Sebecid fossils are changing everything we thought we knew about the ancient Caribbean. Imagine a crocodile built like a greyhound - tall, fast, and fully land-dwelling. These agile predators, some stretching up to 20 feet long, once ruled South American landscapes after the extinction of the dinosaurs.



Scientists believed they vanished around 11 million years ago. But a surprising discovery in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/caribbean-salt-affects-global-climate-study-reveals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Caribbean</a> tells a different story - one that begins with a few unusual fossilized teeth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-fossil-discovery-changed-the-story">A fossil discovery changed the story</h2>



Back in the 1990s, scientists discovered a pair of fossilized teeth in Cuba. The teeth, about 18 million years old, were serrated and sharp - built for tearing meat.



Then came another one in Puerto Rico, dated to 29 million years ago. The shape of these fossils clearly pointed to a large predator. 



But researchers were baffled. Until then, they thought the Caribbean had no land predators of that size. Without more bones to go on, the mystery sat unsolved.



Then in early 2023, something changed. A new fossil tooth turned up in the Dominican Republic, but this time it came with two vertebrae. It was a small clue, but it changed everything. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-large-predators-in-the-caribbean">Large predators in the Caribbean </h2>



The fossils confirmed the presence of a sebecid. That meant the Caribbean had been a safe haven for these large, land-based predators. They were still roaming these islands five million years after disappearing everywhere else.



This new discovery comes from a research team led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Florida</a>. 



“That emotion of finding the fossil and realizing what it is, it’s indescribable,” said Lazaro Viñola Lopez, the study's lead author.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crocodiles-that-ran-like-dinosaurs">Crocodiles that ran like dinosaurs</h2>



Sebecids were part of a long-extinct family of crocodile relatives called notosuchians. Unlike <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-amphibians-swam-like-modern-crocodiles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">modern crocodiles</a> that lurk in rivers and swamps, sebecids were fully land-dwelling. 



They ran on strong limbs and hunted like the carnivorous dinosaurs that came before them. Some were enormous. 



Sebecids had armored bodies with tough bony plates beneath their skin. Their teeth were made for slashing meat, not catching fish.



When the mass extinction 66 million years ago wiped out most life, only the sebecids from the notosuchian line managed to survive in South America. With <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nuclear-winter-dinosaurs-were-likely-killed-by-dust/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dinosaurs</a> gone, they rose to dominate the food chain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sebecids-may-have-crossed-the-sea">Sebecids may have crossed the sea</h2>



How did a sebecid get to the Caribbean? The ocean has always been a serious barrier for land animals. That’s where the GAARlandia hypothesis comes in. 



The theory suggests there was once a chain of temporary land bridges or stepping-stone islands between South America and the Caribbean. 



These paths may have allowed animals like sebecids to migrate and settle. If the other teeth found across the Caribbean also belonged to sebecids, it means these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-climate-change-drove-the-rapid-evolution-of-reptiles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reptiles</a> weren’t just visitors. They were long-term residents.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-land-bridges-reshaped-ecosystems">Land bridges reshaped ecosystems </h2>



The land bridges may have shaped island ecosystems for millions of years. Now that they’re gone, smaller animals like birds, snakes, and native crocodiles have taken their place.



“You wouldn’t have been able to predict this looking at the modern ecosystem,” said a paleontologist from the Florida Museum of Natural History. 



“The presence of a large predator is really different than we imagined before, and it’s exciting to think about what might be discovered next in the Caribbean fossil record as we explore back further in time.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fossil-secrets-of-the-caribbean">Fossil secrets of the Caribbean </h2>



Scientists often describe islands as natural museums. Their isolation makes them safe places for rare plants and animals to hang on after they’ve vanished elsewhere. But the Caribbean still holds many sebecid secrets - especially from deep in the past.



Until now, most Caribbean fossils have been found in caves and water-filled sinkholes called blue holes. Caves protect bones from the elements, while blue holes prevent decay by cutting off oxygen. 



These places have been valuable but only give a narrow view into recent biodiversity. They don’t tell us much about ancient species like sebecids.



Today, researchers are switching tactics. Instead of relying on caves and sinkholes, they’re going after older fossils in harder-to-reach spots.



“This is like a renaissance,” said Viñola-Lopez, describing the new wave of excitement in Caribbean paleontology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vanishing-fossil-sites">Vanishing fossil sites </h2>



In the Caribbean, fossil sites vanish quickly. Rain, wind, and forests erase rocky outcrops fast. When workers cut new roads or dig into hills, researchers have to act fast. 



That’s how the sebecid fossils were found. Road work in the Dominican Republic exposed the fossil bed just in time.



A graduate student from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez was studying the rocks in the area and spotted the site. He notified his colleagues, and soon after, the team from the University of Florida arrived to excavate the bones.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-surprises-to-come">More surprises to come</h2>



The sebecid fossils are only one piece of a much larger puzzle. In recent years, researchers have also found the first signs of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mosasaurs-had-fierce-survival-strategies-including-cannibalism/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mosasaurs</a> - massive sea reptiles - in the Caribbean. 



The experts have identified the region’s oldest ground sloth fossils. And new work is hinting that early human arrival may have led to the extinction of native rodents.



It’s clear there’s more to uncover. “The sebecid is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Viñola-Lopez. And with more eyes now turned to the Caribbean, who knows what ancient giants might turn up next?



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.2891" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.



Image Credit: Illustration by Jorge Machuky



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Giant crocodile in the Caribbean? Fossils reveal a lost apex predator

Sebecid fossils are changing everything we thought we knew about the ancient Caribbean. Imagine a crocodile built like a greyhound - tall, fast, and fully land-dwelling. These agile predators, some stretching up to 20 feet long, once ruled South American landscapes after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Scientists believed they vanished around 11 million years ago. But a surprising discovery in the Caribbean tells a different story - one that begins with a few unusual fossilized teeth. A fossil discovery changed the story Back in the 1990s,...

Figure2_pterosaur_PeerJ

Some flying reptiles of the late Jurassic were filter feeders. Researchers at <a href="https://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a> have found the first evidence of filter-feeding among pterosaurs during the Late Jurassic. The study has revealed that the diets and feeding behaviors of pterosaurs were similar to those of modern <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/flamingos-comeback-florida/">flamingos</a>.

Pterosaurs were a diverse group of flying reptiles that existed during the age of dinosaurs. Fossil evidence indicates that they adapted to different lifestyles and feeding habits like modern birds.

Many marine animals, such as flamingos, use filter-feeding to separate food from water. An abundance of microscopically-small aquatic prey remains can be found in the feces of flamingos. 

Fossilized droppings, or coprolites, are surprisingly common and often hold valuable information about the diets of extinct animals. However, it can be challenging to know which animal produced the droppings.

In the current study, the researchers analyzed the contents of three coprolites collected from a surface in the Wierzbica Quarry in Poland. The coprolites were discovered alongside an abundance of pterosaur footprints. This, along with their size and shape, suggests that the droppings were produced by a group of pterosaurs called Ctenochasmatidae.

The coprolites were scanned using synchrotron microtomography, which made it possible to image the contents of the fossils in three dimensions. The scans revealed many microscopic food remains, including small shells of marine invertebrates and possible remains of polychaete worms. 

Foraminifera, small amoeboid protists with external shells, were also found in the coprolites. The modern Chilean flamingo is known to produce droppings full of foraminifera after feeding in coastal wetlands.Some flying reptiles of the late Jurassic were filter feeders

"A reasonable explanation for how a pterosaur big enough to have produced the droppings ingested such small prey is through filter feeding," explained study co-author Martin Qvarnström.

"The similar contents of the droppings of these flamingos and the pterosaur coprolites could be explained by similar feeding environments and mesh sizes of the filter-feeding apparatus. It appears therefore that the pterosaurs which produced the footprints and droppings found in Poland were indeed the flamingos of the Late Jurassic."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/">PeerJ</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Qvarnström et al

Some flying reptiles of the late Jurassic were filter feeders

Some flying reptiles of the late Jurassic were filter feeders....

Humans aren’t the only animals to worry about high cholesterol – at least, not anymore. It turns out donuts, bacon and other discarded junk food may be leading to higher crow cholesterol rates. 

Birds like crows and other animals that have adapted to city environments often do well because they’ve learned to scavenge human food. But, a team of <a href="https://www.hamilton.edu/">Hamilton College</a> researchers wondered, are all those leftover fries, chips, burgers and other food waste items good for them?

Led by Dr. Andrea Townsend, they took blood samples of 140 crow nestlings in California – some rural, some in high-population areas of large cities, and some from areas along the spectrum between the two. They also tracked the young birds’ survival rates.

The researchers found more birds had high cholesterol within California’s cities. To test their theory, the researchers fed a group of rural nestlings in New York a supply of burgers from McDonald’s, then tested. They found higher crow cholesterol among the fast food eaters than nearby nestlings who fended for themselves.

"Feeding wild birds can be a great way to connect with nature, and it can be a refreshing change to think that we're doing something that helps animals out,” Townsend said. “At the same time, though, I do worry that some of the foods that humans give to wild animals, and living in an urban environment in general, might not be good for their health."

However, researchers aren’t sure how much high cholesterol affects bird health. Survival rates for the urban California nestlings was lower, but it didn’t seem to be linked to cholesterol rates. In rural New York, the burger-binging birds actually scored higher on their body condition than their neighbors.

"Despite all the bad press that it gets, cholesterol has benefits and serves a lot of essential functions," Townsend said. "It's an important part of our cell membranes and a component of some crucial hormones. We know that excessive cholesterol causes disease in humans, but we don't know what level would be 'excessive' in a wild bird."

Still, that doesn’t mean that higher crow cholesterol isn’t dangerous, the researchers warned. And <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-feeders-dangerous/">too much help from humans</a> can actually harm bird populations. 

"Wild birds haven't evolved to eat processed food, and it might have negative consequences that we didn't measure, or that will only show up over longer periods of time," Townsend said.

The study has been published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/condor/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/condor/duz040">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: Dr. Andrea Townsend, Hamilton College

Does crow cholesterol show city living isn't for the birds?

Humans aren’t the only animals to worry about high cholesterol...

To humans a whimpering puppy sounds just as sad as a crying baby. The whimpers, whines, meows, and cries of our furry, four-legged friends are just as sad to human ears as the cries from a baby, according to a new study. 

Researchers from <a href="https://international.au.dk/">Aarhus University</a> in collaboration with the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>, the <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/">University of California, Los Angeles</a>, and <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King’s College of London</a> found that pet owners’ devotion and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-comfort-owners-upset/">emotional attachment</a> has increased sensitivity to specific vocalizations that signal pain or sadness. 

A whimpering dog has the same effect on pet owners as the sound of a crying baby, the results showed. 

The study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.181555">Royal Society Open Science</a> and was part of a larger effort to compile a database of sounds that emotionally resonate with people. 

For the study, 264 dog or cat owners and 297 people who did not own pets were asked to rate the valence of animal distress sounds, or how positive or negative the sounds were. Pet owners rated the dog and cat whines as more negative than those who didn’t own pets. To humans a whimpering puppy sounds just as sad as a crying baby

Cat meows were saddest to cat owners, but both cat and dog owners thought dog whines were more distressing than a cat meowing. 

The reason dog owners may be more attuned and sensitive to a dog whimpering is that in general, dog owners spend more time attending to their pet’s needs than cat owners. Cats are relatively independent, whereas dogs need walks, exercise, and training. 

“The result suggests that dogs, more effectively than cats, communicate distress to humans and that pet ownership is linked to greater emotional sensitivity to these sounds,” said Christine Parson, the first author of the study. 

Because dogs are so dependent on their owners for their needs, care, and attention, they may have evolved the ability to communicate distress more effectively than other pets. 

“This difference in animal dependence may explain why dog whines are rated as more negative than cat meows by all adults, including cat-owners,” said Katherine Young, a senior author of the study. “Dogs may simply have more effective distress signals than cats.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/gostua

To humans a whimpering puppy sounds just as sad as a crying baby

To humans a whimpering puppy sounds just as sad as...

Stegosaurus is one of those iconic dinosaurs, following in the same fossilized footprints as Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. With its impressive rows of bony plates on its back and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-tails-weapons/">spiky tail</a>, it’s not hard to see why the plant-eating stegosaurus is so popular among dinosaur lovers. 

In a new discovery, paleontologists have identified a new species of stegosaurus, and it’s the oldest of its kind ever found. The species was described from fossils excavated in Middle Atlas mountains in Morocco. 

The discovery shows that the stegosaurus is older and had a much wider geographic range than previously realized. 

A few vertebrae and an upper arm bone are all that were found, but a team of paleontologists led by Susannah Maidment from the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">Natural History Museum</a> in London was able to determine that the bones were about 168 million years old and the specimen belonged to an entirely new species and genus. 

The researchers called the new species Adratiklit boulahfa which means “mountain lizard” in the Berber language. 

“The discovery of A. boulahfa is particularly exciting as we have dated it to the Middle Jurassic,” Maidment said. “Most known stegosaurs date from later in the Jurassic Period, making this the oldest definite stegosaur described and helping to increase our understanding of the evolution of this group of dinosaurs.”

Adratiklit boulahfa is the first stegosaurus discovered in North Africa. Both the specimen’s location and age are of great interest to the scientific community, and the find could help inform our understanding of not only stegosaurus but what geographic formations allowed the dinosaurs to inhabit such a wide range. 

The researchers published their findings in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1342937X19302217">Gondwana Research.</a>

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/Daniel Eskridge

Stegosaurus fossil may be the oldest ever discovered

Stegosaurus is one of those iconic dinosaurs, following in the...

A new study comparing 2,062 birds completed by biologists at <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University</a> shows that birds tend to have larger or smaller brains relative to their body size. 

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/migrations-birds-risk-safety-nap/">Birds</a> with smaller brains usually have larger bodies and use ecological survival strategies, like eating readily available food and focusing on reproduction, in comparison to large-brained, smaller-bodied birds who adapt quickly to changing environments by using flexible behavioral responses.

This new research is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

"The fact is that there are a great many species that do quite well with small brains," said Trevor Fristoe, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University, now at the <a href="https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/">University of Konstanz</a> in Germany. "What's really interesting is that we don't see any middle ground here. The resident species with intermediate brain size are almost completely absent from high latitude (colder and more climatically variable) environments. The species that don't go all in on either of the extreme strategies are forced to migrate to more benign climates during the winter."

Scientists have hypothesized that animals benefit from having a large brain because they are able to be flexible and appropriately respond to different conditions like temperature swings and fluctuating food availability.

"Having a large brain is typically associated with strong energetic demands and a slower life-history," said co-author Carlos Botero, assistant professor of biology in Arts &amp; Sciences. "Free from these constraints, species with small brains can exhibit traits and lifestyles that are never seen in larger-brained ones. What we found is that alternative ecological strategies that either increase or decrease investments in brain tissue are equally capable of coping with the challenges of living in high-latitude environments.”

When it comes to relative brain size, prior studies have found trends toward larger relative brain sizes in higher latitudes where environmental conditions are more unstable, thus aligning with the previous brain-size hypothesis.

However, Fristoe and Botero looked at the full distribution of brain sizes across environments, thus allowing them to assess whether different brain sizes are over- or under-represented. They found that at higher latitudes, bird brain size is seemingly bimodal, meaning that birds’ brains are more likely to be relatively large or relatively small compared to their body size.

And small brains may be more beneficial than big brains.

"In our paper, we find that small-brained species in these environments employ strategies that are unachievable with a large brain," Fristoe said. "First, these species are able to persist by foraging on readily available but difficult to digest resources such as dormant plant buds, the needles of conifers, or even twigs.”

"These foods can be found even during harsh winter conditions, but they are fibrous and require a large gut to digest," he continued. "Gut tissue, like brain tissue, is energetically demanding, and limited budgets mean that it is challenging to maintain a lot of both.”

"We also found that these species have high reproductive rates, producing many offspring every year," Fristoe said. "This would allow their populations to recover from high mortality during particularly challenging conditions. Because big-brained species tend to invest more time in raising fewer offspring, this is a strategy that is not available to them."

"Brains are not evolving in isolation — they are part of a broader suite of adaptations that help organisms be successful in their lives," Botero said. "Because of trade-offs between different aspects of that total phenotype, we find that two different lineages may respond to selection from environmental oscillations in completely different ways.”

"Given that our own species uses its brain to cope with these changes, it is not really surprising that biologists, ourselves included, have historically exhibited a bias toward thinking about environmental variability as a force that drives the expansion of brain size," Botero continued. "But the interesting thing that we find here is that when we take a broader view, we realize that other strategies also work — and remarkably, the alternative here involves making a brain actually smaller!"

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Trevor Fristoe

Bird species either have big guts or big brains

A new study comparing 2,062 birds completed by biologists at...

Research proves that the ‘crazy cat lady’ stereotype is false. After psychoanalyzing the emotional health of individuals with and without pets, a team of researchers at <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/">UCLA</a> has determined that it is time to put the "crazy cat lady" stereotype to rest. The study revealed that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cat-owners-hunting-wildlife/">cat owners</a> are no more "crazy" than anyone else.

"We found no evidence to support the 'cat lady' stereotype: cat-owners did not differ from others on self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or their experiences in close relationships," wrote the study authors.

The study was focused on the mental health of 264 young adults with cats, dogs, or both. For comparison, the team also evaluated 297 young adults who had no pets.     

The researchers analyzed the potential link between pet ownership and mental health-related or social difficulties, and also observed how the participants reacted to distress calls from animals. 

The experts said that their findings do not support the idea that cat owners tend to be mentally unstable or lonely. In 2017, researchers at University College London came to a similar conclusion. They could not find any evidence that cat ownership is linked with the development of psychotic symptoms.

The UCLA study also demonstrated that cat and dog owners were more likely to react with empathy when they heard the distress calls of an animal. Pet owners were found to be more emotional than people without pets when they heard dog whimpers or cat meows.

"We found several subtle differences between how adults with and without pets generally rated animal vocalizations," said the study authors. 

A growing collection of research has found that caring for a cat or dog has a positive impact on mental health, helping to relieve depression, anxiety, and stress. In addition, pets provide companionship, boost physical activity, and ease loneliness.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Alena Ozerova

Research proves that the ‘crazy cat lady’ stereotype is false

Research proves that the ‘crazy cat lady’ stereotype is false....

Three days after herpetologist Andrés Charrier discovered a critically endangered species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-loneliest-water-frog-love/">water frog </a>in Chile had disappeared from the now dried up single stream they were known to inhabit, he and a team of conservationists lept into action to understand what had happened, and more importantly, where the frogs had gone. 

As Charrier started examining the Loa water frog’s habitat, likely dried up due to illegal water extraction through mining or agriculture, he discovered a muddy pond and buried in the muck were several live, malnourished, and sickly water frogs. 

“We had a choice to make,” Charrier told <a href="https://www.globalwildlife.org/blog/the-loa-down-how-a-small-team-is-taking-heroic-measures-for-a-species-of-frog-barely-holding-on/">Global Wildlife Conservation</a>.  “As scientists, we could either do something or we could leave the frogs there to die and then publish a paper about the extinction of the Loa Water Frog. We decided to do something.”

The frogs, 14 in total and what may very well be the last remaining of the species, were relocated to the National Zoo of Chile. Currently, specialists at the zoo are working on caring for the frogs and helping them recover. 

The Loa water frogs lived in a stream in the middle of the Atacama desert near the city of Calama. When their habitat had all but dried up, the researchers needed to make a plan. 

The hope is that the National Zoo of Chile can start a breeding program to conserve and protect the species. 

“The first big challenge is to help these frogs survive, and while the rescue was the best chance to save the Loa water frog, there are always risks with trying to care for a new species—especially when the animals are already struggling,” said Alejandra Montalba, director of the National Zoo of Chile.  “That’s the main goal right now, and later we need to be able to breed them.” 

Conservationists are also calling on the Chilean government to implement policies to restore the water frog’s habitat and stop activities that pose a threat to the Loa water frog’s survival. 

Protecting the Loa water frogs and 63 other species of water frogs found in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina is vital, but it’s not just water frogs that are in danger if watersheds dry up. 

“What will happen to the frogs in Chile will happen to the people here in the not too distant future,” said Charrier, “If the frogs from the high mountains from Santiago start dying because their rivers go dry, we will have no water to drink in Santiago. These connections are critical.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a><a href="https://www.earth.com/">, Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Claudio Soto Azat/Global Wildlife Conservation

Rescue mission evacuated the last of the world’s Loa water frogs in Chile

Three days after herpetologist Andrés Charrier discovered a critically endangered...

LandShark Lager is a summer beer made for beaches and barbecues in warm weather or fishing trips. It is classified as an island lager, a good beer to drink with a slice of lime or lemon. But now, LandShark is joining <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breweries-conserve-western-river-habitat/">other breweries</a> who’ve recently given money to environmental charities. 

Breweries have given money to everything from trails and public land organizations to wildlife and water conservation groups. Keeping with the idea of beaches and the nearby oceans as well as their name, LandShark is also giving money to shark conservation.

LandShark is donating money to <a href="https://www.sharkangels.com">Shark Angels</a> by symbolically ‘adopting’ 100 sharks. According to Shark Angels, money from shark ‘adoptions’ is used to educate the public about sharks as well as campaign for laws to protect sharks, such as laws making ‘finning’ sharks illegal. Finning is the brutal and wasteful practice of catching a shark just to cut off it’s dorsal fin for soup and throwing the animal back to die a slow death. 

Of course, sharks also face threats from overfishing, habitat destruction and global climate change, but direct fishing of sharks is one of the most immediate threats. Shark overfishing can be remedied through a mix of educating the public and new laws, at least that’s the idea behind organizations like Shark Angels. Partnering with a brewery like LandShark is a win-win for both the brewery and shark conservation, giving good publicity to both. 

“We are beyond thrilled to have LandShark partner with us in order to further our mission and help drive the movement to save sharks and our oceans,” Jamie Pollack, Shark Angel’s Executive Director, said in a press release. “This donation will be used to further our educational programs and help empower the next generation of shark ambassadors around the world.”

LandShark is also giving away a trip for two to the Margaritaville Resort in Hollywood Beach, Florida that culminates in a shark dive. A close experience with another animal in the wild is one of the best ways to promote understanding and empathy for that animal. Empathy and real world protection are needed more than ever for sharks.

As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-threatened-fishing-boats/">Earth.com</a> recently reported, research shows that almost 25% of shark habitat lies within fishing areas. This means that on average sharks spend two to six months per year foraging in high fishing areas. In high fishing areas, sharks are subject to greater threats from being caught directly to declines caused by overfishing of prey species. 

Sharks are essential to and abundant in most healthy marine environments in the world. Despite their importance, there’s almost no real protection for sharks in international waters and a fish so profitable and easily demonized is at great threat. Being killed as incidental by-catch is also a major threat posed by fishing to sharks.   

<a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/30-percent-of-sharks-rays-and-related-species-at-risk-of-extinction/">Scientific American</a> reported in 2014 that over 30% of all cartilaginous fish species – that is sharks, rays and their relatives – are in danger of extinction. Another 46% of fishes in the group lack in scientific data necessary to assess their risk of extinction. This leaves less than 25% of the cartilaginous fishes thought to be safe from extinction, making them the most endangered group of vertebrates in the world. This is disturbing when you consider that this is also one of the oldest, most widespread and ecologically important group of vertebrates alive today as well. 

Sharks are also a very international group, found all over the world and individuals of certain species known to travel long distances across international waters. This is why Land Shark’s involvement in shark conservation is important.

Florida is a great place to experience sharks, too. Diving with sharks if done with a reputable business is a safe and ethical way to see the fishes relatively close and on their own terms. It’s also exciting because there’s no guarantee which sharks (or other wildlife) you might see on a dive, animals or course, come and go as they please, with some sightings being more likely than others.  

According to the <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg062">University of Florida</a>, there are twelve species of sharks common to the waters off the coast of Florida. Sharks in the area range from the iconic tiger shark and scalloped and great hammerhead sharks to the sharp nose shark that only reaches two to four feet in length. The sandbar shark migrates to Florida’s sandbars to mate in early spring, often staying into October. Brightly colored lemon sharks are protected and are common catch and release sharks in Florida. 

Bull sharks tolerate fresh water better than many of their cousins and sometimes swim far upstream in rivers like the Amazon and Mississippi, they’re also found off Florida. Bonnethead sharks swim continuously and are a shy shark, harmless to people. 

These are just some of the sharks found off Florida and a small chunk of the more than <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/sharks">500 shark species</a> swimming the world’s oceans ranging from less than a foot long to the enormous whale shark. Diving with a few sharks gives only a tiny glimpse into an amazing world of fishes that predate humans by a few hundred million years and live in a world we usually only skim along the surface of. A glimpse of that world, however brief, can be enticing.

If a high adrenaline shark diving trip isn’t your thing, there’s still plenty everyone can do to learn more about sharks and plenty of organizations working on behalf of these amazing animals. You can directly support those charities or even just crack open a beer to enjoy on the beach and consider the beautiful life out beneath the waves, including sharks.            

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Matt9122

LandShark Lager gets serious about shark conservation

LandShark Lager is a summer beer made for beaches and...

Fiddler <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/95-million-year-crab-cousin/">crabs</a> can see the polarization of light, which helps give them an advantage over their predators, and new research has discovered how crabs process this information in the brain. 

Light is an electromagnetic wave. If you think of these waves moving or vibrating in different directions, vertically and horizontally, light polarization is where the light is only traveling in one defined direction, or on a single plane. 

The fiddler crab uses this light polarizing ability to watch out for rival crabs or evade a predator. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> investigated the underlying mechanisms that allow the fiddler crab to see the polarization of light and it all boils down to being able to separate polarization and brightness information when an approaching object is detected. 

The researchers used a special computer monitor system to test how fiddler crabs respond to objects. The monitor allowed the researchers to change brightness and polarization levels of different visual stimuli to see what combinations canceled the other out. 

To the human eye, the way we see the polarization of light also impacts brightness. 

“If you look through Polaroid sunglasses at the sky, you will notice that the brightness changes when you tilt your head,” said Sam Smithers, an author of the study. “This is because the light from the sky is polarised and your sunglasses allow you to see differences in polarisation as differences in brightness.” 

For the fiddler crab, separate visual channels allow the crab to process a broader range of information and light polarization has no impact on brightness. 

[caption id="attachment_1876870" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Fiddler-crabs-can-separate-light-polarization-and-brightness-.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1876870" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Fiddler-crabs-can-separate-light-polarization-and-brightness-.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="500" /></a> Fiddler crab Afruca tangeri. Image Credit: Kate Feller, University of Minnesota[/caption]

“For our experiments we tested whether fiddler crabs see the same effect,” said Smithers. “However, we discovered that the crabs detect polarisation in a completely different way to this and polarisation has no effect on how the crabs detect the brightness of a scene.”

Future research will focus on how brightness and polarization are processed in deeper recesses of the brain to see why and how one might provide an advantage over the other.

The study was published in the journal Science Advances. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Wuttichok Panichiwarapun

Fiddler crabs can separate light polarization and brightness

Fiddler crabs can see the polarization of light, which helps...

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s Disease, was once feared to be highly contagious but is now known to be a curable bacteria disease that is not easily transmitted. Research suggests that 95% of humans are immune to leprosy, making it a mystery how the disease is spread at all. 

According to the <a href="https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/contagious-skin-diseases/leprosy">American Academy of Dermatology</a>, a healthy person must have months of contact with an infected person to catch leprosy. Often thought of in the context of biblical times, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leprosy">World Health Organization</a> (WHO), there were 211,009 new cases of leprosy reported globally in 2017. 

Leprosy is a strange disease that may show symptoms within a year or may be asymptomatic for up to 20 years. Although <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/amazonian-armadillos-leprosy/">leprosy</a> is often thought of as exotic or ancient, there are still cases of the disease in the US even as it remains rare. Most leprosy cases in the US are from people who traveled abroad and caught the disease from another person. Perhaps the most interesting and tragic history of leprosy in the US comes from Hawaii, starting before the islands were even part of the US.

In a remote part of the island of Molokai, 8,000 patients were kept in misguided isolation from the outside world to stop the spread of leprosy. According to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kala/pdf/B3LepHawaii.pdf">National Park Service</a>, the leper colony was created by an act of the legislative assembly of the Hawaiian island, approved by King Kamehameha V. 

The new law made isolation in the leper colony compulsory. The last few leper patients in the colony still remain; according to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/hawaii-still-has-a-leprosy-colony-with-six-patients?ref=scroll">The Daily Beast</a>, there are still six patients. Patients were allowed to transfer to other medical facilities in 1969 but some preferred their isolated home. 

Initially, the leper colony was not provided with food but instead expected to farm the lands. Over time, the isolated colony grew into a community with churches, marriages and children who upon birth were removed for adoption outside the colony. The case of the Molokai leprosy colony illustrates the hysteria and confusion surrounding the disease. Although leprosy isn’t easily spread from one person to another, it can and is carried across national borders by travelers. 

No one is quite sure how leprosy came to Hawaii; the only certainty is that before contact with the outside world, Hawaii was free of the disease. Most likely, leprosy came to Hawaii by traders or others that visited the islands from outside. Another idea is that a Hawaiian chief travelled abroad and brought the disease back with him. Either way, the establishment of leprosy and its spread throughout several islands combined with a history of fear to cause the forced isolation. 

Fear and forced isolation of leprosy patients has lingered in many parts of the world. The <a href="https://www.leprosy.org/leprosy-history/">Leprosy Foundation</a> reports that it wasn’t until 1996 that forced isolation of patients was abolished in Japan. Another leper colony where people were confined in the US was in Louisiana. Lepers in the Louisiana colony weren’t allowed to vote until the right was restored in 1946, according to the <a href="https://www.hrsa.gov/hansens-disease/history.html">Health Resources &amp; Services Administration</a>. Patients in the colony were guarded as prisoners and called ‘inmates’ until being allowed to leave for two month periods in the 1970s, and eventually the colony became an outpatient treatment facility in the 1980s. 

The fact that the second leper colony in the US was in Louisiana is an important fact because leprosy is more prevalent in the southeastern US than any other part of the country. 

The southeast is a stronghold for leprosy due to another strange quirk in its natural history. Although the disease isn’t easily transferred to another person, there is one animal that is a ready carrier for the bacteria that cause leprosy. 

It was discovered in 2011 that armadillos actually carry the bacteria that causes leprosy and eventually contract the disease symptoms as humans do. Armadillos are the only other known animal (besides humans) to carry the disease. Nine-banded armadillos are only found in the southern US. Research suggests that the armadillos in the southwest don’t carry the disease but this doesn’t exclude parts of Texas. Of course, armadillos are found outside of the United States as well.

<a href="https://cvmbs.source.colostate.edu/new-evidence-that-wild-armadillos-spread-leprosy-to-humans/">Colorado State University</a> (CSU) reported last year that researchers found 62% of armadillos in the western Brazilian state of Pará were infected with the bacteria that causes leprosy. The rates of leprosy in Brazilian armadillos are three times higher than those in Louisiana or Texas. Furthermore, the research showed that people who kill, hunt or eat armadillos are at a greater risk of contracting leprosy. 

Considering the rates of infection in the southeastern US, it’s likely that people there also face a greater risk of infection from hunting or eating armadillos as well. Taking this into account, it’s easy to see why armadillos might be demonized as disease reservoirs. 

Although it’s true that armadillos carry leprosy, researchers believe that humans first transmitted leprosy (an old world disease) to armadillos (new world animals). Leprosy was first brought to Brazil by the slave trade more than 500 years ago and later spread to armadillos. 

A recent report in <a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-humans-gave-leprosy-armadillos.html">The Conversation</a> shows evidence that armadillos in the United States were only infected with leprosy since the 1960s. Although it’s unknown how armadillos were first infected by humans, it’s possible the small mammal first contracted the disease by digging in infected soil. 

Armadillos often dig for food or to create burrows. Leprosy and armadillos seems a strange case of humans spreading a disease to an animal and then catching it from that animal through hunting. So although many people seek to eradicate armadillos due to misunderstanding the odd little creature, doing so may actually increase the risk of leprosy. 

It seems the best way to prevent catching leprosy is to leave the shy, armored mammal alone and simply observe them from a reasonable distance. Perhaps humans can learn a bit about zoonotic disease as well as dehumanizing hysteria by looking at the history of leprosy in the new world. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Heiko Kiera

The strange story of armadillos and leprosy in the Americas

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s Disease, was once feared to...

Just a few years ago, there was a significant decline in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/drinking-stations-koala-bears-hydrated/">koala</a> population of Cape Otway in Victoria, Australia. 

“In 2013 the koala population reached very high densities, leading them to defoliate their preferred food tree species, manna gum,” explains Dr. Michaela Blyton of the <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/">University of Queensland</a>, an author on a new study published in <a href="https://animalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com/">Animal Microbiome</a>. “This led to 70 per cent mortality due to starvation, which was very distressing.”

Blyton noticed that even though the koalas were dying of starvation, many of them refused to start eating their less-preferred tree species, known as messmate. This was made stranger by the fact that some koalas feed only on messmate.

“This led me and colleague Dr. Ben Moore at Western Sydney University to wonder if the microbes present in koalas’ guts - their microbiomes - were limiting which species they could eat, and if we could allow them to expand their diet with fecal inoculations,” says Blyton. 

Thus began Blyton’s messy experiment of catching wild koalas and keeping them in temporary captivity in order to collect the end stage product of their messmate diets – less formally known as “poo.”

“We collected poo from radio-collared wild koalas that ate messmate, concentrated the microorganisms in the poo, packaged it into acid-resistant capsules and gave them to the captive koalas,” explains Dr. Blyton. “We then monitored how much messmate the koalas were willing to eat over an 18-day period and assessed how the microbiomes changed after the inoculations, comparing their diets to those of control koalas that received manna gum microbes.”

The results at the end of this period showed that the fecal inoculations actually changed the koalas’ microbiomes and allowed them to eat messmate. 

“This could affect all aspects of their ecology including nutrition, habitat selection and resource use,” says Blyton. “Koalas may naturally have trouble adapting to new diets when their usual food trees become over browsed or after being moved to a new location. This study provides a proof of concept for the use of encapsulated fecal material to successfully introduce and establish new microbes in koalas’ guts.”

Blyton believes that this procedure could be used to help adjust koalas’ microbiomes before they are moved to environments where they have the habitat and food source to survive. The inoculation may also serve as a source of probiotics during and after antibiotic treatment. So next time you complain about needing to swallow a pill, just be thankful that its contents are bound to be more appetizing than a koala’s fecal inoculation. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: The University of Queensland

How fecal inoculations could help save koalas

Just a few years ago, there was a significant decline...

A new study has revealed that Asian tiger mosquitoes are adapting to colder winters and pushing the limits of their northern range by using their eggs as ‘time capsules.’  

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, first arrived in the US in the 1980s and successfully spread from Houston, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri in just a year. 

Researchers from <a href="https://wustl.edu/">Washington University in St. Louis</a> have discovered that mosquitoes further north are finding ways to rapidly adapt to the cold, which could impact <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tick-mosquito-borne-disease-spreading/">disease prevention efforts</a> as the mosquitoes spread beyond their known territory. 

Tiger mosquitoes can spread West Nile virus, dengue fever, and Zika. 

“This all happened within a period of 30 years,” said Kim Medley, the first author of the new study. “This disease vector has evolved rapidly to adapt to the United States. The fact that this has occurred at a range limit may suggest that there is potential for the species to continue to creep farther northward.”

When the days get shorter and winter is on the way, the mosquito responds by laying egg “time capsules” that will hatch later when conditions are right. This kind of delayed development egg is called a diapause egg. 

Mosquito larvae need standing water to hatch, but diapause eggs can survive not only cold conditions but dry periods as well. 

In this new study, the researchers were able to understand how northern eggs perform and hatch when conditions are favorable. 

The researchers collected mosquito eggs and larvae from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In a lab setting, the researchers raised the mosquitos and monitored their growth and development through differing generations.  

Next, the mosquitoes were exposed to longer periods of darkness to simulate the oncoming of winter. 

When the mosquitoes in the lab laid diapause eggs, the researchers collected and placed them in different locations in field sites at the northern edge of their typical range, an optimal climate-controlled setting and a site well outside their northern range in Wisconsin. 

The following summer, the researchers returned to the sites to collect new eggs.

“We counted all of the eggs to see how many survived the winter in all of these locations,” said Medley. “What we learned was that the northern mosquitoes’ diapause eggs survived northern winters significantly better than the southern mosquitoes’ eggs did. 

[caption id="attachment_1876802" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/overwintering-and-collection-sites.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1876802" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/overwintering-and-collection-sites.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="503" /></a> Overwintering and collection sites, Image Credit: Journal of Applied Ecology[/caption]

The only eggs that didn’t survive were the mosquitos in Wisconsin. 

Not only are northern mosquitoes laying more diapause eggs, but these eggs perform better through the winter, the researchers found. 

The tiger mosquito may be testing the bounds of what ecologists know about animals adapting to new conditions. 

“Based on theory, we expect that populations at range limits will be small, they will be fragmented and that they will be low in genetic diversity,” said Medley. “It’s thought that these populations will not have the demographic and genetic robustness to adapt, so they remain at this state of maladaptation. That may not be the case with this species.” 

The study findings were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Shutterstock/InsectWorld

Tiger mosquitoes may be quickly adapting to colder climates

A new study has revealed that Asian tiger mosquitoes are...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[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

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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



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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" 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> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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