When naturalists tally the frogs in a farm pond or the orchids in a mountain meadow they always encounter the same rule of thumb: when you survey a larger range, the more species you find. The relationship seems simple, yet ecologists have puzzled over an odd signature hidden in species distribution data for nearly a century.



As one zooms out from local plots to regional landscapes. the tally of new species first soars. Then, it plateaus, taking off again at continental and global scales. That curious “S-shaped” curve is technically, the three-phase species–area relationship. 



It has appeared in everything from beetles to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-wings-have-a-surprising-effect-on-island-biodiversity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">birds</a> and from coral reefs to desert shrubs. Until now, no single mathematical framework explained why the curve changes its slope where it does.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predicting-species-distributions">Predicting species distributions </h2>



A collaboration of researchers spanning Portugal, Germany, the United States and South Africa has now filled that theoretical gap. 



The experts combined basic geometry with giant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-biodiversity-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodiversity</a> datasets to show that the three phases arise inevitably from the way individual species spread their geographic ranges across Earth’s surface.



The team's model not only reproduces the classic patterns, it also generates equations that predict how many species should occur at the precise break points between phases - a feat with direct relevance for conservation planners who must estimate extinctions as habitats are lost.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-range-size-affects-species-distributions">Range size affects species distributions</h2>



Ecologists formalized the species-area relationship (SAR) in the early twentieth century, discovering that a log-log plot of cumulative species versus area usually forms a straight line. Yet when studies started to cover larger domains, investigators found the line was actually composed of three segments.



In the first segment, from local quadrants to perhaps a few hundred square kilometers, adding more land brings a flood of new species because each little patch contains slightly different microhabitats. In the middle segment, spanning thousands of square kilometers, the pace slackens; the same bird species, for instance, occupy most forests inside a biogeographic region. 



Beyond that, when continents are added, evolutionary history enters the picture and the slope shoots up again as entirely different faunas come into view. Empirically describing those bends was straightforward; explaining them from first principles proved harder. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-individual-ranges-of-species">Individual ranges of species</h2>



“We demonstrated that the individual geographical ranges of all species within the studied areas shape the typical species distribution patterns we observe across the globe,” said lead author Luís Borda-de-Água of <a href="https://www.cibio.up.pt/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CIBIO</a> in Portugal.



By mathematically stacking these ranges like overlapping tiles on a floor plan, the team showed that the SAR’s inflection points fall where the average range size of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-temperature-extremes-change-the-distribution-of-species/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resident species</a> equals the sampling area. At small scales most ranges eclipse the plot, so each extra hectare introduces new species.



At intermediate scales the plot begins to rival range size, so fewer novelties appear. At the largest scales even the widest-ranging species occupy only one continent, restoring the steep climb.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-patterns-and-crunching-records">Testing patterns and crunching records</h2>



To test the idea the researchers turned to the <a href="https://www.gbif.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Biodiversity Information Facility</a>, a compendium of citizen-science sightings and museum records. They extracted roughly 700 million geo-referenced observations spanning birds, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/over-40-of-amphibians-face-extinction-due-to-escalating-climate-threats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amphibians</a>, mammals and vascular plants.



For each taxonomic group they generated empirical SARs and compared them with the theoretical predictions. The correspondence was striking: predicted transition points - where the slope of the SAR changes - matched the observed curves within confidence bounds for all groups.



Borda-de-Água noted that this is a major step forward in ecology because it links a macroecological pattern to a simple, measurable property - range size - without invoking mysterious external factors. 



Senior author Henrique Pereira is a research professor at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research <a href="https://www.idiv.de/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(iDiv</a>) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. 



Pereira emphasized the significance of the research. “Discovering fundamental principles in ecology is just as thrilling as breakthroughs in physics.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-practical-stakes-for-a-shrinking-planet"><a></a>Practical stakes for a shrinking planet</h2>



Beyond intellectual satisfaction the model carries weighty consequences for biodiversity assessments. International panels such as IPBES rely on SARs to translate lost habitat into predicted extinctions. 



If analysts know where a landscape sits on the three-phase curve they can apply the correct slope and avoid over- or under-estimating risk. The new equations provide exactly that guidance. 



Suppose a logged forest fragment still covers more area than the average range of its endemic beetles; species losses may be modest. But once destruction pushes the fragment below the first transition threshold, disappearing hectares cause a much steeper decline in species count.



Because the theory is scale-free it can also help conservationists decide whether sampling has been adequate. If observed species richness does not yet reach the slowdown phase, additional survey work is warranted before managers proclaim an inventory complete.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shifting-species-distributions">Shifting species distributions </h2>



The authors acknowledge that species’ ranges are not static. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-action-and-biodiversity-striking-the-right-balance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Climate change</a>, invasive species, and land-use shifts continually redraw distribution maps. 



Incorporating dynamic range models into the three-phase framework will be a priority, as will extending tests to marine organisms and microbes, whose ranges are harder to delineate.



Still, the study offers a rare optimism amid grim extinction headlines. By revealing the geometry behind one of ecology’s most robust laws, scientists gain a clearer lens through which to view and perhaps mitigate humanity’s impact on life’s diversity.



As Pereira puts it, advances like these “unveil hidden patterns that have been shaping life on Earth for millions of years,” providing the knowledge base needed to steer those patterns, responsibly, into the future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59239-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Saving biodiversity: Scientists discover hidden pattern guiding species distributions

When naturalists tally the frogs in a farm pond or the orchids in a mountain meadow they always encounter the same rule of thumb: when you survey a larger range, the more species you find. The relationship seems simple, yet ecologists have puzzled over an odd signature hidden in species distribution data for nearly a century. As one zooms out from local plots to regional landscapes. the tally of new species first soars. Then, it plateaus, taking off again at continental and global scales. That curious “S-shaped”...

Scientists at <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> recently discovered how fish and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/birds-lead-flock-strongest-flyers/">birds</a> are able to stick together as a flock or school while traveling. They now know that the followers in the group interact with a wake left behind by the leaders.

“Air or water flows naturally generated during flight or swimming can prevent collisions and separations, allowing even individuals with different flapping motions to travel together," said lead author Joel Newbolt, a doctoral candidate in <a href="https://as.nyu.edu/physics.html">NYU's Department of Physics</a>. "Notably, this phenomenon allows slower followers to keep up with faster-flapping leaders by surfing on their wake."

Due to their findings, researchers now believe that this discovery could help them harness energy from natural resources like wind and rivers.

"While we currently use wind and water to help meet our energy needs, our work offers new ways to more efficiently leverage them as we seek new methods for enhancing sustainable practices," co-author Leif Ristroph, an assistant professor in <a href="https://www.courant.nyu.edu/">NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences</a>, explained.

Their evidence, published January 28th in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, is based on a series of experiments involving a robotic “school” of two hydrofoils, which simulate wings and fins that flap up and down and swim forward. Although the flapping was controlled by a motor, the swimming forward motions were uncontrolled and simply the effect of the water pressure on the foils as they flapped.

The experiment proved that the pair of foils, both of which were flapping at different motions and speeds, can move together without colliding due to the follower relying on the wake left behind by the leader. The follower essentially “surfs” on said wake, and is either “repelled” or “pushed” by the wake if going too fast or lagging behind.

Scientists hope that this discovery can lend a hand in future energy harnessing from natural resources where this wake phenomenon occurs. 

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Studying animal locomotion may help scientists harness natural energy

Scientists at New York University recently discovered how fish and...

There have been several reported sightings of a rare and ancient species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/endangered-whale-sharks-starvation/">shark</a> off the coast of Wales in recent years, and now zoologists are hopeful that area represents a new key habitat for the elusive angel shark. 

The angel shark is a type of flat-bodied shark that has evolved very little from its ancient ancestors, and after hunting and pollution nearly drove it to extinction, the only known habitat of the sharks has been the Canary Islands.  

According to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46972070">BBC</a> which reported on the new sightings, the Canary Islands are the angel sharks only stronghold. 

Reports from fisherman have led zoologists to believe that the seabed off the coast of Wales may be another important habitat for the sharks and that there may be more populations of angel sharks than previously realized. 

The question now remains whether the sharks spotted near Wales are native to those waters or have migrated from the Canary Islands. 

“What we really want to try and understand is what sort of numbers are we talking about and where are their important habitats, because there could be some really critical areas for angel sharks in Wales,” Joanna Barker, of the<a href="https://www.zsl.org/"> Zoological Society of London</a> (ZSL), told BBC News.

Dives have been planned to study the sharks further, and researchers also hope to analyze genetic swabs taken from the sharks which will help determine if the sharks near Whales are a genetically different population from the angel sharks that live in the Canary Islands. 

Barker found archives documenting past sightings of angel sharks in Wales. Because of the shark’s distinct lineage, researchers are especially keen to study and monitor the angel sharks living near Whales. 

"If we lose the angel shark, we lose a really important lineage of evolutionary history that we can't get from any other shark species," said Barker. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rare angel sharks spotted off the coast of Wales

There have been several reported sightings of a rare and...

When sponges bore holes into <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pacific-island-bans-toxic-sunscreens/">coral reefs</a> to keep safe from predators, the reefs begin to erode from within. A new study by scientists at the <a href="https://www.nioz.nl/en">Royal NIOZ Netherlands Institute for Sea Research</a> describes how sponges contribute to the collapse of coral reefs and why this activity will speed up as atmospheric CO2 levels rise.

“An affected coral reef may seem intact on the outside, while on the inside looking like a complex of mining shafts with galleries and cavities that are completely filled with sponge tissue,” said study first author Alice Webb.

She explained that the sponges bore into coral skeletons to protect their own tissue from predators by hiding in the hard coral structure. 

“To make the tunnels, they use a combination of chemical and mechanical demolition techniques. First the sponge pumps acidified fluid onto the coral to dissolve and chip off calcium carbonate pieces; then it removes the chips from the boring pit by contracting its tissue, resembling smooth muscle tissue,” said Webb.

“Sponges filter huge amounts of water constantly for feeding and breathing. They suck in water, take all the food particles and then spit the filtered water out. Chips of coral reef are expelled by the same route through these filtering canals, and out of the sponge through the so-called osculum.”

According to Webb, previous research showed that ocean acidification intensifies the bio-erosion of the corals, but the reason for this was unclear. 

The bio-eroding sponges alter the chemical composition of the water by pumping protons from the surrounding seawater into the etching interface, which makes the surface of the skeleton more acidic and easier to dissolve.

“If more CO2 is dissolved in the seawater, the proton concentration rises and the sponge will simply have to spend less energy on lowering the pH at the sponge/coral interface.” 

Webb said that these sponges are abundant on reefs in the Caribbean and also on the Great Barrier Reef. “Taking ocean acidification into account, our sponge findings make it possible to make better predictions of future coral reef conditions.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</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: Alice Webb

Sponges are contributing to the collapse of coral reefs

When sponges bore holes into coral reefs to keep safe...

A wildlife survey that has been conducted by citizen scientists since 1979 has uncovered an alarming trend: common garden birds like sparrows, starlings and song thrushes have seen drastic declines in their numbers.

For four decades now, the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/">Royal Society for the Protection of Birds</a> has sponsored the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/">Big Garden Birdwatch</a> at the end of each January. Volunteers from throughout the United Kingdom spend an hour watching the birds that come and go in their yards, then report their count, giving the RSPB a point-in-time count of the region’s avian life.

“Big Garden Birdwatch participants have made a significant contribution to monitoring garden bird numbers over the past four decades,” RSPB executive Mike Clarke told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html">Daily Mail</a>. “Those taking part work together as part of a community with thousands of other Big Garden Birdwatchers to help the RSPB’s work to protect birds, other wildlife and the places they live.”

Like the <a href="https://www.audubon.org/">Audubon Society</a>’s annual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/audubon-society-christmas-bird-count/">Christmas Bird Count</a>, the RSPB event produces data for use by wildlife managers, biologists and other scientists.

But this year’s count and an analysis of four decades of data offers a grim outlook for some species.

Starlings, though an invasive species in North America, are one species of garden birds on the decline in England. Since 1979, their numbers have declined about 80 percent. Their huge flocks, known for creating massive, swirling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-starlings-aerial-ballet/">aerial shows known as murmurations</a> above cities, are now more common in rural areas. 

Song thrushes have plummeted by 75 percent, greenfinches and house sparrows both 57 percent, and chaffinches by 55 percent. 

Scientists suspect the declines could range from loss of habitat, in the case of the starlings, to trichomonosis, a parasite-linked disease common in finches.

And while house sparrow numbers are down, populations are growing in Scotland, North Ireland and Wales.

Other species of garden birds have done quite well in the series of surveys, with woodpigeon populations growing 950 percent, coal tits 263 percent, magpies 173 percent, and wrens 88 percent.

Collared doves have also seen their numbers spike, 307 percent, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. The doves are not native to the UK; they arrived in the 1950s from the Middle East.

The annual look at the numbers of common garden birds helps to underline how the contributions of citizen scientists can help professionals spot trends – negative and positive – in local wildlife populations.

“Everyone has a role to play in saving nature and protecting our wildlife,” Clarke said.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Some UK garden birds see populations plummet

A wildlife survey that has been conducted by citizen scientists...

Fish farms can provide millions of tons of fish to countries around the world, and as the future of food security is largely uncertain due to climate change, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-fish-food-security/">aquaculture could become an important food source</a> in the coming years. 

Several countries have expressed interest in octopus farms, and the short life spans and numerous hatchlings of a female octopus make the eight-legged cephalopod seem like an ideal fit for domestication. 

But a new analysis of octopus farms published in the journal Issues in Science and Technology warns that octopus farms could have a dangerous environmental impact.

Researchers from the <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/">University of Sydney</a>, <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> and the <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/">University of Sussex </a>investigated the impacts of future commercial octopus farming. 

“We are all living during the rapid domestication of aquatic species, and research is almost entirely around the question of which aquatic animals we can farm, rather than which animals we should farm,” said Jennifer Jacquet, the lead author of the study. 

After examining the pros and cons of octopus aquaculture, the researchers found that octopus farming would threaten the wellbeing of octopuses in those conditions and would result in a negative ripple effect.

The analysis comes at a crucial time since many countries like Japan, Spain and Mexico are already working to develop commercial octopus farming operations. One seafood company based in Japan has announced plans to distribute fully farmed market-ready octopus as early as 2020. 

“Universities and companies are investing time and money into farming octopus, which we believe is a big mistake,” said Jacquet. “Mass producing octopus would repeat many of the same mistakes we made on land in terms of high environmental and animal welfare impacts, and be in some ways worse because we have to feed octopus other animals.”

Around 550 aquatic species are farmed around the world, and the researchers say that because the majority of the fish are carnivorous (octopus included) farming these species puts added pressure on the food web. Additionally, 30 percent of the world’s fish harvest is used for feed. 

Octopuses are also incredibly intelligent, and many aquariums have reported entertaining accounts of their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/04/13/octopus-slips-out-of-aquarium-tank-crawls-across-floor-escapes-down-pipe-to-ocean/?utm_term=.54cc133df62b">resident octopus escaping its tanks</a> or trying to <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96476905">manipulate its environments</a>. 

Placing an octopus in an enclosed fish farm would results in more octopus deaths, increased aggression (as octopus are generally solitary creatures), and pave the way for widespread infection and disease. 

The researchers also say that octopus farms would produce high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. 

Besides the impracticality of farming octopus, the researchers say that octopuses are not necessary for ensuring food security. 

“If society decides we cannot farm octopus, it will mean relatively few people can continue to eat them,” the researchers explain. “However, in the case of octopus, this does not pose problems for food security. The main markets for octopus--Japan, South Korea, northern Mediterranean countries, the U.S., China, and Australia--are food secure.”
--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Octopus farms could have a dangerous environmental ripple effect

Fish farms can provide millions of tons of fish to...

Sea cucumbers have adapted a very surprising method of mobility. New research has revealed that these creatures can suck water into their bodies through their anus, among other openings, puffing up like balloons and floating along with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/atlantic-ocean-currents-rainfall/">ocean currents</a>. 

According to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>, this strategy allows the sea cucumbers to cruise along at speeds of up to 50 miles per day. It has been long assumed that these animals, which are nicknamed sea slugs, are not capable of moving quickly aside from their larval stage.

The study authors explained that sea cucumbers have an “unexpected ability to actively modify their buoyancy, leading them to tumble or float at speeds orders of magnitudes faster than through benthic crawling.”

The investigation was focused on the activity of two sea cucumber species, Cucumaria frondosa and Holothuria scabra, in both the lab and the ocean. 

National Geographic reported that the researchers observed the response of the animals to various factors including salinity levels, strong currents, and sediment. The researchers found that the animals can puff up their body by more than 700 percent by taking in water.

Study co-author Annie Mercier is a marine biologist at <a href="https://www.mun.ca/">Memorial University of Newfoundland</a> who has been studying sea cucumbers for decades. She explained that the sea cucumbers rely on their respiratory system for this behavior. “They take up water from all the orifices they can, including through the anal opening,” Mercier told National Geographic.

While it is not known how far the animals are capable of traveling, the ability may allow sea cucumbers to migrate to safety if it becomes necessary for their survival.

The team discovered that the species H. scabra puffed up and floated more at night and during full moons. Mercier told National Geographic that this indicates the behavior is deliberate, and not random. “It does tell us probably that it's a means of dispersal.”

The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652656">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sea cucumbers can make themselves buoyant to speed around the ocean

Sea cucumbers have adapted a very surprising method of mobility....

Most of the planet’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-composition-tropical-forest-biodiversity/">biodiversity is heavily concentrated in the tropics</a> and the further you go in either direction toward the poles, the scarcer biodiversity becomes. 

However, a few groups of species seem to defy this norm, and scientists have long wondered why diverse species of warm-blooded marine mammals like whales and seals thrive in Arctic and Antarctic oceans but are less abundant in the tropics. 

A new study led by researchers from <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> has shed light on this interesting phenomenon in species richness at the poles, and the results help explain why marine mammals, seabirds, and penguins do so well in their native polar habitats. 

The study was published in the journal Science. 

The researchers put together a distributional database from information on 998 top marine predators like whales and sharks. 

Once the data was all put together, the researchers found interesting differences between warm-blooded and cold-blooded predators, and these differences may help explain why warm-blooded marine mammals at the poles thrive the way they do. 

The researchers modeled predator-prey relationships based on water temperatures and metabolism and discovered that warm-bodied predators have a metabolic advantage in the polar regions because they can efficiently hunt “slow, stupid, and cold” prey, according to the study. 

Warm-blooded marine mammals like whales are faster and smarter because their metabolism helps increase temperatures in key areas like the eyes and brain to help with hunting. 

Unfortunately, biodiversity in the polar regions is in jeopardy as climate change continues to increase ocean temperatures, and unless more is done to mitigate climate change, these pockets of polar biodiversity are at risk. 
--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Why warm-blooded marine predators thrive at the poles

Most of the planet’s biodiversity is heavily concentrated in the...

A team of scientists at the <a href="http://www.uky.edu/UKHome/">University of Kentucky</a> successfully assembled the genome of the axolotl, a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/decline-giant-salamander/">salamander</a> species that is able to regenerate almost every part of its body. Having access to the complete genome may help scientists figure out regeneration in humans.

“It's hard to find a body part they can't regenerate: the limbs, the tail, the spinal cord, the eye, and in some species, the lens, even half of their brain has been shown to regenerate," said Randal Voss, a professor in the <a href="https://scobirc.med.uky.edu/">UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center </a>about the axolotl.

Voss and his colleague Jeramiah Smith, an associate professor in the <a href="https://bio.as.uky.edu/">UK Department of Biology</a>, adapted a classical genetic organization method called “linkage mapping” to efficiently assemble the massive axolotl genome in the correct order — a vital process necessary for understanding how the axolotl genome compares to the human genome. This is the first instance that a genome of this size has been properly assembled and organized.

"Just a few years ago, no one thought it possible to assemble a 30+GB genome," Smith said. "We have now shown it is possible using a cost effective and accessible method, which opens up the possibility of routinely sequencing other animals with large genomes."

Using the assembled axolotl genome, Voss and Smith identified a heart defect-causing gene, which thusly provides a new model of human disease.

"Biomedical research is increasingly becoming a genetically-driven enterprise," Voss explained. "To understand human disease, you have to see be able to study gene functions in other organisms like the axolotl."

He continued, "Now that we have access to genomic information, we can really start to probe axolotl gene functions and learn how they are able to regenerate body parts. Hopefully someday we can translate this information to human therapy, with potential applications for spinal cord injury, stroke, joint repair...the sky's the limit, really."

Voss and Smith’s work will appear in the February issue of <a href="https://genome.cshlp.org/">Genome Research</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Studying salamanders could open the door to human regeneration

A team of scientists at the University of Kentucky successfully...

A report from <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a> has revealed that a previously unknown animal was discovered in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/china-gene-edited-babies-illegal/">China</a> among 600-million-year-old rocks. The unnamed creature dates back further than Dickinsonia, a mysterious organism that was named Earth's oldest animal just last year. 

Discovered by Professor Zhenbing She of the <a href="https://en.cug.edu.cn/">China University of Geosciences</a>, the animal precedes Dickinsonia by more than 40 million years. Dickinsonia was described from pancake-shaped fossils that date back to the Ediacaran period around 558 million years ago. 

While all of the primitive Ediacaran creatures vanished 541 million years ago, the newly discovered animal is believed to be related to modern-day comb jellies.

“The origin and earliest evolution of animals is a fascinating question that has puzzled scientists for many decades,” said Professor She.

According to New Scientist, the fossils were found in a drill core from the Doushantuo Formation in southern China. The fossils stood out to Professor She and his team because they were shaped like a jellyfish.


Under the microscope, the scientists saw what appeared to be muscle tissue, tentacles, nerve cells, mucous layers, gonads, and cilia.

Professor She announced his findings at the <a href="https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/">Geological Society</a> meeting in London last week, where he said that the features of the new animal are very similar to those of the comb jelly phylum Ctenophora. 

Professor She explained that the cilia clusters look like structures called ctenes that are used by comb jellies to swim. He also pointed out that the fossils most closely resemble the living genus of comb jellies known as Pleurobrachia, or sea gooseberries.

“It was a very interesting talk - it seems like they have some very interesting biological creatures preserved,” Emily Mitchell from the University of Cambridge, who attended the conference, told New Scientist. “If these fossils are comb jellies, they may have been part of a surprisingly complex ecosystem.”

The full, exclusive report from New Scientist can be found <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24132142-700-exclusive-600-million-year-old-blobs-are-earliest-animals-ever-found/??utm_medium=NLC&amp;utm_source=NSNS&amp;utm_campaign=2019-0124-GLOBAL-NSDAY&amp;utm_content=NSDAY">here</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: Stock image of a modern sea gooseberry

Organism found in Chinese rocks may be Earth’s earliest known animal

A report from New Scientist has revealed that a previously...

The most recent influenza pandemic occurred in the years 2009-2010, and was caused by the H1N1 strain – which is considered to be relatively mild. But this “relatively mild” strain of flu resulted in the deaths of roughly half a million people around the globe. However, when compared to historic pandemics such as the Spanish flu in 1918 – which killed 50 million – the damage caused by the H1N1 pandemic does seem rather minimal.

Despite our distance from major influenza pandemics, it stands to reason that researchers and healthcare professionals do all they can to prevent these viruses from spreading. One of the major fears currently is that a deadly flu strain could jump from wild birds into humans through the poultry we raise and eat. The strain could then potentially mutate into a pandemic airborne form, which may spread more easily between humans.

Now, new research details how British scientists are developing gene-edited chickens, designed to be completely resistant to flu, in an effort to stop the next deadly pandemic. The first batch of transgenic chicks are scheduled to be hatched later this year at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, according to Wendy Barclay, a professor of virology at Imperial College London and co-leader of the research. 

Researchers altered the birds’ DNA using the widely-publicized new gene editing technology called <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/harmful-effects-crispr-gene-editing/">CRISPR</a>. The edits made remove parts of a protein (ANP32) that the flu virus needs to survive, which then makes the chickens completely flu-resistant. In making these chickens resistant to influenza, this process could lead to us forming a buffer between humans and wild birds. “If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source,” says Barclay. 

Barclay has teamed up with scientists at Roslin Institute for this research. Ironically, Roslin is where scientists first cloned Dolly the sheep, so it’s really no surprise they are in the mix on another study that involves manipulating DNA. 

Despite the researcher’s belief in the effectiveness of this gene-editing approach, Barclay knows that one of the biggest hurdles could be poultry producers’ concerns about public acceptance of these transgenic chickens. “People eat food from farmed animals that have been altered by decades of traditional breeding,” she says. “But they might be nervous about eating gene edited food.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists create flu-resistant chickens to prevent the next pandemic

The most recent influenza pandemic occurred in the years 2009-2010,...

With zoonotic diseases, the concern is often which viruses we can catch from an animal. Rarely do we hear about animals being <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vaccine-protect-chimps-ebola-virus/">infected by the same diseases as humans</a>. 

But a little less than two years after it was discovered that chimpanzees in Uganda were dying from the “common cold,” researchers from the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a> identified two more human respiratory viruses infecting communities of chimps in the same region.

A team of researchers, led by Tony Goldberg, an epidemiologist and professor at UW-Madison, studied chimp communities suffering from two simultaneous outbreaks of respiratory viruses between 2016 and 2017. 

The researchers published their findings in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections.

One group, the Ngogo community, lost 25 chimpanzees and 44 percent of the 205 members in the community became infected during the outbreak. 

Another smaller group, the Kanyawara community, had a larger percent of chimpanzees who were infected but none of the chimpanzees in the Kanyawaya community died. 

The researchers were able to collect the bodies of recently dead chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park before they had decomposed which allowed them to conduct a rare post-mortem comparison between the two chimp communities. 

The team discovered that the Kanyawara chimps had become infected by the parainfluenza virus 3, while the Ngogo chimps had become infected by the metapneumovirus. 

“This was really shocking,” Goldberg said in a UW-Madison <a href="https://news.wisc.edu/human-respiratory-viruses-continue-to-spread-in-wild-chimpanzees/">news release</a>. “At the time, we were convinced that the same virus must have been causing both outbreaks, especially considering that the outbreaks were happening at exactly the same time.”

Both viruses are common in humans. 

“These are very common human viruses that circulate worldwide and cause ‘the sniffles’ in kids,” said Goldberg. “In people, they are no big deal unless the patient has asthma or another underlying condition.”

But for the chimpanzees, it’s a different story, and these common cold viruses are causing more severe symptoms. 

In 2013, researchers discovered that the human cold virus rhinovirus C was infecting chimps in Uganda, but this new study shows that chimps are susceptible to a wide range of respiratory viruses that originate in humans. 

“So, it seems like a plethora of common and mostly benign respiratory viruses of people can be transmitted to chimps in this part of the world, causing disease and sometimes death,” said Goldberg. 

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Richard Wrangham

Chimps in Uganda dying from common human viruses

With zoonotic diseases, the concern is often which viruses we...

Wildlife poaching has long been a threat to many threatened and endangered species throughout the world. As populations of targeted species continue to decline, technology has increasingly been used as a tool to combat poaching.

<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-41672803/drones-are-being-used-to-protect-elephants-and-rhinos-from-poachers">Drones</a> are being used in Africa to watch over wild elephant and rhino populations and <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/new-anti-poaching-technology-leads-to-dozens-of-arrests-of-wildlife-criminals-in-africa">infrared cameras</a> have already resulted in the arrest of dozens of poachers. But now, in an effort to protect sea turtles, fake GPS eggs are being used to track the movement of poachers.

There are seven species of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-sea-turtle-species/">sea turtles</a>, all of whom face pressures from poaching. All but one species of sea turtle is listed as Vulnerable or higher on the IUCN Red List. The elusive Flatback turtle is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List but is listed as Vulnerable under the Australian Commonwealth’s Endangered Species Protection Act, according to <a href="https://www.seeturtles.org/flatback-turtle/">See Turtles</a>.  

Despite protection under national and international laws, sea turtles are heavily poached for their meat, shells and eggs. Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy, aphrodisiac or even a bar snack in some places. Their shells can be used to make jewelry and souvenirs. In the last 100 years,<a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/8005/12881238#threats"> millions</a> of Hawksbill turtles have been killed for the tortoiseshell trade alone.

Without intervention, poaching could result in the extinction of our ocean’s sea turtles. That is where the fake GPS eggs come in. Paso Pacifico, a non-profit that works to conserve ecosystems along Central America’s Pacific slope, has developed a unique product called the InvestEGGator, a GPS tracking device that looks and feels like a real sea turtle egg. 

The non-profit works in Central America, where sea turtle egg poaching is common. Hawksbill turtles in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Ecuador and Leatherback turtles in Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua are among the<a href="https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/ci_threatened_turtlemap_final.pdf"> world’s 11 most threatened sea turtle populations.</a> It is believed that poachers destroy more than 90% of sea turtle nests on many Central American beaches.

The GPS eggs are placed in real sea turtle nests for poachers to grab. Once the poachers take the tracking devices, Paso Pacifico can receive information on poachers’ smuggling routes. 

“Armed with that information, we intend to work with authorities to dismantle egg trafficking, both domestically and internationally,” the group says on their<a href="http://pasopacifico.org/project/investeggator-sea-turtle-eggs/"> website</a>.

“If you're deploying eggs on several beaches in a country, and let's say they all end up going to the same neighborhood or the same block, then that suggests maybe a very centralized network with a couple of really key players,” Kim Williams-Guillén, who works for Paso Pacifico, explained in a<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cracking-down-on-poaching-with-3d-printed-fake-turtle-eggs"> PBS interview</a>.

The eggs have the potential to provide important insight into the movement of poachers and traffickers who sell the products in the illicit wildlife market. In addition, the eggs may also help locals, some of whom may be poachers themselves. 

Paso Pacifico hires locals to work as rangers who patrol the beaches and collect scientific data. The ranger jobs provide an alternative for individuals who may rely on poaching for an income. In this way, the ranger program is not only helping to watch over sea turtles but transform individuals from poachers to guardians.

Paso Pacifico continues to refine the InvestEGGator in the hopes of making the technology available for widespread use. The technology may be able to help other species such as birds whose eggs are smuggled for the wildlife trade.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Fake GPS turtle eggs are being used to help track wildlife poachers

Wildlife poaching has long been a threat to many threatened...

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

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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?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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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 



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[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"

[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

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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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