A team in central China has done something simple and bold, they directly dated dinosaur eggs instead of the rocks around them. The eggshell calcite from the Qinglongshan site yielded an age of 85.91 ± 1.74 million years.



This matters because it turns eggs from interesting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/where-did-dinosaurs-come-from-missing-fossils-hold-the-secret/">fossils</a> into reliable timestamps for life on land during the Late Cretaceous, a time of shifting climates and ecosystems.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dinosaur-eggshells-dated">Dinosaur eggshells dated</h2>



The fossils come from Qinglongshan in the Yunyang Basin of Hubei Province, where thousands of intact eggs rest in stacked layers with little distortion.&nbsp;



“We show that these dinosaur eggs were deposited roughly 85 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period,” said <a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/3140051/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Bi Zhao</a>, from the Hubei Institute of Geosciences (<a href="https://en.cug.edu.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HIG</a>).



The group used carbonate <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/zircon-u-pb-dating" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U-Pb dating</a> on eggshell material, measuring uranium and lead atoms to calculate time since the shell formed. 



In their tests, the radiogenic signal sits in biogenic calcite, the carbonate built by the egg-laying animal, which behaved as a semi-closed system for uranium uptake after burial.



The <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1638838/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a> relied on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/laser-ablation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laser ablation</a>, a micro laser that vaporizes pinpoint spots of carbonate which are then analyzed by a mass spectrometer for uranium and lead ratios.&nbsp;



The resulting age is not from ash fall or nearby minerals, it is from the eggshell itself, which frees researchers from indirect age constraints that can mislead if volcanic layers formed earlier or later than the nest horizon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-carbonate-u-pb-works">How carbonate U-Pb works</h2>



Uranium isotopes in carbonates decay into lead at known, constant rates, and the proportion of parent to daughter isotopes reveals elapsed time. 



Cross checks, like repeated spots in different shell areas and agreement between fragments, keep the numbers honest, and the reported uncertainty of ± 1.74 million years reflects instrument precision and sample scatter, not guesswork.



Indirect <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1367912012005019" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">approaches</a> have anchored many Asian egg sites by dating interbedded tuffs, for example zircon based SIMS ages from the Tiantai Basin that bracket egg layers in the Laijia and Chichengshan formations at roughly 96 to 99 million years and 91 to 94 million years. 



That prior dating set a framework that eggshell ages can now refine where ash is missing.



Carbonate geochronology has matured fast, with careful comparisons between uranium thorium and U-Pb techniques on the same samples showing strong consistency over wide timescales. 



That broader look at geochronology <a href="https://gchron.copernicus.org/articles/7/335/2025/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">methods</a> helps explain why a tiny eggshell can carry a credible age.



The study team also separated signals, finding consistent ages from biogenic carbonates, and noisy or unusable signals from late pore filling calcite, a reminder that not all carbonates are equal for keeping time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dinosaur-eggshell-site">Dinosaur eggshell site</h2>



The Qinglongshan reserve preserves egg clutches in red siltstones and sandstones, with many eggs still three dimensional and minimally deformed, a rare condition that helps both taphonomy and dating. 



The sampled clutch belonged to an oblate style of egg typical of the family <a href="https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Dendrobatidae/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dendroolithidae</a>, which is known for highly porous shells.



Those Yunyang eggs have been assigned to Placoolithus tumiaolingensis by <a href="https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app63/app005232018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> that cleaned up the taxonomy and emphasized the diagnostic shell microstructure. That classification anchors the site in a broader Chinese record of dendroolithid eggs.



Porous eggshell architecture affects gas exchange and incubation, and the microstructure varies in ways that may reflect nesting style in a semi arid fluvial landscape. 



The new age puts those choices in a tight slice of time, late Coniacian to early Santonian, rather than a vague Late Cretaceous window.



Thousands of eggs across stacked horizons also open the door to building a basin scale timeline where shell ages from different levels track local ecological change, sedimentation rates, and any shifts in the nesting fauna.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/dinosaur-eggs_dating-method_china_credit-Bi-Zhao_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/dinosaur-eggs_dating-method_china_credit-Bi-Zhao_1s.webp" alt="Egg clutch sampled for chronological studies. Credit Dr. Bi Zhao" class="wp-image-1985991"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Egg clutch sampled for chronological studies. Click image to enlarge. Credit Dr. Bi Zhao</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dinosaur-climate-context">Dinosaur climate context</h2>



Marine records indicate the Late Cretaceous did not stay uniformly hot. 



One North Atlantic sea surface temperature <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24937202/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">record</a> shows a drop of about 7 degrees Celsius (12.6 degrees Fahrenheit), from around 35 degrees to below 28 degrees, between the earliest Campanian and the Maastrichtian.



Independent <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18187651/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence</a> from oxygen isotopes suggests brief glaciation episodes punctuated parts of the mid Cretaceous greenhouse, showing that climate could swing even when the world was generally warm. 



Inland Asia would have felt those shifts in precipitation, seasonality, and vegetation.



Pinned ages on terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-extinction-theories-are-challenged-by-new-research/">fossils</a> let scientists ask tighter questions about whether nesting density changed across cooler intervals or whether certain egg types rose or fell with climate. 



The eggshell ages at Qinglongshan now give one fixed point for such tests, and more layers can add the sequence needed to see patterns.



Cause and effect claims are premature at a single site, but a direct eggshell chronology makes it practical to compare neighboring basins and see whether bird and non avian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dog-sized-baby-dinosaur-unearthed-after-166-million-years/">dinosaur</a> nesting moved, paused, or persisted during regional climate transitions.



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



The team plans to sample eggs from additional horizons at Qinglongshan, then from basins to the north and south, to build a regional timeline that can be compared with dated marine and volcanic records. 



That will clarify which changes are local quirks and which ones reflect broader environmental forcing across East Asia.



Applying the same protocol to eggs in the Xixia, Jiaolai, and Nanxiong basins would close large age gaps where ash beds are absent. 



Those basins have different egg assemblages, so a uniform clock could test migration ideas and turnover hypotheses without assuming rock ages transfer cleanly between sites.



Direct dinosaur eggshell dating also complements existing zircon frameworks rather than replacing them, since both tools answer different parts of the age question. 



Zircons pin eruptive or depositional moments for ash, while eggshells date the biological event of nesting, and together they can resolve the tempo of life on land.



With better <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-ground-dwellers-survived-the-asteroid-impact-that-killed-the-dinosaurs/">timescales</a>, small details like pore geometry, clutch spacing, and shell thickness will be tied to environmental context, not guesswork. 



That is how a few careful ages can turn a crowded egg hillside into a precise chronicle of Late Cretaceous life in central China.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1638838/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Earth Science</a>.



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These dinosaur eggs tell an incredible story from 85 million years ago

A team in central China has done something simple and bold, they directly dated dinosaur eggs instead of the rocks around them. The eggshell calcite from the Qinglongshan site yielded an age of 85.91 ± 1.74 million years. This matters because it turns eggs from interesting fossils into reliable timestamps for life on land during the Late Cretaceous, a time of shifting climates and ecosystems. Dinosaur eggshells dated The fossils come from Qinglongshan in the Yunyang Basin of Hubei Province, where thousands of intact eggs rest in...

In a new study from <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a>, experts have found that strong winds can increase the spread of pathogens at outdoor chicken farms. The research was focused on the prevalence of Campylobacter - the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness - at chicken farms in the western United States.



Across farms that had experienced high winds the week before the samples were collected, the pathogen was found to be more widespread.&nbsp;



“Farmers need to be aware of the risk,” said study co-lead author Olivia Smith. “These environmental factors are influencing if the poultry are going to have foodborne pathogens, so farmers need to be aware of what's around them. If there's a lot of wind and if they're in really agricultural areas, that's a problem.”



For the investigation, the researchers collected samples of chicken feces at 27 farms in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. On most of the farms, samples were taken once a year for three years.&nbsp;



Overall, more than 85 percent of the farms had some instance of Campylobacter during the study period.&nbsp;



"We found that 26.0% of individual chicken fecal samples we tested were positive for Campylobacter spp.," wrote the study authors. "Our analyses suggest that Campylobacter spp. prevalence increases in poultry on farms with higher average wind speeds in the seven days preceding sampling; on farms embedded in more agricultural landscapes; and in flocks typified by younger birds, more rotations, higher flock densities, and the production of broilers."



Study senior author Jeb Owen, a WSU entomologist, said that farmers should set up a professional relationship with a veterinarian to get their flocks checked and monitored on a regular basis. “Whether for productivity or for animal welfare, you don't want your animals to be sick.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13030492">Animals</a>.



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



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Strong winds help pathogens spread on poultry farms

In a new study from Washington State University, experts have...

Two types of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-impact-labeling-has-a-strong-influence-on-food-selection/">climate</a> events are steadily reshaping Earth's climate and ecosystems. "Pulses" are short-term climate events such as shifting ocean currents, while "presses" are prolonged events like heat waves.&nbsp;



In a recent study from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a>, researchers set out to investigate how different presses and pulses have impacted Magellanic penguins. The experts studied the effects of climate events on these migratory marine predators at a large breeding site in Punta Tombo, Argentina. 



The study showed that pulses and presses are affecting Magellanic penguins in different ways, yet are equally important for the survival of the species. The researchers also determined that the combination of these two types of climate events has taken a major toll on the size of the penguin population at Punta Tombo.



“We found that penguin survival doesn’t rest solely - or even largely - on one or a few climate effects,” explained study lead author T.J. Clark-Wolf. “Instead, many different presses and pulses impact penguin reproduction and survival over time.”



The research was focused on data collected at Punta Tombo from 1982 to 2019 by study co-author Dee Boersma. The information included details on reproductive success for nearly 54,000 penguins at the site, climate conditions during each breeding season, and ocean conditions off the coast of Punta Tombo.



The experts integrated the data into a population model that provided details of the effects of separate climate events. The model showed that each type of climate event had distinct effects on the penguin population at Punta Tombo.



Heat waves have been perhaps the most detrimental of the various climate presses and pulses, killing both adults and chicks. In 2019, for example, a single-day heat wave killed more than 350 penguins at the site.



According to the experts, the number of breeding pairs at Punta Tombo dropped from about 400,000 in the 1980s to about 150,000 in 2019.



“This colony will be 100 years old in 2024, but we finished another on-the-ground survey in late October at Punta Tombo and its numbers continue to decline,” said Boersma. “The penguins are instead moving north to be closer to their food.”



The researchers noted that understanding how these presses and pulses shape this population is crucial for informing conservation efforts.



“For conservation to be most effective, we need to know where, when and how to apply our limited resources,” said senior author Briana Abrahms. “Information generated by this study tells us which climate effects we need to worry about and which ones we don’t - and therefore can help us focus on measures that we know will have a positive impact.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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



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Climate events have taken a toll on Magellanic penguins

Two types of climate events are steadily reshaping Earth's climate...

It seems that spinning around in order to get dizzy is a universal human phenomenon. Children do it on swings, merry-go-rounds and carousels, while adults whirl during dances, circus acts and trances. In fact, some people earn their living by performing pirouettes, such as ballet dancers and suspended rope acts, while Ukrainian hopak dancers and Sufi whirling dervishes attest to the cultural and religious significance of spinning around.



Thanks to the structure of our inner ears, spinning around leads to the perception of a spinning world, light-headedness, head rushes, elation and altered states of mind, mood and consciousness. And, after scientists from the University of Warwick and the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> became aware of a viral video of a male gorilla spinning in a pool, they wondered whether the universal human enjoyment of twirling might have ancient roots in our ancestors and whether they perhaps also sought the altered mental states induced by spinning.&nbsp;



“Every culture has found a way of evading reality through dedicated and special rituals, practices, or ceremonies," said co-lead author Dr. Adriano Lameira. "This human trait of seeking altered states is so universal, historically and culturally, that it raises the intriguing possibility that this is something that has been potentially inherited from our evolutionary ancestors.&nbsp;If this was indeed the case, it would carry huge consequences for how we think about modern human cognition capacities and emotional needs.”&nbsp;



The scientists searched for YouTube videos showing apes spinning voluntarily. They identified 40 such videos that showed chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas or orangutans spinning around on the end of a rope. The footage showed a total of 132 bouts of spinning, composed of a total of 709 revolutions. The longest bout of spinning involved 28 revolutions, and the fastest revolution was measured at 5 rps.&nbsp;



The researchers found that on average, the primates in the videos revolved 5.5 times per spinning episode, with an average speed of 1.5 revolutions per second. The primates carried out three consecutive spins, on average. When compared with the spinning speeds of professional dancers and circus artists, the apes managed to rotate just as fast. But did they also suffer the consequences of dizziness and light headedness?



“Spinning alters our state of consciousness, it messes with our body-mind responsiveness and coordination, which make us feel sick, lightheaded, and even elated as in the case on children playing on merry-go-rounds, spinner-wheels, and carousels," explained Dr. Lameira.



“What we wanted to try to understand through this study is whether spinning can be studied as a primordial behavior that human ancestors would have been able to autonomously engage in and tap into other states of consciousness. If all great apes seek dizziness, then our ancestors are also highly likely to have done so."



“We asked ourselves what role these behaviors play when it comes to the origins of the human mind.&nbsp;The apes were doing this purposefully, almost as if they were dancing – a known mechanism in humans that universally facilitates mood regulation, social bonding and heightens the senses&nbsp;and&nbsp;is based on rotation movements. The parallel between what the apes were doing and what humans do was beyond coincidental."



The results showed that, when apes spun for a higher number of revolutions, they were more likely to let go of the rope or let it go slack at the end of the bout, suggesting that they experienced dizziness. “Closer inspection of the 43 cases when individuals released the rope revealed further evidence of dizziness: in 30 of the bouts, the animal immediately sat or laid down; in seven of the bouts, the animal moved a short distance and then sat or laid down; and in only six bouts did the animal keep its balance and remain on its feet," said the researchers.



When the team members self-experimented by spinning at these speeds and durations, they found it difficult to achieve the third bout of spins that the apes succeeded at, due to the induced dizziness. The researchers concluded that the apes continued spinning until they reach a state of dizziness.



“This would indicate that the primates deliberately keep spinning, despite starting to feel the effects of dizziness, until they are unable to keep their balance any longer,” explained study co-lead author Dr. Marcus Perlman.



Although the spinning apes could not verify this, the dizziness was likely to be accompanied by an altered state of mind. Previous studies which attempted to understand human motivation for self-inducing dizziness focused on the use of substances, such as alcohol or drugs. It is not known whether these substances were available to our human ancestors, but it is possible that they used spinning and induced dizziness to achieve alternative views of the world. The scientists say this new study could be more relevant to explain the role of altered states on the evolution of the human mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The further back in human history you look, the less certain we can be about the role that substance-induced experiences played in our evolution. It’s not clear whether our ancestors had access to mind altering substances, or if they had the tools and knowledge to create the substance,” explained Dr. Lameira. “For example, people may have had access to grapes, but you cannot assume they have the tools or the knowledge to create wine.”&nbsp;



The experts say that further research is needed to understand primates’ motivations for engaging in these behaviors, to understand why our own ancestors might also have been driven to seek out these spinning and mind-altering experiences. &nbsp;



“There could be a link to mental health here, as the primates we observed engaging in this behavior were mostly captive individuals, who may be bored and trying to stimulate their senses in some way.&nbsp;But it could also be a play behaviour. If you think about a child’s playground, almost all the playground apparatus – swings, slides, seesaws and roundabouts or merry-go-rounds – they are all designed to challenge your balance or disrupt the body-mind responses," said Dr. Lameira.



"There are some interesting parallels that should be investigated further, in order to understand why people are motivated to engage in these behaviors. It could very well be that we have been seeking and engaging in mind-altering experiences before we were even modern humans.”&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10329-023-01056-x">Primates</a>.



—



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



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Great apes spin to experience altered states of mind

It seems that spinning around in order to get dizzy...

Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) spend their summers in subarctic Europe and Siberia, where they breed each year. But at the start of winter, they migrate many thousands of kilometers south to where the conditions will be less harsh. The estimated 16,000 whooper swans that overwinter in the United Kingdom come all the way from Iceland each year. Since their wetland habitats are threatened more and more, they rely heavily on protected areas for overwintering in the UK.



A new research study has investigated just how important these protected areas are for the survival of the Icelandic whooper swans. The team analyzed 30 years of data on swans from 22 UK sites, three of which are nature reserves managed by the <a href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/">Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust</a> (WWT). In total, the study used observations of 10,000 whooper swans over the 30 years.&nbsp;



The results, published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2212035120">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, show that swan survival rates are 30 times higher in the nature reserves than they are in unprotected areas. Swans in the nature reserves had a lower annual probability of breeding, but the researchers stress that these birds have more lifetime opportunities to breed and will produce more offspring on average. Based on these findings, the research team project that nature reserves could help double the number of whooper swans wintering in the UK by 2030.



Not only were survival rates significantly higher at nature reserves, but population growth was so strong that many swans moved into non-protected sites as the density in the protected areas increased.These encouraging findings highlight the importance of nature reserves in terms of conservation, even when the areas protected are relatively small and are only used during short periods of a species’ life cycle.&nbsp;



“Protected areas are the main tool being used to stem declines in biodiversity, and there is a growing consensus that 30 percent of the planet’s surface should be protected by 2030,” said Dr. Andrea Soriano-Redondo from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/">University of Exeter</a>.



“However, the effectiveness of protected areas is not always clear - especially when species move between protected and non-protected areas throughout their lives. Our findings provide strong evidence that nature reserves are hugely beneficial for whooper swans, and could dramatically increase their numbers in the UK."



Swans make use of the protected areas for many different reasons, and the WWT nature reserves in the study have implemented a range of measures to help wintering swans, including fox fences, supplementary food, managed roosting sites and hunting bans. These interventions have had a large impact on population growth that is crucial for this species that is listed as a species of conservation concern in the UK.



“The annual population growth rate inside nature reserves was 6 percent, compared to 0.2 percent outside reserves,” said Dr. Richard Inger from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/research/facilitiesandcentres/cec/">Centre for Ecology and Conservation</a>&nbsp;on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall. “This population boost is not restricted to the nature reserves – it created a higher population density, which led some swans to move to non-protected areas. Young swans were most likely to do this, meaning the benefits of nature reserves spill over to other areas too.”



“Overall, our study demonstrates the huge benefits of localized protection for highly mobile animal species,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=stuart_bearhop">Professor Stuart Bearhop</a>. “It also shows that targeted measures during key periods of the life cycle can have disproportionate effects on conservation.”



“This research shows how safe havens for wetland wildlife, like those at WWT Caerlaverock, Welney and Martin Mere, can help a species survive and succeed when their traditional homes are under threat," said David Pickett, Centre &amp; Reserve Manager at WWT Caerlaverock Wetland Centre. “Many wild birds rely on our sites for food and shelter and we are committed to creating and restoring more of these healthy wetland habitats, which the U.K. has lost so many of in our recent history."



—



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



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Nature reserves are crucial for whooper swans 

Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) spend their summers in subarctic Europe...

Orcas populations were decimated in the early 20th century due to their capture for display in aquariums and theme parks. Thankfully, that practice ended in the 1970s, and many populations have been slowly recovering.&nbsp;



However, the southern resident orca population in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia has dwindled back down to their mid-1970s levels, with only 73 orcas left. Much of this is attributed to numerous pregnancies ending in miscarriage or newborn death.



The situation is perplexing because while the southern population is declining, the northern population is increasing, with 300 current individuals. In a new paper published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arad002">Behavioral Ecology</a>, researchers from the University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries have proposed that this contrast could be due to differences in hunting behavior.



“For northern resident orcas, females were hunting and capturing more prey than males. For southern resident orcas, we found the opposite: The males were doing more hunting and capturing than females,” explained study lead author Jennifer Tennessen.



Dams affecting the salmon population and other human disturbances could be the cause of these shifts, especially with young mothers.



“In both populations, a mother with a young calf foraged less than other females, possibly due to the risk of leaving the calf temporarily with ‘a babysitter’ - another adult - while she hunts, or because of the time demands of nursing a calf,” said Tennessen. “But for southern resident females, which are more prone to disturbance and stress from vessel traffic, there was an outsized effect: Our study found no instance of a southern resident female with a young calf who successfully carried out a hunt.”



The experts also uncovered differences in female orca behavior towards their sons. In the northern population, adult males living with their mothers hunted less than those without mothers. However, researchers confirmed the opposite in the southern population - adult males with mothers hunted more.



“These unexpected differences left us scratching our heads. It is possible that southern resident adult males could be sharing with other members of their group, including their mothers, to help out, especially since an adult male’s survival is strongly linked to his mother’s survival,” said Tennessen.



“Understanding how healthy populations behave can provide direction and goals for management of unhealthy populations. Future comparisons to healthy fish-eating orca populations could help us understand whether the divergent behavior we’re seeing in the southern residents is indicative of a population trying to survive.”



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Southern orca decline may be tied to hunting behaviors

Orcas populations were decimated in the early 20th century due...

Usually, the arrival of the new year is a perfect time for Antarctic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seabirds-have-different-strategies-to-survive-storms/">seabirds</a> - such as the south polar skua, the Antarctic petrel, or the snow petrel - to build their nests and lay their eggs. However, from December 2021 to January 2022, scientists found nearly no nests in regions such as Svarthamaren or Jutulsessen, which were previously home to two of the world’s largest Antarctic petrel colonies and essential nesting grounds for south polar skua and snow petrels. 



According to the experts, this worrisome phenomenon was likely caused by unusually strong snowstorms – triggered by climate change - that interfered with the birds’ ability to breed.



“We know that in a seabird colony, when there’s a storm, you will lose some chicks and eggs, and breeding success will be lower,” said study lead author Sebastien Descamps, a marine scientist at the <a href="https://www.npolar.no/en/">Norwegian Polar Institute</a>. “But here we’re talking about tens if not hundreds of thousands of birds, and none of them reproduced throughout these storms. Having zero breeding success is really unexpected.”&nbsp;



While from 1985 to 2020, Svarthamaren was home to between 20,000 and 200,000 Antarctic petrel nests, around 2,000 snow petrel nests, and more than 100 skua nests annually, in 2021-2022 there were only three breeding Antarctic petrel, a few snow petrels, and no skua nests – a situation resembling that in Jutulsessen, where no Antarctic petrel nests were found in that period despite having shown tens of thousands of active nests in the previous years.



“It wasn’t only a single isolated colony that was impacted by this extreme weather. We’re talking about colonies spread over hundreds of kilometers. So these stormy conditions impacted a really large part of land, meaning that the breeding success of a large part of the Antarctic petrel population was impacted,” Descamps explained.



Since these birds lay their eggs on bare ground, massive snowfall makes egg-laying and chick-raising impossible. Moreover, such storms also have a thermoregulatory cost, forcing birds to spend all their available strength keeping warm, sheltering, and conserving energy.



Although there were no obvious signs of climate change in Antarctica until recently, over the past few years an increasing number of extreme weather events have shown that the southmost regions of our planet are not spared from the devastating effects of global warming either.&nbsp;



“I think our study shows in a very strong way that these extreme events do have a very strong impact on seabird populations, and climate models predict that the severity of these extreme events will increase,” Descampes concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.055">Current Biology</a>.



—



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



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Extreme snowstorms impact breeding success of petrels

Usually, the arrival of the new year is a perfect...

When an invasive animal species arrives in a previously uncolonized territory, it may outcompete local species by breeding more successfully, growing faster, dispersing more easily or having better defenses against predators or diseases. It is not often that a new arrival becomes established because it eats the local residents. But this is what appears to be happening with brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) in the southern states of the U.S.&nbsp;



Brown widows are thought to have evolved in Africa, although they were first described in the 1800s from specimens identified in South America. Today, they have a cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical distribution, with established populations in Hawaii, Florida, some Caribbean Islands, parts of Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Cyprus.&nbsp;In the U.S., the spiders remained restricted to the Florida peninsula for decades, but after 2000 they began to show up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from South Carolina to Texas, and are also well-established in California.



The problem with the arrival of brown widow spiders in these states is that they are rapidly replacing the indigenous black widows (Latrodectus hesperus). The two species of spiders appear to have very similar ecological niches, feeding on the same types of prey – insects and small vertebrates such as lizards and mammals. It is possible that prey resources are limited and that competition between the two species occurs, with the brown widows winning out.&nbsp;



However, a new research study, conducted by scientists at the University of Southern Florida (USF), suggests that this is not a simple case of one species being better at hunting or at occupying the habitat. Instead, the brown widows appear to be targeting the indigenous black widows and killing them out.&nbsp;



“We have established brown widow behavior as being highly aggressive towards the southern black widows, yet much more tolerant of other spiders within the same family,” said Louis Coticchio, who led the study as part of his undergraduate research at USF.



Coticchio spent the first part of his career as a zookeeper specializing in venomous animals in California and returned to Florida to earn a degree in biology, channeling a passion for spiders into his research projects. While collecting wild spiders in Florida, he noticed brown widows displacing black widows but not other, related species.&nbsp;



“I had a sneaking suspicion that Florida in particular provided plenty of food and habitat for both the brown and black widow, and that there was possibly some other area such as behavioral differences that were playing a role,” said Coticchio. “My observations in the field showed that brown widows appeared to be much more tolerant of other species outside of their genus, and so if resources were the main factor, then we should have seen the same behavior with other spiders competing for the same resources, but that did not seem to be that case.”



Coticchio devised a three-part study to investigate the reasons why brown widows were able to displace black widows. He collaborated with spider expert Richard Vetter of UC Riverside and Dr. Deby Cassill, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at USF.



Initially, the researchers used mathematical modeling to evaluate the risk factors that spiders face in terms of their survival. They found that both brown and black widows are far more likely to die by predation than by starvation. In other words, “competition for scarce resources is not a significant cause of mortality among spiderlings for either species."



Next, the experts compared rates of growth and fertility between brown and black widows, finding that brown widow females were 9.5 percent larger than black widow females, and reached reproductive maturity 16 percent earlier. Male brown widows also reached reproductive maturity earlier (21 percent) than male black widows, but the brown males were considerably smaller (25 percent) than the black males. One consequence of these differences in life history patterns is that brown widow females are about twice as fertile as black widow females, with brown widows often producing multiple egg sacs in comparison with black widows that produce just one.



Finally, the researchers placed captive female brown widow spiders in close proximity with other species of spiders and monitored what happened. When brown widows were paired with red house spider (Nesticodes rufipes) females, peaceful cohabitation occurred in 50 percent of instances, while in 40 percent the brown widows were killed and eaten by the red house spider females. Brown widows cohabitated with triangulate cobweb spiders (Steatoda triangulosa) in 80 percent of pairings and were killed in just 10 percent.&nbsp;



But the situation was totally different when brown and black widow females were paired. In the case of sub-adult spiders, brown widows killed and consumed the black widows in 80 percent of pairings. In pairings of adults, black widows were killed in 40 percent of trials, while they defensively killed brown widows in 30 percent of trials and cohabitated in the remaining 30 percent.



Throughout the experiments, brown widow spiders regularly ventured into black widow webs, the researchers say. Red house spiders and triangulate cobweb spiders also showed such “bold” behavior, but black widows were never observed as aggressors. Stereotyping black widow spiders as fearsome and aggressive is clearly not appropriate.&nbsp;



However, characterizing brown widows as “aggressive” is also somewhat misleading. They may be the aggressors against black widow spiders but humans have no need to fear them. Their venom is less dangerous than that of a black widow and they life peacefully in close proximity with humans. In fact, they tend to be “very shy when harassed by humans or larger animals that are not considered prey," according to Coticchio. “They will run or roll up into a ball and play dead when being attacked or harassed by most other animals outside of their prey range.”&nbsp;



It is not yet understood why brown widow spiders behave in this way towards black widows. Certainly, it is of concern because this may lead to a shift in species composition – already, the increased incidence of brown widows in the southern U.S. is matched by noticeable declines in the numbers of black widows, potentially threatening the status of the indigenous black widows in their normal range.&nbsp;



“One question I would love to answer is how brown widows interact with other species of spiders, more specifically black widows, in Africa, where brown widows are believed to have originated,” said Coticchio. “I would love to see if their behavior and displacement of black widows is something that they have adapted here in North America, or if this behavior is something they exhibit naturally, even in areas where they have coevolved with black widows for much longer periods of time.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saad003">Annals of the Entomological Society of America</a>.



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



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Black widows are being targeted by invasive brown widows

When an invasive animal species arrives in a previously uncolonized...

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/index/">Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a> has recently analyzed fragments of a variety of stone tools used by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in the Phang Nga National Park in Thailand to crack open hard-shelled nuts. Since these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aging-female-monkeys-focus-more-on-meaningful-relationships/">monkeys</a> frequently break their hammerstones and anvils, the assemblage of broken stones is quite significant and widespread in many parts of the landscape.&nbsp;



To their surprise, the experts found that many of these artifacts have features that are similar to some of the earliest hominin stone artifacts currently known. Thus, in the absence of behavioral observations, the macaque tools would have likely been identified as anthropogenic in origin and interpreted as evidence of intentional tool production.



“The ability to intentionally make sharp stone flakes is seen as a crucial point in the evolution of hominins, and understanding how and when this occurred is a huge question that is typically investigated through the study of past artefacts and fossils. Our study shows that stone tool production is not unique to humans and our ancestors,”&nbsp;explained lead author Tomos Proffitt, a Paleolithic archeologist at Max Planck.&nbsp;



“The fact that these macaques use stone tools to process nuts is not surprising, as they also use tools to gain access to various shellfish as well. What is interesting is that, in doing so they accidently produce a substantial archaeological record of their own that is partly indistinguishable from some hominin artifacts.”



By comparing these accidentally produced stone fragments to those produced by early hominins, the experts showed that many of the artefacts produced by macaques are virtually indistinguishable from the human-made ones. These findings shed new light on how one of the first known technologies may have emerged, suggesting that its origins could in fact be significantly older than previously thought and related to similar nut cracking behaviors.



“Cracking nuts using stone hammers and anvils, similar to what some primates do today, has been suggested by some as a possible precursor to intentional stone tool production. This study, along with previous ones published by our group, opens the door to being able to identify such an archaeological signature in the future,”&nbsp;said senior author Lydia Luncz, the head of the Technological Primates Research Group at Max Planck.



“This discovery shows how living primates can help researchers investigate the origin and evolution of tool use in our own lineage.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade8159">Science Advances</a>.



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



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Monkey stone tools look like early human artifacts

A team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute...

Squid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brazilian-fishers-and-dolphins-benefit-from-fishing-together/">fishing</a> is increasingly expanding into unregulated spaces, despite growing concerns over stock status, according to a new study led by <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/">Global Fishing Watch</a>.



The researchers investigated the activities of global squid fleets across three oceans from 2017 to 2020. The experts discovered that as these fisheries expand, they shift locations into the high seas, where no particular nation has jurisdiction.&nbsp;



“These squid fisheries are highly mobile, fishing multiple oceans within a given year,” said study lead author Professor Katherine Seto of UC Santa Cruz. “While some conservation and management measures are in place to regulate this type of fishing, our research found that actors may take advantage of these fragmented regulations to maximize resource extraction."



"To address this, we need to address the factors that promote the growth and expansion of fishing efforts, and increase data sharing and communication between management entities.”



The research was conducted through a partnership between Global Fishing Watch, the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong, and the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency.



The team used satellite imagery, vessel tracking, and data monitoring to determine that squid fishing activities increased by 68 percent during the three-year study period.



Squid fishing vessels were found to conduct 86 percent of their activities in unregulated areas. The researchers noted that while unregulated fishing is not necessarily illegal, it presents many challenges, such as fisheries sustainability.



"By synthesizing data from multiple sources, we created a robust picture of the fishing activity of the high seas squid fleets. Our analysis highlights the interconnectedness of fishing grounds used by the fleets,” said study co-author Nate Miller. “It demonstrates the critical importance of comprehensive data sharing agreements between regional bodies for improving understanding of the movements of these vessels and quantifying their impacts on squid stocks.”



“These unregulated fishing activities require urgent action," said study co-author Quentin Hanich from the University of Wollongong. "They occur in our global commons, shared by all, yet few receive any benefit, and neighboring coastal States are increasingly concerned regarding the impact on their own shared fish stocks."



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add8125">Science Advances</a>.



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



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Squid fishing vessels take advantage of unregulated waters

Squid fishing is increasingly expanding into unregulated spaces, despite growing...

A recent study has revealed that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-differences-in-fish-are-important-for-conservation/">conservation</a> efforts in Antarctica are insufficient to protect local wildlife. The research, led by Jasmine Rachael Lee at the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a>, predicts population declines for 65 percent of all Antarctic wildlife by the end of the century.



"We find that implementing ten key threat management strategies in parallel, at an estimated present-day equivalent annual cost of US$23 million, could benefit up to 84 percent of Antarctic taxa," wrote the study authors.



"Climate change is identified as the most pervasive threat to Antarctic biodiversity and influencing global policy to effectively limit climate change is the most beneficial conservation strategy."



"However, minimizing impacts of human activities and improved planning and management of new infrastructure projects are cost-effective and will help to minimize regional threats. Simultaneous global and regional efforts are critical to secure Antarctic biodiversity for future generations."



The researchers set out to investigate which plant and animal species are most vulnerable and to identify the best actions.



The team analyzed existing data to evaluate threats and conservation strategies for Antarctica's wildlife. The scientists also asked 29 experts to define potential management strategies that are cost effective.&nbsp;



According to the results, the most serious threat to Antarctic biodiversity is climate change. If global warming exceeds the target of two degrees Celsius, 65 percent of Antarctic wildlife populations will be in s state of decline by the year 2100.



The experts said that as Antarctica faces increasing pressure from climate change and human activities, a combination of regional and global conservation efforts is needed to preserve Antarctic biodiversity and ecosystem services for future generations.



“What this work shows is that climate change is the greatest threat to Antarctic species and what we need is global mitigation efforts to save them," said study lead author Jasmine Lee. "This will not only help to secure their future, but also our own.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001921">PLoS Biology</a>.



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



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Conservation efforts are not enough to save Antarctic wildlife

A recent study has revealed that conservation efforts in Antarctica...

Ornate,Wrasse,Thalassoma,Pavo,And,Mediterranean,Sea,Star,Echinaster,Sepositus

A team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> has recently investigated how environmental variation drives the distribution of marine species from Southern Portugal to northern Norway. By analyzing 198 marine fish species from 23 surveys, together with 31,502 samples collected by fisheries scientists between 2005 and 2018, the experts found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-ocean-temperatures-are-steadily-rising/">temperature</a> is a critical driver of large-scale spatial variation in fish assemblages across Europe’s marine regions.



“This unique study brings together fisheries survey data from across this vitally important marine ecosystem. Using this information, we are able to conclusively demonstrate the broad scale importance of sea temperature in controlling how fish communities assemble,” said senior author Martin Genner, a professor of Evolutionary Ecology at Bristol.



Although temperature proved to be the most critical variable for determining where marine species are found, water depth and salinity were also important factors. In addition, by combining data on the current distribution of marine fish with future climate projections under multiple emissions scenarios, the scientists provided estimates of how fish will respond to climate change over the coming decades.&nbsp;



The results indicate that, although global warming will lead to shifts in species communities across the entire region, the largest community-level changes are expected at locations with greater warming, with the most pronounced effects most likely at higher latitudes.



&nbsp;“The study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that future climate-driven warming will lead to widespread changes in fish communities, potentially resulting in changes to the catches of commercial fisheries across the region,” said co-author Stephen Simpson, a marine biologist and fish ecologist at Bristol.



“With further predicted changes to fish communities, evaluating the effects of temperature on stocks may help to support appropriate management, although this may be challenging, given that precise mechanisms by which temperatures affect stocks are typically not clear. Where species distributions are predicted to change, and potentially move between existing management areas, internationally coherent management approaches will be needed to enable sustainable harvesting and conservation under a changing climate,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16633">Global Change Biology</a>.



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



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Sea temperatures drive the distribution of European fish

A team of scientists led by the University of Bristol...

Scientists have long known that, after a period of intense physical exertion, vertebrates (including humans) need a period of recovery to lower their heart rates and allow the organism to repair injured muscles. However, more recent studies have shown that intensive physical activity can also affect immune defenses, and that rest is crucial for boosting the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/organ-regeneration-offers-new-clues-about-the-immune-system/">immune system</a> too. Now, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/">Lund University</a> in Sweden has found that this is also true in the case of migratory birds.



When they migrate, birds regularly stop in one place for a few days to eat and rest – a behavior previously thought necessary to build up new fat reserves which provide fuel for the rest of the migration process. However, scientists have now shown that, during such “pitstops,” they also boost their immune systems.



“This is the first time that this has been demonstrated in wild migratory birds. Our study shows that migratory birds’ stops serve other purposes, besides just ‘refueling.’ They also need other physiological systems to recover. You could compare it to pulling off the motorway into a service station. That is not just for the purpose of refueling, you might also need to recover,” said study senior author Arne Hegemann, a biologist at Lund.



Together with his team, Hegemann examined a variety of small migratory birds such as chaffinches, dunnocks, and common redstarts to assess how their immune systems change when they take breaks during migration. By collecting and comparing data from different individuals and species, they discovered that free-flying migratory birds usually restore several parameters of immune function during their stopovers.



“If you see a little bird in your garden or in the park during the autumn and you know that it is heading to southern Europe or Africa, it is fascinating to think about why it is&nbsp;taking&nbsp;a break. If they do not get food or rest, their immune systems cannot recover – which is when they risk becoming ill. This provides an important part of the puzzle of how migratory birds cope with the physiological challenges they are faced with on their long journeys,” Hegemann concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0518">Biology Letters</a>.



—



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



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Migratory birds take breaks to boost their immune system

Scientists have long known that, after a period of intense...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0mn5mTvhQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean that scientists never expected.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hidden-waters-beneath-ancient-craters">Hidden waters beneath ancient craters</h2>



Scientists have made a startling discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saturn-moon-mimas-has-remarkably-young-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturn's moon Mimas</a>. Beneath the heavily cratered surface that earned it the nickname "Death Star" lies a global ocean that formed just 5 to 15 million years ago—a remarkably young age by cosmic standards.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cassini-data-reveals-orbital-secrets">Cassini data reveals orbital secrets</h2>



The discovery, led by Dr. Valéry Lainey of the <a href="https://observatoiredeparis.psl.eu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Observatoire de Paris</a>, emerged from careful analysis of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>'s Cassini spacecraft data. By studying subtle irregularities in Mimas's orbit around Saturn, researchers detected the gravitational signature of liquid water hidden 20 to 30 kilometers beneath the moon's icy shell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-unlikely-ocean-world">An unlikely ocean world</h2>



At only 400 kilometers in diameter, Mimas seemed like the least likely candidate to harbor a subsurface ocean. Unlike other ocean moons such as Europa and Enceladus, which show clear surface signs of internal activity, Mimas displays no obvious hints of the liquid water beneath its ancient, crater-scarred exterior.



"Mimas is a small moon, and its heavily cratered surface gave no hint of the hidden ocean beneath," explained Dr. Nick Cooper from <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Queen Mary University of London</a>, a study co-author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-astrobiology">Implications for astrobiology</h2>



The ocean's recent formation makes Mimas a prime target for studying how oceans develop and potentially support life. This discovery adds another member to the exclusive club of ocean worlds in our solar system, each offering unique insights into the conditions necessary for habitability.



The research, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a> journal, demonstrates how advanced orbital analysis can reveal hidden features of celestial bodies, opening new possibilities for understanding ocean formation throughout the cosmos.



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Scientists discover unexpected young ocean on Saturn's cratered moon Mimas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0mn5mTvhQ 'Death Star' moon Mimas conceals a 15-million-year-old ocean that...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-significance">Scientific significance</h2>



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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-----

Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

<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



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

<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;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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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...

<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



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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...

<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;



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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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