In the tropical forests of Central and South America, life hums, buzzes, and croaks. Among this symphony of animal calls, one predator has evolved to treat sound as a roadmap to food: the fringe-lipped bat. 



This <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-bats-navigate-rush-hour-without-crashing-into-each-other/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bat</a> doesn’t sniff or stalk its prey like many others do. Instead, it listens. It listens to the mating calls of frogs and toads - many of which are meant to attract mates, not signal danger. But for this bat, those calls become a dinner bell.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-experience-shapes-survival-skills">Experience shapes survival skills</h2>



A recent study by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (<a href="https://stri.si.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">STRI</a>) reveals something even more remarkable: these bats are not born with the knowledge of which frog calls signal a safe meal and which could be deadly. 



They learn that over time. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, sheds new light on how experience shapes survival skills in one of nature’s most acoustically-attuned hunters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bats-use-frog-calls-to-hunt">Bats use frog calls to hunt</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-secrets-are-hidden-in-the-babbling-of-bats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Predators</a> often rely on stealth and sharp senses to catch prey. Fringe-lipped bats have taken this a step further. They are known to eavesdrop on the mating calls of over a dozen frog and toad species that share their habitat, ranging from Panama to Brazil.



These calls, intended for potential mates, also end up attracting danger from above. The bats respond within seconds of hearing a call, swooping down to snatch the unsuspecting amphibian.



But the strategy is not without risks. Not all frogs make good meals. Some are too large to carry. Others produce toxins that can harm or even kill the bats. Just like humans screening unknown calls for spam, these bats must make a quick judgment. But unlike our phones, nature doesn’t come with caller ID.



Fringe-lipped bats seem to have developed one of their own. They ignore calls from frogs known to be unpalatable. 



However, scientists had long wondered how this system developed. Is it an instinct, or is it a learned behavior? This study finally offers an answer.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bats-must-learn-safe-frog-calls">Bats must learn safe frog calls</h2>



“It’s truly remarkable that these bats hunt using the calls of an entirely different group of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bats-surf-the-winds-of-storms-during-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> in the first place, and we have wondered for a long time how these bats acquire this unusual skill,” said Logan James, STRI postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study.



Previous experiments had already shown that these bats are intelligent and adaptable. But until now, no one had tested whether learning played a role in refining their hunting tactics. 



The researchers wanted to find out if young bats start out with these auditory judgments or if they develop them through trial and error.



To do this, the team studied how adult and juvenile fringe-lipped bats responded to a variety of frog and toad calls. They tested 15 different species, including both edible and toxic options. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-young-bats-identify-frog-size-through-calls">Young bats identify frog size through calls</h2>



The results told a fascinating story. Adult bats performed as expected. They responded more strongly to calls from palatable frogs and ignored those from toxic or too-large species.



This confirmed what earlier studies had found. But the juvenile bats behaved differently. They didn’t seem to distinguish between safe and dangerous calls. On average, young bats reacted equally to all of them, regardless of the frog’s size or toxicity.



Still, the juveniles weren’t entirely clueless. The researchers noticed that even the younger bats could identify large frogs by the pitch and tone of their calls. They avoided them just as the adults did. But when it came to toxicity, they had no filter. 



This showed that while some aspects of prey recognition might be instinctive, others - particularly those involving danger - require time and learning.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-young-bats-need-time-and-experience">Young bats need time and experience</h2>



“We have studied this fascinating species for years, and in many aspects, we understand its behavior very well,” said Rachel Page, staff scientist at STRI, and one of the study’s senior authors. 



“But this was the first time we had ever tested juvenile bats. It was so interesting to see that, like human children, young bats needed time and experience to hone their discrimination skills.”



The comparison to human development is compelling. Just as young children don’t start life knowing what foods to avoid, young bats must also test, fail, and adapt. Their early mistakes could be deadly, but these experiences are crucial for shaping more refined behavior as they mature.



This learning curve likely mirrors processes in many other species, not just fringe-lipped bats. It opens new questions about how young animals learn to navigate the complexities of their environments—and survive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-larger-pattern-in-nature">A larger pattern in nature</h2>



This study marks the first time researchers have directly compared eavesdropping behavior between adult and juvenile predators like bats and frog-eating species. But it might not be unique to this species.



Many predators rely on sound to hunt. If experience plays such a vital role for fringe-lipped bats, it could be just as important for others that must decipher a confusing, noisy world.



“This study highlights the power of development and learning to shape eavesdropping behavior, an insight that may extend far beyond bats to other predators also navigating complex sensory environments,” said Ximena Bernal, research associate at STRI, professor at <a href="https://www.purdue.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Purdue University</a> and one of the study’s senior authors. 



“We hope it will inspire other scientists to examine how early experience modulates predator-foraging decisions.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-listening-to-learn-surviving-through-sound">Listening to learn, surviving through sound</h2>



This research provides more than just insight into the life of one bat species. It emphasizes the importance of development in shaping behavior. The fringe-lipped bat begins life without the skill to discern between friend and foe.



Through experience and repetition, it learns. Over time, its reactions become precise. Each call becomes a clue, and each choice a matter of survival.



In a world where sound carries both promise and peril, the fringe-lipped bat shows how nature equips even its smallest hunters, like frogs and bats, with the tools to listen, learn, and live.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.0450" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences</a>.



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Frog mating calls teach bats which prey to avoid

In the tropical forests of Central and South America, life hums, buzzes, and croaks. Among this symphony of animal calls, one predator has evolved to treat sound as a roadmap to food: the fringe-lipped bat. This bat doesn’t sniff or stalk its prey like many others do. Instead, it listens. It listens to the mating calls of frogs and toads - many of which are meant to attract mates, not signal danger. But for this bat, those calls become a dinner bell. Experience shapes survival skills A...

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing. Recently, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/washingtons-pygmy-rabbits-challenges/">I reported</a> on the reintroduction of Washington State’s pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) population. But how did the rabbits decline in the first place? After all, despite the comeback of pygmy rabbits in Washington, full blooded Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits (the original population) are not part of that comeback. Instead, the rabbits were bred with nearby relatives to create hybrid rabbits that have been reintroduced. 

After the original article was published, I was contacted by Steven Herman, a biologist who worked on early recovery efforts of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits. Dr. Herman shared that the original Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits might have been saved if it wasn’t for incompetence. As with much conservation and land use in the arid American west, cattle were involved. Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing.

A 2003 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/53/8/759/269635">paper</a> from Bioscience points out the importance of ranching to the ‘new west’. Ranching is often seen as an alternative to intensive development and a benign pursuit that has limited impact on conservation. 

“If biological conservation is to be successful on the western grasslands and shrublands, ranchers must be central to any plan,” the paper’s authors wrote.

Opinions are divided on the impact of grazing and whether it is beneficial to biodiversity and ecosystem function or not. Although it is worth noting that ungulates (bison, etc.) have grazed the plains of the United States for a long period of time beyond the introduction of cattle. One thing is certain about the role of cattle, which is that they are the livelihood of many in the American west and are also cultural icons in their own right. Ranching as we know it is dependent on the use of public lands, according to a 2015 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/af/article/5/4/32/4638743">paper</a> in Animal Frontiers. But ranching is also dependent on cooperative public land managers.

In 1994, while the last of Washington’s pygmy rabbits were living on only 3,500 acres of sagebrush-dominated land in Douglas County, Steven Herman wrote a paper about the Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRMP) of this last pygmy rabbit stronghold. At that time, the plan included increasing grazing by 20%, an action justified by saying that rabbits and cattle were ‘compatible’ going so far as to claim that the pygmy rabbits might benefit from grazing. 

Dr. Herman debates these claims, saying they’re at odds with what we know of the rabbits and their ecosystem. The parcel in question, Sagebrush Flats, is the last of the wild Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit’s range and was purchased by the Washington Department of Fish &amp; Game as the rabbits were declining. 

Beyond increasing the amount of cattle on the Sagebrush Flats parcel, the Washington Department of Fish &amp; Game also made water available to cattle in areas previously inaccessible to the ungulates. This encouraged cattle to move to parts of the land where they hadn’t damaged as much previously. According to Dr. Herman grazing contributed to the decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits and a 2004 paper in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222038153_Effects_of_cattle_grazing_on_ecology_and_habitat_of_Columbia_Basin_pygmy_rabbits_Brachylagus_idahoensis">Biological Conservation</a> backs him up.

According to the paper, the decline of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits was most likely due to “the combined results of habitat degradation and fragmentation, disease, and predation.”

Cattle played a role in habitat degradation and fragmentation as well. Research found significantly more pygmy rabbit burrows in areas without grazing than in areas where grazing was allowed. Grazing in the late summer and winter also removed roughly 50% of grass cover, leaving much less nutrition for the rabbits. The pygmy rabbits in winter make grass less than 2% of their diet (when they eat mainly sagebrush) but in late summer, grasses and forbs make about 53% of their diets. Because of less food, the pygmy rabbits were obviously unable to live in high abundance in graded areas. 

It is a complicated issue, though. Depending on the intensity and season of grazing, cattle can reduce grasses but also increase the size of sagebrush. Pygmy rabbits are known to choose areas with taller and denser sagebrush as the most important part of their range. The downside of cattle is the removal of the grasses and forbs that the pygmy rabbits also rely on, as well as decreasing the ability of sagebrush to regenerate by ripping it out by the roots. Interestingly, other less well understood factors played a role in why less pygmy rabbit burrows are to be found in grazed areas as opposed to un-grazed areas. 

Cottontail rabbits do not dig their own burrows like pygmy rabbits do, instead they occupy burrows dug by other animals. In grazed areas, more cottontails occupy pygmy rabbit burrows than in areas that aren’t grazed. Cattle also sometimes collapse burrows of pygmy rabbits, a good reason for the rabbits to stay away. It’s also interesting to note that pygmy rabbits in this part of the American west didn’t evolve with large amounts of ungulates. Instead of large densities of bison as in other plains areas, there were originally only smaller populations of deer, elk and pronghorn. The misunderstandings and ignorance surrounding the needs of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits also contributed to early failures in captive breeding. 

Originally, 16 Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were captured for captive breeding. These rabbits represented a unique race of pygmy rabbits, separated from their nearest relatives by roughly 40,000 years of evolution. These rabbits were first offered only sagebrush as food, without the grasses and forbs necessary for their successful reproduction. Unsurprisingly, the early rabbit breeding efforts didn’t fare well. Some of these first rabbits died in captivity. After these failures, pygmy rabbits from Idaho were introduced into the population and with changes in diet and a ‘semi-wild’ enclosure more closely replicating nature, the rabbits started breeding. 

Unfortunately, it seems that a mix of an over-friendly bias towards grazing as well as an incompetent misunderstanding of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit diet led to the extinction of the population. Although there are pygmy rabbits being reintroduced into Washington and they’re likely to serve the ecosystem well, we can’t claim that the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is still truly alive.         

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Randy Bjorklund

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and grazing

Decline of Washington’s pygmy rabbits was due to incompetence and...

Small triceratops relative was horned and walked on two feet. A few <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-fossils-ownership-dispute/">fossils</a> may be all that’s left of a single extinct species, and describing an entire species let alone family or genus based off of these scant remains is more common than you might realize. 

When we think of new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-fossils-ownership-dispute/">dinosaur discoveries</a>, we sometimes imagine whole skeletons unearthed from their rocky tombs and put together like a puzzle and displayed in museums, but this is far from reality. 

It’s suggested that 75 percent of known dinosaurs were described from five or fewer individual specimens. Auroraceratops rugosus, an early relative of Triceratops, is one such species. 

From meager beginnings, Auroraceratops rugosus went on to be recognized as one of the most well-documented early dinosaurs to date. 

It started with a single skull discovered in the Gobi Desert in 2005. But in the years since, fossils from more than 80 individuals have been found thanks to the persistent efforts of researchers and paleontologists. Small triceratops relative was horned and walked on two feet

In a collection of articles published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, researchers from multiple institutions compiled a detailed history of the herbivorous horned dinosaur describing the anatomy, age, evolution and how the preservation of such a robust fossil collection came to be. 

Auroraceratops lived 115 million years ago, weighed around 34 pounds and stood approximately 49 inches tall. It was a horned dinosaur but not nearly to the extent of Triceratops. 

“When I first saw this animal back in 2004, I knew instantly it was a new kind that had never been seen before and was very excited about it,” said paleontologist Peter Dodson, senior author of the articles, “This monograph on Auroraceratops is long-awaited.”Small triceratops relative was horned and walked on two feet

Dodson named the species Auroraceratops and later Dodson’s former students would go one to find 80 more Auraceratops ranging from adults to hatchlings. 

As the only horned dinosaur in the group Neoceratopsia from the Early Cretaceous to be described from a complete skeleton, Auroraceratops represents an important phase in the evolution of horned dinosaurs. 

The early dinosaurs were bi-pedal and walked on two legs, unlike Triceratops which was quadrupedal.

“Before this study, we had to rely on Psittacosaurus, a more distantly related and unusual ceratopsian, for our picture of what the last bipedal ceratopsian looked like,” said Eric Morschhauser, a lead author of the collaborative work. “It can now provide us with a better picture of the starting point for the changes between bipedal and quadrupedal ceratopsians.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Robert Walters

Small triceratops relative was horned and walked on two feet

Small triceratops relative was horned and walked on two feet....

Researchers at the <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/">University of Sydney</a> have found that insects suffer from chronic pain like humans. While previous studies demonstrated that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/edible-insects-grasshoppers-antioxidants/">insects</a> experience pain, this is the first study to provide evidence that the pain can last long after a wound has healed. 

The research pinpoints the genetic cause of chronic pain in fruit flies and suggests that similar mechanisms drive chronic pain in humans. The findings may ultimately lead to the development of treatments that target the root of chronic pain instead of just the symptoms.

"If we can develop drugs or new stem cell therapies that can target and repair the underlying cause, instead of the symptoms, this might help a lot of people," said study lead author Professor Gteg Neely. His team is studying pain in an effort to identify non-opioid solutions for pain management.

"People don't really think of insects as feeling any kind of pain," said Professor Neely. "But it's already been shown in lots of different invertebrate animals that they can sense and avoid dangerous stimuli that we perceive as painful. In non-humans, we call this sense 'nociception', the sense that detects potentially harmful stimuli like heat, cold, or physical injury, but for simplicity we can refer to what insects experience as 'pain.'"

"So we knew that insects could sense pain, but what we didn't know is that an injury could lead to long lasting hypersensitivity to normally non-painful stimuli in a similar way to human patients' experiences."

The investigation was focused on neuropathic pain that occurs in fruit flies after damage to the nervous system. In humans, this is usually described as a burning or shooting pain that results from a pinched nerve, spinal cord injury, diabetic neuropathy, cancer bone pain, or an accidental injury.

To test for chronic pain in fruit flies, the researchers damaged a nerve in one leg of the fly and then allowed the injury to fully heal. At this point, the experts found the fly's other legs had become hypersensitive. 

"After the animal is hurt once badly, they are hypersensitive and try to protect themselves for the rest of their lives," said Professor Neely. "That's kind of cool and intuitive."

Next, the team investigated how this happens genetically. 

"The fly is receiving pain messages from its body that then go through sensory neurons to the ventral nerve cord, the fly's version of our spinal cord. In this nerve cord are inhibitory neurons that act like a 'gate' to allow or block pain perception based on the context," said Professor Neely. 

"After the injury, the injured nerve dumps all its cargo in the nerve cord and kills all the brakes, forever. Then the rest of the animal doesn't have brakes on its pain. The pain threshold changes and now they are hypervigilant."

"Animals need to lose the pain brakes to survive in dangerous situations but when humans lose those brakes it makes our lives miserable. We need to get the brakes back to live a comfortable and non-painful existence."

Professor Neely explained that chronic pain in humans is presumed to develop through either peripheral sensitisation or central disinhibition.

"From our unbiased genomic dissection of neuropathic pain in the fly, all our data points to central disinhibition as the critical and underlying cause for chronic neuropathic pain."

"Importantly now we know the critical step causing neuropathic pain in flies, mice and probably humans, is the loss of the pain brakes in the central nervous system, we are focused on making new stem cell therapies or drugs that target the underlying cause and stop pain for good."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</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/nechaevkon

Insects experience chronic pain like humans do

Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that insects...

According to new research from a team at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>, rising temperatures caused by <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/conifer-extinction-climate-change/">climate change</a> could thwart male Cape Verde loggerhead turtles from hatching at a key breeding ground by the end of the century. 

In fact, the researchers posit that by 2100, more than 90% of loggerhead nests on the Cape Verde islands could incubate at exponentially higher temperatures, thus killing the turtles before they hatch.

"Cape Verde hosts one of the largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles in the world — up to 15% of the global nesting total," said Dr. Lucy Hawkes, of the University of Exeter. "We estimate that 84% of current hatchlings are female, and warmer temperatures will increase this proportion.”

The sex of the loggerhead turtle hatchlings is decided by the incubation temperature. Using information provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the research team realized that by 2100, only 0.14% of hatchlings would be male.

“Under all three climate change scenarios in our study,” Dr. Hawkes continued, “by 2100 more than 99% of hatchlings would be female — and under mid and high-emissions scenarios there could be no males at all."

[caption id="attachment_1875207" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/loggerhead-turtle.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875207" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/loggerhead-turtle.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></a> Loggerhead turtle in Cape Verde, Image Credit: Lucy Hawkes[/caption]

"What surprised us was how even the low emissions scenario has detrimental effects for this population,” said lead author Claire Tanner, who earned her masters with this study. "What this shows is that now is the time to act on climate change — before it is too late to prevent the estimations seen in this paper."

This study is published in <a href="https://www.int-res.com/journals/meps/meps-home/">Marine Ecology Progress Series</a>.

The researchers used current nesting behavior of the loggerheads to come to their conclusion, meaning that the turtles could adapt to climate change by nesting earlier in the year when it’s cooler. Furthermore, Dr. Hawkes said that natural selection should favor the turtles that attempt to do this, however, the longevity of the loggerheads matched with the speed of climate change could mean that the turtles would not have enough time to properly evolve.

And about 85% of loggerhead nests in Cape Verde are currently built on Boa Vista, where incubation temperatures are coolest. Therefore, most of the loggerhead population would be unable to switch to cooler locations — unless they find “refugia” areas covered in shade.

As of right now, it’s difficult for researchers to predict when the population would decline if males cease hatching, due to the fact that the reproductive lifespan on loggerhead males is not known. Older males could continue breeding for years after the last male loggerheads hatch.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Main Image Credit: Lucy Hawkes

Rising temperatures threaten Cape Verde turtle population

According to new research from a team at the University...

A team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.museums.or.ke/">National Museums of Kenya</a>, <a href="https://www.uark.edu/">University of Arkansas</a>, <a href="https://missouri.edu/">University of Missouri</a>, and <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a> have discovered the fossil of a tiny monkey that inhabited Kenya about 4.2 million years ago. They believe it is an ancient ancestor of the modern talapoin monkey, the smallest species of Old World monkey that only weighs about two to three pounds. 

Talapoins are members of the larger <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/wild-monkeys-adopted-injured-juvenile/">monkey</a> group called guenons, which are common across modern-day Africa.

The new ancient species, dubbed Nanopithecus browni, is believed to have been the same size as the talapoin. It was discovered on the eastern side of Kenya at a dry grassland area known as Kanapoi.

[caption id="attachment_1875195" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/comparison.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875195" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/comparison.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="208" /></a> A typical guenon (left) compared to Nanopithecus browni (middle) and a cat (right). Image Credit: Carol Ward[/caption]

This area of discovery goes against what has been previously understood about the evolution of guenons, thought to be driven by changes in their forest environment. Talapoins, for example, reside in tropical forests of West Central Africa, and were thought to be smaller versions of a larger ancestor. 

Nanopithecus browni, the second-oldest guenon ever to be discovered, raises interest based on the location it was found. Researchers now believe the evolution of the guenon is much more complex than previously thought. Dwarfing must have occurred earlier than suspected and may have happened in different stages within different habitats.

[caption id="attachment_1875194" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/location.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875194" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/location.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></a> Location of where Nanopithecus browni was found, Image Credit: Research team/Google Earth[/caption]

"The discovery of Nanopithecus browni reaffirms Kenya's contribution to understanding the evolution and diversity of Pliocene fauna and the environmental contexts in which they lived," said study leader Fredrick Kyalo Manthi of the National Museums of Kenya said via the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-human-evolution">Journal of Human Evolution</a>. "Environmental changes during the Plio-Pleistocene may have influenced the present-day distribution of guenons."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Carol Ward

Fossil of a tiny monkey species found in Kenya

A team of researchers from the National Museums of Kenya,...

In Pixar's “Finding Nemo,” two of the main characters – clownfish Marlin and royal blue tang Dory – run into a trio of sharks and fear they’re done for. But the group of apex predators reassure the pair by explaining that they are victims of sharks’ bad reputations. 

"I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food,” their pledge goes.

Real life sharks may not have a pledge, but one man has set out to prove that they really aren’t mindless eating machines. 

Marine biologist Jeremiah Sullivan is probably best known for allowing sharks to bite him hundreds of times – all to test his underwater <a href="http://www.jeremiahsullivan.com/">SharkArmor</a>. But he’s also made it his mission to show that sharks’ bad reputation isn’t all true, and they’re not as they’re portrayed in films like “Jaws.”

In the upcoming “Man vs. Shark” special on <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>, he hitches a ride on a calm great white shark without becoming dinner.

“It became apparent to me that the shark was so chill that I was drawn out,” Sullivan told the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/">Daily Beast</a>. “So I slipped my hand under its caudal fin as it swam by, and the shark was so big it didn’t even flinch. You know, it was important to me to make very clear to the powers that be out there that kept putting out all this hostile conversation about these animals that that wasn’t the whole story.”

Which isn’t to say sharks aren’t dangerous, or that just anyone should go and try to befriend one.

In the special, Sullivan also convinces a tiger shark to bite him, to test his newest sharksuit. That bore some risks. Tiger sharks are known for their extremely damaging bites.

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen,” he said. “I had a lot of people with me that were quite sure that when one bit me, the other tiger sharks were gonna come swarm on me.”

Sullivan was inspired to study sharks after seeing the movie “Born Free” as a child. The movie portrays a positive encounter between lions and humans, and Sullivan wondered if such friendly interactions were possible between humans and other predators.

He first began developing his sharksuits in the 1970s. 

Throughout the “Man vs. Shark” episode, Sullivan has nerve-wracking encounters with the ocean’s most feared predators. But time and time again, he proves sharks’ bad reputation to be wrong.

That said, he believes anyone who wants to interact with sharks should have a very healthy respect for them – and the damage they can do. When he’s witnessed people being bit, it’s often because they forget that respect or show off.

“But you know, I’m always looking to confirm my belief that there can be much more to the interactions between humans and sharks in the sea, and I’m delighted to say that that’s proven out to be true,” he said. 

“Man vs. Shark” will air on July 17 on National Geographic TV.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: Devon Massyn, National Geographic

Documentary bites back at sharks' bad reputation

In Pixar's “Finding Nemo,” two of the main characters –...

A new study from <a href="https://international.au.dk/">Aarhus University</a> is describing how southern right whale mothers and calves communicate in the cloudy waters where they hide from predators. The loss of visual contact creates a need for the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/right-whales-recorded-singing/">whales</a> to call out to each other, but this may attract unwanted attention. 

A research team led by Mia Nielsen set out to listen in on the conversations between southern right whale mothers and calves. The researchers discovered that the whales hide out in the noisy surf and whisper to each other to reduce the risk of being noticed by predators. 

The study was conducted in Flinders Bay, off the southern tip of Western Australia, where the whales breed. 

"One of the initial challenges was getting to know the whales in our study area," said Nielsen. "The number of whales that frequent the bay is low."

Nielson said she was surprised when they eventually located some females with their calves in the surf zone close to the shore. The researchers were puzzled by their decision to seek refuge in the most turbulent water.

As the whales rested at the surface, the team tagged them with sound recorders. The tags stayed on the mothers for about 7 hours, but did not even last an hour on the calves.

"Southern right whales are very physical with each other, the calves spend a lot of time rubbing against the mother and rolling over her back, tail and rostrum," explained Nielsen. The researchers still managed to obtain nearly 63 hours of conversation between the mothers and calves as they sheltered in the surf.

An analysis of the recordings revealed that the animals were producing two types of calls: a grunt and a mooing sound. Instead of continuous communication, the mother and calf pairs called less than once per dive. The moos and grunts were found to be very quiet, and were drowned out by the noise of the pounding waves within a few hundred meters. 

The study is published in the <a href="https://jeb.biologists.org/">Journal of Experimental Biology</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/wildestanimal

Southern right whales take shelter in noisy surf and whisper to avoid predators

A new study from Aarhus University is describing how southern...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-trends-threatening-pollinators-crops/">Pollinators</a> like bees and butterflies often get the spotlight in terms of research and media attention, and this could be because many buzzing and flitting pollinating pros go about their business during the day. After all, a colorful monarch flying around a flower garden on a sunny day is hard to miss. 

However, a new study has found that wildfires have a negative impact on key night-time pollinators: moths. 

The study was conducted by an international team of experts who investigated the impacts of a wildfire in Portugal on the relationship between moths and flowers. 

Past research has shown that bees and butterflies can benefit from the surge of wildflowers that burst from the ground after a fire. But it turns out that night-time pollinators are not as lucky in the aftermath of a fire. 

“Day-time pollinators, such as bees, have previously been shown to respond positively to the post-fire increase in resources of pollen and nectar, but it was not known whether night-flying pollinators, such as moths, benefit in the same way,” said Dr. Callum Macgregor, the lead author of the study. 

70 percent of moths caught by the researchers in Portugal were carrying pollen, and in the spring that number jumped to over 95 percent. In the area studied, moths were carrying the pollen of over 80 percent of the flowering plant species. 

After the fire, pollen carrying declined. The amount of pollen carried by moths at the burned sites was five times lower. 

There were also fewer species of moths at these sites and lower moth numbers in burned areas compared to areas that were not impacted by the fire. 

“By comparing sites within the burned area to unburned sites nearby, we found that after the fire, flowers were more abundant and represented more species, which was mainly due to increases of flowers in winter and spring,” said Macgregor. “By contrast, we found that moths were much less abundant and less species rich after the fire, across all seasons. 

Moths could be a much more important pollinator than previously realized, and without both day-time and night-time pollinators, an area may not be able to recover as efficiently after a major event like a fire.

This study, published in the journal Functional Ecology, puts a spotlight on moths and emphasizes their important role in the ecosystem. 

“Given the increasing frequency of devastating wildfires we are witnessing in places such as Portugal, the United States and even British moorlands, this is a cause for concern as ecosystems may be becoming less resilient and unable to return to a functioning state,” said Dr. Darren Evans, a co-supervisor of the study. 

--

By <a href="http://mailto:kayvandett@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Paula Banza

Wildfires negatively impact nighttime moth pollination

Pollinators like bees and butterflies often get the spotlight in...

A new study from <a href="https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/">Kyoto University</a> has revealed that the red faces of female Japanese <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/japanese-snow-monkeys-baths/">macaques</a> signal information about their social rank, rather than about their reproductive status.

Both male and female Japanese macaques display changing red skin coloration on their faces. While males of many animal species use bright colors to attract mates, little is known about the role that coloration among females may play in mating.

Previous studies in other primates have suggested that there is a link between red skin color variation and ovulation or fertility. In addition, female Japanese macaques are known to acquire lighter or darker faces based on sex hormone levels, which indicates that redder faces are a sign of mating availability.

"Our research is about better understating human sexuality by studying the evolutionary and biological roots of primate sexual communication," explained study first author Lucie Rigaill.

To investigate whether changes in skin color actually signal ovulation timing, the researchers collected coloration data from the face and hindquarters of selected female macaques during the winter mating season. The team compared this information with the hormone levels of the individuals. 

"We were astonished to find that, contrary to what we originally thought, changes in female skin color did not actually indicate the ovulation period! Skin color was not correlated to fertility either," said Rigaill. "It gets even more surprising! Females of higher-social status had darker/redder hindquarters, something only reported in male primate populations until now."

The research suggests that female red skin color may play a more complex role in Japanese macaques than what was previously realized.

"We suggest that female red skin coloration acts as a 'badge' of social rank, where higher ranked females have darker/redder hindquarters," said Rigaill. "Intriguingly, females don't show precise behavioral or coloration changes until the beginning of pregnancy, outlining a larger picture of the sexual signaling in this species: females seem to conceal ovulation but signal pregnancy."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/journal/265">Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</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/Bernhard Richter

Female Japanese macaques use red coloration to signal their social rank

A new study from Kyoto University has revealed that the...

A team of paleontologists led by Professor Jingmai O'Connor of the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> has discovered a nearly complete lizard preserved in the stomach of a microraptor. The specimen is unlike any other lizard observed from the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-millipede-species-cretaceous-period/">Cretaceous Period</a> and represents a previously unknown species that is now called Indrasaurus wangi.

The name Indrasaurus was inspired by a Vedic legend in which the god Indra was swallowed by a dragon during a great battle. The lizard was also named after Professor Yuan Wang, who is the director of the Paleozoological Museum of China.

The study was based on the most extensive phylogenetic analysis of Cretaceous lizards ever conducted. The results showed that all known species from this time were more closely related to each other than to any modern lineage. 

I. wangi was found to have teeth that were different from other lizards of the Cretaceous, which indicates that it had a unique diet.

[caption id="attachment_1875061" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/lizard.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1875061" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/lizard.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="516" /></a> New lizard species, Image Credit: Jingmai O'Connor[/caption]

This is the fourth time a Microraptor has been uncovered with its stomach contents preserved. Collectively, these contents confirm the idea that the dinosaur was an opportunistic predator, feeding on mammals, birds, fish, and lizards. 

The research also provides evidence that Microraptors fed on their prey like carnivorous birds and lizards do today, as seen in the nearly complete lizard that was swallowed whole and head first.

The Jurassic troodontid Anchiornis has been recently demonstrated to have secreted pellets similar to modern birds like owls. The fact that Microrapter did not have this ability supports the theory that the evolutionary transition from dinosaur to bird was characterized by homoplasy, which is when numerous traits independently evolve multiple times within closely related groups.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Doyle Trankina

Lizard found almost fully preserved in the stomach of a microraptor

A team of paleontologists led by Professor Jingmai O'Connor of...

When we die, the vast majority of us would appreciate it if we were remembered for some of our finer qualities, rather than those that may have made us seem “weird” compared to everyone around us. Unfortunately for an ancient <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scavenging-birds-rise-climate-change/">bird</a> whose foot was found preserved in amber, this is not the case.

A new study in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a> details the discovery of a bird foot from 99 million years ago, preserved in amber. The ancient bird it belonged to appears to have a physical trait no other known bird has: toes longer than its legs. 

“I was very surprised when I saw the amber,” says first author Lida Xing of the <a href="about:blank">China University of Geosciences</a>. “It shows that ancient birds were way more diverse than we thought. They had evolved many different features to adapt to their environments.”

The researchers believe the bird may have used its extra-long toes to grab food out of tree trunks. They estimate the bird was smaller than a sparrow, and believe it spent most of its time in the trees. “Elongated toes are something you commonly see in arboreal animals because they need to be able to grip these branches and wrap their toes around them,” says co-author Jingmai O'Connor of the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>. “But this extreme difference in toe lengths, as far as we know, has never been seen before.”

Now named Elektorornis chenguangi, the specimen is believed to belong to a group of extinct birds called Enantiornithes. The bird’s foot was found in a piece of amber that measured over three centimeters in length. This amber was found in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, which during the Mesozoic era was full of trees that produced the resin that turns into amber when it becomes fossilized. Often, plants and small animals will get caught in the resin, leading to them being preserved in amber.

The only known animal that has such disproportionally long digits is the aye-aye, a lemur that uses its long middle fingers to hook insects and larvae out of tree trunks for food. Researchers believe the Elektorornis may have used its long toes for the same purpose. 

“This is the best guess we have," says O’Connor. “There is no bird with a similar morphology that could be considered a modern analog for this fossil bird. A lot of ancient birds were probably doing completely different things than living birds. This fossil exposes a different ecological niche that these early birds were experimenting as they evolved.”

There is still more to be learned from this amber foot fossil, as the research team plans to extract the proteins and pigments from some feathers exposed on the surface of the amber. If possible, the resulting data could help them better determine the bird’s adaptation to its environment.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Zhongda Zhang / Current Biology

Fossilized bird had toes longer than its legs

When we die, the vast majority of us would appreciate...

Lawmakers consider legislation to reaffirm long standing bird protections. As I’ve <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/environmental-policy-changed-2018/">previously reported</a>, there have been a number of changes in environmental policy under the Trump administration, including the re-interpretation of the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/migtrea.html">Migratory Bird Treaty Act</a> (MBTA). The act was originally signed as a treaty with Britain (acting on behalf of Canada) in 1916 and then signed into law in the US in 1918. The law was designed to protect migratory bird species in North America, or at least in the United States and Canada. 

The law protected birds, their eggs and nests from harm, whether intentional or unintentional, levying fines against those who violate it. Since the treaty with Canada and resulting resulting law were signed, the treaty has been signed between the US and Mexico, Japan and the former Soviet Union. Because many birds migrate over incredibly long distances as regular parts of their natural history, the international nature of MBTA is important. Lawmakers consider legislation to reaffirm long standing bird protections 

A good example of how the MBTA works is the infamous case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Deepwater Horizon was the largest marine oil spill to date. The disaster started with an oil rig explosion, and resulted in 11 workers killed and 17 injured. It’s hard to say exactly how much oil spilled during Deepwater Horizon, but US government officials estimated it to peak at greater than 60,000 barrels of oil per day. The leak that started in April was slowed by July, but government commissioned scientists estimated that 4,900,000 barrels of oil had already leaked by that point and only 800,000 barrels had been recaptured. 

Tar washed up on beaches throughout the gulf. Fishermen lost valuable money, fish lost their lives. <a href="https://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/audubon_mbta_industry_2018.pdf">Audubon</a> reports that more than 1 million birds were killed as a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill. Though it’s cold consolation for birds and those who care about them, BP was forced to pay for those bird deaths.

The <a href="https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=FC61EB52-BF8A-45AA-C04D802711C4EF55">US Fish &amp; Wildlife Service</a> reported in 2015 that BP pled guilty to 14 criminal counts connected with the historic oil spill. One of those criminal counts was a misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Birds Treaty Act. As part of the settlement, BP paid $100 million to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund. 

Not only was the money intended to benefit some of the birds harmed by the oil spill, it also acted as a deterrent. BP clearly didn’t intend to spill so much oil and it was unprofitable for them to do so, but laws such as MBTA are intended to make negligent of uncaring behavior from companies or individuals even less attractive when birds are harmed. These sorts of laws regulate everything from oil to wind farms when birds are killed or negatively impacted. Recently, the law has been reinterpreted under the Trump administration.

The new interpretation holds that the law only applies when birds are intentionally killed. Under the new interpretation of the law, BP would have paid nothing for the deaths of birds from Deepwater Horizon. <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/killing-migratory-birds-even-unintentionally-has-been-a-crime-for-decades-not-anymore/">Reveal News</a> reports that Canada still interprets the law as applying to incidental takes of birds, that is their unintended death or harm. In fact, the new Trump administration interpretation of the law is far out of step with the long standing interpretation under both Democratic and Republican presidents. In effect, the interpretation simply stops enforcement of the law, a law that historically helped many birds recover from devastation caused by industry such as the hat feather trade. 

According to <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/killing-migratory-birds-even-unintentionally-has-been-a-crime-for-decades-not-anymore/">Reveal News</a>, internal emails show that many federal <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">US Fish &amp; Wildlife</a> law enforcement officers have stopped enforcing the law because of the new interpretation, leading to un-prosecuted bird deaths. This was before the Department of the Interior even officially made a new rule based on the Trump interpretation of the law. 

Because of the importance of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the odd interpretation of it by the Trump administration, the US House of Representatives has taken a step towards taking matters into their own hands. 

<a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/congress-takes-first-step-toward-restoring-bird-protections-eliminated-trump">Audubon</a> reports that last month, the US Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife began the discussion of drafting a bill that would reaffirm the long standing protections for birds from incidental take. During the hearing, Audubon’s Vice President for Bird Conservation, Stanley Senner, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/mbta_senner_testimony_2019_06_13.pdf">testified</a> on the importance of MBTA. Senner has worked on restoration work from both Alaska’s Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Deepwater Horizon blowout.

Senner gave the subcommittee a summary of the history of bird conservation in America, starting early on in the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and how Audubon was connected with that history. He noted that state and even national laws aren’t always enough to protect bird species that travel thousands of miles in a year. Senner pointed out that the MBTA is credited with saving species from extinction, including the Wood Duck, Snowy Egret and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agriculture-bird-migrations/">Sandhill Cranes</a>. 

Through the history of MBTA, the law helped force regulation on open oil pits in California that were killing 150,000 birds each year. Waste water pits in Wyoming were also regulated by the potential to levy fines under MBTA. Senner noted that power lines, although still a major cause of death, are built to minimize bird death because of the incentive provided by the MBTA. Senner’s testimony and that of others may help reinstate protections for birds.

The draft bill would reaffirm bird protections from industry, including unintended, ‘incidental take’, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/audubon-testifies-us-house-hearing-migratory-bird-treaty-act">Audubon</a> reports. The law would also require an adoption of best practices intended to allow industry to comply with the law. 

This step in the House is important but it raises the question of what will happen if the bill passes both the House and the Senate, which seems unlikely, and reaches the president to be signed into law? Unfortunately, for the time being, such actions by well intentioned lawmakers may be nothing more than tilting at windmills and oil derricks. Instead, it’s up to us, the people to make changes in the world we live in.                   

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Sergey Uryadnikov

Lawmakers consider legislation to reaffirm long standing bird protections

Lawmakers consider legislation to reaffirm long standing bird protections. As...

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;



---



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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

[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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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