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...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a> has found that a “social supergene” drove the spread of a new form of society across groups of red fire <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ants-can-detect-cancer-through-smell/">ants</a>. The supergene emerged in one fire ant species, and then carried the instruction-set for the novel social organization into other species through hybridization (breeding between ants of different species).&nbsp;



Originally, red fire ants – which are native to South America and infamous for their painful sting – had only colonies with one queen. However, about one million years ago, a new social form evolved where colonies could have dozens of queens. 



The scientists found that a particular version of a large section of chromosomes, called the “social supergene,” included the genetic information which was necessary to make workers accept more than one queen, and was transferred through hybridization to many other red fire ant species.



Although transfer of massive amounts of genetic information across species is rare due to genetic incompatibilities, in this case, the advantage of having multiple queens overrode these incompatibilities, making the supergene spread widely.



“This research reveals how evolutionary innovations can spread across species. It also shows how evolution works at the level of DNA and chromosomes,” said study senior author Dr. Yannick Wurm, a Reader in Evolutionary Genomics and Bioinformatics at Queen Mary University.



“It was incredibly surprising to discover that other species could acquire a new form of social organization through hybridization. The supergene region that creates multi-queen colonies is a large piece of chromosome that contains hundreds of genes. The many parts of a genome evolve to work together in fine-tuned manners, thus suddenly having a mix with different versions of many genes from another species is complicated and quite rare.”&nbsp;



According to Dr. Wurm, the presence of this supergene made workers accept extra queens, instead of executing them as they would in a single-queen colony. This new form of social organization had multiple advantages. For instance, it had more workers and could thus outcompete colonies with a single queen. Moreover, during floods or other natural disasters, such a colony of fire ants was less likely to become queenless.



Further research is needed to identify which genes or parts of the supergene region lead to these changes in behavior, and thus shed more light on this rare evolutionary process.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28806-7">Nature Communications</a>.



---



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

"Supergene" transformed the social hierarchy of fire ants

A new study led by Queen Mary University of London...

On Monday, March 7, 2022, the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/">Food and Drug Administration</a> (FDA) have given their approval for the sale of beef from gene-edited cattle in the United States, after concluding that these genetically modified animals “do not raise any safety concerns.” 



The cattle were designed by <a href="https://recombinetics.com/">Recombinetics</a> – a Minnesota-based bioengineering company – to have short, slick coats that would make them more resistant to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-cattle-industry-could-lose-billions-due-to-heat-stress/">heat stress</a>. The beef resulting from these animals could be available for human consumption in about two years.



These cattle are the third genetically altered animals which were approved for human consumption in the U.S., after salmon and pigs. Unlike these animals though, the cattle did not have to go through an extended, years-long approval process, since their genetic makeup is similar to that of existing cattle and the trait can even be found naturally in some breeds.



According to Dr. Steven Solomon, the director of FDA’s <a href="https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-organization/center-veterinary-medicine">Center for Veterinary Medicine</a>, the agency’s review of Recombinetics’ cattle took only a few months, and there is no reason that meat from these animals should be labeled differently once it will start to be commercialized. However, he made clear that genetically altered animals marketed to have certain advantages – such as a considerably higher ability to withstand heat than their “natural” counterparts – may need to pass through the full approval process.&nbsp;



The gene-edited trait in these cattle can be inherited, so semen and embryos could be used to produce offspring with the same shorter, more heat-resistant coats. Once the semen is used to create embryos, gestation would take approximately nine months and the resulting calves could be slaughtered after about 10 more months. These genetic alterations could make beef production more sustainable and improve animal welfare in warmer climates.



While the speed with which FDA moved in this case was applauded by many scientists and industry leaders, others criticized the agency for the lack of transparency in the review process. For instance, Greg Jaffe, an expert in biotechnology at the <a href="https://www.cspinet.org/">Center for Science in the Public Interest</a> argued that more transparency could lead to better public acceptance and minimization of potential economic disruptions from global trade (since other countries could consider these cattle genetically modified foods in need of labeling).&nbsp;



Moreover, Jaydee Hanson, the Policy Director of the <a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/">Center for Food Safety</a>, urged the FDA to keep track of the animals for several generations to ensure no unintended problems will arise.



---



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

Genetically modified cattle have been cleared in the U.S.

On Monday, March 7, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration...

Fatu and Najin are the last two northern white rhinoceroses in the world, and they are both females. As a result, they can no longer reproduce naturally, and face an imminent threat of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/higher-levels-of-biodiversity-reduce-extinction-risks-in-birds/">extinction</a>. In order to assure that this subspecies will not disappear forever, the international <a href="http://www.biorescue.org/en/home-0">BioRescue</a> consortium is attempting to create artificial egg cells by using skin cells of these rhinos. 



The scientists aim to first convert the skin cells into stem cells, and then into germ cells, or gametes, which could finally be matured into functional egg cells. These could be implanted in surrogate female southern white rhinos - a species closely related to the northern white rhinos.



Although this method seems highly futuristic for many scientists, there is in fact a precedent: in 2016, Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi from <a href="https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/">Kyushu University</a> in Japan managed to successfully transform skin into egg cells in mice, and to successfully fertilize several females, which ultimately gave birth to 11 healthy and fertile offspring. Even if the percentage of offspring was lower than with conventional artificial insemination, the fact that they developed normally and did not die prematurely make scientists optimistic that the same method could soon save northern white rhinos from extinction.



“Considering that Hayashi spent many years researching this method, we can be proud if, in three years’ time, we understand the process and have managed to produce mature northern white rhino progenitor germ cells,” said the head of the research team Sebastian Diecke, a professor at the <a href="https://www.mdc-berlin.de/">Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association</a> (MDC) in Berlin. “If we are able to then mature these into functional egg cells, that would naturally be the crowning achievement of our research.”



In a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-07059-w">Nature Scientific Reports</a>, Professor Diecke and his team have revealed that they managed to take an important step in this direction by creating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from northern white rhino skin cells, which could eventually develop into immature eggs cells, or oocytes.&nbsp;



“Our paper sheds new light on pluripotency – the ability of stem cells to differentiate into all cells of the body,” said lead author Dr.&nbsp;Vera Zywitza, a postdoctoral researcher at MDC. “It therefore represents an important milestone on the road to artificially generated rhino oocytes.”&nbsp;



Although the iPS cells cannot yet be used to create germline cells due to the fact that they contain persistent foreign genetic material that the scientists were forced to add in order to prevent cell death, they can still shed much light on the nature of rhino stem cells and help scientists understand the molecular mechanisms that take place in such cells.&nbsp;



“For example, we can study why the gestation period of a rhinoceros is 16&nbsp;months whereas that of a mouse is only 21&nbsp;days, or how organs develop in different species. This teaches us a lot about evolution,” Dr. Zywitza said.



Further research is needed to clear the iPS cells from the foreign genetic factors that they now contain and make them grow into egg cells. Once this process is complete, the northern white rhino is sure to be saved from extinction.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;



Image Credit: Jan Zwilling, IZW



---



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

Scientists are one step closer to creating artificial rhino eggs

Fatu and Najin are the last two northern white rhinoceroses...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disposable-masks-are-increasingly-impacting-marine-animals/">Animals</a> form spectacular herds, flocks, schools and swarms that wheel and turn, collectively, in motion. A casual observer of these movements is forced to wonder how the individual animals know which direction to move in next, and how they don’t crash into one another on the way. A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/">University of Konstanz</a> has attempted to answer these questions by using programmable microrobots that act like a group of animals.



The researchers started with the premise that a group of animals faced with an imminent threat will try to move away from the threat, while at the same time trying to remain as close to the center of the group as possible. The group will then make an optimum flight response, even if some of the individual animals do not notice the threat, or react to it in the wrong way.&nbsp;



For their experiments, the researchers used a system of microrobots, consisting of programmable glass balls that move around actively and spread out thinly within a certain area. This scenario mimics a herd of antelope grazing peacefully on a savannah grassland. The unwelcome lion in this scene is represented by a laser beam that, when focused on the beads, warms them up from one side, causing them to move, like animals.&nbsp;



“We are able to target each individual bead and adjust its movement to fit that of its neighbors”, explained physicist and PhD student Chun-Jen Chen, who conducted most of the experiments. “The robots in our swarm are programmed to avoid collisions. They also received the information that they were to orient their motion based on the location of the approximate middle of the group. With the help of these rules, the robots organized themselves into a swirl."



According to Professor Clemens Bechinger, the microrobotic swarm reproduces the movements of animal swarms surprisingly well. As soon as a "predator" appears, the microrobots change their movements, said Bechinger. They begin to move differently, but the change in direction is only minimal and does not cause each member of the swarm to move directly away from the predator. It is striking that the group as a whole moves in a straight line away from the predator, even though individuals within the group do not necessarily move in such a direct manner.&nbsp;



“This feat in which individuals move in a way that is not ideal for each one of them, but where the group as a whole behaves optimally, is based on a collective decision-making process or ‘swarm intelligence’ where information is constantly being exchanged between different members of a group,” said Professor Bechinger. “One direct consequence of this behavior is that the efficiency of the flight response remains virtually unchanged, even if half of the microrobots - or animals - do not respond to the threat,” explained Chen. “This shows that missing or incomplete information from individual members of a group can be compensated for by other members.”&nbsp;



The physicists hypothesize that this may be a reason why animals organize themselves in groups, even though such groups are more obvious to predators than are individual animals.



While the study results will help scientists understand the basis for decision-making in groups of animals, they are also relevant for applications in the field of microrobotics. For future applications, in which multiple autonomous robots need to complete a useful task together but where there may be disruptions in communications, would benefit from the understanding gained in this study. With the knowledge gained here, a robotic swarm could work well even if, for example, the sensors in individual robots were to fail.&nbsp;



“The other microrobots would simply compensate for those with broken sensors, giving such systems a very high level of robustness," said Bechinger.



The study is published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1367-2630">New Journal of Physics</a>.



---



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

Animal swarms make decisions using collective intelligence

Animals form spectacular herds, flocks, schools and swarms that wheel...

New research shows that Florida’s 76,000 storm water ponds emit more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-are-the-carbon-costs-of-wildfires/">carbon</a> than they store. The research, carried out by scientists at the University of Florida, is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsenv/">Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“That finding means some ponds are doing us an ecosystem ‘disservice,’” said Mary Lusk, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of soil and water sciences. “Globally, we expect that as urbanization continues, there will be more and more of these small man-made ponds in urban landscapes.”



According to Lusk, the research will inform scientists’ attempts to estimate how much carbon is entering the atmosphere from these particular water sources on a regional basis.



“Then, once people start to understand that better, we hope they will take stormwater ponds into account for policies related to carbon control,” explained Lusk. “Stormwater ponds are everywhere in Florida. But they are understudied in terms of how they are impacting local ecosystems. Because they are man-made parts of the landscape, they sort of get overlooked, and people might assume they’re not very important ecologically.”



Lusk initially wanted to study nitrogen and phosphorus, common chemicals in artificial fertilizers, but her master’s student Audrey Goeckner convinced her to look at carbon in these ponds instead.&nbsp;



“When I learned that I had the chance to work in stormwater ponds, similar to what I had grown up in around in my neighborhood, I immediately asked myself, well what about these little urban ponds? How do they compare to other aquatic ecosystems?” said Goeckner. “Turns out that despite their small size, they can rapidly store and process carbon, which adds up when you consider how many of them exist in developed landscapes and how many continue to be built.”



The scientists collected muck from the bottom of ponds from a canoe and measuring both the carbon stored in this “muck” and the carbon released. Interestingly, they found that not all ponds store carbon the same way and how much they store changes over time.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our results suggest that when they’re new, they emit large proportions of carbon from the landscape and potentially increase storage over time,” said Lusk. “This means the older ponds are doing less of an ecosystem disservice to us than the younger ponds."



"But if you think about the rate of new housing development in Florida, and how fast new stormwater ponds are being built in all that new development, it means we will always have a fresh new batch of young ponds that are just pumping carbon out to the atmosphere.”



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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

Florida’s ponds release more carbon than they store

New research shows that Florida’s 76,000 storm water ponds emit...

Scientists have long known that wet soils in agricultural areas sometimes emit nitrous oxide - a strong <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/over-half-of-urban-greenhouse-gas-emissions-linked-to-25-cities/">greenhouse gas</a> also known as laughing gas. The explanation is that soil microbes convert nitrogen based fertilizers into nitrous oxide when the soil is wet. A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/10533">Biogeochemistry</a> shows that microbes in desert soils do the same thing after a heavy rain.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It only happens in waterlogged soils. Since the desert is dry most of the year, we didn’t think this process could occur in arid soils,” explained study first author Alex Krichels, an environmental scientist at <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">UC Riverside</a>. “This is a strategy for the bacteria to survive after a ton of water is added and there’s no oxygen for them in the soil. When that happens, instead of oxygen they use nitrate, and breathe out nitrous oxide, a process called denitrification.”



Obviously, the source of nitrates in desert soil isn’t farm-applied fertilizer. Instead scientists suspect the nitrates could be coming from exhaust, such as that from automobiles driving through a desert landscape.&nbsp;



“Nitrate pollution in deserts originates from fossil fuel combustion, not fertilization,” said Krichels. “Combustion releases pollution that hangs around, gets deposited into soils over time, and re-emerges after a rain as N2O.”



A few different forms of nitrogen are created by cars and other processes. “Combined, they’re called NOx, and they can produce tropospheric ozone, which is bad for your lungs and is also a greenhouse gas," explained study co-author Peter Homyak. "It is not to be confused with good ozone higher up in the stratosphere that protects us from UV rays,”&nbsp;



The scientists who carried out the study say they hope that their work brings more awareness to the problem.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“On a broader scale, a lot of people don’t know these processes happen in soils in general, or that the nitrogen humans add to the atmosphere can end up affecting climate change and human health in this way,” said Krichels. “There’s a lot of life in these soils, and it can affect the entire globe.”



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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

Desert microbes release greenhouse gases

Scientists have long known that wet soils in agricultural areas...

Around 85 percent of the world's vertebrates, including birds, live in mountainous areas. The lowland habits between mountains keep the populations and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-can-hitchhike-on-ocean-plastic/">species</a> isolated from each other. For centuries, scientists have wondered, how do new species form in different mountain areas?



Some hypothesize that birds simply fly to other mountains, while others say they don't often colonize other peaks. Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> provide the first evidence of what happens, at least with birds living in the islands around Indonesia and Australia.



By collecting and analyzing genomes of various bird populations from the order Passeriformes in New Guinea, the scientists have learned that bird species emerge in the lowlands and then move up in elevation over time. They move higher over millions of years due to factors such as climate change and competition. Since most bird species exist for a few million years before going extinct, many species eventually die out while inhabiting mountainous areas.



"Our analyses demonstrate that the species living on mountain peaks are 5-10 million years old. So, the oldest and most specialized species live at elevations of 3-4 kilometers, and in small numbers. Climate fluctuations can accelerate the process, so that ancient species will go extinct faster. This will probably be a consequence of modern-day global warming as well," explained study lead author Knud Andreas Jønsson of the Natural History Museum of Denmark



Moreover, as bird populations move higher, they become more distinct from other populations. Jønsson further explains,



"We can see that the higher up in the mountains birds live, the greater the differences between populations of the same species," said Jønsson. "Some of the populations are so different, that one could make the case that they are distinct species. Conversely, there are greater similarities among lowland populations. This tells us that the spread of new species must have taken place from lowland habitats upwards."



This information is vital to conservationists. Currently, most conservation efforts in the region focus on lowland forests, and for a good reason. A large amount of these forests have disappeared, and with them, birds and many other animals. However, knowing that some of the longest-lived and genetically varied species live in the highlands, we should consider focusing conservation efforts there, especially since they are more vulnerable to global warming.&nbsp;



The study, "The formation of avian montane diversity across barriers and along elevational gradients," is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.



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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

How mountains Influence bird evolution

Around 85 percent of the world's vertebrates, including birds, live...

Brandt’s voles are tiny rodents living in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/grasslands-play-a-major-role-in-mitigating-climate-change/">grasslands</a> in Inner Mongolia, China, where they are usually hunted by birds called shrikes. A new study published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.074">Current Biology</a> has found that the voles often cut tall bunchgrass when shrikes are nearby so they can observe the approach of the predators and hide faster.&nbsp;



Since they never eat the grass or use it in any specific way, researchers argue that this behavior should be seen as an example of “ecosystem engineering” through which voles aim to keep themselves safe.



“When shrikes were present, the voles dramatically decreased the volume of bunchgrass,” said study co-author Dirk Sanders, a research fellow in Ecology at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. “This led to fewer visits from shrikes – which apparently recognize cut-grass areas as poor hunting grounds. An activity like this is costly for the voles in terms of energy, so there must be high ‘selection pressure’ to do it – cutting the grass must significantly improve their chances of survival.”



By putting up nets over certain areas, the scientists also tested what impact keeping the birds away has on voles’ behavior. They found that, with no shrikes overhead, the voles stopped cutting the bunchgrass.



“We sometimes underestimate the ability of wild animals to react to changes in their environment. In this case, the voles were able to change their behavior in response to the removal of predators,” explained Dr. Sanders. “Our findings are a reminder that species show remarkable adaptations. It also underlines that the loss of even a single species in a food web can result in unexpected changes to an entire habitat.”



These findings suggest that animals can actively modify their habitats to reduce predation risk through ecosystem engineering. Moreover, it could also have important implications for rodent management in pasture lands. In this particular case, keeping or even planting large bunchgrasses could help attracting avian predators such as shrikes and thus reduce the population density of voles.



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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

Voles cut grass to reduce their predation risk

Brandt’s voles are tiny rodents living in grasslands in Inner...

Mint,Plant,Growing,At,Vegetable,Garden

Many species of animals, particularly those with known <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predators-help-prevent-biodiversity-loss/">predators</a>, can signal each other of imminent dangers through a variety of techniques, ranging from scent to sound. A new study led by <a href="https://www.tus.ac.jp/en/">Tokyo University of Science</a> has recently argued that plants can “sound alarms” under threats of attack too, and revealed the epigenetic mechanisms of volatile-signal-induced activation of defense genes in specimens threatened by herbivorous predators.



Previous studies have shown that, when grown close to mint plants, soybean and field mustard plants often display a heightened response to herbivore pests by activating defense genes in their leaves as a result of “eavesdropping” on mint volatiles. When mint leaves get damaged by a predator, they emit chemical signals that soybean and field mustard detect, leading them to quickly activate their anti-herbivore defense systems. To clarify this mechanism, a team of researchers from various Japanese institutions examined these responses in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant used widely in biological studies.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Surrounding undamaged plants exposed to odors emitted from plants eaten by pests can develop resistance to the pests. Although the induction of the expression of defense genes in odor-responsive plants is key to this resistance, the precise molecular mechanisms for turning the induced state on or off have not been understood,” explained study co-author Gen-ichiro Arimura, an associate professor of Biology at Tokyo University of Science. “In this study, we hypothesized that histone acetylation, or the so-called epigenetic regulation, is involved in the phenomenon of resistance development.”&nbsp;



Professor Arimura and his colleagues exposed the plants to β-ocimene, a volatile organic compound that is often released by plants in response to predatory attacks, and discovered that defense traits were induced in Arabidopsis leaves through epigenetic mechanisms, or processes of gene regulation occurring due to external environmental influences.&nbsp;



More specifically, the volatile chemicals released by the damaged plants enhanced histone acetylation and the response of defense gene regulators, such as the ethylene response factor genes “ERF8” and “ERF104,” together with a specific set of histone acetyltransferase enzymes (HAC1, HAC5, and HAM1).



Clarifying the epigenetic mechanisms behind plant defense can have important applications in organic cultivation systems, by helping cultivators increase their crops’ pest resistance and effectively reduce the current massive dependence on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-have-become-increasingly-toxic-to-insects/">pesticides</a>.



“The effective use of plants’ natural survival strategies in production systems will bring us closer to the realization of a sustainable society that simultaneously solves environmental and food problems,” concluded Professor Arimura.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac077">Plant Physiology</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

Plants can warn each other of imminent dangers

Many species of animals, particularly those with known predators, can...

Scala,Dei,Turchi,Stair,Of,The,Turks,,Sicily,Italy,,Scala

A new study from the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a> reveals that Antarctic fish are no longer growing to their potential size. By adapting to the freezing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-are-transforming-arctic-coasts/" data-type="news" data-id="1900825">temperatures</a> of the Southern Ocean, the fish have lost their ability to reach the growth rates of their relatives - even when they are held at warmer water temperatures.



The study was focused on two species - the Antarctic spiny plunderfish and the shanny, also known as the common blenny. The results showed that the Antarctic fish consumed around 20 percent less food compared to fish from temperate waters. The cold water fish also grew at about half the rate. When the two species were held at the same water temperature, the outcome was the same.&nbsp;



The experts found that Antarctic fish have greatly increased the amount of cellular machinery they use to make proteins, yet they are still unable to produce these proteins as quickly as fish that live in warmer waters.&nbsp;



For the cold water fish, this means that the rate at which new proteins are translated into physical growth has been substantially reduced.



According to the researchers, it seems that an evolutionary trade-off for being able to survive at polar water temperatures has been a greatly reduced ability to grow as quickly or efficiently as warmer water fish.



“Antarctic fish are highly thermally constrained and cannot live long-term at temperatures much above those that they currently inhabit. In contrast, many temperate species are more tolerant of a wide range of temperatures as they often inhabit extensive latitudinal ranges," explained study lead author Dr. Keiron Fraser.



"Our data shows that the rates of growth and protein metabolism in an Antarctic species are significantly lower than in the temperate species, even when held at the same water temperature."



"As ocean temperatures increase with global warming, it is a timely reminder of the differences in species that have evolved to live at widely different temperatures. If Antarctic fish are increasingly exposed to higher temperatures, it will have implications for their survival, as well as effects on many critical physiological processes, including growth.”



Professor Lloyd Peck is the lead physiologist on animal adaptations in extreme environments from the British Antarctic Survey. He noted that there is unexpectedly high biodiversity on the seabed in Antarctica, with estimates of around 20,000 species living there.&nbsp;



"So far all of the species studied have great problems making proteins and it seems this is a ubiquitous constraint on life at low temperature. There are many other unique adaptations in Antarctic marine species, such as 16 species of fish that are the only animals with backbones that do not have red blood cells or haemoglobin to carry oxygen around their bodies, or giant sea spiders thousands of times heavier than the largest in temperate zones," said Professor Peck.&nbsp;



"As well as the issues with making proteins, many of these other adaptations might make life easier in an environment with constant low temperatures, but they also appear to reduce abilities to survive in changing environments, which makes the future prospects for many Antarctic marine species bleak.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



---



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

Antarctic fish have lost the ability to grow efficiently

A new study from the University of Plymouth reveals that...

Hair is important, and not just for humans, but for all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/large-mammals-play-a-role-in-combating-climate-change/">mammals</a>. Hair serves many functions. It keeps us warm, provides camouflage for both predator and prey, and many species even use hair for communication. Despite its significance, the evolution of wild primate hair is not very well understood.&nbsp;



In an effort to determine how climate, body size, and color vision may have influenced hair evolution, researchers with the <a href="https://cashp.columbian.gwu.edu/primate-genomics">Primate Genomics Lab at the George Washington University</a> looked at a wild population of Indriidae, a type of lemur endemic to Madagascar.&nbsp;



The experts found that Sifaka lemur hair is denser in arid, open habitats. They hypothesize that similar to its function in humans, this type of hair helps protect the lemur from the sun.&nbsp;



The researchers also discovered that lemurs that lived in cooler environments had darker hair. They believe that the animals adhere to Bogert’s Rule, which declares that animals who live in colder environments develop darker hair which helps them thermoregulate since darker hair absorbs more heat.



Interestingly, red hair in lemurs is more likely to be seen in populations that can perceive a more extensive range of colors. Nonetheless, several evolutionary pressures influence hair structure and color; this means that these effects will not be found in all lemur species.



Unfortunately, it is not easy to understand the evolution of human hair by looking directly at ancestral hair because it does not fossilize, which is why researchers turned to lemurs.&nbsp;



“The lemurs we studied exhibit an upright posture like humans and live in a variety of ecosystems like early humans, so our results provide a unique window into human hair evolution," said study lead author Elizabeth Tapanes,&nbsp; a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego.



The scientists hope that by studying non-human primates such as lemurs, we can gain a better understanding of our own evolutionary history.



“Most people are intrigued by the diversity of hair on their own bodies, and the variety of hair types among people around the world," said study co-author Professor Brenda Bradley.



“Understanding hair patterns in non-human primates, such as these lemurs, may provide a comparative context for understanding how variation arose in human hair.”



The study, “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.24508">Hair phenotype diversity across Indriidae lemurs</a>,” is published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.



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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

Lemurs provide a window into the evolution of hair

Hair is important, and not just for humans, but for...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a> has looked at the role of large mammalian herbivores in combating climate change. This is an unusual approach, as large <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disposable-masks-are-increasingly-impacting-marine-animals/">animals</a> are generally not considered in ideas of climate change mitigation.&nbsp;



“Conservation efforts usually focus on either trees and carbon or the broad conservation appeal of large mammals," said Professor Yadvinder Malhi, an expert in the Environmental Change Institute at the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>. "This study looked at whether it was possible to align these agendas - under what context could protecting and restoring large animal wildlife help us tackle and adapt to climate change.”



The research examined several ways in which large mammals can impact carbon storage, fire prevention and the reflection potential of the Earth’s surface. They do so by spreading seeds, clearing vegetation and fertilizing soil. Such activities boost the biodiversity of an area, which in turn makes an environment more resilient to climate change. These actions also increase the carbon storage of an ecosystem.&nbsp;



Trampling and grazing on vegetation in colder areas also reveals bare earth or earth covered in snow. Revealing the snow layer also makes the surface more reflective, bouncing solar radiation away, thus keeping Earth cooler. This also allows more cold air near the surface of the planet, which maintains permafrost in its frozen state and keeps its carbon stores locked away.&nbsp;



Finally, the research shows that grazing by zebras, rhinoceros, elephants and other large herbivores can lessen the risk of fire. This happens because the animals trample or graze natural fire breaks, making it harder for fires to spread. Less fires of course mean less carbon in our atmosphere and less climate change.&nbsp;



“Animals can also help with localized adaptation to climate change in these environments by diversifying vegetation and increasing habitat heterogeneity," said Dr. Tonya Lander, an expert in the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford University. "Diversity of species and microhabitats can make the ecosystem as a whole more able to resist climate change, return to a stable state following a climate-related disturbance, or find a new stable state that functions within the changed and changing climate.”&nbsp;



While the study provides some insight into how animals can impact climate change, the scientists are calling for more research so we can more fully understand and mitigate the problem.&nbsp;



---



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

Large mammals play a role in combating climate change

A new study published in the journal Current Biology has...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[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



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...

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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 



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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