An asteroid impact on Mars 11 million years ago sent fragments of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these pieces eventually crashed into Earth, making its way to Purdue University and becoming known as the Lafayette Meteorite.&nbsp;



This rare find has been instrumental in unlocking secrets of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/manganese-discovery-ancient-mars-earth-like-water-lake-habitable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mars</a>’ watery past, with new research recently published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.2443" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geochemical Perspective Letters</a> that provides insight into the timing and nature of Mars’ ancient water activity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-mars-watery-past">Tracing Mars’ watery past</h2>



Scientists have long known that the Lafayette Meteorite interacted with liquid water on Mars, but the exact timing of this event was uncertain.&nbsp;



Dr. Marissa Tremblay, an assistant professor at Purdue University’s <a href="https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences</a> (EAPS), led an international research team to determine the age of the water-altered minerals in the meteorite, pinpointing it to 742 million years ago.



“Dating these minerals can therefore tell us when there was liquid water at or near the surface of Mars in the planet's geologic past,” Tremblay explained.&nbsp;



The findings suggest that while liquid water wasn’t abundant on the surface at this time, it likely came from melting subsurface ice, or permafrost, caused by intermittent volcanic activity - a phenomenon still observed on Mars today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preserving-a-moment-in-mars-geological-timeline">Preserving a moment in Mars’ geological timeline</h2>



The study not only identified when water interacted with the meteorite but also established that the dating was unaffected by events after the meteorite left Mars.&nbsp;



“The age could have been affected by the impact that ejected the Lafayette Meteorite from Mars, the heating it experienced during the 11 million years it was floating in space, or the heating when it fell to Earth,” Tremblay said.&nbsp;



However, the team confirmed that none of these factors altered the age, validating the timeline of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mars-lost-most-of-its-water-but-where-did-it-go/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water</a> interaction.



Study co-author and Purdue EAPS researcher Ryan Ickert applied heavy isotope analysis to further verify that previous data on the meteorite’s water-rock interaction had likely been skewed by other geological processes.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This meteorite uniquely has evidence that it has reacted with water. The exact date of this was controversial, and our publication dates when water was present,” said Ickert.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mysterious-journey-of-the-meteorite">Mysterious journey of the meteorite </h2>



The Lafayette Meteorite’s journey to Purdue is something of a mystery. It was found in a university drawer in 1931, though how it got there remains unknown.&nbsp;



In previous research, Tremblay and her team used crop disease markers from organic contaminants found on the meteorite to narrow down when it might have fallen to Earth.



Once the meteorite was ejected from Mars, it endured constant cosmic ray bombardment in space, which produced certain isotopes, offering clues to its time of impact on Earth.&nbsp;



“Many meteoroids are produced by impacts on Mars and other planetary bodies, but only a handful will eventually fall to Earth,” Tremblay said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planetary-time-capsules">Planetary time capsules</h2>



Meteorites like Lafayette serve as planetary time capsules, offering invaluable data on the geological and environmental history of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-meteorites-can-be-traced-to-three-asteroid-families/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">home worlds</a>. With their dense structure, metallic content, and magnetic properties, meteorites are often distinguishable from Earth rocks.&nbsp;



“We can identify meteorites by studying what minerals are present in them, their mineral relationships, and by checking for a fusion crust formed during entry into Earth’s atmosphere,” Tremblay explained.&nbsp;



By analyzing these traits and their chemical signatures, scientists can often determine a meteorite’s planetary origin.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-history-of-meteorites">Complex history of meteorites</h2>



This research marks a significant milestone for the team, which included scientists from institutions across the globe, such as the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center (SUERC), the University of St. Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Bristol, and London’s <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural History Museum</a>.&nbsp;



“Before moving to Purdue, Ryan and I were both based at SUERC, where the argon-argon isotopic analyses of the alteration minerals in Lafayette took place,” Tremblay said.&nbsp;



Their partners at SUERC and the Natural History Museum have long contributed to studying Lafayette’s complex history.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dating-minerals-in-meteorites">Dating minerals in meteorites</h2>



Dating the water-altered minerals in Lafayette, and others in its class of Martian meteorites called nakhlites, has been a central focus in planetary science, as they uniquely capture moments when liquid water was present on Mars.&nbsp;



Due to complex alterations over time, previous attempts to date these minerals were plagued with uncertainties.&nbsp;



However, the team has now developed a robust dating method that could be applied to other meteorites, enhancing our understanding of when water might have been present on Mars and other planetary bodies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-planetary-science">The future of planetary science</h2>



Thanks to the Stahura Undergraduate Meteorite Fund, Tremblay and Ickert’s research on the Lafayette Meteorite will continue, with the involvement of undergraduate students in Purdue EAPS.&nbsp;



This opportunity allows students to engage in real-world planetary science, helping to reveal the intricate histories of meteoritic samples.



Tremblay and her team’s work on the Lafayette Meteorite highlights its scientific significance, revealing a complex history that ties it to Mars’ geological past.&nbsp;



Their findings not only deepen our understanding of Mars but also set a precedent for future studies that might unveil even more about the red planet’s climate history, water activity, and potential for supporting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-mars-rocks-contain-signs-of-life-scientists-call-to-bring-them-back-to-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a>.



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Meteorite that struck Mars reveals when the planet had liquid water

An asteroid impact on Mars 11 million years ago sent fragments of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these pieces eventually crashed into Earth, making its way to Purdue University and becoming known as the Lafayette Meteorite.&nbsp; This rare find has been instrumental in unlocking secrets of Mars’ watery past, with new research recently published in the journal Geochemical Perspective Letters that provides insight into the timing and nature of Mars’ ancient water activity. Tracing Mars’ watery past Scientists have long known that the Lafayette...

According to a new report released by the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), nearly 60 percent of people in the United States have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by February 2022. Previous seroprevalence studies had shown that by December 2021, approximately one out of three Americans had Covid-19 at least once since the beginning of the pandemic. The latest results highlight the extreme contagiousness of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-high-transmissibility-and-chance-for-reinfection/">Omicron</a> variant and its fulminant passage through every corner of the United States.



While official infection numbers are always going to be an undercount - mostly due to failures to test and detect mild or asymptomatic cases, or people not reporting positive results of at-home rapid tests - seroprevalance surveys such as those conducted by the CDC can help provide better estimates of how many people have actually contracted the virus. “We know that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kristie Clarke, co-leader of CDC’s Covid-19 Epidemiology &amp; Surveillance Taskforce Seroprevalence Team.



According to the latest seroprevalence data, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the number of infections increased dramatically, although hospitalization and death rates remained slightly lower than in previous surges. The scientists found vast differences in cumulative infection rates by age group, which reflect how much interaction people in different age groups had with one another.&nbsp;



Thus, from December 2021 to February 2022, seroprevalence among children aged 11 or younger and adolescents aged 12 to 17 increased dramatically, from 44.2 to 75.2 percent, and 45.6 to 74.2 percent, respectively. Among adults aged 18 to 49, seroprevalence rose from 36.5 to 63.7 percent during the Omicron surge, and from 28.8 to 49.8 percent among people aged 50-64. For seniors older than 65, seroprevalence increased from 19.1 to 33.2 percent, reflecting most probably the increased precautions older people still took against Covid during that period.



While these impressive numbers could make many people think that the United States is heading towards herd immunity, the emergence of Omicron at the end of last year has already proven that SARS-CoV-2 can mutate in ways that could evade previously acquired immunity.



“Having infection-induced antibodies does not necessarily mean you are protected against future infection,” warned Dr. Clarke. “We still do not know how long infection-induced immunity will last, and we cannot know from the study again whether all the people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies continue to have protection from their prior infection.”



“We do believe there is a lot of protection in the community both from vaccination as well as from boosting and from prior infection,” added CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. “That said, we cannot underscore enough, those who have detectable antibodies from infection, we still encourage them to get vaccinated.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



CDC’s latest seroprevalence report can be found <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm?s_cid=mm7117e3_w">here</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

Nearly 60 percent of people in the US have had Covid-19

According to a new report released by the Centers for...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.icm.csic.es/ca">Institut de Ciències del Mar</a> (ICM-CSIC) in Spain has found that climate change is accelerating the water cycle due to an increase in the evaporation of water from the seas and oceans caused by rises in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-surface-temperatures-are-speeding-up-ocean-currents/">temperatures</a>. This results in more water circulating in the atmosphere in its vapor form, 90 percent of which will precipitate back into the sea, while the remaining 10 percent will precipitate over the continent. The researchers predict that these changes in the water cycle could have major consequences on the global climate system.



“The acceleration of the water cycle has implications both at the ocean and on the continent, where storms could become increasingly intense. This higher amount of water circulating in the atmosphere could also explain the increase in rainfall that is being detected in some polar areas, where the fact that it is raining instead of snowing is speeding up the melting,” explained study lead author&nbsp;Estrella Olmedo, an expert in Physical and Technological Oceanography at ICM-CSIC.



Dr. Olmedo and her colleagues have found that another important factor contributing to the acceleration in the water cycle is the decrease in the wind over some areas of the ocean, which favors stratification of the water column (water not mixing in the vertical direction).&nbsp;



“Where the wind is no longer so strong, the surface water warms up, but does not exchange heat with the water below, allowing the surface to become more saline than the lower layers and enabling the effect of evaporation to be observed with satellite measurements,” said study co-author Antonio Turiel, a senior scientist at ICM-CSIC. “This tells us that the atmosphere and the ocean interact in a stronger way than we imagined, with important consequences for the continental and polar areas.”&nbsp;



The researchers used satellite data to analyze ocean surface salinity. Unlike subsurface salinity data – which is collected with in situ instruments – the satellite data allowed them to detect more efficiently the acceleration in the water cycle and the effect of stratification over vast areas of the oceans.&nbsp;



“We have been able to see that surface salinity is showing an intensification of the water cycle that subsurface salinity does not. Specifically, in the Pacific we have seen that surface salinity decreases more slowly than subsurface salinity and, in this same region, we have observed an increase in sea surface temperature and a decrease in the intensity of winds and the depth of the mixing layer,” said Dr. Olmedo.



According to Dr. Turiel, ocean models must standardize the assimilation of satellite salinity data, in order to complement in situ data. This is crucial in order to make accurate predictions, particularly at the current time of climate crisis, when changes are occurring much faster than before.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10265-1">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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

Climate change is accelerating the water cycle

A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC)...

Guy German, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/">Binghamton University</a>, has published new research on the structure of human skin and the amount of damage it can sustain. The study reveals that human skin has evolved to allow maximum durability and flexibility.



Most organisms have a tougher outer layer that can protect a more compliant inner layer from environmental threats. This exterior layer is present on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eat-a-handful-of-walnuts-every-day-for-better-heart-health/">nuts</a>, fruits, insects, and even microorganisms.



“Mammalian skin offers maximum locomotion and maximum mechanical toughness,” said Professor German. “If it went one way, it would be less flexible, or the other way you would get more flexibility but less toughness. So it’s optimized.”



The research team created membranes from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that allowed them to mimic the structure of skin by covering a soft layer with a thinner, stiffer outer layer.



This “artificial skin” underwent a series of tests to see how much stress it could handle before breaking. When under the pressure of a sharp object, the samples indented to form huge divots before breaking. 



The researchers made an interesting discovery - mammal skin has evolved to provide the toughest response to threats, such as sharp objects or blunt trauma, while remaining as flexible as possible.&nbsp;



“We found that when the artificial skin has the same outer (stratum corneum) and inner layer thickness (dermis) as mammalian skin, the rubber membranes maximized both their puncture toughness and deformability,” explained Professor German.&nbsp;



The team also discovered a new type of failure, called coring, that has not been previously observed. If you puncture a material, the fracture will begin below the indenter tip, just like piercing a piece of paper with a pencil. But with human skin, as well as the artificial skin, fracture occurs far from the indenter tip at large indentation depths. This is because rupture occurs where the membrane is stretched the greatest, on the sides of the divot, leaving a cylindrical core in the membrane.&nbsp;



This knowledge could help with different technologies, such as electronics and medical devices, product packaging, bulletproof vest, and treatments for burn victims. Researching how human skin has evolved into its current form has become increasingly popular in recent years.



“Scientists and engineers are attracted to studying skin because it’s difficult to understand,” said Professor German. “Skin is heterogeneous and structurally very complex.”



The researchers believe that the power of computers has helped us to better understand skin biomechanics: “Traditional materials like steel and cement are uniform in composition and easy to characterize. Nowadays, engineers are using their computational know-how to study really complex materials such as skin.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/sm/d1sm01187a">Soft Matter</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

Human skin is the perfect balance of flexibility and durability

Guy German, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Binghamton University,...

At first glance, metropolitan areas may appear to be devoid of wildlife, but that is far from the truth. Green spaces in large cities can serve as corridors or stepping stones for wild animals and even threatened mammal species.



In one of the most populous and densely urbanized cities in Brazil, a research team recorded a South American coati, a carnivore that lives on trees that feeds on small invertebrates and fruits. The species is classified as vulnerable in Rio Grande do Sul, mainly because of the loss of its forest habitats.



The Brazilian research team detected the animal using a camera trap during a Masters research project conducted at the Canoas Airbase, one of the last green spaces remaining in the municipality.&nbsp;



Finding a coati in the middle of a dense, urban area surprised them. While the species is not considered threatened in the majority of its area of distribution, the coati population has been in a state of decline as a result of habitat loss and hunting.



"This record confirms the capacity of this species to use environments that have been changed by anthropic activity. In urban areas, the availability of anthropic food resources can favor the establishment of species with greater plasticity," wrote the researchers.



"Conversely, proximity of humans can also cause conflicts and threats to wildlife and increases the likelihood of diseases transmitted by domesticated animals, such as cats and dogs."



According to the study authors, this record is worthy of note because it refers to an urban area where coatis were believed to be extinct, in the only Brazilian state in which the species is threatened. The discovery highlights the importance of urban green spaces for wildlife conservation.



"It highlights the importance of urban green spaces for wildlife conservation, since these spaces can furnish corridors or stepping-stones, enabling migration and reducing isolation of populations in increasingly fragmented landscapes," wrote the researchers. "This is very important for defining appropriate conservation measurements for endangered species, especially beyond protected areas."



The study - a partnership between the Canoas Airbase and<a href="https://www.lasalle.edu/"> La Salle University</a> - was led by Dr. Cristina Vargas Cademartori.&nbsp; The findings are published in the open access journal <a href="https://neotropical.pensoft.net/">Neotropical Biology and Conservation</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

Green spaces are a critical refuge for threatened species

At first glance, metropolitan areas may appear to be devoid...

The size of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-needed-for-seed-dispersal-are-the-first-victims-of-deforestation/">animals</a> is often reflected in their vocalizations. For example, larger animals have longer vocal tracts that produce lower-pitched sounds. A new study from the <a href="https://www.mpi.nl/">Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics</a> (MPI) has investigated why harbor seals are an exception to this rule.&nbsp;



The researchers confirmed that harbor seals do not always look the way they sound. These animals often sound larger, which may be motivated by a desire to get more attention from their mothers or to impress a rival.&nbsp;



The experts wanted to know whether these animals are very good at learning sounds or if their vocal tracts have adapted to support their vocal flexibility.



"Acoustic allometry occurs when features of animal vocalizations can be predicted from body size measurements," explained the study authors. "Despite this being considered the norm, allometry sometimes breaks, resulting in species sounding smaller or larger than expected for their size."&nbsp;



"A recent hypothesis suggests that allometry-breaking mammals cluster into two groups: those with anatomical adaptations to their vocal tracts and those capable of learning new sounds (vocal learners). Here, we tested which mechanism is used to escape from acoustic allometry by probing vocal tract allometry in a proven mammalian vocal learner, the harbor seal."



To investigate, Koen de Reus and Andrea Ravignani of MPI collaborated with researchers from Sealcentre Pieterburen. The researchers measured the body sizes and vocal tracts of young harbor seals. The experts also reviewed harbor seal vocalizations that had been previously obtained.&nbsp;



The researchers found that the length of vocal tracts matched the body sizes of the seals. Without an anatomical explanation, the experts concluded that the animals are using vocal learning to sound different from how they look.&nbsp;



“Vocal learners will sound different from their body size, but the size of their vocal tracts will match their body size. The combined findings from acoustic and anatomical data may help us to identify more vocal learners," explained de Reus. “Studying different vocal learners may help us to find the biological bases of vocal learning and shed light on the evolution of complex communication systems, such as speech."



“The more we look, the more we see that seals have something to say about human speech capacities," said Ravignani.



The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</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

Harbor seals use vocal learning to sound larger than they appear

The size of animals is often reflected in their vocalizations....

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) has recently developed a portable desalination unit, which weighs less than 10 kilograms and can remove salts and particles in order to generate clean water. This new technology is packaged into a user-friendly device that runs with the push of one button, and can generate drinking water at a rate of 0.3 liters per hour, requiring only 20 watts of power per liter. 



Unlike other portable desalination units which require water to pass through several filters, this groundbreaking device utilizes electrical power to remove unwanted salts and other particles.



“This is really the culmination of a 10-year journey that I and my group have been on. We worked for years on the physics behind individual desalination processes, but pushing all those advances into a box, building a system, and demonstrating it in the ocean, that was a really meaningful and rewarding experience for me,” said study senior author Jongyoon Han, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.



While commercially available portable desalination units usually require high-pressure pumps to push water through filters, this newly developed device relies on a technique called&nbsp;<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2010/desalination-0323">ion concentration polarization</a>&nbsp;(ICP) that was pioneered by Professor Han’s team over 10 years ago. Instead of filtering the water, the ICP process applies an electric field to membranes placed below and above a channel of water, repelling positively or negatively charged particles, such as salt molecules, viruses, or bacteria, as they flow by. These particles are then funneled into another stream of water which is eventually discharged.&nbsp;



Although the ICP process does not remove all the salts floating in the middle of the channel, incorporating a second process called electrodialysis can finally remove all the remaining salt ions. By using machine learning to find the ideal combination of ICP and electrodialysis modules, the scientists found that a two-stage ICP process with water flowing through six modules in the first stage and three additional ones in the second stage, followed by a single electrodialysis process is optimal for cleaning the water at a level that exceeds World Health Organization’s <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254637/9789241549950-eng.pdf">quality guidelines</a>.&nbsp;



This amazing device – which the researchers already field-tested at Boston’s Carson Beach – could be deployed in remote and resource-limited areas, such as small islands or seafaring cargo ships in order to clean seawater of salts, impurities, or pathogens. Moreover, it could also help refugees fleeing natural disasters or soldiers carrying long-term military operations have constant access to clean water.



A detailed description of the device is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c08466?ref=pdf">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</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

New device makes desalination possible with the push of a button

A team of researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of...

Tropical and subtropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dog-feces-can-harm-the-environment-and-disrupt-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> boast a greater diversity of plant and animal species, a phenomenon that has been well studied by biologists over many decades. By contrast, temperate ecosystems and those at higher latitudes exhibit lower biodiversity. However, differences in species richness between the world’s three major habitat types - marine, terrestrial and freshwater - have not received anywhere near as much scientific interest.&nbsp;



A new study led by ecologists from the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> has now attempted to quantify biodiversity in ocean, freshwater and terrestrial habitats on a global scale. The scientists also explore possible reasons to explain differences in the patterns of biodiversity in these three habitat types.&nbsp;



The study was led by&nbsp;<a href="https://ischool.arizona.edu/people/cristian-roman-palacios">Cristian Román-Palacios</a>, an assistant professor in the University of Arizona&nbsp;<a href="https://ischool.arizona.edu/">School of Information</a>&nbsp;in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and&nbsp;<a href="https://eeb.arizona.edu/person/john-wiens">John J. Wiens</a>, a professor in the University of Arizona&nbsp;<a href="https://eeb.arizona.edu/">Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology</a>&nbsp;in the College of Science.&nbsp;



“As far as we know, our paper is the first to provide a global analysis of biodiversity by habitat and provide possible explanations as to what might drive the observed patterns,” said Professor Wiens.



The researchers considered more than 99 percent of known animal species in their analysis, along with all of the known plant species. They estimate that 77 percent of known animal species inhabit terrestrial habitats, 12 percent live in ocean habitats and 11 percent are found in freshwater. Among plants, only two percent of species are found in the ocean and a mere five percent live in freshwater.



Despite the fact that the vast majority of animals and plants inhabit terrestrial ecosystems, land only covers about 28 percent of the Earth’s surface. Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth and have fewer species in general. This leaves only a minute fraction of the surface area for freshwater habitats. Interestingly, the study revealed that the two percent of Earth’s surface covered by freshwater habitats actually supports the highest species richness per unit area relative to the other two habitat types.



The authors also assessed phylogenetic diversity in the three different habitats. This provides a measure of how closely or distantly related the species are to each other in evolutionary terms. When they considered phylogenetic diversity per unit area of each habitat type, they again found freshwater diversity to be the highest; it was at least twice as high as&nbsp;the phylogenetic diversity found in land and ocean habitats, for both animals and plants.&nbsp;This finding highlights the fact that freshwater habitats are pockets of exceptional diversity that need to be conserved in future.&nbsp;



“The large-scale patterns of freshwater community composition resemble the process of creating mosaic art – where many groups in freshwater are like ‘pieces’ sourced from either land or marine ecosystems,” said Professor Wiens. “Therefore, creating additional protections to freshwater habitats could help to efficiently conserve, at once, very divergent groups of animals and plants.”



By contrast, animal and plant species in terrestrial habitats tend to represent only a few phyla, or taxonomic groups of organisms. This implies that by protecting freshwater habitats, more species and more evolutionary history would be preserved than if the same area of terrestrial or marine habitat were to be protected.&nbsp;



“Insights into phylogenetic diversity afford us a great opportunity to preserve significant pieces of evolutionary history,” said Wiens, adding that the distribution of phyla among habitats helps explain these patterns of phylogenetic diversity.



The researchers found that the relative biodiversity of habitats is related to variation in diversification rates among habitats. This is a measure of how many species originate and accumulate in a habitat type in a given time. Habitats where species diversify more rapidly have greater biodiversity. Diversification rates can be influenced by several different factors, including the extent to which populations are isolated. In marine habitats there are fewer barriers separating populations and therefore the rate of speciation may be slower.&nbsp;



“Species may proliferate more rapidly on land than they do in the ocean or in freshwater because there are many more barriers to dispersal on land compared to the ocean, where organisms can move more freely,” said Professor Wiens.&nbsp;“These barriers seem to help drive the origin of new species in all habitats in both plants and animals.”



Based on ancestral reconstructions of the three habitat types, the researchers found that most marine species are descended from marine ancestors and most terrestrial species from freshwater ancestors. Yet, most current animal biodiversity in freshwater habitats is derived from terrestrial ancestors.&nbsp;



“We were able to show that generally speaking, the oceans were colonized first, then species moved into freshwater habitats and lastly, onto land,” said Wiens. “And that holds true for plants and animals. Therefore, the greater biodiversity on land cannot be explained by an earlier colonization of terrestrial habitats.”



In the past, scientists have traditionally explained global biodiversity patterns in terms of greater solar energy input leading to increased biological productivity, particularly in terms of plants. The increased availability of plant food was then considered to drive animal species diversification. But in the current study, the growth of plants was found to have a much smaller effect on diversity patterns than previously thought.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Overall productivity is similar between the ocean and land, which tells us that at the global scale, productivity is not the most important determinant of biodiversity,” explained Professor Wiens. He added that the area covered by each habitat type does not appear to be a decisive factor, either, since the oceans have the greatest area but also have very limited species numbers.



“We conclude that the rate of species proliferation might be the most important aspect in driving species richness across the planet.”



Overall, the results of this study reveal the origins of fundamental but neglected biodiversity patterns in land, ocean and freshwater habitats, and highlight the importance of conserving freshwater habitats in future.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14610248">Ecology Letters</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Freshwater habitats help to protect biodiversity

Tropical and subtropical ecosystems boast a greater diversity of plant...

In a recent letter to the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq0082">Science</a>, an international team of scientists has argued that, in order to end the pollution of the air, soils, rivers, and oceans with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-is-a-planetary-emergency/">plastic</a> debris and microplastics, production of new plastics needs to be urgently regulated, capped, and, in the long-term, phased out. While measures to address the consumption and demand side of the problem (such as additional taxes) are essential to curb plastic pollution, a comprehensive approach that includes the supply side is necessary to fully tackle this imminent global threat.



“Even if we recycled better and tried to manage the waste as much as we can, we would still release more than 17 million tons of plastic per year into nature,” said the initiator of the letter Melanie Bergmann, a biologist at the <a href="https://www.awi.de/">Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research</a> (AWI). “If production just keeps growing and growing, we will be faced with a truly Sisyphean task.”



A previous study published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba9475">Science</a> in 2020 has found that plastic pollution could only be cut by 79 percent over the next two decades if all solutions available today are implemented, including replacing plastics with more sustainable alternatives, and improved recycling and waste management.



“The exponentially growing production is really the root cause of the problem, and the amounts of plastics we have produced thus far have already exceeded planetary boundaries,” explained letter co-author Bethanie Carney Almroth, an expert in Ecotoxicology at the <a href="https://www.gu.se/en">University of Gothenburg</a>. “If we don’t tackle that, all other measures will fail to achieve the goal of substantially reducing the release of plastic into the environment.”



According to the scientists, phasing out the production of new plastics from fresh feedstocks should be part of a larger, systemic solution to end plastic pollution. Gradually cutting the production of new plastics will have many environmental, societal, and economic benefits.



“We gain a lot of benefits from plastics but reducing production will increase the value of plastics, boost other measures to curb plastic pollution, help tackle climate change and promote our transition to a circular and sustainable economy,” concluded Martin Wagner, an ecotoxicologist at the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</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

Plastic production must be phased out to stop pollution

In a recent letter to the journal Science, an international...

Human activities such as commercial fishing often result in the accidental death of non-targeted wildlife, threatening a large number of already endangered species. Many fisheries are not selective and damage marine habitats, while also frequently capturing protected species, like dolphins, seals, sharks, or rays.&nbsp;



A research team led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> and the <a href="https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/">United Arab Emirates University</a> (UAEU) has now developed a method to assess sustainable levels of human-caused wildlife mortality. When applying this method to a trawl fishery from Australia, the experts have found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/all-hands-on-deck-to-save-south-africas-humpback-dolphin/">dolphin</a> bycatch is unsustainable.



“Bycatch and discarding of marine wildlife in commercial fisheries are major challenges for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management the world over,” said study senior author Simon Allen, a professor of Biology at the University of Bristol.



“Bycatch Reduction Devices were placed in Western Australian trawl nets in 2006, but no quantitative assessment of the impact was carried out. We set out to model different levels of dolphin capture, including those reported in skippers’ logbooks and those by independent observers. Unfortunately, our results show clearly that even the lowest reported annual dolphin capture rates are not sustainable.”



According to study lead author Dr. Oliver Manlik, an assistant professor of Molecular Ecology at UAEU, the novel approach developed together with the University of Bristol is extremely proficient in assessing human-caused mortality to wildlife, and can be applied to fisheries bycatch, hunting, lethal control measures, or even wind turbine collisions.&nbsp;



“And when we incorporate stochastic factors, random events, we show that previous methods of assessing wildlife mortality were not conservative enough,” he said. “This raises concerns for the dolphin population and highlights a problem with other assessments that do not account for random events, like heatwaves, because these environmental fluctuations are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change.”



With only voluntary and low levels of fisheries monitoring and no quantitative conservation objectives, both UK and EU are currently failing to address the significant problems that bycatch entails. Greater transparency and more rigorous methods are needed to improve the scientific basis for decision-making regarding the impact of fisheries on non-targeted species such as dolphins, seals, whales, or seabirds.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13897">Conservation Biology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Dolphin bycatch from fishing activities is unsustainable

Human activities such as commercial fishing often result in the...

Although they are in fact millions of miles apart, Venus and Jupiter will appear to touch each other in the night sky at the end of April 2022, in a phenomenon called a “<a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-planetary-conjunction">planetary conjunction</a>.” The two planets will appear closest together around 3 p.m. ET on April 30, with Venus 0.2 degrees south of Jupiter. From the Earth’s vantage point, the distance between the two planets will seem to be less than the diameter of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/near-earth-asteroid-may-actually-be-a-miniature-moon/">moon</a>.



“Venus and Jupiter are typically the two brightest planets in the sky, so they can put on quite a show when they are in close conjunction. It is a beautiful sight and easy for everyone to see,” said Patrick Hartigan, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at <a href="https://www.rice.edu/">Rice University</a> in Houston.



According to Professor Hartigan, the Venus-Jupiter conjunction happens roughly once a year, but this year the two planets will appear much closer than they usually do. The last time Venus and Jupiter were closer than this year’s conjunction was August 2016, although they were more difficult to spot then, since they were also closer to the Sun.&nbsp;



Stargazers will have great viewing opportunities in the early morning hours of April 30 and May 1, when they could spot the conjunction easily, without needing to use a telescope. Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere should look along the southeastern horizon just before dawn, while it is still dark enough to see some stars.&nbsp;



In the Southern Hemisphere, although the conjunction will be visible under the same conditions, the two planets will appear above the eastern horizon. Moreover, unlike in the Northern Hemisphere, Venus will appear above Jupiter on April 30 and below Jupiter on May 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



In the nights leading up to the conjunction, the moon will gradually become less visible as it transitions to a new moon on April 30, making the conjunction between the two planets more visible. However, the sky will need to be clear to allow stargazers optimal viewing conditions.



While watching this conjunction, stargazers will also have a chance to see another spectacular celestial event, when Mars and Saturn will roughly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aprils-night-sky-is-set-for-a-spectacular-planetary-alignment/">align</a> north of Venus and Jupiter.&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

Venus and Jupiter will soon enter into a spectacular conjunction

Although they are in fact millions of miles apart, Venus...

Hedgehog,,(scientific,Name:,Erinaceus,Europaeus),Wild,,Native,,European,Hedgehog,With

For the first time, a highly transmissible strain of the antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA, which is currently plaguing hospitals in Northern Europe, has been isolated from hedgehogs in Helsinki.&nbsp;



Superbugs such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are antibiotic-resistant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-force-the-plants-they-infect-to-feed-them/">bacteria</a> for which there are little or no available treatments.&nbsp;



Recently, European hedgehogs, a common wild species living in urban areas, were found to be natural carriers of MRSA.&nbsp;Surveys in Denmark and Sweden suggest that up to 60 percent of hedgehogs carry a type of MRSA called mecC-MRSA, which causes 1 in 200 of all MRSA infections in humans.



The findings suggest a spillover of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria and genes to urban wildlife. This trend should be monitored to limit the emergence of antimicrobial resistance traits in the future. Worldwide spread of these antibiotic-resistant genes is a growing concern because they often target “last resort” classes of antibiotics.



Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria are common in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Highly resistant strains with extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) can cause urinary tract infections in people. ESBL-E are common in wild European hedgehogs, but little is known about Finnish hedgehogs specifically.&nbsp;



To find out, the researchers tested samples from 115 dead hedgehogs in Finland between 2020 and 2021. Swabs and samples were obtained from each hedgehog to be tested for ESBL-E. Whole genome sequencing was used to examine the genomic features of the bacteria including resistant genes.



The research team found that 10 percent of hedgehogs had at least one MRSA-producing bacterial strain and at least one ESBL-producing strain.



Only three hedgehogs carried the type of MRSA called mecC-MRSA, commonly found in Sweden and Denmark, and has emerged in human patients in Northern Europe over the last few years. This suggests there is genetic diversity between MRSA strains over hedgehog populations and countries.



Furthermore, two E. coli strains identified in hedgehogs were human-associated types, suggesting that they could have transferred from humans to hedgehogs.



Venla Johansson from the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a>, who noted that it’s not just hedgehogs that carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria.&nbsp;



“All wildlife and livestock carry many different types of bacteria, so there are many candidates for its dispersal in urban environments including humans themselves," explained Johansson.



"Moreover, anthropogenic sources, such as waste, agriculture runoff and domestic wastewater have been linked to antimicrobial resistance transmission to wild animals.”



This observational study only sampled hedgehogs from one city in Finland, which means that the findings might not be representative of the whole country.



“In the future, the carriage of MRSA should be monitored from hedgehogs in different environments and in wider geographical context to determine whether hedgehogs could act as an AMR sentinel revealing AMR levels in the environment," said Johansson.



The researchers of a previous <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04265-w">study</a> published in Nature emphasize that the findings are not a reason to fear hedgehogs, as humans rarely get infections with mecC-MRSA, even though it has been present in hedgehogs for more than 200 years.



The study was presented at this year’s <a href="https://www.eccmid.org/">European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases</a> (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal.



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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

Humans spread antimicrobial resistant bacteria to urban wildlife

For the first time, a highly transmissible strain of the...

On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, the US <a href="https://www.energy.gov/">Department of Energy</a> finalized a new efficiency rule aiming to phase out older, high-energy incandescent light bulbs. According to this rule, light bulbs must emit a minimum of 45 lumens per watt. Older light bulbs which don’t meet these standards will need to be phased out of production within 75 days, while full enforcement of the rule will go into effect in July 2023 – the same date when retailers must stop selling older-type bulbs.&nbsp;



This move is a culmination of a decades-long effort to phase out inefficient light bulbs. While <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/swings-in-wind-and-solar-power-may-cause-energy-droughts/">energy</a> efficiency standards were included in a bill passed under the George W. Bush administration and implemented during Barack Obama’s presidency, the Trump administration rolled the regulations back in 2019.



The Department of Energy estimates that implementing this new rule could save US consumers almost $3 billion and cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years. Moreover, while traditional, incandescent light bulbs last only about 1,000 hours, energy efficient LED bulbs typically last 30,000 to 50,000 hours or even longer.



“By raising energy efficiency standards for light bulbs, we're putting $3 billion back in the pockets of American consumers every year and substantially reducing domestic carbon emissions,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future.”



Environmental groups have also applauded the implementation of this new rule. “We are long overdue to phase out inefficient old-fashioned light bulbs as this progress was illegally delayed by the Trump administration for more than two years,” said Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate for the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>. “LED bulbs, which will replace the old incandescents, use one-sixth the amount of energy to deliver the same amount of light and last at least 10 times longer.”



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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

Biden moves to phase out energy inefficient light bulbs

On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, the US Department of Energy...

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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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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...