In a fascinating new study, scientists documented 34 attempts by wild killer whales to give food to humans. These rare cases spanned four oceans and 20 years. Some happened near boats, others in open water or even from the shore. 



The events highlight the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whales-use-kelp-to-massage-and-groom-each-other/">orcas</a>’ possible interest in humans and raise important questions about whale intelligence, communication, and social behavior.



“Orcas often share food with each other - it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said study lead author Jared Towers, of <a href="https://baycetology.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bay Cetology</a> in British Columbia, Canada. “That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-lives-of-killer-whales">Social lives of killer whales</h2>



Orcas live some of the most complex social lives in the animal kingdom. They stick together in tight-knit family groups called pods, usually led by an older matriarch. 



These family units aren’t just casual gatherings - they’re lifelong bonds. Calves stay with their mothers for life, swimming, hunting, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/photographer-captures-killer-whales-wearing-fish-hats/">playing together</a>. 



In some regions, pods form larger communities or clans that share unique vocal dialects, kind of like cultural accents passed down through generations. This tight social structure helps them coordinate during hunts and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whales-use-kelp-to-massage-and-groom-each-other/">protect each other</a> from threats.



But it’s not all business. Orcas socialize for the joy of it too. They engage in what clearly looks like play - tossing kelp, breaching dramatically, or nudging one another during underwater games. 



They form friendships beyond their pods and even flirt, showing preferences and personalities. These interactions suggest that orcas have emotional lives and a sense of identity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-orcas-gave-humans">What orcas gave humans</h2>



The 34 incidents involved six distinct populations of killer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-helps-humans-have-20-minute-conversation-with-humpback-whale-named-twain/">whales</a>. They offered humans a total of 18 species: six fish, five mammals, three invertebrates, two birds, one reptile, and even one piece of seaweed.



In 97 percent of these cases, the orcas waited for a human response. Some hovered for several minutes. 



On several occasions, they tried again when the humans ignored or returned the offering. In two especially curious cases, whales retrieved birds after humans returned them, only to offer them again.



This behavior could be a form of interspecies curiosity, communication, or even social learning. As the authors suggest, these events might represent "generalized altruism" - an advanced trait observed in only a few social animals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exploration-more-than-play">Exploration more than play</h2>



Though play was observed in 38 percent of the interactions, the researchers argue most cases were not playful. The age of the whales varied widely, and many offered whole, fresh prey. 



In over 75 percent of ignored cases, the whales later used the prey for themselves or their group. This suggests the offerings had purpose and value, not just entertainment.



Curiosity-driven behavior, distinct from play, seemed a stronger motivator. As the study explains, animals often explore to reduce uncertainty. 



Offering food to humans might help orcas learn how we respond, just as they would with unfamiliar members of their own <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whales-blow-bubble-smoke-rings-near-humans-to-communicate/">species</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deep-social-intelligence-at-work">Deep social intelligence at work</h2>



Some whales returned the same item to humans multiple times. Others acted in pairs or small groups. 



Most of the 34 events involved a single whale separating from a larger group. This suggests the act was not for show. Rather, it might reflect the whale's individual decision to interact.



Interestingly, killer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-dolphin-brains-evolved-to-see-underwater-by-using-sound-echolocation/">whales</a> have also been documented cooperating with human fishers in places like Australia and Russia. The authors noted that this history could influence modern interactions, especially as human activity increases near their habitats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-whales-may-view-humans-as-companions">Whales may view humans as companions</h2>



Killer whales rank second only to humans in brain-to-body ratio. They also show advanced emotional and social behavior. 



These traits support complex social learning, reciprocal behavior, and possibly even empathy.



“Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behavior, explore or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate or develop relationships with us,” the researchers wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-should-not-approach-whales">Humans should not approach whales</h2>



Despite the remarkable nature of these encounters, the researchers urge caution. Orcas can show complex and sometimes unpredictable behavior. 



While no wild killer whale has killed a person, some interactions have been intense. They warn against seeking out such encounters or encouraging the behavior without proper permissions.



Most of these whales belonged to populations that hunt near the surface and share prey frequently. 



No deep-water, fish-only populations were involved. This suggests that cooperative surface hunting may lead to more frequent and visible interspecies interactions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-minds-of-whales-and-humans">Complex minds of whales and humans</h2>



The findings challenge our assumptions about human-animal relationships. If orcas are experimenting with ways to relate to us, it means they recognize us not as threats, but as potential social partners.



These whales are not just predators. They are thinkers, observers, and maybe, in some way, explorers of culture, curiosity, memory, learning, and emotion. 



Their actions suggest complex minds in both whales and humans, capable of choice, empathy, and communication.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-29805-001.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Comparative Psychology</a>. 



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Killer whales are attempting to bond with humans, according to many observations

In a fascinating new study, scientists documented 34 attempts by wild killer whales to give food to humans. These rare cases spanned four oceans and 20 years. Some happened near boats, others in open water or even from the shore. The events highlight the orcas’ possible interest in humans and raise important questions about whale intelligence, communication, and social behavior. “Orcas often share food with each other - it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said study lead author Jared...

In their evolutionary arms race between rattlesnakes and their prey, rodents, birds, and other reptiles often develop resistance to snakes’ <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-a-new-way-to-study-venom-production/">venom</a>. However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> (CU Boulder) and the <a href="https://www.uta.edu/">University of Texas at Arlington</a> (UT Arlington) has found that rattlesnakes maintain a broad and diverse genetic toolkit that encodes snake venom, allowing them to rapidly adapt as their local prey and conditions change.



“The existence of these resistance mechanisms in prey led us to wonder: If there’s selection pressure imposed back on the snakes, then it might make sense evolutionarily to have a more expanded venom arsenal,”&nbsp;said study lead author Drew Schield, a postdoctoral researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder. “We found these rattlesnakes had a more diverse venom repertoire, more genetic tools in the toolkit, than their venom composition alone might suggest.”&nbsp;



For decades, scientists thought that the co-evolution between rattlesnakes and their prey would be driven by a process called “directional selection,” in which snake venom would become highly specialized, evolving to effectively kill specific prey. However, by studying samples from 68 rattlesnakes belonging to two different species in the western United States, Dr. Schield and his colleagues have found that venom evolution is in fact driven by “balancing selection,” an evolutionary process where multiple versions of a gene are maintained instead of eliminated.



“Our findings help explain decades of seemingly contradictory theory and evidence for what drives the extreme variation observed in snake venoms. It turns out that the arms-race between snakes and prey ends up favoring the constant re-shuffling of venom variants that are favored, leading to the retention of lots of venom variants over time, some of which are ancient,” said study co-author Todd Castoe, a professor of Biology at UT Arlington.



Thus, while directional selection may have driven the origins of venom, in more recent times, there may have been an equilibrium shift towards balancing selection favoring a more diverse venom repertoire. “These evolutionary mechanisms ramp up the complexity that you’re contending with when you develop antivenoms, as venom composition within the same species but in different geographic regions might be totally different,” Dr. Schield concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01829-5">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



---



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

Rattlesnakes diversify their venom for evolving prey

In their evolutionary arms race between rattlesnakes and their prey,...

Although animals are born with muscle coordination networks located in their spinal cord, learning the precise coordination of leg muscles and tendons takes some time. At the beginning, baby animals rely heavily on hard-wired spinal cord reflexes that help them avoid falling during their first walking attempts. The more advanced and precise muscle control that characterizes adult animals must be practiced, until the nervous system is well-adapted to the leg muscles and tendons.&nbsp;



In order to better understand how animals learn to walk, a research team from the <a href="https://is.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems</a> (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart&nbsp;has built a four-legged, dog-sized <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/robot-flying-fish/">robot</a> that gradually learned to walk with the help of a Bayesian optimization algorithm which continuously compared sent and expected sensor information, ran reflex loops, and adapted the robot’s motor control patterns.



“As engineers and roboticists, we sought the answer by building a robot that features reflexes just like an animal and learns from mistakes,” said study lead author Felix Ruppert, a former doctoral student at MPI-IS. “If an animal stumbles, is that a mistake? Not if it happens once. But if it stumbles frequently, it gives us a measure of how well the robot walks.”



The learning algorithm that Dr. Ruppert and his team constructed simulated the control parameters of a Central Pattern Generator (CPG), as well as the reflexes that characterize living beings. In animals, these CPGs are networks of neurons in the spinal cord which produce periodic muscle contractions without input from the brain and aid the generation of rhythmic tasks such as walking, digestion, or blinking. 



As long as an animal walks over flat surfaces, the CPGs are generally sufficient to control the movement signals from the spinal cord. However, if it stumbles, reflexes kick in and adjust the movement patterns to keep the animal from falling. While in newborn animals, CPGs are not yet adjusted well enough and the animals frequently stumble around, they rapidly learn how their CPGs and reflexes control leg muscles and tendons. By imitating these biological mechanisms, the robot dog that the scientists constructed surpassed animals in how quickly it learned to walk – in about one hour.



“Our robot is practically ‘born’ knowing nothing about its leg anatomy or how they work,” Dr. Ruppert explained. “The CPG resembles a built-in automatic walking intelligence that nature provides and that we have transferred to the robot. The computer produces signals that control the legs’ motors, and the robot initially walks and stumbles."



"Data flows back from the sensors to the virtual spinal cord where sensor and CPG data are compared. If the sensor data does not match the expected data, the learning algorithm changes the walking behavior until the robot walks well, and without stumbling. Changing the CPG output while keeping reflexes active and monitoring the robot stumbling is a core part of the learning process.”



“We can’t easily research the spinal cord of a living animal. But we can model one in the robot,” added study co-author Alexander Badri-Spröwitz, an expert in Biomechanics at MPI-IS. 



“We know that these CPGs exist in many animals. We know that reflexes are embedded; but how can we combine both so that animals learn movements with reflexes and CPGs? This is fundamental research at the intersection between robotics and biology. The robotic model gives us answers to questions that biology alone can’t answer,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42256-022-00505-4">Nature Machine Intelligence</a>.



Image Credit: Felix Ruppert, Dynamic Locomotion Group at MPI-IS



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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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Robot dog sheds new light on how animals learn to walk

Although animals are born with muscle coordination networks located in...

A new study led by researchers at the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> discovered a unique fly fungus that could be straight from a horror movie. The fungus survives by "bewitching" male flies into mating with dead female flies. The longer a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-wolf-spiders-perform-elaborate-dances-to-woo-females/">female</a> fly carcass has rotted, the greater the male's lust.&nbsp;



The fungus can eject its infected spores at up to 10 meters a second, which is among the fastest of nature’s movements.After infecting a female fly, the fungus spreads until its host has slowly been consumed alive from within.&nbsp;



After six days, the fungus takes over the behavior of the female fly and forces it to the highest point, where the fly then dies. When the fungus has killed the zombie female, it releases chemical signals known as sesquiterpenes.&nbsp;



"The chemical signals act as pheromones that bewitch male flies and cause an incredible urge for them to mate with lifeless female carcasses," explained study co-author Henrik H. De Fine Licht.



As male flies copulate with dead females, they are the next to become infected and left to suffer the same gruesome fate. In this way, the fungus spreads to new victims to ensure its own survival.



"Our observations suggest that this is a very deliberate strategy for the fungus. It is a true master of manipulation – and this is incredibly fascinating," said De Fine Licht.



By tracking fly behavior, the researchers demonstrated that dead female flies become more attractive as time passes. Overall, 73 percent of the male flies in the study mated with female fly carcasses that died from the fungal infection. Only 15 percent of the males mated with female corpses that had been dead for 3 to 8 hours.



"We see that the longer a female fly has been dead, the more alluring it becomes to males. This is because the number of fungal spores increases with time, which enhances the seductive fragrances," explained De Fine Licht.



The study provides gory, yet fascinating insight into nature's mechanisms. It also provides new knowledge that may lead to effective fly repellents in the future.&nbsp;



"Flies are quite unhygienic and can sicken humans and animals by spreading coli bacteria and any diseases that they are carrying. So, there is an incentive to limit housefly populations, in areas where food is being produced for example," said De Fine Licht.



"This is where the Entomophthora muscae fungus may prove useful. It might be possible for us to use these same fungal fragrances as a biological pest control that attracts healthy males to a fly trap instead of a corpse."



The research is published in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/ismej/">The ISME Journal</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Fly fungus lures males to mate with female corpses

A new study led by researchers at the University of...

A recent study from <a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk/">Newcastle University</a> reveals that clown anemonefish can literally adapt to fit into their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/environmental-stability-helped-ocean-biodiversity-flourish/">environment</a>. The researchers found that clownfish control their growth to match the size of their anemone host.



In a collaboration with experts at Boston University, the team analyzed the relationship between the size of clownfish anemones. Using a series of lab experiments, the researchers paired clownfish with anemones of various sizes. They discovered that fish on large anemones grow faster than fish on small anemones.



The results explain why clownfish and anemone size are so closely correlated in the wild. The researchers propose that by adjusting their growth, clownfish likely maximize their reproductive value given their anemone context.



Study lead author Dr. Theresa Rueger is a lecturer of Tropical Marine Biology at Newcastle’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.



“Anemonefishes are fascinating for their ability to adjust their growth rate to their specific environments, whether that’s to avoid conflict with a larger fish or, as we show here, to make sure they are the ideal size for their anemones," said Dr. Rueger.



“Anemones are important for the fish because they provide protection from predators and the larger the anemone, the more space the fish has to move around and feed while still being save. If the fish would get too big for the anemone it is on, it might not get enough food or be safe. At the same time the fish wants to be as big as possible to be able to produce lots of offspring."



“Our data from wild fish shows that anemone size and fish size is very closely correlated: large fish are always on large anemones. And our experiment shows that is not a coincidence but the fish actively regulate their growth to fit their anemone host. This is the first time that this plasticity of growth in a vertebrate has been found to depend on a mutualistic partner, and it shows how important mutualisms are."



“The next step will be to disentangle the mechanism, what makes the fish decide how large it needs to be? Through our experiment we already know it’s not food availability (all fish got the same amount of food) and it is not space availability alone (the fish did not show the same plasticity when they were on silicone anemones), so it seems to be something about the mutualistic partner itself. Lots of research still to be done!”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.



---



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

Clownfish adapt their size to fit their environment

A recent study from Newcastle University reveals that clown anemonefish...

According to a new study led by the <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/">University of Reading</a>, supporting and enhancing pollinators such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-make-it-harder-for-male-bees-to-attract-mates/">bees</a> could help stabilize the production of important crops like oilseeds and fruits, reducing the uncertainties that often cause food prices to rise. 



The analysis revealed that there was 32 percent less variation in the yields of plants visited by bees and other pollinators than in those grown in the absence of pollinators. Thus, pollinators could help mitigate supply issues and market shocks that cause global price spikes, by holding food supplies steady.



“Our findings suggest that preserving pollinators provides a double benefit, reducing fluctuations in food supplies as well as boosting supplies in the first place,” said study lead author Jake Bishop, a crop scientist at the University of Reading. “Stable and predictable production of nutritious food is a necessity for farmers and for global food security. We are seeing right now that instability or shocks across the food system can lead to dramatic increases in food price.”



“The research has revealed another reason why pollinators are so important to our planet, and to so many families who are struggling to feed themselves with sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Pollinators are particularly important in the production of fruit and vegetable crops. Around half of the experiments we analyzed were testing the effect of real pollinator populations in real crop fields so our results illustrate the benefits that pollinators are currently providing.”



Dr. Bishop and his colleagues assessed the results of over 200 previous experiments that compared the yield of three crop plants - faba beans, oilseed rape, and apples - with and without insect pollination, and concluded that insect pollination consistently made yields more similar between flowers on a plant, between individual plants, between areas within fields, and between fields.&nbsp;



This stabilizing effect of pollination is likely due to a ceiling effect, whereby yield increases resulting from insect pollination hits an upper limit due to limitations of other resources which support crop growth, such as soil nutrients or access to water. This phenomenon creates a raised and more stable baseline against which there is less fluctuation in yield.



This study – published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.14069">Ecology Letters</a> – marks the start of Bees’ Needs Week (18-24 July), a UK government-led initiative championing pollinators and their multiple benefits by encouraging people to take <a href="https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bees-needs/five-simple-actions/">five simple actions</a> to support pollinators.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Image Credit: Louise Truslove/University of Reading



---



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

Pollinators stabilize the production of food crops

According to a new study led by the University of...

Just like riding a bike, once we learn and retain skills, we rarely have to relearn them. Most studies on learning and long-term <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-ocean-is-losing-its-memory-and-becoming-less-predictable/">memory</a> in the wild have focused on a handful of animal species. Now, researchers at the <a href="https://stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a> (STRI) share the first report of long-term memory in frog-eating bats.



“Frog-eating bats are an excellent emerging model organism for studying cognitive and sensory ecology, learning plays a big part in their lives," explained study lead author M. May Dixon.



When hunting frogs, the bat’s can identify the frog calls that indicate a frog is good to eat, compared to the calls that indicate a frog is poisonous, or even too big to carry.



For the study, 49 wild bats were trained to respond to ringtones played through speakers. When responding to two of the tones, a reward of fish was found, but three other tones were associated with no reward.&nbsp;



The bats quickly learned when ringtones indicated a snack and ignored the ones that did not. The bats were then microchipped and released back into Panama’s Soberania National Park.&nbsp;



The researchers recaptured some of the trained bats. When they played the experimental sounds again, the bats recognized and responded to the reward ringtones - even four years later.&nbsp;



The ringtones sounded like the ping of a text message and the beep of a car being unlocked. Using human-generated sounds ensured that they wouldn't be heard in nature.



As for the unrewarded sounds, the experts played one of them to the recaptured bats, and six of eight bats approached it.&nbsp;



“It’s possible that they remember the extinguished sound, but enough time had gone by that they thought to check it out once more,” said Dixon. “Or it’s possible that they couldn’t remember the exact difference between the ringtones, and that extinguished sound was close enough to the rewarded one that they decided to check that out too. Sort of like a generalization of memory.”



To make sure that the bats were not responding to every sound they heard, a pure tone was played. Most of the bats did not fly to it, but only twitched their ears.&nbsp;



This experiment raises more questions on how memory works in bats and other animals, including the metabolic cost of remembering.&nbsp;



“I’m interested in memory capacity in animals and what causes long-term or short-term memories, what ecological conditions select for different memory lengths, what is important to remember and to forget,” explained Dixon. “But studying long-term memory is very difficult, because it takes a long time by definition. And testing memory in captive animals, even if it’s more convenient, isn’t necessarily representative of what animals can remember in the wild.”&nbsp;



“STRI has been the basis for so much research done with bats. They have gathered a large database on frog-eating bats, on experiments done with bats, what stimulus have been used, so if you capture a bat that has been caught before, you already have its whole history. There are few places in the world where you can have that amount of detail."&nbsp;



“I went from liking bats but not thinking they were very interesting, to realizing they are very complex little creatures, with deep personalities and very engaging ways of interacting with the world.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Wild bats have a long-term memory of sounds

Just like riding a bike, once we learn and retain...

Scientists have long thought that conscious awareness of past personal experiences is the exclusive domain of humans. However, a recent study led by the <a href="https://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a> (UB) has now found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-have-an-intuitive-understanding-of-physics/">dogs</a> are capable of learning the instruction “do that again,” and can flexibly access memories of their own recent actions, which are cognitive abilities they were not previously known to possess.



“We found that dogs could be trained to repeat specific actions on cue, and then take what they’d learned and apply it to actions they had never been asked to repeat,” said study lead author Allison Scagel, who conducted the study as a doctoral student in Psychology at UB. “Our findings showed that they were able to apply the concept of repetition to new situations. More generally, we found evidence that dogs are capable of forming abstract concepts […] placing them in an expanding category of other animals that includes bottlenose dolphins and chimpanzees.”



The researchers worked with three dogs – a male long-haired chihuahua and two female golden retrievers – to test whether they could voluntarily think back to what they had just been doing and repeat those actions. In a first step, the experimenters used traditional dog training based on cues and responses to teach the animals to follow simple cues such as spinning in a circle, lying down, or walking around an object.&nbsp;



Then, they taught the dogs a separate repeat cue - the word “again” accompanied by a hand gesture – which instructed them to reproduce the action they had just completed. In order to asses whether the dogs have managed to actually learn a general concept of repeating recent actions, they were asked to repeat new actions that they had not been asked to repeat before. Despite never being asked to repeat such actions, all the dogs successfully passed the test.



“Dogs can do more than learn the relationship between a person’s cue and which specific trick they should perform,” said Dr. Scagel. “They can understand the concept of repetition: whatever you just did, do that again. It can apply to anything they do.”



“This is an important step toward a greater understanding of how other species form abstract concepts. And we’re learning that humans aren’t that cognitively unique after all,” she concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-45661-001">Journal of Comparative Psychology</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dogs can be prompted to repeat their recent actions

Scientists have long thought that conscious awareness of past personal...

A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en">Hiroshima University</a> in Japan has investigated muscle gain in cultured human skeletal muscle cells infused with serum from hibernating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/black-bears-have-a-surprisingly-simple-gut-microbiome/">black bears</a>. The study confirmed that key factors activated in these animals’ blood during winter trigger their amazing capacity to prevent muscle atrophy despite months of inactivity.



Over the fall and winter, hibernating bears can lie still for five to seven months inside their dens without eating or drinking anything. While in humans, only three weeks of inactivity is enough to cause muscle mass loss that could lead to sedentary lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes or even early death, bears can survive their hibernation with limited muscle loss, minimal metabolic dysfunction, and intact physical functions.&nbsp;



“The ‘use it or lose it’ phenomenon is a well-accepted physiological principle for the skeletal muscle, which is highly plastic in response to functional demands. Disuse typically leads to skeletal muscle loss and metabolic dysfunction in many animal species, including humans,” said study first author Mitsunori Miyazaki, an associate professor of Integrative Physiology at Hiroshima University.&nbsp;



“In contrast, hibernating animals are likely better described to be under the ‘no use, but no lose’ phenomenon, in that there is potential resistance to muscle atrophy during continued disuse conditions.”



Professor Miyazaki and his colleagues discovered that the serum drawn from the blood of hibernating Japanese black bears weakened the “destruction mechanism” controlling muscular degeneration. After only 24 hours of treatment with this serum, the cultured human muscle cells showed significant protein growth – an increase that was not seen in cultured muscle cells infused with serum collected from bears during their active summer season.



Although the scientists managed to identify certain physiological factors that may be responsible for this phenomenon – such as the suppressed expression of MuRF1 (Muscle RING-finger protein-1), the switch triggering the shredding of unused muscles, or the increased levels of the growth factor hormone IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) in the hibernating bear serum – the exact mechanisms and blood components that protect muscle mass during hibernation have not yet been fully identified.



“We have indicated that ‘some factor’ present in hibernating bear serum may regulate protein metabolism in cultured human skeletal muscle cells and contribute to the maintenance of muscle mass. However, the identification of this ‘factor’ has not yet been achieved,” Professor Miyazaki said.&nbsp;



“By identifying this ‘factor’ in hibernating bear serum and clarifying the unexplored mechanism behind ‘muscles that do not weaken even without use’ in hibernating animals, it is possible to develop effective rehabilitation strategies in humans and prevent becoming bedridden in the future,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263085">PLoS ONE</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

How hibernating bears could help humans prevent muscle loss

A team of researchers led by Hiroshima University in Japan...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cats-can-learn-the-names-of-their-companions/">cats</a> who suffered burns and smoke inhalation during urban wildfires in California were at a significant risk of developing lethal blood clots. This study follows up on a <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/are-cats-canary-coal-mine-wildfire-effects-human-health">previous one</a> conducted at the same university, which showed that cats injured in urban wildfires had a higher incidence of cardiovascular issues.



“Prior to these two papers, we didn’t realize that cats impacted by urban wildfires were prone to forming clots, which can lead to sudden death,” said study co-author Ronald Li, an associate professor of Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care at UC Davis. “This study will change the standard of care for rescued cats from these wildfires and hopefully save more lives.”



By examining cats treated for injuries from the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, the scientists found that they have more overactive platelets – cells that circulate in the blood and help forming blood clots – than healthy cats or cats with heart diseases such as subclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a common cardiovascular disease in felines which causes a thickening of the heart muscle.&nbsp;



“Cats with HCM are hypercoagulable, meaning they are more likely to form clots,” explained study lead author Avalene Tan, a veterinary research fellow at UC Davis. “That’s why we used them as a control group to compare with cats in the wildfire group. We found cats exposed to wildfire smoke and injuries are even more prone to throwing clots, showing a direct association between wildfire injuries, platelet response, and clot formation.”



The scientists also discovered a novel receptor on cat platelets, the Toll-Like-Receptor-4, which may play a significant role in clotting and could be targeted in future treatments. “These results could lead to bigger health implications for our feline patients and highlight the important role that platelets play in linking inflammation with the coagulation system,” Professor Li said.



Since wildfires pose a major risk to humans too, often causing heart attacks and strokes after prolonged wildfire exposure, better understanding the phenomenon of systemic platelet activation – which plays a crucial role in mediating the likelihood of developing blood clots as a result of wildfire injuries in cats – could shed more light on the impact of wildfires on human health and open novel therapeutic pathways.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.892377">Frontiers in Veterinary Science</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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Cats exposed to wildfires are at risk of deadly blood clots

A new study led by the University of California, Davis...

A recent study led by the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin – Madison</a> has found that some species of copepods such as Eurytemora affinis – tiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-species-crustaceans-italian-cave/">crustaceans</a> measuring about a millimeter in length and roaming coastal waters of oceans and estuaries around the world in massive numbers – can evolve fast enough to survive in the face of rapid climate change.



“This is a dominant coastal species, serving as very abundant and highly nutritious fish food,” said study senior author Carol Eunmi Lee, a professor of Integrative Biology at UW Madison. “But they’re vulnerable to climate change.”&nbsp;



Since ocean salinity is dropping rapidly as ice melts and precipitation patterns change, this saltwater species that evolved over the ages in waters high in salinity, now needs to adapt to much fresher water in their environment.&nbsp;



In order to study how copepods respond to drops in salinity, the scientists kept a population of Eurytemora affinis&nbsp;from the Baltic Sea in their laboratory and observed them over a few generations. After splitting the copepods into 14 groups of a few thousands each, they placed four of these groups in environments similar to the Baltic, while exposing the other ten groups to declining salinity levels that simulated the type of pressure caused by climate change. For a total of ten generations, these groups had their water gradually reduced to lower salinity levels.



To track evolutionary changes across the genomes of the tiny crustaceans, the researchers sequenced the genome of each line of copepods at the beginning of the experiment, as well as after six and ten generations. 



The analysis revealed that the strongest signals of natural selection – where changes were largest and more frequent across the groups exposed to low salinity levels – were in areas of the genome that are important in regulating ions, such as sodium transporters.



“In saltwater, there are a lot of ions, like sodium, that are essential for survival. But when you get to freshwater, these ions are precious,” Professor Lee explained. “So, the copepods need to suck them up from the environment and hang on to them, and the ability to do that relies on these ion transporters that we found undergoing natural selection.”



At the end of the experiment, the copepods with certain genetic combinations of the ion transporter were more likely to survive, even as the salinity of their water decreased. According to the researchers, the gene variants found in the copepods that managed to survive the salinity decline in the laboratory are also common among copepods living in the fresher regions of the Baltic Sea.



“This copepod gives us an idea of what it takes, an idea of what conditions are needed, that enable a population to evolve rapidly in response to climate change. It also shows how important evolution is for understanding our changing planet and how — or even whether — populations and ecosystems will survive,” Professor Lee concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31622-8">Nature Communications</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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tiny crustaceans have what it takes to survive climate change

A recent study led by the University of Wisconsin –...

By analyzing stress hormones in elephants that lost their mothers, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> has found that young, orphaned elephants appear to physically benefit from the support of other young elephants. The study revealed that elephants with more similarly aged “friends” in their group had lower stress levels than their more solitary conspecifics. Thus, “social support” appears to be crucial in reducing the stress caused by the loss of a mother in these highly intelligent and social animals.



&nbsp;“If you’re out in the field, watching elephants, you can just tell that family life is everything,” said study lead author Jenna Parker, an ecologist at Colorado State University. “Calves are rarely more than maybe ten meters from their mother until they’re about eight or nine years old. And if some of the elephants go off, you’ll hear them calling to one another. They want to know where each other are all the time.”



Between 2009 and 2013, there was a marked increase in poaching for ivory in the two reserves in Kenya where this study took place, leaving a large number of young elephants orphaned. “I wanted to follow that up and look at what happens physiologically for these orphans,” Dr. Parker said.



Together with her colleagues, Dr. Parker followed groups of African elephants for over a year and analyzed their fecal samples to measure stress hormone levels. By carefully monitoring 25 young orphaned elephants that had lost their mothers between one and 19 years earlier, the researchers found that those with more similarly aged companions had significantly lower stress hormones than others.



These findings are similar to previous research done on humans which discovered that orphaned children who had a strong level of social support from family and peers were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder after losing their parents. “And what we seem to find in elephants is that those with their family and social support maintain more normal stress hormone levels in the long term,” Dr. Parker said. “I just think it’s really cool that such a social animal has evolved so separately from humans, and that we still seem to converge on how important social ties are.”



According to the scientists, this study could inform future conservation efforts of these endangered animals. By better understanding their social structure – characterized by strong elephant-to-elephant support in the face of loss – conservationists could devise better initiatives to help these animals adapt to the myriad threats that they face.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03574-8">Nature Communications 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&nbsp;&nbsp;

Social support can lower stress levels in orphaned elephants

By analyzing stress hormones in elephants that lost their mothers,...

Climate change poses a number of threats to plants and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-different-types-of-animals-see/">animals</a>, and many species may disappear altogether. This is only expected to worsen due to human impacts such as altering land use for agriculture.&nbsp;



The habitats and preferred climate conditions of species have been drastically impacted. When there is a divergence between the climatic conditions suitable for a particular species and its abundance and distribution through time, this is known as climate decoupling.&nbsp;



For example, the grasshopper sparrow lives in grasslands across North America. However, because grasslands continue to be degraded, this has hindered the species from fully adjusting to changing climatic conditions. Climate decoupling and habitat loss may explain the high rates of grasshopper sparrow abundance declines and local extinctions.



A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.idiv.de/en/index.html">iDiv</a>, Leipzig University and MLU used the best available evidence on bird population changes through time from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).



The study revealed that at least 30 out of 114 species (26 percent) of North American birds have become less adjusted to their climate over the last 30 years. This means that their distributions and abundances were increasingly decoupled from climate over time.&nbsp;



This can happen for various reasons, depending on the species. Some species might remain where they historically lived, while others might be limited by climate-independent resources and habitats. On the other hand, some species might be declining due to global changes, unable to adjust to the changing climate.&nbsp;



“One of the most surprising results of our analysis was that the overall trend of climate decoupling showed no signs of slowing down,” said lead author Dr. Duarte Viana. “This suggests a possible feedback between climate decoupling and declining populations that might emerge in the face of a multitude of current global changes."



The researchers showed that climate decoupling was more prevalent among habitat specialists than generalists. This is because specialists may have greater difficulty finding a suitable habitat and climate conditions in increasingly modified landscapes.



“We also found that climate decoupling was more prominent among species that were considered threatened and that were declining in population sizes,” said study senior author Dr. Jonathan Chase, head of the Biodiversity Synthesis research group at iDiv and MLU.&nbsp;



“There are many known factors that are contributing to the population declines of many species of birds, but our study adds a new facet to our understanding of the potential causes of some of these changes – that species are less likely to be living in their optimal climate conditions as the world changes around them. This, like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, might be something we humans should pay attention to as we will likely soon find ourselves similarly living in places outside of our optimal climate ranges.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Climate decoupling is an increasing threat to birds

Climate change poses a number of threats to plants and...

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



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

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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"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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