A recent global study has shed light on a long-debated question in the world of entomology: are <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/are-insects-animals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">insect</a> populations more active during the day or night? The findings, led by <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/mark-wong" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dr. Mark Wong</a> of <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The University of Western Australia</a>, reveal a surprising pattern – insect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/extreme-weather-has-increased-seasonal-insect-activity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">activity</a> increases by a third (31.4%) at night.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insect-activity-cycles">Insect activity cycles</h2>



Insects play vital roles in ecosystems across the globe. Many flowering plants rely on insects to transfer pollen between blooms, ensuring the fertilization of seeds and the production of fruits and vegetables. Without insects like bees, butterflies, and flies, our food supply would be dramatically limited.



Insects help break down organic matter such as decaying leaves, fallen logs, and animal waste. This releases essential nutrients back into the soil, promoting plant growth and supporting the health of whole ecosystems.



Diverse animals, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, rely on insects as a primary food supply. Insects help to transfer energy up the food chain and support biodiversity at multiple levels.



Understanding their activity patterns across the day-night cycle is thus essential for comprehending broader ecological processes.&nbsp;When insects are more active directly influences their ability to carry out these vital roles in the ecosystem. 



Knowing whether certain species are predominantly nocturnal or diurnal helps us understand factors like pollination timing, predator-prey relationships, and how ecosystems respond to environmental change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insect-activity-at-night-and-day">Insect activity at night and day</h2>



Dr. Wong's research provides a comprehensive picture of which insect groups favor nocturnal or diurnal lifestyles:



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nocturnal-insects">Nocturnal insects</h3>



<ul>
<li>Mayflies: Delicate insects with large, transparent wings. They are vital to aquatic ecosystems - their nymph stage is spent underwater and they are a key food source for fish. Adult mayflies have a famously short lifespan, emerging just to mate and lay eggs.</li>



<li>Caddisflies:&nbsp;Similar to small moths, their aquatic larvae often build cases around themselves from materials like leaves and twigs for protection. They play a crucial role in processing organic matter in streams and rivers.</li>



<li>Moths:&nbsp;While some moths are diurnal, many species are nocturnal. They are important pollinators, especially for night-blooming flowers, and serve as food for bats and other nocturnal predators.</li>



<li>Earwigs:&nbsp;Identified by their distinctive pincers, these insects are mostly nocturnal scavengers. They help control pest populations and contribute to the breakdown of decaying matter.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diurnal-insects">Diurnal insects</h3>



<ul>
<li>Thrips:&nbsp;Tiny, slender <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/common-insect-species-face-the-greatest-declines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">insects</a> that feed on plants. While some species can damage crops, many are beneficial as they pollinate flowers or prey on other insect pests.</li>



<li>Bees: Perhaps the most famous pollinators. Bees live in structured colonies and collect pollen and nectar to feed their young, facilitating the reproduction of countless plant species.</li>



<li>Wasps:&nbsp;While often considered pests, many wasps are actually predators of other insects, helping control populations of flies, caterpillars, and other potential crop pests. Some wasps are also important pollinators.</li>



<li>Ants:&nbsp;Social insects that live in highly organized colonies. They have diverse roles, from seed dispersal and pollination to preying on smaller insects or scavenging for food.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ecological-drivers-of-insect-activity-patterns">Ecological drivers of insect activity patterns</h2>



Insects have evolved a variety of strategies to avoid becoming a meal. One key strategy is to be most active when their main predators are not. This explains why many aquatic insects have higher <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-variables-can-predict-future-mosquito-activity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">activity</a> levels at night, given that fish are primarily visual daytime hunters.



Moreover, terrestrial insects face a different set of predators, particularly nocturnal creatures like bats, which often use echolocation to find prey. This is a major reason why terrestrial insects often exhibit increased activity during daylight hours.



Nocturnal activity was found to be significantly higher in aquatic habitats like rivers and streams. Conversely, terrestrial ecosystems, particularly grasslands and savannas, showed higher concentrations of insects during the day.



"Fish tend to hunt aquatic insects during the day, whereas nocturnal animals such as bats make life on land more hazardous at night," explained Dr. Wong. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-trends-in-insect-activity">Global trends in insect activity</h2>



"We found peak levels of nocturnal activity in the warmer regions of the world, as more insects likely sought refuge from the heat of the day," said Dr. Wong. This highlights the sensitivity of nighttime insect populations to temperature fluctuations.



The study emphasizes the potential threats posed by climate change and artificial light pollution. Rising temperatures could further disrupt nocturnal insect populations in warmer climates, while artificial lighting can interfere with the natural behaviors of many nocturnal insects.



"Such research can be exhausting, as traps need to be installed and replaced multiple times over days and nights, across many different locations," noted Dr. Wong.



"But it is absolutely indispensable. Insects are among the most diverse and important organisms on our planet, and studying their intricate rhythms represents not just a scientific endeavor, but an imperative for conserving biodiversity on a rapidly changing planet."



The study is published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47645-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a>.



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Nighttime buzz: Insect activity increases by 31.4% at night

A recent global study has shed light on a long-debated question in the world of entomology: are insect populations more active during the day or night? The findings, led by Dr. Mark Wong of The University of Western Australia, reveal a surprising pattern – insect activity increases by a third (31.4%) at night. Insect activity cycles Insects play vital roles in ecosystems across the globe. Many flowering plants rely on insects to transfer pollen between blooms, ensuring the fertilization of seeds and the production of fruits and...

It is a common misconception that over time, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/viruses-have-eyes-and-ears-on-their-hosts/">viruses</a> become milder within a population as they become endemic. New research led by Penn State has found that a virus among rabbits called myxoma has evolved to become more deadly.&nbsp;



The new findings highlight the need for rigorous monitoring of human viruses. For example, many people assume that once COVID-19 becomes endemic, it will also become milder.&nbsp;



“However, we know that the Delta variant was more contagious and caused more severe illness than the original strain of the virus, and Omicron is even more transmissible than Delta. Our new research shows that a rabbit virus has evolved to become more deadly, and there is no reason why this couldn’t happen with SARS-CoV-2 or other viruses that affect humans," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



Myxoma was introduced to Australia in the early 1950s to control a non-native rabbit population. The disease caused terrible symptoms such as puffy, fluid-filled skin lesions, swollen heads and eyelids, drooping ears and blocked airways. The deadly virus killed an estimated 99.8 percent of the rabbits within two weeks.



Over time, the virus became milder, killing only 60 percent of the rabbits it infected and taking longer to do so. At the time, scientists referred to this as the "law of declining virulence" - the idea that viruses become milder to ensure that they do not kill their hosts before they’ve transmitted to others.



However, when the research team studied the myxoma virus in 2014, they found that the virus had regained strength and was killing rabbits at a higher rate.&nbsp;



The team examined several myxoma virus variants collected between 2012-2015 to determine their virulence. The experts determined that the viruses fell into three lineages: a, b and c.



The study rabbits exhibited different symptoms than those induced by viruses collected in the first decades after the release. For instance, the rabbits had more bacteria distribution, which is a symptom of immunosuppression. The researchers considered this a virus adaptation to the resistance gained among wild rabbits.&nbsp;



Lineage c, however, produced a slightly different response. Rabbits infected with lineage c had more swelling at the base of the ears and around the eyelids, where mosquitoes typically bite. These areas also contained extremely high amounts of virus.



“We hypothesise that lineage c viruses are capable of enhanced dissemination to sites around the head where mosquitoes are more likely to feed and that they are able to suppress inflammatory responses at these sites, allowing persistent virus replication to high amounts.”&nbsp;



The findings demonstrate that viruses do not always evolve to become milder. While organisms can develop adaptations to viruses, an evolutionary arms race occurs with counter-adaptations developed by the virus itself.&nbsp;



The study revealed that myxoma evolved to cause greater rabbit mortality. Most likely, rabbits will respond by gradually developing resistance to these changes.&nbsp;



A similar arms race could occur with COVID-19 and other human viruses as immunity strengthens. This demonstrates the importance of vaccines to keep up with new variants, and for the public to stay up to date on vaccines. A stronger solution could be developing a universal vaccine against all variants, which would be more effective over time.&nbsp;



The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases supported this research, which was initially stimulated by a seed grant from Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00886-22">Journal of Virology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Rabbit virus evolved to become more deadly

It is a common misconception that over time, viruses become...

Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid struck the Earth, leading to the extinction of dinosaurs and many other animal and plant species. According to a new study led by Hermann Bermúdez, a doctoral student in Paleontology at the <a href="https://unal.edu.co/en.html">National University of Colombia</a>, this asteroid impact also triggered an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ocean-tides-earthquakes/">earthquake</a> so massive that it shook our planet for weeks to months after the collision. The amount of energy released by this mega-earthquake is estimated at 1023&nbsp;joules - about 50,000 times more energy than that released in the magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake in 2004, one of the most devastating earthquakes in modern history.



In 2014, while doing field work on the Gorgonilla Island in Colombia, Bermúdez&nbsp;discovered several spherule deposits – layers of sediment filled with small glass beads and shards known as “tektites” and “microtektites” which were ejected into the atmosphere during the asteroid impact. The spherules formed when the heat and pressure of the impact melted and scattered the Earth’s crust, ejecting tiny, melted blobs into the atmosphere that, later on, under the influence of gravity, fell back to the surface of the Earth as glass.



Moreover, about 3,000 kilometers southwest of the impact, layers of mud and sandstone as far as 10 to 15 meters below the seafloor experienced soft-sediment deformation that is still preserved today. These deformations – which continue up through the spherule-rich layer which was deposited post-impact - were likely caused by a massive earthquake which must have continued for weeks or even months after the asteroid collision.&nbsp;



Finally, evidence of deformation from the mega-earthquake are also preserved in Mexico and the United States. For instance, at the El Papalote exposure site in Mexico, Bermúdez found evidence of liquefaction - a process caused by strong shaking, making water-saturated sediments to flow like a liquid. In Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, the paleontologist also documented faults and cracks most likely associated with the mega-quake.&nbsp;



The study will be presented at the <a href="https://community.geosociety.org/gsa2022/home">Geological Society of America (GSA) Connects meeting</a> in Denver on Sunday, October 9, 2022.



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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

Asteroid collision triggered a months-long mega-earthquake

Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid struck the Earth,...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exercise-and-obesity-have-opposing-effects-on-the-body/">Obesity</a> affects over 42 percent of Americans and contributes to the onset of a variety of chronic diseases, including diabetes and cancer. While midnight snacking is considered by many to have a negative impact on health, few studies have comprehensively investigated the effects of late eating on the three main factors contributing to body weight regulation and thus obesity risk: the regulation of calorie intake, the number of burned calories, and molecular changes in fat tissue. Now, a research team from <a href="https://brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a> has found that when we eat significantly impacts our energy expenditure, appetite, and molecular pathways in adipose tissue.



“In this study, we asked, ‘Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?’” said study lead author Nina Vujović, an expert in Medical Chronobiology at Bingham. “And we found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat.”



The scientists studied 16 participants with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight or obese range. Each of them had to complete two laboratory protocols – one with an early meal schedule, and the other with the exact same meals, each scheduled approximately four hours later in the day. For two or three weeks before starting the experiment, participants had to maintain a fixed sleeping schedule, and in the final three days before entering the laboratory, they followed identical diets and meal schedules.



In the lab, participants had to document their hunger and appetite levels, provide frequent blood samples throughout each day, and have their body temperature and energy expenditure measured. To assess how eating schedules affected the molecular pathways involved in adipogenesis – the way in which the body stores fat – the experimenters collected biopsies from a subset of the participants in both the early and late eating protocols.



The analyses revealed that eating later had a profound effect on the hunger- and appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin. For instance, the levels of leptin, which signals satiety, were decreased in the late eating condition. Moreover, late eaters burned calories at a slower rate and exhibited adipose tissue gene expression towards increased adipogenesis and decreased lipolysis, which promotes fat growth.



Since this study only involved five female participants, the researchers aim to recruit more women in future studies to increase the generalizability of the results.&nbsp;



“This study shows the impact of late versus early eating. Here, we isolated these effects by controlling for confounding variables like caloric intake, physical activity, sleep, and light exposure, but in real life, many of these factors may themselves be influenced by meal timing,” said senior author Frank Scheer, the director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://sleep.hms.harvard.edu/research/labs-divisions/medical-chronobiology-program-mcp">Medical Chronobiology Program</a>&nbsp;at Bingham. “In larger scale studies, where tight control of all these factors is not feasible, we must at least consider how other behavioral and environmental variables alter these biological pathways underlying obesity risk.”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.007">Cell Metabolism</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

Eating late increases hunger and changes fat tissues

Obesity affects over 42 percent of Americans and contributes to...

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earth-is-heading-for-a-tipping-point-as-antarctic-ice-sheets-melt/">Antarctic Ice sheet</a> has been routinely observed over the past three decades and is known to be decaying progressively, due to accelerated rates of ice thinning, retreat and flow. Although this phenomenon has been ascribed to warming atmospheric and oceanic factors, there has been an implicit assumption that there are no seasonal variations in the rate of ice flow. A new study now finds evidence that this assumption is erroneous and that past predictions of ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and its contribution to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/elusive-sea-level-fingerprint-detected-around-greenland-ice-sheet/">sea-level</a> rise, will be inaccurate as a consequence.&nbsp;



The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and Austrian engineering company ENVEO, identified distinct, seasonal changes in the velocity of land-based ice from 21 glaciers that drain into the George VI Ice Shelf – a floating platform of ice roughly the size of Wales – on the Antarctic Peninsula. They say there has been a shortage of high temporal resolution observations of the Antarctic Ice sheet in the past, in contrast to the situation for Greenlandic and other Arctic and ice masses where observational data is far more available. The timing and magnitude of seasonal ice-flow variation in Arctic ice sheets is now well observed and understood.&nbsp;



The assumption that there is no seasonal effect on ice flow rates in Antarctica was based partly on the fact that the ice sheets are very large on Antarctica, and the temperatures remain below zero degrees all year round. But it was also fueled by a lack of imagery collected over the icy continent in the past.&nbsp;



“Unlike the Greenland Ice Sheet, where a high quantity of data has allowed us to understand how the ice moves from season to season and year to year, we haven’t had comparable data coverage to look for such changes over Antarctica until recently,” said Karla Boxall from Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), the study’s first author.



“Observations of ice-speed change in the Antarctic Peninsula have typically been measured over successive years, so we’ve been missing a lot of the finer detail about how flow varies from month to month throughout the year,” said co-author Dr. Frazer Christie, also from SPRI.



In the past, scientists wishing to study variations in Antarctic ice flow had to rely on information collected by optical satellites such as NASA’s Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager. These observations were not frequent or detailed enough to follow the seasonal patterns. In the current study however, the researchers used 6/12-day repeat-pass radar imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, in addition to 16-day repeat-pass observations made by the Landsat 8 satellites, to determine rates of ice movement. They analyzed images from these two sources acquired between 2014 and 2020.



“Optical measurements can only observe the Earth’s surface on cloud-free days during summer months,” said co-author Dr Thomas Nagler, ENVEO’s CEO. “But by using Sentinel-1 radar imagery, we were able to discover seasonal ice-flow change thanks to the ability of these satellites to monitor year-round and in all-weather conditions.”



The analysis, published in The Cryosphere, showed that the glaciers feeding the George VI Ice Shelf speed up by approximately 15 percent during the summer months. This is the first time that such seasonal cycles have been detected for land ice flowing into ice shelves in Antarctica.&nbsp;



Although the researchers are not exactly sure what mechanism is causing this seasonal increase in flow rate, they suggest two possible alternatives. It could be caused by surface meltwater reaching the base of the ice and acting like a lubricant, as is the case in Arctic and Alpine regions, or it could be due to relatively warm ocean water melting the ice from below, thinning the floating shelf ice and allowing upstream glaciers to move faster.



“These seasonal cycles could be due to either mechanism, or a mixture of the two,” said Christie. “Detailed ocean and surface measurements will be required to understand fully why this seasonal change is occurring.”



The results imply that other glaciers in Antarctica may also undergo ice flow seasonality, including the highly vulnerable and rapidly retreating Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers in West Antarctica. “If true, these seasonal signatures may be uncaptured in some measurements of Antarctic ice-mass loss, with potentially important implications for global sea-level rise estimates,” said Boxall.



“It’s the first time this seasonal signal has been found on the Antarctic Ice Sheet, so the questions it raises regarding the possible presence and causes of seasonality elsewhere in Antarctica are really interesting,” said co-author Professor Ian Willis, also from SPRI. “We look forward to taking a closer look at, and shedding light on, these important questions.”



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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

Antarctic glaciers flow faster during the summer time

The Antarctic Ice sheet has been routinely observed over the...

Over the past half a century, scientific awareness of non-native species – often called “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/managing-invasive-species-can-improve-climate-resilience/">invasive species</a>” – has increased substantially, to the point where anyone with a “green conscience” has heard of them and their negative impacts. However, according to a new study led by <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a>, the long-standing biases against these species have hindered the acknowledgement and understanding of some of their benefits.



“Positive impacts of non-native species are often explained as serendipitous surprises - the sort of thing that people might expect to happen every once in a while, in special circumstances,” said study lead author Dov Sax, a professor of Environment and Society, and of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Brown. “Our new paper argues that the positive impacts of non-native species are neither unexpected nor rare, but instead common, important, and often of large magnitude.”



“We want to provide a framework for the way that scientists can think about non-native species constructively going forward and explicitly document their benefits. It’s only then that we’ll be able to accurately and fully compare and contrast them in order to perform the kind of cost-benefit analyses that can be truly helpful in making policy decisions.”



While some non-native species, such as introduced pathogens and agricultural pests involve indisputably large net costs and provoke significant damage to humans and various ecosystems, most domesticated non-native species, such as wheat, tomatoes, cotton, wool, and pets like dogs or goldfish, provide large net benefits to human societies.&nbsp;



By focusing on non-native species that are not directly managed by humans – so-called “wild” or “naturalized” species – Professor Sax and his colleagues found that many of these provide both costs and benefits for humans and nature.



For instance, while earthworms can negatively change forest ecosystems, they also often augment organic agriculture, significantly increasing agricultural productivity and decreasing food costs. Another example of a non-native species with major benefits is the brown trout. After reaching New Zealand, the brown trout became valued for its nutritional benefits, leading authorities to establish new environmental regulations to protect it.&nbsp;



The researchers advocate to apply the same framework used to discuss the benefits of nature and biodiversity to non-native species too. “How people relate to nature, to the intrinsic value of nature, to the ecosystem services, to the provisioning of resources - these are all things that we value in native species, and there are also ways to see that non-native species are contributing to these benefits, too,” Sax explained. “It’s not like there’s some inherent trade-off: Non-natives aren’t the boogie man.”&nbsp;



For instance, while non-native species can be a major cause of species extinctions, they can also contribute through their migration to regional biodiversity. Similarly, they can reduce some ecosystem functions, such as water clarity, while increasing others, like erosion control, and they can provide new valuable resources, such as fishing or hunting opportunities.



“We argue that long-standing biases against non-native species within the literature have clouded the scientific process and hampered policy advances and sound public understanding. Future research should consider both costs and benefits of non-native species,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.08.005">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Non-native species can have unexpected benefits

Over the past half a century, scientific awareness of non-native...

In a new opinion piece published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2210525119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, a team of international scientists has urgently called for more research about the specific pathways by which human civilization could potentially collapse due to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humanity-should-brace-for-catastrophic-climate-change/">climate change</a>.&nbsp;



“Scientists have warned that climate change threatens the habitability of large regions of the Earth and even civilization itself, but surprisingly little research exists about how collapse could happen and what can be done to prevent it,” explained lead author Daniel Steel, an expert in Population and Public Health at the <a href="https://www.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a>. “A better understanding of the risks of collapse is essential for climate ethics and policy.”



In their article, Dr. Steel and his colleagues define civilization collapse as the loss of societal capacity to maintain essential governance functions, such as maintaining security, implementing equitable forms of law, and providing basic necessities like food or water. The scientists identified three possible civilization collapse scenarios:



<ol><li>The localized collapse of specific, vulnerable locations;</li><li>The collapse of several urban and national regions, with the remaining ones experiencing negative climate-related impacts such as food and water scarcity;</li><li>Global collapse in which cities around the world are abandoned, nations vanish, and world population falls rapidly.</li></ol>



According to the researchers, it is not only the direct effects of climate change – such as heatwaves, droughts, or floods – which could lead to civilization collapse, but also less-studied mechanisms. For instance, climate change may have indirect effects on trade and international cooperation, which might lead to political conflict and war. Such impacts could lower civilizations’ adaptive capacities, leaving them more vulnerable to other major hazards, like pandemics.



“The danger climate change poses to civilization shouldn’t just be left for journalists, philosophers, and filmmakers to ponder. Scientists have a responsibility to investigate this, too,” Dr. Steel concluded.



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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

Climate change could lead to civilization collapse

In a new opinion piece published in the journal Proceedings...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cats-exposed-to-wildfires-are-at-risk-of-deadly-blood-clots/">Cats</a> are popular pets all over the world, to the extent that they may be considered the most prevalent introduced animal species of all. In urban settings, domestic cats are usually given free access to outside habitats and this inevitably brings them into conflict with other wildlife species. They are known to have significant negative impacts on populations of songbirds and small mammals upon which they prey, but may themselves be consumed by other urban carnivores.



In many urban settings in the U.S., coyotes (Canis latrans) have become common residents as they respond to the continued expansion of cities into areas of their natural habitat. They are known to prey on cats, although numerous studies have shown that cats only make up a small percentage (0–2 percent) of the diets of urban coyotes. Unfortunately for cats and cat owners, this is not the case in Los Angeles, southern California, where up to 20 percent of coyote scats contain the cat remains. This brings coyotes into conflict with humans and necessitates further investigation to understand the predator-prey interactions in operation here.



After residents in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles, reported that 72 cats were killed in 18 months, allegedly the victims of coyote attacks, Rebecca Davenport and colleagues from the Center for Urban Resistance (CURes) at Loyola Marymount University began a research study to understand this anomaly. They installed 20 motion-sensor cameras in Culver City parks, neighborhoods, and green spaces to monitor the presence of cats, coyotes and cottontail rabbits for six months.&nbsp;



Coyotes in urban settings tend to be bolder, consume novel foods such as cats, garden fruits and garbage, and habituate to people when fed. This brings them into conflict with humans and their pets, although coyotes in most other U.S. studies have been found to prefer open areas such as golf courses, parks and cemeteries in which to hunt prey such as mice and cottontails. They are also strictly nocturnal, which should reduce their temporal overlap with domestic cats that are mostly active in the daytime.&nbsp;



Residents often have a common perception that coyotes intentionally hunt down pets within their neighborhoods, despite the findings that show coyotes tend to utilize open green spaces around the city in preference to entering built-up areas. There are plenty of prey species available in these green areas and thus it is unlikely that coyotes would choose to leave their preferred habitat in order to seek out domestic pets. However, Davenport and her colleagues sought to understand the temporal activity patterns of coyotes and cats in Culver City and to identify the ways in which both species utilize the available habitats in the area.



Culver City in Los Angeles County has a population of around 40,000 people and is bordered on one side by Baldwin Hills, a green space that may be a potential point of origin and entry for urban coyotes. There are eight major public parks distributed throughout Culver City and the nearby Ballona Creek provides a water source for wildlife. Previous research on the coyotes in the area confirmed that there are only one or two packs of coyotes that use the area on a regular basis.



The six months of data capture, amounting to 3,736 camera sampling nights, produced 892 images of free-ranging cats, 510 coyote images and 1,747 cottontail rabbit images. Analysis of these results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14169">PeerJ – Life and Environment</a>, provided some surprises. Similar to other studies, the researchers found that coyotes prefer green spaces to urbanized and/or residential areas. However, cats in Culver City did not display a preference for a particular habitat type and were found equally commonly in parks, open spaces and residential areas.&nbsp;



This result is contrary to expected, as studies in Chicago and North Carolina found that cats prefer residential areas and directly avoid areas where coyotes are prevalent. Instead, cats in Culver City were present in all the same green space fragments as coyotes. This implies that cats are not avoiding the areas where coyotes are more common and, in fact, both the cats and the coyotes may be choosing these areas in order to prey on cottontail rabbits. Additionally, cats in this Los Angeles suburb displayed more nocturnal behavior than is typical for urban cats, which would bring them further into contact with the coyotes in the area.&nbsp;



These unexpected results may explain why there have been such frequent cases of cat mortality in Culver City.&nbsp;Although much attention is commonly directed towards the control of “problem” coyotes, these results suggest that restricting the nocturnal roamings of domestic cats instead may provide a solution that eases the human-wildlife conflict in Culver City. The authors recommend that future management protocols consider restrictions or control measures for outdoor cats, rather than solely focusing on the role of coyotes in urban human-wildlife conflict.&nbsp;



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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

Control the cats, as well as the coyotes

Cats are popular pets all over the world, to the...

The process of catch and release is harming sharks, according to an international research team led by Lucy Harding, a Ph.D. candidate at <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/">Trinity College Dublin</a>. Catch and release is a tactic used by recreational anglers and scientists and is viewed as a more humane way of fishing. However, we still don't fully understand this practice's impact on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-sharks-are-walking-to-find-more-favorable-conditions/">sharks</a>, which is particularly concerning since many species are endangered.&nbsp;



The researchers took to the seas and explored one aspect of this question. The team traveled to the coasts of the Bahamas, Cape Cod, and Ireland to investigate how catching and releasing Blue sharks (Prionace glauca) and Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) affected their body temperature.&nbsp;



"The temperature measurements we took show that catching sharks on a line resulted in rapid spikes in their body temperature, with one blue shark showing an increase of 2.7°C in just a few minutes – which, in physiological terms, is a huge elevation," explained Harding.



By attaching biologging devices to the sharks, the researchers found that it took up to 40 minutes for the animals to regain their normal temperature.&nbsp;



"Results like these illustrate the physical exertion sharks undergo during catch-and-release fishing. We don't yet know whether the rapid, fishing-induced heating has a damaging effect on shark physiology but it's something that is important to study in more detail in the future," explained Professor Nick Payne.&nbsp;



The researchers are confident that sharks do not experience these radical temperature changes in normal circumstances. They hope this study will inform current and future management.&nbsp;



"Results from these studies could be used to design best handling practices for shark angling going forward; if we can adopt the least stressful fishing methods then it's a win for the sharks and also for future generations of anglers," said Dr. Payne.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/10/1/coac065/6725753">Conservation Physiology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:nire518@gmail.com">Erin Moody </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Catch and release practices are harmful to sharks

The process of catch and release is harming sharks, according...

When it comes to the transition from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-fuels-must-be-reduced-immediately-and-drastically/">fossil fuels</a> to newer, greener energy alternatives, some countries race ahead in the lead and others lag behind. A new study appearing&nbsp;this week in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adc9973">Science</a>&nbsp;finds that this phenomenon is not just down to a difference in resource availability between the countries. Instead, politics and policies play a major role in determining how governments respond to the challenges of switching to new energy sources.&nbsp;



“We are really interested in understanding how national differences mediate the responses of countries to the same kind of energy challenge,” said study lead author Jonas Meckling, an associate professor of energy and environmental policy at the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a>. “We found that the political institutions of countries shape how much they can absorb costly policies of all kinds, including costly energy policies.”



Meckling and study coauthors analyzed how different countries have responded to the current energy crisis, as well as how they adapted to the oil crisis of the 1970s. They found that, because policies that promote the transition to cleaner energy technologies are often costly in the short-term, they can engender resistance and political pushback from voters in the form of both consumers and corporations. This can threaten the political stability of the ruling party and make politicians unwilling to put themselves on the line to change the status quo.&nbsp;



The analysis found that the countries that were most successful at pioneering cleaner energy technologies had political institutions that helped absorb some of this resistance – either by insulating policymakers from political opposition or by compensating consumers and corporations for the extra costs associated with adopting the new technologies.



For example, Meckling said, many countries in continental and northern Europe have created institutions that allow policymakers to insulate themselves from pushback by voters or lobbyists, or to pay off constituencies most impacted by the transition. As a result, these countries have been more successful at absorbing the costs associated with transitioning to a clean energy system, such as investing in greater wind capacity or upgrading transmission grids.



In contrast, countries that lack such institutions, such as the U.S., Australia and Canada, often follow market-driven transitions, waiting for the price of new technologies to drop before adopting them.



“We can expect that countries that can pursue the insulation or compensation path will be early public investors in these very costly technologies that we need for decarbonization, such as hydrogen fuel cells and carbon removal technologies,” Meckling said. “But once these new technologies become cost competitive in the market, then countries like the U.S. can respond relatively rapidly because they are so sensitive to price signals.”



For example, California is often considered a global leader in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, despite the relatively poor track record of the U.S. overall. This is, in part, due to the fact that regulatory power has been handed over to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a relatively autonomous agency that has been given the responsibility of implementing many of the state’s climate goals. In this way, policymakers are shielded from the direct political resistance and demands made by dissatisfied voters or lobbyists.



Germany is another global climate leader, but has chosen to use compensation to achieve its ambitious gas emission goals. For example, the Coal Compromise brought <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/germany-lays-a-path-to-quitting-coal-but-the-u-s-may-not-follow/">together disparate groups</a>&nbsp;– including environmentalists, coal executives, trade unions and leaders from coal mining regions – to agree on a plan to phase out coal by the year 2038. To achieve this goal, the country will provide economic support to workers and regional economies that are dependent on coal, while bolstering the job market in other industries.



“We want to show that it's not just resource endowments that shape how countries respond to energy crises, it's also politics,” Meckling said.



The U.S., as a whole, does not have strong institutions in place to absorb political opposition to costly energy policies. However, Meckling said that policymakers can still drive the energy transition forward by leveraging the leadership of states like California and by focusing on policies that have more dispersed costs and less political opposition, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://nature.berkeley.edu/news/2022/09/new-study-identifies-main-drivers-government-investment-clean-energy-innovation">support for energy research and development</a>. They can also clear the way for the market to adopt new technologies once the cost has gone down.



“Countries like the U.S. that do not have these institutions should at least focus on removing barriers once these clean technologies become cost competitive,” Meckling said. “What they can do is reduce the cost for market actors.”



The findings of this study offer important lessons to many governments around the world as they race to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the devastating impacts of climate change.



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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

Some countries are lagging behind in the shift to green energy

When it comes to the transition from fossil fuels to...

A small, bipedal creature that lived in the Triassic, Scleromochlus taylori has often been the subject of a debate over its place in the tree of life. The first specimen was discovered over 100 years ago in northeastern Scotland.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



In a new study led by Dr. Davide Foffa of National Museums Scotland, along with scientists at the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspx">University of Birmingham</a> and Virginia Tech, CT scans were used to reconstruct the skeleton of S. taylori. The virtual reconstruction revealed that the small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/past-climate-change-drove-the-rapid-evolution-of-reptiles/">reptile</a> is part of pterosauromorpha, meaning it’s a close relative to pterosaurs. Pterosaurs are the group containing the famed pterodactyl. More specifically, S. taylori seems to be related to the family lagerpetidae.



Lagerpetids were cat or dog-sized reptiles living 240 to 210 million years ago, but S. taylori was even smaller at just under 20 centimeters long. The CT scans support the idea that S. taylori bridges the gap between Lagerpetids and pterosaurs, being a step towards the flying reptiles.&nbsp;



“It’s exciting to be able to resolve a debate that’s been going on for over a century, but it is far more amazing to be able to see and understand an animal which lived 230 million years ago and its relationship with the first animals ever to have flown," said Dr. Foffa.



"This is another discovery which highlights Scotland’s important place in the global fossil record, and also the importance of museum collections that preserve such specimens, allowing us to use new techniques and technologies to continue to learn from them long after their discovery.”



"The Elgin reptiles aren't preserved as the pristine, complete skeletons that we often see in museum displays. They're mainly represented by natural moulds of their bone in sandstone and – until fairly recently – the only way to study them was to use wax or latex to fill these moulds and make casts of the bones that once occupied them," explained Professor Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum.



"However, the use of CT scanning has revolutionized the study of these difficult specimens and has enabled us to produce far more detailed, accurate and useful reconstructions of these animals from our deep past."



The research, which is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x">Nature</a>, highlights how modern techniques can breathe new life into the study of old fossils and improve our understanding of evolution.&nbsp;



Image Credit: Gabriel Ugeuetto



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mystery fossil found to be an early relative of pterosaurs

A small, bipedal creature that lived in the Triassic, Scleromochlus...

A team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/">Lancaster University</a> has recently explored the feasibility of 3D printed flavor-based cues for the recall of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rewriting-negative-memories-by-activating-positive-ones/">memories</a> in old age. The experts found that older people exposed to food flavors from their youth were able to “time travel” back to the past and experience an enhanced memory of the original event.



The scientists enrolled 12 older adults and collected 72 memories (half involving food and half not), each recalled twice. The memories ranged from eating grilled mackerel at a golden wedding to eating strawberries in a hospital after giving birth. In the case of food memories, the researchers worked with the participants to create bespoke flavor-based cues for each of them. These 3D printed cues are small, gel-like, edible balls that model the original food, are easier to swallow, and have more intense flavors.&nbsp;



All the study participants were able to provide highly rich sensory accounts when prompted by flavor-based cues, with many of the details not being present in the earlier free recall. For instance, one participant initially described a Green Thai curry dinner in Cambodia as follows: “We went into the kitchen area, which was very basic and preparing all sorts of types of green vegetables, which I have no idea what they were, sitting on the floor. And then we would help cook them, stir fry them, and then we would help dish them up…”&nbsp;



However, after being exposed to the 3D flavor-based cue of this curry, the participant provided a more detailed memory of “the chopping noises of cutting up the vegetables, me sitting on the floor cross legged with my friend, chatting together. And then when we went out, put stuff on the tables, the rest of the group coming out and we sit on long tables outside, the front of the school, so it’s outside in the open air to eat.”&nbsp;



“Our outcomes indicated that personalized 3D printed flavor-based cues have rich sensorial and emotional qualities supporting strong recollective retrieval, especially when they distinctively match the food in the original experience, and prompt emotionally positive self-defining memories,” explained study co-author Corina Sas, an expert in Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Health at Lancaster.



According to the researchers, these findings could be useful in the treatment of dementia, since many participants talked about the importance of food memories based on their experiences of caring for their loved ones. By creating rich, multi-sensory memory aids, scientists and medical professionals may help people with dementia effectively trigger recollections of past events.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2022.2107518">Human-Computer Interaction</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Food flavors can help us travel back in time

A team of researchers led by Lancaster University has recently...

While water availability is acknowledged as a significant and present problem that threatens the livelihoods and health of people in many regions, the same is not true for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/water-quality-threatened-by-nutrient-pollution-in-40-u-s-states/">water quality</a>. The World Bank has branded water pollution an “invisible crisis” and stressed that because water quality is often difficult to detect and imperceptible to the human eye, it is being under-monitored all over the world.&nbsp;



With increasing human population, economic and agricultural development and climate change, water quality is increasingly coming under pressure. Yet, clean water is vital for our societal needs – such as public health, energy generation and crop production – and for protecting ecosystem health. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 recognizes the role of inadequately managed wastewater in this crisis and requires countries to halve the amount of untreated wastewater being discharged into the environment by 2030.&nbsp;



The authors of a new study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00554-y">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>, have now developed a comprehensive new water quality model to map hotspots of water problems, as well as to help understand what the consequences of attaining SDG 6.3 would be in terms of water quality around the world. In this high-resolution model they consider current and future surface water quality in terms of its salinity, its levels of organic pollution and its pathogen load, as indicated by fecal coliform abundance.&nbsp;



“We hope our model will help to fill in the gaps in water quality knowledge, particularly in world regions where we lack observations,” said study lead author Edward Jones from the Department of Physical Geography, <a href="https://www.uu.nl/en">Utrecht University</a>, Netherlands.&nbsp;



In addition to identifying hotspots of water quality issues, the model can help with attributing the source of pollution to particular sectors. “For instance, large-scale irrigation systems for agriculture drive salinity issues in Northern India, while industrial processes are more responsible in eastern China. Conversely, the domestic and livestock sectors drive organic and pathogen pollution worldwide,” said Jones.



The model predicted that, while achieving SDG 6.3 would reduce water pollution to some extent, it would be insufficient to improve ambient water quality to below key concentration thresholds in several world regions. This would be particularly true in regions of the developing world where reductions in pollutant loadings are locally effective but transmission of pollution from upstream areas still leads to water quality issues downstream.&nbsp;



“Our simulations show that, for a large part of the year, water quality in several regions would still exceed critical thresholds for human uses and ecosystem health. This is especially the case for developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,” explained Jones. These findings highlight that, while the SDG target would lead to improved water quality, it will not necessarily be enough and will not achieve the overarching goal of clean water for all.



Poor quality water can affect humans in many different ways, state the authors. Organic and pathogen pollution causes risks to human health, increased salinity levels threaten agricultural productivity,&nbsp;and increased water temperatures can disrupt thermoelectric power plants that depend on surface water resources for cooling. In addition, all these pollutants can adversely affect the aquatic environment and threaten ecosystems.



“Even achieving the current SDG target will pose serious economic challenges, as expansion of wastewater treatment can be an expensive process,” warned Jones. “Yet the cost disadvantages of inadequate water quality for sectoral uses must also be considered. Ultimately, however, we also need to reduce our pollutant emissions and develop new approaches towards wastewater management.”&nbsp;



“As such, with this paper we hope to underline the water quality problems we’re facing and firmly place these issues back on the political agenda.”



Image Credit: Izzet Cakalli&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



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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

Global water resources are becoming increasingly polluted

While water availability is acknowledged as a significant and present...

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[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...