The low gravity conditions of space may cause significant damage to heart tissue, according to a new study. Cardiac tissues exposed to a low-gravity environment showed signs of mitochondrial impairment and oxidative stress, which are key features of heart failure. 



For the investigation, experts at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johns Hopkins University</a> arranged for 48 human bioengineered heart tissue samples to spend 30 days aboard the International Space Station.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heart-tissue-in-a-low-gravity-environment-nbsp">Heart tissue in a low-gravity environment&nbsp;</h2>



Upon analysis, the experts observed that the low-gravity environment weakened the heart tissues and disrupted their normal rhythmic beats compared to control samples kept on Earth.



According to the scientists, the heart tissues “really don’t fare well in space.” Over time, the tissues on the space station beat with only about half the strength of their Earth-bound counterparts.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-impacts-of-long-duration-spaceflight">Impacts of long-duration spaceflight</h2>



“With current plans for manned missions to Mars and beyond, the need to better understand, prevent, and counteract the harmful effects of long-duration spaceflight on the body is becoming increasingly important,” noted the study authors.&nbsp;



Previous research has shown that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/space-travel-takes-a-greater-toll-on-astronauts-brains-than-previously-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">astronauts</a> returning to Earth often experience age-related conditions such as reduced heart muscle function and arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), some of which dissipate after their return.&nbsp;



However, scientists have been seeking ways to study these effects at a cellular and molecular level in order to develop strategies to keep astronauts safe on long-duration space flights, explained project leader Professor Deok-Ho Kim.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bioengineered-heart-tissues-nbsp">Bioengineered heart tissues&nbsp;</h2>



The project used heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) - a process developed by Jonathan Tsui, a former PhD student in Kim's lab at the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Washington</a>. 



Tsui later continued the space biology research with Professor Kim at Johns Hopkins University.&nbsp;



The bioengineered heart tissues were placed in a miniaturized tissue chip that mimicked the environment of an adult human heart. 



The tissue chip was designed to string the cells between two posts, allowing the researchers to collect data on how the tissues contracted.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sending-heart-tissues-to-space">Sending heart tissues to space</h2>



To send the cardiac tissues aboard the SpaceX CRS-20 mission, which launched in March 2020, Tsui personally hand-carried the tissue chambers to Florida, where he cared for them for a month at the <a href="https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kennedy Space Center</a>.&nbsp;



Once aboard the space station, real-time data was collected every 30 minutes for 10 seconds, measuring the strength of the tissue contractions, known as twitch forces, and detecting any irregular beating patterns.&nbsp;



Astronaut Jessica Meir helped maintain the experiment by changing the liquid nutrients surrounding the tissues weekly and preserving samples at specific intervals for later gene and imaging analysis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protecting-the-viability-of-the-tissues">Protecting the viability of the tissues</h2>



On Earth, a second set of heart tissues (developed the same way) was housed in identical chambers to serve as a control. When the space-bound tissue chambers returned to Earth, Tsui resumed collecting data from the tissues.



“An incredible amount of cutting-edge technology in the areas of stem cell and tissue engineering, biosensors and bioelectronics, and microfabrication went into ensuring the viability of these tissues in space,” said Professor Kim, whose team developed the tissue chip used for this project and future studies.



Devin Mair, a former PhD student in Kim’s lab and now a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, analyzed the tissues' ability to contract.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weakened-tissues-and-potential-heart-disease">Weakened tissues and potential heart disease</h2>



The heart muscle tissues in space not only lost strength but also developed irregular beating patterns, known as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/medical-cannabis-increases-risk-of-heart-arrhythmia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arrhythmias</a> - disruptions that could potentially lead to heart failure.&nbsp;



Typically, the time between one beat and the next is about one second, but in the space-bound tissues, this time increased nearly fivefold. However, when the tissues were returned to Earth, their beating rhythm gradually returned to near-normal levels.



The researchers also discovered that sarcomeres - the protein bundles in muscle cells that facilitate contraction - became shorter and more disordered in the space-bound tissues, a hallmark of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/your-diet-may-save-your-life-six-key-foods-lower-the-risk-of-heart-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heart disease</a>.&nbsp;



Additionally, the mitochondria, which are responsible for producing energy in cells, became larger, rounder, and lost their characteristic folds, further indicating impaired energy production.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inflammation-and-oxidative-damage-nbsp">Inflammation and oxidative damage&nbsp;</h2>



Finally, Mair, along with assistant research professor Eun Hyun Ahn, and PhD student Zhipeng Dong, analyzed gene activity in the tissues.&nbsp;



The heart tissues that had spent time in space showed increased expression of genes associated with inflammation and oxidative damage, both of which are common markers of heart disease and are consistently observed in post-flight health checks of astronauts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shielding-the-heart-from-damage-in-space">Shielding the heart from damage in space</h2>



Professor Kim’s team sent a second batch of 3D-engineered heart tissues to the space station in 2023 to screen for drugs that might protect the cells from the harmful effects of low gravity. 



This ongoing research may lead to therapies that not only help astronauts maintain heart function during spaceflight but could also benefit people on Earth as they age.



The team is also continuing to refine their “tissue on a chip” system while exploring the effects of radiation on heart tissues at the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasa-space-radiation-lab/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA Space Radiation Laboratory</a>.&nbsp;



The space station orbits within the Earth's magnetic field, which shields its occupants from most space radiation, but further research is needed to understand the impact of cosmic radiation on astronauts’ cardiovascular health during longer missions outside this protective zone.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2404644121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Low gravity conditions in space cause heart damage

The low gravity conditions of space may cause significant damage to heart tissue, according to a new study. Cardiac tissues exposed to a low-gravity environment showed signs of mitochondrial impairment and oxidative stress, which are key features of heart failure.  For the investigation, experts at Johns Hopkins University arranged for 48 human bioengineered heart tissue samples to spend 30 days aboard the International Space Station.&nbsp; Heart tissue in a low-gravity environment&nbsp; Upon analysis, the experts observed that the low-gravity environment weakened the heart tissues and disrupted their...

Plastic is ubiquitous in landfills, it chokes rivers and has been found littering the sea floor. Plastic also takes a ridiculously long time to break down in the environment and very little helps to speed up the process. Now researchers think they may have found something to help.

Interestingly, cows eat certain types of polyesters naturally found in plants and their rumens (one compartment of their complicated stomachs) contains bacteria that helps break these polyesters down. Scientists from Austria have recently published research looking into the possibility of using the microbes found in cows stomachs to break down human manufactured plastics. 

"A huge microbial community lives in the rumen reticulum and is responsible for the digestion of food in the animals, so we suspected that some biological activities could also be used for polyester hydrolysis," explained Dr. Doris Ribitsch of the <a href="https://boku.ac.at/en/">University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences</a>.

Published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology">Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology</a>, the research tested three types of plastics in the incubated liquid from a rumen obtained from a slaughterhouse. The plastics tested were a synthetic polymer used in packaging and two biodegradable plastics used to make compostable plastic bags. The plastics were tested in both film and powder form for breakdown by the microbes. 

The researchers found that using the liquid, rather than using individual microbes, worked better. It may be that several microbes work together in the breakdown of plastic. As expected, the powdered plastics broke down better than the films. 

At this point, the researchers hope to do more work- but the process is extremely expensive and not very practical. Although, the experts pointed out, there are large amounts of rumens that are already available in slaughterhouses. 

With more work, it’s possible that it will lead to something more viable or open another avenue of research. Either way, this discovery holds out the hope for a sustainable way to break down harmful plastics and make our environment a cleaner one.     

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Microbes in cow rumens can break down plastics

Plastic is ubiquitous in landfills, it chokes rivers and has...

Plastic trash is everywhere in the world today, found along roadsides, in lakes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-than-half-of-the-worlds-rivers-run-dry-each-year/">rivers</a> and washing out to sea. Plastic pollution has even created famous island features in the ocean. 

In 2016, estimates of the amount of plastic dumped into rivers and lakes reached nine to 23 million metric tons of the trash, roughly the same as found on land. If nothing changes, this is expected to nearly double by 2025. 

An international team of scientists wants to know whether we're reaching a tipping point where the damage from plastic trash is irreversible.

"Plastic is deeply engrained [sic] in our society, and it leaks out into the environment everywhere, even in countries with good waste-handling infrastructure," said study lead author Matthew MacLeod of <a href="https://www.su.se/cmlink/stockholm-university">Stockholm University</a>.

Despite an increase in awareness of the plastic problem by individuals and governments, plastic pollution is growing. The researchers believe this is because the problem is a deep one involving politics and society that technology is not great enough to deal with. They say the root causes of the issue must be addressed. 

"In remote environments, plastic debris cannot be removed by cleanups, and weathering of large plastic items will inevitably result in the generation of large numbers of micro- and nanoplastic particles as well as leaching of chemicals that were intentionally added to the plastic and other chemicals that break off the plastic polymer backbone," said study co-author Professor Annika Jahnke of <a href="https://www.ufz.de/">UFZ</a>.

"So, plastic in the environment is a constantly moving target of increasing complexity and mobility. Where it accumulates and what effects it may cause are challenging or maybe even impossible to predict."

Many people believe that recycling is a solution, but there are very real limits to recycling technology. Even countries with the best recycling practices produce plastic trash. 

Plastic thus accumulates in the environment where it weathers slowly - a process not yet well understood. This leaves many questions unanswered about the impact of plastics worldwide. 

It is not known exactly what this accumulation of plastic trash will do. It’s possible that it will make climate change worse by disrupting natural systems that cycle carbon, and it's very likely that the buildup of plastics will impact non-human organisms and hurt biodiversity. These are already two very real problems. Adding more plastic to them could be like throwing gasoline on a fire. 

"Right now, we are loading up the environment with increasing amounts of poorly reversible plastic pollution. So far, we don't see widespread evidence of bad consequences, but if weathering plastic triggers a really bad effect we are not likely to be able to reverse it," said MacLeod. 

"The cost of ignoring the accumulation of persistent plastic pollution in the environment could be enormous. The rational thing to do is to act as quickly as we can to reduce emissions of plastic to the environment."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The global issue of plastic trash nears a tipping point

Plastic trash is everywhere in the world today, found along...

In the <a href="https://bit.ly/3G3MiUQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet of Nature Podcast</a>, Dr. Nadina Galle speaks with entrepreneurs and innovators who are working on the front lines to build greener and healthier cities. The ten-part series concludes with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-ralls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Ralls</a>, Founder of Earth.com. 

As a serial entrepreneur, Ralls has long aspired to merge technology with a love for nature and our planet. This is a passion that he shares with <a href="https://www.nadinagalle.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Galle</a>, an award-winning environmental scientist and ecological engineer who is focused on improving the health of urban ecosystems.

"As an ecological engineer, driven by a love for ecology and a fascination with technology, I research, design, and pilot emerging technologies to build better urban ecosystems for people and nature," said Dr. Galle. "A framework I call the '<a href="https://www.nadinagalle.com/#Internet-of-nature-IoN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet of Nature</a>.'"

According to Ralls, the ultimate goal is to map every plant species on Earth by 2022. He says it took five years just to figure out how to build the app, because the technology was not yet available. The solution came in a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning.

The app can now identify 600,000 plants translated in more than 37 languages. It is used every day in over 200 countries.

"The entire database will be open source for the scientific community as our gift to humanity to try to help understand the impact of climate change on the plant kingdom."

In specific areas, says Ralls, we will be able to see where plants are blooming later or earlier - or disappearing altogether in certain regions. 

Ralls notes that there is no limit to what can be done with the data they have accumulated. In addition, his science media company Earth.com is building a page for every plant and animal on the planet. 

"I like to say that, when the aliens decide to come visit us, then they should park it in orbit, and visit Earth.com to learn about all the different beings," says Ralls. "A small guidebook to life on Earth," adds Dr. Galle.

As for the app, what started out as a simple utility app has evolved into a full blown lifestyle app. Not only can you identify a plant using the app, but now you can share it, get pointers on how to take care of it, and even buy it with just a click. 

The newest version, which will launch in April, will include a wealth of knowledge on plant care for thousands of species provided by <a href="https://www.lovethegarden.com/uk-en">Evergreen Garden Care</a>, the largest international company of its kind. 

Eric Ralls is very excited to have partnered with 1,200 botanic gardens all over the world to distribute the app on social media. Through a partnership with <a href="https://www.bgci.org/">BCGI</a> - the world's largest botanic gardens organization - experts will ultimately be able identify where certain plants are going extinct and send teams in to protect and revitalize these species. 

"Nature is just incredibly, overwhelmingly amazing in every regard, and you can literally learn something new about it every day," says Ralls. 

"Thankfully right now we are being forced into learning as much about the planet as we can to circumvent, and hopefully reverse, the horrible devastation that climate change is already causing in so many places around the world." 

---

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

Building a healthier planet through the "Internet of Nature" with Eric Ralls

In the Internet of Nature Podcast, Dr. Nadina Galle speaks...

Cleaner air contributed to about 20 percent of the increase in corn and soybean yield gains in the United States between 1999 and 2019, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford</a>. The experts report that the boost in yields associated with reductions in air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-million-premature-deaths-linked-to-air-pollution-in-2017/">pollution</a> was worth about $5 billion per year.

The researchers have identified four key air pollutants that are particularly damaging to crops. These pollutants accounted for an average loss of about five percent of corn and soybean production over the study period. 

"Air pollution impacts have been hard to measure in the past, because two farmers even just 10 miles apart can be facing very different air quality. By using satellites, we were able to measure very fine scale patterns and unpack the role of different pollutants," said study lead author David Lobell.

Scientists have been aware that high levels of air pollution are toxic to plants, but the overall impacts - as well as the main culprits- have remained unknown. 

The study was focused on nine states, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. This region produces about two-thirds of the overall corn and soybean crops in the United States.

The researchers set out to measure the impact on crop yields of ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.

"This has been a tricky problem to untangle because historically our measurements of different types of air pollutants and our measurements of agricultural yields haven't really overlapped spatially at the necessary resolution," explained study co-author Professor Jennifer Burney.

"With the new high spatial resolution data, we could look at crop yields near both pollution monitors and known pollutant emissions sources. That revealed evidence of different magnitudes of negative impacts caused by different pollutants."

The study showed that total yield losses from the four pollutants averaged 5.8 percent for corn and 3.8 percent for soybean over the past two decades, and that these losses declined over time as the air grew cleaner. 

According to the researchers, the reduction in air pollution contributed to an estimated four percent growth in corn yields and three percent growth in soybean yields.

"We already know that the Clean Air Act resulted in trillions of dollars of benefits in terms of human health, so I think of these billions in agricultural benefits as icing on the cake," said Lobell. "But even if it's a small part of the benefits of clear air, it has been a pretty big part of our ability to continue pushing agricultural productivity higher."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cleaner air improves corn and soybean yields

Cleaner air contributed to about 20 percent of the increase...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/">Cardiff University</a>, researchers are describing an extremely effective water disinfectant that can be created on the spot using just hydrogen and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-million-premature-deaths-linked-to-air-pollution-in-2017/">air</a>. The experts report that the disinfectant is "millions of times" more effective at killing viruses and bacteria than traditional commercial methods.

According to the researchers, their work could revolutionize water disinfection technologies and present an unprecedented opportunity to provide clean water to communities that need it most.

The breakthrough method works by using a catalyst made from gold and palladium that takes in hydrogen and oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide.

Even thought more than four million tons of hydrogen peroxide are produced every year, stabilizing chemicals are added that reduce its effectiveness as a disinfectant. The addition of chlorine is another option for disinfecting water, but it can react with naturally occurring compounds in water to form toxic compounds.

The experts explained that the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide at the point of use would overcome the issues associated with commercial methods.

The new method was found to be 10,000,000 times more potent at killing the bacteria than an equivalent amount of the industrial hydrogen peroxide, and over 100,000,000 times more effective than chlorination.

"The significantly enhanced bactericidal and virucidal activities achieved when reacting hydrogen and oxygen using our catalyst, rather than using commercial hydrogen peroxide or chlorination shows the potential for revolutionising water disinfection technologies around the world," said study co-author Professor Graham Hutchings.

"We now have proven one-step process where, besides the catalyst, inputs of contaminated water and electricity are the only requirements to attain disinfection."

"Crucially, this process presents the opportunity to rapidly disinfect water over timescales in which conventional methods are ineffective, whilst also preventing the formation of hazardous compounds and biofilms, which can help bacteria and viruses to thrive."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natcatal/">Nature Catalysis</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New water disinfectant is millions of times more effective than alternatives

In a new study from Cardiff University, researchers are describing...

There have been conflicting theories about what led to the extinction of mastodons and other elephants. One hypothesis is that prehistoric elephants and other mammalian megafauna were wiped out by the ravenous hunting of early humans as we spread across the globe. 

But now, a new study from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> supports an entirely different conclusion. In collaboration with paleontologists at the Universities of Alcalá and Helsinki, the team carried out the most complex analysis to date on the rise and decline of elephants. 

The research delved into the evolution of 185 species over 60 million years by studying museum collections all over the world. 

“Most proboscideans over this time were nondescript herbivores ranging from the size of a pug to that of a boar. A few species got as big as a hippo, yet these lineages were evolutionary dead-ends. They all bore little resemblance to elephants," explained study co-author Dr. Zhang Hanwen.

Roughly 20 million years ago, when the Asian and African continents collided, proboscidean (elephant) evolution took a turn, by allowing ancestral elephants new areas to explore in Eurasia. Once out of Africa, the elephants evolved 25 times faster than their slowly evolving African ancestors. This led to a boom in elephant and elephant-like species in Eurasia. 

However, this boom wasn’t to last. The rapidly changing climate demanded changes just as quick in the evolution of creatures that were to survive. 

By 2.4 million years ago, extinction of prehistoric elephants and their relatives had peaked in Africa. Eurasia and the Americas soon followed at 160,000 and 75,000 years ago, respectively. 

These extinction time periods might let our ancestors off the hook - they don’t correlate with human expansions. Instead, it looks like climate may be the culprit. This isn’t to say that humans played no role, they certainly still hunted mastodons and other prehistoric elephants, they just may not be the main cause of extinction.    

"We didn't foresee this result. It appears as if the broad global pattern of proboscidean extinctions in recent geological history could be reproduced without accounting for impacts of early human diasporas. Conservatively, our data refutes some recent claims regarding the role of archaic humans in wiping out prehistoric elephants, ever since big game hunting became a crucial part of our ancestors' subsistence strategy around 1.5 million years ago," said study co-author Dr. Zhang Hanwen.

"Although this isn't to say we conclusively disproved any human involvement. In our scenario, modern humans settled on each landmass after proboscidean extinction risk had already escalated. An ingenious, highly adaptable social predator like our species could be the perfect black swan occurrence to deliver the coup de grâce."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What killed off prehistoric elephants and their relatives?

There have been conflicting theories about what led to the...

It may be common for pet owners to transmit COVID-19 to their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-coronavirus-identified-that-has-originated-in-dogs/">dogs</a> and cats, according to a new study that will be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases. 

As efforts continue to reduce human-to-human transmission of the virus, it is becoming imperative that we understand more about the potential risk posed by animal infections, explained the study authors. 

To investigate, a team of experts led by Dr. Els Broens of Utrecht University studied dogs and cats whose owners had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two to 200 days. The researchers collected swabs and blood samples from the pets.

The swabs were used to look for evidence of a current infection, while the blood samples were tested for antibodies, which provide evidence of a past infection.

Overall, 156 dogs and 154 cats from 196 households were tested. The study revealed that six cats and seven dogs tested positive for COVID-19, and 31 cats and 23 dogs tested positive for antibodies.

&nbsp;

Eleven of the owners whose pets tested positive for the virus agreed to a second round of testing one to three weeks later. All of the animals tested positive for antibodies, confirming they had recovered from COVID-19. 

When the researchers tested eight cats and dogs who lived with animals who had initially showed positive COVID-19 results, they all turned out to be negative this suggests that the pets are not passing the virus along to each other. 

The researchers noted that with other studies showing COVID-19 rates to be higher in pets that have been in contact with people with the virus, than in pets without such contact, the most likely route of transmission is from human to pet, rather than the other way round.

&nbsp;

Dr Broens adds: 

&nbsp;

"If you have COVID-19, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would do with other people," said Dr. Broens. "The main concern, however, is not the animals' health - they had no or mild symptoms of COVID-19 - but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population."

"Fortunately, to date no pet-to-human transmission has been reported. So, despite the rather high prevalence among pets from COVID-19 positive households in this study, it seems unlikely that pets play a role in the pandemic."

The research will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Humans are passing COVID-19 along to their pets

It may be common for pet owners to transmit COVID-19...

The region north of Greenland and the islands of the Canadian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-nursery-discovered-in-the-arctic/">Arctic</a> archipelago has been termed the “Last Ice Area.” This region is potentially a last refuge for ice-dependent species in a world melting at an accelerated pace. 

A new study from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> shows that this area may also be vulnerable to the threat of climate change. The research was focused on an area north of Greenland known as the Wandel Sea during the month of August.

“Current thinking is that this area may be the last refuge for ice-dependent species. So if, as our study shows, it may be more vulnerable to climate change than people have been assuming, that's important," explained lead researcher Axel Schweiger of the UW Applied Physics Laboratory.

The ice and how much of it melts, is important for charismatic wildlife like polar bears, walruses and seals. Until recently, the Wandel Sea was covered with thick sea ice year-round, providing a summertime refuge. As nearly everywhere else, the ice in this area has been gradually melting away. 

In August of 2020, summer sea ice in the Wandel Sea reached a record level of thinness at 50% concentration. 

The researchers used a computer model and satellite images to look at the cause of this alarming level of sea ice loss. It was determined that it was partially caused by unusual winds but it was also part of an ongoing trend of multiple years of ice accumulation melting due to climate change. 

"During the winter and spring of 2020 you had patches of older, thicker ice that had drifted into there, but there was enough thinner, newer ice that melted to expose open ocean," said Schweiger. 

"That began a cycle of absorbing heat energy to melt more ice, in spite of the fact that there was some thick ice. So in years where you replenish the ice cover in this region with older and thicker ice, that doesn't seem to help as much as you might expect."

The study raises serious questions about the viability of the Last Ice Area but the scientists caution, the observations made here may not apply to the whole region. There are still a lot of questions left unanswered, possibly the most concerning is how melting in this area will impact the rare wildlife of the Arctic.     

"We know very little about marine mammals in the Last Ice Area," said co-author Kristin Laidre. "We have almost no historical or present-day data, and the reality is that there are a lot more questions than answers about the future of these populations."

The study is published in the July 1 issue of <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsenv/">Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Last ice refuge of the Arctic may soon be gone

The region north of Greenland and the islands of the...

Warm bloodedness - the ability to maintain a body temperature higher than the surrounding environment - is costly. Precious calories are used to keep up a warmer body. Over long periods, there must be a benefit associated with this cost or else, it would be weeded out by natural selection. 

This leads to a question - why are some fish like the bluefin tuna or great white sharks warm-blooded when so many other fish are not? Scientists have two basic hypotheses as to what benefit is derived from being a warm-blooded fish. 

First, it’s quite possible that fishes with the ability to regulate their body temperatures may live or travel through a greater range of climates and possibly even be better adapted to climate change. Sharks for instance have lived through large changes in climate before. 

The second theory is that warm-blooded fish are able to swim faster, this seems especially important for prey species or fish that travel long distances. The idea is simple - warm muscles function better than cool ones, something to keep in mind when considering skipping a warm up before your next workout. 

A new study led by PhD student Lucy Harding at the <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/">Trinity College Dublin</a> leads this question to rest. The researchers used biologgers attached to a variety of fish and a close look at previous research to investigate the advantages of being warm-blooded. 

The data logging devices recorded the temperatures that the fish swam through as well as the speeds at which they traveled. 

Ultimately, the experts found that warm-blooded fish do not travel through a greater range of temperatures than their cold-blooded kin. They do, however, travel an average of 1.6 times faster than cold-blooded fish. 

According to the researchers, this means sharks and other warm-blooded fish are just as vulnerable to climate change as any other marine animal.     

"The faster swimming speeds of the warm-blooded fishes likely gives them competitive advantages when it comes to things like predation and migration. With predation in mind, the hunting abilities of the white shark and bluefin tuna help paint a picture of why this ability might offer a competitive advantage," said study co-author Nick Payne.

"Additionally, and contrary to some previous studies and opinions, our work shows these animals do not live in broader temperature ranges, which implies that they may be equally at risk from the negative impacts of ocean warming. Findings like these - while interesting on their own - are very important as they can aid future conservation efforts for these threatened animals."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652435">Functional Ecology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What advantages do warm-blooded fish have?

Warm bloodedness - the ability to maintain a body temperature...

Researchers at the the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> set out to predict how reef fish diversity will respond to the increasing loss of corals. They found that future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oceans-are-already-too-warm-for-baby-sharks/">oceans</a> without corals would have only about half as many fish species.

It is critically important for experts to anticipate how marine communities will be impacted by coral loss, particularly considering that reef fishes provide protein to millions of people. The current study estimates that future coral loss could reduce fish diversity by more than 40 percent on a global scale. 

The research was conducted by an international team of marine biologists. The team started by mapping tropical fish and coral diversity across the world's oceans for every square degree latitude and longitude. 

After controlling for factors that drive diversity in general, the researchers found that areas with diverse corals still tended to have more types of fish. This suggests that coral diversity promotes reef fish diversity.

"This is not particularly surprising given that corals provide a unique food source for some species, as well as a three-dimensional habitat that many species use for shelter," said study lead author Giovanni Strona. "And the fish that depend on corals may be prey for fish that don't depend directly on corals."

The results of the study indicate that if all corals were to disappear, so would more than 40 percent of the world's tropical reef fish. This is a much greater loss than expected based on the species that are known to depend directly or even indirectly on coral, and suggests that large marine food webs will begin to unravel if corals go extinct. 

The impacts will be more severe in some regions than others. For example, the Central Pacific is projected to lose more than 60 percent of its reef fish, compared with only 10 percent in the Western Atlantic.

"For anyone who has enjoyed snorkeling on a coral reef, or for the millions of people that depend on reef fishes for food, this thought experiment should be concerning. But it also inspires greater efforts to conserve and restore coral reefs," explained study co-author Kevin Lafferty of the USGS. 

"The benefits of doing so would extend far beyond corals, to fish and other organisms that depend directly or indirectly on corals."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Oceans with no corals will have half as many types of fish

Researchers at the the University of Helsinki set out to...

In the first year of life, humans make a dramatic transition in their ability to communicate. Language development among <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-bonobos-adopt-infants-outside-of-their-social-group/">infants</a> shifts from preverbal cues, such as laughing or crying, to babbling phrases that become increasingly complex. 

A new study from the <a href="https://www.dpz.eu/en/home.html">German Primate Center</a> has revealed that monkeys learn to communicate much in the same way as humans. The research, which was focused on common marmosets, is providing new insights into the evolution of language.

The experts report that the infantile development of vocalizations in common marmosets also includes an extended flexible phase, without which language development in humans would not be possible. 

Several factors that are critical for language development in humans include maturation, learning, and early social interactions with parents. For decades, it has been assumed that in monkeys, language develops exclusively as a result of physical growth and maturation - independently of social interaction.

For example, previous studies demonstrated that deafness or social isolation due to the absence of parents had little or no effect on the vocal development of nonhuman primates, and that vocal development in most monkey species is completed within a few weeks after birth.

"One of the reasons for these findings is probably that previous work on voice development in non-human primates has mainly focused on the first weeks after birth and ignored possible changes associated with later growth in the following months until adulthood," said study first author Yasemin Gültekin.

The researchers studied the sound and language development of common marmosets from early infancy until sexual maturity at 15 months of age. During this period, nearly 150,000 vocalizations of six marmosets were recorded for analysis. 

"Our results show that, similar to the first months of human life, the vocalization behavior of marmosets changes through different developmental stages from the first weeks after birth to adulthood," said study co-author Kurt Hammerschmidt, who analyzed the data.

"While changes in acoustic structure could be explained mainly by physical growth or maturation, we found that the way these vocalizations are used flexibly during development points to experiential learning mechanisms, which are one of the key features in human language development," said study lead author Yasemin Gültekin.

"Our work provides an important building block to better understand the evolutionary foundations of early human language development. It sets the stage for future studies on how social interactions can influence speech development."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Monkeys depend on social interactions for language development

In the first year of life, humans make a dramatic...

Harpy eagles are struggling to feed their young in heavily deforested areas of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-drought-will-impact-large-parts-of-the-amazon/">Amazon</a>, according to a new study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>. In areas with high levels of deforestation, the forest canopy vertebrates that the eagles prey upon, including sloths and monkeys, have become very limited in availability.

Study lead author Everton Miranda is a researcher in the Centre for Functional Biodiversity (CFB) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

"Apex predators are threatened globally, and their local extinctions are often driven by failures in sustaining prey acquisition under contexts of severe prey scarcity," explained the researchers.

"The harpy eagle Harpia harpyja is Earth’s largest eagle and the apex aerial predator of Amazonian forests, but no previous study has examined the impact of forest loss on their feeding ecology."

The experts noted that apex predators are particularly sensitive to changes in food availability because of their high metabolic requirements. "They depend on stable and secure prey populations to fuel their relatively high daily survival and breeding requirements."

Currently, more than 90 percent of the harpy eagle's range is in the Amazon. Since the 19th century, their global distribution has dropped by 41 percent, driven primarily by rapid habitat loss.

The researchers set out to understand the impacts of forest loss on harpy eagle feeding ecology. The study was focused on 16 harpy eagle nests in Amazon forests across Mato Grosso, Brazil. 

Using cameras, the team observed prey species and how often they were delivered to the nest. The experts also analyzed prey bone fragments to estimate the weight of the prey.

The study authors identified 306 prey items, nearly half of which were two-toed sloths, brown capuchin monkeys, and grey woolly monkeys. They used maps and Google Earth to calculate deforestation levels several kilometers around nests. 

The study revealed that harpy eagles in deforested areas did not switch to alternative prey, and delivered canopy-based prey less frequently and with smaller estimated weight. 

Across landscapes with 50 to 70 percent deforestation, three eaglets died from starvation. Furthermore, no nests were found in areas with deforestation levels over 70 percent.

According to the research, areas with over 50 percent deforestation are unsuitable for harpy eagles to successfully raise offspring. 

The experts estimate that around 35 percent of northern Mato Grosso is unsuitable for breeding harpy eagles. They believe this is what has caused a major decline in numbers of breeding pairs by 3,256 since 1985.

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

Harpy eagles may disappear as the Amazon forest is cleared

Harpy eagles are struggling to feed their young in heavily...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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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

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" 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.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[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...