Walk through a Mediterranean mountain meadow, and you're likely to spot a patch of Sideritis - a hardy, aromatic plant that has long been used for making Greek mountain tea. For centuries, this herb has been prized by locals for its healing properties; it is believed to soothe everything from colds to stomach issues.



But in recent decades, something has been shifting quietly in these high-altitude ecosystems. The grassy slopes where Sideritis once thrived are being taken over slowly by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrubs-play-a-dual-role-in-forest-recovery-following-wildfires/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shrubs</a> and trees. This transformation is not just about aesthetics. It's a sign of how climate change and land use are altering the very makeup of mountain biodiversity.



Researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, the National Observatory of Athens, and the <a href="https://www.ku.dk/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Copenhagen</a> have been studying the genetic consequences of these changes, with a focus on Sideritis. Their findings are unsettling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plants-are-losing-genetic-diversity">Plants are losing genetic diversity</h2>



Mountain regions are known for their rich biodiversity - they support countless unique and specialized species. However, over the past 50 years, many of these habitats have seen changes. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/single-degree-temperature-warming-boreal-forests-wreak-havoc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Warmer temperatures</a> and reduced grazing have triggered what's known as "mountain greening" - a steady spread of woody plants into areas that were formerly open grasslands.



Sideritis is among the species feeling the pressure. Once common across the Mediterranean's montane grasslands, it now faces a shrinking habitat. But it's not just the plant’s numbers that are declining. It’s losing genetic diversity as well, which may compromise its natural resilience to stress and change.



“We examined populations in 11 Greek mountain ranges and combined satellite data from several decades with genetic analyses of herbarium specimens from the 1970s and present-day plant samples,” explained study leader Spyros Theodoridis.



The team’s approach was unusual: they paired old herbarium specimens with modern genetic testing and decades of satellite imagery. This allowed them to see how Sideritis populations had changed genetically over time and how those changes tracked with the increase in denser vegetation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-toll-of-inbreeding-and-isolation">The toll of inbreeding and isolation</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"></blockquote>



“The results show that in eight of the 11 mountain regions we studied, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/can-trees-protect-their-genetic-diversity-for-millions-of-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">genetic diversity</a> declined significantly during this period. In particularly affected regions, up to 20 percent of the genome of individual plants is now subject to inbreeding – an indication of declining population sizes,” explained Theodoridis.



The numbers point to a worrying trend. As woody plants crowd out the open spaces, Sideritis populations become smaller and more isolated. This leads to inbreeding, which weakens the species’ ability to handle diseases, droughts, and other stresses.



“The speed at which shrubs and trees are spreading in previously open grasslands can be directly linked to the decline in genetic diversity in Sideritis populations,” noted study co-author David Nogués-Bravo. 



“The genetic diversity of a species is crucial for its ability to adapt to environmental changes. If this diversity dwindles, resistance to disease, drought, or other stress factors decreases, which can lead to extinction in the long term.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-watching-plant-changes-from-space">Watching plant changes from space</h2>



One of the most impressive parts of the study is how it links satellite technology with genetics. For years, scientists believed it was impossible to track genetic diversity using remote sensing. This study proves otherwise.



“This combination opens up new possibilities for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-monitoring-method-may-help-prevent-biodiversity-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodiversity monitoring</a>,” emphasized Theodoridis. “It allows us to use satellite images to identify indications of genetic changes in mountain ecosystems without having to genetically examine each individual population on site.”



This method could make it easier to monitor hard-to-reach mountain regions or areas where on-the-ground data is limited.



“However, our results show that the extent of genetic erosion can be predicted with surprisingly high accuracy, based solely on the increase in vegetation density,” said study co-author Thomas Hickler.



“This renders our method particularly attractive for use in mountainous regions that are difficult to access or in areas where genetic monitoring has hardly been possible to date.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-historical-specimens-hold-the-genetic-key">Historical specimens hold the genetic key</h2>



This research was made possible, in part, by historical plant specimens that have been stored in herbaria - archives of pressed and preserved plants.



“Without the historical plant specimens in herbaria, the direct comparison over a period of 50 years would not have been possible,” explained co-author Marco Thines. “These archives of nature are invaluable for biodiversity research.”



These old samples provided a genetic snapshot of the past, which was essential for comparing with modern populations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-threats-to-the-genetic-diversity-of-plants">Threats to the genetic diversity of plants </h2>



This isn’t just a local problem. Mountain <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/2020-was-earths-greenest-year-in-two-decades/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">greening</a> is happening all over the world, as climate warms and traditional land-use practices decline. 



You can see the shift clearly in satellite images - meadows turn darker as shrubs and trees move in. That’s why the researchers believe that now is the time to act.



“There is an urgent need for comparable studies with other species and in other regions,” concluded Theodoridis. “This will allow us to gain a comprehensive picture of how environmental changes are affecting the genetic basis of biodiversity - and how we can effectively counter this development.”



Protecting plants like Sideritis means protecting more than just a tea ingredient. It means defending the integrity and resilience of entire ecosystems - before they vanish under a wave of greenery.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="http://ell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00436-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982225004361%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Current Biology</a>.



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Mountain greening threatens genetic diversity of iconic plants

Walk through a Mediterranean mountain meadow, and you're likely to spot a patch of Sideritis - a hardy, aromatic plant that has long been used for making Greek mountain tea. For centuries, this herb has been prized by locals for its healing properties; it is believed to soothe everything from colds to stomach issues. But in recent decades, something has been shifting quietly in these high-altitude ecosystems. The grassy slopes where Sideritis once thrived are being taken over slowly by shrubs and trees. This transformation is not...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/">University of Liverpool</a> are reporting that prescribed burning, if managed properly, is not as harmful to peat growth as previously believed. In fact, prescribed burning can lead to multiple positive outcomes if the technique is sensibly rotated, according to the study. 

Prescribed burning is a highly controversial technique where fires are set intentionally to manage the land. While the method is used around the world, it is met with criticism by conservationists who believe that prescribed burning stops <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/peatlands-carbon-sinks-emit/">peat growth</a>, reduces carbon capture, and reduces the amount of peat-forming species such as Sphagnum mosses.

For their investigation into the effects of using this method, the scientists analyzed data from a long-term ecological experiment at Moor House National Nature Reserve. The reserve contained areas of moorland that either only been burned in 1954 or had been burned every ten or twenty years since 1954. These regions were compared with control areas that had not been burned since the 1920s.

The study was led by Emeritus Professor Rob Marrs from the University's Department of Earth, Oceans &amp; Ecological Sciences.

“The research, which was truly interdisciplinary and combined several scientific approaches, centred on a long-term, replicated experiment at Moor House National Nature Reserve,” said Professor Marrs. “As part of that experiment the moorland was subjected to four burning treatments to determine the change in composition of the main species. The value of long-term experiments is that they allow new hypotheses can be tested which were unforeseen at the start.”

The analysis of changes in vegetation composition showed that regions which had not been exposed to any prescribed burns were dominated by low-level peat-forming species with less useful species such as Sphagnum mosses and cotton grasses that promote peat growth.


Study co-author Professor Chiverrell led the team in collecting stratigraphical data on the rate of peat and carbon accumulation. The experts measured numerous peat profiles sampled from the different prescribed burn areas.


“This is first time that stratigraphical techniques have been used within the structure of a designed experiment,” said Professor Chiverrell. “Our data show only limited reduction of peat and carbon accumulation with increased burning treatments. Crucially, there was continued peat and carbon accumulation even in the areas that had undergone the regime of most frequent burning.”

When the researchers modeled how prescribed burning may influence the potential damage caused by severe wildfires, they found that the proper implementation of this technique can reduce fire fuel loads, protect against more severe ecosystem damage, allow better access for fighting wildfires, and promote faster recovery after a wildfire event. 

“Our study produced surprising results that are the opposite of what many conservationists had previously thought,” said Professor Marrs. “It showed that the areas which had not been burnt since 1954 ended up with more heather and less peat forming species but the most frequently burned treatment had more of these species and did not stop carbon accumulation. We advise that prescribed burning be used in some areas within a moorland management plan to minimize fuel loads.”

“This work is unique because it uses stratigraphical methods, usually used to measure change over millennia, to assess recent environmental changes within a relatively long-term manipulative field experiment.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo">Nature Geoscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Prescribed burns can help peatlands when managed properly

Researchers at the University of Liverpool are reporting that prescribed...

Snowpack refers to the accumulation of snow over the winter months that gets “packed down” by its own weight, and it plays an important role in insulating forest trees from freezing temperatures.

In mountainous regions, snowpack replenishes <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/fresh-water-stored-snowpack/">local watersheds</a> in the spring, but warmer winters due to climate change are causing less and less snowpack accumulation each year. 

Researchers from the <a href="http://www.asrc.cuny.edu/">Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York</a> conducted a five-year study and found that future climate change could reduce snowpack in hardwood forests by 95 percent at the end of the 21st century. 

Without sufficient snowpack cover, trees are unable to store carbon dioxide as effectively or take up nutrients from the soil. 

The study was published in the journal Global Change Biology and the results show how detrimental snowpack loss will be for hardwood forests in the northeastern United States. 

“We know global warming is causing the winter snowpack to develop later and melt earlier,” Andrew Reinmann, the first author of the study. “Our study advances our understanding of the long-term effects of this trend on northern hardwood forests--which are critical to North America's environmental health and several industries. The experiments we conducted suggest snowpack declines result in more severe soil freezing that damages and kills tree roots, increases losses of nutrients from the forest and significantly reduces growth of the iconic sugar maple trees.”

The researchers analyzed six decades of snowpack data and conducted a five-year-long field experiment in Hubbard Brook’s Forest, a research forest in New Hampshire that spans 7,800 acres. 

Every year between 2008 and 2012, a team of researchers would remove snowpack from several designated plots during the first four to six weeks of winter. 

The researchers would then monitor and compare tree growth, nutrient levels in the soil, and soil temperatures near the removed snowpack plots and areas that had been left alone. 

Frost was able to penetrate deep within the soil, reaching depths of 30 centimeters or more, where the snowpack had been removed. In the areas where snowpack was left to accumulate, soil frost only measured five centimeters deep. 

The loss of insulating snow damaged tree roots, reduced nutrient uptake by the trees and resulted in stunted tree growth. There was also less nitrogen and insect diversity in the soil itself compared to the control plots. 

Tree growth near the areas where snowpack had been removed declined by over 40 percent, and when the researchers let the snowpack resume its normal accumulations, the trees were still unable to recover. 

“These experiments demonstrate the significant impact that changes in winter climate have on a variety of environmental factors, including forest growth, carbon sequestration, soil nutrients and air and water quality,” said Reinmann. “Left unabated, these changes in climate could have a detrimental impact on the forests of the region and the livelihoods of the people who rely on them for recreation and industries such as tourism, skiing, snowmobiling, timber and maple syrup production.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Pamela Templer

Lighter snowpack can hinder tree growth, limit carbon storage

Snowpack refers to the accumulation of snow over the winter...

A team of experts at the European Commission’s <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en">Joint Research Centre</a> set out to get a better understanding of co-extinctions, which occur when the disappearance of a host species endangers other species that depend on it. The researchers found that climate change will greatly increase the risk of an “extinction domino effect” that could ultimately wipe out every species on our planet. 

While co-extinction may be contributing to the escalating <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/protecting-biodiversity-political-action/">biodiversity</a> crisis, the phenomenon is difficult to examine or analyze. The researchers simulated 2,000 virtual versions of Earth, linking various animal and plant species in a global food web.

The virtual Earths were then exposed to simulations of extreme climate change that involved either global warming or a “nuclear winter,” which is a time of progressive cooling that would follow a nuclear detonation or an asteroid impact. 

Next, the experts tracked the loss of species diversity under two different scenarios all the way up to the total annihilation of life on Earth. 

In the first scenario, they only considered extinctions that resulted from temperatures that were too hot for species to survive. In the second scenario, they took into account the loss of species from high temperatures, as well as the co-extinctions that would result.

The team compared the outcomes of both scenarios and found that by not accounting for interdependencies among species, the mass extinctions that could result from climate change are greatly understated.

Study co-author Professor Bradshaw of <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">Flinders University</a> explained, “What we were trying to test is whether the variable tolerances to extreme global heating or cooling by different species are enough to explain overall extinction rates.”

“But because all species are connected in the web of life, our paper demonstrates that even the most tolerant species ultimately succumb to extinction when the less-tolerant species on which they depend disappear.”

“Failing to take into account these co-extinctions therefore underestimates the rate and magnitude of the loss of entire species from events like climate change by up to 10 times.”

According to the researchers, the end of life on Earth is the worst case scenario, but cascading co-extinctions will dramatically increase the dangers of climate change. They determined that just 5 to 6 degrees of warming could be enough to destroy most species. 

Study lead author Dr. Giovanni Strona said, “Even the most resilient species will inevitably fall victim to the synergies among extinction drivers as extreme stresses drive ecosystems to collapse.”

The researchers concluded, “By comparing scenarios of extinctions based only on species’ environmental tolerances with others accounting also for co-extinctions, we show that neglecting to consider the cascading effect of biodiversity loss leads to a large overestimation of the robustness of planetary life to global change.”

--
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Climate change could trigger a cascade of extinctions domino effect

A team of experts at the European Commission’s Joint Research...

A new report from the <a href="https://ciat.cgiar.org/">Center for Tropical Agriculture</a> (CIAT), a global research organization based in Colombia, had found that many of the plants most commonly used for food, medicine, shelter, fuel, and other valuable purposes are at risk. 

These include wild populations of firs used for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/environmentally-friendly-christmas-tree/">Christmas trees</a>, kitchen-cupboard staples like vanilla, chamomile, cacao, and cinnamon, and non-cultivated plants used by bees to make honey. The indicator finds that less than three percent of the 7,000 evaluated species are presently classified as “low priority” or “sufficiently conserved.”

“This indicator underscores the urgency to protect the world's useful wild plants,” said study lead author Colin Khoury. “The indicator not only helps us measure where countries and the world stand with regard to safeguarding this natural and cultural heritage, but it provides actual information per species that can be used to take action to improve their conservation status.”

The Useful Plants Indicator was developed by CIAT in collaboration with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and also with several universities and conservation organizations.
The scale ranks around 7,000 useful plants from 220 countries on a scale of 1-100, with 100 meaning fully protected.

Although the researchers expected lower results for plants in natural settings, they warned that relying on plant preservation strictly in natural protected areas is no longer a safe bet. According to the study authors, rapid climate change can force species to shift out of their ranges, and the edges of many protected areas are subjected to unchecked habitat destruction.

"The indicator shows that the network of protected areas around the world is doing something significant for useful plants," said Khoury. “But if we want to get serious about protecting these species, especially the ones that are vulnerable, we have a long way to go before they are fully protected.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-indicators">Ecological Indicators</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Christmas trees and other valuable plants aren’t protected globally

A new report from the Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT),...

The Arctic is turning brown, as a new study has found that periods of extreme warming and snowmelt across large areas of the Arctic are causing vegetation to die off. 

The study’s findings, published in the journal Global Change Biology, contradicts previous research indicating that climate change in the Arctic is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-arctic-taller-climate-change/">driving plant growth</a> and helping mitigate warming. 

Instead, researchers from the <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/">University of Sheffield</a> and the <a href="https://www.nina.no/english">Norwegian Institute for Nature Research</a> discovered that evergreen vegetation in the Arctic heathlands is under extreme stress with some plants even succumbing to drought due to climate warming. 

Rachael Treharne, a member of the research team, discussed the study and its implications in an article for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-arctic-is-turning-brown-because-of-weird-weather-and-it-could-accelerate-climate-change-107590">The Conversation</a>.

As warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as in other regions of the globe, it’s crucial to study how increases in temperatures are impacting Arctic ecosystems. 

The Arctic is a major carbon sink and able to store twice as much C02 as the atmosphere, but the researchers found that climate change is degrading the Arctic’s carbon storage abilities. 

“Now, our study has shown that extreme climatic events can significantly reduce the ability of Arctic ecosystems to take up carbon – with implications for whether the Arctic will help combat climate change, or accelerate it,” Treharne wrote in The Conversation.

[caption id="attachment_1863126" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/melting.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1863126" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/melting-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="467" /></a> Image Credit: Wyatt Rivard/Shutterstock[/caption]

In order to understand how climate change is impacting carbon storage in the Arctic, the researchers focused on Arctic heathlands in northern Norway. 

Treharne and colleagues found that climate change was driving two major winter weather extremes, frost drought and extreme winter warming, in the heathlands they studied. 

It might seem contradictory that plants often surrounded by snow would have to deal with drought. However, the researchers found that frost drought occurred when an insulating layer of snow melted. The newly exposed plants, not able to take up water from the soil and bombarded with frigid winds, suffer from water loss. 

According to Treharne, extreme winter warming describes how Arctic evergreen plants are tricked by “sudden bursts” of high temperatures into thinking it’s time to get ready for spring. 

When the warm snap ends, the plants are unable to adapt to the cold. The researchers found that extreme winter warming placed a lot of stress on heathland plants in the Arctic. 

After measuring carbon intake across plants that had been killed by frost drought, stressed and damaged plants impacted by extreme winter warming, and plants that were seemingly unfazed by either of the two extreme events, the researchers were able to calculate how much winter extremes affected carbon uptake. 

“We found that these extreme winter conditions reduced how much carbon was absorbed in heathland ecosystems by up to 50% across the entire growing season,” Treharne wrote. “This is a huge reduction in the ability of a widespread Arctic ecosystem to remove carbon from the atmosphere.”

The study shows how climate change is impacting Arctic vegetation and the large patches of brown in the Arctic are an indicator of the severity. 

“The impact of extreme weather events in the Arctic has global consequences,” Treharne concludes. “It is clear that our current efforts to tackle climate change are dangerously inadequate, but ambitious action now could cut how much the Arctic is expected to warm by as much as 7°C.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Rachael Treharne

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

The Arctic is turning brown due to extreme weather and melting

The Arctic is turning brown, as a new study has...

New species of microbes discovered in the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California could play an essential role in reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the ocean.

The discovery, which was published in the journal Nature Communications, shows that there is much to be learned from microbes and that there are whole worlds of new species waiting to be explored and identified. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://utmsi.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute</a> explored microbial communities living in deep-sea sediments in the Guaymas Basin 2,000 meters below the surface. 

Water temperature at those depths is extremely hot, measuring around 200 degrees Celsius in some areas due to undersea volcanic activity. 

The researchers collected and analyzed sediment samples and were able to identify and map 551 microbes, some of which were wholly new discoveries and represent new branches on the tree of life. 

Nearly two dozen new types of microbes were discovered within the sediments, and like other microbial communities living in harsh and extreme environments, the Guaymas Basin microbes depend on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cave-organisms-methane-gas/">methane and butane as energy sources</a>. 

Because of these pollutant-eating abilities, the researchers think that the newly discovered microbes could one day help clean up oil spills.

[caption id="attachment_1863117" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/deep-sea.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1863117" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/deep-sea-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="525" /></a> Image Credit: Brett Baker/University of Texas at Austin[/caption]

“This shows the deep oceans contain expansive unexplored biodiversity, and microscopic organisms there are capable of degrading oil and other harmful chemicals,” said Brett Baker, the lead researcher for the study. “Beneath the ocean floor huge reservoirs of hydrocarbon gases--including methane, propane, butane and others--exist now, and these microbes prevent greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere.”

Baker and his team have so far conducted the largest ever genomic sampling of the Guaymas Basin, but there are likely many more new microbes yet to be discovered. 

“We think that this is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of diversity in the Guaymas Basin,” said Baker. “So, we're doing a lot more DNA sequencing to try to get a handle on how much more there is. This paper is really just our first hint at what these things are and what they are doing.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Brett Baker/University of Texas at Austin

Newly discovered deep-sea microbes feed on greenhouse gasses

New species of microbes discovered in the Guaymas Basin in...

“Now get your patchouli stink out of my store!” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udHAqyLb9xE">hollers an irate John Cusack</a> at Tim Robbins’ shambolic bohemian in High Fidelity. Such amusingly derisive remarks about the woody and herbaceous fragrance of Pogostemon cablin are emblematic of current Western attitudes. Patchouli, since the 1960s, has been considered a “hippy” fragrance, associated with marijuana use and poor hygiene. Brought to Western markets by backpackers traveling through Asia along the so-called “Hippy Trail” through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal, the distinctive scent appealed to the flower-child preference for materials that were “of the Earth.” 

Madonna even <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V2IeAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=hsgEAAAAIBAJ&amp;dq=madonna%20like-a-prayer&amp;pg=1858%2C4851133">scented the packaging</a> for her “Like a Prayer” album with patchouli in order to evoke the Age of Aquarius, so synonymous was the powerful odor with the 1960s and 70s. Though contemporary perfumers have revived it in new, artisanal forms, and consumption is still relatively high, modern sensibilities lean instead toward “fresh” scents composed using synthetics such as aldehydes, and, most notoriously, calone, an “aquatic”-smelling compound found in many perfumes today. The earthy complexity of patchouli and similar scents is now linked to dirt and drug use.

This wasn’t always the case. In fact, during the Victorian era, smelling of patchouli was considered the height of sophistication. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1BxLAAAAMAAJ&amp;pg=PA247&amp;dq=PATCHOULI&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjrn7HXqOLeAhWGc98KHV-jC3k4HhDoAQhYMAk#v=onepage&amp;q=PATCHOULI&amp;f=false">One writer</a> described, with the restraint typical of the age, a woman who, “seized with a passion for patchouli,” proceeded to drench her clothing and furniture in the oil—only to become subject to “nervous attacks” as a result of her olfactory addiction. 

Though not everyone was so enthusiastic, a heady haze of patchouli certainly permeated upper class Victorian society. And like many of the conspicuously consumed goods of the period, the aroma had strong ties to colonialism in the East. Patchouli joined the ranks of Orientalist delights such as Chinese pottery due to its use as, of all things, a moth repellent. Shawls made of wool from Kashmir in India—later known as cashmere—were packed with the pungent leaves of the patchouli plant in order to deter fabric-eating moths during shipment from India to Europe. These shawls, which became de rigeur for ladies of a certain economic class, retained the powerful scent of their botanical protectors, thus associating the plant with wealth and indulgence. European manufacturers who sought to capitalize on this trend legitimized their counterfeit cashmere goods by infusing them with the scent of patchouli as well.

<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/patchouli.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1862133" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/patchouli-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="467" /></a>

In the East, patchouli, a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae, was long used medicinally. It is recorded as being grown in China by the 5th century AD and records exists of its use in Indian Ayurvedic medicine as well. Interestingly, though, the patchouli plant now cultivated for its oil is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279905001_Origin_of_the_name_'patchouli'_and_its_history">not found in the wild in either China or India</a>. P. cablin appears to be native to the Philippines. It is believed that the plant now known as patchouli was in fact different from the plants grown by the ancients in China and India. One possible candidate for the “original” patchouli is a plant from the genus Microtoena that has a similar scent. Agastache rugusa, the Korean mint, is another. Other plants in the genus Pogostemon, which contains some 130 species, do grow wild in other parts of Asia and these may also have been used prior to the introduction of the Philippine species. P. heyneanus, described as early as 1690, and native to India, is one likely candidate.

P. cablan was not introduced to India until 1834 and not described in the West until 1837. It was initially grouped in with other mints (Mentha) before being assigned to Pogostemon in the 1840s. Once it reached India, it quickly supplanted any other plants that might have been known as “pacchilai”, a Tamil word meaning “green leaf,” at least to Westerners. Cultivation, however, was mainly carried out in British-owned Malaysia—the so-called Straits Settlements. It’s association with the subcontinent testifies to the power of the British colonial trade enterprise, which funneled goods from all over what was then still called the Orient. Commercial growing in India did not commence until 1942 and did not occur intensively until 1962.

Today, some 90 percent of the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ffj.3418">1,300-2,000 tons</a> of patchouli oil produced each year comes from Indonesia, with smaller amounts coming from China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, West Africa, and Vietnam. It is often planted in the gaps between other crops such as coconuts, coffee, and rubber. Strangely, the cultivated form does not flower and thus cannot be propagated by seed. It must instead be grown from stem cuttings. 

When harvested, patchouli leaves are first slightly fermented in the shade, and then dried. The fermentation process apparently improves the quality of the oil, which is typically extracted using steam distillation. The oil, which is concentrated in the trichomes, a type of glandular hair on the surface of the leaves, gains in complexity and smoothness as it ages, unlike many essential oils, which deteriorate. In addition to its applications in perfumery, it has been investigated for its <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0367326X11002231">anti-inflammatory</a> and <a href="http://www.docsdrive.com/pdfs/academicjournals/jps/2007/96-101.pdf%20https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3d45/884db2f1a338dee285346abfef90a26e815d.pdf">anti-bacterial</a> properties, suggesting that its use in traditional medicine may have had some validity. Still, it is that powerful scent that most drives demand. Owed to a set of compounds called sesquiterpenes, produced by plants to protect themselves from herbivores, the scent of patchouli isn’t going anywhere. 

In 2015, E! hostess Giuliana Rancic came under fire for remarking that Disney star Zendaya must reek of patchouli and marijuana due to the fact that she was wearing a dread-locked wig. With bottles of haute patchouli now selling for hundreds of dollars, that may not have been as insulting as it seemed.

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

The mysterious origins of patchouli

“Now get your patchouli stink out of my store!” hollers...

According to a food safety alert issued today by the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), romaine lettuce may be contaminated by a particularly dangerous form of E. Coli and is not safe in any form. The CDC is urging people to throw out all romaine lettuce, even if they have already eaten some of it and have not become ill.

“CDC is advising that U.S. consumers not eat any romaine lettuce, and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any, until we learn more about the outbreak,” the alert states.“This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.”

The same strain of E. Coli, Escherichia coli O157, has infected 32 people in 11 states and 18 others in Ontario and Quebec. In the United States, 13 people have been hospitalized and one patient has developed a type of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/environmental-pollutants-kidney-health/">kidney failure</a> called hemolytic uremic syndrome. 

The CDC specifically warns healthcare providers that antibiotics are not safe for patients who may have E. Coli O157.

“Some studies have shown that administering antibiotics to patients with E. coli O157 infections might increase their risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, and the benefit of antibiotic treatment has not been clearly demonstrated,” the report states.

While experts have enough evidence to tie the E. Coli outbreak to romaine lettuce, the CDC warns that “no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified.” 

Across the United States, the highest number of illnesses has been reported in California and Michigan. Individuals have also been affected in New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Connecticut. The CDC has a map of all the known cases which can be found <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/map.html">here</a>.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a statement that romaine lettuce will be tested for contamination all over the country.

“The quick and aggressive steps we’re taking today are aimed at making sure we get ahead of this emerging outbreak, to reduce risk to consumers, and to help people protect themselves and their families from this foodborne illness outbreak,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. “This is especially important ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, when people will be sitting down for family meals.”

The CDC says that the investigation is ongoing and the advisory will be updated as soon as more information becomes available.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Romaine lettuce is not safe to eat in any form, CDC warns

According to a food safety alert issued today by the...

A research team led by <a href="https://www.uni-halle.de/?lang=en">Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg</a> (MLU) has developed the first-ever global vegetation database, which includes over 1.1 million complete lists of plant species from ecosystems across the planet. The tool will help experts better understand which species are usually found side-by-side and why. 

The database may also help to predict how plants all over the world will respond to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/natural-climate-change-solutions/">climate change</a>. Whether they are small grasses or giant trees, all plants face the same challenges.

Study co-author Helge Bruelheide is a professor at MLU's Institute of Biology.

“For example, they have to find an efficient way to conduct photosynthesis in order to obtain the energy they need,” said Professor Bruelheide. “At the same time, they compete with neighboring plants for limited resources in the soil, like water and nutrients.”

There are currently around 390,000 known plant species, which have developed very different traits in response to their environmental surroundings. The varying properties include the size of the plant and the thickness and chemical makeup of its leaves. 

“These functional traits directly influence a plant's ecosystem function, such as how much biomass it produces or how much carbon dioxide it absorbs from the air,” said Professor Bruelheide.


Prior to this study, researchers have mainly focused on different combinations of these functional traits in individual plant species. However, as Professor Bruelheide pointed out, plant species rarely occur alone and are usually found in communities.

[caption id="attachment_1862068" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/database.png"><img class="wp-image-1862068" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/database-1024x396.png" alt="" width="700" height="271" /></a> Image Credit: Francesco Maria Sabatini / MLU[/caption]

For this reason, vegetation databases are needed that contain data on all of the plants growing at a specific location. The “sPlot” database that was produced by the MLU team combines many different vegetation datasets compiled by hundreds of researchers over the last few decades. 

“Each point in our database is a real place with precise coordinates and information about all the plant species that co-exist there,” said Professor Bruelheide. “It has enabled us to answer questions that nobody has been able to tackle before.”

The researchers tested the impact of global climate factors on the functional traits of plant communities. They were surprised to find that temperature and precipitation do not play a major role. 

“Surprisingly, these two macro-factors are not so important. Our analysis shows, for example, that plant communities are not consistently characterized by thinner leaves as the temperature increases - from the Arctic to the tropical rainforest,” said Professor Bruelheide. 

The researchers found a close link between climate variables and the phosphorus supply in the leaves, which is reflected in the ratio between nitrogen and phosphorus. This content ratio is a good indication of a plant’s nutritional status. 

According to Professor Bruelheide, the findings show that future estimates of plant production cannot be based solely on simple temperature-precipitation models.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</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: Francesco Maria Sabatini / MLU

&nbsp;

Global vegetation database details plant life across the world

A research team led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)...

Professor Konrad Rykaczewski of <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> (ASU) studies wettability, or how water interacts with solids, to develop surfaces for industrial applications. After relocating to the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cacti-birds-sonoran-desert/">Sonora Desert</a> six years ago, Professor Rykaczewski sprayed the plants in his front yard with water to investigate how they interacted with the droplets.

“It was the first time I'd lived in a desert, and I was fascinated by the flora and fauna,” said Professor Rykaczewski. “What I noticed about prickly pear cacti is that the new pads are superhydrophobic, but the ones a season older right below them are superhydrophilic. I wondered why.”

With a seed grant from ASU's Biomimicry Center, Professor Rykaczewski and a team of students began experimenting in the lab to characterize the microscopic 3D epidermal structure of prickly pears at dry and wet times of the year.

The study revealed that new cactus pads have a continuous waxy, hydrophobic surface, while the older pads are covered with a network of microcracks. Kenneth Manning, a doctoral student on the project who led the experimental work, explained that these microscopic cracks “go down all the way through the wax to the cell wall,” which is hydrophilic.

Using high-speed video, the researchers observed the water droplets bouncing off of the young cactus pads. Among the older pads, however, the microcracks exposed the inner hydrophilic surface which caused water droplets to hit and stick. “The skin is acting as a smart membrane,” said Manning. “As cacti dry out the cracks close, helping to preserve water.”

The findings of the study are now being used to inform Manning's latest research project in which he is developing a smart material for hazmat suits. The pores of the material will close in the presence of dangerous chemicals. Otherwise, the pores will remain open to allow for vapor and heat transfer out of the hazmat suit, which is a limitation of hazmat suits that are currently in use.

The suits will mimic the smart skins of prickly pear cactuses. “It's the same sort of change in the surface morphology,” said Manning.

The research will be presented at the <a href="https://www.aps.org/">American Physical Society</a>'s Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Prickly pear cactus “smart” skin can improve hazmat suits

Professor Konrad Rykaczewski of Arizona State University (ASU) studies wettability,...

As the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drug-overdose-epidemic-decades/">opioid crisis</a> looms, doctors are looking for more effective ways to treat pain – including, it seems, at the nerve-destroying chemical produced by a Moroccan plant called Euphorbia resinifera.

Also known as the resin spurge, the succulent produces a chemical called resiniferatoxin, which measures at 16 billion units on the Scoville scale. By comparison, jalapeños hit only about 2,500 to 8,000 units on the scale.

Eating Euphorbia resinifera is undoubtedly a terrible idea. Injecting the nerve-destroying chemical resiniferatoxin, however, might be a way to help people with chronic pain, without the potential health and addictive side effects of opioids.

That’s because resiniferatoxin, known as RTX, binds specifically to a molecule in nerves that sense pain: TRPV1. It’s the same molecule capsaicin affects.

“So when you put hot pepper on your tongue and it feels like it's burning, it's not because your tongue is on fire,” Dr. Tony Yaksh of <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> told the newsmagazine <a href="https://www.wired.com/">Wired</a>. “It's simply activating the same sensory axons that would have been activated if your tongue had been on fire.

An anesthesiologist and pharmacologist, Yaksh has been studying how RTX can be used to treat pain. Because the nerve-destroying chemical binds only to TRPV1, it could potentially stop pain in its tracks without affecting function – doctors could treat knee pain without removing the ability to walk, or hand pain without killing the patient’s sense of touch.

Patients would need to be anesthetized before RTX is used, because the initial pain is excruciating, doctors studying the nerve-destroying chemical said. But after a couple of hours, the pain wears off and the treated area is deadened to pain for potentially months, until the damaged pain-sensing nerves regenerate.

“You give it once and it should last for an extended period of time because it is destroying the fibers,” Dr. Andrew Mannes of the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a>. “But the other thing with this to remember is there's no reinforcement. There's no high associated with it, there's no addiction potential whatsoever.”

And treating tissue around the spinal column – not the spinal cord itself – can help people with widespread pain, such as patients in the last stages of cancer.

The NIH is <a href="https://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/ProtocolDetails.aspx?A_2015-N-0175.html">currently running trials</a> on the nerve-destroying chemical, which is not ready for release as a pain treatment yet. But if it makes it through the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/">Food and Drug Administration</a>’s approval process, it could become a potent treatment for people with chronic pain conditions like cancer and autoimmune disorders.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Sometimes a nerve-destroying chemical can be a good thing

As the opioid crisis looms, doctors are looking for more...

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to increase in the coming years, it is vital to understand how these changes will affect global crop yields. 

Since scientists can’t send seeds into the future and study the impacts on plant growth, models and projections allow researchers to take a brief glimpse in the future and see many different possible scenarios. 

However, projections and predictions can only go so far regarding realistically portraying what the future might hold for crops and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earlier-springtime-hinders-plant-growth/">plant growth</a>. 

But what if, instead of zapping seeds into the future, you could bring future climate change to the present and study plant growth? 

Outdoor facilities called Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) are working to do just that, as plants in FACE facilities are exposed to higher and higher levels of CO2. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California Davis</a> and the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> in the United Kingdom examined FACE plants in a new study to understand how climate change might impact plant growth. 

The study was published in the journal Global Change Biology. 

The researchers analyzed plant growth at FACE facilities and compared those responses to plant growth from 11 naturally occurring high-CO2 springs where plants are exposed to high concentrations of CO2. 

“The results say, pretty surprisingly, that yes, all of those experiments we've done in FACE facilities are giving us a pretty good idea of how plants are likely to respond in the future,” said Gail Taylor, the corresponding author of the study. 

The team found that overall, plants respond positively to increased levels of CO2 which is promising for the future when emissions are projected to increase. 

However, the researchers say that emissions are not the only thing projected to increase, and if drought and temperatures also increase, plants will not do as well as their FACE counterparts. 

“If plants are exposed to higher temperatures and drought, there will likely be negative impacts, overall, so it's a tradeoff,” said Taylor. “But our analysis gives us confidence that plants are likely to keep responding positively to rising CO2 if no other climatic factors are limiting.”

FACE facilities can tell researchers a great deal about future plant performance, especially for cereal crops that provide a critical source of nutrients and carbohydrates to many countries around the world. 

“The analysis shows that it's possible to test new varieties of plants in FACE experiments before it is critical that they perform in the wider world,” said Taylor. “These ‘time-traveling’ plants that move forward and backwards across the decades can be extremely valuable in understanding how plants are likely to respond to the changes projected as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Gail Taylor/UC Davis

How will global crop yields be affected by increased CO2 levels?

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to...

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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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;



---



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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"

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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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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



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

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA



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



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

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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



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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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