Female,Having,Heart,,Asthma,Or,Panic,Attack.,Difficulties,With,Breathe,

When we think of a heart attack, the image that often comes to mind is straight out of a movie: someone suddenly clutches their chest in pain and collapses as shocked bystanders look on. It's a scene etched into our collective memory by decades of TV and film.



However, the real experience of a heart attack rarely fits that narrative. In fact, believing in that dramatic version can delay life-saving treatment.



Hollywood’s version has shaped public perception in ways that may be doing more harm than good. The truth is far more complex and subtle. 



For Ann Eckhardt, a nursing professor and researcher at <a href="https://www.uta.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The University of Texas at Arlington</a>, this public misunderstanding is not just a matter of health education. It is a deeply personal mission rooted in years of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heart-disease-kills-differently-now-than-five-decades-ago/">research</a> and a family experience that first sparked her passion for the subject.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-missing-the-signs-of-a-heart-attack">Missing the signs of a heart attack </h2>



Movies from the 1980s and 1990s cemented an unrealistic idea of heart attacks. The result? Many people don’t recognize the signs when it happens to them.



“We did ourselves a disservice in the 1980s and 1990s with what’s known as ‘The Hollywood Heart Attack,’” Dr. Eckhardt said. “That’s unfortunately not real life. It’s not always intense." 



"Sometimes it’s just discomfort that doesn’t feel quite right, so people tend to wait to see a doctor. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to have negative consequences after your <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heart-disease-remains-the-leading-cause-of-death-worldwide/">heart</a> attack.”



This tendency to wait, to dismiss symptoms that don’t seem dramatic enough, can cost precious time. And in cardiology, time is muscle. 



The longer blood flow to the heart is restricted, the greater the damage. But if people are looking for cinematic signals, they might miss the real ones.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heart-attack-symptoms-can-be-subtle">Heart attack symptoms can be subtle </h2>



One of the biggest myths is that heart attacks always present with severe, sudden <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/artificial-sweeteners-erythritol-directly-linked-to-heart-attacks-and-strokes/">pain</a>. In reality, many symptoms are subtle. 



People may experience vague discomfort, pressure, or a strange feeling they can’t quite describe. These symptoms are easier to ignore, especially when life is busy or stressful.



Eckhardt and her team wanted to understand these misconceptions in detail. They explored how people interpret chest pain and whether that interpretation affects how and when they seek care. 



The team has identified a dangerous gap between public belief and medical reality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-the-warning-signs">Rethinking the warning signs </h2>



Many people also believe that heart attacks look drastically different in men and women. While that belief was once supported in the medical community, experts are now rethinking the language they use.



“We used to say men have typical symptoms and women have atypical symptoms,” Eckhardt said. “We’re trying very hard to move away from that language now."



"The most common symptom for men and women is chest-related. We created confusion by saying women are somehow completely different.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-false-expectations-about-heart-attacks">False expectations about heart attacks</h2>



Labeling symptoms as typical or atypical can confuse patients. If someone doesn’t feel the expected kind of pain, they may assume it isn’t serious. Worse, they might believe it can’t possibly be a heart attack. That false assurance can delay treatment.



Eckhardt’s team wanted to dig deeper into how people form these ideas. To do that, they created the <a href="https://www.heartandlung.org/article/S0147-9563(23)00121-8/abstract?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chest Pain Conception Questionnaire</a>. The tool is designed to measure what people think heart attack symptoms look like, and where those ideas come from.



Three years into the project, the team made a striking discovery: nearly 75% of respondents had gotten their information about heart attacks from media sources like TV and film. That suggests medical messaging is losing the battle for public attention.



“We often tell people chest pain is a symptom of a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/drinking-this-amount-of-coffee-helps-prevent-heart-disease-and-diabetes/">heart</a> attack, but what we don’t tell them is what they might actually feel,” Eckhardt said. 



“For a lot of people, it’s not pain in the traditional sense. It’s more discomfort, pressure, tightness. They just don’t feel quite right, but they can’t really put their finger on it.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vague-signs-delay-treatment">Vague signs delay treatment</h2>



Many heart attack sufferers report a general unease or tightness instead of sharp pain. But because it’s vague, they hesitate to call a doctor or go to the hospital. This indecision can lead to devastating outcomes.



Eckhardt wants medical professionals to change how they talk to patients. Instead of simply asking about chest pain, they should expand the question to include more accurate descriptions.



“The longer you wait, the more likely it is you’ll have irreversible damage to the heart,” Eckhardt said. 



“So, if we can determine what people think a heart attack will be like, perhaps we can help the medical community better triage and ask questions. It’s not just ‘Are you having chest pain?’; it’s also ‘Do you have any discomfort, pressure, tightness, squeezing?’”



This approach could help doctors identify patients at risk more effectively. It also makes space for individuals to describe their symptoms without second-guessing themselves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-lifelong-mission">A lifelong mission </h2>



For Eckhardt, this work is not just about data or education. It is deeply personal. Her commitment to the subject began when she was young, shaped by a frightening family event.



“That experience sparked my interest early on,” Eckhardt said. When she was in middle school, her grandfather was rushed to the hospital after a heart attack. 



Thankfully, he survived the ordeal thanks to timely bypass surgery and lived for another two decades. That moment planted the seeds of a lifelong commitment to health education and research.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changing-the-public-perception">Changing the public perception </h2>



Eckhardt and her colleagues know it won’t be easy to re-educate the public. Hollywood images are hard to shake. 



However, the team's research continues, driven by a clear goal: help people recognize real heart attack symptoms, seek help early, and improve outcomes.



Every person who rethinks their idea of what a heart attack feels like could be one life saved. It is not always about pain. Sometimes, it is a quiet, persistent signal that something is wrong. 



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.heartandlung.org/article/S0147-9563(25)00104-9/abstract" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heart &amp; Lung</a>.



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What a heart attack really feels like - it's much different from what you see on TV

When we think of a heart attack, the image that often comes to mind is straight out of a movie: someone suddenly clutches their chest in pain and collapses as shocked bystanders look on. It's a scene etched into our collective memory by decades of TV and film. However, the real experience of a heart attack rarely fits that narrative. In fact, believing in that dramatic version can delay life-saving treatment. Hollywood’s version has shaped public perception in ways that may be doing more harm than good....

Only four species of manatees, or “sea cows,” remain on Earth - all of which are vulnerable to extinction. Fossil evidence suggests that many different kinds of sea cows lived in the past, located along the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-are-transforming-arctic-coasts/">coasts</a> of every continent but Antarctica. A new paper offers the most complete story yet of these unique creatures’ ancestry.



“The earliest known fossil sea cows are about 47 million years old, and those animals lived along the coasts of northern Africa in the proto-Mediterranean Sea,” said study co-author Steven Heritage of the <a href="https://lemur.duke.edu/discover/dlcmnh/">Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History</a>.



“Our analysis found that this first appearance was about 11 million years after the sea cow lineage diverged from their closest living relatives, the elephants.”



While modern manatees have no hind limbs and are strictly aquatic, the oldest known fossil sea cows had four limbs and could walk on land.



The study assembled the largest dataset of living and fossil species, combining genetics, anatomy, geography, and geologic ages. The team analyzed models for the ancestry of sea cows and biogeography that identify the ages and directions of their migrations.



“Our models suggest that the direct ancestors of manatees evolved within continental South America” said study co-author Erik Seiffert.



The migration of manatees into the Caribbean and&nbsp; North America was a relatively recent event. “In a sense, manatees are newcomers to these West Atlantic ecosystems,” said Seiffert.



This migration corresponds with the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, a time of plummeting global sea levels, a rapidly cooling climate, and extinctions of numerous animal species.



The ancestral sea cows later faced a steep decline and eventually disappeared. But the Western lineage from the Oligocene gave rise to many species that have persisted for tens of millions of years, sometimes living in communities of multiple species.



The analysis also found that at least three Caribbean sea cow lineages migrated into the Pacific Ocean during the Miocene epoch, between 23 and 5 million years ago, before Central and South America were connected.



One descendant was the gigantic Steller’s Sea Cow, a cold-adapted species that measured up to 33 feet. European naturalists who explored the Bering Sea during the mid-1700s observed a living Steller’s Sea Cows, which was hunted to extinction shortly thereafter.



The highest diversity of sea cow lineages occurred around 22 and 16 million years ago. Over the past nine million years, this number has dropped precipitously resulting in the few species that remain today.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/13886/">PeerJ</a>.



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

Tracking manatee evolution over 47 million years

Only four species of manatees, or “sea cows,” remain on...

It was previously thought that beavers living an amphibious life first evolved in Eurasia. A new discovery in Montana refutes this idea, suggesting a North American origin. The research also shows that amphibious beavers date back much further than what was previously thought.&nbsp;



In a recent study, <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State</a> evolutionary biologist Jonathan Calede described the ankle bone of a 30 million-year-old beaver he named Microtheriomys articulaquaticus. This makes this aquatic beaver seven million years older than the previous oldest from France.&nbsp;



Calede explained that a lot can be learned about mammal evolution from rodents. “Look at the diversity of life around us today, and you see gliding rodents like flying squirrels, rodents that hop like the kangaroo rat, aquatic species like muskrats, and burrowing animals like pocket gophers. There is an incredible diversity of shapes and ecologies. When that diversity arose is an important question."



“Rodents are the most diverse group of mammals on Earth, and about 4 in 10 species of mammals are rodents. If we want to understand how we get incredible biodiversity, rodents are a great system to study," said Calede.



It was immediately apparent when the scientists uncovered the bones that they were from a beaver. The ankle bone was key to determining the animal’s lifestyle, and 15 measurements were taken of the bone.&nbsp;



The measurements were compared to those of 343 modern specimens from burrowing, gliding, swimming, and jumping mammals as well as other ancient beavers.



After running computer analyses, Calede determined that beavers evolved their aquatic lifestyle through exaptation, which means co-opting one structure for a new purpose.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“In this case, the adaptations to burrowing were co-opted to transition to a semi-aquatic locomotion,” said Calede. “The ancestor of all beavers that have ever existed was most likely a burrower, and the semi-aquatic behavior of modern beavers evolved from a burrowing ecology. Beavers went from digging burrows to swimming in water.”



Analysis of the beaver lineage shows that the animals in the lineage increased in size, to the point that a beaver the size of a black bear lived 12,000 years ago. Now what was once a diverse group of rodents is reduced to two species - one in North America and one in Eurasia.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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

Earliest amphibious beaver lived 30 million years ago

It was previously thought that beavers living an amphibious life...

As dogs age, their brains undergo decline, just as happens with humans. This can lead to the condition known as canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), which is characterized by changes in awareness and behaviour, and a gradual loss in the ability to remember or learn new things. It is a common disorder among senior dogs, with around one out of every three dogs over the age of 11 showing at least one clinical sign of the condition. By the age of 16, almost all dogs suffer from aspects of this doggy <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/watching-tv-increases-risk-of-dementia-in-seniors/">dementia</a>.



Sadly, a great number of owners fail to discuss behavior changes in their geriatric dog with a veterinarian because they assume that these problems are a natural and untreatable aspect of aging. However, the neurodegenerative changes that occur in an older dog’s brain are progressive in nature, meaning that the sooner they are detected, the more effectively they can be corrected or, at least, slowed down.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Sarah Yarborough from the University of Washington, and colleagues, have now conducted new research into the prevalence of CCD in a large sample of companion dogs. The owners were all participants in the Dog Aging Project, a longitudinal study of aging in pet dogs in the USA. A total of 15,019 dogs were included in the sample and they were categorized according to their positions along their lifespans. A total of 20 percent of the dogs were in the last quartile of their life, 24 percent were in the third quartile, and 27 and 29 percent were in the second and first quartiles respectively.



Between December 2019 and 2020, the pet owners completed two surveys called the Health and Life Experience Survey (with information about health status and physical activity), and the Canine Social and Learned Behavior survey, which included questions to test for the presence of CCD symptoms, such as whether the dog failed to recognize familiar people or showed loss of memory. The data from these surveys indicated that 1.4 percent of dogs were classified as having CCD.



Published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>, the study revealed that when considering age alone, the&nbsp;odds of a dog being diagnosed with CCD increase by 68 percent for each additional year they live beyond the age of ten. When other factors such as health problems, sterilization, activity levels, and breed type were taken into account, the odds of developing CCD increased by 52 percent for each additional year of life over the age of ten.



The researchers also noted that for dogs of the same breed, age, and health and sterilization status, the odds of CCD were 6.5 times higher in dogs that were reported by their owners as being inactive, in comparison with dogs that were reported to be active. However, the experts caution that their study does not show a causal relationship between inactivity and CCD due to its cross-sectional nature, and cognitive decline may be the factor leading to reduced activity.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that lifespan estimates could help inform veterinarians whether to screen dogs for CCD when they are brought in for other health checks. They also conclude that further research is needed to understand CCD better.



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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

Dementia will affect most dogs if they live long enough

As dogs age, their brains undergo decline, just as happens...

Recently, record-breaking <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/heat-waves-set-to-explode-in-south-asia/">heat waves</a> have occurred in many parts of the world, from Delhi to the Pacific Northwest. To estimate the frequency and severity of such extreme events in the near future, a team of experts from the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> (UW) and <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a> has analyzed a range of possible heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;



“The record-breaking heat events of recent summers will become much more common in places like North America and Europe,” reported study lead author&nbsp;Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, who conducted the research as a doctoral student at the&nbsp;UW&nbsp;and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Atmospheric Sciences at Harvard.&nbsp;



“For many places close to the equator, by 2100 more than half the year will be a challenge to work outside, even if we begin to curb emissions. Our study shows a broad range of possible scenarios for 2100. This shows that the emissions choices we make now still matter for creating a habitable future.”



Instead of using the four future emission pathways elaborated by the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/emissions-scenarios/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC), the scientists employed a probability-based method to calculate the range of possible future climate conditions. Their statistical approach combined historical data with population projections, economic growth, and carbon intensity (the amount of carbon emitted for each dollar of economic activity) to predict the future possible emissions. After translating the future CO2 levels in a range of global temperature increases, they examined how that would affect monthly weather patterns.



“The number of days with dangerous levels of heat in the mid-latitudes — including the southeastern and central U.S. — will more than double by 2050,” said study co-author&nbsp;David Battisti, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the UW. “Even for the very low-end estimates of carbon emissions and climate response, by 2100 much of the tropics will experience ‘dangerous’ levels of heat stress for nearly half the year.”



In the worst-case scenario in which emissions continue unchecked, “extremely dangerous conditions,” in which people would not be able to spend any time outdoors, could become common in regions close to the equator, such as India or Sub-Saharan Africa.



“It’s extremely frightening to think what would happen if 30 to&nbsp;40 days&nbsp;a year were exceeding the extremely dangerous threshold. These are frightening scenarios that we still have the capacity to prevent. This study shows you the abyss, but it also shows you that we have some agency to prevent these scenarios from happening,” Dr. Vargas Zeppetello concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00524-4">Communications Earth &amp; Environment</a>.&nbsp;



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

Dangerous heat will become more common this century

Recently, record-breaking heat waves have occurred in many parts of...

During the 2019–2020 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-reveals-the-impacts-of-bushfires-on-urban-microclimates/">bushfire</a> season in Australia, an estimated 14.3 million hectares (143,000 square kilometers) of bush was destroyed by the hundreds of fires that raged, mostly in the southeast of the country. At least 3,000 buildings were razed and 34 people lost their lives. An estimated three&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,000,000,000">billion</a>&nbsp;terrestrial vertebrates&nbsp;were affected and some endangered species were probably driven to extinction



At the peak of the fires, air quality dropped to hazardous levels in all southern and eastern states and the pall of smoke moved thousands of kilometers across the South Pacific Ocean to Chile and Argentina. Satellite data also revealed that millions of tons of smoke aerosols were released into the atmosphere above Australia, where they reached as high as the lower stratosphere, which starts at around 15km above Earth’s surface. Abnormally high temperatures (the highest since 1992–1993) were also observed in the lower stratosphere for several months around this time.&nbsp;



Lilly Damany-Pearce from the University of Exeter, and colleagues, were interested in whether the smoke aerosols emitted from the Australian bushfires led to these increased stratospheric temperatures. They used data from the CALIPSO and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellites to monitor aerosol levels in the stratosphere in the southern hemisphere between December 2019 and 2020.&nbsp;



As a comparison, they also investigated aerosol levels recorded by the same satellites between June 2012 and December 2018. The authors report an initial plume of smoke that reached altitudes of 16km on 31 December 2019, and a similar plume on 12 January 2020. The smoke aerosols eventually reached altitudes of between 25 and 35km, well into the stratospheric layer, and were detected throughout 2020.



The researchers used these findings in the United Kingdom Earth System Model, version 1 (UKESM1), to investigate the impact of these plumes on lower stratospheric temperatures. They modelled the effects of smoke aerosols, the changes to the ozone layer, and a combination of both factors, on stratospheric temperatures, and then compared these to control simulations of present-day climate.&nbsp;



In the smoke aerosol and ozone simulation, the model predicted significantly increased temperatures in the lower stratosphere throughout January to June 2020, compared to the present-day climate. There was a modelled temperature increase of around 0.65 degrees Celsius from November 2019 to March 2020, which is similar to the observed temperature spike of 0.7 degrees Celsius during this period.&nbsp;



According to the study authors, this suggests that the increased stratospheric temperatures predicted by the model were due to the presence of bushfire smoke aerosols. They said that the modeled temperature spike is the largest since the eruption of the volcano Pinatubo in 1991 that released sulfate smoke aerosols into the stratosphere.



The researchers conclude that, as the frequency and intensity of future wildfires is likely to increase with climate change, this may in turn increase the probability of more events of stratospheric warming and ozone depletion from smoke aerosols.



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15794-3">Scientific Reports</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

Bushfires linked to temperature spikes in the stratosphere

During the 2019–2020 bushfire season in Australia, an estimated 14.3...

Becoming bipedal is considered to be a decisive step in the evolution of humans. However, for decades, there was no scientific consensus of the time period when this crucial adaptation emerged. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.cnrs.fr/">French National Center for Scientific Research</a> (CNRS) and the <a href="https://www.univ-poitiers.fr/en/">University of Poitiers</a> has examined three limb bones from the oldest representative of early humans currently identified - Sahelanthropus tchadensis - and found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bipedalism-human-skull-evolution/">bipedalism</a> was most probably acquired very early in our history, in a period still associated with the ability to move on four limbs in trees.



Dating back seven million years old,&nbsp;Sahelanthropus tchadensis&nbsp;is considered to be the oldest representative species of humanity. This hominin was first described in 2001, when the <a href="http://palevoprim.labo.univ-poitiers.fr/language/en/2019/02/28/mpft-depuis-1999/">Franco-Chadian Paleoanthropological Mission</a> (MPFT) discovered the fossils of several individuals at Toros-Menalla in the Djurab Desert in Chad. The fossils included a well-preserved cranium which, together with the orientation and anterior position of the occipital foramen where the vertebral column is inserted, indicates that this ancestor was capable of bipedalism.



Now, experts discovered also two ulnae (forearm bones) and a femur (tight bone) that most likely belonged to Sahelanthropus. Data collected from a series of measurements and analyses of these bones – concerning both their external morphology and internal structures – was compared to already existing data of a large sample of extant and fossil apes, including chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, Miocene apes, as well as members of the human group, such as Orrorin,&nbsp;Ardipithecus, australopithecines, ancient&nbsp;Homo,&nbsp;and Homo sapiens.



The structure of the femur suggests that Sahelanthropus was bipedal on ground, and possibly also sometimes in trees. The analysis of the ulnae indicates that, in arboreal environments, this bipedalism coincided with a form of quadrupedalism characterized by arboreal clambering enabled by firm hand grips. These discoveries reinforce the idea of a very early emergence of bipedal locomotion in human history, even if at that stage other modes of locomotion were also employed.



“Taken together, these findings suggest that hominins were already bipeds at around seven million years ago, but also suggest that arboreal clambering was probably a significant part of their locomotor repertoire,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04901-z">Nature</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;

Earliest humans were bipedal, and could swing through trees

Becoming bipedal is considered to be a decisive step in...

In a new study led by the <a href="https://www.zsl.org/">Zoological Society of London</a> (ZSL) in collaboration with the <a href="https://english.cas.cn/">Chinese Academy of Sciences</a>, conservationist experts have reported that the <a href="https://www.earth.com/endangered-species/dugong-dugon/">dugong</a> – a giant, gentle marine herbivorous mammal belonging to the manatee family – is now “functionally extinct” in China, with no sightings of this charismatic creature since 2008. Since 1970, the number of dugongs in waters close to mainland China has decreased significantly, largely due to human activities.&nbsp;



The dugong is known to slowly roam the coastlines of tropical and subtropical countries, feeding upon seagrass from shallow waters. This strictly herbivorous mammal can grow up to ten feet in length and weigh over 1,000 pounds. In a press release covering the new findings, the scientists argued that there are “strong indications that this is the first functional extinction of a large mammal in China’s coastal waters,” an area where they have been observed for centuries.



“Our new study shows strong evidence of the regional loss of another charismatic aquatic mammal species in China — sadly, once again driven by unsustainable human activity,” added study co-author Samuel Turvey, a professor of Zoology at ZSL.



The analysis shown that fishing, ship strikes, and human-driven habitat loss were significant drivers of extinction. Since sea grass – the dugongs’ main habitat and source of nourishment – is being “rapidly degraded by human impacts,” China’s efforts to make sea grass restoration and recovery “a key conservation priority” may have come too late to save these mammals.



“Dugongs stay in waters up to ten meters and are constantly grazing,” explained study co-author Heidi Ma, a postdoctoral researcher at ZSL. “But there is a lot of competition for resources in these areas,” due to the fact that sea grass contains large amounts of carbon and is thus a major food source and habitat for a variety of aquatic organisms.



In light of these recent findings, scientists recommended that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reassess the dugong’s regional status as critically endangered or even possibly extinct across the entirety of Chinese coastlines.&nbsp;



“Their absence will not only have a knock-on effect on ecosystem function, but also serves as a wake-up call - a sobering reminder that extinctions can occur before effective conservation actions are developed,” Professor Turvey concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rsos.211994">Royal Society Open 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;

Dugongs declared “functionally extinct” in China

In a new study led by the Zoological Society of...

An international team of experts led by the <a href="https://www.umontreal.ca/">University of Montreal</a> has recently announced the discovery of TOI-1452 b - an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astronomers-discover-366-new-exoplanets/">exoplanet</a> orbiting one of two small stars in a binary system located in the Draco constellation, approximately 100 light-years from the Earth. The observations and subsequent analyses revealed that this planet is slightly greater in size than the Earth and is located at a distance from its star where its temperature could allow for liquid water to exist on its surface, leading scientists to suspect that it could be an “ocean planet” covered completely by a thick layer of water, just like some of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons.



The researchers discovered this planet with the help of NASA’s space telescope <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/tess-transiting-exoplanet-survey-satellite">TESS</a> and follow-up ground observations with the high-resolution <a href="http://www.exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/1232-2/?lang=en">PESTO</a> camera. The host star TOI-1452 is much smaller than our Sun and is one of two similarly-sized stars in the binary system where the new planet was discovered. Although the TESS telescope sees the two stars as a single point of light (due to the small distance separating them), PESTO’s resolution was high enough to distinguish the two objects, and confirm that the exoplanet is orbiting TOI-1452.



In order to determine the planet’s mass, the astronomers then observed the system for over 50 hours with <a href="https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/SPIRou/">SPIRou</a>, an instrument installed on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawai’i, and estimated that the planet has a mass nearly five times larger than that of the Earth. While this exoplanet is most likely rocky, like the Earth, its radius, mass, and density suggest that it may be largely covered by water, which makes up to 30 percent of its mass (compared to the less than one percent of water making up the mass of the Earth).



“TOI-1452 b is one of the best candidates for an ocean planet that we have found to date,” explained study lead author Charles Cadieux, a doctoral student in Astrophysics at the University of Montreal. “Its radius and mass suggest a much lower density than what one would expect for a planet that is basically made up of metal and rock, like Earth.”



In the near future, the scientists aim to use the newly constructed <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/launch-of-the-james-webb-space-telescope/">James Webb Space Telescope</a> – the most performant telescope to date – in order to clarify the nature and features of this fascinating planet. “Our observations with the Webb Telescope will be essential to better understanding TOI-1452 b,” said co-author René Doyon, an expert in exoplanets at the University of Montreal. “As soon as we can, we will book time on Webb to observe this strange and wonderful world.”&nbsp;



A detailed description of this planet was published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ac7cea">Astronomical Journal</a>.



Image Credit: Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal



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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;

Scientists: probable 'ocean planet' discovered in the Draco constellation

An international team of experts led by the University of...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/">University of Bath</a>, researchers are describing a giant sea lizard that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago. At this time, when dinosaurs were thriving on land, giant marine reptiles called mosasaurs dominated the ocean. Mosasaurs could grow up to 12 meters, or 40 feet, in length. They were distant relatives of modern iguanas.



The remains of the new mosasaur, named Thalassotitan atrox, were uncovered in Morocco about an hour outside Casablanca. According to the researchers, Thalassotitan had massive jaws and teeth like those of killer whales and hunted all other marine reptiles as an apex predator - at the very top of the food chain.



The huge skull of Thalassotitan measured five feet long, while its body grew to nearly 30 feet long, the size of a killer whale, noted the researchers.&nbsp;



Unlike most mosasaurs which had slender teeth, Thalassotitan had conical teeth to rip apart huge prey. These experts report that possible remains of Thalassotitan’s victims have been discovered.&nbsp;



These fossilized animals, including at least three different mosasaur species, were found with peculiar damage which suggests they were digested in Thalassotitan’s stomach before their bones were spit out.



“It’s circumstantial evidence,” said study lead author Dr. Nick Longrich. “We can’t say for certain which species of animal ate all these other mosasaurs. But we have the bones of marine reptiles killed and eaten by a large predator.



“And in the same location, we find Thalassotitan, a species that fits the profile of the killer – it’s a mosasaur specialized to prey on other marine reptiles. That’s probably not a coincidence.”



“Thalassotitan was an amazing, terrifying animal,” said Dr. Nick Longrich, who led the study. “Imagine a Komodo Dragon crossed with a great white shark crossed with a T. rex crossed with a killer whale.”



According to study co-author Professor Nour-Eddine Jalil, the phosphate fossils of Morocco "offer an unparalleled window on the paleobiodiversity at the end of Cretaceous."



“They tell us how life was rich and diversified just before the end of the ‘dinosaur era’, where animals had to specialise to have a place in their ecosystems. Thalassotitan completes the picture by taking on the role of the megapredator at the top of the food chain.”



Dr. Longrich has written a blog about the research here: <a href="https://www.nicklongrich.com/blog/thalassotitan-the-killer-mosasaur">https://www.nicklongrich.com/blog/thalassotitan-the-killer-mosasaur</a>



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667122001793?via%3Dihub">Cretaceous Research</a>.



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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

Terrifying mosasaur dominated the ocean 66 million years ago

In a new study from the University of Bath, researchers...

Obesity in pet dogs has become a common phenomenon in recent times and is of concern to veterinarians and owners alike. It is estimated that between 34 and 41 percent of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-cry-tears-of-joy-when-reunited-with-their-owners/">dogs</a> globally are overweight or obese, and several previous research studies have investigated the risk factors associated with this condition. Overweight and obese animals are more likely to develop serious health problems, including joint, skin, respiratory, cardiac and renal diseases, diabetes and an increased risk of death.&nbsp;



The main cause of obesity in dogs is that they consume more calories than they use up in their daily lives, largely because they receive too much food and not enough exercise. Both of these factors are under the control of the dog owner but, although there are many commercial dietary options for overweight dogs, there is not a lot of information or guidance for owners who wish to increase their dog’s exercise levels. In this light, researchers from the <a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/">University of Guelph</a> in Canada undertook a large-scale, international study to investigate the relationship between the exercise regimen of owners and their dogs.&nbsp;



Past studies on the association between dogs’ body weight and their diet, exercise regimen and other sociodemographic factors have involved small samples and have been restricted in geographic location. For a broader, international perspective, PhD student Sydney Banton and colleagues analyzed the results from a survey of 3,298 dog owners living in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The survey included questions about both owners’ and dogs’ diets and exercise routines, and each owner’s perception of his or her dog’s body weight.



Analysis of the survey responses showed that dogs were likely to get more exercise if their owners spent more time exercising, themselves. Active owners were also more likely to perceive their dog as having an ideal body weight. Compared to owners in other countries, owners in Germany tended to exercise their dogs for a longer time, were more likely to perceive their dog’s body weight as ideal, and were less likely to report having been told that their dog was overweight.



The results, published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272299">PLoS ONE</a>, also showed that dog owners who had been told their dog was overweight were more likely to respond by restricting the dog’s diet, or by feeding it a weight control diet, but not by adjusting its exercise regimen or by cutting out the daily treats. These owners were more likely to report that their dog only exercised for between 0 and 15 minutes per day, while the recommended daily exercise time, on average, is at least 30 minutes per day.&nbsp;



Among dogs who were five years old and older, owners were less likely to perceive their dog as having an ideal body weight if they had been told their dog was overweight, if they reported attempting to control their dog’s weight by limiting food intake, and if they reported giving dogs other foods, such as treats, every day.



To the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first large-scale study that demonstrates a relationship between an owner’s exercise regime and his or her dog’s exercise pattern. In the past, veterinarians have reported that the main causes of obesity are diet, socioeconomic reasons and lack of exercise, but admit that their primary strategy to address this obesity is to reduce food, reduce treats and change the diet, but not to change the exercise routine.&nbsp;



This highlights that the option to increase exercise time needs to be promoted by veterinarians when advising owners of overweight and obese dogs. "In order to treat and prevent obesity in dogs, a more holistic approach to changing both dietary and exercise routine needs to be made," wrote the study authors.



“Results from the survey revealed that feeding practices play a main role in owner perception of their dog being overweight, while exercise practices play a main role in owner perception of their dog being an ideal weight," said Banton. "While many weight loss strategies for dogs focus on feeding, this data highlights the need to incorporate exercise into weight loss regimens.”



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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

Jog with your dog to prevent pet obesity and health issues

Obesity in pet dogs has become a common phenomenon in...

The world is full of newsworthy events, spread to us via diverse media channels, that warrant our attention. Unfortunately, these events are often concerning or distressing but we feel compelled to understand them and stay informed about them anyway. In the recent past, for example, there has been a seemingly constant flow of disconcerting events, including a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-world-is-still-unprepared-for-the-next-pandemic/">pandemic</a>, a highly contentious U.S. presidential election culminating in an attempted insurrection, large-scale protests, mass shootings, a Russian invasion of Ukraine, life-threatening floods and devastating wildfires.&nbsp;



It is likely that, for many people witnessing these events in the news, the experience may cause stress and anxiety. In addition, for those who become drawn in to the unfolding tragedies and dramas, being exposed to a 24-hour news cycle of continually evolving events can have serious impacts on mental and physical wellbeing. This is the finding of a new research study that investigates the consequences of problematic news consumption on the general well-being of people.



“Witnessing these events unfold in the news can bring about a constant state of high alert in some people, kicking their surveillance motives into overdrive and making the world seem like a dark and dangerous place,” explained study first author Bryan McLaughlin, associate professor of Advertising in the College of Media and&nbsp;Communication at Texas Tech University.



“For these individuals, a vicious cycle can develop in which, rather than tuning out, they become drawn further in, obsessing over the news and checking for updates around the clock to alleviate their emotional distress. But it doesn’t help, and the more they check the news, the more it begins to interfere with other aspects of their lives.”



Known colloquially as news addiction, problematic news consumption is defined in this study as becoming immersed in the news (transportation) as well as consumed with thoughts about the news (preoccupation), attempting to alleviate feelings of threat by consuming more news (misregulation), experiencing a loss of control over consumption of the news (underregulation), and devoting less time to other aspects of one’s life (interference). McLaughlin and his colleagues, Dr. Melissa Gotlieb and Dr. Devin Mills, hypothesized that those with higher levels of problematic news consumption would experience greater mental and physical ill-being than those with lower levels of problematic news consumption.



The experts obtained data by means of an online survey completed by 1,100 U.S. adults. In the survey, people were asked about the extent to which they agreed with statements like “I become so absorbed in the news that I forget the world around me”, “my mind is frequently occupied with thoughts about the news”, “I find it difficult to stop reading or watching the news”, and “I often do not pay attention at school or work because I am reading or watching the news”.&nbsp;



Mental ill-being was assessed using nine items in the survey that captured feelings of stress (e.g., “I was in a state of nervous tension”) and anxiety (e.g., “I felt I was close to panic”) in the previous month. In addition, respondents answered questions about their experience of physical ailments, such as fatigue, pain, disrupted sleep, poor concentration, and gastrointestinal issues.



The results, published in the journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10410236.2022.2106086">Health Communication</a>, revealed four categories of problematic news consumption behavior – severe, moderate, minimal and non-problematic. Overall, 16.5 percent of people surveyed showed signs of ‘severely problematic’ news consumption. Such individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in news stories that the stories dominated their waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep.



Perhaps not surprisingly, people with higher levels of problematic news consumption were significantly more likely to experience mental and physical ill-being than those with lower levels, even when controlling for demographics, personality traits, and overall viewing.



In particular, 73 percent of those recognized to have severe levels of problematic news consumption reported experiencing mental ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much,” compared to only 8 percent of all other participants in the study. Similarly, 61 percent of those with severe levels of problematic news consumption reported experiencing physical ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much,” compared to only 6.1 percent of all other study participants.



According to McLaughlin, the findings are “alarming” and show that there is a need for focused media literacy campaigns to help people develop a healthier relationship with the news. “While we want people to remain engaged in the news, it is important that they have a healthier relationship with the news,” he said.



“In most cases, treatment for addictions and compulsive behaviors centers on complete cessation of the problematic behavior, as it can be difficult to perform the behavior in moderation. In the case of problematic news consumption, research has shown that individuals may decide to stop, or at least dramatically reduce, their news consumption if they perceive it is having adverse effects on their mental health." “For example, previous research has shown that individuals who became aware of and concerned about the adverse effects that their constant attention to sensationalized coverage of COVID-19 was having on their mental health reported making the conscious decision to tune out.”



“However, not only does tuning out come at the expense of an individual’s access to important information for their health and safety, it also undermines the existence of an informed citizenry, which has implications for maintaining a healthy democracy. This is why a healthy relationship with news consumption is an ideal situation.”



In addition, the study also identifies the contribution of the news industry to fueling the problem. Journalists are encouraged to focus on “newsworthy” stories that will grab the attention of consumers, and news channels that then give non-stop coverage of unfolding stories feed into the fascination that some people experience. The authors call for a wider discussion about the news industry’s involvement in the issue of problematic consumption.&nbsp;



In conclusion, the authors state that for certain types of people, the conflict and drama that characterize newsworthy stories not only grab their attention and draw them in, but also can lead to a maladaptive relationship with the news. "Thus, the results of our study emphasize that the commercial pressures that news media face are not just harmful to the goal of maintaining a healthy democracy, they also may be harmful to individuals’ health.”



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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

News addiction can have serious health consequences

The world is full of newsworthy events, spread to us...

Two hypotheses describe changes in animal size. Cope’s rule says that body size tends to increase in a given lineage throughout time. Bergmann’s rule states that animals in cold climates tend to have larger bodies while those in warm climates tend to have smaller bodies.&nbsp;



These rules aren’t universally true among all groups of animals but have been shown to be largely true among “warm blooded” endotherms. A team of researchers recently tested these ideas among tetraodontiform fishes. This group of mainly tropical fishes includes pufferfish, boxfish, and filefish.&nbsp;



“Cope’s and Bergmann’s rules are fairly well-supported for endotherms, or warm-blooded species, such as birds and mammals. However, among ectothermic species, especially vertebrates, these rules tend to have mixed findings," explained Emily Troyer, a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma’s Fish Evolution Lab.



To study the trends in the size of ectothermic fish as the oceans cooled over time, the researchers used a mixture of paleontology and genomics to understand the lineage’s evolution.



“When you look across different groups in the tree of life, then you will notice that there are a limited number of groups that actually have a good fossil record, but the larger marine fish group (known as Tetraodontiformes) that includes the popular pufferfish, ocean sunfish and boxfish, is remarkable in that it has a spectacular paleontological record," said Dahiana Arcila, professor and assistant curator at Sam Noble Museum of Natural History,&nbsp;



“So, by integrating those two fields, genomics and paleontology, then we're actually able to bring into the picture new results that you won't be able to obtain using just one data type.”



What the researchers found is that the ectothermic fishes seemed to follow the two rules much like their endothermic counterparts among mammals and birds. The changes over time followed Cope’s rule, but the changes also coincided with cooling ocean temperatures, following Bermann’s rule as well.



“Based on fossil data, we're showing that these fish started very small, but you can see that living species are much larger, and those changes are associated with the cooling temperature of the ocean over this very long period of time,” said Arcila.&nbsp;



The research is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2122486119">The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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

Fish grew larger as the oceans cooled over millennia

Two hypotheses describe changes in animal size. Cope’s rule says...

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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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



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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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"

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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

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