Stars,Are,Collapsing,In,A,Deep,Black,Hole,,Attracted,By

“Hic sunt leones,” said Stefano Liberati, the co-author of a new study exploring the nature of the&nbsp;singularities at the heart of black holes.



On medieval charts, these words warned of terra incognita, or unknown territory. In modern cosmology, they mark the central core of a classical black hole - a place where Einstein’s otherwise triumphant field equations predict an impossible infinity.



According to Karl Schwarzschild’s 1916 solution to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, if enough mass collapses into a small region, it forms a horizon through which nothing can escape. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radical-theory-unites-gravity-spacetime-and-the-quantum-realm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spacetime</a> curvature keeps steepening until, at the very center, it diverges.



By the 1960s, theorists had proven that singularity is not a removable coordinate glitch but an unavoidable feature of classical relativity taken to its limit. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-immensely-compact-objects">Immensely compact objects </h2>



Invoking the word “singularity” became, in Liberati’s phrase, a white flag that signals surrender: here our current physics breaks down. Observations since the 1970s have nevertheless confirmed that immensely compact objects exist. 



Nobel‑winning milestones include the first gravitational‑wave signal in 2015 - an invisible quake caused by two black holes spiraling together - and the <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Event Horizon Telescope</a>’s images of the shadows of M87* and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/stars-orbiting-sagittarius-a-appear-rejuvenated-after-stellar-collisions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sagittarius A*</a>.



These achievements reveal matter and light teetering on the brink of the horizon, but they say nothing about what happens farther in.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-new-look-at-black-holes">A new look at black holes</h2>



Seeking an answer to these questions, the <a href="https://www.ifpu.it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe</a> (IFPU) gathered an eclectic mix of theorists and observational specialists for a workshop whose debates have just been distilled into a substantial new paper.



Liberati, an astrophysicist at IFPU, calls the result “something more” than a conventional review: the text weaves together arguments from participants who began with sharply different positions and, in several cases, left with revised views.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-three-core-models-emerge">Three core models emerge</h2>



By the closing session, three broad classes of models had emerged. Each described an ultra‑compact object with different interior properties, while reproducing the observed exterior gravity that makes a black hole so distinctive.



The classical black hole remains faithful to Einstein, retaining both its event horizon and its singularity. The regular black hole keeps the horizon intact yet replaces the infinite core with a finite quantum‑driven region. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-objects-that-mimick-black-holes">Objects that mimick black holes</h2>



Finally, the black hole mimicker does away with horizon and singularity alike. Objects in this family - gravastars supported by quantum vacuum energy, boson stars made of exotic scalar fields, or wormholes stabilized by modified gravity - imitate the outer profile of a black hole. 



However, they host a radically different interior. Participants then asked whether nature could forge such objects.



Collapse halted by quantum pressure might generate a regular black hole, whereas a cloud of self‑interacting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/higgs-boson-god-particle-still-remains-quantum-mystery-after-12-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bosons</a> could condense into a mimicker without ever forming a horizon. 



Some scenarios even allow an object to migrate from one class to another as it accretes mass or sheds angular momentum.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-probing-the-invisible">Probing the invisible </h2>



While current telescopes cannot see inside a horizon, the team emphasizes that non‑classical objects are never exactly identical to a Schwarzschild solution even outside that boundary. Small discrepancies could betray a different interior.



High‑resolution imaging may reveal extra photon rings or subtle asymmetries around a mimicker, produced by the way light bends in a spacetime that slightly deviates from Einstein’s geometry.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/black-hole-singularity_discovery_credit-Sissa-Medialab_1m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/black-hole-singularity_discovery_credit-Sissa-Medialab_1s.webp" alt="Singular black hole and non-singular alternatives. Credit: Sissa Medialab. Background image sourced from ESO/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit" class="wp-image-1969092"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Singular black hole and non-singular alternatives. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Sissa Medialab. Background image sourced from ESO/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit </figcaption></figure>



Future gravitational‑wave detectors could pick up minute echoes caused by reflections from a surface just outside where the horizon would usually form. Even thermal signatures from a surface that replaces the horizon might betray a mimicker.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-confirming-the-singularity-of-black-holes">Confirming the singularity of black holes</h2>



Why press so hard to replace or confirm the idea of singularity in black holes? Aside from resolving a long‑standing paradox in general relativity, experimental evidence for a finite core or a mimicker could illuminate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-quantum-gravity-discovery-leaps-one-step-closer-to-unified-theory-of-everything/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">quantum gravity</a>, the still‑missing framework uniting relativity with quantum mechanics.



If singularities are smoothed away, the mechanism doing the smoothing must involve quantum principles acting on astronomical scales. For now, no one can specify how strong the telltale deviations should be.



Numerical simulations are advancing rapidly, however, helped by ever‑faster supercomputers and clever algorithms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-future-of-gravity-research">The future of gravity research </h2>



As models sharpen, engineers can design instruments keyed to the predicted anomalies, just as waveform catalogs guided <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LIGO</a>’s discovery of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/expanding-our-view-of-the-universe-with-faint-gravitational-waves/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gravitational waves</a>. Data will then feed back into theory, pruning ideas that fail and refining those that survive.



Liberati sees the moment as a turning point. “What lies ahead for gravity research is a truly exciting time. We are entering an era where a vast and unexplored landscape is opening up before us.”



Whether the singular black hole core will dissolve into quantum foam, reveal a tangible surface, or stand unchanged as Einstein foretold, the coming interplay of theory, simulation, and observation promises to redraw our deepest map of space, time, and matter.



The study is published in the <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2025/05/003" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics</a>.



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Solving the singularity puzzle at the heart of black holes has proven very difficult

“Hic sunt leones,” said Stefano Liberati, the co-author of a new study exploring the nature of the&nbsp;singularities at the heart of black holes. On medieval charts, these words warned of terra incognita, or unknown territory. In modern cosmology, they mark the central core of a classical black hole - a place where Einstein’s otherwise triumphant field equations predict an impossible infinity. According to Karl Schwarzschild’s 1916 solution to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, if enough mass collapses into a small region, it forms a horizon through which nothing can...

While many recent studies have used data models to predict the future effect of CO2 on global warming, a new study has instead investigated climate changes that occurred in Earth's distant past. 

The research, led by the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a>, demonstrates that a decline in the atmospheric concentration of CO2 shifted Earth’s climate from a warm greenhouse to a freezing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/young-earth-was-heated-by-extreme-levels-of-atmospheric-co2/">ice</a> age around 34 million years ago. 

The study concluded that this transition could be partly reversed in the coming centuries due to the anthropogenic rise in CO2 levels. 

The Eocene in Antarctica had previously been covered by lush forests over 40 million years ago, but around six million years later, the forests of the Oligocene were replaced by thick continental ice sheets. 

The result of this change was the freezing climate we know today as Antarctica. Little information is known about the driving force of this transition, and lead researchers Dr. Vittoria Laurentano and Dr. David Naafs set out to investigate this. 

The team used molecular fossils that had been preserved in ancient coals to reconstruct land temperature models across this transition. The models were built using a new approach based on the distribution of bacterial lipids that were preserved in ancient wetland deposits. 

Rich Pancost is a co-author of the paper and a researcher in Bristol’s School of Chemistry. 

"These compounds originally comprised the cell membranes of bacteria living in ancient wetlands, with their structures changing slightly to help the bacteria adapt to changing temperature and acidity," explained Pancost. "Those compounds can then be preserved for tens of millions of years, allowing us to reconstruct those ancient environmental conditions."

The team applied their new approach to coal deposits from the southeast Australian Gippsland Basin in order to reconstruct temperature change across the greenhouse-to-icehouse transition. These coal deposits spanned over 10 million years of Earth’s history and have been characterized extensively by collaborators Dr. Vera Korasidis and Professor Malcolm Wallace from the University of Melbourne. 

The new data demonstrates that both the historic land and ocean temperatures were cooled by a uniform magnitude of around 3°C. To explore the causes of this decline in temperature, the team conducted climate model simulations. 

The experts concluded that only simulations which accounted for a decline in atmospheric CO2 were able to reproduce cooling levels that remained consistent with the temperature data reconstructed from the coal samples. 

Ultimately, these results provide further evidence that atmospheric CO2 plays a crucial role in driving Earth’s climate, including a central role in the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The project was developed and funded by the ERC’s The Greenhouse Earth Systems (TGRES).

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/">Nature Geoscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Decline in CO2 reversed climate warming 30 million years ago

While many recent studies have used data models to predict...

We judge bad behavior more leniently when our family and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/killer-whales-have-close-friendships/">friends</a> are the perpetrators, finds new research published by the <a href="https://www.apa.org/">American Psychological Association</a>. However, this leniency may come at a cost to our own sense of self-worth.

“How do we react when our romantic partners, friends or family members behave unethically? Past research tells us a lot about how we respond to a stranger’s unethical behavior, but very little about how we respond when the perpetrator is someone we care deeply about,” said study lead author Rachel Forbes, MA, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. 

“When someone close to us behaves unethically, we face a conflict between upholding our moral values and maintaining our relationship.”

More than 1,100 participants took part in the research, which involved four separate experiments. In the first, participants read a fictional scenario in which a romantic partner, close friend or stranger committed an unethical or immoral deed. 

For the second experiment, participants were asked to recall their own experience of witnessing a friend, partner or stranger behave badly. 

The third experiment required participants to keep a daily record of all moral transgressions they witnessed in a 15-day period.

In each of the experiments, the participants completed questionnaires about the transgressor, the seriousness of the bad behavior and the most appropriate punishment that should be given. They were also required to answer self-assessment questions about any negative emotions they felt, particularly towards themselves and their own sense of morality.

The results showed that participants were less angry and disgusted when immoral acts were committed by loved ones or friends. They also felt less need to criticize or punish in these instances. However, this came at a cost to themselves; participants felt more shame, guilt and embarrassment when someone close to them was the transgressor, and also reported questioning their own moral values.

In a fourth experiment, participants were physically paired with a loved one, a close friend or a stranger. The pairs were then separated and the individuals were asked to write down answers to some questions about themselves. These answers were switched and given to the experimental partners for assessment. 

In the first test, the answers to the questions were genuine. In the second test, fake answers were exchanged that revealed the other member of the pair had behaved badly by plagiarizing, lying or by being selfish. 

Once again, participants had to report their feelings about the transgressor, the seriousness of the behavior, the appropriate punishment and their own self-worth and moral judgement.

The results in this last experiment were the same as in the previous three, but they were less intense. The researchers feel that their findings are very relevant to situations in everyday life where people witness immoral behavior committed by familiar others. 

“Identifying that observers are more lenient toward close others who transgress raises deeper concerns about how moral norms are policed by individuals in these situations,” said study co-author Dr. Jennifer Stellar. “This may allow people to either overlook and/or fail to call out transgressions committed by close others, which poses a danger for maintaining the moral norms in society.”

The study was recently published in the <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/psp">Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

We are faster to forgive bad behavior by our loved ones

We judge bad behavior more leniently when our family and...

The results of two long-running studies in Seattle have exposed a link between fine particle pollution (PM2.5) and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dementia-cases-expected-to-triple-over-the-next-three-decades/">dementia</a>.

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/">University of Washington</a> measured levels of PM2.5 at specific addresses in the Seattle area and averaged these concentrations over a decade. The study revealed that a small increase in PM2.5 was associated with a greater risk of dementia for people living at those addresses.

“We found that an increase of one microgram per cubic meter of exposure corresponded to a 16 percent greater hazard of all-cause dementia," said study lead author Rachel Shaffer. "There was a similar association for Alzheimer’s-type dementia."

The research was focused on more than 4,000 Seattle-area residents enrolled in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study, which is led by the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.

“The ACT Study is committed to advancing dementia research by sharing its data and resources, and we’re grateful to the ACT volunteers who have devoted years of their lives to supporting our efforts, including their enthusiastic participation in this important research on air pollution,” said Dr. Eric Larson, ACT’s founding principal investigator.

The researchers identified more than 1,000 residents who had been diagnosed with dementia at some point since the ACT Study began in 1994. 

Ultimately, the researchers found that just a one microgram per cubic meter difference between residences was associated with 16 percent higher incidence of dementia. To put that difference into perspective, said Shaffer, in 2019 there was approximately one microgram per cubic meter difference in PM2.5 pollution between Pike Street Market in downtown Seattle and the residential areas around Discovery Park. 

“We know dementia develops over a long period of time. It takes years - even decades - for these pathologies to develop in the brain, and so we needed to look at exposures that covered that extended period,” said Shaffer. "We had the ability to estimate exposures for 40 years in this region. That is unprecedented in this research area and a unique aspect of our study.”

Genetics, diet, and exercise are all associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, but air pollution is now recognized as another key risk factor. The new study adds to a growing collection of evidence which suggests that air pollution has neurodegenerative effects.

“Over an entire population, a large number of people are exposed. So, even a small change in relative risk ends up being important on a population scale,” said Shaffer. 

“There are some things that individuals can do, such as mask-wearing, which is becoming more normalized now because of COVID. But it is not fair to put the burden on individuals alone. These data can support further policy action on the local and national level to control sources of particulate air pollution.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/">Environmental Health Perspectives</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Seattle study confirms that air pollution increases dementia risk

The results of two long-running studies in Seattle have exposed...

Management of ecosystems with fire by native peoples was once widespread in the Americas, Australia and beyond. Unfortunately, colonization has largely eliminated this management scheme, favoring fire suppression instead. This change of tactic often has the opposite effect of what is intended, increasing the severity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/western-u-s-wildfires-will-increase-the-threat-of-dangerous-debris-flows/">wildfires</a> when they do happen. 

A study from the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/">University of Waterloo</a> is shedding new light on the negative impact of disrupting traditional, indigenous fire stewardship. 

“Declines in biodiversity were associated with high-severity fire activity, which began with the disruption of Indigenous-controlled fire use at the onset of colonization,” explained co-lead author Dr. Kira Hoffman,       

Public opinion is set against the types of fire management used by indigenous people. Hoffman hopes that changing this view may have a positive impact on management,   

“Agency and public support for Indigenous-led fire stewardship, specifically cultural burning can revive important cultural practices while helping protect ecosystems and human communities from increasingly destructive wildfires.”

With wildfires on the rise, the importance of this research can not be understated. Study co-author Professor Andrew Trant emphasizes the implications for the future of Canada, where the research was conducted.

“Identifying and implementing human-fire interactions supporting a variety of valuable social and ecological outcomes is becoming increasingly urgent, given what we’re seeing in Western Canada, Manitoba, and Ontario, our forest fire situation that can only go from bad to worse without changes to existing strategies,” said Professor Trent.

“Importantly, Indigenous-led fire stewardship continues to demonstrate the value of routinely applying controlled fire to adapt to changing environments while promoting desired landscapes, habitats, and species while also supporting subsistence practices, communities and livelihoods,” explained Hoffman. 

The research highlights the importance of indigenous people to biodiversity and to the health of the planet. Worldwide, indigenous people make up only 5 percent of the population but protect 85 percent of the planet’s biodiversity through land stewardship. 

The research is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Indigenous people demonstrate the value of controlled fire

Management of ecosystems with fire by native peoples was once...

Two studies published today in the <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/jaha">Journal of the American Heart Association</a> conclude that eating more plant foods can be extremely beneficial for heart health, particularly in young <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/adults-are-more-compassionate-when-children-are-nearby/">adults</a> and postmenopausal women.

One study, “A Plant-Centered Diet and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease during Young to Middle Adulthood,” followed the dietary habits and heart health of 4,946 adults who were between 18 and 30 years of age at the start of the study. 

After participants were enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, their dietary choices were assessed according to the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS). This index categorizes foods as beneficial (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains), adverse (including fried potatoes, high-fat red meat, salty snacks, pastries and soft drinks), or neutral (including potatoes, refined grains, lean meats and shellfish). Participants’ dietary choices were assessed again after seven years and twenty years.

Throughout the study, participants were not told what to eat, nor were they told their dietary scores. In addition, between the years of 1987 and 2016, the volunteers underwent a total of eight health examinations that involved lab tests and physical measurements, along with assessments of their lifestyle choices and medical histories. 

The findings show that during the 32 years over which the study was conducted, 289 of the participants developed cardiovascular disease. People who scored in the top 20 percent for dietary choices (ate the most nutritious plant foods and the fewest adverse foods) had a 52 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease. 

Moreover, people who improved their dietary choices during the course of the study were 61 percent less likely to develop heart disease when compared to those whose dietary choices became less healthy.

“A nutritionally rich, plant-centered diet is beneficial for cardiovascular health,” said lead author Yuni Choi of the University of Minnesota. “A plant-centered diet is not necessarily vegetarian. We think that individuals can include animal products in moderation from time to time, such as non-fried poultry, non-fried fish, eggs and low-fat dairy.”

The second study, “Relationship Between a Plant-Based Dietary Portfolio and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Prospective Cohort Study," was led by Dr. Simin Liu of Brown University.  The researchers investigated whether the “portfolio diet” was successful at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. 

The portfolio diet is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in lowering the levels of “bad” cholesterol. The diet involves eating mostly plant foods, such as nuts, soy, oats, barley and assorted fruits and vegetables. It also includes limited consumption of saturated fats and dietary cholesterol. 

A total of 123,330 women, who took part in the Women’s Health Initiative study, followed the portfolio diet to varying degrees. When the study commenced, they were between 50 and 79 years old and were free of cardiovascular disease. During the study, which lasted an average of 15 years, the individuals completed questionnaires about their food choices while their cardiovascular health was monitored.

The findings revealed that women who followed the plant-based diet most closely were 11 percent less likely to develop any type of cardiovascular disease. They were also 14 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease and 17 percent less likely to develop heart failure.

The researchers feel that these results are important because they show that people can benefit from incorporating cholesterol-lowering plant foods into their diets even as mature adults.

“We also found a dose response in our study, meaning that you can start small, adding one component of the Portfolio Diet at a time, and gain more heart-health benefits as you add more components,” said lead author Andrea J. Glenn at the University of Toronto.

Although both of these new studies are observational rather than experimental, and make use of correlations that do not indicate causal relationships, researchers feel that the results are reliable due to the robust experimental designs, large sample sizes and long duration of monitoring.

---

By <a href="http://bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Plant foods linked to drastically lower risk of heart disease

Two studies published today in the Journal of the American...

A new study from <a href="https://www.bangor.ac.uk/">Bangor University</a> has revealed that many regions of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/part-of-the-amazon-now-releases-more-carbon-than-it-stores/">Amazon</a> that have experienced the most deforestation are the same areas that currently exhibit the lowest levels of forest recovery. 

A major focus of the UN Climate Change COP26 Conference in November was the importance of forest restoration in the Amazon as a nature-based solution to climate change.

Forest recovery is a process in which trees return to land that has been previously deforested and then abandoned. The new forest growth can rapidly absorb large quantities of CO­2 from the atmosphere.

Reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is a central focus of global climate change policies, and a key target for achieving “net zero” emissions.

In the new study, however, an international team of researchers has found that the regions with the greatest potential for large-scale forest restoration have barely recovered, if at all. 

The highly deforested Amazon landscapes include some areas that show no sign of recovery - even 20 years after they were cleared.

Overall, the team found that less than 10 percent of carbon emissions from deforestation in the Amazon has been offset by new forest growth.

The extent of this carbon offsetting varies widely across the nine countries of Amazonia. For example, Brazil has experienced the majority of deforestation and the related CO2 emissions. At the same time, Brazil is falling behind on forest recovery, with only nine percent of its CO2 emissions from deforestation being offset.

On the other hand, in Guyana, where the recovering forests are older, nearly a quarter of deforestation emissions have been offset.

“Research in the Amazon typically focuses on Brazil because it holds most of the forest," said study lead author Charlotte Smith, a PhD researcher at Lancaster University.

"But there are eight other Amazonian countries. Understanding how forest recovery differs between countries can help us understand which countries’ policies are helping to maintain the forest carbon sink, and which ones aren’t.”

Smith noted that data from satellites is crucial for monitoring deforestation across areas as large as Amazonia and is the basis for monitoring the success of countries in achieving their targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

“The results of the study highlight three key challenges for the future of Amazon forests, the need to: (1) incentivise large-scale forest restoration in highly deforested regions, (2) protect new forests without disadvantaging the small landowners who depend on the cleared land for farming, and (3) prevent further deforestation," said study co-author Professor John Healey.

"Meeting all these challenges successfully is essential to ensure that the Amazon achieves its potential in mitigating climate change.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326">Environmental Research Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Forest recovery is lacking in the most deforested areas of the Amazon

A new study from Bangor University has revealed that many...

The results of a new study from the <a href="https://www.whoi.edu/">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution</a> suggest that emperor penguins are increasingly threatened by <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-variability-is-driving-more-intense-thunderstorms/">climate</a> change and should be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The researchers took a closer look at how rapid climate change is ramping up the frequency of extreme climate events, such as glacial calving and sea ice loss. The team also examined how these events may influence the risk of species extinctions. 

The study was led by seabird ecologist Stephanie Jenouvrier and co-authored by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts.

“Scientists have a responsibility to make people aware of the need for change through objective evidence,” said Jenouvrier. “With the help of a dedicated team, we put together this paper for the USFWS to provide additional analyses of future projections and help inform policy and protection for the species.”

The researchers analyzed the projected dynamics of all emperor penguin colonies under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Unlike previous projections, the computer models used for this study accounted for the effects of extreme climate events.

“Protection of species through legal frameworks should facilitate conservation actions that in turn should help mitigate climate change impacts," said co-author Shaye Wolf, Climate Science Director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The experts report that extreme climate events impact the resiliency, redundancy, and representation - the 3Rs - of emperor penguins. 

The analysis shows that if sea ice declines at the expected rate, the 3Rs will be drastically reduced. As a result, almost all of the emperor penguin colonies would become quasi-extinct by 2100.

“Emperor penguins live in a delicate balance with their environment, there is a sea ice ‘Goldilocks’ zone," said Jenouvrier. “If there is too little sea ice, chicks can drown when sea ice breaks up early; if there is too much sea ice, foraging trips become too long and more arduous, and the chicks may starve.”

“Given the species’ reliance upon sea ice for breeding, molting, and feeding, the most important threat for emperor penguins is climate change, which would lead to Antarctic Sea ice losses over this century,” explained Marika Holland a climate scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 

“Trends in warming and consequential sea ice losses through the end of the century are clear and unidirectional under all projections from all climate models.”

According to Jenouvrier, this research provides the best available science for projecting emperor penguin populations in the context of future climate change.

“The future of this iconic species depends on immediate actions to decarbonize society and increased protections for species endangered by climate change."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652486">Global Change Biology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Emperor penguins may not survive climate change

The results of a new study from the Woods Hole...

Just over 20 months ago, a coalition of scientists at <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/">Oregon State University</a> declared a global climate emergency and established Earth's vital signs. Now, the team states that the updated vital signs largely reflect the consequences of unrelenting business as usual.

A recently published paper led by OSU’s William Ripple and Christopher Wolf calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels in response to the climate crisis. The experts emphasize the importance of protecting biodiversity and increasing the global price of fossil fuels to reduce carbon usage. 

The scientists point to an unprecedented increase in climate-related disasters since 2019, including wildfires, extreme temperatures, and other natural disasters. “There is growing evidence we are getting close to or have already gone beyond tipping points associated with important parts of the Earth system, including warm-water coral reefs, the Amazon rainforest, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets," explained Ripple.

2020 was the second hottest year in history, and also broke records for atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. "Priorities need to shift toward immediate, drastic reductions in greenhouse gases, especially methane," said Wolf, a postdoctoral scholar in the College of Forestry.

"We also need to stop treating the climate emergency as a stand-alone issue - global heating is not the sole symptom of our stressed Earth system," said Ripple. "Policies to combat the climate crisis or any other symptoms should address their root cause: human overexploitation of the planet."

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen some climate relief due to economic interruptions, but this is not expected to last. According to Ripple, global gross domestic product dropped by 3.6 percent in 2020 but is projected to rebound to an all-time high.

The recent case study proves that even colossally decreased transport and consumption are not sufficient to tackle climate change. 

"As long as humanity's pressure on the Earth system continues, attempted remedies will only redistribute the pressure," said Wolf. "But by halting the unsustainable exploitation of natural habitats, we can reduce zoonotic disease transmission risks, protect carbon stocks and conserve biodiversity, all at the same time."

Other vital signs discussed within the paper include the overpopulation of ruminant livestock, record-breaking deforestation rates of the Brazilian rainforest, and the approach of record-breaking levels of ocean acidification. 

In response to these issues, Ripple says that it is time for us to join together as a global community with a shared sense of cooperation, urgency, and equity. "We need to quickly change how we're doing things, and new climate policies should be part of COVID-19 recovery plans wherever possible.”

The paper is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience">Bioscience</a>.

---

By <a href="http://calumvaughan05@gmail.com">Calum Vaughan</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earth's vital signs worsen as the world resumes "business as usual"

Just over 20 months ago, a coalition of scientists at...

A common insecticide that is widely used in commercial nurseries is extremely harmful to the average bee, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.ucr.edu/">UC Riverside</a>. The experts report that neonicotinoids can cause serious harm to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/caffeine-helps-bumble-bees-find-flowers/">bees</a> and other beneficial insects, even in the smallest doses. 

In the first experiment that was conducted by the researchers, they used the concentration of insecticide recommended on the product label. All of the bees died in a matter of days. 

For the next experiment, they used a third of the recommended dose and still found negative effects on reproduction, the ability of the bees to feed themselves, and overall fitness. “It almost completely wiped them out,” said study lead author Jacob Cecala. 

Neonicotinoids are formulated to protect against plant-consuming insects like aphids. Most relevant studies have focused on crops like canola, for which neonicotinoids are typically used at low doses. 

The current study is one of the first to examine neonicotinoid usage in potted ornamental plants. For these plants, the insecticides are applied at more potent levels that are toxic to bees. 

“Neonicotinoids are often used on food crops as a seed treatment,” explained Cecala. “But they’re usually applied in higher amounts to ornamental plants for aesthetic reasons. The effects are deadly no matter how much the plants are watered.”

Cecala said he was surprised by this result, given that neonicotinoids are water soluble. Going into the study, he assumed that more water would dilute the amount of harm they caused the bees. 

The researchers wanted to investigate whether increased watering could benefit bees - despite insecticide exposure - by increasing the quantity or quality of nectar produced by the plants.

The experts raised bees on potted flowering plants that either received a lot of water or a little. In addition, half of the plants were treated with a neonicotinoid.

Plants were selected for the experiment based on their popularity at nurseries, drought tolerance, and their attractiveness to bees. 

The results showed that, even though increased watering reduced the pesticide’s potency in the nectar of the flowers, the negative effects on bees were still observed.

“Unfortunately, we observed a 90 percent decrease in the bees’ reproduction with both high and low levels of irrigation,” said Cecala. 

The study was specifically focused on alfalfa leafcutter bees, which make their nests in tunnels and lay eggs one at a time. 

While the study used a neonicotinoid product that is formulated for nurseries, similar products for home gardeners tend to be just as highly concentrated.

The researchers recommend that nurseries quantify the amount of pesticides that are making their way into flowers, and consider alternative management practices that reduce harm to bees and the ecosystems dependent on them. 

“It’s not as simple as ‘don’t use pesticides’ - sometimes they’re necessary,” said Cecala. “However, people can look for a different class of insecticide, try to apply them on plants that aren’t attractive to bees, or find biological methods of pest control.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Common insecticide can kill bees in very small doses

A common insecticide that is widely used in commercial nurseries...

We only have so much water on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/changes-in-earths-tilt-led-to-the-emergence-of-complex-life/">Earth</a>. Water is not created or destroyed but instead cycled through a finite system. 

Although the amount of water is fixed, its distribution throughout the system is always changing, which makes it very hard to know if usage in any one area is sustainable. Climate change only aggravates this problem. 

As a result, scientists cannot define a water budget with confidence. This issue is addressed in a recent study led by the <a href="https://climate.esa.int/">ESA Climate Change Initiative</a>. The paper highlights new attempts by science to closely observe Earth’s water cycle to account for the planet’s entire supply of water and ice. 

“We’ve made a lot of advances, especially in space-based observations of the water cycle. The Copernicus programme is proving vital for long-term, consistent satellite observations," said study lead author Wouter Dorigo of Vienna University of Technology.

The new observations take advantage of satellites to observe much of Earth’s water cycle. However, as Dorigo explains, there are still serious blind spots.

“In particular, we don’t have accurate knowledge of the fluxes for groundwater use, recharge and natural discharge, which makes it difficult to project future sustainable use."

"Currently, satellites alone cannot resolve the entire water budget balance. Coordinated measurements of groundwater from sensors in the ground is what we need most urgently, as well as more data on water used by us humans as well as data on river discharge."

The largest source of freshwater on Earth is groundwater, something that is still hard for scientists to monitor with certainty. 

The researchers call for the development of better technology and techniques to monitor the Earth’s water and usage with more accuracy. A new effort aims at “weighing” all the water on the earth, including groundwater as a way forward.  

The study is published in the <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/bams-overview.xml">Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society</a>. 

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New technology needed to monitor Earth's water cycle

We only have so much water on Earth. Water is...

While studying the behavior of giraffes, scientists at the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a> have discovered that they are surprisingly socially complex <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/animals-can-show-us-how-they-will-respond-to-climate-change/">animals</a>. 

Prior to the last decade or so, giraffes were thought to have only short-lived, fleeting relationships. By contrast, recent studies have shown that giraffes have a much more advanced social structure than what was previously thought. 

“Recognizing that giraffes have a complex cooperative social system and live in matrilineal societies will further our understanding of their behavioural ecology and conservation needs," explained Zoe Muller of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences.

“Conservation measures will be more successful if we have an accurate understanding of the species’ behavioral ecology. If we view giraffes as a highly socially complex species, this also raises their 'status' towards being a more complex and intelligent mammal that is increasingly worthy of protection.”

The new study has revealed that giraffes spend up to 30 percent of their lives in a post-reproductive state. The experts noted that this is comparable to other species with highly complex social structures, such as elephants and killer whales.

For these types of species that practice cooperative care, post-menopausal females offer survival benefits for related offspring. This is known as the "Grandmother hypothesis,"which suggests that females live past the point of fertility to help with successive generations of offspring and to help preserve the family genes. 

The researchers believe that older adult female giraffes probably function in the same way. According to Muller, giraffes are likely to engage in cooperative parenting, along matrilines, and contribute to the shared parental care of related kin. 

“It is baffling to me that such a large, iconic and charismatic African species has been understudied for so long. This paper collates all the evidence to suggest that giraffes are actually a highly complex social species, with intricate and high-functioning social systems, potentially comparable to elephants, cetaceans and chimpanzees."

“I hope that this study draws a line in the sand, from which point forward, giraffes will be regarded as intelligent, group-living mammals which have evolved highly successful and complex societies, which have facilitated their survival in tough, predator-filled ecosystems.” 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652907">Mammal Review</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giraffes are much more socially intelligent than previously thought

While studying the behavior of giraffes, scientists at the University...

When the Chapman’s pygmy chameleon was first described in 1992, the destruction of the tiny <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-accelerates-aging-in-fish-amphibians-and-reptiles/">reptile</a> was already underway. Since the 1980’s, up to 80 percent of the forest the chameleon calls home has been destroyed. It was even feared for a time that the chameleon had gone extinct. 

Professor Krystal Tolley from the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the University of the Witwatersrand, explains the beauty of the small animal.

“They are little, gentle creatures. Other chameleon species can be hysterical, hissing and biting, but pygmy chameleons are gentle and just beautiful."

"Chapman’s in particular are one of the smallest and don’t have a prehensile tail like most chameleons, perhaps because they aren’t particularly arboreal but walk about on the forest floor in the leaf litter, crawling up into low bushes at night to sleep. They blend right into the leaf litter and perfectly pattern match the dead leaves."

"They are mostly brown but they can change to quite beautiful blues and greens with little dots all over them and that’s probably a way of communicating with each other. They also vibrate and we could feel it when we held them. We don’t really know why but it’s also probably some form of communication. The fact they do it while held in our hands could mean it’s a way to try and scare predators.”

Now, a 2016 survey of the chameleons is being published for the first time, showing that the small reptile has indeed survived - at least for the moment.  The study, published by <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/">Cambridge University Press</a>, was led by Professor Tolley. 

The research team analyzed satellite images of the Malawi Hills where the chameleons live that were captured in the 1980’s and compared them to modern photos. 

The results revealed a massive amount of forest loss. What remained of the forest was fragmented, and the researchers decided it was important to look for Chapman’s pygmy chameleons.

The researchers found some of the tiny chameleons living in small pockets of forest. Unfortunately, the remaining specimens showed signs of genetic isolation - a problem that could lead to inbreeding in small, separate populations of chameleons. 

The team recommends that the chameleons be protected by folding their habitat into the nearby Matandwe Forest Reserve along with strong protection measures. Further research is needed to better understand the current status of the chameleons.

The study is published in <a href="https://www.oryxthejournal.org/">Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Critically endangered chameleon rediscovered in Malawi

When the Chapman’s pygmy chameleon was first described in 1992,...

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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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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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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

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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



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



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



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



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



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research&nbsp;



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



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

How the immune system responds to injury

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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



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

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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