Illegal wildlife trade in North Korea is a shadowy yet thriving enterprise. Beneath the state’s stringent regulatory framework, a dark undercurrent flows - one where endangered species become mere commodities. 



This silent crisis has been investigated by experts at University College London (<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCL</a>). The research reveals the stark reality of a nation where economic desperation and government complicity intertwine to ravage <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-wildlife-day-2025-a-global-call-to-protect-nature/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodiversity</a>.



The study is the first in-depth examination of North Korea’s wildlife trade. Researchers interviewed defectors, including former hunters, middlemen, and buyers, exposing a network of illegal trade that stretches from the country’s dense forests to the bustling markets of China. 



The findings are chilling: endangered species are being hunted, skinned, and sold while the state profits from their suffering.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-rise-of-black-markets">The rise of black markets</h2>



The collapse of North Korea’s economy in the 1990s reshaped the country’s social and economic fabric. A once-centralized distribution system crumbled, pushing citizens into the shadows of the black market. 



Food shortages forced families to fend for themselves, and in the absence of state support, wildlife became both a lifeline and a lucrative trade.



Hunting, a desperate act of survival, turned into a thriving underground economy. Deer, wild boar, and red fox became prime targets, not just for their meat but for their skins and bones. These products were not only consumed locally but also sold to middlemen, who then smuggled them across the border to China.



Dr. Joshua Elves-Powell, the study’s lead author, connects economic hardship to the surge in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-civet-day-2025-reveals-the-dark-side-of-a-luxury-coffee/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife</a> exploitation. 



“The widespread harvesting of North Korea’s wildlife, driven by the economic limitations of the North Korean state and the shortages of food, medicine and basic goods experienced by many of its citizens, is an important threat to the biodiversity of North Korea and the wider region,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-china-s-role-in-the-wildlife-trade">China’s role in the wildlife trade</h2>



Wildlife trade in North Korea doesn’t end within its borders. China has become a voracious consumer of North Korean <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-day-honors-success-in-clean-energy-and-wildlife-recovery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife</a> products. 



The study reveals that middlemen capitalize on economic desperation, offering substantial sums for tiger bones, bear bile, and deer antlers.



One former hunter, now a defector, described how deer antlers from large stags could fetch a price that would sustain a family for months. Some antlers, smuggled into China, were ground into medicinal powders and sold as luxury health supplements.



The study also exposes the intricate network of middlemen who facilitate this trade. These brokers navigate a labyrinth of border patrols and bribes, disguising wildlife products as everyday goods. 



Despite international sanctions, the illicit flow of animal products continues, driven by insatiable demand and unchecked corruption.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-state-sanctioned-wildlife-exploitation">State-sanctioned wildlife exploitation</h2>



North Korea’s wildlife trade laws ostensibly protect endangered species. Yet the state itself is a key player in the trade of protected <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-disturbing-details-about-the-state-of-earths-wildlife/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a>. 



The study uncovers how government-run farms raise otters, pheasants, and Asiatic black bears, ostensibly for domestic consumption but ultimately to fuel the black market.



Bear bile farming, a practice condemned globally for its cruelty, continues unabated. North Korea began farming bears in the 1970s, a practice that later spread to China and South Korea. Despite mounting international pressure, the country persists, extracting bile to supply a market that prizes its medicinal properties.



One defector recounted how households were forced to submit <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pet-dogs-severely-harm-wildlife-even-when-leashed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animal</a> skins to meet state quotas. Failure to comply could result in severe repercussions. Even children were tasked with raising rabbits, their skins later harvested to produce winter clothing for the military.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-traditional-medicine-drives-wildlife-exploitation">Traditional medicine drives wildlife exploitation</h2>



Traditional Korean medicine (TKM) reveres wildlife products for their supposed healing properties. In North Korea, the use of deer antlers, bear bile, and badger oil extends beyond folklore. It is an industry that thrives amid scarcity and desperation.



Participants in the study reported that deer antlers, once reserved for high-ranking officials, are now sold to the highest bidder. Smuggled antlers are processed into powders and pills, marketed as potent health supplements in China.



The trade in badger oil, used to treat ailments ranging from skin conditions to joint pain, is another thriving enterprise. Asian badgers, once common, have become targets of relentless hunting. 



One participant described how wildlife like badgers were captured, killed, and traded for their oil, the resulting product sold as a cure-all in local markets.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-north-korea-s-vanishing-wildlife">North Korea’s vanishing wildlife</h2>



In North Korea, the sable is a creature of myth and memory. Once abundant in the country’s forests, this small carnivore is now all but extinct. 



The study details how sable skins, once a common sight in markets, have become so rare that traders refer to them as “ghost pelts.” The report paints a grim picture of a species driven to the brink by relentless hunting.



Sables, valued for their luxurious fur, were trapped, skinned, and smuggled into China, where their pelts fetched exorbitant prices. The trade was so lucrative that some hunters risked their lives crossing frozen rivers to transport their illegal haul.



Amur tigers and leopards face a similar fate. Their skins, bones, and claws are traded as status symbols, used in traditional medicine or displayed as trophies. One defector recounted how a single tiger pelt could fetch a price that would feed a family for a year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-dark-side-of-wildlife-breeding">The dark side of wildlife breeding</h2>



Wildlife farms in North Korea are a paradox — legal yet inherently cruel. Bears are caged for bile extraction, otters are bred for their pelts, and deer are farmed for their antlers.



The study highlights how these state-run farms operate under a thin veneer of legality. While their stated purpose is to provide a sustainable source of animal products, in reality, they supply a black market that thrives on animal suffering.



Coypu, a non-native species introduced for its fur, now roams the countryside, an invasive consequence of escaped farm stock. Meanwhile, rabbits, raised under Kim Il Sung’s directives, are now a staple in state-run farms.



One defector described how children in schools were tasked with raising rabbits, their skins later collected by government officials. The meat, considered a “gift” from the state, was a rare protein source in a country where food is perpetually scarce.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildlife-trade-threatens-biodiversity">Wildlife trade threatens biodiversity</h2>



The consequences of North Korea’s wildlife trade extend beyond its borders. Amur tigers, rebounding in parts of China, risk being poached if they cross into North Korea. 



Deer populations, already decimated, may soon disappear entirely. Dr. Elves-Powell emphasized the need for regional cooperation.



“China can counter this threat by continuing to reduce domestic demand for illegal wildlife and putting diplomatic pressure on its economically dependent neighbour to disengage from state-sanctioned illegal wildlife trade,” he stated.



China’s role is pivotal. Despite being a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the country remains a major market for North Korean wildlife products. 



Strengthening border controls and enforcing stricter penalties for smugglers could significantly curb the flow of illicit goods.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildlife-trade-and-protection-laws">Wildlife trade and protection laws</h2>



The study concludes with urgent recommendations for North Korea and its neighbors. First, the researchers call for immediate enforcement of existing wildlife protection laws, targeting both state-run farms and private traders.



Second, they advocate for a total ban on bear bile farming, a practice that has been condemned by conservationists for decades. North Korea’s continued participation in this trade not only endangers its bear populations but also tarnishes its international reputation.



Third, the study recommends that China strengthen its efforts to curb demand for illegal wildlife products. Without a crackdown on black market networks, North Korea’s endangered species will continue to vanish, one animal at a time.



Finally, the report emphasizes the need for international pressure. Diplomatic efforts, coupled with targeted sanctions, could compel North Korea to curb its exploitation of wildlife. Yet, as long as economic desperation persists, the allure of quick profits from animal products may prove too strong to resist.



In a land where economic hardship, cultural tradition, and state control converge, North Korea’s wildlife is running out of time. The silent extinction continues, unnoticed, unchecked, and utterly devastating.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320725001399" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Biological Conservation</a>.



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North Korea's wildlife trade targets endangered animals

Illegal wildlife trade in North Korea is a shadowy yet thriving enterprise. Beneath the state’s stringent regulatory framework, a dark undercurrent flows - one where endangered species become mere commodities. This silent crisis has been investigated by experts at University College London (UCL). The research reveals the stark reality of a nation where economic desperation and government complicity intertwine to ravage biodiversity. The study is the first in-depth examination of North Korea’s wildlife trade. Researchers interviewed defectors, including former hunters, middlemen, and buyers, exposing a network of...

When I studied Biological Sciences in college, I picked the topic of cloning as an environmental prosthetic as my senior thesis.  In other words, I wrote a thesis about cloning an extinct animal to restore the ecological role of the animal in the greater environment.

Many people see cloning as a huge boon to environmentalism, especially conservation biology. Imagine being able to find the remains of Martha, the last passenger pigeon to die in captivity and make a living breathing copy.  There are the study skins of Carolina Parakeets waiting in museums for a bold scientist to breathe life into them.  But perhaps it would be like Frankenstein’s monster or Jurassic Park; perhaps the dead should remain dead and cloning the extinct is just hubris.  Perhaps geneticists shouldn’t play god.  

It’s an ethical problem with many sides.  Initially, the gut reaction of many well intentioned people is that cloning could right wrongs otherwise beyond our grasp to fix.  It is more complicated than just winding the clock back to clone an extinct plant or animal.

Imagine those passenger pigeons, imagine them as Audubon saw them, flying by the millions.  Passenger pigeons once blotted out the sky with feathered wings and dominated landscapes.  Imagine if we cloned ten passenger pigeons; would ten be enough pigeons to truly live as passenger pigeons?  Could we give room to a million or even ten thousand passenger pigeons?  We don’t even know everything a passenger pigeon learns from her parents.  Murres are birds that can’t live without their fathers.  A male Murre teaches his offspring to swim and hunt fish, without this exchange a Murre cannot live in the wild.

Now imagine a woolly mammoth; imagine snow falling, lighting on thick fur and piling up.  Imagine a trunk puffing steam into a cold arctic morning.  Where now would mammoths live?  There is a team in Japan currently working on cloning mammoths; in fact they claim they will clone a mammoth.  Will the mammoth be allowed to be wild?  Should a mammoth be allowed to be wild?  Will a mammoth cloned for our curiosity be anything more than a sideshow exhibit, an animal knowing nothing but bondage?  There are parks in central Asia that said they would welcome a mammoth but we know nothing of the impact this might have on plants and animals living there now.  The world has moved on since the time of the mammoth, we don’t know if grasses or animal densities have changed.  Could introducing a mammoth push another animal or plant into extinction?

What of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tasmanian-tigers-aboriginals-extinct/">Thylacine</a>?  The Tasmanian Tiger has scientists actively working to clone it.  Wouldn’t it be good to clone once the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial?  Humans absolutely pushed Thylacine over the edge into extinction.  Maybe we could undo a huge mistake.  Perhaps a cloned Thylacine would prove competition for the already embattled Tasmanian Devil.  Maybe the Thylacine would be a relic of the past kept in a zoo for tourists to gawk at.  Perhaps the genetic code of the clone Thylacine would be subtly different (it would be) and will mix with a hidden pocket of Thylacines hiding somewhere in Tasmania.  Maybe paradoxically, the clone could mean the end to the last of the Thylacines through hybridization.  

We have or will soon have the power to reduce extinction in some cases.  Considering the millions of dollars and decades of dedicated labor, it seems unlikely cloning will be entirely benevolent.  How many would be willing to risk millions of dollars invested by releasing an animal into the wild?  How many would be willing to pass up the opportunity to use an extinction clone as a tourism draw?  

In the end, do we really deserve to bring an animal back from the dead for our own amusement; to soothe our aching conscience?  Perhaps we would be better served trying our best to connect with the millions of other life forms around us right now and save as many as we can now.                 

-- 

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Cloning to reverse extinction: is it realistic or a false hope?

When I studied Biological Sciences in college, I picked the...

Over the last three decades, giraffe populations have dropped by 40 percent, and there are now only an estimated 98,000 giraffes remaining in the wild. Researchers from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> have found that one significant cause of this sharp decline is the fact that giraffes are living alongside their biggest predators in many protected regions.

Lions are the only predators which are a threat to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giraffes-long-necks/">giraffes</a> on an individual basis. Prior to this study, however, research has never been conducted to see how the presence of lions affects the overall giraffe population. 

Zoe Muller, a PhD student at Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, is the author of the study.

“It is thought that lions preferentially target giraffe calves in the wild, and there is anecdotal evidence of this, including observations of lions eating young giraffe carcasses and of lion claw marks on adult females (thought to be a result of them defending their calves),” said Muller.

Muller’s study was focused on giraffe populations at two adjacent sites - one which had a high density of lions and another which had no lions. Muller found that the presence of lions had a major impact on the giraffes. 

The region which contained no lions had a giraffe population which consisted of 34 percent juvenile individuals, yet the population of giraffes which lived alongside lions contained only six percent juvenile individuals.

Muller estimates that the number of calves can be reduced by as much as 82 percent when giraffes are exposed to lions in conservation areas.

“This research has significant practical implications,” said Muller. “Giraffes are a threatened species, suffering ongoing decline in the wild, and this research highlights how managing giraffes alongside lions inside a conservation area (a common practice in Africa) has detrimental effects for giraffe populations.”

“This research highlights the need for an urgent reassessment of how populations of giraffes are managed in the wild, given their Vulnerable Red List status and severe and ongoing decline.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS One</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: Zoe Muller, <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>

Giraffe populations declining, forced to live alongside predators

Over the last three decades, giraffe populations have dropped by...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-bonobos-mimic-different-ways/">Bonobos</a> are a highly endangered species of great ape and are one of humans’ two closest living relatives.

As a result, bonobos are often used in scientific studies because of their close relation to humans. Behavioral studies of bonobos and chimpanzees can offer insights into human evolution and how and when humans adapted certain traits.

A new study has now found that humans and bonobos differ in a very distinct way: the preference for helpers and hinderers in an otherwise peaceful and co-operative society. 

Humans show a preference for helpers from a very young age, and even infants are able to differentiate helpers from hinderers, preferring the former. It makes sense as helpers are important to co-operation which is a core part of human interaction. 

Bonobos however, although equally able to distinguish hinderers from helpers, prefer hinderers. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.duke.edu/">Duke University</a> led by Christopher Krupenye and Brian Hare were motivated to study bonobos because of a 2007 study that showed how humans prefer helpers. The researchers were curious if this was a trait developed early or later on in human evolution. 

The results of the study suggest that we grew to prefer helpers after our species diverged from  apes. 

The reason bonobos have an opposite preference could be related to the important role of dominance in their society. 

Hinderers, according to the researchers, may come across as more dominant which is why bonobos are drawn to hinderers rather than helpers. 

“Our experiments show that the issue is much more nuanced. Bonobos are highly socially tolerant in food settings and help and cooperate with food in ways that we don't see in chimpanzees. However, dominance still plays an important role in their lives,” said Krupenye. 

The study took place at<a href="http://www.lolayabonobo.org/"> Lola ya Bonobo</a>, a bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

The researchers conducted several experiment to test how bonobos interacted with helpers and hinderers.

For one experiment, the bonobos were shown pictures of two-dimensional animated shapes that helped or hindered each other. The shapes were then cut out and placed on a slice of apple. 

The researchers observed which apple piece the bonobos chose to reach for first. Another experiment allowed the bonobos to choose between interacting with a human that they had observed either helping or hindering. The bonobos showed a preference for the hinderer everytime. 

Cooperation is a fundamental part of human nature and the researchers say their findings show that it may be an exclusively human trait developed later in our evolution. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Christopher Krupenye

Bonobos offer insight into early human evolution

Bonobos are a highly endangered species of great ape and...

A recent investigation into the genomes of yellow warblers in North America has revealed that some subpopulations are more "genetically vulnerable" to the challenges of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-humidity/">climate change</a> than others. The researchers also found that genes linked to migratory and exploratory behavior will play an important role in how successfully birds can adapt to their changing environments. 

Extreme changes in temperature and precipitation are altering habitats and dramatically impacting Earth’s biological diversity. Rachael Bay and other researchers set out to examine the potential ability of some species to adapt to these drastic changes.

Yellow warblers were ideal for this particular study because they live in a variety of habitats in North America, ranging from forests to marshes. The team analyzed genetic data from 229 birds.

The research revealed that yellow warbler populations vary genetically in different landscapes. The team closely examined the association between the genetic makeup of each subpopulation and its environment, and then compared this data to predictions of how future genetic variation may allow for future adaptation to changing habitats. 

Precipitation was determined to have the strongest relationship with specific genomic traits. The experts pointed out that this finding may explain why subpopulations classified as having the “highest genomic vulnerability” are located from the Rocky Mountains to Alaska, a region that has experienced a significant amount of drought recently. 

The team also discovered that two genes associated with migration, DRD4 and DEAF1, provide protection against the effects of climate change. The study authors pointed out that the dopamine receptor DRD4 has been extensively studied for its involvement in exploratory behavior in primates, fish, and birds. 

The experts were not surprised to find that genetic vulnerability increases as climate change projections become more severe. The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Some birds have genes that can help them adapt to climate change

A recent investigation into the genomes of yellow warblers in...

When I volunteered in Equatorial Guinea for a sea turtle conservation project, I also volunteered to collect invertebrate specimens for researchers associated with the project.  

With an enthusiasm I now find shameful, I hunted down literally hundreds of gorgeous <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/western-monarch-butterflies-extinct/">butterflies</a>.  The insects caught in my net were delicately removed and killed with a quick squeeze to the thorax, as an entomology professor had taught me.  

Into jars of alcohol went invertebrates such as snails.  I packed everything.  Butterflies went into small glassine envelopes and the envelopes went with alcohol vial specimens into tin cans with plastic lids.  In the cans went old socks full of absorbent material to keep the whole dry.  Sometimes I’d lay the envelopes of butterflies out in the sun to dry for a while.  A tourist that visited our camp asked pointedly whether I was concerned about insect collections hurting the population.  I brushed the man off easily, citing insects quick reproduction and typically high population levels.  I also thought that the data garnered from the death of one insect more important to the survival of the species than the individual life.  

Likewise I helped collect cave dwelling invertebrates on expeditions in Colorado and Arizona.  I scrambled quickly, catching a potentially stinging centipede and popped him into a vial of alcohol.  I killed many such creatures in the name of science.  Cave populations are smaller and more fragile than the rainforest populations I terrorized in Africa.  

Since my personal heyday of collecting, I’ve thought long and hard about my actions and really questioned myself.  There aren’t a lot of answers come by easily.  A species collected in a remote tropical forest or obscure cave may very well be a species new to science, in fact it’s usually a hope of the broad spectrum collector.  If a species is new to science, it’s impossible to know the impact of a collection on the population or species as a whole.  With species as small as insects, numerous individuals and even populations may be killed indirectly from our actions every day.  The question lingers, how many species were wiped out by development without us even knowing?  

For many insects and other invertebrates, we have virtually no deep knowledge of species.  Most are nothing beyond a Latin name.  This means we don’t know anything about population numbers or how wide spread populations are.  We don’t know reproduction rates or mating behaviors for most ‘known’ insects.

The basis for collecting specimens is to root a species in the physical bedrock of a specimen collected.  In the past when illustrations were largely subjective and dependent on the skill of the scientist creating an illustration, this made sense.  Today when almost everyone carries an impressive digital camera in their pocket, this makes less sense.  Some scientists have argued that photographs, even photographs of insects, should be sufficient for scientific purposes.  

Another argument for making specimen collections is an argument rooted in conservation.  The argument goes that the documentation of biodiversity or even the beauty of life leads to protecting it.  Again photography seems to supply a ready answer. Indeed often are photographs of not just organisms but of landscapes and cultures serve the needs of preservation.  On the converse, if a government or organization isn’t acting in good faith, releasing a host of live animals to be observed may not serve a purpose, much less a museum specimen.  

There is ambivalent science on whether insects feel much in the way of pain.  Caterpillars have had their ‘feet’ mutilated and shown to walk ‘normally’.  All this really proves is that caterpillars don’t react in the same way we might.  Science like this justifies the Cartesian philosophy that animals are soulless machines acting without any emotion, thought or pain to their environment.  Anyone who’s played with a dog might find this notion suspect.  Likewise, anyone who’s dropped a Preying Mantis into an entomologist’s kill jar and watched the insect writhe while dying might find the notion the insect feels no pain unsettlingly cold and willfully ignorant.  I justified my own insect killing in numerous ways, telling myself data was more important than the individual life.  I told myself data could protect a species.  Meanwhile others collecting data in Equatorial Guinea watched helplessly as monkey populations plummeted year by year.  Perhaps what is needed is less data and more compassion; less specimens and more living individuals.                          

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Is specimen collection necessary for science and conservation?

When I volunteered in Equatorial Guinea for a sea turtle...

A team of geochemists at the <a href="http://berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a> have determined that the transition to complex life forms did not require high levels of oxygen. Simple, single-celled organisms evolved into more elaborate beings hundreds of millions of years before a steep rise in atmospheric oxygen occurred, according to the research.

“The oxygenation of the deep ocean and our interpretation of this as the result of a rise in atmospheric O2 was a pretty late event in the context of Earth history,” said study co-author Daniel Stolper. “This is significant because it provides new evidence that the origination of early animals, which required O2 for their metabolisms, may have gone on in a world with an atmosphere that had relatively low oxygen levels compared to today.”

The researchers found that the deep ocean became oxygenated between 540 and 420 million years ago, yet animals originated significantly earlier - between 700 and 800 million years ago.

Scientists believe that during the first two billion years of Earth's 4.5-billion-year history there was very little oxygen in the atmosphere of the ocean. When rocks on land started turning red around 2.5 billion years ago, this provided evidence that a significant amount of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-atmosphere-oxygen/">oxygen</a> was in the air, as the iron in the rocks reacted with oxygen to form iron oxides which changed their color.

Scientists estimate that this was the first time that atmospheric oxygen levels exceeded about one hundred thousandth of what they are today, but this amount was still too low to oxygenate the ocean.

For the current study, the experts wanted to identify the point in history when oxygen levels increased enough to oxygenate the deep ocean. They set out to examine the oxidation state of iron in igneous rocks formed by submarine volcanic eruptions, which produce  massive flows of basalt as the molten rock is ejected from ocean ridges.

After an eruption in an oxygenated ocean, seawater circulates through the rocks and oxidizes the iron in basalts. Before the deep oceans contained oxygen, however, there would have been little or no change in the oxidation state of iron in the basalts after underwater volcanic activity.

“Our idea was to study the history of the oxidation state of iron in these basalts and see if we could pinpoint when the iron began to show signs of oxidation and thus when the deep ocean first started to contain appreciable amounts of dissolved O2,” said Stolper.

The team analyzed over 1,000 published measurements of the oxidation state of iron from ancient submarine basalts. They found that the basaltic iron was first significantly oxidized between 540 and 420 million years ago, which is hundreds of millions of years after the evolution of complex life forms.

"This work indicates that an increase in atmospheric O2 to levels sufficient to oxygenate the deep ocean and create a world similar to that seen today was not necessary for the emergence of animals," said Stolper. "Additionally, the submarine basalt record provides a new, quantitative window into the geochemical state of the deep ocean hundreds of millions to billions of years ago."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nature">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Courtesy of the National Science Foundation

Early animals evolved without high levels of oxygen

A team of geochemists at the University of California, Berkeley...

Over three dozen eggs found buried in a sandpit at a primary school in Australia have caused quite a commotion. A flurry of sources reported on social media that the eggs belonged to one of the deadliest snakes on the planet, the eastern brown snake, and this mystery remains unsolved.

Wildlife rescuers from the group Fawna responded to the St. Joseph’s Catholic primary school in New South Wales after students discovered around 12 eggs in their sandpit. The rescuers ultimately found seven nests, containing a total of 43 eggs.

Rod Miller was one of the Fawna employees that collected the eggs. He told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/all">The Guardian Australia</a>, “I believed they were brown snake eggs due to the fact that they were seen in the area and that when I shone a light through the egg I saw a small striped baby snake.”

Fawna took to social media to address critics who were saying that the eggs could not be brown snake eggs.

“When we found the eggs we carefully checked the eggs over and found that they contained what appeared to be snake hatchlings,” said the volunteer wildlife team. “We were told was there were a couple of sightings of large brown snakes behind the area and all we could surmise is that they were brown snake eggs.”

Because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-snakes-atlantic-ocean/">snakes</a> do not dig to bury their nests, many people believe that the eggs belonged to water dragons.

The nests were relocated after they were removed from the school. Miller told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk">The Guardian</a> that upon their return to the nests, the rescuers found an unhatched egg which “looked like a small pink worm with a couple of eyes which I can only think was a snake as it had no limbs.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Photo Credit: Fawna

Eggs found at Australian school may belong to deadly snake

Over three dozen eggs found buried in a sandpit at...

After reevaluating a prehistoric fossil that was found on a Scottish Island almost 30 years ago, scientists are assembling a clearer picture of life during the Middle Jurassic Period. 

The 170 million-year-old jawbone, which appears to be that of a dog-like crocodile, was found within a rock at Duntulm Castle on the Isle of Skye. The fossil measured only around 3.5 centimeters in length. 

Experts captured high resolution x-ray images of the bone and derived that the ancient animal most likely resembled a scaly dog much more than it did a scaly alligator. The findings of the study suggest that the animal is from a family of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/take-look-brand-new-species-crocodile/">crocodiles</a> known as neosuchians.

Dr. Steve Brusatte is a vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a>. 

According to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">MailOnline</a>, Dr. Brusatte said, “Bits and pieces of fossil crocodiles have been found on Skye before, but this is one of the nicer fossils, because it is a nearly complete jawbone. It tells us that small, dog-sized crocodiles lived in the lagoons of ancient Skye, during the same time dinosaurs were living on land.”

Dr. Brusatte also explained the significance of the tiny jawbone. 


“One reason why the new fossil is so important is because it is one of the few crocodile fossils from the middle part of the Jurassic Period from anywhere in the world.”

The Isle of Skye is one of the only places in the world where remains from the Middle Jurassic Period can be found. 

MailOnline quoted Dr. Brusatte as saying, “Skye is a unique window into the Middle Jurassic, as it is one of the few places globally that preserves fossils from this time. There are not only crocs, but also many dinosaurs, mammals, lizards, amphibians, and fish fossils found on Skye, and we keep finding more and more every time we go back.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Deadline News

Tiny fossil provides rare evidence of Jurassic crocodiles

After reevaluating a prehistoric fossil that was found on a...

A new study has sequenced the expansive genome of a species of salamander and the results could someday allow humans to regenerate lost limbs, organs, and damaged brain tissue. 

Many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossilized-eggs-flying-reptiles/">reptiles</a> have regenerative capabilities, but the Iberian ribbed newt can regenerate limbs, organs, and even part of its brain, far surpassing the regrowth abilities of other salamanders and reptiles.

Until now there has been little known about the genome of salamanders and what it is about their DNA structure that gives them regenerative abilities. 

Researchers from<a href="http://ki.se/"> Karolinska Institutet </a>in Sweden successfully sequenced the genome of the Iberian Ribbed Newt. Salamander genomes are some of the largest genomes ever sampled, ranging from 14 to 120 gb. 

“It's only now that the technology is available to handle such a large genome,” said Professor Andras Simon from the Karolinska Institutet. “The sequencing per se doesn't take that long – it's recreating the genome from the sequences that's so time-consuming.” 

The Iberian ribbed newt genome contains around 20 billion DNA base pairs and is six times greater than the human genome. 

The researchers also identified a large number of copies of a microRNA group that is typically found in embryonic stem cells in mammals. 

The copies are likely what gives the newt it's impressive regenerative abilities as embryonic stem cells can transform into any other cell in the human body. 

The results could lay the groundwork for making tissue repair and limb regeneration a possibility for humans and vertebrates. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Salamander genome may hold the key to human limb regeneration

A new study has sequenced the expansive genome of a...

Flying overhead as my plane makes its way to the airport, Tasmania is a patchwork quilt in hues of green.  I’ve heard Tasmania called the ‘Ireland of the South’ and that seems to fit as far as it goes.  The Island, the smallest state of Australia is cool, wet and green.  There are enormous ferns growing into trees and Eucalypt trees vie with California redwoods for grandeur claiming the title of largest trees in the Southern hemisphere.  Rocky cliffs and lonely beaches edge the coast where the world’s smallest penguin, the Fairy or Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor) nest in burrows they dig or are supplied by hopeful bird enthusiasts.  Waiting on a beach one dark night, I startled a Blue Penguin, who nearly fell over himself scampering down from the hilltop where I watched back towards the ocean.  I felt terrible.  

I came to Tasmania on something of a whim.  I had found a Help Exchange host willing to put me up on his subsistence farm surrounded by forest near Derby for a month in exchange for work, mainly on the farm.  I rented a car and spent two weeks driving around the island, sleeping in the car (it was colder than I expected when I packed my tent), walking around towns, forest trails and along beaches.      

There is a deep stain of the past on the beauty of present day Tasmania.  The island was taken as a penal colony by the British.  Tasmania was also a place where prisoners already shipped to Australia were sent if they were repeat offenders, a sort of end of the line.  In Port Arthur, a historical penal colony the stories’ of some of these prisoners is still told.  One prisoner was Samuel Holmes, a boy of 14, convicted of larceny.    

While staying at the subsistence farm, Peter, the man who I was exchanging my labor to for room and board, took me to visit a friend of his.  He was a tall man with white hair and a friendly, calm personality, inviting me into his house graciously.  The man lived in one room of his family estate, a rambling old building all walled off except for his small chamber with a fireplace apparently for warmth and for cooking.  He was the last heir to the estate, with no daughters or sons to inherit it from him and its end seemed to be one of slow decay around a solitary room with a solitary occupant.  There was a small farm or garden, there were vegetables and there were chickens.  There was a hill behind the house I climbed to find the delicate, crushed rings of a broken crinoid (sea lily) stem weathering out of the limestone.  

All around the man’s property he had set up cameras triggered by motion detectors that should photograph any animal moving in proximity.  There is a standing reward for a photograph of a living Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and this man was determined to catch the famed marsupial on film.  Officially the Thylacine is extinct.  The last known individual died in a zoo in Hobart of exposure.

While reading about Tasmania, I encountered many previously unknown facts.  I’d never thought much of the island state and I was excited to learn about caves with glow worms (some of which I visited).  I giggled to myself in true Colorado hubris over Tasmanian ‘mountains’ which may get snow in the winter.  I learned that native Tasmanians were annihilated by British colonists and the government.  

Then I learned that there are living people who claim ancestry of native Tasmanians.  In the days when the Australian government was bent on eradicating completely Tasmanian natives from the face of the Earth, whalers sometimes kidnapped Tasmanian women to make them concubines or sex slaves.  Sometimes the Tasmanian women had children.  Needless to say the children of such unions were cared for more by their mothers, inherited more culture from their mothers; these children were indeed Tasmanian natives. 

In official history after a prolonged campaign of genocide followed by benign neglect of natives as wards of the state, the last ‘full blooded’ Tasmanian died.  The official last Tasmanian was a man mocked as ‘King Billy of the Tasmanians’ during his life.  In death ‘King Billy’ was carved up by competing scientists, one of which made a snuff bag from his skin.  Another woman had her skeleton on display in a Tasmanian museum for decades, against her will while she was alive.  Anthropology in Tasmania’s early days seemed a way to justify racial hatred rather than anything resembling true science.

Peter and I discussed the remote possibility that Tasmanian Tigers still lived in the wilder parts of Tasmania.  I expressed extreme doubt, but Peter was a little more hopeful but in a rather cynical way.  Peter wondered whether it was in the government’s best interest, especially in the interest of the forestry department, to suppress or ignore Thylacine sightings.  It was a question I wasn’t so sure about.  I was well indoctrinated into standard conservation in the U.S. and much of that seemed similar to Tasmania.  National parks existed in the US and Tasmania; forestry was practiced in both places.  Surely a government organization existing to protect and manage wildlife wouldn’t be driving a species to extinction with knowing neglect?  Peter pressed the issue; more money was to be made through logging, mining and other activities than through protecting a Thylacine.  Peter had a point.  

Historically the government of Britain, Australia and Tasmania was as vehemently anti-thylacine as the US government has been anti-wolf, anti-coyote and anti-bear.  Just as an official and recent policy of equality doesn’t wipe out a history of slavery, discrimination, violence and genocide, so to a recent (and rather ambivalent in the US) policy of not driving predators to extinction doesn’t wipe out the past.  

There was a bounty on Tasmanian Tigers encouraging the destruction of the species.  The government didn’t embrace Thylacine conservation until only one known individual was left alive, in a zoo in Hobart.  The last known Tasmanian Tiger died in captivity when the door mechanism on his enclosure failed to let him shelter inside on an especially cold night.  You can find <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBpyAOpzlEE">YouTube footage</a> of this last Thylacine, short but haunting, an animal in a cage with an almost unnaturally large gape.    

Strangely, as hard as it is to find the truth that there are still living Tasmanian Aborigines, it seems hard for everyone to admit the extinction of the Thylacine.  There are projects moving towards the possibility of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tasmanian-tiger-extinction/">cloning</a> Tasmanian Tigers.  There are also a lot of Thylacine sightings, even by rather reliable observers such as National Park employees and experienced outdoors persons.  As late as this past year, there was a sighting in mainland Australia of an animal which could be a Tasmanian Tiger.  Technically Thylacines did once live on mainland Australia, before Europeans arrived, there’s a petroglyph of the animal on the mainland.  

There is real hope that Thylacines live, but it says something rather dark that we as westerners embrace the idea of reviving Tasmanian Tigers and rather ambivalent about revival of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture.  Either way, there are plenty of political motivations for declaring Tasmanian Natives or the Thylacine extinct.       

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Tasmanian Tigers and Aboriginals: Which is extinct?

Flying overhead as my plane makes its way to the...

Residents living near two national parks in Panama support jaguar conservation, but they’re a little shaky on how they can help, according to a new survey.

The survey measured the attitudes of residents living near the Cerro Hoya and Darién National Parks in Panama. Survey participants were generally worried about the futures of both parks, and residents near Darién didn’t feel the park – Panama’s largest – is adequately protected.

But the survey also found that residents’ feelings about the jaguars that make their homes in both parks were more positive among educated respondents and land owners.

"Attitudes of stakeholder groups are especially important to consider, as they can significantly affect policy, thus making the foundations of carnivore management as social and political as they are scientific," the study found.

The survey team, made up of Ricardo Moreno and Ninon Meyer of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yaguarapty/">Fundación Yaguará Panama</a> and Clayton Neilsen, Jessica Fort, and Andrew Carver from <a href="http://siu.edu/">Southern Illinois University</a>, interviewed 139 people living in nearly 30 rural communities around the two parks.

The team surveyed residents over 18 who demonstrated the ability to identify jaguars and other large cats that lived in the parks. They focused on cattle ranchers and landowners who might be most affected by the wild cats. Due to the parameters of their survey, the participants skewed male.

They found that the residents were interested in preserving the parks and jaguar conservation, but that they were also in favor of policies that would harm the jaguar populations in both parks.

For example, from 1989 to 2014, around 230 jaguars are estimated to have been killed by humans in Panama. More than 95 percent of those kills were in retaliation for attacks on cattle and other livestock, the research team said.

Residents near the parks also favored building more roads through the wild lands, but those roads could split up jaguar populations, encourage poaching and illegal mining, and lead to other activities that could harm the big cats, the researchers said.

"According to our study, there is more human-jaguar conflict in Darién National Park, probably because communities are near larger tracts of unbroken forest, which is much better jaguar habitat," Moreno said. "Ironically, the respondents' ideas about roads into the parks are likely to increase this conflict and make effective park management significantly more challenging."

Other general findings of the survey:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">More women than men said they’d prefer to see the jaguars gone from the parks.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">About a third of survey participants near Cerro Hoya National Park admitted to hunting within the park in the past year, though their prey was the collared peccary, not jaguars.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Seven participants reported being affected by jaguars preying on domestic livestock.</li>
</ul>
The researchers found, however, that some of the survey participants were open to exploring methods for protecting their livestock that wouldn’t harm the local jaguar population. Improved community outreach and education about jaguar conservation could give residents more positive attitudes toward their feline neighbors, the researchers said.

The study has been published in the conservation journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/factors-influencing-local-attitudes-and-perceptions-regarding-jaguars-panthera-onca-and-national-park-conservation-in-panama/50B40CA76D388808E50C780CBA3A762D">Oryx</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: Ricardo Moreno, <a href="http://www.stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a>

Jaguar conservation requires the right attitude

Residents living near two national parks in Panama support jaguar...

A rare find off the coast Taiwan in the Southern Taiwan Strait is gaining worldwide interest. A Pacific spadenose shark measuring just a little over 1.5 feet and weighing only 12 ounces was caught up in a fishing trawl in January 2017.

When the shark was taken to Xiamen, China and examined by scientists from<a href="http://en.xmu.edu.cn/"> Xiamen University</a>, it was discovered that the shark had both male and female reproductive organs and the genitals were fully formed.

It is one of the rarest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-shaped-airplanes-zeppelins/">shark</a> discoveries to date, as intersexuality in sharks is possible but rare, though the organs are usually only partially formed. 

Several species of fish are able to switch genders, but sharks develop their reproductive organs before birth. 

However, some sharks have been observed giving birth asexually, and perhaps intersexuality played a role in those instances. 

“They can give birth without mating—like virgin birth,” said Dr. Chris Lowe, a scientist from <a href="http://www.calstatela.edu/">California State University</a> in an interview with<a href="https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/rare-intersex-shark-the-first-of-its-kind/"> Haikai Magazine</a>. “The question is: why? We just don’t know enough about shark biology to be able to answer those questions.”

According to Lowe, intersexuality may result in a shark giving birth to a clone of itself, explaining the “virgin birth” phenomenon. 

The likely cause of the unique intersexuality of the shark is genetic. 

There are concerns that contaminated and polluted waters are causing malformations and irregularities in marine wildlife but although rarely spotted, intersexuality is naturally possible in certain species. 

The find is certainly a boon to marine scientists and shark experts looking to understand how certain species develop dual reproductive organs and what underlying genetic and outside factors are at work to cause the rare condition.

[caption id="attachment_989961" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/shark-found.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-989961" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/shark-found-300x185.png" alt="" width="300" height="185" /></a> Image Credit: Wikimedia[/caption]

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Shark found with both male and female reproductive organs

A rare find off the coast Taiwan in the Southern...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



---



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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