Your heart does more than pump blood. It also broadcasts tiny timing shifts that doctors read as heart rate variability (HRV), a window into the balance of your autonomic nervous system (ANS).



A five‑month field study now suggests those shifts rise and fall with patterns in space weather.&nbsp;



"The study makes a striking correlation between people’s HRV and energetic environmental phenomena such as the electromagnetic energy from the sun, the <a href="https://www.heartmath.org/gci/gcms/live-data/gcms-magnetometer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Schumann resonance power</a>, and energy influxes coming from outside our solar system," said Rollin McCraty of the <a href="https://www.heartmath.org/">HeartMath Institute</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solar-storms-spikes-heart-rate">Solar storms spikes heart rate</h2>



Dr. Abdullah Alabdulgader of the <a href="https://www.hziegler.com/employers/prince-sultan-cardiac-center.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prince Sultan Cardiac Center</a> in Saudi Arabia led weekly 72‑hour ECG sessions for sixteen healthy volunteers. 



The researchers matched each session against hourly logs of solar wind speed, sunspot counts, cosmic ray flux, and local geomagnetic indices collected by NASA and <a href="https://www.sgo.fi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Finland’s Sodankylä Observatory</a>.



"Increase in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/silent-storms-experts-identify-the-mysterious-source-of-solar-wind/">solar wind</a> intensity was correlated with increases in heart rate, which we interpret as a biological stress response," said Dr. Alabdulgader. 



When the wind strengthened, inter‑beat intervals shortened, hinting at a sympathetic spike even on calm clinical days.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heart-variability-during-solar-storms">Heart variability during solar storms</h2>



Heart rate variability is commonly split into high‑frequency, low‑frequency, and very‑low‑frequency bands. The Saudi team saw all three bands climb when cosmic ray counts, solar radio flux, and local Schumann resonance power went up.



Cosmic rays seemed especially potent. Total HRV power rose for almost 40 hours after particle counts peaked. A European <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17338964/">study</a> echoed this effect, linking higher cosmic rays to lower C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation.



Geomagnetic quiet was not always benign. A U.S. analysis of 263 cities found that disturbed fields, measured by Kp and Ap indices, coincided with increased cardiovascular deaths on the same day.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-electromagnetic-fields-and-the-heart">Electromagnetic fields and the heart</h2>



Why would charged particles millions of miles away nudge heart rhythms? One possibility is that they tweak the ionosphere, altering the ultra‑low‑frequency waves that bathe Earth’s surface.



Neuroscientists first noticed in the 1950s that the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26785376/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">primary Schumann</a> peak near 7.83 Hz matches <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3507158/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alpha brain oscillations</a>. Modern EEG research shows brief real‑time coherence between Schumann power and cortical activity during geomagnetic spikes.



These same frequencies overlap with <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7560965/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vagal signaling</a> that drives the high‑frequency band of HRV. The Saudi dataset supports the idea that the heart, like the brain, can phase‑lock to natural electromagnetic cues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calm-waves-calmer-beats">Calm waves, calmer beats</h2>



Schumann power rose during thunderstorms and quiet solar intervals alike. When this occurred, participants’ heart rates slowed and parasympathetic tone strengthened. 



These results mirrored a smaller trial in Japan that recorded lower blood pressure on strong Schumann days.



Laboratory studies show that mammals and birds align circadian genes with weak radio‑frequency fields, though precise receptors remain debated.



Magnetite nanoparticles in cardiac and neural tissue may act as primary sensors, while <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10966452/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">retinal cryptochromes</a> could relay secondary signals.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-solar-storms-impact-heart-health">Solar storms impact heart health</h2>



For most people, the effects are subtle, but population data suggest they are still significant. A global review conducted in 2023 showed that stronger overall geomagnetic fields were linked to slight increases in cardiovascular deaths. 



However, the horizontal part of the field appeared to have a protective effect - highlighting how geomagnetic exposure may influence health in complex ways.



Clinicians already use heart rate variability to flag autonomic imbalance in diabetes, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/meditation-can-rapidly-reduce-ptsd-without-revisiting-trauma/">PTSD</a>, and post‑infection fatigue. If space weather can tip that balance, wearable monitors might one day combine cardiology and heliophysics to time workouts, surgeries, or even trading floors.



Not every scientist is convinced. A National Institutes of Health panel recently referred to the current evidence as intriguing yet inconclusive, noting that lab replications with shielded chambers are still scarce.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-emergency-planning-for-space-weather">Emergency planning for space weather</h2>



If <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-geomagnetic-storm-reveals-earths-technological-vulnerabilities/">geomagnetic</a> factors affect heart and nervous system activity - even subtly - then hospitals and emergency services may need to adjust staffing or readiness protocols during peak solar events.



Historical data already confirm that ER visits and psychiatric admissions spike during geomagnetic disturbances. People who are at risk from arrhythmia, hypertension, or mental illness may experience the strongest effects.



Weather forecasts increasingly include space weather alerts, but medical infrastructure hasn't caught up. 



Doctors, paramedics, and health agencies could benefit from predictive models that track these environmental stressors and inform care delivery for vulnerable groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-research-is-needed">Further research is needed</h2>



The Saudi volunteers were young, healthy, and living at low geomagnetic latitude. We do not yet know whether patients with arrhythmias, hypertension, or pacemakers react the same way at polar latitudes where field swings are stronger.



Dose matters too. Satellites warn of major solar storms days in advance, but subtle changes within the “quiet” range may fly below meteorological forecasts while still nudging sensitive physiology.



Finally, correlation is not causation. Although animal studies shows pulsed fields can shift heart‑rate timing, the precise chain from ionospheric disturbance to vagus nerve firing remains only partially mapped.



Future studies may include networks that monitor heart rate variability across multiple locations, along with magnetometers and possibly even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-mapping-research-mouse-neurons-revolutionary-advance/">genetic screening</a> for traits linked to magnetic sensitivity. 



In the meantime, the evidence suggests we should consider space weather as one more environmental factor that may influence heart health.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323016904_Long-Term_Study_of_Heart_Rate_Variability_Responses_to_Changes_in_the_Solar_and_Geomagnetic_Environment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scientific Reports</a>.



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Solar storms may be messing with your heart

Your heart does more than pump blood. It also broadcasts tiny timing shifts that doctors read as heart rate variability (HRV), a window into the balance of your autonomic nervous system (ANS). A five‑month field study now suggests those shifts rise and fall with patterns in space weather.&nbsp; "The study makes a striking correlation between people’s HRV and energetic environmental phenomena such as the electromagnetic energy from the sun, the Schumann resonance power, and energy influxes coming from outside our solar system," said Rollin McCraty of the...

As each country continues to debate how it will regulate the emission of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-reduce-greenhouse-gases/">greenhouses gases</a>, we are once again reminded that air pollution does not care about our territorial borders. According to a new study, air pollution emitted by countries in Asia has lead to increased smog levels in the western United States. 

The study was conducted by a collaborative team of researchers from <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a> and the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s</a> Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). Their research was published in the journal <a href="http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/2943/2017/">Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics</a>. 

The team studied the origins of smog, also known as ground-level ozone, from the 1980s until present day. Although we have managed to cut the emission of nitrogen oxides and other smog-forming chemicals by 50% in the last 25 years, smog levels in the western U.S. have actually increased. And while smog levels in the east have decreased, they still spike during heat waves as the warm air traps pollutant particles. 

The research showed that the increase in ground-level ozone in the west was directly affected by the influx of pollution from countries in Asia, such as Japan, China, North and South Korea, and India. As a whole, this region has tripled its nitrogen oxide emissions in the past 25 years. 

The authors of the study point out that the Asian-born air pollution could cause areas in the west to fail to meet federal ozone standards.

"Increasing background ozone from rising Asian emissions leaves less room for local production of ozone before the federal standard is violated," said lead author Meiyun Lin of <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/">Princeton University</a>.

The team used climate models and ozone measurements to prove that air pollution from Asia is in fact increasing smog levels in the western United States, particularly during spring when weather patterns push this air directly across the Pacific. This study was the first to track the extent to which emissions in Asia impact ground-level ozone in the United States.

"The model allows us to divide the observed air pollution into components driven by different sources," explained Lin.

Lin further emphasized the need for a global perspective and strategy to combat ground-level ozone levels. 

--

By Rory Arnold, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Asian pollution causes increased smog in western U.S.

As each country continues to debate how it will regulate...

Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in the search for life on other planets. A new study reports that researchers have found traces of bacteria that lived 3.7 billion years ago, making them the oldest <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossils-mass-extinction-event/">fossils</a> ever discovered. While final verification is still pending, the discovery could support the theory that life started soon after the planet formed, which means that could have been the case on other planets as well.

A collaborative team of researchers say that the fossilized bacteria lived around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. Scientists can use this information to search vents on other planets for signs of life. 

The researchers reported their findings in a report published in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a>.

“It’s exciting to find life had managed to get a grip and start to evolve on Earth so quickly after the planets formed,” said co-author Matthew Dodd of Britain’s <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/">University College London</a>. “It gives me … high hopes of finding life elsewhere in the universe.”

Dodd was inspecting pieces of rock found in northern Quebec when he noticed an unusual feature. The rock contained thread-like filaments half the width of human hair and thicker cylindrical tubes both consisting of iron-rich mineral. Such filaments are known to be produced by bacteria that eats iron.

Additional formations on the rock led scientists to believe that the bacteria lived around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor and fed on the iron-rich water that gushed through. 

Dodd argues that such a finding raises the possibility that life occurred on Jupiter’s moon Europa, which holds a considerable amount of water. 

“You have life on Earth at a time when we believe there was liquid water on the surface of Mars, and the atmosphere wouldn’t have been too drastically different,” Dodd added. “Maybe there was life on Mars in the past and we have yet to find it.”

--

By Rory Arnold, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bacteria fossils provide clues to extraterrestrial life

Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in the search for...

Credit or blame your Neanderthal genes for a host of traits, ailments and human conditions.

For instance, your height and susceptibility to ailments including schizophrenia and lupus can be traced to your Neanderthal ancestors, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine. They analyzed RNA sequences in a dataset called the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project.

“Even 50,000 years after the last human-Neanderthal mating, we can still see measurable impacts on gene expression,” said Joshua Akey, co-author of the study. “And those variations in gene expression contribute to human variation and disease susceptibility.”

It might be a little weird to think about, but Homo sapiens and our Neanderthal cousins were still making goo-goo eyes as recently as 50,000 years ago. As a result of their hanky-panky, most of us contain at least some Neanderthal DNA – commonly between two and four percent.

During the course of this latest study, it was found that a Neanderthal allele of a gene called ADAMTSL3 decreases the risk of schizophrenia, while also influencing height. An allele is an alternative form of a gene.

An earlier study also found that we inherited the human papilloma virus (HPV) from our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-human-skulls-south-america/">ancient</a> relatives.

“Hybridization wasn’t just something that happened 50,000 years ago that we don't have to worry about anymore,” said Akey. “Those little bits and pieces, our Neanderthal relics, are influencing gene expression in pervasive and important ways.”

In their research, the team found that the genetic expression of Neanderthal alleles tended to be especially low in the brain and the testes. This suggests that those tissues may have experienced more rapid evolution since we diverged from Neanderthals some 700,000 years ago.

Well, at least that’s one item of good news.

—

By David Searls, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer
Source: Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project

Our Neanderthal relatives are still influencing our genetic code

Credit or blame your Neanderthal genes for a host of...

More than 300 people died as a result of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earthquake-research-italy/">Italy</a>. The real tragedy was that better communications during the situation and response might have reduced the body count considerably.

That’s the viewpoint of U.S. researchers, led by Deanna Sellnow, a communications professor from the University of Central Florida. Her group examined the impact of the L'Aquila earthquake on the international scientific earthquake community of practice (CoP) and found that clear, timely information and response instructions can minimize casualties.

Study results were released in an article by lead author Sellnow in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, published by Taylor &amp; Francis Group.

Scientists in the operational earthquake forecasting (OEF) community are growing progressively more adept at predicting a hit – but not as savvy at communicating the risk to the affected public.

As a result of the study, OEF scientists began to build stronger relationships with a diverse set of experts including risk communications professionals. They focused on improving performance by engaging with decision makers and the public to gain their support and educate them about earthquake forecasting. The scientists developed simple and precise public warning messages less likely to be misunderstood, and ensured that message alerts are timely and delivered through multiple communication sources and channels. And they began to promptly issue corrections or clarifications as needed, to minimize potentially deadly confusion.

Sellnow wrote, "This research confirms the importance of translating science into accurate and comprehensible messages delivered to non-scientific publics. The expanded community of practice that emerged as a result of the [L'Aquila] risk communication failure, which now includes communication social science experts, can serve as a model for other scientific communities that also may need to translate their knowledge effectively to disparate non-scientific publics."

—

By David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjac20"> Journal of Applied Communications Research</a>. 

Published by Taylor &amp; Francis. To read the full article please email newsroom@taylorandfrancis.com

Better earthquake communications saves lives

More than 300 people died as a result of the...

Ancient human skulls discovered in Brazil are shedding new light on migration and settlement patterns in South America. Researchers believe analysis of the skulls shows humans reached the continent in waves rather than all at once.

An international team of scientists analyzed the skulls, which were discovered in the Lagoa Santa region of Brazil. The researchers examined the shape and features of the skulls, a field known as cranial morphology.

Their findings led them to conclude that humans settled the Americas in several waves that traveled from Asia over the Bering Strait and down the coast into South America.

“When you look at contemporary genomic data, the suggestion, particularly for South America, was for one wave of migration and that indigenous South American people are all descendants of that wave,” Dr. Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel said in a <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2017/02/032.html">press release</a>. “But our data is suggesting that there were at least two, if not more, waves of people entering South America.”

Von Cramon-Taubadel is an associate professor of anthropology at the <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a> and the paper’s lead author.

The findings show that it’s important to look at multiple sources of data, the researchers said. Previously, anthropologists used genetic models to try to explain cranial diversity in South America, they said. The models couldn’t explain the diversity of different South American populations, however.

The researchers believe a multi-wave model of dispersion indicated by the ancient human skulls from Brazil explains the differences in cranial morphology.

“The results show that Paleoamericans share a last common ancestor with contemporary Native American groups outside, rather than inside, the Americas,” they wrote in their <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/2/e1602289.full">study</a>.

The study is the latest that attempts to solve the mystery of how and when humans first traveled to the Americas. Evidence shows that the first human settlements appeared at least 15,000 years ago along the Pacific Coast. However, anthropologists have debated whether humans arrived in one wave or several, with genetic models and cranial analysis offering conflicting answers.

Von Cramon-Taubadel’s team used a new analytical framework to consider all possibilities. Like previous cranial morphology studies, it found that multiple dispersals best explained the diversity of human remains in the Americas.

The research was published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Scientific Advances</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, Earth.com staff writer

Ancient human skulls offer clues to settlement of South America

Ancient human skulls discovered in Brazil are shedding new light...

For years, many climate experts have worked to present their data with neutrality, for fear of slipping into activism. Now, a new study shows that engaging in some limited climate change advocacy won’t harm scientists’ credibility with the public.

“I believe advocacy by climate scientists has damaged trust in the science. We risk our credibility, our reputation for objectivity, if we are not absolutely neutral,” Dr. Tamsin Edwards once wrote in an opinion column for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2013/jul/31/climate-scientists-policies">The Guardian</a>. While she became a scientist because she cares about the environment, she said, she feared expressing her opinions would damage her own reputation and her field.

However, a new study conducted by researchers from <a href="https://www2.gmu.edu/">George Mason University</a> shows that calls for scientists to hide their own opinions about their data may be, at least partially, unfounded.

The study created a fictional scientist on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>, who then offered opinions about environmental topics. In five out of six instances, that climate change advocacy did not harm the fake scientist’s credibility, nor did it affect how the public viewed the imaginary person’s colleagues.

The opinions were based on recent scientific findings, discussion about the effects of climate change, discussion of various ways to address global warming, a call for action, and two specific statements, one about coal-burning power plants and one about building more nuclear power plants.

The George Mason team tested the comments on a representative sample of U.S. adults from all over the country.

"This study certainly won't end debate about how scientists can best contribute to public discussions about climate change," said Dr. John Kotcher, the study’s lead author. "However, we hope that our findings at least help stimulate a more evidence-based conversation among scientists about the relationship between scientific advocacy and credibility, rather than simply relying upon intuition or anecdote to choose which role is best for them."

With the exception of comments about nuclear power plants, the faux scientist’s credibility was not negatively affected. This suggests that general opinions won’t harm how the public views scientists, but they should still carefully consider taking a stance on a specific, narrow action or issue, the researchers said.

Scientists should still take care when sharing their opinions, and consider how they might impact their own research and their colleagues’ work, researchers said. However, the study shows that scientists can communicate with the public and advocate more generally for the environment with little risk to their credibility, the George Mason team said.

The study has been published in the journal <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/renc20/current">Environmental Communications</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, Earth.com staff writer

Just the facts? Climate change advocacy doesn't hurt scientists' credibility

For years, many climate experts have worked to present their...

These days, the knowledge that birds descended from dinosaurs is widely accepted. However, the complex journey from traditional reptile to modern bird still raises questions.

In a <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6327/792.full">new paper</a>, Dr. Stephen L. Brusatte of the <a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a> took a look at recent research on avian evolution. He found that new discoveries have added new tangles in birds’ evolutionary thread.

Since the discovery of the “London specimen” of Archaeopteryx lithographica in 1860, paleontologists have wondered if and how modern birds and ancient dinosaurs are related.

Fossil discoveries in the past few decades have supported the theory – but they’ve also shown that the path from dinosaur to bird has been a much more complex journey than paleontologists first believed.

For example, Brusatte noted, new research shows that dinosaurs may have initially feathers for warmth or camouflage purposes long before they became useful for flight. Chinese fossils found in the 1990s had a wide variety of wings, he wrote.

“Furthermore, wings first appeared even earlier in much more primitive, sheep-to-horse-sized theropod dinosaurs that are widely held to be too large to fly,” Brusatte wrote.

Studies reviewed by Brusatte put forth the hypothesis that wings may have been display structures on earlier dinosaurs. The transformation into tools for flight may have come later, he said.

Paleontologists are also struggling to determine which dinosaurs could fly, and how. Brusatte pointed to a 2016 study that used mathematical and biomechanical equations to determine which known winged species might be able to fly.

“The verdict: Except for a handful of paravians, the dinosaurs did not have the wing sizes or configurations necessary for powered flight,” he wrote.

Another astonishing recent find was a dinosaur tail embedded in amber – feathers still intact – last year. The find has allowed paleontologists to begin studying the three-dimensional structure of feathers, Brusatte said.

The rapidly advancing field of paleontology and new fossil discoveries have made two things clear.

First, the development of flight in feathered dinosaurs – and their evolution into modern birds – was a lot more complicated than previously believed. However, engineering and ongoing fossil discoveries are allowing paleontologists to learn much more about how flight evolved.

Second, flying dinosaurs may have been much more diverse than we thought.

“The Mesozoic Era (from 252 million to 66 million years ago) must have been aflutter with an aviary of dinosaurs, experimenting with different ways of navigating the air …” Brusatte said. “But much work remains to be done to better understand this heady period of evolution.”

Brusatte’s review was published in the journal <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, Earth.com staff writer

Scientists: transition from dinosaurs to birds was complex journey

These days, the knowledge that birds descended from dinosaurs is...

Woolly mammoths have been extinct for at least 4,000 years. Scientists based at <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> have been looking to reverse that.

Now, they could be on the verge of reverse engineering the closest modern equivalent: a hybrid embryo created using woolly mammoth and Asian elephant traits.

The “revision” of the woolly mammoth would have small ears, long fur, blood adapted for cold environs and subcutaneous body fat. However, it’s not an exact replica. Instead, scientists have used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to edit the Asian elephant genome with mammoth traits.

The result, the scientists hope, would be a sort of elephant-mammoth hybrid that some are calling a “mammophant.”

While the team is several years from creating a living creature, they have produced cells. They hope to move on to the embryo stage soon, scientists said. They could have a successful embryo within two years, they added.

When the time comes, the researchers hope to raise the embryo in an artificial womb rather than using a living female elephant as a surrogate, team leader Dr. George Church said.

However, the project has raised some concerns from biologists.

One of these concerns is ethical: perhaps scientists can revive woolly mammoths, but should they? Scientists have argued in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/18/mammoth-cloning-wrong-save-endangered-elephants">The Guardian</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/should-we-bring-extinct-species-back-dead">Science</a>, and other publications over the ethical implications of reviving extinct species. The question has been at the core of the blockbuster Jurassic Park movie series.

Other experts question whether a viable embryo is possible at all. With more than 1,600 differences between woolly mammoth DNA and the genetic code of Asian elephants – their closest living relatives – the 45 edits made by the team may produce something more like a shaggy Asian elephant than a true mammoth-elephant hybrid.

The Harvard team acknowledges that it could be years or decades before anything close to an ancient woolly mammoth roams the Earth again.

However, their research could have a much more tangible result: by studying and editing the Asian elephant genome, they could help that species adapt to its changing environment, Church said.

Asian elephants are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only about 40,000 to 50,000 left in the wild.

—

By Kyla Cathey, Earth.com staff writer

Could scientists bring woolly mammoths back from extinction?

Woolly mammoths have been extinct for at least 4,000 years....

If you think a gleaming clean hospital sink would be the last place you’d find potentially deadly bacteria, you’d be wrong. A team of researchers from the University of Virginia Charlottesville have traced the pathway from hospital sink drains to vulnerable patients, according to a paper published on Friday in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Numerous papers have been published since 2010 describing <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/bacteria-can-make-rain/">bacterial</a> colonies resistant to an important antibiotic spreading from hospital sinks and other water sources. But the UVC study showed the pathway from drain to the sink bowl and to patients.

The team started by constructing five test sinks that mimic those used at the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville. Then they introduced a harmless bacterial strain into the pipe and watched it expand and colonize.

"Our study demonstrates that bacterial spread from drainpipes to patients occurs via a staged mode of transmission," said principal investigator Dr. Amy Mathers of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health.

The bacterial growth starts in the elbow of the pipe and works its way up into the strainer at the rate of about one inch a day, taking about a week to colonize the strainer. From there it gets splattered around when water is run and ends up infecting the sick.

The next phase of the team’s sink lab research, undertaken in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will attempt to determine exactly how the dangerous pathogens reach patients, said Mathers. “This type of foundational research is needed to understand how these bacteria are transmitted so that we can develop and test potential intervention strategies that can be used to prevent further spread.”

--

By David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="https://www.asm.org/"> American Society for Microbiology</a>

Deadly germs make hospital rounds to patients

If you think a gleaming clean hospital sink would be...

Do humans really need eight hours of sleep? What if they didn’t? Those are two of the questions being explored by <a href="http://www.fau.edu">Dr. Alex C. Keene</a>, corresponding author of a study on sleep and the Mexican cavefish and an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in <a href="http://www.fau.edu">Florida Atlantic University</a>’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. Dr. Keene sat down for an exclusive interview with <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> to discuss his research on cavefish and sleep. 

Yes, cavefish. They require very little <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/insomnia-cure-camping/">sleep</a>. That’s why Keene and his university neuroscientists have been studying them for ten years. 

“We are still working to understand how our findings in cavefish relate to human sleep, but we believe this a model to understand how to build a brain that needs less sleep, and ultimately, better therapeutics for people with sleep disturbances,” said Dr. Keene. “We are particularly interested in the narcolepsy gene, orexin, that appears to be expressed at higher levels in cavefish.”

Keene’s team is studying the evolutionary process that gave cavefish and certain other animals the ability to get by with minimal sleep. One answer seems to be the cavefish’s ability to ignore stimulation in its environment. Keene also pointed out that researchers at the University of California San Francisco identified a human gene mutation called DEC2 that resulted in reduced sleep need. “We think cavefish may provide us with additional genes underlying natural variation in sleep, and these can be further investigated in rodents and humans.”

Keene’s team is investing heavily in genomics to identify genes underlying sleep loss.

“In the long run, we believe this will be a powerful model for gene discovery, allowing us to identify new sleep genes,” said Keene. “Even more fascinating, is there appear to be few negative consequences for this sleep loss, and we may be able to develop treatments for sleep disorders with fewer side effects.”

--

David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="http://www.fau.edu/"> Florida Atlantic University</a>

Do cavefish hold the answer for human sleep disorders?

Do humans really need eight hours of sleep? What if...

Is the burning of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-biomass-processing-plants-too-expensive/">biomass</a> for energy really always more environment-friendly than the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation and heat? That’s the position that’s been put forth by advocates of wood-burning, and it’s challenged in a research paper released February 23 and titled,<a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2017-02-23-woody-biomass-global-climate-brack-embargoed.pdf"> Woody Biomass for Power and Heat, Impacts on the Global Climate</a>.  The paper’s author, Duncan Brack, is an independent environmental policy analyst, an associate fellow of Chatham House and an associate of Green Alliance.

He writes, “Although there are alternatives to the use of wood for biomass power and heat, including organic waste, agricultural residues and energy crops, they tend to be less energy-dense, more expensive and more difficult to collect and transport.”

Brack challenges the widely accepted perception that woody biomass is a carbon-neutral source of renewable energy, with benefits to forest growth and the global climate. The carbon-neutral argument relies on the fact that strategic harvesting of wood positively impacts forest growth, which counterbalances the carbon emissions of wood burning.

“In fact,” he writes, “since in general woody biomass is less energy dense than fossil fuels, and contains higher quantities of moisture and less hydrogen, at the point of combustion burning wood for energy usually emits more greenhouse gases per unit of energy produced than fossil fuels.”

Brack feels that biomass plants tend to operate less efficiently than fossil fuel plants, releasing more carbon emissions into the atmosphere.  He has issues with the supply-chain emissions from the harvesting, collecting, processing and transport of wood and with methane emissions derived from wood storage. He also challenges real-world practices related to forest growth.

He concludes, in part, “The use of woody biomass for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/water-waste-converts-to-energy/">energy</a> cannot be considered to be automatically carbon-neutral under all circumstances, though most policy frameworks treat it as though it is.…In addition, where the feedstock derives from harvesting whole trees, net carbon emissions will increase from the foregone carbon sequestration that would have occurred had the trees been left growing.”

–

By David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source:<a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/"> Chatham House</a>

&nbsp;

Woody biomass is carbon neutral? Probably not says researcher

Is the burning of biomass for energy really always more...

If we could see the planet’s last 2.6 million years at super-fast film speed, we’d see polar <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/scientists-collapsing-ice-sheets-will-accelerate-sea-level-rise/">ice sheets</a> expanding over North America and northern Europe and retreating, expanding and retreating. Without benefit of satellite video from the last couple million years, researchers at three universities worked on the challenge of predicting when an ice age ends and when interglacial, or warming, periods begin. 

According to a new study published today in Nature, climate scientists from University College London, University of Cambridge and University of Louvain (France) found answers based on solar energy peaks.

These occur when Earth’s orbit and the tilt of its axis result in ice-melting solar energy over our high northern latitudes. We’ve had 110 of these solar energy peaks in the last 2.6 million years, but only 50 of them triggered complete meltdown of the expanding ice sheets.

“The basic idea is that there is a threshold for the amount of energy reaching high northern latitudes in summer,” said Professor of Geography Chronis Tzedakis at UCL. “Above that threshold, the ice retreats completely and we enter an interglacial.”

This ice-melt threshold tended to occur in our planet’s earlier days about every 41,000 years. But things changed around a million years ago. From then up to now, the ice ages have expanded.

The university researchers were able to formulate a predictive model based on solar energy and the ice cycles to predict the end of an ice age and onset of interglacial periods over the last million years, finding that they occurred roughly every 100,000 years.

The scientists also found that some of these solar energy peaks almost triggered interglacial periods, but didn’t quite hit the threshold. This is where things get a little dicey.

“The threshold was only just missed 50,000 years ago,” said researcher Professor Michel Crucifix of the University of Louvain. “If it hadn't been missed, then we wouldn't have had an interglacial in the last 11,000 years.”

And you thought your winters were cold now.

—

By David Searls, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: <a href="http://nature.com/">Nature</a>

Did we just miss living in an ice age for the last 11,000 years?

If we could see the planet’s last 2.6 million years...

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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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