Earth,Core,Structure.,Elements,Of,This,3d,Image,Furnished,By

In a remarkable discovery that challenges our understanding of Earth's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/pumping-too-much-groundwater-affects-earths-spin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water distribution</a>, aided by a mineral called ringwoodite, researchers found evidence suggesting the presence of several oceans worth of water trapped deep beneath the United States. 



The discovery, made by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Northwestern University</a> and seismologist Brandon Schmandt from the <a href="https://www.unm.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of New Mexico</a>, may represent the planet's largest water reservoir. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-earth-s-water-cycle">Rethinking Earth's water cycle</h2>



Published in the journal Science, their findings shed light on the Earth's formation, composition, and the amount of water trapped in mantle rock.



"Geological processes on the Earth's surface, such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earthquakes-have-long-lasting-impacts-on-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earthquakes</a> or erupting volcanoes, are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight," explained Jacobsen, a co-author of the paper. 



"I think we are finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/temperature-fluctuations-have-reshaped-earths-water-cycle/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">water cycle</a>, which may help explain the vast amount of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet. Scientists have been looking for this missing deep water for decades," Jacobsen continued.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-earth-s-mantle-has-remarkable-secrets">Earth's mantle has remarkable secrets</h2>



Scientists have long speculated about the existence of water trapped in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-mantle-may-contain-a-wealth-of-green-metals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth's mantle</a>, located between the lower and upper mantle at depths of 250 to 410 miles. 



Jacobsen and Schmandt are the first to provide direct evidence of water in this "transition zone" on a regional scale, extending across most of the interior of the United States.



"Melting of rock at this depth is remarkable because most melting in the mantle occurs much shallower, in the upper 50 miles," said Schmandt, a co-author of the paper. 



"If there is a substantial amount of H2O in the transition zone, then some melting should take place in areas where there is flow into the lower mantle, and that is consistent with what we found."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-liquid-ice-vapor-and-a-fourth-form-of-water">Liquid, ice, vapor and a fourth form of water</h2>



The water discovered in the mantle is not in a form familiar to us – it is not liquid, ice, or vapor. Instead, it is trapped inside the molecular structure of the minerals in the mantle rock. 



The immense pressure created by 250 miles of solid rock, along with temperatures above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, causes water molecules to split and form hydroxyl radicals (OH) that can be bound into a mineral's crystal structure.



"Whether or not this unique sample is representative of the Earth's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/theia-ancient-planet-buried-inside-of-earth-may-be-the-origin-of-our-moon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interior composition</a> is not known, however," Jacobsen said. "Now we have found evidence for extensive melting beneath North America at the same depths corresponding to the dehydration of ringwoodite, which is exactly what has been happening in my experiments."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-following-the-ringwoodite">Following the ringwoodite</h2>



Ringwoodite, a high-pressure mineral with a captivating blue hue, was named after the Australian geologist Alfred Ringwood, forms deep within the Earth's mantle at depths between 410 and 660 kilometers (250-410 miles). What makes ringwoodite truly remarkable is its ability to store water within its crystal structure.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-synthesizing-ringwoodite-in-the-lab">Synthesizing ringwoodite in the lab</h3>



Jacobsen has been synthesizing ringwoodite, a sapphire-like blue mineral, in his Northwestern lab by reacting the green mineral olivine with water at high-pressure conditions. He found that more than one percent of the weight of ringwoodite's crystal structure can consist of water.



Under the immense pressures and temperatures found in the mantle's transition zone, water molecules split into hydroxyl radicals (OH), which can then be incorporated into ringwoodite's structure. This mineral acts like a sponge, soaking up water and storing it in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/discovery-ancient-ocean-floor-surrounds-the-earths-core/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deep Earth</a>.



"The ringwoodite is like a sponge, soaking up water," Jacobsen said. "There is something very special about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water. This mineral can contain a lot of water under conditions of the deep mantle."



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ringwoodite-implications-for-earth-s-formation-and-habitability">Ringwoodite implications for Earth's formation and habitability</h3>



The presence of water-rich ringwoodite in the Earth's mantle has implications for our understanding of the planet's formation and its potential for habitability.



As scientists continue to study this intriguing mineral, they may uncover new insights into the role of water in the Earth's deep interior and its influence on the geologic processes that shape our world.



Ringwoodite's ability to store and transport water within the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-ancient-breath-study-links-atmospheric-oxygen-and-mantle-chemistry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mantle</a> could also have implications for the search for life on other planets, as the presence of water is considered a key factor in the development and sustainability of life as we know it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-detecting-magma-beneath-north-america">Detecting magma beneath North America</h2>



Using seismic waves, Schmandt detected the presence of magma beneath North America, which aligned with Jacobsen's findings of partial melt when subjecting synthesized ringwoodite to conditions around 400 miles below the Earth's surface.



Additionally, seismic studies have detected regions of partial melting in the mantle's transition zone, which could be attributed to the release of water from ringwoodite as it transforms into other minerals at greater depths.



"Seismic data from the USArray are giving us a clearer picture than ever before of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-interior-is-cooling-faster-than-previously-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth's internal structure</a> beneath North America," Schmandt explained. "The melting we see appears to be driven by subduction -- the downwelling of mantle material from the surface."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-process-of-dehydration-melting">Process of dehydration melting</h2>



The melting detected by the researchers is called dehydration melting. When ringwoodite in the transition zone moves deeper into the lower mantle, it forms a higher-pressure mineral called silicate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/perovskite-crystals-appear-to-dance-when-they-get-excited/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">perovskite</a>, which cannot absorb water. This causes the rock at the boundary between the transition zone and lower mantle to partially melt.



"When a rock with a lot of H2O moves from the transition zone to the lower mantle it needs to get rid of the H2O somehow, so it melts a little bit," Schmandt said. "This is called dehydration melting."



"Once the water is released, much of it may become trapped there in the transition zone," Jacobsen added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-ringwoodite-was-accidentally-discovered">How ringwoodite was accidentally discovered</h2>



The international team of scientists responsible for this remarkable find was led by Graham Pearson, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Arctic Resources at the <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Alberta</a>. 



Analysis of the mineral sample revealed that it contains a significant amount of water -- 1.5 per cent of its weight -- a finding that proved to have far-reaching implications for our understanding of the Earth's interior and its dynamic nature.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Elusive ringwoodite</h3>



Ringwoodite, a form of the mineral peridot, is believed to exist in large quantities under high pressures in the transition zone between the Earth's upper and lower mantle. 



While ringwoodite has been found in meteorites, no terrestrial sample had ever been discovered before Graham Pearson came along. Due to the extreme depths at which it is formed, this elusive mineral is inaccessible for direct fieldwork.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contribution-of-artisan-miners-in-brazil">Contribution of artisan miners in Brazil</h3>



The ringwoodite sample was found in 2008 in the Juina area of Mato Grosso, Brazil, where artisan miners unearthed a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mystery-of-how-diamonds-reach-the-earths-surface-finally-solved/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diamond</a> from shallow river gravels. 



The diamond, which had been brought to the Earth's surface by a deeply derived volcanic rock known as kimberlite, contained the ringwoodite inclusion.



Pearson's team had been searching for another mineral when they purchased the three-millimeter-wide, dirty-looking, commercially worthless brown diamond. 



The ringwoodite itself, invisible to the naked eye and buried beneath the surface, was fortunately discovered by Pearson's graduate student, John McNeill, in 2009.



"It's so small, this inclusion, it's extremely difficult to find, never mind work on," Pearson said, "so it was a bit of a piece of luck, this discovery, as are many scientific discoveries."



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Confirming the Find</h3>



The sample underwent years of rigorous analysis using Raman and infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction before it was officially confirmed as ringwoodite. 



The critical water measurements were performed at Pearson's Arctic Resources Geochemistry Laboratory at the University of Alberta, which forms part of the world-renowned <a href="https://www.eas.ualberta.ca/ccim/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Canadian Centre for Isotopic Microanalysis</a>, also home to the world's largest academic diamond research group.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Implications for Earth's Dynamics</h2>



For Pearson, one of the world's leading authorities in the study of deep Earth diamond host rocks, this discovery proved to be the most significant of his career. 



It confirmed about 50 years of theoretical and experimental work by geophysicists, seismologists, and other scientists trying to understand the makeup of the Earth's interior.



"One of the reasons the Earth is such a dynamic planet is the presence of some water in its interior," Pearson said. "Water changes everything about the way a planet works."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ringwoodite-earth-s-water-cycle-and-the-future">Ringwoodite, Earth's water cycle, and the future</h2>



In summary, the crucial discovery of a vast water reservoir deep within the Earth's mantle by Steve Jacobsen and Brandon Schmandt has revolutionized our understanding of the planet's formation, composition, and water cycle.



As researchers continued to explore the complex processes occurring far beneath the Earth's surface, their ringwoodite findings provided a new understanding of the delicate balance that makes our planet habitable. 



The presence of this hidden ocean, trapped within the crystals of mantle rock, serves as a testament to the incredible forces at work within the Earth and the countless mysteries that still lie beneath our feet. 



With each new revelation, we move closer to unraveling the secrets of our planet's past, present, and future, and to appreciating the remarkable world we call home.



The full study was published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a> and the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v507/n7491/full/nature13080.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>



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Earth has a vast interior ocean, 400-miles under our feet, that creates 'ringwoodite' gems

In a remarkable discovery that challenges our understanding of Earth's water distribution, aided by a mineral called ringwoodite, researchers found evidence suggesting the presence of several oceans worth of water trapped deep beneath the United States. The discovery, made by geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University and seismologist Brandon Schmandt from the University of New Mexico, may represent the planet's largest water reservoir. Rethinking Earth's water cycle Published in the journal Science, their findings shed light on the Earth's formation, composition, and the amount of water trapped...

Non-human primates, including apes, monkeys, and galagos, are increasingly threatened by human activities in sub-Saharan Africa. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/restoring-wildlife-habitats-may-prevent-the-next-pandemic/">Habitat</a> loss, the wild animal trade, hunting, and human infrastructure, including roads, electric power lines and fences, are some of the factors that endanger these animals. In South Africa, the expanding urban areas, extensive road networks, use of electrification and guard dogs to protect properties, and traditional hunting practices are taking a large toll on the remaining populations of these primates.&nbsp;



Two recent collaborative studies between the <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">University of Colorado Boulder</a> and three South Africa-based institutions (the University of Venda, Lajuma Research Center and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) conservation organization) have taken an in-depth look at the effects of roads, power lines and dogs on non-human primates in a study area in the northeastern part of the country.&nbsp;



South Africa has five species of endemic non-human primates, including greater (Otolemur crassicaudatus) and southern lesser (Galago moholis) bushbabies. These nocturnal primates spend most of their lives in trees, and some are so small they can fit in the palm of your hand. In addition, samango monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis), vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) are present.&nbsp;



All of these species are listed in the IUCN red list as being of least concern in terms of conservation status, except for the samango monkey which has a status of vulnerable or threatened, depending on the subspecies. However, the findings arising from these two studies indicate that the threats facing these species are not always easy to see, especially if the species have not been intensely researched or monitored&nbsp;



In one study, scientists led by Birthe Linden at Lajuma analyzed hundreds of cases in which non-human primates were killed on roads or around power lines across the country. In a companion paper, the researchers explored the growing risks that domestic dogs pose to the animals.



Primatologist Linden first became interested in the many dangers facing primates on her almost daily drives to the University of Venda in South Africa’s Soutpansberg Mountains. She kept seeing samango monkeys that had been run over and killed by motorists, and wondered how often this was happening to primate species across the country. These monkeys are listed in the “Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho” as vulnerable, and the roadkill represented another threat to their already fragile populations.&nbsp;



“It’s one stretch where the road is quite close to indigenous forest, which is where samango monkeys typically live,” Linden said..She wondered whether road fatalities represented more of a threat to non-human primates than researchers suspected. South Africa is home to more than 675,000 miles (1,090,000 kilometers) of roads and power lines – and the number keeps climbing.



To explore the extent of this pervasive threat, Linden and her colleagues drew from a wide range of data sources. They include Road Watch, a citizen science app released by the EWT that allows anyone in South Africa to upload reports of roadkill. In all, the team gathered 483 examples of primates killed on roads or around power lines, some dating back to the late 1990s. All five species of primates were represented in the database.&nbsp;



In the second study, Frank Cuozzo of the Lajuma Research Centre and a research fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute, led researchers in exploring the impact of domestic dog kills on greater bushbabies. In fact, the team gathered data opportunistically during the course of their research on bushbabies in the mountains of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. They recorded the deaths of greater bushbabies, regardless of the cause – whether by domestic dogs, road kills, electrocutions, or natural predation.&nbsp;



“Bushbabies, especially, are an example of species that may be having problems, but we don’t know what they are until we go looking,” said Michelle Sauther, co-author of the two studies and professor of anthropology at CU Boulder.



Their information was also derived using the broad network of citizen scientists, along with newspaper articles and reports on social media, and their own experiences in the study area. In particular, they recorded 13 known incidents since 2014 where greater bushbabies were killed by dogs. In one instance, people intentionally sent their hunting dogs out to kill a bushbaby that had ventured too close to town and that was considered the embodiment of an evil spirit.&nbsp;



In another instance, a greater bushbaby that was personally known at the Lajuma Research Center was killed by a dog. This bushbaby had been captured and measured four times between 2015 and 2018. It was not in a good shape, having lost one eye and also showing signs of significant dental decay and tooth abscesses. The researchers nicknamed it “Bruiser” because it reminded them of a prize fighter. In 2019, Bruiser was caught and killed by a domestic dog. It seems that the bushbaby came down from the trees and was walking on the ground when the pet dog found and killed him.&nbsp;



“These are small stories,” said Sauther, who has studied bushbabies for a decade. “They’re not the big stories of conservation, but they really do matter, especially as we have no good data on bushbaby mortality and thus cannot easily judge their conservation status.”



They may be small stories, but they probably represent the situation for almost all non-human primate species across the continent, not just in South Africa. And the data that has been collected by the researchers in these two studies is likely to underrepresent the situation considerably because to most people the deaths of these animals are considered insignificant and not worthy of recording.



“These reports are clearly a sliver of what’s actually happening,” said Cuozzo who earned his doctorate in biological anthropology from CU Boulder in 2000. “It’s happening in the towns and suburban areas, in the rural areas, the reserve areas, and it’s happening far more than anyone would think.”



The researchers do not know whether fatalities from roads, power lines and domestic dogs are significant in terms of non-human primate numbers in South Africa, mostly because the population status of each species is not known. However, they argue that it is important to monitor these deaths, especially since all of the species are already suffering the consequences of climate change and habitat loss.&nbsp;



Wendy Collinson-Jonker, co-author of the infrastructure study and a researcher at the EWT, noted that these problems are widespread, but may be surprisingly simple to rectify. Studies have shown, for example, that monkeys and other forest climbers can hop across roads safely on a “canopy bridge,” such as a rope suspended between trees.



Humans can also keep dogs away from primates by being careful not to leave food out, especially at night. Leftover dog or cat food, or even fruit left out on bird feeders, can attract bushbabies and monkeys into areas where they are then vulnerable to attack by dogs.



“We know the solutions,” Collinson-Jonker said. “It’s a case of now getting them implemented.”



As for Bruiser the bushbaby, Sauther noted that his story ended with a small bit of consolation. The team was able to recover his body and collected X-rays that helped reveal a deeper picture of his more than a decade of life, right down to the arthritis building up between his joints that likely led him to climb down to the ground rather than leap through the trees in search of food.



“We were able to document his whole life story,” Sauther said. “We knew him right to the end.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

South African primates face multiple threats

Non-human primates, including apes, monkeys, and galagos, are increasingly threatened...

During its recent update of at-risk plants and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-are-increasingly-threatened-by-heatwaves-worldwide/">animals</a> to be included on the “Red List,” the IUCN decided to recognize two species of African elephants. Apart from the better-known savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), they have also included the more reclusive forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) as a species, after new genetic evidence of their status emerged. Forest elephants occur in the tropical forests of Central Africa and West Africa, and their numbers have declined drastically in the past 30 years – to the extent that they are now deemed critically endangered by the IUCN.&nbsp;



Humans do not have a good record when it comes to the way in which we have treated elephants. We have killed them for their ivory, made them work for us and perform for us, consigned them to captivity and reduced their habitat to fragmented patches. For forest elephants, poaching and habitat loss have taken the worst toll and resulted in the loss of around 65 percent of individuals in the past 12 years.&nbsp;



This decline in forest elephant numbers may have serious consequences for carbon storage in tropical rainforests, report <a href="https://www.slu.edu/">Saint Louis University</a> researchers and colleagues.&nbsp;The scientists state that, if the already critically endangered elephants become extinct, the rainforests of Central and West Africa would lose between six and nine percent of their ability to capture atmospheric carbon, thereby contributing to planetary warming.



Stephen Blake, who is assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University and senior author on the research paper, has spent much of his career dedicated to studying elephants. In the report, published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, he and lead author Fabio Berzaghi from the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE) in France, along with colleagues, document exactly how the ecology of these mega-herbivores ends up having such a strong influence on carbon retention in African rainforests.



“Elephants have been hunted by humans for millennia,” Blake said. “As a result, African forest elephants are critically endangered. The argument that everybody loves elephants hasn’t raised sufficient support to stop the killing. Shifting the argument for elephant conservation toward the role forest elephants play in maintaining the biodiversity of the forest, that losing elephants would mean losing forest biodiversity, hasn’t worked either, as numbers continue to fall,” explains Blake.&nbsp;



“We can now add the robust conclusion that if we lose forest elephants, we will be doing a global disservice to climate change mitigation. The importance of forest elephants for climate mitigation must be taken seriously by policy makers to generate the support needed for elephant conservation. The role of forest elephants in our global environment is too important to ignore."



Blake and his colleagues explain that forest elephants are critical in maintaining tropical forests in several ways.&nbsp;Firstly, their foraging thins out the density of trees in a way that favors the growth of high carbon density trees. Within the forest, some trees have light wood (low carbon density trees) while others make heavy wood (high carbon density trees). Low carbon density trees grow quickly, rising above other plants and trees to get to the sunlight, whereas high carbon density trees grow more slowly and take longer to reach the sunlight.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Elephants tend to forage more intensively on low carbon density trees, which are more palatable and nutritious. This reduces the density of trees and introduces more light within the canopy, resulting in less competition between trees for light, space and soil nutrients. In this way, the high carbon density trees are able to flourish.&nbsp;



“Elephants eat lots of leaves from lots of trees, and they do a lot of damage when they eat,” Blake said. “They’ll strip leaves from trees, rip off a whole branch or uproot a sapling when eating, and our data shows most of this damage occurs to low carbon density trees. If there are a lot of high carbon density trees around, that’s one less competitor, eliminated by the elephants.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Elephants can change the structure of the forest by their foraging activity, and they can also help regenerate areas by dispersing seeds. The fruits of high carbon density trees, in particular, contain nutritious flesh and seeds. The animals favor the fruits of these trees and the seeds they consume pass unaffected through their&nbsp; guts. In fact, some seeds will not germinate without first travelling through an elephant’s digestive system and being deposited on the forest floor in a pile of nutritious dung. These saplings will, in turn, become some of the largest trees in the forest.



“Elephants are the gardeners of the forest,” Blake said. “They plant the forest with high carbon density trees and they get rid of the ‘weeds,’ which are the low carbon density trees. They do a tremendous amount of work maintaining the diversity of the forest.”



The actions of these elephants can therefore influence the carbon levels in the atmosphere. High carbon density trees store more carbon from the atmosphere in their wood than low carbon density trees, which helps limit the extent of global warming. Given this important role in mitigating climate change, it becomes even more urgent to conserve the forest elephants of the Congo Basin and West Africa.



“The illegal killing of elephants and the illegal trade remains active,” Blake said. “Ten million elephants once roamed across Africa, and now there are fewer than 500,000, with most populations living in isolated pockets. These elephants range from endangered to critically endangered, with their numbers plummeting by more than 80 percent in the last 30-plus years.”



“Elephants are protected under national and international law, and yet poaching continues,” he explains. “These illegal killings must stop to prevent forest elephant extinction. Now we have a choice. As a global society, we can continue to hunt these highly social and intelligent animals and watch them become extinct, or we can find ways to stop this illegal activity. Save the elephants and help save the planet, it really is that simple.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Elephants are forest gardeners that help reduce global warming

During its recent update of at-risk plants and animals to...

If you were to take a trip into space, you’d be tumbling around the rocket cabin due to the lack of gravity. However, a new study from the University of Antwerp and the <a href="https://www.uliege.be/">University of Liège</a> has revealed that this is not the only physiological effect of zero gravity. In fact, the human brain actually adapts to the feeling of weightlessness, with some effects persisting for more than eight months after returning to Earth.&nbsp;



The "BRAIN-DTI scientific project" has received support and acknowledgment from Raphaël Liégeois, a Belgian astronaut who will soon be the third Belgian in space. The purpose of this study on the effects of weightlessness on the human brain is to prepare the new generation of astronauts for longer missions, explained Liégeois.



To better understand weightlessness of the brain, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the brains of 14 astronauts both before and after their mission to space. Data was collected in resting conditions to ensure that there was no activity that may influence the MRI scans of each astronaut, helping the researchers to understand whether any changes were apparent after long-duration spaceflight.&nbsp;



Through this study of default brain states before and after space missions, the researchers were able to conclude that “functional connectivity” changed after prolonged space flight. Functional connectivity is a marker used to assess how the activity within specific brain areas correlates with activity in other regions. In the case of this study, before and after functional connectivity states were compared.&nbsp;



“We found that connectivity was altered after spaceflight in regions that support the integration of different types of information," explained Steven Jillings and Floris Wuyts, researchers at the University of Antwerp. “Moreover, we found that some of these altered communication patterns were retained throughout 8 months of being back on Earth. However, other brain changes returned to the level of how the areas were functioning before the space mission.”



Long-term functional connectivity changes were interpreted to represent a lasting learning effect on the brain. On the other hand, brain changes that returned to normal levels upon return were interpreted as transient effects of spaceflight that indicate a more acute and short-term adaptation to changed gravity levels.&nbsp;



Whilst the scientists are excited about the study findings, research into understanding brain communication changes after space travel is still in a very early stage. It will still be necessary to analyze the behavioral consequences that correlate with these functional connectivity changes, and further studies must be conducted to understand whether longer time in space correlates with more significant brain changes. This research could help organizations select and monitor future astronauts based on the way their brains react to prolonged flight.&nbsp;



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-04382-w">Communications Biology</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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The human brain adapts to weightlessness in space

If you were to take a trip into space, you’d...

Team,Of,Doctors,Or,Surgeons,With,Electrocardiogram,Monitor,In,Hospital

Although COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness that affects the lungs, it can also affect other organs in the body, including the heart. Temporary or lasting damage to the heart may arise from a lack of sufficient oxygen as the lung’s air sacs fill up with fluid, from inflammation due to the effects of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sars-cov-2-can-survive-on-frozen-meat-for-up-to-a-month/">SARS-CoV-2</a> virus, or from inflammation due to a person’s own immune system’s response to infection by the virus. Although these symptoms may resolve themselves with treatment, they can also lead to life-threatening heart issues such as arrhythmias, heart attacks and strokes.



A research study, due to be presented at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biophysics.org/2023meeting#/">67th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting</a>&nbsp;in San Diego, California, has found that the heart tissue of people who have had COVID-19 can show significant changes that could be related to these heart issues.&nbsp; Professor Andrew Marks of Columbia University and colleagues have studied changes in the heart and heart muscle of COVID-19 sufferers, and in laboratory mice that have been infected with the virus.



In heart tissue from patients who had COVID-19, the team observed increases in oxidative stress (harmful production of unstable molecules) and signals of inflammation, as well as changes in calcium. They also detected adverse changes to a protein called RyR2, which is responsible for regulating the heart’s calcium ion levels.&nbsp;



The heart muscle, like all muscle cells, needs calcium ions in order to contract. The heart’s system for managing calcium ions is essential for the coordinated contractions of the atria and ventricles that pump blood throughout the body. When calcium in the heart becomes dysregulated, it can cause arrhythmias or heart failure.



To test whether these changes were caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers used a mouse model that was also susceptible to infection by the virus. The mice that suffered COVID-19 disease also showed changes to the heart tissue, including immune cell infiltration, collagen deposition (indicative of injury), death of heart cells, and blood clots.&nbsp;



The researchers also measured changes to the proteins that are expressed by the heart cells and found patterns consistent with changes observed in the hearts of humans that suffered COVID-19 disease. Microscopic examination of mouse hearts showed an increased percentage of fibrosis and dilation of the muscle fibers, which is a common indicator of early cardiomyopathy in mice, and can make it harder for the heart to pump blood to the body, leading potentially to heart failure.



“The more awareness you build around particular aspects of a disease, the more likely you are to improve the care of patients. And doctors should be aware of heart changes related to COVID-19 infections and should be looking for them,” said Professor Marks. Ultimately, “we want to really figure out what's causing the heart disease and how to fix it."



If future research is able to uncover the biochemical mechanisms that underlie these changes, then specific medications can be used to target these molecular pathways and could help healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat the cardiac issues more effectively. Additionally, understanding the cardiac complications of COVID-19 can also help public health officials make more informed decisions about how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in advising those at higher risk for heart problems.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

COVID-19 patients experience changes in heart tissue

Although COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness that affects the...

Bright,Flowers,And,Leaves,Of,Red,Peony,Against,Blue,Sky

Since they are only capable of converting up to 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity, current <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/green-solar-panels-appealing/">solar panels</a> are not very efficient. In order to generate a sufficient amount of electricity, such panels require a lot of space, often leading forests to be cut down or farms to be replaced by panels.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.umd.edu/">University of Maryland</a> is aiming to make solar panels more efficient by harnessing plants’ energy to convert sunlight into chemical energy. Such panels would be smaller and produce the same amount of energy as those we are currently using without claiming so much space.&nbsp;



The scientists aim to use biological molecules to make electricity which can then be harvested to power solar devices or stored in batteries for future use. This process mainly involves leveraging molecules’ fluorescence.&nbsp;



“Any sort of molecule that fluoresces, gives off light. If we excite the fluorophore, it can transfer its energy to metal nanoparticles, and if the particles are close enough to each other, they will knock off electrons and generate current,” explained lead author Lahari Saha, a doctoral student in Chemistry at Maryland.



However, as the scientists stress, these processes are not only limited to molecules that fluoresce, and would in fact just require molecules that have high absorption of light, such as chlorophyll, beta carotene, or lutein, which are relatively inexpensive and easy to extract from plants.



Another benefit of such solar panels is that they would be much easier and safer to recycle than the ones we currently use, which relay on expensive materials such as silicon and contain toxic elements like lead and cadmium. By contrast, the new solar panels will consist mainly of plant-based molecules and other materials such as copper, which would make them much easier to recycle while not polluting the environment. Moreover, by selecting materials with greater longevity, these panels will also last longer and need to be replaced less frequently.



By constructing such efficient solar panels that don’t have a large environmental footprint, the experts hope to help farms maximize food production over generating energy, and, at the same time, protect the world’s forests.



The study will be presented on Wednesday, February 22 at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biophysics.org/2023meeting#/">67th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting</a>&nbsp;in San Diego, California.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

Scientists harness plant energy to improve solar panels

Since they are only capable of converting up to 20...

Seismograph,For,Earthquake,Detection,Or,Lie,Detector,Is,Drawing,Chart.

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a> has recently discovered that an everyday quirk of physics may be a crucial tool in predicting the world’s most powerful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-tides-earthquakes/">earthquakes</a>. According to the experts, a frictional phenomenon may be a critical key in understanding when and how violently faults move. While this alone cannot allow scientists predict when and where the next major earthquake will strike – since the forces behind large earthquakes are very complex – it will nevertheless offer scientists a new way to investigate the causes and potential for damaging earthquakes to occur.



The researchers squeezed rocks collected from a well-studied fault off the coast of New Zealand in a hydraulic press and discovered that they were very slow to heal and slipped easily. Introducing this finding in a computer model used to estimate the earthquake activity in that area, the results pointed towards a small, slow-motion tremor every two years, an almost exact match with observations from the New Zealand fault. Thus, a fault that is slow to heal is more likely to move harmlessly, while one that heals quickly is more probable to stick until it breaks into a large, damaging earthquake – a phenomenon that also explains, for instance, why it takes more effort to shove a heavy box from a standstill than it does to keep it in motion.



“The same physics and logic should apply to all different kinds of faults around the world,” said study co-lead author Demian Saffer, an expert in Geophysics at UT Austin. “With the right samples and field observations we can now start to make testable predictions about how big and how often large seismic slip events might occur on other major faults, like Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest.”



The experts believe that the clay-rich rocks that are common at many large faults may be regulating earthquakes by allowing plates to slip quietly past each other, limiting the buildup of stress.&nbsp;



“This doesn’t get us any closer to actually predicting earthquakes, but it does tell us whether a fault is likely to slip silently with no earthquakes, or have large ground-shaking earthquakes,” explained co-lead author Srisharan Shreedharan, an assistant professor of Geosciences at the <a href="https://www.usu.edu/">Utah State University</a>.



Since at Cascadia, for instance, there is little evidence of shallow, slow-motion tremors, the <a href="https://pnsn.org/">Pacific Northwest Seismic Network</a> (PNSN) aims to place sensors across key areas of the fault, in order to monitor the possibility of major earthquakes.&nbsp;



“We want to zero in on the processes in the shallow part of the fault because that’s what governs the size of the tsunami,” said Harold Tobin, the director of PNSN. “Fault healing doesn’t explain everything, but it does give us a window into the working of subduction zone faults that we didn’t have before.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adf4930">Science</a>.



—-



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

New tool designed to predict earthquake severity

A team of researchers led by the University of Texas...

As <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-tech-can-capture-carbon-dioxide-from-the-atmosphere/">carbon dioxide</a> continues to build up in our planet’s atmosphere, scientists are investigating ways to eliminate this gas more efficiently from the air. However, the world’s leading carbon sink is the ocean, which captures 30 to 40 percent of all the CO2 produced by human activities. Thus, many researchers have recently taken into consideration the possibility of removing CO2 directly from seawater in order to mitigate emissions.



The existing methods for doing this usually apply a high voltage across a stack of membranes to acidify a feed stream by water splitting, a process that converts bicarbonates in the water to CO2 molecules. However, such membranes are expensive, and other chemicals are also required to drive the overall electrode reactions at both sides of the stack, making the procedure even more expensive and complex. Recently though, a team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) may have found the key to a highly efficient and inexpensive removal mechanism.



“We wanted to avoid the need for introducing chemicals to the anode and cathode half cells and to avoid the use of membranes at all if possible,” said study senior author Alan Hatton, a professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.



The experts devised a reversible process consisting of membrane-free electrochemical cells, in which reactive electrodes are used to release protons to the seawater fed to the cells, triggering the release of the dissolved CO2 from the water. This process is cyclical: it first acidifies the water to convert dissolved inorganic bicarbonates to molecular CO2 that is collected as a gas under vacuum, while afterwards, the water is fed to another set of cells with a reversed voltage to recover the protons and turn the acidic water back to alkaline before releasing it back to the ocean. Once one set of electrodes is depleted of protons during acidification and the other is regenerated during alkalization, the roles of the two cells is reversed.



Since CO2 buildup has increased ocean acidification, threatening vast populations of corals and shellfish, the removal of this gas and reinjection of alkaline water – which could be done through dispersed outlets or far offshore to avoid dangerous local spikes in alkalinity - could slowly start to reverse this process.&nbsp;



However, once the CO2 is removed from seawater, it will still need to be disposed of. This could be done by burying it in deep geologic foundations beneath the seafloor or by chemically converting it into a compound such as ethanol that can be later used as a transportation fuel or integrated into other specialty chemicals.&nbsp;



“You can certainly consider using the captured CO2&nbsp;as a feedstock for chemicals or materials production, but you’re not going to be able to use all of it as a feedstock. You’ll run out of markets for all the products you produce, so not matter what, a significant amount of the captured CO2&nbsp;will need to be buried underground,” Hatton explained.



Since desalination plants are already processing ocean water, these new carbon removal systems could efficiently be integrated into such already existing plants. Other locations could include ships that would process water as they travel, offshore drilling platforms, or aquaculture farms. Ultimately, it could lead to the global deployment of free-standing carbon removal plants.



“The carbon dioxide problem is the defining problem of our life, of our existence. So clearly, we need all the help we can get,” concluded co-author Kripa Varanasi, a mechanical engineer at MIT.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D2EE03804H">Energy &amp; Environmental Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

Removing carbon dioxide from seawater

As carbon dioxide continues to build up in our planet’s...

Imagine if we could reverse the effects of aging simply by exercising. A new study, published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/JP283836">The Journal of Physiology</a>, suggests that exercise may indeed make the muscle cells of lab mice more youthful and may help ameliorate the adverse effects of aging in humans too.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The process of aging involves predictable, progressive changes to cells. During their life, cells express different patterns of genes, and those patterns of expression (epigenetics) are unique to each phase in a cell’s life, from young to old, such that it is easy to identify a cell’s age. Older cells become less able to regenerate, suffer from the shortening of their telomeres and show increasing numbers of dysfunctional mitochondria. Eventually, these accumulating conditions lead to a loss of cellular function and to cell death.&nbsp;



However, it is possible to rejuvenate aged cells and make them "act young" again. For example, a human ovum may be over 30 years old before it is fertilized, at which time it becomes reprogrammed to form numerous pluripotent cells that give rise to a new individual with "young" cells.&nbsp;



Initially, scientists imagined that many genetic factors must be involved in turning back the hands of time like this, but in 2006 a study by Dr. Kazutoshi Yamanaka and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka showed that it was possible to reprogram cells in this way using just four master genes named Oct3/4, Klf4,&nbsp;Sox2 and&nbsp;c-Myc,&nbsp;often abbreviated to&nbsp;OKSM. These four reprogramming factors are often called the Yamanaka factors.



The four protein transcription factors can make highly specialized cells (such as skin cells) revert back to stem cells, which are in a younger and more adaptable state. Dr. Shinya Yamanaka received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for this discovery. In subsequent research it has been shown that, in the correct dosages, inducing the Yamanaka factors throughout the body in rodents can ameliorate the hallmarks of aging by resetting the gene expression patterns such that the cells mimic the characteristics of more youthful cells.



It has long been established that exercising has beneficial effects for people, in terms of increased strength of bones and muscles, improved mobility and endurance, and lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. But it now looks that exercising may help rejuvenate the epigenetic nature of cells as well. In previous research, mice nearing the end of their life-spans were given weighted wheels on which to run, thus ensuring that they built up muscle while they exercised. After two months of regular weighted wheel running, their muscle cells had the epigenetic age of mice eight weeks younger than sedentary mice of the same age.



Based on these findings, the authors of the current research decided to compare the epigenetic (gene expression) profiles in skeletal muscle fibers from mice who had been allowed to exercise late in life and from mice that overexpressed&nbsp;OKSM&nbsp;in their muscles,&nbsp;as well as to genetically modified mice that overexpressed only&nbsp;Myc&nbsp;in their muscles. Of the four factors,&nbsp;Myc&nbsp;is the one induced by exercising skeletal muscle.&nbsp;It is thought that Myc&nbsp;may serve as a naturally induced reprogramming stimulus in muscle, making it a useful point of comparison between cells that have been reprogrammed via over expression of the Yamanaka factors and cells that have been reprogrammed through exercise. This "reprogramming” reflects how an environmental stimulus can alter the expression of genes.&nbsp;



Using global gene expression analysis in the muscle fibers of the different groups of mice, the research team (six of whom are affiliated with the University of Arkansas), found that the factor Myc&nbsp;was elevated in muscle fibers following exercise training in aged mice. Thus, the team concluded that exercise does indeed promote a gene expression profile that is more typical of youthful cells.&nbsp;



While it would be nice to imagine we could someday manipulate levels of Myc&nbsp;in muscles to achieve the rejuvenating effects of exercise without doing the hard work, this would not be the correct approach, explained study co-author Kevin Murach, an assistant professor in the U of A’s Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation.&nbsp;



First,&nbsp;Myc&nbsp;would not be able to replicate all the beneficial downstream effects that exercise has throughout the body. It is also known that&nbsp;the expression of Yamanaka factors, such as Myc, can trigger cancerous tumors in animals, and rewire the cell so far back that it loses its specific identity. Clearly, there are inherent dangers to manipulating the expression of these factors. Instead, Murach&nbsp;thinks manipulating&nbsp;Myc&nbsp;might best be employed as an experimental strategy to understand how to restore exercise adaptation to old muscles showing declining responsiveness.&nbsp;



Possibly it could also be a means of supercharging the exercise response of astronauts in zero gravity, or of people confined to bed rest who only have a limited capacity for exercise.&nbsp;Myc&nbsp;has many effects, both good and bad, so defining the beneficial ones could lead to a safe therapeutic that could be effective for humans down the road.



Murach sees their research as further validation of exercise as a polypill. “Exercise is the most powerful drug we have,” he said. In this light, it should be considered a health-enhancing, and potentially life-extending, treatment along with medications and a healthy diet.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

Exercise may actually be the fountain of youth

Imagine if we could reverse the effects of aging simply...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade6049">Science Advances</a> has investigated how watching <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/environmental-disaster-movies/">movies</a> – a favorite pastime for billions of people – makes us feel and think in comparison to other activities such as performing tasks or resting. According to the experts, film watching leads to a “flatter” brain hierarchy, suggesting that less neural computation is needed when performing such an activity, a finding which could explain the pleasurable and escapist feelings people have when engaging in such activities.



The scientists used high resolution large-scale neuroimaging data from 176 people watching clips from movies including Home Alone, Inception, Erin Brockovich, The Social Network, or The Empire Strikes Back to examine the hierarchical reorganization of the brain movie watching elicits.



By building whole-brain models of the neural activity elicited by movie watching and comparing it to models emerging from performing tasks or resting, the experts discovered that the brain hierarchy is flatter when watching movies, suggesting that the brain is less driven by internal dynamics and needs less computation during such as activity, thus making us feel momentarily free from the stressful experience of working and having to solve problems. While watching movies, the brain is allowed to just absorb the cinematic narrative, in a process apparently responsible for the highly motivating and soothing pleasure elicited by movies.



“The study provides novel, important insights into the causal mechanisms underlying complex changes in brain hierarchy. Using more naturalistic stimuli such as movies provide a fast and convenient way to measure important changes in the anatomical connectivity found in, for example, neuropsychiatric disorders, and can lead to new insights in vulnerable populations including children,” explained study lead author Gustavo Deco, a neuroscientist at the <a href="https://www.upf.edu/en/">Pompeu Fabra University</a> in Spain.&nbsp;



“This study provides intriguing new evidence for how movies can change the whole-brain hierarchical organization needed for orchestrating brain computation,” added lead author Morten L. Kringelbach, a professor of Neuroscience at the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/">University of Oxford</a> and <a href="https://international.au.dk/">Aarhus University</a>.&nbsp;



“The brain abstracts coherent narratives from still images and sound, which sets us free to transcend the rat race of survival, if even for the briefest moment. The study shows the truth of words of the late great French director Jean-Luc Godard: ‘Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.’”



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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 watching movies affect our brain?

A new study published in the journal Science Advances has...

Sunset,Sea,Water,Ocean,Wave

According to a new study conducted by an international team of scientists, the state of the world’s <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-warming-could-be-devastating-to-all-living-creatures/">oceans</a> keeps deteriorating due to global warming. The experts analyzed three key indicators of climate change, and found that continued historical record-breaking temperatures, all-time high levels of ocean salinity-contrast, and increased ocean stratification (the separation of water into layers) show no signs of slowing down.



“Global warming continues and is manifested in record ocean heat, and also in continued extremes of salinity. The latter highlight that salty areas get saltier, and fresh areas get fresher and so there is a continuing increase in intensity of the hydrological cycle,” said study lead author Lijing Cheng, an oceanographer at the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics</a> (IAP) in China.



This massive amount of heat going into the oceans has serious consequences for our planet. The increasing saltiness – and therefore stratification – of the oceans can significantly affect how heat, carbon, and oxygen are exchanged between the water and the atmosphere above it, and can lead to ocean deoxygenation (loss of oxygen), which may have cascading consequences not only for marine life and ecosystems, but also for terrestrial life, including humans.&nbsp;



A drop in ocean biodiversity and the displacement of important species can wreak havoc on fishing-dependent communities and their economies, dramatically affecting the way most people interact with their environments.



“Some places are experiencing more droughts, which lead to an increased risk of wildfires, and other places are experiencing massive floods from heavy rainfall, often supported by increased evaporation from warm oceans. This contributes to changes in the hydrologic cycle and emphasizes the interactive role that oceans play,” said study co-author Kevin Trenberth, an expert in Climate Analysis at the <a href="https://ncar.ucar.edu/">National Center for Atmospheric Research</a>.



In future research, the scientists aim to better understand the changes of the Earth’s major cycles and thus improve projections of how heat, water, and carbon interact. Clarifying these issues will give scientists and policymakers an idea of what can be done preemptively to prepare for higher temperatures, extreme weather events, and other consequences coming along with warming oceans.



“The oceans are absorbing most of the heating from human carbon emissions. Until we reach net zero emissions, that heating will continue, and we’ll continue to break ocean heat content records, as we did this year. Better awareness and understanding of the oceans are a basis for the actions to combat climate change,” concluded co-author Michael Mann, a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/">University of Pennsylvania</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00376-023-2385-2">Advances in Atmospheric Sciences</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

Record-breaking ocean heat continues

According to a new study conducted by an international team...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/open-water-is-accelerating-ocean-acidification-in-the-arctic/">oceans</a> absorbed approximately 22 percent of the carbon emissions generated by human activities between 2010 and 2019, making them critically important in the current fight against climate change. Absorbed carbon may end up being recycled or stored by marine organisms, or sinking to the bottom of the deep sea, where it can be sequestered over long time periods. Whales are the largest ocean inhabitants and, due to their size and longevity, can influence carbon dynamics in marine ecosystems. For this reason, some scientists have proposed that whales may represent a possible nature-based solution to mitigate increased carbon emissions.



While we are familiar with mitigation efforts focused on reforestation or restoring wetlands, a new study published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.10.012">Trends in Ecology and Evolution</a> stresses the importance of understanding the role of whales in marine carbon cycles, and how they influence the amount of carbon in our air and waters, and may potentially contribute to the overall reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide.



“Understanding the role of whales in the carbon cycle is a dynamic and emerging field that may benefit both marine conservation and climate-change strategies,” wrote the researchers, led by Heidi Pearson from the University of Alaska Southeast. “This will require interdisciplinary collaboration between marine ecologists, oceanographers, biogeochemists, carbon-cycle modelers, and economists.”



Whales can weigh up to 150 tons, live for over 100 years, and be the size of large airplanes. Like all living things, their biomass contains a lot of carbon and they influence the marine carbon cycles in several different ways. They feed on huge quantities of nutrient rich prey (up to 4 percent of their body weight each day) and are better at long-term storage of this carbon, given their longevity.&nbsp;



Once they have digested their food, whales excrete waste which enriches the water with nutrients and is used by small organisms for their own growth. Some of these organisms are phytoplankton that photosynthesize, a process that removes large quantities of carbon dioxide and incorporates the carbon into biological molecules.&nbsp;



Whales move across the world’s oceans during migratory journeys, transporting and spreading carbon around. Some whale species also move vertically, diving down deep to catch prey. When a whale dies, its carcass may sink to the bottom of the deep sea where the carbon from its decaying body may remain sequestered for long periods of time. Whales thus have a role in the animal-driven biological carbon pump whereby biogenic carbon is moved from the atmosphere and surface waters down to the depths of the oceans.



“Their size and longevity allow whales to exert strong effects on the carbon cycle by storing carbon more effectively than small animals, ingesting extreme quantities of prey, and producing large volumes of waste products,” wrote the researchers. “Considering that baleen whales have some of the longest migrations on the planet, they potentially influence nutrient dynamics and carbon cycling over ocean-basin scales.”



There have been several studies examining the impact of whales on the carbon cycle that hold promise for including whales in blue carbon schemes. These are nature-based solutions that take a holistic approach to mitigating climate change effects through promoting biodiversity and ecosystem preservation in coastal and marine ecosystems. The great whales are capable of removing carbon through direct pathways by storing it in their bodies and by transferring it to the deep via whale falls (carcasses). For these reasons, the authors consider that whales may indeed have a role to play in a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation.&nbsp;



Currently, data on the carbon sequestration potential of whales is lacking but it would be true to say that the recovery of whale populations would certainly increase their capacity as participants in the biological carbon pump. Commercial hunting, the largest source of whale population decline, has decreased populations by an estimated 81 percent and so the recovery of these populations would undoubtedly enhance the role of these marine giants in oceanic carbon cycling and carbon dioxide removal.



Today, although commercial hunting has largely ceased, whale populations continue to be affected by ship strikes, underwater noise pollution, entanglement in fishing gear, ocean warming and reduction in prey populations. They are also still caught commercially in some locations. All these factors affect the potential for whales to act as carbon removers in blue carbon schemes.



“Whale recovery has the potential for long-term self-sustained enhancement of the ocean carbon sink,” write the study authors. “The full carbon dioxide reduction role of great whales (and other organisms) will only be realized through robust conservation and management interventions that directly promote population increases.”



“While whales are capable of some degree of carbon dioxide removal, there are numerous knowledge gaps that must also be addressed by policy makers seeking to incorporate whale conservation strategies as part of their climate policy. Persistence of carbon stored in whale bodies and exported to the deep sea as whale falls via direct pathways are the best resolved and most precise, yet the largest carbon benefits may result from the indirect pathways, which are also currently the least understood. Elucidating these key unknowns, including realizing the full potential for whales to sequester carbon, presents rich opportunities for further study.”



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.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

World Whale Day: Can whales help mitigate climate change?

The oceans absorbed approximately 22 percent of the carbon emissions...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/satellite-data-reveals-vulnerable-tropical-forests-on-a-global-scale/">Tropical forests</a> that are recovering from logging were considered by scientists to be efficient carbon absorbers, as the new trees grow rather quickly. However, according to a new study led by <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/">Imperial College London</a> (ICL), carbon released by soil and rotting wood outpaces the carbon absorbed by new growth, making these recovering forests sources of carbon for years afterwards. These findings highlight the need for logging practices that minimize collateral damage to improve the sustainability of the industry.



“Our results show that for the tropical forest we studied, logged areas are a source of carbon even a decade after logging has occurred. This means we need to reassess their role in global carbon budgets – we can no longer apply the blanket assumption that they are carbon sinks,” said study lead author Maria Mills, an expert in carbon fluxes at the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a>.



“A lot of the carbon released in recovering forests is from collateral damage – trees that have died as a result of damage during the logging operations left to rot, and from disturbed soil. Logged forests still have value – we know they have a&nbsp;unique biodiversity&nbsp;– so making sure they are also not releasing extra carbon through better logging practices will boost their sustainability,” added lead researcher Terhi Riutta, an ecosystem ecologist at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>.



While most previous studies of recovering forests have focused on measuring tree growth in order to estimate the amount of CO2 taken from the atmosphere, this new study also measured the amount of carbon emanating from the ground (soil and dead wood) to calculate the carbon budget from the incoming and outgoing carbon flows for both logged and unlogged forests.



The analysis revealed that, while unlogged forests are usually carbon neutral, moderately and heavily logged tropical forests are a significant carbon source. The experts estimate an average carbon source of 1.75 +/- 0.94 tons of carbon per hectare in moderately logged forest plots and 5.23 +/- 1.23 tons of carbon per hectare in severely degraded plots, with CO2 emissions continuing at these rates for at least one decade after logging.



&nbsp;“The measurements from the tower show us whether the forest area is a source or a sink of carbon, and the soil monitoring tells us why this is. From these measurements, we know logged forests are still a source of carbon up to a decade after they have been logged, and that this primarily comes from organic matter in the soil or from rotting wood,” concluded co-author Rob Ewers, an expert in Forest Ecology at ICL.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2214462120">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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.

Recovering forests act as carbon sources

Tropical forests that are recovering from logging were considered by...

<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="0ynNMYkMKa-2340414-12187" type="single"]</div>



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



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



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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

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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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



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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

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" 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 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



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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



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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



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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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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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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...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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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.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...