For decades, scientists have been grappling with what is considered to be the most fundamental question about the cosmos: How fast is our universe expanding? 



The rate of expansion influences everything from how galaxies form to how they might one day drift apart.



Determining the expansion rate of the universe, a number called the "Hubble constant," shapes our entire understanding of the cosmos, its age, and its ultimate fate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hubble-tension-expansion-conundrum">"Hubble tension" expansion conundrum</h2>



Unfortunately, though many brilliant minds have dedicated their lives to finding the answer to this riddle, all who have tried thus far have failed, running repeatedly into a brick wall that has come to be known as the "Hubble tension."



Adam Riess, a physicist at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johns Hopkins University</a> in Baltimore, has been at the forefront of this debate. "With measurement errors negated, what remains is the real and exciting possibility that we have misunderstood the universe," Riess admitted.



Riess, who won a Nobel Prize for discovering that the universe's expansion is accelerating due to dark energy, has been working tirelessly to resolve what's known as the Hubble Tension.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-hubble-constant-matters">Why the Hubble constant matters</h2>



But before diving deeper, let's consider why the expansion rate -- called the Hubble constant -- is so crucial. 



Named after Edwin Hubble, who first observed that galaxies are moving away from us, this constant helps us map out the history and future of everything we see in the night sky. 



Determining it with precision has been a major goal of astronomers for decades.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hubble-constant_3-steps_illustration_nasa_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hubble-constant_3-steps_illustration_nasa_1s.webp" alt="This illustration shows the three basic steps astronomers use to calculate how fast the universe expands over time, a value called the Hubble constant. All the steps involve building a strong &quot;cosmic distance ladder,&quot; by starting with measuring accurate distances to nearby galaxies and then moving to galaxies farther and farther away. Credit: NASA" class="wp-image-1951709"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This illustration shows the three basic steps astronomers use to calculate how fast the universe expands over time, a value called the Hubble constant. All the steps involve building a strong "cosmic distance ladder," by starting with measuring accurate distances to nearby galaxies and then moving to galaxies farther and farther away. Credit: NASA</figcaption></figure>



When the <a href="https://hubblesite.org/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hubble Space Telescope</a> was launched in 1990, one of its main objectives was to pin down the universe's expansion rate. 



Before Hubble, estimates of the universe's age ranged wildly from 10 to 20 billion years -- a huge uncertainty. 



Thanks to Hubble's observations of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/expansion-rate-of-the-universe-confirmed-by-jwst/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cepheid variable stars</a> -- stars that pulsate at regular intervals and serve as cosmic mileposts -- we now have a more precise age of about 13.8 billion years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-webb-telescope-to-the-rescue">Webb telescope to the rescue?</h2>



Some scientists wondered if the discrepancies in measurements were due to errors in Hubble's data. Maybe, they thought, the way Hubble measured distances had some hidden flaws. 



Then came the James Webb Space Telescope (<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Webb</a>), launched to great fanfare as the successor to Hubble. Webb's infrared observations of Cepheids matched Hubble's optical data perfectly. 



"Combining Webb and Hubble gives us the best of both worlds. We find that the Hubble measurements remain reliable as we climb farther along the cosmic distance ladder," Riess explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hubble-vs-webb-vs-expansion">Hubble vs. Webb vs. expansion</h2>



Despite the new data, the tension between measurements remains. The Hubble and Webb telescopes confirm one universe expansion rate, based on observations of the local universe.



Meanwhile, observations from the early universe, like those from the Planck satellite's mapping of the cosmic microwave background radiation, suggest another. 



This leaves cosmologists scratching their heads. Is there something about the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/universe-expansion-rate-dark-energy-measured-11-billion-years-ago/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fabric of space</a> we don't yet understand? Does resolving this discrepancy require new physics, or is there another explanation?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brenda-frye-tackles-hubble-and-expansion">Brenda Frye tackles Hubble and expansion</h2>



In October 2024, <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2024/10/01/webb-researchers-discover-lensed-supernova-confirm-hubble-tension/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as reported by NASA</a>, Brenda Frye from the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Arizona</a> and an international team took a different approach. 



They used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/webb-telescope-finds-a-second-lensed-supernova-in-a-distant-galaxy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gravitationally lensed supernovae</a> to measure the Hubble constant -- a method independent of previous techniques. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hubble-constant_galaxy-cluster-G165_supernova-H0pe_gravitational-lensing_jwst_UArizona_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hubble-constant_galaxy-cluster-G165_supernova-H0pe_gravitational-lensing_jwst_UArizona_1s.webp" alt="NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0, also known as G165, on the left shows the magnifying effect a foreground cluster can have on the distant universe beyond. The foreground cluster is 3.6 billion light-years away from Earth. The zoomed region on the right shows supernova H0pe triply imaged (labeled with white dashed circles) due to gravitational lensing. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Frye (University of Arizona)" class="wp-image-1951711"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0, also known as G165, on the left shows the magnifying effect a foreground cluster can have on the distant universe beyond. The foreground cluster is 3.6 billion light-years away from Earth. The zoomed region on the right shows supernova H0pe triply imaged (labeled with white dashed circles) due to gravitational lensing. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Frye (University of Arizona)</figcaption></figure>



While observing a densely populated cluster of galaxies, they noticed something unusual. "What are those three dots that weren’t there before? Could that be a supernova?" the team wondered. 



It turned out to be a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/webb-travels-back-in-time-to-better-understand-supernovae-science/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Type Ia supernova</a>, an explosion of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/white-dwarf-stars-may-be-billions-of-years-older-than-estimated/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">white dwarf star</a>, magnified and split into multiple images by the gravitational lensing effect of the intervening galaxy cluster.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-gravitational-lensing">What is gravitational lensing?</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rare-carousel-lens-galaxy-alignment-reveals-dark-matter-secrets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gravitational lensing</a> is important to this experiment. The lens, consisting of a cluster of galaxies situated between the supernova and us, bends the supernova's light into multiple images. 



This effect not only magnifies the supernova but also allows scientists to measure the time delays between the images, providing another way to calculate the Hubble constant.



Their analyses confirmed that these dots corresponded to an exploding star with rare qualities. 



The team's work provided a Hubble constant value of 75.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec, plus 8.1 or minus 5.5. For context, one megaparsec is about 3.26 million light-years. 



"Our team’s results are impactful: The Hubble constant value matches other measurements in the local universe, and is somewhat in tension with values obtained when the universe was young," Frye concluded.



Another strikeout... add Brenda Frye to the long list of brilliant minds still probing the universe for an answer to Hubble tension.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-this-is-getting-sad-now-what">This is getting sad, now what?</h2>



So, where does this leave us? 



The Hubble Tension isn't going away. It might be telling us that there's new physics waiting to be discovered. 



Perhaps our understanding of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-energy-could-explain-the-rapid-expansion-of-the-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark energy</a>, dark matter, or other fundamental forces needs to be revised. 



"We need to find out if we are missing something on how to connect the beginning of the universe and the present day," Riess pointed out. 



It's possible that new theories or modifications to existing ones could bridge the gap.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shaking-things-up-with-new-theories">Shaking things up with new theories</h2>



Could the solution lie in something entirely unexpected? Perhaps there's a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-matter-may-consist-of-particles-that-travel-faster-than-light/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new particle or force</a> that affects the expansion rate. Or maybe the nature of dark energy changes over time. 



Some theories even propose the existence of extra dimensions or modifications to gravity at large scales. It's also worth considering that the universe might not be uniform in all directions. 



If there are variations in the density of matter and energy across vast distances, this could affect expansion rates in ways we haven't fully accounted for. 



Maybe everyone is completely off base and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-dark-matter-does-not-exist-and-the-universe-is-27-billion-years-old/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark matter doesn't even exist</a>? Or maybe we're looking in the wrong place -- what if the answers can be found by looking for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-are-now-searching-for-dark-matter-inside-old-earth-rocks-minerals-crystals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark matter in rocks on Earth</a>?



One thing's for sure: the cosmos isn't giving up its secrets easily. But that's part of the thrill of science. Every answer leads to new questions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hubble-constant-hubble-tension-mysterious-universe">Hubble constant, Hubble tension, mysterious universe</h2>



In the end, the universe is reminding us that there's still so much we don't know. The quest to figure out how fast our universe is expanding has led to some fascinating discoveries and even more intriguing questions. 



Scientists like Adam Riess and Brenda Frye have used powerful tools like the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to measure the Hubble constant with increasing precision. 



Their efforts confirm that the local universe is expanding at a certain rate, but this doesn't quite line up with measurements from the early universe.



This mismatch, known as the Hubble Tension, suggests there might be something we’re missing in our understanding of the cosmos. Maybe there are new physics to uncover, or perhaps our current models need some tweaking. 



What's clear is that the universe isn't giving up its secrets easily, and that keeps things exciting for astronomers and physicists alike.



As we look ahead, upcoming missions like NASA's <a href="https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope</a> and ESA's <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Euclid mission</a> offer hope for new insights. Until then, we can marvel at the fact that we're part of an ever-expanding universe that's still full of surprises.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad1ddd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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Webb telescope confirms: What we think we know about the universe is very wrong

For decades, scientists have been grappling with what is considered to be the most fundamental question about the cosmos: How fast is our universe expanding? The rate of expansion influences everything from how galaxies form to how they might one day drift apart. Determining the expansion rate of the universe, a number called the "Hubble constant," shapes our entire understanding of the cosmos, its age, and its ultimate fate. "Hubble tension" expansion conundrum Unfortunately, though many brilliant minds have dedicated their lives to finding the answer to...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> demonstrates that synchronous births among banded mongooses has supported the evolution of a fair <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-science-is-becoming-increasingly-critical-to-society/">society</a>.

Female banded mongoose groups give birth on the same night, creating a "veil of ignorance" as to which pups belong to which mothers. 

The team designed a study to investigate how the veil of ignorance over parentage may influence fairness in the distribution of postnatal care among the offspring.

"We test our model by creating inequalities among helpers and among offspring through the targeted provisioning of pregnant females, and then measuring whether mothers and helpers act to reduce or amplify these inequalities," wrote the researchers.

Half of the pregnant mothers in wild mongoose groups were regularly given extra food, which increased inequality in the birth weight of pups.

After they gave birth, however, the well-fed mothers provided extra care to the smaller pups, rather than to their own pups. As a result, the size differences among the pups were quickly eliminated.

"In most of the natural world, parents favor their own young. However, in banded mongooses, the evolution of remarkable birth synchrony has led to the unusual situation that mothers don't know which pups are their own, and therefore cannot choose to give them extra care," explained study lead author Dr. Harry Marshall of the University of Roehampton.

"Our study shows that this ignorance leads to a fairer allocation of resources - in effect, a fairer society."

The study was focused on seven groups of banded mongooses in Uganda. According to study co-author Professor Michael Cant, the experts predicted that a veil of ignorance would cause females to focus their care on the pups most in need, which is exactly what they observed.

"Those most able to help offer it to the most needy, and in doing so minimize the risk that their own offspring will face a disadvantage."

"This redistributive form of care 'levelled up' initial size disparities, and equalised the chances of pups surviving to adulthood."

"Our results suggest that the veil of ignorance, a classic philosophical idea to achieve fairness in human societies, also applies in this non-human society."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Banded mongooses are born into a fair society

A new study from the University of Exeter demonstrates that...

Many species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physical-changes-in-birds-evolved-separately-from-earlier-migrations/">birds</a> migrate across entire continents only to land at the same exact spot as the year before. This navigational skill may seem like magic, but animals sense the world differently than humans, and they have evolved different abilities for doing so. A bird’s navigational prowess can be at least partially attributed to their ability to sense Earth’s magnetic field. 

In a new study led by the <a href="https://uol.de/en/">University of Oldenburg</a>, experts have been exploring the idea that a bird's magnetic sense is related to a light sensitive protein found in the eye. 

The researchers set out to investigate whether the protein cryptochrome 4 is used by birds to detect magnetic fields. The scientists were able to extract the DNA that encodes the protein in migratory robins and clone it in the lab. They reproduced large amounts of the protein to be examined by techniques that demonstrated its sensitivity to magnetic fields.

"We think these results are very important because they show for the first time that a molecule from the visual apparatus of a migratory bird is sensitive to magnetic fields," said study co-author Henrik Mouritsen. 

After demonstrating the magnetic sensitivity of the protein found in migratory robins, the research team cloned the same protein from chickens and pigeons, birds that do not migrate (but it might be noted, pigeons still have incredible navigational ability). The proteins from the non-migratory birds were similar in their photochemistry but notably less sensitive to magnetic fields. 

The scientists note that the research is not definitive proof that birds sense magnetic fields with cryptochrome 4. The proteins were tested in isolation in the lab using magnetic fields significantly stronger than the natural ones found on earth. 

More research is needed to prove that this reaction is happening in the eyes of living birds caused by the Earth’s magnetic fields.   

"If we can prove that cryptochrome 4 is the magnetic sensor we will have demonstrated a fundamentally quantum mechanism that makes animals sensitive to environmental stimuli a million times weaker than previously thought possible," said study co-author Peter Hore.

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

---

By <a href="http://Zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How do birds sense Earth's magnetic field?

Many species of birds migrate across entire continents only to...

The ozone layer is important for protecting the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-fiery-past-revealed-in-ice-core-record/">Earth</a> from dangerous ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. A new study looks at the impact of climate change on the ozone layer over the Arctic. 

Counterintuitively, climate change seems to be increasing the frequency and severity of extreme low winter temperatures high in the atmosphere over the Arctic. 

The study shows that the assumption that banning chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons in 2010 would end the destruction caused by these ozone depleting chemicals relatively quickly might be misguided.

Instead, it seems that the chemicals react to the extremely cold air temperatures, causing a rise in ozone depletion. The whole phenomenon is caused by polar vortexes, where warm air swirls with cold winter air, creating very cold atmospheric conditions. 

A polar vortex doesn’t form every year and so this problem isn’t very predictable. Despite this, scientists know that CFCs will continue to be a problem for a very long time. 

Although they were banned entirely in 2010, CFCs continue to linger in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization predicts that atmospheric chlorine and bromine produced by humans will not fall below 50% of their highest levels before the end of the century. 

To understand the meaning of this dire prediction, scientists produced climate models with CFCs continuing to linger, taking into account the impact of climate change.

All the models but one showed a continuing increase in cold polar atmospheric conditions, and so, an increased loss of ozone caused by CFCs. It’s not entirely understood by science how an overall increase in global temperatures causes colder atmospheric polar temperatures. 

Part of the explanation is that warmer air is trapped at the earth’s surface, allowing colder atmospheric air. The researchers point out that this fate can be avoided if greenhouse gases are drastically reduced in the near future.

"We have been saying that a train is coming for a number of years now," said Professor Ross Salawitch of the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a>. "We've now seen the train whizzing by with record ozone loss in 2011 and now in 2020. So, this paper is really a wake-up call that something is happening in the atmosphere that's really important for ozone, and it looks like greenhouse gases are driving it."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Greenhouse gases threaten Arctic ozone layer

The ozone layer is important for protecting the Earth from...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a>, researchers have found that the speech patterns of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-can-control-single-muscle-fibers-while-singing/">songbirds</a> are similar to those of humans. The team reports that both songbirds and humans tend to use shorter sounds for building longer phrases. 

The study shows that birdsong follows Menzerath’s law: the greater the whole, the smaller the parts. Experts speculate that this pattern could make communication more efficient by making things easier to say and understand.

Furthermore, the McGill team suggests that for songbirds, physical factors such as muscle fatigue and limited lung capacities may also play a role in the production of shorter sounds.

"Although we see Menzerath's Law in all the songbird species we looked at, and others have seen it among primates and penguins, we aren't sure this necessarily reflects enhanced communication efficiency in non-human animals," said study senior author Professor Jon Sakata. "It is possible that these patterns of communication that we saw in songbirds are caused by physical predispositions and constraints."

Professor Sakata pointed out that the brain mechanisms which regulate breathing and vocal muscles seem to be organized in similar ways in birds and humans.

The researchers found the same speech patterns among birds that had been raised by their parents and those that had not been taught to sing by their parents. This finding supports the idea that physical elements play a role in song patterns.

"The individual units of sound made by untutored birds were very different from those made by the typically raised birds," said study first author Logan James.

"However, the 'rules' by which they organize these aberrant elements is indistinguishable from typically raised birds. These results suggest that physical predispositions or limitations may play a role in producing these song patterns."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Songbirds and humans use similar speech patterns

In a new study from McGill University, researchers have found...

Nearly 17 million Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections during the first wave of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/indoor-air-quality-standards-needed-to-prevent-pandemics/">pandemic</a>, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">AAAS</a>. The experts report that by July of 2020, there were about five undiagnosed COVID-19 infections for every single diagnosed case.

The study reveals that women, people under the age of 45, African Americans, and city dwellers had the highest rate of undiagnosed infections. 

"The majority of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop robust antibody responses against the viral spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, and the envelope protein that can be detected by serological testing," wrote the study authors.

"Antibodies against spike protein persist for months and can neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Frequently, these neutralizing antibodies bind to the receptor binding domain of the spike protein, but antibodies against the spike protein S2 domain have also been observed."

"To characterize the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States, we evaluated seropositivity in a national survey of participants who had not previously been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection."

A team of researchers led by Heather Kalish of the National Institutes of Health analyzed blood samples from 8,058 undiagnosed adults. The samples were mainly collected from early May to the end of July 2020. 

The experts found that 304 of the participants harbored antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its receptor binding domain. 

The results suggest that there was a much larger spread of COVID-19 than previously realized, which included undiagnosed infections in at least 4.6 percent of the U.S. population.

"This study demonstrates that spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the US during the first six months of the pandemic was more widespread than has been suggested by data reporting diagnostic test-confirmed cases," wrote the researchers.

"These results, including the subgroup analysis, give us a previously undescribed view into the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by more clearly identifying the large numbers of individuals with undiagnosed infections during the initial months of the pandemic. These data are of great importance as we consider the impact vaccination may have on the future course of the pandemic and plan for current and future available vaccines to be administered." 

"In addition, these data can also help us to better assess the public health measures taken during the pandemic and how to take the best approaches forward during any future public health emergencies."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://stm.sciencemag.org/">Science Translational Medicine</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Millions of Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections

Nearly 17 million Americans had undiagnosed COVID-19 infections during the...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-flowers-are-critical-for-the-survival-of-bumble-bees/">Flowers</a> possess an invisible feature that attracts bumblebees, according to a new study led by the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>. The experts report that bumblebees may use the humidity of a flower to tell them about the presence of nectar.

The researchers determined that bumblebees are able to accurately detect different levels of dampness next to the surface of the flower.

"Our study shows that bumblebees not only use this sensory information to make choices about how they behave, but are also capable of learning to distinguish between humidity patterns in a similar way to how they learn to recognize the color or smell of a flower," said study co-author Professor Natalie Hempel de Ibarra.

To investigate, the researchers designed artificial flowers with levels of humidity similar to those of flowering plants.

"Bumblebees showed a spontaneous preference for flowers which produced higher floral humidity. Furthermore, learning experiments showed that bumblebees are able to use differences in floral humidity to distinguish between rewarding and non rewarding flowers," explained the study authors.

"Our results indicate that bumblebees are sensitive to different levels of floral humidity. In this way floral humidity can add to the information provided by flowers and could impact pollinator behaviour more significantly than previously thought."

According to study lead author Dr. Michael Harrap, it is known that different species of plants produce flowers that have distinct patterns of humidity, which differ from the surrounding air.

"Knowing that bees might use these patterns to help them find food shows that flowers have evolved a huge variety of different ways of attracting pollinators, that make use of all the pollinators' senses."

"If humidity patterns are important for attracting pollinators, they are likely to be one of several different signals (such as colour, scent and pattern) that a flower is using at the same time, and could help the bee to identify and handle the flower more efficiently," said study co-author Dr. Sean Rands.

"The effectiveness of humidity patterns may depend upon the humidity of the environment around the flower; climate change may affect this environmental humidity, which in turn could have a negative effect on a visiting bee because the effectiveness of the humidity pattern will be altered."

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bumblebees are attracted to the humidity of flowers

Flowers possess an invisible feature that attracts bumblebees, according to...

The Amazon rainforest faces a much higher risk of extreme drought than previously expected, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a>. Without urgent action to curb greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emissions-from-food-production-have-been-underestimated/">emissions</a>, the eastern portion of the rainforest is set to experience severe drying by the end of this century.

The extreme drought will release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, and further exacerbate warming and drying in a vicious reinforcing feedback loop that will affect large portions of the rainforest.

"Understanding how the Amazon water cycle may change under future warming scenarios is crucial for predicting how the forest, and its store of terrestrial carbon, may respond," explained the study authors.

"The Amazon hydrological cycle has become increasingly seasonal since the 1990s, and floods and droughts have become more extreme. Although vegetation models simulated a relatively stable carbon sink over the Amazon since 1990, strong precipitation anomalies disrupt carbon sequestration, and ground-based measurements suggest the rate of forest carbon uptake is in decline." 

Existing climate models disagree on whether the Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest, will become wetter or drier in the coming decades. 

The researchers analyzed the results of 38 Amazon climate models. They found that only a third of the 38 models correctly represented the factors that regulate evapotranspiration, which is the process by which forests transfer water from the soil to the atmosphere.

When they focused on the smaller number of climate models, the team was able to reduce the uncertainty in projected rainfall changes over the Amazon by 50 percent. This group of models predicted severe drying in the eastern Amazon over the next 80 years. By contrast, the models showed rainfall increases in the western Amazon basin.

The researchers predict rainfall reductions in the east that are comparable to those linked to the major droughts of 2005 and 2010. These events caused widespread tree mortality and had major impacts on Amazon communities.

"People in Brazil and across the globe are rightly concerned about what the future holds for the Amazon, and its valuable store of carbon and biodiversity," said study lead author Dr. Jessica Baker. "The Amazon is at risk from the twin threats of deforestation and climate change."

"This new study sheds light on how the Amazon climate is likely to change under an extreme warming scenario. It should ring alarm bells for governments around the world that this vital global resource must not be taken for granted."

"Protecting and expanding existing forests - which absorb and store carbon - is of paramount importance to combatting climate change."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Extreme drought will impact large parts of the Amazon

The Amazon rainforest faces a much higher risk of extreme...

Most models for viral transmission focus on humans spreading viruses that infect other humans. However, other factors may also be at play when it comes to transmission of viruses like the one that causes COVID-19, including tree pollen.

Researchers noticed a correlation between the increase of pollen and an increase in COVID-19 infections. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.aip.org/">American Institute of Physics</a>, Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis set out to investigate how pollen distribution may assist in the spread of SARS-COV-2 and other viruses.

The experts used a computer model to show how pollen moves in a willow. The computer model recreated a realistic tree producing pollen amidst a gathering of roughly 100 people, some of which were infected by COVID-19. 

"This included thousands of tree leaves and pollen grain particles, hundreds of stems and a realistic gathering of a crowd of about 100 individuals at about 20 meters from the tree," explained Dbouk.

As the tree pollen was caught in the wind and spread through the crowd of people, some of the particles attached to COVID-19 particles, carrying them farther than they would have traveled alone. 

Every grain of pollen can carry hundreds of virus particles, and a tree can populate a cubic meter of air with 1,500 grains on some days. The research suggests that pollen could have a significant impact on virus transmission, changing normal human to human dynamics.     

"In the case of high pollen grains concentrations in the air or during pollination in the spring, the social distance of 2 meters does not hold as a health safety measure for an outdoor crowd," explained the study authors. "Thus, the public authorities should revise the social distancing guidelines."

Although this study focused mainly on COVID-19 transmissions, the researchers hope that the paper increases interest in fluid dynamics of trees. 

They plan on carrying out more research on how these dynamics affect human respiration under different atmospheric conditions next.    

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/journal/phf">Physics of Fluids</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Trees spread COVID-19 through pollen

Most models for viral transmission focus on humans spreading viruses...

For anyone who’s ever visited a coral reef, you know that they serve as a haven for an abundance of life. Florida’s coral reefs are a rare example of coral in North America and are home to spiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/american-lobsters-face-an-uncertain-fate/">lobster</a>, snapper and grouper.

According to NOAA, the reefs generate an estimated $4.4 billion in local sales and provide more than 70,000 related jobs.

In many places, plants and animals are migrating to escape the heat of climate change. How organisms migrate depends on a lot of things. Mid-elevation montane species tend to migrate upwards, while others migrate northward or southward, or into more suitable environmental conditions. Many of those without the ability or space to migrate may simply die off. 

Unfortunately, researchers predict that there will be no northern escape route for Florida’s coral reefs. Study lead author Lauren Toth is a research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"It's just not as simple as predicting the corals will move north," said Toth. "Thousands of years ago, corals and coral reefs moved north along Florida's east coast when the climate warmed, but things are different now. Rapid climate change looks to be increasing the number of cold fronts from the polar vortex that are dipping down into Florida."

The state's main species of reef-building corals, which are already listed under the Endangered Species Act, will decline even more drastically with no northern refuge.

The researchers report that Florida's coral reefs will become trapped between warmer tropical waters and cold polar vortexes that are projected to sporadically hit waters to the north. 

"All of us on the Eastern Seaboard know the jet stream is wobbling more and dipping southward more frequently, bringing us bad winter storms and bitterly cold weather," said study co-author Richard Aronson, a marine scientist at Florida Tech.

"The corals along Florida's east coast will be hammered from the north by freezes on the anvil of rising temperatures in the south. They won't be able to shift locations from the Florida Keys to the east coast."

According to study co-author William Precht, beyond their essential ecological role, coral reefs' economic contribution to Florida's economy means their loss could have a wide-ranging impact. 

"That is a very obvious reason why Floridians - and everyone else for that matter - should be concerned about the impacts of climate change on corals."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

No way out for Florida's coral reefs

For anyone who’s ever visited a coral reef, you know...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a> reveals that the Painted Lady butterfly embarks on the longest known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/physical-changes-in-birds-evolved-separately-from-earlier-migrations/">migration</a> of any insect. The researchers have found that the butterflies can migrate over thousands of miles from the Saharan Desert to Europe when the weather conditions are right. 

The experts report that the butterflies travel across 12,000 to 14,000 kilometers round trip, and make this incredible journey in greater numbers when wetter conditions give certain desert plants a boost.

"We know that the number of Painted Lady butterflies in Europe varies wildly, sometimes with 100 times more from one year to the next," said study co-author Professor Tom Oliver. "However, the conditions that caused this were unknown, and the suggestion the butterflies could cross the Sahara desert and oceans to reach Europe was not proven."

"This research shows this unlikely journey is possible, and that certain climate conditions leading up to migration season have a big influence on the numbers that make it. It demonstrates how the wildlife we see in the UK can transcend national boundaries, and protecting such species requires strong international cooperation."

The findings may help experts to predict the movements of other insects, such as the locusts that are currently plaguing East Africa or mosquitoes that carry malaria.

"We enjoy seeing the beautiful Painted Lady butterflies in our gardens in Europe, but climate change will also lead to shifts in invasive species that are crop pests or those that spread diseases," said Professor Oliver. "Food shortages in East Africa are a reminder that the impacts of climate change can be much more dramatic than a few degrees of warming might first seem."

The Painted Lady breeds in the winter and migrates during the spring. The study was focused on long-term monitoring data from thousands of trained volunteer recorders. The experts also analyzed climate and atmospheric data in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

The researchers found that there are three main factors which influence the number of Painted Lady butterflies that migrate to Europe, including increased vegetation in the African Savanna during the winter, increased vegetation in North Africa in the spring, and favorable tail winds.

The plants that support Painted Lady caterpillars thrive in wetter winter conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, causing population numbers to explode. When spring conditions are also optimal in North Africa, the population numbers grow even further.

In addition, the study showed that favorable tailwinds between Africa and Western Europe occur regularly, providing the butterflies with some assistance. To take advantage, the experts found the the butterflies must fly up to three kilometers above sea level. 

Based on observations of similar butterfly species, the experts concluded that Painted Lady butterflies have enough body fat after metamorphosis to sustain 40 hours of non-stop flying. They gain extra energy by feeding on nectar whenever possible.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Painted Lady butterflies execute the longest known insect migration

A new study from the University of Reading reveals that...

In the mid-2030s, the frequency of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overtopping-threatens-the-future-of-coastal-habitats/">coastal</a> flooding will drastically increase across multiple regions in the United States, according to a new study from <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">UH Mānoa</a>. The projections show rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding (HTF) days, as well as extreme months.

Study lead author Phil Thompson is the director of the UH Sea Level Center and assistant professor of Oceanography in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).

"We expect the most rapid increases to be along U.S. Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, which includes Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. This is important, because this is the point at which high-tide flooding transitions from being primarily a local or regional issue and becomes a national issue affecting a majority of our nation's coastlines," said Professor Thompson. 

The researchers analyzed tide gauge data from 89 coastal locations around the United States, including 10 locations from Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. To project future occurrences of high-tide flooding, the team developed a new statistical technique that combines changes in tidal range with NOAA sea level rise scenarios for the 21st century.

The study shows that in the coming decades, sea-level rise will exacerbate the issue where it is already a recurring problem, while many more locations will begin to experience recurrent high-tide flooding.

The researchers found that annual cycles in tides can coincide with oceanographic anomalies to produce many high-tide flooding episodes over a short amount of time, leading to extreme months with clustered events.

"Scientists, engineers and decision-makers are accustomed to thinking about rare high-impact events, for example, a 100-year storm, but we demonstrate that it is important to plan for extreme months or seasons during which the number of flooding episodes, rather than the magnitude, is exceptional," said Professor Thompson.

The experts also determined that natural fluctuations in tidal range, which occur from one decade to the next, are responsible for alternately reducing and exacerbating the impacts of sea level rise.

"Understanding and communicating this phenomenon reduces the possibility of complacency and inaction during periods of reduced impacts and helps us be more prepared for periods when impacts will be heightened," said Professor Thompson. 

"As an island state with much of its infrastructure and economy vulnerable to sea level rise, these results are crucial to understanding how impacts from sea level rise will evolve in coming decades in Hawaii."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

High-tide flooding will rapidly increase along the U.S. coastline

In the mid-2030s, the frequency of coastal flooding will drastically...

Sperm are extremely variable in size, ranging from an amazing six centimeters in fruit flies to .002 millimeters in tiny rotifers. In fact, sperm cells are the most variable known cell type in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-rarely-try-to-avoid-inbreeding/">animals</a>. The diversity of sperm sizes has been a mystery because sperm all perform the same role - fertilization of eggs. 

Depending on the animal, sperm meet their fate in different ways. In corals or sea urchins for instance, the sex cells meet eggs outside the body. In mammals, sperm meet eggs within a female body. 

A new study from <a href="https://www.su.se/cmlink/stockholm-university">Stockholm University</a> has found that the meeting place for sperm and egg may impact the evolution of size in sperm. The research shows that evolution of sperm got a boost, only when sperm swim inside females. 

“Researchers usually try to explain sperm diversity by focusing on how sperm compete to fertilize eggs or how females choose which sperm fertilize their eggs. But it turns out that there is a missing piece of the puzzle - the location where sperm and eggs meet can also influence sperm size," explained study co-author Ariel Kahrl.

The researchers examined the sperm size of 3,200 animals and analyzed where these sex cells meet with the egg. They confirmed that meeting place is important in the evolution of sperm size. 

In animals with internal fertilization such as mammals, sperm were six times longer and increased in size at a faster rate than in animals such as coral with external fertilization. 

The study’s findings make a lot of sense. There’s a trade off when creating large sperm - you can’t create as many. The opposite is true - when creating a large amount of sperm, it usually necessitates making smaller sperm. 

Animals with external fertilization, such as corals, have selection pressure to make a lot of sperm. With coral reproduction in particular it’s a game of chance - sperm and egg are just cast into the water around the sessile animals to fertilize when they come into contact. It’s obvious why so many sperm need to be produced. 

In animals with internal fertilization, the pressure pushes in the opposite direction - to create larger and fewer (relatively speaking) sperm.    

"Our results clearly show that interactions between sperm and females help generate the tremendous diversity in sperm size we see in animals today. The greater the potential for interactions between sperm and females, the faster sperm evolve," said study co-author John Fitzpatrick.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

An answer to the mystery of sperm evolution

Sperm are extremely variable in size, ranging from an amazing...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

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

Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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...