From the shifting sands of the Saharan desert to the cracking glaciers in the chilly Antarctic, our Earth is constantly transforming right beneath our feet. The upcoming U.S.-India NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission is about to take us a step closer to understanding this ceaseless change and the intricate mechanisms behind it.



This remarkable satellite mission, set to launch in a few months, will track dynamic changes in Earth’s surface, from wetlands to ice sheets and disaster-hit infrastructure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nisar-revolutionizing-earth-observation">NISAR: Revolutionizing Earth observation</h2>



NISAR is a remarkable advancement in Earth observation, thanks to its unique dual-band radar system. This system combines two types of radar: the L-band, with a 25-centimeter wavelength, and the S-band, with a 10-centimeter wavelength. 



The L-band can penetrate through vegetation and observe larger features such as tree trunks, boulders, or the ground beneath forest canopies. In contrast, the S-band, with its shorter wavelength, is more sensitive to smaller surface-level features like leaves and fine textures.



The complementary nature of these two radar signals enables scientists to study a wide range of Earth’s features with greater precision. 



The L-band provides insights into broader and deeper structures, while the S-band focuses on finer surface details. Together, they offer a comprehensive view of Earth’s surface changes, capturing data on an unprecedented scale and frequency. 



“The planet’s surfaces never stop changing - in some ways small and subtle, and in other ways monumental and sudden,” said Paul Rosen, NISAR <a href="https://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Project</a> Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JPL</a>).



“With NISAR, we’ll measure that change roughly every week, with each pixel capturing an area about half the size of a tennis court.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-nisar-can-do">What NISAR can do</h2>



The NISAR satellite is designed to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/take-a-glimpse-at-our-planets-new-ai-satellite-phsat2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">observe</a> nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces with exceptional precision. This means it can monitor changes across vast areas of the planet, including natural features like glaciers and forests. 



The satellite will track how glaciers move and whether they are melting or growing. It will also <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parker-solar-probe-will-fly-through-suns-atmosphere-tomorrow-for-the-first-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">monitor</a> forests to measure growth or loss, helping us understand how much carbon they absorb or release. Additionally, it will observe wetlands to track changes in these vital ecosystems.



Beyond natural processes, NISAR will focus on major events like earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. By detecting how the ground shifts during these events, it can provide critical information for disaster response teams. 



For instance, it can help assess damage and guide recovery efforts. This data will also contribute to a better understanding of the global carbon cycle - how carbon moves through the atmosphere, land, and oceans - which is essential for studying climate change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-legacy-of-an-early-radar-satellite">Legacy of an early radar satellite </h2>



NISAR is built on decades of radar technology advancements. Rosen noted that the concept of using spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) began in the 1970s with NASA’s Seasat mission. 



Seasat was an early radar satellite. It was the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed for remote sensing of the ocean. While Seasat operated for just a few months, it revolutionized how scientists study Earth.



The satellite inspired later missions that refined radar imaging and laid the groundwork for today’s sophisticated systems, like NISAR. 



This legacy demonstrates how earlier missions influenced <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sentinel-2c-satellite-delivers-first-breathtaking-images-of-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modern Earth observation</a> and continue to inspire scientists to innovate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-the-nisar-mission">Significance of the NISAR mission</h2>



The NISAR mission will generate massive datasets to benefit scientists and decision-makers alike. Whether monitoring soil moisture or studying cryospheric processes, the data will be freely accessible via cloud storage.



“Our data products will fit the needs of users across the mission’s science focus areas,” noted Rosen.



The NISAR mission highlights the power of international collaboration. NASA and <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ISRO</a> began working together in 2014 to combine their strengths and expertise. 



Each agency contributed unique radar systems - NASA's L-band radar and ISRO's S-band radar - and together, they created a unified satellite mission to observe Earth.



This partnership wasn’t without challenges. With a 9,000-mile (14,500-kilometer) distance between them and operations across several time zones, coordination was complex. 



Teams on different continents built <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parker-solar-probe-completes-closest-ever-approach-to-the-sun/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">parts of the satellite</a>, which were later brought together in India for final assembly. Despite the logistical hurdles, the collaboration succeeded, demonstrating the commitment and innovation of both agencies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-global-challenges">Addressing global challenges </h2>



More than just advanced technology, NISAR symbolizes what can be achieved when nations work together. 



This mission reflects a shared dedication to understanding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clusters-final-mission-a-fiery-return-to-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth’s changes</a> and addressing global challenges like climate change and disaster management.



As launch day approaches, NISAR stands as both a technological achievement and a beacon of international unity, ready to reveal valuable insights about our ever-changing planet.



Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech



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Satellite mission will closely monitor changes on Earth's surface

From the shifting sands of the Saharan desert to the cracking glaciers in the chilly Antarctic, our Earth is constantly transforming right beneath our feet. The upcoming U.S.-India NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission is about to take us a step closer to understanding this ceaseless change and the intricate mechanisms behind it. This remarkable satellite mission, set to launch in a few months, will track dynamic changes in Earth’s surface, from wetlands to ice sheets and disaster-hit infrastructure. NISAR: Revolutionizing Earth observation NISAR is a remarkable...

Many flowers such as mallows, foxgloves, or forget-me-nots have colorful patterns that biologists call “nectar guides.” These patterns have a guiding function to pollinating insects, increasing their efficiency in finding food, while at the same time improving the pollen dispersal of the plants.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/home/">Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg</a> (JMU) in Germany has deciphered the individual steps through which flower patterns increase the efficiency of terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bumblebees-increasingly-stressed-over-the-past-century/">bumblebees</a> (Bombus terrestris), by providing evidence that nectar guides reduce the time needed for bees’ complete interaction with flowers – from approach to finding nectar to departure - by up to 30 percent.&nbsp;



“Colorful patterns on flowers are thought to benefit both pollinators and the plants they visit, by increasing the plants’ pollination success via an increased foraging efficiency of the pollinators. This increased efficiency is assumed to result from a guidance effect of the flower patterns, correspondingly termed ‘nectar guides,’ which indicate the position of the nectary to visiting pollinators, thus reducing their flower handling time,” the authors explained.



Surprisingly, the scientists found that flower patterns do not in fact shorten the actual nectar search. After landing on a colorfully-patterned flower, the bumblebees did not find nectar any faster than on a flower without a pattern. However, the flower patterns shortened the approach flight time and created a strategically favorable landing position, making them act like markings on a runway and thus helping bumblebees coordinate their approach. Moreover, the patterns also have a significant role in shortening the time until take-off. Since bumblebees often run to the edge of the petals for take-off, they can find this site more quickly if they can orient themselves to a pattern.



In future studies, the researchers aim to investigate how the glossy surfaces that occur on some flowers affect the interaction with pollinating insects. “These insights provide a novel focus for&nbsp; the study of flower-pollinator interactions in the lab and in their natural environment, and open up new questions on how deceptive patterns or altered displays on ornamental flowers impact&nbsp; foraging efficiency in insect pollinators,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14262">Functional Ecology</a>.



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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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Colorful flower patterns make bumblebees more efficient

Many flowers such as mallows, foxgloves, or forget-me-nots have colorful...

Scientists have long known that current agricultural practices are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution, which threaten long-term food security for billions of people around the globe. Now, a team of researchers from the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a> (UCSD) has argued that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-microalgae-a-new-and-sustainable-way-to-feed-and-fuel-the-planet/">microalgae</a> – a term encompassing the thousands of microscopic algal species and other photosynthetic organisms found in aquatic environments, such as cyanobacteria – could be a new kind of “superfood” due to their high protein and nutrition content.&nbsp;



Moreover, the experts highlighted the current technologies for commercially developing and growing microalgae, along with the scientific and economic challenges to scaling production.



“Many of us have known the potential of algae for food for years, and have been working on it as a food source, but now, with climate change, deforestation, and a population of eight billion people, most everyone realizes that the world simply has to become more efficient in protein production,” said study co-author Stephen Mayfield, a professor of Biology at UCSD.



By reviewing previous studies, the researchers found that algae can produce 167 times more useful biomass than corn annually while using the same amount of land. Moreover, existing algae strains could potentially replace 25 percent of European protein consumption and 50 percent of the total vegetable oil consumption if grown on available land not currently used for traditional crops.&nbsp;



“The biggest advantage is the protein production per acre. Algae simply dwarf the current gold standard of soybean by at least 10 times, maybe 20 times, more production per acre,” Mayfield reported.



In addition, since some species of algae can be grown easily in brackish or salty water – and, sometimes even in wastewater from dairy operations – freshwater can be reserved for other needs. Finally, algae are rich in vitamins, minerals, and various macronutrients that are essential for human health, such as omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids.



The scientists also described the various scientific tools available to produce the most desirable traits for commercially viable algal products. For instance, targeted genetic mutations can enhance astaxanthin (an antioxidant known to have major health benefits), as well as biomass yield and protein content. According to Mayfield, the commercial development of a superior algal crop would most likely involve a combination of traditional breeding with molecular engineering.



However, the biggest challenge for commercial development remains the ability to scale production globally.&nbsp;“You just can’t know all the challenges of going to world scale, until you do. But the world has done this [with] smartphones, computers, photovoltaic panels, and electric cars – all of these had challenges, and we overcame them to take these ‘new’ technologies to world scale, so we know we can do it with algae,” Mayfield concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1029841">Frontiers in Nutrition</a>. &nbsp;



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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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Algae may be the future of sustainable “superfoods”

Scientists have long known that current agricultural practices are a...

Climate change has undisputable global effects on a wide variety of ecosystems and ecological community compositions. However, scientists have long pondered why certain communities are more resilient to its effects than others. In a new study led by the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> covering almost all North American bird species, the experts examined community composition changes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-diversity-suffers-in-urban-environments/">diversity</a> over half a century (1966-2016).&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that bird communities with higher species richness and a larger variety of functional properties changed less radically in their community composition due to climate change during the study period.



“For example, if a community contained birds of prey, insectivores, and seed-eaters rather than birds from just one feeding guild, it was better safeguarded against the negative impacts of climate change,” explained study lead author Emma-Liina Marjakangas, a community ecologist at Helsinki.



According to the scientists, community-level diversity functions as a buffer against negative climate change impacts, particularly during winter, the season that has shown the strongest warming patterns across the Northern Hemisphere. By contrast, biodiversity seems to have played a less significant role during the breeding season.



“Habitat and available food determine a species’ flexibility for changing its breeding and wintering areas. For example, grassland species have shifted their distributions northwards slower than forest passerines, such as the American robin, or habitat generalists, such as the mourning dove,” said study senior author&nbsp;Aleksi Lehikoinen, an expert in Ecology and Ornithology at the same university.



This phenomenon is likely caused by the fact that functionally diverse bird communities help maintaining ecosystems through plant seed dispersal, pest insect control, and even pollination. Since climate change frequently reshuffles the composition of these bird communities, it currently threatens their ability to provide these critical ecosystem services.



“Our results strengthen the understanding that biodiversity safeguards ecosystem functioning and that the biodiversity and climate crises need to be mitigated simultaneously to avoid multiplicative effects,” Marjakangas concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26248-1">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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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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Biodiversity protects bird communities from climate change

Climate change has undisputable global effects on a wide variety...

In a new study led by <a href="https://www.isglobal.org/en">ISGlobal</a>, experts have found that people who live in greener areas are less likely to have mental health issues that require <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/food-can-work-as-well-as-medication-to-lower-cholesterol/">medication</a>. The researchers analyzed the relationship between mental health and the 3-30-300 green space rule in Barcelona, Spain



The green space rule was proposed by urban forester Cecil Konijnendijk. According to this rule, everyone should be able to see at least three trees from their home, have 30 percent tree canopy cover in their neighborhood, and not live more than 300 meters away from the nearest park or green space.



The study showed that only 4.7 percent of Barcelona's population met all three criteria of the green space rule. This small percentage of people were found to have significantly better mental health. The experts identified a clear link between living in greener areas and better mental health, less medication use, and fewer visits to a psychologist.



“The study found that there is relatively little green space in Barcelona and that the 3-30-300 rule is satisfied only for a small percentage of people, despite its beneficial mental health effects,” explained study lead author Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal.



“There is an urgent need to provide citizens with more green space. We may need to tear out asphalt and plant more trees, which would not only improve health, but also reduce heat island effects and contribute to carbon capture. Any initiative that leads to a greener city will be a step forward, the key message is that we need more and faster greening”, added the lead author of the study.&nbsp;



The experts noted that similar studies should be carried out in cities with more tree cover than Barcelona, since the lack of green space, especially sufficient tree cover, limits the ability to assess the 30 percent aspect of the 3-30-300 rule. “The question is to what extent 30% tree canopy cover is feasible, especially in compact cities,” concluded the researchers.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114387">Environmental Research</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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Urban green spaces linked to less prescription drug use

In a new study led by ISGlobal, experts have found...

The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest body of ice in the world. It covers around 80 percent of Greenland, extending 2,900 km (1,800&nbsp;mi) in a north–south direction, and has a maximum width of 1,100 km (680&nbsp;mi). Scientists have been monitoring the thinning of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/half-of-the-worlds-glaciers-will-melt-by-2100/">glaciers</a> and ice sheet around the coast of Greenland for decades, as global warming has advanced, but the influence of warming on the elevated, central areas of the ice sheet has remained unknown, due to a lack of long-term observations.&nbsp;



In a new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05517-z">Nature</a>, a team led by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (<a href="https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4867">AWI</a>) has used a set of ice cores of unprecedented length and quality, to reconstruct temperatures in central-north Greenland over the past 1,000 years. Their new dataset has come from areas in the central-north that are elevated up to 3,000 m, which represents the highest and thickest parts of the ice sheet.



Previous ice cores obtained at co-located sites, starting in the 1990s, did not indicate clear warming patterns in central-north Greenland, despite rising global mean temperatures. Part of the reason is that there is substantial natural climate variability in the region and it is challenging to identify consistent patterns of warming against the background of natural variability.



However, in their new study, the AWI researchers have extended the previous datasets up to winter 2011/2012 by a dedicated redrilling effort. They used the concentrations of stable oxygen isotopes present in the water that formed the ice, to deduce the temperatures prevailing at the times of ice formation. This method was used consistently for the entire ice core record. Previous studies have used a range of different climate archives and datasets to reconstruct past temperatures, which has introduced much greater levels of uncertainty into the results.&nbsp;



“The time series we recovered from ice cores now continuously covers more than 1,000 years, from year 1000 to 2011. This data shows that the warming in 2001 to 2011 clearly differs from natural variations during the past 1,000 years. Although grimly expected in the light of global warming, we were surprised by how evident this difference really was,” said AWI glaciologist Dr.&nbsp;Maria Hörhold, lead author of the study. Together with colleagues from AWI and the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute, she analyzed the isotope composition in shallow ice cores gathered in central-north Greenland during dedicated AWI expeditions.



The researchers found that the most recent decade surveyed in the study, the years 2001 to 2011, was the warmest decade in the past 1,000 years. Their data also showed that the region is now 1.5 °C warmer than during the 20th&nbsp;century, indicating that global warming has most certainly begun to impact even the areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet that are at the highest altitudes.&nbsp;



In addition to assessing the temperatures, the team also reconstructed the drainage of melt water from the Ice Sheet and investigated the relationship between temperature changes at elevated points inland, and melting along the edges of the Ice Sheet. The Greenland Ice Sheet is crucial in the global climate system. With enormous amounts of water stored in the ice (about 3 million cubic kilometers), melt and resulting sea-level rise is considered a potential tipping point. If global emissions remain unchecked and its ‘business as usual’, the Greenland Ice Sheet is projected to contribute as much as 50 cm to global mean sea-level rise by 2100.&nbsp;



In order to assess the rate of melt, the researchers used data from a regional climate model for the years 1871 to 2011, along with satellite observations of ice-mass changes for the years 2002 to 2021 from the GRACE/GRACE-FO gravimetry missions. This allowed them to convert the temperature variations identified in the ice cores into melting rates, and provide estimates for the past 1,000 years.&nbsp;



The experts found that melting has increased substantially in Greenland since the 2000s and now significantly contributes to global sea-level rise. “We were amazed to see how closely temperatures inland are connected to Greenland-wide meltwater drainage - which, after all, occurs in low-elevation areas along the rim of the Ice Sheet, near the coast,” said Dr. Hörhold.



This represents an important dataset for climate research: better understanding of the past dynamics of the Ice Sheet melt improves projections of related future sea-level rise; reduced uncertainties in projections is one step to help optimize adaptation measures.



Another exciting finding from the study was that the climate of the Greenland Ice Sheet is largely decoupled from the rest of the Arctic. The Arctic-wide study of proxy temperatures during the past 2,000 years, known as ‘Arctic 2k’ and published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201426">Nature</a> in 2014, does not reflect the conditions obtained by Hörhold in the current study of the Greenland Ice Sheet.



“Our reconstruction now offers a robust representation of temperature evolution in central Greenland, which has proven to have a dynamic of its own,” explained study co-author Professor Thomas Laepple. “Actually, we had expected the time series to strongly covary with the warming of the Arctic region."



The researchers have an explanation for these differences: Greenland is more affected by patterns of atmospheric circulation than other parts of the Arctic, due to the height of the ice cap above sea level. Temperature time series on the Arctic with regional resolution are needed, said Laepple, in order to describe climate change in the Arctic more reliably.



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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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Highest points of Greenland are now affected by global warming

The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest body of...

A new project led by the <a href="https://www.udel.edu/">University of Delaware</a> (UD) will identify the best models to compute flood risks at coastal military bases where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humanity-should-brace-for-catastrophic-climate-change/">climate change</a> is currently increasing the risk of flood damage from sea level rise and massive storm surges. The researchers will apply their findings to three military sites: the&nbsp;Naval Station Norfolk&nbsp;on the Atlantic Coast,&nbsp;the Tyndall Air Force Base&nbsp;on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.



“Many military installations are located along the coast, and they can’t be easily relocated. They need to be protected,” said project leader Jack Puleo, the chair of UD’s&nbsp;<a href="https://ce.udel.edu/">Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering</a>. “To do that, we need to understand what the flooding risk is.”&nbsp;



The experts will explore numerical models that calculate total water levels in the case of sea level rise, wind-induced surges, waves, and other environmental variables to determine which mitigation approaches perform best and are more cost-effective. The goal of the project will be to accurately predict the amount of flooding and damage a certain site may experience during hurricane impacts or other extreme weather events.



“But it’s not just getting wet that’s important. It’s about flooding duration and depth. If a prediction says there will be one inch of water on a roadway, maybe you don’t care as much. But if it says you’ll have one foot of water for multiple tidal cycles, that’s important to know. It could hamper critical services and evacuation,” Puleo explained.



The researchers will assess how much information is needed to make accurate predictions to help coastal military bases become more resilient in the face of climate change. The models that will be developed will have to be able to process information quickly enough to provide the military personnel the possibility to respond fast to events such as hurricanes or heavy precipitation in order to avoid the most disastrous consequences of such extreme weather events.



Ultimately, these models could also be useful to countries and communities without access to supercomputers or time to wait for slower models to be run, by helping them predict in advance the impacts of climate change-related weather events.



“We’re learning a lot about the models in terms of how they compare with each other,” said Stephanie Patch, an associate professor of Civil, Coastal, and Environmental Engineering at the <a href="https://www.southalabama.edu/">University of South Alabama</a>. “I hope the outcome of this work doesn’t just benefit these specific locations, but also military installations around the world and communities around the world. It’s so translatable and transferable. I would love to see an outcome of this project — even if it’s indirect — to learn enough to apply it worldwide on all of our coasts as climate changes.”



The research was funded by the <a href="https://www.defense.gov/">U.S. Department of Defense</a> (DoD).



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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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Preparing U.S. military bases for sea level rise

A new project led by the University of Delaware (UD)...

Epicenter,Of,A,Nuclear,Explosion,,Armageddon,For,Planet,Earth.,Elements

With around 12,700 nuclear warheads, produced by nine countries and currently distributed around the world, the threat of a nuclear <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-can-now-observe-supernova-explosions/">explosion</a> is always present. Add to this a war on the border of the European Union, and it does not seem out of place to ask the question: How should one shelter from a nuclear explosion?



In a paper published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0132565">Physics of Fluids</a>, researchers from the University of Nicosia report on the results of their simulated atomic bomb explosion. They used advanced computer modeling to study how a nuclear blast wave speeds through a standing structure, in order to determine where the best place would be for a person to shelter from the effects.&nbsp;



Essentially, no place is really safe when a nuclear bomb goes off. However, the researchers state that, in the event of a nuclear blast, people must not remain outside. Their best chance of surviving is to rush immediately inside a building – to the innermost room, or to an underground location if possible.&nbsp;



The explosion has three components – intense heat and light, a pressure wave, and radiation. Anything too close to the center of the blast is instantly vaporized by the heat and then, a second after the explosion, that heat from the fireball causes a high-pressure wave to develop and move outwards. This is known as a blast wave and it is the shock front which can be likened to a moving wall of highly compressed air. One can be protected from the effects of the shock wave, if one is sheltering in the correct place.&nbsp;



The air immediately behind the shock front is accelerated to high velocities and creates a powerful wind that can hurl people and objects great distances. However, if one shelters in a suitable place indoors, one can be protected from the worst of this wind. In the current study, the researchers simulated the movement of blast wind through a structure that featured rooms, windows, doorways, and corridors. The model enabled the experts to calculate the speed of the air following the blast wave and determine the best and worst places to be.



“Before our study, the danger to people inside a concrete-reinforced building that withstands the blast wave was unclear,” said co-author Dimitris Drikakis. “Our study shows that high airspeeds remain a considerable hazard and can still result in severe injuries or even fatalities.”



According to the results, simply being in a sturdy building is not enough to avoid risk. The tight spaces can actually increase airspeeds, and the involvement of the blast wave causes air to reflect off walls and bend around corners. In the worst cases, this can produce a force equivalent to 18 times a human’s body weight.



“The most dangerous critical indoor locations to avoid are the windows, the corridors, and the doors,” said study co-author Ioannis Kokkinakis. “People should stay away from these locations and immediately take shelter. Even in the front room facing the explosion, one can be safe from the high airspeeds if positioned at the corners of the wall facing the blast.”



There are still more than 100,000 Japanese people alive who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War. Their testimonies are chilling, and it is noticeable that many of them managed to shelter behind walls or embankments, or in sturdy underground bunkers. To this, they owe their survival.



The authors of the current study stress that the time between the explosion and the arrival of the blast wave is only a few seconds, so it is imperative to get to a safe place as quickly as possible.&nbsp;



“Additionally, there will be increased radiation levels, unsafe buildings, damaged power and gas lines, and fires,” said Drikakis. “People should be concerned about all the above and seek immediate emergency assistance.”



While the researchers hope that their advice will never need to be followed, they believe that understanding the effects of a nuclear explosion can help prevent injuries and guide rescue efforts.



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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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What should you do in the event of a nuclear explosion?

With around 12,700 nuclear warheads, produced by nine countries and...

A study led by the <a href="https://www.yellowstone.org/wolf-project/">Yellowstone Wolf Project</a> is shedding new light on how humans are impacting wolf populations in national parks. The researchers found that human-caused mortality triggers instability among wolf packs. In particular, the team found that human activities such as trapping and legal hunting have detrimental effects on reproduction and pack persistence among gray wolf populations.&nbsp;



"Gray wolf management is rarely simple and transboundary wildlife issues are complicated by disparate management goals," wrote the researchers. "Despite our study focusing on gray wolves that primarily lived within national parks and preserves, we documented high levels of human-caused mortality, most of which occurred outside protected-area boundaries. Of greater concern, these mortalities had detrimental effects on gray wolf pack-level biological processes."&nbsp;



The team analyzed decades of data for gray wolf packs living primarily within Denali National Park and Preserve, Grand Teton National Park, Voyageurs National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. To conduct the study, Yellowstone research associate Kira Cassidy collaborated with experts from all five national parks and from the University of Minnesota Voyageurs Wolf Project.&nbsp;



“For gray wolves, the biological unit is the pack or the family. We wanted to focus on the impacts of human-caused mortality to the pack, a finer-scale measure than population size or growth rate,” said Cassidy. “We found the odds a pack persists and reproduces drops with more human-caused mortalities.”&nbsp;



To investigate, the researchers examined wolf packs after at least one member was killed by human causes and compared these groups with packs that had not experienced human-caused mortality&nbsp;



The study revealed that the likelihood of a pack staying together until the end of the year decreased by 27 percent after human-caused mortality, while the rate of reproduction dropped by 22 percent. The impacts were even more severe when a pack leader died, with the odds of pack persistence dropping by 73 percent and reproduction declining by 49 percent.



Wolves in Voyageurs National Park spent the most time outside of park boundaries. As a result, 50 percent of all deaths among this population were attributable to humans, and poaching was the predominant cause.



“The unique shape of Voyageurs means that there are very few wolf packs that live entirely within the boundaries of the park. Instead, many wolf pack territories straddle the park border and when wolves leave the park, they are at an increased risk of being killed by people,” said study co-author Thomas Gable.



"Rather than viewing this result as a failing, we hope this work encourages a renewed interest in interagency collaboration, where management of gray wolves is defined by compromise and based on science, including weighted space-use and cause-specific mortality data,^ concluded the study authors. "If efforts are made toward this goal, these protected areas and the partners involved can serve as a model for successful transboundary issues worldwide."



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/fee.2597">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</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



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.

Wolf packs are less likely to stick together after human impacts

A study led by the Yellowstone Wolf Project is shedding...

An ever-growing body of evidence supports the importance of the gut-brain axis in linking emotional and cognitive centers in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/six-minutes-of-vigorous-exercise-helps-protect-the-brain-from-aging/">brain</a> with the enteric nervous system that governs the function of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrointestinal_tract">gastrointestinal tract</a>. Recent advances in research have suggested that there is communication between the gut microbes and the gut-brain axis, and vice versa, by means of neural, endocrine, and immune system links.&nbsp;



A healthy gut microbiome is involved in overall health and wellbeing in people, and has been shown to affect human metabolism, nutrition, physiology, and immune function. Conversely, imbalance in the normal gut microbiota (dysbiosis) has been linked with gastrointestinal conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), as well as mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and autism.



The practice of meditation has also been shown to influence physical, emotional and mental health in people, and it is increasingly incorporated into treatment programs for those suffering psychological distress associated with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, pain, eating disorders and trauma. Deep meditation is known to originate from ancient Indian Ayurveda, and is today practiced by Tibetan Buddhist monks as a form of psychological training. The practice exercises the mind and allows self-regulation of the body, to cultivate wellbeing and provide insights into the true nature of all phenomena.&nbsp;



However, no research has yet been conducted that links the practice of deep meditation with changes in the structure and function of the gut microbiome.&nbsp;



In an attempt to find out whether meditation can influence the gut microbiome, researchers based at the Shanghai Mental Health Center in Shanghai,&nbsp;China, collected fecal and blood samples from 37 Tibetan Buddhist monks from three temples, and compared them with samples from 19 secular residents in areas surrounding the temples.&nbsp;



The monks had all been practicing deep meditation for at least two hours a day, over a period of between three and thirty years. It was a logistical challenge for researchers to collect these samples, due to the isolated and remote conditions in the Tibetan mountains. Despite this, the researchers had to discard many samples from monks and secular participants who had recently taken antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics or antifungal drugs, or who had eaten yogurt, as these substances can alter the quantity and diversity of gut microbes.



Once the fecal samples were analyzed for genetic material from microbes, the researchers found significant differences in the diversity and volume of microbes in the guts of the monks and their neighbors. The results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2022-100893">General Psychiatry</a>, show that the control group (secular neighbors) had a greater diversity of species present in the gut microbiome, than did the monks. While the two groups shared 611 out of 803 different microbe species in their fecal samples, the meditation group had an additional, unique 91 species whereas the control group had 101 additional unique species.&nbsp;



Both groups were matched for age, blood pressure and heart rate. In addition, the two groups had the same dietary structure, with staple foods that included highland barley, rice, steamed bread and noodles. Supplementary food primarily comprised vegetables, meat and butter tea.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The authors report that, at the genus level, Prevotella, Bacteroides, Dialister, Roseburia and Faecalibacterium were the predominant microbes in both ample sgroups. In addition, Bacteroidetes were found to be significantly enriched in samples from the meditation group (29 percent vs 4 percent), which also contained more abundant Prevotella (42 percent vs 6 percent) species, and a high volume of Megamonas and Faecalibacterium species.&nbsp;



These groups of microbes are known to be beneficial to gut health. In addition, previous research has indicated that species of Prevotella, Bacteroidetes, Megamonas&nbsp;and&nbsp;Faecalibacterium&nbsp;have been associated with the alleviation of mental illness symptoms.&nbsp;



“Collectively, several bacteria enriched in the meditation group [have been] associated with the alleviation of mental illness, suggesting that meditation can influence certain bacteria that may have a role in mental health,” write the researchers.



The researchers then applied an advanced analytical technique to predict which chemical processes the microbes might be influencing. Their results suggested that several protective anti-inflammatory pathways, in addition to metabolic pathways – the conversion of food into energy – were enhanced in the meditating monks.



Finally, blood sample analysis showed that levels of chemical agents, including total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B, were significantly lower in the samples from the monks than in their secular neighbors. These biomarkers have previously been associated with decreased immune function and heightened risk of cardiovascular disease.&nbsp;



There are some limitations to this study; it is a comparative study, based on observations of a small, all-male group of participants that all lived at high altitude. This means the conclusions may not be generalizable to the public at large. In addition, no measurements were made of the potential health implications of these differences in gut microbiome, the researchers referring instead to results from other studies for this information.



However, the researchers suggest that their findings show long-term, deep meditation may have a beneficial effect on gut microbiota, enabling the body to maintain an optimal state of health, both physical and mental.&nbsp;



The study authors state that the role of meditation in helping to prevent or treat psychosomatic illness definitely merits further research. “These results suggest that long-term deep meditation may have a beneficial effect on gut microbiota, enabling the body to maintain an optimal state of health.”



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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



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.

Deep meditation transforms gut microbes for optimal health

An ever-growing body of evidence supports the importance of the...

During normal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aging-turns-lymph-nodes-into-fat-impairing-immunity/">aging</a>, the human brain undergoes several changes. It loses mass as nerve cells die and the volume of grey matter shrinks, and there are cellular and metabolic changes to the neurons. This results in the loss of synaptic plasticity, the ability of adjacent neurons to pass nerve impulses across their synapses to adjacent neurons. The overall result of these declines is a gradual decease in cognitive ability, manifested as memory loss and the inability to learn.



Recent research on how to protect the brain from these debilitating effects of aging has focused on the role of the specialized protein named brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein promotes the brain’s ability to form new connections and pathways between nerve cells, and enhances the survival of neurons. It is produced in cells all over the body but its production declines naturally as we age. Research on animals has shown that increasing the availability of BDNF encourages the formation and storage of memories, enhances learning and boosts overall cognitive performance.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the use of pharmaceuticals to supplement BDNF in humans has not shown much success. In an attempt to identify accessible, equitable and affordable non-pharmacological interventions that anyone can adopt to promote healthy brain aging, researchers from the University of Otago and the University of British Colombia have investigated the effects of fasting and exercise on levels of BDNF. The results are published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/JP283582">Journal of Physiology</a>.



“BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have thus far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans," said lead author Travis Gibbons from the University of Otago. “We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve the brain’s capacity, which humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to help with healthy aging.”



Previous research has indicated that both fasting and exercise can protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline. The link between these two stressors is thought to be their ability to force the brain cells to switch away from metabolizing glucose, and to use another substrate for energy production instead. This cerebral substrate switch has been implicated in upregulating the production of BDNF, which then brings heightened levels of this protective protein into the blood.



The researchers recruited 12 healthy, fit participants between the ages of 18 and 56, to help them investigate the effects of fasting and exercising on BDNF production. The participants took part in trials in which they fasted for 20 hours, took part in 90 minutes of low-intensity exercise, took part in six-minute bouts of vigorous exercise, or combined sessions of fasting and exercise. Levels of BDNF were recorded in blood samples from the participants.&nbsp;



The results showed that fasting for 20 hours made no difference to the levels of BDNF in the participants’ blood. Lengthy, low-intensity exercise did raise the blood levels of BDNF slightly (from 336 pg L-1&nbsp;to 390 pg L-1), but the biggest effect was seen when the participants took part in six-minute bouts of vigorous exercise. Their blood levels of BDNF increased from an average of 396 pg L-1&nbsp;to an average of 1170 pg L-1, representing a 3-fold increase.



The cause for these differences is not yet known and more research is needed to understand the mechanisms involved. During intense exercise, the body’s supply of glucose quickly becomes exhausted and the brain switches to a different substrate to use as an energy source. The researchers hypothesize that when the brain switches from metabolizing glucose to metabolizing lactate during vigorous exercise, this may initiate chemical pathways that result in elevated levels of BDNF in the blood.



The observed increase in BDNF during exercise could also be due to the increased number of platelets (the smallest blood cell) which store large amounts of BDNF. The concentration of platelets circulating in the blood is more heavily influenced by exercise than by fasting, and increases by 20 percent during bouts of intense exercise.



These findings add support to the idea that exercise is beneficial for brain and body health in aging people. Six minutes of high-intensity exercise, undertaken on a regular basis, could extend the lifespan of a healthy brain and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We are now studying how fasting for longer durations, for example up to three days, influences BDNF. We are curious whether exercising hard at the start of a fast accelerates the beneficial effects of fasting. Fasting and exercise are rarely studied together. We think fasting and exercise can be used in conjunction to optimize BDNF production in the human brain,” said Gibbons.



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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



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.

Six minutes of vigorous exercise helps protect the brain from aging

During normal aging, the human brain undergoes several changes. It...

Scientists have long pondered why pathogens often cause illness in their hosts. Although, at first sight, making a host <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-reinfection-increases-the-risk-of-fatal-complications/">sick</a> or even killing it may not seem a good way for pathogens to spread, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.vt.edu/">Virginia Tech</a> has now found that, in certain cases, making hosts ill is in fact crucial for increasing the infectiousness of some diseases.&nbsp;



“For a pathogen, ‘spreading’ is their key form of reproduction. And when we think about why pathogens make their hosts sick, it’s long been a mystery, because making a host sick or making your host die is superficially not a good way for a pathogen to be able to spread. A very sick host will stay home and not interact as much as others, which means less spread potential for a pathogen,” said study lead author Dana Hawley, a professor of Biology at Virginia Tech.



Yet, “making your hosts feel ill can be important for getting some of the copies of yourself out of the host you are infecting and into another. So there is a trade-off for the pathogen. Making your host feel sick means that host may not interact with as many other hosts as they normally would - this is bad for the pathogen - but when they do have interactions, a very sick host that is coughing or has swollen eyes is going to be much more likely to spread whatever pathogen it has in its body. This is&nbsp;good&nbsp;for the pathogen.”



To better understand this phenomenon, the scientists used finches - a species of songbirds whose populations are affected by a bacterial pink-eye disease (conjunctivitis) - as a case study. They divided the birds into three groups – not ill, mildly ill, and strongly ill – and, after applying a UV fluorescent powder coating around their eyes, housed each of them with four healthy flockmates. The fluorescent coating allowed the researchers to track how much powder was spread to flockmates from birds with different symptoms.



Although the finches experiencing the strongest conjunctivitis symptoms were far less likely to eat, they nonetheless spread the powder at a higher rate than the mildly ill birds who spent more time feeding. “In our study system, the benefits of making your host sicker by increasing eye swelling outweighed the cost of making the finches feed and interact less,” Hawley explained. “So overall, this pathogen is going to likely evolve to cause&nbsp;more harm to birds in nature so that it can spread at a higher rate, but up to some limit, because if the pathogen kills a bird immediately, the pathogen doesn’t have a chance to spread at all.”



These findings could have important implications for managing human-infecting pathogens too. “This goes back to the idea that everyone hoped that COVID would evolve to become milder over time. Our study shows that the pressures on pathogens are complicated. On the one hand, being mild is good for pathogens if it keeps your host out and about and in others’ company - good for spread, but on the other hand, being mild may mean that none of the pathogen makes it out of the host and into another because your host isn’t coughing or depositing as much pathogen onto hands or other surfaces. So pathogens are in many cases going to be favored to make us sick,” Hawley concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220975">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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



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.



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If pathogens wish to spread, why make their hosts sick?

Scientists have long pondered why pathogens often cause illness in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drought-conditions-slow-the-growth-of-douglas-fir-trees-across-the-west/">Douglas-fir trees</a> are widespread throughout the Pacific Northwest, growing in a range that stretches from northern British Columbia to central California, including the Rocky Mountains and northeastern Mexico. Since the Douglas fir is an iconic species with ecological, cultural, and economic significance, learning how it responds to drought is crucial for understanding forest sensitivity to a changing climate.



According to a new study led by the <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a> (OSU), Douglas-fir trees will likely experience more stress from drier air caused by global warming than from less precipitation. By simulating the response of a 50-year-old stand of Douglas-fir on the Oregon Cascade Range’s west slope to less rain and higher “vapor pressure deficit” (VPD) – or the atmosphere’s drying power – the experts found that the latter will more strongly impact these species’ capacity of sequestering atmospheric carbon and regulating the water fluxes between the forest and the atmosphere.



“What governs carbon fixation and water fluxes in response to increased temperatures and water limitation in regions with Mediterranean climates – wet winters and dry summers – is only partially understood,” said study lead author Karla Jarecke, who began this research as a PhD student in Forestry at OSU. “High VPD and lack of soil moisture can create significant water stress in forests, but dry atmosphere and lack of rainfall are strongly linked, making it difficult to discern their independent effects. They tend to both occur during the summer.”



The scientists used a computer model to disentangle the effects of the two phenomena and discovered that less spring and summer rain is likely to have a comparatively smaller impact on forest productivity than increased VPD. “Decreasing spring and summer precipitation did not have much of an effect on Douglas-fir water stress because moisture remained plentiful deep in the soil profile,” Jarecke explained.&nbsp;



“This demonstrated that the effect of reduced rainfall under future climate change may be minimal but will depend on subsurface water availability, which is determined by soil properties and rooting depths.” Unfortunately, heat-driven increases in VPD are likely to cause water stress regardless of the amount of moisture in the soil.



These findings highlight the major role of atmospheric droughts in creating stress conditions for trees. “This has potential implications for not only driving substantial tree mortality, but also influencing wildfires, as other studies have shown strong relationships between VPD and forest area burned in the western United States,” Jarecke concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109267">Agricultural and Forest Meteorology</a>.



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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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Douglas-fir trees will suffer from drier air

Douglas-fir trees are widespread throughout the Pacific Northwest, growing in...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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