Beyond the lively music and familiar clink of pint glasses, the air in Dublin carries something far less visible: fragments of DNA.



A new study has revealed that genetic material from plants, animals, microbes - and even traces of illicit drugs like cannabis and poppy - can be found drifting through the city’s atmosphere.



This discovery showcases the expanding possibilities of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dna-fishing-helps-scientists-survey-marine-life-in-the-deep-ocean/">environmental DNA</a>, or eDNA - genetic material collected not from an animal or plant itself, but from the surrounding environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-airborne-dna-holds-clues-to-life">Airborne DNA holds clues to life</h2>



The new research shows that even the air we breathe contains enough stray DNA to map out species in the area, track disease <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-pandemic-looms-as-pathogens-move-from-wild-plants-to-crops/">pathogens</a>, and detect chemical signatures from human activity.



David Duffy is a professor of wildlife disease genomics at the <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/">University of Florida</a>. Professor Duffy and his team originally developed their eDNA tools to study sea <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-turtle-day-2025-ancient-creatures-with-modern-challenges/">turtle</a> populations by analyzing samples from water, sand, and soil.



“The level of information that’s available in environmental DNA is such that we’re only starting to consider what the potential applications can be, from humans, to wildlife, to other species that have implications for human health,” said Professor Duffy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-airborne-dna-can-reveal">What airborne DNA can reveal</h2>



Housed at the University of Florida, the <a href="https://www.whitney.ufl.edu/">Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience</a> has since broadened its methods to extract and analyze DNA from nearly any environment - including air.



This DNA, invisible to the naked eye, doesn't just rest on surfaces or float downstream. It also exists freely in the air. The researchers discovered that simple air filters, run for hours or days, could collect large amounts of informative genetic material.



“When we started, it seemed like it would be hard to get intact large fragments of DNA from the air. But that’s not the case. We’re actually finding a lot of informative DNA,” said Professor Duffy.



“That means you can study species without directly having to disturb them, without ever having to see them. It opens up huge possibilities to study all the species in an area simultaneously, from microbes and viruses all the way up to vertebrates like bobcats and humans.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-pathogens-to-pollen">Tracking pathogens to pollen</h2>



As a real-world test, Duffy’s lab set up airborne DNA collection devices in Dublin. The filters picked up traces of hundreds of human pathogens - including viruses and bacteria - floating in the city’s air.



Such monitoring could prove crucial in early detection of disease outbreaks or understanding how infections spread through populations.



The same method can also detect environmental allergens more precisely than current technologies. From pollen to peanut particles, the ability to pinpoint <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-making-allergy-season-worse-and-longer-lasting/">allergens</a> could transform how doctors advise patients or how public health agencies issue warnings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wildlife-monitoring-without-disturbance"><a></a>Wildlife monitoring without disturbance</h2>



Beyond the urban setting, Duffy’s team also tested their approach in the wilds of Florida. There, air filters collected DNA from animals as elusive as bobcats and as small as spiders.



Remarkably, the DNA revealed not only the presence of these animals, but also where they came from - providing location data without relying on sighting reports, camera traps, or scat samples.



Such precision could be a game-changer for conservation. When trying to protect endangered species, knowing their geographic origin can be as critical as knowing their current location.



By tracking this data through the air, scientists can study animals that are rare, shy, or difficult to observe - without ever disturbing them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-speed-simplicity-and-global-access"><a></a>Speed, simplicity, and global access</h2>



Perhaps just as impressive as the scope of detection is the speed and affordability of the technique. Duffy’s team showed that a single researcher could analyze all the DNA in an air sample in about a day. 



The process uses compact lab equipment and cloud-based software, lowering the barriers for researchers around the world.



This accessibility makes it possible to deploy eDNA monitoring across ecosystems and cities without requiring vast scientific infrastructure. But with that power comes responsibility. 



Since airborne DNA includes fragments from humans, researchers have urged the creation of ethical standards to guide how this data is handled and shared.



“It seems like science fiction, but it’s becoming science fact,” Duffy said. “The technology is finally matching the scale of environmental problems.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-frontier-for-science"><a></a>A new frontier for science</h2>



As climate change and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-action-and-biodiversity-striking-the-right-balance/">biodiversity</a> loss pose growing threats, tools like airborne eDNA offer a powerful way to keep track of both wildlife and public health. 



By analyzing one sample, scientists can detect pathogens, pollutants, invasive species, and endangered animals - accelerating environmental responses.



Dublin may be the first city to offer proof of concept. But this approach could soon be used globally - to monitor disease, study ecosystems, or even map how human activity shapes the microscopic life around us. With every breath of air, there’s now a new window into the world we live in.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02711-w">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



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Airborne DNA can track wildlife, diseases - and even drugs

Beyond the lively music and familiar clink of pint glasses, the air in Dublin carries something far less visible: fragments of DNA. A new study has revealed that genetic material from plants, animals, microbes - and even traces of illicit drugs like cannabis and poppy - can be found drifting through the city’s atmosphere. This discovery showcases the expanding possibilities of environmental DNA, or eDNA - genetic material collected not from an animal or plant itself, but from the surrounding environment. Airborne DNA holds clues to life...

Temperatures are rising faster in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-biodiversity-will-get-a-boost-from-rising-temperatures/">Arctic</a> than the global average, and this is affecting seasonal patterns of behavior in many species of animals. For migratory species that breed in the Arctic during summer, this is especially significant since the timing of migration, arrival and breeding is critical. Add to this the fact that migratory species may be experiencing increased anthropogenic pressures along their travel routes, and it becomes clear that times are very challenging for these animals. 



Species may respond by changing the timing of their migration and breeding, by extending their breeding range or altering their migration route. Some migratory species may remain to breed in traditional wintering areas, while others end up becoming vagrants in response to climate change. Mostly, these processes of adaptation take time to become established but a new study on pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) has recorded a relatively rapid adjustment of behavior in response to climate change.



Traditionally, pink-footed geese breed in Svalbard in summer and then migrate southwards, via a narrow corridor along the west coast of Norway, to their wintering grounds in western Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. However, many pressures and disturbances along this flyway over the past decades have made it less and less attractive to the geese. These include organized scaring by farmers at key stopover sites, agricultural crop changes and new hunting regulations that allow more geese to be harvested.&nbsp;



In a new study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.065">Current Biology</a>, researchers suggest that in response to these anthropogenic pressures, pink-footed geese have found a new migration route and breeding location which is almost 1,000 kilometers away from their original summer stomping grounds in Svalbard. Each year, more and more geese join the individuals flying to the new summer grounds, including geese of other species. The new population of pink-footed geese now numbers over 4,000 individuals.



“It is extremely fascinating to witness such rapid evolution of new breeding grounds and migratory route by a bird species that is regarded as being very traditional in its behavior and site use,” said Jesper Madsen of Aarhus University in Denmark. “It gives some hope for ‘ecological rescue’ at times of very radical environmental changes due to climate change and, more broadly, global change.”



“We observe a new distinct population of birds in the making, in real time,” he added. “This is very rare to observe. The speed of the development is astonishing.”



Madsen’s team has been studying Norway’s Svalbard population of pink-footed geese for more than 35 years. They’ve kept tabs on the population size and demographic variables, using a systematic marking and resighting program. About 20 years ago, they started getting reports of geese turning up on migration in Sweden and Finland, which were confirmed as members of the Svalbard population.



This long-term population monitoring and Capture-Mark-Recapture (CMR) program has enabled the researchers to follow the establishment of the new migration route from an early phase. In the 1990s, single individuals or small flocks of pink-footed geese were reported by the goose counting networks in southern Sweden during autumn and spring, and in western Finland during spring. Since the early 2000s, however, observations of flocks have become more regular and numbers have increased in both countries.&nbsp;



The new route takes birds from the wintering grounds in western Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, via the west coast of Finland, to new breeding grounds on Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Russia. As part of the monitoring program, some birds are fitted with marked neckbands and some with GPS tags, enabling scientists to map the locations of birds and even document nesting behavior in the new breeding areas.&nbsp;



“It was a real surprise to see that half of the marked individuals in Oulu [Finland] migrated northeast to Novaya Zemlya in north Russia,” said Madsen. “From the tagging information we could not only follow their new path but also got indications that females were breeding there. This site is around 1,000 kilometers east of the traditional Svalbard breeding grounds.



“It was also cool to observe that geese from the traditional flyway have turned up on the new route and seemed to have switched. Hence, social learning and following individuals from the new route has been an important phenomenon, which also explains how this development could be so fast.”



In their report, the researchers detail the abrupt formation of the new migration route and population of pink-footed geese over the course of 10 to 15 years. The population has grown over time due to successful breeding and high survival rates, combined with continued immigration of geese from the old route to the new one.



This development has only been possible due to the fact that rising temperatures have made the environment in Novaya Zemlya suitable for geese to inhabit in summer. While the new population is not genetically or demographically isolated yet, the researchers note that it does already qualify as a separate population. The researchers suggest that cultural transmission has enabled the species to colonize a new breeding area rapidly, and to establish a totally new migratory route, including new stopover and wintering sites.&nbsp;



The new route does have some disadvantages, Madsen says. For instance, it’s longer. But the researchers suspect the benefits of the new route and breeding grounds outweigh any downsides. The findings in geese show the importance of social learning when it comes to adapting to a changing planet, Madsen notes, especially in social animals, including birds but perhaps also in hoofed ungulates, wolves, and whales.



“At this time, when climate change and other human activities threaten many species, not least the Arctic ones, social learning can be a behavior that can provide advantages to avoid some negative impacts, at least in the short term,” said Madsen.



The researchers say they hope one day to observe the geese in their new breeding grounds in Russia. For now, they’ll keep an eye on the future development of the new population using GPS-tracking devices and remote sensing of the new environment.



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



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Arctic geese adapt by finding a new migratory route

Temperatures are rising faster in the Arctic than the global...

Blue whales, the largest living creatures on Earth, nearly went extinct due to whaling practices of the 20th century. They remain listed as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/california-spotted-owl-officially-listed-as-endangered/">endangered</a> under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Due to their low population numbers, scientists are finding more ways to protect blue whales.



In 2018, researchers from <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a>, including Dawn Barlow and Leigh Torres, discovered that a population of pygmy blue whales (B. m. brevicauda) in South Taranaki Bight, New Zealand &nbsp;is genetically distinct from other Blue Whale populations.



To be classified as a resident species and gain more protection, the experts needed to show that this unique whale population was breeding in the area.&nbsp;



The researchers placed five underwater microphones, or hydrophones, on the ocean floor. They were able to collect near-continuous data between 2016 and 2018.



“Unlike many other baleen whales, this population stays in this region year-round,” explained Barlow. “That means we can monitor what they are doing from one location. Listening is an effective way to do that.”



“Although no one has actually documented blue whales mating – it is hard to observe that directly – the increase in song during the expected time of mating is a strong indication of breeding in New Zealand waters,” said Torres. “Our study adds more evidence that these are resident New Zealand blue whales.”



The researchers also found a link between environmental conditions and behavior. They found that the 2016 heat wave affected the whales’ feeding behavior and possibly their breeding behavior.&nbsp;



“During the marine heatwave, feeding-related calls were reduced, reflecting poor foraging conditions during that period,” said Barlow. “But we also saw changes in vocalizations in the next breeding period, an indication that they put less effort into reproduction following a period of poor feeding conditions.”



The data is critical to the future protection of blue whales, considering warmer oceans may reduce their reproductive activity.&nbsp;



“We have come so far in 10 years in our knowledge of these blue whales - from not knowing this population existed to now understanding their year-round use of this region for feeding, mating and nursing,” said Torres. “New Zealanders should be excited and proud that their country is home to its own unique population of blue whales. We hope our work helps Kiwis manage and protect these whales.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770">Ecology and Evolution</a>.



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Warming oceans may reduce blue whale reproduction

Blue whales, the largest living creatures on Earth, nearly went...

New research conducted by the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-hits-new-record-high/">deforestation</a> leads to reduced rainfall across large areas of the tropics. Although people inhabiting these regions have often complained that the climate gets hotter and drier once trees from these areas are cleared, this is the first study to identify a clear link between the loss of tree cover and significant declines in rainfall.



The experts examined the impact of forest loss on rainfall patterns in three areas of the tropics – the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia – that have recently experienced rapid land-use changes. By using satellite observations from 2003 to 2017, they identified the areas where forests have been cleared, and compared rainfall data from these regions to data from nearby locations where forests have not been lost.



The analysis revealed that tropical forest loss led to reductions in rainfall throughout the entire year, including in the dry season, when any further drying severely impacts plant and animal ecosystems. However, the largest decline in precipitation was observed in the wet season, with nearly 0.6 mm a month reduction in rainfall for each percent of forest cover loss.



“Tropical forests play a critical role in the hydrological cycle through helping to maintain local and regional rainfall patterns,” said study lead author Callum Smith, a doctoral student in Environmental Sciences at Leeds.&nbsp;



“The reduction in rainfall caused by tropical deforestation will impact people living nearby through increased water scarcity and depressed crop yields.&nbsp;Tropical forests themselves rely on moisture to survive and remaining areas of forest will be impacted by a drier climate.”&nbsp;



According to the scientists, the loss of tree cover disrupts the process in which moisture from leaves is returned to the atmosphere through a mechanism called evapotranspiration, where it eventually forms rain clouds.&nbsp;



Besides impacting natural ecosystems, reductions in rainfall are also detrimental to agriculture and hydropower plants and are thus likely to affect not only the healthy functioning of forests, but also local communities. In addition, these declines have a negative impact on biodiversity, increase the risks of forest fires, and reduce carbon sequestration.



These problems will likely get worse by the end of the century, with researchers estimating that, if the rate of deforestation in the Congo was to continue as before, rainfall in the region could be reduced by eight to 12 percent, severely affecting both biodiversity and farming, while threatening the viability of the Congo forests, which are among the world’s largest carbon stores.



“The study shows the critical importance of tropical forests in sustaining rainfall. Although there have been efforts to halt deforestation, the loss of forest cover in the tropics has continued. There needs to be renewed efforts to stop forests being lost and to regenerate lost and degraded areas,” concluded senior author Dominick Spracklen, a professor of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions at Leeds.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05690-1.">Nature</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Deforestation in the tropics linked to reduced rainfall

New research conducted by the University of Leeds has found...

Scientists have long known that browsing by large animals such as moose, which consume a high number of plants that would otherwise act as carbon sinks, could be an overlooked source of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/land-carbon-stores-are-increasingly-destabilized/">carbon</a> emissions. Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU) has found that moose can greatly reduce carbon storage in clearcut sites. This reduction in sequestered carbon is equivalent to as much as 60 percent of the annual fossil fuel carbon emissions from a region.&nbsp;



“Moose are an ecosystem engineer in the forest ecosystem, and strongly impact everything from the species composition and nutrient availability in the forest,” said study co-author Gunnar Austrheim, an ecologist at NTNU. “A grown animal can eat 50 kilograms of biomass each day during summer.”



Since moose prefer to eat young deciduous trees such as birch, rowan, and willow, the young saplings that would usually sprout in a forest after a timber company clearcuts an area never get the change to grow and thus bind up CO2 in their trunks, leaves, and roots at maturity. “It was really a surprise to see how much moose can influence vegetation growth, the carbon cycle, and the climate system,” said co-author Xiangping Hu, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/web/indecol/industrial-ecology-programme">Industrial Ecology Program</a> (IndEcol) at NTNU.



“One of the biggest unknowns that we have in our understanding of the climate system and the carbon cycle is potentially the effect of larger animals, and how they interact with carbon storage in vegetation,” added co-author Francesco Cherubini, the director of IndEcol.



“This study gave us a great opportunity to quantify this effect. We have some numbers that we can relate to the regional carbon budget, and which actually show the importance of large animals like the moose.”



Although previous research has found that moose can be of help to the forest industry – since, by thinning out the deciduous trees they reduce the competition to species preferred by the industry, such as pines or spruce – the current findings suggest that these animals may negatively impact biodiversity and the climate. However, the researchers hope to find a right balance between moose numbers and how forested lands are managed in order to limit excess carbon emissions, boost biodiversity, and increase forest productivity.



“I think as we get more of an understanding of how all these different things are interrelated, land managers could come up with an optimal plan. That could be a much needed win-win solution for climate, for biodiversity, and for timber value,” Cherubini concluded.



The study is published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007279">Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</a>.



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



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Moose contribute to global warming

Scientists have long known that browsing by large animals such...

Although it is a widespread belief that humans contribute the most to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollution-linked-to-a-higher-risk-of-stroke/">air pollution</a>, there are also vast amounts of pollutants emerging from natural sources. According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">University of California, Riverside</a> (UCR), if global temperatures rise by four degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, harmful plant emissions and dust will also increase by as much as 14 percent.



“We are not looking at human emissions of air pollution, because we can change what we emit,” said study lead author James Gomez, a doctoral student in Global Climate and Environmental Change at UCR. “We can switch to electric cars. But that may not change air pollution from plants or dust.”



Plants constantly produce and emit chemicals called biogenic volatile compounds (BVOCs), which give rise, for instance, to the smell of a freshly-mowed lawn or the sweetness of ripe strawberries. While on their own, BVOCs are benign, once they react with oxygen, they produce organic aerosols which, when inhaled, can lead to infant mortality and childhood asthma, as well as lung cancer and heart disease in adulthood.



Two factors projected to continue to increase due to climate – atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature - will both boost BVOC production. However, as the scientists stress, growing plants can still help the environment by reducing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Moreover, BVOCs from small gardens will not be harmful.



“Your lawn, for example, won’t produce enough BVOCs to make you sick. It’s the large-scale increase in carbon dioxide that contributes to the biosphere increasing BVOCs, and then organic aerosols,” Gomez explained.



The second largest contributor to pollution from natural sources will likely be dust from the Saharan desert which, as the climate warms, will be blown around the globe, leading to hazardous amounts of air pollution in Africa, the eastern U.S., and the Caribbean. Moreover, due to West African monsoons, dust over Northern Africa is likely to further increase.



Since they have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, both organic aerosols and dust fall into the category of PM2.5 airborne pollutants, which are among the most dangerous pollutants. According to the experts, the increase in naturally sourced PM2.5 pollution is directly proportional with rises in CO2 levels. “The more we increase CO2, the more PM2.5 we see being put into the atmosphere, and the inverse is also true. The more we reduce, the better the air quality gets,” Gomez said. Thus, in order to have a positive effect on future air quality, CO2 emissions will need to decrease sharply.



“The results of this experiment may even be a bit conservative because we did not include climate-dependent changes in wildfire emissions as a factor. In the future, make sure you get an air purifier,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00688-7">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.



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



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Air pollution will increase dramatically in a hotter climate

Although it is a widespread belief that humans contribute the...

According to recent studies, about 34 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system, particularly from food production, with beef production being responsible for eight to ten times more emissions than chicken production, and over 20 times more emissions than nut and legume production. Now, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://tulane.edu/">Tulane University</a> has used data from more than 16,000 adult diets collected by the CDC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey</a> to examine popular contemporary diets – such as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ketogenic-diet-may-prevent-asthma-attacks/">keto</a>, paleo, vegan, or omnivorous diets – in terms of their nutritional quality and environmental impact.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that the keto diet, which prioritizes high amounts of fats and low amounts of carbs, and the paleo diet, which eschews beans and grains in favor of meats, nuts, and vegetables, scored among the lowest on overall nutrition quality and were among the highest on carbon emissions (with 3kg and 2.6kg of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed, respectively).



“We suspected the negative climate impacts because they’re meat-centric, but no one had really compared all these diets – as they are chosen by individuals, instead of prescribed by experts – to each other using a common framework,” said study senior author Diego Rose, a professor of Nutritional Sciences at Tulane.



By contrast, vegan diets were found to have the least environmental impact, generating only 0.7kg of CO2 per 1,000 calories consumed, followed by vegetarian and pescatarian diets. The latter scored the highest on nutritional quality, with vegetarian and vegan diets following closely behind.&nbsp;



The omnivore diet – the most common diet, represented by 86 percent of the survey participants – was in the middle in terms of both quality and sustainability. According to the experts, if a third of people on omnivorous diets started eating a vegetarian diet, on average for any given day, it would be equivalent to eliminating 340 million passenger vehicle miles.



“Climate change is arguably one of the most pressing problems of our time, and a lot of people are interested in moving to a plant-based diet. Based on our results, that would reduce your footprint and be generally healthy. Our research also shows there’s a way to improve your health and footprint without giving up meat entirely,” Rose explained.



“I think the next question is how would different policies affect outcomes and how could those move us toward healthier, more environmentally friendly diets,” he concluded.&nbsp;



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.01.009">American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</a>.&nbsp;



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



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Study reveals the environmental impacts of various diets

According to recent studies, about 34 percent of greenhouse gas...

The Antarctic is a rugged environment, and scientific research in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biodiversity-loss-can-lead-to-total-ecosystem-collapse/">ecosystem</a> can be grueling and often impossible. However, thanks to improvements in satellite technology, researchers led by the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a> were recently able to comb through over 100,000 images of the Antarctic Peninsula. The team reviewed satellite images taken between 2017 and 2021 to understand the differences in glacial behavior during colder and milder periods.



Glaciers are known to move approximately one kilometer (0.62 miles) yearly. However, researchers recently discovered that the ice flows up to 22 percent faster in the summer than in the cooler months. Experts believe this is due to increased ocean temperatures and melting snow, which increases lubrication and the rate of glacial slide. The finding is significant because it can provide insight into what the Antarctic could look like as temperatures and sea levels rise.



Knowing how fast glaciers are melting and moving is especially important, considering that the Antarctic Peninsula is the largest frozen freshwater reservoir in the world and is especially vulnerable to warming temperatures. Between 1992 and 2017, melting ice on the peninsula caused global sea levels to rise by 7.6mm, which may significantly impact climate change.



“The Antarctic Peninsula has seen some of the most rapid warming of any region on Earth. Continuing work like this will help glaciologists monitor how quickly change is occurring, enabling accurate assessments of how Earth’s ice will respond to climate change," explained study co-author Dr. Anna Hogg.



Craig Donlon of the European Space Agency concludes by explaining how satellite images will continue to be a game changer for scientists:



“This study highlights how high-resolution satellite images can help us monitor how the environment is changing in remote regions," said Donlon. "Future satellites, such as the family of Copernicus Sentinel expansion missions, promise to bring enhanced continuity and capabilities that will spearhead further insight into the characteristics and processes governing ice mass balance and sea-level rise.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-023-01131-4">&nbsp;Nature Geosciences</a>.



Image Credit: Dr Anna E. Hogg, University of Leeds



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Antarctic glaciers are flowing faster in the summer

The Antarctic is a rugged environment, and scientific research in...

For the past 70 years, humanity has become more and more reliant on plastic materials for a variety of functions. In this time, an estimated 6 billion tons of plastics have ended up being deposited in the environment where they gradually degrade and fragment into micrometer- and nanometer-sized particles. These micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have become widely distributed throughout the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-risk-linked-to-specific-environmental-pollutants/">environment</a> and the food chain, and have been found in the tissues of humans and other mammals.&nbsp;



Previous studies have confirmed that MNPs entering in food can cross the intestinal barrier into the blood stream, and MNPs have been found in the tissues of laboratory rats and fish. Furthermore, pregnant rats fed plastics in their food had offspring that suffered an array of unhealthy outcomes affecting the brain, testicles, liver, immune system and metabolism. Placental tissues in humans, both maternal and fetal have also been shown to contain these tiny particles of plastic, but there has never been a study confirming that MNPs can cross the placenta from mother to offspring.&nbsp;



In a new investigation by Rutgers scientists, pregnant rats were fed specially marked nanoscale plastics to determine whether these could cross the placenta and infiltrate the tissues of their unborn pups. The researchers hypothesized that the carboxylated red fluorescent 25 nm (PS25C)&nbsp;polystyrene spheres would cross the intestinal barrier of the mother rats and then also cross the placenta and enter the blood stream and tissues of the unborn pups.&nbsp;



The five experimental rats were fed liquid containing the 25 nm polystyrene balls on day 19 of their pregnancy. Control rats were not fed in this way. After 24 h, the rats were sacrificed and images were made of their tissues, and of the tissues of their pups. The results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano13040720">Nanomaterials</a>, showed that the MNPs had not only crossed the intestinal and placental barriers within 24 h, but they had permeated the livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs and brains of the unborn offspring.&nbsp;



“Much remains unknown, but this is certainly cause for concern and follow-up study,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://mae.rutgers.edu/philip-demokritou">Philip Demokritou</a>, the Henry Rutgers Chair and professor in nanoscience and environmental bioengineering at the&nbsp;<a href="https://sph.rutgers.edu/">Rutgers School of Public Health.</a>



“The use of plastics has exploded since the 1940s due to their low cost and versatile properties. From 9 billion metric tons produced over the last 60 years, 80 percent ended up in the environment, and only 10 percent was recycled,” said Demokritou, who also holds appointments at Rutgers’ School of Engineering and directs the Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Research Center at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute.



“Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable, but weathering and photooxidation break them into tiny fragments. These tiny fragments, called micro-nano-plastics, are found in human lungs, placentas and blood, raising human health concerns. As public health researchers, we are trying to assess the health risks from such an emerging contaminant to inform policymakers and develop mitigation strategies. The goal is also to increase the reuse and recycling of plastics and even replace them with biodegradable, biopolymer-based plastics. This is part of our bigger societal goal towards sustainability.”



The results confirm the hypothesis of the researchers, that MNPs can cross the placental barrier and permeate the tissues of the unborn offspring. They also suggest the potential for the maternal–fetal transfer of nanoscale polystyrene MNPs.&nbsp;



The researchers acknowledge that the investigation involved only polystyrene MNPs, of a single specific size, and that this is not representative of the variety of environmental MNPs to which animals and humans are exposed. However, they were able to prove, for the first time, that plastics of this size can cross the placental barrier and affect the tissues of the offspring.&nbsp;



It is estimated that the average human ingests and inhales around 5 g of MNPs a week, a quantity that is equal to the mass of a credit card. It hasn’t yet been shown whether this amount, ingested unavoidably by a pregnant woman, will have similar effects on an unborn child, although some studies suggest plastics do affect human embryonic development, said Demokritou.



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



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Plastics can be passed from mothers to unborn babies

For the past 70 years, humanity has become more and...

With dozens of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-moon/">Moon</a> missions planned for the coming decade, a new era of lunar exploration is on the rise. However, since all of these missions will soon be operating on and around the Moon, different teams will need to be able to communicate and fix their positions independently from Earth, thus requiring a commonly agreed upon way of keeping time on the Moon. This is part of a larger effort to agree a common ‘<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/lunanet-empowering-artemis-with-communications-and-navigation-interoperability/">LunaNet</a>’ architecture that will cover lunar communication and navigation services.



“LunaNet is a framework of mutually agreed-upon standards, protocols, and interface requirements allowing future lunar missions to work together, conceptually similar to what we did on Earth for joint use of GPS and Galileo,” explained Javier Ventura-Traveset, <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a>’s Moonlight Navigation Manager. “Now, in the lunar context, we have the opportunity to agree on our interoperability approach from the very beginning, before the systems are actually implemented.”



According to ESA navigation system manager Pietro Giordano, defining a common lunar reference time that is internationally accepted and towards which all lunar systems and users can refer to is of utmost importance and urgency to ensure the proper functioning and communication of future Moon missions.



“Interoperability of time and geodetic reference frames has been successfully achieved here on Earth for Global Navigation Satellite Systems; all of today’s smartphones are able to make use of existing GNSS to compute a user position down to meter or even decimeter level,” said Jörg Hahn, a chief engineer at ESA.



“The experience of this success can be re-used for the technical long-term lunar systems to come, even though stable timekeeping on the Moon will throw up its own unique challenges – such as taking into account the fact that time passes at a different rate there due to the Moon’s specific gravity and velocity effects.”



Although all the terrestrial satellite navigation systems, such as the United States’ GPS or Europe’s Galileo, operate on their own distinct time systems, they nevertheless posses fixed offsets relative to each other down to a few billionths of a second, as well as to the UTC Universal Coordinated Time global standard (the timing used for internet, banking, and aviation operations).



Scientists are now debating whether a single organization should be responsible for setting and maintaining lunar time, and whether this time should be kept synchronized with Earth time or be set on an independent basis on the Moon. Devising such a system is currently facing significant challenges, since clocks on the Moon run faster than their equivalents on Earth and their exact rate depends upon on their position on the Moon.&nbsp;



Moreover, the agreed time system will also need to be practical for astronauts, which will require a common ‘selenocentric reference frame,’ similar to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame on Earth, which allows consistent measurements of precise distances between any locations on Earth.



“Throughout human history, exploration has actually been a key driver of improved timekeeping and geodetic reference models. It is certainly an exciting time to do that now for the Moon, working towards defining an internationally agreed timescale and a common selenocentric reference, which will not only ensure interoperability between the different lunar navigation systems, but which will also foster a large number of research opportunities and applications in cislunar space,” concluded Ventura-Traveset.



&nbsp;—



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



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How can we keep up with the time on the Moon?

With dozens of Moon missions planned for the coming decade,...

By simulating ancient Earth conditions in the laboratory, a team of scientists led by <a href="https://cuni.cz/UK-1.html">Charles University</a> in the Czech Republic and <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> in the U.S. has found that without a set of specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have evolved into life as we know it today. These findings, detailing how amino acids shaped the genetic code of ancient microorganisms, shed new light on the origins of life on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solid-metal-ball-discovered-within-earths-inner-core/">Earth</a>.&nbsp;



“You see the same amino acids in every organism, from humans to bacteria to archaea, and that’s because all things on Earth are connected through this tree of life that has an origin, an organism that was the ancestor to all living things,” said study co-author Stephen Fried, a chemist at Johns Hopkins. “We’re describing the events that shaped why that ancestor got the amino acids that it did.”



The scientists mimicked primordial protein synthesis of four billion years ago in a laboratory setting by using an alternative set of amino acids which were highly abundant before life emerged on our planet. They discovered that ancient organic compounds integrated the amino acids best suited for protein folding into their biochemistry, suggesting that life emerged and thrived on Earth not only because some amino acids were available in ancient environments, but mainly because some of them were particularly efficient in helping proteins adopt specific shapes to perform crucial functions.



“Protein folding was basically allowing us to do evolution before there was even life on our planet. You could have evolution before you had biology, you could have natural selection for the chemicals that are useful for life even before there was DNA,” Fried explained.



Although the primordial Earth had hundreds of amino acids, all living beings use just 20 of these compounds – what scientists refer to as “canonical” amino acids. In its first billion years, our planet’s atmosphere consisted of a mixture of gases such as ammonia and CO2 which, by reacting with high levels of UV radiation, gave rise to some of these acids, while others arrived from meteorites. How the rest of them emerged remains an open question which the researchers are currently investigating. “We’re trying to find out what was so special about our canonical amino acids,” Fried said. “Were they selected for any particular reason?”



“To have evolution in the Darwinian sense, you need to have this whole sophisticated way of turning genetic molecules like DNA and RNA into proteins. But replicating DNA also requires proteins, so we have a chicken-and-egg problem. Our research shows that nature could have selected for building blocks with useful properties before Darwinian evolution,” he added.



Finally, the fact that many of these canonical amino acids arrived from space suggests that such compounds may be abundant in other parts of the universe, possibly giving rise to life there too. “The universe seems to love amino acids. Maybe if we found life on a different planet, it wouldn’t be that different,” Fried concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c12987">Journal of the American Chemical Society</a>.&nbsp;



—



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



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New clues about the origins of life on Earth

By simulating ancient Earth conditions in the laboratory, a team...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> has found that, due to a combination of rising sea levels and climate change, highly destructive hurricanes and tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/distant-storms-trigger-sneaker-waves-on-the-pacific-coast/">storms</a> could become much more likely to hit coastal regions in quick succession. According to the experts, in areas such as the Gulf Coast, such back-to-back hurricanes could occur as frequently as once every three years.



“Rising sea levels and climate change make sequential damaging hurricanes more likely as the century progresses,” said study lead author Dazhi Xi, a postdoctoral fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton. “Today’s extremely rare events will become far more frequent.”



Questions about the increasing frequency of sequential hurricanes emerged in recent years, particularly after a destructive hurricane season in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, followed very soon by Irma in South Florida and Maria in Puerto Rico. Similarly, in 2021 Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana, followed shortly by Tropical Storm Nicholas that made a landfall as a hurricane in Texas.



By running computer simulations that took into account both a moderate and a high carbon emissions scenario, the scientists found that, in both cases, the chance of sequential, destructive hurricanes will increase dramatically, with areas along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast most likely to experience such devastating effects.



“The proportion of storms that can have an impact on communities is increasing,” said study co-author Ning Lin, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton. “The frequency of storms is not as important as the increasing number of storms that can become hazardous.”



According to the researchers, this phenomenon is driven by two main factors: rising sea levels and increased precipitation due to climate change. As sea levels rise, storm surges will become more threatening to coastal communities since the baseline water level will already be higher, while, due to higher air temperatures caused by climate change, storms will intensify and carry more water.



These findings highlight the need for community planners and regional emergency officials to recognize this emerging threat and seek urgent improvements in both resilience and response. Communities will need to deal with increased flooding threats by hardening systems that remove floodwater and protecting critical infrastructure such as transportation, water systems, and power grids. At the same time, emergency response teams will have to be prepared to handle multiple storms or hurricanes occurring in quick succession.&nbsp;



“If a power system requires 15 days to recover from a major hurricane, we cannot wait that long in the future because the next storm can hit before you can restore power, as in the case of Nicholas following Ida. We need to think about plans, rescue workers, resources. How will we plan for this?” Lin concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01595-7">Nature Climate Change</a>.&nbsp;



—



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



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Back-to-back hurricanes will soon become common

A new study led by Princeton University has found that,...

A new study led by <a href="https://nau.edu/">Northern Arizona University</a> has revealed that cattle producers in 133 developing countries -&nbsp; including Kenya, Uganda, and India - are much more vulnerable to economic disruption due to livestock depredation by large carnivores. In such lower income areas, even the loss of one animal can have dire consequences.



“For most farmers, livestock represents a key - if not their only - income source. When that livestock is threatened by large predators, it can be financially devastating for them,” explained study senior author Duan Biggs.



The experts found that the amount of meat produced per animal in a developing country is about 31 percent less than that in a developed country, which makes a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/livestock-are-reservoirs-for-antimicrobial-resistant-pathogens/">livestock</a> loss more devastating. According to the research, the loss of a single cow or bull is comparable to a child losing nearly 18 months of calories.&nbsp;



"Our results mirror a lot of the conversations currently taking place in the climate change space; namely that developing economies from the Global South pay the biggest price for conservation, but in this case rather than protecting forests and providing an offset environment for big polluters, they are often the ones paying the price for living alongside species like African lions or tigers - species most of the world loves and wants to see being conserved,” said study lead author Alex Brackowski of Griffith University.



The researchers believe wealthy nations must increase their financial assistance beyond the multibillion-dollar ecotourism industry.&nbsp;



“Our research demonstrates the urgency of developing mechanisms like payments from wealthy urban areas in rich countries where people want predators like lions conserved, to the rural communities in the Global South that bear the costs and risks of living with these fierce and dangerous animals,” said Biggs.



Study co-author Sophie Gilbert takes a western-centric view of the human-animal relationship. She uses economics to stress that the only way for conservation to succeed is for local people to deem what is an acceptable level of wildlife.



“Our work helps show that to become truly nature positive, we need to consider both the benefits and the costs of wildlife to people, and ensure that those bearing the costs of living with wildlife are better supported, financially and otherwise," said Gilbert.



“Only when living with wildlife is stable and viable for local people will the conservation of creatures like large carnivores succeed.”



We can only hope that the local peoples of the Global South have a higher tolerance for predators than the people of many wealthy nations where large predator populations&nbsp; have historically been brutally decimated.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</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



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Large carnivores are much more costly to developing countries

A new study led by Northern Arizona University has revealed...

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 <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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



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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 how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



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.

Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



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.

Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Closeup,Of,Fresh,Green,The,Napier,Bush,Grass,As,Animal

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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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.

Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



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.

Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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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.

NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



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.

Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



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.

Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency </a>&nbsp;features the Kangerlussuaq Glacier, one of the largest tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland. The glacier is located on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet.



As human-induced climate change continues to drive up temperatures, global ice loss is accelerating at an alarming rate. ESA reports that, over the past decade alone, 3.5 trillion tons of ice have melted from the Greenland ice sheet. This is enough to cover the UK with meltwater 15 meters deep.



Based on satellite imagery, researchers determined that Kangerlussuaq entered a new phase of rapid retreat and acceleration in 2017. In their study, published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00123/full">Frontiers in Earth Science</a>,&nbsp; the experts report that the glacier's ice front is now at its most retreated position since the early 20th century.



"Given Kangerlussuaq’s previous impacts on both the magnitude and pattern of ice sheet wide mass loss, we predict that its new phase of retreat, acceleration and thinning will markedly enhance the south-east region’s contribution to increasing discharge from the ice sheet," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"More broadly, accurate forecasting of the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise will require a deeper understanding of, and responses to, these non-linear ice dynamic processes."



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.

Kangerlussuaq Glacier 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 the complex relationship between ocean and climate. ESA's Climate Change Initiative will help us understand how oceans influence the climate and how climate change is impacting the oceans.&nbsp;



"Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate," explains ESA.



"As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life."



The amount of heat and carbon dioxide soaked up by the ocean depends on specific variables, including phytoplankton, temperatures, waves, salinity, and ice cover. Satellites can be used to measure these variables from space.



"From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key information for understanding the complexities of our planet and monitoring environmental issues," says ESA.



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.

Ocean heat influences regional climate

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the importance of monitoring the shape of the sea surface, which is constantly changing. These observations have many applications, such as ship routing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a> current forecasting, and debris tracking.



"A project supported by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities recently investigated a new technique to measure sea surface topography very precisely," reports ESA.



"The technique involves looking at satellite navigation (GNSS) signals that have been reflected off of the sea surface at very low angles. At these so-called grazing angles, waves and surface roughness have very little impact on the reflection process; the sea surface acts as a very smooth mirror."



Estel Cardellach is the principal investigator at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, who first submitted the idea for the project.



“In a mirror-like reflection the phase of the signal can be tracked – it is continuous," said Cardellach. "Different surface heights result in different phase measurements. It gives a very precise measurement of the surface altitude at a few centimetres’ precision.”



The researchers developed a GNSS receiver and set up an experiment in the Balaeric Islands to collect signals from the receiver that were reflected off the sea surface. Ultimately, these signals will provide improved measurements of the shape of the sea surface.



Image/ Video 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

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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