Medical,Marijuana,Flower,Buds.,Recreational,Marijuana,Strain.,Cannabis,Strain.,Weed

Cannabis remains the most used illicit drug on the planet, with an estimated 219 million adults consuming it in <a href="https://www.unodc.org/res/WDR-2023/WDR23_Exsum_fin_DP.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2023</a>.



A fresh report from Switzerland now suggests that giving existing users a safe, legal supply may trim the edge off risky habits rather than encourage them. The findings come from the six‑month Weed Care randomized trial run in Basel.



<a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1898354/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Lavinia Baltes‑Flückiger</a>, deputy head of the study at <a href="https://www.pdag.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Psychiatric Services Aargau</a>, helped steer the project alongside colleagues from the University of Basel and local health agencies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taking-cannabis-into-pharmacies">Taking cannabis into pharmacies</h2>



Switzerland still bans recreational sales of cannabis nationwide. 



Basel, however, received a federal waiver on January 30, 2023, allowing 189 adult volunteers to buy measured, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-extract-cbd-proven-highly-effective-at-killing-mosquitoes/">contaminant‑free flower</a> or hash in nine pharmacies, while a matched control group kept using street sources.



The design mirrors real‑world retail but strips out slick marketing, price wars, and high‑potency gimmicks that dominate some commercial markets. 



Investigators registered every legal purchase and offered brief counseling at the counter. Keeping over‑the‑counter talk focused on lower‑risk use also echoes <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-medication/cannabis/resources/lower-risk-cannabis-use-guidelines.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Canada’s public‑health model</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-makes-use-problematic">What makes use “problematic”</h2>



Researchers tracked changes with the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification <a href="https://wellness.caltech.edu/documents/18162/CUDIT.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test–Revised</a>, a short checklist of behaviors that signal harm, even when full <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32485547/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cannabis use disorder</a> is absent. 



Heavy users face up to a one‑in‑three lifetime risk of that disorder, according to a meta‑analysis of 21 cohort studies.



Scores above 13 suggest dependency, but smaller shifts still matter. Cutting just two points on the scale is considered clinically meaningful and can translate into fewer missed obligations, less time chasing the drug, and lower tolerance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-numbers-favor-legal-cannabis">Early numbers favor legal cannabis</h2>



“There has never been a controlled, randomized study like this before,” said Baltes‑Flückiger, the study’s lead author.



After half a year, the legal group’s average misuse score slipped by 0.8 points, while the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-legalization-does-not-increase-youth-substance-abuse/">illegal</a> group barely budged. 



Among participants who also used other illicit drugs, the legal pathway slashed scores nearly two points, marking the threshold for a “reliable change.”



“Legal access eases the burden on consumers,” added Professor Marc Walter of the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Basel</a>, underscoring that the regulated approach did not boost depression, anxiety, or psychotic symptoms at interim check‑ins.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mental-health-concerns-remain-steady">Mental health concerns remain steady</h2>



Worries that legal access might worsen mood or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/1000-adults-reveal-how-marijuana-alters-dna-methylation/">trigger psychosis</a> often dominate public hearings. 



A 2024 scoping <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38650490/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">review</a> covering 28 North American studies found mixed and mostly null links between recreational laws and psychiatric outcomes.



The Swiss data echo that broader picture: neither group showed significant shifts in depression or anxiety scales, and psychotic‑like experiences stayed flat. 



Critics may note the short follow‑up, yet the absence of early harm offers some reassurance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-polydrug-users-benefit-from-legal-cannabis">Polydrug users benefit from legal cannabis</h2>



Why did people juggling multiple substances respond best? 



Easy pharmacy access saved them the effort of hunting down street dealers, trimming time spent “getting, using, or recovering,” one of the test’s key items.



Reduced hustle can free attention for work, study, or family, all protective factors against escalating misuse. Counseling handed out at each sale likely helped too. 



Staff trained on Canada’s Lower‑Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines reminded buyers to favor products under 20 percent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563174/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tetrahydrocannabinol</a> and balance them with cannabidiol‑rich strains, choices linked to milder cognitive effects.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-quiet-rebuttal-to-gateway-fears">Quiet rebuttal to gateway fears</h2>



The trial saw <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK609473/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">no uptick</a> in alcohol days or other drug use inside the legal arm, challenging the long‑held idea that a sanctioned market pulls people toward wider intoxication. 



Twenty‑four U.S. states now allow adult possession, yet nationwide surveys show flat or only modest rises in heavy use since the first state referendum in 2012.



Policy researchers often point out that the devil lies in the details. Switzerland capped monthly sales at about 0.35 ounces of pure THC, required organic cultivation, and banned all advertising. 



Those guardrails differ sharply from the profit‑driven dispensary scene common in parts of the United States and may explain the modest but positive shift.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-legal-cannabis-access">The future of legal cannabis access</h2>



All volunteers now have legal access through July 2025, giving the team a two‑year window to track long‑term patterns. 



Parallel <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2833180" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a> in Canada report slight bumps in overall consumption but, interestingly, equal or lower misuse scores after five years of legalization.



Future analyses will need to weigh market structure, potency limits, pricing models, and education campaigns. 



If results stay consistent, lawmakers elsewhere could consider legal cannabis sales through pharmacies or non‑profit social clubs as middle‑ground options between prohibition and full commercialization.



For regular consumers worried about slipping into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smoking-cannabis-significantly-increases-the-risk-of-heart-attack/">harmful patterns</a>, the Swiss experience offers a practical lesson. 



Access to tested products, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cannabis-potency-why-you-shouldnt-trust-the-label/">honest labeling</a>, and low‑key advice can chip away at risky behavior without demanding total abstinence.



Public‑health‑oriented legalization is not a silver bullet, but it may give heavy users a safer runway to moderation.



The study is published in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70080" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Addiction</a>.



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Legal access to cannabis is proving to be good for both the users and society as a whole

Cannabis remains the most used illicit drug on the planet, with an estimated 219 million adults consuming it in 2023. A fresh report from Switzerland now suggests that giving existing users a safe, legal supply may trim the edge off risky habits rather than encourage them. The findings come from the six‑month Weed Care randomized trial run in Basel. Dr. Lavinia Baltes‑Flückiger, deputy head of the study at Psychiatric Services Aargau, helped steer the project alongside colleagues from the University of Basel and local health agencies. Taking cannabis...

During our daily activities, we are constantly deciding what to do and when to do it. Choosing the right time to act can be as important as the action itself. Performing an action too soon or too late may result in a missed opportunity. An emerging study finds that the moment an action is executed is determined by components of the brain that include both predictability and randomness.

Competitors such as athletes display a great amount of unpredictability in the timing of their actions. Researchers at <a href="http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/champalimaud-centre-unknown/">Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a> set out to determine how the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-brain-lsd-microdosing/">brain</a> chooses an optimal time to act while remaining unpredictable. 

Zach Mainen is a neuroscientist who led the study. "Our goal was to understand better the mechanisms in the brain that determine the timing of actions,” explained Mainen. "We were especially interested in the fact that action timing often shows great variability, apparent randomness, even when the conditions are held constant."

Mainen and his team created a project to analyze the timing of the actions of mice. The scientists sounded a tone to alert the mice they could get water from a dispenser. A second tone was also played for the mice, who discovered they would get much more water if they waited a little longer for the second alert. The amount of time that the mice were willing to wait to access more water was both predictable and unpredictable.

The experiment was repeated, and this time the scientists recorded simultaneous activity of multiple neurons in the brains of the mice. Activities were observed in a decision-making region of the prefrontal cortex called MPFC, and also in a part of the motor cortex called M2, which is believed to control movement. Both the MPFC and the M2 help determine the timing of actions. 

The scientists found that the M2 controls both predictable and random aspects of action timing. They were surprised to find that the MPFC had nothing to do with the randomness of the timing.

“We found that two different regions within the brain seem to play very different roles in the generation of action timing,” said Mainen. "One area, the medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC] appears to keep track of the ideal waiting time based on experience. A second area, the secondary motor cortex, also keeps track of the ideal timing and in addition shows variability that renders individual decisions unpredictable. This suggests a previously not well appreciated 'separation of powers' within the brain."

The study, which appears today in the journal Neuron, shows that the predictable component of action timing comes first, and the random component is added on top.

“A similar interplay between optimization and generation of variability underlies the theory of evolution,” said Mainen. "Here, we have begun to see how this plays out in the brain."
--
By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/champalimaud-centre-unknown/">Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown</a>

Image Credit: Gil Costa (Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)

The brain uses predictability and randomness in deciding actions

During our daily activities, we are constantly deciding what to...

In a world as complicated as ours is today, few things are rarely 100% good – and it seems like planting trees may now exist in that gray area as well.

In urban areas, the presence of trees is a good way to break up the dreariness of city life and concrete buildings. It’s also common knowledge that trees consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen, both good things for our continued existence. Prior research has shown the benefits of urban vegetation to include everything from controlling storm water to storing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-creatures-carbon-impact/">carbon</a>.

However, new research in the ACS Journal <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a> has found that during heat waves, urban vegetation can actually increase air pollution levels and ozone formation.

Trees and other plants have been known to release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can interact with other compounds and increase air pollution. Furthermore, in hot conditions, plants are known to release higher levels of VOCs. Researcher Galina Churkina and her colleagues were interested in how heat waves in urban areas might affect the contribution of trees to city air pollution.

In their study, the researchers used computer models to compare air pollution concentrations in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area in Germany for the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2014. In 2006, there was a significant heat wave, while in 2014 Germany experienced more typical temperatures.

The results of the simulation found that in the summer of 2006, VOCs from urban vegetation contributed about 6 to 20 percent of ozone formation. During the heat wave of 2014, this contribution drastically increased to as much as 60 percent.

So what does this mean? Should we stop planting trees in our cities, or maybe cut down some of the existing vegetation? Not so fast. The researchers think that we should continue our tree-planting efforts, while also looking to reduce vehicular traffic. Emissions from vehicles are a major source of nitrogen oxides, which react with VOCs and form ozone. 

Continued research in this area could help inform city officials on how to maximize their efforts for sustainable, healthy cities.

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">American Chemical Society</a>

Urban trees can actually increase ozone levels during heat waves

In a world as complicated as ours is today, few...

Approximately 130 million years ago, India split off from the supercontinent Gondwana. It drifted north - moving at a rate of approximately 15 centimeters a year. Eventually, India collided with Asia and formed the Himalayan Mountains. This collision also buried Cambay amber that is giving scientists incredible new insight into the mystery of India’s drift. 

Embedded in the 54 million-year-old Indian amber are the fossils of three new species of fungus gnats. The newly-discovered insects are closely related to fossils found in Europe. In fact, the fossils in the Cambay amber have a striking resemblance to their relatives encased in the European Baltic amber. 

The long-beaked fungus gnats, or Lygistorrhinidae, have been previously  identified in the younger Baltic amber. These tiny tropical flies are extremely rare, and only two species of the insects were preserved in the Baltic amber. The unearthing of three species in the Indian amber are an unprecedented find. 

The significance of this discovery is that it may disprove the theory that India became an isolated subcontinent after it drifted. This and other faunal connections to Europe suggest India was not a solitary island. 

Exactly how the insects were exchanged is unclear, but experts theorize there may have been an island chain linking Europe and <a href="https://www.earth.com/plants/west-indian-nightshade-solanum-ptychanthum/">India</a>. 

The biodiversity of early India is not very well documented. The study, published in <a href="https://peerj.com/">Peerj</a>, sheds new light on the origin of India's insects which could lead to a better understanding of the country's geological evolution.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Source: <a href="https://peerj.com/">Peerj</a>

Image Credit: Frauke Stebner

Insect fossils found in Indian amber may solve ancient mystery

Approximately 130 million years ago, India split off from the...

In the bird world, successful courtship usually involves a combination of ideal coloration, plumage, and mating moves. Scientists know that a male bird’s courtship behavior can be affected by factors such as size and hormone levels. But ornithologists have recently delved more into the effects of social context on male mating behavior in birds.

A new study published in <a href="http://www.americanornithology.org/content/auk-ornithological-advances">The Auk: Ornithological Advances</a> shows how male dark-eyed juncos change their courtship behavior based off their social landscape. This involves whether or not the male already has a mate and if other birds are present to witness this behavior.

The researchers found that while both paired and unpaired males are out to capture the attention of any female in their eye line, they often use different tactics. Dustin Reichard of <a href="https://www.owu.edu/">Ohio Wesleyan University</a> and his colleagues compared the behavior of unpaired males with paired males when mates were present and paired males when mates were absent.

Reichard and his colleagues made these observations at the Mountain Lake Biological Station in Virginia. They placed caged female juncos in front of uncaged males and analyzed the male’s reactions.

Their findings revealed that paired males actually approach <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-spiders-eaten-females/">females</a> much quicker and spent more time in close proximity with the female. These same males were more active and had their body feathers erect for a longer period of time than unpaired males. Paired males also sang fewer long-range songs than the unpaired males, which the researchers think may be due to the paired males not wanting other birds to overhear. 

Interestingly for paired males, the presence or absence of their mates had no effect on their behavior. This was not the case for the behavior of their mates, as Reichard observed that “Often the male’s mate would respond aggressively to the caged female, diving at the cage while pausing occasionally to chase her mate away from the area.”

Despite this apparent marital hiccup, Reichard says that none of the pairs in their study divorced after the research was finished. “People called me a ‘junco homewrecker’ during these experiments, but there's little evidence to support that accusation.”

Whatever marital discord this study may have caused among the junco population, scientists believe the results were worth the risk. <a href="http://www.auburn.edu/">Auburn University’s</a> Geoffrey Hill, an expert on mate choice in birds who was not involved in the research, says “This study shows the potential for extremely complex behavioral interactions in birds that were long thought to be bland monogamists.”

[caption id="attachment_450592" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/140300.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-450592" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/140300-300x165.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="165" /></a> Image Credit: J. Welklin[/caption]

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.americanornithology.org/content/aos-publications">American Ornithological Society Publications Office</a>

Certain birds may not be as monogamous as previously thought

In the bird world, successful courtship usually involves a combination...

Animals with large families and strong social ties live longer, new research suggests.

"Our study supports the idea that social ties promote survival," said Dr. Lauren Brent, of the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>.

The study analyzed a large dataset spanning 21 years and including 910 adult female rhesus macaques in Puerto Rico.

Brent found that female rhesus macaques with many female relatives have better <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/big-gaps-life-expectancy/">life expectancy</a>. The effect fades with age, however, as older females learn to "navigate the social landscape" and have less need for social ties.

The research found that each extra female relative reduced a prime-aged female macaque's chances of dying in one year by 2.3%.

"Older females were still involved in society but seemed better able pick and choose their involvement,” Brent said. “The experience and social skills females gain with age could mean they no longer need to rely on help from their friends and families to get by."

The research could be "hugely important in understanding humans,” Brent said. "Just like these monkeys, we spend a lot of time navigating the social world." 

Humans and macaques last shared a common ancestor about 25 million years ago, and “we can take clues from these distant cousins about how humans might have existed in pre-industrial societies,” she said.

The research, carried out in collaboration with the <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a> and the <a href="http://www.upr.edu/">University of Puerto Rico</a>, is published in the journal <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>. 

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>

Image Credit: Lauren Brent

Study: Animals with large families live longer

Animals with large families and strong social ties live longer,...

Sex makes female fruit flies more aggressive towards each other, according to a new <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> study.

The flies start headbutting each other after <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/alligator-bellows-mating-season/">mating</a>, becoming significantly more aggressive and intolerant, the study found.

A variety of proteins in semen stimulate the dramatic behavioral and physiological changes in females. Other changes include increased ovulation, rejecting male advances and loss of interest in sex, according to the study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>. .

“A lot is known about male fruit fly behavior and what affects their levels of aggression, but very little has been published about competition among females,” said Dr Stuart Wigby, Research Fellow at Oxford University. “Even taken on its own, our study is useful. If these behavioural changes occur in fruit flies, it is highly likely that they are happening in other insects.”

Now that the relationship between mating and aggression in females is better understood, the research teams intend to conduct further analysis into the effects of the behavioral change. Pinpointing the exact time that their intolerance intensifies, and how long the effects of the sex-peptide last.

Many insect control programs involve releasing sterile males into the wild.

“It could be that mating with these sterile males also affects female aggression levels,” Wigby said. “Further research will help us to understand exactly how such effects could help or harm populations, and therefore whether or not they can have a wider use.”

New research will also work to determine whether the effects carry positive or negative benefits to males and females, who the behavioral change benefits and if it is linked to spousal or offspring protection, said Oxford’s Dr Eleanor Bath. 

“'Knowing whether female aggression benefits females in the wild could help us to understand fruit fly population dynamics,” she said. “Potentially having more aggressive females might result in females doing less well in the wild, meaning that we could potentially use female aggression as a behavioural tool to control pest insect populations.”

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a>

Study: Female fruit flies more aggressive after sex

Sex makes female fruit flies more aggressive towards each other,...

A well-preserved fossil of a newly discovered genus and species of armored dinosaur is now on display at the <a href="http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/">Royal Tyrrell Museum</a> in Alberta, Canada.

The Nodosaur fossil is the best preserved armored dinosaur in the world, and includes complete skin and armour from the snout to the hips.

“It is so well preserved that most of the skeleton is covered up and cannot be seen due to the amount of fossilized skin,” the museum said.

It was discovered by a worker in the Suncor Millennium Mine in March 2011 and at 110 million years old, is the oldest dinosaur ever found in Alberta.

It took over 7,000 hours to prepare the specimen for research and display.

“It’s basically a dinosaur mummy — it really is exceptional,” Don Brinkman, Director of Preservation and Research at the museum told the <a href="https://www.newyorktimes.com/">New York Times</a>.

Under Alberta law, all fossils are the property of the province, not of the owners of the land where they are found, the Times said. Most are discovered after being exposed by erosion, but mining has also proved a boon to paleontologists, the story added.

It is not known how the animal, a land-dwelling, plant-eating nodosaur, died, but somehow its body ended up at the bottom of an ancient sea, the Times reported. Minerals kept the remains remarkably intact, gradually turning the body into a fossil. And when it was unearthed in 2011, scientists quickly realized that it was the best-preserved specimen of its kind.

The museum was careful not to inhibit industrial activity when retrieving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-fossils-early-human-environment/">fossils</a> so that excavators weren’t afraid to call when they found something, Brinkman said. “These are specimens that would never be recovered otherwise. We get two or three significant specimens each year.”

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/">Royal Tyrrell Museum</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorktimes.com/">New York Times</a>

Image Credit: <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalTyrrell">Royal Tyrrell Museum</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/NatGeo">National Geographic</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ExploreCanada">Canada</a>

Dragon dinosaur mummy on display in Canada

A well-preserved fossil of a newly discovered genus and species...

An asteroid that hit the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago, wiping out dinosaurs, “could not have hit a worse place on Earth,” the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39922998">BBC</a> reported in a documentary about scientists who drilled into the impact crater.

The researchers recovered rocks from under the Gulf of Mexico that were hit by the asteroid.

The shallow Gulf caused massive volumes of sulphur (from the mineral gypsum) to be injected into the atmosphere, extending the "global winter" period that followed the immediate firestorm, the BBC said. 

"This is where we get to the great irony of the story – because in the end it wasn’t the size of the asteroid, the scale of blast, or even its global reach that made dinosaurs extinct – it was where the impact happened," said Ben Garrod, presenter of  “The Day The Dinosaurs Died.” 

If the asteroid had instead hit the deeper Atlantic or Pacific oceans, there would have been far less vaporized rock, including gypsum, the BBC said. 

"The cloud would have been less dense and sunlight could still have reached the planet’s surface, meaning what happened next might have been avoided,” Garrod said. “In this cold, dark world, food ran out of the oceans within a week and shortly after on land. With nothing to eat anywhere on the planet, the mighty dinosaurs stood little chance of survival." 

Much of the crater is now buried offshore. Scientists on a drill rig last year off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, recovered rock cores 1,300 meters beneath the Gulf. The lowest sections of this material were from a feature within the crater called the peak ring.

Through analyzing the crater, the research team aims to trace how the asteroid impact played out and how it altered the environment.

Scientists know the energy that went into making the crater when the asteroid struck is equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima A-bombs, the story said.

On the day of the impact, there was a massive death of creatures, the BBC said, citing a quarry in New Jersey where 25,000 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-footprints-recovery-extinction/">fossils</a> have been recovered.

"All these fossils occur in a layer no more than 10 cm thick," palaeontologist Ken Lacovara told the BBC. "They died suddenly and were buried quickly. It tells us this is a moment in geological time. That's days, weeks, maybe months. But this is not thousands of years; it's not hundreds of thousands of years. This is essentially an instantaneous event."

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39922998">BBC</a>

Asteroid that killed dinosaurs struck the “worst possible place”

An asteroid that hit the Gulf of Mexico 66 million...

Inefficient testing, inadequate maintenance and other factors cause cars, trucks and buses worldwide to emit 4.6 million tons more harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) than standards allow, according to a new study.

Excess emissions lead to 38,000 premature deaths annually worldwide, 1,100 of those in the United States, according to the published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature">Nature</a>.

The research reveals “major inconsistencies” between what vehicles emit during testing and what they emit in the real world. This problem is far worse than in 2015, when regulators discovered Volkswagen had been fitting millions of new diesel cars with "defeat devices" to show lower emissions during testing.

"A lot of attention has been paid to defeat devices, but our work emphasizes the existence of a much larger problem," said Daven Henze, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> and a coauthor of the study. "It shows that in addition to tightening emissions standards, we need to be attaining the standards that already exist in real-world driving conditions."

The researchers analyzed 30 other studies of vehicle emissions under real-world driving conditions in 11 major vehicle markets representing 80 percent of new diesel vehicle sales in 2015.

They found that diesel vehicles emitted 13.1 million tons of NOx, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and other health problems. Had the emissions met standards, the vehicles would have emitted closer to 8.6 million tons of NOx.

Heavy-duty vehicles, such as commercial trucks and buses, were by far the largest contributor worldwide, accounting for 76 percent of the total excess NOx <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/epa-fiat-violating-clean-air-act/">emissions</a>.

China suffers the greatest health impact with 31,400 deaths annually attributed to diesel NOx pollution, with 10,700 of those deaths linked to excess NOx emissions beyond certification limits, the study said.

The study projects that by 2040, 183,600 people will die prematurely each year due to diesel vehicle NOx emissions unless governments act.

"The consequences of excess diesel NOx emissions for public health are striking," said Susan Anenberg, co-lead author of the study and co-founder of Environmental Health Analytics LLC.

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a>

Vehicle emissions found to be worse on the road than in testing

Inefficient testing, inadequate maintenance and other factors cause cars, trucks...

According to the 2017 State Of The Air report released by the <a href="http://www.lung.org/">American Lung Association</a>, there are over 130 million Americans living in polluted cities with unhealthy air. The report is based on ozone and particulate pollution levels. Both types of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/summer-air-conditioning-pollution/">air pollution</a> pose significant health risks, including asthma, lung cancer, heart attacks, and premature death. 

Janice Nolen is the lead author of the State of the Air report. Nolen explained that when particle air pollution declines in a city, the death rates drop in that city as well. 

Emissions from cars and trucks have become a big part of our country's pollution problem for the last four or five decades. Drought is also a major contributor to air pollution. The dust and wildfires that result from drought trap particulates in the air. Industrial processes pump toxic gases into the air as well.

Despite significant improvement in air pollution levels over the last few years, many areas in the country still have a long way to go. The State of the Air report ranks cities according to ozone pollution, the number of days with high particle pollution, and year-round particle pollution levels. The following is a list of the top five most polluted cities due to the presence of year-round particle pollution.

1. Fresno

Due in large part to diesel exhaust and pesticides, Fresno leads the country in air pollution levels. Fine particulate matter is the leading cause of pollution here during the winter months. Geography is also to blame for Fresno’s pollution issues. 

Out of the top ten most polluted cities, five are located in California's Central Valley. This area has experienced years of drought that many scientists believe is the result of climate change. The valley is also exposed to toxic gases from oil rigs. Making the situation worse, the Central Valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides that keep the air pollution from escaping. Nearly 100,000 residents of Fresno have been diagnosed with asthma.

2. Bakersfield

Emissions from oil refineries, agriculture, rail freight, and traffic make Bakersfield one of the most polluted cities in America. Located in California's Central Valley, the surrounding mountains keep the toxic air from escaping. The 2016 State of the Air report ranked Bakersfield the number one worst city for both short-term and year-round particle pollution, and the second-worst for ozone pollution. Over a tenth of the residents here suffer from asthma.

3. Visalia

An overwhelming amount of wildfires contribute to the bad air quality in Visalia. In 2008 alone, there were over 3,000 wildfires here. Located in the Sierra Foothills, the air is stopped by the mountains and cannot escape. Lack of wind and rain exacerbate the problem. This area ranks in the top three of every bad air quality category measured by the American Lung Association. Approximately one out of every 12 people living in Visalia have asthma.

4. Modesto

Emissions from cars and industrial agriculture contribute to the poor air quality in Modesto. Exhaust from Route 99, a major thoroughfare, floods the city. Modesto is also located California's Central Valley, where geography offers no assistance in removing air pollution. Nearly one-tenth of the population here suffers from asthma and 25,000 residents have been diagnosed with COPD.

5. Los Angeles

Despite the fact that Los Angeles produced its lowest pollution levels since the State of the Air report began in 2000, this city still ranks high on the most-polluted list. The biggest problem here is auto emissions. In fact, Los Angeles leads the nation in harmful ozone pollution that results from traffic. Another issue for L.A. is a temperature inversion layer that forms a ceiling over the city, leaving the air stagnant and pollution trapped. Over 1.6 million residents of Los Angeles suffer from asthma.

It is everyone's responsibility to reduce air pollution. Easy things you can do to help out include conserving energy and keeping your car maintained. For more ideas on what you can do to improve air quality check out <a href="http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/41-super-easy-ways-to-stop-air-pollution.php">41 Super Easy Ways to Stop Air Pollution</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

America’s most polluted cities

According to the 2017 State Of The Air report released...

Astrophysicists are taking a new look at an exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri – the star closest in distance to our Sun – to see if it could potentially support life.

The exoplanet Proxima B was discovered less than a year ago, but it is similar in size to Earth, and is believed to be in the star’s “habitable zone.” According to the hypothesis, planets located in a star’s habitable zone could, given the right circumstances, hold liquid water.

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> wondered whether Proxima B could have the “Earth-like” atmosphere that would indicate the possibility of water.

The researchers turned to the <a href="http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/">Met Office</a>, the UK’s weather service, which has been studying the Earth’s climate and creating models of it for decades.

The scientists used the model to produce several different variations of Proxima B’s potential atmosphere. These variations took into account orbital variations and potential chemical differences between the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri and Earth.

"Our research team looked at a number of different scenarios for the planet's likely orbital configuration using a set of simulations,” Dr. Ian Boutle, lead author of the study, said in a press release. “As well as examining how the climate would behave if the planet was 'tidally locked,’ where one day is the same length as one year, we also looked at how an orbit similar to Mercury, which rotates three times on its axis for every two orbits around the sun – a 3:2 resonance – would affect the environment."

The simulations showed that Proxima B might have the potential to support life, although the researchers admit that much more study is needed before they can confirm their findings. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf planet, which adds some complexity to the study.

"One of the main features that distinguishes this planet from Earth is that the light from its star is mostly in the near infrared,” co-author Dr. James Manners said. “These frequencies of light interact much more strongly with water vapour and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which affects the climate that emerges in our model."

However, using the Met Office’s modeling software, the team was able to determine that the possibility of liquid water – and, by extension, the potential to support life – existed in both the tidally locked and 3:2 resonance examples.

The team hopes that continued research will offer more understanding of the atmospheres of other Earth-like exoplanets, as well as Earth’s own climate.

The study will be published in the journal <a href="https://www.aanda.org/">Astronomy and Astrophysics</a> on Tuesday, May 16. 

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Could this exoplanet be Earth-like enough to support life?

Astrophysicists are taking a new look at an exoplanet orbiting...

Forests and woodlands about 60 percent of the size of Australia have recently been identified, increasing the known amount of global forest cover by about 9 percent, according to a new study published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

The study, by researchers from 14 organizations around the world, as part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Survey, looked at so-called “drylands.” The lands, which make up 40 percent of the earth’s surface, receive much less water in precipitation than they lose through evaporation.

The drylands are located mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, around the Mediterranean, central India, coastal Australia, western South America, northeastern Brazil, northern Colombia and Venezuela, and northern parts of the boreal forests in Canada and Russia. Drylands contain 45 percent more forest than reported in previous surveys, which used older, low-resolution satellite image, the authors wrote on the website, <a href="https://theconversation.com/found-lost-forests-covering-an-area-two-thirds-the-size-of-australia-77550">The Conversation</a>.

The findings will dramatically improve the accuracy of models used to calculate how much carbon is stored in Earth’s landscapes, the authors wrote.

“This will help calculate the carbon budgets by which countries can measure their progress towards the targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol and its successor, the Paris Agreement."

Drylands – which make up about 40 percent of Earth’s land surface – have more capacity to support trees and forests than we previously believed.

“We have a unique chance to combat climate change by conserving these previously unappreciated forests,” the authors wrote.

Drylands contain some of the most threatened, yet disregarded, ecosystems, many of which face pressure from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-grizzly-bears/">climate change</a> and human activity.

“Climate change will cause many of these regions to become hotter and even drier, while human expansion could degrade these landscapes yet further,” they wrote. “Considering the potential of dryland forests to stave off desertification and to fight climate change by storing carbon, it will be crucial to keep monitoring the health of these forests, now that we know they are there.”

--

By: <a href="mailto:dbeasley@earth.com">David Beasley </a><a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://theconversation.com/found-lost-forests-covering-an-area-two-thirds-the-size-of-australia-77550">The Conversation</a>

Image Credit: TERN Ausplots

Previously unknown dryland forests discovered across the globe

Forests and woodlands about 60 percent of the size of...

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

[sendtonews key="oL4FnPTGCV-2384527-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

[sendtonews key="f8fukm28Vz-2491833-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

[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

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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

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