Beautiful,Spider,Web,Close-up,On,The,Background,Of,Nature.,Selective

Scientists have bred spiders that weave bright red, fluorescent draglines, proving that the animals’ silk can be genetically re-engineered inside the living organism. This finding shows a new path toward designer fibers with tunable strength, elasticity, and surface chemistry.



The experiments were carried out by the Biomaterials research group at the <a href="https://www.uni-bayreuth.de/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bayreuth</a>. Using the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-gene-editing-gets-a-revolutionary-upgrade-with-new-tool/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system</a>, the team inserted a fluorescent marker gene into the spiders’ silk-protein DNA, then confirmed the edit when the offspring produced crimson red threads.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-spider-silk-excites-engineers"><a></a>Why spider silk excites engineers</h2>



Dragline silk already outperforms many man-made fibers. It resists tearing, stretches without snapping, weighs very little and breaks down harmlessly in nature. 



If its molecular recipe can be tweaked at will, future filaments could combine even greater toughness with added functions ranging from antimicrobial activity to electrical conductivity. Over the past decade CRISPR-Cas9 has become biology’s precision scalpel. 



The enzyme-guide complex targets chosen DNA sites, cuts them, and lets the cell’s own repair crew delete unwanted sequences or patch in new ones. The method has been applied to plants, insects, mice and more, yet <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/do-spiders-have-personalities-what-new-research-reveals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spiders</a> had remained untouched.



“Considering the wide range of possible applications, it is surprising that there have been no studies to date using CRISPR-Cas9 in spiders,” said senior author Thomas Scheibel, a professor of biochemistry at Bayreuth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-egg-injection-to-glowing-fiber"><a></a>From egg injection to glowing fiber</h2>



Scheibel and doctoral researcher Edgardo Santiago-Rivera mixed the gene-editing components with a sequence coding for a red fluorescent protein. They injected this cocktail into unfertilized spider eggs and later mated the females.



Because the edit happened before <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flowers-are-picky-when-choosing-their-mate-for-fertilization/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fertilization</a>, every cell in the brood carried the new blueprint. When the juveniles spun safety lines, the filaments glowed scarlet under blue light, confirming a successful gene knock-in.



“We have demonstrated, for the first time worldwide, that CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to incorporate a desired sequence into spider silk proteins, thereby enabling the functionalization of these silk fibers,” Scheibel said.



“The ability to apply CRISPR gene-editing to spider silk is very promising for materials science research. For example, it could be used to further increase the already high tensile strength of spider silk.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-learned-from-red-spider-silk">Lessons learned from red spider silk</h2>



The fluorescent marker acts as a beacon, showing where and how the modified proteins fold into the fiber. That view should help unravel the still-mysterious link between amino-acid sequence, spinning process, and macroscopic performance.



With the roadmap clearer, scientists can test added modules that stiffen the thread, alter its stickiness or carry therapeutic payloads.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-artificial-vs-natural-spider-silk">Artificial vs. natural spider silk</h2>



Earlier attempts to engineer <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/holy-grail-artificial-spider-silk-indistinguishable-from-natural-silk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">silk</a> relied on copying genes of spiders into bacteria, yeast, plants or even goats. While those hosts churn out raw protein, the artificial threads seldom match the natural product because spinning in air differs from extrusion through a spider’s duct.



Editing the spider itself preserves the native assembly line, letting researchers fine-tune properties without losing the fiber’s intricate nanostructure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-balancing-innovation-and-ecology"><a></a>Balancing innovation and ecology</h2>



The gene-edited arachnids remained confined to secure laboratories, and the team stresses that large-scale production will require strict containment.



Spiders play key roles in ecosystems, so any field release of modified lines would demand careful risk assessment. For now. the focus lies on fundamental insight and small-batch, high-value uses such as surgical sutures or micro-mechanical springs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-next-web-strands-to-come">The next web strands to come</h2>



Having proved that complex proteins can be knitted into dragline <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/holy-grail-artificial-spider-silk-indistinguishable-from-natural-silk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">silk</a>, the Bayreuth group plans to insert sequences that enhance strength, adjust elasticity, or add sensing abilities.



Marker colors beyond red could enable multicolored performance mapping. Researchers also hope to explore the spider’s six other silk types - each specialized for tasks like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spiders-adapt-their-webs-to-filter-out-human-made-noise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">web</a> capture or egg protection - to see how far CRISPR can stretch nature’s design space.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-turning-point-for-sustainable-fibers">Turning point for sustainable fibers</h2>



By merging a molecular editing toolkit with the planet’s premier fiber spinner, the study opens a fresh chapter in biomaterials science. It hints at a future where customized, biodegradable threads are spun at ambient temperature by miniature eight-legged factories - no smokestacks or petrochemicals required. 



For now, a vivid red glow in a strand of spiders silk stands as proof that the possibilities are real, and only beginning to be woven.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202502068" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Angewandte Chemie</a>.



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World's first gene-edited spiders spin red silk

Scientists have bred spiders that weave bright red, fluorescent draglines, proving that the animals’ silk can be genetically re-engineered inside the living organism. This finding shows a new path toward designer fibers with tunable strength, elasticity, and surface chemistry. The experiments were carried out by the Biomaterials research group at the University of Bayreuth. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, the team inserted a fluorescent marker gene into the spiders’ silk-protein DNA, then confirmed the edit when the offspring produced crimson red threads. Why spider silk excites engineers...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.bigelow.org/">Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences</a> are hopeful that a unique case of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-harms-organisms-living-in-symbiosis/">symbiosis</a> between salamanders and algae will lead to a breakthrough in medical research. The team, which includes biologists and natural product chemists at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Gettysburg College, just received a grant to finance three years of research.



"We are hopeful that the connections between salamanders and algae could lead to exciting and unforeseen discoveries in medicine. And we are grateful to the William Procter Fund for the chance to explore this unique relationship," said lead researcher John Burns.



Interestingly, algae grows on salamander eggs shortly after they’re laid. The algae colonizes and even enters the tissues of the developing salamanders. The amphibians aren’t harmed by the plant but gain oxygen. In return, the algae gets a substrate to grow on.&nbsp;



“These two organisms are coexisting and benefiting one another," explained Burns. "We are trying to find out how the salamander and algae interact, and whether the molecules they are using can be used to regulate immunity in humans.”



Chemical interactions in nature are a traditional source of drugs but as the easily accessed sources for these drugs have been tapped, drug development slowed towards the end of the twentieth century. Symbiotic relationships are still relatively untapped for their possibilities in drug development.



“When we look to the natural world for drugs, we are usually looking at antagonisms. We're looking for the kind of thing that stops bacteria from growing in order to find something we might be able to use in our own bodies," said Burns.&nbsp;



"Studying these organisms in a symbiotic relationship is completely new, and that's why we think it's an interesting place to look for new types of drugs."



Salamanders can regenerate their tails and limbs, and the experts will investigate the potential role of algae in promoting this regeneration. The findings could ultimately lead to the development of treatments to repair human tissue.



"We are taking this natural interaction and trying to figure out how it works to better understand how the two organisms communicate and benefit. This relationship has existed for a long time, so there may be a lot of chemical nuance and possibility to be discovered.”



The study is supported by the <a href="https://umaine.edu/news/blog/2021/08/26/william-procter-scientific-innovation-fund-50000-grant-to-launch-umaine-blue-economy-program/">William Procter Scientific Innovation Fund</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

Salamanders have an intriguing partnership with algae

Experts at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences are hopeful...

Have you ever heard of a dog barking softly? Unless a dog’s vocal cords are damaged or in ill health, it can really only bark loudly. Humans, however, are able to modulate the tone of their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-lions-afraid-humans/">voices</a> and speak loudly or softly at will. Surprisingly, a new study indicates that baby seals may be able to do the same.



In this study, eight harbor seal pups between one and three weeks of age were exposed to noises of different intensities. The pups were held in a rehabilitation center (the Dutch Sealcentre Pieterburen) prior to being released back into the wild.&nbsp;



To investigate whether the baby seals could adapt their voices to noises in the environment, the researchers recorded noises from the nearby Wadden Sea and then played these noises back to the pups for several days.&nbsp;



The recordings were played back at three different levels of loudness (from no sound to 65 decibels). The pitch of the sea sounds was kept at the same level as the regular pitch of the seals pups’ calls. The researchers also recorded the spontaneous calls by the baby seals.&nbsp;



Analysis of the recordings showed that when the seal pups heard louder sea noises, they lowered their tone of voice. The pups also kept a steadier pitch with the more intense noise levels.&nbsp;



One seal behaved in the opposite manner and produced louder calls when the noise got louder. This is known as Lombard effect and it is typical in human speech when people raise their voices against a background noise, in order to be understood better. The pups did not produce more or longer calls when they heard different levels of sea noise.



Overall, however, it was clear that young seals adapted to the noises in their environment by lowering the tone of their voice - an ability they seem to share with humans and bats. Other animals in similar experiments only raise their voice (in other words, make louder calls) in response to louder noise.



“Seal pups have a more advanced control over their vocalizations than assumed up until now,” noted study senior investigator Andrea Ravignani, scientist at the <a href="https://www.mpi.nl/">Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics</a>.



“This control seems to be already present at only few weeks of age. This is astonishing, as few other mammals seem capable of that.&nbsp;To date, humans seem to be the only mammals with direct neural connections between the cortex (the outer layer of the brain) and the larynx (what we use to produce tone of voice)."



“These results show that seals may be the most promising species to find these direct connections, and unravel the mystery of speech.”



“By looking at one of the few other mammals that may be capable of learning sounds, we can better understand how we, humans, acquire speech, and ultimately why we are such chatty animals."



The results of the study were published today in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rstb">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B; Biological Sciences</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

Baby seals "talk" more softly when there is background noise

Have you ever heard of a dog barking softly? Unless...

A study led by <a href="https://www.syracuse.edu/">Syracuse University</a> is revealing new clues about Earth’s earliest major mass extinction. The Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME), was the first of the “big five" extinction events, during which about 85 percent of all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-species-vanishing/">marine species</a> were wiped out.&nbsp;



Today, many scientists believe that we are already in the midst of our planet's sixth mass extinction event as a result of human-induced climate change. It is critically important for scientists to understand the causes of previous die-offs in order to help prevent the same level of catastrophe in the future.&nbsp;



To investigate, an international team of researchers looked at the ocean environment before, during, and after the LOME. Professor Seth Finnegan, an expert in mass extinction at UC Berkeley, said the seas were full of biodiversity during the Ordovician Period. There were early reefs, but they lacked an abundance of vertebrates.



“If you had gone snorkeling in an Ordovician sea you would have seen some familiar groups like clams and snails and sponges, but also many other groups that are now very reduced in diversity or entirely extinct like trilobites, brachiopods and crinoids,” said Professor Finnegan.



He explained that unlike rapid mass extinctions, such as when dinosaurs and other species were suddenly wiped out around 65.5 million years ago, the LOME played out over a substantial period of time, with estimates between less than half a million to almost two million years.



One prevailing theory is that LOME was triggered by a lack of oxygen in the shallow ocean. The experts combined geochemical testing and computer modeling to test this theory.&nbsp;



Professor Zunli Lu led a team of students who measured iodine concentrations in carbonate rocks from the Ordovician Period. By studying concentrations of the element iodine in rocks, researchers can look for changes in oceanic oxygen levels at various ocean depths throughout Earth's history.



The results of the analysis produced no evidence that a lack of oxygen, or anoxia, caused the mass die-off. According to the researchers, it is much more likely that climate cooling during the Late Ordovician period was a major contributor to the LOME.



While there was no significant lack of oxygen in the shallow depths where animals dwelled, the team did find evidence that anoxia expanded at deep ocean depths. This is a mystery that cannot be explained by the classic model of ocean oxygen, explained study lead author Alexandre Pohl of UC Riverside.



“Upper-ocean oxygenation in response to cooling was anticipated, because atmospheric oxygen preferentially dissolves in cold waters,” said Pohl. “However, we were surprised to see expanded anoxia in the lower ocean since anoxia in Earth’s history is generally associated with volcanism-induced global warming.”



According to Lu, recognizing that climate cooling can also lead to lower oxygen levels in some parts of the ocean is a key takeaway from their study.



“For decades, the prevailing school of thoughts in our field is that global warming causes the oceans to lose oxygen and thus impact marine habitability, potentially destabilizing the entire ecosystem. In recent years, mounting evidence point to several episodes in Earth’s history when oxygen levels also dropped in cooling climates.”



The study does not fully explain the causes of Late Ordovician extinction, but the researchers have ruled out changes in oxygenation as the primary cause of the event. The research suggests that changes in temperature helped to set the stage for the Late Ordovician mass extinction, and the experts will continue to seek out additional factors that may have been involved.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.



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

New clues about Earth’s earliest major mass extinction

A study led by Syracuse University is revealing new clues...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.calpoly.edu/">California Polytechnic State University</a> (Cal Poly) has found that the loss of seagrass caused a dramatic shift in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-fish-ingest-plastic-the-impacts-are-complicated/">fish</a> species in Morro Bay, California. The period following the decline of seagrass habitats was characterized by increases in flatfish and staghorn sculpin, and decreases in previous populations of bay pipefish and shiner perch.



Seagrass meadows were very common throughout the Morro Bay estuary and represented one of the most biologically productive biomes on Earth, providing shelter, food, and nurseries to a large variety of fish and invertebrate organisms. Following their significant decay in recent decades, they have been largely replaced currently with a less dynamic, muddy seafloor habitat.



"Seagrass, like the eelgrass in Morro Bay, is important because it supports a range of marine life," said study lead author Jennifer O'Leary, who is now the Western Indian Ocean coordinator for the <a href="https://www.wcs.org/">Wildlife Conservation Society</a>. "It's like the trees in a forest - these underwater plants provide food, structure, and shelter to many of the marine animals that live in the bay."



Morro Bay, one of the 28 estuaries that the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">U.S. Environment Protection Agency</a> deemed critical for the environmental and economic health of the country, has witnessed a dramatic transformation.&nbsp; Seagrass declined by more than 95 percent, dropping from covering 344 acres in 2007 to only 15 acres in 2017.



Instead of resulting in fewer fish, seagrass loss has led to changes in the fish species that are present. The once common pipefish, a species perfectly adapted to hide among seagrass, has been replaced by flatfishes such as the speckled sanddab (Citharichthys stigmaeus) and the staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus), which are more adapted to live among muddy seafloors.



"The relatively sudden and near complete collapse of eelgrass in Morro Bay has not only changed fish populations, but it has also resulted in substantial changes to estuary physics and geomorphology," added study co-author Ryan Walter, a professor of Physics at Cal Poly. The loss of seagrass in Morro Bay has led to widespread erosion, or loss of sediment, throughout the estuary.



According to the scientists, a multifaceted approach to protect the remaining seagrass is essential, including local planting initiatives and transplantation efforts.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12237-021-00917-2">Estuaries and Coasts</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

Seagrass loss leads to changes in fish populations

New research led by the California Polytechnic State University (Cal...

During a routine analysis of biological samples from two male California condors in the <a href="https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/">San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance</a>’s managed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cooperative-breeding-protects-desert-birds-from-reproductive-failure/">breeding</a> program, a team of conservation scientists reported an amazing discovery that could have a significant impact on wildlife genetics and conservation science. Both male condors had DNA that was 100 percent of their mothers, and were thus biologically fatherless.&nbsp;



This phenomenon is known as parthenogenesis and represents a natural form of asexual reproduction in which an embryo that is not fertilized by sperm continues to develop, containing only the mother’s genetic material. Parthenogenesis is very rare in birds, and usually occurs in females who have no access to males.



“This is truly an amazing discovery,” said study co-author Oliver Ryder, the director of Conservation Genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “We were not exactly looking for evidence of parthenogenesis, it just hit us in the face. We only confirmed it because of the normal genetic studies we do to prove parentage. Our results showed that both eggs possessed the expected male ZZ sex chromosomes, but all markers were only inherited from their dams, verifying our findings.”&nbsp;



Previous examples of aviary parthenogenesis were only found domestic birds such as turkeys, finches, and domestic pigeons. Moreover, these birds did not have access to males. By contrast, the condor females had also produced a large number of offspring with their mates: one had 11 chicks, and the other - which was paired with a male for more than 20 years - had 23 chicks. 



"We believe that our findings represent the first instance of facultative avian parthenogenesis in a wild bird species, where both a male and a female are housed together,” said study co-author Cynthia Steiner, associate director for the conservation research division at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “Still, unlike other examples of avian parthenogenesis, these two occurrences are not explained by the absence of a suitable male.”



Although these results represent only two documented cases in the condor population, the discovery could have important implications. Further research is needed to see whether parthenogenesis occurs in other condors, as well as in other species too.



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jhered/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jhered/esab052/6412509">Journal of Heredity</a>.&nbsp;



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

“Virgin births” discovered among California condors

During a routine analysis of biological samples from two male...

New research published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-021-03094-1">Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</a> has found that ground squirrels living off the coast of Africa keep watch together to defend against <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-new-study-led-by-the-memorial-university-of-newfoundland-in-canada-has-found-that-snowshoe-hares-are-starting-to-lose-their-camouflage-abilities-due-to-climate-change/">predators</a>. This strategy, called “synchronous vigilance," is different from that of other animals such as meerkats who take individual turns standing watch.



An international research team led by Dr. Annemarie van der Marel, a postdoctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.uc.edu/">University of Cincinnati</a>, spent three winters studying the behavior of Barbary ground squirrels, an invasive species that was introduced to the Canary Islands from Morocco. These bushy-tailed rodents live in colonies and take shelter underground in a complex network of burrows.&nbsp;



“They’re pretty cute. People had them as pets and that’s how they were introduced to the Canary Islands in 1965,” said Dr. van der Marel. “I looked at whether and why they were social. I began studying the strategies for how they evade predation and increase survival. That’s how I got to the question of the synchronous vigilance of the species.”



Unusual for ground squirrels, the Canary Island populations seem to be as comfortable in trees as on the ground and prefer high vantage points from which to scan their surroundings. They face daily threats from predators such as buzzards, common kestrels, or even domestic cats.



“When they forage, they’re most vulnerable,” explained Dr. van der Marel. “So the squirrels have to balance the time spent foraging and being vigilant. Their main defense mechanism is being watchful and alerting other group members to escape predation.”



Throughout the day, these squirrels regularly stop their foraging activities in order to scan the environment together, often from a high vantage point. All squirrels stand watch each day, and although one-third of the time they do this alone, about 40 percent of the time they have company. When a predator is observed, even more squirrels stop to stand watch together.



The scientists found that squirrels’ extended vigilance does not affect their survival rates and gives them sufficient time to forage for food in order to remain in good physical condition.



“There are plentiful resources and less predation pressure, so they don’t have to forage as much,” Dr. van der Marel concluded.



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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

Barbary ground squirrels find safety in numbers

New research published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology...

When people hear the words "global warming," they often think of the polar ice caps melting, and the polar bears that suffer as a result. This raises questions about how rising <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-temperatures-are-revealed-by-the-size-of-animals/">temperatures</a> and sea ice loss are affecting the diets of polar bears, and how this information can be used to help protect them.



New research from York University has been exploring these exact questions, monitoring the eating habits and foraging locations of polar bears across the Arctic territory of Nunavut. The study has found that this data can be highly valuable as an indicator of environmental shifts, whilst also highlighting how diet changes can negatively affect prey populations and ecosystems in the Arctic.



Lead researchers Melissa Galicia and Professor Gregory Thiemann found that polar bears are actually flexible eaters, preying on whatever is readily available as opposed to the initial assumption that they mainly eat ringed and bearded seals. This flexibility makes them excellent candidates for monitoring environmental changes across the Arctic.



“Polar bears need the sea ice to hunt. When there is a reduction in the sea ice, they’re hunting less or they’re potentially hunting different prey species,” explained Galicia. “Prey species, like whales and seals, also need certain habitat conditions and because of environmental changes in the Arctic, some marine mammals, such as prey species of bears, are redistributing. You’re getting an increase in more sub-Arctic species, like killer whales for instance.”



The research was focused on harvest samples of polar bears that were provided by subsistence hunters over eight years. “I’m getting a large geographic representation of bears, especially in areas that tend to be less studied,” said Galicia, who was in charge of analyzing the fatty acids such as omega 3s and omega 6s that are found in the fat tissues of polar bears.



“Each bear will have a specific fatty acid signature, a kind of fingerprint for individual bears and because of that you can see what that particular individual is eating and what percentage of their diet that represents.”



Bowhead whale carcasses were identified commonly in the polar bears’ diets, which suggests that the whales are venturing further north for longer periods of time as a result of global warming. Habitat changes like this are likely to increase in frequency due, particularly within the Arctic ecosystem which is experiencing changes up to three times faster than other regions.



“As temperatures across the Arctic warm and sea ice loss increases, there will be profound cascading ecological consequences. What’s not known is how that will affect species, such as seals and whales, but by monitoring the seasonal prey consumption of polar bears, scientists can better keep track of where marine mammal prey species are showing up and their seasonal distribution,” explained Thiemann.



The research is published in the journal&nbsp; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecological-indicators">Ecological Indicators</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Polar bear diets reflect environmental changes

When people hear the words "global warming," they often think...

An international team of scientists has recently launched an ambitious initiative to listen to, contextualize, and translate the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/computer-models-can-mimic-human-language-processing/">language</a> of sperm whales, with the final goal of managing to establish communication with these majestic marine mammals.&nbsp;The research is known as Project CETI (the Cetacean Translation Initiative).



In order to accomplish this goal, scientists will use state-of-the-art machine learning and non-invasive robotics to listen and translate the whales’ language before attempting to communicate with them.&nbsp;



The sperm whale has the largest brain on Earth (more than five times heavier than the human brain), lives in tightly knit family groups, and has a complex communication system. The whales are vital to our environment since they support oxygen supply and keep carbon out of the atmosphere.



“These animals make a clicking sound at varying frequencies when they are in the company of other whales. The question is, is this just a simple code or a true language?” pondered project co-leader Dan Tchernov, a professor of Marine Biology at the <a href="https://www.haifa.ac.il/?lang=en">University of Haifa</a>.&nbsp;



“Right now, our database is not comprehensive enough to know the answer to this question. However, with the advancement of machine learning, and advanced linguistics, we realized that if we gathered enough data about their voices, the context in which these sounds are employed and understood and their behavior and motivation behind these sounds, we can then develop an algorithm which will determine whether they have an authentic language.”



During a period of five years, Project CETI will bring together an international team of cryptographers, roboticists, linguists, marine biologists, and technologists in order to develop non-invasive devices and employ them to collect and interpret the sounds made by a large number of sperm whales. According to Professor Tchernov, the ultimate goal of this project would be to communicate with the whales, on their own terms.



“Project CETI is a human journey into our relationship with other creatures on the planet,” said the project’s founder and leader David Gruber, a professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the<a href="https://www.cuny.edu/"> City University of New York</a>.&nbsp;



“Through an understanding of a non-human species and the power of collaborative research, we are hoping to ignite a worldwide movement to reshape our relationship with life on Earth and connect to and learn from nature.”



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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

New project aims to help humans talk to whales

An international team of scientists has recently launched an ambitious...

Every dog owner is familiar with the cute, inquisitive head tilt commonly used by our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-secrets-revealed-about-the-evolution-of-mammal-tusks/">canine</a> friends. Generally, this form of body language is associated with interest or confusion, but a new study has associated the behavior with a meaningful stimulus such as learning the name of a toy.



Researchers at the <a href="https://www.elte.hu/en/">Eötvös Loránd University</a> in Budapest have been collecting data during the Genius Dog Challenge, a series of experiments that were broadcasted live across social media, in addition to a previous study investigating the talent of dogs.



The researchers found that when dogs learn the names of their favorite toys, they often tilt their heads when their owner requests it from them. The data also shows consistency on which side a dog will tilt its head toward.



Humans and other animals often present asymmetry in the way that they perceive and move through an environment with their senses. For example, humans are generally right-handed, or prefer one eye or ear to another. In dogs, this is often found in tail wagging, paw preference, or sniffing through a favorable nostril. The asymmetrical head tilt is a further example of this phenomenon.



“Tilting the head is yet another asymmetrical movement in dogs, but it had never been studied. We investigated the frequency and direction of this behavior in response to a specific human verbal vocalization: when the owner asks the dog to bring a toy by saying its name. We did so after realizing that it often happened when the dogs were listening to their owners,” explained Dr. Andrea Sommese, lead researcher for the study.



Data from a previous study showed that not every dog was able to learn the names of its toys over three months of intensive training. However, some were able to learn multiple names without much effort, receiving the label of "Gifted Word Learner" dogs. Out of the 40 dogs studied, 33 were deemed as "typical" and the remaining seven as Gifted Word Learners.



The gifted dogs regularly tilted their heads upon hearing the name of a toy, and the side of the tilt was consistent across experiments taking place over two years. As a result, the researchers have hypothesized that there is an association between head-tilting and the processing of meaningful stimuli.



“It is important to notice that this study only investigated head tilts during a very specific dog-owner communicative interaction: when the owner asks the dog to fetch a named toy. Hence, it is important to refrain from thinking that only Gifted Word Learner dogs tilt their heads in other situations not tested in this study,” said study co-author Andrea Temesi.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10071">Animal Cognition</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dogs tilt their heads while processing meaningful stimuli

Every dog owner is familiar with the cute, inquisitive head...

Brucellosis is an infectious bacterial disease that causes female bison, elk, and cattle to abort their calves. In the Yellowstone region, both wild animals and livestock can contract this highly contagious <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-infectious-disease-discovered-in-japan/">disease</a> by coming into contact with the fetal remains, which can stay infectious for weeks or even months.&nbsp;



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/norock">Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center</a> has found that scavengers such as coyotes, foxes, eagles, or vultures are unwittingly helping both wildlife and cattle by rapidly consuming abortion materials and thus keeping brucellosis epidemics at bay.&nbsp;



“Terrestrial and avian scavengers provide an important yet understudied ecosystem function by removing carcasses from the landscape,” wrote the study authors. “In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem scavengers are likely to reduce the transmission and subsequent spread of brucellosis within and between livestock and elk by consuming infectious abortion materials, thereby removing the infectious agent from the landscape.”



The researchers used remote cameras to monitor the time to removal of simulated abortion materials by scavengers at 264 sites in the Yellowstone region from February to June in 2017 and 2018. The scientists have found that there was a 90 percent probability that abortion materials will be removed within 16 days across all sites by scavengers such as coyotes, red foxes, golden and bald eagles, and turkey vultures.



The findings also suggested that the time to removal of fetal materials decreased in grassland habitats in contrast to sagebrush or forest habitats, and that there was an 88 percent probability that time to removal of abortion materials was slower at sites where scavengers were actively reduced compared to sites with no scavenger reduction.



This study shows the importance of scavengers in the mitigation of infectious diseases and points towards the need for increased conservation efforts to protect them from extinction. “Actions to maintain the breadth and diversity of scavengers on the landscape are potential management options that could reduce disease transmission risk to livestock in a system where the wildlife reservoir is difficult to address,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.3783">Ecosphere</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

Scavengers protect livestock from infectious disease

Brucellosis is an infectious bacterial disease that causes female bison,...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2418">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a> has found that individual organisms have different personalities which shape their ecological roles and thus their contributions to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-fish-can-cause-ecosystem-collapse/">ecosystem</a> services.&nbsp;



Understanding how animals' personalities affect processes like pollination, seed dispersal, the regulation of pest species, or ecotourism can provide ecologists management advice to maximize desired ecosystem services.



“Conservationists rarely consider the roles individuals, with their own unique behavior, physiology, and genome, play in shaping ecosystem processes and consequently ecosystem services, but this is changing,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"An ongoing surge in research on animal personalities (that is, behavioral differences among individuals that are consistent over time and across contexts) is exposing the ecological roles of individuals to scientific scrutiny."



By measuring a large variety of traits, including boldness, aggressiveness, docility, curiosity, or playfulness, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://umaine.edu/">University of Maine</a> shed more light on how animal personalities help them perform a diversity of ecosystem services.&nbsp;



In pollination systems, for example, “fast and inaccurate” or “slow and precise” foragers may succeed in different foraging situations. Thus, fast and impulsive bees likely forage on flowers of simple design, while slower, more reflective bees are generally attracted to complex flowers. In processes such as seed dispersal, bolder, more active animals tend to disperse the seeds they consume farther afield than the more timid ones.



According to the researchers, personality traits also impact the effect of control methods on pest species, by influencing an individual’s trappability, and its relation to predators or humans.&nbsp;



For instance, the severity of plague pandemics appeared to diminish once the highly friendly rat species Rattus rattus, which transmitted the plague bacillus to humans through its fleas, was superseded by the more distant and fearful Rattus norvegicus, which preferred to stay further away from human settlements.



Finally, much ecotourism, such as the whale-watching industry, is dependent on friendly, curious, or playful individual creatures. “Some cetaceans are recognizably individual and repeatedly approach boats for close encounters that are far more exciting than viewing from a legally mandated distance,” the authors reported.



“These examples demonstrate that there is a vast potential to explore ways in which the personality composition of a population may affect the ecosystem services that the population provides,” the researchers concluded.



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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

Animal personalities can shape ecosystems

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology...

New research published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/forest-ecology-and-management">Forest Ecology and Management</a> is the result of painstaking work which involved catching, radio tagging and tracking endangered Indiana bats and threatened northern long-eared bats.&nbsp;



In an attempt to find the most compatible <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secrets-of-forest-mortality-can-be-found-underground/">forest</a> management and logging techniques, the scientists tracked the bats and looked closely at their foraging behaviors.



“There’s a perceived conflict between forest management and endangered bats," said study co-author Joy O’Keefe of the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a>.



"Folks would like to harvest without any restrictions, but because these bats are there, they have to pay attention to when they're present and what kind of habitat they're using, and then potentially change the timing or the nature of harvests or prescribed fires to accommodate for the bats."



“We know a lot about where these bats like to roost, but no one has studied the foraging behaviors in detail when both species share the same forest," explained study lead author Tim Divoll. "That’s going to tell us a lot more about how they use these forests and how we might accommodate the variety of behaviors.”



The study was especially important because the bats are in a precarious position. Like many North American species, they are threatened by the devastating fungal disease - White Nose Syndrome. It would be unfortunate if human activity placed additional strain on these endangered animals.&nbsp;



“White-nose syndrome has really devastated northern long-eared bats in this forest," said O’Keefe. "It turns out we did this study just in the nick of time, because right after we finished the study in 2017, we could no longer catch them out there. Their populations just tanked. Thankfully, my students caught four individuals this year.”&nbsp;



Interestingly the study found that the logging methods already used in the forest were either neutral to bats or possibly somewhat positive.



“The results of this study will help forest managers to make decisions that boost bat populations recovering from this disease.”



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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

Tracking endangered bats across Indiana forests

New research published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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