Thirty‑five millennia may sound like a long time, yet for a mammal, it is practically yesterday. A new study uses whole‑genome data to show that the Norwegian lemming, Lemmus lemmus, split from its Siberian cousin only about 35,000 years ago.



“The Norwegian lemming is a key ecological species in the Fennoscandian tundra. Among other things, it serves as primary food for many predator <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-animals-evolved-in-different-ways-to-beat-the-cold/">species</a>, including some threatened ones such as the Arctic fox,” said David Díez del Molino, a researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, <a href="https://www.su.se/">Stockholm University</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lemmings-shape-arctic-life">Lemmings shape Arctic life</h2>



Ecologists have tracked lemming booms and busts for decades because those <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2656.1999.00258.x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cycles</a> ripple through the tundra food web, shaping the breeding success of Arctic foxes, owls, and even geese. 



When rodent numbers crash, fox litters shrink, snowy owls skip nesting, and grasses rebound after seasons of heavy grazing.



Unlike most small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-water-day-2025-preserving-glaciers-protecting-our-future/">mammals</a>, Norwegian lemmings overwinter aboveground by tunneling under snow, a habit that keeps them active when many rodents lie low. Their winter wanderings aerate soil, mix plant nutrients, and feed predators during the hungriest months.



During peak years, the species can reach densities of hundreds per acre. Yet its loud squeaks and bold charge‑and‑bite defense make predators think twice, granting the animal an outsized ecological voice relative to its three‑ounce frame.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lemmings-became-a-separate-species">Lemmings became a separate species</h2>



Researchers compared nine modern and two ancient lemming genomes and found a clean split from the Western Siberian lemming with no evidence of crossbreeding, even in areas where the two meet today. 



That result stands in sharp contrast to polar bears and brown bears, whose DNA still shows <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22517859/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ancient admixture</a> from repeated hybridization events.



“Our findings indicate that the Norwegian lemming is among the most recently evolved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-otter-day-2025-on-the-front-lines-of-a-habitat-crisis/">mammals</a>, diverging from its sister taxon, the Western Siberian lemming, at a remarkably shallow time depth,” said <a href="https://palaeogenetics.com/people/edana-lord/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Edana Lord</a>, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics.



The team’s high‑resolution sequencing also resolved relationships within the genus Lemmus, confirming that Eastern Siberian lemmings belong to a separate species and helping clean up a century of contested rodent taxonomy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-species-born-in-an-ice-age">A species born in an ice age</h2>



The divergence date places the split just before the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1172873" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Last Glacial Maximum</a>, when ice sheets peaked between roughly 26,500 and 19,000 years ago. 



Glacial barriers likely trapped an ancestral lemming population in a Scandinavian refuge, cutting gene flow with Siberian relatives and setting the stage for rapid speciation.



Once the ice retreated, the newly minted Norwegian lineage expanded westward, but climatic swings had already written separation into the animals’ DNA. Modern population genetics shows no trace of later contact, suggesting that geography and behavior together kept the young species distinct.



Because the entire living population coalesces to a common ancestor only about 6,400 years ago, every Norwegian lemming alive today shares surprisingly shallow roots, a reminder that dramatic evolutionary change can happen fast.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-color-blocks-crossbreeding">Color blocks crossbreeding</h2>



Hybridization often lingers for thousands of years after a split, yet these rodents seem to have slammed the door shut. 



One reason may be their vivid black‑and‑yellow coat, a pattern that functions as an <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/aposematism-warning-signals" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aposematic warning</a> and an instant badge of identity, reducing mating mistakes with the drab Siberian form.



Aggressive ritual boxing, loud chirps, and high‑speed chases further isolate the species by favoring individuals that court their own kind and bully outsiders away from snow burrows.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genes-that-power-survival">Genes that power survival</h2>



Sequencing uncovered unique changes in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093193/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LYST pigment gene</a> that help produce the lemming’s splashy jacket, a mutation class also linked to altered melanosome function in laboratory mice. 



The same region shows signs of a recent selective sweep, hinting at strong predator‑driven pressure for conspicuous colors.



Other <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30006135/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mutations</a> appear in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/53630" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BCO1</a>, <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/apob/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">APOB</a>, and <a href="https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=RELCH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RELCH</a> - genes involved in fat transport and storage; in mice, knocking out BCO1 triggers fatty‑liver disease and shifts cholesterol pathways. Extra‑efficient lipid metabolism may keep lemmings fueled through subzero winters when seeds are scarce.



The researchers also found clusters of rapidly evolving olfactory receptor genes, suggesting that a refined sense of smell guides the rodents through deep snow tunnels to mates, food, and lurking stoats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-arctic-mammals">Lessons for Arctic mammals</h2>



Climate upheaval can spin off new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aquatic-robot-inspired-by-flatworms-can-swim-in-harmony-with-nature/">species</a> in a geological blink, and the lemming’s youth underscores how quickly isolation plus selection can rewrite a mammal’s genetic blueprint. 



Similar patterns play out in Arctic whales, foxes, and hares as shrinking ice opens and closes migration corridors.



“This work represents a big step in our understanding of lemming speciation and evolution,” said Love Dalén, a professor in <a href="https://utbildning.su.se/english/education/course-catalogue/bl/bl7082" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolutionary Genomics at Stockholm University</a>. 



Professor Dalén noted that tracing ancient DNA in more Pleistocene specimens could reveal exactly when each adaptive mutation took hold.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424333122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



 n

How Norwegian lemmings rapidly evolved into a new species

Thirty‑five millennia may sound like a long time, yet for a mammal, it is practically yesterday. A new study uses whole‑genome data to show that the Norwegian lemming, Lemmus lemmus, split from its Siberian cousin only about 35,000 years ago. “The Norwegian lemming is a key ecological species in the Fennoscandian tundra. Among other things, it serves as primary food for many predator species, including some threatened ones such as the Arctic fox,” said David Díez del Molino, a researcher at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm University. Lemmings...

Have you ever felt misunderstood? The following animals can relate. From being responsible for spreading plagues to being feared while walking down the street, these critters are not topping charts for man’s favorite animal. Yet, like most of us, these animals are not as terrible as many have made them out to be. Here are the wold's most misunderstood animals.

Pit bulls

Historically, these dogs are actually known to be kid friendly and for a time were one of America’s favorite breeds. However, when dog fighting returned to popularity in the 1980s, pit bulls were the chosen breed due to their reputation has an aggressive guard dog. They even were the preferred breed for gangs and drug dealers; it was actually a story in 1987 of a pit bull guarding a marijuana farm in California that ended up mauling a 2 year old boy that began the decline of pit bulls reputation in the media. This story among others has been highly publicized leading to pit bull bans around the country. The breed is actually highly intelligent and the aggression most people are aware of is a learned trait from poor ownership. Most pit bulls make the sweetest companions and fit the bill for man’s best friend. 

Rats 

Images of dark alleys and trash cans probably come to mind at the mention of these guys. Rats have been thought of as being dirty and an unwelcome population in cities since the 1300s.  With their ability to collapse their skulls which allows them to burrow into crevices of infrastructure and chew, they can hardly be considered contributing members of society. However, they are hardly any worse than a street dog (though they do reproduce quicker) AND the origination of this bad reputation – vessels of transportation that spread the bubonic plague killing 75 million people – is actually false. Rats were not responsible for the disease at all, rather fleas that called any warm blooded creature (including humans) home were the ones to blame. Rats can make wonderful loving pets so the next time you hear about rats maybe refer back to the animated one that goes by the name Ratatouille and is supposedly a great chef.  

Bees 

These bugs can send people running in the opposite direction out of fear for their stings. Though painful, their stings are pretty innocuous unless the person is allergic, and generally <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/varroa-mites-honey-bees/">bees</a> will not sting unless provoked. More importantly, not only do bees provide honey which is delicious and a healthy sweetener, but they are essential to human life. Albert Einstein even theorized that humanity would only survive for 4 years if bees disappeared. The human food supply is highly dependent on pollinators and scientists have yet to find a viable solution to artificial pollination. We should all be team #savethebees! When you see a bee outside its habitat, don’t fear, and just help it on its way – they do have an important job to do after all. 

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By <a href="mailto:bianca@earth.com">Bianca Vierra</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth.com presents: The world's most misunderstood animals

Have you ever felt misunderstood? The following animals can relate....

It takes a special kind of dog to become a guide dog. They must be calm, confident, intelligent, and reliable. A new tool has been created by animal experts at the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a> to predict which puppies make the best guide dogs.

The personality assessment evaluates puppies and young dogs to determine whether they are “reliable and interpretable.” The test focuses on seven characteristics of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolves-dogs-understand-inequality/">dogs</a> including adaptability, excitability, and trainability.

Over 1,400 surveys about dogs’ behavior were completed for the study. The researchers used this data to develop the Puppy Training Supervisor Questionnaire, or PTSQ. According to the research team, the tool was able to predict the outcome of guide training for dogs between 5 to 12 months old with 84% accuracy. 

“Predicting working dog suitability in puppies has been a huge challenge to organizations for many years,’ explained Dr Naomi Harvey, who led the study.

“We were really pleased that this questionnaire-style behavior assessment was able to effectively identify the dogs who were most, and least, suitable to guiding work, from a young age, and help to highlight those in between dogs who were at risk of failing training,” said Harvey.

The researchers believe the PTSQ will improve the guide dog training process. They say it will help eliminate unlikely candidates, and save time and money that would have been otherwise invested in unsuccessful training. The team plans to expand upon this study to predict why some guide dogs retire early. 

Chris Muldoon is the Guide Dogs Research Development Manager. According to Muldoon, “The Puppy Training Supervisor Questionnaire is part of a suite of tools developed by the University of Nottingham for Guide Dogs.”

“This tool, and the wider research project, is increasing our understanding of dog behaviour and temperament to make informed decisions that will shape and improve our training process,” said Muldoon.

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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 

Source: <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/">University of Nottingham</a>

New test predicts which pups make the best guide dogs

It takes a special kind of dog to become a...

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a 125-million year old dinosaur in Spain, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/">Reuters </a>reported.

The fossil was from a medium-sized dinosaur scientists named Morelladon, a four-legged herbivore that measured 20 feet long.

A series of bony spines protruded from its back that formed the sail-like structure that stood about 2 feet tall.

"The sail could help in heat exchange - thermoregulation - focused on releasing excess body heat into the environment, like the ears of the modern-day elephants, or as a storage place for fat to be used during periods of low food supply," said paleontologist Fernando Escaso of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_Distance_Education">National University of Distance Education</a>'s Evolutionary Biology Group in Spain.

The structure also could have helped attract mates, Escaso added.

Sail-like structures appeared periodically in the evolutionary history of vertebrates, often in animal groups not closely related to one another, he added.

Another plant-eating dinosaur called Ouranosaurus with similarities to Morelladon lived about the same time in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/groundwater-springs-early-humans-migrate/">Africa</a>. The biggest sail-backed creature was Spinosaurus, which lived a semi-aquatic lifestyle 95 million years ago. At 50 feet long and weighing 7 tons, it was the biggest dinosaur predator on record, larger even than Tyrannosaurus rex.

Millions of years before the rise of the dinosaurs, there were other sail-backed creatures, including the carnivorous reptile Arizonasaurus, the amphibian Platyhystrix, and the distant mammal relatives Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus.

Morelladon is known from a partial skeleton including the spines, other vertebrae, pelvic bones, a thigh bone and teeth.

Northeastern Spain during Morelladon's time alternated between wet and dry periods, with strong temperature variations ranging from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Escaso said the main predator in the area was Baryonyx, a relative of Spinosaurus, and there were other plant-eating dinosaurs around as well as crocodilians and the flying reptiles called pterosaurs.

The research was published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

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By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.reuters.com/">Reuters</a>

Image Credit: Carlos de Miguel Chaves

125 million year-old dinosaur fossil found in Spain

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a 125-million year old...

A love hormone called oxytocin prompts parents to fight back if their children are threatened, a new study found.

Oxytocin is responsible for the bonding between mothers and their young, and within couples. Its effects are not well understood, according to the study by <a href="http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/champalimaud-centre-unknown/">Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a> in Lisbon, Portugal.

From birds to mammals to fish to reptiles, the immediate reaction to an impending threat to the animal itself is usually to flee or to stop moving in an attempt to go unnoticed. But when <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/parents-addicted-smartphones-kids/">parents</a> feel threatened in the presence of their young, their reaction is completely different: they seek to protect them.

The release of oxytocin inhibits the basic self-defense reaction scientists call freezing, when the animal ceases to move, the study said.

Researchers studied female rats that had recently given birth.

"We manipulated a circuit where we know precisely how oxytocin leads to inhibition of freezing,” said study leader Marta Moita. “So we are very sure of our interpretation of the behavioral results."

The experiments consisted in conditioning the mother rats, in the absence of their pups, to associate a peppermint scent with the imminence of an innocuous electric shock. After training, these female rats perceived the odor as a threat and froze accordingly.

But when the pups were present, the mothers didn't freeze. Instead, they tried to protect their offspring from the peppermint odor by attacking the tube where the odor was coming from, or by piling up bits of material from the nest to block the tube.

The findings provides a new experimental framework "to study the signals transmitted by the pups that make their mother's brain release oxytocin into the amygdala in the face of danger, triggering the defensive strategy to protect their offspring,” said Moita.

Researchers still haven’t identified the sensory stimuli that activate oxytocin, she added.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/about">eLife</a>. 

 --

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/champalimaud-centre-unknown/">Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a>

Love hormone causes parents to fight to protect their children

A love hormone called oxytocin prompts parents to fight back...

While most spiders sit and wait for insects to blunder into their webs, ground spiders actively ambush their prey, snaring them with a special type of piriform silk, a new study says.

The ground spiders even pick fights with larger insects, according to the study.

Researchers pitted Drassodex heeri ground spiders with giant house spiders, lace webbed spiders, and silver-sided sector spiders and filmed the encounters.

“The attacks can be very quick; it can be hard to distinguish what is going on,” said researcher Jonas Wolff of <a href="https://www.mq.edu.au/">Macquarie University</a> in Australia.

Slowing the film down, Wolff saw that the ground spider attaches silk to the floor of the enclosure before running quickly around its prey, producing a trail of sticky thread that dried quickly, ensnaring the victim's legs.

The silk produced by the Drassodex spider is extremely tough, capable of withstanding 750 times the stresses that artificial glues can endure, the study found.

The spigots through which piriform silk is expelled are much larger than those of other species. This enables the spider to eject a thick layer of glue at high speed in order to overwhelm victims that may lash out and injure them, the study said.

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/spiders-eyes-measure-distance/">spiders</a> also have have a unique anti-clogging mechanism, the researchers found. The spigot remains closed until just before they deploy the silk, when the fluid pressure in the spider’s body rises and the spigot pops open.

Enlarged piriform silk glands prevent Drassodex spiders from spinning the densely packed piriform silk disks into webs.

“This is a textbook example of a trade-off, where a highly efficient prey capture mechanism has evolved at the cost of reduced thread attachment, which is a basic function in all spiders,” Wolff said. 

The study is published in the <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.

 --

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.biologists.com/">The Company of Biologists</a>

Ground spiders ambush prey with sticky milk

While most spiders sit and wait for insects to blunder...

As female elk get older, they also get wiser about avoiding hunters, a new study found.

By the age of 10, female elk are ”nearly invulnerable” to human hunters, according the <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/">University of Alberta</a> study.

Henrik Thurfjell and colleagues fitted 49 female elk, aged 1 to 18 years old, with GPS radio collars and tracked them for 2-4 years. The data collected included distance traveled with time, terrain ruggedness (slope), and forest cover. 

The researchers found that older female elk reduced their movement rates, thereby lowering their detectability and the likelihood of encountering human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hunting-reduces-populations/">hunters</a>. 

Older female elk also increased their use of safer grounds -- rugged terrain and forest -- when they were near roads, where the likelihood of being spotted by hunters is highest. 

The study also found that elk could differentiate between bow and rifle hunters. Older females used rugged terrain more during the season for bow hunting than during that for rifle hunting, presumably reflecting the fact that bow hunters need to stalk their prey closely and this is more difficult on slopes.

Rifle hunters, however, can shoot over distances of up to 300 meters.

The results could have have implications for managers trying to influence animal behavior through learning, the authors said. Even a low risk could induce avoidance behavior in more experienced animals, the researchers said.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>

Image Credit: Mark Boyce

Female elk learn to avoid hunters over time

As female elk get older, they also get wiser about...

A new study in ACS’ journal <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a> of hair samples of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears has shown a significant drop in mercury in recent years.

“Great!” you’re probably thinking, “because mercury is bad, right?” Well technically yes, but researchers think this may actually be a worrying trend. Melissa McKinney and her colleagues think this decrease in mercury levels may be an indication of how climate change has affected their foraging habits, which in turn has affected their diets and body mass.

Previously, other research has found that mercury in the environment – which may be either naturally occurring or come from industrial activities such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/kentucky-coal-mining-museum-solar/">coal</a> burning – accumulates in the hair and tissue of the southern Beaufort Sea polar bear. These mercury levels have been found to be at concentrations known to cause harmful effects.

Polar bears are also exposed to mercury through their diets, which mostly consist of seals and whales. However, other research has shown that with the decline of seasonal sea ice, polar bears’ diets have changed. In their study, McKinney and colleagues investigated how this shift might affect polar bears’ mercury levels.

The scientists collected hair samples from these polar bears between 2004 and 2011, analyzing the samples for mercury. Their data revealed a decline in mercury levels among adults of about 13 percent per year.

Through analysis of the bears’ body mass and food sources, they reasoned that the drop in mercury was likely due to the change in the polar bears’ diet and their increasing BMI. Specifically, they believe the polar bears are eating more bowhead whales and bearded seals, which contain less mercury than the ringed seals that the bears used to prey upon more often.

As we attempt to understand the countless impacts of climate change, it’s important that we track our world’s flora and fauna on a micro level as well as a macro level. Changes as significant as enormous loss of sea ice can have effects as tiny as levels of mercury in polar bears.

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By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html">American Chemical Society</a>

Declining mercury levels in polar bears due to climate change?

A new study in ACS’ journal Environmental Science &amp; Technology...

A jawbone fossil uncovered at a dig site in central Mexico is giving researchers new insight into the intercontinental immigration of animals millions of years ago. The remains, which turned out to be those of an ancient sea otter, are evidence of an unanticipated migratory path across America. 

Jack Tseng of the <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a> examined the jawbone which contained several teeth. The molar was strikingly similar to a tooth from an ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-otters-dolphins-smartest/">sea otter</a> fossil recovered in Florida. 

"We compared it to the original tooth from Florida, based on the cusps and the size, it couldn't be anything else," Tseng said. 

Ancient otter remains had been previously found in Florida and California, yet researchers did not know the path the animals took across the continent. Fossils found in Florida are older than those in California, which led scientists to believe the animals migrated from east to west. It was theorized that this trip may have been taken through Northern Canada or south across Panama. 

The location of this six-million-year old fossil in central Mexico is a breakthrough. It indicates an unpredicted migration route through Mexico during the Miocene Epoch, which occurred 23 million to 5 million years ago. The researchers believe this otter was making its way from east to west along the northern edge of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

The findings of this study, published in the journal Biology Letters, suggest that fossil sites in Mexico may produce more records from the Miocene Epoch. This area may also give scientists a new look at The Great American Biotic Exchange, a historical event in which animals interchanged between North and South America by way of land bridges in Central America. 

"Compared to the U.S., Mexico is a blank slate in terms of paleontology," Tseng said. "Now that we have this evidence of these animals moving through Mexico, we can now look for evidence of other animals doing the same."

[caption id="attachment_451571" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-13-at-2.58.07-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-451571" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-13-at-2.58.07-PM-300x121.png" alt="" width="300" height="121" /></a> Image Credit: University at Buffalo[/caption]

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a>

Image Credit: University at Buffalo

Otter fossil suggests ancient mammals migrated across America

A jawbone fossil uncovered at a dig site in central...

The Internet is full of stories about heroic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wolves-dogs-understand-inequality/">dogs</a>, cats, sea animals, goats and potbelly pigs, among other lifesaving species. We’ve come up with a few extra special real life stories where animal heroes went out of their way to protect or save people with little regard for their own safety.

One of many heroic pooches -- When you think of pet heroes, your mind goes to dogs. Or it should. We can’t think of too many lifesaving ferrets, goats or parrots (but they’re out there). So here’s one of our favorite canine stories.

Eve and Norman Fertig were octogenarians who owned a wildlife sanctuary -- and a huge German Shepherd - wolf mix named Shana. In 1999, they stepped outside their door without coats to feed their animals and got caught in a freak snowstorm. It downed trees in such a way that it trapped the couple, who huddled to stay warm, for hours, too exhausted to climb over or under the barrier. Shana came to the rescue, spending hours burrowing a snow tunnel to them, then two hours guiding them through the tunnel to freedom, with Eve Fertig on her back. <a href="http://www.rd.com/advice/pets/heroic-dogs/2/">Here’s the Reader’s Digest story</a> about Shana and three other pooch heroes. 

Oceans’ worth of life saving dolphins -- Those of us of a certain age remember Flipper, the here bottlenose dolphin. If Lassie was the good-doer of terra firma, Flipper benevolently ruled the seas. You’ll find several good stories on Dolphins-World, <a href="http://www.dolphins-world.com/dolphins-rescuing-humans/">here</a>. 

Another favorite dolphin story stars Filippo, who saved from drowning a small boy who’d fallen off a boat. <a href="https://mom.me/pets/9933-10-life-saving-animals/item/saved-drowning/">Read more here</a>.

Tara, the dog-hating cat -- The Los Angeles chapter of the <a href="https://www.aspca.org/">American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals</a> grants an annual Hero Dog Award to a deserving pooch. But in 2015, they had to change the award to ‘Cat’ after Tara stepped into action.

When a neighborhood dog grabbed her family’s four-year-old off his bike and began to drag him away, the fur flew. There’s a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzpvziYnBBk">YouTube video</a> that captures the action on surveillance cams. Sure, it might have just been a good excuse to attack a neighborhood dog that really got Tara’s goat, but she did punch out a much bigger bully to save a pre-schooler. So, whatever her motivation, Tara is a doggone hero in our book. 

A chatty warning from a parrot -- We all know parrot’s can talk. But they’re really only, well, parroting sounds. They don’t really know what they’re saying. Except for that one time <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1164490/Mama-baby-How-hero-parrot-saved-little-girl-choking-breakfast.html">Willie</a> got the job done. The bird’s 19-year-old owner, Meagan (known as “Mama” by Willie), was watching her roommate’s two-year-old daughter when she stepped out of the room briefly. “Mama, baby! Mama, baby!” the bird shrieked. Meagan rushed back to find the little girl choking on food. She successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on the child and credited her pet parrot -- who, curiously enough, had never before used the word “baby” -- with sounding the lifesaving alarm. 

Yes, another dog story -- What would we do without man’s best friend? <a href="http://dogtime.com/dog-health/dog-behavior/18381-dog-saves-baby-from-abusive-babysitter">Killan</a> was a black lab and German shepherd mix who loved everyone -- except seven-month-old Finn’s babysitter. The dog’s snarling and growling when around the sitter caused Finn’s parents to leave a smartphone audio recorder behind the next time they left the child with the woman. They were shocked to hear the sitter cursing and apparently slapping their baby. The sitter was later convicted of child abuse and sentenced to three years in prison. And Killan hopefully got a dog bone as long as his tail.

Porcine pet squeals on fire -- Sure, this is another pet-warns-family-of-smoke story, and yes, we’re reluctant to include such stories in this roundup since we believe the pet might be trying to save its own hide, not necessarily that of its family. But…this is about a pet pig, so cut us some slack.

<a href="http://time.com/2852984/hero-pig-saves-family-from-fire/">Lucky</a> woke up its human family at 4:40 am as its mobile home started filling with smoke. The homeowner and her two grandkids got out alive, thanks to the obnoxious but heroic grunts and squeals of this little piggie. We think it’s worth a squeal-out. 

Last dog story -- History has many tales (tails?) of lifesaving dogs, but <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2014/05/dogs_of_war_sergeant_stubby_the_u_s_army_s_original_and_still_most_highly.html">Sgt. Stubby</a> is our favorite. The pit bull mix found himself on the field of battle during World War I with the 102 Infantry, Yankee Division. He took his sniffer to the front by barking poison gas warnings in time for his comrades to don masks. On another occasion, Stubby alerted to the presence of a German spy, an action that earned him a promotion. Sgt. Stubby is the only dog to have attained the rank of sergeant in the U.S. Army for combat heroics. He’s sort of the Sgt. York of the canine population. 

--

By <a href="mailto:DSearls@earth.com">David Searls</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth.com presents: Animal heroes

The Internet is full of stories about heroic dogs, cats,...

Scientists have discovered a new way to count fish by listening to their mating calls.

The research team from <a href="https://utmsi.utexas.edu/">The University of Texas Marine Science Institute</a> and <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/">Scripps Institution of Oceanography</a> used underwater microphones to estimate how many fish are in a spawning aggregation, based on their mating calls.

Each spring, the entire adult population of Gulf corvina, totally more than 2 million fish, migrates to a small area at the northern tip of the Gulf of California, the study said. Male mating calls reach 192 decibels, enough to damage human eardrums if it were on land.

"It's louder than a rock concert," said Brad Erisman, assistant professor at UTMSI and co-author of the study. "It's louder than standing less than a meter from a chain saw."

The noise leads fishers to the corvina spawning aggregations. Over about 20 nights each spring, they can harvest more than a million fish with minimal effort. Because the entire species spawns in one place, they are extremely vulnerable.

Accurate data on when and where fish spawn, as well as how many there are, would help <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/late-bloomer-dolphins-risk/">fisheries</a> design effective management practices and monitor the ongoing health of a fishery, the authors said.

"Our work opens an acoustic window into these exciting spawning events," Erisman said.

The researchers developed the method specifically for the Gulf corvina but it can be adapted to any fish that make courtship sounds. This includes cod, groupers, croakers, and the endangered totoaba, a species that is also endemic to the Gulf of California, the study said.

The new acoustic method for monitoring spawning populations could help ensure that corvina fishing is sustainable in the long run, the authors said.

"The fishers are by no means the enemy here," said Erisman. "They're actually the ones who have provided us with all the information and access to the resource, and they're the ones most interested in sustainability."

Nearly a third of the world's fish stocks are being harvested faster than they can reproduce, the study said.

Species that spawn seasonally in large groups are especially vulnerable because they are easier for fishers to locate and are plucked from the water often before they've seeded the next generation, according to the study, which is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-03383-8">Scientific Reports</a>.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a>

How listening to fish mating calls could help protect them

Scientists have discovered a new way to count fish by...

Most U.S. travelers can’t identify bed bugs but they hate them all the same, a new study found.

Just 35 percent of business travelers and 28 percent of leisure travelers correctly identified a bed bug in a lineup of other common insects, the <a href="http://www.uky.edu/">University of Kentucky</a> study found.

In the survey, 60 percent of travelers said they would switch hotels if they found evidence of bed bugs in a guest room. But no more than a quarter said they would switch hotels for factors such as signs of smoking or dirty towels or linens, the survey found.

"Considering all the media attention paid to bed bugs in recent years, the fact that most travelers still have a poor understanding of them is troubling," said Michael Potter, professor in <a href="https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/">UK's Department of Entomology</a> and co-author of the study.

For the hospitality industry, bed bugs are particularly problematic given the central role online reviews play in selection of where to stay. More than half of survey respondents said they would be very unlikely to choose a hotel with a single online report of bed bugs.

"From a hotel industry perspective, it's worrisome that a single online report of bed bugs would cause the majority of travelers to book different accommodations, irrespective of whether the report is accurate,” said Jerrod M. Penn, postdoctoral scholar in UK's Department of Agricultural Economics and lead author of the study. “Furthermore, the incident could have involved only one or a few rooms, which the hotel previously eradicated." 

The public's lack of understanding of bed bugs "contributes to their spread throughout society as a whole," Potter said. “But the hospitality industry must deal with both the pest itself and consumers' strong, if ill-informed, attitudes about bed bugs.”

Hotels and others in the hospitality sector should develop a reputation management plan to prudently respond to online reports of bed bugs in their facilities the study says. 

Hotels should also train their housekeeping and engineering staffs to recognize and report <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bed-bugs-increasingly-resistant/">bed bugs</a> in the earliest possible stages, when infestations are more manageable, according to the study, which is published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ae">American Entomologist</a>.

Similarly important is training front desk and customer service employees to respond promptly and empathetically when incidents arise within the hotel," says Dr. Wuyang Hu, professor in UK's Department of Agricultural Economics and senior author of the study.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.entsoc.org/">Entomological Society of America</a>

Travelers have strong feelings, little knowledge about bed bugs

Most U.S. travelers can’t identify bed bugs but they hate...

Genes determine the music of songbirds. Genetics explains why songbirds learn the tunes of their own species rather than those of other birds, according to a new study.

Researchers at <a href="https://www.uu.se/en/">Uppsala University</a> in Sweden swapped eggs from two species of flycatchers so that they were raised completely by <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/parents-addicted-smartphones-kids/">parents</a> from the other <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=species&amp;cvid=ad7d11c04be44789aed27070cf07ca68&amp;pglt=43&amp;FORM=ANNTA1&amp;PC=HCTS">species. </a>

The young birds discriminated in favor of their own species' songs, even though they had no experience with their own species. This demonstrated that song choice is not a result of early learning, the study found.

The researchers also found that hybrid birds, with parents from each species, discriminated in favor of the songs of only one of the species, the pied flycatcher. Genes determine the music of songbirds

“A genetic basis for song discrimination in early life may help explain how song differences are maintained in a noisy, diverse world,” said David Wheatcroft, researcher at the Department of Ecology and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/genetics-will-show-which-corals-can-resist-bleaching/">Genetics</a> at Uppsala University and co-author of the study.

The song learning process in birds and the language learning process in humans “share remarkable behavioral and neural parallels,” the authors said. “One of the longest standing problems has been to determine how the brain encodes the vocal memories that underlie learning.“

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley, </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.uu.se/en/">Uppsala University</a>

Genes determine the music of songbirds

Genes determine the music of songbirds. Genetics explains why songbirds...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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