The era of wondering and wildly speculating may be drawing to a close, with researchers recently devising a new model they're calling the "formula for life." 



The experts hope this tool will calculate the chances of intelligent life existing in our universe and even predict the potential for alien life in future universes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-generation-of-intelligent-life">Next generation of intelligent life </h2>



According to this new calculation model, the likelihood of life beyond our galaxy sits at 27 percent, which may let down the 65 percent of American adults who firmly believe in extraterrestrial life.



Interestingly, the chances of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/are-aliens-sending-radio-signals-to-each-other/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">intelligent life</a> existing within our own Milky Way are even lower - just 23 percent.



These estimates come from the concerted efforts of researchers at the <a href="https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ed.ac.uk%2F&amp;utm_campaign=aga&amp;utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Edinburgh</a> and the University of Genevieve. The study suggests that star formation and the evolution of large-scale planets might intertwine to quietly "form the next generation of intelligent life."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dark-energy-and-the-potential-for-alien-life">Dark energy and the potential for alien life</h2>



To understand the potential of other life forms, the team devised a theoretical model that leans heavily on the Drake Equation, developed in 1960. 



This well-known formula calculates the universe's expansion and has been used to research the existence of advanced civilizations in our galaxy.



The researchers emphasized that their calculations do not suggest a number of intelligent life forms but rather estimate the likelihood of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-oxygen-in-the-deep-sea-may-hold-clues-about-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">existence</a>.



Their estimation process takes into account dark energy, which comprises over two-thirds of the universe and fuels its expansion.



"Understanding dark energy and the impact on our universe is one of the biggest challenges in cosmology and fundamental physics," said lead researcher Dr. Daniele Sorini, affiliated with <a href="https://www.durham.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Durham University</a>’s Institute for Computational Cosmology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potential-for-future-alien-life">Potential for future alien life</h2>



In addition to the probabilities of current extraterrestrial life, the researchers' model also accommodates for alien life forms that don't exist yet but could develop in the future. 



To do this, they calculated the amount of ordinary matter that combined to form stars across the universe's history, stretching back a staggering 13.8 billion years.



It seems the chances of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cosmic-connection-aliens-could-make-contact-by-2029/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">intelligent life</a> appearing in universes beyond our own also hover at around 27 percent. 



"Surprisingly, we found that even a significantly higher dark energy density would still be compatible with life, suggesting we may not live in the most likely of universes," said Dr. Sorini.



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



The pioneering work of modeling the probability of intelligent life in other universes opens up numerous avenues for future research. Scientists are now challenged to refine these models further, grounding them in observations and experiments to reach more precise conclusions. 



Such work may involve advancing our understanding of dark matter and energy - components of the universe that remain elusive yet crucial to grasping the cosmic puzzle.



This pursuit could bridge the gap between theoretical physics and cosmology, bringing them closer within the realms of empirical science.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interplay-of-gravity-and-alien-life">Interplay of gravity and alien life</h2>



Another intriguing factor in cosmic life creation is gravity's role. Gravity influences the formation of stars and galaxies, effectively setting the stage for potential habitats where life could develop. 



The extent of gravity's influence in these processes highlights its importance, not just in structural formation, but in setting conditions that could favor the emergence of life. 



Existing research suggests that regions with optimal gravity balance might support complex planetary systems, paving the way for biological evolution. 



As scientists continue to explore the mysteries of the universe, understanding the precise role of gravity will add another layer to our comprehension of life's cosmic potential.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-speculation-to-exploration">From speculation to exploration</h2>



"It will be exciting to employ the model to explore the emergence of life across different universes and see whether some fundamental questions we ask ourselves about our own universe must be reinterpreted," noted study co-author Lucas Lombriser, a professor at the University of Genevieve.



If this research can help us to better understand our own universe and its likelihood for hosting life, it seems we have come a long way from wild speculation to measured investigation into our place in the cosmos.



So, what does this all mean for us? Are we on the brink of making contact with alien life forms? While the research findings might lead some to temper their expectations, the search for extraterrestrial life continues.



In the end, we need to remember that the universe is vast, mind-bogglingly diverse, and still largely unexplored. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/finding-alien-life-searching-for-color-purple-not-green/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potentials for life</a> - both as we know it and beyond our current comprehension - remain a thrilling frontier in scientific exploration.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/535/2/1449/7896079?login=false#493432585" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>.



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What are the chances that alien life exists?

The era of wondering and wildly speculating may be drawing to a close, with researchers recently devising a new model they're calling the "formula for life." The experts hope this tool will calculate the chances of intelligent life existing in our universe and even predict the potential for alien life in future universes. Next generation of intelligent life According to this new calculation model, the likelihood of life beyond our galaxy sits at 27 percent, which may let down the 65 percent of American adults who firmly...

According to previous research, cuttlefish transformation is a relatively simple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/traffic-noise-in-school-linked-to-slower-cognitive-development/">cognitive</a> process involving one of three body patterns to help the animals blend in with their background. Still, scientists have yet to explain how these stunning masters of disguise can express approximately 30 different body pattern components.&nbsp;



Like other cephalopods (i.e., octopi), cuttlefish are able to camouflage themselves by using their brains to control chromatophores - special cells all over their body surface. A new study led by <a href="https://www.city.ac.uk/">City University London</a> has shown that European cuttlefish (sepia officinalis) camouflage may be more complex than previously thought.&nbsp;



"To examine how cuttlefish deploy this vast potential, we recorded cuttlefish on seven experimental backgrounds, each designed to resemble a pattern component, and then compared their responses to predictions of two models of sensory control of component expression," wrote the study authors.



The scientists observed and analyzed 15 European cuttlefish and found that the patterns displayed by cuttlefish could only be explained by the involvement of more than one distinct neural system. These systems are activated selectively and process features from the cuttlefish’s immediate environment and the overall background, which allow the cuttlefish to camouflage themselves on the ocean floor.&nbsp;



“The cuttlefish provides a fascinating window into perceptual processing of such an alien species by expressing its perception of the surroundings on the dynamic canvas of its skin surface," said study co-author Professor Christopher Tyler.



The research supports the findings of a previous study, which suggests that cuttlefish have the cognitive ability to process specific and background features. Furthermore, the results support another model suggesting that cuttlefish only employ these cognitive skills when they deem them necessary to improve their camouflage.&nbsp;



“The findings also lay the groundwork for further study to investigate which specific aspects of the patterned features used here are responsible for activating distinct groups of body components in cuttlefish, and indeed, whether these artificial visual cues are reflective of what is encountered in the animal’s natural environment," concluded Professor Tyler.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.



---



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

Cuttlefish camouflage: more than meets the eye

According to previous research, cuttlefish transformation is a relatively simple...

Rudyard Kipling might very well have chosen to write a "Just So" story about how the giraffe got its long neck. It would probably have been about how the leaves of the tall Acacia trees are preferred food for giraffes but only those with the longest necks could reach them. For although there have been many different views about the exact evolutionary process of giraffe neck elongation, scientists have never doubted that the impetus for neck elongation was high <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-adapt-to-altitude-by-sensing-oxygen-levels/">altitude</a> foliage.



However, the analysis of a strange new fossil by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> may cast new light on this age-old story. The fossil is a type of early giraffoid known as Discokeryx xiezhi, and among the fossilized remains are a well preserved skull and four neck vertebrae. The remains were found in early Miocene strata, dated at about 17 million years ago, on the northern margin of the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang.&nbsp;



Details of the study, published today in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>, point to some unusual morphological adaptations in this ancient species. Although it is a giraffoid and possible precursor to modern giraffes, it did not have a long neck. It did, however, have a most unusual bony pad right in the middle of its forehead, and its cervical vertebrae showed unique connections that hint the animal was adapted to survive the heavy impacts associated with head-butting.&nbsp;



“Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;featured many unique characteristics among mammals, including the development of a disc-like large ossicone in the middle of its head,” said study co-author Professor Deng Tao. He noted that the single ossicone resembles that of the&nbsp;xiezhi, a one-horned creature from ancient Chinese mythology – thus giving the fossil its name.



As far as the neck vertebrae are concerned, the researchers report that these were very stout and strong, and the animal had the most complex joints between head and neck and between adjacent cervical vertebrae of any mammal. The team demonstrated that the complex articulations between the skull and cervical vertebrae of&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;were particularly adapted to high-speed head-to-head impact, a behavior often associated with conflict between rival males during breeding time.



They researchers found that the large, bony pad (or ossicone) of&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;was far more effective than that of extant animals, such as musk oxen, that are also adapted to tolerate severe head impacts. In fact,&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;may have been the best adapted head-butting vertebrate ever.



Interestingly, modern giraffes also show butting behavior. Male giraffes compete for females by fighting with other males. During this fighting, a male swings his heavy skull, armed with bony ossicones and osteomas, into his opponent’s vulnerable soft tissues. The authors of the study propose that this aspect of giraffe behavior would conceivably also favor the possession of a long neck. The longer the neck, the greater the momentum of the swing and the more damage done.



“Both living giraffes and&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;belong to the Giraffoidea, a superfamily. Although their skull and neck morphologies differ greatly, both are associated with male courtship struggles and both have evolved in an extreme direction,”&nbsp;said WANG Shiqi, first author of the study.



The experts state that this unusual fossil giraffoid helps to understand how the modern giraffe's long neck may have evolved as well as to appreciate the extensive integration of courtship struggles and feeding pressure. In fact, they propose that the neck size of male giraffes is directly related to social hierarchy, and that courtship competition is the driving force behind the evolution of long necks.



When the research team compared the horn morphology of several groups of ruminants, including giraffoids, cattle, sheep, deer and pronghorns, they found that horn diversity in giraffes is much greater than in other groups. In addition, the horns of giraffes tend toward extreme differences in morphology, indicating that courtship struggles are more intense and diverse in giraffes than in other ruminants.



Furthermore, the ecological environment that Discokeryx xiezhi occupied was most probably fairly dry, barren grassland, which would not necessarily have contained an abundance of available food. The Earth was in a warm period and generally densely forested at that time, but the Xinjiang region, where&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;lived, was somewhat drier than other areas because the Tibetan Plateau to the south had been rising dramatically, thus blocking the transfer of water vapor.



“Stable isotopes of tooth enamel have indicated that&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;was living in open grasslands and may have migrated seasonally,”&nbsp;said study co-author Meng Jin. For animals of the time, the grassland environment was more barren and less comfortable than the forest environment, which may have led to the violent fighting behavior of&nbsp;Discokeryx xiezhi&nbsp;as it competed to survive in this more stressful landscape.&nbsp;



Around seven million years ago, when the genus Giraffa first emerged on the East African Plateau, the environment was also undergoing a change from forest to open grassland, and the direct ancestors of giraffes had to adapt to these changes. It is possible that, among giraffe ancestors during this period, mating males developed a way of attacking their competitors by swinging their necks and heads. This extreme struggle, supported by sexual selection, could thus have led to the rapid elongation of the giraffe's neck.



Thus, the researchers propose, the original purpose of a long neck in early Giraffa species was to compete successfully with other males for access to females. However, having a long neck would also have predisposed these animals for the niche of feeding on high altitude foliage. Furthermore, occupying a marginal ecological niche may have led to more extreme intraspecific courtship competition, which in turn may have promoted even more extreme morphological evolution.



---



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

Strange fossil suggests giraffes evolved long necks for courtship

Rudyard Kipling might very well have chosen to write a...

Picture,Of,School,Busses

The location of a school can affect the success of pupils at that school, as evidenced by previous research studies that link poor performance with exposure to aircraft noise and to traffic-related air pollution. Now, in a study led by the <a href="https://www.isglobal.org/en">Barcelona Institute for Global Health</a> (ISGlobal), a center supported by the “la&nbsp;Caixa” Foundation, researchers have tested whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parents-with-more-children-risk-faster-cognitive-decline/">cognitive</a> development in pupils at 38 primary schools in Barcelona, Spain, is linked to the levels of traffic noise in the streets outside the school.&nbsp;



Road traffic noise is a widespread problem in cities and yet its impact on children’s health remains poorly understood. The current study, which forms part of the BREATHE project and was led by ISGlobal researchers&nbsp;Maria Foraster and Jordi Sunyer, included&nbsp;2,680 children between the ages of seven and ten years. Over the course of a year (between 2012 and 2013), the children completed sets of cognitive tests four times: these tests focused on measuring the children’s working memory and attention skills, as well as enabling the researchers to study the evolution of these cognitive skills over time.&nbsp;



Over the same period, noise measurements were taken in front of the 38 participating schools, as well as in their playgrounds and classrooms. The two cognitive skills investigated, namely working memory and ability to pay attention, are known to develop rapidly during preadolescence and are essential for learning and for achieving success at school.



Attention includes processes such as selectively attending to specific stimuli or focusing on a specific task for a prolonged period of time. Working memory is the system that allows us to hold information in the mind and manipulate it over a short period of time. When we need to process information stored in the working memory, we use what is known as&nbsp;complex working memory.



The findings of the study, published today in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/">PLoS Medicine</a>, show that the&nbsp;development of working memory,&nbsp;complex working memory and attention skills during the year was slower&nbsp;in students who attended schools with higher levels of traffic noise. More specifically, the results showed that a 5&nbsp;dB increase in outdoor noise levels resulted in working memory development that was 11.4 percent slower than average and complex working memory development that was 23.5 percent slower than average. Similarly, exposure to an additional 5&nbsp;dB of outdoor traffic noise resulted in attention capacity development that was 4.8 percent slower than average.



In terms of traffic noise outside the classroom, both higher average noise levels and greater fluctuation in noise levels were associated with poorer student performances on all tests.&nbsp;Inside classrooms, greater fluctuation in noise levels was also associated with slower progress on all cognitive tests over the course of the year. But inside these same classrooms, exposure to higher average noise levels over the year was only associated with worse performance on attention tests, and not on tests of working memory.&nbsp;



“This finding suggests that noise peaks inside the classroom may be more disruptive to neurodevelopment than average decibel level,” commented Foraster, lead author of the study. “This is important because it supports the hypothesis that noise characteristics may be more influential than average noise levels, despite the fact that current policies are based solely on average decibels.”



“Our study supports the hypothesis that childhood is a vulnerable period during which external stimuli such as noise can affect the rapid process of cognitive development that takes place before adolescence,” explained Sunyer.



The researchers also investigated whether cognitive development in the children was associated with average noise levels at each participant’s home. To do this, they estimated the levels of ambient noise using a 2012 road traffic noise map of the city of Barcelona. The analysis showed no association between residential noise and the cognitive development of the school children.



“This could be because noise exposure at school is more detrimental as it affects vulnerable windows of concentration and learning processes,” explained&nbsp;Foraster. “On the other hand, although noise measurements were taken at the schools, noise levels at the children’s homes were estimated using a noise map that may be less accurate and, in any case, only reflected outdoor noise. This, too, may have influenced the results.”



The researchers emphasize the need for further studies on road traffic noise in other populations to determine whether these initial findings can be extrapolated to other cities and settings.



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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

Traffic noise in school linked to slower cognitive development

The location of a school can affect the success of...

Alpine,Forest,On,A,Mountain,Slope.,Beautiful,Mountain,Forest,In

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.unil.ch/central/en/home.html">University of Lausanne</a> and the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a> has found that global warming has a significant impact on the Alpine region. Just like the Arctic, this European mountain range is becoming greener, with satellite data showing evidence that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/changes-in-vegetation-are-a-key-driver-of-global-temperatures/">vegetation</a> above the tree line has increased in nearly 80 percent of the Alps. Moreover, the experts have also detected decreases in snow cover in 10 percent of the area.



By using high-resolution satellite data from 1984 to 2021, the scientists discovered that, over this period, the plant biomass above the tree line increased in more than 77 percent of the observed regions – a phenomenon of “greening” caused by climate change that is already well documented in the Arctic.



“The scale of the change has turned out to be absolutely massive in the Alps,” said study lead author Sabine Rumpf, an assistant professor of Ecology at the University of Basel. 



According to Professor Rumpf and her colleagues, the Alps are becoming greener because an increasing number of plants are colonizing new areas, and the vegetation is becoming denser and taller due to changes in precipitation and rising temperatures. Yet, although Alpine plants are well-adapted to harsh conditions, they are not very competitive, and may soon lose their evolutionary advantage. “The unique biodiversity of the Alps is therefore under considerable pressure,” Professor Rumpf warned.



In contrast to such massive changes in vegetation, the extent of snow cover above the tree line has not changed so radically since 1984. Although significant decreases in snow cover have only been found in about 10 percent of the Alps, the researchers consider it a worrying trend.



“Previous analyses of satellite data hadn’t identified any such trend,” explained study senior author Antoine Guisan, an ecologist at the University of Lausanne. “This may be because the resolution of the satellite images was insufficient or because the periods considered were too short.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;



“For years, local ground-based measurements have shown a decrease in snow depth at low elevations,” added study co-author Grégoire Mariéthoz, an expert in Earth Surface Dynamics at the same university. “This decrease has already caused some areas to become largely snow-free.”



According to the scientists, as global warming continues, the Alps will turn increasingly greener, creating a vicious circle. &nbsp;



“Greener mountains reflect less sunlight and therefore lead to further warming – and, in turn, to further shrinkage of reflective snow cover,” explained Professor Rumpf. In addition, rising temperatures will cause further melting of glaciers and thawing of permafrost, which can lead to landslides, mudflows, and rockfalls. Finally, snow melting will have a significant impact on drinking water supplies, as well as on tourism and recreation activities.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697">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

Greening in the Alps is visible from space

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

Neptune,Seagrass,Posidonia,Oceanica,Underwater,With,Natural,Sunlight,In,Mediterranean

A research team led by the <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au/">University of Western Australia</a> has recently identified the world’s largest living plant in the shallow waters off the coast of Western Australia. Posidonia Australis is a sprawling seagrass that stretches for over 112 miles/180 kilometers (the equivalent of the distance between San Diego and Los Angeles) in Shark Bay, a wilderness area declared by UNESCO a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/">World Heritage Site</a>.&nbsp;



The scientists have long believed this to be a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-amounts-of-sugar-found-under-seagrass-meadows/">seagrass meadow</a> - a collection of genetically related yet different individual plants. “We often get asked how many different plants are growing in a seagrass meadow. Here we used genetic tools to answer it,” said study senior author Elizabeth Sinclair, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia.



To answer this question, Dr. Sinclair and her team collected samples from 10 locations across the range of this seagrass meadow, and performed a series of genetic tests. “The answer definitely surprised us - just ONE! That’s it, just one plant has expanded over 180 km in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth,” Dr. Sinclair reported.



According to the researchers, the plant is so large because it is able to clone itself, creating genetically identical offshoots.&nbsp;This type of reproduction is rare in the animal kingdom and occurs more often among some plants, fungi, and bacteria.



“The plant has been able to continue growing through vegetative growth - extending its rhizomes (rootstalks) outwards - the way a buffalo grass would in your back garden, extending runners outwards. The only difference is that the seagrass rhizomes are under a sandy seafloor so you don’t see them, just the shoots within the water column,” explained Dr. Sinclair. “What was even more interesting was that it has double the number of chromosomes than in other populations we had been studying. It has 40, not the usual 20” - a phenomenon called “polyploidy.”&nbsp;



The scientists argued that polyploidy, combined with reproducing via cloning, helped this seagrass expand over the past 4,500 years and adapt to more extreme environmental conditions than other seagrasses can withstand, including saltier waters, wider temperature fluctuations, and higher levels of light. “It seems to have a way to hunker down and have the genetic toolkit to survive, no matter what conditions have been thrown at it so far,” concluded study co-author Martin Breed, an expert in Ecosystem Health at <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">Flinders University</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0538">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</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

World’s largest plant found in Western Australia

A research team led by the University of Western Australia...

Beta diversity is a measure of site-to-site variation in the composition of species within a certain area. A new study led by <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University in St. Louis</a> has found that tree beta diversity matters more for ecosystem functioning than other components of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-impacts-biodiversity-in-protected-areas-worldwide/">biodiversity</a> at larger scales, such as local or regional diversity. The experts have also discovered that the relationship between beta diversity and tree biomass strengthens with increasing spatial scale.&nbsp;



“A lot of studies have focused only on small scales when they look at biodiversity and ecosystem functioning,” said lead author Dr. Jacqueline Reu. “Our study is one of the first that looks at multiple different measures of biodiversity, as well as direct and indirect effects of the environment, on ecosystem functioning as you increase scale in a natural system.”



“Our results back the theory that beta diversity, or the variation in species composition across space, is the best biodiversity measure at larger scales,” she explained. “It’s stronger than the other diversity measures that we considered, like local and regional diversity. And its importance increases as you increase spatial scale.”



Dr. Reu and her colleagues studied 14 landscapes of oak-hickory forest in the Ozark region, each of which contained at least three major habitat types common to Ozark forests, including sunnier, drier, and nutrient poor west- or south-facing slopes; shady, nutrient-rich valleys and bottom lands; and east- and north-facing slopes, which are the most productive in terms of tree cover. Each of these landscapes also included an environmental gradient of nutrient and moisture availability, light availability, and a wide range of topographic conditions.



The scientists quantified the direct effects of three diversity components – beta diversity, local diversity, and regional diversity – and calculated the strength of the relationship between each of these components and aboveground tree biomass, a property of forests closely related to ecosystem functioning. Their results revealed that the relationship between beta diversity and tree biomass strengthened with increasing spatial extent, and that ecosystem functioning was highly dependent upon variations in beta diversity.



“It’s not just the gain or the loss and the number of species that matters, it’s also changes in the distribution of these species and where you might find them in an ecosystem,” said study co-author Christopher Catano, a postdoctoral fellow in Ecology at <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a>. “This study and a few others recently have been pretty consistent, in the sense that they’re showing it’s (species) turnover, or variation across space, that seems to be really critical.”



“Beta diversity is driving a variety of different functions, as well as the stability of these functions over time, as you scale up from small, local plot-based ecosystems to large, heterogeneous landscapes,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3774">Ecology</a>.



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

Beta diversity contributes to ecosystem stability

Beta diversity is a measure of site-to-site variation in the...

Deep in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-will-be-our-allies-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/">forests</a> of India, scientists have discovered a colorful new gecko. The species has been named Eublepharis pictus, also known as the Painted Leopard Gecko.



In 2017, researchers Zeeshan A. Mirza of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore and C. Gnaneswar of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in Chennai found a gecko in a water tank during a field survey. At the time, the creature was identified as the East Indian Leopard Gecko species (Eublepharis hardwickii).



The researchers conducted a phylogenetic study to look for the evolutionary history within the leopard gecko species. The team made morphological comparisons using molecular data from specimens across natural history museums. The results revealed that the gecko may represent a distinct new species.



“These lizards have conserved morphologies and most species are quite similar in general appearance,” explained Mirza. “With a few characters based on the number of specimens examined, we described the species and named it the Painted Leopard Gecko – in Latin, Eublepharis pictus, for its colouration.”&nbsp;



With this new addition, the gecko genus Eublepharis now contains 7 species. Two of them - E. pictus and E. satpuraensis - were described by Mirza.



The new species lives in dry evergreen forests mixed with scrub and meadows. The gecko is nocturnal, and forages along trails in the forest after dusk. It licks surfaces to look for food as it moves, which suggests it might use its tongue as a sensory organ.



Although the Painted Leopard Gecko is newly discovered, the researchers are already concerned about its conservation. “The species is collected for the pet trade and even now may be smuggled illegally," said the researchers. For this reason, they have refrained from identifying the exact locations where it may be found.



To protect the gecko, the authors suggest listing it as Near Threatened based on IUCN conservation criteria, until more is known about the size of its populations.



Further research may also encourage better protection of biodiversity in the area. “The Eastern Ghats are severely under-surveyed, and dedicated efforts will help recognize it as a biodiversity hotspot,” concluded the study authors.



This study is published in the open-access scientific journal<a href="https://evolsyst.pensoft.net/"> Evolutionary Systematics</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

Colorful new gecko found in the forests of India

Deep in the forests of India, scientists have discovered a...

At the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cop26-deal-failure-or-historic-achievement/">COP26</a> climate congress in 2021, the United States has set a very ambitious goal: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent until 2030. A recent study led by an international team of scientists and policy analysts has described the necessary actions the US needs to take to accomplish this goal. The experts suggest that, although there are multiple pathways to achieve this, strong and immediate commitments are absolutely necessary to keep the plan firmly on track.



“This study should give policy makers and other energy stakeholders some level of comfort, by showing that everybody in the field is pointing in the same direction. The case for clean energy is stronger than ever before and our study shows that the 2030 emission target can be achieved,” said study co-author Nikit Abhyankar, an expert in Electricity Markets and Policy at the <a href="https://www.lbl.gov/">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a>. “With the right policies and infrastructure, we can reduce our emissions, while saving American consumers billions of dollars and generating new employment.”



According to Dr. Abhyankar and his colleagues, the most urgent actions that should be taken will be to double the amount of renewable capacity built each year, and to transition predominantly to electric vehicles by the end of this decade. In order to reduce emissions by 50 percent, the electricity grid will need to run on 80 percent clean energy (up from today’s 40 percent). To accomplish this, a coordinated policy response between states and the federal government will be necessary.&nbsp;



A clean-energy transition would significantly reduce air pollution, and prevent up to 200,000 premature deaths, while avoiding over $800 billion in health and environmental costs by mid-century. Many of this health benefits will occur in minority communities, which are currently disproportionately exposed to vehicle and industrial pollution.



“Our study provides the first detailed roadmap for how the United States can reach its 50 percent greenhouse gas emissions-reduction target by 2030,” said study lead author&nbsp;John Bistline, program manager in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epri.com/">Electric Power Research Institute</a>. 



“This will require tripling the pace of historic carbon reductions, an ambitious but achievable target if stakeholders collaborate across all sectors. By comparing results across six independent models, we provide greater confidence about the policies and technology deployment needed to achieve near-term climate goals, laying the groundwork for an affordable, reliable, and equitable net-zero future.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abn0661">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

How U.S. emissions could be cut in half by 2030

At the COP26 climate congress in 2021, the United States...

A virus that infects honeybees has a dangerous new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alpaca-nanobodies-can-neutralize-coronavirus-variants/">variant</a> on the rise worldwide. The virus deforms their wings, causing the animals to die.&nbsp;



The new variant, which has already replaced the original strain in Europe, is spreading to other regions of the world and collapsing entire bee colonies. As pollinators, honeybees play a major role in fruit yields and preserving biodiversity. The loss of honeybee colonies is a major concern to experts around the world.



A new international study led by <a href="https://www.uni-halle.de/?lang=en">Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg</a> (MLU), analyzed data on virus variants over the past 20 years.&nbsp;



Deformed wing virus (DWV) is transmitted by the parasitic Varroa mite. “These mites not only transmit viruses between honeybees, they also eat the bees’ tissues,” explained Professor Robert Paxton, a bee researcher from MLU. “Deformed wing virus is definitely the biggest threat to honeybees”.



The original strain of the virus (“DWV-A”) was discovered in Japan in the early 1980s and the new variant “DWV-B” was first identified in the Netherlands in 2001.&nbsp;



“Our laboratory studies have shown that the new variant kills bees faster and is more easily transmitted,” said Professor Paxton. It will only be a matter of time before it becomes the dominant strain around the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The team wanted to find out how widespread the new variant has become. They evaluated 3,000 datasets for honeybees, large earth bumblebees and Varroa mites.&nbsp;



In the 2000s, the new variant was found in Europe and Africa, the homeland of the honeybee. It was discovered in North and South America in the early 2010s, and in Asia in 2015. The variant has now been detected globally with the exception of Australia.&nbsp;



Evidence of the virus was also found in samples taken from large earth bumblebees. “Whether the virus will have similarly devastating consequences in bumblebees and other wild bees remains uncertain. So far, commercial bumblebee colonies infected with the virus are not dying at a significantly higher rate,” said Professor Paxton.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213224422000451">International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife</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

Honeybee virus has a new strain that is even more lethal

A virus that infects honeybees has a dangerous new variant...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> has found that an ancient bout of global warming 56 million years ago that acidified oceans and wiped-out a wide range of marine life had a milder effect in the Gulf of Mexico, where life was protected by the basin’s unique geology. Besides shedding new light on an ancient mass <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-white-sharks-may-have-sped-up-megalodon-extinction/">extinction</a>, these findings could help scientists predict how current climate change will affect marine life.



“This event known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM is very important to understand because it’s pointing towards a very powerful, albeit brief, injection of carbon into the atmosphere that’s akin to what’s happening now,” said study lead author Robert Cunningham, a geochemist at the University of Texas <a href="https://www.ig.utexas.edu/">Institute of Geophysics</a> (UTIG).



Dr. Cunningham and his colleagues investigated the impact of this ancient period of global warming on the Gulf of Mexico by studying a group of sand, mud, and limestone deposits found across the area. They found an abundance of microfossils from radiolarians, a type of plankton that seemed to have thrived in the Gulf during that period. This discovery suggests that a steady supply of river sediments and circulating ocean waters had helped radiolarians and other local microorganisms survive while our planet’s climate became largely hostile to marine life.



“In a lot of places, the ocean was absolutely uninhabitable for anything,” said study co-author Marcie Purkey Phillips, a biostratigrapher at UTIG. “But we just don’t seem to see as severe an effect in the Gulf of Mexico as has been seen elsewhere.”



According to the scientists, the Gulf was largely spared because about 20 million years before the ancient global warming, the rise of the Rocky Mountains had redirected rivers into the northwestern part of the Gulf (a tectonic shift called “the Laramide uplift”), sending much of the continent’s rivers through what are now Texas and Louisiana into the Gulf’s deeper waters. When North America became hotter and wetter, the rain-filled rivers transported nutrients and sediments into the basin, providing sufficient sustenance for phytoplankton and other marine life-forms. These findings also confirm that the Gulf remained connected to the Atlantic Ocean and the salinity of its waters have never reached the extremes seen elsewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Clarifying how the water and ecology of the Gulf changed during a period of intense climate change could help scientists better understand and predict the effects of today’s global warming on this unique region, as well as on other similar areas.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2022.105634">Marine and Petroleum Geology</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

Gulf of Mexico was spared from ancient mass extinction

A new study led by the University of Texas at...

Today, June 1st, 2022, is the 4th annual <a href="https://worldreefday.org/">World Reef Day</a>, which serves as a call to action to raise awareness about the critically important benefits of healthy coral reef ecosystems.



Coral reefs are among the world's most diverse ecosystems. They provide shelter and food for 25 percent of all marine life. Across the globe, about 500 million people depend on coral reefs for food and income. Through recreation and tourism, reefs generate billions of dollars for coastal communities every year.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the future is uncertain for coral reef ecosystems. Global warming is set to continue for decades, or even centuries, and a hotter world will be a difficult place for coral reefs to exist. Experts around the world are urgently studying how corals are responding to rising temperatures - in an effort to save them before it is too late.



Beyond climate change, coral reefs are under an enormous amount of strain from human activities, such as extreme fishing, plastic pollution, and sedimentation. One of the greatest dangers to corals is ocean acidification, which corrodes coral skeletons and causes them to dissolve. To make matters worse, as CO2 levels rise, corals have fewer carbonate ions to rebuild and strengthen their skeletons.&nbsp;



When corals are exposed to elevated temperatures, they respond by expelling algae that they need for survival. This phenomenon, known as bleaching, leaves corals vulnerable to infection and death. Back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 destroyed about half of the Great Barrier Reef, the biggest reef system on the planet.



"Coral reefs support more species than any other marine environment and rival rainforests in their biodiversity. Countless numbers of creatures rely on coral reefs for their survival. These important habitats are threatened by a range of human activities," reports NOAA.



"Many of the world’s reefs have already been destroyed or severely damaged by an increasing array of threats, including pollution, unsustainable fishing practices, and global climate change. However, we can still protect and preserve our remaining reefs if we act now."



NOAA is leading efforts to study and conserve reefs for future generations through the activities of the <a href="https://coralreef.noaa.gov/">Coral Reef Conservation Program</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

World Reef Day: We must act now to protect coral reefs

Today, June 1st, 2022, is the 4th annual World Reef...

Kids,In,Elementary,School,Sports,Team,Piggybacking,Outdoors

A study published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a> has confirmed a link between mental health and team sport participation among children.&nbsp;The researchers conducted the research because there are conflicting data concerning mental health and team sports. Some studies have suggested that kids who participate in team sports are less likely to suffer mental illness, while others have reported the opposite findings.&nbsp;



To explore the question further, Matt Hoffmann of California State University and his colleagues asked parents and guardians to fill out a form called the Child Behavior Checklist. The researchers compared this data to the children’s sports habits. The sample included 11,235 kids between the ages of 9 and 13. The study also accounted for household income and overall physical activity.&nbsp;



Based on their analysis, the researchers determined that children and adolescents who played exclusively team sports, like basketball or soccer, had fewer mental health difficulties than those who did not participate in any organized sports.&nbsp;



The study also had an unexpected finding concerning participation in individual sports. The researchers expected children who played no sports to have more mental health difficulties than those who played individual sports, such as tennis or wrestling. However, this was not the case.



“To our surprise, youth who participated in only individual sports, such as gymnastics or tennis, had more mental health difficulties compared to those who did not participate in organized sports," explained the study authors.&nbsp;



There was also a difference found in female children. The researchers discovered that females who participated in team and individual sports were less likely to display rule breaking behavior than those who participated in no sports.&nbsp;



While the study does not identify a causal relationship between team sports and mental health, it does build upon a growing collection of research that suggests there is a positive association. The experts hope that further research will help explain the links they have observed.



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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

Children who play team sports have fewer mental health problems

A study published in PLOS ONE has confirmed a link...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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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

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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

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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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" 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.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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