How did life on Earth begin? People have been asking that for ages. The answers remain scattered across rocks, oceans, and ancient landscapes. One clue hides in an essential ingredient for life - phosphorus.



Phosphorus is everywhere in living things. It holds together DNA and RNA. It forms the framework of cell membranes. No life can grow or function without it. 



Yet, phosphorus mostly stays trapped in rocks. It hides inside phosphate minerals, which barely dissolve in water. That raises an old and puzzling question: how did early Earth get enough phosphorus to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-discover-one-simple-rule-that-explains-all-life-on-earth-bioregions/">spark</a> life?



Yuya Tsukamoto and Takeshi Kakegawa from <a href="https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tohoku University</a> took that question seriously. They decided to look where most people wouldn’t - deep under the sea, in rocks that are billions of years old.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-element-for-life-on-earth">Key element for life on Earth</h2>



The researchers focused on the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which holds some of the oldest known seafloor rocks. 



The rocks are an astonishing 3.455 billion years old. The team's discovery wasn’t subtle. It jumped out from the data.



"We analyzed 3.455-billion-year-old basaltic seafloor rocks in drill core samples recovered from the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, discovering that P was significantly leached from the hydrothermally altered rocks compared to the least altered rocks," explained Tsukamoto.



He noted that further mineralogical analyses indicated that phosphate minerals had undergone dissolution in rocks where P was depleted. 



Simply put, hot fluids moved through these rocks and pulled phosphorus out. That phosphorus didn’t just disappear. It entered the surrounding seawater, turning parts of the ocean into phosphorus-rich zones.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-the-source-of-phosphorus">Tracking the source of phosphorus </h2>



The rocks alone didn’t tell the whole story. The team wanted to understand what made this phosphorus release possible. They uncovered two kinds of hydrothermal fluids that shaped this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/third-state-of-existence-beyond-life-and-death-confirmed-by-scientists/">process</a>.



One type was hot, rich in sulfur, and capable of breaking down minerals quickly. The other was more surprising - mildly acidic to alkaline fluids at lower temperatures. 



These fluids were common in the Archean era because Earth’s atmosphere back then was filled with carbon dioxide. That unique atmosphere made these fluids react in unexpected ways with the rocks.



The result? Massive amounts of dissolved phosphate in the water. The numbers were shocking. These fluids could carry up to 2 millimolar phosphate - nearly 1,000 times higher than what’s found in modern seawater.



Suddenly, early <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/luca-last-universal-common-ancestor-progenitor-all-life-on-earth/">Earth</a> wasn’t a barren place. Its oceans were filled with phosphorus.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-oceans-held-elements-for-life">Earth’s oceans held elements for life</h2>



This wasn’t just a chemistry experiment. The results changed how scientists think about early Earth. The researchers calculated how much phosphorus these underwater systems could release. 



The findings were stunning. The amount of phosphorus released into the oceans by these hydrothermal systems could match, or even exceed, the amount entering modern oceans through rivers and weathering of land rocks.



"Importantly, this study provides direct evidence that submarine hydrothermal activity leached P from seafloor basaltic rocks and quantifies the potential P flux from these hydrothermal systems to the early ocean," adds Tsukamoto.



Imagine ancient oceans filled with nutrients. These phosphorus-rich waters may have supported some of Earth’s earliest microbial life. 



The ancient communities didn’t need a vast, lush <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rocks-reveal-the-turning-point-when-oxygen-changed-earth-forever/">planet</a>. It only needed these hidden underwater environments to get started.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hot-springs-and-hidden-worlds-on-land">Hot springs and hidden worlds on land</h2>



The study also pointed to something beyond the oceans - hot springs on land. Hydrothermal systems aren’t just found under the sea. They exist on land too, in places like hot springs.



These environments might have also released phosphorus on early Earth. That means life’s building blocks weren’t limited to deep-sea vents. They could have existed in steaming pools on land.



This opens the door for more discoveries. Scientists now plan to study how phosphate behaves in rocks across different periods of Earth’s history. By tracing phosphorus through time, they hope to unlock new chapters of Earth’s story.



The message is clear: Life’s ingredients may have come from places on Earth we’ve only just begun to explore. Deep beneath the waves, within rocks touched by ancient fluids, the story of life may have quietly begun.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703725003266?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta</a>.



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Earth may have always held the key ingredients for life

How did life on Earth begin? People have been asking that for ages. The answers remain scattered across rocks, oceans, and ancient landscapes. One clue hides in an essential ingredient for life - phosphorus. Phosphorus is everywhere in living things. It holds together DNA and RNA. It forms the framework of cell membranes. No life can grow or function without it. Yet, phosphorus mostly stays trapped in rocks. It hides inside phosphate minerals, which barely dissolve in water. That raises an old and puzzling question: how did...

Inspiration can come from the most random of sources. For Howard Stone, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at <a href="https://engineering.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>, the inspiration for his new research project on the layered structure of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-nuts-heart-health/">coffee</a> came from an emailed picture of a layered coffee drink he received unsolicited. Small details can also have big implications, and Stone’s research that followed may help explain the heat- and salinity-dependent flows of Earth’s oceans.

Nan Xue, a graduate student and lead author of the paper, began investigating these coffee layers by preparing lattes in the lab using store-bought coffee and milk. After much trial and error, he found that he was only able to achieve the characteristic café latte layering by staying within certain parameters, such as temperatures and pour rates. This showed that there must be underlying, quantifiable physics that are involved in this liquid structure formation.

“The structure formation in a latte is surprising because it evolves from the chaotic, initial pouring and mixing of fluids into a very organized, distinct arrangement of layers,” says Nan Xue.

Using a panel of light-emitting diodes and a camera – as well as a coffee and milk substitute (dyed water for coffee and salty, denser water for milk) – the researchers captured the movement of fluids within the mixture. They also seeded the concoction with tracer particles, which scattered light from a green laser beam, allowing them to further track the drink’s internal dynamics. 

The results showed that that primary mechanism behind layering is a phenomenon called double-diffusive convection. This occurs when stacked-up fluids of different densities are made to mix their contents, and exchange heat through the movement of their constituent materials. Within a given mixture, lighter, hotter liquids rise, while cooler, denser liquids sink. When the local density in a region within the mixture approaches equilibrium, the sinking and rising stops. Thus, the fluid in that region flows horizontally, rather than vertically. This creates distinct bands, or layers.

Perfecting techniques for creating sought-after layers of liquids flowing into each other has implications that stretch beyond simply pouring coffee. Improving our understanding of the mechanics of this process could reduce costs and complexity in a wide range of applications.

“From a manufacturing perspective, a single pouring process is much simpler than the traditional sequential stacking of layers in a stratified product,” explains Stone. “In one application of this study, we are exploring the physics behind making a whole layered structure with one step, rather than one-by-one stacking of the layers.”

Detlef Lohse, a professor of fluid mechanics at the University of Twente in the Netherlands who was not involved in this study, believes that the results of this research are quite significant. “I think it will have bearing on various industrial flows and mixing procedures in so-called process technology, in which mixing of fluids with different densities by the injection of one into the other is omnipresent,” he explains.

Furthermore, Lohse points out that this study may help better explain the heat- and salinity-dependent flows of water in Earth’s oceans. This may have major implications in climatology and ecology. “The most awesome finding may be that there is perfect analogy between the layering in a cafe latte,” says Lohse, “and the known and extremely relevant layering of water with different temperatures and salt concentrations in the ocean.” 

Who knew? The physics and fluid mechanics of your morning cup of coffee could be deeply connected to the phenomena occurring in our vast oceans.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mixing a coffee drink is a surprisingly complicated science

Inspiration can come from the most random of sources. For...

There are many people who swear that their sore or achy joints are a sure sign that rainy weather is on its way. But a new study from <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/">Harvard Medical School</a> has found that the weather has no bearing on joint pain whatsoever. 

The research was published in the journal BMJ.

The researchers, led by Anupam Jena of <a href="https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/">Harvard Medical School's Department of Health Care Policy</a>, examined a wide-reaching collection of Medicare records to see if any connection could be found between joint pain and inclement weather. 

Data was gathered from more than 11 million primary care office visits between 2008 and 2012, and this information was grouped with daily rainfall totals from <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration</a> weather stations. 

Jena and the researchers looked for patterns in the data including an increase in clinic visits during rainy weather, and if patients seeking care for an unrelated issue asked for help with aching joints if it had rained during their appointment. 

After a thorough analysis, the researchers couldn’t find any link between joint pain and rainy weather.

“No matter how we looked at the data, we didn't see any correlation between rainfall and physician visits for joint pain or back pain,” said Jena. “The bottom line is: Painful joints and sore backs may very well be unreliable forecasters.” 

Jena notes that given how much data the researchers combed over, if there were any indication of joint pain related to weather, it would have been apparent in the numbers, but it wasn’t.

Even if it’s scientifically unfounded, the researchers say the reason people claim to experience more pain during bad weather is that humans are wired to look for patterns. If someone’s knee unexpectedly starts hurting during a rainy day, it’s easy to blame the weather. 

Jena proves that rain has no effect on joint pain, but also makes a point to say that for physician’s, treatment of pain should be the only priority. 

“Pain is pain, with or without rain,” Jena said. “But it's important to know that, at the clinical level, joint pain does not appear to ebb and flow with the weather.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Study: Achy joints can’t actually predict rainy weather

There are many people who swear that their sore or...

If you aren’t getting enough <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleep-deprivation-depression-teens/">sleep</a>, it can have a huge impact on your cognitive function, mood, behavior, and health and wellbeing. But interestingly enough, different people vary in how much sleep they need to be at their best. 

Now, a new study has found that genetic differences could explain why some people need much more sleep than others to function at peak levels. 

The research was performed by scientists from the <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/">National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute</a>, who used fruit flies that were bred to model the natural variations in human sleep patterns. 

The results show how genes related to sleep variation are also connected to many other biological processes. 

“The involvement of highly diverse biological processes in sleep duration may help explain why the purpose of sleep has been so elusive,” said Susan Harbison, the leader of the study. 

The study was published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

The researchers bred 13 generations of fruit flies, purposely creating flies that slept for 18 hours a day or 3 hours a day. 

“What is particularly interesting about this study is that we created long- and short-sleeping flies using the genetic material present in nature, as opposed to the engineered mutations or transgenic flies that many researchers in this field are using,” Harbison said. 

The researchers then analyzed genetic data from the fruit flies, comparing the long and short sleepers to see if there were any differences between the two. 

After comparing the data, the research team identified 126 differences within 80 genes that were directly associated with sleep duration. 

The differences were connected to developmental and cell signaling pathways, and some of the genes identified were vital to brain development, learning, and memory. 

The results also show that both groups of fruit flies had similar life spans, meaning that there weren’t any extra adverse effects with sleeping for shorter or longer periods.

This study shows why some people may need more or less sleep than others and could help with creating new treatments and therapies for sleep disorders. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Your genes determine how long your body stays asleep

If you aren’t getting enough sleep, it can have a...

Earlier this year, a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-american-eclipse/">total eclipse</a> could be viewed across the country inside of a 70-mile wide path that stretched from Oregon to South Carolina. The <a href="http://missouri.edu/">University of Missouri-Columbia</a> was located directly in the path of totality, and researchers there took advantage of a rare opportunity to examine how a total eclipse affects plant life. 

The light gradually decreased for 45 minutes during the event, and total darkness set in for 2 minutes and 36 seconds of total eclipse. Scientists at the college's South Farm Research Center set out to see how plants would respond to the nighttime conditions including darkness and cooler temperatures.

"We were wondering if plants had a circadian rhythm--meaning that they have sensed when sunup and sundown are and have developed an internal clock, separate from sensing changes in light," explained researcher Tim Reinbott. "So when we have totality of the eclipse in the middle of the day, would they even react?"

The team focused their study on four types of plants with different behavior including mimosa plants, which close their leaves at night and when they are touched. 

The research team prepared three mimosa plants in advance of the eclipse. They were exposed to either 72 hours of light, 72 hours of darkness, or a regular light/dark cycle. The results of their experiment have left the researchers with many unanswered questions.

"The regular mimosa responded to the eclipse by closing up its leaves, just like at sundown,” said Reinbott. “But when we first exposed the mimosa plants to 72 hours of light or dark, they did not respond to the eclipse.”

Reinbott explained that this behavior may be attributed to changes in the light spectrum that are undetectable to humans.

"We have data that show slight differences in the light spectrum during totality and sundown,” said Reinbott. “Possibly those plants exposed to 72 hours of light or darkness lost some of their photoreceptors for one of these wavelengths (blue and red/far-red)."

The oxalis, which normally closes its leaves and folds its flowers at night, responded very differently to the eclipse. Due to the hot August temperature, the oxalis leaves were folded up to reduce sun exposure and retain water. 

As the eclipse started, the oxalis leaves opened up, closing again when the daylight resumed. However, the plant did not fold its flowers at nightfall like it usually does.

"This shows that they have a circadian rhythm and were not fooled by the change in light from the eclipse. They only responded to the temperature change," said Reinbott.

During the next total eclipse in 2024, the researchers plan to take a closer look at plants' photosynthesis and water management. They will also examine the role of the light spectrum and what triggers the circadian rhythm in plants. 

Reinbott presented the study's findings in October at the Annual Meeting of the <a href="https://www.agronomy.org/">American Society of Agronomy</a>, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America in Tampa, Florida.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Plants respond unexpectedly to a total eclipse

Earlier this year, a total eclipse could be viewed across...

It has been long believed that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is much more resilient than the ice cover of West Antarctica and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-melting-impacts-global-ocean/">Greenland</a>, but new research has revealed that the ice sheet is actually much less stable than was previously thought.

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which stores more water than any other ice sheet on the planet, holds enough water to raise sea levels by an estimated 174 feet. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> and the <a href="http://www.usf.edu/">University of South Florida</a> collected geophysical and geological data for an unprecedented survey of East Antarctica's Sabrina Coast. 

They ultimately discovered that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet has a long history of expanding and shrinking, which means that ice cover in this area could make a substantial contribution to sea level rise as global temperatures rise.

In fact, the glaciers in this region may be particularly vulnerable due of their location in the Aurora Basin, a region of East Antarctica that mostly lies below sea level.

Study co-author Sean Gulick said the research revealed that glaciers from the Aurora Basin have been stable only for the past few million years.

"It turns out that for much of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's history, it was not the commonly perceived large stable ice sheet with only minor changes in size over millions of years," said Gulick. "Rather, we have evidence for a very dynamic ice sheet that grew and shrank significantly between glacial and interglacial periods. There were also often long intervals of open water along the Sabrina Coast, with limited glacial influence."

According to the analysis, ice advanced from the Aurora Basin and retreated back again at least 11 times during the first 20 million years of the ice sheet's history. 

Researchers also discovered that the ice sheet was previously much more wet than it is today, with meltwater from the surface flowing into a network of channels underneath the ice. This phenomenon occurred when atmospheric temperatures and CO2 levels were similar to what they are today.

"We shouldn't view this as one ice sheet that suddenly grew to its present size, but rather one that was a transient ice sheet that expanded every couple million years or so," said Gulick.

Approximately 6 million years ago, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet stopped producing large volumes of meltwater when it expanded and stabilized. The researchers warn that global warming could cause the East Antarctic glaciers to start melting, making the ice sheet unstable again.

Study co-lead author Amelia Shevenell said that the warm ocean water currently melting East Antarctica's largest glacier, the Totten Glacier, could be an early warning of things to come.

"A lot of what we are seeing right now in the coastal regions is that warming ocean waters are melting Antarctica's glaciers and ice shelves, but this process may just be the beginning," said Shevenell. "Once you have that combination of ocean heat and atmospheric heat -- which are related -- that's when the ice sheet could really experience dramatic ice mass loss."

The research is published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Sean Gulick/University of Texas at Austin

East Antarctic Ice Sheet is less stable than previously thought

It has been long believed that the East Antarctic Ice...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/image/hurricane-harvey-floods-interstate/">Hurricane Harvey</a> devastated regions of Southeast Texas earlier this year, killing 82 people and causing nearly $200 billion in damage. A new study has found that climate change made the catastrophic storm three times as likely to happen and escalated Harvey's rainfall by 15 percent.

A growing collection of research has linked global warming to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as storms, floods, drought, and wildfires.

Experts at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) explain that while manmade climate change was not the direct cause of Hurricane Harvey, global warming tripled the odds that the hurricane would hit Houston and surrounding areas with such intensity. 

To examine how climate change may have affected the strength of the hurricane, the WWA researchers used climate models and historical rainfall records. Dr. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh of the <a href="https://www.knmi.nl/over-het-knmi/about">Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute</a> is the study's lead author.

“This multi-method analysis confirms that heavy rainfall events are increasing substantially across the Gulf Coast region because of human interference with our climate system,” explained Dr. Oldenborgh. “It was very a rare event - they were very unlucky.”


Hurricane Harvey lingered over Southeastern Texas for days, dumping over 40 inches of rain in just four days. The findings of the study suggest that global warming increased these rainfall totals by 15 percent.

Researchers at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) conducted their own investigation into “how human-caused climate change may have affected the strength and likelihood of individual extreme events.

They examined over 20 weather disasters that occurred in 2016, including record heat in the Arctic and a marine heat wave off the coast of Alaska.

The AMS researchers concluded that the majority of these catastrophic weather events can be at least partially blamed on climate change. The scientists find, for the first time in their series of studies, that some of these extreme weather events were simply not possible in a pre-industrial climate.

Jeff Rosenfeld is the editor-in-chief of a special report from the AMS, entitled “Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective.”

"This report marks a fundamental change," said Rosenfeld. “For years scientists have known humans are changing the risk of some extremes. But finding multiple extreme events that weren’t even possible without human influence makes clear that we're experiencing new weather, because we've made a new climate.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists confirm Hurricane Harvey made worse by global warming

Hurricane Harvey devastated regions of Southeast Texas earlier this year,...

When magma makes its way to the surface, either via a gentle eruption which results in a steady flow or an explosive eruption that causes immense columns of ash and debris, it becomes lava. 

Rhyolitic, basaltic, and andesitic are the three different types of magma and are all characterized by their chemical compositions and differ in temperature, viscosity, and chemical makeup. 

For example, rhyolitic magmas have the lowest temperatures but an extremely high gas content, making them easily volatile and more likely to form major <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shrinking-glaciers-volcano-eruptions/">eruptions</a>. 

Now, new research has shown that minuscule changes in the chemistry of magma is all it takes to turn an effusive eruption into an explosive one. 

Some lava flows and eruptions are so mild that they serve as tourists attractions, and yet most people think of giant plumes of ash and smoke with pyroclastic flows when they think about volcano eruptions. 

A recent study, led by Dr. Danilo Di Genova from the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/">University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences</a>, examines how chemical composition changes in rhyolitic magma triggers transitions from effusive to explosive eruptions. 

For the study, Di Genova and his team of researchers used thermodynamic modeling and analyzed compositional data from the global volcanic record to identify the tipping point of rhyolitic magma. 

This tipping point is referred to as the flow-discontinuity by the researchers. 

“The identified flow-discontinuity can be crossed by small compositional changes in rhyolitic magmas and can be induced by crystallization, assimilation, magma replenishment or mixing,” said Dr. Di Genova. 

This is the first time that research has shown how such small changes within magma can be the deciding factor in what kind of eruption ensues. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Jorge Nauto

Magma tipping point determines how explosive an eruption can be

When magma makes its way to the surface, either via...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/online-food-shopping-healthy/">Healthy eating</a> may have more benefits for kids than just improved physical health, according to a new study published in the journal BMC Public Health. According to researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, healthy eating is linked to kids having better self-esteem and fewer emotional and peer problems. Furthermore, the inverse is true as well, when individuals have higher self-esteem they also adhere more closely to healthy eating guidelines.

In this study, researchers examined 7,675 children from age two to nine years and across eight European countries. At the beginning of the study, parents were asked to report how often per week their children consumed food from a list of 43 items. Depending on which foods they ate, children were assigned an Healthy Dietary Adherence Score (HDAS), which aims to capture adherence to healthy dietary guidelines. These guidelines include limiting refined sugars, reducing fat intake, and eating fruits and vegetables.

A higher – and thus healthier – HDAS at the beginning of the study period was associated with better self-esteem and fewer emotional and peer problems two years down the road. They also found that associations between HDAS and wellbeing were similar for both children of normal weight and children who were overweight.

“It was somewhat surprising to find that the association between baseline diet and better well-being two years later was independent of children’s socioeconomic position and their body weight,” says Dr. Louise Arvidsson, the corresponding author of the study. Assessment of psychosocial well-being was based on self-esteem, parent relations, as well as emotional and peer problems reported by the parents in response to validated questionnaires. 

This study is the first to analyze the individual components included in the HDAS and their connection to children’s well-being. However, the authors do caution that children with poor diet and poor wellbeing were more likely to drop out of the study and as a result were underrepresented at the two-year follow-up. This factor may complicated any conclusions about the true rates of poor diet and poor wellbeing. Furthermore, no conclusions on cause and effect can be made, as the study was purely observation and relied on self-reported data from parents. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Kids who eat healthy found to have higher self-esteem

Healthy eating may have more benefits for kids than just...

Scientists may have proven that the building blocks for life can be created in conditions similar to the vacuum of space. These findings could mean that life as we know it on Earth may have started in the far reaches of space. 

A new study, conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.usherbrooke.ca/">University of Sherbrooke </a>in Canada, simulated the conditions of space in a lab and created chemical reactions capable of producing organic molecules. 

The study was published in the Journal of Chemical Physics. 

The researchers simulated a space environment in a lab and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/methane-ocean/">methane</a> and oxygen inside thin films of ice were placed in a vacuum. 

The ice films used in the lab were similar to materials found around comets, asteroids, and molecular clouds in interstellar space. 

In space, these materials would be bombarded with radiation, and so in the lab, the researchers exposed the ice to low-energy electrons as a substitute for the different forms of radiation found in interstellar space. 

“All of these icy surfaces in space are subjected to multiple forms of radiation,” the researchers explained. “'Previous studies investigated chemical reactions that might occur in space environments through the use of ultraviolet or other types of radiation, but this is a first detailed look at the role of secondary electrons.” 

After exposure to the electrons, organic molecules began to form within the vacuum. The researchers observed the production of propylene, ethane, and acetylene in the frozen methane. 

The results show that ethanol and acetic acid could form under the right conditions in space, possibly proving that the organic molecules necessary for life can come from molecular ice in the solar system exposed to radiation. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The building blocks of life may have come from space

Scientists may have proven that the building blocks for life...

Scientists are one step closer to bringing back a long-extinct species known as the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. 

Thylacines were officially pronounced extinct in 1986, although the last known thylacine died in 1936. Thylacines were a wholly unique species with distinct striped markings and a jaw that could open up to 120 degrees. 

Tasmanian tigers went extinct for several reasons. Widespread hunting and even government compensation for every thylacine that was killed had the biggest hand in the animal’s downfall. 

But now, a new study has found that the tasmanian tiger’s lack of genetic diversity would have been detrimental long before humans caused the animals went <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rare-species-persist/">extinct</a>. 

The research was led by Andrew Pask, an associate professor at the <a href="http://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne</a>, and published in the journal Nature.

Pask’s team recently tested the DNA of an infant Tasmanian tiger that had been preserved in a jar and locked away in a museum. Genetic sequencing revealed that the species was already at odds with diversity and may have been doomed even before human interference. 

“Even if we hadn't hunted it to extinction, our analysis showed that the thylacine was in very poor [genetic] health,” Pask told <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/12/570096984/lack-of-genetic-diversity-may-have-doomed-tasmanian-tiger-scientists-say">NPR</a>. “The population today would be very susceptible to diseases, and would not be very healthy.” 

Interestingly enough, the Tasmanian government did finally step in and attempted to protect the species, but this was days before the last known Tasmanian tiger died from exposure at Hobart Zoo in 1936.

The discovery, while shedding light on the genetic makeup of a long-extinct species, could be the key to bringing back the Tasmanian tiger shortly via cloning. 

“As this genome is one of the most complete for an extinct species, it is technically the first step in bringing the thylacine back,” Pask told <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/">The Daily Telegraph</a>.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bringing Tasmanian tigers back from extinction

Scientists are one step closer to bringing back a long-extinct...

As workers dig an extension for the Los Angeles Metro subway, they are uncovering the fossilized remains of ancient animals. Some of these fossils, including a mammoth skull weighing hundreds of pounds, date back to the last Ice Age, which ended 10,000 years ago.

Dave Sotero is a spokesman for the <a href="https://www.metro.net/">Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority</a> (MTA). He explained that paleontologists have been present alongside construction workers for all of the subway digs in Los Angeles, starting back in the 1990s with the development of the city’s inaugural line.

“Our crews try to be as mindful as possible to help them do their jobs. We get out of their way,” said Sotero.


Construction on the Wilshire section of the subway, known as the Purple Line, began in 2014, and the first fossils were found two years later. Now, the fossils are appearing frequently, with discoveries including a mastodon tooth, camel foreleg, bison vertebrae, and a tooth and ankle bone from a horse.

The most exciting find, however, is the intact skull of a young Columbian mammoth. Paleontologist Ashley Leger is the field director for <a href="http://www.cogstone.com/">Cogstone Resource Management</a>, the company hired to carry out the fossil excavations.

“They're making sure that they're recovering every single fossil that could possibly show up,” Leger said of her monitoring team. “They call me anytime things are large and we need to lead an excavation.”

About a year ago, Leger received a phone call that led to the best discovery of her career. Leger’s team member said to her, “It looks big.”

The fossil was first thought to be a partial elephant skull. But, after 15 hours of excavation, the team realized they had actually uncovered the enormous skull of a young <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-woolly-mammoths-extinction/">mammoth</a>.

“It's an absolute dream come true for me,” said Leger. “It's the one fossil you always want to find in your career.”

The skull, which weighs a few hundred pounds, is exceptionally rare because both of the tusks are still attached. The young Columbian mammoth was named Hayden, after Hollywood actress Hayden Panettiere.

Leger said that there is a lot to learn from the skull. Investigation of how this animal lived and died can give scientists insight into ancient environmental conditions and also into what the Earth’s climate will look like in the future.

“Every fossil fills a gap,” said Leger. “It tells a story of what came before us, and maybe what’s to come.”

<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fossil-2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-967944" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fossil-2-300x165.png" alt="" width="300" height="165" /></a>

[caption id="attachment_967943" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fossil-1.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-967943" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/fossil-1-300x182.png" alt="" width="300" height="182" /></a> Photo Credit: Associated Press[/caption]

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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Associated Press

LA construction workers find fossils of 10,000 year old creature

As workers dig an extension for the Los Angeles Metro...

In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, scientists create dinosaurs by extracting dino DNA from mosquitoes trapped in amber. It turns out that fiction may not be far from reality. 

A new report published in the journal Nature Communications examines ticks trapped in amber that date back millions of years and reveals how these blood-sucking parasites thrived as far back as the Cretaceous period. 

Inside one particular piece of 99 million-year-old Burmese <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flower-discovered-100-million-year-amber/">amber</a>, researchers found both a hard tick and a feather. 

Rarely do researchers find examples of fossil parasites and their hosts, so the find can reveal a great deal about dinosaur-parasite relationships. 

The feather that the tick was found clinging to indicates that the parasite’s host was a feathered dinosaur. Even though researchers can’t identify the host from its feather alone, the Cretaceous amber specimen is the first and oldest of its kind that clearly shows that ticks fed on feathered dinosaurs. 

“Ticks are infamous blood-sucking, parasitic organisms, having a tremendous impact on the health of humans, livestock, pets, and even wildlife, but until now clear evidence of their role in deep time has been lacking,” said Enrique Peñalver, the lead author of the study. 

The researchers examined several pieces of Burmese amber with ticks fossilized inside and found that some of the ticks belonged to a recently discovered, long extinct, group of ticks. 

The reason the researchers can’t identify the host using the blood that the ticks had fed on in the amber specimens is that for some of the parasites, their composition was changed as the amber and other mineral deposits formed together, rather than just being encased in pure tree resin. 

Analyzing the specimens trapped in amber yields more than just the host-parasite relationship of ticks and Cretaceous dinosaurs. The tick fossils prove that even after the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, ticks and parasites thrived and have been around for hundreds of millions of years. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Ticks trapped in amber tell a hundred million year old story

In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, scientists create dinosaurs by...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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