A pulsing headache can feel like your brain is fighting for space. New research suggests that this tug-of-war may trace back to Neanderthal skull traits we share with our extinct cousins.



A recent study zeroes in on Chiari malformation type 1, a condition in which the lower <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538167/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cerebellum</a> droops through the foramen magnum, the bony opening at the skull’s base.



Lead author Kimberly Plomp of the <a href="https://upd.edu.ph" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of the Philippines Diliman</a> teamed up with neurosurgeon Yvens Barbosa Fernandes from Brazil’s <a href="https://unicamp.br/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">State University of Campinas</a> to test an idea he floated in 2013.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-neanderthal-skull-shape-squeezes-the-brain">Neanderthal skull shape squeezes the brain</h2>



Surgeons diagnose <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/chiari-malformation-fact-sheet" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chiari</a> after spotting a compressed cerebellum on MRI scans, but the root cause has stayed murky. Scientists estimate that type 1 affects about one in every 100 Americans.



The new modeling work confirms that people with Chiari share a smaller, flatter <a href="https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1136/inp.m1869" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">occipital bone</a> than unaffected <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-inject-40000-year-old-neanderthal-dna-gli3-gene-into-mice-with-incredible-results/">peers</a>. That subtle tilt reduces the bony cradle that normally cups the cerebellum and keeps it clear of the spinal canal.



“It makes sense, if you have less angulation, you have less space for the modern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neanderthal-superhighways-through-eurasia-recreated-with-supercomputers/">human</a> brain,” said Barbosa Fernandes at the end of surgery rounds. He first noticed the resemblance while examining museum casts of ancient skulls during a European trip.



Headaches are common, yet <a href="https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Chiari-Malformation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chiari</a> pain often flares when coughing, straining, or even laughing. Other symptoms range from neck pain to tingling hands, and some cases stay silent for years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-neanderthal-skull-shape-linked-to-brain-condition">Neanderthal skull shape linked to brain condition</h2>



Plomp’s team built digital 3‑D models of 46 Chiari skulls and 57 controls from hospital CT scans, then compared them to eight fossil crania. 



The Chiari group <a href="https://academic.oup.com/emph/advance-article/doi/10.1093/emph/eoaf009/8175225" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">matched</a> Homo neanderthalensis almost point for point, while Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and early Homo sapiens aligned with today’s rounder <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/neanderthal-fossils-reveal-signs-of-a-population-collapse/">skulls</a>.



“It highlights the idea that these are Neanderthal traits, not just early traits,” said Plomp, her screen filled with color‑coded heat maps of bone angles. She called the overlap “another way that Neanderthal genes might be influencing our health, and in this case, in a negative way.”



Neanderthals carried brains slightly larger than ours, but their cranial base sloped backward like a built‑in ramp. That shape fits an ice‑age life of powerful jaw muscles and big sinus spaces, yet it also left scant room for a bulging <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-theory-explains-why-neanderthals-vanished-and-homo-sapiens-are-alive-today/">human</a> cerebellum.



Most people carry between 1 and 2 percent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12961" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neanderthal DNA</a>, a legacy of interbreeding roughly 50,000 years ago. Much of that genetic cargo is benign, though some alleles affect immune response, metabolism, and now, it seems, skull geometry.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-neanderthal-dna-and-skull-shape">Ancient Neanderthal DNA and skull shape</h2>



The overlap does not prove cause and effect, so the team now plans full‑genome scans of Chiari patients to hunt “introgressed” sequences, bits of archaic DNA that slipped into the modern gene pool. 



Introgression <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36763080/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> have already linked certain Neanderthal variants to nicotine addiction and even severe COVID‑19 cases.



If a skull‑shaping gene set turns up, clinicians could screen high‑risk families before symptoms strike. Early detection matters because decompression surgery, while effective, involves removing bone and sometimes fusing vertebrae.



“I didn’t have the science to prove my hypothesis. This paper is a big step closer toward that proof,” said Barbosa Fernandes after reviewing the metric curves.



Other forms of Chiari, labeled types 2 through 4, follow different rules. Type 2, in contrast, is tightly linked to severe <a href="https://www.spinabifidaassociation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spina bifida</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-skull-shape-affects-daily-life">How skull shape affects daily life</h2>



The cerebellum fine‑tunes balance, speech, and motor control, so its squeeze can scramble day‑to‑day skills such as handwriting or climbing stairs. 



MRI technicians now know to look for the tell‑tale “tonsillar descent,” a downward bulge of cerebellar tissue past the foramen magnum.



Many patients report that lying flat eases pressure, hinting that gravity exacerbates the pinch. Others seek help only after years of unexplained migraines, an example of how ancient traits can hide in plain sight.



Anthropologists see the study as proof that evolutionary leftovers do not always vanish quietly. A skull optimized for an Ice Age hunter may pose problems for a modern desk worker whose brain spends hours hunched over screens. 



Pediatric surgeons are also watching. If Neanderthal‑linked genes surface, prenatal scans may one day flag a risky skull angle long before birth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predicting-brain-conditions">Predicting brain conditions</h2>



Plomp’s group now collaborates with population geneticists to map their CT findings onto hundreds of living genomes. They hope to learn whether carriers of specific Neanderthal skull DNA face higher odds of surgical intervention.



Public health officials could then estimate regional Chiari burdens and tailor neurosurgery training programs. In areas with limited MRI access, a simple cranial X‑ray angle might serve as an early warning.



Evolution offers trade‑offs, and the Neanderthal‑style skull saved heat in bitter winters but became a tight squeeze for our expanded cerebellum. Knowing that trade‑off exists empowers clinicians and patients alike.



“It looks like this is just another way that Neanderthal genes might be influencing our health, and in this case, in a negative way,” said Plomp. The team hopes DNA data will seal the evolutionary link.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/emph/advance-article/doi/10.1093/emph/eoaf009/8175225?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health</a>.



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Neanderthal skull traits cause modern human brain problems

A pulsing headache can feel like your brain is fighting for space. New research suggests that this tug-of-war may trace back to Neanderthal skull traits we share with our extinct cousins. A recent study zeroes in on Chiari malformation type 1, a condition in which the lower cerebellum droops through the foramen magnum, the bony opening at the skull’s base. Lead author Kimberly Plomp of the University of the Philippines Diliman teamed up with neurosurgeon Yvens Barbosa Fernandes from Brazil’s State University of Campinas to test an idea he floated...

Amateur scientist has tapped into the huge potential of plant waste. An 81-year-old man with no formal training in science is on the verge of revolutionizing industry by increasing the availability of sustainable resources. Massachusetts resident Marshall Medoff has found a way to change the molecular structure of plant waste so that it can be used to make affordable and renewable transportation fuels, among other products. 

Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound in the world, located within the cell walls of plants. There is huge potential to make <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/scientists-seek-use-for-plant-byproduct-of-biofuels/">biofuels</a> from the sugar found in cellulose, but scientists have been unable to find a cost effective method of extracting it.

<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/">CBS News</a> journalist Lesley Stahl interviewed Medoff for the television show 60 Minutes, reporting that he left behind a career in business after becoming obsessed with finding a way to stop global warming and protect the environment.

“When I realized what was going on here, I said, This is an emergency. We gotta find new resources. We've gotta find new ways of saving the universe in terms of global warming and so forth and so on.”

Medoff set his sights on identifying a method for breaking through tightly-locked cellulose to access its energy, which is in the form of sugar molecules. “Cellulose is everywhere,” he told Stahl. “I mean, there's just so much cellulose in the world and nobody had managed to use any of it. Couldn't get at it.”

Medoff said that if there was a way to do this, the sustainable resources of the world could be increased by a third or more. To find a solution, he spent over 15 years working in isolation in the garage of a storage facility. 

“I didn't have a phone there. Nobody could disturb me. And I'd have a pile of papers that I had collected and I started reading them.” 

Medoff came up with so many ideas that he eventually needed the resources to test them out. Ten years ago, he hired an MIT graduate named Craig Masterman to build a lab. According to CBS News, the team worked together to implement Medoff's idea of using a machine called an electron accelerator to break apart biomass.

“It doesn't sound that extraordinary when you hear it except- no one else had thought about it,’ said Stahl. 

“I think fantastic stuff is simple in hindsight,” Masterman replied. He explained that while other scientists were experimenting with expensive methods for extracting sugar from plant waste, this new method succeeded by using electron beams, which are inexpensive. Amateur scientist has tapped into the huge potential of plant waste

The use of the electron accelerators earned Medoff's company, Xyleco, hundreds of millions of dollars from investors who recognized the enormous potential of the novel idea. 

In addition to the development of environmentally-friendly gasoline and jet fuel, Xyleco will use sugar from cellulose to make alternative plastics that have the ability to disintegrate in as little as 11 weeks.

Xyleco now has some impressive names on its board of directors, including George Shultz, who is the former secretary of state and former defense secretary. Shell Oil executive Sir John Jennings and Robert Armstrong, the former head of the chemical engineering department at MIT, are also on the board. 

The next step will be to see if Medoff's system can be scaled up to compete with, and infiltrate, a very well-established oil industry. 

John Jennings told CBS, “It won't turn off oil and gas overnight, obviously. It won't turn off coal. It won't turn off nuclear. It won't turn off all the other sources of energy. But it will find its place. And I think it will find it relatively quickly because of all the boxes that it ticks.”

When asked how he thought he could solve this huge problem with no background in science, Medoff said he never had any doubts that he would get it done. He told CBS News he is “saving the world.”

More information about Xyleco's technology can be found on the company's website <a href="https://www.xyleco.com/">here</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Amateur scientist has tapped into the huge potential of plant waste

Amateur scientist has tapped into the huge potential of plant...

In 1955, a 200-million-year-old fossil was discovered at Fell Mill Farm in Warwickshire, England. It remained unstudied until 2014 when scientists used computerized tomography (CT) scanning technology to digitally reconstruct the ancient reptile skull and unearth the mysteries that have surrounded it for 60 years.

The fossilized skull, which is almost a meter in length (about three feet), is that of a ichthyosaur, a massive prehistoric marine reptile. Unlike other ichthyosaur fossils discovered in the United Kingdom, this sample is remarkably preserved in three-dimensions. Others of the same species have been “pancaked” over time, causing the skull structure and several key bones to be compromised.

"Initially, the aim of the project was to clean and conserve the skull and partially dismantle it to rebuild it more accurately, ready for redisplay at the <a href="http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank">Thinktank Museum</a>,” said paleontologist and co-author of the study, Nigel Larkin. “But we soon realised that the individual bones of the skull were exceptionally well preserved in three dimensions, better than in any other ichthyosaur skull we'd seen. Furthermore, that they would respond well to CT scanning, enabling us to capture their shape digitally and to see their internal details. This presented an opportunity that couldn't be missed.”

Lead author and one of the world’s leading ichthyosaur experts Dean Lomax, from The <a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/">University of Manchester</a>, knew they had something special on their hands when he saw how well-preserved the skull and skeleton portion was. He was able to confirm that the specimen was a rare species of ichthyosaur called the Protoichthyosaurus prostaxalis, which is the largest type of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/ichthyosaurs-warm-blooded/">ichthyosaur</a> known.

Bones that are not usually present in other ichthyosaur skulls, yet appeared in this specimen, were micro-CT scanned by Dr. Laura Porro of <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London (UCL)</a> at <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">Cambridge University</a> in 2015. These bones, only preserved on the left side of the braincase, were then digitally mirrored via the CT scans and 3D printed to fit the other side.

[caption id="attachment_1864855" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ichthyosaur.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1864855" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ichthyosaur.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="362" /></a> Reconstruction of ichthyosaur skull, Image © Bob Nicholls (Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum)[/caption]

“CT scanning allows us to look inside fossils - in this case, we could see long canals within the skull bones that originally contained blood vessels and nerves,” Dr. Porro said. “Scans also revealed the curation history of the specimen since its discovery in the '50s. There were several areas reconstructed in plaster and clay, and one bone was so expertly modelled that only the scans revealed part of it was a fake. 

“Finally there is the potential to digitally reconstruct the skull in 3D,” she continued. “This is hard (and risky) to do with the original, fragile and very heavy fossil bones; plus, we can now make the 3D reconstruction freely available to other scientists and for education."

Lomax said that waiting until CT scanning technology is available to study the fossil has been worth the wait. Their findings and methods of CT scanning will greatly help future paleontologists discover and unearth amazing prehistoric mysteries.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image © Bob Nicholls (Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum)

Medical scans reveal secrets of a massive extinct marine reptile

In 1955, a 200-million-year-old fossil was discovered at Fell Mill...

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs caused a massive global tsunami. Beneath Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula lies a 111 mile-wide crater called the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-asteroid-struck/">Chicxulub crater</a> that was formed after a giant asteroid collided with Earth 65 million years ago.

The aftermath causes  of the collision included a nearly mile-high global tsunami and brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs and nearly three-quarters of all life on Earth. 

New research recently presented at the<a href="https://sites.agu.org/"> American Geophysical Union</a>'s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. shows how much of an impact the tsunami had after the asteroid collided into the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico.Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs caused a massive global tsunami

The research was conducted by a team from the<a href="https://umich.edu/"> University of Michigan. 

</a>“The Chicxulub asteroid resulted in a huge global tsunami, the likes of which have not been seen in modern history,” Molly Range, the lead researcher of the project, told <a href="https://www.livescience.com/64426-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-caused-giant-tsunami.html">Live Science</a>. 

According to Range, this is the first global simulation of the impact tsunami, and the researchers had to use two models to simulate the full global scale of the tsunami after the collision. 

One model showed wave height and sediment displacement immediately following the impact and the second model showed how the tsunami spread through and displaced the world’s ocean in the hours after the impact. 

“The impact tsunami spread quickly out of the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic and through the Central American seaway into the Pacific within the first 24 hours,” the researchers <a href="https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm18/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/445502">wrote</a>. 

Once the asteroid collided with Earth, the first model simulated what the next ten minutes were like near the collision site, and the model showed an initial wave reaching nearly a mile high flowing away from the crater. 

The team used data from the first model to simulate how the tsunami propagated through the world’s oceans in the second model.

“We found that this tsunami moved throughout the entire ocean, in every ocean basin,” Range told Live Science.

Waves in the North and South Pacific reached as high as 46 feet after the initial impact tsunami wave, the model showed waves reaching 13 feet in the North Atlantic. 

“This model suggests that the bolide impact not only had major effects on the global atmosphere and biosphere, it also created a tsunami of such magnitude that its effect is felt across much of the world ocean,” the researchers conclude. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs caused a massive global tsunami

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs caused a massive global tsunami....

They say blondes have more fun, but true blonde hair is rarer than you might think, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/mrc-human-genetics-unit/news-and-events/news-2018/hair-colour-genetics-uk-biobank-2018">University of Edinburgh's MRC Human Genetics Unit. </a>

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, is the largest genetic <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/human-body-parts-hair/">hair</a> study of its kind as the researchers examined DNA from nearly 35,000 men and women of European descent. 

The DNA data came from the <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank Study</a> and the researchers conducted genome-wide analyses of different hair colors to find any genetic variants. 

Previous genetic research had found that the red hair is determined by one gene, the MC1R gene, but these studies failed to explain the variants in the MC1R gene and external genetic factors that interact the gene.

For example, although most redheads have two copies of the MC1R gene, there are people with two versions of this gene that don’t have red hair. The researchers wanted to find out what other underlying genetic factors drive hair color variation. 

The researchers found eight genetic variants linked to red hair and nearly 200 genetic differences in blondes and brunettes. 

The lighter your hair is, the more genetic variants you have, according to the study.  

True blonde is also a rare hair color, and the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6563471/Not-dumb-Blonds-complex-DNA-study-says.html">Daily Mail</a> reports that only 12.7 percent of women have pure blonde hair, and only 9.9 percent of men do. 

Surprisingly, many of the genetic differences identified by the researchers correlated with factors other than pigmentation like hair texture and growth. 

“In summary, the very large dataset provided by UK Biobank has enabled us to dissect the complex genetic nature of hair colour,” the researchers concluded. “This forms the foundation for functional analysis linking genetic variation to phenotype and exploring the cellular interactions between melanocytes and other cells in the hair follicle.”
--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

True blonde hair requires surprisingly complex genetics

They say blondes have more fun, but true blonde hair...

Every year, insect and mosquito-transmitted diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and Zika are responsible for millions of deaths worldwide. 

Nearly 40 percent of the Earth’s population is at risk of contracting malaria, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/whr/1996/media_centre/executive_summary1/en/index9.html">World Health Organization</a> (WHO), and the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a transmitter of many common insect-transmitted diseases, is one of the deadliest animals in the world. 

Now, a new study could pave the way for the development of a type of mosquito birth control to reduce mortality rates and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dengue-fever-modified-mosquitoes/">prevent insect-transmitted diseases from spreading</a>.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> conducted a study examining mosquito egg formation and identified a gene specific to healthy mosquito larvae development. 

The study was published in the journal PLOS Biology.

“We specifically looked for genes that were unique to mosquitoes and then tested for their functional role in eggshell synthesis,” said Jun Isoe, the leader of the research. “We think there are other discoveries to be made using this same species-directed approach.” 

First, the researchers identified and tested 40 mosquito-specific genes to determine the function of each gene. 

Next, the researchers injected the genes with an RNA molecule that inhibited the protein that each specific gene codes in a process is called RNA interference. 

The team injected the RNA molecules into a female mosquito before she fed on a host. Female mosquitoes need a blood meal to produce eggs. Once a mosquito laid her eggs, the researchers monitored the offspring to see if the RNA molecule had affected the eggs.

Only one of the genes had an impact on embryo development after being injected with the RNA molecule, the EOF-1 gene or Eggshell Organizing Factor protein as the researchers called it. 

Disrupting the EOF-1 protein resulted in the death of an embryo because the female mosquito laid malformed eggshells that were not able to support larvae development. 

Not only is EOF-1 specific to mosquitos, but the researchers also found that the RNA molecule prevented healthy embryo development for the entirety of the mosquito’s lifespan.

“This lasting effect makes the EOF-1 protein a very attractive target for drugs,” said Miesfeld. 

The researchers think that disrupting the EOF-1 protein could be an innovative solution to control mosquito populations in regions where mosquito-transmitted diseases pose major health risks. 

“We think this strategy may have a much lower chance of harming other organisms than what is being used today,” said Miesfeld. “Since the days of DDT, we have known that mosquito population control works to reduce the incidence of human disease. This could be a next-generation tool that could be applied to bed nets and other areas frequented by mosquitoes.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: CDC/Frank Hadley Collins

Mosquito birth control could prevent the spread of deadly diseases

Every year, insect and mosquito-transmitted diseases like malaria, dengue fever,...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/">University of Tokyo</a> have discovered that histamine-boosting drugs can help certain patients improve their long-term memory. The study, led by University of Tokyo Professor Yuji Ikegaya and lecturer Hiroshi Nomura, Ph.D., who worked with collaborators from the Universities of <a href="https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/">Hokkaido</a> and <a href="https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/">Kyoto</a>, tested histamine’s ability to improve <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/breathing-nose-long-term-memory/">long-term memory</a> — that is, anything that happened more than 48 hours prior — on 38 men and women in their mid-20s.

The group of participants completed a series of memory tests on three separate days. They were shown familiar images, like a pair of eyeglasses, and then shown the same images days later, along with similar images, and asked if they had seen the images before.

"In real life, we cannot know what we forgot. This is why we do human memory tests with pictures on a computer screen," Prof. Ikegaya said in the study, published January 8th in <a href="https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/">Biological Psychiatry</a>.

Days later, participants were then administered either a placebo pill or a drug that increases histamine within the brain. Those with poor memories who had taken the drug recognized more images correctly, and more difficult pictures to recognize became easier to point out in patients across the board. However, those with good memory before taking the drug experienced poorer memory post-drug.

"Increased histamine helped research participants remember an image they knew once but couldn't remember during a long-term memory word-association test," Ikegaya said. The team believes that stochastic resonance, the phenomenon of adding white noise to a transmission, may be responsible for aiding long-term memory in some while hindering it in others.

Researchers believe that introduction of the histamine drug into the brain affects the “gradient system,” that being the way information is stored within the brain. Memories above the threshold come to the forefront of our memory, whereas memories below the threshold are hard to remember. The histamine may cause neurons to fire and help memories cross that threshold. But when memories are already above the threshold, histamine may cause too much noise and distraction, therefore leaving us confused.

In mice, histamine-boosting drugs affected the perirhinal cortex, the region of the brain responsible for visual perception and memories.

A long-term memory boosting drug could have adverse effects in those with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD, and researchers believe the brain files away memories differently depending on the memory. But researchers hope to test this drug on older adults with memory issues, in an effort to get one step closer to aiding symptoms of memory-loss diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia. 

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Histamine-boosting drug could improve long-term memory

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered that histamine-boosting...

Peak <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/12/20/dating-during-holidays-peak-dating-season-almost-here-according-match/964051001/">dating season</a> is quickly approaching and soon dating sites like Match.com and OkCupid will see a surge in people searching through countless profiles to find a prospective match. 

Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day can be wonderful when you have someone to share them with, but for the chronically single among us, these holidays can be an especially difficult time. 

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/online-daters-matches-league/">Online dating</a> has become an increasingly popular option in today’s digital age, and there are so many apps and websites with millions of users worldwide, you would think that finding a compatible match would be easy as swipe, match, date. 

However, the reality is that people using apps like Tinder and Bumble often find themselves swiping into oblivion with few prospects, lots of messages that lead nowhere, and an ever-growing collection of “matches” that just sit gathering dust as the swipes keep coming. 

As someone who has tried their fair share of dating sites and apps, I’ve always been curious about the science and math behind the scenes, especially the ones that claim to match you with the most compatible people based on your shared interests and what you’re looking for.

Can science find your perfect match? How do the algorithms that determine your rank within the system work, and who or what decides who sees who?  

You may not realize it, but behind the mega-successful dating websites like OkCupid and the apps like Bumble, there’s math, more specifically a series of algorithms that keep the cogs turning so you can swipe to your heart's content. 

“Algorithms learn from users’ preferences,” wrote Ally Marotti, a reporter for the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-app-dating-algorithms-20181202-story.html">Chicago Tribune</a>, in a piece about perfecting your dating profile. “They gather data on users and how they interact, and calculate which profiles will appear in feeds or as matches. If a user tends not to engage with people with tattoos, the app may stop showing that person people with tattoos, for example.”

These algorithms work to take the guesswork out of the equation and can help you meet a lot of people that you probably wouldn’t if you decided to try your hand at dating the old fashioned way and leave it up to chance. 

A <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/ft/2011/07/inside_matchcom.html">Financial Times profile</a>, Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match group, discussed the importance of algorithms in making matches. Match group is the parent company of Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder, and Plenty of Fish among other dating brands. 

Ginsberg explained how Match.com’s algorithm, “Synapse,” uses many different factors in a person’s profile to find a match and also learns from the different actions of users on the site. 

This means that for Match.com users, not only will their matches be based on their indicated preferences in their profile, but also on the profiles that users view, who they send messages to, and what they search for. 

Tinder's algorithm claims to weed out inactive users and keep them in the back of the line. Other algorithms may make sure to keep the most popular profiles in a certain area at the head of the queue. 

In Tinder, every user has a ranking called an Elo score, and the fact of the matter is, who sees you and how often you're profile is seen boils down to that ranking. 

“It’s not just how many people swipe right on you," Sean Rad, Tinder’s CEO, told <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3054871/whats-your-tinder-score-inside-the-apps-internal-ranking-system">Fast Company</a>. “It’s very complicated. It took us two and a half months just to build the algorithm because a lot of factors go into it.” 

For Tinder, they say the Elo score measures desirability in the hopes of matching equally desirable couples. 

It's important to note that although some dating websites claim otherwise, dating algorithms have yet to crack the code of human attraction and love, and no amount of math will find you your perfect match. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> and the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> found that out the hard way after conducting a series of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797617714580">speed dating experiments</a> where romantically unattached individuals were asked to fill out questionnaires rating their own qualities and attractiveness and what they were looking for in a partner. 

Then the participants took part in a speed dating exercise, where people were matched up and given four minutes to make a connection before moving on to the next person. 

After the speed dating was done, the participants told the researchers which people they liked and which they didn’t. 

The researchers then created a machine learning algorithm based on all the data from the questionnaires and the participant's responses to the dates to see if machine learning could predict compatibility. 

After all the analysis and number crunching was complete, the researchers found that machines and algorithms were useless at predicting human compatibility. 

“We couldn’t predict compatibility at all,” said Paul Eastwick, a leader of the study, on the podcast <a href="https://www.gimletmedia.com/science-vs/online-dating-can-science-find-you-love#episode-player">Science Verses</a>, while discussing the results. “It’s very hard to predict how much people are going to like each other once they first meet.”

If you find yourself looking for love and think online dating is the way to go, or if you’ve been a member of every online dating website and still have yet to find a good match, unfortunately, science can’t magically find you a partner.

However, what these algorithms do well is expose you to tons of people while learning from your online dating activity. 

Don’t get too caught up in your rank, or your number of matches because as we’ve learned, these algorithms know very little about actual matters of the heart. 

However, online dating can be a great way to get things started, put yourself out there without looking for an expensive local matchmaking service, and meet different people. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dating in the digital age: Can science help find your perfect match?

Peak dating season is quickly approaching and soon dating sites...

Dr. Ben Almquist and his team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/bioengineering">Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London</a> have developed a new biomaterial that can interact with human tissue and could potentially change the way wounds are healed in the future. Unlike currently-used healing materials like collagen sponges and scaffold implants, Dr. Almquist and colleagues developed a new molecule which lets materials “talk” to the body’s natural healing system.

The molecule, called traction force-activated payloads (TrAPs), could be incorporated into existing healing materials, and “could help launch a new generation of materials that actively work with tissues to drive healing,” as Dr. Almquist stated via <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15214095">Advanced Materials</a>.

The team designed TrAPs to replicate the process of natural healing, during which cells “crawl” through collagen scaffolding within wounds, thus activating hidden healing proteins. To create TrAPs, researchers folded segments of DNA into three-dimensional shapes called aptamers, which cling to proteins. Then, a “handle” was attached to this shape so that cells can grab onto one end before attaching their opposite end to a collagen scaffold, or something similar. Once the cells grab ahold of TrAPs, the TrAPs unravel and healing proteins are activated. These proteins tell the healing cells to start growing.

Dr. Almquist and his team also found that, depending on where the handle is placed, different cells will grab and pull, meaning that TrAPs can be tailored to fit specific proteins based on which cells are present, and intelligently interact during wound repair.

 "Using cell movement to activate healing is found in creatures ranging from sea sponges to humans,” Dr. Almquist said. “Our approach mimics them and actively works with the different varieties of cells that arrive in our damaged tissue over time to promote healing."

Because TrAPs can be tailored to fit different cell types, they can be used to heal several different types of wounds, from bone fractures, to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/heart-attack-stroke-unemployment/">heart attack</a> scar tissue, to damaged nerves. Patients with “unhealable” wounds will also benefit from this new technology. Furthermore, TrAPs can also be used in lab settings to better understand diseases, stem cells, and tissue development.

“The TrAP technology provides a flexible method to create materials that actively communicate with the wound and provide key instructions when and where they are needed,” Dr. Almquist continued. “This sort of intelligent, dynamic healing is useful during every phase of the healing process, has the potential to increase the body's chance to recover, and has far-reaching uses on many different types of wounds. This technology has the potential to serve as a conductor of wound repair, orchestrating different cells over time to work together to heal damaged tissues."

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New material helps heal wounds by harnessing natural healing methods

Dr. Ben Almquist and his team of researchers from the...

Satellites could help the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/">United Nations</a> (UN) achieve its <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/no-country-sustainability-needs/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> by providing a clearer picture of living conditions across the world at the household level. 

It can be difficult to measure global <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/childhood-poverty-cognitive-skills/">poverty</a> levels and economic conditions especially in developing nations where population growth is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years. 

But if the UN is to stay on schedule with its development agenda which aims to improve quality of life and sustainability worldwide, tracking living and economic conditions is critical. That’s why researchers from <a href="https://international.au.dk/">Aarhus University</a> in Denmark have turned to satellite data. 

A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that freely available satellite imagery can be used to map economic living conditions at the household level in developing nations where this information has not been readily available. 

“Based on high-resolution satellite images, we can very precisely assess the status of poverty at household level in rural areas in developing countries,” said Jens-Christian Svenning, the leader of the research. 

Satellite data is widely and freely available, making it a valuable resource for researchers with a wide range of applications. 

After analyzing imagery from an agricultural area in Kenya, the researchers were able to measure building size, land use, and even the length of the growing season. 

“The method that we have developed is designed to analyse the satellite images in a way that takes into account that people have access to and use different resources in the landscape at different levels,” said Svenning .”Some use the area just around their house, while others use the common areas of a village. When we use space data with a socio-ecological insight, we capture the financial status and in this way also the development in an area much better than we have previously been able to.” 

Overall, satellite images can explain 62 percent of variations in economic conditions of individual households the researchers say. 

Satellite images would be a cost-effective way to keep track of development and poverty as well as household incomes without using surveys or study interviews. 

“The use of satellite images makes it much, much cheaper to keep track of how far we are in reaching the UN's goals for sustainable development. If conventional assessments of the households' economic conditions were used, the cost would be more than 250 billion dollars,” said Gary R. Watmough, a lead member of the research team.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Gary Watmough

Satellite images help map economic living conditions, global poverty

Satellites could help the United Nations (UN) achieve its Sustainable...

Federal scientists caught in government shutdown crossfire. The partial government shutdown that started on December 22nd is now in its third week with little indication of a resolution coming any time soon.

While the shutdown continues, scientific research, grant funding for studies, and data collection have all been put on hold, the impacts of  which will be felt for years to come. Federal scientists caught in government shutdown crossfire. 

President Trump continues to be unyielding in his demands for $5 billion to pay for a<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/border-wall-endangered-species/"> wall on the United States’ southern border</a> between the US and Mexico and has even threatened that the shutdown could continue for months or even years. 

Many government agencies remain closed, and hundreds of thousands of government employees have either been furloughed or are working without pay. Federal scientists caught in government shutdown crossfire

Scientists and government-funded scientific research are caught in the crosshairs, and many essential federal scientific agencies are not able to do their jobs. 

The <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> (NOAA), the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">Fish and Wildlife Service</a>, the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/index.htm">National Park Service</a>, the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> and the<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/"> National Aeronautics and Space Administration</a> (NASA) are all either running with a skeleton crew or have closed down. 

The president isn’t just holding the government hostage in his mission to fund the border wall, but potential scientific progress is also suffering as these key scientific agencies are not allowed to do the jobs that they were put in place to do. 

Part of that work involves data collection, monitoring, and research and without data, future studies will face large gaps in information, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/us/government-shutdown-science.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&amp;smid=nytcore-ipad-share">New York Times</a>. 

Future researchers have been cheated out of time-sensitive data and observations, and there’s nothing that the agencies can do. 

“It’s not just the gap,” Sally Jewell, who was the Secretary of the Interior during the 16-day shutdown in 2013, told the New York Times in an interview. “It’s the ability to correlate that with a broader picture of what’s happening environmentally and ecologically. It really does mess things up.”

Where the shutdown was felt the most was at the <a href="https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/">American Meteorological Society’s</a> annual conference. 700 federal employees who were expected to attend the conference were barred from doing so. 

The <a href="https://www.apnews.com/bab6ca69ba754fb094b76bf66b500d8f">Associated Press</a> also reported that 500 government employees would miss the <a href="https://www.aiaa.org/">American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics</a>’ SciTech Forum and Exposition in San Diego and over 300 will not be allowed to attend the “Superbowl of Astronomy” annual meeting of the <a href="https://aas.org/">American Astronomical Society</a>. 

“In the same week that the Chinese government lands a rover (on the far side of the moon), and the U.S. sends a probe to the furthest object ever visited by humanity, scores of scientists at all career levels are being prevented from attending our meeting,” said Kevin Marvel, the astronomy organization’s executive officer to the Associated Press. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Federal scientists caught in government shutdown crossfire

Federal scientists caught in government shutdown crossfire. The partial government...

Researchers will use gene-editing techniques to engineer <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tomatoes-fruit-improve-lungs/">tomatoes</a> that are spicy like the chili pepper. The objective is not for culinary purposes, but to mass produce the molecules that make peppers spicy, known as capsaicinoids. These molecules have nutritional and antibiotic properties, and are used for producing painkillers and pepper spray. 

When the chili pepper and the tomato split off from a common ancestor 19 million years ago, they became very different even though they still share some of the same DNA. Tomato plants became nutrient-rich and abundant, while chili plants developed capsaicinoids as a defense against predators.

“Engineering the capsaicinoid genetic pathway to the tomato would make it easier and cheaper to produce this compound, which has very interesting applications,” said study senior author Agustin Zsögön, a plant biologist at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_University_of_Vi%C3%A7osa">Federal University of Viçosa</a>. “We have the tools powerful enough to engineer the genome of any species; the challenge is to know which gene to engineer and where.”

The spicy taste from capsaicinoids is actually not a flavor, but a reaction to pain. The molecules activate nerve cells in the tongue that respond to heat-induced pain, which the brain interprets as a burning sensation. 

The evolution of capsaicinoids was likely to deter small animals from eating the fruit of the chili pepper. Birds, on the other hand, will still disperse the seeds because they show no pain response to the molecules.


The heat level of a pepper is determined by the genes that regulate capsaicinoid production, and peppers that are less spicy have mutations that inhibit this process. Previous research has shown that tomatoes have the genes that are needed for capsaicinoids but lack a way to express those genes. 

“In theory you could use these genes to produce capsaicinoids in the tomato,” said Zsögön. “Since we don't have solid data about the expression patterns of the capsaicinoid pathway in the tomato fruit, we have to try alternative approaches. One is to activate candidate genes one at a time and see what happens, which compounds are produced. We are trying this and a few other things.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/home">Trends in Plant Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Emmanuel Rezende Naves

Scientists may soon create a tomato as spicy as a chili pepper

Researchers will use gene-editing techniques to engineer tomatoes that are...

Things may be heating up a bit on the surface here on Earth, but in the deep Pacific Ocean, life is a lot cooler – if a little outdated. 

The water in the deepest parts of the Pacific are still recovering from the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling in the 17th century that followed the Medieval Warm Period, according to a new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aar8413">Science</a>.

A team of researchers from <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> and the <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution</a> teamed up to create a model of how the climate affects the deep Pacific. What they found was surprising.

"These waters are so old and haven't been near the surface in so long, they still 'remember' what was going on hundreds of years ago when Europe experienced some of its coldest winters in history," said Dr. Jake Gebbie, the WHOI oceanographer who led the study.

The Little Ice Age was a cooling period that lasted from the 1500s to the 1800s at various points on the globe. The timing differs depending on region, but led to widespread disasters in some areas, such as the disappearance of Norse colonies in Greenland and the agricultural failures and starvation across Europe. Those disasters, in turn, may have triggered hardships from warfare to witch trials.

The decades of historical, scientific and statistical research on the Little Ice Age made it an excellent data source for the WHOI and Harvard team’s models of the deep Pacific waters.

"Climate varies across all timescales," said Dr. Peter Huybers of Harvard University, who co-authored the paper. "Some regional warming and cooling patterns, like the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period, are well known. Our goal was to develop a model of how the interior properties of the ocean respond to changes in surface climate."

The models found that, unlike the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-climate-variability/">atmosphere</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pacific-ocean-warming-arctic/">ocean surface waters</a> around the Earth, the deep Pacific may still be cooling from the Little Ice Age.

"If the surface ocean was generally cooling for the better part of the last millennium, those parts of the ocean most isolated from modern warming may still be cooling," Gebbie said.

To test their model, Huybers and Gebbie compared the results to temperature data taken in 1870 and the 1990s. 

"The close correspondence between the predictions and observed trends gave us confidence that this is a real phenomenon," Gebbie said.

The model changes what scientists know about how the ocean absorbs and holds heat from the atmosphere, the pair said.

"Part of the heat needed to bring the ocean into equilibrium with an atmosphere having more greenhouse gases was apparently already present in the deep Pacific," Huybers said. "These findings increase the impetus for understanding the causes of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age as a way for better understanding modern warming trends."

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image credit: Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Deep Pacific Ocean waters are still cooling from the Little Ice Age

Things may be heating up a bit on the surface...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

[sendtonews key="3UUsNkFOuS-2487333-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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