We all know processed food isn't the best thing on the plate. But how do we navigate the confusing language of food labeling? A remarkable tool now helps consumers and policymakers understand the processing levels of over 50,000 different items.



Researchers from Mass General Brigham created this public database to promote informed food choices and advocate for better food regulation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-processed-foods-the-basics">Understanding processed foods - the basics</h2>



Processed foods are those that have been altered from their natural state in some way, usually to make them last longer or taste better. 



This includes things like freezing vegetables, canning beans, or adding salt and sugar to bread. These changes can be pretty simple and often retain most of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-baby-food-isnt-nutritious-despite-what-the-label-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">original nutrients</a>. 



For example, a jar of tomato sauce or a bag of roasted nuts are considered processed foods because they've been prepared or packaged, but they still contain ingredients you’d recognize and are generally healthy when eaten in moderation.



On the other hand, ultra-processed foods go through much more extensive manufacturing and contain ingredients you wouldn’t normally find in a home kitchen. 



These foods often include artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and other additives designed to enhance taste, texture, and shelf life. 



Think of things like sugary cereals, sodas, packaged snacks, instant noodles, and frozen dinners. Ultra-processed foods are usually higher in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/high-fat-diets-cause-high-anxiety-through-changes-in-gut-bacteria/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unhealthy fats</a>, sugars, and salt, and they tend to be lower in essential nutrients.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-processed-foods-dominate-grocery-shelves">Processed foods dominate grocery shelves</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ultra-processed-foods-make-our-bodies-age-faster/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Highly and ultra-processed foods</a> make up a significant portion of what is available in most grocery stores.



While they may be convenient or taste appealing, research has linked diets high in these types of foods to serious health issues, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.



Despite growing awareness about the risks associated with these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eating-ultra-processed-foods-makes-your-muscles-weaker-and-more-fragile/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">foods</a>, many shoppers struggle to determine how processed a particular food item is. 



Ingredient labels and nutritional information can be overwhelming or unclear, making it difficult for the average consumer to make informed choices.



“There are a lot of mixed messages about what a person should eat. Our work aims to create a sort of translator to help people look at food information in a more digestible way,” said Dr. Giulia Menichetti, a lead researcher at <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-grocerydb-simplifies-healthy-eating">GroceryDB simplifies healthy eating</h2>



To address the challenge of understanding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/minimally-processed-foods-cost-more-offer-no-extra-nutrition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">food processing levels</a>, researchers applied machine learning to analyze detailed data from three major grocery retailers: <a href="https://www.target.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Target</a>, Whole Foods, and Walmart. 



They examined ingredient lists, nutritional information, and pricing data to create a clear picture of the processing levels of various food items.



This effort led to the development of <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11177926/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GroceryDB</a>, a comprehensive database tool designed to empower consumers with easy-to-understand information about processed food ingredients.



GroceryDB provides each food item with a "processing score," which indicates the degree of processing involved in the production of the food.



The database is accessible to the public through the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.truefood.tech" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TrueFood</a>&nbsp;website, where users can explore essential details such as processing scores, ingredient breakdowns, and complete nutritional facts. 



This innovative tool simplifies the often-confusing task of evaluating food processing, making healthier choices more attainable for everyone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-not-all-grocery-stores-are-the-same">Not all grocery stores are the same</h2>



The researchers employed the FPro algorithm to analyze <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/health-risks-of-ultra-processed-foods-revealed-in-30-year-study/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">food processing</a> levels across products from the three major grocery retailers. Their findings revealed that the majority of items available in these stores were classified as ultra-processed.



While <a href="https://www.wholefoodsmarket.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Whole Foods</a> stood out for offering a broader selection of minimally processed foods, Walmart and Target provided fewer options in this category. 



For example, cereals at Whole Foods showed a wide range, spanning from minimally to ultra-processed. In contrast, all cereals available at <a href="https://www.walmart.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walmart</a> and Target were categorized as highly processed.



This pattern extended beyond cereals to other product categories, including soups, milk substitutes, and cookies. Despite the apparent variety of brands and products on store shelves, the processing options remained strikingly limited. 



These findings highlight the challenge consumers face when trying to access healthier, less-processed food options, even in stores that appear to offer significant variety.



“When people hear about the dangers of ultra-processed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ultra-processed-foods-are-harmful-to-nearly-every-part-of-the-body/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">foods</a>, they ask, ‘OK, what are the rules? How can we apply this knowledge?’” said Menichetti. “We are building tools to help people implement changes to their diet.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-enters-the-fight-against-processed-foods">AI enters the fight against processed foods</h2>



This initiative demonstrates how artificial intelligence (AI) can play a transformative role in advancing public health. 



By leveraging AI and data science, the research team created a scalable system for analyzing and categorizing the processing levels of food items.



The team plans to enhance this database further by incorporating geolocation data and temporal monitoring. 



This expansion would provide insights into regional differences in food availability and how these variations influence social determinants of health, such as access to nutritious options.



“Most research activities in nutrition still depend on manual curation, but our study shows that artificial intelligence and data science can be used to scale up,” Menichetti emphasized. 



The ultimate goal is to make this an internationally comparable, open-access resource to advance global nutrition security.



With the TrueFood database, consumers now have the tools to make better informed food choices and push for healthier options in their communities.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01095-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Food</a>.



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New tool lets you check how processed and unhealthy your food is

We all know processed food isn't the best thing on the plate. But how do we navigate the confusing language of food labeling? A remarkable tool now helps consumers and policymakers understand the processing levels of over 50,000 different items. Researchers from Mass General Brigham created this public database to promote informed food choices and advocate for better food regulation. Understanding processed foods - the basics Processed foods are those that have been altered from their natural state in some way, usually to make them last longer...

A new study of vegetation across New York City and densely populated surrounding areas has found that, on summer days, photosynthesis by trees and grasses absorbs a massive amount of the carbon dioxide emissions produced by vehicles and other greenhouse-emitting sources. This surprising discovery highlights the underappreciated importance of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urban-green-spaces-are-urgently-needed-to-improve-health/">urban green spaces</a> in the carbon cycle.



By using fine-grained vegetation maps, the scientists documented massive amounts of previously unrecognized greenery scattered in small spots even in highly developed areas, and found that they are performing a substantial role in the exchange of hazardous atmospheric gases. Since urban areas account for over 70 percent of human CO2 emissions – with New York City as the U.S.’s number one emitter, and third largest in the world – these findings are highly significant, showing that even individual street trees, little backyard gardens, overgrown vacant lots, and other small greenery can play an outsize role in carbon absorption.



“There is a lot more greenery than we thought, and that’s what drives our conclusion,” said study lead author Dandan Wei, a climate expert at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a>. “This tells us that the ecosystem matters in New York City, and if it matters here, it probably matters everywhere else.”



“Most people have assumed that New York City is just a grey box, that it’s biogenically dead. But just because there’s a concrete sidewalk somewhere doesn’t mean there’s not also a tree that’s shading it,” added co-author Roísín Commane, an atmospheric chemist at the same university.



The analysis revealed that tree canopies cover about 170 square kilometers of New York City (about 22 percent of its area), while grasses account for another 94 square kilometers (12 percent of the city’s area). By examining carbon emissions from June to August 2018, the researchers found that the total uptake from the city’s trees and grasses equaled up to 40 percent of a summer afternoon’s total emissions from all sources.



Unfortunately, in relatively chilly New York, carbon uptake occurs only during the local growing season, roughly from mid-April to mid-October. However, vegetation in cities with warmer climates most likely plays an even larger role in carbon uptake.



In future research, the scientists aim to characterize coverage by species, and thus figure out the relative benefits of different types of trees and grasses. “More trees are always going to be better, no matter what they are. But we could use an assessment of which ones are the best,” Wei concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aca68f">Environmental Research Letters</a>.



—



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 York City greenery absorbs vast amounts of carbon

A new study of vegetation across New York City and...

Heap,Of,Peeled,Almonds,With,Leaf,In,A,Wooden,Spoon

A new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1042719">Frontiers in Nutrition</a> has found that eating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-daily-dose-of-almonds-can-boost-gut-health/">almonds</a> is highly beneficial for recovery after intense bouts of physical exercise. 



The experts discovered that participants who ate 57 grams of almonds daily for one month had higher levels of the beneficial fat 12,13-dihydroxy-9Z-octadecenoic acid (12,13-DiHOME). This substance is known to increase the transport of fatty acid and its uptake by skeletal muscles, with the overall effect of stimulating metabolic recovery after strenuous physical activities - in their blood immediately after a session of intense exercise.



“Here we show that volunteers who consumed 57g of almonds daily for one month before a single ‘weekend warrior’ exercise bout had more beneficial 12,13-DiHOME in their blood immediately after exercising than control volunteers. They also reported feeling less fatigue and tension, better leg-back strength, and decreased muscle damage after exercise than control volunteers,” explained study lead author David Nieman, an expert in Exercise and Nutrition at the <a href="https://www.appstate.edu/">Appalachian State University</a>.



The trial involved 38 men and 26 women aged 30-65, who did not engage in regular weight training. The scientists split them into two groups - one in which participants consumed a daily dose of almonds, and a control group in which they ate a calorie-matched cereal bar – and took blood and urine samples before and after a four-week period of dietary supplementation. 



After a 30 second Wingate anaerobic test, a 50 meters shuttle test run, a vertical jump, and bench press and leg-back stretching exercise, additional blood and urine samples were taken, both immediately following these 90 minute sessions of intense exercise and daily for four days afterwards.



Immediately after exercise, the concentration of the beneficial 12,13-DiHOME was 69 percent higher in the blood plasma of participants in the almond group than in those in the control group (where in fact a reverse pattern was found, with the mildly toxic 9,10-Dihydroxy-12-octadecenoic acid (9,10-diHOME) being 40 percent higher).



According to the scientists, daily consumption of almonds leads to metabolic changes, downregulating inflammation and oxidative stress from exercise and enabling the body to recover faster. 



“Almonds provide a unique and complex nutrient and polyphenol mixture that may support metabolic recovery from stressful levels of exercise. Almonds have high amounts of protein, healthy types of fats, vitamin E, minerals, and fiber. And the brown skin of almonds contains polyphenols that end up in the large intestine and help control inflammation and oxidative stress,” Nieman concluded.&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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Almonds accelerate recovery after strenuous exercise

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition...

Abstract,Ocean,Design,Template,With,Underwater,Part,And,Sunset,Skylight

By using samples from an almost century-old, ongoing survey of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-plankton-glow-predators/">marine plankton</a>, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a> has found that increasing levels of manmade chemicals found in some parts of the world’s oceans might play an important role in monitoring the impact of human activity on ecosystem health, and may be used in the future to examine the connections between ocean pollution and land-based rates of childhood and adult chronic diseases.



“This was a pilot study to test the feasibility of using archived samples of plankton from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey to reconstruct historical trends in marine pollution over space and time,” said senior author Robert K. Naviaux, an expert in Mitochondrial Medicine and Complex Chronic Disorders at UC San Diego. “We were motivated to explore these new methods by the alarming increase in childhood and adult chronic disease that has occurred around the world since the 1980s.”



“Recent studies have underscored the tight linkage between ocean pollution and human health. In this study, we asked the question: Do changes in the plankton exposome (the measure of all exposures in a lifetime) correlate with ecosystem and fisheries health? We also wanted to lay the groundwork for asking a second question: Can humanmade chemicals in plankton be used as a barometer to measure changes in the global chemosphere that might contribute to childhood and adult illness?”



The scientists collected plankton specimens from three different locations in the North Pacific between 2002 and 2020, and assessed their exposure to a variety of humanmade chemicals, including pharmaceutic products, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as industrial chemicals, phthalates and plasticizers (substances derived from plastics), pesticides, and personal care products.



The analysis revealed that, although many of these products have decreased in amount during the past two decades, nearshore areas closest to human activities and subject to terrestrial runoff or aquaculture still had high level of various chemicals that impacted plankton. Moreover, perfluoroalkyl substances – a type of chemicals commonly used to enhance water-resistance in various everyday products (such as packaging, clothing, or cookware), which seem to impact human health by inhibiting mitochondrial proteins - were prominent in the plankton exposome, as were phthalates, which are known to disrupt endocrine functions.



“Plankton are responding to the chemicals in their exposome, in part by changes in their own mitochondria that change their biology, and so too, I would argue, are humans. It is my hope that the use of our methods by research groups around the world will reinforce the connection between ecosystem health and human health, and provide new tools to monitor how the human chemical footprint has changed over the past century. Follow-up studies by epidemiologists and marine ecologists are needed to test if and how the plankton exposome correlates with important medical trends in nearby human populations like infant mortality, autism, asthma, diabetes, and dementia,” Naviaux concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161222">Science of the Total Environment</a>.



—



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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Marine plankton hold a long record of ocean health

By using samples from an almost century-old, ongoing survey of...

The results of a new study modeling the effects of the world’s current emission reduction pledges has concluded that it’s no longer about whether we will overshoot the 1.5 degree Celsius warming target or not; it’s now about how much we will overshoot. This is a stark and sobering finding, against the backdrop of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/on-a-highway-to-climate-hell-cop27-begins-in-egypt/">COP27</a>) currently taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.



According to the study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01508-0">Nature Climate Change</a>, it is now highly likely that the world is going to warm past the 1.5 degree rise in average temperature, set as a goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The world’s current climate pledges are simply insufficient&nbsp;to limit global warming to this level, say the researchers from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory(PNNL), the University of Maryland and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, the experts note there is still time to adopt mechanisms that can limit the extent of the overshoot.



Although exceeding the 1.5-degree target appears inevitable, the researchers say that countries can minimize the time spent in a warmer world by adopting more ambitious climate pledges and decarbonizing faster. Their study suggests various mechanisms whereby the overshoot period is shortened, in some cases by decades, and the researchers say this will be critical in reducing the extent of the damage.&nbsp;



“Let’s face it. We are going to breach the 1.5 degrees limit in the next couple of decades,” said corresponding author and PNNL scientist Haewon McJeon. “That means we’ll go up to 1.6 or 1.7 degrees or above, and we’ll need to bring it back down to 1.5. But how fast we can bring it down is key.”



According to the study, every second shaved off the overshoot translates to less time spent courting the most harmful consequences of global warming, from extreme weather to rising sea levels. Forgoing or delaying more ambitious goals could lead to “irreversible and adverse consequences for human and natural systems,” said lead author Gokul Iyer, a scientist alongside McJeon at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a partnership between PNNL and the University of Maryland.



“Moving fast means hitting net-zero pledges sooner, decarbonizing faster, and striking more ambitious emissions targets,” said Iyer. “Every little bit helps, and you need a combination of all of it. But our results show that the most important thing is doing it early. Doing it now, really.”



During COP26 in 2021, the same research team found that the then updated pledges could substantially increase the chance of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. In their new paper, the authors take an additional step in proposing how to move the needle from 2 to 1.5 degrees.



“The 2021 pledges don’t add up to anywhere near 1.5 degrees – we are forced to focus on the overshoot,” said PNNL scientist Yang Ou, who co-led the study. “Here, we’re trying to provide scientific support to help answer the question: What type of ratcheting mechanism would get us back down and below 1.5 degrees? That’s the motivation behind this paper.”



The researchers modelled the predicted consequences of 27 scenarios involving different levels of emissions and climate actions, from the least ambitious to the most. They tracked the effect on global warming if each of these pathways was followed, in order to identify particular approaches that could limit temperature rise or, indeed, return the world to the desired 1.5 degree average temperature rise after overshooting this goal.&nbsp;&nbsp;



As a starting point, the researchers assumed that countries will meet their emissions pledges and long-term strategies on schedule. If countries do uphold their nationally determined contributions through 2030 and follow a two percent minimum decarbonization rate, for example, global carbon dioxide levels would not reach net zero this century.



However, in the more ambitious scenarios, they model the extent to which warming is limited when countries decarbonize faster and advance the dates of their net-zero pledges. Their results underscore the significance of “ratcheting near-term ambition,” which entails rapid reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from all sectors of the energy system, immediately and through 2030.



Taking the most ambitious path outlined could even bring net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2057. Such a path, the authors write, is marked by “rapid transformations throughout the global energy system” along with the scaling up of “low-carbon technologies like renewables, nuclear energy, as well as carbon capture and storage.”



“The technologies that help us get to zero emissions include renewables, hydrogen, electric cars, and so on. Of course those are important players,” said Iyer. “Another important piece of the puzzle is the technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, like direct air capture or nature-based solutions.”



The most ambitious scenarios outlined in their work are meant to be illustrative of the pathways on offer. But the central takeaway remains clear throughout all modeled scenarios: if 1.5 degrees is to be re-attained sooner after we warm past it, more ambitious climate pledges must be adopted.



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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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Global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees, but by how much?

The results of a new study modeling the effects of...

From April to May 2019, the coral reefs close to the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the central South Pacific Ocean suffered prolonged and severe thermal bleaching, despite the absence of El Niño conditions that year, a phenomenon which intrigued oceanologists around the world. 



Now, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://hkust.edu.hk/">Hong Kong University of Science and Technology</a> has investigated this surprising and apparently paradoxical event, and discovered that it was related to passage of anti-cyclonic eddies which elevated sea levels and concentrated hot water over the coral reef, leading to a massive underwater marine heatwave that was invisible from the sea surface.



Most studies of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reef-fish-struggle-to-recognize-competitors-after-coral-bleaching/">coral bleaching</a> rely on sea-surface measurements of water temperatures, a method that cannot fully capture the threats from ocean heating to various ecosystems, including coral reefs. By analyzing data collected at Moorea over a period of 15 years (from 2005 to 2019) through a combination of remotely sensed sea-surface temperatures and high-resolution, long-term in-situ temperatures and sea level anomalies, the Hong Kong experts found that the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies in the open ocean near the island raised sea levels, pushing internal waves down into deeper water. As a result, internal wave cooling was shut down in early 2019, leading to unexpected heating over the reef and large-scale coral bleaching and mortality.



Interestingly, in contrast with the situation in 2019, the reefs near Moorea did not undergo significant bleaching mortality in 2016, regardless of the prevailing El Niño conditions which decimated many shallow reefs worldwide. Since relying solely on sea-surface temperature data would have predicted only moderate bleaching in both 2016 and 2019, the new findings stress the importance of collecting temperatures across the whole range of depths that coral reefs occupy.&nbsp;



“The present study highlights the need to consider environmental dynamics across depths relevant to threatened ecosystems, including those due to the passage of underwater ocean weather events.&nbsp;This kind of analysis depends on long-term, in situ data measured across ocean depths, but such data is generally lacking,” said study lead author Alex Wyatt, an expert in Ocean Science at Hong Kong.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our paper provides a valuable mechanistic example for assessing the future of coastal ecosystems in the context of changing ocean dynamics and climates.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35550-5">Nature Communications</a>.



—



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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Hidden heatwave led to massive coral bleaching event

From April to May 2019, the coral reefs close to...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> has found that community gardening is highly beneficial for both physical and mental <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-disrupts-gut-health-increasing-risk-of-other-infections/">health</a>. According to the experts, those who engage in gardening activities eat more fiber and get more physical activity – two known ways to reduce the risk of cancers and other chronic diseases. Moreover, gardeners also typically exhibit lower levels of stress and anxiety.&nbsp;



“These findings provide concrete evidence that community gardening could play an important role in preventing cancer, chronic diseases, and mental health disorders,” said study senior author Jill Litt, a professor of Environmental Sciences at CU Boulder.



The researchers recruited 291 non-gardening adults from the Denver area, with an average age of 41. Over a third of them were Hispanics and more than half came from low-income households. Half of them were assigned to a community gardening group, receiving a community garden plot, together with seeds and seedlings and an introductory gardening course, while the others were assigned to a control group which was asked to wait one year before starting gardening. All participants took periodic surveys about their nutritional intake and mental health, wore activity monitors, and underwent body measurements.



The analysis revealed that, by autumn, those in the gardening group were eating, on average, 1.4 grams more fiber per day than those in the control group. Since fiber is known to exert a powerful effect on inflammatory and immune responses, it influences a variety of processes, ranging from how we metabolize food to how healthy our gut microbiome is and how susceptible we are to conditions such as diabetes or cancer.



Moreover, the gardening group also increased their physical activity levels by about 42 minutes per week, and reported declines in their stress and anxiety levels. Finally, since community gardening allows people to interact, such activities can also boost social relationships.



“Even if you come to the garden looking to grow your food on your own in a quiet place, you start to look at your neighbor’s plot and share techniques and recipes, and over time relationships bloom. It’s not just about the fruits and vegetables. It’s also about being in a natural space outdoors together with others,” Litt explained.



These findings will hopefully encourage health professionals, policymakers, and land planners to consider community gardens – as well as other spaces that encourage people to come together in nature – as a vital part of the public health system.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00303-5">Lancet Planetary Health</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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Gardening is beneficial for physical and mental health

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder...

According to recent reports from organizations such as BirdLife International, more than half of all shorebird populations are currently in a state of decline. Despite being a global phenomenon, the driving factors behind the dwindling numbers of sandpipers, plovers, avocets, oystercatchers, and other shorebirds remain unidentified.



In a new study, researchers at the <a href="https://www.ulisboa.pt/en">University of Lisbon</a> have pinpointed environmental changes that may help to explain why shorebirds are vanishing.



"Shorebird declines are occurring worldwide but the causes are not fully understood," wrote the study authors. "Recent literature suggests that the deterioration of habitat quality at their non-breeding areas, mostly located in temperate and tropical coastal wetlands, might be a major contributing factor. However, most studies carried out so far tend to be restricted to a few regions."



"Remote sensing can help correct such geographical bias on knowledge by providing a standardized approach on how shorebird habitats have been changing over the last few decades at a global scale."



The team used remote sensing data to analyze <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wooden-shipwrecks-have-become-diverse-microbial-habitats/">habitat</a> changes in 907 sites - known as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) - over the last two decades. The researchers were especially focused on changes in low tide feeding areas and high tide roosting areas.&nbsp;



"Globally, supratidal areas (used as roosting habitat) have changed more significantly than tidal flats (used as feeding habitat). Yet, we found striking losses of tidal flats in IBAs distributed in several regions of the East Asian - Australasian Flyway," wrote the researchers.



"At supratidal areas, there was a general expansion of marshland, grassland and urban areas, contrasting with a decline of barren land, woodland and cropland. The expansion of marshland occurred in IBAs of most regions of the world. Urban areas also expanded consistently in supratidal areas within the most populated regions of the world."



The experts noted that the loss of barren land is particularly concerning as it may translate into a loss of high-quality roosts. According to the study, changes may be urgently needed to save some species of the East Asian - Australasian Flyway that are facing population collapses due to habitat loss.



“This global approach is a step forward to understand the causes of shorebird declines, a group of birds that is already threatened," said study lead author Carlos David Santos. “Many species of this group are long-distance migrants, some moving more than 20.000 km annually, thus they can be affected by environmental changes occurring at different regions of the world - this is why a global analysis of such changes was so important."



The research was a collaboration between experts from the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) at Ciências ULisboa.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159707">Science of The Total 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



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New clues about the mysterious decline of shorebirds

According to recent reports from organizations such as BirdLife International,...

Although raindrops, evaporating water, or even air moisture are all potential sources of decentralized clean electricity generation, most of the technologies that take advantage of these widespread sources of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-could-be-powered-entirely-by-renewable-energy/">energy</a> remain at the lab-bench stage. To provide a comprehensive map of these developments and their possible future, a recent study published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NRE.2023.9120042">Nano Research Energy</a> has surveyed the opportunities and challenges this young field currently faces.



Huge hydroelectric dams, large tidal barrages, or wave-energy converters on the sea surface are some of the first things one thinks of when considering sustainable energy generation. However, these options depend upon heavy, bulky, and above all centralized forms of harvesting energy from water. According to the scientists leading this new study though, there are myriad of other technological pathways that could take advantage of the ubiquitous presence of water on our planet.



“Water is everywhere. It is ambiently available like no other entity. So all this clean energy is just sitting there, unused and waiting for us to take advantage of it,” said study senior author Zuankai Wang, a mechanical engineer at the <a href="https://www.cityu.edu.hk/">City University of Hong Kong</a>. “It makes sense for us to tap into this vast reservoir of energy not just for bulk electricity production, but for a range of applications such as sensors and wearable devices where a micro-scale of energy harvesting is much more appropriate to the use it is being put to.”



Unfortunately, the development of such distributed water-energy technologies remains very much in its infancy, with many of the current concepts for water-energy harvesting techniques suffering from poor durability, scalability, and low energy conversion. “And yet the rest of nature has figured out thousands of different ways to do exactly this. Evolution has basically perfected the process of extracting energy from ambient hydrologic processes in ways that are extremely efficient,” Wang explained.



For instance, the lotus leaf allows droplets of water to roll across its surface with extremely low resistance, the Araucaria leaves cause liquids with varying surface tensions to flow in different directions, while some carnivorous plants (the so-called “nepenthes” or pitcher plants) are able to direct liquid through their surface structure. These natural phenomena inspired scientists to develop superhydrophobic surfaces or “slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces” that can repel liquid extremely efficiently, allowing for constant electrical output from droplets in harsh environments with high humidity, high salt concentrations, and low temperatures.



Besides plants, animals such as electric eels inspired researchers to develop artificial electric organs making use of hydrogel arrays (highly absorbent polymers which don’t dissolve in water) that function like eel membrane components.



Unfortunately, much of the design of such bio-inspired water-driven electricity generators remains at a lab-bench stage, and the devices currently constructed have a very short lifespan. Further theoretical and experimental research is needed to better understand the underlying structures of water-driven electricity generation in order to manage to efficiently construct durable and scalable bionics that could mimic nature’s capacities.



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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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Harvesting electricity with nature-inspired techniques

Although raindrops, evaporating water, or even air moisture are all...

The Madidi National Park and Natural Integrated Management Area (PNANMI), in Bolivia, is among the most biodiverse areas in the world. Formed in 1995 in the upper Amazon River basin, the area has an extent of 18,958 km² and ranges in altitude from less than 200 m on the Amazonian floodplain to more than 6 000 m in the high Andes. It is home to an astonishing array of living creatures, including 5,535 species of plants, 1,633 species and subspecies of butterflies, and 1,830 species of vertebrates.&nbsp;



In 2015, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Bolivia commenced an initiative, known as Identidad Madidi, to survey and record the plants and wildlife present in the National Park and Natural Integrated Management Area. They wished to ascertain whether the region was indeed the most biodiverse protected area in the world, as they suspected. In addition, they aimed to inform the people of Bolivia about their natural heritage by means of an educational campaign, as well as traditional and social media.&nbsp;&nbsp;



With specialists from the <a href="https://www.wcs.org/">Wildlife Conservation Society</a> of Bolivia, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement de Montpellier (France) and the National Museum of Natural History and the Ecology Institute of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, the Identidad Madidi team conducted fieldwork between 2015 and 2018. They visited 13 different sites and collected fish specimens by means of electrofishing, gillnets, trawls, line and hook, and ichthyoplankton nets (for fish larvae and eggs).&nbsp;



The researchers have now published the results of their fish survey in the journal <a href="https://editorial-inia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NHAC023_Miranda_2022.pdf">Neotropical Hydrobiology and Aquatic Conservation</a>, where they report that the fish species list for Madidi now totals 333, more than double the number previously known from the region. In addition, the researchers suspect that as many as 35 of these species are brand new to science.&nbsp;



Before the start of the Identidad Madidi expedition, the researchers went through literature pertaining to earlier fish surveys in Madidi and found that 161 species had been recorded for the area. They added a further 172 species during the Identidad Madidi fieldwork, with 21 of them being identified from eggs or larvae alone. They say that this total of 333 species makes the PNANMI Madidi the richest Bolivian protected area for fish.&nbsp;



Species range in size from the invasive arapaima (Arapaima gigas), a mouth-breathing giant weighing more than 200 kg and measuring over 3 m, to the seasonally abundant killifish (Anablepsoides beniensis) that are found in pools in natural savannas and are just 1.5 cm long. The list also includes the most attractive gamefish from the Amazon, the golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), as well as migratory catfish, from the Amazonian goliath catfish (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum) to the tiny chipi chipi pencil catfish (Trichomycterus barbouri) whose massive collective migration is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNvCOl_zjho">local phenomenon</a>.&nbsp;



Another killifish (Orestias&nbsp;sp.) is found in some of the highest Andean lakes at 4,300 m in Madidi, while in the stagnant ponds of the wonderful Amazon, electric knife fish (Gymnotus carapo) and swamp eels (Synbranchus madeirae) occur. In the fast-flowing streams of the Amazon headwaters, several different species of naked catfish (Astroblepus&nbsp;spp.) are found, including some that are likely to be new species for science.



The 35 possible new species include candidates from the genera Knodus, Microgenys, Moenkhausia, Characidium, Apareiodon, Brachyhypopomus, Ernstichthys&nbsp;(genus reported for the first time in Bolivia), Astroblepus and Trichomycterus&nbsp;(including one species recently described and named in honor of a pioneer French ichthyologist in Bolivia). In addition, a three-barbled catfish (Cetopsorhamdia), a striking pike cichlid (Crenicichla) and a charming bumblebee catfish (Microglanis) are also among the brand new species.&nbsp;



The researchers recorded four alien species (1.2 percent) as being present in the PNANMI Madidi, and report that they also identified fish species from four genera that have never been listed in Bolivia before. The largest number of species are found in the order Characiformes (139 species; 41.7 percent), followed by Siluriformes (137 species; 41.1 percent), and Cichliformes (19 species; 5.7 percent), which together represent 88.6 percent of species richness.&nbsp;



“With an extension of 18,957.5 square kilometers (7,319 square miles), Madidi covers 1.3 percent of the Madeira River basin, but conserves 25 percent of the known species in the basin. Madidi also represents only 1.8 percent of the Bolivian territory, but it conserves almost 40 percent of the ichthyofauna recorded in Bolivia," said lead author Guido Miranda. "This study has more than doubled our knowledge about fish diversity in this incredible protected area, but with several sub-basins yet to sample in the park, this is only the beginning.”



Madidi is one of the most important protected areas in Bolivia and the world because of its extraordinary biological richness, which is expressed in its diversity of ecosystems and flora and fauna species. It contains 13 major vegetation types, including the best example of pristine savannas and the largest and best-preserved montane forests in Bolivia.



“Due to its great diversity of habitats, mostly as a result of the altitudinal gradient from 184 meters (Heath River) to 6,044 meters (Chaupi Orko Peak), Madidi is considered the most biodiverse protected area on the planet. The Identidad Madidi initiative aimed to firmly establish this record-breaking status for the park, whilst communicating the importance of Madidi to the Bolivian people," said study co-author Dr. Rob Wallace. "This is the first of several biodiversity summary articles that the Bolivian scientists on the expedition are systematizing to share the results of our efforts with Bolivia and the world.”



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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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More than 300 fish species found in Madidi National Park

The Madidi National Park and Natural Integrated Management Area (PNANMI),...

It is accepted that birds evolved from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-climate-change-drove-the-rapid-evolution-of-reptiles/">reptiles</a>, and particularly from small, carnivorous theropod dinosaurs, and that this process did not take place in one burst of evolution. Rather, the huge morphological changes happened in steps, over tens of millions of years, with the typical bird features evolving at different rates, for distinct purposes, and ending up giving the characteristic modern bird body plan. However, paleontologists still wonder how it was that all these dramatic transformations took place.&nbsp;



A new bird fossil, found in the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province in China, has now been analyzed by paleontologists from the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> in Beijing, and has shown to be a bizarre mixture of dinosaur and bird features. It is dated at around 120 million years and combines a typical bird body with a reptilian skull that is similar in morphology to the skull of Tyranosaurus rex. This finding supports the idea that evolutionary changes in morphology did not take place at the same rate in all body structures during early bird diversification.&nbsp;



“The Cretaceous period is a critical time interval that encompasses explosive diversifications of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly the period when the earliest-branching birds, after divergence from their theropod ancestors, evolved the characteristic avian bauplan that led eventually to their global radiation,” said Dr. WANG Min, a researcher with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.



Named Cratonavis zhui, this new species is positioned on the avian evolutionary tree, somewhere between the more reptile-like, long-tailed&nbsp;Archaeopteryx&nbsp;and the Ornithothoraces (which include modern birds and their closest ancestors). Its features include wings, feathers, claws on the wings, conical teeth, and the absence of a long, bony tail. In addition, the fossil bird has unusually elongated scapulae and first metatarsal bones, features that are, so far, unique to this species alone.



The researchers used high-resolution computed tomography (CT)-scanning to analyze the fossilized bones, and then they “removed” these, digitally, from their rocky tomb, repositioned them and reconstructed the original shape of the post-cranial skeleton and skull. They found that, while the skeleton was typically bird-like, the skull retained small, conical teeth, along with the feature known as akinesis, which is characteristic of dinosaurs and other reptiles, but not of modern birds.&nbsp;



“The primitive cranial features speak to the fact that most Cretaceous birds, such as&nbsp;Cratonavis,&nbsp;could not move their upper bill independently with respect to the braincase and lower jaw, a functional innovation widely distributed among living birds that contributes to their enormous ecological diversity,” said Dr. LI Zhiheng, a lead author of the study.



As for the bizarre scapula and first metatarsal bone in Cratonavis, Dr. WANG Min, a lead and corresponding author of this study, said: “The scapula is functionally vital to avian flight, and it conveys stability and flexibility. We trace changes of the scapula across the theropod-bird transition, and posit that the elongate scapula could augment the mechanical advantage of muscle for humerus retraction/rotation, which compensates for the overall underdeveloped flight apparatus in this early bird, and these differences represent morphological experimentation in volant behaviour, early in bird diversification.”



In their report, published in&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01921-w">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>, the paleontologists conclude that the elongated first metatarsals in the fossil bird’s feet were subjected to selection pressure during the dinosaur-bird transition, and ended up becoming shorter. They then lost their evolutionary lability (changeability) once they reached their optimal size, less than a quarter of the length of the second metatarsal.&nbsp;



“However, increased evolutionary lability was present among Mesozoic birds and their dinosaur kins, which may have resulted from conflicting demands associated with its direct employment of the hallux [innermost digit of the hind foot] in locomotion and feeding,” said co-author Dr. Thomas Stidham. For&nbsp;Cratonavis, such an elongated hallux may have been advantageous while hunting for prey.



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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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Puzzling fossil has the body of a bird, skull of a dinosaur

It is accepted that birds evolved from reptiles, and particularly...

A new study led by the <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health</a> has found that including <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/food-products-need-environmental-impact-labels/">climate impact</a> labels on a sample fast food menu significantly influenced people’s food choices in favor of more climate-friendly items, such as vegetarian, chicken, or fish dishes.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The researchers enrolled over 5,000 online participants and presented them a sample menu resembling a fast food menu and asked them to choose a single item for a meal. While one group of participants received a menu with non-red meat items such as salads or chicken sandwiches labeled “low climate impact,” another one received a menu with red meat items, such as beef burgers, labeled “high climate impact.” Finally, a third control group received a menu with QR codes on all items but no climate labels.



The analysis revealed that both the high and low climate impact labels significantly reduced red meat selections compared to the control group. However, the high impact labels had a strong effect, increasing non-beef choices by 23 percent compared to just 10 percent in the case of menus including low climate impact labels.



“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” said study lead author Julia Wolfson, an associate professor in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School.



In addition to being asked to choose an item, participants were also asked to rate how healthy they believed the item they ordered was. Regardless of what type of label was on the menu, those who selected a more sustainable item perceived their choice to be healthier compared to those who selected a red meat item.&nbsp;



Since red meat consumption has been linked to a variety of health issues, including colorectal cancer, type 2 diabetes, and stroke, the type of climate labeling analyzed in this study could prove highly effective in preventing illness. However, as the researchers warn, climate labels may also have the unwanted side effect of making a choice seem healthier than it actually is.



“An undeserved health halo conferred to unhealthy menu items could encourage their overconsumption. So we have to look for labeling strategies that create ‘win-wins’ for promoting both more sustainable and healthy choices,” Wolfson concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.48320">JAMA Network Open</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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Climate impact labeling has a strong influence on food selection

A new study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School...

The,Queen,(apis,Mellifera),Marked,With,Dot,And,Bee,Workers

The <a href="https://www.usda.gov/">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a> (USDA) has recently granted a conditional license for a vaccine aiming to protect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/honey-bees-cannot-fly-straight-after-ingesting-pesticides/">honey bees</a> from American foulbrood disease, an infection caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae that weakens and kills honey bee colonies and currently has no treatment. This vaccine – developed by the U.S. biotech company <a href="https://www.dalan.com/">Dalan Animal Health</a> – raises hopes for a new and powerful weapon against a disease that routinely ravage colonies that are highly important for food pollination.



“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honey bees,” said Annette Kleiser, the chief executive of Dalan. “We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global scale.”



In parts of the U.S., the foulbrood disease has been found in over a quarter of honey bee hives. Since there is no cure for this disease available yet, beekeepers usually destroy and burn infected colonies and administer antibiotics to stop further spread.



“It’s something that beekeepers can easily recognize because it reduces the larvae to this brown goo that has a rancid stink to it,” explained Keith Delaplane, an entomologist at the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a> who worked together with Dalan for the vaccine’s development.



This groundbreaking vaccine works by incorporating some of the bacteria into the royal jelly fed by worker bees to the queen. After ingesting the vaccine-laced jelly, the queen will gain some of the vaccine in its ovaries and the developing bee larvae will have immunity to foulbrood as they hatch.



“In a perfect scenario, the queens could be fed a cocktail within a queen candy – the soft, pasty sugar that queen bees eat while in transit. Queen breeders could advertise ‘fully vaccinated queens,” Delapane said.



Since the U.S. is highly dependent upon managed honey bee colonies to assist food pollination – with bee hives frequently transported around the country to help pollinating a variety of crops, ranging from almonds to blueberries – the development of this vaccine is a major step forward for boosting agricultural production. Scientists hope that this medical breakthrough could be used to create vaccines for other bee-related diseases, such as the European strain of foulbrood.



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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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World’s first honeybee vaccine approved by the USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recently granted a...

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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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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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...