Astronomers have uncovered a remarkable&nbsp;wind phenomenon&nbsp;on WASP-127b, a&nbsp;gas giant planet&nbsp;that is more than&nbsp;500 light-years&nbsp;from Earth.



Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, scientists have detected&nbsp;supersonic jetstream winds&nbsp;hurtling around the planet’s equator at astonishing speeds of&nbsp;33,000 km/h (20,500 mph). 



This discovery marks the fastest jetstream ever measured on any known planet and sheds new light on the complex and extreme weather patterns of exoplanets beyond our Solar System.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-giant-puffy-planet-with-extreme-weather">Giant "puffy" planet with extreme weather</h2>



WASP-127b has fascinated scientists since its discovery in 2016. The planet is slightly larger than Jupiter but has a much lower mass, making it a "puffy" <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/potential-signs-of-life-found-on-nearby-exoplanet-wasp-107b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gas giant</a>. Its low density suggests that its atmosphere is vastly extended, allowing astronomers to study its composition and climate with relative ease.



Unlike Earth, where storms and winds are driven by temperature differences and planetary rotation, the weather on WASP-127b is governed by far more extreme forces. 



The planet is expected to be&nbsp;tidally locked&nbsp;to its host star, meaning one side permanently faces the star while the other remains in perpetual darkness. 



This setup leads to dramatic atmospheric conditions, including&nbsp;intense winds that redistribute heat around the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/morning-evening-atmosphere-detected-exoplanet-wasp-39b-for-first-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planet</a>. However, the sheer velocity of these winds came as a complete surprise to researchers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fastest-winds-on-a-distant-planet">Fastest winds on a distant planet</h2>



“Part of the atmosphere of this planet is moving towards us at a high velocity while another part is moving away from us at the same speed. This signal shows us that there is a very fast, supersonic, jet wind around the planet’s equator,” noted Lisa Nortmann, a scientist at the <a href="https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Göttingen</a> in Germany and lead author of the study.



The winds reach a staggering speed of&nbsp;9 kilometers per second, which is nearly&nbsp;six times faster than the expected rotation speed of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alien-weather-exoplanet-wasp-121-b-has-a-dynamic-atmosphere/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planet</a>. 



In comparison, the fastest wind speed recorded in the Solar System was observed on Neptune, where atmospheric winds reach "only"&nbsp;1,800 km/h (1,118 mph).



WASP-127b’s winds far surpass this, moving at speeds so extreme that they rival the velocity of some of the fastest meteoroids in our Solar System.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-an-alien-atmosphere">Mapping an alien atmosphere</h2>



To measure these winds, the research team used the&nbsp;CRIRES+ instrument&nbsp;on ESO’s VLT. This advanced tool allows scientists to analyze the atmosphere of distant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rare-glory-lights-effect-seen-exoplanet-wasp-76b-baffling-astronomers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planets</a> by studying how starlight filters through the gases surrounding them. 



By measuring the specific wavelengths of light absorbed and emitted by molecules in the planet’s upper atmosphere, the team was able to identify&nbsp;water vapor and carbon monoxide molecules&nbsp;in WASP-127b’s air.



But it was the motion of these molecules that provided the most shocking revelation. When the researchers analyzed their speed, they noticed something unexpected - a&nbsp;double peak in the data, showing that one side of the planet’s atmosphere was moving toward Earth while the other was moving away.



This indicated that high-speed jet-stream winds were racing&nbsp;around the equator, rather than simply moving from the day side to the night side as previously expected.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-weather-system">Complex weather system</h2>



Beyond detecting the equatorial jetstream, the research team also found intriguing variations in the planet’s temperature. The poles appear&nbsp;cooler than the rest of the planet, suggesting that heat distribution is not uniform. 



There is also a noticeable temperature difference between the planet’s&nbsp;morning and evening sides, which hints at&nbsp;complex atmospheric dynamics similar to those found on Earth and other planets in our Solar System.



“This shows that the planet has complex weather patterns just like Earth and other planets of our own system,” noted Fei Yan, a professor at the <a href="https://en.ustc.edu.cn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Science and Technology of China</a> and co-author of the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-advancing-the-exoplanet-weather-research">Advancing the exoplanet weather research </h2>



Until recently, studying the atmospheres of exoplanets was an&nbsp;impossible challenge. For years, astronomers could only determine a planet’s&nbsp;mass and radius, which gave them little information about its climate or atmospheric composition.



However, thanks to powerful ground-based telescopes like&nbsp;ESO’s <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VLT</a>, researchers can now&nbsp;map weather systems&nbsp;on distant planets and study their&nbsp;wind patterns, temperature gradients, and even cloud formations.



“Understanding the dynamics of these exoplanets helps us explore mechanisms such as heat redistribution and chemical processes, improving our understanding of planet formation and potentially shedding light on the origins of our own Solar System,” noted David Cont, a co-author of the paper from the <a href="https://www.lmu.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich</a>.



Surprisingly, this level of precision is only possible with ground-based telescopes. Current&nbsp;space telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope (<a href="https://webbtelescope.org/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JWST</a>), do not yet have the required&nbsp;velocity precision&nbsp;to detect wind speeds like those observed on WASP-127b. 



This means that facilities on Earth remain essential for&nbsp;pushing the boundaries of exoplanet research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wind-patterns-on-planets">Wind patterns on planets </h2>



With the discovery of supersonic winds on WASP-127b, astronomers are now looking forward to even&nbsp;more detailed investigations&nbsp;into the atmospheres of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/interior-core-cotton-candy-exoplanet-wasp-107-b-revealed-webb-telescope/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">distant worlds</a>. The upcoming&nbsp;ESO Extremely Large Telescope (<a href="https://elt.eso.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ELT</a>), currently under construction in Chile, will play a crucial role in these studies. 



Equipped with the&nbsp;ANDES instrument, the ELT will allow scientists to&nbsp;detect even finer details&nbsp;in the wind patterns of exoplanets and&nbsp;expand this research to smaller, rocky planets.



“This means that we can likely resolve even finer details of the wind patterns and expand this research to smaller, rocky planets,” Nortmann concluded.



The discovery of&nbsp;supersonic jetstream winds on WASP-127b&nbsp;is a milestone in exoplanetary science. As telescopes become more advanced, scientists may soon be able to&nbsp;track storm systems, measure rainfall, and even identify weather cycles on distant worlds. 



Each new finding brings us one step closer to&nbsp;understanding the diverse and dynamic nature of planets beyond our own Solar System.



The study was published in <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/01/aa50438-24/aa50438-24.html">Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a>.



Image Credit: ESO/L. Calçada



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Supersonic winds on a nearby exoplanet break all speed records

Astronomers have uncovered a remarkable&nbsp;wind phenomenon&nbsp;on WASP-127b, a&nbsp;gas giant planet&nbsp;that is more than&nbsp;500 light-years&nbsp;from Earth. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, scientists have detected&nbsp;supersonic jetstream winds&nbsp;hurtling around the planet’s equator at astonishing speeds of&nbsp;33,000 km/h (20,500 mph). This discovery marks the fastest jetstream ever measured on any known planet and sheds new light on the complex and extreme weather patterns of exoplanets beyond our Solar System. Giant "puffy" planet with extreme weather WASP-127b has fascinated scientists since its discovery in 2016....

Landscape,Of,Lake,Tahtarjavr,With,Transparent,Water,,Rocky,Bottom,And

Two new studies are improving our understanding of the ways in which carbon is transferred between the land, ocean, and atmosphere in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-in-the-north-pacific-linked-to-unusual-ozone-hole/">Arctic</a>. By taking into account how carbon reaches the ocean via rivers, these studies cover a significant gap in previous research, which has largely focused on how carbon passes from land into the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels, forest fires, leaking methane gas, or emissions from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-melting-may-release-nuclear-waste-into-the-atmosphere/">melting permafrost</a>.



“There’s been a lot of research that has looked at the vertical flow of carbon from land to the atmosphere,” said study lead author Michael Rawlins, a professor of Geoscience at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/">University of Massachusetts Amherst</a> and the associate director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.umass.edu/csrc/">Climate System Research Center</a>. “Far less attention has been paid to how carbon is transferred from land to the ocean via rivers.”



As rivers and streams flow over the land, they collect carbon and carry it towards the seas or oceans. While a small amount of this “dissolved organic carbon” (DOC) evaporates into the atmosphere as greenhouse gas, most of it flows into the ocean, where it becomes a significant part of coastal food webs.&nbsp;



In order to better understand this ocean-ward, lateral flows of carbon in the Arctic, Professor Rawlins and his team have modified a numerical method that captures the annual accumulation of snow and the freezing and thawing of soils, by adding a comprehensive account of the production, storage, decomposition, and loading of DOC into streams and rivers.



By employing this model, researchers found rising amounts of freshwater and DOC exported to a lagoon in Northern Alaska. In 2019, the freshwater export of DOC was three times the amount exported in the 1980s.&nbsp;



“Increased freshwater export has implications for salinity and other components of the lagoon aquatic environment,” explained Rawlins. “The largest freshwater and DOC increases occur in Autumn, which is not surprising given the significant losses in sea ice across the nearby Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, in turn connected to our warming climate.”



This new model can help scientists to better understand the complex ways in which climate change is altering the Earth’s carbon cycle, and provide new research directions about how the negative effects of global warming could be mitigated.&nbsp;



The studies are published in the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21562202">Journal of Geophysical Research</a> and <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</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

Carbon dissolved in rivers is damaging our planet

Two new studies are improving our understanding of the ways...

Marine plankton produce more than 20 million tons of sulfur each year, mostly in the form of dimethyl sulfide (DMS). This makes marine life the most abundant biological source of sulfur to the marine atmosphere. In the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-melting-may-release-nuclear-waste-into-the-atmosphere/">atmosphere</a>, DMS rapidly combines with water molecules and forms sulfuric acid. Although this sounds ominous, the molecules of sulfuric acid contribute to the formation of tiny aerosol particles that, in turn, help to produce clouds by giving a site for water vapor to condense and droplets to form.&nbsp;



The results of new research show, however, that more than one-third of the DMS emitted from the sea cannot be used in the formation of new clouds because it becomes dissolved in water droplets in clouds that already exist.&nbsp;



“It turns out that this story of cloud formation was really incomplete. Over the last three or four years, we've been questioning parts of that story, both through laboratory experiments and with large-scale field experiments," explained study senior author <a href="https://bertram.chem.wisc.edu/">Tim Bertram</a>, a professor of Chemistry at <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin–Madison</a>. "Now we can better connect the dots between what's emitted from the ocean and how you form these particulates that encourage cloud formation.”



The pathway that DMS follows on its way from marine organisms to becoming sulfuric acid in the atmosphere is more complex than originally thought. It seems that it forms an oxidation product called hydroperoxymethyl thioformate (HPMTF) that, until a few years ago, was unknown to science. This product dissolves readily in the water droplets of existing clouds, meaning that existing clouds remove the DMS oxidation products and limit the production of condensation nuclei that would help to form new clouds.



Research into the presence of HPMTF molecules in the atmosphere has, until now, been difficult because they occur at such low concentrations. But for the new study, the team used NASA-owned, instrument-laden aircraft to take detailed measurements of these chemicals in the atmosphere over the open ocean both inside clouds and under sunny skies.



“This is a massive DC-8 aircraft. It's a flying laboratory. Essentially all of the seats have been removed, and very precise chemical instrumentation has been put in that allows the team to measure, at very low concentrations, both the emitted molecules in the atmosphere and all of the chemical intermediates,” said Professor Bertram.



The data from the flights enabled the scientists to model ocean atmospheric chemistry on a global scale. They calculated that 36 percent of the sulfur from DMS is lost to clouds through the formation of HPMTF molecules that dissolve in existing clouds.&nbsp;



Another 15 percent of sulfur is lost through other processes, with the result that less than half of the sulfur released by marine plankton in the form of DMS is available to help nucleate new clouds. In cloud-free areas, more HPMTF survives to become sulfuric acid and this helps to form new clouds.



“This loss of sulfur to the clouds reduces the formation rate of small particles, so it reduces the formation rate of the cloud nuclei themselves. The impact on cloud brightness and other properties will have to be explored in the future,” said Professor Bertram.



Clouds play an important role in global climate by controlling rainfall and reflecting sunlight back into space. Until recently, however, the effects that clouds have on atmospheric chemistry over the ocean have been difficult to measure. The flights on the modified DC-8 air craft have changed this. The results show the power of the correct measuring instruments in collecting appropriate chemical information, as well as highlighting the way in which existing clouds can influence the processes that give rise to new clouds.&nbsp;



Accurately predicting the presence and extent of clouds over the world’s oceans will be essential to understanding the effects of climate change in future. “This work has really reopened this area of marine chemistry,” said Professor Bertram.



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



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

Cloud formation is often hampered by clouds themselves

Marine plankton produce more than 20 million tons of sulfur...

A new study published in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mechanics/article/waveriding-and-wavepassing-by-ducklings-in-formation-swimming/94759A0FF7070D9D7CAC5907594B1781">Journal of Fluid Mechanics</a> has found that ducklings swim in a line behind their mother in order to reduce drag and propel themselves forwards. According to the scientists from the <a href="https://www.strath.ac.uk/">University of Strathclyde</a> who led the study, besides helping us better understand animal behavior, these findings could also revolutionize shipping.&nbsp;



Ducklings learn to follow their mother through a developmental process called <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/460341">imprinting</a>, whereby a social attachment between young animals and typically (but not necessarily) a parent is established immediately after birth. As early as 15 minutes after hatching, ducklings will learn to follow any moving object they see first. On most occasions, this “object” is their mother. While imprinting is a well-known phenomenon, the precise mechanics of ducklings’ behavior have not been clearly understood.



By using mathematical and numerical models, the researchers revealed that the in-line swimming formation helps the ducklings benefit from two phenomena called “wave-riding” and “wave-passing.”&nbsp;



When the first duckling begins to swim behind its mother, a “destructive wave interference phenomenon” occurs: due to its positioning, the wave force that acts against the duckling as it paddles through the water (known as wave drag) is transformed into a positive movement propelling the bird forwards. Thus, by riding the waves generated by a mother duck, a trailing duckling can obtain a significant wave drag reduction.&nbsp;



This effect is then passed down to rest of the ducklings in line, and by the time it reaches the third duckling, the wave drag gradually tends towards zero, and a delicate dynamic equilibrium is achieved. Each subsequent duckling under that equilibrium then acts as a “wave passer,” passing the waves’ energy to its trailing duckling without any energy losses.



“Wave riding and wave passing are probably the principal reasons for the evolution of swimming formation by waterfowl. This study is the first to reveal the reasons why the formation movement of waterfowl can preserve individuals' energy expenditure,” the authors explained.



Besides shedding more light on patterns of animal behavior, this study can also provide new engineering insights. &nbsp;“These principles could be potentially applied to design modern freight carrying vessels, e.g. a water-train, to transport more cargoes without extra fuel cost,” the study authors concluded.&nbsp;



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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

Ducklings swim in line to reduce drag

A new study published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natsustain/">Nature Sustainability</a> warns that a massive prospective spill from a deserted oil tanker in the Red Sea could have catastrophic public <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seabirds-are-damaging-their-health-by-eating-plastic/">health</a> effects in Yemen and neighboring countries.



The FSO Safer is a tanker abandoned since 2015 due to the conflict in Yemen. It is currently located five nautical miles off Yemen’s coast and contains 1.1 million barrels of oil. The tanker is increasingly likely to leak oil due to the deterioration of its hull, or to catch fire through a buildup of volatile gases.



A research team led by <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> modeled the tanker spilling oil under various weather conditions, taking into account variables such as wind patterns, sea temperatures, current patterns, and salinity gradients.&nbsp;



The scientists estimated that it would take six to ten days for the oil to reach Yemen’s coastline, significantly impacting Yemen’s port within two weeks, and the port of Aden within three weeks. The delivery of critical supplies could be disrupted, and millions of people might be left without clean water and food aid. Moreover, about 38 percent of Yemen’s fuel needs could be seriously affected, causing fuel prices to spike.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Yemen is very fuel-dependent, so losing fuel means shutting down things like hospitals and water systems,” said&nbsp;Benjamin Huynh, a graduate student in Biomedical Informatics at Stanford University. “The main takeaway I want audiences to have is that this environmental disaster would also be a severe humanitarian disaster, and that a massive oil spill can substantially harm human health.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



According to the simulations, the air pollution from a full spill would increase the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations by 5.8 percent in Yemen’s general population, with cleanup workers and others directly exposed to the oil potentially experiencing up to 530 percent increase of such risks. &nbsp; &nbsp;



“We knew of course that there would be some negative impacts of an oil spill, but were surprised by how many people would be impacted in the majority of our scenarios,” said&nbsp;David Rehkopf, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, and co-director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://med.stanford.edu/phs.html">Stanford Center for Population Health Sciences</a>. “We hope that puts more pressure on the international community to offload the oil and prevent this disaster.”



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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

Deserted oil tanker in the Red Sea is a danger to public health

A new study published in the journal Nature Sustainability warns...

Many Scandinavians undertake regular swimming during the cold winter months. Winter swimming, as it is known, is part of Scandinavian culture and has been enjoyed for generations. There is a feeling that immersing oneself in icy <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/clear-blue-waters-highlight-the-caribbean-sea/">waters</a> after enjoying a hot sauna brings benefits in terms of health and happiness.&nbsp;



In a new study, published today in the&nbsp;journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/home">Cell Reports Medicine</a>, scientists suggest that routinely swimming in cold water and alternating this with hot sauna sessions might benefit people in several different ways. The practice appears to affect the metabolism of brown adipose (fat) cells and the generation of body heat, two processes that help people adapt to conditions of extreme heat and cold.&nbsp;



“Our data underscore that BAT [brown adipose tissue] in adult humans is part of the collective body temperature regulation system, in collaboration with skeletal muscle and blood flow,” said senior study author Camilla Scheele of the University of Copenhagen. “Regular winter swimming combining cold dips with hot sauna might be a strategy to increase energy expenditure, which could result in weight loss if compensatory increase in food intake can be avoided.”



Brown adipose tissue is a special type of body fat that functions to generate heat when we need to maintain our body temperature at a constant level. It is activated when we get cold and contains many more cellular structures for generating energy and heat than are found in normal fat cells.



In order to test whether winter swimming had any effects on the body’s ability to acclimate in conditions of extreme cold and heat, the researchers used a sample of eight male winter swimmers who had all swum in cold water and combined this with a hot sauna session, several times a week for at least two years. The sample was matched for age and fitness levels. The control sample also consisted of eight men, matched for age and fitness, but they were not winter swimmers and did not use any form of cold or heat therapy during the study.



Initial tests of participants’ thermoregulatory responses to cold involved submerging one arm in icy water for three minutes and also lying between water-perfused blankets to lower body temperature. In both instances, the winter swimmers showed signs of cold tolerance and had lower increases in pulse rates and blood pressure. They also showed a higher increase in skin temperature in response to cooling, which may indicate that they were capable of greater heat loss as a potential adaptation to frequent sauna exposure.



“We expected winter swimmers to have more brown fat than the control subjects, but it turned out that they instead had better thermoregulation,” said study first author Susanna Søberg of the University of Copenhagen.



Next, the researchers used positron emission tomography, to measure the activity of brown fat tissue in the participants as they were exposed to a comfortable temperature. At this temperature, the control subjects showed signs of activated brown fat tissue, as indicated by an uptake of glucose, whereas the winter swimmers showed absolutely no activity in their brown fat tissue. These results indicate that brown fat cells were actively generating heat even at mesic temperatures in non-swimmers. The winter swimmers had lower core temperatures than the controls during these periods in thermally comfortable conditions.&nbsp;



“The findings support the notion that brown fat tissue fine tunes body temperature to a comfortable state in young adults,” said Scheele. “It was, however, a surprising finding that the winter swimmers had no activity at all when exposed to comfortable temperatures.”&nbsp;



When participants were exposed to cold, however, the activity of brown fat tissue increased in both groups. The winter swimmers showed much higher heat production, or energy expenditure, in response to cool temperatures. They were able to generate more heat than controls when faced with cold conditions. “Winter swimmers burned more calories than control subjects during cooling, possibly in part due to higher heat production,” Scheele says.



The researchers also tracked the daily pattern of changes in temperature for both groups over a full day at comfortable thermal conditions. They found that winter swimmers reached a lower core body temperature, possibly due to being acclimated to the high heat conditions in saunas. Their skin temperature in areas close to BAT showed a distinct peak between 4:30 am and 5:30 am and revealed signs of a 24-hour rhythm in brown fat tissue activity and heat production. “The difference between groups is possibly explained by increased maturation and cold adaptation of BAT in the winter-swimmer group,” Scheele says.



There are some limitations to the study, including the small sample size and the absence of female participants. In addition, the fact that it was a correlational study means that a causal relationship between winter swimming and brown fat tissue activation, or acclimation to extreme temperatures, cannot be assumed.&nbsp;



“We compared experienced winter swimmers with control subjects, which allows for the possibility that other lifestyle factors or genetic factors not measured in the current study also could impact the differences between the groups,” noted Søberg.



However, the link between winter swimming and the ability to generate more heat and burn more calories during exposure to cold may have important implications for overweight people or for those trying to control or maintain their body weight.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our results point to winter swimming as an activity that could increase energy expenditure, thus proposing a new lifestyle activity that might contribute to weight loss or weight control,” said Scheele.



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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

Winter swimming helps increase the body’s metabolism

Many Scandinavians undertake regular swimming during the cold winter months....

Seabirds from Marion Island near Antarctica, Gough Island in the south of the Atlantic Ocean, and the coasts of Western Australia and Hawaii have developed a dangerous habit: eating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plastic-pollution-and-climate-change-are-interconnected/">plastic</a>.&nbsp;



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.tuat.ac.jp/en/">Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology</a> has found that across 32 species of seabirds sampled from around the world, 52 percent ate plastic and accumulated its harmful chemical components in their bodies.



“Globally, approximately 400 million metric tons of plastics are produced each year, and a portion of these escape into the environment, eventually finding their way into the oceans,” said corresponding author Hideshige Takada, a professor in the <a href="https://web.tuat.ac.jp/~gaia/english/english.html">Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry </a>&nbsp;at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.&nbsp;



“When floating on the sea surface or stranded on beaches, plastics are exposed to UV radiation from the sun and break down into smaller fragments.”



These plastic fragments, similar in size to seabirds’ usual prey of small fish and insects, are not biodegradable, and they are light enough to move with the oceanic currents.&nbsp;



“Consequently, huge amounts of plastics are available to a suite of consumers in the world’s oceans,” Professor Takada explained. “As of 2020, 180 species of seabirds, corresponding to half of the total species of seabirds around the globe, have been reported to have ingested plastics. It has also been predicted that by 2050, 99 percent of seabird species will have ingested plastics.”



While the often lethal dangers of eating plastic are well-known, much less is understood about the biological consequences of consuming the additives that are used to bind, stabilize, and improve plastic materials.&nbsp;



By examining the chemical composition of oils from the preen gland of 145 seabirds from 16 different places in the world, the researchers detected high levels of additives in the birds that have ingested large plastic loads.



“The detection of additives demonstrated that significant portions of the world’s seabirds - 10 to 30 percent - are likely the accumulate chemicals directly from ingesting plastics, but the health consequences of this are not fully understood,” concluded Professor Tanaka.&nbsp;



Further research is needed to understand the effects of such a “diet” on seabirds and other animals, and to find ways of mitigating the harmful effects of plastic pollution on various ecosystems.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/emcr/1/0/1_20210009/_article">Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research</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

Seabirds are damaging their health by eating plastic

Seabirds from Marion Island near Antarctica, Gough Island in the...

Researchers have made a new discovery about Earth's carbon sinks. These vast ecosystems have an even greater capacity to remove CO2 from the atmosphere due to previously unknown rock <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-adjust-roots-to-reach-their-preferred-form-of-nitrogen/">nitrogen</a> weathering reactions that distribute natural fertilizers around the world. The new study highlights the importance of preserving these carbon sinks to fight climate change.



Mankind has been flooding the atmosphere with carbon dioxide since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Nearly half of these emissions have been naturally removed from the atmosphere by land, vegetation and oceans, whereas the other half remains in the atmosphere contributing to climate change.&nbsp;



“Excess carbon is already harming people, economies and our planet,” said study senior author Benjamin Houlton of <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a>. “But we’ve been enjoying a free subsidy provided by Earth – a large carbon sink on land and in the ocean – and, as a society, we’re not paying for the carbon-sink service explicitly. But where is this sink and how long will it last?”&nbsp;



Houlton emphasized the importance of finding sustainable alternatives to store and retreat carbon from the atmosphere to combat the threats from climate change.



The researchers stated that the background nitrogen inputs from rock weathering and physiological fixation can provide two to five times more terrestrial carbon uptake than nitrogen pollution primarily from agricultural and industrial activities.



“Previously, we had believed that this terrestrial carbon sink was more vulnerable. Now we're suggesting that because of the previously undiscovered slow-release nitrogen, the terrestrial carbon sink will continue to be robust.” said study lead author Pawlok Dass, a postdoctoral researcher at Northern Arizona University.



The researchers emphasized that society should be vigilant, as the use of fossil fuels tends to release surplus nitrogen into the atmosphere. In this case, rather than functioning as a fertilizer, the nitrogen bypasses terrestrial carbon cycles and pollutes downstream water bodies. According to Dass, reducing excessive nitrogen pollution can improve human health, the environment, and the economy without harming natural, terrestrial carbon sinks.



Dass explained that the biologically diverse tropical forests, mountainous regions and the rapidly changing boreal zone (the entire stretch of forests stretching from Alaska to Canada to Siberia, for example) are rich in rock nitrogen weathering or biological nitrogen fixation and they should be conserved to preserve the carbon sinks.&nbsp;



“Our work suggests that the conservation of these ecosystems, which have built-in capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, is going to be vital to making sure that we don’t lose out on Earth’s terrestrial carbon sink service in the future," said Houlton.



The study was conducted at the laboratory at the University of California, Davis and Cornell University and was published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19449224">Global Biogeochemical Cycles</a>.



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By <a href="http://mailto:ashikha92@gmail.com">Ashikha Raoof</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Carbon sinks are a powerful weapon against climate change

Researchers have made a new discovery about Earth's carbon sinks....

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02707-9?utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=commission_junction&amp;utm_campaign=3_nsn6445_deeplink_PID100032693&amp;utm_content=deeplink#Fig4">Nature Communications Biology</a> has recently reported on a previously undocumented mass extinction event that occurred after the transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene geological period, approximately 30 million years ago. 



The event was caused by dramatic climate change that transformed the swampy lands of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula into icy landscapes, and resulted in the extinction of 63 percent of the Earth’s species.



By gathering data on hundreds of fossils from various sites in Africa, an international research team has found that all five mammal groups populating the Earth at the end of the Eocene period suffered massive losses at the onset of the Oligocene. “It&nbsp;was a real reset button,” said study lead author Dorien de Vries, a postdoctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.salford.ac.uk/">University of Salford</a>.&nbsp;



Although after a few million years, these mammal groups start appearing again in the fossil record, they are not identical with their earlier counterparts. “It's very clear that there was a huge extinction event, and then a recovery period,” claimed study co-author Steven Heritage, a researcher and digital preparator at the <a href="https://lemur.duke.edu/">Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History</a>.



The scientists found evidence of these changes in the animals’ teeth. The rodents and primates that reappeared after a few million years had different teeth, so they most probably ate different things, and had different habitats. “We see a huge loss in tooth diversity, and then a recovery period with new dental shapes and new adaptations,” reported de Vries.



This pattern of initial decline in diversity followed by recovery confirms that the mass extinction event at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary acted as an evolutionary bottleneck by destroying most lineages, but leaving a few of them survive and later on diversify.



“In our anthropoid ancestors, diversity bottoms out to almost nothing around 30 million years ago, leaving them with a single tooth type,” explained study senior co-author Erik R. Seiffert, Professor and Chair of the <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/integrative-anatomical-sciences/">Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences</a> at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. “That ancestral tooth shape determined what was possible in terms of later dietary diversification.”



“There's an interesting story about the role of that bottleneck in our own early evolutionary history. We came pretty close to never existing, if our monkey-like ancestors had gone extinct 30 million years ago. Luckily they didn’t.”



Image credit: Matt Borths/Duke University



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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

Fossils reveal a previously unknown mass extinction event

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications Biology...

A new study has concluded that levels of daily <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rainfall-is-not-the-primary-source-of-mercury-in-the-ocean/">rainfall</a> and extreme heat events are increasing at a non-linear rate across the globe. The researchers used observational data to calculate the current levels of 3-sigma and 4-sigma heat events, weather events that deviate strongly from what is normal within a specific region.&nbsp;



The study revealed that the range of land area that is being affected by extreme weather events has increased by 9000% in the last decade compared to the time period from 1951 to 1980.



“For extreme extremes, what we call 4-sigma-events that have been virtually absent before, we even see a roughly 1000-fold increase compared to the reference period. They affected about 3 percent of global land area in 2011-20 in any month,” explained study lead author Alexander Robinson.&nbsp;



“This confirms previous findings, yet with ever-increasing numbers. We are seeing extremes now which are virtually impossible without the influence of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.”



Key examples of such extreme weather include the wildfire-inducing heatwaves of Siberia and Australia in 2020, and the life-threatening temperatures that struck North America in 2021. Record-breaking heat extremes have increased most significantly across tropical regions, but the study suggests that the problem will become increasingly common in mid-to-high latitude regions in the near future.



Furthermore, the researchers discovered that record daily rainfall events are also increasing in a non-linear fashion, with 1 in 4 of these being attributable to climate change, and showing no signs of slowing down. Wet regions such as central and North Europe have seen strong increases in rainfall extremes leading to devastating flooding, whilst dry regions such as South Africa have seen decreases leading to further drought.



Ultimately, the experts compared the new data with data collected between 2000 and 2010. They concluded that areas being affected by 3-sigma events approximately doubled. Deviations from this data which are so extreme that they were not present in previous data have emerged, being named "4-sigma events."



“These data show that extremes are now far outside the historical experience. Extreme heat and extreme rainfall are increasing disproportionally,” explained co-author Stefan Rahmstorf, from the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a>. “Our analysis confirms once again that for the impacts of global heating on us humans, every tenth of a degree matters.”



The research has been published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/npjclimatsci/">Climate and Atmospheric 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

Extreme heat events are becoming increasingly common

A new study has concluded that levels of daily rainfall...

New research led by <a href="https://www.fsu.edu/">Florida State University</a> (FSU) has found a link between an individual’s sense of purpose in life, cognitive function, and autobiographical memory. The study suggests that individuals with a higher sense of purpose in life experience more vivid autobiographical memories. While both a sense of purpose and cognitive function make memories easier to recall, only the sense of purpose seems to increase memories’ vividness and coherence.



“Personal memories serve really important functions in everyday life,” said study lead author Angelina Sutin, a professor in the <a href="https://med.fsu.edu/">College of Medicine</a> at FSU. “They help us to set goals, control emotions and build intimacy with others. We also know people with a greater sense of purpose perform better on objective memory tests, like remembering a list of words. We were interested in whether purpose was also associated with the quality of memories of important personal experiences because such qualities may be one reason why purpose is associated with better mental and physical health.”



The scientists studied 800 participants who reported on their sense of purpose and completed tasks measuring their cognitive processing speed in January and February 2020, before the onset of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/over-one-third-of-americans-had-covid-19-by-the-end-of-2020/">COVID-19 pandemic</a>. Five months later, researchers measured participants’ ability to retrieve and describe autobiographical memories related to the pandemic.&nbsp;



“We chose to measure the ability to recall memories associated with the COVID-19 pandemic because the pandemic is an event that touched everyone, but there has been a wide range of experiences and reactions to it that should be apparent in memories,” explained co-author Martina Luchetti, an assistant professor of Behavioral Science and Social Medicine at FSU.



Participants with a stronger sense of purpose reported more accessible, coherent, and especially vivid memories than those with less purpose. Moreover, they described more sensory details, spoke mostly from a first-person perspective, and reported more positive feelings related to their memories.



“Memories help people to sustain their well-being, social connections and cognitive health,” said co-author Antonio Terracciano, a professor of Geriatrics at FSU. “This research gives us more insight into the connections between a sense of purpose and the richness of personal memories. The vividness of those memories and how they fit into a coherent narrative may be one pathway through which purpose leads to these better outcomes,” he concluded.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658211.2021.1966472?journalCode=pmem20">Memory</a>.



---



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

Having a sense of purpose improves memory

New research led by Florida State University (FSU) has found...

Planet,Earth.,Eastern,Hemisphere.,This,Image,Elements,Furnished,By,Nasa.

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031920121001606?via%3Dihub">Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors</a> has found that the Earth’s inner core is not completely solid and homogeneous as previously thought, but consists instead of a range of liquid, soft, and hard structures.



Scientists have long thought that our planet’s inner core, located 3,200 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, was solid - in contrast to the liquid metal region surrounding it. Recently, a research team led by the <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/">University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa</a> has investigated the composition of the Earth’s interior by using earthquake waves. As seismic waves move through the layers of Earth, their velocity changes and they may reflect or refract, depending on the minerals, temperatures, and densities of the layer through which pay pass.&nbsp;



“Illuminated by earthquakes in the crust and upper mantle, and observed by seismic observatories at Earth's surface, seismology offers the only direct way to investigate the inner core and its processes,” explained study lead author, Rhett Butler, a geophysicist at the University of Hawai’i.



Together with Seiji Tsuboi, a research scientist at the <a href="http://www.jamstec.go.jp/e/">Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology</a>, Professor Butler used data from seismometers directly opposite to the location where an earthquake was generated to clarify the structure of the Earth’s inner core. With the help of Japan's Earth Simulator supercomputer, the researchers assessed five pairings (Tonga and Algeria, Indonesia and Brazil, and three between Chile and China) in order to cover as fully as possible the inner core region.&nbsp;



“In stark contrast to the homogeneous, soft iron alloys considered in all Earth models of the inner core since the 1970's, our models suggest there are adjacent regions of hard, soft, and liquid or mushy iron alloys in the top 150 miles of the inner core,” explained Butler.&nbsp;“This puts new constraints upon the composition, thermal history, and evolution of Earth.”&nbsp;



The discovery of the Earth’s inner core diverse structure will provide important new data about the nature of the interaction between the Earth’s inner and outer cores, the complex dynamics characterizing this interaction, and the ways in which these regions affect the Earth’s geomagnetic field.



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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

Earth’s inner core is less solid than previously thought

A new study published in the journal Physics of the...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534721002238">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution</a> examined the various strategies through which <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/houseplants-improve-mood-and-productivity/">plants</a> disperse their seeds. By investigating the intricacies of the chemical ecology of seed dispersal, a research team led by <a href="https://vt.edu/">Virginia Tech</a> aims to clarify how chemicals impact the interaction between fruit and the animals that eat them.



“Our understanding of the chemical ecology of seed dispersal is still pretty basic. A lot of the chemicals in fruits haven’t yet been described, and we know very little about the functions that these chemicals may have,” said study lead author Annika Nelson.



Just like humans and other animals, plants seem to want their offspring to be successful once they leave the “nest.” In order to have the highest chances of success, seeds need to be planted far away from their parents to minimize competition for nutrients, water, or light. Yet, since plants are rooted in the ground, they have to get creative for their dispersal strategies.



While plants like the Virginia stickseed make their seeds sticky so they cling to passers-by, and maple trees have created winged-seeds that can glide with the wind, most plants enlist the help of animals. By enclosing their seeds in appealing, delicious fruit, plants attract animals who eat the fruits and defecate them in different locations.&nbsp;



The chemicals plants use to lure potential seed dispensers are called secondary metabolites and give fruit their distinctive color and flavor. Since timing is crucial for proper seed dispersion, these metabolites notify animals when it is the right time for them to harvest the fruits.



“Ripe fruits are often a lot smellier and tastier than unripe fruits on purpose,” explained Nelson. “It communicates to animals when fruits are ready to be removed. If seeds are removed from a plant before they are fully developed, they often won’t survive.”



Sometimes, secondary metabolites can also have repelling effects, in order to prevent animals from destroying the seeds or to defend them from various viruses or bacteria. Plants must continuously strike a careful balance between attracting animals to distribute their seeds and fending off predators.&nbsp;



“Because the same metabolites can serve multiple functions across different seed dispersal stages, with the potential for complex trade-offs, examining their effects under multiple contexts is necessary to understand their adaptive significance,” the authors concluded.



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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

How plants disperse their seeds

A new study published in the journal Trends in Ecology...

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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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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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

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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...