Quantum entanglement is a mind-boggling phenomenon in quantum mechanics that intrigues both scientists and the public alike.



Unlike the predictable nature of classical physics, quantum mechanics thrives on unpredictability, often challenging our everyday perceptions. This is particularly evident in the behavior of entangled particles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-quantum-entanglement">Understanding quantum entanglement</h2>



In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously, a concept known as superposition. Entanglement elevates this idea: when <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-laws-thermodynamics-follow-entropy-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particles become entangled</a>, their states are interlinked.



A change in one particle's state instantly influences the other, regardless of distance—imagine two distant light bulbs flickering in sync across the cosmos.



Entanglement suggests that information can be shared instantaneously between particles, defying the notion that nothing travels faster than light.



This "<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-spooky-action-at-a-distance-persists-between-top-quarks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spooky action at a distance</a>," as Albert Einstein famously termed it, prompts profound questions about the nature of space and time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-of-measurement">Challenges of measurement</h2>



Measurement in quantum mechanics presents unique challenges. Observing one particle in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-dance-entangled-photons-wave-functions-captured-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an entangled pair</a> determines the states of both, leading to critical inquiries: What constitutes a 'measurement,' and how does it influence our understanding of reality?



The complex mathematics underpinning quantum mechanics -- incorporating concepts like Hilbert spaces, wave functions, and operators -- can be intimidating, rendering entanglement less accessible to many.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fascinating-puzzle">Fascinating puzzle</h2>



Simply put, quantum entanglement is just too complicated for most people to fully understand. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-tunneling-allow-particles-break-light-speed-barrier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">It defies classical intuitions</a>, involves sophisticated mathematics, and urges us to reevaluate our understanding of reality.



That is, until now. 



Enter Professor Carl Kocher, a pioneer of the study of quantum entanglement. He is currently a member of the <a href="https://quantumfoundry.ucsb.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum Foundry</a> at University of California Santa Barbara and Professor Emeritus at <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon State University</a>.



Professor Kocher is the author of a new article in Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology, explaining his groundbreaking 1964-67 experiments in quantum entanglement and discussing the 'paradox' of quantum entanglement.



In the following guest editorial, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carl-Kocher" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Kocher</a> helps us stretch our minds to understand this apparently paradoxical phenomenon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-quantum-entanglement-0">Understanding quantum entanglement</h2>



My new article, ‘<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/quantum-science-and-technology/articles/10.3389/frqst.2024.1451239/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum Entanglement of Optical Photons: The First Experiment, 1964-67</a>’, is intended to convey the spirit of a small research project that reaches into uncharted territory. 



The article breaks with tradition, as it offers a first-person account of the strategy and challenges for the experiment, as well as an interpretation of the final result and its significance. 



In this guest editorial, I will introduce the subject and also attempt to illuminate the question ‘What is a paradox?’



Let’s begin with the gyroscope that I bought when I was eight, from a store that sold novelties and magic tricks. The spinning disk, supported at one end of its shaft, did not fall, but moved slowly around in a horizontal plane. 



This behavior seems mysterious or paradoxical in the context of common experience that excludes gyroscopes, but makes complete sense in the context of Newtonian mechanics, which resolves the paradox by predicting precisely how gyroscopes will behave.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-of-quantum-theory">Evolution of quantum theory</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radical-new-theory-finally-unites-gravity-spacetime-and-the-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum theory</a>, conceived in the mid-1920s, has been impressively successful in accounting for the properties and interactions of atoms and molecules. 



In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen stirred controversy with a thought experiment in which two particles of common origin move apart, noting that quantum theory predicts correlations in subsequent measurements of their spins.



The correlation may seem quite puzzling, as a measurement on one of the particles appears to influence a subsequent measurement on the other, even if the particles do not interact.



In current terminology, these correlations are an example of entanglement, and the correlation phenomenon is known as the EPR paradox.



The puzzle has become a subject for much discussion and analysis, especially because there was (and is) no known mechanism for measurements to communicate with each other.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-disentangling-quantum-entanglement">Disentangling quantum entanglement</h2>



In 1964 I was intrigued by this unfamiliar effect and began to think of a way to actually perform the EPR experiment -- or at least a version of it -- for observing the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-discovery-is-a-revolutionary-step-forward/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">correlation and entanglement</a>. It would be a low-energy experiment that could be set up in a small laboratory.



For the experiment outlined here, the particles of interest are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-photons-used-to-measure-earth-rotation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">visible-light photons</a>, which are noninteracting, emitted by excited calcium atoms in a two-stage spontaneous emission process. The polarization states of the photons, which are related to their spins, can be measured simply, with ordinary linear polarizers. 



Photomultiplier detectors count the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-dance-entangled-photons-wave-functions-captured-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">individual photons</a>, #1 (green) and #2 (violet), and timing circuits enable the identification of photon pairs from the same atom. A rotatable linear polarizer is mounted in front of each detector.



In simplest terms, the experiment involves counting the rate at which photon pairs are detected, as a function of the orientation of the polarizers. A photon pair detected from the same atom is recorded as a “coincidence count.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-theory-and-experiment-agree">Theory and experiment agree</h2>



Quantum theory makes the following predictions:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-computer-photons-create-vortex-when-they-collide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Each photon</a>, taken separately, has a 50% chance of being transmitted by its polarizer, regardless of its angle of orientation. </li>



<li>If the polarizer axes are parallel, both photons from the same atom can pass through their polarizers and be counted. Coincidence counts will be observed. </li>



<li>If the polarizer axes are perpendicular, it never happens that both photons pass through their polarizers. Therefore, no coincidence counts will be observed.</li>
</ol>



Predictions #1 and #2 are not surprising, as the green and violet beams of light are unpolarized.



Prediction #3, discussed further in my article, is a quantum entanglement effect with no analog in classical (non-quantum) physics. It is especially interesting because it can be tested experimentally. I designed the experiment specifically for this purpose.



The results of the experiment, after nearly three years of effort in the laboratory, clearly demonstrate that coincidence counts are recorded if the polarizer axes are parallel, and that no coincidences are recorded if the polarizers are perpendicular. The agreement between theory and experiment is unequivocal and striking.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-so-is-there-a-paradox">So is there a paradox?</h2>



In our brief discussion of the gyroscope, no paradox was acknowledged because Newton’s theory (classical dynamics) fully explains how a gyroscope moves. 



Furthermore, both the theory and the observed gyroscopic behavior are compatible with our life experience and intuitive ability to grasp natural processes in the classical realm.



In the entanglement case, quantum theory accounts for the observed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-photons-fascinating-behavior-in-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">correlation of the photon polarizations</a>. But even when a theory predicts experimental results, a paradox may remain if the intuition cannot reach out to connect with it.



Take another look at predictions #1 and #3 above. If we draw on our experience of life in a non-quantum world, we may notice something very strange when the polarizers are “crossed” at 90 degrees. 



If each photon has a 50% chance of transmission through its polarizer, why don’t we get coincidences 25% of the time? Instead, we observe none at all. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stretching-the-mind-to-resolve-the-paradox">Stretching the mind to resolve the paradox</h2>



At first consideration, this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/impossibility-paradox-calculating-incalculable-quantum-realm-particles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">does seem to qualify as a paradox</a>. One possible explanation could involve a missing component of quantum theory - perhaps a causal mechanism that could allow one photon, or one measurement, to communicate with the other. 



However, despite extensive research, no evidence has been found for such a mechanism.



As we do not live in an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-quantum-revolution-will-impact-all-aspects-of-society/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">overtly quantum world</a>, classical phenomena may influence our thought processes - even when we venture into the quantum realm. It may therefore remain a challenge to assimilate entanglement into the intuition.



I believe that the paradox can be at least partially resolved when further thought and experience, such as the experiment considered here, ‘stretch the mind’ to more fully embrace entanglement and other quantum phenomena.



I have come to view these aspects of nature as ‘strangely wonderful’.



The full paper and study can we read at <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/quantum-science-and-technology/articles/10.3389/frqst.2024.1451239/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology</a>.



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Quantum entanglement: A simple way to fully grasp this 'impossible' concept

Quantum entanglement is a mind-boggling phenomenon in quantum mechanics that intrigues both scientists and the public alike. Unlike the predictable nature of classical physics, quantum mechanics thrives on unpredictability, often challenging our everyday perceptions. This is particularly evident in the behavior of entangled particles. Understanding quantum entanglement In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously, a concept known as superposition. Entanglement elevates this idea: when particles become entangled, their states are interlinked. A change in one particle's state instantly influences the other, regardless of distance—imagine...

When it comes to the evolution of modern humans, researchers have discovered genetic contributions from both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-teen-human-species/">Neanderthals and Denisovans</a>, two ancient groups of early humans. 

While there has been much debate in terms of just how much of our modern human lineage is owed to Neanderthals and Denisovans, a new study using artificial intelligence has identified traces of a third unknown ancient human relative that interbred with Homo sapiens in the past. 

All humans on Earth can trace their evolutionary roots back to Africa when modern humans first migrated out of the region and spread across the globe hundreds of thousands of years ago. 

Past studies have found evidence of several interbreeding events between modern humans and early human relatives like Neanderthals that migrated out of Africa to Eurasia much earlier. 

These interbreeding events are called introgressions, and it’s been suggested that Neanderthals and Denisovans are only part of an incomplete puzzle. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://bist.eu/">Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeu_Fabra_University">Pompeu Fabra University in Spain</a> in collaboration with the <a href="https://www.ut.ee/en">University of Tartu</a> in Estonia used machine learning to tackle the human genome in hopes of creating a clearer picture of modern human evolution. 

“So, we thought we'd try to find these places of high divergence in the genome, see which are Neanderthal and which are Denisovan, and then see whether these explain the whole picture,” Jaume Bertranpetit, a co-author of the study told <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/artificial-intelligence-study-human-genome-finds-unknown-human-ancestor-species-180971436/">Smithsonian</a>. “As it happens, if you subtract the Neanderthal and Denisovan parts, there is still something in the genome that is highly divergent.”

The researchers used a series of algorithms to train artificial intelligence to analyze eight different models of early human evolution. 

After analyzing the models, the deep learning computer confirmed the existence of a ghost population of an ancient human relative that likely interbred with Denisovans and Neanderthals. 

The study shows the potential of artificial intelligence in combing through vast amounts of data, like the human genome, to identify anomalies and patterns never before realized. 

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

AI study discovers evidence of previously unknown human ancestor

When it comes to the evolution of modern humans, researchers...

A new study published by the <a href="https://www.cancer.org/">American Cancer Society</a> has revealed that hundreds of thousands of women's lives have been saved through the use of mammography and advances in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/traffic-fumes-breast-cancer/">breast cancer</a> treatment.

“Recent reviews of mammography screening have focused media attention on some of the risks of mammography screening, such as call-backs for additional imaging and breast biopsies, downplaying the most important aspect of screening - that finding and treating breast cancer early saves women's lives,” said study co-author Dr. Edward Hendrick of the <a href="http://medschool.ucdenver.edu/">University of Colorado School of Medicine</a>.

“Our study provides evidence of just how effective the combination of early detection and modern breast cancer treatment have been in averting breast cancer deaths.”

The researchers set out to estimate the number of deaths that have been prevented since 1989, after mammograms had become widely available and therapies had improved. They did this by analyzing population and breast cancer mortality data from over the past 30 years for women between 40 and 84 years old.

From 1990 to 2018, the total number of breast cancer deaths averted ranged from 384,000 to 614,500, depending on different background mortality assumptions. An estimated 27,083 to 45,726 breast cancer deaths were averted in the year 2018 alone. The researchers estimated that mammography and improved breast cancer treatment decreased the expected mortality rate by 45.3 to 58.3 percent in 2018.

Dr. Hendrick noted that currently, only about half of women over the age of 40 receive regular breast cancer screening in the United States. 

“The best possible long-term effect of our findings would be to help women recognize that early detection and modern, personalized breast cancer treatment saves lives and to encourage more women to get screened annually starting at age 40,” said Dr. Hendrick.

According to study co-author Dr. Mark Helvie, additional benefits will likely be discovered with future research.

“While we anticipate new scientific advances that will further reduce breast cancer deaths and morbidity, it is important that women continue to comply with existing screening and treatment recommendations.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10970142">CANCER</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Half a million breast cancer deaths have been prevented over 30 years

A new study published by the American Cancer Society has...

Do you love a good, spine-tingling scary movie? Are you the first in line for the haunted houses each Halloween? Most humans love a few harmless scares, and now scientists are getting a better idea why.

In a new study, researchers talked to 280 visitors to a commercial haunted house in an abandoned warehouse in Vejle, Denmark. They found that most of them admitted to loving horror entertainment because it gave them an emotional high – but one that was within their control. 

Dr. Mathias Clasen of <a href="https://international.au.dk/">Aarhus University</a> asked the 280 participants to focus on taking control of their fears as they moved through the haunted house. Some were asked to try and minimize their feelings of fear, while others were asked to boost it.

Both groups, the researchers discovered, moved closer to members of their group as they traveled through 30 rooms of harmless scares.

“It was striking that the same gesture of seeking physical proximity can work in those diametrically opposed ways,” Clasen told <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2192847-scientists-studied-a-haunted-house-to-understand-why-we-love-horror/">New Scientist</a>.

After they made it through the haunted house, the participants who were told to maximize their fear – surprisingly – reported that they’d had more fun in the warehouse full of harmless scares. That may be because they got an emotional high out of the feeling of overcoming simulated danger, the researchers said.

“When people report that they were more scared, they may not mean they were scared for their life, but enjoying a high state of [emotional] arousal, rather than pure fear,” Dr. Garriy Shteynberg of the <a href="https://www.utk.edu/">University of Tennessee</a> said.

The new study adds to growing research into how humans deal with fear – both harmless scares and real trauma.

In a 2017 study, researchers from reported that they could erase specific “fear memories” from the brain. They used bursts of oxygen to derail specific fear responses in mice. 

—
By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Why humans love harmless scares

Do you love a good, spine-tingling scary movie? Are you...

Poppy flowers grow in splashy, stunning reds, yellows, oranges and even white – but with their thin petals, how do they manage to be so bright?

Dr. Casper van der Kooi and Dr. Doekele Stavenga of the <a href="https://www.rug.nl/?lang=en">University of Groningen</a> set out to crack the code, using microscopy and mathematical modeling. They got an inside look at how light interacts with the super-thin petals of poppy flowers to create their vibrant colors.

Poppy petals are made up of just three layers of cells, but that doesn’t dim their colors.

“The common poppy is an extreme case. It has very thin petals that nevertheless cause a very high scattering of light. Poppies also contain high concentrations of pigments,” van der Kooi said.

The researchers collected a selection of petals from a variety of poppy species, then studied their structures. What they found was surprising: the color is only found in the outer two layers of cells, not the middle layer. Additionally, the outer cells were oddly shaped.

“This creates many air-filled gaps between the cells, which cause the reflection of light on the cell/air boundary,” van der Kooi said.

Despite that, the petals contain an enormous amount of pigment. In fact, the black markings in the center of some red poppy flowers isn’t black at all – it’s super-saturated red.

“They are among the highest concentrations that I have ever measured in any flower,” van der Kooi said.

In the case of European poppies, which reflect ultraviolet light, the color adaptations may have come as a way to attract bees, the flower’s main pollinator in Europe. In the Middle East, where beetles are the major pollinators of poppy flowers, the color must attract the bugs as Middle Eastern poppies don’t reflect ultraviolet. Bees can’t see red very well, but can see ultraviolet light; the Middle Eastern beetles see the colors poppies sport.

“Moreover, previous studies have shown that the black spots at the heart of some poppies mimic the presence of a female beetle. This is a way for the flowers to attract male beetles. A case of sexual mimicry, as occurs in other plants such as orchids,” van der Kooi said.

The study has been published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-018-01313-1">Journal of Comparative Physiology A</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Poppy flowers are bright and splashy – here's why

Poppy flowers grow in splashy, stunning reds, yellows, oranges and...

One of the oldest cases of bone cancer was recently discovered in a 240-million-year-old shell-less stem-turtle fossil known as Pappochelys rosinae, proving that cancer has been around long before humans.

The turtle lived during the middle <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/life-triassic-period/">Triassic</a> when dinosaurs first began to appear, and the species is an integral part of the modern-day turtle’s evolutionary history. 

A fossil of Pappochelys rosinae, first discovered in 2013 and kept in the <a href="https://www.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/intl/englisch/stuttgart-state-museum-natural-history">Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History</a>, had a mysterious growth on its back leg bone. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en">Natural History Museum in Berlin</a> studied the bone growth and found that it was a malignant and aggressive tumor.

“This is one of the oldest cases of cancer in the fossil record of vertebrates, and the oldest case in an amniote, which is the group that encompasses reptiles, birds and mammals,” said Florian Witzmann, an author of a study detailing the bone cancer.

[caption id="attachment_1867422" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Ancient-turtle-fossil-proves-that-cancer-long-predates-humans-copy.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1867422" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Ancient-turtle-fossil-proves-that-cancer-long-predates-humans-copy.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="471" /></a> Image Credit: Rainer Schoch/Wikimedia[/caption]

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, highlights the importance of paleopathology which is the study of ancient diseases.

This recent finding is particularly noteworthy because it’s difficult to find cancers in early fossils.

“Generally, paleopathologies are rare in fossils, particularly malignant cancers which are almost unheard of in the fossil record, making this a rare find indeed,” said Patrick Asbach, a co-author of the study.

The researchers scanned the turtle fossil and examined the growth under a microscope to help identify the tumor, which was located in the back of the left leg toward the hip joint.

The earliest case of bone cancer in humans was found in the bone of an ancient human ancestor that died in South Africa between 1.6 and 1.8 million years ago.

[caption id="attachment_1867423" align="aligncenter" width="634"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/turtle.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1867423" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/turtle.jpg" alt="" width="634" height="777" /></a> Image Credit: JAMA Oncology[/caption]

Because there are so few cases of cancer that pop up in the fossil record, researchers know very little about the disease’s origins, and there has long been an assumption that cancer is a modern malady.

“Our finding provides further evidence that cancer is not restricted to the modern human physiology. Instead, the susceptibility to this disease roots far back in the evolutionary history of vertebrates, hundreds of millions of years before the origin of humans,” said Yara Haridy, the first author of the study.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Main Image Credit: Rainer Schoch/Wikimedia

Ancient turtle fossil proves that cancer long predates humans

One of the oldest cases of bone cancer was recently...

Brain patterns may indicate whether or not a patient is conscious. Experts at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> have been studying brain networks that are active when we are awake to help solve the mystery of what drives consciousness. In an article written for <a href="http://theconversation.com/au">The Conversation</a>, Dr. Davinia Fernández-Espejo describes this as as “one of the most important unanswered questions of modern neuroscience.”

“Humans have learned to travel through space, eradicate diseases and understand nature at the breathtakingly tiny level of fundamental particles. Yet we have no idea how consciousness - our ability to experience and learn about the world in this way and report it to others - arises in the brain.”

Dr. Fernández-Espejo explained that it is a challenge to determine whether a patient with a severe <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/activity-brain-recover-trauma/">brain injury</a> is “aware” so that critical decisions can be made. She noted that modern brain imaging techniques are starting to provide brand new insights into human consciousness.

“For example, we know that complex brain areas including the prefrontal cortex or the precuneus, which are responsible for a range of higher cognitive functions, are typically involved in conscious thought,” wrote Dr. Fernández-Espejo. “However, large brain areas do many things. We therefore wanted to find out how consciousness is represented in the brain on the level of specific networks.”

The research, which was a collaboration among seven countries, has identified specific brain signatures that can be used to indicate whether a person is conscious or unconscious.

Among hospital patients, the team used a technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the activity of the brain and to monitor how some regions communicate with others. Overall, 53 of the patients were in a vegetative state, 59 were in a minimally conscious state, and 47 were healthy.

“Specifically, when a brain region is more active, it consumes more oxygen and needs higher blood supply to meet its demands. We can detect these changes even when the participants are at rest and measure how it varies across regions to create patterns of connectivity across the brain.”

According to Dr. Fernández-Espejo, the researchers found two main patterns of communication in the brain: one that simply reflected physical connections among brain networks, and another which represented very complex interactions across a set of 42 different regions that belong to six brain networks. While the simple patterns were seen in unconscious patients, the brain-wide complex activity was mostly observed in patients with some level of consciousness.


“Importantly, this complex pattern disappeared when patients were under deep anaesthesia, confirming that our methods were indeed sensitive to the patients' level of consciousness and not their general brain damage or external responsiveness.”


“In the future it might be possible to develop ways to externally modulate these conscious signatures and restore some degree of awareness or responsiveness in patients who have lost them, for example by using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial electrical stimulation.” 

Dr. Fernández-Espejo’s research team has already begun exploring this theory. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://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

Brain patterns may indicate whether or not a patient is conscious

Brain patterns may indicate whether or not a patient is...

Aedes aegypti

Suppressing mosquito appetites could persuade them not to bite. New research from scientists at the <a href="https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/913-leslie-b-vosshall/">lab of Leslie B. Vosshall</a> from <a href="https://www.rockefeller.edu/">The Rockefeller University</a> reveals it may be possible shut down the host-seeking and blood-feeding behaviors of female mosquitoes. Their findings, published February 7th in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/">Cell</a>, could result in mosquitoes being rendered harmless creatures in the future.

Scientists experimented on the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species of mosquito responsible for spreading life-threatening diseases like Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, and dengue. Female Aedes feed on human beings because our blood possesses protein needed for the Aedes to produce her eggs. After they feed and become bloated, they do not seek blood for several days.

This bloated phenomenon can be recreated by scientists injecting female <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/malarial-mosquitoes-cattle-decoys/">mosquitoes</a> with large doses of neuropeptides, which activate certain receptors. Laura Duvall, the postdoctoral fellow project leader, and her team were able to figure out which neuropeptide compound would work to suppress the mosquitos’ appetite — by studying similar receptors in our own human bodies. 

Duvall and her team found that anti-obesity drugs used to inhibit Neuropeptide Y or NPY receptors in humans — those being receptors that regulate food intake — could affect NPY-like receptors in mosquitoes as well.

"We were impressed and amazed that drugs designed to affect human appetite worked perfectly to suppress mosquito appetite," said Vosshall, Rockefeller’s Robin Chemers Neustein Professor.

After a series of neuropeptide cloning tests, the team found that the drug was affecting the mosquito NPY-like receptor known as NPYLR7.

Because this human drug could not be safely introduced into the wild, the team then searched for molecules that would activate NPYLR7 without triggering human NPY receptors. They narrowed down a list of 250,000 candidates to one molecule — compound 18, the molecule that suppressed Aedes' host-seeking behavior without showing off-target effects.Mosquitoes who were fed compound 18 didn’t hunt for human blood, nor other mammal’s blood. 

The next step is to find where the receptor is located within the mosquitoes’ bodies to help stop the spread of mosquito-transmitted diseases. And perhaps, compound 18 could be delivered to female mosquitoes in the wild to thwart disease before new disease-carrying mosquitoes are born.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Suppressing mosquito appetites could persuade them not to bite

Suppressing mosquito appetites could persuade them not to bite. New...

Imagine wearing a pair of running pants that helped keep you cool at the gym or thermal underwear in the winter that automatically sensed when body heat was being lost. What if there was a fabric that could do both? 

Scientists from the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a> have developed the first fabric of its kind that automatically self-cools or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/self-heating-fabric-military/">self-insulates</a> depending on the environment. 

The fabric is able to trap or release heat thanks to special fibers coated with a conductive metal. 

If it’s hot out and you’re working up a sweat, the fabric interacts or “gates” infrared radiation and allows heat to pass through it. If the weather is cold and dry, the fabric traps heat. 

“This is the first technology that allows us to dynamically gate infrared radiation,” said YuHuang Wang, one of the scientists who helped design the fabric. 

The new fabric was detailed in a study published in the journal Science. 

First, the researchers created a yarn made up of synthetic fibers that absorb and repel water which allows the strands to warp or expand depending on the humidity. Next, the team coated the yarn with carbon nanotubes, a conductive metal. 

The yarn reacts with the coating under certain conditions and can change the electromagnetic properties of the carbon nanotubes. 

“When the fibers are brought closer together, the radiation they interact with changes. In clothing, that means the fabric interacts with the heat radiating from the human body,” said Wang. 

Wang explained that the fibers and coating work sort of like radio antennae that work to find the right frequency.

In this way, the fabric is continuously “in tune” with its environment and can immediately sense when heat is rising or being lost. 

“The human body is a perfect radiator. It gives off heat quickly,” said Min Ouyang, a corresponding author of the study. “For all of history, the only way to regulate the radiator has been to take clothes off or put clothes on. But this fabric is a true bidirectional regulator.”

It will be sometime before self-cooling/insulating workout gear hits the market, as the researchers say more studies are needed to test the fabric, but the material has many exciting implications for clothing and textiles. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Faye Levine, University of Maryland

New fabric self-cools or self-insulates depending on conditions

Imagine wearing a pair of running pants that helped keep...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.pasteur.fr/en">Institut Pasteur</a> in Paris have found evidence that suggests the most recent common ancestor of all life on Earth may have actually preferred a moderately warm environment rather than the scorching hot conditions that were previously assumed. The finding, if confirmed, could provide new insight into where some of the earliest organisms existed, according to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>.

All organisms living on <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/life-earth-another-planet/">Earth</a> today can be traced back to the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), which lived around 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago in the Paleoarchean Era.  Any other organisms that may have existed this far back went extinct, while LUCA split into two groups that can be found in most living species today - bacteria and archaea.

Scientists have theorized that LUCA lived somewhere extremely hot, such as a geothermal pond, where temperatures exceeded 100 or even 200 degrees Fahrenheit. With no fossils available to study LUCA, experts must compare the genomes of its descendents. 

In 2016, a German team led by Bill Martin at <a href="https://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/home/en/">Heinrich Heine University</a> searched for universal genes that may have been present in LUCA. The researchers identified 355 genes, including one that is only found in thermophiles, organisms which thrive in scorching hot temperatures between 106 and 252 degrees Fahrenheit. 

However, New Scientist reports that Ryan Catchpole and Patrick Forterre at the Institut Pasteur do not believe this particular gene was present in LUCA. Their investigation produced two possible scenarios: LUCA lacked the reverse gyrase gene and it emerged instead in an early archaean, or LUCA did have the gene but it was lost during the evolution of bacteria. 

Martin told New Scientist that it is still possible that LUCA lived in hot conditions in an alkaline vent on the seafloor, where he believes all life originated. He explained that some of the water in alkaline vents may not have been hot enough to require the reverse gyrase gene found in thermophiles.

“The fact we found reverse gyrase in there, that’s nice, but it’s just one gene out of 355,” Martin said.
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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

Where did the earliest common ancestor of all life actually exist?

Scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Paris have found evidence...

For the first time, experts have managed to quantify the volume of marine sediments that were remobilized by the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake and transported to the Japan Trench, a submarine trench that is more than 8,000 meters deep in the North Pacific Ocean. The study produced evidence of a surprising link between earthquakes and the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/carbon-cycle-driven-seafloor/">carbon cycle</a>. 

The research, which was led by geologists at the <a href="https://www.uibk.ac.at/index.html.en">University of Innsbruck</a>, was based on samples and data collected during several offshore research expeditions between 2012 and 2016. The team estimated that a total carbon mass of more than 1 teragram (Tg), or one million metric tons, was released by this single tectonic event into the depths of the water. 

“The results surprised us and our colleagues,” said study co-author Tobias Schwestermann. “This is much higher than expected from carbon fluxes observed in other deep-sea trench systems worldwide.”

The team carried out high-resolution bathymetric surveys, conducted sub-seafloor structure imaging, and collected new sediment cores from the Japan Trench to analyze carbon content. The findings highlight the importance of the carbon cycle in the deep sea. 

“The results show that when we talk about the global carbon cycle, we also have to think about the deepest and most-underexplored deep-sea trenches of our world's oceans in the future,” said Professor Michael Strasser.


Study co-author Arata Kioka added, “All in all, the deep sea is arguably even less explored than the moon. This is exactly what fascinates us.”

The study represents the first trench-wide quantification of organic carbon mass at such depths in the ocean. This was made possible by the use of some measurement techniques that had never been attempted in the deep sea. “One of the research vessels, the German Sonne, was also decisive for the results. It is one of the technically best equipped research vessels currently available,” said Kioka.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">Scientific Reports</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

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Surprising link discovered between earthquakes and the carbon cycle

For the first time, experts have managed to quantify the...

A team of neuroscientists at <a href="https://www.med.emory.edu/">Emory University School of Medicine</a> has found a focal pathway in the brain that makes people feel calm and happy when it is electrically stimulated. According to the experts, the technique is a “potentially transformative” way to keep patients relaxed during awake brain surgery.

The researchers determined that direct electrical stimulation of the cingulum bundle, a prominent white matter tract in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/space-changes-brain/">brain</a>, caused immediate laughter followed by a sense of calm and happiness. After this behavior was observed in an epilepsy patient who was being monitored for seizures, the stimulation was strategically used again to keep the patient relaxed during brain surgery.

“Even well-prepared patients may panic during awake surgery, which can be dangerous,” said study lead author Dr. Kelly Bijanki. “This particular patient was especially prone to it because of moderate baseline anxiety. And upon waking from global anesthesia, she did indeed begin to panic.” 

“When we turned on her cingulum stimulation, she immediately reported feeling happy and relaxed, told jokes about her family, and was able to tolerate the awake procedure successfully.”


The cingulum bundle is located under the cortex and curves around the midbrain, with a shape resembling a girdle or a belt. Study senior author Dr. Jon Willie explained that this region was a logical target because it connects many brain regions that coordinate complex emotional responses. The experts noted that the area which regulated laughter and relaxation is located at the top and front of the cingulum bundle.

"The patient described the experience as pleasant and relaxing and completely unlike any component of her typical seizure or aura,” wrote the researchers. “She reported an involuntary urge to laugh that began at the onset of stimulation and evolved into a pleasant, relaxed feeling over the course of a few seconds of stimulation.”

While further research is needed, Dr. Bijanki said that the cingulum bundle could ultimately become a new target for brain stimulation therapies to address anxiety, mood, and pain disorders.

The study is published in the <a href="https://www.jci.org/">Journal of Clinical Investigation</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Brain stimulation could help patients feel calm during surgery

A team of neuroscientists at Emory University School of Medicine...

The <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/earths-magnetic-field-nearly-collapsed/">magnetic north pole</a> has been shifting so quickly that the <a href="https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/DoDWMM.shtml">World Magnetic Model</a> (WMM), which maps the current position of the magnetic field every five years, had to be updated by NOAA scientists almost a year early. The new model shows that the magnetic north pole is moving away from the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia at a rate of around 34 miles per year.

While the geographic north pole is in a fixed location, the Earth's magnetic field is constantly shifting. This can cause problems for many consumer devices that have built-in digital compasses such as smartphones and digital cameras. According to the <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA), the WMM is now pre-installed in Android and iOS devices, which means it is used in more than a billion devices around the world.

NOAA geophysicist Arnaud Chulliat, the lead author of the newly-issued WMM, pointed out that airplanes and boats rely on magnetic north, usually for backup navigation. The WMM is also used by the military, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the U.S. Forest Service.


Since the magnetic north pole was first measured in 1831, it has moved about 1,400 miles across the Canadian Arctic. The rate of its movement increased from about 9 miles per year in 2000 to 34 miles per year by 2019.

The dynamics of the magnetic field are caused by changes of the fluid flow in the Earth's outer core. Daniel Lathrop, a geophysicist at the University of Maryland, explained to <a href="http://time.com/">Time Magazine</a> that there is a hot liquid ocean of iron and nickel in the planet’s core where the motion generates an electric field. “It has changes akin to weather,” said Lathrop. “We might just call it magnetic weather.”

As Earth’s magnetic field gets weaker, experts predict that it will eventually flip, with the north and south pole changing polarity. “It’s not a question of if it’s going to reverse, the question is when it’s going to reverse,” Lathrop told Time.

This transition would not be instant, but would happen gradually over thousands of years. The magnetic poles have reversed many times in Earth's history, but this has not happened in 780,000 years. The main concern of scientists, however, is that the magnetic field may continue to weaken, which could potentially expose the planet to dangerous radiation.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth’s magnetic North Pole is rapidly shifting toward Siberia

The magnetic north pole has been shifting so quickly that...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" 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.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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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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