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...

The overuse of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/antibiotic-resistance-food-animals/">antibiotics</a> and the risk of bacterial resistance is widely documented. But now, new research is calling attention to a lesser known role of antibiotics in crop production. According to the study, antibiotics are being used much more frequently and for a greater variety of crops than previously realized. 

Antibiotics have been used for decades to control plant diseases on crops like apples and pears. The drugs have been effective in controlling some bacterial diseases, but not much is known about the extent of their use worldwide.

The investigation, which included experts at the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> and the Food and Agriculture Organization, revealed that few countries are currently monitoring the use of antibiotics in crop production. Out of 158 countries, only three percent had any kind of regular assessment of the types and amounts of antibiotic use on crops.   

The lack of data on the use of antibiotics in agriculture makes it seem that the amounts being used are insignificant. 

After analyzing more than 436,000 records from Plantwise plant clinics in 32 countries, the experts discovered that antibiotics are being recommended for use on over 100 crops and often in large quantities.

The researchers estimate that 63 tons of streptomycin and 7 tons of tetracycline - drugs that are considered critically important for human medicine - are annually sprayed on the rice crop in Southeast Asia alone. 

According to the study, antibiotics are being predominantly used against bacterial diseases. However, the team also found an alarming level of recommendations for antibiotics against crop issues that are not known to be effectively treated by these drugs. 

"There is a considerable proportion of crop advisors recommending antibiotics against insect pests, either the advisors are unaware that they will have no impact on insect pests or they are recommending antibiotics as a preventative measure against bacterial diseases," said study lead author Dr. Philip Taylor.

The researchers found that 11 different antibiotics are being recommended for use on crops grown in the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific rim countries. 

The quantities used for crop production are small compared to medical and veterinary use, but there is still concern about bacterial resistance.

Previous studies have shown that when antibiotics are mixed with other agro chemicals, bacteria can develop resistance to the antibiotic up to 100,000 times faster. The consumption of raw food may also provide an avenue for the development of resistant bacteria.

"Further research into the scale of antibiotic use in crop protection is warranted as the potential for interactions with other crop protection products that might promote cross-resistance or co-selection for antibiotic resistance is considerable," said study co-author Dr. Rob Reeder.

"There is considerable attention paid to the medical and veterinary use of antibiotics, but there is a paucity of data on their use in global crop production. The only well documented use of antibiotics on crops is that on top fruit in the USA. These data appear to indicate that the use of antibiotics in crop production is more extensive than most of the literature would suggest."

Dr. Taylor noted that there is evidence to suggest that crops are a potential vehicle for resistant bacteria to enter the human gut, and this is an area where further research is needed.

On the other hand, people who are in support of antibiotic use in crop production argue that there is no proven evidence of resistance having spread from plant pathogenic bacteria to human or animal pathogens.

"It is hoped that the data presented in this paper will increase the debate regarding the use of antibiotics against crop pathogens and that crop production will be included under the one health umbrella."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://cabiagbio.biomedcentral.com/">CABI Agriculture and Bioscience</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;

Antibiotic use in crop production is more widespread than expected

The overuse of antibiotics and the risk of bacterial resistance...

Cities around the world have experienced reduced levels of air pollution during the COVID-19 <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/most-americans-plan-to-improve-self-care-after-pandemic/">pandemic</a>, which served as a bit of silver lining during a global tragedy. In a new study published by <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell Press</a>, researchers found that cleaner air in the Indian capital of Delhi has allowed more sunlight to reach solar panels, enhancing the production of solar power. 

"Delhi is one of the most polluted cities on the planet," said study first author Ian Marius Peters. "Moreover, India enacted a drastic and sudden lockdown at the start of the pandemic. That means that reductions in air pollution happened very suddenly, making them easier to detect."

In previous work, Peters' team had investigated the impact of air pollution on how much sunlight reaches the ground, as well as its effect on the output of solar power. The researchers had installed a photovoltaic (PV) system in Delhi to measure the amount of solar radiation, or the level of insolation, reaching solar panels. 

For the current study, the team analyzed insolation data recorded by the photovoltaic system before and during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The analysis showed that in late March, the amount of sunlight reaching the solar panels in Delhi increased by 8 percent compared to the same dates over the previous three years. Air quality and particulate matter data indicated that reduced pollution levels were a major cause for the rise in solar power production. 

"The increase that we saw is equivalent to the difference between what a PV installation in Houston would produce compared with one in Toronto," said Peters. "I expected to see some difference, but I was surprised by how clearly the effect was visible."

According to the researchers, the findings provide a solid foundation to further study the impact of air pollution on solar resources. They expect to find increased solar power output in other areas where air was cleaner due to lockdown measures.

"The pandemic has been a dramatic event in so many ways, and the world will emerge different than how it was before," said Peters. "We've gotten a glimpse of what a world with better air looks like and see that there may be an opportunity to 'flatten the climate curve.'" 

"I believe solar panels can play an important role, and that going forward having more PV installations could help drive a positive feedback loop that will result in clearer and cleaner skies."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/joule/home">Joule</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;

Cleaner air during pandemic boosted solar power production

Cities around the world have experienced reduced levels of air...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a> have found that the glow of artificial light along the world's <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-turning-the-coast-of-antarctica-green/">coastline</a>, also known as artificial skyglow, is interfering with the ability of some animals to properly navigate and locate food. 

Species like the sand hopper depend on the position of the moon and the brightness of the night sky to guide their nightly migrations. Commonly found on the European coast, the sand hopper spends the daylight hours buried in the sand at depths of 10 to 30 centimeters, and ventures out at night to feed on decaying seaweed.

The research team monitored the sand hopper population on Cable Bay beach in North Wales for 19 nights, observing the behavior of almost 1,000 individuals under a range of moon phases and weather conditions. Next, the experts introduced artificial skyglow that mimicked typical levels from nearby cities.

The study revealed that artificial skyglow alters the lunar compass used by sand hoppers to navigate across long distances. The interference from artificial light caused some sand hoppers to think it was still daylight and remain underground, while others traveled away from food and toward the water. 

The study authors explained that sand hoppers play an important role in breaking down and recycling algae washed up on the shore, which means that artificial light poses a distinct threat not just to the sand hoppers themselves, but also to the wider ecosystem.

The research was conducted as part of the Artificial Light Impacts on Coastal Ecosystems (ALICE) project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. Study senior author Dr. Thomas Davies is the principal investigator on the ALICE project. 

"Skyglow is the most geographically widespread form of light pollution. Surveys have shown it can currently be detected above 23% of the world's coasts nightly, and with coastal human populations set to at least double by 2060 its effects are only going to increase. Our results show it is already having demonstrable impacts on biological processes that are guided by celestial light cues," said Dr. Davies.

"Through the ALICE project, we are finding increasing evidence that light pollution from coastal cities can influence marine species inhabiting nearby beaches, rocky shores and even the seafloor. These results highlight how pervasive city lighting could be in shaping the ecology of coastlines kilometers distant from their nearest urban centers. They also highlight the potential for artificial skyglow to impact other species that undergo migrations using the moon as a compass."

Dr. Davies noted that even though our understanding of the wildlife impacts of street lights has improved dramatically in recent years, artificial skyglow has been largely overlooked. He said more work is urgently needed to investigate the extent to which artificial skyglow is shaping the natural environment.

"It is easy to forget the critical influence of the moon in guiding many organisms' movements," said study co-author Professor Stuart Jenkins. "However, we are increasingly realising that by disrupting patterns of night time lighting, we are potentially reducing the ability of animals to navigate. This new research on the shores of North Wales shows clearly that very low levels of artificial light can have far-reaching effects on coastal marine species."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current 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

Artificial skyglow poses major threat to coastal ecosystems

Experts at the University of Plymouth have found that the...

In a new study from the <a href="https://ciat.cgiar.org/">International Center for Tropical Agriculture</a>, experts have discovered that the optimal temperature range for robusta coffee production is much lower than previously thought. According to the researchers, the heat tolerance of the plant that produces robusta coffee has been consistently overestimated. 

The study revealed that just a slight increase in temperature beyond the optimal range for the robusta coffee plant can cause yields to plummet. The findings suggest that the future may be tough for the coffee industry.

The researchers analyzed 10 years of yield observations among nearly 800 farms in Southeast Asia. The analysis showed that the optimal temperature range for robusta is 20.5 degrees Celisius, which is much lower than expected. The researchers also determined that for every one-degree increase over the optimal range, yields dropped by 14 percent.

"Our results suggest that robusta coffee is far more sensitive to temperature than previously thought," wrote the study authors. "Its production potential could decline considerably as temperatures increase under climate change, jeopardizing a multibillion-dollar coffee industry and the livelihoods of millions of farmers."

The research was conducted on farms in Vietnam and Indonesia, which supply about half of the world's robusta beans.

The results differ from current estimates that are based on explorations in Central Africa.

"This should make us reassess the viability of some of our current options, like switching from arabica to robusta coffee as the climate warms to adapt production to climate change," said Jarrod Kath, the study's lead author from USQ.

Arabica coffee, which has a more highly preferred taste, is even more sensitive to temperatures than robusta. Coffee farmers around the tropics have been replacing their arabica trees with robusta trees, and arabica farmers have been searching for better locations to maintain production.

"Precipitation changes have long been a concern of the coffee industry," said study co-author Laurent Bossolasco. "Now it's clear that we need more in-depth analysis of temperature variations in the robusta region."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change 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;

Robusta coffee has lower heat tolerance than expected

In a new study from the International Center for Tropical...

In a new global initiative, scientists have investigated how animals responded to reduced levels of human activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research is inspiring new strategies for improving human-wildlife coexistence. 

When countries around the world went into lockdown to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak, human mobility was drastically reduced. The uncommon circumstances have presented an opportunity to gain more insight into the dynamics of human-wildlife interactions.

Unusual wildlife sightings, such as pumas in downtown Santiago, Chile, suggest that nature has greatly responding to a decline in human activity. 

While some animals seemed to appear in larger numbers throughout lockdowns, others faced new challenges. For example, endangered species in remote regions become more exposed to poachers when humans are not keeping watch over them.

The study authors emphasize that the priority must be to tackle the immense human tragedy and hardship caused by Covid-19, but the unprecedented opportunity to investigate the extent to which modern human mobility affects wildlife should not be missed.

The researchers have formed the "COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative" to investigate the movement and behavior of animals before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdowns. The experts are using electronic tracking devices called bio-loggers.

Study lead author Professor Christian Rutz is a biologist at the University of St Andrews and president of the International Bio-Logging Society.

"All over the world, field biologists have fitted animals with miniature tracking devices. These bio-loggers provide a goldmine of information on animal movement and behavior, which we can now tap to improve our understanding of human-wildlife interactions, with benefits for all," said Professor Rutz.

The team will combine data from a wide variety of animals, including fish, birds, and mammals, to assemble a global view of the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Dr. Matthias-Claudio Loretto is a researcher at the <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a> in Radolfzell, Germany.

She explained that the study will make it possible to address questions that were previously too complex. "We will be able to investigate if the movements of animals in modern landscapes are predominantly affected by built structures, or by the presence of humans. That is a big deal," said Dr. Loretto.

According to Professor Martin Wikelski, the insights will inspire innovative proposals for improving human-wildlife coexistence.

"Nobody is asking for humans to stay in permanent lockdown. But we may discover that relatively minor changes to our lifestyles and transport networks can potentially have significant benefits for both ecosystems and humans," said Professor Wikelski.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</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;

Minor changes could improve human-wildlife coexistence

In a new global initiative, scientists have investigated how animals...

Sea ice in the Southern Ocean played a key role in regulating atmospheric <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/co2-emissions-from-permafrost-have-been-underestimated/">CO2</a> levels during times of climate change in the past. A new study from <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/">UNSW</a> shows that in a warming climate, the seasonal cycles of sea ice enhance marine life as well as the amount of carbon stored in the ocean. 

"The Southern Ocean occupies 14% of the Earth's surface and plays a fundamental role in the global carbon cycle and climate," said study lead author Professor Chris Fogwill.

"It has captured around half of all human-related carbon that has entered the ocean to date, and is therefore crucial for regulating carbon dioxide levels resulting from human activity - and understanding the processes that determine its effectiveness as a carbon sink through time are essential to reducing uncertainty in future projections."

The research was focused on a previous time in Earth's history around 18,000 years ago when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels changed rapidly after the Last Ice Age. At this time, the world naturally transitioned into the warm interglacial conditions that exist today.

Over the course of about 7,000 years, carbon dioxide spiked from around 190 parts per million (ppm) to 280 ppm. However, there was one period during this timeframe when carbon dioxide levels plateaued at a nearly constant level of 240 ppm for 1,900 years.

Understanding the cause of this plateau could be crucial for improving climate change projections. To investigate, Professor Fogwill's team analyzed ice cores in the Patriot Hills Blue Ice Area of Antarctica. 

"Blue ice areas are the perfect laboratory for Antarctic scientists due to their unique topography. Created by fierce, high-density winds, the top layer of snow is effectively eroded, exposing the ice below. As a result, ice flows up to the surface, providing access to ancient ice below," explained study co-author Professor Chris Turney.

"Instead of drilling kilometers into the ice, we can simply walk across a blue ice area and travel back through time."

"Organic biomarkers and DNA from the Southern Ocean are blown onto Antarctica and preserved in the ice, providing a unique record in a region where we have few scientific observations."

Using a specialized technique to look at the natural fluorescence of organic molecules found in the ice, the researchers discovered that there was a substantial increase in the number and diversity of marine organisms during the 1,900 years when carbon dioxide plateaued.

"This is the first recorded evidence of increased biological productivity in the Antarctic zone during that period, and suggests that Southern Ocean processes may have caused the carbon dioxide plateau," said study co-author Dr. Laurie Menviel.

The team developed a climate model to investigate the cause of the increase in marine life. 

"The modeling revealed that the plateau period coincided with the greatest seasonal changes in sea ice, which occurred during a pronounced cold phase across the Southern Ocean known as the Antarctic Cold Reversal," said Dr. Menviel.

"During this period, sea ice grew extensively across the Southern Ocean, but as the world was warming rapidly, each year the sea ice would be rapidly destroyed during the summer."

"Our results imply that during periods of Southern Ocean sea ice expansion, high variability in winter and summer sea ice extent may result in increased marine life activity and therefore enhanced carbon capture."

The cause of the extended plateau in global carbon dioxide levels is essential for learning the potential of the Southern Ocean to moderate CO2 levels in the future.

"We need to understand the ways in which carbon dioxide levels have been stabilized by natural processes in the past," said Professor Turney.

"Under future warming, less sea ice will likely mean a weakening of this part of the carbon sink, making it increasingly difficult to meet Australia's commitment to the Paris Agreement."

Study co-author Dr. Zoë Thomas said the paper is an exciting example of multidisciplinary collaboration.

"A lot of science can just focus on one specific process such as a physical, biological, or chemical aspect, but this work is a true interdisciplinary collaboration," said Dr. Thomas. 

"It's only when you look at the combination of all these different roles that you get the main story - while it can be tempting to just go down one route, we got together a big team with a range of different expertise which allowed us to get a broader understanding of the system."

The findings will be used to develop improved Earth system models. Accounting for the ecosystem dynamics of the Southern Ocean will be crucial for more accurate climate projections and for anticipating future warming.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

The Southern Ocean plays a major role in capturing CO2

Sea ice in the Southern Ocean played a key role...

Experts at <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> have developed nanoparticles that attract and neutralize the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coronavirus-detected-in-air-pollution-particles/">coronavirus</a> by soaking up harmful pathogens and toxins like a sponge. 

The particles, which are covered in human lung cell and human immune cell membranes, suppress the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to hijack host cells and reproduce.

In lab experiments, the nanosponges reduced the viral infectivity level of SARS-CoV-2 by up to nearly 90 percent.

The "nanosponges" do not directly attack the virus, but rather protect the healthy cells that the virus invades.

The biomimetic nanosponge platform was first created about a decade ago in the lab of Professor Liangfang Zhang. 

"Traditionally, drug developers for infectious diseases dive deep on the details of the pathogen in order to find druggable targets. Our approach is different. We only need to know what the target cells are. And then we aim to protect the targets by creating biomimetic decoys," explained Professor Zhang.

The nanoparticles may also be capable of soaking up inflammatory cytokine proteins, products of the body's immune response that are implicated in the most severe COVID-19 cases.

Each nanosponge is a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, consisting of a polymer core coated in cell membranes extracted from either lung epithelial type II cells or macrophage cells. 

At the Boston University School of Medicine, Professor Anthony Griffiths tested the ability of each type of nanoparticle to reduce the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2.

The study revealed that the lung cell membrane-covered particles inhibited 93 percent of the viral infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 at a concentration of 5 milligrams per milliliter. Meanwhile, the macrophage-covered particles inhibited 88 percent of the viral infectivity of SARS-CoV-2. 

"From the perspective of an immunologist and virologist, the nanosponge platform was immediately appealing as a potential antiviral because of its ability to work against viruses of any kind," said study co-first author Anna Honko.

"This means that as opposed to a drug or antibody that might very specifically block SARS-CoV-2 infection or replication, these cell membrane nanosponges might function in a more holistic manner in treating a broad spectrum of viral infectious diseases." 

"I was optimistically skeptical initially that it would work, and then thrilled once I saw the results and it sunk in what this could mean for therapeutic development as a whole."

In the next few months, the research team will test the nanosponges in animal models. Trials at UC San Diego have already demonstrated short-term safety in the respiratory system of mice. 

"Another interesting aspect of our approach is that even as SARS-CoV-2 mutates, as long as the virus can still invade the cells we are mimicking, our nanosponge approach should still work. I'm not sure this can be said for some of the vaccines and therapeutics that are currently being developed," said Zhang.

According to the researchers, the nanosponges will work against other respiratory viruses and any new viruses that attack the respiratory system. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/nalefd">ACS Nano 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;

Nanosponges suppress COVID-19 by protecting healthy cells  

Experts at UC San Diego have developed nanoparticles that attract...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a> are describing evidence of massive carnivorous dinosaurs found in Australia. The team analyzed fossilized footprints in Southern Queensland that date back to the late <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/jurassic-crocodile-identified/">Jurassic</a> Period between 165 and 151 million years ago.

The analysis revealed that the dinosaurs were about three meters in height and ten meters long. This is comparable to the size of North America's Tyrannosaurus Rex and South America's Giganotosaurus.

"I've always wondered, where were Australia's big carnivorous dinosaurs? But I think we've found them, right here in Queensland," said study lead author Dr. Anthony Romilio.

"The specimens of these gigantic dinosaurs were not fossilized bones, which are the sorts of things that are typically housed at museums. Rather, we looked at footprints, which - in Australia - are much more abundant."

"These tracks were made by dinosaurs walking through the swamp-forests that once occupied much of the landscape of what is now southern Queensland."

Most of the tracks examined in the study belong to theropods, the same group of dinosaurs that includes Australovenator, Velociraptor, and birds - their modern-day descendants. According to Dr, Romilio, these were clearly not bird tracks.

"Most of these footprints are around 50 to 60 centimeters in length, with some of the really huge tracks measuring nearly 80 centimeters."

"We estimate these tracks were made by large-bodied carnivorous dinosaurs, some of which were up to three meters high at the hips and probably around 10 meters long."

"To put that into perspective, T. rex got to about 3.25 meters at the hips and attained lengths of 12 to 13 meters long, but it didn't appear until 90 million years after our Queensland giants."

"The Queensland tracks were probably made by giant carnosaurs - the group that includes the Allosaurus. At the time, these were probably some of the largest predatory dinosaurs on the planet."

Dr. Anthony Romilio said that while this is the first time the fossils have been scientifically described, they were discovered more than half a century ago.

"They were discovered in the ceilings of underground coal mines from Rosewood near Ipswich, and Oakey just north of Toowoomba, back in the 1950s and 1960s," said Dr. Romilio.

"Most hadn't been scientifically described, and were left for decades in museum drawers waiting to be re-discovered."

"Finding these fossils has been our way of tracking down the creatures from Australia's Jurassic Park."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ghbi20/current">Historical 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;

Australia had huge predatory dinosaurs during the late Jurassic

Experts at the University of Queensland are describing evidence of...

According to a new study from the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/">University of East Anglia</a>, animal populations have lower genetic quality and a higher risk of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/dead-land-species-changed-ocean-chemistry-during-extinction-event/">extinction</a> without sexual competition and selection. 

The experts found that forced monogamy leaves animal populations less resilient to environmental stressors like climate change.

The study was focused on flour beetles that had evolved under natural polyandrous mating patterns or monogamous mating patterns. The researchers investigated how the two groups responded to strenuous conditions.

 "Species around the world are undergoing mass extinction due to a range of factors such as climate change, habitat loss and genetic bottlenecks," said study lead author Professor Matt Gage. "These different stresses can trap populations within a reinforcing feedback loop known as the extinction vortex. We used this extinction vortex scenario to experimentally measure the importance of sexual competition and choice for population resilience."

The flour beetle populations examined for the study had been raised in a lab for 10 years. Some lines of beetles were forced to be monogamous with no sexual competition or choice, while others were allowed to engage in a polyandrous mating pattern where each female was given a choice of five males every generation.

After 95 generations of beetles were produced under the two conditions, the experts studied how the following 15 generations coped with different environmental and genetic stresses down a simulated extinction vortex.

"We mimicked 'real life' scenarios facing biodiversity today through repeated cycles of stress from food limitation, exposure to heatwaves, and being forced through a genetic bottleneck," said Professor Gage.

"We found that beetles from the monogamous history of selection could not cope with environmental or genetic stress in the vortex. They were much more likely to decline, and all had become extinct by the end of the trial."

"So the removal of competition and choice from reproduction had created populations that were weaker when facing environmental and genetic stress."

"By contrast, beetles with a polyandrous background, where males had been forced to compete and females had been given the opportunity to choose their mates for reproduction, declined much more slowly with 60 percent of the population still alive at the end of the study."

"It's not clear whether the forces that operate in the struggle to reproduce are positive or negative for population resilience. Darwin famously felt sick when he looked at the tail of a peacock because he could not understand how such a flamboyant structure could evolve if it hampered survival, but our study clearly shows how important this sexual selection is for maintaining wider population health."

"Our long-term experiment suggests that sexual selection is a positive force for population resilience by purging out bad genes and fixing in good genes, improving a population's overall genetic quality and therefore resilience for facing harsh environments or genetic stress."

According to the researchers, the findings should apply to any species that reproduces sexually, experiences some degree of sexual selection, and faces environmental stress. The research may ultimately help with conservation management and captive breeding practices. 

"We propose that, if an endangered species has an evolved mating pattern where competition and choice is evident, then that opportunity should wherever possible be given to maintain genetic health," said Professor Gage. 

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

&nbsp;

Sexual competition makes animal populations more resilient

According to a new study from the University of East...

Century-old <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/seaweed-storing-carbon/">seaweed</a> is providing brand new insight into the natural history of Monterey Bay. In a new study, researchers tapped into the environmental record contained in seaweed samples that date back more than 140 years.

Located off the coast of central California, Monterey Bay is one of the world's leading research sites for marine science. The bay has an abundance of nutrients supplied by natural upwelling and supports countless species. 

Despite its significance, however, not much is known about the health and condition of habitats in the bay prior to 1946 - when experts started documenting patterns of natural upwelling.

"This part of California's Central coast is renowned for the sheer amount of marine life it can sustain. Even through the pressures of the past century, Monterey Bay is still teeming with birds, whales, fishes and seaweeds," said <a href="https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a> Chief Scientist Kyle Van Houtan. 

"These plants and animals were around long before scientists, so we thought if we could find historical samples we might learn something by extracting the information stored in their tissues."

In the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Ocean Memory Lab, scientists use a variety of chemical analyses to unlock valuable data held in the tissues of various marine life specimens.

"We were able to add nearly seven decades of data, extracted from seaweed samples more than a century old, to better understand historical changes in Monterey Bay," said study lead author Emily Miller.

"This information offers us a new perspective on one of the features that makes Monterey Bay home to such diversity, its upwelling cycles." 

"Documenting these patterns helps us to understand shifts in the foundation of the food web, and to make more informed conservation decisions in the future."

The research team, which included scientists at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station and the University of Hawaii, analyzed pressed seaweed samples from collections dating back to 1878, as well as new specimens. 

The samples came from six species of seaweed, including giant kelp, rockweed, sea lettuce, and grape tongue.

"Izzy Abbott, who was professor of biology at Hopkins, helped to curate and build our collection of algae for over 25 years," said study co-author Professor Stephen Palumbi. "She and the algae biologists that came before her knew that preserving specimens was vital." 

"But it took this new approach from Monterey Bay Aquarium to dig into the very atoms of the algae and ask the kelp forest questions about the history of the oceans."

The analysis produced unprecedented details of the ocean conditions in Monterey Bay during the rise and fall of the sardine fishery in the 1940s and 1950s. The researchers identified poor upwelling conditions in Monterey Bay in the years immediately prior to the crash. 

The findings highlight the role of ecosystem changes in the shift from a sardine-dominated system to one that is now anchovy-dominated. 

The research may ultimately help to inform ecosystem-based management. According to NOAA, this management approach aims to maintain ecosystems in a healthy and resilient condition so they can continue to provide important ecosystem services.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rspb/2020/287/1925">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</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;

Seaweed gives scientists a history lesson on Monterey Bay

Century-old seaweed is providing brand new insight into the natural...

Bats share social information through echolocation calls. Bats use sound waves and echoes, or echolocation, to locate prey in the dark. A new study from the <a href="https://stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a> (STRI) has found that some bat species use echolocation calls to identify group members and to find food faster. 

In previous work, experts have identified several ways that social  information is shared among bats through echolocation. For example, bats produce echolocation calls known as feeding buzzes to zero in on prey, and these sounds alert nearby bats to the prey's location.

Prior to the STRI study, however, it was not known that the echolocation calls produced while bats search for food contain social information as well. 

The researchers theorized that these "search-phase" calls may also contain individual signatures that can be perceived by bats. If so, they may be able to identify each other without the need for specialized communication signals. 

To investigate whether search-phase echolocation calls carry information about a bat's identity, the team set out to investigate whether bats of the species Molossus molossus recognized specific group members.

The experts used a cognitive experiment known as a habituation-dishabituation paradigm, during which the bats were exposed to repeating search-phase calls until they no longer reacted to them. The bats were then exposed to echlocation calls that were different yet similar.  

If the bats reacted to the second stimulus, it would show that they perceived a difference between the two stimuli.

Study lead author Jenna Kohles is an STRI fellow and doctoral candidate at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

"We played echolocation calls from two different bats that were both group members of the subject bat," said Kohles. "By measuring the responses of the subject bats as we switched between calls from different individuals, we could learn about whether the bats perceived differences and similarities between the calls."

The experiment confirmed that the bats are, in fact, able to distinguish between different group members, and they likely make the distinction through individual signatures encoded in the calls. 

The findings suggest that search-phase calls not only help bats detect prey, but also convey individual identities to nearby foraging group members. This would explain why the auditory cortex of M. molossus is primarily tuned in to these search-phase calls, considering that they contain such important information. 

The research sheds new light on the social strategies bats use to meet their energetic needs, as well as the evolution of social communication in bats.

"This study suggests that we may be underestimating the crucial ways social information influences bat foraging success and ultimately survival," said Kohles.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco">Behavioral Ecology</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;

Bats share social information through echolocation calls

Bats share social information through echolocation calls. Bats use sound...

Human activities are placing an enormous amount of strain on the world's largest river systems, according to a new study. Political and economic pursuits, combined with the effects of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/infectious-disease-in-marine-mammals-is-driven-by-climate-change/">climate</a> change, threaten the future of rivers along with the livelihood of millions of people.

According to the researchers, everyday actions are impacting rivers much faster than the long-term effects of climate change.

Study co-author Jim Best is a professor of Geology and Geography at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</a>.

"Climate change is of huge importance in terms of changing flood or drought frequency and intensity," said Professor Best. "However, there is a range of other stressors affecting big rivers such as damming, sediment mining, pollution, water diversions, groundwater extraction and the introduction of nonnative species - all of which affect rivers on a timescale that has much more immediate consequences."

The researchers explained that rivers respond to changes in the environment through self-adjusting processes of erosion and sedimentation. These responses make rivers very adaptable. 

However, a growing collection of research shows that rivers are becoming less resilient under the compounding stress of human activity and climate change.

The team reviewed published studies on the drivers of flooding in the Mekong River Delta in Southeast Asia, which supports 18 million people and a vast rice agricultural area. 

The analysis revealed that delta subsidence, or sinking, due to groundwater extraction has now become a major issue because of a lack of sediment. Damming and mining are interfering with the natural downstream sediment flows.

"The scale of the effects of sediment starvation and subsidence in driving increased flood risk is currently far greater than sea-level rise generated by global climate change," said Professor Best. "But when all of these pressures are combined, there is now a real risk that we could cross a major tipping point in the next 10-20 years."

The researchers reported that politics also plays a significant role in the health and resiliency of the world's major river systems. For example, the COVID-19 crisis has relaxed the enforcement of pollution monitoring in the United States, and polluters can currently avoid penalties if they argue that violations are a result of the pandemic.

"We have seen evidence of the effect of these types of political and societal shocks on river systems in the past, too," said Professor Best. "The stresses from the Gulf War led to increased river pollution in the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, a situation that was also compounded by upstream damming in Turkey."

The experts emphasize the urgent need for governance at the local level to the international level to effectively confront these issues.

"There are some things we as scientists can do on the monitoring end of this issue, but it will demand collaboration and trust between nations for it to make a difference," said Professor Best. 

"We can't take our eye off the ball - we've just got to devote more attention to these more frequent, shorter-timescale stressors. It's far from being just about climate change."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/home">One Earth</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;

River systems are threatened by human activity and climate change

Human activities are placing an enormous amount of strain on...

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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

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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

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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"

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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

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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...