Coffee is part of the morning routines for millions of people. But does drinking more coffee align with having more muscle? 



That’s the question behind a new analysis of Americans’ habits and body composition. This research doesn’t try to prove cause and effect. It asks whether higher coffee or caffeine intake corresponds to more limb muscle for a given body size.



The answer points in a positive direction for most adults, with an important exception. The details matter, because the way researchers measured muscle and tallied <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-may-help-you-live-longer-if-you-drink-it-this-way/">coffee intake</a> shapes how to read the results.



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



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/studies-learn-the-exact-amount-of-time-you-should-spend-training-to-build-muscle/">Muscle mass</a> isn’t just about strength. Lower muscle mass in arms and legs raises the risk of falls, fractures, and everyday struggles that chip away at independence. 



Scientists often track limb muscle adjusted for body size because it flags early losses that can sneak up with age.



A standard yardstick for that job is the appendicular skeletal muscle mass-to-BMI ratio, abbreviated as <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10401528/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ASMBMI</a>. In plain terms: “How much limb muscle do you have for your body size?” 



This measurement focuses on muscle quantity, not how quickly you rise from a chair or how steady you feel on stairs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-coffee-s-link-to-muscles">Studying coffee's link to muscles</h2>



Researchers pulled data from a large, ongoing U.S. health survey (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NHANES</a>) spanning 2011-2018. 



They started with adults, applied clear rules such as “only include people with full diet interviews and body scans,” and finished with 8,333 participants. Muscle was measured by DXA scans of the arms and legs and then expressed as ASMBMI.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-helps-bacteria-resist-antibiotics-in-your-gut/">Coffee intake</a> came from two 24-hour dietary recalls - structured interviews covering everything people ate and drank on two different days. The team looked at regular coffee, decaf coffee, and total caffeine from all sources. 



Their statistical models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, income, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, BMI, medical conditions, total calories, and protein, so they could compare people who were similar on many fronts except for coffee intake.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-the-results-say">What the results say</h2>



People who drank more coffee tended to have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eating-grapes-every-day-can-transform-your-muscles/">more limb muscle</a> relative to their body size. After full adjustments, the highest coffee group had about a 13% higher ASMBMI than the non-coffee group. 



The highest caffeinated coffee group showed roughly a 12% increase. The top caffeine group showed about an 11% increase. Decaf didn’t show a clear, statistically significant link. 



When researchers drew smoothed trend lines, the pattern appeared approximately linear: more <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-coffee-may-help-women-stay-sharp-and-strong-as-they-age/">regular coffee</a> or caffeine corresponded to more muscle relative to body size.



There was one major exception. When participants were split by BMI, the positive link disappeared in the group with obesity (BMI ≥ 30). 



In that subset, drinking more coffee was not associated with higher ASMBMI. That doesn’t mean coffee lowers muscle there; it means the helpful pattern seen elsewhere wasn’t present.



A likely reason is biological factors tied to obesity, including chronic, low-grade inflammation that speeds muscle breakdown and may overshadow small benefits from caffeine or other coffee compounds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-limitations-in-this-research">Limitations in this research</h2>



This was a cross-sectional snapshot. It can spot links, but it can’t prove that coffee changes muscle. People with more muscle may simply be more active or keep schedules where coffee fits better. 



The models adjusted for activity and many other variables, which strengthens confidence, but unmeasured factors can still nudge results.



Diet recalls lean on memory and honesty, and add-ins like sugar or cream can be easy to forget. 



ASMBMI captures muscle quantity, not strength or performance, so it can’t tell you how much weight you can move or how good your balance is during daily activities. 



Results also come from U.S. adults in specific survey years, so patterns could differ in other populations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-coffee-is-linked-with-muscles">Why coffee is linked with muscles</h2>



Caffeine stimulates the nervous system and modulates how the body uses fuel during activity. Coffee also contains <a href="https://www.chhs.colostate.edu/krnc/monthly-blog/what-are-polyphenols-another-great-reason-to-eat-fruits-and-veggies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polyphenols</a> with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. 



Lab and animal research suggests these compounds may support healthier muscle by encouraging autophagy - the cell’s cleanup crew for worn-out parts - and by dialing down chronic inflammation over time. 



This analysis didn’t test mechanisms, but these ideas fit with the pattern. Decaf’s “no clear link” signal hints that caffeine may be doing more of the heavy lifting in this dataset.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-did-we-learn-from-this">What did we learn from this?</h2>



In U.S. adults, higher <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mood-boost-how-coffee-makes-us-happier-in-the-morning/">regular coffee</a> and total caffeine intake tracked with more limb muscle relative to body size after accounting for many other factors. However, that association did not appear in participants with obesity. 



If coffee already fits your day, these results sit comfortably with a muscle-friendly routine. Keep portions sensible, mind the extras, and avoid late cups that cut into sleep because <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/irregular-sleep-may-cause-premature-muscle-aging/">poor sleep impairs recovery</a>.



If you’re in the obesity range, the study’s “no clear link” finding suggests coffee isn’t a muscle fix. 



The bigger levers are steady resistance training, enough protein spaced through the day, and better sleep, ideally alongside medical care that addresses weight, strength, and metabolic health together. 



Coffee can still be part of that plan if it agrees with you, but it’s not the star of the show.



It’s a pattern, not proof. Pair your coffee with protein, training, and sleep if your goal is to build or protect muscle.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1390309/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Nutrition</a>.



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Drinking this beverage every day helps protect your muscles from aging

Coffee is part of the morning routines for millions of people. But does drinking more coffee align with having more muscle? That’s the question behind a new analysis of Americans’ habits and body composition. This research doesn’t try to prove cause and effect. It asks whether higher coffee or caffeine intake corresponds to more limb muscle for a given body size. The answer points in a positive direction for most adults, with an important exception. The details matter, because the way researchers measured muscle and tallied coffee...

Local,Market,Fresh,Vegetable,,Garden,Produce,,Clean,Eating,And,Dieting

Eating enough <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fruit-vegetables-and-exercise-can-increase-life-satisfaction/">vegetables</a> is important for maintaining a balanced diet and avoiding a wide range of diseases. Until recently, scientists have assumed that a diet rich in vegetables significantly lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). 



However, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>, the <a href="https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/">Chinese University of Hong Kong</a>, and the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> found no strong evidence for this, and argued that a variety of confounding factors, such as socio-economic status, physical activity, and other dietary factors might have explained previous spurious, positive correlations between vegetable intake and lower risk of CVD.



To reach this conclusion, the researchers used the large <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a>, which follows the health of half a million adults in the UK by linking to their healthcare records. Upon their enrollment between 2006 and 2010, the participants were asked about their lifestyle, diet, medical and reproductive history, and other factors. In the new study, scientists used this data to investigate the connection between vegetable consumption and risk of hospitalization or death from myocardial infarction, stroke, and other major CVD.



“The UK Biobank is a large-scale prospective study on how genetics and environment contribute to the development of the most common and life-threatening diseases. Here we make use of the UK Biobank’s large sample size, long-term follow-up, and detailed information on social and lifestyle factors, to assess reliably the association of vegetable intake with the risk of subsequent CVD,” explained study co-author Naomi Allen, a chief scientist at the UK Biobank.



Although the data analysis suggested that the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was about 15 percent lower for participants with the highest vegetable intake compared to those with the lowest, this apparent effect was substantially weakened (by over 80 percent) when other socio-economic, nutritional, and health- and medicine-related confounding factors were taken into account. 



“Our large study did not find evidence for a protective effect of vegetable intake on the occurrence of CVD. Instead, our analyses show that the seemingly protective effect of vegetable intake against CVD risk is very likely to be accounted for by bias from residual confounding factors, related to differences in socioeconomic situation and lifestyle,” said study lead author Dr. Qi Feng, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford.



Further research is needed to assess whether particular types of vegetables or their method of preparation might affect the risk of CVD. However, even if vegetable intake does not directly affect CVD, it remains important for a balanced diet that could reduce the risk of other major diseases, including some forms of cancer. Consuming at least five portions of fruits and vegetables per day can significantly contribute to better health.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.831470">Frontiers in Nutrition</a>.



---



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

Vegetables may not protect against cardiovascular disease

Eating enough vegetables is important for maintaining a balanced diet...

A new ecosystem modeling study led by <a href="https://www.iastate.edu/">Iowa State University</a> has found that, during the last century, crop production in the United States has led to a significant increase in the emissions of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/agricultural-soils-contribute-to-climate-crisis-by-releasing-nitrous-oxide/">nitrous oxide</a>, a potent and dangerous greenhouse gas contributing to climate change and ecological destruction. The results suggest that nitrous oxide emissions from U.S. soils have more than tripled since 1900, with nearly three-quarters of that rise in emissions originating from agricultural soils with corn and soybean production.



The scientists drew on massive amounts of data on weather patterns, soil conditions, land use, agricultural management practices, and other variables to design a mathematical model that could accurately mimic ecological processes.



“The model we are using is a process-based ecosystem model,” said study lead author Chaoqun Lu, an associate professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismic Biology. “It’s similar to mimicking the patterns and processes of an ecosystem in our computer. We divide land into thousands of pixels at a uniform size and run algorithms that simulate how ecological processes respond to changes in climate, air composition, and human activities.”



“Behind the scenes, there are thousands of lines of algorithms to guide the computer model to make predictions. It takes decades of efforts, and more to come, to reduce modeling uncertainties and incorporate better ecological process understanding resulting from the hard work of field scientists.”



By analyzing this vast amount of data, the scientists found that nitrous oxide emissions have more than tripled during the 20th century in the United States. This rise in emissions corresponded to an expansion of cropland in the U.S. and was most probably caused by the widespread application of nitrogen fertilizers to agricultural land and legume crop production. Although the added nitrogen is partly used by crops, a significant remainder remains in the soils and is consumed by microorganisms that give off nitrous oxide as a byproduct.&nbsp;



Since more nitrogen fertilizer is applied in corn production than in any other crops, soils where corn is grown tend to emit more nitrous oxide per unit of fertilizer used. Better understanding which crops lead to the greatest emissions can lead to better climate mitigation policies.



“Our study suggests a large nitrous oxide mitigation potential in cropland and the importance of exploring crop-specific mitigation strategies and prioritizing management alternatives for targeted crop types,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16061">Global Change Biology</a>.



---



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

Crop production increases nitrous oxide emissions

A new ecosystem modeling study led by Iowa State University...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/">University of Bonn</a>, Germany and <a href="https://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/">Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University</a>, China has investigated why some plant species changed pollinators over the course of their evolution. By studying the reproductive system of three sister species pairs, where one species was pollinated by insects and one by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hummingbirds-can-smell-dangerous-insects/">hummingbirds</a>, the scientists found that birds are much more effective than bees in pollinating plants that are not capable of self-pollination, and are thus dependent on cross-pollination.



Insects - especially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-american-bumblebee-may-be-on-the-brink-of-extinction/">bees</a> - are the most common pollinators worldwide. However, bees have quite small activity ranges, while other pollinator species, such as hummingbirds, can fly much longer distances.&nbsp;



“It was previously assumed that plants switch their pollinator group from bees to hummingbirds when the activity and thus the pollination efficiency of bees is too low or too unpredictable, for example in the high mountains,” said study lead author Dr. Stefan Abrahamczyk, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.bonn.de/microsite/en/international-profile/international-location/nees-instituteforthebiodiversityofplantsatbonnuniversity.php">Nees Institute for Plant Biodiversity</a> at the University of Bonn.



Surprisingly though, many plants in regions with high bee diversity and abundance have nevertheless switched to hummingbirds, bats, or even ground-dwelling mammals such as mice, honey possums, or lemurs as their pollinators.



In order to understand this phenomenon, Dr. Abrahamczyk and his colleagues analyzed three sister species pairs (new species arising from a common ancestor, but evolving into two different directions because their distribution range was divided by factors such as mountain folding or an ice age). All the examined species emerged from bee-pollinated ancestors and had their habitats in areas characterized by a high diversity and abundance of bees. However, while some were pollinated by bees, their sister species switched to hummingbirds at one point of their evolutionary history.&nbsp;



By using a series of pollination experiments, the scientists found that all the hummingbird-pollinated species had a significantly higher seed set. Moreover, their seeds had much higher germination rates when they resulted from pollination with pollen from another plant individual from the same species.



“From these results, we can conclude that hummingbird pollination evolved in populations of bee-pollinated species that are particularly dependent on cross-pollination, i.e., cannot self-pollinate,” said Dr. Abrahmamczyk.



Since bees often visit all open flowers on one plant before moving to another plant, they mainly encourage self-pollination. By contrast, due to their larger radius of activity compared to bees and their frequent movement between different plants from the same species, hummingbirds are highly efficient in pollinating plants that cannot self-pollinate. Moreover, bees groom extensively during flight and deposit much of the pollen taken from plants in their pollen baskets to feed it to their larvae. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, are not interested in pollen, so they use the entire pollen they collect to fertilize plants.



“These newly gained insights can also be applied to the evolution of other pollination systems, such as bat or moth pollination, in terms of their frequency and efficiency,” concluded Dr. Abrahamczyk.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.8621">Ecology and Evolution</a>.



---



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

Bird pollination can be advantageous for plants

A new study led by the University of Bonn, Germany...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.scripps.edu/">Scripps Research Institute</a> has investigated how the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) - a species of carnivorous plant native to subtropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coastal-wetlands-can-become-too-salty-for-some-resident-plants/">wetlands</a> on the East Coast of the United States - snaps shut at the approach of prey. 



According to the researchers, a protein mechanosensitive channel aptly named Flycatcher1 is the biological structure that enables these plants to catch their prey. Understanding the structure and functions of Flycatcher1 sheds more light on similar proteins in other organisms including plants, bacteria, or even humans.



“Despite how different Venus flytraps are from humans, studying the structure and function of these mechanosensitive channels gives us a broader framework for understanding the ways that cells and organisms respond to touch and pressure,” said study co-senior author Andrew Ward, a professor of Integrative Structural Biology at the Scripps Institute.



Cells’ ability to sense pressure and movement is highly important for people’s sense of touch and hearing, as well as for many internal processes, such as the ability of the bladder to feel when it is full or the capacity of lungs to sense how much air is being breathed.&nbsp;



“Every new mechanosensitive channel that we study helps us make progress in understanding how these proteins can sense force and translate that to action and ultimately reveal more about human biology and health,” added co-senior author&nbsp;Ardem Patapoutian, a professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at Scripps who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his research on the mechanosensitive channels allowing the human body to sense temperature and touch.



By using cryo-electron microscopy – a new technique which reveals the location of atoms within a frozen protein sample – the scientists analyzed the precise arrangement of molecules which form the Flycatcher1 protein channel in Venus flytrap plants and discovered that it is similar to a family of mechanosensitive channels found in bacteria (MscS).&nbsp;



However, while both Flycatcher1 and MscS channels exhibited seven groups of identical helices surrounding a central channel, Flycatcher1 had an unusual linker region extending outward from each group of helices. Like a switch, each linker could be flipped up or down, and appeared to be fundamental for the plant’s ability to close upon removal of pressure.



Further research is needed to determine whether Flycatcher1 is solely responsible for the snapping shut of Venus flytrap leaves, or whether other channels play complementary role. Moreover, the ways in which these protein channels relate to the mechanosensitive ion channels found in humans needs to be further investigated.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28511-5">Nature Communications</a>.



---



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

Scientists reveal how Venus flytraps catch their prey

A new study led by the Scripps Research Institute has...

The Congo Basin is home to the world's second-largest contiguous tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-hits-new-record-high/">forest</a> region. Despite its vast size and significance in the global climate system, very limited data is available on how the gases generated within the forest interact with the atmosphere. Research into the greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide and methane, in particular, is still in the early stages.



Several tropical forests have been identified as a substantial source of nitrous oxide and a methane sink. However, because comparable data for the Congo is unavailable, research into how these greenhouse gases react in that region has thus far been confined to modeling. Since the data for these models came from the Amazon, Indonesia, and the tropical region of Australia, scientists assumed the Congo Basin behaved similarly to these other tropical forests.



Now, this knowledge gap has been partially filled by an international research team led by <a href="https://ethz.ch/">ETH Zurich</a> Professor Johan Six. The scientists measured how much methane and nitrous oxide the Congo Basin tropical forest absorbs or releases after an extensive and laborious measurement campaign that lasted several years.&nbsp;



The researchers measured gas fluxes at several sites in three different forest types in the Congo Basin between 2016 and 2020. Montane forest, lowland tropical forest, and occasionally flooded marsh forest are among the forest types studied.&nbsp;



This is the first time that the gas fluxes of the Congo Basin's tropical forests are distinguished from those of other tropical locations throughout the world. Nitrous oxide emissions from the forest, for example, are quite minimal.



“This was unexpected. Our measurements from both the first short measurement campaigns and subsequent long-​term studies didn’t confirm the model assumptions,” said study lead author Matti Barthel.



For methane, the situation is different. The Congo Basin should be a methane sink, according to the models. For the montane and lowland tropical forests, the ETH researchers were able to confirm that this is the case. However, the Congolese tropical forest as a whole appears to be a source of methane since the much smaller swamp forests of the Congo Basin periodically exhale vast amounts of this greenhouse gas. Swamp forests generate up to 1,500 times more methane during the rainy season than during the dry season, negating the sink capacity of the other two forest types.



The researchers "looked into the soil" to understand why the Congo Basin forest behaves differently in response to certain climate gases, as Six explains it. They looked at microorganisms and their functions in one study and the isotopic composition of nitrogen in nitrous oxide in another. The experts found that soil bacteria convert the majority of nitrous oxide to gaseous nitrogen (N2) to create energy for their metabolism. As a result, this powerful greenhouse gas is removed from the atmosphere. N2 is a non-toxic gas that comprises about 80 percent of the atmosphere.



“Africa is underrepresented in such climate gas measurements, and the Congo Basin is particularly poorly researched,” said Barthel. He is aware of only one such study, which dates back to 1963 and was conducted by Belgian academics. Research in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, virtually collapsed after Mobutu assumed power. Furthermore, the vast tropical country remains inaccessible and its infrastructure is in a deplorable state.



Professor Six began the basic research for this paper in 2008, participating in two Congo River missions. He invited Barthel to investigate the movement of gas from this tropical forest, a missing piece in the global carbon cycle puzzle, based on the findings of these two missions. In 2016, as part of a two-month reconnaissance excursion, Barthel took the first measurements. This journey took him to the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern region. The data analysis revealed that the montane forest emits very little nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.



In the following years, Barthel and local scientists established two permanent monitoring stations, one in the Kisangani region and the other in the eastern Congo's Kahuzi-Béga National Park. During many 7- to 14-day measurement campaigns throughout the year, gas exchange between the atmosphere and the ground was measured.



The researchers established an additional measurement station in the western portion of the country, in the swamp forests of the Cuvette Centrale, from 2019 to 2020. These swamp forests make up just approximately seven percent of the Congo Basin's total tropical forest area, but they produce so much methane that it more than compensates for the rest of the forest's negative emissions, according to the study.



“Methane emissions there were exorbitant at times. During the first scouting expedition, we quickly realized that we wouldn’t be able to use high-​tech measuring equipment. So we worked with devices that are as easy to use, reliable and robust as possible, and that can run on batteries,” said Barthel, adding that the whole supply situation is too bad and there was no way to get spare components if something goes wrong. In addition, the power supply is unreliable.



The measuring stations were supervised by researchers from local universities. The volunteers also collected gas samples, placed them in bottles, and shipped them to Zurich for analysis. During the transfer of the over 6,500 samples, not a single one was broken or lost.



“That’s almost a miracle, because often the cardboard boxes in which the tubes were sent on their journey definitely looked the worse for wear," said Barthel.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.



---



By <a href="http://mailto:ashikha92@gmail.com">Ashikha Raoof</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The Congo forest does not behave like other rainforests

The Congo Basin is home to the world's second-largest contiguous...

Close,Up,Blue,Columbine,Wildflower,Blooms,In,Mountain,Aspen,Forest

Charles Darwin’s view of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/supertramp-birds-provide-insight-into-how-evolution-works/">evolution</a> by natural selection envisioned one species changing gradually into another by means of many, small genetic mutations over a very long time. As Darwin wrote in his seminal work, On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection, “We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the hand of time has marked the long lapse of ages.”



Not all evolutionary biologists agree with this view of genetic change, however. Although it may explain the way in which species adapt to changing conditions over time, there are many instances where sudden, large morphological alterations occur within relatively short geologic timespans. Such changes are thought to be due to instances of significant genetic mutation, rather than to micro-mutations that accumulate over time. In this case, biologists would view evolution as involving sudden punctuations, or steps, during which genetic changes give rise to radical new morphologies.&nbsp;



Professor Scott Hodges in the <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">UC Santa Barbara</a> Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, along with doctoral student Zachary Cabin and their colleagues, have just identified an example of a sudden evolutionary change. They have found a population of mutant Colorado blue columbine plants (Aquilegia coerulea) that produce flowers with no petals. Columbine flowers usually have small, white petals, each with an elongated spur that contains nectar and attracts pollinating insects. The mutants have lost their petals and nectar-filled spurs entirely, and these have been replaced by an extra set of sepals.



It seems that this type of mutation in A. coerulea has been seen before; in 1897, a mutant where the petals were replaced by sepals was described in the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences.&nbsp; And a 100 years later, mutant plants were found to be abundant in an area about 24 km south of the original locality in central Colorado. This implies that the mutation involving petal loss was not a disadvantage to the plants – they have continued to survive and reproduce without being able to attract pollinators to their nectar-filled spurs.



The plants are usually pollinated bumblebees and hawkmoths, that would normally be attracted to the petals with spurs because of the nectar reward they contain. It is highly unusual to find that a mutation persists in a population when this makes the plant less attractive to its pollinating agents.



This is why Hodges and the team decided to investigate this population (in Reynolds Park Open Space) more closely. Over the span of three flowering seasons (between 2014 and 2016), they mapped the position of every flowering plant in one portion of Reynolds Park and recorded the morphology, number of flowers produced, signs of herbivory on the flowers, and whether the fruits matured. They also made extensive video recordings of the insect pollinators that visited flowers, and collected tissue samples for genetic analysis.



The researchers found that at least 25 percent of the plants in the area were of the mutant variety and had no petals or spurs. When they searched the DNA for the source of this unexpected change in morphology, they found the culprit to be a mutation in a single gene, APETALA3-3, which is known to affect spur development. This type of gene is a homeotic gene because it controls the development of an entire organ. It codes for a transcription factor that influences many other genes involved in building the whole organ.&nbsp;



“The gene is either on or off, so it’s about as simple of a change you can get,” said lead author&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eemb.ucsb.edu/people/students/cabin">Zachary Cabin</a>. “But that simple difference causes a radical change in morphology.” The finding adds weight to the idea that adaptation can occur in large jumps, rather than by merely plodding along over extended timespans.



Geneticists who have managed to introduce experimental mutations in the homeotic genes of fruit flies, have produced flies with entire organs in the wrong place in the body. For example, antennae grow out of the abdomen of the fly, or legs grow where there should be wings. These extreme changes are likely to affect survival in most instances.



“Most of the mutations of this nature are going to be like that, just awful,” Hodges said. “The animal won’t have any chance of surviving.”



But every once in a very long while, a macromutation can be neutral, or even confer an advantage to an individual in a particular environment. This individual could, according to Richard Goldschmidt – a prominent US geneticist – be seen as a ‘hopeful monster’. Such an individual would be the product of a fortuitous radical genetic mutation that would enable it to adopt a new mode of life.&nbsp;



Hopeful monsters are not usually found in the fossil record because changes take place rapidly, but if biologists could spot a hopeful monster in the early stages of its evolution, it would show that evolution can indeed proceed in single, large jumps.



Could it be that this recent research study on columbines, published today in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/home">Current Biology</a>, has unearthed a hopeful monster?



“We did not have a good example of a hopeful monster due to a single genetic change,” said Hodges, “until now.” Researchers have to catch these abrupt changes as they’re happening, otherwise they disappear into an organism’s genome. The fact that it is actively happening in the Colorado blue columbine enabled the team to confirm this plant’s status as a hopeful monster.



“There’s definitely some luck involved with us being around at the right time to capture this,” Cabin said.



The team discovered five versions, or alleles, of&nbsp;APETALA3-3, only one of which codes for a petal with a functional nectar spur. The other four were ‘broken’, as Hodges put it. They also determined that spurlessness is a recessive trait. The flower will develop normally as long as the plant has one copy of the functional allele. But any two of the mutant alleles together will prevent this.&nbsp;



Since about a quarter of Colorado blue columbines in the study area displayed the recessive trait of spurlessness, it appeared that this mutation was advantageous to the plants in some way.&nbsp;



“To get that many of this mutant type really suggests that there’s selection favoring it somehow,” Hodges said, which proved perplexing as the spurs produce nectar that attracts the plant’s pollinators. “So, how the heck can you lose your spurs and still be favored?” he asked.



Analyzing the data that they had collected in the field, the researchers&nbsp;identified that flowers with spurs attracted more herbivores in the form of aphids and deer. These animals seemed to prefer eating the flowers with the nectar-filled spurs, and it was this pressure that was likely driving the selection for flowers with no spurs.



“The first time we really realized the pattern was at the airport on the way home,” Cabin recalled. He was reading off data as Hodges entered it into the computer. “Scott could see the pattern developing, because he had all the data in front of him, and was getting more and more excited.”



Shifts in floral morphology are usually driven by pollinators, but spurlessness seems to be driven by herbivory. “Natural selection can come from very surprising sources,” Hodges said. “It’s not always what you’d expect it to be.”



The researchers now want to track how spurlessness is spreading through the columbine population. They also suspect that, thanks to this genetic mutation, the Colorado blue columbine may be diverging into separate species. “That splitting process would be slow,” Cabin said, “but there is evidence that it could be on its way.”



---



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

Colorado blue columbines show punctuated evolution in action

Charles Darwin’s view of evolution by natural selection envisioned one...

Fusarium is an important and dangerous fungal <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-plants-develop-resistance-to-potentially-deadly-pathogens/">pathogen</a> for a broad range of crops. A soil borne disease, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC), infects the roots of banana plants. From the roots, the disease spreads into the plant’s vascular system, causing gradual deterioration and death. What makes the disease especially tenacious is that spores linger for up to twenty years after the infected plant is removed.



The banana industry has been severely impacted by FOC, particularly the Cavendish group. The impact of the disease has spread across the world for over 100 years and is predicted to spread further into Asia. Important banana producers such as China, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam are likely to be impacted.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Predictions are especially dire for Vietnam. Within the next five years, FOC is predicted to cause a loss of 8 percent of the banana production area of Vietnam. This number rises substantially to as much as 71 percent in the next 25 years.&nbsp;



Most bananas are traded locally in Vietnam, as well as in many other banana growing regions throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. This means that the consequences of FOC have a direct effect on local economies and nutrition. Because of the high stakes involved, it’s become increasingly important to learn which species are causing Fusarium wilt in Vietnamese bananas.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In an effort to learn more about the Fusarium wilt (and hopefully understand how to control it), an international team from research institutions in Vietnam set out to investigate. The team included experts from the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Meise Botanic Garden, KU Leuven, and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.



The scientists used DNA analysis as well as traditional morphological research to identify the fungal species. Interestingly, ¾ of the fungal infections in northern Vietnam were caused by F. tardichlamydosporum. Other species account for only a small percentage of infections. Tragically, infections are also now found in wild bananas as well. This means that wild bananas could possibly act as a reservoir for reinfecting cultivated bananas in the future.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://mycokeys.pensoft.net/">MycoKeys</a>.



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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

Vietnam's banana industry is threatened by disease

Fusarium is an important and dangerous fungal pathogen for a...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> is investigating the cause of the "skunky" <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-odors-repellent-crops/">odor</a> that is emitted by cannabis production facilities. The experts want to understand how cannabis emissions may affect air quality, workers, and the general public.



Davi de Ferreyro Monticelli, a doctoral student in UBC’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences is leading the study. According to Monticelli, knowledge gaps concerning cannabis emissions should be addressed while the industry is still developing.



In a recent interview, Monticelli explained what’s missing in our knowledge about cannabis production emissions, and how their smell compares to other odors.



"One way scientists measure odors is through ‘dynamic olfactometry’ analyses, where people capture a sample of air near a known odorous source and bring it back to the lab so it can be sniffed by trained assessors," said Monticelli.



"The sample is first diluted with clean air and then concentrated further and further until half of the assessment panel can smell it. When this happens, the level of dilution is converted into an odor concentration. This has been performed for many industries and operations, including cannabis facilities, waste and wastewater treatment, and livestock operations."



"We found in the literature that a facility that grows about 1,700 cannabis plants can emit the same odor concentration as a livestock operation with about 30 pigs or about 1,600 chickens. So, although their smells are not the same, one cannabis plant might be equivalent to about one chicken with respect to the intensity of the odors it produces."



Monticelli said that so far, the skunky cannabis smell has been linked to two classes of chemicals that are terpenes and volatile sulphurous compounds, which are volatile organic compounds. "However, we do not really know which type contributes more to the odors, and a better understanding would help the industry and policy makers control odorous emissions more effectively."



The UBC team conducted a review which identified 16 major gaps that need to be addressed, including the monitoring of air quality in and around cannabis facilities. 



"Most of the chemicals that are emitted react quickly in the atmosphere. Some of these can influence the formation of ultrafine particles and ozone at ground level, which are harmful to people and the environment," said Monticelli.



"Because of the fast-changing nature of the chemicals released when cannabis is grown, we need to use real-time sampling instruments that can capture changes in the composition of the air within short periods to properly understand the impact of cannabis facilities on overall air quality."



Monticelli explained that creating and maintaining a database of different cannabis strains and their emissions will improve the accuracy of cannabis cultivation emission inventories over time. "Such inventories provide the basic information needed at the beginning of any air quality assessment."



"This is a relatively new industry which is growing with the rise in cannabis legalization worldwide. Effective emission control practices and environmental policies are needed before new industrial practices become entrenched, and addressing the gaps identified in our review is a first step."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a>.



---



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

How do "skunky" cannabis emissions affect air quality?

A new study from the University of British Columbia is...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-meadows-absorb-less-co2-than-previously-thought/">Seagrasses</a> cover shallow coastal regions of temperate and tropical seas worldwide, and form the basis of a crucial ecosystem that is home to many animals, including some endangered species of fish, sea turtles, or seahorses. Moreover, they protect coastal areas from erosion and sequester millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, they also emit greenhouse gases, particularly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reducing-methane-is-the-fastest-way-to-slow-global-warming/">methane</a>, which is even more damaging for the climate than carbon dioxide. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.mpi-bremen.de/en/Home.html">Max Plank Institute for Marine Biology</a> in Germany has recently found that seagrasses emit this gas even decades after they died off.



“In seagrass sediments, methane is formed solely from one class of organic compounds,” said study lead author Sina Schorn, a microbiologist at the Max Plank Institute. “These so-called methylated compounds are produced by the seagrass plant itself. Specialized microorganisms, the methanogenic archaea, then convert these compounds into methane.”



The release of methane into the water column is very fast, since the plant tissue acts as a straw, helping the gas quickly escape from the seabed into the water. Furthermore, because the seagrasses only grow in shallow water, pelagic microorganisms don’t have the opportunity to consume the methane before ending up in the atmosphere.&nbsp;



As part of their study, the researchers also sampled a dead seagrass meadow. To their surprise, the rates of methane production in this meadow were similar to those in intact meadows. “We believe that the reason behind this continuing methane production is that methylated compounds persist in the plant tissue for a very long time,” even up to two decades after the plants die, explained study senior author Jana Milucka, head of the Greenhouse Gases Research Group at the Max Planck Institute.



“Currently, we are seeing a die-off of seagrass meadows worldwide which has a devastating effect on the coastal ecosystems. Our results caution that whereas upon the death of the plant carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will no longer be sequestered and stored in the sediment as 'blue carbon', methane may still continue to be released.” &nbsp;



These results suggest that methane emissions from dead seagrass partially offset the blue carbon effect of living meadows, thus highlighting the ecologic importance of these plants and the urgent need to protect and conserve them.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



---



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

Seagrasses continue to release methane after they die

Seagrasses cover shallow coastal regions of temperate and tropical seas...

The risks of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-can-we-save-the-regent-honeyeater-from-extinction/">extinction</a> for specific plants and animals are generally collated in regional, national, and global threat assessments, known as “Red Lists.” These lists help legislators and conservation organizations make decisions about which species need the most urgent protection in order to avoid losing them forever.&nbsp;



Although there are many national lists available, they are often not integrated into the global <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List of Threatened Species</a> compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), particularly when it comes to plants. According to current estimates, the global list lacks threat assessments for almost 90 percent of plant species.



An international team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.uni-halle.de/?lang=en">Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg</a> (MLU) in Germany has now managed to address this assessment gap in the case of European vascular plants – which comprise most species of plants, besides mosses, algae, and lichens.&nbsp;



By integrating data streams on the global geographic distribution of vascular plant species and national Red Lists from 37 European countries, spanning a period from 1999 to 2020, the researchers discovered that seven to nine percent of the European vascular plant flora is endangered.&nbsp;



In other words, about 1,800 out of the 20,000 to 25,000 known European vascular plant species are at risk. However, since the national lists generally include only half of all plants occurring in a specific country, these findings are very conservative estimates.



While the IUCN list for the major vertebrate groups was completed decades ago, this has unfortunately not been the case for plants.&nbsp;



“Such data gaps can be disastrous because they lead to uncertainties in priority setting in international conservation policy,” said study lead author Hanna Holz, a Biology MSc student at MLU. “Our findings help update and expand the most important instrument in international conservation policy.”



The <a href="https://www.cbd.int/">United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity</a> (CBD), a multilateral treaty that was signed in 1992, set itself the goal of compiling a full list of endangered plant species by 2020. Unfortunately, this goal is far from being achieved even in 2022.&nbsp;



“Through a comprehensive synthesis of existing national Red Lists with global distribution data, national efforts can be incorporated relatively easily into global risk assessments of plants and, hopefully, accelerate these efforts,” said study senior author Ingmar Staude, a senior scientist at <a href="https://www.uni-leipzig.de/en">Leipzig University</a>.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10251">Plants People Planet</a>.



---



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

Alarming number of European vascular plants are threatened

The risks of extinction for specific plants and animals are...

According to satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (<a href="https://landsat.usgs.gov/CUB">INPE</a>), the number of trees cut down in January in the Amazon (by far) exceeds the amount of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deforestation-in-the-amazon-rainforest-hits-new-records/">deforestation</a> for the same month last year.



Brazil’s vast Amazon rainforest absorbs large amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, acting as one of the most powerful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tree-rings-reveal-the-carbon-storage-capacity-of-a-forest/">carbon sinks</a> on our planet. Thus, protecting it is essential in our fight against climate change. Unfortunately, increasing numbers of trees are being cut both for their wood and to clear spaces to plant crops in order to supply global food companies.&nbsp;



Cutting large numbers of trees at the start of the year is unusual because the rainy season stops loggers from accessing many areas of the forest. However, in January 2022, deforestation totaled 430 square kilometers (166 square miles) – an area more than seven times larger than Manhattan.



Although at the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cop26-deal-failure-or-historic-achievement/">COP26</a> international climate summit in Glasgow last year, over 100 governments – including the Brazilian one - promised to stop and reverse deforestation by 2030, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in fact weakened the environmental protection for this region, arguing that the government should exploit the Amazon in order to reduce poverty. Moreover, high global demand for agricultural products such as beef or soya beans keep fueling the destruction of the forest.



“Even in January, when deforestation is usually lower due to the rainy season in the Amazon region, destruction has dramatically skyrocketed,” said Cristiane Mazzetti, a campaigner at <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/brasil/">Greenpeace Brazil</a>. “Just weeks ago, this government had delayed the release of annual deforestation numbers that revealed a massive increase and then told the world that it was resolving deforestation in Glasgow. The new data yet again exposes how the government’s actions contradict its greenwashing campaigns.”&nbsp;



Mazzetti and her colleagues at Greenpeace strongly urge supermarkets all over the world to drop suppliers who are involved in deforestation, refusing to accept their meat and dairy supplies.



Moreover, according to Ana Karina Pereira, a political scientist at the <a href="https://international.unb.br/">University of Brasilia</a>, fundamental changes in political structure are necessary in order to reverse this trend, since even though the Bolsonaro government changed their tone last year (especially at the COP26 summit), their policies have largely remained the same.&nbsp;



“Changing the political profile of the president and federal government leadership is crucial in this moment to see a break in this trend of high levels of deforestation,” she concluded.



---



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

Deforestation in the Amazon hits new record high

According to satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space...

Food,In,Laboratory,,Dna,Modify

Genetically modified (GM) crops are often considered contentious, especially in Europe where the topic is politicized. However, GM crops can be necessary to meet the increasing global demand for food production. Increasing food production is a concern for global climate change, as agriculture accounts for 25 percent of greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lower-emissions-needed-to-save-the-winter-season/">emissions</a> worldwide.&nbsp;



Existing scientific literature has shown that GM crops can lead to economic, environmental, and health benefits through higher crop yields, higher farm profits, and lower pesticide use. Genetically modified crops can also help reduce GHG emissions through carbon sequestration in soil.&nbsp;



A recent study has identified a new connection between GM crops and GHG emissions. As genetically modified crops can increase yields, researchers considered the possibility that increased crop yields could reduce land use changes to support food production.&nbsp;&nbsp;



To evaluate this hypothesis, the study considered the climate benefits that would occur through more widespread GM crop adoption in the European Union (EU). The EU was selected for this study as it has not yet widely adopted genetically modified crops, and is re-evaluating GM regulatory policy. This analysis gives a preview of the positive impacts of policy change.&nbsp;



Researchers evaluated the impact of the EU increasing GM crops such as maize and soybean, to the levels of the USA. The selected crops are widely grown in other parts of the world, but hardly in Europe.&nbsp;



“The main reasons are public acceptance issues and political hurdles,” said Dr. Matin Qaim, Director of the Center for Development Research at the <a href="https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/">University of Bonn</a>.



The findings of the study are staggering, and suggest that increasing genetically modified crops in the EU could avoid 33 million tons of CO2 equivalents, roughly 7.5 percent of the EU’s annual agriculture GHG emissions.&nbsp;



The study authors argue that the associated climate benefits could be gained at a global scale. “The EU imports a lot of maize and soybean from Brazil, where the expansion of agricultural land contributes to tropical deforestation. Higher yields in the EU could reduce some of these imports and thus help preserve the Amazon rainforest.”



The researchers are also optimistic for the future, as their study was limited to already existing GM variations. “New genomic breeding technologies are currently being used to develop a wide range of new crop applications that could lead to additional climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits in the future," said Dr Qaim.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/home">Trends in Plant Science</a>.



---



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

Genetically modified crops could reduce climate impacts

Genetically modified (GM) crops are often considered contentious, especially in...

<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=3Y4eLFNYrKE
</div></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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Worms dominated seas before dinosaurs

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



The full study was published in the journal Current Biology.



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Earth's oldest forest found in the United States

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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

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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.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



---



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



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



---



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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[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

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