Solar storms have attracted curiosity for centuries. People often admire the bright colors they cause in the sky, but they rarely suspect that these same solar events can bring widespread outages that force industries to a grinding halt.



Many experts say the risk may be rising because our world depends more and more on advanced technology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-solar-storms-start">How solar storms start</h2>



<a href="https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solar flares</a>, which are bursts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/noaa-severe-solar-storm-expected-to-reach-earth-tomorrow-october-10-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">high-energy particles</a> from the Sun, cause these disruptions. When those particles reach Earth, they interact with the atmosphere in ways that sometimes produce remarkable light shows.&nbsp;



They can also feed into our power grids and satellites - which may lead to major problems. The current solar cycle is expected to reach its most intense phase through <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-noaa-sun-reaches-maximum-phase-in-11-year-solar-cycle/">2025</a>, making scientists vigilant of the storms that may unfold.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-potential-dangers-of-solar-storms">Potential dangers of solar storms</h2>



Experts from many corners of the globe have sounded alarm bells about these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/strong-solar-storm-warning-issued-as-two-cmes-will-hit-earth-tomorrow/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">events</a>. 



Dr. Kęstutis Ikamas from Vilnius University points to serious vulnerabilities in places with large power <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12507/severe-space-weather-events-understanding-societal-and-economic-impacts-a">networks</a>, such as the United States and Canada. He has studied the unpredictable nature of solar storms and sees a need for widespread protective measures.



“A strong geomagnetic storm could incapacitate vital systems such as electricity, water supply, and telecommunications, leading to extended blackouts, communication breakdowns, and logistical paralysis,” explained Dr. Ikamas, who also warned that months-long disruptions might follow in the worst scenario.&nbsp;



One event in 1859, known as the <a href="https://scijinks.gov/what-was-the-carrington-event/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Carrington Event</a>, caused telegraph networks to fail across continents. That was at a time when technology was nowhere near as complex as it is today.&nbsp;



More recently, a 2022 solar disturbance caused 40 newly launched Starlink satellites to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, taking a serious toll on the mission.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-large-countries-face-higher-risks">Large countries face higher risks</h2>



Extended electricity lines cover thousands of miles across certain regions. That makes them sensitive to currents induced by solar storms. 



According to Dr. Ikamas, a blast of charged particles can spark voltage swings that damage transformers. When that happens on a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/auroras-and-severe-solar-storms-will-continue-through-tomorrow/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wide scale</a>, entire power grids are at risk of being knocked out for an unknown length of time.



Systems that protect satellites and power grids do exist, but they may not hold up against a massive solar storm. Organizations often weigh the cost of upgrading equipment against the chance of a storm happening soon.&nbsp;



Meanwhile, NOAA uses a G1 through G5 <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scale</a> to categorize the intensity of geomagnetic storms. The effects become more severe at each level, with the most intense storms putting everything from radio signals to entire networks in jeopardy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-concern-for-space-travelers-and-wildlife">Concern for space travelers and wildlife</h2>



Humans on Earth are not the only ones in harm’s way. Astronauts orbiting outside our planet’s magnetic shield can be exposed to harmful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-storm-triggered-stunning-auroras-worldwide-october-11-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">radiation</a>. That may force agencies to adjust schedules for spacewalks and other tasks.&nbsp;



Additionally, animals that rely on magnetic fields for navigation might lose their usual sense of direction during these solar storms. Some bird species and marine life have been <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2306317120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a> to show unusual migration paths when solar activity spikes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-cooperation-is-key">Global cooperation is key</h2>



Dr. Ikamas believes individual action, while useful, is not enough to fight these large-scale threats. This is especially true in an era when countries are more interlinked by communication systems than ever before.&nbsp;



He suggests that technology producers, utility companies, and governments need to come together with detailed protocols that can be put into place if a sudden storm warning appears.



Some experts compare the investments required for stronger safeguards to insurance premiums. The immediate expense may seem big, but the price tag could soar into the trillions if a crisis actually hits.&nbsp;



With digital networks stretching across continents, an outage in one region can have almost immediate effects in other regions. Dr. Ikamas warns that limited spending on grid upgrades today might open the door to large-scale chaos down the road.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-major-solar-storms-are-rare">Major solar storms are rare</h2>



Even though major solar storms are rare, the chance of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/noaa-warning-strong-solar-storm-headed-to-earth-auroras-expected-sept-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">powerful one</a> happening in the next few years has sparked conversations among scientists, policymakers, and power companies.&nbsp;



“If a strong storm is reported, individuals should disconnect their devices from power sources to prevent damage,” said Dr. Ikamas. He noted that bigger protection calls for considerable investments on a global scale.



Information for this article came from a <a href="https://www.riverreporter.com/stories/the-beauty-and-danger-of-solar-storms,179702">press release</a> in the River Reporter.



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The next big solar storm could plunge us into darkness

Solar storms have attracted curiosity for centuries. People often admire the bright colors they cause in the sky, but they rarely suspect that these same solar events can bring widespread outages that force industries to a grinding halt. Many experts say the risk may be rising because our world depends more and more on advanced technology. How solar storms start Solar flares, which are bursts of high-energy particles from the Sun, cause these disruptions. When those particles reach Earth, they interact with the atmosphere in ways that...

Guinea worm disease is generally caught by drinking water containing water fleas that carry the parasite’s larvae. The worms mate and grow inside the human body, and after 10 to 14 months a one-meter-long adult worm emerges, usually from an arm or a leg, in order to shed its new larvae back into the water. This dreadful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-have-a-high-risk-of-disease-due-to-inbreeding/">disease</a> causes disability and trauma in some of the world’s poorest communities in Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, and South Sudan.



While in the 1980s there were millions of Guinea worm disease cases per year, eradication programs have significantly improved the situation, lowering these numbers to only 27 in 2020, and giving hope that this will be the second disease to be fully eradicated, after smallpox.



However, new research led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found that domestic dogs are also harboring the parasite, with target surveillance showing that in 2020, 93 percent of Guinea worms detected worldwide were in dogs from Chad, South Africa.&nbsp;



By tracking hundreds of dogs with satellite tags to analyze their movements, and using forensic stable isotope analysis of dog whiskers to assess their diets, the scientists revealed a new vector of transmission for the Guinea worm: through dogs eating small fish or fish guts that were discarded by humans fishing on rivers and their lagoons, and that contained the parasitic larvae.



“Dogs are now the key impediment to eradicating this dreadful human disease,” said study lead author Robbie McDonald, a professor of Environmental Sciences and Sustainability at the University of Exeter.



"Our work shows that fisheries, and the facilitation of dogs eating fish, are likely contributing to the persistence of Guinea worm in Chad. The challenge now is that this pathogen must be eliminated not only from people but also from animals.”



"This is a clear example of where a 'One Health' approach to integrating health of people, animals and the environment is required to eradicate this debilitating human disease," he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.050">Current Biology</a>.



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

Debilitating human parasite is spread to dogs through fish

Guinea worm disease is generally caught by drinking water containing...

Every time a human cuts grass with a lawnmower or an animal eats it, the leaves always grow back remarkably fast, and this is due to their shape. However, the way in which the shape of a grass leaf arises has not been fully understood by scientists.



A collaborative project led by researchers at the <a href="https://www.jic.ac.uk/">John Innes Centre</a> has been investigating exactly how the shape of grass leaves arise, applying the concept to other crops such as wheat, rice, and maize.



Grass is a form of monocot, a type of flowering plant that has leaves which encircle the stem at their base and have parallel veins throughout. The other key type of flowering plant is the eudicot (such as brassicas, legumes, shrubs, and trees), and these are structured in the typical manner of stalks, petioles, and net-like veins



Furthermore, the tube-like structure that forms the base of the leaf, known as the sheath, allows grasses to increase in height whilst protecting themselves from lawnmowers and animals by keeping its base tip very close to the ground.



The researchers used cutting-edge computational modeling and developmental genetic techniques in order to get to the bottom of the mystery.&nbsp;



“By formulating and testing different models for its evolution and development, we’ve shown that current theories are likely incorrect and that a discarded idea proposed in the 19th century is much nearer the mark," explained study co-author Professor Enrico Coen.



It was initially proposed by 19th-century botanists that the sheath of grass was similar to the petiole of eudicot leaves. However, this was disputed in the 20th century, as plant anatomists discovered that petioles had parallel veins, assuming that the majority of the grass leaf (excluding the tip of the stem) was derived from the petiole.



With new analysis tools at their disposal, the collaborative research team revisited the controversial debate, modeling different hypotheses for the growth of grass leaves and comparing the predictions with experimental results. The researchers concluded that the original 19th-century idea of sheath-petiole similarity was significantly stronger than the 20th-century reassessment.&nbsp;



Ultimately, the findings demonstrate how small modulations of growth rules based on common genetic activity patterns can generate a wide range of different leaf shapes across many crops.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/">Science</a>.



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

How do grass leaves get their shape?

Every time a human cuts grass with a lawnmower or...

<a href="https://www.onezoom.org/">OneZoom</a> is an interactive website, developed by a research team led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> and <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/">Imperial College London</a> (ICL), that maps the evolutionary connections between 2.2 million living species, the closest thing until now to a single view of all the known plant and animal species. The digital tree of life also includes images of over 85,000 species and, where known, their vulnerability to extinction.



“By developing new algorithms for visualization and data processing, and combining them with ‘big data’ gathered from multiple sources, we’ve created something beautiful,” said lead author Dr. Yan Wong, an evolutionary biologist from the <a href="https://www.bdi.ox.ac.uk/">Big Data Institute</a> at the University of Oxford.



“It allows people to find their favorite living things, be they golden moles or giant sequoias, and see how evolutionary history connects them together to create a giant tree of all life on Earth.”



“We have worked hard to make the tree easy to explore for everyone, and we also hope to send a powerful message: that much of our biodiversity is under threat,” added co-author Dr. James Rosindell, a biodiversity researcher at ICL.



The leaves representing each species on the tree of life are color-coded according to their risk of extinction. The green ones are not threatened, the red ones are, and the black ones are already extinct. However, most of the leaves are grey, meaning they have not yet been evaluated or that experts do not have sufficient data to assess their extinction risk.



The OneZoom explorer can be used on laptops and computers, as well as on tablets and smartphones with touchscreens. The developers made the software free to download and use by educational organizations such as schools, museums, and zoos.



Moreover, the authors have also set up a OneZoom charity, making each species available for “adoption.” Over 800 leaves have already been sponsored by individuals and organizations.



The interactive tree of life also contains data regarding the popularity of each species, based on how often the Wikipedia page about the species is viewed. 



“Perhaps unsurprisingly, humans come out on top, but it has swapped places a few times with the second most popular: the grey wolf – the ‘species’ that includes all domestic dogs,” said Dr. Wong. Among the plants, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-use-increases-the-risk-of-covid-breakthrough-infections/">cannabis</a> came first, followed by cabbage, potatoes, and coconuts.



“With OneZoom, we hope to give people a completely new way to appreciate evolutionary history and the vastness of life on Earth in all its beauty,” Dr. Rosindell concluded.



The website is presented in a paper published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13766">Methods in Ecology and Evolution</a>.



Image Credit: OneZoom



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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

A visually stunning tree of life is available online

OneZoom is an interactive website, developed by a research team...

The Thwaites glacier is one of the fastest changing glaciers in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-were-common-in-ancient-antarctica/">Antarctica</a>, contributing as much as four percent of global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-are-rising-at-an-alarming-rate/">sea level rise</a> today. The huge, Florida-sized glacier - also known as the "Doomsday glacier” due to its recent tendency to disintegrate - faces dramatic changes in the next decade. It is already dumping 50 billion ton of ice into the ocean each year.



Recently, scientists have discovered several large, worrying cracks in the ice shelf holding back this glacier, suggesting that this crucial buttress against sea level rise could completely shatter within the next five years.



"There is going to be dramatic change in the front of the glacier, probably in less than a decade. Both published and unpublished studies point in that direction," reported glaciologist Ted Scambos, the US lead coordinator of the&nbsp;<a href="https://thwaitesglacier.org/">International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC)</a>. "This will accelerate the pace (of Thwaites) and widen, effectively, the dangerous part of the glacier,"



According to Erin Pettit, a glaciologist at the <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a>, the weak spots that the scientists have recently discovered are like cracks in a windshield: with just one more blow, they could spiderweb across the entire ice shelf surface.&nbsp;



“You’re like, I should get a new windshield. And one day, bang - there are a million other cracks there,” she said. “This eastern ice shelf is likely to shatter into hundreds of icebergs. Suddenly the whole thing would collapse.”&nbsp;



Although the shattering of the Doomsday glacier will not immediately accelerate global sea level rise, it will not take much long until its effects will be strongly felt, and millions of people living in coastal areas will be endangered.&nbsp;



Moreover, since the Thwaites glacier is situated in a deep basin, if it collapses, neighboring glaciers could follow, ultimately leading to the loss of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. “That would be a global change,” said Robert DeConto, a glaciologist at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts, Amherst</a>. “Our coastlines will look different from space.”&nbsp;



During the following year, scientists will continue investigating the current status of the glacier by sending a tubby yellow submarine known as "Boaty McBoatface" to dive under Thwaites' floating ice in order to gather data on factors that influence melting, such as water temperature, current direction, and turbulence.



The new findings regarding the status of the Thwaites glacier are presented this week at the <a href="https://www.agu.org/Fall-Meeting">American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans</a>.



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

The Doomsday glacier is heading for dramatic change

The Thwaites glacier is one of the fastest changing glaciers...

Global warming is dramatically changing the natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-glaciers-will-create-large-habitats-for-pacific-salmon/">habitats</a> of species across the entire world, and it is essential that scientists understand how different species adapt in order to help protect them. An example of an affected yet adaptable species is the ocean-dwelling bottlenose dolphin.&nbsp;



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU) Science Museum are investigating exactly how bottlenose dolphins adapt so well to changes in their environment.



Bottlenose dolphins were chosen as subjects of the study as they are spread throughout both the north and the south of the equator across both open oceans and coasts. They can survive on a variety of different fish, squid, and crustaceans. Such a broad range of habitats and diets makes the dolphins excellent candidates for rapid adaptation.&nbsp;



Different locations and diets result in greater genetic variation among the dolphins. The research team theorized that the process of natural selection across advantageous genes has promoted excellent adaptation abilities. Until now, however, it has been puzzling as to why bottlenose dolphins are better than other dolphin species at adapting to survive around coastal habitats.



“We discovered the solution in the ancestral genes that the dolphins have. We found that genes that provide benefits for coastal dolphins also appear as genetic variations in dolphins that live far out to sea,” said Marie Louis at the University of St. Andrews. “These ancient genes are not only found in dolphins along the coast, although they are far more common there. When necessary, open ocean dolphins have the genetic potential to adapt to coastal life.”



Ultimately, this means that the ancestral genes of bottlenose dolphins have been triggered and repeated throughout many occasions and places across the history of different groups of the species. “In other words, a species that lives in groups can benefit from both the ecological possibilities in the environment and the genetic variation to adapt to a new habitat over and over again,” explained Louis.



As a result, dolphin species may hold genes essential for survival that are not currently used, yet will be useful for habitat changes hundreds or thousands of years later.&nbsp;



"Through the generations, these beneficial gene variants came to dominate in the coastal dolphins, so much so that they became clearly genetically different from the ones in the open ocean," said Louis.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



---



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

Dolphins have genetically mastered the art of adapting

Global warming is dramatically changing the natural habitats of species...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a>, researchers are working to gain a better understanding of how the health and well-being of people are affected by the quality of their local urban parks, gardens, rivers, and canals. A growing collection of research has recently highlighted the health benefits of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-spaces-provide-a-refuge-for-urban-pollinators/">green spaces</a>, especially as people turned to nature to help cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.



The experts report that despite the fact that most people live in urban areas, relatively little is known about how the quality of these urban ecosystems influence human health.&nbsp;



The Quality of Urban Environments with Nature-Connectedness and Health (QUENCH) network will study urban nature, including soils, pollution levels, size and biodiversity. 



By learning more about the connection we feel to nature, and the effects to human health and well-being, the project could be used to inform the future planning and management of urban green spaces.



"Our experiences through the pandemic have highlighted the importance of connecting with nature. Lots of people sought out and visited natural environments, like parks and woodland, near where they lived, and felt better for doing so. There’s lots of good science too that demonstrates the health and wellbeing benefits of connecting with nature," said Professor Jessica Davies, principal investigator on the QUENCH project.



“However, we need to know more about how the health of the ecosystems themselves matters for our health and wellbeing. Towns and cities are the fastest growing habitat on Earth, and urbanisation has huge effects on the spatial layout of ecosystems, the species that reside in them, and the local climate and pollutants they experience."&nbsp;



"We need to understand how all these human-influenced conditions affect ecosystem health, and what, in turn, are the consequences for how we experience those environments and nature.”



“Given that urban areas are also often where greater levels of ill-health can occur it is important to find out how green and blue urban spaces can be better used to tackle health inequalities and create fairer societies," said Dr. Mark Green from the University of Liverpool



The QUENCH network is funded through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).



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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

How does nature affect human health in urban areas?

In a new study from Lancaster University, researchers are working...

Currently, models of alcohol use and misuse are mostly derived from research on men,but it seems that these models may not always be applicable to women. New research has found that exposure to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stress-makes-lifes-clock-tick-faster/">stress</a> can lead women to consume more alcohol than intended, while stress alone does not have the same effect on the consumption of alcohol by men.



“Some people can intend to have one or two alcoholic beverages and stop drinking, but other people just keep going. This impaired control over drinking is one of the earliest indicators of alcohol use disorders, and we know stress contributes to both impaired control over drinking and dysregulated drinking. The role of stress in impaired control over drinking is understudied, especially in women,” said study lead author Julie Patock-Peckham, assistant research professor at Arizona State University.



The study took place in a laboratory that was set up to resemble a bar. There was a bar tender, bar stools, a choice of alcoholic beverages and lively bar-room conversation. The participants (105 men and 105 women) were randomly divided into two groups, one that experienced a stressful situation and the other that experienced a non-stressful situation.



Next, half of the participants received an alcoholic drink that was equivalent to three cocktails, and the other half received three non-alcoholic drinks. After that, all participants had unrestricted access to alcoholic drinks from the bar for 90 minutes.&nbsp;



The researchers monitored alcohol consumption by counting the number of alcoholic beverages consumed, and also by measuring breath blood alcohol content (BAC). Their aim was to determine whether stress, the initial drink or the combination of the two most accurately predicted how much alcohol participants would consume.&nbsp;



“We know that both genes and the environment play a role in problematic drinking. We can’t do anything about the genes, but we can intervene with the environment. Stress and impaired control over drinking are tightly connected, and because stress is something we can manipulate, we tested whether stressors cause dysregulated drinking,” said Patock-Peckham, who leads the&nbsp;<a href="https://psychology.clas.asu.edu/research/labs/social-addictions-impulse-lab">Social Addictions Impulse Lab</a>&nbsp;at ASU.



The results showed that participants exposed to stress engaged in heavier drinking, irrespective of their gender. However, men who experienced stress and then received an initial alcoholic drink consumed more alcohol than men who experienced stress but received a placebo (non-alcoholic drink) to start with.&nbsp;



In the case of women, whether the first drink was alcoholic or not did not make a difference: experiencing stress led to heavy drinking.



“That women just needed the stress but men needed the push of already having alcohol on board shows how important this type of research is,” said Patock-Peckham. “The outcomes from alcohol use are not the same for men and women, and we cannot keep using models that were developed in men to help women.”



In general, although rates of alcohol misuse are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/women-and-alcohol">higher in men than in women</a>, women are&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26331879/">catching</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27797998/">up</a>. Women are also&nbsp;more <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26371405/">at risk</a>&nbsp;than men of developing alcohol-related problems.



The results of this study are published in the journal <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/adb">Psychology of Addictive Behaviors</a>.



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

Stress causes women to consume more alcohol than intended

Currently, models of alcohol use and misuse are mostly derived...

A,View,Of,A,Meteor,Shower,And,The,Milky,Way

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks during mid-December each year, is one of the most spectacular astronomic events, lighting up the night sky with up to 120 meteors per hour. This year, the shower will peak tonight, around 2 a.m., and continue shooting between 30 to 40 meteors per hour until early Tuesday morning. Although the meteors can be seen from most locations around the globe, the Northern Hemisphere will have the best visibility.



While most meteors are debris emerging from comets, the Geminids originate from an asteroid, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/13/1063657564/geminid-meteor-shower-when-to-watch">3200 Phaeton</a>, which was discovered on October 11, 1983 by the <a href="https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/IRASdocs/iras.html">Infrared Astronomical Satellite</a>, the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.&nbsp;



This asteroid is relatively small, measuring only 3.17 miles, and was named after the character from Greek mythology who drove the chariot of the sun-god Helios. Due to its highly elliptical orbit, some scientists consider it to be in fact a “dead comet” or a new kind of astronomical object called a “rock comet.”&nbsp;



The Geminids are denser than meteors belonging to other showers, enabling them to get as low as 29 miles above the Earth’s surface before bursting into flames. They appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini (hence their name) and travel with a speed of 78,000 mph. This is more than 1,000 times faster than a cheetah, 250 times faster than the swiftest car in the world, and over 40 times faster than a speeding bullet.



Unfortunately, since dark skies are optimal for viewing meteor showers and the moon will be approximately 77 percent lit during the peak, the Geminids might be difficult to spot this year. However, from most places in the Northern Hemisphere, they should still offer a breathtaking spectacle, especially if viewed from unpolluted areas, away from city lights. For an optimal viewing experience, the naked eye remains the best instrument, since using a telescope would only limit the view of the sky.&nbsp;



“Rich in green-colored fireballs, the Geminids are the only shower I will brave cold December nights to see,” said Bill Cooke, the lead of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/offices/meo/home/index.html">NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office</a>, located at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.



This year, the shower can also be watched from the comfort of one’s home: NASA will broadcast a live stream of the shower’s peak via a meteor camera placed at the Marshal Space Flight Center. The stream will start at 8 p.m. CST on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/NasaMeteorWatch/">NASA Meteor Watch</a>&nbsp;Facebook page.



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

The spectacular Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight

The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks during mid-December each year,...

Since 2008, the number of deaths caused by air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-benefits-of-exercise-are-compromised-by-air-pollution/">pollution</a> have been reduced by thousands in the United States as a result of decreasing vehicle emissions, according to a new study led by <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/">Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health</a>. The improvements are the result of federal air pollution regulations and technological innovations by car manufacturers.



However, although emissions caused by large trucks have been significantly reduced, passenger light-duty vehicles such as pickup trucks or SUVs continue to contribute to air pollution in metropolitan areas.



“Recent reductions in vehicle emissions have yielded major health benefits, even though only small progress has been made on reducing their climate impact,” said study first author Ernani Choma, a research fellow in Harvard T.H. Chan School’s <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/">Department of Environmental Health</a>. “Our results indicate that to achieve further public health and climate gains, even more stringent policies will be required.”



By using recent national emissions data, Choma and his colleagues modeled four scenarios for emissions in 2017: the actual emissions and three alternative scenarios in which the level of emissions was the same as in 2014, 2011, and 2008.&nbsp;



The researchers found that deaths attributable to air pollution associated with vehicle emissions dropped from 27,700 in 2008 to 19,800 in 2017. If vehicles were still emitting at 2008 levels, they would have caused 48,200 deaths in 2017 (a 74 percent increase from 2008 to 2017).



Although there was a significant progress in reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks, less progress was done with passenger light-duty vehicles such as cars, SUVs, or pickup trucks. According to the scientists, emissions from these vehicles caused two-thirds of public health burden from transportation-related air pollution in 2017.



“If the trends of increased population density with an aging population, and a shift to larger passenger vehicles continue, emissions, especially in urban areas, will continue to become more harmful and it will be harder to achieve further public health gains by small incremental improvements in new vehicles,” said study senior author John Spengler, a professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation at Harvard.



“Our study findings strengthen the case for policies at the municipal level that encourage electric vehicles while discouraging conventional gasoline vehicles and for making our cities more accessible for non-motorized transportation such as biking or walking.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107402118">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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

Reduced vehicle emissions have saved thousands of lives

Since 2008, the number of deaths caused by air pollution...

Seagrass is suffering from a wasting disease across the Pacific Northwest, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farmed-seafood-supply-is-at-risk-due-to-climate-change/">climate change</a> is driving the destructive outbreak, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>.



Seagrass wasting disease (SWD) is particularly threatening to a temperate species known as eelgrass. In the new study, experts report that the pathogen responsible for SWD, Labyrinthula zosterae, is thriving in warmer ocean temperatures.



According to the study authors, the heat sensitivity of Labyrinthula zosterae prompts the need for a greater understanding of the impacts on host health under climate change.&nbsp;



"Previous work demonstrates pathogen cultures grow faster under warmer laboratory conditions and documents positive correlations between warmer ocean temperatures and disease levels in nature," wrote the researchers. "However, the consequences of disease outbreaks on eelgrass growth remain poorly understood."



As the problem of seagrass wasting disease becomes increasingly widespread, the researchers have confirmed that the disease impacts eelgrass all the way down to its roots. 



“Not only are we seeing more seagrass wasting disease outbreaks, we’re seeing a severe impact within the vital nutrient stores of these plants in the roots – so they become compromised late in the growing season, setting them up for a harder winter,” explained study co-lead author Olivia Graham.



Eelgrass can be found in the San Juan Islands, Washington, and on the Salish Sea along the Canadian border. Graham said that in typical conditions, the seagrass meadow environment has bountiful underwater rainforests, which clean the waters and support herring, salmon, perch, clams, mussels and oysters.



For the investigation, the researchers marked hundreds of plants at low tide and monitored the meadow for several weeks. They found that seagrass with disease lesions grew more slowly, produced less storage sugars, and were less healthy overall.&nbsp;



“This answers a long-standing question about whether this disease does actual damage,” said study senior author Professor Drew Harvell. “Unfortunately, it is a resounding ‘yes.’”



Eelgrass plants spread vegetatively, explained Professor Harvell, noting that seagrass roots have huge systems where carbohydrates and sugars get manufactured and stored, to expand their own lush networks.



“We learned that the lesioned plants had reduced starch reserves and grew more slowly, so now we can say that the wasting disease is even bigger than most thought – and the harm goes well beyond the lesions,” Harvell said.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science">Frontiers in Marine Science</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

Seagrass wasting disease is fueled by climate change

Seagrass is suffering from a wasting disease across the Pacific...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> (UBC), Canada, has found that, if no action to mitigate climate change is taken, the supply of ocean-farmed seafood such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/declining-salmon-populations-linked-to-environmental-decline/">salmon</a> or mussels is projected to drop 16 percent globally by 2090.



Many people see ocean-farmed seafood or mariculture as a solution to the problem of depleted wild fish stocks and growing human demand. However, new findings show that this industry is also very vulnerable to climate change.



By taking into account various factors, such as changing ocean temperatures, suitable mariculture areas, and the supply of fishmeal (which is composed of smaller fish such as anchovies or herring that farmed fish feed upon) and fish oil, the researchers projected a significant decline in farmed seafood by the end of this century.



“If we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate, the amount of seafood such as fish or mussels able to be farmed sustainably will increase by only eight percent by 2050, and decline by 16 percent by 2090,” said study lead author Dr. Muhammed Oyinlola, a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="https://oceans.ubc.ca/">Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries</a> (IOF) at UBC. The hardest-hit regions, including countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, China, or Myanmar, could see a decline of 40 to 90 percent.



In a low emissions scenario though, where significant action is taken to curb climate change, mariculture is projected to grow by 17 percent until 2050 and 33 percent by the end of the century.



A method of mitigating the effects of climate change on fish farms is to substitute fishmeal and fish oil with plant-based foods such as soybeans. When a quarter of the fish food is substituted with such alternatives, under a low emission scenario, farmed fish production was projected to increase by 25 percent by 2050 and 31 percent by 2090.



“This study highlights the need to diversify mariculture development from the current focus on fish,” and include species not dependent of fishmeal and fish oil, such as shellfish or algae, said study senior author Dr. William Cheung, the director of IOF. &nbsp;“Farming these species generally helps to reduce exposure of seafood farming to climate hazards.”



“Climate change affects everything, including aspects of seafood farming we’ve not previously considered. We need to act, and quickly, to mitigate climate change rather than rely on one solution to solve all our seafood production problems,” Dr. Cheung concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15991">Global Change Biology</a>.



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

Farmed seafood supply is at risk due to climate change

A new study led by the University of British Columbia...

More than 100 scientists and researchers sent a letter to Congress today, demanding immediate action to stop illegal fishing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-seafood-has-one-sixth-the-carbon-footprint-of-red-meat/">seafood</a> fraud, and human rights abuses in the U.S. seafood supply chain.&nbsp;



According to a report from <a href="https://oceana.org/">Oceana</a>, the experts are calling for increased traceability of seafood imports and transparency at sea to ensure that all seafood is safe, properly labeled, legally caught, and responsibly sourced.



The letter is signed by world-renowned scientists like Dr. Rashid Sumaila of the <a href="https://oceans.ubc.ca/">UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries</a>.



The experts state that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing “threatens the sustainability of fisheries, the livelihoods of fishers internationally, and the well-being of workers in the industry.”&nbsp;



“As concerned scientists, we are insisting that measures be undertaken to address these issues across the seafood supply chain."



"We ask that the federal agencies support regulatory and congressional action that combats IUU fishing, seafood fraud, and human rights abuses in seafood by taking strong and immediate action on extended regulation, monitoring, and enforcement in the United States. Only by thoroughly addressing these interrelated issues can we protect our oceans and the people dependent on them.”



Oceana reports that up to 85 percent of the fish consumed in the United States is imported, with up to 32 percent of wild-caught imports being products of illegal or unreported fishing. According to a report from the International Trade Commission, the U.S. imported $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in 2019.&nbsp;



IUU fishing includes ignoring catch limits, operating in closed areas, targeting protected wildlife, and fishing with prohibited gear. These activities threaten habitats, fish populations, and global food security.&nbsp;



“Scientists are rightfully concerned that illegal fishing and human rights abuses continue to run rampant in the seafood supply chain," said Beth Lowell, Oceana’s deputy vice president for U.S. campaigns.



"The U.S. must take action to ensure all seafood sold in the United States is safe, legally caught, responsibly sourced, and honestly labeled by expanding traceability of seafood and transparency at sea."&nbsp;



"By collecting the right information about seafood, the government can more effectively screen imports and keep illicit products out of the U.S. market. President Biden has the opportunity to lead in the global fight against IUU fishing, seafood fraud, and forced labor - an effort that has widespread bipartisan public support."&nbsp;



"As world leaders prepare for the 2022 Our Ocean conference in February, Oceana urges President Biden to commit to stronger actions to fight IUU fishing, including expanding catch documentation and traceability requirements to all seafood, increasing the transparency of commercial fishing vessels, and taking stronger actions against countries who fail to address IUU fishing in their fleets.”



In 2019, a seafood fraud investigation supported by Oceana found that one in every five fish tested nationwide was mislabeled. This highlights the widespread nature of fraudulent seafood practices.&nbsp;



The results of a nationwide poll, which were released by Oceana in January 2021, revealed that Americans overwhelmingly support policies to end illegal fishing and seafood fraud. The vast majority of respondents also want to prevent seafood from being sold in the U.S. that was caught using human trafficking and slave labor. Furthermore, 83 percent of voters agreed that seafood should be traceable from the fishing boat to the dinner plate.



Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. To learn more about the campaign to expand seafood traceability and transparency at sea, visit <a href="https://usa.oceana.org/reports/transparency-and-traceability-tools-stop-illegal-fishing/">usa.oceana.org/StopIllegalFishing</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

The U.S. must put an end to illegal fishing and seafood fraud

More than 100 scientists and researchers sent a letter to...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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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

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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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...