<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the opposite.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-contrasting-climate-response">A contrasting climate response</h2>



<p>Most coastal towns are <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sinking-land-will-intensify-the-effects-of-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing for higher sea levels</a>, but <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/greenland-no-longer-has-to-worry-about-rising-sea-levels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greenland presents</a> a different scenario during climate change. The ground there is rising at a remarkable rate. Over the past decade, some areas have lifted about 20 centimeters, which translates to roughly 2 meters per century. This rate significantly exceeds current projections for sea level rise.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geological-rebound-process-through-climate-change">Geological rebound process through climate change</h2>



<p>The mechanism behind this phenomenon is straightforward. As the ice sheet melts, the immense weight is removed from the bedrock, causing the land to rebound upward. This process resembles the way compressed material springs back when pressure is released.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-monitoring-networks">Scientific monitoring networks</h2>



<p>Researchers at the <a href="https://www.dtu.dk/english/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Technical University of Denmark</a> are documenting this uplift using the GNET network, consisting of 61 GPS stations positioned around Greenland's coast. These sensors can detect movement with millimeter precision, providing detailed measurements of the ongoing changes.</p>



<p>The data reveal that current uplift rates exceed the gradual rebound occurring since the last ice age ended approximately 12,000 years ago. This acceleration corresponds directly with increased ice sheet melting rates.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coastal-transformation">Coastal Transformation</h2>



<p>This uplift is actively reshaping Greenland's coastline. New islands and rocky formations, called "skerries," are emerging as previously submerged land surfaces rise above the water level. This represents a notable contrast to global concerns about rising seas.</p>



<p>The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, demonstrates the varied regional impacts of climate change. While many locations face rising water levels, Greenland's bedrock is literally rising above the surrounding seas.</p>



<p>The full study was recently published in <em><a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023GL104851" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geophysical Research Letters</a></em>.</p>



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Greenland's ground rises while coasts worldwide face higher seas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXGGiynIjs Greenland is not sinking. In fact, it is the opposite. A contrasting climate response Most coastal towns are preparing for higher sea levels, but Greenland presents a different scenario during climate change. The ground there is rising at a remarkable rate. Over the past decade, some areas have lifted about 20 centimeters, which translates to roughly 2 meters per century. This rate significantly exceeds current projections for sea level rise. Geological rebound process through climate change The mechanism behind this phenomenon is straightforward. As the ice...

Ou0new

<p>Doritos have been a favorite snack around the world for decades. One of the dyes that gives the chips their bright pop just did something unexpected in a lab: it helped make mouse skin temporarily transparent, creating "see-through" mice. </p>



<p>That dye is tartrazine, a vivid yellow-orange additive you’ll also find in some foods, medicines, and cosmetics. </p>



<p>Mix a small amount with water, apply it to the skin, and for a short time, cameras tuned to certain wavelengths can see through <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/skins-secret-strength-shields-against-puncture-damage/">the top layers</a>.</p>



<p>For people who study living systems, being able to look inside the body without cutting it open is important. </p>



<p>Light usually scatters in tissue, so images blur before you reach anything useful. A simple, safe topical mixture that sharpens the view - even briefly - can open doors for research.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tartrazine-and-invisible-skin">Tartrazine and invisible skin</h2>



<p>Researchers at <a href="https://www.stanford.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanford University</a> described the method in the journal <em>Science</em>. </p>



<p>The approach uses basic optics to reduce scatter and clarify what cameras pick up from living tissue. The idea hinges on changing how water bends light so that it better matches nearby fats in the skin.</p>



<p>“For those who understand the fundamental physics behind this, it makes sense; but if you aren’t familiar with it, it looks like a magic trick,” said <a href="https://profiles.utdallas.edu/zihao.ou" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zihao Ou</a>, the lead author of the study who is now an assistant professor of physics at <a href="https://www.utdallas.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The University of Texas at Dallas</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-living-tissue-normally-looks-cloudy">Living tissue normally looks cloudy</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vitamin-c-promotes-skin-renewal-and-anti-aging-at-the-genetic-level-dna-demethylation/">Skin, fat, and muscle</a> aren’t uniform. They’re built from many tiny parts that bend light by different amounts. When light hits those differences, it scatters in many directions. That’s why images fade fast with depth. </p>



<p>Scientists describe how much a material bends light using a value called the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/refractivity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refractive index</a>. Water in tissue has a refractive index around 1.33. Lipids sit higher, roughly in the 1.45 to 1.48 range. That gap creates a lot of scatter.</p>



<p>Close that gap, and the path straightens. Less scatter means sharper images and a deeper reach for the same camera and light source.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-tartrazine-changes-light-waves">How tartrazine changes light waves</h2>



<p>Tartrazine absorbs blue and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9077139/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near-ultraviolet light</a>. A principle of optics links absorption at one set of wavelengths to changes in refractive index at other wavelengths. </p>



<p>Add a dye that soaks up blue, and you can nudge water’s refractive index upward in the red and near-infrared - the wavelengths that already go deeper into tissue. </p>



<p>Water begins to act a little more like the fats around it, so the light scatters less and the image gets clearer.</p>



<p>The team first checked this in gels and thin tissue slices. The pattern held: there was less scatter where it mattered. Then they moved to live mice and applied a diluted solution to the skin. </p>



<p>To the naked eye, the area looked darker because the dye absorbs blue light. To a camera set for red or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-infrared_spectroscopy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near-infrared</a>, the patch turned more transparent for a short time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-see-through-tartrazine-mice">"See-through" tartrazine mice</h2>



<p>That window was long enough to watch organs move beneath the abdomen. They could follow the gut’s rhythm as it pushed food along. </p>



<p>On the head, they mapped surface blood vessels without shaving to the skull or placing a surgical window. </p>



<p>In a hind limb, they resolved the banded patterns inside <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-fat-hidden-in-muscles-weakens-strength-and-healing/">muscle fibers</a> - details that usually hide behind layers of scatter. They didn’t cut the skin or implant anything.</p>



<p>Once researchers washed off the dye, the mice lost their translucency, and the dye was excreted in urine, according to the research team. </p>



<p>“It’s important that the dye is biocompatible - it’s safe for living organisms,” Ou said. “In addition, it’s very inexpensive and efficient; we don’t need very much of it to work.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mice_see-through-skin_doritos-chemical_-Kramers-Kronig-relations_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mice_see-through-skin_doritos-chemical_-Kramers-Kronig-relations_1s.webp" alt="Strongly absorbing molecules dissolved in water can modify the RI of the aqueous medium through the Kramers-Kronig relations to match that of lipids. This approach can render various samples transparent, including scattering phantoms, chicken breast tissue, and live mouse body for visualizing a wide range of deep-seated structures and activities. Scale bars, 5 mm. Credit: The schematic was prepared using BioRender.com" class="wp-image-1984331"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Strongly absorbing molecules dissolved in water can modify the RI of the aqueous medium through the Kramers-Kronig relations to match that of lipids. This approach can render various samples transparent, including scattering phantoms, chicken breast tissue, and live mouse body for visualizing a wide range of deep-seated structures and activities. Scale bars, 5 mm. Click image to enlarge. Credit: The schematic was prepared using BioRender.com</em></figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-neat-trick-but-why-does-it-matter">Neat trick, but why does it matter?</h2>



<p>Most methods that clear tissue for imaging work on dead samples. They often dehydrate the tissue, replace fats, or fix it chemically. Those steps can create beautiful static pictures, but they destroy the live dynamics. </p>



<p>This dye-based method <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/molecules-found-in-young-human-blood-shown-to-reverse-signs-of-aging-on-skin/">leaves tissue alive</a> and flexible. It quiets the optical mismatch just long enough to capture the action. That makes a difference for everyday lab work. </p>



<p>Researchers can track surface blood flow, watch organ motion without surgery, study how nerves in the gut coordinate with muscle contractions, and test new imaging tools with fewer invasive procedures. </p>



<p>Students can learn from live systems while avoiding harsher interventions.</p>



<p>“Optical equipment, like the microscope, is not directly used to study live humans or animals because light can’t go through living tissue," Ou said. </p>



<p>"But now that we can make tissue transparent, it will allow us to look at more detailed dynamics. It will completely revolutionize existing optical research in biology.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tartrazine-and-future-human-health">Tartrazine and future human health</h2>



<p>Because the physics ties absorption to refractive index, this strategy isn’t limited to tartrazine. The principle points to a family of agents tuned to the exact wavelengths a microscope uses. </p>



<p>Researchers plan to explore other substances that could outperform tartrazine. The goal is the same: reduce scatter, sharpen images, and do it with materials that are safe, affordable, and easy to apply.</p>



<p>A small change in a fundamental property of water - how it bends light at certain wavelengths - turned cloudy tissue into a temporary window. The method showed live, moving structures in mice. </p>



<p>The immediate win for this study is to provide better, kinder live-animal imaging for biology. </p>



<p>The longer-term promise is a new class of simple add-ons that could help future optical devices “see” a bit deeper at the body’s surface - if safety and performance hold up.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm6869" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a></em>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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Ingredient used in Doritos helps scientists create mice with 'see-through' skin

Doritos have been a favorite snack around the world for...

<p>Life doesn’t always play by the tidy rules in textbooks. Most organisms use oxygen to produce ATP, which is energy used by cells. Some life forms, especially microbes, tap other chemicals when oxygen is scarce. The usual explanation says it’s one mode or the other.</p>



<p>A team studying a microbe from a Yellowstone hot spring found something different. This bacterium can use oxygen and sulfur at the same time to produce energy. That mixed strategy gives it an edge when oxygen levels fluctuate.</p>



<p>Lisa Keller of <a href="https://www.montana.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Montana State University</a> is the lead author of this research that describes her work with bacterial samples from a group called Aquificales. </p>



<p>Along with her adviser and mentor Eric Boyd, professor in the College of Agriculture’s <a href="https://www.montana.edu/mbi/">Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology</a>, they published their fascinating work in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbes-that-breathe-oxygen-and-sulfur">Microbes that breathe oxygen and sulfur</h2>



<p>Respiration is how a cell converts food into usable energy (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26882/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ATP</a>). In oxygen-based respiration, cells move electrons through a chain of reactions and pass them to oxygen at the end. </p>



<p>Anaerobic respiration does a similar job but transfers electrons to other acceptors, such as sulfur, nitrate, or iron. Both strategies work; they are just different.</p>



<p>The hot-spring bacterium, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/aquificales" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aquificales</a>, challenged the usual either-or assumption. Under the right conditions, it kept both systems running. </p>



<p>That meant that while the bacteria were producing sulfide - an anaerobic process - they were using oxygen, meaning that both metabolisms were occurring.</p>



<p>“There’s no explanation other than that these cells are breathing oxygen at the same time that they are breathing elemental sulfur,” Keller said.</p>



<p>Keller explained that the bacterium’s ability to conduct both processes at once challenges our understanding of how microbes survive, especially in dynamic, low-oxygen environments such as hot springs. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxygen-and-sulfur-in-hot-springs">Oxygen and sulfur in hot springs</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/giant-viruses-found-in-yellowstones-hot-springs-may-be-near-the-root-of-all-life-on-earth/">Hot springs</a> are tough places to live. Temperatures run high. Minerals dissolve into the water. Gases bubble in and out. </p>



<p>Oxygen dissolves less in hot water than in cool water and escapes more easily, so levels change from moment to moment. In that kind of environment, a flexible energy strategy goes a long way.</p>



<p>The bacterium in this study thrives at high temperatures and feeds on simple molecules, including hydrogen gas. It can use oxygen when it’s available and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sulfur-may-have-played-key-role-origin-of-life-on-earth/">elemental sulfur</a> when oxygen dips.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-study-was-done">How the study was done</h2>



<p>Keller and her team isolated the microbe, then grew it in the lab at high temperatures with three ingredients: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fairy-circles-may-point-to-underground-sources-of-clean-energy-from-natural-hydrogen-reserves/">hydrogen gas</a> as the energy source, elemental sulfur, and oxygen. They then tracked the cells’ chemical reactions and which genes were switched on.</p>



<p>Next, the team measured oxygen levels directly using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/gas-chromatography" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gas chromatography</a>. They also watched for the conversion of sulfur to sulfide, a clear sign of anaerobic sulfur respiration. </p>



<p>Gene expression data aligned with the chemistry: enzymes for both oxygen use and sulfur processing were active simultaneously.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbe-s-oxygen-sulfur-strategy">Microbe's oxygen-sulfur strategy</h2>



<p>Cultures given hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen grew faster and reached higher cell counts than cultures that had to use only oxygen or only sulfur. </p>



<p>That growth boost points to a simple payoff: more net energy when both pathways run together under low or unstable oxygen.</p>



<p>One detail matters for interpreting the results. The sulfide produced doesn’t persist in a mixed setup. Oxygen and certain metal ions in the broth can quickly consume it. </p>



<p>Without careful controls, that can hide the microbe’s dual strategy. This study accounted for that factor, which helps explain why this behavior may have been missed in past experiments.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-widespread-pattern-in-nature">Widespread pattern in nature</h2>



<p>Genes and enzymes similar to those involved here are found in many microbes. </p>



<p>That suggests this hybrid mode could be more common than we realized, especially in places where conditions shift minute to minute. Hot springs and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-sea-hydrothermal-vents-provide-clues-about-the-origin-of-life/">deep-sea vents</a> contain fuels and oxidants that rise and fall. </p>



<p>Microbes that can keep multiple electron acceptors available may outgrow neighbors that wait for a single, ideal condition.</p>



<p>Flexibility like this also fits the story of early Earth. Oxygen didn’t flood the oceans all at once. It rose in patchy, inconsistent ways. </p>



<p>Microbes that could sense tiny amounts of oxygen while still relying on older, oxygen-free reactions likely had an advantage. </p>



<p>The results of this study may explain how ancient lifeforms adapted to the progressive oxygenation of Earth that began around 2.8 billion years ago - the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-first-bacteria-used-oxygen-about-one-billion-years-earlier-than-we-thought/">Great Oxidation Event</a>.</p>



<p>“This is really interesting, and it creates so many more questions,” Keller said. “We don't know how widespread this is, but it opens the door for a lot of exploring.”</p>



<p>The Yellowstone bacterium isn’t ancient, but it shows a strategy that would have made sense when oxygen first began to matter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-oxygen-sulfur-combo-works">How oxygen-sulfur combo works</h2>



<p>Oxygen sits at the top of the energy ladder because it accepts electrons strongly, which usually means more energy per unit of fuel. </p>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/astrochemists-think-they-found-where-sulfur-atoms-in-space-has-been-hiding/">Sulfur compounds</a> accept electrons too, though the energy yield is lower. When oxygen is scarce or fluctuating, using sulfur in parallel keeps the energy flowing rather than stalling.</p>



<p>Temperature and chemistry help set the stage. High heat speeds reactions and lowers oxygen solubility. Hydrogen gas, common around hydrothermal systems, supplies a steady stream of electrons. </p>



<p>Elemental sulfur is abundant in many volcanic and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/geothermal-energy-is-cheap-and-clean-and-having-its-moment/">geothermal settings</a>. Together, these conditions make simultaneous oxygen and sulfur respiration advantageous.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-real-world-implications">Real-world implications</h2>



<p>Mixed respiration hints at new ways to run bioreactors and environmental cleanup efforts. </p>



<p>If microbes can be encouraged to keep more than one pathway active, engineers may squeeze extra efficiency from waste-to-energy systems, or keep pollutant breakdown steady when oxygen supply is uneven. </p>



<p>The same thinking applies to managing the sulfur and carbon cycles in complex settings where oxygen isn’t easy to control.</p>



<p>The work also urges careful experimental design. Testing a microbe in a strict “oxygen-only” or “no-oxygen” setup can miss behaviors that only appear when both are present. </p>



<p>Real environments rarely offer neat categories. Lab protocols that match those complex realities reveal strategies that would otherwise stay hidden.</p>



<p>To sum it all up, this heat-loving bacterium, Aquificales, broadens how we think about life’s energy playbook. It's messy, adaptive, and full of clever workarounds that let microbes, and maybe eventually us, survive in a changing world.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56418-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Communications</a></em>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

New microbes are discovered in Yellowstone that can do something life should not be able to do

Life doesn’t always play by the tidy rules in textbooks....

<p>The race to replace fossil fuels has inspired researchers to explore many unconventional potential sources. Among these, natural hydrogen, which is found deep underground, is gaining attention. </p>



<p>It is seen as a possible building block for a cleaner energy future. Yet, it remains difficult to predict where this hidden hydrogen lies.</p>



<p>A recent study from the <a href="https://www.univie.ac.at/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Vienna</a> suggests that mysterious features on Earth’s surface, called fairy circles, could reveal the presence of these underground reserves. </p>



<p>The round patches, where vegetation is damaged or absent, may point the way to a sustainable <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/clean-hydrogen-source-could-power-earth-for-170000-years/">energy</a> source.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-fairy-circles">What are fairy circles?</h2>



<p>Across many parts of the world, unusual circular patterns appear on the landscape, drawing attention from scientists and local communities alike. </p>



<p>These formations, known as fairy circles, can be found in regions as distant and varied as Russia, Namibia, Brazil, and <a href="https://research.csiro.au/hydrogenfsp/australian-fairy-circles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australia</a>.</p>



<p>They often stand out sharply from the surrounding environment due to the presence of vast rings or depressions with sparse or no vegetation. </p>



<p>Despite their size - sometimes hundreds of meters across - the depressions themselves are relatively shallow, sinking only a few meters into the ground.</p>



<p>For decades, these circles remained a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-catalyst-precatalyst-improves-clean-hydrogen-production-to-99-9-efficiency/">geological</a> and ecological mystery. Researchers speculated about many possible explanations, ranging from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mysterious-fairy-circles-are-likely-caused-by-termite-activity/">termite</a> activity to natural gas seepage. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questions-still-remain">Questions still remain</h2>



<p>However, no single theory could fully account for their global presence. It wasn’t until roughly ten years ago that a significant breakthrough emerged.</p>



<p>Scientists discovered that these fairy circles were not just barren patches of land but active sites where natural hydrogen escapes from reservoirs deep underground. </p>



<p>This finding revealed a surprising connection to one of the cleanest potential energy sources known.</p>



<p>Still, even with this discovery, questions persisted. </p>



<p>The mechanisms that shaped these depressions, and the reasons their size might vary depending on the depth and pressure of hydrogen, remained largely unknown. This left both geologists and the energy sector eager for clearer answers.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linking-hydrogen-and-fairy-circles">Linking hydrogen and fairy circles</h2>



<p>This information is critical for the energy industry. Natural hydrogen carries a negligible carbon footprint, making it an attractive sustainable option.</p>



<p>"But before expensive drilling can be carried out, we need to understand how fairy circles form, how large the deposits might be and how deep we need to drill," explained Martin Schöpfer from the University of Vienna and NiMBUC Geoscience.</p>



<p>A study supported by OMV and led by Schöpfer used geomechanical computer simulations to show why <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/massive-hydrogen-reserves-discovered-beneath-earths-mountains/">hydrogen</a>-emitting fairy circles sink. </p>



<p>The simulations revealed that interactions between gas, water flow, and soil create a two-step process that leads to surface collapse.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-souffle-effect-explained">Soufflé effect explained</h2>



<p>The team compared the phenomenon to a soufflé. Loose sediments, like sand or clay, sit above solid rock. </p>



<p>When hydrogen enters the sediment, it pushes water upward, uplifting the surface. Plants suffer from the altered gas mixture and die, leaving bare patches.</p>



<p>"You could say that the sediment rises like a soufflé, but here geomechanical processes are at work, whereas with a soufflé it is chemical processes," explained Schöpfer. When the hydrogen flow stops, pressure drops and the sediment compacts.</p>



<p>"The soil compresses and subsides, similar to a collapsing soufflé," he added.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-matching-nature-and-models">Matching nature and models</h2>



<p>Simulations aligned closely with real fairy circles found in Russia, Brazil, and Australia. The research showed a clear pattern: larger circles indicate deeper and higher-pressure hydrogen sources underground.</p>



<p>"These findings are a real breakthrough," emphasizes Bernhard Grasemann, deputy head of the Department of Geology. </p>



<p>"Fairy circles could thus serve as natural signposts in the future for finding underground hydrogen sources - a potentially inexhaustible and environmentally friendly <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-largest-natural-hydrogen-deposit-discovery-is-worth-a-staggering-184-billion/">energy</a> source."</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hydrogen-from-fairy-circles-matters">Hydrogen from fairy circles matters</h2>



<p>The energy sector is closely watching these developments. </p>



<p>"The energy sector's interest in natural hydrogen as a potential new energy source with a negligible carbon footprint is growing, especially in comparison to all other types of artificially produced hydrogen," noted Gabor Tari, chief geologist at OMV.</p>



<p>He pointed out that natural, or white and golden hydrogen, along with orange hydrogen, may become cheaper and more profitable than traditional forms, such as black, gray, blue, pink, or green hydrogen. </p>



<p>This is why OMV supports basic research that explores hydrogen’s future role in energy transitions.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-next-steps-in-research">Next steps in research</h2>



<p>Although promising, many questions remain. Schöpfer stresses the need for additional studies. </p>



<p>These may include testing different soil types, simulating pulsing gas emissions, and conducting field research to examine chemical reactions that could further influence subsidence.</p>



<p>If fairy circles do serve as natural guides to underground hydrogen, they could reshape global energy strategies. Unlocking this hidden source may bring the world one step closer to a truly sustainable energy system. </p>



<p>This could drive innovation across industries, reduce global reliance on carbon-heavy fuels, and open opportunities for affordable, clean energy.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <em><a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/53/9/712/654903/The-mechanical-genesis-of-fairy-circle-depressions?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geology</a></em>.</p>



<p><em>Featured image: A new study by the University of Vienna explains why "fairy circles" - circular areas where vegetation is damaged, as seen here in the São Francisco Basin in Brazil - subside and how their diameter is related to the depth of the hydrogen source. Credit: Alain Prinzhofer/University of Vienna</em></p>



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Fairy circles may point to underground sources of clean energy from natural hydrogen reserves

The race to replace fossil fuels has inspired researchers to...

<p>For something you can’t see with the naked eye, algae sure know how to shake things up. Around 14,000 years ago, microscopic Antarctic algae helped slow down global warming by pulling huge amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.</p>



<p>Scientists just figured out how they did it - and why the same process that once helped cool the planet could play a critical role in shaping the future of our climate.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antarctic-algae-changed-the-climate">Antarctic Algae changed the climate</h2>



<p>Back then, Earth was gradually warming after the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/disastrous-climate-changes-of-the-last-ice-age-could-happen-again/">last ice age</a>. However, something unusual occurred in the Southern Hemisphere: the warming paused. </p>



<p>This period, referred to as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-co2-will-cause-rapid-climate-change-in-the-tropical-andes/">Antarctic Cold Reversal</a>, was a time when sea ice expanded quickly in winter and melted quickly in spring. That spring melt converted the Southern Ocean into a super buffet for a particular type of algae, <em>Phaeocystis</em>.</p>



<p>These tiny ocean plants went wild. They multiplied, and in doing so, they pulled vast quantities of carbon dioxide - one of the primary drivers of global warming - out of the atmosphere and stored it away in the sea.</p>



<p>Here’s the twist: until now, we had no idea <em><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-ice-loss-alters-the-color-of-ocean-light-and-life-struggles-to-adapt/">Phaeocystis</a></em> even played a role. Scientists couldn’t find any trace of them in the usual fossil records. </p>



<p>Now, thanks to a new method that recovers ancient DNA from the ocean floor, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany have filled in this crucial missing piece of the climate puzzle.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unlocking-antarctica-s-hidden-record">Unlocking Antarctica’s hidden record</h2>



<p>The team studied a sediment core taken from nearly 2,000 feet deep in the Bransfield Strait, just off the Antarctic Peninsula. Layer by layer, this core preserves snapshots of ocean history going back 14,000 years.</p>



<p>By analyzing the ancient DNA trapped in that sediment, the scientists found genetic fingerprints of <em>Phaeocystis</em> during the cold reversal period. No one had ever identified these algae in the past using standard geochemical methods.</p>



<p>“Our study shows that these algal blooms contributed to a significant reduction in global atmospheric CO2 levels during a climatically important transition phase characterized by high sea ice extent,” said Josefine Friederike Weiß from the <a href="https://www.awi.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alfred Wegener Institute</a>, lead author of the study.</p>



<p>They also measured something else: a high ratio of barium to iron in the sediment. That ratio is tied to how much organic material - like dead algae - sinks to the seafloor. In this case, the data pointed to intense algal growth during times of heavy spring melt.</p>



<p>“The further the sea ice expands in winter, the larger the area in spring where nutrient-rich meltwater enters the surface sea - and therefore the zone where <em>Phaeocystis</em> algae find ideal growth conditions. As a result, greater sea ice extent leads directly to a larger region with high algal productivity.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-today-s-melting-ice-is-a-warning">Why today’s melting ice is a warning</h2>



<p>The same <em>Phaeocystis</em> algae that once helped cool the world are now struggling to survive. With <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rapid-antarctic-sea-ice-loss-is-causing-severe-storms-around-the-world/">Antarctic sea ice</a> declining at a record rate, the conditions that previously drove these algae blooms are vanishing.</p>



<p>That’s not just bad news for the algae. These blooms power entire food webs. They feed tiny animals, which feed fish, which in turn feed everything from squid to seals. If <em>Phaeocystis</em> disappears, the whole system could unravel.</p>



<p>Even worse, these algae are really good at one specific job: getting <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-the-ocean-holds-carbon-hidden-mechanisms-revealed/">carbon</a> to sink deep into the ocean. Losing them could mean more carbon sticks around in the atmosphere, heating the planet faster.</p>



<p>And there’s another concern. <em>Phaeocystis</em> releases a gas called dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which helps form clouds. More clouds mean more sunlight bounces back into space. Fewer algae mean fewer clouds. That’s one more way climate change could end up feeding on itself.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antarctic-algae-holds-future-lessons">Antarctic algae holds future lessons</h2>



<p>The study shows why scientists must look beyond conventional methods. By combining geological tools with DNA analysis, researchers are creating a more accurate picture of how the ocean shapes our climate - and how it might respond in the future.</p>



<p>The research also highlights a larger trend in climate science. For years, scientists focused mainly on ice cores and chemical markers.</p>



<p>Now, by analyzing the genetic material of ancient microbes, we can see what species were doing during pivotal climate events - and what those behaviors could mean for us today.</p>



<p>This is important because forecasting future climate change isn’t only about tracking temperature or carbon levels. It’s about understanding the living systems that help regulate them - such as the algae and the seas they inhabit.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01761-w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nature Geoscience</a></em>.</p>



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Antarctic algae that once cooled Earth are now disappearing

For something you can’t see with the naked eye, algae...

Amazing,Beautiful,Blue,Planet,Earth,With,Satellite,View,From,Space.

<p>The water level of the Earth's oceans does not increase by chance. Every millimeter has a cause. When sea levels rise, the reasons are buried in melting ice, warming seas, and the transfer of water from land to ocean.</p>



<p>Scientists now treat global mean <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-are-rising-as-predicted-with-bigger-risks-ahead/">sea</a> level as one of the clearest signals of climate change. And that signal has become louder in the past 30 years.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-30-year-record">Building 30-year record</h2>



<p>Researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (<a href="https://www.polyu.edu.hk/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PolyU</a>) have built the first 30-year record of global ocean mass change. </p>



<p>The study, led by Professor Jianli Chen and Dr. Yufeng Nie, used satellite laser ranging, or <a href="https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/space-geodesy-techniques/slr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SLR</a>, to track water added to the seas between 1993 and 2022.</p>



<p>Before now, reliable mass records began only in 2002, with the <a href="https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/science/sea-level/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GRACE</a> mission. </p>



<p>The results of the latest study, published in the <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, close that gap and strengthen confidence in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-levels-have-been-rising-longer-and-faster-than-we-realized/">how scientists monitor</a> rising sea levels.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ice-melt-and-sea-level-rise">Ice melt and sea-level rise</h2>



<p>Sea level rises for two main reasons. Warm water expands, and melting ice adds mass to the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-model-reveals-dramatic-swings-in-ancient-sea-levels/">ocean</a>. The PolyU record shows how much mass matters. </p>



<p>Between 1993 and 2022, global sea level rose by about 90 millimeters (3.5 inches).</p>



<p>Around 60 percent of that came from added ocean mass, not expansion. In the past two decades, the contribution from ice loss has accelerated, pushing the rate of rise from 3.2 to 3.6 millimeters (0.13 to 0.14 inches) per year.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-satellites-track-sea-level-rise">Satellites track sea-level rise</h2>



<p>SLR is not a new technology. It has been used for decades to measure satellite distances. But its data were once too coarse to track ocean mass. </p>



<p>The PolyU team solved that by applying forward modeling, a method that corrects distortions along land-ocean boundaries and accounts for geocenter motion. </p>



<p>The result is a continuous and reliable record that lines up with the GRACE observations, despite the older method’s limitations.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-weight-of-melting-ice">The weight of melting ice</h2>



<p>Breaking down the numbers shows where the rise comes from. Greenland added about 0.60 millimeters (0,24 inches) of sea-level rise each year between 1993 and 2022. Glaciers contributed a similar amount. Antarctica added 0.40 millimeters (0.16 inches).</p>



<p>Changes in land water storage, such as reservoirs and groundwater use, added about 0.32 millimeters (0.012 inches). </p>



<p>Since the 2000s, Greenland has become the single largest source, while melting ice sheets and glaciers combined now account for about 85 percent of all <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sinking-land-will-intensify-the-effects-of-rising-sea-levels/">ocean</a> mass increase.</p>



<p>The study also picked up short-term swings. Sea levels dipped during the 2010–2011 La Niña and rose sharply during the 2015–2016 El Niño event.</p>



<p>GRACE captured these shifts with high precision, while SLR detected them more roughly. Even with noise, the agreement between the two systems builds trust in the results. The long-term signal remains unmistakable: ice melt drives today’s rising seas.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-budget-closes">The budget closes</h2>



<p>For years, scientists struggled to match observed sea-level rise with the sum of its causes. That gap created doubts. </p>



<p>The PolyU study shows the budget now closes. The combined effects of warming water and ocean mass increase line up with altimetry observations almost perfectly.</p>



<p>From 1993 to 2022, the numbers differ by less than 0.1 millimeters per year (0.0004 of an inch). That closure means researchers can now account for nearly every drop.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-and-sea-level-rise">Climate and sea-level rise</h2>



<p>"In recent decades, climate warming has led to accelerated land ice loss, which has played an increasingly dominant role in driving global sea-level rise," said Professor Jianli Chen. </p>



<p>"Our research enables the direct quantification of global ocean mass increase and provides a comprehensive assessment of its long-term impact on sea-level budget. This offers crucial data for validating coupled climate models used to project future sea-level rise scenarios," added Prof. Chen.</p>



<p>This point highlights the urgency of connecting observational science with climate models. Accurate data on ocean mass strengthens the ability to project how coastlines may change in decades to come.</p>



<p>"The research showed that the ocean-mass changes derived from SLR analysis align well with the total sea-level changes observed by satellite altimeters, after accounting for the effect of ocean thermal expansion. This demonstrates that the traditional SLR technique can now serve as a novel and powerful tool for long-term climate change studies," noted Dr. Yufeng Nie.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-comes-next">What comes next</h2>



<p>The work proves SLR still has value. It cannot match the fine detail of GRACE, but it extends the record back another decade and cross-checks existing data. </p>



<p>Improvements are possible. Adding other satellite systems and refining models could sharpen results even further. What matters most is the message: the oceans are rising faster, and melting ice is the main reason.</p>



<p>Sea-level rise no longer hides behind uncertainty. The numbers tell the same story across methods. Thermal expansion is steady, but ice loss is climbing. </p>



<p>The seas are rising, and they are rising faster than before. The message is clear, and it is one that humanity cannot afford to ignore.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2425248122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em>.</p>



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Ice melt is the main driver of Earth's sea-level surge that is happening now

The water level of the Earth's oceans does not increase...

<p>Scientists have been curious for years about what is hidden beneath the surface of Mars. With its freezing temperatures, red dust, and dry valleys, the surface of the planet has received most of the attention. But something big is buried deep inside Mars' mantle.</p>



<p>Thanks to <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/insight/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA's Insight lander</a>, we’re finally getting a clearer look below the surface. And what’s there is surprising: leftover chunks from ancient cosmic crashes are buried deep in the planet’s mantle.</p>



<p>These rocky fragments aren’t small. Some are as wide as 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). They’re scattered across Mars’ interior like forgotten debris from the solar system’s wild early days.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mars-got-slammed-hard">Mars got slammed - hard</h2>



<p>Giant space rocks - possibly even protoplanets - crashed into Mars some 4.5 billion years ago. They impacted hard enough to melt enormous chunks of the planet's crust and mantle, and form vast oceans of molten rock. </p>



<p>When those impacts occurred, they shattered the surface. They blasted rocky debris, including parts of the impactors, deep into the interior of the Red Planet.</p>



<p>Unlike <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-everyday-water-use-is-literally-tilting-the-earth/">Earth</a>, which constantly reshuffles its crust through <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plate-tectonics-active-beginning/">plate tectonics</a>, Mars' crust is made of a single plate that has stayed mostly stable. </p>



<p>That’s why those ancient impact scars haven’t been erased. The fragments are still down there, frozen in place like time capsules.</p>



<p>“We’ve never seen the inside of a planet in such fine detail and clarity before,” said Constantinos Charalambous of <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Imperial College London</a>, the paper’s lead author. </p>



<p>“What we’re seeing is a mantle studded with ancient fragments. Their survival to this day tells us Mars’ mantle has evolved sluggishly over billions of years. On Earth, features like these may well have been largely erased.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mars_interior_giant-impacts_injected-debris-into-mantle_NASA_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mars_interior_giant-impacts_injected-debris-into-mantle_NASA_1s.webp" alt="Scientists believe giant impacts — like the one depicted in this artist’s concept — occurred on Mars 4.5 billion years ago, injecting debris from the impact deep into the planet’s mantle. NASA’s InSight lander detected this debris before the mission’s end in 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech" class="wp-image-1984316"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Scientists believe giant impacts - like the one depicted in this artist’s concept - occurred on Mars 4.5 billion years ago, injecting debris from the impact deep into the planet’s mantle. NASA’s InSight lander detected this debris before the mission’s end in 2022. Click image to enlarge. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech</em></figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insight-sees-into-mars-mantle">InSight sees into Mars' mantle</h2>



<p>All of this comes from a mission called <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/nasas-insight-lander-is-still-teaching-us-about-mars-after-its-retirement/">InSight</a>, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. It was run by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/insight/nasa-marsquake-data-reveals-lumpy-nature-of-red-planets-interior/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the lander arrived on Mars in 2018.</p>



<p>InSight was the first lander to place a seismometer on Mars’ surface. That device was incredibly sensitive and recorded 1,319 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/marsquakes-could-be-key-to-unlocking-mars-watery-secrets/">marsquakes</a> before the mission ended in 2022.</p>



<p>Quakes send out waves that travel through the planet. As those waves move through different materials, they change speed and direction. </p>



<p>Scientists can study how those waves behave to figure out what’s inside the planet, kind of like how doctors use ultrasound to see inside the human body.</p>



<p>“We knew Mars was a time capsule bearing records of its early formation, but we didn’t anticipate just how clearly we’d be able to see with InSight,” said Tom Pike of Imperial College London, coauthor of the paper.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-causes-marsquakes">What causes marsquakes?</h2>



<p>Marsquakes still happen, usually for two reasons. Some are caused when rocks crack under pressure and heat. Others are caused by meteoroids slamming into the surface.</p>



<p>A <a href="https://hal.science/hal-05070598v1/file/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202025%20-%20Charalambous%20-%20New%20Impacts%20on%20Mars%20Unraveling%20Seismic%20Propagation%20Paths%20Through%20a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> published earlier this year in <em>Geophysical Research Letters</em> showed that meteoroid impacts can create high-frequency seismic waves. </p>



<p>These waves travel deep into the mantle, which is a thick layer of rock beneath the crust. The mantle can be nearly 960 miles (1,545 kilometers) thick, and reach temperatures as high as 2,732 <strong>°</strong>F (1,500 <strong>°</strong>C).</p>



<p>Eight of the marsquakes recorded by InSight had strong, high-frequency signals that got noticeably scrambled and delayed. </p>



<p>“When we first saw this in our quake data, we thought the slowdowns were happening in the Martian crust,” Pike said. </p>



<p>“But then we noticed that the farther seismic waves travel through the mantle, the more these high-frequency signals were being delayed.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-buried-lumps-in-mars-mantle">Buried lumps in Mars' mantle</h2>



<p>Computer simulations helped scientists figure it out. Those delays only happened when the quake waves passed through small regions of the mantle that had a different composition from everything around them. These were the buried impact fragments.</p>



<p>Some were massive. Others were smaller. All were mixed into the mantle, which Charalambous compared to “shattered glass - a few large shards with many smaller fragments.” </p>



<p>That fits with what we already know: In the early solar system, planets like Mars got hit often and hard.</p>



<p>Charalambous said the fact that these features are still visible “tells us Mars hasn’t undergone the vigorous churning that would have smoothed out these lumps.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mars_interior_mantle_ancient-impacts_illustration_NASA_1m.jpg"><img src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mars_interior_mantle_ancient-impacts_illustration_NASA_1s.webp" alt="A cutaway view of Mars in this artist’s concept (not to scale) reveals debris from ancient impacts scattered through the planet’s mantle. On the surface at left, a meteoroid impact sends seismic signals through the interior; at right is NASA’s InSight lander. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech" class="wp-image-1984318"/></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>A cutaway view of Mars in this artist’s concept (not to scale) reveals debris from ancient impacts scattered through the planet’s mantle. On the surface at left, a meteoroid impact sends seismic signals through the interior; at right is NASA’s InSight lander. Click image to enlarge. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech</em></figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-other-planets-might-be-hiding">What other planets might be hiding</h2>



<p>This discovery doesn’t just help us understand Mars. It also gives clues about other rocky planets - especially ones that don’t have tectonic activity, like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/venus-secret-past-may-have-implications-for-earths-future/">Venus</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/is-there-life-on-mercury-possibly-in-the-planets-craters-study-reveals/">Mercury</a>. </p>



<p>If Mars is holding onto traces of ancient impacts deep in its mantle, maybe those planets are, too.</p>



<p>Mars has always been a quiet planet on the surface. But now we know that, deep inside, it’s holding the scars of an ancient and violent past - and it hasn’t let them go.</p>



<p>The study was published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk4292" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Science</em></a>.</p>



<p>Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech</p>



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Marsquakes reveal a highly-detailed history of how the Red Planet was formed

Scientists have been curious for years about what is hidden...

<p>Hot cars turn sealed bottles of water into tiny laboratories. A bottle that looks clear can quietly change  inside, and what you cannot see still matters.</p>



<p>Warmth and light do two things. They help microbes multiply after a single sip, and they also stress the plastic itself, allowing particles and additives to work their way into the water.</p>



<p>Beizhan Yan from Columbia University's <a href="https://lamont.columbia.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory</a><strong> </strong>has led key research on how plastic particles appear in bottled water.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-heat-turns-bottles-into-incubators">Heat turns bottles into incubators</h2>



<p>Once a bottle is opened, microbes hitch a ride from your mouth, your hands, or the air. A 2005 analysis reported that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-bacteria-breathe-by-creating-electricity/">bacteria</a> in room temperature bottled water can surge within 48 hours after a single sip.</p>



<p>Heat speeds that up. In closed cars, interiors often rise well above the outside air, and at about 77°F (25°C), microbes can multiply quickly, including species associated with foodborne illness.</p>



<p>Many single-use bottles are made of <em>polyethylene terephthalate</em>. Sunlight and warmth cause this material to break down at the surface, allowing tiny fragments to move into the liquid..</p>



<p>A 2025 study that simulated in-vehicle heat and sunlight measured up to 10.03 parts per million of microplastics in bottled water after 28 days.</p>



<p>Those particles came from the bottle walls during photothermal stress, not from outside contamination.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nanoplastics-revealed-in-bottled-water">Nanoplastics revealed in bottled water</h2>



<p>Earlier surveys already showed how widespread the problem is. An international survey reported that 93 percent of bottled water contained plastic fragments.</p>



<p>New tools peered even smaller. In 2024, a peer reviewed paper used laser based imaging to count about 240,000 particles per liter in popular brands, and most were nanoplastics.</p>



<p>“This opens a window where we can look into a world that was not exposed to us before,” said Beizhan Yan.</p>



<p>What happens after you swallow them is now under the microscope. A 2025 report on autopsies found <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-plastic-particles-found-in-human-egg-and-sperm-fluids/">plastic particles</a> lodged in human brain tissue, with higher levels than in the liver or kidneys.</p>



<p>This work tracked particle types and sizes and suggested that nanoscale shards can cross biological barriers.</p>



<p>The results do not prove harm by themselves, but they demonstrate that particles can reach places where the body is most sensitive.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bacteria-rise-faster-in-water-bottles">Bacteria rise faster in water bottles</h2>



<p>The chemical story often grabs headlines, but the biological risk can be immediate. </p>



<p>The same 2005 analysis found that bacterial counts in opened bottles at room temperature rose steeply within two days, while refrigeration slowed growth.</p>



<p>That pattern matches everyday experience. Closed <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/51-percent-of-the-world-relies-on-car-commutes-every-day/">cars</a> heat up quickly, and warm liquid is a friendly environment for bacteria to multiply, even when the water originally started clean.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-this-means-for-daily-habits">What this means for daily habits</h2>



<p>There is no single number that tells you when an opened bottle becomes risky, since growth depends on temperature, time, and what entered the bottle in the first place.</p>



<p>The safest habit is simple: throw out a bottle that sat warm for hours, and refill a clean, reusable bottle with fresh, cold water.</p>



<p>Heat and light also matter for unopened bottles. Long exposures in a hot car may not make water smell or taste different, yet the bottle can still shed particles under stress, as shown in the in-vehicle study.</p>



<p>No plastic is perfect. Harder plastics are less likely to scuff, but wear and heat still degrade them over time, and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-ultraviolet-light-can-be-used-to-destroy-covid-19/">ultraviolet light</a> adds stress that accelerates the process.</p>



<p>If you want simple rules of thumb, keep water cold, avoid leaving bottles in cars, and replace scratched or old bottles. Stainless steel or glass containers remove the plastic variable, though they still need regular cleaning to keep microbes at bay.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plastic-water-bottles-and-false-claims">Plastic water bottles and false claims</h2>



<p>Some people worry that heating or freezing plastic bottles releases dioxins, which are cancer-causing pollutants from combustion. That claim does not apply to water bottles, a point long clarified in a Johns Hopkins interview.</p>



<p>Researchers are building better tools to count and identify the smallest particles in common beverages. </p>



<p>The laser based method that flagged <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-normal-plastic-turns-into-dangerous-micro-and-nanoplastics/">nanoplastics</a> in bottled water is now being applied to tap water and even everyday activities like laundry, which release fibers into wastewater.</p>



<p>On the microbe side, applied food safety research continues to test how temperature and time shape growth in opened drinks. </p>



<p>That work supports a few steady habits, chill your water, clean your bottles, and skip any container that got warm in the sun.</p>



<p>The study is published in the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40652854/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Journal of Hazardous Materials</em></a>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

Water that looks clean may be full of invisible and deadly bacteria

Hot cars turn sealed bottles of water into tiny laboratories....

<p>Linguists have long known that when cultures collide, languages rub off on one another. We borrow words, swap sounds, and even reshape grammar. But charting those exchanges across centuries and continents is hard when the written record is patchy or nonexistent.</p>



<p>A new study flips the problem on its head: instead of starting with history books, the researchers read our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cracking-the-code-of-life-the-secret-language-of-dna/">DNA</a> to reconstruct past human contact - then asked what happened to the languages.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dna-traces-human-language-history">DNA traces human language history</h2>



<p>A team led by Anna Graff at the <a href="https://www.uzh.ch/de.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Zurich</a> pulled together genetic data from more than 4,700 people in 558 populations. They paired this with two of the world’s largest linguistic databases, which catalogue everything from word order to consonant inventories across thousands of languages.</p>



<p>Genetic “admixture” - the telltale signature of populations mixing - stands in for a reliable, globally comparable record of contact. With that proxy in hand, the team could identify more than 125 instances where groups clearly met and mingled, even if historians never wrote the encounters down.</p>



<p>What they saw was unambiguous: when people mix, their languages tend to move closer together. Unrelated languages spoken by populations with genetic contact were four to nine percent more likely to share features than expected. </p>



<p>That might sound modest, but across entire grammars and sound systems, it’s a strong, consistent nudge toward similarity.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linguistic-change-follows-human-contact">Linguistic change follows human contact</h2>



<p>One surprise was how steady that effect proved to be. Whether the contact was vast and recent - say, colonial movements between continents - or ancient and regional, like Neolithic migrations within Eurasia, the degree of linguistic convergence was strikingly similar.</p>



<p>“No matter where in the world populations come into contact, their languages become more alike to remarkably consistent extents,” said senior author Chiara Barbieri, now at the <a href="https://en.unica.it/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Cagliari</a>.</p>



<p>That consistency cuts against a common assumption that only intense, prolonged encounters reshape grammar and sound systems, or that small-scale neighborly contact leaves barely a trace.</p>



<p>The genetic lens suggests languages are sensitive instruments, registering social touchpoints across the full spectrum - from trade and intermarriage to conquest and diaspora.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-not-all-grammar-is-transferable">Not all grammar is transferable</h2>



<p>Of course, not every part of a language is equally malleable. Some features seem to travel more readily. Word order patterns and certain consonant sounds were more likely to converge than deeper layers of morphology or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/our-speech-is-full-of-melodies-that-create-language-like-patterns/">prosody</a>.</p>



<p>But here, too, the study counsels caution. The researchers didn’t find a one-size-fits-all rulebook that says, for example, “Nouns move; verb endings don’t.”</p>



<p>That challenges decades of “borrowability hierarchies” that rank which features can be shared across languages. Instead, the authors argue, social dynamics - prestige, power, identity, and the practicalities of multilingual life - can override structural inertia.</p>



<p>If a community prizes a dominant group’s speech, it may adopt conspicuous elements quickly; if it resists assimilation, the most “borrowable” features might barely budge.</p>



<p>You can see the everyday version of this push and pull in familiar loanwords. English picked up “sausage” from French after the Norman Conquest; centuries later, French borrowed “sandwich” from English. </p>



<p>Vocabulary swaps like these are the visible tip. Beneath the surface, the new study shows, subtler shifts in sound and syntax can ripple outward whenever people share space and stories.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-contact-drives-languages-apart"><a></a>When contact drives languages apart</h2>



<p>The team even found the mirror image of borrowing: divergence on purpose. In some places, features became less alike after contact, not more.</p>



<p>That happens when communities lean into linguistic differences to mark who they are - tightening vowel systems, restoring older word orders, or reinforcing local pronunciations as a badge of identity. In other words, contact doesn’t always melt boundaries; sometimes it sharpens them.</p>



<p>This duality - convergence alongside intentional distancing - is central to how languages evolve. It helps explain why some neighboring tongues grow steadily more alike, while others cling to distinctiveness despite centuries of cohabitation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dna-tells-story-of-language">DNA tells story of language</h2>



<p>Methodologically, the study’s move is elegant. Historical documents and oral traditions can be rich but patchy, and for many regions and eras they simply don’t exist.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-some-people-age-better-hundreds-of-genes-identified/">Genes</a> keep a different kind of ledger. When populations intermix, they leave a durable statistical imprint that persists for thousands of years. </p>



<p>By aligning those genetic signals with language structures, the authors could quantify contact and its linguistic consequences on a global canvas - from Amazonia and the Sahel to the Pacific and the Arctic.</p>



<p>The approach also helps disentangle coincidence from contact. Two unrelated languages might independently develop similar features for internal reasons. But when that similarity lines up with clear genetic admixture between the speakers, the balance of probability shifts toward historical interaction.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-languages-evolve-in-real-time">Languages evolve in real time</h2>



<p>Beyond satisfying our curiosity about how English, Hausa, Quechua, or Hmong came to be what they are, the findings carry a warning for the present. Contact has always been part of human life, but the pace and scale are accelerating.</p>



<p>Globalization, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urbanization-is-a-threat-to-78-of-the-worlds-bird-species/">urbanization</a>, climate-driven displacement, and land-use change are bringing communities together - and pushing others apart - in new ways. As that churn intensifies, we should expect languages to converge more in some respects and to splinter or vanish in others.</p>



<p>It also reframes the stakes of language loss. We often focus on shrinking vocabularies and disappearing oral literatures. </p>



<p>This study suggests that deeper, structural layers - sound patterns, grammatical architectures, the hidden wiring of a language - can erode under sustained contact, even when a language survives on the surface.</p>



<p>Protecting linguistic diversity, then, isn’t only about counting how many languages remain; it’s about preserving the full range of their internal variety.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dna-and-language-share-histories">DNA and language share histories</h2>



<p>The research tells a familiar human story with fresh evidence. When people meet - through trade or conquest, migration or marriage - we share more than DNA. We pass around technologies, beliefs, recipes, and ways of speaking.</p>



<p>Some of those exchanges are voluntary, others are imposed; some knit communities together, others spark efforts to stand apart. Our languages, like our DNA, carry the scars and gifts of those encounters.</p>



<p>By treating genes as a time machine, this study gives <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-iconic-southern-accent-is-fading-with-each-new-generation/">linguistics</a> a new global baseline. It doesn’t replace fieldwork, historical scholarship, or typological theory. </p>



<p>It makes them sharper, pointing to where contact likely mattered and how deeply. And it leaves us with a clear takeaway for the century ahead: as our lives intertwine ever more tightly, the sounds and structures we use to make meaning will change with them.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv7521" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Science Advances</em></a>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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<p>-----</p>

Our DNA holds the hidden history of human language

Linguists have long known that when cultures collide, languages rub...

<p>We stroll past wheat, clover, and grass and see only the green half of the story. The other half - the roots - do the heavy lifting: anchoring plants, pulling up water and nutrients, and locking away carbon in the soil.</p>



<p>Yet because roots are hidden, scientists have spent decades using muddy, labor-intensive methods to guess their size and spread, often missing the finest, most active threads. According to a team of researchers at <a href="https://international.au.dk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aarhus University</a>, that guesswork can finally stop.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-high-tech-root-census">A high-tech root census</h2>



<p>“It's a bit like studying marine ecosystems without ever being able to dive,” said senior author Henrik Brinch-Pedersen, a professor in the Department of Agroecology.</p>



<p>Until now, the standard approach was to carve out big blocks of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-soil-day-2024-protecting-our-planets-lifeline/">soil</a>, wash away the dirt, sort and dry what remained, and weigh the roots. It’s slow, destructive, and misses the fine roots that absorb nutrients and release carbon to the soil.</p>



<p>The new approach swaps spades for droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hidden-chapter-in-human-evolution-revealed-through-genetics/">DNA</a> technology that partitions a teaspoon of soil into tens of thousands of microscopic droplets. Each droplet then answers a yes/no question: Does it contain plant DNA with a specific genetic signature?</p>



<p>The team uses a marker called ITS2 - think of it as a barcode that differs among species - so a single run can reveal not just that roots are present, but whose roots they are. Crucially, it also shows how much underground biomass each species contributes.</p>



<p>“It’s a bit like giving the soil a DNA test,” Brinch-Pedersen said. “We can suddenly see the hidden distribution of species and biomass without digging up the whole field.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mapping-roots-with-precision">Mapping roots with precision</h2>



<p>Because ddPCR counts DNA molecules across thousands of droplets, it can quantify roots that would otherwise be pulverized or rinsed away. </p>



<p>That makes it possible to map root communities at high resolution in living fields, pastures, and mixed-species grasslands and to repeat measurements over time without disturbing the site.</p>



<p>The payoff spans several fronts. For climate research, it lets scientists measure how much <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/planting-diverse-crops-traps-carbon-and-boosts-soil-health/">carbon</a> different crops actually push belowground - data that’s been frustratingly hard to pin down but is essential for credible climate accounting in agriculture.</p>



<p>For plant breeding, the digital DNA method creates a path to select varieties that invest more in roots without sacrificing grain or forage aboveground.</p>



<p>And for biodiversity science, the technology finally illuminates the underground dynamics in species mixes - who’s competing, who’s complementing - insights that were “almost impossible before,” Brinch-Pedersen noted.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-roots-matter-for-the-climate">Roots matter for the climate</h2>



<p>We tend to picture wind turbines and EVs when we think of climate solutions, but roots are a vast, quiet carbon pump. </p>



<p>As plants photosynthesize, some of the captured carbon flows belowground into roots and the surrounding soil. Depending on the crop, soil type, and management, a fraction of that carbon can persist for decades or even centuries.</p>



<p>Farmers and policymakers talk about “soil carbon sequestration,” but without precise measurement tools it’s been hard to document gains in ways that stand up to scrutiny. A rapid, species-resolved root assay changes that equation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dna-test-in-soil">DNA test in soil</h2>



<p>In practice, researchers collect small soil cores, extract DNA, and run ddPCR with species-specific probes keyed to the ITS2 barcode. The number of positive droplets scales with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/deep-rooted-crops-can-significantly-improve-soil-carbon-storage/">root biomass</a> for that species in that sample. </p>



<p>Because the test targets DNA directly in soil, it captures fine roots and root fragments as well as thicker roots that are tough to wash and weigh.</p>



<p>There are, however, limits. Close relatives can be tricky to tell apart when their barcodes are nearly identical - ryegrass and Italian ryegrass hybrids, for instance, can blur the signal. </p>



<p>And the method recognizes only what it’s trained to find. Researchers must validate a probe for each species, so expanding the “DNA library” is both the hurdle and the goal.</p>



<p>“For us, the most important thing is that we have shown it can be done,” Brinch-Pedersen said. “Our vision is to expand the library so we can measure many more species directly in soil samples.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rapid-answers-from-soil">Rapid answers from soil</h2>



<p>Speed is the other advantage. Traditional root studies hinge on days to weeks of field and lab work per site. The ddPCR method turns around results in hours, making it practical to scale from a few experimental plots to entire farms, seasons, and regions.</p>



<p>That opens the door to experiments that were previously unrealistic. Researchers can compare cover crops for their belowground carbon contributions across soil types. </p>



<p>They can track how drought shifts root allocation among species in a pasture. They can also screen hundreds of breeding lines for deeper, denser root systems.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plants-that-work-smarter">Plants that work smarter</h2>



<p>Brinch-Pedersen sees a straight line from measurement to design. If breeders can quantify underground investment as easily as they count kernels or measure protein, they can begin to select for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tree-crops-a-path-to-feeding-the-world-and-saving-the-planet/">crops</a> that are not only high-yielding but also high-sequestering. These are plants that do more of the climate work for us.</p>



<p>The same logic applies to mixtures. With species-level root data, agronomists can compose plant communities that pack more carbon belowground while maintaining forage or grain output above.</p>



<p>The bigger picture is simple: half a plant lives out of sight, and that half shapes soil health, farm resilience, and the climate. With a “DNA test for dirt,” researchers can finally watch that hidden half at work - no shovels required.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/198/3/kiaf276/8173641?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Plant Physiology</em></a>.</p>



<p>-----</p>



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Digging into plant roots with DNA - no shovels required

We stroll past wheat, clover, and grass and see only...

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<p>Amazing Aorounga Crater, Chad This image from Japan’s ALOS satellite shows the Aorounga Crater in northern Chad.</p>
<p>The crater is just south of the Tibesti Mountains, a range of inactive – with some potentially active – volcanoes in the central Sahara desert.</p>
<p>Measuring about 12 km across, the crater was created by a meteorite impact about 340 million years ago.</p>
<p>Clearly visible is the dark, central peak, caused by material splashing up after the impact, similar to how water bounces back up when a stone is thrown in. This mountain is surrounded by a flat, sand-filled ring, which is surrounded by another ring of rock from when the material was thrown outwards.</p>
<p>A distinctive low, sand-filled trough circles the others – the outer edges of the initial impact. The Aorounga Crater is an impact crater located in northernChad just south of the Tibesti Mountains in the central <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/34-a-wooded-oasis-in-the-sahara/">Sahara</a> desert. Measuring 12 kilometers across</p>
<p>The linear rock ridges that run diagonally across this image are ‘yardangs’ and are formed by wind erosion. Here, we can clearly see how the wind blows from northeast to southwest. Sand dunes form in the wind-cut valleys between the rock ridges of the yardangs.</p>
<p> Linear rock ridges alternating with light orange sand deposits cross the image from upper left to lower right; these are called yardangs by geomorphologists. Yardangs form by wind erosion of exposed rock layers in a unidirectional wind field. The wind blows from the north-east at Aorounga, and sand dunes formed between the yardangs are actively migrating to the south-west.  The circular Aorounga Impact Crater lies approximately 110 kilometers.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p><a href="http://www.esa.int">European Space Agency</a></p>


<p></p>

Amazing Aorounga Crater, Chad

Amazing Aorounga Crater, Chad This image from Japan’s ALOS satellite...

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The Sentinel-2A satellite shows us the Etosha salt pan in northern Namibia.

The most prominent feature is the Etosha salt pan. It is believed that a lake was first formed tens of millions of years ago. More recently – mere thousands of years ago – the Kunene River would have flowed through this area, filling the large lake before tectonic movement changed the river course. The lake then dried up, leaving behind some 4800 sq km of exposed minerals.

The Ekuma River, was seen flowing down from the upper left, feeds water into the pan – but very little water flows in as it seeps into the riverbed.

Part of the wider Etosha National Park, the pan is a designated Ramsar wetland of international importance. It is the only known mass breeding ground for flamingos in Namibia, seeing as many as one million flamingos at a time during the wet season when rain water forms pools in parts of the pan.

Built-up mounds of clay and salt throughout the pan also draw animals who use them as salt licks. Animals including lions, elephants, leopards and even black rhinoceroses can be seen in the park.

The name ‘Etosha’ means ‘great white place’ in the language of the local Ovambo tribe – and looking at the image we understand why.

The straight lines cutting across the picture are roads, and the one on the right side delineates the border of the protected park to the south. On the northern aspect of the road, we can see agricultural structures.

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<a href="http://www.esa.int">European Space Agency</a>

Northern Namibia Etosha salt pan

The Sentinel-2A satellite shows us the Etosha salt pan in...

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<b>El </b><b>Niño years can cause a ripple effect through the ocean’s food chain, a new study found, and now </b><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/"><b>NASA</b></a><b> is trying to figure out the how and why.</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">El Niño is warm phase of an oscillating pattern in the tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean. El Niño years generally lead to warming in the Pacific, which in turn sparks temperature disruptions and rainfall in regions around the ocean. Some areas, however, receive less rainfall due to the warming, such as Indonesia.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">While the obvious signs of El Niño are the weather patterns seen above the sea’s surface and on land, it can also have an effect deep below the waves. When warm water caused by the El Niño pattern disrupts ecosystems deep underwater, it can cause ripples through ocean food chains, and even affect fishing in coastal regions.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For example, on the South American coastlines of Chile and Peru, currents of cold water – called upwelling – bring nutrients that feed tiny sea life like phytoplankton closer to the surface. When the warmth of El Niño prevents upwelling from happening, essentially keeping the cooler currents in deeper waters, many of those tiny organisms starve.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When there’s not enough phytoplankton to eat, the animals that feed on them – shrimp, jellyfish, blue whales and more – don’t have enough food, and those populations begin to dwindle. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The trend continues until the fishing industries of Chile and Peru are affected. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The problems caused by suppression of upwelling aren’t limited to South America; they occur all over the Pacific during El Niño years.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Fortunately, phytoplankton and other microorganisms that rely on upwelling rebound quickly, the NASA scientists said.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The agency is using satellite imagery to monitor blue and green chlorophyll in the Pacific during El Niño and La Niña years. Green chlorophyll brought closer to the surface by upwelling is a food source for phytoplankton while blue chlorophyll is not, allowing scientists to note when an area is a good habitat for the tiny creatures.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They believe the data they’re collecting will offer insight into how phytoplankton process and contribute to carbon in the ocean. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And, of course, it can also help fisheries predict when they might have a tough year.</span>

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For more information, visit:

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/Earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.nasa.gov/Earth</a>

El Niño's impact on phytoplankton

El Niño years can cause a ripple effect through the...

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The international iceberg patrol service is now able to track drifting ice from orbit more swiftly through cloud computing.

The icebergs drifting in transatlantic shipping lines break off from the Greenland ice sheet before being carried into the Baffin Bay. From there, they either become grounded or continue southwards. Most are gradually weathered away, but some can endure dangerously far south.

On April 15, 1912, the most infamous iceberg in history collided with the Titanic just south of the tail of Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. Where more than 1500 people perished.

The disaster prompted maritime nations to establish an iceberg patrol across the North Atlantic that continues to this day. Since 1913 the US Coast Guard has run the International Ice Patrol and since and no vessel has collided with an iceberg in that time.

Within the January to July ice season, aircraft make regular flights, adding to a large amount of radar imagery from Europe’s Sentinel-1A and -1B satellites.

The Patrol uses aerial and ship sightings to feed an iceberg database which publishes daily warnings for mariners.

“Each flight lasts seven to nine hours to cover an expanse of water of 75 000 sq km or more,” explains David Arthurs of PolarView, running the Polar Thematic Platform for ESA.

“Speed is very important: we aim to get these results into the hands of the Ice Patrol as swiftly as possible – within a handful of hours at most.”

“This cloud approach will provide a bridge to the Patrol’s future by improving our ability to monitor iceberg hazards from space and continue to protect the maritime community,” noted Michael Hicks, Chief Scientist of the International Ice Patrol.

The online platform allows the easy extraction of information from a collection of satellite data and computer models, including iceberg calving and trajectory models, historical, ocean current and wind data covering the Baffin Bay, and Greenland ice sheet products from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative.

ESA’s six Thematic Exploitation Platforms allow knowledge to be extracted from large environmental datasets produced through Europe’s Copernicus program and other Earth observation satellites.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.esa.int">European Space Agency</a>

International Ice Patrol tracks icebergs from space

The international iceberg patrol service is now able to track...

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NASA’s Operation IceBridge captures images of Earth’s polar ice so we can better understand processes that connect polar regions with the global climate system.

Operation IceBridge is about to close in on the end of its eighth consecutive Antarctic deployment, and will likely tie with its 2012 campaign record for the most research flights carried out during a single season.

“We are probing the most remote corners of Spaceship Earth to learn more about changes that affect all of us locally, such as how ice sheets are contributing to sea level rise,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman on her very first flight over Antarctica with the Operation IceBridge team on Nov. 17. “At NASA we explore not only space but also our home planet.”

“Operation IceBridge is particularly well suited to measure changes in polar ice: it carries probably the most innovative and precise package of instruments ever flown over Antarctica,” Newman said.

"This campaign was possibly the best Antarctic campaign Operation IceBridge has ever had,” said John Sonntag, IceBridge mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We flew as many flights as we did in our best prior campaigns down here, and we certainly got more science return out of each flight than we have before, due to steadily improving instrumentation and also to some excellent weather in the Weddell Sea that favored our sea ice flights."

Antarctica is heading into austral summer, a period of rapid sea ice melt in the Southern Ocean. But this year the sea ice loss has been particularly swift, and the Antarctic sea ice extent is currently at the lowest level for this time of year ever recorded in the satellite record, which began in 1979.

IceBridge expanded its reach this year, covering a vast swath of Antarctica. During its six weeks of operations from its base in Punta Arenas, in the southernmost tip of Chile, Operation IceBridge carried out 24 flights over Antarctica. In total flying 308 hours.

One of this year’s missions flew over a massive rift in the Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen C Ice Shelf. Ice shelves are the free parts of ice streams and glaciers, and they buttress the grounded ice behind them; when ice shelves collapse, the ice behind accelerates toward the ocean, where it then adds to sea level rise. Larsen C neighbors a smaller ice shelf that disintegrated in 2002 after developing a rift similar to the one now growing in Larsen C.

The IceBridge scientists measured the Larsen C fracture to be about 70 miles long, more than 300 feet wide and about a third of a mile thick. The crack completely cuts through the ice shelf, but it does not go all the way across it – once it does, it will produce an iceberg roughly the size of the state of Delaware.

As with every field season, IceBridge collaborated with other science teams: this year, IceBridge flew under one of ESA’s (the European Space Agency) CryoSat-2 satellite’s tracks and coordinated with a team from the British Antarctic Survey that was also conducting aerial surveys of the frozen continent.

"The British group began their campaign after we did, but targeted some of the areas we flew with a similar instrument suite. Once we process our data and they handle theirs, we’ll be able to compare our measurements and combine them to form a better picture of Antarctica,” MacGregor said. "We also flew over their on-continent bases, providing them with images of nearby areas as they prepare their operations for this field season.”

During her stay in Punta Arenas, Newman met with Chilean researchers and students to discuss future opportunities with Chile.

The mission of Operation IceBridge is to collect data on changing polar land and sea ice and maintain continuity of measurements between NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) missions.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov">NASA</a>

Operation IceBridge nearing the end of its 2016 mission

NASA’s Operation IceBridge captures images of Earth’s polar ice so we...

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GOES-R, the most advanced weather satellite ever built, successfully launched into space on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It is the first in a series of next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites for NOAA -- the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) lifted off at 6:42 p.m. EST on its way to boost the nation’s weather observation capabilities, leading to more accurate and timely forecasts, watches and warnings.

“The launch of GOES-R represents a major step forward in terms of our ability to provide more timely and accurate information that is critical for life-saving weather forecasts and warnings,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “It also continues a decades-long partnership between NASA and NOAA to successfully build and launch geostationary environmental satellites.”

[caption id="attachment_119648" align="alignleft"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-119648" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/goes-r-weather-satellite-launch_1big_nasa-150x150.jpg" alt="GOES-R launch" width="150" height="150" /> GOES-R launch[/caption]

After it reaches its final designated orbit in the next two weeks, GOES-R will be renamed GOES-16. The new satellite will become operational within a year, after undergoing a checkout and validation of its six new instruments, including the first operational lightning mapper in geostationary orbit.

“The next generation of weather satellites is finally here,” said NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan. “GOES-R will strengthen NOAA’s ability to issue life-saving forecasts and warnings and make the United States an even stronger, more resilient weather-ready nation.”

Forecasters will use the lightning mapper to hone in on storms that represent the greatest threats. The satellite’s primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, will provide images of Earth’s weather, oceans and environment with 16 different spectral bands, including two visible channels, four near-infrared channels, and 10 infrared channels.

Improved space weather sensors on GOES-R will monitor the sun and relay crucial information to forecasters so they can issue space weather alerts and warnings. In all, data from GOES-R will result in 34 new or improved meteorological, solar and space weather products.

“NOAA and NASA have partnered for decades on successful environmental satellite missions," said Sandra Smalley, director of NASA’s Joint Agency Satellite Division at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington, which worked with NOAA to manage the development and launch of GOES-R. “Today’s launch continues that partnership and provides the basis for future collaboration in developing advanced weather satellites.”

Beyond weather forecasting, GOES-R also will be part of the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) System, an international satellite-based search and rescue network operated by NOAA. The satellite is carrying a special transponder that can detect distress signals from emergency beacons.

There are four satellites in the GOES-R series: –R, –S, –T and –U, which will extend NOAA’s geostationary coverage through 2036.

NOAA manages the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated NOAA-NASA office. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html">NASA's Launch Services Program</a>, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, acquired and managed the United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch service and led the countdown. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, oversees the acquisition of the GOES-R series spacecraft and instruments.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank">NASA</a>

GOES-R satellite will revolutionize weather forecasting

GOES-R, the most advanced weather satellite ever built, successfully launched into...

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The impacts of climate change and global warming are already being felt by cities around the world.

After Hurricane Sandy rocked the U.S. East Coast in 2012, the New York City government set out to repair the city — and asked for NASA’s help. The mayor’s office didn’t want NASA scientists out there with hammers or hard hats. Instead, they asked for information to include in their blueprints on how climate change risks, specifically increased risk of flooding, will affect the nation’s most populous city.

“The city is not only repairing the city to the current risks of coastal flooding, but also reflecting future projections of coastal flooding due to rising global sea levels,” said Cynthia Rosenzweig, head of the Climate Impacts Group at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. “Our projections from NASA’s and other climate models and data are actually used in the city’s guidelines for renovations and rebuilding after the hurricane.”

It isn’t just New York City that’s interested in these questions about the local impacts of climate change. More than 4,000 miles away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the city’s leaders were looking to address a similar climate question: How can they prepare for the effects of climate change on their city?

Now, researchers and city officials from two of the world’s major metropolises, New York City and Rio de Janeiro, are coming together to share their insights and solutions to mitigate against specific climate change risks afflicting both their cities — sea level rise, increased temperatures and changes in water quality. The gathering will be an in-depth training workshop where researchers can share the utility of NASA satellite data and climate models as well as how they are working with various city governments.

The workshop takes place this week at GISS with participants from GISS, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; the Urban Climate Change Research Network at Columbia University, New York; Rio de Janeiro City Hall; and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency. A public educational webinar discussing how the city of Rio de Janeiro is responding to the challenge of monitoring water quality and addressing sea-level rise will take place on Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. EST.

<strong>Similar Risks in Similar Cities</strong>

“Cities are stepping up to be the first responders to climate change risks around the world,” said Rosenzweig, who currently serves as the co-chair for the New York City Panel on Climate Change convened by the city’s mayor.

Rosenzweig studies the effect of climate change in cities and urban areas and also helps lead the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN). Based at the Columbia University Earth Institute in New York City, the UCCRN consists of more than 750 researchers and practitioners around the world, with regional hubs across the world including a hub in Rio de Janeiro. The UCCRN team hopes to replicate these collaborative workshops with other cities in the network such as Paris; Canberra, Australia; Philadelphia; and Shanghai.

Across the globe, many cities are facing similar climate risks. Coastal cities like New York City and Rio de Janeiro are most susceptible to sea level rise. Sea level rise is influenced by several factors: the melting of ice, thermal expansion of ocean water, and the movement of local ocean currents and melting of glaciers in the polar regions, to name a few.

“It’s a big science challenge to project sea level rise for any given city because we have to take all of those factors into account,” Rosenzweig said. “It will be helpful to exchange methods on how we do sea level rise projections and how the scientists in Rio project sea level.”

Cities are also urban heat islands, a phenomenon in which the center of the city is warmer than the surrounding regions, placing stressful conditions on people who live there. Cities tend to be warmer because city infrastructure, such as buildings, tends to absorb more radiation. They also have less vegetation for evapotranspiration and emit more heat. Researchers will show how the heat content in cities can be monitored through tools such as the joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat 8 satellite.

Lastly, municipalities also need to maintain acceptable water quality for their inhabitants. Runoff from agriculture and urban sewage can result in elevated nutrients in rivers and streams. An excess of nutrients can cause enhanced phytoplankton growth, known as eutrophication. Localized changes in phytoplankton populations can drastically affect the food chain, water clarity and human health. Human-induced eutrophication can have tremendous impact on fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.

For many water quality improvement programs, scientists need to be able to monitor the aquatic conditions such as water clarity, how much sediment is present and phytoplankton amounts. At the workshop, scientists will share how these important parameters can be observed by satellite instruments such as NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and sensors on the Aqua satellite and the Operational Land Imager (OLI) aboard the Landsat 8 satellite.

“For Rio de Janeiro, this partnership is very important because it will bring us new knowledge about the city and add new techniques and methodologies. It is also gratifying to be recognized as a partner by such an important scientific agency,” said Luiz Roberto Arueira, director of city information at Pereira Passos Institute in the Rio de Janeiro City Hall and a key player in developing a relationship between NASA and the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Back in December 2015, NASA entered into a formal partnership with the City of Rio de Janeiro for sharing Earth-observing data and methods, but this will be the first larger in-person gathering.

Several researchers from Pereira Passos Institute from Rio City Hall will be attending the workshop. The Pereira Passos Institute is responsible for strategic planning, public policy integration and mapping. Additionally, New York City officials will participate in a roundtable discussion to talk about what science information is useful when they are making city policies.

The workshop is co-led by the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), whose hub in Rio will help to spread the knowledge gained to other cities in Brazil and Latin America.

“This is science in action. It connects researchers in NASA and Rio de Janeiro working on these challenging environmental issues with the people who are in the city’s government and actually involved in making guidelines and rules,” said Dalia Kirschbaum, a scientist at NASA Goddard who is helping lead the Rio de Janeiro partnership.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov" target="_blank">NASA</a>

NASA helps cities around the world address climate change risks

The impacts of climate change and global warming are already...

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<strong>The Global Urban Footprint (GUF) project is a global map showing human presence across planet Earth in 2012.</strong>

Since the modern form of humans first appeared roughly 200,000 years ago, our species has managed to make an enormous ecological footprint on planet Earth.

An ecological footprint is a measure of human impact on Earth's ecosystems. It's typically measured in area of wilderness or amount of natural capital consumed each year.

A landmark global map showing nearly every human settlement on Earth is now available to researchers. Compared to previous mapping efforts, the satellite-based ‘Global Urban Footprint’ dataset shows not just urban centers, but also tiny rural hamlets.

Starting this month, the Global Urban Footprint 2012 dataset is freely available via ESA’s online Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) at full spatial resolution of 12 m for scientific use, along with an easier to handle 84 m version for any non-profit use.

“Previously we just weren’t getting all the villages in rural areas,” says Thomas Esch of DLR German Aerospace Center, which produced the map. “But these might be crucial to understanding population distribution or disease vectors, for example, or assessing pressures on biodiversity.

“Such rural settlements are currently still home to almost half of the global population – around three billion people.”

“U-TEP will provide a tremendous service to all of us working with the world’s cities,” comments Ellen Hamilton, Lead Urban Specialist at the World Bank.

Orbiting astronauts find it notably difficult to spot any signs of human habitation with the naked eye – until nightfall, when artificial lights switch on. This Global Urban Footprint 2012 map was made using primarily radar vision because it can detect vertical structures typical of built environments, working on an all-weather basis.

German radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X acquired more than 180,000 high-resolution images covering all of Earth’s surface over two years.

This 3 m-resolution satellite imagery is almost 100 times more detailed than US Landsat optical data, commonly used for mapping urban extent.

The radar data were combined with additional inputs such as digital terrain models. In all, the team processed more than 20 million datasets with an input volume of more than 320 terabytes, including an automated quality assurance check – aiming to ensure maximum accuracy, as a yardstick of urbanization patterns.

ESA’s U-TEP platform has now been used to process a new auxiliary optical layer for the map based on more than 400 000 Landsat multispectral images. – giving an added dimension of information to users.

Handling such a huge dataset became practical thanks to ESA’s cloud-based U-TEP gives us all the computing resources needed. “Even five years ago the technology wasn’t there,” says map team member Mattia Marconini – it would have been impossible.”

This new auxiliary layer is also serving as a basis for a follow-on “Global Urban Footprint +” map for 2015 derived from Landsat in combination with Europe’s Sentinel-1 satellite imagery and showing a spatial resolution of 30 m.

Ultimately on-demand Global Urban Footprint processing will be made available to users for any time and any place on Earth through the U-TEP and Europe’s Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data.

U-TEP is one of six Thematic Exploitation Platforms developed by ESA to serve data user communities. These cloud-based platforms provide an online environment to access information, processing tools and computing resources for collaboration. TEPs allow knowledge to be extracted from large environmental datasets produced through Europe's Copernicus program and other Earth observation satellites.

[caption id="attachment_119641" align="aligncenter" width="996"]<img class="size-large wp-image-119641" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/global_Urban_Footprint-1024x576.jpg" alt="Global Urban Footprint map" width="996" height="560" /> Global Urban Footprint map[/caption]

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Credit: <a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

Global Urban Footprint map shows every human settlement on Earth

The Global Urban Footprint (GUF) project is a global map showing human...

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Homeowners now have a new, green option when chooosing what kind of windows they want to adorn their houses.

Smart windows get darker to filter out the sun's rays on bright days, and turn clear on cloudy days to let more light in. This feature can help control indoor temperatures and offers some privacy without resorting to aids such as mini-blinds. Now scientists report a new development in this growing niche: solar smart windows that can turn opaque on demand and even power other devices. The study appears in <em>ACS Photonics</em>.

Most existing solar-powered smart windows are designed to respond automatically to changing conditions, such as light or heat. But this means that on cool or cloudy days, consumers can't flip a switch and tint the windows for privacy. Also, these devices often operate on a mere fraction of the light energy they are exposed to while the rest gets absorbed by the windows. This heats them up, which can add warmth to a room that the windows are supposed to help keep cool. Jeremy Munday and colleagues wanted to address these limitations.

The researchers created a new smart window by sandwiching a polymer matrix containing microdroplets of liquid crystal materials, and an amorphous silicon layer -- the type often used in solar cells -- between two glass panes. When the window is "off," the liquid crystals scatter light, making the glass opaque. The silicon layer absorbs the light and provides the low power needed to align the crystals so light can pass through and make the window transparent when the window is turned "on" by the user. The extra energy that doesn't go toward operating the window is harvested and could be redirected to power other devices, such as lights, TVs or smartphones, the researchers say.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.acs.org" target="_blank">American Chemical Society</a>

Solar smart windows offer privacy and power on demand

Homeowners now have a new, green option when chooosing what...

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The Swiss Alps are an alpine region of of Switzerland.

Part of the Swiss Alps are pictured in this Sentinel-1A image from September 11, 2015.

Near the center of this image of the Swiss Alps are Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with the city of Interlaken between them. In the upper-right section is Lake Lucerne.

In the lower-central part of the image we can see the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps. The glacier originates in a large, flat area of snow and ice high in the mountains called Concordia, where three smaller glaciers converge. Switzerland’s three famous Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains rise north of Concordia. The Aletsch Glacier extends south, and its meltwater creates the Massa River in the valley below.

Glaciers in this region are showing long-term retreat from climate change. The melting ice has given birth to new lakes, which pose risks such as flooding and landslides to communities below.

Radar imagery can be used to generate precise elevation models, and can also detect deformation over landslide, seismic or subsidence areas.

Radar can also support impact assessment for many types of hazard such as geological events.

Sentinel-1’s radar ability to ‘see’ through clouds, rain and in darkness makes it particularly useful for monitoring floods. Images acquired before and after a flood offer immediate information on the extent of inundation and support assessments of property and environmental damage.

Sentinel-1 is a two-satellite mission. Sentinel-1A was launched in April 2014 while its sister, Sentinel-1B, is set for launch on 22 April of this year.

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<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

Lake Thun and Lake Brienz in the Swiss Alps

The Swiss Alps are an alpine region of of Switzerland....

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This image from the Sentinel-3 satellite shows the Nile River and its delta, as well as the surrounding desert areas of northeast Africa and parts of the Middle East.

The Nile River is an enormous north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, however other conflicting sources cite a 2007 study that gave the title to the Amazon River in South America.

Very distinct is Egypt, a country connecting northeast Africa with the Middle East, home to millennia-old monuments still sitting along the lush Nile valley.

In the center of the image, capital city Cairo with the Nile River snaking northwards is clearly visible, along with the Red Sea just further east. Also evident are the islands of Cyprus further north in the Mediterranean Sea and parts of Crete on the very left.

One of the suite of sophisticated instruments that will measure Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere, Sentinel-3’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) measures the energy radiating from Earth’s surface in nine spectral bands, including visible and infrared.

The instrument improves on the capabilities of the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer carried by the Envisat satellite of 2002–12, including a wider swath of 1400 km, new channels and a partly higher spatial resolution.

Combining radiometer and color data helps us to understand the state of vegetation better.

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<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

The Nile River and its delta seen from space

This image from the Sentinel-3 satellite shows the Nile River and...

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This Landsat-8 image from 8 January 2016 shows part of Chile’s Bernardo O’Higgins National Park in southern Chile.

This park plays host to the world’s second largest contiguous ice field beyond the poles the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

It's vast expanse covers more than 50 000 sq km, ice fields are formed by a massive accumulation of snow which turns into ice with years of compression and freezing. Shaped by the underlying topography, glaciers often form at the edges of an ice field, draining the ice off.

The Southern Patagonian Ice Field is the larger of two remnant parts of the Patagonian Ice Sheet, which covered all of southern Chile during the last glacial period some 12 000 years ago.

Brüggen Glacier, also known as Pío XI Glacier, is visible in the lower left corner of the image. This is the longest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica and has been advancing, first reaching the western shore in the 1960s, and then developing north and south.

Just above this glacier, we can see lighter waters of Lake Greve. This is due to the presence of suspended fine sediment in the water produced by the abrasion of glaciers rubbing against rock, called ‘glacier milk.’

Another feature of this area is the active, ice-covered Lautaro Volcano in the lower-central part of the image.

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Credit: <a href="http://www.esa.int">European Space Agency</a>

Perfect Pío XI Glacier footage

This Landsat-8 image from 8 January 2016 shows part of...

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