Quantum entanglement is a mind-boggling phenomenon in quantum mechanics that intrigues both scientists and the public alike.



Unlike the predictable nature of classical physics, quantum mechanics thrives on unpredictability, often challenging our everyday perceptions. This is particularly evident in the behavior of entangled particles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-quantum-entanglement">Understanding quantum entanglement</h2>



In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously, a concept known as superposition. Entanglement elevates this idea: when <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-laws-thermodynamics-follow-entropy-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">particles become entangled</a>, their states are interlinked.



A change in one particle's state instantly influences the other, regardless of distance—imagine two distant light bulbs flickering in sync across the cosmos.



Entanglement suggests that information can be shared instantaneously between particles, defying the notion that nothing travels faster than light.



This "<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-spooky-action-at-a-distance-persists-between-top-quarks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spooky action at a distance</a>," as Albert Einstein famously termed it, prompts profound questions about the nature of space and time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-of-measurement">Challenges of measurement</h2>



Measurement in quantum mechanics presents unique challenges. Observing one particle in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-dance-entangled-photons-wave-functions-captured-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an entangled pair</a> determines the states of both, leading to critical inquiries: What constitutes a 'measurement,' and how does it influence our understanding of reality?



The complex mathematics underpinning quantum mechanics -- incorporating concepts like Hilbert spaces, wave functions, and operators -- can be intimidating, rendering entanglement less accessible to many.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fascinating-puzzle">Fascinating puzzle</h2>



Simply put, quantum entanglement is just too complicated for most people to fully understand. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-tunneling-allow-particles-break-light-speed-barrier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">It defies classical intuitions</a>, involves sophisticated mathematics, and urges us to reevaluate our understanding of reality.



That is, until now. 



Enter Professor Carl Kocher, a pioneer of the study of quantum entanglement. He is currently a member of the <a href="https://quantumfoundry.ucsb.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum Foundry</a> at University of California Santa Barbara and Professor Emeritus at <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon State University</a>.



Professor Kocher is the author of a new article in Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology, explaining his groundbreaking 1964-67 experiments in quantum entanglement and discussing the 'paradox' of quantum entanglement.



In the following guest editorial, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carl-Kocher" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Professor Kocher</a> helps us stretch our minds to understand this apparently paradoxical phenomenon.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-understanding-quantum-entanglement-0">Understanding quantum entanglement</h2>



My new article, ‘<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/quantum-science-and-technology/articles/10.3389/frqst.2024.1451239/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum Entanglement of Optical Photons: The First Experiment, 1964-67</a>’, is intended to convey the spirit of a small research project that reaches into uncharted territory. 



The article breaks with tradition, as it offers a first-person account of the strategy and challenges for the experiment, as well as an interpretation of the final result and its significance. 



In this guest editorial, I will introduce the subject and also attempt to illuminate the question ‘What is a paradox?’



Let’s begin with the gyroscope that I bought when I was eight, from a store that sold novelties and magic tricks. The spinning disk, supported at one end of its shaft, did not fall, but moved slowly around in a horizontal plane. 



This behavior seems mysterious or paradoxical in the context of common experience that excludes gyroscopes, but makes complete sense in the context of Newtonian mechanics, which resolves the paradox by predicting precisely how gyroscopes will behave.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolution-of-quantum-theory">Evolution of quantum theory</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radical-new-theory-finally-unites-gravity-spacetime-and-the-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quantum theory</a>, conceived in the mid-1920s, has been impressively successful in accounting for the properties and interactions of atoms and molecules. 



In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen stirred controversy with a thought experiment in which two particles of common origin move apart, noting that quantum theory predicts correlations in subsequent measurements of their spins.



The correlation may seem quite puzzling, as a measurement on one of the particles appears to influence a subsequent measurement on the other, even if the particles do not interact.



In current terminology, these correlations are an example of entanglement, and the correlation phenomenon is known as the EPR paradox.



The puzzle has become a subject for much discussion and analysis, especially because there was (and is) no known mechanism for measurements to communicate with each other.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-disentangling-quantum-entanglement">Disentangling quantum entanglement</h2>



In 1964 I was intrigued by this unfamiliar effect and began to think of a way to actually perform the EPR experiment -- or at least a version of it -- for observing the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-discovery-is-a-revolutionary-step-forward/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">correlation and entanglement</a>. It would be a low-energy experiment that could be set up in a small laboratory.



For the experiment outlined here, the particles of interest are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-entanglement-photons-used-to-measure-earth-rotation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">visible-light photons</a>, which are noninteracting, emitted by excited calcium atoms in a two-stage spontaneous emission process. The polarization states of the photons, which are related to their spins, can be measured simply, with ordinary linear polarizers. 



Photomultiplier detectors count the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-dance-entangled-photons-wave-functions-captured-real-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">individual photons</a>, #1 (green) and #2 (violet), and timing circuits enable the identification of photon pairs from the same atom. A rotatable linear polarizer is mounted in front of each detector.



In simplest terms, the experiment involves counting the rate at which photon pairs are detected, as a function of the orientation of the polarizers. A photon pair detected from the same atom is recorded as a “coincidence count.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-theory-and-experiment-agree">Theory and experiment agree</h2>



Quantum theory makes the following predictions:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/quantum-computer-photons-create-vortex-when-they-collide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Each photon</a>, taken separately, has a 50% chance of being transmitted by its polarizer, regardless of its angle of orientation. </li>



<li>If the polarizer axes are parallel, both photons from the same atom can pass through their polarizers and be counted. Coincidence counts will be observed. </li>



<li>If the polarizer axes are perpendicular, it never happens that both photons pass through their polarizers. Therefore, no coincidence counts will be observed.</li>
</ol>



Predictions #1 and #2 are not surprising, as the green and violet beams of light are unpolarized.



Prediction #3, discussed further in my article, is a quantum entanglement effect with no analog in classical (non-quantum) physics. It is especially interesting because it can be tested experimentally. I designed the experiment specifically for this purpose.



The results of the experiment, after nearly three years of effort in the laboratory, clearly demonstrate that coincidence counts are recorded if the polarizer axes are parallel, and that no coincidences are recorded if the polarizers are perpendicular. The agreement between theory and experiment is unequivocal and striking.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-so-is-there-a-paradox">So is there a paradox?</h2>



In our brief discussion of the gyroscope, no paradox was acknowledged because Newton’s theory (classical dynamics) fully explains how a gyroscope moves. 



Furthermore, both the theory and the observed gyroscopic behavior are compatible with our life experience and intuitive ability to grasp natural processes in the classical realm.



In the entanglement case, quantum theory accounts for the observed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/super-photons-fascinating-behavior-in-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">correlation of the photon polarizations</a>. But even when a theory predicts experimental results, a paradox may remain if the intuition cannot reach out to connect with it.



Take another look at predictions #1 and #3 above. If we draw on our experience of life in a non-quantum world, we may notice something very strange when the polarizers are “crossed” at 90 degrees. 



If each photon has a 50% chance of transmission through its polarizer, why don’t we get coincidences 25% of the time? Instead, we observe none at all. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-stretching-the-mind-to-resolve-the-paradox">Stretching the mind to resolve the paradox</h2>



At first consideration, this <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/impossibility-paradox-calculating-incalculable-quantum-realm-particles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">does seem to qualify as a paradox</a>. One possible explanation could involve a missing component of quantum theory - perhaps a causal mechanism that could allow one photon, or one measurement, to communicate with the other. 



However, despite extensive research, no evidence has been found for such a mechanism.



As we do not live in an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-quantum-revolution-will-impact-all-aspects-of-society/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">overtly quantum world</a>, classical phenomena may influence our thought processes - even when we venture into the quantum realm. It may therefore remain a challenge to assimilate entanglement into the intuition.



I believe that the paradox can be at least partially resolved when further thought and experience, such as the experiment considered here, ‘stretch the mind’ to more fully embrace entanglement and other quantum phenomena.



I have come to view these aspects of nature as ‘strangely wonderful’.



The full paper and study can we read at <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/quantum-science-and-technology/articles/10.3389/frqst.2024.1451239/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology</a>.



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Quantum entanglement: A simple way to fully grasp this 'impossible' concept

Quantum entanglement is a mind-boggling phenomenon in quantum mechanics that intrigues both scientists and the public alike. Unlike the predictable nature of classical physics, quantum mechanics thrives on unpredictability, often challenging our everyday perceptions. This is particularly evident in the behavior of entangled particles. Understanding quantum entanglement In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in multiple states simultaneously, a concept known as superposition. Entanglement elevates this idea: when particles become entangled, their states are interlinked. A change in one particle's state instantly influences the other, regardless of distance—imagine...

A team of archeologists from <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a> (OSU) has discovered projectile points in Idaho which are thousands of years older than any other such <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-migrations-north-america/">artifacts</a> previously found in the Americas. These findings could help scientists fill in the history of how early humans crafted and used stone weapons.



Through carbon-14 dating, the researchers discovered that the 13 full and fragmentary projectile points – which are all razor sharp and measure between half an inch and two inches – date to roughly 15,700 years ago. This is 3,000 years older than the Clovis fluted points previously found in North America, and 2,300 years older than the points discovered before at the same Cooper’s Ferry site along present day Idaho’s Salmon River.



“From a scientific point of view, these discoveries add very important details about what the archaeological record of the earliest peoples of the Americas looks like,” said study lead author Loren Davis, a professor of Anthropology at OSU. “It’s one thing to say, ‘We think that people were here in the Americas 16,000 years ago;’ it’s another thing to measure it by finding well-made artifacts they left behind.”



Surprisingly, the points are highly similar to similar objects found in Hokkaido, Japan, dating to 16,000 – 20,000 years ago. Their discovery in Idaho confirms the hypothesis that there may have been early genetic and cultural connections between the ice age peoples of North America and Northeast Asia.



“The earliest peoples of North America possessed cultural knowledge that they used to survive and thrive over time. Some of this knowledge can be seen in the way people made stone tools, such as the projectile points found at the Cooper’s Ferry site. By comparing these points with other sites of the same age and older, we can infer the spatial extents of social networks where this technological knowledge was shared between peoples,” Davis explained.



Although these slender projectile points were very small, being most likely attached to darts rather than arrows or spears, they were probably quite deadly. “There’s an assumption that early projectile points had to be big to kill large game; however, smaller projectile points mounted on darts will penetrate deeply and cause tremendous internal damage,” Davis said. “You can hunt any animal we know about with weapons like these.”



These findings add more detail to our current scientific and historical knowledge of early human populations in the Pacific Northwest. “Finding a site where people made pits and stored complete and broken projectile points nearly 16,000 years ago gives us valuable details about the lives of our region’s earliest inhabitants,” he concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade1248">Science Advances</a>.



—



By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Oldest stone weapons of the Americas found in Idaho

A team of archeologists from Oregon State University (OSU) has...

Close,Up,Picture,Of,Brown,Eyes,From,A,Young,Man

A team of scientists led by the <a href="https://www.nei.nih.gov/">National Eye Institute</a> (NEI) has used patient stem cells and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/3d-printed-lungs-lives/">3D bioprinting</a> to produce eye tissue that could advance our understanding of age-related blinding diseases. The experts printed a combination of cells which form the outer blood-retina barrier and support the retina’s light-sensing photoreceptors. This method provides a technically unlimited supply of patient-derived eye tissue to study degenerative retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).



“We know that AMD starts in the outer blood-retina barrier,” said study senior author Kapil Bharti, the head of the NEI Section on Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research. “However, mechanisms of AMD initiation and progression to advanced dry and wet stages remain poorly understood due to the lack of physiologically relevant human models.”



The outer blood-retina barrier consists of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which is separated by Bruch’s membrane from the blood-vessel rich choriocapillaris. This membrane plays a fundamental role in regulating the exchange of both nutrients and waste between the choriocapillaris and the RPE. In individuals suffering from AMD, lipoprotein deposits (called “drusen”) form outside the membrane, impeding its function, and, over time, the RPE break down leading to the degeneration of photoreceptors and, ultimately, to vision loss.



The scientists combined three immature choroidal cell types in a hydrogel: pericytes and endothelial cells (which are critical components of capillaries), and fibroblasts, which give tissues structure. Then, they printed the gel on a biodegradable scaffold and noticed that, in just a few days, the cells began to mature into a dense capillary network. On day nine, the researchers seeded retinal pigment epithelial cells on the opposite side of the scaffold.&nbsp;



The printed tissue reached full maturity on day 42, and began looking and behaving similarly to native outer blood-retina barrier. Under induced stress, this printed tissue exhibited patterns of early AMD, such as drusen deposits beneath the RPE, followed by progression to late dry stage AMD, characterized by widespread tissue degradation. Keeping this tissue under low oxygen conditions induced wet AMD-like appearance, with a massive proliferation of choroidal vessels which migrated into the sub-RPE zone. However, by using anti-VEGF drugs, which are employed by physicians to treat AMD, they managed to suppress vessel proliferation and migration, and to restore tissue morphology.



“By printing cells, we’re facilitating the exchange of cellular cues that are necessary for normal outer blood-retina barrier anatomy,” Bharti explained. “For example, presence of RPE cells induces gene expression changes in fibroblasts that contribute to the formation of Bruch’s membrane - something that was suggested many years ago but wasn’t proven until our model.”



“Our collaborative efforts have resulted in very relevant retina tissue models of degenerative eye diseases. Such tissue models have many potential uses in translational applications, including therapeutics development,” concluded co-author Marc Ferrer, the director of the 3D Tissue Bioprinting Laboratory at NIH’s <a href="https://ncats.nih.gov/">National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01701-1">Nature Methods</a>.



—



By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Scientists create eye tissue through 3D bioprinting

A team of scientists led by the National Eye Institute...

African,American,Docktor,In,While,Coat,Checking,Neck,Of,Elderly

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tattoo-ink-lymph-nodes/">Lymph nodes</a> usually serve as the headquarters of our immune system. When we are vaccinated or get an infection, these nodes are the sites at which immune cells congregate, activate, and proliferate in order to mobilize an effective immune defense. However, with age, the normal tissue in the lymph nodes (called “the stroma”) is gradually replaced by adipose tissue (fat), in a phenomenon known as lipomatosis. Although this phenomenon is quite common and increases with age, relatively few scientific studies have addressed it to date.



Now, by analyzing over 200 lymph nodes, a team of researchers from <a href="https://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a> in Sweden has found that lipomatosis begins in the medulla (the central part of the lymph nodes), and is characterized by the transformation of the fibroblasts (the supporting parts of the lymph nodes) into adipocytes (fat cells). In addition, some specific types of fibroblasts located in the medulla seem to be more prone to become adipocytes.



According to the scientists, in the early stages of lipomatosis, changes arise which impair the ability of lymph nodes to provide effective immunity. For instance, the specialized blood and lymphatic vessels that are normally used channels for immune cells to enter and exit the lymph nodes are destroyed in the areas of the nodes where fat has formed. Thus, lipomatosis may be a critical factor why many elderly people get more severe infections or have poorer responses to vaccination.



“Our study is a first step towards understanding why lipomatosis occur, and towards the longer term goal of finding ways to prevent its progression and the destruction of the lymph node,” said study lead author Tove Bekkhus, an expert in Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology at Uppsala.



Since the researchers are currently unable to mimic the effects they observed in human lymph nodes in animal models normally used for the study of aging, direct analyses of human subjects is necessary.&nbsp;



“I hope our work will spur an interest among other researchers in including lymph nodes lipomatosis as a factor when studying elderly people’s responses to vaccination and infections. The changes we observe are also highly relevant to cancer research, since in several types of cancer, the lymph nodes are the first places cancer cells spread to,” said study senior author Maria Ulvmar, a professor of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology at the same university.



“Our publication provides the first chapter of a story about fat and loss of function in our lymph nodes when we age. We will now continue to develop this story by designing new studies to learn more about the underlying causes and consequences of these changes.”



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/path.6030">Journal of Pathology</a>. &nbsp;



—



By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Aging turns lymph nodes into fat, impairing immunity

Lymph nodes usually serve as the headquarters of our immune...

The target of the United Nations Paris Agreement, signed by 196 parties in 2015, was to limit the global temperature rise to an average of between 1.5 and 2°C. Although some countries have made some progress towards reducing their greenhouse gas <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-co2-emissions-hit-record-levels-in-2022/">emissions</a>, it is looking increasingly likely that we will overshoot this target. Unless urgent action is taken now, in the next decade, the planet is expected to continue heating rapidly, and to warm by more than the critical average of 2°C. 



Scientists envisage a period of higher temperatures in the middle of this century, as a result of our failure to reduce gas emissions. After this, however, it is hypothesized that the deployment of new, as yet unproven, technologies and techniques for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere will eventually bring temperatures back down to a safer level. But what will be the consequences of exceeding 2°C of global warming, even if we do return to lower temperatures in future?



A new study from scientists at the <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/home">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research</a> (PIK), and their international colleagues, has concluded that temporarily overshooting the temperature target could increase the tipping risk of several Earth system elements by more than 70 percent, in comparison with the consequences of keeping global warming in line with the Paris Agreement range. This tipping risk increases even if, in the longer term, the global temperature stabilizes back within the Paris range.&nbsp;



“We show that the risk for some tipping events could increase very substantially under certain global warming overshoot scenarios,” explained Nico Wunderling, scientist at PIK and lead-author of the study published in&nbsp;Nature Climate Change. “Even if we would manage to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees after an overshoot of more than two degrees, this would not be enough as the risk of triggering one or more global tipping points would still be more than 50 percent. With more warming in the long-term, the risks increase dramatically.”



In&nbsp;terms of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatology">climate science</a>, a&nbsp;tipping point&nbsp;is a critical threshold that, when crossed, leads to large and often irreversible changes in the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_system">climate system</a>. For example, an average global warming of 1.5°C is predicted to lead to melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This will cause disastrous rises in sea level which will impact human societies worldwide.&nbsp;Tipping points are found across the planet, in ecosystems, ice sheets, and the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. One of the dangers of reaching tipping point in a system is that this could interact with other sensitive elements, causing a cascade of tipping events, in other systems, with severe impacts.



“To effectively prevent all tipping risks, the global mean temperature increase would need to be limited to no more than one degree – we are currently already at about 1.2 degrees,” said Jonathan Donges, co-lead of the FutureLab on Earth Resilience in the Anthropocene at PIK. “The latest IPCC report is showing that we’re most likely on a path to temporarily overshoot the 1.5°C temperature threshold.”



The PIK scientists, together with researchers from the Earth Commission used different global warming overshoot scenarios with peak temperatures of between two and four degrees, and applied these to a set of four interacting tipping elements: the Greenland Ice Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and the Amazon rainforest.&nbsp;



The researchers applied a risk analysis approach based on millions of model simulations to reflect the uncertainties in relevant parameters such as the uncertainty in critical temperature thresholds as well as interaction strengths and interaction structure. Such a huge number of simulations would be computationally too expensive to do, based on fully coupled Earth System Model simulations.&nbsp;



For the different overshoot scenarios, the research team then analyzed the risk of crossing critical thresholds and the potential for triggering cascading interactions between the four elements, depending on the magnitude and duration of the overshoot.



“We found that the risk for the emergence of at least one tipping event increases with rising peak temperatures - already at a peak temperature of 3°C, more than one third of all simulations showed a tipping event, even when overshoot durations were limited strongly. At a 4°C peak temperature, this risk extended to more than half of all simulations,” explained Nico Wunderling.



“Especially the Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Sheets are at risk of tipping, even for small overshoots, underlining that they are among the most vulnerable tipping elements. While it would take a long time for the ice loss to fully unfold, the temperature levels at which such changes are triggered could already be reached soon,” said Ricarda Winkelmann, Earth Commissioner and co-lead of the FutureLab on Earth Resilience in the Anthropocene.&nbsp;



“Our action in the coming years can thus decide the future trajectory of the ice sheets for centuries or even millennia to come,” she said.



The other two tipping elements considered in the study - the AMOC that could collapse, and the Amazon rainforest dieback - have higher critical temperature thresholds, but will react much faster once the tipping process has started. In the case of these events, damage would arrive fast and recovery would be very slow if temperatures decreased again. It is far more difficult to stop the tipping process of these events, once initiated by a temporary global warming overshoot.&nbsp;



Current mitigation policies and actions are expected to lead to a mean of between 2 and 3.6°C of global warming by the end of this century. “This is not enough. Even though a temporary temperature overshoot would definitely be better than reaching a peak temperature and remaining there, some of the overshoot impacts may lead to irreversible damages in a high climate risk zone and this is why low-temperature overshoots are key here,” explained Jonathan Donges.&nbsp;



The results of this study show that even temporary overshoots in mean global temperatures can increase tipping risks by up to 72 percent, compared with non-overshoot scenarios, even if the temperature in the long-term stabilizes back within the Paris range. The authors state that avoiding high-end climate risks is only possible if the temperature overshoot is kept in the low range. However, even if the mean global warming goes above 2°C for a few decades before being brought back down, this could transform the world’s most important ecosystems.



“Every tenth of a degree counts. We must do what we can to limit global warming as quickly as possible," said Winkelmann.



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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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Temporary warming over 2°C may cause cascading tipping events

The target of the United Nations Paris Agreement, signed by...

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most diverse natural areas on the planet. Located on the coast of Brazil, this tropical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brazil-could-protect-its-rainforest-while-expanding-agriculture/">forest</a> is home to a large number of plant species. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a>, researchers warn that many plants in the Atlantic Forest rely on endangered fruit-eating animals, and that losing these frugivores could have dire consequences.



Frugivores are animals that primarily eat fruit and disperse the seeds throughout the forest. The loss of important fruit-eating animals would leave many plants without an effective method of seed dispersal.



“Tropical forests contain this incredible diversity of trees,” said study lead author Therese Lamperty. “One of the main processes forests use to maintain this diversity is dispersal. If you’re not dispersed, you’re in a crowd of trees that are just like you - all competing for resources. And there are a lot of plant enemies already in the area or that can be easily recruited, like harmful animals or plant diseases. Your chance of survival is higher when you get transported away from your mother tree to an area without trees like you.”



The Atlantic Forest was once twice the size of Texas. According to The Nature Conservancy, about 85 percent of the forest has been lost over centuries due to deforestation, industrial development, and urbanization in eastern Brazil.



To investigate the diet and distribution of fruit-eating animals in the Atlantic Forest, the researchers analyzed a dataset based on 166 studies. This allowed the experts to identify the interactions between 331 frugivore species and nearly 800 tree species. "For reference, the entire state of Washington only has 25 native tree species,” said Lamperty.



According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, only 14 percent of the frugivore species that were analyzed by the team are endangered. However, the experts determined that losing these particular species left about 28 percent of the plant species in the Atlantic Forest without an effective method of seed dispersal.&nbsp;



“A lot of frugivores are generalists. But in the Atlantic Forest, it turns out that a lot of plants are specialists,” said study senior author Berry Brosi. “The size and the toughness of their fruit and their distribution in the forest can really limit which animals can perform this important role for them.”



Overall, nearly 55 percent of the specialist plant species in the dataset rely exclusively on endangered frugivores for seed dispersal. Lamperty said that while losing one species is bad enough, this study serves as a reminder that what appears to be one loss has numerous “secondary effects."



“It’s a reminder that we should try to understand better what ecological roles and interactions we lose when endangered animals disappear - not just these seed dispersal networks, but other roles, too,” said Lamperty. “Endangered animals have co-evolved with many species in these ecosystems, and I’m not sure we know enough about the roles they play in the health and well-being of places like the Atlantic Forest.”



“It’s an alarming finding, and a sign that we should pay more attention to these interactions between species when considering conservation and land protections,” said Brosi.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0887">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.



---



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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Loss of fruit-eating animals will endanger the Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most diverse natural...

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects and facilitates data exchange among a multitude of smart objects of various dimensions and shapes over the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/internet-based-drinking-interventions/">internet</a> and other sensing and communications networks. Such smart objects include self-driving cars equipped with sensors to detect road obstacles, remote-controlled home security systems, and temperature-controlled factory equipment.&nbsp;



By the next decade, scientists estimate that this burgeoning hypernetwork may reach trillions of devices and have a major impact on both daily life and various industries. However, current approaches to power sensor nodes rely mostly on battery technology, which is expensive and environmentally harmful. Moreover, the global production of lithium for battery materials may fail to keep up with the increasing energy demand from the nearly exponential rise in the number of sensors.



Now, a team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en">King Abdullah University of Science &amp; Technology</a> in Saudi Arabia (KAUST) has argued that emerging forms of thin-film device technologies relying on alternative semiconductor materials – such as printable organics, metal oxides, or nanocarbon allotropes – could lead to a more economically and environmentally sustainable IoT.



By drawing energy from the environment using so-called energy harvesters, such as photovoltaic cells and radio-frequency (RF) energy harvesters, wirelessly powered sensor nodes could help achieve a more sustainable IoT. Moreover, the emergence of large-area electronics as a better alternative to conventional silicon-based technologies is also an important step forward in this process. Since they can be produced at low temperatures and on biodegradable substrates like paper, such devices are more ecofriendly than their silicon-based counterparts.



Over the past years, the KAUST researchers have developed a variety of RF electronic components, such as metal-oxide and organic polymer-based semiconductor devices known as Schottky diodes. “These devices are crucial components in wireless energy harvesters and ultimately dictate the performance and cost of the sensor nodes,” said study co-author Kalaivanan Loganathan.



Another major contribution from the research team includes scalable methods for manufacturing RF diodes to harvest energy reaching the 5G/6G frequency range. “Such technologies provide the needed building blocks toward a more sustainable way to power the billions of sensor nodes in the near future,” concluded corresponding author Professor Thomas Anthopoulos.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-022-00898-5">Nature Electronics</a>.



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer



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Greener energy is needed for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects and facilitates data exchange...

Mammoth,In,The,Middle,Of,Mountains,.,This,Is,A

Recently, several international experts have started to raise alarms about attempts made by a team of Russian scientists to “reawaken” and study in their laboratory ancient viruses found in the carcasses of frozen mammals, such as woolly mammoths, trapped in the Siberian permafrost. Much like in the case of SARS-CoV-2 at the beginning of the pandemic, humans are immunologically naïve to such prehistoric viruses buried in the permafrost and, although most of them may not be able to infect us, a handful that potentially could may spark new outbreaks or even another <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/china-may-trigger-the-deadliest-wave-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/">pandemic</a>.



In an article published at the beginning of December on <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.10.515937v1.full">bioRxiv</a>, a team of researchers led by Jean-Michel Claverie (an emeritus professor of Virology at the <a href="https://www.univ-amu.fr/en">Aix-Marseille University</a> in France) has described their discovery of a virus that had been stranded under a frozen Siberian lake more than 48,500 years ago. While this virus seemed to be infectious only to amoebas, the scientists stressed that many other types of viruses could lurk in similar locations, and that some of them may be able to infect humans and other animals.



“Every time we look, we will find a virus. It’s a done deal. We know that every time we’re going to look for viruses, infectious viruses in permafrost, we are going to find some,” Claverie said.



While climate change and subsequent permafrost thawing holds significant risks for releasing some of these viruses from the places in which they had been trapped for thousands of years, human intervention could be an even more worrisome factor in these viruses’ (re)emergence.



For instance, Russia’s <a href="http://www.vector.nsc.ru/">State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology</a> (known as Vector) is now aiming to extract cellular material containing the viruses that killed ancient mammoths discovered in the permafrost, and take it back to the lab for experimentation. According to Claverie – and various other scientists worldwide - such experiments are highly dangerous and should not be performed.



“[Vector's research] is terrible. I’m totally against it. [It] is very, very risky. Our immune systems have never encountered these types of viruses. Some of them could be 200,000 or even 400,000 years old. But ancient viruses that infected animals or humans could still be infectious,” he warned.&nbsp;



—



By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com 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.

Unearthing ancient viruses could spark a new pandemic

Recently, several international experts have started to raise alarms about...

In the United States, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/record-breaking-wildfire-years-are-just-getting-started/">wildfires</a> pose a major risk to entire communities (particularly in Western states), frequently destroying homes, businesses, and lives. When wildfires sweep through a region, they usually affect the economy as a whole, decreasing U.S. firms’ values to stakeholders, especially when businesses incur physical damage and supply chain issues, or lose employees. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a>, these firms rarely report their wildfire risks in required federal filings, and choose instead to hide such risks in nonspecific risk disclosures.



By examining over 80,000 10-K reports – annual reports filled by all publicly traded companies, including disclosures and exhibits – between 1996 and 2018, the researchers found that, on average, only 6.1 percent of firms with wildfires in their headquarters counties mention wildfire information in their required federal filings.



“Despite a growing awareness of the strategic importance of climate change, firm-level disclosures of extreme weather and climate-related risks and events remain the exception rather than the norm,” said study lead author Paul Griffin, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.&nbsp;



“Disclosure is a sign that the firm is taking these events seriously and will take action itself to mitigate the risk. Disclosure leads to real action,” he added.



The analysis revealed that the number of wildfire days in a company’s headquarters county&nbsp;is a key factor in determining whether the company will disclose wildfire risks. Largely, only firms previously affected by wildfires directly, such as utility and banking industries with tangible assets, report these risks. Thus, the most disclosure-sensitive companies appear to be those that experienced wildfires which disrupted their past operations, while the most disclosure-insensitive ones are those whose 10-K disclosures related to forward-looking risk factors only. The latter are also more likely to use limited, imprecise language to describe their wildfire risk.



Although wildfire disclosure sensitivity started to increase after 2010 – in line with the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/">Security and Exchange Commission</a> (SEC) guidance pressing companies to consider extreme weather as a material risk factor – there is still an unacceptably large number of firms hiding wildfire risk in their areas of operations.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12674">Journal of Business Finance &amp; Accounting</a>.&nbsp;



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By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com 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.

Wildfire risks not commonly disclosed by U.S. companies

In the United States, wildfires pose a major risk to...

Young babies never lie still. They move continuously, giving kicks and wriggles, and reaching out with their arms. Right from birth - and even in the womb - babies start to make movements that are seemingly random and have no purpose. New research conducted by scientists from the <a href="https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/">University of Tokyo</a>, Japan, has now found that these “spontaneous movements” have an important role in the development of the sensorimotor system that enables us to control our muscles, movements and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cows-are-getting-high-from-industrial-hemp/">coordination</a>.



Whole-body coordination involves large-scale sensorimotor interaction, and the ability to make the desired movements. When these bodily movements are made in the early stages of a baby’s life, they may potentially help the baby acquire this complex coordinated behavior. It is as though the baby is practicing this behavior and, thereby, preparing his or her muscles and joints, as well as stimulating neuronal development.



Currently, there is limited knowledge about how newborns and infants learn to move their bodies in a coordinated fashion. “Previous research into sensorimotor development has focused on kinematic properties, muscle activities which cause movement in a joint or a part of the body,” said Project Assistant Professor Hoshinori Kanazawa from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. “However, our study focused on muscle activity and sensory input signals for the whole body. By combining a musculoskeletal model and neuroscientific method, we found that spontaneous movements, which seem to have no explicit task or purpose, contribute to coordinated sensorimotor development.”



For their study, the researchers recruited 12 healthy neonates (&lt; 10 days old) and 10 young infants of around 3 months in age. None of them or their first-degree relatives had neurological impairments.&nbsp;The team recorded the joint movements of the babies in the absence of external stimulation for 60 s, while they were awake, active and in a happy state. In addition, they recorded the three-dimensional positions of 51 markers on the muscles and joints of the babies, using 12 infrared cameras.&nbsp;



The researchers then placed a set of three markers to define the relative positions of each body link connected through the joint. The target joints were the shoulder, elbow, hand, hip, knee, and ankle. The body links connected through the joints included the head, trunk, upper arm, forearm, hand, pelvis, thigh, calf, and foot. In this way, they mapped the exact movements of these elements.



The babies’ muscle activity and sensory input signals were estimated with the help of a whole-body, infant-scale musculoskeletal computer model which had been developed by the researchers. Finally, they used computer algorithms to analyze the ways in which the input signals and muscle activity interacted, spatially and temporally, during the babies’ open-ended movements.&nbsp;



The results of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the spontaneous, whole-body movements that neonates and infants exhibit could contribute to the structure of sensorimotor interactions, such as walking or reaching for something, later in life. Even though the movements appear to have no pattern or purpose, and are akin to “sensorimotor wandering,” they could contribute to the self-organizing sensorimotor interactions in the future. It was as though the movements are a form of practicing for the future and are certainly not simply random.



“We were surprised that during spontaneous movement, infants’ movements “wandered” and they pursued various sensorimotor interactions. We named this phenomenon ‘sensorimotor wandering,’” said Kanazawa. “It has been commonly assumed that sensorimotor system development generally depends on the occurrence of repeated sensorimotor interactions, meaning the more you do the same action the more likely you are to learn and remember it.”



“However, our results implied that infants develop their own sensorimotor system based on explorational behavior or curiosity,” he continued, “so they are not just repeating the same action but a variety of actions. In addition to this, our findings provide a conceptual linkage between early spontaneous movements and spontaneous neuronal activity.”



Previous studies on humans and animals have shown that motor behavior (movement) involves a small set of primitive muscular control patterns. These are patterns that can typically be seen in task-specific or cyclic movements, like walking or reaching. The results of this latest study supports the theory that newborns and infants can acquire sensorimotor modules, i.e., synchronized muscle activities and sensory inputs, through spontaneous whole-body movements without an explicit purpose or task.&nbsp;



Through sensorimotor wandering, the babies showed an increase in coordinated whole-body movements and in anticipatory movements. The movements performed by the infant group showed more common patterns and sequential movements, compared to the more random movements of the newborn group.



The researchers believe that a better understanding of these movements and their role in later functions, will help us to understand how they are involved in early human development. We may also be able to identify early indicators of certain developmental disorders, such as cerebral palsy.&nbsp;



Next, Kanazawa wants to look at how sensorimotor wandering affects later development, such as walking and reaching, along with more complex behaviors and higher cognitive functions. “My original background is in infant rehabilitation. My big goal through my research is to understand the underlying mechanisms of early motor development and to find knowledge that will help to promote baby development.”



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.



---



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

Baby movements seem random, but help with coordination

Young babies never lie still. They move continuously, giving kicks...

The,Groom,Plays,The,Piano,,Fingers,On,The,Keys

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/">University of Bath</a> has found that learning to play a musical instrument increases the brain’s ability to process sights and sounds, while at the time helps improving mental health. The experts showed that beginners who undertook piano lessons for just one hour per week for a period of 11 weeks reported not only significant improvements in recognizing audio-visual changes in their environment, but also less stress, depression, and anxiety.



The researchers assigned 31 participants with no prior musical experience into either a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/music-physical-task-brain-structure/">music</a> training, music listening, or control group. While the intervention groups played music, the control groups either listened to music or engaged in reading or studying.



The investigation revealed that, within a few weeks of starting piano lessons, participants’ ability to process multisensory information was significantly enhanced. These multisensory improvements – which have benefits for nearly every activity that we engage in, ranging from driving a car or crossing a road to finding someone in a crowd or watching TV – extended well beyond musical activities.&nbsp;



With musical training, participants’ audio-visual skills became more accurate across a variety of tasks, including tests where people were asked to determine whether auditory or visual events occurred at the same time. This happened for both simple displays of flashes and beeps, and for more complex situations, such as observing a person talking. Such an enhancement of individuals’ cognitive abilities was not present for the music listening group, where participants listened to the same music as the one played by the music group, or for the non-music group, where members read or studied.



Moreover, the scientists discovered that participants also had reduced depression, stress, and anxiety after the musical training, suggesting that learning to play an instrument could be beneficial for people with mental health issues.



“We know that playing and listening to music often brings joy to our lives, but with this study we were interested in learning more about the direct effects a short period of music learning can have on our cognitive abilities,” explained study senior author Karin Petrini, a cognitive psychologist and music expert at Bath.



“Learning to play an instrument like the piano is a complex task: it requires a musician to read a score, generate movements, and monitor the auditory and tactile feedback to adjust their further actions. In scientific terms, the process couples visual with auditory cues and results in a multisensory training for individuals. The findings from our study suggest that this has a significant, positive impact on how the brain processes audio-visual information even in adulthood when brain plasticity is reduced,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23340-4">Nature Scientific Reports</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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Learning to play piano boosts cognitive abilities

A new study led by the University of Bath has...

A new study from <a href="https://pensoft.net/">Pensoft Publishers</a> highlights the destructive impacts of human development on wild <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/which-animals-perceive-time-the-fastest/">animal</a> populations. A team of researchers from Nanjing Forestry University set out to investigate how the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Ghana affected the common hippopotamus.



"Landscape changes resulting from human activities have resulted in range restrictions and substantial reductions in population sizes of most animals," wrote study lead author Godfred Bempah and colleagues. "The construction of hydroelectric dams has the same effect on species, but the study of their impact on semi-aquatic megafauna species is limited."&nbsp;



"We examined the response of a Hippopotamus amphibius population to the inundation of their habitat after the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Bui National Park, Ghana."



The study revealed that the hippopotamus population in Bui National Park declined by about 70 percent following dam construction, dropping from 209 to just 64 individuals by 2021.



Bui National Park is one of the only places in Ghana where the common hippopotamus can be found. The researchers noted that these semi-aquatic animals depend on areas with sufficient grass for grazing and water for thermoregulation.&nbsp;



An abundance of grasses combined with the convenience of the Black Volta River made the park a very suitable habitat for the hippopotamus. But in 2007, the Bui Dam Hydroelectricity Project was initiated in response to an ongoing energy crisis.



To investigate how the dam ultimately impacted the local hippopotamus population, the researchers conducted surveys over the course of 12 months. The study was designed to estimate the number of remaining hippos, and also to assess land cover changes in the area.



The experts determined that from 2003 to 2021, the number of hippos in Bui National Park decreased by 70 percent. The study also revealed noticeable changes in land cover after the dam construction, including a substantial decline in the grasslands that provided a home for the hippopotamus.



According to the study authors, increased water levels from the dam flooded and destroyed riparian grasses where the hippos once resided. As they left in search of more suitable habitats, some of the animals became victims of poaching.



The hippopotamus is listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The researchers concluded that - if the threats of habitat destruction and poaching are removed - the hippopotamus could possibly survive for the long-term with effective management strategies.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.87411">Nature Conservation</a>.



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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.

Hippopotamus population hit hard by habitat destruction

A new study from Pensoft Publishers highlights the destructive impacts...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lightning-map-reveals-weather-patterns-in-the-british-isles/">Lightning</a> during thunderstorms reminds us of the charged nature of earth’s atmosphere. However, static electricity is present in the air at all times, even during fair weather and away from thunderstorms. Electric fields in the atmosphere influence the movements of biologically relevant ions (e.g., nitrate, sulfate, radon) as well as dust particles. They are also known to facilitate animal dispersal and navigation. However, their origin has usually been thought to be abiotic and to involve local atmospheric electrical processes such as cloud electrification, lightning initiation, precipitation, aerosol charging, and radioactivity.&nbsp;



A new study, published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105241">iScience</a>, contends that living organisms can also have an impact on atmospheric electricity and may even help us to understand hither-to unexplained spatio-temporal variations in the lower atmosphere’s electrical fields. In particular, the researchers focus on flying insects that form swarms and undertake mass movements, such as locusts, honeybees, and migratory species of butterflies.&nbsp;



“We always looked at how physics influenced biology, but at some point, we realized that biology might also be influencing physics,” said study first author Ellard Hunting, a biologist at the University of Bristol. “We’re interested in how different organisms use the static electric fields that are virtually everywhere in the environment.”



Insects such as honeybees gain a positive charge due to friction with air molecules as they fly along. This is a well-known phenomenon and has been proposed as a mechanism that helps pollen stick to a bee’s body as it forages from flower to flower. Given that bees form dense swarms at times of the year when they are looking for new locations to set up home, the researchers set out to measure the changes in electric field associated with the movement of these swarms.



The experts found that, as a swarm flew over their electric field monitor, there was a density dependent change in atmospheric electric charge of around 100Vm-1. The denser the swarm, the greater the increase in electric field force around ground level. This evidence suggests that a honeybee swarm contains enough charge to affect the atmospheric potential gradient, and that this source of electricity can represent an appreciable perturbing influence on the local electrical environment.



“How insect swarms influence atmospheric electricity depends on their density and size,” explained study co-author Liam O’Reilly, a biologist at the University of Bristol. “We also calculated the influence of locusts on atmospheric electricity, as locusts swarm on biblical scales, sizing 460 square miles with 80 million locusts in less than a square mile; their influence is likely much greater than honeybees.”



The researchers measured the electrical charge on individual desert locusts Schistocerca gregaria (805 + 295 Picocoulombs) and multiplied this by published estimates of swarm numbers to determine the possible effect of swarming locusts on local atmospheric electric fields. 



The results revealed that locust swarms have the potential to alter their local electrical environment to an extent that is comparable with meteorological events such as thunderstorms. Butterflies, on the other hand, were found to have far less of an effect on electric fields due to their tendency to move around at much lower densities. 



“We only recently discovered that biology and static electric fields are intimately linked and that there are many unsuspected links that can exist over different spatial scales, ranging from microbes in the soil and plant-pollinator interactions to insect swarms and perhaps the global electric circuit,” said Hunting.



“Interdisciplinarity is valuable here - electric charge can seem like it lives solely in physics, but it is important to know how aware the whole natural world is of electricity in the atmosphere,” explained study co-author Giles Harrison, an atmospheric physicist from the University of Reading.



"As atmospheric space charge enhances the aggregation and movement of aerial particles, it is conceivable that insect-derived space charges will also contribute to spatial changes in aerial particles," wrote the researchers. "For example, it could be speculated that insect-driven charged particle collection and transport could contribute to long-range transport of desert dust, providing alternative explanations for the transport of large particles, which cannot be explained by physical processes alone.”



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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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Insect swarms charge the atmosphere with static electricity

Lightning during thunderstorms reminds us of the charged nature of...

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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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
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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



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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



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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



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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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

[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



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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How the immune system responds to injury

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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



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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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