Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features an astronaut photograph of the San Luis Valley along the border of Colorado and New Mexico. At an altitude of 8,100 feet, the San Luis Valley is one of the largest high desert valleys in the world.&nbsp;



"Extinct volcanoes speckle the southern margin of the valley - an area known as the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field. Free-standing mountains in the volcanic field, such as San Antonio and Ute, are lava domes that were formed during eruptions almost 3 million years ago," reports NASA.



The Rio Grande flows from the San Juan Mountains through the center of the valley and continues south. According to NASA, the river has provided water and irrigation to people in the American Southwest for thousands of years, including the community of Native Americans that live in Taos.&nbsp;



The Taos Plateau has served as a primary field training area since the 1960s during the Apollo era.&nbsp;



"The San Luis Valley served as a planetary analog for the Apollo 15 lunar landing site at Hadley Rille," says NASA. "The southern area of the valley contains igneous rock structures similar to those on the lunar surface. Such field training prepares current and future astronauts for exploration of the Moon and Mars."



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

The San Luis Valley of Colorado

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 the Geiyo islands in the Seto Inland Sea, the body of water that separates the main islands of Japan.&nbsp;



"Whirlpools and other complex currents routinely roil Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Strong tidal currents send water churning through a maze of channels and narrow straits surrounding thousands of islands in the shallow sea. The islands of the Geiyo archipelago are among them," reports NASA.



"On May 30, 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this natural-color image of currents swirling around several of the Geiyo islands. The complex topography creates areas of choppy and smoother waters depending on the day’s weather and water flows. In this image, some water surfaces gleam with sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it."



At one time, the only way to move between the Geiyo islands was by boat. Now, the Nishiseto Expressway has 55 bridges that connect nine of the islands, including Ōshima, Ōmishima, and Innoshima.



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

The Geiyo islands in the Seto Inland Sea

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features a clear shot of Ireland and Great Britain, which was captured by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station. The photograph highlights the contrasting types of land cover on the two islands.&nbsp;



"Coastal mountains and rough terrain flank the western edge of Ireland, making the peninsulas there appear browner than the more vegetated (green) areas of central Ireland. The central region is composed of plains with bogs and hilly lowlands, largely consisting of assorted forests, agriculture, and pastures. Similar green tones carry over to the western side of Great Britain," says NASA.



"Many of the tan areas on the eastern side of Great Britain are within a rain shadow created by the uplands and mountains to the west. Weather systems move from west to east, and higher elevation areas on the west receive more rainfall than the lower eastern side. The tan color reflects grasslands where the vegetation was stressed due to high temperatures and drought conditions when this image was taken in summer 2022."



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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An astronaut's view of Ireland and Great Britain

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features the west coast of South America. The photo was captured by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station while orbiting over the Atacama Desert and Central Andes Mountains near the border of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile.



"Over the Pacific Ocean, marine stratocumulus clouds develop over cold water that rises from the ocean depths as the Peru current (Humboldt current) flows north along the west coast of South America," says NASA. "The coastline is marked by low mountains that are dissected by canyons carved by rivers that flow down the western side of the Andes."



The Atacama Desert receives less than 0.2 inches of rain per year on average. According to NASA, this dry environment provides an ideal setting to conduct Mars analog studies.



"Active and inactive volcanoes comprise the Central Andean Volcanic Arc within the Atacama Desert and Andes Mountains. One of the inactive volcanoes visible in this photo is Bolivia’s Nevado Sajama, which has a maximum elevation of 6,542 meters (21,463 feet). Nevado Sajama and other volcanoes in the region often have glaciers and snow cover due to their high elevation."



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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



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

The west coast of South America

Today's Image of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> features an intense dust storm over eastern China on March 22, 2023. According to China’s National Forestry Grassland Administration, the dust has impacted more than 560 million people.



"The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image showing a thick swirl of dust over China’s Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang provinces," says NASA. "Cyclonic atmospheric circulation appears to have sucked dust into and above the clouds."



"In Beijing, which has a population of more than 20 million, the air quality index rose well above 500 for coarse (PM10) particles and above 200 for fine (PM2.5) particles on that day. Those levels are considered 'hazardous' and 'very unhealthy' to human health."



Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory



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



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

Massive dust storm moves over eastern China 

While many mammals suffer hearing loss in old age, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-bats-have-a-long-term-memory-of-sounds/">bats</a> were thought to be immune to this phenomenon due to the critical importance of their hearing for echolocation. However, a team of researchers led by <a href="https://english.tau.ac.il/">Tel Aviv University</a> (TAU) in Israel has recently found that bats often lose their hearing in old age just like other mammals, including humans.&nbsp;



Yet, because bats roost in very noisy colonies which would quickly damage the hearing of humans and other mammals, it is likely that they evolved some innate ability to limit this age-associated hearing loss.



“While high-frequency hearing confers a survival benefit for many animals, it is essential for the survival of echolocating bats, which rely on it for orienting in their environment,” said senior author Yossi Yovel, a neuroecologist at TAU. “However, to date, no study has systematically examined the effect of age on hearing in bats.”



The scientists evaluated the age of 47 wild Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)&nbsp;by measuring the accumulation of age-related chemical markers on their DNA, and tested their hearing by monitoring their brains’ response to sounds of varying pitch and volume. The analysis revealed a clear age-related hearing loss that, as in aging humans, was more pronounced at higher sound frequencies. Moreover, the rate of hearing loss – approximately one dB per year – was also similar to that observed in humans.



Further tests showed that bats experienced an age-related decline in the structure and functionality of their cochlea, along with a decrease in the speed of auditory nerve processing – a symptom known as “neuronal presbycusis,” which can impair speech comprehension in humans and make echolocation more difficult for aging bats.&nbsp;



One possible cause for bats’ hearing loss is their constant and cumulative exposure to high noises in their environments. By placing microphones in their caves, the experts discovered that they are continuously exposed to over 100 dB of noise (the equivalent of the sound produced by a motorcycle or chainsaw). However, the loudest sounds seemed to occur at lower frequencies, at which bats show no sign of age-related hearing loss.



“When taken together, the very high levels of noise that fruit-bats are exposed to and the mild (similar to human) levels of age-related hearing loss suggest that bats might have some special adaptations to cope with their very noisy environments,” Yovel&nbsp;said.&nbsp;



Since Egyptian fruit bats also rely heavily on vision when possible, further research is needed to explore age-related hearing loss in bat species with poorer vision, for which echolocation is the main mechanism of orientation. Better understanding bats’ adaptation to hearing loss could offer new insights into the mechanisms structuring age-related hearing loss in humans.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202201847">Life Science Alliance</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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Bats experience age-related hearing loss

While many mammals suffer hearing loss in old age, bats...

Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke, are the leading cause of death globally, and were responsible for nearly 18 million deaths in 2019, while cancers caused 9.6 million deaths in 2017. Many studies have shown that moderate-intensity <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/any-type-of-physical-activity-can-help-protect-the-brain/">physical activity</a> – such as brisk walking, hiking, dancing, riding a bike, or playing tennis – significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.&nbsp;



Although UK’s <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/">National Health Services</a> (NHS) has recommended that adults perform such activities at least 150 minutes a week, a recent review study conducted by the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> has found that even half of this amount – 75 minutes a week or 11 minutes a day – would be sufficient to significantly lower the risk of such diseases, and could help prevent one in ten early deaths.



To clarify the amount of physical activity necessary to reduce the risk of a variety of chronic diseases and early death, the experts carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of 196 peer-reviewed articles, covering over 30 million participants from 94 large study cohorts.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that accumulating 75 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week reduced the risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 17 percent, cancer by seven percent, and early death by 23 percent. For some types of cancers – including head and neck, myeloid leukaemia, myeloma, and gastric cardia cancers – the reduction in risk was even greater (14-26 percent).



&nbsp;“If you are someone who finds the idea of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week a bit daunting, then our findings should be good news. Doing some physical activity is better than doing none. This is also a good starting position – if you find that 75 minutes a week is manageable, then you could try stepping it up gradually to the full recommended amount,” said study senior author Soren Brage, an expert in the benefits of physical activity at Cambridge.



“Moderate activity doesn’t have to involve what we normally think of exercise, such as sports or running. Sometimes, replacing some habits is all that is needed. For example, try to walk or cycle to your work or study place instead of using a car, or engage in active play with your kids or grand kids. Doing activities that you enjoy and that are easy to include in your weekly routine is an excellent way to become more active,” concluded lead author Leandro Garcia, a lecturer in Complexity Science in Public Health at <a href="https://www.qub.ac.uk/">Queen’s University Belfast</a>.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-105669">British Journal of Sports Medicine</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer



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A quick daily walk reduces the risk of early death

Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke, are the...

In a groundbreaking study conducted by the <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/">University of Sussex</a>, moths have been found to be more efficient pollinators at night than day-flying pollinators like bees. This research comes at a time when there is growing concern about the decline of wild pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies, which are vital for maintaining healthy ecosystems.



During July 2021, researchers studied 10 sites in southeast England, focusing on the pollination of bramble flowers. They discovered that 83 percent of insect visits to the flowers occurred during the day.&nbsp;



However, despite the fact that moths made fewer visits during the shorter summer nights, accounting for only 15 percent of the visits, they were able to pollinate the flowers more quickly. This led the researchers to conclude that moths are more efficient pollinators than day-flying insects, including bees.



"Bees are undoubtedly important, but our work has shown that moths pollinate flowers at a faster rate than day-flying insects," said study co-author Professor Fiona Mathews. "Sadly, many moths are in serious decline in Britain, affecting not just pollination but also food supplies for many other species ranging from bats to birds."



The study not only highlights the importance of moths as pollinators but also the significance of bramble, a shrub often considered unfavorable and regularly cleared away. In reality, bramble is crucial for nocturnal pollinators.&nbsp;



The researchers used camera traps to monitor the numbers of insects visiting flowers and conducted experiments to determine how quickly pollen was deposited at different times of the day.



Dr. Max Anderson, who was a PhD student at the University of Sussex at the time of the research and is now at the Butterfly Conservation, emphasized the need for further research and support for moths. "Moths are important pollinators, and they are greatly under-appreciated and under-studied," he said. "Now we know that moths are also important pollinators, we need to take action to support them by encouraging some bramble and other flowering scrub plants to grow in our parks, gardens, road verges, and hedgerows."



Pollinating insects are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems and supporting agricultural systems. They play a vital role in the reproduction of many plants, which in turn impacts a wide range of ecological processes. Some of the reasons why pollinating insects are so important include:



<ol>
<li>Plant reproduction: Pollination is the process by which plants transfer pollen from the male reproductive structures (anthers) to the female reproductive structures (stigmas) of the same or different flowers. This transfer, often facilitated by pollinating insects, is a necessary step for fertilization and the production of seeds and fruits. Without pollination, many plants would be unable to reproduce, which would have far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and food production.</li>



<li>Food production: Pollinating insects are essential for the production of many of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that make up a significant portion of the human diet. It is estimated that around one-third of the food we consume relies on pollination by insects. Without these pollinators, our food systems would be severely impacted, leading to reduced crop yields and potential food shortages.</li>



<li>Biodiversity: Pollinating insects help maintain and promote biodiversity by facilitating plant reproduction. A diverse range of plant species supports a variety of other organisms, including birds, mammals, and other insects. This leads to more stable and resilient ecosystems that can better withstand environmental changes and disturbances.</li>



<li>Ecosystem services: The work of pollinating insects supports various ecosystem services, such as soil formation, water purification, and climate regulation. These services are essential for the overall health of our planet and contribute to human well-being.</li>



<li>Habitat provision: By supporting the growth and reproduction of various plant species, pollinating insects help create habitats for other organisms. These habitats provide shelter, food, and breeding grounds for a wide range of species, supporting the intricate web of life within ecosystems.</li>
</ol>



In summary, pollinating insects are essential for the health of ecosystems, agricultural systems, and human well-being. Their role in facilitating plant reproduction, food production, and the maintenance of biodiversity makes them crucial for the survival and functioning of ecosystems worldwide. Protecting pollinator populations is, therefore, of utmost importance for ensuring the long-term health of our planet and the continued availability of the resources we rely on.



This research underscores the importance of protecting both night-flying and day-flying pollinators to allow natural ecosystems to thrive. To that end, researchers are calling on the public to help protect moths by planting white flowers, cultivating patches of scrub and rough grass, and turning off night lights. By doing so, we can promote a healthier and more diverse environment for all species that depend on these crucial pollinators.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLoS ONE</a>.



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Study: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees

In a groundbreaking study conducted by the University of Sussex,...

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The diverse landscapes of Central Italy Today&#8217;s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features an incredible satellite view of Central Italy, which includes the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, and Lazio.
The image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1B <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=nasa&amp;cvid=43697a2372814c2aaef744253b1c12a9&amp;aqs=edge.0.69i59l2j0l4j69i60l3.598j0j4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">satellite</a>, highlights the diversity of the region&#8217;s landscapes. 
Dual Polarization Radar technology makes it possible to view the landscapes in stunning detail. 
Many important landmarks of Central Italy are visible, including the volcanic lakes of Albano and Nemi, as well as Lake Vico, or Lago di Vico.
Italy is divided into 20 different regions, each of which has its own unique culture and cuisine. Also a geographical <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-diversity-will-decline-along-with-rainfall-in-dry-regions/">region</a> in central Italy may also include the regions of Abruzzo and Molise, which are otherwise considered part of Southern Italy for socio-cultural, linguistic and historical reasons. Central Italy includes the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Lazio. It is dominated by the hills and mountains of the Apennines, from which a few major rivers flow. Also The three most renowned cities in central Italy are Rome, Florence, and Pisa. They are also three of the most most popular attractive cities during tours of central Italy. The Appennies Mountains are in central Italy and are a major focal point of the central diverse landscapes you may see in Italy.
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By <a href="http://csexton@earth">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 
Video Credit: European Space Agency