Exploration of the outer solar system is offering critical clues about its history. Scientists have uncovered new details about the formation of distant icy worlds beyond Neptune. The findings are painting a richer picture of how our solar system formed and evolved over time.



The research was led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Central Florida</a> (UCF) and their collaborators. The team relied on the advanced capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to achieve their findings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clues-from-distant-icy-worlds">Clues from distant icy worlds</h2>



Using the telescope, the researchers studied distant <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/webb-captures-best-view-ever-of-icy-objects-from-the-early-solar-system/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trans-Neptunian Objects</a> (TNOs) - remote, frozen worlds - and discovered surprising patterns of methanol on their surfaces. Their work highlights how chemical reactions in deep-space could link to the origins of life itself.



The team’s findings revealed that TNOs fall into two main groups based on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/is-methanol-the-next-green-power-player-clean-energy-source/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">methanol</a> ice presence.



Some bodies showed strong traces of methanol hidden beneath their surfaces. Others, farther from the sun, exhibited a weaker overall methanol signature.



The differences suggest that cosmic radiation over billions of years may have changed the surface chemistry of these distant objects. 



For the TNOs closer to the sun, methanol seems to survive better beneath the surface, protected from harsh space weather. But the outermost TNOs still pose new questions with their fainter chemical fingerprints.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-icy-worlds-hold-solar-system-secrets">Icy worlds hold solar system secrets</h2>



TNOs are like ancient time capsules. They are some of the best-preserved pieces of the early protoplanetary disk - the cloud of gas and dust that surrounded the newborn sun. By studying these distant icy worlds, scientists can peer back into a time before <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-planets-form-its-much-more-complicated-than-we-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">planets formed</a>.



Professor Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, formerly of the UCF Department of Physics and now based at the University of Oviedo in Spain, helped lead the project. It is part of the Discovering the Surface Compositions of Trans-Neptunian Objects (DiSCo) program.



"Methanol, a simple alcohol, has been found on comets and distant TNOs, hinting that it may be a primitive ingredient inherited from the early days of our solar system - or even from interstellar space," noted Pinilla-Alonso.



"But methanol is more than just a leftover from the past. When exposed to radiation, it transforms into new compounds, acting as a chemical time capsule that reveals how these icy worlds have evolved over billions of years."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frozen-methanol-tells-a-story">Frozen methanol tells a story</h2>



Methanol is an important building block. It can form organic molecules like sugars, linking frozen space chemistry to the building blocks of life.



According to Pinilla-Alonso, these new spectral differences suggest that not all distant TNOs were formed from the same set of ingredients.



"What excited me the most was realizing that these differences were linked to the behavior of methanol - a key ingredient that had long been elusive on TNOs from Earth-based observations," she said.



"Our findings suggest that methanol is being destroyed on the surface of TNOs by irradiation, but remains more abundant in the subsurface, protected from this exposure."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bringing-the-chemistry-to-life">Bringing the chemistry to life</h2>



To better understand what was happening, UCF Florida Space Institute researcher Ana Carolina de Souza-Feliciano played a key role. She used laboratory data combined with modeling to recreate the behavior of methanol in space.



"One of the biggest surprises came from the methanol behavior," said de Souza-Feliciano. "From laboratory data, its signatures at shorter wavelengths differ from the fundamental ones in longer wavelengths."



This hands-on modeling helped the team connect what they saw through JWST to the actual chemistry of these remote bodies. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracing-solar-system-origins">Tracing solar system origins</h2>



De Souza-Feliciano also collaborated on previous DiSCo projects using JWST, helping to characterize binary objects and other distant TNOs.



"The main DiSCo paper addressed the main characteristics of the three groups of TNOs. This paper goes into detail about one of them, known as the cliff group, which is the nickname for the spectral group where the reflectance did not increase after approximately 3.3 microns," explained de Souza-Feliciano.



The "cliff group" TNOs are valuable because they include cold-classical TNOs, the oldest and least altered solar system objects.



This group is key to understanding the outer solar system because it contains all the cold-classical TNOs. "The cold-classical TNOs are the only dynamic group that probably stayed in the place where they formed from the formation of the solar system to today," noted de Souza-Feliciano.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-methanol-sparks-new-space-journeys">Methanol sparks new space journeys</h2>



The research effort was led by astronomer Rosario Brunetto at Université Paris-Saclay, working alongside Elsa Hénault and Sasha Cryan. The team believes that these findings will not only change how we view TNOs but also guide future missions into <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-space-radio-burst-frb-20220610a-reaches-earth-after-8-billion-year-journey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deep space</a>.



"This discovery not only reshapes our understanding of TNOs but also provides a crucial reference for interpreting JWST's observations of other distant objects, such as Neptune Trojans, Centaurs and asteroids, as well as for future missions exploring the outer solar system," said Brunetto.



"Beyond its scientific significance, the search for methanol in the solar system also fuels curiosity and inspires new generations to explore the cosmos and understand the chemical evolutions in space."



The full study was published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adb977" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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Distant icy worlds are unlocking secrets of the solar system

Exploration of the outer solar system is offering critical clues about its history. Scientists have uncovered new details about the formation of distant icy worlds beyond Neptune. The findings are painting a richer picture of how our solar system formed and evolved over time. The research was led by scientists from the University of Central Florida (UCF) and their collaborators. The team relied on the advanced capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to achieve their findings. Clues from distant icy worlds Using the telescope, the...

The number of native fish present in a marine <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mountain-ecosystems-are-in-urgent-need-of-protection/">ecosystem</a> is increasingly affected by multiple factors, including invasive species and overfishing. In a new study led by <a href="http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html">Okayama University</a>, researchers have used eDNA to survey the population of the bitterling fish in the Ashida river basin in Japan.



The bitterling fish, Rhodeus atremius suigensis, was once abundant but is now threatened with extinction in this region. According to the researchers, this is concerning because the bitterling fish is recognized as an indicator species for the conservation of fish diversity in freshwater ecosystems.&nbsp;



"Rhodeus atremius suigensis is an extremely endangered bitterling fish, designated as one of the Nationally Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by the Ministry of Environment of Japan," wrote the study authors.



"To prevent its extinction, effective ecological survey methods are necessary in order to guide habitat management. Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has proven useful for detection and censusing of endangered aquatic species that are difficult to locate and capture."



Environmental DNA (eDNA) holds information about which species were recently present in an area. The experts developed a system using eDNA to investigate the distribution and population density of bitterling fish in the Ashida river basin.



“We first confirmed the utility of this analysis in aquarium experiments, before performing field surveys.” said Professor Kazuyoshi Nakata from Okayama University, who led the study. “We set fish traps at 48 points in an agricultural channel in the Ashida river basin and examined the relationship between fish presence and eDNA concentration.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study revealed that eDNA concentrations were greater in areas where bitterling fish had been captured, and lower downstream. “Our results serve as a reference to how far and how much downstream eDNA can be detected, which will be useful to guide future conservation surveys,” said Professor Nakata.



The eDNA analysis technique used for this study could be used in larger areas to track other species. Ultimately, the finding of this research could help in the conservation of endangered species.&nbsp;



"These results not only demonstrate the reliability of this method, but also suggest its feasibility for conservation measures," wrote the study authors.



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11355-022-00531-9">Landscape and Ecological Engineering</a>.



Image Credit: Kazuyoshi Nakata



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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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Environmental DNA can help track endangered species

The number of native fish present in a marine ecosystem...

Scientists have long wondered how microbes growing in the deepest parts of the oceans can survive with no sunlight. Now, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://www.monash.edu/">Monash University</a> in Australia has shown that a distinct process called “chemosynthesis” (growth using inorganic compounds) fuels these microbes. More specifically, two common gases – hydrogen and carbon monoxide – serve as fuel for the trillions of microbes living in the depths of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/how-the-ocean-and-climate-influence-each-other/">oceans</a> from the tropics to the poles.



Until recently, most scientists believed that ocean microbial life is also driven by photosynthesis (growth by using light energy). "But what about those regions so deep that light can’t penetrate or so nutrient-poor that algae can’t thrive? We showed in this study that instead chemosynthesis is dominant in these regions,” said study senior author Chris Greening, an expert in Microbiology at Monash. 



“Hydrogen and carbon monoxide in fact “fed” microbes in all regions we’ve looked at: from urban bays to around tropical islands to hundreds of meters below the surface. Some can even be found beneath Antarctica’s ice shelves.”



The researchers combined chemical measurements during ocean voyages with lab-based characterization of microbial cultures, as well as metagenomic sequencing (a method providing the genetic blueprints of all the microbes present in a specific region in the ocean).&nbsp;



“We found the genes that enable hydrogen consumption across eight distantly related types of microbes, known as phyla, and this survival strategy becomes more common the deeper they live,” reported lead author Racheal Lappan, a research fellow in Microbiology at Monash.



The study was inspired by previous work on soil bacteria which revealed that most of these terrestrial microorganisms can thrive by consuming hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the atmosphere.&nbsp;



“The surface layers of the world’s oceans generally contain high levels of dissolved hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases due to various geological and biological processes. So it made sense that oceanic bacteria used the same gases as their terrestrial cousins,” Lappan explained.



The findings provide novel insights into how life on Earth evolved. “The first life probably emerged in deep-sea vents using hydrogen, not sunlight, as the energy source. It’s incredible that, 3.7 billion years later, so many microbes in the oceans are still using this high-energy gas and we’ve completely overlooked this until now,” Greening concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01322-0">Nature Microbiology</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



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How can deep ocean microbes survive without sunlight?

Scientists have long wondered how microbes growing in the deepest...

This year’s second full moon – known as the “<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-snow-moon-will-peak-all-over-the-world-on-wednesday/">Snow Moon</a>” – will light up the sky during the next two days. Due to the fact that the moon will be at its farthest point from the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-does-earths-thermostat-control-the-climate/">Earth</a> in its orbit (over 250,000 miles away), it will appear 14 percent smaller than a supermoon (when a full moon appears larger and brighter because it is closest to the Earth’s orbit), and is thus called by astronomers a “micromoon.” However, most observers will not be able to notice this difference with the naked eye, so this moon too will offer a spectacular view, provided that the skies are clear.&nbsp;



Although the Snow Moon has reached peak illumination at approximately 1:29 p.m. ET on Sunday, it has appeared full from early Saturday morning and will continue to do so until early Tuesday morning.



“Seeing the moon yourself shouldn’t be too difficult, as long as clouds aren’t in the way.&nbsp;It will be easily the brightest object in the night sky and fully visible to the unaided eye; however, a pair of binoculars or a small telescope will enable you to see some of the smaller features on its surface,” said Gregory Brown, a Public Astronomy Officer at the <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory">Royal Observatory Greenwich</a>.



According to the <a href="https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-february">Old Farmer’s Almanac</a>, the name of this full moon emerged due to the fact that February is associated with more snowfall in North America. Across Native American tribes, this moon’s name varies, including “the sleet moon” (the Comanches), “cannapopa wi,” which means “when trees crack because of cold” (the Lakota), or “atchiulartadsh,” meaning “out of food” and signifying the usual lack of food resources characterizing the lands inhabited by the Kalapuya tribe in February. Other tribes named the moon in connection to animals, such as the Bald Eagle Moon (the Cree), the Black Bear Moon (the Tlingit), the Racoon Moon (the Dakota), the Groundhog Moon (the Alonquin), or the Goose Moon (the Haida).



Europeans have often referred to this moon as “the Candles moon,” and connected it to the Candlemas feast (the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ) on February 2. In the Hebrew tradition, the moon occurs in the middle of the month of Shevat and on the holiday Tu BiShvat (“the New Year of the Trees”), which is celebrated by planting trees in order to raise ecological awareness.&nbsp;



“So long as there’s not too much cloud, the full moon will be an unmistakable white orb in the sky. This is a good opportunity to use a small telescope or a pair of binoculars to see the moon’s detailed surface, or even try taking a few interesting moon photos,” experts from the Royal Observatory Greenwich 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



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Full Snow Moon will be bright in the sky tonight

This year’s second full moon – known as the “Snow...

The Arctic is currently warming faster than the global average and this is contributing to the seasonal melting of sea ice, ice sheets and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/half-of-the-worlds-glaciers-will-melt-by-2100/">glaciers</a>. However, winter temperatures in the region are still well below freezing and this should give the ice an opportunity to recover from the summer melt. However, a new study led by scientists from <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a> has identified that powerful storms, brought by atmospheric rivers, are increasingly reaching the Arctic in winter and are slowing down the recovery of the sea ice.&nbsp;



“Arctic sea ice decline is among the most obvious evidence of global warming from the past several decades,” said Pengfei Zhang, assistant research professor of meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State and lead author of the study. “Despite temperatures in the Arctic being well below freezing, sea ice decline in winter is still very significant. And our research shows atmospheric rivers are one factor in understanding why.”



Atmospheric rivers are typically long, narrow bands in the atmosphere - like rivers in the sky - that carry large amounts of condensed water vapor away from the tropics towards lower latitudes. Likened to great conveyer belts of water in the sky, they play a central role in the global water cycle. The water-laden plumes move with the weather and, when they make landfall, often release this water vapor in the form of rain.&nbsp;



Although atmospheric rivers come in many sizes, those that contain the largest amounts of water vapor and bring the strongest winds can give rise to extreme rainfall and floods. The very largest of these carry a greater flux of water than the Amazon River. There are typically 3–5 atmospheric rivers present within a hemisphere at any one time, and they have increased slightly in intensity over the past century.&nbsp;



Using satellite observations and climate model simulations, the Penn State scientists and their colleagues found that these storms are increasingly reaching the Arctic – particularly the Barents and Kara seas off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia – during the winter ice-growing season.&nbsp;The rain that they bring is slowing sea ice recovery and accounts for a third of all winter sea ice decline.&nbsp;These findings are published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01599-3">Nature Climate Change</a>.



“We often think that Arctic sea ice decline is a gradual process due to gradual forcings like global warming,” said study co-author L. Ruby Leung, Battelle Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “This study is important in that it finds sea ice decline is due to episodic extreme weather events - atmospheric rivers - which have occurred more frequently in recent decades partly due to global warming.”



According to the researchers, the storms brought by atmospheric rivers affect ice melt in two important ways. Firstly, warm moisture carried from the tropics falls on the Arctic ice at a time when the thin, fragile ice cover is regrowing during winter. Secondly, the storms increase long-wave radiation, or heat, emitted back to Earth from the atmosphere. Both these factors slow down the recovery of sea ice during the cold months.&nbsp;



Using satellite remote sensing images, the scientists observed that sea ice retreated almost immediately following atmospheric river storms and that the retreat persisted for up to 10 days. Because of this melting and because the storms are becoming&nbsp;more common, atmospheric rivers are slowing down seasonal sea-ice recovery in the Arctic, the scientists said.



“When this kind of moisture transport happens in the Arctic, the effect is not only the amount of rain or snow that falls from it, but also the powerful melting effect on the ice,” said study co-author Mingfang Ting, a professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. “This is important since we are losing Arctic sea ice fast in the past few decades that brought many unwanted consequences such as Arctic warming, erosion of Arctic coastlines, disturbance to global weather patterns and disruption to the Arctic communities and ecosystems.”



The loss of Arctic sea ice has broad implications, the scientists said. Open waters may enable new, more direct shipping routes but also trigger geopolitical concerns between countries. Additionally, freshwater melting into the salty ocean may impact oceanic circulations patterns that stabilize global temperatures. From a biological perspective, sea ice cover is important for the successful reproduction of many animal species, and reductions in cover will negatively impact breeding success.&nbsp;



“Those factors make this study especially important from a science perspective, but also from social and security perspectives," said study co-author Professor Laifang Li of Penn State. “Sea ice melting has a big impact for the climate system and for society, and our study finds the Arctic is an open system and that climate change is way more complicated than temperature change alone can explain.”



Using large-ensemble climate models, the scientists determined that human-induced warming has increased the rate of atmospheric river storms in the Arctic. But they also found that one major mode of natural climate variabilities - the so-called Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation - also contributes to atmospheric river changes.



“This study, together with other work that noted the presence of atmospheric rivers in the tropics, highlights that atmospheric rivers represent a global phenomenon,” said Bin Guan, Earth systems scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.&nbsp;



“Since they were discovered relatively recently - in the 1990s, and even more recently in terms of recognizing their societal impacts - atmospheric rivers provide an opportunity for potentially coordinated research and applications globally, that is, with today’s computational and technological capabilities."



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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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Rivers in the sky prevent the seasonal recovery of Arctic sea ice

The Arctic is currently warming faster than the global average...

A new analysis led by <a href="https://www.natureserve.org/">NatureServe</a> has revealed that more than one-third of plants and animals are at risk of vanishing in the United States. The unprecedented report, <a href="http://www.natureserve.org/bif">Biodiversity in Focus: United States Edition</a>, warns that 34 percent of plants and 40 percent of animals are threatened with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/relentless-sex-drive-may-lead-northern-quolls-to-extinction/">extinction</a>.&nbsp;



The rare Venus flytrap, 200 species of trees, and nearly half of all cacti species are all at risk of disappearing, according to the report. The greatest numbers of threatened species were found in California, Texas and the southeastern United States.&nbsp;



Furthermore, the researchers determined that 41 percent of ecosystems are at risk of collapse, which means that they could rapidly lose their structure and function.



“For fifty years, the NatureServe Network has been collecting the information necessary to understand biodiversity imperilment in the United States. This new analysis of that data, a first in 20 years, makes crystal clear the urgency of that work,” said Regan Smyth of NatureServe.&nbsp;



“Two-fifths of our ecosystems are in trouble. Freshwater invertebrates and many pollinators, the foundation of a healthy, functional planet, are in precipitous decline. Understanding and addressing these risks is critical if we are to forestall devastating consequences for the biodiversity that humanity needs to survive.”&nbsp;



The experts set out to gain a better understanding of how many species and ecosystems are currently at risk in the United States, and whether or not they are protected. The team also wanted to identify the major threats to biodiversity, as well as how to address these threats.&nbsp;



The analysis showed that habitat degradation, invasive species, dams, and climate change are among the primary threats to biodiversity in the United States.&nbsp;



The analysis also revealed that species face different types of threats in different parts of the country. Overall, 37 percent of the bee species examined in the study are at risk, and this threat is greater for bees in the Western U.S.



Among the country's ecosystems that are facing collapse, the experts found that grasslands and wetlands are particularly in need of conservation efforts. The report states that over half of 78 grassland types at risk of a range-wide collapse.



“We are currently experiencing and causing the Sixth Extinction - the mass extinction of species across the planet. NatureServe’s data highlight where the threats are right here at home,” said Dr. Sean T. O’Brien, president and CEO of NatureServe. “The plants, animals, and ecosystems found in our state, tribal, and federal lands are key components of our cultural and natural heritage. We should be proud of the biodiversity in our backyard and should prioritize protecting what is here, now.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



U.S. Representative Don Beyer said NatureServe's work would be critical to helping agencies identify what areas to prioritize and where to establish migration routes.



"The data reported by NatureServe is grim, a harrowing sign of the very real problems our wildlife and ecosystems are facing," Beyer told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/huge-chunk-plants-animals-us-risk-extinction-report-2023-02-06/">Reuters</a>. "I am thankful for their efforts, which will give a boost to efforts to protect biodiversity."



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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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U.S. biodiversity crisis: more than a third of species are threatened

A new analysis led by NatureServe has revealed that more...

The number of unprovoked <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-populations-are-rebounding-in-the-northwest-atlantic/">shark</a> attacks in oceans around the world was at a 10-year low during 2022, with a total of 57. This number is on a par with the attacks recorded during 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic kept tourists and locals off beaches and out of coastal waters. According to the latest annual report of the University of Florida’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/">International Shark Attack File</a> (ISAF), most of the 2022 attacks occurred in the United States and Australia. Of these, five attacks were fatal, down from nine deaths in 2021 and 10 the year before.



The ISAF is the world’s only scientifically documented, comprehensive database of all known shark attacks. It was initiated in 1958 and is housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Currently, the list documents 6,800 shark attack cases during the period from the early 1500s to the present. This annual report focuses particularly on unprovoked shark attacks, defined as “incidents in which a bite on a live human occurs in the shark’s natural&nbsp;habitat with no human provocation of the shark.”



According to the latest statistics, there have been an average of 74 unprovoked bites per year since 2013. Therefore, the bites recorded during 2022 mark a significant decrease. According to scientists, this overall reduction in the number of last year’s bites may reflect the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03173-9">documented global decline</a>&nbsp;of shark populations.&nbsp;



“Generally speaking, the number of sharks in the world’s oceans has decreased, which may have contributed to recent lulls” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/sharks/">Florida Program for Shark Research</a>. “It’s likely that fatalities are down because some areas have recently implemented rigorous beach safety protocols, especially in Australia.”



Analysis of the geographic distribution of shark attacks in the 2022 Annual Report shows that the U.S. recorded the highest number of shark bites, and that Florida, in particular, had more bites than anywhere else on Earth. However, none of Florida’s 16 unprovoked bites was fatal, but two – likely from bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) – required medical treatment resulting in amputations. Only one of the unprovoked shark attacks in U.S. waters resulted in a fatality, which occurred late in the year when a snorkeler went missing along Keawakapu Beach in Maui, Hawaii.



In contrast, Australia had nine confirmed unprovoked bites, and single bites occurred in New Zealand, Thailand and Brazil. Two fatal attacks occurred on the same day in Egypt’s Red Sea, where shark encounters are considered rare. South Africa, which averages a few bites a year, had two unprovoked attacks in 2022, both of which were fatal and likely caused by great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias).



Although there were fewer bites in the U.S. last year, there were spikes in certain hotspot regions that have caused concern from residents and government officials in these areas. For example, New York had a record eight bites in 2022, compared with a total of only 12 reported unprovoked bites in the State before this time.



In 2016, researchers discovered that juvenile sand tiger sharks (<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/carcharias-taurus/">Carcharias taurus</a>) had taken up residence in Great South Bay, between Long Island and Fire Island. The sharks continue to use the sheltered bay as a nursery, where they’re better protected from predation than they’d otherwise be in the open ocean. According to Naylor, the majority of bites in Long Island were likely from sand tiger sharks that were drawn into the surf zone by an influx of baitfish.



“The Gulf Stream’s eddies ebb and flow each year. Sometimes they can come very close to shore, bringing nutrients and fish with them. The juvenile sand tigers will follow the fish, which in some cases leads to an uptick in encounters with people,” he said. “But local perceptions of shark bites rarely map to global statistics. If you zoom out, these eddies unpredictably break off from oceanic currents all over the world in haphazard ways.”



For as long as records have been kept, there have been no reported fatalities from sand tiger attacks, but juveniles have often been implicated in non-lethal bites.



“Juveniles tend to be more experimental and will try things that an adult shark wouldn’t,” Naylor said. “If fish are especially dense where people are swimming and visibility is poor, then it is more likely that young sharks, which lack the experience of older animals, will mistake a swimmer’s foot for their intended prey.”



Another noteworthy record in the 2022 Annual Report comes from the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt. On January 8, 2022, two attacks occurred less than a mile from each other and both were fatal. It is possible that the attacks were perpetrated by the same individual shark, most likely considered to be a tiger shark (<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/galeocerdo-cuvier/">Galeocerdo cuvier</a>).&nbsp;



Shark attacks are relatively rare in the Red Sea, but when they do occur, they’re often fatal, Naylor said. This is due primarily to the unique topography of the region. The Red Sea began forming roughly 50 million years ago as the tectonic plates underlying Africa and Arabia began pulling apart, creating a steep gorge between them.



“It’s a very unusual marine system because the seafloor drops so precipitously, as much as 1,000 feet in 100 yards in some places,” noted Naylor.



In regions like eastern North America, where the continental shelf slopes gradually, large pelagic sharks often forage far from the coast. In the Red Sea, however, they’re mere meters from the shore, Naylor explained. “Open oceans are often pretty bleak, and the pelagic sharks that live in them make their living by opportunism. Whatever potential food source they find, they’ll sample.”



The authors of the report emphasize that the chances of being bitten by a shark remain incredibly low. According to the World Health Organization, drowning is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning">third leading cause of accidental death</a>&nbsp;worldwide, and coastal features like rip tides and strong currents pose a greater risk to beachgoers than do sharks.&nbsp;



Despite this, the ISAF provides recommendations for reducing the risk of a shark bite for those who swim in the oceans. These include removing shiny jewelry before entering the water, not swimming at dawn or dusk, and avoiding areas where there are active fishermen or shoals of fish. For more resources, including the full 2022 report, you can visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/">International Shark Attack File’s website</a>. &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



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.

Shark attacks decreased in 2022, but spiked in local hotspots

The number of unprovoked shark attacks in oceans around the...

Most of the research on skin coloration and patterning in vertebrates has been conducted on laboratory mice. However, since mice don’t share all of the same kinds of color-producing cells (known as chromatophores) with other vertebrates, there are limits to what mice can tell us about coloration in reptiles such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/modern-snakes-evolved-from-just-a-few-surviving-species/">snakes</a>, for instance.&nbsp;



Now, by combining techniques such as whole gene sequencing, gene-editing, and electron microscopy, a team of researchers from <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a> in Canada has examined color variations and patterning in the skin shed by ball pythons (Python regius) bred in captivity. The analysis revealed that a particular gene (tfec) plays a crucial role these snakes’ pigmentation, more specifically in a classic color variant found across vertebrates and distinguished by blotches of white (the so-called “piebald coloration”).



The captive-bred reptile industry is currently booming, with over 4.5 million households in the U.S. alone keeping reptiles. Due to the spectacular color variations produced through captive breeding, a single ball python can now sell for tens of thousands of dollars.



“Ball pythons show incredible variation in skin coloring and patterning, which is part of their appeal for hobbyists, but also makes them really useful for researchers who want to understand the genetic basis of coloration,” said study senior author Rowan Barrett, an expert in Biodiversity Science at McGill.



“The pet trade has created a huge pool of color variation that would not have existed otherwise. This provides a catalogue for us to figure out the many ways that genes produce the amazing diversity of colors, spots, and stripes we see across different animals.”



In order to identify the genes responsible for particular traits, scientists usually examine genetic variants that are present in the animals that have the traits, and absent in those that don’t have them. By using shed skin samples collected from snake breeders, the researchers discovered that piebald snakes carried the same mutation in a gene called tfec.



However, since finding a correlation between a specific gene and a particular trait does not necessarily imply causation, the scientists used the genetic-editing technique CRISPR to modify this gene in a different species of reptile, the brown anole lizard. This intervention revealed that genetically modified lizards do indeed show altered coloration, thus proving that mutations to tfec cause changes to color-producing cells.



“Our research advances knowledge of the genetics of vertebrate coloration generally and particularly of the development of iridescent cells, which haven’t been studied as much as other color pathways,” said study lead author Alan Garcia-Elfring, a PhD student in Biology at McGill.



“It also highlights the potential benefits of working with non-academic communities like ball python breeders to accelerate discoveries in fundamental science. Our job, at this point, is to figure out what other mutations underlie all this variation seen in captivity, and how these mutations interact. It’s an exciting time for both researchers and reptile hobbyists.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.004">Current Biology</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.

Ball pythons shed new light on reptile coloration

Most of the research on skin coloration and patterning in...

Similar to a thermostat, rocks, rain, and carbon dioxide control the Earth’s climate over thousands of years in a process called “weathering.” Now, a team of scientists led by <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a> has investigated how this thermostat responds as our planet is warming.



“Life has been on this planet for billions of years, so we know <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-temperature-has-been-steadily-rising-since-the-1850s/">Earth’s temperature</a> has remained consistent enough for there to be liquid water and to support life,” said study lead author Susan Brantley, a professor of Geosciences at Penn State. “The idea is that silicate rock weathering is this thermostat, but no one has ever really agreed on its temperature sensitivity.”



Since many factors contribute to weathering, it has been challenging to use lab experiments to estimate how weathering responds to climate change. To overcome these limitations, the researchers combined laboratory measurements with soil analyses from 45 sites around the globe and a variety of watersheds.&nbsp;



“When you do experiments in the laboratory versus taking samples from soil or a river, you get different values. So what we tried to do in this research is look across those different spatial scales and figure out how we can make sense of all this data geochemists around the world been accumulating about weathering on the planet. And this study is a model for how we can do that,” Brantley explained.



Weathering contributes to a balancing of CO2 from the atmosphere. Although volcanoes have released massive amounts of CO2 during Earth’s history, this gas has slowly been removed through the process of weathering. In a first step, rain takes the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and creates a weak acid that falls on the surface of the planet and wears away silicate rocks. Afterwards, the byproducts are carried by rivers and streams to the oceans where this carbon is finally locked away in sedimentary rocks.



“It has long been hypothesized that the balance between carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere from volcanoes and being pulled out by weathering over millions of years holds the temperature of the planet relatively constant,” Brantley said. “The key is when there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the planet gets hotter, weathering goes faster and pulls more carbon dioxide out. And when the planet is cooler, weathering slows down.”



The analysis revealed that temperature sensitivity measurements in the lab were lower than estimates from soils and rivers and therefore human-made attempts to increase weathering are now crucial to draw sufficient CO2 from the atmosphere. “One idea has been to enhance weathering by digging up a lot of rock, grinding it, transporting it and putting it out in the fields to let weathering happen. And that will work — it’s already working. The problem is, it’s a very slow process,” Brantley concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add2922">Science Advances</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.

How does Earth’s "thermostat” control the climate?

Similar to a thermostat, rocks, rain, and carbon dioxide control...

Howling is a characteristic form of communication in wolves that helps them send messages across long distances, mark territory boundaries, and identify the position of other wolves. Among <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dog-ancestry-traced-to-two-populations-of-ancient-wolves/">dogs</a> - the wolves’ domestic relatives - the situation is more complicated. While some breeds, such as wolf-like sled dogs, howl frequently, even in “reply” to irrelevant sounds like bells, sirens, or music, other types of dogs never engage in such behavior.



Now, a team of ethologists from the <a href="https://www.elte.hu/en/">Eötvös Loránd University</a> (ELTE) in Hungary has examined the phenomenon of dog howling by testing the reaction of 68 purebred family dogs to recorded wolf howls. To test the effect of a dog's breed, the experts measured its genetic similarity to wolves.



“According to our results, breeds which are genetically more similar to wolves (“ancient breeds”), are more prone to reply with their own howls to wolf howl playbacks. On the other hand, breeds more distantly related to wolves (“modern breeds”) typically reacted with barking instead of howls. It seems that although howling is present in most breeds’ repertoire, it lost its functionality due to the changed social environment, thus, modern breeds do not use it in adequate situations,” reported study lead author Fanni Lehoczki, a postdoctoral researcher in Neuroethology at ELTE. “Additionally, we found that breeds which howl more also show more stress-related behaviors in this situation.”



“We assume that more ancient breeds, which are genetically closer to wolves, can process the information encoded in wolf howls better than modern breeds. Thus, ancient breeds of our study might become stressed by intruding on a pack’s territory and use howling for the sake of avoidance, just as wolves do,” added study lead author&nbsp;Tamás Faragó, a postdoctoral fellow in Ethology at the same university.



“Interestingly,&nbsp;this genetic effect on howling occurs only among older dogs (&gt;5 years), for which an experience- or some age-related personality effect can be a plausible explanation. It is possible that - in line with our hypothesis, that howling appearing with a higher level of stress is a fear reaction - older dogs are more fearful, which was already suggested by previous studies, but these speculations require further investigation.”



Besides the breed and age of the dogs, the scientists also tested the effect of other features such as sex or reproductive status. The analysis revealed that, while there was no difference between intact and spayed females, intact dogs behaved differently from neutered ones.&nbsp;



“Neutered males, which are in lack of testosterone, howl more in response to the playbacks. As neutered males are suggested to be more fearful, this result can be in line with our findings about responsiveness and more stressed behavior. Thus, the dog howl may mean ‘I am scared, don't come closer,’” Lehoczki explained.



These findings support the hypothesis that domestication and selective breeding by humans significantly changed dogs’ vocal repertoire, including the perception and production of howls.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04450-9">Nature Communications Biology</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.

Why do some dogs howl, but others don't?

Howling is a characteristic form of communication in wolves that...

A fungus that can cause deadly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-disrupts-gut-health-increasing-risk-of-other-infections/">infection</a> in salamanders and newts has a secret weapon that makes it more dangerous, according to a study led by the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. The experts report that a fungus called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) contains multiple copies of “jumping genes," which can essentially duplicate themselves.&nbsp;



Jumping genes, known by scientists as transposons, are DNA sequences that move from one location on the genome to another. While possessing repeated parts of DNA can be harmful to an organism, the researchers have found a possible evolutionary advantage of jumping genes in Bsal.



The team found different versions of jumping genes repeated multiple times in the genome of Bsal. Furthermore, the transposons appear to have duplicated another group of genes that play a role in the severity of an infection.&nbsp;



“Bsal and related fungal species infect amphibians worldwide, and have been responsible for more than 90 extinctions,” explained study first author Theresa Wacker.&nbsp;



“Bsal infects the skin of salamanders and newts and causes severe wounds. It emerged in Asia, where many newts and salamanders have some tolerance, but it has spread to Europe and is causing European salamander populations to decline."



“Using new sequencing technologies, we found that Bsal has undergone a genome expansion compared to related species - that is to say, it now has a bigger genome with more genes and also more of these ‘jumping gene’ transposons.”



The experts determined that the ability of jumping genes to "copy and paste" themselves has contributed to the expansion of the Bsal genome.



“If you think of an organism’s genome as a blueprint, transposons are like having many identical pages,” said Wacker. “And sometimes, during the process of copying and pasting, other parts of the book are also copied.”



"It appears that this copying and pasting caused by repetitive jumping gene transposons has also amplified some skin-destroying genes. Having more of these skin-destruction genes allow the fungus to destroy the skin of salamanders more quickly, making it more deadly.”



Study senior author Dr. Rhys Farrer noted that this kind of gene repetition is probably more widespread in nature than we currently realize. “If, as appears to be the case, it confers an evolutionary advantage for the pathogen by making it more virulent, it’s not clear why this isn’t much more common.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2212633120">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



Image Credit: Jaime Bosch



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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.

A fungus has become more deadly thanks to jumping genes

A fungus that can cause deadly infection in salamanders and...

New research shows that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-inventory-will-be-greatly-reduced-by-climate-change/">climate change</a> can lead to greater water crises than previously expected. Climate change affects precipitation and evaporation around the world. This impacts the amount of river water that can be used locally.&nbsp;



The climate impact on streamflow has been estimated using projections from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Now, a study led by <a href="https://www.tuwien.at/en/">Vienna University of Technology</a> indicates that previous models have underestimated the sensitivity of water availability in a warming climate.&nbsp;



"In the climatology community, the effects of climate change on the atmosphere are very well understood. However, their local consequences on rivers and the availability of water falls into the field of hydrology," explained study co-author Professor Günter Blöschl.



Locally, it is often possible to determine how water availability is related to precipitation or temperature. But global conclusions cannot be drawn from individual observations:&nbsp;



"How the water balance depends on external parameters varies from place to place; local vegetation also plays a very important role here," said Professor Blöschl.&nbsp;



It is difficult to develop a model that can calculate these interrelationships at all places in the world.



Professor Blöschl collaborated with colleagues from China, Australia, the United States, and Saudi Arabia to analyze a large database of streamflow observations from 9,500 hydrological catchments around the world.&nbsp;



"We look at how much the amount of available water changed in the past when external conditions changed. In this way we can find out how sensitively changes in climate parameters are related to a change in local water availability. And this allows us to make predictions for a future, warmer climate," said Professor Blöschl.



The connection between precipitation and the amount of water in rivers is much more sensitive than current models assume. This demonstrates the need to update or revise models that predict climate impact on water supply.&nbsp;



"Up to now, runoff measurements have usually not been included at all in the models, such as those currently reported by the IPCC," said Professor Blöschl. "With the series of measurements now available, it should now be possible to adjust the physical prediction models accordingly."



The results suggest that climate impacts on the water supply in many parts of the world have been underestimated. This is especially the case for Africa, Australia and North America, where new data predicts a higher risk of water supply crises by 2050.



"The lower streamflow predicted here is due to smaller contributions from precipitation and stronger sensitivity of streamflow to changes in evapotranspiration, which is related to increased radiation energy and vapour transfer, and enhanced vegetation greening," wrote the study authors. "Our estimate points towards the possibility that a future water crisis could be more severe than anticipated."



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00030-7">Nature Water</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



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Future water crisis could be much worse than expected

New research shows that climate change can lead to greater...

Negative emotions, depression, and anxiety are believed to play a major role in the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.unige.ch/">University of Geneva</a> (UNIGE) set out to better understand the process of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/aging-may-be-driven-by-genetic-imbalances/">aging</a> by investigating the activation of the brains of both young and older adults when confronted with the psychological distress of others



The experts found that the neuronal connections of the elderly show significant emotional inertia, with negative emotions modifying them excessively over an extended period of time, especially in the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala (two brain regions involved in the regulation of emotions and autobiographical memory). The findings suggest that a better management of negative emotions - through meditation, for instance - could help limit neurodegeneration.



"We are beginning to understand what happens at the moment of perception of an emotional stimulus,” said study senior author Olga Klimecki, an expert in Affective Sciences at UNIGE. “However, what happens afterwards remains a mystery. How does the brain switch from one emotion to another? How does it return to its initial state? Does emotional variability change with age? What are the consequences for the brain of mismanagement of emotions?”



Previous studies have found than a capacity to change emotions quickly is beneficial for mental health, and that people who remain in the same emotional state for a long period of time have an increased risk of depression. 



“Our aim was to determine what cerebral trace remains after the viewing of emotional scenes, in order to evaluate the brain’s reaction, and, above all, its recovery mechanisms. We focused on the older adults, in order to identify possible differences between normal and pathological aging,” said study co-author Patrik Vuilleumie, a professor of Basic Neurosciences at the same university.



The researchers showed both young and older participants short television clips with people experiencing emotional distress, as well as videos with a neutral content, and observed their brain activity using functional MRI. “Older people generally show a different pattern of brain activity and connectivity from younger people,” said study co-author Sebastian Baez Lugo, a cognitive neuroscientist at UNIGE.&nbsp;



“This is particularly noticeable in the level of activation of the default mode network, a brain network that is highly activated in resting state. Its activity is frequently disrupted by depression or anxiety, suggesting that it is involved in the regulation of emotions. In the older adults, part of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex, which processes autobiographical memory, shows an increase in its connections with the amygdala, which processes important emotional stimuli. These connections are stronger in subjects with high anxiety scores, with rumination, or with negative thoughts.”



However, most older people tend to regulate their emotions better than younger ones, and focus more easily on positive details. Thus, the changes in connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala could indicate a deviation from normal aging, which is accentuated in people with more negative emotions, anxiety, and rumination.



“Is it poor emotional regulation and anxiety that increases the risk of dementia or the other way around? We still don’t know,” said Baez Lugo. “Our hypothesis is that more anxious people would have no or less capacity for emotional distancing. The mechanism of emotional inertia in the context of aging would then be explained by the fact that the brain of these people remains ‘frozen’ in a negative state by relating the suffering of others to their own emotional memories.”



In future research, the scientists aim to investigate whether activities such as meditation or foreign language learning may help prevent dementia by acting on the mechanisms of emotional inertia.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00341-6">Nature Aging</a>.



—



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



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Managing negative emotions may prevent dementia

Negative emotions, depression, and anxiety are believed to play a...

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

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

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[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



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Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" 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 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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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 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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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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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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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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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