Scientists have uncovered an intriguing tale of galactic growth, featuring mysterious “red monsters” that are revealing new secrets of the young universe.



An international team of experts led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered three ultra-massive galaxies - each almost as substantial as the Milky Way - that emerged within the first billion years following the Big Bang.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-theory-of-galaxy-formation">Theory of galaxy formation</h2>



This discovery surprised scientists because it challenges the popular theory of galaxy formation. According to current models, galaxies grow slowly within large halos of dark matter. 



These halos, which are invisible structures, pull in gas that eventually forms stars. Traditionally, scientists believed only about 20% of this gas would turn into stars in these galaxies.



However, the findings from the UNIGE team show that these early massive galaxies were exceptionally efficient at creating stars. They produced stars much faster and in larger numbers than expected, growing at an extraordinary rate compared to galaxies that formed later. 



This unexpected efficiency suggests that early galaxies grew in ways scientists hadn’t previously considered, prompting a rethink of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-galaxies-formed-from-the-earliest-elements-in-the-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxy formation theories</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-three-red-monsters">The three "red monsters"</h2>



The James Webb Space Telescope's FRESCO program made this remarkable discovery possible.



The beauty of the FRESCO program lies in its cutting-edge tool, the NIRCam/grism spectrograph, which enables accurate measurement of the distance and stellar masses of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-galaxy-formation-occurred-much-faster-than-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxies</a>.



Thanks to the superior capabilities of <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JWST</a>, astronomers have been able to study galaxies in the distant and early universe systematically - including massive and dust-obscured galaxies.



Upon examining the galaxies in the FRESCO survey, most galaxies conformed to existing models. Yet, the team found three galaxies that were surprisingly massive.



Due to their high dust content, which gives them a unique red appearance in JWST images, the giant galaxies are now known as the "red monsters."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unveiling-the-hidden-red-monsters">Unveiling the hidden red monsters</h2>



Dr. Mengyuan Xiao, the lead author of the study, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Astronomy at <a href="https://www.unige.ch/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNIGE</a> Faculty of Science.



Dr. Xiao joined forces with Dr. David Elbaz, director of research at CEA Paris-Saclay, to investigate the red monsters.



“Our findings are reshaping our understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe,” noted Dr. Xiao.



“The massive properties of these red monsters were hardly determined before JWST, as they are optically invisible due to dust attenuation,” said Dr. Elbaz.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-the-growth-of-galaxies-over-time">Studying the growth of galaxies over time</h2>



Using the James Webb telescope, the researchers developed an innovative program which enables the systematic analysis of a complete sample of emission-line galaxies within the first billion years of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/milky-way-like-galaxies-were-present-in-the-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cosmic history</a>.



This program allowed the team to achieve precise distance estimates and reliable stellar mass measurements for the full galaxy sample.



Pascal Oesch is an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the UNIGE and principal investigator of the observation program.



“Our findings highlight the remarkable power of NIRCam/grism spectroscopy," noted Oesch. "The instrument on board the space telescope allows us to identify and study the growth of galaxies over time, and to obtain a clearer picture of how stellar mass accumulates over the course of cosmic history.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-too-many-too-massive-galaxies">"Too many, too massive" galaxies</h2>



The discovery of these massive galaxies challenges existing ideas about how galaxies form.



The findings highlight the presence of an unexpectedly high number of large galaxies - "too many, too massive" galaxies - very early in the universe’s history.



This suggests that existing models may be missing certain processes or factors that allowed some galaxies to grow rapidly right after the Big Bang.



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



To understand these giant galaxies better, scientists will continue observing them with powerful instruments like JWST and ALMA.



These tools can offer more detailed views and help find more of these ultra-massive galaxies, deepening our understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe and potentially revising the models of cosmic evolution.



Future endeavors hold the promise of addressing lingering questions about the universe’s dark matter content, stellar formation processes, and the dynamic behavior of galaxies over cosmic time scales.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-the-red-monsters">Significance of the red monsters</h2>



The discoveries with JWST have significantly contributed to our understanding of cosmic origins, particularly by offering new perspectives on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/galaxies-like-our-own-milky-way-are-not-unique/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">early universe</a>.



These revelations challenge the existing paradigms of universe evolution, suggesting that even in the nascent stages following the Big Bang, there existed environments ripe for the rapid growth and formation of the red monsters.



“These results indicate that galaxies in the early universe could form stars with unexpected efficiency," said Dr. Xiao.



"As we study these galaxies in more depth, they will offer new insights into the conditions that shaped the universe’s earliest epochs. The red monsters are just the beginning of a new era in our exploration of the early universe."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08094-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



Image Credit: NASA / CSA / ESA / M. Xiao &amp; P. A. Oesch / G. Brammer / Dawn JWST Archive



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'Red monsters' challenge what we know about the early universe

Scientists have uncovered an intriguing tale of galactic growth, featuring mysterious “red monsters” that are revealing new secrets of the young universe. An international team of experts led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered three ultra-massive galaxies - each almost as substantial as the Milky Way - that emerged within the first billion years following the Big Bang. Theory of galaxy formation This discovery surprised scientists because it challenges the popular theory of galaxy formation. According to current models, galaxies grow slowly within large halos...

Very,Beautiful,And,Panoramic,Landscape,Or,Seascape,With,Dramatic,Cumulus

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-drives-millions-of-children-into-hunger/">El Niño</a> – a climate pattern characterized by the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – is affecting the climate, ecosystems, and societies all over the world. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found that the global weather fluctuations caused by El Niño will become more frequent by 2040, regardless of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ipcc-report-window-to-secure-a-liveable-future-is-rapidly-closing/">climate change</a> mitigation effects that we might undertake in the near future.



By using state-of-the-art climate models, scientists examined the “time of emergence” of changes in the tropical Pacific related to El Niño – i.e., the moment when the signal of climate change emerges from the usual background noise of natural climate variability. They took into account four possible scenarios for future greenhouse gas emissions and found that, in all the four scenarios, the best estimate of the time of emergence of changes converged on 2040.



“We know from previous studies that, when measuring El Niño changes in terms of rainfall shifts in the eastern equatorial Pacific, models predict an increase in the frequency of events. This study shows that those changes could happen after the next two decades,” said study lead author Dr. Jun Ying, a visiting scholar at the University of Exeter.



“What surprised us is that changes emerge regardless of the scenario we look at,” added study co-author Matthew Collins, a professor of Climate Science at the University of Exeter.&nbsp;



“Because rainfall in the tropics is associated with the warmest sea surface temperatures (SSTs), it is the relative changes in SST that are more important than the absolute change. This leads us to the rather stark conclusion that these changes are essentially unavoidable.”



Although the study results suggest that El Niño events and associated climate extremes are more likely regardless of any significant mitigation actions to reduce emissions, this should not lead to complacency from policy makers and federal agencies. If no immediate actions are taken to curb global warming, the negative effects associated with increases in temperatures will most likely escalate to unprecedented levels, highly endangering life on our planet.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01301-z">Nature Climate Change</a>.



---



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

Increase in extreme El Niño events is unavoidable

El Niño – a climate pattern characterized by the unusual...

Global warming is modifying countless aspects of marine ecosystems, including species compositions and interactions, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-food-chains-threatened-by-ocean-acidification/">marine food webs</a>, metabolic rates and growth of species, disease profiles and rates of primary production. The effects of this degradation are particularly noticeable in the tropical reef ecosystems of the Caribbean, where warming has caused mass coral mortality events, extinction of reef-dependent taxa and the loss of ecosystem function over the past few decades.&nbsp;



Building on previous research, Colleen Bove of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues, present the results of a new analysis of 150 years of sea-surface temperature changes throughout the Greater Caribbean region. Their results, published today in the open-access journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/">PLOS Climate</a>, provide a synthesis of ocean warming that will help scientists understand how temperatures are impacting these iconic ecosystems.



Initially, the researchers compiled a data base of the locations of Caribbean coral reefs, using the coordinates of known reefs listed in several international sources. In total, they identified the locations of 5,326 unique reefs across the Caribbean Basin. They allocated all the reefs into one of eight ecoregions that they identified using the World Wildlife Fund’s marine ecoregions classification.



They then used three open-access datasets of satellite and on-location sea-surface temperature observations to assess the changes in temperature in the region between 1871 and 2020.



Their analysis showed that, in the Greater Caribbean area as a whole, reef warming began in 1915, although in four of the eight ecoregions, warming began even earlier, during the second half of the nineteenth century. Following a global pause in warming in the mid-twentieth century, warming of the Caribbean reefs resumed in the 1980s and 1990s and has continued ever since then.



The researchers found that Caribbean reefs have been heating up at remarkable rates over the last century: they have warmed by an average of 0.18oC per decade, during this period, giving a total increase of 0.5 to 1°C in the past century. Different ecoregions have experienced varying rates of warming over time. If the warming trend continues as it has, the authors predict that the Caribbean reefs will warm by an additional1.5°C by the year 2100.



Analysis of the sea-surface temperature data also showed that marine heatwave events have increased in frequency and duration since the 1980s. The Caribbean reefs now experience an average of five heatwave events each year, compared to only one per year in the early 1980s. Recently, these extreme heating events have lasted an average of 14 days.&nbsp;



“Our study indicates that coral reefs have been warming for at least a century and many reefs across the Caribbean have already warmed by a degree Celsius," wrote the study authors. "This explains why we have seen such devastating declines in the health of this invaluable ecosystem.”



The experts conclude that the changes in thermal environment, in addition to other stressors such as fishing, pollution and diseases of corals, have caused a dramatic shift in the functioning of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems. They are calling for an urgent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as plans to address these other stressors, in order to protect the remnant Caribbean coral reefs.



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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

Caribbean corals have been warming for at least a century

Global warming is modifying countless aspects of marine ecosystems, including...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.unibe.ch/index_eng.html">University of Bern</a> in the Switzerland has compared the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-may-have-galloped-long-before-they-dragged-themselves-onto-land/">locomotion</a> behavior of free-ranging dairy cows grazing on traditional summer mountain farms with that of cattle grown in modern cubicle housing without access to pastures. According to the researchers, traditionally-raised cows were more active and spent over 12 hours per day standing and moving around – a much healthier lifestyle than that of their confined counterparts.



“Welfare of intensively farmed animals and whether the housing systems allow individuals to express natural behavior, are of public concern. Pasture based husbandry systems enable cattle to express their natural behavior such as grazing, freedom of movement, and social interaction and thus provide better welfare than confinement systems,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



“However, due to the increasing use of conventional indoor housing systems and automated milking systems combined with continuously increasing herd size, zero grazing systems are becoming more and more common in many countries of the European Union.”



While keeping dairy cows indoors allows for the control of climatic and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, bedding availability, adjusted feed supply, or regular health checks, scientists worry that such confinement could compromise the animals’ well-being by stopping them from expressing their normal behavior and thus making them prone to various physical and psychological distress.&nbsp;



To test this hypothesis, researchers measured locomotion activity of healthy dairy cows kept on mountain pastures and compared it with that of cows kept in cubicle housing systems. The cows were equipped with a 3D-accelerometer on one of their hind legs, and their locomotion behavior – in terms of walking time, lying time, walking bouts, standing bouts, or number of strides – was recorded for 48 hours.



The results shown that mountain pasture cows had higher locomotor activity levels, spending almost a double amount of time walking than their penned counterparts. “In summary, cows kept on mountain pasture were more active and spent longer than 12 hours/day standing. Lying markedly less than 12 hours per day seems to represent the normal behavior of pastured cows searching for fresh grass. This does not cause any obvious damage to the locomotor system as claws of cattle are well adapted to long periods of movement on mountain pastures,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264320">PLoS ONE</a>.



---



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

Free-ranging dairy cows have a much healthier lifestyle

A new study led by the University of Bern in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tick-saliva-could-provide-pain-relief-to-humans/">Pain</a> is one of the primary reasons people visit the emergency room and so controlling pain is a major goal for hospitals. In fact, pain accounts for 80 percent of emergency room visits. A new study looks at a novel approach to pain management - therapy dogs.&nbsp;



Initially, therapy dogs started visiting emergency room waiting areas in Canada as a way to distract patients from long wait times. In one hospital, the trend started to grow, yet there is little research on how dog visits may help emergency room patients.&nbsp;



A handful of studies in the US and Canada show that patients and hospital workers seem to welcome the presence of dogs and may derive some benefit from them. The new research picks up where these studies left off, providing more insight into the effect of therapy dogs in emergency rooms.&nbsp;



The study, published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, investigated the impact of therapy dogs not only on pain but also on anxiety, depression and overall well-being. Using a scale from one to eleven, these symptoms were measured immediately after a visit by a therapy dog and twenty minutes later at the Royal University Hospital Emergency Department. Heart rate and blood pressure were also recorded. Control groups of similar age, gender and ethnicity had these factors measured 30 minutes apart for comparison.&nbsp;



The results were interesting, but perhaps not too surprising for many dog owners. After a 10 minute visit by a therapy dog, people reported small but significant drops in pain. Interestingly, men reported more of a drop in anxiety than women in both control and dog visit groups.&nbsp;



Both men and women had significantly reduced depression and anxiety after the therapy dog visit. The dogs also seemed to improve the patients' sense of well-being. The study is important in showing the viability of using therapy dogs in emergency rooms.&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

Ten minutes with a therapy dog can help relieve ER patients

Pain is one of the primary reasons people visit the...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungal-disease-is-decimating-amphibians-in-baja-california/">Amphibians</a> are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much more so than mammals. Without any way to regulate their own body temperatures, frogs, salamanders and the like are at the whim of climatic changes. Scientists at the <a href="https://www.pitt.edu/">University of Pittsburgh</a> suspected that gut microbes, important in other aspects of health, might play a role in resilience to temperature in amphibians, and set out to test this idea.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As temperatures are warming, if animals are experiencing disruptions in their microbial communities - as we know can happen due to human-caused stress - then that could lead them to not survive as well,” said lead author Samantha Fontaine, a PhD student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.



Fontaine reared tadpoles in several different pools consisting of two categories: normal pond water full of microbes and sterilized water with very few microbes. The two water treatments each contained tadpoles raised at different temperatures ranging from 57 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Unsurprisingly, the tadpoles that lived in the sterilized water had less microbes in their guts. Strangely, these microbe-less tadpoles grew much larger than their counterparts raised in normal pond water.&nbsp;



Another interesting result of the research is that the tadpoles with microbes were better able to survive higher temperatures, even when the size difference was accounted for.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We definitely need more natural experiments to see how this would actually play out in the wild,” said Fontaine. “But this is the first study to show that there’s a connection between heat tolerance and the microbiome” in animals like amphibians.



The research has a practical conservation application, especially as Earth continues to warm and amphibians are increasingly threatened by many anthropogenic causes.&nbsp;



“The idea of probiotics is really big in the field: Are there microbes that are really important that we can supplement animals with?” said Fontaine. “If so, it’s possible that can help them withstand changes in temperatures more robustly.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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

Gut microbes help tadpoles cope with climate change

Amphibians are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much...

The Christmas Island rat was abundant when Captain John Maclear anchored his ship Flying Fish in a bay off the Indian Ocean Island in 1887. His crew made a small collection of local fauna, among them the first specimen of the indigenous rat species. Phosphate mining operations began shortly thereafter on the Island, and the rats were not recorded again after 1905. Christmas Island rats were considered to be completely extinct by 1908, due to the accidental introduction of black rats (R. rattus) infested with fleas that carried the fatal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fewer-vultures-more-wild-dogs-linked-to-greater-disease-risks/">disease</a> typanosomiasis.



Having been extinct for just over 110 years, and with several museum specimens preserved for posterity, the Christmas Island rat makes an interesting candidate for de-extinction. This is a process whereby lost species are resurrected using one of several possible biotechnologies. In this case, a team of paleogeneticists considered the possibility of using genome editing to reconstruct the entire genome of the extinct rat species. Their findings are published today in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>, where they assess the chances of success and the limitations of this approach.



Usually, when sequencing the genome of an extinct species, scientists face the problem of fragmented and degraded DNA that does not reveal all the genetic information needed to reconstruct the entire genome. However, with the Christmas Island rat, evolutionary geneticist Tom Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen and his colleagues were able to obtain almost all of the rodent’s genome from the specimens housed in museums in the UK. In addition, since this species diverged relatively recently from other Rattus species that are still extant, it shares about 95 percent of its genome with living Norway brown rats.



“It was a quite a nice test model,” says Gilbert. “It’s the perfect case because when you sequence the genome, you have to compare it to a really good modern reference.”



Once the DNA of the extinct species had been sequenced, it was matched up with the genome of the living species for reference. This enabled the scientists to identify any parts of the extinct species’ genome that were missing. Indeed, they found that a few key genes were missing. These genes were related to olfaction in Christmas Island rats, meaning that a resurrected rat would likely be unable to process smells in the way it would originally have done.&nbsp;



In theory, CRISPR gene editing technology can be used to edit the DNA of the living species so that it matches that of the extinct species. If this was done on germ cells (sperm or ova) of brown rats, then they could become parents of offspring that contained the extinct species’ genome. However, this technology cannot be successful if there are missing genes that are unique to the extinct species. Unfortunately, the more degraded and old the tissue from the extinct species is, the more fragmented the resulting DNA will be, making genome assembly more challenging.



“With current technology, it may be completely impossible to ever recover the full sequence, and therefore it is impossible to ever generate a perfect replica of the Christmas Island rat,” said Gilbert.



This scenario is particularly pertinent to attempts to resurrect mammoths, which went extinct several thousand years ago. Although modern elephants are genetically similar to mammoths, the mammoth DNA has had thousands of years of degradation and will not contain a complete set of functional mammoth genes in the genome.&nbsp;



“It is very, very clear that we are never going to be able to get all the information to create a perfect recovered form of an extinct species,” said Gilbert. “There will always be some kind of hybrid.” Though a replica will never be perfect, the key is that scientists are able to edit for the DNA that makes the extinct animal functionally different from the living one.



Gilbert explained that in order to make an ecologically functional mammoth, for example, it might be enough to edit elephant DNA to make the animal hairy and able to live in the cold. “If you're making a weird fuzzy elephant to live in a zoo, it probably doesn't matter if it is missing some behavioral genes. But that brings up a whole lot of ethical questions.”



Gilbert plans to perform the actual gene editing on rats, but would like to start with species that are still living. He intends to begin by performing CRISPR edits on a black rat genome to change it to a Norway brown rat genome before attempting to resurrect the Christmas Island rat.&nbsp;



Though he is excited about this future research, the whole process still poses ethical questions. “I think it's a fascinating idea in technology, but one has to wonder if that's the best use of money as opposed to keeping the things alive that are still here."



---



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

Resurrecting the Christmas Island rat – the limits of possibility

The Christmas Island rat was abundant when Captain John Maclear...

New research suggests that a protein found in the saliva of the brown-ear <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lyme-disease-patterns-tied-to-tick-behavior-and-host-choice/">tick</a>, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, could benefit people. The saliva contains a protein called Votucalis, which is known to alleviate pain and itching in mice.&nbsp;



Ticks secrete Votucalis while feeding, which helps prevent the host from knowing they are being parasitized. One of the most anticipated uses for the protein is pain management, specifically chronic pain management.&nbsp;



"Persistent or chronic pain is a huge global health challenge, which affects over 20 percent of the population," said study co-author Dr. Paul Chazot of Durham University. "It is the single biggest reason that people in the UK visit their doctor and it is recognised as a priority disease by the World Health Organization."



Researchers are especially excited to find an alternative pain medicine considering the current opioid situation. Due to the overuse and abuse of opioids, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that opioid and gabapentinoid medications not be prescribed to new patients unless they are being treated for cancer.&nbsp;



These new recommendations mean that many people are living with chronic pain and have little recourse. However, since Votucalis is not as addictive as opioids and is less likely to cause adverse reactions, those suffering from back pain, arthritis, and sciatica, may soon have an effective alternative.&nbsp;



"These are conditions that bring a huge amount of misery, and current medication displays limited efficacy, and can also often be detrimental to patients," said study co-author Dr. Ilona Obara.



Votucalis has more uses than chronic pain. Since it also has been shown to alleviate itching in mice, it has potential pharmaceutical applications for treating atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.



Although Votucalis has been used to treat conjunctivitis and other diseases in humans, clinical testing is still needed to design a way to deliver the drug directly to the site of pain and itch. Votucalis is a pipeline drug for Akari Therapeutics Plc, so scientists are still performing tests to determine its safety and effectiveness.&nbsp;



Still, Dr. Obara feels that there is potential for Votucalis to be developed into a drug to tackle chronic pain and itching. If so, tiny ticks will have an enormous impact on human quality of life.&nbsp;



---



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

Tick saliva could provide pain relief to humans

New research suggests that a protein found in the saliva...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.13983">Ecology Letters</a> has examined the cascading effects of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vicunas-and-guanacos-decimated-by-mange-outbreak/">mange outbreak</a> on the high Andes ecosystem of Argentina’s San Guillermo National Park. Before the 2015 mange outbreak, vicuñas,&nbsp;pumas,&nbsp;and condors have been intrinsically connected, with vicuñas grazing the grass, pumas preying on them, and condors feeding on the pumas’ leftovers. However, after mange nearly wiped out the entire vicuña population, these relationships quickly unraveled, profoundly destabilizing the ecosystem.



Sarcoptic mange is caused by parasitic mites that burrow under the skin of animals, triggering excruciating pain that stops the animals from moving or foraging. The outbreak in San Guillermo probably stemmed from domestic llamas that were introduced to private lands outside the park in 2015.&nbsp;



“This preserve is about as remote as you can get, with very little human interaction, and yet it is still not safe from human activities occurring hundreds of miles away,” said study co-lead author Justine Smith, as assistant professor at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a>. “Pathogens can take hold quickly, leaving animals with little time to respond or adapt. We might see unintended consequences that we should be preparing for when managing at-risk populations of wildlife.”



Before this outbreak, pumas had been the biggest threat to vicuñas. However, this tiny mite proved to be much more dangerous than the large predators, decimating the park’s vicuña populations in a few years. When their main food source disappeared, condors eventually left the park altogether, while pumas needed to switch to other food sources, such as small rodents, in order to avoid starvation.



These changes among the animals also caused massive landscape changes. Bare ground became covered in grass over huge expanses visible from space, and vegetation increased by 900 percent in areas where vicuñas used to graze.



“We don’t really know how or if these systems will recover,” said Smith. “Will they return to the system we knew, or will a new balance emerge from these dynamics? It’s hard to predict.”



“Continuing to support our colleagues in Argentina who have worked for decades to understand and protect this unique system will be vital for tracing the continuing effects of the disease and for promoting the ecosystem’s recovery,” concluded study co-author Julia Monk.



---



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

Tiny parasite disrupts an entire ecosystem in the high Andes

A new study published in the journal Ecology Letters has...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/">University of Sussex</a>, with funding from Rowse Honey Ltd, have proven that weeds are far more valuable in supporting biodiversity and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollutants-confuse-pollinators-and-reduce-food-production/">pollinators</a> than we give them credit for.



The study compared the biodiversity value of "injurious weeds" with plants that are known to support pollinator health as identified by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)&nbsp;



In the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/54/section/1">1959 Weeds Act</a>, five species of native wildflowers were classified as “injurious." Despite their classifications, three of them are visited by many species of bees and other insects. The other two are docks, whose flowers are mainly wind-pollinated.



Dr. Nicholas Balfour conducted a field study in East Sussex to observe insects visiting the flowers of weeds such as ragwort and thistles, and other wildflowers, including those recommended by DEFRA. The study revealed that pollinators visited weeds at a much higher rate than the DEFRA recommended plants.&nbsp;



“There now exists a substantial body of evidence which shows that weeds are a vitally important resource for pollinators," said Dr. Balfour.



“The three insect-pollinated species have open flowers that allow access to a wide variety of pollinator species, and they produce, on average, four times more nectar sugar than the DEFRA recommended plant species.”



The findings are supported by a scan of existing scientific literature. For example, the <a href="https://www.dopi.org.uk/">Database of Pollinator Interactions</a> demonstrates that both pollinator species and conservation-listed species are up to five times more likely to visit weeds. The database includes information on 387 plant and pollinator interactions - of which weeds are ranked 4th most visited.&nbsp;



“Pollinators are crucial to maintaining global biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and agricultural output. However, there are significant concerns about pollinator declines and the long-term decline of flowers in our landscapes is considered a key factor," explained Dr. Balfour.



The researchers acknowledge that agricultural weeds can affect pastureland, but emphasized that the value of flower-visiting insects should not be underestimated when it comes to natural biodiversity.



Sadly, weeds are not only underestimated, but are targeted for aggressive removal, with as much as £10 million per year spent controlling injurious weeds. Local councils in the UK indicated that the most targeted weed is ragwort, which is considered an invasive species.&nbsp;



“It is alarming that the many public bodies are using tax-payers’ money and volunteers to actively remove ragwort. This plant was found to support the most conservation-listed insect species in our study," said Dr. Balfour.



“Our results clearly show that weeds have an underappreciated value in supporting our natural biodiversity. Unfortunately, current UK agricultural policy encourages neither landsparing for, nor landsharing with, weeds.”



The study authors are encouraging policymakers to review existing policies and how they are implemented to reconsider the role of weeds in future agriculture and environmental policy.&nbsp;



This is a timely opportunity to influence policy as The Environmental Land Management Scheme, to be rolled out by 2024, will largely replace the schemes currently available under the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The researchers are hopeful that this policy will incentivize and persuade land managers to tolerate injurious weeds, and to acknowledge the vast benefits weeds provide to the natural world.



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652664">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.



Image Credit: Allan Burrows



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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

Weeds are much more valuable to pollinators than expected

Researchers at the University of Sussex, with funding from Rowse...

A commonly accepted explanation for the unusually cold weather over the United States in the early 2021 - including the unprecedented and brutal cold snap that gripped Texas in February – posits a “sudden stratospheric warming” as the main cause behind these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-extreme-weather-impact-marine-ecosystems/">weather</a> events. 



However, a new study led by the <a href="https://ncar.ucar.edu/">National Center for Atmospheric Research</a> (NCAR) has challenged this assumption, arguing that the tropospheric circulation and bidirectional coupling between the troposphere and stratosphere were the dominant contributors to the unusual weather patterns during that period.



Sudden stratospheric warmings are breakdowns of the winter stratospheric polar vortex. During the Northern Hemisphere winters, when the North Pole remains shrouded in darkness, a frigid mass of cold air forms in the stratosphere above the pole. This cold air is locked into place by a jet stream known as a stratospheric polar vortex.&nbsp;



About once every two years, the polar vortex is disrupted by planetary-scale waves that propagate upward from the troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere) and warm the vortex, weakening it or causing it to be displaced or split in two – a phenomenon known as a sudden stratospheric warming. In the month after such events occur, it is usually warmer than normal in Canada, Alaska, and the Middle East, and colder than normal in Siberia, Europe, and the United States.



However, scientists from NCAR argue that this phenomenon has not been the main cause behind the early 2021 cold waves over the United States. “I think everyone imagined that a pinball is shot up from the troposphere, hits the polar vortex, and breaks it apart,” said study lead author Nicholas Davis, an expert in climate dynamics at NCAR.&nbsp;



“And then another pinball shoots back down and changes the weather. But this study shows that it’s not so simple. I think it possible that the events in the troposphere and the stratosphere are feeding back on one another and reinforcing what’s happening.”



According to Dr. Davis and his colleagues, the initial state of the troposphere was the primary driver of the US cold snap, rather than the onset of the sudden stratospheric warming. However, a disturbed polar vortex following stratospheric warmings can reflect planetary waves back down into the troposphere, where they can intensify weather systems and create or exacerbate cold air outbreaks.&nbsp;



Thus, the complex interactions between the troposphere and the stratosphere are most likely behind the unusual weather patterns from early 2021, rather than the simpler form of causality connecting stratospheric warmings with the onset of the cold wave.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“There is overall insufficient dynamical evidence to conclude that the sudden stratospheric warming in particular, or the stratosphere in general, had a substantial impact on the surface circulation or surface temperatures in the month after the event. The tropospheric circulation, surface forcings, and their bidirectional coupling with the stratosphere played an equal if not more important role,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28836-1#Sec2">Nature Communications</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

Study reveals cause last winter’s brutal U.S. cold snap

A commonly accepted explanation for the unusually cold weather over...

The number of snowshoe hares in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thirsty-mountain-forests-leave-lower-elevations-with-less-water/">forest</a> is a good indicator of how healthy the ecosystem is, and scientists have now applied a new method to find out.



Usually, live-trapping is used by researchers for determining the density of snowshoe hares and other small mammals. However, this method is costly, requires a team of people to manage, and can potentially harm the animals.



The researchers have adopted an improved, more humane method for monitoring the population density of snowshoe hares that is based on newly developed camera-trapping methods.



“Snowshoe hares are considered a keystone, boreal forest species and there’s been some evidence that hare populations are changing as the climate warms,” said study co-author Dan Thornton. “This study comes out as rapidly changing climatic conditions are altering our natural plant and animal communities worldwide.”&nbsp;



Cameras have long been used to study the presence and population density of large cats, like the Canadian lynx for years. This is because large cats are easily distinguishable, with unique markings that differ between individuals. Snowshoe hares have unmarked coats, making it difficult to use traditional camera trapping methods.&nbsp;



Analytical models have been recently developed that use photographs to extract data such as animal speed and location. While these models have been effective in estimating the density of unmarked animals such as hares, the approach has not yet been used in the wild. Questions remain as to whether the modeling approach is as reliable as traditional, live-trapping methods.&nbsp;



In 2019, researchers from <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> designed a large-scale field test to analyze the camera method while investigating the density of snowshoe hares at various forested sites on the eastern edge of the North Cascades in Washington. The experiment successfully trapped 770 snowshoe hares and collected 13,608 camera trap photos.&nbsp;



To determine effectiveness, the research team compared live-trapping and camera-trapping data. The study found that, overall, density estimates from the cameras had an 86 percent correlation with live trapping data. “Until now, cameras could only really tell us if the hares are there or not there,” said Thornton.&nbsp;



To validate the reliability of this approach, the researchers plan to use camera trapping methods in larger scale experiments. The research could help map the health of snowshoe hares and other unmarked animals, and shed new light on the health of forests themselves.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jmammal/gyac009/6541509">Journal of Mammalogy</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

Snowshoe hares provide clues about forest health

The number of snowshoe hares in a forest is a...

Scientists at <a href="https://www.cedars-sinai.org/">Cedars-Sinai Medical Center </a>&nbsp;have found two types of brain cells that are instrumental in slicing up the human stream of consciousness into discrete memories that can be recalled later. This breakthrough discovery could potentially benefit those suffering from memory disorders such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physical-activity-reduces-the-risk-of-alzheimers/" data-type="news" data-id="1898923">Alzheimer’s</a> disease.&nbsp;



“One of the reasons we can’t offer significant help for somebody who suffers from a memory disorder is that we don’t know enough about how the memory system works,” said Dr. Ueli Rutishauser, senior author of the study.&nbsp;



To carry out the research, the experts recruited 19 participants with drug resistant epilepsy. The volunteers had electrodes implanted in their brains, which allowed the researchers to locate the location of seizures.&nbsp;



The electrodes also made it possible for the scientists to watch how the brain reacted as the participants were shown videos with soft and hard cognitive boundaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“An example of a soft boundary would be a scene with two people walking down a hallway and talking, and in the next scene, a third person joins them, but it is still part of the same overall narrative,” said Dr. Rutishauser. “The difference between hard and soft boundaries is in the size of the deviation from the ongoing narrative. Is it a totally different story, or like a new scene from the same story?”



When the volunteers viewed the film clips, the scientists noticed that certain brain cells increased in their activity after hard or soft boundaries, so they named these “boundary cells.” Other cells were called “event cells." The scientists hypothesized that both of these types of cells are important in finding and demarking different memories.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“A boundary response is kind of like creating a new folder on your computer,” said Dr. Rutishauser. “You can then deposit files in there. And when another boundary comes around, you close the first folder and create another one.”



After viewing the film, the volunteers were shown still images and asked whether or not they were part of the film. The scientists found that participants were more likely to remember an image that occurred right after either hard or soft boundaries.&nbsp;



The research subjects were also more likely to remember the order of images correctly, if they were separated by hard or soft boundaries. This may be due to the brain partitioning the different scenes into different memories.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“When you try to remember something, it causes brain cells to fire,” explained Dr. Rutishauser. “The memory system then compares this pattern of activity to all the previous firing peaks that happened shortly after boundaries. If it finds one that is similar, it opens that folder. You go back for a few seconds to that point in time, and things that happened then come into focus.”



The scientists believe that memory therapies which increase this sort of event partitioning could possibly benefit patients suffering from memory disorders but more research is needed.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/neuro/">Nature Neuroscience</a>.



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

Study identifies the brain cells that form memories

Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center &nbsp;have found two types 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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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