It's known as the "boring billion," a murky period in Earth's history between 1.8 billion and 800 million years ago, when life's complexity didn't extend much beyond single-celled organisms.



Apart from the occasional multicellular life form, most of the living species during that time period were simple, unicellular organisms that had minimal requirements for life. 



But don't mistake "boring" for insignificant. This epoch of evolution laid the foundation for the drama of complex multicellularity that would eventually lead to us.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-energy-fuel-for-evolution">Energy: Fuel for evolution</h2>



The boring billion period appears to mark a time when the evolution of complex life was delayed and conditions were so stable as to border on stagnant. 



Scientists state that oxygen levels at this time were drastically decreased and conditions were fairly harsh for most forms of life.



A new study by Michael Lynch of <a href="https://www.asu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Arizona State University</a> has revealed that the transition from unicellular to multicellular life forms would have come at a cost.



Using the water flea, Daphnia, as a <a href="https://phys.org/tags/model+organism/">model organism</a>, the study shows that multicellular organisms require more than a tenfold increase in energy compared with the simpler, unicellular organisms characteristic of the boring billion period. 



"No one doubts that multicellularity can bring substantial advantages to the table, but the privilege of attaining such benefits comes at a steep investment cost," said Lynch, who directs the <a href="https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fbiodesign.asu.edu%2Fmechanisms-of-evolution%2F&amp;utm_campaign=aga&amp;utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution</a> at ASU.



The study emphasizes the importance of respiration and other metabolic processes in navigating the transition to more complex life forms. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cost-of-complexity">Cost of complexity </h2>



Every organism, from the smallest bacterium to a human, is driven by energy. Having an entire body made of only one cell reduces the need for energy and nutrients to grow and reproduce. 



But multicellular organisms, like plants, animals, and fungi, have to maintain a multitude of cells in complex tissues, organs and structures. And this places a far higher energy demand on the organism.



As the cell count increases in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-life-and-environment-co-evolved-over-500-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellular organism</a>, so does the demand on ATP synthase, the molecular machinery in cells that manufactures ATP, the universal energy currency. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/multicelled-organisms_metazoan-daphnia_credit-Marek-Mis_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/multicelled-organisms_metazoan-daphnia_credit-Marek-Mis_1s.webp" alt="A new study shows that multicelled organisms like the metazoan daphnia (pictured) require a tenfold increase in energy compared with protists for their growth, maintenance and survival. The high cost of multicellular existence is offset by the many evolutionary advantages afforded to advanced organisms, from simpler forms like daphnia all the way up to vertebrate species, including humans. Credit: Marek Miś" class="wp-image-1950209"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A new study shows that multicelled organisms like the metazoan daphnia (pictured) require a tenfold increase in energy compared with protists for their growth, maintenance and survival. The high cost of multicellular existence is offset by the many evolutionary advantages afforded to advanced organisms, from simpler forms like daphnia all the way up to vertebrate species, including humans. Credit: Marek Miś</figcaption></figure>



Each new cell in a multicellular body is another mouth to feed in terms of energy, and the cost increases with the number of cells.



The findings of the Daphnia study show that metazoans - the group that includes multicellular creatures - need a lot more ATP synthase complexes in each cell than their simpler, unicellular counterparts.



In fact, for every increment in body mass, these organisms require 30 to 50 times more oxygen than simpler, unicellular creatures. This additional oxygen supports the complex needs for metabolism, cellular communication, and tissue maintenance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-size-comes-at-a-price">Size comes at a price</h2>



Growth isn't cheap, particularly for multicellular organisms. 



While larger, unicellular organisms, like some amoebas, become more efficient as they grow, multicellular organisms face unique challenges that require extra energy to sustain their larger sizes and more complex structures.



Given this steep energy price, why did multicellularity evolve at all? 



The answer seems to be that multicellular life offers evolutionary advantages, such as being able to consume unicellular organisms en masse, evade predators, and live in various environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-overcoming-energy-barriers">Overcoming energy barriers</h2>



To surmount the energetic challenges presented by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-snowball-earth-conditions-drove-evolution-complex-multicellular-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellularity</a>, organisms have developed remarkable adaptations to utilize their resources efficiently. 



One key adaptation is the division of labor between specialized cells, tissues, and organs; this specialization allows for optimized energy usage where cells perform distinct functions more efficiently than they would if they had to carry out all the different life activities.



For example, mitochondria within eukaryotic cells have evolved highly efficient pathways to generate ATP, thus maximizing the energy harvested from different substrates.



Furthermore, the development of vascular systems in plants and circulatory systems in animals allows for the effective distribution of energy resources, and ensures that all cells have access to the oxygen and nutrients necessary to produce energy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-of-the-boring-billion">Implications of the "boring billion"</h2>



Understanding the evolutionary narrative of the "boring billion" holds powerful implications for modern scientific research. 



This era not only reflects the energy-centric challenges of the past but also informs the fields of synthetic biology, evolutionary biology, and bioengineering.



By studying the metabolic pathways and energy efficiencies developed during this period, researchers can potentially design bio-inspired systems and organisms with enhanced functionalities and sustainability.



Furthermore, insights gained from this epoch's evolutionary innovations could pioneer future advancements in medical therapies, agriculture, and ecosystem management. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



This study primarily focuses on aerobic, animal-like organisms. But there's a vast and varied spectrum of life out there, including plants and fungi, and the researchers plan to extend their investigations to these life forms. 



Future insights could shed light on why <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biggest-known-space-cloud-of-life-building-complex-chemicals-discovered/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multicellular life forms</a> took a considerable time to appear and diversify on our planet.



Multicellular life has high energy demands and this study suggests that the constraints of bioenergy could be a universal phenomenon that is applicable to any carbon-based, oxygen-breathing life, no matter where it exists in the universe.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2414742121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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'Boring billion' wasn’t a dull period, it fueled a shift to complex life

It's known as the "boring billion," a murky period in Earth's history between 1.8 billion and 800 million years ago, when life's complexity didn't extend much beyond single-celled organisms. Apart from the occasional multicellular life form, most of the living species during that time period were simple, unicellular organisms that had minimal requirements for life. But don't mistake "boring" for insignificant. This epoch of evolution laid the foundation for the drama of complex multicellularity that would eventually lead to us. Energy: Fuel for evolution The boring billion...

A new study conducted by the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics</a> at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/">UK Met Office</a> has reviewed a series of unprecedented climate extremes in China, North America, and Europe in 2021. The experts described the occurrence of an unusually high number of extreme weather events in these regions over the past year, and most were likely caused by a mix of internal, natural variability and anthropogenic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-perennial-grasses-could-help-curb-climate-change/">climate</a> change.



In 2021 – the sixth warmest year since 1881 - the weather in China was marked by many unusual events, including rapid transitions from cold to warm extremes and sandstorms in the spring, massive droughts in the southern part of the country and severe thunderstorms and floods in the eastern regions in the spring, debilitating heatwaves and persistent heavy rainfall in the Henan and Hubei provinces in the summer, and a widespread cold surge during autumn.&nbsp;



The United States also witnessed extreme cold conditions early in the year, while western Canada faced record-breaking heatwaves in the summer. Europe was not spared either: the catastrophic floods from July killed at least 243 people in countries including Germany, Belgium, and Austria.&nbsp;



This short review, published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00376-022-2063-9">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>, is expected to serve as a reference for future climate events attribution, process understanding, and high-resolution modelling of extreme events.&nbsp;



“Our report has highlighted the need to develop an operational real-time system of rapid event attribution in China to facilitate the understanding of climate extremes, and further, to adapt to and mitigate the ongoing climate change,” explained study lead author Tianjun Zhou, an expert in climate modelling at the Institute for Atmospheric Research.



“Although individual events cannot usually be attributed themselves to climate change, the likelihood of some of them has been altered as a part of climate change,” added study co-author Dr. Robin Clark, a researcher studying climate extremes at the UK Met Office.



If measures to mitigate global warming are not urgently taken, the frequency and severity of such extreme weather events will likely increase significantly over the next years and decades, putting at risk a large number of ecosystems, and creating increasingly harsh conditions for all forms of life on our planet, including humans.



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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

Unusual number of climate extremes struck in 2021

A new study conducted by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clouds-have-an-amplifying-effect-on-global-warming/">Clouds</a> come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and types. All of these features control the effect they have on the climate. For instance, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> (UW) has found that splintering of frozen liquid droplets to form ice shards inside Antarctic clouds dramatically affect these clouds’ ability to reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere, leading to a substantial warming of the Southern Ocean.



“Southern Ocean low clouds shouldn’t be treated as liquid clouds,” said study lead author&nbsp;Rachel Atlas, a doctoral student in Atmospheric Sciences at UW. “Ice formation in Southern Ocean low clouds has a substantial effect on the cloud properties and needs to be accounted for in global models.”



Atlas and her colleagues used observations from a <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/02/05/uw-atmospheric-scientists-flying-through-clouds-above-antarcticas-southern-ocean/">2018 field campaign</a> focused on an in-depth investigation of Southern Ocean clouds, as well as data collected by NASA’s CERES satellite and the Japanese satellite Himawari-8.&nbsp;



Their analyses revealed that the peculiar nature of Antarctic clouds has a strong impact on the Southern Ocean and climate in general. Since ice particles form, grow, and fall out of the clouds very efficiently, the clouds’ coverage and reflectance are significantly reduced, allowing more sunlight to reach the waters.&nbsp;



“The ice crystals deplete much of the thinner cloud entirely, therefore reducing the horizontal coverage. Ice crystals also deplete some of the liquid in the thick cores of the cloud. So the ice particles both reduce the cloud cover and dim the remaining cloud,” Atlas explained.



Since in February – which is summer in the Southern Ocean – approximately 90 percent of the sky is covered with clouds, and at least 25 percent of these clouds are affected by the type of ice formation that decreases their reflectance, a massive amount of solar radiation can reach the ocean, substantially warming its upper layers.



“The Southern Ocean is a massive global heat sink, but its ability to take heat from the atmosphere depends on the temperature structure of the upper ocean, which relates to the cloud cover,” Atlas concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021AV000454">AGU Advances</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

Ice shards in Antarctic clouds heat up the Southern Ocean

Clouds come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and...

A new study led by the <a href="https://uvahealth.com/">University of Virginia (UVA) Health System</a> has compared the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BionTech and the Moderna COVID-19 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vaccine-protection-wanes-three-months-after-second-dose/">vaccines</a> and found that the antibodies generated by the Pfizer vaccine rise more slowly and decline more quickly than those generated by the Moderna one. However, regardless of the fact that antibodies generated by Pfizer declined at a faster rate, both vaccines were found to induce similar peak levels of COVID-fighting antibodies. In addition, while older recipients of the Pfizer vaccine generated fewer antibodies than younger ones, this was not the case for Moderna, where age did not seem to be an important factor determining antibody levels.&nbsp;



&nbsp;“It is not surprising that antibody levels fall after vaccination,” said study lead author Behnam Keshavarz, an immunologist at the <a href="https://med.virginia.edu/">UVA School of Medicine</a>. “But we were struck by how rapidly the antibodies fell after the mRNA vaccines, particularly the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.”



Professor Keshavarz and his colleagues tracked post-vaccination antibody levels in 234 UVA employees over ten months. In total, 114 had received the Pfizer vaccine, 114 the Moderna shot, and six the Johnson &amp; Johnson one. Although between a week and 20 days after the shots, both the Pfizer and the Moderna recipients had antibody levels that were 50 times higher than those observed in the J&amp;J recipients, soon after the antibodies generated by the mRNA vaccines began to drop precipitously, with the Pfizer-induced ones declining at a faster rate.



Six months after vaccination, the Pfizer vaccine recipients had lower antibody levels than both the Moderna ones and individuals who were hospitalized with severe forms of COVID-19 six months prior. According to the scientists, although Pfizer and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines, differences in their formulations, the amount of mRNA that they contain, and the time period between doses could be important factors determining antibody levels.



However, antibody levels are rather crude tools to access vaccine effectiveness. Although these levels decline after both vaccination and illness, scientists argue that the immune system is still capable to “remember” how to produce new antibodies when confronted with the virus. The fact that both vaccines proved to be highly efficient against hospitalization and death offers strong evidence for this hypothesis. Nevertheless, understanding how antibodies decline could help doctors and policymakers decide when booster shots are needed, and who should receive them. Since this study has shown that Pfizer’s older recipients generated fewer antibodies than the younger ones, booster shots could be of more benefit to them than to senior Moderna recipients, who appear to have similar antibody levels as younger individuals who received this vaccine.



“Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have proven very effective in protecting against severe disease, but our study builds on others that have shown some subtle differences in outcomes that favor Moderna,” concluded senior author Jeffrey Wilson, an allergist and immunologist at UVA. “This could particularly be true in higher risk populations, such as older subjects or those who have conditions with suppressed immune systems.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.850987/full">Frontiers in Immunology</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

Pfizer antibodies decline faster than those induced by Moderna

A new study led by the University of Virginia (UVA)...

Species of living organisms are often given scientific names that honor famous people, such as the frog Rhinoderma darwinii, or that reflect where the species is found, as in the southern African wild rosemary, Eriocephalus africanus. One particular species of flowering <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-force-the-plants-they-infect-to-feed-them/">plant</a>, discovered in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in the mid-1980s, was given a name that foretold of its destiny, or so the scientists thought.&nbsp;



Gasteranthus extinctus is a species of tropical wildflower found only in moist montane forests in Ecuador, South America. It belongs to the family Gesneriaceae, along with other species that have showy flowers, such as the African violet. The generic name, Gasteranthus is Greek for “belly flower” – the beautiful, orange flowers have petals that form a small, stomach-shaped lobe with an opening at the top where pollinators, such as hummingbirds, can obtain nectar.&nbsp;



The plant’s specific name, extinctus, was chosen by the scientists when the plant was discovered because they predicted that this new species would be extinct by the time it was officially described and named. Its distribution was limited to moist montane forest along the Centinela Ridge in Ecuador, a region that is notorious among biologists because the cloud forests there were almost completely destroyed by intensive deforestation in the 1980s. The unique plants that inhabited these forests vanished along with their habitat, or so the scientists thought.&nbsp;



In 2000, G. extinctus was officially named and described to science, by which time the cloud forest habitats along the Centinela Ridge had long since been destroyed. The late biologist E. O. Wilson even coined the term “Centinelan extinction” to describe species that went extinct almost overnight as their habitat was destroyed.&nbsp;



Because of the deforestation in the Centinela, few botanists undertook field trips to the area to confirm that this was indeed the case for G. extinctus. Now, in a paper published today in&nbsp;the journal <a href="https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/">PhytoKeys</a>, researchers report the first confirmed sightings of&nbsp;this beautiful, forest-floor inhabitant in 40 years.



“Extinctus&nbsp;was given its striking name in light of the extensive deforestation in western Ecuador,” says Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher at Chicago’s <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a> and co-lead author of the paper. “But if you claim something's gone, then no one is really going to go out and look for it anymore. There are a lot of important species that are still out there, even though overall, we're in this age of extinction.”



The story of Centinela also drew attention to the fact that over 97% of the forests in the western half of Ecuador have been felled and converted to farmlands. What remains is a fragmented mosaic of tiny islands of forest within a sea of bananas and a handful of other crops.



“Centinela is a mythical place for tropical botanists,” says Pitman. “But because it was described by the top people in the field, no one really double-checked the science. No one went back to confirm that the forest was gone and those things were extinct.”



Since 2009, a few scientists have undertaken expeditions to look for&nbsp;G. extinctus&nbsp;but they were unsuccessful. When White and Pitman received funding from the Field Museum’s Women’s Board to visit the Centinela Ridge, they jumped at the opportunity and began to plan a research trip. They searched through satellite images of the area, trying to identify patches of primary rainforest that were still intact. They found a few possibilities and then put together a team of ten botanists from six different institutions in Ecuador, the US, and France. In November of 2021, they arrived at Centinela.



“It was my first time planning an expedition where we weren’t sure we’d even enter a forest,” says Pitman. “But as soon as we got on the ground we found remnants of intact cloud forest, and we spotted&nbsp;G. extinctus&nbsp;on the first day, within the first couple hours of searching. We didn’t have a photo to compare it to, we only had images of dried herbarium specimens, a line drawing, and a written description, but we were pretty sure that we’d found it based on its poky little hairs and showy “pot-bellied” flowers.”



Pitman recalls mixed emotions upon the team’s finding the flower. “We were really excited, but really tentative in our excitement – we thought, ‘Was it really that easy?’” he says. “We knew we needed to check with a specialist.”



They sent photographs of the flamboyant orange flowers, to taxonomic expert John Clark and he confirmed that these were indeed the flowers of G. extinctus, which was clearly not so extinct any more. Samples of fallen flowers were taken for the museum collection, and some leaves were collected for DNA analysis. The researchers located many of these rare plants nestling on the forest floor, as they visited other forest fragments along the Centinela.&nbsp;



“We walked into Centinela thinking it was going to break our heart, and instead we ended up falling in love,” says Pitman. “Finding&nbsp;G. extinctus&nbsp;was great, but what we’re even more excited about is finding some spectacular forest in a place where scientists had feared everything was gone.”



The team is now working with Ecuadorian conservationists to protect some of the remaining fragments where&nbsp;G. extinctus&nbsp;and the rest of the spectacular Centinelan flora lives on.



“Rediscovering this flower shows that it’s not too late to turn around even the worst-case biodiversity scenarios, and it shows that there’s value in conserving even the smallest, most degraded areas,” says White. “It’s an important piece of evidence that it’s not too late to be exploring and inventorying plants and animals in the heavily degraded forests of western Ecuador. New species are still being found, and we can still save many things that are on the brink of extinction.”



The name, extinctus, will not be changed, says Pitman; it will remain as a warning that, when habitats are destroyed, the species endemic to those habitats remain rare and endangered, even if they do not end up becoming extinct.&nbsp;



Image Credit: Photo by Riley Fortier



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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

“Extinctus” wildflower is alive and well, but remains endangered

Species of living organisms are often given scientific names that...

A comet 80 miles across is hurtling in our direction at 22,000 miles from the edge of the solar system. Thankfully it’ll pass by with quite a margin, coming no closer to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-emerged-on-earth-earlier-than-previously-thought/">Earth</a> than a little farther away than Saturn. The massive object will make this approach almost a decade from now.&nbsp;



Using NASA’s Hubble space telescope, <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/">UCLA</a> scientists were able to confirm the comet’s nucleus to be roughly 50 times greater than those of an average known comet. The mass is estimated at 500 trillion tons, which is a hundred thousand times greater than the mass of typical comets.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This is an amazing object, given how active it is when it’s still so far from the sun,” said study lead author Man-To Hui, who earned his doctorate from UCLA in 2019 and is now with the Macau University of Science and Technology. “We guessed the comet might be pretty big, but we needed the best data to confirm this.”



Comets made of ice are the oldest known objects in the solar system. These icy bodies were tossed to the outer limits of the solar system by the gravity fields of the large outer planets. Now, billions of them seem to be surrounding our solar system in the oort cloud. A new study focused on this particular comet was published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205">Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>. 



“This comet is literally the tip of the iceberg for many thousands of comets that are too faint to see in the more distant parts of the solar system,”said study co-author and UCLA PR David Jewitt. “We’ve always suspected this comet had to be big because it is so bright at such a large distance. Now we confirm it is.”



The scientists used radio observations as well as photos taken by the Hubble space telescope for their investigation. Amazingly, the comet has been falling toward our sun for about a million years. This is a small piece of evidence for an oort cloud - something long hypothesized but impossible to confirm as most comets are too faint to be seen at such a distance.&nbsp;



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

Largest comet ever spotted is hurtling toward Earth

A comet 80 miles across is hurtling in our direction...

Climate change is driving up temperatures and causing more frequent heatwaves in the American Midwest. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a>, growing one particular type of perennial grass – the giant miscanthus – could cut Midwest warming by one degree Celsius. These findings offer new insights into nature-based mitigation strategies for climate change, and could have a significant impact on environmental conservation, agricultural sustainability, and food <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-grass-could-protect-crops-against-deadly-pathogens/">crop</a> and energy production.   



The giant miscanthus grows up to ten feet tall, and has wide bamboo-like stems and green leaves, creating a large canopy that could help lowering regional summer temperatures, while increasing humidity, rainfall, and overall crop productivity. This plant is noninvasive, water-efficient, requires little fertilizer, and can grow on marginal land, or land with little or no agricultural or industrial value due to poor soil conditions. Thus, the Midwest heartland - known for its large amount of marginal land that often goes unused - could offer the perfect conditions for the cultivation of this grass.



“Growing perennial grasses on marginal land not only can reduce soil erosion, restore carbon stocks, and provide feedstocks for biofuels and bioproducts, but can also be an effective mitigation strategy to contain regional climate change, preventing the U.S. agricultural heartland from the warming-and-drying trend currently projected,” said study co-author Xin-Zhong Liang, an environmental scientist at the University of Maryland.



By pairing a dynamic crop growth model with a regional climate model, Dr. Liang and his colleagues have found that the giant miscanthus has the potential not only to cool the land, but also to increase summer precipitation by 14 to 15 percent. While the temperature declines will be greatest in regions with the most miscanthus, the changes in precipitations could occur even hundreds of miles beyond, due to atmospheric circulation.



“Global temperatures will continue to rise due to climate change, even if we are able to curb greenhouse gas emissions and develop new technologies for carbon removal,” said Laura Lautz, a program director in the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=ear">Division of Earth Sciences</a> of the National Science Foundation (an organization which funded the current study). “This research adds to our toolbox of strategies to minimize the impacts of future warming, increase food security, and improve the resilience of agricultural systems.”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12937">GCB-Bioenergy</a>.



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

Growing perennial grasses could help curb climate change

Climate change is driving up temperatures and causing more frequent...

The short-tailed albatross is a rare seabird that travels across the open <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a>. It is a vulnerable species that nearly became extinct in the 1880’s from hunting. Conservation efforts resulted in exponential population growth in recent decades.



A new study has uncovered more than 4,000 years’ worth of foraging behavior among&nbsp;short-tailed albatrosses. For the investigation, the researchers analyzed archived isotopes and samples of the bird dating as far back as 2300 BCE.



The findings show long-term patterns in foraging behavior and demonstrate how individual birds foraged the same localized sites for thousands of years, despite the vast foraging range across the Pacific coastline and open ocean.



This behavior is a demonstration of long-term individual foraging site fidelity (LT-IFSF), which is considered a risk in areas that are impacted by human activity. The study focused on two locations close to Yuquot, Canada, and compared findings to sites in the USA, Russia and Japan.&nbsp;



“Understanding migratory behavior is critical for global biodiversity restoration because it helps identify vulnerable regions for environmental protection," said study co-author Dr. Eric Guiry of the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a>.



“Although evidence for the extent and depth of LT-IFSF across other species is still emerging, the extreme distances and time scale of the behaviour seen here indicates that this foraging strategy may be a fundamental, density-driven adaptation that could become widespread again as recovering animal populations reach pre-industrial levels.”



The researchers examined stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions in samples of bone collagen, which can demonstrate the foods consumed over the last few years of an individual’s life. This allowed the experts to identify trends in diet and migration patterns among albatrosses.



By mapping these biological markers linked to factors such as sea surface temperature and CO2, the researchers began to piece together the migratory and foraging behavior of the short-tailed albatross over hundreds of generations.



This behavior is no longer observed among these birds. The hyper-specialized foraging in specific locations disappeared after the birds were hunted to near extinction in the 1880s.



“We think this behavior could be driven by competition among birds, meaning that, as the population recovers, we could see it re-emerge," said Dr. Guiry. "This kind information is important because it provides advanced warning that monitoring for this remarkable behaviour, which can make the birds more vulnerable to human impacts, may need close attention.



One interesting take away from the study was a positive one. The research team found that Indigenious communities of Yuquot were harvesting these birds for thousands of years, with little impact on their population.



“Not only does this tell us something about the long-term sustainability of Indigenous marine resource use at Yuquot, it provides a clear example of how people and the short-tailed albatross can co-exist.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</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

Study uncovers 4,000 years of foraging behavior among albatrosses

The short-tailed albatross is a rare seabird that travels across...

Starting April 17, 2022, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter will appear diagonally aligned in the pre-dawn sky, offering viewers a rare celestial spectacle. While in the northern hemisphere, the planets will be most visible in the south-east on the early morning of April 20, close to the rising sun, in the southern hemisphere they will be visible further east and at a steeper angle. Previously, these four planets aligned in 2005, 2016, and 2020.&nbsp;



“Sunrise will creep ever earlier as the days progress, so it is best to view this alignment sooner rather than later,” advised Jake Forster, an astronomy education officer at the Royal Museums Greenwich. “The tricky part will be catching the planets in the relatively short space of time between when they rise above the horizon and when the Sun follows after them. This allows us a window of time between 5 and 6am BST most mornings from April 20 onwards to view the planets in a neat line across the sky.”&nbsp;



The planets will be easy to spot with the naked eye, and can be distinguished by variations in color and brightness. “Venus will be noticeably the brightest of all four planets, shining a bright white light. Jupiter will be the second brightest, also shining white in color. Saturn will be clearly fainter than the other three, due to its much further distance from the Sun. Mars will have the most distinctive difference from the others because of its coloration, appearing as a bright orange point of light to the naked eye,” explained Forster.



Although the planets will appear to be close to one another when observed from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-emerged-on-earth-earlier-than-previously-thought/">Earth</a>, they are in fact millions of miles apart during an alignment. Moreover, according to Christopher S. Baird, an assistant professor of Physics at <a href="https://www.wtamu.edu/">West Texas A&amp;M University</a>, planetary alignment strongly depends on our viewpoint, and is thus not something fundamental about the planets themselves. In fact, planets never line up perfectly in a straight line.



“If you look at a two-dimensional plot of the planets and their orbits on a piece of paper you may be led to believe that all the planets will circle around to the same line eventually. In reality, the planets do not all orbit perfectly in the same plane. Instead, they swing about on different orbits in three-dimensional space. For this reason, they will never be perfectly aligned,” explained Professor Baird.



Nonetheless, until the end of April, people from all over the world can enjoy&nbsp;this rare and beautiful astronomical event, in preparation for an even more spectacular alignment that will occur on June 24, when all the other planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) will align in the same region of the pre-dawn sky.&nbsp; &nbsp;



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

April’s night sky is set for a spectacular planetary alignment

Starting April 17, 2022, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter will...

The seafloor seems to be getting sluggish, according to a new study published by the <a href="https://www.agu.org/">American Geophysical Union</a> (AGU). The researchers analyzed the last 19 million years of seafloor spreading rates and discovered a slowing trend.



In a process that is driven by plate tectonics, new oceanic crust continuously develops along rifts that are thousands of miles long on the seafloor.&nbsp;



As subduction destroys the old crust, new rifts open up and draw hot crust toward the surface. Once here, the crust cools and gets pushed away from the rift as it is replaced by hotter crust.



This continuous cycle, which is known as seafloor spreading, influences major planetary processes such as the carbon cycle and sea level rise. Higher rates of seafloor spreading are associated with more volcanic activity, including the release of greenhouse gases. It is important to understand this rate in order to predict how it may impact Earth's atmosphere.



"The question of whether the speeds of tectonic plates vary over time is controversial but has big-picture implications for our understanding of the forces inside the Earth that drive the plates, the role of volcanoes in controlling climate change over millions of years, and the rise and fall of sea level," explained the researchers.



According to the study, spreading rates today top out at around 140 millimeters per year, but peaked at around 200 millimeters per year just 15 million years ago in some places.



The researchers say it is a complex problem to solve, made more difficult by the seafloor’s slow and steady self-destruction.



“We know more about the surfaces of some other planets than we do our own seafloor,” said Colleen Dalton, a geophysicist at Brown University who led the new study. “One of the challenges is the lack of perfect preservation. The seafloor is destroyed, so we’re left with an incomplete record.”



Dalton and her colleagues analyzed magnetic records for 18 of the world’s largest spreading ridges to calculate how much ocean crust each ridge has produced over the last 19 million years. Some of the ridges had lengthened, some had shrunk, but almost all of them had slowed down.&nbsp;



Overall, the average rate of seafloor spreading was found to be reduced by up to 40 percent. The researchers say that the slower rates may be driven by subduction zones rather than spreading ridges.



“Think of it as increased friction between the two colliding tectonic plates,” said Dalton. “A slowdown in convergence there could ultimately cause a slowdown in spreading at nearby ridges.”  



However, Dalton pointed out, this added friction could not be the only driver of the slowdown, because she found slowing rates globally and mountain growth is regional. This means that larger-scale processes may also be playing a role. In all likelihood, she said, it’s a combination of both.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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

Seafloor spreading has slowed down worldwide

The seafloor seems to be getting sluggish, according to a...

Scientists now have a more accurate method to measure <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-may-cause-stingrays-to-move-toward-danger/">climate change</a> thanks to a group of researchers who have discovered a way to include additional information about tropical deforestation in climate models.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Using computer simulations is a popular way for climate researchers to estimate what the planet will look like as our Earth warms. However, to get the most accurate predictions, scientists must be able to include numerous factors.&nbsp;



Some of these factors include the extent that sunlight will warm the planet and how the forests will respond to hotter, drier conditions. The more details they can include, the more reliable a climate model becomes.&nbsp;



One factor that has been difficult to incorporate is how deforestation in tropical rainforests, including the Amazon and the Congo, will affect climate change.



Led by scientists from the University of California, Irvine, the research team was able to calculate the current impact of tropical rainforest deforestation by using models already in place. Then, they looked at satellite images of forest biomass to gauge how nearby forest communities responded to deforestation. The results may not surprise you.&nbsp;



“This paper shows that avoiding deforestation yields carbon benefits in nearby regions as a consequence of climate feedbacks," explained Jim Randerson, UCI professor of Earth System Science.



According to the researchers, when a single patch of the Amazon rainforest is cleared, there is an additional 5.1 percent loss of biomass in the entire Amazon basin. In the Congo, the additional loss is 3.8 percent.&nbsp;



Study co-author Professor Paulo Brando explained why this happens: “Deforestation has ramifications to forests growing elsewhere, because its consequences to the region’s air temperature and precipitation.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Now that researchers have uncovered the wide-ranging negative ramifications of tropical deforestation, climate scientists hope that policymakers will be able to make stronger arguments for why it’s best to avoid deforestation. At the very least, climate scientists now have another tool to help them create more effective solutions to fight global climate change.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.&nbsp;



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

Deforestation causes biomass loss beyond directly affected areas

Scientists now have a more accurate method to measure climate...

Genetic changes – known as somatic mutations - occur in all cells throughout the lifespan of an organism. While most of these mutations are harmless, some of them can impair normal cell functioning or even start a cell on the path to cancer. Since the 1950s, scientists have speculated that these mutations may also play a role in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/speaking-multiple-languages-slows-down-brain-aging/">aging</a> processes. However, due to technological limitations, they could not properly test this hypothesis.&nbsp;



Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.sanger.ac.uk/">Wellcome Sanger Institute</a> has analyzed the genomes of 16 mammal species - ranging from mice, rats, and rabbits to horses, tigers, and giraffes - in order to shed more light on the role of these genetic changes in ageing. They found that, despite huge variations in lifespan and size, different animal species tend to end their natural life with surprisingly similar numbers of somatic mutations. However, the results suggest that the longer the lifespan of a species, the slower the rate at which the mutations occur, thus lending support to the hypothesis that somatic mutations may play a crucial role in ageing.&nbsp;



&nbsp;“To find a similar pattern of genetic changes in animals as different from one another as a mouse and a tiger was surprising. But the most exciting aspect of the study has to be finding that lifespan is inversely proportional to the somatic mutation rate,” said study lead author Alex Cagan, a postdoctoral researcher on somatic evolution at the Wellcome Institute.



“This suggests that somatic mutations may play a role in ageing, although alternative explanations may be possible. Over the next few years, it will be fascinating to extend these studies into even more diverse species, such as insects or plants.”



“Animals often live much longer in zoos than they do in the wild, so our vets’ time is often spent dealing with conditions related to old age. The genetic changes identified in this study suggest that diseases of old age will be similar across a wide range of mammals, whether old age begins at seven months or 70 years, and will help us keep these animals happy and healthy in their later years,” added study co-author Simon Spiro, a wildlife veterinary pathologist at the <a href="https://www.zsl.org/">Zoological Society of London</a>.



Nevertheless, understanding the exact causes of ageing remains an unsolved question. Although somatic mutations appear to play a fundamental role in ageing, other processes such as protein aggregation and epigenetic changes are also likely to contribute to the molecular damage in our cells and tissues that is a well-known marker of old age. Further research is needed to compare the rates of all of these processes across species with different lifespans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04618-z">Nature</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

Mutations in animals shed new light on the process of aging

Genetic changes – known as somatic mutations - occur in...

According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne</a> in Australia and the <a href="https://www.iea.org/">International Energy Agency</a> in France, there is only a 10 percent chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (the aim initially set at the Paris Agreement in 2015). However, the pledges made at the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cop26-deal-failure-or-historic-achievement/">COP26</a> climate summit from 2021 to keep warming below 2°C may still be feasible, “if all conditional and unconditional pledges are implemented in full and on time,” as the experts who conducted the study put it.



The scientists analyzed inventory data and climate targets of 196 countries from the time of the Paris Agreement to the COP26 summit, and used computer modelling to predict various climate change scenarios. They found that, although it will be nearly impossible to reach the climate change mitigation targets set at the Paris Agreement, global warming could still be kept at a reasonable value (between 1.9°C and 2°C) if nations stick to the promises that they made last year in Glasgow.



“Our results provide a reason to be optimistic: warming could be limited to 2°C or just below, if the pledges on the table are implemented in full and on time,” wrote the study authors. “Peaking of global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved this decade. But our results also provide a sobering assessment of how far current pledges are from limiting warming to 1.5°C. Commitments made so far, especially for this decade, fall far short of what is required to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.”&nbsp;



The researchers argued that countries with net-zero targets should attempt to bring their net-zero dates forward or even aim for net-negative targets.&nbsp;Any delays in reversing the upward trend of greenhouse emissions, phasing out the widespread use of fossil fuels, and developing sustainable options could lead to a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ipcc-report-can-we-save-the-planet-from-climate-catastrophe/">climate catastrophe</a> in the near future.



As environmental scientists Zeke Hausfather and Frances Moore concluded in an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00874-1">accompanying commentary</a>, “long-term targets should be treated with skepticism if they are not supported by short-term commitments to put countries on a pathway in the next decade to meet those targets.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04553-z">Nature</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

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C is out of reach

According to a new study led by the University of...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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