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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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Global hunt for rare earth elements is underway

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

Computer simulations suggest that interactions between communities of plankton (the myriad microorganisms inhabiting the oceans and supplying most of the Earth’s oxygen) will be affected by climate change in different ways, depending on their location.&nbsp;



At the poles, plankton communities will be severely damaged due to rises in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/temperatures-are-rising-unexpectedly-fast-on-the-tibetan-plateau/">temperature</a>. Meanwhile, in the tropics they will suffer from increased salinity, and in temperate zones plankton groups will be transformed by a reduced flow of nutrients.



Between 2009 and 2013, the <a href="https://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/en/">Tara</a> research schooner sailed around the world and collected samples of plankton from every ocean, resulting in the largest inventory of marine plankton. The discoveries of this expedition were published in 2015 in a special issue of the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/toc/science/348/6237?_ga=2.115029831.1335720469.1634281480-2046344334.1629960599">Science</a>.



“That publication provided a snapshot of all the microorganisms in the oceans - the species, and the abundance of each one. It was one of the largest genetic sequencing projects executed to date,” said&nbsp;Hugo Sarmento, a professor in the Hydrobiology Department of the <a href="https://www.ufscar.br/foreign-visitor/about-ufscar">Federal University of São Carlos</a> (UFSCar).&nbsp;



“However, when we analyzed the data, we realized that these organisms depend on each other to survive and form complex microbial assemblages. They interact in many more ways than we imagined, and climate change will have a significant impact on them.”



In the latest study, published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg1921">Science Advances</a>, Professor Sarmento and colleagues used statistical tools to analyze the data from the Tara expedition, and reconstructed the networks of interaction among the microorganisms.&nbsp;



Based on this information, in conjunction with environmental factors including temperature, availability of nutrients, and salinity, the scientists projected the potential effects of climate change on these communities.



“We ran the simulations for several stressors,” said Professor Sarmento. “In the temperate zone, nutrient regime changes appeared to be most important, whereas in the tropics the main stressors for plankton networks were temperature, albeit less so than at the poles, and salinity.”



“Given that the largest increases will occur precisely in polar regions, we can foresee major changes in the functioning of these communities, with important consequences for the equilibrium of the system."



Such changes may result in lower oxygen production, and will probably affect the oceans’ capacity to capture and store atmospheric carbon. Moreover, the plankton biomass, which is the foundation for the marine food chain, will also be severely affected, endangering a large variety of ecosystems.



---



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

Climate change will profoundly affect plankton communities

Computer simulations suggest that interactions between communities of plankton (the...

A research team led by <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a> estimates that if greenhouse <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feeding-cattle-seaweed-could-reduce-methane-emissions/">emissions</a> are not quickly curbed, Earth will be unrecognizable by 2500, with some regions becoming completely inhospitable. The projections suggest that by this time in our planet's future, the Amazon will be barren, the American Midwest tropical, and India will be too hot to inhabit.



Although many scientific studies talk about the long-term impacts of climate change in terms of increasing greenhouse emissions, temperatures, or sea levels, most of them don’t look further than 2100. According to the McGill study, published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15871">Global Change Biology</a>, to fully grasp and plan for climate impacts, scientists and policymakers should look well beyond the end of this century.&nbsp;



“The Paris Agreement, the United Nations, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s scientific assessment reports, all show us what we need to do before 2100 to meet our goals, and what could happen if we don’t,” said study lead author Christopher Lyon. “But this benchmark, which has been used for over 30 years, is short-sighted because people born now will only be in their 70s by 2100.”



“We need to envision the Earth our children and grandchildren may face, and what we can do now to make it just and liveable for them. If we fail to meet the Paris Agreement goals, and emissions keep rising, many places in the world will dramatically change.”



By running global climate model projections based on time-dependent projections of greenhouse gas concentrations for low, medium, and high mitigation scenarios up to the year 2500, the scientists found that the Earth might become largely inhospitable for future generations.



Under low and medium mitigation scenarios, in which global warming will not be limited to values below two degrees Celsius, vegetation could move to the poles, leaving currently rich ecosystems such as the Amazon Basin barren. The densely populated tropics will likely become too hot to be inhabitable, and global <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-are-rising-at-an-alarming-rate/">sea levels</a> will keep rising.



“These projections point to the potential magnitude of climate upheaval on longer time scales and fall within the range of assessments made by others,” said Dr. Lyon. Thus, climate projections and the policies that depend on them should look further into the future in order to fully grasp the long-term scope of climate impacts.



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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

Climate change could make Earth inhospitable by 2500

A research team led by McGill University estimates that if...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.gu.se/en">University of Gothenburg</a> has found that extended space travel can cause brain damage. The negative effects on the body associated with long periods in space (including muscle atrophy, decreased bone mass, deteriorated vision, and altered <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-gut-microbiome-protects-us-from-disease/">gut microbiome</a>) have been extensively documented, but this is the first study to analyze how long-duration space flights affect the human brain.



The scientists monitored five male Russian cosmonauts who stayed on the International Space Station (ISS), located approximately 400 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, for an average of 169 days. Blood samples from the cosmonauts were taken 20 days before their departure, as well as one day, one week, and three weeks after their return.&nbsp;



The goal was to analyze five biomarkers that point to brain damage (neurofilament light (NFL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), total tau (T-tau), and two amyloid beta proteins). The concentrations of three of the biomarkers (NFL, GFAP, and the amyloid beta protein Aβ40) were significantly elevated after the space sojourn.&nbsp;



"This is the first time that concrete proof of brain-cell damage has been documented in blood tests following space flights. This must be explored further and prevented if space travel is to become more common in the future," said study senior co-author Henrik Zetterberg, a professor of Neuroscience at the University of Gothenburg.



"To get there, we must help one another to find out why the damage arises. Is it being weightless, changes in brain fluid, or stressors associated with launch and landing, or is it caused by something else? Here, loads of exciting experimental studies on humans can be done on Earth."



A previous <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2722895">study </a>suggested that spaceflight can trigger a redistribution of brain extracellular fluid, causing white matter changes throughout the brain. “We know that fluid shifts toward the head in space,” explained Rachel Seidler, a professor at the <a href="https://www.hhp.ufl.edu/">College of Health and Human Performance</a> at the University of Florida. “When you see photos and video of astronauts, their faces often look puffy, because gravity isn’t pulling fluids down into the body.”&nbsp;



These gravitational effects have a significant, yet impermanent impact on the brain’s white matter, particularly in the areas responsible for sensory-motor processing. As the new study shows, however, prolonged space travel could also give rise to more severe and permanent forms of brain damage that should be investigated in more depth.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2784623">JAMA Network</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

Space travel can cause brain damage

A new study led by the University of Gothenburg has...

In a new study published by <a href="https://www.bmj.com/">BMJ</a>, experts report that the risk of serious injury associated with horseback riding is higher than that of other potentially risky <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/boys-who-play-sports-as-young-children-have-better-mental-health/">sporting</a> activities. According to the analysis, the risk of an injury that requires hospital admission is greater for horseback riding than football, motor racing, or skiing.



“Equestrian-related injuries are a frequently ignored public health issue," said the researchers. “When taken together, these data suggest that the dangers of equestrian activities have been severely underappreciated. When controlled for hours of activity, horseback riding resulted in a higher proportion of hospital admission than other higher risk activities like skiing.”



More than 30 million people participate in equestrian leisure each year in the United States alone, yet little is known about the prevalence of injuries related to the sport.&nbsp;



The study authors analyzed data from 24,791 patients with equestrian injuries supplied by level I and II trauma centers to the US National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). The injuries were sustained between 2007 and 2016 by adults with an average age of 47.



The chest was the most common site of injury, but head and neck injuries were the most fatal. Injuries to the arms and legs were also very common, while abdominal injuries were the least common.



During the study period, 320 patients died from their horseback riding injuries. Three out of four of these individuals had head and neck injuries.



The researchers determined that riders with head and neck injuries were 44 times as likely to die as those with arm or leg injuries, while patients with chest and abdominal injuries were around 6 times as likely to die.&nbsp;



“Studies have shown that a large fraction of riders involved in equestrian injuries were not wearing helmets at the time of their accident," noted the study authors. "It stands to reason that raising awareness of the possible injuries and increasing preventive measures to protect against head injuries would significantly reduce mortality.”



“Interestingly, hospital admission risk from horseback riding is higher than football, auto and motorcycle racing, and skiing."



"Recently, some attention has been paid by equestrian sporting agencies to the use of protective equipment to prevent injuries, especially as it relates to concussion and brain injuries; however, very few public health campaigns have focused on preventing injuries in riders using horses for leisure and work.”&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://tsaco.bmj.com/">Trauma Surgery &amp; Acute Care Open</a>.



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

Horseback riding has a higher risk of serious injury than football

In a new study published by BMJ, experts report that...

Although lizards can regrow amputated tails, the replacement structures are imperfect cartilage tubes lacking the dorsoventral patterning of the original tails. A research team led by the <a href="https://homeadmin.usc.edu/www/">University of Southern California</a> (USC) has recently managed to significantly improve the regeneration of lizard tails through stem-cell therapy.



To achieve this, the scientists have initially investigated how lizard tails form during adult regeneration in comparison to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/embryonic-sharks-will-struggle-to-survive-in-a-warmer-ocean/">embryonic</a> development. In both cases, neural stem cells (NSCs) play a crucial role. However, adult NSCs produce a molecular system blocking skeletal and nerve formation and encouraging cartilage growth, thus “ventralizing” both sides of the tail. Even if this ventralizing signal is absent, adult NSCs are still incapable of generating nerve tissue for the upper or dorsal side of the tail.



Embryonic NSCs, on the other hand, produce the ventralizing signal only in the cartilage region which becomes the lower or ventral side of the tail, allowing the dorsal side to develop skeletal and nerve tissue. Yet, even&nbsp;if embryonic NSCs are implanted into adult tail stumps, they still respond to the ventralizing signal and cannot develop into dorsal structures.



“Lizards have been around for more than 250 million years, and in all that time no lizard has ever regrown a tail with dorsoventral patterning, until now,” said study lead author Thomas Lozito, an assistant professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/">Keck School of Medicine</a> at USC. “My lab has created the first regenerated lizard tails with patterned skeletons.”



Professor Lozito and his team used gene-editing tools to make embryonic NSCs unresponsive to the ventralizing signal and they implanted them into adult tail stumps. This process led to the regeneration of perfect tails with dorsoventral patterning.



“This study has provided us with essential practice on how to improve an organism’s regenerative potential,” explained Lozito. “Perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail provides us with a blueprint for improving healing in wounds that don’t naturally regenerate, such as severed human limbs and spinal cords. In this way, we hope our lizard research will lead to medical breakthroughs for treating hard-to-heal injuries.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26321-9">Nature Communications</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

Lizards regenerate perfect tails through stem-cell therapy

Although lizards can regrow amputated tails, the replacement structures are...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-021-01626-x">Translational Psychiatry</a> has found that many domestic dogs exhibit behaviors similar to those of humans suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breathing-exercises-improve-focus-in-children-with-adhd/">hyperactivity</a>, impulsivity, and inattention.



“Dogs share many similarities with humans, including physiological traits and the same environment. In addition, ADHD-like behavior naturally occurs in dogs. This makes dogs an interesting model for investigating ADHD in humans,” said study lead author&nbsp;Sini Sulkama, a doctoral researcher at the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a>.



Sulkama and colleagues conducted an extensive behavioral survey on data collected from over 11,000 dogs in order to identify environmental factors underlying canine ADHD-like behavior and possible links to other behavioral traits.&nbsp;



They found that hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention were most common in young male dogs, a correlation to age and gender that has been observed in humans too. Furthermore, dogs who spent more time alone at home daily were more prone to exhibit such symptoms.



“As social animals, dogs can get frustrated and stressed when they are alone, which can be released as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. It may be that dogs who spend longer periods in solitude also get less exercise and attention from their owners,” explained Sulkama.



A surprising discovery was that ADHD symptoms were found more often in dogs who were not their owners’ first dogs. Although the causality of this phenomenon is unclear, Sulkama thinks that people may pick as their first dog a less active individual and chose more active and challenging dogs after gaining more experience.



The researchers also found differences between dog breeds, with pet or show dogs such as Poodles, Chihuahua, or Long-Haired Collies having a calmer disposition than breeds bred for work such as German Shepherds or Border Collies.



Moreover, the scientists confirmed previously observed links between ADHD and other behavioral problems such as obsessive-compulsive behavior (OCD), aggressiveness, or fearfulness. In dogs, OCD often occurs in conjunction with ADHD, in behaviors such as tail chasing, or continuous licking of surfaces or themselves.&nbsp;



“The findings suggest that the same brain regions and neurobiological pathways regulate activity, impulsivity and concentration in both humans and dogs. This strengthens the promise that dogs show as a model species in the study of ADHD. In other words, the results can both make it easier to identify and treat canine impulsivity and inattention as well as promote ADHD research,” concluded Sulkama.



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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 exhibit behaviors similar to human ADHD

A new study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry has...

Invasive shrubs in Northeastern <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forests-create-cloud-cover-that-cools-the-climate/">forests</a> are stifling the growth of native species, according to a new report. The researchers conducted a three-year study of invasive shrub removal to investigate how the native plants responded in The Arboretum at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Penn State</a>.



The non-native shrubs sprout leaves earlier in the spring, and keep them longer in the fall, which gives them a competitive advantage. The invasive plants absorb more sunlight than native shrubs and lower the temperatures on the forest floor.&nbsp;



Study lead author Erynn Maynard-Bean explained that invasive shrubs are flourishing in temperate, deciduous forest understories of eastern North America where resources - especially light - are limited.



"Light and temperature influence ecosystem processes, likely slowing the growth of native plants," said Maynard-Bean. "We saw a pattern of reduced maximum air temperature in the presence of invasive shrubs during the growing season of most years."



The researchers detected 26.8 percent less light energy infiltration beneath invasive shrubs compared to native shrubs, with differences largest in the spring.



This difference in light energy is significant, Maynard-Bean noted. "Think of it this way, it's like a 60-watt lamp in every 10 square feet of the forest is removed by the presence of invasive shrubs, on average, across the growing season."



The researchers periodically recorded temperature data hourly and daily throughout the study period. They calculated the difference in temperatures between invasive shrub plots and native shrub plots.&nbsp;



According to Maynard-Bean, temperatures fluctuated in the experiment. The variation resulted from different surfaces the sunlight hits on the forest floor, she explained, and how much moisture is present.



"Sunlight warms the surface, and then that heat transfers to the air. But it turns out to be extremely variable, because it depends on how wet the surfaces are - water will absorb a lot of that energy, not changing the temperature. It's also dependent on the type of material on the forest floor. It's mostly leaf litter, but also sticks, logs and rocks change the rate of transfer of light energy into temperature."



Maynard-Bean said that the results of the study may explain a phenomenon that scientists have witnessed associated with invasive forest plants.



"First, we know that invasive shrubs negatively impact bees, butterflies and amphibians in forest understories," said Maynard-Bean. "Those are exothermic species, meaning their activity and development is highly influenced by light and temperature in the understory. So, this could help explain why we don't find as many butterflies, bees and amphibians in invaded understories as we do in uninvaded understories."



The findings may also explain why Eastern forests have grown increasingly fire resistant, to the detriment of fire-tolerant plant species such as oak, said Maynard-Bean, adding that lower light conditions have potential implications for forest litter quality and decomposition rates.



"The darker, cooler conditions caused by the invasion of nonnative shrubs have the potential to exacerbate the mesophication - the transition of a fire-adapted community to a fire-intolerant one - of Eastern deciduous U.S. forests."



"Decades of forest fire suppression have allowed mesophytic, or shade-tolerant, species to shift the understory toward more cool, damp and shaded conditions resistant to burning."



The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.



The study is published in the <a href="http://naturalareas.org/about_the_natural_areas_journa.php">Natural Areas Journal</a>.



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

Invasive shrubs are transforming Northeastern forests

Invasive shrubs in Northeastern forests are stifling the growth of...

To date, the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in late 2019 has caused more than 240 million infections and nearly five million deaths. Although the vast majority (98 percent) of those who become infected with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/llamas-provide-a-potential-treatment-against-covid-19/">SARS-CoV-2</a> survive, the consequences of the infection may linger for many months.&nbsp;



A new study into the long-term health consequences for COVID survivors, conducted by researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine, has found that more than half of all survivors will experience post-COVID symptoms - known as "long COVID" - up to six months after recovering. The researchers suggest several ways in which public health professionals, governments and health care organizations should prepare for the needs of these survivors.



The researchers assessed 2,100 published studies concerning COVID survivors who reported post-recovery symptoms or illnesses. Of these, they selected 57 studies for inclusion in their review. Overall, they included data from 250,351 unvaccinated adults and children who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between December 2019 and March 2021, and who suffered post-recovery symptoms. The researchers analyzed survivors’ health during three intervals; at one month (short-term), two to five months (intermediate-term) and six or more months (long-term) after recovery.



Thirty-eight different clinical manifestations of symptoms were considered, and were grouped into the following categories: (1) organ systems, i.e, neurologic, mental health, respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, dermatologic, and ear, nose, and throat; (2) constitutional symptoms; and (3) functional mobility.



According to the findings, survivors manifested a variety of health issues associated with COVID-19. Generally, these complications affected a patient’s general well-being, their mobility or organ systems. The rates remained largely constant from one month through six or more months after their initial illness.&nbsp;



The investigators noted several trends among survivors, such as:



<ul><li>General well-being:&nbsp;More than half of all patients reported weight loss, fatigue, fever or pain.</li><li>Mobility:&nbsp;Roughly one in five survivors experienced a decrease in mobility.</li><li>Mental health disorders:&nbsp;Nearly one in three patients was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.</li><li>Neurologic concerns:&nbsp;Nearly one in four survivors experienced difficulty concentrating.</li><li>Lung abnormalities:&nbsp;Three in five survivors had chest image abnormalities and more than a quarter of patients had difficulty breathing.</li><li>Cardiovascular issues:&nbsp;Chest pain and palpitations were among the commonly reported conditions.</li><li>Skin conditions:&nbsp;Nearly one in five patients experienced hair loss or rashes.</li><li>Digestive issues:&nbsp;Stomach pain, lack of appetite, diarrhea and vomiting were among the commonly reported conditions.</li></ul>



“These findings confirm what many health care workers and COVID-19 survivors have been claiming, namely, that adverse health effects from COVID-19 can linger,” said co-lead investigator Vernon Chinchilli, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. "Although previous studies have examined the prevalence of long COVID symptoms among patients, this study examined a larger population, including people in high-, middle- and low-income countries, and examined many more symptoms. Therefore, we believe our findings are quite robust given the available data.”



It is clear from the results of this review, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Network Open, that COVID-19 survivors experience long-lasting medical, psychological, and economic consequences. &nbsp;Survivors with long covid are likely to have an increased need for health care and this could overwhelm health care systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The authors of the study recommend that special treatment plans be developed to help care for those affected.&nbsp;



“Since survivors may not have the energy or resources to go back and forth to their health care providers, one-stop clinics will be critical to effectively and efficiently manage patients with long COVID,” said <a href="https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/paddy-ssentongo">Dr. Paddy Ssentongo</a>, co-lead investigator and assistant professor at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.esm.psu.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-neural-engineering.aspx">Penn State Center for Neural Engineering</a>. “Such clinics could reduce medical costs and optimize access to care, especially in populations with historically larger health care disparities.”



“The burden of poor health in COVID-19 survivors is overwhelming,” said Ssentongo. “Among these are the mental health disorders. One's battle with COVID doesn’t end with recovery from the acute infection. Vaccination is our best ally to prevent getting sick from COVID-19 and to reduce the chance of long-COVID even in the presence of a breakthrough infection.”



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

More than half of COVID survivors have symptoms 6 months later

To date, the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in late...

Woman,With,Baby,Girl

New research shows how the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/coffee-consumption-may-reverse-the-detrimental-effects-of-aging-on-the-heart/">age</a> of ringworms (Caenorhabditis elegans) affects their offspring. The study showed that older parents had offspring that grew more quickly, had their own offspring at a younger age, and reproduced more often through a normal lifespan.



“Reduced lifespan in the offspring of older parents has been observed in many species, including humans," said lead researcher Dr. Laura Travers of the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/">University of East Anglia</a>.



"Producing offspring in later life may be harmful to offspring for several reasons. For example, older parents may have lower quality eggs or sperm, or be less well able to take care of their offspring."&nbsp;&nbsp;



"On the other hand, in some species it has been shown that older parents can produce more robust offspring because they have more resources to invest and are more experienced in later life which allows them to take better care of their offspring."



"We wanted to find out more about how parental age influences reproduction and lifespan of offspring. So, we investigated how older parents affect offspring over several generations in roundworms.”



Using the small transparent, soil dwelling worms, the researchers bred several generations. The lifespan and offspring of every second generation was measured. Dr. Travers explained why roundworms were good research subjects.



“They don’t have bones, a heart, or a circulatory system. But they’re a classic model organism for studying aging and reproductive processes in biology because they do share many genes and molecular pathways that control development with humans."



"They are also really useful because they have a short lifespan of about three weeks, so we can study them over several generations in a short amount of time. Doing a similar study in humans would take more than a century!”



It seems that older parents invested more energy in their eggs, giving their offspring a better start at growing larger and maturing faster. Ironically,&nbsp; this allowed the offspring of older parents to become parents at a younger age and create more offspring. Dr. Travers explains the importance of this finding,



“It has often been suggested that old parental age is detrimental for offspring lifespan, health and fitness. But our results show that old parental age has strong beneficial effects for offspring development and lifetime reproductive success.This is really important because it contradicts the established view that old parental age invariably reduces offspring lifespan and fitness.”



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

Older parents may be beneficial to offspring

New research shows how the age of ringworms (Caenorhabditis elegans)...

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 219 million confirmed cases and 4.55 million deaths to date. The impact the pandemic had on health care workers, and the exhaustion of workers taking on extra shifts and covering for inadequate staffing has been extensively documented. Until recently, the ways in which pandemic response crippled other public health services has received less attention.



A new study published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255844">PLOS One</a> has found that the COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the provision of other public health services in the United States. During the past 18 months, a large number of public health workers have been redeployed to COVID-related duties, reducing or suspending the deployment of other critical public health services.&nbsp;



According to researchers from the <a href="https://www.udel.edu/">University of Delaware</a>, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. public health system has been understaffed and underfunded. During the peaks of the pandemic, staff redeployments produced significant reductions in several areas, such as programs focused on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (47 percent reduction), maternal and child health (42 percent), chronic disease (37 percent), injury (37 percent), substance abuse (28 percent), and environmental health (26 percent).&nbsp;



“That impacts the overall health of the population,” said study lead author Jennifer Horney, professor and founding director of the University of Delaware’s <a href="https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/chs/departments/epidemiology/">Epidemiology Program</a>. “Those things didn’t just go away. People still had high blood pressure, they were dying of substance abuse in increasing numbers, but those programs were put on hold.”



Moreover, an increasing number of health workers were on the job for more hours than before the pandemic, often resulting in burnouts, resignations, and early retirements. According to a large-scale <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7026e1.htm">survey</a> conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">CDC</a>), among 26,174 surveyed public health workers, 53 percent reported mental health problems. The symptoms were more prevalent among those who worked more than 40 hours per week or couldn’t take time off.&nbsp;



Further research is needed to explore these issues in greater depth, and understand how these experiences have changed during 2021. In order to mitigate the complex effects on public health this pandemic had and future health crises might engender, increased funding and enhanced educational opportunities must be urgently provided to train the next generation of frontline health workers.



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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

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on public health

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 219 million confirmed...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/">Environmental Working Group</a> (EWG) has found that nearly 42,000 sources of “forever chemicals” - a group of man-made chemicals also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that don’t break down when released into the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/living-in-an-extreme-environment/">environment</a> – could be polluting drinking water in various communities across the United States.



PFAS are some of the most persistent toxic compounds. They are often added in common household products such as cookware, food packaging, personal care products, textiles, or carpets, and appear to be currently found in the blood of virtually everyone on Earth, including newborn babies, who are often exposed to PFAS already from their mother’s womb.



Using public data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s&nbsp;<a href="https://echo.epa.gov/">Enforcement and Compliance History Online database</a>, scientists analyzed the potential sources of PFAS contamination in drinking water supplies across the country, and identified as the most probable pollution sources solid waste landfills, petroleum refiners, wastewater treatment plants, and electroplaters and metal finishers.



In a 2020 study, EWG found PFAS chemicals in the drinking water of a large number of U.S. cities, with the highest&nbsp;levels detected in Miami, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and the northern New Jersey suburbs of New York City.&nbsp;In the current study, the highest levels of PFAS were found in Camp Pendleton, a Marine base close to San Diego, and in water systems from Sacramento, Orville, Rosemont, and Corona.



According to the scientists, even low doses of PFAS in drinking water can significantly suppress the immune system, and are associated to elevated cholesterol, hypertension, thyroid disease, increased risk of cancer, and reproductive and developmental harm.



“It is critical that the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">EPA</a> start regulating PFAS – now,” said&nbsp;study lead author David Andrews, a senior scientist at EWG. “Every community in the U.S. is likely affected by PFAS contamination, but those living near or downstream from industrial facilities may be more at risk.”



“Our investigation identifies a huge number of potential sources of contamination. It also provides a framework for deciding where and what to test so we can end releases into the environment."



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://awwa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aws2.1233">AWWA Water 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

Chemicals from 42,000 sources are polluting drinking water in the U.S.

A new study led by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)...

According to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.uga.edu/">University of Georgia</a>, replacing petroleum-based aviation fuel with a plant-based fuel derived from Brassica carinata, a species of mustard <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-plants-disperse-their-seeds/">plant</a>, could reduce carbon emissions by 68 percent.



Currently, the aviation industry emits 2.5 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and is responsible for 3.5 percent of global warming. In September of 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden set the goal of a 20 percent drop in aviation-related emissions by 2030 and a 100 percent drop by 2050.&nbsp;



According to the scientists form the University of Georgia, using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) derived from the non-edible oilseed crop Brassica carinata would easily make Biden’s goal feasible.



“If we can secure feedstock supply and provide suitable economic incentives along the supply chain, we could potentially produce carinata-based SAF in the southern United States,” explained study lead author Puneet Dwivedi, an associate professor in the <a href="https://www.warnell.uga.edu/">Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources</a> at the University of Georgia.



“Carinata-based SAF could help reduce the carbon footprint of the aviation sector while creating economic opportunities and improving the flow of ecosystem services across the southern region.”



Professor Dwivedi plays an important role in the Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (<a href="https://sparc-cap.org/">SPARC</a>), a $15 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s <a href="https://nifa.usda.gov/">National Institute of Food and Agriculture</a>. In the context of this project, during the past four years, researchers investigated how to optimally grow carinata in the Southeast.&nbsp;



“In the South, we can grow carinata as a winter crop because our winters are not as severe compared to other regions of the country,” explained Dwivedi.&nbsp;



“Since carinata is grown in the ‘off’ season it does not compete with other food crops, and it does not trigger food versus fuel issues. Additionally, growing carinata provides all the cover-crop benefits related to water quality, soil health, biodiversity, and pollination.”



Dwivedi’s current research aims to model the economic and environmental feasibility of producing and consuming carinata-based SAF in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.



&nbsp;“I am looking forward to pursuing more research for providing a sustainable alternative to our current model of air travel. Carinata has the potential to be a win-win situation for our rural areas, the aviation industry, and most importantly, climate change,” he concluded.



The study was published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcbb.12888">GCB-Bioenergy</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

Plant-based jet fuel could reduce carbon emissions by 68 percent

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

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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



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



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



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



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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



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



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



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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



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

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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



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

Kainji Lake in north central Nigeria

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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



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

Designing crops that can beat the heat

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



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



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



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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



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

How does salt makes things taste better?

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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

Santiago, Chile in South America

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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



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

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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



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



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



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



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



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



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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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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