measurements in the field. The results of this research could improve predictions of how climate change affects our planet.

---

<a href="http://www.lu.se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lund University</a>

Melting Arctic Accelerates Methane Emissions

Melting Arctic Accelerates Methane Emissions. Methane emissions from Arctic tundra...

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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



---



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;



---



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;



---



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;



---



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;



---



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



---



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



---



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



---



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[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;



---



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

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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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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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

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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"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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