Empathy is often seen as a defining human trait, woven into the fabric of our societies. It helps people cooperate, build friendships, and resolve conflicts. But empathy is not unique to humans. Across the animal kingdom, from elephants to the bonobos, behaviors hint at emotional connections that transcend species boundaries.



Recent research from <a href="https://www.durham.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Durham University</a> in the UK delves into how two of our closest living relatives — the bonobo and the chimpanzee — express empathy, challenging long-held assumptions and deepening our understanding of emotional evolution.



This study does more than just compare species. It explores how individual personalities, social bonds, and community structures shape emotional behaviors. Led by Dr. Jake Brooker, the research opens a new chapter in the story of human and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bonobo-communication-shares-many-structural-similarities-with-human-language/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">primate</a> empathy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bonobos-and-chimps-show-similar-empathy">Bonobos and chimps show similar empathy</h2>



Traditionally, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bonobos-say-no-to-unfair-trades-even-if-it-costs-rewards/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bonobos</a> have enjoyed a reputation as the "empathic ape," while chimpanzees have been cast as aggressive and political. However, Brooker’s study found that both species comfort others at similar rates.



Observations spanned 1,400 hours, covering 40 bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 50 chimpanzees at the <a href="https://www.chimfunshiwildlife.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage</a> in Zambia. 



Researchers focused on how individuals reacted to distress events like fights, recording spontaneous gestures of consolation, including embracing, hand grasping, and soothing touches.



“For a long time, bonobos have been thought of as the more empathic ape, whilst chimpanzees are typically spoken about as the violent, despotic ape. However, we found that chimpanzees are just as likely to console one another as bonobos,” said Dr. Brooker.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-young-apes-offer-comfort-more-often">Young apes offer comfort more often</h2>



Age played a significant role in consolation patterns. Younger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-bonobo-day-a-celebration-of-love-peace-and-conservation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">apes</a> were more likely to offer comfort compared to their older counterparts, a trend observed across both species.



In bonobos, young individuals actively both consoled and received consolation. In chimpanzees, young males and close social partners were the primary sources of comfort. These findings echo observations in human children, who often show concern for others even before their first birthday.



The study suggests that emotional sensitivity emerges early and may diminish as individuals mature and navigate complex social hierarchies. Dr. Brooker’s team highlighted that empathy is likely intrinsic rather than solely learned through experience.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-drives-empathy-in-bonobos">What drives empathy in bonobos?</h2>



One of the standout discoveries was the role of social relationships. Among <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/orphaned-bonobos-can-regain-social-skills-and-empathy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bonobos</a>, kinship mattered deeply. Individuals were far more likely to console relatives than non-kin. In contrast, chimpanzees prioritized close social bonds over genetic ties when offering comfort.



“Although empathy is very important for our own species, our findings show that empathic behaviours, like consolation, appear to be a common trait we also share with our two closest ape relatives,” said Professor Zanna Clay, senior author of the study. 



This highlights an important point: empathy is not only about feeling another’s distress but is also influenced by relational closeness, just as it is among humans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-emotional-flexibility-within-ape-communities">Emotional flexibility within ape communities</h2>



Variation within species eclipsed differences between species. Some groups showed stronger tendencies toward consolation based on their unique social environments.



For instance, young male chimpanzees were especially active in consoling peers but became less so with age, suggesting social ambition could influence empathic behavior during development. 



In bonobos, higher-ranked individuals were more likely to console, while lower-ranked members appeared more restrained.



“Just like humans, bonobos and chimpanzees may flexibly show empathy depending on the individual, the group, and the surrounding social culture,” Dr. Brooker noted. 



This points to a flexible empathy that shifts according to social conditions and personal traits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-empathy-depends-more-on-social-context">Empathy depends more on social context</h2>



The study also connects behavioral trends with biological differences. Previous research shows bonobos have more serotonergic fibers in the amygdala, a brain region crucial for emotion regulation. They also possess genetic differences associated with social bonding tendencies.



Despite these neurological distinctions, this study found no overarching difference in the likelihood of consolation between the two species. Empathy-related behaviors appeared instead to be more responsive to social and individual contexts.



This finding challenges ideas that neurobiology alone can predict empathic tendencies. Instead, it emphasizes how emotional expressions are shaped within dynamic social landscapes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-consolation-reflect-deep-evolutionary-roots">Consolation reflect deep evolutionary roots</h2>



The behavior of bonobos and chimpanzees adds to a growing body of evidence showing that empathy has ancient evolutionary origins. Consolation behaviors similar to those seen in apes have been documented in elephants, rodents, and even some bird species.



“Finding these overlaps between our two close cousins suggests our last common ancestor likely showed these empathic capacities too. A next step will be to see how much these patterns are also observed in other settings, particularly in the wild,” said Dr. Clay.



This evolutionary perspective deepens our understanding of where human empathy might have originated and suggests that the roots of our emotional lives are much older than previously thought.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ape-empathy-in-wild-natural-settings">Ape empathy in wild natural settings</h2>



One of the major recommendations from this study is the need for broader, cross-setting comparisons. Sanctuaries offer semi-natural environments, but understanding how these behaviors manifest in wild populations will be crucial.



Studying more communities could reveal how local conditions, cultural traditions, and ecological pressures influence the expression of consolation and empathy. 



Future research could also explore how demographic factors, such as the presence of juveniles or social network complexity, shape emotional responses in different communities.



The Durham team plans to pursue such questions to build a richer picture of emotional evolution. They believe that understanding emotional flexibility among our closest relatives will illuminate important aspects of human nature itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-empathy-is-shaped-by-social-lives">Empathy is shaped by social lives </h2>



Brooker’s study redefines how we think about empathy in our closest relatives. It challenges outdated notions of species-wide emotional profiles and shows that individual differences and social environments hold the key.



Both bonobos and chimpanzees can express profound empathy, but how, when, and to whom they show it depends on who they are and the world they live in. Just like humans, their emotional lives are complex, dynamic, and deeply social.



The research was funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation and sets the stage for a new wave of empathy studies across the animal kingdom.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513825000315?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolution and Human Behavior</a>.



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Bonobos and chimps express empathy much like humans

Empathy is often seen as a defining human trait, woven into the fabric of our societies. It helps people cooperate, build friendships, and resolve conflicts. But empathy is not unique to humans. Across the animal kingdom, from elephants to the bonobos, behaviors hint at emotional connections that transcend species boundaries. Recent research from Durham University in the UK delves into how two of our closest living relatives — the bonobo and the chimpanzee — express empathy, challenging long-held assumptions and deepening our understanding of emotional evolution. This...

In the lowlands of Mexico, large areas of natural forest have been transitioned into farmland. Researchers from <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/">Simon Fraser University</a> set out to examine how habitat loss may be affecting birds that have a winter home in this region.

Scientists have speculated that the biggest and oldest birds will take over the prime forest territories as a result of habitat loss. A team led by Simón Valdez-Juárez tracked yellow warblers to investigate how land use changes may have impacted their location during the non-breeding season. 

The experts counted how many warblers were present in riparian gallery forest, scrub mangrove forest, and on agricultural land. The researchers also documented the age, sex, size, and place of origin for some of the birds.

The team was surprised to find that the majority of warblers in western Mexico existed in agricultural habitats.

“The implications for migratory bird populations depend on whether the condition and survival of birds wintering in agriculture is lower than that of birds wintering in natural habitats or not,” said Valdez-Juárez. 

“If it is lower, it might cause localized declines, as females from the contiguous U.S. and western Alaska were more likely to use agricultural habitats and lower female survival has been implicated in the population declines of other warblers.”

The experts found little evidence to show that a bird’s body size or age influenced where it ended up.

The researchers theorized that irrigated agricultural areas may be appealing to the warblers compared to dry forests. However, stressors such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bee-friendly-pesticides/">pesticides</a> may threaten the survival of the birds in their new habitat.

Professor Kevin Fraser is an avian behavior and conservation expert at the <a href="http://umanitoba.ca/">University of Manitoba</a> who was not involved in this research. 

“With increasing agricultural intensification across the ranges of many long-distance migratory songbirds, it is critical to determine if they are using these new habitats. This new study shows that yellow warblers overwintering in western Mexico not only use agriculturally dominated habitats but are more common there than nearby sites with more natural land cover,” said Professor Fraser.

“They also report that more southern breeding females are more likely to use agricultural habitats than more northern breeding females, suggesting any impacts of overwintering habitat use may differ by breeding latitude.” 

“These results are important, as they highlight the need to investigate whether regions undergoing agricultural intensification are providing viable habitat for overwintering migrants, and how their use may carry-over to impact survival or fecundity in subsequent seasons.”

The study is published in <a href="http://www.americanornithologypubs.org/loi/cond">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</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: S. Valdez

Facing habitat loss, migrating birds pick agricultural land

In the lowlands of Mexico, large areas of natural forest...

Conservationists often focus habitat management efforts on one particular high-profile species, known as an “umbrella species,” with the aim of indirectly supporting other species that share the same ecological community, but a new study has revealed that this is not always the best strategy.

Researchers at the <a href="http://www.uwyo.edu/">University of Wyoming</a> focused an analysis on the Greater-Sage Grouse and its neighboring songbird species. Shrub mowing is a strategy used to protect sage-grouse, which require less shrubs and more grass and flowering plants during chick-rearing season. 

The team tracked the numbers and nesting success rates of three <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-deforestation-songbird-populations/">songbird</a> species before and after shrub mowing in central Wyoming. They collected data in sites that had not been mowed for comparison.

Two of the species which use shrubs for nesting, Brewer's Sparrows and Sage Thrashers, had no nests where shrubs had been mowed. In these areas, it could be decades before shrubs have recovered enough for nesting. In addition, the overall abundance of Sage Thrashers was reduced by 50 percent after shrub mowing.

The third species examined in the study, Vesper Sparrows, were found to be more abundant in areas that were mowed extensively.

"The umbrella species concept is an appealing shortcut," said study lead author Jason Carlisle. “However, when conservation practitioners go beyond protecting the umbrella species' habitat and start manipulating habitat conditions to meet the needs of the umbrella species, they risk harm to other species that also rely on those areas.”

Because shrub mowing only covered a region of about five square kilometers in this particular case, the researchers explained that the benefits would likely outweigh the costs. However, the study authors highlighted a need for improved overall monitoring of umbrella-species management.

Russell Norvell is an Avian Conservation Program Coordinator at the <a href="https://wildlife.utah.gov/">Utah Division of Wildlife Resources</a> who was not involved in the study.

“It is clear that the observed effects on ‘background’ species are not consistent across the range of potential beneficiaries, and that the assumed benefits do not accrue to many,” said Norvell. 

“It is likely these effects will persist, given the relatively slow growth rates in this arid system. While the conservation of Greater Sage-Grouse habitats across its range is likely to encompass much good, local habitat manipulations driven by unexamined assumptions or uninformed by landscape context have much to prove.”

The research is published in <a href="http://www.americanornithologypubs.org/loi/cond">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</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: J. Carlisle

Umbrella species management may have unforeseen consequences

Conservationists often focus habitat management efforts on one particular high-profile...

Researchers have estimated that a 52-percent increase in animal production would be required to meet the dietary needs of the global population by 2050. A new study from the <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">University of California Santa Barbara</a> has found that farming fish is the most feasible way to satisfy the growing demand for protein without placing too much strain on the environment.

Animal agriculture takes up large areas of land, uses massive amounts of energy, and results in harmful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agriculture-higher-methane-emissions/">greenhouse gas emissions</a>. The amount of cropland needed for raising animals could be significantly reduced with the development of more aquatic farming, or aquaculture. 

The research from UC Santa Barbara is the first land-use analysis to focus on aquaculture. The findings of the study show that fish farming has great potential for improved food security and land conservation.

“While aquaculture can add some pressure because - ultimately - it is a food production system, our study demonstrates the relative amount is minuscule compared to terrestrially farmed animals,” said lead author Halley Froehlich. “Aquaculture is not going to be the main strain on future crop feed and land use. It is - and will likely continue to be - terrestrial livestock.”


The researchers set out to compare how much land would be required to grow the seven most common crops used to feed livestock and farmed fish under several scenarios between now and 2050. 

The experts modeled a business-as-usual scenario where meat consumption continues to rise at the current rate compared to fish consumption. They also modeled two scenarios where aquaculture meets the increasing demands of the global population by 2050 and eliminates the need to raise more terrestrial animals for food.

The study revealed that replacing additional land animal production with fish production could save between 729 and 747 million hectares of land globally. This area of land is twice the size of India, which is the seventh largest country in the world.


The research demonstrates how critical of a role that food choices will play in the future of biodiversity. Habitat loss, which is largely driven by land use changes, is the biggest threat to biodiversity.

“The expansion of agriculture across the world is driving most species extinctions and the dramatic loss of ecosystems,” said study co-author Claire Runge. “This is only going to increase into the future. Aquaculture offers one way to reduce some of this pressure on our natural landscapes, wild places and wildlife.”

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Farming fish can improve global food security and conserve land

Researchers have estimated that a 52-percent increase in animal production...

A few years ago in Poughkeepsie, New York, my fiancé, Erin and I went to a day of talks about Africa.  One of the stars of the talks was an Anatolian Shepherd. The shepherd was a tall, relaxed dog that seemed contented to stand as guests passed by to pet her.  As incredible as it sounds, people actually train Anatolian Shepherds to protect goats, sheep and other livestock from that iconic African predator: the cheetah.  A <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-humans-common/">dog</a> facing down a cheetah seems less far-fetched if you actually meet an Anatolian shepherd, as they are enormous dogs that stand as high as an adult man’s hip. The dogs are large in frame too, not tall and delicate like greyhounds but closer to Saint Bernards.  It’s not without precedent to have dogs defend livestock from enormous predators, either. 

In David Quammen’s book The Monster of God, he visits shepherds in Romania that protect their herds from Eurasian brown bears Ursus arctos (to be clear, that’s the same species as the North American grizzly).  The name Shepherd in a dog breed gives the vital clue that these dogs were indeed bred to protect sheep from predators.  The key for Anatolian Shepherds seems to be that the dogs are raised with the livestock and grow up thinking of the sheep or goats or whatever other animals are part of the same pack as them.  Just as a dog will defend a human as part of her extended family, so will an Anatolian Shepherd raised with livestock. 

The advantage of dogs for the Cheetahs is that, in most cases, the Cheetah is scared off with no great harm to the big cat.  If a dog can protect a flock of sheep or a herd of goats, then there’s no need to buy a gun or to kill cheetahs preemptively.  It’s the same story with Quammen’s bears, although in that case the dogs have been there for a long time and are used along with other deterrents, such as guns.  With Anatolian Shepherds, the dogs were purposefully brought to Africa by The Cheetah Fund and others as a way for livestock and cheetahs to coexist.

Dogs in many jobs are prized for their noses.  Dogs are used in airport and border security to detect drugs or explosives.  So it’s no surprise that dog noses can also be used for conservation. 

<a href="https://wd4c.org/">Working Dogs for Conservation</a> and similar organizations train dogs to sniff for things like wildlife scat.  The dogs that the organization uses are all rescued from shelters before being trained.  As they explain on their website:

 “Humans have approximately 5 million scent receptors in our noses; dogs can have upwards of 220 million, which is why they can detect a single teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water. Where we experience the world visually, dogs perceive a detailed scentscape.”

The dogs used in conservation are versatile; they can be used in virtually any landscape quadruped wildlife lives.  The specific goal for using dogs varies from project to project, but often they’re used to detect scat. Scat detection is a way to find the presence of an animal without trapping, collaring or darting, simply put it’s non-invasive.  Detecting where an animal is allows conservationists to help set aside the land that animal needs most. Dogs are 40 times more efficient than human researchers at finding scat and aren’t biased towards scat of adult individuals according to Working Dogs for Conservation.  

Dogs were used in the Centennial Mountains of Idaho and Montana to collect data on wolves, grizzly and black bears and mountain lions.  The data collected showed that these predators showed up in places researchers never suspected and stopped the development of 1200 homes and an 18 hole golf course in critical predator habitat.  

Dogs have also been used in a similar way to monitor endangered San Joaquin Kit Fox populations in California, helping steer public policy in a direction compatible with the fox.  

Dogs are being used for conservation in more typical law enforcement capacities as well.  In Zambia dogs have been used to sniff out poached animal parts and illegal weapons used in poaching.  Other places trying similar dog projects are in Botswana and Kenya, places on the frontlines of the fight against poaching and wildlife trade.  

Less on the frontlines than sniffers, dogs in Denali National Park and other protected areas in Alaska are used as sled dogs.  Sled dogs allow rangers to move through the winter backcountry of parks and wilderness areas quietly. A snowmobile may seem more practical to us living in 2018 than dogs, but it’s also disruptive to wildlife, people recreating outdoors and has a greater carbon footprint than dogs.  The dogs are retired at age 9 from the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/">National Park Service</a>, and according to their website:

“While nine years might seem quite old for a big dog, Denali’s dogs are unmatched in their health and energy at that age.”

This is why the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/">National Park Service</a> encourages people with active, outdoor lives to adopt one of their retired sled dogs.  

I like to think that working with dogs rather than GPS collars, drones, and camera traps connects people to the environment in a more real way.  Dogs can be a link between us and the wild environment that’s hard to beat. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dogs help with conservation all over the world

A few years ago in Poughkeepsie, New York, my fiancé,...

For most homeowners, a quiet neighborhood is an ideal place to live. But for fish looking for a home in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coral-reefs-protect-coastlines/">coral reefs</a>, noise is actually a good thing, according to a new study. 

Young fish use the noise from coral reefs to find a good home and place to mate. The sounds of a coral reef can be heard for miles and the species that call corals home use sounds to communicate with each other, warn others in case of predators, and for mating. 

Snapping shrimp, chirps from damselfish, and chattering clownfish create a symphonic soundscape that is a key indicator of a healthy reef. 

Over time, due to the increase in bleaching events, pollution, and habitat degradation, coral reefs have become much quieter and in turn, attract less fish. 

This was the major takeaway from research conducted by an international team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 

The researchers performed several field experiments on the Northern Great Barrier Reef and discovered that years of bleaching and cyclones due has put a literal damper on the “coral reef orchestra”. 

It’s had a silencing effect over the years and coral reefs are much quieter now compared to five years ago.  

“It's heartbreaking to hear. The usual pops, chirps, snaps, and chatters of countless fish and invertebrates have disappeared. The symphony of the sea is being silenced.” said Tim Gordon, the study’s lead author. 

The degraded reefs are now attracting 40 percent fewer juvenile fish, which put corals in even more danger, as fish are required for a healthy and thriving reef system. 

“If fish aren't hearing their way home anymore, that could be bad news for the recovery prospects of reefs,” said Harry Harding, a co-author of the research.  “Fish play critical roles on coral reefs, grazing away harmful algae and allowing coral to grow. A reef without fish is a reef that's in trouble.”

The team of scientists built experimental reefs to test how much sound plays a role in attracting fish. The researchers used underwater loudspeakers and played both healthy and degraded reef sounds to see which attracted more fish. 

The difference is audible, as sound clips from the research show just how stark and muted degraded reefs’ soundscapes are in comparison to healthy reefs. 

“Over the last 15 years my research group have discovered how important sound can be for fish to locate and select specific reefs,” said Steve Simpson, the senior author of the study. “We have marveled at the remarkable diversity and complexity of coral reef soundscapes. But in the last few years, the reefs we know and love have died before our eyes. And the deserted and crumbling rubble fields have turned eerily quiet.”

Coral bleaching has killed up 80 percent of some corals in the Great Barrier Reef and climate change continues to threaten marine ecosystems and reef recovery. The researchers say more must be done to keep reefs from going quiet. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Tim Gordon, <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>

Silence of the reefs: how quiet coral reefs are keeping fish away

For most homeowners, a quiet neighborhood is an ideal place...

While the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whales-right-handed/">blue whale</a> is largest living species on Earth, the title of largest living fish goes to the filter feeding whale shark. 

Whale sharks can measure up to 40 feet in length and have a distinctly large mouth that can expand and scoop up plankton, small fish and crab as it swims along. 

Don’t let the shark in its name scare you off, because despite their large size they are considered gentle giants and many tour groups specialize in letting you swim with groups of whale sharks. 

But sadly the species is endangered and it’s been reported that over the past 75 years, almost half of the world’s whale sharks have disappeared. 

There is a surprisingly limited amount of research that has been done on whale sharks, but a new study reported the longest whale shark migration that’s ever been recorded, revealing new insight into their migration patterns and behaviors. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a> tagged a female whale shark near the Coiba Island in Panama. 

Whale sharks can be found in both the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, and large groups of whale sharks have been reported near the Galapagos, Australia, southern China, and Seychelles. 

For this study, the researchers tagged sharks near the Coiba Island in a World Heritage Site that is protected. 

The female whale shark was named Anne and the tag attached to the shark signaled her position during migration using the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS). 

At first, Anne stayed near Panama for 116 days before swimming toward Clipperton Island in France, next she moved on to the Cocos Island in Costa Rica as she made her way toward the Galapagos. 

The signal was lost for 235 days during her migration which meant that Anne was swimming too deep for the satellite to pick up the signal from the shark’s tag. Anne was detected again near Hawaii and she eventually arrived at the Marianas Trench which houses the deepest spot in the Earth’s surface. 

Overall, Anne traveled from the Eastern Pacific to the Western Indo-Pacific covering a distance of over 12,000 miles. 

Whale sharks can dive to more than 6,000 feet, but researchers are not sure why the species dive down to these lower depths or migrate such large distances. 

“We have very little information about why whale sharks migrate,” said Héctor M. Guzmán, lead author of the study. “Are they searching for food, seeking breeding opportunities or driven by some other impulse?”

Previous genetic research has revealed that whale sharks worldwide are closely related which means they must travel long distances to mate, but this latest tracked migration covers the longest distance ever recorded. 

The whale sharks’ endangered status unfortunately is not doing enough to protect it from hunting or getting caught in fishing nets as regulations are often not enforced. Their pull as a tourist attraction can also be harmful to the sharks’ populations. 

“Whale sharks in Coiba have already changed their behavior to avoid the surface and tourists,” said Guzman. “These studies are critical as we design international policy to protect transboundary species like the whale sharks and other highly migratory marine species.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Kevan Mantell

Female whale shark sets the record for longest migration

While the blue whale is largest living species on Earth,...

Pika, Medecine Lake, Near Jasper, Alberta

American pikas are smaller relatives of rabbits and hares that live in the mountains of western North America. There have been concerns that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drought-wildfires-pacific-northwest/">global warming</a> will pose a threat to the survival of pikas, but the findings of a new study suggest otherwise.

Previous investigations found that, when the weather conditions became warmer and drier, pikas no longer occupied their usual sites in the Great Basin. It was assumed that pikas had sought refuge in higher grounds or had died. However, these studies were conducted in regions where pikas had lived historically, and other potential habitats were not explored.

The current study tracked the distribution of pikas across the entire Great Basin. Pikas were documented in territories and climate conditions they had never been observed in before. 

Pikas were found in wetter in colder conditions as well as warmer and drier conditions. They were discovered at sites ranging from 5,350 feet to over 13,000 feet in the mountain ranges of California, Oregon, Utah, and Nevada.

Study lead author Connie Millar is a senior research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service's <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/">Pacific Southwest Research Station</a>.

“This evidence provides an important new perspective on the status of pikas in the Great Basin,” said Millar.”Pikas are persisting broadly across the region, and these findings give us reason to believe that the species is able to tolerate a wider set of habitat and climate conditions than previously understood.”


The researchers analyzed over 2,000 records of pika sites, and could not identify a consistent pattern in elevation or climate across these sites.

“Climate conditions do not adequately explain locations of the extirpated and ‘old-sign’ sites, suggesting that other factors interact with climate and contribute to the loss of pika populations in some environments,” said Millar.

Identifying other factors that may cause declines in pika populations will be important in predicting how they will respond to future climate conditions.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uaar/current">Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

American pikas are adapting surprisingly well to climate change

American pikas are smaller relatives of rabbits and hares that...

According to the “hygiene hypothesis,” children need to be exposed to germs so that their immune systems can develop resistance to diseases. A recent study from the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> is providing more evidence to support this theory, finding that growing up in a rural environment around animals is linked to a more stress-resistant immune system and a lower risk of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meditation-mental-health-benefits/">mental health</a> issues.

“It has already been very well documented that exposure to pets and rural environments during development is beneficial in terms of reducing risk of asthma and allergies later in life,” said co-author Christopher Lowry. “This study moves the conversation forward by showing for the first time in humans that these same exposures are likely to be important for mental health.”


The investigation, which was led by Professor Stefan Reber of the <a href="https://www.uni-ulm.de/en/">University of Ulm</a>, was focused on 40 healthy German males between 20 and 40 years old. Half of the individuals had grown up on a farm around animals and the other half had grown up in the city without any pets.

The study participants were tasked with giving a speech in front of a neutral audience before attempting to solve a challenging math problem while being timed. The researchers collected blood and saliva samples from the individuals before and after the challenges.

Those participants who had grown up in cities had a heightened immune response to the experience, including higher levels of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), prolonged elevation of the inflammatory compound interleukin 6, and muted activation of the anti-inflammatory compound interleukin 10.

“People who grew up in an urban environment had a much-exaggerated induction of the inflammatory immune response to the stressor, and it persisted throughout the two-hour period,” said Lowry

Despite intense immune responses, the participants from urban backgrounds surprisingly reported feeling less stress after the tests compared to participants from rural backgrounds.

“This exaggerated inflammatory response is like a sleeping giant that they are completely unaware of,” said Lowry.

In past studies, exaggerated inflammatory response has been linked to a higher risk of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) later in life. 

Previous research has also demonstrated that our immunoregulatory response to stress develops in childhood and is strongly influenced by our microbial environment.Humans are exposed to far fewer microorganisms in the city, which is now home to more than half of the global population.

“If you are not exposed to these types of organisms, then your immune system doesn't develop a balance between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory forces, and you can develop a chronic, low-grade inflammation and exaggerated immune reactivity that makes you vulnerable to allergy, autoimmune disease and, we propose, psychiatric disorders,” said Lowry.


The researchers recommend eating probiotics, spending more time in nature, and getting a pet.

The study is published in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> (PNAS).

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Exposure to animals and the outdoors strengthens mental health

According to the “hygiene hypothesis,” children need to be exposed...

The slithering, wave-like movements of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/roundworms-protection-alzheimers/">worms</a> and other invertebrates are a major defining trait. Some worms, like the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, can even move backwards and forwards in a fluid repetitive sine-wave shape. Imagine the wave patterns in a sound frequency and you can get the idea of repetitive sinusoidal waves and roundworm movements. 

For some time, backward movement of C. elegans was not well understood, but now a new study has identified the protein and receptors that control the backward movement. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/">Indian Institute of Science Education &amp; Research</a> conducted a study of genetically diverse worms and found that the backward movement of C. Elegans is controlled by a neuropeptide protein. 

The study, published in the journal JNeurosci, shows that the proteins fluctuate in response to food availability. 

Previous research had found that a long reversal movement of C. Elegans increased the likelihood that the roundworm would change directions toward a food source. 

For the study, the researchers wanted to better understand the backward movements and what drove changes in direction. 

The researchers studied strains of C. Elegans with varying expressions of the protein FLP-18 and its receptors NPR-4 and NPR-1. 

After examining the worms, the researchers found that FLP-18 controlled backward movement by regulating sensory neurons and interneurons in a circuit. 

The researchers also conducted an experiment where the worms fasted for 24 hours. This increased levels of FLP-18 and reduced the chances that the worm would change direction.

The results show what factors control the backward movement in roundworms, and shed insight on the way genetic and environmental factors influence the way an animal moves and explores its surroundings.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How roundworms are able to travel backwards

The slithering, wave-like movements of worms and other invertebrates are...

A new water <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/boozing-beetles-alcohol/">beetle</a> discovered in Malaysian Borneo by a team of experts and citizen scientists has been named after actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. The name is a tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) in recognition of the organization's efforts to protect biodiversity.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is committed to supporting “the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth's inhabitants.” 

Founded in 1998, the LDF has awarded $80.1 million in grants to 132 environmental organizations in 50 countries. These grants have funded over 200 climate change mitigation, wildlife conservation, and habitat preservation projects.

Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi is one of three previously unknown water beetles found during the first field trip of Taxon Expeditions, an organization that unites nature enthusiasts and international experts to search remote regions for new species.

The group recovered G. leonardodicaprioi at a waterfall in the Maliau Basin. Dr. Iva Njunjic is an entomologist and the founder of Taxon Expeditions.

“Tiny and black, this new beetle may not win any Oscars for charisma, but in biodiversity conservation, every creature counts,” said Dr. Njunjic.

Taxon Expeditions hopes to harness the power of citizen scientists for biodiversity discovery and protection. Despite 250 years of research, scientists estimate that only 20 percent of the world's species are currently known.

In 2016, Leonardo DiCaprio said in a statement, “We've been given this gift, our planet, and we've found no other place in the universe that we can inhabit. I want to do something to create radical change to help save it. It's our responsibility.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/">ZooKeys</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: Taxon Expeditions - Hendrik Freitag

New beetle named after Leonardo DiCaprio for his environmentalism

A new water beetle discovered in Malaysian Borneo by a...

Acanthochromis polyacanthus/ spiny chromis

An international team of researchers is reporting that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fish-saving-coral-reefs/">reef fish</a> are more equipped to handle global warming than previously realized. The experts have discovered that the ability to adjust to warming ocean waters is passed down in reef fish from parents to offspring.

The study, which was led by the <a href="https://www.coralcoe.org.au/">ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies</a> (Coral CoE) is the first to demonstrate the potential for reef fish to adjust to global warming on a genetic level.

“When parents are exposed to an increase in water temperature, we found that their offspring improved their performance in these otherwise stressful conditions by selectively modifying their epigenome,” said senior author Professor Philip Munday.

Epigenetic changes are modifications of the DNA that signal genes to be expressed or suppressed. These adaptations are influenced by many factors, and the study revealed that heat stress has triggered such changes in reef fish.

The researchers found that when both parents and offspring were exposed to the same warmer water temperatures, epigenetic changes took place that enhanced the next generation’s tolerance of the elevated temperatures.

“We reared spiny chromis damselfish, a common Indo-Pacific reef fish, for two generations under three different water temperatures, up to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than current-day ocean temperatures,” explained study co-author Timothy Ravasi.

“The next generation appeared to be advantaged by parental exposure to elevated temperatures. The offspring's altered gene expression, also referred to as ‘acclimation,’ allowed them to maximize oxygen consumption and energy use.”

Professor Munday added, “Acclimation may buffer populations against the impacts of rapid environmental change and provide time for genetic adaptation to catch up over the longer term.”


While this is great news for reef fish, the study authors pointed out that these fish are still seriously threatened by climate change due to the loss of  their coral habitats.


The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</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: ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies/ Jennifer Donelson

Some reef fish have genetically adapted to global warming

An international team of researchers is reporting that reef fish...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a> have investigated how fish adapt their bodies to acclimate to the shifting water flow in streams caused by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-sea-levels-and-increased-urbanization/">urbanization</a>. A species of minnow was found to adjust to environmental changes in urban areas by becoming more streamlined and sleek, while a close relative species living in the country grew deeper-bodied.

Urban development creates conditions that make streams flow more rapidly and less predictably during rain storms. A team of biologists theorized that fish would respond by evolving a body shape to improve their swimming.

“We wanted to test rapid body shape evolution in western and central North Carolina stream fish in response to urbanization,” said study senior author Brian Langerhans. 

“While some species cannot handle the altered conditions and have disappeared or reduced in abundance, some remaining species may rapidly evolve adaptive trait changes to contend with the human-induced changes in their environment.”


The researchers documented patterns of different fish species in streams located in western and central North Carolina. They used fish in museums to track changes in body shape, and analyzed whether the changes were due to nature or nurture using lab experiments.

A minnow called western blacknose dace exhibited the changes in body shape predicted by the researchers, becoming more streamlined in urbanized areas. In rural areas, this minnow maintained its original body shape and was less sleek.

A cousin of the western blacknose dace, the creek chub, was found to evolve in the opposite manner. These fish adapted deeper bodies in urbanized areas surrounded by impervious surfaces such as sidewalks.

“One species showed morphological changes that nicely matched evolutionary predictions of increased streamlining to better handle the altered conditions, but the other species showed a change that did not match our simple prediction, highlighting how different species can solve similar problems in different manners,” explained Langerhans.

When creek chub minnows from both rural and urban areas were raised in a common environment in the lab, the same differences were found as those identified in the field. Urban creek chub individuals became less streamlined than rural individuals, demonstrating that changes in body shape were more influenced by nature than by nurture.

“Human activities are having real-time evolutionary impacts on the organisms capable of living in our human-dominated environments; some of these changes may be predictable and some may be difficult to predict,” said Langerhans.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit:  Elizabeth Kern

City fish develop different body shapes than rural fish

Researchers at North Carolina State University have investigated how fish...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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...

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

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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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