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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Farming for wildlife: How traditional practices can protect nature

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

As we celebrate the 51st anniversary of <a href="https://www.earthday.org/">Earth Day</a> today, we must not overlook the significance of this year’s theme, “Restore Our Earth." 

The message comes at a time when the world is grieving the loss of over three million people to a global pandemic that continues to claim lives. By January of 2021, in the United States alone, someone was dying from COVID-19 every 26 seconds.

A growing collection of evidence shows that climate change played a role in the emergence of the virus that causes COVID-19. Outbreaks of disease will continue to become much more common and much more dangerous as a direct result of climate change.

Human activities are making unnatural changes to the Earth's climate system. According to <a href="http://noaa.org">NOAA</a>, carbon dioxide levels are the highest they have been in 3 million years. This heat-trapping gas is dramatically changing the climate, and those changes ultimately threaten the survival of every living thing. 

At the most recent United Nations climate conference, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized the urgency of preventing "irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption." 

"We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change," said Guterres. "Climate change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later before it is too late."

"For many, people, regions - even countries - this is already a matter of life and death... Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough."

Guterres noted that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, with the top four in the past four years.

"Climate change is the single most important issue we face," said Guterres. "It affects all our plans for sustainable development and a safe, secure and prosperous world."

Today, President Joe Biden will host a special Earth Day climate meeting, the Leaders Summit on Climate. Officials from around the world will discuss the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help vulnerable countries cope with inevitable climate impacts.

Day one of the Leader's Summit will begin live streaming at 8:00 a.m. EDT, and is available <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xa7yyypznY">here</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth Day Initiative: Climate Change

As we celebrate the 51st anniversary of Earth Day today,...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/">University of Sydney</a> has revealed that 64 percent of the world's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-than-one-third-of-the-corn-belt-impacted-by-farmland-erosion/">farmland</a> is at risk of pesticide pollution. The researchers also found that more than 30 percent of global agricultural land has a "high risk" of pollution from pesticide chemicals.

"Pesticides are widely used to protect food production and meet global food demand but are also ubiquitous environmental pollutants, causing adverse effects on water quality, biodiversity and human health," wrote the researchers.

"Here we use a global database of pesticide applications and a spatially explicit environmental model to estimate the world geography of environmental pollution risk caused by 92 active ingredients in 168 countries."

"We considered a region to be at risk of pollution if pesticide residues in the environment exceeded the no-effect concentrations, and to be at high risk if residues exceeded this by three orders of magnitude."

The total amount of farmland at risk of pesticide pollution is estimated to be 24.5 million square kilometers. 

The largest land areas at a high risk of pesticide pollution were found in Asia, including agricultural areas in China, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Some of these countries are referred to as "food bowl" nations because they feed a large portion of the world's population.

Study lead author Dr. Fiona Tang said the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture could have potential implications for the environment, human and animal health.

"Our study has revealed 64 percent of the world's arable land is at risk of pesticide pollution. This is important because the wider scientific literature has found that pesticide pollution can have adverse impacts on human health and the environment," said Dr Tang.

Pesticides can make their way into surface waters and groundwater through runoff and infiltration. This pollution reduces the usability of water resources, often in areas where they are very limited.

"Although the agricultural land in Oceania shows the lowest pesticide pollution risk, Australia's Murray-Darling basin is considered a high-concern region both due to its water scarcity issues, and its high biodiversity," said study co-author Professor Federico Maggi.

According to Dr. Tang, 34 percent of the highest risk areas are in high-biodiversity regions, 19 percent are in lower-income nations, and five percent are in water-scarce areas.

"In a warmer climate, as the global population grows, the use of pesticides is expected to increase to combat the possible rise in pest invasions and to feed more people," said Professor Maggi. This raises concerns that the overuse of pesticides could destabilize ecosystems and degrade the quality of water sources that humans and animals depend upon for survival.

"Although protecting food production is essential for human development, reducing pesticide pollution is equivalently crucial to protect the biodiversity that maintains soil health and functions, contributing towards food security," said Dr. Tang.

According to study co-author Professor Alex McBratney, the director of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, the research shows it will be important to carefully monitor residues on an annual basis to detect trends and mitigate risks from pesticide use.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The majority of global farmland is at risk of pesticide pollution

A new study from the University of Sydney has revealed...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a> has demonstrated that dogs can sniff out coronavirus with remarkable accuracy. Specially trained detection dogs were found to correctly identify <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-has-worsened-covid-19-outcomes/">COVID-positive</a> urine and saliva samples 96 percent of the time. 

Study senior author Cynthia Otto is the director of the <a href="https://www.vet.upenn.edu/research/centers-laboratories/center/penn-vet-working-dog-center">Penn Vet Working Dog Center</a> in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

"This is not a simple thing we're asking the dogs to do," said Otto. "Dogs have to be specific about detecting the odor of the infection, but they also have to generalize across the background odors of different people: men and women, adults and children, people of different ethnicities and geographies."

While dogs are capable of doing this, the researchers found that training for coronavirus detection must proceed with great consideration and with many samples. 

"Future training of dogs and investigation into biological, chemical and electronic detectors should focus on increasing the number of relevant and novel samples," noted the researchers.

The findings from this study are being used for another investigation by the team. In "the T-shirt study," dogs are trained to distinguish between the odors of COVID-positive, -negative, and -vaccinated individuals based on volatile organic compounds left behind on a T-shirt worn overnight.

"We are collecting many more samples in that study - hundreds or more - than we did in this first one, and are hopeful that will get the dogs closer to what they might encounter in a community setting," said Otto, who has had years of experience training medical-detection dogs, including those that can identify ovarian cancer. 

For the current study, eight Labrador retrievers and a Belgian Malinois were used that had not done medical-detection work before. 

After three weeks of training all nine dogs could identify SARS-CoV-2 positive samples with an average of 96 percent accuracy. The ability of the dogs to avoid false negatives, however, was not as reliable. The researchers believe this may have been simply due to the strict criteria of the study. 

Beyond confirming that dogs can detect a specific SARS-CoV-2 odor, the experts identified mistakes that can be avoided in the future. For example, they found that training should entail large numbers of diverse samples and that dogs should not be trained repeatedly on the samples from any single individual.

"That's something we can carry forward not only in our COVID training but in our cancer work and any other medical detection efforts we do," said Otto. "We want to make sure that we have all the steps in place to ensure quality, reproducibility, validity, and safety for when we operationalize our dogs and have them start screening in community settings."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dogs can sniff out coronavirus with 96 percent accuracy

A new study from the University of Pennsylvania has demonstrated...

A new study from <a href="https://en.uit.no/">UiT The Arctic University of Norway</a> has revealed that the loss of the Arctic sea ice has triggered more extreme snowfall further south across Europe.

In France, an above-average warm spell at the end of March was followed by days of extreme frost. French winemakers lit thousands of small fires to save their vines, but this year's losses are still expected to be 90 percent above average. 

The natural disaster, which has impacted vineyards from Bordeaux to Champagne, illustrates the unpredictability of global warming.

"Climate change doesn't always manifest in the most obvious ways," said study co-author Professor Alun Hubbard. "It's easy to extrapolate models to show that winters are getting warmer and to forecast a virtually snow-free future in Europe, but our most recent study shows that is too simplistic. We should beware of making broad sweeping statements about the impacts of climate change." 

The UiT study, led by Dr. Hanna Bailey at the University of Oulu, has uncovered a climatic paradox. The experts report that a massive 50 percent reduction in Arctic sea ice cover has increased open-water and winter evaporation, triggering more extreme snowfall to the south.

In particular, the researchers found that long-term decline of Arctic sea ice since the late 1970s had a direct connection to a 2018 winter storm known as the "Beast from the East." Large parts of the European continent were impacted, and extreme snowfall caused an estimated £1bn a day in losses.

According to the findings, atmospheric vapor traveling south from the Arctic carried a unique geochemical fingerprint, revealing that its source was the warm, open-water surface of the Barents Sea region of the Arctic Ocean. 

The study revealed that open-water conditions in the Barents Sea supplied up to 88 percent of the fresh snow that fell over Europe during the 2018 storm.

"What we're finding is that sea-ice is effectively a lid on the ocean. And with its long-term reduction across the Arctic, we're seeing increasing amounts of moisture enter the atmosphere during winter, which directly impacts our weather further south, causing extreme heavy snowfalls," said Dr. Bailey. "It might seem counter-intuitive, but nature is complex and what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic."

The analysis of long-term trends since 1979 showed that for every square meter of winter sea-ice lost from the Barents Sea, there was a corresponding 70 kg increase in the evaporation, moisture, and snow falling over Europe.

It is predicted that the Barents Sea will likely become ice-free within the next six decades. The lack of sea ice could become a significant driver of increased winter precipitation in Europe.

"This study illustrates that the abrupt changes being witnessed across the Arctic now, really are affecting the entire planet." said Professor Hubbard.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ice-free parts of Arctic are driving extreme snowfall in Europe

A new study from UiT The Arctic University of Norway...

Experts at the <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/">University of South Australia</a> have developed a cost-effective technique that could provide millions of people with safe drinking water. The technology relies on inexpensive, sustainable materials and <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/smart-device-brings-sunlight-underground/">sunlight</a>.

Freshwater makes up less than three percent of the world's water resources, and is becoming even scarcer due to factors such as climate change and pollution. There are already 1.42 billion people who live in areas of high water vulnerability with limited access to drinking water.

A team led by Professor Haolan Xu has refined a technique that uses highly efficient solar evaporation to transform seawater, brackish water, or contaminated water into freshwater. The improved method can produce enough daily fresh drinking water for a family of four from just one square meter of source water.

"In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on using solar evaporation to create fresh drinking water, but previous techniques have been too inefficient to be practically useful," said Professor Xu.

"We have overcome those inefficiencies, and our technology can now deliver enough fresh water to support many practical needs at a fraction of the cost of existing technologies like reverse osmosis."

The system is centered around a highly efficient photothermal structure that is placed on the surface of a water source to convert sunlight to heat. This focuses energy precisely on the surface to rapidly evaporate the uppermost portion of the liquid.

Similar technology has been created by other researchers, but energy loss has been a major hurdle. 

"Previously many of the experimental photothermal evaporators were basically two dimensional; they were just a flat surface, and they could lose 10 to 20 percent of solar energy to the bulk water and the surrounding environment," said Professor Xu.

"We have developed a technique that not only prevents any loss of solar energy, but actually draws additional energy from the bulk water and surrounding environment, meaning the system operates at 100 per cent efficiency for the solar input and draws up to another 170 per cent energy from the water and environment."

Beyond its efficiency, the system is built from low-cost, sustainable materials that are easy to obtain. 

"One of the main aims with our research was to deliver for practical applications, so the materials we used were just sourced from the hardware store or supermarket," said Professor Xu.

"The only exception is the photothermal materials, but even there we are using a very simple and cost-effective process, and the real advances we have made are with the system design and energy nexus optimisation, not the materials."

The new technology could be used where other desalination and purification systems would be too expensive and impractical.

"For instance, in remote communities with small populations, the infrastructure cost of systems like reverse osmosis is simply too great to ever justify, but our technique could deliver a very low cost alterative that would be easy to set up and basically free to run," said Professor Xu.

"Also, because it is so simple and requires virtually no maintenance, there is no technical expertise needed to keep it running and upkeep costs are minimal."

"This technology really has the potential to provide a long-term clean water solution to people and communities who can't afford other options, and these are the places such solutions are most needed."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/2367198x">Solar RRL</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sunlight may provide millions with safe drinking water

Experts at the University of South Australia have developed a...

Scientists led by <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> have evaluated the efficiency of more than 50,000 protected areas (PAs) worldwide in preventing forest loss. The experts report that simply declaring a plot protected is not enough to guarantee conservation.

The study showed that about 71 percent of protected areas have contributed to the prevention of forest loss. However, there is considerable room for improvement, as only 30 percent of forest loss in protected areas has been prevented.

"Globally, the number and extent of terrestrial protected areas (PAs) are expanding rapidly," wrote the study authors. "Nonetheless, their impacts on preventing forest loss and the factors influencing the impacts are not well understood, despite the critical roles of forests in biodiversity conservation, provision of ecosystem services, and achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals."

According to the results of the analysis, the forests exposed to the most threats are those located close to cities. The researchers found that in these areas, strict rules must be enforced in order to stop deforestation.

"Our findings highlight the potential benefits of strict protections, involving private entities in the establishment of PAs, and situating PAs in areas exposed to high risks of forest loss to enhance the capacity to combat global forest loss."

The experts noted that more than four million square kilometers have been designated as protected areas in the past decade, yet without documentation of how effective such areas across the globe are at protecting.

The researchers emphasized that declaring an area as protected is not enough, and more attention needs to be given to improving the quality of forest protection. 

"Protecting forests is crucial to achieve sustainability," said study co-author Jianguo "Jack" Liu. "To ensure we are directing our efforts to the right places, it's important to scrutinize protected areas across the globe."

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/science-of-the-total-environment">Science of the Total Environment</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Declaring an area protected is not enough to prevent forest loss

Scientists led by Michigan State University have evaluated the efficiency...

In a new study from the <a href="http://www.ugr.es/en">University of Granada</a>, experts have shown that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neighborhood-green-space-linked-to-lower-rates-of-smoking/">smoking</a> cannabis significantly impairs vision in more ways than one. At the same time, the researchers found that more than 90 percent of cannabis users believe that it has only a slight effect on their vision, if any. 

The team set out to investigate the visual effects of smoking cannabis compared to the effects that are perceived by the users themselves.

The study revealed that some of the key visual functions that are altered by cannabis are visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, the ability to focus, and glare sensitivity.

"Although visual acuity is the most widely used test to assess the state of visual function, there are other metrics that have been demonstrated to be more important for certain everyday tasks, for example, driving or reading. One of these is contrast sensitivity, and our results have shown that this parameter is significantly worse after smoking cannabis,' wrote the study authors. 

Study lead author Sonia Ortiz Peregrina explained that cannabis use is on the rise even though it is an illegal drug. According to a national survey conducted in Spain, cannabis use has increased since 2011, with 37 percent of Spanish adults having used the drug at some point.

The experts conducted exhaustive visual trials while the participants were under the influence of marijuana, and also while they were not. 

The results of the tests confirmed that visual functions like focus and contrast sensitivity were significantly worsened following consumption. Despite the results, 30 percent of the participants did not believe their vision had suffered at all, and 65 percent said it had worsened only slightly.

"According to the questionnaires we gave to the participants, about two thirds are aware of the negative effect of cannabis on their visual function, although very few indicate that it affects them to any great extent. There is a widespread belief that cannabis is a soft drug and that it even has positive effects at the brain level," wrote the researchers.

The lack of awareness that individuals presented about the visual impairment caused by smoking cannabis indicates that public health campaigns may be necessary. 

"Our results could help generate a better understanding of the visual changes related to cannabis use and their implications for everyday tasks, raising awareness among users of the risks involved consuming this drug," concluded the researchers.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Smoking cannabis can cause visual impairment

In a new study from the University of Granada, experts...

Toxic gases and particle <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reducing-air-pollution-could-give-global-warming-a-boost/">pollution</a> associated with industrial and vehicle emissions are known to worsen viral respiratory infections. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.bidmc.org/">Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center</a>, researchers have confirmed a link between ambient air pollution and worse COVID-19 outcomes. 

More than 90 percent of the global population lives in areas where air pollution exceeds levels that are deemed as being safe by the World Health Organization.

The experts reviewed current research on the potential relationships among pollution, respiratory viruses, and health disparities. In a commentary published by the American Thoracic Society, the researchers discuss various ways that the pandemic has highlighted an urgent need to address the global issue of air pollution.

"A multitude of studies show that exposure to higher long-term ambient air pollution is associated with both increased risk of infection and death from COVID-19," said study co-author Dr. Stephen Andrew Mein. 

"Historically, air pollution has been linked with worse health outcomes, including higher mortality, due to other respiratory viruses like influenza. Now, new research on COVID-19 adds further evidence of the adverse effects of ambient air pollution and the urgent need to ad-dress the public health crisis of pollution."

In one particular study that was reviewed by Dr. Mein and colleagues, researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that each small increase in exposure to long-term fine particle pollution (PM2.5) was associated with an eight percent increase in mortality during the pandemic. 

The results of another study suggest that air pollution has contributed 15 percent to COVID-19 mortality worldwide.

"The studies we reviewed evaluated whether long-term, ambient air pollution exposure that occurred years prior to the pandemic was associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes," said Dr. Mein.

The exact mechanisms of the link between long-term pollution and poor COVID-19 outcomes are not fully understood. One explanation could be that exposure to air pollution impairs the immune system over time, leading to increased susceptibility to viruses as well as more severe viral infections. 

The study authors noted that improved air quality during the pandemic may have reduced illness and mortality from non-communicable diseases, but further investigation is needed.

"Research evaluating associations between the dramatic reduction in ambient air pollution during global lock-downs and health care utilization for respiratory conditions would further confirm the impact of ambient air pollution on non-communicable diseases and the need to reduce air pollution to improve overall health," said study senior author Dr. Mary Rice.

"While the primary association between air pollution and COVID-19 outcomes has been generally consistent, there is still much research to be done." 

"In particular, there is a need for studies that adjust for individual-level risk factors, since cur-rent studies have been restricted to county or municipal-level exposure and outcome data. Research is also needed to evaluate whether air pollution contributes to the stark differences in COVID-19 outcomes among communities of color."

Inequalities in residential and occupational air pollution exposure may be one of the causes of the stark disparities of the COVID-19 pandemic along racial and ethnic lines. This is because ethnically diverse communities are more likely to live and work in areas closer to industrial pollution.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the widespread health consequences of ambient air pollution, including acute effects on respiratory immune defenses and chronic effects that lead to higher risk of chronic cardiopulmonary disease and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)," said Dr. Mein. 

"These chronic health effects likely explain the higher COVID-19 mortality among those exposed to more air pollution. The pandemic has also provided a glimpse into the health benefits of cleaner air." 

"COVID-19 is a wakeup call for the need to adopt stricter air quality standards and end our tolerance for pollution in disadvantaged neighborhoods. As part of our post-COVID-19 recovery, we must clean up the air to improve respiratory health and equality worldwide."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.atsjournals.org/journal/annalsats">Annals of the American Thoracic Society</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Air pollution has worsened COVID-19 outcomes

Toxic gases and particle pollution associated with industrial and vehicle...

Work stress and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/high-ranking-male-baboons-age-faster/">social</a> strain put women at significantly greater risk of developing coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, according to a new study from <a href="https://drexel.edu/">Drexel University</a>. 

The research suggests that the stress of work demands, when compounded by social pressure, is associated with a 21 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease among women.

Specific high-stress life events were independently linked to greater heart disease risk, including the death of a spouse, divorce, social strain, and verbal or physical abuse.

The research was focused on data from 80,825 postmenopausal women who were included in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, which tracked participants from 1991 to 2015. The goal of the study was to find better methods of preventing cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis in women. 

For the current study, the Drexel team evaluated the effects of stress from job strain, difficult life events, social strain, and the associations among these forms of stress as contributors to coronary heart disease.

During the study period, nearly five percent of the women developed coronary heart disease. The combination of work stress and social strain was found to induce the greatest risk.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing stresses for women in balancing paid work and social stressors. We know from other studies that work strain may play a role in developing CHD, but now we can better pinpoint the combined impact of stress at work and at home on these poor health outcomes," said study senior author Professor Yvonne Michael. 

"My hope is that these findings are a call for better methods of monitoring stress in the workplace and remind us of the dual-burden working women face as a result of their unpaid work as caregivers at home."

The study authors noted that future studies should look at the effects of shift work on coronary heart disease and explore the effects of job demands according to gender.

"Our findings are a critical reminder to women, and those who care about them, that the threat of stress to human health should not go ignored," said study lead author Dr. Conglong Wang. "This is particularly pertinent during the stressors caused by a pandemic."

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/jaha">Journal of the American Heart Association</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

Work stress and social strain raise risk of heart disease in women

Work stress and social strain put women at significantly greater...

The genus Homo emerged in Africa about 2.5 million years ago, but these early humans had brains that were only about half the size of brains today. For the first time, experts have determined when and where the modern human brain evolved.

"Our analyses suggest that modern human brain structures emerged only 1.5 to 1.7 million years ago in African Homo populations," said study co-lead author Christoph Zollikofer of the <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/en.html">University of Zurich</a>. 

The researchers used computed tomography to examine the skulls of Homo fossils that originated in Africa and Asia one to two million years ago. The team compared the fossils to skulls of great apes and humans to reveal modern brain structures.

Beyond its size, the human brain is also different from that of great apes in the location and organization of individual brain regions. 

"The features typical to humans are primarily those regions in the frontal lobe that are responsible for planning and executing complex patterns of thought and action, and ultimately also for language," said study first author Marcia Ponce de León. 

These brain regions are significantly larger in the humans, which pushes back the adjacent brain regions.

The first Homo populations to emerge outside of Africa - in the country of Georgia - had brains that were just as primitive as their African relatives. But even though the brains of these early humans were not particularly large, they were still capable of making tools, adapting to the new environmental conditions of Eurasia, tracking down food, and caring for group members.

During the same time period, African cultures and stones tools became more complex. The researchers believe that biological and cultural evolution are probably interdependent. 

"It is likely that the earliest forms of human language also developed during this period," said Ponce de León. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</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

Modern human brain traced to Africa 1.7 million years ago

The genus Homo emerged in Africa about 2.5 million years...

In a new study published by <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/">Frontiers</a>, experts have discovered that bacteria in the gut of a horse communicate with cells to promote energy efficiency. The gut bacteria send chemical signals to the cells to regulate energy metabolism, ultimately improving the horse's athletic performance. 

"We are one of the first to demonstrate that certain types of equine gut bacteria produce chemical signals that communicate with the mitochondria in the horse's cells that regulate and generate energy," said study lead author Eric Barrey of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment in France. 

"We believe that metabolites - small molecules created by breaking down bigger molecules for food or growth - produced by these bacteria have the effect of delaying low blood sugar and inflammation in the cells, which in turn extends the horse's athletic performance."

&nbsp;

Recent studies have shown that mitochondria, which generate large amounts of energy within cells, are interdependent with gut bacteria. Researchers have also linked many diseases associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, such as Parkinson's and Crohn's, to changes in the gut microbiome.

Study first author Dr. Nuria Mach is an expert at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment in France.

"Studying horses is a good way to assess the link between gut bacteria and mitochondria, because the level of exercise, and thereby mitochondrial function, performed by a horse during an endurance race is similar to that of a human marathon runner," explained Dr. Mach.

"For this study we gained permission for veterinary doctors to take blood samples from 20 healthy horses of similar age and performance level, at the start and end of the International Endurance Competition of Fontainebleau, an 8-hour horse race in France." 

"These samples provided information about the chemical signals and expression of specific genes, which is the process by which DNA is converted into instructions for making proteins or other molecules. To understand the composition of the horse's gut bacteria metabolites, we obtained fecal samples at the start of the race."

The researchers found that certain bacteria in the gut were linked to gene expression through mitochondria, and the genes that were "turned on" were associated with metabolism.

"Interestingly, mitochondria have a bacterial origin - it is thought they formed a symbiotic relationship with other components to form the first cell," said Barrey. "This may explain why mitochondria have this line of communication with gut bacteria."

"Improving our understanding of the intercommunication between the horse and the gut microbiome could help enhance their individual performance, as well as the method by which they are trained and dietary composition intake," said Dr. Mach. 

"Manipulating the gut microbiota with probiotic supplements as well as prebiotics, to feed the good bacteria, could be a way for increasing the health and balance of the microbiome and horses, to better sustain endurance exercise."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences">Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Horse's gut bacteria "talk" to cells to regulate energy

In a new study published by Frontiers, experts have discovered...

According to a new study, the Tibetan Plateau has been warming more rapidly than the global average, and this rate will continue to exceed what has been projected by climate models.

The Tibetan Plateau contains the largest volumes of ice outside of the polar regions, and feeds dozens of major Asian rivers.

"Serving as 'the water tower of Asia,' the Tibetan Plateau supplies water resources to more than 1.4 billion people. It is warming more rapidly than the global average over the past decades, affecting regional hydrological cycle and ecosystem services," wrote the researchers.

Rapid warming across the Plateau has also caused substantial glacier retreat, as well as landslides, debris flows, and glacial lake outbursts.

Study lead author Professor Tianjun Zhou is a senior scientist at the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics </a>(IAP) and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"A clear understanding of the past warming of the Tibetan Plateau, particularly the underlying human influence, can help better anticipating and interpreting future changes," said Professor Zhou.

To investigate what has driven higher temperatures across the Plateau in recent decades, Professor Zhou and his team used an archive of comprehensive climate models known as CMIP5, in which historical simulations are driven by individual external forcings. 

The experts found that the accelerated warming of the Tibetan Plateau from 1961 to 2005 can be attributed to human activities, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, which contributed approximately 1.37 degrees Celsius.

Considering that anthropogenic warming on the Tibetan Plateau is currently underestimated by global climate models, the team went further to correct future projections. The analysis confirmed that the Tibetan Plateau will continue to warm faster than previously expected.

"For example, under a medium carbon emission scenario (RCP4.5), the Tibetan Plateau is expected to warm by 2.25°C and 2.99°C in the mid-term (2041-2060) and end of 21st century (2081-2100), which are 0.24°C and 0.32°C warmer than the uncorrected projections, respectively," said study co-author Wenxia Zhang. "This implies a greater loss of glacier mass and further increased geohazard risks in the Asian water tower."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Temperatures are rising unexpectedly fast on the Tibetan Plateau

According to a new study, the Tibetan Plateau has been...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[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 



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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