In the quest for extraterrestrial life, telescopes have been our biggest allies, revealing new clues about how and where to search. 



For example, powerful tools like the James Webb Space Telescope make it possible to study a planet's atmosphere, where gases may serve as indicators of life, or "biosignatures." 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biosignatures-of-extraterrestrial-life">Biosignatures of extraterrestrial life</h2>



Traditionally, certain gases have been considered as potential biosignatures that provide scientific evidence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insights-alien-life-mars-water-sulfur-discovered-gained-studying-extreme-life-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">past or present life</a>.



While sulfur compounds have been viewed as robust biomarkers, a recent study challenges this assumption.



In a game-changing turn of events, scientists at the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Colorado Boulder</a> have created dimethyl sulfide, an organic sulfur compound often made by marine microbes, in a chemistry lab without any living organisms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-creating-dimethyl-sulfide-in-the-lab">Creating dimethyl sulfide in the lab </h2>



Dimethyl sulfide is a type of molecule that scientists typically view as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-oxygen-in-the-deep-sea-may-hold-clues-about-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sign of life</a>. The researchers said creating dimethyl sulfide in the lab was exciting, but their findings flip previous research on its head.



The study was led by Nate Reed, a visiting fellow at CU Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (<a href="https://cires.colorado.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CIRES</a>), and Ellie Browne, CIRES Fellow and associate professor of chemistry.



The experts used light and gases found in many planets' atmospheres to create this molecule, and their results suggest that organic sulfur compounds might not be robust biomarkers after all.



“The sulfur molecules that we’re making are thought to be indicators of life because they’re produced by life on Earth,” said Browne. "But we made them in the lab without life - so it might not be a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-hellish-planet-venus-can-help-us-find-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sign of life</a>, but could be a sign of something hospitable for life.” 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-searching-for-signs-of-life-on-exoplanets">Searching for signs of life on exoplanets </h2>



The implications of this research are significant. What does it mean for the search for life on other planets? Could these compounds serve as markers of metabolic potential instead?



NASA’s <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">James Webb Space Telescope</a>, launched in 2009, has been helping us understand different planetary atmospheres and their potential to support life. 



One of the primary objectives of this satellite mission is to capture images of exoplanets (planets outside Earth’s solar system) and study atmospheres for signs of life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-detecting-extraterrestrial-life">Detecting extraterrestrial life</h2>



The researchers also explored what happens in a planet's atmosphere when gases react with light, forming an "organic haze and associated gases." These are aerosol particles formed via atmospheric chemistry.



The study was focused on organic molecules containing sulfur, including dimethyl sulfide, which are secondary metabolic products of living organisms on Earth.



While the results are intriguing, Reed noted that they relate to just <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenhouse-gases-can-help-detect-alien-life-on-distant-planets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one type of atmosphere</a>. "There’s a wide variety of atmospheres, and we only looked at small differences in one - you can’t study every atmosphere that exists in a lab,” he said.



The researchers hope their work will inspire more basic chemical reaction studies, particularly involving sulfur, despite its challenging characteristics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reevaluating-what-makes-planets-habitable">Reevaluating what makes planets habitable</h2>



The findings highlight the need for a reevaluation of how scientists interpret biosignatures in extraterrestrial atmospheres.



Future research will need to explore a wider range of atmospheric conditions, perhaps integrating advanced computational modeling with empirical laboratory studies. 



By challenging the traditional indicators of life, this research pushes the scientific community to redefine what makes an environment "habitable." 



Current criteria often emphasize the presence of water and specific gases associated with life as we know it. However, as this study reveals, some of these elements may originate from non-biological processes, thereby expanding the scope of what is considered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-have-identified-85-new-exoplanets-that-could-harbor-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potentially habitable</a>. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-perspective-on-biosignatures">New perspective on biosignatures</h2>



Scientists are now encouraged to consider a broader spectrum of environmental conditions to expand the search for extraterrestrial life beyond our current paradigm.



“When we’re searching for these biosignatures, the tendency is to want to sensationalize ‘we detected <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/finding-alien-life-searching-for-color-purple-not-green/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signs of life</a>,’” Browne said.



“The atmosphere is really good at making a whole bunch of different molecules, and we’ve found that just because it can be made in a lab, doesn’t mean it’s not a source.”



The study is published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad74da" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>. 



-----



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Expanding the search for extraterrestrial life

In the quest for extraterrestrial life, telescopes have been our biggest allies, revealing new clues about how and where to search. For example, powerful tools like the James Webb Space Telescope make it possible to study a planet's atmosphere, where gases may serve as indicators of life, or "biosignatures." Biosignatures of extraterrestrial life Traditionally, certain gases have been considered as potential biosignatures that provide scientific evidence of past or present life. While sulfur compounds have been viewed as robust biomarkers, a recent study challenges this assumption. In...

In a new study from the <a href="https://nutrition.org/">American Society for Nutrition</a>, researchers have taken a look at dietary trends among Americans during the Great Recession. The findings confirm the idea that dietary quality is sacrificed when the economy is bad.

The experts found that overall, adults ate more refined grains and solid fats and children consumed more added sugar during the recession. The impacts on dietary quality were the greatest in food-insecure households, where protein and dark green vegetables were largely replaced by sugary foods.

Study lead author Dr. Jacqueline Vernarelli is an associate professor of Public Health at Sacred Heart University,

"Overall, we found that the Great Recession had a negative impact on dietary behaviors in both adults and children," said Dr. Vernarelli. "This adds to a robust body of evidence that economic downturn impacts household income, employment status and subsequent household food security levels."

According to the researchers, the findings are likely relevant to today's economic environment.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented increases in food insecurity, and a dramatic increased need for emergency food resources and other types of food assistance," said Dr. Vernarelli. "By identifying key intake patterns during the previous recession, we can identify areas that may need intervention now and during the (pandemic) recovery years."

The study was focused on data from a nationally representative sample of over 60,000 U.S. adults and children. The team analyzed dietary habits and household food security before, during, and after the Great Recession. Households that are food insecure have limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.

The findings suggest that nutritional quality deteriorates as families substitute cheaper foods in place of healthier options. 

The researchers explained that while the overall quantity of food may not be lower in many food-insecure households, the quality, desirability and variety of the diet is often reduced.

During the recession, children in households with low food security were found to consume about 200 more calories per day on average. They ate higher levels of solid fat and added sugars compared to the time period before and after the recession.

"Using historical data to understand and anticipate potential nutrient needs and areas of concern may better help public health nutritionists serve communities faced with food insecurity, as well as help inform decisions related to food assistance policy," said Dr. Vernarelli. 

Emma Turchick, a graduate student in Vernarelli's lab, will present the research at <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/meetings/nutrition/2021/about/">NUTRITION 2021 LIVE ONLINE</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dietary quality suffers in a bad economy

In a new study from the American Society for Nutrition,...

Cutting off lights could help save <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/migrating-seabirds-are-starving-and-eating-non-food-items/">migrating</a> birds from crashing into buildings, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a>. Decades of data collected at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center revealed that on nights when half the windows were darkened, there were 11 times fewer bird collisions during spring migration and 6 times fewer collisions during fall migration.

The experts report that every night during the spring and fall migration seasons, thousands of birds are killed when they become disoriented by the light from illuminated windows.

"Our research provides the best evidence yet that migrating birds are attracted to building lights, often causing them to collide with windows and die," said study lead author Benjamin Van Doren, a postdoctoral associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the paper's lead author. "These insights were only possible thanks to over 40 years of work by David Willard at the Field Museum, who led collisions and light monitoring efforts."

The research was initiated in 1978, after Willard heard a remark about birds hitting the McCormick Place, which is the largest convention center in North America.

"I went down early one morning, just out of curiosity, and wandered around and actually found four or five dead birds," said Willard. "I might not have gone back if I hadn't found anything that first day, and now here we are, 40 years later and 40,000 birds later."

Willard and his team, including study co-author Mary Hennen and other Field scientists and volunteers, have visited the site every day before sunrise during migration season. On a single trip, they have found as many as 200 birds. 

Around 20 years ago, Willard noticed that on nights when the lights were out at McCormick Place - during holidays or construction work - there were fewer birds on the ground the next morning. He began documenting which windows were illuminated each night.

"We developed a statistical model based on the number of windows illuminated at McCormick Place, weather conditions, migratory passage, and time of season. This allowed us to isolate the relationship between window lighting and collisions while accounting for these other factors," said Van Doren. "By joining these different sources of data, we were able to understand how lights, weather, and migration each contribute to collision mortality."

While the total number of birds in the sky and the direction of the wind both play a role in mortality on any given night, light was found to be the strongest predictor.

"The sheer strength of the link between lighting and collisions was surprising," said Van Doren. "It speaks to the exciting potential to save birds simply by reducing light pollution."

The researchers calculated that by turning out half the lights during migration seasons, bird mortality at McCormick Place could be reduced by 59 percent.

"Buildings all across North America, all across the world, are killing birds, and those add up," said study co-author Doug Stotz. "What we've learned in the past 20 years about lights being on has caused the city of Chicago to create its Lights Out program, which requires buildings' external lights to be turned off during peak migration. I hope this paper will show why it's important to turn off internal lighting as well, especially in Chicago, which is the country's deadliest city for migrating birds."

"Our study contains a hopeful message: we can save birds simply by turning off lights during a handful of high-risk days each spring and fall," said Van Doren. "By adapting our existing public migration forecasts to identify nights with high collision risk, we will be able to issue targeted lights-out advisories several days in advance."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Turning off lights could save thousands of birds each year

Cutting off lights could help save migrating birds from crashing...

In a new report from the <a href="https://nutrition.org/">American Society for Nutrition</a>, experts report that reducing food waste will not be enough to fulfill the world's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nutritional-value-of-crops-varies-by-location/">nutritional</a> needs. 

To solve the problem of feeding the growing human population, attention must be urgently focused on essential vitamins and minerals, according to the researchers.

By 2050, the global population is projected to reach 9.7 billion. According to the study, the world already produces enough protein and energy to feed this many people if food waste were cut in half. 

At the same time, however, global food production will fall short in terms of the micronutrients that we need to stay healthy, including calcium, iron, vitamin E and others.

"Reducing food waste would give us enough protein and food energy to feed the 2050 population today - but not enough of the essential vitamins and minerals we need," said study lead author Dr. Nick Smith. "This suggests that food waste is an important issue to tackle, but won't necessarily resolve all the world's nutritional needs."

The DELTA Model used for the study is a computational model that calculates the amount of food nutrients available to the global population under different assumptions about population size, agricultural productivity, and food waste. One unique feature of the model is that it not only accounts for foods' nutritional content, but also for our body's ability to utilize those nutrients.

"When thinking about food system sustainability, it's important to consider all aspects of sustainability: environmental, economic, social, health and nutritional," said Dr. Smith. "And nutrition doesn't just mean enough energy - it has to be the right foods, the right balance of nutrition."

The experts explained that one reason why cutting waste will only get us so far is that we tend to waste more of certain types of foods than others. 

For example, around 25 percent of vegetable mass is wasted after it leaves the farm gate. When it comes to milk, this number is around seven percent. This produces a greater amount of fiber waste compared to calcium, which means that cutting waste will not have the same impact across all nutrients.

"The DELTA Model was not designed to find the 'right answer' for what the food system should look like," Smith noted. "Rather, it is a tool for understanding the food system, testing ideas and hypotheses and informing debate. Its results are important for the global conversation of what food the world needs to produce."

Dr. Smith will present the research at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAF4tOWLoec">NUTRITION 2021 LIVE ONLINE</a>. The findings are preliminary and will be peer-reviewed in the future.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cutting food waste could feed the world, but not nutritiously

In a new report from the American Society for Nutrition,...

Without urgent action, extreme rainfall and severe flooding will continue to intensify as temperatures rise. An international research team led by <a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk/">Newcastle University</a> reports that efforts to mitigate global warming will help to limit the increase in extreme rainfall, but some societal adaptations will still be required.

"Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall because a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor that can rain out, sometimes over a short period. The movement of water vapor through the atmosphere, in storms, is also modified," explained the study authors.

"Increases in extreme rainfall have been observed in many parts of the world. Extreme rainfall, in turn, can increase the chance of floods occurring and their magnitude in small and in urban catchments, severely impacting local populations and infrastructure."

On the other hand, floods in larger, rural catchments are influenced by many different factors. These floods are less directly linked with extreme rainfall events.

The analysis of 170 scientific studies suggests that increases in daily extreme rainfall rates have been observed on continental scales throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, and that global warming is driving increases in short-duration rainfall extremes in some regions. 

The findings show that the risk of flash flooding in urban areas has been growing in recent decades. This increase is linked to expanding impermeable landscape that causes surface runoff.

"Global warming means the atmosphere can hold more moisture and could also change the way storms behave. More intense rainfall extremes coupled with changes in other factors could increase the frequency and severity of flooding in many regions," said study lead author Dr. Stephen Blenkinsop.

"Even if action is taken to limit the extent of global warming we will need to improve our understanding of how extreme rainfall and flooding will change in the future in order to adapt our cities and other communities to more frequent or more extreme events."

"This is an active area of research and our review highlights that the science is becoming increasingly clear on how climate change influences extreme rainfall and how that combines with other factors to increase the chance of floods in many places," said Adam Smith of the University of East Anglia.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/nu-cci060421.php">ScienceBrief Review</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding will continue to intensify

Without urgent action, extreme rainfall and severe flooding will continue...

Frogs have lost teeth over 20 times during the course of their evolution, which is more than any other vertebrate group, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a>. The experts report that some species have even re-evolved teeth millions of years after losing them.

Out of more than 7,000 species of frogs, only one species has teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. Some have tiny teeth on their upper jaws or on the roof of their mouth, while others have no teeth at all. 

The researchers identified a link between the absence of teeth in frogs and a specialized diet on small insects, such as ants and termites. The investigation is the most comprehensive of its kind to study tooth evolution in frogs, involving CT scans of nearly every living amphibian genus.

"Through this study, we have really been able to show that tooth loss in vertebrates is largely a story about frogs, with over 20 independent losses," said study lead author Daniel Paluh. "Only eight other groups of living vertebrates, including seahorses, turtles, birds and a few mammals, have also evolved toothlessness."

Teeth first evolved more than 400 million years ago, supporting the diversification of sharks, fish, and ultimately terrestrial vertebrates. Not many studies have focused on frog teeth because they are incredibly small.

"If you open a frog's mouth, chances are you will not see teeth even if they have them, because they're usually less than a millimeter long," or smaller than the tip of a pencil, said Paluh.

In the past, it was very challenging to determine which frogs had teeth, as it would have required tedious work that destroyed portions of preserved specimens. Furthermore, frogs are so diverse that it would have been a time-consuming task. 

However, the Florida Museum leads a massive multi-institutional effort to CT scan 20,000 vertebrate specimens, giving researchers the ability to study animals in ways that were not previously possible.

The project, called oVert, allows the public to access 3D models that are derived from the CT scans, depicting features such as bones, internal organs, muscle tissue, and teeth. 

The study provides a powerful example of the research that can be accomplished with open-access data, said study senior author David Blackburn."We effectively crowdsourced the data collection across our lab, including people that were not in the U.S. at that time."

The results showed that frogs have undergone "rampant tooth loss," said Paluh, with toothlessness popping up in groups as distantly related as toads and poison dart frogs.

The experts discovered a strong correlation between the presence or absence of teeth in frogs and their eating habits. For example, frogs without teeth were found to eat tiny insects. 

"Having those teeth on the jaw to capture and hold on to prey becomes less important because they're eating really small invertebrates that they can just bring into their mouth with their highly modified tongue," said Paluh. "That seems to relax the selective pressures that are maintaining teeth."

Blackburn noted that innovative techniques, such as those used in the oVert project, are beginning to underscore knowledge gaps and limitations like these, but they also open up the field to new discoveries.

"We now have lots of new questions in my lab inspired by the surprising things turning up from 3D imaging from the oVert project, and those will lead us both back into museum collections and to the field to see what these animals are doing in the wild."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/">eLife</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Frogs have lost their teeth more than any other vertebrate

Frogs have lost teeth over 20 times during the course...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/">Imperial College London</a>, experts have brought a 70-year-old fungus back to life to understand more about coffee wilt disease. The researchers re-animated cryogenically frozen samples of the fungus to investigate how the disease evolved and how to prevent it from spreading.

The fungus associated with coffee wilt disease has been causing devastating outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1920s. It currently affects two of Africa's most popular types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta.

The new study reveals that the fungus enhanced its ability to infect coffee plants by acquiring genes from a related fungus that causes wilt disease in other crops, including Panama disease in bananas.

According to the researchers, this discovery could help farmers reduce the risk of emerging new disease strains. For example, coffee beans could be planted separately from other crops. Farmers could also work to prevent the build-up of plant debris that may harbor the fungus.

In collaboration with the University of Oxford and the agricultural not-for-profit CABI, the experts report that studying historical samples in CABI's culture collection could provide a wealth of insights into how crop diseases evolve and help to find new, sustainable ways to fight them. 

"Using ever-higher volumes of chemicals and fungicides to fight emerging crop diseases is neither sustainable nor affordable for many growers," said study first author Lily Peck.

"If we can instead understand how new types of diseases evolve, we can give growers the knowledge they need to reduce the risk of new diseases emerging in the first place."

The coffee wilt fungus caused two serious outbreaks of the disease in the 1920s-1950s and the 1990s-2000s. The fungus also killed 55,000 Robusta coffee trees in Tanzania in 2011, destroying the equivalent of over 22 million cups of coffee.

Beginning in the 1920s, coffee wilt disease infected a wide range of varieties. After the disease was brought under control in the 1950s, it reemerged in the 1970s. Two separate disease populations have been identified - one specifically infects Arabica coffee in Ethiopia, and the other infects Robusta coffee in east and central Africa. 

For the current study, two fungal strains from the original outbreak were re-awakened in a secure lab at CABI. The team also activated two coffee-specific fungal strains, the most recent of which was frozen in 2003. Genetic testing was used to look for evidence of how the strains evolved to target specific types of coffee.

The experts discovered that the newer fungi have larger genomes than the earlier strains. They also identified genes that helped the fungi overcome plants' defenses. The genes turned out to be very similar to those known from a different, closely related fungus that impacts over 120 different crops, including bananas in sub-Saharan Africa.

Strains of the banana-infecting fungus are known to be able to swap genes, but the potential transfer of their genes to a different species of fungi has not been seen before. 

The researchers noted that the two fungal species often live in close proximity on the roots of coffee and banana plants, and so it is possible that the coffee fungus gained these advantageous genes from its normally banana-based neighbor.

Coffee and bananas are often grown together, and coffee plants take advantage of the shade provided by the taller banana plants. The researchers said their findings suggest that growing crops with closely related diseases separately could reduce the possibility of new coffee-killing fungal strains evolving.

Currently in the lab, the researchers are using the re-animated strains to examine how the fungus infects coffee plants. The insights could be applied to different crop plants, where other closely related plant pathogens could make similar leaps and create new diseases. 

Going forward, the experts plan to replicate the study with other diseases stored in CABI's collection, which includes 30,000 specimens collected over the past 100 years.

"The historical approach shows us what happens to a plant pathogen before and after a new outbreak of disease occurs. We can then study the mechanisms of evolution and improve predictions of how similar outbreaks could occur in the future," said Professor Timothy Barraclough.

"Our aim is to replicate this study for many plant pathogens, eventually drawing up a 'rule book' of how pathogenicity evolves, helping us to prevent future outbreaks where possible."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/">BMC Genomics</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Coffee-killing fungus has acquired genes from its relatives

In a new study from Imperial College London, experts have...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ogre-faced-spiders-may-not-have-ears-but-they-can-hear/">Spiders</a> can sniff out killer ants to avoid building webs near them, according to a new study led by Andreas Fischer at <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/">Simon Fraser University</a>. By identifying the chemicals produced by European fire ants that deter spiders, experts may ultimately develop natural repellents for homeowners.

"Widespread arachnophobia is fueled, in part, by fear of the few neurotoxic spiders," explained the study authors. "This fear has inspired the development of tactics to physically and chemically discourage synanthropic spiders from settling in and around human dwellings."

Many killer ants prey on spiders, and the researchers theorized that spiders instinctively know to avoid locations frequented by foraging ants. 

To test their theory, the experts exposed filter paper to several species of ants and placed it in a multi-chambered habitat containing four different species of spiders. Filter papers without ant semiochemicals were placed in one of the chambers to determine which area the spiders would prefer.

European fire ants are known to be aggressive scavengers that prey on many invertebrates. The study showed that all of the spiders clearly avoided the chemical deposits of these killer ants. They stayed in the chamber that was free of chemicals.

Given how much time and energy spiders put into building their webs, Fischer said it makes sense that spiders in the wild would pick locations that have fewer threats to their survival.

Many insecticides and other chemical products claim to repel spiders, but most have proven largely ineffective. This is because spiders can simply abandon their webs and rebuild nearby. 

Harnessing the chemicals produced by their natural predators could help create more effective repellents. 

"Once identified, the origin of these deterrents could be traced to a specific exocrine gland and/or the body surface of ants," wrote the study authors. "Moreover, synthetic replica of these deterrents could be developed, together with concurrently known spider deterrents, for earth-friendly manipulation of synanthropic spiders."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Spiders can track the scent of killer ants to avoid them

Spiders can sniff out killer ants to avoid building webs...

Great,White,Shark,Under,The,Sea

In a new study led by Earth scientists at  <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> and the College of the Atlantic, researchers have discovered a massive shark extinction that occurred roughly 19 million years ago. 

The experts report that at this time in Earth's history, there were more than 10 times more sharks patrolling the world's oceans than there are today. The cause of the massive die-off remains a mystery.

"We happened upon this extinction almost by accident," said study lead author Elizabeth Sibert, a Hutchinson postdoctoral associate in Yale's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies. 

"I study microfossil fish teeth and shark scales in deep-sea sediments, and we decided to generate an 85-million-year-long record of fish and shark abundance, just to get a sense of what the normal variability of that population looked like in the long term." "What we found, though, was this sudden drop-off in shark abundance around 19 million years ago, and we knew we had to investigate further."

According to Sibert, more than 70 percent of the world's sharks died off. The death rate was even higher for sharks in the open ocean compared to those in coastal waters. The death toll was twice that of an extinction event that sharks experienced during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago, when three-quarters of all living species were wiped out. 

The circumstances are mysterious, considering that there is no known climate or ecosystem disruption that occurred at the time of the shark die-off.

"This interval isn't known for any major changes in Earth's history, yet it completely transformed the nature of what it means to be a predator living in the open ocean," said Sibert.

"The current state of declining shark populations is certainly cause for concern and this paper helps put these declines in the context of shark populations through the last 40 million years," said study co-author Leah Rubin. 

"This context is a vital first step in understanding what repercussions may follow dramatic declines in these top marine predators in modern times."

The researchers noted that past discoveries of extinction events have led to waves of new research to learn the origins of the die-off and whether it signaled a larger, previously unknown, disturbance in global ecosystems.

For example, further research may confirm whether the shark extinction event caused remaining shark populations to change their habitat preferences to avoid the open ocean, explained the researchers.

Professor Pincelli Hull is an assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Science at Yale, who was not part of the study.

"This work could tip-off a race to understand this time period and its implications for not only the rise of modern ecosystems, but the causes of major collapses in shark diversity," said Professor Hull. "It represents a major change in ocean ecosystems at a time that was previously thought to be unremarkable."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Shark extinction 19 million years ago remains a mystery

In a new study led by Earth scientists at  Yale...

A new study from <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a> confirms climate model projections that South Asian monsoons will get stronger as temperatures and CO2 levels continue to rise. 

Looking at monsoons over the last million years, the researchers found that periodic changes in the intensity of monsoon rainfall were associated with fluctuations in continental ice volume, atmospheric CO2 levels, and moisture import from the Indian Ocean.

"We show that over the last 900,000 years, higher CO2 levels along with associated changes in ice volume and moisture transport were associated with more intense monsoon rainfall," said study lead author Professor Steven Clemens. 

"That tells us that CO2 levels and associated warming were major players in monsoon intensity in the past, which supports what the models predict about future monsoons - that rainfall will intensify with rising CO2 and warming global temperature."

According to Professor Clemens, the South Asian monsoon is arguably the single most powerful expression of Earth's hydroclimate, with some locations getting several meters of rain each summer. 

While monsoons are vital to the region's agriculture and economy, they can also cause major flooding and destroy crops during the intense seasons, potentially affecting the lives of nearly 1.4 billion people.

For several years, Professor Clemens has been working with an international team of researchers to better understand the major drivers of monsoon activity. In 2014, the team led an expedition to the Bay of Bengal to recover sediment core samples from beneath the ocean floor. These samples preserve a record of monsoon activity spanning millions of years.

"The idea is that we can reconstruct rainfall over time using these proxies, and then look at other paleoclimate data to see what might be the important drivers of monsoon activity," said Professor Clemens. 

"That helps us to answer important questions about the factors driving the monsoons. Are they primarily driven by external factors like changes in Earth's orbit, which alter the amount of solar radiation from the sun, or are factors internal to the climate system like CO2, ice volume and moisture-transporting winds more important?"

The results of the sediment analysis showed that periods of more intense monsoon rainfall tended to follow peaks in atmospheric CO2 and low points in global ice volume. Cyclical changes in Earth's orbit - which alter the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives - played a role as well. 

Overall, the findings suggest that monsoons are sensitive to CO2-related warming, which validates climate model predictions of a link between elevated CO2 levels and stronger monsoons.

"The models are telling us that in a warming world, there's going to be more water vapor in the atmosphere," said Professor Clemens. "In general, regions that get a lot of rain now are going to get more rain in the future. In terms of the South Asians monsoons, that's entirely consistent with what we see in this study."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Scientific Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

South Asian monsoons will intensify in a warmer climate

A new study from Brown University confirms climate model projections...

In a new study from the <a href="https://uni-freiburg.de/">University of Freiburg</a>, researchers have been investigating how plants cope with extreme drought that coincides additional stress, including competition with invasive species. The research is shedding new light on how entire ecosystems will respond to climate change.

"Interaction effects of different stressors, such as extreme drought and plant invasion, can have detrimental effects on ecosystem functioning and recovery after drought. With ongoing climate change and increasing plant invasion, there is an urgent need to predict the short- and long-term interaction impacts of these stressors on ecosystems," explained the researchers.

The investigation was focused on a field study in the Park Tapada Real in the small Portuguese town of Vila Viçosa. The team examined how cork oak, Quercus suber, responds to two coinciding stressors - extreme drought and competition with the invasive plant species gum rockrose. 

"The factors interacted more dynamically than we expected," study co-author Simon Haberstroh, who conducted the research for his doctoral thesis. 

The researchers found that during wet years, the interacting stressors did not cause any significant changes in the cork oak. In dry conditions, the factors either amplified or buffered each other. 

"In an average precipitation year, the interaction effects of both stressors were neutral. However, the combination of imposed drought and shrub invasion led to amplifying interaction effects during an extreme drought by strongly reducing tree transpiration. Contrarily, the imposed drought reduced the competitiveness of the shrubs in the following recovery period, which buffered the negative effects of shrub invasion on Q. suber," explained the study authors. 

"Our results demonstrate the highly dynamic and non-linear effects of interacting stressors on ecosystems and urges for further investigations on biotic interactions in a context of climate change pressures."

The researchers were surprised to find that cork oak, despite the double burden, was able to recover better than had been expected after extreme drought. 

"These new research findings contribute to better understanding and more expedient care of ecosystems," said Haberstroh. "Using them we can, for example, develop rules for particularly dry years, which is a central issue in times of climate change."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14698137">New Phytologist</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How do plants handle competition during extreme drought?

In a new study from the University of Freiburg, researchers...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.sdu.dk/en">University of Southern Denmark</a> has revealed that songbirds have extremely high-resolution control over their vocal output. The experts report that birds can control single vocal muscle fibers while singing.

Songbirds have a unique vocal organ they use to produce their beautiful songs. This organ is surrounded by muscles that contract at high speeds.

"We found that songbirds have incredible fine control of their song, including frequency control below one Hertz," said study lead author Professor Iris Adam.

A motor unit refers to a motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers that it activates. The researchers found that a large portion of the motor units must be very small - even as small as single muscle fiber.

"Motor units vary in size from several hundreds or thousands of muscle fibers in our leg muscles down to only 5-10 in the muscles controlling eye position and the muscles in the larynx," explained study senior author Dr. Coen Elemans.

"In zebra finch song muscles our models predicted that 13-17% of the motor neurons innervates a single muscle fiber."

The team developed a new technique to measure the activity of all muscle fibers within a small muscle.

"Our new method allowed us for the first time to activate single motor neurons and visualize and record the activity of all responding muscle fibers simultaneously," said Professor Adam.

"Like this we were able to show that the song muscles of zebra finches indeed contain motor units as small as one muscle fiber."

The researchers wanted to know what effect such small motor units may have on birdsong. They measured the amount of stress the muscles can make and how such stress changes the frequency of the sound.

"Next to small motor units, we discovered that songbird vocal muscles have the lowest stress measured in any vertebrate," said Professor Adam.

"To be able to study how changes in muscle force alter the sound made by the birds' vocal organ, the syrinx, we had to invent a new setup," said Dr. Elemans. "This setup blows air through the syrinx while we can control the muscles with small motors."

Professor Adam noted that songbird vocal muscles are among the fastest muscles known, and now we show that they are also the weakest with the highest level of control possible.

It is important for the songbirds to maintain this level of control. Previous research has shown that females can detect small changes that influence whether they are attracted to a male or not.

"We think that next to a special syrinx and their amazing ability to imitate sounds, the fine gradation of the song features such as pitch has increased the amount of different sounds a bird can make," said Professor Adam.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</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

Songbirds can control single muscle fibers while singing

A new study from the University of Southern Denmark has...

In a new study published by <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a>, experts have discovered that North <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-lionfish-have-arrived-in-the-south-atlantic/">Atlantic</a> right whales have become significantly shorter in the last three to four decades. The experts report that, since the 1980s, the average length of the whales has declined by about seven percent.

The research suggests that even though whales are now largely protected from direct catch, other stressors are having an impact on their fitness. 

"On average, a whale born today is expected to reach a total length about a meter shorter than a whale born in 1980," explained <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">NOAA</a> scientist Joshua Stewart. "But that's just the average - there are also some extreme cases where young whales are several meters shorter than expected."

"Major impacts on life history like this have been documented in heavily exploited commercial species, especially fishes, but to our knowledge this is the first time these kinds of impacts are being recorded in a large mammal."

In collaboration with an international team of scientists, Stewart set out to document the challenges faced by right whales as indicated by changes in their life history characteristics, including size. The experts analyzed aerial photogrammetry measurements collected over 20 years.

"We were able to build on our previous work that used conventional aircraft in the early 2000s by adopting new drone technology to extend the time series in recent years," said John Durban at Oregon State University (formerly with NOAA). "In both cases, we were able to measure whales by flying a camera high above them, essentially giving them a health check without them knowing we were there."

The whales have been consistently monitored since the 1980s, including detailed records of attached-gear entanglements, age, and size. Beyond the effects of entanglements, the experts examined the potential impacts of other stressors such as noise, ship strikes, and prey availability.

"Fishing gear entanglements in this population are unfortunately fairly common, and entanglements resulting in attached gear and severe injuries have been generally increasing over the past several decades," Stewart said. 

"Previous studies have shown that the increased drag from entangling gear requires right whales to spend a lot of extra energy just to go about their normal activities, and that is energy they might otherwise spend on growth or reproduction. In some cases, entanglements can be lethal, but it turns out that even sub-lethal entanglements can have lasting impacts on right whales."

The findings show that entanglements are one of the stressors associated with shorter whales. According to the researchers, stunted growth in right whales may lead to a higher risk of life-threatening gear entanglements, as well as reduced reproductive success.

"The smaller you are, the less energetic reserves you have, and the harder it might be to survive a serious entanglement or sustained food shortage," explained Stewart. 

"So it's possible that these life history changes could translate into population viability impacts. But this really makes me wonder about how large whales worldwide are being impacted by entanglements. This is by no means a problem unique to right whales - entanglements are a major threat for whales, marine mammals, and other marine species worldwide."

"Because North Atlantic right whales have this incredibly detailed dataset with known ages, sizes, entanglement histories, and so forth, we could directly examine how these impacts are affecting growth rates. My guess is that many other species are being similarly affected, but we just don't have the ability to detect it in less well-studied populations."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

North Atlantic right whales are getting shorter

In a new study published by Cell Press, experts have...

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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

[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...