In the search for life beyond Earth, few places are as intriguing as Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. It's the only spot in the solar system where there are lakes and seas on the surface - only they're not made of water. 



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-does-saturns-moon-titan-have-rivers-but-not-deltas-scientists-have-an-idea/">Titan's lakes</a> overflow with liquid methane and ethane, producing a cold, bizarre, and mysterious world. Scientists have been exploring if life could emerge in such conditions.



Now, a new study from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a> offers a possible pathway for how tiny compartments called vesicles - which are critical in the early steps of cellular life - could naturally form in Titan’s frigid lakes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vesicles-in-titan-s-methane-lakes">Vesicles in Titan's methane lakes</h2>



On Earth, life as we know it began in water. That’s where molecules came together in structures, got organized, and began to carry out the most fundamental functions of living cells. One of the first moves in this direction was the creation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesicle_(biology_and_chemistry)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vesicles</a>.



Vesicles are small sacs, like tiny bubbles, composed of molecules with one end that adores water and the other that shuns it. 



These <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/micrometeorites-may-have-helped-create-life-billions-of-years-ago/">amphiphiles</a> arrange themselves spontaneously in the form of spheres in water, with the water-attracting parts pointing outward and the water-repelling parts safely inside.



Over time, some of these spheres developed a second outer layer, creating a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26871/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bilayer membrane</a>. This gave them the structure of a cell, able to enclose materials and protect them from the outside. 



But Titan isn’t <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-much-life-has-inhabited-earth-since-the-very-first-cell-scientists-found-out/">Earth</a>. There’s no liquid water. The chemistry and environment are entirely different.



That’s what makes this research so interesting. It suggests that vesicles might still form - just not in water. Instead, they could take shape in Titan’s methane and ethane-rich lakes through a different, but equally natural, process.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-titan-is-a-moon-with-weather">Titan is a moon with weather</h2>



Titan isn’t just the biggest of <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Saturn’s moons</a>. It’s also the only one with a thick atmosphere. The orange haze surrounding it is mostly nitrogen, but it also includes <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/titans-weather-resembles-earths-but-runs-on-methane-instead-of-water/">methane</a>. 



This methane forms clouds, creates rainstorms, and carves rivers and lakes into the icy surface - just like water does on Earth.



NASA’s Cassini mission, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, gave us our first real look at this weather system in action. 



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Titan-surface_Huygens-probe_33000-feet_NASA_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Titan-surface_Huygens-probe_33000-feet_NASA_1s.webp" alt="Huygens captured this aerial view of Titan from an altitude of 33,000 feet. Credit: ESA/NASA" class="wp-image-1978881"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Huygens captured this aerial view of Titan from an altitude of 33,000 feet. Click image to enlarge. Credit: ESA/NASA</figcaption></figure>



What it saw changed our understanding of Titan forever. The methane doesn’t just sit there - it moves through a full cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Along the way, it also fuels complex chemistry <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saturns-moon-titan-has-a-mysterious-atmospheric-tilt/">in the atmosphere</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-complex-organic-molecules-form-on-titan">Complex organic molecules form on Titan</h2>



Sunlight breaks down methane molecules, which then recombine into more complex organic molecules. Some scientists believe this chemistry could be similar to what happened on early Earth, long before life began. 



If we want to understand how life started here, Titan might be one of our best laboratories in the solar system.



The study focused on how vesicles might form under Titan-like conditions. Instead of relying on water, it looked at how droplets of liquid, tossed into the air by splashing methane raindrops, might mix with molecules coating the surface of lakes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-making-vesicles-in-titan-s-methane-lakes">Making vesicles in Titan's methane lakes</h2>



Imagine a small droplet being launched into the air, its surface covered with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/amphiphile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amphiphiles</a>. When it lands back on the lake - which is also covered with these molecules - the two layers meet. That contact forms a vesicle with a double-layered membrane, trapping the droplet inside.



Now imagine this happening over and over again, with thousands or millions of these vesicles forming, spreading, and even interacting. It’s not life - but it could be the kind of chemical structure that life starts from.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Titan_cell-vesicle-formation_organic-material_life-building-blocks_nasa_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Titan_cell-vesicle-formation_organic-material_life-building-blocks_nasa_1s.webp" alt="An artist’s concept of the proposed mechanism for vesicle formation on Titan. (1) Methane lakes and seas on Titan’s surface become coated with a film of amphiphiles. (2) Methane raindrops splash the lake surface. (3) Splashes create a mist of droplets coated in the same film. (4) Droplets settle back onto the lake and sink, becoming coated in a bilayer which becomes a vesicle. Credit: Christian Mayer (Universität Duisburg-Essen) and Conor Nixon (NASA Goddard)" class="wp-image-1978879"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An artist’s concept of the proposed mechanism for vesicle formation on Titan. (1) Methane lakes and seas on Titan’s surface become coated with a film of amphiphiles. (2) Methane raindrops splash the lake surface. (3) Splashes create a mist of droplets coated in the same film. (4) Droplets settle back onto the lake and sink, becoming coated in a bilayer which becomes a vesicle. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Christian Mayer (Universität Duisburg-Essen) and Conor Nixon (NASA Goddard)</figcaption></figure>



“The existence of any vesicles on Titan would demonstrate an increase in order and complexity, which are conditions necessary for the origin of life," said Conor Nixon from NASA’s <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goddard Space Flight Center</a> in Greenbelt, Maryland.



"We’re excited about these new ideas because they can open up new directions in Titan research and may change how we search for life on Titan in the future.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-missions-to-titan">Future missions to Titan</h2>



Although this research is still theoretical, it’s a huge step towards thinking outside the box about what life could be like elsewhere. 



Titan’s lakes are not on the agenda for NASA’s next <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dragonfly-space-mission-saturn-moon-titan-gets-greenlight/">Dragonfly mission</a>, but the rotorcraft will investigate other areas of the surface. It'll fly between sites, gaining information on the composition of Titan, its atmosphere, and the possibility of habitability.



<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/dragonfly/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dragonfly</a> will not have the equipment to directly detect vesicles, but its journey may serve to verify if Titan’s chemistry is suitable for them to exist.



If it does, we’ll be one step closer to answering one of the biggest questions of all: Are we alone, or can life begin in places completely unlike our own?



The study is published in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/proposed-mechanism-for-the-formation-of-protocelllike-structures-on-titan/F4093F34F6FD80380CEE909C37B2CECE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">International Journal of Astrobiology</a>.



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Study explains how living cells could form in methane lakes on Saturn's moon Titan

In the search for life beyond Earth, few places are as intriguing as Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. It's the only spot in the solar system where there are lakes and seas on the surface - only they're not made of water. Titan's lakes overflow with liquid methane and ethane, producing a cold, bizarre, and mysterious world. Scientists have been exploring if life could emerge in such conditions. Now, a new study from NASA offers a possible pathway for how tiny compartments called vesicles - which are critical...

Experts at the <a href="https://twin-cities.umn.edu/">University of Minnesota</a> have found a way to alter iron sulfide, also known as "fools gold," into a magnetic material. This is the first time that a completely non-magnetic material has been electrically transformed to become magnetic.

The research, published by <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a>, may ultimately lead to the development of valuable new magnetic materials for more energy-efficient computer memory devices.

"Most people knowledgeable in magnetism would probably say it was impossible to electrically transform a non-magnetic material into a magnetic one. When we looked a little deeper, however, we saw a potential route, and made it happen," said study lead researcher Professor Chris Leighton.

For more than a decade, the team has been investigating the potential for fools gold to be used in solar cells.

Sulfur is a low-cost byproduct of petroleum production that is particularly abundant. Prior to this study, scientists have struggled to make it efficient enough to create low-cost solar cells.

"We really went back to the iron sulfide material to try to figure out the fundamental roadblocks to cheap, non-toxic solar cells," said Professor Leighton. 

"Meanwhile, my group was also working in the emerging field of magnetoionics where we try to use electrical voltages to control magnetic properties of materials for potential applications in magnetic data storage devices. At some point we realized we should be combining these two research directions, and it paid off."

According to Professor Leighton, the goal of the study was to manipulate the magnetic properties of materials with a voltage alone, with very little electrical current, which is important to make magnetic devices more energy-efficient. 

Up until now, scientists had managed to switch on and off ferromagnetism, the most technologically important form of magnetism, in other types of magnetic materials.

The current study has confirmed the capacity for ferromagnetism to be electrically induced in iron sulfide - an entirely non-magnetic material.

The technique used for the investigation was able to successfully magnetize a non-magnetic iron sulfide material and then return it to its non-magnetic state, which means that magnetism can be reversibly switched on and off.

"We were pretty surprised it worked. By applying the voltage, we essentially pour electrons into the material. It turns out that if you get high enough concentrations of electrons, the material wants to spontaneously become ferromagnetic, which we were able to understand with theory. This has lots of potential. Having done it with iron sulfide, we guess we can do it with other materials as well."

Professor Leighton said this approach would have never have imagined or attempted if it was not for his team's research on iron sulfide for solar cells and the work on magnetoionics. "It was the perfect convergence of two areas of research.

The next step, according to Professor Leighton, is to continue research to replicate the process at higher temperatures, which the team's preliminary data suggest is possible. The experts also hope to test their process with other materials to demonstrate the potential of their technique.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Fools gold may prove valuable for making solar cells

Experts at the University of Minnesota have found a way...

Women with fewer social ties are more likely to struggle with <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/obesity-and-covid-19-death-are-linked-by-a-hormone/">obesity</a>, according to a new study from the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> (UBC). By contrast, men have a lower risk of obesity if they have a smaller social network and live alone.

The investigation was focused on data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, including information on the social lives of 28,238 adults between the ages of 45 and 85. The researchers also analyzed data on waist circumference and body mass index to examine the potential link between social ties and obesity.

The study revealed that women who were single, widowed, divorced, or separated had a greater risk of both abdominal and general obesity. Women were also more prone to excessive weight if they were not very socially active. For example, females who lived alone and had limited social participation, such as no recurring monthly activities, were found to have the highest average waist size.

On the other hand, men with a larger social network had a higher average waist size compared to men with a smaller social network. Men who lived with a partner were also found to be more likely to struggle with obesity compared to those who lived alone.

Principal investigator Annalijn Conklin is an assistant professor in the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and is a researcher with the Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences.

"There is a lot of literature suggesting that marriage is health-promoting for men and potentially less so for women, so our results about marital status were kind of surprising," said Professor Conklin. 

"The different types of social ties that we looked at had a more consistent relationship with obesity for women. Those patterns in men were less obvious and seemed to sometimes even be reversed to what we saw in women."

The study was not designed to investigate the underlying cause of the gender differences linked to obesity. However, Professor Conklin believes the findings may be partly due to differing gender roles and the social expectations that come along with those roles.

"You would think that having small social networks would be a kind of social stress and that would have consequences for obesity, but we found that it was potentially protective for men," said Professor Conklin. 

"It could be that managing very large networks becomes a source of stress for men, as research has shown that men often assign to their wives the emotional labour of keeping track of birthdays, special events and organizing family or social gatherings." 

Study lead author Zeinab Hosseini said that further research is needed to understand the factors at play.

"Not only did we find that minimal social participation was associated with obesity in older women, but also that social participation altered the levels of obesity in widowed women," said Hosseini. "These findings call for studies that will follow the participants over time to understand the possible causal links between different social connections and the health of older women and men."

The findings indicate that health care providers should recommend social activities alongside healthy diet and exercise when treating older women who are single, noted the researchers.

"Clinicians could be encouraging older women patients who are non-partnered, especially widowed women, to participate in social community interventions as a way to address obesity," said Hosseini.

"This would require clear implementation strategies, and a focus on social connection interventions by health care researchers and decision-makers."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Obesity more common among women with fewer social ties

Women with fewer social ties are more likely to struggle...

A new study from <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> has pinpointed, for the first time, which regions on the California <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/100-year-coastal-floods-may-become-ten-times-as-frequent/">coast</a> are the most vulnerable to a phenomenon known as land subsidence, which is the sudden sinking or gradual downward settling of the ground's surface.

The California coast has been largely spared from sea level rise for decades, but the trend is now set to reverse, and the coastline has already started disappearing due to land subsidence. 

The ASU team used satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), which can detect the land surface rise and fall with millimeter accuracy, to identify places on the California coast that are sinking.

The study revealed sinking coastal  hotspots in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. These cities have a combined population of 4 to 8 million people, who will be increasingly exposed to rapid land subsidence and a greater risk of flooding in the coming decades.

"We have ushered in a new era of coastal mapping at greater than 1,000 fold higher detail and resolution than ever before," said study co-author Manoochehr Shirzaei. "The unprecedented detail and submillimeter accuracy resolved in our vertical land motion dataset can transform the understanding of natural and anthropogenic changes in relative sea-level and associated hazards."

Natural processes can cause land subsidence such as tectonics, sediment loading, and soil compaction. Subsidence can also be caused by human activities including groundwater extraction and oil and gas production.

By 2005, there were approximately 40 million people who were exposed to a "100-year" coastal flooding hazard. By 2070, this number will more than triple. The value of property exposed to coastal flooding will be in the trillions of dollars, and the countries with the highest exposure will be the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands.

However, these estimates often rely solely on projections of global average sea level rise and do not account for vertical land motion.

The current study measured the entire 1,350-kilometer long coast of California from 2007 to 2018, compiling thousands of satellite images over time to make a vertical land motion map with unprecedented resolution.

The four metro areas that are most affected by land subsidence are San Francisco, Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

"The vast majority of the San Francisco Bay perimeter is undergoing subsidence with rates reaching 5.9 mm/year," said study lead author Em Blackwell. "Notably, the San Francisco International Airport is subsiding with rates faster than 2.0 mm/year."

"The Monterey Bay Area, including the city of Santa Cruz, is rapidly sinking without any zones of uplift. Rates of subsidence for this area reach 8.7 mm/year. The Los Angeles area shows subsidence along small coastal zones, but most of the subsidence is occurring inland."

By 2050, the global coastal population is expected to grow to over one billion people. It is critical that land subsidence is included in regional projections of future flood risk along with sea level rise.

The ASU team is hopeful that others in the scientific community can build on their findings to measure and identify coastal hazards more broadly in the United States and all over the world.   

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

California's coast is vanishing due to land subsidence

A new study from Arizona State University has pinpointed, for...

A rapid cooling event 13,000 years ago was triggered by volcanism, rather than the impact of a fragmented comet or <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/asteroid-impacts-created-building-blocks-of-life/">asteroid</a>, according to a new study. Researchers found evidence of the volcanic activity in sediment collected from a cave in central Texas.

Some studies have suggested that an extraterrestrial impact, such as a meteor collision, abruptly shifted Earth into a state of intense cooling as the last ice age ended. However, the current study has found evidence of volcanism in layers of cave sediment that date back to a time when the cooling event would have been kicked off.

Study co-author Michael Waters is the director of The Center for The Study of the First Americans and a professor at <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/">Texas A&amp;M University</a>.

Professor Waters said that Hall's Cave, located in the Texas hill country, has a sediment record extending over 20,000 years. He first began researching the cave in 2017.

"It is an exceptional record that offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary cooperation to investigate a number of important research questions," said Professor Waters.

"One big question was, did an extraterrestrial impact occur near the end of the last ice age, about 13,000 years ago as the ice sheets covering Canada were melting, and cause an abrupt cooling that thrust the northern hemisphere back into the ice age for an extra 1,200 years?"

The cooling event likely led to the extinction of large mammals such as mammoths and camels in North America.

"This work shows that the geochemical signature associated with the cooling event is not unique but occurred four times between 9,000 and 15,000 years ago," said Professor Alan Brandon of the University of Houston.

"Thus, the trigger for this cooling event didn't come from space. Prior geochemical evidence for a large meteor exploding in the atmosphere instead reflects a period of major volcanic eruptions."

"I was skeptical," said Professor Brandon. "We took every avenue we could to come up with an alternative explanation, or even avoid, this conclusion. A volcanic eruption had been considered one possible explanation but was generally dismissed because there was no associated geochemical fingerprint."

After a volcano erupts, the global spread of aerosols reflects incoming solar radiation away from Earth and may lead to global cooling post eruption for one to five years, depending on the size and timescales of the eruption, said the researchers.

The Younger Dryas is one of the best examples of sudden climate change. This period reversed gradual warming after the Late Glacial Interstadial, the last ice age, about 13,000 years ago. The Younger Dryas lasted about 1,200 years, and then ended as abruptly as it began.

Study co-author Professor Steven Forman explained that the Earth's climate may have been at a tipping point, possibly from the ice sheet discharge into the North Atlantic Ocean, enhanced snow cover and powerful volcanic eruptions that may have in combination led to intense Northern Hemisphere cooling.

"This period of rapid cooling coincides with the extinction of a number of species, including camels and horses, and the appearance of the Clovis archaeological tradition," said Professor Waters.

Professor Brandon and study lead author Nan Sun analyzed the sediments collected from Hall's Cave. They found that elements such as iridium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium and rhenium were not in the consistent quantities that would be present if an asteroid strike was responsible for the event.

"The isotope analysis and the relative proportion of the elements matched those that were found in previous volcanic gases," said Sun.

The researchers explained that volcanic eruptions cause their most severe cooling near the source, usually in the year of the eruption, with substantially less cooling in the years after the eruption.

Since the Younger Dryas cooling lasted about 1,200 years, the experts determined that volcanic eruptions initiated the cooling, but other Earth system changes were needed to sustain the extended cold period.

According to Professor Waters, the bottom line is that "the chemical anomalies found in sediments dating to the beginning of the Younger Dryas are the result of volcanism and not an extraterrestrial impact."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Volcanism triggered abrupt cooling event 13,000 years ago

A rapid cooling event 13,000 years ago was triggered by...

A new study from <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> demonstrates the powerful mental health benefits of resilience training, such as meditation and breathing exercises. When college students were taught specific techniques for managing <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/stress-and-inflammation-linked-to-drug-resistant-depression/">stress</a> and anxiety, their perceived sense of well-being was found to improve dramatically.

The research was focused on the outcomes of three classroom-based wellness training programs that incorporate breathing and emotional resilience strategies.

The most effective program was found to help students in six specific areas related to mental health, including a better sense of social connectedness and reduced feelings of depression.

The researchers said that resilience training programs could be a valuable tool for addressing the mental health crisis on university campuses.

Study lead author Emma Seppälä is the faculty director of the Women's Leadership Program at Yale School of Management.

"In addition to academic skills, we need to teach students how to live a balanced life," said Seppälä. "Student mental health has been on the decline over the last 10 years, and with the pandemic and racial tensions, things have only gotten worse."

The research was conducted by experts at the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (YCEI). The team evaluated three training programs that involved 135 undergraduate students over the course of eight weeks. The outcomes were compared to the self-reported well-being of a control group that did not engage in resilience training.

The study revealed that a program called SKY Campus Happiness was the most beneficial to mental health.

Developed by the Art of Living Foundation, the SKY program is centered around a meditative breathing technique and incorporates yoga postures, social connection, and service activities. 

After completing the SKY sessions, students reported improvements in six areas of well-being: depression, stress, mental health, mindfulness, positive affect, and social connectedness.

The second program was found to boost the participants' ability to enjoy the moment through greater mindfulness, while the third program yielded no significant improvements.

In recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the demand for mental health services on college campuses, largely due to a rise in depression and anxiety. The number of college students seeking counseling jumped by 30 percent from 2009 to 2014.

Furthermore, nearly 60 percent of counseling center directors indicated that their resources are insufficient to meet the needs of the students. The researchers believe that resilience training tools can directly address the overburdening of campus counseling centers. 

"Students learn tools they can use for the rest of their lives to continue to improve and maintain their mental health," said study co-first author Christina Bradley.

The training sessions were conducted in person, but the courses can also be taken remotely.

"Continually adding staff to counseling and psychiatric services to meet demand is not financially sustainable - and universities are realizing this," said Seppälä. "Evidence-based resiliency programs can help students help themselves."

Davornne Lindo, a member of the Yale track team who participated in the SKY Campus Happiness program, said practicing breathing techniques helped her to manage stress from both academics and athletics.

"Now that I have these techniques to help me, I would say that my mentality is a lot healthier," said Lindo. "I can devote time to studying and not melting down. Races have gone better. Times are dropping." 

Anna Wilkinson was also a participant in the SKY program. She said she was not familiar with the positive benefits of breathing exercises before the training, but now uses the technique regularly. 

"I didn't realize how much of it was physiology, how you control the things inside you with breathing," said Wilkinson. "I come out of breathing and meditation as a happier, more balanced person, which is something I did not expect at all."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry">Frontiers in Psychiatry</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Resilience training can help address mental health crisis

A new study from Yale University demonstrates the powerful mental...

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>, scientists have made an unexpected discovery of how human sperm "swim." The research represents a major breakthrough in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/honey-bees-reveal-how-heat-stress-affects-fertility-among-insects/">fertility</a> science which contradicts a universally accepted theory of sperm movement that dates back three centuries.

Over 300 years ago, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek described human sperm as having a "tail, which, when swimming, lashes with a snakelike movement, like eels in water." In the new study, however, scientists have determined that this is an optical illusion.

A team of experts including Dr. Hermes Gadelha from the University of Bristol managed to reconstruct the true movement of the sperm tail in unprecedented detail with the help of advanced 3D microscopy and mathematics. The researchers also used a high-speed camera capable of recording over 55,000 frames per second.

The experts found that the sperm tail actually only wiggles on one side. While this should have the sperm swimming in circles, they have found a clever way to thrust themselves forward, according to the researchers.

"Human sperm figured out if they roll as they swim, much like playful otters corkscrewing through water, their one-sided stoke would average itself out, and they would swim forwards," said Dr. Gadelha.

"The sperms' rapid and highly synchronized spinning causes an illusion when seen from above with 2D microscopes - the tail appears to have a side-to-side symmetric movement 'like eels in water' as described by Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century."

"However, our discovery shows sperm have developed a swimming technique to compensate for their lop-sidedness and in doing so have ingeniously solved a mathematical puzzle at a microscopic scale: by creating symmetry out of asymmetry."

"The otter-like spinning of human sperm is however complex: the sperm head spins at the same time that the sperm tail rotates around the swimming direction. This is known in physics as precession, much like when the orbits of Earth and Mars precess around the sun."

The analysis systems that are in use today still use 2D views to look at sperm movement, which provides the same limited view as the early microscope used by Leeuwenhoek. This means that clinicians still experience the illusion of symmetry while assessing the quality of semen. 

"With over half of infertility caused by male factors, understanding the human sperm tail is fundamental to developing future diagnostic tools to identify unhealthy sperm," said Dr Gadelha.

The 3D microscope method used for the study was developed by Dr. Gabriel Corkidi and Dr. Alberto Darszon from the <a href="https://www.unam.mx/">Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico</a>.

"This was an incredible surprise, and we believe our state-of the-art 3D microscope will unveil many more hidden secrets in nature. One day this technology will become available to clinical centres," said Dr. Corkidi.

"This discovery will revolutionize our understanding of sperm motility and its impact on natural fertilization. So little is known about the intricate environment inside the female reproductive tract and how sperm swimming impinge on fertilization. These new tools open our eyes to the amazing capabilities sperm have," said Dr. Darszon.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years

Sperm movement has been misinterpreted for 300 years. In a...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/">University of New South Wales</a> (UNSW) are describing how tiny organisms on the surface of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/plants-water-acid-rain/">soils</a> called biocrusts help conserve water in the world's driest regions. Biocrusts are diverse communities of mosses, cyanobacteria, lichens, algae, and microfungi that strongly interact with desert soils. 

Collectively, arid regions known as drylands make up the largest biome on the planet. Biological soil crusts, often referred to as the living skin of the Earth, help soil retain water and reduce erosion. Biocrusts also add nitrogen and carbon to the nutrient-poor desert soil, which helps support other plants.

"Biocrusts are critically important because they fix large amounts of nitrogen and carbon, stabilize surface soils, and provide a home for soil organisms," said study lead author Professor David Eldridge. "But we still have a poor understanding of just how biocrusts influence hydrological cycles in global drylands.

"Accounting for biocrusts and their hydrological impacts can give us a more accurate picture of the impacts of climate change on dryland ecosystems and improve our capacity to manage those effects."

For the investigation, the UNSW team collected data from more than 100 studies published over the past 30 years. The researchers used this information to assemble the largest global database containing scientific evidence on the role of biocrusts in water movement, storage, and erosion.

"Our emphasis was on dryland soils because biocrusts are often the dominant surface covering on these soils, particularly during dry times," said Professor Eldridge.

A large increase in the number of publications on biocrusts over the past decade enabled the team to critically assess the links between water capture and storage and landscape stability in drylands.

"The global literature on biocrust effects on hydrology has often been conflicting, preventing us from making broadscale recommendations on how to manage them to manage water," said study co-author Dr. Samantha Travers.

The researchers found that the presence of biocrusts on the soil surface reduced water erosion by an average of 68 percent worldwide.

"Cyanobacteria in the crusts secrete organic gels and polysaccharides that help to bind small soil particles into stable surfaces. Mosses in the crusts also trapped water and sediment on the soil surface, preventing the removal of soil particles," explained Dr. Travers.

The study showed that biocrusts reduced the infiltration of water into the soil, but tended to increase water storage in the uppermost layers.

"This upper layer is where most of the nutrients and microbes are found - it is a critical zone for plant production and stability in dryland soils," said Professor. Eldridge. "More water in the upper layers means greater productivity and stability."

According to Professor Eldridge, the findings provide new insight into how biocrusts affect water relations in drylands. "However, the effects depend on factors such as the type of crust and whether it is intact or disturbed."

Professor Eldridge has been studying the influence of biocrusts on Australia's soils for more than 30 years. The research is focused on drylands because they occupy almost half of Earth's land surface and support nearly 40 percent of the global population.

"Many people in drylands rely on pastoralism for their livelihoods, so the capture and use of water is critically important in these water-limited environments," said Professor Eldridge. "Anything that alters the hydrological balance in drylands has the potential therefore to affect millions of people, hence the importance of these tiny surface communities."

Professor Eldridge pointed out overgrazing by livestock is a major problem for sustainable management of drylands.

"Trampling by sheep and cattle breaks up the crust, destabilizing the soil surface and leading to increased water erosion - effects that are supported by our global analyses."

"Preventing overgrazing by livestock is critical if we are to prevent the loss of biocrusts, but until recently, the magnitude of the effects have not been known."

"The results of this work will be incorporated into global water balance and soil loss models so that managers and governments have a better understanding of the implications of losing biocrusts on the world's dwindling water supplies," said Professor Eldridge.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tiny organisms manage water in the world's driest places

Scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">UC Boulder</a> has investigated an increase in the amount of Arctic freshwater that has emerged over the past two decades. The team set out to gain a better understanding of what is causing this trend and what it means for the future.

The research indicates that within the next few decades, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/travel-industry-must-brace-itself-for-the-climate-crisis/">climate change</a> will further boost the amount of freshwater moving into the Arctic, which will ultimately flow into the North Atlantic Ocean. This influx of freshwater will disrupt ocean currents and heavily influence temperatures in northern Europe.

"We hear a lot about changes in the Arctic with respect to temperature, how ecosystems and animals are going to be affected," said study co-author and PhD student Rory Laiho. "But this particular study gives an added perspective on what's happening physically to the ocean itself, which then can have important implications for ocean circulation and climate."

The Arctic Ocean has experienced a 10-percent increase in freshwater since the 1990s. This is equivalent to about 2,400 cubic miles - or the amount of water it would take to cover the entire United States with three feet of water.

Ocean salinity varies across the planet, and the Arctic Ocean contains some of the freshest surface waters due to large amounts of river runoff.

Freshwater is denser and holds cold water at the surface that is not able to sink beneath warm water. But if a great amount of freshwater exits the Arctic and flows into the North Atlantic, the ocean currents that regulate wintertime temperatures in Europe could be permanently altered.

While this shift has the potential to mitigate global warming impacts across northern Europe in the short term, the modified ocean currents could have negative effects on climate and on ecosystems in the long term.

Study lead author Alexandra Jahn is an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at UC Boulder. 

The primary goal of the research was to distinguish between the role of natural variability versus the role of climate change in boosting the volume of Arctic freshwater. The study was focused on models that simulated conditions from 1920 to 2100.

"When we look at all the simulations together, we can see if they all do the same thing. If so, then that's due to a forced response," said Professor Jahn. "If those changes are big enough so they could not occur without increasing greenhouse gases in the model simulations, that's what we call the emergence of a clear climate change signal. And here we see such clear climate change signals for the Arctic freshwater during the current decade."

The analysis showed that Nares Strait, which runs between Greenland and Canada, will be the first place to see a freshwater export increase due to climate change within the next decade. The scientists said that other straits farther south and east, including Davis and Fram straits, will be the next to make the transition to releasing more freshwater as a result of climate change.

When the researchers ran the models under different emissions scenarios, they found that the amount of Arctic freshwater and the volume of this water that moves through the northern straits will be unaffected over the next few decades. This is because the freshwater changes that will happen in the first half of the century are already in motion, and reducing emissions will not change the outcome.

In the second half of this century, however, the study showed that freshwater will be influenced by the extent of harmful emissions and the decisions that are made today, as Arctic freshwater will rise alongside global warming.

"What this work is showing us is that we're probably already experiencing the first of these changes, we just can't tell from the direct observations yet," said Professor Jahn.

All of the water from the Arctic Ocean eventually enters the North Atlantic, but the ability to predict the timing of climate signals will allow scientists to better anticipate and monitor changes as they occur. The findings also offer important new insights into how changes in the Arctic will influence the climate elsewhere.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19448007">Geophysical Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Arctic freshwater will disrupt the North Atlantic climate system

A new study from the UC Boulder has investigated an...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a>, experts have investigated how the COVID-19 <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/viruses-related-to-sars-cov-2-could-cause-future-pandemics/">pandemic</a> is threatening the global food supply. The study authors emphasize that threats to food security must be acknowledged by governments worldwide to prevent the COVID-19 health crisis from becoming a global food crisis as well. 

The research team, led by David Laborde of the <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/">International Food Policy Research Institute</a>, found that the most direct impacts of COVID-19 on food security are tied to the economic fallout associated with extreme measures used to contain the virus. These measures have had a major impact on food supply chains worldwide. 

In addition, measures to stop the pandemic have caused many people around the world to lose their jobs, as well as their ability to buy food. 

According to the study authors, the global food supply itself will be strained by disruptions that result from labor shortages, widespread industry closures, and travel and shipping restrictions. 

"As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, trade-offs have emerged between the need to contain the virus and to avoid disastrous economic and food security crises that hurt the world's poor and hungry most," wrote the researchers.

"Although no major food shortages have emerged as yet, agricultural and food markets are facing disruptions because of labor shortages created by restrictions on movements of people and shifts in food demand resulting from closures of restaurants and schools as well as from income losses." 

The experts report that the pandemic is affecting every aspect of food security on some level, with the most severe strain being placed on access to food. These effects are the most profound in poorer countries.

"The poorest households spend around 70% of their incomes on food and have limited access to financial markets, making their food security particularly vulnerable to income shocks," wrote the study authors.

To address the emerging threats to global food security, Laborde and his colleagues suggest that governments of both rich and poor nations should first focus on ways to provide income support to protect food access for their most vulnerable citizens. They say it is also critical for agricultural, food processing, and distribution sectors to be declared essential and exempted from lockdown measures. 

"Health protocols are needed to protect workers in food chains and to help contain COVID-19. Incentives and support for food transport and logistics, including deliveries to needy areas and for the sick, are also important," said the researchers. 

"Likewise, governments should engage with market participants to ensure the smooth functioning of agricultural input markets (seeds, fertilizer, labor, and credits), especially for time-critical inputs for planting and harvesting. Allowing movement of seasonal and migrant labor is also important in many contexts."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

COVID-19 lockdown measures could trigger global food crisis

In a new study from AAAS, experts have investigated how...

A study published by <a href="https://www.aaas.org/">AAAS</a> has revealed that the U.S. neighborhoods with the most and the least particle pollution in 1981 remained the most and least polluted more than 30 years later.

The researchers found that disadvantaged communities are much more likely to have higher levels of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/coronavirus-detected-in-air-pollution-particles/">PM2.5</a> at any given time. 

The United States has seen a major decline in the level of fine particulate air pollution over the last several decades. However, new research shows that the distribution of PM2.5 has not significantly changed. 

The findings confirm the persistence of socioeconomic disparities in access to clean air, and highlight the perpetual problem of environmental inequality. 

Fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) is made up of tiny particles that reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated. These particles are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which is more than 100 times thinner than a human hair.

Exposure to particle pollution has been linked to premature deaths among people with heart or lung disease. PM2.5 is also implicated in a large number of premature deaths from dementia, kidney disease, and hypertension.

Overall, the concentration of PM2.5 in the United States has decreased by roughly 70 percent since 1981. This has led to improvements in air quality, human health, and the economy. 

However, just like other types of pollution and environmental hazards, increased levels of air pollution are often associated with disparities between different racial, ethnic, and economic groups. 

To investigate how the spatial distribution of PM2.5 has evolved over time, a team led by Professor Jonathan Colmer of the <a href="https://www.virginia.edu/">University of Virginia</a> combined PM2.5 levels from 1981 to 2016 with geographic, economic, and demographic data from 65,000 neighborhoods across the country.

The researchers found that the gap between the more and less polluted areas had narrowed over time, but the neighborhoods and groups most exposed to pollution in 1981 were still the most exposed in 2016. In addition, areas that were the least polluted in 1981 were still the least polluted in 2016. 

Professor Lala Ma of the University of Kentucky has also studied the correlation between pollution and race and poverty. She said that the current findings

highlight outstanding issues relevant to implementing environmental justice in practice.

"Further investigation to determine what caused the downward shift in the pollution distribution and the preservation of rankings over time could inform policies that avoid undesirable distributional consequences," said Professor Ma.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

&nbsp;

Air pollution is declining, but its distribution remains the same

A study published by AAAS has revealed that the U.S....

By the end of this century, coastal flooding could threaten assets worth up to 20 percent of the global GDP at an estimated cost of $14.2 trillion. In addition, as many as 287 million people will be exposed to "100-year" coastal flooding events as often as once every ten years. 

The study also concluded that the land affected by coastal flooding could increase by 48 percent. The results are based on high greenhouse gas <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/carbon-capture-technology-could-greatly-reduce-emissions/">emissions</a> and assume no further coastal adaptation or protection, which means that urgent action must be taken to prevent such a catastrophic scenario.

The areas predicted to be the hardest hit are northwest Europe, east and southeast Asia, northeast United States and northern Australia, according to the study.

"Although the focus of the general public often tends to be on the rate and magnitude of increase in mean sea level, the major threats of coastal flooding and erosion are significantly impacted by episodic storm surge and wave setup (the temporary increase in mean water level due to the presence of breaking waves) as well as their time of occurrence in relation to astronomical tide," wrote the researchers.

"As approximately 600 million people live in low elevation coastal zones which generate approximately US$1 trillion of global wealth, both the environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with episodic coastal flooding can be massive."

Study lead author Ebru Kirezci is an expert in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne</a>. His team combined data on global sea levels during extreme storms with projections of sea level rises under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. This data was used to model the maximum sea levels that could occur by 2100. 

After identifying the areas that have the greatest risk of coastal flooding, the researchers analyzed the population distribution and GDP in these areas to estimate the overall amount of people and assets that will be impacted.

The areas at the greatest risk of  extensive flooding are North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland in the United States; France, Germany, and the UK in northwest Europe; Australia's Northern Territories; southeastern China; and Bangladesh, West Bengal, and Gujurat in India.

"The analysis shows that tide and storm surge will account for 63 percent of the global area inundated by 2100, with relative sea level rise accounting for 32 percent and wave setup accounting for only approximately 5 percent," wrote the study authors.

"Furthermore, projected sea level rise will significantly increase the frequency of coastal flooding by 2100, with results herein showing that for most of the world, flooding associated with a present day 1 in 100-year event could occur as frequently as once in 10 years, primarily as a result of sea level rise."

The findings clearly show that without investment in flood protection measures and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, calamitous flooding events have the potential to devastate coastal regions and the global economy by the end of this century.

The study 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

&nbsp;

"100-year" coastal floods may become ten times as frequent

By the end of this century, coastal flooding could threaten...

Botox may be an effective treatment for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/stress-and-inflammation-linked-to-drug-resistant-depression/">depression</a>, according to the results of a new study. Botox injections are commonly used to ease wrinkles, migraine headaches, and muscle spasms, and clinical trials are currently underway to test the medication for its ability to treat depression.

In the FDA's Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database, nearly 40,000 people have reported on their individual experiences after receiving Botox treatment. 

Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at at <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> analyzed this data to gain a better understanding of the potential side effects.

The team discovered that individuals who received Botox injections in the forehead or in five other sites reported depressive symptoms significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions.

"For years, clinicians have observed that Botox injected for cosmetic reasons seems to ease depression for their patients," said study lead author Dr. Ruben Abagyan. 

"It's been thought that easing severe frown lines in the forehead region disrupts a feedback loop that reinforces negative emotions. But we've found here that the mechanism may be more complex, because it doesn't really matter where the Botox is injected."

Dr. Abagyan collaborated with Tigran Makunts, a research fellow at the FDA, and Dr. Marc Axel Wollmer, a psychiatrist who has led past clinical studies that showed Botox can alleviate depression.

While the FAERS database contains voluntary reports of adverse effects associated with various medications, Dr. Abagyan's team did not look for the negative side effects of Botox. Instead, the researchers set out to investigate the absence of complaints about depression after Botox. 

The research was focused on nearly 40,000 FAERS participants who had received Botox treatment for eight different purposes and injection sites, including the forehead, neck, limbs and bladder. 

Using a mathematical algorithm, the experts determined that depression was reported 40 to 88 percent less often by Botox users for six of the eight conditions and injection sites - compared to individuals who used different treatments for the same conditions.

"This finding is exciting because it supports a new treatment to affect mood and fight depression, one of the common and dangerous mental illnesses - and it's based on a very large body of statistical data, rather than limited-scale observations," said Makunts.

The clinical trial that is currently underway is directly testing Botox treatment for patients with depression. Since the trial is testing only forehead injections, Dr. Abagyan said that additional clinical trials may be necessary to work out the best site and dose to administer the medication specifically for depression.

At the same time, more research is needed to determine the mechanism by which Botox acts as an antidepressant, said Dr  Abagyan. The researchers have come up with a couple of theories of their own. For example, they speculate that Botox may be transported to the regions of the central nervous systems involved in mood and emotions. 

The study 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

&nbsp;

Botox injections may soon be used to treat depression

Botox may be an effective treatment for depression, according to...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

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

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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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



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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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...

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