Do you recall those childhood days when you eagerly anticipated bedtime stories about Peter Rabbit, Toad or Ratty from The Wind in the Willows? Or the excitement that washed over you every time you opened a children's book teeming with playful, animated animals? 



Well, a new study is giving us a fresh perspective on the role of these furry, iconic characters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-children-s-books-animal-characters">Children's books animal characters</h2>



The research has shed light on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toddlers-learn-faster-after-witnessing-impossible-events/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potential influence</a> of non-human characters in children's books.



The researchers aimed to gauge how these animal characters affected children's theory of mind skills - crucial abilities which include deciphering social changes in the environment based on voice tone, word choice, or facial expressions.



They worked with over 100 children aged five to 10, each of whom were tested on their theory of mind skills after hearing stories featuring animal characters, as well as those highlighting human characters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-vs-animal-characters-in-books">Human vs. animal characters in books</h2>



The study unveiled an interesting pattern. When exposed to stories centered around human characters, an age-related progression was observed. 



Older children were consistently outperforming their younger counterparts, with 3rd grade children surpassing the researchers' expectations in tests featuring human characters.



But the revelations didn't stop there. The tests that involved animal characters threw up another surprise. 



The younger participants were able to match the scores achieved by pupils in 3rd grade, who were two years their senior. That's quite a feat for our young champions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-insight-into-children-s-development">New insight into children's development</h2>



These findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, highlight the importance of both human and non-human characters in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/outdoor-classes-improve-childrens-mental-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">children's developmental stages</a>.



The research was led by Dr. Gray Atherton and Dr. Liam Cross from the University of Plymouth’s <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/psychology" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">School of Psychology</a>.



"Animals play a huge part of children’s stories, whether that is in books and comics or through TV and film. We wanted to test if that is down to more than simply liking the characters, and whether there are actual benefits of children learning through by watching or reading about animals and if this changes over time," said Dr. Atherton.



"Our findings showed that both human and non-human characters are important in helping children interpret the world around them, and that they play differing roles at different stages in their development. Adapting activities and lessons in nurseries and the early school years to take that into account could be hugely effective in helping to support their development."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-educators-and-parents">Implications for educators and parents</h2>



The insights gained from this study have substantial implications for educators and parents aiming to support children's cognitive and social development.



By incorporating both human and animal characters into books, educators can craft a more balanced learning environment that caters to the diverse needs of children across age groups. 



Parents, too, can enrich their children's home learning experiences by selecting a variety of stories that include both human and animal protagonists. 



This approach not only makes reading sessions more engaging but also aids in developing empathy and understanding of complex social scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



While this study provides valuable insights, it also opens avenues for further exploration. 



Future research could go deeper into the types of animal characteristics that are most effective in nurturing children's theory of mind. For instance, exploring whether anthropomorphized animals or more realistic portrayals have differing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parents-who-use-humor-have-better-relationships-with-their-children/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impacts</a>. 



Similarly, cross-cultural studies could investigate whether the affinity towards animal characters holds true in diverse cultural contexts. These inquiries could refine understanding and application in educational strategies, enhancing the efficacy of storytelling as a developmental tool.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animal-characters-and-autism-treatment">Animal characters and autism treatment</h2>



In previous studies, Dr. Atherton and Dr. Cross examined the factors influencing the educational and social development of individuals with autism and learning difficulties.



The experts launched initiatives proving how board and online games can bolster confidence among people with autism. 



Borrowing insights from this research, the scholars now plan to dig deeper to explore if their findings could provide specific benefits to children with such conditions.



Dr. Cross envisions a significant impact of this study on individuals with autism or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/kids-with-behavioral-issues-have-high-cortisol-levels-in-their-hair/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other conditions</a> affecting their learning. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-way-of-looking-at-animal-characters">A new way of looking at animal characters</h2>



The researchers have observed how tasks involving animal characters can result in autistic individuals performing on par with non-autistic children. 



The plan is to replicate this study with autistic children in an effort to unveil more effective ways to support them at a critical stage in their development.



In a nutshell, this study has unraveled an entirely new dimension of how we view animals in children's books. 



Those delightful animal characters do more than simply entertain; they help shape our children's minds and understanding of the world around them in their formative years.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002209652400256X?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Experimental Child Psychology</a>. 



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Animal characters boost social and emotional skills in children

Do you recall those childhood days when you eagerly anticipated bedtime stories about Peter Rabbit, Toad or Ratty from The Wind in the Willows? Or the excitement that washed over you every time you opened a children's book teeming with playful, animated animals? Well, a new study is giving us a fresh perspective on the role of these furry, iconic characters. Children's books animal characters The research has shed light on the potential influence of non-human characters in children's books. The researchers aimed to gauge how these...

<div>
<div class="img-wrapper">Typhoon Lionrock strengthens into a typhoon <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Typhoon Lionrock as it strengthened to a typhoon east of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/nearly-complete-duck-billed-dinosaur-fossil/">Japan'</a>s Ryukyu Islands. The chain of islands stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan.</div>
On Aug. 24 at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445 UTC) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible light image of strengthening Typhoon Lionrock. The VIIRS image revealed that the typhoon had developed an eye, and it was surrounded by powerful thunderstorms.

VIIRS collects visible and infrared imagery and global observations of land, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Aug. 24 Lionrock had become a typhoon. Maximum sustained winds had increased to 75 mph (65 knots/120.4 kph). Lionrock was centered near 26.0 degrees north latitude and 133.3 degrees east longitude. That's about 297 nautical miles east of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Lionrock was moving to the southwest at ~7 mph (6 knots/11.1 kph). Also Typhoon Lionrock strengthens into a typhoon showing increasing strong winds and damaging the surrounding areas.

Lionrock is moving southwest before it is expected to turn around onto a northeasterly course.

Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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Typhoon Lionrock strengthens into a typhoon

Typhoon Lionrock strengthens into a typhoon NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite...

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<div class="img-wrapper">Tropical Depression Kay is quickly fading into history The remaining traces of rainfall in weakening Tropical Depression Kay was in a small area when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed overhead early on Aug. 23. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA's</a> view.</div>
The GPM core observatory satellite captured data as it passed above dissipating tropical storm Kay southwest of Baja on Aug. 22 at 8:41 p.m. EDT (Aug. 23 at 0041 UTC). Data captured by GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument shows that precipitation was limited to a small area of rain west of the center of the dissipating tropical storm. DPR found that rain was falling at a maximum rate of about 58 mm (2.3 inches) per hour in this small stormy area. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Tropical Depression Kay is quickly fading into history

By 5 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Kay had been devoid of deep convection and thunderstorms for about 12 hours. At that time, Kay's center was about 710 miles (1,145 km) west of the southern tip of Baja California, <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/samalayuca-sand-dunes/">Mexico.</a>

Kay was then classified as a remnant low pressure system and faded into the hurricane history of the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season.

In late August, a tropical disturbance formed 725 mi (1,165 km) east-southeast of Hurricane Javier and nearly 370 mi (595 km) south of the Baja California Peninsula. Moving slowly west, the disturbance began to develop a well-defined circulation, and was respectively upgraded into a tropical depression on August 28. Passing 10 mi (20 km) south of Clarion Island, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Kay. The cyclone's forward speed increased; subsequently, Kay reached its peak intensity. After maintaining its intensity for 18 hours, Kay rapidly weakened over cold water, and was downgraded into a depression at 0000 UTC September 2. Kay dissipated the next day several hundred miles west of the Baja California Peninsula


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Tropical Depression Kay is quickly fading into history

Tropical Depression Kay is quickly fading into history The remaining...

<div>Ocean acidification is killing baby cod Increasing ocean acidification could double the mortality of newly-hatched baby cod. This would put populations of this economically important fish species more and more under pressure if exploitation remains unchanged. For the first time ever, members of the German research network BIOACID have quantified mortality rates of cod in the western Baltic Sea and the Barents Sea under more acidified conditions which the fish may experience towards the end of the century. They integrated their results of two several-weeks long experiments in model calculations on stock dynamics. The various model scenarios showed that the recruitment could decrease to levels of one quarter to one twelfth of the recruitment of the last decades - a strong call for action for fisheries management.</div>
<div>

As one of the most important commercial species in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/phytoplankton-blooms-persist-in-the-north-atlantic-ocean/">North Atlantic,</a> Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) has been under intense fishing pressure for decades, causing stocks to shrink or crash. In the online journal PLOS ONE, an international team of marine researchers draws attention to another important stressor triggered by climate change: ocean acidification. When additional carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean, the water gets more acidified - with negative consequences for the behaviour, growth and development of fish larvae. Ocean acidification is killing baby cod

In two independent experiments, scientists found that the mortality of cod larvae in the critical phase between hatching and the development of the gills was twice as high at elevated carbon dioxide concentrations than at current conditions. The experiments were conducted in Sweden and Norway as part of the German research network BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification) and the EU BONUS project BIO-C3 („Biodiversity Changes - Causes, Consequences and Management Implications").

For the first experiment, fertilized eggs and larvae of cod caught in the Öresund were kept in the lab of the Sven Lovén Centre at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) for six weeks. Some were held in seawater at ambient carbon dioxide concentrations, others were exposed to CO2-conditions that are projected to occur by 2100. Temperature, light and food densities remained at natural conditions. The second experiment was conducted with cod offspring from the Barents Sea in the Centre for Marine Aquaculture Tromsø, NOFIMA (Norway).

"Even though the experiments were conducted in two consecutive years at different research stations under different conditions in relation for example to food or tank sizes and with two different stocks, their results are surprisingly similar", explains first author Martina Stiasny, PhD student in the research unit Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes at GEOMAR and in the unit for Environmental, Resource and Ecological Economics at Kiel University. "The daily mortality rate for cod from the Öresund under current conditions was nine per cent compared to 20 per cent under increased CO2 concentrations. For the Barents Sea stock, we found mortality rates of seven and 13 per cent respectively."

The scientists integrated these increased mortality rates into model calculations, which were based on the stock data of the International Council of the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), to calculate the number of cod that will enter the fished population. According to the scenarios, ocean acidification could potentially decrease recruitment to levels one quarter to one twelfth of today's numbers.

"Our results show for the first time, how ocean acidification can add up to the fishing pressure on stocks of a commercially important fish species", Dr. Catriona Clemmesen, head of the GEOMAR working group Larval Fish Ecology, points out. "The repercussions of the anthropogenic climate change need to be included into stock projections and considered in the management of fish stocks. Only this will enable us to define realistic limits for fishing pressure and to avoid overfishing and depletion of fish stocks". To retain the stocks, fisheries ought to adjust to climate change, advises first author Martina Stiasny. "Ocean acidification cannot be completely avoided anymore. But the bigger the stocks are and the more responsibly and sustainably fishing activities are, the bigger the recruitment will remain. This will in the long run not only allow for larger fisheries, but also helps stocks to better adapt to climate change and other anthropogenic influences."

Original publication: Stiasny, M.H., Mittermayer, F.H., Sswat, M., Voss, R., Jutfelt, F., Chierici, M., Puvanendran, V., Mortensen, A., Reusch, T.B.H., Clemmesen, C.: PLOS ONE 2016: Ocean Acidification Effects on Atlantic Cod Larval Survival and Recruitment to the Fished Population, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155448

Links: <a href="http://www.geomar.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel</a>
<a href="http://www.eree.uni-kiel.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Environmental, Resource and Ecological Economics at Kiel University</a>
<a href="http://www.bioacid.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification</a>
<a href="http://www.bio-c3.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biodiversity Changes - Causes, Consequences and Management Implications</a>
<a href="http://loven.gu.se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sven Lovén Centre at the University of Gothenburg</a>
<a href="http://nofima.no/en/research-facilities/national-breeding-station-for-cod" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Centre for Marine Aquaculture Tromsø, NOFIMA</a>

BIOACID in brief: Under the umbrella of BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification), 10 institutions examine how marine ecosystems react to ocean acidification, how this affects the food web and the exchange of material and energy in the ocean and how the changes influence the socio-economic sector. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and coordinated by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. A list of member institutions and further information can be found at <a href="http://www.bioacid.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.bioacid.de</a>.

BIO-C3 in brief: 13 partner institutes from eight European countries cooperate in the BIO-C3 project (Biodiversity Changes - Causes, Consequences and Management Implications) to address the importance of marine biodiversity and how it might be threatened in the Baltic by climate change. The project that runs from January 2014 to July 2017, is funded by the European Union as part of the BONUS - Science for a Better Future of the Baltic Sea Region - programme and the German Ministry of Education and Research with a total of 4 million Euros. It is coordinated at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, assisted by DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark. Further information: <a href="http://www.bio-c3.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.bio-c3.eu</a>

&nbsp;

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Ocean acidification is killing baby cod

Ocean acidification is killing baby cod Increasing ocean acidification could...

<div>Tropical Storm Gaston continues to intensify The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided scientists with a look at rainfall rates and cloud heights within Tropical Storm Gaston as it continued to intensify in the Atlantic Ocean.</div>
<div>

Tropical storm Gaston became the seventh named tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean after forming southwest of the Cape Verde Islands on Monday evening Aug. 22. Gaston's development followed closely behind Tropical Storm Fiona that formed in the same area southwest of the Cape Verde Islands on Aug. 17. Fiona is now fading quickly in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/phytoplankton-blooms-persist-in-the-north-atlantic-ocean/">Atlantic Ocean</a> southwest of Bermuda.

The GPM core observatory satellite had a very good view of forming tropical storm Gaston on Aug. 22 at 2:26 p.m. EDT (1826 UTC). At that time the forming tropical storm was starting to get organized with bands of showers moving around the center of the low's circulation. The GPM satellite had a fairly good view when it flew over newly formed Tropical Storm Gaston on Aug. 23 at 1:56 a.m. EDT (0556 UTC).

Measurements of precipitation with Gaston were derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments. The GPM satellite had the best examination of rainfall around the tropical cyclone when it flew over the low's center on Aug. 22. The heaviest precipitation was found by GPM in an area of intense convective storms located well to the southwest of the low. DPR measured rain there falling at a rate of over 141 mm (5.6 inches) per hour.

GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band) made measurements of the intensity of rainfall and heights of storms near the developing tropical storm. 3-D measurements by DPR found that some storm tops around the developing tropical storm were reaching altitudes above 14.7 km (9.1 miles). GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on Aug. 24 the center of Tropical Storm Gaston was located 14.9 degrees north latitude and 38.6 degrees west longitude. That's about 975 miles (1,570 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. The National Hurricane Center said that Gaston is moving toward the west-northwest near 17 mph. A turn toward the northwest is expected later today.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 70 mph (110 kph) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) discussion noted that microwave imagery showed Gaston's structure has improved since the passage of the GPM core satellite. Gaston has developed a well-defined low-level cloud ring and a mid-level microwave eye. However, Gaston's mid-level center is displaced about 25 nautical miles to the northeast of the low-level center. The University of Wisconsin CIMSS (wind) shear analyses indicated that 10 knots of southwesterly wind shear is affecting Gaston, which could explain the cyclone's tilted structure. The wind shear is expected to remain low enough during the next 24 hours to allow Gaston to strengthen to a hurricane later today.

For updated forecasts on Gaston, visit the National Hurricane Center website: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>.


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Tropical Storm Gaston continues to intensify

Tropical Storm Gaston continues to intensify The Global Precipitation Measurement...

<div>Global warming could create substantial economic damage in agriculture, a new study conducted by a team of scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research finds. Around the globe, climate change threatens agricultural productivity, forcing up food prices. While financial gains and losses differ between consumers and producers across the regions, bottom line is that consumers in general will likely have to pay more for the same basket of food. As the additional expenditure for consumers outweighs producers' gains, increasing net economic losses will occur in the agriculture and food sector towards the end of the century. However, economic losses could be limited to 0.3 percent of global <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/damaging-air-pollution-agriculture/">GDP</a> - depending on agricultural trade policies.</div>
<div>

"Agriculture is very sensitive to climate change - even a small increase of global mean temperatures can have significant effects on regional crop yields, affecting both the profitability of agricultural production and the share of income spent on food", lead author Miodrag Stevanovi? says. "Our study quantifies economic impacts and analyses the role of international trade as an adaptation measure. We find that economic losses in agriculture could add up to the annual amount of roughly 0.8 percent of global GDP at the end of the century with a very restricted trade regime. As small as this percentage sounds, it actually translates to losses of 2.5 trillion US Dollars and is comparably higher for regions with limited agricultural resources with respect to growing agricultural demand, for example the Middle East, Africa and India. In contrast, further trade liberalization in agricultural commodities could reduce financial damage globally by 65 percent, to 0.3 percent of global GDP."

Trade can balance economic impacts on agriculture due to climate change

"Both global warming and free trade favor northern regions like Europe and the US, since producers' gains increase as trade patterns shift northwards. At the same time, southern regions like Africa or India could theoretically reduce climate-change-related damages by half through more liberalized food markets," co-author Alexander Popp explains. "Irrespective of our assumptions on global trade, climate change will result in reduced crop yields in many areas. At the same time, intensifying production or expanding cultivated land into previously untouched areas may come at a risk: it could lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions through tropical deforestation or increased fertilizer use". This could then further enhance climate change pressure on agriculture.

The researchers combined 19 different climate projections with simulations of crop growth to assess economic impacts of climate change in the agricultural sector. While the magnitude of damage varies with different assumptions on crop productivity response to climate change, CO2 plant fertilization effect or socio-economic projection, the study still highlights the important role of trade as a key measure to partly reduce climate change impacts. Modelling challenges such as adverse effects of extreme weather events still remain.

Risks of food shortages also call for poverty reduction measures

If food prices increase due to climate change impacts, households will not only have to spend more on their food consumption, but could also face risks of insufficient access to food and malnutrition. "The best way to avoid these risks is to limit climate change. However, for impacts that cannot be avoided, an open and diversified trade system can be an important adaptation option. It can account for changes in global patterns of agricultural productivity and thus allow for reducing production costs and enhancing food security," says Hermann Lotze-Campen, chair of PIK's research domain Climate Impacts and Vulnerabilities. "As climate change will have an amplifying effect on the gap between developed and developing countries, reductions in trade barriers will have to be accompanied by measures for poverty reduction and social safety nets".

Article: Stevanović, M.; Popp, A.; Lotze-Campen, H.; Dietrich, J.P.; Müller, C.; Bonsch, M.; Schmitz, C.; Bodirsky, B.; Humpenöder, F.; Weindl, I.: The impact of high-end climate change on agricultural welfare. Science Advances.

Link to the article: <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/8/e1501452" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/8/e1501452</a>

For further information please contact: PIK press office Phone: +49 331 288 25 07 E-Mail: <a href="mailto:press@pik-potsdam.de">press@pik-potsdam.de</a> Twitter: @PIK_Climate <a href="http://www.pik-potsdam.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.pik-potsdam.de</a>

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Climate change threatens agricultural productivity around the world

Global warming could create substantial economic damage in agriculture, a...

<div>Global climate models don't work on a regional level One size does not always fit all, especially when it comes to global climate models, according to Penn State climate researchers. Global climate models don't work on a regional level</div>
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"The impacts of climate change rightfully concern policy makers and stakeholders who need to make decisions about how to cope with a changing climate," said Fuqing Zhang, professor of meteorology and director, Center for Advanced Data Assimilation and Predictability Techniques, Penn State. "They often rely upon climate model projections at regional and local scales in their decision making." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>

Zhang and Michael Mann, Distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director, Earth System Science Center, were concerned that the direct use of climate model output at local or even regional scales could produce inaccurate information. They focused on two key climate variables, temperature and precipitation.

They found that projeGlobal climate models don't work on a regional level ctions of temperature changes with global climate models became increasingly uncertain at scales below roughly 600 horizontal miles, a distance equivalent to the combined widths of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. While climate models might provide useful information about the overall warming expected for, say, the Midwest, predicting the difference between the warming of Indianapolis and Pittsburgh might prove futile.

Regional changes in precipitation were even more challenging to predict, with estimates becoming highly uncertain at scales below roughly 1200 miles, equivalent to the combined width of all the states from the <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/phytoplankton-blooms-persist-in-the-north-atlantic-ocean/">Atlantic Ocean</a> through New Jersey across Nebraska. The difference between changing rainfall totals in Philadelphia and Omaha due to global warming, for example, would be difficult to assess. The researchers report the results of their study in the August issue of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

"Policy makers and stakeholders use information from these models to inform their decisions," said Mann. "It is crucial they understand the limitation in the information the model projections can provide at local scales."

Climate models provide useful predictions of the overall warming of the globe and the largest-scale shifts in patterns of rainfall and drought, but are considerably more hard pressed to predict, for example, whether New York City will become wetter or drier, or to deal with the effects of mountain ranges like the Rocky Mountains on regional weather patterns.

"Climate models can meaningfully project the overall global increase in warmth, rises in sea level and very large-scale changes in rainfall patterns," said Zhang. "But they are uncertain about the potential significant ramifications on society in any specific location."

The researchers believe that further research may lead to a reduction in the uncertainties. They caution users of climate model projections to take into account the increased uncertainties in assessing local climate scenarios.

"Uncertainty is hardly a reason for inaction," said Mann. "Moreover, uncertainty can cut both ways, and we must be cognizant of the possibility that impacts in many regions could be considerably greater and more costly than climate model projections suggest."
###
Also working on this project was Wei Li, former post-doctoral fellow at Penn State now at NOAA/NWS/NCEP/Environmental Modeling Center, College Park, Md.

The National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research supported this work.

</div>

Global climate models don't work on a regional level

Global climate models don't work on a regional level One...

<div>Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-carbon-dioxide-sink/">carbon dioxide</a>, according to a new study from the University of Southampton.</div>
<div>

The research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, provides insight into the long-term impacts of rising CO2 and the implications for global food security and nature conservation.

Lead author Professor Gail Taylor, from Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton, said: "Atmospheric CO2 is rising - emissions grew faster in the 2000s than the 1990s and the concentration of CO2 reached 400 ppm for the first time in recorded history in 2013. Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide

"On the one hand, more CO2 is known to be good for plants, at least in the short-term because this drives up photosynthesis and plant growth including crop growth and food production. Indeed recent decades have seen the planet becoming greener as vegetation growth is stimulated as CO2 rises.

"Until now, few reports had given us any insight into the long-term impacts of rising CO2 over multiple generations and none have been undertaken on the molecular signature underpinning such adaptation. One reason for this is that's it's a difficult problem to crack - to find plants that have been exposed to conditions of the future, but are available today." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>

[caption id="attachment_2412054" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2412054" src="http://cff1.greenatom.earth/uploads/2016/08/24111727/cff1.greenatom.earthuploads20160824111724media.eurekalert.orgmultimedia_prodpubweb122495_web-56b507053fc7b3fa1677613fb819c266c1e90aca-073b9f35bc1753030dd1376d5f791a5ab0d22e7e-150x150.jpg" alt="Plantago lanceolata" width="150" height="150" /> Plantago lanceolata[/caption]

To address this problem, the researchers used a unique resource - naturally high CO2 springs where plants have been subjected to more CO2 over many hundreds of years and multiple plant generations. Taking plantago lanceolata plants from a 'spring' site in Bossoleto, Italy and comparing the molecular signature with the same plants from a nearby 'control' site (at today's CO2) revealed striking differences in the total gene expression (the process by which specific genes are activated to produce a required protein).

Professor Taylor said: "The study shows that when we take plants from these two places that represent the atmosphere of today with that of the future (out to 2100), and place them together in the same environment, the plants from spring sites were bigger and had a better rate of photosynthesis. Most importantly, plants from the spring sites had differences in the expression of hundreds of genes.

"In particular, we predict from these gene expression data that planetary greening will continue - it won't switch off or become acclimated as CO2 continues to rise, but some of the extra carbon in future plants is likely to go into secondary chemicals for plant defence. This is associated with more gene expression underpinning plant respiration."

One of the most interesting findings was that stomatal pores on the surface of the leaf (small holes that control the uptake of CO2 for photosynthesis and the loss of water vapour) increase in number after multi-generation exposure to future CO2. The team predicted that pore number would decline, in line with past research over geological timescales using fossil plants.

Professor Taylor added: "This is a counter-intuitive finding but strongly suggests that stomatal pore numbers increase, since we have identified several key regulators of stomatal number that are sensitive to future high CO2. One of those is SCREAM (SCRM2), which is a member of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein family that acts to regulate plant developmental transitions.

"We don't understand the full consequences of this developmental change but it shows that plants will adapt in unpredictable ways to future CO2 over multiple generations. This question is pressing - we need to know how food crops may evolve over future generations in response to the changing climate, whether planetary greening is likely to continue and the impacts of this for global nature conservation."
###
This research was funded by the FP7 Framework for Research Programme of the EU, as part of the EXPEER consortium 'Experimentation in ecosystem research', NERC and the British Council.

</div>

Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide

Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Plants are...

<div>Typhoon Lionrock's rainfall rates and cloud heights were analyzed as it continued to intensify when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed overhead.</div>
<div>

Since Aug. 15, 2016 Japan has been by hit by three tropical cyclones called Mindulle, Chantu and Kompasu. Tropical cyclone Lionrock may be the next to affect <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/nearly-complete-duck-billed-dinosaur-fossil/">Japan</a>. Lionrock formed east of Japan on Aug. 18, 2016 and passed by to the south of Japan as a tropical storm. Lionrock then interacted with tropical storm Mindulle which spun by to the east. Mindulle, although somewhat weakened by Lionrock's outflow, hit Tokyo killing at least 2 people. Lionrock moved to the southeast of Okinawa and became a powerful typhoon.

The GPM core observatory satellite passed over typhoon Lionrock twice in two days. On Aug. 23 at 2:11 p.m. EDT (1811 UTC) GPM saw Lionrock when it was first classified as a typhoon. At that time, Lionrock had winds of about 75 mph (65 knots). GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument sliced through the western edge of the typhoon's eye. Rainfall was measured at a rate of over 222 mm (8.8 inches) per hour in intense storms on that side of the eye wall.

Lionrock was a much more powerful typhoon with winds of about 115 mph (100 knots) when the GPM satellite flew over again on Aug. 24, 2016 at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 UTC). This made it a category three on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) showed an area of very heavy precipitation occurring just southeast of the powerful typhoon's eye and intense rainfall within bands of thunderstorms feeding into the center of circulation.

GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band) sliced through Lionrock and those data were used to show a 3-D cutaway view of precipitation structure within the typhoon. DPR showed that some of the tall thunderstorm towers in Lionrock's eye wall reached heights almost 17 km (10.5 miles).GPM is a joint mission between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a> and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Aug. 25 Typhoon Lionrock was centered near 23.7 degrees north latitude and 131.1 degrees east longitude, about 246 nautical miles southeast of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Lionrock has tracked northeastward at 3.4 mph (3 knots/5.5 kph). Maximum sustained winds were near 126.6 mph (110 knots/203.7 kph).

Typhoon Lionrock is expected to continue tracking to the northeast and maintain typhoon strength as it heads toward Honshu, Japan's main island by Aug. 29 and Aug. 30.


</div>
<div></div>

Typhoon Lionrock continues to strengthen

Typhoon Lionrock's rainfall rates and cloud heights were analyzed as...

<div>Amphetamine concentrations in streams alter the aquatic food web.Pharmaceutical and illicit drugs are present in streams in Baltimore, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/flash-flooding-devastates-maryland/">Maryland</a>. At some sites, amphetamine concentrations are high enough to alter the base of the aquatic food web. So reports a new study released today in the journal Environmental Science &amp; Technology, which is one of the first to explore the ecological consequences of stimulant pollution in urban streams.</div>
<div>

Lead author Sylvia S. Lee conducted the work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Lee, now with the Environmental Protection Agency, comments, "Around the world, treated and untreated wastewater entering surface waters contains pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs that originate from human consumption and excretion, manufacturing processes, or improper disposal. We were interested in revealing how amphetamine exposure influences the small plants and animals that play a large role in regulating the health of streams." Amphetamine concentrations in streams alter the aquatic food web

Lee and her collaborators measured concentrations of pharmaceutical and illicit drugs at six stream sites along an urban-to-rural gradient in Baltimore, Maryland. Numerous drugs, including amphetamine, were detected in stream sites, with illicit drug levels highest in the most urban streams. Sampling was performed in 2013 and 2014. Suburban and urban fieldwork focused on the Gwynns Falls watershed, which is part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-Term Ecological Research program. The two rural streams were located in Oregon Ridge watershed, the closest forested region.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>

Field sampling was then followed up with an artificial stream experiment to determine how amphetamine - a biologically active, highly addictive, and widely used drug - affects stream life. In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of amphetamine medications in the treatment of conditions like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. At the same time, stimulants like methamphetamine, ecstasy, and cocaine are also used illicitly.

Co-author <a href="http://www.caryinstitute.org/science-program/our-scientists/dr-emma-j-rosi-marshall" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Emma J. Rosi-Marshall</a>, a freshwater ecologist at the Cary Institute, comments, "We have every reason to suspect that the release of stimulants to aquatic environments is on the rise across the globe, yet little is known about the ecological consequences of this pollution. We found that when artificial streams were exposed to amphetamine at a concentration similar to what we found in parts of the Gwynns Falls watershed, there were measurable and concerning effects to the base of the aquatic food web."

After recreating natural stream attributes in the Cary Institute's Artificial Stream Facility, four streams received a target amphetamine concentration of 1 μg L-1 and four streams were maintained as controls. Researchers monitored ecosystem effects over three weeks. Among their findings: in streams with the amphetamine addition, the growth of biofilms was significantly suppressed, the composition of bacterial and diatom communities changed, and aquatic insects emerged earlier.

The field component of this study is one of the first to report amphetamine in wastewater-impacted environments at concentrations approaching 1 μg L-1. The laboratory component confirms that amphetamine is present in the Gwynns Falls watershed at concentrations that have the potential to affect stream ecosystem structure and function.

Rosi-Marshall concludes, "As society continues to grapple with aging wastewater infrastructure and escalating pharmaceutical and illicit drug use, we need to consider collateral damages to our freshwater resources. More work is needed on the ecological fate of these pollutants and the threat they pose to aquatic life and water quality. Ultimately, solutions will lie in innovations in the way we manage wastewater."
###
In addition to Lee and Rosi-Marshall, the paper's research team included graduate student Alexis M. Paspalof (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), environmental chemist Daniel D. Snow (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), PhD candidate Erinn Richmond (Monash University), and microbial ecologist John J. Kelly (Loyola University Chicago). Funding was provided in part by the Wallace Genetic Foundation, the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-Term Ecological Research program, the Hudson River Foundation, and the Polgar Foundation.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

<a href="http://www.caryinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies</a> is one of the world's leading independent environmental research organizations. Areas of expertise include disease ecology, forest and freshwater health, climate change, urban ecology, and invasive species. Since 1983, Cary Institute scientists have produced the unbiased research needed to inform effective management and policy decisions.

</div>

Amphetamine concentrations in streams alter the aquatic food web

Amphetamine concentrations in streams alter the aquatic food web.Pharmaceutical and...

<div>Tropical Storm Lester forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Also When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the eastern Pacific Ocean. Therefore it looked at a newly developed tropical depression that would later strengthen into Tropical Storm Lester. Aqua analyzed the depression with an infrared eye and saw indications it was strengthening.</div>
<div>

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard Aqua provided temperature data on Tropical Depression 13E on Aug. 24 at 4:17 p.m. EDT (2017 UTC). AIRS infrared data showed that the depression had some powerful thunderstorms with high cold cloud tops (as cold as -63F/-53C).

By 5 p.m. EDT the low pressure area was officially recognized as Tropical Depression 13E. The depression formed about 455 miles (730 miles) southwest of Manzanillo, <a href="http://www.earth.com/image/samalayuca-sand-dunes/">Mexico</a>. The depression strengthened into a tropical storm at 5 a.m. on Aug. 25. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>

On Aug. 25, the National Hurricane Center said the cloud pattern of Lester continues to gradually become better organized, with developing convective banding features surrounding a small central dense overcast and expanding upper-level outflow. Tropical Storm Lester forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Lester was located near latitude 16.6 degrees north latitude and 112.5 degrees west longitude. That's about 465 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. Tropical Storm Lester forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Lester was moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph) and a gradual turn toward the west is expected over the next 48 hours. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts.

Infrared data from the AIRS instrument shows that the waters that lie ahead of Lester are at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 degrees Celsius), warm enough to keep maintaining the storm's strength.

Continued strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days, and Lester is likely to become a hurricane on Friday, Aug. 26, according to NHC.


</div>
<div></div>

Tropical Storm Lester forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Lester forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Also...

Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun - August 31

<div>Solar eruptions to changes in Earth's cloud cover A team of scientists from the National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Space) and the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has linked large solar eruptions to changes in Earth's cloud cover in a study based on over 25 years of satellite observations.</div>
<div>

The solar eruptions are known to shield <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-tides-earthquakes/">Earth'</a>s atmosphere from cosmic rays. However the new study, published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, shows that the global cloud cover is simultaneously reduced, supporting the idea that cosmic rays are important for cloud formation. The eruptions cause a reduction in cloud fraction of about 2 percent corresponding to roughly a billion tonnes of liquid water disappearing from the atmosphere. Solar eruptions to changes in Earth's cloud cover

Since clouds are known to affect global temperatures on longer timescales, the present investigation represents an important step in the understanding of clouds and climate variability.

"Earth is under constant bombardment by particles from space called galactic cosmic rays. Violent eruptions at the Sun's surface can blow these cosmic rays away from Earth for about a week. Our study has shown that when the cosmic rays are reduced in this way there is a corresponding reduction in Earth's cloud cover. Since clouds are an important factor in controlling the temperature on Earth our results may have implications for climate change", explains lead author on the study Jacob Svensmark of DTU. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA's</a> view.

Very energetic particles

These particles generate electrically charged molecules -- ions -- in Earth's atmosphere. Ions have been shown in the laboratory to enhance the formation of aerosols, which can serve as seeds for the formation of the cloud drops that make up a cloud. Whether this actually happens in the atmosphere, or only in the laboratory is a topic that has been investigated and debated for years.

When the large solar eruptions blow away the galactic cosmic rays before they reach Earth they cause a reduction in atmospheric ions of up to about 20 to -30 percent over the course of a week. So if ions affect cloud formation it should be possible to observe a decrease in cloud cover during events when the Sun blows away cosmic rays, and this is precisely what is done in this study.

The so-called 'Forbush decreases' of the cosmic rays have previously been linked to week-long changes in Earth's cloud cover but the effect has been debated at length in the scientific literature. The new study concludes that "there is a real impact of Forbush decreases on cloud microphysics" and that the results support the suggestion that "ions play a significant role in the life-cycle of clouds".

Arriving at that conclusion was, however, a hard endeavor; Very few strong Forbush decreases occur and their effect on cloud formation is expected to be close to the limit of detection using global atmospheric observations measured by satellites and land based stations. Therefore it was of the greatest importance to select the strongest events for study since they had to have the most easily detected effect. Determining this strength required combining data from about 130 stations in combination with atmospheric modeling.

This new method resulted in a list of 26 events in the period of 1987-2007 ranked according to ionization. This ranked list was important for the detection of a signal, and may also shed some light on why previous studies have arrived at varied conclusions, since they have relied on events that were not necessarily ranked high on the list.

Possible long term effect

The effect from Forbush decreases on clouds is too brief to have any impact on long-term temperature changes.

However since clouds are affected by short term changes in galactic cosmic radiation, they may well also be affected by the slower change in Solar activity that happens on scales from tens to hundreds of years, and thus play a role in the radiation budget that determines the global temperature.

The Suns contribution to past and future climate change may thus be larger than merely the direct changes in radiation, concludes the scientists behind the new study.


</div>
<div></div>

Solar eruptions to changes in Earth's cloud cover

Solar eruptions to changes in Earth's cloud cover A team...

<div>As temperatures warm, Snowfall in Antarctica will increase When Antarctica's air temperature rises, moisture in the atmosphere increases. That should mean more snowfall on the frozen continent. So why hasn't that trend become evident in Antarctica's surface mass balance as climate models predict?</div>
<div>

In a new study, scientists used historical records and climate simulations to examine that question. They found that the effect of rising temperatures on snowfall has so far been overshadowed by Antarctica's large natural climate variability, which comes from random, chaotic variations in the polar weather. By mid-century, however, as temperatures continue to rise, the study shows how the effect of human-induced warming on Antarctica's net snow accumulation should emerge above the noise. As temperatures warm, Snowfall in Antarctica will increase

The expectation of more snowfall is something of a silver lining as temperatures rise. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/limiting-global-warming-prevent-deaths/">Global warming</a> is already increasing sea level through melting ice and thermal expansion. The increase in snowfall over Antarctica could help reduce the amount of global sea level rise by 51 to 79 millimeters, or about 2 to 3 inches, by the year 2100, according to the study. That would be a small but important benefit: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates global sea level rise will be at least 10 times that by 2100 under the same high-emissions scenario used in the new study.

"Increased snowfall over Antarctica is the sole process connected to global warming that is thought to have a significant mitigating effect on global sea level rise," said lead author Michael Previdi, a professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "While the magnitude of this effect is uncertain, it is likely that the balance of different processes determining Antarctica's net contribution to global sea level rise will be decidedly different in the future than it has been in the recent past."

On a continental scale, surface mass balance is the difference between the amount of snowfall that accumulates and the amount of snow lost to sublimation. It affects global sea level because the amount of water on earth is essentially constant, so when more water is stored as snow or ice on land, less water is available to contribute to rising seas.

For the study, published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, Previdi and co-author Lorenzo Polvani of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory evaluated surface mass balance simulations from 35 coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models, which simulate the physical forces that affect Antarctica.

The models allow scientists to quantify both the human influence on surface mass balance and the influence of natural variability. The scientists found that from 1961 to 2005, global warming increased Antarctica's surface mass balance by 124 billion tons per year, smaller in magnitude than natural year-to-year variability, which was found to be plus or minus 126 billion tons per year.

When the scientists looked at all 35 models, 46 percent of the individual simulations showed a statistically significant trend in surface mass balance from 1961 to 2005, the year that most of the models' historical simulations end. The likelihood of seeing a statistically significant trend in surface mass balance rises as the models forecast ahead in time. After 2015, the models cross a threshold where it becomes "likely," with a 66 percent chance, that evidence of anthropogenic climate change will emerge in Antarctica's surface mass balance. By 2040, it becomes "very likely," with a higher than 90 percent chance.

Previdi and Polvani repeated their analysis with different emissions scenarios and also considered surface mass balance trends starting in 1979, at the dawn of the satellite era. The analyses showed similar results, with the global warming signal "very likely" to emerge by mid-century.

"The apparent discrepancy between models and observations can be easily reconciled by considering the large surface mass balance variations generated naturally within the Antarctic climate system," they write.

Previous studies also found no significant change in the total Antarctic surface mass balance in recent decades, though a 2013 ice core study found a 10 percent increase in surface mass balance in coastal regions since the 1960s. All temperature records, meanwhile, indicate that Antarctica warmed from 1961 to 2005. Ice cores also show a strong relationship between the continent's surface mass balance and temperature changes through history, including the end of the last ice age when temperatures rose dramatically.
###
The paper, "Anthropogenic Impact on Antarctic Surface Mass Balance, Currently Masked by Natural Variability, to Emerge by Mid-Century," is available from the author.

Scientist contact: Michael Previdi: <a href="mailto:mprevidi@ldeo.columbia.edu">mprevidi@ldeo.columbia.edu</a> 845-365-8631

More information: Kevin Krajick, senior editor, science news, The Earth Institute <a href="mailto:kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu">kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu</a> 212-854-9729

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is Columbia University's home for Earth science research. Its scientists develop fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world, from the planet's deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. <a href="http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/LamontEarth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@LamontEarth</a>

The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. <a href="http://www.earth.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.earth.columbia.edu</a>.

</div>

As temperatures warm, Snowfall in Antarctica will increase

As temperatures warm, Snowfall in Antarctica will increase When Antarctica's...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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