Astronomers caught a star system at the moment when solid grains began to form planets. This snapshot reveals how planets first start to form, just as Earth once did.



The infant star HOPS-315 sits about 1,300 light-years, roughly 7.6 quadrillion miles, away in the constellation Orion. Around it whirls a disc of gas and dust where heat is high enough to bake rock yet cool enough for those rocks to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-giant-planets-form/">re-form</a>.



<a href="https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/melissa-mcclure#tab-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Melissa McClure</a> of Leiden University led the international team that pieced together these first moments of planetary assembly. Their finding gives researchers a live laboratory that mirrors the opening chapter of the Solar System’s own story.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-planets-form-from-early-solids">How planets form from early solids</h2>



In primitive meteorites, tiny calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions tell us that the Solar System’s clock started ticking <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1226919" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4.567 billion</a> years ago. Those inclusions condensed from a searing vapor and seeded every terrestrial planet we know.



Because the clock starts with condensation, catching that step beyond the Sun has been an astronomer’s white whale. 



The new observation marks the first time any telescope has seen <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/cp/d2cp02188a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gas-phase silicon monoxide</a> (SiO) alongside freshly crystallizing silicates in the same patch of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/protoplanetary-disk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protoplanetary disc</a>.



McClure’s team spotted the minerals within an orbit comparable to our asteroid belt. That match matters, for it pins early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-planets-form-its-much-more-complicated-than-we-thought/">chemistry</a> to a region that later fed Earth with water and metals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crystals-forming-around-hops-315">Crystals forming around HOPS-315</h2>



The James Webb Space Telescope (<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JWST</a>) collects infrared light that pierces the dust cocoon shrouding HOPS-315, revealing the distinct fingerprint of hot SiO molecules. Those molecules glow at about 2,200°F, a temperature that vaporizes most common rocks.



<a href="https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ALMA</a>, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, then measured the same region at millimeter wavelengths and mapped where the glow comes from. 



By combining the two views, scientists confirmed that both gas and solid forms of silicon occupy a ring no farther than 2 astronomical units from the star.



Handling these observations is tricky because HOPS-315 also drives a jet rich in SiO. The team disentangled the jet’s signal from the disc’s by checking velocities, the jet gas races outward, whereas disc material <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/july-2025-skywatching-bright-planets-and-a-summer-constellation/">orbits</a> sedately.



A final check involved comparing the brightness of different SiO lines. The ratio matched laboratory predictions for vapor that is actively condensing, adding yet another layer of confidence to the result.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planets-forming-from-gas-and-crystals">Planets forming from gas and crystals</h2>



Crystalline silicates appear where cooling vapor meets a sharp fall in temperature. The presence of both phases at one location means condensation is happening right now, not long ago nor far away in another part of the disc.



“This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc, or anywhere outside our Solar System,” said <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/astro/people/core-faculty/ebergin.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Edwin Bergin</a> of the <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/astro" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Michigan</a>, a co-author on the study. 



He adds that the minerals are the same kind locked inside 4.5-billion-year-old meteorites on Earth’s shelves.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://cdn.eso.org/images/wallpaper5/eso2512a.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/solar-system-forming_HOPS-315_ESO_1s.webp" alt="This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify. In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al." class="wp-image-1978595"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify. In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al.</figcaption></figure>



“We’re really seeing these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where we see them in asteroids in the Solar System,” said co-author, Logan Francis from the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (<a href="https://affoa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AFFOA</a>). 



He notes that the condensation zone sits at almost the same orbital radius as our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/asteroids-found-in-the-main-belt-are-the-smallest-ever-detected/">asteroid belt</a>. 



The mineral grains measure less than a micrometer across, yet they mark the first step toward kilometer-scale planetesimals. Electrostatic forces will make them clump for thousands of years until <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-announce-evidence-suggesting-that-our-solar-system-has-nine-planets-again/">gravity</a> takes over.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hops-315-mirrors-earth-s-origins">HOPS-315 mirrors Earth’s origins</h2>



Laboratory studies show that minerals rich in silicon and oxygen condense first, followed quickly by iron-nickel alloys and then more volatile compounds. 



Seeing hot SiO vapor around HOPS-315 hints that a similar chemical parade is marching there.



By estimating the star’s luminosity and the disc’s temperature gradient, McClure’s group concludes that crystalline silicates could mass about a tenth of the Moon. That is plenty to seed multiple rocky planets if subsequent growth is efficient, as models suggest.



Isotopic <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.02631" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> on chondrules indicates that the earliest building blocks in our own <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/jupiters-past-how-the-young-gas-giant-shaped-our-solar-system/">Solar System</a> formed within the first million years, a timescale now testable in real time with HOPS-315.



Matching astronomical data to isotope chronometers promises a much sharper picture of planet formation than meteoritic studies alone.



The discovery may also shed light on why Earth contains less carbon than nebular models predict. If early minerals trap oxygen and silicon immediately, carbon may remain gaseous longer and get pushed outward before it can join newborn worlds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next-in-watching-planets-form">What’s next in watching planets form</h2>



Over the next year, ALMA will return to HOPS-315 to look for water ice farther out in the disc. 



If water lines up beyond the silicate ring, astronomers can test whether rocky seeds migrate inward before they acquire ice mantles, a step that may explain why Earth ended up with oceans.



JWST will track how the SiO signature evolves. A steady decline would show vapor freezing out, whereas a surge could hint at heating bursts from magnetic flares or spiral shocks.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://youtu.be/0j-MH6_QlBA?si=3P8FgBE0O2TTWsnM
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Witnessing the dawn of a new solar system. Credit: ESO</figcaption></figure>



Beyond the specifics of HOPS-315, the result boosts confidence that rocky planets are common. If condensation begins so early, many stars may launch planet formation well before their gas discs disperse, leaving time for worlds to migrate, collide, and settle into stable orbits.



Astronomer Elizabeth Humphreys at ESO, who was not involved in the study, said she was “really impressed” that the team could pinpoint the first solids. 



She argues that the synergy of Webb and ALMA is revealing a Universe “in which the steps toward life-bearing planets start earlier than we dared hope.”



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09163-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Astronomers capture the birth of a new solar system for the first time ever

Astronomers caught a star system at the moment when solid grains began to form planets. This snapshot reveals how planets first start to form, just as Earth once did. The infant star HOPS-315 sits about 1,300 light-years, roughly 7.6 quadrillion miles, away in the constellation Orion. Around it whirls a disc of gas and dust where heat is high enough to bake rock yet cool enough for those rocks to re-form. Melissa McClure of Leiden University led the international team that pieced together these first moments of...

Elephant seals take more risks when their body <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/women-who-are-physically-fit-burn-fat-faster/">fat</a> is lowest, and strategically change their behavior as their body condition improves, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">UC Santa Cruz</a>. The research shows that when they have more fat stored up, the seals prioritize safety over feeding.

The investigation is the first of its kind to continuously measure changes in behavior relative to body fat, and provides new insight into how wild animals balance risks and rewards.

"Theory predicts that fat animals take fewer risks, but it's very difficult to measure body condition continuously in wild animals," said study first author Professor Roxanne Beltran. "Our results show that fat seals prioritize safety, and skinny seals prioritize feeding."

Each year in May, female elephant seals leave the beaches in California where they gove birth and nurse their young to set out on a seven-month foraging trip across the Pacific Ocean. As they hunt for fish and squid, the seals must avoid becoming prey themselves.

The researchers used satellite tags and time-depth recorders to track the movements and diving patterns of 71 adult female northern elephant seals. Their intense migration covers about 6,000 miles, and invloves an uninterrupted series of dives. The seals average 23 minutes per dive with just two minutes at the surface between dives.

The elephant seals minimize their time at the surface to avoid attacks by sharks and killer whales. Because these are visual predators, the seals are safer in water depths that light does not penetrate. The researchers refer to this phenomenon as "lightscapes of fear" that shape animal behavior in the open ocean.

"We don't know a lot about predator-prey dynamics in the open ocean because there are so few sightings of attacks, but we regularly observe elephant seals on the beach with shark bites," said Professor Beltran.

The tracking data revealed several different types of dives, including foraging dives, when the seals pursue prey; transit dives with no feeding activity; and rest dives, when the seals drift passively at the bottom of the dive and are presumably sleeping.

During the drift dives, the researchers can calculate how much body fat the seals have based on their buoyancy in the water.

"It gives us a nearly continuous record of how fat they are, which is unparalleled for any wild animal other than elephant seals," said Professor Beltran. "At the beginning of the migration, they are really skinny and they sink through the water column. As the feeding migration progresses, they slowly gain weight and their buoyancy becomes less negative until, at some point, they switch to positive buoyancy and stay positive for the rest of the trip."

The timing of the resting dives were found to change as the seals' body condition improves. Seals in poor condition started their drift dives just after sunrise, while seals in good condition started their drift dives just before sunrise. As a result, the amount of time the seals rested during the dangerous daylight hours decreased from 80 to 30 percent.

The drift dives occurred progressively earlier with respect to sunrise as the seals' body condition improved throughout the migration. This indicates a shift in their priorities from feeding to safety. 

"Light is a fundamental environmental constraint that these animals are using strategically to maximize rewards and minimize risks," said Professor Beltran. "In the ocean, light is an interesting way to look at risk-reward tradeoffs because it integrates time and space, especially for a migratory species that travels across time zones and latitudes with constantly changing day lengths."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Elephant seals take more risks when they are low on body fat

Elephant seals take more risks when their body fat is...

A groundbreaking new study has identified areas of the ocean that could be protected to help solve the biggest global challenges of this century- the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/greenland-ice-is-more-sensitive-to-climate-change-than-expected/">climate</a>, food, and biodiversity crises. The pinpointed regions could contribute to a more abundant supply of healthy seafood; provide a cheap, natural solution to address climate change; and protect valuable habitats and wildlife.

The research, which was conducted by an international team of 26 experts, identified specific areas that have the potential to protect over 80 percent of the habitats for endangered marine species, while increasing fishing catches by more than eight million metric tons. 

"Ocean life has been declining worldwide because of overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change. Yet only 7% of the ocean is currently under some kind of protection," said study lead author Dr. Enric Sala, explorer in residence at the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/">National Geographic Society</a>.

"In this study, we've pioneered a new way to identify the places that - if strongly protected - will boost food production and safeguard marine life, all while reducing carbon emissions. It's clear that humanity and the economy will benefit from a healthier ocean. And we can realize those benefits quickly if countries work together to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030."

For their investigation, the multidisciplinary team of experts analyzed the world's unprotected ocean waters, focusing on the extent to which they are threatened by human activities like overfishing that could be reduced through protective measures.

Next, the researchers developed an algorithm to identify those areas where protections would deliver the greatest benefits for biodiversity protection, seafood production,  and climate mitigation. The team mapped these locations to create a "blueprint" that can be used by governments as they implement their commitments to protect nature.

"There is no single best solution to save marine life and obtain these other benefits. The solution depends on what society - or a given country - cares about, and our study provides a new way to integrate these preferences and find effective conservation strategies," said study co-author Dr. Juan S. Mayorga, a marine data scientist with the Environmental Market Solutions Lab at UC Santa Barbara and <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/pristine-seas/">Pristine Seas</a> at National Geographic Society.

The study precedes the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which is expected to take place in Kunming, China in 2021. The meeting will bring together representatives of 190 countries to finalize an agreement to end the world's biodiversity crisis. 

The treaty is expected to center around the primary goal of protecting 30 percent of the planet's land and ocean by 2030. Countries including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom have already made commitments to help achieve this target on a national and global scale.

The report identifies highly diverse marine areas that face the greatest threats from human activities. These regions urgently need to become established as marine protected areas (MPAs). The priority locations are distributed throughout the ocean, but the majority are contained within the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones of coastal nations.

"Perhaps the most impressive and encouraging result is the enormous gain we can obtain for biodiversity conservation - if we carefully chose the location of strictly protected marine areas," said study co-author Dr. David Mouillot, who is a professor at the Université de Montpellier in France. 

"One notable priority for conservation is Antarctica, which currently has little protection, but is projected to host many vulnerable species in a near future due to climate change."

"The ocean covers 70% of the earth - yet, until now, its importance for solving the challenges of our time has been overlooked," said study co-author Dr. Boris Worm, who is a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

"Smart ocean protection will help to provide cheap natural climate solutions, make seafood more abundant and safeguard imperiled marine species - all at the same time. The benefits are clear. If we want to solve the three most pressing challenges of our century - biodiversity loss, climate change and food shortages - we must protect our ocean."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Protecting the ocean can solve the three greatest challenges on Earth

A groundbreaking new study has identified areas of the ocean...

Artificial light is known to disrupt ecological processes such as the nighttime pollination of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-found-beneath-greenland-ice-represent-a-troubling-reality/">plants</a> by nocturnal insects, which could be detrimental to plant reproduction and agricultural crop yields. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/en.html">University of Zurich</a>, experts have demonstrated that artificial light at night also interferes with insects' pollination behavior during the daytime.

"A 'luminous fog' of artificial light at night is enveloping the locations inhabited by humans, with about 18.7% of the world’s terrestrial surfaces (excluding Antartica) currently being exposed to it," wrote the researchers. "Furthermore, the area experiencing direct emissions from artificial light sources is estimated to expand at about 2–6% per year while already illuminated areas become brighter at a similar rate." 

"In addition to effects on the physiology and behavior of organisms with consequences for mortality, reproduction, species abundance, and community composition, artificial light at night affects species interactions and ecosystem functioning."

For the investigation, the experts used commercial street lamps to illuminate natural plant-pollinator communities overnight on six natural meadows, while six other natural meadows were left dark. The research analyzed the interactions of 21 naturally occurring plant species and their pollinators.

"Our findings indicate that artificial light during the nighttime alters the number of plant-pollinator interactions during the daytime, depending on the plant species," explained study co-author Eva Knop.

For example, three plant species received significantly fewer pollinator visits during the daytime after LED illumination. By contrast, one plant species received substantially more pollinator visits.

Nocturnal pollinator activity was also found to vary in the presence of artificial light. For example, woodland geraniums received the same number of pollinator visits in illuminated and dark meadows, but not by the same insects. Dipterous insects reduced their visits to plants that were lit up during the night, and beetles tended to visit more frequently. 

"Since insects play a vital role in pollinating crops and wild plants and are already endangered by habitat destruction and climate change regardless of artificial light, it is important to study and clarify these indirect mechanisms," said Knop.

The study authors are calling for the ecological impact of light pollution to be researched more thoroughly and for actions to be devised to prevent adverse effects on the environment. 

"We conclude that the effect of artificial light at night on plant-pollinator interactions is not limited to the night, but can also propagate to the daytime with so far unknown consequences for the pollinator community and the diurnal pollination function and services they provide," wrote the researchers.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Artificial light disrupts plant pollination, even during the day

Artificial light is known to disrupt ecological processes such as...

A new study reveals how climate change is affecting plant growth beyond the effects of rising <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arctic-permafrost-is-releasing-even-more-co2-than-expected/">CO2</a> levels. The researchers found that rising temperatures are impacting photosynthesis and plant viability.

The experts report that excessive heat reduces the efficiency of enzymes that drive photosynthesis and can hinder plants' ability to regulate CO2 uptake and water loss. They explain that certain aspects of a plant's structure can make it more or less susceptible to heat stress.

Features of the ecosystem, such as the density of plants or local atmospheric conditions, also influence how crop yields will respond to heat.

Study co-lead author Caitlin Moore is a research fellow at the University of Western Australia and an affiliate research fellow at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a>. 

"It's important to have an understanding of these issues across scales - from the biochemistry of individual leaves to ecosystem-level influences - in order to really tackle these problems in an informed way," said Moore.

According to study co-author Professor Carl Bernacchi, there has been a lot of focus on rising CO2 and the impact that it has on plants. "And it is an important factor, because we are changing that carbon dioxide concentration enormously. But it's a small part of the bigger story." 

"Once you throw changing temperatures into the mix, it completely messes up our understanding of how plants are going to respond."

"Take Rubisco, the key enzyme that fixes carbon dioxide into sugars, making life on Earth possible," said study co-lead author Amanda Cavanagh. "Rubisco speeds up as the temperature increases, but it's also prone to making mistakes."

Instead of binding CO2 to sugars, Rubisco sometimes fixes oxygen, initiating a different pathway that wastes a plant's resources. Higher temperatures make this more likely, said Cavanagh. The enzyme will begin to lose its structural integrity and become increasingly ineffective. Heat can also compromise a plant's reproductive capacity. 

When temperatures are too warm, plants open up pores on their leaves called stomata to cool themselves. The stomata also allow plants to absorb CO2, but when they are fully open, the leaves can lose too much moisture.

"Temperature affects the atmosphere above the plant," said Moore. "As the atmosphere heats up, it can hold additional water, so it's pulling more water from the plants."

Cavanagh, who studies the molecular biology of plants, said some plants are more heat tolerant than others, and scientists are searching their genomes for clues to their success.

"For example, you can look at wild Australian relatives of rice that are growing in much harsher climates than most paddy rices. And you see that their enzymes are primed to work more efficiently at hotter temperatures."

One goal is to transfer heat-tolerant genes to rice varieties that are more susceptible to heat stress.

"The world is getting hotter at a shocking rate," said Cavanagh. "And we know from global models that each increase in gross temperature degree Celsius can cause 3% to 7% losses in yield of our four main crops. So, it's not something we can ignore."

"What makes me optimistic is the realization that so much work is going into globally solving this problem."

The study is published in the <a href="https://jeb.biologists.org/">Journal of Experimental Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rising temperatures alter photosynthesis and plant growth

A new study reveals how climate change is affecting plant...

Females who are physically fit tend to burn more fat when they <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-cardiovascular-benefits-of-exercise-are-unlimited/">exercise</a> compared to men, according to new research by sports nutritionists at the <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/">University of Bath</a>.

In two studies, the experts have investigated the factors that most influence an individual's capacity to burn body fat when engaging in endurance sports.

The team previously demonstrated that the body's carbohydrate stores deplenish quickly among endurance athletes competing in distance events. This means that tapping into the body's fat reserves becomes essential to an athletes' ability to perform.

The first study was designed to investigate the lifestyle and biological factors for optimal fat burning. The participants - 73 healthy men and women - took a cycling fitness test as the researchers measured key indicators.

The trial revealed that females, as well as those who were the most physically fit, burned fat more efficiently when exercising regardless of age.

In a second study, the researchers set out to determine which molecular factors in muscles and fat tissue control how fat is burned. The experts biopsied fat and muscle tissue from participants to analyze how differences in the proteins may affect the ability to burn fat.

The results showed that the proteins in muscle that are involved in breaking down stored fat into the smaller fatty acids, and proteins involved in transporting those fatty acids into the mitochondria in muscle, consistently correlated with a greater ability to burn fat. The findings could not explain why this process is more efficient among females.

"Our study found that females typically have a greater reliance upon fat as a fuel source during exercise than males," said Ollie Chrzanowski-Smith, the lead author of both studies.

"Understanding the mechanisms behind these sex differences in fuel use may help explain why being female seems to confer a metabolic advantage for insulin sensitivity, an important marker of metabolic health."

According to the researchers, the ability to burn fat as a fuel appears to protect against future weight gain, ensuring good weight management. On the other hand, they caution that the body's ability to burn fat should not be equated with an ability to lose weight. When it comes to weight loss, especially for overweight individuals, the study authors stress the importance of diet and exercise.

"Weight management is mainly about energy balance, so to lose weight we need to eat fewer calories than we expend through our resting metabolism and physical activity," explained Dr. Javier Gonzalez. 

"However, people with a higher ability to burn fat as a fuel seem to be somewhat protected against future weight gain, which might be related to how fat burning affects food intake and energy expenditure."

"Ultimately, a greater capacity to burn fat as a fuel has potential benefits for endurance athletes, by delaying the timepoint when they run out of precious carbohydrate stores."

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/28/2/ijsnem.28.issue-2.xml">International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Women who are physically fit burn fat faster

Females who are physically fit tend to burn more fat...

A new study from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> suggests that trillions of lightning strikes, occurring over a billion years, may have sparked life on our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-milky-way-may-be-filled-with-millions-of-planets-like-earth/">planet</a>. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Leeds, the experts propose that lightning bolts unlocked the phosphorus that was needed to create biomolecules, which formed the basis of life on Earth. 

Study lead author Benjamin Hess is a graduate student in Yale's Department of Earth &amp; Planetary Sciences. "This work helps us understand how life may have formed on Earth and how it could still be forming on other, Earth-like planets," said Hess.

Billions of years ago, phosphorus was mostly locked up inside insoluble minerals on Earth's surface, and was therefore not accessible. A key question that scientists have struggled to answer is how Earth's phosphorus get into a usable form to help create DNA, RNA, and other biomolecules.

The leading theory was once that meteorites containing the phosphorus mineral schreibersite crashed into our planet with enough frequency to build the foundation for life on Earth. The problem with this theory is that during the period when life is thought to have begun - between 3.5 and 4.5 billion years ago - meteorites were not crashing into Earth very frequently. 

According to Hess, schreibersite can also be found in certain glasses called fulgurites that form when lightning strikes the ground. The glass contains some of the phosphorus from surface rock, but in soluble form.

Today, our planet experiences about 560 million lightning flashes each year. Based on computer modeling, the researchers estimate that early Earth saw 1 to 5 billion lightning flashes every year - of which up to a billion would have struck the ground.

Over a billion years, this would add up to 0.1 to 1 quintillion strikes, along with a lot of accessible phosphorus. 

The lightning strike theory has other advantages as well, said the researchers. For example, the annual number of lightning strikes would have remained constant, unlike the number of meteorite collisions. "It makes lightning strikes a significant pathway toward the origin of life," said Hess.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Was life on Earth literally sparked by lightning?

A new study from Yale University suggests that trillions of...

Slow walkers are four times more likely to die from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urgent-wake-up-call-climate-change-linked-to-covid-19/">COVID-19</a>, and have more than double the risk of developing a severe infection, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a>.

The research was focused on more than 400,000 middle-aged adults in the UK Biobank database. The experts analyzed the potential relationship between the self-reported walking pace of the individuals and their risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19.

The investigation revealed that slow walkers with a normal body weight are almost 2.5 times more likely to contract severe COVID-19 and 3.75 times more likely to die from their infection compared to fast walkers with a normal weight.

Study lead author Tom Yates is a professor of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Health at the University of Leicester.

"We know already that obesity and frailty are key risk factors for COVID-19 outcomes. This is the first study to show that slow walkers have a much higher risk of contracting severe COVID-19 outcomes, irrespective of their weight," said Professor Yates.

"With the pandemic continuing to put unprecedented strain on health care services and communities, identifying individuals at greatest risk and taking preventative measures to protect them is crucial."

The researchers also found that slow walkers with a healthy weight have a higher risk of both severe and fatal COVID-19 than fast walkers with obesity. The risk among slow walkers is consistently high, regardless of weight. 

"Fast walkers have been shown to generally have good cardiovascular and heart health, making them more resilient to external stressors, including viral infection but this hypothesis has not yet been established for infectious disease," said Professor Yates.

"Whilst large routine database studies have reported the association of obesity and fragility with COVID-19 outcomes, routine clinical databases do not currently have data on measures of physical function or fitness."

"It is my view that ongoing public health and research surveillance studies should consider incorporating simple measures of physical fitness such as self-reported walking pace in addition to BMI, as potential risk predictors of COVID-19 outcomes that could ultimately enable better prevention methods that save lives."

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/ijo/">International Journal of Obesity</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Slow walkers are four times more likely to die from COVID-19

Slow walkers are four times more likely to die from...

A new study from <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> reveals what is going on inside of your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gut-brain-interactions-have-an-influence-on-diseases/">brain</a> when you get lost in a fictional fantasy. The experts discovered that the more immersed we become in the lives of our favorite characters of fiction, the more our brain activity reflects how much we identify with them.

"When they think about a favorite fictional character, it appears similar in one part of the brain as when they are thinking about themselves," said study lead author Timothy Broom.

The research was focused on self-described fans of the HBO series "Game of Thrones." The individuals were instructed to think about themselves, nine of their friends, and nine characters from the drama series. The participants also reported on which character they felt closest to and liked the most.

According to Broom, Game of Thrones was ideal for this study because it attracted a devoted fan base and the large cast presented a variety of characters that people could become attached to.

One of the key findings involved participants who scored highest on "trait identification." These individuals agreed most strongly with statements like "I really get involved in the feelings of the characters in a novel."

"People who are high in trait identification not only get absorbed into a story, they also are really absorbed into a particular character," said Broom. "They report matching the thoughts of the character, they are thinking what the character is thinking, they are feeling what the character is feeling. They are inhabiting the role of that character."

The researchers used an fMRI machine to measure activity in various parts of the brain through small changes in blood flow. As the participants' brains were scanned, they were evaluating themselves, their friends, and Game of Thrones characters. 

A part of the brain called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) is known to show increased activity when people think about themselves and, to a lesser extent, when they think about close friends.

While in the fMRI, the individuals were shown a series of names - including themselves, friends, or characters - along with a trait, such as lonely, sad, trustworthy, or smart. The participants simply said "yes" or "no" to imply whether the trait fit the person.

As expected, the vMPFC was most active when people were evaluating themselves, less active when they evaluated friends, and least active when they evaluated characters from Game of Thrones.

However, among those who were high in trait identification, the vMPFC was more active when they thought about the fictional characters than it was for participants who identified less with the characters. This region of the brain was particularly active when the individuals evaluated the character they identified with the most.

Study co-author Dylan Wanger said the findings help explain how fiction can have such a big impact on some people.

"For some people, fiction is a chance to take on new identities, to see worlds though others' eyes and return from those experiences changed," said Wagner.

"What previous studies have found is that when people experience stories as if they were one of the characters, a connection is made with that character, and the character becomes intwined with the self. In our study, we see evidence of that in their brains."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan">Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

What happens in your brain while you're lost in fiction

A new study from Ohio State University reveals what is...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-set-a-bedtime-alarm-that-helps-them-survive-the-night/">Plants</a> have been found preserved beneath mile-deep Greenland ice, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/">University of Vermont</a>. The experts believe that in the recent geologic history of Greenland, a vegetated landscape stood where an ice sheet as big as Alaska stands today.

The research confirms the troubling realization that Greenland's ice has melted off entirely during warm periods like the one we are now experiencing as a result of human-induced climate change.

With 20 feet of potential sea level rise frozen in the Greenland Ice Sheet, every coastal city in the world is at its mercy. In order to predict how the quickly the ice will melt in the future, it is critical for scientists to understand the ice sheet's behavior in the past.

The new study provides the strongest evidence yet that Greenland is more sensitive to climate change than what was previously expected. 

"Our study shows that Greenland is much more sensitive to natural climate warming than we used to think - and we already know that humanity's out-of-control warming of the planet hugely exceeds the natural rate," said UVM scientist Andrew Christ.

In 1966, the U.S. Army drilled down through nearly a mile of ice in northwestern Greenland. A massive sediment sample was recovered, but then lost in a freezer for decades. 

Two years ago, Christ examined the sediment under a microscope. He was stunned to see twigs and leaves instead of just sand and rock. 

In collaboration with an international team of researchers, Christ has been analyzing these fossil plants. The findings suggest that most, or all, of Greenland was ice-free within the last few hundred-thousand years.

"Ice sheets typically pulverize and destroy everything in their path, but what we discovered was delicate plant structures - perfectly preserved," said Christ. "They're fossils, but they look like they died yesterday. It's a time capsule of what used to live on Greenland that we wouldn't be able to find anywhere else."

The sediment sample examined for the study was pulled up from beneath the ice at Camp Century, located 75 miles inland from the coast and only 800 miles from the North Pole. The team's findings suggest that this ice completely vanished at least once within the last million years and was covered with vegetation, perhaps even a forest. 

"This is not a twenty-generation problem," said Paul Bierman, a geoscientist at UVM. "This is an urgent problem for the next 50 years."

"Greenland may seem far away, but it can quickly melt, pouring enough into the oceans that New York, Miami, Dhaka - pick your city - will go underwater."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Plants found beneath Greenland ice represent a troubling reality

Plants have been found preserved beneath mile-deep Greenland ice, according...

In a new report from <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>, experts have discovered that "total eradication" is not the best approach to target <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-are-driving-rapid-evolution/">invasive species</a>. According to the researchers, lessons learned from a failed experiment are leading to more successful strategies for controlling non-native species. 

"A failure in science often leads to unexpected directions," said study lead author Professor Edwin Grosholz. "We slapped our foreheads at the time, but with thought and understanding, it's told us a lot about what we shouldn't be doing and provided a way forward for us. The world should get less focused on total eradication and work toward functional eradication."

The researchers consider functional eradication to be a much more effective approach to invasive species management. This technique was described in a previous study led by the University of Alberta and co-authored by Professor Grosholz.

In 2009, intensive efforts were focused on fully eradicating the European green crab from Stinson Beach's Seadrift Lagoon in California. This crab costs the U.S. commercial shellfish industry about $20 million in losses every year. 

By 2013, 90 percent of the crabs had been removed from the estuary, and the population had dropped from 125,000 to fewer than 10,000 individuals. A year later, however, the population had exploded to about 300,000 green crabs - nearly triple the pre-eradication population size.

The scientists were monitoring four additional neighboring bays, and no such population explosions of the green crab were observed at those sites. This finding indicates that the increase in crabs was the result of eradication efforts and not environmental changes.

The experts determined that the population explosion in the Seadrift Lagoon was due in part to the fact that the adult crabs typically cannibalize younger individuals. With most of the adults removed, juveniles grew unchecked and overcompensated for the loss of adults.

The study serves as a precautionary tale for natural resource managers. "Don't try to get them all, or it could come back to bite you," said Professor Grosholz.

"Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, this study highlights the need to evaluate possible unintended consequences in selecting management strategies and tailoring these to the particular context and expected outcome," said study co-author Greg Ruiz.

Just as researchers described in the Alberta-led study, the UC Davis team recommends a "Goldilocks level" approach, where the population is low enough to protect native species without risking a population explosion of the invasive species.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Total eradication is not the best approach to invasive species

In a new report from UC Davis, experts have discovered...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/">University of Leeds</a> has revealed that melting glaciers are accelerating the rate of plant decomposition downstream, which has a major influence on the global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/repeated-fires-reduce-the-ability-of-forests-to-store-carbon/">carbon</a> cycle. This means that melting glaciers are potentially speeding up carbon emissions, and therefore climate change, in a reinforcing feedback loop.

According to the report, the loss of glaciers worldwide enhances the breakdown of complex carbon molecules in rivers. The study represents the first time glacier-fed mountain rivers have been linked to higher rates of plant decomposition.

As a result of climate change, mountain rivers have warmer temperatures and other conditions that are favorable for fungi to become established. The fungi break down plant leaves, wood, and other organic materials, releasing the carbon that is stored inside of them. 

The researchers measured this process in 57 rivers across six mountain ranges worldwide. Study lead author Sarah Fell said that similar patterns were discovered in all of the sites, which were located in Austria, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States.

"We found increases in the rate of organic matter decomposition in mountain rivers, which can then be expected to lead to more carbon release to the atmosphere," said Fell. "This is an unexpected form of climate feedback, whereby warming drives glacier loss, which in turn rapidly recycles carbon in rivers before it is returned to the atmosphere."

Mountain glaciers are shrinking at an unprecedented rate, and climate change will continue to drive ice loss throughout the remainder of this century. 

To investigate how critical river processes like plant decomposition and carbon cycling are impacted by glacier ice loss, the researchers designed an experiment using artists' canvas fabric to mimic plant materials like leaves that accumulate naturally in rivers. The canvas material was cotton, which is predominantly made up of cellulose, just like plants.

Canvas strips were left in the rivers for approximately one month, and then tested to determine how easily they could be ripped. The cotton material ripped more easily as fungi colonized them, which confirmed that decomposition is accelerated in warming rivers.

"Our finding of similar patterns of cellulose breakdown at sites all around the world is really exciting because it suggests that there might be a universal rule for how these river ecosystems will develop as mountains continue to lose ice," said study co-author Professor Lee Brown. "If so, we will be in much improved position to make forecasts about how river ecosystems will change in future."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Melting glaciers speed up plant decomposition, carbon emissions

A new study from the University of Leeds has revealed...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a>, experts have determined that the combination of urban development and climate change will cause devastating <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/high-tide-flooding-is-increasing-along-the-u-s-east-coast/">flooding</a> in U.S. cities.

On September 15, 2009, the Atlanta metropolitan area was hit with intense rainfall and catastrophic flooding. Entire neighborhoods were submerged, the state's busiest expressway was underwater, cars were swept away, and rising flood waters mixed with sewage.

The new research suggests that comparable scenarios will strike other urban areas in the coming years as a result of two coinciding human activities, greenhouse gas emissions and urban development.

"When we account for these twin forcing agents of environmental change, the effect of the built environment and the effect of greenhouse gasses, we note a strong tendency toward increased extreme precipitation over future US metropolitan regions," said study lead author Professor Matei Georgescu.

Previous research has shown that urban development intensifies precipitation through the urban heat island effect, which makes it hotter in cities compared to surrounding regions. The heat creates additional energy that forces the air to rise, condense, and form precipitation. 

The amount of precipitation a city receives either increases or decreases in response to the heat island effect. 

The researchers used regional climate modeling to investigate how extreme precipitation in cities throughout the continental United States would be affected by both urban development and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

"This new study is unique," said Professor Georgescu. "We used climate-scale simulations with a regional climate model to examine potential changes in future extreme precipitation resulting from both urban expansion and increases in greenhouse gasses, across dozens of cities across the continental United States."

In essence, the results showed that incorporating greenhouse gasses into a regional climate model offset the sometimes-diminishing effect of urban development on extreme precipitation, said Professor Georgescu.

"These are the effects our cities are likely to experience when accounting for the twin forcing agents of urban expansion and greenhouse gas emissions, simultaneously. What this means for U.S. cities in the future is the need for a consistent response to an increase in extreme precipitation. We're no longer likely to see a decrease in precipitation as we've seen before."

Denver, Phoenix, and Houston are some of the cities like Atlanta that appear to be vulnerable to extreme precipitation and flooding. Professot Georgescu said the study's findings show the pressing need for cities to develop policies to address flooding that threatens each city's unique resilience and planned infrastructure investments.

"If we trust the models' capability to simulate average and extreme precipitation so well, and our results demonstrate such simulation skill, then we can conduct simulations that include future urbanization, future greenhouse gasses, separately and then together, and trust what the model will tell us."

Professot Georgescu noted that it's not just about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "It's also about how you build cities. How extensive they are, how vertical they are, how dense they are, how much vegetation there is, how much waste heat you put into the environment through electricity use, through air conditioning, or through transportation. All of these things can impact future precipitation in our cities."

The study highlights the complex and regionally specific ways in which the competing forces of greenhouse gases and urban development can impact rainfall across U.S. metropolitan regions, explained Professor Ashley Broadbent of ASU's School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

"This complexity reinforces that future adaptation efforts must be informed by simulations that account for these interacting agents of environmental change," said Professor Broadbent.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Urban development and climate change create catastrophic floods

In a new study from Arizona State University, experts have...

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.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



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.

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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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

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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?

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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



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.

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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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



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.

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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



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 the immune system responds to injury

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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



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.

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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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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