Pop quiz... what is a product that people around the world buy millions of, every minute of every day? If your answer was bottled water, pat yourself on the back -- and then worry. 



This seemingly innocuous, everyday act is causing a tidal wave of concern among population health experts globally.



Why? Because the implications of bottled water consumption are far-reaching, affecting not just our health but also our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-emissions-now-measured-using-global-standard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mother Earth herself</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bottled-water-as-a-personal-preference">Bottled water as a personal preference</h2>



Safe tap water is not a luxury for the majority of us. 



Yet, we forsake it for bottled water. Even more startling is the plight of two billion people worldwide without safe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-play-a-crucial-role-in-clean-drinking-water/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">drinking water</a> who are reliant on bottled water for hydration. 



The reasons behind this are convenience and a misplaced belief, mostly fueled by aggressive industry propaganda, that bottled water is superior to tap water. 



But how true is this belief?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-safety-of-bottled-water">Safety of bottled water</h2>



Bottled water is in no way safer than tap water, assert medical sleuths from <a href="https://qatar-weill.cornell.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weill Cornell Medicine</a> in Qatar. The logic is simple yet overlooked.



Bottled water does not undergo the rigorous quality checks that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/too-much-fluoride-in-tap-water-supply-might-lower-kids-iq-by-few-points/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tap water</a> does. It also comes with a side effect -- the possibility of chemical leakage from the plastic bottles it's stored in, especially if stored for long periods or exposed to sunlight and high temperatures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-really-in-your-bottled-water">What's really in your bottled water?</h2>



Bottled water might be clearer in appearance than its counterparts, but it houses a murky secret – a startling 10-78% of samples were found to contain pollutants. 



The villains? Microplastics, dubbed as endocrine disruptors, and other malevolent substances like phthalates and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-plastic-items-pose-a-hidden-risk-to-childrens-gut-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bisphenol A (BPA)</a>.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/contamination-crisis-microplastics-found-in-88-of-protein-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microplastics</a> can disrupt body functions and cause oxidative stress, immune dysregulation, and blood fat level changes. 



BPA exposure has been linked to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, all of which typically surface later in life.



Our estimates about the long-term impacts of these contaminants are still a work in progress, warns the study author. Add to this mix the possibility of microplastics infiltrating the food chain, and we're in for worrying times.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-better-option-tap-water">The better option: Tap water</h2>



Choosing tap water doesn't just benefit your health. It's an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-interlinked-crisis-of-plastic-pollution-and-global-warming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">act of environmental responsibility</a>. 



Plastic bottles are the second most common pollutant in the ocean, accounting for 12% of total plastic waste.



Of these, only a dismal 9% are recycled globally. 



The rest find their way into landfills, incinerators, and low-and-middle-income countries' waste management systems, putting a spotlight over issues of social justice and sustainability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-single-use-plastic-harms-earth">How single-use plastic harms Earth</h2>



Single-use plastics are items made from plastic that are designed to be used once and then thrown away. These include things like plastic bags, straws, bottles, cutlery, and packaging materials. 



We often use them for convenience in our daily lives, such as drinking water in plastic bottles, without considering their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/major-plastic-pollution-lurks-beneath-the-surface-of-rivers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">long-term impact</a>.



When we discard single-use plastics, they often end up polluting our environment. They litter our streets, clog landfills, and pollute oceans where they <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-kills-ocean-embryos-during-development/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harm marine life</a>. Animals can mistake plastic for food or become entangled in it, leading to injury or death. 



As these plastics break down, they become microplastics that contaminate soil and water, eventually entering the food chain and affecting our health. 



By relying on disposable plastics, we contribute to environmental degradation and risk the well-being of our planet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-avoiding-bottled-water">Avoiding bottled water</h2>



Despite steps being taken to promote tap water use in public spaces and restaurants and to contain the scourge of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/major-plastic-pollution-lurks-beneath-the-surface-of-rivers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">single-use plastics</a>, our experts call for more action.



Emphasis is on government interventions and educational campaigns to bring about a perceptual change in public behavior. 



The message to drive home? Tap water is not just safe but is also an act of environmental stewardship.



Collectively, the accumulated evidence underscores the critical role of government interventions and educational campaigns in shifting public perception and behavior. 



"These campaigns should highlight the environmental stewardship and health benefits of choosing tap water, effectively driving a cultural change towards more sustainable consumption practices,”  the authors suggest.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-technological-innovations">Technological innovations </h2>



Bottled water's reign may be <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/collecting-water-from-the-air-to-tackle-a-global-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">overthrown by technology</a>. Innovations like water filtration systems and portable purifiers give individuals the power to sip safe water, minus the reliance on plastic bottles. 



Research into the creation of eco-friendly alternatives to plastic presents a promising future. 



Furthermore, investment in and development of smart water systems could rebuild public trust in tap water's safety and quality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-time-to-take-stock-and-do-something">Time to take stock and do something</h2>



The mounting health, financial, and environmental toll associated with bottled water is alarming. The need to reassess this issue is dire, especially in low-and-middle-income countries where investing in safe drinking water infrastructure could be pivotal.



“The reliance on [bottled water] incurs significant health, financial and environmental costs, calling for an urgent re-evaluation of its widespread use,” they implored.



Governments must urgently confront these issues, including those in low and middle income countries where there is a pressing need for them to invest in safe drinking water infrastructure.



“By prioritizing tap water consumption, we can collectively address the multifaceted challenges posed by [bottled water] and embrace tap water as a cornerstone of environmental responsibility and public health," the authors concluded.



In choosing tap water over bottled water, we take a step towards environmental responsibility and safeguard public health. 



Our collective efforts can tackle the problems that bottled water poses head-on, reaffirming tap water as a symbol of progressive, sustainable living.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015226" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BMJ Global Health</a>.



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Bottled water has become a global scourge, wreaking environmental havoc

Pop quiz... what is a product that people around the world buy millions of, every minute of every day? If your answer was bottled water, pat yourself on the back -- and then worry. This seemingly innocuous, everyday act is causing a tidal wave of concern among population health experts globally. Why? Because the implications of bottled water consumption are far-reaching, affecting not just our health but also our Mother Earth herself. Bottled water as a personal preference Safe tap water is not a luxury for the...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/">California Institute of Technology</a>, experts have discovered that fruit flies can fly up to 15 kilometers in a single journey. This distance is the equivalent of the average human traveling over 10,000 kilometers, or more than 6,200 miles.

The record for the longest distance by a human was set in 2005, when an ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes ran continuously for 80 hours over 350 miles - roughly 324,000 times his body length. The Caltech study has found that fruit flies can travel up to six million times the length of their body.

The experts designed a series of "release and recapture" experiments involving hundreds of thousands of fruit flies under various wind conditions.

The experiments were conducted in a dry lakebed in the Mojave Desert. Fruit flies were released and lured into traps with fermenting juice, as the researchers measured their top speeds.

The researchers found that it took about 16 minutes for the fruit flies to cover one kilometer to reach the traps, corresponding with a speed of approximately one meter per second. Previous studies from the lab showed that a fully fed fruit fly has the energy to travel continuously for up to three hours. 

Based on this data, the team concluded that the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster can fly roughly 12 to 15 kilometers in a single flight, even into a gentle breeze, and will go further if aided by a tailwind. This distance is about 6 million times the average body length of a fruit fly, which is 2.5 millimeters.

"The dispersal capability of these little fruit flies has been vastly underestimated," said Professor Michael Dickinson. "They can travel as far or farther than most migratory birds in a single flight. These flies are the standard laboratory model organism, but they are almost never studied outside of the laboratory and so we had little idea what their flight capabilities were."

The research indicates that the fly brain still contains ancient behavioral modules, said Professor Dickinson. 

"For any animal, if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and there's no food, what do you do? Do you just hop around and hope you find some fruit? Or do you say - 'Okay, I'm going to pick a direction and go as far as I can in that direction and hope for the best.' These experiments suggest that that's what the flies do."

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://pnas.otg">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

Fruit flies can travel six million times their body length

In a new study from the California Institute of Technology,...

Rat eradication on tropical islands can benefit the surrounding coral <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coral-reefs-provide-5-3-billion-in-flood-protection-on-u-s-coast/">reefs</a> in a major way, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a>. The researchers found that in the absence of rats, valuable nutrients in the form of seabird poop are able to reach the reefs. 

The experts report that seabird nutrient flows can bolster the health of delicate coral reef ecosystems, and may improve their chances of recovering climate disturbance events.

Seabirds make critically important contributions to nutrient distribution on tropical islands. After feeding on fish far out in the open ocean, the birds return to roost and deposit nitrogen-rich nutrients in their poop, or guano.

When it rains, the guano is washed off into the surrounding ocean where it fertilizes corals, algae, and other marine species. 

Rats have been accidentally introduced to many tropical islands over the last few centuries through human settlement and sailing between islands. The invasive animals can completely alter ecosystems and are particularly threatening to seabirds, eating eggs, chicks and even some adults. 

In previous work, the Lancaster team showed that islands with rat infestations had much smaller seabird populations than islands without rats. As a result, there was much less nitrogen on the islands and in the surrounding marine environments. The lack of nutrient runoff was linked to smaller reef fish and slower coral growth on adjacent reefs.

The current study was focused on 20 islands in the central and western Indian Ocean, including the Chagos Archipelago and the Scattered islands.

The team compared islands with ongoing infestations to those where rats have been eradicated, as well as with islands that never had rats. 

The greatest number of seabirds was found on islands where rats have never been introduced. Islands with existing rat infestations had the fewest seabirds, as well as seabird-derived nutrients. 

Seabird populations are steadily increasing on two sites within the Scattered Islands - Île du Lys and Tromelin.

"Rats were eradicated on Tromelin in 2005," said study co-author Matthieu Le Corre. "Since then there has been an eight-fold increase in seabirds, and six species that were locally extinct because of the rats have restarted to breed after rat eradication. On Île du Lys, where rats were eradicated in 2003, surveys show there has been a ten-fold increase in seabirds since."

By testing fish and algae, the researchers determined that there were higher levels of seabird-derived nitrogen surrounding these islands.

The study showed that - even around islands that have been infested for hundreds of years - seabird nutrients begin flowing to coral reefs within 16 years of rat eradication.

"We know that rats are devastating for island seabird populations, and that the loss of these birds from islands is harmful to the surrounding coral reef ecosystems. However, we needed to test whether removing the rats from islands could help these important nutrient cycles return, and if so, how quickly and how far the benefits would spread onto fragile coral reefs," explained study lead author Dr. Casey Benkwitt.

"Our study shows the first evidence that rat eradication programs can indeed be an important tool in helping restore these vital seabird-led nutrient cycles not just on tropical islands themselves, but also in their surrounding seas - and that they can recover within relatively short timeframes, which is very encouraging."

The researchers believe that by combining rat eradication programs with other restoration strategies, it could be possible to speed up the recovery of seabird populations, and their benefits to surrounding marine environments.

"This study adds to the weight of evidence suggesting rat eradication can have substantial conservation benefits to tropical island and adjacent marine ecosystems," said Professor Nick Graham.

"The nutrient cycles that returning seabirds bring can bolster coral and fish assemblages. With climate impacts severely impacting coral reefs, management actions to boost the ecosystem are incredibly important."

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

Rat eradication is beneficial for seabirds and coral reefs

Rat eradication on tropical islands can benefit the surrounding coral...

Excessive social media use does not have the potential to become addictive, according to research from the <a href="https://www.strath.ac.uk/">University of Strathclyde</a>. The study examined whether social media users have an "attentional bias," which is a hallmark of addictive behavior such as gambling and alcohol.

"The push towards characterizing excessive social media use as a potentially addictive behavior, which might produce negative mental health outcomes, has received mixed support in the literature," explained the study authors.  

"While there is some evidence that excessive use may be associated with lower self-esteem, and increased levels of depression and anxiety, other studies, some using longitudinal methods, have failed to replicate these effects." 

"What is clear, is that in contrast to substance-related addiction research, much less focus has been attributed to investigating whether excessive social media use can be detected through changes in cognitive processes such as selective attention." 

To investigate, the researchers asked 100 participants to locate specific social media apps on a simulated smartphone screen as quickly and accurately as possible, while ignoring other apps. The volunteers reported varying levels of daily social media use. 

The study was designed to determine whether individuals who reported the most frequent social media use were more likely to have their attention drawn to the apps through attentional bias. The results did not provide evidence that the attention of frequent social media users was drawn more to these types of applications, and there were no self-reported or measurable levels of addictive severity.

"Social media use has become a ubiquitous part of society, with 3.8 billion users worldwide," said Dr. David Robertson. "While research has shown that there are positive aspects to social media engagement, such as feelings of social connectedness and well-being, much of the focus has been on the negative mental health outcomes which are associated with excessive use, such as higher levels of depression and anxiety."

"The evidence to support such negative associations is mixed but there is also a growing debate as to whether excessive levels of social media use should become a clinically defined addictive behavior."

"We did not find evidence of attentional bias. People who frequently checked and posted their social media accounts were no more likely to have their attention drawn to the icon of a social media app than those who check and post less often."

"Much more research is required into the effects of social media use, both positive and negative, before definitive conclusions can be reached about the psychological effects of engagement with these platforms. Our research indicates that frequent social media use may not, at present, necessarily fit into traditional addiction frameworks."

The study is published in the <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/2006-overview.xml">Journal of Behavioral Addictions</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Social media use is not an addictive behavior

Excessive social media use does not have the potential to...

A new study from <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/">Purdue University</a> has revealed that vervet monkeys tend to keep their distance from others when they are dealing with a parasitic infection.

Study lead author and biological anthropologist Dr. Brandi Wren spent a year studying wild vervet monkeys in South Africa. She documented the parasite loads of individual monkeys, as well as social grooming behavior within groups.

Dr. Wren found that monkeys carrying certain gastrointestinal parasites did not groom others as much as those without the parasite. 

Vervet monkeys share more than 90 percent of their DNA with humans, and have also been known to exhibit anxiety and hypertension. These are conditions the are not often found in non-human animals.

By studying the physiology, genetics, and behavior of vervet monkeys, biologists can better understand certain aspects of human biology.

"We have so many behavioral similarities; the roots and nuances of social behavior tend to be similar across all of the primates, especially from monkeys to humans," said Dr. Wren. 

"This study shows some of those similarities down to, when we feel sick, we don't want to talk to anybody. 'You can rub my back, whatever, but I really want to be left alone.' We see a lot of similarities in how humans and monkeys interact within their own groups."

The gastrointestinal parasites that Dr. Wren investigated are not typically spread through social contact, but through contaminated soil or substances in the environment. However, the research shows that the parasites may be spread through social contact, and can significantly affect an individual's social behavior.

After studying social interactions combined with data on infection from fecal samples, the researchers found that monkeys infected with whipworm spent less time grooming other monkeys. 

"Infected individuals show a little bit of lethargy, but the interesting thing is that they still let other individuals groom them; they just don't groom others. They also don't cuddle with the other monkeys as much. It appears they just don't feel well."

Dr. Wren noted that the difference in social behavior is not so stark that it is noticeable just by observing the monkeys. 

"There's no way we would have been able to tell which monkeys were infected just from observation. There are no other signs of the infection, other than the social behavior. And the change is often so hard to detect. It takes following one individual for a substantial time and collecting the data to see it. The effect is hidden in this complex web of interactions," explained Dr. Wren.

"There are some individuals you watch and you think, 'Gosh, this guy is such a jerk! He always lets everybody groom him, but he doesn't groom anybody else! What we're attributing to personality or attitude could just be because he has a gut full of parasites."

According to the experts, the monkeys' behavior parallels human behavior during the pandemic. Like vervet monkeys, humans crave social contact, can spread diseases through social contact, and tend to withdraw a bit during an illness. 

"All these social behaviors affect health on a practical level," said Dr. Wren. "We know COVID-19 is spread through close social contact. A fascinating thing about studying other species, and one reason to observe and understand them, is that we are always learning new things. There is always more to learn. Even when we're looking at previous research, even when we thought we understood the results, we still may not know the whole picture."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Monkeys practice social distancing when they have an infection

A new study from Purdue University has revealed that vervet...

The expansion of solar <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/horses-gut-bacteria-talk-to-their-cells-to-regulate-energy/">energy</a> can be shaped to benefit pollinators, according to new research. The experts have identified many ways that bees and other pollinators could gain from the strategic development of solar parks across Europe. 

"Land use change for solar parks could cause further degradation of our environment but, if done well, offers much potential to improve our environment," said Dr. Alona Armstrong of <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a>.

"If we transition well, we could use energy system decarbonization to also address the ecological crisis. Given where we are, can we afford not to?"

Renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) take out much more space than fossil fuels. The study shows that, with careful planning, the deployment of clean energy could actually help pollinators instead of hurting them. 

Pollinators like bees, wasps, beetles, and butterflies play a key role in food production, with around 75 percent of the leading global food crops depending on them to some degree.

For the Lancaster study, a team of environmental scientists systematically reviewed the available evidence on how land management practices relating to solar parks could enhance pollinator biodiversity in Northwest Europe.

The researchers have outlined ten evidence-based ways to protect and even enhance pollinator biodiversity. The strategies range from planting wildflowers to connecting solar parks to nearby habitats.

Solar parks can produce large amounts of power, with the UK's largest solar park set to power 91,000 homes once complete. However, the amount of land required for solar parks can be damaging to the environment.

About half of PV in the UK has been installed as ground-mounted solar parks, ranging in size from one to 40 hectares. The experts report that, because solar parks are often built on landscapes that have been intensively farmed and are poor for biodiversity, they may provide opportunities to establish hotspots of pollinator biodiversity.

"Many pollinators are in decline both in the UK and in other parts of the world," said study co-author Hollie Blaydes. "Actions to conserve pollinators include reversing agricultural intensification and maintaining natural habitat, both of which can be achieved within solar parks. Often built amongst agricultural land, solar parks offer a unique opportunity to provide pollinator resources where they are most needed."

"As well as promoting biodiversity, pollinator-friendly solar parks also have the potential to provide tangible economic benefits to farmers through enhancing pollination services to adjacent agricultural land, boosting crop yields," explained Professor Simon Potts of the University of Reading. 

"Imagine a world where solar parks not only produced much needed low carbon electricity but were also diverse and attractive wildflower meadows buzzing with insect life."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-and-sustainable-energy-reviews">Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Pollinators can benefit from the expansion of solar energy

The expansion of solar energy can be shaped to benefit...

Japan mushrooms set

In a new study from <a href="https://www.pennstatehealth.org/locations/penn-state-cancer-institute?utm_source=local-listing&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;utm_campaign=website-link">Penn State Cancer Institute</a>, researchers have found that daily mushroom consumption is associated with a 45 percent lower risk of developing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/koalas-are-infected-with-a-virus-that-causes-cancer/">cancer</a>. 

The experts set out to investigate the relationship between mushroom consumption and cancer risk by analyzing previous research.

The meta-analysis was focused on 17 cancer studies published from 1966 to 2020, including data from more than 19,500 cancer patients.

Mushrooms are considered to be a superfood because they are loaded with vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. While they are known to promote a healthy immune system and boost bone health, the results of the new study suggest that mushrooms may also help guard against cancer. 

The researchers found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer. 

"Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothioneine, which is a unique and potent antioxidant and cellular protector," said study lead author Djibril M. Ba. "Replenishing antioxidants in the body may help protect against oxidative stress and lower the risk of cancer."

Shiitake, oyster, maitake, and king oyster mushrooms were found to have the highest amounts of ergothioneine.

The experts determined that individuals who consumed 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45 percent lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms.

When specific cancers were examined, the researchers found the strongest associations with breast cancer. Ba explained that this could be because many of the studies were focused on breast cancer, and not other cancers. 

"Overall, these findings provide important evidence for the protective effects of mushrooms against cancer," said study co-author Professor John Richie. "Future studies are needed to better pinpoint the mechanisms involved and specific cancers that may be impacted."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/nutrition">Nutrition</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mushroom consumption linked to 45 percent lower cancer risk

In a new study from Penn State Cancer Institute, researchers...

Our social connections have an influence on the food we choose to eat, according to new research. The experts discovered when co-workers are eating together, their food choices are comparably healthy or unhealthy.

Study first author Dr. Douglas Levy is an investigator at the Mongan Institute Health Policy Research Center at <a href="https://www.massgeneral.org/">Massachusetts General Hospital</a> (MGH). 

"We found that individuals tend to mirror the food choices of others in their social circles, which may explain one way obesity spreads through social networks," said Dr. Levy.

The experts found that an individual's eating patterns can be shaped even by a casual acquaintance. This finding supports the results of several previous long-term studies which demonstrated the influence of social ties on weight gain, eating behavior, and alcohol consumption.

The current study was focused on the cumulative social influence of food choices among approximately 6,000 MGH employees as they ate in the hospital's cafeterias over two years. 

The nutritional quality of food choices was determined using the hospital cafeterias' "traffic light" labeling system, which designates all food and beverages as green (healthy), yellow (less healthy) or red (unhealthy).

Based on the assessments of three million encounters between pairs of employees making cafeteria purchases together, the researchers found that food choices among connected employees were consistently more alike than they were different. "The effect size was a bit stronger for healthy foods than for unhealthy foods," said Dr. Levy.

One critical objective of the study was to determine whether social networks truly influence eating behavior, or whether people with similar food preferences are more likely to become friends and eat together - a phenomenon known as homophily. 

"We controlled for characteristics that people had in common and analyzed the data from numerous perspectives, consistently finding results that supported social influence rather than homophily explanations," said Dr. Levy.

Peer pressure is one explanation for why people who are socially connected make similar food choices.

"People may change their behavior to cement the relationship with someone in their social circle," said Dr. Levy. Co-workers may encourage each other to choose unhealthy foods or exert pressure to make a healthier choice.

"As we emerge from the pandemic and transition back to in-person work, we have an opportunity to eat together in a more healthful way than we did before," said study co-author Mark Pachucki. "If your eating habits shape how your co-workers eat - even just a little - then changing your food choices for the better might benefit your co-workers as well."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/">Nature Human Behaviour</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Co-workers influence our healthy and unhealthy food choices

Our social connections have an influence on the food we...

Critically endangered lemurs may be able to survive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astonishing-reduction-in-bird-habitats-found-in-colombia/">habitat</a> loss thanks to a flexible diet, according to a new study from <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a>. 

While lemurs are accustomed to eating mainly leaves, the researchers discovered that some species have the anatomy and digestive genes necessary to adapt to eating fruit, flowers, or even pine needles. 

The experts analyzed the genomes of four sifaka species found in different habitats in Madagascar, ranging from arid deciduous forests to rainforests.

The researchers identified genetic adaptations shared by the sifakas that eliminate toxic compounds in leaves, optimize the absorption of nutrients, and detect bitter tastes. The genome shows patterns of evolution similar to those found in other distantly related herbivores, such as colobus monkeys in Central Africa.

"Sifakas can take advantage of foods that are higher energy and are more nutrient dense, and can fall back and subsist on leaves in times of scarcity," said study lead author Professor Elaine Guevara.

In the face of habitat loss and human disturbance, dietary flexibility may give sifakas an advantage over their relatives that strictly eat leaves or fruit.

The analysis also revealed that sifakas are genetically more diverse than what is typically seen in a critically endangered species. "These animals do seem to have very healthy levels of genetic diversity, which is very surprising," said Professor Guevara. 

Sifakas were found to have high heterozygosity, which is a measure of genetic diversity and an indicator of population size. This finding suggests that they are more resilient to threats such as climate change, habitat loss, and new pathogens.

"Sifakas are still critically endangered, their population numbers are decreasing, and habitat loss is accelerating drastically," said Professor Guevara.

However, these lemurs have a good chance of survival with the help of conservation. "Our results are all the more reason to do everything we can to help them."

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

Lemurs eat flowers and pine needles to survive habitat loss

Critically endangered lemurs may be able to survive habitat loss...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> has revealed that male dolphins can recognize cooperative members of their group. The researchers discovered that male dolphins develop a social concept of team membership based on the cooperative investment of other individuals.

"Humans use accrued social knowledge to classify individuals into meaningful groups, which can encompass sporting teams, social castes and political alliances," wrote the study authors.

"Indeed, the maintenance of cooperation in human societies depends, in part, on our ability to classify relationships according to their cooperative payoffs. While many animals are capable of distinguishing between in-group and out-group based on simple rules of familiarity or spatial location, others are also capable of classifying individuals who live in the same group using accumulated social information." 

"In social birds and mammals, for example, individuals interact in stable and predictable ways, allowing them to be classified into groups according to matrilineal kinship or linear rank order. Some primate species are even able to classify individuals hierarchically, by both kinship and rank."

In collaboration with experts at the University of Zurich and University of Massachusetts, the team analyzed 30 years of observational data from a dolphin population in Shark Bay, Western Australia.

The researchers also conducted experiments to investigate how male dolphins responded to the calls of other males from their alliance network.

"We flew drones above dolphin groups, recording their behavior during the sound playbacks, tracking their movements underwater and revealing novel insights into how dolphins respond to the calls of other males in their network of allies," explained Dr. Simon Allen.

Males showed a strong response to allies that had consistently helped them out in the past, even if they were not close friends. On the other hand, the dolphins did not respond to individuals who had not consistently helped them out in the past, even if they were friends. This means that the dolphins have a concept of team membership and can categorize allies based on past interactions.

"Social animals can possess sophisticated ways of classifying relationships with members of the same species," said Dr. Stephanie King. "In our own society, we use social knowledge to classify individuals into meaningful groups, like sports teams and political allies. Bottlenose dolphins form the most complex alliances outside humans, and we wanted to know how they classify these relationships."

"Such concepts develop through experience and likely played a role in the cooperative behavior of early humans. Our results show that cooperation-based concepts are not unique to humans, but also occur in other animal societies with extensive cooperation between non-kin."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</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

Dolphins can recognize cooperative team players

A new study from the University of Bristol has revealed...

The residue from wine grapes could be beneficial to human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/household-chores-can-improve-brain-health-in-older-adults/">health</a>, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>. The researchers have discovered a wealth of potentially health-enhancing compounds and sugar molecules called oligosaccharides in the remains of wine grapes.

Oligosaccharides are a source of nutrition found in many plant and animal tissues, including human breast milk. 

In California alone, about four million tons of wine is produced each year, which also creates thousands of tons of residue like grape skins, seeds, and pulp.

Wine grape remains, also known as marc, make up about 30 percent of the original grape material, and much of it is left behind to decompose in the sun.

The researchers analyzed the molecular composition of chardonnay residue provided by Jackson Family Wines and Sonomaceuticals.

"We were surprised by the diversity of the oligosaccharides in the chardonnay wine grapes, including the presence of structural elements found in mother's milk," said study lead author Amanda Sinrod.

"It's all about sustainable wine production and finding a second life for wine grapes," said Professor Daniela Barile. "Up to this point, chardonnay marc has been regarded as a byproduct of winemaking with little or no value. Early results are encouraging that marc could be a valuable source for oligosaccharides and other compounds that support health and nutrition."

In previous work, UC Davis researchers helped to decode the magic of oligosaccharides in mother's milk. The sugar molecules do not nourish the baby directly, but feed a strain of bacteria in the infant's intestines that helps build immunity against illness and disease. The breakthrough is helping scientists develop products to improve human health.

While the current study is focused on chardonnay, Professor Barile's team previously discovered oligosaccharides in both red and white wine residue. 

"There is more research to be done, but early results are promising that chardonnay marc can become a source for developing supplements and other food products to support health," said Professor Barile.

Oligosaccharides were found to be particularly abundant in the grape skins. The chardonnay marc samples were also rich in flavonoids, healthy compounds found in fruits and vegetables. The team is studying how growing conditions and processing may affect the health potential of viticulture waste.

"We observed significant differences in the relative abundance and type of oligosaccharides in different parts of the marc, so further research is needed to maximize their potential in food product design," said Sinrod.

The study is published in the journal 

<a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/lwt">LWT-Food Science and Technology</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

Wine grape residue may be very beneficial to human health

The residue from wine grapes could be beneficial to human...

By 10,000 BC, nearly 75 percent of Earth's land had already been transformed by humans. However, human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-change-their-behavior-to-adapt-to-coastal-development/">development</a> was not always at nature's expense, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a>.

The researchers analyzed current biodiversity data, and compared this with global maps of population and land use over the past 12,000 years. The results highlight the great care and respect that Indigenous and traditional peoples have shown to nature and the environment.

Professor James Watson said the findings challenge the modern assumption that human development inevitably led to environmental destruction.

"There's a paradigm among natural scientists, conservationists and policymakers that human transformation of terrestrial nature is mostly recent and inherently destructive," said Professor Watson. "But lands now characterized as 'natural,' 'intact,' and 'wild' generally exhibit long histories of human use."

"Even 12,000 years ago, most of Earth's land had been shaped by humans, including more than 95 percent of temperate lands and 90 percent of tropical woodlands."

"And, importantly, current global patterns of vertebrate species richness and key biodiversity areas are strongly associated with past patterns of human land use, when compared to current, 'natural,' recently-untouched landscapes."

Professor Watson explained that humans have been intertwined with nature for most of humanity's existence, and this is critical for how we should plan for conservation in the future.

According to the researchers, the modern world's biodiversity crisis has been caused by more complicated factors than simple human expansion and development.

"Modern environmental destruction has resulted from the appropriation, colonisation and intensifying use of biodiverse cultural landscapes, long shaped and sustained by prior societies," said Professor Watson. "As such, we need to harness the knowledge of traditional and Indigenous peoples."

"We're in a biodiversity crisis - an enormous extinction event - and lessons learned through millennia of stewardship are, and will be, invaluable. Areas under Indigenous management today are now some of the most biodiverse areas remaining on the planet."

"Landscapes under traditional low-intensity use are generally much more biodiverse than those governed by high-intensity agricultural and industrial economies."

"Here in Australia, our Indigenous peoples have lived in sync with incredible biodiversity for the last 50,000 years."

Professor Erle Ellis of the University of Maryland said the results showed Indigenous collaboration was critical.

"Effective, sustainable and equitable conservation of biodiversity needs to recognise and empower Indigenous, traditional and local peoples and foster their cultural heritage of sustainable ecosystem management," said Professor Ellis.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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

Human development was not always destructive

By 10,000 BC, nearly 75 percent of Earth's land had...

In a new study from <a href="https://uci.edu/">UC Irvine</a>, experts report that California's wildfire season has grown more intense with a longer duration every year this century. The researchers also found that the wildfire season is peaking earlier in the year. 

The longer fire season has been driven by climate change and human expansion into areas that were once uninhabited.

For their investigation, the experts analyzed wildfire statistics from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wildfire from 2000 to 2019. They compared this information with historical data from 1920 to 1999.

The study revealed that the annual burn season has lengthened in the past two decades and that the yearly peak has shifted from August to July. 

The team also determined that the number of hotspots with severe fire risk has increased in recent years. This increase is tied to higher temperatures, drought, and an elevated risk of human-caused fires.

"CALFIRE data show that each new year of the 21st century has been a record breaker in terms of wildfire damage in California," said study co-author Professor Tirtha Banerjee. 

"We also have seen that about 80 percent of the total number of the state's wildfires over the past few decades have been small, measuring less that 500 acres. But when fires get large, their deadliness greatly increases."

In order to gain a proper understanding of the growth of fire risk in California, it is important to put large and small incidents into separate buckets, explained Professor Banerjee. The experts discovered that just about 20 percent of the fires were responsible for 97 percent of the total area burned from 2000 to 2020.

"And more than nine-tenths of the casualties and property losses can be attributed to fires exceeding the 500-acre threshold," said Professor Banerjee. He noted that over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in extreme wildfires scorching more than 10,000 acres. 

According to lead-author Shu Li, one of the most alarming findings of the study is the substantial spatial growth of fire risk throughout the state. 

From 1920 to 1999, California's only hotspot that was classified as having "very high wildfire density" was Los Angeles County. But over the past 20 years, these types of hotspots have greatly expanded to include Ventura, Riverside, San Diego, and San Bernardino Counties, and even some areas of northern California.

"Before 2000, there were almost no human-caused wildfires along California's Pacific coastline, but now nearly every coastal county is experiencing increased risk, and the San Benito-Monterey Unit and the San Luis Obispo Unit have even become new hot spots," said Li.

"The concurrence of human-caused climate change, which is drying out our forests and grasslands and creating longer stretches of hot weather, and a steady influx of people into remote areas is creating conditions for the perfect fire storm," said Professor Banerjee. "But there is some good news in all of this; human-caused fire risk can be mitigated by better fire management practices by humans."

Professor Banerjee said he hopes the study - and the near real-time analysis of fire risks in California's natural environment it provides - can be used by government agencies and public policy officials to both prevent and combat costly blazes.

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

California wildfire season is longer, peaks earlier

In a new study from UC Irvine, experts report that...

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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

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.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



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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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" 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 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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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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

[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...