Can farms produce enough food to feed us while still leaving space for wildlife? A new proposal says they can.



By setting aside one-fifth of farmland for nature, and tweaking everyday practices on the rest, we can help wildlife recover without sacrificing the food on our tables.



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



The plan comes from ecologists at the <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/">UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology</a> and the University of Alcalá in Spain. Study co-author Professor James Bullock elaborated on the importance of the research.



“Reversing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-calls-for-global-change-to-stop-biodiversity-loss/">biodiversity loss</a> and degradation of ecosystems is essential both for nature as well as long-term global food security. But there is no single silver bullet for nature recovery and so far it has been unclear how to integrate rewilding into agricultural landscapes," said Professor Bullock. 



“Our proposed approach moves beyond land sparing versus land sharing. We believe rewilding can be interwoven into agricultural landscapes and could be key to maintaining <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/increasing-plant-based-food-production-would-have-extremely-positive-impact/">food production</a> in a way that is sustainable in the long term for people and the planet.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dedicating-land-to-nature-recovery">Dedicating land to nature recovery</h2>



According to the study, fostering rewilding approaches alongside farming could create agroecological landscapes that accommodate biodiversity while remaining resilient and functionally connected. Certain incentives would encourage farmers to adopt this approach.



“While setting aside land for nature recovery could potentially be made a legal requirement for farmers and landowners, there is more likely to be acceptance and success of rewilding if there are incentives in the form of payments for ecosystem services and tax deductions,” noted Professor José María Rey Benayas, lead author on the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-farming-needs-wildlife">Why farming needs wildlife</h2>



Modern farming has greatly increased food production since the 1940s. But this has often come at the expense of nature. 



Clearing land, using heavy fertilizers and pesticides, and removing natural features like hedgerows have pushed many plant and animal species to the edge.



This loss doesn’t just affect wildlife - it disrupts vital services that farms depend on, such as healthy soil, natural pest control, and water retention. As these services decline, the long-term productivity and resilience of farming systems are put at risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cost-of-declining-wildlife">The cost of declining wildlife</h2>



Across Europe and beyond, once-common species are disappearing from farmland. For example, the U.K. has lost over 40 million birds since 1970, and wild bee populations have declined in more than half of European countries, according to multiple long-term surveys.



These animals aren’t just part of the scenery - they’re key to food production. Birds eat crop pests. Bees and other insects pollinate the flowers that develop into fruits and vegetables. Their loss means greater reliance on artificial fertilisers, pesticides, and expensive manual labour.



Bringing wildlife back isn’t just a conservation goal - it’s a practical step toward more affordable and reliable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mixed-cover-crops-may-be-the-future-of-sustainable-farming/">farming</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-steps-to-farming-alongside-wildlife">Steps to farming alongside wildlife </h2>



The researchers suggest a four-part plan that links nature conservation with everyday farming. 



First, they recommend reserving at least 20% of farmland for nature. This space would include large patches of woodland, wetlands, and species-rich grassland to form strong core habitats. 



Second, these patches should be connected by green corridors - such as hedgerows, ponds, and strips of scrubland - that allow wildlife to move, feed, and reproduce.



Third, they propose protecting small hotspots within working fields. This would involve setting aside about 10% of cropped land for flower strips, beetle banks, and bird perches, bringing the total to the 30% global restoration goal. 



Finally, they call for small changes in daily farming practices, like reducing chemical use, planting flowers for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pollinators-face-extinction-risk-due-to-climate-change/">pollinators</a>, and letting livestock graze more freely to help spread seeds and support healthy soil.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rewilding-has-benefits-for-farmers">Rewilding has benefits for farmers</h2>



Many European regions cannot host bears or bison. However, smaller species such as lynx, wildcat, or European hare can still boost ecosystem health. Choosing the right mix depends on local conditions.



Helping wildlife can pay off in more ways than one. When farms support natural habitats, they often see practical benefits in return. 



Better soil retains more water and nutrients, which supports stronger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farmers-can-help-make-crops-more-resilient/">crops</a>. Pollinators and natural predators of pests can help increase yields in nearby fields. 



Farmers may also spend less on fertilizers and pesticides, lowering overall input costs. In some places, governments might provide payments or tax breaks to reward efforts that support biodiversity and ecosystem services.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-room-for-wildlife">Making room for wildlife</h2>



Reaching the 20% target may be challenging for small farms, but collective action can make it achievable. At the same time, each region will need to adapt the plan to fit its local conditions. 



Areas with heavily degraded farmland have the most to gain, while places with traditional, low-impact farming may require fewer changes. 



The researchers emphasize that this is just a starting point - but the message is clear: making room for wildlife alongside farming can help secure both indigenous species and food for the future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2860">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a>.



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Farming for wildlife: How traditional practices can protect nature

Can farms produce enough food to feed us while still leaving space for wildlife? A new proposal says they can. By setting aside one-fifth of farmland for nature, and tweaking everyday practices on the rest, we can help wildlife recover without sacrificing the food on our tables. Farming with wildlife in mind The plan comes from ecologists at the UK Centre for Ecology &amp; Hydrology and the University of Alcalá in Spain. Study co-author Professor James Bullock elaborated on the importance of the research. “Reversing biodiversity loss...

In recent years, an increasing number of smartphone spyware apps have been developed. Between September 2020 and May 2021, the use of such apps increased by 63 percent in the U.S. and 93 percent in the UK, posing significant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wireless-security-cameras-have-unexpected-privacy-risks/">privacy risks</a>.&nbsp;



While publicly marketed as tools for monitoring underage children or employees, these apps – which are hard to notice or detect and will easily leak the sensitive personal information they collect - are also frequently used by people to covertly spy on a spouse, partner, or other individuals.&nbsp;



Spyware apps are rather cheap (with a monthly fee ranging between $30 and $100), require little to no technical expertise to install and use, only need temporary access to their victims’ devices, and can easily record these devices’ activities – such as text messages, emails, photos, or voice calls – and allow abusers to remotely review this information through a web portal.



Now, a team of scientists from the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a> and <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> (NYU) has performed an in-depth technical analysis of 14 leading spyware apps for Android phones, which – by contrast to iPhones - commonly allow such invasive apps to be downloaded from the internet.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that these apps use a wide range of techniques to surreptitiously gather data (such as invisible browsers), can record phone calls via the device’s microphone, can exploit accessibility features on smartphones allowing them to record keystrokes, and can masquerade as “Wi-Fi” or “Internet Service.”



Moreover, since spyware apps often use unencrypted communication channels to transmit the data they collect and store it in public URLs accessible to anyone with a link, their protection of sensitive user data is minimal.



According to the researchers, in order to counter spyware, a more creative, diverse, and comprehensive set of interventions from the industry, government, and the scientific community is urgently needed.&nbsp;



“Our recommendation is that Android should enforce stricter requirements on what apps can hide icons. Most apps that run on Android phones should be required to have an icon that would appear in the launch bar. We recommend that all actions to access sensitive data be added to the privacy dashboard and that users should be periodically notified of the existence of apps with an excessive number of permissions,” the authors wrote.



“While technical defenses can be part of the solution, the problem scope is much bigger. A broader range of measures should be considered, including payment interventions from companies such as Visa and Paypal, regular crackdowns from the government, and further law enforcement action may also be necessary to prevent surveillance from becoming a consumer commodity,” they concluded.



The study – which will be presented this summer at the <a href="https://petsymposium.org/">Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium</a> in Zurich, Switzerland - can be found <a href="https://www.sysnet.ucsd.edu/~voelker/pubs/spyware-pets23.pdf">here</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Is your smartphone spying on you?

In recent years, an increasing number of smartphone spyware apps...

South Col - a windswept, snow-free rocky dip located five miles above sea level in the Himalayan Mountains between Mount Everest and its sister peak Lhotse – is the place where hundreds of adventurers camp each year before attempting to climb the world’s largest peak from the southeastern side.&nbsp;



According to a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a>, they are also leaving behind a frozen legacy of highly resistant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-can-deep-ocean-microbes-survive-without-sunlight/">microbes</a> that can survive harsh conditions at high elevations and lie dormant in the soil for decades or even centuries. While highlighting the invisible impact of tourism on the world’s highest mountains, these findings also provide a better understanding of the environmental limits to life on our planet, as well as in other places in the universe where life may exist.&nbsp;



The scientists collected soil samples from South Col and analyzed them in several labs at CU Boulder by using both traditional culturing techniques and next-generation gene sequencing methods, in order to determine the diversity of microorganisms found in the samples.&nbsp;



The analyses revealed that most of the microbial DNA sequences were similar to hardy, or “extremophilic” organisms previously detected in other high-elevation sites in the Antarctica or the Andes, with the most abundant organism being a fungus in the genus Naganishia, which is known to be able to withstand extremely high levels of cold and ultraviolet radiation.&nbsp;



Surprisingly though, the experts also found microbial DNA of some organisms heavily associated with humans such as Staphylococcus, one of the most widespread skin and nose bacteria, and&nbsp;Streptococcus, a type of microbe usually infecting the human mouth. While the researchers were not surprised that humans left behind microorganisms – since microbes are nearly everywhere and can easily move around through the air at significant distances from camps or trails – they were nevertheless impressed by the fact that certain microbes which have evolved to thrive in warm and wet environments such as our noses and mouths are resilient enough to survive in a dormant state in the extremely harsh conditions from South Col.&nbsp;



Although the impact of these microbes on the Himalayan environment is expected to be minimal, their presence there raises alarm for humans’ possible impact on extraterrestrial worlds that we may one day be able to travel to. “We might find life on other planets and cold moons. We’ll have to be careful to make sure we’re not contaminating them with our own,” concluded senior author Steven Schmid, a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2023.2164999">Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Humans are leaving behind microbes on Mount Everest

South Col - a windswept, snow-free rocky dip located five...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-gut-microbiome-is-shaped-by-what-we-eat/">gut</a> is home to a vast array of microorganims that can influence both health and disease. While some of them are known to contribute to the development of inflammatory conditions, such as the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the precise sequence of events that lead from these microbes to immune cells to disease remains a mystery.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a> (BWH) has explored what drives the generation of Th17 (Interleukin-17-producing T helper) cells – a type of cells which, on the one hand, play a crucial role by helping to build a protective barrier in the gut that, when encountering a bacterial or fungal infection, releases signals causing the body to produce more Th17 cells, but on the other hand, are also implicated in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBD. The scientists were surprised to discover that the purine metabolite xanthine, which is found in coffee, tea, and chocolate, may have a fundamental role in Th17 differentiation.



“One of the concepts in our field is that microbes are required for Th17 cell differentiation, but our study suggests that there may be exceptions,” said co-lead auhor Jinzhi Duan, an expert in Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endoscopy at BWH. “We studied the underlying mechanisms of Th17 cell generation in the gut and found some surprising results that may help us to better understand how and why diseases like IBD may develop.”



“Sometimes in research, we make these serendipitous discoveries—it’s not necessarily something you sought out, but it’s an interesting finding that opens up further areas of inquiry,” added senior author Richard Blumberg, a gastroenterologist at the same institution. “It’s too soon to speculate on whether the amount of xanthine in a cup of coffee leads to helpful or harmful effects in a person’s gut, but it gives us interesting leads to follow up on as we pursue ways to generate a protective response and stronger barrier in the intestine.”



By using several mouse models to examine the molecular events which trigger the development of Th17 cells, the researchers were surprised to find that Th17 cells could proliferate even in germ-free mice, with endoplasmic reticulum stress in intestinal epithelial cells driving Th17 cell differentiation through purine metabolites like xanthine, even in animals which did not carry microbes. Moreover, these cells’ genetic signatures suggested they might have protective properties.



Since this study was limited to cells in the intestine, further research is needed to examine the relation between these cells and other organs, such as the skin or the lungs, which may have a critical influence on disease outcomes. More investigations are also necessary to determine what causes Th17 cells to sometimes become pathogenic.



“While we don’t yet know what’s causing pathogenesis, the tools we have developed here may take us a step closer to understanding what causes disease and what could help resolve or prevent it,” Blumberg concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2023.02.018">Immunity</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Coffee component may play a key role in gut health

The gut is home to a vast array of microorganims...

Much previous research has shown evidence linking childhood obesity to increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), particularly for children who are obese. U.S. data indicate that overweight children are 1.54 times as likely to have elevated blood pressure as children of average weight. For obese children, this prevalence ratio is 3.05 times.



However, the definition of what is normal weight for children is fairly broad. No information exists about the risks of hypertension for children whose body mass index (BMI) is on the high side of normal, but who are not defined as being overweight. Furthermore, there is no understanding of whether a child’s risk of hypertension changes if he or she gains extra weight (in addition to average expected increase) during childhood. A new study of over 800,000 youth between the ages of 3 and 17 has now addressed these gaps in knowledge.



The study looked retrospectively at the electronic health records of 801,019 young people who were members of <a href="https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/">Kaiser Permanente</a> in Southern California between 2008 and 2015. The researchers considered the initial BMI and blood pressure of youths when they first joined the study, and monitored changes in these two variables during the 5-year follow-up period. They divided normal body weight into low (5th-39th percentiles), medium (40th-59th percentiles), and high (60th-84th percentiles) to provide insight into the risk of hypertension at a range of “normal” weights below the threshold for overweight.&nbsp;



The results of the analysis show that, in this cohort study of youths, high normal body weight (above the 60th percentile of BMI for age) was associated with increased risk of hypertension. In addition, extra weight gain was associated with further increases in hypertension risk. These findings are published in JAMA Network Open, and reveal the following:&nbsp;



<ul>
<li>Compared to youths in the medium range of average weight, the risk of developing hypertension within five years was 26 percent higher for youths at the high end of the average weight range.</li>



<li>Children gain weight over time. Every BMI unit gained per year increases their risk of hypertension by 4 percent.</li>



<li>The rate of hypertension was higher among boys than girls, and among youth on state-subsidized health plans in comparison to those not on state-subsidized health plans.</li>
</ul>



“Hypertension during youth tracks into adulthood and is associated with cardiac and vascular organ damage. Since the organ damage can be irreversible, preventing hypertension in our young people is critically important,” said study lead author Dr.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kp-scalresearch.org/investigator/corinna-koebnick-phd-msc/">Corinna Koebnick</a> of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research &amp; Evaluation. “The findings of this study of hypertension among a diverse population of children in Southern California show us the detrimental effects of even a few extra pounds on our young people.”



“This study underscores the need for medical professionals to re-evaluate how we correlate and educate about health risks across the spectrum of weight in growing children,” said study senior author Dr.&nbsp;<a href="https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/southern-california/physicians/poornima-kunani-2148147">Poornima Kunani</a>, a pediatrician and researcher at the <a href="https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/">Kaiser Permanente</a> Manhattan Beach Medical Office. “Obesity may be the most important risk factor for hypertension during childhood. Parents should talk to their pediatrician to see if their child might be at risk for hypertension and other preventable chronic medical conditions related to obesity. They can help you with strategies for developing habits to keep your child healthy through adulthood.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Just a few extra pounds increases hypertension risk in kids 

Much previous research has shown evidence linking childhood obesity to...

In a new study from <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a>, experts have found that strong winds can increase the spread of pathogens at outdoor chicken farms. The research was focused on the prevalence of Campylobacter - the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness - at chicken farms in the western United States.



Across farms that had experienced high winds the week before the samples were collected, the pathogen was found to be more widespread.&nbsp;



“Farmers need to be aware of the risk,” said study co-lead author Olivia Smith. “These environmental factors are influencing if the poultry are going to have foodborne pathogens, so farmers need to be aware of what's around them. If there's a lot of wind and if they're in really agricultural areas, that's a problem.”



For the investigation, the researchers collected samples of chicken feces at 27 farms in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. On most of the farms, samples were taken once a year for three years.&nbsp;



Overall, more than 85 percent of the farms had some instance of Campylobacter during the study period.&nbsp;



"We found that 26.0% of individual chicken fecal samples we tested were positive for Campylobacter spp.," wrote the study authors. "Our analyses suggest that Campylobacter spp. prevalence increases in poultry on farms with higher average wind speeds in the seven days preceding sampling; on farms embedded in more agricultural landscapes; and in flocks typified by younger birds, more rotations, higher flock densities, and the production of broilers."



Study senior author Jeb Owen, a WSU entomologist, said that farmers should set up a professional relationship with a veterinarian to get their flocks checked and monitored on a regular basis. “Whether for productivity or for animal welfare, you don't want your animals to be sick.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13030492">Animals</a>.



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



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Strong winds help pathogens spread on poultry farms

In a new study from Washington State University, experts have...

Moon,Surface,With,Dark,Side.,Earth,On,Background.,Elements,Of

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) <a href="https://www.bnl.gov/">Brookhaven National Laboratory</a> are attempting to design and land a radio telescope on the dark side moon in the hopes of being the first to begin the exploration of the Dark Ages of the universe.



The Dark Ages started approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang when no stars or planets existed. Radio waves on the moon’s dark side could give us insight into this mysterious period.



“Modeling the universe is easier before stars have formed. We can calculate almost everything exactly,” explained Brookhaven physicist Anže Slosar. “So far, we can only make predictions about earlier stages of the universe using a benchmark called the cosmic microwave background. The Dark Ages Signal would provide a new benchmark.”



The new project, the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night), seeks to move beyond predictions by accessing the Dark Ages Signal for the first time.&nbsp;



The task is not simple due to environmental conditions. The dark side is in total darkness for 14 Earth days, followed by intense sunlight. This dramatic change means the area can go from -280 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Building a telescope that can sustain these temperature fluctuations presents many challenges.



“The moon is easier to reach than Mars, but everything else is more challenging,” said Paul O’Connor, a senior scientist in Brookhaven’s Instrumentation Division and LuSEE-Night Project Instrument Scientist. “There's a reason only one robotic rover has landed on the Moon in the last 50 years, while six went to Mars, which is 100 times farther away. It’s a vacuum environment, which makes removing heat difficult, and there’s a bunch of radiation."



Despite these challenges, the Brookhaven team feels confident that they can build a capable telescope.



“LuSEE-Night is not a standard radio telescope,” said Slosar. “The spectrometer is at the heart of it. Like a radio tuner, it can separate out radio frequencies. That’s where our expertise gives us a starting point. Even though nobody has built an instrument like this before, we know how to build the most crucial component - a very sensitive spectrometer.”



The LuSEE-Night’s primary goal is to test whether radio cosmology experiments are possible on the moon’s far side. The team is also designing the telescope to collect data for two years in the hopes that it will uncover some of our universe’s darkest mysteries.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Lunar telescope may explore the Dark Ages of our universe 

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National...

Despite increased efforts to curb human activities that harm the world’s oceans – such as overfishing, marine litter, pollution, microplastics, ocean acidity, and climate change – there is still an urgent need to fundamentally change the human-ocean relationship for both ecological and human benefits.&nbsp;



Marine citizenship is a term currently used by scientists to refer to people actively involved in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/high-seas-treaty-will-help-protect-the-worlds-oceans/">ocean protective measures</a>. However, until recently, research has mainly focused on individuals changing their personal behaviors as an expression of responsibility towards the world’s oceans, including awareness raising, environmental attitudes research, or environmental education.



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> and the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> has argued that the government and political institutions should do more to make citizens feel empowered and participate in marine environmental decision-making processes as a critical part of marine citizenship. Such an approach would take into consideration the societal and political dimensions of the human-ocean relationship, rather than focus solely on individual behavioral change.



“Our research shows that marine citizenship is much more than individual pro-environmental behaviors, and government and political institutions have a responsibility to engage individuals and their views when it comes to marine environmental decisions,” said study lead author Pamela Buchan, a postdoctoral fellow in Marine Biology and Marine Social Science Research at Exeter.



“Access for citizens to participate in environmental decisions is commonly via charities and conservation groups, however, this is criticized because individuals are unable to give a direct contribution. Our research shows that citizens feel that individuals have the least influence over discussions about the future of our oceans.”



According to Buchan and her colleagues, marine citizenship should be redefined in a way that recognizes rights as well as responsibilities. At the same time, governments and political institutions should challenge the public and scientific community to further examine the potential of marine citizenship to create transformative change.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280518">PLoS ONE</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Citizens should help determine the future of our oceans

Despite increased efforts to curb human activities that harm the...

It seems that spinning around in order to get dizzy is a universal human phenomenon. Children do it on swings, merry-go-rounds and carousels, while adults whirl during dances, circus acts and trances. In fact, some people earn their living by performing pirouettes, such as ballet dancers and suspended rope acts, while Ukrainian hopak dancers and Sufi whirling dervishes attest to the cultural and religious significance of spinning around.



Thanks to the structure of our inner ears, spinning around leads to the perception of a spinning world, light-headedness, head rushes, elation and altered states of mind, mood and consciousness. And, after scientists from the University of Warwick and the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> became aware of a viral video of a male gorilla spinning in a pool, they wondered whether the universal human enjoyment of twirling might have ancient roots in our ancestors and whether they perhaps also sought the altered mental states induced by spinning.&nbsp;



“Every culture has found a way of evading reality through dedicated and special rituals, practices, or ceremonies," said co-lead author Dr. Adriano Lameira. "This human trait of seeking altered states is so universal, historically and culturally, that it raises the intriguing possibility that this is something that has been potentially inherited from our evolutionary ancestors.&nbsp;If this was indeed the case, it would carry huge consequences for how we think about modern human cognition capacities and emotional needs.”&nbsp;



The scientists searched for YouTube videos showing apes spinning voluntarily. They identified 40 such videos that showed chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas or orangutans spinning around on the end of a rope. The footage showed a total of 132 bouts of spinning, composed of a total of 709 revolutions. The longest bout of spinning involved 28 revolutions, and the fastest revolution was measured at 5 rps.&nbsp;



The researchers found that on average, the primates in the videos revolved 5.5 times per spinning episode, with an average speed of 1.5 revolutions per second. The primates carried out three consecutive spins, on average. When compared with the spinning speeds of professional dancers and circus artists, the apes managed to rotate just as fast. But did they also suffer the consequences of dizziness and light headedness?



“Spinning alters our state of consciousness, it messes with our body-mind responsiveness and coordination, which make us feel sick, lightheaded, and even elated as in the case on children playing on merry-go-rounds, spinner-wheels, and carousels," explained Dr. Lameira.



“What we wanted to try to understand through this study is whether spinning can be studied as a primordial behavior that human ancestors would have been able to autonomously engage in and tap into other states of consciousness. If all great apes seek dizziness, then our ancestors are also highly likely to have done so."



“We asked ourselves what role these behaviors play when it comes to the origins of the human mind.&nbsp;The apes were doing this purposefully, almost as if they were dancing – a known mechanism in humans that universally facilitates mood regulation, social bonding and heightens the senses&nbsp;and&nbsp;is based on rotation movements. The parallel between what the apes were doing and what humans do was beyond coincidental."



The results showed that, when apes spun for a higher number of revolutions, they were more likely to let go of the rope or let it go slack at the end of the bout, suggesting that they experienced dizziness. “Closer inspection of the 43 cases when individuals released the rope revealed further evidence of dizziness: in 30 of the bouts, the animal immediately sat or laid down; in seven of the bouts, the animal moved a short distance and then sat or laid down; and in only six bouts did the animal keep its balance and remain on its feet," said the researchers.



When the team members self-experimented by spinning at these speeds and durations, they found it difficult to achieve the third bout of spins that the apes succeeded at, due to the induced dizziness. The researchers concluded that the apes continued spinning until they reach a state of dizziness.



“This would indicate that the primates deliberately keep spinning, despite starting to feel the effects of dizziness, until they are unable to keep their balance any longer,” explained study co-lead author Dr. Marcus Perlman.



Although the spinning apes could not verify this, the dizziness was likely to be accompanied by an altered state of mind. Previous studies which attempted to understand human motivation for self-inducing dizziness focused on the use of substances, such as alcohol or drugs. It is not known whether these substances were available to our human ancestors, but it is possible that they used spinning and induced dizziness to achieve alternative views of the world. The scientists say this new study could be more relevant to explain the role of altered states on the evolution of the human mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The further back in human history you look, the less certain we can be about the role that substance-induced experiences played in our evolution. It’s not clear whether our ancestors had access to mind altering substances, or if they had the tools and knowledge to create the substance,” explained Dr. Lameira. “For example, people may have had access to grapes, but you cannot assume they have the tools or the knowledge to create wine.”&nbsp;



The experts say that further research is needed to understand primates’ motivations for engaging in these behaviors, to understand why our own ancestors might also have been driven to seek out these spinning and mind-altering experiences. &nbsp;



“There could be a link to mental health here, as the primates we observed engaging in this behavior were mostly captive individuals, who may be bored and trying to stimulate their senses in some way.&nbsp;But it could also be a play behaviour. If you think about a child’s playground, almost all the playground apparatus – swings, slides, seesaws and roundabouts or merry-go-rounds – they are all designed to challenge your balance or disrupt the body-mind responses," said Dr. Lameira.



"There are some interesting parallels that should be investigated further, in order to understand why people are motivated to engage in these behaviors. It could very well be that we have been seeking and engaging in mind-altering experiences before we were even modern humans.”&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10329-023-01056-x">Primates</a>.



—



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Great apes spin to experience altered states of mind

It seems that spinning around in order to get dizzy...

While it is well known that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-patients-experience-changes-in-heart-tissue/">Covid-19</a> can cause a wide range of neurological problems, such as the loss of taste and smell, as well as impairments in memory, attention, speech, and language – commonly referred to as “brain fog” – a new study led by <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a> has recently found that it could also cause prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” a condition characterized by difficulty in recognizing familiar faces and navigational problems.&nbsp;



The experts worked with Annie, a 28-year-old woman who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in March 2020 and experienced a symptom relapse two months later. Shortly after, she started having difficulties with recognizing the faces of her family members, as well as spatial navigation issues, including problems remembering where particular sections in her grocery store were located or where she parked her car.



“The combination of prosopagnosia and navigational deficits that Annie had is something that caught our attention because the two deficits often go hand in hand after somebody either has had brain damage or developmental deficits,” explained study senior author&nbsp;Brad Duchaine, a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. “That co-occurrence is probably due to the two abilities depending on neighboring brain regions in the temporal lobe.”



The scientists conducted a series of tests with Annie to assess her deficits. In one of them, after being presented with 60 images of celebrity faces, she managed to correctly identify 29 percent of those she was familiar with, compared to people in a control group who managed to identify 84 percent of the familiar celebrities. In another, she was shown a celebrity’s name and was asked to identify that celebrity’s face from an image of the celebrity and one of someone similar, and succeeded in 69 percent of the cases, compared to the 87 percent success rate in the control group. Finally, after she was asked to learn six men’s faces and then distinguish between them and other faces – in a so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.07.001">Cambridge Face Memory Test</a> – she managed to do this in only 56 percent of the cases, compared to the 80 percent success rate of people without prosopagnosia.&nbsp;



“Our results from the test with unfamiliar faces show that it wasn’t just that Annie couldn’t recall the name or biographical information of a famous person that she was familiar with, but she really has trouble learning new identities,”&nbsp;said lead author Marie-Loise Kieseler, a graduate student in Psychology and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth.



To assess whether other people who had Covid-19 experienced similar problems, the researchers obtained data from nearly 100 individuals with long Covid. “Most respondents with long Covid reported that their cognitive and perceptual abilities had decreased since they had Covid, which was not surprising, but what was really fascinating was how many respondents reported deficits,” Kieseler said. “It was not just a small concentration of really impaired cases but a broad majority of people in the long Covid group reported noticeable difficulties doing things that they were able to do before contracting Covid-19 without any problems.”



Although none of these respondents seemed to have the severity of Annie’s symptoms, the scientists are sure that similar cases must exist, and urge individuals experiencing perceptual or vision problems possibly caused by Covid to contact them.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.012">Cortex</a>.



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</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.

Covid-19 can impair face recognition capacities

While it is well known that Covid-19 can cause a...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a>, researchers have investigated whether mental fatigue can impair physical performance. The experts confirmed that after performing a mentally challenging task, an individual will find physical exercise to be more difficult.



For the study, a team of researchers in Birmingham’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences assigned cognitive tasks to a group of 16 men and women. The goal was to examine how the effects of mental fatigue may change the perception of physical exertion, or how hard it feels to perform a task.



The participants completed a 90-minute mental exercise before performing a series of weight lifting repetitions. A control group was assigned to watch neutral videos before exercising.&nbsp;



A second experiment involved a series of resistance training exercises, followed by cognitive tasks and then a 20-minute cycling trial.



In both experiments, the experts found that mentally fatigued participants had an increased sense of exertion during physical exercise. While cycling, the individuals who had also performed mental exercises had less power and covered less distance



According to the results, it would be beneficial for athletes to take the effects of mental fatigue into account during training.



In particular, the study authors recommend that coaches reduce an athlete's exposure to mentally challenging tasks, such as smartphone use, before and during training and competitions. In the long term, coaches should consider "brain endurance training" to increase resilience to mental fatigue, said the researchers.



“We know that the brain plays a part in physical performance, but the specific effects of mental fatigue have not been well understood," said study lead author Dr. Chris Ring.



“We know that athletes will often be browsing on their smartphones in rests between competing and training. All of that requires mental effort and our results strongly suggest that athletes and coaches need to better understand the effects of these activities on overall performance.”



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2022-0356">International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance</a>.



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



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Mental fatigue impairs athletic performance 

In a new study from the University of Birmingham, researchers...

When an invasive animal species arrives in a previously uncolonized territory, it may outcompete local species by breeding more successfully, growing faster, dispersing more easily or having better defenses against predators or diseases. It is not often that a new arrival becomes established because it eats the local residents. But this is what appears to be happening with brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) in the southern states of the U.S.&nbsp;



Brown widows are thought to have evolved in Africa, although they were first described in the 1800s from specimens identified in South America. Today, they have a cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical distribution, with established populations in Hawaii, Florida, some Caribbean Islands, parts of Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Cyprus.&nbsp;In the U.S., the spiders remained restricted to the Florida peninsula for decades, but after 2000 they began to show up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from South Carolina to Texas, and are also well-established in California.



The problem with the arrival of brown widow spiders in these states is that they are rapidly replacing the indigenous black widows (Latrodectus hesperus). The two species of spiders appear to have very similar ecological niches, feeding on the same types of prey – insects and small vertebrates such as lizards and mammals. It is possible that prey resources are limited and that competition between the two species occurs, with the brown widows winning out.&nbsp;



However, a new research study, conducted by scientists at the University of Southern Florida (USF), suggests that this is not a simple case of one species being better at hunting or at occupying the habitat. Instead, the brown widows appear to be targeting the indigenous black widows and killing them out.&nbsp;



“We have established brown widow behavior as being highly aggressive towards the southern black widows, yet much more tolerant of other spiders within the same family,” said Louis Coticchio, who led the study as part of his undergraduate research at USF.



Coticchio spent the first part of his career as a zookeeper specializing in venomous animals in California and returned to Florida to earn a degree in biology, channeling a passion for spiders into his research projects. While collecting wild spiders in Florida, he noticed brown widows displacing black widows but not other, related species.&nbsp;



“I had a sneaking suspicion that Florida in particular provided plenty of food and habitat for both the brown and black widow, and that there was possibly some other area such as behavioral differences that were playing a role,” said Coticchio. “My observations in the field showed that brown widows appeared to be much more tolerant of other species outside of their genus, and so if resources were the main factor, then we should have seen the same behavior with other spiders competing for the same resources, but that did not seem to be that case.”



Coticchio devised a three-part study to investigate the reasons why brown widows were able to displace black widows. He collaborated with spider expert Richard Vetter of UC Riverside and Dr. Deby Cassill, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at USF.



Initially, the researchers used mathematical modeling to evaluate the risk factors that spiders face in terms of their survival. They found that both brown and black widows are far more likely to die by predation than by starvation. In other words, “competition for scarce resources is not a significant cause of mortality among spiderlings for either species."



Next, the experts compared rates of growth and fertility between brown and black widows, finding that brown widow females were 9.5 percent larger than black widow females, and reached reproductive maturity 16 percent earlier. Male brown widows also reached reproductive maturity earlier (21 percent) than male black widows, but the brown males were considerably smaller (25 percent) than the black males. One consequence of these differences in life history patterns is that brown widow females are about twice as fertile as black widow females, with brown widows often producing multiple egg sacs in comparison with black widows that produce just one.



Finally, the researchers placed captive female brown widow spiders in close proximity with other species of spiders and monitored what happened. When brown widows were paired with red house spider (Nesticodes rufipes) females, peaceful cohabitation occurred in 50 percent of instances, while in 40 percent the brown widows were killed and eaten by the red house spider females. Brown widows cohabitated with triangulate cobweb spiders (Steatoda triangulosa) in 80 percent of pairings and were killed in just 10 percent.&nbsp;



But the situation was totally different when brown and black widow females were paired. In the case of sub-adult spiders, brown widows killed and consumed the black widows in 80 percent of pairings. In pairings of adults, black widows were killed in 40 percent of trials, while they defensively killed brown widows in 30 percent of trials and cohabitated in the remaining 30 percent.



Throughout the experiments, brown widow spiders regularly ventured into black widow webs, the researchers say. Red house spiders and triangulate cobweb spiders also showed such “bold” behavior, but black widows were never observed as aggressors. Stereotyping black widow spiders as fearsome and aggressive is clearly not appropriate.&nbsp;



However, characterizing brown widows as “aggressive” is also somewhat misleading. They may be the aggressors against black widow spiders but humans have no need to fear them. Their venom is less dangerous than that of a black widow and they life peacefully in close proximity with humans. In fact, they tend to be “very shy when harassed by humans or larger animals that are not considered prey," according to Coticchio. “They will run or roll up into a ball and play dead when being attacked or harassed by most other animals outside of their prey range.”&nbsp;



It is not yet understood why brown widow spiders behave in this way towards black widows. Certainly, it is of concern because this may lead to a shift in species composition – already, the increased incidence of brown widows in the southern U.S. is matched by noticeable declines in the numbers of black widows, potentially threatening the status of the indigenous black widows in their normal range.&nbsp;



“One question I would love to answer is how brown widows interact with other species of spiders, more specifically black widows, in Africa, where brown widows are believed to have originated,” said Coticchio. “I would love to see if their behavior and displacement of black widows is something that they have adapted here in North America, or if this behavior is something they exhibit naturally, even in areas where they have coevolved with black widows for much longer periods of time.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saad003">Annals of the Entomological Society of America</a>.



—



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Black widows are being targeted by invasive brown widows

When an invasive animal species arrives in a previously uncolonized...

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/index/">Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a> has recently analyzed fragments of a variety of stone tools used by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in the Phang Nga National Park in Thailand to crack open hard-shelled nuts. Since these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aging-female-monkeys-focus-more-on-meaningful-relationships/">monkeys</a> frequently break their hammerstones and anvils, the assemblage of broken stones is quite significant and widespread in many parts of the landscape.&nbsp;



To their surprise, the experts found that many of these artifacts have features that are similar to some of the earliest hominin stone artifacts currently known. Thus, in the absence of behavioral observations, the macaque tools would have likely been identified as anthropogenic in origin and interpreted as evidence of intentional tool production.



“The ability to intentionally make sharp stone flakes is seen as a crucial point in the evolution of hominins, and understanding how and when this occurred is a huge question that is typically investigated through the study of past artefacts and fossils. Our study shows that stone tool production is not unique to humans and our ancestors,”&nbsp;explained lead author Tomos Proffitt, a Paleolithic archeologist at Max Planck.&nbsp;



“The fact that these macaques use stone tools to process nuts is not surprising, as they also use tools to gain access to various shellfish as well. What is interesting is that, in doing so they accidently produce a substantial archaeological record of their own that is partly indistinguishable from some hominin artifacts.”



By comparing these accidentally produced stone fragments to those produced by early hominins, the experts showed that many of the artefacts produced by macaques are virtually indistinguishable from the human-made ones. These findings shed new light on how one of the first known technologies may have emerged, suggesting that its origins could in fact be significantly older than previously thought and related to similar nut cracking behaviors.



“Cracking nuts using stone hammers and anvils, similar to what some primates do today, has been suggested by some as a possible precursor to intentional stone tool production. This study, along with previous ones published by our group, opens the door to being able to identify such an archaeological signature in the future,”&nbsp;said senior author Lydia Luncz, the head of the Technological Primates Research Group at Max Planck.



“This discovery shows how living primates can help researchers investigate the origin and evolution of tool use in our own lineage.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade8159">Science Advances</a>.



—



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Monkey stone tools look like early human artifacts

A team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute...

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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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



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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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