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...

Researchers at the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> have just solved the mystery of how multicellular life appeared at a time when the Earth's climate was the most hostile it has ever been. The experts report that complex life was able to emerge, and even thrive, in an inhospitable climate due to changes in Earth's orbit. 

In collaboration with colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Curtin University, University of Hong Kong, and the University of Tübingen, the researchers studied rocks from a time when most of Earth's surface was covered in ice. This period of "Snowball Earth" lasted for more than 50 million years. 

"One of the most fundamental challenges to the Snowball Earth theory is that life seems to have survived," said study co-author Dr. Thomas Gernon. "So, either it didn't happen, or life somehow avoided a bottleneck during the severe glaciation."

The researchers analyzed glacial rocks that formed about 700 million years ago in what is now the South Australian outback. These rocks showed that during Snowball Earth, ice sheets extended as far as the equator, which means that the icy shell almost completely covered the planet. 

The experts then focused on banded iron formations - sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich and silica-rich material. These rocks were deposited in the ice-covered ocean.

According to the study authors, the frozen ocean would have been entirely cut off from the atmosphere during the snowball glaciation. The lack of normal interactions between the air and the ocean would have caused a lack of normal climate variations.  

"This was called the 'sedimentary challenge' to the Snowball hypothesis," explained study lead author Professor Ross Mitchell. "The highly variable rock layers appeared to show cycles that looked a lot like climate cycles associated with the advance and retreat of ice sheets." 

This level of climate variability seemed to contradict the theory of an icy shell that engulfed the entire ocean.

"The iron comes from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor," said Dr. Gernon. "Normally, the atmosphere oxidizes any iron immediately, so banded iron formations typically do not accumulate. But during the Snowball, with the ocean cut off from the air, iron was able to accumulate enough for them to form."

The experts measured the extent to which the rocks had become magnetized from exposure to Earth's magnetic field. They discovered that the layered rocks contained evidence of nearly all orbital cycles.

The tilt and wobble of Earth's spin axis change in cycles as our planet orbits the Sun. The cyclic changes alter the climate by modifying the amount of incoming solar radiation that reaches Earth's surface.

"Even though Earth's climate system behaved very differently during the Snowball, Earth's orbital variations would have been blissfully unaware and just continued to do their thing," explained Professor Mitchell.

The researchers concluded that changes in Earth's orbit allowed fluctuations in the ice sheets, and ice-free regions periodically developed on Snowball Earth.

"This finding resolves one of the major contentions with the snowball Earth hypothesis: the long-standing observation of significant sedimentary variability during the snowball Earth glaciations appeared at odds with such an extreme reduction of the hydrological cycle," said Professor Mitchell.

The results can help to explain the enigmatic presence of sedimentary rocks of this age that show evidence for flowing water at Earth's surface when this water should have been locked up in ice sheets. "This observation is important, because complex multicellular life is now known to have originated during this period of climate crisis, but previously we could not explain why," said Dr. Gernon.

"Our study points to the existence of ice-free 'oases' in the snowball ocean that provided a sanctuary for animal life to survive arguably the most extreme climate event in Earth history."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Changes in Earth's tilt led to the emergence of complex life

Researchers at the University of Southampton have just solved the...

In a new study focused on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/male-baboons-live-longer-when-they-have-female-friends/">baboons</a> in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, experts have discovered that the gut microbiome is shaped by genetics much more than what was previously realized. The research was based on the analysis of 16,000 gut bacteria profiles collected from the baboons over 14 years.

The team found that several of the microbiome traits that are heritable in baboons are also heritable in humans. Elizabeth Archie is a principal investigator on the study and a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the <a href="https://www.nd.edu/">University of Notre Dame</a>.

"The environment plays a bigger role in shaping the microbiome than your genes, but what this study does is move us away from the idea that genes play very little role in the microbiome to the idea that genes play a pervasive, if small, role," said Professor Archie.

Our gut microbiome serves many important functions related to the body's immune defenses. The bacteria that make up the gut microbiome primarily influenced by our lifestyle, such as what we eat, but the researchers have found a larger genetic role than expected. 

The researchers analyzed fecal samples from 585 wild Amboseli baboons. The team found that 97 percent of microbiome traits, including overall diversity, were significantly heritable.

"This really suggests that in human work, part of the reason researchers haven't found that heritability is because in humans they don't have a decade and half of fecal samples in the freezer, and they don't have all the initial host (individual) information they need to tease these details out," said Professor Archie.

The experts found evidence that environmental factors influence trait heritability in the gut microbiome. 

For example, microbiome heritability was typically 48 percent higher in the dry season compared to the wet season - which may be explained by the fact that baboons have a more diverse diet during the rainy season. 

According to the researchers, knowing that genes in the gut microbiome are heritable opens the door to identifying microbes that are shaped by genetics. Ultimately, therapies could be tailored for people based on the genetic makeup of their gut microbiome.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The gut microbiome is strongly shaped by genetics

In a new study focused on baboons in Kenya's Amboseli...

A new study has found that a dangerous gene responsible for antibiotic resistance can be passed from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-coronavirus-identified-that-has-originated-in-dogs/">dogs</a> to their owners. The mcr-1 gene has been found in healthy humans and their pet dogs.

The mcr-1 gene provides resistance to the antibiotic colistin, which is used as a last resort to treat drug resistant bacterial infections. The gene was first discovered in China, and has since been found in people and animals around the world. 

The research was led by Dr. Juliana Menezes, a PhD student in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the <a href="https://www.ulisboa.pt/en">University of Lisbon</a>. 

"Colistin is used when all other antibiotics have failed - it is a crucial treatment of last resort. If bacteria resistant to all drugs acquire this resistance gene, they would become untreatable, and that's a scenario we must avoid at all costs," said Dr. Menezes.

The experts set out to investigate whether household pets may be acting as a reservoir of the mcr-1 gene and promoting the spread of antibiotic resistance. 

The study was designed to look for bacteria with resistance to colistin in healthy pet owners. The team analyzed fecal samples from 80 households, including 126 people and 102 cats and dogs.

Among the pets that were tested, 61 were healthy, 23 had skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI), and 18 had urinary tract infections (UTI).

The study revealed that eight dogs and four humans harbored bacteria with the mcr-1 gene. Three of the dogs were healthy, four had SSTIs, and one had a UTI. 

Upon further analysis, the researchers confirmed that the bacteria isolated from all 12 mcr-1 positive samples were resistant to multiple antibiotics.

In two of the households where dogs had skin and soft tissue infections, the mcr-1 gene was found in both dog and owner. Genetic testing showed that in one case, mcr-1 had clearly been transmitted between pet and owner.

While transmission in both directions is possible, it is thought that in this case the gene passed from dog to human, explained Dr. Menezes.

The findings raise concerns that pets can act as reservoirs of the dangerous gene, promoting the spread of bacterial resistance to last-resort antibiotics. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies antibiotic resistance as one of the greatest public health threats facing humanity.

"We know that the overuse of antibiotics drives resistance and it is vital that they are used responsibly, not just in medicine but also in veterinary medicine and in farming," said Dr. Menezes. 

In separate research, experts have found that raw dog food is a major source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making it an "international public health risk."

Both studies will be presented at the <a href="https://www.eccmid.org/">European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases</a> (ECCMID).

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dogs may be passing antibiotic resistance to their owners

A new study has found that a dangerous gene responsible...

A new study from <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/">Swansea University</a> reveals that coastal wetlands provide even more flood protection than previously realized. Beyond filtering water and creating habitats for fish, coastal wetlands protect coastal communities from flooding. 

The experts used computer simulations to demonstrate that wetlands located in estuaries, such as salt marshes, can reduce flooding levels by up to two meters. The projections also show that these types of wetlands provide protection far inland up estuary channels.

According to the researchers, the simulated benefits they observed could save up to $38 million in avoided flood damage costs per estuary during a large storm.

The research is particularly relevant today as urban development poses increasing threats to coastal wetlands. At the same time, 22 of the world's largest 32 cities - including London and New York - are built on low-lying land around estuaries. 

Flooding is a growing threat to low-lying cities as climate change ramps up the intensity and frequency of storms.

"Our study shows that coastal wetlands play a crucial role in reducing storm-driven flooding in estuaries. They are nature's flood defenses and we need them now more than ever," said Dr. Tom Fairchild.

Previous studies have focused on wetlands along open coastlines, where the plants absorb wave energy and help keep waves from pushing inland. 

The experts found that coastal wetlands play a much bigger role in storm flood prevention. In addition to absorbing wave energy, these wetlands reduce storm surges as they move up estuary channels.

"Our work shows that when big storms hit, nature works extra hard for us, preventing or reducing coastal flooding for free," said study co-author Dr. John Griffin. "The upshot is, by protecting and restoring coastal wetlands, we help protect ourselves from the growing threat of flooding. It's a no-brainer."

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

Coastal wetlands are a powerful weapon against flooding

A new study from Swansea University reveals that coastal wetlands...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/">Texas A&amp;M University</a> have discovered how sea otters keep warm in freezing cold waters. The experts report that these small <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/shark-denticles-reveal-human-impacts-over-centuries/">mammals</a> can heat their bodies up internally using extra energy produced by their skeletal muscle, which ramps up their metabolic rate.

While scientists have known for years that sea otters depend on their high metabolism to generate the heat they need to survive, no one knew how they were producing this heat.

The researchers found that the muscles of sea otters' muscles have enough leak respiration, or leftover energy, to account for their high metabolic rate. This breakthrough explains how sea otters survive in cold water.

For the investigation, the team collected skeletal muscle samples from both northern and southern sea otters of varying ages and body masses. By measuring respiratory capacity, the experts determined that the sea otter muscles produce more energy than what is needed for movement.

Study co-author Professor Tray Wright is a physiologist and researcher in Texas A&amp;M's College of Education &amp; Human Development.

"You mostly think of muscle as doing work to move the body," said Professor Wright. "When muscles are active, the energy they use for movement also generates heat."

Professor Wright explained that because muscle makes up a large portion of body mass, often 40-50 percent in mammals, it can warm the body up quickly when it is active.

"Muscles can also generate heat without doing work to move by using a metabolic short circuit known as leak respiration."

Shivering is one form of muscle-generated heat through involuntary movement. Professor Wright said that shivering allows the body to activate muscle by contracting to generate heat, while leak respiration can do the same without the tremors.

The researchers were surprised to find that the muscle of even newborn sea otters had a metabolic rate that was just as high as the adults.

"This really highlights how heat production seems to be the driving factor in determining the metabolic ability of muscle in these animals," said Professor Wright.

Living in freezing cold water requires a lot of energy. Sea otters eat up to 25 percent of their body mass each day to keep up with their daily activities and fuel their high metabolism.

"They eat a lot of seafood, including crabs and clams that are popular with humans, which can cause conflict with fisheries in some areas."

Professor Wright said that we know how critical muscle is to animals for activities like hunting, avoiding predators and finding mates, but this research highlights how other functions of muscle are also critical to animal survival and ecology.

"Regulating tissue metabolism is also an active area of research in the battle to prevent obesity. These animals may give us clues into how metabolism can be manipulated in healthy humans and those with diseases where muscle metabolism is affected."

Going forward, Professor Wright said there is still a lot we don't know about otters, including how they regulate their muscle metabolism to turn up the heat on demand.

"This is really just the first look into the muscle of these animals, and we don't know if all the various muscle types are the same, or if other organs might also have an elevated ability to generate heat."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/">Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Sea otters have a secret ability to generate internal body heat

Researchers at Texas A&amp;M University have discovered how sea otters...

In a new study led by <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a>, experts have investigated various foods that may protect against severe COVID-19 infection. The researchers found that drinking at least two to three cups of coffee per day lowers the risk of falling ill with COVID-19 by about one-tenth.

"Nutritional status influences immunity but its specific association with susceptibility to COVID-19 remains unclear. We examined the association of specific dietary data and incident COVID-19 in the UK Biobank (UKB)," wrote the study authors.

The team analyzed the records of 40,000 British adults in the UK Biobank. They looked at baseline diet factors including daily intake of coffee, tea, oily fish, processed meat, red meat, fruit, and vegetables. 

"Individual COVID-19 exposure was estimated using the UK’s average monthly positive case rate per specific geo-populations. Logistic regression estimated the odds of COVID-19 positivity by diet status adjusting for baseline sociodemographic factors, medical history, and other lifestyle factors," explained the researchers.

The study produced evidence to suggest that the consumption of coffee provides protection  against the virus, even among some individuals who were known to have been exposed. The researchers believe that coffee contains health-boosting plant chemicals that may turbocharge the immune system.

The results of the analysis indicate that eating vegetables also lowers the risk of developing COVID-19, as well as being breastfed as a baby. By contrast, the regular consumption of processed meat like bacon and sausage appears to increase the risk of severe COVID-19 infection. In addition, the experts found that tea and fruit did not have a significant effect. 

"Although these findings warrant independent confirmation, adherence to certain dietary behaviors may be an additional tool to existing COVID-19 protection guidelines to limit the spread of this virus," concluded the researchers.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients">Nutrients</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A daily dose of coffee may protect you from COVID-19

In a new study led by Northwestern University, experts have...

Giant pandas have been removed from China's critically <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-new-species-of-screech-owls-are-already-critically-endangered/">endangered</a> species list after more than three decades of conservation efforts to save them. With about 1,800 individuals now living in the wild, the giant panda species is now classified as vulnerable. 

Cui Shuhong, the head of the <a href="https://english.mee.gov.cn/">Ministry of Ecology and Environment</a>, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the new classification comes after Beijing carried out some major activities and measures to protect biodiversity and achieved remarkable results.

Shuhong also gave credit to stricter law enforcement, including ramped up efforts to prevent illegal activities on nature reserves.

"China has established a relatively complete nature reserves system," said Shuhong. "Large areas of natural ecosystems have been systematically and completely protected, and wildlife habitats have been effectively improved."

Becky Shu Chen of the Zoological Society of London told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/">NBC News</a> that in most of the Chinese nature reserves are so huge that there are still villages populated with humans inside of them. She noted that the government taught villagers farming techniques that did not destroy the giant panda's natural habitat.

According to Chen, the villagers protected the home of pandas, which is one of the reasons that they are now downgraded to vulnerable.

Giant pandas were initially moved off the IUCN endangered species list five years ago, but this move was not supported by Chinese officials, who said the animals were still at risk of extinction.

“If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss and our achievements would be quickly lost,” the administration told the Associated Press in 2016. “Therefore, we’re not being alarmist by continuing to emphasize the panda species’ endangered status.”

According to the IUCN, giant pandas are still threatened by climate change in the decades to come. More than 35 percent of their bamboo habitat is projected to be destroyed in the next 80 years. 

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Giant pandas removed from China's endangered species list

Giant pandas have been removed from China's critically endangered species...

Rising temperatures and ozone levels are changing the way that plant roots interact with the soil and promoting carbon loss, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">NC State University</a>. The researchers found that both climate factors have a detrimental effect on soybean plant roots, in particular, and their symbiotic relationship with microorganisms in the soil.

Under the condition of higher levels of both warming and ozone, the experts observed few changes to the plant shoots aboveground, but concerning modifications underground. The plants lost their ability to sequester carbon, releasing it into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.

"The ability to sequester carbon is very important to soil productivity - in addition to the detrimental effects of increasing greenhouse gases when this carbon escapes," said study co-author Professor Shuijin Hu.

The study was focused on the role of specific organisms - arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) - in promoting chemical interactions that hold carbon in the ground by preventing the decomposition of soil organic matter. 

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are present in the roots of about 80 percent of all terrestrial plants. These organisms take carbon from plants and provide nitrogen and other soil nutrients that plants need in order to grow.

For their investigation, the researchers set up plots of soybeans with increased air temperatures of about three degrees Celsius, plots with higher levels of ozone, plots with higher levels of both warming and ozone, and control plots with no modifications. 

The field experiments revealed that rising temperatures and ozone levels make soybean roots thinner as they attempt to preserve their resources and nutrients.

According to Professor Hu, soybean cultivars are often sensitive to ozone levels. Ozone has recently declined in the United States but has increased in areas of rapid industrialization like India.

"Ozone and warming have been shown to be very stressful to a lot of crops - not just soybeans - and a lot of grasses and tree species," said Professor Hu. "Ozone and warming make the plants weak. Plants try to maximize nutrient uptake, so their roots become thinner and longer as they need to exploit the sufficient volume of soil for resources." 

"This weakness results in a reduction of AMF and faster root and fungal hyphal turnovers, which stimulates decomposition and makes carbon sequestration more difficult. These cascading events may have profound effects underground, although the plant shoots appear normal in some cases."

Professor Hu said he was surprised that the plant shoots were not greatly affected by the stresses of warming and ozone. Perhaps even more surprising, he said, was that more warming and ozone changed the type of AMF that colonized soybean plants.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Ozone alters the behavior of plant roots

Rising temperatures and ozone levels are changing the way that...

Climate change is having a major impact on the abundance and distribution of fish, as many species are migrating in search of cooler waters and more suitable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overtopping-threatens-the-future-of-coastal-habitats/">habitats</a>. In the Northeast United States, fishing communities are preparing for these changes in three specific ways, according to a new study from <a href="https://www.wellesley.edu/">Wellesley College</a>.

A team of experts led by Professor Becca Selden set out to investigate how fishing communities have responded to shifts in the distribution of summer flounder, also known as fluke, and red and silver hake. 

The researchers identified distinct changes that fishing communities have made in their approach. Some have opted to follow the fish to a new location, while others have begun targeting a different kind of fish. In addition, many fishers are now bringing their catch to shore at another port of landing.

The experts analyzed quantitative data on fish availability from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and from a unique database of fishing trip records developed for this project. The researchers also interviewed fishers in 10 ports from North Carolina to Maine.

Ultimately, the team found that fishers throughout the Northeast were more likely to shift their target species. The research suggests that targeting a mix of species is a critical option for adaptation, but it can be complicated. 

"Most communities tend to fish where they have fished for generations, and therefore, for any fishery management plan to be more climate-ready in the future, it needs to take that into account," said Professor Selden. 

"They're less likely to move where they fish, more likely to switch what they fish, but only if they can, and regulations play a big role in that being successful."

The study revealed a previously undescribed strategy in which fishers bring their fish ashore in new locations. According to the experts, this was found to be particularly common for vessels coming from northern fishing communities that sell summer flounder in Beaufort, N.C. 

"Had we not combined the quantitative data with the in-depth interviews with community members, we would have totally missed the phenomenon we saw come to light in Beaufort," said study co-author Eva Papaioannou, a scientist at GEOMAR.

"It made for such a powerful way of analyzing the data, so that we were really using it to influence the questions we would ask in each interview, and the interviews would drive what we would examine in the quantitative data. I think that approach really made for a much more complete look at the impact of changes in species distribution and fishers' adaptations."

Out of all the fishing communities examined, Beaufort was the only one to use the strategy of following fish to new grounds. 

"Beaufort fishers have gone to tremendous lengths to keep fishing fluke, and following fish to new grounds brings its own constraints and concerns," said Professor Selden.

The study was focused on the Northeast because it has been a hotspot of recent ocean warming, especially in the Gulf of Maine, and in some ways it is a harbinger of what other areas might be experiencing soon, said Professor Selden. 

She explained that along the East Coast, there are state-by-state regulations, and you pass through different jurisdictions with species crossing boundaries all over the place. "This all has an impact on fishers, their behavior, and their communities."

Going forward, Professor Selden plans to continue this work on the West Coast to compare how stable their fishing grounds are and how much fishers are responding.

"Fisheries are really on the frontline of climate impacts. It's really a bipartisan issue, and there are stakeholders across party lines. That was my motivation to focus on how communities are adapting, how they've adapted to past change," said Professor Selden.

"We need to be able to understand how they might adapt to future change and potentially how we would need to change management to facilitate some of the adaptations that they are already demonstrating."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Fishing communities are on the frontline of climate change

Climate change is having a major impact on the abundance...

Massive asteroid impacts in Earth’s distant past are nothing new. Anyone that knows anything about <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dinosaurs-were-already-in-trouble-before-extinction/">dinosaurs</a> knows that these space rocks were involved in their demise. 

Scientists have long been aware that enormous asteroids - larger than 10 kilometers in diameter - have pummelled the Earth. In a recent study, experts investigated how often large asteroids hit our planet in the past, and they found something shocking.  

"We have developed a new impact flux model and compared with a statistical analysis of ancient spherule layer data. With this approach, we found that current models of Earth's early bombardment severely underestimate the number of known impacts, as recorded by spherule layers," explained Dr. Simone Marchi of the Southwest Research Institute.

"The true impact flux could have been up to a factor of 10 times higher than previously thought in the period between 3.5 and 2.5 billion years ago. This means that in that early period, we were probably being hit by a Chicxulub-sized impact on average every 15 million years. Quite a spectacle!"

Extraterrestrial bodies like the Moon show obvious scars from asteroid impacts. On Earth, the signs of ancient collisions are masked by the atmosphere, weathering and other features. 

There is one sure sign of a past impact from an asteroid - little rocks called spherules. These are formed when the molten rock from a collision is thrown into the air and then rain back to earth where they become embedded in other stones. The more of these spherules found, the larger an impact.     

Scientists are interested in asteroid impacts on Earth because they could possibly explain the development of our atmosphere. 

Furthermore, it is possible that an asteroid was important for the beginning of life on Earth. So far, the scientists claim, the consideration of asteroids in our understanding of life on Earth has mostly been ignored. Perhaps this research will open a new chapter in our understanding of the history of our planet. 

"As we deepen our understanding of the early Earth, we find that cosmic collisions are like the proverbial elephant in the room. They are often neglected as we lack a detailed knowledge of their number and magnitude, but it is likely these energetic events fundamentally altered the Earth's surface and atmospheric evolution," said Dr. Marchi.

The research will be presented at the <a href="https://2021.goldschmidt.info/">Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference</a>.

---

By <a href="http://zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner </a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

More gigantic asteroids hit early Earth than expected

Massive asteroid impacts in Earth’s distant past are nothing new....

Yoga and other relaxation techniques can help reduce work-related <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/work-stress-and-social-strain-raise-risk-of-heart-disease-in-women/">stress</a>, according to a new study published by <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us">Wiley</a>. The researchers analyzed the results of 15 clinical trials involving a total of 688 healthcare workers. 

"Work-related stress is a major occupational health problem that is associated with adverse effects on physical and mental health. Healthcare workers are particularly vulnerable in the era of COVID-19. Physical methods of stress relief such as yoga and massage therapy may reduce occupational stress," wrote the study authors.  

"The objective of this systematic review and network meta-analysis is to determine the effects of yoga, massage therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and stretching on alleviating stress and improving physical and mental health in healthcare workers."

Overall, each of the physical relaxation techniques was found to reduce specific measures of occupational stress, with yoga and massage therapy proving to be the most effective.

"Work-related stress has been linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and other serious causes of morbidity. Our results suggest that physical relaxation methods are helpful in reducing occupational stress," said study lead author Dr. Michael Zhang.

"Yoga is particularly effective and can be delivered virtually, making it convenient for employers to offer distance options to promote worker health."

The researchers noted that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seen healthcare workers across the world brought under immense physical and emotion strain. "From the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, surging case numbers placed increased demands on hospital staff and spawned a multitude of new challenges," wrote the study authors.  

"Fear of infection, lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), concerns for the health and safety of family and friends, limited training and experience against an emerging disease, and ever-changing care protocols are several of the many sources of stress faced by frontline healthcare workers."

The meta-analysis confirms the overall effectiveness of physical methods of relaxation, and suggests that yoga and related exercises are particularly beneficial. According to the researchers, their findings can also be applied to other professions and to the general population.

The study is published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13489585">Journal of Occupational Health</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

Yoga is consistently effective in reducing work-related stress

Yoga and other relaxation techniques can help reduce work-related stress,...

The unprecedented <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ignoring-climate-change-will-lead-to-ultra-extreme-heatwaves/">heatwave</a> that is responsible for killing hundreds of people in the Pacific Northwest has been linked to global warming. According to a new study published by the <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/">World Weather Attribution</a>, the heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change.

"The observed temperatures were so extreme that they lie far outside the range of historically observed temperatures. This makes it hard to quantify with confidence how rare the event was," explained the researchers.

"In the most realistic statistical analysis the event is estimated to be about a 1 in 1000 year event in today’s climate."

The experts warn that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, extreme heatwaves will become much more common - occurring every five to 10 years by the 2040s.

"People need to realize that heat waves are killers, and they are by far the deadliest extreme event," said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford.

"Heatwaves are really changing so much more and so much faster than all other extreme events. Heat preparation and preventing death during heat waves need to be a No. 1 priority for every city authority."

The Pacific Northwest heatwave, which struck in the last week of June, claimed hundreds of lives in British Columbia, Oregon and Washington state. Dozens of cities experienced record high temperatures, and many records were broken by several degrees.

The heat was so intense in this typically mild region of the Pacific Northwest that power cables melted, knocking out electricity to thousands of people. The researchers determined that climate change either exacerbated the rare heat event, or caused it altogether. 

"Our results provide a strong warning: our rapidly warming climate is bringing us into uncharted territory that has significant consequences for health, well-being, and livelihoods. Adaptation and mitigation are urgently needed to prepare societies for a very different future," said the study authors. 

"Adaptation measures need to be much more ambitious and take account of the rising risk of heatwaves around the world, including surprises such as this unexpected extreme. Deaths from extreme heat can be dramatically reduced with adequate preparedness action."

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Pacific Northwest heatwave is a warning of what's to come

The unprecedented heatwave that is responsible for killing hundreds 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

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

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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



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

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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



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

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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



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



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



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



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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



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

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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



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



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



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



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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



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

Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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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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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