The Hammerschmiede fossil site in Germany has revealed a captivating story about the panda's diet about 11.5 million years ago. Unearthing the secrets buried deep within this site has rewritten part of evolutionary history. 



But could you imagine that the only species of bear found in this site was related to our beloved, bamboo-chomping giant panda? And, it didn't much care for bamboo.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-ancient-predators">Studying ancient predators</h2>



The study was conducted by an international group of experts led by Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the <a href="https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Tübingen</a>.



The team analyzed the dietary and lifestyle habits of 28 predator species from the Hammerschmiede that no longer roam our planet.



The findings have been detailed in two publications in the journals Papers in Palaeontology and Geobios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-excavations-at-hammerschmiede">Excavations at Hammerschmiede</h2>



In 2019, Hammerschmiede had the world buzzing with the discovery of the earliest great ape, Danuvius guggenmosi, which moved around on two legs approximately 11.5 million years ago.



The most recent excavations led by Professor Böhme have turned up an impressive variety of 166 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coelacanth-ngamugawi-wirngarri-new-species-living-fossil-fish-survived-over-400-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fossilized species</a>.



"Such a flourishing ecosystem offers a wealth of ecological niches for the species that live in it," said Böhme.



These animals had versatile lifestyles - some lived in the water and some lived on land. Others were adept tree climbers, which allowed them to adapt well to the forested river landscape of the region.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diet-of-an-ancient-panda">Diet of an ancient panda </h2>



The only bear species native to Hammerschmiede - known as Kretzoiarctos beatrix - shares an ancient lineage with the modern giant panda.



Intriguingly, the teeth of Kretzoiarctos beatrix bear similarities to those seen in pandas. However, unlike modern pandas with their bamboo-exclusive diet, Kretzoiarctos beatrix had a varied diet similar to today's brown bears.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-herbivorous-diet-of-modern-pandas">Herbivorous diet of modern pandas</h2>



Dr. Nikolaos Kargopoulos from the University of Tübingen and <a href="https://www.uct.ac.za" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Cape Town</a> is the lead author of the new studies.



"Today's giant pandas are part of the group of carnivores in the zoological taxonomy, but in fact, they live exclusively on plants. They've specialized in a hard vegetable diet, specifically of bamboo," noted Dr. Kargopoulos.



This adaptation to such a dedicated herbivorous diet by pandas, who were originally carnivores, is of significant scientific interest, said Dr. Kargopoulos.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dental-clues-about-panda-ancestors">Dental clues about panda ancestors </h2>



The first study by the research team decoded the diet of Kretzoiarctos using the macro- and micromorphology of fossilized teeth. These dental clues allow scientists to learn about an animal's dietary habits just before its death.



Most intriguingly, the investigation confirmed that the diet of Kretzoiarctos beatrix was not restricted to hard plants like modern pandas nor purely carnivorous like polar bears. Its diet mirrored that of a modern brown bear - a mix of plant and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/protemnodon-kangaroo-fossils-may-explain-their-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animal elements</a>.



"It turns out that Kretzoiarctos beatrix, the oldest of the pandas was a generalist. Specialization in the panda's diet only came about late in its evolution," said Böhme.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diverse-species-found-at-hammerschmiede">Diverse species found at Hammerschmiede</h2>



In addition to the panda, 27 predator species were identified at the Hammerschmiede site. These animals ranged from tiny, weasel-like beings weighing less than a kilogram, to hefty hyenas and saber-toothed tigers weighing over 100 kilograms.



"Their respective primary sources of food were very varied: There were pure carnivores such as the saber-tooth tiger, fish-eaters like the otters, and bone-eaters such as the hyena," said Dr. Kargopoulos.



"A few other species like the panda and the marten fed opportunistically on plants and animals of various sizes."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-thriving-ecosystem">A thriving ecosystem </h2>



The discovery of such varied predators in the Hammerschmiede is not just rare in fossils; it is also uncommon in any modern habitat. 



The findings suggest that Hammerschmiede's ecosystem was extremely productive. Existing harmoniously, even while occupying similar niches, these different species indicate the richness of the environment.



As the research at Hammerschmiede continues, each excavation brings us a little closer to understanding the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-life-and-environment-co-evolved-over-500-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mysteries of the past</a>. 



The remarkable findings at this site have added captivating chapters to the tale of evolution, particularly regarding the panda and its diet, opening new avenues for scientists worldwide.



The study is published in the journals <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1588" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Papers in Palaeontology</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016699524000445?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geobios</a>.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.



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



-----

Ancestors of giant pandas had a completely different diet

The Hammerschmiede fossil site in Germany has revealed a captivating story about the panda's diet about 11.5 million years ago. Unearthing the secrets buried deep within this site has rewritten part of evolutionary history. But could you imagine that the only species of bear found in this site was related to our beloved, bamboo-chomping giant panda? And, it didn't much care for bamboo. Studying ancient predators The study was conducted by an international group of experts led by Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Center for Human...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> has found that between 2.5 and 4 billion years ago, a period known as the Archean Eon, asteroids hit the Earth much more frequently than previously thought. The experts report that these frequent asteroid strikes likely delayed the moment when oxygen started accumulating on our planet. 



The findings could help us better understand when the Earth started its path toward becoming the habitable planet we know today.



During the Archean Eon, it was common for asteroids or comets to hit the Earth. The largest ones, over six miles wide, significantly altered the chemistry of the planet’s atmosphere by creating oxygen sinks that sucked most of the life-sustaining gas out of the atmosphere.



“Free oxygen in the atmosphere is critical for any living being that uses respiration to produce energy,” said Nadja Drabon, an assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. “Without the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere we would probably not exist.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



By analyzing records of small pieces of rocks that formed in the fiery collisions between asteroids or comets and the Earth (so-called “impact spherules”), Drabon and her colleagues have discovered that existing planetary bombardment models strongly underestimate how often asteroids and comets would hit Earth. 



The new collision rates suggest that impactors collided with the planet roughly every 15 million years, about 10 times more frequent than previously thought.&nbsp;



These findings align with geological records which show that the oxygen levels remained relatively low during the early Archean Eon, until 2.4 billion years ago, when the bombardment slowed down and the Earth experienced a major rise of oxygen levels known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE).



“As time went on, collisions become progressively less frequent and too small to be able to significantly alter post-GOE oxygen levels,” said study leader Simone Marchi, a scientist at the <a href="https://www.boulder.swri.edu/">Southwest Research Institute</a> in Boulder, Colorado. “The Earth was on its course to become the current planet.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00835-9">Nature Geoscience</a>.



---



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

Frequent asteroid strikes delayed oxygen growth on Earth

A new study led by Harvard University has found that...

Dinosaurs are often portrayed to have been aggressive and territorial, suggesting that they would generally live in solidarity. However, a new research study has come to a very different conclusion that some of the earliest dinosaurs flourished by living <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brazilian-jaguars-have-an-unexpected-diet-and-social-life/">socially</a> within herds.



Whilst past studies have already revealed that some dinosaurs lived in herds during the late stage of the Cretaceous Period, it has never been known exactly how and when this behavior emerged.



The research was carried out within a large fossil site in Patagonia, with fossilized eggs being analyzed with the <a href="https://www.esrf.fr/">ESRF</a> (European Synchrotron) tool. The 190-million-year-old nesting ground was discovered in the early 2000s, with scientists discovering skeletons belonging to Mussaurus patgonicus. “Such a preserved site was bound to provide us with a lot of information about how early dinosaurs lived," explained Diego Pol, the paleontologist who initially discovered the site.



The team used the ESRF tool to analyze 30 fossilized eggs containing embryos. The goal was to confirm whether the eggs were laid by Mussaurus or not. “We use high-energy X-rays to penetrate in the sample without destroying it and get a full view inside it," explained ESRF scientist Vincent Fernandez.



Ultimately, the high-resolution computed tomography confirmed that Mussaurus embryos were present in some of the eggs. Furthermore,&nbsp; it was concluded that the fossils belonged to a communal breeding site of a singular dinosaur species, showing that Mussarus would return to the same area (on the dry margins of a lake) to form breeding colonies.



The fossils were not scattered randomly but instead grouped according to their age, demonstrating the strategic grouping of eggs to form schools of young dinosaurs. While adults and subadults were more commonly found in pairs or alone, they were always within one square kilometer of each other.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In order to determine dinosaur age and conclude these results, the ESRF scientists had to cut thin bone samples and scrutinize them under a microscope. “The bones of these dinosaurs grew in annual cycles, much as the tree rings, so by counting the growth cycles we could infer the age of the dinosaur," explained Pol.



Considering that the Mussaurus species belonged to the first successful family of herbivorous dinosaurs, the research has presented clear evidence that dinosaurs developed strategic and well-organized herd structures over 40 million years before initial estimates.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“These are not the oldest dinosaurs, but they are the oldest dinosaurs for which a herd behavior has been proposed," said Pol. "Mussaurus belongs to the first successful family of herbivorous dinosaurs, so we postulate that being social and protecting their young together as a herd may have been part of the reason these long-necked dinosaurs were so common in all continents."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Social behavior helped early dinosaurs thrive

Dinosaurs are often portrayed to have been aggressive and territorial,...

A new study highlights the dangers of the ongoing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/delta-variants-could-further-prolong-the-covid-pandemic/">COVID-19</a> pandemic for mountain gorillas, particularly those in Volcanoes National Park. The researchers determined that there is a very high probability that a COVID-19 outbreak would lead this population of wild mountain gorillas to collapse.



"Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, have been the focus of intense study on the potential effects of diseases, particularly given that a significant percentage of the population is habituated and in close contact with humans on a daily basis for ecotourism, protection and research programs," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"Respiratory outbreaks occur on almost an annual basis - between 1990 and 2020, 18 outbreaks were recorded in the groups within Volcanoes National Park - and pneumonia is considered the second highest cause of mortality, although in only a few cases have illness be directly linked to human origins due to limited molecular data."



Even though COVID infections have been found in captive western lowland gorillas, the potential health risk that COVID-19 poses to mountain gorillas and other wild apes is not yet clear.&nbsp;



"The current COVID-19 pandemic has created unmeasurable damages to society at a global level, from the irreplaceable loss of life, to the massive economic losses. In addition, the disease threatens further biodiversity loss," wrote the researchers.



"Due to their shared physiology with humans, primates, and particularly great apes, are susceptible to the disease. However, it is still uncertain how their populations would respond in case of infection."



To investigate, a research team led by Fernando Colchero from the University of Southern Denmark obtained data on 396 gorillas from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The information was collected between 1967 and 2018 in Volcanoes National Park.&nbsp;



Taking into consideration the yearly variations in the size of the gorilla group, the experts used computer models to simulate the probability that a COVID-19 outbreak would lead to a population collapse.&nbsp;



The researchers also accounted for epidemiological factors that influence COVID-19 in humans, including the probability of death after infection and the probability of developing immunity.



Overall, the study authors ran 2,000 simulations in which the size and structure of the population in the park varied at different rates. The analysis revealed that 71 percent of these simulated populations would collapse within 50 years.&nbsp;



According to the researchers, the outlook could be even more grim due to the fact that mortality could be higher among gorillas with a limited availability of treatment options.&nbsp;



On the other hand, the experts noted that the tendency of gorilla groups to naturally socially distance from each other likely decreases the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.&nbsp;



"The most evident and urgent goal is to avoid infection with COVID-19," wrote the researchers. "This requires that both, park personnel and tourists are vaccinated promptly, monitored for evidence of infection before they come in proximity of the mountain gorillas, and that mask wearing, hygiene measures and daily health checks before visiting gorillas are strictly followed."



"Similarly, it is fundamental to establish a monitoring protocol that allows testing regularly gorillas for possible infections."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.



---



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

A COVID-19 outbreak could be devastating for mountain gorillas

A new study highlights the dangers of the ongoing COVID-19...

According to a new <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.10.463851v3.full">study</a> led by the <a href="https://www.soken.ac.jp/">Graduate University for Advanced Studies</a>, an extinct Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) may hold clues to the origins of modern dogs. Genomic analyses indicate that the two might share a common ancestor, and that up to 5.5 percent of modern dog genomes throughout East Eurasia are derived from Japanese <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolf-populations-are-expanding-across-europe/">wolf</a> ancestry.



The Japanese wolf was a subspecies of the gray wolf which inhabited the Japanese Archipelago until approximately 120 years ago. At least since they appeared in written records in the first century AD, these wolves were seen as pests, preying on horses and other livestock.&nbsp;



More recently, rabies outbreaks and habitat loss forced Japanese wolves into increased conflict with humans, making their eradication a national priority towards the end of the 19th century. The last known Japanese wolf was hunted and killed by humans in 1905.&nbsp;



By studying the genomes of nine Japanese wolves from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and 11 Japanese dogs (including popular breeds such as shiba inus), and comparing the results of the analysis to both modern and ancient wolves and dogs, the scientists found that both the Japanese wolves and modern dogs came from a vanished population of gray wolves in East Asia.



According to study senior author Yohei Terai, an evolutionary biologist at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, the Japanese wolf appears to be a unique, genetically distinct subspecies of the gray wolf, different from both ancient and modern gray wolves. Surprisingly though, the Japanese wolf seemed to share significant genetic affinities to East Eurasian dogs. “It’s a sister relationship,” Terai said.



“If true, this is very important,” added Laurent Frantz, an evolutionary geneticist at the<a href="https://www.lmu.de/en/">&nbsp;Ludwig Maximilian&nbsp;University of Munich</a>. “It’s the first time we’ve seen a wolf population that’s close to dogs.”&nbsp;



However, not all dogs have a significant genetic overlap with the Japanese wolf. Western dogs such as Labradors or German Shepherds, for example, shared far less genetic material than eastern dogs, such as modern Japanese breeds, or ancient canines including the dingo or the New Guinea singing dog. Terai and his colleagues speculate that Japanese wolves bred with dogs that were moving east after a hypothesized east-west split of canine lineages.&nbsp;



Nevertheless, the discovery of these significant affinities between the Japanese wolf and eastern dogs is a crucial step forward in understanding the origins and evolution of modern dogs.



---



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

Mysterious wolf may hold clues to the origins of modern dogs

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

According to a recent <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/climate-change-triggers-mounting-food-insecurity-poverty-and-displacement-africa">report</a> of the <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en">World Meteorological Organization</a> (WMO), Africa’s rare glaciers located on Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and the Rwenzori Mountains are retreating at an increasing speed due to global warming. Anthropogenic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-profoundly-affect-plankton-communities/">climate change</a> may cause the glaciers to disappear completely by 2040.



Between 2014 and 2020, Furtwängler, Mount Kilimanjaro's largest glacier, has shrunk 70 percent. This glacier is vital to the people living in the nearby areas, being a major source of freshwater. Moreover, its disappearance could severely impact Tanzania’s tourist industry, since the Kilimanjaro glaciers attract thousands of people from all over the globe each year.



The Rwenzori Mountains from Uganda, which are often referred to as the “African Alps,” the “mountains of the moon,” or “the snowy source of the Nile,” and are also important tourist attractions, have lost up to 90 percent of their mass during the past decades.&nbsp;



While the Kilimanjaro and the Rwenzori glaciers are expected to disappear by 2040, the situation in Kenya is even more dramatic: the Lewis Glacier, which lost over 90 percent of its volume since 1934, is expected to vanish completely by as early as 2030. &nbsp;



“When the melting starts, rivers first experience high flows because of the melting ice. But this subsequently reduces because the glaciers never really recover like they did before climate change became a reality. Because of this, there is less and less water in the rivers in the years that follow,” warned Isaac Kalua, a Kenyan environmentalist and chairman of <a href="https://watertowers.go.ke/">Kenya’s Water Towers</a> Management Authority.



"During 2020, the climate indicators in Africa were characterized by continued warming temperatures, accelerating sea-level rise, extreme weather and climate events, such as floods, landslides and droughts, and associated devastating impacts. The rapid shrinking of the last remaining glaciers in eastern Africa, which are expected to melt entirely in the near future, signals the threat of imminent and irreversible change to the Earth system,"&nbsp;said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.



If no adequate response measures are urgently put in place, this weather and climate variability will lead to a significant disruption of ecological, economic, and social systems, and expose over 118 million people who already fight with poverty to droughts, floods, and extreme heat.&nbsp;



“This will place additional burdens on poverty alleviation efforts and significantly hamper growth in prosperity,” concluded H.E. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture in the <a href="https://au.int/en">African Union Commission</a>.



---



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

Africa’s glaciers may disappear by 2040

According to a recent report of the World Meteorological Organization...

The detection and recognition of potentially dangerous smells is an ancient mammalian trait. Using a new technique, researchers at the <a href="https://ki.se/en">Karolinska Institutet</a> were able to look at the brain as it detected a bad smell that was potentially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hummingbirds-can-smell-dangerous-insects/">dangerous</a>.&nbsp;



"The human avoidance response to unpleasant smells associated with danger has long been seen as a conscious cognitive process, but our study shows for the first time that it's unconscious and extremely rapid," explained study first author Behzad Iravani.



The study shows that negative or dangerous smells are processed in the brain earlier than positive smells.&nbsp;



"We demonstrate that odor valence perception is associated with both gamma and beta activity in the human olfactory bulb (OB)," wrote the researchers.



"Moreover, we show that negative, but not positive, odors initiate an early beta response in the OB, a response that is linked to a preparatory neural motor response in the motor cortex."



While it is known that it is important to be able to identify potentially dangerous smells quickly, the neurological mechanisms behind this ability have remained a mystery.&nbsp;



This is partly due to the fact that there are not many non-invasive ways to measure activity in the olfactory bulb. The researchers in this study developed a new method to measure this activity.



Study participants were subjected to six different smells that might be positive or negative while the electrophysiological activity of their olfactory lobe was measured as it responded to the smells.&nbsp;



"It was clear that the bulb reacts specifically and rapidly to negative smells and sends a direct signal to the motor cortex within about 300 milliseconds," said study last author Professor Johan Lundström. "The signal causes the person to unconsciously lean back and away from the source of the smell."



"The results suggest that our sense of smell is important to our ability to detect dangers in our vicinity, and much of this ability is more unconscious than our response to danger mediated by our senses of vision and hearing."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">PNAS</a>.



---



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

The brain responds to bad smells within milliseconds

The detection and recognition of potentially dangerous smells is an...

Patience is sometimes seen as a uniquely human trait, but animals are also capable of waiting patiently. Studies have found that primates, birds and dogs can all delay immediate gratification and wait for a reward that is preferable.&nbsp;



In a recent study by scientists from the <a href="https://www.orn.mpg.de/en">Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology</a>, 28 birds from four parrot species were tested for their ability to be patient. They were all expected to resist eating a food they did not prefer while they waited to be presented with a food they preferred.&nbsp;



The birds included eight great green macaws, six blue-throated macaws, six blue-headed macaws, and eight African grey parrots, all provided by the Loro Parque Fundación in Spain.&nbsp;



To test levels of self-control, the birds were presented with sunflower seeds – a food they did not prefer – through a gap in a transparent screen. If the birds delayed gratification and did not eat the sunflower seeds, a rotating apparatus would then present them (in 5 to 60 seconds) with walnuts, which were preferred by all the birds.&nbsp;



Both the seeds and the nuts were visible through the transparent screen. If the birds ate the sunflower seeds that were initially presented to them, the experiment ended and they were not given access to any walnuts.&nbsp;



The results showed that African grey parrots were able to wait an average of 29.4 seconds for their preferred food to become available; the great green macaws waited an average of 20 seconds, the blue-headed macaws waited 11.7 seconds and the blue-throated macaws waited only 8.3 seconds. The best performing parrot, an African grey named Sensei, was able to wait for a maximum of 50 seconds – 20 seconds longer than the maximum waiting time for the best performing macaw.



“Our findings suggest that the self-control abilities of closely related macaw species vary greatly between individuals and species. We hypothesize that these differences could be linked to differences in brain size or general intelligence," said study co-author Matthew Petelle.



"They could also be influenced by the foraging behaviors or social organization of different species as better self-control may have been more strongly selected for among birds who are required to invest more time in locating and extracting food or who live in more complex social environments.”



The birds were recorded engaging in a variety of displacement activities while they waited for their preferred food to become available. Sometimes they paced about, or manipulated objects while waiting. The more time a bird spent engaging in these behaviors, the more successful they were at waiting, especially when they had to wait for longer than ten seconds. The effectiveness of these behaviors varied between species.&nbsp;



African greys were more successful at waiting than blue-throated and blue-headed macaws, even though they engaged in these behaviors for similar amounts of time. Pacing was the behavior associated with the greatest success at waiting for the preferred food.



Matthew Petelle said:&nbsp;



“We propose that birds engaged in behaviors such as pacing in order to suppress the impulse to eat the food they did not prefer and better enable them to cope with waiting for the food they preferred to become available," said Petelle.



"Similar coping or distraction behaviors reported in other species, such as lying down and looking away in dogs or playing with toys in chimpanzees, have previously been associated with greater success at waiting.”



Little is currently known about how the species of parrots used in the study interact with their natural environments or with other wild parrots, and so the influence of these factors on the ability to delay gratification cannot be quantified. Limited conclusions can be drawn about the reasons for the inter- and intraspecific differences encountered in this study.&nbsp;



The study authors feel that future research could focus on the social organization, foraging behaviors and brain sizes of parrot species such as blue-headed and blue-throated macaws in order to determine the influence of these factors on the evolution of self-control and patience.



The research is published today in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10071">Animal Cognition</a>.



---



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

African grey parrots practice self-control and patience

Patience is sometimes seen as a uniquely human trait, but...

Chimpanzee,Against,A,Background,Of,Dark,Foliage/chimpanzee/chimpanzee

Although chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are most commonly associated with forested habitats in Africa, there are several countries in both West and East Africa where chimpanzee populations inhabit savannas. This implies that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/illegal-cannabis-farms-infringe-on-crucial-animal-habitats/">habitats</a> are more open, with higher temperatures and lower annual rainfall, which has required different adaptive strategies from the chimpanzees living there. 



Savanna chimpanzees are taxonomically identical to forest-dwelling chimpanzees, and thus comparisons of the behavior, morphology and ecology of the two groups help researchers to understand how early humans may have adapted, millions of years ago, when African forests began to recede and be replaced by open savannas.&nbsp;



Certain behaviors and physiological responses in savanna chimpanzees, such as resting in caves or digging to access water, are considered specific adaptations to life in savanna habitats and are not observed in their forest-dwelling counterparts.&nbsp;



Adriana Hernández, Serra Hunter professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Barcelona, co-led a recent study conducted by an international team of primatologists that reviewed the existing research on the behavior and ecology of savanna chimpanzees to understand how these apes adapt to extreme conditions.



“The study on savanna chimpanzees and what we call the&nbsp;landscape savanna effect&nbsp;have important implications for reconstructing the behavior of the first hominins who lived in similar habitats and therefore, it helps us to better understand our own evolution,” said Professor Hernández, who co-led the study with Stacy Lindshield from the University of Purdue.



"We know that early hominins adapted to savanna environments similar to those occupied by chimpanzees today, and researchers think that savanna conditions caused adaptations in our ancestors, such as brain expansion or tolerance to high temperatures."



“Therefore, understanding how our genetically closest living relatives adapt to a dry, hot, seasonal and open environment, very similar to those where early hominins lived, helps us to model how our ancestors might have adapted and how the features that define us as humans might have emerged.”



Chimpanzees share 98.7 percent of their DNA with humans and have a common ancestor that lived between 4.5 and 6 million years ago. This makes them the closest living relatives of modern humans. However, they lack some of the physiological and cultural traits that help humans adapt to extreme heat, such as numerous sweat glands, relative lack of hair and the ability to fashion water containers in which to carry or store water.&nbsp;



The researchers found that savanna chimpanzees have developed specific strategies to help them cope with high temperatures.&nbsp;



“Understanding how they deal with heat can help us better understand what strategies human ancestors may have used to cope with high temperatures. Some strategies are probably the same for chimpanzees and hominins, such as the use of caves or going into water pools to cool down,” noted Professor Hernández. They also try to hydrate themselves during the advanced dry season by digging for water in certain places. “Early hominins also had to deal with low water availability during part of the year."



The study also found that chimpanzee social groups in the savanna have unusually large home ranges of around 100 km², whereas chimpanzees living in more forested areas have ranges between 3 and 30 km². "However, although group sizes are similar in different habitats, chimpanzees in the savanna have a much lower population density, which could be explained by the low availability of food in this habitat."



It is thought that there are fewer chimpanzees living in savanna habitats than in forests, although the exact numbers are not known. In general, knowledge about savanna chimpanzees is incomplete and much more research is needed.&nbsp;



"It should be noted that there are far fewer sites where savanna chimpanzees have been studied, as there are only two study sites where savanna chimpanzees are habituated to humans and their behavior can be observed directly. In contrast, there are many study sites where chimpanzees are fully habituated to researchers in the forest, a habitat where these primates have been studied for decades," explained Professor Hernández.



This study also makes a contribution to understanding the potential effects of climate change on forest chimpanzees, in particular. "The adaptation of savanna chimpanzees to extreme climates can help us model how chimpanzees that currently inhabit forests might adapt to changes that climate studies project will make their environments drier and warmer," said the researchers.



"This is important, since the species is categorized as Endangered and the West African subspecies (Pan troglodytes verus) is Critically Endangered."



The study is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15206505">Evolutionary Anthropology</a>.



---



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

Chimpanzees give us clues about early human evolution

Although chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are most commonly associated with forested...

In evolution, it’s usually thought that organisms avoid competition through resource partitioning, which allows a greater diversity of organisms than otherwise possible. For instance, if two birds live in the same <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/old-oak-trees-ramp-up-photosynthesis-in-response-to-rising-co2/">tree</a> and eat the same types of insects, one bird may specialize in the top of the tree while the other specializes in the bottom of the tree. This works with plants as well as animals and other organisms.&nbsp;



In a new report from <a href="http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html">Okayama University</a>,&nbsp; researchers suggest that resource partitioning is not always necessary for plants to coexist. A theory called the “pre-emptive selfing hypothesis” proposes that if plants can evolve self pollination, they may be able to coexist without resource partitioning. To validate their theory, the Japanese scientists used mathematical modeling and computer simulations.&nbsp;



The model simulated individual-based scenarios to look at the conditions where evolution favored selfing, or self pollination, in the face of competition with other plants.&nbsp;



"In a previous study, we found that two species of Asian dayflower, Commelina communis and C. communis f. ciliata, have flowers that look similar, share the same pollinators, and compete through pollinator-mediated reproductive interference. However, this observation had no explanation in the existing theory," said lead researcher Dr. Koki R. Katsuhara.



"Then I hit upon the pre-emptive selfing hypothesis that offered a plausible explanation for their existence and figured that this idea might apply to plant species other than Commelina."



The study shows that the evolutionary mechanism of coexistence between similar species of flowering plants is more complex than previously understood. It also shows that coexistence of two plants even within the same ecological niche is possible.&nbsp;



"This work will lead to an improved understanding of plant species coexistence, which, in turn, could help us manage plant diversity in a sustainable way, as well as rescue native species threatened by an invasive alien species," said Dr. Katsuhara.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/publications/journals/journal-of-ecology/">Journal of Ecology</a>.



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

When faced with competition, some plants learn to self-pollinate

In evolution, it’s usually thought that organisms avoid competition through...

There has been much debate and hypothesizing about the origins of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/domestication-shrunk-rabbits-brains/">domestication</a> in horses (Equus caballus). Where were they first domesticated, and by whom? How did they spread around the globe and what were their ancestors like? Many previous studies have attempted to answer these questions but no final resolution has been forthcoming, and the early domestication of the horse has remained exceedingly difficult to trace in the archeological record.&nbsp;



In a new study led by Professor Ludovic Orlando of <a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/">CNRS</a>, a team of 162 international scientists has had a breakthrough. The experts, who specialize in archeology, paleogenetics and linguistics used the modern technologies of genetic analysis.&nbsp;



In recent years, a scientific consensus had emerged linking the Botai culture of northern Kazakhstan with the first domestication of horses, based on the presence of 5,500-year-old skeletal remains with damage to the dentition that is commonly linked to the use of bridle mouthpieces. However, when Ludovic Orlando's team looked at the DNA from the archeological remains, they found that the animals were Przewalsky’s horses (Equus przewalski), a totally different species from modern domesticated horses.&nbsp;



In all other locations hypothesized to be potential foci for domestication, for example Anatolia, Siberia and the Iberian Peninsula, the evidence turned out to be false. “We knew that the time period between 4,000 to 6,000 years ago was critical but no smoking guns could ever be found,” said Professor Orlando.&nbsp;



The scientific team thus decided to extend their study and analyze the genomes of 273 horses that lived between 50,000 and 200 years BC, at sites throughout Eurasia. This information was sequenced at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CNRS/Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier) and Genoscope&nbsp;(CNRS/CEA/Université d’Évry) before being compared with the genomes of modern domestic horses.



The results indicated that, although Eurasia was once populated by genetically distinct horse populations, a dramatic change occurred between 2000 and 2200 BC. “That was a chance: the horses living in Anatolia, Europe, Central Asia and Siberia used to be genetically quite distinct,” explained study first author Dr. Pablo Librado. 



Then, a single genetic profile, previously found only on the Pontic steppes (North Caucasus), began to spread beyond its native region, replacing all the wild horse populations from the Atlantic to Mongolia. From this the authors conclude that horses were first domesticated in the Pontic-Caspian steppes,&nbsp;northern Caucasus, before spreading out through the rest of Eurasia within a few centuries.&nbsp;



“The genetic data also point to an explosive demography at the time, with no equivalent in the last 100,000 years,” said Professor Orlando. “This is when we took control over the reproduction of the animal and produced them in astronomic numbers.”



Two striking differences were found in the genome of this horse that spread so rapidly throughout Eurasia: the new horses had more docile behavior and stronger backbones than the breeds they replaced. The researchers suggest that these characteristics ensured the animals’ success at a time when horse travel was becoming more commonplace and widespread.



Indeed, the research also showed that the genetically different horse spread throughout Asia at the same time as spoke-wheeled chariots and Indo-Iranian languages. However, the migrations of Indo-European populations, from the steppes to Europe during the third millennium BC&nbsp;could not have been based on the horse, as its domestication and diffusion came later. This demonstrates the importance of incorporating the history of animals when studying human migrations and encounters between cultures, state the authors.



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



---



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

The origin of horse domestication has finally been revealed

There has been much debate and hypothesizing about the origins...

Mammoths, the woolly cousins of today’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/elephants-can-be-very-cooperative-until-the-food-gets-scarce/">elephants</a>, roamed the Earth for over five million years before they mysteriously vanished about 4,000 years ago. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> has found that the cause of their extinction was not humans, as previously thought, but climate change.



Mammoths lived alongside early humans and were regularly hunted by hominids for food and clothing. Moreover, the animals’ skeletons were used to build shelters and various tools and instruments, ranging from harpoons to flutes.



“Scientists have argued for 100 years about why mammoths went extinct. Humans have been blamed because the animals had survived for millions of years without climate change killing them off before, but when they lived alongside humans they didn’t last long and we were accused of hunting them to death,” said study leader Eske Willerslev, a fellow at the University of Cambridge’s St. John’s College. However, humans in fact lived over 2,000 years alongside mammoths, without causing their extinction.



By analyzing ancient DNA samples from plants and animal remains collected over a period of 20 years from sites in the Arctic where mammoths used to live, Professor Willerslev and his colleagues have found that, after the last Ice Age from late Pleistocene, the climate got wetter and the ice began to melt, leading to the formation of rivers, lakes, and marshes. These changes in the ecosystems significantly reduced the vegetation on which mammoths relied, including various types of grass, small shrubs, plants, and flowers, and made it impossible for them to survive.



“We have finally been able to prove was that it was not just the climate changing that was the problem, but the speed of it that was the final nail in the coffin – they were not able to adapt quickly enough when the landscape dramatically transformed and their food became scarce,” explained Professor Willerslev.



“This is a stark lesson from history and shows how unpredictable climate change is – once something is lost, there is no going back. Precipitation was the cause of the extinction of woolly mammoths through the changes to plants. The change happened so quickly that they could not adapt and evolve to survive,” he concluded.



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



Image Credit: Daniel Eskridge



---



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

Mammoths were wiped out by climate change, not humans

Mammoths, the woolly cousins of today’s elephants, roamed the Earth...

According to a new study led by the <a href="https://medicine.wustl.edu/">Washington University School of Medicine</a> in St. Louis, like many other things in life, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poor-sleep-quality-is-associated-with-mental-illness/">sleep</a> is best in moderation. Through a longitudinal study of older adults, scientists have discovered that both short and long sleepers experience greater cognitive decline than people who sleep moderately.



Both poor sleep and Alzheimer’s disease are associated with cognitive decline. Thus, separating the effects of each has proven challenging. By tracking the cognitive functioning of a group of 100 older adults over 4.5 years and analyzing it against levels of proteins related to Alzheimer’s disease and measures of brain activity during sleep, the scientists have shed new light on the complex relationship among sleep, Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive functioning.



“It’s been challenging to determine how sleep and different stages of Alzheimer’s disease are related, but that’s what you need to know to start designing interventions,” said study lead author&nbsp;Brendan Lucey, an associate professor of Neurology and director of the Washington University&nbsp;<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUUOrhW-2FAaQ3u4vk6vdUg1mvTrnTAtBrEOmwAeYJBqRi6y3qh_qUUMznMkXGT9vocK663RhihR1E3P7Zhw8trthuwelyTfR-2BnsLMSwOQIMF0GjbacMCc3OzgSGJNEF-2B2N6cD3eKEvG2HlsfjpnB1jpUBbe5O9IlB7tEy56cOGuT7q19fXHNsbMCsrKAnW7J6nRb05tLvZC1X2ytS4TQ3xmyJue3XmP0s4HzBllG-2FqaWXesoRM6RrO1MD3zQxgVImnnArPYAwIzZvy9uY2ikay6upHyAtl5B7R-2F7RPsI6xaZ4oIovH3NO5pgoKIeQYgduhqHTfI-2FecROPms0BXQs-2BQZm7mxUsE2p3cp2UYbmouhwpeG-2FRONxuQMbWrfWGStUkrHtzXj4ULF1cgUR52VM9Fcl-2BOBagQ-3D">Sleep Medicine Center</a>.&nbsp;



The researchers found that cognitive scores declined for the persons who slept either less than 4.5 hours or more than 6.5 hours per night, while scores remained stable for those in the middle of the range. While previous studies argued that short amounts of sleep lead to mental health issues, these new findings show that too much sleep can also be harmful. This suggests that sleep quality could be more important than quantity. Moreover, sleep problems appears to accelerate the brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s.



“Our study suggests that there is a middle range, or ‘sweet spot,’ for total sleep time where cognitive performance was stable over time. Short and long sleep times were associated with worse cognitive performance, perhaps due to insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality,” explained Professor Lucey.



“An unanswered question is if we can intervene to improve sleep, such as increasing sleep time for short sleepers by an hour or so, would that have a positive effect on their cognitive performance so they no longer decline? We need more longitudinal data to answer this question.”



However, according to Lucey, each person’s sleep needs are unique and people who wake up rested on either short or long sleeping schedules should not feel compelled to change their habits.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/brain">Brain</a>.



---



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

Moderate sleep reduces the risk of cognitive decline

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



---



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...