For decades, researchers have questioned whether boys and girls are born with the same natural ability in math. In 2005, cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke took a firm stand, stating that there are no differences in overall intrinsic aptitude for science and mathematics among women and men.



Now, the evidence is even stronger. In a new study, researchers from <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvard University</a> and several institutions across France examined math performance in more than 2.5 million French schoolchildren. 



The team found that at the very beginning of first grade, boys and girls start off nearly equal in math. But just four months into formal math instruction, a small gap appears - and it keeps growing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nationwide-study-tracks-the-math-gap">Nationwide study tracks the math gap</h2>



The research draws on a French government testing program that was launched in 2018. This nationwide effort tracked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reminiscing-can-boost-language-development-in-preschoolers/">language</a> and math skills of young students from first through sixth grade. 



Over five years and across four student cohorts, the program gave researchers an unmatched view of early math development.



At school entry, French girls scored slightly better than boys in language. Math scores, though, were essentially the same. 



"The headline conclusion is that the gender gap emerges when systematic instruction in mathematics begins," Spelke explained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-for-gender-differences">Looking for gender differences </h2>



Spelke had already spent decades studying how young children understand numbers and shapes. Back in 2005, she wrote a major review for American Psychologist. The piece challenged the notion that boys are biologically wired for better math performance than girls.



"My argument was, 'OK, if there really were biological differences, maybe we would see them in the infancy period,'" said Spelke. 



She and her team always tracked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/young-children-learn-gender-stereotypes-from-storybooks/">gender</a> in their studies, but they never found infant boys outperforming girls in math, or vice versa. Still, Spelke admitted that something could be happening later in development.



"The fact that there are no differences in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/conscious-awareness-when-does-our-sense-of-purpose-emerge/">infants</a> could be because the abilities that show gender effects actually emerge during preschool," she proposed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-math-instruction-for-boys-and-girls">Math instruction for boys and girls</h2>



In recent years, Spelke has turned her attention to how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-a-better-way-for-kids-to-learn-math/">children learn counting</a> and numbers in real classrooms. 



Spelke partnered with Nobel Prize-winning MIT economist Esther Duflo to advise the Delhi office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). The team is helping four Indian states create and test math lessons for children in preschool through first grade.



In France, she works alongside her longtime collaborator, neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene. Together, they serve on the French Ministry of Education's Scientific Council, which helped develop the EvalAide testing program. 



The idea was simple: measure where every child stands in math and language and use that data to guide better teaching.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gender-gap-emerges-in-math">Gender gap emerges in math</h2>



For this study, the team analyzed data from four full cohorts of first-graders entering school between 2018 and 2021. 



What they found was consistent: no math gap at the time of school entry, a small but significant gap favoring boys after four months, and a steadily widening gap by second, fourth, and even sixth grade.



"It was even bigger in fourth grade," Spelke said. "And in sixth grade it was bigger still."



Interestingly, the gender gap in language shrank slightly after the first few months of school and stayed relatively stable in later years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ruling-out-old-explanations">Ruling out old explanations</h2>



So why does the math gap grow with time in school? The researchers ruled out several familiar theories.



"If there was really a pervasive social bias, and the parents were susceptible to it, we would expect boys to be more oriented toward spatial and numerical tasks when they first got to school," said Spelke.



But that didn’t happen. At school entry, there was no math gap. This points away from both biological and early social bias explanations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-experiment-during-the-pandemic">An experiment during the pandemic </h2>



The EvalAide dataset offered other insights. French first-graders can be nearly a year apart in age, depending on when their birthday falls. 



The team wondered if the older students were skewing results. They weren’t. The widening gender gap aligned more closely with time spent in school than with age.



Then came an unusual variable: COVID-19. The 2019 cohort missed the final 2.5 months of first grade due to lockdowns. That gap year created a natural experiment.



"With less time in school, the amount of the gender gap grew by less than it did in the other years where there wasn't a long school closure," said Spelke.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-confirming-the-math-gender-gap">Confirming the math gender gap</h2>



The cohort also began school just after a national education crisis. In early 2019, French students had scored <a href="https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/braincamps/society/how-to-improve-the-relationship-between-education-and-employment/maths-an-essential-subject-whose-level-is-falling-in-a-majority-of-countries/#:~:text=In%202003%2C%2015%25%20of%20French,European%20average%20of%20527%20points.">lowest</a> among 23 European countries in math, according to international rankings. 



In response, the French Education Ministry - guided by its Scientific Council - called for more math teaching in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-pandemic-setbacks-reduced-kindergarten-readiness/">kindergarten</a>.



Sure enough, a tiny math gender gap appeared in fall 2019 among new first-graders. That gap hadn’t shown up in 2018 but was still present in 2020 and 2021.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-problems-in-early-math-instruction">Problems in early math instruction </h2>



The study doesn't pinpoint a single cause, but its message is clear: differences in math achievement between boys and girls seem to grow as a result of what happens in early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/schools-are-in-a-battle-with-cell-phones-to-keep-students-engaged/">school</a> instruction.



"We still don't know what that is exactly," Spelke said. "But now we have a chance to find out by randomized evaluations of changes to the curriculum."



The findings put pressure on education systems to ask hard questions about how math is taught in the early years - and what needs to change to make it fair for everyone.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4">Nature</a>.



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Early math instruction may unintentionally favor boys

For decades, researchers have questioned whether boys and girls are born with the same natural ability in math. In 2005, cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke took a firm stand, stating that there are no differences in overall intrinsic aptitude for science and mathematics among women and men. Now, the evidence is even stronger. In a new study, researchers from Harvard University and several institutions across France examined math performance in more than 2.5 million French schoolchildren. The team found that at the very beginning of first grade, boys...

Chenanisaurus,Was,A,Large,Abelisaurid,Dinosaur,,A,Predatory,Carnivorous,Theropod,

In March 2020, just a few days before the lockdowns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic were instituted in Argentina, a team of paleontologists led by the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.conicet.gov.ar/">National Council for Scientific and Technical Research</a> (CONICET) made an amazing discovery. In Estancia la Anita in the Province of Santa Cruz (an area located 1,677 miles from Buenos Aires), the experts found the bones of the largest megaraptor known to date. Measuring almost ten meters in length and weighing over five tons, Maip macrothorax was a fierce predatory dinosaur, roaming the territory of today’s Argentina about 70 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous Period.



This new species’ name was chosen by study lead author Alexis Aranciaga Rolando, a paleontologist at CONICET. According to Rolando, the name Maip “comes from an evil being from Tehuelche mythology who lived in the mountains and killed using the cold. Precisely, Maip’s finding took place in south El Calafate, from where the lavish Cordillera de los Andes can be seen, a place with very cold temperatures. Besides, for the Tehuelches, Maip represented the shadow that death leaves in its wake, while we imagine that during the Cretaceous, this great predator with its enormous size would have caused something similar.”



This dinosaur’s spine was made up of huge vertebrae, connected by a system of muscles, tendons, and ligaments allowing the massive creature to stand upright on its hind legs while walking or running.&nbsp;It had a long tail and legs, as well as enormous claws measuring 13.7 inches in length, which it probably used as its main weapons.



“The bones of Maip helped us to better understand the anatomy of megaraptors. They belong to a family whose skeleton was not like that of a tyrannosaurus, large but heavy, but rather light animals. In other words, their bones were not solid, but rather had a large number of internal voids that made them much lighter, something like a hollow brick compared to a solid one,” explained Rolando.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, the area where Maip lived 70 million years ago – before the Andes mountain range had risen - was a warm ecosystem, with a variety of puddles, lakes, and streams that provided an optimal habitat for animals such as frogs, fish, turtles, small birds, and mammals. “From all those organisms that lived back then we were collecting fossil remains, and now, with Maip, we have added a super predator, which allows us to complete the food pyramid,” said study senior author Fernando Novas, a paleontologist at the <a href="http://www.macnconicet.gob.ar/">Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural Science</a> in Buenos Aires.



Although the discovery of this dinosaur’s skeleton helps us shed more light on the features and behaviors of megaraptors not long before the catastrophic event from 66 million years ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, many questions still remain unanswered.



“Megaraptors are quite enigmatic predators, and although Maip helped us to tie up several loose ends, especially their kinship relationships with other carnivorous dinosaurs, aspects of their hunting behavior still remain to be elucidated, for example what their favorite prey would have been, among other things,” concluded Rolando.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09272-z">Nature Scientific Reports</a>.



&nbsp;---



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

The largest megaraptor discovered in Argentina

In March 2020, just a few days before the lockdowns...

Protected areas such as nature reserves, national parks, or wilderness regions are crucial for conserving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-single-gene-could-control-biodiversity-in-an-ecosystem/">biodiversity</a>. However, due to climate change, many plant and animal species from specific protected areas will need to change their habitats, in order to find more favorable conditions.&nbsp;



A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/64206">Environmental Research Letters</a> has provided new insights for developing climate-smart conservation strategies. By investigating the global network of protected areas, the researchers have evaluated the potential for shifts in where plants and animals live due to climate change. Their findings suggest that there is a need for strategic conservation plans that transcend international borders and protect endangered species.&nbsp;



“As the planet continues to warm, we expect a number of species to move out of some protected areas and into others as they shift their ranges in response to climate change,” said study lead author Sean Parks, a research ecologist at the USDA Forest Service <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/">Rocky Mountain Research Station</a>.



Dr. Parks and his colleagues have found that some species that are currently in protected areas may soon need to cross international boundaries in order to find more suitable climate conditions. During such migrations, they might face both physical and non-physical barriers, from border fences to inconsistent conservation policies in different regions and countries.



Under a scenario of 2°C warming above pre-industrial levels, climate conditions are expected to change in over a quarter of the current land-based global network of protected areas. Better understanding these climatic shifts and the ways in which they will impact the plants and animals from these areas will help the international conservation community efficiently forecast planning needs and make more strategic investment decisions for the limited funding that is currently available for conservation initiatives.&nbsp;



“The Rocky Mountain Research Station is committed to addressing the threat of climate change, by providing research needed to support new strategies for stewarding protected areas and other wildlands within the United States and internationally,” concluded&nbsp;Jason Taylor, the Director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/research-labs/aldo-leopold-wilderness-research-institute">Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute</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

Climate change impacts biodiversity in protected areas worldwide

Protected areas such as nature reserves, national parks, or wilderness...

A new study led by the <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a>, has found that a plant virus called “cowpea mosaic virus” could be of significant help in fighting cancer. The experts have shown that, when this virus infects cancerous cells, it signals to the immune system and activates a powerful anti-cancer response in the organism. Moreover, the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-activate-immune-defenses-against-pathogens-in-rain/">immune</a> response this virus helps build up appears to be so strong and long-lasting that it may possibly prevent other cancerous tumors from forming.&nbsp;



The researchers have studied the cowpea mosaic virus – which generally infects <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/secrets-of-legumes-and-their-symbiotic-bacteria-revealed/">legumes</a> – in the form of nanoparticles that they injected directly into cancerous tumors in animal models such as dogs and mice, in order to serve as a bait for their immune system. Once the lure was set, immune cells immediately detected the viral nanoparticles and sent alarms to the rest of the immune system that there was a foreign invader in the organism. While rallying up to fight the intruder, the immune cells started eliminating the cancerous cells containing the virus too.



“This study helps validate the cowpea mosaic plant virus nanoparticle as our lead cancer immunotherapy candidate,” said study senior author Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of Nanoengineering at the UC San Diego. “Now we have mechanistic data to explain why it is the most potent candidate, which further de-risks it for clinical translation.”



Professor Steinmetz and her team were surprised to discovered that this virus not only helps get rid of existing tumors, but also triggers a systemic immune response against any future tumors. Differently from other plant viruses that they tested (such as the cowpea severe mosaic virus or the tobacco ringspot virus), this particular virus activated additional toll-like receptors on the surface of immune cells that led to the production of more pro-inflammatory proteins called cytokines, while also significantly extending the duration of the cytokine response.



“We don’t see this with the other two plant viruses. The cytokine levels peak quickly, then go down and are gone,” explained study lead author Veronique Beiss, a former postdoctoral researcher in Professor Steinmetz’s laboratory. “This prolonged immune response is another key difference that sets cowpea mosaic virus apart.”&nbsp;



Further research is needed to clarify the precise mechanisms through which this virus leads to such an impressive response, and to assess its viability as a cancer immunotherapy treatment in humans.



“We’ve shown that it works, and now we need to show what makes it so special that it can induce this kind of response. That’s the knowledge gap we’re looking to fill,” concluded Dr. Beiss.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.2c00058">Molecular Pharmaceutics</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

A plant virus could help cure cancer

A new study led by the University of California, San...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The fungus that causes white mold in more than 600 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/its-the-timing-of-water-that-matters-to-plants/">plant</a> species has a protein that allows it to evade plant defenses, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/">U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service</a>. This breakthrough may ultimately help experts control the deadly fungus, which can cause billions of dollars in damages in a year with bad outbreaks.



The Sclerotinia sclerotiorum fungus infects potatoes, soybeans, sunflowers, peas, lentils, canola, and many other broadleaf crops with white mold. The fungus secretes lethal chemicals called polygalacturonases (PGs) that degrade the plant’s cell walls.&nbsp;



In 1971, scientists discovered that plants had evolved a protein called PGIP that inhibits the fungus. In response, the fungus evolved its own protein to overcome PGIP. Until now, this protein had not been identified.



“What you have is essentially a continuous arms race between fungal pathogens and their plant hosts, an intense battle of attack, counterattack and counter-counterattack in which each is constantly developing and shifting its chemical tactics in order to bypass or overcome the other’s defenses,” said research plant pathologist Weidong Chen, who led the study. He explained that the key to identifying the fungal protein SsPINE1 was looking outside the fungi cells.



“We found it by looking at the materials excreted by the fungus,” said Chen. “And there it was. When we found this protein, SsPINE1, which interacted with PGIP, it made sense.”



“I got goosebumps when we found this protein,” said study co-author Professor Kiwamu Tanaka of Washington State University. “It answered all these questions scientists have had for the last 50 years: Why these fungi always overcome plant defenses? Why do they have such a broad host range, and why are they so successful?”



Identifying SsPINE1 is an important first step toward controlling white mold stem rot pathogens. Going forward, experts may even be able to use targeted breeding to make plants naturally resistant to sclerotinia diseases.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.



Image Credit: ARS-USDA



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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

How the white mold fungus evades plant defenses

The fungus that causes white mold in more than 600...

Bat flight has been studied for a considerable length of time, but there have been some serious missing pieces in the research. A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/mammalia-2021-0139/html">Mammalia</a> shows how little we have actually known about the distances that bats may fly.&nbsp;



Previously, the longest recorded distance that a bat had flown was 2,224 kilometers from Latvia to Spain - certainly an impressive distance. Now, the scientists report that another bat has beaten this record by about 260 kilometers.&nbsp;



In 2009, a pipistrelle bat was ringed with an information tag by biologists in Russia’s Darwin Nature Biosphere Reserve. Sixty-three days later, the same bat’s body was found in Lully, a village near the French Alps. The shortest distance between these two points is 2,486 km. It’s quite possible that the little bat traveled even farther. Bats are often found along the Baltic coast during migration season and scientists suspect the record-setting bat may have traveled this coast as well. If the bat did follow the Baltic coast, it means that the mammal would have flapped for at least 3,000 kilometers, or 1,864 miles.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It’s a very big surprise,” said study lead author Dr. Denis Vasenkov of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences. “We thought that our bats were migrating to countries in south-eastern Europe and other neighboring countries, not France.”



The scientists are not sure why the bat traveled so far, thinking it may have lost its way during what was intended to be a much shorter migration. It could also be that these long distances are traveled more commonly by bats than previously suspected.&nbsp;



Either way, the researchers feel that further research is necessary, especially with the creation of more wind farms on the horizon. Future studies could include using GPS trackers on bats and watching with more detail where they travel.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A tiny bat has set a surprising new flight record

Bat flight has been studied for a considerable length of...

Perito,Moreno,Glacier,,El,Calafate,,Argentina.

As climate change accelerates, glaciers are melting faster, and experts fear that many will collapse by the end of the century, drastically raising sea levels and flooding coastal cities and island nations. Whyjay Zheng, a geophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, has recently developed an improved model of glacial movement that could help identify the glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic that are most likely to rapidly slide downhill and fall into the oceans.



Glaciologists have long thought that the speedup and slowdown of glaciers are related to what is happening at their front – the “glacial terminus” - where ice merges with the oceans’ increasingly warm waters. Observations have shown that for many marine-terminating glaciers, when the fronts melt or calve into then ocean, the remaining ones tend to speed up. However, in his new model, Professor Zheng has incorporated another major factor determining glaciers’ speed: the effect of meltwater that percolates to the base of the glaciers and lubricates its downward flow. 



Warmer weather causes meltwater lakes to form on many glaciers, which punch through to the bottom of the ice during a process called hydrofracture, or drain to the bottom through crevasses nearby. This basal lubrication by meltwater is then creating a feedback loop that accelerates glaciers that have already sped up for other reasons, such as changes at the terminus.



“Basal lubrication creates a positive feedback loop. The faster glaciers are more likely to respond faster to basal lubrication, and the following speedup makes them more prone to future lubrications,” explained Professor Zheng. “For example, if a glacier is flowing three kilometers per year, and basal lubrication suddenly happens, it will react so fast that you can see the fluctuation of the speed, probably just a few days later, compared to another glacier that would be flowing at 100 meters per year.”



The findings indicate that thick, fast-moving glaciers around the Arctic and Antarctic should be monitored frequently to anticipate discharges of large icebergs into the ocean that could affect sea levels. For this, better, more accurate ways of measuring basal lubrication are needed.



“The model suggests that thick and fast-flowing glaciers are more sensitive to lubrication than thin and slow glaciers. The data from Greenland glaciers support this new finding, indicating that those fast and thick glacier beasts might be more unstable than we thought under global warming,” concluded Professor Zheng.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1431/2022/">The Cryosphere</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

New model can identify glaciers at risk of collapse

As climate change accelerates, glaciers are melting faster, and experts...

Children younger than 12 can identify their mothers’ voices with extremely high accuracy. Moreover, rather than cuing only their brains’ auditory-processing networks, the specific sound of these voices activates many other key neural areas, including reward centers, emotion-processing regions, visual processing centers, and neural networks parsing which incoming information is salient. 



However, a new study led by <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/">Stanford Medicine</a> has found that around age 13, children’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-brain-has-an-alert-system-to-shut-down-unwanted-memories/">brains</a> shift from focusing on their mothers’ voices to favor new voices, as a part of a biological signal driving them to separate from their parents and enlarge their social spheres.&nbsp;



“Just as an infant knows to tune into her mother’s voice, an adolescent knows to tune into novel voices,” said study lead author Daniel Abrams, an associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. “As a teen, you don’t know you’re doing this. You’re just being you: You’ve got your friends and new companions and you want to spend time with them. Your mind is increasingly sensitive to and attracted to these unfamiliar voices.”



By analyzing fMRI scans of teenagers’ brains recorded while they listened to their mothers’ voices and several unfamiliar ones, the researchers discovered that, although teens’ brains were more receptive to all voices (including their mothers’) than those of younger children, in teenagers aged 13 or older, the reward circuits and the brain networks that prioritize important stimuli were activated more strongly by unfamiliar voices than by those of their mothers. According to the scientists, the brain’s shift towards new voices is a sign of healthy maturation.



“A child becomes independent at some point, and that has to be precipitated by an underlying biological signal,” said study senior author Vinod Menon, a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. “That’s what we’ve uncovered: This is a signal that helps teens engage with the world and form connections which allow them to be socially adept outside their families.”



As Professor Abrams argues, the voices in our environment represent an extremely rewarding sound source, allowing us “to feel connected, included, part of a community, and part of a family.” Since children’s social interactions undergo major transformations during adolescence, revealing the neurobiological roots of these changes is essential not only for better understanding healthy maturation processes, but also for clarifying what goes wrong in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2022/04/06/JNEUROSCI.2018-21.2022">Journal of Neuroscience</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

Teenagers start tuning out their mothers’ voices

Children younger than 12 can identify their mothers’ voices with...

The latest<a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/reports?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjN-SBhCkARIsACsrBz6h_uH-xJnN2929g3CDEV9GZVLFEGh6KWfiNgneXUlf6d78n4Tlk24aAg3fEALw_wcB"> U.N. report on climate change</a> has revealed that some measures of global warming are now unavoidable. A warming climate will lead to many impacts, such as a change in the frequency of flash flooding events, and the areas in which they occur.&nbsp;



The National Aeronautics and Space Administration describes this as a global problem, felt on local scales. Likewise, experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are providing the<a href="https://www.noaa.gov/climate"> data, tools and information</a> to better understand and prepare for climate change.&nbsp;



A research team led by the <a href="https://www.ou.edu/">University of Oklahoma</a> has created simulations that demonstrate widespread increases of flash flooding events across most of the United States.&nbsp;



“This study builds upon the state-of-the-art model (EF5/CREST) that is jointly developed by researchers with OU, NASA, and NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory and has initiated collaboration with National Center for Atmospheric Research climate scientists,” said study lead author Zhi Li. “It realizes the concept of ‘Digital Twin in Earth System Science,’ in which one is our living climate and the other one is our future. Climate change never became so real to me until we successfully collaborated on such research.”



“There hasn’t been a real definitive study on what's going to happen with flash floods in the future,” said study co-author Jonathan J. Gourley. “We didn’t have that robust of an observational record … so, this study helped to fill in that gap. By using some of the rainfall simulations from a convection-resolving climate model and then coupling with our high-resolution hydrologic modeling system, we can see what sort of flash floods would be produced in the future.”



The research team used climate simulations and modeling of a 30-year period from 2070 to 2100. The effect, what the researchers call “flashiness,” describes the likelihood of weather conditions that cause rapid rainfall and lead to flash flooding.



The findings include the following:&nbsp;



<ul><li>If emissions continued at their current rate, flooding events would become 8% “flashier” by the end of the century. This means that heavy rainfall events are likely to occur quickly and in concentrated areas that could lead to flooding.</li><li>A more than 10% increase in flash flooding in the Southwest U.S. which accounts for the greatest increase in “flashiness” among hot spots.&nbsp;</li><li>The central U.S. is emerging as a new flash flood hotspot as well, with an 8.6% predicted increase.&nbsp;</li></ul>



Overall, the study revealed that future flash flood-prone regions are moving northward. This means that more people will learn how to better live with these increased events, and also, how to survive.&nbsp;



“The 20-year return floods will more likely occur every two to five years, especially alarming for the emerging flashiness hotspots that will be facing unprecedented challenges with aging infrastructure and outdated flood risk measures. There is a pressing need to implement climate-resilient engineering infrastructure and develop smart hydrological early warning systems.” said study co-author Yang Hong.&nbsp;



The researchers urge action, such as mitigation strategies, to curb these extreme climate impacts.&nbsp;



“Now’s the time to start thinking about better flood defenses,” said Gourley. “Of course, decreasing greenhouse gas concentrations would be the ultimate solution, but in the meantime, we can think about ways to reduce vulnerabilities and improve flash flooding safety education.”



The majority of fatalities during flash floods are caused by people entering flooded areas - most often from driving through a flooded roadway. The best way to stay safe during flash flooding events is to stay off the roads and avoid standing water.



The findings are published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsenv/">Nature: Communications Earth and Environment</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Flash floods are set to become much more common in the U.S.

The latest U.N. report on climate change has revealed that...

According to a new report released by the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), nearly 60 percent of people in the United States have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by February 2022. Previous seroprevalence studies had shown that by December 2021, approximately one out of three Americans had Covid-19 at least once since the beginning of the pandemic. The latest results highlight the extreme contagiousness of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-high-transmissibility-and-chance-for-reinfection/">Omicron</a> variant and its fulminant passage through every corner of the United States.



While official infection numbers are always going to be an undercount - mostly due to failures to test and detect mild or asymptomatic cases, or people not reporting positive results of at-home rapid tests - seroprevalance surveys such as those conducted by the CDC can help provide better estimates of how many people have actually contracted the virus. “We know that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kristie Clarke, co-leader of CDC’s Covid-19 Epidemiology &amp; Surveillance Taskforce Seroprevalence Team.



According to the latest seroprevalence data, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the number of infections increased dramatically, although hospitalization and death rates remained slightly lower than in previous surges. The scientists found vast differences in cumulative infection rates by age group, which reflect how much interaction people in different age groups had with one another.&nbsp;



Thus, from December 2021 to February 2022, seroprevalence among children aged 11 or younger and adolescents aged 12 to 17 increased dramatically, from 44.2 to 75.2 percent, and 45.6 to 74.2 percent, respectively. Among adults aged 18 to 49, seroprevalence rose from 36.5 to 63.7 percent during the Omicron surge, and from 28.8 to 49.8 percent among people aged 50-64. For seniors older than 65, seroprevalence increased from 19.1 to 33.2 percent, reflecting most probably the increased precautions older people still took against Covid during that period.



While these impressive numbers could make many people think that the United States is heading towards herd immunity, the emergence of Omicron at the end of last year has already proven that SARS-CoV-2 can mutate in ways that could evade previously acquired immunity.



“Having infection-induced antibodies does not necessarily mean you are protected against future infection,” warned Dr. Clarke. “We still do not know how long infection-induced immunity will last, and we cannot know from the study again whether all the people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies continue to have protection from their prior infection.”



“We do believe there is a lot of protection in the community both from vaccination as well as from boosting and from prior infection,” added CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. “That said, we cannot underscore enough, those who have detectable antibodies from infection, we still encourage them to get vaccinated.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



CDC’s latest seroprevalence report can be found <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm?s_cid=mm7117e3_w">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

Nearly 60 percent of people in the US have had Covid-19

According to a new report released by the Centers for...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.icm.csic.es/ca">Institut de Ciències del Mar</a> (ICM-CSIC) in Spain has found that climate change is accelerating the water cycle due to an increase in the evaporation of water from the seas and oceans caused by rises in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-surface-temperatures-are-speeding-up-ocean-currents/">temperatures</a>. This results in more water circulating in the atmosphere in its vapor form, 90 percent of which will precipitate back into the sea, while the remaining 10 percent will precipitate over the continent. The researchers predict that these changes in the water cycle could have major consequences on the global climate system.



“The acceleration of the water cycle has implications both at the ocean and on the continent, where storms could become increasingly intense. This higher amount of water circulating in the atmosphere could also explain the increase in rainfall that is being detected in some polar areas, where the fact that it is raining instead of snowing is speeding up the melting,” explained study lead author&nbsp;Estrella Olmedo, an expert in Physical and Technological Oceanography at ICM-CSIC.



Dr. Olmedo and her colleagues have found that another important factor contributing to the acceleration in the water cycle is the decrease in the wind over some areas of the ocean, which favors stratification of the water column (water not mixing in the vertical direction).&nbsp;



“Where the wind is no longer so strong, the surface water warms up, but does not exchange heat with the water below, allowing the surface to become more saline than the lower layers and enabling the effect of evaporation to be observed with satellite measurements,” said study co-author Antonio Turiel, a senior scientist at ICM-CSIC. “This tells us that the atmosphere and the ocean interact in a stronger way than we imagined, with important consequences for the continental and polar areas.”&nbsp;



The researchers used satellite data to analyze ocean surface salinity. Unlike subsurface salinity data – which is collected with in situ instruments – the satellite data allowed them to detect more efficiently the acceleration in the water cycle and the effect of stratification over vast areas of the oceans.&nbsp;



“We have been able to see that surface salinity is showing an intensification of the water cycle that subsurface salinity does not. Specifically, in the Pacific we have seen that surface salinity decreases more slowly than subsurface salinity and, in this same region, we have observed an increase in sea surface temperature and a decrease in the intensity of winds and the depth of the mixing layer,” said Dr. Olmedo.



According to Dr. Turiel, ocean models must standardize the assimilation of satellite salinity data, in order to complement in situ data. This is crucial in order to make accurate predictions, particularly at the current time of climate crisis, when changes are occurring much faster than before.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10265-1">Nature Scientific Reports</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

Climate change is accelerating the water cycle

A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC)...

Guy German, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/">Binghamton University</a>, has published new research on the structure of human skin and the amount of damage it can sustain. The study reveals that human skin has evolved to allow maximum durability and flexibility.



Most organisms have a tougher outer layer that can protect a more compliant inner layer from environmental threats. This exterior layer is present on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eat-a-handful-of-walnuts-every-day-for-better-heart-health/">nuts</a>, fruits, insects, and even microorganisms.



“Mammalian skin offers maximum locomotion and maximum mechanical toughness,” said Professor German. “If it went one way, it would be less flexible, or the other way you would get more flexibility but less toughness. So it’s optimized.”



The research team created membranes from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that allowed them to mimic the structure of skin by covering a soft layer with a thinner, stiffer outer layer.



This “artificial skin” underwent a series of tests to see how much stress it could handle before breaking. When under the pressure of a sharp object, the samples indented to form huge divots before breaking. 



The researchers made an interesting discovery - mammal skin has evolved to provide the toughest response to threats, such as sharp objects or blunt trauma, while remaining as flexible as possible.&nbsp;



“We found that when the artificial skin has the same outer (stratum corneum) and inner layer thickness (dermis) as mammalian skin, the rubber membranes maximized both their puncture toughness and deformability,” explained Professor German.&nbsp;



The team also discovered a new type of failure, called coring, that has not been previously observed. If you puncture a material, the fracture will begin below the indenter tip, just like piercing a piece of paper with a pencil. But with human skin, as well as the artificial skin, fracture occurs far from the indenter tip at large indentation depths. This is because rupture occurs where the membrane is stretched the greatest, on the sides of the divot, leaving a cylindrical core in the membrane.&nbsp;



This knowledge could help with different technologies, such as electronics and medical devices, product packaging, bulletproof vest, and treatments for burn victims. Researching how human skin has evolved into its current form has become increasingly popular in recent years.



“Scientists and engineers are attracted to studying skin because it’s difficult to understand,” said Professor German. “Skin is heterogeneous and structurally very complex.”



The researchers believe that the power of computers has helped us to better understand skin biomechanics: “Traditional materials like steel and cement are uniform in composition and easy to characterize. Nowadays, engineers are using their computational know-how to study really complex materials such as skin.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/sm/d1sm01187a">Soft Matter</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Human skin is the perfect balance of flexibility and durability

Guy German, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Binghamton University,...

The size of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-needed-for-seed-dispersal-are-the-first-victims-of-deforestation/">animals</a> is often reflected in their vocalizations. For example, larger animals have longer vocal tracts that produce lower-pitched sounds. A new study from the <a href="https://www.mpi.nl/">Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics</a> (MPI) has investigated why harbor seals are an exception to this rule.&nbsp;



The researchers confirmed that harbor seals do not always look the way they sound. These animals often sound larger, which may be motivated by a desire to get more attention from their mothers or to impress a rival.&nbsp;



The experts wanted to know whether these animals are very good at learning sounds or if their vocal tracts have adapted to support their vocal flexibility.



"Acoustic allometry occurs when features of animal vocalizations can be predicted from body size measurements," explained the study authors. "Despite this being considered the norm, allometry sometimes breaks, resulting in species sounding smaller or larger than expected for their size."&nbsp;



"A recent hypothesis suggests that allometry-breaking mammals cluster into two groups: those with anatomical adaptations to their vocal tracts and those capable of learning new sounds (vocal learners). Here, we tested which mechanism is used to escape from acoustic allometry by probing vocal tract allometry in a proven mammalian vocal learner, the harbor seal."



To investigate, Koen de Reus and Andrea Ravignani of MPI collaborated with researchers from Sealcentre Pieterburen. The researchers measured the body sizes and vocal tracts of young harbor seals. The experts also reviewed harbor seal vocalizations that had been previously obtained.&nbsp;



The researchers found that the length of vocal tracts matched the body sizes of the seals. Without an anatomical explanation, the experts concluded that the animals are using vocal learning to sound different from how they look.&nbsp;



“Vocal learners will sound different from their body size, but the size of their vocal tracts will match their body size. The combined findings from acoustic and anatomical data may help us to identify more vocal learners," explained de Reus. “Studying different vocal learners may help us to find the biological bases of vocal learning and shed light on the evolution of complex communication systems, such as speech."



“The more we look, the more we see that seals have something to say about human speech capacities," said Ravignani.



The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.



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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

Harbor seals use vocal learning to sound larger than they appear

The size of animals is often reflected in their vocalizations....

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

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Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving fall garden, and this guide lays out the best vegetables and herbs to plant now for a fruitful autumn harvest. 



Fast-growing leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula perform especially well in the waning summer heat, with harvests beginning as soon as 30 days. 



These cool-season crops relish the transition into fall, offering repeated yields with cut-and-come-again methods.



Root vegetables like radishes, carrots, and beets also excel during this period. Radishes deliver satisfaction in under a month, while carrots and beets mature in about two months. Employing succession planting ensures a continuous stream of produce deep into the cooler months. 



For a boost of fresh flavor, herbs like cilantro, basil, dill, and chervil are excellent picks. These heat-loving varieties flourish in July’s warmth and are harvest-ready in about 30 days, especially when sown continuously.



Gardeners in zones 6 through 9 can benefit from planting bush beans and snap peas, which don’t require trellising and are ideal for compact plots. 



Maturing in 50–60 days, they’re a smart choice for quick, protein-rich harvests. For those in hotter regions, heat-tolerant crops such as okra and southern peas provide reliable yields and thrive in scorching conditions.



This guide emphasizes more than crop selection—it highlights the importance of timing, soil preparation, and ongoing sowing techniques. 



With thoughtful planning and attention to regional climate needs, even late-summer gardeners can enjoy fresh salads, hearty stews, and the satisfaction of a robust, homegrown harvest well into fall.



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

https://youtu.be/Fi2OeEwuzRM?si=vTyd2m9FMmtyWkex Mid-July is an opportune time to kick-start a thriving...

Green,Ecoduct,Over,An,Empty,Highway,During,Sunset.

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A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that wildlife tunnels significantly reduce amphibian road mortality during seasonal migrations. 



Frogs and salamanders often cross roads to reach breeding ponds each spring, but many are killed by vehicles. 



Researchers from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vermont</a>, in collaboration with local citizens and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, installed two underpass tunnels in 2015. 



Over a 12-year monitoring period, they observed an 80.2% reduction in amphibian deaths, and up to 94% for non-climbing species like salamanders. 



The study used a before-after-control-impact design and documented more than 5,200 amphibians, highlighting the tunnels’ effectiveness even in nearby buffer zones.



Funded at $342,397 - far cheaper than wildlife crossings for large mammals - the project showcased the power of community-led conservation.



Local groups initiated the effort after observing mass amphibian deaths. Wildlife cameras later captured over 2,200 amphibians using a tunnel in just one spring, along with other species like raccoons and bobcats, indicating wider ecosystem benefits.



This marks the first peer-reviewed, long-term data set in the northeastern U.S. confirming amphibian-specific underpasses work. 



The study urges transportation departments to incorporate these designs into road planning and highlights how community action, thoughtful infrastructure, and persistence can make a real difference for biodiversity.



The full study was published in the <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1617138125000780" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU A new long-term study in Monkton, Vermont, reveals that...

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



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



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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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?

[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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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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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