Spring invites us to witness the spectacle of bird migrations. But have you ever wondered how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-flocks-social-relationships/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">birds</a> manage such precise, collective movement? A recent study from New York University (<a href="https://www.nyu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NYU</a>) offers fascinating insights into bird flocking and their aerodynamic mystery.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bird-flocking-aerodynamics">Bird flocking aerodynamics</h2>



A team of mathematicians has recently illuminated the dynamics behind large, swirling flocks of birds. The research reveals that birds heavily depend on aerodynamics - the science of air movement around objects - to coordinate their seemingly effortless flight. 



Each <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-lead-flock-strongest-flyers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bird</a> functions as a compact, feathery powerhouse. Its wings do more than propel it forward; they also generate swirling air currents. These currents are crucial, as they enable birds to manipulate the airspace around them. This manipulation forms the intricate patterns and synchronized movements observed in flocks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-invisible-springs">Invisible springs</h2>



The scientists found that the air currents generated by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-birds-brains-evolved-to-enable-them-to-fly/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">birds</a> are not random. They interact with each other in a highly organized manner. These interactions, which resemble the behavior of springs, create a network of unseen forces that link neighboring birds. 



The network helps maintain the positions of birds within the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mixed-species-foraging-flocks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flock</a>. If birds drift from their spots, the interactive forces pull them back into place. This contributes to the overall stability and structure of the formation.



"If a flyer is displaced from its position, the vortices or swirls of flow left by the leading neighbor helps to push the follower back into place and hold it there," explained Leif Ristroph, a co-author of the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-small-bird-flocks">Small bird flocks</h2>



While these helpful air currents create a beautiful order in small groups of birds, the system breaks down as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-blend-in-to-adapt-to-diverse-environments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flock</a> size increases. In larger flocks, the individual air currents from many birds start to clash and interfere with one another. This disruption weakens the stabilizing "spring" forces. 



As a result, the formation becomes chaotic. Imagine lots of swirling forces bumping into each other. This leads to a loss of the organized structure seen in smaller flocks.



"The very long groups seen in some types of birds are not at all easy to form, and the later members likely have to constantly work to hold their positions and avoid crashing into their neighbors," explained Ristroph.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flonons">Flonons</h2>



When a large flock is overwhelmed by these clashing air currents, the disruption doesn't hit all the birds at once. Instead, the scientists observed a ripple effect – the disorganized movement started with certain birds and then spread throughout the rest of the flock in a wave-like pattern. 



This chain reaction of jostling within the flock is a unique scientific phenomenon, and the researchers have given it a catchy name: "flonons." This term might become a new addition to our science vocabulary, especially as we learn more about the fascinating world of animal movement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-broader-significance">Broader significance</h2>



The discovery of how birds flock reveals more than just the remarkable abilities of these creatures; it has significant potential implications for human-designed systems and technologies. 



The insights from studying aerodynamic interactions in bird flocks can enhance machine design. These insights could lead to more efficient, aerodynamically optimized machines. Possible improvements include better vehicle formation dynamics. 



This would reduce drag and lower energy consumption. There could also be advancements in deploying autonomous drones that need to operate effectively in swarms.



Additionally, the principles of bird flocking could enhance the design of wind turbines, optimizing them for better energy capture based on how air flows naturally around objects in motion. This research bridges the gap between natural phenomena and engineered solutions, offering a blueprint for innovation across various fields.



“This area of research is important since animals are known to take advantage of the flows, such as of air or water, left by other members of a group to save on the energy needed to move or to reduce drag or resistance,” explained Ristroph.



The next time you see a flock of birds painting the sky with their organized chaos, remember: you're witnessing some seriously complex engineering by Mother Nature. It's a symphony of aerodynamics, invisible springs, and perhaps some squawky arguments over who gets the best drafting position.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47525-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



-----



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Bird flocking dynamics inspire advancements in technology

Spring invites us to witness the spectacle of bird migrations. But have you ever wondered how birds manage such precise, collective movement? A recent study from New York University (NYU) offers fascinating insights into bird flocking and their aerodynamic mystery. Bird flocking aerodynamics A team of mathematicians has recently illuminated the dynamics behind large, swirling flocks of birds. The research reveals that birds heavily depend on aerodynamics - the science of air movement around objects - to coordinate their seemingly effortless flight. Each bird functions as a...

Butterflies and moths are resorting to drastic measures to cope with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/natural-sunscreen-helps-blue-rice-corals-adapt-to-warming-climate/">climate</a> change. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a>, researchers have found that some moth and butterfly species in Finland have successfully adapted to a changing climate by advancing their flight period and moving farther north. 

On the other hand, roughly 40 percent of butterfly and moth species in Finland have not been able to make the necessary adjustments. As a result, their populations are declining.

"Roughly 45% of the species that we studied had either moved northward or advanced their flight period," said study study co-author Maria Hällfors. 

"They fared much better than the 40% of the species which had not responded in either way. On average, the populations of these poorly responding species had declined."

"The largest increase in abundance was seen in the 15% of the species that both moved northward and advanced their flight. This demonstrates that the ability to respond to a changing environment is vital for species."

The researchers emphasized that, in order to preserve biodiversity as climate change intensifies, it is of utmost importance to provide species with high quality, interconnected habitats that make it possible for them to adjust to the challenges generated by climate change.

In collaboration with the Finnish Environment Institute, the researchers analyzed the flight patterns, potential boundary shifts, and changes in abundance of 289 species of moths and butterflies over the course of about two decades. 

The study showed that nearly half of the species had moved northward, while only 27 percent had advanced their flight period.

"This finding deviates from observations made elsewhere in Europe where advancing the flight period has been much more common among Lepidoptera," said study co-author Juha Pöyry.

A lack of suitable habitat may explain why most species did not respond optimally to climate change by both advancing their flight and moving northward.

"For organisms to be able to respond to climate change by shifting their range further north, sufficient amounts of suitable habitats of high-quality are needed," said study co-author Mikko Kuussaari.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14610248">Ecology Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Butterflies and moths are struggling to adapt to climate change

Butterflies and moths are resorting to drastic measures to cope...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.calpoly.edu/">California Polytechnic State University</a>, researchers have found that noise and light pollution have a major influence on which <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-can-control-single-muscle-fibers-while-singing/">birds</a> are visiting our backyards. The experts report that birds across the United States tend to avoid backyard feeders in areas with excessive noise, especially when light pollution is also present.

The experts obtained data from <a href="https://feederwatch.org/">Program FeederWatch</a>, which collects information from birdwatchers in thousands of communities throughout North America. The researchers focused their investigation on more than 3.4 million observations of 140 different bird species across the continental United States.

"Broadly speaking, we are just starting to dive into the consequences of light and noise for animals," said study lead author Ashley Wilson. "Most studies focus on a single species' responses to noise or light pollution. As such, our study involving 140 species provides the most comprehensive assessment of how noise and light influence which birds we see in our backyards and neighborhoods."

Many common bird species were found to avoid areas with excessive noise, including American goldfinches, cedar waxwings, and white-breasted nuthatches. In areas with both light and noise pollution, even more species avoided backyard feeders. 

"These responses would have been overlooked completely if we only focused on the influence of light or noise individually rather than considering the total exposure to both sensory pollutants," said Wilson. "Our overall influence on sensitive species could be more widespread than we originally thought."

The study revealed that noise and light pollution affect birds differently across distinct environments. For example, birds in forests were found to be more sensitive to pollutants than those that live in grasslands.

Seasonal patterns, such as the length of night, had an influence on how the birds responded to light pollution. During longer nights, nearly 50 species increased in abundance with light pollution.

"That many species are more abundant in lit areas when nights are longer could be because winter nights present challenging conditions, especially farther North where temperatures drop below freezing and birds use a lot of energy to stay warm and survive," said study senior author Professor Clint Francis. 

"It is possible that light at night provides the opportunity to stay active and continue eating into the night time hours. Still, exposure to light could create problems that we could not measure in this study, like altered sleep patterns and increased stress."

Noise and light pollution are expanding globally each year, and are even spreading into protected areas.

"If birds cannot tolerate the increased intensity and presence of these pollutants, then we may end up seeing fewer species in brightly lit and loud places, even in protected areas."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Noise pollution is changing which birds visit your backyard

In a new study from California Polytechnic State University, researchers...

Approximately half a billion people, as well as 25 percent of all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mysterious-circling-behavior-discovered-among-marine-mammals/">marine</a> life, depend on coral reef ecosystems. Despite being one of the most valuable types of ecosystem on the planet, coral reefs are declining at an alarming rate. 

In a new study from <a href="https://www.scu.edu.au/">Southern Cross University</a>, experts report that if the trend of decline continues at the current rate, coral reefs could stop calcifying by 2054. 

Coral growth is called calcification because corals take up calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to produce their skeletons. As the chemistry of seawater changes, calcification rates change as well.

The opposite of calcification is coral dissolution, which is when the skeletons release CaCO3 back into the water. Coral dissolution is typically a result of environmental stressors  such as ocean acidification and rising temperatures.

To investigate how coral reefs are responding to environmental stress, the researchers analyzed 116 studies from 53 papers published since the late 1960s. 

"It is known that coral reefs have been degrading over time. Our study relies on historical data to quantify the current rate of decline and indicates what could be happening in the future," said project leader Dr. Kay Davis.

"Our work complements quite a few other studies that indicate net coral reef dissolution by mid-century, between 2030 and 2080."

The research was focused on coral reefs all over the globe, including those in Australia, Japan, Hawaii, the Red Sea, French Polynesia, and Bermuda.

"Repeat observations at the same sites can provide insight into how coral reefs are responding to changing environmental conditions on a global scale," said Dr. Davis. "But these repeat surveys of calcification and productivity have only been carried out at seven sites."

The declining health of the remaining coral may be contributing to reduce global calcification rates, explained the researchers.

"We found that rates of coral ecosystem calcification are significantly declining at an average rate of 4.3% ± 1.9% yr-1 with a concurrent reduction in mean coral cover of 1.8% yr-1. This suggests that loss of coral cover may not be the sole contributor of declining calcification," said Dr. Davis.

"Stress events, like coral bleaching, can impact calcification, even without coral death. Corals improve their chances of survival during stressful times by temporarily reducing calcification."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Coral reefs could completely stop growing by 2054

Approximately half a billion people, as well as 25 percent...

Sound plays a major role in the battle between a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-mantis-shrimp-are-ferocious-predators/">predator</a> and its prey, and moths have found a way to use acoustics to evade bats, according to a new study. 

The experts report that some moths have developed a form of acoustic camouflage in the form of structures on their bodies and wings that can absorb ultrasound. This decreases the strength of a bat's echolocation call that is used to detect nearby prey.

During the 180th Meeting of the <a href="https://acousticalsociety.org/">Acoustical Society of America</a>, Thomas Neil from the University of Bristol will discuss how moths have developed anti-bat defenses in their wings.

"The wings of a moth will produce strong echoes to a hunting bat owing to their large size," said Neil. "As such, it is important the moth cloaks the wing with sound-absorbing material, so it matches the acoustic camouflage brought about by the fur on the body." 

"The only way to create the much thinner sound absorber allowed on the wings is by developing a resonant absorber, and we discovered moth wings have evolved this approach."

According to the researchers, the scales covering moth wings allow as much as 70 percent of the sound hitting them to be absorbed. What is even more amazing is that the scales are individually tuned to different frequencies. Together, they create broadband absorption by acting as the first known acoustic metamaterial in nature

Neil said that the strategies identified in moths have already been partially explored from a theoretical and technical standpoint. 

One of the advantages of using a metamaterial design is that the absorbers can be much thinner than the wavelength of the sound they absorb. For example, moths have absorbers that are 100 times thinner than the wavelength of a bat's vocalization.

"In theory, we could take inspiration from the moths and build sound absorbing panels made from lots of differently tuned resonating paddles, with the goal of achieving sound absorption that is on par with traditional sound absorber panels but being just a fraction of the width," said Neil. 

"With this approach, we would be getting close to a much more versatile and acceptable sound absorber wallpaper rather than the typically bulky absorber panels we use today."

The research will be presented at the <a href="https://www.emedevents.com/online-cme-courses/live-webinar/180th-meeting-acoustical-society-of-america-asa">180th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Moth wings have structures that help them avoid bats

Sound plays a major role in the battle between a...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne</a>, experts have discovered that young clownfish exposed to artificial light are struggling to survive. The researchers found that juvenile clownfish living closest to shore are dying faster than those located farther offshore.

The scientists also determined that the surviving clownfish living near artificial light developed more slowly than clownfish under natural lighting conditions by 44 percent.

Professor Stephen Swearer said the team exposed 42 clownfish in their host anemones to either artificial light at night (ALAN) or natural light in the lagoon. The clownfish were monitored for over nearly two years.

"The impacts of light pollution found here are probably underestimated and mitigation measures and policy changes are urgently required," said Professor Swearer.

Study lead author Jules Schligler is an expert at the École Pratique des Hautes Études PSL Université Paris (EPHE) and the Centre of Island Research and Environmental Observatory (CRIOBE). He noted that clownfish can live in shallow coastal waters and are highly sedentary living in anemones, which means they can be easily impacted by night lights from streetlights, piers. or ports.

"As with many other reef fish, clownfish feed, reproduce, defend their territories and interact with other fish during the day and reset whilst sleeping at night. However, 36 per cent of the clownfish exposed to light pollution were more likely to die than fish under natural light cycles," said Schligler. "Like humans, fish need a period of inactivity, which is crucial for their well-being."

According to the researchers, even the fish that survived did not entirely escape the effects of artificial light as they grew less than fish from the control group.

"This is the first time that the impacts of ALAN have been tested on a coral reef fish in the wild and over such a long time," said study co-author Daphne Cortese.

"As 12 percent of all coral reef fish live in close association with another sedentary species, such as a coral or anemone, light pollution could already be having severe negative impacts on a fifth of fringing reef fish populations."

The experts hope their research will help raise awareness of the impacts of ALAN on coastal marine ecosystems.

"Many marine protected areas are impacted by light pollution at night, and authorities are not taking this pollution into account," said study co-author Professor Ricardo Beldade of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. "We hope that policy makers take this threat much more seriously for future management strategies."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Royal Society Proceedings B</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Young clownfish are struggling to survive under artificial lights

In a new study from the University of Melbourne, experts...

A new study has demonstrated that drone imagery combined with artificial intelligence is an effective yet inexpensive way to monitor remote seabird colonies.  

Scientists at <a href="https://duke.edu/">Duke University</a> and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) used machine learning to analyze more than 10,000 drone images of seabirds in the Falkland Islands. 

The experts found that this method can be just as effective as traditional on-the-ground methods, while reducing labor costs and the risk of human error. 

Located off the coast of Argentina, the Falklands are home to the world's largest colonies of black-browed albatrosses and second-largest colonies of southern rockhopper penguins. The islands provide breeding grounds for hundreds of thousands of birds.

A deep-learning algorithm used by the researchers was able to recognize and count albatrosses with 97 percent accuracy and penguins with 87 percent accuracy. Overall, the automated counts were within five percent of human counts 90 percent of the time.

"Using drone surveys and deep learning gives us an alternative that is remarkably accurate, less disruptive and significantly easier. One person, or a small team, can do it, and the equipment you need to do it isn't all that costly or complicated," explained study lead author Madeline C. Hayes, a remote sensing analyst at the Duke University Marine Lab.

Monitoring large colonies of birds that are densely interspersed on remote islands has been a tedious process that can also disrupt the behavior of the birds. 

For the drone survey, the WCS scientists collected more than 10,000 individual photos, which were converted into a large-scale composite image. Hayes analyzed the image using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate the numbers of the two seabird colonies. 

"A CNN is loosely modeled on the human neural network, in that it learns from experience," said study co-author Professor David W. Johnston, director of the Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab. 

"You train the computer to pick up on different visual patterns, like those made by black-browed albatrosses or southern rockhopper penguins in sample images, and over time it learns how to identify the objects forming those patterns in other images such as our composite photo."

According to Professor Johnston, the new approach is widely applicable and greatly increases the ability to monitor the health of seabird colonies worldwide, as well as the health of the ecosystems they inhabit.

"Counting large seabird colonies of mixed species at remote locations has been an ongoing challenge for conservationists," said study co-author Guillermo Harris.  "This technology will contribute to regular population assessments of some species, helping us better understand whether conservation efforts are working."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/condor">Ornithological Applications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Drones can help monitor the health of remote seabird colonies

A new study has demonstrated that drone imagery combined with...

Whale,Tail,With,Water,Cascading,Off

Bomb detectors have exposed a hidden population of pygmy blue whales in the Indian Ocean. A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/">UNSW Sydney</a> was analyzing recordings captured by underwater <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-hints-at-a-secret-musical-battle-between-fireflies-and-bats/">microphones</a> when they heard the blue whales singing. 

"We've found a whole new group of pygmy blue whales right in the middle of the Indian Ocean," said study senior author Professor Tracey Rogers. "We don't know how many whales are in this group, but we suspect it's a lot by the enormous number of calls we hear."

The data was obtained by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors international nuclear bomb testing. 

Since 2002, the CTBTO has used advanced hydrophones to detect soundwaves from potential nuclear bomb tests. The recordings are made available to scientists to use for marine science research.

The UNSW team detected an unusually strong signal in the recordings, which they recognized as a mysterious whale song. The song structure, frequency, and tempo revealed that the songs belonged to a group of pygmy blue whales - but not to any of the individuals previously recorded in the area.

"I think it's pretty cool that the same system that keeps the world safe from nuclear bombs allows us to find new whale populations, which long-term can help us study the health of the marine environment," said Professor Rogers.

Even though pygmy blue whales are the smallest members of the blue whale family, they are still massive, reaching up to 24 meters in length. 

"Blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere are difficult to study because they live offshore and don't jump around - they're not show-ponies like the humpback whales," said Professor Rogers. 

"Without these audio recordings, we'd have no idea there was this huge population of blue whales out in the middle of the equatorial Indian Ocean."

Study lead author Dr. Emmanuelle Leroy is a bioacoustician who studies how animals create and receive sounds. When Dr. Leroy and the team scanned 18 years of CTBTO data, they discovered that the songs were not just a random occurrence.

"Thousands of these songs were being produced every year. They formed a major part of the ocean's acoustic soundscape," said Dr. Leroy. "The songs couldn't have just been coming from a couple of whales - they had to be from an entire population."

Songs produced by blue whales can travel anywhere between 200 and 500 kilometers. They are performed at a very low frequency and have a different structure compared to other whales' songs.

"Humpback whales are like jazz singers," said Professor Rogers. "They change their songs all the time. Blue whales, on the other hand, are more traditional. They sing very structured, simple songs."

"We still don't know whether they're born with their songs or whether they've learnt it. But it's fascinating that within the Indian Ocean you have animals intersecting with one another all the time but whales from different regions still retain their distinctive songs. Their songs are like a fingerprint that allows us to track them as they move over thousands of kilometers."

The researchers named the new population "Chagos" after the archipelago close to where they have been detected. Professor Rogers is currently using the CTBTO data to study how the Chagos population has changed over time. 

"We suspect that the whales singing the Chagos song move at different times across the Indian Ocean. We found them not only in the central Indian Ocean, but as far north as the Sri Lankan coastline and as far east in the Indian Ocean as the Kimberley coast in northern Western Australia," said Professor Rogers. 

"The largest animal in the world is one of the hardest ones to actually study. There are many more of these blue whales out there than we've realized - and we've only been able to find them with the help of this international infrastructure."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hidden group of blue whales discovered with bomb detectors

Bomb detectors have exposed a hidden population of pygmy blue...

African great apes will suffer massive range losses over the next 30 years, according to a new report from the <a href="https://www.wcs.org/">Wildlife Conservation Society</a>. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chest-beating-conveys-important-details-about-mountain-gorillas/">Gorillas</a>, chimpanzees and bonobos are being pushed out of their historical range as a result of human population growth, land use changes, and the impacts of climate change.

"There must be global responsibility for stopping the decline of great apes," said study senior author Hjalmar Kuehl. "Global consumption of natural resources extracted from ape range countries is a major driver of great ape decline. All nations benefiting from these resources have a responsibility to ensure a better future for great apes, their habitats and the people living therein by developing more sustainable economies."

The experts analyzed data on African great apes from the IUCN, using a database that contains two decades of information on population status and conservation for several hundred sites.

The researchers projected the combined effects of climate change, land use changes, and human population growth through 2050 based on a best- and worst-case scenario.

Even under the "best-case scenario," the authors predict that great apes will lose 85 percent of their range, half of which will fall outside of national parks and other protected areas. Under the worst-case scenario, the apes will lose 94 percent of their range.

"By integrating future climate and land-use changes as well as human population scenarios, this study provides strong evidence for synergistic interactions among key global drivers constraining African ape distribution," said lead author Joana Carvalho.

"Importantly, massive range loss is widely expected outside protected areas, which reflects the insufficiency of the current network of protected areas in Africa to preserve suitable habitats for great apes and effectively connect great ape populations."

Climate change will make the mountain areas more suitable than the lowlands for African great apes. If they are able to physically move from the lowlands to the mountains, they may be able to survive, and even increase their range - depending on the species. However, the researchers noted that the apes may not be able to relocate in the time remaining between today and 2050.

"As climate change forces the different types of vegetation to essentially shift uphill, it means that all animals - not only great apes - that depend on particular habitat types will be forced to move uphill along with the vegetation, or become locally extinct," said study co-author Fiona Maisels.

"And when the hills are low, many species, great and small, will not be able go higher than the land allows, and huge numbers of animals and plants will simply vanish."

The study authors argue that effective conservation strategies require careful planning for each species that focuses on both existing and proposed protected areas - the creation and management of which can be informed by these habitat suitability models. In addition, efforts to maintain connectivity between suitable habitats will be crucial for the survival of African great apes. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14724642">Diversity and Distributions</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

African great apes will lose most of their range in the next 30 years

African great apes will suffer massive range losses over the...

Cutting off lights could help save <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/migrating-seabirds-are-starving-and-eating-non-food-items/">migrating</a> birds from crashing into buildings, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a>. Decades of data collected at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center revealed that on nights when half the windows were darkened, there were 11 times fewer bird collisions during spring migration and 6 times fewer collisions during fall migration.

The experts report that every night during the spring and fall migration seasons, thousands of birds are killed when they become disoriented by the light from illuminated windows.

"Our research provides the best evidence yet that migrating birds are attracted to building lights, often causing them to collide with windows and die," said study lead author Benjamin Van Doren, a postdoctoral associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the paper's lead author. "These insights were only possible thanks to over 40 years of work by David Willard at the Field Museum, who led collisions and light monitoring efforts."

The research was initiated in 1978, after Willard heard a remark about birds hitting the McCormick Place, which is the largest convention center in North America.

"I went down early one morning, just out of curiosity, and wandered around and actually found four or five dead birds," said Willard. "I might not have gone back if I hadn't found anything that first day, and now here we are, 40 years later and 40,000 birds later."

Willard and his team, including study co-author Mary Hennen and other Field scientists and volunteers, have visited the site every day before sunrise during migration season. On a single trip, they have found as many as 200 birds. 

Around 20 years ago, Willard noticed that on nights when the lights were out at McCormick Place - during holidays or construction work - there were fewer birds on the ground the next morning. He began documenting which windows were illuminated each night.

"We developed a statistical model based on the number of windows illuminated at McCormick Place, weather conditions, migratory passage, and time of season. This allowed us to isolate the relationship between window lighting and collisions while accounting for these other factors," said Van Doren. "By joining these different sources of data, we were able to understand how lights, weather, and migration each contribute to collision mortality."

While the total number of birds in the sky and the direction of the wind both play a role in mortality on any given night, light was found to be the strongest predictor.

"The sheer strength of the link between lighting and collisions was surprising," said Van Doren. "It speaks to the exciting potential to save birds simply by reducing light pollution."

The researchers calculated that by turning out half the lights during migration seasons, bird mortality at McCormick Place could be reduced by 59 percent.

"Buildings all across North America, all across the world, are killing birds, and those add up," said study co-author Doug Stotz. "What we've learned in the past 20 years about lights being on has caused the city of Chicago to create its Lights Out program, which requires buildings' external lights to be turned off during peak migration. I hope this paper will show why it's important to turn off internal lighting as well, especially in Chicago, which is the country's deadliest city for migrating birds."

"Our study contains a hopeful message: we can save birds simply by turning off lights during a handful of high-risk days each spring and fall," said Van Doren. "By adapting our existing public migration forecasts to identify nights with high collision risk, we will be able to issue targeted lights-out advisories several days in advance."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Turning off lights could save thousands of birds each year

Cutting off lights could help save migrating birds from crashing...

Frogs have lost teeth over 20 times during the course of their evolution, which is more than any other vertebrate group, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a>. The experts report that some species have even re-evolved teeth millions of years after losing them.

Out of more than 7,000 species of frogs, only one species has teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. Some have tiny teeth on their upper jaws or on the roof of their mouth, while others have no teeth at all. 

The researchers identified a link between the absence of teeth in frogs and a specialized diet on small insects, such as ants and termites. The investigation is the most comprehensive of its kind to study tooth evolution in frogs, involving CT scans of nearly every living amphibian genus.

"Through this study, we have really been able to show that tooth loss in vertebrates is largely a story about frogs, with over 20 independent losses," said study lead author Daniel Paluh. "Only eight other groups of living vertebrates, including seahorses, turtles, birds and a few mammals, have also evolved toothlessness."

Teeth first evolved more than 400 million years ago, supporting the diversification of sharks, fish, and ultimately terrestrial vertebrates. Not many studies have focused on frog teeth because they are incredibly small.

"If you open a frog's mouth, chances are you will not see teeth even if they have them, because they're usually less than a millimeter long," or smaller than the tip of a pencil, said Paluh.

In the past, it was very challenging to determine which frogs had teeth, as it would have required tedious work that destroyed portions of preserved specimens. Furthermore, frogs are so diverse that it would have been a time-consuming task. 

However, the Florida Museum leads a massive multi-institutional effort to CT scan 20,000 vertebrate specimens, giving researchers the ability to study animals in ways that were not previously possible.

The project, called oVert, allows the public to access 3D models that are derived from the CT scans, depicting features such as bones, internal organs, muscle tissue, and teeth. 

The study provides a powerful example of the research that can be accomplished with open-access data, said study senior author David Blackburn."We effectively crowdsourced the data collection across our lab, including people that were not in the U.S. at that time."

The results showed that frogs have undergone "rampant tooth loss," said Paluh, with toothlessness popping up in groups as distantly related as toads and poison dart frogs.

The experts discovered a strong correlation between the presence or absence of teeth in frogs and their eating habits. For example, frogs without teeth were found to eat tiny insects. 

"Having those teeth on the jaw to capture and hold on to prey becomes less important because they're eating really small invertebrates that they can just bring into their mouth with their highly modified tongue," said Paluh. "That seems to relax the selective pressures that are maintaining teeth."

Blackburn noted that innovative techniques, such as those used in the oVert project, are beginning to underscore knowledge gaps and limitations like these, but they also open up the field to new discoveries.

"We now have lots of new questions in my lab inspired by the surprising things turning up from 3D imaging from the oVert project, and those will lead us both back into museum collections and to the field to see what these animals are doing in the wild."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/">eLife</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Frogs have lost their teeth more than any other vertebrate

Frogs have lost teeth over 20 times during the course...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ogre-faced-spiders-may-not-have-ears-but-they-can-hear/">Spiders</a> can sniff out killer ants to avoid building webs near them, according to a new study led by Andreas Fischer at <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/">Simon Fraser University</a>. By identifying the chemicals produced by European fire ants that deter spiders, experts may ultimately develop natural repellents for homeowners.

"Widespread arachnophobia is fueled, in part, by fear of the few neurotoxic spiders," explained the study authors. "This fear has inspired the development of tactics to physically and chemically discourage synanthropic spiders from settling in and around human dwellings."

Many killer ants prey on spiders, and the researchers theorized that spiders instinctively know to avoid locations frequented by foraging ants. 

To test their theory, the experts exposed filter paper to several species of ants and placed it in a multi-chambered habitat containing four different species of spiders. Filter papers without ant semiochemicals were placed in one of the chambers to determine which area the spiders would prefer.

European fire ants are known to be aggressive scavengers that prey on many invertebrates. The study showed that all of the spiders clearly avoided the chemical deposits of these killer ants. They stayed in the chamber that was free of chemicals.

Given how much time and energy spiders put into building their webs, Fischer said it makes sense that spiders in the wild would pick locations that have fewer threats to their survival.

Many insecticides and other chemical products claim to repel spiders, but most have proven largely ineffective. This is because spiders can simply abandon their webs and rebuild nearby. 

Harnessing the chemicals produced by their natural predators could help create more effective repellents. 

"Once identified, the origin of these deterrents could be traced to a specific exocrine gland and/or the body surface of ants," wrote the study authors. "Moreover, synthetic replica of these deterrents could be developed, together with concurrently known spider deterrents, for earth-friendly manipulation of synanthropic spiders."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Spiders can track the scent of killer ants to avoid them

Spiders can sniff out killer ants to avoid building webs...

Great,White,Shark,Under,The,Sea

In a new study led by Earth scientists at  <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> and the College of the Atlantic, researchers have discovered a massive shark extinction that occurred roughly 19 million years ago. 

The experts report that at this time in Earth's history, there were more than 10 times more sharks patrolling the world's oceans than there are today. The cause of the massive die-off remains a mystery.

"We happened upon this extinction almost by accident," said study lead author Elizabeth Sibert, a Hutchinson postdoctoral associate in Yale's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies. 

"I study microfossil fish teeth and shark scales in deep-sea sediments, and we decided to generate an 85-million-year-long record of fish and shark abundance, just to get a sense of what the normal variability of that population looked like in the long term." "What we found, though, was this sudden drop-off in shark abundance around 19 million years ago, and we knew we had to investigate further."

According to Sibert, more than 70 percent of the world's sharks died off. The death rate was even higher for sharks in the open ocean compared to those in coastal waters. The death toll was twice that of an extinction event that sharks experienced during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago, when three-quarters of all living species were wiped out. 

The circumstances are mysterious, considering that there is no known climate or ecosystem disruption that occurred at the time of the shark die-off.

"This interval isn't known for any major changes in Earth's history, yet it completely transformed the nature of what it means to be a predator living in the open ocean," said Sibert.

"The current state of declining shark populations is certainly cause for concern and this paper helps put these declines in the context of shark populations through the last 40 million years," said study co-author Leah Rubin. 

"This context is a vital first step in understanding what repercussions may follow dramatic declines in these top marine predators in modern times."

The researchers noted that past discoveries of extinction events have led to waves of new research to learn the origins of the die-off and whether it signaled a larger, previously unknown, disturbance in global ecosystems.

For example, further research may confirm whether the shark extinction event caused remaining shark populations to change their habitat preferences to avoid the open ocean, explained the researchers.

Professor Pincelli Hull is an assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Science at Yale, who was not part of the study.

"This work could tip-off a race to understand this time period and its implications for not only the rise of modern ecosystems, but the causes of major collapses in shark diversity," said Professor Hull. "It represents a major change in ocean ecosystems at a time that was previously thought to be unremarkable."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Shark extinction 19 million years ago remains a mystery

In a new study led by Earth scientists at  Yale...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...