Discovering,And,Using,Renewable,Energy,Resources,Instead,Of,Polluting,Power

New York City is set to witness what's anticipated to be the largest climate march in the U.S in the past five years, the "March to End Fossil Fuels," with U.S Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Vanessa Nakate at the forefront. The significant climate rally will take place on Sunday, mere days ahead of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-ambition-summit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">United Nations Climate Ambition Summit</a>.



The March to End Fossil Fuels demonstration serves to amplify calls directed at the Biden Administration to usher in major policy shifts concerning fossil fuels. 



Key demands from the organizers include:



<ul>
<li>Halting approval for new oil and gas ventures. </li>



<li>Terminating fossil fuel drilling on public lands. </li>



<li>Officially declaring a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/indisputable-evidence-of-human-caused-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate emergency</a>, which would inherently curtail fossil fuel exports and foreign investments. </li>



<li>Propelling the nation toward a renewable energy future, ensuring a just transition for all.</li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-impressive-roster-of-participants">Impressive roster of participants</h2>



Organized predominantly by youth-centric groups, prominent among them being Greta Thunberg's "Fridays for Future" movement, the rally's objectives have secured endorsement from an impressive roster of over 500 organizations. Noteworthy among these supporters are the Sierra Club and the Sunrise Movement.



Moreover, the March to End Fossil Fuels has drawn endorsements from the Hollywood elite, including notable figures such as Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Strong, Jane Fonda, and Edward Norton. Their support amplifies the voice of the movement and adds to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-could-cause-one-billion-deaths-over-the-next-century/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">urgency of the issue</a>.



<h2>Many young people feel betrayed</h2>



17-year-old Bree Campbell, a representative of the New York City chapter of the Fridays for Future group, emphasized the motivation behind the march. Campbell expressed the feelings of betrayal many youths are experiencing, given that they heavily supported President Biden during his electoral campaign. 



She said, "We are marching to make it clear to President Biden that he is betraying the very youth who helped get him into office in the first place. We are marching to make him see us – and to make him act on his promises."



<h2>March to End Fossil Fuels is an intergenerational effort</h2>



While youth play a central role, the march is an intergenerational effort. Veteran climate campaigner Bill McKibben, co-founder of <a href="https://thirdact.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Third Act,</a> a climate advocacy group for older activists, emphasized the involvement of seasoned campaigners. 



Drawing attention to the long history of activism, he mentioned some participants have been active since the inaugural Earth Day in 1970. McKibben poignantly remarked, "It's true that some of us will be dead before the climate damage reaches its peak – but we can imagine that future and so we want to help head it off while we can."



This massive New York climate demonstration is but a fraction of a global movement. The past week has seen over 650 climate actions unfurl across the world, with protests witnessed in diverse nations like Pakistan, Austria, Ethiopia, and Bolivia.



The coming days, with the UN Climate Ambition Summit, will reveal the impact and potency of these global actions in shaping policy and catalyzing change.



<h2>More about the UN Climate Ambition Summit</h2>



The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC) has yet again underscored the acute necessity for immediate climate action in its latest scientific assessment. The message is clear: the clock is ticking as the adverse effects of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-soil-microbes-survive-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate crisis</a> continue to surge, and greenhouse gas emissions persistently reach new peaks.



It is essential to drastically cut emissions, starting immediately and spanning over the next thirty years, to confine global warming within the 1.5°C threshold above pre-industrial levels. Surpassing this limit is likely to intensify catastrophic environmental impacts.



<h3>Climate change impact disparity</h3>



However, there is an evident disparity in how the repercussions of the crisis are distributed. Vulnerable populations, often least culpable for the escalating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/underground-climate-change-silent-hazard-is-destroying-our-buildings-from-beneath/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate issues</a>, are already grappling with the detrimental impacts. These communities require instantaneous aid to adapt and recuperate from the mounting environmental losses. 



This poses not just an environmental challenge but also a profound moral quandary concerning equity and climate justice. The call is clear for governments and international financial institutions to address this imbalance promptly.



In light of these challenges, the United Nations Secretary-General is convening the Climate Ambition Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 20, 2023. This Summit is envisioned as a pivotal political juncture to manifest the global collective resolve in accelerating the transition towards an equitable, renewable-energy driven, and climate-resilient global economy.



The Summit's objectives are organized around three pivotal acceleration tracks:



<h3>Ambition</h3>



Governments, especially major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, are anticipated to present updated pre-2030 Nationally Determined Contributions, as discussed in Glasgow. Additional elements include updated targets for achieving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-net-zero-world-will-require-75-trillion-of-investment-and-1-billion-electric-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">net-zero emissions</a>, energy transition plans with emphasis on discontinuation of new coal, oil, and gas ventures, and more aggressive targets for renewable energy adoption.



<h3>Credibility</h3>



Business, city, region, and financial institution leaders are anticipated to roll out transition blueprints that conform to the UN-endorsed credibility standards highlighted in the "<a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/high-level_expert_group_n7b.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Integrity Matters</a>" report. This exclusive standard, attuned to the 1.5°C global warming limit, advocates for specific targets for 2025 and 2030, encompassing all scope 3 emissions, detailed strategies for discontinuing fossil fuel use, actual emission reductions without the dependence on offsets, and a commitment to champion science-driven climate action.



<h3>Implementation</h3>



Key representatives from government bodies, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society are set to introduce either established or emerging partnerships. These partnerships will address the challenges and prospects associated with decelerating carbon emissions in major sectors like energy, shipping, aviation, steel, and cement. They will also delve into initiatives aiming to deliver climate justice, ranging from reforming international financial systems to establishing early warning frameworks and addressing loss and damage.



The Climate Ambition Summit, therefore, stands at the forefront of the battle against the climate crisis. By uniting the world's major players across various sectors, the Summit strives to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/media-coverage-of-climate-change-fails-to-inspire-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">drive home the message</a> that immediate, collective, and impactful action is not only necessary but also possible. The world watches keenly, hoping this assembly will chart a clear path for a sustainable and equitable future.



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Star-studded lineup to join "March to End Fossil Fuels" this week

New York City is set to witness what's anticipated to be the largest climate march in the U.S in the past five years, the "March to End Fossil Fuels," with U.S Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Vanessa Nakate at the forefront. The significant climate rally will take place on Sunday, mere days ahead of the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit. The March to End Fossil Fuels demonstration serves to amplify calls directed at the Biden Administration to usher in major policy shifts concerning fossil fuels....

Many flowers such as mallows, foxgloves, or forget-me-nots have colorful patterns that biologists call “nectar guides.” These patterns have a guiding function to pollinating insects, increasing their efficiency in finding food, while at the same time improving the pollen dispersal of the plants.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/home/">Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg</a> (JMU) in Germany has deciphered the individual steps through which flower patterns increase the efficiency of terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bumblebees-increasingly-stressed-over-the-past-century/">bumblebees</a> (Bombus terrestris), by providing evidence that nectar guides reduce the time needed for bees’ complete interaction with flowers – from approach to finding nectar to departure - by up to 30 percent.&nbsp;



“Colorful patterns on flowers are thought to benefit both pollinators and the plants they visit, by increasing the plants’ pollination success via an increased foraging efficiency of the pollinators. This increased efficiency is assumed to result from a guidance effect of the flower patterns, correspondingly termed ‘nectar guides,’ which indicate the position of the nectary to visiting pollinators, thus reducing their flower handling time,” the authors explained.



Surprisingly, the scientists found that flower patterns do not in fact shorten the actual nectar search. After landing on a colorfully-patterned flower, the bumblebees did not find nectar any faster than on a flower without a pattern. However, the flower patterns shortened the approach flight time and created a strategically favorable landing position, making them act like markings on a runway and thus helping bumblebees coordinate their approach. Moreover, the patterns also have a significant role in shortening the time until take-off. Since bumblebees often run to the edge of the petals for take-off, they can find this site more quickly if they can orient themselves to a pattern.



In future studies, the researchers aim to investigate how the glossy surfaces that occur on some flowers affect the interaction with pollinating insects. “These insights provide a novel focus for&nbsp; the study of flower-pollinator interactions in the lab and in their natural environment, and open up new questions on how deceptive patterns or altered displays on ornamental flowers impact&nbsp; foraging efficiency in insect pollinators,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14262">Functional Ecology</a>.



—



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



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.

Colorful flower patterns make bumblebees more efficient

Many flowers such as mallows, foxgloves, or forget-me-nots have colorful...

Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are our closest living primate relatives and share more than 98 percent of their DNA with us. They are also among the most vocal of the great apes, using around 15 different call types to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-experience-shapes-the-way-dogs-communicate-with-humans/">communicate</a> particular emotional states, such as screaming, threat barks, greetings and alarm calls. For a long time, it was thought that great apes had no control over their emotional expressions but made them instinctively in response to the specific emotional state.



However, a new study of captive bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo has revealed an altogether different situation. Psychologists at <a href="https://www.durham.ac.uk/homepage/">Durham University</a> have found that adult bonobos use “baby-like” distress calls to curry favor with group members after a conflict. The calls are often accompanied by other behavior typical of&nbsp;baby bonobos, such as pouting, whimpering and throwing tantrums.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that these calls are used strategically to reduce the chances of another conflict with the opponent, and to elicit comforting behavior from others in the group. The adult bonobos usually stop signaling their distress in this way once they receive support from other adults, whereas immature bonobos will continue to call even after they have been consoled.&nbsp;



The study, published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rstb">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences</a>, was based on research carried out on two bonobo groups (over 40 individuals) at the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), the world’s only bonobo sanctuary.&nbsp;



The researchers examined how bonobo victims communicate about their distress after a fight, and whether these signals affect the responses of bonobo bystanders. The findings indicated that adult bonobos were less likely to be re-attacked after a conflict with an opponent if they displayed behavior and made calls typical of baby bonobos. They were also more likely to elicit a comforting response from the bystanders.



The analysis also showed that a bonobo is sensitive to who is present in the audience when it is attacked, and will display more signals in general if more bonobos in the social audience are nearby. This suggests bonobos adapt their communication signals depending on which individuals are in the close vicinity. The results thus indicate that expressions of emotion are not simply instinctual read-outs of internal states but can be used in flexible and strategic ways to manipulate others and purse social goals.&nbsp;



“Bonobos are highly sensitive to social situations and who is surrounding them. They have rich emotional lives and are able to communicate their emotional states in flexible ways to influence their group members," said study lead author Dr. Raphaela Heesen



“In using specifically “baby-like” signals, bonobos might increase their chances to be consoled by others and alleviate their own stress level following aggressive attacks. Our research shows that emotions and their expression do not only play a role in the regulation of social life in our own species, but also in our closest living primate relatives.”



“The act of comforting a victim in distress has long been considered a form of empathy that is initiated by the bystander. However, our study reveals that the victim’s own signals may be used strategically to shaping these responses," said study senior author Dr Zanna Clay.



“By producing signals that make them seem more like infants, bonobo victims can promote the chances of receiving comfort from others. This highlights the important role that communication plays in shaping empathic responding."



The researchers thus emphasize that bonobos have flexible ways of communicating their emotions, just like humans. The study sheds light on understanding the emotional life of these animals with a focus on the potential evolutionary origins of the communication of emotions.



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

Adult bonobos cry like babies to elicit the support of others

Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are our closest living primate relatives and...

Family,With,Kids,In,Face,Mask,In,Shopping,Mall,Or

A new study has found that masking mandates and social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic were highly effective at stopping the spread of other respiratory <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-bats-resist-covid-19-infection/">infections</a>. According to the researchers, social distancing helped prevent the spread of influenza and bronchiolitis, the disease caused by respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV).



Influenza infects up to 15 percent of the world population annually, and kills a substantial number of vulnerable children and older adults. RSV also causes significant damage, bringing almost 300,000 people to the emergency room each year in the United States alone.&nbsp; 



New research conducted at <a href="https://www.akronchildrens.org/">Akron Children’s Hospital</a> in Ohio examined the impact of pandemic-related masking and social distancing practices on these two other dangerous diseases.



The investigation was conducted during the peak of seasonal respiratory illnesses from October 2020 to April 2021. Mandatory masking and social distancing in Ohio during the COVID-19 outbreak provided a unique opportunity to study how such measures affected the spread of other infectious diseases.&nbsp;



During the study period, the scientists found no cases of influenza A and RSV, and just two cases of influenza B, among the children from the Akron hospital. After March 14, 2021 though, when social distancing measures were relaxed in Ohio, viral infections such as influenza or RSV re-emerged. 



This proves that masking and social distancing practices can be highly effective tools to decrease the rates of potentially dangerous respiratory diseases, such as influenza and bronchiolitis, in the pediatric population.&nbsp;



“Numbers don’t lie. Face masking, and proper hygiene and isolation can be effective means to protect the vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and young children during the respiratory virus season,” said study lead author Osama El-Assal, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Akron Children’s Hospital. “It can be a simple non-medicinal way to save lives.



The research will be presented at the <a href="https://aapexperience.org/">American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference &amp; Exhibition</a>.



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

Masking and social distancing stopped the spread of the flu

A new study has found that masking mandates and social...

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become hot topics in fields ranging from car manufacturing to fighting wildfires. That has some scientists wondering: could AI doctors take the place of human ones?

Many hospitals are already using clinical support software that analyzes patient data, and robot-assisted surgery has become common.

Now, Dr. Jörg Goldhahn, deputy head of the <a href="http://www.itm.ethz.ch/">Institute for Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich</a>, is making the argument for AI doctors. Artificial intelligence technology has the potential to make more accurate diagnoses, he said in a debate published in the peer-reviewed journal <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4563">BMJ</a>.

This is mainly because new breakthroughs are coming at a rapid pace at the same time that apps and personal technology like smartwatches makes it easy for machines to track human health.

"The notion that today's physicians could approximate this knowledge by keeping abreast of current medical research while maintaining close contacts with their patients is an illusion not least because of the sheer volume of data," Goldhahn said.

AI doctors could potentially keep up with new advances and monitor minute-to-minute personal health data in ways human doctors cannot, he said.

Human doctors also have personal biases that can sometimes blind them, he noted. AI doctors wouldn’t have that problem.

And while many cite human doctors’ rapport with their patients as a reason to avoid making medicine too robotic, that may be a hindrance in some cases, Goldhahn said. For example, those seeking treatment for an embarrassing condition may be more willing to see a robo-doctor than a human one. So might young people or patients who have a minor complaint and want to be in and out quickly.

"Introducing AI-driven systems could be cheaper than hiring and training new staff,” Goldhahn wrote. "They are also universally available, and can even monitor patients remotely. Doctors as we now know them will become obsolete eventually."

Human doctors will never be entirely replaceable, his colleagues Dr. Vanessa Rampton at the <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/ihsp/">McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy</a> in Montréal and Dr. Giatgen Spinas at <a href="http://www.en.usz.ch/Pages/default.aspx">University Hospital Zürich</a> argue.

Machines may be able to take on tasks like diagnosis, but human doctors will still be needed to determine treatment plans that take into account the patient as a whole person, they said. They will also be needed for more complex cases where patients have symptoms with no obvious cause.

"Computers aren't able to care for patients in the sense of showing devotion or concern for the other as a person, because they are not people and do not care about anything,” Rampton and Spinas wrote. “Sophisticated robots might show empathy as a matter of form, just as humans might behave nicely in social situations yet remain emotionally disengaged because they are only performing a social role."

For patients with incurable conditions, whether a chronic autoimmune disease or terminal cancer, will need the support of a human doctor, they said. It’s a role AI doctors simply can’t fill.

"Ultimately, no one wants to be told he or she is dying by an entity that can have no understanding of what that means. We see AI as the servant rather than the director of our medical care," they said.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Could AI doctors make humans in medicine obsolete?

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become hot topics in...

I once worked in a fossil casting studio in Fruita, Colorado.  Since I left, the studio has been lucky enough to cast mastodon fossils straight from Snowmass Village Colorado.  The fossils of giant extinct mammals were first discovered at the Snowmastodon site in 2010. Much like the more famous La Brea Tar pits in California, the Snowmass discovery happened by accident.  In La Brea the tar was being used for construction material, in Snowmass, the fossils were discovered at the bottom of a construction site. 

When work began, paleontology wasn’t a concern.  Initially, a simple reservoir was being expanded to supply drinking water to the village of Snowmass.  The first mammoth discovery was made by Jesse Steele who was using a bulldozer to clear the area when bones were found.  The bones were turned over to a project foreman, Kent Olsen who took them home and identified the bones as mammoth fossils.  The <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">United States Geological Survey</a> (USGS) was informed of the discovery.  Teams from the USGS and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science worked together to excavate the paleontological remains at Snowmass.         

Often this is the reality of paleontology discoveries; I’ve worked on an ancient shark that was found in a stone quarry.  There is more digging for everyday sort of things, construction or mining than paleontology. Usually discoveries are by chance, a glimpse of the amazing depth of our world’s history.  Mostly, mastodons and mammoths were discovered at the Snowmastodon site, but there was also a camel, horse, sloth, a deer. All told, there were over 36,000 vertebrate fossils representing over 100 species discovered in Snowmass.  Another 100 species of invertebrates were also excavated at the Snowmastodon site. 

Although perhaps not as famous as the La Brea tar pits, Snowmastodon is one of the better sites for mammalian paleontology and perhaps archaeology.

I say “perhaps” archaeology because that is one of the more contentious ideas of the Snowmastodon site.  Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/north-america-first-humans-colonist-evidence-scientists-alaska-genetics-a8140231.html">Independent</a> reported on the genetic evidence from a child discovered at an archaeological site in Alaska.  From the genetic evidence, scientists suggest that people may have colonized America as early as 25,000 years ago.  It’s one piece of evidence that pushes the theorized colonization date back by 10,000 years from what archaeologists previously thought.  If Snowmastodon is an archaeology site, it would mean humans were in North America 50,000 years ago and in Colorado, much further south than Alaska.  There is other evidence suggesting that humans could have been on North America that long ago. 

In 2017, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/science/prehistoric-humans-north-america-california-nature-study.html">New York Times</a> reported on evidence that humans may have been in California as early as 130,000 years ago.  If the evidence holds up, it’s still not clear whether the early people were ancestors of modern Native Americans or people who arrived too early and simply died out.                             

One of the mysteries surrounding the Snowmastodon site is why is it even there?  What caused so many large mammal fossils to be found together in one spot? The geological evidence shows that what was destined to become a reservoir for human use was once a lake visited by ancient mammals.  One hypothesis is that an earthquake caused the sediments of the lake floor to liquefy. If the sediments liquefied at the right time, mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths and all could become trapped in the shallow lake bottom as if in quicksand.  However, it’s unlikely that so many animals would be trapped at once by such an unusual occurrence but it’s not impossible.

Another theory as to why there was such a large assemblage of mammals in one place is a bit more interesting. In other parts of North America, early human arrivals have been shown to cache meat under water to preserve kills.  <a href="http://www.ur.umich.edu/9495/May08_95/storage.htm">The University of Michigan</a> reported on such techniques near the Great Lakes region:

‘"Underwater caching turns out to be a simple and effective way to store meat for long periods. Fossils preserved at ancient cache sites suggest it was an important and common part of the winter-to-spring subsistence strategy of Ice Age hunters," said Daniel C. Fisher, Professor of Geological and Biological Sciences and curator of the Museum of Paleontology. 

Evidence that the site at Snowmass is a cache of a human hunt is still a bit controversial.  At the top of the site several stones were discovered that didn’t quite fit with the local geology.  The stones were possibly placed on top of a kill to weigh a mastodon skeleton down, keeping it under water where the meat would last longer and be hidden from other predators.  

If the Snowmass site is indeed evidence of much earlier human occupation of the North American interior and even a hunt, it could change our views of archaeology and large mammal extinctions.  One hypothesis of why ancient mammals such as mastodons and mammoths died off is the overkill hypothesis. Basically, it’s thought that humans arriving to North America might have hunted to extinction <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/woolly-mammoths-big-comeback/">mammoths</a>, mastodons, giant ground sloths and other impressive megafauna.  Mastodons themselves went extinct around 10,000 years ago, about the time some archaeologists believe humans were first arriving to the continent. If as far south as Colorado, humans were butchering and caching Mastodon carcasses, it could change how we view the dynamic interplay between ancient elephantids and ancient humans.

The Snowmastodon site was excavated, all the fossils likely to ever be found were removed.  Photographs in three dimensions were taken of many of the pieces upon removal in an attempt to document everything.  The fossils were slowly cleaned and prepared, many of them were cast so that scientifically exact replicas can be shared and put on display.  In the end, work on the Snowmastodon site officially ended in 2011 and what was once the burial site of ancient creatures in a lake bottom was once again flooded, this time as a reservoir.  

Fossils are on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  You can visit for free the <a href="https://www.gosnowmass.com/things-to-do/ice-age-discovery/snowmass-discovery-center/">Ice Age Discovery Center</a> at the Snowmass Village Mall.  The Discovery Center claims the site to be the, ‘World’s finest ice age fossil discovery’ then in fine print letters, ‘near Snowmass Village, CO’.  Taken altogether, the statement is true. It also claims to be the ‘finest high-elevation fossil site in the world’ a claim hard to substantiate as what high elevation and fine mean are subjective.  If it turns out that the site is archaeological and not just paleontology though, no hyperbole will be needed to describe its importance. 

A few last pieces of evidence: small stone flakes were found at the Snowmastodon site.  It’s possible that the flakes were crude tools or pieces of tools or flakes made from chipping tools out of stone.  It’s also possible that the flakes are just chips of rock with no connection to humans at all. In relation to the possibility of stone cutting tools, there are striations on mastodon bones found at Snowmass.  To some the striations appear too uniform, parallel cuts where tendons would have once lay. To some these scratches on the bone seem to the marks of an ancient butcher cutting meat from a kill.

With excavation officially concluded and the paleontology site now underwater, it seems unlikely more evidence will be found.  Living on a planet as old as ours, we have time to wait. Perhaps another construction project in Snowmass will uncover other bones with more conclusive evidence. Maybe years from now another scientist looking on a drawer of bone collections in Denver will see with new eyes something missed.  Perhaps the Snowmastodon site will always remain a mystery. We will never know all the details of the lives of humans and beasts that lived before us. There will always be a little bit of mystery and perhaps, that is for the best. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Uncovering mammoths at the Snowmastodon site in Colorado

I once worked in a fossil casting studio in Fruita,...

&nbsp;

  Both humans and animals use language tactic of turn-taking. Language is a distinct trait that separates humans from the rest of the pack, even if we don’t all speak the same language. It is a trait characterized by cooperative turn-taking, where we exchange information by taking short and flexible turns as we speak with each other. Turn-taking is used universally across languages and cultures, and some signs of it can be found in all clades of the primate lineage. Because of this, turn-taking has been suggested as an ancient mechanism of the language system that bridges the gap between us humans and our inarticulate primate cousins. 

Since language is a major area of study for evolutionary theory, researchers from the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/index.html">Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology</a> wanted to determine what nonhuman primates and other animal taxa may exhibit for similar behavior.

The researchers assessed previous literature by reviewing turn-taking phenomena in birds, mammals, insects, and anurans. 

“Direct comparisons of turn-taking skills of nonhuman animals in relation to language origins are highly constrained by lack of data, the application of different terms, methodological designs, and study environments,” says Simone Pika, first author of the study from Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology.

Pika also points out that studies have been biased toward birds and vocal interactions, and are mostly focused on just one key element of full-blown human turn-taking, known as the time window. The time window is the gap between an initiating turn and the response turn, and varies in human conversation from 0-500 milliseconds and across nonhuman animal taxa from less than 50 milliseconds to 5,000 milliseconds.

“Research studies on other turn-taking systems – for example gestural interactions of bonobos and chimpanzees – are currently relatively rare, but represent, due to the application of key elements characterizing human full-blown turn-taking, the most promising avenue to tackle the question whether turn-taking played a key role in language evolution,” says Pika.

To improve research efforts, the researchers propose a new framework, which looks to enable comparative research through focusing on four key elements that characterize human conversations. These four elements are flexibility of turn-taking organization, which individual is taking the next turn, when the response turns occur, and what the next turn does. The study’s authors suggest applying this framework to precisely chosen representatives of over 50 genera of primates, and using it to characterize the current turn-taking phenotypes.

The researchers also believe that more attention should be paid to related phenomena due to convergent evolution. Past studies on language competence and cognitive skills of parrots and corvids have put into question the previously assumed simple inverse correlation between language-readiness and genetic distance from humans. The new field of comparative turn-taking could help solve one of the most difficult problems in science through testing whether turn-taking had significant downstream effects on human culture and cooperation, and determine whether it may have laid the foundation for the evolution of language. Also Both humans and animals use language tactic of turn-taking shown in the images with show.

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Simone Pika

Both humans and animals use language tactic of turn-taking

&nbsp;   Both humans and animals use language tactic of...

There really is no such thing as a “normal voice,” according to a new study from the <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/">University of California, Los Angeles</a>. The researchers found that a complex combination of factors including speaker, listener, context, and signal must be understood to evaluate whether or not a voice is perceived as being normal.

“When we started looking at the literature, everyone dodges the question of normalness,” said study lead author Jody E. Kreiman. “Clearly, a great deal depends on what we call ‘normal’ and not ‘normal.’”

When a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/politicians-voice-impacts-success/">voice</a> abnormality is recognized, it can reflect negatively on the speaker's personality, health, and intelligence level.

“How you sound affects every aspect of your existence as a biological being,” said Kreiman. “Voice quality is your auditory face.”

In an effort to understand how people determine when the quality of a voice is good or bad, the team set out to examine what it means for a voice to sound normal. The researchers took a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate voice quality, combining physiology, aerodynamics, acoustics, and perception.

The study participants were presented with recordings of 100 female speakers pronouncing a vowel sound for one second. Half of the speakers had been diagnosed with voice abnormalities, while the other half of speakers had no known vocal disorder.

The participants were asked to rate the recordings and arrange them in order according to the most severe abnormalities.

“We are not interested in cases where people have a very large abnormality,” said Kreiman. “We are more interested in borderline cases so we can begin defining a boundary between 'normal' and not 'normal.'"
The researchers found that listeners were individually consistent in their ratings, and many participants often agreed on voices that sounded abnormal. Across the study group, however, respondents did not agree on which voices sounded normal. These findings suggest that there is no single vocal state that is considered to be normal.

“What these results are really saying is that the current view that voice perception is just the voice signal, or the person speaking, or the person listening, is wrong,” said Kreiman. “We are dealing with a dynamic interaction between the speaker, the signal, the context and the listener, and we have to understand how all these different parts go together to really understand voice."

According to Kreiman, follow-up research is needed due to several study limitations, including the use of only female speakers,voice recordings which contained only sustained vowels, and a limited acoustic model.

The research will be presented during the <a href="https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/">175th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America</a> 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

There no is standard “normal” voice, scientists say

There really is no such thing as a “normal voice,”...

Pitch plays a crucial role in language, and sometimes it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. Elevated pitch, intonation, slight fluctuations in tone are used to convey different meanings in so countless languages. The most obvious example is how a slight elevation in pitch at the end of a sentence turns a statement into a question. But now, a study published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a> has identified a subset of neurons that are responsible for detecting and discerning changing levels in pitch. 

Claire Tang, along with colleagues from the <a href="http://weill.ucsf.edu/">Weill Institute for Neurosciences </a>at the <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California, San Francisco</a>, examined neural activity in ten patients suffering from seizures. 

The researchers implanted sensors and then played recordings of synthesized voices that varied in tone, phonetic content, and speaker gender. They found that certain areas of the brain were active and responded the same way to completely different sentences with the same sound patterns. 

The researchers also found different neural responses to male and female voices who differ timbre. The areas of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/contact-sports-impact-young-brains/">brain</a> that responded to pitch were different from the areas that recognized speaker identity. The study also used hundreds of sentences spoken by both male and female voices to see if there were any differences in the neural responses in recognizing relative pitch and absolute pitch. 

38 of 45 of electrodes responsible for recording intonation were more efficiently able to predict relative pitch, rather than absolute or perfect pitch. Tang recorded and observed these neural responses through high-density electrocorticography, using electrodes placed directly on the brain to collect data and observe neural responses.

This enhanced information about how different regions of the brain respond to pitch in order to understand meaning sheds new light on how the brain processes language and sound.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How our brains detect changes in pitch to discern meaning

Pitch plays a crucial role in language, and sometimes it’s...

Saturday, August 12th was World Elephant Day, but most people can’t help but be captivated by elephants all year long. Elephants possess a mystical status in some religions, and since they’ve become endangered, many worldwide conservation efforts are now underway to help better ensure the survival of the species. They may be the world’s largest land mammal, but elephant behaviors and family structure are actually very similar to humans. Elephants are also highly sensitive, social, and extremely intelligent. Now, thanks to a new project meant to help raise awareness, you can actually speak elephant. 

The project, <a href="https://www.helloinelephant.com/">Hello in Elephant,</a> allows users to translate phrases into elephant and send them to friends and family via social media. Elephant language has been studied for so long that experts have found patterns and similarities that follow basic human language markers like greetings, shows of affection and acknowledgment, and warnings about nearby danger or distress. 

“Elephants are so like us and they have so many of the same kind of behaviors and characteristics as humans do, even down to their language which you can translate,” said Robert Brandford, the Executive Director of the<a href="https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/"> David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust</a> that developed the project and tool.

The program works by translating phrases into genuine recorded elephant calls in Kenya. The tool also shows a short accompanying video of an animated elephant mimicking the gestures that an elephant would do while making certain calls, lifting the trunk while saying “hello” for example. 

The elephant’s threatened status has much to do with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-location-data-risk/">poachers</a> who hunt elephants for their tusks and big game hunters. Hello in Elephant accepts donations to help combat these dangerous practices and protect elephant sanctuaries and habitats. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New tool allows humans to speak elephant language

Saturday, August 12th was World Elephant Day, but most people...

In 1803, the United States under President Thomas Jefferson had added 283,000 square miles of largely unexplored land to the nation through the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson wanted to map the acquisition and even the land beyond that huge parcel, and find a water route to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/typhoon-songda-moves-in-the-open-pacific-ocean/">Pacific Ocean</a>. He chose an aid and former military captain, Meriwether Lewis to lead an epic expedition into the unexplored land. Lewis chose a friend and one of his former U.S. Army officers, William Clark, to co-lead some 50 army volunteers and hired boatsmen. 

There could be a great deal of risk for the explorers making up what was half adventurously and half bureaucratically called the Corps of Discovery. For one thing, the group was expected to lay claim to the Pacific Northwest and what was then called the Oregon Country, despite the Spanish having already planted a flag in a large chunk of the far West.

Also, the Corps was expected to serve as a sort of diplomatic mission to native tribes found along the way, and no one really knew how approachable the so-called Indians would be.

The Corps of Discovery left St. Louis, Missouri on May 14, 1804 on a keelboat and an assortment of smaller sail-driven watercraft known as pirogues. They would spend the next two years, four months and ten days in search of a waterway route that could cross the country and get vessels to the Pacific Ocean – the rough equivalent of the railroad system that would later do the same thing. They never plotted that uninterrupted water route, but they found so much more.

&nbsp;

Woolly mammoths and erupting volcanoes

Among their other goals, Lewis and Clark were to observe the land and bring back samples of the animals and plants found along the way. That’s because Jefferson, like others left blind to the new country, believed many of the legends of what would be found in its great unexplored interior. Among the most colorful images, Americans of the civilized eastern cities expected Lewis and Clark to find erupting volcanoes, woolly mammoths, Peruvian llamas and – for some reason – blue-eyed Welsh-speaking Indians.

Unfortunately, Lewis and Clark found none of the above, but they certainly found Indians. They achieved contact with, and forged relationships both good and bad with dozens of tribes along the way.

&nbsp;

Indigenous Relations

Lewis and Clark’s contact with the land’s indigenous people ranged from mutually beneficial to distrusting to bloody. They established a close enough relationship with the Mandan tribe that they wintered that first year at Fort Mandan, a shelter they built along the Missouri River across from a Mandan village.

The Nez Perce out West saved the expedition from starvation in the late summer of 1805 and again the following spring on the group’s return trip.

And finally, they met the legendary Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and one of two wives of a French-Canadian trapper met along the way. The pregnant tribeswoman traveled with the group for several months and served as a guide and interpreter. She further proved her mettle by saving valuable journals and supplies when one of their pirogues tipped in fast-moving waters. Sacagawea was so respected by the group that she was allowed an equal vote in deciding where to winter in 1805. That might sound like a given today, but it would have been most unusual at the time, due both to her gender and race. A slave named York was also given an equal vote in the decision.

&nbsp;

While most tribal contact was good, there were exceptions. The Corps never made contact with the Crow of Montana, but it was suspected that the tribe of highly respected horse thieves made off with some of their mounts. 

The Corps also had many tense moments with the Teton Sioux, whom Clark wrote to be “the vilest miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the Missouri,” until brought to justice by the Americans. 

One of the points of stress was the language barrier. Also, the Teton Sioux were known as hard bargainers when it came to allowing boats to pass. They were insulted by the Jeffersonian medals and U.S. flags offered in trade. For one brief moment, Clark drew his sword and Lewis trained a boat gun on the group. However, calm was restored, and the expedition spent a couple days in hospitable relations with the tribe.

A more serious encounter occurred when the Corps had broken up in exploration of two different water routes and Lewis ended up with just three men in Blackfoot country in what is now Montana.  The Blackfeet were known to be among the fiercest and least welcoming of warriors to outsiders.

Lewis and his small party ran into a band of eight Blackfeet. They opened communications and gave the Indians small gifts, a transaction that went well enough that Lewis invited the eight to their camp. But the party infuriated the Blackfeet by impolitically mentioning that the Corps intended to trade with a rival tribe. In the middle of the night the tribesmen stole Corps rifles and horses. In the brief skirmish that followed, Lewis fatally shot one Blackfoot and a second warrior was killed by another member of the expedition. Lewis’s party got their horses and weapons back, but had to make a quick escape. The battle soured future relations between settlers and the Blackfoot tribe.

Over the long journey, the Corps of Discovery made generally beneficial contact with Clatsops, Walla Walla, Sioux, Nez Perce, Mandans, Hidatsas, Chinookans, Shoshone and inhabitants of many other native nations. They owed their lives to many of those encounters and learned alternative routes from them. When rescued the first time by the Nez Perce, the expedition was reduced to eating candle wax and their horses. 

They also traded medical practices with the native tribes, many of whom they found to be as advanced as themselves with medicine. The tribes knew about making splints, using poultices and many medicinal uses of native roots.  

What Jefferson had wanted the Corps to do was to introduce the tribes to representatives of their new government – obviously not an easy mission. It would take fast-thinking diplomats to bring up that topic, and Lewis and Clark generally made the most of the challenge. 

&nbsp;

Death, discipline and danger

Despite the sometimes harsh elements, periods of near starvation and the occasionally stressful and once bloody interactions with native tribes, the expedition only lost one member in its nearly two-and-a-half year journey. Sergeant Charles Floyd died three months into the expedition of a totally unexpected cause: acute appendicitis. 

Clark was nearly killed by a grizzly bear out west while buffalo hunting, but outran it. The only other accidental major injury to plague the Corps befell Lewis himself. Just one month away from the end of their journey he was accidentally shot by one of his men while hunting, but it didn’t prove to be serious.

The other injuries were planned; they occurred as a result of the brutal military discipline of the day. Several Corps members were lashed for offenses that included breaking into the whisky supply, temporary desertion and falling asleep on guard duty. This last offense was treated particularly violently, with the sleepy private receiving 100 lashes a day for four straight days.  

Perhaps the largest risk posed to the group was one never known to them. It was later learned that a Spanish contingent had been sent from California to capture the Corps when they reached the Pacific, but the Spaniards missed them.

&nbsp;

Given up for dead

The Corps saw the ocean in November 1805. They wintered in what they called Fort Clatsop, named after another friendly tribe, and headed back home in the spring. They traveled by watercraft, by horses they traded with the tribes to get and, at times, by foot. 

As they got closer to St. Louis, they learned from trappers and traders met along the way that America had long ago given them up for dead. Lewis and Clark were national heroes. They’d advanced relations – at least to some degree – with many tribes and they brought back stories of bison and pigmy goats (antelope) and rivers and waterfalls never before seen by white eyes.

Meriwether Lewis’s life would end in mysterious ways just a few years after the end of the Corps of Discovery. In 1809, an innkeeper heard shots and found him dying alone in a one-room rented cabin of two bullet wounds. Suicide and robbery-murder were both suspected at times. Even today, theories vary.

Clark later served as governor of the Missouri Territory and as the first superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs before dying in 1838.

--

Original Feature by <a href="mailto:dsearls@earth.com">David Searls</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How the Lewis & Clark Expedition Changed America

In 1803, the United States under President Thomas Jefferson had...

The evening after being inaugurated, President Trump went to work signing executive actions addressing the economic burden of the Affordable Care Act. 

The executive order was titled “Minimizing the Economic Burden Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal” and was intended to create more flexibility for states, health insurance companies, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, and patients as Congress works to repeal the healthcare law. The order used very general language, leaving much to interpretation.

The memo regarding regulation freezes orders all governmental agencies not to publish any new regulations until Trump cabinet members can approve and sign off on them. As of Thursday, only two of Trump’s 15 cabinet nominees had been granted Congressional approval. Matters involving issues such as health, safety, financial, or national security can be granted exceptions from the current administration. 

Such regulatory freezes are not unusual. A similar memo was sent by the Obama administration, as well as the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter.  

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence swore in James Mattis as the new Secretary of Defense and John Kelly as Homeland Security Secretary.

Regulatory changes weren’t the only ones afoot. The<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov"> White House website</a> immediately changed from the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/obama-clean-energy-irreversible/">Obama</a> administration to reflect the incoming Trump team. Under the Presidential Records Act, the National Archives and Records Administration will archive the Obama site.

The new Trump website reflected a variety of President Trump's campaign positions and promises – from renegotiating trade deals and increasing cyber warfare capabilities.

Although some pages that had existed on the Obama site disappeared entirely, some pages remained. Those included ethics pledge wavers, financial disclosures, and staff salaries, among others. The “We the People” petition website also remained. The first petition filed on the site was a request for Trump to release his tax returns. Only time will tell what this action means for the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/current-energy-systems-shuttered-paris-agreement-goals/">Paris Agreement</a>.

–

By Dawn Henderson,<a href="http://earth.com"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

&nbsp;

President Trump takes action on Obamacare, regulation freeze and confirmations

The evening after being inaugurated, President Trump went to work...

For some nonprofits, Giving Tuesday donations can be vital for their continued existence. The <a href="https://indianaforestalliance.org/">Indiana Forest Alliance</a> is hoping to raise funds that will help them save Crown Hill North Woods, an old-growth forest ecosystem in the middle of Indianapolis. 

Beyond providing a forest laboratory for schoolchildren in the city, Crown Hill is perhaps the only old-growth forest standing within a city in the U.S. It was recently sold to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which plans to cut down the trees and build a national cemetery.

“There are some trees there that are 400 to 500 years old,” said Paul Bryan, the IFA’s development director. “We found a land trust that is willing to buy the land back.”

In addition to raising money for that and other initiatives, the IFA is hoping to draw in new volunteers and generate publicity for next week’s <a href="https://indianaforestalliance.org/event/wild-scenic-film/">Wild &amp; Scenic Film Festival</a>, one of their special events.

They’re not alone in welcoming Giving Tuesday. <a href="http://www.cbf.org/">The Chesapeake Bay Foundation</a> in Maryland hopes to raise $15,000 this year to help educate people about the bay, restore habitats, protect oyster beds, and advocate for the region. At <a href="http://www.medinaraptorcenter.org/">Medina Raptor Center</a>, which rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey and songbirds, all donations go to feeding and caring for their patients.

But how did Giving Tuesday get started, and how can you get involved?

The giving event was originally dreamed up in 2012 by the <a href="https://www.92y.org/">92nd Street Y</a> in New York. The founders imagined a day where people would donate not just money, but also their time as volunteers and advocates to causes they believe in.

 “On the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they thought it was a great way to refocus the season on giving,” said Jamie McDonald, the Community and Higher Education campaign lead for Giving Tuesday, the organization that sprung up to support the event.

In just four years, organizations in more than 70 countries, as well as cities and towns all over the U.S., have joined in. Celebrities have gotten on board. So have companies like Constellation, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/">Microsoft</a>, and <a href="http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/">Sheraton Hotels and Resorts</a>.

Last year, more than 500,000 donors raised $116 million for their favorite causes.

“It’s really been a phenomenon,” McDonald said.

In some cases, donors can double their donations. <a href="http://www.nature.org/">The Nature Conservancy</a> start a Home for the Holidays Matching Fund, which doubles every dollar up to $100,000 donated on Giving Tuesday. Actress Candice Bergen stepped up and promised to match up to $100,000 in donations to the <a href="http://www.nature.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>. 

On the other side of things, <a href="http://www.constellation.com/">Constellation</a> named 111 new recipients of its Community Champions grants in honor of the giving day. The energy company asked its customers to nominate community organizations focused on youth development, the environment and education for the grants, then awarded more than $53,000 in 15 states.

Nonprofits have reaped the rewards. Giving Tuesday has become the third largest giving day on the calendar in terms of money, and the second largest in terms of donations, McDonald said.

Even more importantly, nonprofits have seen an uptick in volunteerism, she said.

Some, like <a href="https://www.charitywater.org">charity: water</a>, are even seeking to turn a one-day boost on Giving Tuesday into a year-round surge of fundraising and volunteerism.

“This is a day that has become a meaningful day for many, many organizations,” McDonald said.

For the Indiana Forest Alliance, which receives all of their funding through donations, memorial gifts, and a few special events each year, Giving Tuesday can be a significant boost to their cash flow and introduce them to new donors. 

“Our best and most effective tool from here on out is the grassroots organizing we’re engaged in,” Bryan said – organizing supported entirely by volunteer efforts and donations. 

Giving Tuesday has been a huge monetary success for nonprofits, McDonald said, and that’s been wonderful for all the nonprofits involved. However, organizers are hoping to see it turn from a day for donations to a year-round movement of volunteerism and community building.

“That’s the kind of innovation that we see going forward, being able to carry Giving Tuesday into year-round impact,” she said.

There’s still time to get involved. Check out these <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/giving-tuesday-roundup/">ways to help the Earth</a> this Giving Tuesday – or all year.

---

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giving Tuesday helps charities, but needs us to do more

For some nonprofits, Giving Tuesday donations can be vital for...

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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;



---



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.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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" 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 Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&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> Staff Writer 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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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



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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.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...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



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.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video 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 history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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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.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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