For decades, scientists have puzzled over Uranus. Unlike its fellow giant planets, it seemed unusually quiet in terms of heat.



When NASA’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-pulls-another-life-saving-maneuver-for-voyager-from-15-billion-miles-away/">Voyager 2</a> spacecraft flew past the icy world in 1986, its instruments detected almost no internal warmth. That didn’t make sense. Planets the size of Uranus should still be radiating heat from their formation - so where was it?



Now, new research suggests the heat is there - just harder to detect. This new evidence helps resolve an old mystery and opens the door to better understanding not just Uranus, but how planets form, evolve, and interact with their environments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uranus-is-still-losing-ancient-heat">Uranus is still losing ancient heat</h2>



The study comes from researchers at the <a href="https://www.uh.edu/">University of Houston</a>, working with planetary scientists across the globe. 



It draws on decades of spacecraft data and advanced computer modeling. Together, the evidence paints a clearer picture: Uranus does release more energy than it gets from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/widest-high-resolution-photo-of-the-sun-ever-captured-solar-orbiter/">Sun</a>.



“This means it’s still slowly losing leftover heat from its early history, a key piece of the puzzle that helps us understand its origins and how it has changed over time,” said first author Xinyue Wang.



The findings also line up with those from a separate team led by Professor Patrick Irwin at the University of Oxford.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-not-as-hot-as-its-neighbors">Not as hot as its neighbors</h2>



While Uranus does emit heat, it gives off far less than the other giant planets in our solar system. Jupiter, Saturn, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/auroras-captured-on-neptune-for-the-first-time-thanks-to-the-webb-telescope/">Neptune</a> all emit more than twice the energy they absorb from sunlight. Uranus emits only about 12.5 percent more.



The reason isn’t clear, but researchers believe Uranus may have a different internal structure or evolutionary history than its neighbors.



In other words, Uranus might be built differently on the inside - or it may have followed a unique evolutionary path over billions of years that shaped how it stores and releases heat.



The study also found that Uranus’s heat output varies with its seasons - and those seasons are extreme. Each one lasts around 20 years, due to the planet’s tilted spin and off-center orbit.



As Uranus makes its long journey around the Sun, its energy levels rise and fall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-planning-future-uranus-missions">Planning future Uranus missions</h2>



Scientists aren’t just curious about Uranus for curiosity’s sake. Understanding how the planet works could directly affect the planning of future space missions.



Liming Li, also a co-author of the study, believes the findings come at the right time. NASA is gearing up for a major mission to Uranus - one that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine ranked as a top priority for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/civilian-spacewalk-is-a-giant-leap-in-space-exploration/">space exploration</a> through 2032.



“This study could improve planning for NASA’s flagship mission to orbit and probe Uranus,” Li said.



“From a scientific perspective, this study helps us better understand Uranus and other giant planets. For future space exploration, I think it strengthens the case for a mission to Uranus,” Wang added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lessons-for-earth">Lessons for Earth</h2>



The research also holds lessons for Earth. The methods used - combining space data with physical models - don’t apply only to Uranus. They could be used to study heat flow on other planets, even ones outside our solar system.



“By uncovering how Uranus stores and loses heat, we gain valuable insights into the fundamental processes that shape planetary atmospheres, weather systems, and climate systems,” Li said. 



“These findings help broaden our perspective on Earth’s atmospheric system and the challenges of climate change.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-research-in-space">The future of research in space</h2>



This study isn't just about Uranus - it's a preview of where space science is headed. As tools for modeling, data collection, and observation improve, scientists are gaining new ways to study planets across the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-announce-evidence-suggesting-that-our-solar-system-has-nine-planets-again/">solar system</a> and beyond. 



The methods used to analyze Uranus’s heat could help decode the atmospheres of other ice giants, exoplanets, and even newly discovered worlds in distant systems.



NASA’s upcoming Uranus mission is just one example of how this research will shape future exploration. By combining long-term data with modern computational models, scientists are building a deeper understanding of how planets form, change, and interact with their environments.



These advances don’t just push planetary science forward - they also strengthen our ability to study climate systems, design new technologies, and prepare for the challenges of Earth’s future.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL115660#https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL115660">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.



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Hidden heat on Uranus changes what we know about ice giants

For decades, scientists have puzzled over Uranus. Unlike its fellow giant planets, it seemed unusually quiet in terms of heat. When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the icy world in 1986, its instruments detected almost no internal warmth. That didn’t make sense. Planets the size of Uranus should still be radiating heat from their formation - so where was it? Now, new research suggests the heat is there - just harder to detect. This new evidence helps resolve an old mystery and opens the door to...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.apsnet.org/">American Phytopathological Society</a>, experts have developed a new heat-based treatment that can effectively kill plant pathogens without harming the plants. The research was specifically focused on angular leaf spot, a bacterial disease that is very damaging and economically costly among strawberry nurseries.

Angular leaf spot causes severe losses through direct damage or by preventing the export of strawberry transplants, which is heavily regulated in many countries. 

Antibiotics have been used to prevent angular leaf spot, as well as copper-containing pesticides, but these compounds are usually not applied until after the pathogen has had a chance to become established. In addition, copper products can be phytotoxic, or poisonous to plants.

Heat treatment of nursery plants is often used prior to planting, when the pathogen population is presumably at its lowest. However, heat treatments are often too harsh and can stunt or even kill nursery plants. When applied in the form of hot water, heat treatments can also facilitate the spread of pathogens.

"One of the main problems with using heat to treat plants is that the temperature is also damaging to the tissues of most plants," said study lead author Bill Turechek, a plant pathologist at the USDA. "This is why heat treatments are most often applied as seed treatments or on dormant woody tissues that tend to be more tolerant of the treatment."

When asked what excited him the most about his team's new heat-based treatment method, Turechek responded, "That it works!" 

"By introducing a lower-temperature conditioning step and using steam rather than hot water, we produced plants that were better able to withstand the higher temperature treatment designed to destroy the pathogen."

The technique uses a two-step process: a conditioning heat treatment that induces production of protective proteins and other molecules in the plant, and the application of a lethal temperature that kills the pathogen while doing little damage to the plant. Heat is applied in the form of aerated steam, which reduces the spread of pathogens that may not have been killed in hot water treatments.

While the method was designed to specifically target the pathogen that causes angular leaf spot, it has been proven effective against fungal pathogens, nematodes, and insect pests. "In other words, this treatment looks to have a broad spectrum of activity against numerous microbial, insect, and mite pests," explained Turechek. 

The technique provides a safe way to eliminate pathogens and pests, will reduce the need for pesticide applications, and will increase strawberry production and quality.

Furthermore, there is great potential for the thermotherapy protocol to be applied to many other plant pests and pathogens.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/page/phytofr/about">PhytoFrontiers</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New heat treatment kills pathogens without harming plants

In a new study from the American Phytopathological Society, experts...

Young Seychelles warblers have better health outcomes when their elderly parents have help raising them, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/">University of East Anglia</a> (UEA). These songbirds live in small family groups, and parents have helpers who participate in incubating the eggs and providing <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/unhealthy-foods-spoil-the-benefits-of-a-mediterranean-diet/">food</a> for the chicks.

The researchers found that this cooperation can help compensate for a decline in the ability of elderly parents to provide sufficient care for their offspring. Getting help at the nest means that the mothers will live longer, and also promotes social behavior in family groups with older parents.

The findings help explain why humans and other social species are often more successful when they cooperate in groups.

The team analyzed data collected on individual Seychelles warblers that had been observed on a tiny island in the Seychelles over the last 30 years.

"In many animal species, offspring from aging parents do not survive as well as offspring from younger parents," said study senior author Professor David S. Richardson.

"The cooperative nature of Seychelles warblers means care for offspring is often shared between the dominant breeding pair and a variable number of adult subordinate helpers that help with various aspects of rearing, including providing food for the offspring."

"The amount of care that dominant breeders provide is reduced when they are assisted by helpers and this lower parental investment can improve the parents own survival and future reproductive output."

In addition, the extra help from other group members helps to reduce offspring mortality. The chances of survival for young birds progressively declines as the age of the mother bird increases. These declines, however, are mitigated when helpers are present. 

According to the researchers, individual helpers do not simply provide more care in response to the lower provisioning of older birds, but are actually recruited by the older female breeders.

"Such late-life fitness benefits of breeding cooperatively lead to the prediction that older parents should be more inclined to recruit helpers to improve both their own survival and that of their offspring," explained study first author Dr. Martijn Hammers from the University of Groningen.

Female Seychelles warblers are more likely to assist with caretaking than males. Furthermore, the likelihood that subordinate females will be entrusted as helpers increases sharply with the age of the dominant female. As a result, older dominant females may produce more female offspring, but this theory has not yet been tested. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20563744">Evolution Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Older Seychelles warblers get help from babysitters

Young Seychelles warblers have better health outcomes when their elderly...

Green,Salad,With,Colorful,Tomatoes

A green Mediterranean (MED) diet reduces non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by half, according to a study from <a href="http://bgu.ac.il/en">Ben-Gurion University of the Negev</a>. This modified version of the MED diet targets intrahepatic fat more than other healthy <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-linked-to-low-quality-diets-among-children/">diets</a>, according to the 18-month clinical intervention trial.

Professor Iris Shai, the study's lead researcher, is an epidemiologist in the BGU School of Public Health and an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

"Our research team and other groups over the past 20 years have proven through rigorous randomized long-term trials that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest," said Professor Shai. "Now, we have refined that diet and discovered elements that can make dramatic changes to hepatic fat and other key health factors." 

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects 25 to 30 percent of people in the United States and Europe. Excessive fat in the liver - 5 percent or higher - leads to type two diabetes, cardiovascular risk, and poor gut health. 

Currently, the only treatment for fatty liver is losing weight and cutting back on alcohol.

The clinical trial conducted for the study, called Direct-Plus, is the first to develop and test a new green Mediterranean diet. The modified MED diet includes the daily consumption of vegetables, walnuts, and green tea. The dietary regimen also includes an aquatic green plant called Mankai, which is rich in protein, iron, B12, vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols.

"Addressing this common liver disease by targeted lifestyle intervention might promote a more effective nutritional strategy," said study last author Dr. Anat Yaskolka-Meir. "This clinical trial demonstrates an effective nutritional tool for NAFLD beyond weight loss."

The long-term trial was focused on 294 adults in their fifties with abdominal obesity. The participants were divided into three groups: healthy dietary regimen, Mediterranean diet, and green Mediterranean diet. Before and after the trial, MRI scans were used to measure the exact proportion of excess intrahepatic fat of each individual.

The results showed that every diet led to fatty liver improvement. The greatest reduction of liver fat,, however, was achieved through the green MED diet. This group dropped an average of 39 percent of hepatic fat compared to a 20 percent reduction with the traditional Mediterranean diet and a 12 percent reduction in liver fat with the more general healthy guidelines.

Furthermore, the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease dropped from 62 percent at baseline to 31.5 percent in the green MED group,

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://gut.bmj.com/">Gut</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Green Mediterranean diet reduces fatty liver disease by half

A green Mediterranean (MED) diet reduces non-alcoholic fatty liver disease...

Cell movement is a critical process during the body's development, as differentiated cells must make their way to specific tissues. Cells also mobilize to repair wounds and fight <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/severe-covid-19-infections-may-be-caused-by-overactive-immune-cells/">infections</a>. Meanwhile, cancer cells move to nearby blood vessels to spread to other parts of the body.

The speed of cell movement, or cell velocity, is controlled by how sticky the surface is beneath it. However, the exact mechanisms underlying cell movement and velocity have remained a mystery for decades. 

To investigate, experts at the <a href="https://www.mdc-berlin.de/">Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association</a> (MDC) developed a new mathematical model. The researchers have finally captured, for the first time, the precise mechanics and forces involved in cell movement.

"The mathematical model we developed can now be used by researchers to predict how different cells will behave on various substrates," said study co-lead author Professor Martin Falcke. "Understanding these basic movements in precise detail could provide new targets to interrupt tumor metastasis."

In collaboration with experimental physicists at Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, a team of theoretical physicists at MDC tracked the speed of more than 15,000 cancer cells as they moved along narrow lanes on a sticky surface. The stickiness of the surface alternated between low and high, which allowed the experts to observe what happens as a cell transitions between dynamic stickiness levels like those present in the human body.

Professor Falcke and PhD student Behnam Amiri used the large dataset to develop a mathematical equation that represents the factors involved in cell movement.

"Previous mathematical models trying to explain cell migration and motility are very specific, they only work for one feature or cell type," said Amiri. "What we tried to do here is keep it as simple and general as possible."

The model not only matched the data gathered at LMU, but was also validated by measurements of various other cell types taken over the past 30 years. "This is exciting," said Professor Falcke. "It's rare that you find a theory explaining such a large spectrum of experimental results."

During movement, a cell pushes out its membrane in the direction it is traveling while expanding an internal network of actin filaments. The cell peels off its back end, and the speed at which this occurs depends on adhesion bonds between the cell and the surface beneath it. 

The actin network needs friction to mobilize the cell. This means that when there are no adhesive bonds, the cell struggles to move because the actin network does not have anything to push off against.

"When you are on ice skates you cannot push a car, only when there is enough friction between your shoes and the ground can you push a car," explained Professor Falcke.

More friction is created as the number of bonds increase, and the cell can generate more force. The cell can then move faster, until the point when it is too sticky to swiftly pull off its back end, and the cell slows down again. 

The researchers investigated what happens when the front and back ends of the cell experience different levels of stickiness. They were especially interested in what happens when it is stickier under the back end of the cell than the front. Would the cell get stuck if it cannot generate enough force to pull off the back end? The experts determined that the cell may get slowed way down, but does not get stuck. 

Professor Falcke said the most challenging part was to wrap his mind around the fact that this mechanism works only with friction forces, because there is nothing for the cell to firmly latch onto. The friction-like forces are what allows the cell to keep moving, even when bonds are stronger in the back than in the front. In this case, the cell slowly peeled itself off like scotch tape. 

"Even if you pull just a little with a weak force, you are still able to peel the tape off - very slowly, but it comes off," said Professor Falcke. "This is how the cell keeps itself from getting stuck."

The findings provide new insight for developmental biology, as well as for potential cancer treatments. Currently, the team is investigating how cells move in two dimensions, including how they make hard right and left turns and U-turns.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of National Academy of Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The precise mechanics of cell movement are finally revealed

Cell movement is a critical process during the body's development,...

Despite the fact that more than 3,000 animals are classified as endangered and hundreds more are vulnerable, ecological scientists do not have tools that can reliably predict when specific populations are at risk. A team of experts has now developed a management technique that may ultimately help prevent species vulnerability or <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/one-third-of-oak-tree-species-are-threatened-with-extinction/">extinction</a>. 

The study, which was focused on the short-lived nature of ecosystem stability, demonstrates how management practices can better anticipate species vulnerability. The researchers have also introduced some modeling approaches to help identify potentially endangered populations.

Study lead author Dr. Tessa Francis is an aquatic ecologist at the Puget Sound Institute and the managing director of the Ocean Modeling Forum at the University of Washington.

"A species or an ecosystem may seem perfectly stable when it unpredictably becomes vulnerable, even in the absence of an obvious stressor," said Dr. Francis. "In some cases, modeling interactions between species or ecosystem dynamics can help managers identify potential corrective actions to take before the species or system collapses."

Ying-Cheng Lai, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a>, was involved in the mathematical modeling process of the research.

"The Mexican gray wolf is an example of an endangered species that is experiencing a population resurgence in some areas, yet remains vulnerable in others," said Professor Lai. 

"The predator-prey relationship between the Mexican gray wolf and elk, mule, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, javelina, rabbits, and other small mammals is an example of how interspecies relationships can affect endangerment. In a general predator-prey relationship, a significant reduction in the prey population can make the predator endangered."

"These kinds of interactions, plus other factors such as the species decay rate, migration, the capacity of the habitat, and random disturbances, are included in the mathematical prediction model, and it turns out that, more common than usually thought, the system evolution dynamics can just be transient." 

According to Professor Lai, transients in ecosystems can be good or bad, and the researchers aim to develop control strategies to sustain the good ones and eliminate the bad ones.

"As we apply these mathematical models to understanding systems on realistic, ecologic time scales, we unveil new approaches and ideas for adaptive management," said Alan Hastings, who is a theoretical ecologist at UC Davis.

"The goal is to develop management strategies to both extend a positive ecosystem as long as possible and to design recovery systems to support resurgence from vulnerable states. Over time, as successful predictions are incorporated into the mathematical model, the tool will become more accurate."

However, mathematical models do not offer a solution for identifying potentially endangered animals on their own. 

"While models can be useful in playing out 'what ifs' and understanding hypothetical consequences of management interventions, just as important is changing the way we view ecosystems and admitting that things are often less stable than they appear," said Dr. Francis. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New models will help identify potentially endangered animals

Despite the fact that more than 3,000 animals are classified...

As Earth's temperatures continue to rise, the tropical rain belt is expected to make a permanent shift to the north. A new study from <a href="https://uci.edu/">UC Irvine</a> confirms that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/the-worlds-oceans-have-become-less-resilient-to-climate-change/">climate</a> change will alter the position of the rain belt, but reveals that the changes will be regionally inconsistent.

The interdisciplinary research team - consisting of environmental engineers, Earth system scientists, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/collecting-dna-from-rivers-uncovers-biodiversity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data science experts</a> - warns that the uneven shifting of the tropical rain belt could threaten food security for billions of people.

The tropical rain belt, a band of heavy rainfall near the equator, is known to migrate northward and southward with the seasonal movement of the sun. 

The new study shows that the consistency of these annual migration patterns will be disrupted by climate change, and not all parts of the tropics will be affected equally.

For example, the rain belt will move north in parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, and south in parts in the Western Hemisphere.

According to the study authors, a northward shift of the tropical rain belt over eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean will result in future increases of drought stress in southeastern Africa and Madagascar. This climate pattern will also amplify flooding in southern India. 

Furthermore, as a result of the rain belt moving southward over the eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Central America will experience more intense drought conditions.

"Our work shows that climate change will cause the position of Earth's tropical rain belt to move in opposite directions in two longitudinal sectors that cover almost two thirds of the globe, a process that will have cascading effects on water availability and food production around the world," explained study lead author Antonios Mamalakis.

For the investigation, the experts analyzed computer simulations from 27 advanced climate models. They measured the tropical rain belt's response to a scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise through the end of the century.

Mamalakis said the sweeping shift detected in his work was disguised in previous modeling studies that provided a global average of the influence of climate change on the tropical rain belt. His team was able to predict the drastic upcoming changes by isolating the response in the Eastern and Western Hemisphere zones.

"In Asia, projected reductions in aerosol emissions, glacier melting in the Himalayas and loss of snow cover in northern areas brought on by climate change will cause the atmosphere to heat up faster than in other regions," said study co-author James Randerson. 

"We know that the rain belt shifts toward this heating, and that its northward movement in the Eastern Hemisphere is consistent with these expected impacts of climate change."

The weakening of the Gulf Stream current and deep-water formation in the North Atlantic is likely to have the opposite effect, causing a southward shift in the tropical rain belt across the Western Hemisphere, explained Randerson.

"The complexity of the Earth system is daunting, with dependencies and feedback loops across many processes and scales," said study co-author Professor Efi Foufoula-Georgiou.

"This study combines the engineering approach of system's thinking with data analytics and climate science to reveal subtle and previously unrecognized manifestations of global warming on regional precipitation dynamics and extremes."

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

Drastic changes ahead for the Earth's tropical rain belt

As Earth's temperatures continue to rise, the tropical rain belt...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/">University of Tsukuba</a> has identified a group of neurons in the brain that restrict movement during REM sleep. This new understanding of how the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/disagreements-demand-more-space-in-the-brain/">brain</a> paralyzes the body throughout REM sleep may ultimately provide a target for disorders like narcolepsy and cataplexy.

During REM sleep, our eyes move back and forth as we dream, but our bodies remain still. This protective state of temporary paralysis of the arms and legs, known as atonia, does not occur in people with REM sleep behavior disorder. 

Instead of lying still, people with REM sleep behavior disorder experience muscle movement. These individuals may stand up, jump around, and even yell or punch as they are dreaming.

The Tsukuba team set out to identify the neurons in the brain that promote atonia. Using a mouse model, the researchers found a specific group of neurons located in the ventral medial medulla that were the most likely candidates. These particular neurons receive input from another brain region called the sublaterodorsal tegmental nucleus (SLD).

"The anatomy of the neurons we found matched what we know," explained study lead author Professor Takeshi Sakurai. "They were connected to neurons that control voluntary movements, but not those that control muscles in the eyes or internal organs. Importantly, they were inhibitory, meaning that they can prevent muscle movement when active." 

When the researchers blocked the input to these neurons, the mice started moving during their sleep, just like someone with REM sleep behavior disorder.

People with narcolepsy can suddenly fall asleep at any time during the day, even in mid-sentence. Individuals with cataplexy suddenly lose muscle tone and collapse as if they are in a state of REM sleep when they are actually awake

Professor Sakurai and his team theorized that the special neurons they identified were related to both disorders. To investigate, the experts used a mouse model of narcolepsy in which cataplexic attacks could be triggered by chocolate. 

"We found that silencing the SLD-to-ventral medial medulla reduced the number of cataplexic bouts," said Professor Sakurai.

The experiments revealed that these special circuits control muscle atonia in both REM sleep and cataplexy. 

"The glycinergic neurons we have identified in the ventral medial medulla could be a good target for drug therapies for people with narcolepsy, cataplexy, or REM sleep behavior disorder," said Professor Sakurai. 

"Future studies will have to examine how emotions, which are known to trigger cataplexy, can affect these neurons."

The study is published in the Journal of <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/">Neuroscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How the brain paralyzes the body during REM sleep

A new study from the University of Tsukuba has identified...

A groundbreaking study from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> is providing new insight into the long-term <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/gut-health-may-protect-you-from-severe-covid-19/">health</a> benefits of breastfeeding. The researchers have discovered why breastfed babies have vastly improved immune systems, get sick less often, and recover more quickly. 

Breastfeeding has been linked to better health from infancy to adulthood. Previous research has shown that breastfed babies are less likely to develop a wide range of chronic conditions later in life, including obesity, diabetes, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular disease. Breastfed babies are also known to be much less prone to gut, ear, and respiratory infections. 

Despite the enormous health benefits associated with breastfeeding, the underlying biological mechanisms have remained unclear. Researchers have now discovered, for the first time, that breastfeeding increases a specific type of immune cells - regulatory T cells - in the first three weeks of life. These immune cells were found to be nearly twice as abundant in breastfed babies compared to babies who were fed formula.

Furthermore, the study revealed that breastfed babies have more abundant beneficial gut bacteria - Veillonella and Gemella - which specifically support the function of regulatory T cells. According to the researchers, the findings emphasize the importance of breastfeeding.

Study senior author Gergely Toldi is a researcher at the University of Birmingham and consultant neonatologist at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

"The influence of the type of milk received on the development of the immune response has not previously been studied in the first few weeks of life," said Toldi. "Prior to our research the outstanding importance and the early involvement of this specific cell type in breastfed babies was unknown."

"We hope this invaluable new insight will lead to an increase in rates of breastfeeding and will see more babies benefit from the advantages of receiving breastmilk."

"Furthermore, we hope for those babies who are formula fed, these results will contribute to optimising the composition of formula milk in order to exploit these immunological mechanisms. We are very grateful for the mums and babies who contributed to this special project."

Going forward, the researchers will further investigate this biological mechanism in sick and preterm newborn babies who have developed inflammatory complications.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13989995">Allergy</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Study reveals why breastfed babies live healthier lives

A groundbreaking study from the University of Birmingham is providing...

Scientists at <a href="https://www.international.unesp.br/">São Paulo State University</a> have found that large mammals fertilize the soil in tropical forests. In particular, animals like peccaries and tapirs boost levels of soil nitrogen, which is considered the most important nutrient for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plant-based-diet-helps-protect-against-chronic-diseases/">plant</a> growth. 

A white-lipped peccary is a boar-like mammal found throughout Central and South America. These hoofed animals roam the forest in groups of 50 to 100, eating a wide variety of foods. In the Atlantic Rainforest along the coast of Brazil, peccaries prefer the fruit of jussara palm trees.  

The jussara palm is very prevalent in the Atlantic Rainforest, which is linked to an abundance of dung, urine, and soil trampling by peccaries, tapirs, and other frugivores. 

The researchers found that the level of ammonium, a form of soil nitrogen, was up to 95 percent lower in areas of forest without fruit-eating mammals. The findings highlight the critical role that frugivores play in the nitrogen cycle, and serve as yet another warning that important ecosystem services are lost when animals disappear.

"Any farmer knows how crucial the nitrogen cycle is to achieve high crop yields. Studies in other environments have already shown that the presence of ruminants stimulates the growth of grasses thanks to the effect of their excretions on the nitrogen cycle, including optimization of microorganism activity," explained study first author Nacho Villar.

"Our latest study has now shown that large fruit-eating mammals provide the same service in tropical forests."

The experts also determined that frugivores redistribute nitrogen and fertilize soil that would otherwise be poor in nutrients. The researchers estimate that the fertilized soil contains four times more ammonium and 50 times more nitrate compared to areas that are not fertilized by frugivores.

"Peccaries account for 80% to 90% of the total mammal biomass in the Atlantic Rainforest. Large groups of these animals roam extensive territories, fertilizing the forest," said Villar. "Tapir density is lower, so their contribution to the nitrogen cycle isn't as great, but the amount excreted by each individual is considerable, as is each animal's range as it disperses seeds." 

In a previous study, the São Paulo team described how peccaries and tapirs contribute to plant species diversity and abundance in the tropical rainforest. 

Next, the researchers will investigate whether the nitrogen boost provided by large mammals may boost the carbon absorption ability of plants. If this is the case, plant-animal interaction could play a major role in mitigating climate change.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652435">Functional Ecology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Fruit-eating mammals fertilize the soil in tropical forests

Scientists at São Paulo State University have found that large...

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates. Some frog species have found ways to overcome the obstacle of loud rushing water that can drown out their mating calls. Frogs that live near roaring waterfalls and streams attempt to attract mates by waving a foot, flapping a hand, or bobbing their head. 

Frogs who use visual signals have been documented near rushing streams in the rainforests of India, Borneo, and Brazil. In an exciting new study from UC Berkeley, PhD candidate Rebecca Brunner has discovered the same "dancing" behavior among glass frogs in Ecuador. 

The study marks the first time that a glass frog has been known to use visual cues for communication in response to the acoustic environment.

"A handful of other frog species around the world use visual signaling, in addition to high-pitched calls, to communicate in really loud environments," said Brunner. "What's interesting is that these species are not closely related to each other, which means that these behaviors likely evolved independently, but in response to similar environments - a concept called convergent evolution."

Sachatamia orejuela glass frogs are native to the rainforests of Ecuador and Colombia. These frogs are almost exclusively found on rocks within the spray zones of waterfalls, where they become nearly invisible to predators.

Brunner was conducting fieldwork in an Ecuadorean rainforest stream recording the call of a Sachatamia orejuela glass frog when she first observed the visual cues. She noticed the frog was repeatedly raising its front and back legs.

"I was already over the moon because I had finally found a calling male after months of searching. Before our publication, there was no official record of this species' call, and basic information like that is really important for conservation," said Brunner. "But then I saw it start doing these little waves, and I knew that I was observing something even more special."

Balancing herself on a slippery rock, Brunner caught the phenomenon on film. As she recorded, the frog continued to wave its hands and feet and bob its head. A few meters away, Brunner discovered another male Sachatamia orejuela using the same cues.

"This is a really exhilarating discovery because it's a perfect example of how an environment's soundscape can influence the species that live there," said Brunner.

"We've found that Sachatamia orejuela has an extremely high-pitched call, which helps it communicate above the lower-pitched white noise of waterfalls. And then to discover that it also waves its hands and feet to increase its chances of being noticed - that's a behavior I've always loved reading about in textbooks, so it is beyond thrilling to be able to share another amazing example with the world."

Brunner hopes to return to Ecuador soon to continue her research, which is focused on the bioacoustics of various ecosystems and conservation.

"One of the best things about fieldwork is that nature is always full of surprises - you never know what discoveries you may happen upon. I hope our findings can serve as a reminder that we share this planet with incredible biodiversity. Conserving ecosystems that support species like Sachatamia orejuela is important not only for our well-being, but also for our sense of wonder."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/beh-overview.xml">Behaviour</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates

Glass frogs wave their hands and feet to attract mates....

Beekeepers in the United States and Canada are now losing 25 to 40 percent of their honey bee colonies annually. A major cause of colony collapse is queen bee failure, which occurs when queen bees lose their ability to maintain the worker bee population. 

A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a> set out to investigate why queen bees are failing faster than they did in the past. The experts found that when sperm viability is low, the expression of a protective immune protein is high.

According to study co-author Professor David Tarpy, the research has important implications for beekeepers and the farmers who rely on honey bees to pollinate their <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-work-better-together-to-improve-crops/">crops</a>.

"Beekeepers have identified problem queens as a top management concern, but what's causing the problem is largely invisible. Queens go bad, and we don't know why," said Professor Tarpy.

Study lead author Alison McAfee explained that to have a healthy hive, honey bees depend on a healthy queen - the only female bee in a colony that can reproduce.

Early in life, the queen mates with many males and stores a lifetime supply of sperm in an abdominal organ called a spermatheca. 

As the sperm die out over time, the queen is unable to produce as many fertilized eggs and the colony's population enters into a state of decline.

"Queens have the potential to live for five years, but these days, half the time queens (in managed honey bee colonies) are replaced within their first six months because they are failing," said McAfee. "If a beekeeper is really lucky, a queen might live two years. Beekeepers need answers about why their queens are failing."

"The more we can find out about what is actually happening within these failed queens, the closer we can get to understanding why this queen failure is happening in the first place."

The researchers discovered that queen bees that were failing faster had significantly fewer sperm. Compared to those that were reproductively thriving, the failed queens tended to have higher levels of two specific viruses - sacbrood virus and black queen cell virus.

"The high levels of these viruses and poor sperm viability made us interested in seeing if there was a trade-off happening in the honey bee queen," explained McAfee. 

"There's a classical hypothesis in reproductive biology that you can't do everything well, so there's a trade-off between immunity and being able to reproduce. It's been found in quite a few other organisms, including insects, that there are such trade-offs."

The experts used mass spectrometry to compare the spermatheca of the healthy and failed queens. The analysis identified 2,000 different proteins, some of which were linked to sperm viability.

According to McAfee, one of the most important proteins linked to sperm viability was lysozyme, an enzyme that is part of the bees' immune systems.

"The queens with the highest sperm viability had the lowest abundance of lysozyme, indicating that they weren't investing resources in this kind of immune response," said McAfee. "That supports this idea that there's a trade-off between the queens being able to fight off infections and being able to maintain their stored sperm."

Professor Tarpy said the research could help researchers find the cause of queen failure, which may ultimately help identify bad queens before beekeepers use them.

However, the exact cause of queen failure still remains unclear. "The underlying mechanisms could be disease. They could be pesticides. They could be improper nutrition," said Professor Tarpy. "We don't know, so we are working our way backward to identify the causes."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why are queen honey bees failing faster?

Beekeepers in the United States and Canada are now losing...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>, experts have unraveled the mystery of how the Galápagos Islands support the unique native <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/support-from-land-owners-could-protect-endangered-species/">wildlife</a> that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The researchers determined that the local northward winds play a previously unrecognized role in supporting the regional ecosystem of the Galápagos Islands.

Despite having only modest rainfall and vegetation, the Galápagos Islands are known as a significant biodiversity hotspot. Scientists previously established that biodiversity in this region is driven by ocean upwelling, which supports the growth of the phytoplankton that form the base of the food chain. 

"The regional ecosystem is sustained by strongly seasonal oceanic upwelling event - upward surges of cool, nutrient-rich deep waters that fuel the growth of the phytoplankton upon which the entire ecosystem thrives," wrote the study authors. "Yet despite its critical life-supporting role, the upwelling’s controlling factors remain undetermined."

"Here, we use a realistic model of the regional ocean circulation to show that the intensity of upwelling is governed by local northward winds, which generate vigorous submesoscale circulations at upper-ocean fronts to the west of the islands."

By understanding the factors which control the life-supporting process of ocean upwelling, scientists can assess how sensitive or resilient the Galápagos ecosystem may be against climate change.

In collaboration with experts at the National Oceanography Centre and Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, the Southampton team used a high-resolution computer model to analyze ocean circulation around the Galápagos Islands.

The analysis revealed that the intensity of upwelling around the archipelago is driven by local northward winds. To the west of the islands, the northward winds generate strong turbulence that drives the upwelling of deep waters toward the ocean surface. This pushes up the nutrients needed to sustain the Galápagos ecosystem.

"Our findings show that Galápagos upwelling is controlled by highly localized atmosphere-ocean interactions," said study co-author Alex Forryan. "There now needs to be a focus on these processes when monitoring how the islands' ecosystem is changing, and in mitigating the ecosystem's vulnerability to 21st -century climate change."

According to Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato, this new knowledge of where and how the injection of deep-ocean nutrients to the Galapagos ecosystem happens is informing plans to expand the Galápagos Marine Reserve, and improve its management against the mounting pressures of climate change and human exploitation.

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep">Scientific Reports</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Northward winds support the wildlife of the Galápagos Islands

In a new study from the University of Southampton, experts...

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;



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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

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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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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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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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