In the hidden corners of our world, insects buzz, flutter, and crawl through shrinking habitats - playing roles that sustain life. Yet, while we look away, their numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. Since the 1970s, studies suggest a jaw-dropping 50% decline in insect biomass.



The culprits? Habitat destruction and climate change. But what happens when these forces collide?



At the intersection of rising temperatures and vanishing habitats, a new and more lethal threat emerges. Researchers at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) set out to unravel this intricate web. 



Led by Professor Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter as part of the LandKlif research cluster, the team conducted a sweeping study across 179 locations in Bavaria. Their findings offer a chilling glimpse into a world where insects struggle to survive in a rapidly changing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/modern-farming-is-causing-many-insect-species-to-collapse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">landscape</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urban-heat-slashes-bee-populations">Urban heat slashes bee populations</h2>



Picture this: a world without bees. Crops wither, habitats shrink, and the hum of life falls silent. The JMU study reveals that bees - crucial pollinators - are bearing the brunt of this environmental assault.



In forests, bees adapted to the heat and maintained their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/very-little-is-known-about-99-of-all-insects-on-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">populations</a>. But in cities, the story took a darker turn. Urban bee populations plunged by 65% - a staggering drop that spells disaster for pollination.



Dr. Cristina Ganuza, a biologist on the project, highlighted the overlooked role of nighttime temperatures. “The fact that night-time temperatures have such an impact on diurnal insects is significant. Precisely because average night-time temperatures rise even faster than daytime temperatures."



Days sear with heat, and nights fail to cool. Bees, already displaced from their natural habitats, cannot escape the relentless warmth. For them, the city becomes a death trap.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insects-struggle-in-agricultural-habitats">Insects struggle in agricultural habitats</h2>



Higher up the food chain, predators and parasitoids told a different story. These natural pest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-are-still-disappearing-and-there-are-hundreds-of-reasons-why/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">controllers</a> showed surprising resilience in forests and grasslands. But in open agricultural areas, they faced an uphill battle.



“This can have a negative impact on agricultural production because insects that contribute to natural pest control should be similarly affected,” said Dr. Sarah Redlich.



Without these predators to keep pests in check, agricultural losses could mount. However, in areas where agricultural land and natural habitats intermingled, predator populations fared better. This highlights a crucial lesson: not all landscapes are created equal in a warming world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-night-heat-worsens-insect-declines">Night heat worsens insect declines</h2>



As the sun dips below the horizon, insects should find respite. But the night now offers little relief. The JMU study uncovers a hidden enemy - rising nighttime temperatures that hammer diurnal insects like bees.



Bee diversity dropped across all habitat types, from cities to grasslands. This previously unnoticed threat could spell catastrophe for pollinators struggling to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pests-are-moving-to-cooler-regions-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adapt</a>.



“This previously unknown negative effect of warmer nights on insects reveals a new threat that requires further research to uncover the underlying physiological mechanisms,” said Steffan-Dewenter.



Night after night, the heat persists, robbing insects of the chance to recover. As temperatures rise, even the dark becomes dangerous.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-natural-habitats-protect-insects">Natural habitats protect insects</h2>



Not all habitats shelter insects equally. The JMU study highlights a stark contrast between natural and urbanized landscapes. Forests and grasslands emerged as safe havens, providing refuge and resources.



Warmer daytime temperatures, surprisingly, increased bee diversity in these areas. But in cities, the same heat wave proved deadly, causing bee populations to nosedive.



Researchers emphasize the importance of connecting natural habitats within urban and agricultural areas. Without green corridors, insects lose not just their homes but their pathways to survival.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insect-habitat-loss-disrupts-pollination">Insect habitat loss disrupts pollination</h2>



When insects vanish, the consequences ripple outward. Bees disappear, and flowers go unpollinated. Predators decline, and pests multiply unchecked. Food webs wobble, and entire ecosystems falter.



“Their different responses could disrupt food webs and important ecosystem functions such as pest control and pollination,” said Ganuza.



Insects may be small, but their absence creates a void that echoes throughout the ecosystem. Each disappearance is a thread pulled from the intricate web of life.



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



The JMU study sounds a stark warning: climate change and habitat loss don’t just coexist - they amplify each other. Yet the findings also point to a way forward.



Maintaining green corridors within agricultural and urban landscapes could provide vital refuges for insects. Implementing strategies that reduce nighttime heat might offer a lifeline to diurnal species struggling to adapt.



Understanding why some insects resist climate change better than others could inform targeted conservation efforts. In a world that’s heating up fast, every degree matters.



The world of insects teeters on the brink. The time to act is now - before the silence grows deafening.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.3053" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>.



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Rising heat, shrinking habitats: Insects face hidden threats

In the hidden corners of our world, insects buzz, flutter, and crawl through shrinking habitats - playing roles that sustain life. Yet, while we look away, their numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. Since the 1970s, studies suggest a jaw-dropping 50% decline in insect biomass. The culprits? Habitat destruction and climate change. But what happens when these forces collide? At the intersection of rising temperatures and vanishing habitats, a new and more lethal threat emerges. Researchers at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) set out to unravel this intricate...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/showing-signs-of-stress-could-make-you-more-likeable/">Stress</a> is a widespread phenomenon among humans, usually occurring when we feel threatened or overwhelmed. Humans often communicate to others that they are stressed through their behavior or physiological changes. Thus, stress can also convey information, and even be useful in certain situations. 



However, since stress can be easily transmitted from one person to another, it frequently leads to dangerous situations, such as mass panics. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/">University of Konstanz</a> has found that the transmission of stress can also be observed across various animal species.&nbsp;



“It has been repeatedly shown that stress can be transmitted from one human to another,” said study lead author Hanja Brandl, a behavioral ecologist at the Center for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior at the University of Konstanz. “Often a similarly strong physiological response is triggered, even though you have never experienced the stress yourself.”



As most animals spend at least parts of their lives associating socially with their conspecifics, stress is also transmitted among them. “Other animals in the group can be just as stressed as the friend who experienced something bad. Stress is evolutionarily deeply rooted and the process is similar in all vertebrates,” Dr. Brandl explained.



According to the researchers, wild animals are primarily stressed by naturally occurring threats, such as predators. However, human influences can also raise animals’ level of stress. “Increasing changes in the habitat or noise and light pollution also have an impact, as these massively affect the environment of the animals,” said Dr. Brandl.&nbsp;



While animals are usually flexible and can adapt to changing circumstances, when both natural and anthropogenic stressful factors accumulate, stress is exacerbated and is often transmitted through animal collectives, becoming unhealthy for both individual animals and the groups in which they live. “At some point, the stress response – the adaptations that otherwise help animals better escape stressors like predators – no longer gives them a survival advantage.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Clarifying how the underlying mechanisms of stress work at both the individual and collective level can help scientists find better ways to protect animals. Moreover, understanding the evolutionary roots of stress responses could also shed more light on how humans experience such phenomena, and open ways for mitigating the negative impact stress often has on health.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.2158#d1e853">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Stress gives animals a survival advantage, but only to a point

Stress is a widespread phenomenon among humans, usually occurring when...

The <a href="https://www.cabi.org/products-and-services/one-health-resources-cabi/one-health-journal-cabi/">CABI One Health</a> journal has published a commentary calling on government and experts to “recognize the importance of animal welfare for sustainable development, and to aspire to harm animals less and benefit them more as part of sustainable development governance.”



This commentary comes ahead of the UN Stockholm+50 Conference on June 2-3, 2022. The conference will include a number of environmental proposals and suggestions to address <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-threatens-the-health-of-billions-of-people/">climate change</a>.&nbsp;



The commentary calls attention to the fact that animal welfare has not been considered since the UN Conference on the Human Environment began 50 years ago. To be clear, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development may include protecting species as a whole, but ideas on how to protect the welfare of those animals were not considered. The commentators are perplexed as to why animal welfare has not been a part of the discussion.



“Human, animal, and environmental health are linked,” explained Jeff Sebo of New York University, a lead author of the commentary. “Governments need to take steps to include animals in sustainable development governance for the sake of human and non-human animals alike.”



To see an example of the link between the environment, humans, and non-human animals, look no further than the industrial animal agriculture complex.



The commentary authors noted that animal agriculture requires more land and water and produces more pollution and waste than plant-based foods. And, of course, the industry is the leading cause of climate change.



We can also consider the current outbreaks of bird flu which have led to the deaths of millions of birds and can be attributed to overcrowding and the overuse of antibiotics.&nbsp;



Cleo Verkuijl of the Stockholm Environment Institute mentions an even more omnipresent disease caused by a lack of attentiveness to animal welfare. “COVID-19 reminds us that industries like industrial animal agriculture and the wildlife trade not only harm and kill many animals per year but also contribute to global health and environmental threats that imperil us all.”&nbsp;



Over 180 experts have endorsed the commentary as of May 23, 2022. But, its authors encourage more experts and governments to acknowledge the “intrinsic value of animals and consider their interests when making policy decisions that affect them.”&nbsp;



Professor Maria José Hötzel of the Federal University of Santa Catarina emphasizes that “governments cannot afford to wait another 50 years to take this issue seriously.”&nbsp;



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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

Animal welfare is essential to sustainable development

The CABI One Health journal has published a commentary calling...

Divers who visit ocean coral <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/without-action-coral-reefs-could-disappear-in-the-next-three-decades/">reefs</a> can hear the sounds of the reef organisms as they go about their daily business of feeding, communicating and moving about. The underwater sounds are reminiscent of static on a poorly-tuned radio, or the tantalizing hiss of eggs and bacon frying in the pan. In fact, when it is teeming with life, a coral reef is one of the noisiest places in the ocean, say scientists.



The characteristic sounds come from many sources, including the rasp of urchin and starfish teeth as they graze against the hard surfaces, shrimps that stun their prey with loud bubbles produced by their pincers, and fish that pluck off bits of coral. Added to these are the distant sounds of dolphins and whales communicating, and the zinging of tiny bubbles of oxygen as they zoom towards the sea surface. In fact, the more complex the soundscape, the more healthy the reef.&nbsp;



For researchers, sound recordings of these underwater activities could be an effective and economical way to assess the health of vulnerable reefs, since reefs that degrade tend to become quieter and less diverse in their acoustic characteristics. This type of monitoring offers a long-term and nonintrusive way to assess the state of reefs around the world, which are threatened by the effects of fishing, pollution and climate change.&nbsp;



At the upcoming 182nd Meeting of the <a href="https://acousticalsociety.org/">Acoustical Society of America</a>, Lauren Freeman of the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, will present the results of her experiments using passive acoustic monitoring to evaluate the health of coral reefs. Her presentation, "Coral Reef and Temperate Coastal Soundscape Features Evident in Directional and Omnidirectional Passive Acoustic Time Series," will take place on May 25th.



Freeman and her team used an acoustic array to monitor reefs off the coast of Hawaii, with the premise that degraded coral reefs become unsuitable for marine organisms and, as they abandon the communities, the soundscapes become less rich and diverse. In degraded communities, there tend to be fewer fish calls and a greater preponderance of high frequency noise from algae photosynthesizing and releasing bubbles of oxygen, which ring out as they rise through the water.



“There is a natural competition between corals and macroalgae on all coral reefs. In most cases with a dying or degraded reef, the macroalgae is winning and covers a lot more of the surface,” said Freeman. “On a pristine reef, you would see very little macroalgae, and a lot of herbivorous fish that help eat the macroalgae.”&nbsp;



Freeman and her team compared the results from Hawaii to similar data from Bermuda and New England. Interestingly, Hawaii and Bermuda both showed a characteristic reef evening chorus, where the sound levels increased immediately prior to sunset. The New England reef underwent similar changes near dusk. &nbsp;&nbsp;



“Almost every time I conduct an experiment, we learn more about the complexities and intricacies of ambient biological soundscapes,” said Freeman. “It's so exciting to continue to discover more about ocean ecosystems.”



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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

Healthy coral reefs crackle with the sounds of busy inhabitants

Divers who visit ocean coral reefs can hear the sounds...

For decades, paleontologists have debated whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-dinosaurs-died-in-the-springtime/">dinosaurs</a> were cold-blooded, like reptiles, or warm-blooded, like mammals or birds. Since cold- and warm-bloodedness are closely related to animals’ metabolic rates – how quickly their metabolism could transform oxygen into energy - clarifying this issue could shed more light on how active dinosaurs were and what their daily life looked like.&nbsp;



A research team that included scientists from the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a> in Chicago has now developed a new method for studying dinosaurs’ metabolic rates by using clues in their bones which indicated how much oxygen they breathed. By using this groundbreaking technique, the experts found that most of the dinosaurs, such as the theropods or sauropods (the so-called ornithischians, or bird-hipped dinosaurs), were warm-blooded, while saurischian (lizard-hipped) species, such as the Triceratops and Stegosaurus, were cold-blooded.&nbsp;



“This is really exciting for us as paleontologists - the question of whether dinosaurs were warm- or cold-blooded is one of the oldest questions in paleontology, and now we think we have a consensus, that most dinosaurs were warm-blooded,” said study lead author Jasmina Wiemann, a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/">California Institute of Technology</a>.



When animals breathe, side products from this activity react with proteins, sugars, and lipids, leaving behind molecular “waste” which is extremely stable and water-insoluble. This waste is preserved during the fossilization process, leaving behind a reliable record of how much oxygen a dinosaur was breathing in, and thus, its metabolic rate.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed the femurs of 55 different groups of animals, including dinosaurs and some of their relatives such as the pterosaurs or plesiosaurs, as well as modern birds, mammals, and lizards. By comparing the amount of breathing-related molecular byproducts with the known metabolic rates of the living animals, they found that dinosaurs’ metabolic rates were generally high, suggesting that they were warm- or even hot-blooded. For instance, bird-hipped dinosaurs – including predators such as Tyrannosaurus Rex or Velociraptor, as well as giant, long-necked herbivores such as Brachiosaurus – had extremely high metabolic rates, comparable to those of modern birds, and much higher than mammals. However, most of the lizard-hipped dinosaurs, such as Stegosaurus or Triceratops, had low metabolic rates similar to those of modern reptiles.



These findings could over fundamentally new insights on how various dinosaurs lived. “Dinosaurs with lower metabolic rates would have been, to some extent, dependent on external temperatures,” said Wiemann. “Lizards and turtles sit in the sun and bask, and we may have to consider similar ‘behavioral’ thermoregulation in ornithischians with exceptionally low metabolic rates. Cold-blooded dinosaurs also might have had to migrate to warmer climates during the cold season, and climate may have been a selective factor for where some of these dinosaurs could live.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



On the other hand, hot-blooded creatures were likely more active and needed to eat a lot. “The hot-blooded giant sauropods were herbivores, and it would take a lot of plant matter to feed this metabolic system. They had very efficient digestive systems, and since they were so big, it probably was more of a problem for them to cool down than to heat up.”



“This new study adds a fundamental piece of the puzzle in understanding the evolution of physiology in deep time and complements previous proxies used to investigate these questions,” concluded study co-author Matteo Fabbri, a postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum. “We can now infer body temperature through isotopes, growth strategies through osteohistology, and metabolic rates through chemical proxies.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04770-6">Nature</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

Most of the dinosaurs were warm-blooded

For decades, paleontologists have debated whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded, like...

A team of Argentinian scientists has recently discovered the fossilized remains of a huge flying reptile, Thanatosdrakon amaru, that lived alongside the dinosaurs 86 million years ago&nbsp;in the Andes mountains in Argentina's western Mendoza province. With a wingspan measuring over nine meters in length – as long as a yellow school bus - the “dragon of death" is the largest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mystery-solved-pterosaurs-had-colorful-feathers/">pterosaur</a> discovered in South America and one of the biggest flying vertebrates that ever lived.



This discovery suggests that predatory flying reptiles roamed the Earth at least 20 million years before the asteroid impact in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula that wiped out the dinosaurs - together with three-quarters of life on Earth – 66 million years ago.



Project leader Leonardo Ortiz, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.uncuyo.edu.ar/">National University of Cuyo</a> in Mendoza reported that the fossil’s peculiar features required a new genus and species classification. 



“The remains of Thanatosdrakon present different particularities that allow us to differentiate them from other known pterosaurs,” said Dr. Ortiz. “Fundamentally, these characteristics are found in the vertebrae and limbs. This allowed us to establish a new species of pterosaur.”&nbsp;



The term “thanatosdrakon” combines the ancient Greek words for death (thanatos) and dragon (drakon). “It seemed appropriate to name it that way,” explained Dr. Ortiz. 



“It's the dragon of death. We don't have a current record of any close relative that even has a body modification similar to these beasts. This species had a height similar to that of a giraffe, and a wingspan that defies the limits of our biological understanding.”



T. amaru belonged to a family of pterosaurs called “azdarchidae” which lived mostly in the Late Cretaceous period (100.5 to 66 million years ago) and are well-known for their enormous heads – sometimes even larger than their bodies – and their hyper-elongated necks and short, robust bodies.



The fossils – described in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667122000921?via%3Dihub#!">Cretaceous Research</a> – are currently house in the Laboratory and Museum of Dinosaurs at the National University of Cuyo.&nbsp;



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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

Giant “dragon of death” unearthed in Argentina

A team of Argentinian scientists has recently discovered the fossilized...

Invasive, long-nosed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reconstructing-300-million-years-of-beetle-evolution/">beetles</a> known as palm weevils are destroying palm trees across California. In San Diego County alone, palm weevils have killed more than 20,000 palm trees since they were first detected in 2016.



Now, scientists at <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">UC Riverside</a> are testing the effectiveness of a pheromone to attract and kill weevils. By seducing the beetles with the chemicals, experts may be able to save palm trees without harming bees.



According to study co-author Mark Hoddle, the weevils’ ability to produce very large populations is currently unchecked as there are no native natural predators that control this pest.



“Near Chula Vista there’s a road called Palm Avenue, but it’s all stumps and dead trees now, and the weevils are transforming the visual appeal of Old Town San Diego as well,” said Hoddle.



Currently, the only way to control palm weevils is with the application of insecticides. These treatments are expensive, and are applied several times a year.



“A weevil infestation is a death sentence for the palm. These insects have 100% kill rate in three to six months, unless the tree is treated very aggressively. Even treatment may not be enough to save an infected palm,” explained Hoddle.



The pheromone strategy represents a much more environmentally friendly way to reduce weevil populations compared to insecticides.



“One of the only ways we’re currently able to kill them is by spraying 60-foot palm trees. It’s literally raining insecticide from high-pressure hoses,” said Hoddle.



Some city managers are injecting the surrounding soil with insecticides, but this can have unintended negative effects on bees. “The insecticide they’re using belongs to a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, which has been implicated in bee decline,” explained Hoddle.&nbsp;



The pheromone is specific to the South American palm weevil, and is attractive to both male and female weevils.&nbsp;



“The weevil flies to it, walks over it several times, realizes there’s nothing in it to mate with and flies off. But by the time it’s gone, it’s gotten a lethal dose of insecticide,” said Hoddle.



According to the researchers, this new approach could provide weevil control at much lower costs, as well as reducing the amount and types of insecticides applied. The treatment may ultimately prevent the migration of palm weevils to Coachella Valley, which is home to a $100 million date palm industry.&nbsp;



Just a few “super flyers” could enable such an infestation of Coachella Valley, Hoddle said. “The date growers in Coachella could really use this. If it works in San Diego, we’ll have a tool ready for them.”



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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

Pheromones could help control deadly palm weevils

Invasive, long-nosed beetles known as palm weevils are destroying palm...

Since May 13, 2022, more than 100 cases of confirmed or suspected monkeypox have been detected in countries where this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/children-with-pet-dogs-have-a-lower-risk-of-crohns-disease/">disease</a> does not usually occur, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The disease is endemic to Central and West Africa, and was first discovered in 1958.



While there is no proven, safe treatment for monkeypox, experts claim that smallpox vaccines, antiviral drugs, and contact tracing will be sufficient to contain the multi-country outbreak of this mildly contagious disease.



Monkeypox is caused by a zoonotic virus - the orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family - which is related to the smallpox virus, but causes milder disease. Although it was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958, rodents appear to be the main carriers of monkeypox in the wild. Humans can catch it by coming into close contact with infected animals – through bites, scratches, bodily fluids, feces, or consuming meat that is not sufficiently cooked.&nbsp;



The virus has an incubation period of six to 21 days, after which infected individuals develop flu-like symptoms (fever, body aches), followed by a rash gradually covering their entire body. These symptoms usually last between two to four weeks, and usually resolve by themselves. Although it is considered a relatively mild disease, it can cause severe cases in children, pregnant women, or immunosuppressed individuals.&nbsp;



Monkeypox is significantly less contagious than Covid-19, so sustained human-to-human transmission leading to another <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-world-is-still-unprepared-for-the-next-pandemic/">pandemic</a> is unlikely. “Transmission is really happening from close physical contact, skin-to-skin contact. So it’s quite different from Covid in that sense,” explained Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO).



According to Dr. David Heymann, a professor of Infectious Diseases at the <a href="https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/">London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine</a> and advisor for the WHO, the current outbreak in developed countries appears to have been caused by sexual activity at two <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/expert-monkeypox-likely-spread-by-sex-at-2-raves-in-europe/2022/05/23/fdef8d88-da79-11ec-bc35-a91d0a94923b_story.html">raves</a> in Europe, including a Gay Pride event in the Canary Islands, which drew over 80,000 participants.&nbsp;



“It’s very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close, physical contact,” Dr. Heymann hypothesized. “And then there were these international events that seeded the outbreak around the world, into the U.S. and other European countries.”&nbsp;



Although the majority of the recent identified cases are linked to gay males, experts warn that monkeypox can be easily transmitted through any type of sexual contact (or non-sexual physical contact), so minorities should not be discriminated.&nbsp;



“This is not a gay disease, as some people in social media have attempted to label it,” said WHO advisor Dr. Andy Seale. “Anybody can contract monkeypox through close contact.”



While the current outbreak is highly unusual and probably more cases will be discovered soon, the disease is unlikely to trigger widespread community transmission. “This is not COVID. We need to slow it down, but it does not spread in the air and we have vaccines to protect against it,” concluded Dr. Heymann.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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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

Monkeypox is spreading, but unlikely to cause a pandemic

Since May 13, 2022, more than 100 cases of confirmed...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a>, researchers have discovered that scavengers can be very picky about what they eat. The experts found that both avian and mammal scavengers showed a strong preference for the carcasses of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-herbivores-must-be-restored-to-balance-ecosystems/">herbivores</a>.



The research was focused on more than 20,000 images captured by remote cameras. The analysis revealed that when scavengers were presented with a variety of carcasses, the animals were very selective about what they ate.



Both avian and mammal scavengers preferred to dine exclusively on mallard duck or chicken carcasses when the carcasses of turkey vultures or black vultures were also available.



The experts set up cameras on a heavily forested site along the Savannah River near Aiken, South Carolina. Miranda Butler-Valverde, lead investigator on the study, placed nearly 80 avian carcasses in the area.



The images showed that all of the scavengers, including coyotes, crows, bald eagles and wild pigs, preferred the carcasses of the chickens and ducks over vultures. In fact, only 10 out of 39 vulture carcasses were consumed, while all of the chicken and duck remains were completely devoured.



According to Butler-Valverde, the fate of these carcasses provides insight into how nutrients can cycle through food webs.



“The vulture carcasses, that were not scavenged or were only partially scavenged, were on the landscape for a longer period of time,” said Butler-Valverde. “This means the microbial and invertebrate communities were likely able to take advantage of the reduced competition and lack of disturbance at these carcasses. After the carcasses decomposed, nutrients would have most likely been deposited into the soil and plant communities located in the vicinity of the carcasses.”



While it may seem that the scavengers were just choosing the tastier meal, the researchers believe there is more than the scavengers’ taste buds at play. Study co-author Professor James C. Beasley said the scavengers could be avoiding disease risks. 



“Scavengers are most often predators and higher trophic-level species, and by scavenging similar species they may be more likely to be exposed to pathogens that they can be susceptible to,” said Professor Beasley. “So carnivores might be less likely or unwilling to scavenge other carnivores to reduce their exposure to pathogens.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/food-webs">Food Webs</a>.



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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

Believe it or not, scavengers are picky eaters

In a new study from the University of Georgia, researchers...

Termites are actually a type of cockroach that diverged from other roaches 150 million years ago. They then evolved to live colonially - sometimes with millions of individuals living in dirt structures.&nbsp;



Drywood termites are a seemingly unique lineage, separated from other termites by millions of years of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stinging-cells-shed-light-on-the-early-evolution-of-animals/">evolution</a>. These creatures live in smaller colonies of around 5,000 individuals, typically in wood. Now, a new study published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mbe">Molecular Biology and Evolution</a> has mapped out the family tree of drywood termites.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Drywood termites, or Kalotermitidae, are often thought of as primitive because they split from other termites quite early, around 100 million years ago, and because they appear to form smaller colonies. But very little is actually known about this family," explained study lead author Dr. Aleš Buček, a postdoctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.oist.jp/">Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology</a>.



Based on genetic evidence, the study revealed that drywood termites have made several trips across oceans, probably hitching rides on logs to reach remote islands. More recently, these insects have been carried accidentally by humans.&nbsp;



Overall, drywood termites have made at least 40 oceanic journeys in the last 50 million years, allowing them to spread as far as Africa and South America.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“They’re very good at getting across oceans,” said Dr. Buček. “Their homes are made of wood so can act as tiny ships.”



For the investigation, the scientists drew on thirty years of specimens collected all over the world. Out of this prodigious collection, the researchers chose 150 species, representing about a quarter of drywood termite diversity. From these, DNA was isolated and sequenced to create a family tree.&nbsp;



This new phylogeny shows that most genera in the family originated in South America. The researchers also found that although the lineage is quite old, they live a similar "modern" lifestyle like other termites, with complex colonies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This study only goes to highlight how little we know about termites, the diversity of their lifestyles, and the scale of their social lives,” stated study senior author Professor Tom Bourguignon. “As more information is gathered about their behavior and ecology, we’ll be able to use this family tree to find out more about the evolution of sociality in insects and how termites have been so successful.”



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Family of termites has been adrift at sea for 50 million years

Termites are actually a type of cockroach that diverged from...

It may seem like common sense to many pet owners that their animals understand human emotions. Now, scientists have looked at this idea with scrutiny to determine if domestic animals can understand emotion in a person’s voice. The research, published in <a href="https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/">BMC Biology</a>, looked at a range of animals for their reactions to human voices with different emotional undertones.&nbsp;



"The results showed that domesticated pigs and horses, as well as Asian wild horses, can tell the difference, both when the sounds come from their own species and near relatives, as well as from human voices," explained behavioral biologist Elodie Briefer of the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a>.&nbsp;



To not confuse the idea of the animals understanding certain words with the idea of them understanding emotion, the researchers played the sound of a voice actor talking gibberish. Real words were used but strung together in nonsensical ways with different emotional tones. The animal responses were observed and recorded.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Beyond testing whether animals can understand human emotion, the research was also aimed at seeing whether animals mirror those emotions. Could an emotion from a human act like a contagion to other animals? The research suggests it can.&nbsp;



"Our results show that these animals are affected by the emotions we charge our voices with when we speak to or are around them. They react more strongly – generally faster - when they are met with a negatively charged voice, compared to having a positively charged voice played to them first. In certain situations, they even seem to mirror the emotion to which they are exposed," said Briefer.



"Should future research projects clearly demonstrate that these animals mirror emotions, as this study suggests, it will be very interesting in relation to the history of the development of emotions and the extent to which animals have an emotional life and level of consciousness."



This new information has clear implications for animal care and welfare. It sets the stage for new rules on how best to care for animals, and confirms that how you talk to an animal is important.&nbsp;



"When the animals reacted strongly to hearing negatively charged speech first, the same is also true in the reverse. That is, if animals are initially spoken to in a more positive, friendly voice, when met by people, they should react less. They may become calmer and more relaxed," explained Briefer.



Next, the scientists want to switch things up and test humans to see if they can detect emotions from domestic animals.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Animals are affected by the emotions in human voices

It may seem like common sense to many pet owners...

A new paper published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)00601-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982222006017%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Current Biology</a> details an astounding behavior seen in jackdaws, a small crow species. Researchers in the United Kingdom found that these crows make a Democratic decision about when to take <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-tiny-bat-has-set-a-surprising-new-flight-record/">flight</a> after a night of rest.



Consensus decision-making among non-human animals is not a new concept. However, this is the first study to show that a sizable non-family group performs this behavior.&nbsp;



The decision of when to move is an important one. Taking off in large groups helps the birds avoid predation and maybe learn about where the best food is.&nbsp;



Still, not everyone wants the same thing simultaneously. So, the jackdaws begin making calls to signal they are ready to take flight. Birds from different family groups or flocks of various ages and sexes all come together, and once enough birds decide it’s time to get moving, off they go.&nbsp;



“Through their calls, jackdaws appear to effectively signal their willingness to leave, providing large groups with a means of achieving consensus to perform cohesive, collective departures from the roost,” explained the researchers.



To explore how the birds decide when to take flight, the researchers took audio and video recordings of roosts that varied in size from 160 to 1,500&nbsp; individual birds. They quantified the intensity of the calls right before and right after the birds began to fly.



Most of the time, hundreds of birds would take off within four seconds of one another, and the bird calls intensified about one hour before the largest group took flight.



To test cause and effect, the researchers played audio of other jackdaws and found that the birds would take flight an average of 6.5 minutes earlier when the audio was present. They believe this occurred because the roost thought more birds came to a consensus that they were ready to leave, so they took off.&nbsp;



“Through their calls, jackdaws appear to effectively signal their willingness to leave, providing large groups with a means of achieving consensus to perform cohesive, collective departures from the roost,” said the researchers.



Study co-author Alex Thornton hopes this discovery allows us to understand and help jackdaws now and in the future. “As human impacts on wildlife grow, we are very interested in understanding whether and how human disturbance - for instance, from light and noise pollution - may affect animal groups’ abilities to communicate and reach consensus decisions.”&nbsp;



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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

Jackdaws reach a consensus before taking flight

A new paper published in Current Biology details an astounding...

Moths are an important source of food for migrating birds and bats, and are also fascinating creatures in their own right. As climate change intensifies, moths (as well as birds and bats) are increasingly impacted. Now, a team of researchers has created a computer model that predicts the movements of different moths in a changing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-deprivation-may-become-a-side-effect-of-climate-change/">climate</a>.&nbsp;



"There is widespread concern that species will fail to track climate change if habitat is too scarce or insufficiently connected. Targeted restoration has been advocated to help species adapt, and a 'conductance' metric has been proposed, based on simulation studies, to predict effective habitat configurations. However, until now there is very little empirical evidence on how the configuration of habitat is affecting expansion at species' cool range margins," explained the study authors.



"We analyzed the colonization events that have occurred in continuously monitored trap locations for 54 species of southerly distributed moths in Britain between 1985 and 2011."



The model shows that moths coming from suburban and farmland habitats, both essential for pollination as well as food sources, have a hard time crossing some landscapes.&nbsp;



The scientists set out to identify which features of the landscapes slowed the moths down, making it hard for them to move with changing temperatures. The study revealed that some moths have a harder time moving northward.&nbsp;



“These new computer models will help us to target habitat restoration in the most effective places to help species adapt to climate change by shifting their ranges across the country," said Dr. Jenny Hodgson, the study's lead author from the University of Liverpool.



The main objective of the research is to better prioritize conservation efforts. With this important data in hand, moth migration pathways can be protected, allowing the insects the chance to adapt to a changing climate.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Previous research has shown how severe fragmentation of habitats in our UK landscapes is preventing the ability of species to shift their ranges in response to climate warming. We urgently need targeted habitat restoration to help species adapt to climate change," said study co-author Professor Tom Oliver, an ecologist at the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a>.&nbsp;



"Utilizing predictions like these would enable us to effectively create moth motorways, helping endangered moth species reach new, more suitable regions more quickly in their bid to survive.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Moths may struggle to move in response to climate change

Moths are an important source of food for migrating birds...

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.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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

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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

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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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