Exercise is well known for its broad health benefits, from strengthening muscles and bones to supporting heart and immune health. Now, a team of engineers from MIT has uncovered a new benefit: exercise can directly promote neuron growth.



Led by <a href="https://www.mit.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MIT</a>’s Ritu Raman, a recent study shows that contracting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/muscles-defy-aging-with-remarkable-resilience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">muscles</a> release biochemical signals, or myokines, which significantly enhance neuron growth.&nbsp;



When neurons were exposed to these muscle-generated signals, they grew four times farther than those without exposure. This discovery could pave the way for new therapies focused on nerve repair and regeneration.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-muscle-nerve-communication">Muscle-nerve communication</h2>



This study provides the first evidence that physical activity itself can stimulate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-a-way-to-regenerate-old-neurons/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neuron growth</a> as effectively as biochemical signals from muscles.&nbsp;



While prior research hinted at a connection between muscles and nerve growth, MIT’s study goes further, revealing the powerful role both biochemical and physical effects play.&nbsp;



The research, published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202403712" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Advanced Healthcare Materials</a>, highlights the essential link between muscle and nerve health and could have applications for therapies aimed at restoring nerve function.



“Now that we know this muscle-nerve crosstalk exists, it can be useful for treating things like nerve injury, where communication between nerve and muscle is cut off,” said Raman, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.&nbsp;



“Maybe if we stimulate the muscle, we could encourage the nerve to heal, and restore mobility to those who have lost it due to traumatic injury or neurodegenerative diseases.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-muscles-influence-nerve-growth">Muscles influence nerve growth</h2>



In previous work, Raman’s team helped restore mobility in mice with traumatic muscle injuries by implanting new muscle tissue at the site of the injury and then stimulating it with light.&nbsp;



Over time, this exercised muscle tissue produced certain biochemicals that promoted blood vessel and nerve growth, restoring function in injured areas. 



This finding suggested muscles could influence nerve growth, and it led Raman’s team to explore whether muscle-generated signals might directly support nerve growth.



To isolate muscle responses, they engineered mouse muscle tissue that would contract when exposed to light. 



Using a special gel mat that supports muscle tissue without detachment, the team stimulated muscle contractions, allowing the tissue to release a blend of myokines - biochemical messengers including proteins and RNA.



“Muscles are pretty much always secreting myokines, but when you exercise them, they make more,” Raman explained. After collecting this solution, the team introduced it to motor neurons to observe how they might respond.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biochemical-signals-and-neuron-growth">Biochemical signals and neuron growth</h2>



The team applied the myokine solution to motor neurons derived from mouse stem cells. 



Observing their behavior, the experts found that the neurons quickly extended, growing four times faster and farther than those not exposed to myokines.



“They grow much farther and faster, and the effect is pretty immediate,” Raman said.



A closer genetic analysis of the neurons showed that the myokines stimulated genes not only related to growth but also to neuronal maturation and function.



“We saw that many of the genes up-regulated in the exercise-stimulated neurons were not only related to neuron growth, but also neuron maturation, how well they talk to muscles and other nerves, and how mature the axons are,” Raman explained.&nbsp;



“Exercise seems to impact not just neuron growth but also how mature and well-functioning they are.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-physical-movement-alone-promotes-growth">Physical movement alone promotes growth</h2>



The researchers next wondered if neurons could respond similarly to exercise’s mechanical impacts without biochemical cues.&nbsp;



“Neurons are physically attached to muscles, so they are also stretching and moving with the muscle,” Raman said.&nbsp;



Using a gel mat embedded with tiny magnets, the team simulated mechanical stretching on a different set of neurons, “exercising” them by gently moving the mat back and forth.



Remarkably, this mechanical stimulation resulted in neuron growth similar to that induced by myokines. The findings suggest that exercise’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-in-a-pill-is-now-closer-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">physical impacts</a> may directly encourage neuron growth. 



“That’s a good sign because it tells us both biochemical and physical effects of exercise are equally important,” Raman said.



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



This breakthrough in understanding how muscles influence neurons opens new therapeutic possibilities for nerve repair and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-grounds-could-help-prevent-neurodegenerative-diseases/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neurodegenerative conditions</a>.&nbsp;



By using targeted muscle stimulation, researchers hope to develop treatments for conditions such as ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases that affect nerve function. 



“This is just our first step toward understanding and controlling exercise as medicine,” Raman said.



With growing evidence that exercise supports nerve health on multiple levels, researchers are now focused on exploring the potential for exercise-based therapies to restore function and mobility for those affected by nerve damage or degeneration.&nbsp;



These findings highlight the powerful role exercise could play in future neurotherapeutic approaches.



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Exercise fuels neuron growth through muscle signals

Exercise is well known for its broad health benefits, from strengthening muscles and bones to supporting heart and immune health. Now, a team of engineers from MIT has uncovered a new benefit: exercise can directly promote neuron growth. Led by MIT’s Ritu Raman, a recent study shows that contracting muscles release biochemical signals, or myokines, which significantly enhance neuron growth.&nbsp; When neurons were exposed to these muscle-generated signals, they grew four times farther than those without exposure. This discovery could pave the way for new therapies focused...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> has investigated the effect that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-derivation-linked-to-unhealthy-diets-among-teens/">sleep</a> has on our memory of face and name learning. The scientists found that people’s capacity to remember newly learned face-name associations can be improved through reactivating this information during uninterrupted deep sleep. However, if the sleep is disrupted, the memory reactivation does not appear to help and may even be detrimental.&nbsp;



The scientists enrolled 24 participants, with ages ranging between 18 and 31, and asked them to memorize the faces and names of 40 pupils from a hypothetical Japanese history class and 40 from a Latin American history class. Afterwards, participants took a nap while the researchers monitored their brain activity through EEG measurements. When they reached a state of deep sleep, some of the names they learned before were played softly on a speaker together with music associated to one of the hypothetical classes.



When participants woke up, they were re-tested on their face-name recall capacity. The researchers found that those with uninterrupted deep sleep during the time of memory reactivation were able to better recall more of the face-name associations than participants with EEG measures indicating disrupted sleep.



“It’s a new and exciting finding about sleep, because it tells us that the way information is reactivated during sleep to improve memory storage is linked with high-quality sleep,”&nbsp;said study lead author Nathan Whitmore, a doctoral student in Neuroscience at Northwestern.



“We already know that some sleep disorders like&nbsp;apnea&nbsp;can impair memory. Our research suggests a potential explanation for this — frequent sleep interruptions at night might be degrading memory.”



Whitmore and his colleagues are currently in the midst of a follow-up study in which they deliberately disrupt sleep in order to learn more about the relation between sleep quality and memory formation.



“This new line of research will let us address many interesting questions — like whether sleep disruption is always harmful or whether it could be used to weaken unwanted memories,” said study senior author Ken Paller, a professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Northwestern.&nbsp;



“At any rate, we are increasingly finding good reasons to value high-quality sleep,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00119-2">NPJ: Science of Learning</a>.



---



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

Deep sleep improves memory formation and recall

A new study led by Northwestern University has investigated the...

On Monday, January 10, 2022, a new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-are-arriving-with-ships-in-antarctica/">species</a> of rainfrog recently discovered on the sky island of Cerro Chucantí in eastern Panama has been named after the famous environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Pristimantis gretathunbergae was discovered by an international team of researchers funded by <a href="https://www.rainforesttrust.org/">Rainforest Trust</a>, a nonprofit environmental organization.



“Rainforest Trust is deeply honored to sponsor the naming of this exquisite and threatened Panamanian frog species for Greta Thunberg. Greta more than anyone reminds us that the future of every species on Earth depends on what we do right now to end climate change,” said Rainforest Trust CEO James Deutsch.



The research team that discovered this rainfrog was led by Abel Batista, a herpetologist at the <a href="http://www.unachi.ac.pa/">Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí</a> (Panama) and Konrad Mebert, an independent researcher previously affiliated with the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a> (Switzerland). The two scientists have collaborated for more than ten years and described together 12 new species.



Discovering Pristimantis gretathunbergae has not been an easy task. Reaching the frog’s habitat on Cerro Chucantí, a sky island surrounded by lowland tropical rainforest in eastern Panama, required travelling on horseback through muddy trails, hiking on steep slopes, and camping above 1000 meters.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The rainfrog has distinctive, unusually prominent black eyes, a contrasting light upper lip, a large head, and a single conical tubercle on the upper eyelid. Its current habitats are severely fragmented and threatened by rapid deforestation aiming to replace the pristine region with plantations and cattle pastures. Moreover, rising temperatures caused by climate change are additional stressors for this frog’s small mountain habitat.



“Investigations on the ecology of the new species and its population status, especially at the type locality, are highly recommended. As a flagship species, this new frog can help to preserve the Chucantí cloud forest including several recently described species known only from this isolated area in eastern Panama,” wrote the study authors.



A scientific description of Pristimantis gretathunbergae and its habitat can be found in the journal <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/63009/element/8/28012/">ZooKeys</a>.&nbsp;



Image Credit: Konrad Mebert



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

New rainfrog named after climate activist Greta Thunberg

On Monday, January 10, 2022, a new species of rainfrog...

A special issue of the journal Nature Reviews Earth &amp; Environment is shedding light on rapidly changing Arctic coasts. Scientists at the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/">Alfred Wegener Institute</a> (AWI) describe the potential consequences of shifting Arctic shorelines for humans, animals, and the environment.



“The pace of changes in the Arctic is increasing, leading to accelerated coastal retreat,” said Dr. Anna Irrgang of the AWI Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. “This affects both the natural and human environment, for example, by releasing carbon from the soil into the sea and atmosphere, or losing the land that supports communities and infrastructure.”



Arctic coastal regions are not uniform. For example, shorelines in Alaska, Canada and Siberia are made of heavy permafrost bluffs that are resistant to wave action under cold temperatures, but vulnerable as they warm up. Other shorelines, such as those found in Svalbard, are rocky and less fragile. With temperatures rising, however, scientists expect that all of these coastal systems will change to some degree.



“Predictions about this are often subject to large uncertainties because reliable oceanographic and environmental data for remote coastal zones are limited,” said Dr. Irrgang.



“Our current understanding of Arctic coastal dynamics is fragmented, with too few data with high spatial and temporal resolution on environmental factors and shoreline changes."&nbsp;



“While such datasets already exist for some regions such as northern Alaska, most of the Arctic coast is poorly mapped.”&nbsp;



The report highlights the urgent need for more observations and research on fragile Arctic coastal systems. This sort of work could greatly improve the accuracy of predictions and help scientists and policy makers prepare for the future.&nbsp;



The state of Arctic coasts have far-reaching impacts on water availability, erosion, plant and animal life as well as human well-being.&nbsp;



“For this, we need to develop adaptation methods that enable good and sustainable living conditions in Arctic coastal settlements. Close cooperation with local people is central to this,” said Dr. Irrgang.



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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

Rising temperatures are transforming Arctic coasts

A special issue of the journal Nature Reviews Earth &amp;...

Being infected by a virus will generally cause a short-lasting immune response, which involves the development of antibodies that protect people from being infected twice within a short period of time. However, in a new study from Cedars-Sinai, investigators have discovered that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-can-persist-in-organs-for-months-after-infection/">Covid-19</a> immune response lasts much longer than expected, and this can be bad news.



Immune responses are the results of antibodies, proteins that detect foreign substances and protect cells from being invaded by them. While these are generally positive occurrences, autoantibodies can also be produced, and these can lead to dangers such as the antibodies attacking the tissues and organs of the body.



After analyzing blood samples of 177 people who had previously been infected by SARS-Cov-2, the Cedars-Sinai team discovered that not only did the virus result in dangerous autoantibodies, but they also lasted for up to six months after recovery. Furthermore, this unusual response was discovered in COVID-19 cases ranging from severe to mild, or even asymptomatic.



“These findings help to explain what makes COVID-19 an especially unique disease,” said study co-senior author Justyna Fert-Bober. “These patterns of immune dysregulation could be underlying the different types of persistent symptoms we see in people who go on to develop the condition now referred to as long COVID-19.”



“We found signals of autoantibody activity that are usually linked to chronic inflammation and injury involving specific organ systems and tissues such as the joints, skin, and nervous system,” added co-senior author Susan Cheng.



Some of the autoantibodies were more present in men than in women, despite the fact that women are known to be significantly more affected by autoantibodies than men.&nbsp;



“On the one hand, this finding is paradoxical given that autoimmune conditions are usually more common in females,” Fert-Bober explained. “On the other hand, it is also somewhat expected given all that we know about males being more vulnerable to the most severe forms of COVID-19.”&nbsp;



The Cedars-Sinai investigators hope to expand the scope of the study by searching for the autoantibodies in people who have suffered from the effects of "long covid."



“If we can better understand these autoantibody responses, and how it is that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers and drives these variable responses, then we can get one step closer to identifying ways to treat and even prevent these effects from developing in people at risk,” said Cheng.



The study is published in the <a href="https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/">Journal of Translational Medicine</a>.



&nbsp;---



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

COVID-19 can prompt the creation of self-attacking antibodies

Being infected by a virus will generally cause a short-lasting...

It is usually not possible to test the impacts of different types of pollutants on the biological populations in river systems because these substances can damage the entire ecosystem. Instead, the effects of insecticides, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/an-invisible-enemy-tracking-plastics-in-marine-protected-areas/">plastic</a> debris, pathogens, chemicals, and other toxic substances are tested on individual species under controlled laboratory conditions.



Although this approach helps identify which species are more or less susceptible to which pollutants, it does consider population effects or take into account the physical and hydrological features of river systems, in which water moves continuously in one direction and transports materials with it.&nbsp;



In a recent study, however, Peng Zhou (Shanghai Normal University) and Qihua Huang (Southwest University, Chongqing) developed a model that describes the interactions between a population and a toxicant in a system characterized by fluid moving in one direction. This model replicates the conditions found in a flowing river and will be of assistance to scientists who wish to predict how the movement of a pollutant through a river will affect the health and distribution of the river’s inhabitants.&nbsp;



When formulating environmental policies to limit the effects of river pollution, it is important that scientists understand a toxicant’s impact on the health of the entire natural community that is exposed to the substance over the long term. This cannot be assessed fully using controlled laboratory tests but mathematical modelling can help simulate river conditions. “Mathematical models play a crucial role in translating individual responses to population-level impacts,” Huang said.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, many existing models that simulate the potential effects of toxicants on population dynamics often ignore the critical properties of water bodies.&nbsp;



“In reality, numerous hydrological and physical characteristics of water bodies can have a substantial impact on the concentration and distribution of a toxicant,” Huang said. “For example, once a toxicant is released into a river, several dispersal mechanisms – such as diffusion and transport – are present that may aid in the spread of the toxicant.”&nbsp;



Some models do take into account the movement of pollutants through a river by making use of reaction-advection-diffusion equations. Such models can show how pollutants become distributed under different hydrological influences, such as changes in the water flow rate, and enable researchers to predict toxicant concentrations and the impacts of these on the environment. However, these mathematical models do not consider the influence of toxicants on the dynamics of affected populations.&nbsp;



Zhou and Huang thus expanded upon this type of model, adding new elements that allowed them to explore the interaction between a toxicant and a biological population in a polluted river. Details of their model were published today in the <a href="https://www.siam.org/publications/journals/siam-journal-on-applied-mathematics-siap">SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics</a>.



The researchers’ model consists of&nbsp;two&nbsp;reaction-diffusion-advection equations – one that governs the population’s growth and dispersal under the toxicant’s influence, and another that describes the processes that the toxicant experiences. “As far as we know, our model represents the first effort to model the population-toxicant interactions in an advective environment by using reaction-diffusion-advection equations,” Zhou said. “This new model could potentially open a [novel] line of research.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



This arrangement allows the researchers to test different scenarios and tweak parameters to see what potential impacts this has on the environment or the population of organisms. For example, they tried altering the river’s flow speed and the advection rate – the rate at which the toxicant or organisms are carried downstream – and observing the effects of these changes on the survival and distribution of the toxicant and the biological population.&nbsp;



One scenario involved a toxicant that had a much slower advection rate than the population and thus was not washed away as easily. The model showed that, intuitively, the population density decreases with increasing water flow because more individuals are carried downstream and out of the river area in question. However, the concentration of the toxicant increases with the increasing flow speed because it can resist the downstream current and the organisms are often swept away before they are affected by it.



In the opposite case, the toxicant has a faster advection rate and is therefore much more sensitive to water flow speed than the population. Increasing the water flow then&nbsp;reduces&nbsp;the toxicant concentration by sweeping the pollutants away. For a medium flow speed, the highest population density occurs downstream because the water flow plays a trade-off role; it transports more toxicants away but also carries more individuals downstream.



“In the absence of toxicants, it is generally known that the higher the flow speed, the more individuals will be washed out of the river,” Zhou said. “However, our findings suggest that, for a given toxicant level, population abundance may&nbsp;increase&nbsp;as flow rate increases.”&nbsp;



By using different parameters for certain species and various pollutants, the model can help identify criteria that are important for protecting and maintaining aquatic life in the face of pollution. This could ultimately aid in the development of policy guidelines surrounding the target species and toxicants. “The findings here offer the basis for effective decision-making tools for water and environment managers,” Huang said.&nbsp;



Further modifications to Zhou and Huang’s new model could make it even more applicable to real river ecosystems, for example, by allowing the flow velocity and release of toxicants to vary over time, or accounting for the different ways in which separate species may respond to the same pollutant. This mathematical model may thus help scientists to assess more accurately the risk of a specific pollutant to the populations present in biological communities inhabiting a river.&nbsp;



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

Predicting the effects of pollutants on river ecosystems

It is usually not possible to test the impacts of...

According to the <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/">Copernicus Climate Change Service</a>’s annual <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-globally-seven-hottest-years-record-were-last-seven">report</a>, the last seven years were the warmest on record “by a clear margin,” with greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/u-s-greenhouse-emissions-rebounded-in-2021/">emissions</a> continuing to rise substantially. Although within the last seven years, 2021 ranked among the coolest, together with 2015 and 2018, Europe faced the hottest summer on record, close to the extremely warm summers of 2010 and 2018.



Globally, 2021 was the fifth hottest year on record, with the annual average temperature 0.3°C above the mean temperatures recorded in the period 1991–2020, and 1.1–1.2°C above the pre-industrial level of 1850–1900.&nbsp;



For the full year of 2021, Europe was only 0.1°C above the 1991–2020 average, thus ranking outside the ten warmest years. However, the summer on this continent was its warmest on record, with Sicily breaking the European record for maximum temperature (48.8°C). 



Moreover, Europe has struggled with severe weather events, such as the very heavy rainfall in western central Europe in July, which led to massive floods in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.



In North America, several regions experienced large temperature anomalies, with Northeast Canada averaging unusually high monthly temperatures, and the United States facing an extraordinary heatwave in June (with all-time record temperatures), and massive wildfires during July and August. The second largest wildfire from California’s history (the “Dixie fire”) caused widespread devastation, and resulted in a significant reduction of air quality for thousands of people.



Due to such events, North America experienced the highest amount of carbon emissions (83 megatons) and other pyrogenic emissions compared to any other recorded summer.&nbsp;



“2021 was yet another year of extreme temperatures with the hottest summer in Europe, heatwaves in the Mediterranean, not to mention the unprecedented high temperatures in North America. The last seven years have been the seven warmest on record. These events are a stark reminder of the need to change our ways, take decisive and effective steps toward a sustainable society and work towards reducing net carbon emissions,” said Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.



“Europe's commitment to respond to the Paris agreement can only be achieved through effective analysis of climate information. The Copernicus Climate Change Service provides an essential global resource through operational, high-quality information about the state of our climate that is instrumental for both climate mitigation and adaptation policies,” commented Mauro Facchini, Head of Earth Observation at the Directorate General for <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/defence-industry-and-space_en">Defence Industry and Space</a>, European Commission.&nbsp;



“The 2021 analysis, showing that globally the warmest years by far were recorded in the last seven years, is a reminder of the continued increase in global temperatures and the urgent necessity to act,” he concluded.



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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

The last seven years have been the hottest on record

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s annual report, the...

Blue,Lake,Meniques,In,The,High,Plans,Of,Northern,Chile

New research led by the <a href="https://portal.uni-koeln.de/en/sub/uoc-home">University of Cologne</a> has identified the Amazon basin as the dominant source of precipitation in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Elevated water vapor travels from the Amazonian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-rainforest-hits-new-records/">rainforest</a> more than 2,000 kilometers westward, rotating southwest over the Pacific Ocean, and finally turning into precipitation over the desert.



Besides the poles, the Atacama Desert is one of the driest regions on Earth, with annual precipitation rates usually ranging below two l/m².&nbsp;Previously, scientists described two mechanisms leading to precipitation in this region. While during the summer, moist easternly winds transfer storm systems across the Andes, bringing precipitations in the northeastern part of the Atacama, during winter, low pressure systems originating over the Pacific can reach even subtropical regions and cause rains in the southwestern Atacama.



The University of Cologne team has now discovered a third mechanism, based on so-called “moisture conveyor belts.” At heights between 3,000 to 6,000 meters, water can be transported across long distances without much exchange with the moist Pacific air that it encounters along the journey. When such water vapor bands, which originate in the Amazon basin, reach the Atacama Desert from the northwest, the air flow crossing the coastal mountain range is forced to rise and cool off, leading to precipitation formation.



“Accounting for more than half of the total precipitation in the Atacama Desert, moisture conveyor belts were established as the main precipitation source. These are special weather phenomena which feature strong water vapor transport,” said study lead author Christoph Böhm, a research associate in the <a href="http://www.uni-koeln.de/math-nat-fak/geomet/index-e.html">Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology</a> at the University of Cologne.&nbsp;



“The heavier the precipitation event, the more likely it is associated with such a moisture conveyor belt. For a specific case, a region in the driest part of the desert received more than 50 l/m² rain, which exceeded the tenfold annual average. For highly adapted species, the sudden water availability can bring death.”



However, such events can also trigger “biological explosions” such as the sudden emergence of various types of flowers in the desert, while run-off generated by massive rainfall can move around debris and significantly reshape the landscape. Furthermore, traces from activities such as pollen and organic carbon deposition are often conserved for a long period of time, giving researchers the possibility to reconstruct climate history from soil samples.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL094372">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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

The Amazon is the main source of rain in the Atacama Desert

New research led by the University of Cologne has identified...

After declining by a record ten percent during the widespread <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lockdowns-improved-air-quality-in-some-states-but-not-in-others/" data-type="news" data-id="1888707">lockdowns</a> in 2020 (the largest one-year drop in history), U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased again by 6.2 percent in 2021. The jump in emissions was fueled by a rise in coal power and truck traffic as the country's economy began recovering.



According to a recent <a href="https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2021/">report</a> by a climate consulting firm, the <a href="https://rhg.com/">Rhodium Group</a>, this rebound is largely caused by a 17 percent jump in coal use compared to 2020, as well as from a significant increase in the road transportation sector.&nbsp;



The rise in coal generation is the highest seen in the United States since 2014. According to the Rhodium Group, coal’s rebound was largely driven by an increase in the price of natural gases, leading to a three percent decline in gas generation in 2021.&nbsp;



"I think that's a sign that the fate of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is largely in the hands of oil and gas producers, because the market for natural gas is one of the primary drivers of coal's decline, and of U.S. emission reductions over the last decade," said report co-author Kate Larsen, a partner at the Rhodium Group. "That wouldn't have happened if we had regulatory backstops for, or other ways to prop up the cleaner fuels."



The coal rebound comes as a stark reminder that the Biden administration’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/over-40-countries-pledged-to-stop-using-coal-power-at-cop26/">pledge</a> at the UN26 Glasgow summit to significantly reduce coal use in order to mitigate climate change may not be as feasible as initially thought.



In the case of transportation - which comprised the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2021, accounting for 31 percent of the net emissions – most of the increase was caused by a surge in demand for consumer goods, which kept freight trucks operational at an almost pre-pandemic level (in fact, even surpassing 2019 levels for several months of the year). However, private and public transportation did not yet fully recover, and have thus caused less greenhouse gas emissions than before 2020.



Regardless of this sharp rebound in emissions in 2021 through, the pandemic seems to be still keeping in check the situation to some extent.&nbsp; “If anything, last year’s rebound in emissions was lower than it could have been because the pandemic is still causing disruptions and the economy isn’t back to normal. Emissions are still well below 2019 levels,” Larsen concluded.



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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

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rebounded in 2021

After declining by a record ten percent during the widespread...

The year 2021 was the first in the United Nations’ Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Goals. This program outlines 17 goals aimed at supporting ocean science and managing oceans sustainably in the light of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dairy-farmers-can-use-strategies-to-adapt-to-climate-change/" data-type="news" data-id="1900632">climate</a> change. However, a new report from the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> highlights the fact that oceans are now hotter than ever, continuing their record-breaking streak for the sixth year in a row.



The report, which is authored by 23 researchers from 14 institutes, summarizes two international datasets that record observations of ocean heat content and their impact dating from the 1950s. These records were kept by NOAA and the CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics.



“The ocean heat content is relentlessly increasing, globally, and this is a primary indicator of human-induced climate change,” said study co-author Kevin Trenberth, distinguished scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. “In this most recent report, we updated observations of the ocean through 2021, while also revisiting and reprocessing earlier data.”



Data for 2021 showed that the upper 2,000 meters in all oceans absorbed 14 more Zettajoules of heat energy than in 2020. A Zettajoule is 1021 joules, represented by a 1 and 21 zeros. This enormous quantity of energy is equal to 145 times the world’s electricity generation in 2020. In comparison, the total energy use by humans all over the world in a single year is only about half a Zettajoule. (A Zettajoule is equivalent to 240,000,000,000,000,000,000 calories.)



“As well as absorbing heat, currently, the ocean absorbs 20 to 30 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions, leading to ocean acidification; however, ocean warming reduces the efficiency of oceanic carbon uptake and leaves more carbon dioxide in the air,” said study lead author Lijing Cheng. “Monitoring and understanding the heat and carbon coupling in the future are important to track climate change mitigation goals.”



According to Cheng, significant ocean warming has occurred everywhere, in all oceans of the world, since the 1950s. It is true that there are regional warming and cooling phenomena, known as El Niño and La Niña, in certain ocean systems, and that these are natural events. They can produce heat waves that have huge impacts on marine life and may cause local extinctions of species. These regional episodes are short-lived, however, and are different from the slow and continuous increases in water temperature associated with global warming.



“Our previous work showed that scientists need less than 4 years of ocean heat measurements to detect a human-induced warming signal from natural variations.&nbsp; This is much shorter than the nearly three decades of measurements required to detect global warming using temperatures of air near the Earth’s surface. Indeed, although in the top ten warmest years, global surface temperatures for 2021 are not the highest on record because of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, among other things. Ocean heat content is one of the best indicators of climate change,” said Professor John Abraham from the University of St. Thomas.&nbsp;



“With model experiments, our study shows that the pattern of ocean warming is a result of human-related changes in atmospheric composition,” said Cheng. “As oceans warm, the water expands and sea level rises. Warmer oceans also supercharge weather systems, creating more powerful storms and hurricanes, as well as increasing precipitation and flood risk.”



Study co-author Professor Michael Mann noted that the oceans are absorbing most of the heating from human carbon emissions. “Until we reach net zero emissions, that heating will continue, and we’ll continue to break ocean heat content records, as we did this year. Better awareness and understanding of the oceans are a basis for the actions to combat climate change.”



The report is published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/376">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>.



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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

Ocean heat reached a record high for the sixth straight year

The year 2021 was the first in the United Nations’...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.3877">Ecosphere</a> has found that the recovery of the fisher, an endangered forest carnivore native to Canada and northern United States, will likely be hindered by the increasing frequency and severity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-and-extreme-heat-waves-increase-air-pollution/" data-type="news" data-id="1900604">wildfires</a>. Scientists led by <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a> (OSU) discovered that fisher abundance declined significantly after three mixed-severity wildfires from the summers of 2014 and 2016.



A fierce and secretive animal, the fisher is a member of the Mustelidae family, which also includes badgers, wolverines, minks, and otters. They are roughly the size of a large house cat. With hind feet that rotate almost 180 degrees, fishers can not only scale trees, but can also climb down head first. These abilities help them attack prey from above or carry offspring in their mouths as they climb up and down trees.



Fisher populations have persistently declined during the 19th and 20th centuries due to fur trapping and logging. With the recent wildfires affecting the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion, a 50,000-square-kilometer area straddling the Oregon-California border and hosting the largest fisher populations, their numbers have dwindled even more.



“The fisher has a limited distribution, and rapid changes to forest structure could threaten its long-term persistence,” said study lead author David Green, a conservation ecologist at OSU. “We estimated a 27 percent reduction in the total number of fishers within our study area following the fires.”&nbsp;



Strangely, Dr. Green and his colleagues have found that, while fisher density decreased regardless of wildfire intensity, gray fox populations showed a significant decline after medium-severity wildfires, but actually increased after high-severity fires.



“Our results suggest that increased severity, extent and frequency of wildfires in the western United States will have negative impacts on fisher populations and change community composition for medium-size predators. We found that the wildfires that occurred in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion affected fisher density negatively regardless of burn severity, while gray fox density decreased in areas that burned at medium severity and increased in areas that burned at high severity.”



Further research is needed to understand why the different wildfire severity levels had different impacts on the two species of animals studied.



“Understanding the effects of wildfire on the species that live in forests, and the interactions among species, is important for making the most effective conservation and management decisions. The short- and long-term consequences are unclear for wildlife amid the calls for restoring forests to their natural regimes of frequent, low-severity fires,” Dr. Green concluded.



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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

Fisher populations will struggle to survive increasing wildfires

A new study published in the journal Ecosphere has found...

New research from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> reveals that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-were-common-in-ancient-antarctica/">Antarctica</a> is threatened by the introduction of non-native and potentially invasive species. The experts report that there are 1,581 ports with connections to Antarctica. Ships from these ports sometimes collect unwanted creatures attached to their hauls, including barnacles, crabs, mussels and algae.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Invasive, non-native species are one of the biggest threats to Antarctica’s biodiversity - its native species have been isolated for the last 15-30 million years. They may also have economic impacts, via the disruption of fisheries,” said study senior author David Aldridge, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Cambridge.



Compared to fishing vessels, tourism ships come from a much broader range of locations. Research vessels are also a potential threat to Antarctica’s ecosystems. One of the greatest concerns involves ships that spend summers in the Arctic before moving south to Antarctica. These ships are likely to introduce alien species that are already cold adapted.



“The species that grow on the hull of a ship are determined by where it has been. We found that fishing boats operating in Antarctic waters visit quite a restricted network of ports, but the tourist and supply ships travel across the world,” said study first author Arlie McCarthy&nbsp;



“We were surprised to find that Antarctica is much more globally connected than was previously thought. Our results show that biosecurity measures need to be implemented at a wider range of locations than they currently are."



"There are strict regulations in place for preventing non-native species getting into Antarctica, but the success of these relies on having the information to inform management decisions. We hope our findings will improve the ability to detect invasive species before they become a problem.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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

Invasive species are arriving with ships in Antarctica

New research from the University of Cambridge reveals that Antarctica...

Replacing butter, mayonnaise and dairy fat with olive oil on a regular basis can literally save your life, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.acc.org/">American College of Cardiology</a>. The experts report that consuming more than half a tablespoon of olive oil per day is associated with a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meat-eating-animals-are-more-susceptible-to-cancer/">cancer</a>, neurodegenerative disease, or respiratory disease.



Study lead author Dr. Marta Guasch-Ferré is a senior research scientist at the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.&nbsp;



“Our findings support current dietary recommendations to increase the intake of olive oil and other unsaturated vegetable oils,” said Dr. Guasch-Ferré&nbsp;



“Clinicians should be counseling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health. Our study helps make more specific recommendations that will be easier for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diets.”



Based on data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the researchers analyzed the dietary habits and health outcomes of 60,582 women and 31,801 men. At the beginning of the study period in 1990, the participants were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer. 



Based on 28 years of follow-up, the researchers compared individuals who regularly consumed olive oil to those who rarely or never consumed olive oil. The study revealed that participants in the highest consumption category, had a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality by 19 percent and a lower risk of cancer mortality by 17 percent. These individuals also had a 29-percent lower risk of neurodegenerative mortality and an 18-percent lower risk of respiratory mortality. 



According to the study, substituting 10 grams of olive oil (daily) for other fats such as margarine, butter, and mayonnaise lowers the risk of mortality from all causes by up to 34 percent.



“It’s possible that higher olive oil consumption is a marker of an overall healthier diet and higher socioeconomic status. However, even after adjusting for these and other social economic status factors, our results remained largely the same,” said Dr. Guasch-Ferré.&nbsp;



“Our study cohort was predominantly a non-Hispanic white population of health professionals, which should minimize potentially confounding socioeconomic factors, but may limit generalizability as this population may be more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.jacc.org/">Journal of the American College of Cardiology</a>.



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

Regular olive oil consumption can literally save your life

Replacing butter, mayonnaise and dairy fat with olive oil on...

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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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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...