Sexual behavior and preference - whether in humans or animals - isn’t random. It’s shaped early on, during fetal development, by how the brain responds to hormones like androgens (male sex hormones). 



This early exposure is known to affect adult traits like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/relentless-sex-drive-may-lead-northern-quolls-to-extinction/">sex drive</a> and cognition. But there's been one big obstacle: how do you measure that influence without invasive methods?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rat-fingers-hint-at-sexual-behavior">Rat fingers hint at sexual behavior </h2>



Researchers from <a href="https://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html">Okayama University</a> in Japan may have found an answer - by looking at rats’ fingers.



In a recent study published on May 14, 2025, a team led by Professor Hirotaka Sakamoto and Dr. Himeka Hayashi found that a simple finger measurement - the ratio of the second digit to the fourth digit, known as 2D:4D - can predict sexual behavior and preference in rats.



This digit ratio has been studied in humans for years. On average, men tend to have a lower 2D:4D ratio than women, meaning their index fingers are shorter relative to their ring fingers. 



That difference has been linked to prenatal androgen exposure. It’s also been tied to traits like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/practicing-yoga-nidra-improves-sleep-memory-and-cognition/">cognition</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/personality-traits-are-not-strongly-inherited-from-parents/">personality</a>, and sexual orientation. But surprisingly, there hasn’t been much research testing whether this holds true in other animals. That’s what drew the researchers to rats.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shorter-fingers-stronger-sex-drive">Shorter fingers, stronger sex drive</h2>



“We found that the 2D:4D ratio serves as a reliable biological marker for predicting sexual activity in rats,” said Sakamoto. “Rats with shorter second digits were not only more sexually active but also showed a clear preference for female scent.”



Building on their initial measurements, the team then ran mating trials to observe <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/science-behind-predicting-and-changing-human-behavior/">behavior</a>.



The results were clear. Male rats that ejaculated during their first encounter had shorter second digits compared to those that didn’t. 



These males also showed signs of higher sexual drive: they ejaculated more often, did so more quickly, and had stronger erectile function.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-scent-of-sexual-behavior">The scent of sexual behavior </h2>



To go beyond behavior and look at preference, the researchers ran a simple but telling test. They placed male rats in a cage with two kinds of bedding: one scented by females, and the other by males.



All the male rats initially explored the male-scented bedding. But only those with shorter second digits stayed interested in the female-scented bedding. They sniffed, explored, and spent more time with it - indicating a clear sexual preference.



“While most studies have only linked the digit ratio to morphological sex differences, we noticed a surprising lack of research connecting digit ratio to the biological basis of sex itself - especially sexual activity and preference,” notes Hayashi. “This curiosity marked the start of our study.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fingers-mirror-brain-wiring">Fingers mirror brain wiring</h2>



Beyond offering insight into rat behavior, the study points to a deeper question: how early hormone exposure shapes the brain in lasting ways.



Before birth, hormone exposure might wire our brains in ways that the 2D:4D ratio later reflects - potentially shaping complex behaviors like sexual orientation or emotional attachment.



“Our results suggest a profound link between the body and mind, with significant scientific and clinical implications,” said Sakamoto. “Simply examining our fingers could one day help identify aspects of our behavioral tendencies.”



The findings also offer a practical model for exploring biological questions that are difficult - or impossible - to study directly in humans. 



Because 2D:4D is also connected to cognitive traits and mental health conditions, this research could help explain sex-based differences in disorders like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/toddler-screen-time-linked-to-atypical-sensory-behaviors/">autism</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-gut-bacteria-morganella-morganii-could-cause-depression-not-a-brain-disorder/">depression</a>, or attachment issues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biology-is-not-the-whole-story">Biology is not the whole story</h2>



While the findings are compelling, they also raise important questions. For one, it’s still unclear how well results from rats translate to humans. 



Rats provide a useful model for controlled experiments, but human sexuality is influenced by many layers - cultural, social, psychological - that go far beyond biology.



The researchers also focused only on male rats. Future studies will need to explore whether similar patterns hold true for females, and how other factors like environment or stress interact with digit ratios to shape behavior.



Another key question is causation. Rats with shorter 2D:4D finger ratios tend to show more sexual activity and stronger preferences, but scientists aren’t yet sure whether the digit ratio drives this behavior - or if both stem from shared prenatal influences.



None of this takes away from the value of the study. But it highlights the importance of treating biological markers like 2D:4D as part of a much larger picture. 



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/expanim/advpub/0/advpub_24-0159/_article">Experimental Animals</a>.



-----



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Does your finger length predict sexual behavior? A rat study says yes

Sexual behavior and preference - whether in humans or animals - isn’t random. It’s shaped early on, during fetal development, by how the brain responds to hormones like androgens (male sex hormones). This early exposure is known to affect adult traits like sex drive and cognition. But there's been one big obstacle: how do you measure that influence without invasive methods? Rat fingers hint at sexual behavior Researchers from Okayama University in Japan may have found an answer - by looking at rats’ fingers. In a recent...

Every year, a conference is held with over 14,000 multidisciplinary scientists sharing the newest concepts and research findings relevant to clinical advances. This year's meeting, <a href="http://experimentalbiology.org/2018/Home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2018</a> (EB 2018) will include four innovative studies focused on understanding contamination and improving the environment.

Stephanie Chaousis from <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/">Griffith University</a> in Australia will be introducing a technique that may lead to the discovery of biomarkers for detecting contamination exposure in wildlife without the need for invasive sampling.

The new method, which uses cultured cells from animals, was demonstrated in an experiment with green sea turtles. The researchers cultured skin cells and exposed them to two contaminants that commonly accumulate in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-turtles-flippers-hands/">sea turtles</a>. Using mass spectrometry, the experts identified many proteins that changed expression levels after exposure.

Héctor Rivera from the <a href="http://www.upr.edu/">University of Puerto Rico</a> will be reporting on more sustainable ways to produce biofuel from cooking oil and grease waste. While the enzyme lipase has been found to speed up the conversion process, the enzyme's activity levels are not high enough for industrial-scale biodiesel production.

Three new nanoparticle formulas, which were developed by the researchers using lipase from the fungus Candida rugosa, were all shown to facilitate faster biodiesel production compared to traditional lipase formulations. 

Experts from <a href="https://www.nu.edu/">National University</a> and the <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/">Scripps Institute of Oceanography</a> in California set out to identify the harmful bacteria found on ocean plastic. The team submerged three common types of plastics in waters off the coast of Southern California and sequenced the microbial DNA at four intervals throughout the study. 

The researchers found that more than 40 percent of the DNA sequences belonged to unknown organisms. Furthermore, all of the plastic materials contained different types of bacteria which were also different from those found in the surrounding seawater. Early testing on the plastics revealed bacteria that can cause disease in humans. The research will be presented at the meeting by Ana Maria Barral.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> have been investigating the prenatal effects of marine toxin exposure. Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin produced by marine algae that can cause fatal central nervous system toxicity in people who consume highly-contaminated shellfish. The effects of long-term exposure to low levels of domoic acid, however, are not known.

The researchers focused a study on 20 pregnant monkeys. After the pregnant females were administered low doses of the neurotoxin over the course of at least two months, the experts found that the fetuses experienced nearly the same domoic acid exposure as the mothers.

Some of the exposed monkeys showed subtle signs of neurological effects, such as tremors. The study authors believe that the government should lower the tolerable daily intake levels of domoic acid until more is known about the human health risks associated with long-term, low-level exposure. The research will be presented by Sara Shum at EB 2018.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Four big breakthroughs presented to improve the environment

Every year, a conference is held with over 14,000 multidisciplinary...

An investigation by researchers at the <a href="http://www.arizona.edu/">University of Arizona</a> is providing new insight into the evolutionary history of upright walking. The analysis of 3.6 million-year-old footprints uncovered in Tanzania suggests that hominins were walking with extended legs much earlier than what was previously realized.

“Fossil footprints are truly the only direct evidence of walking in the past,” said David Raichlen, PhD, associate professor at the. 

“By 3.6 million years ago, our data suggest that if you can account for differences in size, hominins were walking in a way that is very similar to living humans. While there may have been some nuanced differences, in general, these hominins probably looked like us when they walked.”

The term hominin refers to human relatives that lived before the genus Homo, which were ancestral humans that emerged around 2.5 million years ago.

Hominins started walking on two legs approximately seven million years ago, but scientists have mainly theorized that the extinct humans walked with a crouch and bent legs like other primates of that time.

Based on the fossilized footprints and skeletons of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/early-humans-relations-ghost-species/">early humans</a>, the researchers used various techniques to reconstruct walking mechanics. The study revealed that the footprints discovered in Tanzania are consistent with the fully upright, bipedal gait of modern humans.


The researchers explained that walking upright with the legs fully extended uses less energy than bipedal walking in a crouched, ape-like fashion. Hominins likely adopted a more upright style of walking to preserve their energy for long foraging journeys.

“The data suggest that by this time in our evolutionary history, selection for reduced energy expenditures during walking was strong,” said Raichlen. 

“This work suggests that, by 3.6 million years ago, climate and habitat changes likely led to the need for ancestral hominins to walk longer distances during their daily foraging bouts. Selection may have acted at this time to improve energy economy during locomotion, generating the human-like mechanics we employ today.”

The research was presented at the <a href="http://experimentalbiology.org/2018/Home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2018</a> meeting in San Diego.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ancient humans began walking upright sooner than was thought

An investigation by researchers at the University of Arizona is...

An international team of researchers has discovered that diamonds can actually be flexible in some forms. The experts found that tiny diamond needles can bend and stretch, and then return to their original state.

The scientists used a chemical vapor deposition process to create <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diamonds-reveal-secrets/">diamond</a> needles measuring just a few micrometers tall. To investigate how much strain the structures could undergo without breaking, they examined the needles under a scanning electron microscope while applying pressure with a nanoindenter diamond tip.

A computer model developed by the team revealed that the maximum strain that could be endured by the nano samples was 9 percent. After being stretched to their limit, the diamond needles were able to transform back to their original shape.

“It was very surprising to see the amount of elastic deformation the nanoscale diamond could sustain,” said study co-author Daniel Bernoulli of the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a>.

According to Bernoulli, the stretch limit of a diamond falls way below one percent in its natural state. While diamonds are known for their strength, it is this quality that also causes them to be brittle. 

Study senior co-author Yang Lu is an associate professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the

“We developed a unique nanomechanical approach to precisely control and quantify the ultralarge elastic strain distributed in the nanodiamond samples,” said Dr Yang Lu of the <a href="http://www.cityu.edu.hk">City University of Hong Kong</a>, senior co-author of the study.

The researchers explained that when this type of strain is placed on crystalline materials such as diamonds, it can significantly change their properties. 

According to the study authors, this process of “elastic strain engineering” could lead to the development of strong diamond-based materials to be used in a variety of applications such as sensing and data storage devices.

The study is published in the 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

Scientists can now bend and stretch diamonds

An international team of researchers has discovered that diamonds can...

Business is booming for companies that make artificial sweeteners. As more people turn away from sugar for health reasons, sugarless candy, diet sodas and other foods using the sugar replacements have grown in popularity.

But a new study found that replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners may not actually prevent diabetes – or shrink the waistline.

"Despite the addition of these non-caloric artificial sweeteners to our everyday diets, there has still been a drastic rise in obesity and diabetes," said Dr. Brian Hoffmann of the <a href="https://www.mcw.edu/MCW">Medical College of Wisconsin</a> and <a href="http://marquette.edu/">Marquette University</a>, who led the research. "In our studies, both sugar and artificial sweeteners seem to exhibit negative effects linked to obesity and diabetes, albeit through very different mechanisms from each other."

Hoffman’s study uses a method dubbed “unbiased high-throughput metabolomics” to look at biochemical changes the human body experiences after eating sugar or artificial sweeteners. 

Using rats and cell cultures, the researchers examined how their metabolic profiles were altered by each type of sweetener. They also looked at how sugar and artificial sweeteners affected the lining of blood vessels. 

Regardless of the type of sweetener the researchers fed the rats, they saw significant changes in the levels of biochemicals, amino acids and fats in the rats’ blood samples. In addition, one artificial sweetener, acesulfame potassium, appeared to remain concentrated in the rats’ blood, causing damage to the cells that lined their blood vessels. 

"We observed that in moderation, your body has the machinery to handle sugar; it is when the system is overloaded over a long period of time that this machinery breaks down," Hoffmann said in a press release. "We also observed that replacing these sugars with non-caloric artificial sweeteners leads to negative changes in fat and energy metabolism."

The study showed that both sugar and artificial sweeteners can be harmful to the body, but more research is needed, the researchers said.

Hoffman will present the research at <a href="http://experimentalbiology.org/2018/Home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2018</a> in San Diego today. The conference brings together more than 14,000 researchers in a number of clinical fields.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Artificial sweeteners, like sugar, can lead to obesity and diabetes

Business is booming for companies that make artificial sweeteners. As...

Drinking water during exercise is a no brainer, right? Actually, it could have plenty of benefits for the brain and cognition, according to a new study of active older adults.

A team of New England-based researchers set out to explore the connection between good hydration and exercise-boosted cognition in seniors.  

"Middle-age and older adults often display a blunted thirst perception, which places them at risk for dehydration and subsequently may reduce the cognitive health-related benefits of exercise," the researchers wrote.

To conduct their study, the scientists recruited recreational cyclists with an average age of 55. By testing the participants’ urine, they placed them into two teams. One team showed signs of dehydration, while the other tested normal.

The teams each completed a “trail-making” activity before and after going for a ride on a warm day. The test involved quickly and accurately linking numbered dots.

Both groups completed the activity more quickly and accurately after exercising on the bike ride. However, the dehydrated group showed much less improvement than the properly hydrated group.

"This suggests that older adults should adopt adequate drinking behaviors to reduce cognitive fatigue and potentially enhance the cognitive benefits of regular exercise participation," the researchers wrote.

Previous studies have found links between dehydration and impaired exercise function and cognition, but those studies have focused on younger adults, not seniors. However, this adds to a collection of studies that link exercise to better brain power – and that show the importance of drinking water before, during and after exercise.

A poster explaining the study will be presented today at the <a href="http://experimentalbiology.org/2018/Home.aspx">Experimental Biology 2018</a> conference in San Diego, during the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.the-aps.org/">American Physiological Society</a>. 

Experimental Biology is an annual meeting of more than 14,000 scientists and exhibitors. They meet each year to share new advances in clinical research.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Seniors: drinking water during exercise boosts your brain

Drinking water during exercise is a no brainer, right? Actually,...

Chimpanzees are the only primates known to frequently engage in warfare – other than humans, of course. Knowing this connection of inter-species aggression that humans and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-learn-tools/">chimpanzees</a> share, researchers postulated that the fight-or-flight response probably played a significant role in helping us primates adapt to the threat of warfare during our evolution.

In a recent study published in <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/">PLOS Genetics</a>, researchers looked for changes in the regulation of the ADRA2C gene, which affects the sympathetic nervous system, which in turn regulates the fight-or-flight response. Jung Kyoon Choi of <a href="http://www.kaist.edu/html/en/index.html">KAIST</a> in Korea and Soojin Yi of <a href="http://www.gatech.edu/">Georgia Tech</a> analyzed genomes, transcriptomes, and epigenomes from multiple humans, chimpanzees, and other primates. Transcriptomes are the entire set of genes expressed in a cell, while epigenomes are made up of a variety of compounds that can bind to DNA and affect gene expression. 

Their results showed that humans and chimpanzees acquired genetic and epigenetic changes that reduce ADRA2C expression, which results in increased signaling for the fight-or-flight response. However, these changes are not present in macaques and are not consistently found in bonobos. This suggests that the genetic variations recently spread in the population may have occurred in response to threats of war, as these variations are only universal in humans and chimpanzees.

The researchers also used the genome-editing technique known as CRISPR/Cas9 in order to show that reverting to the genetic states of macaques and bonobos can restore ADRA2C expression. Knocking out expression of this gene in mice has a significant effect on fight-or-flight, and changes in the gene that happened over time during chicken domestication likely resulted in less aggressive chickens.

So what do these findings mean? The authors believe that the signatures of adaptations linked to reduced ADRA2C expression in both chimps and humans may have significantly influenced their evolution, and may even have played a major role in the roots of human warfare. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Humans (and chimps) are genetically inclined to turn to war

Chimpanzees are the only primates known to frequently engage in...

For over 1000 years, the Bajau people – a group indigenous to parts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/separate-human-species-indonesia/">Indonesia</a> – have collected their food by free diving with spears. They are famous throughout the region for their incredible breath-holding abilities, which allow them to free dive to depths up to 70 meters. How can they pull off these extraordinary dives? New research published in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/">Cell</a> has found evidence that this group has genetically adapted to diving, a scientific first. 

Scientists had previously hypothesized that our spleens play an integral role in the ability of some humans to free dive for extended periods of time, but until now, the relationship between spleen size and dive capacity has never been studied on a genetic level. The findings of this research suggest that the Bajau have genetically enlarged spleens, which allow them to free dive for so long and at such great depths.

But how does the spleen help someone hold their breath under water? Scientists have known that the spleen plays an important role in free diving, as it forms part of the human dive response. When the human body is submerged under cold water, a response is triggered in order to help the individual survive in this oxygen-deprived environment. The heart rate slows, blood vessels in extremities shrink to save blood for vital organs, and the spleen contracts. This contraction generates an oxygen boost by ejecting red blood cells into circulation – corresponding in as much as a 9 percent increase in oxygen.

“There’s not a lot of information out there about human spleens in terms of physiology and genetics,” says Melissa Ilardo, the first author of the paper. “But we know that deep diving seals, like the Weddell seal, have disproportionately large spleens. I thought that if selection acted on the seals to give them larger spleens, it could potentially do the same in humans.”

Ilardo spent several months in Indonesia, taking genetic samples and performing ultrasound scans of spleens from the Bajau people as well as their land-dwelling neighbors, the Saluan. The results showed that the Bajua have a median spleen size 50 percent larger than the Saluan – a difference visible in non-diving Bajua individuals as well as those who regularly free dive. This finding eliminated the possibility that larger spleens were a more short-term response to diving. Further analysis of the Bajau’s genetic data at the University of Copenhagen discovered that members of this group have a gene called PDE10A, which the Saluan lacked. The researchers believe that the PDE10A gene controls the levels of thyroid hormone T4.

“It’s been shown in mice that thyroid hormones and spleen size are connected,” says Ilardo. “If you genetically alter mice to have an absence of the thyroid hormone T4, their spleen size is drastically reduced, but this effect is actually reversible with an injection of T4.”

This discovery marks the first time that a genetic adaptation to diving has been found in humans. The study also has implications for medical research, as the human dive response simulates the conditions of acute hypoxia – where body tissue experiences a rapid depletion of oxygen. Acute hypoxia is the leading cause of complications in emergency care. Moving forward, this study may lead to a solution that remedies this condition. 

“It will help us make the link between the genetics and the physiological response to acute hypoxia,” says Dr. Rasmus Nielsen, who holds dual positions at the <a href="http://www.ku.dk/english/">University of Copenhagen</a> and the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a>. “It’s a hypoxia experiment that nature has made for us and allows us to study humans in a way that we can’t in a laboratory.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Melissa Ilardo

Humans can develop a genetic adaptation for diving

For over 1000 years, the Bajau people – a group...

It is not uncommon for people to take anecdotal evidence as proof and unfortunately, urban legends and old sayings are often cited as hard facts. 

For example, achy joints supposedly predict changes in the weather for people with arthritis, and animals exhibit strange behaviors before an earthquake leading many to assume they can sense the event coming.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/home/">GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences</a> set out to see if animals, including domestic family <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-create-mental-image/">dogs</a>, can accurately predict earthquakes. 

The results, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, show that even though animals may be able to sense certain changes in seismic activity, there is no firm evidence proving that dogs, cats, or even farm animals can predict an upcoming earthquake. 

The study is the first of its kind to statistically approach the hypothesis about animals and earthquakes, and highlights the difficulties in trying to find proof in single observations and anecdotal evidence. 

In order to effectively study the connection between animals and earthquakes, the researchers defined some clear factors that need to be considered but are so often lacking in any currently published research. 

These factors included the animal’s distance from earthquakes, if the animal exhibited that same behavior without any earthquakes, if the animals in question are healthy, and if there is a statistical testing hypothesis in place to examine the evidence. 

"Many review papers on the potential of animals as earthquake precursors exist, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a statistical approach was used to evaluate the data," said Heiko Woith, the study’s lead author. 

The researchers gathered and analyzed 729 reports of animal behavior predicting potential earthquakes. Elephants, cows, silkworms, dogs, and cats along with a variety of other animals were all included in the research. 

In general, the researchers noticed that most of the reports came from anecdotal evidence and the research mostly focused on three earthquakes, one in New Zealand, one in Japan, and another in Italy. 

It was difficult to pinpoint any links between the reports due to a large amount of variation between the events, the types of behaviors, when the behaviors began, and the distance between the animal the origin of the earthquake. 

Only 14 of the reports included a series of observations leading up to an earthquake. 

According to the study’s authors, research that monitors animal behavior over a long period of time is necessary, as it’s the only way to rule out other environmental changes or factors that could explain the abnormal behaviors. 

The researchers could not find any clear evidence to prove that animals can predict earthquakes, but that doesn’t mean that animals aren’t sensitive to seismic activity. 

“The animals may sense seismic waves--it could P, S or surface waves--generated by foreshocks," said Woith. “Another option could be secondary effects triggered by the foreshocks, like changes in groundwater or release of gases from the ground which might be sensed by the animals.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Are dogs able to predict earthquakes?

It is not uncommon for people to take anecdotal evidence...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/woolly-mammoths-in-alaska-were-pushed-to-extinction-by-rising-sea-levels/">Woolly mammoths</a>, the giant furry mammals that used to roam the Arctic, disappeared off the face of the planet roughly 10,000 years ago. Now, in an almost Jurassic Park type storyline, <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> scientists are planning to clone these animals and bring them back from extinction. How will they do this? By using DNA from a 42,000 year-old frozen woolly mammoth, of course!

For this to come to fruition, the scientists would have to grow the mammoth within an artificial womb. The final product wouldn’t be 100% woolly mammoth, but rather a hybrid between an Asian elephant and a mammoth. They could accomplish this feat through a genetic technique known as CRISPR-Cas9, which allows them to “cut and paste” strands of DNA with unparalleled precision. Thus, they would be able to cut and paste preserved mammoth DNA into the DNA of Asian elephants in order to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid.

“We have already revived dozens of genes and are testing them in elephant cells,” says George Church, a professor at Harvard and lead author of the paper. “We are focusing on a reviving mammoth genes and making a mammoth/elephant hybrid and help them spread to vast wild, arctic climates.”

If this plan were to actually work, the mammoths would be able to live in a 20,000 hectare Ice Age safari park created by Russian scientists in a remote region of Siberia. The researchers believe their presence could actually help regenerate Arctic climates through stimulating the growth of vegetation. 

“Cold-resistant elephants would flatten the insulating snow and supporting trees in winter and favor the highly heat reflective grass in summer,” says Church. “They would also help capture new carbon by enhancing the photosynthetic capacity of the vegetation.”

Since beginning this project in 2015, the scientists have increased the number of “edits” where mammoth DNA has been spliced into the elephant genome by three-fold.

“We’re working on ways to evaluate the impact of all these edits and are basically trying to establish embryogenesis in the lab. The list of edits affects things that contribute to the success of elephants in cold environments,” Church explains. “We already know about ones to do with small ears, sub-cutaneous fat, hair and blood, but there are others that seem to be positively selected.”

Through these new-age gene editing processes, bringing back extinct species is now a real possibility. “Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant/mammoth embryo,” says Church. “Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We’re not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Woolly mammoths might be making a big comeback

Woolly mammoths, the giant furry mammals that used to roam...

The sheer magnitude of the plastic pollution problem on planet Earth can no longer be ignored, as plastics can be spotted covering beachings, floating in oceans, and even lining the stomachs of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dying-whale-found-plastic-bags/">whales</a>.

Part of the problem is that PET, one of the most common plastics used in products today including water bottles, takes hundreds of years to break down. 

Conservation efforts have been scrambling for ways to reduce the amount of plastic waste, but the new accidental discovery of a plastic-eating enzyme may be the key to battling the plastic pollution crisis. 

In 2016, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/10/could-a-new-plastic-eating-bacteria-help-combat-this-pollution-scourge">plastic-eating bacterium</a> dubbed Ideonella sakaiensis was discovered in Japan. 

The new find raised many questions for scientists as the speedy evolution behind the bacterium’s drive to break down plastics was nothing short of noteworthy. 

“[PET] has only been around in vast quantities over the last 50 years, so it's actually not a very long timescale for a bacteria to have evolved to eat something so man-made,” John McGeehan, leader of the research team that improved the enzyme told <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43783631">BBC News</a>. 

McGeehan worked with researchers from the <a href="http://www.port.ac.uk/">University of Portsmouth</a> and the <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/">U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory</a>. 

While examining the enzyme and working to understand how it had evolved to such an extent, the research team ended up making it even more efficient at eating PET.

Published in the in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new study shows that the enzyme could be harnessed to break down PET and improve plastic recycling around the world. 

The researchers first needed to understand the structure of the enzyme that was part of the Japanese bacterium.

<a href="http://www.diamond.ac.uk/">Diamond Light Source</a>, a UK based lab that gives scientists access to a powerful microscope showed the researchers the structure of the enzyme. 

While focusing on the structure, the researchers accidentally created a more efficient mutant enzyme that was 20 percent better at breaking down PET. 

“It is a modest improvement – 20% better – but that is not the point,” McGeehan told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/16/scientists-accidentally-create-mutant-enzyme-that-eats-plastic-bottles">The Guardian.</a> “It’s incredible because it tells us that the enzyme is not yet optimized. It gives us scope to use all the technology used in other enzyme development for years and years and make a super-fast enzyme.”

One of the most exciting implications of the new research and the evolution of the enzyme is the way it could drastically improve plastic recycling. 

Today, PET is just recycled into other materials and fibers which simply end up in the world’s landfills. With the new enzyme, PET could be efficiently broken down and used again. 

“It’s well within the possibility that in the coming years we will see an industrially viable process to turn PET, and potentially other (plastics), back into their original building blocks so that they can be sustainably recycled,” John McGeehan told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-plastic-enzyme/plastic-eating-enzyme-holds-promise-in-fighting-pollution-idUSKBN1HN2OZ">Reuters.</a>

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Newly discovered plastic-eating enzyme can help battle pollution

The sheer magnitude of the plastic pollution problem on planet...

A new study has revealed over a hundred new genes responsible for hair color and pigmentation. 

The results could aid in future research on cancers like melanoma that are directly related to pigmentation, as well improve accuracy in forensic testing. 

Researchers from <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/">King's College London</a> and <a href="https://www.erasmusmc.nl/?lang=en">Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam </a>conducted the study, which was published in the journal Nature Genetics. 

Previous research has determined that hair color is largely genetic and there were around a dozen known pigmentation and hair color genes. 

However, there seemed to be a gap between the known hair color genes and the large amount of heritable or genetic factors responsible for the many variations in hair color. 

In order to better understand the genetic complexity of pigmentation and hair color, the researchers collected and analyzed data from the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609184/uk-biobank-supercharges-medicine-with-gene-data-on-500000-brits/">UK Biobank 23andMe Inc</a> and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/visigenconsortium/home">International Visible Trait Genetics Consortium</a>.

Overall, the research team examined DNA information from nearly 300,000 people of European descent and compared the genetic data to the study participants’ self-reported hair colors.

The results of the analysis revealed 124 previously unidentified genes that played a role in hair color and pigmentation. 

“This work will impact several fields of biology and medicine,” said Tim Spector, the study’s joint lead author. “As the largest ever genetic study on pigmentation, it will improve our understanding of diseases like melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer.” 

Other cancers besides skin cancer are also linked to certain hair color genes such as testicular, prostate and ovarian cancers. 

What’s more, the new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ability-empathize-determined-genes/">genes</a> are more accurate at predicting hair color than the other previously known pigmentation genes. 

“Besides substantially increasing our understanding of human pigmentation genetics in general, finding these new hair colour genes is also important for further increasing the accuracy of hair colour prediction from DNA traces in future forensic applications, which can help to find unknown perpetrators of crime,” said Manfred Kayser, the fellow lead author of the study. 

The study sheds light on the genetic information responsible for hair color and pigmentation but has wide-reaching implications in studying and treating cancers as well improving forensics testing. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists identify new genes that determine hair color

A new study has revealed over a hundred new genes...

Running faster helps mice learn better, according to a new study that could have potential implications for improving problem-solving in humans.

The study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience and the results show how motor activity that stimulates the cerebellum can aid in quickly learning new tasks.

Researchers from the<a href="http://neuro.fchampalimaud.org/"> Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a> in Portugal happened across the surprising findings by accident.

At first, the researchers examined the links between cellular plasticity in the brain and learning ability. 

The cerebellum is a part of the brain that is crucial for skilled movements and the researchers wanted to understand how motor activity impacted circuitry in the cerebellum in mice.

Mice running a treadmill were taught to close their eyes in response to a flash of light. The light was followed by a puff of air so the light served as a warning for the mice.

However, the data the research team accumulated through numerous experiments with the mice showed no direct connections and there was too much variability in the results.

The researchers tried to get the bottom of what would cause such disparity in the data from the experiments and eventually it was discovered that the mice in the experiments didn’t run very well.

When the mice were all tasked with running at the same speeds, the data started to make more sense and showed how running improves learning.

The faster the mice ran, the better they did at learning the new task and vice versa.

“The mice performed less well when we slowed down the treadmill, and this happened at time scales of a few seconds,” said Catarina Albergaria, the first author of the study.

Once this link between motor activity and learning had been established, the researchers next looked at what neural processes in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/older-adults-brain-cells/">brain</a> were responsible.

Specific neurons in the mice were stimulated with a laser light using a technique called optogenetics. The neurons were connected to the cerebellum through a series of mossy fibers

“We substituted motor activity with direct stimuli to the cerebellum and we found that if you are able to increase the activity of the mossy fibers, you enhance learning,” said Albergaria.

What’s exciting about the study are the implications the results have for improved learning in humans, as the researchers say that stimulating the mossy fibers in the brain could help with learning new tasks.

“We tend to think that to manipulate the plasticity of the brain, so that people learn faster and slow learners improve, we have to use drugs,” said Megan Carey, leader of the research. “But here, all we had to do was control how fast mice were running to obtain an improvement. It would be interesting to see if this holds for humans, for cerebellar forms of learning - and even for other types of learning.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Running faster could improve learning ability

Running faster helps mice learn better, according to a new...

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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[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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