Forests from the Amazon lowlands to the high Andes are failing to adjust quickly enough to rising temperatures. Populations are not moving upslope at the pace of climate change, and entire communities are not reorganizing to match the new normal.



The gap threatens <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tree-plantations-have-hidden-impacts-on-tropical-biodiversity/">tropical biodiversity</a> and the ecosystem services people rely on - from climate regulation to pollination.



“These forests are simply not keeping up with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tropical-forests-are-struggling-to-keep-pace-with-climate-change/">climate change</a>,” said lead author William Farfan-Rios of <a href="https://www.wfu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wake Forest University</a>. “The result is a growing climatic debt that threatens the integrity and functioning of the most diverse forests on Earth.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-four-decades-of-first-monitoring">Four decades of first monitoring</h2>



The study draws on more than four decades of forest monitoring in Peru and Bolivia. Researchers tracked over 66,000 trees spanning about 2,500 species across 66 permanent plots. 



Those plots run from a few hundred feet above sea level in the Amazon to more than 12,000 feet in the Andes.



The team expected to see warm-adapted species becoming more common over time. Ecologists call that shift thermophilization. Instead, they found little to no evidence that communities are warming in step with the climate along the elevation gradient.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-growing-climatic-debt"><a></a>A growing climatic debt</h2>



The analysis shows that the rate at which warm-adapted forests replace cool-adapted ones is far slower than the regional rate of warming.



That mismatch is the “climatic debt” - the amount of change that should have occurred to keep pace with rising temperatures but has not.



If the debt keeps growing, forests will edge closer to thresholds from which they may not recover. The risk is highest where species live near their thermal limits and have limited options for movement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cloud-forests-show-most-change">Cloud forests show most change</h2>



Mid-elevation forests near the cloud base at roughly 3,900 to 6,600 feet showed the strongest signs of reshuffling. The signal there is driven largely by higher death rates among cool-adapted trees. Mortality is doing more of the work than the arrival of new warm-adapted species.



By contrast, the lowland Amazon plots showed no consistent directional change. That stability may appear resilient in the short term - but it also signals vulnerability. As heat and drought intensify, communities with few hotter-adapted species waiting in the wings may struggle to cope.



Higher in the Andes, many communities remain effectively stuck. Populations are not moving uphill quickly enough to keep within their historical climate envelopes.



Tropical forests in the Andes-Amazon harbor the planet’s highest concentration of life. They store vast amounts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-storage-mystery-emerges-in-the-southern-ocean/">carbon</a> and generate rainfall. They support <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pollinators-face-extinction-risk-due-to-climate-change/">pollinators</a> and seed dispersers that keep the system running.



If tree communities fail to adjust, the carbon sink will weaken. Habitats shrink or vanish. The odds of ecosystem collapse rise, especially in cloud forests where drought and heat push trees past their limits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-time-reveals-forest-shifts">Time reveals forest shifts</h2>



“You have to be there for long periods of time to understand how these forests change,” said co-author Miles Silman, chair of conservation biology at Wake Forest.



“If we lose these climate observatories, these natural labs, we blind ourselves to our future. What we found is that forests are changing, but they’re not changing in the ways that make them resilient to climate change.”



Trees can adapt over millennia. But individuals die quickly, and new trees recruit and grow slowly. Dispersal adds another constraint.



“They also need the full complement of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-at-risk-as-seed-spreading-animals-disappear/">animal dispersers</a> and pollinators to help expand their range - and loss of habitat is shrinking their ranks,” Silman explained.



“If you look at the magnitude of changes happening in the Andes-Amazon, the forest communities likely are not going to keep up. That’s why research like this is important.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-tropical-constraint"><a></a>The tropical constraint</h2>



The results align with a growing pattern: tropical species often have narrow heat tolerances and already live close to their maximum temperatures.



Unlike in temperate systems, there may be few hotter-adapted taxa ready to move in as heat rises. In the lowlands, there is literally nowhere cooler upslope to go.



In the Andes, topography offers ladders for movement. But climbing those ladders requires time, intact habitat, and healthy animal partners to carry seeds. Fragmentation and defaunation remove those rungs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forests-can-t-keep-up">Forests can’t keep up</h2>



Protecting continuous elevational forests gives species a path to track their climates. Safeguarding pollinators and seed dispersers keeps the engine of range expansion running. Reducing local stressors - selective logging, fire, and overhunting - buys time.



Still, cutting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenhouse-gas-emissions-reach-another-all-time-high/">greenhouse gas emissions</a> remains the decisive lever. Slower warming reduces the debt and gives forest communities a chance to catch up.



The study’s core message is simple yet sobering: the world’s richest forests are changing, but not quickly enough in the directions that would make them safer. Thermophilization is lagging far behind warming, and mortality - rather than recruitment - is driving most of the turnover. 



Cloud forests are showing strain, and although the Amazon lowlands are quiet for now, that quiet may not last. “These forests are simply not keeping up with climate change,” Farfan-Rios concluded.



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World’s most diverse forests are failing to adapt to climate change

Forests from the Amazon lowlands to the high Andes are failing to adjust quickly enough to rising temperatures. Populations are not moving upslope at the pace of climate change, and entire communities are not reorganizing to match the new normal. The gap threatens tropical biodiversity and the ecosystem services people rely on - from climate regulation to pollination. “These forests are simply not keeping up with climate change,” said lead author William Farfan-Rios of Wake Forest University. “The result is a growing climatic debt that threatens the...

conciertos-madrid-2026-fechas-artistas-entradas - 1

New analysis of ancient household burners from Qurayyah in northwest Saudi Arabia points to smoke from Peganum harmala seeds being inhaled in daily life nearly 2,700 years ago. 



The work opens a window onto how Iron Age communities used scent, smoke, and bioactive plants to manage health and mood without leaving written manuals.



The <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12102341/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence</a> comes from residues preserved inside clay fumigation devices recovered in domestic courtyards and storage areas. Researchers report plant signatures that hold up even after centuries of heat and decay.



<a href="https://www.gea.mpg.de/person/100725/2944" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Barbara Huber</a>, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (MPI GEA), and <a href="https://uha.univie.ac.at/en/about-us/staff-members/scientific-staff/associate-and-assistant-professors/marta-luciani/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prof. Marta Luciani</a>, University of Vienna, led the study with the Heritage Commission of the Saudi Ministry of Culture.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-peganum-harmala-residue">Peganum harmala residue</h2>



The team detected two beta-carboline alkaloids, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-arabians-burned-harmal-plants-to-heal-and-protect/">harmine and harmane</a>, inside three Iron Age burners from Qurayyah. These molecules are hallmarks of Peganum harmala, a hardy desert shrub often called Syrian rue.



One additional burner from the same settlement lacked those alkaloids but held a different class of plant compounds, α-amyrin and β-amyrin. That pattern hints at alternating or mixed substances burned in the same kinds of devices.



“Our findings represent chemical evidence for the earliest known burning of harmal, not just in Arabia, but globally,” said Barbara Huber, lead author of the study.



The devices were not found in graves or temples, but in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/home-fragrances-impact-indoor-air-quality-and-the-health-risks-are-alarming/">houses</a>. That domestic context suggests ordinary uses tied to health, sanitation, or mood rather than large public rites.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-identifying-the-evidence">Identifying the evidence</h2>



The study used targeted <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2359828/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HPLC-MS/MS</a> to read a molecular fingerprint from residue trapped in the clay matrix. In short runs, the instrument looked for specific ion transitions that match harmine and harmane with high confidence, even at low abundance.



“The integration of biomolecular analysis with archaeology has allowed us to identify not just what kind of plants people were using, but also where, how, and why,” said Prof. Luciani. 



In archaeology, this kind of precise mass spectrometry helps answer not only what plant was there, but also how it was used.&nbsp;



Three burners carried harmine and harmane, while a fourth did not. That contrast matters because it rules out random contamination and points to intentional selection of materials for specific effects.



The context also matters. One burner with harmala signatures sat in a household courtyard, and another was linked to food production areas. Those findspots align with routine, indoor smoke use.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-peganum-harmala-does">What Peganum harmala does</h2>



Harmine and harmane are reversible inhibitors of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antidepressants-may-help-the-immune-system-fight-cancer/">monoamine oxidase A</a>, an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine. 



Temporarily slowing that enzyme can lift neurotransmitter levels, which helps explain mood and sensory shifts.



These alkaloids occur in several plants, but regional distribution narrows the list of plausible sources for Iron Age Arabia. 



Reviews catalog harmala alkaloids across taxa, including South American vines and some Passiflora species, yet those grow far from ancient Qurayyah.



Dose and route shape the experience. Small exposures can relax or mildly stimulate, while larger exposures can bring on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-humans-were-drinking-beer-in-china-over-10000-years-ago/">vivid effects</a>. 



High amounts may cause sickness, which modern case <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4075715/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a> document in clinical settings after ingestion of concentrated seeds.



Smoke is a different route than tea or tincture. Inhalation can deliver a quick, shorter-lived exposure in rooms where airflow, fuel, and seed load all change the outcome.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-signals-from-other-residues">Signals from other residues</h2>



The amyrin-rich burner adds another layer. Pharmacology reviews note anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions for these isomers in preclinical models.



Finding amyrins without harmala alkaloids in one device, and together in another, suggests people alternated recipes or blended resins with seeds depending on purpose. That kind of flexibility lines up with practical home use.



These chemical signatures do not name a resin to species. They do, however, flag a class of botanicals that humans have burned for centuries for their scent and perceived health effects.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Peganum-harmala_psychoactive-plant_arabians_2700-years-ago_Nature-journal_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Peganum-harmala_psychoactive-plant_arabians_2700-years-ago_Nature-journal_1s.webp" alt="The oasis settlement of Qurayyah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Dried fruits of Peganum harmala, which, as shown here, were already used 2,700 years ago for their therapeutic and psychoactive properties. One of the old fumigation devices used to inhale harmal. Credit: A. M. Abualhassan/Barbara Huber/Hans Sell" class="wp-image-1982804"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The oasis settlement of Qurayyah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Dried fruits of Peganum harmala, which, as shown here, were already used 2,700 years ago for their therapeutic and psychoactive properties. One of the old fumigation devices used to inhale harmal. Click image to enlarge. Credit: A. M. Abualhassan/Barbara Huber/Hans Sell</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-wider-cultural-thread">A wider cultural thread</h2>



Ethnobotany and pharmacognosy track how communities use plants both as medicine and as part of everyday life. <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4075715/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reviews</a> of Peganum harmala describe continued roles in West Asia and North Africa, including pain relief, calming, and household fumigation traditions.



The antimicrobial angle has support, too. A laboratory study of smoke condensates from P. harmala seeds reported clear antibacterial activity and identified harmine as a major constituent in the smoke matrix.



Households in an oasis settlement needed tools to manage pests, odors, and illness in tight quarters. A pungent seed with antimicrobial constituents and mood effects would be a practical choice.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-peganum-harmala-adds-to-arabian-history">Peganum harmala adds to Arabian history</h2>



Written sources for medicinal plants in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-humans-used-lava-tubes-for-homes-middle-east-saudi-arabia/">Arabia</a> become richer much later. For the Iron Age, physical residues tell the story. 



They show people selecting a local shrub with psychoactive and antibacterial properties, then burning it in domestic spaces.



The <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6575/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Qurayyah</a> finds help to push beyond broad claims about ancient drugs. They connect a plant to a device, a device to a room, and a room to routines that touch health and emotion.



This work also shows how careful chemistry can recover silent practices. Even when seeds are gone and recipes are lost, compounds cling to clay and speak for themselves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-the-research-goes-next">Where the research goes next</h2>



Future work can test more burners from other rooms and towns to see if this pattern holds. It can also examine how resin mixtures changed the experience, from scent to smoke quality to perceived relief.



The method can scale. Each new residue map helps reconstruct a more precise history of household care, sanitation, and sensory life across ancient Arabia.



Modern science can also reevaluate forgotten botanicals. Some may carry leads for safe, targeted therapies, while others serve as cautionary tales about dose and context.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08096-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Communications Biology</a>.



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People were getting high and hallucinating from smoking this psychoactive plant 2,700 years ago

New analysis of ancient household burners from Qurayyah in northwest...

Slimy layered microbial mats in Shark Bay are more than seaside oddities. They are living laboratories where bacteria and archaea still work side by side, much as they may have done long ago.



A new co-culture from these mats shows a bacterium and an archaeon physically connecting through tiny tubes while trading metabolites in ways that make both partners tick. That kind of teamwork fits neatly with ideas about how complex <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-was-thriving-before-earths-greatest-mass-extinction/">cells</a> arose.



<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/brendan-burns" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brendan P. Burns</a> at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) led the study with colleagues including <a href="https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Iain.Duggin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Iain G. Duggin</a> at the University of Technology Sydney.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shark-bay-microbes-survive-extremes">Shark Bay microbes survive extremes</h2>



Shark Bay, Western Australia, holds thriving stromatolites, the rock-like piles that grow when layered microbial communities trap and bind sediments in harsh, salty water. 



In Malgana language, Shark Bay is called <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46160" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gathaagudu</a>, which means two waters, a name still used by Traditional Owners and regional agencies.



The southern basin can be roughly twice as salty as the open ocean, and the mats ride out heat, desiccation, and intense UV under those conditions. 



Modern mats are not time capsules, but they are useful stand-ins for ancient ecosystems where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocks-reveal-the-turning-point-when-oxygen-changed-earth-forever/">microbes</a> built layered structures and forged partnerships that shaped the planet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbial-mat-microbes-team-up">Microbial mat microbes team up</h2>



Back in the lab, researchers enriched a two-member community from those mats: the bacterium Stromatodesulfovibrio nilemahensis and a newly named Asgard archaeon, Nerearchaeum marumarumayae. 



<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5875740/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asgard archaea</a> are widely viewed as the closest known prokaryotic relatives of eukaryotes, the lineage that includes animals, plants, and fungi.



The team sequenced both genomes and grew the partners under high-salt, low-oxygen settings that fit the mats’ tough environment. 



Each partner seems to cover what the other lacks, a classic sign of syntrophy, where two microbes share metabolic tasks to make <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/timeline-of-lifes-evolution-extended-by-nearly-1-5-billion-years/">life</a> work.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-genes-show-nutrient-sharing">Genes show nutrient sharing</h2>



Genome analysis indicates the archaeon releases hydrogen, acetate, formate, and sulfite, while the bacterium supplies amino acids and vitamins that the archaeon needs. 



These characteristics and interactions may represent an early step in the symbiotic evolution of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/eukaryote" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eukaryotic</a> cells.



That statement does not claim a perfect replay of early evolution. It argues that the features they see line up with long-standing models that link archaeal hydrogen producers and bacterial sulfate reducers to the rise of complex cells.



Those models gained traction after the first enrichment and later formal isolation of an Asgard archaeon, <a href="https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006435" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum</a>, a slow-growing anaerobe that depends on partner microbes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbial-mat-shows-nanotube-connections">Microbial mat shows nanotube connections</h2>



With cryotomography, the researchers observed chains of budded vesicles attached to the archaeal cell by extracellular fibers, plus internal tube and cage-like elements inside the archaeon. 



They also saw intercellular nanotubes apparently assembled by the bacterium that contact the archaeal surface, hinting at direct physical links during resource sharing.



Archaea in other systems build similar connections, and a 2024 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51159-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> reported nanotubes in a co-culture that bridged cytoplasms and appeared to serve as conduits for molecular exchange. 



That study counted an average of 4.4 nanotubes per host-symbiont contact, showing how dense and structured these links can become under the microscope.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hints-at-complex-cells">Hints at complex cells</h2>



If partners swap metabolites through persistent contacts, selection can push them toward tighter dependence. 



That is the kind of ratchet some researchers think nudged early archaea and bacteria toward the cell-in-cell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/third-state-of-existence-beyond-life-and-death-confirmed-by-scientists/">arrangement</a> that defines eukaryotes.



The new Shark Bay culture does not show one cell engulfing the other. It does, however, put plausible building blocks on the table: complementing metabolisms, physical tethers, and vesicle traffic that could knit cells into a more integrated unit over time.



That interpretation sits alongside earlier work that first enriched and then formally described Prometheoarchaeum, strengthening the case that Asgard lineages sit near the root of eukaryotic features.



More broadly, archaeal communities are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10117752/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">known</a> to trade vesicles and tube-like structures, which can shuttle proteins, lipids, and genetic material and may help build cooperative networks in extreme habitats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-in-research">Next steps in research</h2>



First, replication matters. Independent teams will want to reproduce the nanotube contacts and metabolite exchanges and test whether those tubes move specific molecules in real time, not just correlate with growth.



Second, comparative context helps. Asgard cultures and co-cultures are slowly expanding, and every new system gives biologists another angle on the relationship between archaeal cell biology and eukaryotic traits.



Finally, place still matters. Shark Bay’s mats are rugged, hypersaline, sunlit, and dynamic, a mix of stresses that can reward tight microbial alliances and keep them around across seasons and storms.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.22.663070v2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bioRxiv</a>.



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Strange microbial bedfellows offer clues to how complex life evolved

Slimy layered microbial mats in Shark Bay are more than...

Researchers at Scripps explored a compound present in rosemary that may protect the brain and slow Alzheimer's disease progression. This memory-boosting reputation is not new. Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet even says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."



Rosemary oil and infused water are popular natural remedies for promoting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-hidden-stem-cells-that-could-reactivate-hair-growth/">hair growth</a> and maintaining scalp health. Social media trends have only added to this herb's popularity.&nbsp;



Native to the Mediterranean and a member of the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/7/1182" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sage</a> family, rosemary has always been more than just a kitchen spice. 



Researchers found that the herb is packed with health benefits, from fighting inflammation to supporting the body's defense mechanism.



Rosemary has long been known as a "memory herb." In ancient Greece and Rome, scholars and students believed that it could improve their concentration and <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/4-ways-to-improve-focus-and-memory" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">memory</a>, and used it especially during exams.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rosemary-compound-protects-the-brain">Rosemary compound protects the brain</h2>



The secret lies in the herb's natural compounds, particularly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/carnosic-acid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">carnosic acid</a>. It is a beneficial plant compound, known as a phytochemical, found in rosemary. It has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.



Carnosic acid activates enzymes responsible for immunity and protects the brain from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/alzheimers-disease-attacks-the-brain-in-two-separate-phases/">Alzheimer's disease</a>. However, pure carnosic acid, on its own, is too unstable to be used directly as a drug.



To solve this, scientists developed a stable version called diAcCA. Before being completely absorbed into the blood, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40227330/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diAcCA</a> is converted to carnosic acid in the gut. 



Researchers found that, once in the brain, carnosic acid promoted more connections between nerve cells, a sign linked to better memory.&nbsp;



Tissue analysis showed that carnosic acid reduced brain <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fasting-helps-the-body-fight-inflammation-and-chronic-diseases/">inflammation</a>. Even more, it reduced harmful proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease, a progressive brain condition leading to memory loss and impaired thinking skills.



This research highlights rosemary's potential as more than a culinary herb. It could be a key player in future Alzheimer's therapies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-working-alongside-existing-alzheimer-s-drugs">Working alongside existing Alzheimer's drugs</h2>



<a href="https://www.scripps.edu/faculty/lipton/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stuart Lipton</a>, M.D, Ph.D, the Step Family Foundation Endowed Chair at Scripps Research and a clinical neurologist in La Jolla, California, is the senior author of the study.



"We also took down other misfolded or aggregated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-type-of-flour-contains-more-protein-than-meat-and-eggs-crickets/">proteins</a> such as phosphorylated-tau and amyloid-β, which are thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease and serve as biomarkers of the disease process," he said.



Another interesting finding is that the drug was only activated in places where there was inflammation, leaving healthy tissues unaffected. This explains why it is safe and has fewer <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/side-effect" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">side effects</a>. 



Studies further revealed that the body absorbed about 20 percent more carnosic acid from diAcCA than from regular carnosic acid. "diAcCA produces more carnosic acid in the blood than if you took carnosic acid itself," Lipton explained.



Lipton suggests that diAcCA could be used in combination with current Alzheimer's treatments. "It could make existing amyloid antibody treatments work better by taking away or limiting their side effects," he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-rosemary-affects-the-brain">How rosemary affects the brain</h2>



While drug development continues, rosemary itself may already influence the brain in surprising ways.



For starters, the herb may help improve blood circulation. Better circulation could allow more nutrients and oxygen to reach the brain, potentially supporting mental clarity.



Research also shows the calming effects of the herb. When its <a href="https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/aromatherapy-overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aroma</a> is inhaled, it can ease anxiety and improve sleep. Reduced stress leads to sharper focus and better memory retention.



On a chemical level, rosemary contains a compound called 1,8-cineole, also known as eucalyptol, which slows down the breakdown of acetylcholine. 



This brain chemical is essential for learning and memory, and when preserved, rosemary may help support cognitive performance.



The benefits do not stop there. Rosemary is also rich in antioxidants, which protect nerve cells from oxidative stress and may reduce aging-related cognitive decline.&nbsp;



Together, these mechanisms reveal why rosemary has carried its reputation as a memory aid for centuries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-path-for-alzheimer-s-treatment">New path for Alzheimer's treatment</h2>



Alzheimer's disease is a leading cause of dementia. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.&nbsp;



Current treatments slow symptoms but do not cure the disease. That is why the discovery of diAcCA is so significant.&nbsp;



Lipton hopes to move the drug quickly into clinical trials. Beyond Alzheimer's, researchers believe diAcCA may also treat other conditions related to inflammation, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and Parkinson's disease.



If successful, this rosemary-derived compound could change how we approach multiple diseases driven by inflammation. It could offer new possibilities for healthier aging and long-term <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/17-best-strategies-to-protect-your-brain-from-stroke-dementia-and-depression/">brain protection</a>.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/14/3/293" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Antioxidants</a>.



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How rosemary supports memory, eases anxiety, and fights Alzheimer's naturally

Researchers at Scripps explored a compound present in rosemary that...

Poplar trees don’t just grow wood - they retool its chemistry as climates shift. That built-in flexibility changes how readily their biomass can be converted into renewable fuels and materials.



A team led by the <a href="https://missouri.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Missouri</a>, with collaborators at <a href="https://www.ornl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oak Ridge National Laboratory</a> and the University of Georgia, traced how the environment reshapes lignin, the tough polymer that stiffens plants.



The work highlights a path to better <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/biofuels-may-eliminate-90-of-black-smoke-emissions-from-cars/">biofuels</a> and bioplastics by matching tree genetics withy growing conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-lignin-matters"><a></a>Why lignin matters</h2>



Lignin is everywhere stems, roots, and leaves are. It fortifies, channels water, and shields tissues from stress.



“Lignin acts as both a glue and an armor - it holds everything together while also protecting the plant from outside stressors,” said Jaime Barros-Rios, an assistant professor of plant molecular biology.



“Understanding how plants make lignin could help us improve its conversion into high-value biomaterials and increase the competitiveness of U.S. biorefineries.”



That conversion challenge is huge. Make lignin easier to process, and the numbers pencil out for greener fuels and materials. Make it harder, and energy and chemical inputs soar.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-poplar-trees-across-climates">Poplar trees across climates</h2>



Poplars are already a workhorse for pulp and paper. They are also prime <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bioenergy-can-slow-climate-change-but-the-window-is-closing/">bioenergy</a> candidates. Researchers have mapped their genome, they grow quickly, and plantations cover a broad climate range.



The team leveraged that range by sampling 430 trees of Populus trichocarpa from northern California to British Columbia. Warmer sites produced wood with a higher syringyl-to-guaiacyl ratio, known as S/G. Cooler sites trended lower.



“This S/G ratio represents the proportion between the two most abundant monomers in lignin,” said lead author Weiwei Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher in the Barros-Rios lab.



“These monomers have slightly different chemical structures, impacting the properties of the wood and directly influencing how easily lignin can be broken down and processed - making it easier to create biofuels and a wide variety of everyday products.”



In practical terms, tuning S/G shifts how stubborn lignin is during pulping, pretreatment, or catalytic breakdown. More syringyl units often mean cleaner cuts and fewer side reactions. That can lower cost and carbon from biorefineries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protein-that-protects-poplar-trees">Protein that protects poplar trees</h2>



Field patterns only go so far without a mechanism. To dig deeper, the team combined genetics with 3D protein modeling.



“We identified a mutation in an important cell wall enzyme in poplar trees called laccase, which was found to control the S/G ratio in this natural population,” said Rachel Weber, a senior biochemistry student at Mizzou who built the model.



“So, I was able to utilize a protein structural modeling software called ColabFold to pinpoint the exact location of this mutation within the laccase protein.”



The surprise was where that amino acid change sits. Not in the catalytic pocket, and not where enzymes usually do their cutting and pasting. That placement hints at upstream signals and cellular traffic shaping lignin assembly in the wild, beyond textbook biochemistry.



“This points to a more complex regulation than we initially thought and gives us new clues about how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-get-a-boost-from-diverse-neighbors-especially-in-wet-forests/">trees</a> adapt and protect themselves,” said Weber. “This knowledge will help us develop additional hypotheses about how this protein functions and interacts with the plant’s surrounding environment.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-rare-lignin-in-poplar-trees">A rare lignin in poplar trees</h2>



Another curveball emerged from the analyses. The researchers detected small amounts of C-lignin in poplar. Until now, scientists had found that simple, uniform lignin type mainly in certain seeds, such as vanilla and cacti. Its clean structure is a chemist’s dream: fewer linkages, less mess, easier conversion.



Because C-lignin is simpler and more uniform than regular lignin, it’s easier to break down and process into usable plant material for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nature-inspired-solutions-new-bioplastic-dissolves-rapidly-in-water/">bioplastics</a>, biofuels, and other renewable products.



“This type of lignin could help us turn plant biomass into valuable commodity chemicals more efficiently,” Barros-Rios said.



Even trace levels matter. They signal that the pathway exists in tissues where it was not expected. With the right genetic switches, engineers may be able to dial it up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-designing-greener-plants">Designing greener plants</h2>



The immediate takeaway is clear. Climate and genetics co-author lignin’s script. Warmer, wetter sites nudge S/G higher. Specific laccase variants tweak the balance further. Rare flavors of lignin appear where no one looked before. Each lever can be used to design better feedstocks.



The long game is even more ambitious. The Missouri team is already working to boost C-lignin in poplar and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/do-soybean-plants-have-a-memory-scientists-think-so/">soybean</a>. 



The aim is straightforward: build plants whose biomass cracks cleanly into the molecules that tomorrow’s refineries need. That would cut energy use, reduce waste, and speed the shift from petroleum to plants.



None of this changes what lignin does for a living tree. It still braces, seals, and shields. But by learning how trees tailor that armor to latitude and stress, researchers can tailor it for people, too. 



The result could be faster progress toward fuels and materials that start in forests and fields - and a bioeconomy that leans more on biology and less on barrels.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2503491122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Poplar trees changed their chemistry to survive

Poplar trees don’t just grow wood - they retool its...

Planting more trees cools the planet and can help reduce fires, but the biggest climate returns per tree come from the tropics. That is the core message of new research, which shows that where we plant matters almost as much as how much we plant.



The study, led by the <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Riverside</a> (UCR), found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-are-lagging-centuries-behind-in-climate-adaptation/">forests</a> help in two ways: they pull carbon dioxide from the air; and they change local physics at the surface and in the lower atmosphere. 



Those physical effects are not uniform. In warm, wet regions they cool, while in some cooler, higher-latitude places they can nudge temperatures up.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trees-in-the-tropics-work-harder">Trees in the tropics work harder</h2>



“Our study found more cooling from planting in warm, wet regions, where trees grow year-round," said study first author and UCR graduate student James Gomez. "Tropical trees not only pull <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/trees-in-forests-recovering-from-logging-release-much-more-carbon-dioxide/">carbon dioxide</a> from the air, they also cool while releasing water vapor.” 



“It’s not that planting elsewhere doesn’t help – it does - but the tropics offer the strongest returns per tree.”



Trees in the tropics can “sweat” day in and day out. Roots lift water, leaving open pores to take in CO2 for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/key-to-life-on-earth-photosynthesis-begins-on-the-quantum-level-with-a-single-photon/">photosynthesis</a>. Some of that water escapes as vapor, and the evaporation absorbs heat from the air and the leaves. The process is called evapotranspiration, and it represents nature’s air conditioning.



“It’s just like the way sweating cools your body,” Gomez said. “In the tropics, there is constantly water available for trees, and that increases transpiration.”



The study also points to a second cooling pathway. As forests moisten the air, cloud cover can increase. Water vapor itself can soak up some incoming sunlight before it reaches the ground. Both effects dim the surface. Less sun at the surface means less heating.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cooling-depends-on-location">Cooling depends on location</h2>



The team isolated these non-CO2 physical effects in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-temperature-increase-2023-blew-past-all-climate-models/">climate models</a>. Globally, the average cooling from the added trees was small, about 0.01°F. But the signal becomes meaningful in the tropics. There, the mean cooling reached about 0.1°F, with some hotspots - such as parts of central Africa - approaching 0.8°F.



When the researchers added in the expected carbon drawdown from new forests, the global cooling grew by roughly another 0.15°F. 



The carbon part of the story is powerful, but the paper kept it “offline” as a first estimate. A follow-up study will simulate both the physical and carbon-cycle effects together, interactively, for tighter numbers.



“Though the non-CO2 effects are small, it is good news that they are not warming, which prior studies have indicated is likely,” Gomez said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tree-planting-can-backfire">Tree planting can backfire</h2>



Trees are darker than many open landscapes. In snowy or bright regions, more trees can absorb more sunlight. That can offset some of the cooling from evapotranspiration - especially where water limits tree “sweating” for part of the year.



In parts of Canada and the northeastern U.S., the models suggest new trees could slightly reduce net cooling and even raise local fire risk by drying fine fuels and trapping more heat at the surface.



“This is not an invitation to get rid of the trees growing there! They provide multiple benefits for ecosystems and diversity, reducing CO2 and cooling the surrounding areas,” Gomez said.



“What we need is a Goldilocks zone of trees in each region. Just the right amount to have the strongest and most positive climate effects.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trees-reduce-fires-in-tropics">Trees reduce fires in tropics</h2>



The analysis considered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-seasons-are-now-overlapping-worldwide/">wildfires</a> too. In many tropical savannas, adding trees can reduce burned area. That is because mature trees often resist fire better than grasses, and closed canopies can keep fuels cooler and wetter.



“In tropical savannas, and in other places around the world, trees are much more fire-resistant than grasses,” Gomez said.



In contrast, in some higher-latitude regions, the added absorption of sunlight and longer dry seasons can tilt conditions toward more frequent or more intense fires. The net effect depends on local fuel, moisture, and management.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-realistic-planting-map">A realistic planting map </h2>



The study did not take into consideration forests everywhere. It used a practical reforestation blueprint: plant where trees once grew, while avoiding displacing people and minimizing impacts on cropland. That approach keeps climate benefits aligned with social and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sweet-potato-dna-finally-decoded-to-boost-food-security/">food security</a> realities.



To build confidence in the results, the team drew on 12 widely used climate models rather than relying on a single tool.



That ensemble approach smooths out quirks of any one model and better reflects the range of plausible outcomes considered in international policy analysis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-smarter-trees-for-a-cooler-planet">Smarter trees for a cooler planet</h2>



Trees are vital for meeting climate goals. But they are not a magic fix, and they are not all equal in their local effects. The best strategy should be targeted. Protect existing tropical forests first, then replant in tropical and warm, wet places where trees will thrive and “sweat” most. 



Finally, restore in temperate regions with care, tuned to local albedo, water limits, and fire regimes. Everywhere, pair trees with deep emissions cuts.



The message is not to plant less outside the tropics. It is to plant smarter everywhere - and fastest where each tree does the most. In that spirit, the study offers both optimism and a map. 



The planet can be cooled by growing forests, especially in the tropics. And with a “Goldilocks” mindset - neither too few nor too many trees for local conditions - we can stack climate wins with biodiversity and fire resilience, region by region.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-025-01127-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">npj Climate and Atmospheric Science</a>.



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Trees in the tropics cool Earth more than anywhere else

Planting more trees cools the planet and can help reduce...

Fifty-six million years ago, Earth warmed fast and ecosystems reshuffled. During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), global temperatures rose by roughly five degrees Celsius and stayed elevated for well over 100,000 years.



In a new study, experts have reconstructed how flowers and their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-honey-bee-day-2025-why-pollinators-matter/">pollinators</a> responded, showing a swift move toward animal pollination in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin. The study infers pollination modes directly from the fossil record of pollen.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-warming-changed-the-land">Ancient warming changed the land</h2>



The pace of the global warming event is a big part of the story.&nbsp;On land in the northern Rockies, the climate turned warmer and seasonally drier. Paleosols from the basin document transient drying that altered floodplains and soils.



Earlier palynological work in the same region already showed large, rapid floral turnover across the PETM. 



The researchers documented significant shifts in plant communities during the carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and the period that followed.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evidence-of-plant-pollination-changes">Evidence of plant pollination changes</h2>



The team approached the question using palynology, the study of spores and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pollinators-are-disappearing-and-its-bad-news-for-plants/">pollen</a> preserved in sediments. 



The researchers examined pollen preserved as clumps, the pollination mode of nearest living relatives (<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279614773_Nearest-Living-Relative_Method" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NLRs</a>), and the morphological variety of pollen types across the interval.



Pollen clumps matter because sticky, aggregated grains tend to reflect animal transport rather than wind. When clumps become more common in the same kind of sediments, it flags a shift toward animal pollination, not a quirk of preservation.



Nearest living relatives add a second line of evidence. If a fossil pollen type’s closest modern relatives are pollinated by insects or vertebrates, it strongly hints that the fossil plant was too.



A third line looks at angiosperm pollen disparity, the spread of shapes, apertures, and surface textures. Higher disparity often tracks animal pollination, where more specialized interactions are common.



“These suggest animal pollination became more common and wind pollination less common during the PETM,” wrote Vera A. Korasidis of the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Melbourne</a>. The synthesis points the same direction.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-animals-supported-plant-range-shifts">Animals supported plant range shifts</h2>



During the hot, dry interval, plant immigrants included subtropical lineages that still thrive in today’s warmer climates, such as palms and relatives of silk-cotton trees. 



As temperatures rose and rainfall patterns changed, species ranges expanded or contracted, reshaping the region’s flora.



Fossil <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bees-arrive-late-flowers-may-vanish/">insect</a> data from the early Eocene are scarce in North America, but amber and leaf damage records confirm that major pollinator groups like bees, beetles, and flies were already diverse. 



These insects likely played a role in moving pollen during the PETM, mirroring the shift in floral composition. Their rise aligns with evidence of increased insect herbivory on fossil leaves, suggesting larger and more complex insect communities in warming landscapes.



Small mammals also mattered. Early primates and marsupials arriving in the Bighorn Basin may have supplemented insect pollination by interacting with flowers and dispersing seeds. 



Their presence adds another layer to how animal activity supported plant range shifts and helped new plant communities establish in hotter, drier conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-consequences-of-plant-pollination-changes">Consequences of plant pollination changes</h2>



The rise of animal pollination during the PETM meant that food webs adjusted in ways beyond just flowers and insects. Animal-pollinated plants often produce more nectar, fruits, and fleshy seeds, creating fresh resources for vertebrates. 



This would have strengthened links between plants, pollinators, and fruit-eating animals, tying community survival more tightly to pollinator presence.



At the same time, the decline of wind-pollinated trees would have reshaped forests. Canopies became more open, floodplains dried, and the local vegetation mosaic shifted. 



These landscape changes set the stage for new combinations of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-dangers-threaten-the-survival-of-bees-and-pollinators/">species</a> to co-exist, with cascading effects on the mammals and insects that relied on them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-broader-implications-of-the-study">Broader implications of the study</h2>



Ancient ecosystems changed dramatically, yet many interactions endured. That speed gap matters when thinking about pollinators. 



Reviews of the PETM emphasize that while climate and carbon cycles shifted strongly, only a few groups suffered major extinctions, and rate of change is a key reason.



The pollen evidence from the Bighorn Basin reminds us that interactions can reorganize quickly when climates flip to hotter and drier. It also shows that plants and pollinators can track each other across the map when given time and space.



The practical takeaway is simple. If today’s changes outrun the ability of species to move and adapt, the partnerships that make seeds, fruits, and ecosystems may not keep up.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/evidence-for-increased-animal-pollination-during-the-paleoceneeocene-thermal-maximum/149BE1218DC87646479C23976B0A1E62" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paleobiology</a>.



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Flowers turned to animals for pollination during ancient warming

Fifty-six million years ago, Earth warmed fast and ecosystems reshuffled....

Your herb garden may be packing more plant power than you think. Common plants like basil, thyme, and lavender don’t just add flavor - they’re part of a botanical family that’s quietly storing enormous genetic surprises. 



One of their lesser-known cousins just revealed a hidden capacity that could have major implications for health, farming, and science.



In a new study, researchers at <a href="https://msu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michigan State University</a> discovered that a Mediterranean shrub called ground oak has a genome almost as large as a human's - about three billion base pairs. 



The shrub also carries four full sets of chromosomes, plus an unusually large gene cluster tied to the production of potent natural chemicals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plants-with-hidden-powers">Plants with hidden powers</h2>



The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-in-the-mint-family-may-help-produce-new-medicines/">mint family</a> of plants has long intrigued scientists for its powerful natural properties. Certain species have shown potential as anti-cancer, anti-viral, or pest-repellent agents. But harnessing those chemicals in useful quantities has always been a challenge. 



The new genetic insight could bring researchers closer to doing just that - by replicating the plant’s chemical-making machinery in the lab.



“What if we could spray our veggies with a natural product that makes a hungry deer or insect say, ‘No thank you,’” said MSU researcher Björn Hamberger, pointing to possible agricultural uses.



“These plants also have exciting antimicrobial properties, which could help with the trouble we see nowadays concerning <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-is-fueling-antibiotic-resistance-in-our-soils/">antibiotic resistance</a>."



“This project was like many others where we walked in thinking we knew just what to do,” Hamberger said. “We’ve learned again that plants always have something more up their sleeves.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ground-oak-links-to-healing">Ground oak links to healing</h2>



Humans have relied on mint family plants for thousands of years - not just for taste and scent, but also for healing and wellness. 



At Michigan State University, Hamberger and his team focus on the special molecules created by these plants, known as specialized metabolites. The molecules help plants survive harsh environments and resist disease, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urgent-need-to-protect-earths-forests-from-non-native-pests/">pests</a>, or other threats.



Unlike basic molecules that all plants need to live (like sugars and amino acids), these specialized metabolites are more like bonus features. Some might <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aloe-vera-waste-shows-promise-as-natural-insect-repellent-anti-aging-properties/">repel bugs</a>. Others might fight off bacteria. And many of them, scientists are learning, could be used to improve human health or agriculture.



“Plants don’t have the luxury of running away from pests or pathogens, so they turn to chemistry to get the job done,” said Hamberger.



In previous work, the Hamberger Lab sequenced the genome of American beautyberry, a plant known for its mosquito-repelling properties. That work helped uncover how different mint family members evolved their chemical arsenals. 



The research also earned MSU graduate students Abigail Bryson and Nicholas Schlecht the university’s Neogen Land Grant Prize - awarded to research that promises real-world scientific and economic impact.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-ground-oak">Why ground oak?</h2>



To push further into the mint family’s chemical secrets, Bryson set her sights on ground oak, a small mounded <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-shrub-holds-the-record-for-europes-oldest-tree/">shrub</a> with pinkish-purple flowers and oak-shaped leaves. Native to the Mediterranean, the plant hasn’t been widely studied.



“We thought: let’s sequence ground oak, find out how the plants achieve their useful chemical products, and get a blueprint to build plant-derived therapeutics in the lab,” said Hamberger.



“This was all good, until Abby found out ground oak had an unexpectedly massive surprise in store for us."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-one-of-the-largest-plant-genomes">One of the largest plant genomes</h2>



The commonly studied Arabidopsis plant has about 135 million DNA base pairs. Ground oak has nearly 3 billion - more than 20 times as much.



“When you assemble a genome, it's like you have parts of sentences of a book, and you are trying to figure out what the story says, line by line, chapter by chapter,” said Bryson, lead author of the study and now a postdoctoral researcher at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.



“Something about genomes that is difficult to picture is the size of the data we are working with. If the genome was the size of an actual book, the thickness of that book would be hundreds of feet, and the human and ground oak genomes would be around the size of world’s fifth tallest building,” she added.



To handle the challenge, Bryson collaborated with plant genome expert Robin Buell and got additional support from MSU's Department of Plant Biology and the Max T. Rogers Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ground-oak-holds-extra-genes">Ground oak holds extra genes</h2>



The surprises didn’t stop at size. Ground oak turned out to be tetraploid - meaning it carries four complete sets of chromosomes. Humans, by comparison, have two.



“Imagine if you have to sort through and solve four puzzles dumped into the same box - that’s what Abby achieved,” said Hamberger.



The team also found a large gene cluster - a tight grouping of related genes - linked to the production of the plant’s specialized metabolites. That’s significant because gene clusters like this can streamline how traits evolve and are passed on.



In an earlier study of American beautyberry, the Hamberger Lab found a similar but smaller gene cluster. The discovery suggests this kind of genomic arrangement might be common across mint family plants - and may help explain how these species evolved such a wide range of powerful compounds.



Why cluster or duplicate genes at all? According to Hamberger, it's about efficiency. “If one set of genetic information is already performing an important duty, its duplicate is free to evolve newer functions,” he said.



“Once materials are packed together tightly, it’s easier to move them onto the next generation."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-future-powered-by-plants">A future powered by plants</h2>



With these discoveries, the team at MSU is a step closer to producing useful plant-based chemicals in the lab at scale. That could mean more sustainable pest control, new antimicrobial treatments, or even fresh strategies to tackle diseases that resist current medicine.



So, the next time you smell mint or brush past rosemary in the garden, think about what’s really packed inside. It’s not just aroma or flavor - it might be the future of medicine or farming, encoded in a genome as tall as a skyscraper.



The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2590346225001555" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Plant Communications</a>.



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Ground oak’s genetic secrets may inspire new medicines and pesticides

Your herb garden may be packing more plant power than...

Maize does not stand quietly when fields get crowded. New work shows that plants packed close together release linalool - an airborne cue that prompts neighbors to change what their roots release, reshaping soil life and stiffening defenses against pests.



The response comes with a catch. Stronger defense can shave off growth, so the same chemistry that deters attackers can also slow the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maize-plant-genetics-shape-root-health-and-growth/">plant</a> itself.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-maize-signals-neighbors">Maize signals neighbors</h2>



The research team reports that a dense canopy raises linalool in the air to a threshold that neighboring plants notice. Once that signal lands, roots ramp up jasmonate signaling, which is a well studied stress pathway in plants.



“High planting density boosts crop yields but also heightens pest and pathogen risks,” wrote study lead author Dongsheng Guo of <a href="https://www.zju.edu.cn/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zhejiang University</a>.



The team's coordinated experiments linked signals above ground to changes below ground in a simple chain, ran field plots at different densities, then tracked the chemistry in the air and the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/maize-samples-found-in-brazil-may-rewrite-the-crops-history/">soil</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-roots-change-soil-microbes">Roots change soil microbes</h2>



After jasmonate switches on in roots, plants exude more benzoxazinoids, a class of indole-based defense metabolites that maize makes naturally. 



These molecules leak into the soil zone around roots, the rhizosphere microbiome, where they can favor some microbes and sideline others.



One key benzoxazinoid in this story is HDMBOA-Glc. It is a major member of the benzoxazinoid family in maize roots and exudates that has been tracked for more than a decade.



Microbial communities do not change randomly. Prior work has shown that benzoxazinoids help assemble specific root bacteria and fungi, and those communities then echo back into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mixed-cover-crops-may-be-the-future-of-sustainable-farming/">plant</a> traits in the next growth cycle.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stronger-defense-makes-plants-smaller">Stronger defense makes plants smaller</h2>



The dense inner rows of the field plots suffered less herbivore damage than edge plants, but they also stayed smaller. That trade is consistent with a long line of <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4168297/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> showing that investment in immunity can pull resources away from growth when conditions demand it.



Plants juggle these priorities through hormone cross-talk. Jasmonate tends to organize responses to chewing insects and tissue damage, while salicylic acid often coordinates responses to biotrophic pathogens. The two pathways can compete or reinforce each other depending on context.



The study shows that the microbial shift in linalool-conditioned soils pushes subsequent plants toward stronger salicylic acid signaling. This pattern matches the classic growth defense tension documented across species under stress.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-speed-and-specificity">Speed and specificity</h2>



Timing matters in fields where pests can spike quickly. A related <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40811559/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">perspective</a> notes that the high-density response emerged after only three days of maize growth, which is fast enough to matter for early herbivore pressure.&nbsp;



The experiments also showed breadth. Soils conditioned under dense maize reduced not only insect damage but pressure from nematodes and pathogens in later plantings. This finding indicates a broad-spectrum tilt in defensive readiness that outlived the first crop.



The authors pinpointed the sequence from airborne cue to root exudate to microbial shift to hormone state. The sequence sets a clear set of targets for breeding and management without assuming one silver bullet.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-means-for-farmers-nbsp">What this means for farmers&nbsp;</h2>



Farmers have leaned on denser planting to drive yield per acre, but density can make a field more vulnerable to outbreaks. Using an internal warning cue like linalool to pre-set defenses could help reduce losses without heavy chemical inputs if the growth costs can be managed.



There is a second lever in the soil legacy. Field studies show that benzoxazinoid-conditioned soils can lift the yield of the next crop under the right conditions, even when overall fertilizer inputs remain unchanged.



“A yield increase of 4 percent may not sound spectacular, but it is still significant considering how challenging it has become to enhance wheat yields without additional inputs,” explained Matthias Erb, professor at the University of Bern. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-of-plant-defense-research">Future of plant defense research </h2>



Plant breeders could select lines that tune linalool output at useful thresholds, or lines that change root exudation patterns with minimal penalties. 



Microbial inoculants that mimic the linalool legacy effect are another route already being explored in other crops.



Agronomists will need to map when the costs outweigh the benefits. Heat, water stress, and pathogen loads can all shift how salicylic acid and jasmonate signals interact, so prescriptions will likely be seasonal and region specific rather than one size fits all.



For now, the study offers a clear lesson. Packed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-fixes-may-save-crops-from-climate-stress/">fields</a> are not just noisier in scent, they are also busier below ground, and that bustle can be steered toward resilience when we understand who sends which signal and when it lands.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv6675" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Maize plants signal neighbors when it's time to boost defenses

Maize does not stand quietly when fields get crowded. New...

Scientists have now mapped the complete set of chromosomes for the African sweet potato variety “Tanzania,” revealing that it arose from a mix of a wild Ecuadorian species and a Central American relative.



The achievement sheds light on the tangled origins of one of the world’s most important crops - an essential food for millions and a cornerstone of food security and biofortification efforts.



Unlike humans, who carry two sets of chromosomes, the sweet potato holds six. That genetic complexity makes its DNA unusually difficult to untangle and has long slowed efforts to breed improved sweet potato <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-deciphers-plant-dna-a-breakthrough-that-will-transform-agriculture/">varieties</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sweet-potato-dna-is-tricky">Sweet potato DNA is tricky</h2>



The study was led by Professor Zhangjun Fei at the Boyce Thompson Institute (<a href="https://btiscience.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTI</a>) in Ithaca, New York. His team specializes in building genomic resources that shorten the path from trait to gene for crops.



That complexity starts with hexaploidy - the condition of carrying six complete sets of chromosomes. It forces researchers to keep track of similar copies while avoiding false merges that blur meaningful differences.



To do that, the authors resolved each haplotype, the specific sequence carried on each chromosome copy. They also kept those copies separate through phasing, which prevents the common problem of averaging signals across distinct genomes.



Working on “Tanzania,” an African cultivar widely used by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/altering-rice-dna-improves-its-growth-rate-and-could-end-world-hunger/">breeders</a>, the group assembled chromosome-scale sequences for all six genome copies. That gives a clean scaffold for downstream population studies and trait mapping.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-all-90-chromosomes-mapped">All 90 chromosomes mapped</h2>



The new assembly spans all 90 chromosomes, with each homolog distinguished rather than collapsed. It offers a reference that finally matches the biological reality of a six-copy genome.



“The sequences contributed by different wild species are not distributed in typical subgenomes but are intertwined along chromosomes, possibly owing to the known non-preferential recombination among sweetpotato haplotypes,” wrote Shan Wu, the study’s first author.



Wu’s description matches the team’s phased maps and explains why earlier models struggled to cleanly separate ancestral blocks.



This pattern differs from crops like bread wheat where ancestral contributions often line up in larger, more discrete blocks. In the sweet potato, chromosomes mix in a fine-grained pattern.



That intertwined layout matters because trait loci can sit on segments from different ancestors - even within a single chromosome. Selection will need that context to avoid dragging along unwanted <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-gain-defense-against-a-devastating-crop-disease-with-a-small-dna-tweak/">variants</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-the-sweet-potato-s-wild-origins">Tracing the sweet potato’s wild origins</h2>



A sizable share of the genome traces to Ipomoea aequatoriensis, a wild tetraploid from coastal Ecuador that was formally described in 2022. That discovery filled a key gap between diploid relatives and the cultivated hexaploid.



Another large portion aligns with a Central American wild relative often referred to as I. batatas 4x. The precise donor may still be unsampled in the wild, which keeps exploration active across Mesoamerica.



Together, these data explain how a hexaploid crop could arise through hybridization and subsequent recombination. The history is written in small, alternating tracts rather than continent-sized blocks.



That mosaic signature should help breeders link trait variation to its ancestral source. Breeders can now hunt for disease resistance, quality, and adaptation using that geographic and evolutionary context.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sweet-potato-dna-is-finely-mixed">Sweet potato DNA is finely mixed</h2>



The authors interpret the new evidence as consistent with a segmental allopolyploid, a system where parts of the genome behave like an allopolyploid while others retain autopolyploid-like mixing. It is a label that accounts for the observed interweaving across haplotypes.



In practice, that means selection and recombination can shuffle segments among homeologous chromosomes after the initial hybrid forms. Over time, those shuffles can complicate neat boundaries between ancestral <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-manage-to-grow-plants-from-ancient-seeds-that-are-2000-years-old/">genomes</a>.



The sweet potato map shows just how pervasive that shuffling has been. It also sets the stage for tracking which exchanges correlate with yield, quality, or resilience.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-multiple-genomes-stronger-crop">Multiple genomes, stronger crop</h2>



The sweet potato’s status as a polyploid can buffer deleterious mutations through extra gene copies. Redundant copies sometimes pick up changes that help the plant tolerate stress or pathogens.



Experimental and comparative studies support the link between polyploidy and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-have-a-secret-weapon-for-surviving-stress/">stress tolerance</a>, adaptation, and survival under harsh conditions across plants. That context helps explain the crop’s stability in variable climates.



The new sweet potato map shows how that force has played out in a food crop. Many of the world’s staple crops also carry multiple chromosome sets, which means the tools proven here are relevant beyond one species. 



Techniques that cleanly separate genome copies will continue to pay off across breeding programs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sweet-potato-map-advances-food-security">Sweet potato map advances food security</h2>



A phased reference lets researchers follow each allele through a six-copy genome without losing track of dosage. For traits that depend on the number of favorable copies, that precision is essential.



Recent work shows how allele dosage shapes dozens of agronomic traits in sweet potatoes and how breeding has shifted dosages over time. The “Tanzania” reference adds the structural and ancestral context those dosage studies need.



With the new map, breeders can test whether a resistance locus sits on an Ecuadorian or Central American segment, then design markers that capture the right ancestries. That reduces linkage drag and preserves key quality attributes while improving stress responses.



The assembly also provides a framework for pan-genome efforts that catalog variation across regions and markets. Layering multiple cultivars on a phased backbone will reveal rare, locally valuable segments that standard references often miss.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02079-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Plants</a>.



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Sweet potato DNA finally decoded to boost food security

Scientists have now mapped the complete set of chromosomes for...

inscripciones-programa-impulso-digital-pozuelo-de-alarcon - 1

An unassuming green alga that has lived quietly in laboratory flasks for decades just revealed it carries a giant virus so large, and so stealthy, that nobody had noticed it before. 



The find rewrites what scientists thought they knew about how big a virus can grow while still hiding inside a single-celled host.



The work, led by <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iEhGXaMAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maria Paula Erazo-Garcia</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JLV6g2AAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frank Aylward</a> of <a href="https://www.vt.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Virginia Tech</a>, shows that the virus, dubbed punuivirus, slips into the alga’s DNA, goes to sleep, then wakes up later to build full virus particles without killing most of its hosts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-giant-punuivirus-matters">Why giant punuivirus matters</h2>



Viruses that integrate and then lie low are common in bacteria, animals, and even humans, but only a handful have been spotted in algae. 



The new study confirms that latent infection strategies also exist in the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads6303" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">oversized world</a> of giant viruses, whose genomes dwarf those of many bacteria.



These huge pathogens fascinate virologists because they blur the line between virus and cell. Finding one that can go dormant suggests algae, which form the base of many food webs, may quietly shuttle viral genes around ecosystems.



Latent giants also interest evolutionary biologists. Because they cut themselves into host chromosomes, they sprinkle new genes across lineages and may spark sudden leaps in innovation.



Finally, a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/herpes-virus-reshapes-human-dna-to-multiply/">virus</a> that waits instead of killing offers hints about how viruses manage long-term coexistence, an issue that matters when scientists engineer viral vectors for vaccines and gene therapies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-finding-and-studying-punuivirus">Finding and studying punuivirus</h2>



“We could definitely see that there was a virus inserted there,” said Erazo-Garcia. She first saw unusual DNA fragments while screening cultures of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a staple of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-cells-capable-of-photosynthesis-created-for-the-first-time/">photosynthesis</a> research. 



Long-read sequencing confirmed that a 617,000-base-pair viral genome sat inside chromosome 15. 



Electron-microscopy snapshots later caught complete virions roughly 200 nanometers wide budding from a small fraction of cells, even though the cultures looked perfectly healthy.



Because only a few cells ignite the viral program at a time, the infection flies under the radar. The team measured two spikes of viral particles, one early and one late in the week-long growth cycle, showing that timing matters for reactivation.



Parallel tests in Swedish lakes and Dutch coastal waters turned up similar viral DNA in wild relatives, hinting that punuivirus-style infections are not a laboratory quirk but part of nature’s routine.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sizing-up-the-genetic-payload">Sizing up the genetic payload</h2>



At 617 kilobases, the giant punuivirus ranks among the largest double-stranded-DNA viruses known. 



Its genome encodes an integrase, an enzyme that pastes viral DNA into host chromosomes, and several <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06356-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fanzor nucleases</a>, mobile genes that can cut DNA using RNA guides, a trick reminiscent of CRISPR systems.



Those nucleases, plus hundreds of other genes, are sandwiched between long terminal repeats and flanked by a six-base target-site duplication, molecular fingerprints that helped researchers pinpoint the insertion site.



The virus also carries hallmarks of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/herpes-virus-reshapes-human-dna-to-multiply/">self-sufficiency</a>: DNA polymerase, major capsid proteins, and its own transcription machinery. 



Such complexity suggests punuivirus can fend for itself once it wakes up, relying on the host mainly for raw materials.



The genome lacks obvious “<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4758904/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suicide genes</a>” that would lyse the cell, explaining why infected cultures keep growing. Instead, the virus appears content to release modest numbers of particles while most algae remain alive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-editing-promise-of-punuivirus">Gene editing promise of punuivirus</h2>



Because punuivirus slips its DNA neatly into a host chromosome and later excises full-length genomes, biotechnologists see a potential delivery tool. 



The built-in integrase and Fanzor nucleases might help shuttle large cargos into plant or algal genomes more cleanly than current viral vectors.



“It was not known that this could happen in viruses that are quite so big as this one,” said Aylward, noting that the alga stays healthy even while the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrimp-crisis-alarming-virus-threatens-global-seafood-supplies/">virus</a> inserts and removes giant stretches of DNA.



Fanzor nucleases are guided by short RNA molecules, much like <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6299457/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRISPR-Cas enzymes</a>, but they cut DNA in a different way. 



Harnessing them could broaden the menu of gene-editing tools, especially for organisms where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR</a> struggles.



Researchers also want to dissect the molecular alarm clock that flips punuivirus from silent to active. Understanding that trigger could let engineers program on-demand expression of therapeutic genes without permanent activation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-editing-giant-viruses-and-the-future">Gene editing, giant viruses, and the future</h2>



The team plans to map every transcript and protein made during the virus’s two production bursts to learn which genes turn the switch. 



They also hope to test whether environmental cues, light, nutrients, or stress, nudge the virus awake.



Ecologists, meanwhile, will survey lakes and oceans for other dormant giants. If latent <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-viruses-found-in-yellowstones-hot-springs-may-be-near-the-root-of-all-life-on-earth/">viruses</a> prove common, their slow-motion gene traffic could reshape how scientists think about microbial evolution and carbon cycling.



The discovery shows that even in 2025, familiar lab organisms can hide astonishing secrets, waiting for a curious grad student and a new sequencing machine to bring them to light.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads6303" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



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Giant dormant virus discovered in algae could revolutionize gene editing

An unassuming green alga that has lived quietly in laboratory...

Autumn usually keeps a steady pace. Trees grow through spring and summer, soak up light, store energy, and then shed their leaves when colder days arrive. 



For decades, scientists saw one main climate signal in this process: warmer autumns delayed leaf-fall. But a second pattern has emerged, and it flips the old rule. In many places, leaves are falling earlier - and the trigger isn’t just temperature. It’s water, or the lack of it.



A new study from&nbsp;<a href="http://english.ynu.edu.cn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yunnan University</a> has mapped the exact drought conditions that make plants call it quits before autumn should start. The work covers more than 70 years of data, from both satellites and field sites, across the Northern Hemisphere above 30° latitude. 



The researchers didn’t just look at whether drought happens - they calculated the&nbsp;thresholds&nbsp;at which plants stop resisting and begin to shut down.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drought-triggers-early-autumn">Drought triggers early autumn</h2>



The team built a statistical model called a copula-based Bayesian framework. It was designed to link two important factors: the dryness before autumn and the date plants turn their leaves. 



The “pre-season drought threshold” is the point where plants stop holding on and start senescing. That threshold isn’t the same everywhere. In dry regions such as deserts and shrublands, even a mild drought can cross it. 



In wetter forests, drought has to be much more severe before the change happens. But when it happens, it happens fast. Plants shift from resilience to vulnerability almost overnight.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heatwaves-tip-the-balance">Heatwaves tip the balance</h2>



Drought is only part of the story. Heatwaves, especially daytime ones, make things worse. Hot days force plants to lose water faster through their leaves. Soil dries out quickly, and the drought threshold drops - meaning less dryness is needed to trigger leaf-fall.



Nighttime heatwaves have a weaker effect. Stomata stay mostly closed in the dark, slowing water loss. Still, warmer nights add stress by increasing respiration, sometimes without giving plants the energy boost they’d get from sunlight. 



In many regions, the researchers saw a chain reaction: heatwaves lead to meteorological drought, which becomes soil drought, and then leaves start dropping early.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plant-defenses-have-their-limits">Plant defenses have their limits</h2>



Plants have ways to fight back. A dense leaf canopy shades the soil and stores water. Deep roots pull moisture from far below the surface. These traits - measured as leaf area index (LAI) and ecosystem resilience - delay the moment drought forces plants to stop growing.



But these defenses have limits. In already dry landscapes, even a small drop in water availability can break them. 



The study also found that resilience and LAI depend on rainfall and overall humidity. Wetter conditions strengthen both, while arid conditions weaken them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-droughts-earlier-autumn-seasons">Future droughts, earlier autumn seasons</h2>



The researchers used climate models to see how these drought thresholds might change by the year 2100. The results were clear: more than half of the vegetated land north of 30° latitude will become more sensitive to pre-season droughts. 



In many places, a drought that is considered mild today could have the same effect as a severe drought now.



Northern Eurasia, in particular, may face stronger impacts. There, both droughts and compound drought-heatwave events are expected to push autumn forward more often. 



This means shorter growing seasons, less carbon absorbed by vegetation, and greater pressure on ecosystems that already face other climate stresses.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-timing-matters">Why timing matters</h2>



Leaf senescence isn’t just about colour in the forest. It controls how long plants pull carbon dioxide out of the air. An earlier end to the growing season reduces that uptake and can shift some areas from being carbon sinks to carbon sources.



It also affects wildlife. Animals that depend on autumn leaves for food or shelter may find those resources disappearing earlier. Seasonal mismatches can disrupt migration, breeding, and feeding patterns. 



Even farming could feel the impact, as crops and orchards respond to similar drought and heat signals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drought-changes-the-timing-of-autumn">Drought changes the timing of autumn</h2>



This study shows that climate change doesn’t just warm the planet - it changes the rules plants live by. 



Knowing the drought thresholds for early leaf-fall can help scientists predict where and when the growing season will shorten. This insight also gives forest managers and policymakers a clearer view of which regions may need help adapting.



In the decades ahead, autumn may still arrive in a blaze of color. But in more and more places, that blaze will come sooner - shaped not by the cool air of fall but by the dry heat of late summer.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-62847-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Drought triggers early autumn by forcing leaves to fall

Autumn usually keeps a steady pace. Trees grow through spring...

Plants don’t think like we do. But they might remember - in their own way. New research shows that soybean plants can pass along stress responses to their offspring.



This means if a plant survives attacks from insects or extended periods without <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-roots-rewire-themselves-to-fight-drought/">water</a>, its seeds may be better prepared to handle similar threats. The surprising part? None of this changes the plant’s DNA.



At the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (<a href="https://uada.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UADA</a>), scientists have found evidence that soybeans adapt not just in the moment but across generations.



This phenomenon, known as transgenerational plasticity, allows traits shaped by stress - such as drought or insect damage - to carry over into the next generation. And it’s all done without genetic mutation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-soybean-plants-tougher">Making soybean plants tougher </h2>



Unlike genetic mutations, epigenetic changes don’t alter the DNA sequence. They simply adjust how the plant reads its genetic code. These changes are reversible, but their effects can be powerful.



Soybean is one of the most important crops globally. The research team discovered that both drought and insect damage can leave a lasting impression. These stressors not only influence the parent plant’s traits but also shape how their offspring grow, defend themselves, and yield.



"This gives us the opportunity where we can manipulate the degree of stress of soybean to bolster defenses early in the season without compromising the final yield of the crop,” said Rupesh Kariyat, associate professor of crop entomology. 



“But there is a catch - we have yet to quantify the threshold under <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-a-humble-plant-may-help-us-save-crops-from-drought/">drought</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/streetlights-make-tree-leaves-too-tough-for-insects-to-eat/">herbivory</a> stress that may cause more harm than good to the plants.”



This idea - that carefully timed stress could help strengthen a crop - opens up possibilities. Just like vaccines prime our immune systems, early-season exposure to mild stress could make soybean plants tougher later on.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-memory-in-soybean-plants">"Memory" in soybean plants</h2>



Over the last two years, the researchers have studied how soybean looper and fall armyworm <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/caterpillars-can-stop-their-bleeding-in-seconds/">caterpillars</a> interact with soybean plants. They looked at how drought and sequential insect attacks impact not only the plants themselves but also their offspring.



“Insects are getting bigger, and they’re going through multiple generations each year,” Kariyat said. “That leads to increased pesticide use, which isn’t sustainable.”



With climate change intensifying insect threats, soybeans that “remember” past stress might help farmers cut down on pesticide use. 



This could be a game-changer - especially in regions like Brazil and Kenya, where farmers often rely on saved seeds due to the cost of commercial varieties.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-plant-stress-leaves-behind">What plant stress leaves behind</h2>



So, what changes when a parent plant has been stressed? Seeds from stressed plants contained more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/soil-is-losing-nitrogen-along-with-its-climate-fighting-power/">nitrogen</a> and protein - two important indicators of plant health. The offspring also produced more flowers and had more trichomes, the tiny hairs on leaves that help defend against insects.



Interestingly, these benefits were most pronounced when parent plants were hit by both drought and insect feeding. But the news wasn’t all good.



Stressed offspring also grew less, yielded fewer pods, and produced more empty ones. And while trichomes increased early on, they declined with plant age. In short, soybeans seemed to face a trade-off: more defense, but less growth.



“It’s not that herbivory always improves the plant performance, but the type, severity and combination of stressors determine whether the responses would be beneficial or detrimental,” Kariyat said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insects-and-soybean-plants">Insects and soybean plants</h2>



In one experiment, the team wanted to know whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/insects-boost-plant-evolution-in-surprising-ways/">insects</a> could tell if a soybean plant had previously been through drought. The researchers built little bridges between two plants - one that had been stressed and one that hadn’t.



The soybean looper caterpillars explored both. Many paused, turned their heads, and chose to crawl back to the healthier plants. 



The damage caused by caterpillars was heavier on the non-stressed plants. This supports the “plant vigor hypothesis,” which proposes that pests prefer robust hosts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-timing-changes-everything">Timing changes everything</h2>



Most crop studies focus on a single stressor, but that’s not how real-life farming works. Droughts come and go. Insects swarm in waves. 



Kariyat’s team studied what happens when different pests attack in a certain order. They found that timing made a major difference.



When soybean loopers attacked first, the next generation of plants had 40% higher nitrogen, more flowers, better protein, and more pods than if the order was reversed.



From this, the researchers concluded that some stress may be helpful - but only under specific conditions. For example, drought seemed to amplify the effects of insect damage. 



And when drought was paired with herbivory, offspring focused more on building up internal resources (like protein and nitrogen) than on external defenses (like trichomes).



“From the research so far, while moderate or minimum biotic stress may induce resilience in soybeans - and this is also found in other systems - the combined abiotic and biotic stress may lead to exhaustive performance, triggering expensive defensive responses that often compromise yield and fitness,” said Kariyat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-soybean-plants-under-stress">Soybean plants under stress</h2>



The idea that soybean plants can "remember" stress across generations could change how we grow crops. It’s not just about surviving the current season - it’s about building stronger, smarter crops for the future.



But like Kariyat said, plant stress comes with trade-offs. Push too hard, and the plant burns out. Get the timing right, and you might have a tougher, more resilient crop.



That’s the challenge ahead: figuring out just how much stress soybeans can take - and when to apply it - without tipping the scales from help to harm.



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Do soybean plants have a memory? Scientists think so

Plants don’t think like we do. But they might remember...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE
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On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop and sunlight barely penetrates through the polar winter. It was here, however, that an international team of scientists found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predatory-worms-were-terror-beasts-half-a-billion-years-ago/#google_vignette" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence of sea monsters</a> that would change our understanding of ocean life in the past.



This video captures the discovery of Timorebestia fossils that had been hidden for more than 500 million years in the Sirius Passet formation. The "terror beasts," as they are called, are a hidden chapter in the evolutionary history of <a href="https://www.earth.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth</a>, showing that sophisticated predator-prey interactions occurred much earlier than previously envisioned.



Dr. Jakob Vinther and his research team at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Bristol</a>, in collaboration with researchers at the <a href="https://eng.kopri.re.kr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Korean Polar Research Institute</a>, braved extreme weather conditions at 82.5 north latitude to locate these giant creatures. Using sophisticated electron microprobe analysis, they revealed the detailed anatomy of the animals, including their muscle and nerve tissues.



The find upsets the traditional timeline of sea predators. Although we've long appreciated that Cambrian oceans were at one time ruled by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI3-UgA3_o&amp;list=PL1QLQMW9MWDwpkFOnvgAmu7wT6rZmYqdJ&amp;index=19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arthropods</a>, these discoveries indicate that relatives of arrow worms were first to dominate the seas. These worms were building sophisticated food webs several million years before other predator groups arose.



Each fossil is a story of ancient hunger, with fossil stomach contents revealing these meter-long beasts dined on heavily armored arthropods regularly, cementing their place as the ocean's first apex predators.



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y4eLFNYrKE On the unforgiving landscape of North Greenland, temperatures drop...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-385-million-year-old-trees-discovered">385-million-year-old trees discovered</h2>



Scientists have uncovered something extraordinary just two hours north of New York City. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-oldest-forest-discovered-close-to-new-york-city/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world's oldest forest</a>, dating back 385 million years, offers a window into how Earth's first complex forests shaped our planet's atmosphere.



Located near <a href="https://townofcairo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cairo, New York</a>, in Greene County, these weren't merely primitive plants struggling to survive. These were sophisticated trees with root systems remarkably similar to modern forests. This ancient woodland predates dinosaurs by 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cairo-forest-discovery">The Cairo forest discovery</h2>



385 million years ago, upstate New York was a tropical paradise near the equator. Thanks to continental drift, this ancient forest has traveled thousands of miles to its current location.



The fossil forest sits in an abandoned quarry, roughly half the size of a football field. This represents just a slice of what was likely a massive forest system stretching from New York into Pennsylvania.



Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the <a href="https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State Museum</a>, made the discovery in 2009. While scouting the former highway department property, his trained eye spotted wandering patterns in the stone that looked like marine features.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-age-and-preservation">Revolutionary age and preservation</h2>



The site contains 385-million-year-old rocks with fossilized woody roots forming horizontal patterns up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide. As Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University, explains: "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees."



This discovery pushes back advanced tree evolution by millions of years. The research, published in <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Current Biology</a> in December 2019, fundamentally changes our understanding of when complex forests first emerged.



Researchers believe a massive flood buried the forest floor, creating perfect fossilization conditions. Over millions of years, sediment hardened into rock, preserving these root patterns like nature's time capsule.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-meet-archaeopteris-the-first-modern-tree">Meet Archaeopteris: the first modern tree</h2>



The star of this ancient forest is Archaeopteris – not to be confused with the feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx. This tree was far older and more revolutionary.



William Stein from <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binghamton University</a> describes the roots as "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now." These weren't simple root systems you'd expect from ancient plants.



Some fossilized roots are six inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, forming 36-foot-wide (11-meter) patterns. These giants grew up to 65 feet (20 meters) tall with five-foot-diameter (1.5-meter) trunks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-changing-impact">Climate-changing impact</h2>



These trees fundamentally changed Earth's environment. Kevin Boyce, a Stanford University geoscientist, explains how their deep roots triggered "weathering," chemical reactions that pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.



This process dropped atmospheric CO2 levels from 10-15 times higher than today to roughly modern concentrations. These ancient trees helped create atmospheric conditions that made complex life possible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-forest-ecosystem">Ancient forest ecosystem</h2>



The forest was remarkably diverse. Scientists identified Eospermatopteris, palm tree-like plants with short roots that reached 30 feet (9 meters) tall but lacked woody structure. The forest also housed cladoxylopsids and a mysterious third species still being studied.



All reproduced through spores rather than seeds – millions of years before seeds evolved. This tropical environment had no grass, flowers, or flying insects, just towering trees creating Earth's first complex forest canopy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-significance">Scientific significance</h2>



Before this finding, the Gilboa forest, located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, held the "oldest forest" title. Cairo's trees are 2-3 million years older, showing that complex forest ecosystems developed much faster than scientists believed possible.



Patricia Gensel, a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina</a> paleobotanist, notes: "The size of those root systems is really changing the picture. Even 20 years ago, researchers assumed trees with such complex root systems didn't evolve so early."



The Cairo site presents three unique root systems, suggesting Devonian period forests were diverse ecosystems with different trees occupying different environmental niches, much like today's forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-preservation-efforts">Modern preservation efforts</h2>



In 2022, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey secured a $170,000 grant for the town of Cairo to construct specialized fencing around the fossil forest site. The town plans to conduct a feasibility study exploring the possibility of creating an educational center and working lab on-site.



Joe Hasenkopf, chair of the Cairo Planning Board, hopes to partner with educational institutions to create a research facility serving scientists, students, and the public.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-today-s-climate">Lessons for today's climate</h2>



Why does a 385-million-year-old forest matter today? It shows how dramatically forests can change Earth's climate. These ancient woodlands created the atmospheric conditions supporting complex life.



Understanding how prehistoric forests transformed the planet helps us appreciate modern forests' critical role in addressing climate change. Forests remain Earth's most effective carbon capture systems.



These prehistoric trees changed Earth's atmosphere by pulling massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As we face modern climate challenges, this ancient forest reminds us of trees' incredible power to transform our planet's environment.



The next time you walk through a forest, remember you're experiencing an ecosystem whose blueprint was established 385 million years ago in upstate New York. These ancient pioneers didn't just survive – they thrived and changed the world forever.



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ New York is the site of the world's oldest...

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-don-t-we-ever-hear-about-acid-rain-anymore-the-environmental-crisis-that-was-solved">Why don't we ever hear about "acid rain" anymore? The environmental crisis that was solved</h2>



Remember the 1980s when acid rain dominated headlines? Dire warnings about rain eating buildings, killing fish, and destroying forests filled every news cycle. Then, almost like magic, acid rain vanished from public discourse. What happened? Did we actually solve one of the late 20th century's most pressing environmental challenges?



The answer might surprise you. Unlike many environmental issues that drag on indefinitely, acid rain represents one of modern history's most successful ecological recovery stories. It's a tale of science, politics, and technology working together to tackle what seemed impossible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What was acid rain?</h2>



Acid rain isn't regular rain having a bad day – it's precipitation that became significantly more acidic due to air pollution. When power plants, factories, and vehicles burn fossil fuels, they release sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The science behind it</h2>



Think of acid rain as nature's chemistry experiment gone wrong. These compounds react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. When mixed with water vapor in clouds, they create precipitation with dangerously low pH levels.



While clean rain has a pH of about 5.6, acid rain could drop as low as 4.2 to 4.4 – roughly as acidic as tomato juice or coffee. According to US Geological Survey documentation, Scottish chemist Angus Smith first coined "acid rain" in 1872, but it didn't become a household phrase until the 1960s and 1970s when Swedish scientist Svante Odén documented its devastating effects on Scandinavian lakes and European forests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The crisis at its peak</h2>



During the height of public concern, environmental damage was both widespread and visible. This wasn't some abstract future threat – people could see destruction happening in real-time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Environmental devastation</h2>



The most dramatic impacts were impossible to ignore. Research documented by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shows that in the Adirondack Mountains, more than 200 lakes became so acidic they couldn't support fish life. The Adirondack Council reports that 409 lakes once supported brook trout, but many lost their fish populations due to acid rain.



By 1976, when scientists cataloged all acidified lakes in the Adirondack Park, researchers found that half of the lakes over 2,000 feet above sea level had no fish, according to studies published in environmental journals. The acidification process worked like a slow-motion disaster. As acid rain fell into watersheds, it gradually lowered pH levels. Fish couldn't survive in acidic water, and their food sources died off too.



Trees at high elevations showed stress directly linked to acid rain. It weakened them by leaching nutrients and making them susceptible to disease. Historical records show Germany's Black Forest saw nearly half its trees damaged by the mid-1980s.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Economic impact</h2>



Acid rain wasn't just environmental – it was expensive. Acidic precipitation corroded infrastructure, buildings, and monuments. Historic stone structures deteriorated at accelerated rates. Tourism suffered as lakes became fishless and forests declined. EPA economic analyses from the period documented repair costs mounting into billions annually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The solution: government action and technology</h2>



Transformation from crisis to success required unprecedented cooperation between governments, industries, and environmental groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Clean Air Act of 1990</h2>



The turning point came with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, signed by President George H.W. Bush. This represented a fundamentally new approach to environmental regulation, as documented in EPA historical records.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cap-and-trade success</h2>



Instead of mandating specific technologies, the 1990 amendments introduced something revolutionary: a cap-and-trade system for sulfur dioxide emissions. EPA program documentation shows this market-based approach set overall limits but allowed companies to trade emission allowances.



The genius was harnessing market forces to find cost-effective pollution reduction. Companies reducing emissions cheaply could sell excess allowances to those facing higher costs. Research published in environmental economics journals and EPA progress reports shows this resulted in dramatic SO2 reduction at a fraction of projected costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Technology advances</h2>



Policy provided the framework, but technology made reductions possible. Studies in atmospheric science journals document the widespread adoption of flue gas desulfurization systems ("scrubbers") that removed sulfur dioxide before it reached the atmosphere. By the 2000s, new installations could remove over 95% of SO2 emissions, according to EPA technical reports.



The push coincided with cleaner energy development. Natural gas produces fewer sulfur compounds than coal. Wind and solar, emerging in the 1990s, captured growing market share, reducing reliance on high-sulfur coal.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-we-don-t-hear-about-it-today">Why we don't hear about it today</h2>



Why did acid rain disappear from headlines? Simple: the problem was largely solved.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Success doesn't make news</h2>



There's an old journalism saying: "If it bleeds, it leads." Environmental success stories don't generate urgency like crisis reporting. Media attention shifted to other challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. There's only so much environmental anxiety the public can absorb, and newer concerns replaced acid rain.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mission accomplished</h2>



The primary reason is beautifully simple: interventions worked. EPA monitoring data shows sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990. Academic research published in environmental science journals confirms pH levels in formerly affected areas returned closer to normal. This represents one of history's most dramatic environmental recoveries. Studies by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation show fishless lakes now support healthy populations. Forests recovered, and building damage slowed dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-it-really-gone">Is it really gone?</h2>



The crisis is largely resolved, but monitoring data shows the problem isn't completely eliminated – it's managed to acceptable levels. Some areas still experience occasional events during high pollution periods. International environmental research indicates that rapidly industrializing Asian countries face similar problems to what we experienced decades ago, though they're implementing successful strategies.



EPA research shows nitrogen oxide emissions proved more challenging than sulfur dioxide, coming from vehicles and mobile sources. Climate science studies suggest changing weather patterns add complexity to how acid rain forms and falls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What this teaches us</h2>



The acid rain experience proves that seemingly intractable environmental problems can be solved with scientific understanding, political will, and technological innovation. Environmental monitoring data shows recovery speed was remarkable – within a decade, measurable improvements appeared in air quality and ecosystem health.



Success came from bipartisan support across party lines. Policy analysis studies show the market-based approach appealed to those preferring economic incentives while achieving environmental goals. This support created lasting policy surviving political changes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h2>



Acid rain's disappearance from public consciousness represents environmental science's greatest success stories. Through effective regulation, technological innovation, and international cooperation, we transformed an overwhelming crisis into a manageable challenge.



Today's silence isn't because we forgot – it's because we solved it. The 1990 Clean Air Act, combined with technology and energy market changes, reduced acid rain emissions over 90%, according to comprehensive EPA data analysis.



This success offers hope for current challenges. It proves complex problems can be solved when science, policy, and technology work together. As we face climate change and plastic pollution, acid rain reminds us that dramatic positive change is possible.



Next time someone asks whether environmental regulations work, remember acid rain. It's proof that sometimes, we get it right.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Sources: This article draws from EPA official documentation and progress reports, peer-reviewed research published in environmental and atmospheric science journals, historical data from the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation records, US Geological Survey publications, policy analysis studies, and environmental monitoring data collected over three decades.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



1. Is acid rain completely gone? No, but EPA monitoring shows it's reduced to manageable levels. US sulfur dioxide emissions dropped over 90% since 1990, making acid rain much less severe than the 1980s crisis.



2. How long did solving take? Environmental monitoring data shows significant improvements began within 5-10 years of 1990s emission controls. Full ecosystem recovery took longer – some areas need 20-30 years for complete recovery.



3. What made the solution successful? Clear scientific understanding, visible damage motivating action, bipartisan support, available technology, and innovative market-based policies like cap-and-trade.



4. Do other countries have acid rain problems? Yes, particularly rapidly industrializing Asian countries. However, international environmental research shows many implement similar successful control strategies.



5. Could acid rain return? Potentially, if regulations weaken or we return to high-sulfur coal without controls, though effects would take years to become severe according to environmental projections.



6. Can you recommend any teaching tools on the subject of "acid rain"? The United States Environmental Protection Agency produced a wonderful teacher's guide for ages 14 and under that you can find on the EPA website here: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-03/documents/teachersguide.pdf</a>



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The environmental problem we actually solved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prrq8Ql81zk Acid rain and a crisis solved. Why don't we...

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

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</div></figure>







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/XYgiPzmNBTU?si=eFYY7gPHU1JznLvU
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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