Star formation takes center stage this holiday season as space telescopes unveil breathtaking images of stellar nurseries. Among these discoveries is a dazzling star cluster known as NGC 602, which resembles a festive wreath floating in the cosmos.



Made up of stars, dust, and cosmic gases, this celestial formation offers not only visual splendor but also a unique opportunity to study the processes that shaped the early universe. 



Scientists at NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory combined data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal the intricate details of this stunning cluster that is nestled within the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/open-star-cluster-in-the-small-magellanic-cloud/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Small Magellanic Cloud</a>, a neighboring galaxy located 200,000 light-years away.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-natural-laboratory-for-star-formation">A natural laboratory for star formation</h2>



This cosmic wreath isn't just pretty to look at - it's a treasure trove of scientific insights that teaches us about the intricate processes behind <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/serpens-nebula-image-reveals-how-stars-are-born/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how stars are born</a> and develop over time.



The stars in NGC 602, with their significantly lower heavy element content (when compared to our Sun), closely resemble the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-stars-shakti-shiva-shaped-milky-way-galaxy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ancient stars</a> that existed billions of years ago in the early universe.



This unique characteristic makes the cluster an unparalleled natural laboratory for astronomers, allowing them to study early star formation under conditions that mirror those of a much younger cosmos.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cosmic-wreath-made-of-stars">Cosmic wreath made of stars</h2>



The wreath shape comes from dense clouds of dust that are visible in the Webb telescope data as orange, yellow, green, and blue colors.



The <a href="https://chandra.harvard.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chandra X-ray Observatory</a> adds another layer to our view, showing young, massive stars in red. 



These stars send powerful winds and high-energy light into space, creating an extended cloud that glows with X-rays from thousands of young, low-mass stars.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-holiday-double-feature-the-christmas-tree-cluster">Holiday double feature: The Christmas tree cluster</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-telescopes-can-directly-detect-signs-of-alien-life-in-exoplanet-atmospheres/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">space telescopes</a> didn't stop with the festive wreath visual. They also captured fresh images of NGC 2264, which is nicknamed the "<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cosmic-christmas-tree-captured-by-nasas-chandra-observatory/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christmas Tree Cluster</a>."



This stellar grouping is much closer to Earth - just 2,500 light-years away - and contains stars that are between one and five million years old.



To put that in perspective, these stars are babies compared to our sun, which is about 5 billion years old.



The new view of NGC 2264 combines Chandra's X-ray data (shown in red, purple, blue, and white) with optical observations in green and violet. 



These optical images were taken by astrophotographer Michael Clow using his telescope in Arizona in November 2024.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-technology-behind-the-discovery">The technology behind the discovery</h2>



These observations showcase the power of combining different types of telescopes. 



While the Chandra X-ray Observatory operates under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, its science operations are managed by the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with flight operations running from Burlington, Massachusetts.



These stellar formations remind us that, even in the cold vastness of space, we can find familiar shapes that connect with our human experience and help us understand the universe around us.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-star-formation-and-evolving-galaxies">Star formation and evolving galaxies</h2>



Star formation is one of the most&nbsp;basic&nbsp;processes&nbsp;for astronomers to understand. It is this process that helps shape evolving galaxies.



Stars are&nbsp;formed&nbsp;in dense clouds of gas and dust, commonly&nbsp;referred to as stellar nurseries, where gravitational forces cause the materials to collapse and instigate nuclear fusion in their cores.



This process not only&nbsp;produces&nbsp;light and heat but also forges the&nbsp;heavy elements that will become building blocks for planets and life itself.



By studying star formation in clusters like NGC 602, scientists can trace the cosmic history of element creation and distribution throughout the universe. 



Observing these processes in regions with varying conditions, such as low-metallicity environments, allows astronomers to refine their models of how stars form, evolve, and influence their surroundings over time.



All&nbsp;this&nbsp;helps&nbsp;in&nbsp;understanding&nbsp;how, during their life cycles, the&nbsp;stars&nbsp;evolve&nbsp;into supernovae, black holes, or neutron stars and assume&nbsp;a&nbsp;very&nbsp;important&nbsp;role in the dynamic interplay of cosmic forces.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-broader-implications-of-the-research">Broader implications of the research </h2>



The insights gained from such research go beyond astronomy, influencing other scientific fields like physics and chemistry. 



Understanding how stars and their planetary systems develop can even inform our search for life on other worlds. 



Star formation, therefore, is not just about the birth of stars - it’s a key to unlocking the broader story of the universe itself.



Image Credit: Chandra X-ray Center



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Dazzling star cluster creates a cosmic holiday wreath

Star formation takes center stage this holiday season as space telescopes unveil breathtaking images of stellar nurseries. Among these discoveries is a dazzling star cluster known as NGC 602, which resembles a festive wreath floating in the cosmos. Made up of stars, dust, and cosmic gases, this celestial formation offers not only visual splendor but also a unique opportunity to study the processes that shaped the early universe. Scientists at NASA and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory combined data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb...

Recent studies using computational modeling to investigate how melting ice in Antarctica may impact the world’s oceans have largely focused on aspects such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-prevent-a-catastrophic-meltdown-of-the-worlds-largest-ice-sheet/">ice-sheet</a> geometry, fracture, and surface melting, which could potentially trigger or accelerate ice-sheet mass loss. Now, a research team from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> has identified and described an additional process which could have a similarly strong impact on the future of Antarctic ice sheets: the thawing of the bed at the interface of the land and the miles-thick ice sheets above it – a phenomenon known as basal thaw.



By using numerical ice-sheet models, the researchers tested whether the onset of basal thaw could lead to significant ice loss within a 100-year period, and discovered that triggering thaw can lead to mass loss in areas of the ice sheet which are not usually associated with instability and sea-level rise contributions at such a short timescale.



“There really has been little to no continental-wide work that looks at the onset of thawing –&nbsp;that transition from frozen ice to ice at the melting point, where a little bit of water at the bed can cause the ice to slide,” said study lead study author Eliza Dawson, a doctoral student in Geophysics at Stanford. “We were interested in learning how big an effect thawing could have and what regions of the ice sheet were potentially most susceptible.”



Together with her colleagues, Dawson modeled temperature changes at Antarctica’s base according to shifts in friction caused by the ice sheet sliding over the land beneath it. The simulations revealed that in East Antarctica - an area considered relatively stable compared to West Antarctica - the Enderby-Kemp and George V Land regions would be most sensitive to basal thaw. If thawing were to occur, such areas could end up being leading sea-level rise contributors, comparable to the rapidly evolving and highly unstable Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica.



“The whole community is really focusing on Thwaites right now,” said study senior author Dustin Schroeder, an associate professor of Geophysics and Electrical Engineering at Stanford. “But some of the regions that are the usual suspects for big, impactful changes aren’t the most provocative and impactful areas in this study.”



Although scientists do not yet know what forces are most capable of triggering basal thaw in the potentially susceptible regions identified in this study, one possible driver could be changing ocean conditions. “Warm ocean water does not necessarily reach these East Antarctica regions as it does in parts of West Antarctica, but it’s nearby, so there’s potential that could change,” Professor Schroeder explained. “When you consider the recent theoretical work showing that thermal processes at the bed can be easy to activate – even spontaneous – it makes near-term thawing of the ice-sheet bed seem like a far easier switch to flip than we’d thought.”



“Follow-on work will be needed to take a closer look at these regions that this paper identified. Showing that thawing at the bed can result in mass loss from the ice sheet is a process that the community needs to understand and really start looking at – especially in these potentially vulnerable areas,” Dawson concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32632-2">Nature Communications</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

New trigger of Antarctic ice-sheet loss identified

Recent studies using computational modeling to investigate how melting ice...

One of the major problems in developing countries – which often leads to widespread hunger and poverty – is unproductive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agriculture-developed-surplus-conditions/">agriculture</a>. According to many economists, an explanation of why many farmers in these countries are doing badly is their unwillingness to take economic risks. However, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> has now identified another possible problem: many farmers rely on religion to structure their agricultural and economic decisions.&nbsp;



“The general explanation that poverty is associated with risk aversion - i.e. an unwillingness to use new technology or try out new crops should be re-assessed in relation to structural and contextual factors,” said study lead author Goytom Abraha Kahsay, an assistant professor of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen. “Both our data and other recent studies show that people in developing countries are generally willing to take risks. But now we are able to explain it through religiosity.”



To map Ethiopian farmers’ risk preferences, the scientists designed a lottery experiment in which 819 small-scale, subsistence farmers were asked to choose between economic decisions either with a certain or uncertain outcome in several situations. Before the experiment, the researchers had assessed the religiosity of the individual farmers based on a number of criteria, such as the extent to which they believed that God intervenes in their lives, or how much money they donate to their church or mosque. The analysis revealed that about 26 percent of the farmers believed that God decides everything and intervenes in their success as farmers, and that their willingness to take risks was higher the more religious they were.



“Many of the surveyees choose to take risks because they believe that their success is entirely in the hands of God anyway. Even though the majority of the population do not share this belief, it equates to millions of Ethiopians sharing this conviction,” Professor Kahsay explained.



“Given ours and other studies’ findings suggesting that religiosity affects economic preferences and socio-economics outcomes, the authorities and policy makers may consider working with the Church and other religious institutions, which could probably make a difference in terms of technology adoption, climate adaptation, etc. Most people trust the Church, so any messages conveyed to them in church can probably affect their way of thinking,”&nbsp;he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/agec.12697">Agricultural Economics</a>.



---



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

Millions of farmers rely on God to make decisions

One of the major problems in developing countries – which...

Flying,Bat,Hunting,In,Forest.,The,Grey,Long-eared,Bat,(plecotus

A new study led by the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> and <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a> has investigated the diets of endangered Indiana bats and threatened northern long-eared bats, in order to identify ways to effectively manage both species and their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/red-pandas-face-shrinking-habitats-and-tough-decisions/">habitats</a>.



“This was an in-depth study of these two imperiled species in landscapes where they co-occur. Nobody’s done that before. This investigation gives us a much better sense of how bats not only coexist, but also how they benefit our forests and how we can thus manage the forest to provide bats with better habitat,” said study senior author Joy O’Keefe, a wildlife extension specialist at the University of Illinois.



“When you have two closely related species sharing the same habitat, that means they’re probably built similarly and need similar places to live and things to eat. This brings up a lot of questions about how they’re doing that. Are they competing? Or is there some system in place where they're able to divide resources? Our job was to figure that out,” added study lead author Timothy Divoll, a data scientist at Brown University who completed his doctoral studies under Professor O’Keefe’s supervision.



During four summers, the researchers captured bats of both species and collected fecal samples at two locations in Indiana – a large managed forest and a region with small forest patches close to a major airport – in order to identify insect prey from DNA found in bats’ feces.



The analysis revealed that the two bat species consumed many of the same insects – such as moths, beetles, mosquitoes, crickets, or wasps – as well as a number of agricultural and forest pest species, which proves their crucial role as providers of beneficial ecosystem services.&nbsp;



Surprisingly though, the northern long-eared bats (the smaller of the two species) usually pick up slightly larger prey items, most likely because they are gleaners – meaning they grab prey off surfaces – which would make it easier for them to locate larger insects on leaves or bark. By contrast, the Indiana bats are aerial hawkers, detecting and hunting prey that moves through the air, be it large or small. Although this difference in prey size preference and feeding style could explain how the two species avoid direct competition, the scientists are not yet sure whether this is the case.



“It’s difficult to say whether they’re in direct competition without measuring the availability of different insect types, and we didn’t measure that in our study. But our&nbsp;earlier research in the same forested site&nbsp;showed northern long-eared bats use much less space when foraging than Indiana bats. And they’re selecting habitat slightly differently. At the end of the night, they might end up eating all the same things, but they’re finding them differently,” Dr. Divoll explained.



Ultimately, the bats’ diets were so similar that there were greater differences between the sites investigated – large forest vs. small, near-airport forest patches – than between bat species. “This tells us that, at some level, they are generalizing on whatever is available at a given site. They might be flexible and specialize at certain times, but these two bats are going to go after whatever is predominantly there. They may use different hunting techniques and search different heights of the forest, but they both likely capture easy targets while searching for preferred prey,” Dr. Divoll concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.354">Environmental DNA</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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bats’ diets offer clues on how to protect them

A new study led by the University of Illinois and...

Insects that are adapted to wet, tropical regions will be impacted by the drier conditions associated with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-limits-the-forest-canopys-cooling-response/">climate change</a>. A paper recently published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb16379">Global Change Biology</a> reveals that tropical insects will also be affected by relatively heavy rainfall.&nbsp;



Researchers in Peru conducted a five-year study on the effects of short-term droughts followed by increased precipitation and found a 50 percent decline in the biomass of arthropods (spiders and insects). These findings suggest that arthropods are more sensitive to climate change than previously thought.&nbsp;



"Most of the time when we think about climate change, we think about warming temperatures, but rainfall patterns will change as well, which is something insects seem to be especially sensitive to," said Felicity Newell, a postdoctoral associate at the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a>. "We're seeing that rainfall extremes can have negative effects over very short timescales."



This phenomenon of just the right amount of water is an example of Goldilocks preference. Insects, in particular, are already suffering assaults on many fronts, and now we know climate change is another serious threat to their populations. This data is especially alarming because over half of the world's insect diversity occurs in the tropics.&nbsp;



For part of the study, Newell and co-author Ian Ausprey compared rainfall and temperature measurements to the number of insects they collected in the Andes mountains of northern Peru for two-and-a-half years. While they expected that plant growth would determine insect abundance, they found that rainfall had the biggest influence.&nbsp;



"Arthropod biomass decreased after three months of dry weather, but it also decreased after three months of exceptionally wet conditions," Newell explained. "Biomass peaked at intermediate rainfall, creating a dynamic balance between too wet and too dry."&nbsp;



Although the researchers determined that tropical insects, especially smaller ones, were vulnerable to dry conditions in an experimental study, they could not determine why they also reacted negatively to very wet environments.&nbsp;



Moreover, the predictive model they developed places insects as canaries in the coal mine since it predicts that insects will be the first type of animals to react to a climate in peril. Whatever the case, insects are indispensable. Many ecosystems depend on them as engineers, pollinators, and food sources.&nbsp;



"Insects are incredibly diverse and important," said Newell. "They fill the ecosystem roles of pollination and decomposition, and they serve as a food resource for many birds and mammals."&nbsp;



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

Tropical insects are more sensitive to climate change than expected

Insects that are adapted to wet, tropical regions will be...

Nest parasites, such as cuckoos, are notorious for being the ultimate free-loaders in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nurturing-benefits-of-nature-are-crucial-for-human-well-being/">nature</a>. Females lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and then leave the unsuspecting host parents to raise a chick that is not their own. Different species of cuckoos have chicks that behave differently once hatching has occurred. Some cuckoo chicks kick out the host nestlings and become the sole survivor in the nest. Others share the nest and food with the host nestlings, and yet others may actually enhance the survival of host chicks by exuding a bad smell that deters predators.&nbsp;



Brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are also obligate brood parasites but differ from cuckoos in that they are generalists, laying their eggs in the nests of any other bird they can find. In fact, observers have recorded brown-headed cowbird eggs being laid in the nests of more than 200 different species. Not all the chicks are able to survive – it seems that cowbirds sometimes pick hosts that feed their chicks a different diet (i.e. seeds) to what a growing cowbird needs (insects). Cuckoos tend to be specialists, laying their eggs in the nests of specific host species that will be equipped to raise the cuckoo chick.



In a recent study, experts investigated the behavior of cowbird chicks in the nests of prothonotary warblers (Protonotaria citreas). The researchers aimed to understand the strategies used by cowbird chicks to survive in prothonotary warbler nests when the total number of warbler chicks differs. Cowbird chicks may hatch in a nest with as many as six other nestlings, or sometimes as few as zero, and the researchers wondered how cowbird chick behavior would differ under these conditions.&nbsp;



“Brood parasites like brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of so many different species, we wanted to know about one really important aspect of how they make a go of it in a world that, when they hatch, could be any one of 200 different scenarios,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://nickantonson.weebly.com/">Nicholas Antonson</a>, a Ph.D. candidate at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a> who led the study with&nbsp;<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/profile/mhauber">Mark Hauber</a>, a U. of I. professor of&nbsp;<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/eeb/">evolution, ecology and behavior</a>. “We focused on what happens when a cowbird hatches into a nest with different numbers of host nestlings.”



To study cowbird chick success, the researchers deployed nest boxes that were attractive to warblers and cowbirds in a southern Illinois swamp forest. The boxes were designed to exclude ground predators like snakes and raccoons, and aerial predation by hawks and owls. By changing out the bedding in the boxes four days after the eggs hatched, the team also reduced the threat from invertebrate parasites like blowflies.



The team followed nests with and without cowbird parasites and manipulated the number of host chicks in the nests by moving warbler eggs or chicks between nests. All the nests parasitized by cowbirds had either zero, two or four warbler nest mates. Control nests containing only warbler chicks were matched for the total number of young.



The results of the study, published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>, showed that cowbird chicks survive best when they are in a nest with two other nestlings. Their survival is not as good when four host chicks are present, and is also reduced when no other nestlings are present. In general, cowbirds hatch earlier than their nest mates, they tend to be bigger and more aggressive than warbler chicks, and they extract more than their fair share of food from the host parents, Antonson said. Cowbirds need more food because they grow two-to-three times larger in the nest than the warbler chicks.



Interestingly, the researchers noted that when cowbird chicks hatched in nests with four warbler chicks present, the cowbirds seemed to cause the number of host chicks to decrease down to two. The cowbirds did not do this by ejecting or killing warbler chicks, however, as is commonly seen with cuckoos.



“Cowbirds have adapted to live with host nest mates,” Hauber said. “They outcompete them, they raise their heads higher, and they beg more loudly and for longer periods of time, but they do not actively displace the host nest mates.”



“One of the unique aspects of our study is that we also quantified how many cowbirds survived to fledging in each of these different scenarios,” Antonson said. “We found that cowbirds survive best in the nests where they hatch with two host nestlings. That’s better than when they hatch with four host nestlings or with zero host nestlings. Cowbirds raised with more than that optimal number of two host nestlings appear to reduce the host brood sizes down to two.”



This reduction in host nestling numbers when cowbirds are present didn’t occur in the control warbler nests that had no cowbirds, the researchers found.



“We think that the cowbirds are manipulating the host numbers to reduce them to the optimal so that they can grow best,” Hauber said. Stealing food meant for the other nestlings is the likely means by which they do that. Further studies will be needed to confirm that hypothesis.



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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

Cowbird chicks need nest mates, but two is better than four

Nest parasites, such as cuckoos, are notorious for being the...

Increasingly more scientists have recently argued that multiple, dangerous <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tipping-points-could-be-triggered-without-further-warming/">tipping points</a> are most likely approaching worldwide due to anthropogenic climate change. Now, a team of experts from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has used centuries-old clam shells to investigate how the North Atlantic climate system reached such a tipping point before the Little Ice Age - a period of regional cooling (most pronounced in the North Atlantic region) that occurred between the 14th and 19th centuries.



A long-standing scientific theory suggests that the initial cooling in this period was sustained by so-called “sea-ice to ocean feedbacks” – a phenomenon in which sea-ice expansion slowed ocean currents, which in turn significantly reduced the flow of warm water from the South.&nbsp;



By analyzing shells of quahog clams – which can live for several centuries – the researchers aimed to understand how the ocean has evolved and responded to external changes during the past centuries. The experts discovered that the North Atlantic climate system destabilized and lost resilience immediately before the Little Ice Age, possibly causing the Earth to tip into a new, colder state.



“One way to tell that a system is approaching a sudden transition is that it becomes slow to respond to perturbations (external changes),” said study lead author Beatriz Arellano-Nava, a doctoral student in Geography and Global Systems at the University of Exeter. “In other words, a system loses the ability to return to its average state, and can instead ‘tip’ into a new state.”



“In the case of the North Atlantic prior to the Little Ice Age, this loss of resilience made the system vulnerable to an abrupt switch, potentially heralding the transition to Little Ice Age conditions,” added study co-author Paul Halloran, an associate professor of Earth Sciences at the same university.



According to the scientists, the North Atlantic could be approaching once more a tipping point, with major consequences for the world’s climate.&nbsp;



“Our latest analysis suggests that the system of ocean currents in the northern North Atlantic could be at risk of a tipping point again now due to global warming, leading once again to abrupt climate change over Europe,” concluded study senior author Timothy Lenton, the director of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32653-x">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&nbsp;&nbsp;

The North Atlantic may be approaching another tipping point

Increasingly more scientists have recently argued that multiple, dangerous tipping...

Portrait,Closeup,Of,A,Cute,Furry,Rock,Hyrax,(procavia,Capensis)

In a recent study published by the <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/">British Ecological Society</a>, researchers have found a strong correlation between the song rhythm of male rock hyraxes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reproductive-health-is-impacted-by-geographic-location/">reproductive</a> success. More specifically, females are looking for a hyrax with rhythm. Females may interpret male rhythmic serenades as a sign of good health.&nbsp;



"We have been studying hyraxes for the past 20 years and have previously found several patterns in their songs that are common features of human language and music," said Dr. Vlad Demartsev, who collected data for the study.



"Their songs have regional dialects so individuals living in proximity sing more similarly to each other. They tend to sing in crescendo (getting louder as the song progresses) and reach peak complexity towards the end of their songs, maybe to keep the audience engaged and listening to the signals."



Dr. Demartsev further explained the importance of rhythm: "One assumption is that rhythm has evolved so that animals that call in groups can better synchronize their songs - like musicians in a band or singers in a choir."



In this case, however, there is a catch; the hyraxes do not sing in a group, but call individually. Yet, those males with rhythm still display greater fitness.&nbsp;



"Male hyraxes that sing more frequently tend to have more surviving offspring," said study co-founder Dr. Lee Koren. "Song rhythms and stability are related to reproductive success and thus potentially hold information about individual quality."



The researchers believe that the ability to create specific, rhythmic songs may signal that the male is free from disease, which could mean an ideal mate and more successful fitness.



Dr. Demartsev would like to see further research conducted on this topic in the future. "It would be fascinating to compare animal species who sing individually and species that sing in groups."



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13801">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>.&nbsp;



---



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

Rhythm linked to reproductive success in male rock hyraxes

In a recent study published by the British Ecological Society,...

The sound of a crying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mothers-can-use-singing-to-engage-with-infants/">infant</a> can be very distressing to parents. They seek to soothe the baby and may resort to numerous ploys in order to restore the baby to a state of peace. None of these methods has been scientifically proven, however, relying rather on trial and error or on the advice of experienced caregivers. In a new study by Japanese researchers, four different soothing methods were tested and the efficacy of each was assessed based on changes in the baby’s heart rate and whether the baby stopped crying.&nbsp;



“Many parents suffer from babies’ nighttime crying,” says corresponding author Kumi Kuroda of the <a href="https://www.riken.jp/en/research/labs/cbs/">RIKEN Center for Brain Science</a> in Japan. “That’s such a big issue, especially for inexperienced parents, that it can lead to parental stress and even to infant maltreatment in a small number of cases,” she says.



The study details how crying babies are physiologically affected by being held, carried, and laid down. The researchers made use of ECG data on heart rate, and hand-held video cameras, to track the physiological and behavioral state of the baby as it was soothed. Mothers were given four methods for calming the baby: hold the crying infant, hold and walk with the infant, place the infant in a cot or crib, and place the infant in a mobile crib or stroller that can be moved back and forth. At each heartbeat, behavior was assessed as asleep, alert, or crying, and scored accordingly. This way the researchers could track changes in both behavior and physiology with sub-second precision.



In previous research, Kuroda and her colleagues found that mother mice pick up their babies (pups) by mouth and carry them when they are distressed. The mouse pups show a specific response, termed the “Transport Response,” when picked up by their mothers. This involves a complex series of parallel biological processes that results in reduced crying and lower heart rates, which helps the parents to transport the infants. Kruoda and the team wondered whether human infants would show similar physiological responses to being carried around, and whether this would have a calming impact when the infant was distressed.



The Transport Response is found in many mammals that have altricial young (born underdeveloped and helpless) that are not able to walk around on their own. Such mammals include dogs, cats and monkeys. We are more familiar with this response when picking up young puppies or kittens by the scruff of the neck. They tend to hang motionless and become more docile, but their bodies do not go entirely limp; they maintain a certain compactness of posture, with legs pulled in slightly, perhaps making it easier for their parents to carry them to a new location.



The researchers compared the responses of 21 human infants to soothing using the four different methods. They found that when the mother walked while carrying the baby, the crying infants calmed down and their heart rates slowed within 30 seconds. In fact, when mothers walked in this way for a period of five minutes, the infants became so calm that around 50 percent of them fell asleep. A similar calming effect occurred when the infants were placed in a rocking cot, but not when the mother held the baby while sitting, or placed the baby in a motionless cot.



As Kuroda explains, “walking for five minutes promoted sleep, but only for crying infants. Surprisingly, this effect was absent when babies were already calm beforehand.” Among the babies studied, all had stopped crying by the end of the five-minute walk and had reduced heart rates. However, sitting and holding a crying baby was not calming; the heart rate tended to increase and crying persisted. Heart rates also increased when walking mothers turned, or when they stopped walking, showing that babies are very sensitive to their mother’s movements.



Unfortunately, the study found that when the mothers tried to put down their sleeping babies after calming them, more than one-third of the infants became alert again within 20 seconds. Analysis of the data showed that all the babies produced physiological responses, including changes in heart rate, the moment they became detached from the mother’s body. However, if the infants were asleep for a longer period before being laid down, they were less likely to awaken during the process, the team found.



“Even as a mother of four, I was very surprised to see the result. I thought whether a baby awoke during a laydown was related to how they’re put on the bed, such as their posture, or the gentleness of the movement,” Kuroda says.&nbsp; “But our experiment did not support these general assumptions. Although we did not predict it, the key parameter for successful laydown of sleeping infants was the latency from sleep onset.” Babies often woke up if they were put down before they got about 8 minutes of sleep.



Based on their findings, the researchers propose a method for soothing and promoting sleep in crying infants. They recommend that parents hold crying infants and walk with them for five minutes, followed by sitting and holding infants for another five to eight minutes before putting them to bed. The protocol, unlike other popular sleep training approaches such as letting infants cry until they fall asleep themselves, aims to provide an immediate solution for infant crying. Whether it can improve infant sleep in the long-term requires further research, Kuroda says.



Although the research involved only mothers and their infants, Kuroda expects the effects are likely to be similar for fathers and any other caregivers. She emphasizes that this study only included a small samples of infants and will need to be repeated with bigger sample sizes in order to verify the results. Additionally, this procedure does not address why some babies cry excessively and cannot sleep, but it does offer an immediate solution that can help parents of newborns.&nbsp;



The researchers recognize the usefulness of heartrate data in this approach to soothing a baby and hope to make it accessible to parents. “We are developing a ‘baby-tech’ wearable device with which parents can see the physiological states of their babies on their smartphones in real-time,” says Kuroda. “Like science-based fitness training, we can do science-based parenting with these advances, and hopefully help babies to sleep and reduce parental stress caused by excessive infant crying.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.041">Current Biology</a>.



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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

Scientists find the best way to soothe a crying baby

The sound of a crying infant can be very distressing...

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles are a real danger, a threat to craft and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/special-lettuce-could-protect-astronauts-from-bone-loss/">astronauts</a>. Efforts to determine when and where flare-ups of high-energy particles happen have been fruitless, until now.&nbsp;



Scientists at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have used supercomputers to simulate when and how high-energy particles are created in environments such as the sun’s atmosphere.



“This exciting new research will allow us to better predict the origin of solar energetic particles and improve forecasting models of space weather events, a key goal of NASA and other space agencies and governments around the globe," said study co-author Luca Comisso of Columbia University’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Laboratory.



Using supercomputers, Comisso and study co-author Lorenzo Sironi were able to simulate the sun and the complex movements of electrons and ions in the sun’s plasma. The research predicts that the sun can accelerate ions and electrons to nearly the speed of light. The results could possibly be confirmed by direct observation with the help of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the closest spacecraft to the sun.&nbsp;



The researchers seek to answer questions long held about the origins and predictability of high-energy particles. The scientists are pleased with the results of their study but emphasize that there is much more we can learn by utilizing their techniques with supercomputers to address other questions. The information on high-energy particles also allows us to understand other astronomical phenomena far beyond our own sun.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our results center on the sun but can also be seen as a starting point to better understanding how high-energy particles are produced in more distant stars and around black holes,” said Comisso. “We’ve only scratched the surface of what supercomputer simulations can tell us about how these particles are born across the universe.”



The study is published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Where do high-energy particles come from?

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles...

As a response to higher amounts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-costs-of-carbon-are-much-higher-than-expected/">carbon</a> in the atmosphere, plants grow faster and bigger. This change in growth also shows a loss in the plant's nutritional value. Researchers from <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> have found that phosphorus might be a key to maintaining nutrition along with greater growth.



“We can’t synthesize [phosphorus] like we can nitrogen,” said Hatem Rouached, an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “We need to develop a better understanding of how plants regulate phosphorus to survive.”&nbsp;



Rouached and other researchers noticed that as plants exposed to carbon dioxide grow larger, their phosphorus content declines and they wondered why.



“We wanted to know why the plants weren’t taking up more phosphorus," said Rouached. "And to see if the decrease of phosphorus levels is a defect or adaptive response, and whether there was a way to change that to ensure the plants grow and provide nutritious food too.”&nbsp;



Looking inside of plant cells, the scientists discovered that not overloading chloroplasts (where photosynthesis takes place) with phosphorus was an adaptive measure. Phosphorus as part of photosynthesis is an important part of creating energy for a plant.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What was really important in our discovery is that when we try to force the plant to put a lot of phosphorus in the chloroplast, the plant failed to grow,” said Rouached. “We discovered that the increase in phytic acid levels needs to be tightly controlled in plants to allow the plants to grow under elevated carbon dioxide.”&nbsp;



The cessation of plant growth with an increase in phytic acid has important implications for agriculture and nutrition, especially as carbon in the atmosphere continues to increase. There’s still much left for scientists to explore on the topic though.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This paper is the first to show there is an urgent need for discussion of how we can protect plant malnutrition against the increase of carbon dioxide worldwide,” said Rouached.&nbsp;



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

Growing plants bigger isn’t necessarily better

As a response to higher amounts of carbon in the...

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment they transport and deposit. River sediment – consisting mostly of sand, clay, and silt – plays a major ecological role, providing habitat for a variety of organisms downstream and in estuaries. Moreover, sediment also affects human lives and activities, by resupplying nutrients to agricultural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drying-soils-pose-a-major-threat-to-public-health/">soils</a> in floodplains or buffering the rise in sea level caused by climate change by delivering sand to coastlines and deltas.&nbsp;



However, according to a new study led by <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a>, over the past four decades, humans have caused unprecedented changes to river sediment transport by building dams and modifying land-use.&nbsp;



By using satellite images and streamflow data, the scientists investigated changes in how much sediment was carried to the oceans by 414 of our planet’s largest rivers from 1984 to 2020. “Humans have been able to alter the world’s biggest rivers at rates that are unprecedented in the recent geologic record,” said study lead author Evan Dethier, an expert in Fluvial Geomorphology at Dartmouth.&nbsp;



“The amount of sediment rivers carry is generally dictated by natural processes in watersheds, like how much rain there is or whether there are landslides or vegetation. We found that human activities are overwhelming these natural processes and outweighing the effects of climate change.”



The analysis revealed that widespread dam building in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere (North America, Europe, and parts of Asia) have reduced the global delivery of water-borne sediment from rivers to the oceans by 49 percent. However, in the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Africa, and Oceania), sediment transport has increased in 36 percent of the rivers, mainly due to land-use changes, such as deforestation.



The results in the North are worrisome, and could predict future changes in the South. Since there are over 300 dams planned for South America’s and Oceania’s largest rivers – including the Amazon River, which carries more sediment than any other river in the world – the problems northern areas are currently facing could soon haunt the global South too.&nbsp;



“Rivers are pretty sensitive indicators of what we’re doing to the surface of the Earth — they are like a thermometer for land-use change,” explained study co-author&nbsp;Carl Renshaw, an earth scientist at Dartmouth. “It’s well-established that there’s a soil loss crisis in the U.S., but we just don’t see it in the sediment export record because it’s all getting stuck behind these dams, whereas we can see the signal for rivers in the global South.”



Better understanding how dams retain sediment and how land-use practices are increasing downstream erosion could help scientists and decision-makers develop more efficient environmental management policies in the future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7980">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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Humans have caused unprecedented changes to rivers

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment...

Green,Romain,Or,Cos,Lettuce,Plant,In,Organic,Garden

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-found-on-water-trapped-on-plant-leaves/">plastic</a> pollution, particularly after they realized that mismanaged plastics that reach the environment break down into smaller pieces known as microplastics and nanoplastics. Due to their very small size, nanoplastics can break through physiological barriers and enter a variety of organisms.&nbsp;



However, despite the growing awareness of the potential toxicity of nanoplastics to plants and animals, the current scientific understanding of plastic transfer in food chains remains limited. For instance, little is known about the presence of nanoplastics in soil ecosystems and their uptake by soil organisms, even though agricultural soils are most likely polluted by nanoplastics from sources such as atmospheric deposition, wastewater irrigation, sewage sludge application, or mulching film use.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.uef.fi/en">University of Eastern Finland</a> has developed a novel, metallic fingerprint-based method to detect and measure microplastics in organisms, and applied it to a model food chain consisting of three trophic levels: lettuce as a primary producer, black soldier fly larvae as primary consumers, and the common roach (an insectivorous fish) as a secondary consumer.



The researchers exposed lettuce plants to polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoplastics for two weeks via contaminated soil, after which they harvested and fed them to black soldier fly larvae. After five days of feeding with lettuce, the flies were fed to the fish. By using scanning electron microscopy to analyze the dissected plants, larvae, and fish, the scientists discovered that nanoplastics were taken up by the roots of the plants and, after accumulating in the leaves, were transferred to the insects and, eventually, the fish. The pollutants were found in the mouth and gut of insects even after allowing them to empty their guts for 24 hours, as well as in the gills, liver, and intestines of fish.



“Our results show that lettuce can take up nanoplastics from the soil and transfer them into the food chain. This indicates that the presence of tiny plastic particles in soil could be associated with a potential health risk to herbivores and humans if these findings are found to be generalizable to other plants and crops and to field settings. However, further research into the topic is still urgently needed,”&nbsp;concluded lead author Fazel Monikh, an expert in Nanotoxicology at the University of Eastern Finland.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101611">Nano Today</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Nanoplastics can easily travel through food webs

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about plastic pollution, particularly after...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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