Scientists have engineered wheat to nudge soil bacteria into producing plant-ready nitrogen, a shift that could cut fertilizer use, curb pollution, and lower farm costs without sacrificing yields. 



The plants overproduce a natural compound, leak the excess into the soil, and in doing so jumpstart nearby microbes that “fix” nitrogen from the air into forms crops can use.



In this work, a team at the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of California, Davis</a>, led by Eduardo Blumwald, used <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR</a> to dial up a wheat metabolite and tested the effect under low-nitrogen conditions.



The study extends earlier proof-of-concept in rice, with efforts underway to translate the approach to other staple cereals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-synthetic-nitrogen-fuels-global-harvests">Synthetic nitrogen fuels global harvests</h2>



Worldwide, synthetic nitrogen fuels modern harvests but at a steep environmental and economic price. Wheat alone accounts for about 18 percent of global nitrogen fertilizer use. Of the hundreds of millions of tons produced each year, plants capture only 30 to 50 percent.



The remainder washes into rivers and coasts, feeding oxygen-starved <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/excess-nutrients-are-creating-ocean-dead-zones/">dead zones</a>, or escapes as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. For smallholder farmers, especially in low-income regions, cost and access make fertilizer a gamble.



“In Africa, people don't use fertilizers because they don’t have money, and farms are small, not larger than six to eight acres,” Blumwald said. “Imagine, you are planting crops that stimulate bacteria in the soil to create the fertilizer that the crops need, naturally. Wow! That’s a big difference!”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wheat-learns-microbes-nitrogen-trick">Wheat learns microbes’ nitrogen trick</h2>



Nitrogen fixation is carried out by specialized bacteria using an enzyme called nitrogenase, which only functions in low-oxygen conditions. Legumes such as beans and peas solve this by hosting the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-have-root-microbiomes-like-humans-do-vital-for-survival-defense/">microbes</a> in root nodules, which are tiny oxygen-poor chambers. 



Cereals like wheat lack nodules, which is why they rely on bagged nitrogen. Rather than trying to give cereals nodules or force microbes to colonize roots - a strategy that has long struggled to stick - the team flipped the problem.



The researchers screened roughly 2,800 plant-made chemicals and found a small set, including flavones, that prompt soil <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bacteria-get-hungry-they-turn-on-each-other/">bacteria</a> to form protective biofilms. Those sticky microbial coats reduce oxygen exposure enough for nitrogenase to work.



“For decades, scientists have been trying to develop cereal crops that produce active root nodules, or trying to colonize cereals with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, without much success. We used a different approach,” Blumwald said.



“We said the location of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria is not important, so long as the fixed nitrogen can reach the plant, and the plant can use it.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-edit-flips-fertilizer-switch">Gene edit flips fertilizer switch</h2>



Using CRISPR, the researchers boosted wheat’s production of apigenin, a common flavone. Plants kept what they needed and exuded the surplus through their roots.



In soil tests, the extra apigenin encouraged local bacteria to spin up biofilms, protecting nitrogenase, fixing nitrogen, and making ammonium available for the crop. In low-fertility conditions, edited wheat assimilated the microbially supplied nitrogen and outyielded control plants.



The amazing thing lies in what the plant does automatically. It manufactures the signal, leaks it when nitrogen is scarce, and benefits from the neighborhood effect. No external inoculants are required, and the microbes remain free-living in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-type-of-microbes-found-earths-deep-soil-critical-zone/">soil</a> rather than locked inside a root.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pollution-down-resilience-up"><a></a>Pollution down, resilience up</h2>



If scaled, the approach could trim the fertilizer footprint that drives water pollution and climate forcing in wheat and other crops. Less soluble nitrogen applied to fields means less runoff during storms, smaller algal blooms, and fewer oxygen crashes in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-shock-lakes-are-losing-oxygen-faster-than-expected/">lakes</a> and coastal zones. 



Cutting back on industrial nitrogen also reduces upstream emissions from natural-gas-intensive fertilizer production.



Because the mechanism amplifies microbial activity already present in many soils, it may also help stabilize yields under input constraints. In places where fertilizer is scarce or prohibitively expensive, the crop’s own chemistry becomes a lever to unlock atmospheric nitrogen.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-billions-saved-with-less-fertilizer">Billions saved with less fertilizer</h2>



The United States alone saw nearly $36 billion in fertilizer spending in 2023. Cereals cover close to 500 million acres nationally. Even modest reductions in inputs translate into real money while lowering risk in volatile markets.



“Imagine, if you could save 10 percent of the amount of fertilizer being used on that land,” Blumwald said. “I’m calculating conservatively: That should be a savings of more than a billion dollars every year.”



Those savings would not come solely from buying less nitrogen. Fewer passes to apply fertilizer mean lower fuel use and less soil compaction. Reduced losses to waterways could also ease regulatory pressure and improve community relations in vulnerable watersheds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-proving-stability-across-soil-types">Proving stability across soil types</h2>



The road from greenhouse pots to farm fields is long, but the milestones are clear. Researchers will need to confirm that the nitrogen boost holds under diverse soils, climates, and microbiomes, and that it plays nicely with existing rotations and management. 



They will need to show stable performance across seasons and varieties, measure effects on soil ecology, and ensure that yields and grain quality are maintained.



Because the edit increases a native metabolite rather than introducing a foreign gene, regulatory pathways may be more straightforward in some jurisdictions. Still, farmers and policymakers will want transparent data on environmental outcomes, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-solar-power-can-transform-urine-into-fertilizer/">fertilizer</a> savings, and return on investment.



If the results scale, gene-edited cereals like wheat that recruit their own microbial fertilizer factories could become a practical tool in the nitrogen toolbox - cutting costs where budgets are tight, trimming pollution where waters run foul, and building resilience in the breadbaskets of a warming world.



The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbi.70289" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Plant Biotechnology Journal</a>.



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Gene-edited wheat turns soil microbes into fertilizer

Scientists have engineered wheat to nudge soil bacteria into producing plant-ready nitrogen, a shift that could cut fertilizer use, curb pollution, and lower farm costs without sacrificing yields. The plants overproduce a natural compound, leak the excess into the soil, and in doing so jumpstart nearby microbes that “fix” nitrogen from the air into forms crops can use. In this work, a team at the University of California, Davis, led by Eduardo Blumwald, used CRISPR to dial up a wheat metabolite and tested the effect under low-nitrogen...

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>.



---



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>.



---



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.”



---



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.



---



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>.



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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

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.



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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&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>.



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

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,...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tomato-fruit-warns-the-rest-of-the-plant-when-attacked/">Tomatoes</a> have been domesticated by native American cultures thousands of years ago. However, since very few tomato archaeological remains have been found, the precise history of this plant’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cat-brains-shrank-in-size-as-they-became-domesticated/">domestication</a> remains a mystery. While some scientists claim that the domestication occurred in Mesoamerica, the region comprising Mexico and Central America, others argue that this process happened in Peru and Ecuador. 



By analyzing the whole genome of 628 wild and cultivated tomato plants, a team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.upv.es/en/">Polytechnic University of Valencia</a> in Spain has discovered that the history of the American tomato is more complex than initially thought.



The genomic analyses revealed that, while most of the contemporary cultivated tomato is very similar to the wild Mesoamerican plants (Solanum lycopersicum&nbsp;var.&nbsp;cerasiforme), wild Ecuadorian and Peruvian species (S. pimpinellifolium) have also been involved in its domestication.



According to the scientists, the domestication process started with the Mesoamerican materials, which migrated southward to a region located between the foot of the Andes and the Amazonian <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-rainforest-hits-new-records/">rainforest</a> in Peru and Ecuador called Ceja de Montaña. This initial migration was probably fast and most likely due to the emergence of commercial relationships between different Mesoamerican and Ecuadorian and Peruvian cultures.



More recently though, some of these plants, very similar to the ones still grown in Northern Peru and Southern Ecuador, migrated back to Mexico. Surprisingly, the vintage Yucatan tomatoes are more similar to the ones found in&nbsp;Ceja de Montaña than to their wild counterparts found in Mexico, suggesting that some wild tomatoes migrated southward and, then, went back as cultivated.



These voyages would change the tomato forever. Growers from&nbsp;Ceja de Montaña did not use pure Mesoamerican plants, but rather admixtures created by crossing the newly arrived plants with wild varieties from coastal Peru and Ecuador. This hybridization between Mesoamerican and Ecuatorial plants was necessary for the adaptation of northern tomatoes to the climate and latitude of Ecuador.



These complex movements between Mesoamerican and Ecuatorial territories were only the beginning of the tomato’s trip around the world. After being introduced in Europe in the 16th century by the Spanish conquistadores, many more different genetic varieties were and continue to be created according to various people’s needs, uses, and tastes. From a secondary crop used mainly to prepare sauces by some Mesoamerican populations, the tomato spread around the world and became one of the most famous and widely consumed vegetable.



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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

Tomato domestication was more complex than previously thought

Tomatoes have been domesticated by native American cultures thousands of...

A research team led by the <a href="https://www.kaust.edu.sa/">King Abdullah University of Science and Technology</a> (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia has recently created a solar-driven system that could successfully grow spinach by using water drawn from the air while producing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/electricity-may-be-the-cheapest-energy-source-by-2050/">electricity</a>. This proof-of-concept design offers a sustainable, low-cost strategy to improve food and water security for people living in regions with dry, hot climates.



“A fraction of the world’s population still doesn’t have access to clean water or green power, and many of them live in rural areas with arid or semi-arid climate,” said study senior author Peng Wang, a professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at KAUST. “Our design makes water out of air using clean energy that would’ve been wasted and is suitable for decentralized, small-scale farms in remote places like deserts and oceanic islands.”



The system constructed by Professor Wang and his team - called WEC2P – is composed of a solar photovoltaic panel placed over a layer of hydrogel, which is mounted on top of a large metal box used to condense and collect water. The hydrogel can effectively absorb water vapors from the air and release the water content when heated.



The scientists conducted a plant-growing test by using this solar-powered system in Saudi Arabia for two weeks in June, when the weather was extremely hot. They managed to use the water solely collected from air to irrigate 60 water spinach seeds planted in a plastic box. The results were impressive: 57 out of 60 seeds sprouted and grew normally up to 18 centimeters.



“Our goal is to create an integrated system of clean energy, water, and food production, especially the water-creation part in our design, which sets us apart from current agrophotovoltaics,” said Dr. Wang. In order to do this, he plans to design a better hydrogel that could absorb more water from the air.



“Making sure everyone on Earth has access to clean water and affordable clean energy is part of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. I hope our design can be a decentralized power and water system to light homes and water crops,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(22)00048-0">Cell Reports Physical Science</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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

Solar panels used to grow plants in the desert

A research team led by the King Abdullah University of...

The neem tree is a plant with impressive antimicrobial properties. The bark <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/could-a-botanical-extract-extend-the-lifespan-of-humans/">extract</a> been used to treat malaria, internal ulcers, skin and other diseases. Now, a collaborative team of researchers has demonstrated that neem tree bark could possibly be used to treat and reduce the spread of COVID-19.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Study co-author Dr. Maria Nagel is a research professor in the Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.



“The goal of this research is to develop a Neem-based medication that can reduce the risk of serious illness when someone is infected with coronaviruses,” said Dr. Nagel.



“We hope that scientists won’t have to continuously develop new therapies every time a new SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges. Just like how we take penicillin for strep throat, we envision taking the Neem-based drug for COVID, allowing us to resume our normal lives without fear of hospitalization and death.”



Neem tree bark extract was tested on animal models in laboratories in India, where it seemed to be effective against COVID. Computer modeling suggests that the neem extract binds to COVID, making it unable to enter into human or animal cells.&nbsp;



In the lab at CU, neem bark extract was tested on human lungs as a preventative measure against COVID. The extract not only protected against the virus, but also&nbsp; prevented the virus from reproducing and spreading.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The next step in our research is to identify the specific components in neem bark extract that are antiviral. Because these components bind to various regions of SARS-CoV-2, we believe that it will be effective on emerging variants with spike mutations,” said Dr. Nagel. “We will then determine the formulation of dosage for an antiviral drug to treat coronavirus infections.”



The researchers hope that this is the first step toward developing important antivirals in the fight against coronavirus.&nbsp;



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

Neem tree bark has the potential to treat coronaviruses

The neem tree is a plant with impressive antimicrobial properties....

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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3JH03PqEQ
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">New York is the site of the world's oldest forest.</figcaption></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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What to plant in your garden in mid-July

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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-----

Wildlife tunnels save millions of amphibians

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

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



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



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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

[sendtonews key="3upvlAaHgO-2256633-12187" 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> 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



---



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;



---



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

[sendtonews key="uV9Lh2fQbV-1760058-12187" type="single"] Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s...

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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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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