In the world of science, it's not every day that a new "rule of biology" emerges. These rules, or biological laws, are like the fundamental <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/evolution-is-not-as-random-as-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">truths</a> of the living world. They describe stability or instability patterns and behaviors that are consistently observed throughout life.



One such rule is Allen's rule,&nbsp;which explains why animals in colder climates have shorter limbs than their counterparts in warmer regions.&nbsp;Now,&nbsp;John Tower,&nbsp;a professor of biological sciences at <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USC Dornsife</a>,&nbsp;is proposing a new rule that challenges our understanding of how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-evolution-may-be-the-biggest-roadblock-to-solving-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a> works.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-selectively-advantageous-instability-of-life">Selectively advantageous instability of life</h2>



Tower's rule revolves around a concept called "selectively advantageous instability," or SAI.&nbsp;This concept suggests that a certain level of instability in biological components,&nbsp;such as proteins and genetic material,&nbsp;can actually be beneficial to cells.



This might seem counterintuitive.&nbsp;We often associate stability with health and well-being.&nbsp;After all,&nbsp;stable systems require less energy and resources to maintain.&nbsp;Hexagons,&nbsp;for example,&nbsp;are a common shape in nature because they are inherently stable and efficient.



But Tower argues that instability is just as fundamental to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-evolution-was-shaped-by-competition-not-just-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a> as stability.&nbsp;"Even the simplest cells contain proteases and nucleases and regularly degrade and replace their proteins and RNAs,&nbsp;indicating that SAI is essential for life," Tower explains.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-instability-and-life">Evolution, instability and life</h2>



So,&nbsp;how does instability play a role in the scheme of life?&nbsp;Tower believes that SAI is a driving force in evolution.



As cells build and break down unstable components,&nbsp;they essentially exist in two states:&nbsp;one with the unstable component present and one without it.&nbsp;Natural selection can act differently on these two states.&nbsp;



This can lead to a situation where both a normal gene and a mutated version of that gene are maintained in the same population,&nbsp;as each gene might be advantageous in a different state.



This genetic diversity,&nbsp;driven by instability,&nbsp;is what allows cells and organisms to adapt and evolve over time in their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stone-tool-discovery-challenges-entire-theory-of-human-evolution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life</a>.&nbsp;It's like a constant dance between stability and instability,&nbsp;where the right balance can lead to incredible resilience and adaptability.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dark-side-of-instability">Dark side of instability</h2>



While SAI can enhance adaptability and evolution, it has a downside. The process of constantly creating and replacing unstable components within cells demands significant energy. This energetic cost can strain cellular resources, potentially leading to inefficiencies over time. 



Tower suggests that SAI could be a key factor in aging.&nbsp;"Creating and then replacing the unstable components within cells comes at the cost of materials and energy.&nbsp;Breaking it down may also require additional energy," he says.



Additionally, SAI allows for the coexistence of normal and mutated genes within the same cell population. While this genetic diversity can be beneficial, it also poses risks. 



If a harmful mutated gene persists alongside a normal gene, it can have detrimental effects. These harmful mutations might contribute to cellular damage and dysfunction, accelerating the aging process. 



Over time, the accumulation of such harmful mutations can impair cell function, leading to age-related decline in tissue and organ systems. 



Thus, while SAI promotes adaptability and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quick-species-adaptability-shapes-long-term-evolution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survival</a> in changing environments, it also introduces vulnerabilities that can impact the aging process and overall cellular health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-beyond-evolution-and-aging">Beyond evolution and aging</h2>



The implications of SAI extend far beyond <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-dinosaurs-influence-human-aging-65-million-years-after-extinction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evolution and aging</a>. It has the potential to shed light on a wide range of biological phenomena, from chaos theory and criticality to Turing patterns and even "cellular consciousness."



"Science has been fascinated lately with concepts such as chaos theory,&nbsp;criticality,&nbsp;Turing patterns and 'cellular consciousness,'" says Tower.&nbsp;"Research in the field suggests that SAI plays an important role in producing each of these phenomena."



Tower believes that SAI is so widespread in biology and has such far-reaching consequences that it could be considered a new rule of biology.&nbsp;This rule challenges our traditional view of stability and highlights the importance of embracing instability in our understanding of life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-embracing-the-paradox">Embracing the paradox</h2>



The idea that instability is essential for life might seem paradoxical,&nbsp;but it's a reminder that life is a dynamic and ever-changing process.&nbsp;It's a constant dance between order and chaos,&nbsp;stability and instability.&nbsp;And it's this delicate balance that allows life to thrive and evolve.



"Even the simplest cells contain proteases and nucleases and regularly degrade and replace their proteins and RNAs,&nbsp;indicating that SAI is essential for life," Tower notes. 



So,&nbsp;while stability might seem like the ideal state,&nbsp;it's the instability that keeps life moving forward.&nbsp;It's the spark that ignites evolution,&nbsp;the engine that drives adaptation,&nbsp;and the force that shapes the diversity of life on Earth.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fragi.2024.1376060/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Aging</a>.



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New rule of biology: Instability is key to evolution and life

In the world of science, it's not every day that a new "rule of biology" emerges. These rules, or biological laws, are like the fundamental truths of the living world. They describe stability or instability patterns and behaviors that are consistently observed throughout life. One such rule is Allen's rule,&nbsp;which explains why animals in colder climates have shorter limbs than their counterparts in warmer regions.&nbsp;Now,&nbsp;John Tower,&nbsp;a professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife,&nbsp;is proposing a new rule that challenges our understanding of how life works. Selectively advantageous...

Toxic algae bloom invades Florida beaches. As a noxious algae bloom fouls beaches on Florida's Atlantic coast, the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=u.s.+army+corps&amp;form=EDGEAR&amp;qs=PF&amp;cvid=01079f54837c4b47b2d838da065cf3b2&amp;cc=US&amp;setlang=en-US&amp;elv=AY3%21uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfNohb9CLHhC*AbSHwHQGaD3uTGsfYh*E0fmbM16UjamUs*m18FNrgGG*yBvlQDu7iG5vyVv*mQsglpf7zANuVx0&amp;plvar=0&amp;PC=HCTS">U.S. Army Corps</a> of Engineers is preparing to reduce the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee that many blame for fueling the problem.
The Corps' Jacksonville District planned to begin the reductions Friday, targeting the Caloosahatchee Estuary and the St. Lucie Estuary, a news release said. Toxic algae bloom invades Florida beaches
The action comes after Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency over the problem, and as politicians and residents are blaming the federal government.
Multiple Florida lawmakers have asked federal authorities that oversee Lake Okeechobee to immediately stop freshwater releases that coastal communities blame for algae blooms and other environmental damage.
"I would describe them as guacamole-thick. And it stinks," said Gabriella Ferraro, spokeswoman for Martin County.
<a href="http://www.earth.com/image/striking-antisolar-rays-over-florida/">Florida</a>'s U.S. senators, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, have joined Martin County commissioners in calling for the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the flow of water between the river and Lake Okeechobee. Residents and business owners blame the algae on pollutants streaming from the lake.
After touring the St. Lucie River as it passes through downtown Stuart, Nelson said the problems can be traced to Florida's history of diverting water to the ocean.
"We need to repair 75 years of diking and draining, but that takes time," he said. He called on Florida's Legislature to spend money approved by state voters for environmental projects such as purchasing land around Lake Okeechobee for water storage instead of diverting the funds to pay for administrative costs.
Rubio is scheduled to visit the area Friday.
<img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2400905" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2016/07/01101101/algae-bloom-florida-june2016_1big_ap-150x150.jpg" alt="algae-bloom-florida-june2016_1big_ap" width="150" height="150" />The blue-green algae is the latest contaminant featured in yearslong arguments over water flowing from Lake Okeechobee, which is critical to South Florida's water supply and flood control systems.
At Central Marine boat docks in Stuart, pea-green and brown algae coated the water Thursday and smelled strongly like cow manure. Blooms that started last week in the St. Lucie River continue to spread, threatening Atlantic beaches expecting crowds of families for the holiday weekend.
Sarah Chaney, a receptionist at Central Marine, said boaters and fisherman are cancelling reservations after seeing reports of the algae, which she called "horrible and disgusting."
When Scott declared a state emergency for the area Wednesday, he blamed the federal government for neglecting repairs to the lake's aging dike that's considered one of the country's most at-risk for imminent failure. On Thursday, he amended the emergency declaration, adding Lee and Palm Beach counties to Wednesday's emergency declaration for Martin and St. Lucie counties. Palm Beach County is located directly south of the existing emergency area, while Lee County is located on Florida's Gulf coast.
Some residents blamed Scott instead Thursday. He hasn't done enough to curb pollution from farms north of the lake or purchase land farther south where lake waters could be stored and cleaned, said Irene Gomes, owner of the Driftwood Motel in Jensen Beach.
The algae has rapidly grown from a beach nuisance to a health concern, as one customer made plans to leave early if the algae triggered breathing issues, said Gomes, whose family has owned the motel's turquoise-colored cabins since 1958.
"At one point, I could say to my customers, 'Come down, it's not at all the beaches,' because it wasn't toxic. Now we're talking about health issues," Gomes said.
Chaney, the Central Marine receptionist, said Scott should visit the area, even if he gets criticized.
"He needs to come see it himself and stop being a coward," she said.
Scott said in a news release Thursday that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will immediately activate a virtual business emergency operations center to assess businesses impacted by the blooms. The program will begin to survey businesses affected by the water releases and share the results with various state and local agencies to implement appropriate disaster relief programs.
Lake Okeechobee is the largest in Florida and the second largest body of freshwater in the contiguous United States. Flooding there after a major hurricane in 1928 killed at least 2,500 people in surrounding communities of mostly poor, black farmworkers. It inspired the storm central to Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
To reduce the risk of a breach in the dike built after that hurricane, the Corps of Engineers tries to keep lake water levels between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level. Shoring up the dike will take years. Meanwhile, freshwater is released east and west of the lake into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
State water managers have said local stormwater runoff and septic tanks also fuel algae blooms. They're working to direct more water south of Lake Okeechobee into the parched Everglades, but federal regulations, conservation mandates and stalled restoration projects complicate those efforts.
In neighboring St. Lucie County, home to the troubled Indian River Lagoon, officials have prohibited homeowners from using fertilizer during the summer and begun working with the state to test waterways for pollution that might be linked to septic tanks.
Murky waters on southwest Florida's Gulf Coast also are blamed on the lake's discharges. Fort Myers-area lawmakers said Thursday that Scott should extend the state of emergency to Lee County because of water issues in the Caloosahatchee River.
---
Kay reported from Miami.
---
Follow Terry Spencer on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/terryspen">https://twitter.com/terryspen</a> . His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/author/terry-spencer">http://bigstory.ap.org/author/terry-spencer</a> .
---
This story has been corrected to show the name of the Martin County spokeswoman is Gabriella Ferraro, not Ferrero.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Toxic algae bloom invades Florida beaches

Toxic algae bloom invades Florida beaches. As a noxious algae...

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Scientists: Environmental toxins hurt brain development. An unprecedented alliance of leading scientists, medical experts, and children's health advocates argue that today's scientific evidence supports a link between exposures to environmental <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/high-levels-of-toxins-found-in-stranded-whales-and-dolphins/">toxins</a> in air, food, and everyday products and children's risks for neurodevelopmental disorders. The alliance, known as Project TENDR, which stands for "Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks," is calling for immediate action to significantly reduce exposures to toxic chemicals to protect brain development.

Among the signatories to the TENDR statement published online in Environmental Health Perspectives are Frederica Perera, professor and director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, and Virginia Rauh, professor of Population and Family Health, both faculty at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Scientists: Environmental toxins hurt brain development

"There is overwhelming scientific evidence that early-life exposure to neurotoxic chemicals is contributing to a host of developmental problems in children," says Perera, a professor of Environmental Health Sciences. "Exposure to these <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=chemicals&amp;cvid=c9b0b768100249a8a327d9b6b43d9526&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">chemicals</a> is pervasive, warranting action now to reduce their production and use."

Neurodevelopmental disorders linked to certain environmental exposures include intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficits, hyperactivity, and learning disabilities.

Prime examples of the chemicals and pollutants that are contributing to children's learning, intellectual and behavioral impairment include:
<ul>
 	<li>Organophosphate (OP) pesticides</li>
 	<li>Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants</li>
 	<li>Combustion-related air pollutants, which generally include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter</li>
 	<li>Lead</li>
 	<li>Mercury</li>
 	<li>Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)</li>
</ul>
TENDR signatories call on government to remove these toxic chemicals from food and consumer products so that pregnant women and children are not exposed. In addition, they call on regulators to follow scientific guidance for assessing how chemicals affect brain development, such as taking into account the special vulnerabilities of the developing fetus and children, all sources of exposure to neurotoxic chemicals, and the lack of a safety threshold for many of these chemicals. Among action items, they call on businesses to eliminate chemicals harmful to brain development from their supply chains and products.

Project TENDR, which stands for "Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks," is an alliance of 48 of the nation's top scientists, health professionals and health advocates. TENDR participants have come together across many disciplines and sectors, including epidemiology, toxicology, exposure science, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, nursing, public health, and federal and state chemical policy. Medical and scientific societies that have signed on in support include American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Endocrine Society, National Medical Association, National Hispanic Medical Association and the National Council of Asian Pacific Island Physicians. TENDR's long-term mission is to lower the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders by reducing exposure levels to chemicals and pollutants that can contribute to these conditions, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Project TENDR is a joint endeavor of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and the University of California Davis MIND Institute (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders).


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Scientists: Environmental toxins hurt brain development

Scientists: Environmental toxins hurt brain development. An unprecedented alliance of...

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NASA scans powerful Typhoon Nepartak. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Nepartak after it became a major typhoon in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The second tropical cyclone of the northwestern Pacific Ocean season formed on July 3 and strengthened quickly into a tropical storm that was named Nepartak.

On July 5 at 0359 UTC (11:59 p.m. EDT) infrared data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder aboard NASA's Aqua satellite detected strong thunderstorms completely surrounding the center of Nepartak with temperatures colder than minus 63 degrees Celsius (minus 81 Fahrenheit). Temperatures that cold indicate very powerful thunderstorms with cloud tops high into the troposphere. Bands of powerful thunderstorms wrapped into the low-level center of circulation from the northwest and southeast.NASA scans powerful Typhoon Nepartak

On July 5 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Nepartak's maximum sustained winds were near 120 knots (138 mph/222 kph). Nepartak is currently a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, making it a major hurricane/typhoon. It was centered near 17.6 degrees north latitude and 132.7 degrees east longitude, about 821 nautical miles east-southeast of Taipei, Taiwan. Nepartak is moving to the west-northwest at 18 knots (20.7 mph/33.3 kph). <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-telescope-will-capture-millions-of-galaxies/">NASA's</a> Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Nepartak after it became a major typhoon in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that "passage over very warm water, low vertical wind shear, and favorable outflow enhanced by an upper-level trough to the northwest are supporting the rapid intensification trend."

Nepartak is forecast to move northwest and is expected to intensify to 125 knots (143 mph/231 kph) over the next two days. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast calls for the tropical cyclone to cross over northern and then over far eastern China before reemerging into the Yellow Sea.


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NASA scans powerful Typhoon Nepartak

NASA scans powerful Typhoon Nepartak. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over...

First 6 months of 2016 were hottest ever in New Zealand. Ski fields are struggling to open and winter electricity consumption is down in New Zealand after the first six months of 2016 proved to be the hottest start to a year that scientists have ever recorded.
Temperatures in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/noumea-in-the-south-pacific-archipelago-of-new-caledonia/">South Pacific</a> nation were 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit) above the long-term average for the first half of the year, according to the government-funded National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
That's the highest since record-keeping began more than a century ago, and significantly higher than the previous record of 1.1 Celsius above average, reached in 1938 and again in 1999. First 6 months of 2016 were hottest ever in New Zealand
Chris Brandolino, a scientist at the research agency, said Monday that ocean temperatures in the Tasman Sea to the west of New Zealand have been unusually warm this year and that warmer winds from the north have also predominated.
"What's happened in the background is that the Earth has continued to warm as greenhouse gas levels have risen," he said.
The agency reported that carbon dioxide levels recorded at a station near Wellington passed 400 parts per million in June for the first time. The threshold is seen as significant internationally as an indicator of climate change.
While many New Zealanders reveled in a summer that never seemed to end, commercial ski fields including Coronet Peak, Mount Hutt and Turoa have found themselves with little snow, electing to delay opening or operating with limited runs as the Southern Hemisphere winter gets underway.
Brandolino said the rise in average temperatures doesn't necessarily mean the ski season will be bad, "although if I'm a skier or snow enthusiast, record warm temperatures aren't going to bode well for me."
Transpower, the government agency which owns the national electricity grid, provided figures to The Associated Press showing that New Zealanders consumed about 2 percent less electricity in June than they did during the same month a year earlier, likely due in part to lower heating requirements.
The Transpower figures showed a June drop of 8 percent in Wellington and 7 percent in Christchurch compared with a year earlier. Those cities are typically cooler in winter than the largest city, Auckland, where the drop was 2 percent.
The June month was the third-hottest June ever recorded in New Zealand and the hottest ever recorded in Christchurch, according to the research agency.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

First 6 months of 2016 were hottest ever in New Zealand

First 6 months of 2016 were hottest ever in New...

EOMAP: Developing new methods to detect coral bleaching events. The EOMAP aquatic remote sensing company, together with partners at the Remote Sensing Research Centre of Queensland University and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, are developing new methods to monitor and detect coral bleaching events using Europe’s Sentinel-2A satellite.

The Great Barrier Reef is suffering dramatic levels of coral bleaching over large areas of the northern reefs. EOMAP: Developing new methods to detect coral bleaching events

In order to assess the extent of a bleaching event, scientists and managers often resort to surveys from aircraft, followed by targeted dive surveys. With the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/brutal-coral-bleaching-event-strikes-the-great-barrier-reef/">Reef</a> being approximately the size of Italy, this is a costly and time-consuming procedure, particularly when repeat surveys are required.

Today, Sentinel-2A provides the required spatial and temporal resolution for detecting and monitoring coral bleaching (of a certain magnitude in area and duration) at Reef-wide scales.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA">EOMAP</a> and partners believe they have the right algorithms to best exploit these new data sources.

Dr Petra Lundgren, Science Manager at the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, comments, “Given the Great Barrier Reef’s vast size, and the scale of the threats it faces, there is an urgent need to develop new, cost-effective monitoring technologies that will improve the spatial and temporal scope of observation data.”

Australian and German teams are testing this methodology over an area of the Reef where, based on recent aerial surveys, bleaching is occurring. The premise is relatively simple: compare Sentinel-2A images taken before and during coral bleaching.

[caption id="attachment_2401026" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-2401026" src="http://cff1.greenatom.net/uploads/2016/07/01174308/coral-bleaching-from-space_1big_sentinel-2_esa-150x150.jpg" alt="An example of the seafloor reflectance product " width="150" height="150" /> An example of the seafloor reflectance product[/caption]

However, such satellite image comparisons are not straightforward, particularly where water-covered targets are concerned. Variations in viewing and illumination geometries, atmospheric conditions, water column optical properties, sea surface roughness, tides and water depth all add to the difficulties.

Dr Magnus Wettle, Managing Director of EOMAP Australia, explains: “These variations, between images taken, say, 1–2 months apart, can distort the measured signal to the point where it significantly affects the perceived differences in the image data; errors of omission and commission are both likely.

“We can get around this by using our proprietary Seafloor Reflectance product.”

Calculated using physics-based algorithms, the EOMAP seafloor reflectance is the theoretical true colour of the seafloor, as if the overlying water column were removed and the viewer were standing on the seafloor.

In other words, the perceived colour of the seafloor is normalised for atmospheric and aquatic optical effects, and seafloor colour can therefore be accurately compared between images taken at different dates, from different sensors, and under varying environmental conditions.

“The areas that are shown in the maps as potentially bleached make sense based on our interpretation of aerial and field observations, as well as our understanding of the coral bleaching process,” says Dr Chris Roelfsema, Co-Director of the Remote Sensing Research Centre at the University of Queensland.

“These results are very promising and will provide a step forward in combining field and satellite methods for monitoring bleaching for large areas such as the Great Barrier Reef.”

The next important step is to incorporate additional, accurate field survey data, acquired over the period during which the corals are bleached, in order to further validate these outputs.

Australian agencies working on the Reef have now collected field survey data, which could be used towards validating this approach.

Once proven, the approach can be deployed across larger, regional scale areas of the Reef, both for mapping and future monitoring purposes.

---

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European Space Agency</a>

EOMAP: Developing new methods to detect coral bleaching events

EOMAP: Developing new methods to detect coral bleaching events. The...

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Hurricane Blas: NASA analyzes first hurricane of the Eastern Pacific season. The second named tropical cyclone of the Eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season has become hurricane Blas. NASA analyzed Blas in infrared light on July 5 and saw powerful thunderstorms with very cold cloud top temperatures after it reached hurricane status. Earlier, NASA's RapidScat instrument analyzed surface winds as the storm was strengthening from a depression to a tropical storm.

The tropical depression that grew to become Tropical Storm Blas formed at 11 p.m. (0300 UTC) on Saturday, July 2. At that time the center of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-catches-tropical-depression-sarika039s-landfall/"> Tropical Depression</a> Three-E was near latitude 11.1 north and longitude 108.3 west. By 5 a.m. EDT on July 3 the depression strengthened into a tropical storm.

On July 3, the RapidScat instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station saw surface winds east of Blas' center near 21 meters per second (46.9 mph/75.6 kph). RapidScat is an important tool for meteorologists, because maximum sustained winds are not always equally distributed in a storm. Hurricane Blas: NASA analyzes first hurricane of the Eastern <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=pacific&amp;cvid=48a4b994995f4fb39e182bc8cec44e27&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Pacific</a> season shows forecasters the location of the strongest winds in different quadrants of a storm, indicating locations facing greatest impacts.

By July 5, Blas had become the first hurricane of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season. At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 100 mph (155 kph) with higher gusts.

The center of Hurricane Blas was located near latitude 14.2 North, longitude 118.1 West. That's about 805 miles (1,295 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Blas is far from land, so there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Blas was moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph), and a motion toward the west-northwest or west is expected for the next couple of days. The estimated minimum central pressure is 978 millibars.

On July 5 at 0941 UTC (5:41 a.m. EDT) infrared data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder aboard NASA's Aqua satellite detected strong thunderstorms completely surrounding the center with temperatures colder than minus 75 degrees Celsius (minus 103 Fahrenheit). That indicates very powerful thunderstorms with cloud tops high into the troposphere. Infrared data also suggests a ragged eye has developed.

Visible satellite data shows that the overall convective cloud pattern has also become more symmetrical.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that additional strengthening is expected, and Blas is forecast to become a major hurricane later today, July 5. NHC noted that in two days, Blas will be moving over cooler waters that will put the storm on a weakening trend. For updates, visit: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>.


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Hurricane Blas: NASA analyzes first hurricane of the Eastern

Hurricane Blas: NASA analyzes first hurricane of the Eastern Pacific...

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The first named tropical storm of the Eastern <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pacific-salmon-water-temperatures/">Pacific</a> Hurricane Season formed over the July 4th holiday weekend and by July 6 had weakened to a remnant low pressure area. NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible light image of tropical storm Agatha before the storm's big fireworks finale fizzled.

Agatha, which started out as Tropical Depression 2-E formed Friday, July 1 at 11 p.m. EDT. By 11 a.m. PDT (1500 UTC) on July 2, the depression strengthened into a tropical storm about 775 miles (1,245 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico">Mexico</a>.

As Agatha neared peak intensity, NASA's Terra satellite flew overhead on July 3.The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Agatha on July 3, 2016 when the storm's maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph (75 kph).The image showed strongest thunderstorms on the eastern side of the storm with a band of storms wrapping into the low-level center of circulation from the northwest.

At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 UTC), on July 4, Agatha became a remnant low pressure area. The center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Agatha was located near latitude 19.3 North, longitude 130.4 West. That's about 1,345 miles (2,160 km) west of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. The post-tropical cyclone was moving toward the west near 12 mph (19 kph). Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 kph) and weakening.

By July 5 at 0300 UTC (July 4 at 11 p.m. EDT) Agatha's remnants were located near 19.3 degrees north latitude and 130.4 degrees west longitude. Agatha continued to move west and is expected to dissipate like fading fireworks in a day or two.


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Tropical Storm Agatha fizzles out

The first named tropical storm of the Eastern Pacific Hurricane...

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Understanding forest fire history can help keep forests healthy. For nearly a century, forest fires have been viewed by scientists and the public as dangerous and environmentally damaging disasters. However, recent research has shown that forest fires are vital to maintaining healthy forests. While people in the western portions of the U.S. experience forest fires often and know of their value, many people on the eastern side of the U.S. do not know of their importance. In a new study, University of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri">Missouri</a> researchers have studied tree rings throughout <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/explosive-wildfires-western-oklahoma/">Oklahoma</a> and Tennessee to determine the history of fires in those areas.

Michael Stambaugh, assistant research professor in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, says understanding this history is important for managing and improving the ecology of forests in the future.

"Many forest ecosystems are fire-dependent, meaning that in order to maintain their health and vibrancy, they must be subjected to fire on a regular basis," said Stambaugh, who is a member of the Missouri Tree-Ring Laboratory at MU. "By understanding how fire has maintained forest ecosystems in the past, we can determine the best ways to use fire to maintain those forests in the future."

To study the history of fire in Oklahoma and Tennessee, Stambaugh examined tree rings from 332 trees in eight different sites throughout both states. Stambaugh found 843 different fire scars embedded within the tree rings and was able to determine when and how often each site experienced forest fires over the last 300 years. He found that despite having a wetter, cooler climate, forests in Tennessee experienced higher fire frequency than Oklahoma. He also found that fires existed in those areas long before Euro-American settlement, showing that fire has been important to those forests for centuries.

"The history of fire in America also is the history of humans on this continent," Stambaugh said. "Humans have been here for more than 12,000 years and everywhere we see humans move, we see fires follow or be altered. This has been a constant for so long that forest ecology has become dependent on these fires, if they already weren't before humans arrived. However, many parts of the U.S., especially in the eastern half of the continent, have not experienced forest fires in more than 150 years because humans have worked hard to prevent those fires. Many of those forests are now suffering because of the lack of fire to help renew the ecology."

In order to understand the effects of fire around the U.S., Stambaugh and his fellow MU researchers are cataloging the history of fire by studying tree rings from trees throughout the entire country.
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The study, "Scale Dependence of Oak Woodland Historical Fire Intervals: Contrasting the Barrens of Tennessee and Cross Timbers of Oklahoma, USA," was published in Fire Ecology. The study was coauthored by MU Associate Professor Richard Guyette along with Joseph Marschall and Daniel Dey of the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station located at MU.

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Understanding forest fire history can help keep forests healthy

Understanding forest fire history can help keep forests healthy. For...

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Study: Starbons absorb 65 percent more carbon than other methods. Starbons, made from waste biomass including food peelings and seaweed, were discovered and first reported 10 years ago by the York Green <a href="http://www.earth.com/video/the-chemistry-of-leather/">Chemistry</a> Centre of Excellence. Using these renewable materials provides a greener, more efficient and selective approach than other commercial systems of reducing emissions.

Current widespread methods of carbon capture, such as amine treating, use liquid solutions for the treatment of emissions from chemical plants and refineries. However, these are expensive to run and require a lot of input energy compared with a relatively low output.

The synthetic make-up of Starbons, which contains pores, results in the absorption of up to 65 percent more CO2 than other methods.

Starbons are also more selective in capturing CO2 when mixed with nitrogen, with results showing a capture rate of 20:1 rather than 5:1 - four times more selective than other methods.

The materials also retain their CO2 absorption and selectivity in the presence of water, and have extremely fast rates of CO2 absorption and desorption.

Such enhanced properties for carbon capture, in a material that is sustainable and low-cost to make, holds significant potential for helping to reduce emissions from many manufacturing plants and power stations in the UK and around the world.

Professor Michael North, Professor of Green Chemistry at the University of York, said: "This work is of fundamental importance in overturning established wisdom associated with gas capture by solids. It defies current accepted scientific understanding of the efficiency of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon">carbon</a>-capturing CO2, and has the potential to be of significant commercial and governmental value in helping the UK meet its CO2 emissions reduction promises.

Professor James Clark, Head of York's Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, said: "The high CO2 adsorption, high selectivity, rapid kinetics and water tolerance, combined with the low cost and ease of large scale production from waste biomass, gives Starbons great potential. We hope to offer the product as a commercial capture agent for separating CO2 from chemical or power station waste streams."

The research is published in leading chemistry journal, Angewandte Chemie.


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Study: Starbons absorb 65 percent more carbon than other methods

Study: Starbons absorb 65 percent more carbon than other methods....

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Scientists: California droughts are mainly controlled by wind. California droughts are mainly controlled by wind, not by the amount of evaporated moisture in the air, new research has found.

The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, on June 30. The research increases the understanding of how the water cycle is related to extreme events and could eventually help in predicting droughts and floods, said lead author Jiangfeng Wei, a research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences.

"Ocean evaporation provides moisture for California precipitation but is not the reason for droughts there, although the ocean evaporation is slightly lower during droughts," Wei said.

The researchers analyzed 30-year data sets that recorded precipitation, ocean evaporation, surface wind speed and atmospheric pressure on and near the west coast of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/severe-fire-threat-continues-in-the-western-united-states/">United States</a>. These are all factors that influence the water cycle in California. One of the difficulties of studying the water cycle, Wei said, is that the water sources for precipitation cannot be directly observed, so the team also used a mathematical moisture-tracking method and high-resolution model simulations.

Their analysis showed that although moisture evaporated from the <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=pacific&amp;cvid=d76771808401442b8e6391d0a64fd8f6&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">Pacific Ocean</a> is the major source for California precipitation, the amount of water evaporated did not strongly influence precipitation in California, except in the cases of very heavy flooding. That's because the amount of water evaporated from this ocean region does not change much year by year, researchers found, and did not cause rain to occur more or less often.

"Ocean evaporation has little direct influence on California precipitation because of its relatively weak variability," Wei said.

Instead, the researchers found that disturbances in atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air, have the most effect on drought because they can affect factors that will cause it to rain more or less.

The study co-authors are Qinjian Jin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who earned his Ph.D. at the Jackson School; Zong-Liang Yang, a professor in the Jackson School's Department of Geological Sciences; and Paul Dirmeyer, a professor at George Mason University.Scientists: California droughts are mainly controlled by wind

Most of California has been in a severe drought since 2011, although a strong El Niño in the winter of 2015 helped diminish the drought. The current drought is caused by a high-pressure system that disturbs the atmospheric circulation. The development of the high-pressure system is related to a sea surface temperature pattern in the Pacific Ocean, according to research cited by the study.

"Although this is a very rare event, the probability of this kind of high-pressure system is likely increasing with global warming," the authors said.

Yang said that the research could aid in the prediction of droughts and floods by improving scientific understanding of the intricate factors that influence rainfall the most.

"The topic is extremely timely as current and future climate change would mean more changes in extreme events such as droughts and floods," Yang said. "Understanding this asymmetric contribution of ocean evaporation to drought and flooding in California will ultimately help us make better predictions."


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Scientists: California droughts are mainly controlled by wind

Scientists: California droughts are mainly controlled by wind. California droughts...

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Unique alien microbes found living in Yellowstone National Park. A microbial partnership thriving in an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park has surrendered some of its lifestyle secrets to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Mircea Podar of ORNL's Biosciences Division led a team that isolated the archaeon Nanopusillus acidilobi, cultured these tiny microbes - just 100 to 300 billionths of a meter in size - and can now study how they interact with their host, another archaeon (Acidilobus). The relationships between these two organisms, detailed in a paper published in Nature Communications, can serve as a valuable model to study the evolution and mechanisms of more complex systems.Unique alien microbes found living in Yellowstone National Park

"This work demonstrates how organisms find ways to adapt and interact with specific organisms in a symbiotic or parasitic way to survive in hostile environments," Podar said. "By integrating knowledge from genomics, proteomics and classical microbiology, we can culture wild organisms and sometimes manipulate them for practical applications that range from energy production to medicine."

The Archaea domain consists of single-cell microorganisms that, like bacteria, have no cell nucleus or membrane-bound organelles, a sub-unit within a cell. These microbes have maintained an open environment-exposed cellular membrane, and Nanopusillus has developed a mechanism to acquire primary biosynthetic molecules from the host cell through cell-to-cell contact.

With habitats like hot pools in Yellowstone, the Nanopusillus acidilobi microbe has been particularly elusive, so this accomplishment is likely to create a stir.

One of the journal's reviewers noted that the discovery and paper provide "new exciting insights into the microbial diversity with important phylogenetic implications and thus represents a very important contribution in the archaeal/microbial diversity field."

Researchers also noted similarities between this microbe and its distant relative, the marine Nanoarchaeumm, which was cultured more than a decade ago. Through observations like this and by making comparisons over the years, scientists have been able to gain insight into structural and molecular properties of a host of novel groups of microbes.

This most recent accomplishment is especially satisfying, said Podar, who noted that it was a combination of diligence and chance and took several years.

"We discovered and cultured a novel organism from a group of organisms that people have been trying to get for over a decade, and in part that was due to prior genomic data we acquired from those organisms in Yellowstone," Podar said, adding that the microbial system "abounds in unique, remarkable physiological and genomic features."
###
Co-authors of the paper, titled "Genomics-informed isolation and characterization of a symbiotic Nanoarchaeota system from a terrestrial geothermal environment," are ORNL's Louie Wurch, Richard Giannone, Bernard Belisle, Cynthia Swift, Sagar Utturkar, Bob Hettich and Anna-Louise Reysenbach of Portland State University.

DOE's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation provided funding for this work, a collaboration with the University of Tennessee and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/royal-dutch-shell-icebreaker-leaves-portland-after-protest-3/">Portland</a> State University. Also, the Yellowstone National Park Service granted a permit to study the microbes.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit <a href="http://science.energy.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://science.energy.gov/</a>.

Image: <a href="https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/news/images/Cistern%20Spring_0.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/news/images/Cistern%20Spring_0.jpg</a>

Cutline: Cistern Spring in Yellowstone National Park is home to the elusive archaeon Nanopusillus acidilobi.

NOTE TO EDITORS: You may read other press releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or learn more about the lab at <a href="http://www.ornl.gov/news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.ornl.gov/news</a>. Additional information about ORNL is available at the sites below:

Twitter - <a href="http://twitter.com/ornl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://twitter.com/ornl</a>
RSS Feeds - <a href="http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss_feeds.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/rss_feeds.shtml</a>
Flickr - <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakridgelab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakridgelab</a>
YouTube - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/OakRidgeNationalLab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.youtube.com/user/OakRidgeNationalLab</a>
LinkedIn - <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/companies/oak-ridge-national-laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.linkedin.com/companies/oak-ridge-national-laboratory</a>
Facebook - <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Oak.Ridge.National.Laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.facebook.com/Oak.Ridge.National.Laboratory</a>

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Unique alien microbes found living in Yellowstone National Park

Unique alien microbes found living in Yellowstone National Park. A...

Atchafalaya Basin study calls for old methods of coastal management. Almost 90 years ago, the Mississippi River showed the world its power for destruction with the Great Flood of 1927. Now the river's power is once again on display, this time as a stabilizing force to maintain Louisiana's disappearing coastline.

Historically as the Mississippi River wandered across the Louisiana landscape, it forged different paths, abandoning previous ones. The resulting basins were supplied with fresh sediment and nutrients during flood events, a source that has dried up as the river became increasingly managed with locks and levees. However, one part of Louisiana's delta system with restored access to riverine sediment has withstood the rising waters: the Atchafalaya Basin. Atchafalaya Basin study calls for old methods of coastal management.

A recent collaborative research effort published in Sustainability Science seeks to highlight this enclave of stability against the stark reality of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/hunter-fined-killing-black-bear/">Louisiana's</a> predominantly sediment-starved, sinking deltaic systems.

"The Atchafalaya Basin is one of the few coastal deltaic basins where land has emerged above mean sea level in the last four decades," said lead author Robert Twilley, LSU Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences professor and executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.

The study allowed the team of authors to contrast these positive findings with work that began decades earlier by Sherwood "Woody" Gagliano, who was a geologist at LSU. Gagliano combined historic data with then-present day research to forecast coastal land loss for the Terrebonne Basin and surrounding areas, places where ties with the river had been severed. With the benefit of time, Twilley's team has compared Gagliano's predictions for the Terrebonne Basin with actual changes to the coast.

Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that Gagliano's predictions fell short, especially in the Terrebonne Basin. There, the Gulf of Mexico is six miles farther inland than Gagliano projected. Since 1932, the Terrebonne Basin has migrated on average 10 miles northward. And not only is the Gulf of Mexico migrating landward, but the rate at which it does is increasing - from 75 meters per year in 1973 to over 200 meters per year in 2010.

By comparison, the Gulf of Mexico has inched upward only 72 feet into the Atchafalaya Basin, where the Mississippi River is fortifying the shoreline.

"The Atchafalaya region will not see as fast an impact of relative sea-level rise as other basins because it still has the power of the river," Twilley said.

The Atchafalaya Basin is also more protected during storm surges, as there is more land in the basin. Over the past 60 years, vegetative cover expanded in the Atchafalaya Basin with forested wetlands increasing by 82 percent. Conversely, Terrebonne has lost 59 percent of these forests as saltwater has intruded. These vast stretches of open water allow greater wave formation and resulting erosion, which puts Terrebonne at an increased risk of further coastal flooding.

Louisiana struggles with the consequences of hurricanes, sea level rise, subsidence, river management, dredging and will face many more challenges in the years to come. Despite the myriad of threats, the Atchafalaya Basin still stands strong, however, which is something that needs to be considered as the 2017 Master Plan is being crafted, say the study authors.

"We need to celebrate the power of the Mississippi River to maintain a delta coast with subsidence and sea level rise," Twilley said. "That power is significant."
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Additional Link:

Co-evolution of wetland landscapes, flooding, and human settlement in the Mississippi River Delta Plain, Sustainability Science: <a href="http://www.laseagrant.org/wp-content/uploads/Coevolution-Twilley-et-al-2016.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://www.laseagrant.org/wp-content/uploads/Coevolution-Twilley-et-al-2016.pdf</a>.

Atchafalaya Basin study calls for old methods of coastal management

Atchafalaya Basin study calls for old methods of coastal management....

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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



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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

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

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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

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

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