In India, snakebites kill more people than anywhere else in the world. Estimates range between 46,000 and 60,000 deaths each year. Most victims live in villages, far from hospitals, and work outdoors in fields. For them, a bite often turns fatal before help arrives.



Now, scientists say this danger is likely to spread. A study led by Imon Abedin from the Dibru-Saikhowa Conservation Society in Tinsukia shows how climate change could shift where snakes live. 



Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may push <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/man-is-bitten-over-100-times-by-cobras-and-mambas-leading-to-the-creation-of-a-universal-antidote/">venomous species</a> into new regions, exposing communities that have little experience with snakebites.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-threats-from-venomous-snakes">New threats from venomous snakes</h2>



Four species cause most serious bites in India. Farmers and doctors know them well: the spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper, and saw-scaled viper. 



Together, they are called the Big Four. Their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-snake-day-2025-protecting-natures-silent-guardians/">venom</a> is deadly, and their wide reach makes them responsible for the bulk of human cases. These snakes thrive in varied environments, from crowded villages to farmlands and forests, increasing the chance of human encounters almost everywhere.



Researchers wanted to know what happens when the climate reshapes where these snakes can survive. They built models to predict future ranges and combined them with social data, like poverty levels and access to hospitals. 



The outcome is a risk index that shows which districts could face higher dangers in the coming decades, highlighting how environmental shifts and human vulnerability together create new threats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-change-is-pushing-snakes-north">Climate change is pushing snakes north</h2>



The models suggest a major shift. Northern and Northeastern states may see more of the Big Four in the future. 



Central and southern areas may see less, but that doesn’t mean the problem disappears. Dense populations and weak healthcare still keep risk high there.



“Climate change is altering snake species' geographic ranges, resulting in expansions, contractions, or shifting ranges. Such changes may increase human-<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/universal-antivenom-to-heal-all-snakebites-is-closer-to-reality/">snake</a> interactions across rural and urban areas, presenting new challenges for public health and medical management,” the authors note.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rising-risk-of-snakebites">Rising risk of snakebites</h2>



The study points to Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh as likely trouble spots. These regions already face challenges like poverty, large rural populations, and limited medical facilities. 



If snakes expand into new areas here, deaths could climb sharply. Even a small rise in bites becomes deadly when hospitals lack antivenom or trained staff.



This overlap of biology and social weakness creates hotspots. It’s not only about where snakes go. It’s about how well people can respond once they arrive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-limitations-of-the-study">Limitations of the study</h2>



The researchers acknowledge that their predictions aren’t perfect. Data on snake sightings is patchy, especially in remote rural areas. 



Land use changes, deforestation, and growing cities add more uncertainty. All of this makes it hard to predict exact future ranges.



Still, the warning stands. Climate is shifting, and with it, the likelihood of humans and snakes crossing paths. For rural families, this means a danger they already know too well could spread further.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-snakebites-as-public-health-crisis">Snakebites as public health crisis</h2>



Snakebites are already listed as a neglected tropical disease, and the new findings show why the problem cannot stay ignored.



“This is the first study in India to integrate climate-based species distribution models with socioeconomic vulnerability and healthcare capacity,” the authors said. “It shows that climate change is not just an environmental crisis but it’s also a looming public health crisis.”



The researchers argue that preparation must begin now. India needs more reliable antivenom, better supply chains, and stronger rural healthcare. 



Education can also help farmers avoid dangerous encounters. Training health workers, improving local clinics, and spreading awareness through schools and communities are equally important.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-snakebites-in-a-changing-climate">Snakebites in a changing climate</h2>



Quick access to treatment can save lives, but only if hospitals are equipped and medicine is available. Rural regions, where most <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cobra-venom-just-became-less-deadly-thanks-to-a-common-drug/">bites</a> occur, need special attention because distance and poverty often delay treatment. 



Without such steps, climate change could turn an existing crisis into something far worse.



The lesson is clear: snakebites are not just about snakes. They are about people who farm, children who play outside, and families who live close to fields and forests. They are about poverty that limits options and health systems already stretched thin. 



As the climate changes, those cracks will only widen, leaving millions more exposed to needless suffering unless action is taken quickly and decisively.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0013464" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases</a>.



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Climate change is pushing venomous snakes into new regions

In India, snakebites kill more people than anywhere else in the world. Estimates range between 46,000 and 60,000 deaths each year. Most victims live in villages, far from hospitals, and work outdoors in fields. For them, a bite often turns fatal before help arrives. Now, scientists say this danger is likely to spread. A study led by Imon Abedin from the Dibru-Saikhowa Conservation Society in Tinsukia shows how climate change could shift where snakes live. Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may push venomous species into new...

When it comes to the utility of whale song, many experts have believed that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/save-endangered-killer-whale/">whales</a> sing mainly as a sexual signal that helps females find high-quality males and for males to compete amongst each other for female attention. But this belief now has some contrary opinions going against it. 

New research in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology">Frontiers in Psychology</a> claims that rather than singing to attract a mate, whales actually sing as a form of echolocation. 

Eduardo Mercado III, a professor at the <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/">University of Buffalo</a> Department of Psychology, hypothesizes in his paper that whale song helps singers perform a type of auditory scene analysis. His theory states that whale song provides useful information to the singing whale, not just the whales that are listening.

“'Nearly every biologist is going to say this is nonsense, but I still maintain the direction of the current scientific consensus is wrong,” Mercado boldly claims. “They’re trying to create a scene that would not be there otherwise. When they create these echoes it’s like shining a searchlight in the dark.”

Through examining the physics of whale song, Mercado developed his model after noticing that the library of sound used by whales was changing in different years, so that whales had to process new songs every year. 

“That’s more difficult that humans trying to annually learn a new language,” he says. “For whales, it isn’t just language, but a whole new range of sounds and new patterns of sounds. For us, it would be like trying to communicate with a new species of humans with different vocal chords that produce a radically different language.”

Mercado is an expert on the effects of learning on brain function, and this learning ability in humpback whales was what led him to become interested in this project. “If my hypothesis is valid it means that whales are doing something much more complicated than what humans can even begin to approach,” Mercado says. “If we understood how whales accomplish this, it could help us understand better how brains work in general.”

Mercado calls for other researchers – who he knows will be skeptical – to prove him wrong. “It’s easy to get locked into believing something that seems obvious,” he says. “But looks, or in this case, sounds, can be deceiving.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Researcher: Whales sing to navigate, not to impress mates

When it comes to the utility of whale song, many...

A new and exciting dinosaur discovery was just made in Britain; 140-million-year old dinosaur footprints uncovered in a stone quarry. These 30 footprints – measuring almost three feet in diameter each – were uncovered by workmen in the Purbeck quarry in Swanage on Britain’s aptly-named Jurassic coast.

Interestingly, 52 similar footprints were discovered over 20 years ago just a few hundred yards away from the new prints. Scientists believe both sets of prints were made by the same herd of gigantic Sauropods, which was the largest animal to ever walk the Earth.

[caption id="attachment_1217052" align="aligncenter" width="514"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dino-prints-1.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-1217052" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dino-prints-1.png" alt="" width="514" height="484" /></a> Image Credit: David Moodie/BNPS[/caption]

Sauropods could live up to 120 years, and were the first successful group of herbivorous <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/teeth-fossils-dinosaurs-ate/">dinosaurs</a>. They are known for their long necks and tails, and dominated most terrestrial ecosystems for over 140 million years – from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. These animals weighed as much as 80 tons, which is 14 times the weight of an African elephant.

Lewis Quarries in Langton Matravers was shut down for 10 days while paleontologists extracted the footprints.

“The footprints are like giant saucer-shaped depressions which are up to three foot in diameter but only half an inch deep,” says Professor Michael Bennett of <a href="https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/">Bournemouth University</a>, who oversaw the extraction of the prints. “They belonged to the Sauropods which were very large dinosaurs the size of double decker buses and very gregarious, travelling in groups. The challenge for us was to extract the footprints without damaging them and now that has been achieved the intention is to put them on display at a museum, possibly the Etches collection in Kimmeridge.”

The dinosaur tracks have been captured in three-dimensions so the footprints can be digitally analyzed and possibly even printed in the future. So it’s likely that roughly 140 million years after these footprints were first created by dinosaurs, they will be created again – but this time by a 3D printer.

[caption id="attachment_1217054" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dino-prints-2.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1217054" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Dino-prints-2-300x202.png" alt="" width="300" height="202" /></a> Image Credit: David Moodie/BNPS[/caption]

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: David Moodie/BNPS

Giant dinosaur footprints discovered in Britain stone quarry

A new and exciting dinosaur discovery was just made in...

A new study using locusts could help provide insight into sensory experiences and how the brain processes smells and recognizes them later on. 

Tackling sensory experience with science is not new, but previous studies do not account for the variability that we experience in our everyday lives.

For example, we know what a rose <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-that-people-can-be-blind-to-smells-when-distracted/">smells like</a> in a rose garden, on its own, in a flower shop and on a busy street. Simply studying a person’s neural activity while smelling a single rose doesn’t explain how we can recognize the scent of a rose amidst other sensory distractions. 

To better understand this, researchers from the <a href="https://engineering.wustl.edu/">School of Engineering &amp; Applied Science and Washington University</a> in St. Louis conducted a study that examined how locusts responded to sensory input in a dynamic environment with other scents. 

The results were published in the journal Nature Communications. 

First, the researchers had to condition locusts to respond to a certain scent and they did this using the popular Pavlov's dog model. The locusts were exposed to a puff of hexanol followed by grass to eat. 

Eventually, the locusts learned to associate the scent with eating. When they smelled hexanol the locusts would open up their palps, organs outside of their mouths that functions like lips because they knew that they would soon get to eat grass. 

After the locusts were trained, the researchers performed a series of tests where the locusts were exposed to the hexanol either on its own or after a “distractor” scent. 

When the locusts were exposed to the hexanol on its own, the researchers saw no change in the locusts’ neural activity. However, when the locusts smelled a distractor smell first, different combinations of neurons fired off after smelling the hexanol. 

This explains the variability of sensory experience based on what’s happening in the current environment, but this also doesn’t realistically mirror how we experience smells on a day to day basis. 

The researchers compared variability to smelling a chocolate chip cookie at a coffee shop and a tea shop.

If we were to process sensory input based on context alone, then the coffee shop cookie and tea shop cookie would have two very different smells, even though they are the same food with the same ingredients. 

The locusts were able to recognize the hexanol in a range of settings which suggests that there is more than variability and context to sensory experience. 

The researchers discovered through further analysis that the locusts used something called the “An OR-of-ANDs” logical operation to recognize the hexanol.  

The “An OR-of-ANDs” logical operation explains how we can generalize and classify things based on certain traits and features.

There were some similarities in the locusts’ brain activity when smelling the hexanol on its own and when presented with a distractor scent first which shows that there are certain fixed patterns in regards to different sensory input even amongst other distractions.

The researchers next hope to test their findings with locusts and sensory experience on fruit flies to see if brain activity across the different insect species is the same. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Locusts help reveal how the brain processes different smells

A new study using locusts could help provide insight into...

A persistent algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico has become a huge threat to sea turtles, a species which is already endangered. According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/">Wall Street Journal</a>, there has been a massive spike in the number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-turtles-flippers-hands/">sea turtles</a> that have washed up on Florida's southwestern shore.

Hundreds of sick, dead, or injured sea turtles have been found stranded on the beaches. The red tide event, which has been poisoning the waters for ten months, is having the biggest impact on sea turtles in this region since a similar algae bloom struck in 2005 and 2006.

Kelly Sloan is a sea turtle researcher at the <a href="http://www.sccf.org/">Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation</a>. She explained why the impact on the sea turtles could be long-lasting.

“Most of them have been mature adults, and only 1 in 1,000 make it to adulthood,” Sloan told the <a href="https://www.news-press.com/">News-Press</a>. “It takes a loggerhead 25 to 30 years to mature, so that really does have a significant impact on their recovery.”

Sloan told the news agency that she is “very confident” that the turtles were killed by the red tide because many showed neurological symptoms that have been linked with toxic red seawater blooms.

Scientists are collecting tissue samples from some of the sea turtles to test for brevetoxins, which are neurotoxins that can impact the health of both humans and animals.

Heather Barron is a medical and research director at the <a href="http://www.crowclinic.org/">Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife</a>. Dr. Barron told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/">Wall Street Journal</a>: “To have so many adults that are dying in their prime years of breeding is going to have repercussions for decades to come.” 

Dr. Barron also pointed out that the bloom will affect the breeding season of the sea turtles, which occurs between April and October.

According to the <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/">National Ocean Service</a>, a harmful algal bloom (HAB) occurs nearly every summer along Florida’s Gulf Coast. HABs are caused by algae that produce toxins and turn the water red. The blooms can be fatal to fish and make shellfish dangerous to eat. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Persistent algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico is killing Sea Turtles

A persistent algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico has...

When I took mycology class, it was like getting a glimpse into a secret world hidden all around us.  If you create a small batch of clear, gelatin like medium and poor it into a petri dish, you have a sure fire place to grow molds.  In college mycology class, we placed our little dishes with thin layers of gel everywhere, in a living room, in the kitchen, even under the bed and mold spores found their way to them.  Within a day of exposure, you could see little growths. 

Growing molds doesn’t seem very exciting, certainly not very hard.  It seems like mold jumps out of cheese, old bread, fruits; appearing everywhere.  The thing to remember is this: if mold starts growing on that old piece of bread or that cheese left too long, it had to get there from somewhere.  The lasting lesson of our little culture dishes is that mold spores are always floating through the air. When we created our medium, we sanitized and sealed the petri dishes with the medium within, this means any mold already there was killed.  Any mold we found on the dish later came from the surrounding air, air we’re constantly breathing in and walking through. 

<a href="http://www.moldbacteriaconsulting.com/fungi/airborne-mould-spores-could-they-be.html">MoldBacteriaConsulting.com</a> dryly cites the amount of mold spores a person can be easily exposed to:

“One cubic meter of outdoor air may contain as many as 1,000,000 spores. The volume of air we inhale at rest is estimated at 10 litres per minute. Therefore, in an hour we inhale close to 600,000 spores. The air in some working environments including mouldy buildings may contain up to 1,000,000,000 spores per cubic meter of air.”  

One lecture in mycology focused on all of the infections a person could get from fungi. A yeast infection is a type of fungal disease, as your skin can be infected by tiny fungi if your immune system is compromised.  In the tropics, it’s not uncommon for an infection to occur under a toenail. The reason we don’t all suffer from constant fungal disease is our immune system is pretty good at fighting back the spores and a lot of fungi don’t like the high mammalian body temperature.  

Sometimes fungi do evolve particularly as pathogens though.  I’ve crawled into caves to find bats hiding in the small cracks in stone as part of a team looking for answers.  The bats in hibernaculas (caves and other shelters where bats hibernate through winter) have become especially vulnerable to a type of fungi.  The fungi infect bats, giving them noses that look as if they’ve been dusted by a white powder. The disease known as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/white-nose-syndrome-bats/">White Nose Syndrome</a> disrupts a bat’s hibernation, causing the animal to wake early and fly outside to search for food.  Often in the cold days of winter, bats can’t find the insects they’re accustomed to eating and they either starve to death or die slowly of exposure.  It seems the fungi, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, that causes White Nose Syndrome doesn’t hurt bats until hibernation occurs.         

Debates have raged between cavers and scientists over how the fungi disease has arrived in the United States but it seems like it might be here to stay, at least in some locations.  Originally, Pseudogymnoascus destructans was found in Europe where bats generally don’t show signs of White Nose Syndrome, but was carried to the US where the disease is now rampant.  Scientists often blame incautious cavers for spreading the disease from cave to cave by not properly decontaminating equipment. Cavers on the other hand feel they can play a role by documenting occurrences of the disease and educating the public, arguing that knowledge and first hand caving experience is important.

<a href="https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/static-page/what-is-white-nose-syndrome">Whitenosesyndrome.org</a> tells the story of how the disease was found in the US, first discovered in the US in a cave near Albany New York in 2007 from the presence of sick and dying bats.  A photo a caver took of a bat with a white nose from 2006 shows that the disease was already in the US for a year before scientists confirmed its presence. 

It’s likely that White Nose Syndrome rode on a caver’s boot, an unwashed flashlight, a helmet or other caving equipment from Europe to the US.  Once here, White Nose Syndrome has been spreading, although it’s yet to get a real foothold in most of the western US that is many scientists’ greatest concern.  It’s possible that the climate in the west isn’t amicable to Pseudogymnoascus destructans, it’s also possible that educating cavers on the importance of decontaminating their equipment has slowed the spread of the disease.  

The data I’ve collected on cave ecology in Arizona and bat sound recording devices I’ve set up in Colorado has been part of an effort to understand bat behavior and cave environments before White Nose Syndrome takes hold.  It’s thought that if we can find places the disease doesn’t take control and see the early signs of White Nose Syndrome infection, we might be able to prevent outbreaks.

Another fungal disease in amphibians mirrors certain aspects of White Nose Syndrome. Amphibians dying in larger than normal numbers in Australia through the late 90s and early 2000s have been attributed to Chytridiomycosis.  Chytridiomycosis is a disease caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (BD).  Infections from BD have become widespread across many frog species, some salamanders and even a caecilian (strange worm-like amphibian from the tropics).  According to <a href="https://amphibiaweb.org/chytrid/chytridiomycosis.html#whatis">AmphibiaWeb</a>, Chytridiomycosis has led to extinction or severe decline in at least 200 frog species.

Skin of infected tadpoles and froglets develops into thicker skin that doesn’t allow as much exchange of gas as normal frog skin.  Eventually deformities in the skin thickness can lead to death from cardiac arrest. Some species of frog can survive low levels of BD infection, which allows them to spread the disease to more susceptible species that die with low levels of exposure.  Since the discovery of Chytridiomycosis, the disease has been found throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and in pockets of Asia. Sometimes the disease is spread by the pet trade, when infected frogs are caught and transported internationally to become captive pets.  

Similar to Chytridiomycosis in frogs, a fungal disease has been infecting snakes in North America.  The disease caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola has been simply dubbed, Snake Fungal Disease (SFD), and was only recently discovered in 2013.  The symptoms of SFD vary depending on the species of snake infected. Snakes facial swelling, clouded eyes, skin problems and problems with venom glands, possibly liver and lungs can be affected by SFD as well.  

According to the <a href="https://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/other_diseases/snake_fungal_disease.jsp">USGS</a>, reported cases of SFD are increasing and the disease is probably more widespread than currently documented across 13 US states.  SFD is thought to most impact already small, isolated and threatened species of snake, potentially pushing some species over the brink into extinction. 

What’s strange about all of these fungal diseases is that they’ve only fairly recently spread or even been documented at all.  It seems there must be a common factor that drives the spread of dangerous fungi across the world. There is a parallel in human diseases as well.  

AIDS victims with their limited immune systems often suffer from increased fungal infections. According to an article on <a href="https://ensia.com/features/19036/">Ensia.com</a>, cryptoccosis, a fungal disease, became diagnostic of AIDS in the 1980s.  Oddly in 1999, several people uninfected by HIV on Vancouver Island, Canada were diagnosed with cryptoccosis.  It appears that a new strain of the fungal disease had developed, and it appeared far from the tropics where most fungal diseases do well.  Other fungal diseases such as those that hit crops are also spreading.

The common thread to all of these fungal diseases appears to be environment.  As our climate changes, it appears that fungi and the diseases they cause have been spreading to new environments or evolving to take advantage of the new situation.  As the climate changes, we may expect a new crop of diseases. It’s not just fungi either. <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/vibrio-zika-west-nile-malaria-diseases-spreading-climate-change/">National Geographic</a> reported in 2017 the possibility of many tropical diseases such as West Nile and Malaria becoming more widespread (that is, spreading towards the poles) as climate continues to warm.  

As our Earth becomes sicker from the spread of toxic carbon, it should really come as no surprise that the planet’s inhabitants might also become sicker.                 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer          

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Climate change may be increasing risk of fungal diseases

When I took mycology class, it was like getting a...

A new study has investigated the nesting habitat preferences of the Red Knot across the Arctic. The researchers determined that there is plenty of breeding habitat to support the population of these birds today, but climate change could pose a threat in the future.

The rufa subspecies of Red Knot travels from its breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic to winter in South America each year. This journey is a remarkable distance of 15,000 kilometers each way. The numbers of rufa populations have fallen in recent decades, and experts set out to determine if unsuitable breeding grounds may be driving this decline.

“Using the power of satellite remote sensing, data mining analysis, and geospatial modeling, we were able to extrapolate from the field and radio-telemetry surveys to map potential nesting habitat for these birds across wide expanses of the Canadian Arctic,” said study co-author Richard Lathrop of <a href="https://www.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers University</a>.

“These same tools and techniques could be applied to advance our knowledge about other Arctic-nesting shorebirds.”

The team attached radio tags to 365 knots captured while migrating through Delaware Bay in 1999-2006, and collected data from airplanes to learn where and in what sort of habitat the tagged birds nested across the south and central Canadian Arctic. The researchers also carried out detailed ground-based surveys on Nunavut's Southampton Island. 

“It took many person-hours over many years of intensive field surveys to find the several dozen occupied Red Knot nests that we located and documented,” explained study co-author Larry Niles of the <a href="http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/">Conserve Wildlife Foundation</a>. “The area we aerially searched for radio-tagged birds spanned over 1700 km in length, the same distance as from Georgia to Maine.”

The scientists found that knots preferred to nest in sparsely vegetated areas on sedimentary bedrock, near to the coast or interior wetlands where they forage.

The study revealed that there are over 74,000 square kilometers of suitable rufa Red Knot habitat across their Central Arctic breeding range, which is estimated to be enough space for at least that many breeding pairs. Currently, the entire population is only around 42,000 individuals, which means a lack of available breeding habitat is not driving the decline of the species.

On the other hand, suitable breeding conditions for a number of Arctic shorebirds such as knots are expected to become unsuitable in coming decades due to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-record-breaking-heatwave/">climate change</a>. This means that insight into species-habitat relationships will be critical for informing conservation efforts.

Brad Andres is a national coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Shorebird Conservation Plan, who was not involved in the study. 

“Implementing effective conservation actions for long-distance migrant birds often involves the systematic elimination of insignificant factors to identify important biotic and abiotic contributors to population dynamics,” said Andres. 

“For the first time, Lathrop and his colleagues have described environmental conditions conducive for nesting by rufa Red Knots and provide evidence that breeding ground habitats are likely not limiting the recovery of the population. Their work also furnishes a baseline to evaluate the ability of a changing Arctic climate to provide breeding habitat for this shorebird of high conservation concern.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.americanornithology.org/content/condor-ornithological-applications">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: M. Peck

Endangered shorebirds have enough space to breed… for now

A new study has investigated the nesting habitat preferences of...

Scientists have detected high levels of sunscreen chemicals in the waters of Shenzhen, China. The experts have also demonstrated that these chemicals can affect the development of zebrafish embryos.


<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hawaii-bans-sunscreens-corals/">Sunscreens</a> are widely used to prevent sunburn and to protect skin against premature aging and cancer. Manufacturers are now adding ultraviolet (UV) filters to a range of personal care products beyond sunscreens, including moisturizers and makeup. 

While these substances have been detected in the environment, most studies have found that individual sunscreen chemicals are not present at levels that are high enough to threaten the health of humans or animals.

Kelvin Sze-Yin Leung theorized that combinations of UV filters may be more harmful than individual compounds, and wanted to investigate whether these chemicals could have long-term effects that have not been recognized in previous research.

Leung and his team analyzed the levels of nine common UV filters in the surface waters of Shenzhen, China, which is a rapidly growing city with more than 20 recreational beaches. 

The experts found seven of the nine chemicals in the waters surrounding public beaches and in a harbor. The researchers were surprised to find that some of these chemicals were also present in a reservoir and in tap water. 

In the lab, the scientists fed zebrafish brine shrimp that had been exposed to three of the most prevalent chemicals. The adult fish appeared to be unaffected by the substances, but their offspring showed abnormalities. 

These outcomes were mostly observed for longer-term exposures of 47 days and elevated levels of the chemicals, which were higher than what is likely to occur in the environment. 

The effects of different UV filters and combinations of these substances varied in unpredictable ways, suggesting that further research is needed to determine how these chemicals may impact the health of animals and humans.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sunscreen chemicals can hurt developing fish embryos

Scientists have detected high levels of sunscreen chemicals in the...

The colony of king penguins on the Île aux Cochons located in the Indian Ocean about halfway between Africa and Antarctica was once the largest colony of penguins in the world. 

The last time researchers visited the island, there were over two million penguins consisting of about 500,000 breeding pairs. 

However, because of the Île aux Cochons’ remote location makes it difficult to get to, the penguin colony hasn’t been surveyed since 1982. 

A new crew of researchers used aerial photography and high-resolution satellite imagery to measure any changes in the colony over the past decades.

After analyzing the imagery, the researchers discovered that only around 200,000 penguins remain meaning that around 90 percent of the king penguin colony has died off. 

“It is completely unexpected, and particularly significant since this colony represented nearly one third of the king penguins in the world,” Henri Weimerskirch, the lead author of the study, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/30/worlds-largest-king-penguin-colony-has-declined-by-90">the Guardian. </a>

The tragic findings were published in the journal Antarctic Science. The researchers aren’t sure exactly what caused this major decline in population size, only that the shrinking colony is yielding its territory to encroaching vegetation, according to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6008279/Worlds-largest-colony-King-penguins-plummeted-90-shocking-study-finds.html">Daily Mail.</a>

One driver of major declines can be attributed to El Nino events starting in the 1990s. El Nino can drive squid and fish populations out of foraging ranges for the penguin resulting in higher food competition and lack of breeding success.

El Nino events happen every two to seven years, but <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/king-penguins-global-warming/">climate change</a> can increase their severity which might explain why so much of the population plummeted. 

Another possibility is that an outbreak of Avian cholera or invasive species wiped out a large portion of the colony, but this still doesn’t explain the number of birds that died off. 

More research is meritted to understand what drove such unprecedented declines and conservationionalist may have to work hard to ensure the protection and preservation of other king penguin colonies in the future. 

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By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth’s largest king penguin colony has declined by 90 percent

The colony of king penguins on the Île aux Cochons...

Thousands of people have applied for a permit to participate in the state of Wyoming's first hunt since <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grizzly-bears-hunted-yellowstone/">grizzly bears</a> were delisted from the Endangered Species Act by the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish &amp; Wildlife Service</a>.

Wyoming Game &amp; Fish officials are allowing up to 22 bears to be killed this fall. However, not everyone applying for a license is a hunter, as many environmentalists have teamed up for a campaign to “<a href="https://protectthewolves.com/shootem-with-a-camera-not-a-gun-and-get-reimbursed/">Shoot ’em with a Camera, Not a Gun</a>.”

One such activist, nature photographer Tom Mangelsen, has been randomly selected to receive one of the coveted hunting licenses.

“The time has come in 2018 to really think about the value of wildlife for what it is for everybody,” Mangelsen told <a href="https://www.npr.org/">NPR</a> after the drawing. “The public has the right to see bears and the hunters do not have the right to take that away from the public.”

Hunters are frustrated as activists apply for access to the short hunting season, arguing that the population of the bears has made a full recovery.

Sy Gilliland is a hunting guide in Wyoming and a spokesman for the hunting community.

“It’s like being Monday-morning quarterbacked by people who don’t really have a clue what’s happening on the ground,” Gilliland told <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/">USA Today</a>. “The science backs this up. This bear population has recovered. It’s de-listed. The bear is heavily studied. It’s heavily monitored.”

Scientists and conservationists argue that the grizzly bears have only recently recovered, and that future environmental conditions will make it difficult for this trend to continue.

Bonnie Rice is representative for the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/">Sierra Club</a>, which aims to protect wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies ecosystems.

“Allowing a trophy hunt of these majestic animals - the second-slowest mammal to reproduce in North America - so soon after they lost Endangered Species protections does nothing to build public confidence in state management of grizzly bears,” Rice said in a statement.

According to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/">National Park Service</a>, the grizzly population has grown from 136 in 1975 to nearly 700 today.

Conservation measures to protect grizzly bears will not change in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, regardless of the protected status of grizzly bears.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists, activists say it’s too soon to hunt grizzly bears

Thousands of people have applied for a permit to participate...

Many previous studies have demonstrated how the conservation of habitats can benefit farmers by helping to control pests. But now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California Davis</a> has found that natural ecosystems surrounding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agricultural-irrigation-cloud-formation/">agricultural fields</a> are not always an effective pest-control tool.

Study lead author Daniel Karp is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology.

“There's a widespread assumption among ecologists that when you have more natural habitat around farm fields you get more enemies of the crop pests, and that these enemies will control the pests and provide a benefit to growers," said Karp.

Karp collaborated with Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer of the Natural Capital Project at <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> to investigate. The experts organized an international team of ecologists, economists, and practitioners at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. 

The interdisciplinary study has produced the largest pest-control dataset of its kind, involving 132 studies from more than 6,700 sites in 31 countries worldwide.

The study revealed that the efficiency and success of this system is highly variable across the globe. While the researchers found a lot of evidence that natural habitat does help farmers control pests, there was just as much evidence to the contrary that showed negative impacts on crop yields.

The findings indicate that there is no universal approach for farmers when it comes to natural habitat and pests.

“This paper isn't telling farmers to clear habitat by any means,” said Karp. “There may be a lot of other benefits from natural habitat, such as pollination or carbon sequestration. But we need to be forthright about knowing when habitat conservation will be advantageous in terms of pests and when other means of pest control are needed.”

Karp’s team, which consists of 153 co-authors, has made the pest-control database publicly available, which will lead to further scientific insights. Karp hopes the database will grow over time and lead to the development of accurate predictive models.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">PNAS</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: Matthias Tschumi

Natural ecosystems don’t always help control pests

Many previous studies have demonstrated how the conservation of habitats...

I had first heard of Padre Island years ago, when my younger brother went on a short vacation to Texas with a friend and visited Padre Island.  I don’t remember the specific details, but the idea was enough to capture my imagination.

Maybe it was the name, at once evocative and vague; father island?  Maybe it was the stories I heard later in life about the beauty of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sahara-dust-hurricanes/">Gulf of Mexico</a> or the environmental tragedy that played out there.  Whatever it was, something inside me was determined to visit Padre Island National Seashore if I ever got the chance. This spring, following up a two month road trip through Mexico, my long dormant dream awoke and I got my chance to visit Padre Island.

<a href="https://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm">Padre Island National Seashore</a> is actually the meeting of a father island with Mother Ocean.  Laguna Madre is a hypersaline lagoon that stretches along the Southern Texas portion of the Gulf of Mexico.  Laguna Madre is a good mother, home to 80% of the seagrass in Texas, and more finfish than anywhere else in the state.  The hypersaline nature of the Laguna is special, being one of only six hypersaline lagoons in the world. 

About 77 percent of North America’s Red Headed Ducks winter in the Laguna Madre.  The only hypersaline adapted oysters in North America live there, too. The water on the Laguna Madre side of the island is glass smooth with nearly a ripple.  The water is shallow; the Laguna Madre is only an average of 3.3 feet deep. The lagoon itself covers 609 square miles and is usually less than five feet deep. People in waders walk far into the water of the lagoon and fish in the quiet, calm, bright ocean.  We watched a man windsurfing across the calm water at sunset. 

Made of rolling sand hills covered in grass, long stretches of beach and tidal flats, Padre Island National Seashore itself encompasses 130,434 acres and boasts at being the longest undeveloped piece of barrier island in the world.  Most of the National Seashore itself is road-less, yet driving on the long undeveloped stretch of beach is allowed, if only recommended to four wheel drive vehicles. On the eastern side of the island, open to the Gulf of Mexico, waves roll onto the sand, the water isn’t glassy calm like in the Laguna Madre.  Brown pelicans fly over the rolling hills and beach in bobbing lines.

Tri-colored herons can be found hunting in the marshy areas of the island.  There are small ponds, including at least one with a blind for birdwatching.  Corpus Cristi, Padre Island’s nearest town, has won America’s Birdiest city award ten years running, which means they have more birds than any other city in the United States.

Crabs are everywhere, at least on the Laguna Madre side of the island.  We arrived after dark and took our dogs for a walk, only to realize with some horror that we couldn’t take a step without crunching a crab under foot.  The tiny arthropods run everywhere in the moonlight, their misbalanced claws flailing at any disturbance. In the day time all you see are tiny holes in the sand pock marking the beach.  The crabs we saw are Ghost Crabs (subfamily Ocypodinae). Ghost crabs are pale and nocturnal, all but disappearing in the day. Crabs belong to subphylum of Crustaceans; there are 41 species of crustacean found on Padre Island, including at least 9 species of crab.  Other crustaceans include shrimp, lobsters and barnacles. 

Burrowing in the same intertidal sand as crabs are Ghost Shrimps.  Ghost Shrimp have transparent exoskeletons, baring bright red organs.  The shrimps are amazingly adapted to a constantly changing environment that fluctuates between flood at high tide and relatively dry and hot at low tide.  Ghost Shrimp can survive up to six days with no oxygen and are an important food source for birds. Some of the holes I saw in the beach and assumed were crabs were probably the burrows of Ghost Shrimp.  

Padre Island is home to five species of sea turtle and the only place in Texas where all five species found in the Gulf of Mexico have been known to nest.  Most importantly, Padre Island is the best nesting location for the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, the smallest turtle found in the Gulf of Mexico. If you’re lucky, and take a walk on the beach early in the morning during nesting season (April to September) you might spot the strange mechanical looking trackway of a mother turtle.  

Dolphins and whales swim past Padre Island and the very lucky will see a fin or the spectacular spout of a blowhole.  Unexpectedly, West Indian Manatees (Trichechus manatus) can sometimes be seen in the waters surrounding Padre Island.

There have been 149 species of fish documented by National Park Service staff at Padre Island National Seashore.  Stingrays, hammerhead sharks, eels, tarpons and many others have been found. Fishing is incredibly popular here, especially on the calm Laguna Madre side of the island where I imagine the sport to be meditative and peaceful.     

Perhaps surprising for a place so dominated by the ocean, Padre Island is also home to four frog species and six toads.  There are also coyotes, white tailed deer, raccoons, a pocket gopher, black tailed jack rabbit and the Padre Island Kangaroo Rat found only on... Padre Island.  

Despite being an island, there is a paved road connecting it to the mainland.  It’s a little strange for someone like me who’s lived most of his life far from an ocean to drive a thin ribbon of asphalt across the ocean, but it’s much more convenient than a boat.  

Beyond Padre Island National Seashore, the island itself stretches far.  North of the National Seashore is Mustang Island State Park, which protects another five miles of coast.  The park is similar to Padre Island National Seashore in being a place to explore the beach, camp or kayak on a <a href="https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/paddlingtrails/coastal/mustang_island/">paddling trail</a>.  There is also the small <a href="https://www.nuecesbeachparks.com/packerychannelpark.html">Packery Channel Park</a>, a small nature park on the beach managed by Nueces County.  Other campgrounds and small public parks aren’t hard to find north of the national seashore as well as restaurants and hotels.

South Island is the part of Padre Island that is most developed as a beachfront vacation destination.  South Padre is known for the place to go to party or drink away a spring break rather than connect with nature.  Still there is spectacular nature to be seen on South Padre Island and worthy organizations promoting environmental education.  <a href="http://www.spibirding.com">South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center</a> is an interpretive center that also hosts guided tours.  <a href="http://www.seaturtleinc.org">Sea Turtle Inc.</a> is another organization based on South Padre Island working to rehabilitate and conserve turtles, as well as educate the public.  

Off the island, Laguna Madre continues, south and into Mexico.  On the mainland of Texas, <a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/laguna_atascosa/">Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge</a> protects a chunk of the lagoon.  Laguna Atascosa is also one of the few places in the United States you have even a slim chance of spotting an Ocelot in the wild.  Although Ocelots are endangered and very rare in the US, a successful den was found in 2016 in Laguna Atascosa. 

In Mexico, the southern part of the Laguna Madre is protected in Laguna Madre y Rio Bravo Delta State Park.  

All together the different parts of the island and the ocean are a patchwork of different public and private lands, some relatively protected others sacrificed for the sake of partying in the sun.  However, the island and the land around it is one beautiful whole of sun and water, fish and bird and mammal. Crabs dance on the sand at night and pelicans bob through the warm air in the day. There is fishing, there is kayaking, and there is windsurfing.  There’s plenty of opportunity to sit and take the world in in its most sun bleached elemental state. 

---

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

The diverse array of wildlife on Padre Island National Seashore

I had first heard of Padre Island years ago, when...

Dogs have helped humans for thousands of years. Why exclude them from national parks?. The history of domestic dogs is parallel to the history of humanity.  When Europeans arrived in North America, their Eurasian dogs met dogs whose ancestors had crossed the land bridge to <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/perennial-vegetables-to-grow-in-north-america/">North America</a> centuries before. It seems that the first humans to cross that cold land bridge to America didn’t bring dogs with them but they followed them with people migrating into the new world a bit later.  Dogs then spread across North and South America. 

<a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dogs-lived-and-died-humans-10000-years-ago-americas">ScienceNews</a> reported that the oldest dog bones found in the Americas are 10,000 years old but humans have been here for at least 15,000 years.  Interestingly the dog found had been buried and died of natural causes, a hint at the esteem placed in the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=ancient&amp;FORM=ANCMS9&amp;PC=HCTS">ancient</a> canine. Dogs have helped humans for thousands of years. Why exclude them from national parks?

By the time Columbus and waves of Spanish, English and French invaders arrived, native dogs were everywhere people were.  In Alaska and Canada, dogs pulled the sleds of Inuit hunters. Across the Great Plains, dogs helped hunt small game, guarded camps and long before horses arrived, pulled the heavy travois of their humans from camp to camp.  Sometimes Native Americans ate dogs. Some tribes considered dog meat a delicacy, but for others it was taboo. 

In an airport in Ecuador, my fiancé Erin and I saw a strange medium sized dog, nearly hairless with a shock of ‘rock star’ hair on his head.  It reminded us of another dog we had seen in Ecuador, a nearly black dog without fur, an animal we thought might be sick; appearing more like a giant wingless bat than a canine.  It turns out that there is a Peruvian Orchis is a usually hairless dog that was bred by the Inca since pre-Columbian times. The dogs were apparently bred to carry messages between villages through the Andes, adding yet another job carried out by Native American dogs.  Or was the dog we saw the Xoloitzcuintli (Xolo) or Mexican Hairless Dog on a South American vacation? Xolos are partially descended from pre-Columbian dogs believed to protect their homes from evil spirits. 

Dogs are humans’ oldest and closest friend; it’s a cliché but one that is true.  Like many close relationships, it’s one that’s not always unquestionably good and one more complicated than it seems.  In the Americas as I noted, some people ate dogs and even today dog eating ranges from taboo to delicacy depending on where you are in the world.  The Inca beat their dogs to make them howl, believing that dog howls bring rain. In her book, <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schwartz-dog.html?_r=2&amp;oref=slogin">A History of Dogs in the Early Americas</a>, Marion Schwartz highlights the intricate and contradictory relationship between Native Americans and dogs, 

“The dog was an ambiguous animal. Native Americans understood that even though dogs resided in the human camp they had a close kinship with coyotes and wolves. Because of these relationships, dogs occupied and operated on several levels: they connected the wild and the tame, and they joined nature and culture. Even though dogs were seen as almost human, they were also known to be carnivores and, as such, were linked not only to wolves, coyotes, and foxes but also to bears and jaguars. On the one hand, dogs were esteemed as companions, hunters, and guards. On the other hand, they were associated with promiscuity and filth. Among some groups, eating dogs was strictly taboo, whereas other groups ate them with great relish. Some cultures relied on dogs for transportation and hauling. Others found them to be of no use at all. Dogs played key roles in the myths of some people; in other myths, dogs were scarcely mentioned. In addition, the numbers of dogs and their physical appearance varied widely from locality to locality and through time.” 

<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-original-american-dogs-are-gonewith-one-sinister-exception/564455/">The Atlantic</a> reported in July 2018 on new genetic evidence that despite those legends of Incan dogs carrying messages and Native Mexican dogs barking away spirits, native dog genes are nearly extinct.  As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/european-dogs-american-dogs/">we reported</a> recently, dogs that were native to the Americas were wiped out by the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Only trace amounts of Native American dog genes can be found in Arctic breeds such as malamutes and huskies.  Perhaps European disease wiped out American dogs, perhaps they were killed outright by Europeans or European dogs. One haunting legacy of Native American dogs remains, a contagious cancer, Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor (CTVT) arrived in the Americas with the first dogs.  

The point is, whether they arrived with early Americans or European conquistadors, dogs have long been residents in the Americas, just like everywhere else humans live.

In the US, the Ahwahneechee, a Native American people, were evicted from Yosemite National Park, part of their traditional homeland, in 1969 after a long history of being exploited as performers for tourists.  When the Ahwahneechee left, their dogs went with them. Today, dogs are largely excluded from Yosemite for anyone who truly wants to see the park outside of the developed and paved areas. The National Parks website under the heading, ‘Where Pets Are Allowed’, spells out the few exceptions to dog exclusion, 

“ *In developed areas

*On fully paved roads, sidewalks, and bicycle paths (except when signed as not allowing pets)

*In all campgrounds except walk-in campgrounds (e.g., Camp 4) and in group campsites”

According to its <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/backpacking.htm">website</a>, almost 95% of Yosemite is designated as Wilderness.  This means, due to the rules of the park, more than 95% of Yosemite is off limits to dogs.  That’s over 1,100 square miles of hiking, camping and outdoor pursuit dogs can’t enjoy with their humans in one park alone.  Instead dogs are relegated to asphalt instead of dirt trails, car passenger seats instead of their own four paws. 

The history of the Seminoles is the history of disparate groups of Native Americans.  Fleeing European conquest, natives from Georgia and Alabama made their way to Florida where they joined natives already there and became a new people calling themselves the ‘runaways’ or Seminoles.  An old black and white photo on the <a href="https://www.wdl.org/en/item/4029/">World Digital Library</a> shows a Seminole family from 1921 near Deep Lake in Big Cypress Swamp, Florida.  In the picture a woman stands in profile to the camera, turning her head to the photographer, her baby hangs in fabric from her back and a girl in a dress stands in front of her turning to the right, one of her small arms just a blur.  The father stands, face hard to read cigar in his mouth. In front of the man a light colored dog stands on her hind legs, one paw extended, held loosely in one of the man’s hands. The little girl’s blur of an arm seems to be motioning towards the dog also. 

Since 1974, the area around Deep Lake has been managed by the National Park Service as part of Big Cypress National Preserve.  The Deep Lake area is now largely a dog-free zone. Big Cypress’ website says:

“Activities with pets are very limited at Big Cypress. Pets are not allowed on any hiking trails. Pets may accompany visitors in the campgrounds, picnic areas and at pullouts along the paved scenic drives. Pets may be walked on roads or in parking lots, but must be leashed at all times when outside a vehicle. Pets may not be left unattended.”

The exclusion of dogs from places like Big Cypress and Everglades National Park is a bit hypocritical on the part of the government.  When Florida was fighting the Seminole Wars against the Native American group, they used bloodhounds. Thirty Cuban bloodhounds were brought from Cuba with handlers by the US Army to track down Seminoles hiding in rough, inhospitable Florida backcountry.  Later more hounds were brought from Cuba by The Navy and the Marine Corps. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30138992?read-now=1&amp;seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents">The Florida Historical Quarterly</a> says,

“Several Indians were captured on scouting parties with the aid of dogs and the Jacksonville Advocate now hopefully referred to the dogs as ‘peace hounds.’ ” 

Besides hunting, pulling sleds seems to be one of the most traditional ways dogs have helped humans.  <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/20160318-ancient-sled-dogs-archaeology-Iditarod-Arctic-Siberia/">National Geographic</a> has reported that there is archaeological evidence of close human association with dogs in Siberia going back at let 8,000 years.  

Archaeologist suspect that sled dogs have been with us for a very long time; and that in the arctic, dogs in general were essential for human survival.  Denali National Park in Alaska reflects the special place of dogs in northern regions; of <a href="https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/how-many-national-parks-are-there">417 National Park sites</a>, only Denali has actual sled dogs.  The dogs are kenneled inside the park and are used to patrol the backcountry and move supplies in the winter.  Sled dogs seem like a return to tradition inside a national park named ‘great one’ (after the mountain) in the Native Koyukon language.  Still, sled dogs aside, it’s not easy to enjoy Denali National Park with your canine companion. From the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/pets.htm">park website</a>, 

“In general, pets are not permitted on park trails, nor off-trail in the wilderness; the exceptions to this rule are the Roadside Trail and the Bike Path, where they may be walked on leash.”

It’s hard to understand the National Park Services’ general no-dog policy.  Teddy Roosevelt often went outdoors with dogs and was known as a lover of the animal.  John Muir wrote an essay about Stickeen, a dog that bravely accompanied him on a mountain journey across a glacier.  Aldo Leopold seemed to enjoy the company of dogs when hunting, if one can judge from his writing. Modern nature writers such as Jack Turner and Ted Kerasote extol the virtues of their dogs and revel in their companionship.  Why then are dogs so marginalized by the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/">National Park Service</a>?

I feel it’s a matter of perspective.  The National Parks are meant to be static places to enjoy like you would a museum.  The longer span of history is one of humans entering into a dynamic relationship with non-human nature.  Dogs are part of the interplay; dogs are both part of the human and non-human world. Part of the goal of National Parks is to exclude the non-human elements that don’t directly contribute to human recreation and preservation of the land.  In the short-sighted one-dimensional view of National Parks, dogs aren’t part of the equation. Dogs are part of humanity’s relationship with the land. National Parks pretend that they are preserving a human free world with only temporary human visitation, despite centuries of a working relationship between humans and the land now protected.  

Sadly in keeping parks as static as possible, we preserve a fantasy, not a place where humans become part of the land but instead a lost Eden always outside our grasp.  Our dogs also lose a part of their heritage, the part where human and canine fought, hunted and protected each other in a wild, wild world. 

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer  

This article was paid for by Earth.com, Inc.

Dogs have helped humans for thousands of years

Dogs have helped humans for thousands of years. Why exclude...

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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.

<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">
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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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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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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