An,Artist's,Illustration,Of,A,Black,Hole,In,Interstellar,Space

Astronomers recently discovered the biggest pair of black hole jets ever observed and named this system Porphyrion. Imagine something so massive that it lines up 140 Milky Way galaxies back to back. Then multiply that thought by two. It's almost too much for our minds to fathom, but that's exactly what they found.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-black-hole-jet-system-porphyrion">Meet black hole jet system Porphyrion</h2>



Martijn Oei is a <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Caltech</a> postdoctoral scholar with a flair for digging into the mysteries of the universe. His recent work published in a new Nature paper has everyone talking.



Oei and his team discovered this enormous pair of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/awakening-of-a-black-hole-witnessed-for-the-first-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">black hole</a> jets named Porphyrion. Derived from Greek mythology, Porphyrion is a fitting moniker for a structure with such colossal proportions.



This jet megastructure not only spans 23 million light-years in total length, but it also dates back to when our universe was just 6.3 billion years old. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/black-hole-jet_23-million-light-years_Porphyrion_credit-Caltech-Oei_Martijn_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/black-hole-jet_23-million-light-years_Porphyrion_credit-Caltech-Oei_Martijn_1s.webp" alt="An artist's illustration of the longest black hole jet system ever observed. Nicknamed Porphyrion after a mythological Greek giant, these jets span roughly 7 megaparsecs, or 23 million light-years. That is equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back-to-back. Porphyrion dates back to a time when our universe was less than half its present age. Credit: Caltech" class="wp-image-1945007"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An artist's illustration of the longest black hole jet system ever observed. Nicknamed Porphyrion after a mythological Greek giant, these jets span roughly 7 megaparsecs, or 23 million light-years. That is equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back-to-back. Porphyrion dates back to a time when our universe was less than half its present age. Credit: Caltech</figcaption></figure>



That's less than half its present age of 13.8 billion years. To put that into perspective, it's like the universe was still in its adolescence.



These ferocious outflows of energy, with a total power output equivalent to trillions of suns, emanate from a supermassive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/directly-detecting-dark-matter-primordial-black-holes-simple-as-monitoring-mars-orbit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">black hole</a> at the heart of a distant galaxy. 



Before Porphyrion, the record-holder for the largest jet system was Alcyoneus, another giant named after a figure in Greek mythology. 



Alcyoneus, discovered in 2022 by the same team, measures about the equivalent of 100 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/newly-discovered-stars-milky-way-are-old-as-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Milky Ways</a>. Comparatively, the Centaurus A jets, the closest major jet system to Earth, only spans 10 Milky Ways.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shaking-up-the-neighborhood">Shaking up the neighborhood</h2>



What makes Porphyrion's discovery more groundbreaking is the implications it holds for our understanding of galaxy formation. 



Co-author George Djorgovski, professor of astronomy and data science at <a href="https://www.caltech.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Caltech</a>, provided some insights on this.



"Astronomers believe that galaxies and their central black holes co-evolve, and one key aspect of this is that jets can spread huge amounts of energy that affect the growth of their host galaxies and other galaxies near them,” he says. "This discovery shows that their effects can extend much farther out than we thought."



But Porphyrion's scale reveals that the effects of these jets may extend far beyond our previous understanding.



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="D4GGVHtxYz-3864208-12187" type="single"]</div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scanning-the-cosmos-and-black-hole-jets">Scanning the cosmos and black hole jets</h2>



The discovery of Porphyrion is part of a larger sky survey, which unveiled a staggering number of similar structures -- over 10,000.



This massive population of gargantuan <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/black-holes-captured-redirecting-jets-beams-like-death-star-weapon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jets</a> was found using Europe's <a href="https://www.astron.nl/telescopes/lofar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LOFAR</a> (LOw Frequency ARray) radio telescope.



"Giant jets were known before we started the campaign, but we had no idea that there would turn out to be so many," says Martin Hardcastle, second author of the study and a professor of astrophysics at the <a href="https://www.herts.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Hertfordshire</a> in England. 



"Usually when we get a new observational capability, such as LOFAR's combination of wide field of view and very high sensitivity to extended structures, we find something new, but it was still very exciting to see so many of these objects emerging."



The origins of Porphyrion took the team across continents and observatories. They used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India and supplementary data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. 



The observations pointed the team to a hefty galaxy, about 10 times more massive than our Milky Way, as the birthplace of Porphyrion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-black-hole-jet-system-porphyrion-s-size">Black hole jet system Porphyrion's size</h2>



Porphyrion resides a mind-boggling 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. Its far-off residency and its emergence from a radiative-mode black hole suggest that it may not be a lone titan, but the harbinger of countless colossal jets yet to be discovered. 



Oei suggests as much, saying, "We may be looking at the tip of the iceberg."



There are still many unanswered questions surrounding these giant black hole jet systems. How do they extend so far and get so big without destabilizing? 



"Martijn's work has shown us that there isn't anything particularly special about the environments of these giant sources that causes them to reach those large sizes," says Hardcastle, who is an expert in the physics of black hole jets. 



"My interpretation is that we need an unusually long-lived and stable accretion event around the central, supermassive black hole to allow it to be active for so long -- about a billion years -- and to ensure that the jets keep pointing in the same direction over all of that time. What we're learning from the large number of giants is that this must be a relatively common occurrence," Hardcastle concluded.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surrounding-influence-and-magnetism">Surrounding influence and magnetism</h2>



How do they influence their surroundings? And perhaps most intriguingly, have these giant jets spread magnetism throughout the cosmos?



"We know magnetism pervades the cosmic web, then makes its way into galaxies and stars, and eventually to planets, but the question is: Where does it start?" Oei rightly says.



This research is the exciting beginning of a new chapter in our understanding of the universe. With the discovery of Porphyrion, we're reminded that we still have a lot to uncover about the mysteries of the cosmos. Even a sky full of stars is just the beginning.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07879-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



Video Credit: Caltech 



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Largest black hole jets ever seen are 23 million light years long

Astronomers recently discovered the biggest pair of black hole jets ever observed and named this system Porphyrion. Imagine something so massive that it lines up 140 Milky Way galaxies back to back. Then multiply that thought by two. It's almost too much for our minds to fathom, but that's exactly what they found. Meet black hole jet system Porphyrion Martijn Oei is a Caltech postdoctoral scholar with a flair for digging into the mysteries of the universe. His recent work published in a new Nature paper has...

One of the biggest challenges biologists face today is understanding and managing the complex ways in which pathogens proliferate and travel. In recent decades, a wide number of pathogens are seriously affecting – and often devastating – plant pollinators. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antibiotics-used-on-food-crops-may-be-starving-bees/">Bees</a>, for instance, have faced massive waves of deadly infections from parasites such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/crithidia-bombi">Crithidia bombi</a>. Since insect pollinators are responsible for crucial ecosystem services estimated at well over $200 billion worldwide per year, their pathogen-induced decline has raised serious concerns, leading some scientists and policy-makers to call the situation a veritable “insect apocalypse.”



A research team from the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts Amherst</a> has recently been awarded a $2.4 million grant from the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/">National Science Foundation</a> (NSF) in order to study the complex interplay among pathogens, pollinators, and the types of food that pollinators consume. This project will be conducted across a variety of scales – from the molecular to the community-wide – and is likely to have immediate applications for ecosystem protection and agricultural practices worldwide. &nbsp;



Biologists do not yet have a clear understanding of what role plants play in the interaction between pathogens and pollinators, or what function the quantity and quality of food available to pollinators may play in the insects’ ability to cope with disease. 



While flowers provide essential nutrients for pollinators, they can also be sites of disease transmission. At the same time though, some varieties of nectar and pollen could help pollinators fight disease.



“Our ultimate goal with this grant is to figure out what sort of plant composition, available as food sources for the pollinators, reduces infection,” explained project leader Lynn Adler, a professor of Biology at UMass Amherst.



Professor Adler’s previous research has found that sunflower pollen seems to be particularly efficient in helping the pollinators that consume it resist a wide-range of diseases. However, it is not yet clear why this is the case. 



For the new project, Professor Adler has assembled an interdisciplinary team of scientists, including mathematical modelers, biochemists, molecular biologists, and ecologists, to answer this and related questions, by studying the molecular, cellular, organismal, species, and community-level interactions of plants, pollinators, and pathogens. 



Moreover, Professor Adler and her team will use part of the funding to train a new generation of biologists and ecologists, who could play important roles in future investigations of the mysteries of life on Earth.



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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

Can pollen protect pollinators from pathogens?

One of the biggest challenges biologists face today is understanding...

An international team of scientists has compiled a dataset of shark movements and interactions with game <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/jellyfish-eyes-catch-a-glimpse-of-evolutionary-history/">fishes</a>. The research. published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19395582">Ecological Applications</a>, outlines how the scientists were able to track sharks using acoustic telemetry paired with machine learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It’s so rare to observe multi-species interaction in the ocean,” said Lucas Griffin, the paper’s co-lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in environmental conservation at <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">UMass Amherst</a>.



Many sharks like hammerheads and bull sharks range over large areas of the ocean and are hard to track. There is anecdotal evidence from fishing vessels that suggests that predation by sharks is rising, but there is no scientific evidence of this.&nbsp;



The researchers focused on the Florida Keys, where they tagged 257 fishes, including 73 sharks, and deployed almost 300 acoustic receivers. When one of the tagged animals came within range of a receiver, its location at a certain date and time were recorded.&nbsp;



This approach gave the experts raw data on the migratory patterns and ecology of the fishes. The research team then analyzed the research with a machine learning algorithm to more fully understand what was happening.&nbsp;



“Combining acoustic telemetry and machine learning helped us to answer a host of questions about predators and prey,” said Grace Casselberry, the paper’s other co-lead author and a graduate student in the program in marine sciences and technology in UMass Amherst’s Department of Environmental Conservation.&nbsp;



According to the analysis of the data, it appears that tarpon and permit return to the same places every year to spawn and the sharks follow them. “They seem to remember where and when the tarpon and permit aggregate,” said Cassleberry.



The scientists said that this research would not have been possible without the cooperation of many agencies and universities, in Florida as well as in the Bahamas.&nbsp;



“We also worked extensively with the local fishing-guide community to help tag game fish and sharks, and figure out where to place the receivers,” said Griffin.&nbsp;



“Our lab very much embraces a collaborative and cooperative spirit,” said co-senior author Professor Andy Danylchuk. “We are grateful for our research partners and hope our science will help to hone conservation and management strategies for both game fish and sharks.”



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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

Tracking sharks to answer questions about predator and prey

An international team of scientists has compiled a dataset of...

Over the past 70 years, researchers at <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a> have observed changes in the morphology of birds. These physical changes are considered a response to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-the-far-reaching-climate-impacts-of-deforestation/">climate change</a>.&nbsp;



Results of the study showed two different types of changes: birds either decreased in body mass, or increased in body length. These changes are likely to be physical strategies to facilitate heat loss to the environment.



In the 19th century, a theory called the Bergmann’s rule was formulated. The theory suggests that birds and mammals that live in cold climates are larger than those who live in warmer climates. This is because smaller bodies can permit more heat loss, which is an advantage in warm regions, whereas larger bodies can minimize heat loss, which is ideal in colder climates.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Based on Bergmann’s rule, scientists have predicted that global warming will lead to a reduction in animal size. This excludes birds living in the human environment (such as pigeons and house sparrows) which could increase in size due to food availability.



For the study, the research team relied on a bird collection in the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at University. Approximately 8,000 adult specimens of 106 different species were analyzed. This included migratory birds, resident wild birds and birds that live near humans. A statistical model was used to assess the morphological changes in the birds' body mass, body length and wing length.



"Our findings revealed a complicated picture. We identified two different types of morphological changes: some species had become lighter – their mass had decreased while their body length remained unchanged; while others had become longer – their body length had increased, while their mass remained unchanged. We think that these are two different strategies for coping with the same problem, namely the rising temperatures," explained lead researcher Shahar Dubiner.



These findings were observed across the country, regardless of nutrition. A difference was identified, however, between the two strategies. For example, changes in body length were observed more in migrant birds, while changes in body mass were more typical of non-migratory birds. These migratory birds are from all over the world, such as Asia, Europe, and Africa, suggesting a global phenomenon.&nbsp;



“We found that the bodies of more than half of the bird species adapted to changing conditions by becoming either longer or thinner, thereby facilitating heat loss. We are concerned, however, that this flexibility might not suffice as temperatures continue to rise," said the study authors.&nbsp;



The research team still has many unanswered questions about this phenomenon.&nbsp;



"Should we be concerned? Is this a problem, or rather an encouraging ability to adapt to a changing environment? Such morphological changes over a few decades probably do not represent an evolutionary adaptation, but rather certain phenotypic flexibility exhibited by the birds," said Dubiner.



"We are concerned that over such a short period of time, there is a limit to the flexibility or evolutionary potential of these traits, and the birds might run out of effective solutions as temperatures continue to rise."&nbsp;



The paper was published in the scientific journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14668238">Global Ecology and Biogeography</a>.



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

Physical changes in birds linked to global warming

Over the past 70 years, researchers at Tel Aviv University...

Humans are known to sometimes bond when paired randomly with others, such as with roommates or coworkers. New research published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl">Biology Letters</a> suggests the same is true of vampire <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bats-play-an-active-role-in-plant-pollination/">bats</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Study senior author Gerald Carter is a professor of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a>.&nbsp;



“The process of how social bonds form is this fundamentally mysterious thing that a lot of people are interested in, but have very different interpretations of how it happens,” said Carter.&nbsp;



“We’re trying to build vampire bats as a system where we can directly test these interpretations. In this experiment, we forced them together for a short amount of time and then measured their grooming rates, which increased by a specific amount over a period of time. It just hasn’t really been done before.”



The researchers collected 21 bats from three distant roosts and placed them together in a new colony. Initially, all of these vampire bats were allowed to mingle as they saw fit and groom each other as they would. Then the scientists split the bats into smaller groups of three, each from a different site, now living together for seven days. These new groups formed internal bonds, Imram Razik, a graduate student at Ohio State explained,&nbsp;&nbsp;



“From early on, they had potential to start grooming relationships, and then we did the forced proximity phase to see if we could increase the rates of grooming in random pairs. We then measured grooming during the post-treatment phase to compare pre- versus post-treatment grooming,” said Carter.&nbsp;



Next, pairs of these bats that were forced to live together were observed and compared to both bats that weren’t forced to live together and came from separate colonies and those from the same colony that already knew each other. The researchers looked at grooming behavior of these different bat groups.&nbsp;



The results, captured on infrared cameras, showed that the bats who were forced to live together groomed more often than the control or even bats who lived in the same colonies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It was a striking pattern,” Carter said. “One thing you might imagine is that, after these bats are in their ‘college dorm room’ together, they stay together for a little while afterward but that quickly goes away – but we didn’t see that. The test bats were still grooming each other more than the control bats even at the end of the experiment, nine weeks later.”



The researchers compared this result to that of dormitory room mates, where two random people are paired together but then seek each other out later because of that pairing.



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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

Vampire bats bond after being randomly paired up

Humans are known to sometimes bond when paired randomly with...

A new study has confirmed that antibiotic resistant bacteria, as well as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/butterfly-eyespots-reuse-genes-that-pattern-limbs-and-wings/">genes</a> that play a key role in bacterial resistance, can be transmitted between healthy dogs and cats and their owners. The research will be presented at this year’s <a href="https://www.eccmid.org/">European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases</a> (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal.



“Our findings verify not only the sharing of antibiotic resistant bacteria but also of resistance genes between companion animals and their owners in the community, underscoring the need for continuous local surveillance programs to identify the potential risk to human health," said study co-author Dr. Juliana Menezes from the University of Lisbon.



Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria are commonly found in the intestinal tracts of most mammals, including humans. The majority of these bacterial strains are harmless, but some can cause threatening infections, such as blood poisoning. According to the researchers, the role of companion animals as potential reservoirs of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is a growing concern.



The primary concern is the potential for infections caused by highly resistant strains, which can persist despite treatment with powerful antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporins.



In collaboration with Dr. Sian Frosini from the Royal Veterinary College and colleagues, Dr. Menezes set out to determine whether there is a crossover between healthy companion animals and their owners. The researchers also wanted to investigate how these resistant bacteria are generally spread.&nbsp;



For the study, the experts analyzed stool&nbsp;samples from healthy people, and from the cats and dogs that live with them, across households in Portugal and the UK. Genetic sequencing was used to identify the bacteria and drug resistance genes present in each sample.



In four Portuguese households, resistance genes found in pets matched those found in their owner’s stool samples. In two of these households, the microbes in pets matched E. coli strains found in their owner’s stool sample.



“Sometimes the bacteria may not be shared, but their resistance genes can be,"&nbsp; explained Dr. Menezes. “These genes are found in mobile bits of DNA, meaning that they can be transferred between different bacterial populations in animal and humans.”



“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, antibiotic resistance was one of the biggest threats to public health because it can make conditions like pneumonia, sepsis, urinary tract and wound infections untreatable. Although the level of sharing from the households we have studied is low, healthy carriers can shed bacteria into their environment for months, and they can be a source of infection for other more vulnerable people and animals such as the elderly and pregnant women." 



"Our findings reinforce the need for people to practice good hygiene around their pets and to reduce the use of unnecessary antibiotics in companion animals and people.”



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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

Antibiotic resistant bacteria can jump between healthy pets and owners

A new study has confirmed that antibiotic resistant bacteria, as...

Trees all over the world have commercial value as suppliers of food, wood, and other marketable products. However, they are also enormously important in terms of supplying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-single-gene-could-control-biodiversity-in-an-ecosystem/">ecosystem</a> services that benefit humans and other living organisms. Their “hidden” value lies in providing such essential functions as sequestering and storing greenhouse gases, filtering pollutants from the air, adding aesthetic beauty and recreational potential to landscapes and providing habitats for countless other species.



Newly published research asks how the non-market value of trees in the U.S. (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) compares to their commercial value, and whether the tree species that provide the greatest benefits are under significant threat due to climate changes. The authors of the article in the open-access journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/sustainabilitytransformation/">PLOS Sustainability and Transformation</a>, include&nbsp;Jeannine Cavender-Bares and Stephen Polasky from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, U.S., and their colleagues.



Previously, the service value of the trees growing in forests and plantations in the U.S. was not known. However, the concept that trees provide ecosystem services to people allows researchers to quantify the value of these services in monetary terms. The researchers decided to synthesize existing sources of data to assess the annual net monetary value of five key ecosystem services that are provided by 400 species of trees across the U.S.&nbsp;



They considered only the value of climate regulation through carbon storage, the value (in terms of human health benefits) of filtering particulate matter from the air, and the value of producing wood products, food crops and Christmas trees. Spatially explicit information, by species, was available for these five ecosystem services.



The researchers quantified the net value of these five tree-related ecosystem services by calculating the value of benefits provided and subtracting the direct costs incurred to produce these services. In addition, they mapped the regions where trees are most threatened by pests and pathogens, climate change and the threat of more frequent fires. In this way they were able to identify locations across the U.S. where the services provided by important tree lineages are likely to be most threatened in future.&nbsp;



The researchers found that, between 2010 and 2012, the value of these five ecosystem services generated by trees totaled $114 billion annually. Carbon storage in tree biomass made up 51 percent of the net annual value, while preventing human health damages via air quality regulation contributed another 37 percent of the annual value. The remaining 12 percent of the net annual value came from provisioning services.&nbsp;



Trees in the pine and oak families were the most valuable, generating $25.4 billion and $22.3 billion in annual net benefits, respectively. Trees in these two lineages are widely distributed across the U.S. and occupy a diversity of ecological niches. Pines were most valuable because of their wood that fetches a high price and is used in the manufacture of many different products. Oaks, on the other hand, were most valuable in terms of providing climate and air quality regulation services.&nbsp;



Interestingly, trees in the U.S. provided more value in terms of their climate and air quality regulating services than they did in terms of commercial products. However, the majority of the tree species face threats from climate change, and populations will find themselves outside the range of tolerable environmental conditions in future, as the climate alters. In addition, the species most valuable for carbon storage will be most threatened by increasing fire frequency and the most valuable tree species overall will be most threatened by pathogens and pests.&nbsp;



“The fact that tree lineages have evolved to inhabit different ecological niches across the continent is important for sustaining the ecosystem services that we depend on for our life support systems," said Cavender-Bares. "These benefits from trees, however, are increasingly at risk."&nbsp;



"Our research team found that climate change threatens nearly 90 percent of tree species, while pests and pathogens put 40 percent of the combined weight of all U.S. trees at risk. We also found that the species and lineages of greatest ecosystem service value are the most at risk from pests and pathogens, climate change, and increasing fire exposure.”



The study had several limitations that likely contributed to an undervaluation of ecosystem services since the researchers did not have access to data for many ecosystem services such as erosion control, flood regulation, and shade-related energy savings. Future studies may provide more accurate estimates of the monetary value of these benefits.



“This study shows that the ‘hidden’ value of trees – the non-market value from carbon storage and air pollution filtration – far exceeds their commercial value," said the researchers. "Sustaining the value of trees requires intentional management of forests and trees in the face of myriad and simultaneous global change threats. Our study provides information and an approach that can contribute to precision forestry practices and ecosystem management.”



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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

"Hidden” value of trees far exceeds their commercial value

Trees all over the world have commercial value as suppliers...

Dogs derived originally from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-understand-humans-in-ways-that-wolves-never-will/">wolves</a> and, although the exact timing of domestication is not known, paleogeneticists estimate that the two species diverged genetically some 33,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum. We will never know what motivated our ancestors to allow wild wolves to approach closer to their living areas and to their particularly vulnerable young but, ultimately, humans began to utilize wolves for services, such as guarding, and the process of domestication began.&nbsp;



This means that wolves were the first species to be domesticated, preceding the domestication of food or livestock species, such as sheep and goats, by at least 4–5 thousand years.&nbsp;



Once humans started favoring certain wolves for their behavioral docility and friendliness, and breeding them selectively, many aspects of wolf anatomy, morphology and behavior began to change. &nbsp;Today, it is noticeable that dogs have very expressive faces, when compared to wolves. The anatomy of the facial musculature in dogs allows them to move their eyebrows in a way that wolves cannot, giving rise to that irresistible puppy-dog face that can melt an owner’s heart.&nbsp;



A new study on the facial musculature of dogs and wolves now provides scientific evidence that dogs have indeed gone through anatomical changes that allow them to be more expressive with their faces.&nbsp;



“Dogs are unique from other mammals in their reciprocated bond with humans which can be demonstrated though mutual gaze, something we do not observe between humans and other domesticated mammals such as horses or cats,” said Anne Burrows, PhD, professor in the department of physical therapy at Rangos School of Health Sciences at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and the study’s senior author. “Our preliminary findings provide a deeper understanding of the role facial expressions play in dog-human interactions and communication.”



The new study investigated the anatomy of tiny muscles, called mimetic muscles, in the faces of dogs and wolves. These muscles are used to form facial expressions, both in canids and in humans. Mimetic muscles may contain “fast-twitch” or “slow-twitch” muscle fibers. In humans these muscles are predominantly composed of fast-twitch myosin fibers that allow rapid contraction but cannot sustain protracted activity. This explains why we can rapidly adopt a smile for the camera, but cannot hold this expression for long without tiring. Muscles with more “slow-twitch” fibers are better for sustained contraction as they don’t tire as quickly.



The researchers compared the myosin fiber composition of two different facial muscles from wolves and dogs. They found that the dog muscles from a range of different breeds contained between 66 and 95 percent fast-twitch fibers while wolves averaged around 25 percent.&nbsp; In contrast, dog facial muscles only averaged 10 percent slow-twitch myosin fibers while wolves averaged 29 percent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The relative presence of fast-twitch fibers in dogs mirrors the range found in human facial muscles, suggesting that humans may have selected for dogs in the past that were capable of more rapid and expressive facial movements.&nbsp;They may have found dogs with a wider range of rapid facial expressions, especially around the eyes, more appealing, and would have favored this characteristic through thousands of years of selective breeding.



“These differences suggest that having faster muscle fibers contributes to a dog’s ability to communicate effectively with people,” said Burrows. “Throughout the domestication process, humans may have bred dogs selectively based on facial expressions that were similar to their own, and over time dog muscles could have evolved to become ‘faster,’ further benefiting communication between dogs and humans.”



The fast-twitch muscle fibers not only facilitate the small, rapid changes in expression that dogs display, but are also ideal for the short, powerful muscle contractions involved in barking. Wolves, on the other hand, need slow-twitch fibers for the extended muscle movements involved in howling.&nbsp;



Burrows will present the research at the annual meeting of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.anatomy.org/">American Association for Anatomy</a>, to be held during the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.experimentalbiology.org/">Experimental Biology (EB) 2022 meeting</a> in Philadelphia between 2 and 5 April. The research team also included Madisen Omstead, laboratory manager for the Rangos School of Health Sciences department of physical therapy.



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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

Puppy dog eyes emerged during domestication

Dogs derived originally from wolves and, although the exact timing...

In a new study published by the <a href="https://www.aip.org/">American Institute of Physics</a>, researchers from Stanford University have developed a photovoltaic cell that can harvest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/renewable-energy-could-replace-coal-power-in-texas/">energy</a> from the surrounding environment after dark. The solar device is powered at night by heat that is leaking back into space. It could potentially provide power to some of the 750 million people who lack access to electricity at night.



"A large fraction of the world's population lacks access to the electric grid. Standard photovoltaic (PV) cells can provide a renewable off-grid source of electricity but only produce power from daytime solar irradiance and do not produce power at night " wrote the study authors.



"While there have been several theoretical proposals and experimental demonstrations of energy harvesting from the radiative cooling of a PV cell at night, the achieved power density is very low. Here, we construct a device, which incorporates a thermoelectric generator that harvests electricity from the temperature difference between the PV cell and the ambient surrounding."



Overnight, solar cells radiate and lose heat to the sky. The new device uses a thermoelectric module to generate voltage and current from the temperature gradient between the cell and the air, explained the researchers. The thermal design of the system includes both a hot and cold side.&nbsp;



"You want the thermoelectric to have very good contact with both the cold side, which is the solar cell, and the hot side, which is the ambient environment," said study co-author Sid Assawaworrarit. "If you don't have that, you're not going to get much power out of it."



During the day, the system operates in a reverse mode which contributes additional power to the conventional solar cell. The experts report that their device is inexpensive and could theoretically be incorporated within existing solar cells.&nbsp;



"What we managed to do here is build the whole thing from off-the-shelf components, have a very good thermal contact, and the most expensive thing in the whole setup was the thermoelectric itself," said study co-author Zunaid Omair.



Going forward, the researchers will work to optimize the thermal insulation and thermoelectric components of the device. They hope to improve the solar cell to enhance its radiative cooling performance without affecting its capacity to harvest solar energy.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/journal/apl">Applied Physics Letters</a>.



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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

Scientists create solar cells that keep working in the dark

In a new study published by the American Institute of...

A new study conducted by a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.pcrm.org/">Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine</a> has found that a low-fat vegan diet, without calorie restrictions, significantly improves joint pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune condition which typically causes joint pain, swelling, and eventually permanent joint damage. Moreover, study participants following such a diet have also experienced weight loss and improved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/food-can-work-as-well-as-medication-to-lower-cholesterol/">cholesterol</a> levels.



“A plant-based diet could be the prescription to alleviate joint pain for millions of people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis,” said study lead author Neal Barnard, the president of the Physicians Committee. “And all of the side effects, including weight loss and lower cholesterol, are only beneficial.”



At the outset of the study, Dr. Barnard and his team asked participants to use a visual analog scale (VAS) to rate the severity of their joint pain in the two weeks preceding the study, from “no pain” to “pain as bad as it could possibly be.” Based on tender joints, swollen joints, and C-reactive protein values, the scientists also calculated participants’ Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28), which indicates the level of inflammation in the body.



The study involved 44 participants with rheumatoid arthritis who were assigned to one of two groups for a period of 16 weeks. One of the groups followed a vegan diet for a month, with the elimination of additional foods for three weeks, then the gradual reintroduction of these foods over a period of nine weeks. The other group had no diet restrictions, but were asked to take a daily placebo capsule. Afterwards, the groups switched diets for another 16 weeks.&nbsp;



During the vegan phase, participants’ DAS28 decreased two points of average, compared to a 0.3 decrease in the placebo group, indicating diet-induced reductions in joint pain. The average number of swollen joints has also decreased from 7.0 to 3.3 in the vegan phase, while the VAS ratings have improved significantly.



Besides offering strong evidence that a vegan diet can significantly ease joint pain and reduce inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, this study also found that, in the vegan diet group, participants’ body weight decreased by about 14 pounds on average, and cholesterol levels improved.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15598276221081819">American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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

Vegan diet reduces arthritis pain and inflammation

A new study conducted by a team of researchers from...

Jellyfish vision anatomy is quite variable, ranging from complex eyes to simpler ones to no eyes at all. This is why jellyfish seemed to be a perfect model for exploring the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-change-the-evolution-of-life-around-us/">evolution</a> of eyes. All of this indicates that the different eyes of various jellyfish evolved independently from each other. Scientists hope that by researching the convergent evolution of jellyfish eyes they can better understand evolution genetically, cellularly and morphologically.&nbsp;



“Eyes evolved multiple times independently within the jellyfish,” explained Paulyn Cartwright of the <a href="https://ku.edu/">University of Kansas</a>. “We’ve known for a while that there is not a single origin of eyes in all animals but were surprised at how many times they evolved independently in jellyfish.”



The scientists now plan on creating a genetic comparison of the ways in which each type of jellyfish eye evolved to produce a phylogenetic tree.&nbsp;



“Jellyfish are a really nice system for this, because they have a diversity of eyes, ranging from simple clusters of light-sensing cells to very complex eyes - camera-type eyes that can form images and have a lens, a cornea and a retina - so superficially, they can look identical to vertebrates,” said Cartwright.



The scientists plan to analyze many of the few thousand extant species of jellyfish, looking at the shared genetics and difference in basic genetic building blocks found in their eyes.&nbsp;



“Cells themselves have their own characteristics, and they’re really an outcome of many, many different genes being expressed - so sometimes we might miss an overall pattern by looking at individual genes,” Cartwright said.&nbsp;



“But if we look at all the genes that are expressed at the cell and what that particular outcome is, that might give us a different level of information. That’s why it’s great to look at all those different levels and see what is similar and what’s changed to really help us understand this very complicated question."



"Jellyfish are a great system to do this because they’re so amenable to these types of experiments. We can look at individual genes and how they’re expressed; we can look wholesale at all the genes that are expressed in those cells; and then we can see what is similar at the morphological level between those and what’s different.”



Part of the research will include a trip to Panama, a hotspot for jellyfish diversity. Because there are thousands of jellyfish species, sorting out their genetics and phylogeny is a tall order. Adding to the challenge is the fact that finding and collecting small jellyfish, some of which hide deep in the ocean can be hard. If the scientists are successful though, they may glimpse one small faucet of the mystery of life on earth.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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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

Jellyfish eyes catch a glimpse of evolutionary history

Jellyfish vision anatomy is quite variable, ranging from complex eyes...

Scientists have long pondered how the human brain processes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/people-around-the-world-like-the-same-smells/">smells</a>. Some researchers argue that the brain uses a snapshot, like a painting or a photograph, at a given moment to capture the essential features of odor. Other experts claim that odor perception is in fact an extended, temporal process, with the brain keeping track of and integrating evolving olfactory patterns – which would make it more similar to a symphony rather than a static artwork. However, new research led by the <a href="https://www.rochester.edu/">University of Rochester</a> suggests that our brain does both.



“These findings reveal a core principle of the nervous system, flexibility in the kinds of calculations the brain makes to represent aspects of the sensory world,” said&nbsp;study senior author Krishnan Padmanabhan, an associate professor of Neuroscience at Rochester. “Our work provides scientists with new tools to quantify and interpret the patterns of activity of the brain.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Professor Padmanabhan and his colleagues developed a computerized mathematical model to simulate the activity of the early olfactory system, a part of the brain responsible for smell processing. The computer simulations revealed that a specific set of connections – called centrifugal fibers – carry impulses from various parts of the central nervous system to the early sensory regions of the brain.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, these centrifugal fibers act as switches, toggling between different strategies of processing smells. When the fibers are in a specific state, the cells in the piriform cortex – the area of the brain in which odor perception emerges – rely on punctual patterns of neural activity, emerging within a given instant of time. When the fibers are in a different state though, the cells in the piriform cortex rely on a pattern of brain activity developing across time.



These results suggest that the olfactory system is highly complex, employing different strategies to make sense of olfactory stimuli. “These mathematical models reveal critical aspects of how the olfactory system in the brain might work and could help build brain-inspired artificial computing systems. Computational approaches inspired by the circuits of the brain such as this have the potential to improve the safety of self-driving cars, or help computer vision algorithms more accurately identify and classify objects in an image,” concluded Professor Padmanabhan.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(22)00286-8">Cell Reports</a>.



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

The brain processes smells like a painting or a symphony

Scientists have long pondered how the human brain processes smells....

A study recently <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29289-2">published</a> in the journal Nature Communications gives us a peek at just how much drought and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-heat-is-harder-on-birds-in-the-forest-than-in-the-city/">heat</a> our forests can endure.&nbsp;



The scientists used a global database that included die-off events at 675 locations since 1970. They compared that data to the current climate information to specify the temperature and drought conditions that caused the tree die-offs.&nbsp;



"In this study, we're letting the Earth's forests do the talking. We collected data from previous studies documenting where and when trees died, and then analyzed what the climate was during mortality events, compared to long-term conditions," said William Hammond, an ecophysiologist at the <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/">University of Florida</a>.



When the researchers analyzed the data, they noticed a pattern. "What we found was that at the global scale, there was this consistently hotter, drier pattern – what we call a 'hotter-drought fingerprint' – that can show us how unusually hot or dry it has to get for forests to be at risk of death," explained Hammond.



Based on their models, the researchers determined that forests are most vulnerable to tree die-offs when the hottest, driest months become even warmer and drier.&nbsp;



"Our hotter-drought fingerprint revealed that global forest mortality is linked to intensified climate extremes," said Hammond. "Using climate model data, we estimated how frequent these previously lethal climate conditions would become under further warming, compared to pre-industrial era climate – 22 percent more frequent at plus 2 degrees Celsius (plus 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), to 140 percent more frequently at plus 4 degrees Celsius (plus 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit)."



Based on these estimates, tree mortality could double in the future due to more frequent drought. And the damage doesn't stop at the local ecosystem.&nbsp;



"Plants do a phenomenal job of capturing and sequestering carbon," said Hammond. "But death of the plants not only prevents their performing this critical carbon-capturing role, plants also start releasing carbon as they decay."



One proposed resolution to combat global climate change is to use trees to capture and sequester carbon. However, if we lose more trees due to climate change, this solution will no longer be feasible.&nbsp;



Armed with this knowledge, climate researchers can attempt to find ways to minimize the effects of drought in forests. Moreover, these findings could help improve the accuracy of future models.



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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

Hotter, drier, deadlier: how much can forests tolerate?

A study recently published in the journal Nature Communications gives...

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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

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[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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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...