Many people imagine Earth’s interior mantle as separate layers stacked on top of each other, like a layered cake, with each layer representing a plate. In reality, those internal zones are complex and often full of surprises.



Seismologists have relied on specific types of earthquake waves to learn about Earth's subsurface, but now a different technique is painting a far more detailed picture.



This fresh perspective has led scientists to wonder if there is hidden material in places once believed to be empty.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-earth-s-mantle-the-basics">Understanding Earth's mantle - the basics</h2>



Earth’s mantle is the thick layer of rock that lies between the planet's crust and its core. It stretches about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) deep, making up around 84% of Earth's total volume. 



The mantle is primarily composed of silicate minerals rich in iron and magnesium, and it's mostly solid, but it behaves like a thick, slow-flowing fluid over long periods of time. 



This flow is what drives the movement of tectonic plates on Earth's surface, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-detect-major-earthquakes-months-in-advance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">causing earthquakes</a>, volcanic eruptions, and the shifting of continents. 



Heat from the Earth’s core causes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-inner-core-rotation-is-slowing-down-making/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">convection currents</a> in the mantle, where hot material rises, cools near the crust, and then sinks back down, creating a continuous cycle. This process plays a key role in shaping the planet's surface.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tectonic-plates-in-earth-s-mantle">Tectonic plates in Earth's mantle</h2>



The discovery stems from the use of a high-resolution method called <a href="https://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/1.9781560803027.entry6">full-waveform inversion</a>. Scientists use this approach to interpret every type of <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/ocean-floor/layers-earth/compare-contrast-connect-seismic-waves-and-determining-earth-s-structure#">seismic wave</a> produced by earthquakes, rather than focusing on only one kind.



Because of that, they can build a more precise model of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-crust-is-dripping-under-turkey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth’s internal structures</a>.&nbsp;



After applying this method to the lower mantle, researchers saw pockets that appear to be leftover plate fragments in areas with no known history of subduction. 



Following their analysis, they were startled by just how common these hidden anomalies seemed to be.



This work was led by a team that includes doctoral student <a href="https://www.geology.ethz.ch/people/person-detail.Mjc3OTM4.TGlzdC82NjksNTE5NzQ3MzU0.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thomas Schouten</a> from the <a href="https://www.geology.ethz.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geological Institute of ETH Zurich</a>, who collaborated with experts from the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">California Institute of Technology</a>.



Their combined efforts brought fresh insights that challenge assumptions about where old tectonic plate remnants might reside in Earth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interpreting-seismic-signals">Interpreting seismic signals</h2>



To understand how researchers got here, it helps to remember how seismic waves work. When an earthquake strikes, it sends waves radiating outward in all directions.



These waves bounce, bend, and shift as they travel through the planet. In much the same way that doctors use medical imaging techniques, geophysicists measure the time these waves take to reach various seismic stations around the globe.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/earth_lower-mantle_rock-zones_mysterious-sunken-worlds_credit-ETHZ_1s.webp" alt="Using a new model, researchers uncover zones in the Earth's lower mantle where seismic waves travel slower (red) or faster (blue). The large blue zone in the western Pacific (right above the center of the image) was previously unknown. Credit: Sebastian Noe / ETH Zurich" class="wp-image-1956322"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Using a new model, researchers uncover zones in the Earth's lower mantle where seismic waves travel slower (red) or faster (blue). The large blue zone in the western Pacific (right above the center of the image) was previously unknown. Credit: Sebastian Noe / ETH Zurich</figcaption></figure>



The velocity of those signals reveals details about rock density and stiffness. In previous years, scientists relied heavily on <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/108/5A/2894/546740/Generalized-Seismic-Phase-Detection-with-Deep?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particular seismic phases</a>. 



But by examining all available wave data instead, new shapes and densities were identified from Earth's lower <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mantle-heat-shaped-earths-crust-3-billion-years-ago/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mantle</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-is-earth-s-mantle-important">Why is Earth's mantle important?</h2>



Over hundreds of millions of years, plates have formed, shifted, and sunk back into Earth’s interior. This <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JB073i006p01959">cycling</a> plays a role in controlling phenomena like volcano formation, earthquakes, and the slow drift of continents.&nbsp;



Researchers have long known that slabs of subducted plates cluster under regions where one tectonic plate slides under another. 



So it came as a surprise when the new images revealed large slabs below oceans and continental interiors that lack a clear history of plate collisions.



That signals a possible complication in our understanding of how plates evolve and where they end up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mysterious-plate-under-the-pacific-ocean">Mysterious plate under the Pacific Ocean</h2>



One of the biggest surprises was in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-sunken-oceans-discovered-between-earth-core-and-mantle/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">zone</a> under the western Pacific. According to current plate tectonic timelines, there is no reason for old plate fragments to be there.&nbsp;



“Apparently, such zones in the Earth's mantle are much more widespread than previously thought,” said <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-77399-2">Schouten</a>.



No geologic data points to historical subduction nearby. This indicates that the anomalies might not be chunks of plates at all, or at least not in the way scientists originally imagined.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-could-it-be-something-else">Could it be something else?</h2>



Scientists now face questions about the origin and nature of these structures.



Some say they may be ancient, silica-rich pockets left over from the early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-earths-mantle-shapes-surface-topography/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mantle</a>. Others suggest they might be iron-rich accumulations that have drifted over billions of years.&nbsp;



Schouten explained that the new model reveals anomalies throughout the Earth's interior, but the exact materials or plate fragments responsible for these patterns remain unclear. 



This uncertainty suggests a more diverse range of compositions in the Earth's mantle than previously understood.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-for-deeper-understanding">Next steps for deeper understanding</h2>



Full-waveform inversion is a promising tool for these investigations, but it offers only a view of how fast or slowly waves move through the material. 



Researchers say they need further refinement to tease out chemical and thermal differences. 



Some are turning to additional datasets, including electromagnetic signals and data from mineral physics experiments. 



Combining those methods might highlight whether these mantle “blobs” are from primordial origins, from recycled ocean crust, or from something else entirely.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-plate-tectonics">Implications for plate tectonics</h2>



If scientists confirm that more zones like these exist in Earth’s depths, they may have to adjust many theories about how heat moves through the planet. 



Such hidden zones might alter patterns of convection and the formation of mantle plumes.&nbsp;



The story of plate tectonics could also see updates, with new chapters on how plate fragments wander and transform in ways not previously documented. These discoveries remind us that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-volcanic-hotspots-are-all-connected-to-earths-interior-mantle/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">geoscience</a>, like any science, is never settled.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-search-continues">The search continues</h2>



In the future, improved supercomputers may crunch even larger datasets to produce clearer images of Earth's lower mantle and its plate structures. That could resolve debates about the true nature of these mysterious anomalies.&nbsp;



By integrating various approaches - seismic, chemical, and computational - Earth scientists will keep uncovering pieces of our planet’s hidden complexity.



As Schouten’s team demonstrated, sometimes seeing the entire picture means looking beyond what we think we already know.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-77399-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



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'Sunken worlds' discovered under the Pacific ocean in Earth's mantle

Many people imagine Earth’s interior mantle as separate layers stacked on top of each other, like a layered cake, with each layer representing a plate. In reality, those internal zones are complex and often full of surprises. Seismologists have relied on specific types of earthquake waves to learn about Earth's subsurface, but now a different technique is painting a far more detailed picture. This fresh perspective has led scientists to wonder if there is hidden material in places once believed to be empty. Understanding Earth's mantle -...

The Antarctic is a rugged environment, and scientific research in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodiversity-loss-can-lead-to-total-ecosystem-collapse/">ecosystem</a> can be grueling and often impossible. However, thanks to improvements in satellite technology, researchers led by the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a> were recently able to comb through over 100,000 images of the Antarctic Peninsula. The team reviewed satellite images taken between 2017 and 2021 to understand the differences in glacial behavior during colder and milder periods.



Glaciers are known to move approximately one kilometer (0.62 miles) yearly. However, researchers recently discovered that the ice flows up to 22 percent faster in the summer than in the cooler months. Experts believe this is due to increased ocean temperatures and melting snow, which increases lubrication and the rate of glacial slide. The finding is significant because it can provide insight into what the Antarctic could look like as temperatures and sea levels rise.



Knowing how fast glaciers are melting and moving is especially important, considering that the Antarctic Peninsula is the largest frozen freshwater reservoir in the world and is especially vulnerable to warming temperatures. Between 1992 and 2017, melting ice on the peninsula caused global sea levels to rise by 7.6mm, which may significantly impact climate change.



“The Antarctic Peninsula has seen some of the most rapid warming of any region on Earth. Continuing work like this will help glaciologists monitor how quickly change is occurring, enabling accurate assessments of how Earth’s ice will respond to climate change," explained study co-author Dr. Anna Hogg.



Craig Donlon of the European Space Agency concludes by explaining how satellite images will continue to be a game changer for scientists:



“This study highlights how high-resolution satellite images can help us monitor how the environment is changing in remote regions," said Donlon. "Future satellites, such as the family of Copernicus Sentinel expansion missions, promise to bring enhanced continuity and capabilities that will spearhead further insight into the characteristics and processes governing ice mass balance and sea-level rise.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01131-4">&nbsp;Nature Geosciences</a>.



Image Credit: Dr Anna E. Hogg, University of Leeds



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Antarctic glaciers are flowing faster in the summer

The Antarctic is a rugged environment, and scientific research in...

A biocomputer powered by human brain cells, known as "organoid intelligence," could be developed within our lifetime. Researchers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> expect such technology to expand the capabilities of computing and create new fields of study.



“Computing and artificial intelligence have been driving the technology revolution but they are reaching a ceiling,” said Thomas Hartung. “Biocomputing is an enormous effort of compacting computational power and increasing its efficiency to push past our current technological limits.”



For nearly two decades, scientists have used tiny organoids (lab-grown tissues that resemble organs) to run experiments without human or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/do-animals-have-mirror-neurons-that-spark-aggression/">animal</a> testing.&nbsp;



Recently, researchers have been using brain organoids with neurons and other features that sustain functions like learning and remembering. Experimenting with brain organoids creates vast opportunities for research on how the brain works, and allows scientists to do a wide array of testing that cannot ethically be done to human brains.&nbsp;



In 2012, Hartung grew and assembled brain cells into functional organoids using cells from human skin samples. Each organoid contains about 50,000 cells, which is comparable to the size of a fruit fly’s nervous system.&nbsp;



Now, Hartung envisions utilizing brain organoids&nbsp; as “biological hardware” to build a futuristic computer. This technology could help alleviate the high energy-consumption demands of supercomputing that are becoming unsustainable.&nbsp;



While computers can process calculations involving numbers and data faster than humans, the human brain is still unmatched due to its unique ability to make complex logical decisions.



Hartung expects it will still take decades before organoid intelligence can power a system as smart as a mouse. He does, however, foresee a future where biocomputers support superior computing speed, processing power, data efficiency, and storage capabilities. This would require program funding,&nbsp; increased production of brain organoids as well as training them with artificial intelligence.&nbsp;



Organoid intelligence could also revolutionize drug testing research for neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegeneration, said Lena Smirnova who co-leads the investigations.



“We want to compare brain organoids from typically developed donors versus brain organoids from donors with autism,” said Smirnova. “The tools we are developing towards biological computing are the same tools that will allow us to understand changes in neuronal networks specific for autism, without having to use animals or to access patients, so we can understand the underlying mechanisms of why patients have these cognition issues and impairments.”



In the meantime, the ethical implications of working with organoid intelligence will be assessed by scientists, bioethicists, and members of the public who have been embedded within the team.



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://journal.sapub.org/fs/">Frontiers in Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Future computers may be powered by brain cells

A biocomputer powered by human brain cells, known as "organoid...

Woodland ants play an underestimated role in forest regeneration, according to a new study led by <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/">Binghamton University</a>. The experts report that ants in the genus Aphaenogaster are powerful seed dispersers that mutually support understory plants such as native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sunflowers-use-an-internal-clock-to-bloom-at-optimal-times/">wildflowers</a>.



“Not a lot of people have heard of them, but they are the powerhouse of moving seeds and called ‘keystone dispersers,’” explained study lead author Carmela Buono.



The researchers noted that the majority of&nbsp; North American eastern deciduous forests have regenerated from previous disturbance in the form of clearing for agriculture. In these forests, woodland ants disperse seeds for flowering plants in the forest understory.



Buono said that northeastern North America is one of the major hotspots of ant-plant mutualism, although it also happens in parts of Europe, Australia, South Africa and in northeastern Asia.



“These plants evolved with seeds that have an appendage rich in fats attached to them, and that’s very attractive to woodland ants,” said Buono. “Ants need fats just as much as protein and sugar, and it’s hard to find foods rich in fats in the forest.”



Woodland ants take the fatty seeds to their nests, which are typically found beneath forest litter, inside of logs, or underneath rocks. Here, the seeds are protected from rodents and slugs. After the ants consume the fatty appendages, they disperse the seeds far from where they originated.



“There are so many interesting, intricate parts of this interaction depending on the types of seeds ants prefer, so you can get this beautiful mixing of flower species in forests,” explained Buono.



Compared to old growth forests, there are fewer woodland ants in secondary forests. This is partially due to competition with invasive slugs that are commonly found in regenerated woodlands.



Slugs often prefer forest edges, and secondary forests may be located closer to habitats that slugs prefer, such as open meadows or active farms, said Buono.



"In a large-scale natural experiment (20 sites), we measured seed removal, the abundance of mutualistic partners and other invertebrates interacting with seeds, myrmecochory cover, and diversity, along with ant habitat and forest structure," wrote the researchers. "We found lower and more variable seed removal in secondary forests compared with remnant forests."



Overall, the analysis revealed that mutualist abundance was the primary determinant of the variation in seed removal. The researchers conclude that,&nbsp; in order to restore newer forests to a healthier state, we need to look beyond the trees to the diversity of insects, which play a crucial role in the forest ecosystem.



“Ants are beneficial," said Buono. "They’re not as charismatic as butterflies or bees that help pollinate flowers, but they are just as important."



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3978">Ecology</a>.



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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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Tiny ants make a huge contribution to forest regeneration

Woodland ants play an underestimated role in forest regeneration, according...

For the past 70 years, humanity has become more and more reliant on plastic materials for a variety of functions. In this time, an estimated 6 billion tons of plastics have ended up being deposited in the environment where they gradually degrade and fragment into micrometer- and nanometer-sized particles. These micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have become widely distributed throughout the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-risk-linked-to-specific-environmental-pollutants/">environment</a> and the food chain, and have been found in the tissues of humans and other mammals.&nbsp;



Previous studies have confirmed that MNPs entering in food can cross the intestinal barrier into the blood stream, and MNPs have been found in the tissues of laboratory rats and fish. Furthermore, pregnant rats fed plastics in their food had offspring that suffered an array of unhealthy outcomes affecting the brain, testicles, liver, immune system and metabolism. Placental tissues in humans, both maternal and fetal have also been shown to contain these tiny particles of plastic, but there has never been a study confirming that MNPs can cross the placenta from mother to offspring.&nbsp;



In a new investigation by Rutgers scientists, pregnant rats were fed specially marked nanoscale plastics to determine whether these could cross the placenta and infiltrate the tissues of their unborn pups. The researchers hypothesized that the carboxylated red fluorescent 25 nm (PS25C)&nbsp;polystyrene spheres would cross the intestinal barrier of the mother rats and then also cross the placenta and enter the blood stream and tissues of the unborn pups.&nbsp;



The five experimental rats were fed liquid containing the 25 nm polystyrene balls on day 19 of their pregnancy. Control rats were not fed in this way. After 24 h, the rats were sacrificed and images were made of their tissues, and of the tissues of their pups. The results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano13040720">Nanomaterials</a>, showed that the MNPs had not only crossed the intestinal and placental barriers within 24 h, but they had permeated the livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs and brains of the unborn offspring.&nbsp;



“Much remains unknown, but this is certainly cause for concern and follow-up study,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://mae.rutgers.edu/philip-demokritou">Philip Demokritou</a>, the Henry Rutgers Chair and professor in nanoscience and environmental bioengineering at the&nbsp;<a href="https://sph.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers School of Public Health.</a>



“The use of plastics has exploded since the 1940s due to their low cost and versatile properties. From 9 billion metric tons produced over the last 60 years, 80 percent ended up in the environment, and only 10 percent was recycled,” said Demokritou, who also holds appointments at Rutgers’ School of Engineering and directs the Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Research Center at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute.



“Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable, but weathering and photooxidation break them into tiny fragments. These tiny fragments, called micro-nano-plastics, are found in human lungs, placentas and blood, raising human health concerns. As public health researchers, we are trying to assess the health risks from such an emerging contaminant to inform policymakers and develop mitigation strategies. The goal is also to increase the reuse and recycling of plastics and even replace them with biodegradable, biopolymer-based plastics. This is part of our bigger societal goal towards sustainability.”



The results confirm the hypothesis of the researchers, that MNPs can cross the placental barrier and permeate the tissues of the unborn offspring. They also suggest the potential for the maternal–fetal transfer of nanoscale polystyrene MNPs.&nbsp;



The researchers acknowledge that the investigation involved only polystyrene MNPs, of a single specific size, and that this is not representative of the variety of environmental MNPs to which animals and humans are exposed. However, they were able to prove, for the first time, that plastics of this size can cross the placental barrier and affect the tissues of the offspring.&nbsp;



It is estimated that the average human ingests and inhales around 5 g of MNPs a week, a quantity that is equal to the mass of a credit card. It hasn’t yet been shown whether this amount, ingested unavoidably by a pregnant woman, will have similar effects on an unborn child, although some studies suggest plastics do affect human embryonic development, said Demokritou.



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Plastics can be passed from mothers to unborn babies

For the past 70 years, humanity has become more and...

With dozens of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-moon/">Moon</a> missions planned for the coming decade, a new era of lunar exploration is on the rise. However, since all of these missions will soon be operating on and around the Moon, different teams will need to be able to communicate and fix their positions independently from Earth, thus requiring a commonly agreed upon way of keeping time on the Moon. This is part of a larger effort to agree a common ‘<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/lunanet-empowering-artemis-with-communications-and-navigation-interoperability/">LunaNet</a>’ architecture that will cover lunar communication and navigation services.



“LunaNet is a framework of mutually agreed-upon standards, protocols, and interface requirements allowing future lunar missions to work together, conceptually similar to what we did on Earth for joint use of GPS and Galileo,” explained Javier Ventura-Traveset, <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a>’s Moonlight Navigation Manager. “Now, in the lunar context, we have the opportunity to agree on our interoperability approach from the very beginning, before the systems are actually implemented.”



According to ESA navigation system manager Pietro Giordano, defining a common lunar reference time that is internationally accepted and towards which all lunar systems and users can refer to is of utmost importance and urgency to ensure the proper functioning and communication of future Moon missions.



“Interoperability of time and geodetic reference frames has been successfully achieved here on Earth for Global Navigation Satellite Systems; all of today’s smartphones are able to make use of existing GNSS to compute a user position down to meter or even decimeter level,” said Jörg Hahn, a chief engineer at ESA.



“The experience of this success can be re-used for the technical long-term lunar systems to come, even though stable timekeeping on the Moon will throw up its own unique challenges – such as taking into account the fact that time passes at a different rate there due to the Moon’s specific gravity and velocity effects.”



Although all the terrestrial satellite navigation systems, such as the United States’ GPS or Europe’s Galileo, operate on their own distinct time systems, they nevertheless posses fixed offsets relative to each other down to a few billionths of a second, as well as to the UTC Universal Coordinated Time global standard (the timing used for internet, banking, and aviation operations).



Scientists are now debating whether a single organization should be responsible for setting and maintaining lunar time, and whether this time should be kept synchronized with Earth time or be set on an independent basis on the Moon. Devising such a system is currently facing significant challenges, since clocks on the Moon run faster than their equivalents on Earth and their exact rate depends upon on their position on the Moon.&nbsp;



Moreover, the agreed time system will also need to be practical for astronauts, which will require a common ‘selenocentric reference frame,’ similar to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame on Earth, which allows consistent measurements of precise distances between any locations on Earth.



“Throughout human history, exploration has actually been a key driver of improved timekeeping and geodetic reference models. It is certainly an exciting time to do that now for the Moon, working towards defining an internationally agreed timescale and a common selenocentric reference, which will not only ensure interoperability between the different lunar navigation systems, but which will also foster a large number of research opportunities and applications in cislunar space,” concluded Ventura-Traveset.



&nbsp;—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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How can we keep up with the time on the Moon?

With dozens of Moon missions planned for the coming decade,...

By simulating ancient Earth conditions in the laboratory, a team of scientists led by <a href="https://cuni.cz/UK-1.html">Charles University</a> in the Czech Republic and <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> in the U.S. has found that without a set of specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have evolved into life as we know it today. These findings, detailing how amino acids shaped the genetic code of ancient microorganisms, shed new light on the origins of life on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solid-metal-ball-discovered-within-earths-inner-core/">Earth</a>.&nbsp;



“You see the same amino acids in every organism, from humans to bacteria to archaea, and that’s because all things on Earth are connected through this tree of life that has an origin, an organism that was the ancestor to all living things,” said study co-author Stephen Fried, a chemist at Johns Hopkins. “We’re describing the events that shaped why that ancestor got the amino acids that it did.”



The scientists mimicked primordial protein synthesis of four billion years ago in a laboratory setting by using an alternative set of amino acids which were highly abundant before life emerged on our planet. They discovered that ancient organic compounds integrated the amino acids best suited for protein folding into their biochemistry, suggesting that life emerged and thrived on Earth not only because some amino acids were available in ancient environments, but mainly because some of them were particularly efficient in helping proteins adopt specific shapes to perform crucial functions.



“Protein folding was basically allowing us to do evolution before there was even life on our planet. You could have evolution before you had biology, you could have natural selection for the chemicals that are useful for life even before there was DNA,” Fried explained.



Although the primordial Earth had hundreds of amino acids, all living beings use just 20 of these compounds – what scientists refer to as “canonical” amino acids. In its first billion years, our planet’s atmosphere consisted of a mixture of gases such as ammonia and CO2 which, by reacting with high levels of UV radiation, gave rise to some of these acids, while others arrived from meteorites. How the rest of them emerged remains an open question which the researchers are currently investigating. “We’re trying to find out what was so special about our canonical amino acids,” Fried said. “Were they selected for any particular reason?”



“To have evolution in the Darwinian sense, you need to have this whole sophisticated way of turning genetic molecules like DNA and RNA into proteins. But replicating DNA also requires proteins, so we have a chicken-and-egg problem. Our research shows that nature could have selected for building blocks with useful properties before Darwinian evolution,” he added.



Finally, the fact that many of these canonical amino acids arrived from space suggests that such compounds may be abundant in other parts of the universe, possibly giving rise to life there too. “The universe seems to love amino acids. Maybe if we found life on a different planet, it wouldn’t be that different,” Fried concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c12987">Journal of the American Chemical Society</a>.&nbsp;



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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New clues about the origins of life on Earth

By simulating ancient Earth conditions in the laboratory, a team...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> has found that, due to a combination of rising sea levels and climate change, highly destructive hurricanes and tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/distant-storms-trigger-sneaker-waves-on-the-pacific-coast/">storms</a> could become much more likely to hit coastal regions in quick succession. According to the experts, in areas such as the Gulf Coast, such back-to-back hurricanes could occur as frequently as once every three years.



“Rising sea levels and climate change make sequential damaging hurricanes more likely as the century progresses,” said study lead author Dazhi Xi, a postdoctoral fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton. “Today’s extremely rare events will become far more frequent.”



Questions about the increasing frequency of sequential hurricanes emerged in recent years, particularly after a destructive hurricane season in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, followed very soon by Irma in South Florida and Maria in Puerto Rico. Similarly, in 2021 Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana, followed shortly by Tropical Storm Nicholas that made a landfall as a hurricane in Texas.



By running computer simulations that took into account both a moderate and a high carbon emissions scenario, the scientists found that, in both cases, the chance of sequential, destructive hurricanes will increase dramatically, with areas along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast most likely to experience such devastating effects.



“The proportion of storms that can have an impact on communities is increasing,” said study co-author Ning Lin, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton. “The frequency of storms is not as important as the increasing number of storms that can become hazardous.”



According to the researchers, this phenomenon is driven by two main factors: rising sea levels and increased precipitation due to climate change. As sea levels rise, storm surges will become more threatening to coastal communities since the baseline water level will already be higher, while, due to higher air temperatures caused by climate change, storms will intensify and carry more water.



These findings highlight the need for community planners and regional emergency officials to recognize this emerging threat and seek urgent improvements in both resilience and response. Communities will need to deal with increased flooding threats by hardening systems that remove floodwater and protecting critical infrastructure such as transportation, water systems, and power grids. At the same time, emergency response teams will have to be prepared to handle multiple storms or hurricanes occurring in quick succession.&nbsp;



“If a power system requires 15 days to recover from a major hurricane, we cannot wait that long in the future because the next storm can hit before you can restore power, as in the case of Nicholas following Ida. We need to think about plans, rescue workers, resources. How will we plan for this?” Lin concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01595-7">Nature Climate Change</a>.&nbsp;



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Back-to-back hurricanes will soon become common

A new study led by Princeton University has found that,...

A new study led by <a href="https://nau.edu/">Northern Arizona University</a> has revealed that cattle producers in 133 developing countries -&nbsp; including Kenya, Uganda, and India - are much more vulnerable to economic disruption due to livestock depredation by large carnivores. In such lower income areas, even the loss of one animal can have dire consequences.



“For most farmers, livestock represents a key - if not their only - income source. When that livestock is threatened by large predators, it can be financially devastating for them,” explained study senior author Duan Biggs.



The experts found that the amount of meat produced per animal in a developing country is about 31 percent less than that in a developed country, which makes a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/livestock-are-reservoirs-for-antimicrobial-resistant-pathogens/">livestock</a> loss more devastating. According to the research, the loss of a single cow or bull is comparable to a child losing nearly 18 months of calories.&nbsp;



"Our results mirror a lot of the conversations currently taking place in the climate change space; namely that developing economies from the Global South pay the biggest price for conservation, but in this case rather than protecting forests and providing an offset environment for big polluters, they are often the ones paying the price for living alongside species like African lions or tigers - species most of the world loves and wants to see being conserved,” said study lead author Alex Brackowski of Griffith University.



The researchers believe wealthy nations must increase their financial assistance beyond the multibillion-dollar ecotourism industry.&nbsp;



“Our research demonstrates the urgency of developing mechanisms like payments from wealthy urban areas in rich countries where people want predators like lions conserved, to the rural communities in the Global South that bear the costs and risks of living with these fierce and dangerous animals,” said Biggs.



Study co-author Sophie Gilbert takes a western-centric view of the human-animal relationship. She uses economics to stress that the only way for conservation to succeed is for local people to deem what is an acceptable level of wildlife.



“Our work helps show that to become truly nature positive, we need to consider both the benefits and the costs of wildlife to people, and ensure that those bearing the costs of living with wildlife are better supported, financially and otherwise," said Gilbert.



“Only when living with wildlife is stable and viable for local people will the conservation of creatures like large carnivores succeed.”



We can only hope that the local peoples of the Global South have a higher tolerance for predators than the people of many wealthy nations where large predator populations&nbsp; have historically been brutally decimated.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Large carnivores are much more costly to developing countries

A new study led by Northern Arizona University has revealed...

Living organisms need <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rapid-changes-in-oxygen-linked-to-first-mass-extinction/">oxygen</a> in order to respire, which involves converting stored chemical energy into useful forms such as heat and kinetic energy. They require this energy in order to move, grow, reproduce and carry out all their daily activities. Plants produce oxygen via the process of photosynthesis, but animals have to take it in from the air or water in which they live.&nbsp;



Oxygen is not very soluble in water and it diffuses slowly through this medium. This means that aquatic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to low oxygen conditions, known as hypoxia. If levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) are too low, aquatic organisms are affected. Fish and other aquatic species may die, altering the food chains and community structure in the ecosystem.&nbsp;



Although a lot of research on hypoxia (the depletion of DO below levels known to be harmful to fish and other aquatic aerobic life) has been conducted in lakes, as well as in coastal and marine ecosystems, not much is known about the prevalence of hypoxia in rivers or streams. Overall, it was thought to be a rather rare occurrence when rivers or streams experienced hypoxia, but little research has been done. Oxygen levels are usually related to the photosynthetic activity of plants, and the flow of water; moving water carries more oxygen than water that stands still.



Until now, the prevalence and dynamics of hypoxia outbreaks in inland rivers and streams has not been known. A new study led by&nbsp;Professor Joanna Blaszczak from the <a href="https://www.unr.edu/">University of Nevada, Reno</a> shows hypoxia is not a rare event in the world’s rivers and streams at all. On the contrary, it is far more common than was once thought.&nbsp;



The team of researchers used data from published reports to assess the distribution, frequency, and global extent of riverine hypoxia using 118,369,376 paired DO and water temperature measurements from 125,158 unique locations in 93 countries and territories across six continents. The data spans over 100 years from 1900 to 2018.



The report, published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/lol2.10297">Limnology and Oceanography Letters</a>, defines hypoxia as having an oxygen concentration of less than 2 milligrams per liter of water. According to the findings, hypoxia was recorded in rivers and streams in 53 countries, with 12.6 percent of all locations in the study exhibiting at least one hypoxic measurement over the study period.&nbsp;



“Hypoxia in coastal waters and lakes is widely recognized as a detrimental environmental issue, yet we have lacked a comparable understanding of hypoxia in rivers,” said Professor Blaszczak, who is with the University’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unr.edu/cabnr">College of Agriculture, Biotechnology &amp; Natural Resources</a>. “While 12.6 percent might not seem like a huge percentage, previously it was generally thought that occurrences of hypoxia in rivers and streams were exceedingly rare. Having demonstrated the presence of hypoxia in one of every eight river locations is definitely a game changer in terms of how we need to think of and give attention to the issue of hypoxia in rivers and streams."



Professor Blaszczak explained that, in the past, DO readings were taken manually with a hand-held probe. However, advances in measuring hypoxia over the past 15 years, using field-deployable dissolved oxygen sensor technology, have enabled researchers to measure oxygen levels constantly, and far more accurately. The team found that oxygen levels are higher during the day than at night, because photosynthesis takes place during the hours of daylight, enriching the water with oxygen.



“Photosynthesis by algae produces oxygen that is released into the water column,” explained Professor Blaszczak. “So, you’re not getting a true picture of hypoxia occurrence if you only measure during the day. Hypoxic conditions are much more likely to develop in the early morning hours, after the lack of photosynthesis all night. The newer technology allows for us to capture that data.”



The data showed that that hypoxia in rivers was most present in warmer, smaller and lower-gradient, stiller waters, where oxygen isn’t being “stirred” into the water from turbulence. Blaszczak says the research found these conditions occur most often in rivers that drain naturally occurring wetlands, as well as in rivers draining some urban areas, where human actions have created hypoxic conditions.



“We as people managing waters often influence these conditions - by extracting water, building dams and increasing the amount of organic matter released into rivers, for example,” said Professor Blaszczak. “We can set up these conditions of very low flows. Rivers surrounded by wetlands and urban areas had about the same probability of hypoxia occurrence. That shows that while it can occur naturally, we also can create these conditions that are conducive to hypoxia.”&nbsp;



The widespread, short-term occurrence of hypoxia in rivers across the globe was concerning to the researchers. Not only does low oxygen concentration threaten the lives of aquatic organisms, but it also stimulates the release of methane and nitrous oxide, both of them greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change.&nbsp;



“There’s just nothing good about hypoxia in rivers or other bodies of water,” said Professor Blaszczak. “We can’t eliminate it completely, but we can certainly do a better job of monitoring it and take actions to prevent it, rather than to stimulate it.”



The dataset on river and stream hypoxia across the globe will help researchers to monitor the changes in future. Blaszczak says that, looking at data from 1950 to 2018, there does not seem to have been an overall global increase in hypoxic conditions in rivers. This is a positive finding, even though there are some locations, such as in the U.S. state of Florida, where the presence of hypoxia has become far more extreme.&nbsp;



She embarked on leading the study after attending a workshop in September 2018, held in Switzerland and convened by Jim Heffernan and Tom Battin from Duke University. The workshop aimed to advance the global understanding of the dynamics of hypoxia in rivers and streams and was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation.



Professor Blaszczak suggests that more monitoring with the newer technology is key to mitigating the harmful effects of hypoxia in rivers in future.



“We need to further develop our capacity to identify when and where rivers are vulnerable to the development of hypoxic conditions, so that we can guide river management in the face of continuing climate and land-use change. Supporting ongoing monitoring and expanding monitoring to regions where data is sparse is essential."



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Hypoxia is a serious problem in rivers worldwide

Living organisms need oxygen in order to respire, which involves...

It is important to put aside money for unforeseen events in one’s life, and also for specified goals, such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vacation-photos-can-help-save-endangered-animals/">vacations</a>, or buying a car or a house. But saving is never easy. In the U.S. and around the world, savings rates are currently critically low. In October 2022, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that Americans save just 2.3 percent of their income, the lowest in nearly two decades.



Dr. Sandra Matz of Columbia University, and her colleagues Dr. Joe Gladstone and Dr. Robert Farrokhnia, wondered whether it would be easier for people to save if their goals were aligned with their personality traits. The experts set out to test this, hypothesizing that some saving goals might be a better fit for people with certain personality traits. For example, a very conscientious person might be more likely to plan for the future and thus be more motivated to save for retirement.



Previous research by Matz and Gladstone found that people who are very agreeable are less likely to save than others, possibly because they’ve been taught that valuing people and valuing money are at odds with one another, and that “nice people” don’t value money.



“We tried to think of ways we could motivate agreeable people to save more,” said Dr. Matz. “Could we simply highlight how saving money would help them protect their loved ones? This suddenly makes money a means to an end that they care about.”



In the current study, the researchers made use of a survey and a field study to test whether people would be more successful at saving money if their personality traits fitted with their saving goals. Their results are published in American Psychologist, the journal of the <a href="https://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>.



First, the experts analyzed data from 2,447 participants in the United Kingdom who answered questions about their Big Five personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness and extraversion), as well as their savings goals. They also revealed how much of a “nest egg” they had managed to save. Independent raters coded the savings goals into categories of fit for the personality traits. Goals included such things as saving for a future purchase such as a car, saving for leisure/vacation spending, saving for a “rainy day,” and saving for retirement.



The researchers found that people whose self-reported savings goals were a good fit for their personality traits had a bigger nest egg, on average. This was true for both poorer and wealthier participants. Not surprisingly, people who earned more money had more savings, on average, but personality-goal fit explained about 5 percent of the variance in savings amount across all income levels.



Next, the researchers conducted a field experiment with 6,056 participants, all of whom were taking part in a savings incentive program through a non-profit savings app called SaverLife. Participants in the study started off with less than $100 in savings when they joined the program and were given the goal of saving at least $100 more in one month.



The participants all took a 30-item personality assessment, and were then divided into five groups. The members of one group received five emails during the month encouraging them to save towards a goal that was a good fit with their most salient personality trait. Another group received emails encouraging them to save, but with a goal that was mismatched to their personality type. The third group received randomly selected goal messages, while the members of the fourth group received emails with a generic message encouraging saving but with no particular goal. The fifth group did not receive any emails.



Not all of the participants opened the emails, but for those who did, the participants receiving the personality-matched savings message had the highest success rate, with 11.4 percent reaching the $100 savings goal.&nbsp;



Participants in the standard message group had less success, with 7.42 percent achieving the goal, while 7.46 percent of those who received a random message managed to save $100. A total of 7.85 percent of participants who received the personality-mismatched message reached the savings goal, whereas only 3.4 percent of those in the no-email control condition successfully saved $100.&nbsp; Participants who didn’t open their emails had about a 3 percent success rate.



Overall, according to Dr. Gladstone, people who received the personality-tailored intervention were 3.57 times more likely to achieve the $100 savings target than those in the control condition.



“It was wonderful to see that this approach worked,” said Dr. Farrokhnia. “It was important for us from the get-go to not only contribute to the existing literature and have a vigorous research study, but also to deploy the findings in the real world and come up with something companies could actually use and implement. Given the dire facts about savings in the U.S., we were particularly interested in helping to alleviate some of the challenges low-income and distressed households face in managing their finances. The recent economic downturn, including rising prices and higher challenges around achieving personal savings goals, made this pursuit even more important to us.”



—



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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People save more money when their goals fit their personality

It is important to put aside money for unforeseen events...

Eurasian spruce <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bark-beetles-timberlands-devastated/">bark beetles</a> (Ips typographus) burrow into the bark of Norway spruce trees (Picea abies), where they mate and afterwards lay their eggs. Recently, this phenomenon led to major outbreaks in Europe that have decimated millions of hectares of conifer forests. 



According to a new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001887">PLoS Biology</a>, these beetles usually attack trees that are already infected with symbiotic fungi, such as Grosmannia penicillate, which weaken the host trees, breaking down their chemical defenses and thus allowing the beetles to successfully grow and reproduce in the bark.



In order to understand what chemical signals the beetles use to identify host trees infected with the fungi, the scientists conducted several laboratory experiments on captive bark beetles and samples of Norway spruce bark. The analyses revealed that the fungi break down chemicals in tree bark resin (known as monoterpenes) into new compounds, such as camphor and thujanol, which 12 days after infection dominate the chemical mixture emitted by bark samples. Through single cell recordings of sensory neurons in the beetles’ antennae, the experts discovered that they can detect camphor and thujanol and are more attracted to bark containing these fungi-produced compounds.



According to the researchers, these tree-resin derived compounds produced by the fungi allow bark beetles to assess the presence of their symbiont and thus help them identify suitable trees for feeding and breeding. “The bark beetles currently killing millions of spruce trees every year in Europe are supported in their attacks by fungal associates. We discovered that these fungi convert volatile compounds from spruce resin to products, which may serve as cues for bark beetles to find them,” explained study senior author Jonathan Gershenzon, the director of the <a href="https://www.ice.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology</a>.&nbsp;



“These compounds may also be useful in integrated pest management strategies as attractants or repellents of bark beetles perhaps in combination with pheromones. In this way, oxygenated monoterpenes and other microbial volatiles represent a rich source of untapped insect semiochemicals that can be exploited for protecting forests from devastating pest species such as&nbsp;I.&nbsp;typographus,” the authors concluded.



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Bark beetles seek out trees that are already weakened

Eurasian spruce bark beetles (Ips typographus) burrow into the bark...

In the summer of 2022, reports of dead deer were on the rise in rural properties due to a viral illness. According to the <a href="https://www.urbanaparks.org/officials-suspect-drought-induced-illness-causing-deer-deaths-in-meadowbrook-park/">Urbana Park District</a>, Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) occurs in white-tailed deer populations around the state of Illinois every few years. Once deer are infected, they die within days. Now, <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> scientists have identified gene variants in deer that are associated with susceptibility to the virus.



“This is the first time this gene has been sequenced completely in white-tailed deer. This is important because without the sequences, there's no starting point to do any kind of research,” said study co-author Alfred Roca, a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences.&nbsp;



The team sequenced the gene for Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR3), a protein that spans membranes in immune cells and helps recognize double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses. When a dsRNA virus enters the cell, TLR3 activates immune defenses, triggering inflammation and priming the rest of the immune system.



The study found dozens of variable sites in the DNA, known as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Two of the SNPs were significantly more common in uninfected deer.



“Because we found mutations in TLR3 more frequently in EHD-negative animals, we think deer with these mutations are less susceptible to EHD,” said co-author <a href="https://ansc.illinois.edu/directory/yishida">Yasuko Ishida</a>.



Many white-tailed deer are exposed to EHD in their lifetimes, but only some will die from the disease. Outbreaks occur every three to five years, when environmental conditions favor the life cycle of midges that carry the virus.&nbsp;



Midges spend their larval stages in mud under the ponds and puddles that deer drink from during drought conditions. In the late summer, the water sources dry up, and the adult flies emerge to bite and infect deer. This cycle does not occur annually, as it is interrupted by rain or a cold snap.



There are no options available to wildlife managers to prevent outbreaks in natural habitats. The researchers say it's still helpful to understand the genetic underpinnings of the disease. This study will also help to inform the public on what the disease looks like and the severity of an outbreak.&nbsp;



The disease is an increasing threat to the state’s northern regions. Another recent study shows the disease has been slowly but steadily moving northward, either due to climate change or greater reporting.



Study lead author Jacob Wessels completed the research as part of his master’s degree and now serves as a conservation police officer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.



“It’s very complicated to respond to an outbreak of EHD because there are often large numbers of deer found dead near water," said Wessels. "People don’t know what to do when that happens, but we encourage the public to report potential EHD outbreaks to their local IDNR wildlife biologist for the surveillance and future study of the disease."



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes14020426">Genes</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Some deer are protected from deadly disease by genetics

In the summer of 2022, reports of dead deer were...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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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"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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