For years, bacteria dominated gut health research. Now, the gut virome is gaining attention as a major player in health and disease. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-think-they-found-two-key-bacteria-that-cause-multiple-sclerosis/">bacteria</a>, make up around 90% of the gut virome.



Though small in biomass, they outnumber bacteria by up to tenfold. These tiny viruses shape microbial communities, influence immunity, and affect gut health.



A landmark review published recently in Precision Clinical Medicine reveals how the gut virome links to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/inflammatory-bowel-disease/about/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IBD</a>), <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/colonoscopy-vs-stool-tests-doctors-found-out-which-is-better-at-detecting-cancer/">colorectal cancer</a>, and Clostridium difficile infection (<a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15548-c-diff-infection" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDI</a>).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gut-s-virome-changes-across-life-stages">Gut's virome changes across life stages</h2>



The gut virome changes constantly throughout life. Infants show high <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-that-eat-forever-chemicals-discovered-in-contaminated-soil/">diversity</a> in gut bacteriophages (also called phages), which is shaped by birth method, diet, and antibiotic exposure.



As individuals grow, diet and hormones refine the virome. In adults, phages and bacteria form a stable, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00536-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">balanced community</a>.



However, aging shifts this balance. Older adults show more lysogenic phages, which integrate into bacterial genomes and potentially alter metabolism and immune interactions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diet-and-environment-shape-the-virome">Diet and environment shape the virome</h2>



Diet greatly <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9455721/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">influences</a> the virome. High-fiber diets support beneficial phages by encouraging helpful bacteria. Western diets, rich in fat and sugar, promote harmful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-bacteria-breathe-by-creating-electricity/">phages</a>.



Urbanization reduces exposure to natural viruses. Studies show that rural diets which are rich in fiber boost gut virome diversity.



Host genetics and immunity also play roles. Genetic variants can affect viral detection and clearance. Immune defenses, like <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/interferons" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interferons</a> and <a href="https://www.immunology.org/public-information/bitesized-immunology/receptors-molecules/immunoglobulin-iga" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IgA</a>, keep the virome balanced.



However, immune dysfunction can trigger viral imbalances, worsening conditions like HIV and gut inflammation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-viruses-and-bacteria-interacting">Viruses and bacteria interacting</h2>



Viruses, including phages, along with bacteria and fungi form a complex and dynamic ecosystem in the gut. The components interact in positive and negative ways, thus affecting host metabolism, immune regulation and resistance to disease. 



The gut virome plays a crucial regulatory role in these intricate interactions. Phages interact with bacteria through lytic, lysogenic, and budding cycles, which regulate bacterial populations and gene flow. 



In a form of microbial arms race, the bacteria defend against phages using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR systems</a> and the phages evolve escape mechanisms.



Some phages even boost bacterial metabolism and biofilm formation, affecting disease risk. For instance, phages can transfer genes that enhance bacterial survival in acidic conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virome-s-influence-on-immunity">Virome’s influence on immunity</h2>



The virome affects gut immunity deeply. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bacteria-get-hungry-they-turn-on-each-other/">Phages</a> can anchor to gut mucus and form a protective barrier. They also shape our own <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459471/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">T and B cell</a> activity and regulate macrophages. In addition, viruses that infect eukaryotic cells affect immune pathways and maintain gut balance.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/virome_microbiome_human-gut_graphic_credit-PCM_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/virome_microbiome_human-gut_graphic_credit-PCM_1s.webp" alt="This infographic illustrates four major therapeutic approaches—fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), phage therapy, dietary interventions, and probiotics/prebiotics—that aim to restore gut health by modulating the microbiome and virome. Each strategy offers unique methods, benefits, and challenges in managing gastrointestinal disorders such as IBD, CRC, and CDI, highlighting the growing potential of virome-informed precision medicine. Credit: Precision Clinical Medicine" class="wp-image-1976450"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This infographic illustrates four major therapeutic approaches—fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), phage therapy, dietary interventions, and probiotics/prebiotics—that aim to restore gut health by modulating the microbiome and virome. Each strategy offers unique methods, benefits, and challenges in managing gastrointestinal disorders such as IBD, CRC, and CDI, highlighting the growing potential of virome-informed precision medicine. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Precision Clinical Medicine</figcaption></figure>



However, infections and antibiotics can disrupt this harmony and lead to inflammation. Phages can trigger TLR9 pathways, causing excessive immune responses such as those linked to IBD.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virome-s-role-in-disease">Virome’s role in disease</h2>



Imbalances in the gut virome have been linked to several gut diseases. In IBD, specific phages become abundant and worsen inflammation.



Certain groups of phages (such as Caudovirales) amplify immune responses, while norovirus and rotavirus can damage the gut lining. Viral imbalances are also common in IBS and CDI.



In colorectal cancer, phages and eukaryotic viruses like HPV and JC virus (polyomavirus) appear more often. They may promote tumor growth by altering bacterial communities and gene expression.



Studies suggest that some phages directly influence cancer risk by promoting biofilms and transferring harmful genes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virus-based-treatments">Virus-based treatments</h2>



Several therapies now explore the virome’s potential to treat certain diseases or conditions. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) restores gut balance and reduces inflammation in IBD and CDI.



FMT works not only by shifting bacteria but also by transferring beneficial phages. Studies show that donor phages often align quickly with recipients and promote recovery.



Phage therapy, which uses viruses to kill specific bacteria, is another approach that is gaining traction. It can reduce harmful microbes while preserving beneficial ones.



Researchers have created phage cocktails that target specific gut pathogens like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and this approach has had promising results in animal models.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diet-as-a-tool-to-reshape-the-virome">Diet as a tool to reshape the virome</h2>



Dietary strategies also reshape the virome. High-fiber diets boost beneficial phages and support bacterial diversity.



Whey protein has shown potential in managing Crohn’s disease by improving phage-bacteria interactions.



Other interventions, such as exclusive enteral nutrition and low-FODMAP diets, also show benefits in gut diseases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-probiotics-prebiotics-and-phages">Probiotics, prebiotics, and phages</h2>



Probiotics introduce beneficial bacteria, while prebiotics feed them. Combining them, known as symbiotics, shows promise for restoring and maintaining gut health.



Recent research suggests that adding phages can enhance these effects. Phage-based products, such as PreforPro, have already shown benefits in clinical trials.



These products can reduce populations of harmful bacteria and improve probiotic performance, thereby creating a more stable gut environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-gut-viruses-to-detect-diseases-early">Using gut viruses to detect diseases early</h2>



The gut virome is now being studied as a diagnostic tool. Viral patterns are more stable than bacterial ones, making them reliable biomarkers.



Distinct virome signatures can predict IBD and colorectal cancer. Machine learning models already use virome data to detect these diseases early.



Virome profiling may also track treatment responses, such as FMT success in IBD and CDI.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-and-future-prospects">Challenges and future prospects</h2>



Despite the excitement over potential new treatments, many hurdles remain. Current methods struggle to capture the full virome due to technical limits.



Many phages are still unculturable, and their roles remain unclear. Researchers are working to improve viral databases and develop targeted therapies. Once these gaps close, virome-based therapies could change how we treat gut diseases.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pcm/article/8/2/pbaf010/8152264" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Precision Clinical Medicine</a>.



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Move over microbiome, it's time for the human gut's "virome" to shine

For years, bacteria dominated gut health research. Now, the gut virome is gaining attention as a major player in health and disease. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, make up around 90% of the gut virome. Though small in biomass, they outnumber bacteria by up to tenfold. These tiny viruses shape microbial communities, influence immunity, and affect gut health. A landmark review published recently in Precision Clinical Medicine reveals how the gut virome links to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer, and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)....

The secret to throwing a blistering fastball is all in the twist, according to a new study on the Magnus effect.

Dr. Barton Smith of <a href="http://www.usu.edu/">Utah State University</a> – a mechanical and aerospace engineer who has long been a fan of America’s pastime – joined with doctoral student Nazmus Sakib in studying the fluid dynamics of baseball. 

The pair found that a fastball with an unexpected twist can make or break a game for a team. They also found that the way some pitches are explained are “flat-out wrong,” Smith said in a press release.

The key is a combination of a baseball’s asymmetry and something called the Magnus effect. Baseballs are not symmetrical due to the stitching that holds them together. The Magnus effect – the force on the spinning ball as it moves through the air – determines how it will move.

Together, the two variables mean that the spin a pitcher puts on a fastball can make it even harder to hit. A ball with a topspin will drop faster, while a ball with a backspin will gain a little lift, slowing but not stopping its fall, Smith and Sakib said. 

The two engineers set out to find out just how much of an effect the Magnus effect has on baseball. They also wanted to find out why the knuckleball – with barely any spin – and the two-seam fastball don’t seem to behave as they should due to the Magnus effect.

They set up a pitching machine to deliver fastball after fastball through smoke. Laser sensors controlled a series of automatic photographs to capture images of both ball and smoke. Then, using particle image velocimetry, Smith and Sakib computed the field of velocity around each ball along with its rotation at several different moments. They also calculated something they called the “boundary separation layer” to find the portion of the ball’s surface where the air had separated to form its wake.

They found that a two-seam fastball has a tilted spin axis, due to one finger leaving the surface later than the other. This can cause the ball to move sideways. With a knuckleball, the point of air separation can change unexpectedly, altering the ball’s movement.

The pair hope pitchers can use what they’ve learned about the Magnus effect to up their games.

Smith and Sakib are presenting their findings at the American Physical Society's <a href="https://www.aps.org/meetings/meeting.cfm?name=DFD18">Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting</a>, which begins today in Atlanta, Georgia and runs through Tuesday.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Magnus effect study offers key to winning fastballs

The secret to throwing a blistering fastball is all in...

People around the world are abuzz with an esoteric topic this week: the changing weight of a kilogram.

It’s not that the actual weight is going to change, exactly. It’s that it already has.

For more than a century, a platinum iridium cylinder has been stored in a locked vault at the <a href="https://www.bipm.org/">International Bureau of Weights and Measures</a>, based in Sevres, France. Called “Le Grand K,” the cylinder has defined a kilogram – it weighed a kilogram no matter what, and a kilogram was equal to whatever Le Grand K weighed.

The problem with basing a measure on a physical object, however, is that its mass will eventually change. Le Grand K’s changing weight first came to light in the 1980s, when an examination of the cylinder found it weighed several micrograms less than it should have. That can be a real problem in exacting fields like pharmacology and aerospace engineering.

“A material object will not be for all time,” Dr. Stephan Schlamminger of the <a href="https://www.nist.gov/">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a> told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>.

To deal with the changing weight of a kilogram, a team of scientists from more than 60 nations around the world decided on Friday to tie the weight to Planck’s constant, a formula that defines the smallest unit of energy. Thanks to Albert Einstein’s discovery that mass and energy are related, quantum physicist Max Planck was able to create a formula to describe energy. 

Unlike the cylinder previously used, Planck’s constant – as the name implies – never changes. 

“In a physics sense, we’re really chasing perfection here,” Dr. Jon Pratt of NIST, who helped lead the effort to deal with the kilogram’s changing weight, told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post</a>. “We really need things to behave just as their idealized versions.”

Pratt and his team helped to calculate Planck’s constant in a way that met the exacting standards of the BIPM.

The change was accepted at the <a href="https://www.bipm.org/en/cgpm-2018/">General Conference on Weights and Measures</a> on Friday.

“It’s an emotional moment,” Pratt said. “I’m just really proud of our species.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Scientists tackle the changing weight of a kilogram

People around the world are abuzz with an esoteric topic...

As the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drug-overdose-epidemic-decades/">opioid crisis</a> looms, doctors are looking for more effective ways to treat pain – including, it seems, at the nerve-destroying chemical produced by a Moroccan plant called Euphorbia resinifera.

Also known as the resin spurge, the succulent produces a chemical called resiniferatoxin, which measures at 16 billion units on the Scoville scale. By comparison, jalapeños hit only about 2,500 to 8,000 units on the scale.

Eating Euphorbia resinifera is undoubtedly a terrible idea. Injecting the nerve-destroying chemical resiniferatoxin, however, might be a way to help people with chronic pain, without the potential health and addictive side effects of opioids.

That’s because resiniferatoxin, known as RTX, binds specifically to a molecule in nerves that sense pain: TRPV1. It’s the same molecule capsaicin affects.

“So when you put hot pepper on your tongue and it feels like it's burning, it's not because your tongue is on fire,” Dr. Tony Yaksh of <a href="https://ucsd.edu/">UC San Diego</a> told the newsmagazine <a href="https://www.wired.com/">Wired</a>. “It's simply activating the same sensory axons that would have been activated if your tongue had been on fire.

An anesthesiologist and pharmacologist, Yaksh has been studying how RTX can be used to treat pain. Because the nerve-destroying chemical binds only to TRPV1, it could potentially stop pain in its tracks without affecting function – doctors could treat knee pain without removing the ability to walk, or hand pain without killing the patient’s sense of touch.

Patients would need to be anesthetized before RTX is used, because the initial pain is excruciating, doctors studying the nerve-destroying chemical said. But after a couple of hours, the pain wears off and the treated area is deadened to pain for potentially months, until the damaged pain-sensing nerves regenerate.

“You give it once and it should last for an extended period of time because it is destroying the fibers,” Dr. Andrew Mannes of the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a>. “But the other thing with this to remember is there's no reinforcement. There's no high associated with it, there's no addiction potential whatsoever.”

And treating tissue around the spinal column – not the spinal cord itself – can help people with widespread pain, such as patients in the last stages of cancer.

The NIH is <a href="https://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/ProtocolDetails.aspx?A_2015-N-0175.html">currently running trials</a> on the nerve-destroying chemical, which is not ready for release as a pain treatment yet. But if it makes it through the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/">Food and Drug Administration</a>’s approval process, it could become a potent treatment for people with chronic pain conditions like cancer and autoimmune disorders.

--

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Sometimes a nerve-destroying chemical can be a good thing

As the opioid crisis looms, doctors are looking for more...

A company known as Genomic Prediction, which provides advanced genetic testing for IVF, has now developed screening to detect the risk of some diseases as well as low intelligence in embryos. While the testing has not yet been used, <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a> is reporting that the firm is in communication with several <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/white-rhinos-ivf-extinction/">IVF</a> clinics.

Stephen Hsu, a co-founder of Genomic Prediction, told New Scientist that intelligence screening will only be used to detect a mental disability. However, he said that this technology will eventually be used to identify the potential IQ among embryos. “I think people are going to demand that. If we don’t do it, some other company will,” said Hsu.

Advances in technology have made it possible to screen embryos for many conditions that involve a single gene or chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. However, it is much more complicated to detect conditions that are influenced by hundreds of genes. 

By looking at many different DNA regions, experts can estimate what is called a genetic risk score, or a polygenic risk score. According to New Scientist, Genomic Prediction is the first company to offer polygenic risk scores for embryos rather than adults. 

Hsu explained that the company’s polygenic test for mental disability is controversial. It cannot accurately predict IQ for each embryo, but it can single out “genetic outliers,” such as embryos that are likely to have an IQ that is at least 25 points below average.

This test would enable parents to avoid embryos with the potential for a lower than average IQ, and would also inform them of embryos with the potential for an exceptionally high IQ. For ethical reasons, Genomic Prediction will not help parents select high-IQ embryos through their testing. 

Kevin Mitchell is a professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Professor Mitchell told New Scientist that if the intelligence screening is not used in the United States, it will still happen in another country.


Lynn Murray of Don’t Screen Us Out, an activist group against prenatal testing for Down syndrome, told New Scientist, “If we consider inclusion and diversity to be a measure of societal progress, then IQ screening proposals are unethical. There must be wide consultation.”

Genomic Prediction can also calculate polygenic risk scores for heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Embryo screening for IQ is now possible, but is it ethical?

A company known as Genomic Prediction, which provides advanced genetic...

For the past decade, it has been difficult for researchers to sequence the genome of the mosquito Aedes aegypti due to incomplete fragments of DNA that were impossible to stitch together. But now, scientists at <a href="https://www.rockefeller.edu/">Rockefeller University</a> have managed to fully map the genome of Ae. aegypti, which could ultimately help to combat the spread of the deadly viruses carried by this species. 

In 2007, scientists attempted to sequence the mosquito's large and repetitive genome. While the results proved helpful in <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/malarial-mosquitoes-cattle-decoys/">mosquito</a> genetic research, the genome was not fully reliable. 

“The genome was in so many pieces that we weren't sure how they fit together, and we also weren't sure that it was complete,” explained study co-author Ben Matthews. “And if you can't trust that the DNA sequence was correctly assembled, you're not going to get very far.”

The team collaborated with universities and industry partners from across the world to gain access to the latest advances in genomics. The result is a comprehensive, high-quality genome, which has enabled the experts to characterize previously unidentified genes. 

The new genetic details may help in the development of new repellents that could interfere with how the mosquitoes find and bite humans. The DNA map may also inform efforts to genetically alter the mosquitoes to make them less threatening to humans. 

“Once the genome was publicly available, people started digging into it,” said Matthews. “Dozens, if not hundreds, of labs have already used it in their work, and that number will only grow with the publication of our paper.”

Beyond addressing the issue of mosquitoes, the research has the potential to inform future studies that attempt to improve the quality and availability of genomic resources for diverse species.

“In addition to getting the best genome for Ae. aegypti, we've also made a roadmap for how to assemble other tricky genomes - without requiring 72 coauthors and three years of work,” said Matthews. “This lays out a strategy for taking any organism and turning it into a genetically tractable animal. And I find that really exciting.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New mosquito DNA map could help get deadly diseases under control

For the past decade, it has been difficult for researchers...

The ESA’s <a href="https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/-week_kicks_off">ɸ-week</a> has brought together hundreds of space investors, entrepreneurs, and scientists to explore new ways that satellite data can be combined with the latest technologies to benefit business, industry, and science. The challenge is to find the most efficient ways to make use of a massive amount of satellite information, and the experts are reporting that artificial intelligence is the best solution. 

While <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/artificial-intelligence-protect-elephants/">artificial intelligence</a> may sound like something in the distant future, the reality is that we are already exposed to it every day through tools such as voice recognition and digital assistant services like Siri and Alexa. Artificial intelligence is created when people train computers to simulate human intelligence. The computers not only need to be programmed with the information, but also with instructions on how to use it. 

Earth observation satellites operated by the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> (ESA) alone produce about 150 TB of data every single day, and artificial intelligence could be used to unlock the full potential of these space missions.

By applying artificial intelligence to Earth observation, information would be provided to users much faster, which is important for addressing environmental disasters and climate change. An A.I. system could also prove to be monumental in helping to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Patrick Helber of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence explained that an artificial intelligence system is being trained with data from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to help address global challenges, including those highlighted by the SDGs.

“Take for example the SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. It is expected that 95% of urban expansion over the next decades will take place in the developing world. There will be obvious issues relating to public health, clean water and so on,” said Dr. Helber.

“As a first step towards helping those people, we need to be able to map these growing urban environments. It is clear that you cannot manually analyse hundreds of terabytes of data every day, we need an automated approach, which is where artificial intelligence comes in.”

“Through our research, we can, for example, run over a Copernicus Sentinel-2 image with trained artificial intelligence and the type of land is automatically classified. This, in turn, allows changes in land-use, such as urban growth to be monitored automatically.”

Josef Aschbacher is the ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes. He added: “We believe that artificial intelligence is set to take us into a new era for Earth observation and this can only benefit society.”

“While I expect this will be a matter of routine in the years to come, my personal dream is to fly a small satellite that carries an artificial intelligence chip to provide information in a more ‘intelligent’ way.


According to Aschbacher, an experiment using satellite observation data and artificial intelligence will be launched next year.

This year's ɸ-week is taking place at the ESA’s Centre of Earth observation in Frascati, Italy, on November 12-16.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence

AI could unlock the full potential of satellite data

The ESA’s ɸ-week has brought together hundreds of space investors,...

None

An international team of experts has discovered a frozen Super-Earth orbiting Barnard's star, the closest single star to our <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/sun-dies/">Sun</a>. The team, which included five astronomers from the <a href="https://carnegiescience.edu/">Carnegie Institute for Science</a>, “stitched” together 20 years of data from seven different instruments to produce one of the largest datasets for this particular planet detection technique.

“After a very careful analysis, we are over 99 percent confident that the planet is there,” said study lead author Ignasi Ribas of Spain's <a href="https://www.uab.cat/web/aggregate-entities/institutos-y-centros-de-investigacion/instituto-centro-de-investigacion/institute-of-space-studies-of-catalonia-ieec--1345467963242.html?param1=1345659465098">Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia</a>. “However, we’ll continue to observe this fast-moving star to exclude possible, but improbable, natural variations of the stellar brightness which could masquerade as a planet.”

Located six light-years from Earth, Barnard's star is our fourth-closest neighboring star. It is smaller and older than the Sun, and is one of the least active of the red dwarfs. 

The planet, which has been named Barnard's star b, has at least 3.2 times Earth's mass and orbits its star every 233 days at a distance where water would be frozen. The astronomers estimate that the planet has a surface temperature of -150 degrees Celsius.

This is the first time that a planet this small and distant from its star has been detected using the radial velocity technique, a method which assumes that not only does a star's gravity influence the planet orbiting it, but the planet's gravity also affects the star. Using sophisticated instruments such as Carnegie's Planet Finding Spectrograph, the scientists can detect tiny wobbles that the planet's gravity causes in the star's orbit.

“This technique has been used to find hundreds of planets,” said study co-author Paul Butler. “We now have decades of archival data at our disposal. The precision of new measurements continues to improve, opening the doors to new parameters of space, such as Super-Earth planets in cool orbits like Barnard's star b.”

According to the researchers, the distinctive characteristics of the newly-discovered planet make it an ideal target for direct imaging using the next generation of instruments such as NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/">Nature</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: Courtesy of Martin Kornmesser/ESO

A frozen Super-Earth discovered six light years away

An international team of experts has discovered a frozen Super-Earth...

“And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,
Which, hatch'd, would as his kind grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.”
-Brutus, in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Lucky for us, mischievous or not, plenty of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/bird-eggs-color-dinosaurs/">dinosaurs</a> were, like the titular emperor of Shakespeare’s play, killed in the shell. Natural disasters such as floods and landslides have preserved dinosaur eggs, including entire nests, on every continent but Australia and Antarctica. China in particular, followed by France, India, Argentina, and Montana in the United States, have proven to be particularly rich sites of discovery. The crushed shells of these ancient eggs have given us what we know about dinosaur reproduction and how—or if—they reared their young.

It is often misstated that the first dinosaur eggs were discovered in 1923 during an expedition by the American Museum of Natural History to the evocatively named Flaming Cliffs in the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia. This expedition, funded by titans of industry including J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, did indeed unearth some remarkable dinosaur eggs, now attributed to the theropod Oviraptor. But, in fact, eggs had been discovered as early as 1859 in the French Pyrenees, though they were not identified as belonging to dinosaurs at the time. And other eggs had been discovered near Marseilles, France in 1900, and in Montana in 1913. 

Intriguingly, the 1923 discovery included an array of Neolithic jewelry made of dinosaur egg shell fragments, indicating that our primitive ancestors had stumbled upon these ancient ova as well. Since that time, more than 200 hundred sites have been identified worldwide, most of them from the Late Cretaceous, near the end of the age of the dinosaurs. In a disappointing turn for Michael Crichton fans, only an armful of Jurassic-era eggs have yet been discovered.

Nonetheless, we have been able to extrapolate huge amounts of data from the late-era dinosaur nests that have been found. We have some idea of which dinosaurs exhibited parental care, for one. Ornithischian and sauropod dinosaurs appear to have nested in a style more similar to that of modern crocodilians than to that of birds, our living dinosaurs. Large numbers of eggs were deposited in depressions in the ground and buried. Their buried state can be discerned through shell analysis. More <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/dinosaur-eggs-gas-conductance-through-the-shell-water-loss-during-incubation-and-clutch-size/1420082AFD48E4061BC79EB7A5BA9638">porous eggs are more likely to have been buried</a> because they require humidity, as in a covered nest. 

The quantities of eggs found in many such nests, and their disorganized arrangement, suggests that these dinosaurs, possessed paired oviducts as crocodilians do. This meant that they produced the entire clutch before it was laid all at once. The egg shell structure of these dinosaurs is also more similar to that of crocodilian eggs than those of birds. It can be inferred, then, that like crocodilians, ornithischians and sauropods exhibited minimal brooding behavior and may have had little or nothing to do with raising the young. Some hadrosaur eggs, though, have been found in dish-like structures and the unossified bones of the hatchlings found to resemble those of altricial birds, which require parental care. In many other species, the size of adults compared to that of the hatchlings might have made such care prohibitive. Imagine a 65-ton titanosaur bending down to feed a chick the size of a goose.

[caption id="attachment_1861916" align="aligncenter" width="700"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/dinosaur-eggs.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1861916" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/dinosaur-eggs-1024x617.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="422" /></a> Image Credit: Marco Foto/Shutterstock[/caption]

So, too, the time it took the eggs to hatch supports a theory of limited parenting. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/3/540">One study </a>demonstrated that two ornithischians, Protoceratops and Hypacrosaurus, may have take six months or more to hatch, meaning that their parents would have needed to remain sedentary for half the year or more, thought to be unlikely due to seasonal migrations. Another study found that a large titanosaur from Argentina <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1031">buried its eggs near hydrothermal vents</a> in order to take advantage of their heat, obviating the need for incubation by the parent. Leaving your eggs in the care of the elements had its risks, though—some sauropod nests in India have been discovered <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000322">with fossilized snakes coiled atop them</a>.

Unlike their cousins, theropod dinosaurs, from which birds are descended, do appear to have exhibited parental care in many cases. Theropod fossils represent both extremes in the size of known dinosaur eggs, with <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/1892864/Buffetaut_et_al._2005a_Minute_theropod_eggs_Thailand_Naturwissenschaften.pdf">some from Thailand</a> as small as those of a modern-day goldfinch and <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/science/science-news/2017/may/largest-dinosaur-eggs-ever-discovered">others from China</a> topping out at two feet long. These eggs, which possess smaller pores, appear to have only been partially buried in soil, suggesting that they were actively incubated. 

Tantalizingly, it appears to be this transition to greater exposure that led to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0646-5">the evolution of colored eggs</a>, a trait that persists in many birds today. Greater exposure meant the need for camouflage. Buried eggs, both in dinosaurs and modern reptiles, are always white. The arrangement of the eggs, too, is an indication that the nest was managed by a parent. While some primitive theropod nests exhibit the scattered egg formation more typical of ornithischians, others, notably oviraptorids and troodontids, produced nests in which the eggs are arranged in a circular patterns, a sign that an adult sat in the middle and kept them warm. In fact, several fossils have been found that preserve the parent in situ, likely after it was buried in a flood or landslide. This is the origin of the name “oviraptor” which means “egg thief” in Latin; when first discovered, the adult on the nest was believed to be a predator rather than a parent. 

Because these parents did not move in time to avoid whatever catastrophe buried them, it has been hypothesized that, like the modern day emu, the father brooded the eggs in a lethargic state, eating and drinking little until his charges emerged. The <a href="https://www.esf.edu/EFB/faculty/documents/varricchio2008paternalcaredinosours.pdf">paternal care theory</a> is further supported by the large clutch sizes in such nests, which may have been the result of a polygamous mating system in which multiple females laid their eggs in the same nest. 

A fossil of another theropod species, Sinosauropteryx, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xiao-Chun_Wu/publication/7904913_A_Pair_of_Shelled_Eggs_Inside_A_Female_Dinosaur/links/544660060cf2f14fb80f34bf.pdf">was found with two eggs inside of it</a>, demonstrating that some theropods retained two oviducts, as compared to the one in the birds of today. This fact, in conjunction with the asymmetrical shape of the egg, shows that they produced two eggs at a time, rather than in rapid succession, like crocodiles and likely more-primitive dinosaurs. Thus, an entire clutch might take a week or more to lay, as is the case for modern avians who produce large clutches. 

And so the continuum between our modern dinosaurs and their fossilized ancestors is reinforced, an ever-denser mosaic of bones, feathers, and eggshells.

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/genista/65927114/in/photolist-7AvwBW-dAjWk5-dKdMrE-9r1D7u-dK8mrg-5F4sVT-dKdP2S-dK8jhr-dCt8ju-dCyUdW-5o9mvE-6PTQo-4dqzn-dCLWiq-dKdNmC-dAjSgq-8ati8V-dCMmVq-2akubEf-99hNnn-Dd7amu-GFi4W8-dK8oLP-pqF22y-Fx1sre-21cYkJD-21cYkqx-ptVHDB-ERpDSa-PH5UfA-ERkM92-ExsiNd-EP4v6f-Er7h6v-MWVAiS-HiwBGb-Qqi3Xw-PDHjyh-N54WZs-Nb7ie3-JdCWf5-qVWiTk-Lfks27-Fcqv7V-xrc2mG-nKiZBr-dAerUc-9KWyBv-7pJ4Zv-6FFVfN">Kai Schreiber</a>

Preserved eggs reveal how dinosaurs raised their kids

“And therefore think him as a serpent's egg, Which, hatch'd,...

The Harappa Culture, also known as the Indus River Valley Civilization, was yet another ancient civilization <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/severe-drought-maya-collapse/">taken down by climate change</a>, according to a new study. 

Over 4,000 years ago, the Harappa culture was thriving along the Indus River Valley in what is now modern Pakistan and northwestern India.

Ancient Harrapan cities were sophisticated and archeologists have even found evidence of trading between Harappan cities and settlements in Mesopotamia. 

However, by 1800 BCE, the civilization shifted, and settlements were formed along Himalayan foothills leaving the once sprawling cities abandoned. 

Past studies could only speculate on the reasons for this move, but now, a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution</a> shows that climate change was most likely to blame. 

The study was published in the journal Climate of the Past. 

The researchers studied sediment along the floor of the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan, specifically focusing on foraminifera shells which are single-celled plankton. 

Finding clues of what the climate was like in the soil is difficult, but the ocean floor is a vast treasure trove of climate records dating back millions of years. 

The foraminifera fossils indicated what season it was when the shell was formed and the researchers could then piece together clues about the climate based on the components of the sediment sample. 

“The seafloor near the mouth of the Indus is a very low-oxygen environment, so whatever grows and dies in the water is very well preserved in the sediment,” said Liviu Giosan, the lead author of the study. “You can basically get fragments of DNA of nearly anything that's lived there.”

After analyzing the sediment samples, the researchers found winter monsoons along of Indus River grew stronger while summer monsoons weakened towards the end of the Harappa Civilization’s time span. 

This would have put stress on agriculture and likely prompted people to move to a dependable source of water. 

“Although fickle summer monsoons made agriculture difficult along the Indus, up in the foothills, moisture and rain would come more regularly,” said Giosan. “As winter storms from the Mediterranean hit the Himalayas, they created rain on the Pakistan side, and fed little streams there. Compared to the floods from monsoons that the Harappans were used to seeing in the Indus, it would have been relatively little water, but at least it would have been reliable.”

The researchers aren’t sure if the Harappans transitioned to the Himalayas in one mass migration or if it was an event that took centuries, but one thing for sure is that climate change had a major hand in the decline of the Harappa civilization. 

“It's remarkable, and there's a powerful lesson for today,” said Giosan. “If you look at Syria and Africa, the migration out of those areas has some roots in climate change. This is just the beginning--sea level rise due to climate change can lead to huge migrations from low lying regions like Bangladesh, or from hurricane-prone regions in the southern U.S. Back then, the Harappans could cope with change by moving, but today, you'll run into all sorts of borders. Political and social convulsions can then follow.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ancient Civilization forced to relocate due to climate change

The Harappa Culture, also known as the Indus River Valley...

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to increase in the coming years, it is vital to understand how these changes will affect global crop yields. 

Since scientists can’t send seeds into the future and study the impacts on plant growth, models and projections allow researchers to take a brief glimpse in the future and see many different possible scenarios. 

However, projections and predictions can only go so far regarding realistically portraying what the future might hold for crops and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earlier-springtime-hinders-plant-growth/">plant growth</a>. 

But what if, instead of zapping seeds into the future, you could bring future climate change to the present and study plant growth? 

Outdoor facilities called Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) are working to do just that, as plants in FACE facilities are exposed to higher and higher levels of CO2. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California Davis</a> and the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> in the United Kingdom examined FACE plants in a new study to understand how climate change might impact plant growth. 

The study was published in the journal Global Change Biology. 

The researchers analyzed plant growth at FACE facilities and compared those responses to plant growth from 11 naturally occurring high-CO2 springs where plants are exposed to high concentrations of CO2. 

“The results say, pretty surprisingly, that yes, all of those experiments we've done in FACE facilities are giving us a pretty good idea of how plants are likely to respond in the future,” said Gail Taylor, the corresponding author of the study. 

The team found that overall, plants respond positively to increased levels of CO2 which is promising for the future when emissions are projected to increase. 

However, the researchers say that emissions are not the only thing projected to increase, and if drought and temperatures also increase, plants will not do as well as their FACE counterparts. 

“If plants are exposed to higher temperatures and drought, there will likely be negative impacts, overall, so it's a tradeoff,” said Taylor. “But our analysis gives us confidence that plants are likely to keep responding positively to rising CO2 if no other climatic factors are limiting.”

FACE facilities can tell researchers a great deal about future plant performance, especially for cereal crops that provide a critical source of nutrients and carbohydrates to many countries around the world. 

“The analysis shows that it's possible to test new varieties of plants in FACE experiments before it is critical that they perform in the wider world,” said Taylor. “These ‘time-traveling’ plants that move forward and backwards across the decades can be extremely valuable in understanding how plants are likely to respond to the changes projected as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Gail Taylor/UC Davis

How will global crop yields be affected by increased CO2 levels?

With CO2 emissions, droughts, and heat waves all set to...

While there are organic compounds in household sewage and industrial <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/septic-wastewater-suburban-ponds/">wastewater</a> that could be used as a source of energy, there has not been an effective extraction method available to tap into their potential. But now, researchers may have identified a cost-effective solution that could turn wastewater into electricity.

Dr. Daniel Puyol of <a href="https://www.urjc.es/en/">King Juan Carlos University</a> in Spain is one of the study’s co-authors.

“One of the most important problems of current wastewater treatment plants is high carbon emissions,” said Dr. Puyol. “Our light-based biorefinery process could provide a means to harvest green energy from wastewater, with zero carbon footprint.”

The study is the first to demonstrate that, when simply supplied with an electrical current, purple phototrophic bacteria can recover nearly 100 percent of carbon from any type of organic waste while generating hydrogen gas for electricity production. 

Purple phototrophic bacteria capture energy from sunlight using a variety of pigments, which turn them shades of orange, red, brown, or purple. Scientists, however, are most interested in the versatility of their metabolism.

“Purple phototrophic bacteria make an ideal tool for resource recovery from organic waste, thanks to their highly diverse metabolism,” said Dr. Puyol.

The bacteria can use organic molecules and nitrogen gas, rather than carbon dioxide and water, to provide the carbon, electrons, and nitrogen needed for photosynthesis. This means that they can generate hydrogen gas, proteins, or a type of biodegradable polyester as byproducts of metabolism.

The research team analyzed the best conditions for maximizing hydrogen production by a mixture of purple phototrophic bacteria species. They also tested the effect of a negative current on the metabolic behavior of the bacteria.

First, the experts discovered that the nutrient blend that fed the highest rate of hydrogen production also minimized the production of CO2.

“This demonstrates that purple bacteria can be used to recover valuable biofuel from organics typically found in wastewater - malic acid and sodium glutamate - with a low carbon footprint,” said study co-author Professor Abraham Esteve-Núñez.

The researchers also found that purple bacteria are capable of using electrons from a negative electrode or “cathode” to capture carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.


“Recordings from our bioelectrochemical system showed a clear interaction between the purple bacteria and the electrodes: negative polarization of the electrode caused a detectable consumption of electrons, associated with a reduction in carbon dioxide production.”

“This indicates that the purple bacteria were using electrons from the cathode to capture more carbon from organic compounds via photosynthesis, so less is released as CO2.”

Capturing excess CO2 produced by purple bacteria would be useful for reducing carbon emissions, or for refining biogas from organic waste for use as fuel. According to Dr. Puyol, however, the main target of the research still lies ahead. 

“One of the original aims of the study was to increase biohydrogen production by donating electrons from the cathode to purple bacteria metabolism. However, it seems that the PPB bacteria prefer to use these electrons for fixing CO2 instead of creating H2.” 

“We recently obtained funding to pursue this aim with further research, and will work on this for the following years. Stay tuned for more metabolic tuning.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2018.00107/full">Frontiers in Energy Research</a>. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Converting wastewater into a source of renewable energy

While there are organic compounds in household sewage and industrial...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.asu.edu/">Arizona State University</a> (ASU) have used sophisticated climate modeling techniques to investigate the extent of rising temperatures, as urban expansion and greenhouse gas emissions are intensifying the effects of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-forests-fire/">climate change</a>. In cities across the United States, temperatures are expected to rise by as much as seven degrees Celsius by the year 2099. 

The ASU team examined a variety of heat mitigating strategies that included street level trees and engineered solutions that tackle the urban heat phenomenon. The researchers found that many of these proposed solutions will provide only a fraction of relief from the projected heat.

“Previous studies have shown that conventional strategies to reduce warming work primarily in lowering daytime rather than nighttime temperatures,” said study co-author Professor Matei Georgescu. “However, cities tend to have their greatest impacts on the regional thermal environment during evening and nighttime hours.”

“We simulated the effects of conventional heat-mitigating approaches with more widely recognized cooling strategies, but we also simulated impacts associated with engineered materials on near surface temperature. We found moderate alleviation of temperatures during nighttime hours using low-thermal-admittance materials.”

While previous studies assumed the effects of urbanization and greenhouse gases could be determined by simply adding the effects of the two factors together, the current study revealed a nonlinear interaction between urban expansion and greenhouse gas emissions across the country. 

“The effect of urban development and greenhouse gas emissions is less than merely the sum of the individual components,” said Professor Georgescu. “This is only evident during nighttime hours. The magnitude of the nonlinearity reduces the total warming by up to 1 C (1.8 F) locally.” 

However, “we need to remember that this is considerably less than the total warming itself (from 4 to 8 C, 7.2 to 14.4 F) depending on the GHG scenario simulated,” said Professor Georgescu. 

Regardless of the extent of warming, the models predicted persistent heat, particularly in the country's regional urban centers. Overall, the simulations projected that afternoon urban warming will be more pronounced in the Eastern United States, and nighttime warming will be strongest in the Appalachian, Great Lakes, and California Central valley regions, primarily as a result of urban expansion. 

The researchers also analyzed how various heat mitigating technologies such as cool roofs and green roofs would perform given the projected higher regional temperatures. 

“Using dynamically interactive simulations, we examined multiple adaptation strategies with the aim to offset projected 21st century urban heat,” explained study co-author E. Scott Krayenhoff. “We combined high intensity implementation of cool roofs, green roofs and street trees (i.e. a full adaptation scenario) and found that it leads to 1.3 to 2.0 C (2.3 to 3.6 F) of summertime mean afternoon cooling depending on the region but less than 1 C (1.8 F) nighttime cooling. Local afternoon cooling in many projected U.S. metropolitan areas was somewhat higher, particularly in California, Texas and the Northeast.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/">Nature Climate Change</a>. 

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Proposed heat mitigation strategies only get part of the job done

Researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) have used sophisticated climate...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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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



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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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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



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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



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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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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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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