Vanilla is more than just a kitchen staple. It is the world’s most popular spice after saffron and finds its way into everything from ice creams to perfumes and medicines. 



The allure of vanilla's rich, sweet aroma has made it a global commodity, supporting industries and smallholder farmers alike. Yet, hidden behind its widespread appeal lies a fragile reality deeply linked to climate change.



The commercial vanilla crop, derived from the Vanilla planifolia orchid, faces growing challenges. These include threats from drought, heat, and diseases, all of which are worsening under climate change. 



Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/traditional-forest-farming-is-an-overlooked-climate-solution/">farming</a> already depends heavily on labor-intensive hand pollination. Any further strain on the species could threaten not only its cultivation but also the livelihoods of many farming communities.



Wild Vanilla species, scattered across the tropics, may hold the key to preserving this treasured crop. They offer a wealth of genetic diversity that could help strengthen cultivated varieties. However, these wild species now face their own climate-driven crises.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-climate-affects-vanilla-and-pollinators">How climate affects vanilla and pollinators</h2>



Scientists have long recognized the importance of wild Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feeding-the-world-without-harming-nature-the-complex-balance-of-farming/">species</a> as genetic resources. These species possess traits that could improve drought resistance, heat tolerance, and disease resilience in commercial vanilla. However, their survival is tightly linked to pollinators, mainly bees from the Euglossini tribe.



In the natural world, most Vanilla species depend on animal pollinators for reproduction. These intricate relationships, often involving specialized behaviors and physical compatibility, are highly vulnerable to ecological disruptions.



“Climate change may lead to a reduced habitat overlap between Vanilla orchid species and their pollinators, resulting in plant-pollinator decoupling that negatively affects the survival of wild vanilla populations,” said Dr Charlotte Watteyn, a researcher at KU Leuven and the <a href="https://www.ucr.ac.cr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Costa Rica</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-habitat-shifts-under-climate-pressure">Habitat shifts under climate pressure</h2>



Dr. Watteyn's team analyzed the habitats of 11 Vanilla species along with seven pollinator species. They examined two future climate scenarios: SSP2.4-5 and SSP3-7.0.



The SSP2.4-5 scenario presents moderate climate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eco-friendly-farms-can-succeed-but-they-need-support/">risks</a>, with some progress in climate action. In contrast, SSP3-7.0 signals severe challenges, marked by heavy fossil fuel use and limited global cooperation.



Under both scenarios, some Vanilla species may expand their habitats by as much as 140%. However, other species may lose up to 53% of their suitable habitat.



Pollinators face even greater risks. Their suitable habitats are expected to shrink significantly, with the steepest declines under SSP3-7.0. This sharp drop in pollinator populations threatens the entire pollination process.



“Despite the possible increase in suitable habitat for some Vanilla species, their pollinator-dependency may imperil the survival of natural populations,” said Watteyn.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-risks-to-vanilla-pollination">Climate risks to vanilla pollination</h2>



Many Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-for-wildlife-how-traditional-practices-can-protect-nature/">species</a> rely on distinct pollination methods. Some provide nectar to attract pollinators, while others use deception. Vanilla pompona employs a combination of floral scents and food mimicry to lure bees.



Pollinators, particularly Euglossini bees, face mounting climate threats. Their habitats are expected to shrink, with smaller bee species showing greater vulnerability than larger ones.



“Vanilla species are known for their specialized relationships with pollinators, hence, they may experience difficulties in replacing pollinators,” explained Watteyn. 



Species like V. planifolia and V. trigonocarpa already have limited overlap with their pollinators. Climate change may worsen this.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conservation-priorities-for-vanilla-survival">Conservation priorities for vanilla survival</h2>



The study identified current and future areas where Vanilla <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-devastate-global-food-production/">species</a> and pollinators overlap. They also flagged areas needing conservation or assisted migration.



By 2050, protected areas covering Vanilla-pollinator overlap could shrink significantly. For example, protected overlap for V. pompona may fall from 42 to 17 percent.



The researchers highlighted areas for urgent conservation. They suggested combining in situ protection with ex situ measures such as seed banks and botanical gardens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-threats-beyond-climate">Other threats beyond climate</h2>



Habitat destruction, illegal harvesting, and ecological disruptions also affect Vanilla survival. Many Vanilla species have specific needs, including partnerships with fungi and animals for seed dispersal and germination.



The researchers emphasized the need for more studies on these relationships. “Collaborative research on the ecology and genetic diversity of wild vanilla across its natural distribution is paramount if we want to take vanilla breeding into the future,” said Professor Adam Karremans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-vanilla-trade-needs-protection">Global vanilla trade needs protection</h2>



Vanilla remains a major cash crop with high global demand. It supports smallholder farmers worldwide.



“Like cacao and coffee, vanilla is a global export crop with high international market value. It’s grown to make profit, and is a key driver for rural development, agricultural innovation, and overall welfare,” concluded Dr. Watteyn.



Conserving wild Vanilla species now appears essential not just for ecosystems, but also for global food systems. Protecting these species can help secure vanilla’s future amid climate change.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2025.1585540/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Plant Science</a>.



Image Credit: Charlotte Watteyn



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Climate change is separating wild vanilla from its pollinators

Vanilla is more than just a kitchen staple. It is the world’s most popular spice after saffron and finds its way into everything from ice creams to perfumes and medicines. The allure of vanilla's rich, sweet aroma has made it a global commodity, supporting industries and smallholder farmers alike. Yet, hidden behind its widespread appeal lies a fragile reality deeply linked to climate change. The commercial vanilla crop, derived from the Vanilla planifolia orchid, faces growing challenges. These include threats from drought, heat, and diseases, all of...

A large-scale, randomized trial involving 21,000 participants has recently concluded after 3.6 years of data collection. Led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/research/departments/preventive-medicine/division-of-preventive-medicine">Division of Preventive Medicine</a>&nbsp;at <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a>, the trial was designed to test the roles of a cocoa flavanol supplement and a multivitamin in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ants-can-detect-cancer-through-smell/">cancer</a>.&nbsp;



Flavanols are phytonutrients found in a range of fruits and nuts, and cocoa flavanol is found specifically in cocoa beans. Previous studies have identified potential benefits of cocoa flavanol to metabolic, neurological and cardiovascular health in humans. However, the amounts required in order to gain such benefits are more than the average person ingests in the form of cocoa drinks or chocolate.&nbsp;



“Previous studies have suggested health benefits of flavanols - compounds in several plant-based foods including cocoa, tea, grapes, and berries,” said Dr. <a href="https://prevmed.bwh.harvard.edu/joann-e-manson-md-dph/">JoAnn Manson</a>. “COSMOS was not a chocolate trial - rather, it’s a rigorous trial of a cocoa extract supplement that contains levels of cocoa flavanols that a person could never realistically consume from chocolate without adding excessive calories, fat, and sugar to their diet.”&nbsp;



The COSMOS trial gave researchers a chance to test whether taking a cocoa flavanol supplement might lead to reductions in clinical cardiovascular events, which they defined as heart attacks, strokes, coronary revascularization, cardiovascular death, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery surgery, and unstable angina. At the same time, the experts also assessed whether the risk of cancer was affected by taking the supplement. The trial was additionally designed to test the effect of a common multivitamin supplement in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease.&nbsp;



The 21,000 participants were thus divided randomly into four groups; those who took 500 mg capsules of cocoa flavanol (donated by Mars Edge), those who took the multivitamin tablets (donated by GSK Consumer Healthcare), those who took both and those who took neither. Their health was monitored for the following 3.6 years.



The results showed that cocoa flavanols reduced the total incidence of cardiovascular events (the study’s primary endpoint) by 10 percent, but that this was not statistically significant. However, more detailed analyses of the occurrences of individual events showed support for a potential benefit of cocoa flavanols. For example, those receiving the cocoa flavanol capsules had a significant 27 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease (the study’s secondary endpoint).&nbsp;



In addition, when the study team excluded data from participants who did not take their capsules regularly, the analysis revealed a stronger effect, namely a 15 percent reduction in total cardiovascular events and a 39 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease. Further analysis of the relationship between cocoa flavanol supplementation and major cardiovascular events only (heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths), also showed that this was significantly reduced.&nbsp;



“When we look at the totality of evidence for both the primary and secondary cardiovascular endpoints in COSMOS, we see promising signals that a cocoa flavanol supplement may reduce important cardiovascular events, including death from cardiovascular disease,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://prevmed.bwh.harvard.edu/howard-d-sesso-scd-mph/">Howard Sesso</a>,&nbsp;first author on both publications. “These findings merit further investigation to better understand the effects of cocoa flavanols on cardiovascular health.”



The daily multivitamin had no significant effect on total or individual cardiovascular events and, although it was associated with improved levels of several nutritional biomarkers, it had no effect on the risk of cancer either. Cocoa flavanols also had no significant effect on total invasive cancer, although the experts note that 3.6 years is probably too short a time span in which to detect the impacts of these supplements on the development of cancer. They said that continuing to follow COSMOS participants may help to clarify any longer-term effects on cancer and death.



“Although our study suggests intriguing signals for cardiovascular protection with cocoa flavanols, any health benefits due to taking these supplements will need confirmation in a future trial,” said Manson.



“Our message for consumers is to eat a healthy, balanced diet, rich in natural food sources of flavanols, and to stay tuned as we further evaluate other important health outcomes in COSMOS," said Sesso.



The research was part of the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS). The results are published today in two separate papers in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn">The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</a>.



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

Cocoa beans reduce the risk of fatal cardiovascular events

A large-scale, randomized trial involving 21,000 participants has recently concluded...

Big trees play major roles in old-growth <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thirsty-mountain-forests-leave-lower-elevations-with-less-water/">forests</a>, from providing fire resistance to producing genetically strong offspring. A new study led by Utah State University’s <a href="https://qcnr.usu.edu/wild/">Department of Wildland Resources</a> has found that these trees also protect melting snowpacks in water-stressed environments.



Having a sufficient supply of water helps trees endure hot summer temperatures, survive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-smoke-is-taking-a-toll-on-the-wine-industry/">wildfires</a>, and fend off invasions of bark beetles. Yet, during hot summers, there is not much precipitation. Thus, maintaining a good, thick snowpack for as long as possible during the spring or even summer months is extremely helpful to the forests.&nbsp;



The longer the water is released into the soil and available to “thirsty” trees, the better these forests fare. Moreover, melting snow is also part of the runoff filling the West’s reservoirs and benefiting human communities.



Ironically, one of the biggest hindrances for building snowpacks in a forest are the trees themselves. Their branches catch snow before it hits the ground and give it back to the atmosphere through evaporation or sublimation. Moreover, large trunks emit a significant amount of heat, or longwave energy, that contributes to melting. For these reasons, the ground beneath large trees tends to build only a shallow snowpack.&nbsp;&nbsp;



However, researchers found that, in the case of big trees, the same wide branches that prevent the snow from reaching the ground directly under a tree also provide a cooling stretch of shade which blocks direct sunlight from melting the snow under a wide radius surrounding the trees. These savings can outweigh the detriment of canopy cover and longwave energy.



The scientists performed calculations to determine what a forest looked like that maximized the benefits of shade and minimized the negative impact of canopy and longwave energy. They discovered that big trees were surrounded by doughnut-shaped zones where snowpack could best endure – away from the longwave energy produced by the trunk, but still within reach of the cooling shade. The best forests for long-lasting snowpacks had trees spaced in such a way that these doughnut-shaped zones bumped up against each other, but did not overlap. However, in order for this equation to work though, the spaced-out trees need to be both big and healthy.



“Snow is a key resource for fresh water supply and ecosystem function. Our study highlights that conserving big trees - the very trees that often survive forest fires - in forest ecosystems where fire is part of the ecological cycle can help facilitate both,” concluded lead author Michaela Teich, a senior researcher at Utah State University.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eco.2414">Ecohydrology</a>.



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

Big trees protect forests by maintaining snowpack

Big trees play major roles in old-growth forests, from providing...

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, significantly contributing to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marine-microbe-may-help-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/">climate change</a>. For many years, scientists thought that this gas is produced only by single-celled microbes called Archaea, through the decomposition of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.mpi-marburg.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology</a> suggests that in fact all organisms release varying degrees of methane.



When researchers from the Max Planck Institute discovered the release of methane from plants in the presence of oxygen 16 years ago, they initially doubted the results. However, once fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria were also observed to form methane under aerobic conditions, scientists have started to realize that methane formation is more widespread than initially thought. Until recently though, enzymatic activities were considered responsible for the formation of this gas. Now, researchers have shown that this process could also take place via a purely chemical mechanism, with no enzymes involved.



“This study is therefore a milestone in our understanding of aerobic methane formation in the environment,” said senior author Frank Keppler, a geoscientist at <a href="http://uni-heidelberg.de/">Heidelberg University</a>. “This universal mechanism also explains the observations of our previous study on the release of methane from plants.”



Professor Keppler and his colleagues have shown, using the bacterium&nbsp;Bacillus subtilis, that there is a close connection between metabolic activity and the extent of methane formation. Under the influence of oxygen, metabolic activity leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species in cells, including hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. In interaction with iron, highly reactive tetravalent iron compounds and hydroxyl radicals are formed, which later on drive the cleavage of a methyl radical from methylated sulfur and nitrogen compounds. Finally, a chemical reaction between the methyl radical and a hydrogen atom leads to the formation of methane.



The scientists have verified the reactive oxygen species-driven formation of methane in over 30 model organisms, ranging from bacteria and archaea to yeasts, plant cells, and even human cell lines.&nbsp;



“Methane formation triggered by reactive oxygen species most likely occurs in all organisms,” reported study lead author Leonard Ernst, a doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute.



Ernst and his colleagues have also discovered that additional oxidative stress – triggered by higher ambient temperatures or the addition of reactive oxygen species-forming substances – led to an increase in methane formation in the examined organisms.&nbsp;



The findings could explain why methane production by a certain organism can significantly vary, and why stress factors deeply impact the amount of production. For instance, changes in environmental and temperature conditions caused by global warming could potentially influence the stress levels of many organisms and thus their methane emissions.&nbsp;



Further research is needed to clarify the chemical underpinnings of methane production and their intricate relationships to environmental stressors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04511-9">Nature</a>.



---



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

Study suggests that all living organisms produce methane

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, significantly contributing to climate...

Agrilus,Planipennis,-,Emerald,Ash,Borer

Invasive insects will destroy hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tall-trees-in-the-amazon-face-an-uncertain-future/">trees</a> in the coming years, according to a new study published by the British Ecological Society. The experts report that by mid-century, invasive insects like the emerald ash borer could kill 1.4 million street trees in the United States, with an associated cost of over 900 million dollars.



The study represents the first nationwide forecast of street tree mortality from invasive insects. For the investigation, a research team led by McGill University analyzed data from about 30,000 urban areas across the United States.



The projections show that the emerald ash borer will be, by far, the most destructive of the invasive insects. The experts determined that the emerald ash borer will be responsible for 90 percent of the 1.4 million trees deaths. In particular, this pest is expected to kill every ash tree in more than 6,000 urban areas.



The impact of invasive insects will not be distributed evenly across the country, according to the study. The experts found that less than a quarter of US communities will be hit with 95 percent of all street tree mortality. Some of the areas that will be severely affected include New York, Chicago and Milwaukee.



The researchers noted that their findings can help urban tree managers predict which tree species, in which areas, will be at the greatest risk from invasive insects.&nbsp;



“These results can hopefully provide a cautionary tale against planting a single species of tree throughout entire cities, as has been done with ash trees in North America," said study lead author Dr. Emma Hudgins. "Increasing urban tree diversity provides resilience against pest infestations. While we know this more intuitively for monocultures of crops, many cities continue to plant what are essentially monoculture urban forests.”



“We can see a similar situation in Canada, since emerald ash borer arrived here by spreading across the border with the United States, and cities like Montréal are in the process of losing all of their ash trees. Colder cities like Winnipeg appear to be seeing delayed impacts of emerald ash borer due to its need to complete a longer life cycle at low temperatures.”



Dr. Hudgins pointed out that trees form an important part of our urban environments and provide a number of benefits including improving air quality, cooling streets, carbon capture, habitat provision for wildlife and improving citizens’ mental and physical health.



“This paper shows that unless we plant a variety of tree species in our cities, urban trees are seriously at risk from invasive pests," said Professor Jane Memmott at the University of Bristol, who was not involved in the study. "The take home message to urban planners, is to plant multiple species in cities rather than focus on just a few familiar species; It’ll keep trees wonderful, and it will keep them in our cities."



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652664">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.



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

Invasive insects will kill 1.4 million U.S. trees by 2050

Invasive insects will destroy hundreds of thousands of trees in...

Mint,Plant,Growing,At,Vegetable,Garden

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Plants can warn each other of imminent dangers

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

Although humans and their direct ancestors have been around on Earth for several million years, it is in the last one thousand years that we have interfered with and changed almost every aspect of the biosphere - that precious space on our planet that is inhabited by living organisms. Today, human activities change climates, alter and destroy natural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/illegal-cannabis-farms-infringe-on-crucial-animal-habitats/">habitats</a>, move plants and animals to locations where they didn’t previously occur, pollute the air, sea, freshwater and land, and exploit natural resources. We are truly the "lords of the biosphere."



And as lords of the biosphere, a term coined by John McNeil in a publication in the year 2000, we decide what shall live and what shall die. According to <a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/staff/john-kress">John Kress</a>, botany curator emeritus at the&nbsp;<a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/">Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/staff/gary-krupnick">Gary Krupnick</a>, head of the museum’s plant conservation unit, humans have favored species that they have found useful and desirable, while the useless or valueless species have been excluded or driven to extinction.&nbsp;



The scientists combed through current environmental databases, ethnobotanical descriptions, and conservation assessments of green plants to survey and measure the impact of humans on today's botanical diversity. They considered the characteristics of more than 86,000 different plant species in order to decide whether their survival was aided by human activities, in which case they were "winners," or whether human activities relegated them to a state of irrelevance and potential extinction, in which case they were "losers."



“I actually started this project from a place of optimism,” said Kress. “I had just planted all these trees around my house in Vermont and thought to myself that maybe there are actually more winners than losers, and we are just focused on everything that’s disappearing.”



In order to categorize the chances of survival of different plant species in a future world dominated by humans, Kress and Krupnick evaluated mountains of data on the economic uses, environmental tolerances, legal and illegal trades and conservation status of approximately 30 percent of all vascular plants on Earth (that is plants that transport water, dissolved nutrients and other substances within their bodies by means of specialized vessels).&nbsp;



Based on this data, they divided all the plants into seven categories: those that are winners and are useful to humans; winners that are not useful; losers that are useful; losers that are not useful; species that seemed likely to win in the future; those that seemed likely to lose in the future; and those that had already become extinct (571 species).



When the categories were tallied up, the analysis showed that losers currently outnumber winners, and that losers are likely to be more numerous than winners in the future if human impact on the planet continues on its current course. Kress and Krupnick categorized 20,293 species of plants as losers, with the vast majority of them being identified as not useful to humans. In contrast, just 6,913 species were categorized as winners, with all but 164 of those species having some human use.



In the future, assuming that human behavior will not change substantially, losers are projected to continue to outnumber winners, with 26,002 species in the potential losers category compared to 18,664 species in the tentative winners category.&nbsp;



The researchers also considered whether there were evolutionary relationships within the groups of clear winners and losers. They mapped these species onto evolutionary trees to see if some plant orders contained high numbers of winner species, or high numbers of losers.&nbsp;



“The question was whether there were some lineages of plants that were more packed with winners or were full of losers we should be concerned about,” said Kress.



The findings, published today in the journal <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/25722611">Plants People Planet</a>, showed that winners and losers are distributed pretty evenly across plant orders. There were a few instances where branches of the plant evolutionary tree had few species but more losers than winners, and these branches had an increased risk of being lost altogether. Plant groups such as cycads, and cypresses (the family that includes redwoods and junipers) were among those that fell into this category.&nbsp;



“Now and in the future, plants have to adapt to the environment humans have created or they will go extinct,” said Krupnick. “Our results suggest that this means the plant communities of the future will be more homogenized than those of today.”



This loss of plant diversity could have major negative consequences for ecosystems around the world in future. Losing plant diversity will be associated with losses in animal diversity, Kress said, and this will make ecosystems less resilient in the face of hardship or change. This would have serious implications for humanity as well.



“The list of winners shows that we’ve selected certain species that are useful to us, but as that pool of plants we have to select from decreases in the future, humanity will have many fewer options when we want to reforest the planet, find new medicines or foods, or develop new products,” said Kress.



According to Kress, he hopes that these lists will give other researchers opportunities to look more in depth at the reasons why certain species or lineages are winning or losing in the age of humans and to identify the plants that are most in need of conservation.



“It still looks green outside my window, and that can create the illusion that plants are doing well,” said Kress. “But this study suggests we’re on course for a big loss of plant diversity, and we better wake up.”



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

Humans decide which plants win or lose, and most are losing

Although humans and their direct ancestors have been around on...

Approximately half of the Earth’s land area has been converted for agricultural use and this has led to three of humanity’s most urgent environmental challenges. Agriculture is responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, demands around 70 percent of global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/salt-pollution-threatens-freshwater-ecosystems/">freshwater</a> use, and is the largest driver of habitat loss, which in turn threatens terrestrial biodiversity.&nbsp;



A team of international scientists has now proposed that if current croplands could be relocated to more suitable and productive locations around the globe, while allowing ecosystems in the then-abandoned farming areas to regenerate, the carbon and biodiversity footprints of agricultural production would be minimized. And locating the new croplands in areas where rainfall provides all the necessary water would removing the need for systematic irrigation.&nbsp;



Details of their reimagined world maps of agriculture are published today in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsenv/">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>. The experts propose large new farming areas for many major crops around the Cornbelt in the mid-western US, and south of the Sahara desert, while huge areas of current farmland in Europe and India would be allowed to revert to natural habitat.



“In many places, cropland has replaced natural habitat that contained a lot of carbon and biodiversity - and crops don’t even grow very well there. If we let these places regenerate, and moved production to better suited areas, we would see environmental benefits very quickly,” said study first author Dr. Robert Beyer, formerly a researcher in the Department of Zoology at the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a>.



The researchers used global maps of the current growing areas of 25 major crops, including wheat, barley and soybean, which together account for 77 percent of croplands worldwide. For each crop they assessed the carbon impact by comparing the carbon stocks present in the crops with the carbon that would be bound up in local natural vegetation and soil. Similarly, they estimated the difference between local biodiversity in natural vegetation and in croplands.&nbsp;



The same methods enabled the researchers to predict the potential biodiversity and carbon impacts of crop production in locations that are currently not cultivated. They then developed a mathematical model to look at all possible ways to distribute this cropland across the globe, while maintaining overall production levels for each crop. They used potential yield estimates for three different farming scenarios representing the range from traditional, subsistence-based organic farming systems to advanced, fully mechanized production with high-yielding crop varieties and optimum fertilizer and pesticide application.



According to the model’s predictions, the proposed redistribution of croplands, under a high-input, mechanized farming scenario, would cut the carbon impact of crop agriculture by 71 percent, as long as the original croplands were allowed to return to their natural, forested states. This is the equivalent of capturing 20 years’ worth of the current net CO2&nbsp;emissions. Trees capture carbon as they grow, and also enable more carbon to be captured by the soil than when crops are grown in it.



In this optimized scenario, the impact of crop production on the world’s biodiversity would be reduced by 87 percent, which would drastically reduce the extinction risk for many species for which agriculture is a major threat. The researchers say that croplands would quickly revert back to their natural state, often recovering their original carbon stocks and biodiversity within a few decades.



The authors recognize that it is not currently possible to relocate croplands on a global scale to the new and more productive locations they have identified. However, their maps and models highlight places were croplands are currently very unproductive, but have potential to be hotspots for biodiversity and carbon storage.



Even considering less extreme changes and only redistributing croplands within national borders, rather than globally, would result in significant benefits: global carbon impact would be reduced by 59 percent and biodiversity impact would be 77 percent lower than at present.



A third, even more realistic option of only relocating the worst-offending 25 percent of croplands nationally would result in half of the benefits of optimally moving all croplands.



“It’s currently not realistic to implement this whole redesign. But even if we only relocated a fraction of the world’s cropland, focusing on the places that are least efficient for growing crops, the environmental benefits would be tremendous,” said Beyer.



Their study predicts that the optimal distribution of croplands will change very little until the end of the century, irrespective of the specific impacts of climate change.



“Optimal cropping locations are no moving target. Areas where environmental footprints would be low, and crop yields high, for the current climate will largely remain optimal in the future,” said study senior author Professor Andrea Manica.



While other studies have shown that moving to more plant-based diets would significantly reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture, the researchers say that, in reality, diets aren’t changing quickly. Their model assumes that diets will not change, and focuses on producing the same types of food as today but in an optimal way.



Many of the world's croplands are located in areas where they have a huge environmental footprint, having replaced carbon-rich and biodiversity-rich ecosystems, and are a significant drain on local water resources. These locations were chosen for historical reasons, such as their proximity to human settlements, but the researchers say it is now time to grow food in a more optimal way.



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

Relocating croplands could drastically reduce their environmental impact

Approximately half of the Earth’s land area has been converted...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/">University of Sussex</a>, with funding from Rowse Honey Ltd, have proven that weeds are far more valuable in supporting biodiversity and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/air-pollutants-confuse-pollinators-and-reduce-food-production/">pollinators</a> than we give them credit for.



The study compared the biodiversity value of "injurious weeds" with plants that are known to support pollinator health as identified by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)&nbsp;



In the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/54/section/1">1959 Weeds Act</a>, five species of native wildflowers were classified as “injurious." Despite their classifications, three of them are visited by many species of bees and other insects. The other two are docks, whose flowers are mainly wind-pollinated.



Dr. Nicholas Balfour conducted a field study in East Sussex to observe insects visiting the flowers of weeds such as ragwort and thistles, and other wildflowers, including those recommended by DEFRA. The study revealed that pollinators visited weeds at a much higher rate than the DEFRA recommended plants.&nbsp;



“There now exists a substantial body of evidence which shows that weeds are a vitally important resource for pollinators," said Dr. Balfour.



“The three insect-pollinated species have open flowers that allow access to a wide variety of pollinator species, and they produce, on average, four times more nectar sugar than the DEFRA recommended plant species.”



The findings are supported by a scan of existing scientific literature. For example, the <a href="https://www.dopi.org.uk/">Database of Pollinator Interactions</a> demonstrates that both pollinator species and conservation-listed species are up to five times more likely to visit weeds. The database includes information on 387 plant and pollinator interactions - of which weeds are ranked 4th most visited.&nbsp;



“Pollinators are crucial to maintaining global biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and agricultural output. However, there are significant concerns about pollinator declines and the long-term decline of flowers in our landscapes is considered a key factor," explained Dr. Balfour.



The researchers acknowledge that agricultural weeds can affect pastureland, but emphasized that the value of flower-visiting insects should not be underestimated when it comes to natural biodiversity.



Sadly, weeds are not only underestimated, but are targeted for aggressive removal, with as much as £10 million per year spent controlling injurious weeds. Local councils in the UK indicated that the most targeted weed is ragwort, which is considered an invasive species.&nbsp;



“It is alarming that the many public bodies are using tax-payers’ money and volunteers to actively remove ragwort. This plant was found to support the most conservation-listed insect species in our study," said Dr. Balfour.



“Our results clearly show that weeds have an underappreciated value in supporting our natural biodiversity. Unfortunately, current UK agricultural policy encourages neither landsparing for, nor landsharing with, weeds.”



The study authors are encouraging policymakers to review existing policies and how they are implemented to reconsider the role of weeds in future agriculture and environmental policy.&nbsp;



This is a timely opportunity to influence policy as The Environmental Land Management Scheme, to be rolled out by 2024, will largely replace the schemes currently available under the EU Common Agricultural Policy. The researchers are hopeful that this policy will incentivize and persuade land managers to tolerate injurious weeds, and to acknowledge the vast benefits weeds provide to the natural world.



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652664">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.



Image Credit: Allan Burrows



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

Weeds are much more valuable to pollinators than expected

Researchers at the University of Sussex, with funding from Rowse...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a>, experts have confirmed that potted houseplants can substantially improve indoor <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/better-air-quality-linked-to-lower-dementia-risk/">air quality</a> in homes and offices. The researchers found that houseplants were particularly effective in reducing levels of nitrogen dioxide. 



"Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a significant pollutant in both outdoor and indoor environments with exposure linked to serious respiratory illnesses, decreased lung function and airway inflammation," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Here, we investigate whether potted plants can contribute as a simple and cost-effective indoor air pollution mitigation technique."



The researchers conducted a series of experiments in which they monitored common houseplants that were exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The results suggest that plants can remove NO2 by up to 20 percent, depending on the conditions.&nbsp;



The study was focused on three species of houseplants: Spathiphyllum wallisii (peace lily), Dracaena fragrans (corn plant), and Zamioculcas zamiifolia (fern arum). The plants were individually placed in chambers which contained an amount of NO2 that could be realistically found in an office on a busy street.&nbsp;



The experiment showed that all of the plants, regardless of species, were able to remove around half the NO2 in the chamber within just one hour. &nbsp;



“The plants we chose were all very different from each other, yet they all showed strikingly similar abilities to remove NO2 from the atmosphere," said lead researcher Dr. Christian Pfrang.



"This is very different from the way indoor plants take up CO2 in our earlier work, which is strongly dependent on environmental factors such as night time or daytime, or soil water content.”



Based on the results of the experiment, the experts estimated how the plants would affect air in a small- or medium-sized office with different levels of ventilation. The team calculated that in a poorly ventilated small office with high levels of air pollution, five houseplants could reduce NO2 levels by around 20 percent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The ability of houseplants to quickly and effectively remove nitrogen dioxide are clear, but the underlying mechanism remains a mystery.



"We don’t think the plants are using the same process as they do for CO2 uptake, in which the gas is absorbed through stomata - tiny holes - in the leaves," explained Dr. Pfrang.



"There was no indication, even during longer experiments, that our plants released the NO2 back into the atmosphere, so there is likely a biological process taking place also involving the soil the plant grows in - but we don’t yet know what that is.”



Dr. Tijana Blanusa is the principal horticultural scientist at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and one of the researchers involved in the study. He said the research complements RHS efforts to understand scientific detail behind what we know to be a popular passion. "Understanding the limits of what we can expect from plants helps us plan and advise on planting combinations that not only look good but also provide an important environmental service.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/11869">Air Quality Atmosphere &amp; Health</a>.



---



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

Houseplants can instantly reduce indoor air pollution

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

A new analysis of high-resolution satellite images of the Amazon rainforest’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vegetation-helps-wild-honeybees-survive-the-winter/" data-type="news" data-id="1904584">vegetation</a> indicates that the forest is losing its resilience as it becomes less able to recover from perturbations such as droughts and fires. Ultimately, the forest is in danger of dying back and being replaced by drier habitat such as savannah.&nbsp;



This is the conclusion reached by Chris Boulton and Tim Lenton from the Exeter University and Niklas Boers of the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a> (PIK). The researchers analyzed 30 years of satellite data in terms of forest biomass and greenness (productivity), and observed that about three quarters of the forest has shown signs of resilience loss since the early 2000s.&nbsp;



“Reduced resilience - the ability to recover from perturbations like droughts or fires - can mean an increased risk of dieback of the Amazon rainforest. That we see such a resilience loss in observations is worrying,” said Boers.&nbsp;



“The Amazon rainforest is home to a unique host of biodiversity, strongly influences rainfall all over South America by way of its enormous evapotranspiration, and stores huge amounts of carbon that could be released as greenhouse gases in the case of even partial dieback, in turn contributing to further global warming. This is why the rainforest is of global relevance.”



The results, published today in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>, also indicate that the loss of ability to return to a previous equilibrium state has brought the forest closer to a tipping point, where it could undergo a sudden transition to a completely different habitat. The Amazon has long been considered vulnerable to the kinds of ecosystem changes that would result in loss of function, and a number of previous studies have highlighted this vulnerability.&nbsp;



“However, computer simulation studies of its future yield quite a range of results,” said Boers. “We’ve therefore been looking into specific observational data for signs of resilience changes during the last decades. We see continuously decreasing rainforest resilience since the early 2000s, but we cannot tell when a potential transition from rainforest to savanna might happen. When it will be observable, it would likely be too late to stop it.”



The research team used stability indicators that had previously been applied to monitor changes in the Greenland ice sheet and the Atlantic overturning circulation. These statistical indicators aim to predict the approach of a system towards a tipping point by identifying a critical slowing down of the system’s dynamics. The analysis of the two satellite data sets, representing biomass and the greenness of the Amazon forest, revealed the critical slowing down of the forest’s ability to recover after disturbances such as fire and drought.&nbsp;



”Our study shows that the Amazon is approaching a tipping point, but also that it has likely not yet crossed it,” said Boers.



To try and determine the reasons for the forest’s loss of resilience, the researchers explored its relation to rainfall in a given area in the Amazon that had experienced three ‘once in a century’ drought events. They found that drier areas are more at risk of resilience loss than wetter ones. “This is alarming, as the IPCC models project an overall drying of the Amazon region in response to anthropogenic global warming,” said Boers.&nbsp;



Another factor is the distance of an area to roads and settlements from where people can access the forest. More pronounced losses of forest biomass and productivity were observed within 200 kilometers of human land use, such as large farms and settlements. This illustrates the urgent need to minimize human land use in the Amazon region, as well as to limit greenhouse gas emissions globally.&nbsp;



“Our novel analysis of empirical data brings additional evidence to the worries about the forest’s resilience, especially in the near future,” said Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute. “It confirms that strongly limiting the logging, but also limiting global greenhouse gas emissions, is necessary to safeguard the Amazon.”&nbsp;



The research is part of the Tipping Points in the Earth System (TiPES) project, which is funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 program.



---



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

Amazon rainforest is creeping closer to a tipping point

A new analysis of high-resolution satellite images of the Amazon...

Trees sprout and grow earlier in a warming <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-alter-outdoor-recreation-in-the-west/">climate</a>, but how this change affects overall tree growth is still unclear. A study conducted by Professor Eryuan Liang suggests that trees may benefit from an earlier growing season in cold and humid locations. Those in areas with dryer climates, however, will not necessarily benefit from the earlier springs associated with a warming climate.&nbsp;



To conduct the study, Professor Liang and his team at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) at the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> looked at growth rings from trees worldwide and compared them based on latitude. In particular, they were looking at the width of the growth rings.



The study was focused on tree ring width because wood formation is a catalyst for xylem maturation and determines how long the xylem will grow. Slower growth of the xylem leads to wider growth rings, which represent larger trees and more carbon storage.&nbsp;



The researchers investigated when tree ring growth began and how that affected the final width of the ring. When they compared different latitudes, they found that trees located in areas above 60 degrees North benefited from an early spring. These areas include central Europe and the eastern and western coasts of North America.



However, trees on the Colorado and Tibetan plateaus, which are cold and dry, suffered from an early spring. This is likely because a longer growing season is associated with a greater likelihood of drought and spring frost.



"From these observations, we conclude that trees will grow faster under advanced springs, unless they are thirsty," said Professor Liang.



The researchers also looked at boreal forests in northern Asia and Europe. They found that increased growth due to an earlier growing season may result in the alleviation of cold stress caused by warmer conditions.&nbsp;



In Central Europe and across portions of the U.S. coastline, advanced spring improved growth, but not for the same reason. The experts found that tree growth was enhanced in these locations due to a longer growing season.&nbsp;



The research shows that a warming climate may be beneficial for tree growth in some areas of the world but detrimental for others - particularly for those areas that are cooler and dryer, and where trees may already have more environmental pressure.&nbsp;



"These emergent patterns of how climatic impacts on wood phenology affect tree growth at regional to hemispheric scales hint at how future phenological changes may affect the carbon sequestration capacity of extratropical forest ecosystems," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Trees in dry areas will not benefit from warming climate

Trees sprout and grow earlier in a warming climate, but...

The potato is being increasingly incorporated into regular diets worldwide, even in Asian countries where rice has been the traditional staple food for millennia. However, unlike in the case of other major crop staples such as rice or wheat, efforts to breed new varieties of potatoes with higher yields have remained large unsuccessful.&nbsp;



A research team led by the <a href="https://www.mpipz.mpg.de/en">Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research</a> is trying to solve this problem by implementing genome-assisted breeding of new potato varieties that will be more productive and resistant to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ipcc-report-window-to-secure-a-liveable-future-is-rapidly-closing/">climate change</a>.



After shopping for potatoes on a market today, it is quite possible that the buyer will return home with a potato variety which was already available a century ago. This is not only testament to the enduring popularity of traditional potato varieties, but also highlights their lack of genetic variety. This can have dramatic consequences, such as the Irish famine of the 1840s, where for several years the only existent variety of potato crops was attacked by the newly emergent tuber blight and rotted in the ground.&nbsp;



The difficulty of breeding different potato varieties stems from this plant’s genetic peculiarity. Instead of inheriting one copy of every chromosome from both the father and the mother (as in the case of humans), potatoes inherit two copies of each chromosome from each parent, making them a tetraploid species.&nbsp;



This increased genetic complexity makes it highly challenging and time-consuming to generate new varieties with desired combinations of individual properties. Moreover, multiple copies of each chromosome also make the scientific reconstruction of the potato genome a highly challenging task.



The scientists from the Max Planck Institute have managed to overcome these longstanding problems and succeeded in generating the first full assembly of the potato genome through a simple and elegant trick. Rather than trying to differentiate the four – often very similar – chromosome copies from one another, the researchers sequenced the DNA of large numbers of individual pollen cells, which contain only two random copies of each chromosome. This helped them reduce the complexity of the problem and finally sequence the entire potato genome.



With this information, researchers can now identify more easily the genetic variants responsible for desirable or undesirable traits, and incorporate or exclude them during breeding. Improvements in potato breeding could have an enormous impact on delivering food security in the decades to come.



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

Scientists are breeding more resilient potatoes

The potato is being increasingly incorporated into regular diets worldwide,...

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



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



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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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

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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