<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=DSM3EVeGHJU
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to implement the latest AI Agent building platform.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-agent-training-transforms-the-workplace-fear-factor-into-a-competitive-advantage">AI agent training transforms the workplace 'fear factor' into a competitive advantage</h2>



<p>Organizations that offer comprehensive artificial intelligence training to their workers find remarkable value that extends well beyond basic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mind-wandering-might-be-more-productive-than-you-think/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">productivity improvements</a>. Emerging research demonstrates that carefully crafted AI training programs <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-does-not-replace-human-creativity-but-enhances-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enhance</a> corporate performance, lower operational costs, and dramatically improve employee psychological well-being by turning workplace uncertainty into professional empowerment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-addressing-the-widespread-ai-anxiety-crisis-among-us">Addressing the widespread 'AI anxiety' crisis among us</h2>



<p>A staggering 53% of employees expressed concern that the use of AI tools to automate work tasks could make them appear disposable to their employers, according to <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft</a>'s 2024 workplace survey. Such pervasive worry about being substituted by machines has caused what researchers have termed "AI technostress" – a psychological state that can result in occupational burnout and poorer mental well-being.</p>



<p>Data published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a> showed that belief in AI learning ability was a moderator in the link between technology adoption and work pressure, and higher confidence significantly lowered negative psychological responses. Workers provided ample training to become competent with AI software have significantly lower stress.</p>



<p>Companies like <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a> have platforms for building what are known as "AI Agents".  In essence, AI Agents are simply tools that employees can build for themselves or their teams quickly and inexpensively.   MindStudio will even train entire companies, from the CEO on down, at no cost. By letting MindStudio empower employees, companies avoid hiring more IT staff, buying more software, and implementing solutions to problems that do not exist.</p>



<p>MindStudio even has partners locally for companies, like <a href="http://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dominnus</a> with offices in the Carolinas, California, and Denver, to help build AI Agents and support employees as they become resident AI experts for their organization.  The training provided by MindStudio is applicable across other AI Agent building platforms as well.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-revolutionary-productivity-through-focused-learning">Revolutionary productivity through focused learning</h2>



<p>Organizations that implement large-scale AI training programs achieve dramatic outcomes. Employees performed tasks significantly better when they utilized AI support compared to when they didn't, according to <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nielsen Norman Group</a> research findings. Their study documented productivity increases of 66% for a variety of professional tasks.</p>



<p>Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis research finds workers record 33% higher productivity in time working with generative AI tools. The benefit is equivalent to 5.4% of work time savings for AI users – around 2.2 hours per week for full-time workers.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psychological-well-being-benefits-through-ai-competence">Psychological well-being benefits through AI competence</h2>



<p>The emotional transformation when employees are provided with proper technology training is a fundamental transformation from fear to professional confidence. A survey of 600 employees across industries, carried out by ScienceDirect, proved that AI capabilities strengthen work environment commitment and improve job satisfaction.</p>



<p>A <a href="https://www.lut.fi/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LUT University</a> study discovered that AI adoption has no direct effect on workers' well-being but does so indirectly through working conditions like task optimization and safety protocols. Strategically deployed AI that involves correct training can actually increase workplace mental well-being.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-from-replacement-anxiety-to-partnership-confidence">From 'replacement anxiety' to 'partnership confidence'</h2>



<p>Although 35% of those interviewed in recent McKinsey studies were concerned about workforce displacement, firms with large-scale training initiatives witness such fears dissipate quickly. The World Economic Forum found that two out of three respondents believe AI competencies will enhance their career prospects and job marketability.</p>



<p>This shift from fear to trust has measurable implications for job satisfaction. Applied Sciences research indicates AI can create tailored wellness programs based on individual employee requirements.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-financial-benefits-of-increased-retention">Financial benefits of increased retention</h2>



<p>The mental health advantages of AI learning have a direct impact on organizational bottom lines in the form of a positive feedback cycle with high retention of employees. Recent ROI research validates that artificial intelligence learning has a beneficial impact on employee turnover and satisfaction levels.</p>



<p>PriceWaterhouseCoopers' research documents 20% to 30% improvements in productivity, market speed, and revenue in organizations that attempt systematic AI adoption through comprehensive training.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-environmental-advantages-of-ai-enabled-teams">Environmental advantages of AI-enabled teams</h2>



<p>AI training has unforeseen environmental benefits as it makes the work environment more efficient. According to a study in Scientific Reports, the carbon footprint in writing and illustrating work is significantly lower when AI performs it compared to humans. AI software produces 130 to 1,500 times less CO2 equivalent per page of text created than human authors.</p>



<p>In addition, AI-driven remote work functionality significantly reduces environmental impact. Research by Cornell University and Microsoft indicates that remote workers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 54% by not commuting daily to offices. Hybrid workers working remotely two to four days a week can reduce their carbon footprint by 11% to 29%.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cumulative-organizational-advantages">Cumulative organizational advantages</h2>



<p>The compounding gains of better mental well-being, reduced turnover, increased productivity, and environmental benefits flow to enterprises from the pairing. McKinsey analysis estimates the long-term AI potential at $4.4 trillion in incremental productivity growth opportunity from business use cases.</p>



<p>As of now, 75% of knowledge workers globally utilize generative AI, mirroring widespread adoption patterns. Organizations that provide organized training and assistance see the most favorable results in productivity, worker satisfaction, and ecological sustainability.</p>



<p>The research overwhelmingly indicates that companies that invest in proper AI education, like that offered through <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MindStudio</a>, establish win-win scenarios where employees are both more empowered and less stressed, and companies enjoy the gains of increased productivity, reduced turnover, and improved mental health outcomes throughout their workforce.</p>



<p>For more on MindStudio's free AI training for companies, visit the website's of MindStudio and Dominnus from the links below.</p>



<p>The research was published across a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/palcomms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Humanities and Social Sciences Communications</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence</a>, and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci">Applied Sciences</a>.</p>



<p id="block-9bd989d6-2fd3-4580-957f-6cacce134f08">-----</p>



<p id="block-eff5dea3-a9bb-40b5-a923-e5a9978bc0e2">Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.</p>



<p id="block-43e218f4-0391-477c-8396-eb777c8c80a3">Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by <a href="https://www.earth.com/author/eralls/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eric Ralls</a> and Earth.com.</p>



<p id="block-1f9a227a-ec37-4140-81b8-ffa4a7cc6689">-----</p>



<p>MindStudio.AI: <a href="https://www.mindstudio.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.mindstudio.ai</a></p>



<p>Dominnus: <a href="https://www.dominnus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.dominnus.com</a></p>

AI agent training boosts mental health and profits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSM3EVeGHJU Companies like MindStudio help companies train their employees to implement the latest AI Agent building platform. AI agent training transforms the workplace 'fear factor' into a competitive advantage Organizations that offer comprehensive artificial intelligence training to their workers find remarkable value that extends well beyond basic productivity improvements. Emerging research demonstrates that carefully crafted AI training programs enhance corporate performance, lower operational costs, and dramatically improve employee psychological well-being by turning workplace uncertainty into professional empowerment. Addressing the widespread 'AI anxiety' crisis among us A staggering...

<p>A construction crew cleared out what used to be an ice cream parlor in Gdańsk, Poland, and archaeologists stepped in to check the ground before redevelopment. They did not expect to uncover a full medieval skeleton lying beneath a carved grave stone.</p>



<p>The stone shows a knight in chainmail with a sword and shield, and likely dates to the late 1200s or early 1300s. The slab is about 59 inches (1.5 meters) long, and many of its details have survived.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-well-preserved-skeleton-found">Well-preserved skeleton found</h2>



<p>Sylwia Kurzyńska, an archaeologist with <a href="https://www.archeoscan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ArcheoScan</a>, led the work and described the rare stone slab carved from Gotland limestone that appears to have been imported across the Baltic Sea.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Given that it was made out of soft limestone and lay buried for centuries, the preservation of the slab is remarkable,” said Kurzyńska. Her team removed the stone and uncovered a well preserved male skeleton below it.</p>



<p>The burial lies within a medieval cemetery where nearly 300 <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dna-study-changes-what-we-knew-about-irelands-oldest-graves/">graves</a> have been recorded, and only a handful carry stone tomb markers that signal elite status. That fits the visual language of the slab.</p>



<p>Archaeologists working in the same block had already identified that oak used to form the earliest church was cut in 1140. The area formed part of an early stronghold used from the late 1000s to the early 1300s. </p>



<p>The churchyard’s location, inside the power center of the old town, helped explain why a high status grave turned up here.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-high-ranking-man-under-grave-stone">High-ranking man under grave stone</h2>



<p>Most late medieval memorials in this region are simple slabs with crosses or short inscriptions. <a href="https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/12/medieval-effigies-comparative-expressions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Effigial</a> carving, where the stone carries a full body image of the deceased, appears far less often and points to wealth, tools, and specialized carvers.</p>



<p>The material adds another layer. Gotland limestone took a fine polish and allowed crisp details. </p>



<p>Traders moved it along Baltic routes that connected Poland with Swedish quarries and Hanseatic markets. An imported stone in a church floor hints at long distance ties that mattered for prestige.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dna-from-9000-year-old-skeletons-disproves-migratory-waves-theory-from-south-africa/">skeleton</a> belonged to an adult man with sturdy bones and no grave goods, an absence that sometimes reflects church rules rather than rank. </p>



<p>The raised sword and sculpted armor communicate status in a way that parishioners would have understood during services.</p>



<p>All available evidence suggests that the individual was of high social standing, most likely a knight or a military commander. The visual program on the slab carries that message without a written epitaph.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-skeletons-give-data-on-diet-and-disease">Skeletons give data on diet and disease</h2>



<p>Height does not map neatly onto wealth, since it reflects nutrition, infection, and genetics. Medieval Polish datasets show wide ranges, and <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7424595/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">researchers</a> analyze stature in a biocultural framework to avoid simple one-cause stories.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Studies of medieval populations in Poland use skeletons to track diet and disease stress, not just inches and feet. That kind of work helps separate personal traits from community level conditions.</p>



<p>The grave stone was transferred to the Archaeological <a href="https://archeologia.pl/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Museum</a> in Gdańsk on July 8, 2025, for cleaning, stabilization, and documentation. </p>



<p>Conservators plan high resolution imaging to capture the carving and any tool marks that survive.</p>



<p>On the skeleton, teams will run genetic tests alongside chemical work that can trace childhood and adult diets. A facial reconstruction will use skull measurements to create a research-based portrait for public display.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-grave-stone-traded-from-across-the-sea">Grave stone traded from across the sea</h2>



<p>Gdańsk stood in the middle of busy Baltic trade, so stone, iron, and timber moved between ports in short coastal hops. That system made it practical to import a fine limestone slab from Sweden for a prominent burial.</p>



<p>The stone also signals taste, since carvers familiar with regional styles could sell their skills across borders. A figure shown with a sword and shield fits a shared visual code that circulated on both sides of the sea.</p>



<p>A single grave can tighten a city’s timeline. This one ties a place of worship, a military seat, and a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/archaeologists-find-a-luxurious-4000-year-old-tomb-for-a-teenager-with-gold-jewelry-and-mysterious-seals/">cemetery</a> together. They form a coherent picture that is anchored in wood from 1140 and carried forward into the 1300s.</p>



<p>It also frames open questions that only lab work can answer. Identity, origin, and life history will depend on careful analysis rather than guesswork.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-past-becomes-public">How the past becomes public</h2>



<p>Finds like this move quickly from trenches to museum benches, and then into classrooms and city tours. The story turns abstract ideas like sepulchral art into something concrete and local.</p>



<p>Public interest keeps momentum going, which helps fund analysis and conservation. That is how one carved stone becomes part of a shared record of the city’s past.</p>



<p>Photo source: <em>ArcheoScan – Archaeology and Conservation Laboratory</em>.</p>



<p>Information from a <a href="https://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/Znaleziono-kompletny-szkielet-rycerza-Gdansk-archeologia,a,291781" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a> on the Gdańsk official website.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read?<a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/"> Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

What looked like an ice cream shop concealed a cemetery with nearly 300 graves

A construction crew cleared out what used to be an...

<p>Birdwatching was once a quiet, eccentric pastime. Now, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. Travelers go thousands of miles - even to remote places such as the Andes in Colombia - to catch a glimpse of one species. </p>



<p>In the process, birdwatchers bond with the natural world, interact with fellow travelers, and spend money - lots of it. </p>



<p>Now, birdwatching is one of the major engines of ecotourism, particularly in the tropics where <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/all-birds-one-tree-complete-evolutionary-map-reveals-hidden-links/">bird</a> populations are rich and varied. But according to new research, not every country with rare birds is cashing in on this trend.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birdwatching-as-a-growing-business">Birdwatching as a growing business</h2>



<p>Over the past decade, birdwatching has gone through the roof. Apps such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/machine-learning-may-solve-the-mystery-of-bird-movements/">eBird</a>, which allow users to record sightings, have made birdwatching a worldwide community. They receive millions of checklists from users who record what birds they have spotted and where.</p>



<p>The data is especially valuable for researchers trying to figure out how birdwatching tourism works - and where it’s growing.</p>



<p>A group of scientists from the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a> decided to dig into this question. They analyzed eBird records for 155 nations from 2010 to 2022. </p>



<p>The goal was to learn why birdwatching tourists are drawn to certain places and why others receive more visits than others.</p>



<p>The team started by determining which app users were likely tourists. If a user mostly posted bird sightings in one country but also submitted checklists from others, those other sightings were counted as tourism. </p>



<p>Next, the researchers built models to analyze which factors were tied to rising tourist activity.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-birds-more-tourists">More birds, more tourists?</h2>



<p>You’d think countries with the most birds would attract the most birders. That’s partly true - but it’s not the whole story.</p>



<p>The researchers looked at four main factors to understand what drives birdwatching tourism. First was the total number of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-bird-species-face-extinction-risks-in-the-neotropics/">bird species</a> in a country. They also considered the number of small-range species - birds that are found only in a very specific area. </p>



<p>Beyond <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/global-biodiversity-crisis-is-actually-worse-than-we-thought/">biodiversity</a>, the team included the Human Development Index, which measures education, health, and income levels. Lastly, they factored in the Global Peace Index, which reflects a country’s overall safety and stability.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-factors-influencing-bird-tourism">Factors influencing bird tourism </h2>



<p>The analysis showed that the most important factor wasn’t birds - it was development. A country’s Human Development Index explained 41.4 percent of the variation in bird tourism. </p>



<p>Species richness came in second at 22.4 percent. Small-range species mattered too, but not as much. Surprisingly, safety had only a minor influence - just 1.4 percent.</p>



<p>That means tourists care more about basic infrastructure and services than they do about peace rankings. They want to go somewhere that’s easy to travel in, not necessarily somewhere that’s totally safe on paper.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-colombia-takes-the-lead">Colombia takes the lead</h2>



<p>One of the biggest winners in the study was Colombia. Since 2010, birding activity in the country has grown 40 times over. </p>



<p>The country also saw the biggest growth in tourist birdwatching, specifically. Colombia now holds a much bigger slice of the global birding pie than it did a decade ago.</p>



<p>South Africa ranked second in growth overall. Other countries, like Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru, also scored high in both visitation and biodiversity.</p>



<p>But some tropical countries, including Venezuela, Bolivia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, barely saw any growth - even though they have incredible birds.</p>



<p>The gap is especially striking between Colombia and Venezuela. Both have rich bird life and similar development scores, but their tourism outcomes couldn’t be more different.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-working-and-what-isn-t">What’s working - and what isn’t</h2>



<p>Part of Colombia’s success might come down to smart promotion. The country’s tourism agency launched a major campaign to boost birdwatching. </p>



<p>Meanwhile, places like Costa Rica have spent years building infrastructure - trails, towers, trained guides - and focusing on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/travelers-are-ready-for-more-affordable-eco-friendly-options/">sustainable travel</a>. That kind of investment pays off.</p>



<p>On the other hand, some countries just haven’t built the conditions needed to welcome tourists, even if they have world-class birds. </p>



<p>The study also suggests other factors might be in play: ease of getting visas, how affordable flights are, how a country is seen politically, and how well-connected it is to major tourist source countries like the U.S.</p>



<p>“Over the years, we’ve seen Colombia really explode as a birdwatching destination, and we often asked ourselves why more countries aren’t similarly recognized as great places for birdwatching,” said Scott Winton, a UC Santa Cruz ecologist and study coauthor.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birdwatching-as-a-business-opportunity">Birdwatching as a business opportunity</h2>



<p>The researchers say there are ways to grow <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/birdwatching-boosts-alaskas-economy-by-hundreds-of-millions/">birdwatching tourism</a> - especially for countries in the tropics with untapped potential.</p>



<p>One important takeaway: it’s not all or nothing. A nation doesn’t necessarily have to be completely developed or 100% secure to attract birders. What is more important is whether certain areas are perceived as safe, boast trained local guides, and provide minimal amenities.</p>



<p>To get there, governments can facilitate the growth of birding tourism by providing tax incentives or low-interest loans to facilitate the construction of birding trails, canopy towers, and viewing hides. </p>



<p>Investing in guide training can also go a long way, particularly if locals are equipped with bird identification and customer service knowledge. Preserving bird habitats is important, as ecotourism relies on maintaining these areas intact. </p>



<p>Furthermore, investing in small, community-based tourism enterprises with incentives for sustainable activities can help make birding tourism more accessible and inclusive.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-birdwatching-biodiversity-and-income">Birdwatching, biodiversity, and income</h2>



<p>Birdwatching isn’t a shortcut to success. It requires long-term thinking. Natural habitats take years to recover if they’re destroyed, but tourism built around nature can last for generations. Still, it’s not a decision governments should make alone.</p>



<p>“Just as I’ve seen birding tourism change people’s lives in my native Colombia, I hope other tropical countries can come together to conserve and showcase their amazing bird capital,” said Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, the study’s lead author.</p>



<p>Ultimately, local and Indigenous communities should have the final say. When they lead, and when the land is protected, birdwatching can be more than a hobby - it can be a way to protect biodiversity and build lasting income in places that need it most.</p>



<p>The full study was published in the journal <em><a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.70105">People and Nature</a></em>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

Birdwatching is big business, but not all countries benefit

Birdwatching was once a quiet, eccentric pastime. Now, it’s a...

<p>The story of how horses became calm enough to carry people is written in their DNA. A new study tracked ancient horse genomes across thousands of years and connected specific genetic changes to behavior and body shape.</p>



<p>The work shows that early breeders first favored temperament, then selected for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/horse-genetics-could-unlock-breakthroughs-in-human-medicine/">bodies</a> that could handle speed, weight, and long travel. </p>



<p>The research also pinpoints one region in the genome that appears to have tipped the balance toward rideability.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-horses-changed-human-life">Horses changed human life</h2>



<p>Xuexue Liu led the project at the Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (<a href="https://ias.caas.cn/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CAAS</a>), working with collaborators in France and Switzerland. </p>



<p>Horses reshaped how people moved, traded, and fought. Archaeology and genetics place the successful spread of modern domestic horses in the Western Eurasian steppes a little over 4,000 years ago. </p>



<p>A 2021 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04018-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> linked the rise of horse domestication to new ways of moving across land using chariots and horseback.</p>



<p>Before engines, horses were the fastest way to move people and goods. They also pulled plows and carried messages over long distances, which pushed cultures into closer contact.</p>



<p>Those changes relied on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/all-domestic-horses-have-ancestors-in-russia/">animals</a> that would accept a rider and keep pace without breaking down. The new genetic timeline helps explain how that happened step by step.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scanning-horse-dna">Scanning horse DNA</h2>



<p>The researchers built a time series of horse DNA and scanned 266 trait linked markers tied to behavior and body conformation. They watched how those markers rose or fell in frequency as humans started managing horse breeding.</p>



<p>They found clear signals that early selection focused on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saving-przewalskis-horse-the-last-surviving-species-of-wild-horse/">behavior</a>. That pattern fits the simple idea that a trainable, steady animal is easier to handle before people attempt fast travel or combat.</p>



<p>The team also defined several key terms that matter for reading the data. Ancient DNA refers to genetic material recovered from archaeological remains, and a genome is the full set of genetic instructions in an organism.</p>



<p>A genetic locus is a specific location on a chromosome, and an <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Allele" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">allele</a> is a version of a gene at that location. When an allele becomes more common because it helps survival or success under human choice, that rise is called positive selection.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gene-linked-to-rideability">Gene linked to rideability</h2>



<p>One region named GSDMC stood out as the strongest candidate for rideability. The team reports that selection at this locus started about 4,750 years ago, with the period known as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871141308000747" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">domestication bottleneck</a> marking a sharp shift in breeding.</p>



<p>By about 4,150 years ago, variants in GSDMC had become very common in managed horse populations. The study links GSDMC genotypes to skeletal conformation in horses and to spinal anatomy, motor coordination, and muscular strength in mice.</p>



<p>Those traits align with the demands of carrying a human across uneven ground for many miles. A stiffer, stronger back, coordinated movement, and adequate muscle power would all contribute to a safe, steady ride.</p>



<p>The authors argue that selection on existing variation, not a brand new mutation popping up out of nowhere, likely fueled the rapid rise. That interpretation matches how breeders often work, choosing among the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ancient-dna-reveals-37000-years-of-hidden-human-infections/">animals</a> already in their herds.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-calm-horses-chosen-first">Calm horses chosen first</h2>



<p>The scan also flagged <a href="https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=ZFPM1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ZFPM1</a>, a gene known to modulate behavior in mice, as showing positive selection roughly 5,000 years ago. </p>



<p>The timing hints that calm temperament and tractability came before the body tweaks that made sustained riding possible.</p>



<p>Taming an animal that is large, fast, and easily spooked would be the first hurdle. Once that gate is opened, people can begin to select for efficient movement and strength under load.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bronze-to-iron-age-changes">Bronze to Iron Age changes</h2>



<p>The data suggest a shift in emphasis after the earliest phase of domestication. From the Iron Age onward, breeding leaned harder into larger body size and greater tameness to meet the demands of transport and warfare.</p>



<p>That pattern mirrors the archaeological record that shows more widespread cavalry and heavier equipment later in time. Stronger, bigger horses would be better suited for those roles.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-horse-dna-shows-change">Horse DNA shows change</h2>



<p>Time series genetics works because DNA from different ages acts like snapshots, and many snapshots form a timeline. </p>



<p>With enough samples, researchers can watch allele frequencies move, which tells a story about selection pressure over centuries.</p>



<p>The team cross-referenced genetic markers for behavior and body plan with known timelines for human mobility. That combination helps separate changes driven by people from natural drift, and it points to windows when breeding priorities changed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-horse-dna-gene-matters">Why horse DNA gene matters</h2>



<p>GSDMC is a plausible hub because it influences how the spine and muscles develop and function. A back that holds form under a rider without undue flexion would reduce pain and injury risk for the animal.</p>



<p>Coupled with better coordination and strength, the same horses could cross long distances at sustained paces. That capacity would give groups who bred and used them a real advantage in moving, trading, and waging war.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-many-questions-remain">Many questions remain </h2>



<p>The exact group or culture that first pushed rideability to center stage remains uncertain. The genetic clock narrows the window, yet it does not name the horse herders who made those early choices.</p>



<p>Future work could refine which specific variants in GSDMC matter most and test how they affect motion in living horses. </p>



<p>Ethical breeding today also has to balance performance with welfare, since back health is central to a horse’s quality of life.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp4581" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Science</em></a>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

Horse DNA reveals how humans bred calm animals

The story of how horses became calm enough to carry...

<p>Evolution does not only respond to rivals, predators, or mates that bump into each other. It can also respond and evolve when ripples move through the environment and reach species that never cross paths, as shown in a new study.</p>



<p>Researchers tracked a simple question with big consequences: Could one species change the evolution of another without ever meeting it face to face?</p>



<p>The team studied indirect ecological effects, where one species influences another through a third species or by altering the environment rather than through direct contact. These effects can even cross habitat boundaries - as when land insects shape aquatic grazers - and, unlike obvious interactions such as predation or competition, they often go unnoticed.</p>



<p>The study was led by Shuqing Xu at <a href="https://www.uni-mainz.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz</a> and follows a long tradition of testing evolution in near-natural settings rather than only in small lab containers.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-experimental-ponds-track-evolution">Experimental ponds track evolution</h2>



<p>The researchers set up large outdoor mesocosms, which are controlled experimental ponds that mimic nature while allowing careful measurements. These systems were large enough to include many natural processes but controlled enough for clear tests. </p>



<p>Each pond held about 4,000 gallons of water, plus aquatic plants, algae, and the tiny crustacean <em><a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lifes-rules-natural-selection-change-significantly-often-daphnia/">Daphnia</a></em>. The researchers added aphids that feed on duckweed to some ponds and kept other ponds as controls without aphids. </p>



<p>That created two worlds that never connected directly, since the aphids lived on floating macrophytes (larger aquatic plants like duckweed) while zooplankton and<em> Daphnia</em> (small drifting animals) as well as phytoplankton (microscopic algae) swam below.</p>



<p>"We showed that land-based aphids influenced the evolution of <em>Daphnia</em>, a tiny aquatic crustacean, even though the two species never come into contact," said Xu.</p>



<p>The researchers carefully tracked environmental change and genetic change at the same time. The ponds allowed the team to connect cause to effect without guessing.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nutrients-and-heat-shift">Nutrients and heat shift</h2>



<p>When aphids heavily consumed duckweed, the floating plant thinned out. With less cover, more light penetrated the water, and pond phytoplankton flourished - providing extra food for <em>Daphnia</em>.</p>



<p>The result was a sustained increase in <em>Daphnia</em> numbers in aphid ponds compared to controls, along with measurable shifts in nutrients and water temperature.</p>



<p>For example, there was a roughly 71.5 percent jump in total phosphorus, plus higher underwater light and a small temperature rise.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-species-evolve-under-pressure">Species evolve under pressure</h2>



<p>Evolution leaves fingerprints in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hidden-chapter-in-human-evolution-revealed-through-genetics/">DNA</a>. Whole genome sequencing showed that <em>Daphnia</em> in aphid ponds and Daphnia in control ponds diverged at many genomic sites, and the fraction of significantly different SNPs grew from one year to the next.</p>



<p>Population divergence increased across the experiment, and the team identified more than one hundred variants with strong treatment differences. </p>



<p>These genome-wide signals track with well-known resistance loci in Daphnia and support adaptive change in response to the altered environment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-adaptation-came-with-a-cost">Adaptation came with a cost</h2>



<p>Transplant tests provided the decisive check on whether the observed genetic change was beneficial or just random drift.</p>



<p><em>Daphnia</em> that evolved in aphid ponds performed better back in aphid ponds than in control ponds.</p>



<p>There was a trade-off: the same aphid-pond lineages performed worse when moved into control conditions, a classic cost of specialization that often follows rapid adaptation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-species-shifts-spark-ripples">Species shifts spark ripples</h2>



<p>The quality of algal food matters as much as the quantity. Some <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/turning-plants-into-carbon-capture-machines-with-cyanobacteria/">cyanobacteria</a> provide poor nutrition - or are even harmful - for <em>Daphnia</em>, and their abundance shifted during the experiment. </p>



<p>Independent studies explain why this matters: cyanobacteria are difficult for <em>Daphnia</em> to process and lack the key lipids the crustaceans need. </p>



<p>These changes in the water column did not stop with <em>Daphnia</em>. They rippled outward, altering duckweed and boosting the growth of aphids, which thrived in ponds shaped by earlier herbivory.</p>



<p>Such two-step echoes match ecological theory and show how evolutionary shifts in one part of an ecosystem can reverberate through others without direct contact.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-species-evolve-across-communities">Species evolve across communities</h2>



<p>Ecologists have long suspected that networks of interaction, not just pairwise encounters, shape evolution. </p>



<p>Past research shows that even species that do not interact directly can drive traits to evolve across mutualistic networks.</p>



<p>Experiments with <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/guppies-are-helping-us-understand-evolution/">guppies</a> offered early proof that adaptation changes whole ecosystems, not only the fish themselves - locally adapted fish altered nutrient cycling, algae, and other organisms around them.</p>



<p><em>Daphnia</em> add another layer to this picture. Far from being slow, they can respond to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/its-a-two-way-street-between-evolution-and-environmental-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">environmental change</a> within just a few generations, and their genetic shifts ripple through communities.</p>



<p>Modern genomics reveal how quickly <em>Daphnia</em> adapt to strong pressures, confirming that rapid evolution is not rare noise but a common feature of freshwater systems.</p>



<p>The study is published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2502742122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em></a>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

Species can evolve together without ever making contact

Evolution does not only respond to rivals, predators, or mates...

Low,Angle,View,Of,A,Group,Of,Multiracial,Young,Friends

<p>Psychoactive drugs are often discussed in the context of risk, yet science keeps asking a different question. What do psychedelics teach us about how people connect, feel, and heal, and how can we study those effects carefully in humans?</p>



<p>Dr. Harriet de Wit, director of the Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory at the <a href="https://psychiatry.uchicago.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Chicago</a>, has spent her career building tools to answer those questions. </p>



<p>She reflected on her work in a recent <a href="https://genomicpress.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/psychedelics/aop/article-10.61373-pp025k.0029/article-10.61373-pp025k.0029.xml?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview</a>.</p>



<p>Two drugs sit at the center of the story, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/psychedelic-drug-mdma-shows-promise-for-reducing-post-traumatic-stress/">MDMA</a> and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lsd-can-treat-crippling-anxiety-with-a-single-dose/">LSD</a>, because they shift internal states that standard lab tasks rarely capture.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-studying-psychedelic-connections">Studying psychedelic connections</h2>



<p>Dr. De Wit's work spans basic psychopharmacology and clinical translation, and her research program has been funded by the NIH for more than 42 years.</p>



<p>“The challenge of translating behavioral observations across species has continued to be a central theme in my research for the past 45 years,” said Dr. de Wit. </p>



<p>She treats cross-species comparison as a tool to test which findings generalize and which do not.</p>



<p>Her path began with animal studies of drug taking, then moved into controlled trials with human volunteers. That shift opened the door to measuring self reported states that animals cannot convey.</p>



<p>She also insists on measuring both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/study-shows-psilocybin-from-magic-mushrooms-delays-aging-and-significantly-extends-lifespan/">behavior</a> and self reporting. That approach allows human studies to capture experiences, like empathy or awe, that nonverbal animals cannot report.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-psychedelics-connect-humans">Psychedelics connect humans</h2>



<p>A controlled laboratory <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-43156-0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> found that single doses of MDMA increased how connected people felt to a stranger during a guided conversation. </p>



<p>According to Dr. de Wit, demonstrating that MDMA enhances feelings of social connectedness during interpersonal interactions has profound implications for treating trauma-related disorders globally.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In the same paradigm, methamphetamine produced a similar rise in ratings of closeness, but only MDMA’s closeness was linked to oxytocin levels in saliva.</p>



<p>Those data put numbers on an everyday observation that pharmacology can shift social experience. The finding also gives therapists a concrete target, the feeling of connection during real conversations, to measure in future trials.</p>



<p>The work used a double blind, with separate groups for MDMA and methamphetamine. Participants rated closeness at the end of the session and one week later, providing both immediate and short follow-up readouts.</p>



<p>The similar behavioral outcomes with different physiological <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/one-psychedelic-dose-may-improve-brain-flexibility/">patterns</a> point to multiple routes to the same social endpoint. That matters because the mechanism will shape safety, dosing, and how a therapy session is structured.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lsd-and-mdma-microdosing">LSD and MDMA microdosing</h2>



<p>A randomized, double blind <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9731343/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trial</a> in healthy adults tested four low doses of LSD given every few days and found modest, short-lived subjective effects without lasting changes in mood or cognition. </p>



<p>Safety looked acceptable in that controlled setting, but the expected broad cognitive boost did not appear.</p>



<p>Across sessions, some acute effects weakened, suggesting that participants developed a tolerance for the low-dose LSD over time. </p>



<p>The high microdose reduced feelings of rejection during a social exclusion task during dosing days, yet those changes did not persist at follow up.</p>



<p>“Drugs such as MDMA and low doses of LSD produce unusual alterations in self reported internal states, such as feelings of empathy, awe, and oneness with the environment,” said Dr. de Wit. </p>



<p>Her research team now asks whether those altered states actually change future behavior, generosity, or values.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-craving-can-rise-with-abstinence">Craving can rise with abstinence</h2>



<p>A translational human <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3027849/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a> in cigarette smokers documented incubation, the counterintuitive increase in cue triggered craving after longer abstinence periods. </p>



<p>Across groups, cue-induced craving was greater after 35 days than after 7 days, even as background withdrawal eased.</p>



<p>The result pushes back against the idea that craving simply fades with time away from a drug. Clinicians can plan check-ins for later windows when cue reactivity rebounds, which may help people stay off cigarettes.</p>



<p>The design verified abstinence day by day and tested responses to smoking cues in a controlled setting. That level of control strengthens confidence that timing itself can shape craving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/breathwork-creates-psychedelic-states-without-drugs/">responses</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-place-matters-in-addiction">Why place matters in addiction</h2>



<p>In a foundational human <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2693956/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>, volunteers developed a conditioned place preference for a room paired with amphetamine, and their preference tracked how much they liked the drug during conditioning. </p>



<p>The result validated a widely used animal assay in people and tied subjective liking to learned context.</p>



<p>Procedurally, the study used repeated conditioning sessions followed by a test day when people rated the rooms. That design allowed the team to connect learned preference to the specific feelings the drug produced during training.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-feeling-connected-with-psychedelics">Feeling connected with psychedelics</h2>



<p>A phase 3 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02565-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trial</a> reported that MDMA assisted therapy reduced symptom severity and functional impairment in people with moderate to severe PTSD. </p>



<p>These clinical outcomes sit alongside lab-based evidence that MDMA can increase feelings of connection during real conversations.</p>



<p>Translation is never automatic, but it is not a shot in the dark. By pairing controlled human experiments with clinical trials, researchers can map which laboratory effects actually move the needle in care.</p>



<p>“I am concerned about the decline in respect for science, scholarship, and education,” said Harriet de Wit. A long running research program only exists when society is willing to invest in it.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://genomicpress.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/psychedelics/aop/article-10.61373-pp025k.0029/article-10.61373-pp025k.0029.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Psychedelics</em></a>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

How psychedelics enhance feelings of deep connection, even between strangers

Psychoactive drugs are often discussed in the context of risk,...

<p>A new study maps the chemical cues that common gut bacteria detect, showing what helps them find nutrients and thrive. Researchers tested real human gut residents rather than the usual lab pathogens, and the results reset a few assumptions.</p>



<p>The experts found that carboxylic acids - especially lactic acid and formic acid - top the list of preferred cues in these microbes. The work was led by Victor Sourjik at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11844446/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MPI</a>).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-microbes-follow-chemical-trails">Microbes follow chemical trails</h2>



<p>The microbiome is a bustling community where microbes trade byproducts and share resources. Cross-feeding is central to that economy, as a recent review showed with examples across the gut ecosystem.</p>



<p>Bacteria use chemotaxis to swim toward helpful chemicals and away from harmful ones. In Escherichia coli, a classic study linked stronger attraction to amino acids with faster use of those same amino acids.</p>



<p>Nutrients do not just feed an individual cell, they shape who lives where. Signals can set up gradients that guide <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microbes-found-alive-sealed-inside-rock-after-2-billion-years/">microbes</a> toward niches that match how they make a living.</p>



<p>The new work asks a simple question with wide reach: What do helpful gut bacteria actually sense in the chemical soup of the intestine?</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-probing-gut-bacteria-detection">Probing gut bacteria detection</h2>



<p>The researchers built a library of sensory domains from 20 gut species, focusing on the abundant Clostridia, then screened more than 150 metabolites.</p>



<p>They identified 34 matches between receptors and specific compounds, spanning amino acids, nucleobase derivatives, amines, indole, and several classes of carboxylic acids.</p>



<p>These sensory domains sit on three types of transmembrane receptors that control movement, gene responses, or second messengers. Ligands were assigned to 12 of 35 chemotaxis receptors but only one of 33 histidine kinase receptors, a pattern consistent with chemotaxis being mainly about finding food.</p>



<p>The coverage was deep for one large family of extracellular sensor modules called Cache domains. About half of the Cache-type chemotaxis receptors in the tested commensals could be assigned a ligand.</p>



<p>Those numbers matter because they connect behavior to metabolism. They show that in this habitat, receptors lean toward signals tied to growth.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-bacteria-prefer-to-find">What bacteria prefer to find</h2>



<p>Acids made up most of the results. Among them, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/energy-can-be-generated-from-sweaty-fingertips/">lactate</a> and formate were the ones bacteria responded to the most.</p>



<p>That pattern fits what we know about community metabolism, where one microbe’s waste is another’s lunch. Microbial lactate utilization often funnels into energy-yielding pathways that stabilize the gut environment.</p>



<p>Growth tests in several Roseburia strains supported the idea that these cues point to food sources. L-lactate and formate accelerated growth most strongly in strains that carried matching receptors.</p>



<p>Microbes sensed the familiar short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) too, but less often than expected. The high-affinity sensors favored lower-abundance metabolites, showing how microbes home in on limiting resources.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-science-of-sensing">The science of sensing</h2>



<p>A ligand is simply a chemical that a receptor can detect and respond to. In this study, researchers looked at two types of sensor designs: one with a single unit that picked up on lactate or pyruvate, and another with two units that could respond to very different types of molecules.</p>



<p>One of these two-unit sensors, called dCache_1UR, turned out to be especially interesting. One part of it recognized uracil, while the other part detected acetate. </p>



<p>The team was even able to map out its structure, showing how each part used a different set of building blocks to grab onto its target.</p>



<p>That split setup hints at flexible wiring. The binding pocket that recognizes uracil is closely related to an amine-sensing pocket, and small sequence swaps can shift specificity.</p>



<p>Evolutionary analysis suggested that these domains change targets readily as bacteria adapt to new niches. That adaptability may explain how commensals tune their sensory repertoire to the gut’s complex chemistry.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bacteria-talks-to-each-other-and-us">Bacteria talks to each other and us</h2>



<p>When one species secretes lactate or formate, neighbors with matching sensors can follow the trail. This creates channels for cross-feeding that keep communities resilient, even when diets or conditions shift.</p>



<p>Signals are not limited to nutrients. Microbiota-derived indoles modulate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/even-mild-inflammation-can-majorly-damage-the-brain/">inflammation</a> and can reshape microbial networks through metabolite handoffs.</p>



<p>These findings land squarely in the lives of butyrate producers like Roseburia. <em>Roseburia intestinalis</em> is a motile, beneficial organism tied to barrier health and energy balance through butyrate production.</p>



<p>Chemotaxis gives such species a way to track nutrient gradients near the intestinal wall. It also offers a route to coordinate with partners that release the compounds they prefer to use.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nutrition-microbes-and-balance">Nutrition, microbes, and balance</h2>



<p>If commensals chase lactate and formate, diet and host <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/human-metabolism-has-evolved-to-become-energetically-unique/">metabolism</a> could indirectly steer where and how these microbes grow. That opens the door to interventions that alter metabolite landscapes rather than trying to install single strains.</p>



<p>Therapies that stabilize lactate fluxes may help keep communities in balance. SCFA production could improve when lactate is quickly captured and converted by the right partners.</p>



<p>The receptor data point toward specific targets for prebiotics that enrich favorable behaviors. They also sketch a map for designing biosensors that report on gut chemistry in real time.</p>



<p>"These domains appear to be important for interactions between bacteria in the gut and could play a key role in the healthy human microbiome," said Wenhao Xu, a postdoctoral researcher in Sourjik’s group.</p>



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



<p>The discovery of dual-module receptors that bind uracil and acetate raises questions about module cooperation. Independent binding means two inputs without crosstalk, yet evolution could rewire that logic.</p>



<p>Formate and lactate preferences appear widespread among chemotactic receptors in these commensals. Tracking how those preferences change with diet, medication, or disease would be informative.</p>



<p>The team found a sensor protein that detects indole, a chemical signal made by microbes. This shows how bacteria can link what they sense in their environment to changes in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-genes-may-predict-infertility-and-disease-by-flipping-like-a-light-switch/">gene</a> activity. </p>



<p>The researchers also noticed that receptor strength worked in the opposite way to how common each metabolite was. In other words, receptors bound most tightly to rare compounds - an advantage in patchy environments where resources are scarce.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2508950122" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em></a>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

Gut bacteria 'sniff out' nutrients with big effects on our health

A new study maps the chemical cues that common gut...

<p>Life needs proteins for almost everything, from cell repair to immune defense. Scientists have long asked how the first proteins were formed before cells had complex machinery.</p>



<p>A new study reports a simple, water-friendly reaction that links early ingredients into the first steps toward protein-making. </p>



<p>The project was led by Professor Matthew Powner at University College London (<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UCL</a>), a chemist whose lab explores prebiotic chemistry.</p>



<p>"At life’s functional core, there is a complex and inseparable interplay between nucleic acids and proteins, but the origin of this relationship remains a mystery," wrote the researchers.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-molecules-that-build-proteins">Molecules that build proteins</h2>



<p>The team showed that RNA - a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-discovery-water-molecules-will-force-chemistry-textbooks-to-be-rewritten/">molecule</a> that stores and transfers genetic information and can catalyze reactions - can become chemically linked to amino acids. These small molecules build proteins, and the linkage occurs under mild conditions in water.</p>



<p>The researchers changed amino acids into a more reactive form that holds extra energy, then linked those energized amino acids to RNA at a specific spot in the molecule, all without needing enzymes.</p>



<p>The reaction preferred the end of a double stranded RNA over interior positions, which avoids random chemistry that would scramble sequences. The experts also reported strong yields for several amino acids, including arginine linked to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forgotten-chemical-reactions-offer-clues-to-lifes-origins/">adenosine</a> at up to 76 percent.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sulfur-chemistry-drives-origins">Sulfur chemistry drives origins</h2>



<p>A thiol is a sulfur-containing compound common in metabolism, and thioesters made from thiols power many reactions in modern cells. </p>



<p>Using thioesters makes chemical sense for early Earth because they react in water without falling apart quickly, helping drive protein-related chemistry.</p>



<p>Earlier work from the same community showed that pantetheine, the active fragment of Coenzyme A that forms many biological thioesters today, can form under prebiotic conditions in water. That work supports the idea that the same types of sulfur chemistry existed before life began.</p>



<p>This new result connects that energy-rich chemistry to RNA handling of amino acids. It links metabolism- like reactions to information carriers, which is exactly the bridge origin of life research has needed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-molecules-found-in-all-living-cells">Molecules found in all living cells</h2>



<p>The team uncovered a switch that controls two different steps. In step one, thioesters favor attaching the amino acid to RNA, creating aminoacyl RNA in water at neutral pH. </p>



<p>In step two, converting to thioacids and adding a mild oxidant pushed peptide bond formation, which produced peptidyl RNA in very high yields.</p>



<p>Peptides are short chains of amino acids, usually two to 50 units long, while larger folded chains are proteins. Making peptidyl RNA shows that RNA-bound amino acids can be extended into short chains, a necessary move toward protein-like function.</p>



<p>“What is groundbreaking is that the activated amino acid used in this study is a thioester, a type of molecule made from <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/key-compound-suggests-that-life-beyond-earth-could-be-common/">Coenzyme A</a>, a chemical found in all living cells," said Dr. Jyoti Singh of UCL Chemistry. "This discovery could potentially link metabolism, the genetic code, and protein building,”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-neutral-waters-spark-proteins">Neutral waters spark proteins</h2>



<p>The chemistry works in water at near neutral pH, which points to pools, lakes, or wet shorelines rather than the open ocean. Concentrations would have been higher in small bodies of water, and minerals could have helped organize the molecules.</p>



<p>Freeze concentrate cycles also help. The researchers observed effective aminoacylation under eutectic ice conditions near 19°F. In this environment, ice excludes salt and concentrates solutes into brines, which speed reactions without harsh reagents.</p>



<p>“It seems pretty probable that this reaction would have been occurring on early Earth,” said Professor Powner. That assessment reflects the mild requirements and the water compatibility of the chemistry.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bridging-chemistry-and-biology">Bridging chemistry and biology</h2>



<p>Modern cells make proteins with the ribosome, a ribonucleoprotein machine that reads messenger RNA and couples amino acids with the help of transfer RNAs. </p>



<p>The new chemistry provides a path for RNA to handle amino acids without proteins, easing the chicken or egg problem.</p>



<p>An earlier study proposed an <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rna-breakthrough-sheds-light-on-the-beginning-of-life/">RNA</a> peptide world in which RNA and short peptides co-evolved, forming chimeric molecules that could grow and select function. The present result shows a plausible way for RNA to acquire and extend amino acids in water.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-modern-genetic-code">The modern genetic code</h2>



<p>The genetic code is the set of rules that maps RNA triplets to amino acids. By preferring attachment at RNA termini and operating under duplex control, this chemistry hints at how sequence specific pairing could later become coded instruction.</p>



<p>The researchers point to the need for sequence preferences that pair specific RNA sequences with specific <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lifes-building-blocks-may-have-formed-near-newborn-stars-and-planets/">amino acids</a>. That would move from chemistry that charges RNA to chemistry that begins to encode.</p>



<p>Success there would show how early RNA could use simple rules to shape peptide sequences, with later evolution building the fully fledged ribosome and the modern code.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09388-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Nature</em></a>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

How Earth’s first proteins may have formed in water

Life needs proteins for almost everything, from cell repair to...

<p>As night falls in the rainforests, orangutans climb into the canopy to construct intricate tree nests, displaying remarkable ingenuity. </p>



<p>These comfy platforms are carefully engineered beds, providing warmth, comfort, protection from predators, and even reduce mosquito bites.</p>



<p>Scientists have long wondered how young orangutans learn to master such complex architecture. Recent findings reveal that they acquire this skill through close observation and practice, a process called observational <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chimpanzees-and-bees-are-capable-of-complex-social-learning/">social learning</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-orangutans-build-nests-for-survival">Orangutans build nests for survival</h2>



<p>Nest-building is essential for survival. Unlike many behaviors in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-orangutans-can-teach-humans-about-food-and-fitness/">animals</a>, this skill is neither entirely instinctive nor quickly learned. </p>



<p>Orangutans must manipulate branches, twigs, and leaves with strength and dexterity while making decisions about materials and structure.</p>



<p>Night nests, far more elaborate than day nests, can include linings, pillows, blankets, and even roofs. </p>



<p>To build such structures requires both technical know-how and material knowledge, making nest-building a cognitively demanding task.</p>



<p>Young <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/orangutan-mothers-have-unique-parenting-styles-like-humans/">orangutans</a> begin showing interest in nests at just six months, playing with leaves and branches. </p>



<p>Practice of basic day nests starts around age one, but night nest practice begins only at three years and is not mastered until about the age of eight.</p>



<p>Complex additions, such as multitree nests and comfort elements, appear later. This long timeline shows that the skill is not acquired quickly but gradually, with repeated attempts and guided observation.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-learning-from-mom">Learning from mom</h2>



<p>Researchers documented that immatures who carefully peered at their mothers during nest-building were far more likely to practice soon afterward. </p>



<p>Merely being nearby without watching closely did not have the same effect. This highlights the importance of selective attention in learning.</p>



<p>“Nest-building is critical to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/experts-unlock-the-mysteries-of-orangutan-communication/">survival</a> in orangutans but is surprisingly not the focus of a lot of research," noted Dr. Ani Permana from the <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Warwick</a>. </p>



<p>"We previously reported that it takes multiple years for immature orangutans to learn to nest-build but, based on 17 years of observational data, this paper shows that this learning process is highly dependent on young animals carefully watching the nest-building of others.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-orangutan-nests-are-complex">Orangutan nests are complex</h2>



<p>The study also showed that young orangutans pay special attention to complex features like multitree nests, twig manipulations, and comfort elements. </p>



<p>These require memorizing multiple steps and sequences. After observing these, immatures increased their practice, suggesting they were specifically learning the more challenging parts. </p>



<p>Simpler nests, such as single-tree day nests, did not trigger the same level of focused observation.</p>



<p>“Orangutan nest-building tendency may have some innate basis, but the details and method must be socially learned, starting from a very young age, by watching and practicing, learning from mistakes as they grow and this paper is the first time this has been shown in wild apes,” Dr. Permana added.</p>



<p>At first, immatures mostly learn from their mothers, but as they grow older, they begin peering at other group members, thereby expanding their knowledge base.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-learning-what-to-use">Learning what to use</h2>



<p>Beyond construction skills, orangutans also learn what materials to use. </p>



<p>“Aside from learning ‘how to’ build a nest, immature orangutans also appear to learn the ‘know-what’ of which materials to use," noted Dr. Caroline Schuppli, <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a>.</p>



<p>The choice of tree species is important, and infants - who primarily peer at their mothers - are more likely to select the same species their mothers use.</p>



<p>“Just like human teenagers finding their own path, maturing orangutans increasingly peer at the nest-building of others and begin experimenting with the tree species those individuals use," Dr. Schuppli continued.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-returning-to-roots">Returning to roots</h2>



<p>Interestingly, adults often revert to using the tree species favored by their mothers, even after experimenting with alternatives in youth.</p>



<p>“Ultimately, adult orangutans tend to revert to the nest materials used by their mothers, perhaps recognizing that the most effective methods had already been established," Dr. Schuppli noted. </p>



<p>"This consistent variation in nest materials across generations indicates that wild orangutan populations possess cultural elements that could be lost without the conservation of the species and their habitats,” </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-orangutans-learn-and-pass-on-traditions">Orangutans learn and pass on traditions</h2>



<p>The study emphasized four main points: peering, not just proximity, drives learning; immatures focus on complex multi-step elements; role models expand with age; and knowledge of tree species is socially transmitted.</p>



<p>These findings suggest orangutans display cultural variation, with nest-building traditions passed through generations.</p>



<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32658/chapter-abstract/270606055?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nest-building</a> is an evolutionarily ancient behavior shared by great apes. </p>



<p>By proving that orangutans acquire this skill through observational social learning, the study suggests that such cultural learning has deep roots in primate history.</p>



<p>It highlights not just the intelligence of orangutans but also their fragile cultural heritage - one that can only continue if their forest homes are preserved.</p>



<p>The study is published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08217-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Communications Biology</a>.</em></p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.&nbsp;</p>



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



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

Orangutans learn to build complex tree nests by watching their mothers

As night falls in the rainforests, orangutans climb into the...

<p>The universe feels simple at first glance: stars, gas, dust, and the gravity that binds it all. Then you look more closely and realize that nothing could be farther from the truth. </p>



<p>For decades, the standard picture has said that most of what is out there is not what we can see. It is a mix of ordinary matter and two invisible components often called dark matter and dark energy.</p>



<p>That picture has guided textbooks, space missions, and how we read the sky. It has also raised tough questions that have never quite gone away, mainly because of the fact that dark matter and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/is-dark-energy-changing-the-mystery-of-cosmic-expansion-deepens/">dark energy</a> have never actually been "seen."</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-challenging-dark-matter-s-existence">Challenging dark matter's existence</h2>



<p>A new line of thinking takes those questions seriously and suggests we may not need those "dark" invisible components after all.</p>



<p>After years spent probing longstanding cosmology puzzles, physics professor <a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-science/professors/rajendra-gupta" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rajendra Gupta</a> has proposed a model that aims to explain the universe without dark matter or dark energy. </p>



<p>Gupta teaches astrophysics at the <a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Ottawa</a> and argues that familiar assumptions might be impeding progress.</p>



<p>"The study's findings confirm that our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/524/3/3385/7221343?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previous work</a> ("JWST early universe observations and ΛCDM cosmology") about the age of the universe being 26.7 billion years has allowed us to discover that the universe does not require dark matter to exist," explains Gupta.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tired-light-and-the-ccc-theory">"Tired light" and the CCC theory</h2>



<p>Gupta’s approach blends two concepts: covarying coupling constants (<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Univ....9...70G/abstract" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CCC</a>) and "tired light" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tired_light" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TL</a>). </p>



<p>CCC asks whether the so-called constants of nature - like the strength of forces or the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dark-matter-may-consist-of-particles-that-travel-faster-than-light/">speed of light</a> - might shift across time or space. If they do, even slightly, many calculations about how the universe evolves would change.</p>



<p>TL offers a different take on why light from faraway galaxies appears redshifted. Instead of treating redshift solely as a sign of cosmic expansion stretching light, TL suggests that photons shed energy over vast distances, shifting their color toward red. </p>



<p>Taken together, the CCC+TL model seeks to account for cosmic signals.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-most-scientists-think-dark-matter-is-real">Most scientists think dark matter is real</h2>



<p>The idea of dark matter did not arise in a vacuum. In the 1930s, astronomer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Zwicky" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fritz Zwicky</a> noticed that galaxy clusters seemed to move in ways that did not match their visible mass. </p>



<p>Later, astronomers saw that many galaxies rotate faster than expected at their outskirts. Something appears to add extra gravity. <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/einstein-ring-discovered-normal-galaxy-ngc-6505-gravitational-lens/">Gravitational lensing</a> - the way mass bends light - also points to more pull than starlight alone can explain.</p>



<p>In the standard breakdown, dark matter is thought to make up about 27% of the universe. Ordinary matter - everything we can directly detect - adds up to less than 5%. </p>



<p>The rest is labeled <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/universe-expansion-rate-dark-energy-measured-11-billion-years-ago/">dark energy</a>, a placeholder for whatever drives the universe’s accelerated expansion. This picture also includes a commonly accepted age of roughly 13.8 billion years.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-questioning-the-need-for-dark-matter">Questioning the need for dark matter</h2>



<p>Gupta contends that if the forces of nature weaken over time, we do not need dark energy to explain why the expansion appears to speed up. </p>



<p>He also argues that major observations can be matched without dark matter by allowing constants to vary and by letting light lose a small amount of energy as it travels long distances to reach us, the observers.</p>



<p>"Contrary to standard cosmological theories where the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/dark-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accelerated expansion</a> of the universe is attributed to dark energy, our findings indicate that this expansion is due to the weakening forces of nature, not dark energy," Gupta continues.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-redshifts-and-cosmic-observations">Redshifts and cosmic observations</h2>



<p>A substantial part of the work centers on <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/What_is_red_shift" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">redshifts</a> - how light shifts toward longer wavelengths as it travels. </p>



<p>The analysis compares how galaxies are distributed at low redshift with patterns from the early universe at high redshift. </p>



<p>The claim is that these signals align under the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.04277" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CCC+TL approach</a> without requiring dark matter in the equations.</p>



<p>"There are several papers that question the existence of dark matter, but mine is the first one, to my knowledge, that eliminates its cosmological existence while being consistent with key cosmological observations that we have had time to confirm," Gupta confidently concludes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-does-all-of-this-mean">What does all of this mean?</h2>



<p>If CCC+TL continues to pass tests, much would change. The model would offer new routes to explain the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ground-based-telescopes-detect-light-from-the-cosmic-dawn/">cosmic microwave background</a>, the timeline of how galaxies formed and grew, and the way light bends on its journey to our telescopes. </p>



<p>It would also change how we read distance and time from the sky, since redshift would no longer be only a ruler for expansion.</p>



<p>It would challenge the Big Bang–anchored timeline. Those are substantial claims that require careful tests.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-gupta-s-theory">Testing Gupta’s theory</h2>



<p>Specific predictions need to be articulated. Any model has to meet observations head-on: galaxy rotation profiles, lensing maps, the pattern of hot and cold spots in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-capture-baby-pictures-of-the-very-early-universe-cosmic-microwave-background/">microwave background</a>, and the way <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/largest-cosmic-particle-cloud-ever-found-has-stunned-astronomers/">galaxies cluster</a> across hundreds of millions of light-years. </p>



<p>If constants vary, even a little, that could leave signatures in atomic spectra from distant quasars. If light tires, the effect should be measurable with enough precision and a clean way to separate it from other causes.</p>



<p>Teams are already poring over deep-sky surveys, precise supernova samples, and high-resolution microwave maps. </p>



<p>As instruments improve, the bar for any alternative rises. The goal is straightforward: make a clear, testable forecast, then see if the universe agrees.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dark-matter-ccc-tl-and-next-steps">Dark matter, CCC+TL, and next steps</h2>



<p>Two central questions remain. Are dark energy and dark matter just bookkeeping devices we used while working with fixed constants and a single redshift story? Could the true age of the universe be significantly older than the standard estimate? </p>



<p>The only way to answer is to press for independent tests that can separate one picture from the other.</p>



<p>Researchers are tuning methods to compare models fairly, using the same data pipelines and error checks. That helps avoid apples-to-oranges results. </p>



<p>If CCC+TL keeps matching the sky, interest will grow. If it stumbles on a key observation, that will be clear too.</p>



<p>Cosmology moves forward when claims meet data. This study advances a bold alternative: a universe where constants can change, light can lose energy across great distances, and neither dark matter nor dark energy need to be included in the ledger. </p>



<p>It offers clear, testable statements about cosmic age and the cause of the apparent acceleration.</p>



<p>The work will be validated or refuted by measurements. That is how the field operates: no shortcuts, no hand-waving - only observations and models that either fit or fail.</p>



<p>The full study was published in <em><a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad1bc6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Astrophysical Journal</a></em>.</p>



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



<p>Like what you read? <a href="https://www.earth.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to our newsletter</a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.</p>



<p>Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by <a href="https://www.earth.com/author/eralls/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eric Ralls</a> and Earth.com.</p>



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

Study claims dark matter does not exist and the universe is 27 billion years old

The universe feels simple at first glance: stars, gas, dust,...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a54a776f30d699cd582/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

The island of Tongatapu and the nearby smaller islands – all part of the Kingdom of Tonga archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean – are pictured in this Sentinel-2A image from 23 May.

Tonga’s population is spread across 36 of Tonga’s 169 islands, but about 70% live on this main island. The capital, Nukuʻalofa, sits on the island’s north coast and along the Fanga’uta Lagoon. The lagoon’s mangroves provide an important breeding ground for fish and birds.

Built on limestone, the island has fertile soil of volcanic ash from neighbouring volcanoes, and we can see how agricultural structures cover most of the island. Crops include root crops such as sweet potato and cassava, as well as coconuts, bananas and coffee beans.

North of the island we can see many coral reefs. Although not part of its original mission objectives, scientists are experimenting with Sentinel-2 to monitor corals and detect coral bleaching – a consequence of higher water temperatures.

Bleaching happens when algae living in the corals’ tissues, which capture the Sun’s energy and are essential to coral survival, are expelled owing to the higher temperature.

The whitening coral may die, with subsequent effects on the reef ecosystem, and thus fisheries, regional tourism and coastal protection.

The recent El Niño weather phenomenon has caused increased bleaching across the world’s corals, and scientists are finding Sentinel-2’s coverage helpful in monitoring this at reef-wide scales.

--

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

The island of Tongatapu

The island of Tongatapu and the nearby smaller islands –...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a5af5bcb176bb33b1fc/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

The southern-central edge of the Tibetan Plateau near the border with western Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim is pictured in this Sentinel-2A image from 1 February 2016.

The Tibetan Plateau was created by continental collision some 55 million years ago when the north-moving Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate, causing the land to crumple and rise. And rise it did. With an average elevation exceeding 4500 m and an area of 2.5 million sq km, it is the highest and largest plateau in the world today.

The plateau is also the world’s third largest store of ice, after the Arctic and Antarctic. In recent years, rising temperatures have caused rapid melting.

Part of the Himalayas is visible along the bottom of the false-colour image, with the distinct pattern of water runoff from the mountains. At the end of these rivers and streams we can see the triangle-shapes of sediment deposits – alluvial fans – formed when the streams hit the plain and spread out.

One large alluvial fan is visible in the upper-central portion of the image, while smaller ones can be seen on the left.

Alluvial fans are subject to flooding, and these areas are increasingly at risk as climate change taking its toll on the world’s glaciers causes accelerated melting.

From their vantage point 800 km high, satellites can monitor changes in glacier mass, melting and other effects that climate change has on our planet.

--

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

The Southern Tibetan Plateau

The southern-central edge of the Tibetan Plateau near the border...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a399cb28c266051114c/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

With global temperatures rising, an international group of 22 top biologists is calling for a coordinated effort to gather important species information that is urgently needed to improve predictions for the impact of climate change on future biodiversity.

Current predictions fail to account for important biological factors like species competition and movement that can have a profound influence on whether a plant or animal survives changes to its environment, the scientists say in the September 9 issue of the journal <em>Science</em>. While more sophisticated forecasting models exist, much of the detailed species information that is needed to improve predictions is lacking.

"Right now, we're treating a mouse the same way as an elephant or a fish or a tree. Yet we know that those are all very different organisms and they are going to respond to their environment in different ways," says University of Connecticut Ecologist Mark Urban, the <em>Science</em> article's lead author. "We need to pull on our boots, grab our binoculars, and go back into the field to gather more detailed information if we are going to make realistic predictions."

The 22 top biologists affiliated with the article identify six key types of biological information, including life history, physiology, genetic variation, species interactions, and dispersal, that will significantly improve prediction outcomes for individual species. Obtaining that information will not only help the scientific community better identify the most at-risk populations and ecosystems, the scientists say, it will also allow for a more targeted distribution of resources as global temperatures continue to rise at a record rate.

Current climate change predictions for biodiversity draw on broad statistical correlations and can vary widely, making it difficult for policymakers and others to respond accordingly. Many of those predictions tend not to hold up over time if they fail to account for the full range of biological factors that can influence an organism's survival rate: species demographics, competition from other organisms, species mobility, and the capacity to adapt and evolve.

"We haven't been able to sufficiently determine what species composition future ecosystems will have, and how their functions and services for mankind will change," says co-author Dr. Karin Johst of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. "This is because current ecological models often do not include important biological processes and mechanisms: so far only 23 percent of the reviewed studies have taken into account biological mechanisms."

Generating more accurate predictions is essential for global conservation efforts. Many species are already moving to higher ground or toward the poles to seek cooler temperatures as global temperatures rise. But the capacity of different organisms to survive varies greatly. Some species of frog, for instance, can traverse their terrain for miles to remain in a habitable environment. Other species, such as some types of salamander, are less mobile and capable of moving only a few meters over generations.

"New Zealand's strong foundation in ecological research will help," explains study co-author Dr. William Godsoe, a Lincoln University lecturer and member of New Zealand's Bio-Protection Research Centre. "One of our hopes is to build on these strengths and highlight new opportunities to improve predictions by explicitly considering evolution, interactions among species, and dispersal." This will aid in the development of strategies to manage impacts on species and ecosystems before they become critical.

With more than 8.7 million species worldwide, gathering the necessary biological information to improve predictions is a daunting task. Even a sampling of key species would be beneficial, the authors say, as the more sophisticated models will allow scientists to extrapolate their predictions and apply them to multiple species with similar traits.

The researchers are calling for the launch of a global campaign to be spearheaded by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services or IPBES. The IPBES operates under the auspices of four United Nations entities and is dedicated to providing scientific information to policymakers worldwide. One thousand scientists from all over the world currently contribute to the work of IPBES on a voluntary basis. The scientists are also encouraging conservation strategies to support biodiversity such as maintaining dispersal corridors, and preserving existing natural habitats and genetic diversity.

"Our biggest challenge is pinpointing which species to concentrate on and which regions we need to allocate resources," says UConn Associate Professor Urban. In an earlier <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6234/571.full" target="_blank">study</a> in <em>Science</em>, Urban predicted that as many as one in six species internationally could be wiped out by climate change. "We are at a triage stage at this point. We have limited resources and patients lined up at the door."
<p align="center">###</p>
Working groups for this project were supported by the Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, DIVERSITAS, and the National Science Foundation.

Global effort underway to gather information needed to save species

With global temperatures rising, an international group of 22 top...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a41c9f4142294d166c3/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

Using a novel, helicopter-borne sensor to penetrate the surface of large swathes of terrain, a team of researchers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has gathered compelling evidence that beneath Antarctica's ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys lies a salty aquifer that may support previously unknown microbial ecosystems and retain evidence of ancient climate change.

An airborne electromagnetic (AEM) sensor, called SkyTEM, mounted to the helicopter, allowed the team to discover that brines--salty water--form extensive aquifers below glaciers, lakes and within permanently frozen soils. The brines may also play an important role in contemporary biological processes in the Dry Valleys.

"These unfrozen materials appear to be relics of past surface ecosystems and our findings provide compelling evidence that they now provide deep subsurface habitats for microbial life despite extreme environmental conditions," says the study"s lead author Jill Mikucki, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. "We believe the application of novel below-ground visualization technologies can not only reveal hidden microbial habitats, but can also provide insight on glacial dynamics and how Antarctica responds to climate change."

In addition to providing answers about the biological adaptations of previously unknown ecosystems, the new information could also help scientists understand whether similar conditions might exist elsewhere in the solar system, specifically beneath the surface of Mars, which has similarities to the Dry Valleys.

"Over billions of years of evolution, microbes seem to have adapted to conditions in almost all surface and near-surface environments on Earth. Tiny pore spaces filled with hyper-saline brine staying liquid down to -15 Celsius may pose one of the greatest challenges to microbes." said Slawek Tulaczyk, a glaciologist and coauthor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "Our electromagnetic data indicate that margins of Antarctica may shelter a vast microbial habitat, in which limits of life are tested by difficult physical and chemical conditions."

The team also found evidence that brines flow towards the Antarctic coast from roughly 18 kilometers (11 miles) inland, eventually discharging into the Southern Ocean, a biologically rich body of water that encircles Antarctica. It is possible that nutrients from microbial weathering in these deep brines influence near-shore biological productivity in that ocean. However, the vast majority of Antarctica"s coastal margins remain unexplored. This new survey highlights the importance of these sensitive interfaces.

[caption id="attachment_86617" align="alignleft" width="150"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-86617" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mcmurdo-antarctica_1big_nsf-150x150.jpg" alt="McMurdo Station in Antarctica" width="150" height="150" /> McMurdo Station in Antarctica[/caption]

The research was published today in the open-access journal Nature Communications. Co-authors on the paper include researchers from the University of Tennessee; University of California, Santa Cruz; Dartmouth College; University of Illinois at Chicago; Louisiana State University; University of Wisconsin; Aarhus University in Denmark and Sorbonne Universites, UPMC University in France.

The Division of Polar Programs in NSF"s Geoscience"s Directorate supported the AEM sensor project through a <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1344348">collaborative award</a> to Mikucki, Tulaczyk and Ross Virginia, a biogeochemist at Dartmouth College. The division manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, through which it coordinates all U.S. scientific research on the Southernmost continent and provides the logistical support to that research.

The NSF-funded researchers were part of an international, interdisciplinary team that used the AEM sensor, which was developed at Aarhus University in Denmark, to produce extensive imagery of the subsurface of the coldest, driest desert on our planet, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Using a helicopter to make the observations allowed large areas of rugged terrain to be surveyed very efficiently.

The results shed new light on the history and evolution of the Dry Valley landscape, which, uniquely in the Antarctic, is ice-free and which during the height of the southern summer has free flowing rivers and streams. The Dry Valleys also are home to briny lakes at the surface and beneath at least one of the glaciers that intrude into the Valleys.

Overall, the Dry valleys ecosystem--intensely cold, very dry and home only to microscopic animal and plant life--closely resembles, during the Antarctic summer, conditions on the surface on Mars.

In addition to many other studies, the Dry Valleys are home to projects that are investigating how climate has changed over geologic time.

"This project is studying the past and present climate to, in part, understand how climate change in the future will affect biodiversity and ecosystem processes," said Virginia. "This fantastic new view beneath the surface will help us sort out competing ideas and theories about how the Dry Valleys have changed with time and how this history influences what we see today."

The AEM sensor was flown over the Taylor Glacier, one of the best-studied glaciers in the world, in November 2011. Taylor Glacier has a unique feature known as Blood Falls, where iron-rich brine from the subsurface is released at the front of the glacier. Blood Falls is known to harbor an active microbial community where organisms use iron and sulfur compounds for energy, and, in the process, facilitate rock weathering.

The AEM team believes that the newly discovered brines harbor similar microbial communities persisting in the deep, cold dark aquifers.

AEM instrumentation lead, Esben Auken, has flown the sensor all over the world, but this was the first time they tackled Antarctica.

"Antarctica is by far the most challenging place we have been." Auken noted. "It was all worth it when we saw the raw data as it was offloaded from the helicopter; it clearly showed we were on to some extraordinary results which no one had been able to produce before."

He added, "We were excited because we knew this would change the way scientists in the future would view the hydrological cycle in the Dry Valleys. For us, the project was the result of many years of developing the best mapping technology in the world, and now we were able to collaborate with scientists who had worked in the Antarctic environment for decades and were willing to take the risk of letting us prove this could be done with success."
<p align="left">-NSF-</p>

Huge salty aquifer discovered deep beneath Antarctica

Using a novel, helicopter-borne sensor to penetrate the surface of...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a5b8d4c36762573f814/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

Various countries in the Mediterranean Sea were captured last 10 May by the Sentinel-3A satellite, in this false-color image.

Parts of Greece, Turkey and Libya are featured, showing their distinct relief differences. In the middle of the image is the Greek island of Crete, dominated by harsh mountains rising out of the sea.

Home to hundreds of migratory bird species and some small wild animals, the landscape of Crete is characterised by mountain ranges reaching some 2400 m, along with natural harbours, coastal plains and the typical Mediterranean scrub.

Northwest of Crete is a large part of Greece’s mainland, showing dense vegetation and agricultural landscape, while under the clouds a small part of Italy’s ‘heel and tip’ are visible.

At top right, parts of southwestern Turkey are distinct, indicating a mixture of agricultural landscape and mountainous regions, where bare soil and rock formations prevail.

At the bottom of the image, Libya’s arid desert is evident, with the Saharan plateau comprising some nine-tenths of the country, making it truly a sea of sand.

Launched last 16 February, Sentinel-3A carries four instruments working together, making it the most complex of all the Sentinel missions. Its Ocean and Land Colour Instrument offers a new eye on Earth, monitoring ocean ecosystems, supporting crop management and agriculture, and providing estimates of atmospheric aerosol and clouds – all of which will bring significant benefits to society.

--

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

Various countries in the Mediterranean Sea

Various countries in the Mediterranean Sea were captured last 10...

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a3a5091f01e678257c3/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

Satellite imagery showed that Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine was just a swirl of clouds with no rainfall off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts on Thursday, Sept. 8. Just two days earlier, the GPM satellite saw that Hermine was still generating some rainfall.

Post Tropical Cyclone Hermine was still rotating in the Atlantic Ocean east of New Jersey when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew above on Sept. 6 at 2:05 p.m. EDT (1806 UTC). Hermine's power was greatly dissipated from the hurricane that hit Florida on Sept. 2, 2016. Hermine still had maximum sustained winds of about 58 mph (50 knots). Hermine was also still producing some light to moderate showers.

Precipitation data derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that rain was falling at a rate of over 1.1 inches (27 mm) per hour in an area of showers located between the Atlantic coast and Hermine's center of circulation. GPM's GMI also showed that moderate rainfall was still occurring in a few bands of rainfall south and southeast of the storm.

GPM's radar (DPR Ku Band) made a 3-D slice through Hermine that showed the structure of precipitation within the storm. This 3-D scan showed that the tops of the storms on Hermine's eastern side were reaching to altitudes of about 5.3 miles (8.5 km). GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) discontinued coastal tropical storm warnings and terminated National Hurricane Center advisories on weakening Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine on Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 UTC).

Visible imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite on Sept. 8 at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 UTC) revealed the remnants of Hermine as a swirl of clouds located off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A line of clouds over northern New England from an oncoming cold front were located to the northwest of the remnants. The image was created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Once the cold front moves through it will absorb the remnant clouds of Hermine, and the storm will go down in hurricane history.

One last look at Hermine as she fades away

Satellite imagery showed that Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine was just a...

Kingdom of Tonga archipelago seen from space

<div class="vdb_player vdb_591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49"><script type="text/javascript" src="//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=591c9e3c9efa894c3c6e150b/vid=592d9a402ba1881da398df8d/58d96b98cd4fed198a0d2a49.js"></script></div>

The Upsala Glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park is pictured in this Sentinel-2A image from 22 January 2016.

The park was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981 and is the largest in the country, covering an area of over 7000 sq km.

Many glaciers in the national park and in the wider Patagonian Ice Field have been retreating during the last 50 years because of rising temperatures. Upsala Glacier has retreated more than 3 km in the past 15 years.

Glaciers are the largest reservoirs of freshwater on our planet, and their melting or growing is one of the best indicators of climate change. Satellite data can help to monitor changes in glacier mass and, subsequently, their contribution to rising sea levels.

Taking a closer look at the terminus of the Upsala Glacier, we can see how icebergs have broken off and are floating in the water of the upper reaches of Lake Argentino. The lake’s unique colour is attributed to ‘glacier milk’ – suspended fine sediment produced by the abrasion of glaciers rubbing against rock.

The darker lines following the flow of the glacier are moraines: accumulations of rock, soil and other debris – including glacial milk – that have been deposited by the glacier.

--

<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank">European Space Agency</a>

Upsala Glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park

The Upsala Glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park is...

News coming your way