Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Lake Chad in central Africa. The photograph was taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station.



According to <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154407/lake-chads-water-wetlands-and-dunes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>, Lake Chad once ranked among the largest natural lakes in the world. It was a critical resource for millions of people and animals, supporting agriculture and fishing across the region.&nbsp;



Lake Chad straddles the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon. The shallow <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lakes-are-warming-toward-the-point-of-no-return/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lake</a> is primarily fed by the Chari River, which brings water from the Central African Republic.&nbsp;



The water levels are also influenced by seasonal rainfall. The rainfall patterns vary significantly across the basin but generally follow a wet-dry seasonal cycle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-environmental-decline-and-shrinkage-nbsp">Environmental decline and shrinkage&nbsp;</h2>



From the 1960s to the early 2000s, the lake lost more than 90 percent of its surface area. It transformed from a vast expanse of open water into a patchwork of wetlands, reed beds, and scattered pools.&nbsp;



This environmental decline has had severe consequences for local communities, leading to food and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-water-security-relies-on-the-origins-of-rainfall/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water insecurity</a>, loss of livelihoods, and increasing competition over scarce resources.



“Ongoing droughts and the rising demand for fresh water have shrunk the lake to less than a tenth of the area it covered in the middle of the last century,” noted NASA.



“Although the lake has experienced dry and wet periods for thousands of years, there has been a significant decline in the amount of lake water available since the 1960s.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conflict-culture-and-economy">Conflict, culture, and economy</h2>



Lake Chad is a geopolitical hotspot. The region has been affected by conflict, including the insurgency led by Boko Haram, which has displaced millions and further complicated efforts to manage and protect the lake’s fragile ecosystem.&nbsp;



Despite these challenges, regional governments and international organizations are working to restore and sustain the lake, including ambitious proposals to divert water from the Congo River basin.



Culturally and economically, Lake Chad remains vital. It is a hub for trade and social exchange among diverse ethnic groups and continues to provide fish and fertile land despite its reduced size.&nbsp;



The future of Lake Chad hinges on sustainable water management, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-extremes-alter-how-sunlight-travels-through-clear-lakes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate</a> resilience, and political cooperation across national boundaries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-of-lake-chad-nbsp">Evolution of Lake Chad&nbsp;</h2>



According to NASA, the evolution of Lake Chad has been documented by astronaut photography over the past 60 years.&nbsp;



“During the Apollo 7 mission in 1968, an astronaut acquired an oblique <a href="https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=AS07&amp;roll=8&amp;frame=1932" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photograph</a> of the lake as one large body of water. In 1982, another <a href="https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=STS005&amp;roll=39&amp;frame=1022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photo</a> from the space shuttle mission STS-5 recorded receding water levels and encroaching sand dunes.”



“A <a href="https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS042&amp;roll=E&amp;frame=244403" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">photo</a> taken in 2015 during space station Expedition 42 captured the lake’s remaining waters and wetlands in dark green, blue, and brown, contrasting with the sandy shades of the surrounding land.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildlife-of-lake-chad">Wildlife of Lake Chad</h2>



Lake Chad still supports wildlife, though species diversity and abundance have declined significantly due to ecosystem degradation



The lake and its surrounding wetlands are home to several species of fish, including tilapia, catfish, and Nile perch, which are important both ecologically and economically.&nbsp;



These fish support a major regional fishing industry, although overfishing and changes in water conditions have put pressure on fish populations.



Birds are another key component of the ecosystem. The lake serves as a crucial habitat and stopover point for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-may-be-using-quantum-physics-for-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">migratory birds</a> traveling along the African-Eurasian flyway.&nbsp;



Species such as herons, storks, ducks, and geese can be found in the region, especially during the wet season when parts of the lake flood and create rich feeding grounds.



Mammals that depend on the surrounding floodplains and wetlands include hippos and various antelope species, yet their numbers have declined.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conservation-efforts-and-challenges">Conservation efforts and challenges</h2>



Reptiles like Nile crocodiles and turtles also inhabit the lake's waters and marshy areas. In the past, larger wildlife such as elephants and lions may have roamed the wider Lake Chad basin, but they are now mostly gone from the immediate lake area due to habitat loss and human activity.



Despite these challenges, Lake Chad remains an important, yet increasingly fragile, refuge for wildlife in a region where water and natural habitats are becoming more scarce.&nbsp;



Conservation efforts aim to balance the needs of people and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-freshwater-species-are-threatened-with-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife</a>, but the success of such efforts depends on managing the lake’s limited resources in the face of climate change, political instability, and population growth.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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Lake Chad: A vanishing lifeline in Central Africa

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

Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features smoke hovering over the Butler Fire in Six Rivers National Forest. The fire was sparked by lightning on July 1 before quickly spreading to the east of Orleans, California.&nbsp;



By July 16, the Butler Fire had burned more than 9,000 acres and was zero percent contained.&nbsp;



Fueled by triple-digit temperatures and low humidity, the fire produced massive smoke plumes that drifted westward, impacting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-are-changing-the-quality-of-our-air/">air quality</a> across the region.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-california-fires-ignited-by-lightning">California fires ignited by lightning</h2>



About 75 miles southeast of the Butler Fire, the Green Fire has been burning for weeks near the Pit River arm of Shasta Lake. The fire was also ignited by lightning.&nbsp;



By mid-July, the Green Fire had scorched over 15,000 acres and was only 13 percent contained.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154554/wildfire-smoke-billows-over-northern-california">NASA</a>, the fire’s rapid spread was driven by similarly extreme conditions - temperatures above 100°F and humidity levels below 20 percent.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-california-s-intense-2025-fire-season">California’s intense 2025 fire season</h2>



California’s 2025 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-seasons-are-now-overlapping-worldwide/">wildfire season</a> started early - and with alarming intensity. In January, Southern California endured destructive fires that were fueled by strong Santa Ana winds.&nbsp;



Most notably, the Palisades and Eaton Fires burned over 57,000 acres, destroyed thousands of homes, and resulted in around 30 fatalities.&nbsp;



Through mid-July, more than 4,195 wildfires had scorched over 201,000 acres statewide. This is nearly triple the area burned in the same period in 2024 and well above the five-year average.&nbsp;



Among these fires, the massive Madre Fire in San Luis Obispo County alone had burned more than 80,000 acres by early July, making it the largest wildfire of the season.



California is entering the peak of its fire season amid worsening climate-driven hot and dry weather, with fire agencies forecasting above-normal fire potential through August and September.&nbsp;



Firefighters and communities are facing increasingly complex and dangerous conditions, including extreme heat, dry vegetation, and low humidity. These factors are making wildfires harder to predict and control.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-intense-fire-seasons-ahead">More intense fire seasons ahead</h2>



Looking ahead, California’s wildfire seasons are expected to grow longer and more intense as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-making-wildfire-smoke-more-deadly/">climate change</a> continues to reshape the landscape. 



Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and shrinking snowpacks are drying out forests and grasslands earlier in the year, creating dangerous conditions months before the traditional fire season.&nbsp;



Scientists warn that even in wetter years, vegetation growth can provide abundant fuel that dries out quickly under warming trends. This increases the risk of fast-moving, high-intensity fires.&nbsp;



The state is also seeing more fire activity in regions once considered low risk, including coastal areas and higher elevations.



In addition to fueling larger and more frequent fires, climate change is complicating response and recovery efforts. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-making-wildfire-smoke-more-deadly/">Smoke</a> from massive wildfires can impact extensive regions, posing serious health risks and straining public health systems.&nbsp;



Ultimately, experts agree that without significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of global warming, wildfires will remain one of the most visible and destructive symptoms of a <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/wildfires-and-climate-change/">changing climate</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-living-with-fire">Living with fire</h2>



As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fast-wildfires-are-gaining-even-more-speed/">wildfires</a> become a more permanent fixture of life in California, residents are adapting to new realities. From packing emergency “go bags” in spring to installing air purifiers and fire-resistant landscaping, preparedness is becoming part of everyday life.&nbsp;



Schools and workplaces now routinely factor wildfire smoke into closure plans, and emergency drills are no longer seasonal but year-round.



For people on the front lines - firefighters, emergency responders, and healthcare workers - demands will only get worse and more support is needed. Many are calling for improved pay and benefits, as well as mental health services to cope with repeated trauma.



Living with fire in California means balancing resilience with action. Communities must prepare for fire, recover from fire, and push for climate policies that may prevent a future defined by ever-worsening wildfire seasons.



The image was captured on July 13, 2025 by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellites/landsat-8/">Landsat 8 satellite</a>.&nbsp;



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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California's extreme fire season rages on

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features Abell S1063, a massive galaxy cluster located about 4.5 billion light-years from Earth. The galaxy cluster was captured by the Webb telescope in stunning detail.



According to <a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/05/Webb_glimpses_the_distant_past" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESA</a>, the image is what’s known as a deep field - a long exposure of a single area of the sky, collecting as much light as possible to draw out the most faint and distant galaxies that don’t appear in ordinary images.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-galaxies-of-the-early-universe">Galaxies of the early universe </h2>



Composed of nine separate snapshots taken at different near-infrared wavelengths over roughly 120 hours, this image represents Webb’s most detailed and deepest view of a single target so far.&nbsp;



Thanks to the gravitational lensing effect of Abell S1063, astronomers can peer deeper into the past than ever before - possibly viewing some of the universe’s very <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-galaxies-formed-from-the-earliest-elements-in-the-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first galaxies</a>.



“The eye is first drawn, in this new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month, to the central mega-monster that is galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This behemoth collection of galaxies, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the scene,” noted ESA.



“Looking more closely, this dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs are the true object of scientists’ interest: faint galaxies from the universe’s distant past.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-a-galaxy-cluster">What is a galaxy cluster?</h2>



Galaxy clusters are the largest known gravitationally bound systems and include not just galaxies, but also vast amounts of hot, X-ray-emitting gas and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-true-nature-of-dark-matter-may-be-revealed-in-a-supernova/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dark matter</a>.&nbsp;



The galaxies within a cluster move through this hot intracluster medium, and their interactions can lead to phenomena like galaxy mergers or the stripping of gas from galaxies.&nbsp;



Galaxy clusters are important for studying the large-scale structure of the universe, the behavior of dark matter, and the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hundreds-of-galaxies-bound-together-nbsp">Hundreds of galaxies bound together&nbsp;</h2>



As one of the most densely populated clusters known, Abell S1063 contains hundreds of galaxies bound together by gravity.&nbsp;



Its immense mass makes it an excellent example of a gravitational lens - a cosmic phenomenon where the cluster’s gravity bends and magnifies the light from galaxies far behind it.&nbsp;



This effect allows astronomers to observe incredibly faint and distant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/milky-way-like-galaxies-were-present-in-the-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">galaxies</a> that would otherwise be beyond our detection limits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-galaxy-evolution">Studying galaxy evolution</h2>



The cluster has been the focus of several major observational campaigns. It was prominently featured in the Hubble Space Telescope’s Frontier Fields program, which used its gravitational lensing power to study the early universe.&nbsp;



“The new imagery from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) takes this quest even further back in time,” said ESA.



“This image showcases an incredible forest of lensing arcs around Abell S1063, which reveal distorted background galaxies at a range of cosmic distances, along with a multitude of faint galaxies and previously unseen features.”



These observations are helping scientists probe the Cosmic Dawn era - the period shortly after the Big Bang.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exploring-the-cosmic-dawn-nbsp">Exploring the Cosmic Dawn&nbsp;</h2>



The Cosmic Dawn refers to a time in the history of the universe when the first stars and galaxies began to form and shine. This pivotal era occurred roughly between 100 million and 1 billion years after the Big Bang.&nbsp;



During the Dark Ages, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fastest-feeding-black-hole-found-in-the-early-universe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">universe</a> had cooled enough for neutral hydrogen to form, but no luminous objects yet existed to light it up.&nbsp;



The birth of the first stars - often massive and short-lived - marked the beginning of the Cosmic Dawn. These stars emitted intense ultraviolet radiation, which gradually ionized the surrounding hydrogen gas in a process known as reionization.&nbsp;



This transformed the universe from a cold, opaque environment into one that was transparent to light, enabling the large-scale structure of the cosmos to take shape.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-constellation-grus">The constellation Grus</h2>



Grus is a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-jupiter-discovered-in-the-great-bear-constellation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">constellation</a> in the southern sky, its name derived from the Latin word for "crane," a type of large, graceful bird.&nbsp;



It was introduced in the late 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, during an era of celestial charting tied to European exploration of the southern hemisphere.&nbsp;



Grus is part of a group of constellations known as the "Southern Birds," which also includes Phoenix, Tucana, and Pavo.



This constellation lies near the celestial south pole and is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere during the months of August through October.&nbsp;



Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA &amp; CSA, H. Atek, M. Zamani



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Hundreds of galaxies illuminate the early universe 

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

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features the spiral galaxy UGC 11397 in the constellation Lyra (The Lyre).



The light captured in this striking image traveled for 250 million years before reaching the NASA/ESA <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/35-years-of-hubble-the-telescope-that-changed-our-view-of-the-universe/">Hubble Space Telescope</a>.



“At first glance, UGC 11397 appears to be an average spiral galaxy: it sports two graceful spiral arms that are illuminated by stars and defined by dark, clumpy clouds of dust,” noted ESA.



“What sets UGC 11397 apart from a typical spiral lies at its center, where a supermassive black hole containing 174 million times the mass of the Sun is growing.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-hidden-powerhouse">A hidden powerhouse</h2>



As the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/largest-oldest-black-hole-jet-ever-seen-is-size-of-three-milky-ways-j1601-3102/">black hole</a> consumes gas, dust, and even entire stars from its surroundings, the infalling material heats up dramatically, producing a dazzling display of energy.&nbsp;



These emissions span the electromagnetic spectrum - from gamma rays to radio waves - and can flare or fade unpredictably.&nbsp;



“But in some galaxies, including UGC 11397, thick clouds of dust hide much of this energetic activity from view in optical light,” explained ESA.



“Despite this, UGC 11397's actively growing black hole was revealed through its bright X-ray emission - high-energy light that can pierce the surrounding dust.”&nbsp;



Its distinctive signature has earned UGC 11397 the classification of a Type 2 Seyfert galaxy. This category describes active galaxies whose central regions are obscured in visible light by a doughnut-shaped cloud of dust and gas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-galaxy-and-black-hole-growth">Galaxy and black hole growth</h2>



“Using Hubble, researchers will study hundreds of galaxies that, like UGC 11397, harbor a supermassive black hole that is gaining mass,” noted ESA.&nbsp;



“The Hubble observations will help researchers weigh nearby supermassive black holes, understand how black holes grew early in the universe’s history, and even study how stars form in the extreme environment found at the very center of a galaxy.”



Studying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hidden-galaxies-discovery-would-upend-current-understanding-of-universe/">galaxies</a> like UGC 11397 also offers insight into the mysterious relationship between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.&nbsp;



Despite residing at the heart of galaxies, these black holes influence their surroundings on a much larger scale, often regulating the formation of stars and even shaping the structure of the galaxy itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-black-hole-origins">Tracing black hole origins</h2>



One of the key questions astronomers hope to answer is how these black holes grow so massive in the first place.&nbsp;



While some appear to have formed gradually over billions of years, others - especially those in the early universe - seem to have reached enormous sizes much more quickly. 



Observations of galaxies such as UGC 11397 provide crucial data to test different growth scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-clearer-picture-of-cosmic-evolution">A clearer picture of cosmic evolution</h2>



By combining Hubble’s observations with data from other telescopes, including those that detect X-rays and radio waves, researchers can build a more complete picture of how matter behaves around black holes.&nbsp;



This multi-wavelength approach is essential for studying objects obscured by dust, like Type 2 Seyfert galaxies, where optical views alone can be misleading.



Hubble’s sharp vision also allows astronomers to examine the surrounding galactic disk and spiral arms in high detail. 



These structures hold clues about recent star formation, galactic dynamics, and how gas flows toward the center - fueling both star birth and black hole growth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-black-hole-energy-in-active-galaxies">Black hole energy in active galaxies</h2>



In many active <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-galaxies-revealed-in-a-single-webb-image/">galaxies</a>, the energy released by the central black hole can blast out powerful winds or jets that affect star formation. These feedback processes can either shut down or stimulate the creation of new stars, depending on the conditions.&nbsp;



Understanding when and how this feedback occurs is another major goal of Hubble’s ongoing studies.



UGC 11397 is just one of many galaxies being surveyed as part of broader efforts to trace the cosmic history of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/black-holes-turn-into-white-holes-and-blast-out-matter-and-time-runs-backwards/">black hole</a> activity.&nbsp;



Projects such as these are helping scientists map how common active galactic nuclei are, how their properties evolve over time, and how they relate to galaxy mergers and other large-scale events.



The wealth of information gathered from galaxies like UGC 11397 is not only deepening our understanding of black holes but also refining models of galaxy formation and evolution.&nbsp;



With each new observation, astronomers are piecing together the vast and complex puzzle of how galaxies and their central engines co-evolve across cosmic time.



Image Credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA, M. J. Koss, A. J. Barth



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Bright spiral galaxy hides a dark secret

Today's Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features the Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16, which is located about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.



The Eagle Nebula is one of the most iconic star-forming regions in our galaxy.&nbsp;It’s a vast cloud of gas and dust stretching roughly 70 light-years across.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pillars-of-creation-nbsp">Pillars of Creation&nbsp;</h2>



What makes it especially famous is a portion of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/six-rogue-worlds-discovered-inside-a-young-star-forming-nebula/">nebula</a> captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 - an area called the "Pillars of Creation."&nbsp;



Some of these towering columns of gas are several light-years tall. The towers resemble sculpted fingers reaching out into space. Inside these pillars, new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/serpens-nebula-image-reveals-how-stars-are-born/">stars</a> are being born as gravity pulls material together into dense cores that eventually ignite nuclear fusion.



The Pillars of Creation are often cited as a poetic example of the cosmic cycle of birth and destruction - where new stars are born even as the surrounding material is slowly destroyed by radiation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hubble-image-of-the-eagle-nebula-nbsp">Hubble image of the Eagle Nebula&nbsp;</h2>



“This towering structure of billowing gas and dark, obscuring dust might only be a small portion of the Eagle Nebula, but it is no less majestic in appearance for it,” said <a href="https://esahubble.org/images/heic2507a/">ESA</a>.



“The new Hubble image is part of ESA/Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations. The cosmic cloud shown here is made of cold hydrogen gas, like the rest of the Eagle Nebula. In such regions of space new stars are born among the collapsing clouds.”&nbsp;



The hot, energetic stars emit intense ultraviolet light and powerful stellar winds that erode and sculpt the surrounding gas. The result is the creation of fantastical structures - like the narrow pillar with a blossoming head featured in the Hubble image.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-light-and-shadow-in-the-eagle-nebula">Light and shadow in the Eagle Nebula</h2>



The thick material in the pillar blocks most light, appearing dark and heavy against the backdrop. However, its edges glow where light from the more distant nebula shines through.&nbsp;



The striking colors reflect the chemistry and physics at play: blues signal ionized oxygen, reds indicate glowing hydrogen, and orange shows where starlight has managed to pierce the dust.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-structure-under-siege">A structure under siege</h2>



Just out of frame lie the very stars responsible for shaping this dramatic pillar. Their radiation and winds continue to batter the cloud, compressing the gas and potentially triggering the birth of even more stars within.



For now, the pillar holds firm, but this stability is temporary. Over time, the relentless energy from newly formed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fluffy-molecular-clouds-may-change-our-understanding-of-star-formation/">stars</a> will eventually erode the entire structure.



“While the starry pillar has withstood these forces well so far, cutting an impressive shape against the background, eventually it will be totally eroded by the multitude of new stars that form in the Eagle Nebula,” explained ESA.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-cycle-of-the-milky-way">Life cycle of the Milky Way</h2>



The nebula’s location in the Sagittarius Arm - one of the Milky Way’s major spiral arms - places it in a zone bustling with similar star-forming regions. This highlights the role of the Eagle Nebula in shaping the structure and the future of our galaxy.



Studies of the Eagle Nebula have revealed that the region is rich in young, hot stars - some of which are only a few million years old. These stars are in various stages of development, providing a natural laboratory for astronomers to study stellar life cycles.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-of-the-eagle-nebula-nbsp">Evolution of the Eagle Nebula&nbsp;</h2>



Within the Eagle Nebula, there is a variety of stellar processes occurring in close proximity. Some stars are still forming within dense clouds of gas, while others have already matured and begun to emit powerful ultraviolet radiation.&nbsp;



The ongoing interaction between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/star-formation-reignited-in-the-galaxy-leo-p-after-billions-of-years/">young stars</a> and their environment drives the evolution of the nebula itself.&nbsp;



As newly formed stars heat and disperse the gas and dust around them, they trigger further waves of star formation - or in some cases, halt it altogether.&nbsp;



This feedback loop not only influences the pace of star birth in the Eagle Nebula but also contributes to the broader life cycle of matter within the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/milky-way-collision-may-change-everything-we-know-about-our-galaxy/">Milky Way</a>, enriching the galaxy with heavier elements forged in stellar cores.



Image Credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA, K. Noll



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Eagle Nebula: Carving light from darkness

Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features a satellite view of smoke from fires burning in Manitoba, Canada on July 9, 2025.&nbsp;



Manitoba is facing its most severe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-seasons-are-now-overlapping-worldwide/">wildfire season</a> on record - driven by extreme heat, drought, and strong winds.



By mid‑May, five fires in Manitoba were already classified as out of control, including one north of Whiteshell Provincial Park that rapidly consumed more than 100,000 hectares.



A record‑breaking heat wave around May 13, which was the hottest day Winnipeg has seen in 125 years, further accelerated the spread of the fires.



“Large fires have burned in Canada’s Manitoba province since May 2025, but the intensity of activity escalated in July,” noted <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154531/manitoba-burning">NASA</a>. 



“The province’s wildfire service reported 98 active fires burning on July 8, including 16 that were listed as out of control across the northern, western, and eastern parts of the province.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smoke-plumes-are-shifting-directions-nbsp">Smoke plumes are shifting directions&nbsp;</h2>



The fires have blown across vast swaths of northern Manitoba, at times closing in on urban centers like Flin Flon and The Pas. 



Dense smoke rendered aerial firefighting efforts dangerous or impossible, forcing firefighting crews to focus on protecting lives and infrastructure from the ground. 



Smoke plumes drifted south into the U.S. Upper Midwest, degrading <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-are-changing-the-quality-of-our-air/">air quality</a> in states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, where conditions reached unhealthy levels and outdoor activities were limited.



“At the time the image was acquired, dense smoke plumes from several of the largest fires streamed north; however, satellites have often observed plumes from Manitoba’s fires blowing east in recent weeks and months,” noted NASA.



Persistent smoke has caused air alert levels to spike across North America. A growing collection of research links <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-making-wildfire-smoke-more-deadly/">wildfire smoke exposure</a> to long‑term health risks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-escalating-fire-crisis-in-manitoba-nbsp">Escalating fire crisis in Manitoba&nbsp;</h2>



“As of July 9, fires in 2025 had charred 4.8 million hectares across Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. That’s an area about twice the size of New Jersey and nearly four times the 25-year average,” said NASA.



“Manitoba accounted for about 1 million hectares of burned area, about 20 times more than at the same point in 2024 and 13 times more than the 25-year average.”



Despite brief relief from cooler weather and scattered rain, officials caution that full containment of the fires remains a long way off. The threat of flare-ups grows as temperatures continue to rise.



Authorities in Manitoba have emphasized the importance of fire‑smart behavior and compliance with restrictions in what continues to unfold as a historic wildfire emergency.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-remote-communities-face-greater-risks">Remote communities face greater risks</h2>



First Nations communities have been hit especially hard by Manitoba’s wildfire crisis. Many of these communities are located in remote areas with limited road access, which complicates evacuation efforts and delays emergency response.&nbsp;



Critical firefighting infrastructure - such as water tanks, hoses, and trained personnel - is often lacking. In some cases, airstrips are too small to accommodate large aircraft needed for evacuations or supply drops.



These challenges stem from long-standing systemic inequities. Chronic underfunding of infrastructure, healthcare, housing, and emergency services has left many Indigenous communities more vulnerable to climate-related disasters.&nbsp;



When <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fast-wildfires-are-gaining-even-more-speed/">wildfires</a> strike, the impacts on these remote communities are often more severe and long-lasting.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-rise-of-extreme-fire-seasons">The rise of extreme fire seasons</h2>



Climate change is intensifying wildfire activity across Canada and beyond. Rising global temperatures have led to longer and more severe fire seasons, as warmer air draws more moisture from vegetation and soil, leaving forests drier and more flammable.&nbsp;



In Manitoba, an early onset of heat and persistent drought created ideal conditions for ignition and rapid spread - conditions that are becoming increasingly common in a warming world.



In addition to fueling drier landscapes, climate change has altered atmospheric patterns that influence fire behavior. Shifts in jet streams and the frequency of high-pressure systems can trap <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-heat-is-pushing-parts-of-earth-beyond-human-survival/">heat</a> over regions for prolonged periods.&nbsp;



These effects compound the risks, turning what might once have been manageable fire seasons into widespread and persistent emergencies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-future-with-more-megafires">A future with more megafires </h2>



While wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems, the scale and intensity now being observed point to a system pushed beyond historical norms.&nbsp;



Experts warn that without major cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, Canada will face more frequent megafires - especially in fire-prone provinces like Manitoba. 



These escalating fires are expected to bring greater health risks from smoke and increasing strain on emergency response systems.



The image was captured on July 9, 2025 by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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From drought to disaster: Manitoba’s fire crisis escalates

Animals are constantly fighting over food, shelter, mates, or space. Most studies judge those clashes in the moment - by who won, who lost, and who got hurt. Two behavioral ecologists argue that this snapshot view misses the bigger evolutionary picture. 



To understand why, when, and how animals choose to fight or flee, the researchers say we have to track the long arc of costs and payoffs across an individual’s whole life. That includes how conflict shapes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scents-of-survival-how-plant-aromas-shape-insect-diets/">survival</a> and the number of offspring left behind.



The study, led by Paulo Enrique Cardoso Peixoto from the <a href="https://ufmg.br/international-visitors">Federal University of Minas Gerais</a> in Brazil, lays out a path for linking contest behavior to fitness.



“By linking individual contests to lifetime <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reproductive-success-of-southern-white-rhinos-linked-to-gut-microbiome/">reproductive success</a>, we can understand how different contexts and environmental situations could favor the evolution of decision strategies in different species,” Peixoto said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-animals-fight-often">Why animals fight often</h2>



Displays, jousts, and all‑out fights occur across the animal kingdom. Sometimes they are ritualized shows of strength; sometimes they involve real blows, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-body-connection-wounds-heal-faster-if-we-think-more-time-has-passed/">wounds</a>, and death.



Even symbolic standoffs drain energy reserves. Because conflicts can bring both rewards and risks, natural selection should shape decision rules: when to escalate, when to back off, and when to never engage.



Value matters. A top‑tier resource - prime territory, a critical shelter site, or a receptive mate - might justify bigger risks. Lesser resources may not. The type of damage matters, too.



“If snapping <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrimp-crisis-alarming-virus-threatens-global-seafood-supplies/">shrimp</a> lose a claw during a fight, it can regrow, so it’s not a total loss because they can recover and fight subsequent contests,” Peixoto said. 



“If a beetle breaks a horn during a fight, it will not regrow, so that individual will be unable to fight again. Since they often fight for female access, this means they will be unable to reproduce anymore.”



A recoverable cost and an irreversible cost have very different consequences for lifetime breeding success.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gaps-in-animal-conflict-research">Gaps in animal conflict research</h2>



To see how biologists have been scoring these bouts, the authors reviewed 73 field and lab studies covering 62 species.



They tallied 24 types of contest cost and folded them into six broader themes. These included elevated metabolic expenditure, stress responses tied to weakened immunity, and risks like injury or death. 



Other costs were lost foraging time, reduced vigilance to predators, and cutbacks in parental care.



Different research traditions focus on different angles. Work on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-invasive-crustacean-species-discovered-in-the-mediterranean/">crustaceans</a> and fishes often zeroes in on metabolism. Insect studies tend to document broken body parts. That patchwork makes cross‑species comparisons tough.



“There is huge variation in the measurements researchers take,” Peixoto said. Variation itself is fine; the trouble is that without some common yardsticks, we cannot ask whether, say, crabs and beetles pay similar average prices for fighting.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-expanding-our-view-of-animal-conflict">Expanding our view of animal conflict </h2>



Short‑term metrics also dominate. Many experiments measure what happens minutes or hours after a contest and stop there. 



Yet the most meaningful cost might unfold weeks later if an injured animal skips a breeding season, or years later if <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chronic-stress-disrupts-gut-bacteria-and-fuels-cancer-progression/">chronic stress</a> cuts lifespan.



So what should come next? “We need to link the average cost in a single contest to the individual’s longevity or lifetime reproductive success,” Peixoto said.



“For example, are there contexts that favor individuals that always fight and are more aggressive, and other situations that favor more cautious individuals that only fight weaker rivals to increase their chances of winning?”



The answer likely differs by species, habitat, and the reliability of signals about opponent strength.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-fights-across-lifetimes">Tracking fights across lifetimes</h2>



The researchers propose starting by identifying the cost that matters most for the focal species - irreparable injury, energy drain, or lost breeding time. 



Next, measure how that cost accumulates within a contest relative to baseline. Finally, scale up: track how often individuals engage in fights over a lifetime and tally their reproductive output.



“By knowing the average number of fights that different individuals are involved in and their lifespans, we can estimate whether individuals who fight more or less have better lifetime reproductive success,” Peixoto said.



“This connection would allow us to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary dynamics of animal contests and the trade-offs individuals face.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-broader-implications-of-the-research">Broader implications of the research </h2>



Wildlife managers, conservation biologists, and evolutionary theorists all stand to benefit from a better understanding of animal conflict. 



If escalating human disturbance changes how often animals must fight for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-heat-shrinking-habitats-insects-face-hidden-threats/">shrinking resources</a>, the lifetime toll could ripple through populations.



Standardizing how we track contest costs - and extending those measures over years - will reveal when aggression pays and when it backfires. It will also show how natural selection calibrates the will to fight across the tree of life.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169534725001533">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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Wild animal fights can harm a species for generations

Animals are constantly fighting over food, shelter, mates, or space. Most...

vibora-colores-brillantes-espinas-tailandia - 1

Divers exploring coral outcrops near Kumejima Island in Japan thought they had found novelty props for an aquarium display. Instead, their cameras captured a tiny siphon‑pumping animal whose stark white stripes and dark eye‑like spots looked like a cartoon <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-panda-day-2025-from-the-brink-of-extinction-to-hope/">panda</a> wearing a skeleton costume.



The inch‑tall surprise soon went viral in diver forums, and what began as a curiosity post led researchers to a bona fide species never cataloged before. 



Study coauthor <a href="https://researchmap.jp/hoya_nhasegawa?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Naohiro Hasegawa</a> of <a href="https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hokkaido University</a> arranged dives, collected specimens, and confirmed that the creature belonged to the genus Clavelina, yet was distinct enough for its own name.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-clavelina-species">New Clavelina species</h2>



Photos first appeared online in 2017, letting scientists inspect body shapes and color patterns without leaving their desks. 



Independent images posted by different dive operators also revealed that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-change-their-daily-schedules-when-tourists-are-watching/">animals</a> occurred at several reef patches between 16 and 66 feet, giving a hint that the oddity was not a photo trick.



Hasegawa’s team located colonies in 2022 and used gentle suction devices to move living clusters into chilled seawater dishes aboard their boat. 



Laboratory microscopy then mapped the arrangement of internal vessels, showing transverse white bars that create the “bones” illusion and four discrete black pigment patches on each zooid.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-morphology-and-genetics">Morphology and genetics</h2>



Thanks to the clear photos and field data, the scientists could write a precise morphological description even before genetic work began. 



Their approach echoes a broader move toward <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380943736_Passive_citizen_science_Social_media_as_a_tool_for_marine_wildlife_observation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">passive citizen‑science</a>, where researchers mine social media for reliable species observations instead of waiting for mailed specimens.



A final round of underwater surveys returned measurements on abundance and depth range, ensuring that the panda‑masked animal’s ecological niche was documented alongside its anatomy. 



Those data are now archived with <a href="https://www.kahaku.go.jp/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science</a> for easy access by future investigators.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clavelina-ossipandae">Clavelina ossipandae</h2>



The new animal was christened <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1534455-Clavelina-ossipandae" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clavelina ossipandae</a>, a nod to its bottle‑shaped body (Clavelina is Latin for “little bottle”) and its bone‑and‑panda palette. 



Each transparent zooid grows no longer than 0.8 inches, or about 20 millimeters, and sits free of its neighbors rather than sharing a common tunic, one of seven features that separate it from 44 known congeners.



Live specimens show ten to fourteen double‑row gill stigmata and two muscular ribbons running from abdomen to endostyle, details that place the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/colorful-aquarium-creature-cherax-pulverulentus-is-new-crayfish-species-never-catalogued/">species</a> within the tunicate lineage while ruling out close look‑alikes such as Clavina picta or Clavina moluccensis. 



“The white parts that look like bones are the blood vessels that run horizontally through the sea squirts' gills,” explained Hasegawa.



Another quirk involves the jet‑black <a href="https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/sites/default/files/Fig3.101A-InternalAnatomyTunicate.png" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">endostyle</a>, a mucus‑secreting groove used to trap food. 



Comparable grooves in other Clavelina members are pale, so the noir throat offers an easy field mark for photographers trying to separate the skeleton panda from less flashy relatives.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-family-ties-and-feeding">Family ties and feeding</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-squirts-cancer-treatment-promising-drug-trabectedin/">Sea squirts</a> are sessile members of the phylum Chordata, meaning their swimming larvae carry a notochord similar to the backbone we humans develop. Adults, however, cement themselves to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-oldest-known-rocks-formed-over-four-billion-years-ago/">rocks</a> and switch to a pump‑and‑filter lifestyle.



The skeleton panda follows the classic filter‑feeding routine, drawing seawater in through an oral siphon, passing it across a mesh of gill slits, and expelling it through an atrial siphon. 



Every hour, a zooid the size of a thumbnail can process volumes of water many times its own body capacity, quietly removing bacteria and microalgae that would otherwise cloud the lagoon.



Because the colony sits in sunlit shallows, stray plankton is plentiful, and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-may-have-three-million-undiscovered-animal-species/">animals</a> rarely exceed snorkel depth. For <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coastal-growth-squeezes-beaches-threatening-flood-protection/">coastal ecosystems</a>, these compact filters act like living water purifiers, clarifying reef zones where corals and juvenile fish need light.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clavelina-genes-seal-the-verdict">Clavelina genes seal the verdict</h2>



To double‑check that the panda mimic was not a color morph of an existing species, scientists sequenced 810 base pairs of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/4512" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene</a>. 



Two individuals differed by ten nucleotides, a 1.26 percent divergence, yet translated into identical amino acids, a pattern typical of intraspecific variation.



Phylogenetic analysis grouped the samples squarely inside the Clavelina clade, confirming that the combination of free zooids, panda mask, and gene signature warranted a fresh binomial. 



Collection data were deposited in Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science, making the record available for future comparative work.



Routine bar‑coding of new finds matters because many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-ancient-cousins-500-million-year-old-tunicate-holds-intriguing-secrets/">tunicates</a> carry compounds of biomedical interest, including anti‑cancer metabolites. 



Even if C. ossipandae never yields a drug, accurate placement in the tree of life guides bioprospectors toward branches more likely to host useful chemistry.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bigger-picture-for-these-tiny-creatures">Bigger picture for these tiny creatures</h2>



Diver photos once rejected as casual snapshots turned out to be first drafts of a taxonomic paper, highlighting how amateurs can accelerate discovery when scientists stay alert to online chatter. 



Mobile phone cameras now exceed the resolution of older lab instruments, so crisp images of soft‑bodied creatures travel the globe in seconds, creating virtual voucher collections.



Citizen monitoring platforms such as the <a href="https://dan.org/alert-diver/article/advancing-conservation-through-citizen-science/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reef Environmental Education Foundation</a> now log more than 300,000 underwater surveys gathered by 18,000 volunteer divers, a reminder that hobbyists routinely cover real estate scientists rarely see. 



Their effort frees researchers to focus on analysis instead of boat time, accelerating species checklists worldwide.



The find also underscores how much biodiversity hides in plain sight. Kumejima is a popular snorkel destination, yet a palm‑sized colony remained unnamed until someone noticed its Halloween stripes. 



Conservation planners use such surprises to argue for broad <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/conservation-success-stories-offer-hope-for-biodiversity/">habitat protection</a>, not just for charismatic megafauna but for sponge‑sized curiosities that stitch reef food webs together.



“We don't really know why the pattern is there,” admitted Hasegawa. The skeleton panda invites questions about evolution of color in non‑visual animals. Pigment may discourage predators or shield tissues from ultraviolet light, or it may simply be metabolic spillover with no clear purpose.&nbsp;



The study is published in <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/specdiv/29/1/29_SD22-16/_article" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Species Diversity</a>.



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Divers discovered tiny sea creatures that resemble 'swimming panda bear skeletons'

Divers exploring coral outcrops near Kumejima Island in Japan thought...

Astronomers caught a star system at the moment when solid grains began to form planets. This snapshot reveals how planets first start to form, just as Earth once did.



The infant star HOPS-315 sits about 1,300 light-years, roughly 7.6 quadrillion miles, away in the constellation Orion. Around it whirls a disc of gas and dust where heat is high enough to bake rock yet cool enough for those rocks to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-giant-planets-form/">re-form</a>.



<a href="https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/melissa-mcclure#tab-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Melissa McClure</a> of Leiden University led the international team that pieced together these first moments of planetary assembly. Their finding gives researchers a live laboratory that mirrors the opening chapter of the Solar System’s own story.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-planets-form-from-early-solids">How planets form from early solids</h2>



In primitive meteorites, tiny calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions tell us that the Solar System’s clock started ticking <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1226919" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4.567 billion</a> years ago. Those inclusions condensed from a searing vapor and seeded every terrestrial planet we know.



Because the clock starts with condensation, catching that step beyond the Sun has been an astronomer’s white whale. 



The new observation marks the first time any telescope has seen <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/cp/d2cp02188a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gas-phase silicon monoxide</a> (SiO) alongside freshly crystallizing silicates in the same patch of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/protoplanetary-disk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protoplanetary disc</a>.



McClure’s team spotted the minerals within an orbit comparable to our asteroid belt. That match matters, for it pins early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-planets-form-its-much-more-complicated-than-we-thought/">chemistry</a> to a region that later fed Earth with water and metals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crystals-forming-around-hops-315">Crystals forming around HOPS-315</h2>



The James Webb Space Telescope (<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JWST</a>) collects infrared light that pierces the dust cocoon shrouding HOPS-315, revealing the distinct fingerprint of hot SiO molecules. Those molecules glow at about 2,200°F, a temperature that vaporizes most common rocks.



<a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALMA</a>, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, then measured the same region at millimeter wavelengths and mapped where the glow comes from. 



By combining the two views, scientists confirmed that both gas and solid forms of silicon occupy a ring no farther than 2 astronomical units from the star.



Handling these observations is tricky because HOPS-315 also drives a jet rich in SiO. The team disentangled the jet’s signal from the disc’s by checking velocities, the jet gas races outward, whereas disc material <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/july-2025-skywatching-bright-planets-and-a-summer-constellation/">orbits</a> sedately.



A final check involved comparing the brightness of different SiO lines. The ratio matched laboratory predictions for vapor that is actively condensing, adding yet another layer of confidence to the result.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planets-forming-from-gas-and-crystals">Planets forming from gas and crystals</h2>



Crystalline silicates appear where cooling vapor meets a sharp fall in temperature. The presence of both phases at one location means condensation is happening right now, not long ago nor far away in another part of the disc.



“This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc, or anywhere outside our Solar System,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/astro/people/core-faculty/ebergin.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Edwin Bergin</a> of the <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/astro" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Michigan</a>, a co-author on the study. 



He adds that the minerals are the same kind locked inside 4.5-billion-year-old meteorites on Earth’s shelves.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://cdn.eso.org/images/wallpaper5/eso2512a.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/solar-system-forming_HOPS-315_ESO_1s.webp" alt="This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify. In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al." class="wp-image-1978595"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify. In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al.</figcaption></figure>



“We’re really seeing these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where we see them in asteroids in the Solar System,” said co-author, Logan Francis from the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (<a href="https://affoa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AFFOA</a>). 



He notes that the condensation zone sits at almost the same orbital radius as our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asteroids-found-in-the-main-belt-are-the-smallest-ever-detected/">asteroid belt</a>. 



The mineral grains measure less than a micrometer across, yet they mark the first step toward kilometer-scale planetesimals. Electrostatic forces will make them clump for thousands of years until <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-announce-evidence-suggesting-that-our-solar-system-has-nine-planets-again/">gravity</a> takes over.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hops-315-mirrors-earth-s-origins">HOPS-315 mirrors Earth’s origins</h2>



Laboratory studies show that minerals rich in silicon and oxygen condense first, followed quickly by iron-nickel alloys and then more volatile compounds. 



Seeing hot SiO vapor around HOPS-315 hints that a similar chemical parade is marching there.



By estimating the star’s luminosity and the disc’s temperature gradient, McClure’s group concludes that crystalline silicates could mass about a tenth of the Moon. That is plenty to seed multiple rocky planets if subsequent growth is efficient, as models suggest.



Isotopic <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.02631" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> on chondrules indicates that the earliest building blocks in our own <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/jupiters-past-how-the-young-gas-giant-shaped-our-solar-system/">Solar System</a> formed within the first million years, a timescale now testable in real time with HOPS-315.



Matching astronomical data to isotope chronometers promises a much sharper picture of planet formation than meteoritic studies alone.



The discovery may also shed light on why Earth contains less carbon than nebular models predict. If early minerals trap oxygen and silicon immediately, carbon may remain gaseous longer and get pushed outward before it can join newborn worlds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next-in-watching-planets-form">What’s next in watching planets form</h2>



Over the next year, ALMA will return to HOPS-315 to look for water ice farther out in the disc. 



If water lines up beyond the silicate ring, astronomers can test whether rocky seeds migrate inward before they acquire ice mantles, a step that may explain why Earth ended up with oceans.



JWST will track how the SiO signature evolves. A steady decline would show vapor freezing out, whereas a surge could hint at heating bursts from magnetic flares or spiral shocks.



<figure class="wp-block-embed 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/0j-MH6_QlBA?si=3P8FgBE0O2TTWsnM
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Witnessing the dawn of a new solar system. Credit: ESO</figcaption></figure>



Beyond the specifics of HOPS-315, the result boosts confidence that rocky planets are common. If condensation begins so early, many stars may launch planet formation well before their gas discs disperse, leaving time for worlds to migrate, collide, and settle into stable orbits.



Astronomer Elizabeth Humphreys at ESO, who was not involved in the study, said she was “really impressed” that the team could pinpoint the first solids. 



She argues that the synergy of Webb and ALMA is revealing a Universe “in which the steps toward life-bearing planets start earlier than we dared hope.”



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09163-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Astronomers capture the birth of a new solar system for the first time ever

Astronomers caught a star system at the moment when solid...

Antimicrobial resistance now kills at least 1.27 million people a year and is linked to almost five million deaths, making common infections progressively harder to treat. Meanwhile, the pipeline for new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genes-for-antibiotic-resistance-lurk-in-our-wastewater-and-streams/">antibiotics</a> has slowed, but animal venom offers new hope amid fears of a post‑antibiotic era.



Using deep-learning tools, researchers mined 40 million venom‑encoded peptides collected from snakes, scorpions, spiders, and other animals. They pinpointed 386 molecules with the hallmarks of powerful antibiotics.



The work was led by César de la Fuente at the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Pennsylvania</a>, who specializes in machine biology and antibiotic discovery.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-old-toxins-new-treatments">Old toxins, new treatments</h2>



Decades ago, a peptide from the Brazilian pit viper inspired captopril, the first ACE inhibitor for hypertension, proving that toxins can be tamed for therapy. 



More recently, FDA‑approved <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6214764/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ziconotide</a>, derived from cone snail venom, has provided severe pain relief without opioids.



Those successes hint at a vast pharmacological trove hidden in venoms, yet only a fraction of the peptides they contain have been examined. 



Digital screening can accelerate that search beyond what manual experiments allow.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-venom-holds-rare-chemistry">Venom holds rare chemistry</h2>



Venomous animals have evolved specialized chemistries for offense or defense over millions of years. These chemistries generate peptides that slice into nervous systems, coagulation pathways, and bacterial membranes.



Because each species fine‑tunes its arsenal, the combined library covers many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antibiotic-resistance-could-cause-a-health-crisis-globally/">chemical</a> shapes rarely found in conventional drug collections.



The Penn team compiled proteins from four databases, representing cone snails, spiders, snakes, scorpions, and more. This diversity fed the AI with sequences spanning more than 16,000 proteins. 



The model then shredded these sequences into over 40 million candidate peptides.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antibiotic-candidates-found-in-venom">Antibiotic candidates found in venom</h2>



APEX turns each animal venom peptide’s sequence into numbers that reflect traits like charge and water-repellence. Then, it predicts how much of each peptide is needed to stop the growth of 34 different bacterial strains.



Sequences predicted to inhibit growth at 32 micromoles per liter or less advanced to a similarity filter that weeded out peptides too close to known antibiotics.



The filter left 386 candidates that occupied unexplored corners of peptide sequence space. This ensured any hits would add new chemical diversity. Crucially, the whole triage ran in a few hours on standard graphics‑processing hardware, a pace impossible for wet‑lab screening.



“Venoms are evolutionary masterpieces, yet their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antimicrobial-resistance-projected-to-kill-10-million-people-each-year/">antimicrobial</a> potential has barely been explored,” said César de la Fuente. His lab’s strategy turns that evolutionary advantage into a search engine for urgently needed drugs.



The platform also found over 2,000 new short sequence patterns that help break bacterial membranes -useful building blocks for future antibiotics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-peptides-killed-drug-resistant-bugs">Peptides killed drug-resistant bugs</h2>



The researchers synthesized 58 of the AI‑ranked peptides and challenged them against drug‑resistant strains of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/about/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Escherichia coli</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/staphylococcus-aureus/about/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Staphylococcus aureus</a>; 53 wiped out the bacteria at doses that left human red blood cells unharmed.



“By pairing computational triage with traditional lab experimentation, we delivered one of the most comprehensive investigations of venom‑derived antibiotics to date,” said Marcelo Torres, a research associate at Penn. 



Torres noted that the most potent peptides came from spiders, mirroring the predators’ need to immobilize prey quickly.



One standout candidate knocked down <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3442836/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acinetobacter baumannii</a> infections in mice by up to 99 percent after a single topical dose. The animals showed no weight loss or other toxicity signs, an early but encouraging safety signal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-venom-bypasses-resistance-paths">Venom bypasses resistance paths</h2>



Most classic antibiotics block <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-enzyme-developed-to-recycle-plastic/">enzymes</a>, so single genetic tweaks can disarm them, but venom peptides that destabilize bacterial membranes face fewer resistance routes.



Animal venom hits carried strong positive charges and balanced hydrophobic residues, a combination that latches onto the negatively charged bacterial surface and punches holes in it.



Fluorescence assays confirmed that 26 peptides swiftly collapsed the cytoplasmic membrane potential in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.



Outer membrane permeabilization played a smaller role, suggesting depolarization is their primary kill step.



This mechanism works like human defensins but uses new sequences that bacteria haven’t seen, making resistance unlikely - and because human cells have cholesterol and a neutral charge, they aren’t harmed in the same way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-venom-worked-without-harming-cells">Venom worked without harming cells</h2>



Testing in human kidney cells found that most scorpion and cone snail peptides were benign at concentrations far above their antibacterial doses. 



A handful of spider peptides showed cytotoxicity, guiding the team to prioritize safer scaffolds.



In the mouse skin‑infection model, the lead spider peptide cut bacterial counts by roughly three orders of magnitude without harming the animals.



Pharmacokinetic tweaks such as end‑capping or non‑natural amino acids could further prolong its activity and reduce dosing frequency.



Computational screens suggest 40 percent of candidates likely avoid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/potassium-depletion-in-agricultural-soils-threatens-food-security/">potassium</a> channels, a common off-target for cationic peptides. Electrophysiology studies now under way will test that prediction before systemic trials begin.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next-for-venom-based-antibiotics">What’s next for venom-based antibiotics</h2>



Medicinal chemists are refining the top animal venom hits to sharpen selectivity, resist protease degradation and improve serum half‑life. 



Machine‑learning feedback loops will retrain APEX with every new data point, steadily raising prediction accuracy.



Regulatory hurdles remain, yet the researchers argue that topical use in skin or burn infections could reach patients faster than systemic applications. 



Researchers can also pair peptide antibiotics with existing drugs to delay resistance evolution.



The goal is a pipeline where venom data trains artificial intelligence, AI guides chemistry, and chemistry delivers antibiotics in months. If realized, that loop could turn the tide in the struggle against superbugs.



The study is published in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40645962/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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AI found a way to turn venom into antibiotics

Antimicrobial resistance now kills at least 1.27 million people a...

A flexible membrane stretched between elongated fingers allows bats to maneuver through the night with extraordinary agility. 



New research comparing bat and mouse embryos shows that the bat wing didn't come from a brand-new cell type.



Instead, it formed by reusing the same genetic programs found in all mammalian limbs - but activated at a different time and place during development.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-hands-to-fins-to-wings">From hands to fins to wings</h2>



“We chose bats because they are an excellent example of phenotypic adaptation," said co-author Stefan Mundlos, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.molgen.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics</a>. "The limbs are a beautiful model system to see how evolution produces different forms and functions,” 



“Think of the limbs of a horse or the fins of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-dolphin-brains-evolved-to-see-underwater-by-using-sound-echolocation/">dolphin</a>, or our hands or a wing. These are prime examples of how evolution takes one form and turns it into something completely different.”



At roughly 1,400 species, bats constitute the second‑most diverse order of mammals after <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modern-day-plague-rodents-fleas-and-their-impact-on-wildlife/">rodents</a>, colonizing every continent except Antarctica and the driest deserts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bat-wings-form-from-familiar-cells">Bat wings form from familiar cells</h2>



In their new work, Mundlos and colleagues collected embryos at the critical stage when a bat’s forelimb begins to diverge from a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mice-actually-listen-to-their-whiskers-touching-things/">mouse</a>’s into a flight organ.



Using whole‑genome sequencing and single‑cell RNA sequencing, the team catalogued gene activity in thousands of individual cells from both the anterior limb bud (future wing) and posterior limb bud (future leg) in bats and mice.



The project united laboratories at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, the <a href="https://www.mdc-berlin.de/">Max Delbrück Center in Berlin</a>, and <a href="https://www.cabd.es/en/">Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo in Seville</a>.



Single‑cell technology provides a high‑resolution snapshot of which <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bat-genes-are-crucial-in-the-fight-against-cancer/">genes</a> are active in each cell as tissue forms. 



Comparing species, however, is notoriously challenging, especially for non‑model organisms such as bats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-reused-cells">Evolution reused cells</h2>



“One of the biggest surprises for us was that all cell types and functions in the limb appear to be conserved between species,” said senior author Francisca M. Real, an expert in development and disease at Max Planck.



“Initially, we thought that this technology and analysis would provide clear insights into some bat‑unique cells forming the wings, since wings and mouse limbs are very different from each other.”



Instead, every cell type in a bat limb found its counterpart in a mouse limb; what differed was when and where particular genes turned on.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-later-gene-use-drives-flight">Later gene use drives flight</h2>



The chiropatagium - the delicate skin membrane spanning digits II through V - forms later in bat development.



The team showed that the cells building this membrane resemble proximal limb‑bud cells found in all mammals, but bats reactivate their gene program farther out along the growing limb and at a later stage.



The same genetic toolkit, deployed on a different schedule, yields an entirely new wing surface without creating new cells.



“The cells present in the proximal part of the limb are similar in identity to the cells that later form the wing,” said lead author Christian Feregrino. "This reflects how evolution works."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bat-wings-echo-human-hands">Bat wings echo human hands</h2>



Because bat wings share the underlying bone layout of a human hand, they illustrate how modest tweaks in developmental timing - sometimes called heterochrony - can transform a limb into something entirely new.



The same principle likely shaped the stiff forelimbs of horses, the broad flippers of dolphins, and the dexterous hands that humans use to write, cook, and build.



By mapping the exact genetic switches that shift limb programs along both the spatial and temporal axes, scientists hope to uncover general rules that govern morphological innovation across the tree of life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bat-wings-built-by-timing">Bat wings built by timing</h2>



The study also provides an annotated catalog of bat limb cell states and regulatory elements. 



This opens the door to identifying enhancers - non-coding DNA sequences that act like genetic dimmer switches - responsible for delayed, distal activation.



Identifying those elements could show whether similar regulatory changes exist in other animals that evolved gliding or flight membranes, like flying squirrels or sugar gliders. 



It could also help scientists better understand congenital limb malformations in humans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-made-flight-with-old-tools">Evolution made flight with old tools</h2>



Bats rose to the skies not by inventing entirely new genes but by choreographing familiar ones in new ways.



Their wings demonstrate nature’s talent for editing an existing blueprint into fresh structures, underscoring Darwin’s insight that evolution works with what is already there.



As single‑cell technologies and comparative genomics mature, more secrets of evolutionary ingenuity are likely to emerge from the membranes that beat silently above our heads each night.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02780-x">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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Bats once had hands - but evolution turned them into wings

A flexible membrane stretched between elongated fingers allows bats to...

An exoplanet named WASP-127b just smashed the cosmic wind record. Astronomers clocked supersonic gales racing around its waist at about 20,500 miles (33,000 kilometers) per hour, which is seven times faster than fighter‑jet speed.



“There is an extremely fast circumplanetary jet wind found on the planet. The velocity of the winds is surprisingly high,” said <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lisa-Nortmann" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lisa Nortmann</a> of the <a href="https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Göttingen</a>, lead author of the discovery. 



The supersonic <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2502/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">streak</a> hugs the planet’s equator, which sits 520 light‑years from Earth in the constellation of <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/fujii-constellation-image-of-virgocoma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Virgo</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jet-streams-on-wasp-127b">Jet streams on WASP-127b</h2>



WASP‑127b is a <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/resource/hot-jupiter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hot Jupiter</a>, a gas‑rich world that roasts close to its parent star. Its diameter is 30 percent larger than Jupiter’s, yet its mass is only one‑sixth, giving it a marshmallow‑like density. 



That low weight lets starlight puff the atmosphere into a balloon thousands of miles deep, a feature that makes the planet easy to probe with modern telescopes.



Earth’s <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/global/jet-stream" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polar jet stream</a> tops out near 275 mph (442 kph), and <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/neptune/neptune-facts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neptune’s</a> famous winds reach about 1,200 mph (1,930 kph). 



WASP-127b’s 20,500‑mph (33,000 kph) supersonic gales lap the globe in less than a day, making it the most extreme sustained wind yet measured on any planet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chasing-the-jet-with-light">Chasing the jet with light</h2>



Scientists traced the wind using <a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/03/Transmission_spectroscopy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transmission spectroscopy</a>. They watched the star’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cosmic-lighthouses-emanated-earliest-starlight-universe/">light</a> filter through the planet’s atmosphere during each four‑day orbit. 



Molecules of water and carbon monoxide left fingerprints that slid in wavelength as the air sped toward and away from us, revealing two clear Doppler peaks.



If the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-earth-toi-1846-b-possible-oceans-discovered-orbiting-red-dwarf-star/">planet</a> merely <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-a-hidden-pattern-in-planet-orbits/">rotated</a> once per orbit, the equator would move around 1.6 kms-1 (1 mile s-1). Instead, the measured equatorial jet reaches about 9 km s‑1 (5.6 miles s-1), roughly six times that <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/01/aa50438-24/aa50438-24.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“tidally locked”</a> pace. 



That translates to a Mach number near three, which is well above the local speed of sound in the 2,060°F (1,127 °C) hydrogen‑helium air.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wasp-127b-s-puffy-atmosphere">WASP-127b's puffy atmosphere</h2>



The inflated envelope means that light from the star penetrates deeply, driving huge temperature contrasts between day and night. 



Such contrasts push gas sideways, setting up the equatorial jet that now defines the planet’s climate.



More than 5,900 confirmed planets are cataloged today, but none show a wind like this. The result widens the gap between solar‑system weather and the extremes seen among <a href="https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exoplanets</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fueling-wasp-127b-s-supersonic-winds">Fueling WASP-127b's supersonic winds</h2>



Researchers think <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/stellar-radiation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stellar irradiation</a> is the main power source. Air heated on the perpetual day side rushes eastward, overshooting the limb before it can cool. 



Modelers also point to the planet’s low gravity, which reduces friction and lets airflow accelerate to dizzying speeds.



The jet’s velocity wasn’t the only surprise. Researchers also found that the poles of WASP‑127b contribute almost nothing to the planet’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exoplanet-k2-18b-strongest-evidence-yet-of-extraterrestrial-life-discovered-webb/">transmission spectrum</a>, suggesting they may be veiled by thick clouds or cooled significantly compared to the equator.



That drop in signal matches predictions from general circulation models, where high-latitude air remains colder and more stable while the equator churns with superheated motion. 



These regional differences matter, because they help scientists refine how heat and chemicals move across gas giants under extreme conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-weather-models">Lessons for weather models</h2>



Earth science uses jet streams to steer storms. On WASP‑127b the jet alone shapes global heat flow, suggesting that “superrotation” may be common on close‑in giants. 



Future climate codes must now reproduce both the speed and the double‑peaked pattern seen in the data.



The <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Very Large Telescope</a> in Chile, newly upgraded with the <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/crires+/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRIRES+ infrared spectrograph</a>, supplied the precision needed to isolate 10 kms-1 shifts. CRIRES+ can resolve one part in 140,000, turning subtle molecular lines into a speedometer for alien weather.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-standard-for-planetary-chemistry">New standard for planetary chemistry</h2>



Beyond wind speeds, the study locked in precise measurements of WASP‑127b’s <a href="https://fiveable.me/key-terms/astrophysics-ii/co-ratio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">C/O ratio</a> and <a href="https://www.aanda.org/glossary/194-metallicity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">metallicity</a>. Both values closely matched solar levels, contradicting earlier reports that suggested a carbon-depleted atmosphere.



That shift matters. Planetary formation theories often link atmospheric chemistry to where a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-announce-evidence-suggesting-that-our-solar-system-has-nine-planets-again/">planet</a> formed in its protoplanetary disk. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed 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/S84jjw__zlg?si=7M7BAQvEoocQagT0
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Extreme supersonic winds raging on WASP-127b. Credit: ESO</figcaption></figure>



The updated results mean WASP‑127b likely didn’t migrate as far as previously assumed, changing how scientists think hot Jupiters end up in such tight orbits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-other-planets-have-supersonic-gales">Do other planets have supersonic gales?</h2>



Next‑generation instruments will test whether cooler, more temperate planets hide slower winds or exhibit surprises of their own. 



For WASP‑127b, follow‑up work may track seasonal changes, map clouds at the poles, and refine the chemistry that rides the jet. &nbsp;



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



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Supersonic winds blowing at 20,500 miles per hour detected on a giant planet

An exoplanet named WASP-127b just smashed the cosmic wind record....

In nature’s endless game of survival and attraction, appearances can deceive. A soft flutter of wings might signal prey, a wasp, or danger. A bright color could warn of poison or invite a mate. But in one curious case, a dancing jumping spider has taken deception to a whole new level.



Jumping spiders are not what people typically imagine when they think of showy, dramatic displays. Yet one species, the Maratus vespa, does something few creatures dare. This jumping spider imitates one of its biggest threats - a wasp.



This surprising performance raised a question that scientists at the University of Cincinnati couldn’t ignore: why would a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/all-legs-no-guts-sea-spider-genome-stuns-scientists/">spider</a> mimic a predator during something as important as courtship?



That question led to an experiment unlike most in behavioral biology. And the journey from simple curiosity to machine-aided discovery unveiled a strange and brilliant piece of evolutionary theater.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jumping-spiders-in-a-wasp-disguise">Jumping spiders in a wasp disguise</h2>



With travel restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, fieldwork came to a halt. But curiosity did not. Biologists at the <a href="https://www.uc.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Cincinnati</a> turned to computers, hoping to uncover the secrets behind the spider’s dramatic disguise.



Humans often see faces where none exist, on rocks, in tree bark, even in cloud formations. Scientists wondered if the spider’s “wasp face” was a real mimicry or simply a trick of human perception. 



To answer this question, the researchers needed a third party without such bias. They used computer vision techniques and machine learning. 



Neural networks were trained to identify and classify images of different insect and spider species based on patterns and shapes. The test included 62 species, from jumping spiders to flies and wasps.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wasp-like-spiders-trick-algorithm">Wasp-like spiders trick algorithm</h2>



The results surprised the researchers. The artificial intelligence made classification errors nearly 12 percent of the time across all species. Thirteen species were identified correctly every single time. But others were harder to pin down.



“The original idea was inspired by one species, a peacock jumping spider called Maratus vespa, which is Latin for wasp,” said UC student and study lead author Olivia Harris.



In the case of Maratus vespa and a few other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spiders-adapt-their-webs-to-filter-out-human-made-noise/">spiders,</a> the AI struggled more than usual. It misidentified these spiders as wasps more than 20 percent of the time. Even without human bias, the computer saw what looked like a wasp.



This revealed something important. The spider's mimicry may be strong enough to fool not just people but machines as well. If artificial intelligence gets confused, real predators might too.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spider-s-dance-looks-like-a-wasp">Spider’s dance looks like a wasp</h2>



Maratus vespa is no ordinary spider. During courtship, it performs an elaborate dance. It raises its abdomen to display bright, bold patterns. The colors echo those of a wasp’s body. But it doesn’t stop there.



This jumping spider also raises side flaps on its body. The added shape creates the outline of a wasp’s triangular face. 



The mimicry becomes more convincing with movement, colors, and structure. And this illusion, oddly enough, is used in one of the most vulnerable moments of its life, mating.



“That got us thinking,” Harris said. “Why would a spider want to look like a wasp, which is a predator of spiders, especially as a primary element of its courtship display?" The answer lies in attention, survival, and split-second timing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-male-jumping-spiders-seeking-attention">Male jumping spiders seeking attention</h2>



Jumping spiders are highly visual animals. They have multiple sets of eyes, each with different abilities. Females especially are careful observers. 



When they detect movement from afar, particularly something that resembles a predator, they freeze and focus.



It turns out, this reaction might give males a critical opening. If the female thinks a wasp is nearby, she becomes alert but still. That moment of pause may allow the male spider to begin his courtship display.



The study’s authors believe the male uses this mimicry as a tactic. It isn’t to scare her, but to capture her attention and hold it long enough to start the dance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spiders-aren-t-the-only-tricksters">Spiders aren't the only tricksters</h2>



Nature is full of strange strategies when it comes to attracting mates. Some male<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moths-read-the-stars-to-complete-an-epic-migration/"> moths</a>, for example, imitate the ultrasonic calls of bats. This discourages females from flying away. 



In Africa, topi antelope bulls pretend to spot predators to stop females from leaving their territory.



“But this is the only case we’ve found of males mimicking a predator visually,” she said.



Visual mimicry as a courtship trick remains extremely rare. That makes the Maratus vespa spider an unusual and fascinating example. 



The study suggests this behavior represents a form of sensory exploitation. The male takes advantage of how the female processes visual information.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-limits-of-illusion">The limits of illusion</h2>



Professor Nathan Morehouse, who co-authored the study, explained that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shiny-animals-outwit-predators-with-optical-illusions/">illusion</a> works best from a distance or from the female’s side view.



These angles rely on her peripheral vision, which sees only in green. At that range, the bright pattern and angular shape suggest danger. But when the male moves closer, the illusion wears off.



“Females will not be fooled forever. If they were, they would be robbed of the ability to make mate choices, which would put the species at a long-term disadvantage,” Morehouse said. “It’s beneficial for the males to break the illusion.”



In other words, the mimicry is a tool to get noticed, not to deceive permanently. The female must still decide if the male is worthy. And once she’s focused, she uses her color-sensitive front eyes to make that decision.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jumping-spiders-posing-as-wasps">Jumping spiders posing as wasps</h2>



The team now hopes to follow up with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/science-behind-predicting-and-changing-human-behavior/">behavioral studies</a>. They want to test if live female spiders behave differently based on the strength of the male’s visual mimicry.



Do some jumping spiders copy wasps better than others? Do females prefer males with more convincing patterns? And can these differences affect which males succeed in passing on their genes?



These questions may reveal even more about how animals use deception not just for survival, but for love.



In the meantime, Maratus vespa continues to dance its strange, bright, and possibly risky dance in the wilds of Australia. A spider pretending to be its enemy, all in the name of romance.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article-abstract/36/4/araf074/8203202?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Behavioral Ecology</a>.



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Why jumping spiders mimic wasps during mating dances

In nature’s endless game of survival and attraction, appearances can...

Fresh,Radish,Harvest,On,Soil,In,Garden.

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Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving fall garden, and this guide lays out the best vegetables and herbs to plant now for a fruitful autumn harvest. 



Fast-growing leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula perform especially well in the waning summer heat, with harvests beginning as soon as 30 days. 



These cool-season crops relish the transition into fall, offering repeated yields with cut-and-come-again methods.



Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, and beets also excel during this period. Radishes deliver satisfaction in under a month, while carrots and beets mature in about two months. Employing succession planting ensures a continuous stream of produce deep into the cooler months. 



For a boost of fresh flavor, herbs like cilantro, basil, dill, and chervil are excellent picks. These heat-loving varieties flourish in July’s warmth and are harvest-ready in about 30 days, especially when sown continuously.



Gardeners in zones 6 through 9 can benefit from planting bush beans and snap peas, which don’t require trellising and are ideal for compact plots. 



Maturing in 50–60 days, they’re a smart choice for quick, protein-rich harvests. For those in hotter regions, heat-tolerant crops such as okra and southern peas provide reliable yields and thrive in scorching conditions.



This guide emphasizes more than crop selection—it highlights the importance of timing, soil preparation, and ongoing sowing techniques. 



With thoughtful planning and attention to regional climate needs, even late-summer gardeners can enjoy fresh salads, hearty stews, and the satisfaction of a robust, homegrown harvest well into fall.



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals 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...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

“James and Madeline Jeffords!” Joel exclaimed. His excitement nearly knocked her out of her seat. There it was, plain as day – this had to be the owner of the lost wedding band. Minni thanked the internet gods … they had a<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-media-break-can-significantly-improve-mental-health/"> social media </a>page.

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