Drones deliver packages, inspect bridges, and shoot video, but their high‑pitched whine still irritates neighbors and wildlife. Engineers want rotor shapes that hush the noise without draining batteries.



One possible design comes from a 15th‑century notebook by <a href="https://www.leonardodavinci.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leonardo da Vinci,</a> a continuous spiral rotor he called an “aerial screw." New simulations suggest that it can lift a modern drone while saving power.



Rajat Mittal of <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johns Hopkins University</a> led a study that puts the Renaissance sketch to the test.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-da-vinci-s-drone-idea">Da Vinci’s drone idea</h2>



Leonardo da Vinci pursued flight long before airplanes - sketching wings, parachutes, and the spiral screw that inspired the helicopter dream. His notebooks show careful airflow doodles even though the science of lift would not be formalized for centuries.



The spiral looks like an overgrown <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/Archimedes-screw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Archimedes' screw</a>, a water‑lifting helix from ancient Greece, except it twists upward to push air downward. Historians note that da Vinci often borrowed proven mechanical ideas for new purposes.



Human muscle could never spin the heavy canvas screw fast enough, so the contraption stayed on paper. Lightweight electric <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earthcares-first-year-surprising-climate-clues-unveiled-from-space/">motors</a> and carbon‑fiber skins finally give the old idea a chance to rise. 



A small <a href="https://vfs.umd.edu/assets/downloads/2020_elico.pdf">prototype</a> built at the University of Maryland in 2020 confirmed the screw can generate lift, though efficiency data were thin. The new work attacks that gap with supercomputer fidelity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-the-spiral-rotor">Testing the spiral rotor</h2>



Mittal’s team rebuilt the rotor in code and ran direct numerical simulations. The model tracked every swirl of air around the spiral as it hovered. 



The exercise probed aerodynamics and aeroacoustics at several Reynolds number values - a parameter that links size, speed, and viscosity. Matching those numbers to typical small drones let the results translate to real rotors.



“We were surprised,” said Mittal. The screw needed roughly 20 percent less mechanical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cloud-engineering-can-temporarily-cool-our-planet/">power</a> than a two‑blade prop to hold the same weight. 



Because the spiral presents more surface but turns slower, the simulation predicted a weaker pressure pulse and therefore a quieter signature. Earlier modeling of large‑area insect‑inspired rotors hinted at the same trend.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spiral-rotors-can-reduce-drone-noise">Spiral rotors can reduce drone noise</h2>



Community annoyance rises sharply when drone flights repeat every few minutes, a NASA laboratory <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20240001863/downloads/Vaughn_2024_03_ATWG_05_ASA_v3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> found last year. People rated even modest noise harsher when it came in clusters. 



Complaints back that up; the <a href="https://www.faa.gov/noise/inquiries/noise-complaint-inquiry-policy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Federal Aviation Administration</a> logged 8,746 aircraft noise reports in the first quarter of 2025, with just 60 residents submitting 72 percent of them. Drones are included in the totals for many cities.



“It doesn’t have to be the da Vinci design to achieve this, but it is nice that da Vinci’s does,” said <a href="https://www.bu.edu/eng/profile/sheryl-grace-ph-d/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sheryl Grace</a> of Boston University. 



A rotor that spins 1,500 revolutions per minute slower cuts broadband noise roughly in half, according to the new simulation. That drop matters more than raw loudness because the whine often falls in the most sensitive range of human hearing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-da-vinci-s-design-for-drone-deliveries">Da Vinci’s design for drone deliveries</h2>



Drone couriers face strict <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-consciousness-is-a-quantum-process-connecting-us-all-to-the-entire-universe/">noise</a> limits near hospitals, schools, and wildlife preserves. A built‑in silencer would lighten regulatory burdens without adding extra shrouds or foam. 



The spiral also trims energy burn, extending range or freeing capacity for heavier batteries. Efficiency gains remain welcome while lithium prices climb.



Challenges persist: forward flight introduces side loads the screw has not yet faced, and the spiral adds mass compared with thin blades. Structural tests will need to prove the membrane can survive sudden gusts. 



Even so, quieter fleets could reduce the buffer zones that push drone depots to industrial parks and away from customers, shrinking the road miles trucks must still cover.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-plans-for-spiral-rotors">Future plans for spiral rotors</h2>



Mittal’s group plans to tweak pitch, taper, and turn count to squeeze more lift per square inch while keeping the low hum. The same code that vetted the classic shape can rank new variants in days instead of months. 



Lab prototypes will follow, spun by off‑the‑shelf hobby motors to compare thrust and decibels against standard props. Microphones will map the sound field in three‑dimensional space.



If the results stay promising, an industry partner could bolt a spiral onto a quadcopter for outdoor trials under current <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-107" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Part 107 rules</a>. City officials watching Amazon’s recent delivery setbacks know neighbors care more about noise than novelty. 



Leonardo da Vinci never flew, yet his spiral might help future drones coexist with people and birds in crowded skies.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://arxiv.org/html/2506.10223v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">arXiv</a>.



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Leonardo da Vinci design solves modern drone noise problems

Drones deliver packages, inspect bridges, and shoot video, but their high‑pitched whine still irritates neighbors and wildlife. Engineers want rotor shapes that hush the noise without draining batteries. One possible design comes from a 15th‑century notebook by Leonardo da Vinci, a continuous spiral rotor he called an “aerial screw." New simulations suggest that it can lift a modern drone while saving power. Rajat Mittal of Johns Hopkins University led a study that puts the Renaissance sketch to the test. Da Vinci’s drone idea Leonardo da Vinci pursued...

Every day we are bombarded by different sights, sounds, and smells that our brains quickly filter through and interpret to help us make sense of our surroundings. 

Smells have a tendency to stick out as our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-create-mental-image/">noses sniff out</a> the new, familiar, good and bad odors that surround us on a day to basis. 

Surprisingly, while you may be attracted to a particular smell such as vanilla or lavender, your nose is much better at picking up a mixture of scents and odorants rather than one pure ingredient. 

This was the major takeaway of a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/">University of Sussex</a> and published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

The researchers found that animals can more easily detect a complex mix or “soup” of odorants rather than a single compound. Mixed odorants are also better identified over a broader range of smells. 

Having a better understanding of how animals and humans smell and interpret scents could help with creating artificial technology that has the same detecting capabilities of highly trained sniffer dogs. 

Such technology could safely detect explosives without putting unnecessary lives at risk, and it could improve food safety by sniffing out any spoilage. 

“Our study was looking at how olfactory receptors and brain structures cope with mixtures and single odorants,” said Thomas Nowotny, a leader of the study. “At first, we thought that mixtures would mean complications, but it turned out there was no extra complications, and in fact, it's usually easier to smell mixtures than single odorants, and the sensing is also slightly faster. This wasn't what we expected, but this is what came out from our mathematical investigation.”

The researchers created a mathematical model of odor transduction which is when receptor cells in the nasal cavity detect and transmit information about odors to the brain. 

The team used data from the olfactory system of fruit flies and honeybees to help support their mathematical model’s predictions.

There is a growing field of research around scents and how we interpret and experience odors, but this study shows the importance of focusing on mixtures of smells as they experienced in the real world rather than single compounds. 

“If you were to go into a perfumery with pure compounds, it is known that humans are notoriously quite bad at distinguishing the separate compounds in a simple mix,” said Nowotny. “This suggests that maybe our olfactory systems are not made to do this type of analytic smelling of pure compounds. Everything we take in from our environment is mixed smells, so it makes evolutionary sense that our olfactory systems would be better at those type of smells.”
--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: University of Sussex/Stuart Robinson

Why we smell mixtures of scents instead of one specific ingredient

Every day we are bombarded by different sights, sounds, and...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.jic.ac.uk/">John Innes Centre</a> are providing new insight into how catnip produces the substance known as nepetalactone that sends <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/cats-ineffective-rat-numbers/">cats</a> into a state of ecstasy. The research could ultimately give experts easier and faster access to cancer fighting medications.

According to the research team, understanding the series of events that leads to the production of nepetalactone could be particularly useful in helping to identify how plants synthesise other chemicals like vinblastine, which is used for chemotherapy.


Nepetalactone belongs to a class of organic compounds known as terpenes, which are typically formed by a single enzyme in plants. The researchers have discovered that terpenes are produced in catnip through a two-step system. In this process, an enzyme activates a precursor compound which is then obtained by a second enzyme to produce the terpenes.

This is the first time that this two-step process has ever been observed, and the scientists believe that a similar process is responsible for the synthesis of the anti-cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine.

Dr. Benjamin Lichman, who conducted the work while he was a postdoctoral researcher at John Innes Centre, is now a lecturer at the University of York.

“We have made significant progress in understanding how catnip makes nepetalactone, the chemicals that sends cats crazy,” said Dr. Lichman. “Catnip is performing unusual and unique chemical processes, and we plan to use these to help us create useful compounds that can be used in treatment of diseases such as cancer.” 

“We are also working to understand the evolution of catnip to understand how it came to produce the cat-active chemicals."

Study co-author Professor Sarah O'Connor added, “Nepetalactones have potential use in agriculture as they participate in certain plant-insect interactions. In future work we will explore the roles that these compounds have in plants.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nchembio/">Nature Chemical Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Catnip may give experts insight into cancer fighting treatments

Researchers at the John Innes Centre are providing new insight...

Scientists at the <a href="https://deepcarbon.net/about/about-dco">Deep Carbon Observatory</a> (DCO) have found that the amount of carbon stored deep within the Earth's subsurface is 245 to 385 times greater than the carbon mass of all humans on the surface. The international study, which has been ongoing for the last ten years, is also revealing what types of life are able to live in the deep biosphere with its extreme temperatures and low nutrient availability. 

The team drilled 2.5 kilometers into the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arctic-ocean-seafloor/">seafloor</a> and accessed continental mines and boreholes more than 5 kilometers deep, collecting samples of the microbes that reside at these depths. Overall, hundreds of sites were probed for the investigation.

The experts determined that the size of the deep biosphere is 2 to 2.3 billion cubic kilometers, which is almost twice the volume of all the oceans. They also found that the carbon mass of life deep in the planet's innermost surface is 15 to 23 billion tons.

The researchers compared this deep biosphere to a “subterranean Galapagos” that includes members of all three domains of life: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. There are millions of types of bacteria and archaea, which dominate deep Earth, and most of them are yet to be discovered or characterized.

[caption id="attachment_1863647" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bacteria.png"><img class="wp-image-1863647" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bacteria-1024x764.png" alt="" width="700" height="522" /></a> Methanobacterium found in samples from a buried coal bed 2 km below the Pacific Ocean. Image Credit: Hiroyuki Imachi (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)[/caption]

The scientists discovered that the genetic diversity of life below the surface is comparable to or exceeds that above the surface. Deep microbes are often very different from those on the surface, with life cycles on near-geologic timescales. In some cases, these mechanisms survive on nothing more than energy from rocks.

Mitch Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole is the co-chair of DCO's Deep Life community, which is comprised of more than 300 researchers in 34 countries.

“Exploring the deep subsurface is akin to exploring the Amazon rainforest. There is life everywhere, and everywhere there's an awe-inspiring abundance of unexpected and unusual organisms,” said Sogin.

“Molecular studies raise the likelihood that microbial dark matter is much more diverse than what we currently know it to be, and the deepest branching lineages challenge the three-domain concept introduced by Carl Woese in 1977. Perhaps we are approaching a nexus where the earliest possible branching patterns might be accessible through deep life investigation.”

Study co-author Rick Colwell of Oregon State University added, “Our studies of deep biosphere microbes have produced much new knowledge, but also a realization and far greater appreciation of how much we have yet to learn about subsurface life.”

“For example, scientists do not yet know all the ways in which deep subsurface life affects surface life and vice versa. And, for now, we can only marvel at the nature of the metabolisms that allow life to survive under the extremely impoverished and forbidding conditions for life in deep Earth.”

The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 
Image Credit: Gaetan Borgonie, Extreme Life Isyensya, Belgium

A massive amount of life exists deep down within Earth’s subsurface

Scientists at the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) have found that...

The largest new species discovered in a century has been making its home in Alabama and Florida: the reticulated siren, a type of giant salamander.

The reticulated siren lives in the swamplands of Alabama and the Florida panhandle, and has a long, eel-like body that is spotted like a leopard. 

“Sirens are abundant throughout the southern United States and are among the world’s largest amphibians, yet the biology, ecology, and phylogeography of this group is poorly-known,” the researchers wrote in their description of the new species, published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207460">PLOS ONE</a>.

Like the other four known members of the Sirenidae family, the reticulated siren is completely aquatic, with external gills and front limbs only. It lives alongside other sirens, but shows a different enough set of traits to be a distinct species, the researchers wrote. It also grows to about two feet in length, they found.

The scientists first began hunting for the new species after hearing stories about it from residents who live near the swamps where the reticulated siren makes its home. Though it is not an eel, people were calling it a leopard eel.

“It was basically this mythical beast,” co-author Dr. David Steen told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>.

Steen and lead author Dr. Sean Graham first began hunting the creature while completing their doctoral degrees Alabama’s <a href="http://www.auburn.edu/">Auburn University</a>. But it wasn’t until 2009 that Steen managed to capture his first reticulated siren in Florida. Until then, all they’d had was tall tales and a few aging museum specimens.

The two researchers and their colleagues have continued searching for more of the animals since then, mostly as a side project. 

It took Steen and his colleagues about five years of hunting the creature to find enough samples to confirm it was a new species, he told the nature magazine. That’s partly because the reticulated siren enjoys living in murky swamp water, making them hard to spot from the surface, he said.

Biologists who study the elusive sirens have been eagerly awaiting confirmation of the reticulated siren as a new species.

“It was a long time coming,” Dr. Jennifer Stabile, an expert on sirens who works with <a href="https://fieldprojects.org/">Field Projects International</a>, told National Geographic. “People had been discussing this for decades, how these groups needed to be looked at because we knew that there were more species there than had been documented.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Scientists discover new species, reticulated siren, in Florida

The largest new species discovered in a century has been...

Drawing boosts memory retention and could help fight dementia, according to a new study by researchers at the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/">University of Waterloo</a>.

"We found that drawing enhanced memory in older adults more than other known study techniques," Melissa Meade, a doctoral candidate in cognitive neuroscience at the university, said in a press release. "We're really encouraged by these results and are looking into ways that it can be used to help people with dementia, who experience rapid declines in memory and language function."

Meade, Dr. Myra Fernandes and Dr. Jeffrey Wammes tested memory retention of both a group of undergraduate students and senior citizen volunteers with a series of techniques, including drawing, re-writing notes, visualization and looking at images. Each group was asked to perform a set of tasks using one of the techniques. Then, later on, their memory was assessed. 

The researchers found that drawing appears to be the most effective tool for encoding new memories for both groups. They theorize it may work because drawing makes use of visual, spatial and other methods of recalling the information.

"Drawing improves memory across a variety of tasks and populations, and the simplicity of the strategy means that it can be used in many settings," Fernandes said.

Both young people and seniors showed the highest memory retention with drawing, but the technique was especially helpful for seniors, the researchers said. The research shows some promise for helping people with dementia better encode new memories.

"We think that drawing is particularly relevant for people with dementia because it makes better use of brain regions that are still preserved, and could help people experiencing cognitive impairment with memory function," Meade said. "Our findings have exciting implications for therapeutic interventions to help dementia patients hold on to valuable episodic memories throughout the progression of their disease."

The new research joins recent studies on how <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-anxiety-depression-dementia/">music</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-activity-helps-dementia/">time for socializing</a> and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/blueberry-vinegar-battle-dementia/">blueberry vinegar</a> hold promise for new dementia treatments.

The study has been published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uear20/current">Experimental Aging and Research</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Drawing boosts memory retention in seniors

Drawing boosts memory retention and could help fight dementia, according...

Everything you know about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a lie. The truth? Reindeer have terrible color vision. They wouldn’t have known his nose was red – or green or orange, either, scientists explained in a presentation about the Science of Christmas.

Rudolph, who was created by Robert L. May in 1939 for a <a href="https://www.wards.com/">Montgomery Ward</a> advertising campaign, is the star of a song about a bullied reindeer whose glowing red nose saves a foggy Christmas day. In the song and a 1964 animated movie, Rudolph’s glowing red nose gives Santa’s other reindeer a beacon to follow so that they can make it through the fog and deliver gifts to good children.

But reindeers’ color vision doesn’t work that way, said Dr. Martin Stevens of the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/research/facilitiesandcentres/cec/">Centre for Ecology and Conservation</a>.

“Reindeer can't see red light or tell the difference between red, orange and green, so they wouldn't be able to see the red of Rudolph's nose or the orange of carrots,” Stevens told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">Daily Mail</a>. “They do have ultraviolet vision, and use this to see lichen hidden in the snow in the arctic.”

The ability to see in the ultraviolet range at the expense of better color vision could help protect the reindeer, Stevens said. The fur of wolves and other predators absorbs UV light rather than reflecting it like the snow.

“So a camouflaged white wolf to us would stand out to reindeer,” Stevens said.

The unique visual abilities mean reindeer are better adapted to the Arctic environment where they live, but they also shatter some favorite Christmas legends.

The research by Stevens and his colleagues was presented at <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">Exeter University</a>’s Science of Christmas event. Stevens and his team have also studied the eyesight and color vision of dogs and horses. 

It adds to a growing body of research around the Arctic animals, from their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reindeer-antlers-unbreakable/">unbreakable antlers</a> to their role in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reindeer-slowing-climate-change/">slowing down climate change</a>.

So while scientists may not be writing papers about glowing red noses anytime soon, there are still plenty of reindeer games to study.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Christmas, color vision and the truth about Rudolph

Everything you know about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a...

It’s been a little over ten years since researchers discovered that <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder">Colony Collapse Disorder</a> was behind the rash of missing bees across the United States.

While there have been improvements in bee colony collapse over the years, the losses continue to be staggering. 

A recent edition of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-after-the-crisis-what-is-happening-to-the-worlds-bees-77164">the Conversation</a> details how honey bees are responsible for pollinating around one-third of the plants we eat, and continued bee declines could spell disaster <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/honeybees-agricultural-issue/">for agriculture and food demand. </a>

Bee declines have happened over the world and pesticides, habitat degradation, climate change and disease all continue to impact honey bees negatively. 

Now, a new vaccine developed by researchers from the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a> may offer a solution to one of the diseases that threaten honey bee colonies.

The vaccine is called<a href="https://primebee.org/"> PrimeBee</a>, and it guards against American foulbrood (AFB), a particularly devastating bacterial disease that can wipe out entire colonies. 

“Even a slight improvement in their life has vast significance on a global scale,” PrimeBee’s developer Dalial Freitak told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6468895/Could-worlds-bee-vaccine-save-honeybees.html">Daily Mail. 
</a>

AFB is a fatal honey bee disease that can’t be cured, and if a hive becomes infected with it, the entire colony is in jeopardy. The disease is caused by spore-forming larvae and it’s extremely contagious.

Unfortunately, honey bees have no antibodies, and so traditional vaccine methods to guard against the disease are ineffective. 

To remedy this, Frietak and a team of researchers found an innovative way to introduce a vaccine into a hive through the eggs of the queen. 

“Now we've discovered the mechanism to show that you can actually vaccinate them,” said Freitak. “You can transfer a signal from one generation to another.” 

The researchers placed the vaccine containing AFB pathogens into a sugar patty that the queen bee ate over a week. 

The pathogens were then transferred to the queen’s young and helped create an immune response against AFB in the new bees.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

World’s first vaccine for bees could save colony declines

It’s been a little over ten years since researchers discovered...

The Carr Fire caused widespread devastation in Redding, California in July 2018, and was the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carr-fire-california/">seventh most destructive wildfire</a> in California’s history. 

Eight people lost their lives in the fire, and over 200,000 acres were destroyed. 

The Carr Fire was accelerated by a massive “firenado" or fire-generated vortex that towered 17,000 feet above the Earth and had the same spinning power as a class three tornado. 

In a new paper, atmospheric scientist Neil Lareau discovered the perfect combination of factors that created the catalyst for the fire vortex, a rarely observed phenomenon in wildfires. 

The only other documented case of a firenado was in 2003 during the Canberra Firestorm in Australia.  

It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, according to Lareau's research, the findings of which were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. 

“This paints a clear picture of the sequence of events leading to the vortex development and intensification,” said Lareau. “This sequence suggests the Carr Fire vortex may qualify as pyro-genetic tornado, and not merely a tornado-strength fire-generated vortex.”

Laureau reviewed satellite and radar data from the <a href="https://radar.weather.gov/">National Weather Service NEXRAD radars</a>. This is the first time that NEXRAD radars captured the development and structure of the fire vortex which provided key insights into how the vortex formed. 

The radar data revealed that the vortex was formed along the perimeter of the Carr Fire and within a region of wind shear. 

A vertical plume of convective heat grew from four to eight miles high in 15 minutes. The plume’s growth was driven by the sudden formation of a pyro-cumulonimbus cloud which is an ice-topped cloud generated by a fire. 

In this case, the cloud was 39,000 feet in the air which helped columns of air underneath the cloud stretch and rotate eventually forming wind speeds of 143 miles per hour in a concentrated area near the surface of the Earth. 

An unusually warm and dry July along with low atmospheric pressure and wind shear that developed before the vortex all created the perfect catalysts for the firenado, according to Lareau. 

“With the impacts from this fire, a discussion and studies are warranted about the potential to warn for future tornado-strength vortices,” said Lareau. “In this case, the availability of high-resolution radar and satellite observations provide advance indications for vortex formation such that watches, or even warnings, may have been possible.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: CalFire

Deadly firenado in Carr Fire caused by a perfect storm of factors

The Carr Fire caused widespread devastation in Redding, California in...

A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale University</a> has found that a new drug can help ease withdrawals among people who are dependent on cannabis. In addition to reporting fewer withdrawal symptoms, the study participants who took the drug exhibited better sleep patterns, which are typically disrupted in heavy users who are attempting to quit.

The drug is a fatty acid inhibitor that acts upon endocannabinoid metabolic receptors in the brain. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study revealed that <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/marijuana-lung-health/">marijuana</a> use declined among subjects who were administered the drug compared to those who were given a placebo.

Study co-author Deepak Cyril D'Souza is a professor of Psychiatry at Yale.

“With an increase of marijuana legalization efforts, it is reasonable to expect an increase in demand for treatment, and right now we don't have any medications to help individuals trying to quit,” said Professor D'Souza. 

According to DSM-5, the statistical manual of mental health disorders developed by the <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/">American Psychiatric Association</a>, cannabis use disorder (CUD) is marked by social and functional impairment, risky use, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms.

In 2015, around four million Americans met the diagnostic criteria for having CUD, and nearly 150,000 sought out treatment. Withdrawal symptoms include marijuana cravings, irritability, depression, insomnia, and a decrease in appetite and weight.

For their investigation, the Yale team recruited 70 males who used cannabis on a daily basis. All of the participants, including 46 who received the drug and 34 who received a placebo, endured forced withdrawal as patients in the research unit for the first week. After their release from the hospital, the individuals continued receiving treatment for three weeks as outpatients.

The new drug works by inhibiting fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the enzyme that degrades anandamide, a brain chemical that acts on brain cannabis receptors. Professor D'Souza explained, “Anandamide is to cannabis as endorphins are to heroin.”

Currently, a larger trial of the new drug funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse is in progress.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(02)06284-0/fulltext">Lancet Psychiatry</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New drug can reduce cannabis withdrawal symptoms

A team of researchers led by Yale University has found...

As unbelievable as it sounds, a new study could lead to the development of a pill that would allow people to eat as much as they want without gaining weight. The experts behind the research are hopeful that their approach will ultimately help to combat <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/obesity-childhood-asthma-cases/">obesity</a> and other dangerous health conditions like diabetes.

The international team of scientists, which was led by Professor Damien Keating at <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">Flinders University</a>, screened rodents to look for potential genetic candidates that may cause obesity. The researchers identified and removed a single gene known as RCAN1 in mice before feeding them a high fat diet. They discovered that the mice did not gain any weight, even after gorging on fatty foods for extended periods.

“We know a lot of people struggle to lose weight or even control their weight for a number of different reasons. The findings in this study could mean developing a pill which would target the function of RCAN1 and may result in weight loss,” said Professor Keating.

The human body contains two types of fat: brown fat which burns energy and white fat which stores energy. Professor Keating explained that blocking RCAN1 helps to transform unhealthy white fat into healthy brown fat, which makes it a potential treatment for obesity.

“We have already developed a series of drugs that target the protein that this gene makes, and we are now in the process of testing them to see if they inhibit RCAN1 and whether they might represent potential new anti-obesity drugs,” said Professor Keating.

“In light of our results, the drugs we are developing to target RCAN1 would burn more calories while people are resting. It means the body would store less fat without the need for a person to reduce food consumption or exercise more.”


According to the researchers, further studies are needed to determine if the same approach is effective in humans. 

“Our research is focused on understanding how cells send signals to each other and how this impacts health and the spread of disease,” explained Professor Keating.

“We really want to pursue this, it's exciting and we have research funding from the Australian government through the National Health and Medical Research Council to continue to explore viable options. These results show we can potentially make a real difference in the fight against obesity.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://embor.embopress.org/">EMBO 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

New gene-targeting pill could help combat obesity

As unbelievable as it sounds, a new study could lead...

How the Earth first formed is of course our planet’s oldest mystery, and while several plausible ideas are widely accepted among the scientific community, it is not certain which is accurate.

There are three main theories about how the Earth formed from a giant flat disk of dust and gas called a protoplanetary disk, and each has a timeline different from the other. 

One suggests that the planet formed quickly from the gas and dust surrounding the sun over 2 to 5 million years. 

A second idea suggests that the Earth was formed from dust particles exposed to radiation from the sun. According to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6463741/Neon-Earths-mantle-reveals-new-insight-planets-formation.html">Daily Mail</a>, this is the irradiated particles explanation. 

The third most common theory has to do with late accretion which occurred over a long period, and the Earth was formed through a slow process of accumulating particles and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/questions-earth-formed/">meteors</a>. 

Now, in a new study, researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> may have found a way to confirm how the Earth was formed by examining neon isotopes in rocks on the ocean floor. 

Because the different theories and ideas of the Earth’s formation take place over different time spans, researchers say that there would be different concentrations of gasses in the Earth’s crust and mantle that correlate with each explanation. 

This is why the researchers turned to neon in the ocean, as it could reveal how quickly the Earth was formed, according to the Daily Mail. 

“We’re trying to understand where and how the neon in Earth’s mantle was acquired, which tells us how fast the planet formed and in what conditions,” Curtis Williams, a member of the research team, told the Daily Mail. 

Studying neon is also good because unlike other chemicals it’s inert and doesn’t react to changes in the environment. 

“So neon keeps a memory of where it came from even after four and a half billion years,” Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, an author of the study, told the Daily Mail. 

The researchers focused on pillow basalts on the ocean floor and measured neon isotopes contained within bubbles in the basalts using a mass spectrometer. 

The ratios of neon found in the rocks didn’t match up with either the irradiated particles or the late accretion theories. Instead, the researchers say the neon in the rocks suggests that the Earth formed quickly. 

The study also provides a new method for searching for planets with the potential for life. 
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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Neon found in rocks on the ocean floor reveal Earth’s origin story

How the Earth first formed is of course our planet’s...

A lowly marine creature known for living in colonies that resemble <a href="https://www.earth.com/animals/star-ascidian-botryllus-schlosseri/">flat sheets of fuzzy flowers or stars</a> has a blood-forming system remarkably similar to our own, according to a new study. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> conducted the research which was published in the journal Nature. 

The researchers discovered that the marine invertebrate Botryllus schlosseri have blood stem cells that are similar to the cells in mammalian blood which sheds light on the evolution of human blood. 

“The mammalian and Botryllus blood-forming systems also share hundreds of homologous genes, even though the two species are separated by over 500 million years of evolution,” said Benyamin Rosental, an author of the study. 

Irving Weissman, a senior author of the study, even suggested that the blood stem cells of  Botryllus schlosseri may be a “missing link” between vertebrate and invertebrates. 

Botryllus does not spend its whole life a part of a colony but instead attaches itself to a rock and joins colony after spending time as a tadpole. 

Once part of a colony, the invertebrate shares a bloodstream with the other Botryllus’ organisms in the colony and stem cells are shared and transported throughout the colony within the public blood supply.

Upon further examination, the researchers found that Botryllus has an incubator for special cells like blood stem cells called a niche, and within the colony, the stem cells naturally gravitate toward the niche. 

The researchers isolated the Botryllus blood stem cells and found 327 similar genes between mammals and Botryllus that are responsible for blood formation. 

“Blood stem cells in mammals are hard to find and, when found, it's very hard to follow what is going on in the blood stem cell niche,” said Ayelet Voskoboynik, a senior author of the paper. “Botryllus is a translucent organism, so we can easily spot the niche and visually follow the migration of each type of cell from one part of their body to the other.”

Botryllus colonies offer an excellent opportunity for further research and could help provide insight into the immune system and what causes an organism to accept or reject foreign cells, as a Botryllus’ success relies on whether or not a colony accepts it. 

“With its primitive but effective immune system, Botryllus may also give us insights into how we can boost our own immune responses to pathogens and cancer,” said Voskoboynik. “But in addition to any practical benefits this research may produce, we are delighted to explore this important guidepost on the path to understanding the evolution of vertebrates, and of their blood-forming and immune systems. Isn't that what curiosity-driven science is supposed to do

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lowly sea creature sheds light on the evolution of human blood

A lowly marine creature known for living in colonies 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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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

[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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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