Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features the galaxy I Zwicky 18, which was captured in remarkable detail by the James Webb Space Telescope.



I Zwicky 18 is a blue compact dwarf <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/newly-discovered-stars-milky-way-are-old-as-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxy</a> located approximately 59 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-star-formation-in-i-zwicky-18">Star formation in I Zwicky 18</h2>



The galaxy is notable for its relatively young appearance and the fact that it contains very few heavy elements. These characteristics indicate that it has experienced little <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-stars-release-sneezes-of-gas-and-dust-as-they-develop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">star formation</a> compared to other galaxies of similar age.



“The galaxy was first identified by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930’s and resides roughly 59 million light-years from Earth,” noted <a href="https://www.esa.int/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a>. “This galaxy has gone through several sudden bursts of star formation.”&nbsp;



According to ESA, I Zwicky 18 is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early universe and is much smaller than our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/runaway-star-j1249-36-spotted-trying-to-escape-our-milky-way-galaxy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Milky Way</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-webb-telescope-image-of-the-galaxy">Webb telescope image of the galaxy</h2>



“Two major starburst regions are embedded in the heart of the galaxy. The wispy brown filaments surrounding the central starburst region are bubbles of gas that have been heated by stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by hot, young stars,” said ESA.



“A companion galaxy resides nearby to the dwarf galaxy, which can be seen at the bottom of the wider-field image. The companion may be interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered that galaxy's recent star formation.”&nbsp;



ESA explained that the “orange blobs” surrounding the galaxy are the dim glow from ancient fully formed galaxies at much larger distances.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-characteristics-of-i-zwicky-18">Key characteristics of I Zwicky 18</h2>



As previously mentioned, the galaxy has a very low abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, suggesting that it has not undergone significant stellar processing.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-young-stellar-population-nbsp">Young stellar population&nbsp;</h3>



Despite its old age, I Zwicky 18 contains many young, hot stars. This suggests that it might have experienced a burst of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hubble-detects-awe-inspiring-newborn-star/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">star formation</a> relatively recently in its history.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-interstellar-medium-nbsp">Interstellar medium&nbsp;</h3>



The galaxy has a high density of gas, which is a prime ingredient for star formation. This gas is mostly in the form of hydrogen.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unusual-characteristics">Unusual characteristics</h3>



Its characteristics are more typical of primordial galaxies found in the early universe, making it a valuable object of study for understanding galaxy formation and evolution.



Ultimately, I Zwicky 18 provides insights into the conditions and processes that might have been prevalent in the early universe.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-cycles-of-stars-and-dust">Life cycles of stars and dust</h3>



The image was captured as part of a Webb program to study the life cycle of dust in I Zw 18.&nbsp;



“Scientists are now building off of previous research with Hubble obtained at optical wavelengths, studying individual dusty stars in detail with Webb’s equivalent spatial resolution and sensitivity at infrared wavelengths.”&nbsp;



ESA noted that this galaxy is of particular interest as its content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-galaxy-formation-occurred-much-faster-than-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxies</a> in the local universe.&nbsp;



“Such conditions are thought to be similar to those in some of the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, so the Webb study of I Zw 18 should shed light on the life-cycle of stars and dust in the early universe.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-constellation-ursa-major">The constellation Ursa Major </h2>



Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is one of the most prominent and easily recognizable constellations in the northern sky. 



Its name, "Ursa Major," means "Great Bear" in Latin, and it has been a significant part of various mythologies and star lore across cultures for thousands of years. 



One of the most famous asterisms within Ursa Major is the Big Dipper, a group of seven bright stars that form a shape resembling a ladle or dipper. The Big Dipper is often used as a navigation tool because it points to Polaris, the North Star, located in the nearby constellation Ursa Minor.



Ursa Major is best viewed in the northern hemisphere and is circumpolar, meaning it is visible year-round for much of the Northern Hemisphere. Its position changes with the seasons, rotating around Polaris, the North Star.



Image Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope



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Dwarf galaxy provides a window into the early universe

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features the galaxy I Zwicky 18, which was captured in remarkable detail by the James Webb Space Telescope. I Zwicky 18 is a blue compact dwarf galaxy located approximately 59 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.&nbsp; Star formation in I Zwicky 18 The galaxy is notable for its relatively young appearance and the fact that it contains very few heavy elements. These characteristics indicate that it has experienced little star formation...

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features a pair of interacting spiral galaxies known as the Antennae Galaxies. They are located approximately 45 million light-years away in the constellation Corvus.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antennae-galaxies-in-a-deadly-embrace">Antennae Galaxies in a deadly embrace </h2>



“The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped the best ever image of the Antennae Galaxies. Hubble has released images of these stunning galaxies twice before, once using observations from its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1997, and again in 2006 from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS),” noted <a href="https://esahubble.org/images/potw1345a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a>.



“The galaxies - also known as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - are locked in a deadly embrace. Once normal, sedate spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, the pair have spent the past few hundred million years sparring with one another.”



According to ESA, the clash of the Antennae Galaxies is so violent that stars have been ripped from their host <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/galaxy-collision-2-million-mph-stephans-quintet-captured-unprecedented-detail/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxies</a> to form a streaming arc between the two.&nbsp;



The name of the galaxy pair comes from this long stream of stars and gas, which resembles insect antennae.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-intense-bursts-of-star-formation-nbsp">Intense bursts of star formation&nbsp;</h2>



The collision has triggered intense bursts of star formation, making the Antennae Galaxies one of the nearest and most dramatic examples of a starburst galaxy.&nbsp;



Many of the newly formed stars are concentrated in massive star clusters, some of which are expected to evolve into globular clusters over millions of years.



“This new image of the Antennae Galaxies shows obvious signs of chaos. Clouds of gas are seen in bright pink and red, surrounding the bright flashes of blue star-forming regions - some of which are partially obscured by dark patches of dust,” explained ESA.



“The rate of star formation is so high that the Antennae Galaxies are said to be in a state of starburst, a period in which all of the gas within the galaxies is being used to form stars.”&nbsp;



“This cannot last forever and neither can the separate galaxies; eventually the nuclei will coalesce, and the galaxies will begin their retirement together as one large elliptical galaxy.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-the-antennae-galaxies">Significance of the Antennae Galaxies</h2>



The Antennae Galaxies are one of the most well-studied examples of galaxy collisions - offering insight into the processes that shape galaxies over time.



Astronomers study the Antennae Galaxies using a range of telescopes across different wavelengths, including visible light, infrared, and X-rays.&nbsp;



Observations in X-rays have revealed evidence of supernovae and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/black-holes-may-talk-to-galaxies-through-energetic-winds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">black holes</a>, while infrared studies highlight regions of dust and star formation.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-milky-way-s-collision-course-nbsp">The Milky Way's collision course&nbsp;</h2>



The Antennae Galaxies provide a glimpse into the future of our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/uma3-u1-faintest-star-system-found-orbiting-milky-way-galaxy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Milky Way</a>, which is expected to eventually merge with the Andromeda Galaxy - our closest spiral galaxy neighbor.



The cosmic collision course of the Milky Way and Andromeda will reshape both galaxies over billions of years.&nbsp;



This event is expected to occur in about 4.5 billion years. Both galaxies are part of the Local Group, a cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity. Their mutual gravitational pull is drawing them closer at a speed of approximately 110 kilometers per second.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-birth-of-an-elliptical-galaxy-nbsp">The birth of an elliptical galaxy&nbsp;</h2>



When the two galaxies collide, their individual stars will largely avoid direct collisions due to the vast distances between them. However, the gravitational forces involved will create dramatic effects.&nbsp;



These forces will distort the galaxies' <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shapes-of-one-million-galaxies-hint-at-the-universes-origins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shapes</a>, triggering intense bursts of star formation as gas clouds collide and compress. Over time, the galaxies will settle into a new, larger elliptical galaxy often referred to as "Milkomeda" or "Milkdromeda" by astronomers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-galaxy-merger-and-the-solar-system">Galaxy merger and the solar system</h2>



Despite the seemingly destructive nature of the collision, the solar system is unlikely to face direct harm. Our Sun may find itself flung into a new orbit within the merged galaxy or even cast into intergalactic space.&nbsp;



The merger will also significantly alter the night sky, with the Andromeda Galaxy becoming increasingly prominent before blending into the unified structure.



This event is part of the natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/galaxies-are-much-bigger-than-we-originally-believed-gas-clouds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evolution of galaxies</a> and serves as a fascinating reminder of the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the universe. 



While the collision is still billions of years away, studying it helps astronomers understand galactic interactions and the long-term future of our cosmic neighborhood.



Image Credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA



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Violent clash of the Antennae Galaxies  

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency...

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features the Mackenzie River in the Canadian Arctic.

In the spring, warm weather begins to break up the ice along the frozen river until it is flowing freely again into the Beaufort Sea.

However, the ice does not always break up without a fight. When ice refuses to budge, it can clog the river and cause flooding.

Last week, ice jams had many communities along the Mackenzie River on high alert for flooding.

The image was captured on May 30, 2020 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

The Mackenzie River (<a title="Slavey language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavey_language">Slavey</a>: Deh-Cho  literally big river; <a title="Inuvialuktun" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuvialuktun">Inuvialuktun</a>: Kuukpak [kuːkpɑk] literally great river; French: Fleuve (de) Mackenzie) is a river in the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Canadian boreal forest" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_boreal_forest">Canadian boreal forest</a>. It is the longest <a title="River" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River">river</a> system in <a title="Canada" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada">Canada</a>, and includes the second largest <a title="Drainage basin" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drainage_basin">drainage basin</a> of any North American river after the <a title="Mississippi River" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River">Mississippi</a>.

The Mackenzie River flows through a vast, thinly populated region of forest and <a title="Tundra" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra">tundra</a> entirely within the <a title="Northwest Territories" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territories">Northwest Territories</a> in Canada, although its many tributaries reach into five other <a class="mw-redirect" title="Canadian provinces and territories" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_provinces_and_territories">Canadian provinces and territories</a>. The river's <a class="mw-redirect" title="Mainstem (hydrology)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstem_(hydrology)">main stem</a> is 1,738 kilometres (1,080 mi) long, flowing north-northwest from <a title="Great Slave Lake" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Slave_Lake">Great Slave Lake</a> into the <a title="Arctic Ocean" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean">Arctic Ocean</a>, where it forms a large <a title="River delta" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_delta">delta</a> at its mouth. Its extensive watershed drains about 20 percent of Canada. It is the largest river flowing into the Arctic from <a title="North America" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America">North America</a>, and including its tributaries has a total length of 4,241 kilometres (2,635 mi), making it the <a class="mw-redirect" title="List of longest rivers" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_rivers">thirteenth longest river system in the world</a>

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Mackenzie River in the Canadian Arctic

Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features...

Monitoring the seas on World Oceans Day. Today's Image of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> celebrates World Oceans Day, which emphasizes the importance of protecting and restoring the health of marine ecosystems. 

Climate change, pollution, and ocean acidification are collectively degrading the ocean and its valuable resources. 

Earth observing satellites provide experts with critically important details about sea-level rise, ocean composition, and other factors that are needed to inform and prioritize conservation efforts. 

Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission, today's image shows green algae blooms swirling around the Baltic Sea, where toxic blooms have become a major environmental hazard. 

Satellite data can be used to monitor the growth and spread of algae blooms, and to help mitigate the impacts on tourism and fishing industries. World Oceans Day is an <a title="List of minor secular observances" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_secular_observances#June">international day</a> that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the <a title="Earth Summit" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit">Earth Summit</a> – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. World Oceans Day was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. The international day supports the implementation of worldwide <a title="Sustainable Development Goals" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs), and fosters public interest in the management of the ocean and its resources. Monitoring the seas on World Oceans Day has been a huge sucess.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: ESA

Monitoring the seas on World Oceans Day

Monitoring the seas on World Oceans Day. Today's Image of...

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features northern Finland as the region emerges from an exceptionally harsh and snowy winter.  

More snow fell in Lapland, the northernmost region of Finland, than the area has received in at least 60 years.

The snow arrived in October and persisted alongside freezing temperatures for months.   

According to NASA, some towns in northern Finland recorded almost triple their average snow cover in January. 

The snow began to melt when warm temperatures arrived in May, causing widespread flooding across nearby homes and farms.

The image was captured on May 25 by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. 

Finland is a <a title="Parliamentary republic" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_republic">parliamentary republic</a> consisting of 19 <a title="Regions of Finland" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Finland">regions</a> and 310 <a title="Municipalities of Finland" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipalities_of_Finland">municipalities</a>. The archipelago of the <a title="Åland Islands" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85land_Islands">Åland Islands</a> located southwest of the mainland is the only <a class="mw-redirect" title="Autonomous area" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_area">autonomous region</a> of Finland. The climate in Finland varies due to the country's relatively vast latitudinal differences; southern Finland is classified as having a <a title="Humid continental climate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humid_continental_climate">humid continental climate</a> with the rest of the country being characterised by a <a class="mw-redirect" title="Boreal climate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_climate">boreal climate</a>. Finland can be considered to have a mainly <a class="mw-redirect" title="Boreal forest" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_forest">boreal forest</a> <a title="Biome" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome">biome</a>. More than 180,000 <a title="List of lakes of Finland" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_of_Finland">Finnish lakes</a> have been recorded, which is why Finland is internationally called "the land of a thousand lakes".

The majority of the population lives in central and southern Finland with over 1.5 million people living in the <a title="Greater Helsinki" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Helsinki">Greater Helsinki</a> metropolitan area, which produces a third of the country's <a title="Gross domestic product" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product">GDP</a>. The main language is <a title="Finnish language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language">Finnish</a>,a <a title="Finnic languages" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnic_languages">Finnic language</a> of the <a title="Uralic languages" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralic_languages">Uralic</a> language family, which is unrelated to the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Scandinavian languages" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_languages">Scandinavian languages</a>. <a title="Swedish language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_language">Swedish</a> is the second <a title="Finland Swedish" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_Swedish">official language of Finland</a>, and is mainly spoken in certain coastal areas of the country and on Åland.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens

&nbsp;

A harsh winter ends in northern Finland

Tropical Storm Cristobal over the Yucatán Peninsula Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a map of rainfall accumulation in Central America from May 27 to June 5, 2020.  

Tropical Storm Cristobal lingered over the Yucatán Peninsula for several days, dumping enormous amounts of rainfall. 

The storm first developed in the Pacific as Tropical Storm Amanda, which made landfall in Guatemala and caused devastation in El Salvador. 

The storm weakened as it crossed Central America, and then began to strengthen as it reached the Atlantic Ocean where it was named Cristobal.

According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the storm dumped up to 25 inches of rain in parts of Mexico, and as much as 35 inches of rain in parts of Guatemala and El Salvador.

Flash flooding and landslides killed 17 people and swamped hundreds of homes in El Salvador.

Tropical Storm Cristobal is now headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, where coastal states from Louisiana to Florida are preparing for dangerous storm surges, heavy rainfall, and flooding.

&nbsp;

---The proper derivation of the word Yucatán is widely debated. 17th century Franciscan historian <a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_L%C3%B3pez_de_Cogolludo">Diego López de Cogolludo</a> offers two theories in particular. In the first one, <a title="Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán conquistador)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Hern%C3%A1ndez_de_C%C3%B3rdoba_(Yucat%C3%A1n_conquistador)">Francisco Hernández de Córdoba</a>, having first arrived to the peninsula in 1517, inquired the name of a certain settlement and the response in <a class="mw-redirect" title="Yucatec Mayan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucatec_Mayan">Yucatec Mayan</a> was "I don't understand", which sounded like yucatán to the Spaniards. There are many possibilities of what the natives could have actually said, among which "mathan cauyi athán", "tectecán", "ma'anaatik ka t'ann" and "ci u t'ann". This origin story was first told by <a title="Hernán Cortés" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s">Hernán Cortés</a> in <a title="Hernán Cortés" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s#Writings:_the_Cartas_de_Relaci%C3%B3n">his letters to Charles V</a>. Later 16th century historians <a class="mw-redirect" title="Motolinia" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motolinia">Motolinia</a> and <a title="Francisco López de Gómara" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_L%C3%B3pez_de_G%C3%B3mara">Francisco López de Gómara</a> also repeat this version. In some versions the expedition isn't the one captained by Córdoba but instead the one a year later captained by <a title="Juan de Grijalva" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_Grijalva">Juan de Grijalva</a>. The second major theory is that the name is in some way related to the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Yuca" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuca">yuca</a> crop, as written by <a title="Bernal Díaz del Castillo" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_D%C3%ADaz_del_Castillo">Bernal Díaz del Castillo</a>. Others theories claim that it is a derivative of <a title="Chontal Maya" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chontal_Maya">Chontal Tabascan</a> word yokat'an meaning speaker of the <a title="Chontal Maya language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chontal_Maya_language">Yoko ochoco</a> language, or an incorrect <a title="Nahuatl" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl">Nahuatl</a> term yokatlan as supposedly "place of richness"

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA

&nbsp;

Tropical Storm Cristobal over the Yucatán Peninsula

Tropical Storm Cristobal over the Yucatán Peninsula Today's Image of the...

An otherworldly landscape in Tunisia Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features the desert landscape of southwestern Tunisia.

The sandy terrain contrasts with the darker features of the large endorheic salt lake Chott el Djerid.

According to NASA, the crust of dried sediment, salt, and other evaporite minerals that make up the lakebed are part of what gives the opening desert scenes of the 1977 Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope, such an otherworldly feeling.

Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia,is a country in the <a title="Maghreb" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb">Maghreb</a> region of <a title="North Africa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa">North Africa</a>, covering 163,610 square kilometres (63,170 square miles). Its northernmost point, <a title="Cape Angela" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Angela">Cape Angela</a>, is also the northernmost point on the African continent. Tunisia is bordered by <a title="Algeria" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria">Algeria</a> to the west and southwest, <a title="Libya" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya">Libya</a> to the southeast, and the <a title="Mediterranean Sea" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea">Mediterranean Sea</a> to the north and east. Tunisia's population was 11.7 million in 2019. Tunisia's name is derived from its capital city, <a title="Tunis" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunis">Tunis</a> (Berber native name: Tunest), which is located on its northeast coast.

Geographically, Tunisia contains the eastern end of the <a title="Atlas Mountains" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Mountains">Atlas Mountains</a>, and the northern reaches of the <a title="Sahara" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara">Sahara</a> desert. Much of the rest of the country's land is fertile soil. Its 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) of coastline include the African conjunction of the western and eastern parts of the <a title="Mediterranean Basin" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Basin">Mediterranean Basin</a>.

Tunisia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic. It has an <a title="European Union Association Agreement" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Association_Agreement">association agreement</a> with the <a title="European Union" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union">European Union</a>; is a member of La Francophonie, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, the OIC, the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States, the African Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77; and has obtained the status of major non-NATO ally of the United States. In addition, Tunisia is also a <a title="Member states of the United Nations" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_United_Nations">member state</a> of the United Nations and a state party to the <a title="Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_Statute_of_the_International_Criminal_Court">Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court</a>. Close relations with Europe, in particular <a title="France–Tunisia relations" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France%E2%80%93Tunisia_relations">with France </a>and <a title="Italy–Tunisia relations" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy%E2%80%93Tunisia_relations">with Italy</a>, have been forged through economic cooperation, privatisation and industrial modernization.

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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

Image Credit: NASA

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An otherworldly landscape in Tunisia

An otherworldly landscape in Tunisia Today's Image of the Day...

Colorful display in the Mediterranean Sea. Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a colorful display in the Mediterranean Sea between the island of Elba and the mainland of western Italy. 

Sediment deposits outline the water currents and whirlpools near the coast, while phytoplankton are likely present as well.

According to Aida Alvera-Azcárate, an ocean scientist at the University of Liège, sediment is primarily transported to the Mediterranean Sea by large rivers along the north Italian coast.

The image was captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 on December 26, 2019.

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The Mediterranean Sea is a <a title="Sea" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea">sea</a> connected to the <a title="Atlantic Ocean" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean">Atlantic Ocean</a>, surrounded by the <a title="Mediterranean Basin" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Basin">Mediterranean Basin</a> and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by <a title="Western Europe" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe">Western</a> and <a title="Southern Europe" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Europe">Southern Europe</a> and <a title="Anatolia" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia">Anatolia</a>, on the south by <a title="North Africa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa">North Africa</a>, and on the east by the <a title="Levant" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levant">Levant</a>. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually referred to as a separate body of water. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely <a class="mw-redirect" title="Desiccated" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiccated">desiccated</a> over a period of some 600,000 years during the <a title="Messinian salinity crisis" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messinian_salinity_crisis">Messinian salinity crisis</a> before being refilled by the <a title="Zanclean flood" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood">Zanclean flood</a> about 5.3 million years ago.

It covers an area of about 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi), representing 0.7% of the global <a title="Ocean" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean">ocean</a> surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the <a title="Strait of Gibraltar" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar">Strait of Gibraltar</a>—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates <a title="Spain" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain">Spain</a> in <a title="Europe" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe">Europe</a> from <a title="Morocco" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco">Morocco</a> in <a title="Africa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa">Africa</a>—is only 14 km (9 mi) wide. In <a title="Oceanography" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanography">oceanography</a>, it is sometimes called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea, the European Mediterranean Sea or the African Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from <a title="Mediterranean sea (oceanography)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_sea_(oceanography)">mediterranean seas</a> elsewhere

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA

&nbsp;

Colorful display in the Mediterranean Sea

Colorful display in the Mediterranean Sea. Today's Image of the...

Arctic ice arch remains intact Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features an "ice arch" in the Nares Strait that prevents sea ice from escaping the Arctic Ocean and drifting south. 

The structure usually breaks up by June or July, and the timing of its collapse has an influence on how much ice will be lost from the Nares Strait in any given year.

In 2019, the ice arch crumbled in mid-April and allowed sea ice to flow freely by May. 

The ice arch is more stable this year, and remained intact on May 22 when this image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Arctic sea ice extent continued the slow pace of seasonal decline observed in April, leading to an average extent for May 2021 of 12.66 million square kilometers (4.89 million square miles). This was 740,000 square kilometers (286,000 square miles) above the record low for the month set in 2016 and 630,000 square kilometers (243,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. The average extent for the month ranks ninth lowest in the passive microwave satellite record. The ice edge is near its average location most everywhere in the Arctic Ocean except in the Labrador Sea and east of Novaya Zemlya. Nevertheless, large polynyas have formed, notably north of the New Siberian Islands and east of Severnaya Zemlya. Open water areas have also developed near the coast in the southern Beaufort Sea and west of Utqiaġvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow). Overall, ice retreat during May occurred primarily in the Bering and Barents Seas, the Sea of Okhotsk and within the Laptev Sea.

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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

Image Credit: NASA

&nbsp;

Arctic ice arch remains intact

Arctic ice arch remains intact Today's Image of the Day...

SpaceX arrives at International Space Station. Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features the SpaceX Crew Dragon as it approaches the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley lifted off on May 30, 2020 from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Behnken and Hurley named their spacecraft Endeavour as a tribute to the first space shuttle that both astronauts had flown on.

When Endeavour reached the ISS, both were about 262 miles above the northern border of China and Mongolia. 

SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded <a title="Liquid-propellant rocket" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid-propellant_rocket">liquid-propellant rocket</a> to reach orbit (<a title="Falcon 1" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_1">Falcon 1</a> in 2008), the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (<a title="SpaceX Dragon" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Dragon">Dragon</a> in 2010), the first private company to send a spacecraft to the <a title="International Space Station" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station">International Space Station</a> (Dragon in 2012), the first <a title="VTVL" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTVL">Vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing</a> for an orbital rocket (<a title="Falcon 9" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9">Falcon 9</a> in 2015), the first reuse of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9 in 2017), the first private company to launch an object into <a title="Heliocentric orbit" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentric_orbit">orbit around the Sun</a> (<a title="Falcon Heavy" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy">Falcon Heavy</a>'s payload of <a title="Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster">a Tesla Roadster</a> in 2018), and the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the <a title="International Space Station" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station">International Space Station</a> (<a title="Crew Dragon Demo-2" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_Dragon_Demo-2">SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2</a> mission in 2020). SpaceX has flown 20  cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) under a partnership with <a title="NASA" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">NASA</a>,  as well as an uncrewed demonstration flight of the <a title="Human-rating certification" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-rating_certification">human-rated</a> Dragon 2 spacecraft (<a title="Crew Dragon Demo-1" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_Dragon_Demo-1">Crew Demo-1</a>) on 2 March 2019, and the first crewed Dragon 2 flight on 30 May 2020

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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

Image Credit: NASA

&nbsp;

SpaceX arrives at International Space Station

SpaceX arrives at International Space Station. Today's Image of the...

Despite the urgent need for action to slow human-caused climate change, the gradual rise in global temperatures often fails to alarm people, especially those not directly affected by frequent climate change impacts and disasters.



A new study led by researchers at the <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Los Angeles</a> (UCLA) and <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Princeton University</a> has found a more effective way to communicate the real <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-earth-energy-imbalance-temperature-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impact</a> of climate change and cut through public indifference.



The research suggests that presenting climate data in a binary form - such as whether a lake freezes each winter - makes the consequences of warming much more vivid than simply showing graphs of rising temperatures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growing-issue-of-climate-apathy">Growing issue of climate apathy</h2>



Rachit Dubey, an incoming UCLA communications professor and cognitive psychologist, explained that when participants viewed continuous temperature data for a town, it left them with only a vague sense of gradual change. 



In contrast, seeing whether or not a lake froze each winter made the environmental shift much more tangible.



“People are adjusting to worsening environmental conditions, like multiple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-fire-risk-has-grown-exponentially-in-a-hotter-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fire</a> seasons per year, disturbingly fast,” said Dubey, the senior author of the study. 



“When we used the same temperature data for a location but presented it in a starker way, it broke through people's climate apathy. Unfortunately, compared to those who looked at a clearer presentation of the same information, those who only looked at gradual data perceived a 12% smaller climate impact and cared less.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-communicating-about-climate-change">Communicating about climate change </h2>



Dubey focuses his research on how people process and reason about climate change, how it is communicated, and how to improve those communications. 



He pointed out that risk perception is deeply shaped by political views and personal experiences, and noted how quickly people shift their understanding of what is “normal” as conditions worsen.



Dubey's interest was sparked by a 2020 Vox article that highlighted growing climate apathy, even as scientific evidence mounts linking human greenhouse gas emissions to rising disasters like wildfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-much-did-sea-levels-rise-after-the-last-ice-age-alarming-new-clues-revealed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sea-level rise</a>.



“For years, we assumed that if the climate worsened enough, people would act, but instead, we're seeing the 'boiling frog' effect, where humans continuously reset their perception of 'normal' every few years,” Dubey said.



“People are adjusting to worsening environmental conditions, like multiple fire seasons per year, disturbingly fast. My research examines how people are mentally adapting to the negative changes in our environment.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-power-of-binary-data">The power of binary data</h2>



The findings were based on experiments involving both fictional and real locations. In one version of the study, participants were introduced to the fictional town of “Townsville.” 



In another, they learned about five actual lakeside towns, such as Lake George in New York and Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan. In each case, participants were split into two groups. 



One group saw a graph charting temperature increases between 1940 and 2020, while the other group viewed a graph showing whether the local lake froze each winter over the same period. Although the underlying data was the same, participants who saw the binary freeze/no-freeze information perceived a greater impact from climate change.



As the decades progressed and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-will-cut-world-gdp-by-a-staggering-40-percent-if-nothing-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">temperatures</a> climbed, the lakes froze less frequently. For the real-world towns, participants were also told about how traditional winter activities like ice skating and fishing had declined alongside the freeze.



When asked to rate the extent of climate change’s impact on the town from 1 to 10, those shown temperature graphs gave an average rating of 6.6. In contrast, those shown the freeze data rated it 7.5 - a 12% higher perception of impact.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-emotional-connections-drive-concern"><a></a>Emotional connections drive concern</h2>



Lead author Grace Liu, a PhD student at <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/%C3%B9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Carnegie Mellon University</a>, emphasized that connecting the loss of beloved local traditions to climate change can be a powerful motivator.



“Our study drives home the importance of discussing climate change not just in gradual temperature terms, but in concrete, either-or terms, showing how life has changed,” Liu said.



“It's not just warmer winters; it's also a loss of ice hockey and white Christmases. It's not just hotter summers; it's the disappearance of a swimming hole due to drought or soccer practice (being) canceled because it's dangerously hot.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-data-to-fight-climate-apathy">Using data to fight climate apathy </h2>



The researchers hope their findings will inform the work of climate communicators, policymakers, journalists, and anyone designing graphics about climate change.



“People working in these fields have a sense that binary data is more effective, and our study adds theoretical rigor, using careful cognitive experiments,” Dubey said. “Our study also helps explain why the 'Show Your Stripes' visualization is so compelling because it takes continuous data and presents it in a more binary format."



By emphasizing the increasing frequency of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-tens-of-millions-of-people-love-watching-videos-of-extreme-weather-events/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extreme weather events</a> or the vanishing of cherished seasonal activities, the researchers believe that temperature data, once a source of public apathy, could become a far more powerful tool for sparking urgent action on the climate crisis.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02183-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Human Behavior</a>.



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Climate apathy: People are adjusting to global warming too quickly

Despite the urgent need for action to slow human-caused climate...

The world’s largest companies have collectively caused an estimated $28 trillion in climate-related damage, according to a groundbreaking study designed to help governments and communities more easily seek financial redress, similar to the lawsuits once brought against the tobacco industry.



The new analysis highlights the role of major carbon-emitting firms in driving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-is-accelerating-beyond-control-as-co2-levels-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">global warming</a> and offers a clearer scientific framework for attributing economic harm directly to specific polluters.



A research team from <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dartmouth College</a> calculated the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/companies-gain-trust-and-lower-costs-through-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environmental toll</a> caused by 111 major companies, finding that more than half of the total damages stemmed from just ten fossil fuel producers: Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, National Iranian Oil Co., Pemex, Coal India, and the British Coal Corporation.



For perspective, $28 trillion nearly equals the total output of the United States economy in 2023. At the top of the liability list, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom were each responsible for more than $2 trillion in damages from heat-related impacts alone, the researchers reported.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-change-emissions-and-damage">Climate change: Emissions and damage</h2>



Lead author Christopher Callahan, who conducted the work at Dartmouth before moving to <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford University</a>, said the goal was to determine “the causal linkages that underlie many of these theories of accountability.”



His team estimated that each 1% share of greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere since 1990 has generated about $502 billion in damages from heat-related effects, without even counting the additional costs from climate-fueled disasters like hurricanes, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-outrun-the-flood-risks-of-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">floods</a>, or droughts.



“Everybody's asking the same question: What can we actually claim about who has caused this?” said co-author Justin Mankin, a climate scientist at Dartmouth. “And that really comes down to a thermodynamic question of can we trace climate hazards and/or their damages back to particular emitters?”



The researchers say their findings leave little room for doubt. The answer is yes, Callahan and Mankin confirmed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calculating-corporate-climate-damage">Calculating corporate climate damage</h2>



The researchers began by compiling the historical emissions tied to each company's production, such as the burning of gasoline or coal-derived electricity. They traced these records as far back as 137 years ago, acknowledging that carbon dioxide emissions linger in the atmosphere for centuries. 



Using 1,000 different computer simulations, they compared the real-world warming effects of these emissions to hypothetical scenarios where a company's products had never been used. Through this process, they determined that Chevron's pollution alone raised Earth’s average surface temperature by approximately 0.045 degrees Fahrenheit (0.025 degrees Celsius).



To connect emissions to economic harm, the researchers also analyzed the companies' impact on the five hottest days of the year using another 80 simulations. By applying models that relate heat intensity to drops in economic productivity, they could directly link emissions to real-world financial losses.



This technique follows methodologies already widely accepted in the scientific community, such as the attribution models used to connect specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/droughts-and-extreme-weather-events-are-escalating/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extreme weather events</a>, like the devastating 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave, to human-caused climate change.



Mankin emphasized how their work advances accountability. “Who's to say that it's my molecule of CO2 that's contributed to these damages versus any other one?” he said. “We can actually trace harms back to major emitters.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-the-legal-landscape">Changing the legal landscape </h2>



Some of the major companies implicated - Shell, Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and BP - either declined to comment or did not respond to media inquiries.



Outside experts have praised the study’s methodology. “All methods they use are quite robust,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Imperial College London</a> who leads the <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Weather Attribution</a> initiative. She emphasized the importance of replicating this approach. 



“It would be good in my view if this approach would be taken up more by different groups. As with event attribution, the more groups do it, the better the science gets and the better we know what makes a difference and what does not.”



At this point, no major lawsuit against a fossil fuel company for climate damages has succeeded. However, Otto believes the mounting weight of scientific evidence could shift outcomes: showing how overwhelmingly strong the scientific evidence is may change the legal landscape.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beyond-the-numbers-an-underestimated-crisis"><a></a>Beyond the numbers: An underestimated crisis</h2>



Callahan acknowledged that earlier efforts to tie specific damages to individual companies were hampered by data limitations. 



Previously, damage caused by individual companies was lost in the noise of data, and it could not be calculated. Today, however, the crisis is so severe that even a single company's emissions cause tangible, massive economic harm. 



“We have now reached a point in the climate crisis where the total damages are so immense that the contributions of a single company's product can amount to tens of billions of dollars a year,” said Chris Field, a Stanford University climate scientist unaffiliated with the study.



Still, some researchers caution that even this striking $28 trillion figure may be a significant underestimate. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Pennsylvania</a>, argued that the true costs are likely even higher, given the complex and interconnected impacts of global warming not fully captured by the models used.



The Dartmouth team’s findings sharpen the scientific basis for demanding financial accountability from corporate polluters - and suggest that future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/australia-has-become-a-hotspot-for-climate-lawsuits-as-the-crisis-escalates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawsuits</a> could be fought with increasingly precise evidence.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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World’s top polluters linked to $28 trillion in climate damages

The world’s largest companies have collectively caused an estimated $28...

List,Of,Prime,Numbers,Below,100,,Text,Written,On,Paper

Numbers rarely make headlines, yet a fresh claim about prime numbers is stirring excitement well beyond math circles. Primes are those stubborn figures that resist division by anything but 1 and themselves. 



For thousands of years, their locations have seemed as unpredictable as meteor showers.



Now comes a bold assertion: primes are not as random as we thought. If that statement holds, it rewrites a story mathematicians have told since the ancient Greeks. It also challenges the security systems that shield our bank transactions and private messages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-prime-numbers">Understanding prime numbers</h2>



Every whole number on your calculator can be built from primes. Need 15? Multiply 3 and 5. Need 323? Break it into 17 × 19. Yet no one has found a simple shortcut that lists every prime in order without missing one or adding impostors. 



The hunt for such a shortcut has produced famous puzzles - from the Riemann hypothesis to the search for ever-larger primes - but no final map. 



That apparent chaos is so reliable that modern encryption counts on it. If hackers cannot predict the next prime, your credit-card details stay safe.



Still, primes have a habit of surprising us. They crop up in patterns inside musical scales, help explain the spacing of sunflower seeds, and even assist physicists in modeling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poorly-understood-force-helps-keep-atomic-nuclei-stable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">atomic nuclei</a>. Each appearance whispers that a deeper order may exist.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cracking-the-prime-number-code">Cracking the prime number code</h2>



That whisper grew louder when a team working between Hong Kong and North Carolina shared a preview of its findings. 



“This is a genuinely revolutionary development in prime number theory,” enthused Way Kuo, a Senior Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (<a href="https://www.hkias.cityu.edu.hk/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CityU</a>), who is working on the project alongside researchers in the U.S. 



The group’s lead investigator, Han-Lin Li, brings expertise in computer science; co-author Shu-Cherng Fang is an authority in industrial and systems engineering. Together they tackle problems where mathematics meets real-world complexity.



Their claim is blunt. “Our team has devised a way to accurately and swiftly predict when prime numbers will appear,” adds Kuo. 



The statement, tucked inside a working paper on the SSRN Electronic Journal, immediately caught the eye of number theorists - and skeptics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-periodic-table-of-primes">Periodic table of primes</h2>



At the heart of the paper sits a chart dubbed the Periodic Table of Primes, or PTP. Much like the familiar chemical table, the PTP plots each prime inside repeating blocks. 



Slide along one block, and you land on the next prime; hop down a column, and you encounter twin primes - pairs that differ by just two, such as 11 and 13. 



The authors say the grid not only pinpoints where the next prime hides but also estimates the largest gap between primes in any stretch of numbers.



Such forecasts, if verified, would turn several open questions into routine calculations. Counting the total primes below, say, one quintillion could shrink from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-ai-framework-dimon-turning-any-laptop-into-a-supercomputer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">supercomputer</a> months to desktop minutes. 



Factorizing large integers - vital for digital signatures - could speed up just as dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-does-any-of-this-matter">Why does any of this matter?</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/code-breaking-encryption-quantum-computers-takes-big-step-closer-to-becoming-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cryptography</a> relies on the difficulty of teasing apart two large primes once they are multiplied. The RSA algorithm, for instance, underpins secure websites by turning that difficulty into a digital padlock. 



If the PTP really guides users straight to primes, today’s padlocks may look flimsy tomorrow. 



Researchers in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cybersecurity-threats-hit-intel-processors-impacting-billions-globally/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cybersecurity</a> are already sketching new protocols that would stay a step ahead, either by switching to quantum-resistant schemes or by choosing keys built from mathematical structures other than primes.



Not all consequences are ominous. Better prime prediction could reinforce security, too. Designers could pick keys with built-in tests - fail the test, and you know the key was forged. 



Faster prime generation might also improve blockchain platforms, trimming <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-environmental-cost-of-ai-what-are-we-willing-to-give-up-for-computing-power/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">energy costs</a> that now rival small power plants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-prime-numbers-and-the-cosmos">Prime numbers and the cosmos</h2>



Curiously, the breakthrough did not spark inside a pure-math department. The team was refining a color-coding method for image compression, where numbers stand in for shades of red, green, and blue. 



Prime factors help squeeze those shades into smaller files without visible loss. While charting factor patterns, Li and colleagues noticed sequences that lined up with prime appearances. Follow the breadcrumb trail, and the PTP emerged.



Should the table withstand peer review, its ripple could reach astrophysics and quantum computing. Primes guide error-correcting codes that let <a href="https://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a> beam crisp photos across billions of miles. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-quantum-revolution-will-impact-all-aspects-of-society/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum bits</a>, or qubits, likewise need robust codes to stay coherent. A clearer map of primes could sharpen both missions - snapping cleaner pictures of distant galaxies and keeping qubits in line long enough to tackle chemical simulations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-next">What happens next?</h2>



Mathematicians will now poke every corner of the PTP, searching for hidden flaws. If none appear, one of the oldest riddles in arithmetic loses its aura of chance. 



Either way, the chase proves something primes have taught for millennia: a humble question - what divides evenly into what - can reshape how we encrypt secrets, compress selfies, and explore space.



-----



The brilliant team behind this revolutionary discovery comprises Han-Lin Li, a Visiting Professor in the Department of Computer Science at City University of Hong Kong (<a href="https://www.cs.cityu.edu.hk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CityUHK</a>), Shu-Cherng Fang, the Walter Clark Chair Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">North Carolina State University</a>, and Way Kuo, a Senior Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study, <a href="https://www.hkias.cityu.edu.hk/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CityU</a>.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=4742238" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SSRN Electronic Journal</a>.



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'Prime numbers' discovery upends thousands of years of accepted beliefs and could disrupt encryption methods

Numbers rarely make headlines, yet a fresh claim about prime...

The planet is edging far closer to irreversible change than most policy debates acknowledge, according to the most comprehensive probability analysis yet of climate “tipping points.”



The research was a collaboration between the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/institutes/gsi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute</a> and the <a href="https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Hamburg</a>. 



The experts have calculated that, if governments follow their present course, there is roughly a two-in-three likelihood that at least one major Earth-system component will tip into a radically different and largely irreversible state.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tipping-points-measured-in-the-study">Tipping points measured in the study</h2>



Tipping points are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-we-still-prevent-critical-climate-tipping-points/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">thresholds</a> where small incremental warming forces a system - such as an ice sheet, an ocean circulation pattern, or a vast forest - into a self-propagating transition. To gauge just how close humanity is to those thresholds, lead author Jakob Deutloff and colleagues looked at sixteen well-studied tipping elements. 



Their list included collapse of the West Antarctic and Greenland <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-past-present-and-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ice sheets</a>, disruption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, wholesale die-off of the Amazon rainforest, abrupt thaw of Arctic permafrost, and several others ranging from coral reefs to boreal forests.



Using the Finite-amplitude Impulse Response (FaIR) climate model coupled to a simplified representation of Amazon dieback and permafrost thaw, the team ran tens of thousands of Monte-Carlo simulations.



These runs sampled three layers of uncertainty: the planet’s sensitivity to greenhouse gases, the temperature thresholds at which each element could tip, and the time each system would take to complete its transition. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-are-the-tipping-points-avoidable">Are the tipping points avoidable?</h2>



The researchers then drove the model with five standard emissions pathways, known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378015000060?via=ihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shared Socioeconomic Pathways</a> (SSPs). The scenario that best matches today’s national policies - SSP2-4.5, which delivers about 2.8 °C of warming by 2100 - proved alarmingly unsafe.



Averaged across all sixteen tipping elements, the probability of at least one being triggered reached 62 percent. Nine of the elements exceeded 50 percent likelihood individually, including the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Greenland Ice Sheet and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-amazon-rainforest-is-approaching-widespread-collapse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon rainforest</a>.



Under higher-emission futures such as SSP3-7.0 or SSP5-8.5, tipping virtually becomes unavoidable for most elements. 



Conversely, more aggressive mitigation plans that align with the Paris Agreement - SSP1-2.6 (about 1.8 °C peak warming) and SSP1-1.9 (1.5 °C) - cut the average probability to roughly 37 percent and 14 percent, respectively, though they do not eliminate risk entirely.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extra-push-from-carbon-cycle-feedbacks">Extra push from carbon-cycle feedbacks</h2>



The study also tackled a longstanding concern that emissions released by one tipping element - specifically Amazon dieback or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-thaw-is-a-rising-threat-to-arctic-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">permafrost thaw</a> - could generate sufficient extra warming to push others over the edge.



By embedding a conceptual carbon-feedback module inside FaIR, the researchers found that even under current-policy warming, additional carbon from those two sources would raise global temperature by a median of only 0.22 °C by 2300. 



That figure is an order of magnitude smaller than the warming driven directly by human activity and increases the average tipping probability by just three percentage points. In high-emission futures the absolute carbon release is larger, but the boost to global temperature is proportionally smaller because anthropogenic emissions dominate. 



The conclusion: feedbacks from these two carbon-rich systems are not, on their own, likely to set off a domino cascade. Nonetheless, the authors caution that other physical interactions - such as changes in ocean circulation or cloud cover - could still amplify risks in ways not captured by the present model.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-warming-a-question-of-timing">Global warming: A question of timing</h2>



One of the biggest unknowns remains how fast each tipping element responds once its threshold temperature is crossed. The team calculated two extremes.



In an “instantaneous” view, an element flips as soon as the global mean temperature passes its threshold. In an “equilibrium” view, tipping occurs only if temperature remains above that threshold after the climate stabilizes.



For high-emission scenarios, where warming climbs continuously, the distinction hardly matters. In mitigation pathways that involve a mid-century overshoot followed by cooling, however, the assumed reaction speed makes a dramatic difference: instantaneous triggering can more than double the probability relative to the equilibrium calculation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preventing-the-climate-tipping-points">Preventing the climate tipping points</h2>



“The good news from our study is that the power to prevent climate tipping points is still in our hands,” Deutloff said. 



“By moving towards a more sustainable future with lower emissions, the risk of triggering these tipping points is significantly reduced. And it appears that breaching tipping points within the Amazon and the permafrost region should not necessarily trigger others.”



Study co-author Tim Lenton warmer that climate tipping points could have devastating consequences for humanity,. "It is clear that we are currently on a dangerous trajectory - with tipping points likely to be triggered unless we change course rapidly." 



"We need urgent global action - including the triggering of ‘positive tipping points’ in our societies and economies - to reach a safe and sustainable future," said Lenton. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rapid-transitions-are-urgently-needed">Rapid transitions are urgently needed</h2>



Positive tipping points refer to self-reinforcing social and technological shifts - such as rapid adoption of renewable energy, electric vehicles or new food systems - that can drive emissions downward at exponential rates. 



The authors argue that deliberately engineering such rapid transitions is now humanity’s best chance of keeping global warming below levels where probabilities of catastrophic change climb toward certainty.



The numbers in the study translate an abstract worry into a concrete risk metric: a 62 percent chance of rolling the dice on irreversible change under today’s national pledges. 



Whether that gamble is acceptable, they say, will be decided by the policy choices of this decade, choices that will echo for centuries through the stability of ice sheets, forests, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/weakening-ocean-currents-could-cost-trillions-of-dollars/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ocean currents</a> - and the societies that depend on them.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/16/565/2025/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth Systems Dynamics</a>.



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Climate tipping points: How close are we to irreversible change?

The planet is edging far closer to irreversible change than...

A team of scientists has developed a real-life method that changes how we see color. The experts are not just enhancing what’s already there - they’re showing people a color that doesn’t naturally exist in the world around us. 



A deeply vivid blue-green shade that viewers say is unlike anything they’ve ever seen.



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Berkeley</a> have introduced a novel method known as “Oz.” 



The technique uses precise beams of laser light to activate individual photoreceptor cells in the retina, allowing them to craft a completely new visual experience. 



The resulting color, which they call “olo,” has never before been seen by human eyes.



“It was like a profoundly saturated teal… the most saturated natural color was just pale by comparison,” said Austin Roorda, a professor of optometry and vision science at UC Berkeley.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-laser-light-and-human-color-vision">Laser light and human color vision</h2>



The Oz system can target and stimulate up to 1,000 individual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-and-monkeys-probably-see-color-differently/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cone cells</a> in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-create-eye-tissue-through-3d-bioprinting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eye</a> at once. This allows the user to see the color olo, along with shapes, lines, motion, and even recognizable images, like babies or fish, all of which are conjured up within a tiny portion of the visual field.



“We chose Oz to be the name because it was like we were going on a journey to the land of Oz to see this brilliant color that we'd never seen before,” said James Carl Fong, a doctoral student in electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS) at UC Berkeley.



“We’ve created a system that can track, target and stimulate photoreceptor cells with such high precision that we can now answer very basic, but also very thought-provoking questions about the nature of human color vision."



The system relies on an incredibly refined method of directing microscopic pulses of green laser light onto the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hormone-see-color/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">retina</a>. 



These are controlled in a way that either excites or avoids specific types of photoreceptors - S, M, or L cones. It’s like painting with light, but at the scale of individual cells.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-color-vision-puzzle">The color vision puzzle</h2>



Humans see color through three types of cone cells. S cones detect short (blue) wavelengths of light, M cones detect medium (green) ones, and L cones detect longer (red) wavelengths. 



But M and L cones respond to very similar light, with their activation range overlapping by about 85 percent. That overlap makes it impossible to stimulate M cones in isolation using natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-color-of-light-impacts-our-internal-clocks-and-circadian-rhythms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">light</a>.



“There's no wavelength in the world that can stimulate only the M cone,” said Ren Ng, a professor at UC Berkeley. “I began wondering what it would look like if you could just stimulate all the M cone cells. Would it be like the greenest green you've ever seen?”



To explore this, Ng partnered with Roorda, who had already developed a technique for stimulating individual photoreceptors. Together, they expanded it to target thousands of cells, hoping it would unlock new visual experiences.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-tiny-technicolor-display">A tiny, technicolor display</h2>



The Oz project began in 2018, with Fong building the software that would translate digital images into micro-laser signals. 



But before those signals could be sent, the team needed a map of a person’s retinal cone arrangement. Collaborators at the University of Washington provided just that - an optical system to image and identify each cone in the eye.



Once mapped, Oz would fire pulses only when the laser beam aligned with the intended cones. Although the laser itself is just green, activating specific combinations of S, M, and L cones allows the system to generate a full range of colors. Or, by focusing mostly on M cones, it can create olo.



“If you look at your index fingernail at arm's length, that's about the size of the display,” Roorda said. “But if we could, we would have filled the entire visual space like an IMAX.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-striking-new-color-from-a-laser-beam">Striking new color from a laser beam</h2>



To test Oz, five participants - including Roorda and Ng - viewed the new color and compared it to other colors. They all described olo as an intense blue-green, much more saturated than anything they’d ever encountered.



“The most saturated colors you can experience in nature are the monochromatic ones. Light from a green laser pointer is one example,” Roorda said. “When I pinned olo up against other monochromatic light, I really had that ‘wow’ experience.”



Doctoral student Hannah Doyle led the experiments. She also tested what happened to the color when the laser beam was slightly “jittered,” hitting random cones instead of only M cones. Just like that, olo vanished.



“I wasn't a subject for this paper, but I've seen olo since, and it's very striking. You know you're looking at something very blue-green,” Doyle said. “When the laser gets jittered, the normal color of the laser almost looks like yellow because the difference is so stark.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-ways-to-study-sight">New ways to study sight</h2>



The Oz system isn’t just a visual trick - it may offer powerful new tools for studying vision loss and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rare-retinal-cells-explain-complex-color-perception/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">color perception</a>. Diseases that damage cone cells could be simulated with pinpoint accuracy by deactivating targeted cells in healthy participants.



“Many diseases that cause visual impairment involve lost cone cells,” Doyle said. “One application that I'm exploring now is to use this cone by cone activation to simulate cone loss in healthy subjects.”



There’s also potential for helping those with color blindness to see a broader spectrum, or even giving people tetrachromatic vision - the ability to see four primary color dimensions instead of three.



“We found that we can recreate a normal visual experience just by manipulating the cells - not by casting an image, but just by stimulating the photoreceptors. And we found that we can also expand that visual experience, which we did with olo,” Roorda said.



“It’s still a mystery whether, if you expand the signals or generate new sensory inputs, will the brain be able to make sense of them and appreciate them? And, you know, I like to believe that it can. I think that the human brain is this really remarkable organ that does a great job of making sense of inputs, existing or even new,” he concluded.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu1052" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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Scientists just created a never-before-seen color using laser light

A team of scientists has developed a real-life method that...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

Dwarf galaxy provides a window into the early universe

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