Typical,Dormant,Volcano,(costa,Rica,,La,Fortuna).

Most people assume an extinct volcano lies silent forever. Yet in Bolivia, the long‑quiet <a href="https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=355838" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Uturuncu</a> volcano keeps rumbling, forcing scientists to rethink what “dead” really means.



A new study mapped more than 1,700 tiny earthquakes to reveal why the mountain twitches instead of blows. 



<a href="https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/mike-kendall" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Mike Kendall</a> of the <a href="https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Oxford</a>, who helped lead the project, calls the work a blueprint for decoding other restless peaks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-the-heat-hides">Where the heat hides</h2>



Beneath the Andes sits the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13185" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Altiplano‑Puna Volcanic Complex</a>, an underground magma lake roughly the size of Lake Superior, making it the largest known melt body in Earth’s upper crust. 



That buried ocean feeds several peaks, including Uturuncu, keeping the so‑called zombie breathing.



Satellite surveys later showed the ground over this complex rising about 0.4 inches a year while ridges around it sag, forming the famous “sombrero” pattern. 



The deformation hinted at magma or fluids on the move, but the detailed plumbing stayed invisible.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-extinct-volcano-rumblings">Extinct volcano rumblings</h2>



The project relied on seismic tomography, a scan that tracks earthquake waves as they cross different rock types. Slow zones revealed melted or fluid‑soaked rock, whereas fast lanes flagged cooler, solid crust.



“Our results show how linked geophysical and geological methods can be used to better understand volcanoes,” stated Kendall. 



Analysts stitched those velocity patches into a three‑dimensional cutaway stretching nearly nine miles deep.&nbsp;



The image traced narrow conduits climbing toward the summit, then widening into a lens of bubbly brine and semi‑molten rock about three miles below sea level. 



That lens forms the top of a hydrothermal system, a pressurized mix of hot water, gas, and crystal mush.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-liquid-gas-and-false-alarms">Liquid, gas and false alarms</h2>



Pressure swings inside the shallow lens explain why the central cone inflates while surrounding valleys sink. 



Computer models show that slight upticks in carbon dioxide or water vapor push the crust upward before venting and letting the land relax.



“Understanding the anatomy of the Uturuncu volcanic system was only possible thanks to the expertise within the research team,” added <a href="https://earthquake.ustc.edu.cn/zhjen/main.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Haijiang Zhang</a> of the <a href="https://en.ustc.edu.cn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Science and Technology of China</a>. 



His comment underscores how petrophysics, chemistry, and fieldwork mesh to translate motion into meaning.



The group found no large pool of eruptible magma near the crater, cutting the odds of a sudden blast. Independent coverage affirms that Uturuncu remains restless yet harmless for now.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-zombie-myth-began">How the zombie myth began</h2>



Geologists label a volcano extinct when no eruptions have occurred for at least 10,000 years, so Uturuncu’s 250,000‑year hiatus easily qualifies. 



Local <a href="https://minorityrights.org/communities/aymara/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aymara communities</a>, however, have long reported wisps of sulfurous steam that seemed to challenge the textbook definition.



Seismic antennas first recorded runaway swarms in the late 1990s, and satellite radar soon confirmed a dome of uplift nearly 40 miles wide. 



Those two discoveries birthed the nickname “zombie,” suggesting a mountain that refuses to stay buried.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-roundup-of-extinct-volcanoes">Global roundup of extinct volcanoes</h2>



Uturuncu is hardly unique. The <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-many-active-volcanoes-are-there-earth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">United States Geological Survey</a> counts about 1,350 potentially active volcanoes on land, though only 500 have erupted in recorded history.



“[The new toolkit could be deployed on] the more than 1,400 potentially active volcanoes and to the dozens of volcanoes like Uturuncu that aren’t considered active but that show signs of life,” noted co‑author <a href="https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/people/matthew-pritchard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matthew Pritchard</a>. 



Dozens, like Bolivia’s zombie, puff gas or shake but have not erupted since before human memory. 



When a mountain labeled extinct suddenly quakes, officials face a communication dilemma. People hear “extinct” and assume zero risk, yet geoscientists know Earth ignores such labels.



The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/White-Island-volcanic-eruption-of-2019" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">White Island tragedy in 2019</a> showed how even well‑monitored peaks can surprise tourists with steam‑driven blasts. 



Though Uturuncu rises in a sparsely settled zone, mining projects and regional flights still depend on realistic alerts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-links-on-the-horizon">Climate links on the horizon</h2>



While Uturuncu lacks an ice cap, other dormant peaks may not stay quiet as the planet warms. 



A <a href="https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2025/meetingapp.cgi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> to the 2025 Goldschmidt Conference warned that retreating glaciers can lift pressure off magma chambers and spark new eruptions in formerly sleepy regions.



Changes in rainfall could play a similar role in the high Andes by flushing extra groundwater into the crust, altering pressure in the hydrothermal lens and nudging the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/axial-seamount-large-underwater-volcano-off-us-coast-will-likely-erupt-in-2025/">volcano</a>’s elastic shell.



Tomographic scans cost far less than drilling and can be repeated every few years, giving planners a real‑time gauge of subsurface shifts. 



Coupled with satellite radar and gas sniffers, they let authorities move from folk wisdom to data when deciding evacuation thresholds.



Bolivian agencies have already installed new broadband seismometers around Uturuncu, and regional airports are integrating daily deformation bulletins into flight routing software.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-extinct-volcanoes">Tracking extinct volcanoes</h2>



Researchers aim to extend their sensor net across the southern Altiplano to watch fluid pathways shift with rainfall and seasons. Time‑lapse tomography could track magma recharge years before it punches into the gas cap.



Meanwhile the “sombrero” bulge will keep lifting and settling, a geological chest rise mistaken by outsiders for resurrection. 



For Kendall the marvel is not whether the mountain will reawaken but how finely researchers can now eavesdrop on its breathing.



Zombies make catchy folklore, yet Uturuncu shows that geology seldom follows the script. A <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plants-and-trees-predict-volcano-eruptions-when-viewed-from-space-satellites/">volcano</a> can seem to wake without ever intending to erupt because the fluids that once built it never stop moving.



The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420996122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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Can an extinct volcano come back to life? Scientists think they found out

Most people assume an extinct volcano lies silent forever. Yet in Bolivia, the long‑quiet Uturuncu volcano keeps rumbling, forcing scientists to rethink what “dead” really means. A new study mapped more than 1,700 tiny earthquakes to reveal why the mountain twitches instead of blows. Professor Mike Kendall of the University of Oxford, who helped lead the project, calls the work a blueprint for decoding other restless peaks. Where the heat hides Beneath the Andes sits the Altiplano‑Puna Volcanic Complex, an underground magma lake roughly the size of...

Get ready for a bunch of big, hard-to-spell words. And the possibility that some of T.rex’s dinosaur relatives were a measly bunch of plant eaters. 

Paleontologists (there’s your first word challenge) from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> in England are proposing the possibility that the dinosaur classification system needs to be shaken up.

According to an article in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a>, the researchers believe the system is a bit more complex than what we’ve assumed since 1888. That was the year that paleontologists defined the two main branches of the dino tree: one consisting of bird-hipped herbivores (plant eaters) called Ornithischia, and the other group of both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossilized-poop-important-clues/">herbivores</a> and carnivores (meat eaters) with lizard-like hips, called Saurischia.

Too simple.

The <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> researchers studied fossil skeletons and tens of thousands of dinosaur anatomical models to hypothesize that the tree should be reshaped They propose that Theropoda, a classification of dinosaurs that includes the formidable Tyrannosaurus rex, actually branches from the Ornithischia limb despite T. rex very definitely being a meat eater. And that the Saurischia limb should also include the carnivorous Herrerasauridae, among the oldest of dinosaurs, on a separate branch. This is a finding that runs counter to prevailing thought.

“It must be tested and reviewed by others," said study lead author Matthew Baron of the group’s hypothesis and the arguments that are sure to follow. "I personally can’t wait for the debate that this will cause in the field and I look forward to a lively and hopefully civil exchange of ideas and evidence in the coming years.”

Still not content to leave well enough alone, the cantankerous researchers also proposed the possibility that dinosaurs showed up on the planet about ten million years earlier than previously thought, due to the study of a fossil from East Africa.

--

Written by David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html"> Nature</a>

Have scientists been up the wrong dinosaur tree since 1888?

Get ready for a bunch of big, hard-to-spell words. And...

For the very first time, a study comparing the brains of people born with blindness to those who are normally sighted has described the combined structural, functional, and anatomical changes that occur in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-brains-seasonal-change/">brains</a> of the blind. These findings demonstrate the awesome power of the human brain to adapt and respond to anatomical adversity.

In a new study led by <a href="http://www.masseyeandear.org/">Massachusetts Eye and Ear</a> researchers and published in <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS One</a>, scientists found that the brains of those who are born blind are able to make new connections due to their lack of visual information. With an absence of visual stimuli to process, the brain is able to enhance other senses such as hearing, smell, and touch. Even more surprising, cognitive functions like memory and language are heightened as well.

By using advanced MRI brain imaging techniques, scientists were able to compare the brains of 12 subjects with early blindness – acquired prior to the age of three – with scans from 16 normally sighted subjects.

What they discovered was that the brain exhibited enhanced connections in subjects with early blindness, sending information between areas of the brain that did not occur in the normally sighted subjects. According to the research team, this is likely due to structural and functional connectivity changes within the brains of those with blindness.

Senior author Lotfi Merabet, director of the Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity at the <a href="http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/">Schepens Eye Research Institute</a> of Mass. Eye and Ear, further explains: "Even in the case of being profoundly blind, the brain rewires itself in a manner to use the information at its disposal so that it can interact with the environment in a more effective manner."

This “rewiring” is possible through the process of neuroplasticity, which is the ability of our brain to naturally adapt to our experiences. Merabet believes that this new finding opens the door for a greater understanding of the brain’s powerful ability to adapt. 

The research team hopes that this knowledge will lead to a better understanding of the connections within the brains of those with early blindness. In the long run, this type of work may complement rehabilitation techniques that can help blind individuals better adapt to their absence of visual information.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: Massachusetts Eye and Ear

The brain adapts to heighten remaining senses in blind people

For the very first time, a study comparing the brains...

Neuroscientists at <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">MIT</a> completed experiments that contradict widely held assumptions on the role of the brain’s amygdala. That deep-brain location is believed to be where thoughts of fear and response to unpleasant events were hosted.

In a paper published today in the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/home">Neuron</a>, lead authors Joshua Kim and Xiangya Zhang found that the central amygdala primarily houses neurons that drive pleasure-enhancing behavior. In fact, they found that only a relatively small circuitry in this area of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-activity-death/">brain</a> triggered a fear response.

“It's surprising that positive-behavior-promoting subsets are so abundant, which is contrary to what many people in the field have been thinking,” said Susumu Tonegawa. She is the Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, director of the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">MIT</a> and senior author of the study.

The researchers found that most tested populations of neurons in the central amygdala of lab mice stimulated reward-related behavior. Only one of seven tested populations triggered the expected fear-related response.

“Classically people have generalized the central amygdala as a fear-related structure,” said Kim. “They think it's involved in anxiety and fear-related responses. However, it looks like the structure as a whole mainly seems to participate in appetitive behaviors.”

Another surprising development was the team’s finding that fear-related responses in the central amygdala didn’t go directly to the part of the brain where those responses are thought to end up – in an area called the periaqueductal gray (PAG), located in the brain stem. The team said that it’s possible that the message got there eventually, through a more circuitous route they didn’t map, but it wasn’t a direct connection.

--

Written by David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/home"> Neuron</a>

Brain's fear center stimulates more pleasure than scares

Neuroscientists at MIT completed experiments that contradict widely held assumptions...

Across the country, utilities are required to carefully monitor their <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drilling-oil-fracking-problems/">gas</a> lines and fix any leaks that are a safety concern. However, finding and fixing these leaks is a constant challenge. Smaller or more remote leaks that are not as dangerous can easily go undetected and unrepaired for long periods of time. Besides being a safety hazard, leaking natural gas contributes methane – a potent greenhouse gas – to the atmosphere. 

Conventional techniques for detecting and locating methane leaks from pipelines are often inefficient and laborious. In a plan to increase the efficiency of gas leak detection, scientists at <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> have teamed up with Google Earth Outreach to set up their Street View cars with methane analyzers. 

These analyzers were put in three Street View cars that drove around the cities of Boston, Indianapolis, Staten Island, Syracuse, and Burlington. Findings reported in the ACS journal <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a> show that Boston, Staten Island, and Syracuse had leaks that released 25 times more methane per kilometer of road than Burlington and Indianapolis.

This difference is likely due to those cities having a larger proportion of old, corroded distribution lines. Both Indianapolis and Burlington can likely point to their implementation of “accelerated pipeline replacement programs” and high number of more modern pipelines for their significantly lower leak rate. 

Programs like this could provide better data to prioritize millions of dollars of infrastructure repair on the pipelines that need it most. In addition, the researchers calculate that repairs to just the largest 8 percent of leaks would reduce pipeline methane emissions by 30 percent. This would be good news for the people that live near any leaky pipes as well as the atmosphere that affects us all.

---

By Connor Ertz, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Source: American Chemical Society

Scientists and Google team up to analyze methane leaks

Across the country, utilities are required to carefully monitor their...

As the world becomes more technology-driven and our population continues to increase, demand is also increasing for rare earth metals. These elements are metals found in rare earth minerals and are – as you might have guessed… rare. They are used in the catalytic converters and batteries that drive our car, in the production of screens and lamps, and as a contrast agent in MRIs, among many other uses. 

In 2013, American researchers reported that surfaces coated with rare earth oxides become water-repellent (hydrophobic), opening up many more applications for the already popular metals. 

Recently, researchers from the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a>, the <a href="http://www.nanoscience.ch/nccr/">Swiss Nanoscience Institute</a>, and the <a href="https://www.psi.ch/">Paul Scherrer Institute</a> published new information on rare earth metal hydrophobicity in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.

They worked with the company <a href="https://www.glastroesch.com/en/home.html">Glas Tröesch</a> in order to study the hydrophobic properties of rare earths in more detail. By coating glass samples with rare earth oxides, nitrides, and fluorides, they could analyze how the surfaces then reacted to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/water-splashes-science/">water</a> exposure. 

Interestingly, the researchers were unable to detect any hydrophobic properties when the coating was freshly deposited. Only after rare earth oxides came into contact with air did the glass surfaces begin to exhibit hydrophobic properties.

The scientists determined that gaseous hydrocarbons were absorbed from the air by the surface and then reacted with the oxides, making carbonates and hydroxides. The presence of these compounds increased the surfaces’ roughness and reduced wetting by water.

Professor Ernst Meter, from the Department of Physics at the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a>, expressed his shock at this discovery, saying, “We were surprised that the hydrophobic effect was caused by the surface aging.” They were even more surprised that this chemical reaction was able to take place at room temperature.

Although the examined materials are unsuitable for industrial production of water-repellent glass surfaces, knowing that rare earth metals can react with compounds in the ambient air is important for this growing industry. Catalytic processes – like the ones that take place in your car’s catalytic converter and thus help reduce harmful emissions – frequently take place at room temperature. Continuing research into the properties of these important rare earth metals will only serve to benefit an already booming industry as we move into the future.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a>

Rare earth metals increase water-repellent properties over time

As the world becomes more technology-driven and our population continues...

Whenever we see population estimates – whether for our own population or any other species – it’s often hard to tell how these estimates were made. It may be even more difficult to know whether or not these estimates are even accurate. How do you count something that’s constantly moving, like a school of fish? How could you possibly figure out how many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/space-lasers-phytoplankton-blooms/">phytoplankton</a> inhabit an ocean? For many populations it’s impossible to get exact numbers, so scientists rely on a multitude of strategies to provide estimates. In many cases, scientists use a three-year “moving average,” which helps account for year-to-year irregularities in the results of wildlife surveys. However, this approach has never been evaluated… until now.

A new study published in <a href="http://www.americanornithologypubs.org/loi/cond?code=coop-site">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</a> compares the results of wildlife surveys to true population size using thirty years of surveys of crane populations (the bird, not the heavy machinery). Specifically, Brian Gerber of <a href="https://www.colostate.edu/">Colorado State University</a> and William Kendall of the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">U.S. Geological Survey</a> looked back on more than three decades of surveys for the Rocky Mountain population of Sandhill Cranes.

The researchers assessed whether the annual population changes determined by the moving averages were realistic. To do this, they used information on crane demographics and compared the moving averages to data gathered by a more sophisticated statistical approach called a hierarchical Bayesian time series model.

The Bayesian model allows for a more structured way to input new information as it becomes available. Gerber explains: “By taking a Bayesian approach, we can include additional information about both the observation process and the true population to obtain more realistic estimates and procedures.”

According to Gerber, this method also accounts for measures of uncertainty about the population estimates, which the more common survey approaches don’t usually provide. This allows researchers to understand the level of confidence they should have in their estimates.

Gerber and Kendall found that this more complex method performed better over a wider range of scenarios, although they found the moving average estimates to be reasonable. From their analysis, they were able to determine that over the last twenty years, the management practices have largely met their annual population objectives for the Rocky Mountain Sandhill Crane population. Gerber believes that their modeling approach “makes implementing any changes relevant to the survey easier.”

The researchers are confident that the work put into collecting this population data over long periods of time can result in pay off beyond the Rocky Mountain’s crane population. Their more complex model may be applicable to other species in other ecosystems as well.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-03/aosp-hra031517.php">American Ornithological Society Publications Office</a>

The accuracy of wildlife surveys has been put to the test

Whenever we see population estimates – whether for our own...

Keeping track of ocean waves – and therefore wind speed and direction – is important to forecasting weather phenomena that can benefit mariners, coastal farmers and others who live and work near the sea. We can do this to some extent by observing buoys and wave activity from ships, but that only provides a very localized picture. Now, scientists have recently discovered that something as simple as the sun glitter pattern on large bodies of water can be observed by satellite and used for tracking wave activity. They used the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to map the motion of the sea surface from a large-scale observation point.

The team of scientists found a way to map the height, direction and movement of waves by tracking the patterns sunlight made on the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-waves-cause-great-dying/">waves</a> in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Dorre Island in western Australia. They further developed their techniques through the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency’s</a> Scientific Assessment of Ocean Glitter project.

The findings have already helped scientists successfully map wave activity in the Agulhas Current, a historically treacherous current around the southernmost coast of Africa.

We found that ocean surface currents transform dominant surface waves, which are the tallest surface waves in a given area, driven by local wind and large-scale swells,” said Vladimir Kudryavstev of the <a href="http://www.rshu.ru/eng/">Russian State Hydrometeorological University</a>’s Satellite Oceanography Laboratory. “They also showed how wave packets can be deflected and trapped by ocean surface currents, creating surface waves that are much higher than normal.”

Soon, there will be two Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites in orbit, and both will assigned to add to wave data.

 “The development of new approaches to exploit advances in technologies that are now carried on the Sentinel-2 satellites means that we are not only able to gain further scientific knowledge of surface ocean dynamics, but we are also able to develop the next generation of the operational products for Copernicus,” said ESA’s Craig Donlon.

Sun glitter findings were written up in papers for two issues of <a href="https://publications.agu.org/journals/">AGU Publications</a>.

-- 

By Earth.com staff writer David Searls

Source:<a href="https://publications.agu.org/journals/"> AGU Publications</a>

Sun glitter can be used to track ocean waves

Keeping track of ocean waves – and therefore wind speed...

The mosquito’s olfactory system is its most prized possession. Female mosquitoes, in particular, possess a well-developed sense of odor that helps lead them to nourishment by following the scent of carbon dioxide exhaled by animals, and then to stagnant water for laying her egg.

Humans are the preferred first item on the menu. And now researchers think that the female uses an entirely different set of odor receptors – idiotropic receptors (IR) – to zero in on this favorite food source. This second set is in addition to the main odorant receptors (OR) of which scientists were already relatively familiar.

For the last 15 years, a team of <a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/">Vanderbilt University</a> biologists have been studying a malaria-causing species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/malaria-india-mosquitoes-cattle/">mosquitoes</a> to discover more effective lures and repellants. While studying the OR of the mosquito species, they were surprised to learn that the receptors weren’t picking up on the strong human odors the mosquitoes know so well. From this realization, they discovered the second set, which seems to be solely responsible for sniffing out humans.

This isn’t totally unfamiliar ground. Researchers already know that the fruit fly also has a second set of odor sensors, but it’s the first time the IRs were found in the mosquito. Student Stephen Derryberry and research assistant Professor Jason Pitts isolated three of the newly discovered sensors and found that they responded to two chemical compounds found in human sweat.

There’s still much to know. For example, the biologists are considering whether these IRs can also be used to detect infrared radiation and humidity levels.

“Despite all the research we have done, we still haven't fully figured out how mosquitoes identify and, even more importantly, develop a preference for humans,” said biology professor Laurence Zwiebel, who leads the Vanderbilt researchers.

The team’s findings were published in Scientific Reports.

 --

By Earth.com Staff Writer David Searls

Source:<a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/"> Scientific Reports</a>

Mosquitoes target us using a second set of odor receptors

The mosquito’s olfactory system is its most prized possession. Female...

Ocean warming and the resulting acidification of coral reefs has been a major point of research for scientists in recent years. Increasingly, dead zones in reefs have also become a common phenomenon as climate change continues to wreak havoc on these delicate ecosystems.

A new study by <a href="https://ssec.si.edu/">Smithsonian</a> scientists published in <a href="http://www.nasonline.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> reveals that dead zones affect dozens of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/half-worlds-coral-dead/">coral reefs</a> and threaten hundreds more. The research team observed a massive coral reef die-off near the Caribbean coast of Panama, hypothesizing that this event was caused by a dead zone, rather than by ocean warming or acidification.

A dead zone is characterized by a low oxygen area in the ocean that results in the loss of marine live, leaving once fertile reefs looking ghostly and deserted.

Andrew Altieri, a staff scientist at the <a href="https://www.stri.si.edu/">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a> and lead author of the study, explains: “Ocean warming and acidification are recognized global threats to reefs and require large-scale solutions, whereas the newly recognized threats to coral reefs caused by dead zones are more localized.” However, Altieri believes that these dead zones can be reduced by limiting sewage and agricultural runoff into the ocean.

In September of 2010, the team noticed that reefs in Almirante Bay, Bocas del Toro Province, were showing clear signs of stress. The corals were turning white and dying, which is indicative of coral bleaching caused by warming events. The scientists also observed a bloom of bacterial slime and saw the dead bodies of crabs, sea urchins, and sponges littering the ocean floor.

What the team found to be even more odd was the obvious depth line that separated the seemingly healthy part of the reef towards the top from the dying reef below. In measuring the water quality, they were able to determine that the deeper waters had much lower oxygen levels compared to water close to the surface. The team had found clear evidence of a dead zone.

According to the researchers, dead zones like this may be common in the tropics, but have gone mostly unreported. Altieri elaborates: "The number of dead zones currently on our map of the world is 10 times higher in temperate areas than it is in the tropics, but many marine biologists work out of universities in Europe and North America and are more likely to find dead zones close to home.” 

This study shows the devastating impact dead zones are having on coral reefs in many tropical areas, finding 20 separate instances where dead zones are implicated in the mass mortality of coral reefs around the world. Despite this, the issue of low oxygen – more formally known as hypoxia – is rarely discussed as a threat to our reefs.

The authors of this study believe that increasing the capacity to monitor oxygen levels in reefs will ultimately help improve coral reef health and our understanding of the effects of dead zones. With so many threats to some of our most important and fragile ecosystems, it’s time to build on our understanding of how we can save them for the future.

--

By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-03/stri-dzm031717.php">Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute</a>

Dead zones may seriously damage coral reefs

Ocean warming and the resulting acidification of coral reefs has...

Here’s something you never gave even a second’s thought to: why does water splash? It splashes because…it’s water.

That wasn’t a good enough explanation for Dr. James Sprittles from the Mathematics Institute at the <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/">University of Warwick</a> in England, so he figured out for himself why a drop of liquid doesn’t just fall evenly onto a surface. What he found was that the splash culprit was a tiny layer of air traveling below the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenlands-underground-meltwater-reservoirs/">water</a> drop that gets trapped between the drop and the surface, sending the drop flying.

And by tiny we mean that 50 of these invisible layers would equal the width of a human hair.

Sprittles captured the microscopic dynamics of water under high-speed camera observation under varying liquid viscosity and air pressure conditions. Among his findings was that when air pressure was at its lowest point, the likelihood increased that the air layer could escape and avoid the splashing phenomena. That’s apparently the reason there’s less splashing in a stream on a mountaintop, where the air is thinner.

So…who cares? Right?

“You would never expect a seemingly simple everyday event to exhibit such complexity,” Sprittles said. “The air layer's width is so small that it is similar to the distance air molecules travel between collisions, so that traditional models are inaccurate and a microscopic theory is required. Most promisingly, the new theory should have applications to a wide range of related phenomena, such as in climate science – to understand how water drops collide during the formation of clouds or to estimate the quantity of gas being dragged into our oceans by rainfall.”

Sprittles’ findings, which were written up in <a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/">Physical Review Letters</a>, could also have ramifications in blood-spatter forensic analysis, where the bloodstain patterns can describe the violent activity at a crime scene.

--

Written by David Searls, Earth.com staff writer

Source:<a href="http://journals.aps.org/prl/"> Physical Review Letters</a>

The science behind why water splashes

Here’s something you never gave even a second’s thought to:...

Insects’ mating rituals and appearance are a moment in time that can be difficult to witness even today. So imagine capturing such a moment from over a hundred million years in the past. That’s what makes the discovery of scientists from the <a href="http://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Science’s</a> Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology so remarkable.What the researchers found, trapped in amber in Burma, was three fossilized male damselflies from the pre-Cretaceous Period, some 100 million years in the past. 

Damselflies are in the same insect family as dragonflies, but smaller and narrower. What made this discovery particularly rare was that the tibia, or the fourth segment of leg, of the fossil males was expanded, pod-like, in a way that would have been a pre-mating ritual to fend off the male competition and to attract the attention of mating females. The tibia of the fossil discovery, known as Y. huangi, also had a wing-like shape and an eye-shaped spot on the middle of the hind leg, which the researchers felt was primarily designed to attract the attention of females. Think of the peacock’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/peacock-plumage-display/">plumage</a>, for a modern-day version of this evolutionary trait and sign of male dominance.

This appearance is replicated, to some degree, by modern species, but in a less obvious display than Y. huangi, according to the scientists. They felt that the fossil tibia inflatable size, shape and appearance to be an extreme adaptation for courtship behavior.

The researchers reported their findings in a recent issue of Scientific Reports. 

--

Written by David Searls, Earth.com staff writer

Source: <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>

Fossilized damselflies from dinosaur era display mating rituals

Insects’ mating rituals and appearance are a moment in time...

Tardigrades may be about half a millimeter in length, but don’t let their size fool you. These tiny survivors can withstand temperatures ranging from -457 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit – that’s not a typo. 

They can survive radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than amounts that would kill humans. They’re found all over the world in even the most extreme environs.

A new study is shedding light on how the diminutive creatures – also called water bears – do it.

One of the extremes tardigrades can survive is being dried out for long periods – up to five years. Though they’re not the only species that can survive desiccation, they don’t seem to work the same way brine shrimp or yeast do. Those creatures rely on the sugar trehalose to protect their cells when they’re dehydrated.

“How tardigrades survive desiccation has remained a mystery for more than 250 years. Trehalose, a disaccharide essential for several organisms to survive drying, is detected at low levels or not at all in some tardigrade species, indicating that tardigrades possess potentially novel mechanisms for surviving desiccation,” a team of scientists led by Dr. Thomas Boothby of the <a href="http://www.unc.edu/">University of North Carolina</a> wrote in the study.

So the scientists set out to figure out what mechanism the tiny survivors use instead.

They did that by studying tardigrades in unstressed, dehydrated and frozen states, including taking a peek at their genes. What they discovered is that one set of genes is expressed at a high level when the little creatures become dehydrated. These “intrinsically disordered proteins,” or TDPs, essentially turn water bears into glass, they reported.

 The scientists found similar genetic expressions in yeast, but due to a different protein, which may indicate convergent evolution, the scientists said.

The discovery goes beyond just figuring out how tiny survivors like tardigrades work their biological magic. 

“More broadly, our study highlights the diversity and functional role of disordered proteins in mediating stress tolerance,” the scientists wrote. “We anticipate that this work will serve as a foundation for pursuing long-term goals of the desiccation tolerance field, including the engineering of drought-resistant crops and the stabilization of sensitive pharmaceuticals and cells in a dry state.”

The study was published in <a href="http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(17)30133-8">Molecular Cell</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com/staff">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tiny survivors: how tardigrades withstand extreme conditions

Tardigrades may be about half a millimeter in length, but...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[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...

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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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