Do you recall those childhood days when you eagerly anticipated bedtime stories about Peter Rabbit, Toad or Ratty from The Wind in the Willows? Or the excitement that washed over you every time you opened a children's book teeming with playful, animated animals? 



Well, a new study is giving us a fresh perspective on the role of these furry, iconic characters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-children-s-books-animal-characters">Children's books animal characters</h2>



The research has shed light on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toddlers-learn-faster-after-witnessing-impossible-events/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potential influence</a> of non-human characters in children's books.



The researchers aimed to gauge how these animal characters affected children's theory of mind skills - crucial abilities which include deciphering social changes in the environment based on voice tone, word choice, or facial expressions.



They worked with over 100 children aged five to 10, each of whom were tested on their theory of mind skills after hearing stories featuring animal characters, as well as those highlighting human characters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-vs-animal-characters-in-books">Human vs. animal characters in books</h2>



The study unveiled an interesting pattern. When exposed to stories centered around human characters, an age-related progression was observed. 



Older children were consistently outperforming their younger counterparts, with 3rd grade children surpassing the researchers' expectations in tests featuring human characters.



But the revelations didn't stop there. The tests that involved animal characters threw up another surprise. 



The younger participants were able to match the scores achieved by pupils in 3rd grade, who were two years their senior. That's quite a feat for our young champions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-insight-into-children-s-development">New insight into children's development</h2>



These findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, highlight the importance of both human and non-human characters in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/outdoor-classes-improve-childrens-mental-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">children's developmental stages</a>.



The research was led by Dr. Gray Atherton and Dr. Liam Cross from the University of Plymouth’s <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/psychology" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">School of Psychology</a>.



"Animals play a huge part of children’s stories, whether that is in books and comics or through TV and film. We wanted to test if that is down to more than simply liking the characters, and whether there are actual benefits of children learning through by watching or reading about animals and if this changes over time," said Dr. Atherton.



"Our findings showed that both human and non-human characters are important in helping children interpret the world around them, and that they play differing roles at different stages in their development. Adapting activities and lessons in nurseries and the early school years to take that into account could be hugely effective in helping to support their development."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-educators-and-parents">Implications for educators and parents</h2>



The insights gained from this study have substantial implications for educators and parents aiming to support children's cognitive and social development.



By incorporating both human and animal characters into books, educators can craft a more balanced learning environment that caters to the diverse needs of children across age groups. 



Parents, too, can enrich their children's home learning experiences by selecting a variety of stories that include both human and animal protagonists. 



This approach not only makes reading sessions more engaging but also aids in developing empathy and understanding of complex social scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



While this study provides valuable insights, it also opens avenues for further exploration. 



Future research could go deeper into the types of animal characteristics that are most effective in nurturing children's theory of mind. For instance, exploring whether anthropomorphized animals or more realistic portrayals have differing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/parents-who-use-humor-have-better-relationships-with-their-children/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impacts</a>. 



Similarly, cross-cultural studies could investigate whether the affinity towards animal characters holds true in diverse cultural contexts. These inquiries could refine understanding and application in educational strategies, enhancing the efficacy of storytelling as a developmental tool.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animal-characters-and-autism-treatment">Animal characters and autism treatment</h2>



In previous studies, Dr. Atherton and Dr. Cross examined the factors influencing the educational and social development of individuals with autism and learning difficulties.



The experts launched initiatives proving how board and online games can bolster confidence among people with autism. 



Borrowing insights from this research, the scholars now plan to dig deeper to explore if their findings could provide specific benefits to children with such conditions.



Dr. Cross envisions a significant impact of this study on individuals with autism or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/kids-with-behavioral-issues-have-high-cortisol-levels-in-their-hair/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other conditions</a> affecting their learning. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-way-of-looking-at-animal-characters">A new way of looking at animal characters</h2>



The researchers have observed how tasks involving animal characters can result in autistic individuals performing on par with non-autistic children. 



The plan is to replicate this study with autistic children in an effort to unveil more effective ways to support them at a critical stage in their development.



In a nutshell, this study has unraveled an entirely new dimension of how we view animals in children's books. 



Those delightful animal characters do more than simply entertain; they help shape our children's minds and understanding of the world around them in their formative years.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002209652400256X?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Experimental Child Psychology</a>. 



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Animal characters boost social and emotional skills in children

Do you recall those childhood days when you eagerly anticipated bedtime stories about Peter Rabbit, Toad or Ratty from The Wind in the Willows? Or the excitement that washed over you every time you opened a children's book teeming with playful, animated animals? Well, a new study is giving us a fresh perspective on the role of these furry, iconic characters. Children's books animal characters The research has shed light on the potential influence of non-human characters in children's books. The researchers aimed to gauge how these...

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dogs-improve-social-and-emotional-well-being-in-children/">Dogs</a> process speech in a very similar way to humans, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.elte.hu/en/">Eötvös Loránd University</a> (ELTE). The research shows that as dogs are interpreting unknown words based on intonation, or the rise and fall of our voices, they use the same brain region to process this unfamiliar speech.

Experts in the ELTE Faculty of Science used MRI brain imaging to show that dog brains not only derive information from what we say and how we say it, but also use a human-like speech processing system to do so. 

Dogs recognize the meaning of words like "sit," but they also understand the underlying tone and intent of words that they are not familiar with. For example, when dogs are praised in a high pitch voice, they realize that something positive is being expressed. However, little has been known about what is going on in a dog's brain as speech is actually being processed.

To investigate, the researchers measured brain activity with fMRI as dogs heard familiar praise words and unfamiliar words that were expressed in either a neutral or a praising manner.

"Exploring speech processing similarities and differences between dog and human brains can help a lot in understanding the steps that led to the emergence of speech during evolution," said study lead author Anna Gábor. 

"Human brains process speech hierarchically: first, intonations at lower-, next, word meanings at higher stages. Some years ago, we discovered that dog brains, just as human brains, separate intonation and word meaning. But is the hierarchy also similar?"

"To find it out, we used a special technique this time: we measured how dog brain activity decreases to repeatedly played stimuli. During brain scanning, sometimes we repeated words, sometimes intonations. Stronger decrease in a given brain region to certain repetitions shows the region's involvement."

The results showed that dog brains process speech hierarchically just like human brains. Intonation was found to be processed at lower stages - mostly in subcortical regions. Meanwhile, familiar words were processed at higher stages - in cortical regions.

The study also revealed that older dogs distinguished words less than younger dogs.

"Although speech processing in humans is unique in many aspects, this study revealed exciting similarities between us and a speechless species. The similarity does not imply, however, that this hierarchy evolved for speech processing," said study co-author Attila Andics.

"Instead, the hierarchy following intonation and word meaning processing reported here and also in humans may reflect a more general, not speech-specific processing principle." 

"Simpler, emotionally loaded cues (such as intonation) are typically analyzed at lower stages; while more complex, learnt cues (such as word meaning) are analyzed at higher stages in multiple species."

"What our results really shed light on is that human speech processing may also follow this more basic, more general hierarchy."

The study is  published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</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

&nbsp;

Dogs process speech in the same way as humans

Dogs process speech in a very similar way to humans,...

Scientists have taken the concept of remote sensing to an entirely new level, using lidar to peer into the depths of the ocean. The new technique allows the experts to study <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ocean-algae-steal-beneficial-genes-from-bacteria/">algae</a> and ocean composition much farther down in the sea than what has been possible using satellite sensors.

Study co-author Barney Balch is a senior research scientist at the <a href="https://www.bigelow.org/">Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences</a>.

"Traditional satellite remote sensing approaches can collect a wide range of information about the upper ocean, but satellites typically can't 'see' deeper than the top five or 10 meters of the sea," said Balch. "Harnessing a tool that lets us look so much deeper into the ocean is like having a new set of eyes."

Lidar detects and measures the distance to reflective particles like algae in the ocean by illuminating them with laser light. On a research expedition in 2018, study lead author Brian Collister tested the ability of a shipboard lidar system to detect algae and other particles in the deep ocean.

"The lidar approach has the potential to fill some important gaps in our ability to measure ocean biology from space," said Collister, who is a PhD student at Old Dominion University. "This technique will shed new light on the distribution of biology in the upper oceans, and allow us to better understand their role in Earth's climate."

Balch's research team has studied the Gulf of Maine for over two decades. The scientists' experience in finding and identifying algae in this ecosystem provided key knowledge for testing out the lidar system in this area.

The team used lidar to detect and measure particles of the mineral calcium carbonate, and collect information about a bloom of coccolithophores. These algae surround themselves with calcium carbonate plates, which are white in color and highly reflective. This particular coccolithophore bloom turned out to be the largest observed in the region in 30 years.

"This cruise allowed us an ideal opportunity to try the lidar system out with the ability to sample the water and know exactly what species were in it," said Balch. "Lidar has been used in the ocean for decades, but few, if any, studies have been done inside a confirmed coccolithophore bloom, which profoundly changes how light behaves in the environment."

Located throughout the ocean worldwide, coccolithophores have a major influence on the biogeochemical cycles that shape the planet, and studying the algae is key to understanding global ocean dynamics. 

The new research suggests that lidar will make it possible to estimate coccolithophore populations remotely, which could save a lot of time and money that is typically used for field studies.

"It's a huge deal that we are learning to reliably identify particles in the ocean from a lidar system positioned above the water," said study co-author Richard Zimmerman. "This is a significant advance, and it could revolutionize our ability to characterize and model marine ecosystems."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.osapublishing.org/ao/">Applied Optics</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

&nbsp;

Laser technology allows scientists to peer deep into the ocean

Scientists have taken the concept of remote sensing to an...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.unibo.it/en">University of Bologna</a> have developed a method to change the way the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/large-brains-allow-humans-to-master-motor-skills/">brain</a> perceives frightful memories so that they no longer evoke fear. The technique involves a non-invasive procedure known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and memory reconsolidation.

"This experimental protocol combining transcranial stimulation and memory reconsolidation allowed us to modify an aversive memory that the participants had learned the day before," said study first author Sara Borgomaneri. "This result has relevant repercussions for understanding how memory works. It might even lead to the development of new therapies to deal with traumatic memories."

The research is primarily focused on the process of memory reconsolidation, which is capable of maintaining, strengthening, or altering events that are already stored in our long-term memory. "Every time an event is recalled in our memory, there is a limited period of time in which it can be altered," explained study co-author Simone Battaglia. "The protocol we developed exploits this short time window and can, therefore, interfere with the reconsolidation process of learned aversive memories."

TMS is a non-invasive procedure that does not require surgery or any action by participants. The technique is widely used for research, as well as in clinical trials and rehabilitation programs.

In the current study, the researchers explored the potential for TMS to "erase" the fear induced by a negative memory. Using an electromagnetic coil placed on an individual's head, TMS creates magnetic fields that can alter the neural activity of a specific site in the brain. 

"With TMS, we could alter the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which proved to be fundamental in the reconsolidation process of aversive memories," said Borgomaneri. "Thanks to this procedure, we obtained results that, until now, were only possible by delivering drugs to patients."

To develop the new protocol, the experts introduced 98 healthy participants to an aversive memory. 

"First, we created the aversive memory by combining an unpleasant stimulation with some images," said Borgomaneri. "The day after, we presented a group of participants with the same stimulus, which, in their memory, was recorded as aversive. Using TMS immediately afterwards, we interfered with their prefrontal cortex activity."

Some of the participants underwent TMS without their aversive memory being recalled, which meant that no reconsolidation was triggered. Among other participants, TMS stimulated control areas of the brain that are not involved in memory reconsolidation.

The following day, the researchers once again tested how the participants reacted when the aversive memory was recalled. The study revealed that participants who had their prefrontal cortex activity inhibited by TMS showed a reduced psycho-physiological response to the unpleasant stimulus. They could recall the explicit memory, but its negative effect was substantially reduced.

The study was coordinated by Dr. Giuseppe di Pellegrino, who is a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bologna.

"This trial showed that it is feasible to alter the persistence of potentially traumatic memories. This may have crucial repercussions in the fields of rehabilitation and clinical medicine," said Dr. Pellegrino. 

"We're dealing with a new technique that can be employed in different contexts and can assume a variety of functions, starting from treating PTSD, which will be the focus of our next study."

The research 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

&nbsp;

Study reveals how fear can be erased from our memories       

Experts at the University of Bologna have developed a method...

Experts at the <a href="https://twin-cities.umn.edu/">University of Minnesota</a> have found a way to alter iron sulfide, also known as "fools gold," into a magnetic material. This is the first time that a completely non-magnetic material has been electrically transformed to become magnetic.

The research, published by <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a>, may ultimately lead to the development of valuable new magnetic materials for more energy-efficient computer memory devices.

"Most people knowledgeable in magnetism would probably say it was impossible to electrically transform a non-magnetic material into a magnetic one. When we looked a little deeper, however, we saw a potential route, and made it happen," said study lead researcher Professor Chris Leighton.

For more than a decade, the team has been investigating the potential for fools gold to be used in solar cells.

Sulfur is a low-cost byproduct of petroleum production that is particularly abundant. Prior to this study, scientists have struggled to make it efficient enough to create low-cost solar cells.

"We really went back to the iron sulfide material to try to figure out the fundamental roadblocks to cheap, non-toxic solar cells," said Professor Leighton. 

"Meanwhile, my group was also working in the emerging field of magnetoionics where we try to use electrical voltages to control magnetic properties of materials for potential applications in magnetic data storage devices. At some point we realized we should be combining these two research directions, and it paid off."

According to Professor Leighton, the goal of the study was to manipulate the magnetic properties of materials with a voltage alone, with very little electrical current, which is important to make magnetic devices more energy-efficient. 

Up until now, scientists had managed to switch on and off ferromagnetism, the most technologically important form of magnetism, in other types of magnetic materials.

The current study has confirmed the capacity for ferromagnetism to be electrically induced in iron sulfide - an entirely non-magnetic material.

The technique used for the investigation was able to successfully magnetize a non-magnetic iron sulfide material and then return it to its non-magnetic state, which means that magnetism can be reversibly switched on and off.

"We were pretty surprised it worked. By applying the voltage, we essentially pour electrons into the material. It turns out that if you get high enough concentrations of electrons, the material wants to spontaneously become ferromagnetic, which we were able to understand with theory. This has lots of potential. Having done it with iron sulfide, we guess we can do it with other materials as well."

Professor Leighton said this approach would have never have imagined or attempted if it was not for his team's research on iron sulfide for solar cells and the work on magnetoionics. "It was the perfect convergence of two areas of research.

The next step, according to Professor Leighton, is to continue research to replicate the process at higher temperatures, which the team's preliminary data suggest is possible. The experts also hope to test their process with other materials to demonstrate the potential of their technique.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Fools gold may prove valuable for making solar cells

Experts at the University of Minnesota have found a way...

Women with fewer social ties are more likely to struggle with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/obesity-and-covid-19-death-are-linked-by-a-hormone/">obesity</a>, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> (UBC). By contrast, men have a lower risk of obesity if they have a smaller social network and live alone.

The investigation was focused on data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, including information on the social lives of 28,238 adults between the ages of 45 and 85. The researchers also analyzed data on waist circumference and body mass index to examine the potential link between social ties and obesity.

The study revealed that women who were single, widowed, divorced, or separated had a greater risk of both abdominal and general obesity. Women were also more prone to excessive weight if they were not very socially active. For example, females who lived alone and had limited social participation, such as no recurring monthly activities, were found to have the highest average waist size.

On the other hand, men with a larger social network had a higher average waist size compared to men with a smaller social network. Men who lived with a partner were also found to be more likely to struggle with obesity compared to those who lived alone.

Principal investigator Annalijn Conklin is an assistant professor in the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and is a researcher with the Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences.

"There is a lot of literature suggesting that marriage is health-promoting for men and potentially less so for women, so our results about marital status were kind of surprising," said Professor Conklin. 

"The different types of social ties that we looked at had a more consistent relationship with obesity for women. Those patterns in men were less obvious and seemed to sometimes even be reversed to what we saw in women."

The study was not designed to investigate the underlying cause of the gender differences linked to obesity. However, Professor Conklin believes the findings may be partly due to differing gender roles and the social expectations that come along with those roles.

"You would think that having small social networks would be a kind of social stress and that would have consequences for obesity, but we found that it was potentially protective for men," said Professor Conklin. 

"It could be that managing very large networks becomes a source of stress for men, as research has shown that men often assign to their wives the emotional labour of keeping track of birthdays, special events and organizing family or social gatherings." 

Study lead author Zeinab Hosseini said that further research is needed to understand the factors at play.

"Not only did we find that minimal social participation was associated with obesity in older women, but also that social participation altered the levels of obesity in widowed women," said Hosseini. "These findings call for studies that will follow the participants over time to understand the possible causal links between different social connections and the health of older women and men."

The findings indicate that health care providers should recommend social activities alongside healthy diet and exercise when treating older women who are single, noted the researchers.

"Clinicians could be encouraging older women patients who are non-partnered, especially widowed women, to participate in social community interventions as a way to address obesity," said Hosseini.

"This would require clear implementation strategies, and a focus on social connection interventions by health care researchers and decision-makers."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Obesity more common among women with fewer social ties

Women with fewer social ties are more likely to struggle...

A new study from <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> has pinpointed, for the first time, which regions on the California <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/100-year-coastal-floods-may-become-ten-times-as-frequent/">coast</a> are the most vulnerable to a phenomenon known as land subsidence, which is the sudden sinking or gradual downward settling of the ground's surface.

The California coast has been largely spared from sea level rise for decades, but the trend is now set to reverse, and the coastline has already started disappearing due to land subsidence. 

The ASU team used satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), which can detect the land surface rise and fall with millimeter accuracy, to identify places on the California coast that are sinking.

The study revealed sinking coastal  hotspots in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. These cities have a combined population of 4 to 8 million people, who will be increasingly exposed to rapid land subsidence and a greater risk of flooding in the coming decades.

"We have ushered in a new era of coastal mapping at greater than 1,000 fold higher detail and resolution than ever before," said study co-author Manoochehr Shirzaei. "The unprecedented detail and submillimeter accuracy resolved in our vertical land motion dataset can transform the understanding of natural and anthropogenic changes in relative sea-level and associated hazards."

Natural processes can cause land subsidence such as tectonics, sediment loading, and soil compaction. Subsidence can also be caused by human activities including groundwater extraction and oil and gas production.

By 2005, there were approximately 40 million people who were exposed to a "100-year" coastal flooding hazard. By 2070, this number will more than triple. The value of property exposed to coastal flooding will be in the trillions of dollars, and the countries with the highest exposure will be the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands.

However, these estimates often rely solely on projections of global average sea level rise and do not account for vertical land motion.

The current study measured the entire 1,350-kilometer long coast of California from 2007 to 2018, compiling thousands of satellite images over time to make a vertical land motion map with unprecedented resolution.

The four metro areas that are most affected by land subsidence are San Francisco, Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

"The vast majority of the San Francisco Bay perimeter is undergoing subsidence with rates reaching 5.9 mm/year," said study lead author Em Blackwell. "Notably, the San Francisco International Airport is subsiding with rates faster than 2.0 mm/year."

"The Monterey Bay Area, including the city of Santa Cruz, is rapidly sinking without any zones of uplift. Rates of subsidence for this area reach 8.7 mm/year. The Los Angeles area shows subsidence along small coastal zones, but most of the subsidence is occurring inland."

By 2050, the global coastal population is expected to grow to over one billion people. It is critical that land subsidence is included in regional projections of future flood risk along with sea level rise.

The ASU team is hopeful that others in the scientific community can build on their findings to measure and identify coastal hazards more broadly in the United States and all over the world.   

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

California's coast is vanishing due to land subsidence

A new study from Arizona State University has pinpointed, for...

A rapid cooling event 13,000 years ago was triggered by volcanism, rather than the impact of a fragmented comet or <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-impacts-created-building-blocks-of-life/">asteroid</a>, according to a new study. Researchers found evidence of the volcanic activity in sediment collected from a cave in central Texas.

Some studies have suggested that an extraterrestrial impact, such as a meteor collision, abruptly shifted Earth into a state of intense cooling as the last ice age ended. However, the current study has found evidence of volcanism in layers of cave sediment that date back to a time when the cooling event would have been kicked off.

Study co-author Michael Waters is the director of The Center for The Study of the First Americans and a professor at <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/">Texas A&amp;M University</a>.

Professor Waters said that Hall's Cave, located in the Texas hill country, has a sediment record extending over 20,000 years. He first began researching the cave in 2017.

"It is an exceptional record that offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary cooperation to investigate a number of important research questions," said Professor Waters.

"One big question was, did an extraterrestrial impact occur near the end of the last ice age, about 13,000 years ago as the ice sheets covering Canada were melting, and cause an abrupt cooling that thrust the northern hemisphere back into the ice age for an extra 1,200 years?"

The cooling event likely led to the extinction of large mammals such as mammoths and camels in North America.

"This work shows that the geochemical signature associated with the cooling event is not unique but occurred four times between 9,000 and 15,000 years ago," said Professor Alan Brandon of the University of Houston.

"Thus, the trigger for this cooling event didn't come from space. Prior geochemical evidence for a large meteor exploding in the atmosphere instead reflects a period of major volcanic eruptions."

"I was skeptical," said Professor Brandon. "We took every avenue we could to come up with an alternative explanation, or even avoid, this conclusion. A volcanic eruption had been considered one possible explanation but was generally dismissed because there was no associated geochemical fingerprint."

After a volcano erupts, the global spread of aerosols reflects incoming solar radiation away from Earth and may lead to global cooling post eruption for one to five years, depending on the size and timescales of the eruption, said the researchers.

The Younger Dryas is one of the best examples of sudden climate change. This period reversed gradual warming after the Late Glacial Interstadial, the last ice age, about 13,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas lasted about 1,200 years, and then ended as abruptly as it began.

Study co-author Professor Steven Forman explained that the Earth's climate may have been at a tipping point, possibly from the ice sheet discharge into the North Atlantic Ocean, enhanced snow cover and powerful volcanic eruptions that may have in combination led to intense Northern Hemisphere cooling.

"This period of rapid cooling coincides with the extinction of a number of species, including camels and horses, and the appearance of the Clovis archaeological tradition," said Professor Waters.

Professor Brandon and study lead author Nan Sun analyzed the sediments collected from Hall's Cave. They found that elements such as iridium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium and rhenium were not in the consistent quantities that would be present if an asteroid strike was responsible for the event.

"The isotope analysis and the relative proportion of the elements matched those that were found in previous volcanic gases," said Sun.

The researchers explained that volcanic eruptions cause their most severe cooling near the source, usually in the year of the eruption, with substantially less cooling in the years after the eruption.

Since the Younger Dryas cooling lasted about 1,200 years, the experts determined that volcanic eruptions initiated the cooling, but other Earth system changes were needed to sustain the extended cold period.

According to Professor Waters, the bottom line is that "the chemical anomalies found in sediments dating to the beginning of the Younger Dryas are the result of volcanism and not an extraterrestrial impact."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Volcanism triggered abrupt cooling event 13,000 years ago

A rapid cooling event 13,000 years ago was triggered by...

A new study from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> demonstrates the powerful mental health benefits of resilience training, such as meditation and breathing exercises. When college students were taught specific techniques for managing <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/stress-and-inflammation-linked-to-drug-resistant-depression/">stress</a> and anxiety, their perceived sense of well-being was found to improve dramatically.

The research was focused on the outcomes of three classroom-based wellness training programs that incorporate breathing and emotional resilience strategies.

The most effective program was found to help students in six specific areas related to mental health, including a better sense of social connectedness and reduced feelings of depression.

The researchers said that resilience training programs could be a valuable tool for addressing the mental health crisis on university campuses.

Study lead author Emma Seppälä is the faculty director of the Women's Leadership Program at Yale School of Management.

"In addition to academic skills, we need to teach students how to live a balanced life," said Seppälä. "Student mental health has been on the decline over the last 10 years, and with the pandemic and racial tensions, things have only gotten worse."

The research was conducted by experts at the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (YCEI). The team evaluated three training programs that involved 135 undergraduate students over the course of eight weeks. The outcomes were compared to the self-reported well-being of a control group that did not engage in resilience training.

The study revealed that a program called SKY Campus Happiness was the most beneficial to mental health.

Developed by the Art of Living Foundation, the SKY program is centered around a meditative breathing technique and incorporates yoga postures, social connection, and service activities. 

After completing the SKY sessions, students reported improvements in six areas of well-being: depression, stress, mental health, mindfulness, positive affect, and social connectedness.

The second program was found to boost the participants' ability to enjoy the moment through greater mindfulness, while the third program yielded no significant improvements.

In recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the demand for mental health services on college campuses, largely due to a rise in depression and anxiety. The number of college students seeking counseling jumped by 30 percent from 2009 to 2014.

Furthermore, nearly 60 percent of counseling center directors indicated that their resources are insufficient to meet the needs of the students. The researchers believe that resilience training tools can directly address the overburdening of campus counseling centers. 

"Students learn tools they can use for the rest of their lives to continue to improve and maintain their mental health," said study co-first author Christina Bradley.

The training sessions were conducted in person, but the courses can also be taken remotely.

"Continually adding staff to counseling and psychiatric services to meet demand is not financially sustainable - and universities are realizing this," said Seppälä. "Evidence-based resiliency programs can help students help themselves."

Davornne Lindo, a member of the Yale track team who participated in the SKY Campus Happiness program, said practicing breathing techniques helped her to manage stress from both academics and athletics.

"Now that I have these techniques to help me, I would say that my mentality is a lot healthier," said Lindo. "I can devote time to studying and not melting down. Races have gone better. Times are dropping." 

Anna Wilkinson was also a participant in the SKY program. She said she was not familiar with the positive benefits of breathing exercises before the training, but now uses the technique regularly. 

"I didn't realize how much of it was physiology, how you control the things inside you with breathing," said Wilkinson. "I come out of breathing and meditation as a happier, more balanced person, which is something I did not expect at all."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry">Frontiers in Psychiatry</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Resilience training can help address mental health crisis

A new study from Yale University demonstrates the powerful mental...

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>, scientists have made an unexpected discovery of how human sperm "swim." The research represents a major breakthrough in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/honey-bees-reveal-how-heat-stress-affects-fertility-among-insects/">fertility</a> science which contradicts a universally accepted theory of sperm movement that dates back three centuries.

Over 300 years ago, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek described human sperm as having a "tail, which, when swimming, lashes with a snakelike movement, like eels in water." In the new study, however, scientists have determined that this is an optical illusion.

A team of experts including Dr. Hermes Gadelha from the University of Bristol managed to reconstruct the true movement of the sperm tail in unprecedented detail with the help of advanced 3D microscopy and mathematics. The researchers also used a high-speed camera capable of recording over 55,000 frames per second.

The experts found that the sperm tail actually only wiggles on one side. While this should have the sperm swimming in circles, they have found a clever way to thrust themselves forward, according to the researchers.

"Human sperm figured out if they roll as they swim, much like playful otters corkscrewing through water, their one-sided stoke would average itself out, and they would swim forwards," said Dr. Gadelha.

"The sperms' rapid and highly synchronized spinning causes an illusion when seen from above with 2D microscopes - the tail appears to have a side-to-side symmetric movement 'like eels in water' as described by Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century."

"However, our discovery shows sperm have developed a swimming technique to compensate for their lop-sidedness and in doing so have ingeniously solved a mathematical puzzle at a microscopic scale: by creating symmetry out of asymmetry."

"The otter-like spinning of human sperm is however complex: the sperm head spins at the same time that the sperm tail rotates around the swimming direction. This is known in physics as precession, much like when the orbits of Earth and Mars precess around the sun."

The analysis systems that are in use today still use 2D views to look at sperm movement, which provides the same limited view as the early microscope used by Leeuwenhoek. This means that clinicians still experience the illusion of symmetry while assessing the quality of semen. 

"With over half of infertility caused by male factors, understanding the human sperm tail is fundamental to developing future diagnostic tools to identify unhealthy sperm," said Dr Gadelha.

The 3D microscope method used for the study was developed by Dr. Gabriel Corkidi and Dr. Alberto Darszon from the <a href="https://www.unam.mx/">Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico</a>.

"This was an incredible surprise, and we believe our state-of the-art 3D microscope will unveil many more hidden secrets in nature. One day this technology will become available to clinical centres," said Dr. Corkidi.

"This discovery will revolutionize our understanding of sperm motility and its impact on natural fertilization. So little is known about the intricate environment inside the female reproductive tract and how sperm swimming impinge on fertilization. These new tools open our eyes to the amazing capabilities sperm have," said Dr. Darszon.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years. In a...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/">University of New South Wales</a> (UNSW) are describing how tiny organisms on the surface of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plants-water-acid-rain/">soils</a> called biocrusts help conserve water in the world's driest regions. Biocrusts are diverse communities of mosses, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, and microfungi that strongly interact with desert soils. 

Collectively, arid regions known as drylands make up the largest biome on the planet. Biological soil crusts, often referred to as the living skin of the Earth, help soil retain water and reduce erosion. Biocrusts also add nitrogen and carbon to the nutrient-poor desert soil, which helps support other plants.

"Biocrusts are critically important because they fix large amounts of nitrogen and carbon, stabilize surface soils, and provide a home for soil organisms," said study lead author Professor David Eldridge. "But we still have a poor understanding of just how biocrusts influence hydrological cycles in global drylands.

"Accounting for biocrusts and their hydrological impacts can give us a more accurate picture of the impacts of climate change on dryland ecosystems and improve our capacity to manage those effects."

For the investigation, the UNSW team collected data from more than 100 studies published over the past 30 years. The researchers used this information to assemble the largest global database containing scientific evidence on the role of biocrusts in water movement, storage, and erosion.

"Our emphasis was on dryland soils because biocrusts are often the dominant surface covering on these soils, particularly during dry times," said Professor Eldridge.

A large increase in the number of publications on biocrusts over the past decade enabled the team to critically assess the links between water capture and storage and landscape stability in drylands.

"The global literature on biocrust effects on hydrology has often been conflicting, preventing us from making broadscale recommendations on how to manage them to manage water," said study co-author Dr. Samantha Travers.

The researchers found that the presence of biocrusts on the soil surface reduced water erosion by an average of 68 percent worldwide.

"Cyanobacteria in the crusts secrete organic gels and polysaccharides that help to bind small soil particles into stable surfaces. Mosses in the crusts also trapped water and sediment on the soil surface, preventing the removal of soil particles," explained Dr. Travers.

The study showed that biocrusts reduced the infiltration of water into the soil, but tended to increase water storage in the uppermost layers.

"This upper layer is where most of the nutrients and microbes are found - it is a critical zone for plant production and stability in dryland soils," said Professor. Eldridge. "More water in the upper layers means greater productivity and stability."

According to Professor Eldridge, the findings provide new insight into how biocrusts affect water relations in drylands. "However, the effects depend on factors such as the type of crust and whether it is intact or disturbed."

Professor Eldridge has been studying the influence of biocrusts on Australia's soils for more than 30 years. The research is focused on drylands because they occupy almost half of Earth's land surface and support nearly 40 percent of the global population.

"Many people in drylands rely on pastoralism for their livelihoods, so the capture and use of water is critically important in these water-limited environments," said Professor Eldridge. "Anything that alters the hydrological balance in drylands has the potential therefore to affect millions of people, hence the importance of these tiny surface communities."

Professor Eldridge pointed out overgrazing by livestock is a major problem for sustainable management of drylands.

"Trampling by sheep and cattle breaks up the crust, destabilizing the soil surface and leading to increased water erosion - effects that are supported by our global analyses."

"Preventing overgrazing by livestock is critical if we are to prevent the loss of biocrusts, but until recently, the magnitude of the effects have not been known."

"The results of this work will be incorporated into global water balance and soil loss models so that managers and governments have a better understanding of the implications of losing biocrusts on the world's dwindling water supplies," said Professor Eldridge.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</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

Tiny organisms manage water in the world's driest places

Scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">UC Boulder</a> has investigated an increase in the amount of Arctic freshwater that has emerged over the past two decades. The team set out to gain a better understanding of what is causing this trend and what it means for the future.

The research indicates that within the next few decades, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/travel-industry-must-brace-itself-for-the-climate-crisis/">climate change</a> will further boost the amount of freshwater moving into the Arctic, which will ultimately flow into the North Atlantic Ocean. This influx of freshwater will disrupt ocean currents and heavily influence temperatures in northern Europe.

"We hear a lot about changes in the Arctic with respect to temperature, how ecosystems and animals are going to be affected," said study co-author and PhD student Rory Laiho. "But this particular study gives an added perspective on what's happening physically to the ocean itself, which then can have important implications for ocean circulation and climate."

The Arctic Ocean has experienced a 10-percent increase in freshwater since the 1990s. This is equivalent to about 2,400 cubic miles - or the amount of water it would take to cover the entire United States with three feet of water.

Ocean salinity varies across the planet, and the Arctic Ocean contains some of the freshest surface waters due to large amounts of river runoff.

Freshwater is denser and holds cold water at the surface that is not able to sink beneath warm water. But if a great amount of freshwater exits the Arctic and flows into the North Atlantic, the ocean currents that regulate wintertime temperatures in Europe could be permanently altered.

While this shift has the potential to mitigate global warming impacts across northern Europe in the short term, the modified ocean currents could have negative effects on climate and on ecosystems in the long term.

Study lead author Alexandra Jahn is an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at UC Boulder. 

The primary goal of the research was to distinguish between the role of natural variability versus the role of climate change in boosting the volume of Arctic freshwater. The study was focused on models that simulated conditions from 1920 to 2100.

"When we look at all the simulations together, we can see if they all do the same thing. If so, then that's due to a forced response," said Professor Jahn. "If those changes are big enough so they could not occur without increasing greenhouse gases in the model simulations, that's what we call the emergence of a clear climate change signal. And here we see such clear climate change signals for the Arctic freshwater during the current decade."

The analysis showed that Nares Strait, which runs between Greenland and Canada, will be the first place to see a freshwater export increase due to climate change within the next decade. The scientists said that other straits farther south and east, including Davis and Fram straits, will be the next to make the transition to releasing more freshwater as a result of climate change.

When the researchers ran the models under different emissions scenarios, they found that the amount of Arctic freshwater and the volume of this water that moves through the northern straits will be unaffected over the next few decades. This is because the freshwater changes that will happen in the first half of the century are already in motion, and reducing emissions will not change the outcome.

In the second half of this century, however, the study showed that freshwater will be influenced by the extent of harmful emissions and the decisions that are made today, as Arctic freshwater will rise alongside global warming.

"What this work is showing us is that we're probably already experiencing the first of these changes, we just can't tell from the direct observations yet," said Professor Jahn.

All of the water from the Arctic Ocean eventually enters the North Atlantic, but the ability to predict the timing of climate signals will allow scientists to better anticipate and monitor changes as they occur. The findings also offer important new insights into how changes in the Arctic will influence the climate elsewhere.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007">Geophysical 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

&nbsp;

Arctic freshwater will disrupt the North Atlantic climate system

A new study from the UC Boulder has investigated an...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a>, experts have investigated how the COVID-19 <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/viruses-related-to-sars-cov-2-could-cause-future-pandemics/">pandemic</a> is threatening the global food supply. The study authors emphasize that threats to food security must be acknowledged by governments worldwide to prevent the COVID-19 health crisis from becoming a global food crisis as well. 

The research team, led by David Laborde of the <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/">International Food Policy Research Institute</a>, found that the most direct impacts of COVID-19 on food security are tied to the economic fallout associated with extreme measures used to contain the virus. These measures have had a major impact on food supply chains worldwide. 

In addition, measures to stop the pandemic have caused many people around the world to lose their jobs, as well as their ability to buy food. 

According to the study authors, the global food supply itself will be strained by disruptions that result from labor shortages, widespread industry closures, and travel and shipping restrictions. 

"As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, trade-offs have emerged between the need to contain the virus and to avoid disastrous economic and food security crises that hurt the world's poor and hungry most," wrote the researchers.

"Although no major food shortages have emerged as yet, agricultural and food markets are facing disruptions because of labor shortages created by restrictions on movements of people and shifts in food demand resulting from closures of restaurants and schools as well as from income losses." 

The experts report that the pandemic is affecting every aspect of food security on some level, with the most severe strain being placed on access to food. These effects are the most profound in poorer countries.

"The poorest households spend around 70% of their incomes on food and have limited access to financial markets, making their food security particularly vulnerable to income shocks," wrote the study authors.

To address the emerging threats to global food security, Laborde and his colleagues suggest that governments of both rich and poor nations should first focus on ways to provide income support to protect food access for their most vulnerable citizens. They say it is also critical for agricultural, food processing, and distribution sectors to be declared essential and exempted from lockdown measures. 

"Health protocols are needed to protect workers in food chains and to help contain COVID-19. Incentives and support for food transport and logistics, including deliveries to needy areas and for the sick, are also important," said the researchers. 

"Likewise, governments should engage with market participants to ensure the smooth functioning of agricultural input markets (seeds, fertilizer, labor, and credits), especially for time-critical inputs for planting and harvesting. Allowing movement of seasonal and migrant labor is also important in many contexts."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

COVID-19 lockdown measures could trigger global food crisis

In a new study from AAAS, experts have investigated how...

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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

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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

[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



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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"

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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...