Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island, where the landscape is remarkably diverse.&nbsp;



On the east coast of the island, the topography shifts dramatically on Banks Peninsula, which was an active volcanic complex until about 6 million years ago.



According to NASA, water from the sea and from streams have since cut away at the rock, helping to shape the peninsula’s valleys, bays, and coastal cliffs



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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

Banks Peninsula on New Zealand’s South Island

Today's Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features...

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features flooding in Sudan during the monsoon season.&nbsp;



In August and September each year, monsoon rains pour into the Ethiopian Highlands and flow down to the Blue Nile and White Nile, explains NASA. As the flooded rivers pass through Sudan, the water can overwhelm the surrounding communities.



This year, a series of torrential downpours have impacted hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes across the northeastern Africa. Some of the hardest hit areas are in the state of White Nile in Sudan.&nbsp;



Floods in Sudan contribute to food insecurity by destroying crops and killing livestock. According to NASA, White Nile is facing what the Famine Early Warning Systems Network has classified as “crisis” levels of food insecurity.



The false-color image was captured on September 16, 2021 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NOAA-20.



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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

Flooding has overwhelmed the state of White Nile in Sudan

Photo Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Buzz Aldrin Shares What Happened To Him After Landing On The Moon

As anyone old enough to have witnessed the monumental event will be able to remember, Aldrin, Armstrong and Mike Collins were launched into space in July 1969. The trio departed Earth from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a Saturn V rocket. As Aldrin recalled at a 50th anniversary gala, the initial journey was also a surprisingly smooth one. Photo Credit: Project Apollo Archive/Flickr

Apollo 11 liftoff - July 16, 1969

As anyone old enough to have witnessed the monumental event...

Aldrin told the captivated audience at Los Angeles’ Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, “We did not know the instant of leaving the ground. We only knew it from the instruments and voice communications which confirmed liftoff. We sort of looked at each other and thought, ‘We must be on our way.’” Photo Credit: Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG/Getty Images

Buzz Aldrin at Los Angeles’ Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Aldrin told the captivated audience at Los Angeles’ Ronald Reagan...

Today is the autumn equinox, which marks the astronomical start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere, and the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.&nbsp;



The fall equinox is one of just two days each year when the number of daytime and nighttime hours are nearly equal all over the world. On this day, most of the Earth experiences about 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.



"In the Northern hemisphere, the September equinox marks the start of a period bringing us later sunrises and earlier sunsets," explained NASA. "We will also feel cooler days with chillier winds, and dry, falling leaves."



At 3:21 p.m. EST on September 22, the sun appeared to shine directly over the equator. Beyond this point, the Northern Hemisphere will have progressively fewer daylight hours (and more hours of darkness) as our planet slowly tilts its South Pole towards the sun.



Earth is tilted on its axis. This means that as our planet orbits the sun, more light reaches the Northern or Southern Hemisphere according to where Earth is positioned.&nbsp;



During the two equinoxes in spring and fall, however, sunlight equally illuminates both hemispheres.&nbsp;



'The Earth takes one year (or 365-and-a-quarter days) to orbit once around the Sun and it is tilted over slightly on its axis,"explained Anna Ross, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.&nbsp;



"So for half of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted slightly towards the sun, meaning we have longer daylight hours and hotter temperatures."



"For the other half of the year, we are tilted slightly further away from the Sun so we have longer nights and colder weather. It's this tilt that gives us our seasons."



In the Northern Hemisphere, the fall equinox begins the countdown to the shortest day of the year and the start of winter on December 21, which is known as the winter solstice.



The winter and summer solstices occur when the planet's north or south pole is most greatly inclined with toward or away from the Sun.&nbsp;



'There are two points in the year where the Earth’s tilt is at its most extreme relative to the Sun,' said Ross. 'These days are known as the solstices."



"On these dates, depending on which hemisphere you live in, you will either experience midsummer with the longest day of the year or midwinter with the longest night."



"In between both of these extremes, we get our spring and autumn months, with the exact midpoints being the equinoxes."



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

Fall has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere

Today is the autumn equinox, which marks the astronomical start...

Intricate geological formations such as star-shaped dunes and sandstone arches are somewhat mysterious; they appear almost designed but are shaped by somewhat random natural forces. A new study conducted by researchers at <a href="https://www.aalto.fi/en">Aalto University</a> sought to recreate the formation of geological features created by wind and water.



The researchers arranged 100 tiny metal balls on a vibrating silicone plate and used a camera and smart algorithm to watch and manipulate the balls.



“We used the camera to determine the location of the particles, and the algorithm selected the most appropriate vibration frequency to move the particles in the desired direction," explained study lead author Quan Zhou.



"The particles move across the plate in a particular direction depending on the vibration frequency, and the same frequency can cause very different directions of movement in different parts of the plate.”



The scientists were surprised to see how well the algorithm was able to control the shapes that were formed by the tiny balls.&nbsp;



"The movement of the particle swarm is similar to natural phenomena in which natural materials are shaped by the power of wind and water. The method should work at both smaller and larger scales, and could have many future applications where using hands or tools is difficult," said doctoral candidate Artur Koptica.



The researchers hope that this new technique of manipulating matter could be used in manufacturing products in the near future by replacing skilled artisan workers or molds with an algorithm.&nbsp;



A question that still needs to be answered is how many of these metal balls can be manipulated at one time and thus to what scale can the process be used. The research team previously looked at the use of vibrating plates to manipulate matter, but using them to form shapes is new, uncharted territory.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Recreating the power of wind and water to manipulate materials

Intricate geological formations such as star-shaped dunes and sandstone arches...

Cooperative breeding in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cyclones-are-killing-thousands-of-seabirds-each-year/">birds</a> has long fascinated evolutionary scientists. This reproductive strategy involves a single breeding pair that lay eggs and are then assisted in chick rearing by a number of helpers. The helpers forgo the opportunity to reproduce in favor of helping raise their siblings.&nbsp;



A recent study of white-browed sparrow weavers in the Kalahari Desert casts new light on the possible evolutionary origins of this apparently selfless behavior. White-browed sparrow weavers occur in the semi-arid regions of southern Africa where rainfall is unpredictable. They form family groups of up to 12 individuals and each group builds a number of scruffy nests in a single tree. One nest will be used by the breeding pair while the other nests are used by the “helpers” for roosting. 



The research is based on 12 years of field work conducted in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve by scientists from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a>. The findings show that families with larger numbers of helpers manage to raise more chicks than families with fewer helpers, but only during dry conditions when rainfall is poor. During wet conditions, families with more helpers actually fare worse in terms of reproductive success.&nbsp;



This means that cooperative breeding does not improve overall reproductive success but may protect birds from total reproductive failure when weather conditions are more severe. "We were really surprised – our findings suggest that the birds co-operate to cope with the unpredictability of their environment," said&nbsp;<a href="https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=andrew_young">Dr Andrew Young</a>, of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/research/facilitiesandcentres/cec/">Centre for Ecology and Conservation</a>&nbsp;on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.



"This is an exciting discovery, because other studies have found that cooperative behaviour among birds is associated with unpredictable environments worldwide, especially those with variable rainfall.”



For most animal species, genes are passed on to future generations through reproduction. However, in cases where some individuals do not breed but help to raise the offspring of relatives, they may still be passing on a significant proportion of their own genes.&nbsp;



In white-browed sparrow weaver families, the helpers are offspring of the breeding pair, which means that they are improving the survival rate of their younger siblings. On average, animals share 50 percent of their genes with their siblings, just as a parent shares 50 percent of its genes with an offspring. Therefore, by helping siblings to survive, white-browed sparrow weaver helpers are also ensuring that copies of their genes are passed on. This process is known as “kin selection.”



Since the presence of helpers in white-browed sparrow weaver families does not increase the overall reproductive success of the breeding pair, however, cooperative breeding in this species cannot be explained simply by classical evolutionary theory. Instead, it appears that co-operation helps the birds to cope with the unpredictability of their environment. 



"Bet-hedging strategies like this are all about reducing the risk of total failure when you can’t predict what is going to happen,” explained <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/staff/pablocapillalasheras/">Dr. Pablo Capilla-Lasheras</a>. "Our findings suggest that co-operation may serve that purpose – it allows sparrow weaver families to enjoy some breeding success whatever rainfall conditions they experience."



Interestingly, it was the number of female helpers that correlated in particular with enhanced reproductive success during dry conditions. Females, rather than males, were the ones that fed the chicks most often. "It is specifically the number of female helpers that affects a family’s ability to cope with unpredictable rainfall conditions; the number of male helpers is less important," Dr Young said.



"This observation allows us to be more confident that having more helpers – rather than simply living in bigger groups – is the cause of the effects we witnessed."



The authors conclude that, as global climate change leads to more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns in the future, species with co-operative breeding systems may be better placed to cope.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv">Science Advances</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Cooperative breeding protects desert birds from reproductive failure

Cooperative breeding in birds has long fascinated evolutionary scientists. This...

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Beneficial bacteria protect crops from heat stress Today&#8217;s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en">KAUST</a> reveals how bacteria can help protect crops from heat and drought.
The researchers tested the power of the beneficial bacteria SA187 that lives in the roots of tough, resilient desert shrubs.
The team coated wheat seeds with the bacteria and then planted them in the lab, along with seeds that were left untreated. 
When exposed to extreme heat, the untreated wheat plants suffered too much to survive. Meanwhile, the wheat <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hundreds-of-invasive-species-are-for-sale-as-garden-plants-in-the-u-s/">plants</a> that had been treated with SA187 were not damaged and continued to thrive.
Genetic analysis revealed that the bacteria produce metabolites that are converted into the hormone ethylene, which primes the plant&#8217;s heat-resistance genes for action. 
&#8220;Essentially, the bacteria teach the plant how to use its own defense system,&#8221; explained said study co-author Kirti Shekhawat. Therefore as shown on in video the Beneficial bacteria protect crops from heat stress.
Thousands of other bacteria have the potential to protect plants against threats ranging from drought to fungi, and the team is already testing some of these microbes on vegetables and other crops. 
&#8220;We have just scratched the surface of this hidden world of soil that we once dismissed as dead matter,&#8221; said study lead author Heribert Hirt. &#8220;Beneficial bacteria could help transform an unsustainable agricultural system into a truly ecological one.&#8221;
Video Credit: © 2021 KAUST; Anastasia Serin
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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer