Fossil footprints from the ancient Carboniferous Period have caused a stir among paleontologists worldwide. These tracks suggest reptiles roamed Earth far earlier than anyone suspected. 



Researchers uncovered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-discovery-pushes-back-reptile-evolution-by-40-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reptile</a>-like footprints in northern Victoria, Australia, and matched them to the era that started around 359 million years ago.



According to Professor John Long from <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flinders University</a>, these imprints challenge the traditional view of reptile evolution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-footprints-of-reptile-ancestors">Footprints of reptile ancestors</h2>



According to the experts, the tracks suggest that these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-reptiles-are-more-colorful-in-open-habitats/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> may have appeared roughly 350 million years ago. That date pushes them back to 40 million years earlier than what was previously recorded.



One set of partial prints had distinct claw marks, hinting that these creatures were true reptiles rather than amphibians. Another set showed a smaller front foot and a larger hind foot, which is typical of land-walking vertebrates.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reptile-origins-in-gondwana">Reptile origins in Gondwana</h2>



Scientists have long studied the southern supercontinent <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/41714/chapter-abstract/353976691?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gondwana</a>, where many early tetrapods left behind their skeletons and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/reptiles-provide-new-clues-about-the-diets-of-extinct-animals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tracks</a>. This find in Victoria adds weight to the idea that pivotal evolutionary steps began in these territories.



At the time, Australia formed a central piece of this landmass. Warmer climates may have played a role in encouraging new adaptations among reptile forerunners.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-timeline-of-reptile-evolution">New timeline of reptile evolution</h2>



Paleontologists analyze footprints to piece together how ancient <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/largest-ever-marine-reptile-ichthyotitan-severnensis-discovered-by-11-year-old-girl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> moved. A set of clawed toes can reveal whether a creature was an amphibian or a reptile.



“This pushes back the likely origin of crown-group amniotes by at least 35-40 million years,” said Professor John Long. The research highlights how vital footprints can be for revealing new timelines.



Reptiles are part of the <a href="https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/tetrapods/amniota.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amniote</a> group, which includes birds and mammals. The discovery of claw marks in these fossil tracks implies full independence from watery environments, which is a characteristic of reptiles.



Many scientists once assumed that amniotes emerged in the Northern Hemisphere. These footprints raise questions about when and where some of the earliest reptiles spread across ancient landscapes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shifting-landscapes-and-animal-diversity">Shifting landscapes and animal diversity</h2>



Researchers plan to explore other parts of Victoria for more trace fossils that could fill gaps in the record. They hope future finds will clarify how these animals became adapted for dry land.



Unearthing additional trackways may add to our understanding of how reptiles branched off from amphibians. Each new print can reveal details about posture, movement, and survival tactics.



The Carboniferous Period stretched from about 359 million to 299 million years ago. It featured vast swampy forests, giant insects, and a rise in atmospheric oxygen levels.



Land masses were arranged differently than they are today. Some scientists believe shifting coastlines created niches that spurred new adaptations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-habitats-of-reptile-ancestors">Habitats of reptile ancestors</h2>



Some reptile ancestors likely ventured onto stable ground while others stayed near water. Traces of this transition remain scarce, so every fossil footprint matters.



Even a single impression can show scientists how early amniotes balanced their weight or held their tails. The shape, depth, and spacing can reveal clues about speed or range of motion.



A single fossil slab from Victoria has opened up this debate about reptile origins. Researchers suggest it is significant to re-check older formations in case more reptile evidence has been overlooked.



Professor Long and his team emphasize the need for more fieldwork to confirm whether reptiles appeared across multiple regions at around the same time. They believe this discovery highlights how a single trackway can reshape our ideas about early amniotes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seeking-more-reptile-footprints">Seeking more reptile footprints</h2>



Future excavations may uncover more footprints from the early stages of reptile evolution. That could bring clarity to how quickly these animals adapted to life away from water.



Technological advancements like high-resolution scans can make it easier to analyze the details of each print. Insights like these help paleontologists reconstruct entire ecosystems from a few traces left in stone.



Footprint analysis often involves laser scanning to capture 3D shapes. These scans can highlight fine ridges that point to muscle strength or toe flexibility.



Traces of skin patterns, though rare, can also indicate the texture of scales. Each layer of mud or sand holds hints about local conditions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-early-land-adaptation-of-reptiles">Early land adaptation of reptiles </h2>



Before amniotes, vertebrates such as fish and amphibians still needed water for reproduction. Over time, eggs with protective membranes evolved and these allowed animals such as reptiles to venture inland.



That transition set the stage for reptiles, birds, and mammals to diversify into countless forms. These footprints mark a link in that long chain.



Researchers compare new prints to known trackways from synapsids and early amphibians. Key distinctions include toe curvature and the presence of claws.



Synapsids, which later led to mammals, often left broader footprints with different digit spacing. Reptile-like tracks, on the other hand, typically show sharper claw impressions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ancient-footprints-of-reptile-ancestors">Ancient footprints of reptile ancestors</h2>



These ancient footprints connect modern wildlife to ancestors that once explored muddy banks. Each imprint brings a sense of wonder about how life took shape on land.



Understanding those steps may also shed light on broader evolutionary processes. After all, reptile success paved the way for the future rise of dinosaurs and beyond.



Scientists emphasize that no single discovery stands alone. Footprints, bones, and environmental data must all be pieced together to form a coherent story.



Though incomplete, this record keeps expanding thanks to fresh finds in unexpected places. Each new track offers a glimpse into a time of rapid evolutionary change.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08884-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature</a>.



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Reptile ancestors appeared 40 million years earlier than we thought

Fossil footprints from the ancient Carboniferous Period have caused a stir among paleontologists worldwide. These tracks suggest reptiles roamed Earth far earlier than anyone suspected. Researchers uncovered reptile-like footprints in northern Victoria, Australia, and matched them to the era that started around 359 million years ago. According to Professor John Long from Flinders University, these imprints challenge the traditional view of reptile evolution. Footprints of reptile ancestors According to the experts, the tracks suggest that these animals may have appeared roughly 350 million years ago. That date...

New Caledonian crows are unusual among birds in that they use tools to extricate food items from holes in the stems of trees or from cracks in the bark. The crows forage in this way using two different types of stick tools – a straight twig or leaf stalk that can be collected from the ground, or a hooked stick that is fashioned specifically by the crow from stems of a particular species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-traits-are-shaped-by-climate-and-soil-conditions/">plant</a>.&nbsp;



When crows forage using a hooked stick tool, they are up to ten times more efficient at securing food. This indicates that the stick tools are an important part of the foraging strategy and clearly help crows to access food successfully. The awkward part is that a crow cannot hold its stick tool in its beak while at the same time eating a food item it has just extracted; while eating, the bird has to place its tool somewhere other than in its beak.



In previous research on NC crows, scientists from the School of Biology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland found that crows secure their tools using one of two "safekeeping" strategies while they eat their food – they either hold the tool trapped underfoot, or they temporarily insert the tool into a nearby hole or behind bark. If the tool is not securely stored there is a risk that it falls to the ground and has to be retrieved, or that another crow steals the tool for its own use.



Researchers from the University of St Andrews and the <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a> in Konstanz, Germany, have now investigated whether NC crows take better care of their favorite tools by storing them more securely when not in use. Their results were published recently in the journal eLife.



The study involved two main experiments using a large sample of wild-caught, temporarily captive New Caledonian crows that were presented with food inserted into holes drilled in a piece of wooden log. In the first experiment they investigated whether crows prefer one tool type over the other, and in the second they assessed whether crows take better care of their preferred tools by storing them carefully between periods of use.&nbsp;



When offered a choice of tools, either hooked sticks or straight sticks, the crows clearly preferred the hooked sticks. While straight sticks may be picked up commonly from the leaf litter below the trees, hooked stick tools have to be fashioned by the crows and demand time and energy investment. In addition, the crows select the stems of a particular plant, Desmanthus virgatus, from which to craft the hooked tools. Since this plant is not very common, wild crows have to invest energy in searching for these specific plants as well.&nbsp;



“Hooked tools are not only more costly to obtain, but they are also much more efficient,” explained team leader, Christian Rutz from the University of St Andrews. “Depending on the foraging task, crows can extract prey with these tools up to ten times faster than with bog-standard non-hooked tools.”



Assuming that the crows would ‘value’ the hooked tools because of their effectiveness and the investment required to produce them, the researchers then used video footage to monitor how crows stored their tools after use.&nbsp;



“Many of us will fuss about a brand-new phone, making sure it does not get scratched, dropped or lost. But we may handle an old phone with a cracked screen quite carelessly,” said lead author Barbara Klump, who is now based at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany.



The videos were analyzed to determine whether crows stored their tools securely (trapped under a foot or placed in a hole), or whether they left them lying around on top of the log or on the ground. The results showed that the crows were significantly more likely to keep their tools safe after foraging with a hooked stick. Furthermore, they used the safest option (a hole) to store a hooked stick more frequently than to store a straight stick.&nbsp;



“It was exciting to see that crows are just that bit more careful with tools that are more efficient and more costly to replace. This suggests that they have some conception of the relative ‘value’ of different tool types,” noted study co-author James St Clair.



This is the first study to investigate how animals handle and store tools of different kinds, providing an innovative way to measure how much they value these objects. The method can be applied using untrained subjects and it allows for behavioral comparisons between tool-using animals from different taxonomic groups.&nbsp;



Image Credit: James St Clair



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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

Crows look after their valuable tools more carefully

New Caledonian crows are unusual among birds in that they...

NASA has sent a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/webb-will-completely-change-how-we-view-the-universe/">spacecraft</a>, the Parker Solar Probe to the outer reaches of the sun’s atmosphere - the corona - where it spent five hours. This is the first time a spacecraft has come so close to the sun.&nbsp;



Study first author Justin C. Kasper is the deputy chief technology officer at BWX Technologies and a professor in the Michigan Institute for Research in Astrophysics at the University of Michigan.



"This marks the achievement of the primary objective of the Parker mission and a new era for understanding the physics of the corona," said Kasper. "The concept of sending spacecraft into the magnetized atmosphere of the sun - sufficiently close that the magnetic energy is greater than both ion and electron kinetic and thermal energy - predated NASA itself,"



In 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe in an effort to gain better understanding of the sun, including its gravitational and magnetic forces that control solar winds.&nbsp;



"We have been observing the sun and its corona for decades, and we know there is interesting physics going on there to heat and accelerate the solar wind plasma. Still, we cannot tell precisely what that physics is," said Nour E. Raouafi of the <a href="https://www.jhuapl.edu/">Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</a> (JHU/APL).



"With Parker Solar Probe now flying into the magnetically-dominated corona, we will get the long-awaited insights into the inner workings of this mysterious region."



Gary Zank, a co-investigator on the probe’s Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument said that it's hard to overstate the significance of both the event and the observations made by Parker Solar Probe.&nbsp;



"For over 50 years, since the dawn of the space age, the heliospheric community has grappled with the unanswered problem of how the solar corona is heated to well over a million degrees to drive the solar wind," said Zank.



"The first measurements of the sub-Alfvénic solar wind may represent the most major step forward in understanding the physics behind the acceleration of the solar wind since the formative model by Parker. This event is what many heliophysicists have dreamed about for most of their careers!"



The results were presented in a press conference at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021 and published in the journal <a href="https://prl.aps.org/">Physical Review Letters</a>.&nbsp;



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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

For the very first time, a spacecraft has "touched" the sun

NASA has sent a spacecraft, the Parker Solar Probe to...

Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease, causing lung infections and skin lesions in humans and livestock. However, new research led by <a href="https://hms.harvard.edu/">Harvard Medical School</a> has found that a toxin from the microbe causing anthrax can efficiently block <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-does-our-breathing-rate-increase-when-we-feel-pain/">pain</a> in mice. Building on this finding, scientists engineered an anthrax protein vehicle that could deliver different types of treatments into pain receptors and modulate nerve-cell function.



“This molecular platform of using a bacterial toxin to deliver substances into neurons and modulate their function represents a new way to target pain-mediating neurons," said study senior investigator Isaac Chiu, an associate professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School.



These findings can help design therapies that selectively target pain-sensitive fibers without the widespread systemic effects of opioids, and their associated addiction and health hazards.&nbsp;



"There's still a great clinical need for developing non-opioid pain therapies that are not addictive but that are effective in silencing pain," explained study first author Nicole Yang, a research fellow in Immunology in Professor Chiu’s lab. "Our experiments show that one strategy, at least experimentally, could be to specifically target pain neurons using this bacterial toxin."&nbsp;



Injecting the anthrax toxin into the lower spine of mice produced potent pain-blocking effects, preventing the animals from being negatively affected by mechanical or thermal stimulations. Importantly, mice’s vital signs such as heart rate, body temperature, and motor coordination remained intact, showing that this new pain-controlling technique was highly selective and precise in blocking pain, without the widespread systemic effects characterizing opioid use.



Since the anthrax toxin alleviated symptoms of pain caused by inflammation or nerve cell damage seen in the aftermath of traumatic injury and certain viral infections, while maintaining the treated nerve cells physiologically intact, it promises to be an excellent medicine that could be widely used in the near future.&nbsp;



"Bringing a bacterial therapeutic to treat pain raises the question 'Can we mine the natural world and the microbial world for analgesics?'" Professor Chiu said. "Doing so can increase the range and diversity of the types of substances we look to in search for solutions."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00973-8">Nature Neuroscience</a>.&nbsp;&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

Study identifies an anthrax toxin that can alleviate pain

Anthrax is an infectious bacterial disease, causing lung infections and...

Abstract,Scientific,Background,-,Glowing,Planet,Earth,In,Space,,Solar

By using telescope observations and archival data, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.u-bordeaux.com/">University of Bordeaux</a> has recently found more than 70 free-floating planets – astronomical bodies wandering through <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/webb-will-completely-change-how-we-view-the-universe/">space</a> without orbiting a parent star – in a nearby region of the Milky Way. This is the largest sample of such planets found in a single group and it nearly doubles the overall number of this type of planets known to scientists.



These free-floating planets with sizes close to that of Jupiter are located in the Upper Scorpius OB stellar association, an area of the Milky Way which is 420 light-years away from the Earth. This stellar association contains several of the most famous nebulae, such as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, the Pipe Nebula, the Coalsack, and Barnard 68.



Free-floating planets have mostly been discovered through microlensing surveys, in which astronomers look for brief chance alignments between exoplanets and background stars. However, since microlensing events happen only once, follow-up observations are impossible.



The new planets were discovered through a different method. Since million years after their formation, they are still hot enough to glow, the scientists detected them by using highly sensitive cameras on the world’s largest and most performant telescopes.



“We measured the tiny motions, the colors and luminosities of tens of millions of sources in a large area of the sky,” explained study lead author Núria Miret-Roig, an astrophysicist at the University of Bordeaux. “These measurements allowed us to securely identify the faintest objects in this region.”&nbsp;



“The treasure trove available in the <a href="https://noirlab.edu/public/projects/astrodataarchive/">NOIRLab Astro Data Archive</a> has been fundamental to this study,” added project leader Hervé Bouy, an astronomer at the same university. “We needed very deep and wide-field images in both the optical and near-infrared, spanning a long time baseline. So the <a href="https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/fr/">Dark Energy Camera and NEWFIRM</a> were very appealing for our project because they are among the most sensitive wide-field cameras in the world.”



The researchers believe that the free-floating planets may have been ejected from their parent system millions of years ago. If this hypothesis is correct, there could be even more Earth-sized free-floating planets waiting to be discovered. “The free-floating Jupiter-mass planets are the most difficult to eject, meaning that there might even be more free-floating Earth-mass planets wandering the galaxy,” said Miret-Roig.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01513-x">Nature Astronomy</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

Dozens of free-floating planets found in the Milky Way

By using telescope observations and archival data, a research team...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.wwf.org.nz/">World Wildlife Fund for Nature New Zealand</a> has found evidence that leopard seals eat ghost sharks. This is the first recorded example of a seal eating a shark, making seals part of a small and exclusive club of marine predators that do so.



Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonis) are major predators known to eat a large variety of animals, including crustaceans, birds, fishes, and other pinnipeds, such as seals, sea lions, and walruses. However, this is the first time the seals were known to feed upon chondrichthyans, or fish with cartilaginous skeletons.



“From both observations of predations and scats, three chondrichthyan species or genus were identified; elephantfish (Callorhinchus milii), ghost sharks (Hydrolagus&nbsp;spp.) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias),” write the study authors.&nbsp;



“While this is the first published record of leopard seals feeding on chondrichthyans, the relatively high frequency of occurrence within our NZ records, and that certain individuals appeared to target this type of prey, indicates that these species could constitute a substantial, or important, part of the diet for some leopard seals in this region.”



“We were blown away to find that sharks were on the menu,” said study lead author Krista Van der Linde. “But then we also found elephant fish and ghost sharks were also being hunted by the leopard seals. These fish have large spines to help protect them from predators and sure enough there were wounds on the leopard seals, sometimes even big spines embedded in their faces. One leopard seal had at least 14 such wounds.”



Van der Linde and her colleagues believe that leopard seals are opportunistic predators, arriving from Antarctica to New Zealand in order to find a more varied diet and to feast “on whatever they can get their jaws on.” It is not yet clear whether eating sharks is a new behavior, caused by changed patterns of migration, or if it was a regular part of these seals’ diet since a long time ago.&nbsp;



Predators feeding on other predators remains though a peculiar and quite rare phenomenon. Until recently, scientists thought that only orcas eat sharks. "To know there is another marine mammal also munching on sharks, well, that has implications for the whole food web and our understanding of how it all is interlinked," Van Der Linde said.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.795358/full">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



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

Leopard seals feed on sharks in New Zealand

New research led by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02754-9/fulltext">The Lancet</a> has found that the protection offered by the Oxford-Astra Zeneca <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-is-surging-but-may-cause-less-severe-illness/">Covid-19</a> vaccine starts waning considerably three months after receiving the second dose. These findings – drawn from the analysis of large datasets from Scotland and Brazil – suggest that booster doses are needed to help maintain protection against severe disease in people vaccinated with Oxford-Astra Zeneca.



&nbsp;“Our analyses of national datasets from both Scotland and Brazil suggest that there is considerable waning of effectiveness for the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, with protection against severe Covid-19 falling over time,” reported study lead author Vittal Katikireddi, a professor of Public Health at the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/">University of Glasgow</a>.&nbsp;



“We studied two million people in Scotland and over 42 million people in Brazil who had received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. More than four months after receiving a second dose, the risk of experiencing either a Covid-19 hospitalization or death was approximately five times greater than the period of maximum vaccine protection after accounting for changes in infection rates and a range of other factors.”



Since both Scotland and Brazil had a similar interval between vaccine doses (12 weeks) and similar initial prioritization of who was vaccinated (healthcare workers and people at high risk of developing severe illness), the scientists have been able to reliably compare the findings. In both countries, the decline in effectiveness began to appear three months after the second dose, with the risk of hospitalization and death increasing threefold before four months and fivefold soon after.



“Vaccines have been a key tool in fighting the pandemic, but waning in their effectiveness has been a concern for a while,” said study co-author Aziz Sheikh, the director of University of Edinburgh’s <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher">Usher Institute</a>.&nbsp;



“By identifying when waning first starts to occur in the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine, it should be possible for governments to design booster programs that can ensure maximum protection is maintained.”



“If eligible for a booster and you have not had yet had one, I would highly recommend that you book one soon,” Dr. Aziz urged.



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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

Vaccine protection wanes three months after second dose

A new study published in the journal The Lancet has...

When Jake Esselstyn, Professor of Biology at <a href="https://www.lsu.edu/">Louisiana State University</a>, began his work on shrews on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, he wanted to investigate the ecological and evolutionary factors that might explain shrew <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-a-hidden-diversity-among-iberian-spiders/">diversity</a> on the island. 



At that time, there were six species of shrews in the genus Crocidura that had been identified there, and he thought he would be able to clarify how they had arisen on the island. “I was interested in questions about how shrews interacted with their environment, with each other, how local communities were formed."



Although Professor Esselstyn’s research began in 2010, he soon realized that the task of analyzing ecological and evolutionary relationships was impossible because there were clearly many undescribed species present. So began ten years of field trips to collect as many shrew specimens as possible from mountain and lowland sites on the island.&nbsp;



“It was overwhelming because for the first several years, we couldn’t figure out how many species there were,” he said.



Shrews are small, insectivorous mammals that are most closely related to hedgehogs and moles. During Esselstyn’s field trips he and his research team collected more than 1,200 shrews using pitfall traps. All of them weighed less than an AA battery, ranging from about 3 grams (0.1 oz) to about 24 grams (0.85 oz). The largest species had an average body length of 95 mm (about 3.7 in).



While Professor Esselstyn did identify and describe a new species of shrew in 2019, the picture became clearer once the research team had examined the genetic and morphological data from the specimens they collected between 2010 and 2018, and added data from old specimens that had been collected in 1916. More than 1,400 shrews were analyzed and this resulted in the identification of 21 different shrew species on Sulawesi, 14 of them being brand new to science.&nbsp;



The details of the 14 new, endemic species of shrews in the genus Crocidura have been published recently in the <a href="https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7">Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History</a>. This discovery represents the largest number of new mammals described in a scientific paper since 1931, some 90 years ago.&nbsp;



“It's an exciting discovery, but was frustrating at times,” said Esselstyn, curator of mammals at the LSU Museum of Natural Science and associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. “Usually, we discover one new species at a time, and there is a big thrill that comes from it. But in this case, it was overwhelming … ”



Now that he feels he has a better handle on the shrew diversity of the island, Professor Esselstyn is interested in exploring the geographic, geological and biological factors that have contributed to Sulawesi's extraordinary shrew biodiversity. The island is shaped rather like a lower-case letter k and this shape has contributed to the radiation and diversification of shrew species, he said. “There are consistent boundaries between species ... whether you're looking at frogs or macaques or mice. It suggests some sort of shared environmental mechanisms.”



Researchers have found at least seven such zones – roughly, the island's central mass, the three “legs” of the k, and three zones on the long, bent “neck” of the island. Genetic analysis would be crucial in understanding the evolution of this diversity of shrew species. It will enable the researchers to determine how long ago or recently similar species diverged and whether they’ve been in regular contact with each other since then.



“It's a difficult problem. But I think we can do it now that sequencing genomes is relatively low-cost,” he said. “A few years ago, we couldn't have done it but it's relatively feasible now.”



“Taxonomy serves as the foundation of so much biological research and conservation effort. When we don't know how many species there are or where they live, our capacity to understand and preserve life is severely limited. It's essential that we document and name that diversity,” Esselstyn said. “If we can make discoveries of this many new species in relatively well-known groups like mammals, imagine what the undocumented diversity is like in less conspicuous organisms.”



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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

Breakthrough study describes 14 new species of shrews

When Jake Esselstyn, Professor of Biology at Louisiana State University,...

According to a new study under review for the journal <a href="https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1139035/v1_covered.pdf?c=1640020576">Nature</a>, within days after infection, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/omicron-is-surging-but-may-cause-less-severe-illness/">SARS-CoV-2</a> can spread well beyond the respiratory tract, throughout the entire body, reaching organs such as the heart or the brain, where it can survive for months. These findings could be an explanation of the phenomenon called “long Covid,” which affects many Covid-19 survivors for several months after the infection.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“This is remarkably important work,” said&nbsp;Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the <a href="https://www.va.gov/st-louis-health-care/">Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System</a> in Missouri. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long Covid seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”



A team of researchers from the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">US National Institutes of Health</a> (NIH) studied tissues taken during autopsies of 44 patients who died after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, and found evidence that the virus had spread far beyond the respiratory tract, and was present in several other organs, such as the heart or brain, even 230 days after infection.



“We show that SARS-CoV-2 is widely distributed, even among patients who died with asymptomatic to mild COVID-19, and that virus replication is present in multiple pulmonary and extrapulmonary tissues early in infection,” the study authors wrote.



According to the scientists, in an early “viremic” phase of infection, the virus may be present in the bloodstream and seeded throughout the body, including across the brain-body barrier, even in patients experiencing mild or no symptoms at all. Although the reasons for this remain unclear, the scientists believe that organs outside the respiratory tract may have less efficient innate and adaptive immune responses to the virus, and can thus provide a perfect ground for it to multiply.



Further research is needed to clarify whether these findings hold for people with long Covid who are still alive and struggle with long-term symptoms. Understanding how the virus spreads to multiple brain areas will be particularly important in order to clarify the nature of long Covid and find proper therapies.



“It can help us understand the neurocognitive decline or ‘brain fog’ and other neuropsychiatric manifestations of long Covid,” said Dr. Al-Aly. “We need to start thinking of SARS-CoV-2 as a systemic virus that may clear in some people, but in others may persist for weeks or months and produce long Covid - a multifaceted systemic disorder.” ---



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

Covid-19 can persist in organs for months after infection

According to a new study under review for the journal...

The National Wildlife Rescue Center (NWRC) was established in 2013 in peninsular Malaysia by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN). The center’s focus is on the rehabilitation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feral-cats-are-a-catastrophic-threat-to-australias-wildlife/">wildlife</a>, including gibbons, for eventual release back into the wild.&nbsp;



The gibbons arrive at the rehabilitation center for various reasons. Some are kept illegally as pets, while others are found in plantations that have been displaced from their habitat.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Near the end of their rehabilitation, gibbons undergo a variety of assessments and procedures, such as genetic testing. This is partially an effort to identify subspecies for a successful and responsible reintroduction of the gibbons.&nbsp;



While checking the genetics of 12 captive white-handed gibbons at NWRC, experts made an exciting discovery. A team including Dr. Jeffrine J. Rovie-Ryan from University Malaysia Sarawak, and Millawati Gani and colleagues from the National Wildlife Forensic Laboratory of PERHILITAN, identified a genetically distinct population of gibbons new to science.&nbsp;



The researchers found unusual mutations in the gibbon’s DNA, which led them to the conclusion that these animals had been evolving in isolation.&nbsp;



“Given the prolonged isolation, it is likely that the southern population has undergone some local speciation, but this finding should be regarded as preliminary and requires further investigation," explained Dr. Rovie-Ryan.



The gibbons in the study have not yet been released but are in pre-release at a semi-wild enclosure on Pulau Ungka (Gibbon Island) where they are being closely monitored. Without the dedicated work of PERHILITAN, and without genetic testing, this population of gibbons may have remained unknown for many years. With more research, additional information about the genetics of gibbons is likely to turn up.&nbsp;



The findings are published by <a href="https://pensoft.net/">Pensoft</a> in the open access journal <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/">ZooKeys</a>.



---



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

New population of white-handed gibbons discovered

The National Wildlife Rescue Center (NWRC) was established in 2013...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26232-9">Nature Communications</a> has found a surprising connection between the worsening wildfires in the Western United States and Arctic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-polar-ice-is-warping-earths-crust/">sea ice loss</a>. As polar ice melts from July to October, sunlight warms the increasingly iceless, surrounding areas, and ultimately brings heat and fire-favorable conditions to distant states such as California, Washington, or Oregon in late autumn and early winter.&nbsp;



"It's not a perfect analogy, but teleconnections like this are a bit like the butterfly effect," said study co-author Hailong Wang, an Earth scientist at the <a href="https://www.pnnl.gov/">Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory</a> (PNNL).



"Climate conditions in one part of the world can, over time, influence climate outcomes from thousands of kilometers away. In our case, we find the Arctic region and the western United States are connected by this relationship. Regional land and sea surface warming caused by sea ice loss distantly triggers hotter and drier conditions in the West later in the year."



By analyzing data on recorded sea ice levels from the last four decades, Wang and his colleagues discovered that, as Arctic sea ice melts and the surrounding regions warm, a vortex appears in the atmosphere above the heated areas, spinning counterclockwise like a cyclone. This powerful vortex pushes the polar jet stream out of its typical pattern, diverting moist air away from the western United States, and causing a second vortex to emerge. This new vortex, spinning clockwise, brings droughts, extreme heat, and fire-favorable conditions.



As the Arctic continues warming due to climate change, it can sharpen the contrast between these two distant yet connected systems, further exacerbating conditions in already wildfire-ravaged areas.&nbsp;



"This dynamics-driven connection warms and dries out the western United States region," said study lead author Yufei Zou, a data scientist who was a postdoctoral fellow at PNNL when the study was conducted. "By uncovering the mechanism behind that teleconnection, we hope those in charge of managing forests and preparing for wildfires will be more informed."



--



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

Arctic sea ice loss influences wildfires in the western US

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications has...

Silhouette,Of,Dinosaurs,In,The,Sunset.

Dozens of dinosaur <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-a-previously-unknown-mass-extinction-event/">fossils</a> have been discovered in 2021 all around the world, ranging from an incredibly fast theropod and a 140-foot long Supersaurus to a duck-billed dinosaur and a sharp-toothed monster.&nbsp;



One of the most important discoveries involved the fossils of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flesh-eating-theropods-were-extremely-fast/">fastest known dinosaur</a>, found near the village of Igea, Spain. This flesh-eating theropod, which lived between 145 and 100 million years ago, was able to reach running speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour and could change speed suddenly as it ran.



Another fascinating creature was discovered in Missouri and is now considered this state’s “official dinosaur.” Parrosaurus Missouriensis reached up to 30-foot in length and had a very peculiar beak, highly similar to those of today’s ducks.&nbsp;



A more terrifying finding is Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, a creature with enormous blade-like teeth resembling those of a Great White Shark, which lived approximately 900 million years ago. This was seven million years before the most famous predatory dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex, emerged. The frightening animal inhabited the coastal plains of the Asian landmass in a period when the Earth’s continents were still bunched close.



Two other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-new-predatory-dinosaurs-found-on-the-isle-of-wight/">terrifying predators</a> have been discovered on the Isle of Wight. These theropods, closely related to the giant Spinosaurus, measured around nine meters in length, and most probably hunted prey both on land and in the water with the help of their ferocious, one-meter-long skulls.



In sharp contrast with these large-toothed beasts stands Berthasaura leopoldinae - a toothless, two-legged dinosaur discovered in Brazil, which lived around 70 to 80 million years ago. The scientists are still puzzled by this strange creature’s diet, but claim that the fact that it was toothless must not necessarily imply that it did not eat meat.



This year also marked the discovery of the longest dinosaur on record, a diplodocid named Supersaurus. This majestic 140ft-long creature with a 52ft-long neck and a 60ft-long tail roamed the North American territories approximately 150 million years ago.&nbsp;



Finally, the “long lost” relative of Triceratops has been unearthed in New Mexico. Sierraceratops turneri roamed the Sierra County region about 72 million year ago – six million years before its more famous cousin and had no less than five horns on its enormous head.



These findings once again highlight the impressive biodiversity characterizing our planet’s ecosphere millions of years ago.&nbsp;



--



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

Fascinating dinosaurs were discovered in 2021

Dozens of dinosaur fossils have been discovered in 2021 all...

In a twist of irony, a new study shows that Darwin’s finches, which were an important inspiration for Darwin’s theory of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-secrets-revealed-about-the-evolution-of-mammal-tusks/">evolution</a> by natural selection, are being forced to evolve. The researchers found that female Darwin finches are spending more time in their nests fighting off the dangerous larvae of the introduced vampire fly.&nbsp;



Without the extra protection from their mothers, the chicks are consumed by the flies, especially in the early days when the chicks are blind and incapable of preening themselves. Older chicks are able to sometimes remove the flies and even eat them. The mother’s early protection remains essential, but the father also plays a role. 



"The pair male is also essential for success of the chicks. If he feeds the offspring a lot, the mother can remain inside the nest for longer," explained Professor Sonia Kleindorfer of Flinders University. "Timing is everything. The female must forgo foraging herself, and her persistence is strongly influenced by good food provisioning of her offspring by the male."&nbsp;



"What we show in this publication is that longer female in-nest attendance of chicks predicts the number of parasites in the nest. The new research findings are significant because they show that 'just being there' can be a form of front-line defense against threats to offspring survival."



This information will be crucial for future conservation assessments of the increasingly threatened bird species. It is also important to monitor adult Darwin’s finches. Monitoring the survival of male Darwin’s finches is relatively easy, as the males announce their presence with an advertisement call. The females lack this unique call, which makes them harder to keep tabs on. 



"We know from long-term monitoring of Darwin's finches, from recapture and resighting data since 2000, that annual survivorship in females is much lower than in males, and over 50% of male Darwin's finches sing at the nest but don't attract a female," said Dr. Andrew Katsis.



"Combined, these factors suggest that higher female mortality, and higher parental care costs carried by females, may be a contributing factor."



The study authors concluded that high-quality females who can sustain longer parental care in the nest with less feeding opportunity for themselves, paired with males that increase feeding to the offspring, have better chances to produce offspring in a vampire fly-dominated environment.



The team found that only 10.4 percent of the critically endangered medium tree finch (a type of Darwin’s finch) produced young on Floreana Island. The remainder had been killed by predators or parasites. According to the experts, control measures are urgently needed to save Darwin's finches from extinction.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



---



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

Vampire flies are changing the behavior of Darwin’s finches

In a twist of irony, a new study shows that...

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;



---



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

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" 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 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

[sendtonews key="iuA5mpp3jv-1641775-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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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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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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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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