Dragonflies outlasted the dinosaurs and even endured asteroid strikes. But now they face a survival threat unlike any before. Rising heat and wildfires are reshaping the very traits they depend on to attract mates.



A study from the <a href="https://www.ucdenver.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Colorado Denver</a> shows how this shift could push some species toward local extinction. Traits that once drew partners are now putting dragonflies at risk.



“Dragonflies have survived asteroids, but now climate change and wildfires are threatening them in ways evolution can’t keep up with,” said lead author Sarah Nalley, a PhD student in CU Denver’s Integrative Biology program. 



“Our findings suggest that adaptation alone may not be fast enough to protect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dragonfly-larvae-expose-climates-hidden-influence-on-biology/">species</a> in a rapidly changing climate.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-ornaments-backfire">When ornaments backfire</h2>



Many dragonflies have dark spots on their wings. These patterns attract <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dragonflies-hunt-perfectly-even-in-extreme-temperatures/">mates</a>. They also absorb heat. In hotter regions and burned habitats, that heat builds too quickly. Males tire, rest, and lose chances to compete for females.



Thermal imaging confirmed the problem. Dark spots made wings hotter, faster. Unlike the peppered moth, where wing color affected survival through camouflage, dragonflies face a different pressure. Here, color weakens reproductive success. Survival is not enough if mating fails.



This twist highlights a blind spot in conservation. Scientists usually check if species survive hotter, drier habitats. But if mating collapses, the population vanishes regardless of survival, leaving ecosystems weaker and biodiversity loss far greater.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dragonfly-survival-amid-wildfires">Dragonfly survival amid wildfires</h2>



“This changes how we think about vulnerability,” said Professor Michael Moore. “It’s not just about whether animals can survive after wildfire - it’s about whether they can reproduce in those modified environments. That’s the key to long-term survival.”



If reproduction falters, decline accelerates. And dragonflies matter. They eat mosquitoes, keeping insect numbers in check. They also feed birds, fish, and amphibians. Lose them, and entire food webs shift, unraveling in unpredictable ways.



Dragonflies have always seemed resilient. But this study suggests they may not keep pace with today’s rapid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dragonflies-developed-dark-wing-spots-for-survival/">changes</a>, showing how climate and fire pressures can overwhelm even long-lasting species once thought secure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildfire-data-reveal-worrying-trends">Wildfire data reveal worrying trends</h2>



The project began as a class assignment in Professor Moore’s course. Students worked with open datasets: wildfire maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, climate records, and citizen science observations spanning 40 years. No external funding backed the research.



Despite the simple beginnings, the analysis uncovered a serious trend. Dragonflies with ornamental wings are disappearing from fire-damaged and hotter regions. The data gave a broad view of how climate and wildfires interact with reproductive traits.



Nalley brought personal motivation. She lost her home in Superior, Colorado, during the 2021 Marshall Fire. That experience shaped her focus.



“I knew I wanted to study animals - and after the fire, I knew I wanted to study wildfires too,” said Nalley. “That experience pushed me to ask how animals are affected not just by surviving a fire, but by whether they can still reproduce and carry on the species afterward.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-conservation">Lessons for conservation</h2>



The findings stretch beyond dragonflies. If ancient predators that once ruled the skies falter, what about other species? The research shows conservationists must look past survival rates. Reproduction matters just as much.



“Working with Sarah pushed me to think about my own research in a new way,” said Moore. “She came in with great questions about wildfires and reproduction that made me reconsider how I approach these big ecological issues.”



The study’s message is clear: ecosystems don’t just need species to live, they need them to breed. Dragonflies warn us of what happens when natural signals of attraction turn into liabilities, threatening stability, biodiversity, and long-term ecological resilience everywhere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dragonfly-decline-from-wildfires">Dragonfly decline from wildfires</h2>



Dragonflies have been here for hundreds of millions of years. Their decline would mark a profound loss. More than that, it would unsettle the balance of ecosystems that depend on them.



The CU Denver research shows how quickly environmental pressures reach into the smallest details of life - courtship displays, wing patterns, mating chances. Those details decide whether a species thrives or disappears, shaping both present ecosystems and future biodiversity.



Dragonflies are not just survivors from deep time. They are indicators of how even the most resilient animals can stumble in a warming, fire-prone world.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02417-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Climate Change</a>.



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Dragonflies lived with dinosaurs, now they face their toughest fight for survival

Dragonflies outlasted the dinosaurs and even endured asteroid strikes. But now they face a survival threat unlike any before. Rising heat and wildfires are reshaping the very traits they depend on to attract mates. A study from the University of Colorado Denver shows how this shift could push some species toward local extinction. Traits that once drew partners are now putting dragonflies at risk. “Dragonflies have survived asteroids, but now climate change and wildfires are threatening them in ways evolution can’t keep up with,” said lead author...

A new species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flesh-eating-theropods-were-extremely-fast/">dinosaur</a>, named Guemesia ochoai, has recently been discovered in the Los Blanquitos Formation near Amblayo, in the north of Argentina. It is a species of abelisaurid theropods, a clade of carnivorous dinosaurs that lived 70 million years ago and roamed what is now South America, Africa, and India. As most abelisaurids, this dinosaur had very short front limbs, a feature which probably made it rely on its extremely powerful head and jaws to capture and devour prey.



Abelisaurids were a group of top predatory dinosaurs that may have fed on larger dinosaurs such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/enormous-titanosaur-discovered-in-the-pyrenees/">titanosaurs</a>. While they resembled in general appearance more famous species such as Tyrannosaurus rex, they had even shorter front limbs than T. rex, as well as unusually short, deep skulls that often bore crests, bumps, and horns.



Argentina is well known for its abelisaurid fossils, with 35 species already discovered on its territory. However, most of the fossils have been found in Patagonia, in the south of the country. Guemesia ochoai - named after General Martin Miguel de Güemes, a hero of the Argentine War of Independence, and Javier Ochoa, a museum technician who discovered the fossils –&nbsp;shows marked differences from other species of abelisaurids discovered in Argentina, adding new evidence that north-western Argentina had a unique set of prehistoric creatures, unlike those found in other parts of the world in the Late Cretaceous.



“This new dinosaur is quite unusual for its kind. It has several key characteristics that suggest that is a new species, providing important new information about an area of the world which we don't know a lot about,” said study senior author Anjali Goswami, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">Natural History Museum</a> in London.&nbsp;



“It shows that the dinosaurs that live in this region were quite different from those in other parts of Argentina, supporting the idea of distinct provinces in the Cretaceous of South America. It also shows us that there is lot more to be discovered in these areas that get less attention than some of the more famous fossil sites.”



One unique feature of this specimen are the rows of small holes in the front of its skull called “foramina,” which scientists believe that may have played an important role in allowing the animal to cool down, with blood being pumped into the thin skin from the front of the skull to release heat. Moreover, its cranium is about 70 percent smaller than any of its relatives, and, unlike most other abelisaurid skulls, it lacks horns. These differences suggest that this new species is near the bottom of the family tree of abelisaurids or closely related to ancestors of this group.



A detailed description of G.ochoai is published in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2021.2002348?journalCode=ujvp20">Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Dinosaur discovered in Argentina was armless but fierce

A new species of dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, has recently...

Bornean,Orangutan,In,The,Wild,Nature.,Central,Bornean,Orangutan,(

The use of stone tools by early hominins is considered a milestone in human evolution that led to changes in dentition, hand morphology and brain size. But despite the obvious ecological significance of making and using early stone tools, it remains unclear how the necessary skills first emerged in naïve individuals.



A new study involving five captive orangutans aimed to shed some light on this question. The study, conducted by Alba Motes-Rodrigo from the <a href="https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/">University of Tübingen</a> and colleagues, tested the spontaneous tool making and using capabilities of two male orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) at Kristiansand Zoo in Norway, and three female orangutans at Twycross Zoo in the UK. None of the orangutans had been trained or previously exposed to any of the behaviors of interest to the researchers.&nbsp;



Previous research had proposed that the simplest scenario in which the use of stones as tools could have arisen may have been when an individual picked up a stone and used it to crush a hard object, such as a nut, against another hard surface, in order to access the contents. This is termed lithic percussion technology and involves mostly the use of rocks in a hammer-and-anvil manner.



The use of stone tools by orangutans in the wild has never been documented in the scientific literature. Although these apes are avid tool users, their tools usually consist of branches, sticks or other pieces of vegetation. Orangutans spend most of their time in the canopy where stones are not available. Therefore, orangutans can be considered naïve in terms of exposure to the use of stones as tools.



In the first part of the current study, the two male orangutans were given a concrete hammer, a prepared stone core from which flakes could be struck, and two puzzle boxes requiring the apes to cut through a rope or a silicon skin in order to access a food reward. Both orangutans spontaneously hit the hammer against the walls and floor of their enclosure, but neither directed strikes towards the stone core.&nbsp;



In the next part of the study, the orangutans were also given a human-made sharp flint flake, which one orangutan used to cut the silicon skin, thereby opening the puzzle box. According to the researchers, this is the first demonstration of cutting behavior in untrained, unenculturated orangutans.&nbsp;



The three female orangutans from Twycross Zoo had also never been exposed to the production or use of stone flakes before. They were given demonstrations by the researchers on how to strike a core in order to create a flint flake. In this way, the researchers assessed whether the apes could learn this skill by observing others. After the demonstrations, one female went on to use the hammer to hit the core, directing the blows towards the edge as had been demonstrated.



The study is the first to report spontaneous stone tool use without close direction in orangutans that have not been enculturated by humans. The authors say their findings suggest that the last common ancestor between orangutans and humans probably had the cognitive and physical skills to engage in lithic percussive behavior, as demonstrated by the captive orangutans in this study.&nbsp;



In addition, the fact that these orangutans spontaneously struck with stone hammers and recognized sharp stones as cutting tools shows that two major prerequisites for the emergence of early stone tool use are present in these apes, and may have existed in our last common ancestor with orangutans, 13 million years ago.



“Our study is the first to report that untrained orangutans can spontaneously use sharp stones as cutting tools," said the researchers. "We also found that they readily engage in lithic percussion and that this activity occasionally leads to the detachment of sharp stone pieces.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.



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

Orangutans have the cognitive ability to make and use stone tools

The use of stone tools by early hominins is considered...

Human activities are putting an enormous amount of strain on marine ecosystems. The major stressors like pollution, climate change, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overfishing-is-a-major-threat-to-coral-reef-fish/">overfishing</a> are only getting worse, along with the negative impacts to marine species.&nbsp;



An international team of experts has now developed a framework for identifying the most vulnerable marine species. The goal of the research project is to boost global conservation and policy efforts against human-induced climate change.



By reviewing existing literature, the team has categorized a wide range of threats that are faced by more than 45,000 species. While developing the list, the researchers considered five trait groups that influence the susceptibility of marine species to anthropogenic stressors, including movement, reproduction, specialization, spatial scale metrics, and biophysical traits.



According to study lead author Dr. Nathalie Butt of the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a>, the research has revealed the marine species which are the most endangered from all anthropogenic threats.



“Molluscs, corals, and echinoderms – hard or spiny creatures such sea urchins – are truly feeling the impacts in our oceans, facing a diverse range of threats,” said Dr. Butt. “They’re affected by fishing and bycatch, pollution and climate change."



“Flowerpot corals – an incredibly fragile but stunning form of coral found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Persian Sea – is one group of species that is especially affected by climate change-related stressors, such as ocean acidification."



“We also discovered that starfish, sea snails and flying fish are increasingly vulnerable to climate change-related stressors, all of which can be found in oceans around the world."



“Roughy fishes are quite vulnerable to the effects of pollution, including organic, inorganic, and nutrient pollution, which was quite a surprise, as they live at a range of depths, including deep sea, which demonstrates how far the effects of pollution are spreading.”



Dr. Butt said the accelerating rate of environmental change was a motivating factor for the development of the framework.



“The environment is changing so quickly because of human actions, and we need to use all information available to help us assess which animals are at risk and why, and to help develop the most appropriate ways to protect and manage them - that’s where this framework comes in."



“This framework is unique as it uses biological characteristics or traits of marine species to assess their vulnerability to specific stressors or threats with the greatest potential impact, such as pollution, fishing, and of course, climate change.”



Professor Carissa Klein noted that the framework will allow users to make more informed decisions about how to allocate and prioritise their resources to protect the world’s most vulnerable species.



“Conservationists can use the framework to prioritize resources for their protection and determine which management actions would best protect particular species or groups of species and where,” said Dr. Klein. “We assessed all species and all threats that we know about now across the planet."



“The exciting thing is that we built the framework so that we could accommodate new information, whether that be about new species or information about threatening processes."



“This means that the work can also be applied in particular places to protect the ocean, using more detailed information about the species, and their threats, in that place.”



The project was jointly researched with the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21508925">Ecosphere</a>.



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

More than 45,000 marine species are endangered by human impacts

Human activities are putting an enormous amount of strain on...

The way some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seafood-watch-may-red-list-fisheries-to-protect-right-whales/">fish</a> respond to stress seems to run in the family, according to new research from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. The scientists observed Trinidadian guppies under stress and measured their hormone levels. The research shows that when a fish produces more cortisol, the individual is more likely to flee. On the other hand, when a fish produces less cortisol, the animal is likely to freeze in place.&nbsp;



"In the wild, an instinct to flee can help a fish escape from danger, and a rush of cortisol helps them cope with that stress," said lead author Dr. Tom Houslay of the <a href="http://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/cec/">Centre for Ecology and Conservation</a> (CEC) on Exeter’s Penryn Campus. "But in captivity, this reaction is unhelpful - a chronic, high-cortisol stress response is harmful to health and welfare.”



The scientists hope their research may ultimately be useful in breeding more stress-free fish for farms and other captive situations such as aquariums.&nbsp;



"Our finding of a genetic link between the hormonal (cortisol) and behavioral (freeze or flee) reactions suggests fish could be selected for breeding based on their freeze or flee response," said Dr. Houslay. "By selecting fish that tend to freeze in a stressful situation, you create a genetic stock with a lower cortisol stress response."



This is similar to methods already in use for fish breeding that rely on blood sampling to select desired traits. This technique relies on the diversity of fish behavior, which is something most people don’t consider when looking at fish behavior. This works because fish are actually unique individuals with some heritable behavior.&nbsp;



"We need to stop thinking of fish as being all the same," said <a href="https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=Alastair_Wilson">Professor Alastair Wilson</a>, also from the CEC at the University of Exeter. "Individuals and groups of close genetic relatives vary, and by taking account of this we can selectively breed captive fish with lower stress and better health."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/">eLife</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

Fish have a stress response that runs in the family

The way some fish respond to stress seems to run...

Biologists have long argued that the vast majority of our planet’s animal and plant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/species-suffer-a-second-extinction-when-society-forgets-about-them/">species</a> remain undiscovered. While many of these species inhabit environments that are extremely hard to reach, some of them may in fact be hiding in plain sight.&nbsp;



For instance, a tiny parasitoid wasp known since 1843 (Ormyrus labotus) has long been considered a generalist, laying its eggs in over 65 different species of insects. However, a new genomic study led by the <a href="https://uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a> has discovered that the wasps currently called Ormyrus labotus actually belong to at least 16 different species that are identical in appearance but genetically distinct. While discovering “cryptic species” within one known insect species is not unusual, the number of those found among these wasps is impressive.



“We know so much from ecology about how important even the smallest species can be to an ecosystem, such that uncovering this hidden diversity - and, maybe more importantly, understanding the biology of each species - becomes a critical component of conservation and maintenance of ecosystem health,” said study senior author Andrew Forbes, an associate professor of Biology at the University of Iowa.



Between 2015 and 2019, Professor Forbes and two of his graduate students, Sofia Sheik and Anna Ward, were involved in a research project investigating insects that laid their eggs on plants where their larvae hatched, inducing the plants to form protective structures called “galls” around the larvae.&nbsp;



Since wasps in the genus Ormyrus are known to parasitize such insects, it has not been surprising to find many such wasps emerging from the oak galls that the team collected. However, it was strange to see the same type of wasp emerging from a huge variety of gall types.



“It seemed highly unusual for one parasitoid species to be able to exploit such a wide and dynamic set of hosts,” says study lead author Sofia Sheikh, a former MSc student in Forbes’ lab and currently a doctoral student at the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a>.



By examining DNA samples from each of the wasps that emerged from the galls, the researchers were surprised to find that the wasps which originally appeared to belong to a single species were in fact part of 16, and possibly even 18, distinct species.



These findings highlight the importance of biodiversity research and its implications. For example, if these wasps would even be enlisted for control of an invasive oak-galling pest, it would be highly important to know which particular wasp species targeted that specific pest species. Moreover, failing to distinguish between specialist and generalist insects hinders scientists’ ability to understand actual generalists and what enables them to target a variety of hosts.



“More so than any specific number of potential new species, I am excited about how this study and many others are revealing a plethora of cryptic diversity. This, to me, suggests that we still have a lot to learn about the processes that structure species interactions with each other and their environments,” concluded Sheikh.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixac001">Insect Systematics and Diversity</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 reveal hidden diversity among parasitoid wasps

Biologists have long argued that the vast majority of our...

A new study shows that dogs can recognize their human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dairy-calves-prefer-to-be-housed-with-a-companion/">companions</a> by voice alone. The study carried out by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Hungary eliminated smell and sight as identifying features, confirming that dogs can identify familiar voices.&nbsp;



To carry out the research, scientists recruited 28 human-dog pairs to play a game of hide and seek. The humans were asked to hide behind one of two hiding spots while a stranger was placed behind the other. The owner’s voice was played from where the owner hid and the stranger’s voice was played from where the stranger hid. The recordings were in neutral voices of the people reading recipes.&nbsp;



The dogs were allowed to choose which hiding spots to approach. The test was repeated with 14 different stranger voices, some similar and some very different from the owner’s voice. In 82 percent of cases, dogs found their owners.&nbsp;



To control for smell, the last two rounds of the study were carried out with the stranger playing the owner’s voice. The dogs still went toward their human’s voice, showing they were not using their sense of smell to guide them.&nbsp;



The scientists discussed the ways in which dogs were able to identify human voices. Differences in pitch and noisiness helped the dogs recognize familiar humans, but it appears that timbre and other qualities didn’t make a difference.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“People mostly make use of three properties: pitch (higher or lower), noisiness (cleaner or harsher), and timbre (brighter or darker) to differentiate others. Dogs may make use of the same voice properties or different ones. If two voices differ in a property that matters for dogs, decisions should be easier," explained study lead author Anna Gábor.&nbsp;



The research is unique and verifies something most dog owners already suspect, giving us a window into dog cognition.&nbsp;



"Dogs’ high choosing success rate, their ability to discriminate their owner’s voice from a variety of control voices, and the fact that dogs’ choices were not confounded by either olfactory cues or speaker order indicate that dogs can reliably use identity cues carried by speech," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



Andics Attila is the leader of the Neuroethology of Communication Lab, where the study was conducted.&nbsp;



“This is the first demonstration that dogs can tell apart their owner’s voice from many others," said Attila. "The study also shows that dogs make use of some, but only some of the same voice properties as humans do to recognize who is talking.”&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

Dogs recognize familiar human voices

A new study shows that dogs can recognize their human...

Robber flies (Asilidae) are predatory insects that feed by hunting down flying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fear-of-predators-can-damage-prey-as-much-as-predation-itself/">prey</a> and snatching them out of the air. In open environments, the flies maintain the line of sight to the potential prey, adjusting their position as the target twists and turns on its path. Such maneuvers are done with great speed and agility. 



However, things become much more complex for these hunters when the environment is cluttered with obstacles. So how do they adjust their hunting patterns when there are distractions in the environment?



Researchers from Imperial College London set out to investigate how the predatory robber flies adjust their interception strategy to deal with obstacles in the environment.&nbsp;



“We used&nbsp;Holcocephala fusca&nbsp;because of its predictable interception path," said study co-author Samuel Fabian, who teamed up with Mary Sumner from the University of Minnesota for four weeks to film robber flies in 3D while they hunted a tiny bead that was pulled along a transparent fishing line. This species of robber fly is commonly known as a gnat ogre due to its prodigious hunting skill.



“Field experiments are a joy, because you get the most naturalistic behavior from free animals," said Fabian. Even though the flies were chasing a small, artificial bead on an invisible line, they were still very keen to intercept it. “If something is small enough, they generally seem to assume it’s food, the flies really didn’t know it’s not real prey, even when very close."



When he and Sumner analyzed the approach strategy of insects intercepting the bead, they found that the flies maintained the same line of sight to the target throughout their approach, in order to capture it successfully. However, when the researchers introduced a wide (5&nbsp;cm) or narrow (2.5&nbsp;cm) bar of black acrylic into the insects’ interception path, they took evasive action.



When the black bar blocked the interception path for more than 1 s, the insects often aborted the chase entirely. If their view was blocked for less than 1 s, they swerved away dramatically until they had passed the obstacle, then moved back to their interception course. Interestingly, when the flies could see the black bar but it did not obscure their view, they still veered away from it as they approached the bead, even though the bead remained in sight all the time.



The researchers wondered what strategy the robber flies were using to make these decisions as they approached the bead. The experts compared the insects’ flight paths and the paths they would have taken if there was no obstacle, and realized that the flies were using a very simple obstacle avoidance strategy;&nbsp;



“The faster the obstacle is getting larger in their field of view the more they turn away from it,” explained Fabian. However, after the fly has passed the obstacle and it begins to grow smaller, the fly is then drawn back toward the bead, resulting in the veering flight paths that Fabian and Sumner recorded, even when the fly’s view wasn’t obstructed.



The researchers concluded that the flies, whose brains are no larger than a grain of sand, are combining two different strategies when hunting prey in a cluttered environment. They use a conventional approach of flying in a direct line to the target when their view is unobstructed, but apply avoidance tactics when an obstacle is present in their view. This results in a simple, hybrid approach that allows them to intercept their prey while avoiding distractions and obstacles in their paths.&nbsp;



“They are paying attention to their surroundings even when focused on the target," concluded Fabian. He hopes to inspire robotic designs that use simpler and more computationally lightweight solutions for complex navigation problems in future.



The study is published today in the&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



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

Robber flies avoid obstacles while they hunt moving prey

Robber flies (Asilidae) are predatory insects that feed by hunting...

An international team of researchers from Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom has performed a series of experiments to investigate the role of flexibility and inhibition in problem solving and how they relate to each other in the great-tailed grackle - a behaviorally flexible urban bird <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/species-suffer-a-second-extinction-when-society-forgets-about-them/">species</a>. By assessing the cognitive abilities of these birds using multiple tests, the researchers found that self-control (a form of inhibition) was linked to flexibility, or the ability to change preferences when circumstances change.



The scientists discovered that grackles who were faster to reverse a color preference were also faster to inhibit their behavior in a “go no-go” test, where they needed to touch one shape but not another on a touchscreen computer to get a reward. This behavior suggests that inhibition is involved in learning how to change preferences.



“The grackles are likely inhibiting themselves from choosing the previously rewarded option so they can instead choose the other option, which is now the only option that has food in it,” explained study lead author Corina Logan, a senior researcher at the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/index/">Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a>.



However, another measure of flexibility – the time it takes to switch to trying to solve a new option on a puzzlebox after previously succeeding on a different option – correlated negatively with the capacity for inhibition in a “go no-go” test: grackles who were faster to switch to a new option were slower in inhibiting their behavior.&nbsp;



The scientists believe that different birds might use different inhibitory strategies, with those less inclined to inhibit being more open to explore a variety of options. This would help them solve the puzzlebox, but would be less useful in situations when they need to stick to one option, such as those assessed through the “go no-go” test.



Strangely, grackles who did better on a different inhibition test previously thought to measure self-control too, the “detour” test (where the birds needed to walk around to the side of a clear plastic tube to get food from the tube’s opening rather than trying to get it immediately through the plastic), did not necessarily perform better at the “go no-go” test. According to the researchers, while the latter measures self-control (the ability to withhold a response towards something present and wait for something that comes later), the former measures a different, simpler trait: motor inhibition, or the ability to stop a movement that is not useful.&nbsp;



“Our results show that different tests, which are widely referred to as tests of self-control actually assess different cognitive abilities,” says co-author Claudia Wascher, an associate professor of Behavioral Ecology at <a href="https://aru.ac.uk/">Anglia Ruskin University</a>.



Further research is needed to assess to what degree can grackles use causal cognition in order to change their behavior in relation to changing circumstances. Better understanding how flexible species react to a changing environment can help inform conservation management plans and facilitate learning how to promote flexibility in animal species that are struggling to adapt to our rapidly changing world.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?id=1301">Animal Behavior and Cognition</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

Great-tailed grackles adapt quickly to changing circumstances

An international team of researchers from Germany, the United States,...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/">University of Adelaide</a> has found the first tangible evidence that the ancestors of two of Australia’s most venomous snakes – a tiger and a brown “elapid” (front-fanged snakes) - arrived by sea rather than by land, which is the most common dispersal route of other Australian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-accelerates-aging-in-fish-amphibians-and-reptiles/">reptiles</a>.



“While we know all marine and semi-marine sea snakes descended from a common Australian land-based ancestor, the origin of Australian elapids has been debated for some time,” said study corresponding author David Adelson, a biologist at the University of Adelaide. “Some believe their ancestors travelled by land, whereas others hold the more contentious view that a marine or semi-marine ancestor swam here.”



By analyzing the genomes of these two elapid species and comparing them to those of marine and semi-marine elapid sea snakes and Asian elapids, Professor Adelson and his colleagues discovered that the ancestor of all Australian elapids seems to have accumulated self-replicating and self-mobilizing genes (“jumping genes”) which were not present in their land relatives but came from another source.



“In our research we found a number of genes that were present in the ancestor of all Australian elapids but could not be traced to a snake ancestor; instead they could be traced to similar transposable gene sequences found in marine life, including fish, sea squirts, sea urchins, bivalves, and turtles,” explained Adelson.



“This indicates the marine environment transferred the new genetic material into the snakes and offers new support to the argument that the first Australian elapids swam to our shores. They must have previously acquired the new genetic material during an ancestral period when they were adapted to marine life.”



The scientists identified 14 transfer events of genetic material from other marine organisms, with eight genes being present only in the marine and semi-marine sea snake genomes. Thus, the major genetic differences between land and marine/semi-marine snakes appears to be a consequence of migration into a marine environment.



“This is the first time that jumping genes have been used to confirm the evolutionary history of any animal species, and this research definitively proved that the common ancestor of all Australian elapids adapted to a marine environment. It may also have made it easier for the subsequent land to marine transition of sea snakes,” Professor Adelson&nbsp;concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/2/217">Genes</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

Ancestors of Australia’s most poisonous snakes arrived by sea

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

Research from the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has highlighted the phenomenon of societal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lowland-tapirs-in-the-atlantic-forest-are-at-risk-of-extinction/">extinction</a> and its potential impact on efforts to conserve biodiversity. When species disappear from society’s collective memory, they cease to be important or to receive attention from the public. Species can disappear from our societies, cultures and discourses at the same time as, or even before, they become biologically extinct. 



According to a quote attributed to both Banksy and Irvin Yalom, “Species go extinct twice – one time when the last individual stops breathing, and a second time when the collective memory about the species disappears.”



The international and interdisciplinary group of scientists found that whether a species will become societally extinct depends on many factors. These can include its charisma, its symbolic or cultural value, whether and how long ago it went extinct, and how distant and isolated its range is from humans.&nbsp;



For example, not many people have heard of the splendid poison frog (Oophaga speciosa) that was declared extinct from its home range in Panama in 2020. Although there is a remote chance that some specimens may be in captive collections, there are none in zoos or in recognized breeding programs. And because this is not a charismatic or culturally important species, it is unlikely that public funds or interest will be generated to attempt breeding and reintroduction projects. Society does not recognize this species as important.



By contrast, when Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), a parrot endemic to Brazil’s Amazon forest, was declared extinct in the wild in 2019, captive breeding programs were well underway. “Blu”, a Spix’s macaw who achieved worldwide fame as a character in the 2011 animated movie Rio, helped to bring an understanding of this species’ plight to the world. As a result of greater public awareness and empathy, the Brazilian federal government’s Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity, together with several partner organizations, established an Action Plan to increase the captive population of the Spix's macaw and begin reintroducing them to the wild.&nbsp;



The fact that children from local communities in the former range of Spix’s macaws incorrectly believed that the species is found in Rio de Janeiro, because of its appearance in the animated movie&nbsp;Rio, is an example of how societal extinction works. As time passes, the knowledge and appreciation of a species is transformed and becomes inaccurate and dislocated from reality.&nbsp;



As more and more species go extinct, they also become isolated from people. This leads to the extinction of experience – the progressive loss of our daily interactions with nature. As time passes such species may fully fade from people’s memories and, as a result, suffer societal extinction as well.



One example presented by the researchers is the replacement of traditional herbal medicine by modern medicine in Europe. This is believed to have degraded general knowledge of many medicinal plants, causing them to become societally extinct. Another example arises from studies conducted among communities in southwestern China and Indigenous people in Bolivia, where people have shown loss of local knowledge and memory of bird species that have become extinct.



Thus, public attention and interest in the fate of endangered species is a crucial prerequisite for effective conservation programs. Societies tend to conserve species they recognize as important. But these factors can only have an impact if people were aware of the species in the first place.&nbsp;



“It is important to note that the majority of species actually cannot become societally extinct, simply because they never had a societal presence to begin with,” said Dr Ivan Jarić, lead author of the study and researcher at the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences.



“This is common in uncharismatic, small, cryptic, or inaccessible species, especially among invertebrates, plants, fungi and microorganisms – many of which are not yet formally described by scientists or known by humankind. Their declines and extinctions remain silent and unseen by the people and societies."



“Societal extinctions can affect conservation efforts aimed at protecting biodiversity because they can diminish our expectations of the environment and our perceptions of its natural state, such as what is the standard or relatively healthy," said study co-author Dr. Josh Firth.



“Societal extinction can reduce our will to pursue ambitious conservation goals. For example, it could reduce public support for rewilding efforts, especially if such species are no longer present in our memory as natural parts of the ecosystem,” added Dr Jarić.&nbsp;



Further research will now assess how societal extinctions can produce false perceptions of the severity of threats to biodiversity and true extinction rates, and diminish public support for conservation and restoration efforts, such as reintroductions of Eurasian beaver to the UK.



The results of the study are published today in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/home">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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

Species suffer a second extinction when society forgets about them

Research from the University of Oxford has highlighted the phenomenon...

The theory of sexual selection, first proposed by Charles Darwin, is often used to understand why male birds have brighter colors or more elaborate adornments than females. These attributes would normally make the males more conspicuous to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fear-of-predators-can-damage-prey-as-much-as-predation-itself/">predators</a>, or less agile when moving around, and could be seen as disadvantages in terms of survival. Darwin proposed that males carrying these “disadvantages” were more often selected as mates by females, who thus drove the selection for these features.



In a new study, researchers used a genetic analysis of male yellowthroats to investigate the link between conspicuous coloration and genes for enhanced survival, such as for robust immunity or stress resistance.&nbsp;This type of investigation has only become possible in the past five years, due to advances in DNA analysis technology.



Yellowthroats are small songbirds that have olive backs, wings and tails but bright yellow throats. In addition to having bold yellow patches on their chests, males also have a very noticeable black mask that runs from the sides of the face, across the eyes and up to the forehead. These features stand out, visually, and certainly make male yellowthroats very conspicuous. The aim of the study was to find out whether the size of these adornments signals the presence of male genes that are superior in terms of survival.&nbsp;



The research involved a comparative study of two different populations of yellowthroats. Peter Dunn and Linda Whittingham at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, tracked female preferences for male ornaments in&nbsp;Wisconsin, while Corey&nbsp;Freeman-Gallant at Skidmore College studied preferences in&nbsp;upstate New York.&nbsp;&nbsp;Interestingly, the females in these two populations prefer different male ornaments.&nbsp;



“We found that the particular ornaments that females tended to prefer in each of our locations didn’t match,” said Dunn, distinguished professor of biological sciences, “even though both characteristics are found among males in both areas.”&nbsp;



Females in the Wisconsin population preferentially selected males with a large black facial mask, while females in the New York population chose males with large yellow “bibs.”&nbsp;



To investigate the relationship between these sexually selected ornaments and genes that influence male fitness, the researchers analyzed the genetic basis of the ornaments in birds with larger-sized features. They found that, despite being produced by different pigments in different parts of the body, the size of the ornament preferred by females in each population was linked to numerous genes that influence&nbsp;beneficial survival traits.



This finding indicates that a large, yellow chest patch or a large black mask present in a male actually signals the presence of other genes for enhanced fitness in that male. A female choosing to mate with a male having a large ornament of this type would thus be choosing superior genes for her offspring.&nbsp;



There have been very few studies that examined the female appeal of male ornaments in different populations. Dunn refers to studies of swallows that indicate females in some locations prefer longer tails, while in other locations they preferentially select males with browner bellies.&nbsp;And even fewer studies have investigated the size of ornaments at the level of genes.



“With this study, we not only found genes related to ornaments, but we also showed that similar genes can be linked to different types of ornaments in different populations,” Dunn said. “It brings us much closer to understanding the function of ornaments.”



The findings don’t explain why the females have different preferences geographically, said Dunn, but they have implications for evolution. The availability of more than one ornament as a mating signal allows females to potentially respond to a different choice if their environment changes.



Although theory predicts that flashy or large ornaments in males are present because they are selected for by females, this may not always be true. Ornaments may also be present because they serve some other purpose, for example antlers and horns may be used in conflicts between males. For this reason, it was necessary to prove the link between female selection of features and the presence of genes for enhanced fitness.



“What we consider flashy characteristics may not be limited to mate choice. For example, they may be used in interactions between two males,” explained Dunn.



In this study, the presence of large ornaments was related to the presence of superior genes and therefore an enhanced chance of survival in offspring. Even though females from the two populations selected different ornaments in males, both of these ornaments were linked to the same superior genes. By choosing males with large ornaments, the females were thus also choosing the best possible genetic input for their offspring.&nbsp;



Nicholas Sly, a&nbsp;postdoctoral researcher at UW-Milwaukee,&nbsp;was first author on the research paper.&nbsp;



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



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

Female yellowthroats choose flashy features in superior males

The theory of sexual selection, first proposed by Charles Darwin,...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/">Nottingham Trent University</a>, experts warn that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-have-provided-support-during-the-pandemic/">dogs</a> are not the only pets that are susceptible to heat exhaustion. The researchers found that small pets such as rabbits, cats, guinea pigs have an increasingly high risk of heatstroke as global temperatures rise. 



In collaboration with experts at the University of Liverpool, the researchers analyzed data on dogs and small animals that were taken to a group of UK vets between 2013 and 2018.



The results of the analysis showed that dogs were the most frequent victims of heatstroke, with 146 cases on record. In about 75 percent of cases, the dogs became overheated during exercise, while seven percent of the dogs had been trapped in a hot car.



According to the study, bulldogs and other flat-faced dogs are particularly vulnerable to heat exhaustion, as these pets were involved in 20 percent of the heatstroke cases.&nbsp;



The greatest number of heat stroke cases among cats were tied to older cats over the age of 15. Guinea pigs, rabbits and a pet ferret had also been treated for heatstroke.



“There is a misconception that heatstroke in pets only relates to dogs in hot cars and we need to do more to raise awareness of risk factors not only for dogs but in the wider pet population," said study co-author Dr. Anne Carter.



“Owners of small animals such as rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs may need to review their pet’s housing and take steps to keep their pets cool in the warmer months to reduce the risk of heatstroke.”



The most common symptoms shared by the heatstroke victims included abnormal breathing, lethargy, collapsing, and diarrhea.



The researchers noted that cats seek out warm areas to sleep and can become trapped in greenhouses and sheds. The study authors also pointed out that caged pets are at risk of heatstroke due to confinement in hot accommodation, such as when their housing provides limited access to shade or cooler temperatures.



The researchers say their findings highlight the need for better public awareness of heatstroke and the risk to all animals, and warn that cases will continue to rise as global warming continues.&nbsp;



“Heat-related illness can affect all pets and is likely to become more common as global temperatures rise," said study co-author Emily Hall. “Our findings highlight the need for better public awareness of heatstroke and the risk to all animals."



“The fact that brachycephalic (flat-faced) dogs and rabbits were overrepresented in our study suggests that owners of these animals should be particularly vigilant during hot weather.”



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.openveterinaryjournal.com/">Open Veterinary Journal</a>.



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

Small pets have a high risk of heatstroke

In a new study from Nottingham Trent University, experts warn...

<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.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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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;



---



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;



---



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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