Clos,Eup,Of,A,Woman,Wand,Touching,River,Water,In

Scientists have long mapped separate brain areas for sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Yet new research reveals that when we focus sharply on any of those senses, signals converge on the same two structures buried deep in the brain - the midbrain reticular formation and the central thalamus.



This finding highlights a shared neural pathway that sustains <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-brain-stops-paying-attention-to-repeated-distractions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">attention</a> and wakefulness and could inspire therapies for coma, epilepsy, and attention-deficit disorders.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-senses-in-a-single-brain-region">Senses in a single brain region</h2>



Research over the past century has shown that visual scenes activate the occipital cortex, melodies light up the temporal lobes, and so forth.



“We were expecting to find activity on shared networks, but when we saw all the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-sense-of-smell-and-different-odors-can-influence-how-we-see-colors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">senses</a> light up the same central brain regions while a test subject was focusing, it was really astonishing,” said Aya Khalaf, a postdoctoral associate in neurology at <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yale School of Medicine</a> and lead author of the study.



Those two regions - the reticular formation, a mesh of neurons in the upper brainstem, and the intralaminar and mediodorsal nuclei of the thalamus - form part of the so-called subcortical arousal system, a set of circuits long suspected to regulate alertness and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/consciousness-may-stem-from-unseen-dimensions-beyond-our-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consciousness</a>.



Previous work had linked these hubs to vigilance by studying patients emerging from coma or experiencing absence seizures. But most of those experiments examined responses to a single type of stimulus, for example flashing lights or chirping sounds.



Khalaf and colleagues asked the broader question: do different senses share the same arousal circuitry when people deliberately pay attention?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-massive-data-mine">A massive data mine</h2>



To answer that, the team turned to the publicly available <a href="https://www.humanconnectome.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Human Connectome Project</a> and other repositories, assembling functional MRI scans from 1,561 healthy adults.



Across 11 tasks, participants viewed moving shapes, listened to spoken stories, sampled liquid tastants, or felt puffs of air on their fingertips. Each task included abrupt cues that forced subjects to switch attention - for instance, a sudden change in picture orientation or a surprise tone embedded in white noise.



The investigators processed more than 500 hours of scan data through a pipeline that removed head motion and physiological noise, then aligned brain volumes to a common atlas.



In every sensory domain, when a cue demanded rapid attentional re-orientation, blood-oxygen signals spiked in the reticular formation and the central thalamus. The effect was absent or minimal during passive stimulation, underscoring the importance of active engagement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-consciousness-in-the-brain">Consciousness in the brain</h2>



Why would a taste test and a vision task end up at the same neural address? The authors propose that the midbrain reticular formation integrates sudden sensory changes and broadcasts a “wake-up” volley to the thalamus, which relays it to widespread cortical areas.



That burst synchronizes cortical rhythms, priming the brain to process incoming information. The scheme dovetails with classical animal studies showing that electrical stimulation of the reticular formation induces cortical desynchronization and behavioral arousal, while lesions produce stupor.



“It tells us how important this brain region is and what it could mean in efforts to restore consciousness,” Khalaf said.



“This has also given us insights into how things work normally in the brain. It’s really a step forward in our understanding of awareness and consciousness,” said senior author Hal Blumenfeld, a neurologist at Yale.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-awakening-senses-in-the-brain">Awakening senses in the brain</h2>



Because the same deep-brain hubs fire regardless of which sense is active, treatments aimed at modulating those hubs could benefit diverse conditions.



Drugs that enhance thalamic neurotransmission, for instance, might improve focus in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/autism-and-adhd-disorders-directly-linked-amount-of-time-kids-spend-on-screens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">attention deficit hyperactivity disorder</a>. Conversely, overactivity in the arousal circuit has been implicated in insomnia; dampening the circuitry could help induce sleep.



The results also support ongoing trials that deliver low-intensity ultrasound or deep-brain electrodes to the central thalamus in patients with disorders of consciousness. 



If attention triggers the thalamus to “switch on” the cortex, stimulating it directly might help rouse patients who are minimally conscious.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rethinking-sensory-rehabilitation"><a></a>Rethinking sensory rehabilitation</h2>



The discovery challenges sensory-specific training programs that ignore subcortical commonalities. 



For example, visual rehabilitation for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stroke-risk-is-elevated-by-air-pollution-and-traffic-noise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stroke</a> survivors may benefit from pairing attentional cues with tactile or auditory tasks to engage the shared arousal pathway.



Likewise, virtual-reality therapies that bombard users with multi-sensory surprises might more effectively sharpen attentional control.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions </h2>



The Yale team plans to refine the timeline of activation using magnetoencephalography, which offers millisecond resolution. They also hope to dissect the frequency bands that link the thalamus to frontal and parietal cortices during attentional jumps. 



Such work could reveal whether gamma-band bursts or alpha-band suppression carry the critical “wake-up” message.



Another frontier involves patients. Investigators will compare responses in healthy volunteers with those in people who have attention deficits or who are emerging from anaesthesia. 



Identifying a lost or delayed thalamic spike could serve as a biomarker for impaired consciousness.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-brain-regions-and-the-senses">Brain regions and the senses</h2>



For now, the study establishes the midbrain reticular formation and central thalamus as the universal relay through which sight, sound, taste, and touch gain conscious entry - at least when our minds snap to attention.



By showing that “all the senses light up the same central brain regions,” it confirms that consciousness depends not only on specialized cortical maps but also on a common deep-brain gatekeeper. 



Therapies that target this gatekeeper may eventually help restore awareness where it has dimmed and sharpen it where it wanders.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811925002277?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NeuroImage</a>.



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Scientists discover a brain region that connects all the senses

Scientists have long mapped separate brain areas for sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Yet new research reveals that when we focus sharply on any of those senses, signals converge on the same two structures buried deep in the brain - the midbrain reticular formation and the central thalamus. This finding highlights a shared neural pathway that sustains attention and wakefulness and could inspire therapies for coma, epilepsy, and attention-deficit disorders. Senses in a single brain region Research over the past century has shown that visual scenes...

Covid-19,Pandemic,Coronavirus,Woman,In,City,Street,Wearing,Protective,Face

The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/latest-coronavirus-variant-may-be-500-more-infectious-than-delta/">Omicron</a> variant was first reported in the Guateng province of South Africa on 23 November, 2021, although <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/01/world/coronavirus-newsletter-intl-01-12-21/index.html">new findings</a> suggest that it had already been in Europe at least one week before being detected on the African continent. 



In South Africa Omicron infections are growing exponentially, doubling every few days, and the variant has been identified in over 40 other countries, including the United States, several Europe countries, Australia, and parts of Middle East and the Asian-Pacific region.



Due to its large number of new mutations, which suggest that it may be more contagious and able to evade immunity offered by prior infection or vaccination, this variant has sparked fears all over the globe, seeding strong feelings of uncertainty in billions and bringing <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-omicron-is-affecting-financial-markets/a-59996623">financial markets</a> down.&nbsp;



While Omicron’s degree of contagiousness is not yet clear, scientists estimate that, at least in South Africa, it is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/03/world/omicron-variant-covid/omicron-is-spreading-more-than-twice-as-quickly-as-the-delta-variant-in-south-africa-scientists-report">spreading</a> more than twice as quickly as the Delta variant, already surpassing it as the dominant variant.&nbsp;



Moreover, a recent <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.11.21266068v2.full.pdf">study</a> that is not yet peer-reviewed has found that Omicron is capable of dodging immunity gained from previous infections. “These findings suggest that Omicron's selection advantage is at least partially driven by an increased ability to infect previously infected individuals," explained study lead author Juliet Pulliam, an expert in infectious diseases from<a href="http://www.sun.ac.za/english"> Stellenbosch University</a>.&nbsp;



While the variant’s ability to evade immune protection gained from vaccination is not yet clear, Moderna’s CEO Stéphane Bancel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/27def1b9-b9c8-47a5-8e06-72e432e0838f">declared</a> earlier this week that existing vaccines will probably not be as effective against Omicron as in the case of previous variants. “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to are like, ‘This is not going to be good,’” Bancel said. Currently, both Moderna and Pfizer are analyzing in more depth the situation and have already started tweaking their vaccines to target this variant, in case this will be necessary.&nbsp;



However, it is still unclear whether Omicron causes milder or more severe disease than previous strains, as well as how the severity of the disease may be influenced by prior natural or vaccine-induced immunity.&nbsp;



According to a new pre-print <a href="https://osf.io/f7txy/">study</a>, this variant may have acquired parts of its genetic material from a common cold coronavirus. If this is the case, there are some reasons for optimism: regardless of its high transmissibility and capacity of evading previously acquired immunity, Omicron’s symptoms may in fact be milder that those of prior strains. Although, until now, real-world data regarding the severity of identified Omicron cases does seem to point in this optimistic direction, more time and research are needed to provide a definitive answer.



&nbsp;---



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

Omicron: High transmissibility and chance for reinfection

The Omicron variant was first reported in the Guateng province...

Day,View,Of,Power,Plant,,Smoke,From,The,Chimney

According to the <a href="https://www.who.int/">World Health Organization</a> (WHO), air <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/working-from-home-reduces-air-pollution/">pollution</a> causes the greatest health risk worldwide, accounting for over 4.2 million deaths each year. A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ciberdem.org/en">Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders</a> (CIBERDEM) has found that chronic exposure to particulate matter rises the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases like hypertension, and is associated with an increase in blood pressure.



“Several previous studies have described the short- and long-term association of ambient air pollutants with hypertension and blood pressure levels, but few studies have addressed the association between long-term exposure to these particles and the incidence of hypertension in a prospective manner,” said study co-author Sergio Valdés, a researcher at CIBERDEM.



The researchers carried out a longitudinal study to explore the relation between concentrations of particulate matter and the incidence of hypertension in Spain. They enrolled 1103 participants with ages between 18 and 83 in 2008-2010 and monitored them until 2016-2017. While none of the participants presented hypertension at the start of the study, 282 cases have been recorded during later stages of the study. According to the scientists, these people lived in areas with higher concentrations of particulate matter.



&nbsp;“Our data is consistent with a large body of evidence suggesting that air pollution may contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. It also supports the idea that the particulate component of air pollution is the greatest threat to the cardiovascular system,” said study co-author Gemma Rojo, head of the CIBERDEM group.



"Although previous associations between exposure to gaseous pollutants and hypertension have shown some discrepancies, most studies reporting long-term exposure to particulate matter and incident high blood pressure have reported positive associations consistent with our findings."



These results suggest that air quality should be urgently improved in order to reduce the risk of high blood pressure among the population exposed to air pollutants, since even moderate levels of particulate matter appear to significantly increase the risk of hypertension and other associated cardiovascular diseases.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99154-7">Nature Scientific Reports</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

Long-term pollution exposure linked to hypertension

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution causes...

For many years, scientists wondered what factors influence the sex ratio at birth (SRB) – the ratio between baby boys and baby girls at a certain period in time. While at a purely biological level, the SRB can be affected by hormonal factors, past studies have suggested that exogenous factors such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/skin-hair-products-air-pollution/">pollutants</a>, changes in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deadly-honey-bee-diseases-are-influenced-by-the-weather/">weather</a>, or psychological stress can also influence SRB.&nbsp;



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.uchicago.edu/">University of Chicago</a> has investigated which are the most significant exogenous influences on SRB.



“The human sex ratio at birth (SRB), defined as the ratio between the number of newborn boys to the total number of newborns, is typically slightly greater than 1/2 (more boys than girls) and tends to vary across different geographical regions and time periods,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



By analyzing a dataset of over three million births in the United States from 2003 to 2011, and more than three million births in Sweden between 1983 and 2013, the researchers found that changes to the SRB were not connected to several factors initially thought to influence it. The factors that were ruled out include seasons, ambient temperatures, unemployment rates, violent crime rates, or commute times.&nbsp;



Instead, the data suggested that airborne pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), iron, lead, mercury, carbon monoxide, and aluminum have a significant impact on SRB. Chromium and arsenic in water were also found to influence sex ratio at birth.&nbsp;



“After testing more than 100 hypotheses, we showed that neither dataset supported models in which the SRB changed seasonally or in response to variations in ambient temperature,” explained the study authors.



“However, increased levels of a diverse array of air and water pollutants, were associated with lower SRBs, including increased levels of industrial and agricultural activity, which served as proxies for water pollution. Moreover, some exogenous factors generally considered to be environmental toxins turned out to induce higher SRBs.”&nbsp;



Although the study could not determine whether or not pollutants actually caused the observed changes in the SRB, the results are sufficient to encourage policymakers to decide to take urgent steps towards reducing environmental pollution.



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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

Pollutants can change the birth ratio of boys to girls

For many years, scientists wondered what factors influence the sex...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-021-00111-4">Canine Medicine and Genetics</a> has found that most dog breeds are highly inbred, with an average inbreeding level of over 25 percent. These extremely high levels of inbreeding have been associated with the increased prevalence of a large variety of complex <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-confirms-plastics-contribute-to-heart-disease/">diseases</a> and conditions.



Dog breeds are often recognized by their distinctive traits, such as the wrinkled face of a pug, the spotted coat of a Dalmatian, or the short legs of a dachshund. Unfortunately, these traits are frequently the result of inbreeding.



A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> together with <a href="https://www.wisdompanel.com/en-us">Wisdom Health Genetics</a>, a company owning the world’s largest dog DNA database, has collected and analyzed data from 49,378 dogs across 227 breeds.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that the average inbreeding across this cohort was 25 percent, or the equivalent of sharing the full same genetic material with a full sibling.&nbsp;



According to the researchers, dogs are inbred by humans in order to select for traits such as their looks. However, such methods pose quite significant dangers to dogs’ health, increasing the risk of different diseases, many of which are lethal.



“It’s amazing how inbreeding seems to matter to health,” said study lead author Dannika Bannasch, a veterinary geneticist at UC Davis. “While previous studies have shown that small dogs live longer than large dogs, no one had previously reported on morbidity, or the presence of disease.&nbsp;This study revealed that if dogs are of smaller size and not inbred, they are much healthier than larger&nbsp;dogs with high inbreeding.”



"Data from other species, combined with strong breed predispositions to complex diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, highlight the relevance of high inbreeding in dogs to their health."



In order to preserve the genetic diversity and health of a breed, several measures should be taken, including the careful management of breeding populations in order to avoid additional loss of existing genetic diversity. This can be achieved through breeder education and close monitoring of inbreeding levels, which is now enabled by direct genotyping technologies.&nbsp;



Moreover, in the few breeds with low inbreeding levels, such as the Danish-Swedish farm dog, every effort should be made to maintain the genetic diversity that is already present.&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

Dogs have a high risk of disease due to inbreeding

A new study published in the journal Canine Medicine and...

A set of footprints found in 1976 in Laetoli, Tanzania - just next door to the oldest known human tracks - were initially dismissed as belonging to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/loss-of-genetic-diversity-in-polar-bears-linked-to-climate-change/">bears</a>. Now, a study from <a href="https://home.dartmouth.edu/">Dartmouth</a> takes a new look at the prints and concludes that they were ancient human tracks.&nbsp;



“Given the increasing evidence for locomotor and species diversity in the hominin fossil record over the past 30 years, these unusual prints deserved another look,” explained study lead author Professor Ellison McNutt.



Professor McNutt is a specialist in locomotion, especially upright locomotion and has looked at comparative anatomy in bears and other animals to gain a better understanding of bipedalism. Bears do occasionally walk upright, but Professor McNutt was fascinated by the footprints in Tanzania because of their possibility.&nbsp;



To get to the truth of the matter, researchers led by co-author Charles Musiba visited Laetoli to gather evidence from the footprints. The prints were measured, photographed and 3D scanned to collect evidence of their origins.&nbsp;



The footprints were then compared to those of black bears, humans and chimpanzees. Young bears from the Kilham Bear Center, a rehabilitation facility were lured to walk on their hind legs across mud for treats. Over 50 hours of bear videos were also used. During the video footage, bears only walked on hind legs one percent of the time.



“As bears walk, they take very wide steps, wobbling back and forth," said Professor Jeremy DeSilva. "They are unable to walk with a gait similar to that of the Site A footprints, as their hip musculature and knee shape does not permit that kind of motion and balance.”&nbsp;



The shape of the footprints being more squared off like a human and less fan shaped like a bear also lends evidence of an early relative making these prints. One strange detail, however, is that the prints seem to show "cross stepping" where one foot crosses over the other, an unusual way of walking for humans.&nbsp;



&nbsp;“Although humans don’t typically cross-step, this motion can occur when one is trying to reestablish their balance," explained Professor McNutt. "The Site A footprints may have been the result of a hominin walking across an area that was an unlevel surface.”



Chimpanzee footprints also don’t quite match the shape of the Laetoli prints, as chimpanzees generally have wider heels. Although the prints are different from those nearby that were already conclusively human, the scientists feel comfortable with the assessment that both are human prints.&nbsp;



“Through this research, we now have conclusive evidence from the Site A footprints that there were different hominin species walking bipedally on this landscape but in different ways on different feet,” said Professor DeSilva.



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

Ancient bear footprints turned out to be human

A set of footprints found in 1976 in Laetoli, Tanzania...

The human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/brain-complications-affect-one-in-100-covid-patients/">brain</a> consumes vastly more energy than other organs. New research from <a href="https://weill.cornell.edu/">Weill Cornell Medicine</a> has found that this happens even during the times when the brain is at rest, and neurons are not firing their usual signals to one another. For instance, even during profoundly inactive states, such as coma, the brain’s consumption of glucose usually drops from normal by only about a half.&nbsp;



The scientists believe that the process of packaging neurotransmitters (chemical molecules used by the nervous system to transmit messages between neurons) may be responsible for this energy drain. 



The experts identified tiny capsules called synaptic vesicles that appeared to be major sources of energy consumption in inactive neurons. These vesicles are used as containers of the neurotransmitter molecules that are fired from synaptic terminals to send signals to other neurons when the brain is active.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, packing neurotransmitters into vesicles is an inherently leaky process, continuing to consume significant amounts of energy even when the vesicles are full and the synaptic terminals are not active. 



During synaptic inactivity, vesicles are loaded with thousands of neurotransmitters, but show signs of energy leakages, or “proton efflux,” from their membranes, such that a special “proton pump” enzyme needs to continue working and thus consume energy.&nbsp;



The researchers discovered that the likely sources of these proton leakage are proteins called transporters, which normally bring neurotransmitters into vesicles, changing shape to carry the neurotransmitter in, but allowing at the same time protons to escape. The energy threshold for this transporter shape-shift was probably set low by evolution in order to allow faster neurotransmitter reloading and thus better thinking and acting.



“The downside of a faster loading capability would be that even random thermal fluctuations could trigger the transporter shape-shift, causing this continual energy drain even when no neurotransmitter is being loaded,” explained study senior author Timothy Ryan, a professor of Biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medicine. 



And while the leakage per vesicle is very small, since there are hundreds of trillions of synaptic vesicles in the human brain, the energy drain would significantly add up.



The findings not only provide new insight into the basic biology of the brain, but may also open therapeutic pathways for solving metabolic deficiencies found in diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.



“If we had a way to safely lower this energy drain and thus slow brain metabolism, it could be very impactful clinically,” Dr. Ryan concluded.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi9027">Science Advances</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

Why does the brain consume so much energy?

The human brain consumes vastly more energy than other organs....

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 different species of honey bees worldwide. It is commercially important as a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-third-of-plants-are-completely-reliant-on-animal-pollinators/">pollinator</a> of crops and a producer of honey. The geographic origin of the western honey bee has been hotly debated over decades. Some believing in an African origin, while others think it first evolved in Asia. 



In new research, led by scientists from <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/">York University</a> the genomes of 251 honey bees, from 18 different subspecies, collected in their native ranges, have been sequenced in order to determine the probable geographic origin and pattern of dispersal of honey bees.&nbsp;



The results indicate that an Asian origin – most likely western Asia – is strongly supported by the genetic data. According to this data, the probability of the bees originating within western Asia is 64 to 71 percent. In comparison, the genetic analysis indicates only a six percent chance that western honey bees originated in Africa and a three to six percent chance that they came initially from Europe.



“As one of the world’s most important pollinators, it’s essential to know the origin of the western honey bee to understand its evolution, genetics and how it adapted as it spread,” said study co-author Professor&nbsp;<a href="https://news.yorku.ca/experts/?name_or_keyword=amro+zayed&amp;research_area=&amp;submit=Search+the+Guide&amp;search=Y">Amro Zayed</a>.



The research also indicates that western honey bees underwent three separate expansion events during their evolution. They expanded into Africa in one event, and also experienced two separate expansions into Europe. This led to the existence of seven geographically and genetically distinct evolutionary lineages traceable back to Western Asia. The adaptive radiation of the honey bees after these expansions has led to the development of the approximately 27 different subspecies of honey bees that are found in the world.



Today, western honey bees inhabit every continent except Antarctica and show a remarkable capacity for surviving in vastly different environments – from tropical rainforests, to near deserts and to temperate regions with cold winters. The researchers were interested in identifying the genes and genetic variation that are associated with honey bee adaptation to these different environments.&nbsp;



They found that the bee genome has several “hotspots” that allowed honey bees to adapt to new environmental conditions. While the bee genome has more than 12,000 genes, only 145 of them had repeated signatures of adaptation associated with the formation of all major honey bee lineages found today. In particular, many of the genes involved in adaptation related to changes in the behavior of worker bees, and the analysis showed that these genes have been under positive selective pressure in the past.&nbsp;



“Our research suggests that a core-set of genes allowed the honey bee to adapt to a diverse set of environmental conditions across its native range by regulating worker and colony behavior,” said York University PhD student Kathleen Dogantzis of the Faculty of Science, who led the research.



“It’s important to understand how locally adapted subspecies and colony-level selection on worker bees, contributes to the fitness and diversity of managed colonies."



The sequencing of these bee genomes also led to the discovery of two distinct lineages, one in Egypt and another in Madagascar.



The researchers hope their study will finally resolve the debate about the ancestral origins of the western honey bee so that future research can focus on exploring how they adapted to different climates and geographic areas.



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

Mysterious origins of western honey bees revealed

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of...

Even if no two branches are alike in nature, differing in size, shape, and texture, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-than-a-quarter-of-uk-bird-species-are-endangered/">birds</a> can easily land on most of them. A research team from <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> has recently developed a bird-inspired aerial robot, which they named SNAG (“stereotyped nature-inspired aerial grasper”), and can fly around, catch and carry different objects, and perch on various surfaces.



“It’s not easy to mimic how birds fly and perch,” said study lead author William Roderick, a mechanical engineer at Stanford. “After millions of years of evolution, they make takeoff and landing look so easy, even among all of the complexity and variability of the tree branches you would find in a forest.”



SNAG was inspired by the scientists’ <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2019/08/06/can-robots-land-like-birds/">previous studies</a> of parrotlets (the second smallest parrot species), very small birds that could land on a variety of perches made of different materials including wood, foam, sandpaper, or Teflon. “What surprised us was that they did the same aerial maneuvers, no matter what surfaces they were landing on,” said Roderick. “They let the feet handle the variability and complexity of the surface texture itself.”



In designing SNAG, Roderick and his colleagues used a 3D-printed structure instead of bones, and motors and fishing-line stand-ins for muscles and tendons. Each leg had its own motor for moving back and forth and another one for grasping, allowing it to catch objects thrown by hand, and to perch on a large variety of surfaces.



Such robots can have many real-world applications, such as searching and rescuing, wildfire monitoring, and environmental research. For instance, the scientists attached a temperature and humidity sensor to the robot, and used it to record the microclimate in Oregon.



“Part of the underlying motivation of this work was to create tools that we can use to study the natural world,” explained Roderick. “If we could have a robot that could act like a bird, that could unlock completely new ways of studying the environment.”



Finally, this robot can also be used to better understand bird anatomy. For instance, the researchers ran the robot with two different toe arrangements – anisodactyl (three toes in front and one in back, as in the case of peregrine falcons) and zygodactyl (two toes in front and two in back, as in parrotlets), in order to learn more about the correlation between bird anatomy and behavior in different species.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abj7562">Science Robotics</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Image Credit: William Roderick



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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

Engineers create perching bird-like robot

Even if no two branches are alike in nature, differing...

The iconic and saddening image of a suffering <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seabirds-are-damaging-their-health-by-eating-plastic/">seabird</a> with a plastic ring stuck around its neck has often been used as a call to action, but plastic pollution brings even subtler dangers in the form of microplastics - tiny pieces of plastic smaller than five centimeters. 



Now, a new study from researchers at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the <a href="https://www.unibas.ch/en.html">University of Basel</a> has taken aim at measuring the amount of microplastics that have found their way to the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, and where exactly these pollutants are sourced from.&nbsp;



"Microplastics (MP) have been found to be ubiquitous around the globe in different marine compartments and are considered as an emerging threat to marine biota possibly interfering with feeding, reproductive performance, and survival," wrote the study authors.



"Even the most remote places were found to be polluted by MP, including the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, one of the most isolated places on earth with relatively low human activity."



Over the course of two years (2018 and 2019), the researchers took 34 surface water samples and 79 subsurface water samples from the isolated Weddell region of Antarctica, filtering over eight million liters of seawater in the process.&nbsp;



“This is the first time a study of this scope has been conducted in Antarctica,” said study lead author Clara Leistenschneider.



Considering its remote location, the scientists were curious to investigate how much microplastic had managed to make its way into the Weddell Sea.&nbsp;



"Being difficult to access due to its year-round sea ice coverage, the Weddell Sea is one of the most remote regions in Antarctica, with particularly low levels of human activity. It plays an important ecological role for endemic species, migrating seabirds, and marine mammals," wrote the researchers.



The study revealed that microplastic concentrations were generally lower in the Weddell Sea compared to neighboring regions.&nbsp;



“It's also important to know which plastics appear, in order to identify their possible origin and in the best case to reduce microplastic emissions from these sources," said Leistenschneider.



The analysis showed that the majority of microplastics were sourced from paint and varnish. In fact, 47 percent were found to be plastics often used as binding agents in marine paint.&nbsp;



The Weddell Sea has seen increased tourism and an increase in scientific expeditions, and both are probable sources of an increase in microplastic contamination.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Developing alternative marine paint that is more durable and environmentally friendly would make it possible to reduce this source of microplastics and the harmful substances they contain," concluded Leistenschneider.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</a>.



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By <a href="http://mailto:rugerpaleo@gmail.com">Alex Ruger</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Looking for microplastics in the remote Weddell Sea

The iconic and saddening image of a suffering seabird with...

New research shows that wolves living in Norway and Sweden today are actually Finnish wolves. The research confirms that humans killed off the last of the original Norwegian wolves in the 1970s.&nbsp;



“The original Norwegian-Swedish wolves probably didn’t share their genetics with the wolves in Norway and Sweden today,” explained Hans Stenøien, director of the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU) University Museum.



A team of scientists led by Stenøien carried out an extensive genetic study on Norwegian-Swedish wolves. “We’ve carried out the largest genetic study of wolves in the world,” said Stenøien.



The research is part of a report commissioned by the Norwegian parliament on wolves in 2016. After the Norwegian wolf initially disappeared, there were rumors that wolves were released from zoos to re-establish the population but this appears to be false.



“Admittedly, some original Norwegian-Swedish wolves can still be found in zoos outside Norway. But our wolves today aren’t closely related to them,” explained Stenøien.



Instead, it appears that wolves simply repopulated Norway in the 1980s by moving in from Finland. Today, there are more than 400 wolves living in the border region of Sweden and Norway as a shared population.&nbsp;



“The wolves in Norway and Sweden today most likely come from wolves that migrated from Finland."



According to Stenøien, it’s uncertain where exactly in Finland the wolves come from but genetically they appear Finnish as well as disturbingly lacking in genetic diversity.&nbsp;



“We haven’t found any indications of special or unique genetic adaptations in Norwegian-Swedish wolves. This lack of variation makes wolves vulnerable to various diseases and hereditary conditions."



The new Norwegian-Swedish wolves no longer face persecution from humans as their biggest danger. Instead, genetic vulnerability from inbreeding is the main threat facing the wolf population. Interestingly, the wolves contain very little dog genetics, possibly the least amount of dog genetics of any wolf population in the world.&nbsp;



As for how this research should be used, Stenøien leaves it up to others. “It’s not our task to comment on anything other than the facts from this study."



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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

It's official: Humans killed off the Norwegian wolf

New research shows that wolves living in Norway and Sweden...

The extinct Haast’s eagle or harpagornis (Hieraaetus moorei) is the largest known eagle, having a ten-foot wingspan and four-inch talons. It roamed New Zealand’s skies around 800 years ago and was formally described for the first time by Julius von Haast in 1872. 



Since then, scientists have debated whether the extinct bird was a predator that killed other animals for food, or a scavenger that fed upon already dead <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dolphins-perform-a-spinning-dive-to-catch-deep-prey/">prey</a>.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.une.edu.au/">University of New England</a>, Australia, and the <a href="https://www.canterburymuseum.com/">Canterbury Museum</a>, has found that, in fact, Haast’s eagle exhibited behaviors similar to both predators and scavengers. 



The scientists compared the skull, beak, and talons of Haast’s eagle with those of five living meat-eating birds - the whistling kite, the little eagle, the wedge-tailed eagle, the Cinereous vulture, and the Andean Condor.



While its beak and talons appeared similar to living eagles, the shape of its neurocranium was most similar to the Andean Condor, a South American vulture which is known to feed upon the soft internal organs of carcasses. These findings suggests that Haast’s eagle may have also eaten this way.



“Most eagles hunt prey that is smaller than them, but Haast's Eagle was going after moa that could weigh up to 200kg – more than 13 times their own body weight. Condors also often eat animals that are much larger than them, so it makes sense that they'd have similar feeding habits,” explained study co-author Paul Scofield, a paleontologist and senior curator of Natural History at the Canterbury Museum.



“When we picture a Haast's Eagle feeding we can imagine them swooping down on a moa, grabbing on with those huge talons and using its powerful beak to deliver the killing blow. Once the moa was down, the eagle would go straight for the back of the skull and for the guts and other soft organs.”



This new study, published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2021.1913">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>, paints a more complex picture of this fascinating creature, showing that it shared traits with both predators and scavengers.



Image Credit: Katrina Kenny



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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

Extinct raptor killed like an eagle, ate like a vulture

The extinct Haast’s eagle or harpagornis (Hieraaetus moorei) is the...

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is a species of large brown algae that is vital to legions of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/when-hunting-for-food-fulmars-follow-the-fishing-vessels/">fish</a>, invertebrates, mammals, and birds which rely on it for food and shelter in the temperate, shallow, nearshore waters where it grows. So far, giant kelp has proven very resilient to stressors brought on by climate change, such as severe storms and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/95-percent-of-ocean-could-become-inhospitable-this-century/">ocean heatwaves</a>.



However, new research led by the <a href="https://www.ucsb.edu/">University of California, Santa Barbara</a>, has found that giant kelp’s ability to withstand rises in temperatures may come at the cost of its nutritional value.&nbsp;



“Giant kelp&nbsp;Macrocystis pyrifera&nbsp;forms extensive forests on temperate reefs, providing habitat and food for a diversity of marine life. Kelp biomass varies in response to changing ocean temperatures, but physiological responses as reflected in the nutritional quality of kelp tissue are poorly understood,” wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



According to study co-author Kyle Emery, a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, “one of the most hidden effects of ocean warming” seems to be giant kelp’s increasing loss in nutrient content. By analyzing data collected over two decades about several kelp forests from the Santa Barbara Chanell, Emery and his colleagues have managed to identify significant trends in patterns of nutrient content charactering giant kelp populations.



“The temperature of the seawater and nutrient availability are really closely coupled in the Santa Barbara Channel, and we’ve known that for some time,” said study lead author Heili Lowman, a biogeochemist at the <a href="https://www.unr.edu/">University of Nevada</a>, Reno. 



While lower temperatures bring nutrient-rich waters from the deep, in warmer seasons nutrients in the upper layers of the ocean – particularly nitrogen – become scarcer.



“Physiologically, kelp plants can’t store nitrogen for longer than a couple weeks, so whatever’s happening around them in the water they’re going to respond to very quickly because they need a constant supply of nitrogen to grow, and to continue to reproduce,” Lowman explained.



Since ocean temperatures have continued to rise due to global warming, nitrogen content of the giant kelp declined by 18 percent, with a proportional increase in carbon content. This decline in kelp’s nutritional content is negatively affecting a vast array of marine animals that consume these algae, such as sea urchins, abalone, intertidal beach hoppers, or other invertebrates. 



Moreover, the effects could ripple out to the rest of the food web, affecting also those that fed upon kelp’s primary consumers, including, ultimately, humans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.08619">Oikos</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

Rising ocean temperatures lower giant kelp’s nutritional value

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is a species of large brown...

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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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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