A region in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium - or “life oasis”- for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction. This event is widely recognized as the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.&nbsp;



The discovery of this life-saving refuge, which is detailed in a recent study,&nbsp;challenges the longstanding belief that land-based ecosystems experienced catastrophic losses on par with marine environments at that time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evidence-of-a-life-oasis-on-land">Evidence of a “life oasis” on land</h2>



The research team was led by Professor Liu Feng from the <a href="http://english.nigpas.cas.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology</a> (NIGPAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.



According to Professor Feng, the Turpan-Hami Basin offered a protective area where terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-use-underground-networks-to-eavesdrop-on-their-neighbors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant</a> communities remained largely intact.&nbsp;



Rather than succumbing to widespread die-off, these plant populations continued evolving, ultimately facilitating a more rapid ecological recovery. Thus, these pockets of resilience played a crucial role in the rebound of life on Earth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reevaluating-the-end-permian-crisis">Reevaluating the end-Permian crisis</h2>



Occurring roughly 252 million years ago, the end-Permian mass extinction decimated over 80% of marine species. However, its impact on terrestrial life has been less certain.&nbsp;



One common explanation is that catastrophic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/volcanic-cooling-not-warming-caused-a-major-mass-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">volcanic eruptions</a> in Siberia caused extreme conditions, including wildfires and toxic gases.&nbsp;



Researchers previously based this theory on the progressive loss of the Gigantopteris flora in South China and the Glossopteris flora across Gondwanaland around the same time as the extinction.



Opposing views argue that the lethal effects were not universal, but limited by latitude and atmospheric circulation. Some fossil evidence suggests certain Mesozoic plant species actually predating the extinction, pointing to gradual transitions rather than abrupt collapse.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-examining-ancient-pollen-and-spores-nbsp">Examining ancient pollen and spores&nbsp;</h2>



Central to the study’s discoveries is the South Taodonggou section in Xinjiang Province. 



The researchers examined ancient pollen and spores and using precise radiometric dating based on a Bayesian age model developed by Professor Yang Wan of the <a href="https://www.mst.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Missouri University of Science and Technology</a>.



The team detected an unbroken record of riparian fern fields and coniferous forests spanning from 160,000 years before the extinction started to 160,000 years after it ended.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/life-oasis_end-Permian_illustration_credit-Yang-Dinghua_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/life-oasis_end-Permian_illustration_credit-Yang-Dinghua_1s.webp" alt="Artistic reconstruction of the terrestrial ecological landscape after the end Permian mass extinction based on fossil palynomorphs, plants, and tetrapods recovered, as well as sedimentological data from the South Taodonggou Section. Credit: Yang Dinghua" class="wp-image-1962551"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Artistic reconstruction of the terrestrial ecological landscape after the end Permian mass extinction based on fossil palynomorphs, plants, and tetrapods recovered, as well as sedimentological data from the South Taodonggou Section. Credit: Yang Dinghua</figcaption></figure>



“The presence of intact tree trunks and fern stems further confirms that these microfossils represent local vegetation, not transported remnants,” said Wan Mingli, a scientist at NIGPAS.



The evidence implies that certain plants vanished locally, but the overall loss of spore and pollen species in the South Taodonggou section could have been about 21% - much lower than the known marine extinction level at the time.&nbsp;



Many seemingly extinct species reappeared in Early Triassic layers elsewhere, indicating they may have migrated rather than disappeared altogether.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rapid-recovery-and-ecological-diversity">Rapid recovery and ecological diversity</h2>



A stable vegetation foundation apparently sped up ecological resurgence in this “life oasis.”&nbsp;



Fossil data shows that just 75,000 years after the extinction ended, the region already supported a range of terrestrial vertebrates, such as the herbivorous Lystrosaurus and carnivorous chroniosuchians.&nbsp;



This contradicts earlier assumptions that ecosystems took over a million years to recover following the end-Permian extinction. In this area, it happened more than ten times faster.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/life-oasis_end-Permian_palynomorphs_illustration_credit-Yang-Dinghua_1big.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/life-oasis_end-Permian_palynomorphs_illustration_credit-Yang-Dinghua_1s.webp" alt="Artistic reconstruction of the terrestrial ecological landscape after the end Permian mass extinction based on fossil palynomorphs, plants, and tetrapods recovered, as well as sedimentological data from the South Taodonggou Section. Credit: Yang Dinghua" class="wp-image-1962553"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Artistic reconstruction of the terrestrial ecological landscape after the end Permian mass extinction based on fossil palynomorphs, plants, and tetrapods recovered, as well as sedimentological data from the South Taodonggou Section. Credit: Yang Dinghua</figcaption></figure>



The researchers attribute such resilience to the region’s semi-humid <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-chaos-the-mass-extinction-that-reshaped-life-on-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate</a> and steady rainfall, evaluated through paleosol analysis. 



The Turpan-Hami Basin consistently received around 1,000 millimeters of precipitation annually, providing lush vegetation and an environment beneficial to migrating wildlife.



Despite its apparent proximity to volcanic activity believed to have spurred the extinction, the basin functioned as a safe haven for terrestrial life, illustrating how even seemingly threatened areas can preserve crucial biodiversity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-pockets-of-resilience">Surprising pockets of resilience</h2>



“This suggests that local climate and geographic factors can create surprising pockets of resilience, offering hope for conservation efforts in the face of global environmental change,” Feng said.&nbsp;



The existence of such a shelter for plants during the crisis calls into question the scope and uniformity of land-based mass extinctions. In some locales, climates and landscapes worked in concert to protect certain species from the worst consequences.



As modern science grapples with the possibility of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extinction-crisis-entire-branches-of-earths-tree-of-life-are-vanishing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sixth mass extinction</a> - potentially driven by human impacts - these findings underscore the importance of discovering and safeguarding present-day refugia.&nbsp;



By identifying environments where life can endure, even amid large-scale devastation, conservationists might replicate and preserve these safe harbors for future generations.



The study was published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads5614" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science Advances</a>.



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'Life oasis' provided refuge for plants during Earth's worst extinction event

A region in China’s Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium - or “life oasis”- for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction. This event is widely recognized as the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.&nbsp; The discovery of this life-saving refuge, which is detailed in a recent study,&nbsp;challenges the longstanding belief that land-based ecosystems experienced catastrophic losses on par with marine environments at that time. Evidence of a “life oasis” on land The research team was led by Professor Liu Feng from the Nanjing Institute...

Plants have a chemical language that depends on environment, genetics. A team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/index.php?id=home0">Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology</a> in Jena, Germany investigated the ecological function of the naturally abundant volatile organic compound called linalool via Nicotiana attenuata tobacco plants. Their research revealed that the gene responsible for linalool synthesis and release can vary in plants within the same species, and carries different implications for the way insects react with them.

For example, the detrimental tobacco hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) females prefer to lay their eggs on plants with more naturally-occurring linalool. However, the more linalool a plant releases, the more eggs and larvae were preyed on by other bugs.

Linalool is a chemical defense mechanism that mediates different ecological interactions with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/insects-food-future/">insects</a>. Prior research shows that linalool in tobacco plants attracts predatory Geocoris bugs that feed on the tobacco plants’ biggest enemy — freshly-hatched tobacco hawkmoth larvae. However, the linalool’s floral scent component also attracts adult hawkmoths and influences female moths to lay their eggs on a plant. 

The researchers saw a correlation between the rate of tobacco hawkmoth eggs predated by Geocoris bugs and the amount of linalool produced by the respective tobacco plants. And they did not observe a correlation between five similar organic compounds emitted by tobacco plants and the egg predation rate, proving that linalool, functions as the plants' chemical defense, attracting predatory bugs that attack the larvae. 

"Tobacco plants vary a lot in their linalool emission,” said first author Jun He. “If linalool mainly has a defensive effect, that is attracting predators and repelling hawkmoths, we would expect there to be less variation. Obviously, linalool emission is not always advantageous for the plant. Therefore we wanted to explore systematically, which ecological interactions result from differences in linalool production.”

By crossing native plants from Arizona that were high in linalool production with plants from Utah that contained less linalool (a process called “forward genetics”), the scientists were able to identify the enzyme responsible for regulating linalool synthesis in the tobacco plants.Plants have a chemical language that depends on environment, genetics

The team found that linalool occurs in two different forms, called enantiomers. The two enantiomers, (R)-(?)-linalool and (S)-(+)-linalool, are almost identical, but their three-dimensional structures are mirror images of each other. Hawkmoths sense that the two enantiomers are different compounds, thus resulting in different effects on the hawkmoth’s behavior.

Knowing this, the scientists tested the effects of both plants on the hawkmoths and found that egg-laying was only partially influenced by a manipulated production of the two linalool enantiomers. It was actually the genetic background, that being, whether a Utah or an Arizona plant had been modified to produce higher levels of linalool, had a larger impact on the moths’ preference.

"It was surprising to us that experimental context mattered even more than the two different enantiomers,” said the study’s designer Richard Fandino. 

“Our study showed that moths pay attention to many different features of plants when choosing where to feed or oviposit,” study author Meredith Schuman. “Then, they integrate this information in order to choose among the available plants. Thus, differences in other plant properties as well as the availability of alternative plants and their characteristics, are likely to determine the importance of any individual cue: in this case, linalool.”

This discovery, published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, could help scientists better understand context-appropriate plant defense against herbivores, which could aid problems in standardized industrial agriculture, like the evolution of resistance to common pesticides.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Danny Kessler / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Plants have a chemical language that depends on environment, genetics

Plants have a chemical language that depends on environment, genetics....

The Ozark chinquapin chestnut tree was thought to be extinct, wiped out in the mid-1900s by the chestnut blight. 

Steve Bost, a Missouri State Parks naturalist on a mission, says otherwise, according to<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/"> National Geographic</a>. 

Bost is currently involved in a top-secret project to resurrect the legendary tree species which once dominated the Ozarks. Even though the tree was on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tennessee-coneflower-success-story/#">brink of extinction</a>, Bost discovered a few (45) hearty stragglers in the early 2000s in Missouri and Arkansas. 

Since then, Bost has been working with several private and state agencies to recover the species, and by all accounts, his efforts are paying off. 

National Geographic reported that Bost has 117 young Ozark chinquapins growing on a test plot. The location of the test plot, along with 15 other similar plots all under Bost’s care, is a closely guarded secret. 

It’s important to ensure that nothing interferes with population recovery during these fragile early stages and until the fate of the species is certain, the locations will remain hidden. 

Bost’s methods may be considered old fashioned. He collects pollen from one tree, dries it, and drives as far 20 hours to hand pollinate another healthy chinquapin. This keeps the Ozark genetic ancestry pure and non-hybridized, which Bost says could have unintended consequences. 

Researchers are currently developing DNA hybrids of the American chestnut tree by breeding it with the Chinese chestnut to create a blight-resistant tree species.

If Bost succeeds in his mission, the Ozark chestnut could once again play an important role in the ecosystem, its chestnuts offering a treasured source of food for bears, deer, and coyotes. 

The key is creating new generations of trees that are resistant to blight and genetically heartier than the generations before. 

To do this, researchers collect leaves from the new chinquapins and tests for blight resistance. By injecting a single leaf with blight, the researchers can tell within five days if the tree has a fighting chance. 

Bost could be the first person to successfully resurrect a near extinct tree species. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Ozark Chinquapin Foundation

A mission to bring an Ozark chestnut tree back from the brink

The Ozark chinquapin chestnut tree was thought to be extinct,...

In May, the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/">United Nations</a> (UN) released a devastating <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/">report</a> detailing the unprecedented loss of biodiversity that our planet is currently facing. Now, UN experts are warning of the effects mass <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/decreases-biodiversity-habitat-loss/">biodiversity loss</a> can also have on human rights.

The UN biodiversity report, published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, found that over one million species are currently at risk of extinction. Researchers found that human activities threaten species more than at any other time in the planet’s history. 

The results are incredibly grim. The authors note that we will continue on this downwards spiral unless we implement transformative change.

Plants and animals are not the only victims of the current state of the planet. UN experts caution that biodiversity loss threatens human rights for current and future generations.

“The loss of global biodiversity is having and will continue to have devastating effects on a wide range of human rights for decades to come. This report is a stark reminder that we can simply not enjoy our basic human rights to life, health, food and safe water without a healthy environment,” David Boyd, a UN expert on human rights and the environment, said in a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24738&amp;LangID=E">news release</a>.

Biodiversity provides humans with food, medicine and livelihoods. Plant and animal species also ensure our ecosystems function properly which, in turn, helps to clean our air, water and soil. Ecosystems such as coral reefs can protect humans from the effects of extreme weather, which is believed to increase as a result of climate change.

A 2015 <a href="https://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/phe-pr.pdf?ua=1">report</a> by the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> and the Convention on Biological Diversity found that biodiversity loss is impacting human health worldwide. 

A decline in natural resources throughout the world could exacerbate tensions between people and countries, resulting in armed conflict.

The loss of pollinators alone threatens $577 billion in annual global crops. Additionally, an estimated 100-300 million people are at an increased risk of floods and hurricanes as a result of the decline in coastal ecosystems, the UN biodiversity <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment">report</a> found.

Communities throughout the world rely on healthy and functional ecosystems for survival. As United Nations experts state, poor communities including indigenous peoples, farmers and fishermen are particularly vulnerable to the effects of biodiversity loss. 

The UN biodiversity report helped wake up the collective conscience of humanity. While many people may not yet see the effects of biodiversity loss on their personal livelihoods, that could change in the coming years. The key to gaining buy-in for transformative change may just be the threat it poses to us personally.

--

By <a href="mailto:brianna.grant134@gmail.com">Brianna Lynne</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Maciej Olszewski

UN experts warn that biodiversity loss can be a human rights issue

In May, the United Nations (UN) released a devastating report...

Scientists engineer low-nicotine tobacco to help combat nicotine addiction. A 2017 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that more than 7 million people die every year as a result of the negative health effects of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/smoking-ages-20-years/">smoking</a>. In a new study, experts at the <a href="https://www.tu-dortmund.de/en/">Technical University of Dortmund</a> in Germany are working to engineer nicotine-free tobacco to help people overcome their addiction to nicotine and reduce this number of fatalities.

"Nicotine‐free (or nicotine reduced) cigarettes may contribute to reduce the number of smokers and nicotine consumption, thus reducing the risk of death from tobacco use," wrote study authors Felix Stehle and Julia Schachtsiek. Scientists engineer low-nicotine tobacco to help combat nicotine addiction.

"Most genes involved in the nicotine biosynthesis in tobacco are known and well characterized. This opens the possibility to employ genetic engineering approaches to alter the alkaloid content of the plant, and in particular to reduce the nicotine content."

The team used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to deactivate six enzymes involved in the production of nicotine. The result is a tobacco plant which contains the lowest level of nicotine to date. 

The researchers modified a tobacco strain that normally contains 16 milligrams of nicotine per gram to contain just 0.04 milligrams of nicotine per gram, which is a reduction of 99.7 per cent. Prior to this study, the lowest level of nicotine in any tobacco was 0.4 milligrams per gram. 

According to a WHO report, clinical trials involving low-nicotine cigarettes showed that smokers did not increase the amount they smoked to compensate for the reduced nicotine intake. The WHO experts also proposed that lowering the nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels may be an effective strategy to eliminate smoking worldwide. 

The study will be published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14677652">Plant Biotechnology Journal</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists engineer low-nicotine tobacco to help combat nicotine addiction

Scientists engineer low-nicotine tobacco to help combat nicotine addiction. A...

Due to climate change and global trade, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/disease-resistant-crops/">crop diseases</a>, which annually kill off 20% of the five global staple crops that provide half the world’s communities with caloric intake, are able to thrive and spread. 

In a new report published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>, scientists argue that a Global Surveillance System (GSS) must be put in place to strengthen and connect biosecurity measures to prevent the spread and reemergence of crop diseases and therefore improve global food security.

"As part of efforts to satisfy global demand for food — which could mean increasing agricultural production by as much as 70 percent by 2050 — we need a GSS to reduce food lost to pests," said lead author Mónica Carvajal, a researcher at the <a href="https://ciat.cgiar.org/">International Center for Tropical Agriculture</a> (CIAT). "A lot of collaboration and discussion is needed to rapidly take action and avoid outbreaks that could negatively impact food security and trade."

This GSS system would prioritize the six major food crops (maize, potato, cassava, rice, beans, and wheat) as well as other food and cash crops that are traded across borders.

Carvajal and her team used the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) as an example of why a GSS must be instated. CMD was discovered in Cambodia in 2015, yet wasn’t properly reported until 2016. That gave CMD enough time to spread to Thailand and Vietnam by 2018, and is now estimated to be present in 10% of the land cultivated in this area, thus threatening millions of cassava smallholders, which generate $4 billion in export revenue.

"The question I asked was why does it take so long to respond to crop diseases in some cases?" said Carvajal. "What is the limitation to responding faster from the outset?"

If the proposed GSS was put into action, the network of "active surveillance" and "passive surveillance" personnel would be tightened. Labs at agricultural inspection stations, and customs and phytosanitary inspectors at borders and ports, make up the active surveillance personnel. And farmers, scientists and agronomists at universities and research centers, national agriculture organization extension workers, and agriculture industry specialists make up the passive surveillance group.

"For this infrastructure to be effective, connections between first detectors and downstream responders must be enhanced and actions coordinated," the authors explain. "But diagnostic capacity, information sharing, and communications protocols are lacking or weakly established in some regions, especially in low-income countries.”

“Our reflection on many disease outbreaks is that whether in high-income countries or low-income countries, the passive surveillance infrastructure has the most in-field monitoring eyes but the least coordination from local to global,” they continue.

Furthermore, the GSS, which would consist of five separate formal global networks (a diagnostic laboratory network, a risk assessment network, a data management network, an operational management network, and a communications network), would use cutting-edge technology to better diagnose diseases, and it would also use social media to share information about specific findings.

"We encourage the annual G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting, the World Bank Group, and FAO, among others, to join efforts toward enhancing cooperation for a multi-year action plan for the proposed GSS to more effectively reduce the impact of crop diseases and increase global food security," the study authors conclude.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Georgina Smith / International Center for Tropical Agriculture

Why a global surveillance system for crop diseases is urgently needed

Due to climate change and global trade, crop diseases, which...

Meet Pando, one of the oldest organisms on Earth. National Forest in central Utah, located about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, is home to one of the most unique organisms on Earth. This individual is not some exotic animal or even a particularly rare species. Instead, it is a 106-acre grove of aspen trees <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia/plant/en/populus-tremuloides/">(Populus tremuloides)</a>. This forest is special because it is made up of a single genetic individual. Each tree and branch in this forest is an exact clone of every other. 
<h2>What is the Pando clone?</h2>
The clone’s name, “Pando” and it means “I spread” in Latin. This describes the reproductive strategy of all aspens. They send up new shoots from their roots as they spread throughout the forest. Meet Pando, one of the oldest organisms on Earth

All of the trees in an aspen grove are connected through this underground network of roots. In this way, aspens continue to live long after a single tree may fall or die. 

In the case of Pando, this has led to over 47,000 genetically identical trees. These trees not only cover 106 acres of national forestland, but it is also estimated to weigh a shocking six million kilograms (13 million pounds). This makes it the most massive genetically distinct organism. However, the title for the largest organism goes to “the humongous fungus” a network of Dark honey fungus (<a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia/plant/en/armillaria-ostoyae/">Armillaria ostoyae</a>) in Oregon that covers a shocking 2,200 acres.  
<h2>Pando’s long life</h2>
Maybe even more impressive than Pando’s size is its age. Though it is difficult to know the exact age, Pando is <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/utah-aspen-grove-80000-years-old.html">estimated to be 80,000 years old</a>! The oldest non-clonal tree in the world, a <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia/plant/en/pinus-spp/">bristlecone pine named Methuselah</a>, comes in at a mere 4,600 years. 

Pando has managed to survive for so long by regularly replacing dead trees. This strategy <a href="https://www.nps.gov/brca/learn/nature/quakingaspen.htm">makes aspen groves resilient </a>to many natural disasters. When forest fires destroy the trees, aspens protect their roots underground. They can then return with force when conditions improve. In this way, the clonal aspen groves can achieve impressive longevity.

The older trees in Pando are <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/fishlake/home/?cid=STELPRDB5393641">around 130 years old.</a> This is comparable to a normal Aspen’s lifespan. Soon, these trees will die. A healthy aspen grove can simply replace these dying trees with young saplings. As dying trees clear the canopy, more sunlight makes it to the forest floor, where young shoots can take advantage of the opening to rapidly grow. This keeps the forest eternally young, cycling through trees of all ages. 
<h3>Pando is shrinking</h3>
Though aspen groves are resilient to many destructive forces, ecological and environmental changes impact them. Human activity has encroached upon aspen groves in numerous ways. Ancient groves like Pando are facing changes over the last century that threaten their continued existence. 

The ancient giant, Pando, has been <a href="https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2018/10/24/mks-the-worlds-largest-living-organism-pando-dying-in-utah/">shrinking since the 1960s or 70s</a>. This timing is no coincidence. As human activity has grown in the western United States, so has our impact on the surrounding ecosystems. 

The biggest factor causing Pando to shrink is a lack of “new recruits.” The shoots that form from Pando’s ancient rootstock are not making it to maturity. Instead, they are being eaten while they are still small, soft, and nutritious. Mule deer are the main culprits. Cattle are also allowed to browse in this forest for brief intervals every year. The combined herbivory has thwarted Pando’s efforts to keep up with old dying trees.

These changes have led to a thinning of the forest. A study published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0203619">PLOS ONE</a> used aerial imagery over the past 40 years to identify these changes. With enough loss of old trees, the grove loses its ability to regenerate. A dense forest can fill its roots with fuel from photosynthesis, sending up new shoots regularly. However, as it loses leaves and photosynthetic ability, it risks rapidly shrinking.

Though it seems easy to blame these changes on deer, the real blame still lies with us humans. Throughout the 20th century, deer populations have been hugely impacted by humans. The hunting of apex predators such as wolves and mountain lions has allowed deer populations to grow unchecked. Though it is hotly contested by ranchers wanting to protect their cattle, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predators-yellowstone-landscape-fear/">wolf reintroduction is ongoing</a> in the West.

Hunting is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/decline-hunting/">regulated by federal and state agencies</a>, which artificially adjust deer populations. The consequences of these changes are not always immediately apparent. Forest managers do their best to replicate historical levels and manage new threats. However, we do not have historical data on herbivory in Pando and the surrounding area (or many managed areas.) What we do know is that Pando is not producing enough successful saplings to maintain its current size.
<h3>Protecting Pando (and all aspen groves)</h3>
Though Pando is shrinking, efforts are already being made to reverse the damage. Adding fencing to areas of the forest will prevent herbivores from eating the fresh aspen shoots. The “exclosures” will give Pando time to establish large, healthy saplings that are not at risk of being eaten. Some areas that have been fenced off have <a href="https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2018/10/24/mks-the-worlds-largest-living-organism-pando-dying-in-utah/">grown 12-15 foot trees in just a few years</a>. Controlling herbivory by increasing hunting is another option. Decreasing cattle grazing in the grove has also been suggested by researchers.

Aspens are extremely resilient and capable of surviving many disasters. However, a gradual change to the ecosystem can be harder to bounce back from. Human impacts on ecosystems are complex and far-reaching. It’s essential that we monitor all ecosystems to understand how they are responding to human activity. This is essential to minimizing damage.

--

By <a href="mailto:casey.hofford@gmail.com">Casey Hofford</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/">US Forest Service</a>

Meet Pando, one of the oldest organisms on Earth

Meet Pando, one of the oldest organisms on Earth. National...

Over the past 100 years, roughly two vertebrate species have gone extinct every year. Researchers warn that we’re in the middle of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/warning-imminent-mass-extinction/">sixth mass extinction </a>and currently a quarter of all mammals on Earth are endangered. 

We can’t accurately estimate exactly how many species are going extinct, especially when you factor in the thousands of species that have yet to be discovered that could be lost without our even knowing. But according to the <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/biodiversity/biodiversity/">World Wildlife Fund,</a> experts estimate that between .01 and .1 percent of all species go extinct each year, which can equate to anywhere from 200 to 2,000 species lost annually. 

Climate change, habitat loss due to human activities, and overfishing have all contributed to species losses over the years, but sometimes you hear about a conservation success story that lends a little hope to the picture. 

Take, for example, the Tennessee coneflower. First classified as a distinct species in 1898, coneflower is a member of the genus Echinacea. After it was thought to be extinct for many years, the coneflower was rediscovered in 1968 by Elsie Quarterman, a biology professor.

The flower was discovered at Mount View Cedar Glade, the plant’s specialized habitat. It was added to the Endangered Species List in 1979 and was one of the first plants to be added to the list. 

Limestone cedar glades are areas where rock formations prevent common deciduous trees from growing and the landscape more closely resembles a rocky grassland.

“The limestone glade is ringed by a kind of prairie — grasslands blooming outrageously with wildflowers: gray-headed coneflowers and Queen Anne’s lace and butterfly weed and pasture roses,” Margaret Renkl wrote in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/opinion/tennessee-coneflower-nature.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">New York Times</a> opinion feature describing the coneflower’s recovery. “There were thousands of Tennessee coneflowers blooming all over the grasslands, too, and like the other wildflowers they were covered with bumblebees and butterflies.” 

Thanks to a massive conservation effort, the Tennessee coneflower was removed from the endangered species list in 2011. 

Today, coneflowers can be found in limestone cedar glades in several counties in Tennessee, and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/opinion/tennessee-coneflower-nature.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">Nature Conservancy</a> continues to monitor and protect the species. 

“This is a true conservation success story,” said Gina Hancock, State Director for the Conservancy in Tennessee. “And a great day for Tennessee. In the 1980s, we began a two-decade campaign to purchase key cedar glades to protect the Tennessee coneflower and other rare flowering plants. We saved three key sites for the coneflower.”

Coneflowers are far from the only species to come back from extinction. But as extinction rates are speeding up, to prevent mass extinction of many vital species on Earth, it will require a significant overhaul of resources and conservation efforts dedicated to the preservation and recovery of endangered plants and animals. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Back from the brink: The Tennessee Coneflower success story

Over the past 100 years, roughly two vertebrate species have...

An international team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.port.ac.uk/">University of Portsmouth</a> has engineered a new family of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-breaks-down-nitrous-oxide/">enzymes</a> to execute a critical step in the conversion of plant waste into high-demand sustainable products, including nylon, chemicals, and plastics.

The newly developed enzyme is active on lignin, a complex organic polymer that can be found in the cell walls of many plants. For decades, scientists have been looking for ways to efficiently to break down lignin.

"This is our goal - to discover enzymes from nature, bring them into our laboratories to understand how they work, then engineer them to produce new tools for the biotechnology industry," said Professor John McGeehan. "In this case, we have taken a naturally occurring enzyme and engineered it to perform a key reaction in the breakdown of one of the toughest natural plant polymers."

"To protect their sugar-containing cellulose, plants have evolved a fascinatingly complicated material called lignin that only a small selection of fungi and bacteria can tackle. However, lignin represents a vast potential source of sustainable chemicals, so if we can find a way to extract and use those building blocks, we can create great things."

Lignin acts as scaffolding, providing plants with strength and defense against pathogens. It also allows for the efficient transport of water in the vascular tissues.  

"It's an amazing material, cellulose and lignin are among the most abundant biopolymers on earth. The success of plants is largely due to the clever mixture of these polymers to create lignocellulose, a material that is challenging to digest," said Professor McGeehan.

[caption id="attachment_1874353" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/enzyme.png"><img class="wp-image-1874353" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/enzyme.png" alt="" width="650" height="454" /></a> The newly engineered enzyme. Image Credit: University of Portsmouth[/caption]

Previously developed enzymes could only work on one building block of lignin, which made the breakdown process inefficient. Using advanced 3D structural and biochemical techniques, the team managed to alter the shape of the enzyme to accommodate multiple building blocks. The results provide a route for producing new materials and chemicals from what has been a waste product.

"We used X-ray crystallography at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron to solve ten enzyme structures in complex with lignin building blocks," explained study co-author Dan Hinchen. "This gave us the blueprint to engineer an enzyme to work on new molecules. Our colleagues were then able to transfer the DNA code for this new enzyme into an industrial strain of bacteria, extending its capability to perform multiple reactions."

"We now have proof-of-principle that we can successfully engineer this class of enzymes to tackle some of the most challenging lignin-based molecules and we will continue to develop biological tools that can convert waste into valuable and sustainable materials," added Professor McGeehan.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Stefan Venter, UPIX Photography

New enzyme can help convert plant waste into high-demand products

An international team of researchers led by the University of...

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans. Researchers have found that plant-foods may act as transmitters for antibiotic-resistant bugs to the human gut biome. 

The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">U.S. Centers for Disease Control</a> have already calculated that 20% of yearly superbug infections come from agriculture — specifically meat. However, until now, research on the link between plants and <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cows-antibiotic-resistant-superbugs/">superbugs</a> has been scarce. The new research will be presented at the annual meeting of the <a href="https://www.asm.org/">American Society for Microbiology</a>.

"Our findings highlight the importance of tackling foodborne antibiotic-resistance from a complete food chain perspective that includes plant-foods in addition to meat," said lead author Marlène Maeusli, a PhD candidate at <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/">Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California</a>.

According to the researchers, the spread of superbugs from plants to humans is not the same as diarrheal illness caused by eating contaminated vegetables. Rather, superbugs can hide within the intestine for months or even years only to present themselves as infection (like a urinary infection) later down the road, once they escape the intestine.

The team came to this realization after feeding lettuce infected with an E. coli superbug to mice, and analyzing the mice’s fecal matter over time.

"We found differences in the ability of bacteria to silently colonize the gut after ingestion, depending on a variety of host and bacterial factors," said Maeusli. "We mimicked antibiotic and antacid treatments, as both could affect the ability of superbugs to survive passage from the stomach to the intestines."

The superbug’s ability to hide within the intestine did not increase after exposure to one type of antibiotic, However, being exposed to a second antibiotic resulted in the superbug colonizing within the gut. And ingesting the bacteria with food, and eating an antacid before ingesting the bacteria both changed the superbug’s colonization.

"We continue to seek the plant characteristics and host factors that result in key microbial community shifts in the gut that put us at risk for colonization and those that prevent it," concluded Maeusli. "The environment and human health — in this context via agriculture and microbiomes — are inextricably linked."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans

Antibiotic-resistant bugs can be transmitted from plants to humans. Researchers...

City landscapes can actually be very helpful in recovering monarch numbers. It might seem counterintuitive that cities would be the key to monarch conservation. But two new studies published in the journal Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution have found that urban landscapes, specifically how they are managed, could provide a lifeline for important pollinators. 

Monarch populations have declined 80 percent in the US over the last twenty years, with studies showing that habitat loss in overwintering locations and climate change have <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/monarch-butterfly-populations-all-time-low/">contributed to those losses. </a>

Milkweed, a robust group of flowering plants native to the US, are not coveted garden flowers, but they are the only plant that Monarchs can lay their eggs on.City landscapes can actually be very helpful in recovering monarch numbers

If milkweed plants continue to decline, it could lead to the extinction of Monarch butterflies all together. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a> collected data from field observations and spatial images to map milkweed plant abundance across large urban areas.

[caption id="attachment_1874245" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/City-landscapes-can-actually-be-very-helpful-in-recovering-monarch-numbers.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1874245" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/City-landscapes-can-actually-be-very-helpful-in-recovering-monarch-numbers.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="488" /></a> Monarch butterflies in downtown Chicago. Image Credit: Abigail Derby Lewis, Field Museum[/caption]

By focusing on cities and milkweed, the researchers were able to identify areas where milkweed could be planted and highlight the critical role of cities in butterfly conservation. 

“Metropolitan areas actually matter for wildlife conservation, and that’s especially true for pollinators like the Monarch that can survive with very small patches of habitat,” says Abigail Derby Lewis, lead author of one of the studies. “There’s an assumption that cities are not important places for plants and animals, but that’s because no one had looked at these landscapes in a systematic way, or at the collective impact from many small-scale plantings across large urban geographies.”

The researchers found that residential areas like lawns provide a huge opportunity for space to plant milkweed. 

To recover and protect monarch populations, the researchers estimate that it would require planting 1.8 billion milkweed stems, enough to cover an area the size of Washington DC. 

“This approach to examining metropolitan landscapes allows us to ‘see’ cities in a way we haven’t been able to before, and this enables us to get a better estimate of how much potential space there is to create habitat,” said Mark Johnston, the lead author of the second paper. “We think that cities could support 15 to 30 percent of the milkweed that’s needed to save Monarchs.” 

In order to get city residents on board, it will require a shift in public perceptions of what plants are cosmetically acceptable.

 “I would encourage people to question the grassy lawns that dominate our urban landscape--could we plant something else that would provide habitat for Monarchs and other wildlife?” asked Johnston.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Field Museum

City landscapes can actually be very helpful in recovering monarch numbers

City landscapes can actually be very helpful in recovering monarch...

Paper mulberry plants help reveal how humans migrated to Oceania. How the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pacific-island-bans-toxic-sunscreens/">Pacific islands</a> of Oceania were first inhabited is a question that has long puzzled researchers. 

Human migration to the Pacific islands occurred over the last 3,000 years, and now, researchers have tracked ancient migration patterns through Oceania using paper mulberry plants. 

Paper mulberry plants are native to Asia and were brought to Oceania by humans migrating to the region. The plant was used to make paper and barkcloth. Today, the paper mulberry is found all along the Pacific islands from New Guinea, to Hawaii, to Fiji. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.uchile.cl/english">University of Chile</a> and the<a href="http://www.academia.cl/"> Academia de Humanismo Cristiano University</a> analyzed genetic differences between 67 preserved and 313 modern mulberry plant samples collected throughout the Pacific islands.

[caption id="attachment_1874195" align="aligncenter" width="500"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/oceania.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1874195" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/oceania.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="551" /></a> Dispersal of paper mulberry in Oceania. Image Credit: Seelenfreund et al, 2019[/caption]

The researchers published their genetic analysis in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217107">PLOS ONE</a>. 

Even though the plant was only brought Oceania 3,000 years ago, the researchers found significant genetic differences between preserved plants collected in the 19th and 20th centuries and specimens collected recently. 

Modern mulberry plants are less genetically diverse, and the researchers identified genetic trends that lined up with archeological data showing that the Pacific islands were inhabited from west to east. 

The plant’s west to east dispersal also matches three major centers of past human dispersal and interaction in the region. 

These three centers were the Tonga and Fiji archipelago, the islands of Samoa, Wallis, and New Caledonia, and Tahiti, Hawaii, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, and Rapanui (Easter Island). 

“Our data detect a complex structure of three central dispersal hubs linking West Remote Oceania with East Remote Oceania, despite its vegetative propagation and short timespan since its introduction into the region by prehistoric Austronesian speaking colonists,” said Andrea Seelenfreund, a co-author of the study. 

The study shows a clear picture of human dispersal and prehistoric human migrations across Oceania using plant genetics. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: A. Seelenfreund

Paper mulberry plants help reveal how humans migrated to Oceania

Paper mulberry plants help reveal how humans migrated to Oceania....

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/retailers-palm-oil-sources/">Palm oil</a> is often talked about for its environmental impact as well as omnipresence in everyday food items. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giving-up-palm-oil-might-actually-be-bad-environment-180958092/">Smithsonian Magazine</a> reported in 2016 that although palm oil is the cause of much environmental destruction, it may be better than alternative oil sources. Other plants used for oil cannot produce even a third the amount of oil per acre that does palm oil. Nestle pledges responsible palm oil sourcing -- is it progress or greenwashing? 

The efficiency of oil produced by palms is evident in its low cost and use in so many different products. According to <a href="https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/palm-oil-investing">Toptal</a>, palm oil is the most consumed food oil, making up part of half of all packaged products worldwide. Palm oil is in cosmetics, in toothpastes, in ramen noodles, and is even used as a form of biodiesel. In 2017, 51% of the European Union’s palm oil consumption went to power motor vehicles. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/">National Geographic</a> calls palm oil unavoidable but asks whether it can be sustainable.

Oil palms are an ancient food in west Africa, where they’ve been harvested for as long as 5,000 years for cooking oil. <a href="https://theoilpalm.org/history-and-origin/">The Oil Palm</a> reports that ancient Egyptian tombs may have even contained casks of palm oil. With the industrial revolution, the British imported palm oil for use in machines, candle making and other industrial purposes. Interest from Britain and the rest of Europe drove the expansion of palm oil plantations in Africa and then in Southeast Asia. 

Today, most of the world’s palm oil comes from Asia. WWF reports that roughly 90% of the world’s oil palms are grown on a handful of islands in Indonesia and Malaysia. Unfortunately, oil palm plantations in these places are also a leading cause of destruction of rainforests with stunning biodiversity. Orangutans in Borneo have been hit hard by the deforestation. <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/">National Geographic</a> reports that between 1999 and 2015, almost 150,000 of the great apes were killed, partially due to deforestation. Palm oil plantations have now spread throughout the tropics through Latin America as well. 

Mexico is very far from Africa or Southeast Asia but a portion of the nation also shares a similar tropical climate. In fact, it is the closest part of the tropics reachable by land to the United States. Mexico has its own palm oil plantations and its own tropical forests to be threatened by their growth. According to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/top-10-biodiverse-countries/">Mongabay</a>, Mexico ranks as the #5 most biodiverse nation in the world. In Mexico, the National Commission of Natural <a href="https://www.cakex.org/community/directory/organizations/national-commission-natural-protected-areas-mexico-la-comisi%C3%B3n">Protected Areas</a> currently manages 173 protected areas, and La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve is one of them.

La Encrucijada is 144,848 hectares of land on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the state of Chiapas. The entire reserve is a mix of different environments, including mangroves, coastal dunes and 7,177 bodies of water, according to <a href="http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?code=MEX+23&amp;mode=all">UNESCO</a>. The place is a tropical paradise home to jaguars, ocelots, spider monkeys and crocodiles. <a href="https://planeta.com/la-encrucijada/">Planeta</a> reports that La Encrucijada was first declared a state park in 1972 before being upgraded to a National Park in 1995. 

Because the park was created relatively recently, there was already agriculture present in the park at its creation. Ranchers and palm oil plantations were grandfathered into the park at its founding. Instead of excluding agriculture from the reserve outright, the Mexican government devised a management plan which allows agriculture in only some areas where it is to be closely managed. The plan is intended to be looked at and revised every ten years. 

<a href="http://earthworm.org/news-stories/protecting-the-crossroads">Earthworm</a> reports that a new film, Protecting the Crossroads, discusses how the management plan for La Encrucijada hasn’t been updated as it should be and that rules haven’t been clearly communicated to farmers or enforced due to lack of resources. In theory, the reserve has two zones, a core zone where no agriculture is to take place (a strict reserve) and a buffer zone where some agriculture is allowed. Unfortunately, agriculture has bled into the core zone, and oil palms have become invasive within the reserve. The result is that without direct deforestation, palm oil agriculture may be threatening La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve. Interestingly, Earthworm, a non-profit organization, and the Mexican government worked with palm oil buyers, Nestle and Grupo Bimbo, to produce a satellite map of the area to better monitor agriculture in the area.

Nestle is of course a large company that most of us have bought products from in the past. Despite their efforts, the company’s environmental record in La Encrucijada has been mixed at best. Nestle has committed to <a href="https://www.nestle.com/csv/raw-materials/palm-oil">100% responsible palm oil</a> by 2020, claiming that in 2018, 64% of their palm oil was sourced responsibly and 54% of the palm oil purchased in 2018 was traceable. This commitment though admirable is far from the entire story of Nestle and palm oil.

<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-06-29/nestle-suspended-sustainable-palm-oil/9923238">ABC</a> reported in 2018 that Nestle can no longer claim sustainable certification for any of its palm oil after being suspended from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for failing to submit progress reports. RSPO also noted that Nestle’s membership fee was overdue. A spokesperson for the <a href="https://www.ran.org/">Rainforest Action Network</a> (RAN) claimed that the company had been deceiving its consumers by moving goals and ‘cherry picking’ targets. 

In 2018, <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/18400/nestle-promise-inadequate-to-stop-deforestation-for-palm-oil/">Greenpeace</a> called Nestle’s claims to monitor its palm oil for deforestation ‘inadequate’. The environmental activist organization pointed out that Nestle still buys their palm oil from 23 of the ‘dirtiest’ suppliers in Indonesia. Although the palm plantations encroaching on La Encrucijada were a real problem, it seems that the bigger problems with Nestle’s palm oil sources come from Southeast Asia, where the company is doing less to combat deforestation. 

Whether or not Nestle’s work in La Encrucijada is part of a larger greenwashing scheme or part of a real commitment to turn over a new leaf is hard to say, but action in one small place from a multinational company only means so much. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-13/world-has-loads-of-sustainable-palm-oil-just-no-one-wants-it">Bloomberg</a> reported in January of this year that about 20% of the world’s output of palm oil is now grown sustainably but only half that is sold as sustainable oil because buyers don’t want to pay the extra cost. Are we and big companies like Nestle selling our forests for cheaper junk food?      --

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Mrfiza

Nestle pledges responsible palm oil sourcing -- is it progress or greenwashing?

Palm oil is often talked about for its environmental impact...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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



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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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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