Before there were dinosaurs, before trees covered the land, fish were already hard at work shaping Earth’s future. They did this with a single powerful innovation: jaws.



Jaws weren’t just for biting. Fish used them for all sorts of tasks - cracking shells, digging into the seafloor, defending themselves, and even carrying their young.



This one tool gave early vertebrates - including our distant ancestors - a huge advantage. But not all fish jaws evolved the same way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-twist-in-fish-jaw-evolution">Surprising twist in fish jaw evolution</h2>



Roughly 400 million years ago, fish ruled the seas. Two big groups stood out: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coelacanth-ngamugawi-wirngarri-new-species-living-fossil-fish-survived-over-400-million-years/">lobe-finned fishes</a> and ray-finned fishes. 



Lobe-finned fishes had fleshy, muscular fins that helped them move in different ways. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/319-million-year-old-fish-holds-clues-about-brain-evolution/">Ray-finned fishes</a> had lighter, more flexible fins supported by thin spines.



Today, ray-finned fishes dominate the oceans, rivers, and lakes. They include about 33,000 species - from goldfish to tuna. 



Lobe-finned fishes, on the other hand, are nearly extinct. Only eight species are known to exist today, including the coelacanth and the lungfish. But a new study from the <a href="https://umich.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Michigan</a> flips the story.



The research shows that between 359 and 423 million years ago, lobe-finned fishes were the ones leading the evolutionary race. 



Their jaws were changing fast, adapting in all sorts of new ways. Meanwhile, the ray-finned fishes were evolving far more slowly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-finding-answers-in-ancient-jaw-bones">Finding answers in ancient jaw bones</h2>



The researchers used CT scans to create 3D models of 86 fossilized fish jaws from the Silurian and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/at-least-two-of-earths-mass-extinctions-caused-by-massive-supernova-explosions/">Devonian Periods</a> - dating back to around 443 million years ago. That’s older than the first forests.



The team digitally mapped these jaws to study both their shape and how they worked. To measure the strength of a fish's bite, they calculated something called mechanical advantage.



Emily Troyer is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan and lead author of the study. She explained that essentially, the higher the mechanical advantage of the jaw, the stronger the bite force.



The results showed something no one expected. "This is a really striking result, primarily because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lungfish-genome-discovery-explains-how-fish-first-walked-onto-land/">lungfish</a> and coelacanths today are represented by only eight living species, with not much jaw diversity going on," Troyer said. 



"However, if we look back in time 400 or so million years, we see this striking inversion. During the Devonian, we have a lot more species and a lot more innovation within their jaws." 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Dipterus-fish_whole-skeleton_credit-Troyer-UMichigan_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Dipterus-fish_whole-skeleton_credit-Troyer-UMichigan_1s.webp" alt="Whole skeleton of Dipterus, an extinct lungfish from the middle Devonian period. Specimen (UMMP 16140) from the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Credit: E.M. Troyer/UMichigan" class="wp-image-1984595"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Whole skeleton of Dipterus, an extinct lungfish from the middle Devonian period. Specimen (UMMP 16140) from the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Click image to enlarge. Credit: E.M. Troyer/UMichigan</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lungfish-jaws-lead-the-way">Lungfish jaws lead the way</h2>



Lungfish jaws, in particular, went through a major shift during the Devonian Period. Their jaws became larger, thicker, and packed with powerful muscles. This likely helped them crush hard-shelled prey, like early clams and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-crustaceans-have-what-it-takes-to-survive-climate-change/">crustaceans</a>.



"With their really hefty jaws, they were able to eat really hard food," Troyer said. "We think these new feeding strategies might be causing jaws to need to be shaped like this, and that some of these major innovations are associated with their ecosystems during this time."



Rafael Rivero-Vega, co-first author of the study and a recent doctoral graduate, scanned nearly every complete lobe-finned fish jaw fossil available. 



He mapped out their key features to study something called adaptive radiation. That’s when animals quickly evolve into many different forms because their environment pushes them to adapt.



Rivero-Vega saw clear patterns. "Some fishes were diversifying their jaws rapidly in shape and size, only later to stay essentially unchanged once they filled a specialized niche," he said. 



"Others had similar characteristics but a wider variety of shapes and sizes, and yet others had similar form but wouldn't change until after they had already transitioned onto land."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fish-jaw-innovation-changed-the-future">Fish jaw innovation changed the future</h2>



This research shows that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/discovery-evolution-not-random-can-be-predicted-pangenome-genetic-history/">evolution</a> doesn’t follow a straight line. Just because a group is successful now doesn’t mean it always was. 



Lobe-finned fishes once led the way in jaw innovation, helping set the stage for major changes in vertebrate life - including the eventual rise of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.



"When you're looking at evolution, you can learn so much from looking at the past," Troyer said. "Without the fossil record, we would have no idea of this inverted role reversal."



The study also highlights the importance of old bones. Even though only a few lobe-finned fishes are still around, their ancient fossils tell a story that would otherwise have been be lost.



"It's a great example of how innovations in shape, form, and function can be explored by different fish groups at their own pace, as long as they experience the appropriate evolutionary pressures," said Rivero-Vega. 



"All of this happened hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs. Fishes are awesome."



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982225010395" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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How ancient fish jaws built the path to modern land animals

Before there were dinosaurs, before trees covered the land, fish were already hard at work shaping Earth’s future. They did this with a single powerful innovation: jaws. Jaws weren’t just for biting. Fish used them for all sorts of tasks - cracking shells, digging into the seafloor, defending themselves, and even carrying their young. This one tool gave early vertebrates - including our distant ancestors - a huge advantage. But not all fish jaws evolved the same way. Surprising twist in fish jaw evolution Roughly 400 million...

If you’re a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/birds-arrive-fall-migration/">bird</a>, it’s important that you stay light on your feet – as your flying ability is paramount to your survival. Overeating might put you at risk of being too slow or heavy to properly fly, were you to pack on the pounds over time.

But the question of whether or not overeating is truly hazardous for some birds was one of interest to environmental biologist Lewis Halsey, of the <a href="https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/">University of Roehampton</a>. 

“The passerine birds at the bird feeders near my home never seem to get fat despite having this buffet constantly available to them, but there are people who get heavy when exposed to that kind of all-you-can-eat environment,” says Halsey. This led to Halsey studying how exactly birds are able to control their body weights and energy availability in light of their eating habits.

“I wanted to investigate possible behavioral and physiological mechanisms, aside from just food consumed and exercise completed, that help animals control their energy budgets and body weights; there’s more going on than just how many calories you've put into your face.”

While it’s possible that fat songbirds are few and far between because they make easy targets for many predators, it’s likely that the overeating trait would eventually be weeded out through this natural selection. Furthermore, recent studies have indirectly suggested that birds are able to balance their energy intake by increasing their metabolic rate or decreasing the efficiency with which they are able to extract energy from their food. 

“For a given amount of food, an animal can unconsciously adjust how efficiently it uses the energy from it either behaviorally, for example by changing wingbeat frequency or singing patterns to use more or less energy, or physiologically, in terms of digestive or cellular metabolic efficiency,” explains Halsey.

With new evidence emerging in recent years, Halsey wants to change the way we think about energy burned versus energy consumed. “We need to remember that ‘energy in’ isn’t what’s shoved down the beak but what’s taken up through the gut and then what’s extracted by the cells; looking at it as just the amount of food consumed is too simplistic. And this goes for humans and other animals, not just songbirds,” he says.

Halsey believes there is more research that can be done to explore this phenomenon further. A possible experiment could involve presenting birds with a more attractive, easier-to-digest food source compared to a bird feeder full of seeds. 

“I want to give birds the equivalent of ice cream and see if that breaks their resolve and fine body mass control as it does for many humans, or if, even in the face of the ice cream equivalent, whatever that might be, the birds resolutely maintain their weight,” he explains. “This could be done in the lab preliminarily and later in the field to help us understand how these underlying mechanisms regulate body weight.”

Although our bodies may be quite different from birds, further research may be beneficial for humans who are obese, have diabetes, or are suffering from other diet-related conditions.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How do birds keep from getting too heavy to fly?

If you’re a bird, it’s important that you stay light...

A team of experts set out to investigate if <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sea-otters-dolphins-smartest/">sea otters</a> may use other methods of hunting for food beyond the use of sight and smell. The study has revealed that the paws and whiskers of sea otters have a very useful sensitivity that greatly enhances their foraging ability. 

Sea otters are well-known for their talented ways of cracking open shells to access food, often using a rock balanced on their chest. On the other hand, little has been understood about the strategies that they use to locate their prey.

Sarah McKay Strobel from the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California Santa Cruz</a> (UCSC) explained that sea otters consume 25 percent of their own body weight each day just to keep warm. For months, Strobel worked with a group of volunteers in training a wild sea otter named Selka at the Long Marine Laboratory at UCSC.

Selka was instructed to approach a cabinet perched on the side of her pool, in which the trainers had concealed a pair of side-by-side vertically ridged boards - one with grooves that were two millimeters wide and another with grooves that were five millimeters wide. Overall, the sea otter was trained to distinguish between seven size comparisons, and was even taught to interrogate the grids with her whiskers while blindfolded. 

“I knew that if I tried to do anything Selka wasn't ready for, I would very likely get bit... I had to make wearing the blindfold fun,” said Strobel.

After months of dedication, Selka demonstrated the ability to distinguish the two-millimeter grooved boards from boards with grooves ranging from 2.1 to 3 millimeters wide that were submerged in water. Using her paw, Selka seemed to recognize the two-millimeter grooves almost immediately. 

Strobel said that she was amazed by Selka's decisiveness, as she could identify the correct grids in less than 0.2 seconds when using her paw and less than 0.4 seconds when exploring with her whiskers. 

According to Strobel, the sea otters' ability to make rapid decisions based on touch may be essential for their survival.

“Selka used her memory to solve the trial as quickly as possible. Their dives tend to be 1-2 minutes or shorter, which means they have to be very efficient.” 

Strobel said that the study results suggest that sea otters are capable of using touch to detect prey in a very short amount of time.

The research is published in the <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sea otters use their paws and whiskers to detect prey

A team of experts set out to investigate if sea...

The Great Plains of North America take up approximately 501,900 square miles of land.  The Serengeti of Africa is only about 12,000 square miles in size. As odd as it sounds, once, before Europeans and even the people who became Native Americans arrived, the Great Plains of North America had a lot in common with Africa’s Serengeti.  

In fact, it might be the case that Africa’s megafauna survive while similar species have died off in much of the rest of the world because humans first evolved in Africa.  African wildlife may have been given a longer period of time to evolve to the presence of humans, in fact both co-evolved together. 

According to <a href="https://defenders.org/bison/basic-facts">defenders.org</a>, there were once around 20 to 30 million bison roaming across broad expanses of North America.  Today the number of bison is down to an estimated half a million, many of which are hybrids of domestic cattle and bison.

Similar to the more famous decline of the American Bison, elk populations are not what they once were.  <a href="https://www.grit.com/animals/wildlife/north-american-elk-zm0z14jfzsmi">Grit Magazine</a> reports that an estimated historic population of 10 million elk across North America has dropped to about 1 million elk.  Today elk is thought of as an animal of the Rocky Mountains but before European disturbance, the large ungulate had a much broader distribution.  Elk once grazed across prairies and were distributed much further east as well. With pressure from increased human hunting, elk have taken refuge in the more remote, inhospitable and hard to access parts of America, the higher mountains of the west.  

Pronghorns, which are also known incorrectly as ‘antelope’ live in much of the prairie and are probably the most visible of the plains megafauna.  If you drive across lonely expanses of eastern Wyoming or parts of Utah, you’re certain to see the quick running pronghorn. It’s harder to find solid estimates for historic populations of Pronghorn, perhaps partially due to their modern abundance in certain areas.  However the <a href="http://www.iws.org/species_pronghorn.html">Institute for Wildlife Studies</a> estimates that there were once as many as 500,000 pronghorns in California alone.  The population of Pronghorns in California as of 2013 was close to 3,000. 

Brown bears, wolves, mountain lions and other large predators once lived on the Great Plains of North America in numbers.  Now largely ignored or relegated to scattered montane habitats, it’s easy to forget that these animals were once prairie animals as well.  

The decline of bison due to commercial hunting and an official government program of eradication to bring plains Indians to their knees hurt many other species.  It’s thought that bison which accidentally died from cold, disease, or accidents like drowning in river crossing once fed bears across the plains. Not only bears would benefit either but also wolves, coyotes, foxes, and even grasses would benefit from the bodies of bison. 

Bison and other herbivores were not only instrumental to the integrity of the Great Plains ecosystem as sources of food for predators.  Dung also was important as a food source for beetles and other insects. According to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/bison-bellows-10-6-16.htm">National Park Service</a>, an average Bison produces about 10 to 12 quarts of dung.  Each individual Bison patty is said to support as many as 300 species of insect.  Insects in turn support bats, turtles, lizards and other small mammals and herps that prey on them.  Of course insects and small animals are important for pollination, spread of plant seeds, herbivory and in general affect the ecology of plants.                

Invasive grasses, tamarisk and other plants have forever altered the landscape of North America in ways it’s hard to completely fathom.  New plants and a radical change in herbivory associated with the decline in native megafauna has made the grasslands into something completely different.  Bison and native plants had a long history of co-evolution that is simply not there with domestic cattle which were imported relatively recently from North America.  

Plants that have been introduced to the Great Plains vary from well-known plants like Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila) and Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) that are planted in cities to grasses most people never think of being planted.  The situation is complicated by the dynamics between different non-native and native plants.  According to a <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70037466">USGS</a> study, the decline of a high profile invasive plant, Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) is related to the proliferation of exotic grass species.  In turn non-native grasses have hurt native grasses.    

Even before Europeans arrived to the scene, North America’s wild prairie ecosystem had begun a radical change.  Once the home to mammoths, mastodons, giant sloths, cave bears, dire wolves and sabre toothed cats, all were extinct before Columbus set sail or the Norse reached North America.

There were once four species of giant ground sloths in North America, all of which went extinct around 10,000 years ago.  I’ve spent time with fossil bone casts of some of these ground sloths, helped putting them together again and they’re truly impressive.  Some of the claws are longer than my whole hand. Megalonyx one genus of giant sloth that lived from about 10.3 million years ago until about 11,000 years ago stood taller than an adult human and weighed around 2,200 lbs when alive.  When you think of sloths, it’s hard to imagine these giant terrestrial animals. It’s easier to imagine giant ground sloths when you know they’re distant relatives of giant anteaters, animals known to eviscerate predators with the enormous claws of their fore paws.  

Mammoths and mastodons complete the comparison of the Great Plains with a lost Serengeti.  Like Africa, North America once had elephants of a sort. Mammoths in North America died off later than the ground sloths, living until about 4,500 years ago but were still most certainly extinct by the time Europeans arrived on the scene.  <a href="http://www.nathpo.org/Many_Nations/mn_news17.html">Nathpo.org</a> tells how Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis and Clark to investigate mammoths specifically during their corps of discovery.  It was unknown when they set out whether the mammals were extinct or living in some hidden part of North America. 

Some of the megafauna left the Great Plains much later than others.  Unlike cave bears, mastodon, sabre toothed cats or giant sloths, wolves were doing well when Europeans moved west from the first colonies.  Wolves were eradicated throughout the west with a fury it’s hard to understand. The killing and suffering inflicted upon wolves seems to show a sort of madness made Federal law.  People not only killed wolves to collect a bounty, they sometimes tortured them, or poisoned carcasses, killing everything that ate indiscriminately. The shadow of the murder of wolves still lies over the west.  Small amounts of wolves have been reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and other parts of the west even though a lot of hatred for the canid still remains. Wolves larger relative, the Dire Wolf have long been extinct.  

There are still fragments where you can see wide expanses of grassland and even small, heavily managed populations of bison that once roamed wild.  Pronghorn, elk, even a few wolves are out there. Brown bears have taken huge hits and no longer live in most of the west, being extirpated even from the high mountains of Colorado.  

One lesson we can learn from the extinction of animals like giant sloths and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cloning-reverse-extinction/">mammoths</a> is that the world is always changing.  We should cherish the animals we have left, the plants that still remain.  The biggest threat now to the Great Plains is development and encroachment on habitat.  <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/prairie-dogs-true-underdog/">Prairie Dogs</a> are regularly killed by ranchers and others, which in turn hurts Burrowing Owls, Black-footed Ferrets and others.  We should cherish what we have left and allow it to grow. If we can do that, we could once again live on a continent with a habitat that rivals the great plains of Africa.      

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

The lost world of the American Serengeti

The Great Plains of North America take up approximately 501,900...

Experts at <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/">Cornell University</a> used data from 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States to estimate how many birds migrate across the country during fall migration. The researchers also investigated the effects that these long, nighttime journeys may have on the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bird-feeders-monopolized-birds/">birds</a>. 

“We've discovered that each autumn, an average of 4 billion birds move south from Canada into the U.S. At the same time, another 4.7 billion birds leave the U.S. over the southern border, heading to the tropics,” said study lead author Adriaan Dokter. “In the spring, 3.5 billion birds cross back into the U.S. from points south, and 2.6 billion birds return to Canada across the northern U.S. border.”

The researchers were surprised to find that the migrant birds returned across the U.S. southern border at an average rate of 76 percent, while birds only returned to winter in the U.S. at an average rate of 64 percent.

“Contrary to popular thought, birds wintering in the tropics survive the winter better than birds wintering in the U.S.,” said study co-author Andrew Farnsworth. “That's despite the fact that tropical wintering birds migrate three to four times farther than the birds staying in the U.S.”

For their investigation, the researchers used complicated algorithms to measure differences in the biomass that is picked up by weather radar. The number of birds could be calculated, for example, by subtracting the mass of insects and weather from the total mass of organisms in a given region. 


The measurements across the southern border captured data on migrant birds that breed in the U.S. and spend their winters in places such as Central or South America, including warblers, orioles, and tanagers. According to the researchers, the higher mortality among birds wintering in the U.S. may be explained by the increased number of threats that they face.

“All birds need suitable habitats with enough resources to get them through the winter,” said study co-author Ken Rosenberg. “Birds wintering in the U.S. may have more habitat disturbances and more buildings to crash into, and they might not be adapted for that.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Over 4 billion birds arrive in the U.S. during fall migration

Experts at Cornell University used data from 143 weather radar...

Over the last 200 million years, mammals have thrived on this planet – and have done so through a unique evolutionary pattern. <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/mammals-evolved-brains-babies/">Mammals</a> originated back when dinosaurs dominated the landscape. And while dinosaurs would evolve to become some of the largest land animals to ever exist, new research shows that mammals went the opposite route.

A recent study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a> reports that over the last 200 million years, mammals evolved to shrink in size. Using modern computer analysis to assess mammal skeletons, an international team of scientists focused in on the mammalian jaw.

Every species of vertebrate has a complex lower jaw formed by at least five bones joined together… except for modern mammals. The mammalian jaw is just a single bone that bears teeth. Through the course of evolution, fossils show that the lower jaw of mammalian ancestors became simplified, and formed a new jaw joint while also moving some bones to the middle ear to help with hearing.

The researchers wanted to know how it was possible for these past mammalian species to simplify and restructure their lower jaw, while still being able to feed and hear. Their study involved X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning of many fossil skulls and lower jaws, which aided in generating digital models that they put through numerous computer simulations. The simulations showed that the smaller size of the mammals helped reduce stress in the jaw bones when they were eating, although they were still powerful enough to capture and kill prey – such as insects.

“Our results provide a new explanation of how the mammalian jaw evolved over 200 million years ago,” says Dr. Stephan Lautenschlager, a lecturer at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> and lead author of the study. “Getting very small appears to have been crucial for our mammalian ancestors. This allowed them to reduce the stresses in the jaw during feeding and made the restructuring of the jaw bones possible.”

Mammals’ jaw joint evolution has been the topic of debate for decades, but this study may have just found the answer. 

“Using computational methods we can offer explanations to how our mammalian ancestors were able to maintain a working jaw while co-opting bones into a complex sound detection system,” says study leader Emily Rayfield, a professor at the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>. “Our research is about testing ideas of what makes mammals unique among the animal kingdom, and how this may have come about.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Bob Nicholls, <a href="http://paleocreations.com/">Paleocreations.com</a>

Mammals evolved to shrink in size and it was key to their success

Over the last 200 million years, mammals have thrived on...

The evolution of complex patterns in nature, such as how <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/zebrafish-spinal-cord-injuries/">zebrafish</a> develop their stripes or how leopards change their spots, has baffled scientists for many years. Researchers at <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> have now created a model that is shedding new light on this mystery. 

By applying just a few parameters to the new mathematical model, the experts can simulate the complex wing patterns of a large group of insects. The system will provide scientists with a framework for analyzing the evolution of diverse tissue patterns. 

The research team compiled a database with more than 500 specimens from 215 different species of dragonflies and damselflies. Next, the experts developed an algorithm to distinguish between each individual shape created by the intersecting veins located on the wings of the insects. 

The study revealed that, while the wing patterns are unique, the distribution of the patterns is remarkably similar across families and species. Using these similarities, the researchers built a mathematical model to represent how these patterns may be formed.


[caption id="attachment_1647564" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wings.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1647564" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wings-1024x610.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="417" /></a> Image Credit: Harvard University[/caption]

According to the experts, it is likely that an unknown inhibitory signal is transmitted from multiple signaling centers in the regions between the primary veins. They propose that these inhibitory zones emerge randomly and repel each other, which would prevent secondary veins from growing in certain areas. When the wings stretch out as they develop, the zones may form complex geometric patterns as the veins grow around them

By testing the model using many different insect species, the researchers have discovered that it can produce life-like simulations of wings.

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 

Image Credit: Harvard University

How do insects develop different intricate wing patterns?

The evolution of complex patterns in nature, such as how...

Angiosperms make up the largest and most diverse groups of plants on Earth and their evolution was largely driven by pollinating insects. 

Despite the crucial role of insects in the formation of early angiosperms, there exists little information about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/first-insect-pollinated-plant/">ancient pollinators</a> during the pre-angiosperm period because insect fossils from this time are so rare. 

But now, researchers from the <a href="http://english.nigpas.cas.cn/">Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS)</a> have examined pollinating insect fossils from the Mesozoic era in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. 

The results shed light on the diversity among Mesozoic pollinators including differences in proboscis length and defense mechanisms. 

The proboscis of an insect is the flexible, tube-like mouth part that allows the insect to feed on plant nectar. 

Research on early pollinator and angiosperm diversity often focuses on the match between proboscis length and tube length in flowers.

[caption id="attachment_1647551" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/insects.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1647551" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/insects-1007x1024.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="712" /></a> Image Credit: NIGPAS[/caption]

This most recent study was no exception and researchers examined 27 kalligrammatid lacewings that had been preserved in late Cretaceous Burmese amber, and Chinese Early Cretaceous and Middle Jurassic compression rocks.

Among the 27 specimens, proboscis length varied from .6 to 18 millimeters, which showcases a highly diverse group of pollinators, each particularly suited to a plant that had a complimentary tube length. 

The researchers theorize that pollination niches were partitioned like they are in today’s different ecosystems, and this would have helped contribute to a diverse group of pollinators insects and the success and evolution of pollinator-dependent plants during the Cretaceous period. 

The results also indicate that the specificity between certain Kalligrammatid lacewings and their host plants may have also helped bring about the extinction of the insects during the late Cretaceous period as gymnosperms became more diverse. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: YANG Dinghua

Pollination insects played a crucial role in plant evolution

Angiosperms make up the largest and most diverse groups of...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/long-term-damage-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill/">Deepwater Horizon disaster</a> in 2010 flooded the Gulf of Mexico with more than 170 million gallons of oil. But using oil dispersants to clean up after the spill may have caused further damage to the oysters that live in the Gulf, a new study has found.

A team of researchers at the <a href="https://uconn.edu/">University of Connecticut</a> joined with the <a href="https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/">Morris Animal Foundation</a> to see how the deployment of oil dispersants like Corexit 9500 after the massive Deepwater Horizon spill affected Gulf marine life.

They compared the effects of oil, Corexit 9500, and a combination of both on Eastern oysters. The oysters – one of the Gulf’s important marine species – likely suffered toxic effects from the oil dispersants used after the Deepwater Horizon spill, the study found.

"There's an unfortunate trade-off to using dispersants like this," study co-author Lindsay Jasperse said in a press release. "They may prevent giant oil spills from washing ashore and damaging wetlands, but they also cause negative effects for species below the ocean's surface that might have been spared if dispersants weren't used."

Oysters in the Gulf help to keep the water clean. They filter particles and nutrients out of the water to feed, helping to keep the waters clear for other species. But while oysters can create reefs and habitats for other species, their stationary nature makes them more vulnerable to disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. It also means that they can’t escape from the oil dispersants used to clean up such spills.

For the oysters, the UConn team discovered, Corexit 9500 alone was even more toxic than the oil. The mixture of oil and oil dispersants was also damaging to the oysters’ immune systems; however, oil alone didn’t affect their immune systems. The scientists also found that the dispersant had the biggest impact on oyster feeding rates, while the combination of dispersant and oil had the least effect.

"Knowing the effects dispersants and oil have on oysters can help us make better mitigation recommendations the next time an environmental and ecological crisis like this happens," Dr. Kelly Diehl of the Morris Animal Foundation said. "Species are interconnected, and what harms oysters will likely cascade through their ecosystem to the detriment of all."

The study has been published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/aquatic-toxicology">Aquatic Toxicology</a>. The study was funded by the Morris Animal Foundation.

— 

Image credit: Lindsay Jasperse, University of Connecticut

Oil dispersants could damage marine life while protecting coast

The Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 flooded the Gulf of...

“It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me,” declares Ishmael, the narrator of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick: Or The Whale of the titular leviathan. The sperm whale that is the focus of the infamous Captain Ahab’s maniacal obsession, though described in the book as albino, was in fact likely leucistic. 

Unlike a true albino, his body is described as “ being of stripes and patches between white and gray.” Melville devotes an entire chapter of the book to the strange beauty of white animals, noting the color’s superstitious associations—”all ghosts rising in a milk-white fog.”

Most white animals seen in the wild are leucistic, including whales like the humpback <a href="http://migaloo.com.au/">Migaloo</a>, who frequents the Australian coast. That is, they possess abnormal white coloration, either partially or fully, and in most cases normally colored eyes. Albinos, on the other hand, are all white but have pink or red eyes. In the wild, few albino animals survive. In addition to being conspicuous to predators, they often have poor eyesight. However, leucistic animals abound both in wild and domestic animal populations and in some cases the condition may actually be an adaptive advantage. 

While albino animals possess melanocytes, the cells responsible for producing melanin, which results in dark brown and black pigments, the enzyme tyrosinase, necessary for melanin production, is either lacking or dysfunctional. Leucistic animals lack melanocytes entirely, at least in the areas of their bodies that are white. (Partial leucism is possible; pigmented areas are those where melanocytes are present and functional.) The mechanism by which these cells are lost, or rather, improperly dispersed, is an interesting one. 

It occurs early in the embryonic stage. A structure known as the neural crest develops along the future spinal column of the animal. From this area, many types of cells radiate outward to their eventual places on the mature animal. Among them are melanocytes, which settle in the skin. In leucistic animals, these cells fail to migrate. In partially leucistic animals, only some of them migrate. This results in a patchwork or piebald pattern. Intriguingly, this is why many piebald animals display color along the spine and white along the legs, ventral area, and head: the white areas are furthest from the neural crest during the embryonic stage. The cells responsible for eye coloration are different, accounting for why leucistic animals usually have normally pigmented eyes. 

One need not look to the ocean deeps for leucistic animals. You may not need to look much further than your own feet. Do you have a piebald dog or cat? If the canine or feline friend interrupting your reading is of the spotted variety, like a springer spaniel or a tuxedo cat, you’re looking at partial leucism. 

Leucism is thought to be closely tied to what is known as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FLhGDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA274&amp;lpg=PA274&amp;dq=leucism+neural+crest&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=pYOoSnoCKI&amp;sig=yIBqwHcdNaGb6fI1EEpY5w8xYxA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjc_NL_z7TdAhUKC6wKHX_1D5k4HhDoATABegQICRAB#v=onepage&amp;q=leucism%20neural%20crest&amp;f=false">domestication syndrome</a>. Look at any domestic animal and you’ll likely see a pattern, at least in some number of individuals. Floppy ears, neotonic features, including behaviour usually only seen in young animals, and… you guessed it… spots. This suite of characteristics is seen in dogs, cats, cows, goats, rabbits, and even the recently domesticated fox. These features may be genetically linked; reduced adrenal function, present in many domestic animals is thought to account for their more placid and affectionate behaviour. 

Outside the barnyard and the living room, leucistic animals thrive as well. In addition to whales and other cetaceans, leucism has been spotted in species ranging from <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/jasper-the-leucistic-raven/">ravens</a> and <a href="https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/rare-leucistic-bald-eagle-makes-klamath-home/article_5caa97ca-60e2-5fc4-9dfd-4dacd91c18aa.html">eagles</a> to <a href="https://blog.nature.org/science/2016/02/03/white-deer-understanding-a-common-animal-of-uncommon-color/">deer</a> and <a href="http://www.revistas-conacyt.unam.mx/therya/index.php/THERYA/article/view/408/html_255">mice</a> to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laszlo_Krecsak/publication/228612807_Albinism_and_leucism_among_European_Viperinae_a_review/links/0deec527b7fd9b760a000000/Albinism-and-leucism-among-European-Viperinae-a-review.pdf">snakes</a> and <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2017/09/a-rare-white-flying-fox/">bats</a> and even <a href="https://www.earthtouchnews.com/oceans/sharks/confirmed-albino-great-white-shark-washes-up-in-australia/">sharks</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-015-0403-z">skates</a>. Invertebrates, however, do not exhibit leucism, as their exoskeletons express pigmentation differently than vertebrate epidermis and scales, hair or feathers. Though leucism would appear to be an adaptive disadvantage, due to the fact that white animals lack the cryptic coloration that serves to protect them from predators and conceal them from prey, in some cases, the reverse appears to be true. 

The so-called spirit bear or Kermode bear of British Columbia, in fact a leucistic variant of the American <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/loss-bears-american-landscape/">black bear</a>, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/98/3/479/2532253">has been hypothesized</a> to excel at hunting salmon over its black confreres due to the fact that it is less visible to its aquatic prey from above during the day. Similarly, a <a href="http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/49680/1/hhar2639.pdf">coastal population of caracaras</a>, a bird of prey, located in Patagonia, Argentina, is thought to have a high number of leucistic individuals due to the presence of large numbers of white seabirds. Because they too are white, they may appear less threatening to potential prey, who don’t fear the seabirds.

Leucistic European vipers are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laszlo_Krecsak/publication/228612807_Albinism_and_leucism_among_European_Viperinae_a_review/links/0deec527b7fd9b760a000000/Albinism-and-leucism-among-European-Viperinae-a-review.pdf">much more common on remote Scandinavian islands</a> than on the mainland for entirely different reasons. The lower densities of predators on the islands may have allowed the usually deleterious mutation to persist. Conversely, leucism may be maladaptive in some birds. Melanin provides some of the structural strength of bird feathers and its absence may make them brittle. Other animals may be sunburnt due to their white skin, as in the case of leucistic alligators, which must be supplied with special heat lamps in captivity to avoid this condition. 

An amusing but discounted anecdote explains the use of the lovely term “isabellinism” to describe leucistic birds such as penguins, which sometimes display a yellowish-gold hue. According to this inaccurate legend, Isabella I of Castile refused to change her undergarments until a siege had ceased; the siege lasted three years, resulting in some rather discolored intimate apparel. 

As tempting and hilarious as that story is, I can’t help but be pleased that it isn’t true. I’d hardly call these creatures discolored. I prefer Melville’s description of them as possessing a “wondrous bodily whiteness.”

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kissheartoffl/3705408654/in/photolist-6DrbU7-qNFQHo-DCMQ8r-7PSRN1-r5qKAX-7k4VNa-a1zC1c-7PSPqG-qMXLPY-b4j3gv-f7iW9P-7cUJfF-r3YvEy-6m34Pc-r3XEkm-7PPBAc-nXGCsw-9RrcHK-btkjG3-5Vwewe-odafqJ-kP9cgw-dqE1sL-bQLhEv-dMXD6b-DXtJ4i-4SgCre-WnhaY3-bGfaLc-A4TZX6-pdj4Z-BajrcW-arZ7Hc-r6jWG4-BaQkhu-dymgiS-cZxvc3-VaiRQb-VdcdSM-WWuyxU-XhGBqL-U4wjKH-UPzqSS-TFaLN7-pZQDQy-pZ5z3L-QRdLsm-daoTmm-dstDox-daoSHP">Experience Kissimmeee</a>

Leucistic animals are not to be confused with albino animals

“It was the whiteness of the whale that above all...

Experts have been monitoring the behavior and movement of a sick young orca in the Pacific Northwest who has now gone missing. The four-year-old whale, known as J50, is one of only 75 critically endangered southern resident killer whales that co-exist in this part of the ocean. 

On Wednesday, federal biologists were preparing to capture and treat the sick whale after two injections of antibiotics, which were administered in the wild, failed to produce any noticeable improvements in her undetermined health condition. 

Officials said that they would only intervene if the small whale became stranded or separated from the rest of her pond. They were hoping to save the young orca without causing stress to her family. 

By Thursday, however, biologists could no longer spot the struggling orca after searching by boat, helicopter, and plane. Ken Balcomb, the founding director of the Center for Whale Research, said that J50 is presumed dead. 

A spokesman for the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA), Michael Milstein, said that the search is not yet over and there is still some hope that J50 will be found. 

“We have had a huge amount of help today, and it is really important that if she is there that we find her,” said Milstein. “We certainly have not determined at this point that we are giving up. And we are determining that day by day, we are not setting a timeline.”

Just a few weeks ago, another whale in the same pod known as J35 made international headlines when the grieving mother carried her dead calf in the water for more than two weeks.

The southern resident <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/save-endangered-killer-whale/">killer whales</a> are struggling due to a lack of their primary prey, chinook salmon. The whales are also threatened by toxic contamination and noise pollution. The last successful birth in this population of orcas was in 2015. 

Balcomb wrote in a <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com">news release</a>: “The message brought by J50, and by J35 and her dead calf a few weeks ago, is that the southern resident killer whales are running out of reproductive capacity and extinction of this population is looming,while the humans convene task forces and conference calls that result in nothing, or worse than nothing, diverting attention and resources from solving the underlying ecological problems that will ultimately make this once-productive region unlivable for all.”

The last known sighting of J50 was on Friday, September 7.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Brian Gisborne/Fisheries and Oceans Canada via AP

Biologists rush to save sick and endangered orca whale

Experts have been monitoring the behavior and movement of a...

A new study has revealed that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sea-turtles-flippers-hands/">baby sea turtles</a> are dying at a shocking rate from ingesting plastic pollution. According to research from the <a href="https://www.csiro.au/">Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization</a>, baby sea turtles are nearly four times more likely than adults to die after consuming plastic waste.

“Debris ingestion can have a range of effects from a benign response, where items simply pass through the gastrointestinal tract, to lethal effects caused by gut impaction or perforation,” wrote the researchers.

“While ingestion may occur as a result of indiscriminate feeding and simply be a function of what sea turtles encounter in their environment, recent analyses suggest that plastic physically resembling turtles’ natural food is ingested at a higher rate than other types.”

The research team examined the relationship between the amount of plastic a turtle has ingested and the likelihood of death. They used animals that died of known causes unrelated to plastic ingestion as a control group.

“We found a 50% probability of mortality once an animal had 14 pieces of plastic in its gut,” wrote the study authors. “Our results provide the critical link between recent estimates of plastic ingestion and the population effects of this environmental threat.”

Smaller sea turtles not only have weaker bodies, but also feed in offshore surface waters, which are more likely to be contaminated with large pieces of plastic debris.

“The accumulation and persistence of plastic debris in the marine environment is of increasing concern,” explained study co-author Dr. Denise Hardesty.

“An estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic debris entered the world's oceans from land-based sources in 2010 alone, with this input likely to increase exponentially into the future.This poses a considerable threat to marine life, primarily through entanglement and ingestion.”

The study was focused on many species of sea turtles, including loggerheads, green turtles, leatherbacks, and hawksbills. Of the 246 turtles that were examined, the researchers found that 54 percent of post hatchlings, 23 percent of juveniles, and 16 percent of adults had eaten plastic.

“Globally, it is estimated that approximately 52 percent of all sea turtles have ingested plastic debris,” said Dr. Hardesty. “Plastic in the marine environment is a growing environmental issue. Sea turtles are at significant risk of ingesting plastic debris at all stages of their life-cycle with potentially lethal consequences.”

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

Baby sea turtles are dying at a shocking rate from plastic ingestion

A new study has revealed that baby sea turtles are...

Birds are the fourth most common pet in the United States, behind fish, cats and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/identification-shelter-dogs-adoption/">dogs</a>. Despite their widespread popularity, there is little awareness on where all these birds are coming from and how they fare in captive settings.

These popular pets are often bred in what has been labeled “bird mills” due to their similarity to puppy mills. While some birds sold as pets are captured from the wild and brought into the pet trade, the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 largely cut down on this practice, although two common pet species, the parakeet and the cockatiel, are<a href="https://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-laws/wild-bird-conservation-act.html"> not covered under the law</a>.

The passage of the Wild Bird Conservation Act came at a time when pet birds were steadily rising in popularity throughout the country. To satisfy demand and profit off of this industry, captive breeding facilities began to increase as well. Today, many of the birds that line the walls of pet stores are mass bred in captive settings.

Mirroring puppy mills, bird mills are marked by substandard living conditions. The birds often live in barren cages, without proper enrichment or stimulation. For intelligent species like parrots, this can be especially detrimental.

Further decreasing the birds’ welfare is the practice of removing the eggs or newborn chicks from the parents to encourage increased reproduction.<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560291/"> Most species of birds</a> are cared for by both of their parents after birth and severing this bond can cause severe health and behavioral consequences.

After separated, the juvenile birds can then be sold in pet stores to uninformed buyers who are not familiar with the complex needs of birds in captivity. Despite the fact that birds are sold in pet stores across the nation, birds are wild animals who are not domesticated to humans.

As the<a href="http://www.avianwelfare.org/issues/pets.htm"> Avian Welfare Coalition</a> states, “Unfortunately, the traits that make parrots so intriguing are the same ones that make them extremely difficult to live with as companion animals. Many parrots find themselves displaced as their natural behaviors and needs clash with human expectations.”

Life in a small cage stands in stark contrast to life soaring through the vast wilderness. In the wild birds live highly social lives, yet pet owners may only have one bird in the home, depriving the animal the opportunity to express natural behaviors such as grooming, vocalizing and foraging with others of their kind.

A 2013<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Mills3/publication/257247860_Feather-Damaging_Behavior_in_Companion_Parrots_Are_Species_Differences_Intrinsic_or_Caused_by_Variations_in_Husbandry/links/551aaedd0cf2fdce84368b72/Feather-Damaging-Behavior"> study</a> published in Avian Biology Research found that 15.8% of captive parrots studied engaged in “feather-damaging behavior” where they repeatedly chewed or plucked out their own feathers to cope with stress. This stereotypic behavior can lead to tissue damage, hemorrhage, infection or hypothermia.

Other behaviors birds may display such as biting, screaming and aggression are not conducive to domestic life. In fact, visible damage from feather-damaging behaviors is<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51605354_Surveys_of_Avian_Practitioners_and_Pet_Owners_Regarding_Common_Behavior_Problems_in_Psittacine_Birds"> associated with an increased likelihood</a> that the parrot will be relinquished by its owner.

Pet owners who wanted an exotic and exciting companion can quickly become overwhelmed caring for a wild animal. Overwhelmed rescues and sanctuaries are struggling to keep up with the influx of abandoned and relinquished birds.

Bird lovers who still want a companion of their own can do so ethically. Pet owners can give a surrendered bird a second chance by adopting from a rescue rather than fueling demand for captive-bred birds by buying at a pet store. 

A 2006<a href="http://www.avianwelfare.org/issues/WelfareAndSuitabilityOfExoticBirds-1.pdf"> study</a> published in Animal Welfare notes that bird owners can increase the welfare of their animals by making the appropriate environmental and enrichment changes. But bird owners should fully commit to these changes before making the decision to take the animal into their home. As the study notes, “[…] such changes require that caretakers have sufficient knowledge, resources and motivation to accommodate such conditions.”

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Birds are mass-bred in “bird mills” to become household pets

Birds are the fourth most common pet in the United...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-significance">Scientific significance</h2>



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

Fresh,Radish,Harvest,On,Soil,In,Garden.

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</div></figure>







Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving fall garden, and this guide lays out the best vegetables and herbs to plant now for a fruitful autumn harvest. 



Fast-growing leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula perform especially well in the waning summer heat, with harvests beginning as soon as 30 days. 



These cool-season crops relish the transition into fall, offering repeated yields with cut-and-come-again methods.



Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, and beets also excel during this period. Radishes deliver satisfaction in under a month, while carrots and beets mature in about two months. Employing succession planting ensures a continuous stream of produce deep into the cooler months. 



For a boost of fresh flavor, herbs like cilantro, basil, dill, and chervil are excellent picks. These heat-loving varieties flourish in July’s warmth and are harvest-ready in about 30 days, especially when sown continuously.



Gardeners in zones 6 through 9 can benefit from planting bush beans and snap peas, which don’t require trellising and are ideal for compact plots. 



Maturing in 50–60 days, they’re a smart choice for quick, protein-rich harvests. For those in hotter regions, heat-tolerant crops such as okra and southern peas provide reliable yields and thrive in scorching conditions.



This guide emphasizes more than crop selection—it highlights the importance of timing, soil preparation, and ongoing sowing techniques. 



With thoughtful planning and attention to regional climate needs, even late-summer gardeners can enjoy fresh salads, hearty stews, and the satisfaction of a robust, homegrown harvest well into fall.



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

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.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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

[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"]</div>



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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