Ants, with their unique genes, outnumber people by roughly 2.5 million to one. Their combined dry mass, about 12 million tons of carbon, rivals one‑fifth of humanity’s weight on land.



An international research team has compared 163 ant genomes to show how these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/swarm-intelligence-ants-can-anticipate-obstacles-and-plan-ahead/">insects</a> turned cooperative living into an evolutionary engine. They reshuffled DNA while guarding key caste <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2201550119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genes</a> for more than 100 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genetic-clues-to-colony-life">Genetic clues to colony life</h2>



Dr. Lukas Schrader of the <a href="https://www.uni-muenster.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Münster</a> helped coordinate the <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">project</a> and still sounds amazed by its scope.



<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2665839/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charles Darwin</a> once fretted over sterile workers, calling them a “special difficulty” because natural selection seemed unable to favor individuals that never breed. 



Inclusive‑fitness theory, formalized in 1964, solved the logic by showing that workers spread their genes by helping sisters.



The new data add genetic proof to that idea: worker‑specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-any-point-in-time-total-number-is-astounding/">gene</a> clusters stayed almost identical across lineages, hinting that any mutation hurting brood care was swiftly purged.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-colonies-behave-like-bodies">Ant colonies behave like bodies</h2>



Biologists label an ant colony a superorganism because its members behave like cells of one body. 



The new <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2825%2900617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dataset</a> spans army ants with millions of workers, species such as Camponotus japonicus whose queens dwarf their tiniest laborers more than 100‑fold, and even parasites that have lost workers altogether.



Researchers sequenced 145 species from 25 countries and folded in 18 earlier genomes to reach chromosome‑level quality for 17 of them. That’s no small feat when many ants are smaller than a comma.



“The publication is a milestone in our understanding of the molecular and genetic foundations of ants and probably also other social <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-ants-could-help-stop-the-tree-killing-lanternfly/">insects</a> such as honeybees,” said Schrader.



Across the tree, queen and worker blueprints sit side by side. Yet workers never hatch reproductive organs because development is rerouted by hormones and gene‑regulation circuits embedded in the shared DNA.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ants-keep-critical-survival-genes">Ants keep critical survival genes</h2>



The study tracked <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/synteny" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">synteny</a>, the order of genes along a chromosome. Whole blocks had flipped, fused, or fractured at a rate up to four times that seen in vertebrates. Ant groups with the fastest breakage spawned the most species.



Even so, 970 tiny gene clusters, street blocks in the genetic city, remained frozen across 80 percent of species. Many code for metabolism and caste traits, suggesting that breaking them would cripple <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/paleontologists-found-the-oldest-ant-species-on-earth-113-million-years-old-with-scythe-like-jaws/">colony</a> function.



One conserved block houses two <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/vitellogenin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vitellogenin genes</a> vital for queen egg yolk and sits unchanged in 148 genomes. Another links fatty‑acid enzymes to worker‑biased expression, underlining how diet and labor intertwine.



Holding those modules steady while the surrounding landscape rearranged let ants explore new lifestyles without losing the caste machinery that keeps colonies alive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hormones-decide-jobs-and-stability">Hormones decide jobs and stability</h2>



A single molecule can tip a larva toward royalty or toil. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2406999121" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Juvenile hormone</a> has long been that switch, and gene copies for the enzyme <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2134232100" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JHAMT</a> rise in species with extreme queen‑worker size gaps.&nbsp;



Insulin and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm8767" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MAPK signaling</a> join the act. In the jumping ant Harpegnathos, blocking MAPK with the drug trametinib makes workers grow larger, echoing lab findings that this pathway expands ovaries when workers become egg‑laying gamergates.&nbsp;



The new comparison shows MAPK genes under intensified selection in lineages where workers can still replace a queen, but relaxed selection where caste roles are rock‑solid. 



That fits the idea that plastic colonies need fine hormonal tuning, while rigid ones lock their switches.



Hormone receptors for juvenile hormone and insulin sit inside conserved synteny islands. This hints that the entire endocrine toolkit rode through deep time as a connected package.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-genes-shift-with-colony-size">Ant genes shift with colony size</h2>



Bigger colonies and steeper queen‑worker dimorphism marched together in evolution; both correlate with trails, trophallaxis, and worker polymorphism. 



Genes tied to brain development, such as <a href="https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=GCM1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GCM</a> and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/37892" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">muscarinic receptor mAChR‑A</a>, show worker‑type biased activity and signs of adaptive change in species sporting soldiers beside tiny foragers.



Where workers lost ovaries altogether, selection on oogenesis genes like otu relaxed, but those same genes stay under pressure in species whose workers can still lay male eggs.



Social parasites flip the pattern. Workerless inquilines shed odorant‑receptor genes and rack up chromosomal breaks, mirroring their narrow ecological niche and tiny population sizes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-genes-explain-social-evolution">Ant genes explain social evolution</h2>



Many themes, hormonal control, preserved gene neighborhoods, break‑induced innovation, also shape honeybees, wasps, and higher termites. Ants simply had a 150‑million‑year head start, offering a living time machine for social evolution.



Knowing which genes stay linked during caste splits could aid synthetic‑biology efforts that aim to engineer division of labor in microbes or even tissues.



The study also reminds us that nature can be both flexible and conservative: colonies reinvent chromosome layouts yet keep critical circuits intact, a balance worth emulating in adaptive technologies.



Ants may be tiny, but their genomes read like manuals on how cooperation rewires life. Future research will test whether the same genetic choreography repeats whenever individual interests yield to collective success.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00617-8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cell</a>.



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Ant genes show how evolution created perfect teamwork

Ants, with their unique genes, outnumber people by roughly 2.5 million to one. Their combined dry mass, about 12 million tons of carbon, rivals one‑fifth of humanity’s weight on land. An international research team has compared 163 ant genomes to show how these insects turned cooperative living into an evolutionary engine. They reshuffled DNA while guarding key caste genes for more than 100 million years. Genetic clues to colony life Dr. Lukas Schrader of the University of Münster helped coordinate the project and still sounds amazed by its...

In May, the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/">United Nations</a> (UN) released a devastating <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/">report</a> detailing the unprecedented loss of biodiversity that our planet is currently facing. Now, UN experts are warning of the effects mass <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/decreases-biodiversity-habitat-loss/">biodiversity loss</a> can also have on human rights.

The UN biodiversity report, published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, found that over one million species are currently at risk of extinction. Researchers found that human activities threaten species more than at any other time in the planet’s history. 

The results are incredibly grim. The authors note that we will continue on this downwards spiral unless we implement transformative change.

Plants and animals are not the only victims of the current state of the planet. UN experts caution that biodiversity loss threatens human rights for current and future generations.

“The loss of global biodiversity is having and will continue to have devastating effects on a wide range of human rights for decades to come. This report is a stark reminder that we can simply not enjoy our basic human rights to life, health, food and safe water without a healthy environment,” David Boyd, a UN expert on human rights and the environment, said in a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24738&amp;LangID=E">news release</a>.

Biodiversity provides humans with food, medicine and livelihoods. Plant and animal species also ensure our ecosystems function properly which, in turn, helps to clean our air, water and soil. Ecosystems such as coral reefs can protect humans from the effects of extreme weather, which is believed to increase as a result of climate change.

A 2015 <a href="https://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/phe-pr.pdf?ua=1">report</a> by the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> and the Convention on Biological Diversity found that biodiversity loss is impacting human health worldwide. 

A decline in natural resources throughout the world could exacerbate tensions between people and countries, resulting in armed conflict.

The loss of pollinators alone threatens $577 billion in annual global crops. Additionally, an estimated 100-300 million people are at an increased risk of floods and hurricanes as a result of the decline in coastal ecosystems, the UN biodiversity <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment">report</a> found.

Communities throughout the world rely on healthy and functional ecosystems for survival. As United Nations experts state, poor communities including indigenous peoples, farmers and fishermen are particularly vulnerable to the effects of biodiversity loss. 

The UN biodiversity report helped wake up the collective conscience of humanity. While many people may not yet see the effects of biodiversity loss on their personal livelihoods, that could change in the coming years. The key to gaining buy-in for transformative change may just be the threat it poses to us personally.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Maciej Olszewski

UN experts warn that biodiversity loss can be a human rights issue

In May, the United Nations (UN) released a devastating report...

You may think of the Caribbean as a physically beautiful location to lay on the beach and sip on cocktails. Many experience the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/economic-coral-bleaching-caribbean/">Caribbean</a> this way, superficially as a backdrop to a nice vacation, but the Caribbean also has much more to offer.

Located at the southern edge of North America, in a zone of transition to the tropics of Central and South America, it’s no surprise that the Caribbean is a hotspot for biodiversity. With <a href="https://www.tripsavvy.com/number-of-islands-in-the-caribbean-1487691">7,000 individual islands</a> scattered through the sea, it’s also no surprise that the region has some fascinating endemic species. Species like Jamaica’s <a href="https://jis.gov.jm/information/symbols/jamaican-national-bird-the-doctor-bird/">SwallowTail Hummingbird</a> (Trochilus Polytmus) or Cuba’s <a href="https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Ornimegalonyx">giant, flightless owl</a> show just a glimpse of the fascinating wildlife found (or once found) in the Caribbean. 

<a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/valuing-and-protecting-biodiversity-caribbean">UN Environment</a> reports that the Caribbean is home to 11,000 plant species, around 72 of which are only found in the region. Meanwhile, Caribbean Sea itself is just as impressive as the islands it fosters.   

There are at least 12,046 <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0011916">marine species</a> of 37 different taxa in the Caribbean region. Of this biodiversity, there are more than <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301864386_Coral_Reef_Fishes_Common_Fish_of_the_Caribbean">400 species of reef fish</a> in the Caribbean alone. Some of these fish naturally are more common than others. 

<a href="https://www.iucn.org/news/secretariat/201706/overfishing-reef-decline-threaten-greater-caribbean-and-pacific-island-fisheries-%E2%80%93-iucn-reports">Overfishing and reef decline</a> are leading to a historic decline of fish populations throughout the Caribbean. When I visited Jamaica years ago as part of a team documenting overfishing, the lack of options for fishermen was palpable. People with little money and little education turn to the only work they know to feed themselves. Throughout much of the Caribbean, all some people know is fishing, a way of life that has supplied abundant nutrition that may be coming to an end due to human overreach. This sad situation has led to many programs focusing on protecting marine species and working towards sustainable fisheries. For some fish, the situation is considerably more urgent than for others. 

The <a href="https://www.aqua.org/Experience/Animal-Index/largetooth-sawfish">Largetooth Sawfish</a>, (Pristis pristis) is just one fish of many species living in the Caribbean but it is a rather bizarre specimen. True to its name, the fish has a long protrusion on its snout lined with teeth, making it appear like a saw. Interestingly, the sawfish uses this appendage to find fish and attack them for food. Tiny sensors line the ‘saw’ allowing the fish a 6th sense which can detect the tiny electrical currents created by living animals. With this sense, the sawfish can find prey fish even in dark or muddy waters and attack the prey, securing a meal. 

Sawfish may look completely bizarre, but they have shark-like bodies and are rays. Sawfish interestingly can live in varying levels of salinity from fresh water to open ocean but are most common in estuaries and shallow bays. Often, sawfish are found in seagrasses or mangrove habitats. 

Strangely, there is even a population of the fish in <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/10/19/From-the-depths-of-Lake-Nicaragua-comes-a-fish/6851719467200/">Lake Nicaragua</a>. These fish are quite large, with an agreed maximum size of 19.7 feet long but some reports claiming fish of 23 feet in length. In fact, the largetooth sawfish is among the world’s largest fish. Unfortunately, the fish is also extremely endangered.

The sawfish was once widespread throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. A different species, the smalltooth sawfish, was the first marine fish to be placed on the endangered species list in 2003. In fact, all sawfish species are endangered, according to the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/pristis-pristis/">Florida Museum</a>. The largetooth sawfish itself was listed on the endangered species list in the US in 2011. The <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/43508845/43508869">IUCN Red List</a> lists largetooth sawfish as critically endangered.

Sawfish have historically been caught as impressive sport trophies and have been used for traditional medicine and for religion. In parts of Africa, the saws are used for tools or the teeth are attached to roosters legs for cock fights. Direct fishing but also the decline of the oceans lead to the decline of the largetooth sawfish as well. Sawfish are also often killed as bycatch, becoming entangled in fishing gear intended for other species. 

But recently, the Caribbean boosted protection for the rare fish. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/caribbean-nations-boost-protection-for-extremely-rare-largetooth-sawfish/">Mongabay</a> reports that on June 5, Caribbean nations agreed to add the sawfish to Annex II of the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol under the Cartagena Convention. Protection for the closely related Smalltooth Sawfish have yet to be put into place under SPAW. 

Annexes I and II are the highest levels of protection for a species under the Cartagena Convention. This means that owning, trading and killing the largetooth sawfish is now illegal in the Caribbean. The Cartagena Convention was originally a protocol for cooperation in case of oil spills, agreed upon between Caribbean nations under the <a href="http://www.cep.unep.org/cartagena-convention">UN</a> in 1983 and put into force in 1986. Later the convention was expanded to protect special areas and species as well as create land based marine pollution controls. Much more research is still needed to understand the biology of such a unique fish, but strict protection is a good place to start.

Sawfish have been found previously near Florida and more recently in reasonable numbers near Costa Rica and Nicaragua as well. Largetooth sawfish haven’t been seen off the coast of Florida for decades, according to <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/five-facts-sawfishes-in-florida/">Florida Museum</a>, but those waters are still habitat. The Caribbean is a large portion of the area still occupied by largetooth sawfish as well as the smalltooth sawfish. The smalltooth sawfish is now found only in waters off the coast of Florida. 

Caribbean nations agreeing to protect the largetooth sawfish is a step towards securing their future in the world’s oceans. However, protection for the smalltooth sawfish would be very helpful as well. Globally, there are five species of sawfish and all of them are endangered. Greater protection for all of these fish would be welcome. But to truly secure their future existence, the world’s fisheries would need to be sustainable as well, a tall order for the tragedy of the commons that has become our oceans.              

--

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: Simon Fraser University

Endangered largetooth sawfish gain greater protections in the Caribbean

You may think of the Caribbean as a physically beautiful...

Based on the detailed analysis of tooth remains, researchers have discovered that some ancient crocodilians were herbivores. The study findings suggest that the carnivorous preferences of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cultures-crocodiles-worshipped/">crocodiles</a> were replaced with plants at least three times among the distant relatives of modern crocodilians.

"The most interesting thing we discovered was how frequently it seems extinct crocodyliforms ate plants," said study author Keegan Melstrom of the <a href="https://www.utah.edu/">University of Utah</a>. "Complex teeth, which we infer to indicate herbivory, appear in the extinct relatives of crocodiles at least three times and maybe as many as six in our dataset alone."

As semiaquatic generalist carnivores, all modern-day crocodilians have relatively simple and consistent teeth. The extinct species examined for the study clearly showed a different pattern, including many specializations that are not seen today. One feature that was found among the fossils was the primitive characteristic of heterodonty, or teeth of different shapes and sizes. 

"Carnivores possess simple teeth whereas herbivores have much more complex teeth," explained Melstrom. "Omnivores, organisms that eat both plant and animal material, fall somewhere in between. Part of my earlier research showed that this pattern holds in living reptiles that have teeth, such as crocodilians and lizards. So these results told us that the basic pattern between diet and teeth is found in both mammals and reptiles, despite very different tooth shapes, and is applicable to extinct reptiles."

The researchers compared the tooth complexity of prehistoric crocodyliforms with those of living animals to reconstruct their diets. Overall, they measured 146 erupted teeth from 16 different taxa of extinct crocodyliforms.

[caption id="attachment_1874479" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/crocodyliform-life-reconstructions.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1874479" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/crocodyliform-life-reconstructions.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="1136" /></a> Crocodyliform life reconstructions. Image Credit: Jorge Gonzalez[/caption]

The study revealed that shortly after the end-Triassic mass extinction, plant-eating crocodilians emerged and persisted until the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. There was also evidence to suggest that a preference for plants appeared independently at least three times in Mesozoic crocodilians.

"Our work demonstrates that extinct crocodyliforms had an incredibly varied diet," said Melstrom. "Some were similar to living crocodilians and were primarily carnivorous, others were omnivores, and still others likely specialized in plants. The herbivores lived on different continents at different times, some alongside mammals and mammal relatives, and others did not. This suggests that an herbivorous crocodyliform was successful in a variety of environments!"

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: Shutterstock/Ondrej Prosicky

Some ancient crocodile species were herbivores

Based on the detailed analysis of tooth remains, researchers have...

From vibrant reds, greens, yellows, and blues, birds have some of the most striking and distinct colorings compared to other animals.

Melanin pigment is the key to these vivid feathers, and it is responsible for black, reddish brown, and grey feathers as well as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birds-shiny-feathers-trees/">iridescence</a>. 

Luckily, melanin pigment can fossilize, whereas feathers, which are made of keratin, are not preserved in prehistoric fossils. 

Researchers can use the fossilized pigments to help determine the colors of ancient birds, but the color blue remained evasive, and it was not known if blue could be preserved like other pigments. 

In a new study, researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> have identified blue color tones in prehistoric birds and discovered which birds were predominantly blue.

Birds use the melanin pigments to create both structural iridescent and non-iridescent colors. The melanin packages called melanosomes can look like small spheres to cylinders and measure less than one-thousandth of a millimeter. 

By examining the melanosomes in fossils, researchers can reconstruct the color of the feathers. 

But blue is a non-iridescent structural color and difficult to reconstruct. If a bird has blue coloring, its feathers contain an array of cavities that scatter blue light. The only way to determine a blue bird’s coloring is the dark melanin that absorbs unscattered light. 

The researchers discovered that the melanosomes in blue feathers are distinctly different from feathers that are black or brown, but similar to those found in grey feathers. 

After comparing modern birds and their feather colors to closely related fossil specimens, the researchers were able to determine that the prehistoric bird Eocoracias brachyptera was blue. 

“The overlap with grey colour may suggest some common mechanism in how melanosomes are involved in making grey colouration and how these structural blue colours are formed,” said Frane Barbarovic, the leader of the study. “Based on these results in our publication we have also hypothesized potential evolutionary transition between blue and grey colour.”

Blue, although a common color in the animal kingdom, is still somewhat of a mystery to biologists as far as what purpose it serves for some species. 

By having a better understanding of which ancient birds were blue, researchers may be able to piece together the evolutionary purpose and advantages blue coloring provides birds.

The results of the study were published in the journal Interface. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Reconstruction by Marta Zaher, PhD at the University of Bristol

Scientists identify blue tones in ancient fossilized feathers

From vibrant reds, greens, yellows, and blues, birds have some...

Fossil records dating as far back as the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cambrian-fossils-china/">Cambrian period</a> have shown significant ebbs and flows of evolution and extinction. However, rather than depicting a bell-shaped curve of rapid diversification and plummeting extinctions, the fossil record shows fat-tailed distribution, with outlier events occurring with higher-than-expected probability — a shape that scientists have had a hard time explaining.

Andy Rominger, a <a href="https://www.santafe.edu/">Santa Fe Institute</a> Omidyar Fellow, worked with colleagues Miguel Fuentes of <a href="http://www.uss.cl/">San Sebastián University</a>, and Pablo Marquet of <a href="http://eap.ucop.edu/OurPrograms/brazil/Pages/pontifical_catholic_univ.aspx">Pontifical Catholic University</a> to investigate the odd pattern. Their investigation is published in <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

Rather than looking at the big picture first, the team analyzed the fluctuations among clades, or groups of organisms that share a common lineage.

"Within a lineage of closely related organisms, there should be a conserved evolutionary dynamic. Between different lineages, that dynamic can change," Rominger explained.

Related organisms within clades often find an adaptive strategy and stick to it. But between the clade-specific fitness peaks, there are voids of seemingly empty space. "It turns out, just invoking that simple idea, with some very simple mathematics, described the patterns in the fossil record very well,” Rominger said.

In 2009, Fuentes used the same “simply mathematics” — called superstatistics — to explain the stock market’s ebbs and flows, which oddly enough, depicted a similar fat-tailed pattern.

"In biology, we see these crashes and explosions too, in terms of biodiversity," Rominger said. "We wondered if Fuentes' elegant approach could also describe the evolutionary dynamics we see in the fossil record."

Their findings will hopefully help other scientists better understand evolutionary processes that lead to extinction and evolution, and to interruptions that make way for new life forms.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Mesa Shumacher/Santa Fe Institute

Scientists finally understand the universal pattern in fossil record

Fossil records dating as far back as the Cambrian period...

Giant bird lived alongside early Europeans millions of years ago  birds, three times larger than an ostrich, lived alongside early Europeans around two million years ago. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.ras.ru/">Russian Academy of Sciences</a> recently unearthed a fossil belonging to a behemoth of a bird in a cave in Crimea. 

Although <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-beavers-didnt-survive/">megafauna</a> were not strangers to the prehistoric era, it was thought that huge birds were isolated to Madagascar, New Zealand, and Australia. 

This newest fossil, though, indicates that birds similar in size to the Madagascan elephant bird lived in Europe, and it’s the first bird of its size ever discovered in the northern hemisphere. 

The researchers detailed the find in a study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 

Found in the Taurida Cave in Crimea along the northern coast of the Black Sea, the researchers estimate that the bird measured a little over 11 feet tall.  Other fossils found in the cave helped date the bird to 1.5 to two million years old. 

It would have been flightless but very fast, as indicated by its thin femur bone, and may have been an important source of meat for humans. Giant bird lived alongside early Europeans millions of years ago

“When I first felt the weight of the bird whose thigh bone I was holding in my hand, I thought it must be a Malagasy elephant bird fossil because no birds of this size have ever been reported from Europe,” said Dr. Nikita Zelenkov, the lead author of the study. “However, the structure of the bone unexpectedly told a different story.” 

The researchers are not sure as to the species of the bird but say it’s related to the species Pachystruthio dmanisensis. 

“We don’t have enough data yet to say whether it was most closely related to ostriches or to other birds, but we estimate it weighed about 450kg,” said Zelenkov. “This formidable weight is nearly double the largest moa, three times the largest living bird, the common ostrich, and nearly as much as an adult polar bear.”

Alongside the bird, the researchers found fossils of giant cheetahs and saber-tooth cats. 

“The Taurida cave network was only discovered last summer when a new motorway was being built,” said Zelenkov. “Last year, mammoth remains were unearthed and there may be much more to that the site will teach us about Europe’s distant past.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit; Andrey Atuchin

Giant bird lived alongside early Europeans millions of years ago

Giant bird lived alongside early Europeans millions of years ago ...

A new study has revealed that honeybees from apiaries may be spreading <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-vaccine-bee-colonies/">viral infections </a>to wild bumblebees.

Although it’s been over a decade since beekeepers first reported that thousands of hives were missing their bees due to colony collapse disorder, bees are still struggling. 

Without bees pollinating our plants and crops, agricultural worldwide is at risk. 

Colony collapse disorder impacts honeybee hives, but honeybees are not the only buzzing pollinators facing population declines.

A new study has linked viral pathogens causing current bumblebee declines to managed honeybees. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/">University of Vermont</a> discovered that honeybees from managed apiaries are spreading deadly RNA viruses and wild bumblebees become infected with these viruses when they visit the same flowers. 

The flowers serve as a bridge, allowing infections to spread. 

In the study, published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217822">PLOS ONE</a>, the researchers focused on two RNA viruses, the deformed wing virus (DWV) and the black queen cell virus (BQCV). 

Both viruses were higher in bumblebees that were hovering near apiaries. DWV was not found in bumblebees that were collected near areas where honeybees or apiaries were not present. 

The viruses were discovered on 19 percent of flowers within apiaries. 

The study shows that viruses may be spreading from apiaries to wild bumblebees with flowers acting as the intermediary between the different bees. 

If flowers near apiaries serve as an important route for spreading disease, the researchers suggest implementing strategies to keep vulnerable bumblebees away from infected floral areas. 

“The study supports a widely accepted yet largely untested hypothesis: viruses are spilling over from managed honey bees into wild bumble bee species, and this is likely occurring through the shared use of flowers,” said Samantha Alger, the lead author of the study.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Samantha Alger 2019

Diseased honeybees are spreading infections to wild bumblebees

A new study has revealed that honeybees from apiaries may...

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/water-removal-colorado-river/">Colorado River</a> is in some ways is a product of its arid environment and the thirsty human communities that surround it. 

I always thought of the Colorado River as a large and iconic river, as it was always a presence nearby growing up in Grand Junction, a small city named for the junction of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers. The Colorado carved the Grand Canyon and supplies thousands of farmers and communities with water, making it one of the pillars of the arid west. It wasn’t until I saw the Hudson River, a water way so much more massive than the Colorado, that I understood the river’s importance lies partially in where it’s situated. 

But I’ve also never seen the untamed Colorado River. For many the Colorado is the river, the source of drinking water, irrigation water, the source of water. Unfortunately, this means that wildlife species that evolved with the river as home or primary water source often have to compete with humans for the life-giving resource. 

The Colorado itself has been dammed 15 times for humans trying to chain a river that moves with seasonal snows to the steady necessity of a tap. <a href="http://savethecolorado.org/threats/dams-and-diversions/">Save the Colorado</a> reports that there are over 100 dams on the Colorado and its tributaries. The river also has had its share of invasive species introduced by anglers with a hankering for familiar quarry. These two threats have pushed some of the native species in the Colorado River to the point of being endangered. 

Because of damming, the natural flow of the Colorado River has obviously changed. The result of often lower than normal amounts of flow in the Colorado is a different stream bed. Gravel and sediment build up in ways that don’t provide the native fish of the Colorado River very good spawning substrates. Because of this problem for endangered fish, federal and state agencies in Colorado have partnered with NGOs and hydropower interests to create the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in 1988. 

Michelle Garrison, Senior Water Resource Specialist of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, explained it to me the partnership to me in an email:

“Its goal is to recover four species of endangered fish (Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker, bonytail) while allowing water use and development to continue in a manner consistent with Federal and State law.  One of the benefits to water users is streamlined Section 7 consultation. The Recovery Program focuses on several key categories of action to help recover the endangered fish: instream flows, habitat restoration, nonnative fish management, propagation and stocking of some endangered species, research and monitoring, information and education, and program management.”

Out of this partnership came a recent surge in water flow in the Colorado River, focused just above its juncture with the Gunnison in western Colorado. Hydrologist and Instream Flow Coordinator Don Anderson of the Upper Colorado Recovery Program told me he prefers the phrase, “high-flow augmentation” to “surge.” But either way, it means more water from dams released into the Colorado in a coordinated effort to benefit endangered fish species. 

The peak of this water was scheduled for June 14th, the result of five reservoirs releasing more water than usual. This water flow augmentation is made possible partially by the extra snow the Colorado high country received last winter, which is now melting into river water. This is a process that happens not every year but depends on how much water is available, coordinated so that reservoirs retain enough water but the river itself can ‘surge’ as well. 

Michelle Garrison explained this year’s flow augmentation to me:

“Depending on the amount of surplus water available and the timing and magnitude of high spring flows, the reservoir operators coordinate their bypasses for a period of 3-10 days to either put water on top of lower peaks, or extend the duration of higher peaks at levels that do not increase the risk of flooding in the region.  This year predicted peaks were near bankfull, so the operators chose to add water to the descending limb of the peaks so that they did not increase the peak itself, but slowed the decline of the high flows to allow for a longer duration of high flows that remained below bankfull. Extending the duration of flows above 12,000 cfs increases the amount of habitat improvement that occurs in the channel.”

“This was a very unusual year for weather and precipitation, and the snowpack lingered much longer than usual before melting,” Don Anderson added. “The peak flows more typically occur in late May or early June, but this year flows and reservoir inflows were both too low during that time period…Therefore reservoir operators delayed operations until the peak flows arrived, and timed their releases to add water to the river after the peak had started to recede to avoid flooding concerns.”

These high flow augmentations are carefully planned and coordinated between multiple agencies and organizations to not cause flooding or damage down stream but the important thing is that they also provide a benefit for endangered fish. 

“Spring runoff provides several important benefits to the native fish, including spawning cues for some native species, cleaning of cobble bars used as spawning habitat, and other in-channel habitat improvements,” Anderson explained. “Coordinating the bypasses from the reservoirs provides more in-channel habitat improvements than could be achieved if each reservoir operator made all their operational decisions separately.”

Interestingly, the efforts seem to be effective because fish native to the Colorado River have evolved for fast flowing, turbid river conditions, while most non-native fish haven’t. The flows do also typically benefit cold-water sport fish like trout, but these fish are upstream of the habitat of the native warm water species, like those found near Grand Junction. Don Anderson was quick to remind me that although these flow augmentation efforts benefit native fish, they’re not enough on their own.

Stocking native fish, controlling non-natives, and habitat restoration/creation are also essential to save Colorado Pikeminnow, Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub and Boneytail, to say nothing of keeping other native fish species populations healthy.   

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/J Gillispie

Extra water released into the Colorado River to help benefit endangered fish

The Colorado River is in some ways is a product...

A construction site near a retirement community in Denver, Colorado is now the new site of the paleontological dig around a large adult triceratops. Back in May, builders discovered the collection of bones while digging through a rock layer in Highland Ranch that dates back 65 million to 68 million years.

Upon unearthing the prehistoric bones, experts were brought in from the <a href="https://www.dmns.org/">Denver Museum of Nature and Science</a> in order to study the bones further. They can now report that they have confirmed the partial skeleton found at the site includes a limb bone and several ribs belonging to a triceratops. Currently, construction crews are using heavy equipment to dig a deep trench searching for other dinosaur fossils in the same area. 

[caption id="attachment_1874426" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Richard-M-Wicker.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1874426" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Richard-M-Wicker.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="857" /></a> Image Credit: Richard M Wicker[/caption]

The state of Colorado has been the birthplace of many fossil finds, with thousands of dinosaur bones found in the state. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science alone has almost 115,000 dinosaur, plant, and mammal fossils in its possession. There is even a location along the front range of the Rocky Mountains named “Dinosaur Ridge,” where many famous Jurassic dinosaur bones have been uncovered.

The triceratops also happens to be a popular find in Colorado, as triceratops bones are among the most common of all dinosaur bones discovered in the state. Additionally, bones belonging to a torosaurus –a relative of the triceratops – were discovered at another Denver construction site in 2017. But this doesn’t mean that dinosaur bones are growing on trees.

[caption id="attachment_1874427" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Richard-M-Wicker-dinosaur-bones.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1874427" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Richard-M-Wicker-dinosaur-bones.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="912" /></a> Image Credit: Richard M Wicker[/caption]

“'It’s always exciting to get a call about possible fossils, and I can’t wait to share more details as we continue to dig,” says Dr. Tyler Lyson, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum. “Finds like this, while relatively rare, are a great reminder of how dynamic our planet is and how much more there is out there to discover.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Triceratops bones unearthed at Denver construction site

A construction site near a retirement community in Denver, Colorado...

Capuchin monkeys evolved about 6.2 million years ago, but new research from archaeologists in Brazil has found that these monkeys appear to be about 3,000 years into their own “Stone Age.”

<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a> archaeologist Tomo Proffitt and colleagues dug up an area of Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park, where capuchin monkeys have been gorging on cashew nuts for generations. But the important part of this cashew nut buffet is exactly how the monkeys crack these nuts. Capuchin monkeys have been observed using rocks to smash open nuts for years, but Proffitt wanted to determine exactly how long this process has been going on.

In their excavation efforts, the researchers analyzed the stones they dug up and used carbon-dating of fragments of charcoals found near each tool in order to determine how old they were. Their findings showed that capuchin monkeys have been cracking open cashews with rocks at this site for around 3,000 years – or about 450 generations of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/spider-monkeys-calls-separated/">monkeys</a>.

[caption id="attachment_1874414" align="aligncenter" width="630"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Dorothy-Fragaszy.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1874414" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Dorothy-Fragaszy.jpg" alt="" width="630" height="396" /></a> Image Credit: Dorothy Fragaszy[/caption]

The researchers also found that these monkeys have been changing the size of the tools they used over time, switching from smaller rocks to larger ones and then back to small rocks again. They made the switch to bigger and heavier stone tools roughly 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but after this period they switched back to using smaller rocks, and still do to this day.

Further assessment of this tool sizing switch has Proffitt and his colleagues postulating that different groups of monkeys could have been using different sized stones, or that cashews were less readily available at certain times, which led to the animals using larger tools to access different types of food.

Currently, capuchin monkeys join humans and chimpanzees as the only animals with a known archaeological record. It’s clear that these animals have been using more brain power than the vast majority of species on our planet, and have found a perfect way to match it with the power of sheer force as well.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Lisa Crawford/Shutterstock

Capuchin monkeys have been using stone tools for thousands of years

Capuchin monkeys evolved about 6.2 million years ago, but new...

When <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/zebrafish-spinal-cord-injuries/">zebrafish</a> were placed in a virtual-reality-equipped chamber that eliminated the visual feedback linked to movement, the fish ultimately decided to give up. They first tried to swim harder in order to move forward again. But after exerting too much energy, the fish simply decided to give up.

"Giving up is a very important thing for animals to be able to do," said Misha Ahrens, a group leader at the <a href="https://www.janelia.org/">Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus</a>. This ability to decide to give up saves the fish from unnecessarily exerting large amounts of energy.

As they watched the brain activity pattern of the zebrafish during their struggle, Ahrens and his team discovered that neurons were not responsible for telling the fish to give up. It was gila, cells that were previously thought to merely provide support and insulation for neurons. 

However, this new discovery has proven that at least one type of gilal cell can calculate when an effort is ultimately futile. 

In the study, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell</a>, the researchers noticed that these cells, called radial astrocytes, became more active in a specific part of the brain when the fish decided to give up swimming. It turned out that it was actually the neurons that revved up the astrocytes during each attempt at a failed movement.

When they put their theory to the test by killing off active astrocytes in zebrafish, the researchers found that the fish continued to swim within the VR chamber. And when the team created fish with astrocytes that could be turned on and off, they saw that when the astrocytes were on, the fish stopped swimming as the average fish does.

The team will move on to study how the astrocytes communicate with the neurons within the brain. 

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Grigorev Mikhail

Fish are able to ‘give up’ and save energy thanks to gila

When zebrafish were placed in a virtual-reality-equipped chamber that eliminated...

The results of a national survey have revealed that beekeepers in the United States lost 40.7 percent of their honeybee colonies from April 2018 to April 2019. The winter losses alone reached 37.7 percent, which is the highest winter loss reported since the <a href="https://beeinformed.org/">Bee Informed Partnership</a> survey began 13 years ago.

In the United States, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/honey-bees-pollen-collection-varies/">honey bees</a> pollinate $15 billion worth of food crops each year, which makes them critical to our nation's food production. 

Dennis vanEngelsdorp is an associate professor of Entomology at the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a> and president for the Bee Informed Partnership. 

"These results are very concerning, as high winter losses hit an industry already suffering from a decade of high winter losses," said Professor vanEngelsdorp.

This year's 40.7 percent loss of honeybee colonies is a slight increase from last year's annual loss of 38.7 percent.

"Just looking at the overall picture and the 10-year trends, it's disconcerting that we're still seeing elevated losses after over a decade of survey and quite intense work to try to understand and reduce colony loss," said Professor Geoffrey Williams of <a href="http://www.auburn.edu/">Auburn University</a>. "We don't seem to be making particularly great progress to reduce overall losses."

The 2019 survey involved nearly 4,700 commercial and backyard beekeepers managing 319,787 colonies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This total represents about 12 percent of the nation's estimated 2.69 million managed colonies.

The number one concern among beekeepers is varroa mites, which are deadly parasites that spread from colony to colony. These mites have been destroying colonies for years.

"We are increasingly concerned about varroa mites and the viruses they spread," said Professor  vanEngelsdorp. "Last year, many beekeepers reported poor treatment efficacy, and limited field tests showed that products that once removed 90% of mites or more are now removing far fewer. Since these products are no longer working as well, the mite problem seems to be getting worse."

"But mites are not the only problem. Land use changes have led to a lack of nutrition-rich pollen sources for bees, causing poor nutrition. Pesticide exposures, environmental factors, and beekeeping practices all play some role as well."

Karen Rennich is the executive director for the Bee Informed Partnership and senior faculty specialist at the University of Maryland.

"The tools that used to work for beekeepers seem to be failing, and that may be evident in this year's high losses. A persistent worry among beekeepers nationwide is that there are fewer and fewer favorable places for bees to land, and that is putting increased pressure on beekeepers who are already stretched to their limits to keep their bees alive," said Rennich. "We also think that extreme weather conditions we have seen this past year demand investigation, such as wildfires that ravage the landscape and remove already limited forage, and floods that destroy crops causing losses for the farmer, for the beekeeper, and for the public."

The nationwide survey is conducted each year by the Bee Informed Partnership with data collected and analyzed by the University of Maryland and Auburn University. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Ivan Marjanovic

More than 40 percent of US honeybee colonies were lost in the past year

The results of a national survey have revealed that beekeepers...

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

[sendtonews key="qARzJPSabQ-2270617-12187" 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> 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

[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



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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