Methane traps more than 25 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a century, so even modest changes in its release can tilt the climate balance.



Scientists already recognize Arctic and sub‑Arctic lakes as natural methane vents, where gas bubbles up from sediments laid down over millennia. But the exact processes controlling how much is produced and how fast it escapes have remained poorly understood.



Now, a new study led by PhD researcher Marie Bulínová from <a href="https://en.uit.no/startsida">UiT The Arctic University of Norway</a> offers fresh insight into these dynamics, revealing how lake productivity plays a central role in methane release.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-life-more-methane">More life, more methane</h2>



Bulínová and an international team cored sediments and analyzed pore‑water chemistry in ten <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-lakes-produce-less-methane-than-previously-thought/">lakes</a> scattered across Svalbard and Arctic Scandinavia. 



They then modeled how methane diffuses from the mud into the overlying water and, ultimately, into the air. The surprise wasn’t that methane was present - every lake emitted some - but that the same factors consistently drove those emissions.



“We were surprised by how clearly the productivity of the ecosystem was linked to methane production,” Bulínová said.



The researchers found that lakes with thicker mats of algae, more aquatic plants, lush shore vegetation, and shallower depths generated the most methane in their sediments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-arctic-methane-begins">Where Arctic methane begins</h2>



Across the lakes, production peaked within the upper decimeter of sediment. That thin layer is rich in freshly fallen, easily digestible organic matter and pulsing with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-activities-underground-revealed-by-new-technology/">microbial activity</a>. Beneath it, older, nutrient‑poor mud yields much less gas.



By combining concentration profiles with mass‑transfer equations, the researchers estimated diffusive fluxes between - 0.46 and 3.1 millimoles of methane per square meter per day.



Those numbers match earlier spot measurements in boreal and Arctic water bodies and are far lower than typical tropical or temperate values. Yet, given the sheer abundance of lakes across high‑latitude landscapes, the regional methane budget remains formidable.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lakes-vary-in-emissions">Lakes vary in emissions</h2>



When the team compared their data with more than sixty published estimates from lakes worldwide, a striking pattern emerged. Arctic lakes as a group emit less per unit area than tropical ones, but individual northern lakes vary wildly.



“Some release much more methane than others, depending on local factors like vegetation cover, lake shape, or sediment composition,” Bulínová noted. 



Machine‑learning models confirmed that climate variables - especially <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-earth-energy-imbalance-temperature-rise/">temperature</a> and precipitation - rank alongside primary productivity and basin morphometry as key predictors. 



The upshot is that Arctic methane output will not rise evenly. Hot spots will appear where warming and wetter weather most strongly boost in‑lake photosynthesis.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-living-lakes-drive-feedbacks">Living lakes drive feedbacks</h2>



The findings dovetail with satellite observations of a “greening” Arctic: longer ice‑free seasons and warmer waters spur algae blooms, while shrubs and grasses spread along shorelines.



More plant growth means more organic carbon raining onto lake bottoms, where microbes convert it into methane. That methane, in turn, accelerates warming, potentially creating a feedback loop.



“Our work suggests that increases in ecosystem productivity - something we could think of being positive - can also increase methane release and further accelerate warming,” Bulínová warned.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-arctic-methane-escapes-in-many-ways">Arctic methane escapes in many ways</h2>



The study focused on diffusion, one of several pathways methane follows from mud to sky. Bubbling, or ebullition, can deliver large, sudden pulses when gas pockets overcome sediment pressure. 



Plant stems can vent methane directly, and spring ice‑out may release winter stores in a burst. Accounting for these modes will refine regional budgets. 



But diffusion is a baseline flux that operates almost continuously - and scientists can model it more easily across thousands of lakes once they understand the main controls.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-need-to-study-more-arctic-lakes">Need to study more Arctic lakes</h2>



Because each Arctic lake tells a slightly different story, the authors emphasize breadth as well as depth. “That’s why it’s essential to study a wide range of lake types if we want to understand the Arctic’s role in future <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/oceans-in-crisis-have-we-reached-a-climate-tipping-point/">climate</a> feedbacks,” Bulínová explained.



Their random‑forest approach shows promise for up‑scaling. Feed the algorithm satellite data on lake size, depth, productivity proxies, and local climate, and it can predict methane diffusion with reasonable accuracy.



The same framework could extend to boreal or even temperate basins. This would help Earth‑system models gauge how global lake emissions will shift under various warming scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-researchers-must-do-next">What researchers must do next</h2>



The study demonstrates that tallying greenhouse gases in the Arctic requires looking beyond <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-is-becoming-a-source-of-global-warming/">thawing permafrost</a> soils to include seemingly placid waters.



Policies aimed at limiting methane rise might need to consider land‑use changes that alter nutrient runoff into lakes or protect certain high‑productivity basins from additional disturbance. 



For scientists, the next steps include year‑round monitoring to capture seasonal swings, experiments that manipulate nutrient inputs, and integration of ebullition measurements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lakes-face-a-warming-future">Lakes face a warming future</h2>



As climate change redraws the Arctic map, lakes will likely become more productive biological engines. Paradoxically, they may also become more potent methane releasers.



The research led by Bulínová offers a first quantitative framework to anticipate that transformation. 



It reminds us that in the delicate dance of climate feedbacks, what looks like a burst of life on a warming tundra can carry an invisible, high‑powered greenhouse cost.



The study is published in the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2024JG008508" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</a>.



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Microbes in Arctic lakes are fueling a large methane surge

Methane traps more than 25 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a century, so even modest changes in its release can tilt the climate balance. Scientists already recognize Arctic and sub‑Arctic lakes as natural methane vents, where gas bubbles up from sediments laid down over millennia. But the exact processes controlling how much is produced and how fast it escapes have remained poorly understood. Now, a new study led by PhD researcher Marie Bulínová from UiT The Arctic University of Norway offers fresh insight into these dynamics,...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97870-87e0f25c8-6f71-4fde-b0a3-51ae780d063e">Scientific Reports</a> suggests that bones recently found on the Isle of Wight belong to two new species of spinosaurids, a type of predatory theropod <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-are-birds-the-only-dinosaurs-that-survived-on-earth/">dinosaurs</a> closely related to the giant Spinosaurus. Scientists believe that these creatures’ huge crocodile-like skulls allowed them to hunt their prey both on land and in the water.



The only spinosaurid skeleton previously discovered in the UK was found in 1983 in Surrey and belongs to the genus Baryonyx. The newly discovered bones belong to different species, previously unknown to science.&nbsp;



“We found the skulls to differ not only from&nbsp;Baryonyx, but also one another, suggesting the UK housed a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought,” reported lead study author Chris Barker, a doctoral student at the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton.</a>



The first specimen has been named Ceratosuchops inferodios (“horned crocodile-faced hell heron”), and has a series of low horns in its brow region. As in the case of herons, this dinosaur probably had an eclectic hunting style and a flexible diet, feeding on both aquatic and terrestrial prey. The second one was named Riparovenator milnerae (“Milner’s riverbank hunter”) in the honor of late paleontologist Angela Milner, who had previously studied and named Baryonyx.&nbsp;



The discovery of these dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight was something scientists expected. “We've known for a couple of decades now that&nbsp;Baryonyx-like dinosaurs awaited discovered on the Isle of Wight, but finding the remains of two such animals in close succession was a huge surprise,” said study co-author Darren Naish, an expert in British theropod dinosaurs.



“It might sound odd to have two similar and closely related carnivores in an ecosystem, but this is actually very common for both dinosaurs and numerous living ecosystems,” added study co-author David Hone, a senior lecturer in Zoology at the <a href="https://www.qmul.ac.uk/">Queen Mary University of London</a>.



The scientists estimate that both dinosaurs measured around nine meters in length and had one meter-long ferocious skulls, perfectly evolved for catching and devouring a large variety of prey. With their large rivers housing a varied ecosystem, the Early Cretaceous rocks on the Isle of Wight provided dinosaurs with many hunting opportunities.&nbsp;



“This work has brought together universities, Dinosaur Isle museum and the public to reveal these amazing dinosaurs and the incredibly diverse ecology of the south coast of England 125 million years ago,” concluded project supervisor Dr. Neil J. Gostling.



---



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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



Image Credit: Anthony Hutchings

Two new predatory dinosaurs found on the Isle of Wight

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports suggests...

The benefits of playing with objects (such as cars, dolls, blocks, puzzles) for infant learning and development are well documented in many structured experiments taking place in child-friendly lab environments. However, very little is known about how natural play unfolds spontaneously in real-life settings. A recent study led by <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> (NYU) aimed to address this research gap by investigating infant free play in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/working-from-home-reduces-air-pollution/">home</a> environments.



Study participants included 40 infants from families living in New York. In order to enable comparisons between crawlers and walkers, the scientists selected twenty 13 month-olds, ten 18 month-olds, and ten 23 month-olds. The study took place between December 2017 and September 2019.&nbsp;



The researchers recorded infants who were free to interact with whatever objects they wanted during two home visits. While playing at home, infants exuberantly transitioned among dozens of objects each hour, showing preference to both toys and common household objects such as boxes, bins, pillows, stools, or remote controls.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our findings show an essential first step in identifying the everyday inputs to infants’ natural learning,” said study co-author Catherine Tamis-LeMonda, a professor of Applied Psychology at NYU. “At a time in development when infants must acquire information about what objects are and what they can do with them, massive amounts of practice playing with a variety of objects at home is beneficial for learning. And varied exploration is adaptive. We thus seek to flip the narrative from a critique of what infants have not yet achieved to an acknowledgement of how infants interact with their natural learning environment at home.”



According to study lead author Orit Herzberg, a postdoctoral fellow at NYU, infant’s exuberant behavior should not be seen as flighty and distractible, but rather as a developmental asset – “an ideal curriculum for learning about the properties and functions that propels growth in motor, cognitive, social and language domains. Infants learn about the world by playing with as many things as possible, in short bursts of activity. And every object is a potential play object."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13669">Child Development</a>.



---



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

Free play helps infants learn and develop

The benefits of playing with objects (such as cars, dolls,...

Having big eyes may not only have helped the wolf to see Little Red Riding Hood better. A recent study also suggests that having larger eyes makes some bird species less likely to be selected as hosts by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-birds-can-learn-sounds-before-theyve-even-hatched/">birds</a> that are brood parasites.



Birds that lay their eggs in the nests of other species relieve themselves of the burden of raising their own chicks. By recruiting the services of numerous hosts, brood parasites such as cuckoos can end up with a higher reproductive success than if they simply raised their own chicks.



Some host species can recognize an imposter’s egg and will pierce it or turf it out of the nest. But if the foreign egg is not detected, the host parents will end up devoting large amounts of energy to feeding and caring for a chick that does not carry their genes.



<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/profile/mhauber">Mark Hauber</a> is a professor of&nbsp;E<a href="https://sib.illinois.edu/eeb/">volution, Ecology and Behavior</a>&nbsp;at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a>, who co-led the new research with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/ian-ausprey/about-me/">Ian Ausprey</a>, a recent doctoral graduate from the University of Florida.&nbsp;



“The failure of some host birds to recognize foreign eggs in their own nests is somewhat perplexing,” said&nbsp;Professor Hauber. “Birds have much better vision overall than we do as humans. They have four color receptors instead of our three. They also can see into the ultraviolet range. What we did not know before this study was whether their eyes are adapted to egg rejection.”



To investigate the relationship between eye size and nest parasitism, the researchers used data originally collected in the 1970s by Stanley Ritland, a student at the University of Chicago. Ritland measured the eyeballs of more than 4,000 species of birds in museum collections. Ausprey and colleagues digitized this data and have previously used it to study the impacts of eye size on different traits.&nbsp;



The results, published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl">Biology Letters</a>, show that bird species that are brood parasites have larger eyes than bird species that are hosts. This difference was present even after allowing for the larger body sizes of brood parasites. In addition, the researchers found that birds with larger eyes relative to their overall body mass were less likely to have their nests parasitized.&nbsp;



“Non-host birds tend to have larger eyes than hosts,” said Professor Hauber. “One interpretation of that is that the parasites go for birds with poorer eyesight.”



“Having larger eyes is similar to having a bigger camera lens,” said Ausprey. “By collecting more light, large eyes improve a bird’s visual acuity, its ability to resolve an image in dim conditions and at long distances.”&nbsp;



In addition, within the range of host birds, those with larger eyes were more likely to recognize a foreign egg in their nest, unless the egg closely resembled the hosts’ own eggs.



This research is the first to show how eyes and other sensory systems contribute to the relationship between parasite and host species in birds. The study is a major step forward in understanding the evolution of such interactions between birds. &nbsp;



“Nest parasitism exerts enormous selective pressure on host populations, with major implications for population demography and local species persistence,” said Ausprey. “It’s incredible that such a simple trait as eye size can provide a powerful window into the sensory systems that mediate the coevolutionary arms race between nest parasites and their hosts.”



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

Brood parasites target host birds with small eyes

Having big eyes may not only have helped the wolf...

Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are often maligned and feared because they <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-activities-help-scavengers-take-over-the-alpine-habitats-of-arctic-foxes/">scavenge</a> carcasses and are associated with dark nights and eerie, whooping or cackling calls. Some even see them as the embodiment of evil.&nbsp;



But in certain towns in Ethiopia - Mekelle and Harar, for example - hyenas are an accepted part of town life and may even bring benefits to the townsfolk.&nbsp;



In a recent study, a University of Michigan conservation ecologist and two colleagues attempted to quantify the health and economic benefits brought by the population of hyenas that scavenge at the landfill outside the town of Mekelle, the capital of northern Ethiopia's Tigray region.&nbsp;



“This is an important contribution to a growing body of work that highlights the benefits of predators and scavengers, rather than focusing only on their costs to humanity,” said study senior author Neil Carter, an assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability.



Mekelle has a population of 310,000 people and 120,000 livestock. Animals are slaughtered for consumption and their carcasses are mostly disposed of on the town’s landfill or simply on the roadsides. Hyenas visit these sites every night to scavenge and, in so doing, remove the unwanted waste. The researchers investigated whether the hyenas prevent the spread of pathogens to people and livestock by consuming these remains.&nbsp;



The team first estimated the size of the spotted hyena population that visits the town by night. They did this by broadcasting pre-recorded hyena distress calls from the roof of a vehicle at five sites around the town. During each hour-long survey, hyenas that responded to the calls were counted using night-vision binoculars. The researchers estimated that 210 hyenas visit the town at night to scavenge.&nbsp;



Next, the researchers used night-time observations of hyena feeding behavior at the landfill to determine the number and identity of carcasses scavenged. The results showed that each adult hyena consumes around 2,100 lb of carcass waste in a year, and that this mass is made up mostly from horse carcasses.&nbsp;



Chicken carcasses are the most commonly eaten item, but waste from cattle, horses, sheep and goats is also consumed. The total mass of waste consumed by the hyenas is 207 metric tons per year, which represents 4.2 percent of the total animal carcass waste disposed of by the town’s residents and businesses.



The field data were collected and analyzed by study lead author Chinmay Sonawane, a former student of Carter's who is now a doctoral student at Stanford University.



The data were then used in a model of disease transmission to predict the number of anthrax and bovine tuberculosis infections that would arise in humans and livestock due to contact with infected carcass waste. The model predicted that hyena scavenging prevents five infections of anthrax and bovine tuberculosis in Mekelle residents and 140 infections in cattle, sheep and goats, during the course of a year. This disease-control service potentially saves the city $52,000 annually in treatment costs and livestock losses avoided.



“Yes, the effects are modest. Even so, this study totally upends the traditional narrative around hyenas - that they are a nuisance and should be removed,” said Carter.



“In comparison to the large cattle enterprises in the Global North, the benefits that we found are quite small,” said Sonawane. “However, losing even a single cow to anthrax or bovine tuberculosis can cause significant financial stress to cattle owners in Ethiopia, who tend to own much smaller herds of cattle than cattle owners in other parts of the world.”



“In addition, we only estimated the benefits accrued from hyenas within 5 kilometers of the city. It is very, very likely that hyenas from much further than 5 kilometers away are also coming into Mekelle and consuming even more waste.”



The study authors note that the benefits of hyena presence must be weighed against the costs of hyena attacks each year. A 2011 study reported 10 nonfatal hyena attacks on humans annually in Mekelle, along with an estimated economic loss of $2,928 from 33 fatal attacks on cattle and small ruminants annually. It is clear that in order to preserve and extend the health and financial benefits provided by the hyenas of Mekelle, the population of these scavengers must be managed to minimize the inherent risks to the humans with which they coexist.&nbsp;



“By maintaining the hyenas' access to waste, human-hyena conflict can be mitigated in Mekelle, and the sanitation and disease control benefits provided by hyena scavenging can be preserved or even increased,” wrote the researchers.&nbsp;Excluding hyenas from scavenging the animal carcasses may force them to hunt livestock, which would increase the human-hyena conflict.&nbsp;



Currently, the activities of the hyenas of Mekelle help fulfil three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: they ensure good health, help provide clean water and sanitation, and promote terrestrial diversity. Furthermore, waste generation will increase in Mekelle as the population gets larger, and the sanitation situation is unlikely to improve, given the financial constraints in this low-income region.&nbsp;



“Hyena scavenging may, therefore, be even more valuable in the future,” concluded the researchers.



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



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

Hyena scavenging brings health and economic benefits

Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are often maligned and feared because...

Asian elephants in the Myaing Hay Wun Elephant Camp in Yangon, Myanmar, are semi-wild and live in social groups. Their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/light-pollution-disrupts-flight-calling-behavior-of-thrushes/">behavior</a> naturally involves different forms of cooperation, for example with the protection of genetically related siblings, that enhances the survival of members in the group.&nbsp;



In new research conducted by Li-Li Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Yunnan, China, and colleagues, nine elephants in this Camp were given a simple cooperative task and their behavioral responses were observed. The elephants were presented with two trays of food that could only be accessed by pulling two ropes simultaneously. Elephants had to cooperate in pairs, each one pulling a rope, in order to open up the two trays of food.&nbsp;



The researchers found that pairs of elephants cooperated successfully in 80 percent of trials, but there were also individuals that cheated by stealing part of the reward from a cooperating pair. The elephants used behavioral strategies to maintain cooperation, and also to mitigate conflict when cheating occurred. These strategies included resisting individuals that attempted to cheat or moving to a different side of the tray to feed.&nbsp;&nbsp;



However, when the researchers repeated the trials with a single food tray, the stakes were raised and one partner in the pair could dominate the other. When resources were limited in this way, the elephants became competitive and showed more costly behavior, like fighting, to gain access to the food. Elephants that had previously cooperated in pairs quickly became competitors and their mitigation behavior broke down.&nbsp;



The authors explain that elephants are generalist browzers and grazers in the wild and would be unlikely to encounter a scenario where individuals could monopolize a food source. They feel that this may explain why behavioral cooperation broke down once the elephants had to compete for a limited supply of food.&nbsp;



This is the first experiment to test cooperative behavior between elephants in a rope-pulling task, although similar results have been found for non-human primates. This may suggest that such behavior has evolved in distantly related species in order to maintain cooperation between members in social groups.&nbsp;



“We found that Asian elephants have a diverse repertoire of behaviors to use when cooperating with others, and are careful about how to mitigate competition based on their relationships,” adds Li. “This is an exciting demonstration of how flexible and socially intelligent elephants are!”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/">PLoS Biology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Elephants can be very cooperative, until the food gets scarce

Asian elephants in the Myaing Hay Wun Elephant Camp in...

Air,Pollution,By,Smoke,Coming,Out,Of,Two,Factory,Chimneys.

Many previous studies have linked various types of ambient air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/working-from-home-reduces-air-pollution/">pollution</a> with poor pregnancy and birth outcomes all over the world. However, a new study published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/">PLoS Medicine</a> is the first to quantify the effects of indoor air pollution, mostly from cooking stoves, on key indicators of pregnancy.



According to the World Health Organization, more than 90 percent of people live with polluted outdoor air, and half the global population is also exposed to indoor air pollution from the combustion of coal, wood and dung inside homes.&nbsp;



The UC San Francisco and University of Washington global burden of disease study is a meta-analysis that looks at how indoor and outdoor air pollution affects gestational age at birth, reduction in birth weight, incidence of low birth weight and preterm birth.&nbsp;



The study was conducted with researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and found that air pollution probably contributed to around 6 million premature births and 3 million underweight babies in 2019. Both these factors are major risks for infant mortality throughout the world.



“The air pollution-attributable burden is enormous, yet with sufficient effort, it could be largely mitigated,” said lead author Rakesh Ghosh, PhD, a prevention and public health specialist at the Institute for Global Health Sciences at UCSF.



Preterm birth rates are the highest in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and this is also where indoor air pollution is common. The researchers concluded that the global incidence of preterm birth and low birthweight could be reduced by almost 78 percent if air pollution were minimized these regions.



The study also found that outdoor air pollution poses a significant risk in more developed countries. In the United States, for example, outdoor air pollution is estimated to have contributed to almost 12,000 preterm births in 2019.&nbsp;



Previously, the same research team&nbsp;found that, in 2019, air pollution contributed to the deaths of 500,000 newborns within the first month of life.



“With this new, global and more rigorously generated evidence, air pollution should now be considered a major driver of infant morbidity and mortality, not just of chronic adult diseases,” said Ghosh. “Our study suggests that taking measures to mitigate climate change and reduce air pollution levels will have significant health co-benefit for newborns.”&nbsp; &nbsp;



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

Millions of premature births linked to air pollution

Many previous studies have linked various types of ambient air...

A new longitudinal study led by the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> has found that, as a consequence of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-threatens-the-base-of-the-polar-food-web/">climate</a> change, great tits (Parus major) in Britain are nesting and laying their eggs two weeks earlier than they did 60 years ago. Scientists believe that these <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/phenology">phenological</a> modifications were connected to changes in the oak trees’ blooming patterns caused by global warming, as well as to the health of the oak trees located nearby the birds’ nesting areas.



In order to examine the impact of global warming on birds, researchers used breeding data gathered over six decades about more than 13,000 great tits living and nesting in a 385-hectare woodland in Oxfordshire.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“When we consider data for the population as a whole between 1961 and 2020, both female laying date and the annual timing of peak abundance of winter moth larvae have advanced by over two weeks,” explained the study authors.



Great tits belong to a comprehensively studied food-web, feeding on caterpillars, which in turn feed on newly-emerging oak leaves. Due to climate change, early onsets of springs are making the oak trees bloom earlier, and are thus changing both caterpillars’ and great tits’ timing of crucial biological events.



"A significant predictor of the variability in laying date was the health of oak trees located within 75 metres of each nest box," explained the researchers. "For example, birds breeding in boxes surrounded by healthy oaks advanced their laying by 0.34 days per year, while those nesting in areas with oaks in poor health advanced by only 0.25 days per year. Great tits breeding in oak-rich territories tend to breed earlier and have higher reproductive success.”



This research has important implications for understanding the capacity of organisms to survive and adapt to climate change. Studying the modifications in the timing of biological events of species such as the great tit can shed new light on how animals can adapt to changing environments.



“Further work should test how phenological change varies at different spatial scales in a range of systems and explore both the underlying mechanisms and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of these processes,” the study authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://go.skimresources.com/?id=55199X1584066&amp;isjs=1&amp;jv=15.2.0-stackpath&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fsciencetech%2Farticle-10033377%2FGreat-tits-Britain-laying-eggs-two-weeks-earlier.html&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41558-021-01140-4&amp;xguid=&amp;xs=1&amp;xtz=-180&amp;xuuid=fe8e4493e515587e777ab8b1cd755010&amp;xjsf=other_click__auxclick%20%5B2%5D">Nature Climate Change</a>.



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

Great tits are nesting earlier due to climate change

A new longitudinal study led by the University of Oxford...

Honeybees can be infected by a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfire-smoke-could-cause-a-surge-in-coronavirus-cases/">virus</a> that makes their wings develop in an abnormal manner and causes them to fly poorly, or even lose their ability to fly altogether. The infection has also been shown to affect the ability of bees to learn and remember, which means that they may lose their way and not return home after a foraging trip. Bees that do not return to the hive at night are likely to die.



Bee colonies have been declining in number globally, and this has serious consequences for the pollination of important food crops. Scientists suggest this decline is due, in part, to the effects of the numerous different pathogens that infect bees.&nbsp;



The results of a recent study, published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/home">iScience</a>, indicate that a cheap, naturally occurring compound can prevent and even reverse the effects of Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) on infected honeybees.&nbsp;



“Pathogens are definitely a stressor for bees,” said study first author Cheng-Kang Tang at National Taiwan University. “But the beekeepers don’t want to use pesticides because of food safety concerns. So, we set out to find some compounds that can increase the strength of bees.”



The scientists found that DWV suppresses the expression of genes associated with nerve impulse transmission and other processes related to learning and memory in bees. Past research has shown that feeding aged mice with sodium butyrate (NaB), a common compound found in plants and in human intestines, can significantly improve their memories. Furthermore, NaB is known to increase the expression of genes in a range of different animals.&nbsp;



A previous study by the same authors demonstrated that including NaB in the diet of honeybees resulted in a significant increase in the expression of genes involved in immunity as well as in learning and memory. NaB also restored learning ability in bees that had been treated with neonicotinoid, an ingredient in some pesticides. Therefore, the researchers set out to test whether adding NaB to the diet of honeybees would improve their ability to resist the effects of infection with DWV.&nbsp;



A team led by Yueh-Lung Wu at National Taiwan University initially fed bees with NaB-laced sugar water for a week before infecting them with DWV. More than 90 percent of these bees remained alive after five days, while 90 percent of the infected bees that didn’t get NaB died over the same period.



“Our findings show that feeding the insects with NaB before virus exposure can counteract the negative impacts of the pathogen,” said Wu. “We also found previously that NaB can upregulate some immune response genes in bees, and this can help suppress viral replication and improve bees’ chances at survival.”



After finding this result, Wu’s team monitored the numbers of bees leaving and returning to several different beehives on a bee farm. The data, collected over a month, showed that in hives infected with DWV, only half of the foraging bees managed to return to the hive, while more than 80 percent of the bees fed with NaB sugar water were able to return.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It is a really interesting study because we tested the effect of NaB on bees across different scales, from the genetic level, to behaviors in the lab, then in the field under a natural scenario,” said Wu.&nbsp;



“Sodium butyrate is really cheap. So, if we can prove its benefits, it would be an easy and affordable approach for beekeepers to keep their bees. Honeybees are important pollinators of myriad fruits and vegetables with economic importance worldwide and therefore are crucial for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem”



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

Plant compound may help diseased honeybees find their way home

Honeybees can be infected by a virus that makes their...

A recent study led by the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/">University of York</a> suggests that the prolonged social isolation and changes in work opportunities during UK’s first <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lockdowns-improved-air-quality-in-some-states-but-not-in-others/">lockdown</a> in 2020 were linked with fundamental changes in people’s thought patterns, including disruptions in future-oriented thinking, as well as a pointed decrease in thinking about other people.&nbsp;



In order to understand the effects of social isolation on cognitive patterns, researchers texted study participants at random times during a period of one week to ask them what they were thinking about. Afterwards, they compared the data they gathered to a similar dataset they had collected before the lockdown.



“Anecdotally people have reported changes in aspects of their mental lives brought about by the pandemic, such as changes in what occupies their thoughts or dreams. Our study is the first to actually document the systematic changes that have occurred in thinking patterns during this unprecedented time,” said study co-author Giulia Poerio, a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Essex.



The researchers found that future thinking was significantly reduced during lockdown and seemed to occur at pre-lockdown levels only when people were engaged in work.&nbsp;



According to lead author Brontë McKeown, a PhD student in the <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/">Department of Psychology</a> at the University of York, future thinking is generally associated with positive mental health outcomes. Thus, “the fact that this type of thinking was reduced in lockdown may help explain some of the negative emotional changes documented during this time.”



Moreover, social thoughts also seemed to diminish substantially during periods of isolation. These findings suggest that how much we think about other people depends on how much time we spend with them.&nbsp;



“During prolonged periods of physical isolation, we reduce the amount of time we think about others and when we do get to engage in&nbsp;social interaction, that promotes a bigger increase in our social thoughts," explained McKeown.



"Our findings are exciting because they show how important our&nbsp;external environment&nbsp;and social interactions are for shaping what is going on&nbsp;internally&nbsp;and suggest that changing our external world could be one way of changing the (mal)adaptive thought patterns that make up so much of our waking lives," concluded Dr. Poerio.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102565118">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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

Social isolation disrupts future and social thinking

A recent study led by the University of York suggests...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03889-2?utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=commission_junction&amp;utm_campaign=3_nsn6445_deeplink_PID100032693&amp;utm_content=deeplink">Nature</a> has found that wild seafood and other aquatic foods (“<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blue-foods-are-healthy-and-environmentally-friendly/">blue foods</a>”) have a much smaller <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/african-mountain-forests-store-huge-amounts-of-carbon/">carbon</a> footprint than red meat or dairy products, and thus present an opportunity for more sustainable diets.&nbsp;



A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.american.edu/">American University</a> in Washington D.C. analyzed the greenhouse gas emissions associated to 23 marine species that make up nearly three quarters of the animal species humans consume.&nbsp;



The experts discovered that the emissions associated with wild seafood were significantly lower than those connected to beef (one-sixth), lamb and mutton (one-fifth), or even cheese (half). Thus, a single burger basically generates the same amount of CO2 as 9 lbs of wild sardines.



This low environmental impact is caused by the fact that blue foods use little or no land to cultivate, compared to other foods, such as beef, which requires more than five square feet of land in order to produce a single protein.



Among the wild seafood and fish that the scientists analyzed, farmed seaweeds, clams, mussels, and scallops had the smallest environmental impact, with anchovies, herring, mackerel, and other pelagic fish coming not very far behind.&nbsp;



In the case of farmed fish and crustaceans, researchers found that salmon and trout used the least land and water resources. Silver and bighead carp had the lowest associated greenhouse gas, nitrogen, and phosphorus emissions, but the highest water usage.



“The food system occupies half of all ice-free land and is responsible for three-quarters of global consumptive water use,” explained study lead author Jessica Gephart, an environmental scientist at the American University.&nbsp;



“As a critical source of nutrition generating relatively low average environmental pressures, blue foods present an opportunity to improve nutrition with lower environmental burdens. Blue foods already have great potential for reducing food system environmental stressors,” she concluded.



---



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

Wild seafood has one-sixth the carbon footprint of red meat

A new study published in the journal Nature has found...

Pocket gophers aren’t exotic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-are-shapeshifting-to-survive-climate-change/">animals</a>. They’re small, common rodents that live in underground burrows made of sandy soils. In a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www3.nd.edu/~ammidnat/">The American Midland Naturalist</a>, researchers have made a surprising discovery about pocket gophers - they glow under ultraviolet light.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The research was inspired by flying squirrels and opossums, which were already known to glow under ultraviolet light. 



"A bunch of people, myself included, were curious about other animals," said study lead author PhD candidate J.T. Pynne. "We tested it on the flying squirrels we had, and sure enough, it worked. So, I said, 'Well, what else do we have?'"&nbsp;



While a student at <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">UGA</a> Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Pynne focused his research on pocket gophers, so it was natural for him to test their biofluorescence too.



"And it turned out, pocket gophers, flying squirrels and opossums were the only animal specimens that fluoresced. And I'm thinking, of course my strange little animals do this," said Pynne.



Other known animals that glow under UV light are the platypus, spiders, some birds and more. "We have known for a long time that arthropods fluoresced. Any time I catch a scorpion or a spider or a millipede and I have my black light, they're bright blue," said Pynne.



Finding all of these glowing animals naturally leads to the question - why do they glow? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer from scientists yet. For some like Pynne, it’s simply an interesting way to explore the natural world - go out on a dark night with a UV flashlight and see what glows out there. 



"Although unknown, the adaptive significance of biofluorescence in pocket gophers is likely similar to that documented in terrestrial and arboreal species previously, including communication or predator evasion," wrote the study authors.



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

Pocket gophers glow under UV light

Pocket gophers aren’t exotic animals. They’re small, common rodents that...

Inside of every <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-products-linked-to-double-the-emissions-of-plant-based-foods/">animal</a>, there is an entire community of gut bacteria which contribute to digestion and fighting off disease. Without these “microbiomes,” complex, multicellular organisms would be far worse off. Now, a recent study is shedding light on the variety of compositions these microbiomes might take on within a single animal over the course of a year.&nbsp;



The study examined the migration and biology of Kirtland’s Warbler by sampling a key resource for ecologists - scat. The selected population of Kirtland’s Warbler migrates every year from Michigan (in spring) to the Bahamas (in the winter). Researchers from the <a href="https://www.fieldmuseum.org/">Field Museum</a>, the Smithsonian, and Georgetown University sampled the warbler’s poop in both locales.&nbsp;



"This study shows how much we can learn about even foundational aspects of bird biology, such as migration, from the combination of new and old technologies - fieldwork and following birds in their breeding, migrating, and wintering habitats, to newer technologies of radiotelemetry and next-generation DNA sequencing," explained study co-author Shannon Hackett.



By utilizing old and new methodologies, the team discovered that the bird’s gut microbiomes changed as they traveled.&nbsp;



“We’ve seen in other animals that microbiomes can be influenced by the places their hosts live. Lots of birds migrate, and they experience different environments at different points of their migratory cycle. We didn’t know how these different environments affected the birds’ microbiomes,” said study lead author Heather Skeen.



The relative rarity of Kirtland’s Warbler allowed them to track individual birds, and over a much smaller geographic area. Using twelve radio towers in Michigan, they were able to pinpoint the birds’ locations after they were tagged.&nbsp;



“One of the most important parts about this study is that we were able to recapture birds at different portions of the annual cycle in different locations, and we have this one-to-one comparison of the same population and the same individuals and how their microbiomes changed,” said Skeen.



This study’s results are important because birds have a much more flexible microbiome content than mammals. By tracking changes as populations move, due to migration or, potentially, climate change, we can have a better understanding of how changes correspond to changes in geography.&nbsp;



“An animal’s gut microbiome is an additional level of molecular diversity, and as global climate change alters ecosystems, the gut microbiome might be one of the avenues in which animals can adapt to the changing environment," said Skeen. "The gut microbiome has its own unique ecosystem, and it’s ripe for discoveries.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1365294x">Molecular Ecology</a>.



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By <a href="http://mailto:rugerpaleo@gmail.com">Alex Ruger</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Birds pick up new gut bacteria as they travel

Inside of every animal, there is an entire community of...

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</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Acid rain and a crisis solved.</figcaption></figure>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The environmental problem we actually solved

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River.



In 1968, Kainji Lake was created by the construction of the Kainji Dam. The Niger River, the third longest in Africa, enters the lake in the north.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rivers-in-the-american-west-are-a-lifesaving-resource-for-birds/">ESA</a>, the creation of the lake submerged Foge Island and the town of Bussa and permanently flooded other riverine settlements, leaving around 50,000 people displaced.&nbsp;



Large parts of Foge Island are temporarily exposed during low water tides, and the land is often used by migrating fishermen. Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. 



Wild mammals occur at relatively low densities due to illegal hunting. Lake Kainji has suffered a dramatic decline as a fishery due to the high numbers of artisanal and subsistence fisherfolk using the lake. It has been suggested that a period of closure, together with controlled fishing rights may help improve fish stocks.



Kainji Lake National Park is the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. The park contains three distinct areas: a part of the Kainji Lake, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. The park is home to around 65 mammal species, 350 bird species, and 30 species of reptiles and amphibians. 



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&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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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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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.

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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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?

[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



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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



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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



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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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features 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

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

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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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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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes why experts are studying zebrafish to gain a better understanding of how the immune system responds to injury. Zebrafish have the ability to repair and regenerate organs.



“Organ regeneration offers an exciting opportunity for studying the immune system and to inquire why some species can regenerate organs like the heart or missing limbs while others like humans cannot,” explained Dr. Tatjana Piotrowski.



Zebrafish sensory organ hair cells are an ideal system to investigate the pathways and cell types involved in regeneration since they are easily destroyed with antibiotics and begin regenerating within five hours. This enabled the researchers to identify the exact timing and genetic programs for each anti-inflammatory macrophage activation state.&nbsp;



“Our hypothesis is that human macrophages do not receive the proper chemical activation 'cocktail' to instruct pro-regenerative processes,” said Dr. Nicolas Denans. “Identifying the molecular recipe of macrophage activation in zebrafish may one day enable us to design regenerative immunotherapies in humans.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The new evidence is a valuable resource for comparative studies on the genetic programs involved in macrophage-mediated repair and regeneration. In other words, different types of injuries may induce different kinds of inflammatory responses. We want to decipher whether this 'language' is universal or if there are a variety of dialects."



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&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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How the immune system responds to injury

[sendtonews key="0dEcERCq61-2283382-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Stowers...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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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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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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