The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the clearest, deepest images yet of the Bullet Cluster, unveiling thousands of faint, distant galaxies and offering the most precise map of dark matter in this iconic colliding galaxy cluster.



“With <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/thousands-of-galaxies-revealed-in-a-single-webb-image/">Webb</a>’s observations, we carefully measured the mass of the Bullet Cluster with the largest lensing dataset to date, from the galaxy clusters’ cores all the way out to their outskirts,” said lead author Sangjun Cha, a PhD student at <a href="https://www.yonsei.ac.kr/en_sc/index.do">Yonsei University</a> in Seoul. 



Previous studies relied on less lensing data, leading to less precise estimates of the system’s mass.



“Webb’s images dramatically improve what we can measure in this scene -&nbsp; including pinpointing the position of invisible particles known as dark matter,” said co-author Kyle Finner, an assistant scientist at <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/">Caltech</a>. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-light-shows-the-dark">How light shows the dark</h2>



The Bullet Cluster is made of two massive galaxy clusters bound by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/desi-gravity-study-new-discovery-proves-einstein-right-again/">gravity</a>. It acts as a natural gravitational lens that magnifies background galaxies.



James Jee, a professor at Yonsei University and research associate at UC Davis, is a co-author of the study. “Gravitational lensing allows us to infer the distribution of dark matter,” he said.



To visualize this effect, Jee compares it to ripples on a pond. You can't see the clear water unless there are ripples that distort the shapes of the pebbles below - just as dark matter distorts the light from galaxies behind it.



By measuring thousands of galaxies, the scientists used Webb’s images to weigh visible and invisible mass in the cluster. 



The team also mapped the faint glow of intracluster stars - those not bound to any single galaxy. These drifting stars may closely trace dark matter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-webb-s-dark-matter-reveal">Webb’s dark matter reveal</h2>



Webb’s observations produced a layered view, combining near-infrared data with X-ray imagery from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/">NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory</a>, revealing hot gas in pink, the bullet shape in the cluster, and the newly refined dark matter distribution in blue.



“We confirmed the intracluster light can be a reliable tracer of dark matter, even in a highly dynamic environment like the Bullet Cluster,” Cha said. 



This strengthens the case that these unbound stars closely trace dark matter’s invisible scaffolding.



The new map reveals detailed structure, including an asymmetric mass region on the left side of the larger cluster. This feature indicates prior collisions that have left behind signatures in the distribution of matter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mysterious-nature-of-dark-matter">Mysterious nature of dark matter </h2>



Dark matter does not emit, reflect, or absorb light, making it notoriously difficult to study. Yet the Bullet Cluster offers a rare laboratory, showing dark matter separated from hot gas during a cosmic collision while still aligning with the galaxies.



“As the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/titanic-galaxy-cluster-collision-defies-all-current-understanding-of-the-universe/">galaxy clusters</a> collided, their gas was dragged out and left behind, which the X-rays confirm,” Finner explained. “Webb’s observations show that dark matter still lines up with the galaxies - and was not dragged away.”



The results set tighter constraints on the possibility of dark matter particles interacting with each other. They support theories that dark matter passes through itself without friction, consistent with its mysterious and ghostly nature.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clues-to-a-chaotic-past"><a></a>Clues to a chaotic past</h2>



The elongated mass and clumps in the new map hint at a more complex history for the Bullet Cluster, suggesting multiple collisions over billions of years.



“A more complicated scenario would lead to a huge asymmetric elongation like we see on the left,” Jee said.



The Bullet Cluster, located in the Carina <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-jupiter-discovered-in-the-great-bear-constellation/">constellation</a> 3.8 billion light-years from Earth, is so massive that even Webb’s powerful NIRCam could only capture part of it.



“It’s like looking at the head of a giant,” Jee explained. “Webb’s initial images allow us to extrapolate how heavy the whole 'giant' is, but we’ll need future observations of the giant’s whole 'body' for precise measurements.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-missions-deeper-maps">Future missions, deeper maps</h2>



NASA’s upcoming <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasas-roman-space-telescope-hopes-to-solve-the-dark-matter-mystery/">Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope</a>, launching by May 2027, will complement Webb’s discoveries with wide-field near-infrared imaging. 



The Roman telescope will enable complete mass estimates of the Bullet Cluster and allow scientists to simulate its ancient collision in detail.



“With Roman, we will have complete mass estimates of the entire Bullet Cluster, which would allow us to recreate the actual collision on computers,” Finner said.



Through these detailed observations, Webb is enriching our understanding of dark matter. It’s also advancing knowledge of how massive structures form and evolve, offering a clearer view of the hidden forces shaping the cosmos.



The study is published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/add2f0">Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC



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Webb telescope uncovers secrets of dark matter in cosmic collision zone

The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the clearest, deepest images yet of the Bullet Cluster, unveiling thousands of faint, distant galaxies and offering the most precise map of dark matter in this iconic colliding galaxy cluster. “With Webb’s observations, we carefully measured the mass of the Bullet Cluster with the largest lensing dataset to date, from the galaxy clusters’ cores all the way out to their outskirts,” said lead author Sangjun Cha, a PhD student at Yonsei University in Seoul. Previous studies relied on less lensing...

After decades of debate, it turns out that water may actually exist on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-finds-the-building-blocks-of-life-on-mars/">Mars</a>. Researchers used a radar to probe the planet's ice caps and detected a lake of liquid water beneath the surface.

The discovery was made using the <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/771614/">Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding</a> (MARSIS) instrument on the Mars Express spacecraft.

According to the scientists, the newly-detected reservoir of water stretches over 20 kilometers in length. 

MARSIS emits radar pulses that penetrate the planet's surface and ice caps. Next, the tool measures how the radio waves are reflected back to the spacecraft. As waves bounce off of the planet's sub-surface features, scientists can gather information about what lies beneath the surface. 

From 2012 to 2015, Roberto Orosei and colleagues used MARSIS to collect 29 sets of radar samples from a region called Planum Australe, which is located in the southern ice cap of Mars. 

The analysis of this data enabled the experts to map out an area which had an extremely sharp discrepancy in its radar signal, measuring around 1.5 kilometers below the surface of the ice and extending sideways about 20 kilometers. 

The profile of this area is similar to radar data of lakes of liquid water found beneath the massive ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, indicating the existence of a subglacial lake at this particular location on Mars. 

While the temperature of any water found on Mars would be expected to fall below freezing, the researchers pointed out that dissolved salts of magnesium, calcium, and sodium could be dissolved in the water to form a brine. Combined with the pressure of the overlying ice on the planet’s surface, this formula could lower the melting point of the ice below.

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Large lake of water detected beneath the surface of Mars

After decades of debate, it turns out that water may...

It was recently reported that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge swath of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-plastic-waste-asia-africa/">plastic debris floating in the ocean</a>, now measures almost one full square mile in area. An organization called <a href="https://www.theoceancleanup.com/">The Ocean Cleanup</a> calculated the most recent garbage patch size thanks to a mega aerial expedition surveying the extent of the plastic in the area. 

Now, Ocean Cleanup is working on deploying a huge Pacman-like sweeper designed to collect floating plastic in the Garbage Patch which can then be removed from the ocean and recycled on land. 

The Ocean Cleanup system is a 600-meter plastic floating tube that forms a natural U-shape and sits above the water attached to a tapered three-meter deep skirt. Its design is meant to ensure that plastic can’t slip underneath the tube but also makes sure sealife can pass under unharmed. 

The system will use wind, waves, and currents to maneuver through the Great Garbage Patch and every few months the collected garbage will be hauled away to land. 

“After completing the redesign last summer and passing third-party reviews, this is the design that is currently being constructed and is set to head into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch two months from now,” Ocean Cleanup CEO Boyan Slat told the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5984077/The-giant-pac-man-gobble-plastic-ocean.html">Daily Mail.</a>

Ocean Cleanup claims that the new system could clean up fifty percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every five years and a fleet of the systems could remove 90 percent of all of the ocean plastic by 2040. 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains 1.8 million pieces of plastic and that number is only projected to increase. 

If all goes according to the plan, the Ocean Cleanup technology could effectively solve one of the world’s biggest environmental hazards and make the seas safer for marine wildlife and seabirds. 

The system still has to undergo some more testing, trials, and assembly before the cleanup technology will be towed 1,200 nautical miles offshore to start cleanup. 

--

By <a href="http://mailto;kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.theoceancleanup.com/media-gallery/">The Ocean Cleanup</a>

Giant Pac-Man system could help eat up ocean plastic pollution

It was recently reported that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,...

Groundbreaking technology developed by a company based in the UK and Sweden has the potential to generate solar energy that is 95 percent cheaper than the solar power from existing systems. <a href="http://www.unitedsunsystems.com/">United Sun Systems</a> has developed a battery that can store heat from the sun without any waste, according to a new <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5836015/Could-solar-energy-cheaper-fossil-fuels-new-battery-make-technology-95-cheaper.html">Daily Mail</a> report.

The new device could make <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/solar-power-dominated-investments/">solar energy</a> cheaper than fossil fuels for the very first time. The solar-powered battery, which is made out of patented metal alloy and hydrogen, converts heat from the sun into electricity. 

While light from the sun cannot be stored, heat from the sun can, and the new device can store it for up to 100 years and distribute it as needed. Furthermore, a single solar power dish can generate power to 11 homes.

Dr. Ragaiy Zidan is a scientist at <a href="https://srnl.doe.gov/">Savannah River National Laboratory</a> and the inventor of the technology.

“Prior to the discovery of this class of hydride materials, storing heat at this temperature was only possible using expensive and highly corrosive materials,” said Dr. Zidan.

“This is a game changing technology for the concentrated solar power sector that will drastically reduce its cost and improve its performance.”

The solar dish has a diameter of 46 feet and is covered with glass mirrors, which pull the sun’s heat to the dish to create temperatures of 750 degrees Celsius. The dish collects around 150kW of power every hour.

Lars Jacobsson is the chief executive officer of United Sun Systems.

“The heat is transferred from this focal point via a heat pipe into a large thermal battery that is located behind the dish where the heat is stored in a new heat battery technology based on ‘Metal Hydrides,’” Jacobsson told <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html">MailOnline</a>.

“The battery is connected to a Stirling Engine that is converting the heat into kinetic energy, and connected to a generator it produces electricity.”

The first generation of the dish has already been tested, and the company has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions for use of the battery technology.
--
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: United Sun Systems

New battery could make solar energy significantly cheaper

Groundbreaking technology developed by a company based in the UK...

What if I told you that you could improve your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/long-term-memory-starts-at-age-2-study-finds/">memory</a> while you slept? It would probably sound pretty amazing, and it requires no extra effort on your part. Well, researchers from the <a href="https://www.unm.edu/">University of New Mexico</a> may have just found a way to do this.

In a study published in <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/">JNeurosci</a>, researchers demonstrate the potential for humans to improve memory using a non-invasive brain stimulation technique applied during sleep. The project was funded by the United States Department of Defense, and seeks to help us better understand the process of memory consolidation, which may translate into improved memory function in both healthy and patient populations. 

Long-term storage of memories is believed to be enabled by the synchronized transfer of memories during sleep from the hippocampus to the neocortex for long-term storage. The study’s authors wanted to enhance this natural process of overnight reactivation or neural replay to improve memory using a closed-loop transcranial alternating current stimulation system. This system would match the phase and frequency of the slow-wave oscillations that occur during sleep.

For the study, participants were trained and tested on a realistic visual discrimination task, where they had to detect potentially threatening hidden people or objects – such as enemy snipers and explosive devices. When participants received stimulation during overnight visits to their sleep laboratory, they exhibited improved performance in ability to detect targets the next day compared to when they did not receive the stimulation. Overnight memory changes were correlated with stimulation-induced neural changes, which could potentially be used to optimize the stimulation in future studies. 

The findings of this study suggest there is much more yet to discover when it comes to sleep and memory consolidation – including much more that could be improved for our own abilities.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Using stimulation, memory can be improved overnight

What if I told you that you could improve your...

A study led by astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch at <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> has found that there may have been life on the Moon many years ago. The research has revealed two different times in ancient history when the Moon could have been inhabitable.

The researchers explain that conditions on the Moon's surface were adequate to support simple organisms after the Moon formed from a debris disk 4 billion years ago, and also during a peak in lunar volcanic activity which occurred around 3.5 billion years ago.

During both of these timeframes, scientists believe the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moon-longer-days-earth/">Moon</a> was releasing large quantities of volatile gases such as water vapor. The researchers say this could have formed pools of water on the moon's surface, along with an atmosphere dense enough to persist for millions of years.

“If liquid water and a significant atmosphere were present on the early Moon for long periods of time, we think the lunar surface would have been at least transiently habitable,” said Schulze-Makuch.

In 2009 and 2010, an international team of scientists discovered hundreds of millions of metric tons of water ice on the Moon. There is also evidence to suggest that there is a large amount of water in the lunar mantle, which is thought to have emerged very early in the Moon's formation.

Furthermore, some scientists believe that the early Moon had a magnetic field that could have protected lifeforms from deadly solar winds.

Schulze-Makuch explained that it is possible that life on the Moon originated as it did here on Earth, but he said that it is more likely that it was transported in by a meteorite.

Fossilized cyanobacteria that are between 3. 5 and 3. 8 billion years old provide the earliest evidence for life on Earth. At this time in the solar system, giant meteorite impacts were common. Meteorites containing cyanobacteria or other simple organisms could have blasted off the surface of the Earth and landed on the Moon.

“It looks very much like the Moon was habitable at this time,” said Schulze-Makuch. “There could have actually been microbes thriving in water pools on the Moon until the surface became dry and dead.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/">Astrobiology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

There may once have been life on the Moon, researcher says

A study led by astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch at Washington State...

The anti-aging industry is a massive business, with a wide range of products available showing varying degrees of effectiveness. But what if <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-reverse-wrinkles-inside/">wrinkles</a> could be truly reversed, hair loss stopped, and skin elasticity restored?

Thanks to new research conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.uab.edu/">University of Alabama at Birmingham</a>, true age reversal at the cellular level may be a reality in the future. 

The study was published in the journal Cell Death and Disease. 

“Wrinkled skin and hair loss are obvious features of skin aging and aging-associated phenotypic changes in humans,” the research team writes. “We discovered that these aging-associated phenotypic changes could be reversed by restoring mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) content to wild-type level. To our knowledge this observation is unprecedented.”

The researchers knew that mitochondrial DNA depletion was associated with aging and age-associated chronic diseases, but were not sure to what extent. 

To test the relationship between aging, genetics, and mtDNA, the researchers depleted mtDNA in mice using a specific gene mutation. The mutated mice quickly exhibited rapid signs of aging including wrinkles and hair loss. 

The mice were given an antibiotic that caused mtDNA depletion and jumpstarted the rapid aging. 

Once the mtDNA depletion was reversed and mitochondrial function restored, within two months the mice had no wrinkles and shiny, thick fur. The mice were indistinguishable from other healthy mice of the same age, according to the <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/20/genetic-researchers-reverse-wrinkles-gray-hair-and/">Washington Times</a> which reported on the study.

The results of the study were so positive that the researchers have good reason to believe that similar gene therapies could reverse aging in humans. 

“This mouse model should provide an unprecedented opportunity for the development of preventive and therapeutic drug development strategies to augment the mitochondrial functions for the treatment of aging-associated skin and hair pathology and other human diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction plays a significant role,” said Keshav K. Singh, an author of the study, in a statement. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Researchers discover unprecedented method for reversing wrinkles

The anti-aging industry is a massive business, with a wide...

A team of researchers at the <a href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Institute of Technology</a> have transformed crab shells and tree fibers into a material that could potentially replace flexible plastic film packaging.

The new material is made by spraying multiple layers of chitin from crab shells and cellulose from trees to create a flexible film similar to the plastic film that is used to keep food fresh.

Study co-author J. Carson Meredith is a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

“The main benchmark that we compare it to is PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most common petroleum-based materials in the transparent packaging you see in vending machines and soft drink bottles,” said Professor Meredith. 

“Our material showed up to a 67 percent reduction in oxygen permeability over some forms of PET, which means it could in theory keep foods fresher longer.”


Cellulose and chitin are the most abundant natural biopolymers on the planet. The team devised a way to suspend cellulose and chitin nanofibers in water while spraying them onto a surface in alternating layers. Once the material has dried, it is strong, flexible, transparent, and compostable.

“We had been looking at cellulose nanocrystals for several years and exploring ways to improve those for use in lightweight composites as well as food packaging, because of the huge market opportunity for renewable and compostable packaging, and how important food packaging overall is going to be as the population continues to grow,” said Professor Meredith.

The new material will improve upon the effectiveness of conventional <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/adidas-committed-recycled-plastic/">plastic packaging</a> because of its crystalline structure, which will keep oxygen from passing through and keep food fresher.

“It's difficult for a gas molecule to penetrate a solid crystal, because it has to disrupt the crystal structure,” explained Professor Meredith. “Something like PET on the other hand has a significant amount of amorphous or non-crystalline content, so there are more paths easier for a small gas molecule to find its way through.”


With the amount of cellulose and chitin-rich byproducts already available, there is probably enough material to make this flexible packaging alternative a reality, according to Professor Meredith.

But first, a cost effective manufacturing process needs to be developed, as well as methods to mass produce chitin. Additionally, more research is needed to improve the material's ability to block water vapor.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/ascecg">ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering</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: Allison Carter, Georgia Tech

Renewable material from plants and crabs could replace plastic

A team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology...

New project will fly into wildfire smoke to study its composition. This summer, researchers will conduct the largest, most comprehensive survey of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-western-united-states/">wildfire</a> smoke ever attempted. 

The <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=295892&amp;WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&amp;WT.mc_ev=click">National Science Foundation</a> (NSF) reported on the new venture and the project is sponsored by NSF funding. 

Researchers from five different universities and the <a href="https://ncar.ucar.edu/">National Center of Atmospheric Research </a>will take part in 15 to 20 six hour observational smoke flights using a four-engine C-130 research aircraft.

It’s all part of a project called the Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen, or WE-CAN, the goal of which is to gain an in-depth understanding of how smoke impacts the environment.

With the aid of 30 scientific instruments and 18 scientists in the air along with a team on the ground, WE-CAN will fly into clouds of smoke and collect data on chemical composition and the smoke’s travelling patterns.  

Even though around <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/wildfires/">100,000 wildfires clear millions of acres</a> of land every year, there have few research efforts dedicated to understanding wildfire smoke. 

“What we are doing in WE-CAN is much more systematic,” Emily Fischer, a member of the WE-CAN research team, told NSF. “We will start as close as we can to the fires and track the smoke for 12 to 24 hours. That's when a lot of the chemical evolution happens. We have very few existing samples of this evolution in the atmosphere.”

According to the NSF WE-CAN news release, the researchers want to answer questions like what is the smoke made of, how does it change over time, and how does is affect clouds to name a few. 

“These researchers are following the transport and transformation of the plume of gases and aerosols emitted by wildfires to understand the chemical changes they undergo over time, how their properties might vary, and their impacts on human health and the environment,” Sylvia Edgerton, a program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, told the NSF. 

The data collected on these flights could help future research on air quality, weather, and the impact of wildfire smoke on health. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Colorado State Forest Service

New project will fly into wildfire smoke to study its composition

New project will fly into wildfire smoke to study its...

The remains of a baby snake found preserved in amber from Myanmar are estimated to be 99 million years old. The fossil, which is the first of its kind, is around two inches in length and has 97 vertebrae.

The experts also examined a second piece of amber containing what appears to be a fragment of skin from an adult <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/risk-death-snake-bites/">snake</a>. The specimens were obtained from an amber deposit in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar, and date back to the early Late Cretaceous period.

Study co-author Dr. Lida Xing is a paleontologist from the <a href="http://en.cug.edu.cn/">China University of Geosciences</a> in Beijing. “The fossil is the first baby snake and the oldest baby snake to yet be found,” said Dr. Xing. 

Michael Caldwell is a snake paleontologist at the <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/">University of Alberta</a> who also co-authored the study. According to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a>, Dr. Caldwell said that, prior to this study, a fossilized baby snake has never been found - even in the rock fossil record.

Dr. Xing told the Times that hundreds of thousands of amber pieces had been retrieved from this region of Myanmar, but no snake was ever recovered.

When the specimen was first found, the creature inside was thought to be a centipede or a millipede because the head was missing. 

Micro-CT scans revealed that the fossil was that of a baby snake, and the paleontologists named the new species Xiaophis myanmarensis. It is unclear whether the snake was an embryo or a newborn, but tiny bones alongside a large spinal cord tube suggest that the baby was still developing.

“No one has ever seen a fossilized baby snake of any kind whatsoever. And having this one be nearly a hundred million old is really quite amazing,” Dr. Caldwell told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>.

“Whether or not these early snakes were giving live birth, which is common in modern snakes, or whether they were hatching from eggs, is unclear. But based on size and developmental stage, this thing was a newborn.”

The study authors explained that the new snake fossils represent “a greater ecological diversity and global distribution of Late Mesozoic snakes, and more specifically, Cretaceous snakes, than was previously understood.”

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Ming Bai, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fossilized baby snake preserved in amber 100 million years later

The remains of a baby snake found preserved in amber...

New plant breeding technologies have the potential to make fruits and vegetables more appealing to the eyes and also to the taste buds. A pair of food experts is reporting that the produce of the future could have enhanced colors, shapes, and sizes, along with improved health benefits.

Study co-author Andrew Allan is a food researcher at the New Zealand science institute <a href="https://www.plantandfood.co.nz/">Plant &amp; Food Research</a>.

“Novelty drives a lot of first time purchasing,” said Allan. “If the experience is good, then the consumer will purchase again. Choice is key - there is no risk with more choice.”

The researchers explained that fast breeding with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing does not require the addition of a new DNA sequence, which is often the case with genetically modified crops. Instead, this technology allows scientists to edit existing genes. There is focus, in particular, on transcription factor genes called MYBs that control many of the key consumer traits in plants.

“MYBs often regulate the compounds that generate a fruit or vegetables' 'wow’ factor - its color,” said Allan. “These compounds are also associated with important health benefits such as lowering cardiovascular disease or acting as vitamins. By using MYBs to elevate these compounds to create a richer color, we can make produce both more appealing to consumers and more beneficial for the human diet.”


Editing MYBs can also transform produce beyond the surface. For example, some fruits and vegetables such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/best-wash-pesticides-apples/">apples</a> and potatoes have nutrients that are concentrated in the skin. Scientists can now modify MYBs to create produce with a consistent concentration of vitamins in every bite.

The breeding technology is also being used to modify the flavor and texture of produce, and Allan is excited by what this could mean for the future of our supermarkets. He said that this could be “the next green revolution, with more product choice for developed countries, greater yields for less developed countries, and more growing options for climate resilience.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/home">Trends in Plant Science</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Plant breeding technology could make produce more appealing

New plant breeding technologies have the potential to make fruits...

It’s a well-known fact that we currently know less about the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/carbon-storage-ocean-floor/">ocean floor</a> than we do about the surface of the moon. Our oceans are the largest and least explored environments on the planet, and scientists estimate they may contain up to a million species that are yet to be discovered. Still, deep-ocean dives in specially designed submersibles frequently turn up new species. Many of these organisms are soft-bodied – similar to jellyfish, squid, and octopuses – which makes them difficult to capture for study without harming them.

Luckily, a new device has just been developed by researchers at <a href="https://wyss.harvard.edu/">Harvard University’s Wyss Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/">John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> (SEAS), and <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/">Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study</a>. This device can capture soft-bodied species for study inside a folding polyhedral enclosure, before letting them go unharmed. The research is reported in <a href="http://robotics.sciencemag.org/">Science Robotics</a>.

The device was designed and built by Zhi Ern Teoh, Ph.D., and consists of five 3D-printed polymer “petals” attached to rotating joints that are linked together to create a scaffold. A motor applies torque to the point where the petals meet, resulting in the entire structure rotating about the joints and folding into a hollow dodecahedron – which is a twelve-sided 3D shape, almost like a rounded box. This device has been named the Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron (RAD). 

The RAD sampler was tested at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT, where it successfully collected and released moon jellyfish underwater. It was then modified to withstand open ocean conditions, and mounted on an underwater remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) provided by the <a href="https://www.mbari.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute</a> in Monterey, CA. The device was tested in the field at depths of 500-700 meters, using the ROV’s manipulator arm and a human-controlled joystick to operate the RAD. In the field, the team was able to capture soft organisms like squid and jellyfish in their natural habitats, and then release them unharmed. 

“The RAD sampler design is perfect for the difficult environment of the deep ocean because its controls are very simple, so there are fewer elements that can break. It’s also modular, so if something does break, we can simply replace that part and send the sampler back down into the water,” says Teoh. “This folding design is also well-suited to be used in space, which is similar to the deep ocean in that it’s a low-gravity, inhospitable environment that makes operating any device challenging.”

Teoh is currently working on a more rugged version of the RAD to be used in heavy-duty underwater tasks – such as marine geology. Robert Wood, Ph.D., a Founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute, explains how the benefits of this device go beyond its practical use: “Our group’s collaboration with the marine biology community has opened the door for the fields of soft robotics and origami-inspired engineering to apply those technologies to solve problems in an entirely different discipline, and we are excited to see the ways in which this synergy creates novel solutions.” 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A novel device for capturing delicate, undiscovered sea creatures

It’s a well-known fact that we currently know less about...

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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