Life began small, but even the tiniest cells need a way to copy their instructions. A new laboratory system shows that a simple set of RNA building blocks can get most of the way there, pushing experimental biologists closer to watching life’s opening act unfold in a test tube.



“This was the molecule that ran biology,” said James Attwater of <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a>, who led the study. 



The work centers on an artificial <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-are-Ribozymes.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ribozyme</a> that joins three‑letter chunks of RNA while cycling between hot, cold, acidic, and alkaline conditions. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rna-played-a-key-role-in-early-life">RNA played a key role in early life</h2>



The idea that one molecule once carried both genetic information and catalytic power, dubbed the RNA <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/319618a0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world</a>, was first laid out almost 40 years ago. 



Modern cells still hint at that past because ribosomes, spliceosomes, and many regulatory switches all rely on RNA to keep <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-detailed-map-of-human-genetic-mutations-unveiled/">genes</a> working.



Short RNA strands can fold into active shapes, cut other RNAs, and even build peptides, making them plausible ancestors of today’s enzymes. Researchers have spent decades trying to show that RNA can also copy itself fast enough to allow Darwinian evolution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solving-the-rna-copying-problem">Solving the RNA copying problem</h2>



Copying RNA sounds easy until you meet the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30383375/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strand separation problem</a>. Freshly made daughter strands cling so tightly to their templates that the double helix cannot unwind in time for another round of replication.



Some groups have used heat, acid, crowding agents, or helper oligonucleotides to pry the strands apart, but each fix either damages RNA or stalls the copying chemistry. Freeze-thaw <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116429119" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> showed that ice concentrates reactants without cooking them, hinting at a gentler route.



Attwater’s team discovered that short trinucleotide triphosphates bind single <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-genes-may-predict-infertility-and-disease-by-flipping-like-a-light-switch/">strands</a> strongly enough to stop them from re‑zipping while also doubling as substrates for extension. Three bases form a sweet spot: long enough to grip, yet short enough to avoid frequent errors.



Under pH swings that first melt duplexes at 176 °F, then freeze them at 19 °F, the ribozyme weaves the triplets into fresh complementary strands. So far the enzyme can copy thirty of its 180 letters before running out of steam, but the researchers see clear paths to speedup.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-short-pieces-help-rna-make-copies">Short pieces help RNA make copies</h2>



During each cold phase, the remaining liquid between ice crystals becomes a concentrated <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/eutectic-phase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eutectic phase</a> where magnesium ions, the ribozyme, and triplets are corralled together. 



In that micro‑brine the polymerase connects the triplets, then waits for the next heat pulse to start another <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/gene-regulation-controlling-cells-to-improve-medical-treatments/">cycle</a>.



“There might be a relationship between how biology used to copy its RNA and how biology uses RNA today,” noted Attwater. 



The group watched exponential gains when they put the system through repeated hot-cold swings, confirming that templates made in one cycle feed the next. 



“RNA nucleotide triplets serve very specific informatic functions in translation in all cells,” noted Zachary Adam, a geochemist at the <a href="https://www.wisc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Wisconsin‑Madison</a> who was not involved in the study. 



The binding preference of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7575393/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GC‑rich triplets</a> echoes the stability pattern of codons that still anchor the genetic code.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hints-of-the-genetic-code">Hints of the genetic code</h2>



The experts found that the triplets most able to keep strands apart match those believed to seed the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15214800/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earliest triplet code</a>. This overlap suggests that replication chemistry could have nudged evolution toward the codon system long before proteins appeared.



Models of primordial ponds often invoke hot springs that swing between acidic jets and freezing spray, conditions seen in Iceland today. 



Such locales supply the freshwater and rapid pH shifts that the triplet mechanism needs, making the scenario geologically plausible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-signs-of-life-copying-itself">Early signs of life copying itself</h2>



The system didn't just copy preexisting templates. It also generated new RNA sequences from random starting material and then amplified those fragments through multiple rounds.



Some of the strongest amplification came from strands resembling parts of the ribozyme itself, suggesting early self-copying behavior that could foreshadow how functional sequences emerged billions of years ago.



To cross the finish line, the ribozyme must copy its entire 180‑letter body and then repeat the feat indefinitely. Attwater’s team is engineering faster variants and trimming unnecessary folds to lighten the enzymatic load.



If full self‑replication emerges, chemists can finally watch mutation and natural selection operate in a test tube filled with nothing but RNA and simple salts. 



The achievement would turn a long‑standing hypothesis into an observable process, offering the clearest window yet on life’s origin.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-025-01830-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Chemistry</a>.



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Life copying itself: Scientists create a self-replicating RNA system

Life began small, but even the tiniest cells need a way to copy their instructions. A new laboratory system shows that a simple set of RNA building blocks can get most of the way there, pushing experimental biologists closer to watching life’s opening act unfold in a test tube. “This was the molecule that ran biology,” said James Attwater of University College London, who led the study. The work centers on an artificial ribozyme that joins three‑letter chunks of RNA while cycling between hot, cold, acidic, and...

Using an X-ray laser located at the <a href="https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/">Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory</a>, a team of <a href="https://www.usc.edu/">University of Southern California</a> researchers have successfully the first detailed map of two melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2) that guide the body’s sleep/wake cycle, along with other biological processes. Better understanding of how these receptors work could help scientists design better drugs to fight <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sleep-deprivation-charity-vote/">sleep disorders</a>, Type 2 diabetes, and even cancer.

"It's critical for the brain to take rest and process and store memories that we have accumulated during the day," said study co-author Alex Batyuk, a scientist at SLAC. "Melatonin is the hormone that regulates our sleep-wake cycles. When there's light, the production of melatonin is inhibited, but when darkness comes that's the signal for our brains to go to sleep."

The team used an insomnia drug, a drug that combines melatonin with the antidepressant serotonin, and two melatonin analogs to activate the receptors in order to trace their activity with the lab’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray. They saw that both receptors, located in various places throughout our bodies including the brain, retina, cardiovascular system, liver, kidney, spleen and intestine, have narrow channels embedded in fatty membrane throughout the cells in our bodies. These channels only permit melatonin to pass through while blocking serotonin.

Furthermore, the team also saw that some larger compounds only target MT1 and not MT2 — a discovery that can help design drugs specifically for MT1.

They've shared their work in a pair of articles, one exploring <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1141-3/">ligand recognition at MT1</a> and one on the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1144-0">XFEL structures of MT2</a>, in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

"These receptors perform immensely important functions in the human body and are major drug targets of high interest to the pharmaceutical industry," said lead researcher of MT2 work Linda Johansson, a postdoctoral scholar at USC. "Through this work we were able to obtain a highly detailed understanding of how melatonin is able to bind to these receptors."

MT1 plays a large role in controlling the body’s circadian rhythm. However, designing drugs to actively target and mend the MT1 receptor has been a difficult process. Now that researchers have mapped out how exactly the MT1 receptor works, scientists can more adeptly design drugs to travel through these pathways.

"Since the discovery of melatonin 60 years ago, there have been many landmark discoveries that led to this moment," said Margarita L. Dubocovich, a <a href="https://www.suny.edu/">SUNY</a> distinguished professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a>, who provided outside perspective on this study. In the early 80s, Dubocovich pioneered the identification of functional melatonin receptors. 

"The elucidation of the crystal structures for the MT1 and MT2 receptors opens up an exciting new chapter for the development of drugs to treat sleep or circadian rhythm disorders known to cause psychiatric, metabolic, oncological and many other conditions."

From here, the team hopes to map receptors antagonists, compounds that block the receptors. 

"As a structural biologist, it was exciting to see the structure of these receptors for the first time and analyze them to understand how these receptors selectively recognize their signaling molecules," said Vadim Cherezov, a USC professor who supervised both MT1 and MT2 studies. "We've known about them for decades but until now no one could say how they actually look. Now we can analyze them to understand how they recognize specific molecules, which we hope lays the groundwork for better, more effective drugs."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Illustration by Yekaterina Kadyshevskaya, Bridge Institute at USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience

Melatonin receptor maps pave the way for new sleep disorder treatments

Using an X-ray laser located at the Department of Energy’s...

A new study from the <a href="http://www.monell.org/">Monell Chemical Senses Center</a> has revealed that the olfactory receptors used to detect odors in the nose are also present in taste receptor cells on the tongue. The discovery indicates that interactions between <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/humans-smell-spatial-navigation/">smell</a> and taste, which were thought to take place in the brain, may actually be initiated on the tongue.

“Our research may help explain how odor molecules modulate taste perception,” said study senior author Dr. Mehmet Hakan Ozdener. “This may lead to the development of odor-based taste modifiers that can help combat the excess salt, sugar, and fat intake associated with diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.”

The flavors that we perceive come more from smell than from taste. Prior to this study, taste and smell were thought to be independent sensory systems that did not interact until their information reached the brain. However, after his son asked him if snakes stick out their tongues so they can smell, Dr. Ozdener decided to challenge this theory.

The researchers used genetic and biochemical methods to analyze living human taste cells in culture. They noticed that the taste cells contained many key molecules known to be present in olfactory receptors. Next, a technique known as calcium imaging revealed that the cultured taste cells respond to odor molecules much in the same way as olfactory receptor cells.


The study results provide the first evidence of functional olfactory receptors in human taste cells. The findings suggest that olfactory receptors actively participate in the taste system by interacting with taste cells on the tongue.

In additional experiments, the team demonstrated that a single taste cell can contain both taste and olfactory receptors. “The presence of olfactory receptors and taste receptors in the same cell will provide us with exciting opportunities to study interactions between odor and taste stimuli on the tongue,” said Dr. Ozdener.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/chemse">Chemical Senses</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists find smell receptors in taste cells on the tongue

A new study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center has...

The western United States and the Pacific Northwest may not have had a major quake in some time, but the west coast is home to some of the most seismically active regions on Earth. The San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone have produced some of the most powerful and devastating earthquakes in the history of the United States.

If you live in California, Washington, or Alaska, there could even be an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/20-earthquakes-week-washington/">earthquake happening right under your feet</a> and you might not even feel it. 

Seismologists are aware that these mini-quakes could be occurring at any given time, but because they register so small on the Richter scale, often times, small temblors go unrecorded. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/">California Institute of Technology</a> poured over ten years worth of seismic data from Southern California to create a more accurate account of seismic activity in the region. 

After meticulously verifying and cross-referencing, the researchers identified nearly two million tiny quakes that occurred between 2008 and 2017. 

This puts the total number of earthquakes in the area during that time at over 1.81 million, a nearly ten-fold increase from the previously 180,000 recorded temblors. 

The study was the result of a labor-intensive technique called template matching which is typically used for identifying earthquakes on a small scale. 

Template matching involves using larger earthquakes as a reference point for recognizing the patterns of seismic activity of a smaller quake. This allowed the researchers to tell the difference between a quake and say construction activity or traffic. 

“It's not that we didn't know these small earthquakes were occurring. The problem is that they can be very difficult to spot amid all of the noise,” said Zachary Ross, the lead author of a study published in the journal Science. 

Once a potential mini-quake was identified, the researchers reviewed records nearby by using 200 graphics processing units to scan the earthquake catalog.

Not only were the researchers able to create a more complete catalog of Southern California’s earthquakes, but the results of the study show that there are about 495 quakes per day in the area. 

“Seismicity along one fault affects faults and quakes around it, and this newly fleshed-out picture of seismicity in Southern California will give us new insights into how that works,” said Egill Hauksson, a co-collaborator on the study. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Millions of previously ‘hidden’ earthquakes detected in Southern California

The western United States and the Pacific Northwest may not...

A three-year project designed to analyze grass pollen may help to provide more accurate <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pesticides-bumblebees-buzzing/">pollen</a> forecasts for asthma and hay fever sufferers. The findings from the first year of the study have revealed that pollen that is released by certain species of grass is contributing to increased asthma attacks and intense hay fever.

“I'm a hay fever sufferer myself, and I know that on some days, despite a high pollen forecast, I can be less affected than on other days when the forecast appears to be lower,” said study lead author Professor Simon Creer of <a href="https://www.bangor.ac.uk/">Bangor University</a>. “This led me and others to wonder whether it's the high load of pollen alone that causes the problem, or whether the different grass pollens cause different levels of reaction.”

Currently, pollen counts measure the load of pollen that is present in the air. The pollen created by individual tree and weed species is distinguishable, yet visually identifying different grass pollens has been nearly impossible. 

In the new project, scientists are using a technique called metabarcoding to analyze grass pollens collected over the course of an allergy season. This method enables scientists to automatically identify material caught in a sample of air, water, or soil through its unique DNA “barcode.” As a result, the team can investigate links between certain pollen types and difficult days for allergy and asthma sufferers.

“Bringing a range of specialists together has enabled us to find initial answers,” said Dr. Georgina Brennan. “Our task is now to develop a clearer picture of where the pollen comes from, how it moves through the air and how different types of pollen can be linked to allergies.”

“We are now investigating datasets on hospital admissions and GP prescriptions for certain pharmaceutical products to identify correlations between healthcare data and increases in particular grass pollens,” added Dr. Ben Wheeler of the University of Exeter. “With these new insights into pollen characterization, we are focusing on future implications for pollen warnings and self-care strategies.”


The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature, Ecology, and Evolution</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Grass can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms when pollen count is low

A three-year project designed to analyze grass pollen may help...

While not all blind people have exceptional hearing, research has shown that people who are born blind have a sharper and more nuanced sense of hearing. 

Two new studies recently tackled these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-adapts-blind-people/">enhanced auditory abilities</a> to identify what changes in the brain are responsible. 

The research was led by the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> (UW). 

“There’s this idea that blind people are good at auditory tasks, because they have to make their way in the world without visual information,” said Ione Fine, the senior author of both studies and a professor of psychology. “We wanted to explore how this happens in the brain.” 

In both studies, the researchers went beyond just examining brain activity in blind people and instead used functional MRI scans to focus on brain sensitivity to different auditory frequencies.  

“We weren't measuring how rapidly neurons fire, but rather how accurately populations of neurons represent information about sound,” said Kelly Chang, the lead author for one of the studies. 

For the first study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the UW and the <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> measured neural responses in sighted and blind individuals. 

The participants were asked to listen to a series of tones with different frequencies, and brain activity was recorded with an fMRI machine. 

In blind participants, the auditory cortex part of the brain was able to more accurately process the frequency of each tone compared to participants who were not blind. 

The brain adapts a better ability to distinguish frequencies because deciphering these small nuances in sounds is more important for blind individuals, according to the researchers. 

“Our study shows that the brains of blind individuals are better able to represent frequencies,” said Chang. “For a sighted person, having an accurate representation of sound isn't as important because they have sight to help them recognize objects, while blind individuals only have auditory information. This gives us an idea of what changes in the brain explain why blind people are better at picking out and identifying sounds in the environment.” 

The second study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, specifically looked at how individuals who are born blind or become blind early in life develop spatial awareness, which is the ability to understand one’s relationship to stationary and moving objects in an environment. 

For sighted people, a part of the brain called hMT+ tracks moving objects, but the researchers wondered how this part of the brain responds in blind individuals. 

Participants in this study listened to different frequency tones that sounded like they were getting closer or farther away to mimic the idea of movement. 

The recorded brain activity showed neural responses in the hMT+ that were similar to sighted individuals after listening to the moving sounds. 

What this means is that blind individuals are not only better attuned to frequency changes, but also that the motion of sounds which could help with tracking moving objects in an environment. 

“These results suggest that early blindness results in visual areas being recruited to solve auditory tasks in a relatively sophisticated way,” said Fine. 

--

By <a href="http://mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The brains of blind people adapt to boost hearing ability

While not all blind people have exceptional hearing, research has...

Excess industrial <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/co2-levels-higher-than-ever/">carbon dioxide</a> can be used as a raw material for producing chemicals that are usually derived from fossil fuels, but the process used for this conversion is expensive and energy-intensive. Engineers at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> may have now come up with a solution to convert CO2 waste into valuable resources without using as much energy.

The researchers have tested a new electrolysis technology that uses a cheap biofuel byproduct to reduce the energy consumption of the waste-to-value process by 53 percent.

Using a technique called electrochemical reduction, it is possible to convert CO2 to chemicals like ethylene for plastics. In this system, a stream of CO2 gas and a fluid electrolyte move through an electrolysis cell that breaks the CO2 down into molecules like ethylene on the cathode. The experts explained that the process also produces oxygen from water on the anode.

“About 90 percent of the energy required in conventional CO2 reduction is used up by the oxygen-producing, anode side of an electrolysis cell,” said study co-author Professor Paul Kenis. “But there is no big market for the excess oxygen, so 90 percent of the energy is essentially wasted.”

According to a recent National Academies Report, finding a feed material that reduces the energy to drive the anode reaction could be a strategy for greatly reducing the energy required for CO2 conversion.

The authors of the new study have proposed glycerol as an alternative to the energy-intensive oxygen-producing step. Glycerol is an organic byproduct of sugarcane biofuel production that requires less energy to oxidize.

“Our model uses the current electrical grid setup as the source of electricity to make the scenario more realistic,” said Professor Kenis. “Being able to drive CO2 conversion with already-in-place infrastructure - and not relying on the hope of the future grid being powered by 100 percent renewables - while achieving carbon neutrality or negativity could be a holy grail scenario.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nenergy/">Nature Energy</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Engineers have developed a new technique for utilizing CO2 waste

Excess industrial carbon dioxide can be used as a raw...

Dogs and other animals use their sense of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/fruit-fly-smell/">smell</a> to guide them toward desirable places and to steer them away from the places they need to avoid. Professor Jay Gottfried, a neurobiologist at the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a>, set out to investigate whether humans also rely on odor information to help them navigate through the world. 

“Each of our five senses plays a unique role, but smell seems to be treated like the black sheep of the family,” said Professor Gottfried. “Obviously, you don't need your sense of smell to take a test or drive a car, but it has a major impact on our quality of life.”

After studying the science of smell for more than 15 years, Professor Gottfried’s research is now focused on olfactory spatial navigation. He designed an experiment using various combinations of pine and banana scents to build a two-dimensional grid, or a “smellscape.” 

Participants moved between grid points that represented a “start” and an “end” based on the odor mixtures they smelled. The study revealed that, as the individuals navigated, their brain activity created a pattern with hexagonal symmetry that was acting as an actual olfactory map. This pattern resembled grid-like mapping structures that have been previously shown to assist animals in other types of spatial navigation.

“Several exciting papers have revealed that using functional imaging techniques, you can find proxies of this grid-like architecture in the human brain,” said Professor Gottfried. “What we did in this study is bring together conceptual ideas about odor navigation with grid-cell models, then used a set of smells to define a two-dimensional space.”

Unlike a real-world setting, the volunteers in this experiment were not actively, physically moving through space. Movement involved mental navigation between two odor coordinates in the smellscape. However, the study design turned out to have something else in common with real-world scenarios.

“Odor intensity increases with distance to the smell's source,” said Professor Gottfried. “For example, as you get closer you to your favorite donut shop, the stronger the donut smell becomes. In this way, the odor space we created, where banana and pine smells go from strong to weak, suggests that this design roughly captures what a person might naturally encounter.”

In an effort to gain a greater understanding of smell, Professor Gottfried plans to alter his experimental set-up and use a virtual reality computer game in which participants will locate a specific scent as they move through an odor-filled arena. 

“Imagine everyone gathering around a Thanksgiving table and one person can't smell the food. They can't really engage in that conversation or feel connected to the shared experience of the meal. There are a lot of examples like that. The sense of smell serves a very unique purpose and confers one-of-a-kind behavioral advantages that other senses can't provide.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/home">Neuron</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Humans use their sense of smell for spatial navigation

Dogs and other animals use their sense of smell to...

The knee bone’s connected to the … other knee bone?

That’s not how the song traditionally goes, but researchers are finding that it’s increasingly true. A number of people alive today may have an extra knee bone called a fabella – a number that jumped sharply from a hundred years ago.

The discovery was made by a team of researchers from <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.12994">Imperial College London</a>, who have published their findings in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.12994">Journal of Anatomy</a>.

Like the patella, the fabella is a sesamoid bone – it grows in a tendon. But unlike the patella, the fabella is linked to a higher risk of osteoarthritis. And the small knee bone, which scientists thought was disappearing due to evolution, is increasingly appearing in modern humans.

“A total of 52.83 percent of our individuals and 44.34 percent of our knees had fabellae detectable by computed tomography scanning,” the team wrote in their study. “Men and women were equally likely to have a fabella, and bilateral cases (67.86 percent) were more common than unilateral ones (32.14 percent).”

In 1918, the knee bone was found in only about 11 percent of the population. In 1900, it was only about 7.6 percent. 

So what has triggered the revival of the extra knee bone? 

The fabella seems to be making a comeback thanks to the modern diet. More humans around the world have access to a nutritious diet, and height and weight have gone up thanks to that. The obesity epidemic has also led to increases in weight globally. 

Sesamoid bones are known to grow in response to pressure, like a joint needing to deal with added force and stress. That may have triggered the knee bone to reappear, to help the joint better.

But it doesn’t seem to be doing that.

"The fabella may behave like other sesamoid bones to help reduce friction within tendons, redirecting muscle forces, or, as in the case of the kneecap, increasing the mechanical force of that muscle," lead author Dr. Michael A. Berthaume told the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/">BBC</a>. "Or it could be doing nothing at all."

Regardless of its purpose, the extra knee bone does seem to have a downside. Human knees are no longer built to work with the little bone. People with osteoarthritis of the knees are about twice as likely to have a fabella, and it can interfere with knee replacement surgery.

The researchers plan to keep studying the fabella, to see who is most likely to develop the knee bone and what it can reveal about human evolution and nutrition.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer 

Image credit: Imperial College London

'Extra' knee bone on the rise thanks to modern diet

The knee bone’s connected to the … other knee bone?...

As technology advances by leaps and bounds, a new generation of cutting-edge satellites are helping to monitor the greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

For more than a decade, national space programs have helped to monitor greenhouse gas levels around the world. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> missions have monitored carbon dioxide and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-satellite-spots-methane-emissions-from-space/">methane levels</a>. The <a href="http://global.jaxa.jp/">Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency</a> has its <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chinas-methane-emissions-rise/">Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite</a>, or GOSAT.

Now, environmental nonprofits and private organizations are getting in on the game with cutting-edge satellites of their own.

The <a href="https://www.edf.org/">Environmental Defense Fund</a> is one of them. Its MethaneSAT is a compact satellite that will be able to pinpoint the sources of methane emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere, and evaluate their impact.

“Human-made methane emissions account for a quarter of today's global warming,” the EDF says on its website. “The oil and gas industry is a leading source. From remote wellheads to gas utility lines, companies release about 75 million metric tons a year.”

Being able to spot the biggest sources of atmospheric methane could help environmental groups develop strategies to reduce it.

MethaneSAT is part of a larger EDF initiative to cut methane initiatives 45 percent by 2025.

“Just the first step will have the same near-term climate benefit as shutting down one third of the world’s coal-fired power plants,” the organization’s president, Fred Krupp, said in a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks">TED Talk</a> when announcing the satellite project. The nonprofit hopes to launch the satellite within two years.

The firm <a href="https://bluefield.co/">Bluefield Technologies</a> is creating its own fleet of tiny, cutting-edge satellites that it says can be used by gas industry players to detect methane leaks.

In a blog entry, Bluefield’s president Yotam Ariel pointed out that eight major gas companies, including <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="https://www.eni.com/en_IT/home.page">Eni</a>, have committed to reducing methane emissions.

Part of the reason is the public attention on methane and its role in climate change, he said. Gas leaks have also been linked to high-profile accidents in recent years, and companies are seeking to prevent them. But there’s also a financial aspect.

“In reality, these oil and gas companies want to eliminate methane leaks from their operations because it’s good for their bottom line,” he said.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: MethaneSAT, <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/space-technology-can-cut-climate-pollution-earth">Environmental Defense Fund</a>

Cutting-edge satellites help monitor greenhouse gases

As technology advances by leaps and bounds, a new generation...

One of the primary objectives of synthetic biology is to find a way to control gene expression based on models that are applied to digital technology, which use logic gates to process input signals. 

Biotechnologists have attempted to build such digital circuits with the help of protein gene switches in cells. However, they found that the gene switches were not very flexible and were capable of processing just one input at a time, such as a specific metabolic molecule. 

In digital technology, circuits also depend on a single input in the form of electrons, but the circuits compensate for their lack of complexity with their speed. These circuits can execute up to a billion commands per second. 

Although cells are slower, they can still process up to 100,000 different metabolic molecules per second as inputs. Previous cell computers did not even come close to utilizing the massive metabolic computational capacity of a <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/older-adults-new-brain-cells/">human cell</a>.

Martin Fussenegger is a professor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at <a href="https://www.ethz.ch/en.html">ETH Zurich</a>. His team has now found a way to use biological components to construct a flexible core processor that accepts different kinds of programming. 

The new processor is based on a modified CRISPR-Cas9 system and can work with as many inputs as desired in the form of RNA molecules.

“We have created the first cell computer with more than one core processor,” said Professor Fussenegger.

The biological computer is very small, but can potentially be scaled up to any size. 

“Imagine a microtissue with billions of cells, each equipped with its own dual-core processor. Such 'computational organs' could theoretically attain computing power that far outstrips that of a digital supercomputer - and using just a fraction of the energy,” said Professor Fussenegger.

According to the experts, the cell computer could eventually be used to help monitor health and even fight against cancer and other illnesses.

“This cell computer may sound like a very revolutionary idea, but that's not the case,” explained Professor Fussenegger. “The human body itself is a large computer. Its metabolism has drawn on the computing power of trillions of cells since time immemorial.”

“And in contrast to a technical supercomputer, this large computer needs just a slice of bread for energy.”


The study is published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</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

Scientists have built the very first cell computer with more than one processor

One of the primary objectives of synthetic biology is to...

Based on the remains of an upper and lower jaw that were recovered in northern Greece, experts believe that a previously unidentified group of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earliest-hominins-migrating/">hominins</a> may have emerged in southeastern Europe. The research suggests that it was here when our earliest human ancestors appeared, and not in Africa. 

The 8 or 9-million-year-old fossils, which were found in the village of Nikiti in the 1990s, had been first linked to the extinct ape Ouranopithecus. However, a team led by David Begun from the <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/">University of Toronto</a>’s Department of Anthropology has recently analyzed the remains and determined that they likely belonged to a male animal of a potentially new species. 

In 1871, Charles Darwin proposed that all hominins, including both modern and extinct humans, descended from a group in Africa, which is the most widely accepted theory today. On the other hand, Darwin also speculated that hominins could have originated in Europe where fossils of large apes had been discovered, and the new analysis supports this idea. 

While Begun does not believe the Nikiti ape was a hominin, he speculates that it could represent the group which hominins directly evolved from.


In 2017, the research team led by Begun had determined that a 7.2-million-year-old ape called Graecopithecus, which also lived in what is now Greece, could possibly be a hominin. In this case, the 8 to 9-million-year-old Nikiti ape would have directly preceded the first hominin, Graecopithecus, before hominins migrated to Africa 7 million years ago. 

According to a report in <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>, Begun said this new concept will be rejected by many experts who believe in African hominin origins, but he hopes that the new scenario will be at least considered. 

“It’s widely agreed that this was the founding fauna of most of what we see in Africa today,” Begun told New Scientist. “If the antelopes and giraffes could get into Africa 7 million years ago, why not the apes?”

Begun presented the research last month at a conference of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

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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

Hominins may have first appeared in Europe instead of Africa

Based on the remains of an upper and lower jaw...

42,000-year-old horse still contains liquid blood and urine. As <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-clone-42000-year-old-horse/">we reported</a>, researchers looking for mammoth tusks in Russia uncovered a 42,000-year-old frozen foal carcass. But now, researchers have confirmed that the specimen still contains liquid blood and urine. The foal was unearthed from the permafrost in Siberia's Batagaika crater, located in the region of Verkhoyansk, in 2018.

“An autopsy showed the foal carcass was extremely well-preserved, the body even without deformation," Semyon Grigoriev, director of the Mammoth Museum at <a href="https://www.s-vfu.ru/en/">Northeastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/europe/prehistoric-foal-liquid-blood-urine-trnd-scli-scn-intl/index.html">told CNN</a>. "The hair cover also preserved most parts of the carcass, especially at the head and legs."

Scientists believe the foal was only about two weeks old when it died, likely from drowning in mud during the Pleistocene epoch, which spanned from about 2.6 million years ago to about 11,700 years ago.

It’s rare to see such perfectly preserved fur, Grigoriev told CNN. “Now we can say what color was the wool of the extinct horses of the Pleistocene era," he said.42,000-year-old horse still contains liquid blood and urine 

However, it’s the liquid blood and urine that raised eyebrows within the science community. According to Grigoriev, there is only one other instance where liquid blood was found in a prehistoric animal carcass — an adult mammoth, which Grigoriev and his team found off the coast of Russia in 2013.

“As a rule,” Grigoriev explained, “the blood coagulates or even turns to powder in the ancient remains of animals of the ice age, even if the carcass is preserved seems to be well. This is due to mummification when moisture and other biological fluids gradually evaporate over thousands of years, even if the remains are in the permafrost. The remains are preserved best if they are in the ice, as it was with our mammoth."

Grigoriev added that scientists extracted the foal’s bodily fluids for potential cloning purposes. Specialists from NEFU are working with South Korea’s ethically controversial <a href="http://en.sooam.com/dogcn/sub01.html">Sooam Biotech Research Foundation</a> (the same foundation that faked the cloning of a human embryonic stem cell in 2004) to extract cells from the foal, however Grigoriev says the chances they’ll be able to produce a clone are slim.

"I think that even the unique preservation [of] blood is absolutely hopeless for cloning purposes since the main blood cells — the red blood cells or erythrocytes — do not have nuclei with DNA," Grigoriev told CNN. "We [are] trying to find intact cells in muscle tissue and internal organs that are also very well-preserved."

In 2020, the ancient foal will be on display in Japan as part of The Mammoth exhibition.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Michil Yakolev/The Siberian Times

42,000-year-old horse still contains liquid blood and urine

42,000-year-old horse still contains liquid blood and urine. As we...

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



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



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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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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



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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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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