Clownfish, with their vivid stripes and playful movements, have captured attention far beyond coral reefs. From animated films to marine biology textbooks, they are often introduced as loyal companions of sea anemones. These relationships, once thought to be the key driver of clownfish diversity, have shaped decades of scientific thinking.



However, a new international study presents a surprising twist. Researchers from institutions across the globe discovered that the bond between clownfish and anemones does not entirely explain their evolutionary <a href="https://www.uliege.be/cms/c_8750816/en/uliege">path</a>. 



Through a blend of fieldwork, advanced laboratory experiments, and high-resolution modelling, the team uncovered new dimensions of clownfish survival. This research adds complexity to how we understand ecological roles, adaptation, and biodiversity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-than-just-anemone-partners">More than just anemone partners</h2>



Traditionally, scientists believed clownfish <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clownfish-count-stripes-on-other-fish-to-defend-their-territory/">diversity</a> came from their relationships with specific sea anemones. These partnerships protect clownfish from predators using the anemones’ stinging tentacles.



Study lead author Manon Mercader is a postdoctoral marine conservation ecologist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (<a href="https://www.oist.jp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OIST</a>, Japan).



"Until now, it was thought that the adaptive radiation (or ecological diversification) of these fish was mainly dictated by the fact that they live in association with certain species of anemones," explained Mercader. "But the study we conducted shows that the reality is more nuanced."



Mercader and her team studied 14 clownfish species. They discovered eco-morphotypes: distinct profiles combining body form and behavior. These morphotypes did not always match the fish’s choice of anemone.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clownfish-evolution-shows-habit-changes">Clownfish evolution shows habit changes</h2>



Larger clownfish with stronger muscles swam efficiently and often ventured far from their anemones. Smaller fish with leaner builds and higher energy needs stayed close to their host. This behavior suggests more than just dependence on anemones.



"This result overturns the classic model that contrasts 'specialists,' clownfish that live in only one or two anemones, with 'generalists,' those that can associate with up to ten anemones," noted Bruno Frédérich, co-author of the study and researcher at the <a href="https://www.uliege.be/cms/c_8750816/en/uliege" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Liège</a>.



"Our analyses show that swimming ability and exploratory behavior are not related to the number of anemones a species can occupy. Diversification has also occurred along another axis: dependence on the microhabitat, i.e. on the anemone itself."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-muscle-motion-and-evolution">Muscle, motion, and evolution</h2>



The team used a range of tools to gather their data. These included wild behavior observations, swimming tests, oxygen consumption measurements, and 3D muscle scans.



"Thanks to this integrative approach, two main morphotypes can be distinguished: the 'adventurous,' which are good swimmers capable of covering long distances at low energy cost; and the 'sedentary,' which need more energy to swim and stay confined to the anemone," explained Mercader.



"A third intermediate type, represented in particular by the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clownfish-use-a-trick-to-live-safely-among-stinging-anemones/">species</a> Amphiprion frenatus, may also exist."



By building an evolutionary tree, the team found these traits evolved multiple times. This independent evolution is called convergence. Similar traits appeared in unrelated lineages, shaped by similar environmental pressures.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ecological-implications-of-the-study">Ecological implications of the study</h2>



Clownfish now join Darwin’s finches and African cichlids as models for adaptive radiation. They show how different ecological strategies can emerge without changing habitats or partners.



"This discovery also has ecological implications," said Frédérich. "The ability or inability to move away from the anemone could influence diet, social dynamics or interactions with the host." 



"It could also play a role in cohabitation between species, a common phenomenon among clownfish."



These findings matter for ecology and conservation. They also deepen our understanding of how species adapt in complex environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-story-of-clownfish-evolution">The story of clownfish evolution </h2>



The study highlights how body shape, movement, and behavior influence evolution. It shows that clownfish adapted not just by choosing different hosts, but by living different lifestyles.



In 2018, the same research group explored clownfish color pattern evolution. Now, with this new study, Amphiprion clownfish gain importance as research models linking form, function, and environment. 



Their story reminds us that nature rarely works in simple categories. Instead, it moves in fascinating, dynamic patterns shaped by time, behavior, and ecological pressure.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(25)00801-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a>.



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Clownfish evolution mystery solved by surprising swimming behavior

Clownfish, with their vivid stripes and playful movements, have captured attention far beyond coral reefs. From animated films to marine biology textbooks, they are often introduced as loyal companions of sea anemones. These relationships, once thought to be the key driver of clownfish diversity, have shaped decades of scientific thinking. However, a new international study presents a surprising twist. Researchers from institutions across the globe discovered that the bond between clownfish and anemones does not entirely explain their evolutionary path. Through a blend of fieldwork, advanced laboratory...

A fossil found on Vancouver Island in 1988 looked like a typical long‑necked marine reptile, yet every expert who studied Traskasaura sandrae left with new questions. 



Scientists have now confirmed that the 39‑foot creature, which lived about 85 million years ago, represents an entirely new species with a hunting style never before documented in its family.



“It has a very odd mix of primitive and derived traits,” said <a href="https://www.marshall.edu/cohp/profile/f-robin-okeefe-phd/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor F. Robin O’Keefe</a> of <a href="https://www.marshall.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marshall University</a>, whose group named the predator Traskasaura sandrae. He led the team that solved the puzzle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digging-up-traskasaura-sandrae">Digging up Traskasaura sandrae</h2>



The first bones came from the <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article-abstract/52/3/975/97637/The-Haslam-Formation-a-late-Santonian-early?redirectedFrom=PDF" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Haslam Formation</a>, a shale layer laid down when shallow seas covered what is now British Columbia. 



Community volunteers spent three summers freeing the skeleton, which included more than fifty tightly linked neck vertebrae.



Additional material surfaced during highway construction and a separate riverbank dig, bringing the total to three individuals. 



Together they revealed a full neck, torso, limbs, and the crushing teeth that tipped researchers off to an unusual feeding strategy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-neck-was-built-for-ambush">Neck was built for ambush</h2>



Most <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Elasmosaurus/390035" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">elasmosaurs</a> relied on sideways sweeps to grab fish, but the team noticed that the neck joints of Traskasaura sandrae allow smooth downward flexion. 



That range, paired with robust shoulder muscles, supports the idea that the reptile hovered above prey before plunging like a heron.



Each cervical rib points slightly forward, a feature seen only in a handful of southern-hemisphere relatives. The forward slant stiffened the neck during a rapid dive, preventing whiplash while the head shot toward a target below.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clues-in-the-shoulders-and-teeth">Clues in the shoulders and teeth</h2>



The <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Dinosaur+Paleobiology-p-9780470656587" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glenoid cavity</a>, where the humerus meets the body, faces partly downward instead of purely sideways. That tilt aimed the paddles to push water straight back and down, giving the animal a quick vertical burst.



“Its teeth were ideal for crushing,” explained O’Keefe. One preserved crown still holds fragments of broken shell. 



Heavy conical teeth, round in cross‑section and ringed by deep grooves, suggest a diet of shelled <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-an-ammonite.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ammonites</a> common in the same rocks. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-life-in-the-late-cretaceous-pacific">Life in the late Cretaceous pacific</h2>



During the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-cretaceous-period.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Late Cretaceous</a>, Vancouver Island sat around the latitude of present‑day Oregon, edged by warm fore‑arc basins teeming with mollusks and early sharks. 



Ammonite fossils from the Pachydiscus group dominate these beds, matching the menu implied by the reptile’s dentition.



The sea also hosted sleek mosasaurs and blade‑toothed birds, yet Traskasaura filled a separate niche: the slow‑motion stalker that attacked from above. 



Its 12‑foot paddles produced short bursts rather than long chases, conserving energy in nutrient‑rich but cooler northern waters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rewriting-the-plesiosaur-family-tree">Rewriting the plesiosaur family tree</h2>



Although classified as a plesiosaur, the newcomer sits near the base of the elasmosaur branch. The phylogenetic work by O’Keefe and colleagues shows it split early from southern cousins such as <a href="https://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/aristonectes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aristonectes</a> yet later evolved similar shoulder joints, an example of convergent evolution.



That finding warns against sorting species by one standout trait. Neck length alone once grouped nearly every long‑necked reptile together, but limb and girdle details tell a more nuanced story about how different lineages hunted and swam.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-traskasaura-sandrae-anatomy">Traskasaura sandrae anatomy</h2>



The first fossil puzzled paleontologists because it blended features usually found in different branches of the plesiosaur family. 



Its skull and teeth matched primitive species, but its shoulders and forelimbs looked like more specialized animals from the southern hemisphere.



Researchers initially hesitated to call it a new species because many of the bones were fragmented or eroded. It wasn’t until a second, better-preserved skeleton was uncovered that scientists could confidently identify the creature’s unique traits and confirm its identity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-find-means-today">What the find means today</h2>



The <a href="https://www.courtenay.ca/EN/main/community/arts-and-culture/courtenay-district-museum.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Courtenay and District Museum</a> now displays the best skeleton, giving British Columbia a provincial fossil with unmistakable local flavor. 



School groups can stand beside vertebrae longer than their hands and imagine a reptile that prowled the same coastal waters where orcas swim.



“Our new research finally solves this mystery,” added O’Keefe. 



Beyond regional pride, the study highlights how community collectors, careful curation, and modern scans can unlock decades‑old mysteries. The creature’s hybrid anatomy will keep fueling debates about function and evolution for years. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-traskasaura-sandrae-got-its-name">How Traskasaura sandrae got its name</h2>



The genus name Traskasaura honors <a href="https://my.northcoastchurch.com/FindAGroup/316626" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michael and Heather Trask</a>, the father-daughter team who found the original fossil along the Puntledge River in 1988. The name combines their surname with the Greek word sauros, meaning lizard.



The species name sandrae was chosen in memory of <a href="https://www.bcrf.org/blog/sandra-lee-being-breast-cancer-survivor-activist-and-advocate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sandra Lee O’Keefe</a>, a Pacific Northwest native and advocate for breast cancer awareness. 



This tribute mirrors the legacy of <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Elizabeth_Nicholls" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elizabeth Nicholls</a>, a paleontologist who helped identify the fossils in 2002.



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772019.2025.2489938" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Systematic Palaeontology</a>.



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Very rare and predatory marine reptile identified as a completely new species

A fossil found on Vancouver Island in 1988 looked like...

Evolution often follows curious paths, especially when it comes to food. Over the past 100 million years, mammals have explored an incredible range of diets. 



Some mammals graze on grass, others hunt prey, and a few even sip tree sap or dive for krill. But one of the strangest dietary turns comes from species that eat and depend deeply on ants and termites.



This peculiar choice may seem limiting, even risky. Yet, it has driven major transformations in anatomy, behavior and even survival <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-ground-dwellers-survived-the-asteroid-impact-that-killed-the-dinosaurs/">strategies</a>. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dietary-changes-for-mammals">Dietary changes for mammals</h2>



According to new research, mammals evolved ant and termite-only diets at least 12 separate times over 66 million years.



This shift, called myrmecophagy, followed the dinosaur extinction. It allowed ants and termites to thrive and opened a new food niche for mammals.



“There’s not been an investigation into how this dramatic diet evolved across all known mammal species until now,” said Phillip Barden of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (<a href="https://www.njit.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NJIT</a>).



“This work gives us the first real roadmap, and what really stands out is just how powerful a selective force ants and termites have been over the last 50 million years - shaping environments and literally changing the face of entire species.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-mammals-adapted-to-eat-ants">How mammals adapted to eat ants</h2>



Over 200 mammal species consume ants or termites occasionally. But just 20, like pangolins and anteaters, rely on them completely. 



These true myrmecophages evolved long, sticky tongues and powerful claws. Many even lost their teeth.



To track this trend, the researchers collected diet records from 4,099 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-mammals-have-evolved-over-66-million-years/">species</a>. These came from nearly 100 years of scientific papers, field notes and conservation reports.



“Compiling dietary data for nearly every living mammal was daunting, but it really illuminates the sheer diversity of diets and ecologies in the mammalian world,” said Thomas Vida from the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bonn</a>. 



Small ant-eaters need to eat huge numbers to survive. Numbats eat around 20,000 termites daily. Aardwolves can eat over 300,000 ants in one night.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-anteaters-the-basics">Understanding anteaters - the basics</h2>



Anteaters belong to the suborder Vermilingua, which literally means “worm tongue” - an apt name, since their tongues can extend up to two feet and flick in and out of their mouths up to 160 times per minute. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-anteater-day-a-tribute-to-natures-unique-foragers/">Modern-day anteaters</a> don’t have teeth, so they rely on their sticky tongues and powerful stomachs to digest the thousands of ants and termites they consume daily. 



Their long, tubular snouts house an excellent sense of smell, which is key to locating insect nests in the wild.



Despite their name, anteaters don’t just eat ants. They also snack on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/termites-play-an-unexpected-role-in-rainforest-revival/">termites</a>, and they’re careful not to destroy an entire colony - they’ll feed for just a minute or two before moving on, ensuring the nest can recover for future visits. 



Giant anteaters, like the one pictured in this article, can grow over 7 feet long from nose to tail. These solitary animals roam grasslands and rainforests across Central and South America. 



With their shaggy coats and slow, deliberate movements, they might seem awkward - but they’re incredibly strong, especially in their forelimbs, which they use to rip open tough termite mounds or defend themselves from predators.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-rise-of-ants-and-termites">The rise of ants and termites </h2>



The team grouped <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-fossil-big-discovery-student-uncovers-a-lost-mammal-species/">species</a> by diet. From ant-only eaters to generalists. Then they mapped these onto a mammal family tree and ran evolutionary models.



The experts found at least 12 independent shifts to strict myrmecophagy. These happened in marsupials, monotremes and placental mammals. But not evenly. Some groups showed more change than others.



The researchers also looked back 145 million years to study the rise of ant and termite colonies. During the Cretaceous, ants and termites were rare. By the Miocene, 23 million years ago, they made up over a third of insect populations.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/anteater_mammal-phylogeny_evolution_NIJT_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/anteater_mammal-phylogeny_evolution_NIJT_1s.webp" alt="A mammal phylogeny with colors depicting the diet of living species and their ancestors; silhouettes of myrmecophagous mammals surround the tree. An inset diagram in the upper right illustrates transitions between dietary states. Credit: Vida, Calamari, &amp; Barden/NJIT" class="wp-image-1978347"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A mammal phylogeny with colors depicting the diet of living species and their ancestors; silhouettes of myrmecophagous mammals surround the tree. An inset diagram in the upper right illustrates transitions between dietary states. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Vida, Calamari, &amp; Barden/NJIT</figcaption></figure>



“It’s not clear exactly why ants and termites both took off around the same time. Some work has implicated the rise of flowering plants, along with some of the planet’s warmest temperatures during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum about 55 million years ago,” said Barden. 



“What is clear is that their sheer biomass set off a cascade of evolutionary responses across plants and animals.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-eating-mammals-rarely-change-diets">Ant-eating mammals rarely change diets</h2>



Myrmecophagy arose more often from insect-eating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-tried-different-ways-to-move-before-walking-upright/">ancestors</a> than from carnivores. But surprisingly, carnivores like dogs and bears made the switch several times too.



“That was a surprise,” Barden said. “Making the leap from eating other vertebrates to consuming thousands of tiny insects daily is a major shift.”



Once a mammal becomes a myrmecophage, it rarely reverts. Only one genus, Macroscelides, the elephant shrews, ever switched back to a broader diet after specializing.



Eight of the twelve times mammals evolved to eat only ants or termites, just one species survived each time. 



This limited survival suggests that highly specialized creatures, while successful in their niche, may face a greater risk of extinction due to changing environments, food scarcity, or habitat disruption over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ant-eaters-survive-as-insects-spread">Ant-eaters survive as insects spread</h2>



“In some ways, specializing on ants and termites paints a species into a corner,” Barden said. But for now, these specialists thrive.



Ants and termites now outweigh all wild mammals combined. Climate change favors species with massive colonies. 



This shift may help ant- and termite-eating mammals, known as myrmecophages, survive and thrive. Their specialized diet could become a surprising advantage in a world increasingly ruled by social insects.



“If you can’t beat them, eat them,” Barden said. That idea, repeated across millions of years, has changed the face of mammals again and again.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/evolut/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/evolut/qpaf121/8155241?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolution</a>.



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Mammals have evolved to eat ants and termites 12 different times since the dinosaurs

Evolution often follows curious paths, especially when it comes to...

A new study shows how everyday waste - like ropes and plastic bags - is silently killing baby birds, not just in the oceans, but on land too.



Researchers spent four years tracking white storks in southern Portugal. What they found was brutal: plastic-filled nests, chicks caught in rope, and many young birds that didn’t survive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bird-nests-built-with-trash">Bird nests built with trash</h2>



The research was led by scientists at the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/">University of East Anglia</a>, along with teams from the University of Montpellier and the University of Lisbon. 



The team focused on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/white-storks-and-humans-have-a-long-intertwined-history/">white storks</a> - large, land-dwelling birds that often build their nests near people. And those nests? They were filled with trash.



The researchers inspected 568 nests from 32 colonies in Portugal’s Alentejo and Algarve regions. Of those nests, 91 percent contained human-made debris - mostly plastic. 



Soft plastic like shopping bags was found in 65 percent of nests. But the bigger danger was rope. Nearly half the nests had it, and it was the top cause of fatal entanglement.



In one especially detailed year of the study, scientists visited 93 nests weekly. They found that 12 percent of the chicks became tangled in debris - many fatally.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chicks-caught-in-cords">Chicks caught in cords</h2>



Most of the ropes came from agriculture - specifically, baler twine made of polypropylene. 



This tough plastic rope is used to bind hay bales, but it doesn’t break down easily. Once it ends up in the environment, birds collect it for their nests. The consequences are often deadly.



In 63 percent of cases, entanglements were caused by ropes. Some nests contained as many as 22 separate ropes. Baler wrap, another plastic material used in farming, showed up in 13 percent of nests and entangled six nestlings.



White stork chicks in nests with more rope were more likely to get stuck. And once entangled, their chances of survival dropped dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-plastic-nest-problem">The plastic nest problem</h2>



“This is a serious issue,” said Professor Aldina Franco of the University of East Anglia. “These chicks get entangled in synthetic ropes when they are very young and the ropes slowly strangle their limbs as they grow - mostly legs and feet - leading to necrosis and amputations, they suffer a horrible death.”



It’s not just happening in Portugal. According to Franco, birds across Europe are weaving plastic waste into their nests. 



In Ukraine, soldiers have reported nests containing drone wiring. In the UK, small birds like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/goldfinches-are-moving-to-new-homes-in-unusual-places/">goldfinches</a> and wrens are building nests with colored plastic threads.



“We show that the impact of plastic in the nests can be underestimated, because the negative effects of the ropes and other human-produced materials tend to happen in the early life of the chicks, at an average age of two weeks, and the deaths can go unnoticed," said Professor Franco. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-storks-signal-wider-threat">Storks signal wider threat</h2>



White storks are what scientists call an “indicator species” - meaning they can signal a wider environmental problem. If this many of them are getting trapped in plastic, other birds likely are too.



“This study suggests that the threat posed by human-derived materials to terrestrial birds may be far more severe than previously recognized,” said lead author Ursula Heinze of the University of East Anglia.



“Our findings offer new insights into the extent of nestling deaths caused by entanglement, and highlights the urgent need to remove and replace hazardous materials such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hotspots-of-microplastic-pollution-found-in-the-north-sea/">polypropylene</a> baler twine from both agricultural use and the environment, given its harmful impacts on nestlings.”



While past research has looked at the presence of plastic in nests, this study went a step further. It tracked chicks from hatching to fledging, allowing scientists to see exactly when the entanglements occurred.



“Our main goal has been to identify the nesting materials that may pose significant risks to terrestrial bird species and pinpoint their origins, in order to develop effective strategies to mitigate these risks to wildlife,” noted Professor Franco.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mistaking-trash-for-twigs">Mistaking trash for twigs</h2>



Why do birds use plastic in the first place? According to Dr. Inês Catry from the University of Lisbon, white storks are known to incorporate discarded human-made materials into their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tangled-twigs-the-secrets-of-sturdy-bird-nests/">nests</a>, frequently nest near or within human settlements and often forage on organic waste at landfill sites.



“The reasons for using these materials in nest-building are not fully understood but may relate to their availability and the scarcity of natural ones, while some might also be mistaken for food, being inadvertently incorporated in the nests," said Dr. Catry.



“This study highlights that plastic pollution in terrestrial environments needs to be addressed and solutions to replace or safely discard of hazardous materials are urgently needed.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-land-birds-face-plastic-threat">Land birds face plastic threat</h2>



The study’s message is clear: plastic pollution isn’t just a marine problem. It’s affecting life on land in painful, visible ways. And even common farming tools like baler twine are part of the problem.



If these findings are ignored, more birds will suffer. However, if people and industries take responsibility - by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/surprise-study-some-scientists-call-for-halting-ocean-plastic-cleanup-efforts/">cleaning up</a>, switching materials, and being more aware - there’s a chance to stop these deaths before they happen. 



The full study was published in the journal Ecological Indicators.



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Birds are building nests with plastic, and the consequences are deadly

A new study shows how everyday waste - like ropes...

As wild chimpanzees grow older, they tend to back away from complex tool-use activities. When they do engage, they become less efficient - paralleling many of the changes seen in aging humans.



This is the central finding of a new study based on an extraordinary 17-year record of wild chimpanzee behavior in Guinea’s Bossou Forest.



Researchers discovered that aging chimpanzees were not only less likely to participate in nut-cracking sessions using stone tools, but those who did often worked more slowly and less effectively than in their youth.



Some individuals appeared to struggle considerably with the task, while others retained strong abilities into their later years. The data suggest that, just like humans, chimpanzees vary widely in how age impacts their technical skills.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-aging-chimpanzees-slow-down">Aging chimpanzees slow down</h2>



Scientists know much less about how growing older affects wild animals than they do about human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lemurs-reveal-surprising-new-clues-about-healthy-aging/">aging</a>, which is well studied. This is especially true when it comes to physically and cognitively demanding behaviors.



Elliot Howard-Spink, a postdoctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a>, is the study's lead author.



“<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-pass-tool-use-skills-across-generations/">Tool use</a> is uncommon among animals, possibly because it requires a suite of physical and cognitive abilities, such as planning, fine motor coordination, understanding causal relationships, and identifying physical properties of objects,” he said.



“Given many of these faculties can be impacted by aging, wild animals’ tool-use behaviors could be vulnerable to decline with old age.”



The team analyzed behavior records from Bossou, where chimpanzees use stones to crack oil palm nuts. The technique involves selecting appropriate hammer and anvil stones and executing coordinated, targeted strikes.



Over the 17-year study period, the researchers focused on five adult chimpanzees - four females and one male - who aged from around 40 to 60 years old during the observation window.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-less-interest-lower-efficiency"><a></a>Less interest, lower efficiency</h2>



What they saw was a steady decline in nut-cracking activity among the older individuals. Unlike younger adults, older chimpanzees showed a major decline in their attendance at the outdoor laboratory over successive field seasons.



This reduction suggested a gradual disengagement from the demanding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fish-foraging-behavior-changing-climate-warming-waters/">foraging behavior</a>. Even when older chimpanzees did show up, some spent noticeably less time interacting with the tools and nuts - further evidence of an age-related withdrawal.



The team also documented changes in performance. Some older chimpanzees took longer to select appropriate tools, switched stones more frequently, or required more attempts to open each nut.



The inefficiencies accumulated: it took more time and more strikes for the older apes to get the job done. But the degree of decline was not universal.



The scientists found stark differences in the magnitude of changes across individuals. Some chimpanzees maintained relatively steady skill levels into old age, while others showed marked decline.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-one-elder-stands-out">One elder stands out</h2>



Susana Carvalho, a group leader at the <a href="https://www.cibio.up.pt/en/about/">Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources</a> (CIBIO) in Portugal recalled a particularly vivid example from a chimpanzee named Yo. 



“We first spotted an elderly female (Yo) seemingly experiencing difficulties during <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/just-one-handful-of-pecan-nuts-each-day-can-lower-cholesterol-heart-health/">nut</a> cracking whilst observing chimpanzees in 2012,” she said. “Yo, formerly a keen and efficient tool-user, was taking a very long time to crack each nut, and was changing the stone tools she was using frequently.” 



The long-term data later confirmed those early observations. This deep behavioral record from Bossou is unique because it covers nearly two decades. 



The data was gathered in a consistent field setup known as the “outdoor laboratory.” The researchers placed nuts and tools in a clearing and filmed the chimpanzees who came to use them.



“This research was only possible through the unique video archive produced by decades of continuous observation,” said Tetsuro Matsuzawa, the founding director of the Bossou Archive.



“The Bossou Archive offers a baseline to inform conservation strategies across wild chimpanzee populations, including accounting for behavioral changes over lifetimes.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chimpanzees-mirror-aging-humans">Chimpanzees mirror aging humans</h2>



The study also demonstrates the cultural dimension of tool use among chimpanzees.



“Just as with human technical skills, chimpanzee tool use is culturally learned through social learning and individual practice,” noted study co-author Katarina Almeida-Warren, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-and-bees-are-capable-of-complex-social-learning/">University of Oxford</a>.



“By studying the same chimpanzees over two decades, we’ve been able to see how chimpanzees’ cultural skills change with old age.”



While the research did not pinpoint the biological mechanisms behind the decline, it opens new avenues for exploring how age affects cognition and behavior in our closest living relatives.



“As ours was an observational study, we can’t yet identify the specific reasons why aging affects nut cracking,” said co-senior author Dora Biro, a primatologist at the <a href="https://www.rochester.edu/">University of Rochester</a>.



“But our results raise important questions about how aging influences apes’ cognition and behavior in natural settings.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-aging-changes-chimpanzee-culture">Aging changes chimpanzee culture</h2>



With its detailed focus on individual animals over many years, the Bossou study provides a rare look at aging outside of captivity or the human species.



It also raises questions about how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/adults-learn-skills-faster-than-children-but-theres-a-catch/">skill learning</a>, use, and decline might shape not only individual lives but group dynamics and traditions in wild chimpanzee communities.



“Until now, there has been no systematic study of how old age influences the technological behaviors of wild animals,” said Howard-Spink. That’s beginning to change - and the results suggest that even in the forest, age can bring challenges similar to those in humans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/105411">eLife</a>.



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What aging chimpanzees can teach us about ourselves

As wild chimpanzees grow older, they tend to back away...

Across Earth's long timeline, extinction often seems like a silent erasure. Yet behind many disappearances lies a chain of ecological tension. Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil explored predator-prey dynamics.



The results of two new studies suggest predator-prey relationships shaped extinction patterns in ancient species. Supported by FAPESP, the work focuses on predators like saber-toothed cats and their herbivore prey in North America.



The scientists used fossil records, body size data, and climate history from the last 20 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predators-left-without-their-prey">Predators left without their prey </h2>



Saber-toothed tigers, known for long canines, likely hunted large animals. A popular theory links their extinction to the loss of megafauna during the late Pleistocene, caused by climate change and human actions.



“One of the hypotheses that’s received the most attention in the literature was that the end of saber-toothed tigers," said study author and <a href="https://unicamp.br">UNICAMP</a> researcher João Nascimento.



"It could be linked to the extinction of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/superfamily-of-bacterial-predator-proteins-is-changing-scientific-theory/">megafauna</a> at the end of the Pleistocene, which occurred between 50,000 and 11,000 years ago."



"These large animals became extinct due to climate change and human actions, and as a result, the predators were left without their main prey."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extinction-started-before-humans">Extinction started before humans</h2>



Nascimento noted that the research offers a new timeline. “We found that the process began millions of years earlier,” he said.



Saber-toothed cats went through repeated extinctions over time, often during periods of reduced prey diversity. This long-term view changes how we understand their fate.



The second study, published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/evolut/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/evolut/qpaf091/8124702?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolution</a>, takes a reverse approach. It looks at how predator expansion drove herbivore decline. Antilocaprids, once a diverse group in North America, now have just one species left: the American antelope.



This group includes two extinct subfamilies. Merycodontinae vanished about six million years ago, likely outcompeted by proboscideans, ancestors of modern elephants. These massive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/largest-predator-prey-feast-ever-seen-in-the-ocean-enormous-quickly-altered-food-chain/">animals</a> dominated forest habitats, squeezing out smaller herbivores.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predators-vanished-after-prey">Predators vanished after prey</h2>



The Antilocaprinae subfamily started fading when felids grew more diverse. The American cheetah (Miracinonyx), built for speed, emerged during this time. It likely drove antelopes to become faster.



Predator-driven speed might be why the American antelope is so fast today. The study gives new weight to that idea. More predators meant more evolutionary pressure on prey <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-otter-day-2025-on-the-front-lines-of-a-habitat-crisis/">species</a>. Fewer herbivores meant fewer niches to support diverse predators.



In a previous study, the researchers had suggested that large herbivores in the Iberian Peninsula caused predator decline 15 million years ago. These new papers expand that perspective to much broader regions.



“The great contribution of this set of studies is precisely to present the idea that the interaction between predators and prey can have an effect on large evolutionary patterns," said Professor Mathias Pires, who supervised the work.



"This had been debated for decades, but there was no really robust set of results to support this hypothesis."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fossils-reveal-extinction-clues">Fossils reveal extinction clues</h2>



These discoveries rest on detailed fossil records. The team analyzed size, diet, and coexistence patterns of animals across millions of years. 



For example, saber-toothed cats appeared around 14 million years ago in Eurasia and 12 million years ago in North America. Eight species once coexisted, but numbers shrank over time.



Six million years ago, the saber-toothed cat population began a steady decline. This drop happened during a shift toward a more arid climate. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grasslands-crucial-role-global-agriculture-environment-ecosystems/">Grasslands</a> expanded while forests shrank, affecting food chains.



Leaf-eating prey lost their food sources, reducing available prey for predators. 



“Our study did not find a direct relationship between this event and the reduction in saber-toothed cats, but these changes in the environment had an indirect impact on the extinctions of different saber-toothed species by reducing the availability of prey,” Pires said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predators-and-prey-need-balance">Predators and prey need balance</h2>



Forest-dependent Merycodontinae went extinct as their habitats disappeared. Grass-eating Antilocaprinae lasted longer but declined with increasing predator pressure. This chain reaction mirrors how nature balances itself.



“We’re showing how an increase in predators can reduce the availability of prey, which in turn reduces the abundance of predators, and how this can manifest on an evolutionary scale," Pires said. 



"It’s a warning about how we may be altering the future with the extinctions we’re causing now.”



The studies not only map the past but also warn how predator loss and extinction trends today may echo through millennia, reshaping life far beyond our own time.



The study is published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jeb/voaf043/8115575?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Evolutionary Biology</a>. 



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Lessons from the past: Predators are doomed when their prey vanishes

Across Earth's long timeline, extinction often seems like a silent...

Most people don’t like snakes. Some fear them and others avoid even talking about them. Every year on July 16, the world takes a moment to pause, reconsider, and appreciate snakes.



For World Snake Day 2025, the message is clear: “Respect, Don’t Fear: Protecting Nature’s Silent Guardians.” It’s more than a catchy slogan - it’s a call to rethink everything we’ve been taught. Are snakes truly the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-species-of-tree-snake-with-completely-black-eyes-is-discovered/">villains</a> we’ve made them out to be?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-ecological-role-of-snakes">The ecological role of snakes</h2>



Snakes are natural rodent controllers, consuming large numbers of pests that threaten crops and spread disease. 



On farms and in forests, they work silently and efficiently, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. Just one snake can eat dozens of mice in a year - a small act with a big impact on food security and human health.



Snakes are also a vital food source for predators like hawks, owls, coyotes, and foxes. If snakes vanish, these animals lose a key part of their diet - and the balance begins to unravel. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/34-million-year-old-snake-fossil-hibernophis-breithaupti-changes-our-understanding-of-evolution/">Nature</a> doesn’t function well when pieces go missing.



However, it's easy to forget the important ecological role of snakes, especially when you come face to face with one. 



The reality is that most snakes aren’t dangerous. In the United States, garter snakes and corn snakes are harmless. King snakes are also harmless, and they even eat venomous snakes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-world-snake-day-2025-fear-and-myths">World Snake Day 2025: Fear and myths</h2>



Movies have affected our perception of snakes. They are often depicted as monsters or bad omens, and that image sticks with us. But in reality, snakes don’t chase people, don’t plot attacks, and they’re certainly not evil.



Venomous snakes do exist - from rattlesnakes and copperheads in North America to vipers, cobras, and kraits in Asia and Africa. 



While these snakes do pose risks, they generally avoid human contact and rarely bite unless threatened or provoked. Most bites occur when people try to handle, move, or harm them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-humans-are-the-biggest-threat-nbsp">Humans are the biggest threat&nbsp;</h2>



Habitat loss hits snakes hard. Cities expand, forests shrink, and wetlands dry up. Roads cut through territory, and cars hit snakes crossing them. Lawns replace wild grass. Fewer places to hide means that fewer snakes survive.



Then there’s the pet trade. People catch wild snakes, stuff them into containers, and sell them online. Some die in transit, while others live in tanks that are too small, too hot, or too dry. Many do not survive these conditions for very long.



Furthermore, misinformation spreads fast. One fake video of a “deadly” snake goes viral and people panic. More snakes get killed. We don’t do this to most <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-birds-use-snake-skins-in-their-nests-to-deter-predators/">animals</a>, but for snakes, fear seems like justification. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meaning-of-world-snake-day">Meaning of World Snake Day </h2>



World Snake Day isn’t about loving snakes - it’s simply about respecting them. That means giving them space, learning the facts, and stopping needless harm. 



Across the country, zoos and wildlife groups hold events this week. They show people how snakes behave, and some offer safe encounters. Others run online sessions, where you can ask a herpetologist questions. 



These events open minds and help break down fear and misconceptions, promoting a greater appreciation for the important role snakes play in ecosystems everywhere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-our-perception-of-snakes">Changing our perception of snakes</h2>



First, stop believing every snake is dangerous. Learn which ones live near you. In most U.S. states, for example, venomous snakes are rare and easy to identify. 



If you spot a snake, stay calm and give it space to move away. If it’s in your yard and you’re concerned, contact a local wildlife organization for help. Avoid using sticks, guns, or any force. 



If you know someone who still believes “the only good snake is a dead snake,” start a conversation. Sharing just one fact can be enough to change how they see snakes. You don’t have to become an expert; just stop being their enemy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-creature-that-is-misunderstood">A creature that is misunderstood </h2>



Snakes have existed for over 100 million years. They’ve outlived dinosaurs. They’ve adapted, evolved, and survived major extinctions - but they might not survive us.



That’s the uncomfortable part of this story. We’re the problem, but we can also be the solution.



World Snake Day 2025 offers us a <a href="https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/our-campaigns/sentience/animal-awareness-days/world-snake-day/">moment</a> - not to idolize snakes or adore them without question, but to pause, gain understanding, and perhaps take steps to protect a creature that has long been misunderstood.



So next time you see a snake, remember this: it’s not out to get you. It’s just trying to live its quiet, necessary life. 



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World Snake Day 2025: Protecting nature’s silent guardians

Most people don’t like snakes. Some fear them and others...

These complex, looping tracks pressed into ancient seafloor mud look much more like doodles made by a child with a stick than fossils of animal movement. 



However, new measurements have shown those squiggles were, in fact, purposeful movements along paths made by primitive animals navigating their world almost 550 million years ago, well before textbooks say complex life "took off" during the Cambrian Explosion.



Analysis of 170 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/nature/trace-fossils.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trace fossils</a>, which are the preserved marks of animal movement rather than the animals actual <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-movement-predictions-matter-more-than-ever/">bodies</a>, tell a much different story. 



They suggest that streamlined, sensor‑rich creatures were gliding across the seabed roughly 10 million years before the start of the <a href="https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2024-12.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian Explosion</a>, a 20‑million‑year interval beginning near 538.8 million years ago when most major animal groups appear in rocks.



Paleontologist Dr. Zekun Wang of the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural History Museum, London</a>, led the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2025.0889" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> with colleagues in Canada and China.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-animals-started-moving">When animals started moving</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grand-canyon-fossils-reveal-secrets-of-the-cambrian-explosion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian Explosion</a> has often been framed as a sudden evolutionary big bang that conjured eyes, limbs, and hard shells out of nowhere.



Yet the new study argues that many key traits, including directed movement and elongated bodies, emerged quietly during the preceding <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/591-million-years-ago-complex-life-emerged-on-earth-magnetic-field-ediacaran-period/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ediacaran Period</a>, which stretched from 635 million to 539 million years ago.



Wang’s team grouped the oldest tracks into three phases that mirror escalating anatomical sophistication. Early trails twist abruptly, matching stubby builders with limited perception. 



Mid‑stage paths smooth out, implying better coordination. Latest tracks resemble modern worm burrows, pointing to long, hydrodynamic bodies.



“Life in the Ediacaran was no longer microscopic, but typically, it wasn't able to move along the seafloor,” said Wang. His catalog shows that by about 545 million years ago, motion had transformed from stumble to cruise.



That timeline overlaps a sedimentary upheaval known as the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229535050_The_Cambrian_Substrate_Revolution" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian Substrate Revolution</a>, when burrowers began churning seafloor mud and opening new ecological real estate. The traces imply the engineers of that revolution were already in rehearsal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-ancient-animals-moved">How ancient animals moved</h2>



Most Ediacaran body fossils are little more than quilted impressions, making it tricky to match shape to behavior. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/ichnology" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ichnology</a>, the study of trace fossils, fills the gap by reading sediment as a behavioral diary.



Classic ichnology relies on eyeballing trail patterns, but Wang’s group added mathematics. They calculated curvature along each path, converting wavy lines into numbers that capture turning radius and smoothness. 



Paths that rarely bend sharply signal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-secretly-reshape-landscapes-in-powerful-ways/">creatures</a> with elongated, flexible trunks; jerky turns point to compact forms that pivot on the spot.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/complex-animals_Psammichnites_fossil_movement-before-skeletons_credit-Zhao_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/complex-animals_Psammichnites_fossil_movement-before-skeletons_credit-Zhao_1s.webp" alt="By analyzing trace fossils of ancient animal movement, like Psammichnites, researchers have been able to determine how animals lived and moved more than half a billion years ago. Credit: Ziwei Zhao and Dr Xiaoya Ma" class="wp-image-1978192"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">By analyzing trace fossils of ancient animal movement, like Psammichnites, researchers have been able to determine how animals lived and moved more than half a billion years ago. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Ziwei Zhao and Dr Xiaoya Ma</figcaption></figure>



Those metrics can also hint at senses. An animal plotting a straight, efficient route was likely following chemical or tactile gradients toward food, whereas a meandering track betrays a blind wanderer bumping into meals by chance.



By comparing fossil tracks to modern analogs, horseshoe crabs, snails, and worms, the researchers estimated how animals moved and found body length‑to‑width ratios climbing from roughly 1:1 to as high as 12:1 during the final Ediacaran chapter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-movement-style-and-animal-shapes">Movement style and animal shapes</h2>



In a second paper, the team applied <a href="https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~wjh/dataview/tutorials/sonogram.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">power‑spectral analysis</a>, a signal‑processing tool more common in engineering than paleontology. 



The technique isolates periodicities in trajectory curvature, teasing out repeated movement motifs such as rhythmic undulation or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/peristalsis">peristalsis</a>.



Results hint that early trace makers moved by extending blobs of tissue, akin to giant amoebae. Later forms show signatures of muscular waves consistent with bilateral nerve‑muscle systems, the hallmark of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Bilateria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bilaterian animals</a> that dominate today’s fauna.



“By studying their mathematical properties instead, we can infer what the animals that made the traces might have been like,” added Wang. The numbers back a gradual rise in body coordination rather than an overnight makeover.



Because trace density also spikes near the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301926819306278" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ediacaran‑Cambrian boundary</a>, some researchers speculate that mobile bilaterians outcompeted stationary soft‑bodied cousins, contributing to an extinction that wiped out many iconic quilt‑patterned taxa.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-body-changes-over-time">Body changes over time</h2>



Curvature metrics separated paths into “unsmooth,” “regional‑smooth,” and “smooth” categories. Unsmooth tracks, older than 550 million years, loop and kink like cracked phone cords. 



<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40628487/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Regional‑smooth trails</a> appear a few million years later, tracking short animals that likely glided with cilia or stubby legs. 



Smooth trails dominate at 545 million years, matching long, tapered worms using muscular ripples to push through sediment.



Importantly, the switch did not require shells or skeletons. Streamlining alone would have lowered drag and extended sensory coverage, advantages in search of patchy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-share-hidden-behavior-patterns-across-continents/">microbial</a> mats that coated the sea floor.



As body plans slimmed, animals began to burrow vertically, ventilating deeper layers and altering chemical gradients. 



That engineering likely changed oxygen levels and nutrient cycling, paving the way for the bustling Cambrian seascapes familiar from <a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/paleobiology/collections-overview/burgess-shale" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Burgess Shale</a> snapshots.



The data reinforce a view that evolution’s tempo can accelerate smoothly rather than spiking. What looks like an explosion in body fossils may instead record the moment when durable hard parts first preserved an already diverse cast of animals and their moves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-early-animal-movement-matters">Why early animal movement matters</h2>



Mobility reshapes ecosystems by mixing sediments, redistributing microbes, and linking food webs. The Ediacaran traces show these processes igniting earlier than once thought, giving Earth an extra 10 million years of ecological tinkering before skeletons burst onto the scene.



Understanding that prelude helps resolve puzzles such as why some soft‑bodied lineages vanished while others thrived. 



Animals able to seek favorable niches or escape stress would outlast immobile epifauna during environmental swings of the <a href="https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/05%3A_Evolution/5.08%3A_Late_Precambrian_Period" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">late Precambrian</a>.



The work also highlights how quantitative tools borrowed from physics and computer science can wring fresh insight from humble scrapes in stone. 



What once looked like random squiggles now provide centimeter‑scale snapshots of nervous systems coming online.



Next steps include three‑dimensional imaging of burrow architecture and geochemical probes that trace oxygen footprints around the tunnels, offering further clues to how early animals moved, breathed, and fed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-beyond-the-fossil-bones">Looking beyond the fossil bones</h2>



The updated timeline invites revisions to evolutionary trees calibrated on the <a href="https://evolution.berkeley.edu/the-cambrian-explosion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cambrian Explosion</a>, because behavioral innovations precede skeletal ones. 



It may also adjust models of Earth’s biogeochemistry, as active burrowing accelerates the burial of carbon and sulfur.



Paleobiologists are already scanning older rock layers for similar curved tracks, hoping to push complex mobility even deeper into geological time. 



Each new find tightens the connection between behavior, environment, and evolutionary opportunity.



By quantifying wiggles in mud, Wang and colleagues show that the story of animals and their moves is written not only in bones but in the graceful arcs of forgotten journeys. The quiet crawl before the boom matters as much as the boom itself.



The study is published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2025.0889" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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Fossil discovery casts fresh doubt on the 'burst of evolution' known as the Cambrian Explosion

These complex, looping tracks pressed into ancient seafloor mud look...

Every year, billions of birds take on epic journeys between North America’s temperate zones and the tropical forests of South America. 



While their migration patterns have been studied extensively, most of what we know comes from data collected in North America and Europe. That’s left a big gap in our understanding - especially in tropical regions.



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/en">University of Chicago</a>, working with scientists in Colombia and at universities across the United States, are now filling in those gaps. 



The team used radar data from across Colombia to see how birds behave when migrating through tropical skies. What they found is changing how we think about migration, weather, and conservation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birds-migrate-without-weather-cues">Birds migrate without weather cues</h2>



In places like the U.S. and Canada, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vanishing-forests-make-bird-migration-harder-across-the-corn-belt/">bird migration</a> often happens in big waves. Birds wait for just the right wind conditions - usually during cold or warm fronts - then take off by the thousands in a single night. But in Colombia, birds follow a different rhythm.



“Birds are great indicator species of environmental health, serving as bellwethers of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-biodiversity-crisis-is-actually-worse-than-we-thought/">global biodiversity</a> gain and loss," said Jacob Drucker, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago. "So understanding their migration on a global scale is extremely important.”



“But until now, our knowledge of this massive natural phenomenon has been heavily biased towards temperate latitudes in North America and Europe.”



Unlike temperate zones, Colombia doesn’t have strong seasonal wind patterns. Instead, its <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-can-predict-the-weather-but-what-about-extreme-events/">weather</a> is more stable. The study revealed that birds migrating over the country travel at a steadier pace. They don’t wait for perfect nights - they go when they need to.



“It turns out that wind isn't as important to birds in deciding which nights to fly in Colombia, but it plays a major role in deciding the altitude they fly,” noted Drucker.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-soaring-to-beat-the-wind">Soaring to beat the wind</h2>



The Colombian Andes offer a special case. High above the forests, winds blow southward as part of the Orinoco Low-Level Jet. 



These winds can either help or hinder birds, depending on the season. In the fall, they act as tailwinds. In the spring, they become headwinds.



“We saw birds flying as high as 3,000 meters above the Amazon to avoid headwinds. It was spectacular,” Drucker said. “When the wind weakened at lower altitudes, birds adjusted by flying lower.”



These shifts in altitude helped them conserve energy as they responded to changing wind conditions in the Andes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-migrating-birds-tracked-by-radar">Migrating birds tracked by radar</h2>



This study wouldn't have been possible without an unusual data source: Colombia’s national weather radar network. Seven years ago, 



Drucker reached out to fellow researchers with a simple idea - what if they used weather radar to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/machine-learning-may-solve-the-mystery-of-bird-movements/">track birds</a>? He teamed up with Nick Bayly from the Colombian conservation nonprofit SELVA and Alfonso Ladino, a meteorologist with ties to Colombia’s weather agency and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 



Together, the researchers began a multi-year project to decode the tropical migration story. A major challenge was filtering out radar 'noise'. In tropical skies, there are a lot of insects - more than in temperate regions - and they can look a lot like birds on radar.



“We initially struggled to distinguish between insects and birds,” said Drucker. “There are far more insects in the tropics, creating substantial radar noise from an ornithological perspective."



"To solve this, we built a model that assumes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/very-little-is-known-about-99-of-all-insects-on-earth/">insects</a> move passively with the wind, while birds move independently and purposefully.”



The researchers tested that model using radar data from both Colombia and Australia. It’s likely to help other scientists in future studies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bird-safe-cities-need-rethinking">Bird-safe cities need rethinking</h2>



The study doesn’t just add to our understanding of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-behavior-productivity-being-directly-impacted-by-climate-change/">bird behavior</a> - it could shape how we protect birds in cities.



In cities like Chicago or Toronto, turning off lights during major migration nights can reduce bird deaths caused by building collisions. These “lights out” campaigns are carefully timed based on weather forecasts and migration patterns. But that strategy might not work in tropical cities.



“Since bird migration in Colombia isn't tied to predictable wind events, it becomes much harder to anticipate large migration nights and tell people when to turn their lights off,” Drucker said.



That means new strategies will be needed in cities like Bogotá, Medellín, and Calí. Conservation efforts in the tropics may need to focus less on timing and more on continuous solutions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-next-migration-frontier">The next migration frontier</h2>



This study is just the start. There’s still a lot to learn about how birds react to local weather and terrain as they move. For Drucker and his team, the goal is to go deeper - zooming in on finer scales to understand every twist and turn in a bird’s journey.



“We need to drill down into the granular details of how birds react to specific habitats and finer-scale weather patterns along migration routes,” he said.



By combining new technology with international teamwork, researchers are opening new ways to better understand and protect migratory birds - wherever they fly.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.2609">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.



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Tropical birds migrate without riding the wind

Every year, billions of birds take on epic journeys between...

A fossilized rhino tooth, buried for over 20 million years, is now helping scientists rewrite the history of early rhino evolution. 



Inside the tooth enamel, researchers found something remarkable: preserved proteins that held clues to the animal’s lineage and evolutionary split from other species.



This breakthrough came from scientists at the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of York</a>. By analyzing enamel proteins in the tooth, the experts traced key moments in rhino evolution much further back than previously possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reconstructing-the-rhino-family-tree">Reconstructing the rhino family tree</h2>



The team discovered that this particular rhino diverged from other members of the family <a href="https://www.su.se/english/news/geneticists-map-the-rhinoceros-family-tree-1.568317" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rhinocerotidae</a> during a window between 41 and 25 million years ago. This coincides with a time between the Middle Eocene and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-climate-shift-sheds-light-on-future-global-warming/">Oligocene</a> Epochs. 



Even more surprising was that the data revealed that the two main subfamilies of rhinos - Elasmotheriinae and Rhinocerotinae - split later than previously thought.



Instead of parting ways in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-a-previously-unknown-mass-extinction-event/">Eocene</a>, as earlier bone studies suggested, this separation likely occurred during the Oligocene, between 34 and 22 million years ago.



This new timeline helps scientists better understand how different rhino species emerged, adapted, and survived (or didn’t) through changing environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rhino-evolution-revealed-in-dna">Rhino evolution revealed in DNA</h2>



Ancient DNA has helped researchers study <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cave-art-discovery-depicts-animal-dicynodont-that-went-extinct-280-million-year-ago/">extinct</a> species, but it rarely survives beyond a million years. This fossil tooth changes that. 



The successful recovery of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/enamel-protein">enamel proteins</a> from a sample over 20 million years old extends the timeline for molecular research by a factor of ten.



This is important because it allows scientists to explore evolutionary history through molecular evidence - not just fossil shapes. Well-preserved enamel proteins offer access to valuable genetic information, opening new avenues for discovery.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tooth-enamel-analysis-suggests-early-eurasians-were-multiple-species-paranthropus-robustus/">Enamel</a> is the hardest tissue in the body. Its mineral-rich structure protects proteins for millions of years, especially in cold environments where this tooth was found.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-keeping-the-fossil-tooth-data-pure">Keeping the fossil tooth data pure</h2>



The fossil tooth was found in Canada’s High Arctic - a region where permafrost still dominates. That cold environment played a key role in keeping the proteins intact, but cold alone wasn’t enough.



To make sure the proteins were truly ancient, researchers at the University of York ran tests using a method called chiral amino acid analysis.



This technique helped the team distinguish between original proteins from the rhino’s life and any later contamination. 



By comparing the degraded proteins in this tooth with those from previously studied rhino fossils, they confirmed the material was genuine.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unique-environmental-history-of-the-site">Unique environmental history of the site</h2>



Professor Enrico Cappellini from the University of Copenhagen’s Globe Institute emphasized the significance of the fossil site.



“The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703721002234" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Haughton Crater</a> may be a truly special place for palaeontology: a biomolecular vault protecting proteins from decay over vast geological timescales,” said Cappellini.



“Its unique environmental history has created a site with exceptional preservation of ancient biomolecules, akin to how certain sites preserve soft tissues. This finding should encourage more paleontological fieldwork in regions around the world."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-exploring-further-back-in-time">Exploring further back in time</h2>



Dr. Marc Dickinson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of York’s Department of Chemistry, was one of the co-authors on the study.



“It is phenomenal that these tools are enabling us to explore further and further back in time. Building on our knowledge of ancient proteins, we can now start asking fascinating new questions about the evolution of ancient life on our planet,” said Dickinson.



The team sees this fossil tooth as more than just an isolated find. It’s a signal that there may be more ancient biomolecules waiting to be studied.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-perspective-on-rhino-evolution">New perspective on rhino evolution </h2>



“Successful analysis of ancient proteins from such an old sample gives a fresh perspective to scientists around the globe who already have incredible fossils in their collections. This important fossil helps us to understand our ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supernovae-explosions-seem-to-have-altered-earths-climate-in-the-past-and-could-do-so-again-at-any-time/">past</a>,” said Fazeelah Munir, who analyzed the tooth during her doctoral research at York.



Modern rhinos are threatened by habitat loss, poaching, and climate change. Tracing their evolutionary history reveals how past environmental shifts shaped the species we see today. 



The more we understand what helped ancient rhinos survive - or led to their decline - the better equipped we are to protect the few that remain.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09231-4">Nature</a>.



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Secrets of rhino evolution found in 20-million-year-old tooth

A fossilized rhino tooth, buried for over 20 million years,...

New scans of two small predatory dinosaurs reveal a pea-sized wrist bone once thought unique to birds. The research suggests that the engines of flight were revving inside dinosaur arms long before any creature flapped skyward.



The study was led by James Napoli of <a href="https://www.stonybrook.edu/">Stony Brook University</a> with colleagues at the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/">American Museum of Natural History</a> and the <a href="https://mas.ac.mn/en/">Mongolian Academy of Sciences</a>. 



The research overturns earlier claims that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-theropod-dinosaurs-thrived-in-polar-environments/">theropods</a> lacked a bird-like pisiform and raises the possibility that the path to powered flight was, as the authors put it, “all in the wrist.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dinosaur-wrist-bone-on-the-move">Dinosaur wrist bone on the move</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earliest-modern-bird-lived-in-antarctica-69-million-years-ago/">Modern birds</a> fold their wings automatically when the elbow bends. The hinge works because a tiny carpal called the pisiform migrated from the edge of the wrist to replace another bone, the ulnare. 



Its new spot lets a V-shaped notch clamp the hand bones and stop them from popping loose during vigorous flapping.



For years, paleontologists assumed non-avian dinosaurs never made that switch. Napoli’s team tested the dogma by CT-scanning an exquisitely preserved troodontid, a quick, velociraptor-like hunter. They also scanned an oviraptorid, a beaked omnivore with a long neck.



Digital slices peeled away surrounding rock, isolating each pebble-sized carpal in three dimensions. The images showed a bead-like bone tucked where the pisiform sits in modern birds.



“We believe this is the first time a migrated pisiform in a non-bird meat-eating dinosaur has been identified,” Napoli said. 



The discovery pushes the joint’s redesign back to Pennaraptora, a diverse branch of feathered theropods that includes velociraptors, troodontids, and oviraptorosaurs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flight-link-to-wrist-evolution">Flight link to wrist evolution</h2>



“While we currently do not know precisely how many times dinosaurs learned to fly, it is intriguing that experimentation with flight in these creatures appears only after the pisiform migrated into the wrist joint,” Napoli explained.



“Therefore, it is possible this established the automated mechanisms found in current living birds, though we would need to test this hypothesis with more research and analysis of dinosaur wrist bones.”



The scientists argue that the pisiform’s relocation was gradual. Early pennaraptorans still carried a small ulnare. Later species lost that bone entirely as the pisiform enlarged and took over its role.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gradual-wrist-bone-replacement">Gradual wrist bone replacement</h2>



The replacement mirrors other avian traits - hollow bones, enlarged brains, filamentous feathers - that spread outward through theropod evolution before coalescing into true birds.



According to the authors of the study, the findings make clear that the topological and functional replacement of the ulnare by the pisiform occurred much deeper in theropod history than has been previously understood and was a stepwise process.



“Over the past few decades, our knowledge of theropod <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaur-extinction-theories-are-challenged-by-new-research/">dinosaur</a> anatomy and evolution has increased exponentially, much of it revealing that classically ‘avian’ traits such as thin-walled bones, an enlarged brain, and feathers, all characterize more inclusive groups of theropod dinosaurs," noted the researchers.



"Our results suggest that the construction of the avian wrist is no exception and follows topological patterns laid down by the origin of Pennaraptora.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scans-reveals-hidden-features">Scans reveals hidden features</h2>



Identifying the bone took both luck and technology. The fossils - discovered in Mongolia’s Cretaceous rocks - had escaped crushing, so their wrist bones lay undisturbed. 



Micro-CT resolution below 50 microns allowed the researchers to trace delicate sutures, distinguishing the pisiform’s spoon-like head and its telltale notch. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/dinosaur-wrist-bone_Citipati_flight-evolution_credit-Henry-Sharpe_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/dinosaur-wrist-bone_Citipati_flight-evolution_credit-Henry-Sharpe_1s.webp" alt="This is an illustration of an oviraptorid dinosaur called Citipati. The scene depicts Citipati being startled while resting on a sand dune. The creature raises its arms in a threat display, which reveals its wrists, highlighting the small migrated pisiform carpal (blue X-ray view) bone. Credit: Henry S. Sharpe" class="wp-image-1978020"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This is an illustration of an oviraptorid dinosaur called Citipati. The scene depicts Citipati being startled while resting on a sand dune. The creature raises its arms in a threat display, which reveals its wrists, highlighting the small migrated pisiform carpal (blue X-ray view) bone. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Henry S. Sharpe</figcaption></figure>



Without such scans, the structure would look like one of several nubs commonly lumped together as generic carpals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wrist-bone-shaped-evolution">Wrist bone shaped evolution</h2>



Flight appears to have evolved at least twice within Pennaraptora and perhaps as many as five times. If the pisiform swap predates those experiments, it may have primed the limb for aerial feats in separate lineages. 



That echoes convergent “upgrades” seen in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pterosaurs-mastered-land-before-dominating-the-sky/">pterosaurs</a>, bats, and birds, where wrist and shoulder tweaks unleash new kinematic possibilities.



The finding also casts fresh light on grounded relatives like Velociraptor. Though too heavy to fly, such animals wielded feathered arms for display, brooding, or balance.



A bird-style pisiform would have let them tuck and unfurl their limbs with mechanical efficiency. This hints that the crouched, wing-guarding pose seen in some fossil nests used the same automatic folding action modern roosters employ.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-fossil-finds">Future fossil finds</h2>



Future work will scan additional fossils to see exactly when the pisiform first slid into place. The researchers want to investigate whether the move coincided with feather lengthening or muscle shifts.



They also hope to model forces across the joint to test how much stability the new bone adds during flapping or mantling motions.



For now, the lesson is clear: tiny parts can steer colossal evolutionary leaps. A marble-sized bone drifting a few millimeters may have set the stage for the skies to fill with beating wings. It began inside dinosaur wrists millions of years before the first true birds appeared.



Image credit: Henry Sharpe



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09232-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Flight may have started with a tiny wrist bone from a dinosaur called "Citipati"

New scans of two small predatory dinosaurs reveal a pea-sized...

Humans have limited regenerative abilities compared to some animals. Once sensory hair cells in the inner ear are damaged, hearing and balance often decline for good. Meanwhile, animals like fish, frogs, and chicks use gene-driven repair to easily renew these cells.



Scientists at the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> have discovered how two genes guide this regeneration in zebrafish. This research may shape future work on hearing loss in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-genetic-mutation-dramatically-increases-the-risk-of-dementia-in-men/">humans</a>.



“Mammals such as ourselves cannot regenerate hair cells in the inner ear,” said study co-author Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski. “As we age or are subjected to prolonged noise exposure, we lose our hearing and balance.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fish-genes-and-hearing-cells">Fish genes and hearing cells </h2>



The study was designed to investigate how zebrafish control cell division during hair cell regeneration. The team, led by Dr. Mark Lush, found two genes that regulate how two support <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gene-regulation-controlling-cells-to-improve-medical-treatments/">cell</a> types divide.



The researchers used single-cell RNA sequencing and lineage tracing to uncover gene activity patterns. This helped them see which genes were responsible for maintaining stem cells and triggering regeneration.



“During normal tissue maintenance and regeneration, cells need to proliferate to replace the cells that are dying or being shed - however, this only works if there are existing cells that can divide to replace them,” said Piotrowski.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-zebrafish-offer-rare-insight">Why zebrafish offer rare insight</h2>



Zebrafish have sensory structures called neuromasts, which contain hair <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-dna-reveals-37000-years-of-hidden-human-infections/">cells</a> resembling those in the human inner ear. These neuromasts are distributed in a line from head to tail and help detect water motion.



Because zebrafish larvae are transparent, scientists can observe their cells directly. The team studied how hair cells regrow using imaging, gene editing, and molecular tracing.



“We can manipulate genes and test which ones are important for regeneration,” said Piotrowski. “By understanding how these cells regenerate in zebrafish, we hope to identify why similar regeneration does not occur in mammals and whether it might be possible to encourage this process in the future.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-genes-control-hearing-cell-repair">Two genes control hearing cell repair</h2>



Within neuromasts, two groups of support cells drive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drugs-may-be-available-to-prevent-hearing-loss/">regeneration</a>. Stem cells lie at the edges, while progenitor cells are in the center. The research team discovered two cyclinD genes, each linked to only one cell group.



“When we rendered one of these genes non-functional, only one population stopped dividing,” said Piotrowski. 



“This finding shows that different groups of cells within an organ can be controlled separately, which may help scientists understand cell growth in other tissues, such as the intestine or blood.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uncoupling-division-and-differentiation">Uncoupling division and differentiation</h2>



When the progenitor-specific gene was removed, those cells stopped dividing but still turned into hair cells. This meant cell division wasn’t always needed for differentiation. When the stem-cell gene was added to progenitors, their division restarted.



The ability to separate growth from differentiation could have broad biological implications.



The&nbsp;study&nbsp;illustrates this gene-switching in detail, using labeled cell populations and fluorescent markers to track regeneration.



"Our findings have important implications for the understanding of how proliferation of symmetrically dividing stem and progenitor cells is controlled during homeostasis and disease," wrote the researchers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fish-genes-may-help-human-hearing">Fish genes may help human hearing</h2>



Dr. David Raible, a professor at the <a href="https://www.washington.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Washington</a>, highlighted the significance of the research. 



“This work illuminates an elegant mechanism for maintaining neuromast stem cells while promoting hair cell regeneration. It may help us investigate whether similar processes exist or could be activated in mammals," said Dr. Raible.



CyclinD genes also affect many human tissues, such as the gut, brain, skin, and blood. The findings in zebrafish may offer clues for regenerative therapies beyond hearing.



“Insights from zebrafish hair cell regeneration could eventually inform research on other organs and tissues, both those that naturally regenerate and those that do not,” said Piotrowski.



The study received funding from the <a href="https://www.nih.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIH</a>, the <a href="https://hearinghealthfoundation.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hearing Health Foundation</a>, and the Stowers Institute. The findings reflect the authors' views and not necessarily those of the NIH.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60251-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Fish genes offer clues to reversing human hearing loss

Humans have limited regenerative abilities compared to some animals. Once...

Butterflies are slipping away from the British countryside. Yet hope may lie in some of its most familiar sights: thorny hedges, pocket-sized woods, even a single oak in the middle of a field.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> and <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/">Butterfly Conservation</a> shows that these modest features can lift <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/butterflies-can-adapt-quickly-but-evolution-has-its-limits/">butterfly</a> numbers in ordinary farmland.



This gives species such as the Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown a fighting chance just as national counts have hit historic lows.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-ten-year-countryside-snapshot">A ten-year countryside snapshot</h2>



The research team mined ten years of records from the <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/our-work/recording-and-monitoring/wider-countryside-butterfly-survey">Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey</a>, in which volunteers stroll one-kilometer routes around farmland and record every butterfly they see.



Altogether, they analyzed more than a thousand routes scattered across England. They then matched each one to habitat maps that reach three kilometers in every direction.



Wherever hedgerows, groves, or field trees took up more space on that map, the counts rose. The pattern was clearest in arable regions where otherwise tidy fields leave few wild corners.



Dr. Ruth Feber, lead author of the study, pointed out numbers told only part of the story. 



“As well as demonstrating the importance of trees and hedgerows for biodiversity on farmland, our results also highlighted the relatively lower numbers of butterflies on intensively managed grassland compared to arable land," said Dr. Feber.



Those silage pastures, cut and fertilized for maximum yield, now cover more than a quarter of the country. Even small changes in how they are managed could tip the scales for wildlife.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-farmers-want-to-help-and-need-support">Farmers want to help, and need support</h2>



The scientists also spoke with 31 farmers who manage land near the survey squares. Most recognized the upside of hedges and shade trees - from sheltering <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/livestock-grazing-is-changing-soil-plants-and-insect-populations/">livestock</a> to soaking up floodwater.



But nearly expressed concern about the cost and commitment of planting, trimming, and replacing them. That tension sits at the heart of the study.



“It is clear that farmers recognize the importance of these crucial habitats," noted Dr. Feber. "But they need to be supported. We need to recognize that these trees and hedgerows provide public goods which benefit <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-disturbing-details-about-the-state-of-earths-wildlife/">wildlife</a> and people."



She noted that agri-environment payments must stretch beyond basic prescriptions and cover the true expense of keeping woody features healthy for decades. Otherwise, good intentions can wither the moment grain prices tighten.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-farmland-hedges-are-butterfly-highways">Farmland hedges are butterfly highways</h2>



Hedges do more than mark a boundary. Their tangled branches serve as food plants for caterpillars and provide adult butterflies with a buffet of nectar. Thick growth breaks the wind, allowing butterflies to warm up and fly on cooler days. 



Above all, lines of woody cover act as green corridors, guiding insects from one flower-rich patch to another so that no colony becomes isolated.



That highway network is exactly what common butterflies need right now. Fresh figures show that 2024 ranks among the worst years on record. For the first time, more than half of U.K. species have slipped into long-term decline.



“We know that butterflies are in desperate trouble, including our common countryside species. Butterflies are important indicators of wider biodiversity, so actions that help butterflies will also help other declining wildlife,” said Dr. Feber.



“With 70 percent of the U.K.'s land area being farmland, our farmers and landowners play a vital role in helping these species recover, through protecting and restoring hedgerows and trees.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-farming-with-butterflies-in-mind">Farming with butterflies in mind</h2>



Dr. Feber’s group is already probing one promising route. At Northfield Farm near Oxford, cattle are moved daily in a “mob grazing” system that leaves each paddock to regrow for weeks.



“My current project is investigating regenerative <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feeding-the-world-without-harming-nature-the-complex-balance-of-farming/">farming</a>, which uses livestock grazing and other practices to help promote soil health and increase soil carbon,” said Dr. Feber. 



“This is receiving increasing attention as an approach to grassland management that might contribute to tackling some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-and-agriculture-are-locked-in-a-destructive-feedback-loop/">climate impacts of agriculture</a>."



Dr. Feber added that more research is needed on how this may impact biodiversity, particularly above-ground invertebrate groups, such as butterflies, moths, and other pollinators.



Early surveys will track whether butterflies bounce back when lush grass is replaced by more varied, flower-rich swards.



“In this system, areas of land are grazed for a short period of time before the cattle are moved on and the pasture allowed to recover,” Dr. Feber said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-butterflies-need-better-farmland">Butterflies need better farmland</h2>



The study’s message is disarmingly simple: keep - or better yet, expand - the scruffy, butterfly-friendly edges of Britain’s farmlands. A single thorn hedge or an untidy willow clump can be enough to connect the dots for butterflies.



For farmers, the next step is clear financial backing that rewards the effort year after year. For policymakers, it means seeing hedges and field trees as green infrastructure every bit as vital as roads and drains.



Butterflies respond quickly; give them corridors and they will return. The countryside may look pared to the bone, but its recovery could begin with nothing fancier than a line of hawthorn left to bloom or a young oak allowed to stand. Recognizing that these small gestures stitch life back into the land is the first step.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2688-8319.70042">Ecological Solutions and Evidence</a>.



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Simple farmland features can reverse butterfly declines

Butterflies are slipping away from the British countryside. Yet hope...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex
</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...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



---



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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