Rare earth elements are everywhere - in your smartphone screen, in the MRI machine at the hospital, in the battery of an electric vehicle, and even in oil and gas refining. They are a key ingredient of modern life.



As global tensions rise, so does the competition for access to these minerals. Recent headlines show the stakes: China has halted rare earth exports to the United States, and a deal was just signed to secure U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.



Despite their name, rare earth elements aren’t actually scarce; what’s rare is finding them in high enough concentrations to mine economically. These deposits are scattered unevenly across the globe and often buried deep underground, shaping who controls their production and the global supply chain.



Scientists at <a href="https://www.tufts.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tufts University</a> are trying to better understand how and why rare earth minerals ended up where they did. Their research reveals how the movement of continents over billions of years helped form - and hide - these valuable deposits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-supercontinents-shaped-rare-deposits">Supercontinents shaped rare deposits</h2>



To explain how this mineral drama began, we need to go back in time. Way back. Earth's surface is always on the move. Over millions of years, massive landmasses shift, collide, and break apart, reshaping the planet in the process.



"Most of us are familiar with <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/supercontinents-101-pannotia-gondwana-and-pangea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pangea</a> - the supercontinent that formed about 300 million years ago and that the current seven continents broke off from to form their present-day arrangement," said Jill VanTongeren, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences.



"But Pangea is only the most recent supercontinent. Throughout Earth history, there have been at least five major <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/australia-north-america-supercontinent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">supercontinent</a> cycles - periods when continents all come together and then spread back out again into different pieces. We think this process happens roughly every 500 million years."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-minerals-begin">Where minerals begin</h2>



As these continents drifted apart, they created rifts - places where the Earth's tectonic plates pulled away from each other. These rifting zones became birthplaces for rare earth element-rich magmas.



"As the rocks are pushed apart, they decompress, causing melting. It's kind of like taking the lid off a soda bottle, and the bubbles rise to the surface," said VanTongeren.



"Those early magmas contain the highest abundance of rare earth and other incompatible elements that then enter the crust, either erupting in volcanic centers or solidifying at depth."



Some of these mineral-rich magmas cooled and stayed near the surface. Others got dragged back down into the mantle or remain buried too deep to mine with today’s technology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-race-for-control-resources">A race for control resources</h2>



Today, the number of economically viable rare earth deposits is limited. China dominates the market, with nearly 70% of global production coming from its Bayan Obo mine. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/crucial-rare-earth-elements-discovered-coal-mines-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S.</a> has a smaller operation at Mountain Pass in California, and a few other countries have scattered deposits.



In the late 1990s and early 2000s, China flooded the market with rare earth minerals, driving down prices and shutting down other global producers. That move reshaped global dependence.



In response, the U.S. government took steps to re-establish a domestic supply. Recent investments from the 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the Department of Defense aim to restart full operations at the Mountain Pass mine, though it could take up to a decade.



There’s also hope that Ukraine's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasa-is-on-a-mission-to-map-americas-mineral-wealth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mineral deposits</a> could help diversify supply. But for now, their potential remains unclear.



"Political boundaries and the desire to obtain access to mineral resources have been the source of economic and military conflicts throughout human history," said VanTongeren. "This is likely to continue as the world shifts toward green energy and a greater dependence on rare earth elements in the future."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hunting-for-mineral-deposits">Hunting for mineral deposits</h2>



VanTongeren’s work tracks these mineral stories from source to surface. Her fieldwork has taken her from a ship near Antarctica to platinum mines in South Africa, Morocco’s mountains, and even a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/huge-lithium-deposit-from-volanic-ash-found-in-pennsylvania/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lithium</a> discovery in Maine.



"It's a fascinating area of study partly because it lies at the intersection of science, economics, and politics," she said. Back on the Tufts campus, this intersection takes a more visual form.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tufts-secret-mineral-vault">Tufts' secret mineral vault</h2>



Tucked into the basement of Lane Hall, the P.T. Barnum Mineral Collection offers a glimpse into the Earth’s treasures. It includes thousands of mineral specimens, some collected by Barnum himself. He was an early supporter of Tufts and a major collector of natural history in the 1800s.



"In the late 1800s, it was considered fashionable for many prominent individuals to accumulate their own natural history collections," noted VanTongeren.



"P.T. Barnum was one of the biggest collectors of the time. His collection of animals, plants, and minerals was among the first gifts to Tufts University and part of an endowment to establish Tufts as one of the major natural history museums in the country."



After a fire destroyed the Barnum Museum in 1975, the mineral collection moved to Lane Hall. Now, it’s about to move again - this time to Bacon Hall, the new home for the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-hunt-for-rare-earth-elements">Global hunt for rare earth elements</h2>



VanTongeren hopes this new home will be more than just a storage site. She wants it to become a space that encourages curiosity and exploration, not just for scientists, but for everyone.



"My pie-in-the-sky vision is to set up a mineral gallery with both a permanent exhibit as well as pop-up exhibitions every semester highlighting minerals important for technology, related to other research at the university, or to global events," said VanTongeren.



"I'd like to help bring back Barnum's vision of bringing the beauty of, and an appreciation for, the natural world to campus."



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Global hunt for rare earth elements is underway

Rare earth elements are everywhere - in your smartphone screen, in the MRI machine at the hospital, in the battery of an electric vehicle, and even in oil and gas refining. They are a key ingredient of modern life. As global tensions rise, so does the competition for access to these minerals. Recent headlines show the stakes: China has halted rare earth exports to the United States, and a deal was just signed to secure U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources. Despite their name, rare earth elements...

According to a new study led by the <a href="https://uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a>, disease in the small airways of the lungs is a potential long-lasting effect of <a href="https://daytonews.com/2022/01/30/omicrons-sister-has-arrived-and-covid-may-be-here-to-stay-earth-com/">Covid-19</a>. This condition has often occurred independently of initial infection severity and its long-term consequences are still unknown.



Early reports indicate that over 50 percent of Covid-19 survivors experience post-acute sequelae commonly known as “long Covid.” Nearly 30 percent of patients who had long Covid – including those with initial mild infections – continue to have respiratory symptoms such as cough and dyspnea for a long time after the acute phase of the disease subsides.



A team of researchers and clinicians from the University of Iowa set out to study such long-term effects by enrolling a cohort of 100 adults with confirmed Covid-19 who had remained symptomatic for over 30 days, along with 106 healthy participants in a control group. The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-19-and-the-flu-can-increase-severe-risks-including-death/">Covid </a>survivors, with a median age of 48, included 67 classified as ambulatory, or not requiring hospitalization, 17 who were hospitalized, and 16 who required intensive care during the acute phase of their infection. 



The scientists performed both inspiratory and expiratory CT in these patients. While inspiratory CT (performed after patients inhale) is the standard imaging technique for observing lung tissue, post-exhalation expiratory scans are sometimes needed in order to assess “air trapping,” a condition in which people are not able to empty their lungs completely when they breathe out. Air trapping is found in many obstructive airway diseases, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).



After performing these clinical exams, the researchers found that air trapping was highly prevalent among the long Covid group.&nbsp;



“For the first time, we’re describing small airways disease in this population of Covid-19 patients with persistent symptoms,” said study senior author Dr. Alejandro Comellas, a professor of Internal Medicine at Iowa. “Something is going on in the distal airways related to either inflammation or fibrosis that is giving us a signal of air trapping.”



Dr. Cornellas and his colleagues found that the mean percentage of total lung area affected by air trapping ranged from 25 percent in the ambulatory group to almost 35 percent in the hospitalized group, compared to only 7.2 percent in the control group. This condition persisted in eight of the nine participants who underwent CT scans over 200 days after their initial diagnosis.&nbsp;



The persistence of respiratory abnormalities raises concerns for permanent airway remodeling and fibrosis after SARS-CoV-2 infection and requires further research in order to understand its causes and devise proper treatments.



“If a portion of patients continues to have small airways disease, then we need to think about the mechanisms behind it,” said Dr. Cornellas. “It could be something related to inflammation that’s reversible, or it may be something related to a scar that is irreversible, and then we need to look at ways to prevent further progression of the disease.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/radiol.212170">Radiology</a>.



---



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

"Long Covid" linked to disease in the lung airways

According to a new study led by the University of...

Floating microplastics have been found to pervade the oceans of the world, including the Arctic Ocean, which is far from the sources of many of these plastic particles. The miniscule fibers and particles are carried by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/invasive-species-can-hitchhike-on-ocean-plastic/">ocean</a> currents and may drift for decades, eventually accumulating in marine areas and even becoming part of the animal species that live there.



Mats Huserbråten, a scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, teamed up with colleagues to determine whether it was possible that European rivers were one of the sources of microplastics that end up in the Arctic Ocean. 



The team developed a model that simulated the release of microplastics from 21 major rivers across northern Europe and the Arctic every day over a ten year period and modeled the movements of the floating plastics over decades. The experts then combined models of ocean currents between 2007 and 2017 with the simulations of floating microplastic movements.&nbsp;



In order to gauge whether their simulations tallied with reality, they compared the results of their model with the distribution of floating microplastics in 121 seawater samples that were collected from 17 sites off the west coast of Norway between May 2017 and August 2018.



The results of the research, published today in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>, predicted that, once released from the rivers, most simulated particles would drift along two main pathways. Approximately 65 percent of the particles drifted along the Norwegian coast towards the Laptev Sea (north of Russia) before being transported into the Arctic Ocean, by means of trans-polar drift pathways. A further 30 percent of the simulated particles would drift along the Norwegian coast before moving southwards via the Fram Strait and then along the east and south coasts of Greenland, before traveling further south along the northeast coast of Canada.



After the simulations had run 20 years of data, there were clear areas in the world’s oceans where floating microplastics had accumulated due to the movements of the oceans’ currents. These areas included the Nordic Seas, the Nansen Basin in the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea and Laptev Sea – located between the Arctic Ocean and north Russia – and Baffin Bay, which is located between Greenland and Canada.&nbsp;



Data from the analysis of seawater samples collected off the west coast of Norway showed a distribution of floating microplastics that was consistent with what the authors’ model predicted would be the situation after 10 years of microplastic release from the 21 major rivers. This indicates that floating microplastics may have been circulating throughout the Arctic for at least the past ten years.



The authors suggest that the circulation of floating microplastics could have serious consequences for the health of Arctic ecosystems. Their noted that their findings highlight the importance of better plastic waste management.



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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

Arctic Ocean microplastics originate in European rivers

Floating microplastics have been found to pervade the oceans of...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.uni-mainz.de/eng/">Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz</a> (JGU) have collaborated with 32 scientific organizations to analyze the effect of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-social-nature-of-ants-will-them-tolerate-climate-change/">climate</a> change on Fagus sylvatica, a type of beech tree found in Europe. They discovered that these magnificent trees are threatened by climate change, especially in southern Europe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



"Beech is one of the most important forest species in Europe from an ecological and socio-economical perspective," wrote the study authors. "Beech played a dominant role in postglacial reforestation, rapidly spreading from its Mediterranean refuges to the central and northern regions of the continent."&nbsp;



"Currently, in the face of rapid climate change, beech may be endangered in its geographical and ecological range. However, the species’ resilience to predicted changes and its ecological plasticity across the distribution range are not well understood."



The scientists gathered 780,000 ring measurements on 5,800 beech trees at 324 sites across Europe, from the north of Scotland to mainland Greece to carry out the analysis. Not only were the researchers able to extrapolate past growth rates, but they were also able to predict future growth by looking at the growth record for the past 60 years.&nbsp;



By comparing two 31-year periods, 1955 to 1985 and 1986 to 2016, the experts determined that as time passed, beech tree growth had declined in almost all regions studied. In southern Europe, beech tree growth had been reduced by 20 percent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Based on this information, study lead author Dr. Edurne Martinez del Castillo predicts that over the next 70 years, we will continue to see a considerable decrease in beech tree growth.&nbsp;



"We expect high productivity declines due to increased drought severity, especially at the southern limits of the beech's distribution range," said Martinez del Castillo.



"Even assuming a relatively optimistic climate change scenario, we will see sharp growth reductions of up to 30 percent in southern Europe between 2020 and 2050 compared to the 1986 to 2016 period."



Climate scientists base those numbers on an increase in warming of one-degree Celsius. However, a pessimistic model that expects a five-degree warming predicts a more significant loss in production. "In southern Europe, losses could even exceed 50 percent," said Martinez del Castillo.



Even in northern, mountainous areas such as Sweden and Norway, where climate change could boost beech growth, this growth will not counter the losses sustained in the rest of Europe.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Moreover, this situation could cause a positive feedback loop because beech forests serve as carbon sinks. Fewer and smaller beech trees will lead to less carbon taken up by the trees and more in the air.&nbsp;



The researchers suggest that we implement forest adaptation efforts to avoid detrimental environmental and economic impacts.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/commsbio/">Communications Biology</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

Beech trees in southern Europe are facing drastic growth declines

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have collaborated with...

A new longitudinal study led by <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> has found that middle-aged obese people die on average up to five years earlier than people with normal weight. In addition, obese or overweight people usually have more comorbidities and spend more years in poor <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/exposure-to-light-during-sleep-can-damage-your-health/">health</a> than thinner individuals, while having to deal with much higher health care costs across older adulthood.



In 2015, the researchers collected medical insurance data from 29,621 people over the age of 65. These individuals were recruited in the 1960s and 1970s for a long-term health study. By December 15 of 2015, approximately 13,000 of the participants had died.&nbsp;



In order to analyze death rates by weight status, participants were split into groups based on their body mass index (BMI), which is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The scientists found that the larger the BMI someone had, the shorter their life expectancy was. For instance, severely obese people – those with BMIs over 30 - lived on average to 77.7, while moderately obese ones lived to 80.8.&nbsp;



Although there was no significant difference in the mean age at death between individuals who were slightly overweight and those who had normal BMI (82.1 and 82.3 years), overweight people generally spent more of their adult years in poor health (7.22 years on average) compared to those with normal weight (6.10), and spent about $12,390 more money on health care than the thinner participants. Severely obese people were found to live more than a decade in ill health (10.2 years) and spend $23,396 in excess health care costs than persons with normal weight.



These findings provide evidence for the impact of obesity on the health and life of individuals, as well as on the cumulative costs to society of “the obesity epidemic.”&nbsp;



“Resources and strategies are urgently needed at the individual and population level to address the growing public health challenge of excess weight in the context of an aging population,” concluded the authors.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790100">JAMA Network Open</a>.



---



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

Excess weight in middle-age shortens life expectancy by years

A new longitudinal study led by Northwestern University has found...

A recent study published in the journal <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/75248">eLife</a> has described a new armored <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/late-cretaceous-dinosaur-was-sluggish-and-nearly-deaf/">dinosaur</a> that lived during the Early Jurassic period on the territory of today’s China. Yuxisaurus kopchicki belongs to a group of dinosaurs called thyreophorans (“shield-bearers”), which include well-known creatures such as the Stegosaurus or the Ankylosaurus.&nbsp;



“My colleagues in China discovered this new armored dinosaur in Yunnan, southwest China, in rocks of Early Jurassic age dating to between 192-174 million years ago,” said study co-author Dr. Paul Barrett, a paleobiologist at the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">National History Museum</a> in London.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“When we put the animal into an evolutionary analysis, it came out close to the common ancestry of stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. This helps to confirm that early armored dinosaurs were living in this region at this time. We know very little about the early history of herbivorous dinosaurs in China, so regionally this is a really important discovery.”



In the past, the highly diverse thyreophoran dinosaurs have largely been associated with rocks dating from the Late Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods (163 to 66 million years ago). Their fossils were mainly found in North America and Europe, making scientists assume that they lived mostly in the northern hemisphere. However, new discoveries of fossils in Morocco, Venezuela, and South Africa have shown that the spatial distribution of this group was much wider than initially thought.



“There are early armored dinosaurs starting to turn up more in the south,” explained Dr. Barrett. “There are two animals from about 200 million years ago from Venezuela and South Africa, that don't have armor, but might be the earliest members of the group, showing what they looked like before they evolved armor.”



“If these animals were in the group, then it is likely the armored dinosaurs originated in the southern continents, but this idea is controversial. If they aren't included in the group, then the origins are anchored in the northern hemisphere. At the moment, we've no way to choose between these alternatives.”



Yuxisaurus kopchicki has a stockier build and a distinctive arrangement of the armored plates that covered its back compared to other known early armored dinosaurs. Although it was primarily adapted for walking on four legs, the analysis of the fossils indicated that it was also able to walk on two legs. Its discovery sheds more light on the morphological diversity of the early thyreophorans and confirms their wide geographical spread.



Image Credit: ©Yu Chen



---



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

Dinosaur discovered in China had spiked armor

A recent study published in the journal eLife has described...

In a new study from <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/">CU Boulder</a>, researchers have compared the frequency and intensity of fires in the United States, including 28,000 fires from 1984 to 2018. The intensity of the fires was gauged by using a combination of satellite photos and federal fire records.&nbsp;



The experts found that there were more fires in the period from 2005 to 2018 than in the twenty years before. The study revealed that fire frequency had doubled in the western and eastern part of the US, and quadrupled in the Great Plains.&nbsp;



The results also showed that fires in the United States grew larger and ignited more frequently in the 2000s compared to previous years.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Due to climate change, fires are expected to increase and grow in intensity into the future. Their impacts are also likely to increase.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Projected changes in climate, fuel and ignitions suggest that we’ll see more and larger fires in the future. Our analyses show that those changes are already happening,” said study lead author Virginia Iglesias, a research scientist with CU Boulder’s <a href="https://earthlab.colorado.edu/">Earth Lab</a>.



"Anthropogenic effects are likely to have influenced fire patterns across the country not only indirectly through regional aridification, but also in a direct manner," wrote the study authors. "During the last 21 years, for example, human ignitions caused 84 percent of all fires in CONUS, representing approximately 40,000 fires per year."



"Concurrent ignition and dry fuels are prerequisites for burning. By introducing ignitions into dry landscapes, humans have tripled the length of the fire season and expanded the size of fire-prone areas. These ignitions are notoriously important in regions with sufficient dry fuel to support fires but where lightning concurrent with dry fuel is rare, such as large portions of the Great Plains and eastern United States."



The research also shows that the ecology of fire prone areas is already changing. Forests themselves are being altered by fires as well as by changes in precipitation.&nbsp;



“More and larger co-occurring fires are already altering vegetation composition and structure, snowpack, and water supply to our communities,” explained Iglesias. “This trend is challenging fire-suppression efforts and threatening the lives, health, and homes of millions of Americans.”



The researchers suggest that to properly control fires, their changing nature and the resources they impact must be taken into account.&nbsp;



“These convergent trends, more large fires plus intensifying development, mean that the worst fire disasters are still to come,” said study co-author William Travis.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</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

The worst fire disasters are "still to come" in the United States

In a new study from CU Boulder, researchers have compared...

In a new study from <a href="https://aru.ac.uk/">Anglia Ruskin University</a> (ARU), scientists have found that two subspecies of adult howler monkeys implement play when faced with conflict within their groups.&nbsp;



The study was focused on the Mexican howler, Alouatta palliata mexicana, and the golden-mantled howler, Alouatta palliata palliata. The experts investigated which age groups engaged in play and the amount of time the monkeys spent playing.&nbsp;



The researchers discovered that adult howler monkeys spend more time playing with other adults than with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marmots-may-hold-the-key-to-longevity/">juveniles</a>, and females spend more time playing than males.&nbsp;



One of the most important observations was that howler monkeys played more when foraging fruit, a nutritious, delicious delicacy for these mostly leaf-eating primates. Since this food is highly valued, it creates competition, particularly among adults.&nbsp;



Many primates have apparent social hierarchies and ease group tension through practices like social grooming. However, these attributes don't apply to the howler monkeys studied.&nbsp;



These cultural elements, combined with the observation that the monkeys increased play in situations where there was more competition between specific subsets of the group, lead the researchers to believe that howler monkeys use play to alleviate social tension and avoid conflict.&nbsp;



Increased competition between subsets includes competition between adults and competition between females.&nbsp;



"One theory for the positive effect of fruit consumption on play is that a fruit-based diet simply provides the howler monkeys with more energy compared to their typical diet of leaves," explained study co-author Dr. Jacob Dunn, an associate professor in Evolutionary Biology at ARU.



"We should have observed adults engaging in more play with all members of the group during fruit foraging, rather than just with other adults. Because juveniles do not pose a threat or provide competition at fruit trees, we believe that play amongst adults is a mechanism for solving conflicts within the group, in a similar way that grooming is used by some other primate species."



The fact that females spend more time playing than males is more evidence that play is used to avoid conflict.



"This is striking, as females would be more vulnerable to food competition than males," said Dunn. "Howler monkeys are a particularly energy-conservative species, and we would have assumed females would have played less, as they are also constrained by the energy requirements of reproduction."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/animal-behaviour">Animal Behaviour</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

Howler monkeys get playful to ease group tension

In a new study from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), scientists...

A large-scale, randomized trial involving 21,000 participants has recently concluded after 3.6 years of data collection. Led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/research/departments/preventive-medicine/division-of-preventive-medicine">Division of Preventive Medicine</a>&nbsp;at <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/">Brigham and Women’s Hospital</a>, the trial was designed to test the roles of a cocoa flavanol supplement and a multivitamin in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ants-can-detect-cancer-through-smell/">cancer</a>.&nbsp;



Flavanols are phytonutrients found in a range of fruits and nuts, and cocoa flavanol is found specifically in cocoa beans. Previous studies have identified potential benefits of cocoa flavanol to metabolic, neurological and cardiovascular health in humans. However, the amounts required in order to gain such benefits are more than the average person ingests in the form of cocoa drinks or chocolate.&nbsp;



“Previous studies have suggested health benefits of flavanols - compounds in several plant-based foods including cocoa, tea, grapes, and berries,” said Dr. <a href="https://prevmed.bwh.harvard.edu/joann-e-manson-md-dph/">JoAnn Manson</a>. “COSMOS was not a chocolate trial - rather, it’s a rigorous trial of a cocoa extract supplement that contains levels of cocoa flavanols that a person could never realistically consume from chocolate without adding excessive calories, fat, and sugar to their diet.”&nbsp;



The COSMOS trial gave researchers a chance to test whether taking a cocoa flavanol supplement might lead to reductions in clinical cardiovascular events, which they defined as heart attacks, strokes, coronary revascularization, cardiovascular death, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery surgery, and unstable angina. At the same time, the experts also assessed whether the risk of cancer was affected by taking the supplement. The trial was additionally designed to test the effect of a common multivitamin supplement in preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease.&nbsp;



The 21,000 participants were thus divided randomly into four groups; those who took 500 mg capsules of cocoa flavanol (donated by Mars Edge), those who took the multivitamin tablets (donated by GSK Consumer Healthcare), those who took both and those who took neither. Their health was monitored for the following 3.6 years.



The results showed that cocoa flavanols reduced the total incidence of cardiovascular events (the study’s primary endpoint) by 10 percent, but that this was not statistically significant. However, more detailed analyses of the occurrences of individual events showed support for a potential benefit of cocoa flavanols. For example, those receiving the cocoa flavanol capsules had a significant 27 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease (the study’s secondary endpoint).&nbsp;



In addition, when the study team excluded data from participants who did not take their capsules regularly, the analysis revealed a stronger effect, namely a 15 percent reduction in total cardiovascular events and a 39 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease. Further analysis of the relationship between cocoa flavanol supplementation and major cardiovascular events only (heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths), also showed that this was significantly reduced.&nbsp;



“When we look at the totality of evidence for both the primary and secondary cardiovascular endpoints in COSMOS, we see promising signals that a cocoa flavanol supplement may reduce important cardiovascular events, including death from cardiovascular disease,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://prevmed.bwh.harvard.edu/howard-d-sesso-scd-mph/">Howard Sesso</a>,&nbsp;first author on both publications. “These findings merit further investigation to better understand the effects of cocoa flavanols on cardiovascular health.”



The daily multivitamin had no significant effect on total or individual cardiovascular events and, although it was associated with improved levels of several nutritional biomarkers, it had no effect on the risk of cancer either. Cocoa flavanols also had no significant effect on total invasive cancer, although the experts note that 3.6 years is probably too short a time span in which to detect the impacts of these supplements on the development of cancer. They said that continuing to follow COSMOS participants may help to clarify any longer-term effects on cancer and death.



“Although our study suggests intriguing signals for cardiovascular protection with cocoa flavanols, any health benefits due to taking these supplements will need confirmation in a future trial,” said Manson.



“Our message for consumers is to eat a healthy, balanced diet, rich in natural food sources of flavanols, and to stay tuned as we further evaluate other important health outcomes in COSMOS," said Sesso.



The research was part of the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS). The results are published today in two separate papers in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn">The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</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

Cocoa beans reduce the risk of fatal cardiovascular events

A large-scale, randomized trial involving 21,000 participants has recently concluded...

In a new study from the <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/">University of Liverpool</a>, experts set out to determine how ants will respond to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-is-not-the-only-thing-changing-the-behavior-of-birds/">climate</a> change. According to the researchers, the answer is complicated. Overall, they found that the social nature of ants will enable them to adapt to climate change in ways that will not be possible for solitary organisms.



"Ants are one of the most dominant terrestrial organisms worldwide. They are hugely abundant, both in terms of sheer numbers and biomass, on every continent except Antarctica and are deeply embedded within a diversity of ecological networks and processes," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"Ants are also eusocial and colonial organisms - their life cycle is built on the labor of sterile worker ants who support a small number of reproductive individuals. Given the climatic changes that our planet faces, we need to understand how various important taxonomic groups will respond; this includes the ants."



The researchers reviewed existing studies on ants and their response to temperature changes. The results of the analysis suggest that some populations should have no trouble adapting to a warming climate.&nbsp;



For example, ants that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fungus-farming-ants-work-hard-to-maintain-healthy-gardens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nest underground</a> will be less vulnerable to rising temperatures. These groups will have the option to relocate to lower, cooler areas. Ants in the world's more temperate regions will also be able to tolerate - and possibly even benefit from - higher temperatures. 



“How climate change affects ant populations and the wider impact this will have on the ecosystem is not particularly well understood. This study sheds new light on this issue," said lead author Professor Kate Parr.&nbsp;



"Ants are the most dominant insect in almost all ecosystems and play key roles in many ecosystem processes so any changes to their abundance and loss of some species will therefore have cascading consequences through the ecosystem.”



“Our research highlights those species and regions at risk from climate change but also those that may be capable of adapting to it."



According to Professor Parr, further research is needed to better understand how ants respond to altered precipitation, carbon dioxide or ultraviolet radiation levels.&nbsp;



"Across the globe, ants are considered key contributors to many ecosystem processes, including seed dispersal, pest control, and soil bioturbation, and are thought to structure invertebrate communities via predation and competition," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"In consequence, changes to ant abundance and occurrence patterns due to ongoing climate change are likely to have significant implications for the structure, integrity, and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</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

The social nature of ants will help them tolerate climate change

In a new study from the University of Liverpool, experts...

A climate warming event 56 million years ago resulted from the release of greenhouse gases, most likely from a volcanic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tonga-eruption-will-not-contribute-much-to-global-cooling/">eruption</a>. The warming event, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), also triggered ocean acidification. A new study shows that just before the PETM there was a short, causal burst in atmospheric CO2, with carbon levels similar to ours today.&nbsp;



“The PETM is an important geologic climate event because it is one of best comparisons to current climate change and can help inform us how the Earth System will respond to current and future warming,” explained study lead author Dr. Tali Babila, a postdoctoral research associate at the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a>.



To study the historic levels of atmospheric carbon, the scientists looked to the shells of microscopic sea creatures called foraminifera. First. foraminifera were collected in sediment core drillings off the eastern United States. Using a laser, the fossilized shells were vaporized and the pH levels were measured, thus revealing the extent of acid in the ocean and carbon in the atmosphere.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This had previously been suggested as a possible trigger for the large scale global warming that followed but scientists lacked a direct measure of carbon dioxide until this study,” explained Dr. Babila, “Usually, this type of analysis would require thousands of fossils which would not have been possible because of the scarcity of samples. Our novel application of the laser sampling technique is a major geoscience advancement bringing new and incredible detail never before seen in Earth’s past."



The carbon levels revealed a portrait of an Earth very similar to ours now in terms of greenhouse gases and global warming. Seeing this change in the past may allow us to plan better for the future.&nbsp;



“Whilst natural geological processes such as rock weathering and carbon burial eventually meant Earth eventually recovered from the PETM, it took hundreds of thousands of years," said Dr. Babila. "So this is further proof that urgent action is needed today to rapidly cut the amount of carbon being release into the atmosphere to avoid long-lasting effects.”



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

Fossil shells reveal details of historic climate warming

A climate warming event 56 million years ago resulted from...

Savannas cover about a fifth of the Earth’s surface, and have been increasingly targeted for their potential to capture carbon. This is because projections have shown that the world’s savannas capture 280 tons of carbon per hectare. Despite having fewer trees, this projection is the same amount of carbon stored in dense tropical forests.&nbsp;



One proposed strategy to address climate change is to increase savanna tree cover by planting new trees or by suppressing fires. This has been considered a viable method to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide.&nbsp;



A new <a href="https://www.yale.edu/">Yale</a>-led study of African savannas suggests that this approach is far less effective than previously estimated.



“Increasing tree cover in savannas, whether via afforestation or fire suppression, is unlikely to yield the substantial gains in ecosystem carbon storage that have been advertised,” said study senior author Carla Staver, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.



Tropical savannas account for more than half of the planet's fire-related carbon emissions. This prompted researchers to question the projected benefits of afforestation (introducing new trees to an area that has previously not been forested).&nbsp;



The research team used data from an experiment in South Africa, where for 68 years, scientists have studied how fire management affects the landscape. This allowed the team to evaluate whether increased tree cover from fire suppression increases carbon sequestration.



To measure the amount of carbon stored in savannas, researchers used measurements of tree and grass biomass taken from the South African experiment. This was combined with remote sensing techniques and analysis of soil samples.



The results showed that frequently burned savannas store carbon in roots and soil more than previously estimated. Storing carbon in roots and soil occurred even when burns were prescribed annually. This highlights the importance and value of natural savannas in the fight against climate change.&nbsp;



However, it was found that suppressing fire to increase tree cover did not correlate with a consistent increase in carbon storage. For example, a 78 percent increase in tree cover only resulted in 35 percent more carbon overall.&nbsp;



This is equal to total gains of 23 tons of carbon per hectare. While this sounds like a big number, it is less than 10 percent of previous estimates.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Previous models relied on sparse data to promise a very large carbon storage benefit to increasing tree cover in savannas,” said Professor Staver. “But our direct measures show that these were not good assumptions.”



To understand how this impacts global carbon storage, researchers emphasized that this study should be replicated around the world. More data is needed to determine if other savanna sites respond in the same way.&nbsp;



“But the findings are substantial,” said Professor Staver. “We need to recalibrate our assessments of the role savannas play in the global carbon cycle. And we should not be relying on afforestation to save us from accelerating human-driven carbon emissions.”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.&nbsp;



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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

Savanna tree cover may not be a reliable climate strategy

Savannas cover about a fifth of the Earth’s surface, and...

Although heavy road traffic is most often associated with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/even-low-level-air-pollution-is-dangerous-for-health/">air pollution</a>, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/home/">University of Toronto Scarborough</a> has found that it is also a major contributor to water pollution. Chemicals commonly used in vehicle fluids, tires, and paints were found to be much higher in rivers located nearby roads with heavy traffic.



“We found a strong relationship between traffic and the concentration of these chemicals,” said study lead author&nbsp;Tife Awonaike, a recent PhD graduate in Physical and Environmental Sciences. “These roads also appear to be a major source of a surprisingly wide array of contaminants.”



The researchers collected a series of samples from Mimico Creek and Little Rouge Creek and found 35 different contaminants from chemicals used in oils, lubricants, windshield de-icing fluids, tires, paints, coatings, and vehicle furniture. After being emitted onto road surfaces, they get washed into nearby streams when it rains, most often together with road dust.



Such contaminants are highly damaging for aquatic ecosystems. For instance, organophosphate esters (commonly added to materials as flame retardants) or triphenyl phosphate (a kind of organophosphate used in electronic equipment, vehicle interiors, and upholstery) have been linked to neurotoxicity in fish.



“Urban waters in general are not in good shape. They’re really a soup of a whole slew of contaminants,” said study co-author Frank Wania, an environmental chemist at the University of Toronto Scarborough. “Let’s put it this way — places like the Mimico Creek are not very healthy bodies of water, and it would be very difficult for a healthy aquatic ecosystem to exist there.” &nbsp;



According to Professor Wania and his colleagues, in order to solve these problems, switching to electric vehicles will not be enough. Although some of the contaminants are related to burning fossil fuels, others found in paints, tire particles, coatings, or de-icing fluids are also used in electric vehicles.



These chemicals used to manufacture vehicles should be controlled by regulatory agencies and governments. Regular street sweeping could also help by collecting road dust before it gets flushed away in the nearby waters. Moreover, on an individual level, there are some activities that could help too.



“Regular maintenance of your vehicle is important. You can make sure to fix a leaky car or flaking paint chips,” said Dr. Awonaike. “You can also raise awareness about this issue. We don’t want these contaminants ending up in our water where they can do quite a bit of damage to aquatic ecosystems.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5c0e">Environmental Research Letters</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

Road traffic is a major source of water pollution

Although heavy road traffic is most often associated with air...

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

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

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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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



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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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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