For years, bacteria dominated gut health research. Now, the gut virome is gaining attention as a major player in health and disease. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-think-they-found-two-key-bacteria-that-cause-multiple-sclerosis/">bacteria</a>, make up around 90% of the gut virome.



Though small in biomass, they outnumber bacteria by up to tenfold. These tiny viruses shape microbial communities, influence immunity, and affect gut health.



A landmark review published recently in Precision Clinical Medicine reveals how the gut virome links to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/inflammatory-bowel-disease/about/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IBD</a>), <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/colonoscopy-vs-stool-tests-doctors-found-out-which-is-better-at-detecting-cancer/">colorectal cancer</a>, and Clostridium difficile infection (<a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15548-c-diff-infection" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDI</a>).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gut-s-virome-changes-across-life-stages">Gut's virome changes across life stages</h2>



The gut virome changes constantly throughout life. Infants show high <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bacteria-that-eat-forever-chemicals-discovered-in-contaminated-soil/">diversity</a> in gut bacteriophages (also called phages), which is shaped by birth method, diet, and antibiotic exposure.



As individuals grow, diet and hormones refine the virome. In adults, phages and bacteria form a stable, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00536-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">balanced community</a>.



However, aging shifts this balance. Older adults show more lysogenic phages, which integrate into bacterial genomes and potentially alter metabolism and immune interactions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diet-and-environment-shape-the-virome">Diet and environment shape the virome</h2>



Diet greatly <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9455721/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">influences</a> the virome. High-fiber diets support beneficial phages by encouraging helpful bacteria. Western diets, rich in fat and sugar, promote harmful <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-bacteria-breathe-by-creating-electricity/">phages</a>.



Urbanization reduces exposure to natural viruses. Studies show that rural diets which are rich in fiber boost gut virome diversity.



Host genetics and immunity also play roles. Genetic variants can affect viral detection and clearance. Immune defenses, like <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/interferons" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interferons</a> and <a href="https://www.immunology.org/public-information/bitesized-immunology/receptors-molecules/immunoglobulin-iga" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IgA</a>, keep the virome balanced.



However, immune dysfunction can trigger viral imbalances, worsening conditions like HIV and gut inflammation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-viruses-and-bacteria-interacting">Viruses and bacteria interacting</h2>



Viruses, including phages, along with bacteria and fungi form a complex and dynamic ecosystem in the gut. The components interact in positive and negative ways, thus affecting host metabolism, immune regulation and resistance to disease. 



The gut virome plays a crucial regulatory role in these intricate interactions. Phages interact with bacteria through lytic, lysogenic, and budding cycles, which regulate bacterial populations and gene flow. 



In a form of microbial arms race, the bacteria defend against phages using <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crispr-used-to-remove-extra-chromosomes-in-down-syndrome-and-restore-cell-function/">CRISPR systems</a> and the phages evolve escape mechanisms.



Some phages even boost bacterial metabolism and biofilm formation, affecting disease risk. For instance, phages can transfer genes that enhance bacterial survival in acidic conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virome-s-influence-on-immunity">Virome’s influence on immunity</h2>



The virome affects gut immunity deeply. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-bacteria-get-hungry-they-turn-on-each-other/">Phages</a> can anchor to gut mucus and form a protective barrier. They also shape our own <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459471/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">T and B cell</a> activity and regulate macrophages. In addition, viruses that infect eukaryotic cells affect immune pathways and maintain gut balance.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/virome_microbiome_human-gut_graphic_credit-PCM_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/virome_microbiome_human-gut_graphic_credit-PCM_1s.webp" alt="This infographic illustrates four major therapeutic approaches—fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), phage therapy, dietary interventions, and probiotics/prebiotics—that aim to restore gut health by modulating the microbiome and virome. Each strategy offers unique methods, benefits, and challenges in managing gastrointestinal disorders such as IBD, CRC, and CDI, highlighting the growing potential of virome-informed precision medicine. Credit: Precision Clinical Medicine" class="wp-image-1976450"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This infographic illustrates four major therapeutic approaches—fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), phage therapy, dietary interventions, and probiotics/prebiotics—that aim to restore gut health by modulating the microbiome and virome. Each strategy offers unique methods, benefits, and challenges in managing gastrointestinal disorders such as IBD, CRC, and CDI, highlighting the growing potential of virome-informed precision medicine. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Precision Clinical Medicine</figcaption></figure>



However, infections and antibiotics can disrupt this harmony and lead to inflammation. Phages can trigger TLR9 pathways, causing excessive immune responses such as those linked to IBD.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virome-s-role-in-disease">Virome’s role in disease</h2>



Imbalances in the gut virome have been linked to several gut diseases. In IBD, specific phages become abundant and worsen inflammation.



Certain groups of phages (such as Caudovirales) amplify immune responses, while norovirus and rotavirus can damage the gut lining. Viral imbalances are also common in IBS and CDI.



In colorectal cancer, phages and eukaryotic viruses like HPV and JC virus (polyomavirus) appear more often. They may promote tumor growth by altering bacterial communities and gene expression.



Studies suggest that some phages directly influence cancer risk by promoting biofilms and transferring harmful genes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-virus-based-treatments">Virus-based treatments</h2>



Several therapies now explore the virome’s potential to treat certain diseases or conditions. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) restores gut balance and reduces inflammation in IBD and CDI.



FMT works not only by shifting bacteria but also by transferring beneficial phages. Studies show that donor phages often align quickly with recipients and promote recovery.



Phage therapy, which uses viruses to kill specific bacteria, is another approach that is gaining traction. It can reduce harmful microbes while preserving beneficial ones.



Researchers have created phage cocktails that target specific gut pathogens like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and this approach has had promising results in animal models.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diet-as-a-tool-to-reshape-the-virome">Diet as a tool to reshape the virome</h2>



Dietary strategies also reshape the virome. High-fiber diets boost beneficial phages and support bacterial diversity.



Whey protein has shown potential in managing Crohn’s disease by improving phage-bacteria interactions.



Other interventions, such as exclusive enteral nutrition and low-FODMAP diets, also show benefits in gut diseases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-probiotics-prebiotics-and-phages">Probiotics, prebiotics, and phages</h2>



Probiotics introduce beneficial bacteria, while prebiotics feed them. Combining them, known as symbiotics, shows promise for restoring and maintaining gut health.



Recent research suggests that adding phages can enhance these effects. Phage-based products, such as PreforPro, have already shown benefits in clinical trials.



These products can reduce populations of harmful bacteria and improve probiotic performance, thereby creating a more stable gut environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-using-gut-viruses-to-detect-diseases-early">Using gut viruses to detect diseases early</h2>



The gut virome is now being studied as a diagnostic tool. Viral patterns are more stable than bacterial ones, making them reliable biomarkers.



Distinct virome signatures can predict IBD and colorectal cancer. Machine learning models already use virome data to detect these diseases early.



Virome profiling may also track treatment responses, such as FMT success in IBD and CDI.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenges-and-future-prospects">Challenges and future prospects</h2>



Despite the excitement over potential new treatments, many hurdles remain. Current methods struggle to capture the full virome due to technical limits.



Many phages are still unculturable, and their roles remain unclear. Researchers are working to improve viral databases and develop targeted therapies. Once these gaps close, virome-based therapies could change how we treat gut diseases.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pcm/article/8/2/pbaf010/8152264" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Precision Clinical Medicine</a>.



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Move over microbiome, it's time for the human gut's "virome" to shine

For years, bacteria dominated gut health research. Now, the gut virome is gaining attention as a major player in health and disease. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, make up around 90% of the gut virome. Though small in biomass, they outnumber bacteria by up to tenfold. These tiny viruses shape microbial communities, influence immunity, and affect gut health. A landmark review published recently in Precision Clinical Medicine reveals how the gut virome links to diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer, and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)....

Portrait,Closeup,Of,A,Cute,Furry,Rock,Hyrax,(procavia,Capensis)

In a recent study published by the <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/">British Ecological Society</a>, researchers have found a strong correlation between the song rhythm of male rock hyraxes and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reproductive-health-is-impacted-by-geographic-location/">reproductive</a> success. More specifically, females are looking for a hyrax with rhythm. Females may interpret male rhythmic serenades as a sign of good health.&nbsp;



"We have been studying hyraxes for the past 20 years and have previously found several patterns in their songs that are common features of human language and music," said Dr. Vlad Demartsev, who collected data for the study.



"Their songs have regional dialects so individuals living in proximity sing more similarly to each other. They tend to sing in crescendo (getting louder as the song progresses) and reach peak complexity towards the end of their songs, maybe to keep the audience engaged and listening to the signals."



Dr. Demartsev further explained the importance of rhythm: "One assumption is that rhythm has evolved so that animals that call in groups can better synchronize their songs - like musicians in a band or singers in a choir."



In this case, however, there is a catch; the hyraxes do not sing in a group, but call individually. Yet, those males with rhythm still display greater fitness.&nbsp;



"Male hyraxes that sing more frequently tend to have more surviving offspring," said study co-founder Dr. Lee Koren. "Song rhythms and stability are related to reproductive success and thus potentially hold information about individual quality."



The researchers believe that the ability to create specific, rhythmic songs may signal that the male is free from disease, which could mean an ideal mate and more successful fitness.



Dr. Demartsev would like to see further research conducted on this topic in the future. "It would be fascinating to compare animal species who sing individually and species that sing in groups."



The study is published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13801">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>.&nbsp;



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

Rhythm linked to reproductive success in male rock hyraxes

In a recent study published by the British Ecological Society,...

The sound of a crying <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mothers-can-use-singing-to-engage-with-infants/">infant</a> can be very distressing to parents. They seek to soothe the baby and may resort to numerous ploys in order to restore the baby to a state of peace. None of these methods has been scientifically proven, however, relying rather on trial and error or on the advice of experienced caregivers. In a new study by Japanese researchers, four different soothing methods were tested and the efficacy of each was assessed based on changes in the baby’s heart rate and whether the baby stopped crying.&nbsp;



“Many parents suffer from babies’ nighttime crying,” says corresponding author Kumi Kuroda of the <a href="https://www.riken.jp/en/research/labs/cbs/">RIKEN Center for Brain Science</a> in Japan. “That’s such a big issue, especially for inexperienced parents, that it can lead to parental stress and even to infant maltreatment in a small number of cases,” she says.



The study details how crying babies are physiologically affected by being held, carried, and laid down. The researchers made use of ECG data on heart rate, and hand-held video cameras, to track the physiological and behavioral state of the baby as it was soothed. Mothers were given four methods for calming the baby: hold the crying infant, hold and walk with the infant, place the infant in a cot or crib, and place the infant in a mobile crib or stroller that can be moved back and forth. At each heartbeat, behavior was assessed as asleep, alert, or crying, and scored accordingly. This way the researchers could track changes in both behavior and physiology with sub-second precision.



In previous research, Kuroda and her colleagues found that mother mice pick up their babies (pups) by mouth and carry them when they are distressed. The mouse pups show a specific response, termed the “Transport Response,” when picked up by their mothers. This involves a complex series of parallel biological processes that results in reduced crying and lower heart rates, which helps the parents to transport the infants. Kruoda and the team wondered whether human infants would show similar physiological responses to being carried around, and whether this would have a calming impact when the infant was distressed.



The Transport Response is found in many mammals that have altricial young (born underdeveloped and helpless) that are not able to walk around on their own. Such mammals include dogs, cats and monkeys. We are more familiar with this response when picking up young puppies or kittens by the scruff of the neck. They tend to hang motionless and become more docile, but their bodies do not go entirely limp; they maintain a certain compactness of posture, with legs pulled in slightly, perhaps making it easier for their parents to carry them to a new location.



The researchers compared the responses of 21 human infants to soothing using the four different methods. They found that when the mother walked while carrying the baby, the crying infants calmed down and their heart rates slowed within 30 seconds. In fact, when mothers walked in this way for a period of five minutes, the infants became so calm that around 50 percent of them fell asleep. A similar calming effect occurred when the infants were placed in a rocking cot, but not when the mother held the baby while sitting, or placed the baby in a motionless cot.



As Kuroda explains, “walking for five minutes promoted sleep, but only for crying infants. Surprisingly, this effect was absent when babies were already calm beforehand.” Among the babies studied, all had stopped crying by the end of the five-minute walk and had reduced heart rates. However, sitting and holding a crying baby was not calming; the heart rate tended to increase and crying persisted. Heart rates also increased when walking mothers turned, or when they stopped walking, showing that babies are very sensitive to their mother’s movements.



Unfortunately, the study found that when the mothers tried to put down their sleeping babies after calming them, more than one-third of the infants became alert again within 20 seconds. Analysis of the data showed that all the babies produced physiological responses, including changes in heart rate, the moment they became detached from the mother’s body. However, if the infants were asleep for a longer period before being laid down, they were less likely to awaken during the process, the team found.



“Even as a mother of four, I was very surprised to see the result. I thought whether a baby awoke during a laydown was related to how they’re put on the bed, such as their posture, or the gentleness of the movement,” Kuroda says.&nbsp; “But our experiment did not support these general assumptions. Although we did not predict it, the key parameter for successful laydown of sleeping infants was the latency from sleep onset.” Babies often woke up if they were put down before they got about 8 minutes of sleep.



Based on their findings, the researchers propose a method for soothing and promoting sleep in crying infants. They recommend that parents hold crying infants and walk with them for five minutes, followed by sitting and holding infants for another five to eight minutes before putting them to bed. The protocol, unlike other popular sleep training approaches such as letting infants cry until they fall asleep themselves, aims to provide an immediate solution for infant crying. Whether it can improve infant sleep in the long-term requires further research, Kuroda says.



Although the research involved only mothers and their infants, Kuroda expects the effects are likely to be similar for fathers and any other caregivers. She emphasizes that this study only included a small samples of infants and will need to be repeated with bigger sample sizes in order to verify the results. Additionally, this procedure does not address why some babies cry excessively and cannot sleep, but it does offer an immediate solution that can help parents of newborns.&nbsp;



The researchers recognize the usefulness of heartrate data in this approach to soothing a baby and hope to make it accessible to parents. “We are developing a ‘baby-tech’ wearable device with which parents can see the physiological states of their babies on their smartphones in real-time,” says Kuroda. “Like science-based fitness training, we can do science-based parenting with these advances, and hopefully help babies to sleep and reduce parental stress caused by excessive infant crying.”



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.041">Current Biology</a>.



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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

Scientists find the best way to soothe a crying baby

The sound of a crying infant can be very distressing...

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles are a real danger, a threat to craft and even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/special-lettuce-could-protect-astronauts-from-bone-loss/">astronauts</a>. Efforts to determine when and where flare-ups of high-energy particles happen have been fruitless, until now.&nbsp;



Scientists at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have used supercomputers to simulate when and how high-energy particles are created in environments such as the sun’s atmosphere.



“This exciting new research will allow us to better predict the origin of solar energetic particles and improve forecasting models of space weather events, a key goal of NASA and other space agencies and governments around the globe," said study co-author Luca Comisso of Columbia University’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Laboratory.



Using supercomputers, Comisso and study co-author Lorenzo Sironi were able to simulate the sun and the complex movements of electrons and ions in the sun’s plasma. The research predicts that the sun can accelerate ions and electrons to nearly the speed of light. The results could possibly be confirmed by direct observation with the help of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the closest spacecraft to the sun.&nbsp;



The researchers seek to answer questions long held about the origins and predictability of high-energy particles. The scientists are pleased with the results of their study but emphasize that there is much more we can learn by utilizing their techniques with supercomputers to address other questions. The information on high-energy particles also allows us to understand other astronomical phenomena far beyond our own sun.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our results center on the sun but can also be seen as a starting point to better understanding how high-energy particles are produced in more distant stars and around black holes,” said Comisso. “We’ve only scratched the surface of what supercomputer simulations can tell us about how these particles are born across the universe.”



The study is published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>.



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

Where do high-energy particles come from?

Outside of Earth’s protective magnetic field, bombardments of high-energy particles...

As a response to higher amounts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/social-costs-of-carbon-are-much-higher-than-expected/">carbon</a> in the atmosphere, plants grow faster and bigger. This change in growth also shows a loss in the plant's nutritional value. Researchers from <a href="https://msu.edu/">Michigan State University</a> have found that phosphorus might be a key to maintaining nutrition along with greater growth.



“We can’t synthesize [phosphorus] like we can nitrogen,” said Hatem Rouached, an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “We need to develop a better understanding of how plants regulate phosphorus to survive.”&nbsp;



Rouached and other researchers noticed that as plants exposed to carbon dioxide grow larger, their phosphorus content declines and they wondered why.



“We wanted to know why the plants weren’t taking up more phosphorus," said Rouached. "And to see if the decrease of phosphorus levels is a defect or adaptive response, and whether there was a way to change that to ensure the plants grow and provide nutritious food too.”&nbsp;



Looking inside of plant cells, the scientists discovered that not overloading chloroplasts (where photosynthesis takes place) with phosphorus was an adaptive measure. Phosphorus as part of photosynthesis is an important part of creating energy for a plant.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What was really important in our discovery is that when we try to force the plant to put a lot of phosphorus in the chloroplast, the plant failed to grow,” said Rouached. “We discovered that the increase in phytic acid levels needs to be tightly controlled in plants to allow the plants to grow under elevated carbon dioxide.”&nbsp;



The cessation of plant growth with an increase in phytic acid has important implications for agriculture and nutrition, especially as carbon in the atmosphere continues to increase. There’s still much left for scientists to explore on the topic though.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This paper is the first to show there is an urgent need for discussion of how we can protect plant malnutrition against the increase of carbon dioxide worldwide,” said Rouached.&nbsp;



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

Growing plants bigger isn’t necessarily better

As a response to higher amounts of carbon in the...

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment they transport and deposit. River sediment – consisting mostly of sand, clay, and silt – plays a major ecological role, providing habitat for a variety of organisms downstream and in estuaries. Moreover, sediment also affects human lives and activities, by resupplying nutrients to agricultural <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drying-soils-pose-a-major-threat-to-public-health/">soils</a> in floodplains or buffering the rise in sea level caused by climate change by delivering sand to coastlines and deltas.&nbsp;



However, according to a new study led by <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth College</a>, over the past four decades, humans have caused unprecedented changes to river sediment transport by building dams and modifying land-use.&nbsp;



By using satellite images and streamflow data, the scientists investigated changes in how much sediment was carried to the oceans by 414 of our planet’s largest rivers from 1984 to 2020. “Humans have been able to alter the world’s biggest rivers at rates that are unprecedented in the recent geologic record,” said study lead author Evan Dethier, an expert in Fluvial Geomorphology at Dartmouth.&nbsp;



“The amount of sediment rivers carry is generally dictated by natural processes in watersheds, like how much rain there is or whether there are landslides or vegetation. We found that human activities are overwhelming these natural processes and outweighing the effects of climate change.”



The analysis revealed that widespread dam building in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere (North America, Europe, and parts of Asia) have reduced the global delivery of water-borne sediment from rivers to the oceans by 49 percent. However, in the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Africa, and Oceania), sediment transport has increased in 36 percent of the rivers, mainly due to land-use changes, such as deforestation.



The results in the North are worrisome, and could predict future changes in the South. Since there are over 300 dams planned for South America’s and Oceania’s largest rivers – including the Amazon River, which carries more sediment than any other river in the world – the problems northern areas are currently facing could soon haunt the global South too.&nbsp;



“Rivers are pretty sensitive indicators of what we’re doing to the surface of the Earth — they are like a thermometer for land-use change,” explained study co-author&nbsp;Carl Renshaw, an earth scientist at Dartmouth. “It’s well-established that there’s a soil loss crisis in the U.S., but we just don’t see it in the sediment export record because it’s all getting stuck behind these dams, whereas we can see the signal for rivers in the global South.”



Better understanding how dams retain sediment and how land-use practices are increasing downstream erosion could help scientists and decision-makers develop more efficient environmental management policies in the future.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7980">Science</a>.



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

Humans have caused unprecedented changes to rivers

How rivers function is fundamentally affected by how much sediment...

Green,Romain,Or,Cos,Lettuce,Plant,In,Organic,Garden

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-found-on-water-trapped-on-plant-leaves/">plastic</a> pollution, particularly after they realized that mismanaged plastics that reach the environment break down into smaller pieces known as microplastics and nanoplastics. Due to their very small size, nanoplastics can break through physiological barriers and enter a variety of organisms.&nbsp;



However, despite the growing awareness of the potential toxicity of nanoplastics to plants and animals, the current scientific understanding of plastic transfer in food chains remains limited. For instance, little is known about the presence of nanoplastics in soil ecosystems and their uptake by soil organisms, even though agricultural soils are most likely polluted by nanoplastics from sources such as atmospheric deposition, wastewater irrigation, sewage sludge application, or mulching film use.&nbsp;



Now, a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.uef.fi/en">University of Eastern Finland</a> has developed a novel, metallic fingerprint-based method to detect and measure microplastics in organisms, and applied it to a model food chain consisting of three trophic levels: lettuce as a primary producer, black soldier fly larvae as primary consumers, and the common roach (an insectivorous fish) as a secondary consumer.



The researchers exposed lettuce plants to polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoplastics for two weeks via contaminated soil, after which they harvested and fed them to black soldier fly larvae. After five days of feeding with lettuce, the flies were fed to the fish. By using scanning electron microscopy to analyze the dissected plants, larvae, and fish, the scientists discovered that nanoplastics were taken up by the roots of the plants and, after accumulating in the leaves, were transferred to the insects and, eventually, the fish. The pollutants were found in the mouth and gut of insects even after allowing them to empty their guts for 24 hours, as well as in the gills, liver, and intestines of fish.



“Our results show that lettuce can take up nanoplastics from the soil and transfer them into the food chain. This indicates that the presence of tiny plastic particles in soil could be associated with a potential health risk to herbivores and humans if these findings are found to be generalizable to other plants and crops and to field settings. However, further research into the topic is still urgently needed,”&nbsp;concluded lead author Fazel Monikh, an expert in Nanotoxicology at the University of Eastern Finland.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101611">Nano Today</a>.



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

Nanoplastics can easily travel through food webs

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about plastic pollution, particularly after...

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sharks-important-deserve-protections/">Sharks</a> are apex predators that provide a variety of vital functions for maintaining balanced ecosystems. They shape fish communities, ensure species diversity, and even contribute to carbon sequestration by maintaining seagrass meadows. However, they are highly susceptible to anthropogenic threats, such as fishing, particularly in tropical and coastal areas where large communities depend upon fish as their main source of nourishment.&nbsp;



To date, shark, ray, and chimaera species have not been sufficiently considered in the planning and designing of marine protected areas. Now, a team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN) has developed a new framework to change how these species are considered in the design of protected areas and thus safeguard them against extinction.&nbsp;



“We still have so much to learn about many shark, ray, and chimaera species, but unfortunately several studies indicate that many protected areas are failing to adequately meet their needs. However, Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) will help to identify areas for these species using criteria which have been specifically designed to consider their biological and ecological needs,” said study lead author Ciaran Hyde, a consultant to the IUCN Ocean Team.



“Sharks are a long-lived species: many take a long time to reach sexual maturity and then only give birth to a few young. This makes them particularly susceptible to fishing pressure and with an estimated 37 percent of species with an elevated risk of extinction, they are facing a biodiversity crisis. Results from the ISRA project will inform policy and ensure that areas critical to the survival of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are considered in spatial planning,” added study senior author Rima Jabado, the chair of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group.



The new ISRA criteria were developed through a collaborative effort among shark experts, conservation agencies, and governmental bodies, and include four criteria and seven sub-criteria which take into account the complex biological and ecological needs of sharks, the specific habitats supporting their vital functions and life-history characteristics (such as movement, resting, feeding, reproduction), their distinctive attributes, and the diversity of species within various regions.



“All efforts are being made to ensure that the ISRAs contain the best and most up-to-date place-based information that science can offer to decision makers, managers, and marine users. As the ISRA program proceeds by covering progressively the whole extent of the ocean (and relevant inland water) surface, a very broad involvement of the shark expert community world-wide is expected,” concluded co-author Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, the co-chair of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Taskforce and Deputy Chair of the IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.968853">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



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

New framework to protect sharks developed by IUCN

Sharks are apex predators that provide a variety of vital...

People who work at night and sleep during the day often experience disruption of their circadian rhythm and misalignment between the natural biological clock and their patterns of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sleeping-heart-disease-risk/">sleeping</a> and eating. Being awake when the circadian drive for alertness is low, and asleep when it is high leads to sleep disruptions and poor health outcomes in the long term. And yet our society is dependent on night-shift workers in fields such as manufacturing, energy production, transportation, healthcare, law enforcement, and the military, among other essential services.



Shift workers account for up to 20 percent of the workforce in industrial societies and these workers - when assigned night shifts, early morning shifts or rotating shifts - must modify their sleep and eating schedules. This places millions of people in the U.S. alone, in positions of sleep disruption and forced wakefulness. The short- and long-term health consequences of this can be significant and can include the development of metabolic and gastrointestinal problems, cancer and cardiovascular issues. Importantly, shift workers also have a 25 to 40 percent higher risk of experiencing depression and anxiety.



In a new research study, investigators from <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a>, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have tested whether the timing of eating meals has an impact on the vulnerability of shift workers to depressed mood levels. They designed a study that simulated the timing of night work and then tested the effects of daytime and nighttime eating on depression-like and anxiety-like mood levels among the participants.&nbsp;



To conduct the investigation, the researchers enrolled 19 participants (12 men and 7 women) for a randomized controlled study. The individuals underwent a Forced Desynchrony protocol in dim light for four 28-hour “days,” such that by the fourth “day” their behavioral cycles were inverted by 12 hours, simulating the conditions of night work and causing circadian misalignment.&nbsp;



The participants were also randomly assigned to one of two meal timing groups: the Daytime and Nighttime Meal Control Group, which had meals according to a 28-hour cycle (resulting in eating meals both during the night and day, which is typical among night-shift workers), and the Daytime-Only Meal Intervention Group, which had meals on a 24-hour cycle (resulting in eating only during the daytime). The team assessed the depression- and anxiety-like mood levels of the participants every hour.



The findings, published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206348119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>, showed that meal timing significantly affected the participants’ mood levels. During the simulated night shift (day 4), those in the Daytime and Nighttime Meal Control Group had increased depression-like mood levels and anxiety-like mood levels, compared to baseline (day 1). By contrast, there were no changes in mood in the Daytime Meal Intervention Group during the simulated night shift. Participants with a greater degree of circadian misalignment experienced more depression- and anxiety-like mood.



“Our findings provide evidence for the timing of food intake as a novel strategy to potentially minimize mood vulnerability in individuals experiencing circadian misalignment, such as people engaged in shift work, experiencing jet lag, or suffering from circadian rhythm disorders,” said study co-author Dr. Frank A. J. L. Scheer.



“Shift workers – as well as individuals experiencing circadian disruption, including jet lag – may benefit from our meal timing intervention,” said study co-author Dr. Sarah L. Chellappa. “Our findings open the door for a novel sleep/circadian behavioral strategy that might also benefit individuals experiencing mental health disorders. Our study adds to a growing body of evidence finding that strategies that optimize sleep and circadian rhythms may help promote mental health.”



Shift workers do not only experience disruption of their sleeping and eating patterns when working at night. Since they commonly need to sleep as soon as they return home from work, they forgo other activities such as exercise, personal care and socializing with others in order to catch up on sleep. This makes it difficult for them to live healthy lifestyles. In addition, they may be tempted to opt for fast meals (fast food) because there are fewer healthy eating options at night, or because shopping for and preparing healthy meals is time-consuming. All these aspects of shift work can have negative outcomes on health, both physical and mental.



“Meal timing is emerging as an important aspect of nutrition that may influence physical health,” said Dr. Chellappa. “But the causal role of the timing of food intake on mental health remains to be tested. Future studies are required to establish if changes in meal timing can help individuals experiencing depressive and anxiety/anxiety-related disorders.”



“Future studies in shift workers and clinical populations are required to firmly establish if changes in meal timing can prevent their increased mood vulnerability," said Dr. Sheer. "Until then, our study brings a new ‘player’ to the table: the timing of food intake matters for our mood.”



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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

Eating meals in the daytime is important for mental health

People who work at night and sleep during the day...

Urban living sulfur-crested cockatoos in some Australian cities have learned how to open the garbage disposal bins and access delicious food in the form of bread and other throwaway titbits. This has had residents up in arms as they try to control the birds’ access to the rubbish using innovative bin lid modifications. You see, although the cockatoos are pretty ingenious at opening the bins, they never close them again and this means garbage gets spread all over the street, leading to conflict between the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-mimic-males-to-avoid-violence/">birds</a> and the local residents.



Previously, researchers have documented the ingenious bin-opening behavior of sulfur-crested cockatoos in suburban Sydney, and have found that this behavior is learned and transmitted culturally between sub-populations. Now, in a follow-up study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.008">Current Biology</a>, they note the techniques used by people to confound the cockatoos, and describe how these birds are learning all the tricks and overcoming the obstacles.&nbsp;



“When I first saw a video of the cockatoos opening the bins I thought it was such an interesting and unique behavior and I knew we needed to look into it,” said study lead author Barbara Klump, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. She explained that the cockatoos’ motivation is waste food. “They really like bread. Once one gets a bin open all the cockatoos in the vicinity will come and try to get something nice to eat.”



The birds typically pry the bins open with their beaks and then maneuver themselves along a small rim while retaining a grip of the lid in their beak. When they reach the back (hinge side) of the bin, they simply flip the lid open. It’s a community affair. “We could actually show that this is a cultural trait,” said Klump. “The cockatoos learn the behavior from observing other cockatoos and within each group they sort of have their own special technique, so across a wide geographic range the techniques are more dissimilar.”



Local residents have responded to the problem by trying to secure the lids using bricks, rocks and other contraptions to keep the birds out of the bins. The bin lids still need to open when the bins are tipped upside down and emptied by an automated arm on the garbage truck. This has led the humans to develop some fairly innovative solutions to restrict access by the parrots. A survey conducted by the researchers found that some people strap full water bottles to the lid, rig ropes to prevent the lid from flipping open, or use sticks or bottles to block the hinges. “There are even commercially available cockatoo locks for bins,” said Klump.&nbsp;



The researchers identified 5 different categories of bin alteration that had been adopted by residents in order to deter or thwart the efforts of the birds. Level 1 represented no alteration whatsoever, while level 2 involved no functional alteration (e.g., a rubber snake). Level 3 alterations included unfixed objects, such as rocks and bricks designed to prevent lifting, while level 4 included the use of objects to prevent flipping of the lid (e.g., bottles, sticks or shoes jammed in the hinges). Level 5 represented the greatest investment on the part of the human, for example an attached weight suspended on a rope.&nbsp;



The researchers found that while level 2 and 3 protection devices could be opened by the cockatoos, level 4 and 5 devices had not yet been conquered by the birds. Interestingly, they noted that the protection method used by humans was not randomly distributed around the suburbs; instead, protection methods appeared to be clustered within streets, implying that the residents in a street are learning from and copying each other.&nbsp;



Residents also reported that they switched techniques on a regular basis, just as soon as the cockatoos had worked out how to deal with a particular bin modification. This is akin to an innovation arms race because each time the cockatoos learn their way around a bin modification, the humans come up with a new technique and share it with others.



“It's not just a social learning on the cockatoo side, but it's also social learning on the human side,” said Klump. “People come up with new protection methods on their own, but a lot of people actually learn it from their neighbors or people on their street, so they get their inspiration from someone else.”



Klump won’t say whom she expects to win the race for control of the bins, but she and her colleagues plan to look at how the cockatoos’ behavior varies from season to season.



Klump expects we will see more of these kinds of human-wildlife interactions in the future. “As cities expand, we will have more interactions with wildlife. I'm hoping that there will be a better understanding and more tolerance for the animals that we share our lives with.”



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

Conflict between cockatoos and humans leads to arms race

Urban living sulfur-crested cockatoos in some Australian cities have learned...

Beautiful,Mandrill,Portrait,Closeup,,Baboon,Monkey,With,Colorful,Face,And

Human-animal interactions and the impact on animals of the presence of zoo visitors are crucial for zoo <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animal-welfare-is-essential-to-sustainable-development/">animal welfare</a>, with many studies providing evidence that different species or even individual animals respond differently to different humans. Now, a multi-institutional team of experts in animal behaviors has investigated how the closure of the zoos at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic changed the behavioral patterns of bonobos, chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, and olive baboons at Twycross Zoo and the Knowsley Safari. 



The analysis revealed that, during the first lockdown, primates spent more time alone and resting, engaged in more sexual and dominance behaviors, and ate less.



“Primates are some of the most cognitively advanced species in zoos and their interactions with visitors are complex,” said study senior author Samantha Ward, a zoo animal welfare scientist at <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/">Nottingham Trent University</a>. “A limitation to understanding how visitors can affect behavior of animals in zoos and parks is that they rarely close to the public for prolonged periods, so this provided us with a unique opportunity.”



As visitors started returning to the zoos after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, the scientists found that bonobos and gorillas spent less time alone and resting, chimpanzees ate more, and olive baboons engaged less in sexual and dominance behaviors, while approaching visitors’ cars more frequently than they had the ranger’s vehicle when the park was closed.&nbsp;



While it is difficult to accurately assess which animal experiences were positive, negative, or neutral for specific animals, the return of visitors appeared to stimulate the chimpanzees and the baboons, while bonobos and gorillas also started to spend less solitary time – features which could be seen as positive. However, the reduction in resting behavior in more sedentary gorillas – which began altering their enclosures most likely to reduce potential overstimulation - could also suggest they were disrupted by the return of the visitors.



“Our study showed the varied ways in which visitors can influence the behavior of primates in captivity. Behavioral changes and changes in enclosure use in the presence of visitors highlights the adaptability of zoo species to their environments. Provision of environments which enable animals to actively adapt in this manner is really important for their welfare,” explained study lead author Ellen Williams, a zoo animal welfare specialist at the <a href="https://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/">Harper Adams University</a>.



“This collaborative study was really important in enabling us to understand the impacts of the closures on zoo animals. Future work could involve looking at the impact on a wider range of species in both zoos and safari parks as well as differences among individual animals,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12131622">Animals</a>.



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

How did pandemic lockdowns affect zoo animals?

Human-animal interactions and the impact on animals of the presence...

Children are nimble learners, using both observation and experimentation to discover things about the world. They also learn from what other people tell them, particularly if they are authority figures, such as parents and teachers. However, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/">University of Toronto</a> and <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>, when children are told something surprising, they seek out additional information by asking questions or testing claims. The older they get, the more skeptical children become toward what other people tell them, and start investigating on their own the truthfulness or falsity of adults’ claims.



“The research shows that as children age, they become more skeptical of what adults tell them,” said study lead author Samantha Cottrell, an expert in Childhood Learning and Development at the University of Toronto. “This explains why older children are more likely to try to verify claims and are more intentional about their exploration of objects.”



The researchers performed two experiments to test these hypotheses. In the first one, they enrolled 109 children and presented them with three unfamiliar objects: a rock, a sponge, and a hacky sack. Then, the participants were randomly assigned into two different groups. Children in one group were told something that confirmed their intuitions (for instance, “the rock is hard”), while those in the other were told something that contradicted their beliefs about the world (“the rock is soft”). 



Afterward, the experiments asked them if they thought the rock was hard or soft. While all children who heard claims aligned with their beliefs continued to make the same judgments as before, those who were told surprising, false claims started asking follow-up questions and exploring the object on their own, regardless of their age.



In a second experiment, children were presented with five vignettes with adults making surprising claims (for instance, “the rock is hard” or “the sponge is harder than the rock”). The participants were then asked what another child should do in response to the claims. 



The results revealed that older children (six- and seven-year-olds) were more likely than the younger ones to suggest an exploratory strategy tailored to the claim they heard (that is, touching the rock in the first example, but touching both the rock and the sponge in the second one). Thus, as children age – even if they are equally likely to engage in exploration of surprising claim as the younger ones - they seem to be more aware of their doubts regarding what adults tell them and, consequently, their exploration becomes more intentional, targeted, and efficient.



“There is still a lot we don’t know,” said Samuel Ronfard, an assistant professor of Child Development at the University of Toronto.&nbsp;“But, what’s clear is that children don’t believe everything they are told. They think about what they’ve been told and if they’re skeptical, they seek out additional information that could confirm or disconfirm it.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13847">Child Development</a>.



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

Children don’t believe everything they are told

Children are nimble learners, using both observation and experimentation to...

According to a recent study led by the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a>, even if we did have the infinite power to artificially cool enough of the ocean to weaken a hurricane, the benefits would be minimal. By using sophisticated computer simulations, the experts found that even the energy alone which would be necessary to weaken <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hurricanes-stronger-climate-change/">hurricanes</a> before landfall makes it a highly inefficient method to mitigate such natural disasters.



“The main result from our study is that massive amounts of artificially cooled water would be needed for only a modest weakening in hurricane intensity before landfall,” said study lead author James Hlywiak, a postdoctoral fellow in Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami.



“Plus, weakening the intensity by marginal amounts doesn’t necessarily mean that the likelihood for inland damages and safety risks would decrease as well. While any amount of weakening before landfall is a good thing, for these reasons it makes more sense to direct focus towards adaptation strategies such as reinforcing infrastructure, improving the efficiency of evacuation procedures, and advancing the science around detection and prediction of impending storms.”



By using a combination of air-sea interaction theories and a state-of-the-art computer model of the atmosphere, the researchers estimated whether cooling areas of the ocean up to 260,000 km2&nbsp;in size - larger than the state of Oregon and equating to 21,000 cubic kilometers of water - by up to two degrees Celsius, would considerably weaken possible hurricanes. Their analysis revealed that, even with the largest area of cooling, the simulated hurricanes would weaken only by 15 percent. Moreover, the amount of energy needed to achieve such a small reduction would be the equivalent to over 100 times the amount consumed across the entire U.S. in 2019 alone.



“You might think that the main finding of our article, that it’s pointless to try to weaken hurricanes, should be obvious,” said study senior author David Nolan, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami. “And yet, various ideas for hurricane modification appear often in popular media and are even submitted for patents every few years. We’re happy to be able to put something into the peer-reviewed literature that actually addresses this.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00519-1">Nature Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.



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

Artificial ocean cooling could not weaken hurricanes

According to a recent study led by the University 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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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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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

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