If you’re a male gray frog trying to find a mate, you’d better have a fast and steady call. That’s what female treefrogs usually go for. But when the crowd gets loud and chaotic, things change. The males that don’t sound all that great? They suddenly have a shot.



In quiet situations where females only hear two males at once, their preferences are clear. They go for the one with the sharper, more rhythmic call. 



But when four or even eight males are calling at once, things get messy. Female choices become unpredictable. This isn’t just a frog issue - it ties into a broader idea that scientists call “choice overload.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frogs-face-chaos-in-the-chorus">Frogs face chaos in the chorus</h2>



In nature, frogs gather in large, noisy groups called choruses. Picture a shallow pond in spring, with dozens of males calling out at the same time. It’s the frog equivalent of a dating scene in a packed nightclub.



The researchers found that the crowded conditions of these choruses might be too overwhelming for females to reliably pick the best mate. It’s not that they stop caring - it’s that they can’t tell who’s who.



Professor Jessie Tanner of the <a href="https://www.utk.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Tennessee, Knoxville</a>, led a team studying how choice overload affects evolution.



“Because female mate choice can drive evolution, our results suggest that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unraveling-the-story-of-early-animal-evolution/">evolution</a> might happen more slowly than we thought before,” she said. 



“Some males that are fairly unattractive could still mate, especially if they take advantage of crowded spaces where females might be less able to discriminate between attractive and unattractive males.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-when-choices-are-too-hard">What happens when choices are too hard?</h2>



The idea of choice overload is pretty common in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/science-behind-predicting-and-changing-human-behavior/">human behavior</a>. You walk into a store to buy toothpaste and face 50 brands. You either freeze, grab something random, or walk away. Same goes for dating apps with endless swiping.



“We wanted to understand how having to make mating decisions in crowded environments, where choice overload could be a problem, might drive the evolution of calls,” Tanner explained. 



“Since males that are chosen by females pass on their genes to the next generation, this mate choice can cause the population to change over time.”



When animals, like people, face too many options, their decision-making can break down. That opens up a chance for less attractive mates to get picked - not because they became more appealing, but because the chooser got overwhelmed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-choice-overload-in-other-animals">Choice overload in other animals</h2>



This isn’t just about frogs. Scientists are now looking at how this effect shows up in other animals. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bumblebees-increasingly-stressed-over-the-past-century/">Bumblebees</a>, for instance, are on the list. So are wood roaches.



“Our lab is working to understand how choice overload and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/frogs-have-lungs-that-cancel-out-background-noise/">noise</a> may each contribute to the difficulty female treefrogs face in making mating decisions,” Tanner said. 



“We are also working to understand whether this choice overload is something that occurs generally in many different kinds of animals or is more specific to individual species.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-simultaneous-cricket-songs">Simultaneous cricket songs </h2>



Tanner, who has a background in both psychology and biology, first got into animal behavior while studying mate choice as an undergrad. She later became interested in sound - especially how it plays into animal communication.



That led to earlier work on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-male-crickets-go-silent-how-females-adapt-and-respond/">crickets</a>. Like treefrogs, male crickets use sound to attract mates. A study on cricket mating showed that noisy environments might either block females from hearing calls or make them too confused to pick. It was hard to tell which was causing the problem.



“During that study, it became clear that our work was consistent with both the possibility that many simultaneous cricket songs created noise that made it hard for females to hear, and the possibility that the females were experiencing choice overload,” Tanner said. “Our current work looks to disentangle those ideas.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-average-becomes-good-enough">When average becomes good enough</h2>



The research adds a new layer to how scientists think about evolution. Normally, stronger signals - like a faster frog call - are expected to win out and spread through the population over time. 



But if crowded conditions keep females from consistently picking the top performers, evolution slows down. Mediocre traits stick around longer.



That changes the math for survival. In nature, being the best isn’t always enough - and sometimes, being just okay is good enough, especially if the crowd’s loud and the choices are many.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.0585" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.



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Frogs settle for average mates when dating gets too noisy

If you’re a male gray frog trying to find a mate, you’d better have a fast and steady call. That’s what female treefrogs usually go for. But when the crowd gets loud and chaotic, things change. The males that don’t sound all that great? They suddenly have a shot. In quiet situations where females only hear two males at once, their preferences are clear. They go for the one with the sharper, more rhythmic call. But when four or even eight males are calling at once, things...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.unibe.ch/index_eng.html">University of Bern</a> in the Switzerland has compared the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-may-have-galloped-long-before-they-dragged-themselves-onto-land/">locomotion</a> behavior of free-ranging dairy cows grazing on traditional summer mountain farms with that of cattle grown in modern cubicle housing without access to pastures. According to the researchers, traditionally-raised cows were more active and spent over 12 hours per day standing and moving around – a much healthier lifestyle than that of their confined counterparts.



“Welfare of intensively farmed animals and whether the housing systems allow individuals to express natural behavior, are of public concern. Pasture based husbandry systems enable cattle to express their natural behavior such as grazing, freedom of movement, and social interaction and thus provide better welfare than confinement systems,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



“However, due to the increasing use of conventional indoor housing systems and automated milking systems combined with continuously increasing herd size, zero grazing systems are becoming more and more common in many countries of the European Union.”



While keeping dairy cows indoors allows for the control of climatic and environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, bedding availability, adjusted feed supply, or regular health checks, scientists worry that such confinement could compromise the animals’ well-being by stopping them from expressing their normal behavior and thus making them prone to various physical and psychological distress.&nbsp;



To test this hypothesis, researchers measured locomotion activity of healthy dairy cows kept on mountain pastures and compared it with that of cows kept in cubicle housing systems. The cows were equipped with a 3D-accelerometer on one of their hind legs, and their locomotion behavior – in terms of walking time, lying time, walking bouts, standing bouts, or number of strides – was recorded for 48 hours.



The results shown that mountain pasture cows had higher locomotor activity levels, spending almost a double amount of time walking than their penned counterparts. “In summary, cows kept on mountain pasture were more active and spent longer than 12 hours/day standing. Lying markedly less than 12 hours per day seems to represent the normal behavior of pastured cows searching for fresh grass. This does not cause any obvious damage to the locomotor system as claws of cattle are well adapted to long periods of movement on mountain pastures,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264320">PLoS ONE</a>.



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

Free-ranging dairy cows have a much healthier lifestyle

A new study led by the University of Bern in...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tick-saliva-could-provide-pain-relief-to-humans/">Pain</a> is one of the primary reasons people visit the emergency room and so controlling pain is a major goal for hospitals. In fact, pain accounts for 80 percent of emergency room visits. A new study looks at a novel approach to pain management - therapy dogs.&nbsp;



Initially, therapy dogs started visiting emergency room waiting areas in Canada as a way to distract patients from long wait times. In one hospital, the trend started to grow, yet there is little research on how dog visits may help emergency room patients.&nbsp;



A handful of studies in the US and Canada show that patients and hospital workers seem to welcome the presence of dogs and may derive some benefit from them. The new research picks up where these studies left off, providing more insight into the effect of therapy dogs in emergency rooms.&nbsp;



The study, published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, investigated the impact of therapy dogs not only on pain but also on anxiety, depression and overall well-being. Using a scale from one to eleven, these symptoms were measured immediately after a visit by a therapy dog and twenty minutes later at the Royal University Hospital Emergency Department. Heart rate and blood pressure were also recorded. Control groups of similar age, gender and ethnicity had these factors measured 30 minutes apart for comparison.&nbsp;



The results were interesting, but perhaps not too surprising for many dog owners. After a 10 minute visit by a therapy dog, people reported small but significant drops in pain. Interestingly, men reported more of a drop in anxiety than women in both control and dog visit groups.&nbsp;



Both men and women had significantly reduced depression and anxiety after the therapy dog visit. The dogs also seemed to improve the patients' sense of well-being. The study is important in showing the viability of using therapy dogs in emergency rooms.&nbsp;



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

Ten minutes with a therapy dog can help relieve ER patients

Pain is one of the primary reasons people visit the...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungal-disease-is-decimating-amphibians-in-baja-california/">Amphibians</a> are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much more so than mammals. Without any way to regulate their own body temperatures, frogs, salamanders and the like are at the whim of climatic changes. Scientists at the <a href="https://www.pitt.edu/">University of Pittsburgh</a> suspected that gut microbes, important in other aspects of health, might play a role in resilience to temperature in amphibians, and set out to test this idea.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As temperatures are warming, if animals are experiencing disruptions in their microbial communities - as we know can happen due to human-caused stress - then that could lead them to not survive as well,” said lead author Samantha Fontaine, a PhD student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.



Fontaine reared tadpoles in several different pools consisting of two categories: normal pond water full of microbes and sterilized water with very few microbes. The two water treatments each contained tadpoles raised at different temperatures ranging from 57 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Unsurprisingly, the tadpoles that lived in the sterilized water had less microbes in their guts. Strangely, these microbe-less tadpoles grew much larger than their counterparts raised in normal pond water.&nbsp;



Another interesting result of the research is that the tadpoles with microbes were better able to survive higher temperatures, even when the size difference was accounted for.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We definitely need more natural experiments to see how this would actually play out in the wild,” said Fontaine. “But this is the first study to show that there’s a connection between heat tolerance and the microbiome” in animals like amphibians.



The research has a practical conservation application, especially as Earth continues to warm and amphibians are increasingly threatened by many anthropogenic causes.&nbsp;



“The idea of probiotics is really big in the field: Are there microbes that are really important that we can supplement animals with?” said Fontaine. “If so, it’s possible that can help them withstand changes in temperatures more robustly.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</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

Gut microbes help tadpoles cope with climate change

Amphibians are sensitive to temperatures and other environmental factors, much...

The Christmas Island rat was abundant when Captain John Maclear anchored his ship Flying Fish in a bay off the Indian Ocean Island in 1887. His crew made a small collection of local fauna, among them the first specimen of the indigenous rat species. Phosphate mining operations began shortly thereafter on the Island, and the rats were not recorded again after 1905. Christmas Island rats were considered to be completely extinct by 1908, due to the accidental introduction of black rats (R. rattus) infested with fleas that carried the fatal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fewer-vultures-more-wild-dogs-linked-to-greater-disease-risks/">disease</a> typanosomiasis.



Having been extinct for just over 110 years, and with several museum specimens preserved for posterity, the Christmas Island rat makes an interesting candidate for de-extinction. This is a process whereby lost species are resurrected using one of several possible biotechnologies. In this case, a team of paleogeneticists considered the possibility of using genome editing to reconstruct the entire genome of the extinct rat species. Their findings are published today in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>, where they assess the chances of success and the limitations of this approach.



Usually, when sequencing the genome of an extinct species, scientists face the problem of fragmented and degraded DNA that does not reveal all the genetic information needed to reconstruct the entire genome. However, with the Christmas Island rat, evolutionary geneticist Tom Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen and his colleagues were able to obtain almost all of the rodent’s genome from the specimens housed in museums in the UK. In addition, since this species diverged relatively recently from other Rattus species that are still extant, it shares about 95 percent of its genome with living Norway brown rats.



“It was a quite a nice test model,” says Gilbert. “It’s the perfect case because when you sequence the genome, you have to compare it to a really good modern reference.”



Once the DNA of the extinct species had been sequenced, it was matched up with the genome of the living species for reference. This enabled the scientists to identify any parts of the extinct species’ genome that were missing. Indeed, they found that a few key genes were missing. These genes were related to olfaction in Christmas Island rats, meaning that a resurrected rat would likely be unable to process smells in the way it would originally have done.&nbsp;



In theory, CRISPR gene editing technology can be used to edit the DNA of the living species so that it matches that of the extinct species. If this was done on germ cells (sperm or ova) of brown rats, then they could become parents of offspring that contained the extinct species’ genome. However, this technology cannot be successful if there are missing genes that are unique to the extinct species. Unfortunately, the more degraded and old the tissue from the extinct species is, the more fragmented the resulting DNA will be, making genome assembly more challenging.



“With current technology, it may be completely impossible to ever recover the full sequence, and therefore it is impossible to ever generate a perfect replica of the Christmas Island rat,” said Gilbert.



This scenario is particularly pertinent to attempts to resurrect mammoths, which went extinct several thousand years ago. Although modern elephants are genetically similar to mammoths, the mammoth DNA has had thousands of years of degradation and will not contain a complete set of functional mammoth genes in the genome.&nbsp;



“It is very, very clear that we are never going to be able to get all the information to create a perfect recovered form of an extinct species,” said Gilbert. “There will always be some kind of hybrid.” Though a replica will never be perfect, the key is that scientists are able to edit for the DNA that makes the extinct animal functionally different from the living one.



Gilbert explained that in order to make an ecologically functional mammoth, for example, it might be enough to edit elephant DNA to make the animal hairy and able to live in the cold. “If you're making a weird fuzzy elephant to live in a zoo, it probably doesn't matter if it is missing some behavioral genes. But that brings up a whole lot of ethical questions.”



Gilbert plans to perform the actual gene editing on rats, but would like to start with species that are still living. He intends to begin by performing CRISPR edits on a black rat genome to change it to a Norway brown rat genome before attempting to resurrect the Christmas Island rat.&nbsp;



Though he is excited about this future research, the whole process still poses ethical questions. “I think it's a fascinating idea in technology, but one has to wonder if that's the best use of money as opposed to keeping the things alive that are still here."



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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

Resurrecting the Christmas Island rat – the limits of possibility

The Christmas Island rat was abundant when Captain John Maclear...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.13983">Ecology Letters</a> has examined the cascading effects of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vicunas-and-guanacos-decimated-by-mange-outbreak/">mange outbreak</a> on the high Andes ecosystem of Argentina’s San Guillermo National Park. Before the 2015 mange outbreak, vicuñas,&nbsp;pumas,&nbsp;and condors have been intrinsically connected, with vicuñas grazing the grass, pumas preying on them, and condors feeding on the pumas’ leftovers. However, after mange nearly wiped out the entire vicuña population, these relationships quickly unraveled, profoundly destabilizing the ecosystem.



Sarcoptic mange is caused by parasitic mites that burrow under the skin of animals, triggering excruciating pain that stops the animals from moving or foraging. The outbreak in San Guillermo probably stemmed from domestic llamas that were introduced to private lands outside the park in 2015.&nbsp;



“This preserve is about as remote as you can get, with very little human interaction, and yet it is still not safe from human activities occurring hundreds of miles away,” said study co-lead author Justine Smith, as assistant professor at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a>. “Pathogens can take hold quickly, leaving animals with little time to respond or adapt. We might see unintended consequences that we should be preparing for when managing at-risk populations of wildlife.”



Before this outbreak, pumas had been the biggest threat to vicuñas. However, this tiny mite proved to be much more dangerous than the large predators, decimating the park’s vicuña populations in a few years. When their main food source disappeared, condors eventually left the park altogether, while pumas needed to switch to other food sources, such as small rodents, in order to avoid starvation.



These changes among the animals also caused massive landscape changes. Bare ground became covered in grass over huge expanses visible from space, and vegetation increased by 900 percent in areas where vicuñas used to graze.



“We don’t really know how or if these systems will recover,” said Smith. “Will they return to the system we knew, or will a new balance emerge from these dynamics? It’s hard to predict.”



“Continuing to support our colleagues in Argentina who have worked for decades to understand and protect this unique system will be vital for tracing the continuing effects of the disease and for promoting the ecosystem’s recovery,” concluded study co-author Julia Monk.



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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

Tiny parasite disrupts an entire ecosystem in the high Andes

A new study published in the journal Ecology Letters has...

The number of snowshoe hares in a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thirsty-mountain-forests-leave-lower-elevations-with-less-water/">forest</a> is a good indicator of how healthy the ecosystem is, and scientists have now applied a new method to find out.



Usually, live-trapping is used by researchers for determining the density of snowshoe hares and other small mammals. However, this method is costly, requires a team of people to manage, and can potentially harm the animals.



The researchers have adopted an improved, more humane method for monitoring the population density of snowshoe hares that is based on newly developed camera-trapping methods.



“Snowshoe hares are considered a keystone, boreal forest species and there’s been some evidence that hare populations are changing as the climate warms,” said study co-author Dan Thornton. “This study comes out as rapidly changing climatic conditions are altering our natural plant and animal communities worldwide.”&nbsp;



Cameras have long been used to study the presence and population density of large cats, like the Canadian lynx for years. This is because large cats are easily distinguishable, with unique markings that differ between individuals. Snowshoe hares have unmarked coats, making it difficult to use traditional camera trapping methods.&nbsp;



Analytical models have been recently developed that use photographs to extract data such as animal speed and location. While these models have been effective in estimating the density of unmarked animals such as hares, the approach has not yet been used in the wild. Questions remain as to whether the modeling approach is as reliable as traditional, live-trapping methods.&nbsp;



In 2019, researchers from <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> designed a large-scale field test to analyze the camera method while investigating the density of snowshoe hares at various forested sites on the eastern edge of the North Cascades in Washington. The experiment successfully trapped 770 snowshoe hares and collected 13,608 camera trap photos.&nbsp;



To determine effectiveness, the research team compared live-trapping and camera-trapping data. The study found that, overall, density estimates from the cameras had an 86 percent correlation with live trapping data. “Until now, cameras could only really tell us if the hares are there or not there,” said Thornton.&nbsp;



To validate the reliability of this approach, the researchers plan to use camera trapping methods in larger scale experiments. The research could help map the health of snowshoe hares and other unmarked animals, and shed new light on the health of forests themselves.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jmammal/gyac009/6541509">Journal of Mammalogy</a>. 



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

Snowshoe hares provide clues about forest health

The number of snowshoe hares in a forest is a...

The killer whale (Orcinus orca) and the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) are the only living cetaceans, or oceanic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-perform-a-spinning-dive-to-catch-deep-prey/" data-type="news" data-id="1899158">dolphins</a>, that feed upon other marine mammals, with pods of orcas even known to aggressively hunt and eat gigantic blue whales. However, the origins of this type of predatory behavior are unclear and fossil records for both of these species are very limited. 



In 2020, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.nyit.edu/">New York Institute of Technology</a> (NYIT) discovered the remains of an ancestor of the false killer whale on the island of Rhodes in Greece. The species was named Rododelphis stamatiadisi after the island where it was found and the paleontologist who made the discovery, Polychronis Stamatiadis. The remains represent the first clear fossil evidence for the origins of the false killer whale, which is estimated to have lived during the Pleistocene about 1.5 million years ago.&nbsp;



The researchers compared the anatomy of Rododelphis to today’s false killer whales and orcas, as well as to Orcinus citoniensis, the orca’s only known ancestor. Based on the dimensions of its skull, Rododelphis was roughly the same size as its modern counterpart, measuring 13 feet in length and weighing about 1,200 pounds. Next to the fossils, the scientists also discovered traces of what has probably been this creature’s last meal: fish bones.



While both Orcinus and Rododelphis had powerful jaw muscles and sharp interlocking teeth, these teeth were smaller and more numerous than those of today’s orcas. Moreover, the teeth of both these ancient whales lacked the rough scratches and chipping commonly caused by eating mammals, suggesting that their diet might have consisted entirely of fish.



These findings contradict the popular theory that large whales evolved such giant bodies to avoid predation. While the first giant whale emerged 3.6 million years ago, this study suggests that ancient dolphins began preying on other marine mammals such as whales much later, probably within the last three million years ago.



“The diversification of the oceanic dolphin family occurred within the last five million years, but fossil evidence from the Pleistocene epoch is exceedingly rare,” said study co-author Jonathan Geisler, an expert in marine mammal evolution at NYIT. “With&nbsp;Rododelphis, we’re now beginning to fill this gap and better understand the repeated evolution of feeding adaptations in oceanic dolphins—in other words, how both orcas and false killer whales separately evolved similar cranial anatomy and the behavior of feeding on other marine mammals.”



Further research and the discovery of more fossils are needed in order to establish with precision when these whales began changing their diet and started feeding upon other marine mammals.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982222002639?dgcid=author">Current Biology</a>.



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

Ancient killer whales ate fish, not other mammals

The killer whale (Orcinus orca) and the false killer whale...

Recently, a team of <a href="https://www.ucla.edu/">UCLA</a> biologists looked at hibernation and its effect on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-can-reverse-the-aging-process-in-middle-aged-mice/">aging</a> in yellow-bellied marmots. The study is the first to examine the rate of aging in a wild marmot population. 



The scientists discovered that these fluffy critters can suspend the aging process during their seven to eight-month hibernation. They found that this process occurs once they reach sexual maturity at two years of age.&nbsp;



During their hibernation, yellow-bellied marmots spend most of their time in a state of metabolic suppression. This means that their breathing rate and temperature drop significantly.&nbsp;



Moreover, they burn very little energy, only about one gram of fat per day. "That's essentially nothing for a 5,000-to-6,000–gram (11–13 lbs.) animal," noted study lead author Gabriela Pinho.



For their investigation, the experts gathered blood samples from 73 female marmots in Colorado. The study was exclusively focused on female marmots because chronological age was determined when the juveniles began leaving their natal burrows. While females stay close, males move back and forth.



The blood samples were obtained every two weeks over 14 summers, when the animals could be found outside their burrows. From this data, the researchers were able to construct statistical models to estimate what metabolic changes occurred during hibernation. Specifically, they looked at chemical modifications to the marmot DNA, known as epigenetic changes.&nbsp;



"We found that the epigenetic age of marmots increases during the active season, stops during hibernation and continues to increase in the next active season," said Pinho.



Scientists have wondered why some animals, like marmots, have such a long lifespan for their small size. According to the results of the current study, reduced aging during hibernation shows that this extended period of inactivity may play a key role.



The study findings may ultimately benefit other species, including humans. Doctors could develop better preservation practices of organ transplant by inducing hibernation in human tissues or human cells. Furthermore, space travelers could have another tool to combat cell degeneration during long-term space travel.



“Our results from different statistical approaches reveal that epigenetic aging essentially stalls during hibernation,” said Pinho. “We found that the epigenetic age of marmots increases during the active season, stops during hibernation and continues to increase in the next active season.”



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



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

Marmots may hold the key to longevity

Recently, a team of UCLA biologists looked at hibernation and...

Scientists have spent decades trying to understand how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vacation-photos-can-help-save-endangered-animals/">animals</a> are making decisions, by focusing on their neural cells and the connections between them. A research team from the <a href="https://www.salk.edu/">Salk Institute for Biological Studies</a> has taken a different approach: analyzing behavior instead of neurons.&nbsp;



The investigation revealed that a species of predatory worm&nbsp;(Pristionchus pacificus) can take multiple factors into account and choose between actions, despite having only 302 neurons. This is a very small number compared to humans, who have over 86 billion neurons. The findings suggest that complex decision-making capabilities could be encoded in very small and simple organisms or artificial networks.



“Our study shows you can use a simple system such as the worm to study something complex, like goal-directed decision-making. We also demonstrated that behavior can tell us a lot about how the brain works,” explained study senior author&nbsp;Sreekanth Chalasani, an associate professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the Salk Institute.&nbsp;



“Even simple systems like worms have different strategies, and they can choose between those strategies, deciding which one works well for them in a given situation. That provides a framework for understanding how these decisions are made in more complex systems, such as humans.”



Professor Chalasani and his colleagues found that P. pacificus can choose between two foraging strategies for biting its prey and competitor, another worm called Caenorhabditis elegans: a predatory strategy with the goal of biting to kill the prey, or a territorial strategy, in which weaker bites are used to force C. elegans away from other food sources.



The researchers discovered that P. pacificus chooses the predatory strategy against larval C. elegans, and the territorial one against adult C. elegans, which is more difficult to kill and often outcompetes P. pacificus for food.



“Scientists have always assumed that worms were simple - when&nbsp;P. pacificus&nbsp;bites we thought that was always for a singular predatory purpose,” said study first author Kathleen Quach, a postdoctoral fellow in Chalasani’s lab. “Actually,&nbsp;P. pacificus&nbsp;is versatile and can use the same action, biting&nbsp;C. elegans, to achieve different long-term goals. I was surprised to find that&nbsp;P. pacificus&nbsp;could leverage what seemed like failed predation into successful and goal-directed territoriality.”



Further research is needed to assess whether this worm’s cost-benefit calculations are hard-wired or flexible, and to reveal the molecular underpinnings of complex decision-making in such simple forms of life.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.033">Current Biology</a>.



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

Simple worms can make complex decisions

Scientists have spent decades trying to understand how animals are...

Less than a week into the new year of 2022,&nbsp;<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-challenging-epas-failure-to-protect-endangered-species-from-hundreds-of-harmful-pyrethroid-pesticides-2022-01-06/">the Center for Biological Diversity announced its intention to sue</a>&nbsp;the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approving 300 pyrethroid insecticides over the past six years, without considering their potential harm to endangered species. The EPA is no stranger to such lawsuits; environmental groups have&nbsp;<a href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/89/i38/Pesticides-Endangered-Species.html">sued the agency repeatedly for decades</a>&nbsp;for failing to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when registering pesticides. The law requires the EPA to consult with other federal agencies when a pesticide has the potential to harm endangered species or their critical habitats, but the agency has rarely done this without litigation first being initiated.&nbsp;



But now, in what can be described as a paradigm shift, the EPA is taking the issue seriously and is being more proactive about assessing these substances’ compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), according to a feature article in&nbsp;Chemical &amp; Engineering News, an independent news outlet of the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a>.



Senior Editor Britt E. Erickson writes that in&nbsp;January 2022, the agency rolled out a policy stating it would now evaluate how active ingredients could impact endangered species before new pesticides are introduced to the market, instead of waiting to be sued after products are already commercially available. The EPA also appointed Ya-Wei “Jake” Li, a lawyer with experience in chemical regulation and endangered species conservation, as deputy assistant administrator for pesticide programs. Li’s top priority is improving the pesticide office’s compliance with the ESA.



“Incorporating ESA assessments into the registration process for new pesticides is a key component of EPA’s larger effort to meet the Agency’s ESA obligations efficiently and effectively,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-endangered-species-act-protection-policy-new-pesticides">Li said in a Jan. 11 statement announcing the policy</a>.



With the new policy, EPA also committed to consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service when appropriate. This is the process that is meant to take place when assessing the potential effects of a new pesticide, but it has not been successfully employed in many instances in the past. One of the issues is that the different agencies use different methods and criteria to determine the thresholds and risks of a pesticide for endangered species.&nbsp;



For example, in the case of malathion, the EPA predicted that nearly all endangered species would be negatively impacted, whereas the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that less than 5 percent would experience such consequences. Some groups say that the EPA’s models overestimate pesticide usage and potential impacts, forcing companies and farmers to use mitigation measures that aren’t necessary. In the meantime, litigation is likely to continue as a way to keep focusing attention on the issue.



Some environmental groups welcome the EPA’s change in approach, but are worried that the policy will only be applied to include new pesticide products, and not to the countless, toxic products already on the market.&nbsp;



The Center for Biological Diversity is urging the EPA to systematically evaluate pesticides by class for their potential to harm endangered species. In its latest intent-to-sue notice to the EPA, the group suggests starting with pyrethroids because of their acute toxicity to several endangered species.



“Despite pyrethroid pesticides representing one of the most dangerous and harmful groups of pesticides for aquatic wildlife, as well as causing significant harm to other wildlife and plants, the EPA has failed to take a single action to implement any on-the-ground conservation actions to protect any endangered species from these toxic chemicals,” the Center writes in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/pdfs/Center-Notice-of-Intent-to-Sue-on-Pyrethroid-Class-of-Pesticides.pdf">Jan. 6 letter to EPA</a>&nbsp;administrator Michael Regan.



Although stakeholders are generally encouraged that the EPA is talking to parties on all sides of the issue in order to chart a path forward, they remain doubtful that this will be the year that the agency comes up with a workable plan to address the risks of pesticides to endangered species.&nbsp;



According to Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity, if the agency fails to address the backlog of pesticides that have not undergone endangered species consultations, “we’ll bring lawsuits, class by class, to address the violations and force a queue to develop. We really do want to make sure that the most important places are protected,” he says, so that there aren’t “spraying or applications happening in a way that pushes species towards extinction.”



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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

EPA takes new stance on pesticide risks to endangered species

Less than a week into the new year of 2022,&nbsp;the...

A research team led by the <a href="https://www.salk.edu/">Salk Institute for Biological Studies</a> has recently managed to effectively and safely reverse the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moderate-drinking-can-cause-premature-brain-aging/">aging</a> process in middle-aged and older mice by partially resetting their cells to more youthful states. This approach could provide new tools for the medical community to restore organismal health by improving cell function and resilience in the context of various health problems, such as neurodegenerative diseases.



As organisms age, their cells have different patterns of chemicals along their DNA – called epigenetic markers – than those present in younger organisms. Previous research has shown that adding a mixture of four reprogramming molecules known as “Yamanaka factors” (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc) to aging cells can reset the epigenetic markers to their original patterns.&nbsp;



In a 2016 <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31664-6">study</a>, this method was applied successfully to counter the signs of aging and increase life span in mice with premature aging disease. Moreover, in a related <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23353-z">study</a> from 2021, scientists found that, even in young mice, the Yamanaka factors could accelerate muscle regeneration. Other researchers have used the same approach to improve the function of tissues such as the brain, heart, and optic nerve.&nbsp;



In the new study, researchers from the Salk Institute tested variations of the cellular regeneration approach in healthy animals as they aged. One group of mice received regular doses of the Yamanaka factors from 15 months to 22 months of age (the equivalent to age 50 to 70 in humans), another group was treated from 12 to 22 months (35 to 70 in humans), and a final group was only treated for a month, when they were 25 months old (similar to age 80 in humans).



“What we really wanted to establish was that using this approach for a longer time span is safe,” said study co-first author Pradeep Reddy, a research scientist at the Salk Institute. “Indeed, we did not see any negative effects on the health, behavior or body weight of these animals.”



In fact, the mice that were treated for seven to ten months resembled younger animals and, if injured, their skin cells had a greater ability to proliferate and were less likely to form permanent scars. Moreover, metabolic molecules in their blood did not show normal age-related changes. The findings suggest that these treatments are not simply pausing aging, but are actively turning it backwards.



“At the end of the day, we want to bring resilience and function back to older cells so that they are more resistant to stress, injury and disease. This study shows that, at least in mice, there’s a path forward to achieving that,” Dr. Reddy concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00183-2">Nature Aging</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

Scientists can reverse the aging process in middle-aged mice

A research team led by the Salk Institute for Biological...

Using thousands of acoustic recordings of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pigs-recognize-human-faces/">pigs</a>, from their births to deaths, an international team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> has managed to understand what emotions each type of grunt expresses in a variety of situations. By shedding more light on the psychological states of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disposable-masks-are-increasingly-impacting-marine-animals/">animals</a>, these findings can be used to improve their welfare.



Until now, animal welfare has focused almost exclusively on the physical health of livestock by employing several systems that can automatically monitor animals’ physical condition. However, according to an increasing number of scientists, animals’ mental health and well-being should also be taken into consideration. Understanding what emotions animals feel in various situations could help farmers maximize the psychological well-being of their livestock.



In order to shed more life on pigs’ emotional life, researchers used 7,414 acoustic recordings from 411 pigs in different scenarios, from birth to death. In a next step, they devised and trained a machine learning algorithm that could decode whether a pig was experiencing a positive emotion (such as “happy” or “excited”) or a negative one (“scared” or “stressed”).



The scientists found that positive situations such as huddling with littermates, nursing, or running freely elicited shorter grunts, with minor fluctuations in amplitude, while negative situations such as missed nursing, social isolation, fighting, or castration were associated with high-frequency calls, such as screams and squeals.&nbsp;



“There are clear differences in pig calls when we look at positive and negative situations. In the positive situations, the calls are far shorter, with minor fluctuations in amplitude. Grunts, more specifically, begin high and gradually go lower in frequency. By training an algorithm to recognize these sounds, we can classify 92 percent of the calls to the correct emotion,” explained study co-leader Elodie Briefer, a professor of Animal Behavior and Communication at the University of Copenhagen.



“With this study, we demonstrate that animal sounds provide great insight into their emotions. We also prove that an algorithm can be used to decode and understand the emotions of pigs, which is an important step towards improved animal welfare for livestock.”



Professor Briefer and her colleagues hope that this algorithm might pave the way for a new platform for farmers to keep track of their animals’ psychological well-being.&nbsp;



“We have trained the algorithm to decode pig grunts. Now, we need someone who wants to develop the algorithm into an app that farmers can use to improve the welfare of their animals,” concluded Professor Briefer.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07174-8">Nature Scientific Reports</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

Pigs reveal emotions through their grunts

Using thousands of acoustic recordings of pigs, from their births...

<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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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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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.



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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...

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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

[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...

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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

[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...

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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

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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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