A long-standing enigma surrounding the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star at the center of the Crab Nebula, may have been unraveled by a theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Kansas.&nbsp;



The study, led by Professor Mikhail Medvedev and recently published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.205201" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Physical Review Letters</a>, explains the origins of the pulsar’s unique “zebra” pattern, a peculiar banding in high-frequency radio waves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-powerful-emission-from-the-crab-nebula">Powerful emission from the Crab Nebula</h2>



At the heart of the Crab Nebula, 6,000 light years from Earth, lies the Crab Pulsar, a 12-mile-wide neutron star emitting powerful electromagnetic radiation.



“The emission, which resembles a lighthouse beam, repeatedly sweeps past Earth as the star rotates,” said Medvedev, professor of physics and astronomy at the <a href="https://www.ku.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Kansas</a>.&nbsp;



“We observe this as a pulsed emission, usually with one or two pulses per rotation. The specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pulsars-are-helping-astronomers-pinpoint-dark-matter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pulsar</a> I'm discussing is known as the Crab Pulsar.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-zebra-pattern-in-the-crab-nebula">Zebra pattern in the Crab Nebula</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unraveling-the-mysterious-origins-of-the-crab-nebula/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nebula</a> itself is the remnant of a supernova documented in 1054, with historical records from China describing an unusually bright star in the sky.&nbsp;



However, unlike other pulsars, the Crab Pulsar exhibits a zebra pattern in its high-frequency emissions, making it a singular case in the study of neutron stars.



“This is the only object we know of that produces the zebra pattern, and it only appears in a single emission component from the Crab Pulsar,” Medvedev noted.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-puzzle-decades-in-the-making">A puzzle decades in the making</h2>



Since its discovery in 2007, the zebra pattern has stymied researchers. The band spacing in its electromagnetic spectrum, along with its high polarization and stability, defied explanation.&nbsp;



“Researchers proposed various emission mechanisms, but none have convincingly explained the observed patterns,” said Medvedev.



The zebra pattern occurs within the pulsar’s high-frequency interpulse, a range between 5 and 30 gigahertz - frequencies akin to those of a microwave oven. Using innovative techniques, Medvedev’s research links the phenomenon to the plasma surrounding the pulsar.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decoding-the-crab-nebula-s-zebra-pattern">Decoding the Crab Nebula's zebra pattern </h2>



Medvedev’s breakthrough came from studying the Crab Pulsar’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secrets-of-jupiters-magnetosphere-will-help-us-predict-space-weather/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">magnetosphere</a>, a region filled with plasma composed of charged particles like electrons and positrons.&nbsp;



By applying wave optics, Medvedev connected the zebra pattern in the Crab Nebula to diffraction effects caused by the pulsar’s plasma.



“If you have a screen and an electromagnetic wave passes by, the wave doesn’t propagate straight through,” Medvedev explained.&nbsp;



“Wave optics introduces a different behavior - waves bend around obstacles and interfere with each other, creating a sequence of bright and dim fringes due to constructive and destructive interference.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plasma-diffraction-patterns-in-the-crab-pulsar">Plasma diffraction patterns in the Crab Pulsar </h2>



In the Crab Pulsar, these diffraction patterns vary based on the plasma’s density and the radio wave’s frequency.



“A typical diffraction pattern would produce evenly spaced fringes if we just had a neutron star as a shield,” Medvedev said. “But here, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neutron-stars-may-hold-the-key-to-understanding-dark-matter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">neutron star</a>’s magnetic field generates charged particles constituting a dense plasma, which varies with distance from the star.”&nbsp;



“Low frequencies reflect at large radii, casting a bigger shadow, while high frequencies create smaller shadows, resulting in different fringe spacing.”



This plasma diffraction creates the zebra pattern, with the fringe spacing reflecting variations in the density of the plasma.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-the-pulsar-s-magnetosphere">Mapping the pulsar’s magnetosphere</h2>



“This model is the first one capable of measuring those parameters,” Medvedev said. “By analyzing the fringes, we can deduce the density and distribution of plasma in the magnetosphere.”&nbsp;



“It’s incredible because these observations allow us to convert fringe measurements into a density distribution of the plasma, essentially creating an image or performing tomography of the neutron star’s magnetosphere.”



Medvedev’s findings not only clarify the zebra pattern but also open the door to understanding the intricate structure of the Crab Pulsar’s plasma environment.



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



The study provides a framework for further investigation of the Crab Pulsar and other neutron stars. With additional data collection and refinements to account for gravitational and polarization effects, the method could yield insights into other young and energetic pulsars.



“The Crab Pulsar is somewhat unique - it’s relatively young by astronomical standards, only about a thousand years old, and highly energetic,” Medvedev said. “But it’s not alone; we know of hundreds of pulsars, with over a dozen that are also young.”



The method may even be applied to binary pulsars, which were instrumental in confirming Einstein’s theory of general relativity. “Known binary pulsars can also be explored with the proposed method,” Medvedev added.&nbsp;



“This research can indeed broaden our understanding and observation techniques for pulsars, particularly young, energetic ones.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-leap-forward-in-astrophysics">A leap forward in astrophysics</h2>



By identifying the role of plasma diffraction in the Crab Pulsar’s zebra pattern, Medvedev’s work bridges a critical gap in astrophysics.&nbsp;



The study not only explains a unique phenomenon but also establishes a technique for probing the magnetospheres of pulsars, advancing our understanding of these extraordinary objects.



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)



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Mysterious signals from Crab Nebula form a zebra pattern

A long-standing enigma surrounding the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star at the center of the Crab Nebula, may have been unraveled by a theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Kansas.&nbsp; The study, led by Professor Mikhail Medvedev and recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters, explains the origins of the pulsar’s unique “zebra” pattern, a peculiar banding in high-frequency radio waves. Powerful emission from the Crab Nebula At the heart of the Crab Nebula, 6,000 light years from Earth, lies the Crab Pulsar, a 12-mile-wide neutron...

Researchers have struggled for decades to understand whether cocoa, an ancient fermented product that the Aztecs made from the beans of cacao trees, is beneficial for health. Cocoa is known to contain a large concentration of flavanols, which have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that protect our cells from damage. As a result, cocoa consumption could potentially help us age better and reduce the risk for developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other illnesses.



The&nbsp;<a href="https://cosmostrial.org/">COSMOS</a>&nbsp;Trial (COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study), led by experts at <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a> and the <a href="https://fredhutch.org/">Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center</a>, gathered data from 21,444 men and women in order to investigate the health impacts of a daily supplement of cocoa flavanols and a multivitamin supplement.&nbsp;



In the context of this large project, Dr. Yanbin Dong - a geneticist and cardiologist at the <a href="https://www.augusta.edu/mcg/medicine/gpi/">Georgia Prevention Institute</a> from the Medical College of Georgia - was recently awarded a $3 million grant from the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a> to perform a detailed analysis of the effect of cocoa consumption on inflammatory factors and genetic changes associated with aging.&nbsp;



Dr. Dong is expected to conduct sophisticated genetic analyses looking for the impact of cocoa on age-related genetic changes by using “epigenetic clocks,” which are biochemical tests that measure biological age based on the amount of DNA-methylation.



Preliminary results of the COSMOS Trial show that cocoa flavanols have potential benefits on platelet activation, LDL oxidation, lipid profiles, endothelium-dependent vasodilation, blood pressure, inflammation, and insulin resistance, which are all crucial for cardiovascular health.



Dr. Dong’s hypothesis is that flavanol consumption can also reduce epigenetic aging and “inflammaging” (a chronic, low-grade type of inflammation that increases with aging) and, thus, that cocoa consumption can help people live longer, healthier lives.&nbsp;



The researchers emphasized that flavanols are often destroyed in normal cocoa and chocolate processing, making these unreliable sources of flavanol compounds. According to Dr. Dong, a better source of cocoa flavanols is dark chocolate, which also contains iron, copper and other healthy ingredients that help boost immunity and lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and general cognitive decline.&nbsp;



---



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

Cocoa can help people live longer, healthier lives

Researchers have struggled for decades to understand whether cocoa, an...

Researchers from Binghamton University’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/biology/">Department of Biological Sciences</a> have found that climate change might have a significant role in diminishing the capacity of wood frogs to withstand road salt pollution.&nbsp;



Each winter, over ten million of metric tons of salt are applied to roadways in the United States. Later, due to snow melting and spring rains, the salt is washed off, increasing the salinity of nearby woodlands and proving toxic to amphibians and other freshwater species, particularly those whose behavioral patterns are currently affected by climate change.



As a result of global warming, spring comes earlier in the northeastern United States and is more variable in temperature and precipitation rates than it used to be. Such shifts have rippled through ecosystems, affecting spring-breeding amphibians such as wood frogs, who might be lured by "false springs" to mate too early.&nbsp;



Although adult frogs can survive the effects of additional winter storms and freezing temperatures following this initial onset of spring, their eggs and hatchlings might not be so lucky. Moreover, broods of hatchlings of parents exposed to additional winter storms seem to be less resilient to road salt pollution.



In an experimental study, scientists removed frog eggs from the environment in which they were laid and raised them in the laboratory. The experts discovered that eggs which were laid later in the mating season by parents exposed to additional winter storms were less likely to withstand saline pollution.&nbsp;



The scientists suspect that earlier-breeding frogs were exposed to less temperature-induced stress hormones than those that bred later, giving them a better ability to acclimate to increased salt levels in their environment.&nbsp;



“Chronically elevated stress hormones can have cascading impacts on other hormones, such as those related to homeostasis, growth or reproduction,” explained study co-author Lindsey Swierk, an assistant research professor of Biology at Binghamton University.



Although immediate mitigation strategies addressing these climate patterns are very difficult to implement, local management should be made aware of the negative effects road salt pollution have on the amphibians whose behavioral patterns are affected by climate change.&nbsp;



“Our results suggest that the effects of climate change on wood frog breeding are complex, depending on the severity of freezing events from year to year, and are interactive with other human-introduced stressors like contaminants,” concluded Professor Swierk.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-021-00413-0">Frontiers in Zoology</a>.



---



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

Climate change makes wood frogs vulnerable to salt pollution

Researchers from Binghamton University’s&nbsp;Department of Biological Sciences have found that...

Humans are consummate walkers – our ancestors populated the entire Earth by walking from one place to another. Human locomotion is considered very efficient in terms of its energy use, even though it may not feel this way when we walk a long distance or hike up a steep hill. One of the reasons that energy use is optimized during walking is that we constantly adjust aspects of our gaits to use the least energy possible.



"People are continuously sensing their energy expenditure and adapting their gait to minimise costs," explained study co-author Jessica Selinger of Queen’s University, Canada. "We adapt all kinds of gait characteristics - the speed we move at, the length and width of each step - to minimise the calories we are burning."



It was not clear whether this constant adjustment while walking is consciously performed or whether it happens automatically, in an intuitive way. Do we, in fact, have to use energy thinking about how to modify our walking in order to save energy? A team of Canadian scientists set out to test whether people consciously adjust their movements in order to conserve energy. 



The experimental procedure was complex and involved getting volunteers to walk under conditions of varying difficulty while simultaneously being distracted by assigned tasks.&nbsp;



Initially, the volunteers walked on a treadmill at a comfortable pace while responding to a stream of beeping tones played to them through headphones. They had to press a button in the right hand if the beep tone they heard was higher than the previous one, or a button in the left hand if the beep tone was lower. The purpose of this was to distract them from consciously analyzing their own walking.



Once the volunteers had mastered this, they practiced walking in various ways while keeping in step with the beats of a metronome. The individuals walked at a faster or a slower pace that was either more or less efficient than their own, normal walk. Next, the researchers activated the leg braces that the volunteers had been wearing.&nbsp;



"Many participants assumed that the exoskeleton (leg brace) device was designed to make walking easier," said Selinger. Although the braces were sometimes used in this way, the researchers also set the braces to make walking harder, just like a treadmill can be set to simulate walking up a slope. This forced the volunteers to adjust their walking style to make it more efficient.&nbsp;



Once the volunteers were familiar with all of these approaches, the scientists combined the tasks and asked them to walk at different speeds while simultaneously identifying whether a beep tone was higher or lower than its predecessor, and also while adjusting to cope with the leg braces. 



"The experimental set-up was technical and had many components," said study co-author Rachel Blair of the University of British Colombia. "It was a challenge to get all these aspects working seamlessly and in-sync with each other."&nbsp;



After analyzing the findings, study co-author Megan McAllister found that volunteers were able to adjust their walking for optimal energy efficiency despite the distractions of the beeping sounds. They did not have to think in order to walk efficiently, but simply adapted automatically.&nbsp;



"When people adapt to energy optimal ways of walking, they do so without consciously having to think about it," said Selinger. This ability to adapt our movements without consciously analyzing or thinking about it allows us to multitask and focus on other problems while we are walking.



The results of this study are published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



---



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

We optimize our walking efficiency without thought

Humans are consummate walkers – our ancestors populated the entire...

According to a new report from the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are">World Bank</a>, without immediate action to mitigate climate change, over 216 million people may be forced to migrate to other parts of their countries by 2050. These migration patterns will be caused by the emergence of so-called “climate migration hotspots,” areas that will become inhabitable due to several environmental effects of global warming such as rising sea levels, powerful storms, or lack of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bedrock-may-be-secretly-supplying-trees-with-water/">water</a> availability.



The World Bank researchers claim that the poorest regions of the world will be the ones that are hit the hardest. The scientists estimate that in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, low water availability, crop productivity, sea-level rise, and storm surges may force the migration of 86 million people. South Asia could face the displacement of 40 million inhabitants, while the estimates for East Asia and the Pacific region are up to 49 million.



Such forced movements will put significant stress on both sending and receiving areas, straining urban centers through overpopulation, and will ultimately jeopardize development gains.&nbsp;



According to study co-author Kanta Kumari Rigaud, the World Bank’s leading environmental specialist, the Earth is already locked into dangerous patterns of climate change. Thus, climate migration should be considered a present reality rather than just a future possible problem.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We have to reduce or cut our greenhouse gases to meet the Paris target, because those climate impacts are going to escalate and increase the scale of climate migration,”&nbsp;said Rigaud.



Although the World Bank report addresses only developing countries, climate migration will certainly be a global phenomenon that also affects higher-income countries. For example, an Artificial Intelligence map designed in 2020 by researchers from the <a href="https://www.usc.edu/">University of Southern California</a> shows that even in the United States, nearly 13 million people might be forced to migrate internally by the end of the 21st century due to sea-level rises on the coastal regions. 



Urgent action needs to be taken to reduce greenhouse emissions, restore natural ecosystems and close developmental gaps between nations. According to Rigaud and his colleagues, if such actions are taken without further delay, climate migration could be reduced by up to 80 percent. 



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer

Global warming will force millions to migrate

According to a new report from the World Bank, without...

Using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-technology-needed-to-monitor-earths-water-cycle/">technology</a> similar to an MRI to scan the floor of the North Sea, scientists have revealed hidden landscapes created by ancient ice sheets.&nbsp;



The experts found "tunnel valleys" buried hundreds of feet below the bottom of the sea. These are the remnants of massive rivers formed as the ice started to melt in response to warming ambient temperatures.



Study lead author James Kirkham is a researcher at the Scott Polar Research Institute and the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/">British Antarctic Survey</a>.



“The origin of these channels was unresolved for over a century. This discovery will help us better understand the ongoing retreat of present-day glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland," explained Kirkham.



"In the way that we can leave footprints in the sand, glaciers leave an imprint on the land upon which they flow. Our new cutting edge data gives us important markers of deglaciation. ”



The technology used sound waves to create detailed images of a lost landscape formed by melting ice. It may give scientists a window into our own future warming planet through the lens of the past.&nbsp;



“Although we have known about the huge glacial channels in the North Sea for some time, this is the first time we have imaged fine-scale landforms within them. These delicate features tell us about how water moved through the channels (beneath the ice) and even how ice simply stagnated and melted away," said study co-author Dr. Kelly Hogan.



"It is very difficult to observe what goes on underneath our large ice sheets today, particularly how moving water and sediment is affecting ice flow and we know that these are important controls on ice behavior. As a result, using these ancient channels to understand how ice will respond to changing conditions in a warming climate is extremely relevant and timely.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geology">Geology</a>.



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

Hidden landscapes found beneath the North Sea

Using technology similar to an MRI to scan the floor...

In just 25 years, global light pollution has increased by at least 49 percent, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. Considering that this estimate is based only on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/light-pollution-may-be-driving-the-decline-of-moths/">light</a> that is visible to satellites, the researchers are confident that the true figure is much higher. 



The experts speculate that from 1992 to 2017, global light pollution increased by up to 270 percent, with regional increases of up to 400 percent.



Even though the trends vary by region, light pollution emissions have increased almost everywhere and there is "limited evidence" that improved technology has helped.



"The global spread of artificial light is eroding the natural night-time environment," said first author Dr.&nbsp; Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.



"This study provides clear evidence not only of how bad light pollution has become as a global problem, but also that it is continuing to get worse, and probably at a faster and faster rate."



The researchers said that their work highlights the hidden impact of the transition to solid-state light emitting diode (LED) technology. LEDs emit more blue light, which is undetectable to satellite sensors.



The study results show that light pollution is steadily increasing in Asia, South America, Oceania, and Africa. Light pollution appears to have declined in North America and leveled off in Europe. However, the researchers say the shift toward blue-rich LEDs masks the fact that light pollution has increased in most locations.



"To take the UK as an example, if you ignore the effect of the switch to LEDs - which has been extensive - you get the false impression that light pollution has recently declined," said Dr. Sánchez de Miguel. "However, correcting for this effect shows it has really increased, and potentially very markedly."



"Contrary to popular belief, the installation of 'broad white' LED streetlights, whilst potentially providing some energy savings, has increased light pollution and also the impacts on organisms such as moths."



A growing collection of research shows that artificial light at night has major impacts on the natural environment. Light pollution from street lamps and other sources is likely contributing to the widespread decline of insects.&nbsp;



"Over the past 25 years, the transition to solid-state LED lighting has been accompanied by rapid increases in light pollution globally," said Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director of the International Dark-Sky Association.



"Without concerted action to reverse this trend, the impact on the natural environment will accelerate, further exacerbating the biodiversity crisis, wasting energy, and meaning a whole generation will grow up in perpetual twilight."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing">Remote Sensing</a>.



---



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

Light pollution has increased almost everywhere

In just 25 years, global light pollution has increased by...

Human heart rate fluctuates due to many different factors. We know that practices such as meditation can slow down heart rate, while <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-can-improve-heart-health-at-any-age/">exercising</a>, thinking about a frightening experience or watching a riveting movie can speed it up. If we carry out these activities with other people then it is predictable that they will experience the same changes in heart rate as we do.



However, the authors of a new study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/home">Cell Reports</a>, propose that individuals listening attentively to a story will synchronize their heart rates as well – even though they are listening entirely on their own.&nbsp;



“There's a lot of literature demonstrating that people synchronize their physiology with each other. But the premise is that somehow, you're interacting and physically present in the same place,” explained study co-senior author Lucas Parra, a professor at City College of New York. “What we have found is that the phenomenon is much broader, and that simply following a story and processing stimulus will cause similar fluctuations in people’s heart rates. It's the cognitive function that drives your heart rate up or down.”



“What’s important is that the listener is paying attention to the actions in the story,” noted study co-senior author Jacobo Sitt, a researcher at the Paris Brain Institute and Inserm. “It’s not about emotions, but about being engaged and attentive, and thinking about what will happen next. Your heart responds to those signals from the brain.”



In a series of experiments the researchers investigated the role of attention in synchronizing the heart rates of participants. For example, when volunteers listened to an audiobook of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, their heart rates increased and decreased at similar points during the story. The electrocardiogram (EKG) measurements of their heart rates were synchronized over time, even though they were isolated from one another.



In order to prove that synchronization was not occurring because participants were responding to the emotional content of the narrative, the researchers asked participants to watch short, unemotional educational videos. Participants who watched the videos showed synchronization of their heart rates, despite the lack of emotional content.&nbsp;



But participants who had to count backwards in their heads while watching the videos showed less synchronization of emotions. This indicated to the researchers that it is the act of paying attention to the narrative and thinking about it that is important in synchronizing heart rates.



Further experimentation revealed that heart rate synchronization also predicts how well a participant comprehends and remembers the events of the story. When participants listened to children’s short stories, some while attentive and others while being distracted, those with higher heart rate synchronization achieved better scores when questioned later about the story. The authors felt this was evidence of the relationship between changes in heart rate and the conscious processing of the narrative.&nbsp;



In a final experiment healthy volunteers and patients with disorders of consciousness (e.g., in a coma or a persistent vegetative state) listened to an audiobook of a children’s story. Patients with disorders were unable to pay attention and, as expected, showed lower rates of heart synchronization than did healthy participants.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This study is still very preliminary, but you can imagine this being an easy test that could be implemented to measure brain function,” said Sitt. “It doesn’t require a lot of equipment. It could even be performed in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.” The study authors emphasized that more validation is needed, with larger numbers of patients, as well as comparisons with accepted tests of brain function like EEGs and fMRIs, before this method could be accepted as a useful measure of brain function.&nbsp;



According to Parra, such research is also important for understanding mindfulness and the brain-body connection.&nbsp;



“Neuroscience is opening up in terms of thinking of the brain as part of an actual anatomical, physical body. This research is a step in the direction of looking at the brain-body connection more broadly, in terms of how the brain affects the body.”



---



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

Our heart rates synchronize when we experience the same story

Human heart rate fluctuates due to many different factors. We...

A new study suggests that all 4,000 species of snakes populating the Earth today evolved from a just a few species which survived the devastating asteroid impact that wiped out the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-diversity-survived-the-dinosaur-extinction/">dinosaurs</a> and most other animals at the end of the Cretaceous.



By studying fossils and analyzing genetic differences between modern snakes, the researchers reconstructed snake evolution. They propose that snakes’ ability to hide underground and live for long periods with very little food played a key role in their ability to survive the giant asteroid impact that destroyed much of the Earth’s fauna 66 million years ago. In the aftermath of this catastrophic event, snakes moved into new niches and habitats, and began diversifying.&nbsp;



"It's remarkable, because not only are they surviving an extinction that wipes out so many other animals, but within a few million years they are innovating, using their habitats in new ways," said study lead author Dr Catherine Klein from <a href="https://www.fau.eu/">Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg</a> (FAU) in Germany.



The research suggests that although the ancestor of modern snakes probably lived in the Southern Hemisphere in the aftermath of the asteroid impact, snakes appear to have spread to Asia. From there, snakes moved all over the globe, with a large number of new species emerging and evolving.



&nbsp;“Our research suggests that extinction acted as a form of ‘creative destruction’- by wiping out old species, it allowed survivors to exploit the gaps in the ecosystem, experimenting with new lifestyles and habitats,” explained corresponding author Dr. Nick Longrich from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/research-centres/milner-centre-for-evolution/">Milner Centre for Evolution</a>&nbsp;at the University of Bath.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This seems to be a general feature of evolution - it’s the periods immediately after major extinctions where we see evolution at its most wildly experimental and innovative. The destruction of biodiversity makes room for new things to emerge and colonize new landmasses. Ultimately life becomes even more diverse than before.”



The scientists also found evidence for another major diversification event that occurred during that period – the shift from a warm to a cold climate, when polar ice caps formed and the Ice Age began.&nbsp;



This study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>, foregrounds the importance of severe, rapid, and global environmental disruptions in driving evolutionary change.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



---



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

Modern snakes evolved from just a few surviving species

A new study suggests that all 4,000 species of snakes...

A recent study from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> found that flowers are employing “mechanical buckling,” a term that signifies the deformation of a structural component under load. The flowers are using this strategy to produce three-dimensional, iridescent patterns that can lure <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-spaces-provide-a-refuge-for-urban-pollinators/">pollinators</a>. 



Although in civil engineering buckling is typically associated with mechanical failure and is something that engineers try to avoid at all costs, for flowers, this phenomenon is surprisingly employed to their advantage.&nbsp;



Flowers use a variety of strategies to attract pollinators, including not only the well-known employment of chemical color from pigments, but also the less-known phenomenon of iridescence – the optical effect produced by an intricate pattern of microscopic ridges on the surface of petals that diffract light. The scientists discovered that hibiscus flowers employ buckling to alter the deformations of the surface of petals in order to produce iridescence.&nbsp;



“The petal striations on hibiscus flowers develop during petal growth, and&nbsp;Professor Beverley Glover’s team, who were the first to discover the iridescence properties in flowers, suspected that they may be caused by mechanical properties as the petals expanded," explained study lead author&nbsp;Dr. Sarah Robinson&nbsp;from the University of Cambridge’s <a href="https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/">Sainsbury Laboratory</a>.



By using a robotic system developed to measure mechanical properties in plants, Dr. Robinson and her colleagues applied a certain force to stretch immature hibiscus petals which have not yet developed striations to check whether it was possible to mechanically induce the patterns.



“We saw striations appear almost instantaneously when a mechanical stress was applied. This told us that it was buckling that was causing a wrinkling of the petal surface and not a slower biological process," explained Dr. Robinson. "We were able to measure the striations and show that they had the same properties as they do when they develop naturally.&nbsp;



"One of the big surprises was that we could also induce striations at 90 degrees to the striations that naturally occur, which indicates that the orientation of the striations is not pre-patterned. However, we could not induce striations in other parts of the petals, suggesting that the ability to form striations is under genetic control."



Considering that more than 35 percent of the world’s crop harvests rely on animal pollinators, it is of crucial importance to gain a better understanding of how the relationship between plants and pollinators functions. This study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(21)01164-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124721011645%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Cell Reports</a>, is a major step forward in elucidating this mysterious connection. 



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

Flowers use mechanical buckling to lure pollinators

A recent study from the University of Cambridge found that...

A new study published in American Heart Association’s journal <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/hyp">Hypertension</a> found that elevated levels of stress hormones increase the risk of developing hypertension and other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-spaces-linked-to-lower-rates-of-heart-disease/">cardiovascular</a> problems.



The researchers measured levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine (neurotransmitters known as catecholamines, which have a fundamental role in maintaining the stability of the autonomous nervous system), as well as cortisol (a steroid hormone regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which modulates stress response). The analysis was focused on 412 participants between the ages of 48 to 87 years who had normal blood pressure at the beginning of the study.&nbsp;



“Although all of these hormones are produced in the adrenal gland, they have different roles and mechanisms to influence the cardiovascular system, so it is important to study their relationship with hypertension and cardiovascular events, individually,” said study lead author Kosuke Inoue, an assistant professor of Social Epidemiology at the <a href="https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en">University of Kyoto</a> in Japan.&nbsp;



Between 2005 and 2018, participants were followed by three more visits to assess whether they experienced any subsequent cardiovascular problems. The scientists discovered that during a follow-up period of 6.5 years, each time the levels of the stress hormones doubled, there was a 21 to 31 percent increase in the risk of developing hypertension.&nbsp;



Furthermore, during a follow-up period of 11.2 years, each doubling of the cortisol levels triggered a 90 percent increase in the risk of experiencing cardiovascular events.



“The stress hormones norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine and cortisol can increase with stress from life events, work, relationships, finances and more. And we confirmed that stress is a key factor&nbsp;contributing&nbsp;to the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular events,”&nbsp;said Professor Inoue.&nbsp;



“Previous research focused on the relationship between stress hormone levels and hypertension or cardiovascular events in patients with existing hypertension. However, studies looking at adults without hypertension were lacking."



“It is important to examine the impact of stress on adults in the general population because it provides new information about whether routine measurement of stress hormones needs to be considered&nbsp;to prevent hypertension and CVD events.”



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

Elevated stress hormones raise the risk of heart problems

A new study published in American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension...

New research by neuroscientists has revealed that a single brain cell can both sense the environment and control foraging behavior. The study, which used computer modeling to examine a small roundworm called a nematode, was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</a>. 



The scientists found that the same cells that sense the environment - in this case, cells that sense salt in microscopic nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans) - also control decision making.&nbsp;



“Our findings are startling – we found simple mechanisms by which salt tasting cells drive a rather sophisticated strategy to forage for food," said study co-lead author Professor Netta Cohen.



"When a nematode first senses a salty environment, the sensory cell that is sensitive to increasing salt concentrations is stimulated - and provides all the information the animal needs to steer into the salt patch."



"We think this is a mechanism built into these sensory cells. Not only is it remarkably effective, but surprisingly, because it all takes place inside the sensors, it is very easy to implement with the basic toolkit that nearly all brain cells have at their disposal."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The nematodes have only 302 cells altogether, including two cells that sense salt - one activated by increased levels of salt, the other turned on by decreased levels of salt. Together these cells can steer the animal towards salt. Although in some ways nematodes are simple animals, the scientists suspect that other animals may use a similar mechanism for food searches.



“We think this is a mechanism built into these sensory cells. Not only is it remarkably effective, but surprisingly, because it all takes place inside the sensors, it is very easy to implement with the basic toolkit that nearly all brain cells have at their disposal," said Professor Cohen.



While C. elegans may use salt cues to forage for food, we suspect similar mechanisms may be used by other animals to selectively attend to other cues or features of the environment."



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

Taste cells may control foraging and decision making

New research by neuroscientists has revealed that a single brain...

A team of experts at the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology has identified the gene that is responsible for tiger stripes, leopard spots, and other fur patterns found in cats. The colors and fur patterns that cats are born with are the same markings they will have for life.&nbsp;



"From leopards to giraffes to zebras, the developmental biology of self-organizing color pattern in mammals is an unsolved mystery," said Professor Gregory Barsh. "Tigers with black stripes on an orange or white background roam the grasslands of Southeast Asia and India."



"Spotted cheetahs chase antelope through the shrubland in Africa. Jaguars with their rosette patterned coats stalk down prey throughout South and Latin America. And domesticated cats of many coat colors and patterns bask in the sunlight of living rooms across the world."



For their investigation, the researchers analyzed skin samples from non-viable cat embryos at different stages of development.



The genetic analysis of single cells and proteins in the tissue showed that a signaling molecule encoded by the gene Dkk4 plays a central role in determining cat fur patterns, including their shape and color. As the embryo develops, the expression of this molecule drives unique fur patterns that emerge in cats during hair growth.&nbsp;



“Intricate color patterns are one aspect that defines morphological diversity in cats,” said Professor Barsh. He noted that early in development, his team identified strip-like alterations in the thickness of the epidermis preceded by a pre-model of gene expression.



"Our findings lead to a molecular understanding of how the leopard got its spots. They suggest similar mechanisms underpinning the periodic color pattern and hair follicle spacing and identify targets for different variations of the pattern in other mammals."



Dr. Chris Kaelin, a senior scientist at Alpha Hudson, explained that the study has identified a network of molecules involved in pattern formation. "Several of the molecules, including Dkk4, are known to function coordinately as activators and inhibitors, exactly as Alan Turing predicted 70 years ago."



According to Dr. Kelly McGowan, the findings suggest that even before pigment producing melanocyte cells enter the epidermis, the cells are predestined to signal for a specific fur color.



"Our results bring molecular understanding to how the leopard got its spots, suggest that similar mechanisms underlie periodic color pattern and periodic hair follicle spacing, and identify targets for diverse pattern variation in other mammals," wrote the study authors.



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

Experts have solved the mystery of fur patterns in cats

A team of experts at the Hudson Alpha Institute for...

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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

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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



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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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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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

[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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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...