A new executive order aimed at deregulating the U.S. seafood industry is raising red flags among scientists and policy experts. While the order claims to boost competitiveness and cut red tape, critics warn it could do more harm than good - weakening the very systems that protect seafood sustainability.



Scientists from <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">UC Santa Barbara</a> and the University of Washington outlined their concerns in a recent paper. They argue that the executive order misses the mark, prioritizing short-term gains over long-term stability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inside-the-seafood-deregulation-order">Inside the seafood deregulation order</h2>



Signed in April 2025, the order - titled “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” - claims that U.S. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-seafood-industry-has-been-hit-hard-by-the-covid-19-pandemic/">seafood markets</a> are held back by overregulation and unfair trade practices. It calls for reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unsafe imports, and strengthening the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-spoilage-hidden-dangers-in-the-cold-chain/">seafood supply chain</a>.



However, the researchers say the plan is moving too fast and with too little support. They describe it as a policy that risks unraveling decades of scientific progress.



“(It’s) a significant escalation in undoing federal regulatory frameworks, weakening scientific authority and deemphasizing aquaculture development,” said Halley Froehlich of UC Santa Barbara and Jessica Gephart of the University of Washington.



“Instead of reform, it’s dismantling regulations in a very short amount of time,” added Froehlich, the paper’s lead author.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-noaa-s-role-under-threat">NOAA’s role under threat</h2>



The scientists point to cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a major concern. NOAA oversees roughly 500 commercial fishery stocks in the U.S. It plays a key role in managing, monitoring, and protecting marine resources.



Under the new directive, NOAA faces budget cuts, staff reductions, and tighter controls on communication. That’s a serious blow to its ability to coordinate sustainable fishing, especially across regions where fish migrate between countries.



“It’s quite problematic because NOAA is so central to how we manage our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bleaching-effect-coral-loss-threatens-fisheries-and-livelihoods/">fisheries</a>,” Froehlich said. “Data collection, monitoring, oversight, you name it, NOAA is part of that, and a really important part.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-plan-ignores-the-ocean-s-limits">The plan ignores the ocean’s limits</h2>



The executive order is supposed to help boost domestic seafood production. But the researchers argue that the ocean has limits - and we’re already close to reaching them.



“We are not going to get more out of the ocean,” Froehlich said. “We’re already near ‘peak fish,’ meaning maintenance and recovery of our stocks.”



Wild fisheries - both in the U.S. and globally - are already producing at or near their maximum sustainable levels. That leaves <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aquaculture-now-produces-more-food-than-wild-fishing/">aquaculture</a> as the only real path for growth. 



However, the new order gives little attention to farmed seafood and offers even less support to the agencies that regulate it. The scientists call it a mismatch between promises and practical outcomes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cutting-data-cutting-capacity">Cutting data, cutting capacity</h2>



One of the most troubling issues is the potential loss of data. The researchers warn that NOAA’s online databases, climate research, and monitoring tools may be defunded or decommissioned.



Without this data, managing fisheries becomes guesswork. It also makes it harder to prepare for climate-driven shifts in marine ecosystems.



“Without the data, expertise and capacity to study and understand these systems we run the risk of fishery collapses becoming more common and long-lasting,” the authors wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trade-conflicts-and-mismatched-markets">Trade conflicts and mismatched markets</h2>



The executive order also makes assumptions about seafood markets that don’t align with reality. 



Much of the seafood farmed in the U.S. isn’t what consumers demand most. And a large portion of seafood caught in U.S. waters is processed overseas before being sold back into the domestic market.



If tariffs are imposed on imported or foreign-processed seafood, prices for high-demand products like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrimp-crisis-alarming-virus-threatens-global-seafood-supplies/">shrimp</a> could rise sharply. Right now, only about 10% of shrimp eaten in the U.S. comes from domestic sources.



“In disrupting the market dynamics we do have, especially with trade wars with our trading partners, it’s likely that we’re going to have the opposite effect of creating opportunity long-term,” Froehlich said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-alternative-to-seafood-deregulation">An alternative to seafood deregulation </h2>



The paper was submitted as evidence in a recent hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee’s Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee. The scientists hope their findings will influence how Congress approaches <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-will-help-feed-earths-future-population-of-10-billion/">seafood policy</a> moving forward.



“When it comes to any shifts in production, these high levels of uncertainty are not a beneficial thing to happen for the sector,” Froehlich said.



While deregulation may sound appealing to some, the authors argue that a stable, well-regulated system - backed by science and data - is what actually keeps seafood both sustainable and competitive. In their view, cutting corners now could cost the industry far more in the future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X25002106">Marine Policy</a>.



-----



Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;



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



-----

Why seafood deregulation may hurt more than help

A new executive order aimed at deregulating the U.S. seafood industry is raising red flags among scientists and policy experts. While the order claims to boost competitiveness and cut red tape, critics warn it could do more harm than good - weakening the very systems that protect seafood sustainability. Scientists from UC Santa Barbara and the University of Washington outlined their concerns in a recent paper. They argue that the executive order misses the mark, prioritizing short-term gains over long-term stability. Inside the seafood deregulation order Signed...

A project that was intended to save Florida panthers may have had unintended consequences, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/">University of Central Florida</a>. The experts have discovered harmful mutations in Florida panthers which originated in pumas that were introduced as part of a genetic rescue program.&nbsp;&nbsp;



By the 1980s, Florida’s panther population had bottomed out at around 30 individuals. Inbreeding within this dangerously small population was causing offspring to be born with genetic defects and diseases.&nbsp;



In the 1990s, experts introduced pumas from Texas to breed with the panthers. Ultimately, the Florida panther population rebounded to between 120 and 230 adults with greater genetic diversity. However, the new study reveals that the new gene pool has both good and bad mutations present.



“There's a genetic signal that harmful mutations from different source populations were introduced into the Florida panther population,” explained study lead author Alexander Ochoa. “Although there’s still no evidence of these mutations emerging at the phenotypic level, we want to monitor the genetic health of the Florida panther because things could also go south pretty quickly, especially if their population remains small."



Ochoa noted that if the fitness of the population begins to decline, wildlife managers should consider future introductions and genetic rescue programs for Florida panthers.



“And if that's the case, with the information we have in hand, we may be able to assess the genetic health of potential source populations, and pinpoint and select individuals that are best suited for these introductions,” said Ochoa. “Ideally, we would want to select individuals that carry smaller amounts of harmful, or deleterious, mutations for introductions.”



The experts were surprised to find that some of the deleterious mutations were contributed by Central American pumas that were introduced to Everglades National Park during the 1950s and 1960s.



Overall, 16 percent of the deleterious mutations present in Florida panthers are of Central American origin and 33 percent are of Texas origin. In addition, four percent of the harmful mutations are of both Central American and Texas origin.



Using full genome sequencing, the researchers determined that the genetic admixture boosted Florida panther fitness by offsetting the expression of existing harmful mutations. However, the panthers have now become carriers of many new harmful mutations.



“I was expecting that the genetic rescue program was in general beneficial to Florida panthers,” said Ochoa. “But at the same time one of the unexpected findings was that a reasonable amount of novel harmful mutations from different source populations were also introduced into the Florida panther population. And we need to monitor these mutations in current Florida panthers because that's something that Florida panthers did not have before.”



According to study co-author Professor Robert Fitak, the Florida panther has been a generally positive conservation success story, and that it now can also serve as a model to inform genetic rescues in other species.



“We know that in the future many more species are going to become endangered, suffer from severe inbreeding, and have to be managed by conservation actions such as genetic rescue,” said Fitak. “Our results will help us understand what the potential negative genetic consequences of these actions will be, or what we need to be prepared for.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jhered">Journal of Heredity</a>.



---



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

Florida panthers gained harmful mutations during rescue efforts

A project that was intended to save Florida panthers may...

A team of zoologists from <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/">Trinity College Dublin</a> (TCD) in Ireland and the <a href="https://www.uho.ac.id/">Halo Oleo University</a> in Indonesia has recently found several new species of colorful, tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-song-of-the-east-african-sunbird-may-be-a-million-years-old/">sunbirds</a>, including the “Wakatobi Sunbird” (Cinnyris infrenatus), which lives only on the tiny Wakatobi Islands in Central Indonesia. Moreover, by examining the more widespread Olive-backed Sunbirds and Black Sunbirds, the scientists found that individuals named as such actually belong to multiple unrecognized species. These findings have important implications for our understanding of evolution in this highly biodiverse region.



Living in the tropics from Africa to Australia, sunbirds resemble the American hummingbirds and fill similar ecological niches. Male sunbirds frequently have bright plumage, with iridescent feathers that shine in the sunlight. For centuries, zoologists have examined sunbirds’ plumage to identify different species, over 140 of which are currently recognized. However, with the help of new forms of evidence, such as DNA, song recordings, and statistical analyses of body measurements, the scientists have now found that this family is even more diverse than previously thought. To discover these new species, the researchers re-traced famous biologist Alfred Russel Wallace’s steps, as he based his theories on his investigations of animals across the islands of present-day Indonesia.



“One of Wallace’s major findings is referred to as ‘Wallace’s Line’ – a boundary between deep and shallow seas that many animals have been unable to cross, leading to marked differences in the species found on either side. The widespread Olive-backed Sunbird appeared to be an exception, being found all the way from China to Australia with Wallace’s Line right in the middle of its range,” said study lead author Fionn Ó Marcaigh, a PhD student in Zoology at TCD.&nbsp;



“The new study, however, has shown that the populations on either side actually represent two different species, in keeping with Wallace’s original predictions. The Black Sunbird was already known to be subject to Wallace’s Line, but the new research has shown that the population around Sulawesi is a separate species from the one in New Guinea.”



While the Olive-backed Sunbird covers quite a wide range for such a small bird, the newly discovered Wakatobi Sunbird is restricted to the tiny Wakatobi Islands off the coast of Sulawesi. Besides being genetically unique, this species also has darker plumage, a higher-pitched song, and shorter wings than the Olive-backed Sunbird. According to the scientists, its short wings have likely contributed to its remaining isolated on these islands.



“The identification of the Wakatobi Sunbird serves to remind us that biodiversity is everywhere. This bird wasn’t found in a remote rainforest, but along the scrubby margins of busy towns and villages. Let us hope the children of the Wakatobi will be able to enjoy these special birds for generations to come,” concluded co-author David Kelly, a behavioral ecologist at TCD.



The study is published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac081">Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society</a>.



Image Credit: Nicola Marples and David Kelly, Trinity College Dublin



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.



---



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

New sunbird species discovered in Indonesia

A team of zoologists from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/self-control-finite-resource/">Self-control</a> – the capacity to resist immediate temptation in favor of a better but delayed reward – is a crucial skill that underpins effective decision-making and future planning. This ability has been previously shown to be proportionally linked to intelligence in humans, chimpanzees, and cuttlefish.&nbsp;



Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> has discovered that Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) – a member of the corvid family often nicknamed the “feathered apes” due to their high cognitive abilities – can pass a version of the “marshmallow test” (a test designed to study self-control in children), and those with the greatest self-control also score high on intelligence tests. These findings show that the link between self-control and intelligence appears across distantly related animal species, suggesting it has evolved independently several times.



Among all the corvids, jays in particular are vulnerable to having their catches stolen by other birds. Thus, the capacity for self-control may have evolved to enable them to wait for the right moment to hide their food without being seen or heard by potential thieves.



To test this ability in ten Eurasian jays, the scientists designed an experiment inspired by the 1972 Stanford Marshmallow Test, in which children were offered a choice between one marshmallow immediately, or two if they waited for a sufficient period of time. In this case, the jays were presented with mealworms (their favorite food), cheese, and bread. They had to choose between bread or cheese (available immediately) or mealworm that they could see but could only get access to after a period of delay ranging from five seconds to five and a half minutes.



All the jays managed to wait for the worm, but some seemed to have much more patience than others. For instance, one of them – called by the scientists JayLo – ignored a piece of cheese and waited five and a half minutes for a mealworm, while others could only wait a maximum of 20 seconds.



“It’s just mind-boggling that some jays can wait so long for their favorite food. In multiple trials, I sat there watching JayLo ignore a piece of cheese for over five minutes – I was getting bored, but she was just patiently waiting for the worm,” reported study lead author Alex Schnell, a psychologist at Cambridge.



The scientists also presented the jays with five cognitive tasks which are commonly used to measure general intelligence. The birds that performed better in these tests also managed to wait longer for the mealworm reward, suggesting that self-control is linked to intelligence in jays too.



“The birds’ performance varied across individuals – some did really well in all the tasks and others were mediocre. What was most interesting was that if a bird was good at one of the tasks, it was good at all of them – which suggests that a general intelligence factor underlies their performance,” Schnell concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0348">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Science</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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.



---



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

Jays with greater intelligence have more self-control

Self-control – the capacity to resist immediate temptation in favor...

According to a new study led by <a href="https://www.kingston.ac.uk/">Kingston University London</a>, having a pet could help people who are less resilient better cope with the stresses of everyday life. However, unhealthy attachments to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-device-tracks-location-and-activity-of-pets/">pets</a> - when owners consider their pets to be more important than other people in their lives, for instance – can lead to increased feelings of loneliness.&nbsp;



By using two surveys of over 700 people from the UK and around the world (one conducted during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020 and the other in September 2021), the researchers explored whether having a pet was associated with better mental wellbeing during the pandemic.



The analysis revealed that pets had a largely positive effect on the lives of their owners. Increased exposure to their animals – such as playing with them or taking them out for walks more often – was associated with better mental health. Overall, owners who spent more time with their pets generally reported being happier. However, the scientists also found that unhealthy attachments to pets were frequently linked to poorer mental health.



“It's commonly believed that pets are good for humans. While our research partly supports this, I wanted to understand what role people’s individual characteristics, such as resilience, play in the relationship between pet ownership and positive or negative mental health,” said study lead author Ece Beren Barklam, a PhD student in human-animal interaction at Kingston.



“Where the owner considers their pet to be more important than the people in their lives, the study found they were lonelier, unhappier, and less resilient. They also scored lower when it came to overall mental wellbeing. This type of attachment may reflect an unhealthy bond, where the owner treats their pet as if it has human motives and traits, which could be a kind of anthropomorphism.”



According to study senior author Fatima Maria Felisberti, a neuroscientist at Kingston and Barklam’s supervisor, these findings could improve our understanding of the crucial role that pets play in people’s everyday lives. “We tend to over-simplify our view of why people have pets. Beren’s research highlights the complexities involved in such relationships."



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2022.2101248">Anthrozoös</a>.



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.



---



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

People who struggle with stress benefit from having a pet

According to a new study led by Kingston University London,...

According to a recent study led by <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a>, we should stop thinking of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-struggle-to-adjust-to-high-temperatures/">insects</a> as creepy crawlies and focus instead on the multiple benefits they bring to humans and nature. The widespread and deeply ingrained negative cultural perception of insects is a major factor holding back the public’s appreciation of the critical roles they play in ecosystems. Unfortunately, this perception is also partly reflected in government biodiversity policy inaction worldwide.



Despite three decades of intergovernmental reports highlighting biodiversity targets, global insect biomass, abundance, and diversity continues to decline. “Biodiversity, including insect, declines are often unintended consequences of human activities with human wellbeing nearly always trumping nature conservation, and this is likely to continue until we reach a point where we see flat-lining ecosystems are detrimental to our own species,” said study lead author Phillip Donkersley, an expert in Invertebrate Biology and Conservation Policy at Lancaster.



&nbsp;“Intergovernmental action has been slow to respond, kicking in only when change becomes impossible to ignore. If we are to see political attitudes and actions change, then first societies’ perception of insects needs to be addressed.”



Dr. Donkersley and his colleagues highlight the various benefits that insects bring, including their fundamental role in ecosystems (such as pollinating plants, or being a food source for animals and people in many parts of the world), and their contribution to wellbeing, culture, and innovation (such as the mental health benefits people derive from seeing butterflies in parks and gardens, their inclusion in poetry and literature, or their use in a range of technologies, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals).&nbsp;



In addition, the scientists outlined several strategic priorities in their action plan to help support the conservation of insects, including: proactively and publicly addressing governmental inaction; highlighting the technological developments we owe to insects; aligning with plant, mammal, and bird conservation groups to stress the interdependency of various species and the knock-on benefits insect conservation could have for other species; and engaging pupils and students with the wonders of the insect world to counter ingrained perceptions of insects as threatening creepy crawlies.



“The benefits we gain from the insect world are broad, yet aversion or phobias of invertebrates are common and stand firmly in the path of their conservation,” said Dr Donkersley. “We need to move beyond this mindset and appreciate the huge role they play in ecosystems, food chains, mental health, and even technological innovation.”



“This perception change is a crucial step, alongside other measures we outline in this paper. Immediate and substantial actions are needed to protect insect species in order to maintain global ecosystem stability,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9417">Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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.



---



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

Insects play important roles in ecosystems

According to a recent study led by Lancaster University, we...

Scientists have long pondered why humans are such chatty, musical animals. Evolutionary biologists believe that our capacities for speech and music may be linked, since only animals that can learn new vocalizations, such as humans or songbirds, appear to have a sense of rhythm. 



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.mpi.nl/">Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics</a> has tested the rhythmic abilities of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/harbor-seals-use-vocal-learning-to-sound-larger-than-they-appear/">harbor seals</a>, a species of animals known to be capable of rhythmic learning. The analyses revealed that seals also have a sense of rhythm, being able to discriminate between rhythmic and non-rhythmic sequences early in life, without any training or rewards.



The researchers tested 20 young seals from a rehabilitation center in the Netherlands, before they were released in the wild. First, the team created several sequences of seal vocalizations which differed in three rhythmic properties: tempo (fast or slow, such as beats per minute in music), length (short or long, like the duration of musical notes), and regularity (regular or irregular, as in the case of a metronome versus the rhythm of improvisational jazz). Then, by using a method derived from human infant studies, the scientists recorded how many times the seals turned their head to look at the sound source – a behavior indicating whether animals find a stimulus interesting.



The seals looked at the stimulus more often when vocalizations were longer, faster, or rhythmically regular. This suggests that one-year-old seals can spontaneously discriminate between regular (metronomic) and irregular (arrhythmic) sequences, as well as between sequences with short versus long notes, and sequences with fast versus slow-paced tempo.



“Another mammal, apart from us, shows rhythm processing and vocalization learning,”&nbsp;said study lead author Laura Verga, a postdoctoral fellow in Comparative Bioacoustics at Max Planck. “This is&nbsp;a significant advance in the debate over the evolutionary origins of human speech and musicality, which are still rather mysterious.&nbsp;Similarly to human babies, the rhythm perception we find in seals arises early in life, is robust and requires neither training nor reinforcement.”



In future studies, Dr. Verga and her colleagues aim to explore whether seals perceive rhythm in vocalizations of other animals, or even when hearing abstract sounds, as well as whether other mammals have similar capacities.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0316">Biology Letters</a>.



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.



---



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

Seals can perceive rhythm early in life

Scientists have long pondered why humans are such chatty, musical...

Honey,Bee,Collecting,Pollen,On,Purple,Flower.,Bumblebee,On,A

We are all familiar with the engaging antics of young mammals and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-are-crossbreeding-in-human-altered-landscapes/">birds</a> as they play. They undertake activities with no apparent immediate purpose, other than to bring enjoyment. But is it possible that insects may also have a sense of playfulness?&nbsp;



In previous research on bumble bees, scientists found that they could train bees to roll small wooden balls along in exchange for a sugary reward, but they also observed that the same bees went out of their way to visit the balls and roll them around, even when there was no reward involved. This led the researchers to wonder whether these bees were actually engaging in play.



According to behaviorists, play can be defined according to five criteria. It is activity that has no immediate adaptive outcome, is voluntary and spontaneous, is different from usual functional behavior, is often repeated but not stereotyped, and is initiated when an animal is in a relaxed, unstressed state. With these criteria in mind, a research team led by <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University</a> set out to test whether the bumble bee behavior of rolling balls around fulfilled the definition of play.&nbsp;



Their initial experiment followed 45 novice bumble bees as they made their way from a nest to a feeding area where ‘nectar’ and pollen were available. On the way there, the bees could choose a direct path or could deviate into areas where either mobile or immobile wooden balls were available on the floor. The balls were all 15 mm in diameter and were either painted yellow or purple, or left the natural wood color. The experiment ran for 3 hours each day, over 18 days, and video recordings were made of all the bee movements.



The study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.013">Animal Behaviour</a>, reported a total of 910 ball-rolling actions by the 45 bumble bees. Individual bees rolled balls between 1 and 44 times on an experimental day, and between 1 and 117 times across the whole duration of the experiment. In addition, individual ball-rolling actions lasted between 0.4 and 31&nbsp;s, and for distances between 2 and 601&nbsp;mm. Statistical analysis showed that, after a bee’s first ball-rolling experience, it was more likely to enter the area of mobile balls than the area of fixed balls. As no food reward was associated with visits to the balls, the researchers concluded that the bees were choosing to visit the balls for reasons not related to foraging or any other functional purpose.&nbsp;



The study also found that younger bees (less than 7 days since emergence) rolled more balls than older bees, mirroring the more playful behavior of young humans and other juvenile mammals and birds. Furthermore, although male and female bees rolled comparable numbers of balls, male bees rolled them for longer time periods than their female counterparts.&nbsp;For female bees the ball-rolling behavior peaked at the age of 3 days while for males it peaked at the age of 5 days.&nbsp;



In a subsequent experiment, the researchers first gave 42 bumble bees access to two chambers, each of a different color. One chamber always contained movable balls and the other had no objects inside it. Once the bees were accustomed to finding balls in a chamber of a particular color, they were tested and given a choice between the two chambers, this time though, neither one contained any balls. The bees showed a striking preference for the color of the chamber previously associated with the wooden balls. These results again suggest that bumble bees find ball rolling rewarding and seek to repeat the experience.



The set-up of the experiments removed any notion that the bees were moving the balls for any greater purpose other than play. Rolling balls did not contribute to survival strategies, such as gaining food, clearing clutter, or mating and was done under stress-free conditions.&nbsp;The researchers concluded that the seemingly functionless ball-rolling activity is analogous to object play in mammals, and fulfils all the criteria of play behavior.&nbsp;



“It is certainly mind-blowing, at times amusing, to watch bumble bees show something like play. They approach and manipulate these ‘toys’ again and again," said study first author Samadi Galpayage. "It goes to show, once more, that despite their little size and tiny brains, they are more than small robotic beings. They may actually experience some kind of positive emotional states, even if rudimentary, like other larger fluffy, or not so fluffy, animals do. This sort of finding has implications for our understanding of sentience and welfare of insects and will, hopefully, encourage us to respect and protect life on Earth ever more.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This research provides a strong indication that insect minds are far more sophisticated than we might imagine. There are lots of animals that play just for the purposes of enjoyment, but most examples come from young mammals and birds," said Professor Lars Chittka, author of the recent book The Mind of a Bee. “We are producing ever-increasing amounts of evidence backing up the need to do all we can to protect insects, that are a million miles from the mindless, unfeeling creatures they are traditionally believed to be."



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.



---



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

Bumble bees can "play" with objects for fun

We are all familiar with the engaging antics of young...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> has found that hybrids of two common North American <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-have-some-impressive-cognitive-skills/">songbirds</a> – the black-capped and mountain chickadee – are more likely to be found in areas where humans have altered the landscape in some ways. This is the first study to positively correlate hybridization in any animal species with anthropogenic landscape changes and to examine this relationship across the entire range of a species – in this case, almost all of western North America. 



The findings also contradict the widespread assumption that these two bird species rarely hybridize. In fact, black-capped and mountain chickadee hybrids seem to occur frequently across the U.S. and Canada.



“These are common birds. If you go anywhere in North America, you’ll find a chickadee,” said study lead author Kathryn Grabenstein, a postdoctoral fellow in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder. “And what we’re finding now is that if you see a chickadee in a place where both black-capped and mountain chickadees live, they’re probably at least a little bit of a hybrid chickadee.”



Scientists have long known that climate change, for instance, shifts the range of various species, bring them into contact with other species they would not usually interact with, and thus leading to hybridization. In this study, the researchers explored another important phenomenon: how human “disturbances” – such as building cities, clearing land, planting trees, or creating noise pollution – can affect the interactions between two related species whose ranges already overlap.



“What are the consequences of the ways we modify the landscape? We think about it mostly in terms of habitat loss, not necessarily in terms of species interaction modifications,” said study co-author Scott Taylor, an associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder. “This paper changes our understanding of this system incredibly.”&nbsp;



By comparing observational data from <a href="https://ebird.org/home">eBird</a> (an online database of bird observations) and DNA samples from 196 black-capped and 213 mountain chickadees at 81 sites in North America, the scientists discovered a positive, significant correlation between hybrids of these two species and regions where humans have disturbed their habitats.



“It’s hard to say whether this hybridization is good or bad, but it’s happening, and we will only understand the impacts through continued study. It is certainly something to consider when thinking about the future of some of these birds that we’re really familiar with in our backyards,” Taylor concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16476">Global Change Biology</a>.



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.



---



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

Songbirds are crossbreeding in human-altered landscapes

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder...

A new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mystery-fossil-found-to-be-an-early-relative-of-pterosaurs/">fossil</a> specimen of a long-extinct lizard, discovered on the Isle of Skye, has given paleontologists insight into the earliest origins of this reptile group. The tiny vertebrate, Bellairsia gracilis, is only 6 cm long and dates from the Middle Jurassic, around 166 million years ago. It was found in 2016 by a team led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> and National Museums Scotland, and is one of several new fossil discoveries from the island that cast light on the early evolution of vertebrate groups, including amphibians, reptiles and mammals.&nbsp;



Details of the exceptional new fossil, which comprises the most complete skeleton of a fossil lizard anywhere in the world, have been published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05332-6">Nature</a>. The research represents a joint project between scientists from the universities of Warsaw, Oxford and UCL, and it reports on the mixture of ancestral and modern features present in this early representative of the group known as the squamata – the largest group of living reptiles that includes lizards, chameleons and snakes.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This little fossil lets us see evolution in action. In paleontology you rarely have the opportunity to work with such complete, well-preserved fossils coming from a time about which we know so little. Bellairsia&nbsp;has some modern lizard features, like traits related to cranial kinesis – that’s the movement of the skull bones in relation to one another. This is an important functional feature of many living squamates," explained study first author Dr. Mateusz Tałanda.



"It was one of the first fossils I found when I began working on Skye. The little black skull was poking out from the pale limestone, but it was so small I was lucky to spot it. Looking closer I saw the tiny teeth, and realized I’d found something important, but we had no idea until later that almost the whole skeleton was in there," said study co-author <a href="https://palaeobiology.web.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-elsa-panciroli">Dr. Elsa Panciroli</a>.



As a group, the squamates show numerous specialized features of the skull and skeleton today, but fossil evidence of the origins of these features is rare. Although we know the earliest representatives were present some 240 million years ago, the lack of fossil evidence from the Triassic and Jurassic Periods has made it difficult to map out the evolution of their anatomy. Comparing the new fossil to other examples of living and extinct squamates confirms that Bellairsia&nbsp;belongs to the "stem" of the squamate family tree. This means that it split from other lizards just before the origin of modern groups.&nbsp;



The researchers used X-ray computed tomography (CT) to study the details of the Bellairsia fossil, in much the same way that medical CT methods produce 3D images of a human body without needing to enter within. The researchers were able to obtain images of the entire fossil without removing it from the rock in which it formed all those millions of years ago. Whereas medical scanners work at the millimeter scale, the Oxford University CT scanner revealed details of the little lizard’s skeletal anatomy down to a few tens of micrometers.



Parts of the skeleton were then imaged in even greater detail, including the skull, hindlimbs and pelvis, at the European Synchrotron (ESRF, Grenoble, France). The intensity of the synchrotron beam permits a resolution of 4 micrometers, revealing details of the very smallest bones in the skeleton.



“Fossils like this&nbsp;Bellairsia&nbsp;specimen have huge value in filling gaps in our understanding of evolution and the history of life on Earth," said study co-author <a href="https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/roger-benson/">Professor Roger Benson</a>. "It used to be almost impossible to study such tiny fossils like this, but this study shows the power of new techniques, including CT scanning, to image these non-destructively and in great detail.”



Study co-author Professor Susan Evans (UCL) first described and named&nbsp;Bellairsia&nbsp;from a few jaw and skull bones from Oxfordshire 25 years ago. “It is wonderful to have a complete specimen of this tantalizing little lizard, and to see where it fits in the evolutionary tree," said Professor Evans. "Through fossils like&nbsp;Bellairsia&nbsp;we are gaining a better understanding of early lizard anatomy. Angus Bellairs, the lizard embryologist after [whom]&nbsp;Bellairsia&nbsp;was originally named, would have been delighted.”



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.



---



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

Scottish fossil sheds light on early lizard anatomy

A new fossil specimen of a long-extinct lizard, discovered on...

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are iconic Arctic marine <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-fight-over-scarce-resources-in-brutal-environments/">mammals</a> that show seasonal migrations in response to the presence of ice. They spend their summers in ice-free coastal waters around Arctic Greenland, Canada and Russia, and move to deeper waters that are 95 percent covered in ice for the winter. They need to time their fall migration to coincide with the formation of ice floes so that they do not become stuck in the fast ice. As the climate has changed, ice has formed later each year and melted earlier in the spring, and researchers have wondered what impacts these environmental changes are having on narwhal seasonal movements.&nbsp;



The small whales, also known as ‘unicorns of the sea,’ are creatures of habit, following relatively inflexible migratory paths and patterns each year. And, since they are long-lived – most survive until they are at least 50, and some until they are 100 – it has always been thought that they would be more susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Animal species with long lifespans produce offspring relatively slowly and take longer to manifest genetic change or evolution than animals with shorter lifespans.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In a new study, published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121092119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, researchers from universities in Canada and Denmark have used satellite telemetry to track the seasonal movements of 40 narwhals between 1997 and 2018. They have focused particularly on the timing of the animals’ movements and compared them with data on local and regional changes in temperature and ice formation.&nbsp;



The results of the long-term study show that, over the 21 years, narwhals have delayed the timing of their fall departure by around 10 days per decade. They leave their summer grounds later and later each year, and also take an average of about four days extra in the earliest phase of their transit. Currently, the pod of narwhals leaves its summer grounds 17 days later than it did in 1997.



“We looked at satellite tracking data spanning 21 years from the Canadian Arctic, and found significant delays in the timing of narwhal autumn migrations, where narwhals were remaining longer in their summer areas at a rate of 10 days per decade,” said Dr. Courtney Shuert, lead author and post-doctoral fellow in the Statistical Ecology Research Group in the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF). “There were also sex-specific differences in departures, with the male narwhals starting the migration out of the summering areas, while females, potentially with dependent young, departed later by almost a week.”



Narwhals have a preference for cold water, and their space use is largely tempered by ice cover and the availability of open water regions. As a result, they may be residing in coastal waters within the larger summering areas, until ice formation in the autumn, and an increasing risk of entrapment, forces them to move off to deeper waters in the wintering areas in central Baffin Bay.&nbsp;Other research has shown that ocean freeze-over in this area is shifting to occur, on average, around five days later per decade, thus matching the pattern of narwhal movement changes.



“There’s this general trend [towards delaying migration], but there’s also a lot of inter-annual flexibility, which highlights that they’re having this strategic approach to when they’re leaving and they’re tracking these broad-scale climate trends,” Shuert said.



These findings raise hope that narwhals in particular, and long-lived species in general, may be able to survive global warming despite their slower genetic evolution. Changing behavior patterns may be one of the only adaptive strategies available for species that exhibit high site fidelity and strong ties with migration routes, and that are faced with climate change.&nbsp;



Prior research has shown that many&nbsp;<a href="https://phys.org/tags/land+animals/">land animals</a>&nbsp;and birds have been able to alter their migration patterns as the planet has grown warmer. But, as the researchers involved in the current study note, little research has been done to find out if marine species are doing the same. “The rate of change that we’re seeing now in the Arctic is a huge concern for a lot of animals because it could exceed how quickly the animals can adapt through evolution,” said Shuert. “But [these findings] really show this idea of behavioral flexibility and how important it can be to bolster these populations against change.”



Does this change in behavior mean that narwhals will be able to adapt to climate change successfully? “Unfortunately, departing later is not necessarily good news for the narwhal,” said Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé, senior author and an associate professor in the IOF. “Because staying in the summering grounds could result in further exposure to shipping traffic associated with the new iron mine, it may not be beneficial to the narwhals in the long term. We know they are sensitive to shipping disturbance, and that their stress levels have been rising over the past 20 years.”



“In addition, staying in their summering grounds longer could increase the chance of narwhals being caught in quickly freezing ice. Such ice entrapments can kill hundreds of narwhals.” The narwhals may also increase their exposure to predators, such as Orcas, by staying back in summering grounds or leaving the wintering grounds too early.



Climate change and loss of sea ice is creating stressors for these animals, and they are adapting to a new life in the Arctic. “Natural resource exploitation, ice breaking, and tourism are also impacting narwhal migratory patterns, “Auger-Méthé said. “Climate change and increased human exposure are creating additional stress for these whales, and with it, comes consequences for human activity as well.”



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.



---



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

Narwhals are modifying their behavior due to climate change

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are iconic Arctic marine mammals that show...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King’s College London</a> (KCL) has found that seeing or hearing birds could lead to improvements in mental wellbeing which could last up to eight hours. Such an improvement was also noticeable in people suffering from depression – the most common mental illness worldwide – suggesting that exposure to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birdsong-frequency-is-influenced-by-sexual-selection/">birdsong</a> could have a potential role in helping those with mental health issues.



The scientists used the smartphone application <a href="https://www.urbanmind.info/">Urban Mind</a> to collect people’s real-time reports of their mental wellbeing, together with their reports of seeing or hearing birds. The study was conducted between April 2018 and October 2021, with 1,292 participants from a variety of countries (with the majority based in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States though) completing 26,856 assessments using the Urban Mind app. The participants had to report through this app three times per day whether they could see or hear birds, followed by inquiries regarding their mental wellbeing.&nbsp;



“There is growing evidence on the mental health benefits of being around nature and we intuitively think that the presence of birdsong and birds would help lift our mood. However, there is little research that has actually investigated the impact of birds on mental health in real-time and in a real environment,” said study lead author Ryan Hammoud, a research assistant in Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at KCL.



“By using the Urban Mind app we have for the first time showed the direct link between seeing or hearing birds and positive mood. We hope this evidence can demonstrate the importance of protecting and providing environments to encourage birds, not only for biodiversity but for our mental health.”



The researchers also collected information on existing diagnoses of mental illness and discovered that hearing or seeing birdlife was associated with improvements in mental wellbeing in both healthy participants and those diagnosed with depression. According to the scientists, these links between birds and mental wellbeing could not be explained by other co-occurring environmental factors, such as the presence of plants, trees, or waterways.



“The term ecosystem services is often used to describe the benefits of certain aspects of the natural environment on our physical and mental health,” explained study senior author Andrea Mechelli, a professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health at KCL. “However, it can be difficult to prove these benefits scientifically. Our study provides an evidence base for creating and supporting biodiverse spaces that harbor birdlife, since this is strongly linked with our mental health. In addition, the findings support the implementation of measures to increase opportunities for people to come across birdlife, particularly for those living with mental health conditions such as depression,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20207-6">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



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.



---



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

The presence of birds can improve mental health

A new study led by King’s College London (KCL) has...

On Tuesday, October 26, 2022, the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a> listed Antarctica’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emperor-penguins-may-not-survive-climate-change/">emperor penguin</a> (Aptenodytes forsteri) as an endangered species. Although this species is highly resilient and can endure strong winds and freezing temperature in order to breed and protect their eggs and offspring, melting sea ice is currently upending the habitat they need to breed, feed, and protect themselves from predators, possibly bringing them on the brink of extinction by the end of the century.



“This listing reflects the growing extinction crisis,” said Martha Williams, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Climate change is having a profound impact on species around the world.”



Although the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/">Center for Biological Diversity</a> already petitioned Fish and Wildlife to add the emperor penguin on their Endangered Species Act in 2011, no actions have been undertaken for more than a decade, thus further increasing the risks this species is exposed to. As previous <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15806">studies</a> have argued, while sea ice around Antarctica has proven more durable than that at the North Pole, almost all emperor penguin colonies in the southern continent could be pushed to extinction by the end of 21st century, unless urgent actions to dramatically decrease global greenhouse gas emissions are taken.&nbsp;



“That body of science really helped to make this decision really clear,” said Shaye Wolf, the Center for Biological Diversity’s climate science director. “That the penguin is endangered by climate change and needs all the protection it can get.”&nbsp;



Although the emperor penguin populations appear to be stable at the moment – with 625,000 to 650,000 birds shuffling around Antarctica – there are already ominous signs of what the future may hold for this iconic bird. For instance, in recent years, the breaking of sea ice before the chicks were ready to swim at Cape Crozier or Halley Bay led to breeding failures.



Scientists and conservationists hope that the listing of this species as endangered will lead to stricter limits on fishing for krill – the penguin’s main food source - around Antarctica, as well as compel United States officials to consider the climate implications of various federal projects before approving them.



“If we manage to take action, and especially action now, we can still avoid the extinction,” concluded Stephanie Jenouvrier, a scientist at the <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution</a> who studied the current situation of Antarctica’s emperor penguins.



The official document listing the penguins as endangered can be accessed <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2022-23164.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp;



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.



---



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

Antarctica’s emperor penguin officially listed as endangered

On Tuesday, October 26, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...

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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"]</div>



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)



---



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"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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



---



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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="qas3EhyI0Y-2220951-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



---



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

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"]</div>



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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="MHyhtebibJ-2200368-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

News coming your way