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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

A new study led by <a href="https://www.gsu.edu/">Georgia State University</a> (GSU) has created genetically-edited hamsters in order to shed more light on the mechanisms structuring social behavior. By using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to eliminate the actions of a neurochemical signaling pathway which plays a critical role in regulating social behavior in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-change-their-schedules-to-adapt-to-city-life/">mammals</a>, the experts reached a startling, unexpected conclusion about the biological underpinnings of social interaction.



Scientists have long known that the hormone vasopressin, together with the receptor that it acts on (called Avpr1a) regulate a wide range of social phenomena, including cooperation, pair bonding, social communication, dominance, and aggression. Now, the researchers discovered that knocking out the Avpr1a receptor in hamsters, and thus eliminating vasopressin’s action on it, fundamentally altered the expression of social behavior in highly unexpected ways.



“We were really surprised at the results,” said study senior author H. Elliott Albers, a professor of Neuroscience at GSU. “We anticipated that if we eliminated vasopressin activity, we would reduce both aggression and social communication. But the opposite happened.”&nbsp;



Surprisingly, hamsters without this receptor showed much higher levels of social communication behavior than those with intact receptors. Moreover, the typical sex differences structuring aggressive behavior were eliminated, with both male and female hamsters displaying high levels of aggression towards their same-sex conspecifics.&nbsp;



“This suggests a startling conclusion,” Professor Albers said. “Even though we know that vasopressin increases social behaviors by acting within a number of brain regions, it is possible that the more global effects of the Avpr1a receptor are inhibitory.”



“We don’t understand this system as well as we thought we did. The counterintuitive findings tell us we need to start thinking about the actions of these receptors across entire circuits of the brain and not just in specific brain regions.”



Since the social organization of hamsters is far more similar to humans than that observed in mice (the most common animal used in laboratory experiments), these results could help clarifying the mechanisms of human social interaction, better understanding how a wide range of neuropsychiatric conditions develop, and developing innovative treatments of such disorders.&nbsp;



“Developing gene-edited hamsters was not easy. But it is important to understand the neurocircuitry involved in human social behavior and our model has translational relevance for human health.&nbsp;Understanding the role of vasopressin in behavior is necessary to help identify potential new and more effective treatment strategies for a diverse group of neuropsychiatric disorders ranging from autism to depression,” Professor Albers concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2121037119">Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences</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

Hamsters reveal new clues about social behavior in mammals

A new study led by Georgia State University (GSU) has...

A recent study led by the <a href="https://www.hull.ac.uk/">University of Hull</a> highlights another grim consequence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-supercharge-forest-disturbances/">climate</a> change. The researchers have found that shifting climate conditions are disrupting chemical communication within marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.



The researchers have demonstrated that climate change affects interactions among organisms across different types of ecosystems in similar ways. Disruptions in chemical communication can wreak havoc on a species and an ecosystem. They affect mating patterns, predator/prey systems, and the ability of animals to find food.



"Chemical communication is the ubiquitous language of life on earth - but this is being jeopardized by global change. There's no talking with words for life underwater, so aquatic organisms' talk' in chemical signals. But this fine-tuned 'language' is in peril," said study co-author Dr. Patrick Fink.



In the paper, the international team of researchers demonstrates that climate change has a similar impact on communication in terrestrial and aquatic environments, even though both environments have different stressors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Although a growing number of studies suggest that climate change-associated stressors cause adverse effects on the communication between organisms, knowledge of the underlying mechanisms remains scarce," said study lead author Dr. Christina C. Roggatz.



"We urgently need a systematic approach to be able to compare results and fully understand the potentially disruptive impact that climate change is having upon each step of this fundamental communication process. Understanding this means we are better equipped to predict and protect the future of our planet."



According to study co-author Dr. Jörg Hardege, as climate change continues, we need more research to predict the consequences at the species interaction level. He noted that we need to research land, sea, and freshwater environments to fully understand how species will function with the coming changes. Without this research, we can only speculate.&nbsp;



Dr. Roggatz concludes that this paper is a "wake-up call" because humans are a part of the ecosystem and rely on it for essential functions. This communication breakdown will have severe consequences for all life on earth, including humans.&nbsp;



"The predominantly negative effects that climate change has upon the language of life within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems could have a range of far-reaching implications for the future of our planet and human wellbeing, for example by impacting food security and fundamental ecosystem services that make our planet habitable."



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

Climate change disrupts communication among animals

A recent study led by the University of Hull highlights...

The <a href="https://www.sfbbo.org/">San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory</a> (SFBBO) runs a bird banding station nestled into a small riparian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-threatens-two-new-fish-species-with-extinction/">forest</a> stand among hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley. The scientists capture birds in "mist nets." The nets are too fine for animals to see until they are entangled in them. After the birds are carefully extracted, the experts take notes on their health and collect other data before releasing them.



The observatory has over 30 years of data accumulated, consisting of information on more than 100,000 individual birds. Many of the birds are captured multiple times, giving insight to their health over a span of time. With this unusually large amount of data, SFBBO ornithologist Dr. Katie LaBarbera plans to look into the welfare of the avian research subjects.



The researchers will investigate how injured or sick birds fare after leaving the banding station - something Dr. LaBarbera hopes could inform rehabilitation and other banding stations. With this information, bird care could improve.&nbsp;



The project is just one of <a href="https://www.wildanimalinitiative.org/blog/grants-2022">seven studies </a>selected to be funded by the Wild Animal Initiative, a non-profit focused on wild animal welfare. For their part, Dr. LaBarbera is driven by a love and fascination for birds.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Holding a wild bird is a very specific joy…They’re fragile, but they’re also really fierce," said Dr. LaBarbera.&nbsp;



“You get a sense for the sort of alien body structure they have. It becomes obvious that they evolved from dinosaurs."



"Another interesting detail is that their skin is basically transparent. Unlike mammals, which store fat in a continuous layer under the skin, birds store fat under their skin in just a few places, so if you gently blow the feathers out of the way, you can see things like their muscles or the food they ate.”



Dr. LaBarbera’s experience working with rehab facilities shows that these organizations do the best they can for birds, but can only make decisions based on the best information they have. For instance, some organizations will automatically euthanize one-legged birds, this research could help determine whether such policies are justified.&nbsp;



“We’ve seen one-legged songbirds do well and seem healthy in the wild, so with the results of this study, we might be able to provide better, data-backed guidelines for rehabilitation or release."



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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

Learning more about injured birds could improve their welfare

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) runs a bird...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Penn State</a> recently published a paper which suggests that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-combine-different-strategies-to-survive-the-cold/">animals</a> move their eyes and bodies separately due to an evolutionary function designed to save energy. The study’s principal investigator, Jean-Michel Mongeau, is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering.



“When a fly moves, it coordinates its head, wings and body to fly through the air, evade predators or look for food,” said Professor Mongeau. “We discovered that when controlling gaze, fruit flies minimize energy expenditure and increase flight performance.”&nbsp;



The researchers had the flies enter a virtual reality experiment that simulated free flying. They recorded the flies’ movements using high-speed cameras to conduct their analysis.&nbsp;



“We found that the fly’s head and body movements were complementary, in that the body moved most during slower visual motion, while the head moved most during faster motion,” said Professor Mongeau.&nbsp;



The experts believe that having the head and body work cooperatively is energy efficient for animals. “Since the head is smaller, it has less resistance to motion, or inertia, which means it can respond to quick movements, while the much larger body responds best to slower movement," explained Professor Mongeau.&nbsp;



Using the fruit fly data, the researchers developed a model that can be applied to other insects, rats, and birds. The team also considered primates,



“The way the flies move their head and body is very similar to the way primates move their heads and eyes, which is remarkable since they diverged hundreds of millions of years ago," said Professor Mongeau.



The development of independent eye movement saves more energy since eye movement requires less energy than head movement.&nbsp;



Professor Mongeau believes that the evolution of independent eye movement was integral for our ancestors as they transitioned from ocean to land. This idea is based on the fossil record, which indicates that vertebrates began gaining independent movement of head and eyes when they started moving to land habitats.&nbsp;



“As vertebrate animals transitioned from water to land more than 350 million years ago, the development of mechanisms to control head and eye movements could have had substantial evolutionary benefits,” said Professor Mongeau. “We discovered that there is a sweet spot in eye-head-body ratios, suggesting that inertia may have been an important constraint in the evolution of vision.”



The experts said that their results will influence robotic development. Study first author Benjamin Cellini explained that in robotics, sensors are typically fixed in location. “But in the animal kingdom, sensing and movement are coupled, as many physical sensors, like eyes, move. Inspired by biology, we can design more energy-efficient robots by making vision-based sensors mobile.”&nbsp;



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



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

Animals move their eyes and bodies separately to save energy

Researchers at Penn State recently published a paper which suggests...

Aerial,View,Of,A,Log,Storage,Yard,From,Authorized,Logging

A new study highlights the excitement and tragedy of discovering two brand new species of fish in Brazil. A team of experts including Murilo Pastana,&nbsp;a researcher at the <a href="https://www.si.edu/">Smithsonian</a><a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/"> National Museum of Natural</a> History, described the new species of tiny Amazonian fish – one with striking red-orange fins and the other so small it is technically considered a miniature fish species. The scientists warn that these fish are in imminent danger of becoming <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pink-pigeons-need-a-genetic-rescue-to-survive-extinction/">extinct</a>, even as the scientific world becomes aware of their existence for the first time.&nbsp;



During 2015 and 2016, Pastana and his colleagues undertook expeditions into the Brazilian Amazon to search for undocumented fish species in the waterways of the Madeira River Basin which is, according to a 2019 estimate, the richest river basin in the world for fish biodiversity. The survey area, roughly 25 miles north of the Brazilian city of Apuí, is unfortunately almost top of the list of Brazilian municipalities with the highest rates of deforestation.&nbsp;



“We went to sample places that have never been visited by scientists,” Pastana said. “This area is really important because this is one of the frontiers where deforestation is moving north – the border between new cities and native forest.”



The researchers were able to access the previously unreachable streams, ponds and tributaries using the very same roads that have been created to facilitate logging activities. They camped along the AM-174 road and collected fish using nets, traps and other methods. All the specimens were photographed, cataloged and preserved for further study back at the Museum of Zoology, University of São Paulo.



“It was exciting to find new species,” said Pastana. “But in the field, we saw the forest on fire, logging trucks carrying out huge trees, and cleared patches turned into cattle pasture. This made us feel a lot of urgency to document these species and publish this paper as quickly as possible.”



Pastana is passionate about preserving the country’s biological heritage, and hopes that describing these new species, both belonging to the group of fish known colloquially as South American darters, will motivate the Brazilian government to protect and conserve them, as well as their precious habitat. He and his co-authors, Willian Ohara from the Federal University of Rondônia and Priscila Camelier from the Federal University of Bahia, said that ongoing deforestation in the region places these roughly inch-long fish in imminent danger of extinction. In particular, the more colorful of the two species,&nbsp;Poecilocharax callipterus, is at risk because its known range is limited to a single stream comprising roughly 1.5 square miles of habitat.



To the researchers, P. callipterus stood out immediately in the field as a new species. The fish has a distinctive dark spot just in front of its tail, as well as having bright red-orange fins.&nbsp; It inhabits the margins of what scientists call black water streams, so named because their waters are stained the color of coffee by tannins leached from fallen leaves. Males of the species have even more intense coloration and sport dorsal fins that can exceed half their body length, which averages just over an inch. Despite searching for this species in the surrounding area on the 2016 return trip, Pastana and his colleagues were only able to find&nbsp;P. callipterus&nbsp;in the single stream in which it was first discovered.



The second species, now named P. rhizophilus,&nbsp;was found among tangles of tree roots protruding from the banks of muddy streams. It has an amber yellow coloration, with males showing dark streaks on their dorsal and anal fins. It is so small that scientists consider it to be miniature, a designation given to fish species that are less than about an inch long as adults. Pastana explained that lab study revealed parts of the skeletons of these tiny fish are actually made of cartilage instead of bone.&nbsp;



Genetic investigations confirmed the evolutionary relationship of these two new closely related species and their relatives, bringing the total number of species in their small sub-family (Crenuchinae) to five. This is the first addition of a new species to the group in 57 years.



Species from the sub-family Crenuchinae are highly desired by hobby aquarium keepers and Pastana fears that the trade in exotic aquarium fish could pose another threat to the populations of these two previously unknown Amazonian species.&nbsp;&nbsp;



These fishes, said Pastana, are like works of art and “losing either of these species would be like losing priceless masterpieces.” Like masterworks from Monet or Picasso, each species is full of irreplaceable details that might bear some resemblance to other creatures on Earth but in concert are utterly unique. Extinction would cause all those details, wrought over millions of years of evolution, to be lost forever. “You’d lose everything about these species,” he said.



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean">Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society</a>.



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

Deforestation threatens two new fish species with extinction

A new study highlights the excitement and tragedy of discovering...

A research team led by the non-governmental organization <a href="https://www.paralatierra.org/">Para la Tierra</a> has recently discovered a striking new snake <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-report-confirms-that-bird-species-are-steadily-declining/">species</a> belonging to the genus Phalotris, which comprises 15 semi-subterranean species distributed across central South America.&nbsp;The study was a collaboration with Guyra Paraguay and the Institute of Biological Investigations of Paraguay.



The species was named Phalotris shawnella in the honor of two children, Shawn Ariel Smith Fernández and Ella Bethany Atkinson, who were born in the same year&nbsp;as Para la Tierra. The children inspired the founders of this organization to start their initiative of conserving Paraguayan wildlife to help children inherit a better world.&nbsp;



A specimen of P. Shawnella was spotted by chance in 2014 at Rancho Laguna Blanca by Jean-Paul Brouard, a researcher at Para la Tierra, while he was digging a hole. The snake is non-venomous and can be distinguished from other related species in the Phalotris genus by its red head, yellow collar, a black lateral band, and orange ventral scales with irregular black spots.



Until now, only three specimens of P.shawnella were discovered in the Cerrado forests of the department of San Pedro in east Paraguay. The extreme rarity of this species led scientists to list it as “endangered,” according to the conservation categories set by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature&nbsp;</a>(IUCN). The famous tourist destination Laguna Blanca – the only place where specimens of P.Shawnella were spotted - is now declared an “Important Area for the Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles.”



“This demonstrates once again the need to protect the natural environment in this region of Paraguay,” wrote the study authors. “Laguna Blanca was designated as a Nature Reserve for a period of five years, but currently has no protection at all. The preservation of this site should be considered a national priority for conservation.”



“Additional field surveys are urgently required to improve our understanding of the ecological requirements of [this species] so that effective conservation measures can be implemented,” they concluded.



A full description of the new snake species can be found in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.98.61064">Zoosystematics and Evolution</a>.



Image Credit: Jean-Paul Brouard



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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

Beautiful new snake found in Paraguay

A research team led by the non-governmental organization Para la...

Reef mantas (Mobula alfredi) are among the largest and most iconic of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-marine-ichthyosaur-fossils-found-high-in-the-alps/">marine</a> species. They are widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian and west Pacific Oceans, where they mostly frequent shallow waters along the coastal reefs of continents and oceanic islands. Because of their beauty and graceful behavior, these manta rays are hugely popular with divers and snorkelers, who travel from afar to places where the rays congregate, in order to view them underwater. 



The Komodo National Park in Indonesia is just such a place. Mantas are present all year round in the waters of this National Park, which is itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the famous Komodo dragons are protected. Dive tourists come to view the mantas, which grow up to 5m in length, as they feed in the shallow waters, visit ‘cleaning stations’ on the coral reefs to have parasites removed by small fish, or even display courtship ‘trains’ as part of their reproductive behavior.&nbsp;



Dr. Andrea Marshall, principal scientist and co-founder of the <a href="https://marinemegafauna.org/">Marine Megafauna Foundation</a> saw the potential to engage the public with data collection on these threatened and understudied marine animals and worked with software company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wildme.org/#/">WildMe</a>&nbsp;to develop an online wildlife database platform (MantaMatcher.org) to match and catalog manta rays in different populations around the world.



Scientists from the <a href="https://marinemegafauna.org/projects/microplastics-megafauna">Marine Megafauna Foundation</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.murdoch.edu.au/">Murdoch University</a>&nbsp;approached local dive operators to promote the development of a data bank of the manta rays in the waters of the Komodo National Park. They asked that visitors take photographs of the mantas they encountered, and then submit them to MantaMatcher.org for identification and analysis. In this way, the scientists hoped to monitor the movement patterns and demographics of the mantas in the area.&nbsp;



“People love manta rays – they are one of the most iconic animals in our oceans. The rise of the number of people engaging in SCUBA diving, snorkeling and the advent of affordable underwater cameras meant that photos and videos taken by the public during their holidays could be used to quickly and affordably scale data collection,” said Marshall, who was co-author of the study.



Individual mantas can be identified by the unique patterns of dark marks on their ventral surface and so the photos could be used to track individuals and monitor their movements. The project ran for 5 years, between 2013 and 2018, during which time &nbsp; 3,941 sightings were submitted by citizen scientists and 1,085 different reef mantas were identified. The photographs, along with time and location information, were used to construct siting histories of individual manta rays, which could then be analyzed with statistical movement models.&nbsp;



The results, published today in the open-access scientific journal <a href="https://peerj.com/">PeerJ</a>, indicate that some manta rays moved mostly within the area of the Park, whereas others traveled as far as the Nusa Penida MPA (more than 450 km to the west). Interestingly, most of the mantas had favorite spots that they inhabited within the Park.&nbsp;



“I found it very interesting how some manta rays appear to prefer spending their time in some sites more than others, even when sites are 5 km apart, which are short distances for manta rays,” said study lead author Dr. Elitza Germanov. “This means that manta rays which prefer sites where fishing activities continue to occur or that are more popular with tourism will endure greater impacts.”&nbsp;



Mantas in the Komodo NP are threatened by two major factors. Although fishing activities have been prohibited in many coastal areas within Komodo NP since 1984, illegal operators and the movements of mantas out of the Park and into heavily fished waters, have continued to take their toll. About 5% of Komodo’s manta rays have permanent injuries that are likely the result of encounters with fishing gear.&nbsp;



In addition, tourism activity in the Komodo NP continues to increase. During the study period the researchers recorded a 34 percent increase in the number of tourist boats visiting manta ray sites.&nbsp; The associated disturbance from divers and snorkelers can have a negative impact on manta rays and their habitats. In 2019, the Komodo National Park Authority introduced limits on the number of boats and people that visit one of the most famous manta sites.&nbsp;



“This study shows that the places where tourists commonly observe manta rays are important for the animals to feed, clean and mate. This means that the Komodo National Park should create measures to limit the disturbance at these sites,” said Mr. Ande Kefi, an employee of the Komodo National Park involved with this study. “I hope that this study will encourage tourism operators to understand the need for the regulations already imposed and increase compliance,” he adds.&nbsp;



The authors of the study also recommend limiting the number of tourist boats allowed at one time at all manta ray aggregation sites, and enforcing codes of conduct for divers that ensure minimum impact from tourism. In this way they hope that Komodo’s large ray aggregations will be protected into the future. The study also highlights that marine protected areas that are large enough to host important manta ray habitats are a beneficial tool for manta ray conservation.



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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

Secrets of manta ray behavior revealed

Reef mantas (Mobula alfredi) are among the largest and most...

Our planet’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-oceans-are-on-track-for-a-catastrophic-extinction-event/">oceans</a> are home to some of the most diverse and complex ecosystems. However, warming temperatures are causing increasingly more marine organisms, including corals, to die out. A new study led by <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> (OSU) has advocated the use of mesoscale sanctuaries – areas that can stretch for thousands of miles, often across national boundaries – to protect the over 6,000 coral species populating the oceans.



“Coral reefs are an essential ecosystem on our planet,” said study co-author Andrea Grottoli, a professor of Earth Sciences at OSU. Although they occupy less than 0.1 percent of the surface area in the Earth’s oceans, over 30 percent of all aquatic creatures depend on them.&nbsp;



Reef ecosystems are really important for humans too, explained Grottolli, “in that they provide protection to coastlines from erosion and storms, and they’re essential for certain services like tourism and other parts of the economy.”&nbsp;



Due to rising sea temperatures, reefs all over the world are experiencing higher rates of bleaching – a phenomenon during which corals’ skeletons become visible, turning them into a faded, ghostly white. Although bleached corals are not yet dead, mass bleaching events are an indicator of an ecosystem’s declining health, and often lead to mass mortality across marine species.



Yet, even if the global population of coral dwindles, the genetic diversity of coral species helps ensure that at least some of them may be able to adapt and recover.&nbsp;



While longer-term measures to mitigate climate change include curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the study suggests that, in the meanwhile, broad transdisciplinary approaches to creating both local and large-scale ocean sanctuaries that trespass national boundaries are urgently needed.&nbsp;



“Global warming is the No. 1 threat to coral reefs right now,“ Professor Grottoli warned. “So when we think about coral reef conservation, we can't limit ourselves to arbitrary geographic boundaries.”



Moreover, education is a highly important tool in the efforts to protect coral reefs. “People who understand coral reefs, and who understand the value of coral reefs, are much more likely to do something to help protect them,” Professor Grottoli concluded. “If you don’t know anything about coral, and you’ve never seen one, how can you have any empathy or feel any connection to that ecosystem?”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16192">Global Change Biology</a>. In addition, a list of individual actions individuals can take to protect these endangered ecosystems can be found <a href="http://coralreefs.org/pledge-4-reefs/">here</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

Large-scale ocean sanctuaries needed to protect corals

Our planet’s oceans are home to some of the most...

There are 16 species of beaked whales in the genus Mesoplodon, making this the largest cetacean genus. The habits of most of these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-are-transforming-coastal-estuaries/">species</a> are largely unknown because the whales are shy, slow-moving and difficult to observe. In fact, some types of beaked whales are only known from dead specimens that have washed ashore.&nbsp;



Mesoplodont whales represent one of the least studied mammalian groups, as evidenced by the fact that three new species have been identified in the past 30 years. The most recent of those species, Ramari’s beaked whale (M. eueu), was described to science just last year.&nbsp;



The beaked whales all tend to have spindle-shaped bodies and small dorsal fins, making the species difficult to tell apart in the field. Also, since they often occur in the same areas and forage at similar depths, they are thought to compete with one another for the same prey items – deep sea squid and small fish. Closely related species usually show different foraging strategies, reflecting the evolutionary drive to optimize foraging performance and minimize interspecific competition. However, this does not seem to be the case amongst this group of closely related beaked whales.&nbsp;



Individuals from some species have been fitted with biologgers, attached to their backs with suction-cups, and the data recorded by these devices has given a glimpse into the underwater lives of these whales. Typically, beaked whales have a low-energy lifestyle. They swim slowly and perform extreme deep dives using an energy-conserving swim-style. They hunt for prey in the ocean depths and can remain underwater for up to an hour.&nbsp;



Sowerby’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens), described in 1804, was the first of these small cetacean species to be identified. But because the species is retiring, seldom observed and lives in open ocean areas, little is known about its behavior. Until recently, individuals from this species had not been fitted with biologgers. However, after years of effort, scientists have now been able to attach the tracking devices to two of these whales and the data has revealed some surprises.&nbsp;



The international team of biologists, led by Fleur Visser of the <a href="https://www.uva.nl/en">University of Amsterdam</a> (UvA) and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), received data from the biologging tags that revealed the diving, movement and echolocation strategies of these whales. The results, published recently in the&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/225/9/jeb243728/275372/Sowerby-s-beaked-whale-biosonar-and-movement">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>, showed that Sowerby’s beaked whales actually move around and hunt much faster than other, related species.&nbsp;



When the researchers compared the biologger data for the two Sowerby’s beaked whales with that from the closely related Blainville’s beaked whale, they found that the Sowerby’s whales consistently swam faster, performed shorter deep dives, and echolocated at a faster rate, with higher frequency clicks. Although they hunt at a similar depth (between 800 and 1300 meters), the Sowerby’s whales clearly employ a different hunting strategy from the other beaked whales.&nbsp;



This first record of a ‘fast’ beaked whale suggests that Mesoplodont whales exploit a broader diversity of deep-sea niches than previously thought. The deep-sea is a rich and diverse hunting ground for marine mammal predators, that have clearly developed a wider range of specialized strategies to be able to exploit it than was previously known.&nbsp;



The marked deviation of Sowerby’s beaked whales from the typically slower behavior of other beaked whales also has potential implications for their response to man-made sounds, which appear to be strongly behaviorally-driven in other species.



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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

Some beaked whales live a "faster" lifestyle than expected

There are 16 species of beaked whales in the genus...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> has found that, although conservation of sea turtles along most of Africa’s east coast has significantly progressed in recent decades, tens of thousands of turtles are still dying each year. This can be largely attributed to human activity, including illegal take and consumption of turtles (especially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/african-network-helps-protect-green-turtle-populations/">green turtles</a>), bycatch, or loss of nesting and foraging habitats.



“Turtles face many threats along the African east coast, from egg to adult,” said study lead author Casper Van De Geer, a PhD student in Conservation Science at the University of Exeter. 



“Our aim was to bring together everything that is currently known about these turtles, and to identify opportunities to better protect them in this rapidly developing region. We found that there's still a lot we don't know about these turtle populations, like how many there actually are or where they spend most of their time and migrate to.”



By using clutches of eggs laid as a measure of population, Van De Geer and his colleagues have found that some turtle species have recovered quite well in some places, such as the loggerhead turtles in South Africa and Mozambique. Unfortunately, other species, including leatherback and hawksbill turtles, have not responded well to conservation efforts.



While there is good legislation in place to protect turtles, and stakeholder groups are actively participating in conservation activities, greater collaboration with local populations is urgently needed to increase awareness and boost conservation efforts.&nbsp;



“Local knowledge was key to this research, just as it is vital to turtle conservation,” explained Van De Geer. “Conservation work is most effective when it is supported by the local stakeholders and this is achieved through genuine engagement and cultural sensitivity.”



“There are great examples of this along the African east coast where people are trained and employed as rangers or monitors in the area where they grew up, and the use of community theatre or musical performances to inform people about the marine world and conservation. Ultimately, it’s the people who live in a place who have the knowledge and motivation to protect it,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/esr01180">Endangered Species Research</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

Thousands of sea turtles still dying on the east African coast

A new study led by the University of Exeter has...

Megalodon, or Otodus megalodon, is a famously gigantic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whale-sharks-face-an-uncertain-future-due-to-ship-strikes/">shark</a> that became extinct by the end of the Pliocene around 2.6 million years ago. Common are images of someone holding the jaws of the feared great white shark and being dwarfed within reconstructed O. megalodon jaws.&nbsp;



Now, researchers from <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a> and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have found something odd. Megalodon teeth are large enough that one can cover the palm of an adult’s hand. The scientists have found one of these giant teeth oddly deformed and they wondered what caused this.&nbsp;



The tooth appeared split. The paleontologists wondered if genetics, a disease or damage to the tooth bud might have caused the tooth to grow in this strange split fashion and so they decided to investigate.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We don’t have a lot of data on double tooth pathologies in ancient shark species,” said Harrison Miller, a former NC State undergraduate student. “So this was an opportunity to fill in those gaps - and perhaps learn more about the sharks in the process.”



The researchers compared the pathological megalodon tooth with two teeth from a modern bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) with the same problem. The teeth were CT scanned so that the internal anatomy could be examined.&nbsp;



The experts determined that the teeth were either incompletely split from or joined to each other during development, but no cause could be identified.



“Sharks have cartilaginous skeletons, not boney skeletons, so preservation of their jaws is rare in the fossil record, and usually, we only find the individual isolated teeth. Additionally, sharks have different mechanisms for tooth development – they have continuous tooth replacement, so you can’t look at what is happening in the rest of the jaw to rule out fusion or gemination," explained study co-author Haviv Avrahami.



It is possible that this particular shark took a bite of a stingray or other painfully sharp prey and damaged its tooth.&nbsp;



“With O. megalodon in particular, the current understanding is that they fed mostly on whales,” Avrahami said. “But we know that tooth deformities in modern sharks can be caused by something sharp piercing the conveyor belt of developing teeth inside the mouth. Based on what we see in modern sharks, the injury was most likely caused by chomping down on a spiny fish or taking a nasty stab from a stingray barb.”



There are, in fact, stingrays that lived in the same area at the same time that the scientists think could have caused a shark a bad toothache.



“When we think of predator-prey encounters, we tend to reserve our sympathy for the prey, but the life of a predator, even a gigantic megatooth shark, was no cakewalk either," said Lindsay Zanno, head of paleontology at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/">PeerJ</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

What caused a giant megalodon tooth to split?

Megalodon, or Otodus megalodon, is a famously gigantic shark that...

Previous research has shown that North Atlantic right whales are declining in size. The whales may be smaller in size due to tangling with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphin-bycatch-from-fishing-activities-is-unsustainable/">fishing</a> gear and other stresses. Now, new research shows this shrinking could have dire consequences for the endangered whales.



“Smaller females appear to have less capacity to raise calves as frequently as larger whales,” said Joshua Stewart, a research biologist with <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/">NOAA Fisheries</a>’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. “Their smaller size means they may take longer to recover from the energetic cost of giving birth, especially in light of other stresses on the population.”



Stewart collaborated with other researchers from Oregon State University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the New England Aquarium, and SR3 on the findings. The scientists were able to examine the whales using high quality aerial photography.&nbsp;



“We were able to measure whales by flying a camera high above them, essentially giving them a health check without them knowing we were there,” said study co-author John Durban.



The research showed that larger females were able to give birth to larger and healthier offspring. Over the course of years, larger whales also produced more young. The birth rate of the 350 remaining right whales is currently at a 40 year low. This is partially due to entanglement in fishing gear the research suggests.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“After decades of research on this species, we have learned about the stressors right whales face and, with this study, have gained further insights into how these stressors are affecting their reproduction,” said study co-author Amy Knowlton.&nbsp;



“The remedies to address these threats are clear: shifting how humans operate in the ocean so that do not inadvertently harm whales. That means adapting to weaker ropes used for fishing and ultimately ropeless fishing gear as well as broader areas of vessel speed restrictions in the right whale’s range. With these changes, we could reverse the decline we are witnessing in this species.”&nbsp;



Other factors likely also play a role in the fecundity of the whales, including lack of prey, driven by human causes. Hopefully this research helps secure a future for these beautiful creatures.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.int-res.com/journals/meps/">Marine Ecology Progress Series</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

Dwindling right whale population linked to shrinking bodies

Previous research has shown that North Atlantic right whales are...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



-----



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

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https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



---



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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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

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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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